185-WATCH lest you attempt to follow Mrs. Eddy's direction in regard to tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol and opium apart from the realization that the only power and effect such material elements have is what the malpractice of mortal belief confers upon them. The relinquishment of any human demand apart from demonstration, is a form of godliness without the spirit, which accomplishes little or nothing. Giving up material or sinful practices through will power, quiets thought with self-satisfaction and tends to self-righteousness. What has a man accomplished when he does not use alcohol in any form, if he still believes that it has an inherent power to intoxicate? There should be a By-law in the heart of every Christian Scientist to the effect that, standing before the world as an example, he should be so grateful to the Principle which he reflects, and represents, that he is willing cheerfully to make the demonstration over every human demand in its proper order, that his light may shine undimmed before man, and so glorify his Father. In reality it is a joyous thing to represent and reflect God, and this joy is the pay envelope that makes every endeavor and demonstration worth while. The use of tea and coffee to refresh us means that we constantly permit animal magnetism to handle us without our protest. One cannot escape the conclusion drawn from Mrs. Eddy's teachings, that any and every human habit proves that we are permitting a mind other than God to control us. Each habit, whether it seems good or bad, is a thread which eventually must be broken, in order that man may be freed from the spider web of mortal belief. Tea and coffee seem harmless enough. But mortal belief confers no claim upon them of any food value. Hence they stand as a symbol of pleasure in the senses, though in a mild form. By including them in her list of morbid cravings, Mrs. Eddy hints that it will help us in our final overcoming of the human mind to meet the claim of pleasure in the senses in its simplest form. In some students who have given up smoking without making a demonstration of it, the demand has appeared in another form, such as the craving for candy. Had this been demonstration, it would have been a step toward freedom, not merely changing error's form. Our freedom from the human mind must include all fleshly demands, or body habits. If a habit changes its form, however, that does not necessarily prove that our attitude has become any more scientific. Yielding without protest to any human demand constitutes a link that binds man to falsity. Mrs. Eddy tells us that eating, sleeping and being clothed materially will remain for the present. Yet she declares that progress is a law of God. The more obnoxious any habit becomes, the less is its hold, since its very nature causes one to struggle and protest against it. But it requires a higher demonstration to protest against those demands and habits which carry no penalties, and receive no condemnation from society. Students are liable to dwell so much on the importance of overcoming obnoxious phases of materiality that they neglect the seemingly harmless phases. Thus the less offensive habits become the more binding strands in the imaginary rope that ties mortals to the belief in a material origin. It is natural that one should spend the most time in struggling to eliminate that which he believes is most displeasing to God and to his fellow men. Thus when Mrs. Eddy included tea and coffee in the same category with tobacco, alcohol and opium, she was helping students to circumvent the trick of animal magnetism, which would put mortals to sleep regarding some of God's demands. Habits which carry no suffering and no disapproval must be met in Science as faithfully as those which by their very nature whip man into the fray. The sensitive student cannot endure the thought of perpetual condemnation from society, so he bestirs himself to fight and resist evil. But Mrs. Eddy saw that all of the claims of the enslaving senses must be resisted, especially those carrying a belief of harmless pleasure. For this reason she helped us by calling our attention to certain phases of matter believed to carry pleasure, which otherwise we might overlook. Students should no more enquire of one another whether they have given up tea or coffee, than tobacco or liquor. If, as Shakespeare says, there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so, demonstration in Science is the attainment of that spiritual thinking that makes everything good. At that point there remains nothing that is bad that can have any further hold on one. Our work is to remove mortal mind from all channels, small or great, and restore them to God. There is no neutral ground. There is nothing that is harmful of itself; it is either good or bad because of the thinking that makes it so. Hence the need of this demonstration.