Chapter VI - Science, Theology, Medicine
Historic illustrations
121:1
vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
vation stared him in the face; but sterner still would have
been his fate, if his discovery had undermined the favor-
ite inclinations of a sensuous philosophy.
121:4
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
Copernicus mapped out the stellar system, and before
he spake, astrography was chaotic, and the heavenly fields
were incorrectly explored.
Perennial beauty
121:7
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of
empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher
revelation than the horoscope was to them dis-
played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven
were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God's
perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So
we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but
man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained
by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate
star – "a weary searcher for a viewless home."
Astronomic unfoldings
121:17
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical
eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead
of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked
by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this
false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and in-
duced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often
to be erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple
rule that the greater controls the lesser. The sun is the
central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned,
and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides
turning daily on its own axis.
121:28
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the
action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflec-
tion of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and
is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting
government of the universe.
Opposing testimony
122:1
The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the
real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, –
assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and
death; but the great facts of Life, rightly un-
derstood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false
witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, – the actual
reign of harmony on earth. The material senses' re-
versal of the Science of Soul was practically exposed nine-
teen hundred years ago by the demonstrations of Jesus;
yet these so-called senses still make mortal mind tributary
to mortal body, and ordain certain sections of matter, such
as brain and nerves, as the seats of pain and pleasure,
from which matter reports to this so-called mind its status
of happiness or misery.
Testimony of the senses
122:15
The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
The optical focus is another proof of the illusion of
material sense. On the eye's retina, sky and tree-tops
apparently join hands, clouds and ocean meet
and mingle. The barometer, – that little
prophet of storm and sunshine, denying the testimony of
the senses, – points to fair weather in the midst of murky
clouds and drenching rain. Experience is full of instances
of similar illusions, which every thinker can recall for
himself.
Spiritual sense of life
122:24
To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
existence.
Ptolemaic and psychical error
122:29
Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul
Our theories make the same mistake regarding Soul
and body that Ptolemy made regarding the solar system.
They insist that soul is in body and mind therefore tribu-
tary to matter. Astronomical science has destroyed the