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Science and
Health
with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
Chapter 13
— Teaching Christian Science
Give instruction to a wise
man, and he will be yet wiser:
teach a just man, and he will
increase in learning.
— PROVERBS.
When the discoverer of
Christian Science is consulted by
her followers as to the
propriety, advantage, and
consistency of systematic medical
study, she tries to show them
that under ordinary circumstances
a resort to faith in corporeal
means tends to deter those, who
make such a compromise, from
entire confidence in omnipotent
Mind as really possessing all
power. While a course of medical
study is at times severely
condemned by some Scientists, she
feels, as she always has felt,
that all are privileged to work
out their own salvation according
to their light, and that our
motto should be the Master's
counsel, "Judge not, that ye be
not judged."
If patients fail to experience
the healing power of Christian
Science, and think they can be
benefited by certain ordinary
physical methods of medical
treatment, then the
Mind-physician should give up
such cases, and leave invalids
free to resort to whatever other
systems they fancy will afford
relief. Thus such invalids may
learn the value of the apostolic
precept: "Reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and
doctrine." If the sick find these
material expedients
unsatisfactory, and they receive
no help from them, these very
failures may open their blind
eyes. In some way, sooner or
later, all must rise superior to
materiality, and suffering is oft
the divine agent in this
elevation. "All things work
together for good to them that
love God," is the dictum of
Scripture.
If Christian Scientists ever
fail to receive aid from other
Scientists, — their brethren
upon whom they may call, —
God will still guide them into
the right use of temporary and
eternal means. Step by step will
those who trust Him find that
"God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in
trouble."
Students are advised by the
author to be charitable and kind,
not only towards differing forms
of religion and medicine, but to
those who hold these differing
opinions. Let us be faithful in
pointing the way through Christ,
as we understand it, but let us
also be careful always to "judge
righteous judgment," and never to
condemn rashly. "Whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also." That
is, Fear not that he will smite
thee again for thy forbearance.
If ecclesiastical sects or
medical schools turn a deaf ear
to the teachings of Christian
Science, then part from these
opponents as did Abraham when he
parted from Lot, and say in thy
heart: "Let there be no strife, I
pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy
herdmen; for we be brethren."
Immortals, or God's children in
divine Science, are one
harmonious family; but mortals,
or the "children of men" in
material sense, are discordant
and ofttimes false brethren.
The teacher must make clear to
students the Science of healing,
especially its ethics, —
that all is Mind, and that the
Scientist must conform to God's
requirements. Also the teacher
must thoroughly fit his students
to defend themselves against sin,
and to guard against the attacks
of the would-be mental
assassin, who attempts to
kill morally and physically. No
hypothesis as to the existence of
another power should interpose a
doubt or fear to hinder the
demonstration of Christian
Science. Unfold the latent
energies and capacities for good
in your pupil. Teach the great
possibilities of man endued with
divine Science. Teach the
dangerous possibility of dwarfing
the spiritual understanding and
demonstration of Truth by sin, or
by recourse to material means for
healing. Teach the meekness and
might of life "hid with Christ in
God," and there will be no desire
for other healing methods. You
render the divine law of healing
obscure and void, when you weigh
the human in the scale with the
divine, or limit in any direction
of thought the omnipresence and
omnipotence of God.
Christian Science silences
human will, quiets fear with
Truth and Love, and illustrates
the unlabored motion of the
divine energy in healing the
sick. Self-seeking, envy,
passion, pride, hatred, and
revenge are cast out by the
divine Mind which heals disease.
The human will which maketh and
worketh a lie, hiding the divine
Principle of harmony, is
destructive to health, and is the
cause of disease rather than its
cure.
There is great danger in
teaching Mind-healing
indiscriminately, thus
disregarding the morals of the
student and caring only for the
fees. Recalling Jefferson's words
about slavery, "I tremble, when I
remember that God is just," the
author trembles whenever she sees
a man, for the petty
consideration of money, teaching
his slight knowledge of
Mind-power, — perhaps
communicating his own bad morals,
and in this way dealing
pitilessly with a community
unprepared for selfdefence.
A thorough perusal of the
author's publications heals
sickness. If patients sometimes
seem worse while reading this
book, the change may either arise
from the alarm of the physician,
or it may mark the crisis of the
disease. Perseverance in the
perusal of the book has generally
completely healed such cases.
