CHAPTER XII - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE

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Why art thou cast down, O my soul [sense]?

And why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him,

Who is the health of my countenance and my God. - PSALMS.

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they

cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up

serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;

they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - JESUS.

A gospel narrative

1 IT is related in the seventh chapter of Luke's Gospel

that Jesus was once the honored guest of a certain

3 Pharisee, by name Simon, though he was quite unlike

Simon the disciple. While they were at meat, an unusual

incident occurred, as if to interrupt the scene

6 of Oriental festivity. A "strange woman"

came in. Heedless of the fact that she was debarred from

such a place and such society, especially under the stern

9 rules of rabbinical law, as positively as if she were a Hin-

doo pariah intruding upon the household of a high-caste

Brahman, this woman (Mary Magdalene, as she has

12 since been called) approached Jesus. According to the

custom of those days, he reclined on a couch with his

head towards the table and his bare feet away from it.

15 It was therefore easy for the Magdalen to come behind

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1 the couch and reach his feet. She bore an alabaster jar

containing costly and fragrant oil, - sandal oil perhaps,

3 which is in such common use in the East. Breaking

the sealed jar, she perfumed Jesus' feet with the oil,

wiping them with her long hair, which hung loosely

6 about her shoulders, as was customary with women of her

grade.

Parable of the creditor

Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adora-

9 tion? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was

this all. Knowing what those around him

were saying in their hearts, especially his host,

12 - that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the

exalted guest did not at once detect the woman's immoral

status and bid her depart, - knowing this, Jesus rebuked

15 them with a short story or parable. He described two

debtors, one for a large sum and one for a smaller, who

were released from their obligations by their common

18 creditor. "Which of them will love him most?" was the

Master's question to Simon the Pharisee; and Simon re-

plied, "He to whom he forgave most." Jesus approved

21 the answer, and so brought home the lesson to all, follow-

ing it with that remarkable declaration to the woman,

"Thy sins are forgiven."

Divine insight

24 Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love?

Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight

detect this unspoken moral uprising? She

27 bathed his feet with her tears before she

anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other

proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the

30 expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth

in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the

mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man

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1 of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been

rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this

3 planet. Her reverence was unfeigned, and it was mani-

fested towards one who was soon, though they knew it

not, to lay down his mortal existence in behalf of all

6 sinners, that through his word and works they might be

redeemed from sensuality and sin.

Penitence or hospitality

Which was the higher tribute to such ineffable affec-

9 tion, the hospitality of the Pharisee or the contrition of

the Magdalen? This query Jesus answered

by rebuking self-righteousness and declaring

12 the absolution of the penitent. He even said that this

poor woman had done what his rich entertainer had neg-

lected to do, - wash and anoint his guest's feet, a special

15 sign of Oriental courtesy.

Here is suggested a solemn question, a question indi-

cated by one of the needs of this age. Do Christian

18 Scientists seek Truth as Simon sought the Saviour, through

material conservatism and for personal homage? Jesus

told Simon that such seekers as he gave small reward

21 in return for the spiritual purgation which came through

the Messiah. If Christian Scientists are like Simon,

then it must be said of them also that they love

24 little.

Genuine repentance

On the other hand, do they show their regard for

Truth, or Christ, by their genuine repentance, by their

27 broken hearts, expressed by meekness and

human affection, as did this woman? If

so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus said of the

30 unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because

much is forgiven them.

Compassion requisite

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

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1 brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns

they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly

3 homesick looking away from earth, - Oh, did

they know! - this knowledge would do much

more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers

6 for the "midnight call," than all cries of "Lord, Lord!"

The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such

words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal

9 the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed

necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring;

but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common

12 sense and common humanity are disregarded, what men-

tal quality remains, with which to evoke healing from

the outstretched arm of righteousness?

Speedy healing

15 If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine

Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one

visit, and the disease will vanish into its native

18 nothingness like dew before the morning sun-

shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to

win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag-

21 dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to

practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas-

sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual

24 intent.

Truth desecrated

If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice finds its

way into the chambers of disease through the would-be

27 healer, it would, if it were possible, convert

into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy

Ghost, - the patient's spiritual power to resuscitate him-

30 self. The unchristian practitioner is not giving to mind

or body the joy and strength of Truth. The poor suf-

fering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace,

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1 patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear

Father's loving-kindness.

Moral evils to be cast out

3 In order to cure his patient, the metaphysician

must first cast moral evils out of himself and thus

attain the spiritual freedom which will en-

6 able him to cast physical evils out of his

patient; but heal he cannot, while his own spiritual

barrenness debars him from giving drink to the thirsty

9 and hinders him from reaching his patient's thought, -

yea, while mental penury chills his faith and under-

standing.

The true physician

12 The physician who lacks sympathy for his fellow-

being is deficient in human affection, and we have the

apostolic warrant for asking: "He that loveth

15 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can

he love God whom he hath not seen?" Not having this

spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine

18 Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which

alone confers the healing power. Such so-called Scien-

tists will strain out gnats, while they swallow the camels

21 of bigoted pedantry.

Source of calmness

The physician must also watch, lest he be over-

whelmed by a sense of the odiousness of sin and by the

24 unveiling of sin in his own thoughts. The

sick are terrified by their sick beliefs, and

sinners should be affrighted by their sinful beliefs; but

27 the Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of

both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is

God and God is All.

Genuine healing

30 If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we

must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we

would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent

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1 of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor

bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes

3 of its letter. The tender word and Christian

encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience

with his fears and the removal of them, are better than

6 hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed

speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so

many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame

9 with divine Love.

Gratitude and humility

This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not

"for the loaves and fishes," nor, like the Pharisee, with

12 the arrogance of rank and display of scholar-

ship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the sum-

mit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and

15 the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and

with those hairs all numbered by the Father.

The salt of the earth

A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period

18 of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: "Ye

are the salt of the earth." "Ye are the light

of the world. A city that is set on an hill can-

21 not be hid." Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt

lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but

radiate and glow into noontide glory.

24 The infinite Truth of the Christ-cure has come to this

age through a "still, small voice," through silent utter-

ances and divine anointing which quicken and increase

27 the beneficial effects of Christianity. I long to see the

consummation of my hope, namely, the student's higher

attainments in this line of light.

Real and counterfeit

30 Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as

nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness,

error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the

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1 counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is

but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The

3 confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact

that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error

is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that

6 time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come

nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals,

and truth will become still clearer as error is self-

9 destroyed.

Results of faith in Truth

Against the fatal beliefs that error is as real as Truth,

that evil is equal in power to good if not superior, and that

12 discord is as normal as harmony, even the hope

of freedom from the bondage of sickness and

sin has little inspiration to nerve endeavor. When we

15 come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have

in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith

in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man,

18 then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing

the sick and destroying error.

Life independent of matter

That Life is not contingent on bodily conditions is

21 proved, when we learn that life and man survive this

body. Neither evil, disease, nor death can be

spiritual, and the material belief in them dis-

24 appears in the ratio of one's spiritual growth. Because

matter has no consciousness or Ego, it cannot act; its

conditions are illusions, and these false conditions are the

27 source of all seeming sickness. Admit the existence of

matter, and you admit that mortality (and therefore dis-

ease) has a foundation in fact. Deny the existence of

matter, and you can destroy the belief in material con-

ditions. When fear disappears, the foundation of disease

is gone. Once let the mental physician believe in the

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1 reality of matter, and he is liable to admit also the reality

of all discordant conditions, and this hinders his de-

3 stroying them. Thus he is unfitted for the successful

treatment of disease.

Man's entity

In proportion as matter loses to human sense all en-

6 tity as man, in that proportion does man become its

master. He enters into a diviner sense of the

facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus

9 as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead,

and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested

Jesus' control over the belief that matter is substance,

12 that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any

form of existence.

The Christ treatment

We never read that Luke or Paul made a reality of

15 disease in order to discover some means of healing it.

Jesus never asked if disease were acute or

chronic, and he never recommended atten-

18 tion to laws of health, never give drugs, never prayed

to know if God were willing that a man should live. He

understood man, whose life is God, to be immortal, and

21 knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and

the other to be made indestructible.

Matter not medicine

The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the prevent-

24 ive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian

Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology,

or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood.

27 Unscientific methods are finding their dead level. Lim-

ited to matter by their own law, what have they of the

advantages of Mind and immortality?

No healing in sin

30 No man is physically healed in wilful error or by it,

any more than he is morally saved in or by sin. It is

error even to murmur or to be angry over sin. To be

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1 every whit whole, man must be better spiritually as well

as physically. To be immortal, we must forsake the

3 mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false

belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being

from the divine Mind. The body improves under the

6 same regimen which spiritualizes the thought; and if

health is not made manifest under this regimen, this

proves that fear is governing the body. This is the law

9 of cause and effect, or like producing like.

Like curing like

Homoeopathy furnishes the evidence to the senses, that

symptoms, which might be produced by a certain drug,

12 are removed by using the same drug which

might cause the symptoms. This confirms

my theory that faith in the drug is the sole factor in the

15 cure. The effect, which mortal mind produces through

one belief, it removes through an opposite belief, but it

uses the same medicine in both cases.

18 The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered

into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on

the body. A physical diagnosis of disease - since mor-

21 tal mind must be the cause of disease - tends to induce

disease.

Transient potency of drugs

According to both medical testimony and individual

24 experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power

and do no more for the patient. Hygienic

treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery

27 likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity

of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These les-

sons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely

30 change our basis from sensation to Christian Science,

from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.

Diagnosis of matter

Physicians examine the pulse, tongue, lungs, to dis-

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1 cover the condition of matter, when in fact all is

Mind. The body is the substratum of mortal mind,

3 and this so-called mind must finally yield

to the mandate of immortal Mind.

Ghost-stories inducing fear

Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar

6 to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in

the dark. By those uninstructed in Christian

Science, nothing is really understood of material

9 existence. Mortals are believed to be here without their

consent and to be removed as involuntarily, not knowing

why nor when. As frightened children look everywhere

12 for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in

every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the

right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult, in bond-

15 age to his beliefs, no more comprehends his real being

than does the child; and the adult must be taken out of

his darkness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffer-

18 ings which throng the gloaming. The way in divine

Science is the only way out of this condition.

Mind imparts purity, health, and beauty

I would not transform the infant at once into a

21 man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong babe.

No impossible thing do I ask when urging

the claims of Christian Science; but because

24 this teaching is in advance of the age, we

should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment.

Mankind will improve through Science and Christi-

27 anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to

the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart

purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak-

30 ness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an altera-

tive in the entire system, and can make it "every whit

whole."

