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Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.- JESUS.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruit-
ful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. -
PAUL.
Let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. - SOLOMON'S SONG.
THOUSANDS of letters could be presented in testimony of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and particularly concerning the vast number of people who have been reformed and healed through the perusal or study of this book.
For the assurance and encouragement of the reader, a few of these letters are here republished from THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL and CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL. The originals are in the possession of the Editor, who can authenticate the testimonials which follow.
RHEUMATISM HEALED
I was a great sufferer from a serious form of rheumatic trouble, my hands being affected to such an extent that it was impossible for me even to dress without assistance. The trouble finally reached the knees, and I became very lame and had to be assisted in and out of bed. I went to the different health resorts for the benefit I hoped to derive from the baths and waters that were prescribed by
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physicians, but found no permanent relief. I was placed under an X-ray examination, and was told that the joints were becoming ossified. I then consulted a celebrated specialist, who after a thorough examination said my condition would continue to grow worse and that I would become completely helpless.
At that time a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was loaned me. I read it more from curiosity than with the thought of any physical benefit. As the truth was unfolded to me, I realized that the mental condition was what needed correcting, and that the Spirit of truth which inspired this book was my physician. My healing is complete, and the liberation in thought is manifest in a life of active usefulness rather than the bondage of helpless invalidism and suffering. I owe to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gratitude which words cannot express. Her revelation of the practical rather than the merely theoretical application of Jesus' words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," proved to be my redeemer. I did not even have to apply to a practitioner, but am most grateful for the helpful words of loving friends. - E. B. B., Pasadena, Cal.
ASTIGMATISM AND HERNIA HEALED
It is nearly five years since I bought my first copy of Science and Health, the reading of which cured me of chronic constipation, nervous headache, astigmatism, and hernia, in less than four months.
Where would I be now, had not this blessed truth been brought to me by much persuasion of a very dear friend?
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I certainly should have been deep in the slough of despond, if not in the grave. Am I truly thankful for all the good that has come to me and mine? I try to let my works testify of that; but to those whom I do not meet in person, I can truly say, Yes; I am indeed more thankful than words can express for the glorious healing that has come to me, both physical, mental, and moral, and I also convey herein, my song of gratitude to the dear Leader who has through her fidelity to Truth enabled me to touch at least the hem of Christ's garment. - B. S. J., Sioux City, Iowa.
SUBSTANCE OF LUNGS RESTORED
It was about fifteen years ago that Christian Science first came to my notice. At that time I had been a chronic invalid for a good many years. I had acute bowel trouble, bronchitis, and a number of other troubles. One physician had told me that my lungs were like wet paper, ready to tear at any time, and I was filled with fear, as my mother, two brothers, and a sister had been victims of consumption. I tried many physicians and every material remedy that promised help, but no help came until I found a copy of Mrs. Eddy's book, Science and Health. The book was placed in my hands by one who did not then appreciate it, and I was told that it would be hard for me to understand it. I commenced reading it with this thought, but I caught beautiful glimpses of Truth, which took away my fear and healed me of all those diseases, and they have never returned.
I would also like to tell how I was healed of a sprained
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ankle. The accident occurred in the morning, and all that day and during the night I gave myself Christian Science treatment, as best I could. The next morning it seemed to be no better, being very sore, badly swollen, and much discolored. Feeling that I had done all I could, I decided to stop thinking about it. I took my copy of Science and Health and began reading. Very soon I became so absorbed in the book that I forgot all about my ankle; it went entirely out of my thought, for I had a glimpse of all God's creation as spiritual, and for the time being lost sight of my material selfhood. After two hours I laid the book down and walked into another room. When next I thought of my ankle, I found it was not hurting me. The swelling had gone down, the black and blue appearance had nearly vanished, and it was perfectly well. It was healed while I was "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord." This experience was worth a great deal to me, for it showed me how the healing is done. - C. H., Portland, Ore.
FIBROID TUMOR HEALED IN A FEW DAYS
My gratitude for Christian Science is boundless. I was afflicted with a fibroid tumor which weighed not less than fifty pounds, attended by a continuous hemorrhage for eleven years. The tumor was a growth of eighteen years.
I lived in Fort Worth, Tex., and I had never heard of Christian Science before leaving there for Chicago in the year 1887. I had tried to live near to God, and I feel sure He guided me in all my steps to this healing and saving truth. After being there several weeks
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I received letters from a Texas lady who had herself been healed, and who wrote urging me to try Christian Science. Changing my boarding-place, I met a lady who owned a copy of Science and Health, and in speaking to her of having seen the book, she informed me she had one, and she got it and told me I could read it. The revelation was marvelous and brought a great spiritual awakening. This awakened sense never left me, and one day when walking alone it came to me very suddenly that I was healed, and I walked the faster declaring every step that I was healed. When I reached my boarding-place, I found my hostess and told her I was healed. She looked the picture of amazement. The tumor began to disappear at once, the hemorrhage ceased, and perfect strength was manifest.
There was no joy ever greater than mine for this Christ-cure, for I was very weary and heavy laden. I thought very little of either sleeping or eating, and my heart was filled with gratitude, since I knew I had touched the hem of his garment.
I must add that the reading of Science and Health, and that alone, healed me, and it was the second copy I ever saw. - S. L., Fort Worth, Tex.
INSANITY AND EPILEPSY HEALED
While an inmate of the State asylum for the insane at Middletown, Conn., an epileptic, and at times confined to my bed with bilious attacks, pronounced incurable by the doctors (at least six in number), the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mrs. Eddy was
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placed in my hands. After reading a few pages, I became very much impressed with the truth therein stated, and although I was surrounded with opposition, I knew that "underneath are the everlasting arms." Since that time - past the middle of the year 1899 - I have kept pressing on, until I have been healed by reading Science and Health. At times I was beset by what seemed unconquerable opposition, until the first week in October, 1904, when, upon going to my home in Darien for a visit, I was given my liberty, and I am now earning my living in this city. After having been subject to epileptic attacks since 1892, and at one time pronounced dying by the doctor in charge, I am now well. I have had no fit, or symptoms of any, since the first week in May, 1904.
I trust that this testimony to the healing power of Truth, realized by reading Science and Health (for I had no treatment), may reach the eye of some to whom the battle seems long, and inspire them with fresh courage and a realization of the worth of the victory. I am filled with inexpressible gratitude and love to God, and to Mrs. Eddy. - Mrs. B. B. C., Stamford, Conn.
A CASE OF MENTAL SURGERY
I have felt for some time I should give my experience in mental surgery. In May, 1902, going home for lunch, on a bicycle, and while riding down a hill at a rapid gait, I was thrown from the wheel, and falling on my left side with my arm under my head, the bone was broken about half-way between the shoulder and elbow. While the pain was intense, I lay still in the dust,
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declaring the truth and denying that there could be a break or accident in the realm of divine Love, until a gentleman came to assist me, saying, he thought I had been stunned. I was only two and a half blocks from home, so I mounted my wheel again and managed to reach it. On arriving there I lay down and asked my little boy to bring me our textbook. He immediately brought Science and Health, which I read for about ten minutes, when all pain left.
I said nothing to my family of the accident, but attended to some duties and was about half an hour late in returning to the office, this being my only loss of time from work. My friends claimed that the arm had not been broken, as it would have been impossible for me to continue my work without having it set, and carrying it in a sling until the bone knit together. Their insistence almost persuaded me that I might have been mistaken, until one of my friends invited me to visit a physician's office where they were experimenting with an X-ray machine. The physician was asked to examine my left arm to see if it differed from the ordinary. On looking through it, he said, "Yes, it has been broken, but whoever set it made a perfect job of it, and you will never have any further trouble from that break." My friend then asked the doctor to show how he could tell where the break had been. The doctor pointed out the place as being slightly thicker at that part, like a piece of steel that had been welded. This was the first of several cases of mental surgery that have come under my notice, and it made a deep impression on me.
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For the benefit of others who may have something similar to meet, I will say that I have overcome almost constant attacks of sick headaches, extending back to my earliest recollection. - L. C. S., Salt Lake City, Utah.
CATARACT QUICKLY CURED
I wish to add my testimony to those of others, and hope that it may be the means of bringing some poor sufferer to health, to happiness, and to God. I was healed through simply reading this wonderful book, Science and Health. I had been troubled periodically for many years with sore eyes, and had been to many doctors, who called the disease iritis and cataract. They told me that my eyes would always give me trouble, and that I would eventually lose my sight if I remained in an office, and advised me to go under an operation. Later on I had to wear glasses at my work, also out of doors as I could not bear the winds, and my eyes were gradually becoming worse. I could not read for longer than a few minutes at a time, otherwise they would smart severely. I had to rest my eyes each evening to enable me to use them the next day; in fact gas-light was getting unbearable because of the pain, and I made home miserable. A dear brother told me about Christian Science, and said that if I would read Science and Health it would help me. He procured for me the loan of the book. The first night I read it, it so interested me I quite forgot all about my eyes until my wife remarked that it was eleven o'clock. I found that I had been reading this book for nearly four hours, and I remarked immediately after, "I believe my eyes are cured," which was really
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the case. The next day, on looking at my eyes, my wife noticed that the cataract had disappeared. I put away my outdoor glasses, which I have not required since, and through the understanding gained by studying Christian Science I have been able to do away with my indoor glasses also, and have had no return of pain in my eyes since. This is now a year and a half ago. - G. F. S., Liverpool, England.
VALVULAR HEART DISEASE HEALED
Fourteen years ago my heart awoke to gratitude to God and the dear Leader at the same time. After a patient and persistent effort of three months' duration, to procure a copy of Science and Health (during which time I had visited every bookstore, and many of the second-hand bookstores in the city of St. Paul), and had failed to find it, I at last remembered that the stranger who told me I might be healed, had mentioned a name, and McVicker's Theatre Building in Chicago as being in some way connected with the work. I sent there for information regarding a book called Health and Science, and the return mail brought me the book, Science and Health, and in it I at once found sure promise of deliverance from valvular heart disease, with all the accompaniments, such as extreme nervousness, weakness, dyspepsia, and insomnia. I had suffered from these all my life, finding no permanent relief, even, in material remedies, and no hope of cure at any time. Only those who have been healed in such bondage and have been liberated by the same means, can know the eager joy of the first perusal of that wonderful book.
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Half a day's reading convinced me that I had found the way to holiness and health. I read on, thinking only of the spiritual enlightenment, content to wait until I should be led to some person who would heal me; but old things had passed away, and all things had become new. I was completely healed before I had met a Scientist, or one who knew anything about Christian Science, and before I had read a line of any other Christian Science literature except one leaf of a tract; so it is absolutely certain that the healing was entirely impersonal, as was also the teaching, which enabled me to begin at once demonstrating the power of Truth to destroy all forms of error. - E. J. W., North Yakima, Wash.
THE TRUE PHYSICIAN FOUND
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I send the particulars of my healing through Christian Science. While visiting friends in the southwestern part of Ontario, about three years ago, my attention was called to Christian Science and the wonderful healing it was doing. I had lived in New York for twenty-five years, but had never heard of Christian Science before, to my recollection.
Up to that time, for seventeen years, I had suffered with indigestion and gastritis in the worst form, often being overcome from a seeming pressure against the heart. I had asthma for four years, also had worn glasses for four years. It seemed to me that I had swallowed every known medicine to relieve my indigestion, but they only gave me temporary benefit. I purchased a copy of Science and Health, and simply from the reading of that
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grand book I was completely healed of all my physical ailments in two weeks' time. I have used no medicine from that day to this, and with God's help, and the wonderful light revealed to me through the reading of Mrs. Eddy's book, I never expect to again. I used to smoke eight or ten cigars a day, and also took an occasional drink, but the desire for these has gone, - I feel forever. I travel on the road, and am constantly being invited to indulge, but it is no effort to abstain, and in many instances I find that my refusal helps others.
While I fully appreciate the release from my physical troubles, this pales into insignificance in comparison with the spiritual uplifting Christian Science has brought me. I had not been inside a church for more than ten years, to attend regular services, until I entered a Christian Science church. What I saw and realized there, seemed so genuine that I loved Christian Science from the very start. I have never taken a treatment, - every inch of the way has been through study and practical demonstration, and I know that all can do the same thing if they will try.
Since I have been in Science I have overcome a case of ulcerated tooth in one night through the reading of Science and Health; also a severe attack of grip in thirty-six hours by obeying the Scripture saying, "Physician, heal thyself." - B. H. N., New York, N. Y.
CANCER AND CONSUMPTION HEALED
I was a great sufferer for many years from internal cancer and consumption. I was treated by the best of
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physicians in New York, Minneapolis, and Duluth, and was finally given up as incurable, when I heard of Christian Science. A neighbor who had been healed of consumption, kindly loaned me Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, which I read and became interested in. In three months' time, I was healed, the truth conveyed to me by this book being the healer, and not only of these diseases, but I was made whole mentally as well. I have not been in bed one day since, or rather in eleven years. I have had many good demonstrations during this time, have passed through many a "fiery trial," but this blessed truth has caused me to stand, at times seemingly alone, and God was with me.
I will mention a demonstration of painless childbirth which I have had since coming to Idaho. Perhaps it may help some sister who is looking through the Journal for a demonstration of this kind, as I was before my baby came. Good help being scarce here, I did my housework up to the time I was confined, and was in perfect health. I awoke my husband one morning at five o'clock, and at half past five baby was born, no one being present but my husband and myself. It was quite a surprise to the rest of the family to see me sitting by the fire with a new baby on my lap. My son got the breakfast, of which I ate heartily; at noon I joined the family in the dining-room. I was out on the porch the second day, around the yard the third day, and have been perfectly well ever since, which has been now over three years. To one who had previously passed through agony untold, with a physician in attendance, this seemed wonderful. I hope this will interest some one who is seeking the truth, and I wish to express my sincere love for our beloved
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Leader, who has given us the " Key to the Scriptures." - E. C. C., Lewiston, Idaho.
A REMARKABLE CASE
Nine years ago my only child was hovering between life and death. Some of the best physicians in Boston had pronounced his case incurable, saying that if he lived he would always be an invalid and a cripple. One of the diseases was gastric catarrh. He was allowed to eat but very few things, and even after taking every precaution, he suffered to the extent that he would lie in spasms for half a day. He also had rickets; physicians saying that there was not a natural bone in his body.
It was while he was in what seemed to be his greatest agony, and when I was in the darkest despair, that I first heard of Christian Science. The bearer of the joyful tidings could only tell me to come and hear of the wonderful things that Christian Science was doing. I accepted the invitation, for I was willing to try anything to save my child, and the following Friday evening I attended my first meeting, which was in The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist. Long before the service began every seat was filled, which was amazing to me, being an ordinary weekly meeting, and that night I realized from the testimonies given that Christian Science was the religion for which I had been searching for years. The next day I went to find a practitioner, but was unable to get the one who had been recommended, he being too busy. On my way home I thought of some of the testimonies which I had heard the night before, - of people being
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healed by simply reading Science and Health. I resolved at once to borrow a copy, and not dreaming of the sacrifice that my friend would make by conferring such a favor, I went and asked her for a loan of Science and Health. I never saw any one part so reluctantly with a book as my friend did with her copy of the textbook.
I read it silently and audibly, day and night, in my home, and although I could not seem to understand it, yet the healing commenced to take place at once. The little mouth which had been twisted by spasms grew natural and the child was soon able to be up, playing and romping about the house as any child should. About this time we decided to move to the far West.
I was young in Science at the time, and my husband greatly feared that the journey would cause a relapse for the child, but instead, he continued to improve. I constantly read the Bible, Science and Health, and Miscellaneous Writings, the two weeks we traveled, and we were the only ones in our car who, throughout the journey, did not get train sick. The child's limbs grew perfectly straight, he ate anything he wanted, and for years he has been a natural, healthy child in every way. He has passed through some of the worst forms of contagion untouched and unharmed.
I had been reading Science and Health several months, before I gave any thought to myself and my numerous complaints. I had never been very strong, and some of my ailments were supposed to be hereditary and chronic, hence I dragged through many tedious years with a belief in medical laws and hereditary laws resting upon me.
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Just before I commenced reading Science and Health I spent a half day in having my eyes examined by one of the leading oculists in Boston. His verdict was that my eyes were in a dreadful condition, and that I would always need to wear glasses. In the meantime I commenced to read Science and Health, and when I thought of my eyes, I had no need for glasses. The years that I have been in Science I have used my eyes incessantly, night as well as day, doing all kinds of trying work and without requiring the aid of glasses. I was healed of all my complaints whilst seeking the truth for my child, and many of them have never returned. Those that appeared simply came to the surface to be destroyed. Teeth have been restored and facial blemishes removed, unconsciously, simply by reading Science and Health. All of this is, however, nothing to compare with the spiritual uplifting which I have received, and I have everything to be thankful for. - M. T. W., Los Angeles, Cal.
INTENSE SUFFERING OVERCOME
For about five years I was afflicted with sciatic rheumatism, in such a severe form that my body was drawn out of shape. When able to be around, I walked with the assistance of a cane. The attacks were periodical, recurring every few months; any exposure to rain or dampness would bring one. At one time I was in bed eleven weeks, suffering intensely all the time except when relieved by hypodermic injections. When I had these attacks, my regular physician was always in attendance. My daughter consulted another physician, who said there
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would have to be an operation which would include the exposing and scraping of the sciatic nerve. There was also another physician who, knowing of the case, examined my heart and claimed that it was weak and that I was liable to pass on at any time from heart trouble.
After suffering three years I heard of Christian Science, but did not avail myself of it for two years, when I decided to give up all other means and rely wholly upon it. It was not convenient to call a practitioner, so I took Science and Health and applied its teachings as best I could. In three days the trouble completely left me and there has never been the slightest return. My health has been good ever since, and I am at present in perfect physical health. I have been benefited in every way by Christian Science, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and would not be without my understanding of it for anything. - Mrs. E. A. K., Billings, Mont.
HEALED OF RHEUMATISM AND BRIGHT'S DISEASE
I am very thankful to God for what He has done for me. I was suddenly left alone, with many troubles and trials, and I took up the study of the Bible. I was trying to understand it, prior to joining some church, as it seemed to me this would be expected. I had attended all sorts of churches from my childhood up, but never could find any that met my need. As time passed on, my condition became very alarming. Sciatic rheumatism, that had troubled me for some years, became so severe I could scarcely do anything.
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Then there appeared some complications, so distressing that I was unable to walk far, and had to sit down frequently by the way. I thought I had Bright's disease, - such excruciating pains, no tongue could tell my sufferings. With all these things upon me, death seemed very near. I had never joined any church, and I thought it now too late, as I would have to wait six months on probation, and I would be dead before that.
About this time I made some inquiries of my sister in reference to Christian Science, as she had already turned to that faith, and I soon found that it was just what I had been looking for. I saw at once that it declared the truth and nothing but the truth. I commenced reading Science and Health, also the New Testament. I wanted to find out what Jesus said, as I did not expect then to live long. I did not go to the meetings, nor did I read Science and Health to be cured, - not thinking of that, - but to be saved from an everlasting hell hereafter. My sister urged me to have a practitioner, but I kept on reading, and praying to God in silence, and what happened? Where had the diseases gone? I persisted in reading Science and Health, together with the Bible, with the knowledge that God as revealed by Christ Jesus can do everything, that He made everything that was made, that He can and does heal the afflicted. He has healed me, thanks to His most holy name. - G. J. H., Charleston, Ill.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
In the year 1901, Christian Science found me a hopeless invalid. I had suffered for seven years previous with a very painful back, the result of an operation. I could
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get no rest or sleep at night, as I could not lie down, but had to sit propped in a chair with pillows around me. Only those who have suffered as I did can know the full misery of it. I had come to the end of material means and never hoped to get well. One day, however, while out walking, it was my good fortune to come to a Christian Scientist's house, and there the teaching was explained to me. I was advised to buy Science and Health, which I did, and the study of this book has healed my back entirely. Christian Science has also cured me of long-standing catarrh of the throat, and neuralgia with which I had been afflicted from childhood. Before coming into Science I had doctored with three of the best physicians in Seattle, but none could give me relief.
I am no longer a sufferer, but rejoice exceedingly in Christian Science. God's promise has been fulfilled to me, " But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." - E. O., Georgetown, Wash.
FREED FROM NEURASTHENIC AND OTHER TROUBLES
Christian Science found in me a minister's son who had failed to profit by continuous teaching in the old thought. Some years ago I was pronounced by a professor of materia medica, whose works are in general use, a neurasthenic. I had been in this condition more or less for eight years, and up to two years ago, when Christian Science was first brought to my attention (thanks to Almighty God) through a kind friend, I was almost constantly taking medicine and had in all eleven physicians who undoubtedly did their best, but without avail, not-
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withstanding almost all known drugs were prescribed, and further I had tried very many patent medicines. I was also put through forms of hygienic treatment and other things that offered inducements. At the time of coming into Science I was taking three times daily forty minims of cod-liver oil and three of creosote, also three drops of Fowler's solution of arsenic, and on the month or so previous had bought eighteen dollars' worth of patent medicine. I was restricted to the simplest means of diet, - all stews, fries, sweets, berries, and tomatoes I had not touched for two years.
I started to read Science and Health, and before I had half finished the book once I was eating everything that any one does. I read the book eleven times straight ahead and many times skipping about. The book has done the work and I am a well man. - C. E. M., Philadelphia, Pa.
MANY ILLS OVERCOME
I have received much help, spiritually and physically, through Christian Science. I had what the doctors diagnosed as muscular rheumatism, dropsy, and constipation of thirty years' standing. A dear friend whom I had known as an invalid had been healed by Christian Science and advised me to read Science and Health. I did so, having a desire to know the truth. One of my troubles was that I could not sleep. I began reading the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, and troubles of every kind disappeared before I had read Science and Health through. The thought came, What about the old remedies? but truth prevailed, and I took all the
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material remedies I had and threw them away. That was seven years ago, and I have not had any use for them since. My husband was healed of the tobacco habit of fifty years' standing, also of kidney trouble, by reading Science and Health. I have not words to express the gratitude I feel to-day for the many blessings that have come to our home. - Mrs. M. K. O., Seattle, Wash.
A HELPFUL HEALING
I became interested in Christian Science about eleven years ago, and was healed of neuralgia of the stomach, from which I had suffered from a child. As I grew older, the spells became more frequent and more severe; the only relief physicians could give me was by hypodermic injections of morphine. Finally, after each spell, I would be prostrated for a day or two with the after-effect of the morphine. I was entirely healed of this trouble through the study of Science and Health. I think I never realized what fear meant until I began to try and put into practice my understanding of Christian Science for my children. I have proved, however, many times, that fear can neither help nor hinder in our demonstration of truth. The first time I realized this was in the overcoming of a severe case of croup for my little boy. I was awakened one night by the sound that seems to bring terror to every mother's heart, and found the little fellow sitting up in bed, gasping for breath. I got up, took him in my arms, and went into the next room. My first thought was, "O if only there was another Christian Scientist in town!" But there was not, and the work must be done and done quickly. I tried
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to treat him, but was so frightened I could not think; so I picked up Science and Health, which lay on the table beside me, and began reading aloud. I had read but a few lines when these words came to me as though a voice spoke, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." Almost immediately after, the little one said, "Mamma, sing 'Shepherd,' " - our Leader's hymn, that both the big and the little children love. I began singing, and commencing with the second line, the little voice joined me. I shall never forget the feeling of joy and peace that came over me, when I realized how quickly God's word, through Science and Health and the beautiful hymn, had accomplished the healing work. This is only one of many instances in which the power of God's word to heal has been demonstrated in our home. - A. J. G., Riverside, Cal.
RELIEF FROM MANY ILLS
Paul said, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." In my own case deafness has been overcome by an enlarged understanding of God's word, as explained by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. Many times I have been enabled to turn to God, to know it was His will to help in trouble, and obtained the needed benefit. Catarrh has disappeared; tonsilitis, which very frequently laid me aside from duties in the schoolroom and home, is no longer manifest. When temptation comes (for Christian Science is both preventive and curative), I turn to that wonderful book, Science and Health, and my precious Bible, grown dearer since read in the new light
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of spiritual understanding, until I know that my mind is renewed, because the action is changed and the inflammation has abated.
Thus in my experience in Christian Science, I have seen the transformation begun, and Truth is able to perfect that which is begun in me so gloriously. - Mrs. C.A. McL., Brooklyn, Nova Scotia.
HEALTH AND PEACE ATTAINED
For fifteen years I was a great sufferer physically and mentally. Eminent physicians treated me for hereditary consumption, torpid liver, and many other diseases. I sought relief at famous springs, the ozone of Florida, and the pure air of Colorado, but in vain. My life was one ceaseless torture.
During all this time, however, I was an earnest seeker after Truth. I examined every religious teaching with a calm and unprejudiced attention. From an orthodox Protestant I became a skeptic, and a follower of Voltaire, Tom Paine, and Ingersoll; yet all the while I retained faith in a supreme intelligent Being who made all. Sick, weary, doubting, and despairing, I accidentally went into a Christian Science church in New York City, on a Wednesday evening, not knowing what kind of a place it was. Seeing a large number of people going into the building, I followed, supposing that a marriage ceremony had attracted the crowd. Being informed it was their regular Wednesday evening service, I inquired as to the denomination. I concluded that it was another new fad, but after investigation I procured a copy of Science and Health, promising I would read it carefully. I began
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reading the book on Tuesday and finished on Friday of the same week. I was still in the dark. I laid the book down, involuntarily closed my eyes, and silently prayed to God.
I remained in that attitude a few moments, when I felt like the mariner who had been tossed for days upon a boisterous sea, the clouds bending low, the billows rolling high, all nature wrapped in darkness; in his despair he kneels and commits his soul to God, when he suddenly beholds the North Star breaking through the clouds, enabling him to guide his ship to the shores of safety. Many things were made plain to me. I saw that there is one Fatherhood of God and one brotherhood of man; that though "once I was blind, now I see;" that there was no more pain, nor aches, no fear, nor indigestion. I slept that night like a babe and awoke next morning refreshed. There are now no traces whatever of my former complaint and I feel like a new being. - L. P., New York, N. Y.
HEALTH AND PEACE GAINED
About nine years ago I was drawn to Christian Science by a relative whose many afflictions had given place to health and harmony, and whose loving gratitude was reflected in every word and deed. The thought came to me, God indeed healeth all our diseases.
My first reading of Science and Health was without understanding. I was full of darkness and gloom, and it was laid aside for a time. The good seed had been sown, however, and erelong the reading was resumed,
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and with such interest that my afflictions disappeared "like mist before the morning sun." Asthma (thought to be hereditary), neuralgia in an aggravated form, and besides these, the tobacco and liquor habit of many years' standing left me. Bless the Lord, "He sent his word" and healed me, - for the reading of Science and Health brought to my consciousness the truth that makes free. - S., Shellman, Ga.
CONSUMPTION QUICKLY CURED
I became interested in Christian Science nearly five years ago through the healing of my wife of what the doctors called consumption in its last stages. I had tried everything that I could get in the way of materia medica, and every doctor would tell me nearly the same story about the case. At last they recommended for her only a higher, drier climate, and when she would be at her worst to give her something to quiet her.
I tried different climates, but she was no better, indeed worse. At last she struggled along until the first of March, 1899. She had taken to her bed again. For two days and nights she suffered, and I called a physician. He came and diagnosed the case, and said that he could do nothing for her but give her some morphine tablets to make her rest. I gave her two of them according to direction, and just before the time to give her the third, she called me to her bedside, and said, " Don't give me any more of that stuff, for it does me more harm than good," so I turned and placed them in the fire, though I did not then know anything about Christian Science. We had heard of it, but
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that was all. I gave her the last tablet at eight o'clock that night, and about nine o'clock the next day a lady who had been healed in Christian Science visited her, and introduced her to this great truth. She accepted it and thought she would try it. The lady loaned her Science and Health. She got the book about ten o'clock that day and read it until dinner was called. She ate a hearty dinner, the first in about three days, and that same evening she dressed herself, walked into the dining-room, ate a hearty supper and enjoyed it. She slept well that night. She borrowed this lady's copy of Science and Health two hours each day for eight days, and was healed. The first day that she read Science and Health she weighed about ninety-five pounds. Three months later she weighed one hundred and thirty-five pounds. - A. J. D., Houston, Tex.
A PROFITABLE STUDY
It may help others to know that some one was really healed of severe illness through Christian Science. It is over nine years since we first became interested in the Science, and it would be hard to find a healthier person than I am now. I can go all day, from morning till night, upheld by the thought that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." I can truly say that I scarcely know what physical weariness is any more. Before I came into Science the physicians said that one lung was gone, and that the other was affected with tuberculosis; so, from their standpoint, there was little left for me to hope for. We had tried every remedy that they had suggested. I had
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gone to the mountains, but could not stay there on account of the altitude; and when they did not know what else to do, they said we would better go to England - that the ocean air would be beneficial. So we spent three months in the British Isles, and when I came back I seemed much better, but this only lasted a short time. In little more than a month I was worse than ever, and my mother was told that I had but a few weeks, or at most months, to live.
