CHAPTER VI SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE | |||
PAGE 107
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Christian Science discovered In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ
Science or | ||
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named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab- | ||
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solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
Mission of Christian Science | ||
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ence, delivering the children of men from every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through Christian Science, religion and medicine are | ||
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inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac- quaint themselves intelligently with God. Discontent with life | ||
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Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life inheres in the body, yet remembering that in reality God is our Life, we may well tremble | ||
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in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I have no pleasure in them." PAGE 108 | ||
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Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, - a con- viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses? | ||
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According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power." It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me | ||
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the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen- sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the | ||
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price of learning love," establish the truism that the only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer. Demonstrable evidence | ||
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My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty and the lesser demonstration to prove the | ||
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greater, as the product of three multiplied by
three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, - not | ||
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a fraction more, not a unit less.
Light shining in darkness | ||
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I learned these truths in divine Science: that
all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever- | ||
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present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense | ||
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evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit. New lines of thought | ||
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My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed
mind produces all the organism and action of the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels, PAGE 109 | ||
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and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in | ||
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Mind-science.
Scientific evidence | ||
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and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen
to be supported by sensible evidence, until its divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and | ||
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thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen, no other conclusion can be reached.
Solitary research | ||
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tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip- tures and read little else, kept aloof from so- ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis- | ||
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covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, | ||
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and that cures were produced in primitive Christian
healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute | ||
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conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem- onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand- ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine | ||
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power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: "Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be | ||
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called Wonderful."
Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not | ||
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he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.)
God's allness learned PAGE 110 | ||
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presence, omniscience, - Spirit possessing all power, filling all space, constituting all Science, - contradict | ||
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forever the belief that matter can be actual. These eternal verities reveal primeval exist- ence as the radiant reality of God's creation, | ||
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in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis- dom good. Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful | ||
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unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought to light another glorious proposition, - man's perfecti- bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on | ||
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earth.
Scriptural foundations | ||
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illumined; reason and revelation were recon-
ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue | ||
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taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can over- throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti- | ||
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cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis- | ||
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cerned and demonstrated.
The demonstration lost and found | ||
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sight of, and must again be spiritually dis-
cerned, taught, and demonstrated according to Christ's command, with "signs following." | ||
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Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe on Christ and spiritually understand Truth.
Mystical antagonists PAGE 111 | ||
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agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris- | ||
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tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous
reason of the human mind, to be opposed to the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science. Optical illustration of Science | ||
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Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The Science of God and man is no more supernatural than is the science of numbers, though departing | ||
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from the realm of the physical, as the Science
of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics | ||
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is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza- tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon- strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted | ||
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and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex- planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted image and shows what this inverted image is meant to | ||
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represent.
Pertinent proposal | ||
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- an essay calculated to offset the tendency of the age to attribute physical effects to physical causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, - is one of | ||
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many incidents which show that Christian Science meets a yearning of the human race for spirituality.
Confirmatory tests | ||
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demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi- dent to me, - that Mind governs the body, not partially but wholly. I submitted my | ||
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metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad- est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien- PAGE 112 | ||
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tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent
in medical practice. One school of Truth | ||
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Is there more than one school of Christian Science? Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there- fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de- | ||
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part from this method forfeit their claims to belong to its school, and they become adher- ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some | ||
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other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad- here to some particular system of human opinions. Al- though these opinions may have occasional gleams of | ||
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divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not | ||
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scientifically Christian.
Unchanging Principle | ||
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come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon-
stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are | ||
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the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac- terized in the epistle to the Hebrews.
On sandy foundations | ||
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what has already been stated and proved to be true, af- fords no foundation upon which to establish a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any | ||
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so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it | ||
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inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal."
Principle and practice PAGE 113 | ||
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is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon- | ||
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stration of this divine Principle. The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, | ||
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the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With- out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, - pulseless, cold, inanimate. Reversible propositions | ||
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The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics
are summarized in the four following, to me, self-evident propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi- | ||
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tions will be found to agree in statement and
proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to | ||
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stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.
1. God is All-in-all. | ||
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3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease. - Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo- | ||
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tent God, Life.
Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both | ||
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I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a liar."
Metaphysical inversions | ||
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method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion.
For example: There is no pain in Truth, and no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no | ||
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mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat- ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter in good, and no good in matter. PAGE 114 Definition of mortal mind | ||
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Usage classes both evil and good together as
mind; therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin- | ||
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ful humanity mortal mind, - meaning by this
term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or | ||
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Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition
of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses, which makes minds many and calls mind both human and | ||
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divine.
In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phe- Imperfect terminology | ||
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Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an improper use of the word mind. As Mind is immortal, the phrase mortal mind implies something un- | ||
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true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase
is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if | ||
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a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new | ||
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wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of the letter.
Causation mental | ||
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tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities | ||
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of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni- ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed mat- | ||
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ter is but the subjective state of what is termed by the author mortal mind.
Philological inadequacy PAGE 115 | ||
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the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual- ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science | ||
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comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for
metaphysical statements, and the consequent difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make | ||
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them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person- ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the | ||
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mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the right impression, when translating material terms back into the original spiritual tongue. | ||
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SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF IMMORTAL MIND
Divine synonyms Divine image | ||
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MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per-
fect, eternal.
