CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE

PAGE 107

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me
is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. - PAUL.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - JESUS.

Christian Science discovered

1 In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or
divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and
3 named my discovery Christian Science. God
had been graciously preparing me during many
years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab-
6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.

Mission of Christian Science
 This apodictical Principle points to the revelation of
Immanuel, "God with us," - the sovereign ever-pres-

9 ence, delivering the children of men from
every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through
Christian Science, religion and medicine are
12 inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions
are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac-
quaint themselves intelligently with God.

Discontent with life

15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life
inheres in the body, yet remembering that in
reality God is our Life, we may well tremble
18 in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I
have no pleasure in them."

PAGE 108

1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, - a con-
viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses?
3 According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me
6 the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-
sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity
of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the
9 price of learning love," establish the truism that the
only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot
suffer.

Demonstrable evidence

12 My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence
of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty
and the lesser demonstration to prove the
15 greater, as the product of three multiplied by
three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times
three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, - not
18 a fraction more, not a unit less.

Light shining in darkness
 When apparently near the confines of mortal existence,
standing already within the shadow of the death-valley,

21 I learned these truths in divine Science: that
all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and
that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-
24 present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin,
sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false
material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense
27 evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which
this same so-called mind names matter thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit.

New lines of thought

30 My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed
mind produces all the organism and action of
the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels,

PAGE 109

1 and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that
Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in
3 Mind-science.

Scientific evidence
 Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind
is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind

6 and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen
to be supported by sensible evidence, until its
divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and
9 thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen,
no other conclusion can be reached.

Solitary research
 For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu-

12 tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip-
tures and read little else, kept aloof from so-
ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis-
15 covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and
buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew
the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God,
18 and that cures were produced in primitive Christian
healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the
Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute
21 conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem-
onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand-
ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine
24 power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the
prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled:
"Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be
27 called Wonderful."

Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not
mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will,

30 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.)

God's allness learned
 The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni-

PAGE 110

1 presence, omniscience, - Spirit possessing all power,
filling all space, constituting all Science, - contradict
3 forever the belief that matter can be actual.
These eternal verities reveal primeval exist-
ence as the radiant reality of God's creation,
6 in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis-
dom good.

Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful

9 unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought
to light another glorious proposition, - man's perfecti-
bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on
12 earth.

Scriptural foundations
 In following these leadings of scientific revelation,
the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were

15 illumined; reason and revelation were recon-
ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian
Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue
18 taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE
AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can over-
throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti-
21 cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas
may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the
Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis-
24 cerned and demonstrated.

The demonstration lost and found
 Jesus demonstrated the power of Christian Science to
heal mortal minds and bodies. But this power was lost

27 sight of, and must again be spiritually dis-
cerned, taught, and demonstrated according
to Christ's command, with "signs following."
30 Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe
on Christ and spiritually understand Truth.

Mystical antagonists
 No analogy exists between the vague hypotheses of

PAGE 111

1 agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or
millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris-
3 tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous
reason of the human mind, to be opposed to
the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science.

Optical illustration of Science

6 Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The
Science of God and man is no more supernatural than
is the science of numbers, though departing
9 from the realm of the physical, as the Science
of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to
the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics
12 is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza-
tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon-
strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted
15 and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex-
planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted
image and shows what this inverted image is meant to
18 represent.

Pertinent proposal
 A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni-
versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science,

21 - an essay calculated to offset the tendency of
the age to attribute physical effects to physical
causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, - is one of
24 many incidents which show that Christian Science meets
a yearning of the human race for spirituality.

Confirmatory tests
 After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its

27 demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi-
dent to me, - that Mind governs the body,
not partially but wholly. I submitted my
30 metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad-
est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually
gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien-

PAGE 112

1 tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent
in medical practice.

One school of Truth

3 Is there more than one school of Christian Science?
Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there-
fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de-
6 part from this method forfeit their claims to
belong to its school, and they become adher-
ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some
9 other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad-
here to some particular system of human opinions. Al-
though these opinions may have occasional gleams of
12 divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which
eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain
wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not
15 scientifically Christian.

Unchanging Principle
 From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one
Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude

18 come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon-
stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the
same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are
21 the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac-
terized in the epistle to the Hebrews.

On sandy foundations
 Any theory of Christian Science, which departs from

24 what has already been stated and proved to be true, af-
fords no foundation upon which to establish
a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any
27 so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and
yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that
author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it
30 inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the
Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal."