At that time, a lady, a stranger to us, suggested that we try Christian Science. There was no prejudice against it, as we did not even know what it was. We knew of no Scientists in the Western town where we were living, and when we were told that we could send to Kansas City for absent treatment, we thought it was absurd. We were then told that many people had been healed through the reading of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, and to us this seemed a little worse than the absent treatment, but as we had tried everything we had heard of up to that time, my mother sent for the book.
It came in the middle of October and we began to read it together. It seemed to me from the first that it was something I had always believed, but did not know how to express - it seemed such a natural thing. My improvement was very gradual, but I felt I was recovering. After the Christmas holidays I started in at school and went the whole term without missing a day, - something I had never done before. I finished my school course without missing a day - in fact, I have not spent a day in bed since that time. I feel absolutely certain that I have two sound, healthy lungs now. The hollows
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in my chest have filled out, and I breathe perfectly on both sides; rarely have a cold to meet, and have not a sign of a cough.
People sometimes say, "Oh, well, maybe you never had consumption." Well, I had all the symptoms, and they are every one gone through the reading of Science and Health. - E. L. B., Chicago, Ill.
HEALED OF INFIDELITY AND MANY PHYSICAL ILLS
I feel compelled to write my testimony and hope that I may be accepted as one more witness to the Truth as contained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
In the year 1883 I first heard of Christian Science. I was sitting in a saloon in Leadville, Col., reading a daily paper of that place. My eyes lighted upon an article which spoke of some peculiar people in Boston who claimed to have discovered how to heal as Jesus healed. I do not remember much of the article, but those words stayed with me.
I had drifted out to Colorado from New York City (my home), where I had been under the treatment of many leading physicians. The last one, who was too honest to take my money knowing that he could not cure me, advised me to keep away from doctors and quit taking medicine, as nothing but death could cure me. My trouble was pronounced by some to be Bright's disease, by others gravel on the kidneys with very acute inflammation of the bladder and prostate gland.
In the spring of 1888 my wife and myself were spending the evening at the house of a gentleman whose wife had been healed in the East by Christian Science. The
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gentleman took a book from its bookcase saying, "Here is a work on Christian Science." It proved to be Science and Health. I knew as soon as I had read the title-page that this was the very book we wanted. We immediately sent for the book, and when it arrived we obeyed the angel and feasted on it. I was very much prejudiced against the Bible, and my first demonstration over self was to consent to read the four Gospels. My wife bought me a New Testament and I began to read it. What a change came over me! All my prejudice was gone in an instant! When I read the Master's words, I caught his meaning and the lesson he tried to convey. It was not difficult for me to accept the whole Bible, for I could not help myself, I was just captured. The disease with which I had been troubled for years tormented me worse than ever for about six months, as if trying to turn me aside; but I lost all fear of it.
I kept up my study of Science and Health and the disease disappeared. I can honestly say that Science and Health was my only healer, and it has been my only teacher. - R. A. C., Los Angeles, Cal.
DISEASED EYES CURED
Christian Science came to me when I was a wreck, my body being completely covered with sores. My eyes were very bad, so that I sat in a darkened room for weeks together, most of the time in bed under opiates. The home doctor and a specialist said the disease of the eyes could not be cured, though they might help me for a while. I had one operation, and the doctor said if I took cold I would become totally blind. My suffering was beyond telling.
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A clergyman called almost every day, and sat by my bed and wept, and my good, kind doctor shed tears many times. Finally, after a year of this terrible suffering, I was sent to Indiana, to a sister who had been healed of lung trouble by Christian Science. The first day I was there she read to me from the Bible and from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and I was healed. I knew that God was no respecter of persons, and when I saw what had been done for my sister, who was changed from being a mere frame to a strong, robust, healthy, rosy-cheeked woman, the cough all gone, I said, "God has as much for me, if I will accept it." I was healed instantaneously by Christian Science, and am thankful to God for giving us this understanding through Mrs. Eddy, our beloved Leader. I am now in perfect health. - Mrs. F. S., Laurel, Miss.
THE TEXTBOOK HEALED ME
For twelve years previous to the fall of 1897 I had been under the care of a physician much of the time. Different opinions were given by them, as to the nature of the trouble, some diagnosing it as an abnormal growth, etc. I was healed through reading" Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. It was a clear case of transformation of the body by the renewal of the mind. I am perfectly well at the present time. - J. M. H., Omaha, Neb.
OBSTINATE STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED
There is no doubt that by far the greater number come to Christian Science by the way of physical healing, but
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there are those to whom this does not particularly appeal. In the hope that it may be of benefit to some such, and in gratitude for help received, I submit my own experience. Three years ago I knew nothing of Christian Science, aside from the knowledge gathered from the daily papers and current literature. When I thought of the subject at all, it was to class Christian Science with various human theories with which I could not be in sympathy, for they seemed to rely upon both good and evil. I had never known of a case of healing, had never read the textbook or heard of the Journal or Sentinel, but I would sometimes see people going into the Christian Science church. I was tired of trying to find anything satisfactory in religious belief, for it seemed as if God either could not or would not bring into harmony the terrible conditions existing in human society. I had quit using any form of prayer except the Lord's Prayer, and even then omitted the words "lead us not into temptation." How I longed to know just a little of the "why?" and "wherefore?" of it all.
Here is where Christian Science found me. I was thrown in contact with a dear friend of whom I had seen very little for a year or more, a thoroughly educated woman and a thinker. She told me she had taken some treatments in Christian Science for a physical trouble, and had become very much interested in the study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. She asked me if I would like to look at the book, and I said I would be glad to do so. The first chapter, "Prayer," appealed to me from the first, and when I came to Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer (Science and Health, p. 17), my interest was fully aroused. I knew that in a dim way I was learning what it means to "pray
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without ceasing." Very soon I bought a book of my own, and with the help of our Lesson-Sermons, as given in the Quarterly, I began in earnest the study of Science and Health, in connection with the Bible.
I stood very much in need of physical healing at this time, having suffered for several years from an obstinate form of stomach trouble. So far as I know, I gave no thought to the benefits I might derive physically from the study, but I did believe this Science held the truth of things, and I was so absorbed in getting an understanding of the Principle that I thought very little of myself. After about three or four months' study I realized that the stomach trouble was gone, and with it went other physical troubles, which have never returned. This healing was brought about by the earnest, conscientious seeking for the truth, as contained in the Bible and interpreted by our Leader in our textbook, Science and Health. I have since learned more of the Science of healing and have been able in a small way to help others in need. I have also learned that in living and loving is healing realized, and in reflecting divine Love I have the "signs following."
When we think of the pure, loving, unselfish life Mrs. Eddy must have lived in order to become conscious of this truth and give it to us, words are a poor medium through which to express the gratitude which her followers feel for her. It is best expressed by obediently following her, even as she is following Christ. - H. T., Omaha, Neb.
DYSPEPSIA QUICKLY HEALED
It has occurred to me that I have had ample time to meditate on the many blessings which I have received
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through Christian Science, as it is now more than six years since I was entirely healed of dyspepsia as well as constipation in its worst form by the reading of Science and Health. So aggravated were the conditions that for three years or more I was unable to drink a glass of cold water. Everything that I drank had to be hot, and my only means of relief from the bowel trouble was hot water injections, for a period of more than three years.
I can truthfully say that I was permanently, and I might say instantly, healed of those two ailments by reading Science and Health as before stated, and in fact I do not think I had read more than thirty pages of this book when I ignored entirely the most rigid kind of diet. I ate and drank everything I wished without a single harmful effect from that time to this date, and there has not been a drop of medicine in our home for more than six years, in a family of five.
I have also seen the power of Truth manifested in our home by having our youngest child relieved of the most excruciating pain, and changed to his most playful mood, immediately upon notifying one of the faithful practitioners of this city. For all this I am endeavoring to be thankful to God and to our faithful Leader, Mrs. Eddy, whose pure and undefiled life enabled her to discover this precious truth for the benefit of all mankind. - M. C. McK., Denver, Col.
AFTER TWENTY YEARS' SUFFERING
From early girlhood I was considered an invalid, having been injured by a hard fall while playing. The pain was intense for some time and for several hours I was un-
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able to walk or stand alone. Later, a growing weakness of the back accompanied with sharp pains alarmed my parents, who called a physician, and he pronounced it spinal trouble. Then followed nearly twenty years of increased suffering, at times very severe. As years went by and I became a wife and mother, my suffering increased. Everything that medical skill could do was done, but finding no lasting benefit from anything, I lost hope of recovery.
When Christian Science found me I was under the doctor's sentence that if I lived the week through I would become entirely helpless, not able to move hand or foot. My husband was a travelling man, and being urgently called home, he met an old friend on the train who asked why we did not try Christian Science. The reply, We know nothing of it, was followed by a brief explanation of its healing power and the benefit his family had received. This inspired my husband with new hope, and on his arrival at home he called on a practitioner, who recommended our getting Science and Health, which we did, but ignorance and the prejudice of old education produced such fear that I hid the book under the covers of the bed whenever the children came into the room, fearing that it was not of God and would injure them. God's dear love was, however, more potent than these foolish fears, and the first day I read from its sacred pages I was convinced its teachings were the same truths as Jesus Christ had taught centuries ago. When I had read a few pages, I reached out and threw my medicine from the open window at the head of my bed. I then turned back to the book and began reading again, when, lo, the Christ-idea dawned upon me, and I was healed instantaneously.
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I first noticed the spot in my back cooling, and soon I got out of bed. I continued to read eagerly; I felt as if I wanted to devour the healing truth, and drank it in as a thirsty plant does the gentle rain. When dinner was prepared, I walked out and ate a hearty meal with the family, to the amazement of all. We shall never forget what a joyful meal this was. How we did thank God for Christian Science!
As year after year has gone by, till twenty years have passed and the healing has remained perfect, I have grown to thank God with deeper sincerity that one brave woman was found pure enough to bring forth this Christ-healing again, to remain forever among men and to save suffering humanity from all disease and sin. - Mrs. P. L. H., Fairmont, Minn.
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE AND JOY
I have often had a desire to make public what Christian Science has done for me, but I never could tell of all my blessings, they are so many. From childhood I was always sick, never knew one hour of rest, and was under the doctor's care most of the time. I was living in the East at that time, and was advised to try change of climate, which I did. I came West with my family in the spring of the year, but instead of growing better I grew steadily worse, until at last I was obliged to keep my bed for nearly three years, - a great sufferer. My ailments were, it seemed, all that flesh is heir to, and were called incurable by the doctors; viz., Bright's disease, and many others, - in the last stages. My case was known among physicians, many of whom were prominent
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specialists, as a most extreme one. Many, upon looking at me, would turn away with a wise shake of the head and say, "What keeps her alive?" My physicians, who were exceedingly kind and did all that lay within their power for me, gave me up and the death sentence was pronounced on me by all who attended me.
It was then I realized that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." The "little book" was handed me at this hour of great need. I read it, not thinking it would heal me, but, like a drowning man, I grasped at it. I read it, read it again, and soon found myself growing stronger; then I kept on reading and was perfectly healed of all the supposedly incurable diseases. - L. B., Austin, Minn.
TRUTH MAKES FREE
As the son of a physician, a graduate in pharmacy, and an ex-druggist, I had a perfect contempt for what I thought Christian Science to be. About six and a half years ago, however, having exhausted all material means at my command, - materia medica, electricity, gymnastics, cycling, and so on, - and being in a hopeless state, the study of Christian Science was taken up. I had been a sufferer from catarrh and sore throat for over thirty years, and in the last five were added several others, including dyspepsia, and bronchitis, and a loss in flesh of sixty pounds. I was completely healed, and regained health, strength, and flesh through the spiritual understanding of Christian Science, the result of about six weeks' study. This good and perfect gift came to me through the careful and prayerful study of Christian Science, as revealed to the world to-day through Science
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and Health. The promise of Christ Jesus, "the truth shall make you free," was fulfilled, and the past six years of health and harmony have been spent in striving to "hold fast that which is good."
While most grateful for the physical healing, my gratitude for the mental and spiritual regeneration is beyond expression. When I learned that Jesus' mission of healing sickness as well as sin did not end with his short stay upon earth, but is practical in all ages, my joy was unbounded. Having spent thousands in the old way, it seemed wonderful to be healed at such small cost as the price of the "little book" and a few weeks' study. Every thought of prejudice immediately vanished before the proofs that Christian Science is indeed the elucidation and practical application of Jesus' teachings, which are demonstrable truth, "The same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." - C. N. C., Memphis, Tenn.
DEAF EARS UNSTOPPED
As a mother of a family my heart goes out in love and gratitude to that good woman we are privileged to call our Leader, for all she has done through her book for me and mine.
Ten years ago I was healed of hereditary deafness and catarrh of the head, simply through reading the book, Science and Health. For years previous I had consulted and taken treatment from some of the best specialists for the ear and throat, both in England and America, but grew worse all the time. I was then urged by a lady who had been healed through Christian Science to buy this book and study it. I did so very reluctantly, but
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had not read fifty pages before I felt I had indeed found the truth which makes free, and can truly say, from that time I have never had a return of the ailment.
That for which I am, however, most grateful, is the daily help it is to me in my household of young children. I am sure if mothers only knew what Christian Science truly means they would give all they possess to know it. We have seen croup, measles, fever, and various other children's complaints, so-called, disappear like dew before the morning sun, through the application of Christian Science, - the understanding of God as ever-present and omnipotent. It has been proven to me without a doubt that God is a very present help in trouble, and what a blessed help this wonderful truth is in the training of our children, and how quickly the child grasps it.
Some time ago my little girl, then three years old, dislocated her shoulder. I was alone in the house at the time. The pain was so intense that she became faint. I treated her the best I knew how, but kept holding the thought that just as soon as some one came I would run for help. She seemed to grow worse and cried very much. I undressed her and tried to twist the arm into place, but it caused such suffering that I began to get afraid. Then like a flash came the thought, What would you do if you were out of the reach of a practitioner? Now is your time to prove God's power and presence. With these thoughts came such a sense of calm and trustfulness that I lost all fear. I then asked the child if I should read to her; she said "Yes, mamma, read the truth-book." I began reading aloud to her from Science and Health. In about half an hour I noticed
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she tried to lift the arm but screamed and became very pale. I continued to read aloud and again she made an effort to put some candy into her mouth. This time I noticed with joy that she almost reached her mouth before she felt the pain. I kept reading aloud to her until my sister and two boys came in, when she jumped off her bed, so delighted to see her brothers that she forgot her arm. She then began to tell her aunt that she had broken her arm and mamma treated it with the truth-book. When this happened, it was about 10.30 A. M. and by 3 P. M. she was playing out doors as though nothing had ever happened. - Mrs. M. G., Winnipeg, Man.
SAVED FROM INSANITY AND SUICIDE
A few years ago, while under a sense of darkness and despair caused by ill health and an unhappy home, Science and Health was loaned me with a request that I should read it.
At that time my daughter was given up by materia medica to die of lingering consumption, supposed to have been inherited. My own condition seemed even more alarming, as insanity was being manifested, and rather than go to an insane asylum, it seemed to me the only thing to do was to commit suicide. Heart trouble, kidney complaint, and continual headaches caused from female trouble were some of the many ailments I had to contend with. My doctor tried to persuade me to undergo an operation as a means of relief, but I had submitted to a severe operation ten years previous, and found only additional suffering as a result, so I would not consent.
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When I began with Science and Health, I read the chapter on "Prayer" first, and at that time did not suppose it possible for me to remember anything I read, but felt a sweet sense of God's protection and power, and a hope that I should at last find Him to be what I so much needed, - a present help in time of trouble. Before that chapter on "Prayer" was finished, my daughter was downstairs eating three meals a day, and daily growing stronger. Before I had finished reading the textbook she was well, but never having heard that the reading of Science and Health healed any one, it was several months before I gave God the glory.
One by one my many ailments left me, all but the headaches; they were less frequent, until at the end of three years the fear of them was entirely overcome.
Neither myself nor my daughter have ever received treatments, but the study of the Bible and Science and Health, the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy, has healed us and keeps us well.
While Christian Science was very new to me, I attended an experience meeting in First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. A gentleman told of an unhappy woman who was about to separate from her husband. This gentleman had asked her if she did not love her husband. She replied, "No; when I married him I did, but not now." He told her God made man in His image and likeness, and that He is perfect. He said to her, "Go home and see only God's perfect man; you don't need to love a sinful mortal such as you have been looking upon." The lady followed his advice, as he told her there is no separation in divine Mind. In a short time peace and harmony were in her home, and
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both husband and wife became members of a Christian Science church.
This testimony was like a message from heaven to me. I had received many benefits from the study of Science and Health, but it had never dawned upon my darkened consciousness till then how wonderful our God is. I knew what had taken place in that home could take place in my unhappy home where there was neither rest nor peace.
I hopefully took up my cross, and step by step my burden grew lighter, as I journeyed along, realizing the presence of the Christ, Truth, that indeed makes us free. Not all at once did any outward change appear, but at the end of three years all was peace, all the members of the family attending church together and realizing that there is but one Mind. - E. J. B., Superior, Wis.
STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED
I was healed of stomach trouble of many years' standing by reading Science and Health. My condition had reached the stage in which I had periodical attacks, that came on with greater frequency. I was a travelling salesman, and it was a common occurrence for me to have to call a physician to my hotel to administer morphine for an acute form of this disease. This became a regular thing at certain places, and these attacks always left me worse than before. As a result of the last one I lost a great deal in weight. I had tried many physicians and most of the usual remedies during these years of suffering, without any good result. Finally, as a last resort, I
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decided to try Christian Science, and I was healed by reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.
My health has been of the best since I was healed, now six years ago. In the family we have depended entirely on Christian Science for our healing, and have ever found it efficacious. We consider the physical healing, however, only incidental to the understanding of God and His goodness. This, together with our increased love for the Bible, is proving most valuable to us. We are humbly trying to live the lives that will prove our gratitude to God, and to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy. - Charles E. Peck, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
FREED FROM MANY YEARS OF SUFFERING
In the spring of 1880 I was taken down with a severe attack of stomach trouble, was bedfast for three months, and not able to drive out for nearly six months. During this time I had three good doctors treating me. I gained a little in strength, but had very little relief from the stomach trouble. I was recommended to try mineral springs and did so, but with the same disappointment. I went to a sanitarium, but yet the stomach trouble prevailed. I had some friends who recommended patent medicines, but no healing came.
I worried along in this way for several years. Finally I read medicine nearly two years with a good doctor friend, especially for my own benefit, and during this time I had a severe attack of bladder trouble, and for fifteen years I suffered so severely at times that I thought life was not really worth living. In connection with these
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troubles I suffered every winter with rheumatism and the grip. I also had a growth coming on both eyes called cataract, which caused my eyes to be inflamed nearly all the time, and this growth had made such progress that it was causing my vision to be very dim when reading. Corns were not forgotten, as I was reminded of them very frequently, and for all these troubles I had tried every remedy I heard of that I was able to get, specialists included, without relief.
Thanks to a friend who took me in this hopeless, discouraged condition and led me to the light that never knows darkness, I got a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and was healed in a short time by reading this work. - D. W. L., Anderson, Ind.
RELIEF FROM INTENSE SUFFERING
I became interested in Christian Science in 1901. For four or five years I had suffered with severe attacks which nothing but an opiate seemed to relieve. After one which I think was the worst I ever had, I consulted our family physician, who diagnosed my case as a dangerous kidney disease and said that no medicine could help me but that I must undergo a surgical operation. I continued to grow worse and went to see the physician again, and he advised me to consult a doctor who was connected with the city hospital of Augusta. This doctor made an examination and diagnosed the difficulty as something different but quite as serious. Meanwhile a friend offered me a copy of Science and Health. I said I did not care to read the book, but she was so urgent that I finally promised to do so. I received the book on Satur-
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day, and on Sunday morning I sat down to read it. When I reached the place where Mrs. Eddy says she found this truth in the Bible, I began comparing the two books. I read passages which looked very reasonable to me, and said to myself, This is nearer to the truth than anything I have ever seen. I continued to read all day, stopping only long enough to eat my dinner. As I read on, everything became clearer to me, and I felt that I was healed. During the evening a neighbor came in, and I said, "I am healed, and that book has healed me." I read on and was certainly healed. Eight days after my healing I did my own washing. This occurred in February, 1901. About six weeks after, I was called to care for my mother, who was under the care of my former physician. I again let him examine my side, as he wished to see if the trouble was still there. He said, "It is certainly gone." I said to him, "Doctor, you told me I would never be a well woman unless I was operated upon; what has healed me?" He replied, "God has healed you." - S. H. L., North Pittston, Me.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
It is with sincere gratitude for the many blessings Christian Science has brought me, that I give this testimony. I first heard of Christian Science about fifteen years ago. A friend of mine was taking treatment for physical troubles, and was reading the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The title of the book appealed to me very strongly. I said to my friend, "If that is a Key to the Scriptures, I must have it."
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I had long been a member of a Bible class in an orthodox Sabbath school, but I never felt satisfied with that which was taught; there was something lacking, I did not understand then what it was. I purchased a copy of Science and Health and began to study it. I wish I could express in words what that book brought me. It illumined the Bible with a glorious light and I began to understand some of the Master's sayings, and tried to apply them.
I had had a longing to live a better Christian life for many years, and often wondered why I failed so utterly to understand the Bible. Now I knew; it was lack of spiritual apprehension.
I did not know at first that people were healed of disease and sin by simply reading Science and Health, but found after a while that such was the case. At that time I had many physical troubles, and one after another of these ills simply disappeared and I found that I had no disease, - I was perfectly free. The spiritual uplifting was glorious, too, and as I go on in the study of this blessed Science, I find I am gaining surely an understanding that helps me to overcome both sin and disease in myself and in others. My faith in good is increased and I know I am losing my belief in evil as a power equal to good. The pathway is not wearisome, because each victory over self gives stronger faith and a more earnest desire to press on. - E. J. R., Toledo, Ohio.
GRATEFUL FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
About four years ago, after I had tried different ways and means to be relieved from bodily suffering, a faith-
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ful friend called my attention to the teaching of Christian Science. After some opposition, I decided to investigate it, with the thought that if this teaching would be helpful, it was meant for me as well as for others; if it did not afford any help, I could put it aside again, but that I would find out and be convinced.
After I had read Mrs. Eddy's work, Science and Health, a few days, I found that my ailments had disappeared, and a rest had come to me which I had never before known. I had smoked almost incessantly, although I had often determined to use my will power and never smoke again, but had always failed. This desire as well as the desire for drink simply disappeared, and I wish to say here, that I received all these benefits before I had gained much understanding of what I was reading. Like a prisoner, who had been in chains for years, I was suddenly set free. I did not then know how the chain had been removed, but I had to acknowledge that it came through the reading of this book. I then felt an ardent desire to read more, and to know what this power was that had freed me in a few days of that which I had been trying for years to shake off and had failed. It then became clear to me that this was the truth which Jesus Christ taught and preached to free humanity almost two thousand years ago. It did not, however, occur to me to apply it in my business affairs; on the contrary, I first thought that if I continued in my study I would have to retire from business.
This did not happen, however, for I gradually found that the little understanding of this wonderful teaching which I had acquired became a great help to me in my business. I became more friendly, more honest,
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more loving to my fellow-men; and I also acquired better judgment and was able to do the right thing at the right time. As a natural result my business improved. Before I knew anything of Christian Science my business had often been a burden to me, fear and worry deprived me of my rest. How different it is now! Through the study of the Bible, which now possesses unmeasurable treasures for me, and for our textbook, Science and Health, and the other works of our Leader, I receive peace and confidence in God and that insight into character which is necessary for the correct management of any business. - W. H. H., Bloomfield, Neb.
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE LUNGS CURED
For a long time I have been impelled to contribute a testimony of the healing power of Truth. As I read other testimonies and rejoice in them, some one may rejoice in mine. I was healed by reading Science and Health. By applying it, I found it to be the truth that Jesus taught, - the truth that sets free.
From childhood I had never known a well day. I was healed of lung trouble of long standing. Consumption was hereditary in our family, my mother and three brothers having passed on with it. The law of materia medica said that in a short time I must follow them. I also had severe stomach trouble of over eight years' standing, during which time I always retired without supper, as the fear of suffering from my food was so great that I denied myself food when hungry. For over twenty years I had ovarian trouble, which was almost unbearable at times. It dated from
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the birth of my first child, and at one time necessitated an operation. I suffered with about all the ills that flesh is heir to: I had trouble with my eyes from a child; wore glasses for fourteen years, several oculists saying I would go blind, one declaring I would be blind in less than a year if I did not submit to an operation, which I refused to do.
But thanks be to God whose Truth reached me through the study of our textbook. Words fail to express what Christian Science has done for me in various ways, for my children, my home, my all. The physical healing is but a small part; the spiritual unfolding and uplifting is the "pearl of great price," the half that has never been told. - Mrs. J. P. M., Kansas City, Mo.
TEXTBOOK APPRECIATED
It has been my privilege to have interviews with representatives of more than sixty per cent of the nations of this earth, under their own vine and fig-tree. I had never heard a principle understandingly advanced that would enable mankind to obey the apostolic command, "prove all things," until Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures was placed in my hands. I believe that the honest study of this book in connection with the Bible will enable one to "prove all things."
I make this unqualified statement because of what my eyes have seen and my ears heard from my fellow-men of unquestioned integrity, and the positive proofs I have gained by the study of these books. Many supposed material laws that had been rooted and
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grounded in my mentality from youth have been overcome. It required some time for me to wake up to our Leader's words in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206: "The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained through growth, not accretion." I had many disappointments and falls before I was willing to do the scientific work required to prove this statement; yet notwithstanding the cost to ourselves, I am convinced that we cannot do much credit to the cause we profess to love until we place ourselves in a position to prove God as He really is to us individually, and our relation to Him, by scientific work.
I wish to express loving gratitude to our Leader for the new edition of Science and Health. In studying this new edition one cannot help seeing the wisdom, love, and careful and prayerful thought expressed in the revision. Often the changing of a single word in a sentence makes the scientific thought not only more lucid to him who is familiar with the book, but also to those just coming into the blessed light. All honor to that God-loving, God-fearing woman, Mary Baker G. Eddy, whose only work is the work of love in the helping of mankind to help themselves; who has placed before her fellow-men understandingly, what man's divine rights are, and what God really is. - H. W. B., Hartford, Conn.
RUPTURE AND OTHER SERIOUS ILLS HEALED
When I took up the study of Christian Science nearly three years ago, I was suffering from a very bad rupture of thirty-two years' standing. Sometimes the pain was so severe that it seemed as if I could not endure it. These spells would last four or five hours,
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and while everything was done for me that could be done, no permanent relief came to me until I commenced reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. After I had once looked into it I wanted to read all the time. I was so absorbed in the study of the "little book" that I hardly realized when the healing came, but I was healed, not only of the rupture, but also of other troubles, - inflammatory rheumatism, catarrh, corns, and bunions.
I would never part with the book if I could not get another. I am seventy-seven years old, and am enjoying very good health. - Mrs. M. E. P., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER HEALED
When Christian Science came to me, I had been taking medicine every day for twenty years, on account of constipation. I had been treated by doctors and specialists; had taken magnetic treatments and osteopathy; had tried change of climate; had an operation in a hospital, and when I came out was worse than before. I was so discouraged, after I had tried everything I ever heard of, and was no better but rather grew worse, that it seemed as though I must give up trying to get well, when a friend suggested that I try Christian Science. I had heard that Christian Scientists healed by prayer, and I thought this must be the way Jesus had healed. I felt that this was all there was left for me to try. I sent for the book, Science and Health, and commenced to read it out of curiosity, not thinking or knowing that I could be helped by the reading, but thinking I must still take medicine and that I must also have treatment by a Scientist. I,
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however, dropped my medicine and read for three days; then a light began to shine in the darkness. I was healed of the trouble and have never had to take medicine since. I have studied Science and Health faithfully ever since, and other ailments have disappeared. My little daughter has also been healed and has learned to use this knowledge in her school work. - Mrs. O. R., Leadville, Col.
LIVER COMPLAINT HEALED
As my thoughts go back to the time when I believed I had nothing to live for, and when each morning's awaking from sleep brought a sense of disappointment to find myself still among the living (for I had hoped each night that I closed my eyes in sleep that it would be the last time), my heart overflows with love and gratitude to God for our dear Leader who discovered this blessed truth and to the dear ones who have helped me so lovingly and patiently over many rough places.
