Miscellaneous Writings
1883-1896
by
Mary Baker Eddy
Author of Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures
Published by the Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
Copyright, 1896
By Mary Baker G. Eddy
Copyright renewed, 1924
_______
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
TO
LOYAL CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS
IN THIS AND EVERY LAND
I LOVINGLY DEDICATE THESE PRACTICAL TEACHINGS
INDISPENSABLE TO THE CULTURE AND ACHIEVEMENTS WHICH
CONSTITUTE THE SUCCESS OF A STUDENT
AND DEMONSTRATE THE ETHICS
OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MARY BAKER EDDY
PRAY thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand,
To read it well; that is, to understand.
BEN JONSON: Epigram I
WHEN I would know thee . . . my thought looks
Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends.
BEN JONSON: Epigram 86
-----
IF worlds were formed by matter,
And mankind from the dust;
Till time shall end more timely,
There's nothing here to trust.
Thenceforth to evolution's
Geology, we say, -
Nothing have we gained therefrom,
And nothing have to pray:
MY world has sprung from Spirit,
In everlasting day;
Whereof, I've more to glory,
Wherefor, have much to pay.
MARY BAKER EDDY
Page ix
Preface
| 1 | A CERTAIN apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher suits my sense of doing good. It reads thus: "The |
| 3 | noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a man to dispense with alms." |
| 6 | In the early history of Christian Science, among my thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian Scientists are not indigent; and their comfortable fortunes |
| 9 | are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically, spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures - once fragmentary and faint - now rejuvenated by the touch |
| 12 | of God's right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap- pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits dove-like. |
| 15 | To preserve a long course of years still and uniform, amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and tempest, requires strength from above, - deep draughts |
| 18 | from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said: There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is |
| 21 |
ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however, Page x |
| 1 | perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and |
| 3 |
sincere in trial or in triumph. The opportunity has at length offered
itself for me to |
| 6 | my miscellaneous writings published in The Christian Science Journal, since April, 1883, and republish them in book form, - accessible as reference, and reliable as |
| 9 | old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my time in the early pioneer days, most of these articles were originally written in haste, without due preparation. |
| 12 | To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these are most requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the |
| 15 |
distance, - or the difference between then and now, - My signature has been slightly changed from my |
| 18 | Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early years caused me, as an author, to assume various noms de plume. After my first marriage, to Colonel Glover |
| 21 | of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of Morse to retain my maiden name, - thinking that other- wise the name would be too long. |
| 24 | In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary Baker Eddy, and thereafter adopted that form of signa- |
| 27 |
ture, except in connection with my published works. Page xi |
| 1 | The first edition of Science and Health having been copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name |
| 3 |
of Glover, caused me to retain the initial "G" on
my These pages, although a reproduction of what has |
| 6 | been written, are still in advance of their time; and are richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for the race. While no offering can liquidate one's debt of |
| 9 |
gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are May this volume be to the reader a graphic guide- |
| 12 | book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling
him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored fields of Science. At each recurring holiday the Christian |
| 15 |
Scientist will find herein a "canny" crumb; and
thus Realism will at length be found to surpass imagination, |
| 18 | and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of
religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be no battledores to fling it back and forth. It is reason for |
| 21 | rejoicing that the vox populi is inclined to grant
us peace, together with pardon for the preliminary battles that purchased it. |
| 24 |
With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory, Page xii |
| 1 | to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace. |
| 3 | With armor on, I continue the march, command and countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought this afterpiece of battle. Supported, cheered, I take my |
| 6 |
pen and pruning-hook, to "learn war no more," and
with CONCORD, N. H. January, 1897 Miscellaneous
Writings CHAPTER I
- INTRODUCTORY PROSPECTUS THE ancient Greek looked longingly for the Olym- |
| 3 | piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a star; to him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heav- |
| 6 | ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers, said, "Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" - for he forefelt |
| 9 |
and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated To kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the |
| 12 | new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs
to be understood. The seer of this age should be a sage. |
| 15 | Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition of Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops |
| 18 | the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled |
| 21 |
up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of Page 2 |
| 1 | advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of Truth and Love to heal the sick. |
| 3 | Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the least wisdom or experience; and they steal from their neighbor, because they have so little of their own. |
| 6 | The signs of these times portend a long and strong determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the flesh, and evil, causing great obscuration of Spirit. |
| 9 | When we remember that God is just, and admit the total depravity of mortals, alias mortal mind, - and that this Adam legacy must first be seen, and then must be |
| 12 | subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri- bute of Truth, - the outlook demands labor, and the laborers seem few. To-day we behold but the first |
| 15 | faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life, |
| 18 | Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin, sickness, and death; when God, man's saving Principle, and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed. |
| 21 | Man's probation after death is the necessity of his immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc- tive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed. |
| 24 | If man should not progress after death, but should re- main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated. Those upon whom "the second death hath no power" |
| 27 | are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil, their mortal element, and into good that is immortal; thus laying off the material beliefs that war against |
| 30 |
Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine While we entertain decided views as
to the best method Page 3 |
| 1 | for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritu- ally, and shall express these views as duty demands, we |
| 3 | shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural than evil, and spiritual understanding - the true knowl- |
| 6 | edge of God - as imparting the only power to heal the sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the power of Truth and Love. |
