PAGE 341
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? – JESUS.
But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you. – PAUL.
1 THE strictures on this volume would condemn to
oblivion the truth, which is raising up thousands
3 from helplessness to strength and elevating them from
a theoretical to a practical Christianity. These criticisms
are generally based on detached sentences or clauses sep-
6 arated from their context. Even the Scriptures, which
grow in beauty and consistency from one grand root, ap-
pear contradictory when subjected to such usage. Jesus
9 said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God” [Truth].
Supported by facts
In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless. Proof
12 is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers at
the application of the word Science to Chris-
tianity cannot prevent that from being scien-
15 tific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated ac-
cording to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof.
The facts are so absolute and numerous in support of
18 Christian Science, that misrepresentation and denuncia-
PAGE 342
1 tion cannot overthrow it. Paul alludes to “doubtful dis-
putations.” The hour has struck when proof and demon-
3 stration, instead of opinion and dogma, are summoned to
the support of Christianity, “making wise the simple.”
Commands of Jesus
In the result of some unqualified condemnations of
6 scientific Mind-healing, one may see with sorrow the sad
effects on the sick of denying Truth. He that
decries this Science does it presumptuously,
9 in the face of Bible history and in defiance of the direct
command of Jesus, “Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel,” to which command was added the promise
12 that his students should cast out evils and heal the sick.
He bade the seventy disciples, as well as the twelve,
heal the sick in any town where they should be hospitably
15 received.
Christianity scientific
If Christianity is not scientific, and Science is not of
God, then there is no invariable law, and truth becomes
18 an accident. Shall it be denied that a system
which works according to the Scriptures has
Scriptural authority?
Argument of good works
21 Christian Science awakens the sinner, reclaims the
infidel, and raises from the couch of pain the helpless
invalid. It speaks to the dumb the words of
24 Truth, and they answer with rejoicing. It
causes the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the blind
to see. Who would be the first to disown the Christli-
27 ness of good works, when our Master says, “By their
fruits ye shall know them”?
If Christian Scientists were teaching or practising
30 pharmacy or obstetrics according to the common theo-
ries, no denunciations would follow them, even if their
treatment resulted in the death of a patient. The people
PAGE 343
1 are taught in such cases to say, Amen. Shall I then be
smitten for healing and for teaching Truth as the Prin-
3 ciple of healing, and for proving my word by my deed?
James said: “Show me thy faith without thy works, and
I will show thee my faith by my works.”
Personal experience
6 Is not finite mind ignorant of God’s method? This
makes it doubly unfair to impugn and misrepresent the
facts, although, without this cross-bearing,
9 one might not be able to say with the apostle,
“None of these things move me.” The sick, the halt,
and the blind look up to Christian Science with blessings,
12 and Truth will not be forever hidden by unjust parody
from the quickened sense of the people.
Proof from miracles
Jesus strips all disguise from error, when his teachings
15 are fully understood. By parable and argument he ex-
plains the impossibility of good producing evil;
and he also scientifically demonstrates this great
18 fact, proving by what are wrongly called miracles, that
sin, sickness, and death are beliefs – illusive errors –
which he could and did destroy.
21 It would sometimes seem as if truth were rejected be-
cause meekness and spirituality are the conditions of its
acceptance, while Christendom generally demands so
24 much less.
Example of the disciples
Anciently those apostles who were Jesus’ students,
as well as Paul who was not one of his students, healed
27 the sick and reformed the sinner by their
religion. Hence the mistake which allows
words, rather than works, to follow such examples!
30 Whoever is the first meekly and conscientiously to press
along the line of gospel-healing, is often accounted a
heretic.
PAGE 344
Strong position
1 It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God
as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be His
3 idea, – that is, His image. It should be
added that this is claimed to represent the
normal, healthful, and sinless condition of man in divine
6 Science, and that this claim is made because the Scrip-
tures say that God has created man in His own image
and after His likeness. Is it sacrilegious to assume that
9 God’s likeness is not found in matter, sin, sickness, and
death?
