Science and Health With Key to The Scriptures

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

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Christian Science commands man to master the pro-
405:6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,
to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with
charity, and to overcome deceit with hon-
405:9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you
would not cherish an army of conspirators against
health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you
405:12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The
judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of
the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and
405:15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing
is paid, - until you have balanced your account with
God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
405:18 reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of
sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im-
mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good,
405:21 in which is no power to sin.

Cumulative repentence

It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth
than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con-
405:24 science. The abiding consciousness of wrong-
doing tends to destroy the ability to do right.
If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is
405:27 hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are con-
quered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they
bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its
405:30 pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to
retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and
to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.

The leaves of healing

406:1 The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
406:3 Sin and sickness are both healed by the same
Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine
Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering
406:6 full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will
submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and
forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated
406:9 in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per-
fect Love casteth out fear."

Sickness will abate

The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and
406:12 spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.
Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will
abate and seem less real as we approach the
406:15 scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and
all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral
man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he
406:18 should be as fearless on the question of disease.

Resist to the end

Resist evil - error of every sort - and it will flee from
you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately
406:21 shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direc-
tion of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life
over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go
406:24 on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no
more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of
any kind involves weakness and suffering, - a loss of
406:27 control over the body.

Morbid cravings

The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,
tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery
406:30 of the body. This normal control is gained
through divine strength and understanding.
There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a
407:1 fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp
remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to
407:3 man's self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of to-
bacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no crea-
ture except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.

Universal panacea

407:6 Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters -
passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge - is con-
quered only by a mighty struggle. Every
407:9 hour of delay makes the struggle more severe.
If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush
out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian
407:12 Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the
weakness of mortal mind, - strength from the immortal
and omnipotent Mind, - and lifting humanity above
407:15 itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and
good-will to man.

Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris-
407:18 tian Science, and he will get the better of that desire
and ascend a degree in the scale of health, happiness,
and existence.

Immortal memory

407:21 If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contra-
dict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all
being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmoni-
407:24 ous in every action. Let the perfect model be
present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized op-
posite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light,
407:27 and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your
consciousness.

Sin a form of insanity

There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-
407:30 ity in different degrees. Sin is spared from
this classification, only because its method of
madness is in consonance with common mortal belief.
408:1 Every sort of sickness is error, - that is, sickness is
loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact
408:3 that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac-
knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are
sick.

408:6 There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which
mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the
material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien-
408:9 tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special
name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are
committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly
408:12 defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-
tal minds and bodies.

Drugs and brain-lobes

The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use
408:15 of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of
insanity. Can drugs go of their own accord
to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam-
408:18 mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal
mind through matter? Drugs do not affect a corpse, and
Truth does not distribute drugs through the blood, and
408:21 from them derive a supposed effect on intelligence and sen-
timent. A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce
insanity as perceptibly as would congestion of the brain,
408:24 were it not that mortal mind thinks that the tarsal joint is
less intimately connected with the mind than is the brain.
Reverse the belief, and the results would be perceptibly
408:27 different.

Matter and animate error

The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-
tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of
408:30 the body which we call sensation in matter
is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it-
self, - ignorant of the errors it includes and of their
409:1 effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You
may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do
409:3 you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and
not by matter?" /Mortal mind /and body combine as
one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state-
409:6 ment, - animate error called nerves, brain, mind, - the
more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease-
beliefs.

Dictation of error

409:9 Unconscious mortal mind - /alias /matter, brain - can-
not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick."
The belief, that the unconscious substratum
409:12 of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and
reports disease independently of this so-called conscious
mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing
409:15 how to govern their bodies.

So-called superiority

The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be
superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and
409:18 the stronger never yields to the weaker, ex-
cept through fear or choice. The animate
should be governed by God alone. The real man is
409:21 spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect
so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the
beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This
409:24 mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put
on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man
and seek the true model.

Death no benefactor

409:27 We have no right to say that life depends on matter
now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot
spend our days here in ignorance of the Science
409:30 of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave
a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us
harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance.
410:1 If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is
spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual
410:3 Life hereafter.

Life eternal and present

"This is life eternal," says Jesus, - /is/, not /shall be/;
and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge
410:6 of his Father and of himself, - the knowledge
of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eter-
nal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
410:9 Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures
say, "Man shall not live by bread /alone/, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," show-
410:12 ing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind
objects to making this teaching practical.