Principle and practice
 God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there

PAGE 113

1 is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of
all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-
3 stration of this divine Principle. The letter
of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day,
but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part,
6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-
out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, -
pulseless, cold, inanimate.

Reversible propositions

9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics
are summarized in the four following, to me, self-evident
propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi-
12 tions will be found to agree in statement and
proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to
Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to
15 stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.

       1. God is All-in-all.
       2. God is good. Good is Mind.

18        3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
       4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin,
           disease. - Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo-
21            tent God, Life.

Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both
are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture,

24 I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a
liar."

Metaphysical inversions
 The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the

27 method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion.
For example: There is no pain in Truth, and
no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no
30 mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat-
ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter
in good, and no good in matter.

PAGE 114

Definition of mortal mind

1 Usage classes both evil and good together as mind;
therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin-
3 ful humanity mortal mind, - meaning by this
term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human
mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or
6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition
of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses,
which makes minds many and calls mind both human and
9 divine.

In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phe-
nomena, God and His thoughts.

Imperfect terminology

12 Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an
improper use of the word mind. As Mind is immortal,
the phrase mortal mind implies something un-
15 true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase
is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to
designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if
18 a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would
be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must
sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new
21 wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of
the letter.

Causation mental
 Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men-

24 tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and
body. It shows the scientific relation of man
to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities
27 of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine
Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni-
ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed mat-
30 ter is but the subjective state of what is termed by the
author mortal mind.

Philological inadequacy
 Apart from the usual opposition to everything new,

PAGE 115

1 the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual-
ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science
3 comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for
metaphysical statements, and the consequent
difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make
6 them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person-
ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in
my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the
9 mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the
right impression, when translating material terms back
into the original spiritual tongue.

12 SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF IMMORTAL MIND

Divine synonyms
 GOD: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love,
Soul, Spirit, Mind.

Divine image

15 MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per-
fect, eternal.

Divine reflection
 IDEA: An image in Mind; the immediate

18 object of understanding. - Webster.
SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF MORTAL MIND
First Degree: Depravity.

Unreality

21 PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear,
depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de-
ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease,
24 death.
Second Degree: Evil beliefs disappearing.

Transitional qualities
 MORAL. Humanity, honesty, affection, com-
passion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance.

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1 Third Degree: Understanding.

Reality
 SPIRITUAL. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding,

3 spiritual power, love, health, holiness.

Spiritual universe
 In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as
God's image appears. Science so reverses the evidence

6 before the corporeal human senses, as to make
this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts,
"The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God
9 and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and
must of necessity be, - all-inclusive.

Aim of Science
 A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta-

12 tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen.
Works on metaphysics leave the grand point
untouched. They never crown the power of
15 Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against
physical enemies, - even to the extinction of all belief in
matter, evil, disease, and death, - nor insist upon the fact
18 that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an
image in mortal mind.

Divine personality
 Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that

21 God is not corporeal, but incorporeal, - that is,
bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is
incorporeal.

24 As the words person and personal are commonly and
ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to
Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity
27 and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality,
as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is
infinite Person, - in the sense of infinite personality, but
30 not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form
is an absolute impossibility.

PAGE 117

1 The term individuality is also open to objections, be-
cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many,
3 as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God
is One, - not one of a series, but one alone and without
an equal.

Spiritual language

6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must
be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi-
cal nature and significance to the Supreme
9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do
this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last
chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir-
12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs
following."

The miracles of Jesus
 Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-

15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-
tudes and parables. As a divine student he
unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-
18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over
the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to
interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles
21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,
crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the
flesh.

Opacity of the senses

24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates
solely to human reason; and because of opaci-
ty to the true light, human reason dimly re-
27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth
is a revelation.

Leaven of Truth
 Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the

30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-
fined as human doctrines. His parable of the
"leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures

PAGE 118

1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ
3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above
the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the
illustration.

6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the
Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-
9 ble world?

Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally

12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom.

The divine and human contrasted
 In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-

15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
finite power and grace. The parable may
import that these spiritual laws, perverted by
18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-
sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modes
of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust
21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and
modes of material motion are honored with the name of
laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes
24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical
properties of meal.

Certain contradictions
 The definitions of material law, as given by natural

27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against
itself, because these definitions portray law as
physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-
30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in
which nature and God are one and the natural order of
heaven comes down to earth.

