Treasure in heaven
Students of Christian Science, who start with its letter451:9 and think to succeed without the spirit, will either makeshipwreck of their faith or be turned sadlyawry. They must not only seek, but strive,451:12 to enter the narrow path of Life, for "wide is the gate,and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, andmany there be which go in thereat." Man walks in the451:15 direction towards which he looks, and where his treasureis, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affec-tions are spiritual, they come from above, not from be-451:18 neath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.
Obligations of teachers
Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacherof the Science of Mind-healing, knows that human will451:21 is not Christian Science, and he must recog-nize this in order to defend himself from theinfluence of human will. He feels morally obligated to451:24 open the eyes of his students that they may perceive thenature and methods of error of every sort, especially anysubtle degree of evil, deceived and deceiving. All mental451:27 malpractice arises from ignorance or malice aforethought.It is the injurious action of one mortal mind controllinganother from wrong motives, and it is practised either451:30 with a mistaken or a wicked purpose.
Indispensable defence
Show your student that mental malpractice tends toblast moral sense, health, and the human life. Instruct452:1 him how to bar the door of his thought against thisseeming power, - a task not difficult, when one under-452:3 stands that evil has in reality no power.Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error.The wrong thought should be arrested before it has a452:6 chance to manifest itself.
Egotistic darkness
Walking in the light, we are accustomed to the lightand require it; we cannot see in darkness. But eyes ac-452:9 customed to darkness are pained by the light.When outgrowing the old, you should not fearto put on the new. Your advancing course may pro-452:12 voke envy, but it will also attract respect. When errorconfronts you, withhold not the rebuke or the explana-tion which destroys error. Never breathe an immoral452:15 atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it. Better isthe frugal intellectual repast with contentment and virtue,than the luxury of learning with egotism and vice.
Unwarranted expectations
452:18 Right is radical. The teacher must know the truthhimself. He must live it and love it, or he cannot impartit to others. We soil our garments with con-452:21 servatism, and afterwards we must wash themclean. When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds itsharmonies, you take no risks in the policy of error. Ex-452:24 pect to heal simply by repeating the author's words, byright talking and wrong acting, and you will be disap-pointed. Such a practice does not demonstrate the452:27 Science by which divine Mind heals the sick.
Reliable authority
Acting from sinful motives destroys your power ofhealing from the right motive. On the other hand, if452:30 you had the inclination or power to practisewrongly and then should adopt ChristianScience, the wrong power would be destroyed. You do453:1 not deny the mathematician's right to distinguish the cor-rect from the incorrect among the examples on the black-453:3 board, nor disbelieve the musician when he distinguishesconcord from discord. In like manner it should be grantedthat the author understands what she is saying.
Winning the field
453:6 Right and wrong, truth and error, will be at strife inthe minds of students, until victory rests on the side ofinvincible truth. Mental chemicalization fol-453:9 lows the explanation of Truth, and a higherbasis is thus won; but with some individuals the morbidmoral or physical symptoms constantly reappear. I453:12 have never witnessed so decided effects from the use ofmaterial remedies as from the use of spiritual.
Knowledge and honesty
Teach your student that he must know himself be-453:15 fore he can know others and minister to human needs.Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty ishuman weakness, which forfeits divine help.453:18 You uncover sin, not in order to injure, but in orderto bless the corporeal man; and a right motive hasits reward. Hidden sin is spiritual wickedness in high453:21 places. The masquerader in this Science thanks Godthat there is no evil, yet serves evil in the name ofgood.
Metaphysical treatment
453:24 You should treat sickness mentally just as you wouldsin, except that you must not tell the patient that he issick nor give names to diseases, for such a453:27 course increases fear, the foundation of dis-ease, and impresses more deeply the wrong mind-picture.A Christian Scientist's medicine is Mind, the divine Truth453:30 that makes man free. A Christian Scientist never recom-mends material hygiene, never manipulates. He doesnot trespass on the rights of mind nor can he practise454:1 animal magnetism or hypnotism. It need not be addedthat the use of tobacco or intoxicating drinks is not in454:3 harmony with Christian Science.
Impotence of hate
Teach your students the omnipotence of Truth, whichillustrates the impotence of error. The understanding,454:6 even in a degree, of the divine All-power de-stroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path,- the path which leads to the house built without hands454:9 "eternal in the heavens." Human hate has no legiti-mate mandate and no kingdom. Love is enthroned.That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power,454:12 is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this isthe great truth which strips all disguise from error.
Love the incentive
He, who understands in sufficient degree the Princi-454:15 ple of Mind-healing, points out to his student error aswell as truth, the wrong as well as the rightpractice. Love for God and man is the true454:18 incentive in both healing and teaching. Love inspires,illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motivesgive pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to454:21 speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar ofTruth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon thewaters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.454:24 Patience must "have her perfect work."
Continuity of interest
Do not dismiss students at the close of a class term,feeling that you have no more to do for them. Let your454:27 loving care and counsel support all their feeblefootsteps, until your students tread firmly inthe straight and narrow way. The superiority of spir-454:30 itual power over sensuous is the central point of Chris-tian Science. Remember that the letter and mentalargument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing455:1 thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love,which heals the sick and the sinner.
Weakness and guilt
455:3 A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or afaltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitableconditions for healing the sick. Such mental455:6 states indicate weakness instead of strength.Hence the necessity of being right yourself in order toteach this Science of healing. You must utilize the moral455:9 might of Mind in order to walk over the waves of errorand support your claims by demonstration. If you areyourself lost in the belief and fear of disease or sin, and455:12 if, knowing the remedy, you fail to use the energies ofMind in your own behalf, you can exercise little or nopower for others' help. "First cast out the beam out455:15 of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to castout the mote out of thy brother's eye."
The trust of the All-wise
The student, who receives his knowledge of Christian455:18 Science, or metaphysical healing, from a human teacher,may be mistaken in judgment and demonstra-tion, but God cannot mistake. God selects455:21 for the highest service one who has grown into such afitness for it as renders any abuse of the mission an im-possibility. The All-wise does not bestow His highest455:24 trusts upon the unworthy. When He commissions a mes-senger, it is one who is spiritually near Himself. No per-son can misuse this mental power, if he is taught of God455:27 to discern it.
Integrity assured
This strong point in Christian Science is not to beoverlooked, - that the same fountain cannot send forth455:30 both sweet waters and bitter. The higheryour attainment in the Science of mentalhealing and teaching, the more impossible it will be-456:1 come for you intentionally to influence mankind adverseto its highest hope and achievement.
Chicanery impossible
456:3 Teaching or practising in the name of Truth, but con-trary to its spirit or rules, is most dangerous quackery.Strict adherence to the divine Principle and456:6 rules of the scientific method has securedthe only success of the students of Christian Science.This alone entitles them to the high standing which456:9 most of them hold in the community, a reputation ex-perimentally justified by their efforts. Whoever af-firms that there is more than one Principle and method456:12 of demonstrating Christian Science greatly errs, igno-rantly or intentionally, and separates himself from thetrue conception of Christian Science healing and from456:15 its possible demonstration.
No dishonest concessions
Any dishonesty in your theory and practice betrays agross ignorance of the method of the Christ-cure. Science456:18 makes no concessions to persons or opinions.One must abide in the /morale/ of truth or hecannot demonstrate the divine Principle. So long as456:21 matter is the basis of practice, illness cannot be effica-ciously treated by the metaphysical process. Truth doesthe work, and you must both understand and abide by the456:24 divine Principle of your demonstration.
This volume indispensable
A Christian Scientist requires my work SCIENCE ANDHEALTH for his textbook, and so do all his students and456:27 patients. Why? /First/: Because it is the voiceof Truth to this age, and contains the fullstatement of Christian Science, or the Science of healing456:30 through Mind. /Second/: Because it was the first bookknown, containing a thorough statement of ChristianScience. Hence it gave the first rules for demonstrating457:1 this Science, and registered the revealed Truth uncon-taminated by human hypotheses. Other works, which457:3 have borrowed from this book without giving it credit,have adulterated the Science. /Third/: Because this bookhas done more for teacher and student, for healer and457:6 patient, than has been accomplished by other books.
Purity of science
Since the divine light of Christian Science first dawnedupon the author, she has never used this newly discovered457:9 power in any direction which she fears to havefairly understood. Her prime object, sinceentering this field of labor, has been to prevent suffering,457:12 not to produce it. That we cannot scientifically bothcure and cause disease is self-evident. In the legend ofthe shield, which led to a quarrel between two knights457:15 because each of them could see but one face of it, bothsides were beautiful according to their degree; but tomental malpractice, prolific of evil, there is no good as-457:18 pect, either silvern or golden.
Backsliders and mistakes
Christian Science is not an exception to the generalrule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct457:21 line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at thesame time hit the mark. To pursue othervocations and advance rapidly in the demonstration of457:24 this Science, is not possible. Departing from ChristianScience, some learners commend diet and hygiene.They even practise these, intending thereby to initiate457:27 the cure which they mean to complete with Mind, as ifthe non-intelligent could aid Mind! The Scientist'sdemonstration rests on one Principle, and there must457:30 and can be no opposite rule. Let this Principle be ap-plied to the cure of disease without exploiting othermeans.