Efficacy may be attested
Were it more fully understood that Truth heals and
12 that error causes disease, the opponents of a demonstrable
Science would perhaps mercifully withhold
their misrepresentations, which harm the sick;
15 and until the enemies of Christian Science test its efficacy
according to the rules which disclose its merits or de-
merits, it would be just to observe the Scriptural precept,
18 “Judge not.”
The one divine method
There are various methods of treating disease, which
are not included in the commonly accepted systems; but
21 there is only one which should be presented
to the whole world, and that is the Christian
Science which Jesus preached and practised and left to us
24 as his rich legacy.
Why should one refuse to investigate this method
of treating disease? Why support the popular systems
27 of medicine, when the physician may perchance be an
infidel and may lose ninety-and-nine patients, while
Christian Science cures its hundred? Is it because
30 allopathy and homoeopathy are more fashionable and
less spiritual?
Omnipotence set forth
In the Bible the word Spirit is so commonly applied
PAGE 345
1 to Deity, that Spirit and God are often regarded as syn-
onymous terms; and it is thus they are uniformly used
3 and understood in Christian Science. As it
is evident that the likeness of Spirit cannot be
material, does it not follow that God cannot be in His
6 unlikeness and work through drugs to heal the sick?
When the omnipotence of God is preached and His ab-
soluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the
9 sick.
Contradictions not found
It is sometimes said, in criticising Christian Science,
that the mind which contradicts itself neither knows
12 itself nor what it is saying. It is indeed no
small matter to know one’s self; but in this
volume of mine there are no contradictory
15 statements, – at least none which are apparent to those
who understand its propositions well enough to pass
judgment upon them. One who understands Christian
18 Science can heal the sick on the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science, and this practical proof is the only feasible
evidence that one does understand this Science.
21 Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity be-
tween God’s idea and poor humanity, ought to be able
to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science)
24 between God’s man, made in His image, and the sinning
race of Adam.
The apostle says: “For if a man think himself to be
27 something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
This thought of human, material nothingness, which
Science inculcates, enrages the carnal mind and is the
30 main cause of the carnal mind’s antagonism.
God’s idea the ideal man
It is not the purpose of Christian Science to “educate
the idea of God, or treat it for disease,” as is alleged
PAGE 346
1 by one critic. I regret that such criticism confounds man
with Adam. When man is spoken of as made in God’s
3 image, it is not sinful and sickly mortal man
who is referred to, but the ideal man, reflecting
God’s likeness.
Nothingness of error
6 It is sometimes said that Christian Science teaches the
nothingness of sin, sickness, and death, and then teaches
how this nothingness is to be saved and healed.
9 The nothingness of nothing is plain; but we
need to understand that error is nothing, and that its
nothingness is not saved, but must be demonstrated in
12 order to prove the somethingness – yea, the allness –
of Truth. It is self-evident that we are harmonious only
as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer
15 from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error,
and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are no
vacuums. How then can this demonstration be “fraught
18 with falsities painful to behold”?
Truth antidotes error
We treat error through the understanding of Truth,
because Truth is error’s antidote. If a dream ceases, it
21 is self-destroyed, and the terror is over. When
a sufferer is convinced that there is no reality
in his belief of pain, – because matter has no sensation,
24 hence pain in matter is a false belief, – how can he suffer
longer? Do you feel the pain of tooth-pulling, when you
believe that nitrous-oxide gas has made you unconscious?
27 Yet, in your concept, the tooth, the operation, and the
forceps are unchanged.
Serving two masters
Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for
30 spiritual understanding. We cannot serve both
God and mammon at the same time; but is
not this what frail mortals are trying to do? Paul says:
PAGE 347
1 “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh.” Who is ready to admit this?
3 It is said by one critic, that to verify this wonderful
philosophy Christian Science declares that whatever is
mortal or discordant has no origin, existence, nor real-
6 ness. Nothing really has Life but God, who is infinite
Life; hence all is Life, and death has no dominion. This
writer infers that if anything needs to be doctored, it
9 must be the one God, or Mind. Had he stated his syllo-
gism correctly, the conclusion would be that there is noth-
ing left to be doctored.
