Chapter IV - Christian Science Versus Spiritualism
Divine strength
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.
Poor post-mortem evidence
81:1
There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni-
There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni-
cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there
is to show the sick that matter suffers and has
sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by
Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the
Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish.
No proof of immortality
81:7
At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism
At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism
can only prove that certain individuals have a continued
existence after death and maintain their affili-
ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords
no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that
he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op-
posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor-
tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits
teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof
of immortality.
Mind's manifestations immortal
81:17
Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can-
Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can-
not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to
wither and the flower to fade, they reappear.
Erase the figures which express number, silence
the tones of music, give to the worms the body
called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine
Principle lives on, – in the case of man as truly as in
the case of numbers and of music, – despite the so-called
laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though
the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the
harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine
Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de-
pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary
consequence of the immortality of good.
Reading thoughts
81:31
That somebody, somewhere, must have known the
That somebody, somewhere, must have known the
deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is