Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures
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Title: Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures
Author: Mary Baker Eddy
Release date: October 1, 2002 [eBook #3458]
Most recently updated: January 8, 2021
Language: English
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Science and Health
With
Key to The Scriptures
by MARY BAKER EDDY
YE shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. JOHN viii. 32.
THERE is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. SHAKESPEARE
OH! Thou hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest :-
Thou here, and /everywhere/. MARY BAKER EDDY
SCIENCE AND HEALTH - Table Of Contents
PREFACE
CHAPTER I - PRAYER
CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST
CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE
CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM
CHAPTER V - ANIMAL MAGNETISM UNMASKED
CHAPTER VI - SCIENCE, THEOLOGY, MEDICINE
CHAPTER VII - PHYSIOLOGY
CHAPTER VIII - FOOTSTEPS OF TRUTH
CHAPTER IX - CREATION
CHAPTER X - SCIENCE OF BEING
CHAPTER XI - SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED
CHAPTER XII - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE
CHAPTER XIII - TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
CHAPTER XIV - RECAPITULATION
KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
CHAPTER XV - GENESIS
CHAPTER XVI - THE APOCALYPSE
CHAPTER XVII - GLOSSARY
CHAPTER XVIII - FRUITAGE
PREFACE
vi:1 To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is
big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds
vi:3 the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance
of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-
shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in
vi:6 cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human
herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be-
nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ
vi:9 Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn-
ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-
men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of
vi:12 divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.
The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent
of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the
vi:15 portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and
the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling
away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-
vi:18 stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a
right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is
Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall
vi:21 reign forever."
A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make
them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy
vi:24 pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough
granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer
has accomplished.
vi:27 Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in
vii:1 the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has
been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but
vii:3 to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live
in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full
might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense
vii:6 must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the
science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con-
cord to sound.
vii:9 Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and
matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that
Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo-
vii:12 site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by
demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and
this demonstration shows that Christian healing con-
vii:15 fers the most health and makes the best men. On this
basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness
has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma-
vii:18 terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less
sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous
"No" is the response deducible from two connate
vii:21 facts, - the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians,
and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of
diseases since the flood.
vii:24 In the author's work, RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPEC-
TION, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating
experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis-
vii:27 covery of the system that she denominated Christian
Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and
give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for
vii:30 the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions
were crude, the first steps of a child in the newly dis-
covered world of Spirit.
ix:1 She also began to jot down her thoughts on the
main subject, but these jottings were only infantile
ix:3 lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world
through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is
as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet
ix:6 he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words,
and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his
feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite
ix:9 thought, though still imperfectly.
So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of
himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers
ix:12 came." Certain essays written at that early date are
still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are
feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of
ix:15 Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac-
tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing
in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis-
ix:18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of
Christ.
Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy-
ix:21 righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until
1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
1876, as she had learned that this Science must be
demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject
ix:24 could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875,
copies were, however, in friendly circulation.
Before writing this work, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, she
ix:27 made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which
have never been published. This was during the years
1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative
ix:30 ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that
time, and the degrees by which she came at length
to its solution; but she values them as a parent
x:1 may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and
she would not have them changed.
x:3 The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was pub-
lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have
since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory
x:6 and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH.
They regard the human mind as a healing agent,
whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of
x:9 Christian Science. A few books, however, which are
based on this book, are useful.
The author has not compromised conscience to suit
x:12 the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon-
estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort
to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in-
x:15 finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated
cases of healing, she and her students have proved the
worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part
x:18 have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical
attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all
physical supports have failed, because there is so little
x:21 faith in His disposition and power to heal disease.
The divine Principle of healing is proved in the
personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its
x:24 purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po-
tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un-
biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth,
x:27 and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her
method who do not understand her meaning, or dis-
cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their
x:30 works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req-
uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de-
sirable.
xi:1 Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal-
ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the
xi:3 action of the human mind, which action in some unex-
plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con-
trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all
xi:6 other pathological methods are the fruits of human
faith in matter, faith in the workings, not of Spirit,
but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science.
xi:9 The physical healing of Christian Science results
now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine
Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real-
xi:12 ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally
and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and
sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works
xi:15 are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are
the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," a divine
influence ever present in human consciousness and re-
xi:18 peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,
To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
xi:21 To set at liberty them that are bruised.
When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel
to this age, there came also the charge to plant and
xi:24 water His vineyard.
The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing
was started by the author with only one student in
xi:27 Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881,
she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in
Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law
xi:30 relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled
her to get this institution chartered for medical pur-
xii:1 poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien-
tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that
xii:3 date, hers was the only College of this character which
had been established in the United States, where
Christian Science was first introduced.
xii:6 During seven years over four thousand students
were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile
she was pastor of the first established Church of
xii:9 Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci-
entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of
her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole
xii:12 editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal,
the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She
closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of
xii:15 its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the
next two years of her life should be given to the prep-
aration of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which
xii:18 was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and
as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil-
iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never
xii:21 read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu-
cidate her idealism.
In the spirit of Christ's charity, as one who "hopeth
xii:24 all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear
consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick,
she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.
MARY BAKER EDDY
NOTE. - The author takes no patients,
and declines medical consultation.
CHAPTER I - PRAYER
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them.
Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
Him. - CHRIST JESUS.
1:1 THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the
sick is an absolute faith that all things are
1:3 possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him,
an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say
or think on this subject, I speak from experience.
1:6 Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im-
molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing
whatever has been successfully done for the Christian-
1:9 ization and health of mankind.
Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine
Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from
1:12 trusting God with our desires, that they may be
moulded and exalted before they take form in words
and in deeds.
Right motives
2:1 What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to
make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us,
2:3 to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of
men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes,
the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous-
2:6 ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return
unto us void.
Deity unchangeable
God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more
2:9 than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less
than bestow all good, since He is unchang-
ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for
2:12 ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov-
ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip-
service, for He already knows all.
2:15 Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it
tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at-
tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that
2:18 God will save us is not all that is required. The mere
habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads
with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as
2:21 humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit-
ual growth.
God's standard
God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is
2:24 intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any-
thing He does not already comprehend?
Do we expect to change perfection? Shall
2:27 we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-
ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire
does bring us nearer the source of all existence and
2:30 blessedness.
Asking God to /be/ God is a vain repetition. God is
"the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and
3:1 He who is immutably right will do right without being
reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
3:3 sufficient to warrant him in advising God.
The spiritual mathematics
Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the
principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The
3:6 rule is already established, and it is our
task to work out the solution. Shall we
ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own
3:9 work? His work is done, and we have only to avail
ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless-
ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.
3:12 The Divine Being must be reflected by man, - else
man is not the image and likeness of the patient,
tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to
3:15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands
absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.
Prayerful ingratitude
How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit
3:18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni-
present, infinite, and then we try to give
information to this infinite Mind. We plead
3:21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of
benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good
already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the
3:24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.
Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of
thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
3:27 If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and
yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in-
sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro-
3:30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only
acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and
remember our blessings. While the heart is far from
4:1 divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati-
tude of barren lives.
Efficacious petitions
4:3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire
for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness,
love, and good deeds. To keep the com-
4:6 mandments of our Master and follow his
example, is our proper debt to him and the only
worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has
4:9 done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to
express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has
said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
4:12 The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas-
ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the
blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not
4:15 acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness
to be partakers of Love.
Watchfulness requisite
Simply asking that we may love God will never
4:18 make us love Him; but the longing to be better
and holier, expressed in daily watchful-
ness and in striving to assimilate more of
4:21 the divine character, will mould and fashion us
anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the
Science of Christianity through demonstration of the
4:24 divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness
will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring
experience.
Veritable devotion
4:27 Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual
understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer,
watchfulness, and devout obedience enable
4:30 us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers,
superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love,
and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate-
5:1 rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps
him from demonstrating his power over error.
Sorrow and reformation
5:3 Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform
and the very easiest step. The next and great step re-
quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity,
5:6 - namely, reformation. To this end we are
placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation
bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for
5:9 what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there
is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay
"the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall
5:12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run-
ning over."
Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always
5:15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup.
Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God
pours the riches of His love into the understanding and
5:18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin-
ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther,
the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin
5:21 through suffering.
Cancellation of human sin
Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin.
Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven
5:24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and
Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is
cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying,
5:27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin
because he fancies himself forgiven.
Diabolism destroyed
An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to
5:30 "destroy the /works/ of the devil." We should
follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de-
struction of all evil works, error and disease included.
6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip-
tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us."
Pardon and amendment
6:3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the
sinner. God is not separate from the wis-
6:6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we
must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work
badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition
6:9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and
that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.
To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means
6:12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin
will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be-
lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach
6:15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand
the divine Principle of being.
Mercy without partiality
"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask,
6:18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
suppose that God forgives or punishes sin
according as His mercy is sought or un-
6:21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
the safety-valve for wrong-doing.
Divine severity
Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it
6:24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound
her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of-
fence unto me." He came teaching and
6:27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down."
It is believed by many that a certain magistrate,
6:30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His
rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas-
ter confirms this description.
7:1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was,
"Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence
7:3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found
in his own words,- showing the necessity for such
forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed
7:6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de-
prives material sense of its false claims.
Audible praying
Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary
7:9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro-
duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply
into these things, we find that "a zeal . . .
7:12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac-
tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and
wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo-
7:15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of
applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.
Emotional utterances
Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec-
7:18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided
men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo-
ments a higher experience and a better life
7:21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self-
satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes
a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di-
7:24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing
and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is
always known and by whom it will be supplied.
Danger from audible prayer
7:27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp-
tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut-
tering desires which are not real and consoling
7:30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection
that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for-
giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.
8:1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self-
justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite.
8:3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but
there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi-
cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to
8:6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond
with their character. They hold secret fellowship with
sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like
8:9 unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."
Aspiration and love
If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful,
is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the
8:12 comment upon him? If he reached the
loftiness of his prayer, there would be no
occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu-
8:15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,-
this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive
ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that
8:18 shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray-
ers are like charity in one respect,- they "cover the
multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what-
8:21 ever fervency of expression does not always mean a
desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are
not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses
8:24 the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart
and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do
we not already know more of this heart than we are
8:27 willing to have our neighbor see?
Searching the heart
We should examine ourselves and learn what is the
affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way
8:30 only can we learn what we honestly are. If a
friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa-
tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not
9:1 rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"?
During many years the author has been most grateful
9:3 for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen-
sure,- in the falsehood which does no one any good.
Summit of aspiration
The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these
9:6 questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of
this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish-
ness, satisfied with having prayed for some-
9:9 thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin-
cerity of our requests by living consistently with our
prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness,
9:12 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless
them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great
duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is
9:15 a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition
of our hope and faith.
Practical religion
Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy
9:18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"?
This command includes much, even the sur-
render of all merely material sensation, affec-
9:21 tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.
It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the
divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master,
9:24 and material sense and human will have no place.
The chalice sacrificial
Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and
so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire
9:27 to attain this point? No! Then why make long
prayers about it and ask to be Christians,
since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our
9:30 dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why
pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his
nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right.
10:1 Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in
the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed-
10:3 ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord,
we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.
The world must grow to the spiritual understanding
10:6 of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of
earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor-
rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are
10:9 willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions
will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in
demonstration of power and "with signs following."
10:12 Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the
world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.
Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables
10:15 us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a
higher understanding of the divine Life.
Perfunctory prayers
One of the forms of worship in Thibet is to carry a
10:18 praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the
doors to earn a penny by grinding out a
prayer. But the advance guard of progress has
10:21 paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution.
Asking amiss
Experience teaches us that we do not always receive
the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some mis-
10:24 apprehension of the source and means of
all goodness and blessedness, or we should
certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip-
10:27 tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That
which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always
10:30 best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will
not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer-
ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss."
11:1 Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer,
"Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of
11:3 forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he
said, "Go, and sin no more."
Remission of penalty
A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this
11:6 may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it
only saves the criminal from one form of
punishment. The moral law, which has the
11:9 right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu-
tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law
brings penalty in order to compel this progress.
Truth annihilates error
11:12 Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine
Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they
are corrected) leaves the offender free to re-
11:15 peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already
suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it
with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but
11:18 wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered
for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in-
dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering.
Desire for holiness
11:21 Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor-
tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is
requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we
11:24 desire holiness above all else, we shall sac-
rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this,
that we may walk securely in the only practical road
11:27 to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable
Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding
of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual
11:30 desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us
into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible
expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life.
Prayer for the sick
12:1 "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the
Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re-
12:3 quest that God will heal the sick has no
power to gain more of the divine presence
than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of
12:6 such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak-
ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind
faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out
12:9 another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief
in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which
acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under-
12:12 standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested
in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con-
scientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to
12:15 God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a
drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its
12:18 power from human faith and belief. The drug does
nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal
belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a
12:21 drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.
The common custom of praying for the recovery of the
sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come
12:24 from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief
may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of
human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.
Love impartial and universal
12:27 Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper,
and not help another who offers the same measure of
prayer? If the sick recover because they
12:30 pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti-
tioners (/per se/ or by proxy) should get well. In divine
Science, where prayers are mental, /all/ may avail them-
13:1 selves of God as "a very present help in trouble."
Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and
13:3 bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."
Public exaggerations
In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions,
13:6 beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we
are not secretly yearning and openly striv-
ing for the accomplishment of all we ask,
13:9 our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen
use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we
ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward
13:12 us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de-
sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear
sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is
13:15 sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our
fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon-
estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and
13:18 we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real
wishes with a torrent of words.
Corporeal ignorance
If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will
13:21 prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and
fears which attend such a belief, and so we
cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi-
13:24 nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible.
Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle,
Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal
13:27 creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely
physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re-
flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The
13:30 world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind
to the reality of man's existence, - for the world of sen-
sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body.
Bodily presence
14:1 If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo-
tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we
14:3 would gain, we are not "absent from the
body" and "present with the Lord" in the
demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas-
14:6 ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not
mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon-
stration and understanding of Life as revealed in
14:9 Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in
obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed
by divine Love,- by Spirit, not by matter.
Spiritualized consciousness
14:12 Become conscious for a single moment that Life and
intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of
matter, - and the body will then utter no
14:15 complaints. If suffering from a belief in
sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow
is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir-
14:18 itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the
promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me,
the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I
14:21 go unto my Father," - [because the Ego is absent from
the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The
Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material
14:24 sense.
Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate-
rial living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual under-
14:27 standing and the consciousness of man's dominion
over the whole earth. This understanding casts out
error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak
14:30 "as one having authority."
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and,
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
15:1 which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly."
Spiritual sanctuary
15:3 So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of
Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but
lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to
15:6 error, it is open to Truth, and /vice versa/.
The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses,
but He knows all things and rewards according to
15:9 motives, not according to speech. To enter into the
heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be
closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent,
15:12 that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine
Principle, Love, which destroys all error.
Effectual invocation
In order to pray aright, we must enter into the
15:15 closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and
silence the material senses. In the quiet
sanctuary of earnest longings, we must
15:18 deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to
take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to
work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We
15:21 must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an-
swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.
The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and
15:24 let our lives attest our sincerity.
Trustworthy beneficence
Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden
from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness,
15:27 purity, and affection are constant prayers.
Practice not profession, understanding not
belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and
15:30 they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi-
ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a
fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness.
Loftiest adoration
16:1 A great sacrifice of material things must precede this
advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer
16:3 is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra-
tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must
destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth
16:6 that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.
The prayer of Jesus Christ
Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer,
which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Mas-
16:9 ter said, "After this manner therefore pray
ye," and then he gave that prayer which
covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt
16:12 among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an
addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does
not affect the meaning of the prayer itself.
16:15 In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original
properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This
reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti-
16:18 tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or
one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars.
Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and
16:21 sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir-
itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's
Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
16:24 Here let me give what I understand to be the spir-
itual sense of the Lord's Prayer:
Our Father which art in heaven,
16:27 /Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious/,
Hallowed be Thy name.
/Adorable One./
16:30 Thy kingdom come.
/Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present./
17:1 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
/Enable us to know,- as in heaven, so on earth,- God is
17:3 omnipotent, supreme/.
Give us this day our daily bread;
/Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;/
17:6 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
/And Love is reflected in love;/
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
17:9 evil;
/And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth
us from sin, disease, and death./
17:12 For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, forever.
