CHAPTER XII - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE

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Why art thou cast down, O my soul [sense]?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him,
Who is the health of my countenance and my God. - PSALMS.

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they
cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - JESUS.

A gospel narrative

1 IT is related in the seventh chapter of Luke's Gospel
that Jesus was once the honored guest of a certain
3 Pharisee, by name Simon, though he was quite unlike
Simon the disciple. While they were at meat, an unusual
incident occurred, as if to interrupt the scene
6 of Oriental festivity. A "strange woman"
came in. Heedless of the fact that she was debarred from
such a place and such society, especially under the stern
9 rules of rabbinical law, as positively as if she were a Hin-
doo pariah intruding upon the household of a high-caste
Brahman, this woman (Mary Magdalene, as she has
12 since been called) approached Jesus. According to the
custom of those days, he reclined on a couch with his
head towards the table and his bare feet away from it.
15 It was therefore easy for the Magdalen to come behind

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1 the couch and reach his feet. She bore an alabaster jar
containing costly and fragrant oil, - sandal oil perhaps,
3 which is in such common use in the East. Breaking
the sealed jar, she perfumed Jesus' feet with the oil,
wiping them with her long hair, which hung loosely
6 about her shoulders, as was customary with women of her
grade.

Parable of the creditor
 Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adora-

9 tion? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was
this all. Knowing what those around him
were saying in their hearts, especially his host,
12 - that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the
exalted guest did not at once detect the woman's immoral
status and bid her depart, - knowing this, Jesus rebuked
15 them with a short story or parable. He described two
debtors, one for a large sum and one for a smaller, who
were released from their obligations by their common
18 creditor. "Which of them will love him most?" was the
Master's question to Simon the Pharisee; and Simon re-
plied, "He to whom he forgave most." Jesus approved
21 the answer, and so brought home the lesson to all, follow-
ing it with that remarkable declaration to the woman,
"Thy sins are forgiven."

Divine insight

24 Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love?
Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight
detect this unspoken moral uprising? She
27 bathed his feet with her tears before she
anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other
proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the
30 expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth
in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the
mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man

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1 of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been
rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this
3 planet. Her reverence was unfeigned, and it was mani-
fested towards one who was soon, though they knew it
not, to lay down his mortal existence in behalf of all
6 sinners, that through his word and works they might be
redeemed from sensuality and sin.

Penitence or hospitality
 Which was the higher tribute to such ineffable affec-
9 tion, the hospitality of the Pharisee or the contrition of
the Magdalen? This query Jesus answered
by rebuking self-righteousness and declaring
12 the absolution of the penitent. He even said that this
poor woman had done what his rich entertainer had neg-
lected to do, - wash and anoint his guest's feet, a special
15 sign of Oriental courtesy.

Here is suggested a solemn question, a question indi-
cated by one of the needs of this age. Do Christian

18 Scientists seek Truth as Simon sought the Saviour, through
material conservatism and for personal homage? Jesus
told Simon that such seekers as he gave small reward
21 in return for the spiritual purgation which came through
the Messiah. If Christian Scientists are like Simon,
then it must be said of them also that they love
24 little.

Genuine repentance
 On the other hand, do they show their regard for
Truth, or Christ, by their genuine repentance, by their

27 broken hearts, expressed by meekness and
human affection, as did this woman? If
so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus said of the
30 unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because
much is forgiven them.

Compassion requisite
 Did the careless doctor, the nurse, the cook, and the

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1 brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns
they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly
3 homesick looking away from earth, - Oh, did
they know! - this knowledge would do much
more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers
6 for the "midnight call," than all cries of "Lord, Lord!"
The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such
words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal
9 the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed
necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring;
but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common
12 sense and common humanity are disregarded, what men-
tal quality remains, with which to evoke healing from
the outstretched arm of righteousness?

Speedy healing

15 If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine
Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one
visit, and the disease will vanish into its native
18 nothingness like dew before the morning sun-
shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to
win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag-
21 dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to
practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas-
sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual
24 intent.

Truth desecrated
 If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice finds its
way into the chambers of disease through the would-be

27 healer, it would, if it were possible, convert
into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy
Ghost, - the patient's spiritual power to resuscitate him-
30 self. The unchristian practitioner is not giving to mind
or body the joy and strength of Truth. The poor suf-
fering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace,

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1 patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear
Father's loving-kindness.

Moral evils to be cast out

3 In order to cure his patient, the metaphysician
must first cast moral evils out of himself and thus
attain the spiritual freedom which will en-
6 able him to cast physical evils out of his
patient; but heal he cannot, while his own spiritual
barrenness debars him from giving drink to the thirsty
9 and hinders him from reaching his patient's thought, -
yea, while mental penury chills his faith and under-
standing.

The true physician

12 The physician who lacks sympathy for his fellow-
being is deficient in human affection, and we have the
apostolic warrant for asking: "He that loveth
15 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen?" Not having this
spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine
18 Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which
alone confers the healing power. Such so-called Scien-
tists will strain out gnats, while they swallow the camels
21 of bigoted pedantry.

Source of calmness
 The physician must also watch, lest he be over-
whelmed by a sense of the odiousness of sin and by the

24 unveiling of sin in his own thoughts. The
sick are terrified by their sick beliefs, and
sinners should be affrighted by their sinful beliefs; but
27 the Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of
both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is
God and God is All.

Genuine healing

30 If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we
must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we
would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent

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1 of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor
bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes
3 of its letter. The tender word and Christian
encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience
with his fears and the removal of them, are better than
6 hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed
speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so
many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame
9 with divine Love.

Gratitude and humility
This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not
"for the loaves and fishes," nor, like the Pharisee, with

12 the arrogance of rank and display of scholar-
ship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the sum-
mit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and
15 the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and
with those hairs all numbered by the Father.

The salt of the earth
 A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period

18 of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: "Ye
are the salt of the earth." "Ye are the light
of the world. A city that is set on an hill can-
21 not be hid." Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt
lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but
radiate and glow into noontide glory.

24 The infinite Truth of the Christ-cure has come to this
age through a "still, small voice," through silent utter-
ances and divine anointing which quicken and increase
27 the beneficial effects of Christianity. I long to see the
consummation of my hope, namely, the student's higher
attainments in this line of light.

Real and counterfeit

30 Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as
nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness,
error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the

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1 counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is
but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The
3 confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact
that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error
is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that
6 time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come
nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals,
and truth will become still clearer as error is self-
9 destroyed.

Results of faith in Truth
 Against the fatal beliefs that error is as real as Truth,
that evil is equal in power to good if not superior, and that

12 discord is as normal as harmony, even the hope
of freedom from the bondage of sickness and
sin has little inspiration to nerve endeavor. When we
15 come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have
in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith
in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man,
18 then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing
the sick and destroying error.

Life independent of matter
 That Life is not contingent on bodily conditions is

21 proved, when we learn that life and man survive this
body. Neither evil, disease, nor death can be
spiritual, and the material belief in them dis-
24 appears in the ratio of one's spiritual growth. Because
matter has no consciousness or Ego, it cannot act; its
conditions are illusions, and these false conditions are the
27 source of all seeming sickness. Admit the existence of
matter, and you admit that mortality (and therefore dis-
ease) has a foundation in fact. Deny the existence of
matter, and you can destroy the belief in material con-
ditions. When fear disappears, the foundation of disease
is gone. Once let the mental physician believe in the

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1 reality of matter, and he is liable to admit also the reality
of all discordant conditions, and this hinders his de-
3 stroying them. Thus he is unfitted for the successful
treatment of disease.

Man's entity
 In proportion as matter loses to human sense all en-

6 tity as man, in that proportion does man become its
master. He enters into a diviner sense of the
facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus
9 as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead,
and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested
Jesus' control over the belief that matter is substance,
12 that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any
form of existence.

The Christ treatment
 We never read that Luke or Paul made a reality of

15 disease in order to discover some means of healing it.
Jesus never asked if disease were acute or
chronic, and he never recommended atten-
18 tion to laws of health, never give drugs, never prayed
to know if God were willing that a man should live. He
understood man, whose life is God, to be immortal, and
21 knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and
the other to be made indestructible.

Matter not medicine
 The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the prevent-

24 ive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian
Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology,
or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood.
27 Unscientific methods are finding their dead level. Lim-
ited to matter by their own law, what have they of the
advantages of Mind and immortality?

No healing in sin

30 No man is physically healed in wilful error or by it,
any more than he is morally saved in or by sin. It is
error even to murmur or to be angry over sin. To be

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1 every whit whole, man must be better spiritually as well
as physically. To be immortal, we must forsake the
3 mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false
belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being
from the divine Mind. The body improves under the
6 same regimen which spiritualizes the thought; and if
health is not made manifest under this regimen, this
proves that fear is governing the body. This is the law
9 of cause and effect, or like producing like.

Like curing like
 Homoeopathy furnishes the evidence to the senses, that
symptoms, which might be produced by a certain drug,

12 are removed by using the same drug which
might cause the symptoms. This confirms
my theory that faith in the drug is the sole factor in the
15 cure. The effect, which mortal mind produces through
one belief, it removes through an opposite belief, but it
uses the same medicine in both cases.

18 The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered
into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on
the body. A physical diagnosis of disease - since mor-
21 tal mind must be the cause of disease - tends to induce
disease.

Transient potency of drugs
 According to both medical testimony and individual

24 experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power
and do no more for the patient. Hygienic
treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery
27 likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity
of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These les-
sons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely
30 change our basis from sensation to Christian Science,
from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.

Diagnosis of matter
 Physicians examine the pulse, tongue, lungs, to dis-

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1 cover the condition of matter, when in fact all is
Mind. The body is the substratum of mortal mind,
3 and this so-called mind must finally yield
to the mandate of immortal Mind.

Ghost-stories inducing fear
Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar

6 to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in
the dark. By those uninstructed in Christian
Science, nothing is really understood of material
9 existence. Mortals are believed to be here without their
consent and to be removed as involuntarily, not knowing
why nor when. As frightened children look everywhere
12 for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in
every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the
right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult, in bond-
15 age to his beliefs, no more comprehends his real being
than does the child; and the adult must be taken out of
his darkness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffer-
18 ings which throng the gloaming. The way in divine
Science is the only way out of this condition.

Mind imparts purity, health, and beauty
 I would not transform the infant at once into a

21 man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong babe.
No impossible thing do I ask when urging
the claims of Christian Science; but because
24 this teaching is in advance of the age, we
should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment.
Mankind will improve through Science and Christi-
27 anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to
the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart
purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak-
30 ness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an altera-
tive in the entire system, and can make it "every whit
whole."