Mental charlatanism
458:1 Mental quackery rests on the same platform as allother quackery. The chief plank in this platform is the458:3 doctrine that Science has two principles inpartnership, one good and the other evil, -one spiritual, the other material, - and that these two458:6 may be simultaneously at work on the sick. Thistheory is supposed to favor practice from both a mentaland a material standpoint. Another plank in the plat-458:9 form is this, that error will finally have the same effectas truth.
Divinity ever ready
It is anything but scientifically Christian to think of458:12 aiding the divine Principle of healing or of trying to sus-tain the human body until the divine Mindis ready to take the case. Divinity is always458:15 ready. /Semper paratus/ is Truth's motto. Having seenso much suffering from quackery, the author desires tokeep it out of Christian Science. The two-edged sword458:18 of Truth must turn in every direction to guard "the treeof life."
The panoply of wisdom
Sin makes deadly thrusts at the Christian Scientist as458:21 ritualism and creed are summoned to give place to higherlaw, but Science will ameliorate mortal malice.The Christianly scientific man reflects the458:24 divine law, thus becoming a law unto himself. He doesviolence to no man. Neither is he a false accuser. TheChristian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is hon-458:27 est and consistent in following the leadings of divineMind. He must prove, through living as well as heal-ing and teaching, that Christ's way is the only one458:30 by which mortals are radically saved from sin andsickness.
Advancement by sacrifice
Christianity causes men to turn naturally from matter459:1 to Spirit, as the flower turns from darkness to light.Man then appropriates those things which "eye hath459:3 not seen nor ear heard." Paul and Johnhad a clear apprehension that, as mortal manachieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice,459:6 so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldli-ness. Then he will have nothing in common with theworldling's affections, motives, and aims. Judge not the459:9 future advancement of Christian Science by the stepsalready taken, lest you yourself be condemned for fail-ing to take the first step.
Dangerous knowledge
459:12 Any attempt to heal mortals with erring mortal mind,instead of resting on the omnipotence of the divineMind, must prove abortive. Committing the459:15 bare process of mental healing to frail mor-tals, untaught and unrestrained by Christian Science,is like putting a sharp knife into the hands of a blind459:18 man or a raging maniac, and turning him loose inthe crowded streets of a city. Whether animated bymalice or ignorance, a false practitioner will work mis-459:21 chief, and ignorance is more harmful than wilful wicked-ness, when the latter is distrusted and thwarted in itsincipiency.
Certainty of results
459:24 To mortal sense Christian Science seems abstract, butthe process is simple and the results are sure if the Scienceis understood. The tree must be good, which459:27 produces good fruit. Guided by divine Truthand not guesswork, the /theologus/ (that is, the student -the Christian and scientific expounder - of the divine459:30 law) treats disease with more certain results than anyother healer on the globe. The Christian Scientist shouldunderstand and adhere strictly to the rules of divine meta-460:1 physics as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstra-tion on this sure basis.
Ontology defined
460:3 Ontology is defined as "the science of the necessaryconstituents and relations of all beings," and it under-lies all metaphysical practice. Our system of460:6 Mind-healing rests on the apprehension of thenature and essence of all being, - on the divine Mindand Love's essential qualities. Its pharmacy is moral,460:9 and its medicine is intellectual and spiritual, though usedfor physical healing. Yet this most fundamental part ofmetaphysics is the one most difficult to understand and460:12 demonstrate, for to the material thought all is material,till such thought is rectified by Spirit.
Mischievous imagination
Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal, - that is,460:15 to the frightened, false sense of the patient. Sicknessis more than fancy; it is solid conviction. Itis therefore to be dealt with through right ap-460:18 prehension of the truth of being. If Christian healingis abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes atedious mischief-maker. Instead of scientifically effect-460:21 ing a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every crippleand invalid, buffeting them with the superficial and coldassertion, "Nothing ails you."
Author's early instructions
460:24 When the Science of Mind was a fresh revelation tothe author, she had to impart, while teaching its grandfacts, the hue of spiritual ideas from her own460:27 spiritual condition, and she had to do this orallythrough the meagre channel afforded by language and byher manuscript circulated among the students. As for-460:30 mer beliefs were gradually expelled from her thought, theteaching became clearer, until finally the shadow of olderrors was no longer cast upon divine Science.