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Brain not intelligent

1 Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick,

and Mind is immortal. The mortal body is only an erro-

3 neous mortal belief of mind in matter. What

you call matter was originally error in solu-

tion, elementary mortal mind, - likened by Milton to

6 "chaos and old night." One theory about this mortal

mind is, that its sensations can reproduce man, can form

blood, flesh, and bones. The Science of being, in which

9 all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer

in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium

of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought,

12 bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds

material and name them divine law.

Veritable success

When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely,

15 he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject

to matter, nor disobey the law of God. There-

fore he will be as the angels in heaven. Chris-

18 tian Science and Christianity are one. How, then, in

Christianity any more than in Christian Science, can we

believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error,

21 Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries?

Matter is not self-sustaining. Its false supports fail one

after another. Matter succeeds for a period only by

24 falsely parading in the vestments of law.

Recognition of benefits

"Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also

deny before my Father which is in heaven." In Chris-

27 tian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while

a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what

it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, super-

30 stition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of

benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery

of the sick and the success of the student.

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Disease far more docile than iniquity

1 If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in

darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian-

3 ity includes, then we must have more faith

in God on this subject and be more alive to

His promises. It is easier to cure the most

6 malignant disease than it is to cure sin. The author has

raised up the dying, partly because they were willing to

be restored, while she has struggled long, and perhaps in

9 vain, to lift a student out of a chronic sin. Under all

modes of pathological treatment, the sick recover more

rapidly from disease than does the sinner from his sin.

12 Healing is easier than teaching, if the teaching is faithfully

done.

Love frees from fear

The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources

15 of man's enslavement. "The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom," but the Scriptures

also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that

18 "perfect Love casteth out fear."

The fear occasioned by ignorance can be cured; but

to remove the effects of fear produced by sin, you must

21 rise above both fear and sin. Disease is expressed not

so much by the lips as in the functions of the body. Es-

tablish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the

24 oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or

deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its

healthy functions.

Mind circulates blood

27 When the blood rushes madly through the veins or

languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these

conditions disease. This is a misconception.

30 Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the

languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means

the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard

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1 which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for

health. Anodynes, counter-irritants, and depletion never

3 reduce inflammation scientifically, but the truth of being,

whispered into the ear of mortal mind, will bring relief.

Mind can destroy all ills

Hatred and its effects on the body are removed by

6 Love. Because mortal mind seems to be conscious, the

sick say: "How can my mind cause a disease

I never thought of and knew nothing about,

9 until it appeared on my body?" The author has an-

swered this question in her explanation of disease as origi-

nating in human belief before it is consciously apparent

12 on the body, which is in fact the objective state of mortal

mind, though it is called matter. This mortal blindness

and its sharp consequences show our need of divine meta-

15 physics. Through immortal Mind, or Truth, we can

destroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind.

Ignorance of the cause or approach of disease is no

18 argument against the mental origin of disease. You con-

fess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve

your own existence, and this belief helps rather than

21 hinders disease. Such a state of mind induces sickness.

It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice.

You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps

24 are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental

cause and effect.

Temperature is mental

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

27 when bereft of mortal mind, at first cools, and after-

wards it is resolved into its primitive mortal

elements. Nothing that lives ever dies, and

30 vice versa. Mortal mind produces animal heat, and then

expels it through the abandonment of a belief, or in-

creases it to the point of self-destruction. Hence it is

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1 mortal mind, not matter, which says, "I die." Heat

would pass from the body as painlessly as gas dissipates

3 into the air when it evaporates but for the belief that in-

flammation and pain must accompany the separation of

heat from the body.

Science versus hypnotism

6 Chills and heat are often the form in which fever mani-

fests itself. Change the mental state, and the chills and

fever disappear. The old-school physician

9 proves this when his patient says, " I am better,"

but the patient believes that matter, not mind,

has helped him. The Christian Scientist demonstrates

12 that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses

the patient of his individuality in order to control him.

No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any

15 mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental

practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be under-

stood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian

18 Scientist is adding to his patient's mental and moral power,

and is increasing his patient's spirituality while restoring

him physically through divine Love.

Cure for palsy

21 Palsy is a belief that matter governs mortals, and can

paralyze the body, making certain portions of

it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal

24 mind that muscles have no power to be lost, for Mind is

supreme, and you cure the palsy.

Latent fear diagnosed

Consumptive patients always show great hopeful-

27 ness and courage, even when they are supposed to be in

hopeless danger. This state of mind seems

anomalous except to the expert in Christian

30 Science. This mental state is not understood, simply

because it is a stage of fear so excessive that it amounts

to fortitude. The belief in consumption presents to mor-

PAGE 376

1 tal thought a hopeless state, an image more terrifying than

that of most other diseases. The patient turns involun-

3 tarily from the contemplation of it, but though unacknowl-

edged, the latent fear and the despair of recovery remain

in thought.

Insidious concepts

6 Just so is it with the greatest sin. It is the most subtle,

and does its work almost self-deceived. The diseases

deemed dangerous sometimes come from the

9 most hidden, undefined, and insidious beliefs.

The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away

with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood

12 never gave life and can never take it away, - that Life is

Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one

good motive and act, than in all the blood which ever

15 flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal

sense of life.

Remedy for fever

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

18 suffer with a fever. Because the so-called material body

is a mental concept and governed by mortal

mind, it manifests only what that so-called

21 mind expresses. Therefore the efficient remedy is to

destroy the patient's false belief by both silently and au-

dibly arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious

24 being, - representing man as healthy instead of diseased,

and showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to

feel pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear,

27 and you end fever. Some people, mistaught as to Mind-

science, inquire when it will be safe to check a fever.

Know that in Science you cannot check a fever after ad-

30 mitting that it must have its course. To fear and admit

the power of disease, is to paralyze mental and scientific

demonstration.

PAGE 377

1 If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con-

vince him that matter cannot take cold, and that thought

3 governs this liability. If grief causes suffering, convince

the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and

that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love.

Climate harmless

6 Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their

lives, but they come back no better than when they went

away. Then is the time to cure them through

9 Christian Science, and prove that they can

be healthy in all climates, when their fear of climate is

exterminated.

Mind governs body

12 Through different states of mind, the body becomes

suddenly weak or abnormally strong, showing mortal

mind to be the producer of strength or weak-

15 ness. A sudden joy or grief has caused what

is termed instantaneous death. Because a belief origi-

nates unseen, the mental state should be continually

18 watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects.

The author never knew a patient who did not recover

when the belief of the disease had gone. Remove the

21 leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind,

and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the mor-

bid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in

24 this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as

functional difficulties.

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

27 fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and

power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to

defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. With-

30 out this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of it-

self powerless to produce suffering. It is latent belief in

disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sick-

PAGE 378

1 ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to

appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro-

3 duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in-

telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer.

The understanding of this will enable you to commute this

6 self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth.

Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.

Latent power

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

9 inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove

the error, and you destroy its effects. By

looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles

12 Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani-

mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and

both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened

15 fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to

retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the

power of Truth over error, - the might of intelligence

18 exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas

hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted

to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous

21 bases.

Disease powerless

Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of

Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into

24 its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given,

nor a self-constituted material power, which

copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God

27 never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to

chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.

Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon-

30 ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed,

it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis-

played in human governments.

PAGE 379

Jurisdiction of Mind

1 If disease can attack and control the body without

the consent of mortals, sin can do the same, for both

3 are errors, announced as partners in the be-

ginning. The Christian Scientist finds only

effects, where the ordinary physician looks for causes.

6 The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling

every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in

divine Mind.

Power of imagination

9 A felon, on whom certain English students experi-

mented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died be-

cause of that belief, when only a stream of

12 warm water was trickling over his arm. Had

he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would

have risen above the false belief. Let the despairing in-

15 valid, inspecting the hue of her blood on a cambric hand-

kerchief, think of the experiment of those Oxford boys,

who caused the death of a man, when not a drop of his

18 blood was shed. Then let her learn the opposite state-

ment of life as taught in Christian Science, and she will

understand that she is not dying on account of the state of

21 her blood, but is suffering from her belief that blood is

destroying her life. The so-called vital current does not

affect the invalid's health, but her belief produces the

24 very results she dreads.

Fevers the effect of fear

Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened

pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain in the

27 head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the

body by a mortal mind. The images, held in

this disturbed mind, frighten conscious thought. Unless

30 the fever-picture, drawn by millions of mortals and im-

aged on the body through the belief that mind is in matter

and discord is as real as harmony, is destroyed through

PAGE 380

1 Science, it may rest at length on some receptive thought,

and become a fever case, which ends in a belief called

3 death, which belief must be finally conquered by eternal

Life. Truth is always the victor. Sickness and sin fall

by their own weight. Truth is the rock of ages, the head-

6 stone of the corner, "but on whomsoever it shall fall, it

will grind him to powder."

Misdirected contention

Contending for the evidence or indulging the demands

9 of sin, disease, or death, we virtually contend against

the control of Mind over body, and deny the

power of Mind to heal. This false method

12 is as though the defendant should argue for the plaintiff

in favor of a decision which the defendant knows will

be turned against himself.

Benefits of metaphysics

15 The physical effects of fear illustrate its illusion. Gaz-

ing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not

terrify a man. The body is affected only with

18 the belief of disease produced by a so-called

mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease. Noth-

ing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of

21 error, and prove man's dominion over error.

A higher discovery

Many years ago the author made a spiritual discov-

ery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to

24 prove that the divine Mind produces in man

health, harmony, and immortality. Gradu-

ally this evidence will gather momentum and clearness,

27 until it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and

proof. Nothing is more disheartening than to believe

that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that

30 God endows this opposing power with strength to be used

against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.

Ignorance of our rights

Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern

PAGE 381

1 man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.

Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust

3 decrees, and the bias of education enforces

this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the

illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop-

6 ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp-

tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.

No laws of matter

When infringing some supposed law, you say that

9 there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the

physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer

from breaking anything except a moral or

12 spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are

destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal,

and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods,

15 and types of disease, with which mortals die. God is the

lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes.

In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor

18 death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and

have our being in the infinite God.

God-given dominion

Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you

21 will sooner grasp man's God-given dominion. You must

understand your way out of human theories

relating to health, or you will never believe

24 that you are quite free from some ailment. The har-

mony and immortality of man will never be reached

without the understanding that Mind is not in matter.

27 Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the

rule of perpetual harmony, - God's law. It is man's

moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never

30 inflicted by divine authority.

Begin rightly

Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose

penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of

PAGE 382

1 health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed

to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine au-

3 thority and having only human approval for

their sanction.

Hygiene excessive

If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the

6 study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of

thought, this alone would usher in the millen-

inium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter

9 the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from

the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept,

"Take no thought . . . for the body." We must beware

12 of making clean merely the outside of the platter.