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Unescapable dilemma

1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,
that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we
3 cannot really endow matter with what it does
not and cannot possess, - we disown the Al-
mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They
6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product
of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-
9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-
ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other
horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of
12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-
ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their
source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-
15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural
law.

God and nature
 In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-

18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law-
giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-
sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
24 of Spirit, God.

The sun and Soul
 In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth

27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
omy reverses the human perception of the
movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-
30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it

PAGE 120

1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under-
stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in
3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.
Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and
man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's
6 image.

Reversal of testimony
 Science reverses the false testimony of the physical
senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-

9 mental facts of being. Then the question in-
evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material
senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter
12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the
senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which
health is normal and disease is abnormal.

Health and the senses

15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor
can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub-
ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing
18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind
to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There-
fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi-
21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously
existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and
thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows
24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

Any conclusion pro or con, deduced from supposed sen-
sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness

27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of
the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate
and so leads to disease.

Historic illustrations

30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the
globe, ignorance and superstition chained the
limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-

PAGE 121

1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-
3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.

Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields

6 were incorrectly explored.

Perennial beauty
 The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher

9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven
were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's
12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So
we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but
man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained
15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate
star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."

Astronomic unfoldings
 The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical

18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead
of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked
by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this
21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-
duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often
to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple
24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the
central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,
and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides
27 turning daily on its own axis.

As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-

30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and
is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting
government of the universe.

PAGE 122

Opposing testimony

1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, -
3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and
death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-
derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false
6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual
reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-
versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-
9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;
yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary
to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such
12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,
from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status
of happiness or misery.

Testimony of the senses

15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops
apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet
18 and mingle. The barometer, - that little
prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of
the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky
21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances
of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for
himself.

Spiritual sense of life

24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
existence.

Ptolemaic and psychical error
 Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul

30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.
They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-
tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the

PAGE 123

1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and
Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as
3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and
Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole-
maic blunder could not affect the harmony of
6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which
reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the
power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes
9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in
the universe.

Seeming and being
 The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that

12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,
rising above physical theories, excludes matter,
resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of
15 material sense with spiritual ideas.

The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by
the author to designate the scientific system of divine

18 healing.

The revelation consists of two parts:

        1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-

21               healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and
              through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by
              the Master.
24        2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-
              called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a
              dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an
27               ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this
              Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order
              and continuity of being.

Scientific basis

30 Christian Science differs from material sci-
ence, but not on that account is it less scien-
tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi-

PAGE 124

1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of
all science.

Physical science a blind belief

3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a
law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his
strength. When this human belief lacks organ-
6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.
Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,
nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect
9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter,
thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.
In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material
12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which
immortal Spirit silences forever.

Right interpretation
 The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science

15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under-
stood; but when explained on the basis of
physical sense and represented as subject to
18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,
and must continue to be, an enigma.

All force mental
 Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of

21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support
the equipoise of that thought-force, which
launched the earth in its orbit and said to the
24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all
things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and

27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them
forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they
belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this
30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and
classification.

Corporeal changes
 The elements and functions of the physical body and

PAGE 125

1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes
its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition
3 for organic and functional health in the human
body may no longer be found indispensable
to health. Moral conditions will be found always har-
6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction
nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will
be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought,
9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than
he was in the prior states which human belief created and
sanctioned.

12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-
other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and
joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand-
15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-
erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's
government, man is self-governed. When subordinate
18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or
death, thus proving our material theories about laws of
health to be valueless.

The time and tide

21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and
tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-
culturist will find that these changes cannot
24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou
change them and they shall be changed." The mariner
will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great
27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.
The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, -
he will look out from them upon the universe; and the
30 florist will find his flower before its seed.

Mortal nothingness
 Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more
than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man

PAGE 126

1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-
ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The
3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will
be solved, and mortal mind will be without
form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds
6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection
in a glass.

A lack of originality
 All Science is divine. Human thought never pro-

9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief
has sought and interpreted in its own way
the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have
12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human
mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive
sound.

Antagonistic questions

15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the
one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall
Science explain cause and effect as being
18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that
is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called
supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative
21 hypotheses?

Biblical basis
 I have set forth Christian Science and its application
to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.

24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects
of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals
of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern
27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings
and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of
prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au-
30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and
narrow way" of Truth.