Twelve years ago, I consulted a physician because I had noticed some odd-looking spots on one of my arms. He said they were liver spots, but that it was not worth while prescribing for those few, that I should wait until I was covered with them. About three months later, with the exception of my face and hands, I was covered with them. Then I became alarmed and called on another physician who prescribed for me, but be finally said he could do no more for me. Other physicians were consulted with no better results. Six years ago, friends advised me to see their family physician, and when I called on him he said he was positive he could cure me, so I asked him to prescribe for me. At the
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end of two years, after prescribing steadily, he said I was so full of medicine that he was afraid to have me take any more, and advised a rest. After having paid out a small fortune, I was no better, and very much discouraged.
Two years ago, having failed in business, I applied to one of my patrons for a furnished room where I could meet the few I still had left. This lady, who is a Christian Scientist, loaned me Science and Health, and because she asked me so often how I was getting on with the book, I began reading it. I also attended the Wednesday evening meetings which I found very interesting. After hearing the testimonies at the meetings, I decided to speak to some practitioner about these spots, but not until I had at least a hundred dollars on hand, because I thought I would require that amount for treatments, as I had been accustomed to paying high prices. I had not inquired about prices, and in fact did not speak to any one about my intentions, because I felt sensitive on this subject. When I had read about half of Science and Health, I missed the spots, and upon searching could find no trace of them. They had entirely disappeared without treatment. In a few weeks the reading of that book had accomplished what materia medica had failed to accomplish in ten years. It is impossible to express the feeling of relief and happiness which came over me then. - C. K., Astoria, N. Y.
A CONVINCING INVESTIGATION
While I have testified to those around me and in many localities, of my healing in Christian Science, I feel that
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it is high time I put the candle in the candlestick where all who will may see. My earliest recollection was a day of suffering, - a physical inheritance from my mother, which gave simple interest for a time until years advanced and compound interest was added. My father was a physician, and material remedies were used for my mother without avail, consequently his confidence in them for me was shaken, - in fact he often told me it was better to suffer without medicine than become a chronic doser, without pain.
I began teaching in early life and continued for more than twenty years, and during that time not a day passed without pain, or fear of pain, and only for my innate love of life it would have become an intolerable burden. For five years oatmeal was my chief food and I became almost as attached to it as Kaspar Hauser to his crust. I was early taught to have faith in God, and many times was relieved of pain only to have it appear again in an aggravated form.
At last my heart cried out for the living God, and the answer came by one of His messengers, who told me of Christian Science. I replied that I believed God could heal, but that I had no faith in the healing of Christian Science, but would like to investigate its theology, as it might aid in giving me some clue to the meaning of life. For three years I had searched the works of the most scientific writers to find the origin of life; many times I would think I had traced it to the beginning, but it would elude my grasp every time. One day in talking with my friend, she said she would like to loan me the textbook, Science and Health, which I very willingly accepted. Not long afterward I felt a severe
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attack of suffering. I opened the book for the first time and found a paragraph near the middle which attracted my attention. I read the same paragraph over and over for nearly two hours. When the tea bell rang I closed the book and I shall never forget my perception of the new heaven and the new earth, - everything in nature that I could see seemed to have been washed and made clean. The flowers that I have always loved so much, and that from childhood had told me such sweet stories, now spoke to me of the All-in-all, the hearts of my friends seemed kinder, - I had touched the hem of the garment of healing.
I ate my supper that evening forgetful of the preparations I had made for suffering, and when the next day began I was more zealous of good work than ever before. Since closing Science and Health at my first reading I have never been able to find the paragraph which I had read so many times over, the words seemed to have slipped away from me, but my joy knew no bounds at having found the pearl of great price. By the continued reading of the book I was entirely healed, and for fourteen years I have not seen a day of physical suffering. - Miss L. M., Rome, N. Y.
DEAFNESS AND DROPSY HEALED
I had been deaf from childhood. I suffered intensely after eating, and dropsy was another of my complaints. This, with consumption, caused one doctor to say, " It puzzles me; I have never seen such a case before as yours."
I met a friend who had been cured in Christian
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Science, and she said, "Try Christian Science." I got a copy of Science and Health and in three weeks I was entirely cured. I felt uplifted. It seemed as if God's arms were around and about me. I felt as if heaven had come down to earth for me. After five years of suffering can any one wonder at my unspeakable gratitude? - A. B., Pittsburg, Pa.
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS
In 1894 I began the study of Christian Science. At that time I was greatly in need of its healing truth. For a number of years previous I had been a semi-invalid with no hope of ever being well and strong again. Several years before this time I had undergone an operation which resulted in peritonitis. For three years previous to my study of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I was scarcely ever free from headache caused by the weakened and diseased condition of the internal organs. At the time I began the study of Christian Science I was taking five kinds of medicine.
I began to read Science and Health, and did not take treatment, for I thought, "If this is truth, I shall be healed; if it is not, I shall be able to detect it, and will have nothing to do with it." I became a devoted student and gradually my bodily diseases left me, - I was free, and since that time, nearly ten years ago, neither my two children nor myself have taken any medicine; and our understanding of truth has been able to meet and overcome any suggestion of illness.
I was a devoted member of an orthodox church,
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but as I grew older I began to question my beliefs, and to my questions I could find no satisfactory answer. I became dissatisfied and finally ceased attending church. I could not accept the idea of God taught there, and at last my friends looked sadly upon me as an atheist. There I stood until I learned to know God as revealed in Science and Health, and then all my questionings were answered. In my girlhood I had always prayed to the God I held in mind, and when the shadows of sickness pain, and death came to my family, I prayed as only those can who know that if He helps not, there is none; but my prayers were unanswered. Then I closed my Bible, saying, "There is a mistake somewhere, perhaps some time I may know."
Only those who know the attitude of mind that I was in can understand the joy that came to me as I began to learn of God in Christian Science, and of my relation to Him.
Many proofs of the healing power of Truth and of His protecting care throng my thoughts. Seven years ago, when we were in a far distant country, where Christian Science was then unknown, my little daughter came in one morning from her school, saying, "Mother, I have measles; twenty of the girls are sick in bed and I am afraid they will put me there also." Her face, hands, and chest were covered with a deep red rash, throat sore, and eyes inflamed. We began immediately to do our work in Science and at night, when I left her at the door of the college, her face was clear, her eyes bright, and all fear destroyed. That was the end of the disease. - F. M. P., Boston, Mass.
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A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE
In love and gratitude to God, and to Mrs. Eddy, the interpreter of Jesus' beautiful teachings, I wish to tell of some of the benefits which I have received from Christian Science. It is a little over a year since Science found me in a deplorable condition, physically as well as mentally. I had ailments of many years' standing, - chronic stomach trouble, severe eye trouble, made almost unbearable from the constant fear of losing any sight (a fate which had befallen my mother), also a painful rupture of twenty-five years' standing. These ailments, combined with unhappy conditions in my home, made me very despondent. I had entirely lost my belief in an all-merciful God, and I did not know where to turn for help. At that time Christian Science was brought to my notice, and I shall never forget the sublime moment when I perceived that an all-loving Father is always with me. Forgotten was all sorrow and worry, and after four weeks' reading in Science and Health all my ailments had disappeared. I am today a healthy, contented woman.
All this has come to pass in one short year, and my earnest desire is to be more and more worthy to be called a child of God. This is in loving gratitude for an understanding of this glorious truth. - Mrs. R. J., Chicago, Ill.
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP
It is a year since I began to read Science and Health, and I will now try to outline what a knowledge of its teachings has done for me.
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My condition was then very trying; my eyes, which had caused me much trouble since childhood, were very painful. For these I had been treated by some of the best specialists in my native land, and after coming to the United States I had been doctored much and had worn glasses for four years. I also had catarrh, for which I had taken much medicine without being relieved. In addition to this I was an excessive smoker, using tobacco in some form almost constantly. I had contracted a smoker's heart, and used liquors freely.
The one who brought to me that which I now prize so highly, was a book agent. I told him that I should be forced to leave my trade on account of my eyes. He then told me of having been healed of a cancer, through Christian Science treatment. He showed me a copy of Science and Health, which had the signs of much use, and after being assured that if I did my part I would be healed of all my diseases, I sent for a copy of the book.
My recovery was very rapid, for after reading the book only three weeks I was completely healed of the tobacco habit. I will say, in regard to this healing, that it did not require even as much as a resolution on my part. I was smoking a cigar, while reading Science and Health, when all the desire to continue smoking left me, and I have never had a desire to use tobacco in any form since then. My eyes were the next to manifest the influence of the new knowledge gained, and had soon so far recovered that I could go about my work with ease, and I have had no more use for glasses. To-day my heart is normal, the catarrh
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has totally disappeared, and I am not addicted to the use of liquor.
Christian Science has proved to be an ever-present help, not only in overcoming physical ailments, but in business and daily life. It has also overcome a great sense of fear. The Bible, which I regarded with suspicion, has become my guide, and Christianity has become a sweet reality, because the Christian Science textbook has indeed been a "Key to the Scriptures" and has breathed through the Gospel pages a sweet sense of harmony. - A. F., Sioux City, Iowa.
SEVERE EYE TROUBLE OVERCOME
After hearing Christian Science lightly spoken of, from a Christian pulpit, I decided to go to one of the services and hear for myself. From infancy I had been devoted to my church, and as soon as I was old enough I was ever active in the work. Feeling it to be my duty to attend every service held in my own church, I took advantage of the Wednesday evening meetings. My first visit was not my last, I am thankful to say, for I saw immediately that these people not only preached Christianity, but practised and lived it. At that time I was wearing glasses and had worn them for sixteen years. At times I suffered the most intense pain, and for this phase of the trouble, one specialist after another had been consulted. All gave me very much the same advice; each one urged extreme carefulness and gave me glasses that seemed to relieve for a time. None of them held out any hope that my sight would ever be restored, saying that the
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defect had existed since infancy, and that in time I should be blind.
The thought of blindness was very distressing to me, but I tried to bear it with Christian resignation, since I thought that God had seen fit to afflict me; but since I have learned that He is a loving Father, who gives only good, I regret that I ever charged Him with my affliction. I had no treatment, but I read Science and Health, and my eyes were healed and glasses laid aside. I can never find words to express my thanks to our dear Leader, through whose teachings my sight has been regained. I can truthfully say that "whereas I was blind, now I see" - through an understanding of Truth I have found my sight perfect as God gave it. - Miss B. S., Wilmington, N. C.
A TESTIMONY FROM IRELAND
It is with a heart full of love and gratitude to God, and to our dear Leader, that I send this testimony to the Field. I had never been a strong girl; had always been subject to colds and chills, and suffered all my life from a delicate throat. Seven years ago I had a very severe attack of rheumatic fever and subsequently two less severe ones. These left all sorts of evils behind them, - debility, chronic constipation, and several others, so that with these ills my life was often a burden to me and I used to think I never should receive relief or health. I had also lost all love for God and faith in Him. I could not accept a God who, as I then believed, visited sickness and sorrow upon His children as a means for drawing them to Him.
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I was in this state of mind and body when Christian Science found me. A dear friend, seeing my suffering, presented the truth to me, and though at first I did not believe that there could be healing for me, the Christian Scientists' God seemed to be the one I had been looking for all my life. I began to read Science and Health, and shall never forget my joy at finding that I could love and trust God. I took to studying the Bible, and read nothing but Science and Health and other Christian Science literature for a year. After studying the "little book" for about six weeks, I one day realized that I was a well woman, that I had taken no medicine for three weeks, and that my body was perfectly harmonious. The reading of Science and Health had healed me. The wonderful joy and spiritual uplifting which came to me then no words of mine can describe. I had also suffered from astigmatism and had for several years been obliged to use special glasses when reading or working, and could never use my eyes for more than half an hour; but from the first reading of Science and Health I found that I could read in any light and for any length of time without the slightest discomfort. I am not only grateful for the physical healing but for the mental regeneration. I rejoice that I am now able to help others who are sick and sorrowing. - E. E. L., Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland.
THE TEXTBOOK MAKES OPERATION UNNECESSARY
In the early part of the year 1895 my physician said I must undergo a surgical operation in order ever to be well.
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While in great fear, and dreading the operation, a kind neighbor called, and after telling me of Christian Science gave me a copy of Science and Health. She said I must put aside all medicine, and by reading faithfully she knew I could be healed. The book became my constant companion, and in a short time I was healed. Besides the relief from an operation, I was completely healed of severe headaches and stomach trouble. Physicians could give me no help for either of these ailments. For ten years I have not used medicine of any kind, and have not missed a Christian Science service on account of sickness during this period. I am perfectly well. To say that I am grateful to God for all this does not express my feelings. The physical healing was wonderful, but the understanding given me of God, and the ability to help others outweigh all else. I also love our dear Leader. - Mrs. V. I. B., Concord, N. H.
KIDNEY DISEASE AND EYE TROUBLE HEALED
Early in 1904 I was teaching in a private boarding-school. I was a very unhappy, discontented woman; I had kidney disease, besides sore eyes, and my general health was very bad. The doctor said that the climate did not suit me, and that I certainly should have a change. The best thing, he said, was to go back to France (my own country); but I did not like to leave the school, so I struggled on until July, when we went travelling for a month, but I came home worse than ever. I had a lot of worry, one disappointment after another, and I often thought that life was not worth living. In September, 1904, we heard for the first time of Christian Science
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through a girl who was attending our boarding-school, and who was healed through Christian Science treatment. We bought the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and what a revelation it was and is to us; it is indeed the fountain of Truth. I had read Science and Health but a very short time when I took off my glasses, began to sleep well, and soon found myself well in mind and body. Besides this, it has brought harmony into our school, where there had been discord, and everything is changed for the better. I cannot describe the happiness that has come to me through Christian Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.
My one aim now is to live Christian Science, not in words only, but in deeds; loving God more and my neighbor as myself, and following meekly and obediently all our Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for Christian Science. - S. A. K., Vancouver, B. C.
DISEASE OF BOWELS HEALED
When I first heard of Christian Science I had been afflicted for nine years with a very painful disease of the bowels, which four physicians failed even to diagnose, all giving different causes for the dreadful sufferings I endured. The last physician advised me to take no more medicine for these attacks, as drugs would not reach the cause, or do any good. About this time I heard of Christian Science, and had the opportunity of reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, a few minutes every day for about a week, and I
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was thereby healed. In looking back I found I had not suffered in the least from the time I began reading this book. It has been nearly seventeen years since this wonderful healing, and I have had no return of the disease. My gratitude is endless and can be best expressed by striving mightily to walk in the path our Leader has so lovingly shown us in Science and Health. - Mrs. J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.
HEALED BY READING THE TEXTBOOK
After doctoring about a year, I was obliged to give up school and was under medical care for two years; but grew worse instead of better. I was then taken to specialists, who pronounced my case incurable, saying I was in the last stages of kidney disease and could live only a short time. Shortly afterward my uncle gave me a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and asked me to study it. After studying a short time I was able to walk a distance of several miles, which I had not been able to do for three years. I also laid aside glasses which I had worn seven years, having been told I would become blind if my eyes did not receive proper care. It is over a year since I received God's blessing, and I am now enjoying perfect health and happiness. I have never had my glasses on since I first began reading Science and Health, and I have not used any medicine. - L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.
A TESTIMONY FROM SCOTLAND
I came to Christian Science purely for physical healing. I was very ill and unhappy; very cynical and disbelieving in regard to what I heard of God and religion.
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I tried to live my life in my own way and put religion aside. I was a great believer in fate and in will-power, and thought to put them in the place of God, with the consequence that I was led to do many rash and foolish things. I am now thankful to say that my outlook on life is entirely changed; I have proved God's wisdom and goodness so often that I am willing and thankful to know my future is in His hands and that all things must work out for the best. I have found a God whom I can love and worship with my whole heart, and I now read my Bible with interest and understanding.
I was healed of very bad rheumatism simply by reading Science and Health. I had tried many medicines, also massage, with no result, and the doctors told me that I would always suffer from this disease, as it was inherited, and also because I had rheumatic fever when a child. I suffered day and night, and nothing relieved me until Science proved to me the falseness of this belief by removing it. I gave up all the medicines I was taking and have never touched any since, and that is more than two years ago. Before this I had often tried to do without a medicine that I had taken every day for ten years, but was always ill and had to return to it, until I found out that one Mind is the only medicine, and then I was freed from the suffering.
I had also suffered constantly from bilious attacks, colds, and a weak chest, and had been warned not to be out in wet weather, etc., but now, I am glad to say, I am quite free from all those material laws and go out in all sorts of weather. - R. D. F., Edinburgh, Scotland.
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CURING BETTER THAN ENDURING
For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak lungs and after being treated by ten different physicians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colorado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery from what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was hereditary, my father having been afflicted with it. I was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about. My general condition was aggravated by what the doctors said was paralysis of the bowels. Three physicians so diagnosed it at different times, and assured my husband that I could never get more than temporary relief. This indeed I found difficult to obtain, in spite of my almost frantic efforts. At times I was nearly insane from suffering, and after eight years of doctoring I found myself steadily growing worse. For four years I did not have a normal action of the bowels, and it was only by extreme effort and by resort to powerful drugs or mechanical means, with resultant suffering, that any action whatever could be brought about.
I had heard nothing of the curative power of Christian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went one night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once to investigate this strange religion, in the hope that it might have something good for me. I bought the textbook, Science and Health, and from the first I found myself growing stronger and better, both physically and mentally, as I acquired a better understanding and endeavored to put into practice what I learned. In one week
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I was able to get along better without drugs than I had for years with them, and before three months had passed I was better than I had been any time in my life, for I had always suffered more or less from bowel trouble. Since that time I have taken no medicine whatever, and rely wholly upon Christian Science. My lungs are now sound, my bowels normally active, my general health excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue tasks that before would have prostrated me. The study of our textbook was the sole means of my healing. - L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.
SEVERE ECZEMA DESTROYED
It is only two years since I came from darkness into the light of Christian Science, and to me the spiritual uplifting has been wonderful, to say nothing of the physical healing. Words cannot express my gratitude for benefits I have received in that time. For five years I suffered with that dreaded disease, eczema, all over my body. Five doctors said there was no help for me. The suffering seemed as terrible as the hell fire that I had been taught to believe in. When Christian Science came to me two years ago through a dear friend, she gave me a copy of Science and Health and asked me to read it. I told her that I would, for I was like a drowning man grasping at a straw. I had been a Bible student for twenty-eight years, but when I commenced reading Science and Health with the Bible I was healed in less than a week. I never had a treatment. A case of measles was also destroyed in twenty-four hours after it appeared. - Mrs. M. B. G., Vermilion, Ohio.
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SCIENCE AND HEALTH A PRICELESS BOON
I am a willing witness to the healing power of Christian Science, having had a lifetime's battle with disease and medical experiments. Various doctors finally admitted that they had exhausted their resources, and could only offer me palliatives, saying that a cure was impossible. I had paralysis of the bowels, frequent sick headaches with unutterable agony, and my mortal career was nearly brought to an end by a malignant type of yellow fever. Many were the attending evils of this physical inharmony, but God confounds the wisdom of men, for while studying Science and Health two years ago, the veil of ignorance was lifted and perfect health was shown to me to be my real condition, and to such there is no relapse. The constant use of glasses, which were apparently a necessity to me for years, was proven needless, and they were laid aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading a never-failing well of comfort to me. By her interpretation "the way of the Lord" is made straight to me and mine. It aids us in our daily overcoming of the tyranny of the flesh and its rebellion against the blessed leading of Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible and our textbook is bringing more and more into our consciousness the power of God unto salvation. - J. C., Manatee, Fla.
A CRITIC CONVINCED
With gratitude to God I acknowledge my lifelong debt to Christian Science. In 1895 I attended my first
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Christian Science meeting, and was deeply impressed with the earnestness of the people and the love reflected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical body, I did not believe such a thing to be possible. I bought Science and Health and studied it to be able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly deluded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the study carefully and thoroughly, and I have had abundant reason since to be glad that I did, for through this study, and the resultant understanding of my relation to God, I was healed of a disease with which I had been afflicted since childhood and for which there was no known remedy. Surely my experience has been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture: "He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." I believe that Science and Health reveals the Word referred to by David. - C. A. B. B., Kansas City, Mo.
BORN AGAIN
It was in April, 1904, that I first heard the "still, small voice" of the Christ and received healing through Christian Science; and the blessings have been so many since, that it would take too much space to name them. Reared from childhood in an intellectual atmosphere, my paternal grandfather having been an orthodox minister of the old school for forty years, and my father a deep student, ever seeking for the truth of all things, I began early to ponder and to study into the meaning of life, and came to the conclusion before I was twenty that though God probably
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existed in some remote place, still it was impossible to connect Him with my present living. My highest creed, therefore, became, "Do right because it is right and not for fear of being punished." Then began the suffering. Sorrow after sorrow followed each other in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no rest, the road was indeed long and hard and had no turning, until finally the one thing that had stood by me all through the trials, namely, my health, gave way, and with that went my last hope. But the last hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my piano one day, saying that I would gain much good by reading it.
Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I opened the "little book" and began to read. I had read only a short time when such a wonderful transformation took place! I was renewed; born again. Mere words cannot tell the story of the mighty up-lifting that carried me to the very gates of heaven. When I began to read the book, life was a burden, but before I had finished reading it the first time, I was doing all my housework and doing it easily; and since that glorious day I have been a well woman. My health is splendid, and I am striving to let my light so shine that others may be led to the truth. There have been some mighty struggles with error, and I have learned that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or easily drift inside the gate, but that the "asking" and the "seeking" and the "knocking" must be earnest and persistent.
For a long time I was always looking back to see if
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the error had gone, until one day when I realized that to catch a glimpse of what spiritual sense means I must put corporeal sense behind me. I then set to work in earnest to find the true way. I opened Science and Health and these words were before me, "If God were understood, instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health" (p. 203). I saw that I must get the right understanding of God! I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I waited with longing intensity for some answer. How long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a wonderful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I held my breath - deep into my hungering thought sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self-conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes the mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight. I trod, as it were, on holy ground. Words are inadequate to convey the fullness of that spiritual uplifting, but others who have had similar experiences will understand.
From that hour I have had an intelligent consciousness of the ever-presence of an infinite God who is only good. - C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.
A RESTLESS SENSE OF EXISTENCE DESTROYED
Through reading Science and Health and the illumination which followed, I was healed of ulceration of the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of existence, agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured with the stomach trouble I will not attempt to describe. The attending physician declared that I could live but a short
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time, and I felt there would be a limit to my endurance of the torture, but the disease was dissipated into nothingness through Christian Science, which brought me peace.
Like many others I had been seemingly lost in the sea of error, without a compass, yet earnestly and honestly seeking a haven. I had investigated all kinds of religions and philosophies that came under my notice, with the exception of Christian Science, which was not then deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held the very truth I was searching for - the light which "shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Three years of stubborn resistance to Truth, with increasing suffering, followed - then the light came, and with it a new experience. Now, after nine years of Christian Science experience, under severe tests, it can be truthfully said that it has not failed me in any hour of need. - J. F. J., Cincinnati, Ohio.
MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY HEALED
I did not accept Christian Science on account of any healing of my own, but after seeing my mother, who was fast drifting toward helplessness with rheumatism, restored to perfect health with only a few treatments in Christian Science, I thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus taught and practised it, and if so it was what I had been longing for.
This was about ten years ago and was the first I had ever heard of Christian Science. We soon got a copy of Science and Health and I began in the right way to
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see if Christian Science were the truth. I had no thought of studying it for bodily healing; in fact, I did not think I needed it for that, but my soul cried out for something I had not yet found. This book was indeed a key to the Scriptures.
It was not long after I began reading before I discovered that my eyes were good and strong, I could read as much as I wished, and at any time, which was something I could not do before, as my eyes had always been weak. The doctors said they never would be very strong, and that if I did not wear glasses, I might lose my sight altogether. I never gave up to wearing glasses, and now, thanks to Christian Science, I do not need them, my work for the past two years as a railway mail clerk being a good test. At the same time my eyes were healed, I also noticed that I was entirely healed of another ailment which had been with me all my life, and which was believed to be inherited. Since that time my growth has seemed to me slow, yet when I look back and view myself as I was before Christian Science found me, and compare it with my life as it now is, I can only close my eyes to the picture and rejoice that I have been "born again" and that I have daily been putting off "the old man with his deeds," and putting on "the new man."
Some of the many things that have been overcome through the study of Science and Health, and through realizing and practising the truth it teaches, are profanity, the use of tobacco, a very quick temper, which made both myself and those around me at times very miserable, and such thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. - O. L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.
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HEALTH AND UNDERSTANDING GAINED
Most of my boyhood days were spent in the hands of physicians. From birth I was considered a very weakly child, but my mother was brave, and being much devoted to me did everything within her knowledge and power for my comfort. Sickness and medicine were continually before me, and by the time I reached my teens I thought I knew a material remedy for every ill. I continued in my delusion, because I was never told the real cause of my trouble. Besides being under a leading specialist for two years, I was also an outdoor patient at a noted hospital, but I was not healed. It is wonderful how the "little ones" are cared for in the face of all these seeming difficulties. I always used the prayers that I had been taught, and as I grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by little I gained a desire for freedom, and my prayers finally led me to the truth. The first week that I heard of Christian Science, I visited the home of dear Christian Science friends, and was at once refreshed by their purity of thought and example. I bought a copy of Science and Health, and, after studying it a little while with the Bible, I saw that if the Bible was true, Science and Health must also be true. I began to demonstrate over my physical and mental condition, and as soon as the fear and pain began to leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was healed, and stopped complaining. I kept on studying our textbook, and when I got an understanding in a small degree of the Science of Mind, my first thought was to help others. I was guided where I could pro-
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gress in Science, and was no longer "carried about with every wind of doctrine," but held to Principle as closely as possible. From the time the healing came into my consciousness, the desire for material remedies left me, because Christian Science at once pointed out the way to get at the cause of discord and disease. All that I had to give up were the false beliefs of mortal mind. Christian Science then taught me to love the church, and to appreciate what it had already done for mankind. I often thought of the old adage, "Charity begins at home," and after three years' preparation I felt able to take Christian Science to my home, where it found, in due time, ready acceptance and willing disciples. This gave me even greater joy than my own healing. The more good I saw accomplished, the more love I had for the truth. Christian Science changed my course from the first, and gave me a nobler aim and purpose in life. I was not so easily influenced by other people's shortcomings, when I learned that evil has neither personality nor place. I was not so ready to take offence, when I found out the way to work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause. - A. E. J., Toledo, Ohio.
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP FOUND
On the 23rd of March, 1900, I received from one of my daughters a copy of Science and Health on my seventy-first birthday. Although a constant reader of all kinds of papers and books, I had never heard anything of Christian Science, except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco newspaper, from an orthodox clergyman, referring to the Christian Science people in not very complimentary style.
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In Mrs. Eddy's book I came across a great deal of thought that was not readily understood at the first reading, but by continued and careful study, and a good deal of help from my knowledge of chemistry and natural philosophy, I soon shook off the belief of sensation in matter, - the so-called elementary substance. One afternoon I put the belt on my circular saw to cut blocks of firewood and also to split a small stick of frame timber. In doing this the stick closed and pinched the saw. I picked up a small wooden wedge and tried to drive it into the saw kerf, but a bit of ice let the stick on to the back of the saw and instantly it flew, with heavy force, into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek fell about twenty feet off on the snow. The blood spattered on the snow next the saw table, and on feeling with my hand there were two wounds, one on the lock of the jaw and another forward, as big as a dollar, on the cheek bone. "Now," I thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery for you," and without further ceremony, I began to treat the case to the best of my knowledge, with the result that the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and so did a thumping pain, which had commenced. I paid no more attention to the matter, but finished my work, and then went to supper. When I washed my face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where the block of wood struck, but after my usual reading I went to bed and slept all night until near daylight, when a pain on the right side awoke me. On feeling with my hand there was another big lump on the right side, but I treated it and went to sleep again. I never lost an hour from the hurt, although I found out that my jaw was broken. There is no scar, only a little red spot on
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the cheek, and the lumps on the bone have long since disappeared.
In summing up the benefits I have received from the reading of Science and Health, I can but refer to a condition of sickness dating back to the war (1862), when chronic and malignant diarrhea came near making an end of my material existence. My hearing, also, was seriously impaired from the effect of cannon firing at Shiloh, but it has come back to me, and where I formerly dared not eat an orange, or grapes, I can now eat anything without being hurt. My peace of mind is giving me a rest which I never experienced before during my life, and I have ceased to look away off for the divine presence that was always near, though I did not know it. - L. B., Baldy, N. M.
MANY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TROUBLES OVERCOME
Less than a year ago, when nothing but trouble seemed to encompass me, I was led to Christian Science. My mother's copy of Science and Health was always lying on the table, but I scarcely ever read it. One day, however, the mental conflict was so great I commenced reading in the hope of obtaining peace. Every day since then my companions have been the Bible and Science and Health. At that time I had a very serious eruption on my face, which had been there two years. We had consulted several physicians, and used every remedy suggested to eradicate it, but they proved useless. I had given up all hopes of its ever being healed, as the physician we last consulted pronounced it tuberculosis of the skin and incurable. A few weeks after I com-
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menced reading, I was amazed to see it almost healed over, and to-day my cheek is perfectly smooth, while the scar is disappearing.
In April my baby was born with only the practitioner and a woman friend present. I suffered little pain, and the third day I went down-stairs. I am able to nurse him, - a privilege of which I was deprived with my first child. He is a picture of health, having never been sick a day since he was born. - K. E. W. L., Mt. Dora, Fla.
A NEW LIFE GAINED
leaving home when a young man, I carried with me a protection against the temptation of a great city, - a mother's prayers and a small Bible. For a time I read the Bible and prayed, but without understanding. This did not suffice, and evil seemed to gain the victory. I soon omitted to read my Bible; forgot to go to God in prayer for guidance and help, and looked to the world for that which it never has and never can give, - health, peace, and joy.
Thus, years later, when Christian Science came into my home, it found me prayerless, churchless, godless; a home discordant, and with no thought or knowledge of spiritual things. Up to this time, my wife had for years been seeking health through the physicians, but without success, and as a last resort had been sent to Christian Science. The help received was so wonderful that I commenced the study of Science and Health. The first effect which I realized from the reading of our textbook, was a great love for the Bible and a desire to read it, something which I had not done
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for years. I went in silent prayer to God, that I might see the light and truth which would enable me to be-come a better man. "Ye must be born again." Thus again, and as a child, was I taught to pray "the effectual fervent prayer" which "availeth much." In a few weeks' study of Science and Health together with the Bible, and without other help, I was healed of a desire for liquor, of years' standing, and of the use of tobacco. Ten years have passed and these appetites have never returned. I have never used either liquor or tobacco in any form from that time to the present. Surely this Scripture is fulfilled in our home: "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." How can we estimate the value of a book, the study of which brings such transformation and regeneration? Only as we endeavor to live, and strive to practise what it teaches, can we begin to pay our debt to God, and to her whom He has sent to make plain to human understanding the life and teaching of Christ Jesus. - W. H. P., Boston, Mass.
A VOICE FROM ENGLAND
For a number of years I was a weary woman, not ill enough in health to, be called an invalid, but suffering more than could be told with fatigue and weakness. Feeling that this was God's will, I did not ask to be healed, although I was constantly doctoring. I suffered with dyspepsia, congestion of the liver, and many other things, including weak eyesight. With all the medicine, and with different changes for rest, I never regained health, and thought I never should, so I prayed for grace to bear my cross patiently for others' sake. One day, while
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lying on my couch exhausted, which had become a frequent experience, the words came to me, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." I rose, knelt down and said, O God, make me well. I was telling a friend this and she kindly gave me a Sentinel. Imagine my joy when I saw the testimonies of healing! I believed them, remembering our Lord's words, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." I obtained a copy of Science and Health and before a week had passed I realized that if God was my all I needed no glasses. My eyes were healed in a few days, and since then I have never thought of glasses. I was also cured of dyspepsia, and nothing that I have eaten has hurt me since then. The belief in health laws was next destroyed, by knowing that our heavenly Father did not make them, and from this has come the beautiful experience of the overcoming of fatigue.
For this alone I can never be thankful enough. True indeed are the words, "They shall run, and not be weary." This was more than a year ago, and I can say that not once have I felt inclined to lie on the couch, nor have I had a headache, although I am doing more work than ever before. Fear has also been overcome in many ways. - A. L., Chelmsford, England.
DEPRAVED APPETITES OVERCOME
When Christian Science first came to me, or rather, when I first came to Christian Science, I did not have a very bad opinion of myself. I thought I was a pretty good fellow. I had no religious views. I seemed to be getting along as well as, if not better than, some who
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professed Christianity. So I drifted along until I was led to investigate Christian Science.
As I progressed in the understanding as gained from the study of both Science and Health and the Bible, and commenced to know myself, I found that a great change had been wrought in me. For fifteen years I had used tobacco, both chewing and smoking; for ten years I had been a victim of the drink habit, sometimes to excess; I was also addicted to profanity. Christian Science removed these appetites. A stomach trouble and other lesser ills, such as headache, a bad temper, an inordinate love of money, etc., disappeared under the same benign influence. Those things that seemed to be pleasure do not give me pleasure now. They were not real pleasure. I have lost nothing, I have sacrificed nothing; but I have gained everything, and not yet the whole, for I can see plenty yet to be done.
The condition of mind before investigating and after is as different as black and white. As Mrs. Eddy says, "Not matter, but Mind, satisfieth. - G. B. P., Henry, S. D.
CATARRH OF THE STOMACH HEALED
I should like to express my gratitude for the many benefits I have received through Christian Science, and to mention the great joy brought to me in the thought that man is not the helpless victim of sin, disease, and death. Through its teachings I have been able to overcome many errors.
When Christian Science found me, one year ago last April, in Chicago, I was suffering from catarrh
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of the stomach, which had been very persistent, and I had been a slave to the cigarette habit for eighteen years. Pain and weakness had robbed me of all that one holds dear. The first symptoms of the disease appeared about five years ago in the form of severe cramps of the stomach, which finally developed into other symptoms of that painful disease. I doctored continually, my diet daily becoming more rigid, until three slices of toast became my daily allowance of food.
In this condition I left the East for my home in Chicago, hoping that a change of climate might benefit me. After spending six weeks there and finding no relief, I concluded to return East. The Sunday morning before leaving I picked up a Sunday paper, and glancing through the religious items my eyes fell on the notices of Christian Science church services. Curiosity led me to a service and I shall never forget that morning or the surprise and joy it gave me to find that beautiful church, and to know that so great a number actually believed that God does heal the sick to-day. This brought a first ray of hope. The evening service found me there again. Among the notices read was that of a reading room, giving the location and time of opening. Monday morning found me there promptly, and the first book I picked up was Science and Health which opened a new world to me.
I had dieted so long and suffered so much that I had a morbid fear of food. When I had reached and read of "neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of mortal mind, can make one suffer" (Science and Health, p. 221), I left the reading room for something to eat. I found a bakery near by, and bought a bag of cakes
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which I ate, and shortly after I had a hearty dinner without the least complaint from my stomach.
From that time until now I have eaten anything that I wished, and the craving for cigarettes, which I had for many years, has entirely vanished. The understanding of Truth, which entirely relieved the diseased stomach, healed also the morbid appetite for smoking. After coming back East, I bought a copy of Science and Health, which I have read daily, and find it a continual help in all the affairs of life.
In my home and at work I find this Science a comfort and source of strength. I have had many difficulties in the way, but it has helped me out of them all. - W. E. B., New Britain, Conn.
SPINAL DISEASE HEALED
When I first heard of Christian Science, seven years ago, I supposed that it was some old fad under a new name. In the little Texas town where we then lived there were two or three Christian Scientists who met at the home of one of their number to read the Lesson-Sermon. Meeting one of them one day, I asked if unbelievers could come to their meetings. She said that they could if they wanted to. I went, expecting them to do something that I could laugh at when telling my friends about it. How surprised I was to find out that they didn't do anything but read the Bible and another book which they called Science and Health. I still thought it all foolishness, but resolved to go to their meetings until I found out all they believed. I continued to go until I began to understand a little of what they knew,
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not what they believed; and instead of spending my time telling others what a silly thing Christian Science is, I am now trying to find words to tell what a great and wonderful thing it is. I have been healed of so-called incurable spinal disease of ten years' standing by studying the Bible and Science and Health. Science and Health has been my only teacher, and I wish to send my thanks to our dear Leader.
There are no other Scientists near where we now live, but I have the Quarterly and study the lessons by myself. I have five small children, and Christian Science is invaluable to me in controlling them, and in overcoming their common ills. They often help themselves and each other to destroy their little hurts and fears. - Mrs. M. H., Oleta, Okla.
MANY TROUBLES OVERCOME
In the second chapter of First Peter, ninth verse, I read "that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The periodicals so wisely established by our Leader give us one means of showing forth the praises of Truth.
From the darkness of physical pain and weariness into the light of wholeness and joyousness in work and living, - from the darkness of a clouded sight into the light of clearer vision, - from the darkness of doubt and discord into the marvellous light of the reality of good, - this is what a reading of the Christian Science textbook has done for me.
At the time the book was lent to me, I was teach-
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ing in the public schools of Chicago, and absences from my work on account of illness were of frequent occurrence. For five weeks I had been under the care of a specialist for an organic trouble, and he said I would have to come as many more months before a cure could be effected. At this time, Science and Health was brought to my notice. I never thought of such a thing as being healed by the reading of the book, but my thought was so changed that I was healed, not only of the organic trouble, but of blurred eyesight, fatigue, and a train of other discordant manifestations. I did not go back to the physician until four months later to pay my bill (which, by the way, was more than five times the price of the Science and Health I had purchased). From the time I read the book I taught steadily without losing time from my work. I was helped, too, with my work in many other ways.
Through reading the textbook I learned that God has given us strength to do all we have to do, and that it is the things we do not have to do (the envying, strife, emulating, vainglorying, and so on) that leave in their wake fatigue and discord.
Gratitude to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, and to her faithful students, with whom I afterwards became associated, can be expressed only by daily efforts to put into practice what has been taught. - T. H. A., Madison, Wis.
PREJUDICE OVERCOME
I became interested in Christian Science somewhat over three years ago when in much need of help. I had never been strong, and as I grew older I grew
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weaker and at last became so ill that life was a burden to me. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy was sent to me, in answer to prayer, as I thought. I was a little afraid of all these new fads, as I thought them, but I had not read far before I felt that I had found the truth which makes us free. I was healed of stomach trouble, inward weakness, and bilious attacks.
One physician said I might have to undergo an operation before I could get well, but, thanks to this Truth, I have found that the only operation needed was the regeneration of this so-called human mind by learning to know God. In many cases I have been able to help myself and others.
Words cannot express my thanks to Mrs. Eddy, and to all who are bringing these great truths to the help of the whole world. - E. E. M., Huntington, W. Va.
A CONVINCING TESTIMONY
I became interested in Christian Science some five years ago, the practical nature of its statements appealing to me, and I must say, at the outset, that with my little experience I have found it all and more than I ever dreamt of realizing on this plane of existence. I am satisfied that I have found Truth. God is indeed to me an ever-present help.
My little girl, some ten months old, was afflicted with constipation. It was so severe I dreaded to go out anywhere with her, as I knew not when she would be taken with a convulsion. I had tried all the usual remedies in such cases, but it seemed to grow more obstinate. There was a Christian Scientist living in
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the same house with us, a Scientist who let her light shine, and while she said little, I felt the reflection of Love. I had no knowledge of the teachings of Christian Science, save that God was the physician at all times. In my own way I believed He was all-powerful, and I said to my husband one day, "I am through with medicine for baby. I am just going to leave her in God's care and see what He will do. I have done all I can." I did as I said, laid my burden at God's feet, and did not pick it up again. In two days the child was perfectly natural, and has since been free from the trouble. She is now six years of age. Some months later a second test came. She woke up at nine o'clock at night crying and holding her ear. There was to sense a gathering. I was alone. I took up my Science and Health and Bible, but the more I worked the louder she screamed. Error kept suggesting material remedies, but I said firmly: "No; I shall not go back to error. God will help me." Just then I thought of my own fear, how excessive it was, and a conversation I had with the Scientist who first voiced the truth to me, came to mind. She said she always found it helpful to treat herself and cast out her own fear before treating a patient. I put baby down and again took up my Science and Health, and these were the words I read: -
"Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. 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 John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear' " (Science and Health, p. 410). I looked up, the crying
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had ceased, the child was smiling, and in a few minutes asked to be put to bed. There has been no further trouble of that kind.
I have since seen the power of Truth overcome error of many forms, including croup, whooping-cough, tonsilitis, etc. I am thankful for all these proofs, but far more grateful am I for the spiritual teaching to love, to forgive, to curb my tongue, and cease my criticism. - M. A. H., Brockton, Mass.
HEALED PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY
I had been taking medicine continually for many years. Finally I was taken suddenly ill and could not leave my room for about two months, then I went away for three months, thinking that I should come back and be able to continue my work. I improved very much, but the fear of quick consumption was with my doctor and my family and friends, and I was warned about the coming winter. Only too soon the fear manifested itself. I had worked just three weeks when all the pains and aches returned, and I had to go to bed as soon as I got home, so there was no pleasure in living. My employer advised me to see my physician, and said perhaps I should not work that winter. I then and there turned to Christian Science. I could not afford to give up work and live away from home, neither did I want to depend on doctors and medicine any longer. I took the book and read it on my way to work, and at noon I lay down on a couch instead of going out for luncheon and fell asleep. When I awoke I was a different person, all pains and aches had gone, and I was free. I was so
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happy I could hardly contain myself;
to material sense it was wonderful. As I walked I kept saying, "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," and tried to understand "the scientific statement of being" by repeating portions at a time, then pondering over them. I read the book four times in succession, and every time I found more and more to aid in the understanding.
This healing was in October, l901, with no other help than Science and Health, and soon I was relieved of other chronic ailments. In February I was able to put away eyeglasses, which I had worn ten years and a half for astigmatism. Oculists told me I would always have to wear them. A month later my father asked me to help him, as he was suffering so much from constipation, dyspepsia, and neuralgia. He had been subsisting on bran, nearly starving himself until be was most miserable, and his limbs seemed so cold that they were kept wrapped in blankets. I felt very humble as he asked me, and told him I would have a practitioner help him, as I had never treated any one; but he would not consent to have any one but myself, and I finally told him I would try, but that he must not hold Science responsible if he were not benefited, for my lack of understanding, and not Science, would be at fault. At my request he read Science and Health, ate whatever he wanted, and used no medicine in any form. After two treatments I received word from him that he was healed of that bondage of thirty years' standing. In view of all these signs which followed my acceptance of Christian Science, I knew it must be true. - R. L. A., Chicago, Ill.
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A VOICE FROM THE SOUTH
I was delicate from childhood, and my parents did not think it was possible for me to live more than a few years. I lived, however, although there was not much improvement in my health. Travel and change of climate brought only temporary relief, and the physicians gave me no hope that I would ever be well.
As a last resort I began the study of Science and Health, and before I had finished reading the book I realized that its author was divinely commissioned to bring this spiritual message to a waiting world. Through this reading my health was restored, and I was healed of one disease that has been called incurable by all physicians.
For this, together with the greater and higher blessing of having the spiritual fact of being unfolded to me, I am most grateful.
What shall be rendered for such benefits received and made possible by the consecrated life of our revered Leader? Only by following the teachings of our textbook, and by loving obedience to her gentle and timely admonitions can we show our true sense of gratitude. - F. H. D., De Funiak Springs, Fla.
HEALED AFTER MUCH SUFFERING
A testimony given in the Journal led me to investigate Christian Science, and I hope in return to be the means of leading some one else to see the beauty of this saving truth, and to learn to know God aright and man's relationship to Him. I know from experience
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that it is prejudice and misapprehension of what Christian Science is, that keeps many from enjoying the blessings it bestows.
I had been taking patent medicines for several years, and had been to one of the best sanitariums in this country, but was not healed, although I received some benefit, for which I shall always feel grateful, for I know the physicians did all they could for me. I sometimes thought I had exhausted all remedies, but did not give up, for I felt there must be something to heal me if I could find it.
When in this state of mind Christian Science came to my notice, and after reading several Journals, I purchased a copy of Science and Health. I read for several days at odd times. I commenced to improve, and in about a week I was healed of most of my ills, among which were dyspepsia and nervous debility.
Although I had heard about Christian Science before, I had never heard that the reading of the Christian Science textbook had ever effected the healing of anybody. I commenced reading to find out what Christian Science was, but was surprised to find myself improving, and was soon assured that it was the theology of Science and Health that healed me, just as it was the theology of Jesus that healed the sick.
It has also proved to me that there can be no Christian Science Church that does not heal the sick and sinful, for healing follows as the natural result of the teaching of Christian Science. The Bible has become a new revelation to me, and I can read it much more understandingly by the light received through the reading of Science and Health. - A. F. M., Fairmont, Minn.
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THROUGH GREAT TRIBULATIONS
When I attempt to make plain what Christian Science has done for me, words fail me. For twenty years I was a constant sufferer, my spine having been injured when I was very young. As a little child I suffered so much that I would look up to the stars and beg God, who I thought might be up there somewhere, to take me away from the earth, - I was so tired. A great wall of pain seemed to separate me from the pleasures enjoyed by others, and I could not explain how I felt, because no one could understand. Years passed, and I saw my earthly happiness swept away; my heart was broken and I did not know what to do. I cried for help, day after day and night after night, although I was not sure what God was, nor where He was. I only knew that I suffered, and was in need of help, and that there was no earthly help for either mind or body. I loved purity, truth, and right always, and this made evil seem a most terrible reality. I was unable to cope with it, and so found myself in despair. This was my condition when I commenced reading Science and Health. I was ready for its message, and in about ten days there came a wonderful insight into the truth which heals the sick and binds up the broken-hearted. All pain left me, I had a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth, and was beginning to be fed by Love divine.
I had suffered for years with insomnia. That night I rested like a child, and awoke the next morning well and happy. A flood of light daily illumined the pages of the "little book," and the revelation it holds for all
PAGE 691
came to my waiting heart. " The peace which passeth all understanding " rested upon me, and joy too deep for words transformed my life. My prayers were answered, for I had found God in Christian Science.
The Bible, which I knew very little about, became my constant study, my joy, and my guide. The copy which I bought at the time of my healing is marked from Genesis to Revelation. It was so constantly in my hands for three years that the cover became worn and the leaves loose, so it has been laid away for a new one. Two and three o'clock in the morning often found me poring over its pages, which grew more and more sacred to me every day, and the help I received therefrom was wonderful, for which I can find no words to express my gratitude. - I. L., Los Angeles, Cal.
A HELPFUL TESTIMONY
Words cannot express my gratitude to God for Christian Science. When I first read Science and Health, I had tried every remedy I had ever heard of. I felt no change in mind or body that I was conscious of until I read page 16 of the chapter on " Prayer," in Science and Health. The first words of the "spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer," telling of our Father-Mother God, gave me a glimpse of heavenly light. I stopped and reasoned, and remembered the teachings of Jesus. The truth of man's spiritual being dawned on my consciousness. I realized I was not subject to mortal laws, as I had been taught all my life. I could not explain how I knew this, but I knew it. Through Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy had given me what
PAGE 692
I had longed for all my life, - a Mother, a perfect "Father-Mother God." I had known there was a great lack, and at that time I believe the orthodox world had but half of the truth which Jesus came to establish. When I read, "Give us this day our daily bread," and its spiritual interpretation, my tears began to flow; all the years of bitterness, hate, and fear melted away. I knew then, as I know now, that nothing satisfies but Love. That day began the outward and inward conscious healing, - mental and physical. There never came a doubt! I absolutely knew that Christian Science was and is the truth. Money, friends, materiality, are nothing beside the conscious knowledge of God, man, and the universe.
I did not need treatment from any one, - Science and Health was so clear and beautiful. I could not understand the Bible before, but I found it illumined now that I had a little understanding of Christian Science. For ten years I have not had to lie down in the daytime from any sickness. I am now, and have been all these years, the picture of perfect health. When I first read Science and Health I weighed one hundred and four pounds; I now weigh over one hundred and sixty. This physical health is not to be compared to my happiness, - my harmony that nothing can take away, - because it is the gift of God. Nothing has shown me the perversity of the human mind more than in its conclusions in regard to my healing. Even when I felt and knew that I was healed, people constantly said, because I was thin and delicate looking, " You are not well, any one could look at you and know it." Now that I am fleshy, they say, "You don't look
PAGE 693
as if you ever had a pain in all your life. You could not have had consumption."
When I think what my life was before I had Christian Science, of the six years of colds, suffering, and coughing, not to mention the unhappiness, I want to "work, watch, and pray " for the Mind of Christ, that I may work rightly in God's vineyard, and to know that in truth, what belongs to one belongs to all, - that one God, one Life, Truth, and Love is all. - A. C. L., Kansas City, Kans.
DESIRE FOR LIQUOR AND TOBACCO DISAPPEARED
I first heard of Christian Science four years ago. At that time drinking and smoking were my comforters. I had no other companionship. I had lived almost constantly from childhood in an evil atmosphere. Though I was far from being satisfied with my condition, I failed to see how to better it until I read Science and Health. I used occasionally to listen to a sermon, but sermons did not give me any more comfort than I derived from my pipe, hence I concluded that church-going could not satisfy me and I preferred drinking and smoking. When I began to read Science and Health, I saw it offered something substantial. After a few months' study all desire for drinking and smoking disappeared. I did not give them up; I made no sacrifices, I simply found something better. I might mention that I had smoked ever since I can remember. I used to smoke years before I left school, and, like most Englishmen, loved my pipe, and would almost prefer to miss a meal rather than to go without my smoke. I used to think it gave me comfort.
During my four years' study of Christian Science I
PAGE 694
have not spent a cent for doctors or medicine, neither have I lost a day from my work on account of sickness, which compares wonderfully with the previous four years. I take a great interest and pleasure in reading the Bible and studying the lessons in the Quarterly. The Bible used to be a most mysterious book to me, but Science and Health makes it a most precious book, making its meaning clearer, plainer, and simpler.
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to the friend who invited me to attend the service held in the Auditorium years ago. I also wish to acknowledge the benefit I have had from the Journal and the Sentinel. They have helped me wonderfully. If the value of Science and Health and these publications were measured as business men value things, by the results or benefits they bring, they certainly would be priceless to me. It would be impossible to measure their value, as I have got something from Science and Health that all the money in the world could not buy. - H. P. H., Chicago, Ill.
AN EXPRESSION OF LOVING GRATITUDE
In the spring of 1893, while studying for the ministry, Science and Health was placed in my hands, and the truth contained therein at once became to me the pearl of great price. I literally devoured the book, reading it about eighteen hours a day. Its originality was startling, upsetting my preconceived opinions of God, man, and creation. Two sentences especially appealed to me: "The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin" (p. 262), and, "For right
PAGE 695
reasoning, there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence " (p. 492). I had found the keynote to the Science of being as taught in this marvellous book, and persevered until a glimpse of the new heavens and new earth came, for the old were passing away. With this spiritual uplifting came also physical health.
All my life had been spent in semi-invalidism, and I seemed destined to a life of suffering. In three weeks after beginning Science and Health, to my joyful surprise I found myself a well man, sound physically, and uplifted spiritually. Life was being lived from a new basis, the old things of personal sense were passing away and all things becoming new. I learned that the infinite good is the one Friend upon whom we can call at all times, an all-powerful, ever-present help in every time of trouble; that His children are really governed in peace and harmony by spiritual law, and as the right understanding of it is gained, the other things soon follow, bringing a peace the human concept can never know.
For the last twelve years my whole time has been devoted to Christian Science practice, and I have seen nearly every so-called incurable disease healed by its beneficent influence. God bless our dear Leader! She has set before us an open door, which no man can shut, and it is but a question of time when the world will know her better and love her more. - E. E. N., Washington, D. C.
HEALED OF BRIGHT'S DISEASE
August 18, 1902, I was taken down with what three doctors pronounced Bright's disease, and they stated
PAGE 696
that I would not live a year, or if I did succeed in living longer, I would be mentally unbalanced. On December 6, 1902, my wife presented me with Science and Health as a birthday gift, and it was indeed the best present I ever received. Since that time I have been reading it and attending the Second Church here. I have not used any medicine since, nor has any one in our home. I am in the finest of health and have lost all my bad habits. This truth has brought a great spiritual uplifting to all of us, and words cannot express my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to all who have helped me to the same. - T. V., Chicago, Ill.
FIBROID TUMOR DESTROYED
When quite young I was impressed that the Bible was not properly interpreted by the preachers, for I could not conceive of a God of wrath who was unjust enough to allow His little ones to suffer pain, misery, and death. I had hope, however, that some day the truth would be revealed to an awakening world, but little did I dream that even then there was one of God's noble women who reflected sufficient purity and holiness to entertain the "angel of his presence," and commune with the true God.
I was believed to be predisposed to scrofula, so that I was not a strong or attractive child, and my girlhood and womanhood were scarcely ever free from dread of the laws of matter and lack of strength. The climax was reached when a physician informed me, after weeks of treatment, that I had a fibroid tumor, which required an operation. The conditions were most trying and I
PAGE 697
was heartsick and discouraged when, in January, 1893, I heard of Christian Science through a letter from a dear sister who had been greatly benefited thereby, and I resolved to go at once to a practitioner, for I believed it to be the long-lost truth that would make me free. It meant a great effort and sacrifice for me to go to Chicago at that time, but divine Love opened the way and I reached there in March. I had been in my sister's home but a few days, reading Science and Health almost constantly, when I asked her if I had not better have treatment for the tumor, which had given me so much trouble. She said to me, "You feel well, do you not?" I assured her that I never had felt so well as I had since reaching there. "Well," she said with decision, "your tumor is gone, for God never made it," and her statements were true, for it has never been heard of from that day. Since then I have been healed of chronic sore throat, hay fever, and other troubles, and I know that Christian Science is the truth. - B. W. S., Coldwater, Mich.
LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS
I have received so much benefit from the testimonies in the Sentinel and Journal that I send mine, hoping it may cheer some struggling heart. I was reared by kind and loving Christian parents and was a member of an orthodox church for over twenty years, but I was never satisfied. I was filled with fear and bound down by the false gods of this world, - sin, disease, and poverty; consequently every way I turned, and in everything I attempted to do, I was met with disappointment and failure; but God was leading me into a different life.
PAGE 698
My interest was first awakened to Christian Science about thirteen years ago, and I have been a willing disciple ever since. Through the reading of Science and Health I was healed of chronic catarrh and laryngitis, and it also enabled me to lay off my glasses. Christian Science has not only helped me mentally, morally, and physically, but the greatest blessing of all is the spiritual uplifting which enabled me to know that God is both able and willing to care for His children, if we are but willing to do our part and bear the cross which, though it seems heavy at times, always brings a sure reward. Christian Science has not only helped me, but it has enabled me to help others.
The Bible is a new book to me. I now see what Jesus meant when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
My heart goes out in gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for the work she has done and is still doing for the world, and to God I am most grateful that He has guided me into the truth, that I may have life, and have it more abundantly. - Mrs. M. M., Chicago, Ill.
A PRICELESS BOON
I have long desired to express my gratitude for what Christian Science has done, through reading Science and Health, for me and my family. I was healed of profanity, the tobacco habit, and a bad temper, through the understanding that man is the image and likeness of God. I was also healed of kidney disease and rheumatism. What surprised me most, however, was this; I had had one finger thrown out of place some fifteen years
PAGE 699
before. It was crooked, but it became straight and useful. A bone in my foot had also been broken, leaving a bunch, which disappeared after I studied Christian Science and received class instruction. I am an entirely well man and for this I am very grateful. I am also glad that I have learned enough of Truth and love to be able to heal others. I wish to express my thankful appreciation of our Leader, also of the Sentinel and the Journal. - N. R. F., Salina, Kans.
HEALED OF CONSUMPTION AND ASTHMA
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the great benefits which have come to me through Christian Science. It is nearly ten years since I began the investigation of the subject by borrowing a copy of Science and Health. I had become a hopeless sufferer from asthma, - the disease being so aggravated at times as to make breathing almost impossible. I was also a victim of that dread disease, consumption. It was hereditary, nearly all my family on both sides having passed away with it. I took up Christian Science very much as a drowning man catches at a straw. However, I was much interested as soon as I began to understand it, and having read the book nearly all my waking hours for a few weeks, I became so much better and so convinced of its truth, that myself and wife destroyed all the medicines in the home, and have never since used any remedy except Christian Science. I continued to study and to put into practice the teaching as best I knew, and was restored to health in a few months.
Prior to my investigation of Christian Science I had been from boyhood an outspoken infidel, had read that
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class of literature extensively, and had no desire for anything of a religious nature, - the orthodox teaching never having appealed to me as a rational exposition of an all-wise God. I now have no more doubt of the truth of the teaching of the great Way-shower, Jesus of Nazareth, than I doubt the correctness of the basic law of mathematics or music. I have no doubt whatever that Christian Science saved me from the grave, and thus proved a most practicable and efficient help in time of greatest need. However great my physical suffering has been, I can but feel glad that through it the door of consciousness was opened to let in the light of Truth. Thus I have progressed a little way in the knowledge of God, good, as revealed in Christian Science. - C. B., Webb City, Mo.
A GRATEFUL TESTIMONY
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. "
This has been proven to me in every way. When Christian Science came to me, I was a wreck, physically, mentally, and financially; but since the reading of Science and Health turned my thought toward the light, I have found that, as far as I am willing to receive the word and live it, all comforts are supplied me. I am especially grateful for the spiritual help. I know that things which I did and thought last year I would not do or think this year, and am satisfied. Through the careful and prayerful study of Science and Health I have been lifted from sickness to health, from sorrow to peace, from lack to plenty, and, the most beautiful of all, from darkness to light. - Mrs. H. S. C., Seattle, Wash.
