Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
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but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in
Christian Science."
A clean mind and body
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We need a clean body and a clean mind, – a body
We need a clean body and a clean mind, – a body
rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water.
One says: "I take good care of my body."
To do this, the pure and exalting influence of
the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian
Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves
it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres-
ent with the Lord."
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A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth
does not affect his happiness, because mind and body
rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt
gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a
mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur-
roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do
not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined.
This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body
in proper condition.
Beliefs illusive
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The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a
century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves
his health, but does this make it so? Does his
assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu-
brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in-
stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false
belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a
man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
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The movement-cure – pinching and pounding the poor
The movement-cure – pinching and pounding the poor
body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in-
sensibly so – is another medical mistake, resulting from
the common notion that health depends on inert matter
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instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed
instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed
matter, either feel or act without mind?
Corporeal penalties
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We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought
We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought
that we have transgressed a material law and must of
necessity pay the penalty. Let us reassure
ourselves with the law of Love. God never
punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for
deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue,
cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty
through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not
an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his
protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through
this action of thought and its results upon the body, the
student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the
grand verities of Christian Science.
Not matter, but Mind
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If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of
If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of
perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza,
congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of
inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy
is safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such
symptoms are not apt to follow exposure; but if you
believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects when
transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own case or
to destroy the bad effects of your belief. When the fear
subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken
no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other
disease will ever result from exposure to the weather. In
Science this is an established fact which all the evidence
before the senses can never overrule.
Benefit of philanthropy
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Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before
Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before
the divine rights of intelligence, and then the power
of Mind over the entire functions and organs of the