/For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over
all, and All./
CHAPTER II - ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. - PAUL.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
- PAUL.
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
until the kingdom of God shall come. - JESUS.
Divine oneness
18:1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity
with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life,
18:3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated
man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him
endless homage. His mission was both in-
18:6 dividual and collective. He did life's work
aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to
mortals,- to show them how to do theirs, but not to do
18:9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.
Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the
senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he
18:12 refuted all opponents with his healing power.
Human reconciliation
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not
God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God,
18:15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ
is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself.
The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ,
18:18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived
19:1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose
to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and
19:3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness.
Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him-
self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for
19:6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon-
ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love,
the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer
19:9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter,
sin, and death by the law of Spirit,- the law of divine
Love.
19:12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de-
claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and
death, although his teaching set households at variance,
19:15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a
sword.
Efficacious repentance
Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort
19:18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to
understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid
its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray
19:21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone-
ment,- in the /at-one-ment/ with God,- for he lacks the
practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables
19:24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem-
onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach-
ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If
19:27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur-
ity, although God is good.
Jesus' sinless career
Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no
19:30 other gods before me," which may be ren-
dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as
mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,-
20:1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are
20:3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine
or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved,
not by spirits but by Spirit.
20:6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee
Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a
20:9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he
established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men
can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the
20:12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet
be sensual and sinful.
Perfect example
Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal
20:15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are
healed." "Despised and rejected of men,"
returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-
20:18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God;
and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and
the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not,
20:21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God,
saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to
holiness.
Behest of the cross
20:24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the
spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all
religion. It commands sure entrance into
20:27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
20:30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self
and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of
all healing.
Moral victory
21:1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and
conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a
21:3 good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be-
cause you are a better man. This is having
our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.
21:6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting
because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph,
that they shall reach his harmony and reward.
21:9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv-
ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma-
terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things
21:12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the
start, and gain a little each day in the right direction,
till at last he finishes his course with joy.
Inharmonious travellers
21:15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am /en
route/ for California, we are not journeying together.
We have separate time-tables to consult,
21:18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have
diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor-
tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my
21:21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad
guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I
take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our
21:24 companionship may continue.
Zigzag course
Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at
the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither-
21:27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward
for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring
and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for
21:30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can
only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By-
and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow
22:1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid
of this to find and follow the right road.
Moral retrogression
22:3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope
of forgiveness,- selfishness and sensuality causing con-
stant retrogression,- our moral progress will
22:6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals
experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown-
ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and
22:9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned
with success.
Wait for reward
"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of
22:12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
"Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re-
ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If
22:15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive
no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a
sluggard in the race.
22:18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis-
cern the good you have done, and receive according to
your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from
22:21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
Deliverance not vicarious
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in
22:24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not
reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning
one's faith without works to another's vicarious
22:27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or
that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not
understand God.
Justice and substitution
22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not
23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin.
23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That
23:6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-
23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf-
fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Doctrines and faith
23:12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him."
This preaching receives a strong rebuke in
23:15 the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead."
Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be-
tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith,
23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-
lishes the claims of God.
Self-reliance and confidence
23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, /faith/ and the
words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
tions, /trustfulness/ and /trustworthiness/. One
23:24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
23:27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!"
23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
itual understanding and confides all to God.
The Hebrew verb /to believe/ means also /to be firm/ or
24:1 /to be constant/. This certainly applies to Truth and Love
understood and practised. Firmness in error will never
24:3 save from sin, disease, and death.
Life's healing currents
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of
men), open the way for Christian Science to be
understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where
24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed
out.
Radical changes
He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will
24:12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re-
generation. This is having part in the atone-
ment; this is the understanding, in which
24:15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant
when the ordinary theological views of atonement will
undergo a great change, - a change as radical as that
24:18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to pre-
destination and future punishment.
Purpose of crucifixion
Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus
24:21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who
ask for it and are willing to be forgiven?
Does spiritualism find Jesus' death necessary
24:24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material
Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then
we must differ from them both.
24:27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical af-
fection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The
truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that
24:30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own
disciples could not admit such an event to be possible.
After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was
25:1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of
Truth and Love.
True flesh and blood
25:3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The effi-
cacy of Jesus' spiritual offering is infinitely greater than
can be expressed by our sense of human
25:6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no
more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed
upon "the accursed tree," than when it was flowing in
25:9 his veins as he went daily about his Father's business.
His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat
his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine
25:12 Life.
Effective triumph
Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that
we may understand how this divine Principle heals
25:15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over
death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better
than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By
25:18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu-
ally than all others the Principle of being. Hence the
force of his admonition, "If ye love me, keep my com-
25:21 mandments."
Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease,
the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving
25:24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for
their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as
he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith
25:27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow
on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We
must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the
25:30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to
bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made
manifest in the humanity of Jesus.
Individual experience
26:1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with
gratitude for what he did for mortals, - treading alone
26:3 his loving pathway up to the throne of
glory, in speechless agony exploring the way
for us, - yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe-
26:6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all
have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion
to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed
26:9 through divine Love.
Christ's demonstration
The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his
own statements: "I am the way, the truth, and the life;"
26:12 "I and my Father are one." This Christ,
or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine
nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth,
26:15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness,
and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of
celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does
26:18 for man.
Proof in practice
A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he
teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac-
26:21 tice as well as precept. Jesus' teaching and
practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice
as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was
26:24 the precious import of our Master's sinless career and
of his demonstration of power over death. He proved
by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin,
26:27 and death.
Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief.
It was the divine Principle of all real being which he
26:30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no
form or system of religion and worship, but Christian
Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love.
27:1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was in-
tended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had
27:3 come: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have
seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
27:6 to the poor the gospel is preached." In other words:
Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is,
and he will at once perceive that God is the power in
27:9 the Messianic work.
Living temple
That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance
after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien-
27:12 tific statement: "Destroy this temple [body],
and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up."
It is as if he had said: The I - the Life, substance,
27:15 and intelligence of the universe - is not in matter to
be destroyed.
Jesus' parables explain Life as never mingling with
27:18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root
of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut
down the false doctrine of pantheism, - that God, or
27:21 Life, is in or of matter.
Recreant disciples
Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only
eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits
27:24 him with two or three hundred other disciples
who have left no name. "Many are called,
but few are chosen." They fell away from grace because
27:27 they never truly understood their Master's instruction.
Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the
essential religion he came to establish? Jesus' persecu-
27:30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point.
They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and
to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.
Help and hindrance
28:1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the di-
vine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus'
28:3 mission. Even many of his students stood
in his way. If the Master had not taken a
student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would
28:6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit
in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and
Love.
28:9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out
of it, one's consecration to Christ is more on the ground
of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we
28:12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding
more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we
are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.
Misleading conceptions
28:15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of
Jesus was generally understood. Not a single compo-
nent part of his nature did the material
28:18 world measure aright. Even his righteous-
less and purity did not hinder men from saying: He
is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is
28:21 his patron.
Persecution prolonged
Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if
thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy
28:24 Master's feet! To suppose that persecution
for righteousness' sake belongs to the past,
and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world
28:27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mis-
take the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself.
The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle,
28:30 "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some
form, every pioneer of truth.
Christian warfare
There is too much animal courage in society and not
29:1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms
against error at home and abroad. They must grapple
29:3 with sin in themselves and in others, and
continue this warfare until they have finished
their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the
29:6 crown of rejoicing.
Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis-
belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly
29:9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more
needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we
may never receive it in this world.
The Fatherhood of God
29:12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to
the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be-
lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed
29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glori-
ous perception that God is the only author of man.
The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and
29:18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus - that is, Joshua,
or Saviour.
Spiritual conception
The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to
29:21 silence material law and its order of generation, and
brought forth her child by the revelation of
Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of
29:24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed
the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog-
nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever
29:27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the
man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea,
though at first faintly developed.
29:30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit,
is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and
man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-
30:1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give
a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could
30:3 demonstrate the Science of Love - his Father or divine
Principle.
Jesus the way-shower
Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook
30:6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en-
dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with-
out measure. This accounts for his struggles
30:9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to
be the mediator, or /way-shower/, between God and men.
Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal
30:12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal
mind as "the way."
Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said:
30:15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the
new executor for God, present the divine law of Love,
30:18 which blesses even those that curse it.