Essential element of Christianity
12 Critics should consider that the so-called mortal man
is not the reality of man. Then they would behold the
signs of Christ’s coming. Christ, as the spir-
15 itual or true idea of God, comes now as of
old, preaching the gospel to the poor, heal-
ing the sick, and casting out evils. Is it error which
18 is restoring an essential element of Christianity, –
namely, apostolic, divine healing? No; it is the Science
of Christianity which is restoring it, and is the light
21 shining in darkness, which the darkness comprehends
not.
If Christian Science takes away the popular gods, –
24 sin, sickness, and death, – it is Christ, Truth, who de-
stroys these evils, and so proves their nothingness.
The dream that matter and error are something
27 must yield to reason and revelation. Then mortals
will behold the nothingness of sickness and sin, and
sin and sickness will disappear from consciousness.
30 The harmonious will appear real, and the inharmo-
nious unreal. These critics will then see that error
is indeed the nothingness, which they chide us for
PAGE 348
1 naming nothing and which we desire neither to honor
nor to fear.
3 Medical theories virtually admit the nothingness of
hallucinations, even while treating them as disease; and
who objects to this? Ought we not, then, to approve
6 any cure, which is effected by making the disease appear
to be – what it really is – an illusion?
All disease a delusion
Here is the difficulty: it is not generally understood how
9 one disease can be just as much a delusion as another. It
is a pity that the medical faculty and clergy
have not learned this, for Jesus established
12 this foundational fact, when devils, delusions, were cast
out and the dumb spake.
Elimination of sickness
Are we irreverent towards sin, or imputing too much
15 power to God, when we ascribe to Him almighty Life
and Love? I deny His cooperation with evil,
because I desire to have no faith in evil or in
18 any power but God, good. Is it not well to eliminate from
so-called mortal mind that which, so long as it remains in
mortal mind, will show itself in forms of sin, sickness, and
21 death? Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed
rights of disease, while complaining of the suffering, dis-
ease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defence,
24 especially when by so doing our own condition can be im-
proved and that of other persons as well?
Full fruitage yet to come
I have never supposed the world would immediately
27 witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin,
disease, and death would not be believed for
an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that,
30 as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and
temperance have received all impulse, health has been
restored, and longevity increased. If such are the pres-
PAGE 349
1 ent fruits, what will the harvest be, when this Science is
more generally understood?
Law and gospel
3 As Paul asked of the unfaithful in ancient days, so
the rabbis of the present day ask concerning our heal-
ing and teaching, “Through breaking the law,
6 dishonorest thou God?” We have the gospel,
however, and our Master annulled material law by heal-
ing contrary to it. We propose to follow the Master’s
9 example. We should subordinate material law to spirit-
ual law. Two essential points of Christian Science are,
that neither Life nor man dies, and that God is not the
12 author of sickness.
Language inadequate
The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine
Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like
15 all other languages, English is inadequate to
the expression of spiritual conceptions and
propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms
18 in dealing with spiritual ideas. The elucidation of Chris-
tian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must
be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of
21 this Science. Out of this condition grew the prophecy
concerning the Christian apostles, “They shall speak with
new tongues.”
24 Speaking of the things of Spirit while dwelling on
a material plane, material terms must be generally em-
ployed. Mortal thought does not at once catch the
27 higher meaning, and can do so only as thought is edu-
cated up to spiritual apprehension. To a certain extent
this is equally true of all learning, even that which is
30 wholly material.
Substance spiritual
In Christian Science, substance is understood to be
Spirit, while the opponents of Christian Science believe
PAGE 350
1 substance to be matter. They think of matter as some-
thing and almost the only thing, and of the things which
3 pertain to Spirit as next to nothing, or as very
far removed from daily experience. Christian
Science takes exactly the opposite view.
Both words and works
6 To understand all our Master’s sayings as recorded
in the New Testament, sayings infinitely important,
his followers must grow into that stature of
9 manhood in Christ Jesus which enables them
to interpret his spiritual meaning. Then they know
how Truth casts out error and heals the sick. His
12 words were the offspring of his deeds, both of which
must be understood. Unless the works are com-
prehended which his words explained, the words are
15 blind.