Love casteth out fear

Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.
410:15 The more difficult seems the material condition to be
overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our
faith and the purer our love. The Apostle
410:18 John says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love
casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made per-
fect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclama-
410:21 tion of Christian Science.

MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED

Be not afraid

The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no
410:24 misuse. Selfishness does not appear in the practice of
Truth or Christian Science. If mental prac-
tice is abused or is used in any way except to
410:27 promote right thinking and doing, the power to heal
mentally will diminish, until the practitioner's healing
ability is wholly lost. Christian scientific practice be-
410:30 gins with Christ's keynote of harmony, "Be not afraid!"
411:1 Said Job: "The thing which I greatly feared is come
upon me."

Naming diseases

411:3 My first discovery in the student's practice was this:
If the student silently called the disease by name, when
he argued against it, as a general rule the body
411:6 would respond more quickly, - just as a per-
son replies more readily when his name is spoken; but
this was because the student was not perfectly attuned to
411:9 divine Science, and needed the arguments of truth for
reminders. If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear
witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific
411:12 way, and the healing is instantaneous.

Evils cast out

It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis-
ease, - a disease which moderns would call /dementia/.
411:15 The demon, or evil, replied that his name was
Legion. Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil,
and the insane man was changed and straightway be-
411:18 came whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus
caused the evil to be self-seen and so destroyed.

Fear as the foundation

The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is
411:21 fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a
false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.
Disease is an image of thought externalized.
411:24 The mental state is called a material state. Whatever
is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is
imaged forth on the body.

Unspoken pleading

411:27 Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear
of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp-
tion from disease and danger. Watch the re-
411:30 sult of this simple rule of Christian Science,
and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every
disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear,
412:1 your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly
governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand-
412:3 point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear
of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien-
tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet
412:6 the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat,
but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern-
ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be
412:9 the victor.

Eloquent silence

You may call the disease by name when you mentally
deny it; but by naming it audibly, you are liable under
412:12 some circumstances to impress it upon the
thought. The power of Christian Science and
divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to un-
412:15 clasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.

Insistence requisite

To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth,
of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material
412:18 senses. To heal by argument, find the type
of the ailment, get its name, and array your
mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men-
412:21 tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and
conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of
disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and
412:24 that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence
of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the
body corresponds with the normal conditions of health
412:27 and harmony.

The cure of infants

If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs
to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently
412:30 or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian
Science. The Scientist knows that there can
be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent
413:1 and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and
God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter.
413:3 The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contem-
plation of physical wants or conditions induces those very
conditions. A single requirement, beyond what is neces-
413:6 sary to meet the simplest needs of the babe is harmful.
Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and
food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter
413:9 does not. The wise or unwise views of parents and other
persons on these subjects produce good or bad effects on
the health of children.

Ablutions for cleanliness

413:12 The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural
nor necessary than would be the process of taking a fish
out of water every day and covering it with dirt
413:15 in order to make it thrive more vigorously in its
own element. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," but
washing should be only for the purpose of keeping the
413:18 body clean, and this can be effected without scrubbing the
whole surface daily. Water is not the natural habitat of
humanity. I insist on bodily cleanliness within and with-
413:21 out. I am not patient with a speck of dirt; but in caring
for an infant one need not wash his little body all over each
day in order to keep it sweet as the new-blown flower.

Juvenile ailments

413:24 Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of
flatulency, and constantly directing the mind to such
signs, - that mind being laden with illusions
413:27 about disease, health-laws, and death, - these
actions convey mental images to children's budding
thoughts, and often stamp them there, making it probable
413:30 at any time that such ills may be reproduced in the very
ailments feared. A child may have worms, if you say so,
or any other malady, timorously held in the beliefs con-
414:1 cerning his body. Thus are laid the foundations of the
belief in disease and death, and thus are children educated
414:3 into discord.

Cure of insanity

The treatment of insanity is especially interesting.
However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than
414:6 do most diseases to the salutary action of
truth, which counteracts error. The argu-
ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in
414:9 other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter,
brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause
suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish
414:12 a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the
thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is
called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.