| 9 | The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica- ble to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this very purpose; and his demonstration hath taught us |
| 12 | that "through his stripes" - his life-experience
- and divine Science, brought to the understanding through Christ, the Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved. |
| 15 | No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are needed to aid spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation, |
| 18 | and mesmerism are not Mind's medicine. The Prin- ciple of all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind. We have learned that the erring or mortal thought holds |
| 21 | in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind, as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these |
| 24 |
material elements of sin and death. Because God is supreme and omnipotent,
materia |
| 27 | and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-
ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity. The tendency of mental healing is to uplift mankind; but |
| 30 |
this method perverted, is "Satan let loose." Hence
the Page 4 |
| 1 | Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in- structed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the |
| 3 | most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth. At this period there is a marked tendency of mortal mind to plant mental healing on the basis of hypnotism, |
| 6 | calling this method "mental science." All Science
is Christian Science; the Science of the Mind that is God, and of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each |
| 9 |
other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good, A TIMELY ISSUE |
| 12 | At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many questions important to be disposed of come to the Col- |
| 15 | lege and to the practising students, yet but little time
has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight- enment is necessary for the age, and a periodical de- |
| 18 | voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many |
| 21 | minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth are not understood. |
| 24 | It is often said, "You must have a very strong will- power to heal," or, "It must require a great deal of faith to make your demonstrations." When it is answered |
| 27 | that there is no will-power required, and that something more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression of incredulity. It is not alone the mission of Christian |
| 30 |
Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal Page 5 |
| 1 | thought. This work well done will elevate and purify the race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best |
| 3 |
energies to the work. Science reveals man as spiritual, harmonious,
and eter- |
| 6 | be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be able to produce perfect health and perfect morals in their |
| 9 | children - and ministers, to heal the sick - by study- ing this scientific method of practising Christianity. Many say, "I should like to study, but have not suffi- |
| 12 | cient faith that I have the power to heal." The healing power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the greatest emergencies. |
| 15 | Materia medica says, "I can do no more. I have
done all that can be done. There is nothing to build upon. There is no longer any reason for hope." Then |
| 18 | metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit, not matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on the stone that the builders have rejected, and is suc- |
| 21 |
cessful. Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a
miracle and a |
| 24 | reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge an erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat- ter. That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect |
| 27 | in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate- rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid |
| 30 |
substance to this thought. It is much easier for people Page 6 |
| 1 | We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a discipline to bring man nearer to God, - even though |
| 3 | sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as evil. |
| 6 | The most of our Christian Science practitioners have plenty to do, and many more are needed for the ad- vancement of the age. At present the majority of the |
| 9 | acute cases are given to the M. D.'s, and only those cases that are pronounced incurable are passed over to the Scientist. The healing of such cases should cer- |
| 12 | tainly prove to all minds the power of metaphysics over physics; and it surely does, to many thinkers, as the rapid growth of the work shows. At no distant day, |
| 15 | Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy and homoeopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed where error fails. |
| 18 | Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect, there is no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and Love must be perfect; and with that basic truth we con- |
| 21 | quer sickness, sin, and death. Frequently it requires time to overcome the patient's faith in drugs and mate- rial hygiene; but when once convinced of the uselessness |
| 24 |
of such material methods, the gain is rapid. It is a noticeable fact, that in families
where laws |
| 27 | in regard to diet, and the conversation chiefly confined to the ailments of the body, there is the most sickness. Take a large family of children where the mother has |
| 30 |
all that she can attend to in keeping them clothed and Page 7 |
| 1 | the exception. These children must not be allowed to eat certain food, nor to breathe the cold air, because |
| 3 | there is danger in it; when they perspire, they must be loaded down with coverings until their bodies become dry, - and the mother of one child is often busier than |
| 6 |
the mother of eight. Great charity and humility is necessary
in this work |
| 9 | strive to emulate. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" has daily to be exemplified; and, although skepticism and incredulity prevail in places where |
| 12 | one would least expect it, it harms not; for if serving Christ, Truth, of what can mortal opinion avail? Cast not your pearls before swine; but if you cannot bring |
| 15 |
peace to all, you can to many, if faithful laborers in His Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally |
| 18 | reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon |
| 21 | the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper, at the price at which we shall issue it, we shall be able |
| 24 | to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought. A great work already has been done, and a greater work yet remains to be done. Oftentimes we are denied the |
| 27 | results of our labors because people do not understand the nature and power of metaphysics, and they think that health and strength would have returned natu- |
| 30 |
rally without any assistance. This is not so much from Page 8 |
| 1 | is given to material illusions than to spiritual facts. If we can aid in abating suffering and diminishing sin, |
| 3 | we shall have accomplished much; but if we can bring to the general thought this great fact that drugs do not, cannot, produce health and harmony, since "in Him |
| 6 |
[Mind] we live, and move, and have our being," we shall LOVE YOUR ENEMIES |
| 9 |
Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this |
| 12 | enemy and then look upon the object of your own con- ception? What is it that harms you? Can height, or depth, or any other creature separate you from the |
| 15 |
Love that is omnipresent good, - that blesses infinitely Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, |
| 18 | defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in |
| 21 | the process. Shakespeare writes: "Sweet are the uses of adversity." Jesus said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all |
| 24 | manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; .
