Spiritual language
117:6 God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must
be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physi-
cal nature and significance to the Supreme
117:9 Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do
this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last
chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spir-
117:12 itual meaning of which is attained through "signs
following."
The miracles of Jesus
Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure lan-
117:15 guage of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by simili-
tudes and parables. As a divine student he
unfolded God to man, illustrating and demon-
117:18 strating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over
the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to
interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles
117:21 (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty,
crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the
flesh.
Opacity of the senses
117:24 Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates
solely to human reason; and because of opaci-
ty to the true light, human reason dimly re-
117:27 flects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth
is a revelation.
Leaven of Truth
Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the
117:30 Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-
fined as human doctrines. His parable of the
"leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures
118:1 of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ
118:3 and its spiritual interpretation, - an inference far above
the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the
illustration.
118:6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the
Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-
118:9 ble world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally
118:12 glorified in man's spiritual freedom.
The divine and human contrasted
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-
118:15 ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
finite power and grace. The parable may
import that these spiritual laws, perverted by
118:18 a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-
sented as three measures of meal, - that is, three modes
of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust
118:21 is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and
modes of material motion are honored with the name of
/laws/. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes
118:24 the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical
properties of meal.
Certain contradictions
The definitions of material law, as given by natural
118:27 science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against
itself, because these definitions portray law as
physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-
118:30 tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in
which nature and God are one and the natural order of
heaven comes down to earth.
Unescapable dilemma
119:1 When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,
that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we
119:3 cannot really endow matter with what it does
not and cannot possess, - we disown the Al-
mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They
119:6 either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product
of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-
119:9 sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-
ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other
horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of
119:12 matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-
ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their
source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-
119:15 ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural
law.
God and nature
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-
119:18 ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law-
giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
119:21 of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-
sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
119:24 of Spirit, God.
The sun and Soul
In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth
119:27 is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
omy reverses the human perception of the
movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-
119:30 verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it
120:1 seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never under-
stand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in
120:3 matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.
Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and
man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's
120:6 image.
Reversal of testimony
Science reverses the false testimony of the physical
senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda-
120:9 mental facts of being. Then the question in-
evitably arises: Is a man sick if the material
senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter
120:12 can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the
senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which
health is normal and disease is abnormal.
Health and the senses
120:15 Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor
can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the sub-
ject of health. The Science of Mind-healing
120:18 shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind
to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. There-
fore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testi-
120:21 mony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously
existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and
thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows
120:24 false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.
Any conclusion /pro/ or /con/, deduced from supposed sen-
sation in matter or from matter's supposed consciousness
120:27 of health or disease, instead of reversing the testimony of
the physical senses, confirms that testimony as legitimate
and so leads to disease.
Historic illustrations
120:30 When Columbus gave freer breath to the
globe, ignorance and superstition chained the
limbs of the brave old navigator, and disgrace and star-
121:1 vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-
121:3 ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields
121:6 were incorrectly explored.
Perennial beauty
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher
121:9 revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven
were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's
121:12 perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So
we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but
man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained
121:15 by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate
star - "a weary searcher for a viewless home."
Astronomic unfoldings
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical
121:18 eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead
of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked
by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this
121:21 false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-
duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often
to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple
121:24 rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the
central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,
and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides
121:27 turning daily on its own axis.
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-
121:30 tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and
is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting
government of the universe.
Opposing testimony
122:1 The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, -
122:3 assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and
death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-
derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false
122:6 witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, - the actual
reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-
versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-
122:9 teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;
yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary
to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such
122:12 as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,
from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status
of happiness or misery.
Testimony of the senses
122:15 The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops
apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet
122:18 and mingle. The barometer, - that little
prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of
the senses, - points to fair weather in the midst of murky
122:21 clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances
of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for
himself.
Spiritual sense of life
122:24 To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
122:27 being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
existence.
Ptolemaic and psychical error
Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul
122:30 and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.
They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-
tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the
123:1 false theory as to the relations of the celestial bodies, and
Christian Science will surely destroy the greater error as
123:3 to our terrestrial bodies. The true idea and
Principle of man will then appear. The Ptole-
maic blunder could not affect the harmony of
123:6 being as does the error relating to soul and body, which
reverses the order of Science and assigns to matter the
power and prerogative of Spirit, so that man becomes
123:9 the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in
the universe.
Seeming and being
The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that
123:12 matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science,
rising above physical theories, excludes matter,
resolves /things/ into /thoughts/, and replaces the objects of
123:15 material sense with spiritual ideas.
The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by
the author to designate the scientific system of divine
123:18 healing.
The revelation consists of two parts:
1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-
123:21 healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and
through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by
the Master.
123:24 2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-
called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a
dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an
123:27 ever-operative divine Principle. The operation of this
Principle indicates the eternality of the scientific order
and continuity of being.
Scientific basis
123:30 Christian Science differs from material sci-
ence, but not on that account is it less scien-
tific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-emi-
124:1 mently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of
all science.
Physical science a blind belief
124:3 Physical science (so-called) is human knowledge, - a
law of mortal mind, a blind belief, a Samson shorn of his
strength. When this human belief lacks organ-
124:6 izations to support it, its foundations are gone.
Having neither moral might, spiritual basis,
nor holy Principle of its own, this belief mistakes effect
124:9 for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter,
thus limiting Life and holding fast to discord and death.
In a word, human belief is a blind conclusion from material
124:12 reasoning. This is a mortal, finite sense of things, which
immortal Spirit silences forever.
Right interpretation
The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science
124:15 from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under-
stood; but when explained on the basis of
physical sense and represented as subject to
124:18 growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,
and must continue to be, an enigma.
All force mental
Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of
124:21 Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support
the equipoise of that thought-force, which
launched the earth in its orbit and said to the
124:24 proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."
Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all
things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and
124:27 creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them
forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they
belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this
124:30 Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and
classification.
Corporeal changes
The elements and functions of the physical body and
125:1 of the physical world will change as mortal mind changes
its beliefs. What is now considered the best condition
125:3 for organic and functional health in the human
body may no longer be found indispensable
to health. Moral conditions will be found always har-
125:6 monious and health-giving. Neither organic inaction
nor overaction is beyond God's control; and man will
be found normal and natural to changed mortal thought,
125:9 and therefore more harmonious in his manifestations than
he was in the prior states which human belief created and
sanctioned.
125:12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-
other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and
joy, - from fear to hope and from faith to understand-
125:15 ing, - the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-
erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's
government, man is self-governed. When subordinate
125:18 to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or
death, thus proving our material theories about laws of
health to be valueless.
The time and tide
125:21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and
tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-
culturist will find that these changes cannot
125:24 affect his crops. "As a vesture shalt Thou
change them and they shall be changed." The mariner
will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great
125:27 deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air.
The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, -
he will look out from them upon the universe; and the
125:30 florist will find his flower before its seed.
Mortal nothingness
Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more
than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man
126:1 through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-
ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The
126:3 problem of nothingness, or "dust to dust," will
be solved, and mortal mind will be without
form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds
126:6 himself God's reflection, even as man sees his reflection
in a glass.
A lack of originality
All Science is divine. Human thought never pro-
126:9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief
has sought and interpreted in its own way
the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have
126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human
mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive
sound.
Antagonistic questions
126:15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the
one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall
Science explain cause and effect as being
126:18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that
is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called
supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative
126:21 hypotheses?
Biblical basis
I have set forth Christian Science and its application
to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.
126:24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects
of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals
of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern
126:27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings
and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of
prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au-
126:30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and
narrow way" of Truth.
Science and Christianity
If Christendom resists the author's application of the
127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the
word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-
127:3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon
her. If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of
the spiritual universe, including man, then everything
127:6 entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be
comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for
there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.
Scientific terms
127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ
Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em-
ploys interchangeably, according to the re-
127:12 quirements of the context. These synony-
mous terms stand for everything relating to God, the in-
finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however,
127:15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to
Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re-
veals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death,
127:18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt
from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not
the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs,
127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor
sensation.
No physical science
There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth
127:24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not
human, and is not a law of matter, for matter
is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of
127:27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright.
It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine
utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.
127:30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science,
in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter
is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con-
128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of
divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not
128:3 miraculous to itself.
Practical Science
The term Science, properly understood, refers only to
the laws of God and to His government of the universe,
128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that
business men and cultured scholars have found
that Christian Science enhances their endurance and
128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character,
gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an
ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human
128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes
more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes
somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl-
128:15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities
and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of
thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher
128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight
and perspicacity.
An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro-
128:21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would
not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from
128:24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which
banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi-
mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter.
Mathematics and scientific logic
128:27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed
Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation.
The addition of two sums in mathematics must
128:30 always bring the same result. So is it with
logic. If both the major and the minor propo-
sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly
129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there
are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as
129:3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl-
logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.
Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in
129:6 premise or conclusion.
Truth by inversion
If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis-
cover it by reversing the material fable, be the
129:9 fable /pro/ or /con/, - be it in accord with your
preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.
Antagonistic theories
Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli-
129:12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.
In those days there will be "great tribulation
such as was not since the beginning of the
129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]
come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal
magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos-
129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true
being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some
other systems.
Ontology needed
129:21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol-
ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep
into realism instead of accepting only the out-
129:24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches
from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of
being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading
129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its
reformatory mission among mortals. The very name,
illusion, points to nothingness.
Reluctant guests
129:30 The generous liver may object to the author's small
estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees,
in the system taught in this book, that the demands of
130:1 God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-
stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-
130:3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-
cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,
130:6 and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance
It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which
destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate
130:9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,
- if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will
130:12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that God is om-
nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and
its sweet concords have all-power.
Children and adults
130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-
abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war
against spiritual facts; and these material
130:18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make
place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a
vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's
130:21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, -
an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-
monious, - the author has often remembered our Master's
130:24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as
they belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural
If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
130:27 for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
130:30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should
131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem
131:3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our
lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.
The error of carnality
131:6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-
dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the
opposition of sensuous man to the Science of
131:9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of
the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.
Churchly neglect
Must Christian Science come through the Christian
churches as some persons insist? This Science has come
131:15 already, after the manner of God's appoint-
ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-
ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came
131:18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once
said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
131:21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-
time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-
131:24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the
hearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-
131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural
demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-
tions which were not understood. Jesus' works
131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In
reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"
132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works
instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
132:3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-
swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see: the
132:6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
132:9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In
other words, he gave his benediction to any one who
should not deny that such effects, coming from divine
132:12 Mind, prove the unity of God, - the divine principle
which brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected
The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the
132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained
their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'
system of healing received no aid nor approval
132:18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines
of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-
ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the
132:21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the
door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-
ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal
132:24 theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the
true idea of God, - this salvation from all error, physi-
cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man
132:27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John's misgivings
Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing
power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-
132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher
once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the
Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned
133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry
to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"
Faith according to works
133:3 Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
There was also a certain centurion of whose
133:6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel."
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
133:9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
133:12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
133:15 idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
133:18 in kings' palaces.
Judaism antipathetic
Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because
Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or
133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material
system, carried out in special theories concern-
ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.
133:24 That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the
Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity
on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-
133:27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-
gence, nor substance outside of God.
Priestly learning
The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,
133:30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
given place to the true knowledge of God.
Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of
134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-
peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth
134:3 is still opposed with sword and spear.
Testimony of martyrs
The word /martyr/, from the Greek, means /witness/; but
those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted
134:6 unto death, that at length the word /martyr/
was narrowed in its significance and so has
come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.
134:9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred
of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of
Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;
134:12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
by the gallows and the cross.
Absence of Christ-power
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed
134:15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ
or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-
134:18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very
element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and
unequalled success in the first century.
Basis of miracles
134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not
because this Science is supernatural or pre-
134:24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
134:27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
134:30 spiritual power over material resistance.
Lawful wonders
A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that
law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than
135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed
thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,
135:3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,
that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,
like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
135:6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle
introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,
establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of
divine power.
Fear and sickness identical
The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.
135:12 This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals
the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth
casts out the evil called disease, it heals the
135:15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of
dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating
135:18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel
and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"
What cannot God do?
The unity of Science and Christianity
135:21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be
Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the
other is false and useless; but neither is unim-
135:24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
stration. This proves the one to be identical
with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not
135:27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift
from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration
of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,
135:30 not merely in the /name/ of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-
stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of
divine light.
The Christ-mission
136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
136:3 his followers that his religion had a divine
Principle, which would cast out error and heal
both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-
136:6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the
persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine
power to save men both bodily and spiritually.
Ancient spiritualism
136:9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the
sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.
He appealed to his students: "Whom do
136:12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting
out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some
136:15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets
were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that
136:18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,
controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.
This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.
136:21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have
no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work
of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such
136:24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully
understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-
trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-
136:27 tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No
wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.
Doubting disciples
The disciples apprehended their Master better than
136:30 did others; but they did not comprehend all
that he said and did, or they would not have
questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in
137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-
dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,
137:3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work
was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the
crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before
137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and
the grave.
Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,
137:9 "But whom say /ye/ that I am?" This renewed inquiry
meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so
mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the
137:12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,
it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow
opinion implied in their citation of the common report
137:15 about him.
A divine response
With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his
brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou
137:18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-
clared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and
137:21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from
Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
137:24 but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath
shown thee the way of Life!
The true and living rock
Before this the impetuous disciple had been called
137:27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of
Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir-
itual name in these words: "And I say also
137:30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the
meaning of the Greek word /petros/, or /stone/] I will build
my church; and the gates of hell [/hades/, the /under/-
138:1 /world/, or the /grave/] shall not prevail against it." In
other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not
138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-
power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true
Messiah.
Sublime summary
138:6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and
Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the
sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm
138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to
outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither
138:12 by corporeality, by /materia medica/, nor by hygiene, but by
the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which
138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion
of Love.
New era in Jesus
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for
138:18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
under as direct orders now, as they were then,
to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to
138:21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as
the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-
ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with
138:24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-
ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as
readily is it was proved centuries ago.
Healthful theology
138:27 Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . .
Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as
138:30 thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which
healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this
book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which
139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-
139:3 ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.
Marvels and reformations
From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of
accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.
139:6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men
called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and
Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and
139:9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been
brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-
139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely
to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows
inward.
Science obscured
139:15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what
should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-
ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
139:18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old
Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,
- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole
139:21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some
extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither
wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen
139:24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of
Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw
that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-
139:27 come "the head of the corner."
Opponents benefited
Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are
opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-
139:30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-
tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-
140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most
cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the
140:3 treatment of moral ailments.
God invisible to the senses
That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.
The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not
140:6 see My face; for there shall no man see Me
and live." Not materially but spiritually we
know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We
140:9 shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the
divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no
more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence
140:12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of
the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-
scriptive from lack of love, - straining out gnats and
140:15 swallowing camels.
The true worship
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship
materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-
140:18 tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals
are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true
140:21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth."
Anthropomorphism
The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,
140:24 liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
The Christian Science God is universal, eter-
nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-
140:27 eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully
true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-
ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-
140:30 tals would procreate man, and make God in their own
human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
magnified?
More than profession required
141:1 This indicates the distance between the theological and
ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by
141:3 Jesus. More than profession is requisite for
Christian demonstration. Few understand or
adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and
141:6 healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-
ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
- that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs
141:9 and practices, to leave all for Christ.
No ecclesiastical monopoly
All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come
from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-
141:12 siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a
royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,
Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect
141:15 followed the understanding of the divine Principle and
of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical
141:18 monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The
Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and
141:21 priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and
do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-
fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.
141:24 Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
understood.
A change demanded
141:27 The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-
ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our
pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let
141:30 it have fair representation by the press. Give
to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-
pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will
142:1 eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-
142:3 lishment and propagation.
Two claims omitted
Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured
Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;
142:6 but modern religions generally omit all but one
of these powers, - the power over sin. We
must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our
142:9 first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can
furnish us with absolute evidence.
Selfishness and loss
If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-
142:12 tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with
beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the
gate, they at the same time shut the door on
142:15 progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their
story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right
hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.
Temple cleansed
142:18 As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to
be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-
ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of
142:21 scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their
vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet
142:24 dwelling-places for the Most High.
Question of precedence
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was
142:27 first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have
been the first medicine. God being All-in-
all, He made medicine; but that medicine was
142:30 Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs
from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth
143:1 is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-
stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,
143:3 as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the
sick.
Methods rejected
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,
143:6 nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have
recommended and employed them in his heal-
ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than
143:9 the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and
the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter
/medicine/, and matter required a material and human be-
143:12 lief before it could be considered as medicine.
Error not curative
Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-
cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,
143:15 the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from starva-
tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You
143:18 admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but
you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,
etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by
143:21 this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on
the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-
prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.
143:24 The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative
mind.
Impossible coalescence
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power
143:27 except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was
first chronologically, is first potentially, and
must be first eternally, then give to Mind the
143:30 glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its
holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will
144:1 not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make
them do so, since no good can come of it?
144:3 If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,
which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if
these so-called powers are real.
144:6 Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;
Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.
Soul and sense
The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-
144:9 phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,
and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.
The more material a belief, the more obstinately
144:12 tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of
the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.
Will-power detrimental
Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs
144:15 to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-
demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the
metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but
144:18 is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-
fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,
and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and
144:21 not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to
disease, "Peace, be still."
Conservative antagonism
Because divine Science wars with so-called physical
144:24 science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools
still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice
closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped.
144:27 When the Science of being is universally understood,
every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be
the universal panacea.
Ancient healers
144:30 It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired
healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or
145:1 whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural
musician catches the tones of harmony, without being
145:3 able to explain them. So divinely imbued
were they with the spirit of Science, that the
lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that
145:6 letter, without the spirit, would have made void their
practice.
The struggle and victory
The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not
145:9 between material methods, but between mortal minds
and immortal Mind. The victory will be on
the patient's side only as immortal Mind
145:12 through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in
disease. It matters not what material method one may
adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance
145:15 on some other minor curative.
Mystery of godliness
Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-
ods, - that in it Truth controls error. From this fact
145:18 arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects
are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery
145:21 in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness
always presents to the ungodly, - the mystery always
arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-
145:24 ing Mind.
Matter /versus/ matter
Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of
145:27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
145:30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost
The theology of Christian Science includes healing
the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded
146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
146:3 has this element of Christianity been lost?
Because our systems of religion are governed
more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
146:6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
146:9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
146:12 Christlike.
Drugs and divinity
Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.
146:15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
146:18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
146:21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
146:24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
146:27 must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
146:30 all space.
Reduction to system
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of
147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the
learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
disease.