Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

M >> Mary Baker Eddy >> Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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The lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the sick, the
sensual, the sinner, I wished to save from the slavery of
226:27 their own beliefs and from the educational
systems of the Pharaohs, who to-day, as of
yore, hold the children of Israel in bondage. I saw be-
226:30 fore me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilder-
ness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting
Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land
227:1 of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of
man are fully known and acknowledged.

Higher law ends bondage

227:3 I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error,
and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mor-
tals are taught their right to freedom, so the
227:6 claims of the enslaving senses must be de-
nied and superseded. The law of the divine Mind must
end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware
227:9 of man's inalienable rights and in subjection to hope-
less slavery, because some public teachers permit
an ignorance of divine power, - an ignorance that
227:12 is the foundation of continued bondage and of human
suffering.

Native freedom

Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to fore-
227:15 see the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legiti-
mate state of man. God made man free.
Paul said, "I was free born." All men should
227:18 be free. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib-
erty." Love and Truth make free, but evil and error
lead into captivity.

Standard of liberty

227:21 Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and
cries: "Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sick-
ness, sin, and death!" Jesus marked out the
227:24 way. Citizens of the world, accept the "glori-
ous liberty of the children of God," and be free! This
is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not
227:27 divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs,
crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and de-
faced the tablet of your being.

227:30 If God had instituted material laws to govern man,
disobedience to which would have made man ill, Jesus
would not have disregarded those laws by healing in
228:1 direct opposition to them and in defiance of all material
conditions.

No fleshly heredity

228:3 The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncra-
sies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact
of being were learned, - namely, that nothing
228:6 inharmonious can enter being, for Life /is/ God.
Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin the-
ories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the
228:9 right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly
ills will disappear.

God-given dominion

The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will
228:12 cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his
God-given dominion over the material senses.
Mortals will some day assert their freedom in
228:15 the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their
own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.
Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize har-
228:18 mony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material
unreality.

If we follow the command of our Master, "Take no
228:21 thought for your life," we shall never depend on bodily
conditions, structure, or economy, but we shall be masters
of the body, dictate its terms, and form and control it with
228:24 Truth.

Priestly pride humbled

There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has
all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dis-
228:27 honor God. The humble Nazarene overthrew
the supposition that sin, sickness, and death
have power. He proved them powerless. It should have
228:30 humbled the pride of the priests, when they saw the dem-
onstration of Christianity excel the influence of their dead
faith and ceremonies.

229:1 If Mind is not the master of sin, sickness, and death,
they are immortal, for it is already proved that mat-
229:3 ter has not destroyed them, but is their basis and
support.

No union of opposites

We should hesitate to say that Jehovah sins or suffers;
229:6 but if sin and suffering are realities of being, whence did
they emanate? God made all that was made,
and Mind signifies God, - infinity, not finity.
229:9 Not far removed from infidelity is the belief which
unites such opposites as sickness and health, holiness
and unholiness, calls both the offspring of spirit, and
229:12 at the same time admits that Spirit is God, - vir-
tually declaring Him good in one instance and evil in
another.

Self-constituted law

229:15 By universal consent, mortal belief has constituted
itself a law to bind mortals to sickness, sin, and death.
This customary belief is misnamed material
229:18 law, and the individual who upholds it is mis-
taken in theory and in practice. The so-called law of
mortal mind, conjectural and speculative, is made void
229:21 by the law of immortal Mind, and false law should be
trampled under foot.

Sickness from mortal mind

If God causes man to be sick, sickness must be good,
229:24 and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He
makes is good and will stand forever. If the
transgression of God's law produces sickness, it
229:27 is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should
not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom. It is the
transgression of a belief of mortal mind, not of a law of
229:30 matter nor of divine Mind, which causes the belief of sick-
ness. The remedy is Truth, not matter, - the truth that
disease is /unreal/.

230:1 If sickness is real, it belongs to immortality; if true,
it is a part of Truth. Would you attempt with drugs,
230:3 or without, to destroy a quality or condition of Truth?
But if sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from
this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health,
230:6 holiness, and immortality. This awakening is the for-
ever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth,
which casts out error and heals the sick. This is the sal-
230:9 vation which comes through God, the divine Principle,
Love, as demonstrated by Jesus.

