Chapter 14: 'Science and Health with Key to The Scriptures' by Mary Baker Eddy

Chapter XIV - Recapitulation

Immortal birthright

479:1
mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and

not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-

ual origin. With what truth, then, could the

Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,

"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-

trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and

material; it must be immortal and spiritual.

Matter's supposed selfhood

479:8
Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.

An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is

all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,

feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self‑

cognizant, – cannot feel itself, see itself, nor

understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,

which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter

can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we

call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical

senses?

Chaos and darkness

479:18
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the

earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and

darkness was upon the face of the deep."

(Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the

Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit

and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos

are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,

and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of

nothingness.

Spiritual reflection

479:27
We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects

no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,

because it has none of the divine hues. Paul

says: "For the invisible things of Him, from

the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-

stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)

480:1
When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-

ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where

the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is

not, evil becomes nothing, – the opposite of the some-

thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then

there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace

of heavenly tints.

Harmony from Spirit

480:8
Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-

tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.

Consciousness, as well as action, is governed

by Mind, – is in God, the origin and gov-

ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has

its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious

action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no

Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man

to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the

cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus

attempting to separate Mind from God.

Evil non-existent

480:19
Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,

or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-

site of good – that is, evil – which seems to

make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,

evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a

false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious

parent of evil is a lie.

Vapor and nothingness

480:26
The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him

[the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,

made that was made." This is the eternal

verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness, and

death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-

appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would

vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the

481:1
other. How important, then, to choose good as the

reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing

else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and

boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is

free "to enter into the holiest," – the realm of God.

The fruit forbidden

481:7
Material sense never helps mortals to understand

Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-

prehends and loves Deity. The various con-

tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-

terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-

mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,

against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of

error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,

and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This

is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree

of the knowledge of good and evil," – this growth of

material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou

eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses

first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and

then assume the necessity of these evils because of their

admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-

curers of all discord.

Sense and pure Soul

481:24
If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements

of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is

supported, God must uphold it, and this is

impossible, since Truth cannot support error.

Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, –

hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that

it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be

found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a

sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-

482:1
tion of the word sense for soul gives the exact meaning in

a majority of cases.

Soul defined

482:3
Human thought has adulterated the meaning of the

word soul through the hypothesis that soul is both an evil

and a good intelligence, resident in matter.

The proper use of the word soul can always

be gained by substituting the word God, where the deific

meaning is required. In other cases, use the word sense,

and you will have the scientific signification. As used

in Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym of

Spirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with

sense, with material sensation.

Sonship of Jesus

482:13
Question. – Is it important to understand these ex-

planations in order to heal the sick?

Answer. – It is, since Christ is "the way" and the

truth casting out all error. Jesus called himself "the

Son of man," but not the son of Joseph. As

woman is but a species of the genera, he was

literally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest human

concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from

Christ, the Messiah, – the divine idea of God outside

the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-

trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of

old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through

faith, to the hungering heart in every age.

Sickness erroneous

482:26
Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out.

Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law

of Truth, which heals the sick, on the basis

of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no

other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not

a healer, but causes the belief in disease.

True healing transcendent

483:1
Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and

animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they

do not heal, but only relieve suffering tempo-

rarily, exchanging one disease for another.

We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or

Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human.

Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately su-

persede all other means in healing. In order to heal by

Science, you must not be ignorant of the moral and spir-

itual demands of Science nor disobey them. Moral igno-

rance or sin affects your demonstration, and hinders its

approach to the standard in Christian Science.

Terms adopted by the author

483:13
After the author's sacred discovery, she affixed the

name "Science" to Christianity, the name "error" to

corporeal sense, and the name "substance" to

Mind. Science has called the world to battle

over this issue and its demonstration, which

heals the sick, destroys error, and reveals the universal

harmony. To those natural Christian Scientists, the an-

cient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed

the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter.

Science the way

483:22
Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-

honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with

material observations alone, this Science has

met with opposition; but if any system honors

God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-

ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as

no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way

of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works

through the divine name and nature. One must fulfil

one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be

well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity

484:1
will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to

be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When

this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry,

nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon

the rock, Christ.

Mindless methods

484:6
Question. – Does Christian Science, or metaphysical

healing, include medication, material hygiene, mesmer-

ism, hypnotism, theosophy, or spiritualism?

Answer. – Not one of them is included in it. In di-

vine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the

law of Mind. What are termed natural

science and material laws are the objective

states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses

the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.

Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and

hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind.

Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Cer-

tain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really

caused by the faith in them which the false human con-

sciousness is educated to feel.

Animal magnetism error

484:21
Mesmerism is mortal, material illusion. Animal mag-

netism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error

in all its forms; it is the human antipode

of divine Science. Science must triumph

over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting

an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories

and practices.

Error only ephemeral

484:28
Question. – Is materiality the concomitant of spirit-

uality, and is material sense a necessary preliminary to

the understanding and expression of Spirit?

485:1
Answer. – If error is necessary to define or to reveal

Truth, the answer is yes; but not otherwise. Material

sense is an absurd phrase, for matter has no

sensation. Science declares that Mind, not

matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts

this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays

mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimpor-

tant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because

of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephem-

eral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth.

Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how

to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more

unreal?

Scientific translations

485:14
Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not

to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come

naturally into Spirit through better health and

morals and as the result of spiritual growth.

Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man im-

mortal. The belief that life can be in matter or soul in

body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg,

is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth,

destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which

man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven

is perfect." If thought yields its dominion to other

powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful

images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents,

called disease and sin.

Material beliefs

485:28
The heathen gods of mythology controlled war and

agriculture as much as nerves control sensation or

muscles measure strength. To say that

strength is in matter, is like saying that the

power is in the lever. The notion of any life or intelli-

486:1
gence in matter is without foundation in fact, and you

can have no faith in falsehood when you have learned

falsehood's true nature.

Sense versus Soul

486:4
Suppose one accident happens to the eye, another to

the ear, and so on, until every corporeal sense is quenched.

What is man's remedy? To die, that he may

regain these senses? Even then he must gain

spiritual understanding and spiritual sense in order to

possess immortal consciousness. Earth's preparatory

school must be improved to the utmost. In reality man

never dies. The belief that he dies will not establish his

scientific harmony. Death is not the result of Truth but

of error, and one error will not correct another.

Death an error

486:14
Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that his body

was the same immediately after death as before. If death

restores sight, sound, and strength to man,

then death is not an enemy but a better friend

than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes

harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet

supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long

as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mor-

tal in belief and subject to chance and change.

Permanent sensibility

486:23
Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are

eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immor-

tality are in Spirit and understanding, not in

matter, – hence their permanence. If this

were not so, man would be speedily annihilated. If the

five corporeal senses were the medium through which

to understand God, then palsy, blindness, and deafness

would place man in a terrible situation, where he would

be like those "having no hope, and without God in the

world;" but as a matter of fact, these calamities often

487:1
drive mortals to seek and to find a higher sense of happi-

ness and existence.

Exercise of Mind-faculties

487:3
Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of

man, never attainable through death, but gained by walk-

ing in the pathway of Truth both before and

after that which is called death. There is more

Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually

than materially. There is more Science in the perpetual

exercise of the Mind-faculties than in their loss. Lost

they cannot be, while Mind remains. The apprehension

of this gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf cen-

turies ago, and it will repeat the wonder.

Understanding versus belief

487:13
Question. – You speak of belief. Who or what is it

that believes?

Answer. – Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the

need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind

understands. The body cannot believe. The

believer and belief are one and are mortal.

Christian evidence is founded on Science or

demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and

there is in reality no such thing as mortal mind. Mere

belief is blindness without Principle from which to ex-

plain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sen-

tient and intelligent matter is erroneous.

487:25
The Apostle James said, "Show me thy faith without

thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."

The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens

our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless

reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

Confirmation by healing

487:30
This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This

Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the

488:1
enduring and harmonious phases of things. The result

of our teachings is their sufficient confirmation. When,

on the strength of these instructions, you are

able to banish a severe malady, the cure shows

that you understand this teaching, and therefore you re-

ceive the blessing of Truth.

Belief and firm trust

488:7
The Hebrew and Greek words often translated belief

differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the

English verb believe; they have more the sig-

nificance of faith, understanding, trust, con-

stancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in

our common version to approve and endorse belief, when

they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.

All faculties from Mind

488:14
Question. – Do the five corporeal senses constitute

man?

Answer. – Christian Science sustains with immortal

proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines

these so-called senses as mortal beliefs, the

testimony of which cannot be true either of

man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no

cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves

have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-

stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone

possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.

Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of

organization and decomposition, – otherwise the very

worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the

real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce

them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-

turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,

not in matter.

Possibilities of Life

489:1
The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.

When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows

again. If the Science of Life were understood,

it would be found that the senses of Mind are

never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the

human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's

claw, – not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine

one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter

is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal

to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness

develops, this belief goes out, – yields to the reality of

everlasting Life.

Decalogue disregarded

489:13
Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the

commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-

mands. How then can this sense be the God‑

given channel to man of divine blessings or

understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-

pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?

Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time

the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-

dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-

tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not

forth sweet waters and bitter.

Organic construction valueless

489:24
The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or

error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-

cause matter has no sensation, and no organic

construction can give it hearing and sight nor

make it the medium of Mind. Outside the

material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense

of God, man, and creation is non-sense, want of sense.

Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes

good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there

490:1
is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian

Science dispute this error.

Will-power an animal propensity

490:3
Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief

commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an

animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.

Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-

tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the

motive-powers of man. Will – blind, stubborn, and head-

long – cooperates with appetite and passion. From this

cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-

erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.

Theories helpless

490:12
The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until

it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of

Truth. Human theories are helpless to make

man harmonious or immortal, since he is so

already, according to Christian Science. Our only need

is to know this and reduce to practice the real man's di-

vine Principle, Love

True nature and origin

490:19
"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings."

Human belief – or knowledge gained from the so-called

material senses – would, by fair logic, anni-

hilate man along with the dissolving elements

of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the

nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with

immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers

in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained

in no other way.

Sleep an illusion

490:28
Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of

material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either

oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.

Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man

will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he

491:1
is swimming when he is on dry land. Needle-thrusts will

not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.

Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and

shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or va-

lidity. Change the belief, and the sensation changes.

Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears.

Man linked with Spirit

491:7
Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary

error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter

calling itself right. Man's spiritual individual-

ity is never wrong. It is the likeness of man's

Maker. Matter cannot connect mortals with the true

origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only

by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls

the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and

find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man

forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.

Material man as a dream

491:17
The belief that matter and mind are one, – that mat-

ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-

times presenting no appearance of mind, –

this belief culminates in another belief, that

man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real

being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are

closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are

lost from the body, and they wander whither they will

apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-

sonality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man

may have an attractive personality.

Spiritual existence the one fact

491:28
When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-

ures of matter. Who will say, even though he

does not understand Christian Science, that

this dream – rather than the dreamer – may

not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise,

492:1
when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and

thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious?

For right reasoning there should be but one fact before

the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there

is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its

unlikeness, mortality.

Mind one and all

492:7
Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already

proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,

will uplift the physical and moral standard

of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify

and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy

all error, and bring immortality to light. We know that

a statement proved to be good must be correct. New

thoughts are constantly obtaining the floor. These two

contradictory theories – that matter is something, or

that all is Mind – will dispute the ground, until one is

acknowledged to be the victor. Discussing his cam-

paign, General Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on

this line, if it takes all summer." Science says: All is

Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this

line. Matter can afford you no aid.

Scientific ultimatum

492:22
The notion that mind and matter commingle in the

human illusion as to sin, sickness, and death must even-

tually submit to the Science of Mind, which

denies this notion. God is Mind, and God is

infinite; hence all is Mind. On this statement rests the

Science of being, and the Principle of this Science is di-

vine, demonstrating harmony and immortality.

Victory for Truth

492:29
The conservative theory, long believed, is that there

are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im-

possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error

always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.

493:1
On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows

Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun

appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand

still; but astronomical science contradicts this,

and explains the solar system as working on a differ-

ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the

knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to

Science, to the immortal truth of all things.

Mental preparation

493:9
Question, – Will you explain sickness and show how it

is to be healed?

Answer. – The method of Christian Science Mind-heal-

ing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian

Science Practice. A full answer to the above

question involves teaching, which enables the

healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle

and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.

Mind destroys all ills

493:17
Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the

five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sick-

ness is a belief, which must be annihilated by

the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of

so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the

body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense

of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or

mental inharmony. That man is material, and that mat-

ter suffers, – these propositions can only seem real and

natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the

reality of being.

493:28
If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of

death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false

sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the

power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever

494:1
intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire

action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body], and

in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this

for tired humanity's reassurance.

Inexhaustible divine Love

494:5
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great

a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God,

who needed no help from Jesus' example to

preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals

did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every

human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-

strated the divine power to heal only for a select number

or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and

in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

Reason and Science

494:15
The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus

demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the

infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring

human sense to flee from its own convictions

and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-

rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but

sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-

periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-

ence of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with

the unbroken reality of scientific being.

494:25
Which of these two theories concerning man are you

ready to accept? One is the mortal testimony, changing,

dying, unreal. The other is the eternal and real evidence,

bearing Truth's signet, its lap piled high with immortal

fruits.