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Brain not intelligent

1 Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick,
and Mind is immortal. The mortal body is only an erro-
3 neous mortal belief of mind in matter. What
you call matter was originally error in solu-
tion, elementary mortal mind, - likened by Milton to
6 "chaos and old night." One theory about this mortal
mind is, that its sensations can reproduce man, can form
blood, flesh, and bones. The Science of being, in which
9 all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer
in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium
of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought,
12 bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds
material and name them divine law.

Veritable success
 When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely,

15 he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject
to matter, nor disobey the law of God. There-
fore he will be as the angels in heaven. Chris-
18 tian Science and Christianity are one. How, then, in
Christianity any more than in Christian Science, can we
believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error,
21 Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries?
Matter is not self-sustaining. Its false supports fail one
after another. Matter succeeds for a period only by
24 falsely parading in the vestments of law.

Recognition of benefits
 "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven." In Chris-

27 tian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while
a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what
it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, super-
30 stition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of
benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery
of the sick and the success of the student.

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Disease far more docile than iniquity

1 If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in
darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian-
3 ity includes, then we must have more faith
in God on this subject and be more alive to
His promises. It is easier to cure the most
6 malignant disease than it is to cure sin. The author has
raised up the dying, partly because they were willing to
be restored, while she has struggled long, and perhaps in
9 vain, to lift a student out of a chronic sin. Under all
modes of pathological treatment, the sick recover more
rapidly from disease than does the sinner from his sin.
12 Healing is easier than teaching, if the teaching is faithfully
done.

Love frees from fear
 The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources

15 of man's enslavement. "The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom," but the Scriptures
also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that
18 "perfect Love casteth out fear."

The fear occasioned by ignorance can be cured; but
to remove the effects of fear produced by sin, you must

21 rise above both fear and sin. Disease is expressed not
so much by the lips as in the functions of the body. Es-
tablish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the
24 oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or
deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its
healthy functions.

Mind circulates blood

27 When the blood rushes madly through the veins or
languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these
conditions disease. This is a misconception.
30 Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the
languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means
the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard

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1 which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for
health. Anodynes, counter-irritants, and depletion never
3 reduce inflammation scientifically, but the truth of being,
whispered into the ear of mortal mind, will bring relief.

Mind can destroy all ills
 Hatred and its effects on the body are removed by

6 Love. Because mortal mind seems to be conscious, the
sick say: "How can my mind cause a disease
I never thought of and knew nothing about,
9 until it appeared on my body?" The author has an-
swered this question in her explanation of disease as origi-
nating in human belief before it is consciously apparent
12 on the body, which is in fact the objective state of mortal
mind, though it is called matter. This mortal blindness
and its sharp consequences show our need of divine meta-
15 physics. Through immortal Mind, or Truth, we can
destroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind.

Ignorance of the cause or approach of disease is no

18 argument against the mental origin of disease. You con-
fess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve
your own existence, and this belief helps rather than
21 hinders disease. Such a state of mind induces sickness.
It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice.
You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps
24 are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental
cause and effect.

Temperature is mental
 Heat and cold are products of mortal mind. The body,

27 when bereft of mortal mind, at first cools, and after-
wards it is resolved into its primitive mortal
elements. Nothing that lives ever dies, and
30 vice versa. Mortal mind produces animal heat, and then
expels it through the abandonment of a belief, or in-
creases it to the point of self-destruction. Hence it is

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1 mortal mind, not matter, which says, "I die." Heat
would pass from the body as painlessly as gas dissipates
3 into the air when it evaporates but for the belief that in-
flammation and pain must accompany the separation of
heat from the body.

Science versus hypnotism

6 Chills and heat are often the form in which fever mani-
fests itself. Change the mental state, and the chills and
fever disappear. The old-school physician
9 proves this when his patient says, " I am better,"
but the patient believes that matter, not mind,
has helped him. The Christian Scientist demonstrates
12 that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses
the patient of his individuality in order to control him.
No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any
15 mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental
practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be under-
stood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian
18 Scientist is adding to his patient's mental and moral power,
and is increasing his patient's spirituality while restoring
him physically through divine Love.

Cure for palsy

21 Palsy is a belief that matter governs mortals, and can
paralyze the body, making certain portions of
it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal
24 mind that muscles have no power to be lost, for Mind is
supreme, and you cure the palsy.

Latent fear diagnosed
 Consumptive patients always show great hopeful-

27 ness and courage, even when they are supposed to be in
hopeless danger. This state of mind seems
anomalous except to the expert in Christian
30 Science. This mental state is not understood, simply
because it is a stage of fear so excessive that it amounts
to fortitude. The belief in consumption presents to mor-

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1 tal thought a hopeless state, an image more terrifying than
that of most other diseases. The patient turns involun-
3 tarily from the contemplation of it, but though unacknowl-
edged, the latent fear and the despair of recovery remain
in thought.

Insidious concepts

6 Just so is it with the greatest sin. It is the most subtle,
and does its work almost self-deceived. The diseases
deemed dangerous sometimes come from the
9 most hidden, undefined, and insidious beliefs.
The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away
with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood
12 never gave life and can never take it away, - that Life is
Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one
good motive and act, than in all the blood which ever
15 flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal
sense of life.

Remedy for fever
 If the body is material, it cannot, for that very reason,

18 suffer with a fever. Because the so-called material body
is a mental concept and governed by mortal
mind, it manifests only what that so-called
21 mind expresses. Therefore the efficient remedy is to
destroy the patient's false belief by both silently and au-
dibly arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious
24 being, - representing man as healthy instead of diseased,
and showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to
feel pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear,
27 and you end fever. Some people, mistaught as to Mind-
science, inquire when it will be safe to check a fever.
Know that in Science you cannot check a fever after ad-
30 mitting that it must have its course. To fear and admit
the power of disease, is to paralyze mental and scientific
demonstration.