Blissful ignorance

He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is

more receptive of spiritual power and of faith in one

15 God, than is the devotee of supposed hygienic

law, who comes to teach the so-called igno-

rant one. Must we not then consider the so-called law

18 of matter a canon "more honored in the breach than

the observance"? A patient thoroughly booked in medi-

cal theories is more difficult to heal through Mind than

21 one who is not. This verifies the saying of our Master:

"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a

little child, shall in no wise enter therein."

24 One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion,

in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I

should have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach,

27 - supporting the power of Mind over the body and show-

ing me the nothingness of the so-called pleasures and pains

of sense. The treatises I had read and the medicines I

30 had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering

and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal

mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily,

PAGE 383

1 but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in

Christian Science."

A clean mind and body

3 We need a clean body and a clean mind, - a body

rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water.

One says: "I take good care of my body."

6 To do this, the pure and exalting influence of

the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian

Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves

9 it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is

"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres-

ent with the Lord."

12 A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth

does not affect his happiness, because mind and body

rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt

15 gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a

mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur-

roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do

18 not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined.

This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body

in proper condition.

Beliefs illusive

21 The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a

century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves

his health, but does this make it so? Does his

24 assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu-

brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in-

stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false

27 belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a

man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

The movement-cure - pinching and pounding the poor

30 body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in-

sensibly so - is another medical mistake, resulting from

the common notion that health depends on inert matter

PAGE 384

1 instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed

matter, either feel or act without mind?

Corporeal penalties

3 We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought

that we have transgressed a material law and must of

necessity pay the penalty. Let us reassure

6 ourselves with the law of Love. God never

punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for

deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue,

9 cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty

through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not

an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his

12 protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through

this action of thought and its results upon the body, the

student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the

15 grand verities of Christian Science.

Not matter, but Mind

If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of

perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza,

18 congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of

inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy

is safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such

21 symptoms are not apt to follow exposure; but if you

believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects when

transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own case or

24 to destroy the bad effects of your belief. When the fear

subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken

no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other

27 disease will ever result from exposure to the weather. In

Science this is an established fact which all the evidence

before the senses can never overrule.

Benefit of philanthropy

30 Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before

the divine rights of intelligence, and then the power

of Mind over the entire functions and organs of the

PAGE 385

1 human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial

that Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists en-

3 gaged in humane labors have been able to

undergo without sinking fatigues and expo-

sures which ordinary people could not endure. The ex-

6 planation lies in the support which they derived from

the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual

demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and en-

9 durance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the

penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best

deeds. Let us remember that the eternal law of right,

12 though it can never annul the law which makes sin its

own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but

those due for wrong-doing.

Honest toil has no penalty

15 Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow-

ard conditions, if without sin, can be experienced with-

out suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do,

18 you can do without harm to yourself. If you

sprain the muscles or wound the flesh, your

remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the

21 flesh shall be discolored, painful, swollen, and inflamed.

Our sleep and food

You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten.

You are a law unto yourself. Saying this and believing

24 it, you will suffer in proportion to your belief

and fear. Your sufferings are not the penalty

for having broken a law of matter, for it is a law of mortal

27 mind which you have disobeyed. You say or think, be-

cause you have partaken of salt fish, that you must be

thirsty, and you are thirsty accordingly, while the oppo-

30 site belief would produce the opposite result.

Doubtful evidence

Any supposed information, coming from the body or

from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu-

PAGE 386

1 sion of mortal mind, - one of its dreams. Realize that

the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted

3 in the case of sickness, any more than it is in

the case of sin.

Climate and belief

Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief

6 says that you may catch cold and have catarrh; but no

such result occurs without mind to demand

it and produce it. So long as mortals declare

9 that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh,

fever, rheumatism, or consumption, those effects will

follow, - not because of the climate, but on account of

12 the belief. The author has in too many instances healed

disease through the action of Truth on the minds of mor-

tals, and the corresponding effects of Truth on the body,

15 not to know that this is so.

Erroneous despatch

A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the

death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's

18 real death would bring. You think that your

anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another

despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and

21 you learn that your suffering was merely the result of

your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and

death. You will learn at length that there is no cause

24 for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood.

Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.

Mourning causeless

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

27 ing under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sor-

row is without cause," you would not have

understood him, although the correctness of

30 the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So,

when our friends pass from our sight and we lament,

that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall

PAGE 387

1 perceive this to be true when we grow into the under-

standing of Life, and know that there is no death.

Mind heals brain-disease

3 Because mortal mind is kept active, must it pay the

penalty in a softened brain? Who dares to say that actual

Mind can be overworked? When we reach

6 our limits of mental endurance, we conclude

that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far;

but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active,

9 and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can

so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers

and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by

12 the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.

Right never punishable

Our thinkers do not die early because they faithfully

perform the natural functions of being. If printers and

15 authors have the shortest span of earthly ex-

istence, it is not because they occupy the most

important posts and perform the most vital functions in

18 society. That man does not pay the severest penalty

who does the most good. By adhering to the realities of

eternal existence, - instead of reading disquisitions on

21 the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience

to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing

good, - one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of

24 love, but grows stronger because of it. It is a law of so-

called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all

things discordant.

Christian history

27 The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs

of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed

on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent

30 Mind, who gives man faith and understanding

whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but

from bodily suffering.

PAGE 388

1 The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian

Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power

3 of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corpo-

real senses, a victory which Science alone can explain.

Stolidity, which is a resisting state of mortal mind, suffers

6 less, only because it knows less of material law.

The Apostle John testified to the divine basis of Chris-

tian Science, when dire inflictions failed to destroy his

9 body. Idolaters, believing in more than one mind, had

"gods many," and thought that they could kill the body

with matter, independently of mind.

Sustenance spiritual

12 Admit the common hypothesis that food is the nutri-

ment of life, and the follows the necessity for another

admission in the opposite direction, - that

15 food has power to destroy Life, God, through

a deficiency or an excess, a quality or a quantity. This

is a specimen of the ambiguous nature of all material

18 health-theories. They are self-contradictory and self-de-

structive, constituting a "kingdom divided against itself,"

which is "brought to desolation." If food was prepared

21 by Jesus for his disciples, it cannot destroy life.

God sustains man

The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of

man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that

24 God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are

not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in

immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond

27 our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until

we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living

Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall

30 neither eat to live nor live to eat.

Diet and digestion

If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious

functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought

PAGE 389

1 must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with

the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left

3 to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf

of the control of Mind over this belief and every

erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we

6 know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed

to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat-

ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested.

9 Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it

is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can

be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo-

12 site evidence.

Scripture rebukes

Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the

life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can

15 kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in

Scripture by the metaphors about the fount

and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di-

18 vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories

maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human

life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite

21 law that food shall be inimical to existence.

Ancient confusion

Materialists contradict their own statements. Their

belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac-

24 tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity

between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God

and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the

27 battle-axe of Science.

A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came

under my observation. In her belief the woman had

30 chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a

complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I

cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de-

PAGE 390

1 spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My

food is all digested, and I should like something more

3 to eat."

Ultimate harmony

We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we

should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim-

6 ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seem-

ing discord. It is our ignorance of God, the

divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and

9 the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth

will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and

pains of sense for the joys of Soul.

Unnecessary prostration

12 When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the

testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let

your higher sense of justice destroy the false

15 process of mortal opinions which you name

law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor

laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last far-

18 thing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with

thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with

him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon

21 the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that

it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more

the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no

24 law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sick-

ness, but you have divine authority for denying that neces-

sity and healing the sick.

Treatment of disease

27 "Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of

chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consump-

tion, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages

30 of disease with as powerful mental opposi-

tion as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of

an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the

PAGE 391

1 spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind,

alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit.

3 Blot out the images of mortal thought and its beliefs in

sickness and sin. Then, when thou art delivered to the

judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, "Thou

6 art whole!"

Righteous rebellion

Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient

or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against

9 them. Banish the belief that you can possi-

bly entertain a single intruding pain which can-

not be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way

12 you can prevent the development of pain in the body.

No law of God hinders this result. It is error to suffer

for aught but your own sins. Christ, or Truth, will de-

15 stroy all other supposed suffering, and real suffering for

your own sins will cease in proportion as the sin ceases.

Contradict error

Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice de-

18 clares the absence of law. When the body is supposed

to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty. Since

matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind

21 which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a pro-

test. If you say, "I am sick," you plead guilty. Then

your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal

24 mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has

no intelligence to declare itself something and announce

its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore

27 make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself

and to others.

Sin to be overcome

Mentally contradict every complaint from the body,

30 and rise to the true consciousness of Life as

Love, - as all that is pure, and bearing the

fruits of Spirit. Fear is the fountain of sickness,

PAGE 392

1 and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence

it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease.

3 Only while fear or sin remains can it bring forth death.

To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should

be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear,

6 which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to

readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear

enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to

9 take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to

the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God's image.

Illusions about nerves

The physical affirmation of disease should always be

12 met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is pro-

duced on the body, must be expressed men-

tally, and thought should be held fast to this

15 ideal. If you believe in inflamed and weak nerves, you

are liable to an attack from that source. You will call it

neuralgia, but we call it a belief. If you think that con-

18 sumption is hereditary in your family, you are liable to

the development of that thought in the form of what is

termed pulmonary disease, unless Science shows you

21 otherwise. If you decide that climate or atmosphere is

unhealthy, it will be so to you. Your decisions will mas-

ter you, whichever direction they take.

Guarding the door

24 Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought.

Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in

bodily results, you will control yourself har-

27 moniously. When the condition is present

which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise,

heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office

30 as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears.

Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the

body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or

PAGE 393

1 pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman

forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget-

3 ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

The strength of Spirit

The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal

mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their

6 results, - ignorant that the predisposing, re-

mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a

law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the

9 master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness,

sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take

possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.

12 Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike

good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing

can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on

15 man.

No pain in matter

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind

governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern-

18 ment. Have no fear that matter can ache,

swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law

of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have

21 no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no

more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree

which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch,

24 were it not for mortal mind.

When Jesus declares that "the light of the body is the

eye," he certainly means that light depends upon Mind,

27 not upon the complex humors, lenses, muscles, the iris

and pupil, constituting the visual organism.

No real disease

Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter

30 cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter

and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the

disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness;

PAGE 394

1 to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-

ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming

3 reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni-

versal and perfect remedy.

Recuperation mental

By conceding power to discord, a large majority of

6 doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real

recuperative power. Knowledge that we

can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu-

9 lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points

out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond

the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from

12 helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To

those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis-

couraging, - as much so as would be the advice to a man

15 who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise

above his difficulties.

Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of

18 material systems in general, - that their theories are

sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better

than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils

21 overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from

God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will

you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it

24 can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means

the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine

permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony,

27 with Truth and Love?