Science and Christianity
 If Christendom resists the author's application of the

PAGE 127

1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the
word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-
3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon
her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of
the spiritual universe, including man, then everything
6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be
comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for
there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.

Scientific terms

9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ
Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-
ploys interchangeably, according to the re-
12 quirements of the context. These synony-
mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in-
finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however,
15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to
Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re-
veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death,
18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt
from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not
the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs,
21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor
sensation.

No physical science
 There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth

24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not
human, and is not a law of matter, for matter
is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of
27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright.
It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine
utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.

30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science,
in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter
is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con-

PAGE 128

1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of
divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not
3 miraculous to itself.

Practical Science
 The term Science, properly understood, refers only to
the laws of God and to His government of the universe,

6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that
business men and cultured scholars have found
that Christian Science enhances their endurance and
9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,
gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an
ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human
12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes
more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes
somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-
15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities
and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of
thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher
18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight
and perspicacity.

An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-

21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would
not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from
24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which
banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi-
mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter.

Mathematics and scientific logic

27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed
Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation.
The addition of two sums in mathematics must
30 always bring the same result. So is it with
logic. If both the major and the minor propo-
sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly

PAGE 129

1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there
are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as
3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl-
logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.
Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in
6 premise or conclusion.

Truth by inversion
 If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis-
cover it by reversing the material fable, be the

9 fable pro or con, - be it in accord with your
preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.

Antagonistic theories
 Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli-

12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.
In those days there will be "great tribulation
such as was not since the beginning of the
15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]
come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal
magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-
18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true
being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some
other systems.

Ontology needed

21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol-
ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep
into realism instead of accepting only the out-
24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches
from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of
being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading
27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its
reformatory mission among mortals. The very name,
illusion, points to nothingness.

Reluctant guests

30 The generous liver may object to the author's small
estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees,
in the system taught in this book, that the demands of

PAGE 130

1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-
stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-
3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-
cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,
6 and therefore they cannot accept.

Excuses for ignorance
 It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which
destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate

9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,
- if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will
12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om-
nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and
its sweet concords have all-power.

Children and adults

15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-
abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war
against spiritual facts; and these material
18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make
place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a
vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's
21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, -
an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-
monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's
24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as
they belong to the heavenly kingdom.

All evil unnatural
 If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science

27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should

PAGE 131

1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem
3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our
lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.

The error of carnality

6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-
dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the
opposition of sensuous man to the Science of
9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of
the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.

12 THEOLOGY

Churchly neglect
 Must Christian Science come through the Christian
churches as some persons insist? This Science has come

15 already, after the manner of God's appoint-
ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-
ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came
18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once
said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-
time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-
24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the
hearts of men are made ready for it.

John the Baptist, and the Messiah
 The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-

27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural
demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra- ,
tions which were not understood. Jesus' works
30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In
reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"

PAGE 132

1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works
instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-
swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see: the
6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In
other words, he gave his benediction to any one who
should not deny that such effects, coming from divine
12 Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principle
which brings out all harmony.

Christ rejected
 The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the

15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained
their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'
system of healing received no aid nor approval
18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines
of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-
ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the
21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the
door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-
ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal
24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the
true idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi-
cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man
27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

John's misgivings
 Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing
power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-

30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher
once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the
Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned

PAGE 133

1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry
to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"

Faith according to works

3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
There was also a certain centurion of whose
6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel."

In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from

9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
18 in kings' palaces.

Judaism antipathetic
 Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because
Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or

21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material
system, carried out in special theories concern-
ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.
24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the
Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity
on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-
27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-
gence, nor substance outside of God.

Priestly learning
 The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,

30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
given place to the true knowledge of God.
Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of

PAGE 134

1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-
peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth
3 is still opposed with sword and spear.

Testimony of martyrs
 The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but
those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted

6 unto death, that at length the word martyr
 was narrowed in its significance and so has
come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.
9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred
of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of
Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;
12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
by the gallows and the cross.

Absence of Christ-power
 Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed

15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ
or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-
18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very
element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and
unequalled success in the first century.

Basis of miracles

21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not
because this Science is supernatural or pre-
24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
30 spiritual power over material resistance.

Lawful wonders
 A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that
law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than

PAGE 135

1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed
thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,
3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,
that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,
like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle
introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,
establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of
divine power.

Fear and sickness identical
 The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.

12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals
the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth
casts out the evil called disease, it heals the
15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of
dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating
18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel
and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"
What cannot God do?