Divine reflection | ||
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object of understanding. - Webster. SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION OF MORTAL MIND First Degree: Depravity. Unreality | ||
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PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear, depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de- ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease, | ||
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death. Second Degree: Evil beliefs disappearing.
Transitional qualities PAGE 116 | ||
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Third Degree: Understanding.
Reality | ||
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spiritual power, love, health, holiness.
Spiritual universe | ||
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before the corporeal human senses, as to make this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts, "The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God | ||
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and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and must of necessity be, - all-inclusive.
Aim of Science | ||
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tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen. Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. They never crown the power of | ||
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Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, - even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, - nor insist upon the fact | ||
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that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind.
Divine personality | ||
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God is not corporeal, but incorporeal,
- that is, bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is incorporeal. | ||
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As the words person and personal are commonly and ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity | ||
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and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality, as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is infinite Person, - in the sense of infinite personality, but | ||
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not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form is an absolute impossibility. PAGE 117 | ||
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The term individuality is also open to objections, be-
cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many, | ||
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as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God is One, - not one of a series, but one alone and without an equal. Spiritual language | ||
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God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi- cal nature and significance to the Supreme | ||
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Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir- | ||
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itual meaning of which is attained through "signs
following."
The miracles of Jesus | ||
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guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili- tudes and parables. As a divine student he unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon- | ||
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strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles | ||
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(marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty, crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the flesh. Opacity of the senses | ||
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Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates solely to human reason; and because of opaci- ty to the true light, human reason dimly re- | ||
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flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth is a revelation.
Leaven of Truth | ||
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Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-
fined as human doctrines. His parable of the "leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures PAGE 118 | ||
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of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ | ||
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and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration. | ||
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Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi- | ||
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ble world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It | ||
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glorified in man's spiritual freedom.
The divine and human contrasted | ||
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ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
finite power and grace. The parable may import that these spiritual laws, perverted by | ||
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a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre- sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modes of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust | ||
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is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and modes of material motion are honored with the name of laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes | ||
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the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal.
Certain contradictions | ||
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science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against itself, because these definitions portray law as physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con- | ||
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tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in which nature and God are one and the natural order of heaven comes down to earth. PAGE 119 Unescapable dilemma | ||
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When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we | ||
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cannot really endow matter with what it does not and cannot possess, - we disown the Al- mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They | ||
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either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con- | ||
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sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre- ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of | ||
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matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas- ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet- | ||
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ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural law.
God and nature | ||
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ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law- giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal | ||
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of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre- sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature | ||
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of Spirit, God.
The sun and Soul | ||
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is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
omy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re- | ||
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verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it PAGE 120 | ||
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seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under- stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in | ||
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matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.
Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's | ||
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image.
Reversal of testimony | ||
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mental facts of being. Then the question in- evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter | ||
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can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which health is normal and disease is abnormal. Health and the senses | ||
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Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub- ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing | ||
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shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind
to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There- fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi- | ||
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mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously
existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows | ||
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false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.
Any conclusion pro or con, deduced from supposed sen- | ||
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of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate and so leads to disease. Historic illustrations | ||
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When Columbus gave freer breath to the globe, ignorance and superstition chained the limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star- PAGE 121 | ||
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vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor- | ||
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ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before | ||
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were incorrectly explored.
Perennial beauty | ||
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revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's | ||
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perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained | ||
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by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."
Astronomic unfoldings | ||
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eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this | ||
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false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in- duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple | ||
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rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides | ||
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turning daily on its own axis.
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the | ||
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tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe. PAGE 122 Opposing testimony | ||
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The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, - | ||
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assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un- derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false | ||
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witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re- versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine- | ||
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teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus; yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such | ||
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as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure, from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status of happiness or misery. Testimony of the senses | ||
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The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet | ||
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and mingle. The barometer, - that little prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky | ||
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clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for himself. Spiritual sense of life | ||
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To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein takes away life; but to spiritual sense and in Science, Life goes on unchanged and | ||
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being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of existence.
Ptolemaic and psychical error | ||
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and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system. They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu- tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the PAGE 123 | ||
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false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and
Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as | ||
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to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole- maic blunder could not affect the harmony of | ||
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being as does the error relating to soul and body, which reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes | ||
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the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in the universe.
Seeming and being | ||
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matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,
rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of | ||
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material sense with spiritual ideas.
The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by | ||
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healing. The revelation consists of two parts:
1. The discovery of this divine
Science of Mind- | ||
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healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the Master. | ||
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2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the
so- called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an | ||
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ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order and continuity of being. Scientific basis | ||
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Christian Science differs from material sci-
ence, but not on that account is it less scien- tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi- PAGE 124 | ||
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mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of all science. Physical science a blind belief | ||
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Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his strength. When this human belief lacks organ- | ||
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izations to support it, its foundations are gone.
Having neither moral might, spiritual basis, nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect | ||
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for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter, thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death. In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material | ||
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reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which immortal Spirit silences forever.
Right interpretation | ||
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from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under- stood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to | ||
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growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.
All force mental | ||
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Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the | ||
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proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."
Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all | ||
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creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this | ||
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Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.
