Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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

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A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little under-
329:6 standing of Christian Science proves the truth of all that
I say of it. Because you cannot walk on the
water and raise the dead, you have no right to
329:9 question the great might of divine Science in these direc-
tions. Be thankful that Jesus, who was the true demon-
strator of Science, did these things, and left his example for
329:12 us. In Science we can use only what we understand. We
must prove our faith by demonstration.

One should not tarry in the storm if the body is freez-
329:15 ing, nor should he remain in the devouring flames. Un-
til one is able to prevent bad results, he should avoid their
occasion. To be discouraged, is to resemble a pupil in
329:18 addition, who attempts to solve a problem of Euclid, and
denies the rule of the problem because he fails in his first
effort.

Error destroyed, not pardoned

329:21 There is no hypocrisy in Science. Principle is impera-
tive. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a
divine demand, not a human. Always right,
329:24 its divine Principle never repents, but main-
tains the claim of Truth by quenching error.
The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error. If
329:27 men understood their real spiritual source to be all bless-
edness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual
and be at peace; but the deeper the error into which mor-
329:30 tal mind is plunged, the more intense the opposition to
spirituality, till error yields to Truth.

The hopeful outlook

Human resistance to divine Science weakens in pro-
330:1 portion as mortals give up error for Truth and the un-
derstanding of being supersedes mere belief. Until the
330:3 author of this book learned the vastness of
Christian Science, the fixedness of mortal illu-
sions, and the human hatred of Truth, she cherished
330:6 sanguine hopes that Christian Science would meet with
immiediate and universal acceptance.

When the following platform is understood and the
330:9 letter and the spirit bear witness, the infallibility of divine
metaphysics will be demonstrated.

The deific supremacy

I. God is infinite, the only Life, substance, Spirit, or
330:12 Soul, the only intelligence of the universe, including man.
Eye hath neither seen God nor His image and
likeness. Neither God nor the perfect man
330:15 can be discerned by the material senses. The individ-
uality of Spirit, or the infinite, is unknown, and thus a
knowledge of it is left either to human conjecture or to the
330:18 revelation of divine Science.

The deific definitions

II. God is what the Scriptures declare Him to be, -
Life, Truth, Love. Spirit is divine Principle, and divine
330:21 Principle is Love, and Love is Mind, and
Mind is not both good and bad, for God is
Mind; therefore there is in reality one Mind only, be-
330:24 cause there is one God.

Evil obsolete

III. The notion that both evil and good are real is a
delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates.
330:27 Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power.
As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie,
nothing claiming to be something, - for lust, dishonesty,
330:30 selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery,
murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all
the etceteras that word includes.

Life the creator

331:1 IV. God is divine Life, and Life is no more confined
to the forms which reflect it than substance is in its
331:3 shadow. If life were in mortal man or mate-
rial things, it would be subject to their limi-
tations and would end in death. Life is Mind, the creator
331:6 reflected in His creations. If He dwelt within what He
creates, God would not be reflected but absorbed, and the
Science of being would be forever lost through a mortal
331:9 sense, which falsely testifies to a beginning and an
end.

Allness of Spirit

V. The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From
331:12 this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence
except the divine Mind and His ideas. The
Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit.
331:15 Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no
discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything
in God's universe expresses Him.

The universal cause

331:18 VI. God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Prin-
ciple, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and
there is no other self-existence. He is all-
331:21 inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real
and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and
it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and in-
331:24 dividuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all
is Spirit and spiritual.

Divine trinity

VII. Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person
331:27 called God, - that is, the triply divine Principle, Love.
They represent a trinity in unity, three in
one, - the same in essence, though multi-
331:30 form in office: God the Father-Mother; Christ the spirit-
ual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter.
These three express in divine Science the threefold, essen-
332:1 tial nature of the infinite. They also indicate the divine
Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of God
332:3 to man and the universe.

Father-Mother

VIII. Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which in-
dicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation.
332:6 As the apostle expressed it in words which he
quoted with approbation from a classic poet:
"For we are also His offspring."

The Son of God

332:9 IX. Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea
voicing good, the divine message from God to men speak-
ing to the human consciousness. The Christ
332:12 is incorporeal, spiritual, - yea, the divine
image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses;
the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and
332:15 casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As
Paul says: "There is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." The corporeal
332:18 man Jesus was human.

Holy Ghost or Comforter

X. Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ
is the divine idea of God - the Holy Ghost,
332:21 or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle,
Love, and leading into all truth.

Christ Jesus

XI. Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed
332:24 to speak God's word and to appear to mortals in such
a form of humanity as they could understand
as well as perceive. Mary's conception of
332:27 him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth
and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and
pure Christ Jesus. He expressed the highest type of
332:30 divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age.
Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot
enter. Thus it is that Christ illustrates the coincidence,
333:1 or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His
image.