Proof by induction
I do not maintain that anyone can exist in the fleshwithout food and raiment; but I do believe that the461:3 real man is immortal and that he lives inSpirit, not matter. Christian Science mustbe accepted at this period by induction. We admit the461:6 whole, because a part is proved and that part illustratesand proves the entire Principle. Christian Science canbe taught only by those who are morally advanced and461:9 spiritually endowed, for it is not superficial, nor is itdiscerned from the standpoint of the human senses.Only by the illumination of the spiritual sense, can461:12 the light of understanding be thrown upon this Science,because Science reverses the evidence before the materialsenses and furnishes the eternal interpretation of God and461:15 man.
If you believe that you are sick, should you say, " I amsick"? No, but you should tell your belief sometimes,461:18 if this be requisite to protect others. If you commit acrime, should you acknowledge to yourself that you area criminal? Yes. Your responses should differ because461:21 of the different effects they produce. Usually to admitthat you are sick, renders your case less curable, whileto recognize your sin, aids in destroying it. Both sin and461:24 sickness are error, and Truth is their remedy. The truthregarding error is, that error is not true, hence it is unreal.To prove scientifically the error or unreality of sin, you461:27 must first see the claim of sin, and then destroy it.Whereas, to prove scientifically the error or unreality ofdisease, you must mentally unsee the disease; then you461:30 will not feel it, and it is destroyed.
Rapidity of assimilation
Systematic teaching and the student's spiritual growthand experience in practice are requisite for a thorough462:1 comprehension of Christian Science. Some individu-als assimilate truth more readily than others, but any462:3 student, who adheres to the divine rulesof Christian Science and imbibes the spiritof Christ, can demonstrate Christian Science, cast out462:6 error, heal the sick, and add continually to his store ofspiritual understanding, potency, enlightenment, andsuccess.
Divided loyalty
462:9 If the student goes away to practise Truth's teach-ings only in part, dividing his interests between God andmammon and substituting his own views for462:12 Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows.Whoever would demonstrate the healing of ChristianScience must abide strictly by its rules, heed every state-462:15 ment, and advance from the rudiments laid down. Thereis nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the wayis pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and462:18 persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in everydepartment of life.
Anatomy defined
Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-462:21 knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts todiscover their quality, quantity, and origin.Are thoughts divine or human? That is the462:24 important question. This branch of study is indispen-sable to the excision of error. The anatomy of ChristianScience teaches when and how to probe the self-in-462:27 flicted wounds of selfishness, malice, envy, and hate. Itteaches the control of mad ambition. It unfolds thehallowed influences of unselfishness, philanthropy, spir-462:30 itual love. It urges the government of the body bothin health and in sickness. The Christian Scientist,through understanding mental anatomy, discerns and463:1 deals with the real cause of disease. The material physi-cian gropes among phenomena, which fluctuate every in-463:3 stant under influences not embraced in his diagnosis, andso he may stumble and fall in the darkness.
Scientific obstetrics
Teacher and student should also be familiar with the463:6 obstetrics taught by this Science. To attend properlythe birth of the new child, or divine idea,you should so detach mortal thought from its463:9 material conceptions, that the birth will be natural andsafe. Though gathering new energy, this idea cannotinjure its useful surroundings in the travail of spiritual463:12 birth. A spiritual idea has not a single element of error,and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.The new idea, conceived and born of Truth and Love, is463:15 clad in white garments. Its beginning will be meek, itsgrowth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying. Whenthis new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant463:18 is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause themother no more suffering. By this we know that Truthis here and has fulfilled its perfect work.
Unhesitating decision
463:21 To decide quickly as to the proper treatment of error -whether error is manifested in forms of sickness, sin,or death - is the first step towards destroy-463:24 ing error. Our Master treated error throughMind. He never enjoined obedience to the laws of nature,if by these are meant laws of matter, nor did he use drugs.463:27 There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is aspiritual law instead of material. The sick are not healedby inanimate matter or drugs, as they believe that they463:30 are. Such seeming medical effect or action is that of so-called mortal mind.
Seclusion of the author
It has been said to the author, "The world is bene-464:1 fited by you, but it feels your influence without seeingyou. Why do you not make yourself more widely464:3 known?" Could her friends know how littletime the author has had, in which to makeherself outwardly known except through her laborious464:6 publications, - and how much time and toil are still re-quired to establish the stately operations of ChristianScience, - they would understand why she is so secluded.464:9 Others could not take her place, even if willing so to do.She therefore remains unseen at her post, seeking no self-aggrandizement but praying, watching, and working for464:12 the redemption of mankind.
If from an injury or from any cause, a Christian Scien-tist were seized with pain so violent that he could not464:15 treat himself mentally, - and the Scientists had failedto relieve him, - the sufferer could call a surgeon, whowould give him a hypodermic injection, then, when the464:18 belief of pain was lulled, he could handle his own casementally. Thus it is that we "prove all things; [and]hold fast that which is good."