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1 If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con-
vince him that matter cannot take cold, and that thought
3 governs this liability. If grief causes suffering, convince
the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and
that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love.

Climate harmless

6 Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their
lives, but they come back no better than when they went
away. Then is the time to cure them through
9 Christian Science, and prove that they can
be healthy in all climates, when their fear of climate is
exterminated.

Mind governs body

12 Through different states of mind, the body becomes
suddenly weak or abnormally strong, showing mortal
mind to be the producer of strength or weak-
15 ness. A sudden joy or grief has caused what
is termed instantaneous death. Because a belief origi-
nates unseen, the mental state should be continually
18 watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects.
The author never knew a patient who did not recover
when the belief of the disease had gone. Remove the
21 leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind,
and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the mor-
bid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in
24 this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as
functional difficulties.

The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal

27 fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and
power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to
defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. With-
30 out this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of it-
self powerless to produce suffering. It is latent belief in
disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sick-

PAGE 378

1 ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro-
3 duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in-
telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer.
The understanding of this will enable you to commute this
6 self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth.
Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.

Latent power
 Without the so-called human mind, there can be no

9 inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove
the error, and you destroy its effects. By
looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles
12 Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani-
mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and
both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened
15 fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to
retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the
power of Truth over error, - the might of intelligence
18 exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas
hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted
to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous
21 bases.

Disease powerless
 Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into

24 its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given,
nor a self-constituted material power, which
copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God
27 never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to
chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.
Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon-
30 ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed,
it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis-
played in human governments.

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Jurisdiction of Mind

1 If disease can attack and control the body without
the consent of mortals, sin can do the same, for both
3 are errors, announced as partners in the be-
ginning. The Christian Scientist finds only
effects, where the ordinary physician looks for causes.
6 The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling
every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in
divine Mind.

Power of imagination

9 A felon, on whom certain English students experi-
mented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died be-
cause of that belief, when only a stream of
12 warm water was trickling over his arm. Had
he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would
have risen above the false belief. Let the despairing in-
15 valid, inspecting the hue of her blood on a cambric hand-
kerchief, think of the experiment of those Oxford boys,
who caused the death of a man, when not a drop of his
18 blood was shed. Then let her learn the opposite state-
ment of life as taught in Christian Science, and she will
understand that she is not dying on account of the state of
21 her blood, but is suffering from her belief that blood is
destroying her life. The so-called vital current does not
affect the invalid's health, but her belief produces the
24 very results she dreads.

Fevers the effect of fear
Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened
pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain in the

27 head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the
body by a mortal mind. The images, held in
this disturbed mind, frighten conscious thought. Unless
30 the fever-picture, drawn by millions of mortals and im-
aged on the body through the belief that mind is in matter
and discord is as real as harmony, is destroyed through

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1 Science, it may rest at length on some receptive thought,
and become a fever case, which ends in a belief called
3 death, which belief must be finally conquered by eternal
Life. Truth is always the victor. Sickness and sin fall
by their own weight. Truth is the rock of ages, the head-
6 stone of the corner, "but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder."

Misdirected contention
 Contending for the evidence or indulging the demands

9 of sin, disease, or death, we virtually contend against
the control of Mind over body, and deny the
power of Mind to heal. This false method
12 is as though the defendant should argue for the plaintiff
in favor of a decision which the defendant knows will
be turned against himself.

Benefits of metaphysics

15 The physical effects of fear illustrate its illusion. Gaz-
ing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not
terrify a man. The body is affected only with
18 the belief of disease produced by a so-called
mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease. Noth-
ing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of
21 error, and prove man's dominion over error.

A higher discovery
 Many years ago the author made a spiritual discov-
ery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to

24 prove that the divine Mind produces in man
health, harmony, and immortality. Gradu-
ally this evidence will gather momentum and clearness,
27 until it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and
proof. Nothing is more disheartening than to believe
that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that
30 God endows this opposing power with strength to be used
against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.

Ignorance of our rights
 Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern

PAGE 381

1 man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.
Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust
3 decrees, and the bias of education enforces
this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the
illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop-
6 ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp-
tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.

No laws of matter
 When infringing some supposed law, you say that

9 there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the
physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer
from breaking anything except a moral or
12 spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are
destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal,
and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods,
15 and types of disease, with which mortals die. God is the
lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes.
In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor
18 death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and
have our being in the infinite God.

God-given dominion
 Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you

21 will sooner grasp man's God-given dominion. You must
understand your way out of human theories
relating to health, or you will never believe
24 that you are quite free from some ailment. The har-
mony and immortality of man will never be reached
without the understanding that Mind is not in matter.
27 Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the
rule of perpetual harmony, - God's law. It is man's
moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never
30 inflicted by divine authority.

Begin rightly
Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose
penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of

PAGE 382

1 health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed
to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine au-
3 thority and having only human approval for
their sanction.

Hygiene excessive
 If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the

6 study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of
thought, this alone would usher in the millen-
inium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter
9 the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from
the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept,
"Take no thought . . . for the body." We must beware
12 of making clean merely the outside of the platter.