. . for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." |
| 27 |
The Hebrew law with its "Thou shalt not," its de- Page 9 |
| 1 | much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace, comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified |
| 3 | by the purification it brings to the flesh, - to pride, self- ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet, indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the |
| 6 | Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them refuge at last from the elements of earth. |
| 9 | "Love thine enemies" is identical with "Thou
hast no enemies." Wherein is this conclusion relative to those who have hated thee without a cause? Simply, in |
| 12 | that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best
friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee good far beyond the present sense which thou canst enter- |
| 15 |
tain of good. Whom we call friends seem to sweeten
life's cup and |
| 18 | to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in frag- ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar- |
| 21 | gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con- tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and |
| 24 |
unworthy of human aims. And wherefore our failure longer to
relish this fleet- |
| 27 | wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace? Because it is the great and only danger in the path |
| 30 |
that winds upward. A false sense of what consti- Page 10 |
| 1 | the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements wherewith to obstruct life's joys and enhance its sor- |
| 3 |
rows. We have no enemies. Whatever envy, hatred,
revenge |
| 6 |
- whatever these try to do, shall "work together for
good Why? |
| 9 | Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped them, and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their God will not let them be lost; and if they fall they shall |
| 12 | rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble. If they mistake the divine command, they will recover |
| 15 | it, countermand their order, retrace their steps, and reinstate His orders, more assured to press on safely. The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing |
| 18 | swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found |
| 21 |
their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear This destruction is a moral chemicalization, wherein |
| 24 | old things pass away and all things become new. The worldly or material tendencies of human affections and pursuits are thus annihilated; and this is the advent of |
| 27 | spiritualization. Heaven comes down to earth, and mortals learn at last the lesson, "I have no enemies." Even in belief you have but one (that, not in reality), |
| 30 |
and this one enemy is yourself - your erroneous belief Page 11 |
| 1 | wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent; to find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold. |
| 3 | Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy, and justice. I used to think it sufficiently just to abide by our State statutes; that if a man should aim a ball at |
| 6 | my heart, and I by firing first could kill him and save my own life, that this was right. I thought, also, that if I taught indigent students gratuitously, afterwards |
| 9 | assisting them pecuniarily, and did not cease teach- ing the wayward ones at close of the class term, but followed them with precept upon precept; that if my |
| 12 |
instructions had healed them and shown them the sure way Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy. |
| 15 | If one's life were attacked, and one could save it only in accordance with common law, by taking another's, would one sooner give up his own? We must love our |
| 18 | enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby we love our friends; must even try not to expose their faults, but to do them good whenever opportunity |
| 21 | occurs. To mete out human justice to those who per- secute and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribu- tion to God and returning blessing for cursing. If special |
| 24 | opportunity for doing good to one's enemies occur not, one can include them in his general effort to benefit the race. Because I can do much general good to such as |
| 27 | hate me, I do it with earnest, special care-since they permit me no other way, though with tears have I striven for it. When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the |
| 30 |
other: I have but two to present. I would enjoy taking by the hand all
who love me not, Page 12 |
| 1 | ingly harm you." Because I thus feel, I say to
others: Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads |
| 3 | its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us; brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through- out time and beyond the grave. If you have been badly |
| 6 | wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil; |
| 9 |
and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged The present is ours; the future, big with events. |
| 12 | Every man and woman should be to-day a law to him- self, herself, - a law of loyalty to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The means for sinning unseen and unpunished |
| 15 | have so increased that, unless one be watchful and stead- fast in Love, one's temptations to sin are increased a hundredfold. Mortal mind at this period mutely works |
| 18 | in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least understood; hence the need of watching, and the danger of yielding to temptation from causes that at former |
| 21 | periods in human history were not existent. The action and effects of this so-called human mind in its silent argu- ments, are yet to be uncovered and summarily dealt with |
| 24 |
by divine justice. In Christian Science, the law of Love
rejoices the heart; |
| 27 | else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not Love. We should measure our love for God by our love for man; and our sense of Science will be measured by our obedience |
| 30 |
to God, - fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all; Page 13 |
| 1 | The only justice of which I feel at present capable, is mercy and charity toward every one, - just so far as |
| 3 |
one and all permit me to exercise these sentiments toward The falsehood, ingratitude, misjudgment, and sharp |
| 6 | return of evil for good - yea, the real wrongs (if wrong can be real) which I have long endured at the hands of others - have most happily wrought out for me the law |
| 9 | of loving mine enemies. This law I now urge upon the solemn consideration of all Christian Scientists. Jesus said, "If ye love them which love you, what thank have |
| 12 |
ye? for sinners also love those that love them." CHRISTIAN THEISM Scholastic theology elaborates the proposition that |
| 15 | evil is a factor of good, and that to believe in the reality of evil is essential to a rounded sense of the existence of good. |
| 18 | This frail hypothesis is founded upon the basis of mate- rial and mortal evidence - only upon what the shifting mortal senses confirm and frail human reason accepts. |
| 21 |
The Science of Soul reverses this proposition, overturns This postulate of divine Science only
needs to be con- |
| 27 |
and the clearer discernment of good. Seek the Anglo-Saxon term for God, and
you will |
| 30 |
will find that good is omnipotence, has all power; it fills Page 14 |
| 1 | all space, being omnipresent; hence, there is neither place nor power left for evil. Divest your thought, then, of |
| 3 | the mortal and material view which contradicts the ever- presence and all-power of good; take in only the immor- tal facts which include these, and where will you see or |
| 6 |
feel evil, or find its existence necessary either to the origin It is urged that, from his original state of perfec- |
| 9 | tion, man has fallen into the imperfection that requires evil through which to develop good. Were we to admit this vague proposition, the Science of man could |
| 12 | never be learned; for in order to learn Science, we begin with the correct statement, with harmony and its Principle; and if man has lost his Principle and |
| 15 | its harmony, from evidences before him he is inca- pable of knowing the facts of existence and its con- comitants: therefore to him evil is as real and eternal |
| 18 | as good, God! This awful deception is evil's umpire and empire, that good, God, understood, forcibly destroys. |
| 21 | What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be the necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites to be without necessity. Good is the primitive Princi- |
| 24 | ple of man; and evil, good's opposite, has no Principle, and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good. Thus evil is neither a primitive nor a derivative, but |
| 27 |
is suppositional; in other words, a lie that is incapable The Science of Truth annihilates error, deprives evil |
| 30 |
of all power, and thereby destroys all error, sin, sickness, Page 15 |
| 1 | tifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it,
and will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure |
| 3 |
the effects of his delusion until he awakes from it. THE NEW BIRTH St. Paul speaks of the new birth as "waiting for the |
| 6 | adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." The great Nazarene Prophet said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Nothing aside from the |
| 9 | spiritualization - yea, the highest Christianization - of thought and desire, can give the true perception of God and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and |
| 12 |
holiness. The new birth is not the work of a moment.