Followers of Jesus

494:30
Our Master cast out devils (evils) and healed the sick.

It should be said of his followers also, that they cast fear

and all evil out of themselves and others and heal the sick.

495:1
God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is

governed by God. Truth casts out error now

as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago. All

of Truth is not understood; hence its healing power is not

fully demonstrated.

Destruction of all evil

495:6
If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot

destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then

classify sickness and error as our Master did,

when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath

bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life‑

giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power

which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and

sets the captive free physically and morally.

Steadfast and calm trust

495:14
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling

steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His

likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither

fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and

calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious – as

Life eternally is – can destroy any painful sense of, or

belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science,

instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of

being, and this understanding will supplant error with

Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-

cord with harmony.

Rudiments and growth

495:25
Question. – How can I progress most rapidly in the

understanding of Christian Science?

Answer. – Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe

the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Chris-

tian Science and follow the behests of God,

abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and

Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain

496:1
that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn

that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions

from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind,

and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by

man and governs the entire universe. You will learn

that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey

God, to have one Mind, and to love another as

yourself.

Condition of progress

496:9
We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself:

Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?

Am I demonstrating the healing power of

Truth and Love? If so then the way will

grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits

will prove what the understanding of God brings to man.

Hold perpetually this thought, – that it is the spiritual

idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to

demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing,

based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-

lying, and encompassing all true being.

Triumph over death

496:20
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is

the law," – the law of mortal belief, at war with the

facts of immortal Life, even with the spiritual

law which says to the grave, "Where is thy

victory?" But "when this corruptible shall have put

on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-

mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that

is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

496:28
Question. – Have Christian Scientists any religious

creed?

Answer. – They have not, if by that term is meant

doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of

497:1
the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian

Science: –

497:3
1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word

of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

497:5
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and in-

finite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the

Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's

image and likeness.

497:9
3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the

destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that

casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is pun-

ished so long as the belief lasts.

497:13
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evi-

dence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity

with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and

we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ,

through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the

Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming

sin and death.

497:20
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and

his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eter-

nal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the noth-

ingness of matter.

497:24
6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for

that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to

do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and

to be merciful, just, and pure.

498:1
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499:1
KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

499:2
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that

hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth;

and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold,

I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.

– REVELATION.

500:1
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Chapter XV

Genesis

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the

name of God Almighty; but by My name Jehovah was I not known to

them. – EXODUS.

All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything

made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of

men. – JOHN.

Spiritual interpretation

501:1
SCIENTIFIC interpretation of the Scriptures prop-

erly starts with the beginning of the Old Testa-

ment, chiefly because the spiritual import of

the Word, in its earliest articulations, often

seems so smothered by the immediate context as to

require explication; whereas the New Testament narra-

tives are clearer and come nearer the heart. Jesus il-

lumines them, showing the poverty of mortal existence,

but richly recompensing human want and woe with

spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplifi-

cation of wonder and glory which angels could only

whisper and which God illustrated by light and har-

mony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called

mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural

good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the

weary ones sigh when needing something more native

to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual

evil.

Spiritual overture

502:1
A second necessity for beginning with Genesis is that

the living and real prelude of the older Scriptures is so

brief that it would almost seem, from the

preponderance of unreality in the entire nar-

rative, as if reality did not predominate over unreality,

the light over the dark, the straight line of Spirit over

the mortal deviations and inverted images of the creator

and His creation.

Deflection of being

502:9
Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history

of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This

deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to

suggest the proper reflection of God and the

spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter

of Genesis. Even thus the crude forms of human thought

take on higher symbols and significations, when scien-

tifically Christian views of the universe appear, illuminat-

ing time with the glory of eternity.

502:18
In the following exegesis, each text is followed by its

spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Chris-

tian Science.

502:21
EXEGESIS

502:22
Genesis i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven

and the earth.

Ideas and identities

502:24
The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning

is employed to signify the only, – that is, the eternal ver-

ity and unity of God and man, including

the universe. The creative Principle – Life,

Truth, and Love – is God. The universe reflects God.

There is but one creator and one creation. This crea-

503:1
tion consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their

identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and

forever reflected. These ideas range from the infini-

tesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons

and daughters of God.

503:6
Genesis i. 2. And the earth was without form, and void;

and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the

spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Spiritual harmony

503:9
The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual har-

mony, – heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth,

matter is unknown. No supposition of error

enters there. Divine Science, the Word of

God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God

is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines

the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, – that infinite

space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in

countless spiritual forms.

503:18
Genesis i. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and

there was light.

Mind's idea faultless

503:20
Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:

first, in light; second, in reflection; third, in spiritual and

immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But

this Mind creates no element nor symbol of

discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought,

mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.

503:26
Genesis i. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good:

and God divided the light from the darkness.

503:28
God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony

504:1
from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by

aught but the good.

504:3
Genesis i. 5. And God called the light Day, and the

darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morn-

ing were the first day.

Light preceding the sun

504:6
All questions as to the divine creation being both

spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for

though solar beams are not yet included in

the record of creation, still there is light. This

light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it

is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This

also shows that there is no place where God's light is not

seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are

ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a

creation?

Evenings and mornings

504:16
The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented

as taking place on so many evenings and mornings, –

words which indicate, in the absence of solar

time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views

which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.

Here we have the explanation of another passage of

Scripture, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand

years." The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into

the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously, whereas

a thousand years of human doctrines, hypotheses, and

vague conjectures emit no such effulgence.

Spirit versus darkness

504:27
Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?

Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter,

darkness, and darkness obscures light. Mate-

rial sense is nothing but a supposition of the

absence of Spirit. No solar rays nor planetary revolutions

505:1
form the day of Spirit. Immortal Mind makes its own

record, but mortal mind, sleep, dreams, sin, disease, and

death have no record in the first chapter of Genesis.

505:4
Genesis i. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in

the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from

the waters.

Spiritual firmament

505:7
Spiritual understanding, by which human conception,

material sense, is separated from Truth, is the firmament.

The divine Mind, not matter, creates all iden-

tities, and they are forms of Mind, the ideas of

Spirit apparent only as Mind, never as mindless matter

nor the so-called material senses.

505:13
Genesis i. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided

the waters which were under the firmament from the waters

which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Understanding imparted

505:16
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-

sciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith:

"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise

of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of

the sea." Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual

good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between

the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds

Mind, – Life, Truth, and Love, – and demonstrates the

divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in

Christian Science.

Original reflected

505:26
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result

of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things

brought to light. God's ideas reflect the im-

mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal,

erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to

506:1
themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-

ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-

like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore

matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-

tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which

separates Christian Science from supposition and makes

Truth final.

506:8
Genesis i. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven.

And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Exalted thought

506:10
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-

standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted

thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.

Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each

successive stage of progress.

506:15
Genesis i. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the

heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry

land appear: and it was so.

Unfolding of thoughts

506:18
Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their

proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts,

even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose

in order that the purpose may appear.

506:22
Genesis i. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and

the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and

God saw that it was good.

Spirit names and blesses

506:25
Here the human concept and divine idea seem con-

fused by the translator, but they are not so in the scien-

tifically Christian meaning of the text. Upon

Adam devolved the pleasurable task of find-

ing names for all material things, but Adam has not yet

507:1
appeared in the narrative. In metaphor, the dry land

illustrates the absolute formations instituted by Mind,

while water symbolizes the elements of Mind. Spirit duly

feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line

of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the father-

hood and motherhood of God. Spirit names and blesses

all. Without natures particularly defined, objects and

subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of

nameless offspring, – wanderers from the parent Mind,

strangers in a tangled wilderness.

507:11
Genesis i. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth

grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding

fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:

and it was so.

Divine propagation

507:15
The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of

the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multi-

tudinous forms of Mind and governs the mul-

tiplication of the compound idea man. The

tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagat-

ing power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind

which includes all. A material world implies a mortal

mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation

declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.

Ever-appearing creation

507:24
Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men-

tal molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all

expresses Science and art throughout His

creation, and the immortality of man and the

universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con-

tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.

Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate-

rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall

508:1
to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal

man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind

is All and reproduces all – as Mind is the multiplier,

and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the

product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought,

a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the

Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov-

erns all.

508:9
Genesis i. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, and

herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding

fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw

that it was good.

Mind's pure thought

508:13
God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen-

der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is

the pure thought emanating from divine

Mind. The feminine gender is not yet ex-

pressed in the text. Gender means simply kind or sort,

and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or

femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and

grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither

male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc-

tion names the female gender last in the ascending order

of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male

or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds

the infinitude of Love.

508:26
Genesis i. 13. And the evening and the morning were

the third day.

Rising to the light

508:28
The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an

important one to the human thought, letting in the light

509:1
of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to

the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of

all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent

upon no material organization. Our Master

reappeared to his students, – to their apprehension he

rose from the grave, – on the third day of his ascending

thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of

eternal Life.

509:9
Genesis i. 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the

firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night;

and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,

and years.

Rarefaction of thought

509:13
Spirit creates no other than heavenly or celestial bodies,

but the stellar universe is no more celestial than our earth.

This text gives the idea of the rarefaction of

thought as it ascends higher. God forms and

peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understand-

ing gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulae indi-

cate the immensity of space.

Divine nature appearing

509:20
So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances

are no more contingent now on time or material struc-

ture than they were when "the morning stars

sang together." Mind made the "plant of

the field before it was in the earth." The periods of

spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's

creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness

– yea, the divine nature – appear in man and the uni-

verse never to disappear.

Spiritual ideas apprehended

509:29
Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind

and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his

fellow-countrymen: "Ye can discern the face of the

510:1
sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit-

ual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects

of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit

and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.

510:6
Genesis i. 15. And let them be for lights in the firma-

ment of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it

was so.

510:9
Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose

"light shall we see light;" and this illumination is re-

flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn

away from a false material sense.

510:13
Genesis i. 16. And God made two great lights; the

greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the

night: He made the stars also.

Geology a failure

510:16
The sun is a metaphorical representation of Soul out-

side the body, giving existence and intelligence to the

universe. Love alone can impart the limit-

less idea of infinite Mind. Geology has never

explained the earth's formations; it cannot explain them.

There is no Scriptural allusion to solar light until time has

been already divided into evening and morning; and the

allusion to fluids (Genesis i. 2) indicates a supposed for-

mation of matter by the resolving of fluids into solids,

analogous to the suppositional resolving of thoughts into

material things.

Spiritual subdivision

510:27
Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love,

and not a vitalizing property of matter. Sci-

ence reveals only one Mind, and this one shin-

ing by its own light and governing the universe, including

511:1
man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its

own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light,

intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, "whose

seed is in itself." Thus God's ideas "multiply and re-

plenish the earth." The divine Mind supports the sub-

limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.

511:7
Genesis i. 17, 18. And God set them in the firmament of

the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over

the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the

darkness: and God saw that it was good.

Darkness scattered

511:11
In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has

the impress of heaven, God is revealed as in-

finite light. In the eternal Mind, no night is

there.

511:15
Genesis i. 19. And the evening and the morning were

the fourth day.

511:17
The changing glow and full effulgence of God's infi-

nite ideas, images, mark the periods of progress.

511:19
Genesis i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth

abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl

that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of

heaven.

Soaring aspirations

511:23
To mortal mind, the universe is liquid, solid, and aeri-

form. Spiritually interpreted, rocks and mountains stand

for solid and grand ideas. Animals and mor-

tals metaphorically present the gradation of

mortal thought, rising in the scale of intelligence, taking

form in masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. The

fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament

512:1
of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and

above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal

and divine Principle, Love.

512:4
Genesis i. 21. And God created great whales, and every

living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth

abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after

his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Seraphic symbols

512:8
Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power,

and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These an-

gels of His presence, which have the holiest

charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of

Mind, and consequently reproduce their own character-

istics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do

know that their natures are allied to God's nature; and

spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet

subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.

512:17
Genesis i. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit-

ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let

fowl multiply in the earth.

Multiplication of pure ideas

512:20
Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and

perfect ideas. From the infinite elements of the one

Mind emanate all form, color, quality, and

quantity, and these are mental, both primarily

and secondarily. Their spiritual nature is discerned only

through the spiritual senses. Mortal mind inverts the true

likeness, and confers animal names and natures upon its

own misconceptions. Ignorant of the origin and opera-

tions of mortal mind, – that is, ignorant of itself, – this

so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and claims

God as their author; albeit God is ignorant of the ex-

513:1
istence of both this mortal mentality, so-called, and its

claim, for the claim usurps the deific prerogatives and is

an attempted infringement on infinity.

513:4
Genesis i. 23. And the evening and the morning were

the fifth day.

Spiritual spheres

513:6
Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of

Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To

material sense, this divine universe is dim and

distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight;

but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.

In the record, time is not yet measured by solar revolutions,

and the motions and reflections of deific power cannot be

apprehended until divine Science becomes the interpreter.

513:14
Genesis i. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth

the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,

and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Continuity of thoughts

513:17
Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all

thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind

conceiving them; but the intelligence, exist-

ence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God,

who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.

513:22
Genesis i. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after

his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that

creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that

it was good.

