«Разные сочинения, 1883–1896»

man's ipse dixit as to the stellar system is correct, this

is because Science is true, and the evidence of the senses

is false. Then why not submit to the affirmations of

Science concerning the greater subject of human weal

and woe? Every question between Truth and error, [10]

Science must and will decide. Left to the decision of

Science, your query concerns a negative which the posi-

tive Truth destroys; for God's universe and man are

immortal. We must not consider the false side of exist-

ence in order to gain the true solution of Life and its [15]

great realities.

Have you changed your instructions as to the right way

of treating disease?

I have not; and this important fact must be, and al-

ready is, apprehended by those who understand my in- [20]

structions on this question. Christian Science demands

both law and gospel, in order to demonstrate healing,

and I have taught them both in its demonstration, and

with signs following. They are a unit in restoring the

equipoise of mind and body, and balancing man's ac- [25]

count with his Maker. The sequence proves that strict

adherence to one is inadequate to compensate for the

absence of the other, since both constitute the divine law

of healing.

The Jewish religion demands that “whoso sheddeth [30]

man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” But this

[pg 066]

law is not infallible in wisdom; and obedience thereto [1]

may be found faulty, since false testimony or mistaken

evidence may cause the innocent to suffer for the guilty.

Hence the gospel that fulfils the law in righteousness,

the genius whereof is displayed in the surprising wisdom [5]

of these words of the New Testament: “Whatsoever

a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” No possible

injustice lurks in this mandate, and no human mis-

judgment can pervert it; for the offender alone suffers,

and always according to divine decree. This sacred, [10]

solid precept is verified in all directions in Mind-

healing, and is supported in the Scripture by parallel

proof.

The law and gospel of Truth and Love teach, through

divine Science, that sin is identical with suffering, and [15]

that suffering is the lighter affliction. To reach the sum-

mit of Science, whence to discern God's perfect ways

and means, the material sense must be controlled by

the higher spiritual sense, and Truth be enthroned,

while “we look not at the things which are seen, but at [20]

the things which are not seen.”

Cynical critics misjudge my meaning as to the sci-

entific treatment of the sick. Disease that is superin-

duced by sin is not healed like the more physical

ailment. The beginner in sin-healing must know this, or [25]

he never can reach the Science of Mind-healing, and

so “overcome evil with good.” Error in premise is met

with error in practice; yea, it is “the blind leading the

blind.” Ignorance of the cause of disease can neither

remove that cause nor its effect. [30]

I endeavor to accommodate my instructions to the

present capability of the learner, and to support the

[pg 067]

liberated thought until its altitude reaches beyond the [1]

mere alphabet of Mind-healing. Above physical wants,

lie the higher claims of the law and gospel of healing.

First is the law, which saith:—

“Thou shalt not commit adultery;” in other words, [5]

thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love,—men-

tally, morally, or physically. “Thou shalt not steal;”

that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but

trash, compared with his rights of mind and character.

“Thou shalt not kill;” that is, thou shalt not strike at the [10]

eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt

know that by doing thus thine own sense of Life shall be

forfeited. “Thou shalt not bear false witness;” that is,

thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor

cause it to be thought. Obedience to these command- [15]

ments is indispensable to health, happiness, and length

of days.

The gospel of healing demonstrates the law of Love.

Justice uncovers sin of every sort; and mercy demands

that if you see the danger menacing others, you shall, [20]

Deo volente, inform them thereof. Only thus is the right

practice of Mind-healing achieved, and the wrong prac-

tice discerned, disarmed, and destroyed.

Do you believe in translation?

If your question refers to language, whereby one ex- [25]

presses the sense of words in one language by equiva-

lent words in another, I do. If you refer to the removal

of a person to heaven, without his subjection to death,

I modify my affirmative answer. I believe in this

removal being possible after all the footsteps requisite [30]

have been taken up to the very throne, up to the

[pg 068]

spiritual sense and fact of divine substance, intelligence, [1]

Life, and Love. This translation is not the work of mo-

ments; it requires both time and eternity. It means more

than mere disappearance to the human sense; it must

include also man's changed appearance and diviner form [5]

visible to those beholding him here.

The Rev. —— said in a sermon: A true Christian

would protest against metaphysical healing being called

Christian Science. He also maintained that pain and

disease are not illusions but realities; and that it is not [10]

Christian to believe they are illusions. Is this so?

It is unchristian to believe that pain and sickness are

anything but illusions. My proof of this is, that the

penalty for believing in their reality is the very pain and

disease. Jesus cast out a devil, and the dumb spake; [15]

hence it is right to know that the works of Satan are the

illusion and error which Truth casts out.

Does the gentleman above mentioned know the

meaning of divine metaphysics, or of metaphysical

theology? [20]

According to Webster, metaphysics is defined thus:

“The science of the conceptions and relations which are

necessary to thought and knowledge; science of the

mind.” Worcester defines it as “the philosophy of mind,

as distinguished from that of matter; a science of which [25]

the object is to explain the principles and causes of

all things existing,” Brande calls metaphysics “the

science which regards the ultimate grounds of being, as

distinguished from its phenomenal modifications.” “A

speculative science, which soars beyond the bounds of [30]

experience,” is a further definition.

[pg 069]

Divine metaphysics is that which treats of the exist- [1]

ence of God, His essence, relations, and attributes. A

sneer at metaphysics is a scoff at Deity; at His goodness,

mercy, and might.

Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics; [5]

that is, of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests

on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Chris-

tian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize

the divine power.

In Genesis i. 26, we read: “Let us make man in [10]

our image, after our likeness: and let them have

dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of

the air.”

