Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
No real disease
394:1
to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-
to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick-
ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming
reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni-
versal and perfect remedy.
Recuperation mental
394:5
By conceding power to discord, a large majority of
By conceding power to discord, a large majority of
doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real
recuperative power. Knowledge that we
can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu-
lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points
out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond
the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from
helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To
those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis-
couraging, – as much so as would be the advice to a man
who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise
above his difficulties.
394:17
Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of
Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of
material systems in general, – that their theories are
sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better
than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils
overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from
God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will
you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it
can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means
the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine
permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony,
with Truth and Love?
Arguing wrongly
394:28
We should remember that Life is God, and that God
We should remember that Life is God, and that God
is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian
Science, the sick usually have little faith in
it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows
that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick
395:1
unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.
unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it.
They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it.
They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the
deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and
eternal likeness to God.
Divine authority
395:6
Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to
Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to
disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to
master the false evidences of the corporeal
senses and to assert its claims over mortal-
ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and
sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car-
nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in
material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death
will disappear.
Aids in sickness
395:15
Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-
Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be-
sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the
sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit-
ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse
should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of
faith, – receptive to Truth and Love.
Mental quackery
395:21
It is mental quackery to make disease a reality – to
It is mental quackery to make disease a reality – to
hold it as something seen and felt – and then to attempt
its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous
to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a
cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their
reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in
physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease
as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may
appear in a more alarming form.
Effacing images of disease
395:30
The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor
The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor
affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from
becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the
396:1
worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind
worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind
the thought of disease, but should efface from
thought all forms and types of disease, both for
one's own sake and for that of the patient.
Avoid talking disease
396:5
Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-
Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne-
cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never
startle with a discouraging remark about re-
covery, nor draw attention to certain symp-
toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of
the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have
to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's
thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis
is passed.
False testimony refuted
396:14
The refutation of the testimony of material sense is
The refutation of the testimony of material sense is
not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this
testimony. The refutation becomes arduous,
not because the testimony of sin or disease is
true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its
truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-
ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, – all teaching
that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.
Healthful explanation
396:22
At the right time explain to the sick the power which
At the right time explain to the sick the power which
their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine
and wholesome understanding, with which to
combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the
images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in
thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man;
that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit,
outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life
and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under-
stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by
matter nor by the divine Mind.
Misleading methods
397:1
By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing
By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing
how mortal mind affects the body, – acting beneficially
or injuriously on the health, as well as on the
morals and the happiness of mortals, – we are
misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the
mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in-
juring those whom we mean to bless.
Remedy for accidents
397:8
Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-
Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy-
ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them
by admitting their reality and continuance,
as directly as you enhance your joys by be-
lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac-
cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!"
Your thought is more powerful than your words, more
powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury
real.
397:17
Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt
Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt
and understand the reason why, and you will find the
ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your
disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-
physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures
declare Him to be.
Independent mentality
397:23
To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great
To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great
verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their
waking hours than when they act, walk, see,
hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can
never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because
they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind
is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and
you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You
will understand yourself and your Maker better than
before.
Naming maladies
398:1
Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he
Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he
said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
charge thee, come out of him, and enter no
more into him." It is added that "the spirit
[error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and
he was as one dead," – clear evidence that the malady
was not material. These instances show the concessions
which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance
of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the
distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter,
whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not
dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto
thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand
he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored
whole, like as the other."
The action of faith
398:16
Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a
Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a
particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms
of disease. What produces the change? It is
the faith of the doctor and the patient, which
reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect
upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of
pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink
is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not
in matter.
398:25
So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing
So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing
effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change
the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind
faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism
changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis-
ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue,
to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process.
The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has
399:1
no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.
Corporeal combinations
399:3
You say that certain material combinations produce
You say that certain material combinations produce
disease; but if the material body causes disease, can
matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal
mind prescribes the drug, and administers it.
Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through
certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se-
cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the
action of mortal thought, alias mortal mind.
Automatic mechanism
399:11
So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its
So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its
body, but this so-called mind is both the service and
message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un-
able to talk, and matter can return no an-
swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how
can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates
its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it,
and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action
of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua-
tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force
the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows
that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.
Mental strength
399:23
Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of
Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of
which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion.
This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is
only a false sense of matter, since matter is not
sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin-
ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.
Confirmation in a parable
399:29
Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong
Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man?" In other words: How
can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called
400:1
mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When
mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When
disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear
of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor-
oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which
must be held in subjection before its influence upon health
and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we
can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, – namely, of
sin and disease.
Eradicate error from thought
400:9
Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they
Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they
forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine
Mind, and abandon their material beliefs.
Eradicate the image of disease from the per-
turbed thought before it has taken tangible
shape in conscious thought, alias the body, and you pre-
vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy,
if you understand that every disease is an error, and has
no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to
it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-
tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.
Mortal mind controlled
400:20
When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed
When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed
mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought
alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind
rules all that is mortal. We see in the body
the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted
on the retina the image which becomes visible to the
senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be
destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony
of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani-
fest as sin, sickness, and death.
Mortal mind not a healer
400:30
The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of
The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of
sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this.