Messiah or Christ

333:3 XII. The word /Christ/ is not properly a synonym for
Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human
name, which belonged to him in common with
333:6 other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical
with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On
the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine
333:9 title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal
nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al-
ludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and
333:12 demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the
embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the
Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig-
333:15 nifies the Godlike.

The divine Principle and idea

XIII. The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the
first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is
333:18 without beginning of years or end of days.
Throughout all generations both before and
after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit-
333:21 ual idea, - the reflection of God, - has come with some
measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive
Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets
333:24 caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which
baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of
Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and
333:27 ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.
Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual identity thus:
"Before Abraham was, I am;" "I and my Father are
333:30 one;" "My Father is greater than I." The one Spirit
includes all identities.

Spiritual oneness

XIV. By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu-
334:1 man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or
Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham;
334:3 not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the
Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ,
dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, God, from
334:6 which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father
is greater than Spirit, which is God, but greater, infinitely
greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was
334:9 brief.

The Son's duality

XV. The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the
so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a
334:12 bodily existence. This dual personality of the
unseen and the seen, the spiritual and mate-
rial, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest
334:15 in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when
the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared,
while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in
334:18 the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins
of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before
the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes.

Eternity of the Christ

334:21 XVI. This was "the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world," - slain, that is, according to the testi-
mony of the corporeal senses, but undying in
334:24 the deific Mind. The Revelator represents the
Son of man as saying (Revelation i. 17, 18): "I am the
first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead
334:27 [not understood]; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
[Science has explained me]." This is a mystical state-
ment of the eternity of the Christ, and is also a reference
334:30 to the human sense of Jesus crucified.

Infinite Spirit

XVII. Spirit being God, there is but one Spirit, for
there can be but one infinite and therefore one God.
335:1 There are neither spirits many nor gods many. There
is no evil in Spirit, because God is Spirit. The theory,
335:3 that Spirit is distinct from matter but must
pass through it, or into it, to be individualized,
would reduce God to dependency on matter, and establish
335:6 a basis for pantheism.

The only substance

XVIII. Spirit, God, has created all in and of Him-
self. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in
335:9 Spirit out of which matter could be made,
for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos,
the AEon or Word of God, "was not anything made
335:12 that was made." Spirit is the only substance, the in-
visible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and
eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal
335:15 are insubstantial.

Soul and Spirit one

XIX. Soul and Spirit being one, God and Soul are
one, and this one never included in a limited mind or a
335:18 limited body. Spirit is eternal, divine. Noth-
ing but Spirit, Soul, can evolve Life, for Spirit
is more than all else. Because Soul is immortal, it does
335:21 not exist in mortality. Soul must be incorporeal to be
Spirit, for Spirit is not finite. Only by losing the false
sense of Soul can we gain the eternal unfolding of Life as
335:24 immortality brought to light.

The one divine Mind

XX. Mind is the divine Principle, Love, and can pro-
duce nothing unlike the eternal Father-Mother, God.
335:27 Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable,
immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspirit-
ual can be real, harmonious, or eternal. Sin, sickness,
335:30 and mortality are the suppositional antipodes of Spirit,
and must be contradictions of reality.

The divine Ego

XXI. The Ego is deathless and limitless, for limits
336:1 would imply and impose ignorance. Mind is the I AM,
or infinity. Mind never enters the finite. Intelligence
336:3 never passes into non-intelligence, or matter.
Good never enters into evil the unlimited into
the limited, the eternal into the temporal, nor the im-
336:6 mortal into mortality. The divine Ego, or individuality,
is reflected in all spiritual individuality from the infini-
tesimal to the infinite.

The real manhood

336:9 XXII. Immortal man was and is God's image or idea,
even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor-
tal man is coexistent and coeternal with that
336:12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal
Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but
is reflected by man. The spiritual man's consciousness
336:15 and individuality are reflections of God. They are the
emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Im-
mortal man is not and never was material, but always
336:18 spiritual and eternal.

Indivisibility of the infinite

XXIII. God is indivisible. A portion of God could
not enter man; neither could God's fulness be reflected
336:21 by a single man, else God would be manifestly
finite, lose the deific character, and become
less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and
336:24 nothing less can express God.

God the parent Mind

XXIV. God, the divine Principle of man, and man in
God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal.
336:27 The Science of being furnishes the rule of per-
fection, and brings immortality to light. God
and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci-
336:30 ence, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the
parent Mind, and man is God's spiritual offspring.

Man reflects the perfect God

XXV. God is individual and personal in a scientific
337:1 sense, but not in any anthropomorphic sense. Therefore
man, reflecting God, cannot lose his individuality; but as
337:3 material sensation, or a soul in the body, blind
mortals do lose sight of spiritual individuality.
Material personality is not realism; it is not
337:6 the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect God. Sen-
sualism is not bliss, but bondage. For true happiness,
man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the
337:9 Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with
Christ. According to divine Science, man is in a degree
as perfect as the Mind that forms him. The truth of be-
337:12 ing makes man harmonious and immortal, while error is
mortal and discordant.

Purity the path to perfection

XXVI. Christian Science demonstrates that none but
337:15 the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel
teaches. In proportion to his purity is man
perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial
337:18 being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual
ideal.

True idea of man

XXVII. The true idea of man, as the reflection of the
337:21 invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses
as is man's infinite Principle. The visible uni-
verse and material man are the poor counter-
337:24 feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal
things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the
spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the
337:27 thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the oppo-
site of the real or the spiritual and eternal.

Truth demonstrated

XXVIII. Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule
337:30 of health and holiness in Christian Science,
and you ascertain that this Science is demon-
strably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no
338:1 other system can. Christian Science, rightly under-
stood, leads to eternal harmony. It brings to light the
338:3 only living and true God and man as made in His like-
ness; whereas the opposite belief - that man originates
in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both
338:6 soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and
material - terminates in discord and mortality, in the
error which must be destroyed by Truth. The mortality
338:9 of material man proves that error has been ingrafted
into the premises and conclusions of material and mortal
humanity.

Adam not ideal man

338:12 XXIX. The word /Adam /is from the Hebrew /adamah/,
signifying the /red color of the ground, dust, nothingness/.
Divide the name Adam into two syllables,
338:15 and it reads, /a dam/, or obstruction. This
suggests the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind
in solution. It further suggests the thought of that
338:18 " darkness . . . upon the face of the deep," when mat-
ter or dust was deemed the agent of Deity in creating
man, - when matter, as that which is accursed, stood
338:21 opposed to Spirit. Here /a dam/ is not a mere play upon
words; it stands for obstruction, error, even the sup-
posed separation of man from God, and the obstacle
338:24 which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and
his creator. The dissection and definition of words,
aside from their metaphysical derivation, is not scien-
338:27 tific. Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and
from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwith-
standing God had blessed the earth "for man's sake."
338:30 From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man
for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was
revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.

Divine pardon

339:1 XXX. The destruction of sin is the divine method of
pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys
339:3 error, and Love destroys hate. Being de-
stroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
Does not God's pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy
339:6 and involve the final destruction of all sin?

Evil not produced by God

XXXI. Since God is All, there is no room for His
unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it
339:9 good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good,
is unreal, and cannot be the product of God.
A sinner can receive no encouragement from the fact that
339:12 Science demonstrates the unreality of evil, for the sinner
would make a reality of sin, - would make that real
which is unreal, and thus heap up "wrath against the
339:15 day of wrath." He is joining in a conspiracy against
himself, - against his own awakening to the awful un-
reality by which he has been deceived. Only those, who
339:18 repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand
the unreality of evil.

Basis of health and immortality

XXXII. As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded
339:21 to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material
theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite
gives place to the infinite, sickness to health,
339:24 sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in
earth, as it is in heaven." The basis of all health, sin-
lessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is
339:27 the only Mind; and this Mind must be not merely be-
lieved, but it must be understood. To get rid of sin
through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind
339:30 or reality, and never to admit that sin can have intelli-
gence or power, pain or pleasure. You conquer error by
denying its verity. Our various theories will never lose
340:1 their imaginary power for good or evil, until we lose our
faith in them and make life its own proof of harmony
340:3 and God.

This text in the book of Ecclesiastes conveys the
Christian Science thought, especially when the word
340:6 /duty/, which is not in the original, is omitted: "Let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,
and keep His commandments: for this is the whole
340:9 duty of man." In other words: Let us hear the con-
clusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His
commandments: for this is the whole of man in His
340:12 image and likeness. Divine Love is infinite. Therefore
all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His
love.

340:15 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus
xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text.
It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-
340:18 unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall
have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and
that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle
340:21 of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by
which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal.
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; con-
340:24 stitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the
Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates
pagan and Christian idolatry, - whatever is wrong in
340:27 social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes;
equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves
nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.

CHAPTER XI - SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth,
why do ye not believe me? - JESUS.

But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth
in you. - PAUL.

341:1 THE strictures on this volume would condemn to
oblivion the truth, which is raising up thousands
341:3 from helplessness to strength and elevating them from
a theoretical to a practical Christianity. These criticisms
are generally based on detached sentences or clauses sep-
341:6 arated from their context. Even the Scriptures, which
grow in beauty and consistency from one grand root, ap-
pear contradictory when subjected to such usage. Jesus
341:9 said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God" [Truth].

Supported by facts

In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless. Proof
341:12 is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers at
the application of the word/ Science /to Chris-
tianity cannot prevent that from being scien-
341:15 tific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated ac-
cording to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof.
The facts are so absolute and numerous in support of
341:18 Christian Science, that misrepresentation and denuncia-
342:1 tion cannot overthrow it. Paul alludes to "doubtful dis-
putations." The hour has struck when proof and demon-
342:3 stration, instead of opinion and dogma, are summoned to
the support of Christianity, "making wise the simple."

Commands of Jesus