Spiritual language
117:6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit mustbe, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi-cal nature and significance to the Supreme117:9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone dothis. God's essential language is spoken of in the lastchapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir-117:12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signsfollowing."
The miracles of Jesus
Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-117:15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-tudes and parables. As a divine student heunfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-117:18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power overthe sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate tointerpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles117:21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from theflesh.
Opacity of the senses
117:24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relatessolely to human reason; and because of opaci-ty to the true light, human reason dimly re-117:27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truthis a revelation.
Leaven of Truth
Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the117:30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-fined as human doctrines. His parable of the"leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures118:1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ118:3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far abovethe merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of theillustration.118:6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of theChrist, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-118:9 ble world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. Itmust destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally118:12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom.
The divine and human contrasted
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, andMedicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-118:15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-finite power and grace. The parable mayimport that these spiritual laws, perverted by118:18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modesof mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust118:21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, andmodes of material motion are honored with the name of/laws/. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes118:24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemicalproperties of meal.
Certain contradictions
The definitions of material law, as given by natural118:27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided againstitself, because these definitions portray law asphysical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-118:30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, inwhich nature and God are one and the natural order ofheaven comes down to earth.
Unescapable dilemma
119:1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we119:3 cannot really endow matter with what it doesnot and cannot possess, - we disown the Al-mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They119:6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-governmentof matter, or else they assume that matter is the productof Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-119:9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the otherhorn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of119:12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as theirsource, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-119:15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of naturallaw.
God and nature
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-119:18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law-giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates indeath the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal119:21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should beregarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature119:24 of Spirit, God.
The sun and Soul
In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradictsthe evidence before the senses to believe that the earth119:27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-omy reverses the human perception of themovement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-119:30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makesbody tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, whois but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it120:1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under-stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in120:3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; andman coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's120:6 image.
Reversal of testimony
Science reverses the false testimony of the physicalsenses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-120:9 mental facts of being. Then the question in-evitably arises: Is a man sick if the materialsenses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter120:12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if thesenses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in whichhealth is normal and disease is abnormal.
Health and the senses
120:15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; norcan the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub-ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing120:18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mindto testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There-fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi-120:21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniouslyexistent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; andthus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.
Any conclusion /pro/ or /con/, deduced from supposed sen-sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness120:27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony ofthe physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimateand so leads to disease.
Historic illustrations
120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to theglobe, ignorance and superstition chained thelimbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would havebeen his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and beforehe spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields121:6 were incorrectly explored.
Perennial beauty
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate ofempires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher121:9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-played upon the empyrean, earth and heavenwere bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's121:12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. Sowe have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; butman, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained121:15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolatestar - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."
Astronomic unfoldings
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical121:18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, insteadof the earth from west to east. Until rebukedby clearer views of the everlasting facts, this121:21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances oftento be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple121:24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is thecentral stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides121:27 turning daily on its own axis.
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates theaction of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-121:30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, andis allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlastinggovernment of the universe.
Opposing testimony
122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses thereal Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, -122:3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, anddeath; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false122:6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actualreign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-122:9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributaryto mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such122:12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,from which matter reports to this so-called mind its statusof happiness or misery.
Testimony of the senses
122:15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion ofmaterial sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-topsapparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet122:18 and mingle. The barometer, - that littleprophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony ofthe senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instancesof similar illusions, which every thinker can recall forhimself.
Spiritual sense of life
122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular veintakes away life; but to spiritual sense andin Science, Life goes on unchanged and122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense ofexistence.
Ptolemaic and psychical error
Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul122:30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, andChristian Science will surely destroy the greater error as123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea andPrinciple of man will then appear. The Ptole-maic blunder could not affect the harmony of123:6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, whichreverses the order of Science and assigns to matter thepower and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature inthe universe.
Seeming and being
The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,rising above physical theories, excludes matter,resolves /things/ into /thoughts/, and replaces the objects of123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas.
The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced bythe author to designate the scientific system of divine123:18 healing.
The revelation consists of two parts:
1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures andthrough the teachings of the Comforter, as promised bythe Master.123:24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to adispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of thisPrinciple indicates the eternality of the scientific orderand continuity of being.
Scientific basis
123:30 Christian Science differs from material sci-ence, but not on that account is it less scien-tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi-124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle ofall science.
Physical science a blind belief
124:3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - alaw of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of hisstrength. When this human belief lacks organ-124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect124:9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter,thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material124:12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, whichimmortal Spirit silences forever.
Right interpretation
The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science124:15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under-stood; but when explained on the basis ofphysical sense and represented as subject to124:18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,and must continue to be, an enigma.
All force mental
Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of124:21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and supportthe equipoise of that thought-force, whichlaunched the earth in its orbit and said to the124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."
Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of allthings. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and124:27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls themforces of matter; but divine Science declares that theybelong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home andclassification.