It begins |
| 15 | render to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love. |
| 18 | Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law of infinity. Only through the sore travail of mortal mind |
| 21 | shall soul as sense be satisfied, and man awake in His likeness. What a faith-lighted thought is this! that mortals can lay off the "old man," until man is found |
| 24 |
to be the image of the infinite good that we name God, In mortal and material man, goodness seems in em- |
| 27 | bryo. By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out of the mortal and material sense of man, thought is de- veloped into an infant Christianity; and, feeding at first |
| 30 |
on the milk of the Word, it drinks in the sweet revealings
Page 16 |
| 1 | of a new and more spiritual Life and Love. These nourish the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor- |
| 3 | tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith:
In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down to earth. |
| 6 | But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one |
| 9 | saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human; |
| 12 | and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being His likeness and image, man must reflect the full dominion of Spirit - even its supremacy over sin, sick- |
| 15 |
ness, and death. Here, then, is the awakening from the
dream of life |
| 18 | that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that |
| 21 | God is a divine Whole, and All, an all-pervading
in- telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly |
| 24 | awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun in Christian Science. |
| 27 | Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn- estly to contemplate this new-born spiritual altitude; for this statement demands demonstration. |
| 30 |
Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite Page 17 |
| 1 | awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to |
| 3 | the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om- nipotent harmony and good, as opposed to any supposi- |
| 6 | titious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes-lay aside |
| 9 | your material appendages, human opinions and doc- trines, give up your more material religion with its rites and ceremonies, put off your materia medica and hygiene |
| 12 | as worse than useless - to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then, you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal |
| 15 | and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first time the divine Principle that redeems man from under the curse of materialism, - sin, disease, and death. |
| 18 | This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand- ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy of Spirit, and of man as His likeness, whereby man reflects |
| 21 |
the divine power to heal the sick. A material or human birth is the appearing
of a mor- |
| 24 | prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un- timely circumstances, the normal or abnormal material conditions attending it. |
| 27 | With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless, spiritual existence dawns on human thought, - through the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing |
| 30 |
pleasure and accumulating pains of sense, - by which Page 18 |
| 1 | The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit, develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man, |
| 3 | and efface the mark of the beast. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;" therefore rejoice in tribulation, and wel- |
| 6 |
come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law The prominent laws which forward birth in the divine |
| 9 | order of Science, are these: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me;" "Love thy neighbor as thyself." These commands of infinite wisdom, translated into |
| 12 | the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every God- quality, even in substance; thou shalt recognize thy- |
| 15 | self as God's spiritual child only, and the true man and true woman, the all-harmonious "male and female," as of spiritual origin, God's reflection, - thus as chil- |
| 18 | dren of one common Parent, - wherein and whereby Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and divine idea, even the divine "Us" - one in good, and |
| 21 |
good in One. With this recognition man could never
separate him- |
| 24 | habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil thoughts, can we in belief separate one man's interests |
| 27 | from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt to separate Life from God. This is the mistake that causes much that must be repented of and overcome. |
| 30 |
Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that Page 19 |
| 1 | is unjust, - is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, covetousness, lust, hatred, malice, are |
| 3 | always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of God, and the obedience demanded of His servants in |
| 6 |
carrying out what He teaches them, - these are never The task of healing the sick is far lighter than that |
| 9 | of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris- tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men to adopt them and bring them out in human lives. He |
| 12 | who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked |
| 15 | endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God, its divine source. |
| 18 | But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit. I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, |
| 21 | one who abides by his statements and works upon as high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental |
| 24 |
malpractitioner. Between the centripetal and centrifugal
mental forces |
| 27 | go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and its results. Which, then, shall be our choice, - the sin- ful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving, |
| 30 |
and eternal? The spiritual sense of Life and its
grand pursuits is Page 20 |
| 1 | sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and |
| 3 |
physically, - exhaling the aroma of Jesus' own words, CHAPTER II
ONE CAUSE AND EFFECT |
| 1 | CHRISTIAN SCIENCE begins with the First Com- mandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou |
| 3 | shalt have no other gods before me." It goes on in perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John, |
| 6 | who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves, beheld "a new heaven and a new earth," - the spiritual universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony. |