Blissful ignorance
 He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is
more receptive of spiritual power and of faith in one

15 God, than is the devotee of supposed hygienic
law, who comes to teach the so-called igno-
rant one. Must we not then consider the so-called law
18 of matter a canon "more honored in the breach than
the observance"? A patient thoroughly booked in medi-
cal theories is more difficult to heal through Mind than
21 one who is not. This verifies the saying of our Master:
"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, shall in no wise enter therein."

24 One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion,
in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I
should have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach,
27 - supporting the power of Mind over the body and show-
ing me the nothingness of the so-called pleasures and pains
of sense. The treatises I had read and the medicines I
30 had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering
and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal
mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily,

PAGE 383

1 but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
Christian Science."

A clean mind and body

3 We need a clean body and a clean mind, - a body
rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water.
One says: "I take good care of my body."
6 To do this, the pure and exalting influence of
the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian
Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves
9 it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres-
ent with the Lord."

12 A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
does not affect his happiness, because mind and body
rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt
15 gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a
mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur-
roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do
18 not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined.
This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body
in proper condition.

Beliefs illusive

21 The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves
his health, but does this make it so? Does his
24 assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu-
brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in-
stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false
27 belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a
man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

The movement-cure - pinching and pounding the poor

30 body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in-
sensibly so - is another medical mistake, resulting from
the common notion that health depends on inert matter

PAGE 384

1 instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed
matter, either feel or act without mind?

Corporeal penalties

3 We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought
that we have transgressed a material law and must of
necessity pay the penalty. Let us reassure
6 ourselves with the law of Love. God never
punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for
deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue,
9 cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty
through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not
an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his
12 protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through
this action of thought and its results upon the body, the
student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the
15 grand verities of Christian Science.

Not matter, but Mind
 If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of
perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza,

18 congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of
inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy
is safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such
21 symptoms are not apt to follow exposure; but if you
believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects when
transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own case or
24 to destroy the bad effects of your belief. When the fear
subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken
no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other
27 disease will ever result from exposure to the weather. In
Science this is an established fact which all the evidence
before the senses can never overrule.

Benefit of philanthropy

30 Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before
the divine rights of intelligence, and then the power
of Mind over the entire functions and organs of the

PAGE 385

1 human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial
that Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists en-
3 gaged in humane labors have been able to
undergo without sinking fatigues and expo-
sures which ordinary people could not endure. The ex-
6 planation lies in the support which they derived from
the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual
demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and en-
9 durance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the
penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best
deeds. Let us remember that the eternal law of right,
12 though it can never annul the law which makes sin its
own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but
those due for wrong-doing.

Honest toil has no penalty

15 Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow-
ard conditions, if without sin, can be experienced with-
out suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do,
18 you can do without harm to yourself. If you
sprain the muscles or wound the flesh, your
remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the
21 flesh shall be discolored, painful, swollen, and inflamed.

Our sleep and food
 You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten.
You are a law unto yourself. Saying this and believing

24 it, you will suffer in proportion to your belief
and fear. Your sufferings are not the penalty
for having broken a law of matter, for it is a law of mortal
27 mind which you have disobeyed. You say or think, be-
cause you have partaken of salt fish, that you must be
thirsty, and you are thirsty accordingly, while the oppo-
30 site belief would produce the opposite result.

Doubtful evidence
 Any supposed information, coming from the body or
from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu-

PAGE 386

1 sion of mortal mind, - one of its dreams. Realize that
the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted
3 in the case of sickness, any more than it is in
the case of sin.

Climate and belief
 Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief

6 says that you may catch cold and have catarrh; but no
such result occurs without mind to demand
it and produce it. So long as mortals declare
9 that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh,
fever, rheumatism, or consumption, those effects will
follow, - not because of the climate, but on account of
12 the belief. The author has in too many instances healed
disease through the action of Truth on the minds of mor-
tals, and the corresponding effects of Truth on the body,
15 not to know that this is so.

Erroneous despatch
 A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the
death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's

18 real death would bring. You think that your
anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another
despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and
21 you learn that your suffering was merely the result of
your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and
death. You will learn at length that there is no cause
24 for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood.
Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.

Mourning causeless
 If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were labor-

27 ing under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sor-
row is without cause," you would not have
understood him, although the correctness of
30 the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So,
when our friends pass from our sight and we lament,
that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall

PAGE 387

1 perceive this to be true when we grow into the under-
standing of Life, and know that there is no death.

Mind heals brain-disease

3 Because mortal mind is kept active, must it pay the
penalty in a softened brain? Who dares to say that actual
Mind can be overworked? When we reach
6 our limits of mental endurance, we conclude
that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far;
but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active,
9 and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can
so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers
and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by
12 the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.

Right never punishable
Our thinkers do not die early because they faithfully
perform the natural functions of being. If printers and

15 authors have the shortest span of earthly ex-
istence, it is not because they occupy the most
important posts and perform the most vital functions in
18 society. That man does not pay the severest penalty
who does the most good. By adhering to the realities of
eternal existence, - instead of reading disquisitions on
21 the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience
to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing
good, - one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of
24 love, but grows stronger because of it. It is a law of so-
called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all
things discordant.

Christian history

27 The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs
of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed
on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent
30 Mind, who gives man faith and understanding
whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but
from bodily suffering.

PAGE 388

1 The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian
Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power
3 of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corpo-
real senses, a victory which Science alone can explain.
Stolidity, which is a resisting state of mortal mind, suffers
6 less, only because it knows less of material law.

The Apostle John testified to the divine basis of Chris-
tian Science, when dire inflictions failed to destroy his

9 body. Idolaters, believing in more than one mind, had
"gods many," and thought that they could kill the body
with matter, independently of mind.

Sustenance spiritual

12 Admit the common hypothesis that food is the nutri-
ment of life, and the follows the necessity for another
admission in the opposite direction, - that
15 food has power to destroy Life, God, through
a deficiency or an excess, a quality or a quantity. This
is a specimen of the ambiguous nature of all material
18 health-theories. They are self-contradictory and self-de-
structive, constituting a "kingdom divided against itself,"
which is "brought to desolation." If food was prepared
21 by Jesus for his disciples, it cannot destroy life.

God sustains man
 The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of
man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that

24 God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are
not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in
immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond
27 our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until
we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living
Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall
30 neither eat to live nor live to eat.

Diet and digestion
 If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious
functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought

PAGE 389

1 must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with
the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left
3 to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf
of the control of Mind over this belief and every
erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we
6 know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed
to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat-
ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested.
9 Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it
is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can
be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo-
12 site evidence.

Scripture rebukes
 Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the
life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can

15 kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in
Scripture by the metaphors about the fount
and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di-
18 vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories
maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human
life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite
21 law that food shall be inimical to existence.

Ancient confusion
 Materialists contradict their own statements. Their
belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac-

24 tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity
between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God
and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the
27 battle-axe of Science.

A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came
under my observation. In her belief the woman had

30 chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a
complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I
cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de-

PAGE 390

1 spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My
food is all digested, and I should like something more
3 to eat."

Ultimate harmony
 We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we
should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim-

6 ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seem-
ing discord. It is our ignorance of God, the
divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and
9 the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth
will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and
pains of sense for the joys of Soul.

Unnecessary prostration

12 When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the
testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let
your higher sense of justice destroy the false
15 process of mortal opinions which you name
law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor
laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last far-
18 thing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with
thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with
him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon
21 the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that
it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more
the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no
24 law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sick-
ness, but you have divine authority for denying that neces-
sity and healing the sick.

Treatment of disease

27 "Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of
chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consump-
tion, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages
30 of disease with as powerful mental opposi-
tion as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of
an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the

PAGE 391

1 spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind,
alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit.
3 Blot out the images of mortal thought and its beliefs in
sickness and sin. Then, when thou art delivered to the
judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, "Thou
6 art whole!"

Righteous rebellion
 Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient
or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against
9 them. Banish the belief that you can possi-
bly entertain a single intruding pain which can-
not be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way
12 you can prevent the development of pain in the body.
No law of God hinders this result. It is error to suffer
for aught but your own sins. Christ, or Truth, will de-
15 stroy all other supposed suffering, and real suffering for
your own sins will cease in proportion as the sin ceases.

Contradict error
 Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice de-

18 clares the absence of law. When the body is supposed
to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty. Since
matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind
21 which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a pro-
test. If you say, "I am sick," you plead guilty. Then
your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal
24 mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has
no intelligence to declare itself something and announce
its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore
27 make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself
and to others.

Sin to be overcome
 Mentally contradict every complaint from the body,

30 and rise to the true consciousness of Life as
Love, - as all that is pure, and bearing the
fruits of Spirit. Fear is the fountain of sickness,

PAGE 392

1 and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence
it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease.
3 Only while fear or sin remains can it bring forth death.
To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should
be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear,
6 which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to
readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear
enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to
9 take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to
the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God's image.

Illusions about nerves
 The physical affirmation of disease should always be

12 met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is pro-
duced on the body, must be expressed men-
tally, and thought should be held fast to this
15 ideal. If you believe in inflamed and weak nerves, you
are liable to an attack from that source. You will call it
neuralgia, but we call it a belief. If you think that con-
18 sumption is hereditary in your family, you are liable to
the development of that thought in the form of what is
termed pulmonary disease, unless Science shows you
21 otherwise. If you decide that climate or atmosphere is
unhealthy, it will be so to you. Your decisions will mas-
ter you, whichever direction they take.

Guarding the door

24 Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought.
Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in
bodily results, you will control yourself har-
27 moniously. When the condition is present
which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise,
heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office
30 as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears.
Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the
body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or

PAGE 393

1 pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman
forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget-
3 ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

The strength of Spirit
 The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal
mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their

6 results, - ignorant that the predisposing, re-
mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a
law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the
9 master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness,
sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take
possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.
12 Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike
good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing
can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on
15 man.

No pain in matter
 Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind
governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern-
18 ment. Have no fear that matter can ache,
swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law
of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have
21 no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no
more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree
which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch,
24 were it not for mortal mind.

When Jesus declares that "the light of the body is the
eye," he certainly means that light depends upon Mind,

27 not upon the complex humors, lenses, muscles, the iris
and pupil, constituting the visual organism.

No real disease
 Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter

30 cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter
and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the
disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness;

PAGE 394

1 to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-
ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming
3 reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni-
versal and perfect remedy.

Recuperation mental
 By conceding power to discord, a large majority of

6 doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real
recuperative power. Knowledge that we
can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu-
9 lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points
out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond
the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from
12 helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To
those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis-
couraging, - as much so as would be the advice to a man
15 who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise
above his difficulties.

Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of

18 material systems in general, - that their theories are
sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better
than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils
21 overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from
God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will
you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it
24 can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means
the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine
permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony,
27 with Truth and Love?