PAGE 579
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key
of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no
man openeth; I know thy works : behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it. - REVELATION.
1 In Christian Science we learn that the substitution of
the spiritual for the material definition of a Scrip-
3 tural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired
writer. On this account this chapter is added. It con-
tains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms,
6 giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original
meaning.
ABEL. Watchfulness; self-offering; surrendering to
9 the creator the early fruits of experience.
ABRAHAM. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the
eternal Principle of being.
12 This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create
trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of
spiritual understanding.
15 ADAM. Error; a falsity; the belief in "original sin,"
sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, - of God
and His creation; a curse; a belief in intelligent matter,
PAGE 580
1 finiteness, and mortality; "dust to dust;" red sand-
stone; nothingness; the first god of mythology; not
3 God's man, who represents the one God and is His own
image and likeness; the opposite of Spirit and His crea-
tions; that which is not the image and likeness of good,
6 but a material belief, opposed to the one Mind, or Spirit;
a so-called finite mind, producing other minds, thus mak-
ing "gods many and lords many" (I Corinthians viii. 5);
9 a product of nothing as the mimicry of something; an
unreality as opposed to the great reality of spiritual ex-
istence and creation; a so-called man, whose origin,
12 substance, and mind are found to be the antipode of
God, or Spirit; an inverted image of Spirit; the image
and likeness of what God has not created, namely, mat-
15 ter, sin, sickness, and death; the opposer of Truth,
termed error; Life's counterfeit, which ultimates in
death; the opposite of Love, called hate; the usurper
18 of Spirit's creation, called self-creative matter; immor-
tality's opposite, mortality; that of which wisdom saith,
"Thou shalt surely die."
21 The name Adam represents the false supposition that
Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end; that the
infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into non-
24 intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense; that
immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal
mind; that the one God and creator entered what He cre-
27 ated, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.
ADVERSARY. An adversary is one who opposes, denies,
disputes, not one who constructs and sustains reality and
30 Truth. Jesus said of the devil, "He was a murderer from
the beginning, . . . he is a liar and the father of it."
PAGE 581
1 This view of Satan is confirmed by the name often con-
ferred upon him in Scripture, the "adversary."
3 ALMIGHTY. All-power; infinity; omnipotence.
ANGELS. God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual
intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness,
6 purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality,
and mortality.
ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved
9 to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of
Spirit, destroying belief in matter.
God and man coexistent and eternal; Science show-
12 ing that the spiritual realities of all things are created
by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation
overcome and followed by exaltation.
15 ASHER (Jacob's son). Hope and faith; spiritual com-
pensation; the ills of the flesh rebuked.
BABEL. Self-destroying error; a kingdom divided
18 against itself, which cannot stand; material knowledge.
The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evi-
dence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more
21 confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall
of its structure.
BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in
24 Spirit.
We are "willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord." (II Corinthians v. 8.)
PAGE 582
1 BELIEVING. Firmness and constancy; not a faltering
nor a blind faith, but the perception of spiritual Truth.
3 Mortal thoughts, illusion.
BENJAMIN (Jacob's son). A physical belief as to life,
substance, and mind; human knowledge, or so-called
6 mortal mind, devoted to matter; pride; envy; fame;
illusion; a false belief; error masquerading as the pos-
sessor of life, strength, animation, and power to act.
9 Renewal of affections; self-offering; an improved
state of mortal mind; the introduction of a more spiritual
origin; a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Prin-
12 ciple; a spiritual type; that which comforts, consoles,
and supports.
BRIDE. Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the
15 idea of God; a sense of Soul, which has spiritual bliss
and enjoys but cannot suffer.
BRIDEGROOM. Spiritual understanding; the pure con-
18 sciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man
as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only crea-
tive power.
21 BURIAL. Corporeality and physical sense put out of
sight and hearing; annihilation. Submergence in Spirit;
immortality brought to light.
24 CANAAN (the son of Ham). A sensuous belief; the
testimony of what is termed material sense; the error
which would make man mortal and would make mortal
27 mind a slave to the body.
CHILDREN. The spiritual thoughts and representa-
tives of Life, Truth, and Love.
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1 Sensual and mortal beliefs; counterfeits of creation,
whose better originals are God's thoughts, not in em-
3 bryo, but in maturity; material suppositions of life, sub-
stance, and intelligence, opposed to the Science of being.
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
The representatives of Soul, not
6 corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having
wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine
Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting
9 out error and healing the sick; Christ's offspring.
CHRIST. The divine manifestation of God, which comes
to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.
12 CHURCH. The structure of Truth and Love; what-
ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of
15 its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the
dormant understanding from material beliefs to the ap-
prehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of
18 divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and
healing the sick.
CREATOR. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating
21 divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent
Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal;
the opposite of matter and evil, which have no Prin-
24 ciple; God, who made all that was made and could not
create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself.
DAN (Jacob's son). Animal magnetism; so-called mor-
27 tal mind controlling mortal mind; error, working out
the designs of error; one belief preying upon another.
PAGE 584
1 DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea
of Truth and Love.
3 "And the evening and the morning were the first day."
(Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear
in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind
6 measures time according to the good that is unfolded.
This unfolding is God's day, and "there shall be no night
there."
9 DEATH. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the un-
real and untrue; the opposite of Life.
Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. Mind
12 is immortal. The flesh, warring against Spirit; that
which frets itself free from one belief only to be fettered
by another, until every belief of life where Life is not
15 yields to eternal Life. Any material evidence of death is
false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being.
DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor
18 mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness,
and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of
the flesh, which saith: " I am life and intelligence in
21 matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, -
a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and
put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to
24 reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the
image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image."
DOVE. A symbol of divine Science; purity and peace;
27 hope and faith.
DUST. Nothingness; the absence of substance, life, or
intelligence.
PAGE 585
1 EARS. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses,
but spiritual understanding.
3 Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, "Having
ears, hear ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)
EARTH. A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality,
6 which are likewise without beginning or end.
To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense,
it is a compound idea.
9 ELIAS. Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to mate-
rial sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned
the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold;
12 the basis of immortality.
"Elias truly shall first come and restore all things."
(Matthew xvii. 11.)
15 ERROR. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 472.
EUPHRATES (river). Divine Science encompassing
the universe and man; the true idea of God; a type
18 of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the
place of physics; the reign of righteousness. The atmos-
phere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or
21 death; a state of mortal thought, the only error of which
is limitation; finity; the opposite of infinity.
EVE. A beginning; mortality; that which does not
24 last forever; a finite belief concerning life, substance,
and intelligence in matter; error; the belief that the hu-
man race originated materially instead of spiritually, -
27 that man started first from dust, second from a rib, and
third from an egg.
PAGE 586
1 EVENING. Mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of
mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest.
3 EYES. Spiritual discernment, - not material but
mental. Jesus said, thinking of the outward vision, "Having
6 eyes, see ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)
FAN. Separator of fable from fact; that which gives
action to thought.
9 FATHER. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine
Principle, commonly called God.
FEAR. Heat; inflammation; anxiety; ignorance; error;
12 desire; caution.
FIRE. Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; afflic-
tion purifying and elevating man.
15 FIRMAMENT. Spiritual understanding; the scientific
line of demarcation between Truth and error, between
Spirit and so-called matter.
18 FLESH. An error of physical belief; a supposition that
life, substance, and intelligence are in matter; an illusion;
a belief that matter has sensation.
21 GAD (Jacob's son). Science; spiritual being under-
stood; haste towards harmony.
GETHSEMANE. Patient woe; the human yielding to
24 the divine; love meeting no response, but still remaining
love.
PAGE 587
1 GHOST. An illusion; a belief that mind is outlined
and limited; a supposition that spirit is finite.
3 GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged
morally, civilly, and socially.
GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing,
6 all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle;
Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance;
intelligence.
9 GODS. Mythology; a belief that life, substance, and
intelligence are both mental and material; a supposition
of sentient physicality; the belief that infinite Mind is in
12 finite forms; the various theories that hold mind to be a
material sense, existing in brain, nerve, matter; supposi-
titious minds, or souls, going in and out of matter, erring
15 and mortal; the serpents of error, which say, "Ye shall
be as gods."
God is one God, infinite and perfect, and cannot be-
18 come finite and imperfect.
GOOD. God; Spirit; omnipotence; omniscience; om-
nipresence; omni-action.
21 HAM (Noah's son). Corporeal belief; sensuality;
slavery; tyranny.
HEART. Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and
24 sorrows.
HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government
by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere
27 of Soul.
PAGE 588
1 HELL. Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred;
revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-de-
3 struction, self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which
"worketh abomination or maketh a lie."
HIDDEKEL (river). Divine Science understood and
6 acknowledged.
HOLY GHOST. Divine Science; the development of
eternal Life, Truth, and Love.
9 I, or EGO. Divine Principle; Spirit; Soul; incor-
poreal, unerring, immortal, and eternal Mind.
There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or
12 Mind, governing all existence; man and woman un-
changed forever in their individual characters, even as
numbers which never blend with each other, though they
15 are governed by one Principle. All the objects of God's
creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this
one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that
18 life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and
material.
I AM. God; incorporeal and eternal Mind; divine
21 Principle; the only Ego.
IN. A term obsolete in Science if used with reference
to Spirit, or Deity.
24 INTELLIGENCE. Substance; self-existent and eternal
Mind; that which is never unconscious nor limited.
See chapter on Recapitulation, page 469.
PAGE 589
1 ISSACHAR (Jacob's son). A corporeal belief; the
offspring of error; envy; hatred; selfishness; self-will;
3 lust.
JACOB. A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, re-
pentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of
6 Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to
the spiritual sense of Life and Love.
JAPHET (Noah's son). A type of spiritual peace, flow-
9 ing from the understanding that God is the divine Prin-
ciple of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child
of His care.
12 JERUSALEM. Mortal belief and knowledge obtained
from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and
the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyr-
15 anny. Home, heaven.
JESUS. The highest human corporeal concept of the
divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing
18 to light man's immortality.
JOSEPH. A corporeal mortal; a higher sense of Truth
rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immor-
21 tality and supremacy of Truth; pure affection blessing
its enemies.
JUDAH. A corporeal material belief progressing and
24 disappearing; the spiritual understanding of God and
man appearing.
PAGE 590
1 KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The rein of harmony in divine
Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent
3 Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.
KNOWLEDGE. Evidence obtained from the five cor-
poreal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human
6 theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine
and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the oppo-
site of spiritual Truth and understanding.
9 LAMB OF GOD. The spiritual idea of Love; self-im-
molation; innocence and purity; sacrifice.
LEVI (Jacob's son). A corporeal and sensual belief;
12 mortal man; denial of the fulness of God's creation;
ecclesiastical despotism.
LIFE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.
15 LORD. In the Hebrew, this term is sometimes em-
ployed as a title, which has the inferior sense of master,
or ruler. In the Greek, the word kurios almost always
18 has this lower sense, unless specially coupled with the
name God. Its higher signification is Supreme Ruler.
LORD GOD. Jehovah.
21 This double term is not used in the first chapter of
Genesis, the record of spiritual creation. It is intro-
duced in the second and following chapters, when the
24 spiritual sense of God and of infinity is disappearing
from the recorder's thought, - when the true scientific
statements of the Scriptures become clouded through a
PAGE 591
1 physical sense of God as finite and corporeal. From this
follow idolatry and mythology, - belief in many gods, or
3 material intelligences, as the opposite of the one Spirit,
or intelligence, named Elohim, or God.
MAN. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spirit-
6 ual image and likeness of God; the full representation of
Mind.
MATTER. Mythology; mortality; another name for
9 mortal mind; illusion; intelligence, substance, and life
in non-intelligence and mortality; life resulting in death,
and death in life; sensation in the sensationless; mind
12 originating in matter; the opposite of Truth; the oppo-
site of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal
Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees,
15 feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief.
MIND. The only I, or Us; the only Spirit, Soul, divine
Principle, substance, Life, Truth, Love; the one God;
18 not that which is in man, but the divine Principle, or God,
of whom man is the full and perfect expression; Deity,
which outlines but is not outlined.
21 MIRACLE. That which is divinely natural, but must
be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.
MORNING. Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and
24 progress.
MORTAL MIND. Nothing claiming to be something,
for Mind is immortal; mythology; error creating other
27 errors; a suppositional material sense, alias the belief
PAGE 592
1 that sensation is in matter, which is sensationless; a be-
lief that life, substance, and intelligence are in and of
3 matter; the opposite of Spirit, and therefore the opposite
of God, or good; the belief that life has a beginning
and therefore an end; the belief that man is the off-
6 spring of mortals; the belief that there can be more than
one creator; idolatry; the subjective states of error;
material senses; that which neither exists in Science nor
9 can be recognized by the spiritual sense; sin; sickness;
death.
MOSES. A corporeal mortal; moral courage; a type
12 of moral law and the demonstration thereof; the proof
that, without the gospel, - the union of justice and affec-
tion, - there is something spiritually lacking, since justice
15 demands penalties under the law.
MOTHER. God; divine and eternal Principle; Life,
Truth, and Love.
18 NEW JERUSALEM. Divine Science; the spiritual facts
and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven,
or reign of harmony.
21 NIGHT. Darkness; doubt; fear.
NOAH. A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the noth-
ingness of material things and of the immortality of all
24 that is spiritual.
OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heav-
enly inspiration.
27 PHARISEE. Corporeal and sensuous belief; self-right-
eousness; vanity; hypocrisy.
PAGE 593
1 PISON (river). The love of the good and beautiful, and
their immortality.
3 PRINCIPLE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 465.
PROPHET. A spiritual seer; disappearance of mate-
rial sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth.
6 PURSE. Laying up treasures in matter; error.
RED DRAGON. Error; fear; inflammation; sensuality;
subtlety; animal magnetism; envy; revenge.
9 RESURRECTION. Spiritualization of thought; a new
and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence;
material belief yielding to spiritual understanding.
12 REUBEN (Jacob's son).
Corporeality; sensuality; de-
lusion; mortality; error.
RIVER. Channel of thought.
15 When smooth and unobstructed, it typifies the course
of Truth; but muddy, foaming, and dashing, it is a type
of error.
18 ROCK. Spiritual foundation; Truth. Coldness and
stubbornness.
SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and
21 demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and
death destroyed.
SEAL. The signet of error revealed by Truth
PAGE 594
1 SERPENT (ophis, in Greek; nacash, in Hebrew).
Subtlety; a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error;
3 the first statement of mythology and idolatry; the belief
in more than one God; animal magnetism; the first lie
of limitation; finity; the first claim that there is an oppo-
6 site of Spirit, or good, termed matter, or evil; the first
delusion that error exists as fact; the first claim that sin,
sickness, and death are the realities of life. The first
9 audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that
there was another power, named evil, which was as real
and eternal as God, good.
12 SHEEP. Innocence; inoffensiveness; those who follow
their leader.
SHEM (Noah's son). A corporeal mortal; kindly affec-
1 5 tion; love rebuking error; reproof of sensualism.
SON. The Son of God, the Messiah or Christ. The
son of man, the offspring of the flesh. " Son of a year."
18 SOULS. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 466.
SPIRIT. Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle;
all that is good; God; that only which is perfect, ever-
21 lasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite.
SPIRITS. Mortal beliefs; corporeality; evil minds;
supposed intelligences, or gods; the opposites of God;
24 errors; hallucinations. (See page 466.)
SUBSTANCE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.
PAGE 595
1 SUN. The symbol of Soul governing man, - of
Truth, Life, and Love.
3 SWORD. The idea of Truth; justice. Revenge;
anger.
TARES. Mortality; error; sin; sickness; disease;
6 death.
TEMPLE. Body; the idea of Life, substance, and in-
telligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of
9 Love; a material superstructure, where mortals congre-
gate for worship.
THUMMIM. Perfection; the eternal demand of divine
12 Science.
The Urim and Thummim, which were to be on Aaron's
breast when he went before Jehovah, were holiness and
15 purification of thought and deed, which alone can fit us
for the office of spiritual teaching.
TIME. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are
18 summed tip all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions,
knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before,
and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal
21 disappears and spiritual perfection appears.
TITHE. Contribution; tenth part; homage; gratitude.
A sacrifice to the gods.
24 UNCLEANLINESS. Impure thoughts; error; sin; dirt.
UNGODLINESS. Opposition to the divine Principle and
its spiritual idea.
PAGE 596
1 UNKNOWN. That which spiritual sense alone compre-
hends, and which is unknown to the material senses.
3 Paganism and agnosticism may define Deity as "the
great unknowable;" but Christian Science brings God
much nearer to man, and makes Him better known as
6 the All-in-all, forever near. Paul saw in Athens an altar dedicated "to the unknown
God." Referring to it, he said to the Athenians: "Whom
9 therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."
(Acts xvii. 23.)
URIM. Light.
12 The rabbins believed that the stones in the breast-
plate of the high-priest had supernatural illumination,
but Christian Science reveals Spirit, not matter, as the
15 illuminator of all. The illuminations of Science give us
a sense of the nothingness of error, and they show the
spiritual inspiration of Love and Truth to be the only fit
18 preparation for admission to the presence and power of
the Most High.
VALLEY. Depression; meekness; darkness.
21 "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil." (Psalm xxiii.4.)
Though the way is dark in mortal sense, divine Life
24 and Love illumine it, destroy the unrest of mortal thought,
the fear of death, and the supposed reality of error. Chris-
tian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud
27 and blossom as the rose.
VEIL. A cover; concealment; hiding; hypocrisy.
The Jewish women wore veils over their faces in token
PAGE 597
1 of reverence and submission and in accordance with
Pharisaical notions.
3 The Judaic religion consisted mostly of rites and cere-
monies. The motives and affections of a man were of
little value, if only he appeared unto men to fast. The
6 great Nazarene, as meek as he was mighty, rebuked the
hypocrisy, which offered long petitions for blessings upon
material methods, but cloaked the crime, latent in thought,
9 which was ready to spring into action and crucify God's
anointed. The martyrdom of Jesus was the culminating
sin of Pharisaism. It rent the veil of the temple. It re-
12 vealed the false foundations and superstructures of super-
ficial religion, tore from bigotry and superstition their
coverings, and opened the sepulchre with divine Science,
15 - immortality and Love.
WILDERNESS. Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spon-
taneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a
18 material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense
unfolds the great facts of existence.
WILL. The motive-power of error; mortal belief; ani-
21 mal power. The might and wisdom of God.
"For this is the will of God." (I Thessalonians
iv. 3.)
24 Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-
doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term
as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities.
27 WIND. That which indicates the might of omnipo-
tence and the movements of God's spiritual government,
encompassing all things. Destruction; anger; mortal
30 passions.
PAGE 598
1 The Greek word for wind (pneuma) is used also for
spirit, as in the passage in John's Gospel, the third chap-
3 ter, where we read: "The wind [pneuma] bloweth where
it listeth. . . . So is every one that is born of the Spirit
[pneuma]." Here the original word is the same in both
6 cases, yet it has received different translations, as in other
passages in this same chapter and elsewhere in the New
Testament. This shows how our Master had constantly
9 to employ words of material significance in order to unfold
spiritual thoughts. In the record of Jesus' supposed
death, we read: "He bowed his head, and gave up the
12 ghost;" but this word ghost is pneuma. It might be trans-
lated wind or air, and the phrase is equivalent to our
common statement, "He breathed his last." What
15 Jesus gave up was indeed air, an etherealized form of
matter, for never did he give up Spirit, or Soul.
WINE. Inspiration; understanding. Error; fornica-
18 tion; temptation; passion.
YEAR. A solar measurement of time; mortality;
space for repentance.
21 "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years."
(II Peter iii. 8.)
One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual
24 understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.
This exalted view, obtained and retained when the Sci-
ence of being is understood, would bridge over with life
27 discerned spiritually the interval of death, and man
would be in the full consciousness of his immortality and
eternal harmony, where sin, sickness, and death are un-
30 known. Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which
PAGE 599
1 is the solar year. Eternity is God's measurement of Soul-
filled years.
3 YOU. As applied to corporeality, a mortal; finity.
ZEAL. The reflected animation of Life, Truth, and
Love. Blind enthusiasm; mortal will.
6 ZION. Spiritual foundation and superstructure; in-
spiration; spiritual strength. Emptiness; unfaithful-
ness; desolation.4
KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. - REVELATION.
CHAPTER XV - GENESIS
PAGE 501
And I appeared unto Abraham,, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the
name of God Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to
them. - EXODUS.
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men. - JOHN.
Spiritual interpretation
1 SCIENTIFIC interpretation of the Scriptures prop-
erly starts with the beginning of the Old Testa-
3 ment, chiefly because the spiritual import of
the Word, in its earliest articulations, often
seems so smothered by the immediate context as to
6 require explication; whereas the New Testament narra-
tives are clearer and come nearer the heart. Jesus il-
lumines them, showing the poverty of mortal existence,
9 but richly recompensing human want and woe with
spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplifi-
cation of wonder and glory which angels could only
12 whisper and which God illustrated by light and har-
mony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called
mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural
15 good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the
weary ones sigh when needing something more native
to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual
18 evil.
PAGE 502
Spiritual overture
1 A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that
the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so
3 brief that it would almost seem, from the
preponderance of unreality in the entire nar-
rative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality,
6 the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over
the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator
and His creation.
Deflection of being
9 Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history
of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This
deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to
12 suggest the proper reflection of God and the
spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter
of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought
15 take on higher symbols and significations, when scien-
tifically Christian views of the universe appear, illuminat-
ing time with the glory of eternity.
18 In the following exegesis, each text is followed by its
spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Chris-
tian Science.
21 EXEGESIS
Genesis i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth.
Ideas and identities
24 The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning
is employed to signify the only, - that is, the eternal ver-
ity and unity of God and man, including
27 the universe. The creative Principle - Life,
Truth, and Love - is God. The universe reflects God.
There is but one creator and one creation. This crea-
PAGE 503
1 tion consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their
identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and
3 forever reflected. These ideas range from the infini-
tesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons
and daughters of God.
6 Genesis i. 2. And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Spiritual harmony
9 The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual har-
mony, - heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth,
matter is unknown. No supposition of error
12 enters there. Divine Science, the Word of
God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God
is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines
15 the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, - that infinite
space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in
countless spiritual forms.
18 Genesis i. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light.
Mind's idea faultless
Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:
21 first, in light; second, in reflection; third, in spiritual and
immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But
this Mind creates no element nor symbol of
24 discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought,
mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.
Genesis i. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good:
27 and God divided the light from the darkness.
God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony
PAGE 504
1 from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by
aught but the good.
3 Genesis i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the
darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morn-
ing were the first day.
Light preceding the sun
6 All questions as to the divine creation being both
spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for
though solar beams are not yet included in
9 the record of creation, still there is light. This
light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it
is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This
12 also shows that there is no place where God's light is not
seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are
ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a
15 creation?
Evenings and mornings
The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented
as taking place on so many evenings and mornings, -
18 words which indicate, in the absence of solar
time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views
which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.
21 Here we have the explanation of another passage of
Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into
24 the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas
a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and
vague conjectures emit no such effulgence.
Spirit versus darkness
27 Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?
Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter,
darkness, and darkness obscures light. Mate-
30 rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the
absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions
PAGE 505
1 form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own
record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and
3 death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.
Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
6 the waters.
Spiritual firmament
Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,
material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.
9 The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-
tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of
Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter
12 nor the so-called material senses.
Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
15 which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Understanding imparted
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-
sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:
18 "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of
the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual
21 good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between
the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds
Mind, - Life, Truth, and Love, - and demonstrates the
24 divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in
Christian Science.
Original reflected
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result
27 of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things
brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-
mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,
30 erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to
PAGE 506
1 themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-
ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-
3 like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore
matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-
tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which
6 separates Christian Science from supposition and makes
Truth final.
Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.
9 And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Exalted thought
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted
12 thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.
Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each
successive stage of progress.
15 Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so.
Unfolding of thoughts
18 Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their
proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts,
even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose
21 in order that the purpose may appear.
Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and
the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and
24 God saw that it was good.
Spirit names and blesses
Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-
fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-
27 tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon
Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find-
ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet
PAGE 507
1 appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the dry land
illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind,
3 while water symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly
feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line
of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father-
6 hood and motherhood of God. Spirit names and blesses
all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and
subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of
9 nameless offspring, - wanderers from the parent Mind,
strangers in a tangled wilderness.
Genesis i. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
12 grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:
and it was so.
Divine propagation
15 The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of
the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi-
tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul-
18 tiplication of the compound idea man. The
tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat-
ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind
21 which includes all. A material world implies a mortal
mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation
declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.
Ever-appearing creation
24 Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men-
tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all
expresses Science and art throughout His
27 creation, and the immortality of man and the
universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con-
tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.
30 Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate-
rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall
PAGE 508
1 to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal
man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind
3 is All and reproduces all - as Mind is the multiplier,
and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the
product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought,
6 a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the
Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov-
erns all.
9 Genesis i. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, and
herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw
12 that it was good.
Mind's pure thought
God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen-
der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is
15 the pure thought emanating from divine
Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex-
pressed in the text. Gender means simply kind or sort,
18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or
femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and
grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither
21 male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc-
tion names the female gender last in the ascending order
of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male
24 or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds
the infinitude of Love.
Genesis i. 13. And the evening and the morning were
27 the third day.
Rising to the light
The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an
important one to the human thought, letting in the light
PAGE 509
1 of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to
the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of
3 all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent
upon no material organization. Our Master
reappeared to his students, - to their apprehension he
6 rose from the grave, - on the third day of his ascending
thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of
eternal Life.
9 Genesis i. 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
12 and years.
Rarefaction of thought
Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies,
but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.
15 This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of
thought as it ascends higher. God forms and
peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand-
18 ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi-
cate the immensity of space.
Divine nature appearing
So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances
21 are no more contingent now on time or material struc-
ture than they were when "the morning stars
sang together." Mind made the "plant of
24 the field before it was in the earth." The periods of
spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's
creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness
27 - yea, the divine nature - appear in man and the uni-
verse never to disappear.
Spiritual ideas apprehended
Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind
30 and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his
fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the
PAGE 510
1 sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit-
3 ual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects
of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit
and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.
6 Genesis i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma-
ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it
was so.
9 Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose
"light shall we see light;" and this illumination is re-
flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn
12 away from a false material sense.
Genesis i. 16. And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
15 night: He made the stars also.
Geology a failure
The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul out-
side the body, giving existence and intelligence to the
18 universe. Love alone can impart the limit-
less idea of infinite Mind. Geology has never
explained the earth's formations; it cannot explain them.
21 There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has
been already divided into evening and morning; and the
allusion to fluids (Genesis i. 2) indicates a supposed for-
24 mation of matter by the resolving of fluids into solids,
analogous to the suppositional resolving of thoughts into
material things.
Spiritual subdivision
27 Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love,
and not a vitalizing property of matter. Sci-
ence reveals only one Mind, and this one shin-
30 ing by its own light and governing the universe, including
PAGE 511
1 man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its
own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light,
3 intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose
seed is in itself." Thus God's ideas "multiply and re-
plenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub-
6 limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.
Genesis i. 17, 18. And God set them in the firmament of
the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over
9 the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Darkness scattered
In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has
12 the impress of heaven, God is revealed as in-
finite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is
there.
15 Genesis i. 19. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day.
The changing glow and full effulgence of God's infi-
18 nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.
Genesis i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl
21 that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of
heaven.
Soaring aspirations
To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and a‰ri-
24 form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand
for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mor-
tals metaphorically present the gradation of
27 mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking
form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The
fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament
PAGE 512
1 of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and
above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal
3 and divine Principle, Love.
Genesis i. 21. And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth
6 abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after
his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Seraphic symbols
Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power,
9 and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These an-
gels of His presence, which have the holiest
charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of
12 Mind, and consequently reproduce their own character-
istics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do
know that their natures are allied to God's nature; and
15 spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet
subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.
Genesis i. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit-
18 ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let
fowl multiply in the earth.
Multiplication of pure ideas
Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and
21 perfect ideas. From the infinite elements of the one
Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and
quantity, and these are mental, both primarily
24 and secondarily. Their spiritual nature is discerned only
through the spiritual senses. Mortal mind inverts the true
likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its
27 own misconceptions. Ignorant of the origin and opera-
tions of mortal mind, - that is, ignorant of itself, - this
so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims
30 God as their author; albeit God is ignorant of the ex-
PAGE 513
1 istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its
claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is
3 an attempted infringement on infinity.
Genesis i. 23. And the evening and the morning were
the fifth day.
Spiritual spheres
6 Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of
Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To
material sense, this divine universe is dim and
9 distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight;
but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.