Whoever practises the Science
the author teaches, through which
Mind pours light and healing upon
this generation, can practise on
no one from sinister or malicious
motives without destroying his
own power to heal and his own
health. Good must dominate in the
thoughts of the healer, or his
demonstration is protracted,
dangerous, and impossible in
Science. A wrong motive involves
defeat. In the Science of
Mind-healing, it is imperative to
be honest, for victory rests on
the side of immutable right. To
understand God strengthens hope,
enthrones faith in Truth, and
verifies Jesus' word: "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end
of the world."
Resisting evil, you overcome
it and prove its nothingness. Not
human platitudes, but divine
beatitudes, reflect the spiritual
light and might which heal the
sick. The exercise of will brings
on a hypnotic state, detrimental
to health and integrity of
thought. This must therefore be
watched and guarded against.
Covering iniquity will prevent
prosperity and the ultimate
triumph of any cause. Ignorance
of the error to be eradicated
oftentimes subjects you to its
abuse.
The heavenly law is broken by
trespassing upon man's individual
right of self-government. We have
no authority in Christian Science
and no moral right to attempt to
influence the thoughts of others,
except it be to benefit them. In
mental practice you must not
forget that erring human
opinions, conflicting selfish
motives, and ignorant attempts to
do good may render you incapable
of knowing or judging accurately
the need of your fellow-men.
Therefore the rule is, heal the
sick when called upon for aid,
and save the victims of the
mental assassins.
Ignorance, subtlety, or false
charity does not forever conceal
error; evil will in time disclose
and punish itself. The
recuperative action of the
system, when mentally sustained
by Truth, goes on naturally. When
sin or sickness — the
reverse of harmony — seems
true to material sense, impart
without frightening or
discouraging the patient the
truth and spiritual
understanding, which destroy
disease. Expose and denounce the
claims of evil and disease in all
their forms, but realize no
reality in them. A sinner is not
reformed merely by assuring him
that he cannot be a sinner
because there is no sin. To put
down the claim of sin, you must
detect it, remove the mask, point
out the illusion, and thus get
the victory over sin and so prove
its unreality. The sick are not
healed merely by declaring there
is no sickness, but by knowing
that there is none.
A sinner is afraid to cast the
first stone. He may say, as a
subterfuge, that evil is unreal,
but to know it, he must
demonstrate his statement. To
assume that there are no claims
of evil and yet to indulge them,
is a moral offence. Blindness and
self-righteousness cling fast to
iniquity. When the Publican's
wail went out to the great heart
of Love, it won his humble
desire. Evil which obtains in the
bodily senses, but which the
heart condemns, has no
foundation; but if evil is
uncondemned, it is undenied and
nurtured. Under such
circumstances, to say that there
is no evil, is an evil in itself.
When needed tell the truth
concerning the lie. Evasion of
Truth cripples integrity, and
casts thee down from the
pinnacle.
Christian Science rises above
the evidence of the corporeal
senses; but if you have not risen
above sin yourself, do not
congratulate yourself upon your
blindness to evil or upon the
good you know and do not.
A dishonest position is far from
Christianly scientific. "He that
covereth his sins shall not
prosper: but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy."
Try to leave on every student's
mind the strong impress of divine
Science, a high sense of the
moral and spiritual
qualifications requisite for
healing, well knowing it to be
impossible for error, evil, and
hate to accomplish the grand
results of Truth and Love. The
reception or pursuit of
instructions opposite to absolute
Christian Science must always
hinder scientific
demonstration.
If the student adheres
strictly to the teachings of
Christian Science and ventures
not to break its rules, he cannot
fail of success in healing. It is
Christian Science to do right,
and nothing short of right-doing
has any claim to the name. To
talk the right and live the wrong
is foolish deceit, doing one's
self the most harm. Fettered by
sin yourself, it is difficult to
free another from the fetters of
disease. With your own wrists
manacled, it is hard to break
another's chains. A little leaven
causes the whole mass to ferment.
A grain of Christian Science does
wonders for mortals, so
omnipotent is Truth, but more of
Christian Science must be gained
in order to continue in well
doing.
The wrong done another reacts
most heavily against one's self.
Right adjusts the balance sooner
or later. Think it "easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a
needle," than for you to benefit
yourself by injuring others.
Man's moral mercury, rising or
falling, registers his healing
ability and fitness to teach. You
should practise well what you
know, and you will then advance
in proportion to your honesty and
fidelity, — qualities which
insure success in this Science;
but it requires a higher
understanding to teach this
subject properly and correctly
than it does to heal the most
difficult case.
The baneful effect of evil
associates is less seen than
felt. The inoculation of evil
human thoughts ought to be
understood and guarded against.
The first impression, made on a
mind which is attracted or
repelled according to personal
merit or demerit, is a good
detective of individual
character. Certain minds meet
only to separate through
simultaneous repulsion. They are
enemies without the preliminary
offence. The impure are at peace
with the impure. Only virtue is a
rebuke to vice. A proper teacher
of Christian Science improves the
health and the morals of his
student if the student practises
what he is taught, and unless
this result follows, the teacher
is a Scientist only in name.
There is a large class of
thinkers whose bigotry and
conceit twist every fact to suit
themselves. Their creed teaches
belief in a mysterious,
supernatural God, and in a
natural, all-powerful devil.
Another class, still more
unfortunate, are so depraved that
they appear to be innocent. They
utter a falsehood, while looking
you blandly in the face, and they
never fail to stab their
benefactor in the back. A third
class of thinkers build with
solid masonry. They are sincere,
generous, noble, and are
therefore open to the approach
and recognition of Truth. To
teach Christian Science to such
as these is no task. They do not
incline longingly to error, whine
over the demands of Truth, nor
play the traitor for place and
power.
Some people yield slowly to
the touch of Truth. Few yield
without a struggle, and many are
reluctant to acknowledge that
they have yielded; but unless
this admission is made, evil will
boast itself above good. The
Christian Scientist has enlisted
to lessen evil, disease, and
death; and he will overcome them
by understanding their
nothingness and the allness of
God, or good. Sickness to him is
no less a temptation than is sin,
and he heals them both by
understanding God's power over
them. The Christian Scientist
knows that they are errors of
belief, which Truth can and will
destroy.
Who, that has felt the
perilous beliefs in life,
substance, and intelligence
separated from God, can say that
there is no error of belief?
Knowing the claim of animal
magnetism, that all evil combines
in the belief of life, substance,
and intelligence in matter,
electricity, animal nature, and
organic life, who will deny that
these are the errors which Truth
must and will annihilate?
Christian Scientists must live
under the constant pressure of
the apostolic command to come out
from the material world and be
separate. They must renounce
aggression, oppression and the
pride of power. Christianity,
with the crown of Love upon her
brow, must be their queen of
life.
Students of Christian Science,
who start with its letter and
think to succeed without the
spirit, will either make
shipwreck of their faith or be
turned sadly awry. They must not
only seek, but strive, to enter
the narrow path of Life, for
"wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat." Man walks
in the direction towards which he
looks, and where his treasure is,
there will his heart be also. If
our hopes and affections are
spiritual, they come from above,
not from beneath, and they bear
as of old the fruits of the
Spirit.
Every Christian Scientist,
every conscientious teacher of
the Science of Mind-healing,
knows that human will is not
Christian Science, and he must
recognize this in order to defend
himself from the influence of
human will. He feels morally
obligated to open the eyes of his
students that they may perceive
the nature and methods of error
of every sort, especially any
subtle degree of evil, deceived
and deceiving. All mental
malpractice arises from ignorance
or malice aforethought. It is the
injurious action of one mortal
mind controlling another from
wrong motives, and it is
practised either with a mistaken
or a wicked purpose.
Show your student that mental
malpractice tends to blast moral
sense, health, and the human
life. Instruct him how to bar the
door of his thought against this
seeming power, — a task not
difficult, when one understands
that evil has in reality no
power. Incorrect reasoning leads
to practical error. The wrong
thought should be arrested before
it has a chance to manifest
itself.
Walking in the light, we are
accustomed to the light and
require it; we cannot see in
darkness. But eyes accustomed to
darkness are pained by the light.
When outgrowing the old, you
should not fear to put on the
new. Your advancing course may
provoke envy, but it will also
attract respect. When error
confronts you, withhold not the
rebuke or the explanation which
destroys error. Never breathe an
immoral atmosphere, unless in the
attempt to purify it. Better is
the frugal intellectual repast
with contentment and virtue, than
the luxury of learning with
egotism and vice.