The right motive and its reward
464:21 In founding a pathological system of Christianity, theauthor has labored to expound divine Principle, and notto exalt personality. The weapons of bigotry,464:24 ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.Adulterating Christian Science, makes it void.Falsity has no foundation. "The hireling fleeth, because464:27 he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." Neitherdishonesty nor ignorance ever founded, nor can they over-throw a scientific system of ethics.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. - ISAIAH.
465:1 THIS chapter is from the first edition of the author'sclass-book, copyrighted in 1870. After much labor465:3 and increased spiritual understanding, she revised thattreatise for this volume in 1875. Absolute ChristianScience pervades its statements, to elucidate scientific465:6 metaphysics.
/Question/. - What is God?465:9 /Answer/. - God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infiniteMind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
/Question/. - Are these terms synonymous?465:12 /Answer/. - They are. They refer to one absolute God.They are also intended to express the nature, essence, andwholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice,465:15 mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.
/Question/. - Is there more than one God or Principle?/Answer/. - There is not. Principle and its idea is one,465:18 and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-466:1 present Being, and His reflection is man and the universe./Omni/ is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying /all/.466:3 Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-scienceor true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifesta-tions of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter,466:6 and have one Principle.
Real /versus/ unreal
/Question/. - What are spirits and souls?/Answer/. - To human belief, they are personalities466:9 constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth anderror, good and evil; but these contrastingpairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-466:12 tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together norassimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truthis limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error466:15 is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error isunreal. This last statement contains the point you willmost reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the466:18 most important to understand.
Mankind redeemed
The term /souls/ or /spirits/ is as improper as the term/gods/. Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else.466:21 There is no finite soul nor spirit. Soul orSpirit means only one Mind, and cannot berendered in the plural. Heathen mythology and Jewish466:24 theology have perpetuated the fallacy that intelligence,soul, and life can be in matter; and idolatry and ritualismare the outcome of all man-made beliefs. The Science466:27 of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate thechaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright,and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and466:30 its divine Principle, making mankind better physically,morally, and spiritually.
Two chief commands
467:1 /Question/. - What are the demands of the Science ofSoul?467:3 /Answer/. - The first demand of this Science is, " Thoushalt have no other gods before me." This /me/ is Spirit.Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt467:6 have no intelligence, no life, no substance, notruth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The secondis like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."467:9 It should be thoroughly understood that all men have oneMind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love.Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact467:12 becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brother-hood of man will be established. Having no other gods,turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide467:15 him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, hav-ing that Mind which was also in Christ.
Soul not confined in body
Science reveals Spirit, Soul, as not in the body, and467:18 God as not in man but as reflected by man. The greatercannot be in the lesser. The belief that thegreater can be in the lesser is an error that467:21 works ill. This is a leading point in the Science of Soul,that Principle is not in its idea. Spirit, Soul, is notconfined in man, and is never in matter. We reason im-467:24 perfectly from effect to cause, when we conclude thatmatter is the effect of Spirit; but /a priori/ reasoningshows material existence to be enigmatical. Spirit gives467:27 the true mental idea. We cannot interpret Spirit, Mind,through matter. Matter neither sees, hears, nor feels.
Sinlessness of Mind, Soul
Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind,467:30 we begin with Mind, which must be under-stood through the idea which expresses it andcannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we468:1 arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its ownunerring idea and never can be coordinate with human468:3 illusions. If Soul sinned, it would be mortal, for sin ismortality's self, because it kills itself. If Truth is im-mortal, error must be mortal, because error is unlike468:6 Truth. Because Soul is immortal, Soul cannot sin, forsin is not the eternal verity of being.
/Question/. - What is the scientific statement of being?468:9 /Answer/. - There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub-stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinitemanifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal468:12 Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real andeternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit isGod, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore468:15 man is not material; he is spiritual.
Spiritual synonyms
/Question/. - What is substance?/Answer/. - Substance is that which is eternal and inca-468:18 pable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love aresubstance, as the Scriptures use this word inHebrews: "The substance of things hoped468:21 for, the evidence of things not seen." Spirit, the synonymof Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. Thespiritual universe, including individual man, is a com-468:24 pound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit.
Eternity of Life
/Question/. - What is Life?/Answer/. - Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit.468:27 Life is without beginning and without end.Eternity, not time, expresses the thought ofLife, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in468:30 proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite;469:1 eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of mat-ter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which469:3 includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Mat-ter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is notlimited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If469:6 Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.