Rebukes helpful
As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to
rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death,-
30:21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This
ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole
earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between
30:24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and
of error.
If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of
30:27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we
shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only
in this way can we bless our enemies, though they
30:30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for
ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way
Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found
31:1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit
to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place
31:3 it in such hands.
Fleshly ties temporal
Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call
no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
31:6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who
is my mother, and who are my brethren," im-
plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We
31:9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of
/father/. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and
therefore as the Father of all.
Healing primary
31:12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol-
lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached
no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the
31:15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes
Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him
in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, - following his
31:18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, - we drink of
his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu-
rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full
31:21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs
over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
31:24 death till he come."
Painful prospect
Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said:
"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-
31:27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse-
cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus
31:30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea,
the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service; and these things will they
32:1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father
nor me."
Sacred sacrament
32:3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear
allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath
was /sacramentum/, and our English word
32:6 /sacrament/ is derived from it. Among the
Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a
feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the
32:9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's
oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and
in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows
32:12 forth his bitter experience, - the cup which he prayed
might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis-
sion to the divine decree.
32:15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed
it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,
Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and
32:18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all
of it."
Spiritual refreshment
The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is
32:21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples
had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them
bread. This would have been foolish in a
32:24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat-
ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the
material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with
32:27 spiritual views.
Jesus' sad repast
The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in
the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion,
32:30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken
at the close of day, in the twilight of a
glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and
33:1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions
to matter.
Heavenly supplies
33:3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour
of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna,
which of old had fed in the wilderness the
33:6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread
indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth
of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error.
33:9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this
bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne
this bread from house to house, /breaking/ (explaining) it to
33:12 others, and now it comforted themselves.
For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about
to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow.
33:15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast-
ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said,
"Drink ye all of it."
The holy struggle
33:18 When the human element in him struggled with the
divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but
Thine, be done!"- that is, Let not the flesh,
33:21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This
is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all
for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the
33:24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses
and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek
in heart.
Incisive questions
33:27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you
shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions
which attend a new and higher understand-
33:30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that
you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all
who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing
34:1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for
the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira-
34:3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out
error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God,"
that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ,
34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com-
memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel,
or /God with us/; and if a friend be with us, why need we
34:9 memorials of that friend?
Millennial glory
If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really
commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of
34:12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the
world. If all who seek his commemoration
through material symbols will take up the cross, heal
34:15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth,
to the poor, - the receptive thought, - they will bring
in the millennium.
Fellowship with Christ
34:18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more
spiritual and understood better what the Master had
taught. His resurrection was also their resur-
34:21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and
others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into
the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this
34:24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again
in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above
their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness,
34:27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which
has since been called the ascension.
The last breakfast
What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and
34:30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples
in the bright morning hours at the joyful
meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom
35:1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent-
ance, - hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced
35:3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened
by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned
away from material things, and cast their net on the right
35:6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of
time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal
sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new-
35:9 ness of life as Spirit.
This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a
new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists
35:12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re-
ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune
with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their
35:15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh
after death, its exemplification of human probation, and
his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh,
35:18 when he rose out of material sight.
Spiritual Eucharist
Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our
church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can
35:21 unite with this church only as we are new-
born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which
is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth
35:24 the fruits of Love, - casting out error and healing the
sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one
God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven,"
35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira-
tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com-
mended to his followers.
Final purpose
35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the
sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re-
form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to
36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by
experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of
36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation
into another sphere. Divine Science reveals
the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after
36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty
due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape
from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern-
36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.
Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his
dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his
36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John,
the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in
silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly
36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral
distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude
Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly-
36:18 minded.
Righteous retribution
A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un-
limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as
36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for
sinners to receive their full punishment this
side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right-
36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the
wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment
and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven,
36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only
toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock-
ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.
Vicarious suffering
36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf-
fering of the just for the unjust. Can God
therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de-
37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that
sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They
37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again."
Martyrs inevitable
History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of
37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in
vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake,
but error falls only before the sword of Spirit.
37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with
another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi-
naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of
37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.
Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but
not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated
37:15 by lookers-on.
Complete emulation
When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate
him in /all/ his ways and to imitate his mighty works?
37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that
righteous man would gladly have turned his
sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May
37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im-
port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty
and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow
37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon-
stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris-
tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in
37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com-
mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world,
37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "/Heal the
sick/!"
Jesus' teaching belittled
Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration
38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are
assured that this command was intended only for a par-
38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol-
lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious
than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a
38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will
be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced
by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of
38:9 divine Science.
Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be-
lieve; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing
his disciples, yet he did not say, " These signs shall follow
/you/," but /them/- "them that believe" in all time to come.
38:15 Here the word /hands/ is used metaphorically, as in the text,
"The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses
spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have
38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not
for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe
"through their word."
Material pleasures
38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical
senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo-
ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ,
38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus
mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ,
the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the
38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati-
fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes
ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un-
38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He
taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its
healing power.
Mockery of truth
39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog-
nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol-
39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last
triumph. He won eternal honors. He over-
came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving
39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin,
sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci-
fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as
39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.
A belief suicidal
The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes
mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone
39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss.
The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus
overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them.
39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not
the threshold over which he must pass into living
glory.
Present salvation
39:18 "/Now/," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be-
hold, /now/ is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that
now men must prepare for a future-world salva-
39:21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which
to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is
the time for so-called material pains and material pleas-
39:24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible
in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get
the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists
39:27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is
apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain-
ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as
39:30 triumphs.
Sin and penalty
Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes
in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that
40:1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error
from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad-
40:3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv-
ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing
and its Science, will support them. Another will say:
40:6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient
season I will call for thee."
Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted
40:9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing
the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of
divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method
40:12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's
life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's
sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our
40:15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make
the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal?
Suffering inevitable
Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was
40:18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way
and the power of Truth. If a career so great
and good as that of Jesus could not avert a
40:21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human
brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into
fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of
40:24 Truth and Love.
Service and worship
Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all
men should follow the example of our Master and his
40:27 apostles and not merely worship his personal-
ity. It is sad that the phrase /divine service/
has come so generally to mean public worship instead of
40:30 daily deeds.
Within the veil
The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed,
but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of
41:1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the
Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and
41:3 this advance beyond matter must come
through the joys and triumphs of the right-
eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions.
41:6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense
into the spiritual sense of being.
The thorns and flowers
The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with
41:9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap
what they now sow. The pampered hypo-
crite may have a flowery pathway here, but
41:12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the
penalty due.
Healing early lost
The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave
41:15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his
earthly mission; but in the Christian Church
this demonstration of healing was early lost,
41:18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient
school of philosophy, /materia medica/, or scholastic theol-
ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of
41:21 absolute Science.
Immortal achieval
Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have
before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered
41:24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and
then sat down at the right hand of the Father.
Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about
41:27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and
stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at.
Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing
41:30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national
Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never
made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick.
42:1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God
is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a
42:3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the-
ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God.
A belief in death
The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It
42:6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death
will be found at length to be a mortal dream,
which comes in darkness and disappears with the light.
Cruel desertion
42:9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or
popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world
and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval
42:12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa-
lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends,
who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.
Death outdone
42:15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's
power was the proof of his final triumph over body
and matter, and gave full evidence of divine
42:18 Science, - evidence so important to mortals.
The belief that man has existence or mind separate from
God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine
42:21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won-
drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp-
tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus.
42:24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he
would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates
that in Christian Science the true man is governed by
42:27 God - by good, not evil - and is therefore not a mortal
but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the
Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to
42:30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ-
eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They
must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting
43:1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as
they did understand it after his bodily departure.
Pentecost repeated
43:3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear-
ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled
the disciples to understand what Jesus had
43:6 said. Heretofore they had only believed;
now they understood. The advent of this understanding
is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, - that
43:9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos-
tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history.
Convincing evidence
Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing,
43:12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of
brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of
his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to
43:15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God,
which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay.
The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught,
43:18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the
world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu-
ated and extended it.
Divine victory
43:21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup
of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned
him, but he was demonstrating divine Science.
43:24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies,
he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat-
ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him.
43:27 The divine must overcome the human at every point.
The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over
all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli-
43:30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such
beliefs.
Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must
44:1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns
can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow,
44:3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem-
acy of Spirit be demonstrated.
Jesus in the tomb
The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge
44:6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great
problem of being. His three days' work in
the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time.
44:9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas-
ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris-
tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims
44:12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene.
He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not
depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted
44:15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to
heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and
lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove
44:18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ
his feet as before.
The deific naturalism
Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature
44:21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power?
It was a method of surgery beyond material
art, but it was not a supernatural act. On
44:24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity
brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ-
healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of
44:27 human invention.
Obstacles overcome
His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was
hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon-
44:30 strating within the narrow tomb the power
of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense.
There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great
45:1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus
vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law
45:3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place,
crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting
victory.
Victory over the grave
45:6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci-
ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus'
deed was for the enlightenment of men and
45:9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin,
sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death
45:12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked
with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im-
45:15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre.
The stone rolled away
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts!
Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu-
45:18 man hope and faith, and through the reve-
lation and demonstration of life in God, hath
elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual
45:21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
After the resurrection
They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection
and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught,
45:24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples
at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre,
for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was:
45:27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit.
He presented the same body that he had before his cru-
45:30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over
matter.
Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un-
46:1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many
wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion
46:3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them
of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.
Spiritual interpretation
In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends
46:6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them,
and by the breaking of bread. The divine
Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries
46:9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak
through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the
receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and
46:12 healing the sick.
Corporeality and Spirit
The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit,
and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses
46:15 that his body was not changed until he himself
ascended, - or, in other words, rose even
higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince
46:18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail-
prints and the spear-wound.
Spiritual ascension
Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed
46:21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma-
terial conditions; and this exaltation explained
his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a
46:24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave.
Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for
all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen-
46:27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose
above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the
material senses saw him no more.
Pentecostal power
46:30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is
meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they
were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci-
47:1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment
of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them
47:3 a faint conception of the Life which is God.
They no longer measured man by material
sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master,
47:6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter,
but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of
light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming
47:9 power as on the Day of Pentecost.
The traitor's conspiracy
Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude
and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal.
47:12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver
and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his
time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus'
47:15 teachings.
A period was approaching which would reveal the in-
finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas
47:18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of
that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer,
and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The
47:21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time
quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally
loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be-
47:24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti-
mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the
traitor fell with it.
47:27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last
earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio-
lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no
47:30 record.
Gethsemane glorified
During his night of gloom and glory in the garden,
Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi-
48:1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the
staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu-
48:3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could Ye
not watch with me one hour?" Could they
not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice-
48:6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world?
There was no response to that human yearning, and so
Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from
48:9 sense to Soul.
Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy
benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum-
48:12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the
same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt-
ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and
48:15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a
life-work.
Defensive weapons
Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one
48:18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence.
"He opened not his mouth." The great dem-
onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before
48:21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of
his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re-
sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy
48:24 sword."
Pilate's question
Pale in the presence of his own momentous question,
"What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence
48:27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate
was ignorant of the consequences of his awful
decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing
48:30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what
life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for
man.
49:1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's
question. They knew what had inspired their devotion,
49:3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand-
ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples
to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject
49:6 unto us through thy name."
Students' ingratitude
Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were
all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the
49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost
sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations,
sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre-
49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last
human yearning with one sign of fidelity?
Heaven's sentinel
The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc-
49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with
God. No human eye was there to pity, no
arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had
49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest
post of power, charged with the grandest trust of
heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing
49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ
is not subject to material conditions, but is above the
reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth,
49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and
the grave.
Cruel contumely
The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly
49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest
proofs of divine power, mocked him on the
cross, saying derisively, "He saved others;
49:30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned
"aside the right of a man before the face of the Most
High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God."
50:1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."
50:3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide
what truth and love are?
A cry of despair
The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-
50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude
of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful
cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would
impugn the justice and love of a father who could with-
hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so
50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to
his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself,
Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken
50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling
question. No! They must abide in him and he in them,
or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the
50:18 human race.
Divine Science misunderstood
If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo-
ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses,
50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even
what they did say, - that Jesus' teachings
were false, and that all evidence of their cor-
50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying
could not make it so.
The real pillory
The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human
50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving
the purpose of his mission, was a million
times sharper than the thorns which pierced
50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill
of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not
the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful
51:1 lips the plaintive cry, "/Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?/" It
was the possible loss of something more important than
51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misappre-
hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This
dread added the drop of gall to his cup.
Life-power indestructible
51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies.
He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his
spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine;
51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc-
tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish
the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life
51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his
enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom-
plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal,
51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had
no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no
more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could
51:18 be extinguished.
Example for our salvation
His consummate example was for the salvation of us
all, but only through doing the works which he did and
51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing
was not alone to restore health, but to demon-
strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by
51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives
of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance,
inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin-
51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.
Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him
from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist
51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled
Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the
dead.
Master's business
52:1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi-
ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas-
52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He
served God; they served mammon. His affec-
tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in
52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their
senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi-
dence of sin, sickness, and death.
Purity's rebuke
52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present
rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's
hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the
52:12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would
give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's
graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace.
52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite
in putting to shame and death the best man that ever
trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again
52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.
Saviour's prediction
The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing-
ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-
52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were
the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or
Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-
52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human
ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his
disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:
52:27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."
Defamatory accusations
The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra-
52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb-
auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton
and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils
53:1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and
sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their
53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did
the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far
removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene.
53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because
he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.
Reputation and character
The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his
53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and
practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He
was at work in divine Science. His words
53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above
and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be-
lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine,
53:15 infinite Love.
Inspiring discontent
The world could not interpret aright the discomfort
which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which
53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science
shows the cause of the shock so often pro-
duced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from
53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth.
Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of
denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which
53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.
Bearing our sins
Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the
mortal errors which constitute the material body, and
53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time
when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not
conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma-
53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of
spiritual power.
Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would
54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the
magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine
54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de-
fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished
error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness,
54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified
example introduced.
Inspiration of sacrifice
Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All
54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true
idea of God. That he might liberally pour
his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-
54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus'
intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com-
mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and
54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over
death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest
proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers
54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They
would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor
follow his example.
Spiritual friendship
54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the
dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious
friends, whose religion was something more
54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en-
abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share
the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol-
54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con-
firmed the prediction.
Injustice to the Saviour
If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on
54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro-
fess to love him, reject him? Would they
not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter-
55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs?
The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the
55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and
usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but
this does not affect the invincible facts.
55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more
injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon
the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now
55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the
wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But
that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a
55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be
left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of
the synagogue.
55:15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries,
gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My
weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall
55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as
himself, - when he shall realize God's omnipotence and
the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done
55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful-
filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing
is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly
55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's
cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of
Christian healing.
55:27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you /forever/." This
Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.
CHAPTER III - MARRIAGE
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. - JESUS.
56:1 WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism,
John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus
56:3 added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain
cases) to material methods were for the advancement of
56:6 spiritual good.
Marriage temporal
Marriage is the legal and moral provision for genera-
tion among human kind. Until the spiritual creation
56:9 is discerned intact, is apprehended and under-
stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision
of the Apocalypse, - where the corporeal sense of crea-
56:12 tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from
heaven, - marriage will continue, subject to such moral
regulations as will secure increasing virtue.
Fidelity required
56:15 Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge
of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
. . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday."
56:18 The commandment, "Thou shalt not com-
mit adultery," is no less imperative than the one, "Thou
shalt not kill."
57:1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress.
Without it there is no stability in society, and without it
57:3 one cannot attain the Science of Life.
Mental elements
Union of the masculine and feminine qualities consti-
tutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a
57:6 higher tone through certain elements of the
feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour-
age and strength through masculine qualities. These
57:9 different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and
their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes
should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac-
57:12 tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it
is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like
the returning spring.
Affection's demands
57:15 Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the
demands of the affections, and should never weigh
against the better claims of intellect, good-
57:18 ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual,
born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore
it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to
57:21 share it.
Help and discipline
Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even
though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, en-
57:24 larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry
blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec-
tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance
57:27 of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to
God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases
to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for
57:30 heaven.
Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap-
pointments it involves or the hopes it fulfils. To happify
58:1 existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to
elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of
58:3 spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping
wings trail in dust.
