Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
378:1
ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to
appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro-
duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in-
telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer.
The understanding of this will enable you to commute this
self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth.
Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.
Latent power
378:8
Without the so-called human mind, there can be no
Without the so-called human mind, there can be no
inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove
the error, and you destroy its effects. By
looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles
Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani-
mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and
both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened
fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to
retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the
power of Truth over error, – the might of intelligence
exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas
hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted
to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous
bases.
Disease powerless
378:22
Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of
Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into
its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given,
nor a self-constituted material power, which
copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God
never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to
chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.
Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon-
ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed,
it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis-
played in human governments.
Jurisdiction of Mind
379:1
If disease can attack and control the body without
If disease can attack and control the body without
the consent of mortals, sin can do the same, for both
are errors, announced as partners in the be-
ginning. The Christian Scientist finds only
effects, where the ordinary physician looks for causes.
The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling
every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in
divine Mind.
Power of imagination
379:9
A felon, on whom certain English students experi-
A felon, on whom certain English students experi-
mented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died be-
cause of that belief, when only a stream of
warm water was trickling over his arm. Had
he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would
have risen above the false belief. Let the despairing in-
valid, inspecting the hue of her blood on a cambric hand-
kerchief, think of the experiment of those Oxford boys,
who caused the death of a man, when not a drop of his
blood was shed. Then let her learn the opposite state-
ment of life as taught in Christian Science, and she will
understand that she is not dying on account of the state of
her blood, but is suffering from her belief that blood is
destroying her life. The so-called vital current does not
affect the invalid's health, but her belief produces the
very results she dreads.
Fevers the effect of fear
379:25
Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened
Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened
pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain in the
head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the
body by a mortal mind. The images, held in
this disturbed mind, frighten conscious thought. Unless
the fever-picture, drawn by millions of mortals and im-
aged on the body through the belief that mind is in matter
and discord is as real as harmony, is destroyed through