Chapter IV - Christian Science Versus Spiritualism
Thought regarding death
79:1
The act of describing disease – its symptoms, locality,
The act of describing disease – its symptoms, locality,
and fatality – is not scientific. Warning people against
death is an error that tends to frighten into
death those who are ignorant of Life as God.
Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored
by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death.
Fallacious hypotheses
79:7
A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the
A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the
use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma-
nent health. Science must go over the whole
ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow-
ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy-
potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and
hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for
Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma-
terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro-
duces the harmony of being.
79:17
Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle
Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle
Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ.
Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de-
scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels,
but he healed disease.
Mistaken methods
79:23
The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your
The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your
brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is
weak, and it must be strengthened. You have
nervous prostration, and must be treated for it."
Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in-
telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.
Divine strength
79:29
Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary
Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary
in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing
good. Giving does not impoverish us in the
service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.
80:1
We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of
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
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
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
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.
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.