Phenomena explained
Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman-
ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences,
86:27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and
memory as readily as from objects cognizable
by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as
86:30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and
sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed
before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it
87:1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive
these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce
87:3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind
in which they are discoverable.
Mental environment
It is needless for the thought or for the person hold-
87:6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con-
sciously present. Though individuals have
passed away, their mental environment re-
87:9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though
bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten,
their associations float in the general atmosphere of human
87:12 mind.
Second sight
The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when
really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents
87:15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables
one to read the human mind, but not as a
clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but
87:18 not as a mesmerist.
Buried secrets
The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its
rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns,
87:21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships
that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which
lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not
87:24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do
not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The
strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend-
87:27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind-
readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions.
Recollected friends
Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We
87:30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise
before us, which are thousands of miles away
or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and
88:1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can
recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the
88:3 heart's desire, -
the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still.
88:6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent salutes the nostrils.
Illusions not ideas
88:9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il-
lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are
emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts,
88:12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are
offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be-
liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs
88:15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one
time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another
are called spirits.
88:18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea;
but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood
through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven-
88:21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests
profound adoration. Excite the opposite development,
and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro-
88:24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena,
for both arise from mortal belief.
Trance speaking illusion
Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love.
88:27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows
the possibilities derived from divine Mind,
though it is said to be a gift whose endowment
88:30 is obtained from books or received from the
impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds
from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who
89:1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know-
ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the
89:3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno-
rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through
her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav-
89:6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing
that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she
talks freely.
89:9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence
disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She
says, " I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un-
89:12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip-
tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart,
so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with-
89:15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds
to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before
was eloquent.
Scientific improvisation
89:18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational
processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry,
and the power of expressing them. Spirit,
89:21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We
are all capable of more than we do. The influence or
action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe-
89:24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.
Divine origination
Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is
not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of
89:27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain
very naturally concluded that if life was in the
body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away.
89:30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was
"a murderer from the beginning."
If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to
90:1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another,
how then can we account for their primal origin? How
90:3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of
Galilee, - and that, too, without meal or monad from
which loaf or fish could come?
Mind is substance
90:6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the
equator are not substance. The earth's motion and
position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest
90:9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub-
stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now
possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally
90:12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized
as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now
some insist that death is the necessary prelude to
90:15 immortality.
Mortal delusions
In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend.
The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed
90:18 inhabitant of that body carries it through
the air and over the ocean. This shows the
possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men-
90:21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay
in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and
knowledge are.
Scientific finalities
90:24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like-
ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con-
viction shuts the door on death, and opens it
90:27 wide towards immortality. The understanding
and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may
as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being
90:30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present
we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know
this when man reflects God.
91:1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a
new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and
91:3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme
wisdom?
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated
91:6 from God, and obey only the divine principle, Life and
Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true
spiritual growth.
Man's genuine being
91:9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science,
because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner
error is reduced to its native nothingness, the
91:12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his
genuine being will be understood. The destruction of
error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but
91:15 is the acknowledgment of them.
Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect
but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of
91:18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit-
ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous
knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed
91:21 the material senses.
Erroneous postulates
Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered
in order that the spiritual facts may be better
91:24 apprehended.
The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance,
life, and intelligence are something apart from God.
91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both
mental and material.
The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil
91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the
medium of evil, for Mind is God.
The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in-
92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part
of himself.
92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in
itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not
only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also
92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion
implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of
mortal bodies in what is termed death.
92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power
of sinning now and forever.
Knowledge of good and evil
In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around
92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve.
This represents the serpent in the act of
commending to our first parents the knowl-
92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter,
or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still
graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor-
92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth
of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of
material sense.
Opposing power
92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until
the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness -
appears, the moral demand will not be met,
92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will
be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is
only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support
two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
the superiority of error.
The age's privilege
Do you say the time has not yet come in which to
93:1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the
body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries
93:3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said,
"He that believeth on me, the works that I
do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour
93:6 cometh, and /now is/, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold,
/now/ is the accepted time; behold, /now/ is the day of sal-
93:9 vation," said Paul.
Logic and revelation
Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe
otherwise, we may be sure that either our
93:12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted
revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught
that can cause evil.
93:15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing
evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of
creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in-
93:18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the
divine /Esse/, though human faith may clothe it with angelic
vestments, is without foundation.