I was once called to visit a sick man to whom the

regular physicians had given three doses of Croton [15]

oil, and then had left him to die. Upon my arrival I

found him barely alive, and in terrible agony. In one

hour he was well, and the next day he attended to his

business. I removed the stoppage, healed him of en-

teritis, and neutralized the bad effects of the poison- [20]

ous oil. His physicians had failed even to move his

bowels,—though the wonder was, with the means

used in their effort to accomplish this result, that

they had not quite killed him. According to their

diagnosis, the exciting cause of the inflammation and [25]

stoppage was—eating smoked herring. The man is

living yet; and I will send his address to any one

who may wish to apply to him for information about

his case.

Now comes the question: Had that sick man dominion [30]

over the fish in his stomach?

His want of control over “the fish of the sea” must

[pg 070]

have been an illusion, or else the Scriptures misstate [1]

man's power. That the Bible is true I believe, not

only, but I demonstrated its truth when I exercised

my power over the fish, cast out the sick man's illu-

sion, and healed him. Thus it was shown that the [5]

healing action of Mind upon the body has its only ex-

planation in divine metaphysics. As a man “thinketh

in his heart, so is he.” When the mortal thought, or be-

lief, was removed, the man was well.

What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief, [10]

“To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”?

Paradisaical rest from physical agony would come to

the criminal, if the dream of dying should startle him

from the dream of suffering. The paradise of Spirit

would come to Jesus, in a spiritual sense of Life and [15]

power. Christ Jesus lived and reappeared. He was too

good to die; for goodness is immortal. The thief was

not equal to the demands of the hour; but sin was de-

stroying itself, and had already begun to die,—as

the poor thief's prayer for help indicated. The dy- [20]

ing malefactor and our Lord were inevitably sepa-

rated through Mind. The thief's body, as matter,

must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the

body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal. That

day the thief would be with Jesus only in a finite [25]

and material sense of relief; while our Lord would

soon be rising to the supremacy of Spirit, working

out, even in the silent tomb, those wonderful demon-

strations of divine power, in which none could equal his

glory. [30]

[pg 071]

Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely [1]

well myself?

The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from

an appetite for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he

saved many a drunkard from this fatal appetite. Paul [5]

had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was

troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore

eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were

sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and heal-

ing the sick is a very right thing to do. [10]

Does Christian Science set aside the law of transmission,

prenatal desires, and good or bad influences on the unborn

child?

Science never averts law, but supports it. All actual

causation must interpret omnipotence, the all-knowing [15]

Mind. Law brings out Truth, not error; unfolds divine

Principle,—but neither human hypothesis nor matter.

Errors are based on a mortal or material formation; they

are suppositional modes, not the factors of divine presence

and power. [20]

Whatever is humanly conceived is a departure from

divine law; hence its mythical origin and certain end.

According to the Scriptures,—St. Paul declares astutely,

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all

things,”—man is incapable of originating; nothing can [25]

be formed apart from God, good, the all-knowing Mind.

What seems to be of human origin is the counterfeit

of the divine,—even human concepts, mortal shadows

flitting across the dial of time.

Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the im- [30]

mutable and just law of Science, that God is good only,

[pg 072]

and can transmit to man and the universe nothing evil, [1]

or unlike Himself. For the innocent babe to be born a

lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins,

were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator,

and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and [5]

true origin, God.

According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and

bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their help-

less offspring, and God is supposed to impart to man

this fatal power. It is cause for rejoicing that this belief [10]

is as false as it is remorseless. The immutable Word

saith, through the prophet Ezekiel, “What mean ye, that

ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's

teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, [15]

ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb

in Israel.”

Are material things real when they are harmonious, and

do they disappear only to the natural sense? Does this

Scripture, “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have [20]

need of all these things” imply that Spirit takes note of

matter?

The Science of Mind, as well as the material unii

verse, shows that nothing which is material is in

perpetual harmony. Matter is manifest mortal mind, [35]

and it exists only to material sense. Real sensation

is not material; it is, and must be, mental: and Mind

is not mortal, it is immortal. Being is God, infinite

Spirit; therefore it cannot cognize aught material, or

outside of infinity. [30]

The Scriptural passage quoted affords no evidence of

[pg 073]

the reality of matter, or that God is conscious of it. [1]

The so-called material body is said to suffer, but this

supposition is proven erroneous when Mind casts out

the suffering. The Scripture saith, “Whom the Lord

loveth He chasteneth;” and again, “He doth not [5]

afflict willingly.” Interpreted materially, these pas-

sages conflict; they mingle the testimony of immor-

tal Science with mortal sense; but once discern their

spiritual meaning, and it separates the false sense from

the true, and establishes the reality of what is spiritual, [10]

and the unreality of materiality.

Law is never material: it is always mental and moral,

and a commandment to the wise. The foolish disobey

moral law, and are punished. Human wisdom therefore

can get no farther than to say, He knoweth that we have [15]

need of experience. Belief fulfils the conditions of a be-

lief, and these conditions destroy the belief. Hence the

verdict of experience: We have need of these things; we

have need to know that the so-called pleasures and pains

of matter—yea, that all subjective states of false sensa- [20]

tion—are unreal.

“And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,

That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when

the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,

ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the [25]

twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt. xix. 28.) What is meant

by regeneration?