Arguing wrongly

We should remember that Life is God, and that God

is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian

30 Science, the sick usually have little faith in

it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows

that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick

PAGE 395

1 unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.

They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it.

3 They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the

deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and

eternal likeness to God.

Divine authority

6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to

disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to

master the false evidences of the corporeal

9 senses and to assert its claims over mortal-

ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and

sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car-

12 nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in

material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death

will disappear.

Aids in sickness

15 Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-

sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the

sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit-

18 ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse

should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of

faith, - receptive to Truth and Love.

Mental quackery

21 It is mental quackery to make disease a reality - to

hold it as something seen and felt - and then to attempt

its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous

24 to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a

cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their

reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in

27 physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease

as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may

appear in a more alarming form.

Effacing images of disease

30 The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor

affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from

becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the

PAGE 396

1 worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind

the thought of disease, but should efface from

3 thought all forms and types of disease, both for

one's own sake and for that of the patient.

Avoid talking disease

Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-

6 cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never

startle with a discouraging remark about re-

covery, nor draw attention to certain symp-

9 toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of

the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have

to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's

12 thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis

is passed.

False testimony refuted

The refutation of the testimony of material sense is

15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this

testimony. The refutation becomes arduous,

not because the testimony of sin or disease is

18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its

truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-

ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, - all teaching

21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.

Healthful explanation

At the right time explain to the sick the power which

their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine

24 and wholesome understanding, with which to

combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the

images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in

27 thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man;

that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit,

outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life

30 and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under-

stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by

matter nor by the divine Mind.

PAGE 397

Misleading methods

1 By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing

how mortal mind affects the body, - acting beneficially

3 or injuriously on the health, as well as on the

morals and the happiness of mortals, - we are

misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the

6 mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in-

juring those whom we mean to bless.

Remedy for accidents

Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-

9 ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them

by admitting their reality and continuance,

as directly as you enhance your joys by be-

12 lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac-

cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!"

Your thought is more powerful than your words, more

15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury

real.

Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt

18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the

ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your

disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-

21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures

declare Him to be.

Independent mentality

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

24 verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their

waking hours than when they act, walk, see,

hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can

27 never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because

they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind

is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and

30 you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You

will understand yourself and your Maker better than

before.

PAGE 398

Naming maladies

1 Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he

said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I

3 charge thee, come out of him, and enter no

more into him." It is added that "the spirit

[error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and

6 he was as one dead," - clear evidence that the malady

was not material. These instances show the concessions

which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance

9 of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the

distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter,

whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not

12 dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto

thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand

he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored

15 whole, like as the other."

The action of faith

Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a

particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms

18 of disease. What produces the change? It is

the faith of the doctor and the patient, which

reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect

21 upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of

pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink

is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not

24 in matter.

So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing

effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change

27 the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind

faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism

changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis-

30 ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue,

to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process.

The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has

PAGE 399

1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore

good is infinite, is All.

Corporeal combinations

3 You say that certain material combinations produce

disease; but if the material body causes disease, can

matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal

6 mind prescribes the drug, and administers it.

Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through

certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se-

9 cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the

action of mortal thought, alias mortal mind.

Automatic mechanism

So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its

12 body, but this so-called mind is both the service and

message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un-

able to talk, and matter can return no an-

15 swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how

can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates

its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it,

18 and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action

of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua-

tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force

21 the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows

that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.

Mental strength

Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of

24 which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion.

This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is

only a false sense of matter, since matter is not

27 sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin-

ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.

Confirmation in a parable

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

30 man's house and spoil his goods, except he first

bind the strong man?" In other words: How

can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called

PAGE 400

1 mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When

disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear

3 of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor-

oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which

must be held in subjection before its influence upon health

6 and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we

can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, - namely, of

sin and disease.

Eradicate error from thought

9 Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they

forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine

Mind, and abandon their material beliefs.

12 Eradicate the image of disease from the per-

turbed thought before it has taken tangible

shape in conscious thought, alias the body, and you pre-

15 vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy,

if you understand that every disease is an error, and has

no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to

18 it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-

tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.

Mortal mind controlled

When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed

21 mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought

alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind

rules all that is mortal. We see in the body

24 the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted

on the retina the image which becomes visible to the

senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be

27 destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony

of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani-

fest as sin, sickness, and death.

Mortal mind not a healer

30 The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of

sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this.

It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many

PAGE 401

1 mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any

human error is its own enemy, and works against itself;

3 it does nothing in the right direction and much

in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing

evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer,

6 but it engenders disease and death.

Effect of opposites

If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-

tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as

9 when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be-

cause the truth of being must transform the

error to the end of producing a higher manifestation.

12 This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but

should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter

has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees

15 materially.

What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced

when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be-

18 lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to

the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case

with a fermenting fluid.

Medicine and brain

21 The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon

mental action. If the mind were parted from the body,

could you produce any effect upon the brain

24 or body by applying the drug to either? Would

the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore

will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?

Skilful surgery

27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-

acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave

surgery and the adjustment of broken bones

30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon,

while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental

reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.

PAGE 402

1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but

surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last

3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the

author has already in her possession well-authenticated

records of the cure, by herself and her students through

6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints,

and spinal vertebrae.

Indestructible life of man

The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake

9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im-

mortal Mind and its formations will be appre-

hended in Science, and material beliefs will

12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible

and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal

mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own

15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation

can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and

disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is

18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal

mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.

The evil of mesmerism

We say that one human mind can influence another and

21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that

we govern our own bodies. The error, mes-

merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term

24 - illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would

make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily

and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield

27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better

instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof

that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce

30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or

pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be

a belief without a real cause.

PAGE 403

Wrong-doer should suffer

1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own

diseased conditions. The great difference between vol-

3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol-

untary mesmerism is induced consciously and

should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self-

6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake

a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under-

stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the

9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.

The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in

one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real-

12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be

healed only by the divine Mind.

Error's power imaginary

You command the situation if you understand that

15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the

truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly

producing on mortal body the results of false

18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal

error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth,

which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.

21 The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir-

itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal-

ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from

24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint

your patient with it.

Disease-production

The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike

27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the

nature of a case, and the practitioner improves

or injures the case in proportion to the truth

30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental

conception and development of disease are not under-

stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar

PAGE 404

1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case

according to Christian Science.

Appetites to be abandoned

3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special

servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and

destroy these errors with the truth of being, -

6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering

which his submission to such habits brings, and by con-

vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe-

9 tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.

Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and

you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked

12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the

repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the

individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is

15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy

sinner is the hardened sinner.

Temperance reform

The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results

18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree

that brings not forth good fruit. This con-

viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,

21 is one of the most important points in the theology of

Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and

true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure,

24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and

increases his ability to master evil and to love good.

Sin or fear the root of sickness

Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and

27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require

the same method and are inseparable in Truth.

Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth,

30 make a man sick, and neither material medi-

cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body,

unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him

PAGE 405

1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.

Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence

3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the

lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Mental conspirators

Christian Science commands man to master the pro-

6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,

to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with

charity, and to overcome deceit with hon-

9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you

would not cherish an army of conspirators against

health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you

12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The

judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of

the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and

15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing

is paid, - until you have balanced your account with

God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also

18 reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of

sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im-

mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good,

21 in which is no power to sin.

Cumulative repentence

It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth

than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con-

24 science. The abiding consciousness of wrong-

doing tends to destroy the ability to do right.

If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is

27 hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are con-

quered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they

bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its

30 pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to

retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and

to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.

PAGE 406

The leaves of healing

1 The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The

leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

3 Sin and sickness are both healed by the same

Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine

Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering

6 full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will

submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and

forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated

9 in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per-

fect Love casteth out fear."

Sickness will abate

The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and

12 spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.

Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will

abate and seem less real as we approach the

15 scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and

all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral

man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he

18 should be as fearless on the question of disease.

Resist to the end

Resist evil - error of every sort - and it will flee from

you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately

21 shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direc-

tion of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life

over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go

24 on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no

more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of

any kind involves weakness and suffering, - a loss of

27 control over the body.

Morbid cravings

The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,

tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery

30 of the body. This normal control is gained

through divine strength and understanding.

There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a

PAGE 407

1 fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp

remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to

3 man's self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of to-

bacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no crea-

ture except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.

Universal panacea

6 Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters -

passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge - is con-

quered only by a mighty struggle. Every

9 hour of delay makes the struggle more severe.

If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush

out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian

12 Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the

weakness of mortal mind, - strength from the immortal

and omnipotent Mind, - and lifting humanity above

15 itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and

good-will to man.

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

18 tian Science, and he will get the better of that desire

and ascend a degree in the scale of health, happiness,

and existence.

Immortal memory

21 If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contra-

dict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all

being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmoni-

24 ous in every action. Let the perfect model be

present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized op-

posite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light,

27 and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your

consciousness.

Sin a form of insanity

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

30 ity in different degrees. Sin is spared from

this classification, only because its method of

madness is in consonance with common mortal belief.

PAGE 408

1 Every sort of sickness is error, - that is, sickness is

loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact

3 that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac-

knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are

sick.

6 There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which

mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the

material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien-

9 tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special

name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are

committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly

12 defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-

tal minds and bodies.

Drugs and brain-lobes

The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use

15 of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of

insanity. Can drugs go of their own accord

to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam-

18 mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal

mind through matter? Drugs do not affect a corpse, and

Truth does not distribute drugs through the blood, and

21 from them derive a supposed effect on intelligence and sen-

timent. A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce

insanity as perceptibly as would congestion of the brain,

24 were it not that mortal mind thinks that the tarsal joint is

less intimately connected with the mind than is the brain.

Reverse the belief, and the results would be perceptibly

27 different.

Matter and animate error

The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-

tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of

30 the body which we call sensation in matter

is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it-

self, - ignorant of the errors it includes and of their

PAGE 409

1 effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You

may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do

3 you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and

not by matter?" Mortal mind and body combine as

one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state-

6 ment, - animate error called nerves, brain, mind, - the

more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease-

beliefs.

Dictation of error

9 Unconscious mortal mind - alias matter, brain - can-

not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick."

The belief, that the unconscious substratum

12 of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and

reports disease independently of this so-called conscious

mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing

15 how to govern their bodies.

So-called superiority

The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be

superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and

18 the stronger never yields to the weaker, ex-

cept through fear or choice. The animate

should be governed by God alone. The real man is

21 spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect

so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the

beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This

24 mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put

on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man

and seek the true model.

Death no benefactor

27 We have no right to say that life depends on matter

now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot

spend our days here in ignorance of the Science

30 of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave

a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us

harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance.