In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions,
12 and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be
apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.
Genesis i. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth
15 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Continuity of thoughts
Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all
18 thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind
conceiving them; but the intelligence, exist-
ence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God,
21 who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.
Genesis i. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after
his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that
24 creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that
it was good.
God's thoughts are spiritual realities
God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are
27 spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind - being non-
existent and consequently not within the range of im-
PAGE 514
1 mortal existence - could not by simulating deific power
invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per-
3 sons or things upon its own plane, since noth-
ing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive
infinity, in which and of which God is the
6 sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the
realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis-
port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of
9 holiness.
Qualities of thought
Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the
king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in
12 the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open
field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside
the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the
15 divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and
perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand
hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and
18 keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa-
nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ-
uality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the
21 millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: -
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
24 And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
Creatures of God useful
Understanding the control which Love held over all,
27 Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the
viper to be harmless. All of God's creatures
moving in the harmony of Science, are harm-
30 less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand
verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.
PAGE 515
1 It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor
to emulate the example of Jesus. "And God saw that
3 it was good."
The serpent harmless
Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping
over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-
6 pent of God's creating is neither subtle nor
poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its
adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which
9 forms them, - the power which changeth the serpent
into a staff.
Genesis i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our
12 image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
15 thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Elohistic plurality
The eternal Elohim includes the forever universe.
The name Elohim is in the plural, but this plurality of
18 Spirit does not imply more than one God, nor
does it imply three persons in one. It relates
to the oneness, the triunity of Life, Truth, and Love.
21 "Let them have dominion." Man is the family name
for all ideas, - the sons and daughters of God. All that
God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting good-
24 ness and power.
Reflected likeness
Your mirrored reflection is your own image or like-
ness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also.
27 If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in
accord with yours. Now compare man before
the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror
30 divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note
PAGE 516
1 how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection
to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in
3 the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of
God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love,
which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;
6 and when we subordinate the false testimony of the
corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see
this true likeness and reflection everywhere.
Love imparts beauty
9 God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life
is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in
goodness, which impart their own peace and
12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfish-
ness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath
our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the
15 earth." The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to
heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The
sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the
18 prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the
flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man,
made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's domin-
21 ion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent
and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality,
the infinite Father-Mother God.
24 Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them.
Ideal man and woman
27 To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated
that God made man in His own image, to reflect the
divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic
30 term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen-
ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan-
PAGE 517
1 guages the word for man is used also as the synonym of
mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropo-
3 morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word an-
thropomorphic, in such a phrase as "an anthropomorphic
God," is derived from two Greek words, signifying man
6 and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental at-
tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving
quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man
9 corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth.
The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In
divine Science, we have not as much authority for con-
12 sidering God masculine, as we have for considering
Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of
Deity.
Divine personality
15 The world believes in many persons; but if God is per-
sonal, there is but one person, because there is but one
God. His personality can only be reflected,
18 not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and
they all have one Principle and parentage. The only
proper symbol of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal.
21 What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal
is God's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity
can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit
24 to infinitude or to its reflections.
Genesis i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
27 and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.
Birthright of man
30 Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to
multiply, - to manifest His power. Man is not made
PAGE 518
1 to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not sub-
jection. He is lord of the belief in earth
3 and heaven, - himself subordinate alone to
his Maker. This is the Science of being.
Genesis i. 29, 30. And God said, Behold, I have given
6 you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every
9 beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it
12 was so.
Assistance in brotherhood
God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the
greater, and in return, the higher always protects the
?
15 lower. The rich in spirit help the poor in
one grand brotherhood, all having the same
Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth
18 his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in
another's good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea
might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through
21 all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality -
infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
24 Genesis i. 31. And God saw everything that He had
made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day.
Perfection of creation
27 The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and ex-
presses all, and all must therefore be as perfect is the
divine Principle is perfect. Nothing is new to Spirit.
PAGE 519
1 Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all
things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.
3 Deity was satisfied with His work. How could
He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation
was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-
6 containment and immortal wisdom?
Genesis ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were
finished, and all the host of them.
Infinity measureless
9 Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete
and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and
the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Hu-
12 man capacity is slow to discern and to grasp
God's creation and the divine power and presence which
go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals
15 can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old
man and reach the spiritual image and likeness. What
can fathom infinity! How shall we declare Him, till,
18 in the language of the apostle, "we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful-
21 ness of Christ"?
Genesis ii. 2. And on the seventh day God ended His
work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh
24 day from all His work which He had made.
Resting in holy work
God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished,
can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No
27 exhaustion follows the action of this Mind,
according to the apprehension of divine Science. The
PAGE 520
1 highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint,
is in holy work.
Love and man coexistent
3 Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth,
height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all
space. That is enough! Human language
6 can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what
exists. The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor
comprehended by mortals, than is His infinite Principle,
9 Love. Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and
eternal. The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can
never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.
12 These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they
will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of
error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine
15 infinite calculus.
Genesis ii. 4, 5. These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the
18 Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and
every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every
herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah]
21 had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not
a man to till the ground.
Growth is from Mind
Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all
24 through Mind, not through matter, - that the plant
grows, not because of seed or soil, but because
growth is the eternal mandate of Mind. Mor-
27 tal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creat-
ing thought is from above, not from beneath. Because
Mind makes all, there is nothing left to be made by a
30 lower power. Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,
never causing man to till the ground, but making him
PAGE 521
1 superior to the soil. Knowledge of this lifts man above
the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious
3 spiritual harmony and eternal being.
Spiritual narrative
Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being
that is without beginning or end. All that is made is
6 the work of God, and all is good. We leave
this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation
(as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of
9 God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, -
joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy,
omnipotence, and omnipresence.
12 The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We
should look away from the opposite supposition that man
is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual
15 record of creation, to that which should be engraved on
the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond"
and the pen of an angel.
18 The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more
about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is,
but the continued account is mortal and material.
21 Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth,
and watered the whole face of the ground.
The story of error
The Science and truth of the divine creation have been
24 presented in the verses already considered, and now the
opposite error, a material view of creation, is
to be set forth. The second chapter of Gene-
27 sis contains a statement of this material view of God and
the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of
scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error
30 or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence
PAGE 522
1 of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction
to the true.
The two records
3 The Science of the first record proves the falsity of
the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are
antagonistic. The first record assigns all
6 might and government to God, and endows
man out of God's perfection and power. The second
record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, - as hav-
9 ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit
of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science
explains as impossible.
12 This second record unmistakably gives the history of
error in its externalized forms, called life and intelli-
gence in matter. It records pantheism, opposed to the
15 supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is
declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, -
dust returning to dust.
Erroneous representation
18 In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit.
Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the
earth. Spirit is represented as entering mat-
21 ter in order to create man. God's glowing
denunciations of man when not found in His
image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide
24 with revelation in declaring this material creation false.
Hypothetical reversal
This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which
portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in
27 constructing the universe, is based on some
hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just pre-
ceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life,
30 Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does
the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un-
erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-
PAGE 523
1 not be so. Yet one might so judge from an unintelligent
perusal of the Scriptural account now under comment.
Mist, or false claim
3 Because of its false basis, the mist of obscurity evolved
by error deepens the false claim, and finally declares that
God knows error and that error can improve
6 His creation. Although presenting the exact
opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The crea-
tions of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from
9 mystification, and not from the firmament, or under-
standing, which God erects between the true and false.
In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.
12 All is material myth, instead of the reflection of
Spirit.
Distinct documents
It may be worth while here to remark that, according
15 to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two dis-
tinct documents in the early part of the book of
Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because
18 the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other
document is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is
always called Jehovah, - or Lord God, as our common
21 version translates it.
Jehovah or Elohim
Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three
verses of the second, - in what we understand to be the
24 spiritually scientific account of creation, - it is
Elohim (God) who creates. From the fourth
verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called
27 Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become
more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter
twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace-
30 able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is
usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the
Hebrew people, who is referred to.
PAGE 524
Gods of the heathen
1 The idolatry which followed this material mythology is
seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish
3 god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites,
in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro-
dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.
Jehovah a tribal deity
6 It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly
went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme
Being by the national name of Jehovah. In
9 that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God
seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a
tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine
12 Principle to be lived and loved.
Genesis ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
15 the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Creation reversed
Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite
deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With
l8 a single command, Mind had made man,
both male and female. How then could a
material organization become the basis of man? How
21 could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind,
and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not
the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His
24 creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-
real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and
God?
27 It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground.
Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter
ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into
30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature
PAGE 525
1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-
come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of
3 God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed,
not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re-
flects God; mankind represents the Adamic race, and is
6 a human, not a divine, creation.
Definitions of man
The following are some of the equivalents of the term
man in different languages. In the Saxon, mankind, a
9 woman, any one; in the Welsh, that which rises
up, - the primary sense being image, form; in
the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind.
12 The following translation is from the Icelandic: -
And God said, Let us make man after our mind and
our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after
15 God's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and
female.
No baneful creation
In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were
18 made through the Word of God, "and without Him [the
logos, or word] was not anything made that
was made." Everything good or worthy, God
21 made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not
make, - hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis
we read that He saw everything which He had made,
24 "and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses
declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the
history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural
27 record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the
material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed
as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.
30 Genesis ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God
[Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
PAGE 526
1 and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Contradicting first creation
3 The previous and more scientific record of creation
declares that God made "every plant of the field be-
fore it was in the earth." This opposite
6 declaration, this statement that life issues
from matter, contradicts the teaching of the first chap-
ter, - namely, that all Life is God. Belief is less than
9 understanding. Belief involves theories of material hear-
ing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses.
The appetites and passions, sin, sickness, and death,
12 follow in the train of this error of a belief in intelligent
matter.
Record of error
The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural
15 text in the second chapter of Genesis. God pronounced
good all that He created, and the Scriptures
declare that He created all. The "tree of
18 life" stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which
guards it is the type of divine Science. The "tree of
knowledge" stands for the erroneous doctrine that the
21 knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as
the knowledge of good. Was evil instituted through God,
Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra-
24 diction of the first creation? This second biblical account
is a picture of error throughout.
Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took the
27 man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and
to keep it.
Garden of Eden
The name Eden, according to Cruden, means pleasure,
30 delight. In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-
PAGE 527
1 rial body. God could not put Mind into matter nor in-
finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and
3 keep it, - to make it beautiful or to cause it
to live and grow. Man is God's reflection, needing no
cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.
6 Genesis ii. 16, 17. And the Lord God [Jehovah] com-
manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good
9 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
No temptation from God
Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting
12 man, but the Apostle James says: "God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any
man." It is true that a knowledge of evil would
15 make man mortal. It is plain also that mate-
rial perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, consti-
tutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that God,
18 good, made "the tree of life" to be the tree of death to His
own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is un-
real because it is a lie, - false in every statement.
21 Genesis ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord God
[Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl
of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he
24 would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof.
Creation's counterfeit
Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but
27 doing so materially, not spiritually, and ask-
ing a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the
Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his
30 dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man
PAGE 528
1 that dust should become sentient, when all being is the
reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares
3 that God has already created man, both male and
female? That Adam gave the name and nature of
animals, is solely mythological and material. It can-
6 not be true that man was ordered to create man anew
in partnership with God; this supposition was a dream,
a myth.
9 Genesis ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah]
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and
He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
12 thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto
the man.
Hypnotic surgery
15 Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing
a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a
surgical operation on him and thereby create
18 woman. This is the first record of magnet-
ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light,
- materially rather than spiritually, - error now simu-
21 lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar-
ing what great things error has done. Beholding the
creations of his own dream and calling them real and
24 God-given, Adam - alias error - gives them names.
Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the
creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them
27 mankind, - that is, a kind of man.
Mental midwifery
But according to this narrative, surgery was first per-
formed mentally and without instruments;
30 and this may be a useful hint to the medical
faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden
PAGE 529
1 fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there
came a suggestion of change in the modus operandi, -
3 that man should be born of woman, not woman again
taken from man. It came about, also, that instruments
were needed to assist the birth of mortals. The first
6 system of suggestive obstetrics has changed. Another
change will come as to the nature and origin of man,
and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence,
9 reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact
of creation, that both man and woman proceed from
God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser
12 parent.
Genesis iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had
15 made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the
woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of
18 the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Mythical serpent
21 Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the
children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the
metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the
24 animal kingdom which represents the species
described, - a talking serpent, - and should rejoice that
evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and
27 has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing
this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, be-
cause we know that they are worthless and unreal.
Error or Adam
30 Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of
material mind. He begins his reign over man some-
PAGE 530
1 what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days
become shorter. In this development, the im-
3 mortal, spiritual law of Truth is made manifest
as forever opposed to mortal, material sense.
Divine providence
In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine
6 Principle of being. The earth, at God's command, brings
forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus
once said, "Take no thought for your life,
9 what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," - presuming
not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God,
the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe
12 man as He doth the lilies.
Genesis iii. 4, 5. And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day
15 ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Error's assumption
This myth represents error as always asserting its su-
18 periority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science and
saying, through the material senses: "I can
open your eyes. I can do what God has not
21 done for you. Bow down to me and have another god.
Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more
pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be de-
24 sired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be
mine." Thus Spirit and flesh war.
Scriptural allegory
The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream
27 has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the
dreamer and dream are one, for neither is
true nor real. First, this narrative supposes
30 that something springs from nothing, that matter pre-
cedes mind. Second, it supposes that mind enters matter,
PAGE 531
1 and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.
The order of this allegory - the belief that everything
3 springs from dust instead of from Deity - has been main-
tained in all the subsequent forms of belief. This is the
error, - that mortal man starts materially, that non-
6 intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are
both right and wrong.
Higher hope
It is well that the upper portions of the brain represent
9 the higher moral sentiments, as if hope were ever prophe-
sying thus: The human mind will sometime
rise above all material and physical sense, ex-
12 changing it for spiritual perception, and exchanging hu-
man concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man
will recognize his God-given dominion and being.
Biological inventions
15 If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non-
intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body
by the creator, why is not this divine order
18 still maintained by God in perpetuating the
species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and
animals have a propagating property of their own?
21 Who dares to say either that God is in matter or that
matter exists without God? Has man sought out other
creative inventions, and so changed the method of his
24 Maker?
Which institutes Life, - matter or Mind? Does Life
begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by
27 matter or by Spirit? Certainly not by both, since flesh
wars against Spirit and the corporeal senses can take no
cognizance of Spirit. The mythologic theory of mate-
30 rial life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian
record of man as created by Mind in the image and like-
ness of God and having dominion over all the earth. Did
PAGE 532
1 God at first create one man unaided, - that is, Adam, -
but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order
3 to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes
and governs all.
Progeny cursed
All human knowledge and material sense must be
6 gained from the five corporeal senses. Is this knowledge
safe, when eating its first fruits brought death?
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
9 surely die," was the prediction in the story under consid-
eration. Adam and his progeny were cursed, not blessed;
and this indicates that the divine Spirit, or Father, con-
12 demns material man and remands him to dust.
Genesis iii. 9, 10. And the Lord God [Jehovah] called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he
15 said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Shame the effect of sin
Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material
18 sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.
Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed
from the divine voice calling out to the cor-
21 poreal senses. Its summons may be thus paraphrased:
"Where art thou, man? Is Mind in matter? Is Mind
capable of error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of
24 good, when God is All and He is Mind and there is but
one God, hence one Mind?"
Fear comes of error
Fear was the first manifestation of the error of mate-
27 rial sense. Thus error began and will end the dream of
matter, In the allegory the body had been
naked, and Adam knew it not; but now error
30 demands that mind shall see and feel through matter, the
five senses. The first impression material man had of
PAGE 533
1 himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost
man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over
3 all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on
Adam.
Genesis iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that
6 thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man
said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave
9 me of the tree, and I did eat.
The beguiling first lie
Here there is an attempt to trace all human errors
directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the
12 creator of evil. The allegory shows that the
snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which
beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,
15 alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own
dereliction, saying, "The woman, whom Thou gavest
me, is responsible." According to this belief, the rib taken
18 from Adam's side has grown into an evil mind, named
woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than
he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?
21 Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the
rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from
Adam to form Eve. The belief in material life and in-
24 telligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its
suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof.
False womanhood
Truth, cross-questioning man as to His knowledge of
27 error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She
says, " The serpent beguiled me, and I did
eat;" as much as to say in meek penitence,
30 "Neither man nor God shall father my fault." She has
already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence
PAGE 534
1 she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of
man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter
3 enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold
at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to mani-
fest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled
6 woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true
sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man.
Genesis iii. 14, 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said
9 unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Spirit and flesh
12 This prophecy has been fulfilled. The Son of the Virgin-
mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error; and the
Apostle Paul explains this warfare between the
15 idea of divine power, which Jesus presented,
and mythological material intelligence called energy and
opposed to Spirit.
18 Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: "The carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that
21 are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell
in you."
Bruising sin's head
24 There will be greater mental opposition to the spirit-
ual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has
ever been since the Christian era began. The
27 serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of
the woman, - will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea
of Love; and the woman, this idea, will bruise the head
30 of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding
PAGE 535
1 a foothold in Christian Science. The seed of Truth and
the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, - yea,
3 the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, - are the wheat
and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned,
the other to be garnered into heavenly places.
6 Genesis iii. 16. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
9 husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Judgment on error
Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed ma-
terial foundations of life and intelligence. It dooms idol-
12 atry. A belief in other gods, other creators,
and other creations must go down before Chris-
tian Science. It unveils the results of sin as shown in
15 sickness and death. When will man pass through the
open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul,
into the heritage of the first born among men? Truth is
18 indeed " the way."
Genesis iii. 17-19. And unto Adam He said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
21 eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou
shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns
24 also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
27 wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.
New earth and no more sea
In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "And God
30 called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together
PAGE 536
1 of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is
written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
3 the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away; and there was no more sea." In St.
John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spir-
6 itual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed
human concepts advancing and receding, is represented
as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns,
9 is all and there is no other consciousness.
The fall of error
The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-
sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual
12 gravitation and attraction to one Father, in
whom we " live, and move, and have our be-
ing," should be lost, and if man should be governed by
15 corporeality instead of divine Principle, by body instead
of by Soul, man would be annihilated. Created by flesh
instead of by Spirit, starting from matter instead of from
18 God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The
blind leading the blind, both would fall.
True attainment
Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are
21 "of few days, and full of trouble." Their supposed joys
are cheats. Their narrow limits belittle their gratifica-
tions, and hedge about their achievements with thorns.
24 Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material concep-
tion of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the
immortal side. Through toil, struggle, and sor-
27 row, what do mortals attain? They give up
their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal
and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.
30 Genesis iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
PAGE 537
1 and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
3 the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east
6 of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
life.
Justice and recompense
9 A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
ity or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil
has no local habitation nor name. Crea-
12 tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
15 is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway
to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries
itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for
18 nothingness.
Inspired interpretation
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory - this second account in Genesis - is to depict
21 the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
24 first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the
Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets
it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear
27 contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which
blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is
represented as changeable. The literal meaning would
30 imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, -
PAGE 538
1 Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
not her own."
Spiritual gateway
3 Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.
Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.
Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate
6 of understanding to note the proper guests.
Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth
gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between
9 Truth and error, between the material and spiritual, -
the unreal and the real.
Contrasted testimony
The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure
12 of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the
universe. The "tree of life" is significant of
eternal reality or being. The "tree of knowl-
15 edge" typifies unreality. The testimony of the serpent is
significant of the illusion of error, of the false claims that
misrepresent God, good. Sin, sickness, and death have
18 no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which
God creates the heavens, earth, and man. Until that
which contradicts the truth of being enters into the arena,
21 evil has no history, and evil is brought into view only as
the unreal in contradistinction to the real and eternal.
Genesis iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she
24 conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord [Jehovah].
Erroneous conception
This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-
27 tal man, and of sin which is temporal. As both mortal
man and sin have a beginning, they must
consequently have an end, while the sinless,
30 real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten
a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author
PAGE 539
1 of sin and sin's progeny. This false sense of existence
is fratricidal. In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is
3 "a murderer from the beginning." Error begins by
reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the
foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality
6 were something which matter can both give and take
away.
Only one standard
What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life,
9 or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil,
matter, error, and death? God could never
impart an element of evil, and man possesses
12 nothing which he has not derived from God. How then
has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he
obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit
15 resigned to matter the government of the universe?
A type of falsehood
The Scriptures declare that God condemned this lie as
to man's origin and character by condemning its symbol,
18 the serpent, to grovel beneath all the beasts
of the field. It is false to say that Truth and
error commingle in creation. In parable and argument,
21 this falsity is exposed by our Master as self-evidently
wrong. Disputing these points with the Pharisees and
arguing for the Science of creation, Jesus said: "Do men
24 gather grapes of thorns?" Paul asked: "What com-
munion hath light with darkness? And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?"
Scientific offspring
27 The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human
power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate
the one Mind which makes and governs man
30 and the universe. The Science of creation,
so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus inspired his wisest
and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his
PAGE 540
1 marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of
Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates
3 neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sick-
ness, and death.
Cleansing upheaval
In Isaiah we read: "I make peace, and create evil. I
6 the Lord do all these things;" but the prophet referred to
divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its
utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re-
9 ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The
muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the
stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms
12 of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our igno-
rance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought
to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its
15 effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil
and all power to sin.
Allegiance to Spirit
Science renders "unto Caesar the things which are
18 Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." It
saith to the human sense of sin, sickness, and
death, "God never made you, and you are a
21 false sense which hath no knowledge of God." The pur-
pose of the Hebrew allegory, representing error as assum-
ing a divine character, is to teach mortals never to believe
24 a lie.
Genesis iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also
27 brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.
Spiritual and material
Cain is the type of mortal and material man, conceived
in sin and "shapen in iniquity;" he is not the
30 type of Truth and Love. Material in origin
and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel
PAGE 541
1 takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb
is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re-
3 sembles a mind-offering than does Cain's fruit. Jealous
of his brother's gift, Cain seeks Abel's life, instead of mak-
ing his own gift a higher tribute to the Most High.
6 Genesis iv. 4, 5. And the Lord [Jehovah] had respect
unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his
offering, He had not respect.
9 Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through
a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain's
fruit? No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of
12 even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the
ground could be.
Genesis iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and
15 slew him.
The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli-
gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood
18 of man at the very outset.
Genesis iv. 9. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am
21 I my brother's keeper?
Brotherhood repudiated
Here the serpentine lie invents new forms. At first it
usurps divine power. It is supposed to say
24 in the first instance, "Ye shall be as gods."
Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards
his brother.
27 Genesis iv. 10, 11. And He [Jehovah] said, . . . The
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth.
PAGE 542
Murder brings its curse
1 The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in-
curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it
3 might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material
beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when-
ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides
6 behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be
concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils
error. Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon
9 error the mark of the beast. Even the disposition to
excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance
of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin,
12 invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine
mercy.
Genesis iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him
15 Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken
on him sevenfold. And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark
upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
Retribution and remorse
18 "They that take the sword shall perish with the
sword." Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's
own way, and let human justice pattern the
21 divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both
for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks
the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the
24 waymarks of God. To envy's own hell, justice con-
signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's
commandments.
27 Genesis iv. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of
the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.
Climax of suffering
The sinful misconception of Life as something less
PAGE 543
1 than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon
itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering,
3 yields to Truth and returns to dust; but it
is only mortal man and not the real man,
who dies. The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it
6 is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more
beautifully apparent at error's demise.
Dwelling in dreamland
In divine Science, the material man is shut out from
9 the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot
take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come
into His presence, and must dwell in dream-
12 land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that ma-
terial life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illu-
sion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare
15 of extermination. The great verities of existence are
never excluded by falsity.
Man springs from Mind
All error proceeds from the evidence before the mate-
18 rial senses. If man is material and originates in an
egg, who shall say that he is not primarily
dust? May not Darwin be right in think-
21 ing that apehood preceded mortal manhood? Minerals
and vegetables are found, according to divine Science,
to be the creations of erroneous thought, not of matter.
24 Did man, whom God created with a word, originate
in an egg? When Spirit made all, did it leave aught
for matter to create? Ideas of Truth alone are reflected
27 in the myriad manifestations of Life, and thus it is
seen that man springs solely from Mind. The belief
that matter supports life would make Life, or God,
30 mortal.
Material inception
The text, "In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah
God] made the earth and the heavens," introduces the
PAGE 544
1 record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,
- a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit
3 had no participation in it. In God's creation
ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.
There was no rain and "not a man to till the ground."
6 Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was
self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the
material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in
9 the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man
eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that
man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the
12 infinite Mind.
First evil suggestion
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does
matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might
15 or right or wisdom to create or to destroy.
All is under the control of the one Mind,
even God. The first statement about evil, - the first
18 suggestion of more than the one Mind, - is in the fable
of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously re-
corded, include nothing of the kind.
Material personality
21 The serpent is supposed to say, "Ye shall be as gods,"
but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be
the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual
24 being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a
material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man,
in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and
27 likeness of the one God.
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and
truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called
30 mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man's nostrils
so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with
corporeality as the producer instead of divine Prin-
PAGE 545
1 ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con-
ceptions.
3 "Behold, the man is become as one of us." This could
not be the utterance of Truth or Science, for according
to the record, material man was fast degenerating and
6 never had been divinely conceived.
Mental tillage
The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means
this, - that mortals should so improve material belief
9 by thought tending spiritually upward as to
destroy materiality. Man, created by God,
was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion
12 of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory
of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors
send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions,
15 and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the
whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a
false view, destructive to existence and happiness. Out-
18 side of Christian Science all is vague and hypothetical, the
opposite of Truth; yet this opposite, in its false view of
God and man, impudently demands a blessing.
Erroneous standpoint
21 The translators of this record of scientific creation
entertained a false sense of being. They believed in
the existence of matter, its propagation and
24 power. From that standpoint of error, they
could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit.
Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which
27 is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has
but one reply to all error, - to sin, sickness, and death:
"Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness]
30 shalt thou return."
Mortality mythical
"As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth]
shall all be made alive." The mortality of man is a
PAGE 546
1 myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is
now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman-
3 cipated from it, - this belief alone is mortal.
Spirit, God, never germinates, but is "the same
yesterday, and to-day, and forever." If Mind, God, cre-
6 ates error, that error must exist in the divine Mind, and
this assumption of error would dethrone the perfection
of Deity.
No truth from a material basis
9 Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine
Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to
declare Mind, while matter is governed by un-
12 erring intelligence? "There went up a mist
from the earth." This represents error as
starting from an idea of good on a material basis. It
15 supposes God and man to be manifested only through
the corporeal senses, although the material senses can
take no cognizance of Spirit or the spiritual idea.
18 Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than
other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot
possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To
21 the author, they are transparent, for they contain the deep
divinity of the Bible.
Dawning of spiritual facts
Christian Science is dawning upon a material age.
24 The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine
in the darkness, though the darkness, com-
prehending them not, may deny their reality.
27 The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris-
tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom-
plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle
30 which all may understand.
Proof given in healing
If mathematics should present a thousand different
examples of one rule, the proving of one example would
PAGE 547
1 authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris-
tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the
3 proof of all here said of Christian Science. If
one of the statements in this book is true, every
one must be true, for not one departs from the stated sys-
6 tem and rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader,
the Science of healing, and so ascertain if the author has
given you the correct interpretation of Scripture.
Embryonic evolution
9 The late Louis Agassiz, by his microscopic examination
of a vulture's ovum, strengthens the thinker's conclusions
as to the scientific theory of creation. Agassiz
12 was able to see in the egg the earth's atmos-
phere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, while the
germinating speck of so-called embryonic life seemed a
15 small sun. In its history of mortality, Darwin's theory
of evolution from a material basis is more consistent than
most theories. Briefly, this is Darwin's theory, - that
18 Mind produces its opposite, matter, and endues matter
with power to recreate the universe, including man. Ma-
terial evolution implies that the great First Cause must
21 become material, and afterwards must either return to
Mind or go down into dust and nothingness.
True theory of the universe
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to
24 have them understood spiritually, for only by this under-
standing can truth be gained. The true the-
ory of the universe, including man, is not in
27 material history but in spiritual development.
Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and
mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and
30 immortal.
Scriptural perception
It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts
humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.
PAGE 548
1 "The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." Christian
3 Science separates error from truth, and breathes
through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of
life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis-
6 cover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that
man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal
harmony.
The clouds dissolving
9 How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds
cover the sun's face! So Christian Science can be seen
only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away.
12 Earth has little light or joy for mortals before
Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error
helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension
15 of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on
hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true
ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.
Prediction of a naturalist
18 Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist
says: "It is very possible that many general statements
now current, about birth and generation, will
21 be changed with the progress of information."
Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained
the diviner side in Christian Science, - so far apart from
24 his material sense of animal growth and organization, -
he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.