/Question/. - What is intelligence?/Answer/. - Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence,469:9 and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal qualityof infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, - Life, Truth,and Love, - named God.
True sense of infinitude
469:12 /Question/. - What is Mind?/Answer/. - Mind is God. The exterminator of erroris the great truth that God, good, is the /only/ Mind, and469:15 that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind- called /devil/ or evil - is not Mind, is notTruth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There469:18 can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; andif mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other,sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if469:21 that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude,when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has aplace in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all469:24 space is filled with God.
The sole governor
We lose the high signification of omnipotence, whenafter admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and469:27 has all-power, we still believe there is anotherpower, named /evil/. This belief that thereis more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology469:30 as are ancient mythology and pagan idolatry. With470:1 one Father, even God, the whole family of man wouldbe brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good,470:3 the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth,and have unity of Principle and spiritual power whichconstitute divine Science. The supposed existence of470:6 more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. Thiserror assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of thespiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an470:9 unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present anduniversal.
The divine standard of perfection
Divine Science explains the abstract statement that470:12 there is one Mind by the following self-evident propo-sition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, theunlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can470:15 only seem to be real by giving reality to theunreal. The children of God have but one Mind. Howcan good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man,470:18 never sins? The standard of perfection was originallyGod and man. Has God taken down His own standard,and has man fallen?
Indestructible relationship
470:21 God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principleof man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection,man, remains perfect. Man is the expression470:24 of God's being. If there ever was a momentwhen man did not express the divine perfec-tion, then there was a moment when man did not express470:27 God, and consequently a time when Deity was unex-pressed - that is, without entity. If man has lost per-fection, then he has lost his perfect Principle, the divine470:30 Mind. If man ever existed without this perfect Principleor Mind, then man's existence was a myth.
The relations of God and man, divine Principle and471:1 idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knowsno lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine471:3 order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He cre-ates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchangedin its eternal history.
Celestial evidence
471:6 The unlikeness of Truth, - named /error/, - the op-posite of Science, and the evidence before the five cor-poreal senses, afford no indication of the grand471:9 facts of being; even as these so-called sensesreceive no intimation of the earth's motions or of thescience of astronomy, but yield assent to astronomical471:12 propositions on the authority of natural science.
The facts of divine Science should be admitted, -although the evidence as to these facts is not supported471:15 by evil, by matter, or by material sense, - because theevidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained byspiritual sense. Man is, and forever has been, God's re-471:18 flection. God is infinite, therefore ever present, andthere is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirit-uality of the universe is the only fact of creation. "Let471:21 God be true, but every [material] man a liar."
The test of experience
/Question/. - Are doctrines and creeds a benefit to man?/Answer/. - The author subscribed to an orthodox471:24 creed in early youth, and tried to adhere to it until shecaught the first gleam of that which inter-prets God as above mortal sense. This471:27 view rebuked human beliefs, and gave the spiritual im-port, expressed through Science, of all that proceedsfrom the divine Mind. Since then her highest creed has471:30 been divine Science, which, reduced to human apprehen-sion, she has named Christian Science. This Science472:1 teaches man that God is the only Life, and that this Lifeis Truth and Love; that God is to be understood, adored,472:3 and demonstrated; that divine Truth casts out supposi-tional error and heals the sick.
God's law destroys evil
The way which leads to Christian Science is straight472:6 and narrow. God has set His signet upon Science, mak-ing it coordinate with all that is real and onlywith that which is harmonious and eternal.472:9 Sickness, sin, and death, being inharmonious, do notoriginate in God nor belong to His government. Hislaw, rightly understood, destroys them. Jesus furnished472:12 proofs of these statements.
Evanescent materiality
/Question/. - What is error?/Answer/. - Error is a supposition that pleasure and472:15 pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in mat-ter. Error is neither Mind nor one of Mind'sfaculties. Error is the contradiction of Truth.472:18 Error is a belief without understanding. Error is unrealbecause untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not.If error were true, its truth would be error, and we should472:21 have a self-evident absurdity - namely, /erroneous truth/.Thus we should continue to lose the standard of Truth.
Unrealities that seem real
/Question/. - Is there no sin?472:24 /Answer/. - All reality is in God and His creation, har-monious and eternal. That which He creates is good,and He makes all that is made. Therefore472:27 the only reality of sin, sickness, or death isthe awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erringbelief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not472:30 true, because they are not of God. We learn in Christian473:1 Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illu-sion, possessing neither reality nor identity though seeming473:3 to be real and identical.