Chord and discord
Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the
58:6 human mind may be different, but they should be con-
cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish
ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, -
58:9 these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in-
dividually and collectively true happiness, strength, and
permanence.
Mutual freedom
58:12 There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the
horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of
all another's time and thoughts. With ad-
58:15 ditional joys, benevolence should grow more
diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would
confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will
58:18 not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love;
but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant
amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for
58:21 the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on
earth, and it should be the centre, though not the bound-
ary, of the affections.
A useful suggestion
58:24 Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more
together than they eat separately." This is a hint that
a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance
58:27 or stupid ease, because another supplies her
wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the
chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth-
58:30 ing can abolish the cares of marriage.
Differing duties
"She that is married careth . . . how she may please
her husband," says the Bible; and this is the pleasantest
59:1 thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into
without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on
59:3 both sides. There should be the most tender
solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu-
tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years
59:6 of married life.
Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact
which might otherwise become unbearable. Man should
59:9 not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex-
pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the
59:12 different demands of their united spheres, their sympa-
thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each
partner sustaining the other, - thus hallowing the union
59:15 of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace
and home.
Trysting renewed
Tender words and unselfish care in what promotes the
59:18 welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary
in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid
indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this
59:21 and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the
old trysting-times.
After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati-
59:24 bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should
exist before this union and continue ever after, for decep-
tion is fatal to happiness.
Permanent obligation
59:27 The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as
its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency
of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re-
59:30 lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal
mistakes are undermining its foundations. Separation
never should take place, and it never would, if both
60:1 husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists.
Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of
60:3 harmony and happiness.
Permanent affection
Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary
to the formation of a happy and permanent companion-
60:6 ship. The beautiful in character is also the
good, welding indissolubly the links of affec-
tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her
60:9 child, because the mother-love includes purity and con-
stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal
affection lives on under whatever difficulties.
60:12 From the logic of events we learn that selfishness
and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will
ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined
60:15 together.
Centre for affections
Marriage should improve the human species, becoming
a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to
60:18 man, and a centre for the affections. This,
however, in a majority of cases, is not its
present tendency, and why? Because the education of
60:21 the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations,
- passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment,
display, and pride, - occupy thought.
Spiritual concord
60:24 An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat-
ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true
happiness of being, places it on a false basis.
60:27 Science will correct the discord, and teach us
life's sweeter harmonies.
Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind,
60:30 and happiness would be more readily attained and would
be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher
enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal
61:1 man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the
limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real
61:3 enjoyment.
Ascendency of good
The good in human affections must have ascendency
over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi-
61:6 ness will never be won. The attainment of
this celestial condition would improve our
progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi-
61:9 tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every
mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway
of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring
61:12 of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better
balanced minds, and sounder constitutions.
Propensities inherited
If some fortuitous circumstance places promising chil-
61:15 dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful
children early droop and die, like tropical
flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance
61:18 they live to become parents in their turn, they may re-
produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits
of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble
61:21 ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities
that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath-
some wreck?
61:24 Is not the propagation of the human species a greater
responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of
your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks
61:27 and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be
transmitted to children.
The formation of mortals must greatly improve to
61:30 advance mankind. The scientific /morale/ of marriage is
spiritual unity. If the propagation of a higher human
species is requisite to reach this goal, then its material con-
62:1 ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener-
ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the
62:3 period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity.
The entire education of children should be such as to
form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law,
62:6 with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-
called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease.
Inheritance heeded
If parents create in their babes a desire for incessant
62:9 amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked
to, those parents should not, in after years,
complain of their children's fretfulness or fri-
62:12 volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned.
Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what
62:15 ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the
rising generation than you dream. Children should be
allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should
62:18 become men and women only through growth in the
understanding of man's higher nature.
The Mind creative
We must not attribute more and more intelligence
62:21 to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and
healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the
bud and blossom, will care for the human
62:24 body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter-
fere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of
erring, human concepts.
Superior law of Soul
62:27 The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower;
if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed.
Our false views of life hide eternal harmony,
62:30 and produce the ills of which we complain.
Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the
Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and
63:1 the superior law of Soul last. You would never think
that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease
63:3 than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science
of being.
Spiritual origin
In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti-
63:6 ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is
not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor
does he pass through material conditions prior
63:9 to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti-
mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the
law of his being.
The rights of woman
63:12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the
rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no
precedent for such injustice, and civilization
63:15 mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a
marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than
does either Christian Science or civilization.
Unfair discrimination
63:18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their
discrimination as to the person, property, and parental
claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran-
63:21 chise for women will remedy the evil with-
out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us
hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational
63:24 means of improvement at present is the elevation of
society in general and the achievement of a nobler
race for legislation, - a race having higher aims and
63:27 motives.
If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the
wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be
63:30 allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business
agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her
children free from interference.
64:1 Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the
selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers
64:3 exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle
James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and
64:6 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
from the world."
Benevolence hindered
Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to
64:9 be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris-
tianity. When a man lends a helping hand
to some noble woman, struggling alone with
64:12 adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to
interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is
sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from
64:15 giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would
afford.
Progressive development
Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Further-
64:18 more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he
declared that in the resurrection there should
be no more marrying nor giving in marriage,
64:21 but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re-
joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then
white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis-
64:24 dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per-
petual peace.
Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar-
64:27 riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard
of law which might lead to a worse state of society than
now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of
64:30 the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its
own, - all that really is, - and the voices of physical
sense will be forever hushed.
Blessing of Christ
65:1 Experience should be the school of virtue, and human
happiness should proceed from man's highest nature.
65:3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal
altar to turn the water into wine and to give to
human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and
65:6 eternal existence may be discerned.
Righteous foundations
If the foundations of human affection are consistent
with progress, they will be strong and enduring. Divorces
65:9 should warn the age of some fundamental error
in the marriage state. The union of the sexes
suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its
65:12 harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.
Powerless promises
The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day
show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of
65:15 the age, struggling against the advancing
spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of
Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home
65:18 happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher
affection.
Transition and reform
There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many
65:21 other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of
truth, and impurity and error are left among
the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is
65:24 not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never
desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once
a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot-
65:27 ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more
spiritual adherence.
The mental chemicalization, which has brought con-
65:30 jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off
this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum
is gone.
Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of
humanity:
66:3 Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
Salutary sorrow
66:6 Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, -
a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not
half remember this in the sunshine of joy
66:9 and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through
great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are
proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi-
66:12 nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes,
but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher
joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc-
66:15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine
goodness and love.
Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re-
66:18 member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal
infelicity, it is well to hope, pray, and wait patiently on
divine wisdom to point out the path.
Patience is wisdom
66:21 Husbands and wives should never separate if there
is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the
logic of events than for a wife precipitately
66:24 to leave her husband or for a husband to
leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must
always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good
66:27 company. Socrates considered patience salutary under
such circumstances, making his Xantippe a discipline for
his philosophy.
The gold and dross
66:30 Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us
where it found us. The furnace separates
the gold from the dross that the precious metal may
67:1 be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father
hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons
67:3 He teaches?
Weathering the storm
When the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds
lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds,
67:6 and the waves lift themselves into mountains.
We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your
course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He
67:9 answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not
sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the
Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under-
67:12 standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on
and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves
on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work-
67:15 ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible
propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens
the troubled sea.
Spiritual power
67:18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force
to character is too absurd for consideration, when we
remember that through spiritual ascendency
67:21 our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised
the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to
obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other
67:24 means and methods.
The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration
of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor
67:27 of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is
needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death
presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal.
Basis of true religion
67:30 Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains
and pleasures, but Jesus rebuked the suffering from any
such cause or effect. The epoch approaches when the
68:1 understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of
true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for
68:3 fear of being thought ridiculous. They are
slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some-
time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has
68:6 created men and women in Science. We ought to weary
of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which
hinders our highest selfhood.
68:9 Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of
mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers
of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not
68:12 in haste to take the vow "until death do us part."
Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela-
tions to your growth and to your influence on other
68:15 lives.
Insanity and agamogenesis
I never knew more than one individual who believed
in agamogenesis; she was unmarried, a lovely charac-
68:18 ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and
a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named
her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon
68:21 the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder
and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since
salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per-
68:24 petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is
evident, but I discredit the belief that agamogenesis
applies to the human species.
God's creation intact
68:27 Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion;
it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind,
but an impartation of the divine Mind to man
68:30 and the universe. Proportionately as human
generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, har-
monious being will be spiritually discerned; and man,
69:1 not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will
appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe
69:3 are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in
divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense
of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.
69:6 Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ-
ing that man is a creator. God's children already created
will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being.
69:9 Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion
as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry
or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con-
69:12 tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in-
finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but
one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip-
69:15 tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain,
and of man deathless and perfect and eternal.
If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring
69:18 spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not
conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some
day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First
69:21 Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or
is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates
man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach
69:24 that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that
Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques-
tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry,
69:27 and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac-
counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur-
rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
69:30 marriage."
CHAPTER IV - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM
And when they shall say unto you,
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
And unto wizards that peep and that mutter;
Should not a people seek unto their God? - ISAIAH.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we
know that thou hast a devil. - JOHN.
The infinite one Spirit
70:1 MORTAL existence is an enigma. Every day is a
mystery. The testimony of the corporeal senses
70:3 cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive, but
the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures
of Truth. Whatever is false or sinful can
70:6 never enter the atmosphere of Spirit. There
is but one Spirit. Man is never God, but spiritual man,
made in God's likeness, reflects God. In this scientific
70:9 reflection the Ego and the Father are inseparable. The
supposition that corporeal beings are spirits, or that there
are good and evil spirits, is a mistake.
Real and unreal identity
70:12 The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade
of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The
questions are: What are God's identities?
70:15 What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing
formed?
71:1 Nothing is real and eternal, - nothing is Spirit, - but
God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither
71:3 person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion
of material sense.
The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever;
71:6 but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not /in/ Spirit's
formations. Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the
creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form,
71:9 which forms only reflect.
Dream-lessons
Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a
flower, - that you touch and smell it. Thus you learn
71:12 that the flower is a product of the so-called
mind, a formation of thought rather than of
matter. Close your eyes again, and you may see land-
71:15 scapes, men, and women. Thus you learn that these
also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves
and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence. From
71:18 dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor
matter is the image or likeness of God, and that im-
mortal Mind is not in matter.
Found wanting
71:21 When the Science of Mind is understood, spiritualism
will be found mainly erroneous, having no scientific basis
nor origin, no proof nor power outside of
71:24 human testimony. It is the offspring of the
physical senses. There is no sensuality in Spirit. I never
could believe in spiritualism.
71:27 The basis and structure of spiritualism are alike ma-
terial and physical. Its spirits are so many corporealities,
limited and finite in character and quality. Spiritualism
71:30 therefore presupposes Spirit, which is ever infinite, to be
a corporeal being, a finite form, - a theory contrary to
Christian Science.
72:1 There is but one spiritual existence, - the Life of
which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The
72:3 divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense.
If a material body - in other words, mortal, material
sense - were permeated by Spirit, that body would
72:6 disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A con-
dition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of
spiritual life.
Spirits obsolete
72:9 So-called /spirits/ are but corporeal communicators. As
light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all
is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God,
72:12 is the only truth-giver to man. Truth de-
stroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal
belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth
72:15 (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which
are not united by progress, but separated.
Perfection is not expressed through imperfection.
72:18 Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the anti-
pode of Spirit. Error is not a convenient sieve through
which truth can be strained.
Scientific phenomena
72:21 God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine
logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never
present. In Science, individual good derived
72:24 from God, the infinite All-in-all, may flow
from the departed to mortals; but evil is neither com-
municable nor scientific. A sinning, earthly mortal is
72:27 not the reality of Life nor the medium through which
truth passes to earth. The joy of intercourse becomes
the jest of sin, when evil and suffering are communicable.
72:30 Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the com-
municator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and
humanity. As readily can you mingle fire and frost as
73:1 Spirit and matter. In either case, one does not support
the other.
73:3 Spiritualism calls one person, living in this world, /ma-
terial/, but another, who has died to-day a sinner and sup-
posedly will return to earth to-morrow, it terms a /spirit/.
73:6 The fact is that neither the one nor the other is infinite
Spirit, for Spirit is God, and man is His likeness.
One government
The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an-
73:9 other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and
the Science of man, for man is image. God
controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any
73:12 other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal
belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, - the repe-
tition of evil.
73:15 If Spirit, or God, communed with mortals or controlled
them through electricity or any other form of matter, the
divine order and the Science of omnipotent, omnipresent
73:18 Spirit would be destroyed.
Incorrect theories
The belief that material bodies return to dust, hereafter
to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and
73:21 desires, is incorrect. Equally incorrect is the
belief that spirit is confined in a finite, ma-
terial body, from which it is freed by death, and that, when
73:24 it is freed from the material body, spirit retains the sensa-
tions belonging to that body.
No me-diumship
It is a grave mistake to suppose that matter is any part
73:27 of the reality of intelligent existence, or that Spirit and
matter, intelligence and non-intelligence, can
commune together. This error Science will
73:30 destroy. The sensual cannot be made the mouthpiece of
the spiritual, nor can the finite become the channel of
the infinite. There is no communication between so-
74:1 called material existence and spiritual life which is not
subject to death.
Opposing conditions
74:3 To be on communicable terms with Spirit, persons must
be free from organic bodies; and their return to a mate-
rial condition, after having once left it, would
74:6 be as impossible as would be the restoration
to its original condition of the acorn, already absorbed
into a sprout which has risen above the soil. The seed
74:9 which has germinated has a new form and state of exist-
ence. When here or hereafter the belief of life in matter
is extinct, the error which has held the belief dissolves
74:12 with the belief, and never returns to the old condition.
No correspondence nor communion can exist between
persons in such opposite dreams as the belief of having
74:15 died and left a material body and the belief of still living
in an organic, material body.
Bridgeless division
The caterpillar, transformed into a beautiful insect,
74:18 is no longer a worm, nor does the insect return to
fraternize with or control the worm. Such
a backward transformation is impossible in
74:21 Science. Darkness and light, infancy and manhood,
sickness and health, are opposites, - different beliefs,
which never blend. Who will say that infancy can utter
74:24 the ideas of manhood, that darkness can represent light,
that we are in Europe when we are in the opposite hemi-
sphere? There is no bridge across the gulf which divides
74:27 two such opposite conditions as the spiritual, or incor-
poreal, and the physical, or corporeal.
In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step,
74:30 never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead
and living cannot commune together, for they are in
separate states of existence, or consciousness.
Unscientific investiture
75:1 This simple truth lays bare the mistaken assumption
that man dies as matter but comes to life as spirit. The
75:3 so-called dead, in order to reappear to those
still in the existence cognized by the physical
senses, would need to be tangible and material, - to have
75:6 a material investiture, - or the material senses could take
no cognizance of the so-called dead.
Spiritualism would transfer men from the spiritual sense
75:9 of existence back into its material sense. This gross mate-
rialism is scientifically impossible, since to infinite Spirit
there can be no matter.
Raising the dead
75:12 Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;
but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus
restored Lazarus by the understanding that
75:15 Lazarus had never died, not by an admis-
sion that his body had died and then lived again. Had
Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his
75:18 body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of
belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have
resuscitated it.
75:21 When you can waken yourself or others out of the belief
that all must die, you can then exercise Jesus' spiritual
power to reproduce the presence of those who have thought
75:24 they died, - but not otherwise.
Vision of the dying
There is one possible moment, when those living on the
earth and those called dead, can commune together, and
75:27 that is the moment previous to the transition,
- the moment when the link between their op-
posite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through
75:30 which we pass from one dream to another dream, or
when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities
of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those
76:1 who have gone before. The ones departing may whisper
this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the
76:3 hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes
open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes
aloud his rapture.
Real Life is God
76:6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as
neither material nor finite, but as infinite, - as God,
universal good; and the belief that life, or
76:9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in
evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that
Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never
76:12 raised from matter. When advanced to spiritual being
and the understanding of God, man can no longer com-
mune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more
76:15 than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem
to be corporeal, but he will be an individual conscious-
ness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter.
76:18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When
divine Science is universally understood, they will have
no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by
76:21 divine authority.
Immaterial pleasure
The sinless joy, - the perfect harmony and immortality
of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness
76:24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, -
constitutes the only veritable, indestructible
man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence
76:27 is scientific and intact, - a perfection discernible only
by those who have the final understanding of Christ in
divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of
76:30 existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to,
before immortality appears.
The recognition of Spirit and of infinity comes not
77:1 suddenly here or hereafter. The pious Polycarp said:
"I cannot turn at once from good to evil." Neither do
77:3 other mortals accomplish the change from error to truth
at a single bound.
Second death
Existence continues to be a belief of corporeal sense
77:6 until the Science of being is reached. Error brings its
own self-destruction both here and hereafter,
for mortal mind creates its own physical con-
77:9 ditions. Death will occur on the next plane of existence
as on this, until the spiritual understanding of Life is
reached. Then, and not until then, will it be demon-
77:12 strated that "the second death hath no power."
A dream vanishing
The period required for this dream of material life,
embracing its so-called pleasures and pains, to vanish
77:15 from consciousness, "knoweth no man . . .
neither the Son, but the Father." This period
will be of longer or shorter duration according to the
77:18 tenacity of error. Of what advantage, then, would it be
to us, or to the departed, to prolong the material state and
so prolong the illusion either of a soul inert or of a sinning,
77:21 suffering sense, - a so-called mind fettered to matter.
Progress and purgatory
Even if communications from spirits to mortal con-
sciousness were possible, such communications would
77:24 grow beautifully less with every advanced stage
of existence. The departed would gradually
rise above ignorance and materiality, and Spiritualists
77:27 would outgrow their beliefs in material spiritualism.
Spiritism consigns the so-called dead to a state resembling
that of blighted buds, - to a wretched purgatory, where
77:30 the chances of the departed for improvement narrow
into nothing and they return to their old standpoints of
matter.
Unnatural deflections
78:1 The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak,
the ferocious beast, - like the discords of disease, sin,
78:3 and death, - are unnatural. They are the fal-
sities of sense, the changing deflections of mor-
tal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind.
Absurd oracles
78:6 How unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing
out life and hastening to death, and that at the same
time we are communing with immortality!
78:9 If the departed are in rapport with mor-
tality, or matter, they are not spiritual, but must still
be mortal, sinning, suffering, and dying. Then why
78:12 look to them - even were communication possible - for
proofs of immortality, and accept them as oracles? Com-
munications gathered from ignorance are pernicious in
78:15 tendency.
Spiritualism with its material accompaniments would
destroy the supremacy of Spirit. If Spirit pervades all
78:18 space, it needs no material method for the transmission
of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order
to be omnipresent.
Spirit intangible
78:21 Spirit is not materially tangible. How then can it
communicate with man through electric, material effects?
How can the majesty and omnipotence of
78:24 Spirit be lost? God is not in the medley
where matter cares for matter, where spiritism makes
many gods, and hypnotism and electricity are claimed
78:27 to be the agents of God's government.
Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence
it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are
78:30 comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the
effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling
in eternal Science.
Thought regarding death
79:1 The act of describing disease - its symptoms, locality,
and fatality - is not scientific. Warning people against
79:3 death is an error that tends to frighten into
death those who are ignorant of Life as God.
Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored
79:6 by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death.
Fallacious hypotheses
A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the
use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma-
79:9 nent health. Science must go over the whole
ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow-
ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy-
79:12 potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and
hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for
Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma-
79:15 terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro-
duces the harmony of being.
Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle
79:18 Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ.
Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de-
79:21 scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels,
but he healed disease.
Mistaken methods
The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your
79:24 brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is
weak, and it must be strengthened. You have
nervous prostration, and must be treated for it."
79:27 Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in-
telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.
Divine strength
Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary
79:30 in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing
good. Giving does not impoverish us in the
service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.
80:1 We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of
the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving
80:3 utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal
of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for
the support of bodily endurance.
A denial of immortality
80:6 A communication purporting to come from the late
Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was,
and there never will be, an immortal spirit."
80:9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen-
tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica-
tions are our only proofs of immortality.
Mysticism unscientific
80:12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy
of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their
views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual-
80:15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and
explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never
removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the
80:18 realm of mysticism.
Physical falsities
It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the
aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know
80:21 that it is mind-power which moves both table
and hand. Even planchette - the French toy
which years ago pleased so many people - attested the con-
80:24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.
It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.
These movements arise from the volition of human belief,
80:27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind
produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and
believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec-
80:30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that
mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly,
hence that matter is intelligent.
Poor post-mortem evidence
81:1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni-
cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there
81:3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has
sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by
the Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the
81:6 Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish.
No proof of immortality
At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism
can only prove that certain individuals have a continued
81:9 existence after death and maintain their affili-
ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords
no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that
81:12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op-
posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor-
tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits
81:15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof
of immortality.
Mind's manifestations immortal
Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can-
81:18 not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to
wither and the flower to fade, they reappear.
Erase the figures which express number, silence
81:21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body
called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine
Principle lives on, - in the case of man as truly as in
81:24 the case of numbers and of music, - despite the so-called
laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though
the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the
81:27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine
Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de-
pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary
81:30 consequence of the immortality of good.
Reading thoughts
That somebody, somewhere, must have known the
deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is
82:1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near.
We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one
82:3 present. It is no more difficult to read the
absent mind than it is to read the present.
Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought
82:6 in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of
the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist-
ence we may be in doubt?
Impossible intercommunion
82:9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they
cannot return to material existence, because different
states of consciousness are involved, and one
82:12 person cannot exist in two different states of
consciousness at the same time. In sleep we
do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite
82:15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un-
conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ-
ent mazes of consciousness.
82:18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed
friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of
existence as before the change we call death, that their
82:21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We
are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm
in which we dwell. Communion between them and
82:24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The
mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as
impossible as it would be between a mole and a human
82:27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be-
token a differing consciousness. When wandering in
Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their
82:30 snow huts?
In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a
greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to
83:1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine
Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of
83:3 Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet
artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the
work of wisdom.
83:6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil
elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find
refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter
83:9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science
than a blind belief without understanding, for such a
belief hides Truth and builds on error.
Natural wonders
83:12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science
takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani-
festation of power is from the divine nature
83:15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an
explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in-
cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but
83:18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, - this be-
lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the
precedence over Spirit.
Conflicting standpoints
83:21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life
is either material or organically spiritual. Between
Christian Science and all forms of superstition
83:24 a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be-
tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading
and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation
83:27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by
which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of
all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-
83:30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which
cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading
mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs.
84:1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the
premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs.
Scientific foreseeing
84:3 The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a
spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing
evil and mistaking fact for fiction, - predict-
84:6 ing the future from a groundwork of corpo-
reality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced
in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men
84:9 become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not
by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.
It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and
84:12 of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know
the past, the present, and the future.
Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to
84:15 commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee
and foretell events which concern the universal welfare,
to be divinely inspired, - yea, to reach the range of fetter-
84:18 less Mind.
The Mind unbounded
To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by
corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for
84:21 sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones
for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind-
science by which we discern man's nature and existence.
84:24 This true conception of being destroys the belief of spirit-
ualism at its very inception, for without the concession of
material personalities called spirits, spiritualism has no
84:27 basis upon which to build.
Scientific foreknowing
All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine
Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian
84:30 Science. If this Science has been thoroughly
learned and properly digested, we can know
the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read
85:1 the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading
is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of
85:3 the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the ca-
pacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense
comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the
85:6 divine Mind.
Value of intuition
Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and per-
petuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not
85:9 evil. You will reach the perfect Science of
healing when you are able to read the human
mind after this manner and discern the error you would
85:12 destroy. The Samaritan woman said: "Come, see a
man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this
the Christ?"
85:15 It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his
students, "knew their thoughts," - read them scientifi-
cally. In like manner he discerned disease and healed
85:18 the sick. After the same method, events of great mo-
ment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets. Our
Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said:
85:21 "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky;
but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
Hypocrisy condemned
Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal
85:24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the
generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek-
ing the material more than the spiritual. His
85:27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never
spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation.. He said:
"These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
85:30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and
effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never
imparts error.
Mental contact
86:1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing
this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone,
86:3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng
thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that
it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called
86:6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the
faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this
mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples'
86:9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus
possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples.
Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce
86:12 unlike results.
Images of thought
Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear
to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste-
86:15 rious only because it is unusual to see
thoughts, though we can always feel their
influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual
86:18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances
either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and
sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing
86:21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then
why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one?
Education alone determines the difference. In reality
86:24 there is none.
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
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