Corporeal changes PAGE 125 | ||
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of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition | ||
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for organic and functional health in the human
body may no longer be found indispensable to health. Moral conditions will be found always har- | ||
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monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction
nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought, | ||
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and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than he was in the prior states which human belief created and sanctioned. | ||
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As human thought changes from one stage to an- other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand- | ||
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ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov- erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed. When subordinate | ||
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to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless. The time and tide | ||
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The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri- culturist will find that these changes cannot | ||
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affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou
change them and they shall be changed." The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great | ||
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deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, - he will look out from them upon the universe; and the | ||
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florist will find his flower before its seed.
Mortal nothingness PAGE 126 | ||
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through its supposed organic action or supposed exist- ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The | ||
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problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will be solved, and mortal mind will be without form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds | ||
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himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection in a glass.
A lack of originality | ||
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jected the least portion of true being. Human belief
has sought and interpreted in its own way the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have | ||
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reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive sound. Antagonistic questions | ||
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The point at issue between Christian Science on the one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall Science explain cause and effect as being | ||
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both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that
is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative | ||
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hypotheses?
Biblical basis | ||
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I have demonstrated through Mind the effects
of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern | ||
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systems on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au- | ||
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thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and narrow way" of Truth.
Science and Christianity PAGE 127 | ||
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word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris- | ||
3 |
tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon
her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything | ||
6 |
entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity. Scientific terms | ||
9 |
The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em- ploys interchangeably, according to the re- | ||
12 |
quirements of the context. These synony- mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in- finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however, | ||
15 |
that the term Christian Science relates especially to Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re- veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death, | ||
18 |
but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs, | ||
21 |
and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor sensation.
No physical science | ||
24 |
proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of | ||
27 |
divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright. It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth. | ||
30 |
Christian Science eschews what is called natural science, in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con- PAGE 128 | ||
1 |
ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of
divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not | ||
3 |
miraculous to itself.
Practical Science | ||
6 |
inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and | ||
9 |
mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,
gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human | ||
12 |
mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl- | ||
15 |
edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher | ||
18 |
realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity. An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro- | ||
21 |
portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from | ||
24 |
a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi- mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter. Mathematics and scientific logic | ||
27 |
Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation. The addition of two sums in mathematics must | ||
30 |
always bring the same result. So is it with logic. If both the major and the minor propo- sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly PAGE 129 | ||
1 |
drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as | ||
3 |
harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl- logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic. Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in | ||
6 |
premise or conclusion.
Truth by inversion | ||
9 |
fable pro or con, - be it in accord with your preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.
Antagonistic theories | ||
12 |
gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.
In those days there will be "great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the | ||
15 |
world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth] come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos- | ||
18 |
ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some other systems. Ontology needed | ||
21 |
We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol- ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the out- | ||
24 |
ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading | ||
27 |
illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness. Reluctant guests | ||
30 |
The generous liver may object to the author's small estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees, in the system taught in this book, that the demands of PAGE 130 | ||
1 |
God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con- stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis- | ||
3 |
couraged over its slight spiritual prospects. When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex- cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise, | ||
6 |
and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance | ||
9 |
the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle, - if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will | ||
12 |
destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om- nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and its sweet concords have all-power. Children and adults | ||
15 |
Christian Science, properly understood, would dis- abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war against spiritual facts; and these material | ||
18 |
beliefs must be denied and cast out to make place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's | ||
21 |
faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, - an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har- monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's | ||
24 |
love for little children, and understood how truly such as they belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural | ||
27 |
for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su- premacy of good, ought we not, contrari- wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims | ||
30 |
of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should PAGE 131 | ||
1 |
not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem | ||
3 |
so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har- mony with God, the divine Principle of all being. The error of carnality | ||
6 |
When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi- dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the opposition of sensuous man to the Science of | ||
9 |
Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power. | ||
12 |
THEOLOGY
Churchly neglect | ||
15 |
already, after the manner of God's appoint- ing, but the churches seem not ready to re- ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came | ||
18 |
unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise | ||
21 |
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore- time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere- | ||
24 |
monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the hearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah | ||
27 |
plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra- , tions which were not understood. Jesus' works | ||
30 |
established his claim to the Messiahship. In
reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come," PAGE 132 | ||
1 |
Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this | ||
3 |
exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an- swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the | ||
6 |
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And | ||
9 |
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In other words, he gave his benediction to any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine | ||
12 |
Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principle
which brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected | ||
15 |
man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus' system of healing received no aid nor approval | ||
18 |
from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener- ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the | ||
21 |
reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin- ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal | ||
24 |
theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the true idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi- cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man | ||
27 |
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John's misgivings | ||
30 |
tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned PAGE 133 | ||
1 |
the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?" Faith according to works | ||
3 |
Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?" There was also a certain centurion of whose | ||
6 |
faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from | ||
9 |
belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed | ||
12 |
that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers. In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true | ||
15 |
idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and | ||
18 |
in kings' palaces.
Judaism antipathetic | ||
21 |
tribal religion. It was a finite and material
system, carried out in special theories concern- ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus. | ||
24 |
That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in- | ||
27 |
spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli- gence, nor substance outside of God.
Priestly learning | ||
30 |
or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
given place to the true knowledge of God. Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of PAGE 134 | ||
1 |
rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re- peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth | ||
3 |
is still opposed with sword and spear.
