Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Naming diseases
411:3
My first discovery in the student's practice was this:
My first discovery in the student's practice was this:
If the student silently called the disease by name, when
he argued against it, as a general rule the body
would respond more quickly, – just as a per-
son replies more readily when his name is spoken; but
this was because the student was not perfectly attuned to
divine Science, and needed the arguments of truth for
reminders. If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear
witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific
way, and the healing is instantaneous.
Evils cast out
411:13
It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis-
It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis-
ease, – a disease which moderns would call dementia.
The demon, or evil, replied that his name was
Legion. Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil,
and the insane man was changed and straightway be-
came whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus
caused the evil to be self-seen and so destroyed.
Fear as the foundation
411:20
The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is
The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is
fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a
false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.
Disease is an image of thought externalized.
The mental state is called a material state. Whatever
is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is
imaged forth on the body.
Unspoken pleading
411:27
Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear
Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear
of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp-
tion from disease and danger. Watch the re-
sult of this simple rule of Christian Science,
and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every
disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear,
412:1
your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly
your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly
governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand-
point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear
of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien-
tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet
the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat,
but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern-
ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be
the victor.
Eloquent silence
412:10
You may call the disease by name when you mentally
You may call the disease by name when you mentally
deny it; but by naming it audibly, you are liable under
some circumstances to impress it upon the
thought. The power of Christian Science and
divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to un-
clasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.
Insistence requisite
412:16
To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth,
To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth,
of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material
senses. To heal by argument, find the type
of the ailment, get its name, and array your
mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men-
tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and
conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of
disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and
that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence
of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the
body corresponds with the normal conditions of health
and harmony.
The cure of infants
412:28
If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs
If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs
to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently
or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian
Science. The Scientist knows that there can
be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent