0.0 – Science & Health by Mary Baker Eddy Chapter 0e – Preface 1910 edition

There is first a PREFACE which introduces us to the twin points that dominate the book: the fact that God can be understood aright, and that healing power follows from this understanding.
~ DISSOLVING BARRIERS, The Healing Work of Christian Science by John L. Morgan

Preface 

      Science and Health - Preface

 1	    To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is
  	big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds
 3	the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance
  	of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-
  	shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in
 6	cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human
  	herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be-
  	nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ
 9	Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn-
  	ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-
  	men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of
12	divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony. 
  	    The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent
  	of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the
15	portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and
  	the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling
  	away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-
18	stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a
  	right apprehension of Him whom  to know aright is
  	Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall
21	reign forever." 
  	    A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make
  	them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy
24	pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough
  	granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer
  	has accomplished. 
27	    Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in

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      Science and Health - Preface

 1	the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has
  	been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but
 3	to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live
  	in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full
  	might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense
 6	must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the
  	science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con-
  	cord to sound. 
 9	    Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and
  	matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that
  	Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo-
12	site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by
  	demonstration, — by healing both disease and sin; and
  	this demonstration shows that Christian healing con-
15	fers the most health and makes the best men. On this
  	basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness
  	has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma-
18	terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less
  	sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous
  	"No" is the response deducible from two connate
21	facts, — the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians,
  	and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of
  	diseases since the flood. 
24	    In the author's work, RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPEC-
  	TION, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating
  	experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis-
27	covery of the system that she denominated Christian
  	Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and
  	give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for
30	the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions
  	were crude, — the first steps of a child in the newly dis-
  	covered world of Spirit. 

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      Science and Health - Preface


 1	    She also began to jot down her thoughts on the
  	main subject, but these jottings were only infantile
 3	lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world
  	through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is
  	as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet
 6	he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words,
  	and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his
  	feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite
 9	thought, though still imperfectly. 
  	    So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of
  	himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers
12	came." Certain essays written at that early date are
  	still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are
  	feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of
15	Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac-
  	tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing
  	in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis-
18	ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of
  	Christ. 
  	    Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy-
21	righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until
  	1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
  	demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject
24	could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875,
  	copies were, however, in friendly circulation. 
  	    Before writing this work, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, she
27	made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which
  	have never been published. This was during the years
  	1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative
30	ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that
  	time, and the degrees by which she came at length
  	to its solution; but she values them as a parent

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 1	may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and
  	she would not have them changed. 
 3	    The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was pub-
  	lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have
  	since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory
 6	and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH. 
  	They regard the human mind as a healing agent,
  	whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of
 9	Christian Science. A few books, however, which are
  	based on this book, are useful. 
  	    The author has not compromised conscience to suit
12	the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon-
  	estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort
  	to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in-
15	finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated
  	cases of healing, she and her students have proved the
  	worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part
18	have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical
  	attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all
  	physical supports have failed, because there is so little
21	faith in His disposition and power to heal disease. 
  	    The divine Principle of healing is proved in the
  	personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its
24	purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po-
  	tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un-
  	biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth,
27	and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her
  	method who do not understand her meaning, or dis-
  	cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their
30	works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req-
  	uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de-
  	sirable. 

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 1	    Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal-
  	ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the
 3	action of the human mind, which action in some unex-
  	plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con-
  	trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all
 6	other pathological methods are the fruits of human
  	faith in matter, — faith in the workings, not of Spirit,
  	but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science. 
 9	    The physical healing of Christian Science results
  	now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine
  	Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real-
12	ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally
  	and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and
  	sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works
15	are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are
  	the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," — a divine
  	influence ever present in human consciousness and re-
18	peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

  	       To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
  	       And recovering of sight to the blind,
21	       To set at liberty them that are bruised. 

  	    When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel
  	to this age, there came also the charge to plant and
24	water His vineyard. 
  	    The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing
  	was started by the author with only one student in
27	Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881,
  	she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in
  	Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law
30	relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled
  	her to get this institution chartered for medical pur-


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      Science and Health - Preface


1	poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien-
  	tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that
 3	date, hers was the only College of this character which
  	had been established in the United States, where
  	Christian Science was first introduced. 
 6	    During seven years over four thousand students
  	were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile
  	she was pastor of the first established Church of
 9    Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci-
  	entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of
  	her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole
12	editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal,
  	the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She
  	closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of
15	its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the
  	next two years of her life should be given to the prep-
  	aration of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which
18	was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and
  	as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil-
  	iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never
21	read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu-
  	cidate her idealism. 
  	    In the spirit of Christ's charity, — as one who "hopeth
24	all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear
  	consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, — 
  	she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.  

27	Mary Baker Eddy

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