God never inconsistent

It would be contrary to our highest ideas of God to
230:12 suppose Him capable of first arranging law and causation
so as to bring about certain evil results, and
then punishing the helpless victims of His vo-
230:15 lition for doing what they could not avoid doing. Good
is not, cannot be, the author of experimental sins. God,
good, can no more produce sickness than goodness can
230:18 cause evil and health occasion disease.

Mental narcotics

Does wisdom make blunders which must afterwards
be rectified by man? Does a law of God produce sick-
230:21 ness, and can man put that law under his feet
by healing sickness? According to Holy Writ,
the sick are never really healed by drugs, hygiene, or any
230:24 material method. These merely evade the question.
They are soothing syrups to put children to sleep, satisfy
mortal belief, and quiet fear.

The true healing

230:27 We think that we are healed when a disease disap-
pears, though it is liable to reappear; but we are never
thoroughly healed until the liability to be
230:30 ill is removed. So-called mortal mind or the
mind of mortals being the remote, predisposing, and
the exciting cause of all suffering, the cause of disease
231:1 must be obliterated through Christ in divine Science, or
the so-called physical senses will get the victory.

Destruction of all evil

231:3 Unless an ill is rightly met and fairly overcome by
Truth, the ill is never conquered. If God destroys not
sin, sickness, and death, they are not de-
231:6 stroyed in the mind of mortals, but seem to
this so-called mind to be immortal. What God cannot
do, man need not attempt. If God heals not the sick,
231:9 they are not healed, for no lesser power equals the infinite
All-power; but God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the
sick through the prayer of the righteous.

231:12 If God makes sin, if good produces evil, if truth results
in error, then Science and Christianity are helpless; but
there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or
231:15 material, creating and governing man through perpetual
warfare. God is not the author of mortal discords.
Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have
231:18 only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine
Truth and Love destroy.

Superiority to sickness and sin

To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made
231:21 you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To
fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love
and the divine Science of being in man's rela-
231:24 tion to God, - to doubt His government and
distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior
to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance
231:27 with divine Science. To fear them is impossible, when
you fully apprehend God and know that they are no part
of His creation.

231:30 Man, governed by his Maker, having no other Mind, -
planted on the Evangelist's statement that "all things
were made by Him [the Word of God]; and without
232:1 Him was not anything made that was made," - can
triumph over sin, sickness, and death.

Denials of divine power

232:3 Many theories relative to God and man neither make
man harmonious nor God lovable. The beliefs we com-
monly entertain about happiness and life
232:6 afford no scatheless and permanent evidence
of either. Security for the claims of harmonious and
eternal being is found only in divine Science.

232:9 Scripture informs us that "with God all things are
possible," - all good is possible to Spirit; but our prev-
alent theories practically deny this, and make healing
232:12 possible only through matter. These theories must be
untrue, for the Scripture is true. Christianity is not
false, but religions which contradict its Principle are
232:15 false.

In our age Christianity is again demonstrating the
power of divine Principle, as it did over nineteen hun-
232:18 dred years ago, by healing the sick and triumphing over
death. Jesus never taught that drugs, food, air, and ex-
ercise could make a man healthy, or that they could de-
232:21 stroy human life; nor did he illustrate these errors by his
practice. He referred man's harmony to Mind, not to
matter, and never tried to make of none effect the sen-
232:24 tence of God, which sealed God's condemnation of sin,
sickness, and death.

Signs following

In the sacred sanctuary of Truth are voices of sol-
232:27 emn import, but we heed them not. It is only when the
so-called pleasures and pains of sense pass
away in our lives, that we find unquestion-
232:30 able signs of the burial of error and the resurrection to
spiritual life.

Profession and proof

There is neither place nor opportunity in Science for error
233:1 of any sort. Every day makes its demands upon us for
higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power.
233:3 These proofs consist solely in the destruction
of sin, sickness, and death by the power of
Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of
233:6 progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law de-
mands of us only what we can certainly fulfil.