The Master often refused to explain his words, because
it was difficult in a material age to apprehend spiritual
18 Truth. He said: “This people’s heart is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
21 eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
heal them.”
The divine life-link
24 “The Word was made flesh.” Divine Truth must be
known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind,
before the Science of being can be demon-
27 strated. Hence its embodiment in the incar-
nate Jesus, – that life-link forming the connection through
which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and
30 Truth destroys error.
Truth a present help
In Jewish worship the Word was materially explained,
and the spiritual sense was scarcely perceived. The
PAGE 351
1 religion which sprang from half-hidden Israelitish history
was pedantic and void of healing power. When we lose
3 faith in God’s power to heal, we distrust the
divine Principle which demonstrates Christian
Science, and then we cannot heal the sick. Neither can
6 we heal through the help of Spirit, if we plant ourselves
on a material basis.
The author became a member of the orthodox Con-
9 gregational Church in early years. Later she learned
that her own prayers failed to heal her as did the prayers
of her devout parents and the church; but when the
12 spiritual sense of the creed was discerned in the Science
of Christianity, this spiritual sense was a present help. It
was the living, palpitating presence of Christ, Truth, which
15 healed the sick.
Fatal premises
We cannot bring out the practical proof of Christianity,
which Jesus required, while error seems as potent and
18 real to us as Truth, and while we make a per-
sonal devil and an anthropomorphic God our
starting-points, – especially if we consider Satan as a
21 being coequal in power with Deity, if not superior to Him.
Because such starting-points are neither spiritual nor
scientific, they cannot work out the Spirit-rule of Christian
24 healing, which proves the nothingness of error, discord,
by demonstrating the all-inclusiveness of harmonious
Truth.
Fruitless worship
27 The Israelites centred their thoughts on the material
in their attempted worship of the spiritual. To them
matter was substance, and Spirit was shadow.
30 They thought to worship Spirit from a ma-
terial standpoint, but this was impossible. They might
appeal to Jehovah, but their prayer brought down no
PAGE 352
1 proof that it was heard, because they did not sufficiently
understand God to be able to demonstrate His power
3 to heal, – to make harmony the reality and discord the
unreality.
Spirit the tangible
Our Master declared that his material body was not
6 spirit, evidently considering it a mortal and material be-
lief of flesh and bones, whereas the Jews took
a diametrically opposite view. To Jesus, not
9 materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man’s ex-
istence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangi-
ble and uncertain, if not the unreal.
Ghosts not realities
12 Would a mother say to her child, who is frightened at
imaginary ghosts and sick in consequence of the fear:
“I know that ghosts are real. They exist,
15 and are to be feared; but you must not be
afraid of them”?
Children, like adults, ought to fear a reality which
18 can harm them and which they do not understand, for
at any moment they may become its helpless victims;
but instead of increasing children’s fears by declaring
21 ghosts to be real, merciless, and powerful, thus water-
ing the very roots of childish timidity, children should
be assured that their fears are groundless, that ghosts
24 are not realities, but traditional beliefs, erroneous and
man-made.
In short, children should be told not to believe in ghosts,
27 because there are no such things. If belief in their reality
is destroyed, terror of ghosts will depart and health be re-
stored. The objects of alarm will then vanish into noth-
30 ingness, no longer seeming worthy of fear or honor. To
accomplish a good result, it is certainly not irrational to
tell the truth about ghosts.
PAGE 353
The real and the unreal
1 The Christianly scientific real is the sensuous unreal.
Sin, disease, whatever seems real to material sense, is un-
3 real in divine Science. The physical senses
and Science have ever been antagonistic, and
they will so continue, till the testimony of the physical
6 senses yields entirely to Christian Science.
How can a Christian, having the stronger evidence of
Truth which contradicts the evidence of error, think of
9 the latter as real or true, either in the form of sickness or
of sin? All must admit that Christ is “the way, the
truth, and the life,” and that omnipotent Truth certainly
12 does destroy error.
