Chapter VI - Science, Theology, Medicine
Leaven of Truth
118:1
of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
of meal, till the whole was leavened," impels the infer-
ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ
and its spiritual interpretation, – an inference far above
the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the
illustration.
118:6
Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy,
foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the
Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-
ble world?
118:10
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It
must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally
glorified in man's spiritual freedom.
The divine and human contrasted
118:13
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and
Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-
ual laws emanating from the invisible and in-
finite power and grace. The parable may
import that these spiritual laws, perverted by
a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically pre-
sented as three measures of meal, – that is, three modes
of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust
is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and
modes of material motion are honored with the name of
laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes
the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical
properties of meal.
Certain contradictions
118:26
The definitions of material law, as given by natural
The definitions of material law, as given by natural
science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against
itself, because these definitions portray law as
physical, not spiritual. Therefore they con-
tradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in
which nature and God are one and the natural order of
heaven comes down to earth.
Unescapable dilemma
119:1
When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,
When we endow matter with vague spiritual power,
that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we
cannot really endow matter with what it does
not and cannot possess, – we disown the Al-
mighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They
either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government
of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product
of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and con-
sider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the cre-
ator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other
horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of
matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disas-
ters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their
source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpet-
ual misrule in the form and under the name of natural
law.
God and nature
119:17
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na-
ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law‑
giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre-
sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
of Spirit, God.
The sun and Soul
119:25
In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth
is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron-
omy reverses the human perception of the
movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re-
verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it