Perfection gained slowly

In the midst of imperfection, perfection is seen and
233:9 acknowledged only by degrees. The ages must slowly
work up to perfection. How long it must be
before we arrive at the demonstration of scien-
233:12 tific being, no man knoweth, - not even "the
Son but the Father;" but the false claim of error con-
tinues its delusions until the goal of goodness is assidu-
233:15 ously earned and won.

Christ's mission

Already the shadow of His right hand rests upon the
hour. Ye who can discern the face of the sky, - the
233:18 sign material, - how much more should ye
discern the sign mental, and compass the de-
struction of sin and sickness by overcoming the thoughts
233:21 which produce them, and by understanding the spiritual
idea which corrects and destroys them. To reveal this
truth was our Master's mission to all mankind, including
233:24 the hearts which rejected him.

Efficacy of truth

When numbers have been divided according to a fixed
rule, the quotient is not more unquestionable than the
233:27 scientific tests I have made of the effects of
truth upon the sick. The counter fact rela-
tive to any disease is required to cure it. The utterance
233:30 of truth is designed to rebuke and destroy error. Why
should truth not be efficient in sickness, which is solely
the result of inharmony?

234:1 Spiritual draughts heal, while material lotions interfere
with truth, even as ritualism and creed hamper spirit-
234:3 uality. If we trust matter, we distrust Spirit.

Crumbs of comfort

Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love - be
it song, sermon, or Science - blesses the human family
234:6 with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table
feeding the hungry and giving living waters to
the thirsty.

Hospitality to health and good

234:9 We should become more familiar with good than with
evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we
bar our doors against the approach of thieves
234:12 and murderers. We should love our enemies
and help them on the basis of the Golden
Rule; but avoid casting pearls before those who trample
234:15 them under foot, thereby robbing both themselves and
others.

Cleansing the mind

If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind,
234:18 the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out.
We must begin with this so-called mind and
empty it of sin and sickness, or sin and sick-
234:21 ness will never cease. The present codes of human
systems disappoint the weary searcher after a divine
theology, adequate to the right education of human
234:24 thought.

Sin and disease must be thought before they can be
manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first
234:27 instance, or they will control you in the second. Jesus
declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was
to break a moral precept. He laid great stress on the
234:30 action of the human mind, unseen to the senses.

Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
235:1 malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
235:3 lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
Better suffer a doctor infected with smallpox to attend
you than to be treated mentally by one who does not obey
235:6 the requirements of divine Science.

Teachers' functions

The teachers of schools and the readers in churches
should be selected with as direct reference to their
235:9 morals as to their learning or their correct
reading. Nurseries of character should be
strongly garrisoned with virtue. School-examinations are
235:12 one-sided; it is not so much academic education, as a
moral and spiritual culture, which lifts one higher. The
pure and uplifting thoughts of the teacher, constantly
235:15 imparted to pupils, will reach higher than the heavens of
astronomy; while the debased and unscrupulous mind,
though adorned with gems of scholarly attainment, will
235:18 degrade the characters it should inform and elevate.

Physicians' privilege

Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,
should be models of virtue. They should be wise spir-
235:21 itual guides to health and hope. To the trem-
blers on the brink of death, who understand
not the divine Truth which is Life and perpetuates being,
235:24 physicians should be able to teach it. Then when the soul
is willing and the flesh weak, the patient's feet may be
planted on the rock Christ Jesus, the true idea of spiritual
235:27 power.

Clergymen's duty

Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,
should uplift the standard of Truth. They should so raise
235:30 their hearers spiritually, that their listeners
will love to grapple with a new, right idea
and broaden their concepts. Love of Christianity, rather
236:1 than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor
and progress. Truth should emanate from the pulpit,
236:3 but never be strangled there. A special privilege is vested
in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the
interests of humanity, not of sect.

236:6 Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather
than the dignity of God's laws, which many leaders seek?
Do not inferior motives induce the infuriated attacks on
236:9 individuals, who reiterate Christ's teachings in support
of his proof by example that the divine Mind heals sick-
ness as well as sin?

