Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Diet and digestion
389:1
must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with
must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with
the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left
to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf
of the control of Mind over this belief and every
erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we
know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed
to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat-
ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested.
Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it
is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can
be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo-
site evidence.
Scripture rebukes
389:13
Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the
Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the
life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can
kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in
Scripture by the metaphors about the fount
and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di-
vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories
maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human
life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite
law that food shall be inimical to existence.
Ancient confusion
389:22
Materialists contradict their own statements. Their
Materialists contradict their own statements. Their
belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac-
tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity
between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God
and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the
battle-axe of Science.
389:28
A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came
A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came
under my observation. In her belief the woman had
chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a
complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I
cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de-
390:1
spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My
spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My
food is all digested, and I should like something more
to eat."
Ultimate harmony
390:4
We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we
We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we
should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim-
ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seem-
ing discord. It is our ignorance of God, the
divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and
the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth
will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and
pains of sense for the joys of Soul.
Unnecessary prostration
390:12
When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the
When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the
testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let
your higher sense of justice destroy the false
process of mortal opinions which you name
law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor
laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last far-
thing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with
thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with
him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon
the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that
it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more
the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no
law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sick-
ness, but you have divine authority for denying that neces-
sity and healing the sick.
Treatment of disease
390:27
"Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of
"Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of
chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consump-
tion, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages
of disease with as powerful mental opposi-
tion as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of
an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the