Christ the ideal Truth
The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God,is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are473:6 to be classified as effects of error. Christcame to destroy the belief of sin. The God-principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is every-473:9 where, and nothing apart from Him is present or haspower. Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to healsickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes473:12 all power to God. Jesus is the name of the man who,more than all other men, has presented Christ, the trueidea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroy-473:15 ing the power of death. Jesus is the human man, andChrist is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus theChrist.
Jesus not God
473:18 In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introducedthe teaching and practice of Christianity, affording theproof of Christianity's truth and love; but to473:21 reach his example and to test its unerring Sci-ence according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, anddeath, a better understanding of God as divine Prin-473:24 ciple, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, isrequired.
Jesus not understood
Jesus established what he said by demonstration,473:27 thus making his acts of higher importance than hiswords. He proved what he taught. Thisis the Science of Christianity. Jesus /proved/473:30 the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error,to be divine. Few, however, except his students un-derstood in the least his teachings and their glorious474:1 proofs, - namely, that Life, Truth, and Love (the Prin-ciple of this unacknowledged Science) destroy all error,474:3 evil, disease, and death.
Miracles rejected
The reception accorded to Truth in the early Chris-tian era is repeated to-day. Whoever introduces the474:6 Science of Christianity will be scoffed at andscourged with worse cords than those whichcut the flesh. To the ignorant age in which it first474:9 appears, Science seems to be a mistake, - hence themisinterpretation and consequent maltreatment whichit receives. Christian marvels (and /marvel/ is the sim-474:12 ple meaning of the Greek word rendered /miracle/ in theNew Testament) will be misunderstood and misusedby many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is474:15 gained.
Divine fulfilment
If sin, sickness, and death are as real as Life, Truth,and Love, then they must all be from the same source;474:18 God must be their author. Now Jesus cameto destroy sin, sickness, and death yet theScriptures aver, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."474:21 Is it possible, then, to believe that the evils which Jesuslived to destroy are real or the offspring of the divinewill?
Truth destroys falsity
474:24 Despite the hallowing influence of Truth in the de-struction of error, must error still be immortal? Truthspares all that is true. If evil is real, Truth474:27 must make it so; but error, not Truth, isthe author of the unreal, and the unreal vanishes,while all that is real is eternal. The apostle says that474:30 the mission of Christ is to "destroy the works of thedevil." Truth destroys falsity and error, for light anddarkness cannot dwell together. Light extinguishes the475:1 darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is "nonight there." To Truth there is no error, - all is Truth.475:3 To infinite Spirit there is no matter, - all is Spirit, divinePrinciple and its idea.
Fleshly factors unreal
/Question/. - What is man?475:6 /Answer/. - Man is not matter; he is not made up ofbrain, blood, bones, and other material elements. TheScriptures inform us that man is made in475:9 the image and likeness of God. Matter isnot that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be sounlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect; and be-475:12 cause he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so under-stood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, ofLove; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of475:15 God, including all right ideas; the generic term forall that reflects God's image and likeness; the consciousidentity of being as found in Science, in which man is475:18 the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;that which has no separate mind from God; that whichhas not a single quality underived from Deity; that which475:21 possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of hisown, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.
And God said: "Let us make man in our image, after475:24 our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fishof the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that475:27 creepeth upon the earth."
Man unfallen
Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. Thereal man cannot depart from holiness, nor475:30 can God, by whom man is evolved, engenderthe capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not476:1 God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,476:3 which declares that man begins in dust or as a materialembryo. In divine Science, God and the real man areinseparable as divine Principle and idea.
Mortals are not immortals
476:6 Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that lifeand intelligence are in matter, and that476:9 this matter is man. God is the Principle ofman, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is notmortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and im-476:12 mortals, or the children of God, will appear as the onlyand eternal verities of man. Mortals are not fallen chil-dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,476:15 which may subsequently be regained. They were, fromthe beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin andbrought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed476:18 up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortalman.
Imperishable identity
476:21 Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritualstatus of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal476:24 man: "As for man, his days are as grass: asa flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the windpasseth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall476:27 know it no more."
The kingdom within
When speaking of God's children, not the children ofmen, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"476:30 that is, Truth and Love reign in the realman, showing that man in God's image isunfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the per-477:1 fect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortalman appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour477:3 saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of manhealed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdomof God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.477:6 Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himselfspiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfectnor material.
Material body never God's idea
477:9 Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporealsenses, man appears to be matter and mind united; butChristian Science reveals man as the idea of477:12 God, and declares the corporeal senses to bemortal and erring illusions. Divine Scienceshows it to be impossible that a material body, though477:15 interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamedmind, should be man, - the genuine and perfect man,the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.477:18 Were it otherwise, man would be annihilated.