God's thoughts are spiritual realities

513:26
God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are

spiritual realities. So-called mortal mind – being non‑

existent and consequently not within the range of im-

514:1
mortal existence – could not by simulating deific power

invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate per-

sons or things upon its own plane, since noth-

ing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive

infinity, in which and of which God is the

sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the

realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis-

port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of

holiness.

Qualities of thought

514:10
Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the

king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in

the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open

field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside

the still waters." In the figurative transmission from the

divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and

perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand

hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and

keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa-

nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ-

uality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the

millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: –

514:22
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

Creatures of God useful

514:26
Understanding the control which Love held over all,

Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the

viper to be harmless. All of God's creatures

moving in the harmony of Science, are harm-

less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand

verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.

515:1
It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor

to emulate the example of Jesus. "And God saw that

it was good."

The serpent harmless

515:4
Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping

over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-

pent of God's creating is neither subtle nor

poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its

adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which

forms them, – the power which changeth the serpent

into a staff.

515:11
Genesis i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our

image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over

the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over

the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping

thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Elohistic plurality

515:16
The eternal Elohim includes the forever universe.

The name Elohim is in the plural, but this plurality of

Spirit does not imply more than one God, nor

does it imply three persons in one. It relates

to the oneness, the triunity of Life, Truth, and Love.

"Let them have dominion." Man is the family name

for all ideas, – the sons and daughters of God. All that

God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting good-

ness and power.

Reflected likeness

515:25
Your mirrored reflection is your own image or like-

ness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also.

If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in

accord with yours. Now compare man before

the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror

divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note

516:1
how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection

to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in

the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of

God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love,

which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;

and when we subordinate the false testimony of the

corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see

this true likeness and reflection everywhere.

Love imparts beauty

516:9
God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life

is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in

goodness, which impart their own peace and

permanence. Love, redolent with unselfish-

ness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath

our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the

earth." The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to

heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The

sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the

prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the

flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man,

made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's domin-

ion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent

and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality,

the infinite Father-Mother God.

516:24
Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image,

in the image of God created He him; male and female

created He them.

Ideal man and woman

516:27
To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated

that God made man in His own image, to reflect the

divine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic

term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen-

ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan-

517:1
guages the word for man is used also as the synonym of

mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropo-

morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word an-

thropomorphic, in such a phrase as "an anthropomorphic

God," is derived from two Greek words, signifying man

and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental at-

tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving

quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man

corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth.

The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In

divine Science, we have not as much authority for con-

sidering God masculine, as we have for considering

Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of

Deity.

Divine personality

517:15
The world believes in many persons; but if God is per-

sonal, there is but one person, because there is but one

God. His personality can only be reflected,

not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and

they all have one Principle and parentage. The only

proper symbol of God as person is Mind's infinite ideal.

What is this ideal? Who shall behold it? This ideal

is God's own image, spiritual and infinite. Even eternity

can never reveal the whole of God, since there is no limit

to infinitude or to its reflections.

517:25
Genesis i. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto

them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,

and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing

that moveth upon the earth.

Birthright of man

517:30
Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to

multiply, – to manifest His power. Man is not made

518:1
to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not sub-

jection. He is lord of the belief in earth

and heaven, – himself subordinate alone to

his Maker. This is the Science of being.

518:5
Genesis i. 29, 30. And God said, Behold, I have given

you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all

the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree

yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every

beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to

everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is

life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it

was so.

Assistance in brotherhood

518:13
God gives the lesser idea of Himself for a link to the

greater, and in return, the higher always protects the

lower. The rich in spirit help the poor in

one grand brotherhood, all having the same

Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth

his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in

another's good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea

might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through

all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied

expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality –

infinite Life, Truth, and Love.

518:24
Genesis i. 31. And God saw everything that He had

made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and

the morning were the sixth day.

Perfection of creation

518:27
The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and ex-

presses all, and all must therefore be as perfect is the

divine Principle is perfect. Nothing is new to Spirit.

519:1
Nothing can be novel to eternal Mind, the author of all

things, who from all eternity knoweth His own ideas.

Deity was satisfied with His work. How could

He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation

was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self‑

containment and immortal wisdom?

519:7
Genesis ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were

finished, and all the host of them.

Infinity measureless

519:9
Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete

and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and

the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Hu-

man capacity is slow to discern and to grasp

God's creation and the divine power and presence which

go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals

can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old

man and reach the spiritual image and likeness. What

can fathom infinity! How shall we declare Him, till,

in the language of the apostle, "we all come in the unity

of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto

a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful-

ness of Christ"?

519:22
Genesis ii. 2. And on the seventh day God ended His

work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh

day from all His work which He had made.

Resting in holy work

519:25
God rests in action. Imparting has not impoverished,

can never impoverish, the divine Mind. No

exhaustion follows the action of this Mind,

according to the apprehension of divine Science. The

520:1
highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint,

is in holy work.

Love and man coexistent

520:3
Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth,

height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all

space. That is enough! Human language

can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what

exists. The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor

comprehended by mortals, than is His infinite Principle,

Love. Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and

eternal. The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can

never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.

These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they

will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of

error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine

infinite calculus.

520:16
Genesis ii. 4, 5. These are the generations of the heavens

and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the

Lord God [Jehovah] made the earth and the heavens, and

every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every

herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God [Jehovah]

had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not

a man to till the ground.

Growth is from Mind

520:23
Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all

through Mind, not through matter, – that the plant

grows, not because of seed or soil, but because

growth is the eternal mandate of Mind. Mor-

tal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creat-

ing thought is from above, not from beneath. Because

Mind makes all, there is nothing left to be made by a

lower power. Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,

never causing man to till the ground, but making him

521:1
superior to the soil. Knowledge of this lifts man above

the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious

spiritual harmony and eternal being.

Spiritual narrative

521:4
Here the inspired record closes its narrative of being

that is without beginning or end. All that is made is

the work of God, and all is good. We leave

this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation

(as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of

God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, –

joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy,

omnipotence, and omnipresence.

521:12
The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We

should look away from the opposite supposition that man

is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual

record of creation, to that which should be engraved on

the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond"

and the pen of an angel.

521:18
The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more

about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is,

but the continued account is mortal and material.

521:21
Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth,

and watered the whole face of the ground.

The story of error

521:23
The Science and truth of the divine creation have been

presented in the verses already considered, and now the

opposite error, a material view of creation, is

to be set forth. The second chapter of Gene-

sis contains a statement of this material view of God and

the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of

scientific truth as before recorded. The history of error

or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence

522:1
of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction

to the true.

The two records

522:3
The Science of the first record proves the falsity of

the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are

antagonistic. The first record assigns all

might and government to God, and endows

man out of God's perfection and power. The second

record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, – as hav-

ing broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit

of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science

explains as impossible.

522:12
This second record unmistakably gives the history of

error in its externalized forms, called life and intelli-

gence in matter. It records pantheism, opposed to the

supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is

declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, –

dust returning to dust.

Erroneous representation

522:18
In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit.

Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the

earth. Spirit is represented as entering mat-

ter in order to create man. God's glowing

denunciations of man when not found in His

image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide

with revelation in declaring this material creation false.

Hypothetical reversal

522:25
This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which

portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in

constructing the universe, is based on some

hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just pre-

ceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life,

Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does

the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un-

erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-

523:1
not be so. Yet one might so judge from an unintelligent

perusal of the Scriptural account now under comment.

Mist, or false claim

523:3
Because of its false basis, the mist of obscurity evolved

by error deepens the false claim, and finally declares that

God knows error and that error can improve

His creation. Although presenting the exact

opposite of Truth, the lie claims to be truth. The crea-

tions of matter arise from a mist or false claim, or from

mystification, and not from the firmament, or under-

standing, which God erects between the true and false.

In error everything comes from beneath, not from above.

All is material myth, instead of the reflection of

Spirit.

Distinct documents

523:14
It may be worth while here to remark that, according

to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two dis-

tinct documents in the early part of the book of

Genesis. One is called the Elohistic, because

the Supreme Being is therein called Elohim. The other

document is called the Jehovistic, because Deity therein is

always called Jehovah, – or Lord God, as our common

version translates it.

Jehovah or Elohim

523:22
Throughout the first chapter of Genesis and in three

verses of the second, – in what we understand to be the

spiritually scientific account of creation, – it is

Elohim (God) who creates. From the fourth

verse of chapter two to chapter five, the creator is called

Jehovah, or the Lord. The different accounts become

more and more closely intertwined to the end of chapter

twelve, after which the distinction is not definitely trace-

able. In the historic parts of the Old Testament, it is

usually Jehovah, peculiarly the divine sovereign of the

Hebrew people, who is referred to.

Gods of the heathen

524:1
The idolatry which followed this material mythology is

seen in the Phoenician worship of Baal, in the Moabitish

god Chemosh, in the Moloch of the Amorites,

in the Hindoo Vishnu, in the Greek Aphro-

dite, and in a thousand other so-called deities.

Jehovah a tribal deity

524:6
It was also found among the Israelites, who constantly

went after "strange gods." They called the Supreme

Being by the national name of Jehovah. In

that name of Jehovah, the true idea of God

seems almost lost. God becomes "a man of war," a

tribal god to be worshipped, rather than Love, the divine

Principle to be lived and loved.

524:13
Genesis ii. 7. And the Lord God [Jehovah] formed man

of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils

the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Creation reversed

524:16
Did the divine and infinite Principle become a finite

deity, that he should now be called Jehovah? With

a single command, Mind had made man,

both male and female. How then could a

material organization become the basis of man? How

could the non-intelligent become the medium of Mind,

and error be the enunciator of Truth? Matter is not

the reflection of Spirit, yet God is reflected in all His

creation. Is this addition to His creation real or un-

real? Is it the truth, or is it a lie concerning man and

God?

524:27
It must be a lie, for God presently curses the ground.

Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter

ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, God, injected into

dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?

Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature

525:1
and omnipotence? Does Mind, God, enter matter to be-

come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of

God? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed,

not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re-

flects God; mankind represents the Adamic race, and is

a human, not a divine, creation.

Definitions of man

525:7
The following are some of the equivalents of the term

man in different languages. In the Saxon, mankind, a

woman, any one; in the Welsh, that which rises

up, – the primary sense being image, form; in

the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind.

The following translation is from the Icelandic: –

525:13
And God said, Let us make man after our mind and

our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after

God's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and

female.

No baneful creation

525:17
In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were

made through the Word of God, "and without Him [the

logos, or word] was not anything made that

was made." Everything good or worthy, God

made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not

make, – hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis

we read that He saw everything which He had made,

"and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses

declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the

history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural

record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the

material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed

as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.

525:30
Genesis ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God

[Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,

526:1
and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the

garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Contradicting first creation

526:3
The previous and more scientific record of creation

declares that God made "every plant of the field be-

fore it was in the earth." This opposite

declaration, this statement that life issues

from matter, contradicts the teaching of the first chap-

ter, – namely, that all Life is God. Belief is less than

understanding. Belief involves theories of material hear-

ing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses.

The appetites and passions, sin, sickness, and death,

follow in the train of this error of a belief in intelligent

matter.

Record of error

526:14
The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural

text in the second chapter of Genesis. God pronounced

good all that He created, and the Scriptures

declare that He created all. The "tree of

life" stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which

guards it is the type of divine Science. The "tree of

knowledge" stands for the erroneous doctrine that the

knowledge of evil is as real, hence as God-bestowed, as

the knowledge of good. Was evil instituted through God,

Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra-

diction of the first creation? This second biblical account

is a picture of error throughout.

526:26
Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] took the

man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and

to keep it.

Garden of Eden

526:29
The name Eden, according to Cruden, means pleasure,

delight. In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate-

527:1
rial body. God could not put Mind into matter nor in-

finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and

keep it, – to make it beautiful or to cause it

to live and grow. Man is God's reflection, needing no

cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.

527:6
Genesis ii. 16, 17. And the Lord God [Jehovah] com-

manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou

mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou

eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

No temptation from God

527:11
Here the metaphor represents God, Love, as tempting

man, but the Apostle James says: "God cannot be

tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any

man." It is true that a knowledge of evil would

make man mortal. It is plain also that mate-

rial perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, consti-

tutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that God,

good, made "the tree of life" to be the tree of death to His

own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is un-

real because it is a lie, – false in every statement.

527:21
Genesis ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord God

[Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl

of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he

would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living

creature, that was the name thereof.

Creation's counterfeit

527:26
Here the lie represents God as repeating creation, but

doing so materially, not spiritually, and ask-

ing a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the

Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his

dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man

528:1
that dust should become sentient, when all being is the

reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares

that God has already created man, both male and

female? That Adam gave the name and nature of

animals, is solely mythological and material. It can-

not be true that man was ordered to create man anew

in partnership with God; this supposition was a dream,

a myth.

528:9
Genesis ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah]

caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and

He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead

thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God [Jehovah] had

taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto

the man.

Hypnotic surgery

528:15
Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing

a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a

surgical operation on him and thereby create

woman. This is the first record of magnet-

ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light,

– materially rather than spiritually, – error now simu-

lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar-

ing what great things error has done. Beholding the

creations of his own dream and calling them real and

God-given, Adam – alias error – gives them names.

Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the

creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them

mankind, – that is, a kind of man.