| 9 | Our Master said, "The works that I do shall ye do also," and, "The kingdom of God is within you." This makes practical all his words and works. As the ages |
| 12 | advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen to depart from the trend of other Christian denomina- tions in no wise except by increase of spirituality. |
| 15 | My first plank in the platform of Christian Science is as follows: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite |
| 18 | manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is |
| 21 |
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man (1) The order of this sentence has been conformed to the text of |
| 24 |
the 1908 edition of Science and Health. Page 22 |
| 1 | I am strictly a theist - believe in one God, one Christ or Messiah. |
| 3 | Science is neither a law of matter nor of man. It is the unerring manifesto of Mind, the law of God, its divine Principle. Who dare say that matter or |
| 6 | mortals can evolve Science? Whence, then, is it, if not from the divine source, and what, but the contempo- rary of Christianity, so far in advance of human knowl- |
| 9 | edge that mortals must work for the discovery of even a portion of it? Christian Science translates Mind, God, to mortals. It is the infinite calculus defining the line, |
| 12 | plane, space, and fourth dimension of Spirit. It abso- lutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorp- tion, or annihilation of individuality. It shows the |
| 15 | impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve in God's orbits: they come from God and return to |
| 18 | Him, - and untruths belong not to His creation, there- fore these are null and void. It hath no peer, no com- petitor, for it dwelleth in Him besides whom "there is |
| 21 |
none other." That Christian Science is Christian,
those who have |
| 24 | Principle, - together with the sick, the lame, the deaf,
and the blind, healed by it, - have proven to a waiting world. He who has not tested it, is incompetent to condemn it; |
| 27 |
and he who is a willing sinner, cannot demonstrate it. A falling apple suggested to Newton
more than the |
| 30 |
to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal Page 23 |
| 1 | Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much; but Science, demanding more, pushes the question: |
| 3 | Whence or what is the power back of gravitation, - the intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true? Does mind "sleep in the mineral, or dream in the |
| 6 | animal, and wake in man"? Christianity answers this question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon- strated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called |
| 9 | material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves, obey this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake in creation, "and it was done"? The answer is self- |
| 12 |
evident, and the command remains, "Thou shalt have It is plain that the Me spoken of in the First Com- |
| 15 | mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris- tian's God, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even talk; and the serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf, |
| 18 | lied. Reason and revelation declare that God is both noumenon and phenomena, - the first and only cause. The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic |
| 21 | action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust. God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one God, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image |
| 24 | and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris- tian Science means by the word reflection. God is seen only in that which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love - |
| 27 | yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats precisely the looks and actions of the object in front of it. |
| 30 |
All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to Page 24 |
| 1 | These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and knowledge of them makes man spiritually minded. St. |
| 3 | Paul writes: "For to be carnally minded is death; but
to be spiritually minded is life and peace." This knowl- edge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it |
| 6 | to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned on the night of material sense. This knowledge is practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from |
| 9 | an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I |
| 12 | read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That |
| 15 | short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of |
| 18 | existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub- ective state which it names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit. Per contra, Mind and man |
| 21 | are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense is illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it cannot be true. A knowledge of both good and evil |
| 24 | (when good is God, and God is All) is impossible. Speak- ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, |
| 27 | and the father of it." God warned man not to believe the talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing it. The Nazarene Prophet declared that his followers |
| 30 |
should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle falsi- Page 25 |
| 1 | on the mind and body of man, against his holiness and health. |
| 3 | That there is but one God or Life, one cause and one effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science; and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity, |
| 6 | the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of error, and that neither one really exists, since God is |
| 9 | Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in its direct application to human needs, confirms this conclusion. |
| 12 | Science, understood, translates matter into Mind, rejects all other theories of causation, restores the spir- itual and original meaning of the Scriptures, and ex- |
| 15 | plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is religion's "new tongue," with "signs following," spoken of by St. Mark. It gives God's infinite meaning to mankind, |
| 18 | healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the spirit- ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re- iterates the word, repeats the works, and manifests the |
| 21 |
spirit of Christ. Jesus' only medicine was omnipotent
and omniscient |
| 24 | this medicine is all-power; and omniscience means as well, all-science. The sick are more deplorably situated than the sinful, if the sick cannot trust God for help and |