Testimony of martyrs | ||
6 |
unto death, that at length the word martyr was narrowed in its significance and so has come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions. | ||
9 |
The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted; | ||
12 |
and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
by the gallows and the cross.
Absence of Christ-power | ||
15 |
strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi- | ||
18 |
bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century. Basis of miracles | ||
21 |
The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not because this Science is supernatural or pre- | ||
24 |
ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al- | ||
27 |
ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of | ||
30 |
spiritual power over material resistance.
Lawful wonders PAGE 135 | ||
1 |
the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, | ||
3 |
that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the | ||
6 |
Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law. | ||
9 |
Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power.
Fear and sickness identical | ||
12 |
This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth casts out the evil called disease, it heals the | ||
15 |
sick. When Christ cast out the devil of dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating | ||
18 |
the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" What cannot God do? The unity of Science and Christianity | ||
21 |
It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the other is false and useless; but neither is unim- | ||
24 |
portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
stration. This proves the one to be identical with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not | ||
27 |
a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick, | ||
30 |
not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demon- stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of divine light. PAGE 136 The Christ-mission | ||
1 |
Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught | ||
3 |
his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli- | ||
6 |
gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine power to save men both bodily and spiritually. Ancient spiritualism | ||
9 |
The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the sick? His answer to this question the world rejected. He appealed to his students: "Whom do | ||
12 |
men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some | ||
15 |
say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that | ||
18 |
some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium, controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias. This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself. | ||
21 |
That a wicked king and debauched husband should have no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such | ||
24 |
a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con- trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser- | ||
27 |
tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.
Doubting disciples | ||
30 |
did others; but they did not comprehend all that he said and did, or they would not have questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in PAGE 137 | ||
1 |
teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu- dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil, | ||
3 |
raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before | ||
6 |
them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and the grave. Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated, | ||
9 |
"But whom say ye that I am?" This renewed inquiry meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the | ||
12 |
answer already given and his renewal of the question,
it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow opinion implied in their citation of the common report | ||
15 |
about him.
A divine response | ||
18 |
art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de- clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and | ||
21 |
Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, | ||
24 |
but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath shown thee the way of Life!
The true and living rock | ||
27 |
only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir- itual name in these words: "And I say also | ||
30 |
unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades, the under- PAGE 138 | ||
1 |
world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it." In other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not | ||
3 |
on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-
power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true Messiah. Sublime summary | ||
6 |
It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm | ||
9 |
of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither | ||
12 |
by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind. The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which | ||
15 |
Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion of Love.
New era in Jesus | ||
18 |
all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to | ||
21 |
follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick- ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with | ||
24 |
pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas- ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as readily is it was proved centuries ago. Healthful theology | ||
27 |
Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . . Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as | ||
30 |
thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which PAGE 139 | ||
1 |
heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas- | ||
3 |
ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.
Marvels and reformations | ||
6 |
Moses proved the power of Mind by what men called miracles ; so did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and | ||
9 |
wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re- | ||
12 |
form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows inward. Science obscured | ||
15 |
The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man- ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the | ||
18 |
thirty thousand different readings in the Old
Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New, - these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole | ||
21 |
into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen | ||
24 |
from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be- | ||
27 |
come "the head of the corner."
Opponents benefited | ||
30 |
ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris- tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de- PAGE 140 | ||
1 |
mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the | ||
3 |
treatment of moral ailments.
God invisible to the senses | ||
6 |
see My face; for there shall no man see Me and live." Not materially but spiritually we know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We | ||
9 |
shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence | ||
12 |
of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro- scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and | ||
15 |
swallowing camels.
The true worship | ||
18 |
tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true | ||
21 |
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
Anthropomorphism | ||
24 |
liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
The Christian Science God is universal, eter- nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus- | ||
27 |
eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin- ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor- | ||
30 |
tals would procreate man, and make God in their own human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal magnified? PAGE 141 More than profession required | ||
1 |
This indicates the distance between the theological and ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by | ||
3 |
Jesus. More than profession is requisite for Christian demonstration. Few understand or adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and | ||
6 |
healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci- ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye, - that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs | ||
9 |
and practices, to leave all for Christ.
No ecclesiastical monopoly | ||
12 |
siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect | ||
15 |
followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical | ||
18 |
monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and | ||
21 |
priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there- fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power. | ||
24 |
Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically understood. A change demanded | ||
27 |
The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal- ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let | ||
30 |
it have fair representation by the press. Give
to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu- pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will PAGE 142 | ||
1 |
eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab- | ||
3 |
lishment and propagation.
Two claims omitted | ||
6 |
but modern religions generally omit all but one
of these powers, - the power over sin. We must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our | ||
9 |
first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can furnish us with absolute evidence.
Selfishness and loss | ||
12 |
tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the gate, they at the same time shut the door on | ||
15 |
progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine. Temple cleansed | ||
18 |
As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci- ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of | ||
21 |
scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet | ||
24 |
dwelling-places for the Most High. MEDICINE
Question of precedence | ||
27 |
first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have been the first medicine. God being All-in- all, He made medicine; but that medicine was | ||
30 |
Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth PAGE 143 | ||
1 |
is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de- stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day, | ||
3 |
as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the sick.