PAGE 410

1 If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is

spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual

3 Life hereafter.

Life eternal and present

"This is life eternal," says Jesus, - is, not shall be;

and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge

6 of his Father and of himself, - the knowledge

of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eter-

nal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and

9 Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures

say, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every

word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," show-

12 ing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind

objects to making this teaching practical.

Love casteth out fear

Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.

15 The more difficult seems the material condition to be

overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our

faith and the purer our love. The Apostle

18 John says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love

casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made per-

fect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclama-

21 tion of Christian Science.

MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED

Be not afraid

The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no

24 misuse. Selfishness does not appear in the practice of

Truth or Christian Science. If mental prac-

tice is abused or is used in any way except to

27 promote right thinking and doing, the power to heal

mentally will diminish, until the practitioner's healing

ability is wholly lost. Christian scientific practice be-

30 gins with Christ's keynote of harmony, "Be not afraid!"

PAGE 411

1 Said Job: "The thing which I greatly feared is come

upon me."

Naming diseases

3 My first discovery in the student's practice was this:

If the student silently called the disease by name, when

he argued against it, as a general rule the body

6 would respond more quickly, - just as a per-

son replies more readily when his name is spoken; but

this was because the student was not perfectly attuned to

9 divine Science, and needed the arguments of truth for

reminders. If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear

witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific

12 way, and the healing is instantaneous.

Evils cast out

It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis-

ease, - a disease which moderns would call dementia.

15 The demon, or evil, replied that his name was

Legion. Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil,

and the insane man was changed and straightway be-

18 came whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus

caused the evil to be self-seen and so destroyed.

Fear as the foundation

The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is

21 fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a

false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.

Disease is an image of thought externalized.

24 The mental state is called a material state. Whatever

is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is

imaged forth on the body.

Unspoken pleading

27 Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear

of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp-

tion from disease and danger. Watch the re-

30 sult of this simple rule of Christian Science,

and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every

disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear,

PAGE 412

1 your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly

governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand-

3 point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear

of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien-

tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet

6 the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat,

but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern-

ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be

9 the victor.

Eloquent silence

You may call the disease by name when you mentally

deny it; but by naming it audibly, you are liable under

12 some circumstances to impress it upon the

thought. The power of Christian Science and

divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to un-

15 clasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.

Insistence requisite

To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth,

of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material

18 senses. To heal by argument, find the type

of the ailment, get its name, and array your

mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men-

21 tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and

conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of

disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and

24 that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence

of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the

body corresponds with the normal conditions of health

27 and harmony.

The cure of infants

If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs

to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently

30 or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian

Science. The Scientist knows that there can

be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent

PAGE 413

1 and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and

God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter.

3 The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contem-

plation of physical wants or conditions induces those very

conditions. A single requirement, beyond what is neces-

6 sary to meet the simplest needs of the babe is harmful.

Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and

food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter

9 does not. The wise or unwise views of parents and other

persons on these subjects produce good or bad effects on

the health of children.

Ablutions for cleanliness

12 The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural

nor necessary than would be the process of taking a fish

out of water every day and covering it with dirt

15 in order to make it thrive more vigorously in its

own element. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," but

washing should be only for the purpose of keeping the

18 body clean, and this can be effected without scrubbing the

whole surface daily. Water is not the natural habitat of

humanity. I insist on bodily cleanliness within and with-

21 out. I am not patient with a speck of dirt; but in caring

for an infant one need not wash his little body all over each

day in order to keep it sweet as the new-blown flower.

Juvenile ailments

24 Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of

flatulency, and constantly directing the mind to such

signs, - that mind being laden with illusions

27 about disease, health-laws, and death, - these

actions convey mental images to children's budding

thoughts, and often stamp them there, making it probable

30 at any time that such ills may be reproduced in the very

ailments feared. A child may have worms, if you say so,

or any other malady, timorously held in the beliefs con-

PAGE 414

1 cerning his body. Thus are laid the foundations of the

belief in disease and death, and thus are children educated

3 into discord.

Cure of insanity

The treatment of insanity is especially interesting.

However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than

6 do most diseases to the salutary action of

truth, which counteracts error. The argu-

ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in

9 other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter,

brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause

suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish

12 a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the

thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is

called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.

15 To fix truth steadfastly in your patients' thoughts, ex-

plain Christian Science to them, but not too soon, - not

until your patients are prepared for the explanation, -

18 lest you array the sick against their own interests by troub-

ling and perplexing their thought. The Christian Scien-

tist's argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of

21 being. The Scripture declares, "The Lord He is God

[good]; there is none else beside Him." Even so, harmony

is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de-

24 clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither

feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in

view. Keep in mind the verity of being, - that man is

27 the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is

painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfec-

tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is

30 blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine

Love.

Matter is not inflamed

Matter cannot be inflamed. Inflammation is fear, an

PAGE 415

1 excited state of mortals which is not normal. Immor-

tal Mind is the only cause; therefore disease is neither a

3 cause nor an effect. Mind in every case is the

eternal God, good. Sin, disease, and death

have no foundations in Truth. Inflamation as a mor-

6 tal belief quickens or impedes the action of the system,

because thought moves quickly or slowly, leaps or halts

when it contemplates unpleasant things, or when the in-

9 dividual looks upon some object which he dreads. In-

flammation never appears in a part which mortal thought

does not reach. That is why opiates relieve inflammation.

12 They quiet the thought by inducing stupefaction and by

resorting to matter instead of to Mind. Opiates do not

remove the pain in any scientific sense. They only ren-

15 der mortal mind temporarily less fearful, till it can master

an erroneous belief.

Truth calms the thought

Note how thought makes the face pallid. It either re-

18 tards the circulation or quickens it, causing a pale or

flushed cheek. In the same way thought in-

creases or diminishes the secretions, the action

21 of the lungs, of the bowels, and of the heart. The mus-

cles, moving quickly or slowly and impelled or palsied by

thought, represent the action of all the organs of the hu-

24 man system, including brain and viscera. To remove

the error producing disorder, you must calm and instruct

mortal mind with immortal Truth.

Effects of etherization

27 Etherization will apparently cause the body to dis-

appear. Before the thoughts are fully at rest, the limbs

will vanish from consciousness. Indeed, the

30 whole frame will sink from sight along with

surrounding objects, leaving the pain standing forth as

distinctly as a mountain-peak, as if it were a separate

PAGE 416

1 bodily member. At last the agony also vanishes. This

process shows the pain to be in the mind, for the inflam-

3 mation is not suppressed; and the belief of pain will

presently return, unless the mental image occasioning

the pain be removed by recognizing the truth of being.

Sedatives valueless

6 A hypodermic injection of morphine is administered

to a patient, and in twenty minutes the sufferer is qui-

etly asleep. To him there is no longer any

9 pain. Yet any physician - allopathic, homoe-

opathic, botanic, eclectic - will tell you that the trouble-

some material cause is unremoved, and that when the

12 soporific influence of the opium is exhausted, the pa-

tient will find himself in the same pain, unless the belief

which occasions the pain has meanwhile been changed.

15 Where is the pain while the patient sleeps?

The so-called physical ego

The material body, which you call me, is mortal mind,

and this mind is material in sensation, even as the body,

18 which has originated from this material sense

and been developed according to it, is mate-

rial. This materialism of parent and child is only in

21 mortal mind, as the dead body proves; for when the

mortal has resigned his body to dust, the body is no

longer the parent, even in appearance.

Evil thought depletes

24 The sick know nothing of the mental process by

which they are depleted, and next to nothing of the

metaphysical method by which they can be

27 healed. If they ask about their disease, tell

them only what is best for them to know. Assure them

that they think too much about their ailments, and

30 have already heard too much on that subject. Turn

their thoughts away from their bodies to higher ob-

jects. Teach them that their being is sustained by

PAGE 417

1 Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace,

and harmony in God, divine Love.

Helpful encouragement

3 Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more

than their doctors. Always support their trust in the

power of Mind to sustain the body. Never

6 tell the sick that they have more courage

than strength. Tell them rather, that their strength

is in proportion to their courage. If you make the sick

9 realize this great truism, there will be no reaction from

over-exertion or from excited conditions. Maintain

the facts of Christian Science, - that Spirit is God, and

12 therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter

cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting

through spiritual law. Then hold your ground with

15 the unshaken understanding of Truth and Love, and

you will win. When you silence the witness against your

plea, you destroy the evidence, for the disease disap-

18 pears. The evidence before the corporeal senses is not

the Science of immortal man.

Disease to be made unreal

To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream

21 from which the patient needs to be awakened. Dis-

ease should not appear real to the physician,

since it is demonstrable that the way to

24 cure the patient is to make disease unreal to him. To

do this, the physician must understand the unreality

of disease in Science.

27 Explain audibly to your patients, as soon as they can

bear it, the complete control which Mind holds over the

body. Show them how mortal mind seems to induce

30 disease by certain fears and false conclusions, and how

divine Mind can cure by opposite thoughts. Give your

patients an underlying understanding to support them

PAGE 418

1 and to shield them from the baneful effects of their own

conclusions. Show them that the conquest over sickness,

3 as well as over sin, depends on mentally destroying all

belief in material pleasure or pain.

Christian pleading

Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the

6 error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter.

Plead with an honest conviction of truth and

a clear perception of the unchanging, unerr-

9 ing, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your

fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will

heal the sick.

Truthful arguments

12 It must be clear to you that sickness is no more

the reality of being than is sin. This mortal dream

of sickness, sin, and death should cease

15 through Christian Science. Then one dis-

ease would be as readily destroyed as another. What-

ever the belief is, if arguments are used to destroy it,

18 the belief must be repudiated, and the negation must ex-

tend to the supposed disease and to whatever decides its

type and symptoms. Truth is affirmative, and confers

21 harmony. All metaphysical logic is inspired by this sim-

ple rule of Truth, which governs all reality. By the

truthful arguments you employ, and especially by the

24 spirit of Truth and Love which you entertain, you will

heal the sick.

Morality required

Include moral as well as physical belief in your efforts

27 to destroy error. Cast out all manner of evil. "Preach

the gospel to every creature." Speak the

truth to every form of error. Tumors, ulcers,

30 tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are wak-

ing dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which

flee before the light of Truth.

PAGE 419

1 A moral question may hinder the recovery of the sick.

Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate will

3 perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors

of all sorts tend in this direction. Your true course is

to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Life, Truth,

6 and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone

are real and harmonious.

Relapse unnecessary

If your patient from any cause suffers a relapse, meet

9 the cause mentally and courageously, knowing that

there can be no reaction in Truth. Neither

disease itself, sin, nor fear has the power to

12 cause disease or a relapse. Disease has no intelligence

with which to move itself about or to change itself from

one form to another. If disease moves, mind, not mat-

15 ter, moves it; therefore be sure that you move it off.

Meet every adverse circumstance as its master. Ob-

serve mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for develop-

18 ment enter thought. Think less of material conditions

and more of spiritual.

Conquer beliefs and fears

Mind produces all action. If the action proceeds from

21 Truth, from immortal Mind, there is harmony; but mor-

tal mind is liable to any phase of belief. A

relapse cannot in reality occur in mortals or

24 so-called mortal minds, for there is but one

Mind, one God. Never fear the mental malpractitioner,

the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind,

27 tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God

is the only power. To succeed in healing, you must con-

quer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and

30 rise into higher and holier consciousness.

True government of man

If it is found necessary to treat against relapse, know

that disease or its symptoms cannot change forms, nor

PAGE 420

1 go from one part to another, for Truth destroys disease.

There is no metastasis, no stoppage of harmonious

3 action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love

not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man. If

students do not readily heal themselves, they should

6 early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid

them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves,

they need only to know that error cannot produce this

9 unnatural reluctance.

Positive reassurance

Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims,

for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease

12 and ward it off, as positively as they can the

temptation to sin. This fact of Christian Sci-

ence should be explained to invalids when they are in a

15 fit mood to receive it, - when they will not array them-

selves against it, but are ready to become receptive to the

new idea. The fact that Truth overcomes both disease

18 and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy

stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It in-

creases or diminishes the action, as the case may require,

21 better than any drug, alterative, or tonic.

Proper stimulus

Mind is the natural stimulus of the body, but erro-

neous belief, taken at its best, is not promotive of health

24 or happiness. Tell the sick that they can

meet disease fearlessly, if they only realize

that divine Love gives them all power over every physical

27 action and condition.

Awaken the patient

If it becomes necessary to startle mortal mind to break

its dream of suffering, vehemently tell your patient that

30 he must awake. Turn his gaze from the false

evidence of the senses to the harmonious facts

of Soul and immortal being. Tell him that he suffers

PAGE 421

1 only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only

difference is, that insanity implies belief in a diseased

3 brain, while physical ailments (so-called) arise from the

belief that other portions of the body are deranged. De-

rangement, or disarrangement, is a word which conveys

6 the true definition of all human belief in ill-health, or dis-

turbed harmony. Should you thus startle mortal mind

in order to remove its beliefs, afterwards make known

9 to the patient your motive for this shock, showing him

that it was to facilitate recovery.

How to treat a crisis

If a crisis occurs in your treatment, you must treat

12 the patient less for the disease and more for the mental

disturbance or fermentation, and subdue the

symptoms by removing the belief that this

15 chemicalization produces pain or disease. Insist vehe-

mently on the great fact which covers the whole ground,

that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside

18 Him. There is no disease. When the supposed suffer-

ing is gone from mortal mind, there can be no pain; and

when the fear is destroyed, the inflammation will sub-

21 side. Calm the excitement sometimes induced by chemi-

calization, which is the alterative effect produced by

Truth upon error, and sometimes explain the symptoms

24 and their cause to the patient.

No perversion of Mind-science

It is no more Christianly scientific to see disease than

it is to experience it. If you would destroy the sense

27 of disease, you should not build it up by

wishing to see the forms it assumes or by

employing a single material application for

30 its relief. The perversion of Mind-science is like as-

serting that the products of eight multiplied by five, and

of seven by ten, are both forty, and that their combined

PAGE 422

1 sum is fifty, and then calling the process mathematics.

Wiser than his persecutors, Jesus said: "If I by Beelze-

3 bub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them

out?"

Effect of this book

If the reader of this book observes a great stir through-

6 out his whole system, and certain moral and physical

symptoms seem aggravated, these indications

are favorable. Continue to read, and the book

9 will become the physician, allaying the tremor which

Truth often brings to error when destroying it.

Disease neutralized

Patients, unfamiliar with the cause of this commotion

12 and ignorant that it is a favorable omen, may be alarmed.

If such be the case, explain to them the law

of this action. As when an acid and alkali

15 meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral

chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving

more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend

18 less on material evidence. These changes which go on

in mortal mind serve to reconstruct the body. Thus

Christian Science, by the alchemy of Spirit, destroys sin

21 and death.

Bone-healing by surgery

Let us suppose two parallel cases of bone-disease, both

similarly produced and attended by the same symptoms.

24 A surgeon is employed in one case, and a

Christian Scientist in the other. The sur-

geon, holding that matter forms its own conditions and

27 renders them fatal at certain points, entertains fears and

doubts as to the ultimate outcome of the injury. Not

holding the reins of government in his own hands, he

30 believes that something stronger than Mind - namely,

matter - governs the case. His treatment is therefore

tentative. This mental state invites defeat. The belief

PAGE 423

1 that he has met his master in matter and may not be

able to mend the bone, increases his fear; yet this belief

3 should not be communicated to the patient, either ver-

bally or otherwise, for this fear greatly diminishes the

tendency towards a favorable result. Remember that the

6 unexpressed belief oftentimes affects a sensitive patient

more strongly than the expressed thought.

Scientific corrective

The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically

9 that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the

truth of being, to destroy the error. This cor-

rective is an alterative, reaching to every part

12 of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches

"the joints and marrow," and it restores the harmony of

man.

Coping with difficulties

15 The matter-physician deals with matter as both his foe

and his remedy. He regards the ailment as weakened or

strengthened according to the evidence which

18 matter presents. The metaphysician, making

Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and

regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to

21 error and discord, has rendered himself strong, instead

of weak, to cope with the case; and he proportionately

strengthens his patient with the stimulus of courage and

24 conscious power. Both Science and consciousness are

now at work in the economy of being according to the law

of Mind, which ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy.

Formation from thought

27 Ossification or any abnormal condition or derange-

ment of the body is as directly the action of mortal

mind as is dementia or insanity. Bones have

30 only the substance of thought which forms

them. They are only phenomena of the mind of mor-

tals. The so-called substance of bone is formed first

PAGE 424

1 by the parent's mind, through self-division. Soon the

child becomes a separate, individualized mortal mind,

3 which takes possession of itself and its own thoughts of

bones.

Accidents unknown to God

Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind,

6 and we must leave the mortal basis of belief

and unite with the one Mind, in order to

change the notion of chance to the proper sense

9 of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.

Opposing mentality

Under divine Providence there can be no accidents,

since there is no room for imperfection in perfection.

12 In medical practice objections would be raised if one

doctor should administer a drug to counteract the work-

ing of a remedy prescribed by another doctor.

15 It is equally important in metaphysical prac-

tice that the minds which surround your patient should

not act against your influence by continually expressing

18 such opinions as may alarm or discourage, - either by

giving antagonistic advice or through unspoken thoughts

resting on your patient. While it is certain that the

21 divine Mind can remove any obstacle, still you need the

ear of your auditor. It is not more difficult to make your-

self heard mentally while others are thinking about your

24 patients or conversing with them, if you understand

Christian Science - the oneness and the allness of divine

Love; but it is well to be alone with God and the sick

27 when treating disease.

Mind removes scrofula

To prevent or to cure scrofula and other so-called he-

reditary diseases, you must destroy the belief in these ills

30 and the faith in the possibility of their trans-

mission. The patient may tell you that he

has a humor in the blood, a scrofulous diathesis. His

PAGE 425

1 parents or some of his progenitors farther back have so

believed. Mortal mind, not matter, induces this con-

3 clusion and its results. You will have humors, just so

long as you believe them to be safety-valves or to be

ineradicable.

Nothing to consume

6 If the case to be mentally treated is consumption, take

up the leading points included (according to belief) in

this disease. Show that it is not inherited;

9 that inflammation, tubercles, hemorrhage, and

decomposition are beliefs, images of mortal thought su-

perimposed upon the body; that they are not the truth

12 of man; that they should be treated as error and put out

of thought. Then these ills will disappear.

The lungs re-formed

If the body is diseased, this is but one of the beliefs of

15 mortal mind. Mortal man will be less mortal, when he

learns that matter never sustained existence

and can never destroy God, who is man's Life.

18 When this is understood, mankind will be more spiritual

and know that there is nothing to consume, since Spirit,

God, is All-in-all. What if the belief is consumption?

21 God is more to a man than his belief, and the less we ac-

knowledge matter or its laws, the more immortality we

possess. Consciousness constructs a better body when

24 faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material

belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form

you anew. You will never fear again except to offend

27 God, and you will never believe that heart or any por-

tion of the body can destroy you.

Soundness maintained

If you have sound and capacious lungs and want

30 them to remain so, be always ready with the

mental protest against the opposite belief in

heredity. Discard all notions about lungs, tubercles, in-

PAGE 426

1 herited consumption, or disease arising from any cir-

cumstance, and you will find that mortal mind, when

3 instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers

the body into health.

Our footsteps heavenward

The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less

6 difficult when she has the high goal always before her

thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps

in endeavoring to reach it. When the desti-

9 nation is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The

struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak,

resting instead of wearying one. If the belief in death

12 were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that

there is no death, this would be a "tree of life," known

by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and en-

15 deavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learn-

ing the necessity of working out his own salvation. When

it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that

18 mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this

understanding will quicken into newness of life. It will

master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave,

21 and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal

existence.

Christian standard

The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of

24 the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health

and morals far beyond its present elevation,

and would enable us to hold the banner of

27 Christianity aloft with unflinching faith in God, in Life

eternal. Sin brought death, and death will disappear

with the disappearance of sin. Man is immortal, and

30 the body cannot die, because matter has no life to sur-

render. The human concepts named matter, death, dis-

ease, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed.

PAGE 427

Life not contingent on matter

1 If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change

in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is

3 the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of

Truth, and Soul is never without its represent-

ative. Man's individual being can no more

6 die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for

both are immortal. If man believes in death now, he

must disbelieve in it when learning that there is no reality

9 in death, since the truth of being is deathless. The be-

lief that existence is contingent on matter must be met

and mastered by Science, before Life can be understood

12 and harmony obtained.

Mortality vanquished

Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-

ence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the

15 harmony of being nor end the existence of

man in Science. Man is the same after as

before a bone is broken or the body guillotined. If man

18 is never to overcome death, why do the Scriptures say,

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"? The

tenor of the Word shows that we shall obtain the victory

21 over death in proportion as we overcome sin. The great

difficulty lies in ignorance of what God is. God, Life,

Truth, and Love make man undying. Immortal Mind,

24 governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the

physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.

No death nor inaction

Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has

27 man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his

last resort, but it should have been his first

and only resort. The dream of death must

30 be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought

will waken from its own material declaration, "I am

dead," to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, "There

PAGE 428

1 is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor

reaction."

Vision opening

3 Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstra-

tion of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark

visions of material sense into harmony and

6 immortality. Man's privilege at this supreme

moment is to prove the words of our Master: "If a man

keep my saying, he shall never see death." To divest

9 thought of false trusts and material evidences in order

that the spiritual facts of being may appear, - this is

the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep

12 away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may

establish in truth the temple, or body, "whose builder

and maker is God."