Mental midwifery

528:28
But according to this narrative, surgery was first per-

formed mentally and without instruments;

and this may be a useful hint to the medical

faculty. Later in human history, when the forbidden

529:1
fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there

came a suggestion of change in the modus operandi, –

that man should be born of woman, not woman again

taken from man. It came about, also, that instruments

were needed to assist the birth of mortals. The first

system of suggestive obstetrics has changed. Another

change will come as to the nature and origin of man,

and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence,

reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact

of creation, that both man and woman proceed from

God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser

parent.

529:13
Genesis iii. 1-3. Now the serpent was more subtle than

any beast of the field which the Lord God [Jehovah] had

made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,

Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the

woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of

the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is

in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat

of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Mythical serpent

529:21
Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the

children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the

metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the

animal kingdom which represents the species

described, – a talking serpent, – and should rejoice that

evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and

has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing

this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, be-

cause we know that they are worthless and unreal.

Error or Adam

529:30
Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of

material mind. He begins his reign over man some-

530:1
what mildly, but he increases in falsehood and his days

become shorter. In this development, the im-

mortal, spiritual law of Truth is made manifest

as forever opposed to mortal, material sense.

Divine providence

530:5
In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine

Principle of being. The earth, at God's command, brings

forth food for man's use. Knowing this, Jesus

once said, "Take no thought for your life,

what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink," – presuming

not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God,

the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe

man as He doth the lilies.

530:13
Genesis iii. 4, 5. And the serpent said unto the woman,

Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day

ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall

be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Error's assumption

530:17
This myth represents error as always asserting its su-

periority over truth, giving the lie to divine Science and

saying, through the material senses: "I can

open your eyes. I can do what God has not

done for you. Bow down to me and have another god.

Only admit that I am real, that sin and sense are more

pleasant to the eyes than spiritual Life, more to be de-

sired than Truth, and I shall know you, and you will be

mine." Thus Spirit and flesh war.

Scriptural allegory

530:26
The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream

has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the

dreamer and dream are one, for neither is

true nor real. First, this narrative supposes

that something springs from nothing, that matter pre-

cedes mind. Second, it supposes that mind enters matter,

531:1
and matter becomes living, substantial, and intelligent.

The order of this allegory – the belief that everything

springs from dust instead of from Deity – has been main-

tained in all the subsequent forms of belief. This is the

error, – that mortal man starts materially, that non‑

intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are

both right and wrong.

Higher hope

531:8
It is well that the upper portions of the brain represent

the higher moral sentiments, as if hope were ever prophe-

sying thus: The human mind will sometime

rise above all material and physical sense, ex-

changing it for spiritual perception, and exchanging hu-

man concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man

will recognize his God-given dominion and being.

Biological inventions

531:15
If, in the beginning, man's body originated in non‑

intelligent dust, and mind was afterwards put into body

by the creator, why is not this divine order

still maintained by God in perpetuating the

species? Who will say that minerals, vegetables, and

animals have a propagating property of their own?

Who dares to say either that God is in matter or that

matter exists without God? Has man sought out other

creative inventions, and so changed the method of his

Maker?

531:25
Which institutes Life, – matter or Mind? Does Life

begin with Mind or with matter? Is Life sustained by

matter or by Spirit? Certainly not by both, since flesh

wars against Spirit and the corporeal senses can take no

cognizance of Spirit. The mythologic theory of mate-

rial life at no point resembles the scientifically Christian

record of man as created by Mind in the image and like-

ness of God and having dominion over all the earth. Did

532:1
God at first create one man unaided, – that is, Adam, –

but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order

to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes

and governs all.

Progeny cursed

532:5
All human knowledge and material sense must be

gained from the five corporeal senses. Is this knowledge

safe, when eating its first fruits brought death?

"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt

surely die," was the prediction in the story under consid-

eration. Adam and his progeny were cursed, not blessed;

and this indicates that the divine Spirit, or Father, con-

demns material man and remands him to dust.

532:13
Genesis iii. 9, 10. And the Lord God [Jehovah] called

unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he

said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,

because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Shame the effect of sin

532:17
Knowledge and pleasure, evolved through material

sense, produced the immediate fruits of fear and shame.

Ashamed before Truth, error shrank abashed

from the divine voice calling out to the cor-

poreal senses. Its summons may be thus paraphrased:

"Where art thou, man? Is Mind in matter? Is Mind

capable of error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of

good, when God is All and He is Mind and there is but

one God, hence one Mind?"

Fear comes of error

532:26
Fear was the first manifestation of the error of mate-

rial sense. Thus error began and will end the dream of

matter. In the allegory the body had been

naked, and Adam knew it not; but now error

demands that mind shall see and feel through matter, the

five senses. The first impression material man had of

533:1
himself was one of nakedness and shame. Had he lost

man's rich inheritance and God's behest, dominion over

all the earth? No! This had never been bestowed on

Adam.

533:5
Genesis iii. 11, 12. And He said, Who told thee that

thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I

commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man

said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave

me of the tree, and I did eat.

The beguiling first lie

533:10
Here there is an attempt to trace all human errors

directly or indirectly to God, or good, as if He were the

creator of evil. The allegory shows that the

snake-talker utters the first voluble lie, which

beguiles the woman and demoralizes the man. Adam,

alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own

dereliction, saying, "The woman, whom Thou gavest

me, is responsible." According to this belief, the rib taken

from Adam's side has grown into an evil mind, named

woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than

he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?

533:21
Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the

rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from

Adam to form Eve. The belief in material life and in-

telligence is growing worse at every step, but error has its

suppositional day and multiplies until the end thereof.

False womanhood

533:26
Truth, cross-questioning man as to His knowledge of

error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She

says, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did

eat;" as much as to say in meek penitence,

"Neither man nor God shall father my fault." She has

already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence

534:1
she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of

man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter

enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold

at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to mani-

fest the deathless man of God's creating. This enabled

woman to be first to interpret the Scriptures in their true

sense, which reveals the spiritual origin of man.

534:8
Genesis iii. 14, 15. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said

unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and

the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall

bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Spirit and flesh

534:12
This prophecy has been fulfilled. The Son of the Virgin‑

mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error; and the

Apostle Paul explains this warfare between the

idea of divine power, which Jesus presented,

and mythological material intelligence called energy and

opposed to Spirit.

534:18
Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: "The carnal

mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the

law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that

are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the

flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell

in you."

Bruising sin's head

534:24
There will be greater mental opposition to the spirit-

ual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has

ever been since the Christian era began. The

serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of

the woman, – will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea

of Love; and the woman, this idea, will bruise the head

of lust. The spiritual idea has given the understanding

535:1
a foothold in Christian Science. The seed of Truth and

the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, – yea,

the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, – are the wheat

and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned,

the other to be garnered into heavenly places.

535:6
Genesis iii. 16. Unto the woman He said, I will greatly

multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou

shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy

husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Judgment on error

535:10
Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed ma-

terial foundations of life and intelligence. It dooms idol-

atry. A belief in other gods, other creators,

and other creations must go down before Chris-

tian Science. It unveils the results of sin as shown in

sickness and death. When will man pass through the

open gate of Christian Science into the heaven of Soul,

into the heritage of the first born among men? Truth is

indeed "the way."

535:19
Genesis iii. 17-19. And unto Adam He said, Because

thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast

eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou

shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in

sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns

also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt

eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou

eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it

wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt

thou return.

New earth and no more sea

535:29
In the first chapter of Genesis we read: "And God

called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together

536:1
of the waters called He Seas." In the Apocalypse it is

written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for

the first heaven and the first earth were passed

away; and there was no more sea." In St.

John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spir-

itual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed

human concepts advancing and receding, is represented

as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns,

is all and there is no other consciousness.

The fall of error

536:10
The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu-

sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual

gravitation and attraction to one Father, in

whom we "live, and move, and have our be-

ing," should be lost, and if man should be governed by

corporeality instead of divine Principle, by body instead

of by Soul, man would be annihilated. Created by flesh

instead of by Spirit, starting from matter instead of from

God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The

blind leading the blind, both would fall.

True attainment

536:20
Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are

"of few days, and full of trouble." Their supposed joys

are cheats. Their narrow limits belittle their gratifica-

tions, and hedge about their achievements with thorns.

Mortal mind accepts the erroneous, material concep-

tion of life and joy, but the true idea is gained from the

immortal side. Through toil, struggle, and sor-

row, what do mortals attain? They give up

their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal

and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.

536:30
Genesis iii. 22-24. And the Lord God [Jehovah] said,

Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good

537:1
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take

also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore

the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden

of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east

of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword

which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of

life.

Justice and recompense

537:9
A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-

ity or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil

has no local habitation nor name. Crea-

tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,

and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he

also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin

is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway

to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries

itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for

nothingness.

Inspired interpretation

537:19
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this

allegory – this second account in Genesis – is to depict

the falsity of error and the effects of error.

Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate

with the Science of creation recorded in the

first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the

Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets

it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear

contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which

blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is

represented as changeable. The literal meaning would

imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to

reform, lest man should improve it and become better;

but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, –

538:1
Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh

not her own."

Spiritual gateway

538:3
Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.

Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.

Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate

of understanding to note the proper guests.

Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth

gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between

Truth and error, between the material and spiritual, –

the unreal and the real.

Contrasted testimony

538:11
The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure

of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the

universe. The "tree of life" is significant of

eternal reality or being. The "tree of knowl-

edge" typifies unreality. The testimony of the serpent is

significant of the illusion of error, of the false claims that

misrepresent God, good. Sin, sickness, and death have

no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which

God creates the heavens, earth, and man. Until that

which contradicts the truth of being enters into the arena,

evil has no history, and evil is brought into view only as

the unreal in contradistinction to the real and eternal.

538:23
Genesis iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she

conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man

from the Lord [Jehovah].

Erroneous conception

538:26
This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-

tal man, and of sin which is temporal. As both mortal

man and sin have a beginning, they must

consequently have an end, while the sinless,

real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten

a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author

539:1
of sin and sin's progeny. This false sense of existence

is fratricidal. In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is

"a murderer from the beginning." Error begins by

reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the

foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality

were something which matter can both give and take

away.

Only one standard

539:8
What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life,

or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil,

matter, error, and death? God could never

impart an element of evil, and man possesses

nothing which he has not derived from God. How then

has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he

obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit

resigned to matter the government of the universe?

A type of falsehood

539:16
The Scriptures declare that God condemned this lie as

to man's origin and character by condemning its symbol,

the serpent, to grovel beneath all the beasts

of the field. It is false to say that Truth and

error commingle in creation. In parable and argument,

this falsity is exposed by our Master as self-evidently

wrong. Disputing these points with the Pharisees and

arguing for the Science of creation, Jesus said: "Do men

gather grapes of thorns?" Paul asked: "What com-

munion hath light with darkness? And what concord

hath Christ with Belial?"

Scientific offspring

539:27
The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human

power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate

the one Mind which makes and governs man

and the universe. The Science of creation,

so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus inspired his wisest

and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his

540:1
marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of

Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates

neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sick-

ness, and death.

Cleansing upheaval

540:5
In Isaiah we read: "I make peace, and create evil. I

the Lord do all these things;" but the prophet referred to

divine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its

utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re-

ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness. The

muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the

stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms

of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our igno-

rance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought

to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its

effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil

and all power to sin.

Allegiance to Spirit

540:17
Science renders "unto Caesar the things which are

Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." It

saith to the human sense of sin, sickness, and

death, "God never made you, and you are a

false sense which hath no knowledge of God." The pur-

pose of the Hebrew allegory, representing error as assum-

ing a divine character, is to teach mortals never to believe

a lie.

540:25
Genesis iv. 3, 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground

an offering unto the Lord [Jehovah]. And Abel, he also

brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.

Spiritual and material

540:28
Cain is the type of mortal and material man, conceived

in sin and "shapen in iniquity;" he is not the

type of Truth and Love. Material in origin

and sense, he brings a material offering to God. Abel

541:1
takes his offering from the firstlings of the flock. A lamb

is a more animate form of existence, and more nearly re-

sembles a mind-offering than does Cain's fruit. Jealous

of his brother's gift, Cain seeks Abel's life, instead of mak-

ing his own gift a higher tribute to the Most High.

541:6
Genesis iv. 4, 5. And the Lord [Jehovah] had respect

unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his

offering, He had not respect.

541:9
Had God more respect for the homage bestowed through

a gentle animal than for the worship expressed by Cain's

fruit? No; but the lamb was a more spiritual type of

even the human concept of Love than the herbs of the

ground could be.

541:14
Genesis iv. 8. Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and

slew him.

541:16
The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli-

gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood

of man at the very outset.

541:19
Genesis iv. 9. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Cain,

Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am

I my brother's keeper?

Brotherhood repudiated

541:22
Here the serpentine lie invents new forms. At first it

usurps divine power. It is supposed to say

in the first instance, "Ye shall be as gods."

Now it repudiates even the human duty of man towards

his brother.

541:27
Genesis iv. 10, 11. And He [Jehovah] said, . . . The

voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.

And now art thou cursed from the earth.

Murder brings its curse

542:1
The belief of life in matter sins at every step. It in-

curs divine displeasure, and it would kill Jesus that it

might be rid of troublesome Truth. Material

beliefs would slay the spiritual idea when-

ever and wherever it appears. Though error hides

behind a lie and excuses guilt, error cannot forever be

concealed. Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils

error. Truth causes sin to betray itself, and sets upon

error the mark of the beast. Even the disposition to

excuse guilt or to conceal it is punished. The avoidance

of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin,

invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine

mercy.