It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many
401:1
mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any
mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any
human error is its own enemy, and works against itself;
it does nothing in the right direction and much
in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing
evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer,
but it engenders disease and death.
Effect of opposites
401:7
If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-
If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men-
tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as
when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be-
cause the truth of being must transform the
error to the end of producing a higher manifestation.
This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but
should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter
has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees
materially.
401:16
What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced
What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced
when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be-
lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to
the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case
with a fermenting fluid.
Medicine and brain
401:21
The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon
The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon
mental action. If the mind were parted from the body,
could you produce any effect upon the brain
or body by applying the drug to either? Would
the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore
will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?
Skilful surgery
401:27
Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-
Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem-
acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave
surgery and the adjustment of broken bones
and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon,
while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental
reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.
402:1
Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but
Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but
surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last
acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the
author has already in her possession well-authenticated
records of the cure, by herself and her students through
mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints,
and spinal vertebrae.
Indestructible life of man
402:8
The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake
The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake
its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im-
mortal Mind and its formations will be appre-
hended in Science, and material beliefs will
not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible
and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal
mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own
mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation
can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and
disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is
Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal
mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.
The evil of mesmerism
402:20
We say that one human mind can influence another and
We say that one human mind can influence another and
in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that
we govern our own bodies. The error, mes-
merism – or hypnotism, to use the recent term
– illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would
make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily
and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield
to this influence, it is because their belief is not better
instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof
that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce
both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or
pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be
a belief without a real cause.
Wrong-doer should suffer
403:1
So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own
So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own
diseased conditions. The great difference between vol-
untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol-
untary mesmerism is induced consciously and
should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self‑
mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake
a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under-
stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the
second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.
The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in
one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real-
ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be
healed only by the divine Mind.
Error's power imaginary
403:14
You command the situation if you understand that
You command the situation if you understand that
mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the
truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly
producing on mortal body the results of false
opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal
error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth,
which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.
The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir-
itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal-
ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from
dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint
your patient with it.
Disease-production
403:26
The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike
The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike
the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the
nature of a case, and the practitioner improves
or injures the case in proportion to the truth
or error which influences his conclusions. The mental
conception and development of disease are not under-
stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar
404:1
with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case
with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case
according to Christian Science.
Appetites to be abandoned
404:3
If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special
If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special
servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and
destroy these errors with the truth of being, –
by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering
which his submission to such habits brings, and by con-
vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe-
tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.
Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and
you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked
motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the
repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the
individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is
fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy
sinner is the hardened sinner.
Temperance reform
404:17
The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results
The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results
from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree
that brings not forth good fruit. This con-
viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,
is one of the most important points in the theology of
Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and
true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure,
and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and
increases his ability to master evil and to love good.
Sin or fear the root of sickness
404:26
Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and
Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and
the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth.
Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth,
make a man sick, and neither material medi-
cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body,
unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him
405:1
from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.
from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.
Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence
of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the
lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.
Mental conspirators
405:5
Christian Science commands man to master the pro-
Christian Science commands man to master the pro-
pensities, – to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,
to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with
charity, and to overcome deceit with hon-
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
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
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
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,
in which is no power to sin.
Cumulative repentence
405:22
It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth
It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth
than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con-
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
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
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
The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
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
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
in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per-
fect Love casteth out fear."
Sickness will abate
406:11
The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and
The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and
spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth.
Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will
abate and seem less real as we approach the
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
should be as fearless on the question of disease.
Resist to the end
406:19
Resist evil – error of every sort – and it will flee from
Resist evil – error of every sort – and it will flee from
you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately
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
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
control over the body.
Morbid cravings
406:28
The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,
The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco,
tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery
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
fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp
remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to
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 –
Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters –
passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge – is con-
quered only by a mighty struggle. Every
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
Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the
weakness of mortal mind, – strength from the immortal
and omnipotent Mind, – and lifting humanity above
itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and
good-will to man.
407:17
Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris-
Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris-
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-
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-
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,
and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your
consciousness.
Sin a form of insanity
407:29
There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-
There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-
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
Every sort of sickness is error, – that is, sickness is
loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact
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
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-
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
defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-
tal minds and bodies.
Drugs and brain-lobes
408:14
The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use
The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use
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-
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
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,
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
different.
Matter and animate error
408:28
The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-
The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-
tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of
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
effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You
may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do
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-
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-
Unconscious mortal mind – alias matter, brain – can-
not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick."
The belief, that the unconscious substratum
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
how to govern their bodies.
So-called superiority
409:16
The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be
The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be
superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and
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
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
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
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
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
If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is
spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual
Life hereafter.
Life eternal and present
410:4
"This is life eternal," says Jesus, – is, not shall be;
"This is life eternal," says Jesus, – is, not shall be;
and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge
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
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-
ing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind
objects to making this teaching practical.
Love casteth out fear
410:14
Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.
Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.
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
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-
tion of Christian Science.
410:22
MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED
MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED
Be not afraid
410:23
The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no
The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no
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
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-
gins with Christ's keynote of harmony, "Be not afraid!"