Methods rejected | ||
6 |
nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his heal- ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than | ||
9 |
the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter medicine, and matter required a material and human be- | ||
12 |
lief before it could be considered as medicine.
Error not curative | ||
15 |
the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from starva- tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You | ||
18 |
admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones, etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by | ||
21 |
this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de- prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind. | ||
24 |
The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative mind.
Impossible coalescence | ||
27 |
except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the | ||
30 |
glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will PAGE 144 | ||
1 |
not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make them do so, since no good can come of it? | ||
3 |
If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind, which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if these so-called powers are real. | ||
6 |
Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh; Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.
Soul and sense | ||
9 |
phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter, and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth. The more material a belief, the more obstinately | ||
12 |
tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.
Will-power detrimental | ||
15 |
to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con- demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but | ||
18 |
is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in- fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually, and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and | ||
21 |
not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to disease, "Peace, be still."
Conservative antagonism | ||
24 |
science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped. | ||
27 |
When the Science of being is universally understood,
every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea. Ancient healers | ||
30 |
It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or PAGE 145 | ||
1 |
whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural musician catches the tones of harmony, without being | ||
3 |
able to explain them. So divinely imbued were they with the spirit of Science, that the lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that | ||
6 |
letter, without the spirit, would have made void their practice.
The struggle and victory | ||
9 |
between material methods, but between mortal minds
and immortal Mind. The victory will be on the patient's side only as immortal Mind | ||
12 |
through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in disease. It matters not what material method one may adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance | ||
15 |
on some other minor curative.
Mystery of godliness | ||
18 |
arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery | ||
21 |
in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness always presents to the ungodly, - the mystery always arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr- | ||
24 |
ing Mind.
Matter versus matter | ||
27 |
matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con- | ||
30 |
tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost PAGE 146 | ||
1 |
to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why | ||
3 |
has this element of Christianity been lost? Because our systems of religion are governed more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol- | ||
6 |
atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and | ||
9 |
harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense is made the servant of Science and religion becomes | ||
12 |
Christlike.
Drugs and divinity | ||
15 |
Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God, | ||
18 |
is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem- acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates," | ||
21 |
remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac- tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God | ||
24 |
and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through the holy influence of Truth in healing sick- ness and sin. This healing power of Truth | ||
27 |
must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout | ||
30 |
all space.
Reduction to system PAGE 147 | ||
1 |
the age in which we live. This system enables the learner to demonstrate the divine Principle, | ||
3 |
upon which Jesus' healing was based, and the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of disease. | ||
6 |
Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap- | ||
9 |
plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu- manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen- | ||
12 |
turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.
Perusal and practice | ||
15 |
Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, | ||
18 |
and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the | ||
21 |
perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en- ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim. A definite rule discovered | ||
24 |
Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal- ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to his students; but he left no definite rule for | ||
27 |
demonstrating this Principle of healing and preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good- | ||
30 |
ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of goodness and demonstrates its rules.
Jesus' own practice PAGE 148 | ||
1 |
to heal. When his students brought to him a case they had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen- | ||
3 |
eration," implying that the requisite power
to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs, urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct | ||
6 |
disobedience to them.
The man of anatomy and of theology | ||
9 |
plains the men of men, or the "children of men," as created corporeally instead of spir- itually and as emerging from the lowest, in- | ||
12 |
stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both anatomy and theology define man as both physical and mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every | ||
15 |
function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the- | ||
18 |
ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo- nious man, and deal - the one wholly, the other primarily - with matter, calling that man which is not the counter- | ||
21 |
part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, - how from this basis of division and discord to produce the con- | ||
24 |
cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.
Physiology deficient | ||
27 |
physiology fails to give health or life by this
process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable or unwilling to render help in time of physical need. | ||
30 |
When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great PAGE 149 | ||
1 |
Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness as well as from sin. Blunders and blunderers | ||
3 |
Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine Science in every case. Is materia medica a | ||
6 |
science or a bundle of speculative human theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in- stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different | ||
9 |
mental states of the patient. These states are not com- prehended and they are left without explanation except in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera- | ||
12 |
tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of Christ, Truth, more in your own life, - because you have | ||
15 |
not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine Science.
Old-school physician | ||
21 |
possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties."
The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she | ||
24 |
has cured purely functional disease, and with no power but the divine Mind.
Tests in our day | ||
27 |
supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics. Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits mind and body. We need to understand the | ||
30 |
affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to PAGE 150 | ||
1 |
be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian | ||
3 |
system of healing disease.
The main purpose | ||
6 |
phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace, good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised | ||
9 |
by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, | ||
12 |
is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal- ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon- | ||
15 |
strate its divine origin, - to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world. Exploded doctrine | ||
18 |
The science (so-called) of physics would have one be- lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease, and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro- | ||
21 |
test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.
This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to | ||
24 |
all others at some future day, as the practically rejected doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov- | ||
27 |
erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of matter, - even the doctrine of the superiority of matter | ||
30 |
over Mind, - is fading out.
Disease mental PAGE 151 | ||
1 |
and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but | ||
3 |
this one factor they represent to be body, not
mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind | ||
6 |
has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its redemption and healing.
