Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Soundness maintained
426:1
herited consumption, or disease arising from any cir-
herited consumption, or disease arising from any cir-
cumstance, and you will find that mortal mind, when
instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers
the body into health.
Our footsteps heavenward
426:5
The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less
The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less
difficult when she has the high goal always before her
thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps
in endeavoring to reach it. When the desti-
nation is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The
struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak,
resting instead of wearying one. If the belief in death
were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that
there is no death, this would be a "tree of life," known
by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and en-
deavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learn-
ing the necessity of working out his own salvation. When
it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that
mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this
understanding will quicken into newness of life. It will
master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave,
and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal
existence.
Christian standard
426:23
The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of
The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of
the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health
and morals far beyond its present elevation,
and would enable us to hold the banner of
Christianity aloft with unflinching faith in God, in Life
eternal. Sin brought death, and death will disappear
with the disappearance of sin. Man is immortal, and
the body cannot die, because matter has no life to sur-
render. The human concepts named matter, death, dis-
ease, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed.
Life not contingent on matter
427:1
If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is
the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of
Truth, and Soul is never without its represent-
ative. Man's individual being can no more
die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for
both are immortal. If man believes in death now, he
must disbelieve in it when learning that there is no reality
in death, since the truth of being is deathless. The be-
lief that existence is contingent on matter must be met
and mastered by Science, before Life can be understood
and harmony obtained.
Mortality vanquished
427:13
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
ence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the
harmony of being nor end the existence of
man in Science. Man is the same after as
before a bone is broken or the body guillotined. If man
is never to overcome death, why do the Scriptures say,
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"? The
tenor of the Word shows that we shall obtain the victory
over death in proportion as we overcome sin. The great
difficulty lies in ignorance of what God is. God, Life,
Truth, and Love make man undying. Immortal Mind,
governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the
physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.
No death nor inaction
427:26
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his
last resort, but it should have been his first
and only resort. The dream of death must
be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought
will waken from its own material declaration, "I am
dead," to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, "There