The unity of Science and Christianity

21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be
Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the
other is false and useless; but neither is unim-
24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
stration. This proves the one to be identical
with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not
27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift
from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration
of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,
30 not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-
stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of
divine light.

PAGE 136

The Christ-mission

1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
3 his followers that his religion had a divine
Principle, which would cast out error and heal
both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-
6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the
persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine
power to save men both bodily and spiritually.

Ancient spiritualism

9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the
sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.
He appealed to his students: "Whom do
12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting
out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some
15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets
were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that
18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,
controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.

This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.

21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have
no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work
of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such
24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully
understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-
trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-
27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No
wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.

Doubting disciples
 The disciples apprehended their Master better than

30 did others; but they did not comprehend all
that he said and did, or they would not have
questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in

PAGE 137

1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-
dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,
3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work
was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the
crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before
6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and
the grave.

Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,

9 "But whom say ye that I am?" This renewed inquiry
meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so
mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the
12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,
it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow
opinion implied in their citation of the common report
15 about him.

A divine response
 With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his
brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou

18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-
clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and
21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from
Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath
shown thee the way of Life!

The true and living rock
 Before this the impetuous disciple had been called

27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of
Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir-
itual name in these words: "And I say also
30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the
meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build
my church; and the gates of hell [hades, the under-

PAGE 138

1 world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it." In
other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not
3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-
power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true
Messiah.

Sublime summary

6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and
Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the
sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm
9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to
outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither
12 by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by
the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which
15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion
of Love.

New era in Jesus
 Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for

18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
under as direct orders now, as they were then,
to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to
21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as
the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-
ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with
24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-
ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as
readily is it was proved centuries ago.

Healthful theology

27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . .
Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as
30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which
healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this
book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which

PAGE 139

1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-
3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.

Marvels and reformations
 From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of
accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.

6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men
called miracles ; so did Joshua, Elijah, and
Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and
9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been
brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-
12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely
to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows
inward.

Science obscured

15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what
should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-
ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old
Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,
- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole
21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some
extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither
wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen
24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of
Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw
that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-
27 come "the head of the corner."

Opponents benefited
 Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are
opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-

30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-
tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-

PAGE 140

1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most
cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the
3 treatment of moral ailments.

God invisible to the senses
 That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.
The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not

6 see My face; for there shall no man see Me
and live." Not materially but spiritually we
know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We
9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the
divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no
more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence
12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of
the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-
scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and
15 swallowing camels.

The true worship
 We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship
materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-

18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals
are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true
21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth."

Anthropomorphism
 The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,

24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
The Christian Science God is universal, eter-
nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-
27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully
true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-
ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-
30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own
human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
magnified?

PAGE 141

More than profession required

1 This indicates the distance between the theological and
ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by
3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for
Christian demonstration. Few understand or
adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and
6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-
ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
- that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs
9 and practices, to leave all for Christ.

No ecclesiastical monopoly
 All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come
from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-

12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a
royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,
Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect
15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle and
of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical
18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The
Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and
21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and
do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-
fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.
24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
understood.

A change demanded

27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-
ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our
pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let
30 it have fair representation by the press. Give
to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-
pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will

PAGE 142

1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-
3 lishment and propagation.

Two claims omitted
 Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured
Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;

6 but modern religions generally omit all but one
of these powers, - the power over sin. We
must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our
9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can
furnish us with absolute evidence.

Selfishness and loss
 If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-

12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with
beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the
gate, they at the same time shut the door on
15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their
story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right
hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.

Temple cleansed

18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to
be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-
ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of
21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their
vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet
24 dwelling-places for the Most High.
MEDICINE

Question of precedence
 Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was

27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have
been the first medicine. God being All-in-
all, He made medicine; but that medicine was
30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs
from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth

PAGE 143

1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-
stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,
3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the
sick.

Methods rejected
 It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,

6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have
recommended and employed them in his heal-
ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than
9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and
the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter
medicine, and matter required a material and human be-
12 lief before it could be considered as medicine.

Error not curative
 Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-
cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,

15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from starva-
tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You
18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but
you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,
etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by
21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on
the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-
prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.
24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative
mind.

Impossible coalescence
 Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power

27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was
first chronologically, is first potentially, and
must be first eternally, then give to Mind the
30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its
holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will

PAGE 144

1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make
them do so, since no good can come of it?

3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,
which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if
these so-called powers are real.