Right is radical. The teacher
must know the truth himself. He
must live it and love it, or he
cannot impart it to others. We
soil our garments with
conservatism, and afterwards we
must wash them clean. When the
spiritual sense of Truth unfolds
its harmonies, you take no risks
in the policy of error. Expect to
heal simply by repeating the
author's words, by right talking
and wrong acting, and you will be
disappointed. Such a practice
does not demonstrate the Science
by which divine Mind heals the
sick.
Acting from sinful motives
destroys your power of healing
from the right motive. On the
other hand, if you had the
inclination or power to practise
wrongly and then should adopt
Christian Science, the wrong
power would be destroyed. You do
not deny the mathematician's
right to distinguish the correct
from the incorrect among the
examples on the blackboard, nor
disbelieve the musician when he
distinguishes concord from
discord. In like manner it should
be granted that the author
understands what she is
saying.
Right and wrong, truth and
error, will be at strife in the
minds of students, until victory
rests on the side of invincible
truth. Mental chemicalization
follows the explanation of Truth,
and a higher basis is thus won;
but with some individuals the
morbid moral or physical symptoms
constantly reappear. I have never
witnessed so decided effects from
the use of material remedies as
from the use of spiritual.
Teach your student that he
must know himself before he can
know others and minister to human
needs. Honesty is spiritual
power. Dishonesty is human
weakness, which forfeits divine
help. You uncover sin, not in
order to injure, but in order to
bless the corporeal man; and a
right motive has its reward.
Hidden sin is spiritual
wickedness in high places. The
masquerader in this Science
thanks God that there is no evil,
yet serves evil in the name of
good.
You should treat sickness
mentally just as you would sin,
except that you must not tell the
patient that he is sick nor give
names to diseases, for such a
course increases fear, the
foundation of disease, and
impresses more deeply the wrong
mind-picture. A Christian
Scientist's medicine is Mind, the
divine Truth that makes man free.
A Christian Scientist never
recommends material hygiene,
never manipulates. He does not
trespass on the rights of mind
nor can he practise animal
magnetism or hypnotism. It need
not be added that the use of
tobacco or intoxicating drinks is
not in harmony with Christian
Science.
Teach your students the
omnipotence of Truth, which
illustrates the impotence of
error. The understanding, even in
a degree, of the divine All-power
destroys fear, and plants the
feet in the true path, — the
path which leads to the house
built without hands "eternal in
the heavens." Human hate has no
legitimate mandate and no
kingdom. Love is enthroned. That
evil or matter has neither
intelligence nor power, is the
doctrine of absolute Christian
Science, and this is the great
truth which strips all disguise
from error.
He, who understands in a
sufficient degree the Principle
of Mind-healing, points out to
his student error as well as
truth, the wrong as well as the
right practice. Love for God and
man is the true incentive in both
healing and teaching. Love
inspires, illumines, designates,
and leads the way. Right motives
give pinions to thought, and
strength and freedom to speech
and action. Love is priestess at
the altar of Truth. Wait
patiently for divine Love to move
upon the waters of mortal mind,
and form the perfect concept.
Patience must "have her perfect
work."
Do not dismiss students at the
close of a class term, feeling
that you have no more to do for
them. Let your loving care and
counsel support all their feeble
footsteps, until your students
tread firmly in the straight and
narrow way. The superiority of
spiritual power over sensuous is
the central point of Christian
Science. Remember that the letter
and mental argument are only
human auxiliaries to aid in
bringing thought into accord with
the spirit of Truth and Love,
which heals the sick and the
sinner.
A mental state of
self-condemnation and guilt or a
faltering and doubting trust in
Truth are unsuitable conditions
for healing the sick. Such mental
states indicate weakness instead
of strength. Hence the necessity
of being right yourself in order
to teach this Science of healing.
You must utilize the moral might
of Mind in order to walk over the
waves of error and support your
claims by demonstration. If you
are yourself lost in the belief
and fear of disease or sin, and
if, knowing the remedy, you fail
to use the energies of Mind in
your own behalf, you can exercise
little or no power for others'
help. "First cast out the beam
out of thine own eye; and then
shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother's
eye."
The student, who receives his
knowledge of Christian Science,
or metaphysical healing, from a
human teacher, may be mistaken in
judgment and demonstration, but
God cannot mistake. God selects
for the highest service one who
has grown into such a fitness for
it as renders any abuse of the
mission an impossibility. The
All-wise does not bestow His
highest trusts upon the unworthy.