Derivatives of spirit
93:21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has
darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a
proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being.
93:24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex-
clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word
/spirit/ refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual.
93:27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men
would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal,
and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi-
93:30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to
becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and
of the reign of harmony in the Science of being.
Scientific man
94:1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man
in the image and likeness of Himself, - of Spirit, not of
94:3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and
Love. The nature of man, thus understood,
includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and
94:6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian
and scientific statement of personality and of the relation
of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa-
94:9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him,
crucify him . . . by our law he ought to die, because he
made himself the Son of God."
94:12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov-
ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent.
Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found,
94:15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the
pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.
Ingratitude and denial
The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our
94:18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing-
power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be-
trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten
94:21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God
thanks, - that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle
which had healed him.
Spiritual insight
94:24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and
this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts
aright; but what would be said at this period of an in-
94:27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in-
cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind
on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind.
94:30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual
growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one
Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading.
95:1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save,
and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal
95:3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra-
duced by the sinners of that period, as they
would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul
95:6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach
God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel-
ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all
95:9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the
sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.
Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.
95:12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good-
ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The
greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern
95:15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit-
uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance,
but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the
95:18 special characteristics thereof.
Christ's reappearance
We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end
of error, because even human invention must have its
95:21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded
by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid-
night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid
95:24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship
of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he
beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn
95:27 and describes its effulgence?
Spiritual awakening
Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep
in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.
95:30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of
existence; but spiritual sense lifts human
consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances
96:1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding;
unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen-
96:3 dom with chains.
The darkest hours of all
Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir-
itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error
96:6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup-
tions of the general material routine. Earth
will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter,
96:9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will
continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of
all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."
Arena of contest
96:12 This material world is even now becoming the arena
for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord
and dismay; on the other side there will be
96:15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-
rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want
and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new
96:18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-
ances will continue until the end of error, when all
discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
96:21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization.
This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue
until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is
96:24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.
Millennial glory
As this consummation draws nearer, he who has
shaped his course in accordance with divine Science
96:27 will endure to the end. As material knowl-
edge diminishes and spiritual understanding
increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally
96:30 instead of materially.
During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor
to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but
97:1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in
check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They
97:3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the
certainty of ultimate perfection.
Dangerous resemblances
In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and
97:6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the
more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac-
cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce
97:9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science
the flight of one and the blow of the other will become
harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the
97:12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches
its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The
nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing
97:15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine
Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes
for destruction. The more material the belief, the more
97:18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do-
main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like-
ness of Spirit, his original being.
97:21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against
themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It
requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth
97:24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in-
articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.
"He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip-
97:27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the
supremacy of Spirit.
Christianity still rejected
Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is
97:30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos-
tolic work of casting out error and healing the
sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which
98:1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom-
pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex-
98:3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.
Spiritual foreshadowings
The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon
the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris-
98:6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error,
and no other sign shall be given. Body can-
not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris-
98:9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the
healing influence of Spirit (not /spirits/) which the material
senses cannot comprehend, which can only be spiritu-
98:12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses
do not express Christian Science; much less can they
demonstrate it.
Revelation of Science
98:15 Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the
loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian
Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical
98:18 Science. It is imperious throughout all ages
as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which
remains inviolate for every man to understand and to
98:21 practise.
Science as foreign to all religion
For centuries - yea, always - natural science has not
been considered a part of any religion, Christianity not
98:24 excepted. Even now multitudes consider that
which they call /science/ has no proper con-
nection with faith and piety. Mystery does
98:27 not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theo-
retical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and
being practical and complete, they are not deprived of
98:30 their essential vitality.
Key to the kingdom
The way through which immortality and life are learned
is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine,
99:1 not physical but metaphysical, not material but scien-
tifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and super-
99:3 stition afford no demonstrable divine Principle
by which mortals can escape from sin; yet
to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work
99:6 out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says
the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
99:9 pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished
the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Sci-
ence has opened the door of the human understanding.
99:12 None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door.
The ordinary teachings are material and not spiritual.
Christian Science teaches only that which is spiritual and
99:15 divine, and not human. Christian Science is unerring
and Divine; the human sense of things errs because it
is human.
99:18 Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism,
or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others
who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is
99:21 not with the individual, but with the false system. I
love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure.
The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the
99:24 manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-
immolation, must deepen human experience, until the
beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposi-
99:27 tion, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place
to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to
God's spiritual, perfect man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.