6 Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;
Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.

Soul and sense
 The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-

9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,
and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.
The more material a belief, the more obstinately
12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of
the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.

Will-power detrimental
 Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs

15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-
demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the
metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but
18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-
fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,
and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and
21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to
disease, "Peace, be still."

Conservative antagonism
 Because divine Science wars with so-called physical

24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools
still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice
closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped.
27 When the Science of being is universally understood,
every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be
the universal panacea.

Ancient healers

30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired
healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or

PAGE 145

1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural
musician catches the tones of harmony, without being
3 able to explain them. So divinely imbued
were they with the spirit of Science, that the
lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that
6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their
practice.

The struggle and victory
 The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not

9 between material methods, but between mortal minds
and immortal Mind. The victory will be on
the patient's side only as immortal Mind
12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in
disease. It matters not what material method one may
adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance
15 on some other minor curative.

Mystery of godliness
 Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-
ods, - that in it Truth controls error. From this fact

18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects
are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery
21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness
always presents to the ungodly, - the mystery always
arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-
24 ing Mind.

Matter versus matter
 Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of

27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.

How healing was lost
 The theology of Christian Science includes healing
the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded

PAGE 146

1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
3 has this element of Christianity been lost?
Because our systems of religion are governed
more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
12 Christlike.

Drugs and divinity
 Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.

15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.

Christian Science as old as God
 Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,

24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
27 must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
30 all space.

Reduction to system
 Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of

PAGE 147

1 the age in which we live. This system enables the
learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
disease.

6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine
rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the
broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-
9 plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-
manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost
none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-
12 turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules
on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.

Perusal and practice
 Although this volume contains the complete Science of

15 Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole
meaning of the Science by a simple perusal
 of this book. The book needs to be studied,
18 and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing
will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of
Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the
21 perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en-
ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto
unattained and seemingly dim.

A definite rule discovered

24 Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal-
ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to
his students; but he left no definite rule for
27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and
preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered
in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good-
30 ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of
goodness and demonstrates its rules.

Jesus' own practice
 Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult

PAGE 148

1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they
had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen-
3 eration," implying that the requisite power
to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs,
urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct
6 disobedience to them.

The man of anatomy and of theology
 Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man
as created by Spirit, - as God's man. The former ex-

9 plains the men of men, or the "children of
men," as created corporeally instead of spir-
itually and as emerging from the lowest, in-
12 stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both
anatomy and theology define man as both physical and
mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every
15 function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes
up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the
true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the-
18 ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo-
nious man, and deal - the one wholly, the other primarily
- with matter, calling that man which is not the counter-
21 part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology
tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, - how
from this basis of division and discord to produce the con-
24 cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.

Physiology deficient
 Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims
to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When

27 physiology fails to give health or life by this
process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable
or unwilling to render help in time of physical need.
30 When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them
to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be
the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great

PAGE 149

1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness
as well as from sin.

Blunders and blunderers

3 Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as
in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine
Science in every case. Is materia medica a
6 science or a bundle of speculative human
theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in-
stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different
9 mental states of the patient. These states are not com-
prehended and they are left without explanation except
in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera-
12 tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any
case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of
Christ, Truth, more in your own life, - because you have
15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine
Science.

Old-school physician
 A physician of the old school remarked with great
18 gravity: "We know that mind affects the body some-
what, and advise our patients to be hopeful
and cheerful and to take as little medicine as

21 possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties."
The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author
has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she
24 has cured purely functional disease, and with no power
but the divine Mind.

Tests in our day
 Since God, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but

27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.
Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits
mind and body. We need to understand the
30 affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and
demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there
is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to

PAGE 150

1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue
and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian
3 system of healing disease.

The main purpose
 To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-
strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a

6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the
coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace,
good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised
9 by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian
Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration,
12 is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then,
signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-
ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-
15 strate its divine origin, - to attest the reality of the higher
mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the
world.

Exploded doctrine

18 The science (so-called) of physics would have one be-
lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease,
and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro-
21 test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.
This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and
it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to
24 all others at some future day, as the practically rejected
doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or
salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov-
27 erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that
he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of
matter, - even the doctrine of the superiority of matter
30 over Mind, - is fading out.

Disease mental
 The hosts of AEsculapius are flooding the world with
diseases, because they are ignorant that the human mind

PAGE 151

1 and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat
the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but
3 this one factor they represent to be body, not
mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create
a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind
6 has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its
redemption and healing.