Corporeal changes
The elements and functions of the physical body and125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changesits beliefs. What is now considered the best condition125:3 for organic and functional health in the humanbody may no longer be found indispensableto health. Moral conditions will be found always har-125:6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inactionnor overaction is beyond God's control; and man willbe found normal and natural to changed mortal thought,125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations thanhe was in the prior states which human belief created andsanctioned.
125:12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow andjoy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand-125:15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God'sgovernment, man is self-governed. When subordinate125:18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin ordeath, thus proving our material theories about laws ofhealth to be valueless.
The time and tide
125:21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time andtide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-culturist will find that these changes cannot125:24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thouchange them and they shall be changed." The marinerwill have dominion over the atmosphere and the great125:27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, -he will look out from them upon the universe; and the125:30 florist will find his flower before its seed.
Mortal nothingness
Thus matter will finally be proved nothing morethan a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The126:3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," willbe solved, and mortal mind will be withoutform and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds126:6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflectionin a glass.
A lack of originality
All Science is divine. Human thought never pro-126:9 jected the least portion of true being. Human beliefhas sought and interpreted in its own waythe echo of Spirit, and so seems to have126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the humanmind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positivesound.
Antagonistic questions
126:15 The point at issue between Christian Science on theone hand and popular theology on the other is this: ShallScience explain cause and effect as being126:18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all thatis beyond the cognizance of the material senses be calledsupernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative126:21 hypotheses?
Biblical basis
I have set forth Christian Science and its applicationto the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.126:24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effectsof Truth on the health, longevity, and moralsof men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern126:27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachingsand demonstrations of our great Master and the lives ofprophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au-126:30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight andnarrow way" of Truth.
Science and Christianity
If Christendom resists the author's application of the127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of theword Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-127:3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold uponher. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator ofthe spiritual universe, including man, then everything127:6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must becomprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, forthere can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.
Scientific terms
127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, ChristScience or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-ploys interchangeably, according to the re-127:12 quirements of the context. These synony-mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in-finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however,127:15 that the term Christian Science relates especially toScience as applied to humanity. Christian Science re-veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death,127:18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exemptfrom all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, notthe fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs,127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, norsensation.
No physical science
There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth127:24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is nothuman, and is not a law of matter, for matteris not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of127:27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright.It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divineutterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.127:30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science,in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matteris its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con-128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might ofdivine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not128:3 miraculous to itself.
Practical Science
The term Science, properly understood, refers only tothe laws of God and to His government of the universe,128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows thatbusiness men and cultured scholars have foundthat Christian Science enhances their endurance and128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and anability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomesmore elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapessomewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-128:15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilitiesand possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere ofthought, giving mortals access to broader and higher128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insightand perspicacity.
An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-128:21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one wouldnot quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from128:24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, whichbanishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi-mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter.
Mathematics and scientific logic
128:27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixedPrinciple and not upon the judgment of false sensation.The addition of two sums in mathematics must128:30 always bring the same result. So is it withlogic. If both the major and the minor propo-sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science thereare no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as129:3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl-logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in129:6 premise or conclusion.
Truth by inversion
If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis-cover it by reversing the material fable, be the129:9 fable /pro/ or /con/, - be it in accord with yourpreconceptions or utterly contrary to them.
Antagonistic theories
Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli-129:12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.In those days there will be "great tribulationsuch as was not since the beginning of the129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]come hither to torment us before the time?" Animalmagnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to truebeing and fatal to its demonstration; and so are someother systems.
Ontology needed
129:21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol-ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deepinto realism instead of accepting only the out-129:24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peachesfrom a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord ofbeing? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in itsreformatory mission among mortals. The very name,illusion, points to nothingness.
Reluctant guests
129:30 The generous liver may object to the author's smallestimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees,in the system taught in this book, that the demands of130:1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-130:3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,130:6 and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance
It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, whichdestroys all discord, when you can demonstrate130:9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubtif reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,- if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will130:12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om-nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good andits sweet concords have all-power.
Children and adults
130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-abuse the human mind of material beliefs which waragainst spiritual facts; and these material130:18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to makeplace for truth. You cannot add to the contents of avessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's130:21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, -an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's130:24 love for little children, and understood how truly such asthey belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural
If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science130:27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims130:30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural tolove sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagineevil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and errorshould not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem131:3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and ourlives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.
The error of carnality
131:6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence theopposition of sensuous man to the Science of131:9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "Thecarnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact ofthe Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.