Superstition obsolete
The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly
beliefs. It still holds them more or less. Time has not
15 yet reached eternity, immortality, complete
reality. All the real is eternal. Perfection
underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly
18 real. All things will continue to disappear, until per-
fection appears and reality is reached. We must give up
the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit
21 the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up
all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error
is not real, we shall be ready for progress, “forgetting
24 those things which are behind.”
The grave does not banish the ghost of materiality.
So long as there are supposed limits to Mind, and those
27 limits are human, so long will ghosts seem to continue.
Mind is limitless. It never was material. The true idea
of being is spiritual and immortal, and from this it follows
30 that whatever is laid off is the ghost, some unreal belief.
Mortal beliefs can neither demonstrate Christianity nor
apprehend the reality of Life.
PAGE 354
Christian warfare
1 Are the protests of Christian Science against the notion
that there can be material life, substance, or mind “utter
3 falsities and absurdities,” as some aver? Why
then do Christians try to obey the Scriptures
and war against “the world, the flesh, and the devil”?
6 Why do they invoke the divine aid to enable them to leave
all for Christ, Truth? Why do they use this phraseology,
and yet deny Christian Science, when it teaches precisely
9 this thought? The words of divine Science find their
immortality in deeds, for their Principle heals the sick
and spiritualizes humanity.
Healing omitted
12 On the other hand, the Christian opponents of Chris-
tian Science neither give nor offer any proofs that their
Master’s religion can heal the sick. Surely
15 it is not enough to cleave to barren and desul-
tory dogmas, derived from the traditions of the elders who
thereunto have set their seals.
Scientific consistency
18 Consistency is seen in example more than in precept.
Inconsistency is shown by words without deeds, which
are like clouds without rain. If our words
21 fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that
weakness, and out of the mouth of babes He will perfect
praise. The night of materiality is far spent, and with
24 the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and
to speak the new tongue.
Sin should become unreal to every one. It is in itself
27 inconsistent, a divided kingdom. Its supposed realism
has no divine authority, and I rejoice in the apprehension
of this grand verity.
Spiritual meaning
30 The opponents of divine Science must be
charitable, if they would be Christian. If the
letter of Christian Science appears inconsistent, they should
PAGE 355
1 gain the spiritual meaning of Christian Science, and then
the ambiguity will vanish.
Practical arguments
3 The charge of inconsistency in Christianly scientific
methods of dealing with sin and disease is met by some-
thing practical, – namely, the proof of the
6 utility of these methods; and proofs are better
than mere verbal arguments or prayers which evince no
spiritual power to heal.
9 As for sin and disease, Christian Science says, in the
language of the Master, “Follow me; and let the dead
bury their dead.” Let discord of every name and nature
12 be heard no more, and let the harmonious and true sense
of Life and being take possession of human consciousness.
What is the relative value of the two conflicting the-
15 ories regarding Christian healing? One, according to
the commands of our Master, heals the sick. The other,
popular religion, declines to admit that Christ’s religion
18 has exercised any systematic healing power since the first
century.
Conditions of criticism
The statement that the teachings of Christian Sci-
21 ence in this work are “absolutely false, and the most
egregious fallacies ever offered for accept-
ance,” is an opinion wholly due to a misap-
24 prehension both of the divine Principle and practice of
Christian Science and to a consequent inability to demon-
strate this Science. Without this understanding, no one
27 is capable of impartial or correct criticism, because demon-
stration and spiritual understanding are God’s immortal
keynotes, proved to be such by our Master and evidenced
30 by the sick who are cured and by the sinners who are
reformed.
Weakness of material theories
Strangely enough, we ask for material theories in sup-
PAGE 356
1 port of spiritual and eternal truths, when the two are so
antagonistic that the material thought must become spir-
3 itualized before the spiritual fact is attained.
So-called material existence affords no evidence
theories of spiritual existence and immortality. Sin,
6 sickness, and death do not prove man’s entity or immor-
tality. Discord can never establish the facts of harmony.