Methods of reproduction
Natural history is richly endowed by the labors and
27 genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought
to light important facts in regard to so-called
embryonic life. Agassiz declares ("Methods
30 of Study in Natural History," page
275): "Certain ani-
mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also
increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self-
PAGE 549
1 division." This discovery is corroborative of the Science
of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication
3 of certain animals takes place apart from sexual condi-
tions. The supposition that life germinates in eggs and
must decay after it has grown to maturity, if not before,
6 is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, - a
blunder which will finally give place to higher theories
and demonstrations.
The three processes
9 Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed
to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc-
tion and to multiply their species sometimes
12 through eggs, sometimes through buds, and
sometimes through self-division. According to recent
lore, successive generations do not begin with the birth of
15 new individuals, or personalities, but with the formation
of the nucleus, or egg, from which one or more individu-
alities subsequently emerge; and we must therefore look
18 upon the simple ovum as the germ, the starting-point, of
the most complicated corporeal structures, including those
which we call human. Here these material researches
21 culminate in such vague hypotheses as must necessarily
attend false systems, which rely upon physics and are de-
void of metaphysics.
Deference to material law
24 In one instance a celebrated naturalist, Agassiz, dis-
covers the pathway leading to divine Science, and beards
the lion of materialism in its den. At that
27 point, however, even this great observer mis-
takes nature, forsakes Spirit as the divine origin of
creative Truth, and allows matter and material law to
30 usurp the prerogatives of omnipotence. He absolutely
drops from his summit, coming down to a belief in the
material origin of man, for he virtually affirms that
PAGE 550
1 the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non-
intelligent egg.
Deep-reaching interrogations
3 If this be so, whence cometh Life, or Mind, to the
human race? Matter surely does not possess Mind.
God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms
6 and preserves the individuality and identity
of animals as well as of men. God cannot
become finite, and be limited within material bounds.
9 Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed
through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate
what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it be-
12 gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being
and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it
will hereafter.
Stages of existence
15 Error of thought is reflected in error of action. The
continual contemplation of existence as material and cor-
poreal - as beginning and ending, and with
18 birth, decay, and dissolution as its component
stages - hides the true and spiritual Life, and causes
our standard to trail in the dust. If Life has any starting-
21 point whatsoever, then the great I AM is a myth. If Life
is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embry-
onic, it is infinite. An egg is an impossible enclosure for
24 Deity.
Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro-
ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor
27 does a lion bring forth a lamb. Amalgamation is deemed
monstrous and is seldom fruitful, but it is not so hideous
and absurd as the supposition that Spirit - the pure and
30 holy, the immutable and immortal - can originate the
impure and mortal and dwell in it. As Christian Science
repudiates self-evident impossibilities, the material senses
PAGE 551
1 must father these absurdities, for both the material senses
and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.
The real producer
3 Either Mind produces, or it is produced. If Mind is
first, it cannot produce its opposite in quality and quantity,
called matter. If matter is first, it cannot pro-
6 duce Mind. Like produces like. In natural
history, the bird is not the product of a beast. In spiritual
history, matter is not the progenitor of Mind.
The ascent of species
9 One distinguished naturalist argues that mortals spring
from eggs and in races. Mr. Darwin admits this, but he
adds that mankind has ascended through all
12 the lower grades of existence. Evolution de-
scribes the gradations of human belief, but it does not
acknowledge the method of divine Mind, nor see that ma-
15 terial methods are impossible in divine Science and that
all Science is of God, not of man.
Transmitted peculiarities
Naturalists ask: "What can there be, of a material
18 nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, -
themselves composed of the simplest material
elements, - by which all peculiarities of an-
21 cestry, belonging to either sex, are brought down from
generation to generation?" The question of the natu-
ralist amounts to this: How can matter originate or trans-
24 mit mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and
doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases creation on
materiality. From a material standpoint, "Canst thou
27 by searching find out God?" All must be Mind, or
else all must be matter. Neither can produce the other.
Mind is immortal; but error declares that the material
30 seed must decay in order to propagate its species, and
the resulting germ is doomed to the same routine.
Causation not in matter
The ancient and hypothetical question, Which is first,
PAGE 552
1 the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the
parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question
3 follows: Who or what produces the parent of
the egg? That the earth was hatched from the
"egg of night" was once an accepted theory. Heathen
6 philosophy, modern geology, and all other material hy-
potheses deal with causation as contingent on matter
and as necessarily apparent to the corporeal senses, even
9 where the proof requisite to sustain this assumption is un-
discovered. Mortal theories make friends of sin, sickness,
and death; whereas the spiritual scientific facts of exist-
12 ence include no member of this dolorous and fatal triad.
Emergence of mortals
Human experience in mortal life, which starts from an
egg, corresponds with that of Job, when he says, "Man
15 that is born of a woman is of few days, and
full of trouble." Mortals must emerge from
this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck
18 open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward
and upward. But thought, loosened from a material
basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild
21 with freedom and so be self-contradictory.
Persistence of species
From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow,
sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills
24 they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. The
blending tints of leaf and flower show the
order of matter to be the order of mortal mind. The
27 intermixture of different species, urged to its utmost
limits, results in a return to the original species. Thus
it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal
30 mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when
the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.
Better basis than embryology
Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material
PAGE 553
1 existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac-
company their descriptions with important observations,
3 which should awaken thought to a higher and
purer contemplation of man's origin. This
clearer consciousness must precede an under-
6 standing of the harmony of being. Mortal thought must
obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or
health will never be universal, and harmony will never
9 become the standard of man.
One of our ablest naturalists has said: "We have no
right to assume that individuals have grown or been
12 formed under circumstances which made material con-
ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction,
or important to their origin and first introduction."
15 Why, then, is the naturalist's basis so materialistic,
and why are his deductions generally material?
All nativity in thought
Adam was created before Eve. In this instance, it is
18 seen that the maternal egg never brought forth Adam.
Eve was formed from Adam's rib, not from a
foetal ovum. Whatever theory may be adopted
21 by general mortal thought to account for human origin,
that theory is sure to become the signal for the appear-
ance of its method in finite forms and operations. If con-
24 sentaneous human belief agrees upon an ovum as the
point of emergence for the human race, this potent belief
will immediately supersede the more ancient supersti-
27 tion about the creation from dust or from the rib of our
primeval father.
Being is immortal
You may say that mortals are formed before they
30 think or know aught of their origin, and you
may also ask how belief can affect a result
which precedes the development of that belief. It can
PAGE 554
1 only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what "eye
hath not seen," - even the cause of all that exists, - for
3 the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who
is its divine immortal Principle. There is no such thing
as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings,
6 because being is immortal, like Deity, - or, rather, being
and Deity are inseparable.
Our conscious development
Error is always error. It is no thing. Any statement
9 of life, following from a misconception of life, is errone-
ous, because it is destitute of any knowledge
of the so-called selfhood of life, destitute of
12 any knowledge of its origin or existence. The mortal
is unconscious of his foetal and infantile existence; but
as he grows up into another false claim, that of self-con-
15 scious matter, he learns to say, "I am somebody; but
who made me?" Error replies, "God made you." The
first effort of error has been and is to impute to God the
18 creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite
Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.
Mendacity of error
Jesus defined this opposite of God and His creation
21 better than we can, when he said, "He is a liar, and the
father of it." Jesus also said, "Have not I
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
24 This he said of Judas, one of Adam's race. Jesus never
intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, "Ye
are of your father, the devil." All these sayings were to
27 show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is
simply a falsity and illusion.
Ailments of animals
It is the general belief that the lower animals are less
30 sickly than those possessing higher organiza-
tions, especially those of the human form.
This would indicate that there is less disease in propor-
PAGE 555
1 tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi-
tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind.
3 A fair conclusion from this might be, that it is the human
belief, and not the divine arbitrament, which brings the
physical organism under the yoke of disease.
Ignorance the sign of error
6 An inquirer once said to the discoverer of Christian
Science: "I like your explanations of truth, but I do
not comprehend what you say about error."
9 This is the nature of error. The mark of igno-
rance is on its forehead, for it neither understands nor
can be understood. Error would have itself received as
12 mind, as if it were as real and God-created as truth; but
Christian Science attributes to error neither entity nor
power, because error is neither mind nor the outcome of
15 Mind.
The origin of divinity
Searching for the origin of man, who is the reflection
of God, is like inquiring into the origin of God, the self-
18 existent and eternal. Only impotent error
would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good
with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this
21 sham unity man, as if man were the offspring of both
Mind and matter, of both Deity and humanity. Crea-
tion rests on a spiritual basis. We lose our standard of
24 perfection and set aside the proper conception of Deity,
when we admit that the perfect is the author of aught
that can become imperfect, that God bestows the power
27 to sin, or that Truth confers the ability to err. Our
great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized
manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in
30 death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus
was able to present himself unchanged after the cruci-
fixion. Truth fosters the idea of Truth, and not the be-
PAGE 556
1 lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained
by Spirit.
Genera classified
3 Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor-
tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to
possess life and mind. These false beliefs
6 will disappear, when the radiation of Spirit
destroys forever all belief in intelligent matter. Then
will the new heaven and new earth appear, for the for-
9 mer things will have passed away.
The Christian's privilege
Mortal belief infolds the conditions of sin. Mortal
belief dies to live again in renewed forms, only to go out
12 at last forever; for life everlasting is not to be
gained by dying. Christian Science may ab-
sorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but
15 the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known
most fully to him who understands best the divine Life.
Did the origin and the enlightenment of the race come
18 from the deep sleep which fell upon Adam? Sleep is
darkness, but God's creative mandate was, "Let there be
light." In sleep, cause and effect are mere illusions.
21 They seem to be something, but are not. Oblivion and
dreams, not realities, come with sleep. Even so goes on
the Adam-belief, of which mortal and material life is the
24 dream.
Ontology versus physiology
Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?
Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual
27 life before it cares to solve the problem of
being, hence the author's experience; but when
that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand-
30 point.
It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only
a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and
PAGE 557
1 repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain
under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with-
3 out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this
and learn how to develop their children properly on dry
land.
The curse removed
6 Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of
nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege-
tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no
9 pain in multiplying; but human propagation
has its suffering because it is a false belief. Christian Sci-
ence reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the
12 line of creation rises towards spiritual man, - towards
enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line
of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin,
15 disease, and mortality, the better for him, - the less pain
and sorrow are his. When the mist of mortal mind evap-
orates, the curse will be removed which says to woman,
18 "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Divine
Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of
Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as
21 never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.
Popular theology takes up the history of man as if he
began materially right, but immediately fell into mental
24 sin; whereas revealed religion proclaims the Science of
Mind and its formations as being in accordance with
the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind,
27 spake and it was done.
PAGE 558
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this proph-
ecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at
hand. - REVELATION.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,
in the mountain of His holiness. - PSALMS.
1 ST. JOHN writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of
Revelation : -
3 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of
6 fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he
set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the
earth.
The new Evangel
9 This angel or message which comes from God, clothed
with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. To mortal sense
Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and
12 dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow.
When understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When
you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means,
15 and it has for you a light above the sun, for God "is the
light thereof." Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations
of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy
18 Ghost, whose flames of Truth were prophetically de-
scribed by John the Baptist as consuming error.
PAGE 559
Truth's volume
1 This angel had in his hand "a little book," open for
all to read and understand. Did this same book contain
3 the revelation of divine Science, the "right
foot" or dominant power of which was upon
the sea, - upon elementary, latent error, the source of
6 all error's visible forms? The angel's left foot was upon
the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon
visible error and audible sin. The "still, small voice"
9 of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean
to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of
Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth."
12 It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It
arouses the "seven thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent
forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is
15 the power of Truth demonstrated, - made manifest in
the destruction of error. Then will a voice from harmony
cry: "Go and take the little book. . . . Take it, and eat
18 it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in
thy mouth sweet as honey." Mortals, obey the heavenly
evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from
21 beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed
sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not
over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter. When you
24 approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle, when
you eat the divine body of this Principle, - thus partak-
ing of the nature, or primal elements, of Truth and Love,
27 - do not be surprised nor discontented because you must
share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs; for the
Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus prefigured this
30 perilous passage out of bondage into the El Dorado of faith
and hope.
To-day's lesson
The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, or Revela-
PAGE 560
1 tion of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connec-
tion with the nineteenth century. In the opening of the
3 sixth seal, typical of six thousand years since
Adam, the distinctive feature has reference
to the present age.
6 Revelation xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
9 stars.
True estimate of God's messenger
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science inter-
prets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great
12 miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and
the grand necessity of existence is to gain the
true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of
15 heaven in man. This goal is never reached while we
hate our neighbor or entertain a false estimate of any-
one whom God has appointed to voice His Word. Again,
18 without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can
never understand the divine Principle. The botanist must
know the genus and species of a plant in order to classify
21 it correctly. As it is with things, so is it with persons.
Persecution harmful
Abuse of the motives and religion of St. Paul hid from
view the apostle's character, which made him equal to
24 his great mission. Persecution of all who have
spoken something new and better of God has
not only obscured the light of the ages, but has been fatal
27 to the persecutors. Why? Because it has hid from
them the true idea which has been presented. To mis-
understand Paul, was to be ignorant of the divine idea he
30 taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a
greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea - igno-
PAGE 561
1 rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth
and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal
3 good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice of
evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.
Espousals supernal
Agassiz, through his microscope, saw the sun in an
6 egg at a point of so-called embryonic life. Because of
his more spiritual vision, St. John saw an
"angel standing in the sun." The Revelator
9 beheld the spiritual idea from the mount of vision.
Purity was the symbol of Life and Love. The Revelator
saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a
12 bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb
of Love. To John, "the bride" and "the Lamb" repre-
sented the correlation of divine Principle and spiritual idea,
15 God and His Christ, bringing harmony to earth.
Divinity and humanity
John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in
the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life
18 and its demonstration, - reducing to human
perception and understanding the Life which
is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal self-
21 hood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood.
Spiritual sunlight
The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man,
the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence
24 of God and man as the divine Principle and
divine idea. The Revelator symbolizes Spirit
by the sun. The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance
27 of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet. The
light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar, but spirit-
ual Life, which is "the light of men." In the first chapter
30 of the Fourth Gospel it is written, "There was a man sent
from God . . . to bear witness of that Light."
Spiritual idea revealed
John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the im-
PAGE 562
1 maculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual
idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy
3 Ghost,- divine Science. As Elias presented
the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus
afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this
6 figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's
motherhood. The moon is under her feet. This idea
reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit,
9 from which the universe borrows its reflected light, sub-
stance, life, and intelligence.
Spiritual idea crowned
The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The
12 twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, - separated by
belief from man's divine origin and the true
idea, - will through much tribulation yield to
15 the activities of the divine Principle of man in the har-
mony of Science. These are the stars in the crown of
rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens
18 of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea
by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting
the light which shines "unto the perfect day" as the night
21 of materialism wanes.
Revelation xii. 2. And she being with child cried, travail-
ing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Travail and joy
24 Also the spiritual idea is typified by a woman in tra-
vail, waiting to be delivered of her sweet promise, but re-
membering no more her sorrow for joy that
27 the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and the
travail portentous.
Revelation xii. 3. And there appeared another wonder in
30 heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
PAGE 563
The dragon as a type
1 Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a
diviner sense., harmony is the real and discord the unreal.
3 We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, and
death. We may well be perplexed at human
fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts
6 its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions
of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?
The great red dragon symbolizes a lie, - the belief
9 that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.
This dragon stands for the sum total of human error.
The ten horns of the dragon typify the belief that mat-
12 ter has power of its own, and that by means of an
evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be
broken.
The sting of the serpent
15 The Revelator lifts the veil from this embodiment of
all evil, and beholds its awful character; but he also
sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of
18 God. The Revelator sees that old serpent,
whose name is devil or evil, holding untiring watch, that
he may bite the heel of truth and seemingly impede the
21 offspring of the spiritual idea, which is prolific in health,
holiness, and immortality.
Revelation xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the
24 stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Animal tendency
27 The serpentine form stands for subtlety, winding its
way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good.
Its sting is spoken of by Paul, when he refers
30 to "spiritual wickedness in high places." It
is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel
PAGE 564
1 them to devour each other and cast out devils through
Beelzebub.
3 As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error's
own nature and methods. This malicious animal in-
stinct, of which the dragon is the type, incites mortals to
6 kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals, and
worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime. This
last infirmity of sin will sink its perpetrator into a night
9 without a star.
Malicious barbarity
The author is convinced that the accusations against
Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were instigated
12 by the criminal instinct here described. The
Revelator speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God
and of the dragon as warring against innocence. Since Jesus
15 must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate,
met and conquered sin in every form. The brutal bar-
barity of his foes could emanate from no source except the
18 highest degree of human depravity. Jesus "opened not
his mouth." Until the majesty of Truth should be demon-
strated in divine Science, the spiritual idea was arraigned
21 before the tribunal of so-called mortal mind, which was
unloosed in order that the false claim of mind in matter
might uncover its own crime of defying immortal Mind.
Doom of the dragon
24 From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and
death, envy, hatred, and revenge, - all evil, - are typi-
fied by a serpent, or animal subtlety. Jesus
27 said, quoting a line from the Psalms, "They
hated me without a cause." The serpent is perpetually
close upon the heel of harmony. From the beginning
30 to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual
idea. In Genesis, this allegorical, talking serpent typi-
fies mortal mind, "more subtle than any beast of the
PAGE 565
1 field." In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this
evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen
3 with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe
for destruction. It is full of lust and hate, loathing the
brightness of divine glory.
6 Revelation xii. 5. And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her
child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
The conflict with purity
9 Led on by the grossest element of mortal mind, Herod
decreed the death of every male child in order that the
man Jesus, the masculine representative of the
12 spiritual idea might never hold sway and de-
prive Herod of his crown. The impersonation of the
spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our
15 Master; but "of his kingdom there shall be no end,"
for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations
and peoples - imperatively, absolutely, finally - with di-
18 vine Science. This immaculate idea, represented first
by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman,
will baptize with fire; and the fiery baptism will burn up
21 the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love,
melting and purifying even the gold of human character.
After the stars sang together and all was primeval har-
24 mony, the material lie made war upon the spiritual idea;
but this only impelled the idea to rise to the zenith of
demonstration, destroying sin, sickness, and death, and
27 to be caught up unto God, - to be found in its divine
Principle.
Revelation xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilder-
30 ness, where she hath a place prepared of God.
PAGE 566
Spiritual guidance
1 As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly
through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides
3 of human fear, - as they were led through the
wilderness, walking wearily through the great
desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised
6 joy, - so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires
in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense
of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for
9 them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but
moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire
by night, leading to divine heights.
12 If we remember the beautiful description which Sir
Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the Jewess
in the story of Ivanhoe, -
15 When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out of the land of bondage came,
Her fathers' God before her moved,
18 An awful guide, in smoke and flame, -
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same
hymn, -
21 And oh, when stoops on Judah's path
In shade and storm the frequent night,
Be Thou, longsuffering, slow to wrath,
24 A burning and a shining light!
Revelation xii. 7, 8. And there was war in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
27 dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
Angelic offices
The Old Testament assigns to the angels, God's divine
30 messages, different offices. Michael's charac-
teristic is spiritual strength. He leads the
hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan, and
PAGE 567
1 fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task
of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering
3 Love. These angels deliver us from the depths. Truth
and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong
faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails through
6 the understanding of God. The Gabriel of His presence
has no contests. To infinite, ever-present Love, all is
Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death.
9 Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for he is
killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail
against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with
12 them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and
Spirit.
Revelation xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out,
15 that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiv-
eth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him.
Dragon cast down to earth
18 That false claim - that ancient belief, that old serpent
whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there is intelli-
gence in matter either to benefit or to injure
21 men - is pure delusion, the red dragon; and
it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual
idea, and so proved to be powerless. The words "cast
24 unto the earth" show the dragon to be nothingness, dust
to dust; and therefore, in his pretence of being a talker,
he must be a lie from the beginning. His angels, or mes-
27 sages, are cast out with their author. The beast and the
false prophets are lust and hypocrisy. These wolves in
sheep's clothing are detected and killed by innocence, the
30 Lamb of Love.
Warfare with error
Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the wolf.
PAGE 568
1 Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error. Ever
since the foundation of the world, ever since error would
3 establish material belief, evil has tried to slay
the Lamb; but Science is able to destroy this
lie, called evil. The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse
6 typifies the divine method of warfare in Science, and the
glorious results of this warfare. The following chapters
depict the fatal effects of trying to meet error with error.
9 The narrative follows the order used in Genesis. In
Genesis, first the true method of creation is set forth and
then the false. Here, also, the Revelator first exhibits
12 the true warfare and then the false.
Revelation xii. 10 - 12. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
15 kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And they overcame him by
18 the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the
21 inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Paean of jubilee
24 For victory over a single sin, we give thanks and mag-
nify the Lord of Hosts. What shall we say of the mighty
conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter
27 than has ever before reached high heaven,
now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ;
for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her
30 primal and everlasting strain. Self-abnegation, by which
we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against
error, is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly
PAGE 569
1 interprets God as divine Principle, - as Life, represented
by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love,
3 represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period,
here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the
mortal belief in a power opposed to God.
The robe of Science
6 The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many," is literally ful-
filled, when we are conscious of the supremacy
9 of Truth, by which the nothingness of error
is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error is in
proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the hem
12 of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality,
and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, - in a sweet
and certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those who
15 break faith with divine Science and fail to strangle the
serpent of sin as well as of sickness! They are dwellers
still in the deep darkness of belief. They are in the surg-
18 ing sea of error, not struggling to lift their heads above the
drowning wave.
Expiation by suffering
What must the end be? They must eventually expi-
21 ate their sin through suffering. The sin, which one has
made his bosom companion, comes back to him
at last with accelerated force, for the devil
24 knoweth his time is short. Here the Scriptures declare
that evil is temporal, not eternal. The dragon is at last
stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods
27 of torture it may take to remove all sin, must depend upon
sin's obduracy.
Revelation xii. 13. And when the dragon saw that he
30 was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man child.
PAGE 570
Apathy to occultism
1 The march of mind and of honest investigation will
bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of
3 some sort, the growing occultism of this period.
The present apathy as to the tendency of
certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be
6 shocked into another extreme mortal mood, - into human
indignation; for one extreme follows another.
Revelation xii. 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his
9 mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and
12 swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his
mouth.
Receptive hearts
Millions of unprejudiced minds - simple seekers for
15 Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert - are wait-
ing and watching for rest and drink. Give
them a cup of cold water in Christ's name,
18 and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon
should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea?
He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again
21 sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night.
In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual
idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing
24 you impart will give thanks. The waters will be paci-
fied, and Christ will command the wave.
Hidden ways of iniquity
When God heals the sick or the sinning, they should
27 know the great benefit which Mind has wrought. They
should also know the great delusion of mor-
tal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful.
30 Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the
power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are
PAGE 571
1 not so willing to point out the evil in human thought,
and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing
3 iniquity.
Christly warning
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary
to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like
6 you better when you tell them their virtues
than when you tell them their vices. It re-
quires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his
9 faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake of doing
right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind
of the foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees the
12 foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and
designate those as unfaithful stewards who have seen the
danger and yet have given no warning.
The armor of divinity
15 At all times and under all circumstances, overcome
evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply
the wisdom and the occasion for a victory
18 over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love,
human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a
higher humanity will unite all interests in the one
21 divinity.
Pure religion enthroned
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal
scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes the
24 mirror in which mortals may see their own
image. In significant figures he depicts the
thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he
27 rebukes the conceit of sin, and foreshadows its doom.
With his spiritual strength, he has opened wide the gates
of glory, and illumined the night of paganism with the
30 sublime grandeur of divine Science, outshining sin, sorcery,
lust, and hypocrisy. He takes away mitre and sceptre.
He enthrones pure and undefiled religion, and lifts on
PAGE 572
1 high only those who have washed their robes white in
obedience and suffering.
Native nothingness of sin
3 Thus we see, in both the first and last books of the
Bible, - in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, - that sin
is to be Christianly and scientifically reduced
6 to its native nothingness. "Love one an-
other" (I John, iii. 23), is the most simple and profound
counsel of the inspired writer. In Science we are chil-
9 dren of God; but whatever is of material sense, or mor-
tal, belongs not to His children, for materiality is the
inverted image of spirituality.
Fulfilment of the Law
12 Love fulfils the law of Christian Science, and nothing
short of this divine Principle, understood and demon-
strated, can ever furnish the vision of the
15 Apocalypse, open the seven seals of error with
Truth, or uncover the myriad illusions of sin, sickness,
and death. Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will be seen
18 and acknowledged that matter must disappear.
In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: -
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
21 heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.
Man's present possibilities
The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional
24 stage in human experience called death, but he already
saw a new heaven and a new earth. Through
what sense came this vision to St. John? Not
27 through the material visual organs for seeing, for optics
are inadequate to take in so wonderful a scene. Were this
new heaven and new earth terrestrial or celestial, mate-
PAGE 573
1 rial or spiritual? They could not be the former, for the
human sense of space is unable to grasp such a view.
3 The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while yet
beholding what the eye cannot see, - that which is in-
visible to the uninspired thought. This testimony of Holy
6 Writ sustains the fact in Science, that the heavens and
earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness
which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the
9 unillumined human mind, the vision is material. This
shows unmistakably that what the human mind terms
matter and spirit indicates states and stages of con-
12 sciousness.
Nearness of Deity
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was an-
other revelation, even the declaration from heaven, su-
15 preme harmony, that God, the divine Principle
of harmony, is ever with men, and they are
His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a mis-
18 erable sinner, but as the blessed child of God. Why?
Because St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and
earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was
21 the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could
see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the
spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scrip-
24 tural authority for concluding that such a recognition of
being is, and has been, possible to men in this present
state of existence, - that we can become conscious,
27 here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain.
This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science.
Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will
30 surely appear sometime and in some way. There will
be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When
you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of
PAGE 574
1 God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is
therefore a present possibility.
3 The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to
console the weary pilgrim, journeying " uphill all the way."
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: -
6 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
9 the Lamb's wife.
Vials of wrath and consolation
This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love,
carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till he be-
12 came conscious of the spiritual facts of being
and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from
God, out of heaven," - the spiritual outpour-
15 ing of bliss and glory, which he describes as the city
which "lieth foursquare." The beauty of this text is,
that the sum total of human misery, represented by
18 the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues, has full
compensation in the law of Love. Note this, - that the
very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured
21 forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience
which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the
four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and
24 heaven-bestowing.
Spiritual wedlock
Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-
cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-
27 winged dove descending upon you. The very
circumstance, which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel
30 entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers:
PAGE 575
1 "Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness
into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb's
3 wife, - Love wedded to its own spiritual idea." Then
cometh the marriage feast, for this revelation will de-
stroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material
6 sense.
The city foursquare
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16)
as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down from
9 God, out of heaven," represents the light and
glory of divine Science. The builder and
maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in the
12 book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which hath founda-
tions." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teach-
ing must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate
15 the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodi-
gal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of
the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The
18 four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity,
and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall not be shut
at all by day: for there shall be no night there." This
21 city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.
The royally divine gates
As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of
24 the north, the city of the great King." It is
indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and
square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star,
27 the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward,
to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who fol-
lowed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the
30 genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the skies,
- the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society
into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization
PAGE 576
1 of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of
Harmony.
Revelation's pure zenith
3 This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-
ness, - this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which to
us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, -
6 reached St. John's vision while yet he taber-
nacled with mortals.
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city,
9 the beloved Disciple writes: -
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
The shrine celestial
12 There was no temple, - that is, no material structure
in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped
in spirit and in love. The word temple also
15 means body. The Revelator was familiar
with Jesus' use of this word, as when Jesus spoke of his
material body as the temple to be temporarily rebuilt
18 (John ii. 21). What further indication need we of the
real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw
heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"?
21 This kingdom of God "is within you," - is within
reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual
idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this
24 recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his
understanding of God.
Divine sense of Deity
The term Lord, as used in our version of the Old
27 Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah, and ex-
presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated
to deific apprehension through spiritual trans-
30 figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches a higher
meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the divine
PAGE 577
1 sense, even as the material sense of personality yields
to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite
3 Principle and infinite idea, - as one Father with His uni-
versal family, held in the gospel of Love. The Lamb's
wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer
6 two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures
in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality re-
flects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being.
9 In this divinely united spiritual consciousness, there is no
impediment to eternal bliss, - to the perfectibility of
God's creation.
The city of our God
12 This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary
nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the
Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second,
15 the Christ, the spiritual idea of God; third,
Christianity, which is the outcome of the divine Prin-
ciple of the Christ-idea in Christian history; fourth,
18 Christian Science, which to-day and forever interprets
this great example and the great Exemplar. This city
of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for Love
21 is the light of it, and divine Mind is its own interpreter.