Intelligent consecration

15 We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown

God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the eternal

builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life

18 which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal

belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental

might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them

21 with the life which is spiritual, not material.

The present immortality

The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man

is, not shall be, perfect and immortal. We must hold

24 forever the consciousness of existence, and

sooner or later, through Christ and Christian

Science, we must master sin and death. The evidence

27 of man's immortality will become more apparent, as ma-

terial beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being

are admitted.

Careful guidance

30 The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and

raised the dying to life and health through the under-

standing of God as the only Life. It is a sin to believe

PAGE 429

1 that aught can overpower omnipotent and eternal Life,

and this Life must be brought to light by the understand-

3 ing that there is no death, as well as by other

graces of Spirit. We must begin, however,

with the more simple demonstrations of control, and

6 the sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration

takes time for its accomplishment. When walking, we

are guided by the eye. We look before our feet, and if

9 we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of

spiritual advancement.

Clay replying to the potter

The corpse, deserted by thought, is cold and decays,

12 but it never suffers. Science declares that man is sub-

ject to Mind. Mortal mind affirms that mind

is subordinate to the body, that the body is

15 dying, that it must be buried and decomposed

into dust; but mortal mind's affirmation is not true.

Mortals waken from the dream of death with bodies un-

18 seen by those who think that they bury the body.

Continuity of existence

If man did not exist before the material organization

began, he could not exist after the body is disintegrated.

21 If we live after death and are immortal, we

must have lived before birth, for if Life ever

had any beginning, it must also have an ending, even ac-

24 cording to the calculations of natural science. Do you

believe this? No! Do you understand it? No! This

is why you doubt the statement and do not demonstrate

27 the facts it involves. We must have faith in all the say-

ings of our Master, though they are not included in the

teachings of the schools, and are not understood gener-

30 ally by our ethical instructors.

Life all-inclusive

Jesus said (John viii. 51), "If a man keep my saying,

he shall never see death." That statement is not con-

PAGE 430

1 fined to spiritual life, but includes all the phenomena of

existence. Jesus demonstrated this, healing the dying

3 and raising the dead. Mortal mind must part

with error, must put off itself with its deeds,

and immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, will appear.

6 Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base

by resting upon Spirit instead of matter. When man

gives up his belief in death, he will advance more rapidly

9 towards God, Life, and Love. Belief in sickness and

death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the

true sense of Life and health. When will mankind wake

12 to this great fact in Science?

I here present to my readers an allegory illustrative

of the law of divine Mind and of the supposed laws of mat-

15 ter and hygiene, an allegory in which the plea of Christian

Science heals the sick.

A mental court case

Suppose a mental case to be on trial, as cases are tried

18 in court. A man is charged with having committed liver-

complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates,

and the trial commences. Personal Sense is

21 the plaintiff. Mortal Man is the defendant. False Belief

is the attorney for Personal Sense. Mortal Minds, Ma-

teria Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Hypnotism, Envy,

24 Greed and Ingratitude, constitute the jury. The court-

room is filled with interested spectators, and Judge

Medicine is on the bench.

27 The evidence for the prosecution being called for, a

witness testifies thus: -

I represent Health-laws. I was present on certain nights

30 when the prisoner, or patient, watched with a sick friend.

Although I have the superintendence of human affairs, I

was personally abused on those occasions. I was told that

PAGE 431

1 I must remain silent until called for at this trial, when I

would be allowed to testify in the case. Notwithstanding

3 my rules to the contrary, the prisoner watched with the sick

every night in the week. When the sick mortal was thirsty,

the prisoner gave him drink. During all this time the pris-

6 oner attended to his daily labors, partaking of food at ir-

regular intervals, sometimes going to sleep immediately

after a heavy meal. At last he committed liver-complaint,

9 which I considered criminal, inasmuch as this offence is

deemed punishable with death. Therefore I arrested Mor-

tal Man in behalf of the state (namely, the body) and cast

12 him into prison.

At the time of the arrest the prisoner summoned Physi-

ology, Materia Medica, and Hypnotism to prevent his pun-

15 ishment. The struggle on their part was long. Materia

Medica held out the longest, but at length all these assist-

ants resigned to me, Health-laws, and I succeeded in get-

18 ting Mortal Man into close confinement until I should

release him.

The next witness is called:-

21 I am Coated Tongue. I am covered with a foul fur,

placed on me the night of the liver-attack. Morbid Secre-

tion hypnotized the prisoner and took control of his mind,

24 making him despondent.

Another witness takes the stand and testifies:-

I am Sallow Skin. I have been dry, hot, and chilled by

27 turns since the night of the liver-attack. I have lost my

healthy hue and become unsightly, although nothing on my

part has occasioned this change. I practise daily ablutions

30 and perform my functions as usual, but I am robbed of my

good looks.

PAGE 432

1 The next witness testifies: -

I am Nerve, the State Commissioner for Mortal Man.

3 I am intimately acquainted with the plaintiff, Personal

Sense, and know him to be truthful and upright, whereas

Mortal Man, the prisoner at the bar, is capable of false-

6 hood. I was witness to the crime of liver-complaint. I

knew the prisoner would commit it, for I convey messages

from my residence in matter, alias brain, to body.

9 Another witness is called for by the Court of Error

and says: -

I am Mortality, Governor of the Province of Body, in

12 which Mortal Man resides. In this province there is a stat-

ute regarding disease, - namely, that he upon whose per-

son disease is found shall be treated as a criminal and

15 punished with death.

The Judge asks if by doing good to his neighbor, it is

possible for man to become diseased, transgress the laws,

18 and merit punishment, and Governor Mortality replies in

the affirmative.

Another witness takes the stand and testifies: -

21 I am Death. I was called for, shortly after the report of

the crime, by the officer of the Board of Health, who pro-

tested that the prisoner had abused him, and that my pres-

24 ence was required to confirm his testimony. One of the

prisoner's friends, Materia Medica, was present when I

arrived, endeavoring to assist the prisoner to escape from

27 the hands of justice, alias nature's so-called law; but my

appearance with a message from the Board of Health

changed the purpose of Materia Medica, and he decided at

30 once that the prisoner should die.

PAGE 433

Judge Medicine charges the jury

1 The testimony for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, being

closed, Judge Medicine arises, and with great solemnity

3 addresses the jury of Mortal Minds. He an-

alyzes the offence, reviews the testimony, and

explains the law relating to liver-complaint.

6 His conclusion is, that laws of nature render disease

homicidal. In compliance with a stern duty, his Honor,

Judge Medicine, urges the jury not to allow their judg-

9 ment to be warped by the irrational, unchristian sugges-

tions of Christian Science. The jury must regard in such

cases only the evidence of Personal Sense against Mortal

12 Man.

As the Judge proceeds, the prisoner grows restless. His

sallow face blanches with fear, and a look of despair and

15 death settles upon it. The case is given to the jury. A

brief consultation ensues, and the jury returns a verdict

of "Guilty of liver-complaint in the first degree."

Mortal Man sentenced

18 Judge Medicine then proceeds to pronounce the solemn

sentence of death upon the prisoner. Because he has

loved his neighbor as himself, Mortal Man has

21 been guilty of benevolence in the first degree,

and this has led him into the commission of the second

crime, liver-complaint, which material laws condemn as

24 homicide. For this crime Mortal Man is sentenced to

be tortured until he is dead. "May God have mercy on

your soul," is the Judge's solemn peroration.

27 The prisoner is then remanded to his cell (sick-bed),

and Scholastic Theology is sent for to prepare the fright-

ened sense of Life, God, - which sense must be immortal,

30 - for death.

Appeal to a higher tribunal

Ah! but Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the

friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors

PAGE 434

1 and set the captive free. Swift on the wings of divine

Love, there comes a despatch: "Delay the execution;

3 the prisoner is not guilty." Consternation fills

the prison-yard. Some exclaim, "It is con-

trary to law and justice." Others say,

6 "The law of Christ supersedes our laws; let us follow

Christ."

Counsel for defence

After much debate and opposition, permission is ob-

9 tained for a trial in the Court of Spirit, where Christian

Science is allowed to appear as counsel for

the unfortunate prisoner. Witnesses, judges

12 and jurors, who were at the previous Court of Error,

are now summoned to appear before the bar of Justice

and eternal Truth.

15 When the case for Mortal Man versus Personal Sense

is opened, Mortal Man's counsel regards the prisoner

with the utmost tenderness. The counsel's earnest,

18 solemn eyes, kindling with hope and triumph, look up-

ward. Then Christian Science turns suddenly to the

supreme tribunal, and opens the argument for the

21 defence: -

The prisoner at the bar has been unjustly sentenced.

His trial was a tragedy, and is morally illegal. Mortal

24 Man has had no proper counsel in the case. All the test-

mony has been on the side of Personal Sense, and we shall

unearth this foul conspiracy against the liberty and life of

27 Man. The only valid testimony in the case shows the

alleged crime never to have been committed. The pris-

oner is not proved "worthy of death, or of bonds."

30 Your Honor, the lower court has sentenced Mortal Man

to die, but God made Man immortal and amenable to

Spirit only. Denying justice to the body, that court com-

PAGE 435

1 mended man's immortal Spirit to heavenly mercy, - Spirit

which is God Himself and Man's only lawgiver! Who or

3 what has sinned? Has the body or has Mortal Mind

committed a criminal deed? Counsellor False Belief has

argued that the body should die, while Reverend Theology

6 would console conscious Mortal Mind, which alone is capa-

ble of sin and suffering. The body committed no offence.

Mortal Man, in obedience to higher law, helped his fellow-

9 man, an act which should result in good to himself as well

as to others.

The law of our Supreme Court decrees that whosoever

12 sinneth shall die; but good deeds are immortal, bringing

joy instead of grief, pleasure instead of pain, and life

instead of death. If liver-complaint was committed by

15 trampling on Laws of Health, this was a good deed, for the

agent of those laws is an outlaw, a destroyer of Mortal

Man's liberty and rights. Laws of Health should be sen-

18 tenced to die.

Watching beside the couch of pain in the exercise of a

love that "is the fulfilling of the law," - doing "unto

21 others as ye would that they should do unto you," - this

is no infringement of law, for no demand, human or divine,

renders it just to punish a man for acting justly. If mor-

24 tals sin, our Supreme Judge in equity decides what penalty

is due for the sin, and Mortal Man can suffer only for his

sin. For naught else can he be punished, according to the

27 law of Spirit, God.

Then what jurisdiction had his Honor, Judge Medicine,

in this case? To him I might say, in Bible language, "Sit-

30 test thou to judge . . . after the law, and commandest . . .

to be smitten contrary to the law?" The only jurisdiction

to which the prisoner can submit is that of Truth, Life, and

33 Love. If they condemn him not, neither shall Judge Medi-

cine condemn him; and I ask that the prisoner be restored

to the liberty of which he has been unjustly deprived.