| 27 | the sinful can. If God created drugs good, they cannot be harmful; if He could create them otherwise, then they are bad and unfit for man; and if He created drugs for |
| 30 |
healing the sick, why did not Jesus employ them and No human hypotheses, whether in philosophy,
medi- Page 26 |
| 1 | cine, or religion, can survive the wreck of time; but whatever is of God, hath life abiding in it, and ulti- |
| 3 | mately will be known as self-evident truth, as demonstra- ble as mathematics. Each successive period of progress is a period more humane and spiritual. The only logical |
| 6 | conclusion is that all is Mind and its manifestation, from the rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a potato- patch. |
| 9 | The agriculturist ponders the history of a seed, and believes that his crops come from the seedling and the loam; even while the Scripture declares He made "every |
| 12 | plant of the field before it was in the earth." The
Scien- tist asks, Whence came the first seed, and what made the soil? Was it molecules, or material atoms ? Whence |
| 15 | came the infinitesimals, - from infinite Mind, or from matter? If from matter, how did matter originate ? Was it self-existent? Matter is not intelligent, and thus able |
| 18 | to evolve or create itself: it is the very opposite of Spirit, intelligent, self-creative, and infinite Mind. The belief of mind in matter is pantheism. Natural history shows |
| 21 | that neither a genus nor a species produces its opposite. God is All, in all. What can be more than All? Noth- ing: and this is just what I call matter, nothing. Spirit, |
| 24 | God, has no antecedent; and God's consequent is the spiritual cosmos. The phrase, "express image," in the common version of Hebrews i. 3, is, in the Greek Tes- |
| 27 |
tament, character. The Scriptures name God as good, and
the Saxon |
| 30 |
the logical conclusion that God is naturally and divinely Page 27 |
| 1 | of evil? What can there be besides infinity? Nothing! Therefore the Science of good calls evil nothing. In |
| 3 | divine Science the terms God and good, as Spirit, are synonymous. That God, good, creates evil, or aught that can result in evil, - or that Spirit creates its oppo- |
| 6 | site, named matter, - are conclusions that destroy their premise and prove themselves invalid. Here is where Christian Science sticks to its text, and other systems |
| 9 | of religion abandon their own logic. Here also is found the pith of the basal statement, the cardinal point in Christian Science, that matter and evil (including all |
| 12 | inharmony, sin, disease, death) are unreal. Mortals accept natural science, wherein no species ever pro- duces its opposite. Then why not accept divine Sci- |
| 15 | ence on this ground? since the Scriptures maintain this fact by parable and proof, asking, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" "Doth a |
| 18 |
fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and According to reason and revelation, evil and matter |
| 21 | are negation: for evil signifies the absence of good, God, though God is ever present; and matter claims some- thing besides God, when God is really All. Creation, |
| 24 | evolution, or manifestation, - being in and of Spirit, Mind, and all that really is, - must be spiritual and mental. This is Science, and is susceptible of proof. |
| 27 |
But, say you, is a stone spiritual? To erring material sense, No! but to
unerring spiritual |
| 30 |
ual substance, "the substance of things hoped for." Page 28 |
| 1 | of substance, and the stone itself would disappear, only to reappear in the spiritual sense thereof. Matter can |
| 3 | neither see, hear, feel, taste, nor smell; having no sen- sation of its own. Perception by the five personal senses is mental, and dependent on the beliefs that mortals |
| 6 | entertain. Destroy the belief that you can walk, and volition ceases; for muscles cannot move without mind. Matter takes no cognizance of matter. In dreams, things |
| 9 | are only what mortal mind makes them; and the phe- nomena of mortal life are as dreams; and this so-called life is a dream soon told. In proportion as mortals turn |
| 12 | from this mortal and material dream, to the true sense of reality, everlasting Life will be found to be the only Life. That death does not destroy the beliefs of the flesh, |
| 15 | our Master proved to his doubting disciple, Thomas. Also, he demonstrated that divine Science alone can overbear materiality and mortality; and this great truth was shown |
| 18 |
by his ascension after death, whereby he arose above The First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other |
| 21 | gods before me," suggests the inquiry, What meaneth this Me, - Spirit, or matter? It certainly does not signify a graven idol, and must mean Spirit. Then |
| 24 | the commandment means, Thou shalt recognize no intelligence nor life in matter; and find neither pleasure nor pain therein. The Master's practical knowledge |
| 27 | of this grand verity, together with his divine Love, healed the sick and raised the dead. He literally annulled the claims of physique and of physical law, |
| 30 |
by the superiority of the higher law; hence his decla- Page 29 |
| 1 | they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re- cover." |
| 3 | Do you believe his words? I do, and that his prom- ise is perpetual. Had it been applicable only to his immediate disciples, the pronoun would be you, not them. |
| 6 | The purpose of his life-work touches universal human- ity. At another time he prayed, not for the twelve only, but "for them also which shall believe on me through |
| 9 |
their word." The Christ-healing was practised even before the Chris- |
| 12 | God." There is, however, no analogy between Christian
Science and spiritualism, or between it and any specu- lative theory. |
| 15 | In 1867, I taught the first student in Christian Science. Since that date I have known of but fourteen deaths in the ranks of my about five thousand students. The |
| 18 | census since 1875 (the date of the first publication of my work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- tures") shows that longevity has increased. Daily letters |
| 21 | inform me that a perusal of my volume is healing the writers of chronic and acute diseases that had defied medi- cal skill. |
| 24 | Surely the people of the Occident know that esoteric magic and Oriental barbarisms will neither flavor Chris- tianity nor advance health and length of days. |
| 27 | Miracles are no infraction of God's laws; on the contrary, they fulfil His laws; for they are the signs fol- lowing Christianity, whereby matter is proven power- |
| 30 |
less and subordinate to Mind. Christians, like students Page 30 |
| 1 | really understand the divine Principle of Christianity before we prove it, in at least some feeble demonstra- |