Intentions respected | ||
9 |
the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un- derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were in possession of the enlarged power it confers | ||
12 |
to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres- | ||
15 |
sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which multitudes would gladly escape.
Man governed by Mind | ||
18 |
fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing to do with Life, God. Every function of the | ||
21 |
real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no com- trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man | ||
24 |
maintain His own image and likeness. The human
mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and | ||
27 |
its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found har- monious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and | ||
30 |
follow the leadings of truth.
Mortal mind dethroned PAGE 152 | ||
1 |
called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but | ||
3 |
it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored | ||
6 |
to make this book the AEsculapius of mind as well as of body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them, although they know not how the work is done. Truth | ||
9 |
has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.
All activity from thought | ||
12 |
beset every material theory, in which one statement contradicts another over and over again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap- | ||
15 |
parently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body; | ||
18 |
but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended
to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. Such a fact illustrates our theories. The author's experiments in medicine | ||
21 |
The author's medical researches and experiments had prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian Science. Every material dependence had | ||
24 |
failed her in her search for truth; and she can
now understand why, and can see the means by which mortals are divinely driven to a spiritual source | ||
27 |
for health and happiness.
Homoeopathic attenuations | ||
30 |
Aconitum to Zincum oxydatum, enumerates the general symptoms, the characteristic signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug PAGE 153 | ||
1 |
is frequently attenuated to such a degree that not a ves- tige of it remains. Thus we learn that it is not the drug | ||
3 |
which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms of disease.
Only salt and water | ||
6 |
mon table-salt) until there was not a single saline property left. The salt had "lost his savour;" and yet, with one drop of that attenuation in a goblet of | ||
9 |
water, and a teaspoonful of the water administered at in- tervals of three hours, she has cured a patient sinking in the last stage of typhoid fever. The highest attenuation | ||
12 |
of homoeopathy and the most potent rises above matter into mind. This discovery leads to more light. From it may be learned that either human faith or the divine Mind is | ||
15 |
the healer and that there is no efficacy in a drug.
Origin of pain | ||
18 |
manifests, through inflammation and swell- ing, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a boil. Now administer mentally to your patient a high | ||
21 |
attenuation of truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind to feel it is a proof that this so-called mind makes its | ||
24 |
own pain - that is, its own belief in pain.
Source of contagion | ||
27 |
mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries
the infection. When this mental contagion is understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con- | ||
30 |
ditions and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish PAGE 154 | ||
1 |
error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's advocate. | ||
3 |
Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as- sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob- | ||
6 |
tains credit through association, - calling up the fear that creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes- tation in the body. Imaginary cholera | ||
9 |
This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme- | ||
12 |
diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient | ||
15 |
had been in that bed.
Children's ailments | ||
18 |
The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
ern her child more than the child's mind gov- erns itself, and they produce the very results which might | ||
21 |
have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought the mischief. | ||
24 |
That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec- tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You | ||
27 |
need medicine."
Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has | ||
30 |
more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are hurt." The better and more successful method for any mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not PAGE 155 | ||
1 |
hurt, so don't think you are." Presently the child forgets
all about the accident, and is at play. Drug-power mental | ||
3 |
When the sick recover by the use of drugs, it is the law of a general belief, culminating in individual faith, which heals; and according to this faith will the effect | ||
6 |
be. Even when you take away the individual confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug from the general faith. The chemist, the botanist, the | ||
9 |
druggist, the doctor, and the nurse equip the medicine
with their faith, and the beliefs which are in the majority rule. When the general belief endorses the inanimate | ||
12 |
drug as doing this or that, individual dissent or faith, un- less it rests on Science, is but a belief held by a minority, and such a belief is governed by the majority. Belief in physics | ||
15 |
The universal belief in physics weighs against the high and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This errone- ous general belief, which sustains medicine and | ||
18 |
produces all medical results, works against Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of | ||
21 |
popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less | ||
24 |
weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight into the spiritual scale. Homoeopathy diminishes the drug, but the potency of the medicine increases as the | ||
27 |
drug disappears.
Nature of drugs | ||
30 |
disease, why lessen the antidote? If drugs are good things, is it safe to say that the less in quantity you have of them the better? If drugs PAGE 156 | ||
1 |
possess intrinsic virtues or intelligent curative qualities,
these qualities must be mental. Who named drugs, and | ||
3 |
what made them good or bad for mortals, beneficial or injurious?
Dropsy cured without drugs | ||
6 |
my hands. It was a terrible case. Tapping had been
employed, and yet, as she lay in her bed, the patient looked like a barrel. I prescribed | ||
9 |
the fourth attenuation of Argentum nitratum
with occa- sional doses of a high attenuation of Sulphuris. She im- proved perceptibly. Believing then somewhat in the | ||
12 |
ordinary theories of medical practice, and learning that her former physician had prescribed these remedies, I began to fear an aggravation of symptoms from their | ||
15 |
prolonged use, and told the patient so; but she was unwilling to give up the medicine while she was re- covering. It then occurred to me to give her un- | ||
18 |
medicated pellets and watch the result. I did so, and she continued to gain. Finally she said that she would give up her medicine for one day, and risk the | ||
21 |
effects. After trying this, she informed me that she could get along two days without globules; but on the third day she again suffered, and was relieved by | ||
24 |
taking them. She went on in this way, taking the unmedicated pellets, - and receiving occasional visits from me, - but employing no other means, and she was | ||
27 |
cured.