PAGE 436

1 The principal witness (the officer of the Health-laws)

deposed that he was an eye-witness to the good deeds for

3 which Mortal Man is under sentence of death. After be-

traying him into the hands of your law, the Health-agent

disappeared, to reappear however at the trial as a witness

6 against Mortal Man and in the interest of Personal Sense,

a murderer. Your Supreme Court must find the pris-

oner on the night of the alleged offence to have been acting

9 within the limits of the divine law, and in obedience

thereto. Upon this statute hangs all the law and testimony.

Giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name, is a Christian

12 service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man

should find it again. Such acts bear their own justifica-

tion, and are under the protection of the Most High.

15 Prior to the night of his arrest, the prisoner summoned

two professed friends, Materia Medica and Physiology, to

prevent his committing liver-complaint, and thus save him

18 from arrest. But they brought with them Fear, the sheriff,

to precipitate the result which they were called to prevent.

It was Fear who handcuffed Mortal Man and would now

21 punish him. You have left Mortal Man no alternative.

He must obey your law, fear its consequences, and be pun-

ished for his fear. His friends struggled hard to rescue the

24 prisoner from the penalty they considered justly due, but

they were compelled to let him be taken into custody, tried,

and condemned. Thereupon Judge Medicine sat in judg-

27 ment on the case, and substantially charged the jury, twelve

Mortal Minds, to find the prisoner guilty. His Honor sen-

tenced Mortal Man to die for the very deeds which the di-

30 vine law compels man to commit. Thus the Court of Error

construed obedience to the law of divine Love as disobedi-

ence to the law of Life. Claiming to protect Mortal Man

33 in right-doing, that court pronounced a sentence of death

for doing right.

One of the principal witnesses, Nerve, testified that he

PAGE 437

1 was a ruler of Body, in which province Mortal Man resides.

He also testified that he was on intimate terms with the

3 plaintiff, and knew Personal Sense to be truthful; that he

knew Man, and that Man was made in the image of God,

but was a criminal. This is a foul aspersion on man's

6 Maker. It blots the fair escutcheon of omnipotence. It in-

dicates malice aforethought, a determination to condemn

Man in the interest of Personal Sense. At the bar of Truth,

9 in the presence of divine Justice, before the Judge of our

higher tribunal, the Supreme Court of Spirit, and before

its jurors, the Spiritual Senses, I proclaim this witness,

12 Nerve, to be destitute of intelligence and truth and to be

a false witness.

Man self-destroyed; the testimony of matter respected;

15 Spirit not allowed a hearing; Soul a criminal though

recommended to mercy; the helpless innocent body tor-

tured, - these are the terrible records of your Court of

18 Error, and I ask that the Supreme Court of Spirit reverse

this decision.

Here the opposing counsel, False Belief, called Chris-

21 tian Science to order for contempt of court. Various

notables - Materia Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Scho-

lastic Theology, and Jurisprudence - rose to the ques-

24 tion of expelling Christian Science from the bar, for such

high-handed illegality. They declared that Christian Sci-

ence was overthrowing the judicial proceedings of a regu-

27 larly constituted court.

But Judge Justice of the Supreme Court of Spirit over-

ruled their motions on the ground that unjust usages

30 were not allowed at the bar of Truth, which ranks above

the lower Court of Error.

The attorney, Christian Science, then read from the

33 supreme statute-book, the Bible, certain extracts on the

PAGE 438

1 Rights of Man, remarking, that the Bible was better au-

thority than Blackstone: -

3 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and

let them have dominion.

Behold, I give unto you power . . . over all the power

6 of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

Then Christian Science proved the witness, Nerve, to

9 be a perjurer. Instead of being a ruler in the Province

of Body, in which Mortal Man was reported to reside,

Nerve was an insubordinate citizen, putting in false

12 claims to office and bearing false witness against Man.

Turning suddenly to Personal Sense, by this time silent,

Christian Science continued: -

15 I ask your arrest in the name of Almighty God on three

distinct charges of crime, to wit: perjury, treason, and con-

spiracy against the rights and life of man.

18 Then Christian Science continued:

Another witness, equally inadequate, said that on the

night of the crime a garment of foul fur was spread over

21 him by Morbid Secretion, while the facts in the case show

that this fur is a foreign substance, imported by False Be-

lief, the attorney for Personal Sense, who is in partnership

24 with Error and smuggles Error's goods into market with-

out the inspection of Soul's government officers. When

the Court of Truth summoned Furred Tongue for examina-

27 tion, he disappeared and was never heard of more.

Morbid Secretion is not an importer or dealer in fur, but

we have heard Materia Medica explain how this fur is

30 manufactured, and we know Morbid Secretion to be on

friendly terms with the firm of Personal Sense, Error, &

PAGE 439

1 Co., receiving pay from them and introducing their goods

into the market. Also, be it known that False Belief, the

3 counsel for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, is a buyer for this

firm. He manufactures for it, keeps a furnishing store,

and advertises largely for his employers.

6 Death testified that he was absent from the Province of

Body, when a message came from False Belief, command-

ing him to take part in the homicide. At this request

9 Death repaired to the spot where the liver-complaint was

in process, frightening away Materia Medica, who was then

manacling the prisoner in the attempt to save him. True,

12 Materia Medica was a misguided participant in the misdeed

for which the Health-officer had Mortal Man in custody,

though Mortal Man was innocent.

15 Christian Science turned from the abashed witnesses,

his words flashing as lightning in the perturbed faces

of these worthies, Scholastic Theology, Materia Medica,

18 Physiology, the blind Hypnotism, and the masked Per-

sonal Sense, and said: -

God will smite you, O whited walls, for injuring in your

21 ignorance the unfortunate Mortal Man who sought your

aid in his struggles against liver-complaint and Death.

You came to his rescue, only to fasten upon him an offence

24 of which he was innocent. You aided and abetted Fear

and Health-laws. You betrayed Mortal Man, meanwhile

declaring Disease to be God's servant and the righteous

27 executor of His laws. Our higher statutes declare you all,

witnesses, jurors, and judges, to be offenders, awaiting the

sentence which General Progress and Divine Love will

30 pronounce.

We send our best detectives to whatever locality is re-

ported to be haunted by Disease, but on visiting the spot,

33 they learn that Disease was never there, for he could not

PAGE 440

1 possibly elude their search. Your Material Court of Errors,

when it condemned Mortal Man on the ground of hygienic

3 disobedience, was manipulated by the oleaginous machina-

tions of the counsel, False Belief, whom Truth arraigns

before the supreme bar of Spirit to answer for his crime.

6 Morbid Secretion is taught how to make sleep befool reason

before sacrificing mortals to their false gods.

Mortal Minds were deceived by your attorney, False Be-

9 lief, and were influenced to give a verdict delivering Mortal

Man to Death. Good deeds are transformed into crimes,

to which you attach penalties; but no warping of justice

12 can render disobedience to the so-called laws of Matter

disobedience to God, or an act of homicide. Even penal

law holds homicide, under stress of circumstances, to be

15 justifiable. Now what greater justification can any deed

have, than that it is for the good of one's neighbor? Where-

fore, then, in the name of outraged justice, do you sentence

18 Mortal Man for ministering to the wants of his fellow-man

in obedience to divine law? You cannot trample upon the

decree of the Supreme Bench. Mortal Man has his appeal

21 to Spirit, God, who sentences only for sin.

The false and unjust beliefs of your human mental legis-

lators compel them to enact wicked laws of sickness and so

24 forth, and then render obedience to these laws punishable

as crime. In the presence of the Supreme Lawgiver, stand-

ing at the bar of Truth, and in accordance with the divine

27 statutes, I repudiate the false testimony of Personal. Sense.

I ask that he be forbidden to enter against Mortal Man

any more suits to be tried at the Court of Material Error.

30 I appeal to the just and equitable decisions of divine Spirit

to restore to Mortal Man the rights of which he has been

deprived.

Charge of the Chief Justice

33 Here the counsel for the defence closed, and the Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court, with benign and imposing

PAGE 441

1 presence, comprehending and defining all law and evi-

dence, explained from his statute-book, the

3 Bible, that any so-called law, which under-

takes to punish aught but sin, is null and void.

He also decided that the plaintiff, Personal Sense, be

6 not permitted to enter any suits at the bar of Soul, but

be enjoined to keep perpetual silence, and in case of

temptation, to give heavy bonds for good behavior. He

9 concluded his charge thus: -

The plea of False Belief we deem unworthy of a hearing.

Let what False Belief utters, now and forever, fall into

12 oblivion, "unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown." Accord-

ing to our statute, Material Law is a liar who cannot bear

witness against Mortal Man, neither can Fear arrest Mortal

15 Man nor can Disease cast him into prison. Our law refuses

to recognize Man as sick or dying, but holds him to be for-

ever in the image and likeness of his Maker. Reversing the

18 testimony of Personal Sense and the decrees of the Court of

Error in favor of Matter, Spirit decides in favor of Man

and against Matter. We further recommend that Materia

21 Medica adopt Christian Science and that Health-laws,

Mesmerism, Hypnotism, Oriental Witchcraft, and Esoteric

Magic be publicly executed at the hands of our sheriff,

24 Progress.

The Supreme Bench decides in favor of intelligence, that

no law outside of divine Mind can punish or reward Mortal

27 Man. Your personal jurors in the Court of Error are

myths. Your attorney, False Belief, is an impostor, per-

suading Mortal Minds to return a verdict contrary to law

30 and gospel. The plaintiff, Personal Sense, is recorded in

our Book of books as a liar. Our great Teacher of mental

jurisprudence speaks of him also as "a murderer from the

33 beginning." We have no trials for sickness before the tri-

PAGE 442

1 bunal of divine Spirit. There, Man is adjudged innocent

of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such

3 laws. Our statute is spiritual, our Government is divine.

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Divine verdict

The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a

6 verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience-

chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty. Then

the prisoner rose up regenerated, strong, free.

9 We noticed, as he shook hands with his counsel, Chris-

tian Science, that all sallowness and debility had dis-

appeared. His form was erect and commanding, his

12 countenance beaming with health and happiness. Divine

Love had cast out fear. Mortal Man, no longer sick

and in prison, walked forth, his feet "beautiful upon the

15 mountains," as of one "that bringeth good tidings."

Christ the great physician

Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters into

the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot

18 be reversed, but the reverse of error is true.

An improved belief cannot retrograde. When

Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into

21 a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understand-

ing, and sin, disease, and death disappear. Christ, Truth,

gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the ma-

24 terial, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man

is clothed and fed spiritually. St. Paul says, "Work

out your own salvation with fear and trembling:" Jesus

27 said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good

pleasure to give you the kingdom." This truth is

Christian Science.

30 Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental

malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when

awake.

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