| 3 | tion thereof, according to Jesus' example in healing the sick? Should we adopt the "simple addition" in Chris- tian Science and doubt its higher rules, or despair of |
| 6 |
ultimately reaching them, even though failing at first to St. John spiritually discerned and revealed the sum |
| 9 | total of transcendentalism. He saw the real earth and heaven. They were spiritual, not material; and they were without pain, sin, or death. Death was not the |
| 12 | door to this heaven. The gates thereof he declared were inlaid with pearl, - likening them to the priceless under- standing of man's real existence, to be recognized here |
| 15 |
and now. The great Way-shower illustrated Life
unconfined, un- |
| 18 | superiority of Mind over the flesh, opened the door to the captive, and enabled man to demonstrate the law of Life, which St. Paul declares "hath made me free from |
| 21 |
the law of sin and death." The stale saying that Christian Science
"is neither |
| 24 |
less wit, weakness, and superstition. "The fool hath Take courage, dear reader, for any seeming mysti- |
| 27 |
cism surrounding realism is explained in the Scripture, 30 uality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in Christ's
Page 31 CHAPTER III QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| 1 |
What do you consider to be mental malpractice? MENTAL malpractice is a bland denial of Truth, |
| 3 | and is the antipode of Christian Science. To mentally argue in a manner that can disastrously affect the happiness of a fellow-being - harm him |
| 6 | morally, physically, or spiritually - breaks the Golden Rule and subverts the scientific laws of being. This, therefore, is not the use but the abuse of mental treat- |
| 9 | ment, and is mental malpractice. It is needless to say that such a subversion of right is not scientific. Its claim to power is in proportion to the faith in evil, and |
| 12 | consequently to the lack of faith in good. Such false faith finds no place in, and receives no aid from, the Principle or the rules of Christian Science; for it denies |
| 15 |
the grand verity of this Science, namely, that God, good,
This leaves the individual no alternative but to re- |
| 18 | linquish his faith in evil, or to argue against his own convictions of good and so destroy his power to be or to do good, because he has no faith in the omnipotence |
| 21 |
of God, good. He parts with his understanding of good, Page 32 |
| 1 | wrong argument, - if indeed he desires success in this broad road to destruction. |
| 3 | How shall we demean ourselves towards the students of disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's remarks on "Christ and Christmas"? |
| 6 | From this question, I infer that some of my students seem not to know in what manner they should act towards the students of false teachers, or such as have strayed |
| 9 | from the rules and divine Principle of Christian Science. The query is abnormal, when "precept upon precept; line upon line" are to be found in the Scriptures, and in |
| 12 |
my books, on this very subject. In Mark, ninth chapter, commencing at
the thirty- |
| 15 | alone is admissible towards friend and foe. My sym- pathies extend to the above-named class of students more than to many others. If I had the time to talk with all |
| 18 | students of Christian Science, and correspond with them, I would gladly do my best towards helping those un- fortunate seekers after Truth whose teacher is straying |
| 21 | from the straight and narrow path. But I have not mo- ments enough in which to give to my own flock all the time and attention that they need, - and charity must |
| 24 |
begin at home. Distinct denominational and social organizations
and |
| 27 | and for our Cause. But all people can and should be just, merciful; they should never envy, elbow, slander, hate, or try to injure, but always should try to bless their |
| 30 |
fellow-mortals. To the query in regard to some clergyman's
com- Page 33 |
| 1 | ments on my illustrated poem, I will say: It is the righteous prayer that avails with God. Whatever is wrong will |
| 3 | receive its own reward. The high priests of old caused the crucifixion of even the great Master; and thereby they lost, and he won, heaven. I love all ministers and |
| 6 |
ministries of Christ, Truth. All clergymen may not understand the
illustrations |
| 9 | personality, but present the type and shadow of Truth's appearing in the womanhood as well as in the manhood of God, our divine Father and Mother. |
| 12 |
Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be This is a question that is being asked every day. It |
| 15 | has not proved impossible to heal those who, when they began treatment, had no faith whatever in the Science, - other than to place themselves under my care, and |
| 18 | follow the directions given. Patients naturally gain con-
fidence in Christian Science as they recognize the help they derive therefrom. |
| 21 |
What are the advantages of your system of healing, over
Healing by Christian Science has the following ad- |
| 24 |
vantages: - First:
It does away with all material medicines, and |
| 27 | all "the ills that flesh is heir to," the antidote
for sickness, as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind's opposite, - the divine Mind. |
| 30 |
Second: It is more effectual than drugs; curing where
Page 34 |
| 1 | these fail, and leaving none of the harmful "after effects" of these in the system; thus proving that metaphysics |
| 3 |
is above physics. Third:
One who has been healed by Christian Sci- |
| 6 | morally. The body is governed by mind; and mortal mind must be improved, before the body is renewed and harmonious, - since the physique is simply thought |
| 9 |
made manifest. Is spiritualism or mesmerism included
in Christian |
| 12 | They are wholly apart from it. Christian Science is based on divine Principle; whereas spiritualism, so far as I understand it, is a mere speculative opinion and |
| 15 | human belief. If the departed were to communicate with us, we should see them as they were before death, and have them with us; after death, they can no more |
| 18 | come to those they have left, than we, in our present state of existence, can go to the departed or the adult can re- turn to his boyhood. We may pass on to their state |
| 21 | of existence, but they cannot return to ours. Man is im-mortal, and there is not a moment when he ceases to exist. All that are called "communications from spirits," |
| 24 | lie within the realm of mortal thought on this present plane of existence, and are the antipodes of Christian Science; the immortal and mortal are as direct opposites as light |
| 27 |
and darkness. Who is the Founder of mental healing?