It is the appearing of divine law to human under-

standing; the spiritualization that comes from spiritual

sense in contradistinction to the testimony of the so- [30]

called material senses. The phenomena of Spirit in

[pg 074]

Christian Science, and the divine correspondence of [1]

noumenon and phenomenon understood, are here signi-

fied. This new-born sense subdues not only the false

sense of generation, but the human will, and the un-

natural enmity of mortal man toward God. It quickly [5]

imparts a new apprehension of the true basis of being,

and the spiritual foundation for the affections which en-

throne the Son of man in the glory of his Father; and

judges, through the stern mandate of Science, all human

systems of etiology and teleology. [10]

If God does not recognize matter, how did Jesus, who was

“the way, the truth, and the life,” cognize it?

Christ Jesus' sense of matter was the opposite of that

which mortals entertain: his nativity was a spiritual and

immortal sense of the ideal world. His earthly mission [15]

was to translate substance into its original meaning,

Mind. He walked upon the waves; he turned the water

into wine; he healed the sick and the sinner; he raised

the dead, and rolled away the stone from the door of his

own tomb. His demonstration of Spirit virtually van- [20]

quished matter and its supposed laws. Walking the

wave, he proved the fallacy of the theory that matter is

substance; healing through Mind, he removed any sup-

position that matter is intelligent, or can recognize or

express pain and pleasure. His triumph over the grave [25]

was an everlasting victory for Life; it demonstrated the

lifelessness of matter, and the power and permanence

of Spirit. He met and conquered the resistance of the

world.

If you will admit, with me, that matter is neither [30]

substance, intelligence, nor Life, you may have all that

[pg 075]

is left of it; and you will have touched the hem of the [1]

garment of Jesus' idea of matter, Christ was “the way;”

since Life and Truth were the way that gave us, through

a human person, a spiritual revelation of man's possible

earthly development. [5]

Why do you insist that there is but one Soul, and that

Soul is not in the body?

First: I urge this fundamental fact and grand verity

of Christian Science, because it includes a rule that must

be understood, or it is impossible to demonstrate the Sci- [10]

ence. Soul is a synonym of Spirit, and God is Spirit.

There is but one God, and the infinite is not within the

finite; hence Soul is one, and is God; and God is not in

matter or the mortal body.

Second: Because Soul is a term for Deity, and this [15]

term should seldom be employed except where the word

God can be used and make complete sense. The word

Soul may sometimes be used metaphorically; but if this

term is warped to signify human quality, a substitution

of sense for soul clears the meaning, and assists one to [20]

understand Christian Science. Mary's exclamation,

“"My soul doth magnify the Lord,” is rendered in Sci-

ence, “My spiritual sense doth magnify the Lord;”

for the name of Deity used in that place does not bring

out the meaning of the passage. It was evidently an [25]

illuminated sense through which she discovered the

spiritual origin of man. “The soul that sinneth, it shall

die,” means, that mortal man (alias material sense) that

sinneth, shall die; and the commonly accepted view is

that soul is deathless. Soul is the divine Mind,—for [30]

Soul cannot be formed or brought forth by human

[pg 076]

thought,—and must proceed from God; hence it must [1]

be sinless, and destitute of self-created or derived capacity

to sin.

Third: Jesus said, “If a man keep my saying, he

shall never see death.” This statement of our Master [5]

is true, and remains to be demonstrated; for it is the

ultimatum of Christian Science; but this immortal saying

can never be tested or proven true upon a false premise,

such as the mortal belief that soul is in body, and life

and intelligence are in matter. That doctrine is not [10]

theism, but pantheism. According to human belief the

bodies of mortals are mortal, but they contain immortal

souls! hence these bodies must die for these souls to

escape and be immortal. The theory that death must

occur, to set a human soul free from its environments, [15]

is rendered void by Jesus' divine declaration, who spake

as never man spake,—and no man can rationally reject

his authority on this subject and accept it on other topics

less important.

Now, exchange the term soul for sense whenever this [20]

word means the so-called soul in the body, and you will

find the right meaning indicated. The misnamed human

soul is material sense, which sinneth and shall die; for

it is an error or false sense of mentality in matter, and

matter has no sense. You will admit that Soul is the [25]

Life of man. Now if Soul sinned, it would die; for “the

wages of sin is death.” The Scripture saith, “When

Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also

appear with him in glory.” The Science of Soul, Spirit,

involves this appearing, and is essential to the fulfilment [30]

of this glorious prophecy of the master Metaphysician,

who overcame the last enemy, death.

[pg 077]

Did the salvation of the eunuch depend merely on his [1]

believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God?

It did; but this believing was more than faith in the

fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Here the verb believe

took its original meaning, namely, to be firm,—yea, to [5]

understand those great truths asserted of the Messiah:

it meant to discern and consent to that infinite demand

made upon the eunuch in those few words of the apostle.

Philip's requirement was, that he should not only ac-

knowledge the incarnation,—God made manifest through [10]

man,—but even the eternal unity of man and God, as

the divine Principle and spiritual idea; which is the in-

dissoluble bond of union, the power and presence, in

divine Science, of Life, Truth, and Love, to support their

ideal man. This is the Father's great Love that He [15]

hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless

Life and one eternal round of harmonious being. It

guides him by Truth that knows no error, and with

supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love. To

believe is to be firm. In adopting all this vast idea of [20]

Christ Jesus, the eunuch was to know in whom he be-

lieved. To believe thus was to enter the spiritual sanctuary

of Truth, and there learn, in divine Science, somewhat

of the All-Father-Mother God. It was to understand

God and man: it was sternly to rebuke the mortal [25]

belief that man has fallen away from his first estate; that

man, made in God's own likeness, and reflecting Truth,

could fall into mortal error; or, that man is the father

of man. It was to enter unshod the Holy of Holies, where

the miracle of grace appears, and where the miracles of [30]

Jesus had their birth,—healing the sick, casting out

evils, and resurrecting the human sense to the belief

[pg 078]

that Life, God, is not buried in matter. This is the spirit- [1]

ual dawn of the Messiah, and the overture of the

angels. This is when God is made manifest in the

flesh, and thus it destroys all sense of sin, sickness, and

death,—when the brightness of His glory encompasseth [5]

all being.

Can Christian Science Mind-healing be taught to those

who are absent?

The Science of Mind-healing can no more be taught

thus, than can science in any other direction. I know [10]

not how to teach either Euclid or the Science of Mind

silently; and never dreamed that either of these partook

of the nature of occultism, magic, alchemy, or necro-

mancy. These “ways that are vain” are the inventions

of animal magnetism, which would deceive, if possible, [15]

the very elect. We will charitably hope, however, that

some people employ the et cetera of ignorance and self-

conceit unconsciously, in their witless ventilation of false

statements and claims. Misguiding the public mind and

taking its money in exchange for this abuse, has become [20]

too common: we will hope it is the froth of error passing

off; and that Christian Science will some time appear all

the clearer for the purification of the public thought con-

cerning it.

Has man fallen from a state of perfection? [25]

If God is the Principle of man (and He is), man is the

idea of God; and this idea cannot fail to express the ex-

act nature of its Principle,—any more than goodness,

to present the quality of good. Human hypotheses are

always human vagaries, formulated views antagonistic [30]

[pg 079]

to the divine order and the nature of Deity. All these [1]

mortal beliefs will be purged and dissolved in the cru-

cible of Truth, and the places once knowing them will

know them no more forever, having been swept clean

by the winds of history. The grand verities of Science [5]

will sift the chaff from the wheat, until it is clear to hu-

man comprehension that man was, and is, God's perfect

likeness, that reflects all whereby we can know God. In

Him we live, move, and have being. Man's origin and

existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of per- [10]

fection, and by no means the medium of imperfection.

Immortal man is the eternal idea of Truth, that cannot

lapse into a mortal belief or error concerning himself

and his origin: he cannot get out of the focal distance of

infinity. If God is upright and eternal, man as His like- [15]

ness is erect in goodness and perpetual in Life, Truth,

and Love. If the great cause is perfect, its effect is per-

fect also; and cause and effect in Science are immutable

and immortal. A mortal who is sinning, sick, and dying,

is not immortal man; and never was, and never can be, [20]

God's image and likeness, the true ideal of immortal

man's divine Principle. The spiritual man is that per-

fect and unfallen likeness, coexistent and coeternal with

God. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be

made alive.” [25]

What course should Christian Scientists take in regard

to aiding persons brought before the courts for violation of

medical statutes?

Beware of joining any medical league which in any

way obligates you to assist—because they chance to be [30]

under arrest—vendors of patent pills, mesmerists,

[pg 080]

occultists, sellers of impure literature, and authors of [1]

spurious works on mental healing. By rendering error

such a service, you lose much more than can be gained

by mere unity on the single issue of opposition to unjust

medical laws. [5]

A league which obligates its members to give money

and influence in support and defense of medical char-

latans in general, and possibly to aid individual rights

in a wrong direction—which Christian Science eschews

—should be avoided. Anybody and everybody, who [10]

will fight the medical faculty, can join this league. It is

better to be friendly with cultured and conscientious

medical men, who leave Christian Science to rise or fall

on its own merit or demerit, than to affiliate with a wrong

class of people. [15]

Unconstitutional and unjust coercive legislation and

laws, infringing individual rights, must be “of few days,

and full of trouble.” The vox populi, through the provi-

dence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and,

at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injus- [20]

tice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Govern-

ment. God reigns, and will “turn and overturn” until

right is found supreme.

In a certain sense, we should commiserate the lot of

regular doctors, who, in successive generations for cen- [25]

turies, have planted and sown and reaped in the fields

of what they deem pathology, hygiene, and therapeutics,

but are now elbowed by a new school of practitioners,

outdoing the healing of the old. The old will not patronize

the new school, at least not until it shall come to understand [30]

the medical system of the new.

Christian Science Mind-healing rests demonstrably on

[pg 081]

the broad and sure foundation of Science; and this is [1]

not the basis of materia medica, as some of the most skil-

ful and scholarly physicians openly admit.

To prevent all unpleasant and unchristian action—as

we drift, by right of God's dear love, into more spiritual [5]

lines of life—let each society of practitioners, the matter-

physicians and the metaphysicians, agree to disagree, and

then patiently wait on God to decide, as surely He will,

which is the true system of medicine.

Do we not see in the commonly accepted teachings of the [10]

day, the Christ-idea mingled with the teachings of John

the Baptist? or, rather, Are not the last eighteen centuries

but the footsteps of Truth being baptized of John, and com-

ing up straightway out of the ceremonial (or ritualistic)

waters to receive the benediction of an honored Father, and [15]

afterwards to go up into the wilderness, in order to over-

come mortal sense, before it shall go forth into all the cities

and towns of Judea, or see many of the people from beyond

Jordan? Now, if all this be a fair or correct view of this

question, why does not John hear this voice, or see the [20]

dove,—or has not Truth yet reached the shore?

Every individual character, like the individual John

the Baptist, at some date must cry in the desert of

earthly joy; and his voice be heard divinely and

humanly. In the desolation of human understanding, [25]

divine Love hears and answers the human call for help;

and the voice of Truth utters the divine verities of being

which deliver mortals out of the depths of ignorance

and vice. This is the Father's benediction. It gives

lessons to human life, guides the understanding, peoples [30]

[pg 082]

the mind with spiritual ideas, reconstructs the Judean [1]

religion, and reveals God and man as the Principle and

idea of all good.

Understanding this fact in Christian Science, brings

the peace symbolized by a dove; and this peace floweth [5]

as a river into a shoreless eternity. He who knew the

foretelling Truth, beheld the forthcoming Truth, as it

came up out of the baptism of Spirit, to enlighten and

redeem mortals. Such Christians as John cognize the

symbols of God, reach the sure foundations of time, stand [10]

upon the shore of eternity, and grasp and gather—in all

glory—what eye hath not seen.

Is there infinite progression with man after the destruc-

tion of mortal mind?

Man is the offspring and idea of the Supreme Being, [15]

whose law is perfect and infinite. In obedience to this

law, man is forever unfolding the endless beatitudes of

Being; for he is the image and likeness of infinite Life,

Truth, and Love.

Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite [20]

mortals see and comprehend only as abstract glory. As

mortal mind, or the material sense of life, is put off,

the spiritual sense and Science of being is brought to

light.

Mortal mind is a myth; the one Mind is immortal. [25]

A mythical or mortal sense of existence is consumed

as a moth, in the treacherous glare of its own flame—

the errors which devour it. Immortal Mind is God,

immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith “we live,

and move, and have our being.” This Mind, then, is not [30]

subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine

[pg 083]

intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding [1]

man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss,

as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible

good.

In your book, Science and Health,3 page 181, you [5]

say: “Every sin is the author of itself, and every

invalid the cause of his own sufferings.” On page

182 you say: “Sickness is a growth of illusion, spring-

ing from a seed of thought,—either your own thought

or another's.” Will you please explain this seeming [10]

contradiction?

No person can accept another's belief, except it be

with the consent of his own belief. If the error which

knocks at the door of your own thought originated in

another's mind, you are a free moral agent to reject or [15]

to accept this error; hence, you are the arbiter of your

own fate, and sin is the author of sin. In the words

of our Master, you are “a liar, and the father of it

[the lie].”

Why did Jesus call himself “the Son of man”? [20]

In the life of our Lord, meekness was as conspicuous

as might. In John xvii. he declared his sonship with

God: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his

eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;

glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” [25]

The hour had come for the avowal of this great truth,

and for the proof of his eternal Life and sonship. Jesus'

[pg 084]

wisdom ofttimes was shown by his forbearing to speak, [1]

as well as by speaking, the whole truth. Haply he waited

for a preparation of the human heart to receive start-

ling announcements. This wisdom, which character-

ized his sayings, did not prophesy his death, and thereby [5]

hasten or permit it.

The disciples and prophets thrust disputed points on

minds unprepared for them. This cost them their lives,

and the world's temporary esteem; but the prophecies

were fulfilled, and their motives were rewarded by [10]

growth and more spiritual understanding, which dawns

by degrees on mortals. The spiritual Christ was infal-

lible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ. The

“man of sorrows” knew that the man of joys, his spiritual

self, or Christ, was the Son of God; and that the mor- [15]

tal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human

manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of

man, or Mary's son.

Please explain Paul's meaning in the text, “For to me

to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” [20]

The Science of Life, overshadowing Paul's sense of

life in matter, so far extinguished the latter as forever

to quench his love for it. The discipline of the flesh is

designed to turn one, like a weary traveller, to the home

of Love. To lose error thus, is to live in Christ, Truth. [25]

A true sense of the falsity of material joys and sorrows,

pleasures and pains, takes them away, and teaches Life's

lessons aright. The transition from our lower sense of

Life to a new and higher sense thereof, even though it be

through the door named death, yields a clearer and [30]

nearer sense of Life to those who have utilized the present,

[pg 085]

and are ripe for the harvest-home. To the battle- [1]

worn and weary Christian hero, Life eternal brings

blessings.

Is a Christian Scientist ever sick, and has he who is

sick been regenerated? [5]

The Christian Scientist learns spiritually all that he

knows of Life, and demonstrates what he understands.

God is recognized as the divine Principle of his being,

and of every thought and act leading to good. His pur-

pose must be right, though his power is temporarily lim- [10]

ited. Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a

moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual,

for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in

Science: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father

which is in heaven is perfect.” [15]

The last degree of regeneration rises into the rest of

perpetual, spiritual, individual existence. The first

feeble fluttering of mortals Christward are infantile

and more or less imperfect. The new-born Christian

Scientist must mature, and work out his own salvation. [20]

Spirit and flesh antagonize. Temptation, that mist of

mortal mind which seems to be matter and the environ-

ment of mortals, suggests pleasure and pain in matter;

and, so long as this temptation lasts, the warfare is not

ended and the mortal is not regenerated. The pleas- [25]

ures—more than the pains—of sense, retard regenera-

tion; for pain compels human consciousness to escape

from sense into the immortality and harmony of Soul.

Disease in error, more than ease in it, tends to destroy

error: the sick often are thereby led to Christ, Truth, [30]

and to learn their way out of both sickness and sin.

[pg 086]

The material and physical are imperfect. The in- [1]

dividual and spiritual are perfect; these have no fleshly

nature. This final degree of regeneration is saving, and

the Christian will, must, attain it; but it doth not yet

appear. Until this be attained, the Christian Scientist [5]

must continue to strive with sickness, sin, and death—

though in lessening degrees—and manifest growth at

every experience.

Is it correct to say of material objects, that they are noth-

ing and exist only in imagination? [10]

Nothing and something are words which need correct

definition. They either mean formations of indefinite

and vague human opinions, or scientific classifications

of the unreal and the real. My sense of the beauty of

the universe is, that beauty typifies holiness, and is some- [15]

thing to be desired. Earth is more spiritually beautiful

to my gaze now than when it was more earthly to the

eyes of Eve. The pleasant sensations of human belief,

of form and color, must be spiritualized, until we gain the

glorified sense of substance as in the new heaven and [20]

earth, the harmony of body and Mind.

Even the human conception of beauty, grandeur, and

utility is something that defies a sneer. It is more than

imagination. It is next to divine beauty and the gran-

deur of Spirit. It lives with our earth-life, and is [25]

the subjective state of high thoughts. The atmos-

phere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal envi-

ronment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell,

constitutes their present earth and heaven: but we must

grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings [30]

to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall

[pg 087]

soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue tem- [1]

poral sky.

To take all earth's beauty into one gulp of vacuity

and label beauty nothing, is ignorantly to caricature

God's creation, which is unjust to human sense and [5]

to the divine realism. In our immature sense of spirit-

ual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous

universe: “I love your promise; and shall know, some

time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light,

and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and [10]

knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail con-

ception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer

representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the

immortal Mind.”

Please inform us through your Journal; if you sent [15]

Mrs. —— to ——. She said that you sent her there to look

after the students; and also, that no one there was working

in Science,—which is certainly a mistake.

I never commission any one to teach students of mine.

After class teaching, he does best in the investigation of [20]

Christian Science who is most reliant on himself and

God. My students are taught the divine Principle and

rules of the Science of Mind-healing. What they need

thereafter is to study thoroughly the Scriptures and

“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” To [25]

watch and pray, to be honest, earnest, loving, and truth-

ful, is indispensable to the demonstration of the truth

they have been taught.

If they are haunted by obsequious helpers, who, un-

called for, imagine they can help anybody and steady [30]

God's altar—this interference prolongs the struggle

[pg 088]

and tends to blight the fruits of my students. A faith- [1]

ful student may even sometimes feel the need of

physical help, and occasionally receive it from others;

but the less this is required, the better it is for that

student. [5]

Please give us, through your Journal, the name of

the author of that genuine critique in the September

number, “What Quibus Thinks.”

I am pleased to inform this inquirer, that the author

of the article in question is a Boston gentleman whose [10]

thought is appreciated by many liberals. Patience, ob-

servation, intellectual culture, reading, writing, exten-

sive travel, and twenty years in the pulpit, have equipped

him as a critic who knows whereof he speaks. His allu-

sion to Christian Science in the following paragraph, [15]

glows in the shadow of darkling criticism like a mid-

night sun. Its manly honesty follows like a benediction

after prayer, and closes the task of talking to deaf ears

and dull debaters.

“We have always insisted that this Science is natural, [20]

spiritually natural; that Jesus was the highest type of

real nature; that Christian healing is supernatural, or

extra-natural, only to those who do not enter into its

sublimity or understand its modes—as imported ice

was miraculous to the equatorial African, who had never [25]

seen water freeze.”

Is it right for a Scientist to treat with a doctor?

This depends upon what kind of a doctor it is. Mind-

healing, and healing with drugs, are opposite modes of

medicine. As a rule, drop one of these doctors when you [30]

[pg 089]

employ the other. The Scripture saith, “No man can [1]

serve two masters;” and, “Every kingdom divided

against itself is brought to desolation.”

If Scientists are called upon to care for a member of

the family, or a friend in sickness, who is employing a [5]

regular physician, would it be right to treat this patient

at all; and ought the patient to follow the doctor's

directions?

When patients are under material medical treatment,

it is advisable in most cases that Scientists do not treat [10]

them, or interfere with materia medica. If the patient

is in peril, and you save him or alleviate his sufferings,

although the medical attendant and friends have no

faith in your method, it is humane, and not unchristian,

to do him all the good you can; but your good will gen- [15]

erally “be evil spoken of.” The hazard of casting “pearls

before swine” caused our Master to refuse help to some

who sought his aid; and he left this precaution for

others.

If mortal man is unreal, how can he be saved, and why [20]

does he need to be saved? I ask for information, not for

controversy, for I am a seeker after Truth.

You will find the proper answer to this question in

my published works. Man is immortal. Mortal man

is a false concept that is not spared or prolonged by being [25]

saved from itself, from whatever is false. This salva-

tion means: saved from error, or error overcome. Im-

mortal man, in God's likeness, is safe in divine Science.

Mortal man is saved on this divine Principle, if he will

only avail himself of the efficacy of Truth, and recog- [30]

[pg 090]

nize his Saviour. He must know that God is omnipo- [1]

tent; hence, that sin is impotent. He must know that

the power of sin is the pleasure in sin. Take away this

pleasure, and you remove all reality from its power. Jesus

demonstrated sin and death to be powerless. This [5]

practical Truth saves from sin, and will save all who

understand it.

Is it wrong for a wife to have a husband treated for

sin, when she knows he is sinning, or for drinking and

smoking? [10]

It is always right to act rightly; but sometimes, under

circumstances exceptional, it is inexpedient to attack

evil. This rule is forever golden: “As ye would that

men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Do you

desire to be freed from sin? Then help others to be free; [15]

but in your measures, obey the Scriptures, “Be ye wise

as serpents.” Break the yoke of bondage in every wise

way. First, be sure that your means for doing good

are equal to your motives; then judge them by their

fruits. [20]

If not ordained, shall the pastor of the Church of

Christ, Scientist, administer the communion,—and

shall members of a church not organized receive the

communion?

Our great Master administered to his disciples the [25]

Passover, or last supper, without this prerogative being

conferred by a visible organization and ordained priest-

hood. His spiritually prepared breakfast, after his

resurrection, and after his disciples had left their nets

to follow him, is the spiritual communion which Chris- [30]

[pg 091]

tian Scientists celebrate in commemoration of the Christ. [1]

This ordinance is significant as a type of the true worship,

and it should be observed at present in our churches.

It is not indispensable to organize materially Christ's

church. It is not absolutely necessary to ordain pas- [5]

tors and to dedicate churches; but if this be done,

let it be in concession to the period, and not as a per-

petual or indispensable ceremonial of the church. If

our church is organized, it is to meet the demand,

“Suffer it to be so now.” The real Christian compact [10]

is love for one another. This bond is wholly spiritual

and inviolate.

It is imperative, at all times and under every cir-

cumstance, to perpetuate no ceremonials except as

types of these mental conditions,—remembrance and [15]

love; a real affection for Jesus' character and example.

Be it remembered, that all types employed in the ser-

vice of Christian Science should represent the most spir-

itual forms of thought and worship that can be made

visible. [20]

Should not the teacher of Christian Science have our

textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,”

in his schoolroom and teach from it?

I never dreamed, until informed thereof, that a loyal

student did not take his textbook with him into the class- [25]

room, ask questions from it, answer them according to

it, and, as occasion required, read from the book as au-

thority for what he taught. I supposed that students

had followed my example, and that of other teachers,

sufficiently to do this, and also to require their pupils to [30]

study the lessons before recitations.

[pg 092]

To omit these important points is anomalous, con- [1]

sidering the necessity for understanding Science, and

the present liability of deviating from Christian Science.

Centuries will intervene before the statement of the inex-

haustible topics of that book become sufficiently under- [5]

stood to be absolutely demonstrated. The teacher of

Christian Science needs continually to study this textbook.

His work is to replenish thought, and to spiritualize human

life, from this open fount of Truth and Love.

He who sees most clearly and enlightens other minds [10]

most readily, keeps his own lamp trimmed and burning.

He will take the textbook of Christian Science into his

class, repeat the questions in the chapter on Recapitula-

tion, and his students will answer them from the same

source. Throughout his entire explanations, the teacher [15]

should strictly adhere to the questions and answers con-

tained in that chapter of “Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures.” It is important to point out the

lesson to the class, and to require the students thor-

oughly to study it before the recitations; for this spirit- [20]

ualizes their thoughts. When closing his class, the

teacher should require each member to own a copy of

the above-named book and to continue the study of this

textbook.

The opinions of men cannot be substituted for God's [25]

revelation. It must not be forgotten that in times past,

arrogant ignorance and pride, in attempting to steady

the ark of Truth, have dimmed the power and glory of

the Scriptures, to which this Christian Science textbook

is the Key. [30]

That teacher does most for his students who most

divests himself of pride and self, spiritualizes his own

[pg 093]

thought, and by reason thereof is able to empty his stu- [1]

dents' minds, that they may be filled with Truth.

Beloved students, so teach that posterity shall call

you blessed, and the heart of history shall be made

glad! [5]

Can fear or sin bring back old beliefs of disease that have

been healed by Christian Science?

The Scriptures plainly declare the allness and oneness

of God to be the premises of Truth, and that God is

good: in Him dwelleth no evil. Christian Science au- [10]

thorizes the logical conclusion drawn from the Scriptures,

that there is in reality none besides the eternal, infinite

God, good. Evil is temporal: it is the illusion of time

and mortality.

This being true, sin has no power; and fear, its coeval, [15]

is without divine authority. Science sanctions only what

is supported by the unerring Principle of being. Sin can

do nothing: all cause and effect are in God. Fear is a

belief of sensation in matter: this belief is neither main-

tained by Science nor supported by facts, and exists only [20]

as fable. Your answer is, that neither fear nor sin can

bring on disease or bring back disease, since there is in

reality no disease.

Bear in mind, however, that human consciousness does

not test sin and the fact of its nothingness, by believing [25]

that sin is pardoned without repentance and reforma-

tion. Sin punishes itself, because it cannot go unpun-

ished either here or hereafter. Nothing is more fatal than

to indulge a sinning sense or consciousness for even one

moment. Knowing this, obey Christ's Sermon on the [30]

Mount, even if you suffer for it in the first instance,—

[pg 094]

are misjudged and maligned; in the second, you will [1]

reign with him.

I never knew a person who knowingly indulged evil,

to be grateful; to understand me, or himself. He must

first see himself and the hallucination of sin; then he [5]

must repent, and love good in order to understand God.

The sinner and the sin are the twain that are one flesh,—

but which God hath not joined together.

[pg 095]

Глава IV. Обращения.

Христианская наука в Тремонт-Темпл.

From the platform of the Monday lectureship in [2]

Tremont Temple, on Monday, March 16, 1885, as

will be seen by what follows. Reverend Mary Baker G.

Eddy was presented to Mr. Cook's audience, and allowed [5]

ten minutes in which to reply to his public letter con-

demning her doctrines; which reply was taken in full by

a shorthand reporter who was present, and is transcribed

below.

Mrs. Eddy responding, said:— [10]

As the time so kindly allotted me is insufficient for

even a synopsis of Christian Science, I shall confine my-

self to questions and answers.

Am I a spiritualist?

I am not, and never was. I understand the impossi- [15]

bility of intercommunion between the so-called dead and

living. There have always attended my life phenomena

of an uncommon order, which spiritualists have mis-

called mediumship; but I clearly understand that no

human agencies were employed,—that the divine Mind [20]

reveals itself to humanity through spiritual law. And

to such as are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption

of our body,” Christian Science reveals the in-

[pg 096]

finitude of divinity and the way of man's salvation from [1]

sickness and death, as wrought out by Jesus, who robbed

the grave of victory and death of its sting. I understand

that God is an ever-present help in all times of trouble,—

have found Him so; and would have no other gods, no [5]

remedies in drugs, no material medicine.

Do I believe in a personal God?

I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not

what the person of omnipotence and omnipresence is,

or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that [10]

of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and

Mother; then, as thought ascends the scale of being to

diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the

apostle who declared it, “God is Love,”—divine Prin-

ciple,—which I worship; and “after the manner of my [15]

fathers, so worship I God.”

Do I believe in the atonement of Christ?

I do; and this atonement becomes more to me since

it includes man's redemption from sickness as well as

from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before. [20]

It brings to my sense, and to the sense of all who enter-

tain this understanding of the Science of God, a whole

salvation.

How is the healing done in Christian Science?

This answer includes too much to give you any con- [25]

clusive idea in a brief explanation. I can name some

means by which it is not done.

It is not one mind acting upon another mind; it is

not the transference of human images of thought to

other minds; it is not supported by the evidence before [30]

the personal senses,—Science contradicts this evidence;

it is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is Christ come

[pg 097]

to destroy the power of the flesh; it is Truth over error; [1]

that understood, gives man ability to rise above the evi-

dence of the senses, take hold of the eternal energies of

Truth, and destroy mortal discord with immortal har-

mony,—the grand verities of being. It is not one mortal [5]

thought transmitted to another's thought from the human

mind that holds within itself all evil.

Our Master said of one of his students, “He is a devil,”

and repudiated the idea of casting out devils through

Beelzebub. Erring human mind is by no means a de- [10]

sirable or efficacious healer. Such suppositional healing

I deprecate. It is in no way allied to divine power. All

human control is animal magnetism, more despicable

than all other methods of treating disease.

Christian Science is not a remedy of faith alone, but [15]

combines faith with understanding, through which we

may touch the hem of His garment; and know that om-

nipotence has all power. “I am the Lord, and there is

none else, there is no God beside me.”

Is there a personal man? [20]

The Scriptures inform us that man was made in the

image and likeness of God. I commend the Icelandic

translation: “He created man in the image and likeness

of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind created

He him.” To my sense, we have not seen all of man; [25]

he is more than personal sense can cognize, who is the

image and likeness of the infinite. I have not seen a

perfect man in mind or body,—and such must be the

personality of him who is the true likeness: the lost

image is not this personality, and corporeal man is this [30]

lost image; hence, it doth not appear what is the real

personality of man. The only cause for making this

[pg 098]

question of personality a point, or of any importance, is [1]

that man's perfect model should be held in mind, whereby

to improve his present condition; that his contemplation

regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sick-

ness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker. [5]

Наука и чувства.

Substance of my Address at the National Convention in Chicago,

June 13, 1888

The National Christian Scientist Association has

brought us together to minister and to be ministered [10]

unto; mutually to aid one another in finding ways and

means for helping the whole human family; to quicken

and extend the interest already felt in a higher mode of

medicine; to watch with eager joy the individual growth

of Christian Scientists, and the progress of our common [15]

Cause in Chicago,—the miracle of the Occident. We

come to strengthen and perpetuate our organizations

and institutions; and to find strength in union,—strength

to build up, through God's right hand, that pure and

undefiled religion whose Science demonstrates God and [20]

the perfectibility of man. This purpose is immense,

and it must begin with individual growth, a “consum-

mation devoutly to be wished.” The lives of all re-

formers attest the authenticity of their mission, and call

the world to acknowledge its divine Principle. Truly [25]

is it written:—

“Thou must be true thyself, if thou the truth would'st teach;

Thy heart must overflow, if thou another's heart would'st reach.”

[pg 099]

Science is absolute and final. It is revolutionary in [1]

its very nature; for it upsets all that is not upright.

It annuls false evidence, and saith to the five material

senses, “Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not;

neither can you understand.” To weave one thread of [5]

Science through the looms of time, is a miracle in itself.

The risk is stupendous. It cost Galileo, what? This

awful price: the temporary loss of his self-respect. His

fear overcame his loyalty; the courage of his convictions

fell before it. Fear is the weapon in the hands of [10]

tyrants.

Men and women of the nineteenth century, are you

called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey

this call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaf-

fold, but take not back the words of Truth. How many [15]

are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand

a long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be

in the battle every day?

In no other one thing seemed Jesus of Nazareth more

divine than in his faith in the immortality of his words. [20]

He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my

words shall not pass away;” and they have not. The

winds of time sweep clean the centuries, but they can

never bear into oblivion his words. They still live, and

to-morrow speak louder than to-day. They are to-day [25]

as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make

straight God's paths; make way for health, holiness,

universal harmony, and come up hither.” The gran-

deur of the word, the power of Truth, is again casting

out evils and healing the sick; and it is whispered, “This [30]

is Science.”

Jesus taught by the wayside, in humble homes. He

[pg 100]

spake of Truth and Love to artless listeners and dull [1]

disciples. His immortal words were articulated in a

decaying language, and then left to the providence of

God. Christian Science was to interpret them; and

woman, “last at the cross,” was to awaken the dull senses, [5]

intoxicated with pleasure or pain, to the infinite meaning

of those words.

Past, present, future, will show the word and might of

Truth—healing the sick and reclaiming the sinner—

so long as there remains a claim of error for Truth to [10]

deny or to destroy. Love's labors are not lost. The