Intentions respected
 Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of

9 the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un-
derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were
in possession of the enlarged power it confers
12 to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would
rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would
ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres-
15 sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which
multitudes would gladly escape.

Man governed by Mind
 Mortal belief says that death has been occasioned by

18 fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The
blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing
to do with Life, God. Every function of the
21 real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human
mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no com-
trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man
24 maintain His own image and likeness. The human
mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul
declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and
27 its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found har-
monious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to
see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and
30 follow the leadings of truth.

Mortal mind dethroned
 That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the
mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-

PAGE 152

1 called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield
to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but
3 it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind
takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and
saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored
6 to make this book the AEsculapius of mind as well as of
body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them,
although they know not how the work is done. Truth
9 has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.

All activity from thought
 Anatomy describes muscular action as produced by
mind in one instance and not in another. Such errors

12 beset every material theory, in which one
statement contradicts another over and over
again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap-
15 parently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing
a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did
merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body;
18 but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended
to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. Such a fact
illustrates our theories.

The author's experiments in medicine

21 The author's medical researches and experiments had
prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian
Science. Every material dependence had
24 failed her in her search for truth; and she can
now understand why, and can see the means
by which mortals are divinely driven to a spiritual source
27 for health and happiness.

Homoeopathic attenuations
 Her experiments in homoeopathy had made her skep-
tical as to material curative methods. Jahr, from

30 Aconitum to Zincum oxydatum, enumerates
the general symptoms, the characteristic
signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug

PAGE 153

1 is frequently attenuated to such a degree that not a ves-
tige of it remains. Thus we learn that it is not the drug
3 which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms
of disease.

Only salt and water
 The author has attenuated Natrum muriaticum (com-

6 mon table-salt) until there was not a single saline property
left. The salt had "lost his savour;" and yet,
with one drop of that attenuation in a goblet of
9 water, and a teaspoonful of the water administered at in-
tervals of three hours, she has cured a patient sinking in
the last stage of typhoid fever. The highest attenuation
12 of homoeopathy and the most potent rises above matter into
mind. This discovery leads to more light. From it may
be learned that either human faith or the divine Mind is
15 the healer and that there is no efficacy in a drug.

Origin of pain
 You say a boil is painful; but that is impossible, for
matter without mind is not painful. The boil simply

18 manifests, through inflammation and swell-
ing, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a
boil. Now administer mentally to your patient a high
21 attenuation of truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The
fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind
to feel it is a proof that this so-called mind makes its
24 own pain - that is, its own belief in pain.

Source of contagion
 We weep because others weep, we yawn because they
yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but

27 mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries
the infection. When this mental contagion is
understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con-
30 ditions and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about
disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither
sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish

PAGE 154

1 error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
advocate.

3 Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-
sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain
diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-
6 tains credit through association, - calling up the fear that
creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-
tation in the body.

Imaginary cholera

9 This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a
bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-
12 diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught
the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient
15 had been in that bed.

Children's ailments
 If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
mother is frightened and says, "My child will be sick."

18 The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
ern her child more than the child's mind gov-
erns itself, and they produce the very results which might
21 have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought
the mischief.

24 That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You
look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You
27 need medicine."

Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
hurt her face by falling on the carpet, and says, moaning

30 more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are
hurt." The better and more successful method for any
mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not

PAGE 155

1 hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
all about the accident, and is at play.

Drug-power mental

3 When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law
of a general belief, culminating in individual faith, which
heals; and according to this faith will the effect
6 be. Even when you take away the individual
confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug
from the general faith. The chemist, the botanist, the
9 druggist, the doctor, and the nurse equip the medicine
with their faith, and the beliefs which are in the majority
rule. When the general belief endorses the inanimate
12 drug as doing this or that, individual dissent or faith, un-
less it rests on Science, is but a belief held by a minority,
and such a belief is governed by the majority.

Belief in physics

15 The universal belief in physics weighs against the high
and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone-
ous general belief, which sustains medicine and
18 produces all medical results, works against
Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the
side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of
21 popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The
human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords
of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less
24 weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight
into the spiritual scale. Homoeopathy diminishes the
drug, but the potency of the medicine increases as the
27 drug disappears.

Nature of drugs
 Vegetarianism, homoeopathy, and hydropathy have
diminish