Reflection of Spirit
/Question/. - What are body and Soul?/Answer/. - Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the re-477:21 flection in multifarious forms of the living Principle,Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelli-gence of man, which is individualized, but not477:24 in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior toSpirit.
Man inseparable from Spirit
Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught477:27 some glimpses of the underlying reality, whenthey called a certain beautiful lake "the smileof the Great Spirit." Separated from man,477:30 who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man,divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity. But there is,478:1 there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent withGod.
A vacant domicile
478:3 What evidence of Soul or of immortality have youwithin mortality? Even according to the teachings ofnatural science, man has never beheld Spirit478:6 or Soul leaving a body or entering it. Whatbasis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, exceptthe claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of478:9 the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer-tain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seento go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they478:12 even visible through the windows? Who can see a soulin the body?
Harmonious functions
/Question/. - Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and478:15 is there intelligence in matter?/Answer/. - No, not if God is true and mortal man aliar. The assertion that there can be pain or pleasure478:18 in matter is erroneous. That body is mostharmonious in which the discharge of the nat-ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence478:21 dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent andbrain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform thefunctions of Mind. Error says, "I am man;" but this478:24 belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginningto end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which478:27 reflects God. St. Paul said, "But when it pleased God,who separated me from my mother's womb, and called meby His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Immortal birthright
478:30 /Mortal man/ is really a self-contradictory phrase, forman is not mortal, "neither indeed can be;" man is im-479:1 mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense andnot of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-479:3 ual origin. With what truth, then, could theScriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-479:6 trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal andmaterial; it must be immortal and spiritual.
Matter's supposed selfhood
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.479:9 An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, isall that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-479:12 cognizant, - cannot feel itself, see itself, norunderstand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter479:15 can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which wecall dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physicalsenses?
Chaos and darkness
479:18 "In the beginning God created the heaven and theearth. And the earth was without form, and void; anddarkness was upon the face of the deep."479:21 (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in theScience and truth of being, the only facts are Spiritand its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos479:24 are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,and eternal harmony, and they are the elements ofnothingness.
Spiritual reflection
479:27 We admit that black is not a color, because it reflectsno light. So evil should be denied identity or power,because it has none of the divine hues. Paul479:30 says: "For the invisible things of Him, fromthe creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)480:1 When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where480:3 the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God isnot, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some-thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then480:6 there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a traceof heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-480:9 tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.Consciousness, as well as action, is governedby Mind, - is in God, the origin and gov-480:12 ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense hasits realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmoniousaction proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no480:15 Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes manto be in matter. Inharmony would make matter thecause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus480:18 attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-480:21 site of good - that is, evil - which seems tomake men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a480:24 false belief. God is not its author. The supposititiousparent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him480:27 [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,made that was made." This is the eternalverity of divine Science. If sin, sickness,480:30 death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil wouldvanish before the reality of good. One must hide the481:1 other. How important, then, to choose good as thereality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing481:3 else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, andboundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is481:6 free "to enter into the holiest," - the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
Material sense never helps mortals to understandSpirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-481:9 prehends and loves Deity. The various con-tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-481:12 mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony oferror, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,481:15 and good and evil to be capable of commingling. Thisis the significance of the Scripture concerning this "treeof the knowledge of good and evil," - this growth of481:18 material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thoueatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypothesesfirst assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and481:21 then assume the necessity of these evils because of theiradmitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-curers of all discord.
Sense and pure Soul
481:24 If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elementsof self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin issupported, God must uphold it, and this is481:27 impossible, since Truth cannot support error.Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, -hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that481:30 it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will befound that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not asinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-482:1 tion of the word /sense/ for /soul/ gives the exact meaning ina majority of cases.
Soul defined
482:3 Human thought has adulterated the meaning of theword /soul/ through the hypothesis that soul is both an eviland a good intelligence, resident in matter.482:6 The proper use of the word /soul/ can alwaysbe gained by substituting the word /God/, where the deificmeaning is required. In other cases, use the word /sense/,482:9 and you will have the scientific signification. As usedin Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym ofSpirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with482:12 sense, with material sensation.
Sonship of Jesus
/Question/. - Is it important to understand these ex-planations in order to heal the sick?482:15 /Answer/. - It is, since Christ is "the way" and thetruth casting out all error. Jesus called himself " theSon of man," but not the son of Joseph. As482:18 woman is but a species of the genera, he wasliterally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest humanconcept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from482:21 Christ, the Messiah, - the divine idea of God outsidethe flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of482:24 old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, throughfaith, to the hungering heart in every age.