Churchly neglect
Must Christian Science come through the Christianchurches as some persons insist? This Science has come131:15 already, after the manner of God's appoint-ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came131:18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus oncesaid: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven andearth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise131:21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: evenso, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-131:24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until thehearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as naturaldemonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-tions which were not understood. Jesus' works131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. Inreply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his worksinstead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this132:3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and showJohn again those things which ye do hear and see: the132:6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepersare cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And132:9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." Inother words, he gave his benediction to any one whoshould not deny that such effects, coming from divine132:12 Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principlewhich brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected
The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retainedtheir materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'system of healing received no aid nor approval132:18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrinesof physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the132:21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts thedoor upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal132:24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of thetrue idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi-cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man132:27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John's misgivings
Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healingpower upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacheronce pointed his disciples to Jesus as "theLamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiryto Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"
Faith according to works
133:3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritanwoman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"There was also a certain centurion of whose133:6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so greatfaith, no, not in Israel."
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from133:9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowedfrom the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israeliteslooked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed133:12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes ofthe Hebrews; but when they departed from the true133:15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivityamong foreign nations, the divine Principle wroughtwonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and133:18 in kings' palaces.
Judaism antipathetic
Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, becauseJudaism engendered the limited form of a national or133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and materialsystem, carried out in special theories concern-ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.133:24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of theJewish accusations against him who planted Christianityon the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-133:27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-gence, nor substance outside of God.
Priestly learning
The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,133:30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quitegiven place to the true knowledge of God.Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth134:3 is still opposed with sword and spear.
Testimony of martyrs
The word /martyr/, from the Greek, means /witness/; butthose who testified for Truth were so often persecuted134:6 unto death, that at length the word /martyr/was narrowed in its significance and so hascome always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.134:9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatredof the opponents of Christianity, that the followers ofChrist were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;134:12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowedby the gallows and the cross.
Absence of Christ-power
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed134:15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christor the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-134:18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the veryelement, which gave it divine force and its astonishing andunequalled success in the first century.
Basis of miracles
134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, thenatural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - notbecause this Science is supernatural or pre-134:24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction ofdivine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-134:27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled thetempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. Thereis divine authority for believing in the superiority of134:30 spiritual power over material resistance.
Lawful wonders
A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate thatlaw. This fact at present seems more mysterious than135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailedthee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,135:3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the135:6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracleintroduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise ofdivine power.
Fear and sickness identical
The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.135:12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth healsthe sick it casts out evils, and when Truthcasts out the evil called disease, it heals the135:15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil ofdumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating135:18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israeland asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"What cannot God do?
The unity of Science and Christianity135:21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must beScience, and Science must be Christianity, else one or theother is false and useless; but neither is unim-135:24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-stration. This proves the one to be identicalwith the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not135:27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special giftfrom a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstrationof divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,135:30 not merely in the /name/ of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles ofdivine light.
The Christ-mission
136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his missionon a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught136:3 his followers that his religion had a divinePrinciple, which would cast out error and healboth the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-136:6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite thepersecution this brought upon him, he used his divinepower to save men both bodily and spiritually.
Ancient spiritualism
136:9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal thesick? His answer to this question the world rejected.He appealed to his students: "Whom do136:12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" Thatis: Who or what is it that is thus identified with castingout evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some136:15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; andothers, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophetswere considered dead, and this reply may indicate that136:18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.
This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.136:21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should haveno high appreciation of divine Science and the great workof the Master, was not surprising; for how could such136:24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fullyunderstand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-136:27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" Nowonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.
Doubting disciples
The disciples apprehended their Master better than136:30 did others; but they did not comprehend allthat he said and did, or they would not havequestioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,137:3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful workwas not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after thecrucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, andthe grave.
Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,137:9 "But whom say /ye/ that I am?" This renewed inquirymeant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, somysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the137:12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrowopinion implied in their citation of the common report137:15 about him.
A divine response
With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for hisbrethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou137:18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and137:21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited fromJesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,137:24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hathshown thee the way of Life!
The true and living rock
Before this the impetuous disciple had been called137:27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son ofJona; but now the Master gave him a spir-itual name in these words: "And I say also137:30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [themeaning of the Greek word /petros/, or /stone/] I will buildmy church; and the gates of hell [/hades/, the /under/-138:1 /world/, or the /grave/] shall not prevail against it." Inother words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-power which lay behind Peter's confession of the trueMessiah.
Sublime summary
138:6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, andLove, and not a human personality, was the healer of thesick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basisJesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous tooutsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither138:12 by corporeality, by /materia medica/, nor by hygiene, but bythe divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religionof Love.
New era in Jesus
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for138:18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians areunder as direct orders now, as they were then,to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to138:21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well asthe sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with138:24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day asreadily is it was proved centuries ago.
Healthful theology
138:27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all theworld, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . .Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as138:30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus whichhealed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in thisbook and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-139:3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.
Marvels and reformations
From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full ofaccounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.139:6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what mencalled miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, andElisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and139:9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended withbloodshed and persecution, even when the end has beenbrightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wiselyto stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flowsinward.