414:15 To fix truth steadfastly in your patients' thoughts, ex-
plain Christian Science to them, but not too soon, - not
until your patients are prepared for the explanation, -
414:18 lest you array the sick against their own interests by troub-
ling and perplexing their thought. The Christian Scien-
tist's argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of
414:21 being. The Scripture declares, "The Lord He is God
[good]; there is none else beside Him." Even so, harmony
is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de-
414:24 clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither
feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in
view. Keep in mind the verity of being, - that man is
414:27 the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is
painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfec-
tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is
414:30 blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine
Love.

Matter is not inflamed

Matter cannot be inflamed. Inflammation is fear, an
415:1 excited state of mortals which is not normal. Immor-
tal Mind is the only cause; therefore disease is neither a
415:3 cause nor an effect. Mind in every case is the
eternal God, good. Sin, disease, and death
have no foundations in Truth. Inflamation as a mor-
415:6 tal belief quickens or impedes the action of the system,
because thought moves quickly or slowly, leaps or halts
when it contemplates unpleasant things, or when the in-
415:9 dividual looks upon some object which he dreads. In-
flammation never appears in a part which mortal thought
does not reach. That is why opiates relieve inflammation.
415:12 They quiet the thought by inducing stupefaction and by
resorting to matter instead of to Mind. Opiates do not
remove the pain in any scientific sense. They only ren-
415:15 der mortal mind temporarily less fearful, till it can master
an erroneous belief.

Truth calms the thought

Note how thought makes the face pallid. It either re-
415:18 tards the circulation or quickens it, causing a pale or
flushed cheek. In the same way thought in-
creases or diminishes the secretions, the action
415:21 of the lungs, of the bowels, and of the heart. The mus-
cles, moving quickly or slowly and impelled or palsied by
thought, represent the action of all the organs of the hu-
415:24 man system, including brain and viscera. To remove
the error producing disorder, you must calm and instruct
mortal mind with immortal Truth.

Effects of etherization

415:27 Etherization will apparently cause the body to dis-
appear. Before the thoughts are fully at rest, the limbs
will vanish from consciousness. Indeed, the
415:30 whole frame will sink from sight along with
surrounding objects, leaving the pain standing forth as
distinctly as a mountain-peak, as if it were a separate
416:1 bodily member. At last the agony also vanishes. This
process shows the pain to be in the mind, for the inflam-
416:3 mation is not suppressed; and the belief of pain will
presently return, unless the mental image occasioning
the pain be removed by recognizing the truth of being.

Sedatives valueless

416:6 A hypodermic injection of morphine is administered
to a patient, and in twenty minutes the sufferer is qui-
etly asleep. To him there is no longer any
416:9 pain. Yet any physician - allopathic, homoe-
opathic, botanic, eclectic - will tell you that the trouble-
some material cause is unremoved, and that when the
416:12 soporific influence of the opium is exhausted, the pa-
tient will find himself in the same pain, unless the belief
which occasions the pain has meanwhile been changed.
416:15 Where is the pain while the patient sleeps?

The so-called physical ego

The material body, which you call /me/, is mortal mind,
and this mind is material in sensation, even as the body,
416:18 which has originated from this material sense
and been developed according to it, is mate-
rial. This materialism of parent and child is only in
416:21 mortal mind, as the dead body proves; for when the
mortal has resigned his body to dust, the body is no
longer the parent, even in appearance.

Evil thought depletes

416:24 The sick know nothing of the mental process by
which they are depleted, and next to nothing of the
metaphysical method by which they can be
416:27 healed. If they ask about their disease, tell
them only what is best for them to know. Assure them
that they think too much about their ailments, and
416:30 have already heard too much on that subject. Turn
their thoughts away from their bodies to higher ob-
jects. Teach them that their being is sustained by
417:1 Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace,
and harmony in God, divine Love.

Helpful encouragement

417:3 Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more
than their doctors. Always support their trust in the
power of Mind to sustain the body. Never
417:6 tell the sick that they have more courage
than strength. Tell them rather, that their strength
is in proportion to their courage. If you make the sick
417:9 realize this great truism, there will be no reaction from
over-exertion or from excited conditions. Maintain
the facts of Christian Science, - that Spirit is God, and
417:12 therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter
cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting
through spiritual law. Then hold your ground with
417:15 the unshaken understanding of Truth and Love, and
you will win. When you silence the witness against your
plea, you destroy the evidence, for the disease disap-
417:18 pears. The evidence before the corporeal senses is not
the Science of immortal man.

Disease to be made unreal