Matter is not the vestibule of Spirit.
Irreconciliable differences
9 Jesus reasoned on this subject practically, and con-
trolled sickness, sin, and death on the basis of his spir-
ituality. Understanding the nothingness of
12 material things, he spoke of flesh and Spirit
as the two opposites, – as error and Truth, not contrib-
uting in any way to each other’s happiness and existence.
15 Jesus knew, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing.”
Copartnership impossible
There is neither a present nor an eternal copartner-
18 ship between error and Truth, between flesh and Spirit.
God is as incapable of producing sin, sick-
ness, and death as He is of experiencing these
21 errors. How then is it possible for Him to create man
subject to this triad of errors, – man who is made in the
divine likeness?
24 Does God create a material man out of Himself, Spirit?
Does evil proceed from good? Does divine Love com-
mit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin,
27 and then punishing him for it? Would any one call it
wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its
derivative?
Two infinite creators absurd
30 Does subsequent follow its antecedent? It does.
Was there original self-creative sin? Then there must
have been more than one creator, more than one God.
PAGE 357
1 In common justice, we must admit that God will not
punish man for doing what He created man
3 capable of doing, and knew from the outset
that man would do. God is “of purer eyes
than to behold evil.” We sustain Truth, not by accept-
6 ing, but by rejecting a lie.
Jesus said of personified evil, that it was “a liar, and
the father of it.” Truth creates neither a lie, a capacity
9 to lie, nor a liar. If mankind would relinquish the belief
that God makes sickness, sin, and death, or makes man
capable of suffering on account of this malevolent triad,
12 the foundations of error would be sapped and error’s de-
struction ensured; but if we theoretically endow mortals
with the creativeness and authority of Deity, how dare we
15 attempt to destroy what He hath made, or even to deny
that God made man evil and made evil good?
Anthropomorphism
History teaches that the popular and false notions
18 about the Divine Being and character have originated
in the human mind. As there is in reality but
one God, one Mind, wrong notions about God
21 must have originated in a false supposition, not in im-
mortal Truth, and they are fading out. They are false
claims, which will eventually disappear, according to the
24 vision of St. John in the Apocalypse.
One supremacy
If what opposes God is real, there must be two
powers, and God is not supreme and infinite. Can
27 Deity be almighty, if another mighty and
self-creative cause exists and sways man-
kind? Has the Father “Life in Himself,” as the Scrip-
30 tures say, and, if so, can Life, or God, dwell in evil and
create it? Can matter drive Life, Spirit, hence, and so
defeat omnipotence?
PAGE 358
Matter impotent
1 Is the woodman’s axe, which destroys a tree’s so-called
life, superior to omnipotence? Can a leaden bullet de-
3 prive a man of Life, – that is, of God, who is
man’s Life? If God is at the mercy of matter,
then matter is omnipotent. Such doctrines are “confu-
6 sion worse confounded.” If two statements directly con-
7 tradict each other and one is true, the other must be false.
Is Science thus contradictory?
Scientific and Biblical facts
9 Christian Science, understood, coincides with the
Scriptures, and sustains logically and demonstratively
every point it presents. Otherwise it would
12 not be Science, and could not present its
proofs. Christian Science is neither made up of contra-
dictory aphorisms nor of the inventions of those who scoff
15 at God. It presents the calm and clear verdict of Truth
against error, uttered and illustrated by the prophets,
by Jesus, by his apostles, as is recorded throughout the
18 Scriptures.
Why are the words of Jesus more frequently cited
for our instruction than are his remarkable works? Is
21 it not because there are few who have gained a true
knowledge of the great import to Christianity of those
works?
Personal confidence
24 Sometimes it is said; “Rest assured that whatever
effect Christian Scientists may have on the sick, comes
through rousing within the sick a belief
27 that in the removal of disease these healers
have wonderful power, derived from the Holy Ghost.”
Is it likely that church-members have more faith in
30 some Christian Scientist, whom they have perhaps
never seen and against whom they have been warned,
than they have in their own accredited and orthodox
PAGE 359
1 pastors, whom they have seen and have been taught
to love and to trust?
3 Let any clergyman try to cure his friends by their
faith in him. Will that faith heal them? Yet Scien-
tists will take the same cases, and cures will follow.
6 Is this because the patients have more faith in the Scien-
tist than in their pastor? I have healed infidels whose
only objection to this method was, that I as a Chris-
9 tian Scientist believed in the Holy Spirit, while they, the
patients, did not.
Even though you aver that the material senses are
12 indispensable to man’s existence or entity, you must
change the human concept of life, and must at length
know yourself spiritually and scientifically. The evi-
15 dence of the existence of Spirit, Soul, is palpable only to
spiritual sense, and is not apparent to the material senses,
which cognize only that which is the opposite of Spirit.
18 True Christianity is to be honored wherever found,
but when shall we arrive at the goal which that word
implies? From Puritan parents, the discov-
21 erer of Christian Science early received her
religious education. In childhood, she often listened
with joy to these words, falling from the lips of her
24 saintly mother, “God is able to raise you up from sick-
ness;” and she pondered the meaning of that Scripture
she so often quotes: “And these signs shall follow them
27 that believe; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover.”
Two different artists
A Christian Scientist and an opponent are like two
30 artists. One says: “I have spiritual ideals,
indestructible and glorious. When others see
them as I do, in their true light and loveliness, – and
PAGE 360
1 know that these ideals are real and eternal because drawn
from Truth, – they will find that nothing is lost, and all
3 is won, by a right estimate of what is real.”
The other artist replies: “You wrong my experience.
I have no mind-ideals except those which are both mental
6 and material. It is true that materiality renders these
ideals imperfect and destructible; yet I would not ex-
change mine for thine, for mine give me such personal
9 pleasure, and they are not so shockingly transcendental.
They require less self-abnegation, and keep Soul well out
of sight. Moreover, I have no notion of losing my old
12 doctrines or human opinions.”
Choose ye to-day
Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought
shall be real to you, – the material or the spiritual?
15 Both you cannot have. You are bringing out
your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal
or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you
18 try to have two models, then you practically have none.
Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and
forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the
21 real and the unreal.
Hear the wisdom of Job, as given in the excellent trans-
lation of the late Rev. George R. Noyes, D.D.: –
24 Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall man be more pure than his Maker?
Behold, He putteth no trust in His ministering spirits,
27 And His angels He chargeth with frailty.
Of old, the Jews put to death the Galilean Prophet,
the best Christian on earth, for the truth he spoke and
30 demonstrated, while to-day, Jew and Christian can unite
in doctrine and denomination on the very basis of Jesus’
words and works. The Jew believes that the Messiah or
PAGE 361
1 Christ has not yet come; the Christian believes that
Christ is God. Here Christian Science intervenes, ex-
3 plains these doctrinal points, cancels the disagreement,
and settles the question. Christ, as the true spiritual idea,
is the ideal of God now and forever, here and everywhere.
6 The Jew who believes in the First Commandment is a
monotheist; he has one omnipresent God. Thus the Jew
unites with the Christian’s doctrine that God is come and
9 is present now and forever. The Christian who believes
in the First Commandment is a monotheist. This he
virtually unites with the Jew’s belief in one God, and
12 recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself
declared, but is the Son of God. This declaration of
Jesus, understood, conflicts not at all with another of his
15 sayings: “I and my Father are one,” – that is, one in
quality, not in quantity. As a drop of water is one with
the ocean, a ray of light one with the, sun, even so God
18 and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scrip-
ture reads: “For in Him we live, and move, and have
our being.”
21 I have revised Science and Health only to give a
clearer and fuller expression of its original meaning. Spir-
itual ideas unfold as we advance. A human perception of
24 divine Science, however limited, must be correct in order
to be Science and subject to demonstration. A germ of in-
finite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven is the
27 higher hope on earth, but it will be rejected and reviled
until God prepares the soil for the seed. That which
when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches mankind only
30 when it is understood, – hence the many readings given
the Scriptures, and the requisite revisions of Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures.