Chapter XII - Christian Science Practice
Life not contingent on matter
427:1
If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change
in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is
the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of
Truth, and Soul is never without its represent-
ative. Man's individual being can no more
die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for
both are immortal. If man believes in death now, he
must disbelieve in it when learning that there is no reality
in death, since the truth of being is deathless. The be-
lief that existence is contingent on matter must be met
and mastered by Science, before Life can be understood
and harmony obtained.
Mortality vanquished
427:13
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-
ence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the
harmony of being nor end the existence of
man in Science. Man is the same after as
before a bone is broken or the body guillotined. If man
is never to overcome death, why do the Scriptures say,
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"? The
tenor of the Word shows that we shall obtain the victory
over death in proportion as we overcome sin. The great
difficulty lies in ignorance of what God is. God, Life,
Truth, and Love make man undying. Immortal Mind,
governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the
physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.
No death nor inaction
427:26
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has
man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his
last resort, but it should have been his first
and only resort. The dream of death must
be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought
will waken from its own material declaration, "I am
dead," to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, "There
428:1
is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor
is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor
reaction."
Vision opening
428:3
Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstra-
Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstra-
tion of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark
visions of material sense into harmony and
immortality. Man's privilege at this supreme
moment is to prove the words of our Master: "If a man
keep my saying, he shall never see death." To divest
thought of false trusts and material evidences in order
that the spiritual facts of being may appear, – this is
the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep
away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may
establish in truth the temple, or body, "whose builder
and maker is God."
Intelligent consecration
428:15
We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown
We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown
God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the eternal
builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life
which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal
belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental
might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them
with the life which is spiritual, not material.
The present immortality
428:22
The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man
The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man
is, not shall be, perfect and immortal. We must hold
forever the consciousness of existence, and
sooner or later, through Christ and Christian
Science, we must master sin and death. The evidence
of man's immortality will become more apparent, as ma-
terial beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being
are admitted.
Careful guidance
428:30
The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and
The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and
raised the dying to life and health through the under-
standing of God as the only Life. It is a sin to believe