When He commissions a messenger,
it is one who is spiritually near
Himself. No person can misuse
this mental power, if he is
taught of God to discern it.
This strong point in Christian
Science is not to be overlooked,
— that the same fountain
cannot send forth both sweet
waters and bitter. The higher
your attainment in the Science of
mental healing and teaching, the
more impossible it will become
for you intentionally to
influence mankind adverse to its
highest hope and achievement.
Teaching or practising in the
name of Truth, but contrary to
its spirit or rules, is most
dangerous quackery. Strict
adherence to the divine Principle
and rules of the scientific
method has secured the only
success of the students of
Christian Science. This alone
entitles them to the high
standing which most of them hold
in the community, a reputation
experimentally justified by their
efforts. Whoever affirms that
there is more than one Principle
and method of demonstrating
Christian Science greatly errs,
ignorantly or intentionally, and
separates himself from the true
conception of Christian Science
healing and from its possible
demonstration.
Any dishonesty in your theory
and practice betrays a gross
ignorance of the method of the
Christ-cure. Science makes no
concessions to persons or
opinions. One must abide in the
morale of truth or he
cannot demonstrate the divine
Principle. So long as matter is
the basis of practice, illness
cannot be efficaciously treated
by the metaphysical process.
Truth does the work, and you must
both understand and abide by the
divine Principle of your
demonstration.
A Christian Scientist requires
my work SCIENCE AND HEALTH for
his textbook, and so do all his
students and patients. Why?
First: Because it is the
voice of Truth to this age, and
contains the full statement of
Christian Science, or the Science
of healing through Mind.
Second: Because it was the
first book known, containing a
thorough statement of Christian
Science. Hence it gave the first
rules for demonstrating this
Science, and registered the
revealed Truth uncontaminated by
human hypotheses. Other works,
which have borrowed from this
book without giving it credit,
have adulterated the Science.
Third: Because this book
has done more for teacher and
student, for healer and patient,
than has been accomplished by
other books.
Since the divine light of
Christian Science first dawned
upon the author, she has never
used this newly discovered power
in any direction which she fears
to have fairly understood. Her
prime object, since entering this
field of labor, has been to
prevent suffering, not to produce
it. That we cannot scientifically
both cure and cause disease is
self-evident. In the legend of
the shield, which led to a
quarrel between two knights
because each of them could see
but one face of it, both sides
were beautiful according to their
degree; but to mental
malpractice, prolific of evil,
there is no good aspect, either
silvern or golden.
Christian Science is not an
exception to the general rule,
that there is no excellence
without labor in a direct line.
One cannot scatter his fire, and
at the same time hit the mark. To
pursue other vocations and
advance rapidly in the
demonstration of this Science, is
not possible. Departing from
Christian Science, some learners
commend diet and hygiene. They
even practise these, intending
thereby to initiate the cure
which they mean to complete with
Mind, as if the non-intelligent
could aid Mind! The Scientist's
demonstration rests on one
Principle, and there must and can
be no opposite rule. Let this
Principle be applied to the cure
of disease without exploiting
other means.
Mental quackery rests on the
same platform as all other
quackery. The chief plank in this
platform is the doctrine that
Science has two principles in
partnership, one good and the
other evil, — one spiritual,
the other material, — and
that these two may be
simultaneously at work on the
sick. This theory is supposed to
favor practice from both a mental
and a material standpoint.
Another plank in the platform is
this, that error will finally
have the same effect as
truth.
It is anything but
scientifically Christian to think
of aiding the divine Principle of
healing or of trying to sustain
the human body until the divine
Mind is ready to take the case.
Divinity is always ready.
Semper paratus is Truth's
motto. Having seen so much
suffering from quackery, the
author desires to keep it out of
Christian Science. The two-edged
sword of Truth must turn in every
direction to guard "the tree of
life."
Sin makes deadly thrusts at
the Christian Scientist as
ritualism and creed are summoned
to give place to higher law, but
Science will ameliorate mortal
malice. The Christianly
scientific man reflects the
divine law, thus becoming a law
unto himself. He does violence to
no man. Neither is he a false
accuser. The Christian Scientist
wisely shapes his course, and is
honest and consistent in
following the leadings of divine
Mind. He must prove, through
living as well as healing and
teaching, that Christ's way is
the only one by which mortals are
radically saved from sin and
sickness.