A mother's responsibility

236:12 A mother is the strongest educator, either for or
against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of an-
other mortal mind, and unconsciously mould
236:15 it, either after a model odious to herself or
through divine influence, "according to the pattern
showed to thee in the mount." Hence the importance
236:18 of Christian Science, from which we learn of the one
Mind and of the availability of good as the remedy for
every woe.

Children's tractability

236:21 Children should obey their parents; insubordination
is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government.
Parents should teach their children at the
236:24 earliest possible period the truths of health
and holiness. Children are more tractable than adults,
and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will
236:27 make them happy and good.

Jesus loved little children because of their freedom
from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While
236:30 age is halting between two opinions or battling with
false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards
Truth.

237:1 A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my ex-
planations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not
237:3 to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered
ingenuously, "There is no sensation in matter." Bound-
ing off with laughing eyes, she presently added, "Mamma,
237:6 my finger is not a bit sore."

Soil and seed

It might have been months or years before her parents
would have laid aside their drugs, or reached the mental
237:9 height their little daughter so naturally at-
tained. The more stubborn beliefs and theo-
ries of parents often choke the good seed in the minds of
237:12 themselves and their offspring. Superstition, like "the
fowls of the air," snatches away the good seed before it
has sprouted.

Teaching children

237:15 Children should be taught the Truth-cure, Christian
Science, among their first lessons, and kept from discuss-
ing or entertaining theories or thoughts about
237:18 sickness. To prevent the experience of error
and its sufferings, keep out of the minds of your children
either sinful or diseased thoughts. The latter should
237:21 be excluded on the same principle as the former. This
makes Christian Science early available.

Deluded invalids

Some invalids are unwilling to know the facts or to
237:24 hear about the fallacy of matter and its supposed laws.
They devote themselves a little longer to their
material gods, cling to a belief in the life and
237:27 intelligence of matter, and expect this error to do more
for them than they are willing to admit the only living and
true God can do. Impatient at your explanation, unwill-
237:30 ing to investigate the Science of Mind which would rid
them of their complaints, they hug false beliefs and suffer
the delusive consequences.

Patient waiting

238:1 Motives and acts are not rightly valued before they are
understood. It is well to wait till those whom you would
238:3 benefit are ready for the blessing, for Science
is working changes in personal character as
well as in the material universe.
238:6 To obey the Scriptural command, "Come out from
among them, and be ye separate," is to incur society's
frown; but this frown, more than flatteries, enables one
238:9 to be Christian. Losing her crucifix, the Roman Catholic
girl said, "I have nothing left but Christ." "If God be
for us, who can be against us?"

Unimproved opportunities

238:12 To fall away from Truth in times of persecution, shows
that we never understood Truth. From out the bridal
chamber of wisdom there will come the warn-
238:15 ing, "I know you not." Unimproved op-
portunities will rebuke us when we attempt to claim the
benefits of an experience we have not made our own, try
238:18 to reap the harvest we have not sown, and wish to enter
unlawfully into the labors of others. Truth often remains
unsought, until we seek this remedy for human woe be-
238:21 cause we suffer severely from error.

Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over
mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves
238:24 all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity.

Society and intolerance

Society is a foolish juror, listening only to one side of
the case. Justice often comes too late to secure a verdict.
238:27 People with mental work before them have
no time for gossip about false law or testimony.
To reconstruct timid justice and place the fact above the
238:30 falsehood, is the work of time.

The cross is the central emblem of history. It is the
lodestar in the demonstration of Christian healing, - the
239:1 demonstration by which sin and sickness are destroyed.
The sects, which endured the lash of their predecessors,
239:3 in their turn lay it upon those who are in advance of
creeds.

Right views of humanity

Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations,
239:6 which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we
get clearer views of Principle. Break up
cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth
239:9 be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views
of humanity.

The wicked man is not the ruler of his upright
239:12 neighbor. Let it be understood that success in error is
defeat in Truth. The watchword of Christian Science
is Scriptural: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
239:15 unrighteous man his thoughts."

Standpoint revealed