All who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty
potentates and dynasties will lay down their honors
24 within the heavenly city. Its gates open towards light
and glory both within and without, for all is good, and
nothing can enter that city, which "defileth. . . . or
27 maketh a lie."
The writer's present feeble sense of Christian Science
closes with St. John's Revelation as recorded by the
30 great apostle, for his vision is the acme of this Science
as the Bible reveals it.
In the following Psalm one word shows, though faintly,
PAGE 578
1 the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures
by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal
3 or spiritual sense of Deity: -
PSALM XXIII
[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
6 [LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
[LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] lead-
9 eth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; [LOVE's]
12 rod and [LOVE'S] staff they comfort me.
[LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil; my cup
15 runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness]
18 of [LOVE] for ever.
PAGE 465
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. - ISAIAH.
1
THIS chapter is from the first edition of the author's
class-book, copyrighted in 1870. After much labor
3
and increased spiritual understanding, she revised that
treatise for this volume in 1875. Absolute Christian
Science pervades its statements, to elucidate scientific
6
metaphysics.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Question. - What is God?
9
Answer. - God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite
Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
Question. - Are these terms synonymous?
12
Answer. - They are. They refer to one absolute God.
They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and
wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice,
15
mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.
Question. - Is there more than one God or Principle?
Answer. - There is not. Principle and its idea is one,
18
and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-
PAGE 466
1
present Being, and His reflection is man and the universe.
Omni is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying all.
3
Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science
or true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifesta-
tions of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter,
6
and have one Principle.
Real versus unreal
Question. - What are spirits and souls?
Answer. - To human belief, they are personalities
9
constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth and
error, good and evil; but these contrasting
pairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-
12
tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together nor
assimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truth
is limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error
15
is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is
unreal. This last statement contains the point you will
most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the
18
most important to understand.
Mankind redeemed
The term souls or spirits is as improper as the term
gods. Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else.
21
There is no finite soul nor spirit. Soul or
Spirit means only one Mind, and cannot be
rendered in the plural. Heathen mythology and Jewish
24
theology have perpetuated the fallacy that intelligence,
soul, and life can be in matter; and idolatry and ritualism
are the outcome of all man-made beliefs. The Science
27
of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate the
chaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright,
and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and
30
its divine Principle, making mankind better physically,
morally, and spiritually.
PAGE 467
Two chief commands
1
Question. - What are the demands of the Science of
Soul?
3
Answer. - The first demand of this Science is, " Thou
shalt have no other gods before me." This me is Spirit.
Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt
6
have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no
truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second
is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
9
It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one
Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love.
Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact
12
becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brother-
hood of man will be established. Having no other gods,
turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide
15
him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, hav-
ing that Mind which was also in Christ.
Soul not confined in body
Science reveals Spirit, Soul, as not in the body, and
18
God as not in man but as reflected by man. The greater
cannot be in the lesser. The belief that the
greater can be in the lesser is an error that
21
works ill. This is a leading point in the Science of Soul,
that Principle is not in its idea. Spirit, Soul, is not
confined in man, and is never in matter. We reason im-
24
perfectly from effect to cause, when we conclude that
matter is the effect of Spirit; but a priori reasoning
shows material existence to be enigmatical. Spirit gives
27
the true mental idea. We cannot interpret Spirit, Mind,
through matter. Matter neither sees, hears, nor feels.
Sinlessness of Mind, Soul
Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind,
30
we begin with Mind, which must be under-
stood through the idea which expresses it and
cannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we
PAGE 468
1
arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own
unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human
3
illusions. If Soul sinned, it would be mortal, for sin is
mortality's self, because it kills itself. If Truth is im-
mortal, error must be mortal, because error is unlike
6
Truth. Because Soul is immortal, Soul cannot sin, for
sin is not the eternal verity of being.
Question. - What is the scientific statement of being?
9
Answer. - There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub-
stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
12
Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore
15
man is not material; he is spiritual.
Spiritual synonyms
Question. - What is substance?
Answer. - Substance is that which is eternal and inca-
18
pable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are
substance, as the Scriptures use this word in
Hebrews: "The substance of things hoped
21
for, the evidence of things not seen." Spirit, the synonym
of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The
spiritual universe, including individual man, is a com-
24
pound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit.
Eternity of Life
Question. - What is Life?
Answer. - Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit.
27
Life is without beginning and without end.
Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of
Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in
30
proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite;
PAGE 469
1
eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of mat-
ter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which
3
includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Mat-
ter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not
limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If
6
Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.
Question. - What is intelligence?
Answer. - Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence,
9
and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality
of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, - Life, Truth,
and Love, - named God.
True sense of infinitude
12
Question. - What is Mind?
Answer. - Mind is God. The exterminator of error
is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and
15
that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind
- called devil or evil - is not Mind, is not
Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There
18
can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and
if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other,
sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if
21
that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude,
when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a
place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all
24
space is filled with God.
The sole governor
We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when
after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and
27
has all-power, we still believe there is another
power, named evil. This belief that there
is more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology
30
as are ancient mythology and pagan idolatry. With
PAGE 470
1
one Father, even God, the whole family of man would
be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good,
3
the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth,
and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which
constitute divine Science. The supposed existence of
6
more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This
error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the
spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an
9
unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and
universal.
The divine standard of perfection
Divine Science explains the abstract statement that
12
there is one Mind by the following self-evident propo-
sition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, the
unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can
15
only seem to be real by giving reality to the
unreal. The children of God have but one Mind. How
can good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man,
18
never sins? The standard of perfection was originally
God and man. Has God taken down His own standard,
and has man fallen?
Indestructible relationship
21
God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle
of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection,
man, remains perfect. Man is the expression
24
of God's being. If there ever was a moment
when man did not express the divine perfec-
tion, then there was a moment when man did not express
27
God, and consequently a time when Deity was unex-
pressed - that is, without entity. If man has lost per-
fection, then he has lost his perfect Principle, the divine
30
Mind. If man ever existed without this perfect Principle
or Mind, then man's existence was a myth.
The relations of God and man, divine Principle and
PAGE 471
1
idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows
no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine
3
order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He cre-
ates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged
in its eternal history.
Celestial evidence
6
The unlikeness of Truth, - named error, - the op-
posite of Science, and the evidence before the five cor-
poreal senses, afford no indication of the grand
9
facts of being; even as these so-called senses
receive no intimation of the earth's motions or of the
science of astronomy, but yield assent to astronomical
12
propositions on the authority of natural science.
The facts of divine Science should be admitted, -
although the evidence as to these facts is not supported
15
by evil, by matter, or by material sense, - because the
evidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained by
spiritual sense. Man is, and forever has been, God's re-
18
flection. God is infinite, therefore ever present, and
there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirit-
uality of the universe is the only fact of creation. "Let
21
God be true, but every [material] man a liar."
The test of experience
Question. - Are doctrines and creeds a benefit to man?
Answer. - The author subscribed to an orthodox
24
creed in early youth, and tried to adhere to it until she
caught the first gleam of that which inter-
prets God as above mortal sense. This
27
view rebuked human beliefs, and gave the spiritual im-
port, expressed through Science, of all that proceeds
from the divine Mind. Since then her highest creed has
30
been divine Science, which, reduced to human apprehen-
sion, she has named Christian Science. This Science
PAGE 472
1
teaches man that God is the only Life, and that this Life
is Truth and Love; that God is to be understood, adored,
3
and demonstrated; that divine Truth casts out supposi-
tional error and heals the sick.
God's law destroys evil
The way which leads to Christian Science is straight
6
and narrow. God has set His signet upon Science, mak-
ing it coordinate with all that is real and only
with that which is harmonious and eternal.
9
Sickness, sin, and death, being inharmonious, do not
originate in God nor belong to His government. His
law, rightly understood, destroys them. Jesus furnished
12
proofs of these statements.
Evanescent materiality
Question. - What is error?
Answer. - Error is a supposition that pleasure and
15
pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in mat-
ter. Error is neither Mind nor one of Mind's
faculties. Error is the contradiction of Truth.
18
Error is a belief without understanding. Error is unreal
because untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not.
If error were true, its truth would be error, and we should
21
have a self-evident absurdity - namely, erroneous truth.
Thus we should continue to lose the standard of Truth.
Unrealities that seem real
Question. - Is there no sin?
24
Answer. - All reality is in God and His creation, har-
monious and eternal. That which He creates is good,
and He makes all that is made. Therefore
27
the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is
the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring
belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not
30
true, because they are not of God. We learn in Christian
PAGE 473
1
Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illu-
sion, possessing neither reality nor identity though seeming
3
to be real and identical.
Christ the ideal Truth
The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God,
is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are
6
to be classified as effects of error. Christ
came to destroy the belief of sin. The God-
principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is every-
9
where, and nothing apart from Him is present or has
power. Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal
sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes
12
all power to God. Jesus is the name of the man who,
more than all other men, has presented Christ, the true
idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroy-
15
ing the power of death. Jesus is the human man, and
Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus the
Christ.
Jesus not God
18
In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced
the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the
proof of Christianity's truth and love; but to
21
reach his example and to test its unerring Sci-
ence according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and
death, a better understanding of God as divine Prin-
24
ciple, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is
required.
Jesus not understood
Jesus established what he said by demonstration,
27
thus making his acts of higher importance than his
words. He proved what he taught. This
is the Science of Christianity. Jesus proved
30
the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error,
to be divine. Few, however, except his students un-
derstood in the least his teachings and their glorious
PAGE 474
1
proofs, - namely, that Life, Truth, and Love (the Prin-
ciple of this unacknowledged Science) destroy all error,
3
evil, disease, and death.
Miracles rejected
The reception accorded to Truth in the early Chris-
tian era is repeated to-day. Whoever introduces the
6
Science of Christianity will be scoffed at and
scourged with worse cords than those which
cut the flesh. To the ignorant age in which it first
9
appears, Science seems to be a mistake, - hence the
misinterpretation and consequent maltreatment which
it receives. Christian marvels (and marvel is the sim-
12
ple meaning of the Greek word rendered miracle in the
New Testament) will be misunderstood and misused
by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is
15
gained.
Divine fulfilment
If sin, sickness, and death are as real as Life, Truth,
and Love, then they must all be from the same source;
18
God must be their author. Now Jesus came
to destroy sin, sickness, and death yet the
Scriptures aver, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
21
Is it possible, then, to believe that the evils which Jesus
lived to destroy are real or the offspring of the divine
will?
Truth destroys falsity
24
Despite the hallowing influence of Truth in the de-
struction of error, must error still be immortal? Truth
spares all that is true. If evil is real, Truth
27
must make it so; but error, not Truth, is
the author of the unreal, and the unreal vanishes,
while all that is real is eternal. The apostle says that
30
the mission of Christ is to "destroy the works of the
devil." Truth destroys falsity and error, for light and
darkness cannot dwell together. Light extinguishes the
PAGE 475
1
darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is "no
night there." To Truth there is no error, - all is Truth.
3
To infinite Spirit there is no matter, - all is Spirit, divine
Principle and its idea.
Fleshly factors unreal
Question. - What is man?
6
Answer. - Man is not matter; he is not made up of
brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The
Scriptures inform us that man is made in
9
the image and likeness of God. Matter is
not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so
unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect; and be-
12
cause he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so under-
stood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of
Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of
15
God, including all right ideas; the generic term for
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which man is
18
the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;
that which has no separate mind from God; that which
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which
21
possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.
And God said: "Let us make man in our image, after
24
our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
27
creepeth upon the earth."
Man unfallen
Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The
real man cannot depart from holiness, nor
30
can God, by whom man is evolved, engender
the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not
PAGE 476
1
God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,
3
which declares that man begins in dust or as a material
embryo. In divine Science, God and the real man are
inseparable as divine Principle and idea.
Mortals are not immortals
6
Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life
and intelligence are in matter, and that
9
this matter is man. God is the Principle of
man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not
mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and im-
12
mortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only
and eternal verities of man. Mortals are not fallen chil-
dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,
15
which may subsequently be regained. They were, from
the beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed
18
up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-
appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal
man.
Imperishable identity
21
Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual
status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal
24
man: "As for man, his days are as grass: as
a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall
27
know it no more."
The kingdom within
When speaking of God's children, not the children of
men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"
30
that is, Truth and Love reign in the real
man, showing that man in God's image is
unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the per-
PAGE 477
1
fect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal
man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour
3
saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man
healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom
of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
6
Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself
spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect
nor material.
Material body never God's idea
9
Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal
senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but
Christian Science reveals man as the idea of
12
God, and declares the corporeal senses to be
mortal and erring illusions. Divine Science
shows it to be impossible that a material body, though
15
interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed
mind, should be man, - the genuine and perfect man,
the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
18
Were it otherwise, man would be annihilated.
Reflection of Spirit
Question. - What are body and Soul?
Answer. - Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the re-
21
flection in multifarious forms of the living Principle,
Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelli-
gence of man, which is individualized, but not
24
in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to
Spirit.
Man inseparable from Spirit
Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught
27
some glimpses of the underlying reality, when
they called a certain beautiful lake "the smile
of the Great Spirit." Separated from man,
30
who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man,
divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity. But there is,
PAGE 478
1
there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with
God.
A vacant domicile
3
What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you
within mortality? Even according to the teachings of
natural science, man has never beheld Spirit
6
or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What
basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except
the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of
9
the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer-
tain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seen
to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they
12
even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul
in the body?
Harmonious functions
Question. - Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and
15
is there intelligence in matter?
Answer. - No, not if God is true and mortal man a
liar. The assertion that there can be pain or pleasure
18
in matter is erroneous. That body is most
harmonious in which the discharge of the nat-
ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence
21
dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and
brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the
functions of Mind. Error says, "I am man;" but this
24
belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning
to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-
man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which
27
reflects God. St. Paul said, "But when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Immortal birthright
30
Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for
man is not mortal, "neither indeed can be;" man is im-
PAGE 479
1
mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-
3
ual origin. With what truth, then, could the
Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,
"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-
6
trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and
material; it must be immortal and spiritual.
Matter's supposed selfhood
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
9
An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is
all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,
feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-
12
cognizant, - cannot feel itself, see itself, nor
understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,
which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter
15
can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we
call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical
senses?
Chaos and darkness
18
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep."
21
(Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the
Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit
and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos
24
are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,
and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of
nothingness.
Spiritual reflection
27
We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,
because it has none of the divine hues. Paul
30
says: "For the invisible things of Him, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)
PAGE 480
1
When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
3
the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
6
there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.
Harmony from Spirit
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
9
tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, - is in God, the origin and gov-
12
ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
15
Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
18
attempting to separate Mind from God.
Evil non-existent
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
21
site of good - that is, evil - which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
24
false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.
Vapor and nothingness
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
?
27
[the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness,
30
death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
PAGE 481
1
other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
3
else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
6
free "to enter into the holiest," - the realm of God.
The fruit forbidden
Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
9
prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
12
mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
15
and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," - this growth of
18
material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
21
then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.
Sense and pure Soul
24
If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is
supported, God must uphold it, and this is
27
impossible, since Truth cannot support error.
Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, -
hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that
30
it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be
found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a
sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-
PAGE 482
1
tion of the word sense for soul gives the exact meaning in
a majority of cases.
Soul defined
3
Human thought has adulterated the meaning of the
word soul through the hypothesis that soul is both an evil
and a good intelligence, resident in matter.
6
The proper use of the word soul can always
be gained by substituting the word God, where the deific
meaning is required. In other cases, use the word sense,
9
and you will have the scientific signification. As used
in Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym of
Spirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with
12
sense, with material sensation.
Sonship of Jesus
Question. - Is it important to understand these ex-
planations in order to heal the sick?
15
Answer. - It is, since Christ is "the way" and the
truth casting out all error. Jesus called himself " the
Son of man," but not the son of Joseph. As
18 woman is but a species of the genera, he was
literally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest human
concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from
21
Christ, the Messiah, - the divine idea of God outside
the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-
trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of
24
old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through
faith, to the hungering heart in every age.
Sickness erroneous
Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out.
27
Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law
of Truth, which heals the sick, on the basis
of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no
30
other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not
a healer, but causes the belief in disease.
PAGE 483
True healing transcendent
1
Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and
animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they
3
do not heal, but only relieve suffering tempo-
rarily, exchanging one disease for another.
We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or
6
Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human.
Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately su-
persede all other means in healing. In order to heal by
9
Science, you must not be ignorant of the moral and spir-
itual demands of Science nor disobey them. Moral igno-
rance or sin affects your demonstration, and hinders its
12
approach to the standard in Christian Science.
Terms adopted by the author
After the author's sacred discovery, she affixed the
name "Science" to Christianity, the name "error" to
15
corporeal sense, and the name "substance" to
Mind. Science has called the world to battle
over this issue and its demonstration, which
18
heals the sick, destroys error, and reveals the universal
harmony. To those natural Christian Scientists, the an-
cient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed
21
the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter.
Science the way
Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-
honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with
24
material observations alone, this Science has
met with opposition; but if any system honors
God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-
27
ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as
no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way
of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works
30
through the divine name and nature. One must fulfil
one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be
well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity
PAGE 484
1
will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to
be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When
3
this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry,
nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon
the rock, Christ.
Mindless methods
6
Question. - Does Christian Science, or metaphysical
healing, include medication, material hygiene, mesmer-
ism, hypnotism, theosophy, or spiritualism?
9
Answer. - Not one of them is included in it. In di-
vine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the
law of Mind. What are termed natural
12
science and material laws are the objective
states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses
the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.
15
Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and
hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind.
Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Cer-
18
tain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really
caused by the faith in them which the false human con-
sciousness is educated to feel.
Animal magnetism error
21
Mesmerism is mortal, material illusion. Animal mag-
netism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error
in all its forms; it is the human antipode
24
of divine Science. Science must triumph
over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting
an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories
27
and practices.
Error only ephemeral
Question. - Is materiality the concomitant of spirit-
uality, and is material sense a necessary preliminary to
30
the understanding and expression of Spirit?
PAGE 485
1
Answer. - If error is necessary to define or to reveal
Truth, the answer is yes; but not otherwise. Material
3
sense is an absurd phrase, for matter has no
sensation. Science declares that Mind, not
matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts
6
this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays
mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimpor-
tant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because
9
of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephem-
eral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth.
Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how
12
to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more
unreal?
Scientific translations
Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not
15
to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come
naturally into Spirit through better health and
morals and as the result of spiritual growth.
18
Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man im-
mortal. The belief that life can be in matter or soul in
body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg,
21
is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth,
destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which
man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven
24
is perfect." If thought yields its dominion to other '
powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful
images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents,
27
called disease and sin.
Material beliefs
The heathen gods of mythology controlled war and
agriculture as much as nerves control sensation or
30
muscles measure strength. To say that
strength is in matter, is like saying that the
power is in the lever. The notion of any life or intelli-
PAGE 486
1
gence in matter is without foundation in fact, and you
can have no faith in falsehood when you have learned
3
falsehood's true nature.
Sense versus Soul
Suppose one accident happens to the eye, another to
the ear, and so on, until every corporeal sense is quenched.
6
What is man's remedy? To die, that he may
regain these senses? Even then he must gain
spiritual understanding and spiritual sense in order to
9
possess immortal consciousness. Earth's preparatory
school must be improved to the utmost. In reality man
never dies. The belief that he dies will not establish his
12
scientific harmony. Death is not the result of Truth but
of error, and one error will not correct another.
Death an error
Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that his body
15
was the same immediately after death as before. If death
restores sight, sound, and strength to man,
then death is not an enemy but a better friend
18
than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes
harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet
supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long
21
as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mor-
tal in belief and subject to chance and change.
Permanent sensibility
Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are
24
eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immor-
tality are in Spirit and understanding, not in
matter, - hence their permanence. If this
27
were not so, man would be speedily annihilated. If the
five corporeal senses were the medium through which
to understand God, then palsy, blindness, and deafness
30
would place man in a terrible situation, where he would
be like those "having no hope, and without God in the
world;" but as a matter of fact, these calamities often
PAGE 487
1
drive mortals to seek and to find a higher sense of happi-
ness and existence.
Exercise of Mind-faculties
3
Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of
man, never attainable through death, but gained by walk-
ing in the pathway of Truth both before and
6
after that which is called death. There is more
Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually
than materially. There is more Science in the perpetual
9
exercise of the Mind-faculties than in their loss. Lost
they cannot be, while Mind remains. The apprehension
of this gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf cen-
12
turies ago, and it will repeat the wonder.
Understanding versus belief
Question. - You speak of belief. Who or what is it
that believes?
15
Answer. - Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the
need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind
understands. The body cannot believe. The
18
believer and belief are one and are mortal.
Christian evidence is founded on Science or
demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and
21
there is in reality no such thing as mortal mind. Mere
belief is blindness without Principle from which to ex-
plain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sen-
24
tient and intelligent matter is erroneous.
The Apostle James said, "Show me thy faith without
thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."
27
The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens
our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless
reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.
Confirmation by healing
30
This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This
Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the
PAGE 488
1
enduring and harmonious phases of things. The result
of our teachings is their sufficient confirmation. When,
3
on the strength of these instructions, you are
able to banish a severe malady, the cure shows
that you understand this teaching, and therefore you re-
6
ceive the blessing of Truth.
Belief and firm trust
The Hebrew and Greek words often translated belief
differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the
9
English verb believe; they have more the sig-
nificance of faith, understanding, trust, con-
stancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in
12
our common version to approve and endorse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.
All faculties from Mind
Question. - Do the five corporeal senses constitute
15
man?
Answer. - Christian Science sustains with immortal
proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines
18
these so-called senses as mortal beliefs, the
testimony of which cannot be true either of
man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no
21
cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves
have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-
stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone
24
possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.
Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of
organization and decomposition, - otherwise the very
27
worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the
real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce
them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-
30
turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,
not in matter.
PAGE 489
Possibilities of Life
1
The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.
When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows
3
again. If the Science of Life were understood,
it would be found that the senses of Mind are
never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the
6
human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's
claw, - not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine
one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter
9
is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal
to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness
develops, this belief goes out, - yields to the reality of
12
everlasting Life.
Decalogue disregarded
Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the
commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-
15
mands. How then can this sense be the God-
given channel to man of divine blessings or
understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-
18
pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?
Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time
the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-
21
dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-
tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not
forth sweet waters and bitter.
Organic construction valueless
24
The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or
error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-
cause matter has no sensation, and no organic
27
construction can give it hearing and sight nor
make it the medium of Mind. Outside the
material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense
30
of God, man, and creation is non-sense, want of sense.
Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes
good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there
PAGE 490
1
is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian
Science dispute this error.
Will-power an animal propensity
3
Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief
commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an
animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.
6
Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-
tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the
motive-powers of man. Will - blind, stubborn, and head-
9
long - cooperates with appetite and passion. From this
cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-
erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.
Theories helpless
12
The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until
it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of
Truth. Human theories are helpless to make
15
man harmonious or immortal, since he is so
already, according to Christian Science. Our only need
is to know this and reduce to practice the real man's di-
18
vine Principle, Love
True nature and origin
"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings."
Human belief - or knowledge gained from the so-called
21
material senses - would, by fair logic, anni-
hilate man along with the dissolving elements
of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the
24
nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with
immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers
in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained
27
in no other way.
Sleep an illusion
Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of
material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either
30
oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.
Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man
will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he
PAGE 491
1
is swimming when he is on dry land. Needle-thrusts will
not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.
3
Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and
shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or va-
lidity. Change the belief, and the sensation changes.
6
Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears.
Man linked with Spirit
Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary
error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter
9
calling itself right. Man's spiritual individual-
ity is never wrong. It is the likeness of man's
Maker. Matter cannot connect mortals with the true
12
origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only
by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls
the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and
15
find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man
forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
Material man as a dream
The belief that matter and mind are one, - that mat-
18
ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-
times presenting no appearance of mind, -
this belief culminates in another belief, that
21
man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real
being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are
closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are
24
lost from the body, and they wander whither they will
apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-
sonality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man
27
may have an attractive personality.
Spiritual existence the one fact
When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-
ures of matter. Who will say, even though he
30
does not understand Christian Science, that
this dream - rather than the dreamer - may
not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise,
PAGE 492
1
when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and
thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious?
3
For right reasoning there should be but one fact before
the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there
is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its
6
unlikeness, mortality.
Mind one and all
Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already
proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,
9
will uplift the physical and moral standard
of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify
and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy
12
all error, and bring immortality to light. We know that
a statement proved to be good must be correct. New
thoughts are constantly obtaining the floor. These two
15
contradictory theories - that matter is something, or
that all is Mind - will dispute the ground, until one is
acknowledged to be the victor. Discussing his cam-
18
paign, General Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on
this line, if it takes all summer." Science says: All is
Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this
21
line. Matter can afford you no aid.
Scientific ultimatum
The notion that mind and matter commingle in the
human illusion as to sin, sickness, and death must even-
24
tually submit to the Science of Mind, which
denies this notion. God is Mind, and God is
infinite; hence all is Mind. On this statement rests the
27
Science of being, and the Principle of this Science is di-
vine, demonstrating harmony and immortality.
Victory for Truth
The conservative theory, long believed, is that there
30
are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im-
possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error
always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.
PAGE 493
1
On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows
Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun
3
appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand
still; but astronomical science contradicts this,
and explains the solar system as working on a differ-
6
ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the
knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to
Science, to the immortal truth of all things.
Mental preparation
9
Question, - Will you explain sickness and show how it
is to be healed?
Answer. - The method of Christian Science Mind-heal-
12
ing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian
Science Practice. A full answer to the above
question involves teaching, which enables the
15
healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle
and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.
Mind destroys all ills
Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the
18
five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sick-
ness is a belief, which must be annihilated by
the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of
21
so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the
body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense
of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or
24
mental inharmony. That man is material, and that mat-
ter suffers, - these propositions can only seem real and
natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the
27
reality of being.
If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of
death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false
30
sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the
power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever
PAGE 494
1
intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire
action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body], and
3
in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this
for tired humanity's reassurance.
Inexhaustible divine Love
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great
6
a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God,
who needed no help from Jesus' example to
preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals
9
did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every
human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-
12
strated the divine power to heal only for a select number
or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and
in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
Reason and Science
15
The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus
demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the
infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring
18
human sense to flee from its own convictions
and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-
rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but
21
sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-
periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-
ence of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with
24
the unbroken reality of scientific being.
Which of these two theories concerning man are you
ready to accept? One is the mortal testimony, changing,
27
dying, unreal. The other is the eternal and real evidence,
bearing Truth's signet, its lap piled high with immortal
fruits.
Followers of Jesus
30
Our Master cast out devils (evils) and healed the sick.
It should be said of his followers also, that they cast fear
and all evil out of themselves and others and heal the sick.
PAGE 495
1
God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is
governed by God. Truth casts out error now
3
as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago. All
of Truth is not understood; hence its healing power is not
fully demonstrated.
Destruction of all evil
6
If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot
destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then
classify sickness and error as our Master did,
9
when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath
bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life-
giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power
12
which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and
sets the captive free physically and morally.
Steadfast and calm trust
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling
15
steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His
likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither
fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and
18
calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious - as
Life eternally is - can destroy any painful sense of, or
belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science,
21
instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of
being, and this understanding will supplant error with
Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-
24
cord with harmony.
Rudiments and growth
Question. - How can I progress most rapidly in the
understanding of Christian Science?
27
Answer. - Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe
the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science and follow the behests of God,
30
abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and
Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain
PAGE 496
1
that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn
that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions
3
from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind,
and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by
man and governs the entire universe. You will learn
6
that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey
God, to have one Mind, and to love another as
yourself.
Condition of progress
9
We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself:
Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?
Am I demonstrating the healing power of
12
Truth and Love? If so then the way will
grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits
will prove what the understanding of God brings to man.
15
Hold perpetually this thought, - that it is the spiritual
idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to
demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing,
18
based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-
lying, and encompassing all true being.
Triumph over death
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
21
the law," - the law of mortal belief, at war with the
facts of immortal Life, even with the spiritual
law which says to the grave, "Where is thy
24
victory?" But "when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
27
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."
Question. - Have Christian Scientists any religious
creed?
30
Answer. - They have not, if by that term is meant
doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of
PAGE 497
1
the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian
Science: -
3
1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word
of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
We acknowledge and adore one supreme and in-
6
finite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the
Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's
image and likeness.
9
3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the
destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that
casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is pun-
12
ished so long as the belief lasts.
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evi-
dence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity
15
with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and
we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ,
through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the
18
Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming
sin and death.
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and
21
his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eter-
nal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the noth-
ingness of matter.
24
6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for
that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to
do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and
27
to be merciful, just, and pure.