Chapter 4: 'Science and Health with Key to The Scriptures' by Mary Baker Eddy

Chapter IV - Christian Science Versus Spiritualism

Divine strength

80:1
We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of

the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving

utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal

of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for

the support of bodily endurance.

A denial of immortality

80:6
A communication purporting to come from the late

Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was,

and there never will be, an immortal spirit."

Yet the very periodical containing this sen-

tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica-

tions are our only proofs of immortality.

Mysticism unscientific

80:12
I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy

of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their

views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual-

ism its force. Science dispels mystery and

explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never

removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the

realm of mysticism.

Physical falsities

80:19
It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the

aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know

that it is mind-power which moves both table

and hand. Even planchette – the French toy

which years ago pleased so many people – attested the con-

trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.

80:25
It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter.

These movements arise from the volition of human belief,

but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind

produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and

believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec-

tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that

mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly,

hence that matter is intelligent.