Arguing wrongly
 We should remember that Life is God, and that God
is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian

30 Science, the sick usually have little faith in
it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows
that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick

PAGE 395

1 unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.
They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it.
3 They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the
deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and
eternal likeness to God.

Divine authority

6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to
disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to
master the false evidences of the corporeal
9 senses and to assert its claims over mortal-
ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and
sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car-
12 nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in
material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death
will disappear.

Aids in sickness

15 Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-
sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the
sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit-
18 ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse
should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of
faith, - receptive to Truth and Love.

Mental quackery

21 It is mental quackery to make disease a reality - to
hold it as something seen and felt - and then to attempt
its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous
24 to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a
cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their
reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in
27 physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease
as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may
appear in a more alarming form.

Effacing images of disease

30 The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor
affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from
becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the

PAGE 396

1 worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind
the thought of disease, but should efface from
3 thought all forms and types of disease, both for
one's own sake and for that of the patient.

Avoid talking disease
 Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-

6 cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never
startle with a discouraging remark about re-
covery, nor draw attention to certain symp-
9 toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of
the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have
to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's
12 thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis
is passed.

False testimony refuted
 The refutation of the testimony of material sense is

15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this
testimony. The refutation becomes arduous,
not because the testimony of sin or disease is
18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its
truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-
ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, - all teaching
21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.

Healthful explanation
 At the right time explain to the sick the power which
their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine

24 and wholesome understanding, with which to
combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the
images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in
27 thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man;
that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit,
outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life
30 and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under-
stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by
matter nor by the divine Mind.

PAGE 397

Misleading methods

1 By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing
how mortal mind affects the body, - acting beneficially
3 or injuriously on the health, as well as on the
morals and the happiness of mortals, - we are
misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the
6 mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in-
juring those whom we mean to bless.

Remedy for accidents
 Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-

9 ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them
by admitting their reality and continuance,
as directly as you enhance your joys by be-
12 lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac-
cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!"
Your thought is more powerful than your words, more
15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury
real.

Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt

18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the
ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your
disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-
21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures
declare Him to be.

Independent mentality
 To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great

24 verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their
waking hours than when they act, walk, see,
hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can
27 never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because
they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind
is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and
30 you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You
will understand yourself and your Maker better than
before.

PAGE 398

Naming maladies

1 Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he
said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
3 charge thee, come out of him, and enter no
more into him." It is added that "the spirit
[error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and
6 he was as one dead," - clear evidence that the malady
was not material. These instances show the concessions
which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance
9 of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the
distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter,
whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not
12 dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto
thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand
he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored
15 whole, like as the other."

The action of faith
 Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a
particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms

18 of disease. What produces the change? It is
the faith of the doctor and the patient, which
reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect
21 upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of
pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink
is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not
24 in matter.

So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing
effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change

27 the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind
faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism
changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis-
30 ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue,
to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process.
The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has

PAGE 399

1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.

Corporeal combinations

3 You say that certain material combinations produce
disease; but if the material body causes disease, can
matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal
6 mind prescribes the drug, and administers it.
Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through
certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se-
9 cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the
action of mortal thought, alias mortal mind.

Automatic mechanism
 So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its

12 body, but this so-called mind is both the service and
message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un-
able to talk, and matter can return no an-
15 swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how
can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates
its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it,
18 and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action
of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua-
tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force
21 the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows
that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.

Mental strength
 Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of

24 which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion.
This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is
only a false sense of matter, since matter is not
27 sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin-
ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.

Confirmation in a parable
 Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong

30 man's house and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man?" In other words: How
can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called

PAGE 400

1 mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When
disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear
3 of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor-
oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which
must be held in subjection before its influence upon health
6 and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we
can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, - namely, of
sin and disease.

Eradicate error from thought

9 Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they
forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine
Mind, and abandon their material beliefs.
12 Eradicate the image of disease from the per-
turbed thought before it has taken tangible
shape in conscious thought, alias the body, and you pre-
15 vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy,
if you understand that every disease is an error, and has
no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to
18 it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-
tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.

Mortal mind controlled
 When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed

21 mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought
alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind
rules all that is mortal. We see in the body
24 the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted
on the retina the image which becomes visible to the
senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be
27 destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony
of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani-
fest as sin, sickness, and death.

Mortal mind not a healer

30 The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of
sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this.
It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many

PAGE 401

1 mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any
human error is its own enemy, and works against itself;
3 it does nothing in the right direction and much
in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing
evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer,
6 but it engenders disease and death.

Effect of opposites
If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-
tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as

9 when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be-
cause the truth of being must transform the
error to the end of producing a higher manifestation.
12 This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but
should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter
has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees
15 materially.

What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced
when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be-
18 lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to
the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case
with a fermenting fluid.

Medicine and brain

21 The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon
mental action. If the mind were parted from the body,
could you produce any effect upon the brain
24 or body by applying the drug to either? Would
the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore
will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?

Skilful surgery

27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-
acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave
surgery and the adjustment of broken bones
30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon,
while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental
reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.

PAGE 402

1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but
surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last
3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the
author has already in her possession well-authenticated
records of the cure, by herself and her students through
6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints,
and spinal vertebrae.

Indestructible life of man
 The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake

9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im-
mortal Mind and its formations will be appre-
hended in Science, and material beliefs will
12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible
and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal
mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own
15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation
can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and
disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is
18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal
mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.