- JESUS.
Earliest investigations
100:1 MESMERISM or animal magnetism was first brought
into notice by Mesmer in Germany in 1775. Ac-
100:3 cording to the American Cyclopaedia, he regarded this
so-called force, which he said could be ex-
erted by one living organism over another, as
100:6 a means of alleviating disease. His propositions were
as follows:
"There exists a mutual influence between the celestial
100:9 bodies, the earth, and animated things. Animal bodies
are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminat-
ing itself through the substance of the nerves."
100:12 In 1784, the French government ordered the medical
faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory and to
report upon it. Under this order a commission was
100:15 appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the com-
missioners. This commission reported to the govern-
ment as follows:
100:18 "In regard to the existence and utility of animal mag-
netism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that
there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic
101:1 fluid; that the violent effects, which are observed in
the public practice of magnetism, are due to manipula-
101:3 tions, or to the excitement of the imagination and the
impressions made upon the senses; and that there is one
more fact to be recorded in the history of the errors of
101:6 the human mind, and an important experiment upon
the power of the imagination."
Clairvoyance, magnetism
In 1837, a committee of nine persons was appointed,
101:9 among whom were Roux, Bouillaud, and Clo-
quet, which tested during several sessions the
phenomena exhibited by a reputed clairvoyant. Their
101:12 report stated the results as follows:
"The facts which had been promised by Monsieur
Berna [the magnetizer] as conclusive, and as adapted to
101:15 throw light on physiological and therapeutical questions,
are certainly not conclusive in favor of the doctrine of
animal magnetism, and have nothing in common with
101:18 either physiology or therapeutics."
This report was adopted by the Royal Academy of
Medicine in Paris.
Personal conclusions
101:21 The author's own observations of the workings of
animal magnetism convince her that it is not
a remedial agent, and that its effects upon
101:24 those who practise it, and upon their subjects who do
not resist it, lead to moral and to physical death.
If animal magnetism seems to alleviate or to cure dis-
101:27 ease, this appearance is deceptive, since error cannot
remove the effects of error. Discomfort under error is
preferable to comfort. In no instance is the effect of
101:30 animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other
than the effect of illusion. Any seeming benefit derived
from it is proportional to one's faith in esoteric magic.
Mere negation
102:1 Animal magnetism has no scientific foundation, for
God governs all that is real, harmonious, and eternal, and
102:3 His power is neither animal nor human. Its
basis being a belief and this belief animal, in
Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism is
102:6 a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power,
nor reality, and in sense it is an unreal concept of the so-
called mortal mind.
102:9 There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The
pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-
embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind.
102:12 The planets have no more power over man than over
his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man,
reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth
102:15 and its hosts.
Hidden agents
The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappear-
ing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front.
102:18 The looms of crime, hidden in the dark re-
cesses of mortal thought, are every hour weav-
ing webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the
102:21 present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare
the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on
the subject which the criminal desires. The following
102:24 is an extract from the Boston Herald:
"Mesmerism is a problem not lending itself to an easy
explanation and development. It implies the exercise
102:27 of despotic control, and is much more likely to be abused
by its possessor, than otherwise employed, for the in-
dividual or society."
Mental despotism
102:30 Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-
called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian
Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently
103:1 promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore
in the community. The Apostle Paul refers to the
103:3 personification of evil as "the god of this
world," and further defines it as dishonesty
and craftiness. Sin was the Assyrian moon-god.
Liberation of mental powers
103:6 The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through
Science, by which man can escape from sin
and mortality, blesses the whole human fam-
103:9 ily. As in the beginning, however, this libera-
tion does not scientifically show itself in a knowledge of
both good and evil, for the latter is unreal.
103:12 On the other hand, Mind-science is wholly separate
from any half-way impertinent knowledge, because Mind-
science is of God and demonstrates the divine Principle,
103:15 working out the purposes of good only. The maximum
of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all.
Evil is a suppositional lie.
The genus of error
103:18 As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or
hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind.
It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and
103:21 is both evil and good; that evil is as real as
good and more powerful. This belief has not one qual-
ity of Truth. It is either ignorant or malicious. The
103:24 malicious form of hypnotism ultimates in moral idiocy.
The truths of immortal Mind sustain man, and they anni-
hilate the fables of mortal mind, whose flimsy and gaudy
103:27 pretensions, like silly moths, singe their own wings and
fall into dust.
