All Science is divine. Human thought never pro- 126:9 jected the least portion of true being. Human belief has sought and interpreted in its own way the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have 126:12 reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive sound.
Antagonistic questions
126:15 The point at issue between Christian Science on the one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall Science explain cause and effect as being 126:18 both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative 126:21 hypotheses?
Biblical basis
I have set forth Christian Science and its application to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them.
126:24 I have demonstrated through Mind the effects of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern 126:27 systems on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only au- 126:30 thority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and narrow way" of Truth.
Science and Christianity
If Christendom resists the author"s application of the 127:1 word Science to Christianity, or questions her use of the word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris- 127:3 tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon her. If G.o.d, the All-in-all, be the creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything 127:6 ent.i.tled to a cla.s.sification as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of G.o.d, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.
Scientific terms
127:9 The terms Divine Science, Spiritual Science, Christ Science or Christian Science, or Science alone, she em- ploys interchangeably, according to the re- 127:12 quirements of the context. These synony- mous terms stand for everything relating to G.o.d, the in- finite, supreme, eternal Mind. It may be said, however, 127:15 that the term Christian Science relates especially to Science as applied to humanity. Christian Science re- veals G.o.d, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death, 127:18 but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs, 127:21 and so forth, have - as matter - no intelligence, life, nor sensation.
No physical science
There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth 127:24 proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of 127:27 divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret G.o.d aright.
It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, - the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.
127:30 Christian Science eschews what is called natural science, in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material con- 128:1 ditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of divine Mind. Good is natural and primitive. It is not 128:3 miraculous to itself.
Practical Science
The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of G.o.d and to His government of the universe, 128:6 inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and 128:9 mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity. The human 128:12 mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowl- 128:15 edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher 128:18 realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.
An odor becomes beneficent and agreeable only in pro- 128:21 portion to its escape into the surrounding atmosphere.
So it is with our knowledge of Truth. If one would not quarrel with his fellow-man for waking him from 128:24 a cataleptic nightmare, he should not resist Truth, which banishes - yea, forever destroys with the higher testi- mony of Spirit - the so-called evidence of matter.
Mathematics and scientific logic
128:27 Science relates to Mind, not matter. It rests on fixed Principle and not upon the judgment of false sensation.
The addition of two sums in mathematics must 128:30 always bring the same result. So is it with logic. If both the major and the minor propo- sitions of a syllogism are correct, the conclusion, if properly 129:1 drawn, cannot be false. So in Christian Science there are no discords nor contradictions, because its logic is as 129:3 harmonious as the reasoning of an accurately stated syl- logism or of a properly computed sum in arithmetic.
Truth is ever truthful, and can tolerate no error in 129:6 premise or conclusion.
Truth by inversion
If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis- cover it by reversing the material fable, be the 129:9 fable _pro_ or _con_, - be it in accord with your preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.
Antagonistic theories
Pantheism may be defined as a belief in the intelli- 129:12 gence of matter, - a belief which Science overthrows.
In those days there will be "great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the 129:15 world;" and earth will echo the cry, "Art thou [Truth]
come hither to torment us before the time?" Animal magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism, theosophy, agnos- 129:18 ticism, pantheism, and infidelity are antagonistic to true being and fatal to its demonstration; and so are some other systems.
Ontology needed
129:21 We must abandon pharmaceutics, and take up ontol- ogy, - "the science of real being." We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the out- 129:24 ward sense of things. Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading 129:27 illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness.
Reluctant guests
129:30 The generous liver may object to the author"s small estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees, in the system taught in this book, that the demands of 130:1 G.o.d must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con- stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis- 130:3 couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex- cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise, 130:6 and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance
It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate 130:9 the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt if reality is in perfect harmony with G.o.d, divine Principle, - if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will 130:12 destroy all discord, - since you admit that G.o.d is om- nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and its sweet concords have all-power.
Children and adults
130:15 Christian Science, properly understood, would dis- abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war against spiritual facts; and these material 130:18 beliefs must be denied and cast out to make place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult"s 130:21 faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in G.o.d, - an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har- monious, - the author has often remembered our Master"s 130:24 love for little children, and understood how truly such as they belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural
If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science 130:27 for the supremacy of G.o.d, or Truth, and doubts the su- premacy of good, ought we not, contrari- wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims 130:30 of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, - no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should 131:1 not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem 131:3 so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har- mony with G.o.d, the divine Principle of all being.
The error of carnality
131:6 When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi- dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the opposition of sensuous man to the Science of 131:9 Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The carnal mind is enmity against G.o.d." The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.
131:12 THEOLOGY
Churchly neglect
Must Christian Science come through the Christian churches as some persons insist? This Science has come 131:15 already, after the manner of G.o.d"s appoint- ing, but the churches seem not ready to re- ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came 131:18 unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise 131:21 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore- time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere- 131:24 monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the hearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex- 131:27 plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra- tions which were not understood. Jesus" works 131:30 established his claim to the Messiahship. In reply to John"s inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"
132:1 Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this 132:3 exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an- swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the 132:6 blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And 132:9 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In other words, he gave his benediction to any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine 132:12 Mind, prove the unity of G.o.d, - the divine principle which brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected
The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the 132:15 man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained their materialistic beliefs about G.o.d. Jesus"
system of healing received no aid nor approval 132:18 from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener- ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the 132:21 reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin- ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal 132:24 theory. Antic.i.p.ating this rejection of idealism, of the true idea of G.o.d, - this salvation from all error, physi- cal and mental, - Jesus asked, "When the Son of man 132:27 cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John"s misgivings
Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep- 132:30 tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the Lamb of G.o.d;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned 133:1 the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"
Faith according to works
133:3 Was John"s faith greater than that of the Samaritan woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
There was also a certain centurion of whose 133:6 faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from 133:9 belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed 133:12 that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.