The evil of mesmerism
 We say that one human mind can influence another and

21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that
we govern our own bodies. The error, mes-
merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term
24 - illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would
make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily
and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield
27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better
instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof
that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce
30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or
pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be
a belief without a real cause.

PAGE 403

Wrong-doer should suffer

1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own
diseased conditions. The great difference between vol-
3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol-
untary mesmerism is induced consciously and
should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self-
6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake
a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under-
stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the
9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.
The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in
one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real-
12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be
healed only by the divine Mind.

Error's power imaginary
 You command the situation if you understand that

15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the
truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly
producing on mortal body the results of false
18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal
error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth,
which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.
21 The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir-
itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal-
ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from
24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint
your patient with it.

Disease-production
 The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike

27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the
nature of a case, and the practitioner improves
or injures the case in proportion to the truth
30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental
conception and development of disease are not under-
stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar

PAGE 404

1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case
according to Christian Science.

Appetites to be abandoned

3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special
servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and
destroy these errors with the truth of being, -
6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering
which his submission to such habits brings, and by con-
vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe-
9 tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.
Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and
you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked
12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the
repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the
individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is
15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy
sinner is the hardened sinner.

Temperance reform
 The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results

18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree
that brings not forth good fruit. This con-
viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,
21 is one of the most important points in the theology of
Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and
true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure,
24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and
increases his ability to master evil and to love good.

Sin or fear the root of sickness
 Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and

27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth.
Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth,
30 make a man sick, and neither material medi-
cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body,
unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him

PAGE 405

1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.
Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence
3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the
lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Mental conspirators
 Christian Science commands man to master the pro-

6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,
to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with
charity, and to overcome deceit with hon-
9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you
would not cherish an army of conspirators against
health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you
12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The
judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of
the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and
15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing
is paid, - until you have balanced your account with
God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
18 reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of
sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im-
mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good,
21 in which is no power to sin.

Cumulative repentence
It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth
than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con-

24 science. The abiding consciousness of wrong-
doing tends to destroy the ability to do right.
If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is
27 hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are con-
quered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they
bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its
30 pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to
retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and
to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.

PAGE 406

The leaves of healing

1 The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
3 Sin and sickness are both healed by the same
Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine
Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering
6 full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will
submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and
forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated
9 in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per-
fect Love casteth out fear."

Sickness will abate
 The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and

12 spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.
Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will
abate and seem less real as we approach the
15 scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and
all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral
man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he
18 should be as fearless on the question of disease.

Resist to the end
 Resist evil - error of every sort - and it will flee from
you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately

21 shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direc-
tion of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life
over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go
24 on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no
more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of
any kind involves weakness and suffering, - a loss of
27 control over the body.

Morbid cravings
 The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,
tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery

30 of the body. This normal control is gained
through divine strength and understanding.
There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a

PAGE 407

1 fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp
remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to
3 man's self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of to-
bacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no crea-
ture except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.

Universal panacea

6 Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters -
passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge - is con-
quered only by a mighty struggle. Every
9 hour of delay makes the struggle more severe.
If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush
out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian
12 Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the
weakness of mortal mind, - strength from the immortal
and omnipotent Mind, - and lifting humanity above
15 itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and
good-will to man.

Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris-

18 tian Science, and he will get the better of that desire
and ascend a degree in the scale of health, happiness,
and existence.

Immortal memory

21 If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contra-
dict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all
being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmoni-
24 ous in every action. Let the perfect model be
present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized op-
posite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light,
27 and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your
consciousness.

Sin a form of insanity
 There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-

30 ity in different degrees. Sin is spared from
this classification, only because its method of
madness is in consonance with common mortal belief.

PAGE 408

1 Every sort of sickness is error, - that is, sickness is
loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact
3 that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac-
knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are
sick.

6 There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which
mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the
material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien-
9 tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special
name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are
committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly
12 defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-
tal minds and bodies.

Drugs and brain-lobes
 The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use

15 of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of
insanity. Can drugs go of their own accord
to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam-
18 mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal
mind through matter? Drugs do not affect a corpse, and
Truth does not distribute drugs through the blood, and
21 from them derive a supposed effect on intelligence and sen-
timent. A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce
insanity as perceptibly as would congestion of the brain,
24 were it not that mortal mind thinks that the tarsal joint is
less intimately connected with the mind than is the brain.
Reverse the belief, and the results would be perceptibly
27 different.

Matter and animate error
 The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-
tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of

30 the body which we call sensation in matter
is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it-
self, - ignorant of the errors it includes and of their

PAGE 409

1 effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You
may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do
3 you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and
not by matter?" Mortal mind and body combine as
one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state-
6 ment, - animate error called nerves, brain, mind, - the
more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease-
beliefs.

Dictation of error

9 Unconscious mortal mind - alias matter, brain - can-
not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick."
The belief, that the unconscious substratum
12 of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and
reports disease independently of this so-called conscious
mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing
15 how to govern their bodies.

So-called superiority
The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be
superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and

18 the stronger never yields to the weaker, ex-
cept through fear or choice. The animate
should be governed by God alone. The real man is
21 spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect
so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the
beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This
24 mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put
on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man
and seek the true model.

Death no benefactor

27 We have no right to say that life depends on matter
now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot
spend our days here in ignorance of the Science
30 of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave
a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us
harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance.

PAGE 410

1 If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is
spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual
3 Life hereafter.

Life eternal and present
 "This is life