Thought-transference
In reality there is no /mortal/ mind, and conse-
103:30 quently no transference of mortal thought
and will-power. Life and being are of
God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for
104:1 scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God
to man.
104:3 When Christian Science and animal magnetism are
both comprehended, as they will be at no distant date,
it will be seen why the author of this book has been
104:6 so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep's
clothing.
Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has
104:9 wisely said: "Every great scientific truth goes through
three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.
Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly,
104:12 they say they have always believed it."
Perfection of divine government
Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action,
and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of
104:15 all divine action, as the emanation of divine
Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the
opposite so-called action, - evil, occultism,
104:18 necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism.
Adulteration of Truth
The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty,
sensuality, falsehood, revenge, malice, are animal pro-
104:21 pensities and by no means the mental quali-
ties which heal the sick. The hypnotizer
employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sick-
104:24 ness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the
sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the
lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground,
104:27 leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the
stronger error.
Motives considered
Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as
104:30 well as the commission of a crime. Is it not
clear that the human mind must move the
body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the mur-
105:1 derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them,
could not commit a murder.
Mental crimes
105:3 Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order
to restrain crime, to prevent deeds of violence or to punish
them. To say that these tribunals have no
105:6 jurisdiction over the carnal or mortal mind,
would be to contradict precedent and to admit that the
power of human law is restricted to matter, while mortal
105:9 mind, evil, which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is
recommended to mercy. Can matter commit a crime?
Can matter be punished? Can you separate the men-
105:12 tality from the body over which courts hold jurisdiction?
Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case;
and human law rightly estimates crime, and courts rea-
105:15 sonably pass sentence, according to the motive.
Important decision
When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental
crime and no longer apply legal rulings wholly to physical
105:18 offences, these words of Judge Parmenter of
Boston will become historic: "I see no reason
why metaphysics is not as important to medicine as to
105:21 mechanics or mathematics."
Evil let loose
Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es-
caped felon to commit fresh atrocities as opportunity oc-
105:24 curs is never safe. God will arrest him. Di-
vine justice will manacle him. His sins will
be millstones about his neck, weighing him down to the
105:27 depths of ignominy and death. The aggravation of er-
ror foretells its doom, and confirms the ancient axiom:
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."
The misuse of mental power
105:30 The distance from ordinary medical prac-
tice to Christian Science is full many a league
in the line of light; but to go in healing from the use of
106:1 inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will-
power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood
106:3 into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free
course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against
the current running heavenward.
Proper self-government
106:6 Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration
of Independence. God has endowed man with inalien-
able rights, among which are self-government,
106:9 reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-
governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by
his Maker, divine Truth and Love.
106:12 Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in- terfered with, and the mental trespasser incurs the divine penalty due this crime.
Right methods
106:15 Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian
Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable
in Truth and known by their fruit, and classify
106:18 all others as did St. Paul in his great epistle
to the Galatians, when he wrote as follows:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
106:21 these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, /witchcraft/, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
106:24 revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But
106:27 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law."
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. - PAUL.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - JESUS.
Christian Science discovered
107:1 In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or
divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and
107:3 named my discovery Christian Science. God
had been graciously preparing me during many
years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab-
107:6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
Mission of Christian Science
This apodictical Principle points to the revelation of
Immanuel, "God with us," - the sovereign ever-pres-
107:9 ence, delivering the children of men from
every ill "that flesh is heir to." Through
Christian Science, religion and medicine are
107:12 inspired with a diviner nature and essence; fresh pinions
are given to faith and understanding, and thoughts ac-
quaint themselves intelligently with God.
Discontent with life
107:15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life
inheres in the body, yet remembering that in
reality God is our Life, we may well tremble
107:18 in the prospect of those days in which we must say, "I
have no pleasure in them."
108:1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, - a con-
viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses?
108:3 According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of
God given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me
108:6 the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-
sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity
of all material things; and that immortal cravings, "the
108:9 price of learning love," establish the truism that the
only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot
suffer.
Demonstrable evidence
108:12 My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence
of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty
and the lesser demonstration to prove the
108:15 greater, as the product of three multiplied by
three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times
three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, - not
108:18 a fraction more, not a unit less.
Light shining in darkness
When apparently near the confines of mortal existence,
standing already within the shadow of the death-valley,
108:21 I learned these truths in divine Science: that
all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and
that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-
108:24 present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin,
sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false
material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense
108:27 evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which
this same so-called mind names /matter/ thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit.
New lines of thought
108:30 My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed
/mind/ produces all the organism and action of
the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels,
109:1 and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that
Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in
109:3 Mind-science.
Scientific evidence
Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind
is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind
109:6 and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen
to be supported by sensible evidence, until its
divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and
109:9 thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen,
no other conclusion can be reached.
Solitary research
For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu-
109:12 tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip-
tures and read little else, kept aloof from so-
ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis-
109:15 covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and
buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew
the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God,
109:18 and that cures were produced in primitive Christian
healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the
Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute
109:21 conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem-
onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand-
ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine
109:24 power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the
prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled:
"Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be
109:27 called Wonderful."
Jesus once said of his lessons: "My doctrine is not
mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will,
109:30 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself." (John vii. 16,17.)
God's allness learned
The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni-
110:1 presence, omniscience, - Spirit possessing all power,
filling all space, constituting all Science, - contradict
110:3 forever the belief that matter can be actual.
These eternal verities reveal primeval exist-
ence as the radiant reality of God's creation,
110:6 in which all that He has made is pronounced by His wis-
dom good.
Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful
110:9 unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought
to light another glorious proposition, - man's perfecti-
bility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on
110:12 earth.
Scriptural foundations
In following these leadings of scientific revelation,
the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were
110:15 illumined; reason and revelation were recon-
ciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian
Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue
110:18 taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE
AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can over-
throw it. This book may be distorted by shallow criti-
110:21 cism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas
may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the
Science and truth therein will forever remain to be dis-
110:24 cerned and demonstrated.
The demonstration lost and found
Jesus demonstrated the power of Christian Science to
heal mortal minds and bodies. But this power was lost
110:27 sight of, and must again be spiritually dis-
cerned, taught, and demonstrated according
to Christ's command, with "signs following."
110:30 Its Science must be apprehended by as many as believe
on Christ and spiritually understand Truth.
Mystical antagonists
No analogy exists between the vague hypotheses of
111:1 agnosticism, pantheism, theosophy, spiritualism, or
millenarianism and the demonstrable truths of Chris-
111:3 tian Science; and I find the will, or sensuous
reason of the human mind, to be opposed to
the divine Mind as expressed through divine Science.
Optical illustration of Science
111:6 Christian Science is natural, but not physical. The
Science of God and man is no more supernatural than
is the science of numbers, though departing
111:9 from the realm of the physical, as the Science
of God, Spirit, must, some may deny its right to
the name of Science. The Principle of divine metaphysics
111:12 is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utiliza-
tion of the power of Truth over error; its rules demon-
strate its Science. Divine metaphysics reverses perverted
111:15 and physical hypotheses as to Deity, even as the ex-
planation of optics rejects the incidental or inverted
image and shows what this inverted image is meant to
111:18 represent.
Pertinent proposal
A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni-
versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science,
111:21 - an essay calculated to offset the tendency of
the age to attribute physical effects to physical
causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, - is one of
111:24 many incidents which show that Christian Science meets
a yearning of the human race for spirituality.
Confirmatory tests
After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its
111:27 demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi-
dent to me, - that Mind governs the body,
not partially but wholly. I submitted my
111:30 metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad-
est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually
gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien-
112:1 tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent
in medical practice.
One school of Truth
112:3 Is there more than one school of Christian Science?
Christian Science is demonstrable. There can, there-
fore, be but one method in its teaching. Those who de-
112:6 part from this method forfeit their claims to
belong to its school, and they become adher-
ents of the Socratic, the Platonic, the Spencerian, or some
112:9 other school. By this is meant that they adopt and ad-
here to some particular system of human opinions. Al-
though these opinions may have occasional gleams of
112:12 divinity, borrowed from that truly divine Science which
eschews man-made systems, they nevertheless remain
wholly human in their origin and tendency and are not
112:15 scientifically Christian.
Unchanging Principle
From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one
Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude
112:18 come spiritual rules, laws, and their demon-
stration, which, like the great Giver, are "the
same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" for thus are
112:21 the divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea charac-
terized in the epistle to the Hebrews.
On sandy foundations
Any theory of Christian Science, which departs from
112:24 what has already been stated and proved to be true, af-
fords no foundation upon which to establish
a genuine school of this Science. Also, if any
112:27 so-called new school claims to be Christian Science, and
yet uses another author's discoveries without giving that
author proper credit, such a school is erroneous, for it
112:30 inculcates a breach of that divine commandment in the
Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal."
Principle and practice
God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there
113:1 is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of
all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-
113:3 stration of this divine Principle. The letter
of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day,
but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part,
113:6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-
out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, -
pulseless, cold, inanimate.
Reversible propositions
113:9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics
are summarized in the four following, to me, /self-evident/
propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi-
113:12 tions will be found to agree in statement and
proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to
Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to
113:15 stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.
1. God is All-in-all.
2. God is good. Good is Mind.
113:18 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin,
disease. - Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo-
113:21 tent God, Life.
Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both
are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture,
113:24 I find that God is true, "but every [mortal] man a
liar."
Metaphysical inversions
The divine metaphysics of Christian Science, like the
113:27 method in mathematics, proves the rule by inversion.
For example: There is no pain in Truth, and
no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no
113:30 mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in mat-
ter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter
in good, and no good in matter.
Definition of mortal mind
114:1 Usage classes both evil and good together as /mind/;
therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sin-
114:3 ful humanity /mortal mind/, - meaning by this
term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human
mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or
114:6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition
of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses,
which makes minds many and calls /mind/ both human and
114:9 divine.
In Science, Mind is /one/, including noumenon and phe-
nomena, God and His thoughts.
Imperfect terminology
114:12 Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an
improper use of the word /mind/. As Mind is immortal,
the phrase /mortal mind/ implies something un-
114:15 true and therefore unreal; and as the phrase
is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to
designate that which has no real existence. Indeed, if
114:18 a better word or phrase could be suggested, it would
be used; but in expressing the new tongue we must
sometimes recur to the old and imperfect, and the new
114:21 wine of the Spirit has to be poured into the old bottles of
the letter.
Causation mental
Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men-
114:24 tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and
body. It shows the scientific relation of man
to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities
114:27 of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine
Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni-
ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed /mat-
114:30 ter/ is but the subjective state of what is termed by the
author /mortal mind/.
Philological inadequacy
Apart from the usual opposition to everything new,
115:1 the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual-
ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science
115:3 comes, is the inadequacy of material terms for
metaphysical statements, and the consequent
difficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make
115:6 them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person-
ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in
my discovery. Job says: "The ear trieth words, as the
115:9 mouth tasteth meat." The great difficulty is to give the
right impression, when translating material terms back
into the original spiritual tongue.
Divine synonyms
GOD: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love,
Soul, Spirit, Mind.
Divine image
115:15 MAN: God's spiritual idea, individual, per- fect, eternal.
Divine reflection
IDEA: An image in Mind; the immediate 115:18 object of understanding. - /Webster/.
/First Degree:/ Depravity.
Unreality
115:21 PHYSICAL. Evil beliefs, passions and appetites, fear,
depraved will, self-justification, pride, envy, de-
ceit, hatred, revenge, sin, sickness, disease,
115:24 death.
/Second Degree:/ Evil beliefs disappearing.
Transitional qualities
MORAL. Humanity, honesty, affection, com-
passion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance.
116:1 /Third Degree:/ Understanding.
Reality
SPIRITUAL. Wisdom, purity, spiritual understanding, 116:3 spiritual power, love, health, holiness.
Spiritual universe
In the third degree mortal mind disappears, and man as
God's image appears. Science so reverses the evidence
116:6 before the corporeal human senses, as to make
this Scriptural testimony true in our hearts,
"The last shall be first, and the first last," so that God
116:9 and His idea may be to us what divinity really is and
must of necessity be, - all-inclusive.
Aim of Science
A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta-
116:12 tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen.
Works on metaphysics leave the grand point
untouched. They never crown the power of
116:15 Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against
physical enemies, - even to the extinction of all belief in
matter, evil, disease, and death, - nor insist upon the fact
116:18 that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an
image in mortal mind.
Divine personality
Christian Science strongly emphasizes the thought that
116:21 God is not /corporeal/, but /incorporeal/, - that is,
bodiless. Mortals are corporeal, but God is
incorporeal.
116:24 As the words /person/ and /personal/ are commonly and
ignorantly employed, they often lead, when applied to
Deity, to confused and erroneous conceptions of divinity
116:27 and its distinction from humanity. If the term personality,
as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is
infinite /Person/, - in the sense of infinite personality, but
116:30 not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form
is an absolute impossibility.
117:1 The term /individuality/ is also open to objections, be-
cause an individual may be one of a series, one of many,
117:3 as an individual man, an individual horse; whereas God
is /One/, - not one of a series, but one alone and without
an equal.