Christianity causes men to
turn naturally from matter to
Spirit, as the flower turns from
darkness to light. Man then
appropriates those things which
"eye hath not seen nor ear
heard." Paul and John had a clear
apprehension that, as mortal man
achieves no worldly honors except
by sacrifice, so he must gain
heavenly riches by forsaking all
worldliness. Then he will have
nothing in common with the
worldling's affections, motives,
and aims. Judge not the future
advancement of Christian Science
by the steps already taken, lest
you yourself be condemned for
failing to take the first
step.
Any attempt to heal mortals
with erring mortal mind, instead
of resting on the omnipotence of
the divine Mind, must prove
abortive. Committing the bare
process of mental healing to
frail mortals, untaught and
unrestrained by Christian
Science, is like putting a sharp
knife into the hands of a blind
man or a raging maniac, and
turning him loose in the crowded
streets of a city. Whether
animated by malice or ignorance,
a false practitioner will work
mischief, and ignorance is more
harmful than wilful wickedness,
when the latter is distrusted and
thwarted in its incipiency.
To mortal sense Christian
Science seems abstract, but the
process is simple and the results
are sure if the Science is
understood. The tree must be
good, which produces good fruit.
Guided by divine Truth and not
guesswork, the theologus
(that is, the student — the
Christian and scientific
expounder — of the divine
law) treats disease with more
certain results than any other
healer on the globe. The
Christian Scientist should
understand and adhere strictly to
the rules of divine metaphysics
as laid down in this work, and
rest his demonstration on this
sure basis.
Ontology is defined as "the
science of the necessary
constituents and relations of all
beings," and it underlies all
metaphysical practice. Our system
of Mind-healing rests on the
apprehension of the nature and
essence of all being, — on
the divine Mind and Love's
essential qualities. Its pharmacy
is moral, and its medicine is
intellectual and spiritual,
though used for physical healing.
Yet this most fundamental part of
metaphysics is the one most
difficult to understand and
demonstrate, for to the material
thought all is material, till
such thought is rectified by
Spirit.
Sickness is neither imaginary
nor unreal, — that is, to
the frightened, false sense of
the patient. Sickness is more
than fancy; it is solid
conviction. It is therefore to be
dealt with through right
apprehension of the truth of
being. If Christian healing is
abused by mere smatterers in
Science, it becomes a tedious
mischief-maker. Instead of
scientifically effecting a cure,
it starts a petty crossfire over
every cripple and invalid,
buffeting them with the
superficial and cold assertion,
"Nothing ails you."
When the Science of Mind was a
fresh revelation to the author,
she had to impart, while teaching
its grand facts, the hue of
spiritual ideas from her own
spiritual condition, and she had
to do this orally through the
meagre channel afforded by
language and by her manuscript
circulated among the students. As
former beliefs were gradually
expelled from her thought, the
teaching became clearer, until
finally the shadow of old errors
was no longer cast upon divine
Science.
I do not maintain that anyone
can exist in the flesh without
food and raiment; but I do
believe that the real man is
immortal and that he lives in
Spirit, not matter. Christian
Science must be accepted at this
period by induction. We admit the
whole, because a part is proved
and that part illustrates and
proves the entire Principle.
Christian Science can be taught
only by those who are morally
advanced and spiritually endowed,
for it is not superficial, nor is
it discerned from the standpoint
of the human senses. Only by the
illumination of the spiritual
sense, can the light of
understanding be thrown upon this
Science, because Science reverses
the evidence before the material
senses and furnishes the eternal
interpretation of God and
man.
If you believe that you are
sick, should you say, "I am
sick"? No, but you should tell
your belief sometimes, if this be
requisite to protect others. If
you commit a crime, should you
acknowledge to yourself that you
are a criminal? Yes. Your
responses should differ because
of the different effects they
produce. Usually to admit that
you are sick, renders your case
less curable, while to recognize
your sin, aids in destroying it.
Both sin and sickness are error,
and Truth is their remedy. The
truth regarding error is, that
error is not true, hence it is
unreal. To prove scientifically
the error or unreality of sin,
you must first see the claim of
sin, and then destroy it.
Whereas, to prove scientifically
the error or unreality of
disease, you must mentally unsee
the disease; then you will not
feel it, and it is destroyed.
Systematic teaching and the
student's spiritual growth and
experience in practice are
requisite for a thorough
comprehension of Christian
Science. Some individuals
assimilate truth more readily
than others, but any student, who
adheres to the divine rules of
Christian Science and imbibes the
spirit of Christ, can demonstrate
Christian Science, cast out
error, heal the sick, and add
continually to his store of
spiritual understanding, potency,
enlightenment, and success.
If the student goes away to
practise Truth's teachings only
in part, dividing his interests
between God and mammon and
substituting his own views for
Truth, he will inevitably reap
the error he sows. Whoever would
demonstrate the healing of
Christian Science must abide
strictly by its rules, heed every
statement, and advance from the
rudiments laid down. There is
nothing difficult nor toilsome in
this task, when the way is
pointed out; but self-denial,
sincerity, Christianity, and
persistence alone win the prize,
as they usually do in every
department of life.
Anatomy, when conceived of
spiritually, is mental
self-knowledge, and consists in
the dissection of thoughts to
discover their quality, quantity,
and origin. Are thoughts divine
or human? That is the important
question. This branch of study is
indispensable to the excision of
error. The anatomy of Christian
Science teaches when and how to
probe the self-inflicted wounds
of selfishness, malice, envy, and
hate. It teaches the control of
mad ambition. It unfolds the
hallowed influences of
unselfishness, philanthropy,
spiritual love. It urges the
government of the body both in
health and in sickness. The
Christian Scientist, through
understanding mental anatomy,
discerns and deals with the real
cause of disease. The material
physician gropes among phenomena,
which fluctuate every instant
under influences not embraced in
his diagnosis, and so he may
stumble and fall in the
darkness.
Teacher and student should
also be familiar with the
obstetrics taught by this
Science. To attend properly the
birth of the new child, or divine
idea, you should so detach mortal
thought from its material
conceptions, that the birth will
be natural and safe. Though
gathering new energy, this idea
cannot injure its useful
surroundings in the travail of
spiritual birth. A spiritual idea
has not a single element of
error, and this truth removes
properly whatever is offensive.
The new idea, conceived and born
of Truth and Love, is clad in
white garments. Its beginning
will be meek, its growth sturdy,
and its maturity undecaying. When
this new birth takes place, the
Christian Science infant is born
of the Spirit, born of God, and
can cause the mother no more
suffering. By this we know that
Truth is here and has fulfilled
its perfect work.
To decide quickly as to the
proper treatment of error —
whether error is manifested in
forms of sickness, sin, or death
— is the first step towards
destroying error. Our Master
treated error through Mind. He
never enjoined obedience to the
laws of nature, if by these are
meant laws of matter, nor did he
use drugs. There is a law of God
applicable to healing, and it is
a spiritual law instead of
material. The sick are not healed
by inanimate matter or drugs, as
they believe that they are. Such
seeming medical effect or action
is that of so-called mortal
mind.
It has been said to the
author, "The world is benefited
by you, but it feels your
influence without seeing you. Why
do you not make yourself more
widely known?" Could her friends
know how little time the author
has had, in which to make herself
outwardly known except through
her laborious publications,
— and how much time and toil
are still required to establish
the stately operations of
Christian Science, — they
would understand why she is so
secluded. Others could not take
her place, even if willing so to
do. She therefore remains unseen
at her post, seeking no
self-aggrandizement but praying,
watching, and working for the
redemption of mankind.
If from an injury or from any
cause, a Christian Scientist were
seized with pain so violent that
he could not treat himself
mentally, — and the
Scientists had failed to relieve
him, — the sufferer could
call a surgeon, who would give
him a hypodermic injection, then,
when the belief of pain was
lulled, he could handle his own
case mentally. Thus it is that we
"prove all things; [and]
hold fast that which is
good."
In founding a pathological
system of Christianity, the
author has labored to expound
divine Principle, and not to
exalt personality. The weapons of
bigotry, ignorance, envy, fall
before an honest heart.
Adulterating Christian Science,
makes it void. Falsity has no
foundation. "The hireling fleeth,
because he is an hireling, and
careth not for the sheep."
Neither dishonesty nor ignorance
ever founded, nor can they
overthrow a scientific system of
ethics.
Go
to Chapter 14:
Recapitulation
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