A stately advance | ||
30 |
matter disappears from the remedy entirely, and Mind takes its rightful and supreme place. Homoeopathy takes mental symptoms largely PAGE 157 | ||
1 |
into consideration in its diagnosis of disease. Christian Science deals wholly with the mental cause in judging and | ||
3 |
destroying disease. It succeeds where homoeopathy fails, solely because its one recognized Principle of healing is Mind, and the whole force of the mental element is em- | ||
6 |
ployed through the Science of Mind, which never shares its rights with inanimate matter.
The modus of homoeopathy | ||
9 |
Mind alone as the curative Principle, acknowledging that the divine Mind has all power. Homoeopathy mentalizes a drug with such repetition of | ||
12 |
thought-attenuations, that the drug becomes more like the human mind than the substratum of this so- called mind, which we call matter; and the drug's power | ||
15 |
of action is proportionately increased.
Drugging unchristian | ||
18 |
drugs cannot be poisonous. If He could cre- ate drugs intrinsically bad, then they should never be used. If He creates drugs at all and designs | ||
21 |
them for medical use, why did Jesus not employ them and recommend them for the treatment of disease? Matter is not self-creative, for it is unintelligent. Erring | ||
24 |
mortal mind confers the power which the drug seems to possess. Narcotics quiet mortal mind, and so relieve the body; | ||
27 |
but they leave both mind and body worse for this sub- mission. Christian Science impresses the entire corpore- ality, - namely, mind and body, - and brings out the | ||
30 |
proof that Life is continuous and harmonious. Science both neutralizes error and destroys it. Mankind is the better for this spiritual and profound pathology. PAGE 158 Mythology and materia medica | ||
1 |
It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to | ||
3 |
heal the sick and designated Apollo as "the god of medicine." He was supposed to have dic- tated the first prescription, according to the | ||
6 |
"History of Four Thousand Years of Medicine." It is here noticeable that Apollo was also regarded as the sender of disease, "the god of pestilence." Hippocrates turned | ||
9 |
from image-gods to vegetable and mineral drugs for heal- ing. This was deemed progress in medicine; but what we need is the truth which heals both mind and | ||
12 |
body. The future history of material medicine may correspond with that of its material god, Apollo, who was banished from heaven and endured great sufferings | ||
15 |
upon earth.
Footsteps to intemperance | ||
18 |
cacy to heal. It is pitiful to lead men into
temptation through the byways of this wil- derness world, - to victimize the race with intoxicating | ||
21 |
prescriptions for the sick, until mortal mind acquires an educated appetite for strong drink, and men and women become loathsome sots. Advancing degrees | ||
24 |
Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us on every hand. Drug-systems are quitting their hold on matter and so letting in matter's higher stra- | ||
27 |
tum, mortal mind. Homoeopathy, a step in advance of allopathy, is doing this. Matter is going out of medicine; and mortal mind, of a higher attenuation | ||
30 |
than the drug, is governing the pellet.
Effects of fear PAGE 159 | ||
1 |
cians insisted that it would be unsafe to perform a needed surgical operation without the ether. After the autopsy, | ||
3 |
her sister testified that the deceased protested
against inhaling the ether and said it would kill her, but that she was compelled by her physicians to take | ||
6 |
it. Her hands were held, and she was forced into sub- mission. The case was brought to trial. The evidence was found to be conclusive, and a verdict was returned that | ||
9 |
death was occasioned, not by the ether, but by fear of inhaling it.
Mental conditions to be heeded | ||
12 |
tal conditions and to treat the patient as if she were so much mindless matter, and as if matter were the only factor to be consulted? Had these | ||
15 |
unscientific surgeons understood metaphysics,
they would have considered the woman's state of mind, and not have risked such treatment. They would either | ||
18 |
have allayed her fear or would have performed the opera- tion without ether. The sequel proved that this Lynn woman died from | ||
21 |
effects produced by mortal mind, and not from the disease or the operation.
False source of knowledge | ||
24 |
from matter instead of from Mind. They examine the lungs, tongue, and pulse to ascertain how much harmony, or health, matter is permit- | ||
27 |
ting to matter, - how much pain or pleasure, action or stagnation, one form of matter is allowing another form of matter. | ||
30 |
Ignorant of the fact that a man's belief produces dis- ease and all its symptoms, the ordinary physician is liable to increase disease with his own mind, when he
PAGE 160
| ||
1 |
should address himself to the work of destroying it through
the power of the divine Mind.
| ||
3 |
The systems of physics act against metaphysics, and vice versa. When mortals forsake the material for the spiritual basis of action, drugs lose their healing force, | ||
6 |
for they have no innate power. Unsupported by the
faith reposed in it, the inanimate drug becomes powerless. Obedient muscles | ||
9 |
The motion of the arm is no more dependent upon the direction of mortal mind, than are the organic action and secretion of the viscera. When this so-called | ||
12 |
mind quits the body, the heart becomes as tor-
pid as the hand.
Anatomy and mind | ||
15 |
date of mind to muscle and so cause action; but what does anatomy say when the cords contract and be- come immovable? Has mortal mind ceased | ||
18 |
speaking to them, or has it bidden them to be impotent? Can muscles, bones, blood, and nerves rebel against mind in one instance and not in another, and become cramped | ||
21 |
despite the mental protest?
Unless muscles are self-acting at all times, they are | ||
24 |
direction. If muscles can cease to act and become rigid of their own preference, - be deformed or symmetrical, as they please or as disease directs, - they must be self- | ||
27 |
directing. Why then consult anatomy to learn how mor- tal mind governs muscle, if we are only to learn from anatomy that muscle is not so governed? Mind over matter | ||
30 |
Is man a material fungus without Mind to help him? Is a stiff joint or a contracted muscle as much a result of law as the supple and PAGE 161 | ||
1 |
elastic condition of the healthy limb, and is God the lawgiver? | ||
3 |
You say, "I have burned my finger." This is an exact statement, more exact than you suppose; for mor- tal mind, and not matter, burns it. Holy inspiration | ||
6 |
has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace; | ||
9 |
while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous
combustion.
Restrictive regulations | ||
12 |
tyrannical law, restricting the practice of medicine. If her sister States follow this example in har- mony with our Constitution and Bill of Rights, | ||
15 |
they will do less violence to that immortal sentiment of the Declaration, "Man is endowed by his Maker with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the | ||
18 |
pursuit of happiness."
The oppressive state statutes touching medicine re- | ||
21 |
as she knelt before a statue of Liberty, erected near the guillotine: "Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!" Metaphysics challenges physics | ||
24 |
The ordinary practitioner, examining bodily symptoms, telling the patient that he is sick, and treating the case ac- cording to his physical diagnosis, would natu- | ||
27 |
rally induce the very disease he is trying to cure, even if it were not already determined by mor- tal mind. Such unconscious mistakes would not occur, if | ||
30 |
this old class of philanthropists looked as deeply for cause and effect into mind as into matter. The physician agrees with his "adversary quickly," but upon different terms PAGE 162 | ||
1 |
than does the metaphysician; for the matter-physician agrees with the disease, while the metaphysician agrees | ||
3 |
only with health and challenges disease.
Truth an alterative | ||
6 |
acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with
Truth. It changes the secretions, expels hu- mors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores | ||
9 |
carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind. Practical success | ||
12 |
Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs the body, not in one instance, but in every instance. The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without | ||
15 |
the conditions of matter and also without the
false beliefs of a so-called material existence. Working out the rules of Science in practice, the author has re- | ||
18 |
stored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been | ||
21 |
elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions. I have restored what is called the lost substance of lungs, and | ||
24 |
healthy organizations have been established where disease was organic. Christian Science heals organic disease as surely as it heals what is called functional, for it requires | ||
27 |
only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of Christian Science to demonstrate the higher rule.
Testimony of medical teachers | ||
30 |
quote from Dr. Benjamin Rush, the famous Philadelphia teacher of medical practice. He declared that "it is impossible to calculate the mischief PAGE 163 | ||
1 |
which Hippocrates has done, by first marking Nature with his name, and afterward letting her loose upon sick | ||
3 |
people."
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Professor in Harvard Uni- | ||
6 |
Dr. James Johnson, Surgeon to William IV, King Of England, said: "I declare my conscientious opinion, founded on long | ||
9 |
observation and reflection, that if there were not a single physician, surgeon, apothecary, man-midwife, chemist, druggist, or drug on the face of the earth, there would be | ||
12 |
less sickness and less mortality."
Dr. Mason Good, a learned Professor in London, | ||
15 |
"The effects of medicine on the human system are in the highest degree uncertain; except, indeed, that it has already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence, and | ||
18 |
famine, all combined."
Dr. Chapman, Professor of the Institutes and Practice | ||
21 |
essay said
"Consulting the records of our science, we cannot | ||
24 |
obtruded upon us at different times. Nowhere is the imagination displayed to a greater extent; and perhaps so ample an exhibition of human invention might gratify | ||
27 |
our vanity, if it were not more than compensated by the humiliating view of so much absurdity, contradiction, and falsehood. To harmonize the contrarieties of med- | ||
30 |
ical doctrines is indeed a task as impractible as to arrange the fleeting vapors around us, or to reconcile the fixed and repulsive antipathies of nature. Dark and PAGE 164 | ||
1 |
perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of Homer's Cyclops around his cave." | ||
3 |
Sir John Forbes, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, said: "No systematic or theoretical classification of diseases | ||
6 |
or of therapeutic agents, ever yet promulgated, is true, or anything like the truth, and none can be adopted as a safe guidance in practice." | ||
9 |
It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medi-
cal practitioners are grand men and women, therefore they are more scientific than are false claimants to Chris- | ||
12 |
tian Science. But all human systems based on material premises are minus the unction of divine Science. Much yet remains to be said and done before all mankind is | ||
15 |
saved and all the mental microbes of sin and all diseased thought-germs are exterminated. If you or I should appear to die, we should not be | ||
18 |
dead. The seeming decease, caused by a majority of human beliefs that man must die, or produced by mental assassins, does not in the least disprove Christian Science; | ||
21 |
rather does it evidence the truth of its basic proposition that mortal thoughts in belief rule the materiality mis- called life in the body or in matter. But the forever fact | ||
24 |
remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from sin, disease, and death. "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on | ||
27 |
immortality [divine Science], then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (St. Paul). |
||