The author of "Science and Health with Key to the |
| 30 |
Scriptures," who discovered the Science of healing em- Page 35 |
| 1 | bodied in her works. Years of practical proof, through homoeopathy, revealed to her the fact that Mind, in- |
| 3 | stead of matter, is the Principle of pathology; and subsequently her recovery, through the supremacy of Mind over matter, from a severe casualty pronounced |
| 6 | by the physicians incurable, sealed that proof with the signet of Christian Science. In 1883, a million of peo- ple acknowledge and attest the blessings of this mental |
| 9 | system of treating disease. Perhaps the following words of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy, afford the most concise, yet complete, summary of the |
| 12 |
matter: - "Mrs. Eddy's works are the outgrowths
of her life. |
| 15 | Will the book Science and Health, that you offer for sale
at three dollars, teach its readers to heal the sick, - or is one obliged to become a student under your personal in- |
| 18 |
struction? And if one is obliged to study under you, of
Why do we read the Bible, and then go to church to |
| 21 | hear it expounded? Only because both are important. Why do we read moral science, and then study it at college? |
| 24 | You are benefited by reading Science and Health, but it is greatly to your advantage to be taught its Science by the author of that work, who explains it in detail. |
| 27 |
What is immortal Mind? In reply, we refer you to "Science
and Health with |
| 30 |
(1) See the sixth edition. Page 36 |
| 1 | is erring, sinful, sick, and dying, termed material or mortal man, is neither God's man nor Mind; but to be |
| 3 | understood, we shall classify evil and error as mortal mind, in contradistinction to good and Truth, or the Mind which is immortal." |
| 6 |
Do animals and beasts have a mind? Beasts, as well as men, express Mind
as their origin; |
| 9 | cause is the eternal Mind, which is God, and there is but one God. The ferocious mind seen in the beast is mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from |
| 12 | God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with the lamb. Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety, are the animal qualities of sinning mortals; and the |
| 15 | beasts that have these propensities express the lower qualities of the so-called animal man; in other words, the nature and quality of mortal mind, - not immortal |
| 18 |
Mind. What is the distinction between mortal
mind and im- |
| 21 | Mortal mind includes all evil, disease, and death; also, all beliefs relative to the so-called material laws, and all material objects, and the law of sin and death. |
| 24 | The Scripture says, "The carnal mind [in other words, mortal mind] is enmity against God; for it is not sub- ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Mortal |
| 27 | mind is an illusion; as much in our waking moments as in the dreams of sleep. The belief that intelligence, Truth, and Love, are in matter and separate from God, |
| 30 |
is an error; for there is no intelligent evil, and no power Page 37 |
| 1 | besides God, good. God would not be omnipotent if there were in reality another mind creating or governing |
| 3 |
man or the universe. Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind
is made |
| 6 |
kind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual Jesus recognized this relation so clearly that he said, |
| 9 | "I and my Father are one." In proportion as we
oppose the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death, and recognize ourselves under the control of God, |
| 12 | spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those words of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world . . . heal the |
| 15 |
sick." Can your Science cure intemperance? Christian Science lays the axe at the root of the tree. |
| 18 | Its antidote for all ills is God, the perfect Mind, which
corrects mortal thought, whence cometh all evil. God can and does destroy the thought that leads to moral |
| 21 | or physical death. Intemperance, impurity, sin of every sort, is destroyed by Truth. The appetite for alcohol yields to Science as directly and surely as do sickness |
| 24 |
and sin. Does Mrs. Eddy take patients? She now does not. Her time is wholly devoted to in- |
| 27 |
struction, leaving to her students the work of healing; Page 38 |
| 1 | Why do you charge for teaching Christian Science, when all the good we can do must be done freely? |
| 3 | When teaching imparts the ability to gain and main- tain health, to heal and elevate man in every line of life, - as this teaching certainly does, - is it un- |
| 6 | reasonable to expect in return something to support one's self and a Cause? If so, our whole system of education, secular and religious, is at fault, and the |
| 9 | instructors and philanthropists in our land should ex- pect no compensation. "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your |
| 12 |
carnal things ?" How happened you to establish a college
to instruct in |
| 15 |
such a dry and abstract subject? Metaphysics, as taught by me at the
Massachusetts |
| 18 | is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics need- |
| 21 | ful, indispensable. Teaching metaphysics at other col- leges means, mainly, elaborating a man-made theory, or some speculative view too vapory and hypothetical |
| 24 |
for questions of practical import. Is it necessary to study your Science
in order to be healed |
| 27 |
It is not necessary to make each patient a student Page 39 |
| 1 | practical value. Many who apply for help are not prepared to take a course of instruction in Christian |
| 3 |
Science. To avoid being subject to disease,
would require the |
| 6 | knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad at this early date some grossly incorrect and false |
| 9 | teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim; whereas the Founder of genuine Christian Science has |
| 12 |
been all her years in giving it birth. . Can you take care of yourself ? God giveth to every one this puissance; and I have |
| 15 | faith in His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway"
- all the way. Unlike the M. D.'s, Christian Scientists are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this |
| 18 | medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, ex- haustless source they intend to fill the human mind with enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump. |
| 21 | There may be exceptional cases, where one Christian Scientist who has more to meet than others needs support at times; then, it is right to bear "one another's burdens, |
| 24 |
and so fulfil the law of Christ." In what way is a Christian Scientist
an instrument by |
| 27 |
obstructs the way? A Christian, or a Christian Scientist,
assumes no more |
| 30 |
than in converting the sinner. Divine help is as neces- Page 40 |
| 1 | sary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Prin- ciple of healing demands such cooperation; but this |
| 3 | unison and its power would be arrested if one were to mix material methods with the spiritual, - were to min- gle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same pro- |
| 6 | cess, - and thus serve "other gods." Truth is as effectual in destroying sickness as in the destruction of sin. |
| 9 | It is often asked, "If Christian Science is the same method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used, why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures |
| 12 |