Science obscured
139:15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to whatshould and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the139:18 thirty thousand different readings in the OldTestament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole139:21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to someextent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neitherwholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen139:24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration ofJesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresawthat "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-139:27 come "the head of the corner."
Opponents benefited
Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism areopposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-139:30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profaneor atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in mostcases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the140:3 treatment of moral ailments.
God invisible to the senses
That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not140:6 see My face; for there shall no man see Meand live." Not materially but spiritually weknow Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We140:9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend thedivine nature and love Him understandingly, warring nomore over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence140:12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not ofthe head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and140:15 swallowing camels.
The true worship
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worshipmaterially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-140:18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium ofmatter is paganism. Judaic and other ritualsare but types and shadows of true worship. "The true140:21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and intruth."
Anthropomorphism
The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,140:24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.The Christian Science God is universal, eter-nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-140:27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfullytrue that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-140:30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their ownhuman image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortalmagnified?
More than profession required
141:1 This indicates the distance between the theological andritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by141:3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite forChristian demonstration. Few understand oradhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and141:6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,- that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs141:9 and practices, to leave all for Christ.
No ecclesiastical monopoly
All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must comefrom the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-141:12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from aroyal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect141:15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle andof the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical141:18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. TheBible declares that all believers are made "kings and141:21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, anddo not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.141:24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-prehended, until its divine Principle is scientificallyunderstood.
A change demanded
141:27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let ourpulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let141:30 it have fair representation by the press. Giveto it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will142:1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-142:3 lishment and propagation.
Two claims omitted
Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measuredChristianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;142:6 but modern religions generally omit all but oneof these powers, - the power over sin. Wemust seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our142:9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone canfurnish us with absolute evidence.
Selfishness and loss
If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-142:12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous withbeauty, turn the poor and the stranger from thegate, they at the same time shut the door on142:15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell theirstory to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the righthand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.
Temple cleansed
142:18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need tobe whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of142:21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wieldedby Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of theirvain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet142:24 dwelling-places for the Most High.
Question of precedence
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was142:27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must havebeen the first medicine. God being All-in-all, He made medicine; but that medicine was142:30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departsfrom the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth143:1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,143:3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals thesick.
Methods rejected
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,143:6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would haverecommended and employed them in his heal-ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than143:9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help andthe sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter/medicine/, and matter required a material and human be-143:12 lief before it could be considered as medicine.
Error not curative
Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,143:15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve thegreater. On this basis it saves from starva-tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You143:18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, butyou conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by143:21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean onthe inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.143:24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negativemind.
Impossible coalescence
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power143:27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind wasfirst chronologically, is first potentially, andmust be first eternally, then give to Mind the143:30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due itsholy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healingmay try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will144:1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to makethem do so, since no good can come of it?144:3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even ifthese so-called powers are real.
144:6 Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.
Soul and sense
The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-144:9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.The more material a belief, the more obstinately144:12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations ofthe corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.
Will-power detrimental
Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs144:15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-demned. Willing the sick to recover is not themetaphysical practice of Christian Science, but144:18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and144:21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says todisease, "Peace, be still."
Conservative antagonism
Because divine Science wars with so-called physical144:24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schoolsstill oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudicecloses the door to whatever is not stereotyped.144:27 When the Science of being is universally understood,every man will be his own physician, and Truth will bethe universal panacea.
Ancient healers
144:30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspiredhealers understood the Science of Christian healing, or145:1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the naturalmusician catches the tones of harmony, without being145:3 able to explain them. So divinely imbuedwere they with the spirit of Science, that thelack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that145:6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void theirpractice.
The struggle and victory
The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not145:9 between material methods, but between mortal mindsand immortal Mind. The victory will be onthe patient's side only as immortal Mind145:12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief indisease. It matters not what material method one mayadopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance145:15 on some other minor curative.
Mystery of godliness
Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-ods, - that in it Truth controls error. From this fact145:18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effectsare indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery145:21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godlinessalways presents to the ungodly, - the mystery alwaysarising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-145:24 ing Mind.
Matter /versus/ matter
Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of145:27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,and the warfare between Spirit and the fleshgoes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-145:30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost
The theology of Christian Science includes healingthe sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith byhis works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why146:3 has this element of Christianity been lost?Because our systems of religion are governedmore or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-146:6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have renderedfaith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. Bytrusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and146:9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barrenof the vitality of spiritual power, by which material senseis made the servant of Science and religion becomes146:12 Christlike.
Drugs and divinity
Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power ofGod - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.146:15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-son, instead of to the divine Principle, of theman Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,146:18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugsof their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"146:21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,146:24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated throughthe holy influence of Truth in healing sick-ness and sin. This healing power of Truth146:27 must have been far anterior to the period inwhich Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient ofdays." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout146:30 all space.
Reduction to system
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to aform comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables thelearner to demonstrate the divine Principle,147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, andthe sacred rules for its present application to the cure ofdisease.