542:14
Genesis iv. 15. And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him

Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken

on him sevenfold. And the Lord [Jehovah] set a mark

upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Retribution and remorse

542:18
"They that take the sword shall perish with the

sword." Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God's

own way, and let human justice pattern the

divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both

for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks

the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the

waymarks of God. To envy's own hell, justice con-

signs the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God's

commandments.

542:27
Genesis iv. 16. And Cain went out from the presence of

the Lord [Jehovah], and dwelt in the land of Nod.

Climax of suffering

542:29
The sinful misconception of Life as something less

543:1
than God, having no truth to support it, falls back upon

itself. This error, after reaching the climax of suffering,

yields to Truth and returns to dust; but it

is only mortal man and not the real man,

who dies. The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it

is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more

beautifully apparent at error's demise.

Dwelling in dreamland

543:8
In divine Science, the material man is shut out from

the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot

take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come

into His presence, and must dwell in dream‑

land, until mortals arrive at the understanding that ma-

terial life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illu-

sion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare

of extermination. The great verities of existence are

never excluded by falsity.

Man springs from Mind

543:17
All error proceeds from the evidence before the mate-

rial senses. If man is material and originates in an

egg, who shall say that he is not primarily

dust? May not Darwin be right in think-

ing that apehood preceded mortal manhood? Minerals

and vegetables are found, according to divine Science,

to be the creations of erroneous thought, not of matter.

Did man, whom God created with a word, originate

in an egg? When Spirit made all, did it leave aught

for matter to create? Ideas of Truth alone are reflected

in the myriad manifestations of Life, and thus it is

seen that man springs solely from Mind. The belief

that matter supports life would make Life, or God,

mortal.

Material inception

543:31
The text, "In the day that the Lord God [Jehovah

God] made the earth and the heavens," introduces the

544:1
record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,

– a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit

had no participation in it. In God's creation

ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.

There was no rain and "not a man to till the ground."

Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was

self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the

material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in

the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man

eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that

man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the

infinite Mind.

First evil suggestion

544:13
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does

matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might

or right or wisdom to create or to destroy.

All is under the control of the one Mind,

even God. The first statement about evil, – the first

suggestion of more than the one Mind, – is in the fable

of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously re-

corded, include nothing of the kind.

Material personality

544:21
The serpent is supposed to say, "Ye shall be as gods,"

but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be

the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual

being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a

material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man,

in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and

likeness of the one God.

544:28
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and

truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called

mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man's nostrils

so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with

corporeality as the producer instead of divine Prin-

545:1
ciple, and explains Deity through mortal and finite con-

ceptions.

545:3
"Behold, the man is become as one of us." This could

not be the utterance of Truth or Science, for according

to the record, material man was fast degenerating and

never had been divinely conceived.

Mental tillage

545:7
The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means

this, – that mortals should so improve material belief

by thought tending spiritually upward as to

destroy materiality. Man, created by God,

was given dominion over the whole earth. The notion

of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory

of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors

send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions,

and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the

whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a

false view, destructive to existence and happiness. Out-

side of Christian Science all is vague and hypothetical, the

opposite of Truth; yet this opposite, in its false view of

God and man, impudently demands a blessing.

Erroneous standpoint

545:21
The translators of this record of scientific creation

entertained a false sense of being. They believed in

the existence of matter, its propagation and

power. From that standpoint of error, they

could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit.

Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which

is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has

but one reply to all error, – to sin, sickness, and death:

"Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness]

shalt thou return."

Mortality mythical

545:31
"As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth]

shall all be made alive." The mortality of man is a

546:1
myth, for man is immortal. The false belief that spirit is

now submerged in matter, at some future time to be eman-

cipated from it, – this belief alone is mortal.

Spirit, God, never germinates, but is "the same

yesterday, and to-day, and forever." If Mind, God, cre-

ates error, that error must exist in the divine Mind, and

this assumption of error would dethrone the perfection

of Deity.

No truth from a material basis

546:9
Is Christian Science contradictory? Is the divine

Principle of creation misstated? Has God no Science to

declare Mind, while matter is governed by un-

erring intelligence? "There went up a mist

from the earth." This represents error as

starting from an idea of good on a material basis. It

supposes God and man to be manifested only through

the corporeal senses, although the material senses can

take no cognizance of Spirit or the spiritual idea.

Genesis and the Apocalypse seem more obscure than

other portions of the Scripture, because they cannot

possibly be interpreted from a material standpoint. To

the author, they are transparent, for they contain the deep

divinity of the Bible.

Dawning of spiritual facts

546:23
Christian Science is dawning upon a material age.

The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine

in the darkness, though the darkness, com-

prehending them not, may deny their reality.

The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris-

tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom-

plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle

which all may understand.

Proof given in healing

546:31
If mathematics should present a thousand different

examples of one rule, the proving of one example would

547:1
authenticate all the others. A simple statement of Chris-

tian Science, if demonstrated by healing, contains the

proof of all here said of Christian Science. If

one of the statements in this book is true, every

one must be true, for not one departs from the stated sys-

tem and rule. You can prove for yourself, dear reader,

the Science of healing, and so ascertain if the author has

given you the correct interpretation of Scripture.

Embryonic evolution

547:9
The late Louis Agassiz, by his microscopic examination

of a vulture's ovum, strengthens the thinker's conclusions

as to the scientific theory of creation. Agassiz

was able to see in the egg the earth's atmos-

phere, the gathering clouds, the moon and stars, while the

germinating speck of so-called embryonic life seemed a

small sun. In its history of mortality, Darwin's theory

of evolution from a material basis is more consistent than

most theories. Briefly, this is Darwin's theory, – that

Mind produces its opposite, matter, and endues matter

with power to recreate the universe, including man. Ma-

terial evolution implies that the great First Cause must

become material, and afterwards must either return to

Mind or go down into dust and nothingness.

True theory of the universe

547:23
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to

have them understood spiritually, for only by this under-

standing can truth be gained. The true the-

ory of the universe, including man, is not in

material history but in spiritual development.

Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and

mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and

immortal.

Scriptural perception

547:31
It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts

humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.

548:1
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come! . . . and whoso-

ever will, let him take the water of life freely." Christian

Science separates error from truth, and breathes

through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of

life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we dis-

cover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that

man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal

harmony.

The clouds dissolving

548:9
How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds

cover the sun's face! So Christian Science can be seen

only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away.

Earth has little light or joy for mortals before

Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error

helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension

of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on

hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true

ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.

Prediction of a naturalist

548:18
Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist

says: "It is very possible that many general statements

now current, about birth and generation, will

be changed with the progress of information."

Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained

the diviner side in Christian Science, – so far apart from

his material sense of animal growth and organization, –

he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.

Methods of reproduction

548:26
Natural history is richly endowed by the labors and

genius of great men. Modern discoveries have brought

to light important facts in regard to so-called

embryonic life. Agassiz declares ("Methods

of Study in Natural History,") "Certain ani-

mals, besides the ordinary process of generation, also

increase their numbers naturally and constantly by self‑

549:1
division." This discovery is corroborative of the Science

of Mind, for this discovery shows that the multiplication

of certain animals takes place apart from sexual condi-

tions. The supposition that life germinates in eggs and

must decay after it has grown to maturity, if not before,

is shown by divine metaphysics to be a mistake, – a

blunder which will finally give place to higher theories

and demonstrations.

The three processes

549:9
Creatures of lower forms of organism are supposed

to have, as classes, three different methods of reproduc-

tion and to multiply their species sometimes

through eggs, sometimes through buds, and

sometimes through self-division. According to recent

lore, successive generations do not begin with the birth of

new individuals, or personalities, but with the formation

of the nucleus, or egg, from which one or more individu-

alities subsequently emerge; and we must therefore look

upon the simple ovum as the germ, the starting-point, of

the most complicated corporeal structures, including those

which we call human. Here these material researches

culminate in such vague hypotheses as must necessarily

attend false systems, which rely upon physics and are de-

void of metaphysics.

Deference to material law

549:24
In one instance a celebrated naturalist, Agassiz, dis-

covers the pathway leading to divine Science, and beards

the lion of materialism in its den. At that

point, however, even this great observer mis-

takes nature, forsakes Spirit as the divine origin of

creative Truth, and allows matter and material law to

usurp the prerogatives of omnipotence. He absolutely

drops from his summit, coming down to a belief in the

material origin of man, for he virtually affirms that

550:1
the germ of humanity is in a circumscribed and non‑

intelligent egg.

Deep-reaching interrogations

550:3
If this be so, whence cometh Life, or Mind, to the

human race? Matter surely does not possess Mind.

God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms

and preserves the individuality and identity

of animals as well as of men. God cannot

become finite, and be limited within material bounds.

Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed

through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate

what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it be-

gins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being

and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it

will hereafter.

Stages of existence

550:15
Error of thought is reflected in error of action. The

continual contemplation of existence as material and cor-

poreal – as beginning and ending, and with

birth, decay, and dissolution as its component

stages – hides the true and spiritual Life, and causes

our standard to trail in the dust. If Life has any starting‑

point whatsoever, then the great I AM is a myth. If Life

is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embry-

onic, it is infinite. An egg is an impossible enclosure for

Deity.

550:25
Embryology supplies no instance of one species pro-

ducing its opposite. A serpent never begets a bird, nor

does a lion bring forth a lamb. Amalgamation is deemed

monstrous and is seldom fruitful, but it is not so hideous

and absurd as the supposition that Spirit – the pure and

holy, the immutable and immortal – can originate the

impure and mortal and dwell in it. As Christian Science

repudiates self-evident impossibilities, the material senses

551:1
must father these absurdities, for both the material senses

and their reports are unnatural, impossible, and unreal.

The real producer

551:3
Either Mind produces, or it is produced. If Mind is

first, it cannot produce its opposite in quality and quantity,

called matter. If matter is first, it cannot pro-

duce Mind. Like produces like. In natural

history, the bird is not the product of a beast. In spiritual

history, matter is not the progenitor of Mind.

The ascent of species

551:9
One distinguished naturalist argues that mortals spring

from eggs and in races. Mr. Darwin admits this, but he

adds that mankind has ascended through all

the lower grades of existence. Evolution de-

scribes the gradations of human belief, but it does not

acknowledge the method of divine Mind, nor see that ma-

terial methods are impossible in divine Science and that

all Science is of God, not of man.

Transmitted peculiarities

551:17
Naturalists ask: "What can there be, of a material

nature, transmitted through these bodies called eggs, –

themselves composed of the simplest material

elements, – by which all peculiarities of an-

cestry, belonging to either sex, are brought down from

generation to generation?" The question of the natu-

ralist amounts to this: How can matter originate or trans-

mit mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and

doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases creation on

materiality. From a material standpoint, "Canst thou

by searching find out God?" All must be Mind, or

else all must be matter. Neither can produce the other.

Mind is immortal; but error declares that the material

seed must decay in order to propagate its species, and

the resulting germ is doomed to the same routine.

Causation not in matter

551:32
The ancient and hypothetical question, Which is first,

552:1
the egg or the bird? is answered, if the egg produces the

parent. But we cannot stop here. Another question

follows: Who or what produces the parent of

the egg? That the earth was hatched from the

"egg of night" was once an accepted theory. Heathen

philosophy, modern geology, and all other material hy-

potheses deal with causation as contingent on matter

and as necessarily apparent to the corporeal senses, even

where the proof requisite to sustain this assumption is un-

discovered. Mortal theories make friends of sin, sickness,

and death; whereas the spiritual scientific facts of exist-

ence include no member of this dolorous and fatal triad.

Emergence of mortals

552:13
Human experience in mortal life, which starts from an

egg, corresponds with that of Job, when he says, "Man

that is born of a woman is of few days, and

full of trouble." Mortals must emerge from

this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck

open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward

and upward. But thought, loosened from a material

basis but not yet instructed by Science, may become wild

with freedom and so be self-contradictory.

Persistence of species

552:22
From a material source flows no remedy for sorrow,

sin, and death, for the redeeming power, from the ills

they occasion, is not in egg nor in dust. The

blending tints of leaf and flower show the

order of matter to be the order of mortal mind. The

intermixture of different species, urged to its utmost

limits, results in a return to the original species. Thus

it is learned that matter is a manifestation of mortal

mind, and that matter always surrenders its claims when

the perfect and eternal Mind is understood.

Better basis than embryology

552:32
Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material

553:1
existence in the various forms of embryology, and ac-

company their descriptions with important observations,

which should awaken thought to a higher and

purer contemplation of man's origin. This

clearer consciousness must precede an under-

standing of the harmony of being. Mortal thought must

obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or

health will never be universal, and harmony will never

become the standard of man.

553:10
One of our ablest naturalists has said: "We have no

right to assume that individuals have grown or been

formed under circumstances which made material con-

ditions essential to their maintenance and reproduction,

or important to their origin and first introduction."

Why, then, is the naturalist's basis so materialistic,

and why are his deductions generally material?

All nativity in thought

553:17
Adam was created before Eve. In this instance, it is

seen that the maternal egg never brought forth Adam.

Eve was formed from Adam's rib, not from a

foetal ovum. Whatever theory may be adopted

by general mortal thought to account for human origin,

that theory is sure to become the signal for the appear-

ance of its method in finite forms and operations. If con-

sentaneous human belief agrees upon an ovum as the

point of emergence for the human race, this potent belief

will immediately supersede the more ancient supersti-

tion about the creation from dust or from the rib of our

primeval father.

Being is immortal

553:29
You may say that mortals are formed before they

think or know aught of their origin, and you

may also ask how belief can affect a result

which precedes the development of that belief. It can

554:1
only be replied, that Christian Science reveals what "eye

hath not seen," – even the cause of all that exists, – for

the universe, inclusive of man, is as eternal as God, who

is its divine immortal Principle. There is no such thing

as mortality, nor are there properly any mortal beings,

because being is immortal, like Deity, – or, rather, being

and Deity are inseparable.

Our conscious development

554:8
Error is always error. It is no thing. Any statement

of life, following from a misconception of life, is errone-

ous, because it is destitute of any knowledge

of the so-called selfhood of life, destitute of

any knowledge of its origin or existence. The mortal

is unconscious of his foetal and infantile existence; but

as he grows up into another false claim, that of self-con-

scious matter, he learns to say, "I am somebody; but

who made me?" Error replies, "God made you." The

first effort of error has been and is to impute to God the

creation of whatever is sinful and mortal; but infinite

Mind sets at naught such a mistaken belief.

Mendacity of error

554:20
Jesus defined this opposite of God and His creation

better than we can, when he said, "He is a liar, and the

father of it." Jesus also said, "Have not I

chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

This he said of Judas, one of Adam's race. Jesus never

intimated that God made a devil, but he did say, "Ye

are of your father, the devil." All these sayings were to

show that mind in matter is the author of itself, and is

simply a falsity and illusion.

Ailments of animals

554:29
It is the general belief that the lower animals are less

sickly than those possessing higher organiza-

tions, especially those of the human form.

This would indicate that there is less disease in propor-

555:1
tion as the force of mortal mind is less pungent or sensi-

tive, and that health attends the absence of mortal mind.

A fair conclusion from this might be, that it is the human

belief, and not the divine arbitrament, which brings the

physical organism under the yoke of disease.

Ignorance the sign of error

555:6
An inquirer once said to the discoverer of Christian

Science: "I like your explanations of truth, but I do

not comprehend what you say about error."

This is the nature of error. The mark of igno-

rance is on its forehead, for it neither understands nor

can be understood. Error would have itself received as

mind, as if it were as real and God-created as truth; but

Christian Science attributes to error neither entity nor

power, because error is neither mind nor the outcome of

Mind.

The origin of divinity

555:16
Searching for the origin of man, who is the reflection

of God, is like inquiring into the origin of God, the self‑

existent and eternal. Only impotent error

would seek to unite Spirit with matter, good

with evil, immortality with mortality, and call this

sham unity man, as if man were the offspring of both

Mind and matter, of both Deity and humanity. Crea-

tion rests on a spiritual basis. We lose our standard of

perfection and set aside the proper conception of Deity,

when we admit that the perfect is the author of aught

that can become imperfect, that God bestows the power

to sin, or that Truth confers the ability to err. Our

great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized

manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in

death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus

was able to present himself unchanged after the cruci-

fixion. Truth fosters the idea of Truth, and not the be-

556:1
lief in illusion or error. That which is real, is sustained

by Spirit.

Genera classified

556:3
Vertebrata, articulata, mollusca, and radiata are mor-

tal and material concepts classified, and are supposed to

possess life and mind. These false beliefs

will disappear, when the radiation of Spirit

destroys forever all belief in intelligent matter. Then

will the new heaven and new earth appear, for the for-

mer things will have passed away.

The Christian's privilege

556:10
Mortal belief infolds the conditions of sin. Mortal

belief dies to live again in renewed forms, only to go out

at last forever; for life everlasting is not to be

gained by dying. Christian Science may ab-

sorb the attention of sage and philosopher, but

the Christian alone can fathom it. It is made known

most fully to him who understands best the divine Life.

Did the origin and the enlightenment of the race come

from the deep sleep which fell upon Adam? Sleep is

darkness, but God's creative mandate was, "Let there be

light." In sleep, cause and effect are mere illusions.

They seem to be something, but are not. Oblivion and

dreams, not realities, come with sleep. Even so goes on

the Adam-belief, of which mortal and material life is the

dream.

Ontology versus physiology

556:25
Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?

Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual

life before it cares to solve the problem of

being, hence the author's experience; but when

that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand-

point.

556:31
It is related that a father plunged his infant babe, only

a few hours old, into the water for several minutes, and

557:1
repeated this operation daily, until the child could remain

under water twenty minutes, moving and playing with-

out harm, like a fish. Parents should remember this

and learn how to develop their children properly on dry

land.

The curse removed

557:6
Mind controls the birth-throes in the lower realms of

nature, where parturition is without suffering. Vege-

tables, minerals, and many animals suffer no

pain in multiplying; but human propagation

has its suffering because it is a false belief. Christian Sci-

ence reveals harmony as proportionately increasing as the

line of creation rises towards spiritual man, – towards

enlarged understanding and intelligence; but in the line

of the corporeal senses, the less a mortal knows of sin,

disease, and mortality, the better for him, – the less pain

and sorrow are his. When the mist of mortal mind evap-

orates, the curse will be removed which says to woman,

"In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." Divine

Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of

Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as

never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.

557:22
Popular theology takes up the history of man as if he

began materially right, but immediately fell into mental

sin; whereas revealed religion proclaims the Science of

Mind and its formations as being in accordance with

the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind,

spake and it was done.

Chapter XVI

The Apocalypse

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this proph-

ecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at

hand. – REVELATION.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,

in the mountain of His holiness. – PSALMS.

558:1
ST. JOHN writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of

Revelation: –

558:3
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,

clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and

his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of

fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he

set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the

earth.

The new Evangel

558:9
This angel or message which comes from God, clothed

with a cloud, prefigures divine Science. To mortal sense

Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and

dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow.

When understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When

you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means,

and it has for you a light above the sun, for God "is the

light thereof." Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations

of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy

Ghost, whose flames of Truth were prophetically de-

scribed by John the Baptist as consuming error.

Truth's volume

559:1
This angel had in his hand "a little book," open for

all to read and understand. Did this same book contain

the revelation of divine Science, the "right

foot" or dominant power of which was upon

the sea, – upon elementary, latent error, the source of

all error's visible forms? The angel's left foot was upon

the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon

visible error and audible sin. The "still, small voice"

of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean

to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of

Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth."

It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It

arouses the "seven thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent

forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is

the power of Truth demonstrated, – made manifest in

the destruction of error. Then will a voice from harmony

cry: "Go and take the little book. . . . Take it, and eat

it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in

thy mouth sweet as honey." Mortals, obey the heavenly

evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from

beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed

sweet at its first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not

over Truth, if you find its digestion bitter. When you

approach nearer and nearer to this divine Principle, when

you eat the divine body of this Principle, – thus partak-

ing of the nature, or primal elements, of Truth and Love,

– do not be surprised nor discontented because you must

share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs; for the

Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus prefigured this

perilous passage out of bondage into the El Dorado of faith

and hope.

To-day's lesson

559:32
The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, or Revela-

560:1
tion of St. John, has a special suggestiveness in connec-

tion with the nineteenth century. In the opening of the

sixth seal, typical of six thousand years since

Adam, the distinctive feature has reference

to the present age.

560:6
Revelation xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in

heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon

under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve

stars.

True estimate of God's messenger

560:10
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science inter-

prets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great

miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and

the grand necessity of existence is to gain the

true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of

heaven in man. This goal is never reached while we

hate our neighbor or entertain a false estimate of any-

one whom God has appointed to voice His Word. Again,

without a correct sense of its highest visible idea, we can

never understand the divine Principle. The botanist must

know the genus and species of a plant in order to classify

it correctly. As it is with things, so is it with persons.

Persecution harmful

560:22
Abuse of the motives and religion of St. Paul hid from

view the apostle's character, which made him equal to

his great mission. Persecution of all who have

spoken something new and better of God has

not only obscured the light of the ages, but has been fatal

to the persecutors. Why? Because it has hid from

them the true idea which has been presented. To mis-

understand Paul, was to be ignorant of the divine idea he

taught. Ignorance of the divine idea betrays at once a

greater ignorance of the divine Principle of the idea – igno-

561:1
rance of Truth and Love. The understanding of Truth

and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal

good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice of

evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.

Espousals supernal

561:5
Agassiz, through his microscope, saw the sun in an

egg at a point of so-called embryonic life. Because of

his more spiritual vision, St. John saw an

"angel standing in the sun." The Revelator

beheld the spiritual idea from the mount of vision.

Purity was the symbol of Life and Love. The Revelator

saw also the spiritual ideal as a woman clothed in light, a

bride coming down from heaven, wedded to the Lamb

of Love. To John, "the bride" and "the Lamb" repre-

sented the correlation of divine Principle and spiritual idea,

God and His Christ, bringing harmony to earth.

Divinity and humanity

561:16
John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in

the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life

and its demonstration, – reducing to human

perception and understanding the Life which

is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal self‑

hood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood.

Spiritual sunlight

561:22
The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man,

the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence

of God and man as the divine Principle and

divine idea. The Revelator symbolizes Spirit

by the sun. The spiritual idea is clad with the radiance

of spiritual Truth, and matter is put under her feet. The

light portrayed is really neither solar nor lunar, but spirit-

ual Life, which is "the light of men." In the first chapter

of the Fourth Gospel it is written, "There was a man sent

from God . . . to bear witness of that Light."

Spiritual idea revealed

561:32
John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the im-

562:1
maculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual

idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy

Ghost, – divine Science. As Elias presented

the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus

afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this

figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's

motherhood. The moon is under her feet. This idea

reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit,

from which the universe borrows its reflected light, sub-

stance, life, and intelligence.

Spiritual idea crowned

562:11
The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The

twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, – separated by

belief from man's divine origin and the true

idea, – will through much tribulation yield to

the activities of the divine Principle of man in the har-

mony of Science. These are the stars in the crown of

rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens

of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea

by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting

the light which shines "unto the perfect day" as the night

of materialism wanes.

562:22
Revelation xii. 2. And she being with child cried, travail-

ing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Travail and joy

562:24
Also the spiritual idea is typified by a woman in tra-

vail, waiting to be delivered of her sweet promise, but re-

membering no more her sorrow for joy that

the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and the

travail portentous.

562:29
Revelation xii. 3. And there appeared another wonder in

heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads

and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

The dragon as a type

563:1
Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a

diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord the unreal.

We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, and

death. We may well be perplexed at human

fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts

its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions

of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?

The great red dragon symbolizes a lie, – the belief

that substance, life, and intelligence can be material.

This dragon stands for the sum total of human error.

The ten horns of the dragon typify the belief that mat-

ter has power of its own, and that by means of an

evil mind in matter the Ten Commandments can be

broken.

The sting of the serpent

563:15
The Revelator lifts the veil from this embodiment of

all evil, and beholds its awful character; but he also

sees the nothingness of evil and the allness of

God. The Revelator sees that old serpent,

whose name is devil or evil, holding untiring watch, that

he may bite the heel of truth and seemingly impede the

offspring of the spiritual idea, which is prolific in health,

holiness, and immortality.

563:23
Revelation xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the

stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the

dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be

delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Animal tendency

563:27
The serpentine form stands for subtlety, winding its

way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good.

Its sting is spoken of by Paul, when he refers

to "spiritual wickedness in high places." It

is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel

564:1
them to devour each other and cast out devils through

Beelzebub.

564:3
As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error's

own nature and methods. This malicious animal in-

stinct, of which the dragon is the type, incites mortals to

kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals, and

worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime. This

last infirmity of sin will sink its perpetrator into a night

without a star.

Malicious barbarity

564:10
The author is convinced that the accusations against

Jesus of Nazareth and even his crucifixion were instigated

by the criminal instinct here described. The

Revelator speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God

and of the dragon as warring against innocence. Since Jesus

must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate,

met and conquered sin in every form. The brutal bar-

barity of his foes could emanate from no source except the

highest degree of human depravity. Jesus "opened not

his mouth." Until the majesty of Truth should be demon-

strated in divine Science, the spiritual idea was arraigned

before the tribunal of so-called mortal mind, which was

unloosed in order that the false claim of mind in matter

might uncover its own crime of defying immortal Mind.

Doom of the dragon

564:24
From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and

death, envy, hatred, and revenge, – all evil, – are typi-

fied by a serpent, or animal subtlety. Jesus

said, quoting a line from the Psalms, "They

hated me without a cause." The serpent is perpetually

close upon the heel of harmony. From the beginning

to the end, the serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual

idea. In Genesis, this allegorical, talking serpent typi-

fies mortal mind, "more subtle than any beast of the

565:1
field." In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this

evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen

with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe

for destruction. It is full of lust and hate, loathing the

brightness of divine glory.

565:6
Revelation xii. 5. And she brought forth a man child,

who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her

child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.

The conflict with purity

565:9
Led on by the grossest element of mortal mind, Herod

decreed the death of every male child in order that the

man Jesus, the masculine representative of the

spiritual idea might never hold sway and de-

prive Herod of his crown. The impersonation of the

spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our

Master; but "of his kingdom there shall be no end,"

for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations

and peoples – imperatively, absolutely, finally – with di-

vine Science. This immaculate idea, represented first

by man and, according to the Revelator, last by woman,

will baptize with fire; and the fiery baptism will burn up

the chaff of error with the fervent heat of Truth and Love,

melting and purifying even the gold of human character.

After the stars sang together and all was primeval har-

mony, the material lie made war upon the spiritual idea;

but this only impelled the idea to rise to the zenith of

demonstration, destroying sin, sickness, and death, and

to be caught up unto God, – to be found in its divine

Principle.

565:29
Revelation xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilder-

ness, where she hath a place prepared of God.

Spiritual guidance

566:1
As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly

through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides

of human fear, – as they were led through the

wilderness, walking wearily through the great

desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised

joy, – so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires

in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense

of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for

them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but

moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire

by night, leading to divine heights.

566:12
If we remember the beautiful description which Sir

Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the Jewess

in the story of Ivanhoe, –

566:15
When Israel, of the Lord beloved,

Out of the land of bondage came,

Her fathers' God before her moved,

An awful guide, in smoke and flame, –

566:19
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same

hymn, –

566:21
And oh, when stoops on Judah's path

In shade and storm the frequent night,

Be Thou, longsuffering, slow to wrath,

A burning and a shining light!

566:25
Revelation xii. 7, 8. And there was war in heaven:

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the

dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither

was their place found any more in heaven.

Angelic offices

566:29
The Old Testament assigns to the angels, God's divine

messages, different offices. Michael's charac-

teristic is spiritual strength. He leads the

hosts of heaven against the power of sin, Satan, and

567:1
fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task

of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering

Love. These angels deliver us from the depths. Truth

and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong

faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails through

the understanding of God. The Gabriel of His presence

has no contests. To infinite, ever-present Love, all is

Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death.

Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for he is

killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail

against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with

them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and

Spirit.

567:14
Revelation xii. 9. And the great dragon was cast out,

that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiv-

eth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his

angels were cast out with him.

Dragon cast down to earth

567:18
That false claim – that ancient belief, that old serpent

whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there is intelli-

gence in matter either to benefit or to injure

men – is pure delusion, the red dragon; and

it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual

idea, and so proved to be powerless. The words "cast

unto the earth" show the dragon to be nothingness, dust

to dust; and therefore, in his pretence of being a talker,

he must be a lie from the beginning. His angels, or mes-

sages, are cast out with their author. The beast and the

false prophets are lust and hypocrisy. These wolves in

sheep's clothing are detected and killed by innocence, the

Lamb of Love.

Warfare with error

567:31
Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the wolf.

568:1
Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error. Ever

since the foundation of the world, ever since error would

establish material belief, evil has tried to slay

the Lamb; but Science is able to destroy this

lie, called evil. The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse

typifies the divine method of warfare in Science, and the

glorious results of this warfare. The following chapters

depict the fatal effects of trying to meet error with error.

The narrative follows the order used in Genesis. In

Genesis, first the true method of creation is set forth and

then the false. Here, also, the Revelator first exhibits

the true warfare and then the false.

568:13
Revelation xii. 10 – 12. And I heard a loud voice saying

in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the

kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the

accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them

before our God day and night. And they overcame him by

the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;

and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore

rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the

inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is

come down unto you, having great wrath, because he

knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Paean of jubilee

568:24
For victory over a single sin, we give thanks and mag-

nify the Lord of Hosts. What shall we say of the mighty

conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter

than has ever before reached high heaven,

now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ;

for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her

primal and everlasting strain. Self-abnegation, by which

we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against

error, is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly

569:1
interprets God as divine Principle, – as Life, represented

by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love,

represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period,

here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the

mortal belief in a power opposed to God.

The robe of Science

569:6
The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few

things, I will make thee ruler over many," is literally ful-

filled, when we are conscious of the supremacy

of Truth, by which the nothingness of error

is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error is in

proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the hem

of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality,

and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, – in a sweet

and certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those who

break faith with divine Science and fail to strangle the

serpent of sin as well as of sickness! They are dwellers

still in the deep darkness of belief. They are in the surg-

ing sea of error, not struggling to lift their heads above the

drowning wave.

Expiation by suffering

569:20
What must the end be? They must eventually expi-

ate their sin through suffering. The sin, which one has

made his bosom companion, comes back to him

at last with accelerated force, for the devil

knoweth his time is short. Here the Scriptures declare

that evil is temporal, not eternal. The dragon is at last

stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods

of torture it may take to remove all sin, must depend upon

sin's obduracy.

569:29
Revelation xii. 13. And when the dragon saw that he

was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which

brought forth the man child.

Apathy to occultism

570:1
The march of mind and of honest investigation will

bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of

some sort, the growing occultism of this period.

The present apathy as to the tendency of

certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be

shocked into another extreme mortal mood, – into human

indignation; for one extreme follows another.

570:8
Revelation xii. 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his

mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might

cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth

helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and

swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his

mouth.

Receptive hearts

570:14
Millions of unprejudiced minds – simple seekers for

Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert – are wait-

ing and watching for rest and drink. Give

them a cup of cold water in Christ's name,

and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon

should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea?

He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again

sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night.

In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual

idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing

you impart will give thanks. The waters will be paci-

fied, and Christ will command the wave.

Hidden ways of iniquity

570:26
When God heals the sick or the sinning, they should

know the great benefit which Mind has wrought. They

should also know the great delusion of mor-

tal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful.

Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the

power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are

571:1
not so willing to point out the evil in human thought,

and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing

iniquity.

Christly warning

571:4
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary

to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like

you better when you tell them their virtues

than when you tell them their vices. It re-

quires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his

faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake of doing

right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind

of the foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees the

foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and

designate those as unfaithful stewards who have seen the

danger and yet have given no warning.

The armor of divinity

571:15
At all times and under all circumstances, overcome

evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply

the wisdom and the occasion for a victory

over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love,

human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a

higher humanity will unite all interests in the one

divinity.

Pure religion enthroned

571:22
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal

scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes the

mirror in which mortals may see their own

image. In significant figures he depicts the

thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he

rebukes the conceit of sin, and foreshadows its doom.

With his spiritual strength, he has opened wide the gates

of glory, and illumined the night of paganism with the

sublime grandeur of divine Science, outshining sin, sorcery,

lust, and hypocrisy. He takes away mitre and sceptre.

He enthrones pure and undefiled religion, and lifts on

572:1
high only those who have washed their robes white in

obedience and suffering.

Native nothingness of sin

572:3
Thus we see, in both the first and last books of the

Bible, – in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, – that sin

is to be Christianly and scientifically reduced

to its native nothingness. "Love one an-

other" (I John, iii. 23), is the most simple and profound

counsel of the inspired writer. In Science we are chil-

dren of God; but whatever is of material sense, or mor-

tal, belongs not to His children, for materiality is the

inverted image of spirituality.

Fulfilment of the Law

572:12
Love fulfils the law of Christian Science, and nothing

short of this divine Principle, understood and demon-

strated, can ever furnish the vision of the

Apocalypse, open the seven seals of error with

Truth, or uncover the myriad illusions of sin, sickness,

and death. Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will be seen

and acknowledged that matter must disappear.

572:19
In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: –

572:20
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first

heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was

no more sea.

Man's present possibilities

572:23
The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional

stage in human experience called death, but he already

saw a new heaven and a new earth. Through

what sense came this vision to St. John? Not

through the material visual organs for seeing, for optics

are inadequate to take in so wonderful a scene. Were this

new heaven and new earth terrestrial or celestial, mate-

573:1
rial or spiritual? They could not be the former, for the

human sense of space is unable to grasp such a view.

The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while yet

beholding what the eye cannot see, – that which is in-

visible to the uninspired thought. This testimony of Holy

Writ sustains the fact in Science, that the heavens and

earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness

which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the

unillumined human mind, the vision is material. This

shows unmistakably that what the human mind terms

matter and spirit indicates states and stages of con-

sciousness.

Nearness of Deity

573:13
Accompanying this scientific consciousness was an-

other revelation, even the declaration from heaven, su-

preme harmony, that God, the divine Principle

of harmony, is ever with men, and they are

His people. Thus man was no longer regarded as a mis-

erable sinner, but as the blessed child of God. Why?

Because St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and

earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was

the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could

see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the

spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scrip-

tural authority for concluding that such a recognition of

being is, and has been, possible to men in this present

state of existence, – that we can become conscious,

here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain.

This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science.

Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will

surely appear sometime and in some way. There will

be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When

you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of

574:1
God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is

therefore a present possibility.

574:3
The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to

console the weary pilgrim, journeying "uphill all the way."

574:5
He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: –

574:6
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which

had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked

with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,

the Lamb's wife.

Vials of wrath and consolation

574:10
This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love,

carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till he be-

came conscious of the spiritual facts of being

and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from

God, out of heaven," – the spiritual outpour-

ing of bliss and glory, which he describes as the city

which "lieth foursquare." The beauty of this text is,

that the sum total of human misery, represented by

the seven angelic vials full of seven plagues, has full

compensation in the law of Love. Note this, – that the

very message, or swift-winged thought, which poured

forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience

which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the

four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and

heaven-bestowing.

Spiritual wedlock

574:25
Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-

cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-

winged dove descending upon you. The very

circumstance, which your suffering sense

deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel

entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers:

575:1
"Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness

into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb's

wife, – Love wedded to its own spiritual idea." Then

cometh the marriage feast, for this revelation will de-

stroy forever the physical plagues imposed by material

sense.

The city foursquare

575:7
This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16)

as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down from

God, out of heaven," represents the light and

glory of divine Science. The builder and

maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in the

book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which hath founda-

tions." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teach-

ing must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate

the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodi-

gal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of

the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The

four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity,

and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall not be shut

at all by day: for there shall be no night there." This

city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.

The royally divine gates

575:22
As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the

joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of

the north, the city of the great King." It is

indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and

square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star,

the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward,

to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who fol-

lowed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the

genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the skies,

– the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society

into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization

576:1
of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of

Harmony.

Revelation's pure zenith

576:3
This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteous-

ness, – this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which to

us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, –

reached St. John's vision while yet he taber-

nacled with mortals.

576:8
In Revelation xxi. 22, further describing this holy city,

the beloved Disciple writes: –

576:10
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty

and the Lamb are the temple of it.

The shrine celestial

576:12
There was no temple, – that is, no material structure

in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped

in spirit and in love. The word temple also

means body. The Revelator was familiar

with Jesus' use of this word, as when Jesus spoke of his

material body as the temple to be temporarily rebuilt

(John ii. 21). What further indication need we of the

real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw

heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"?

This kingdom of God "is within you," – is within

reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual

idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this

recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his

understanding of God.

Divine sense of Deity

576:26
The term Lord, as used in our version of the Old

Testament, is often synonymous with Jehovah, and ex-

presses the Jewish concept, not yet elevated

to deific apprehension through spiritual trans-

figuration. Yet the word gradually approaches a higher

meaning. This human sense of Deity yields to the divine

577:1
sense, even as the material sense of personality yields

to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite

Principle and infinite idea, – as one Father with His uni-

versal family, held in the gospel of Love. The Lamb's

wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer

two wedded individuals, but as two individual natures

in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality re-

flects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being.

In this divinely united spiritual consciousness, there is no

impediment to eternal bliss, – to the perfectibility of

God's creation.

The city of our God

577:12
This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary

nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the

Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second,

the Christ, the spiritual idea of God; third,

Christianity, which is the outcome of the divine Prin-

ciple of the Christ-idea in Christian history; fourth,

Christian Science, which to-day and forever interprets

this great example and the great Exemplar. This city

of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for Love

is the light of it, and divine Mind is its own interpreter.

All who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty

potentates and dynasties will lay down their honors

within the heavenly city. Its gates open towards light

and glory both within and without, for all is good, and

nothing can enter that city, which "defileth. . . . or

maketh a lie."

577:28
The writer's present feeble sense of Christian Science

closes with St. John's Revelation as recorded by the

great apostle, for his vision is the acme of this Science

as the Bible reveals it.

577:32
In the following Psalm one word shows, though faintly,

578:1
the light which Christian Science throws on the Scriptures

by substituting for the corporeal sense, the incorporeal

or spiritual sense of Deity: –

578:4
PSALM XXIII

578:5
[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.

578:6
[LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

[LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.

578:8
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] lead-

eth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

578:10
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; [LOVE's]

rod and [LOVE'S] staff they comfort me.

578:13
[LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of

mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil; my cup

runneth over.

578:16
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of

my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness]

of [LOVE] for ever.

Chapter XVII

Glossary

These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key

of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no

man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open

door, and no man can shut it. – REVELATION.

579:1
IN Christian Science we learn that the substitution of

the spiritual for the material definition of a Scrip-

tural word often elucidates the meaning of the inspired

writer. On this account this chapter is added. It con-

tains the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms,

giving their spiritual sense, which is also their original

meaning.

579:8
ABEL. Watchfulness; self-offering; surrendering to

the creator the early fruits of experience.

579:10
ABRAHAM. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the

eternal Principle of being.

This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create

trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of

spiritual understanding.

579:15
ADAM. Error; a falsity; the belief in "original sin,"

sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, – of God

and His creation; a curse; a belief in intelligent matter,

580:1
finiteness, and mortality; "dust to dust;" red sand-

stone; nothingness; the first god of mythology; not

God's man, who represents the one God and is His own

image and likeness; the opposite of Spirit and His crea-

tions; that which is not the image and likeness of good,

but a material belief, opposed to the one Mind, or Spirit;

a so-called finite mind, producing other minds, thus mak-

ing "gods many and lords many" (I Corinthians viii. 5);

a product of nothing as the mimicry of something; an

unreality as opposed to the great reality of spiritual ex-

istence and creation; a so-called man, whose origin,

substance, and mind are found to be the antipode of

God, or Spirit; an inverted image of Spirit; the image

and likeness of what God has not created, namely, mat-

ter, sin, sickness, and death; the opposer of Truth,

termed error; Life's counterfeit, which ultimates in

death; the opposite of Love, called hate; the usurper

of Spirit's creation, called self-creative matter; immor-

tality's opposite, mortality; that of which wisdom saith,

"Thou shalt surely die."

580:21
The name Adam represents the false supposition that

Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end; that the

infinite enters the finite, that intelligence passes into non‑

intelligence, and that Soul dwells in material sense; that

immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal

mind; that the one God and creator entered what He cre-

ated, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.

580:28
ADVERSARY. An adversary is one who opposes, denies,

disputes, not one who constructs and sustains reality and

Truth. Jesus said of the devil, "He was a murderer from

the beginning, . . . he is a liar and the father of it."

581:1
This view of Satan is confirmed by the name often con-

ferred upon him in Scripture, the "adversary."

581:3
ALMIGHTY. All-power; infinity; omnipotence.

581:4
ANGELS. God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual

intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness,

purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality,

and mortality.

581:8
ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved

to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of

Spirit, destroying belief in matter.

581:11
God and man coexistent and eternal; Science show-

ing that the spiritual realities of all things are created

by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation

overcome and followed by exaltation.

581:15
ASHER (Jacob's son). Hope and faith; spiritual com-

pensation; the ills of the flesh rebuked.

581:17
BABEL. Self-destroying error; a kingdom divided

against itself, which cannot stand; material knowledge.

581:19
The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evi-

dence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more

confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall

of its structure.

581:23
BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in

Spirit.

581:25
We are "willing rather to be absent from the body,

and to be present with the Lord." (II Corinthians v. 8.)

582:1
BELIEVING. Firmness and constancy; not a faltering

nor a blind faith, but the perception of spiritual Truth.

Mortal thoughts, illusion.

582:4
BENJAMIN (Jacob's son). A physical belief as to life,

substance, and mind; human knowledge, or so-called

mortal mind, devoted to matter; pride; envy; fame;

illusion; a false belief; error masquerading as the pos-

sessor of life, strength, animation, and power to act.

582:9
Renewal of affections; self-offering; an improved

state of mortal mind; the introduction of a more spiritual

origin; a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Prin-

ciple; a spiritual type; that which comforts, consoles,

and supports.

582:14
BRIDE. Purity and innocence, conceiving man in the

idea of God; a sense of Soul, which has spiritual bliss

and enjoys but cannot suffer.

582:17
BRIDEGROOM. Spiritual understanding; the pure con-

sciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man

as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only crea-

tive power.

582:21
BURIAL. Corporeality and physical sense put out of

sight and hearing; annihilation. Submergence in Spirit;

immortality brought to light.

582:24
CANAAN (the son of Ham). A sensuous belief; the

testimony of what is termed material sense; the error

which would make man mortal and would make mortal

mind a slave to the body.

582:28
CHILDREN. The spiritual thoughts and representa-

tives of Life, Truth, and Love.

583:1
Sensual and mortal beliefs; counterfeits of creation,

whose better originals are God's thoughts, not in em-

bryo, but in maturity; material suppositions of life, sub-

stance, and intelligence, opposed to the Science of being.

583:5
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. The representatives of Soul, not

corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having

wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine

Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting

out error and healing the sick; Christ's offspring.

583:10
CHRIST. The divine manifestation of God, which comes

to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.

583:12
CHURCH. The structure of Truth and Love; what-

ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.

583:14
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of

its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the

dormant understanding from material beliefs to the ap-

prehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of

divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and

healing the sick.

583:20
CREATOR. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating

divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent

Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal;

the opposite of matter and evil, which have no Prin-

ciple; God, who made all that was made and could not

create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself.

583:26
DAN (Jacob's son). Animal magnetism; so-called mor-

tal mind controlling mortal mind; error, working out

the designs of error; one belief preying upon another.

584:1
DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea

of Truth and Love.

584:3
"And the evening and the morning were the first day."

(Genesis i. 5.) The objects of time and sense disappear

in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind

measures time according to the good that is unfolded.

This unfolding is God's day, and "there shall be no night

there."

584:9
DEATH. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the un-

real and untrue; the opposite of Life.

584:11
Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. Mind

is immortal. The flesh, warring against Spirit; that

which frets itself free from one belief only to be fettered

by another, until every belief of life where Life is not

yields to eternal Life. Any material evidence of death is

false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being.

584:17
DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor

mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness,

and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of

the flesh, which saith: "I am life and intelligence in

matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, –

a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and

put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to

reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the

image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image."

584:26
DOVE. A symbol of divine Science; purity and peace;

hope and faith.

584:28
DUST. Nothingness; the absence of substance, life, or

intelligence.

585:1
EARS. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses,

but spiritual understanding.

585:3
Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, "Having

ears, hear ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)

585:5
EARTH. A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality,

which are likewise without beginning or end.

585:7
To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense,

it is a compound idea.

585:9
ELIAS. Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to mate-

rial sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned

the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold;

the basis of immortality.

585:13
"Elias truly shall first come and restore all things."

(Matthew xvii. 11.)

585:15
ERROR. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 472.

585:16
EUPHRATES (river). Divine Science encompassing

the universe and man; the true idea of God; a type

of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the

place of physics; the reign of righteousness. The atmos-

phere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or

death; a state of mortal thought, the only error of which

is limitation; finity; the opposite of infinity.

585:23
EVE. A beginning; mortality; that which does not

last forever; a finite belief concerning life, substance,

and intelligence in matter; error; the belief that the hu-

man race originated materially instead of spiritually, –

that man started first from dust, second from a rib, and

third from an egg.

586:1
EVENING. Mistiness of mortal thought; weariness of

mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest.

586:3
EYES. Spiritual discernment, – not material but

mental. Jesus said, thinking of the outward vision, "Having

eyes, see ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)

586:7
FAN. Separator of fable from fact; that which gives

action to thought.

586:9
FATHER. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine

Principle, commonly called God.

586:11
FEAR. Heat; inflammation; anxiety; ignorance; error;

desire; caution.

586:13
FIRE. Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; afflic-

tion purifying and elevating man.

586:15
FIRMAMENT. Spiritual understanding; the scientific

line of demarcation between Truth and error, between

Spirit and so-called matter.

586:18
FLESH. An error of physical belief; a supposition that

life, substance, and intelligence are in matter; an illusion;

a belief that matter has sensation.

586:21
GAD (Jacob's son). Science; spiritual being under-

stood; haste towards harmony.

586:23
GETHSEMANE. Patient woe; the human yielding to

the divine; love meeting no response, but still remaining

love.

587:1
GHOST. An illusion; a belief that mind is outlined

and limited; a supposition that spirit is finite.

587:3
GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged

morally, civilly, and socially.

587:5
GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing,

all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle;

Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance;

intelligence.

587:9
GODS. Mythology; a belief that life, substance, and

intelligence are both mental and material; a supposition

of sentient physicality; the belief that infinite Mind is in

finite forms; the various theories that hold mind to be a

material sense, existing in brain, nerve, matter; supposi-

titious minds, or souls, going in and out of matter, erring

and mortal; the serpents of error, which say, "Ye shall

be as gods."

587:17
God is one God, infinite and perfect, and cannot be-

come finite and imperfect.

587:19
GOOD. God; Spirit; omnipotence; omniscience; om-

nipresence; omni-action.

587:21
HAM (Noah's son). Corporeal belief; sensuality;

slavery; tyranny.

587:23
HEART. Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and

sorrows.

587:25
HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government

by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere

of Soul.

588:1
HELL. Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred;

revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-de-

struction, self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which

"worketh abomination or maketh a lie."

588:5
HIDDEKEL (river). Divine Science understood and

acknowledged.

588:7
HOLY GHOST. Divine Science; the development of

eternal Life, Truth, and Love.

588:9
I, or EGO. Divine Principle; Spirit; Soul; incor-

poreal, unerring, immortal, and eternal Mind.

588:11
There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or

Mind, governing all existence; man and woman un-

changed forever in their individual characters, even as

numbers which never blend with each other, though they

are governed by one Principle. All the objects of God's

creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this

one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that

life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and

material.

588:20
I AM. God; incorporeal and eternal Mind; divine

Principle; the only Ego.

588:22
IN. A term obsolete in Science if used with reference

to Spirit, or Deity.

588:24
INTELLIGENCE. Substance; self-existent and eternal

Mind; that which is never unconscious nor limited.

588:26
See chapter on Recapitulation, page 469.

589:1
ISSACHAR (Jacob's son). A corporeal belief; the

offspring of error; envy; hatred; selfishness; self-will;

lust.

589:4
JACOB. A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, re-

pentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of

Science, in which the so-called material senses yield to

the spiritual sense of Life and Love.

589:8
JAPHET (Noah's son). A type of spiritual peace, flow-

ing from the understanding that God is the divine Prin-

ciple of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child

of His care.

589:12
JERUSALEM. Mortal belief and knowledge obtained

from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and

the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyr-

anny. Home, heaven.

589:16
JESUS. The highest human corporeal concept of the

divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing

to light man's immortality.

589:19
JOSEPH. A corporeal mortal; a higher sense of Truth

rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immor-

tality and supremacy of Truth; pure affection blessing

its enemies.

589:23
JUDAH. A corporeal material belief progressing and

disappearing; the spiritual understanding of God and

man appearing.

590:1
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The rein of harmony in divine

Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent

Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.

590:4
KNOWLEDGE. Evidence obtained from the five cor-

poreal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human

theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine

and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the oppo-

site of spiritual Truth and understanding.

590:9
LAMB OF GOD. The spiritual idea of Love; self-im-

molation; innocence and purity; sacrifice.

590:11
LEVI (Jacob's son). A corporeal and sensual belief;

mortal man; denial of the fulness of God's creation;

ecclesiastical despotism.

590:14
LIFE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.

590:15
LORD. In the Hebrew, this term is sometimes em-

ployed as a title, which has the inferior sense of master,

or ruler. In the Greek, the word kurios almost always

has this lower sense, unless specially coupled with the

name God. Its higher signification is Supreme Ruler.

590:20
LORD GOD. Jehovah.

590:21
This double term is not used in the first chapter of

Genesis, the record of spiritual creation. It is intro-

duced in the second and following chapters, when the

spiritual sense of God and of infinity is disappearing

from the recorder's thought, – when the true scientific

statements of the Scriptures become clouded through a

591:1
physical sense of God as finite and corporeal. From this

follow idolatry and mythology, – belief in many gods, or

material intelligences, as the opposite of the one Spirit,

or intelligence, named Elohim, or God.

591:5
MAN. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spirit-

ual image and likeness of God; the full representation of

Mind.

591:8
MATTER. Mythology; mortality; another name for

mortal mind; illusion; intelligence, substance, and life

in non-intelligence and mortality; life resulting in death,

and death in life; sensation in the sensationless; mind

originating in matter; the opposite of Truth; the oppo-

site of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal

Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees,

feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief.

591:16
MIND. The only I, or Us; the only Spirit, Soul, divine

Principle, substance, Life, Truth, Love; the one God;

not that which is in man, but the divine Principle, or God,

of whom man is the full and perfect expression; Deity,

which outlines but is not outlined.

591:21
MIRACLE. That which is divinely natural, but must

be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.

591:23
MORNING. Light; symbol of Truth; revelation and

progress.

591:25
MORTAL MIND. Nothing claiming to be something,

for Mind is immortal; mythology; error creating other

errors; a suppositional material sense, alias the belief

592:1
that sensation is in matter, which is sensationless; a be-

lief that life, substance, and intelligence are in and of

matter; the opposite of Spirit, and therefore the opposite

of God, or good; the belief that life has a beginning

and therefore an end; the belief that man is the off-

spring of mortals; the belief that there can be more than

one creator; idolatry; the subjective states of error;

material senses; that which neither exists in Science nor

can be recognized by the spiritual sense; sin; sickness;

death.

592:11
MOSES. A corporeal mortal; moral courage; a type

of moral law and the demonstration thereof; the proof

that, without the gospel, – the union of justice and affec-

tion, – there is something spiritually lacking, since justice

demands penalties under the law.

592:16
MOTHER. God; divine and eternal Principle; Life,

Truth, and Love.

592:18
NEW JERUSALEM. Divine Science; the spiritual facts

and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven,

or reign of harmony.

592:21
NIGHT. Darkness; doubt; fear.

592:22
NOAH. A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the noth-

ingness of material things and of the immortality of all

that is spiritual.

592:25
OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heav-

enly inspiration.

592:27
PHARISEE. Corporeal and sensuous belief; self-right-

eousness; vanity; hypocrisy.

593:1
PISON (river). The love of the good and beautiful, and

their immortality.

593:3
PRINCIPLE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 465.

593:4
PROPHET. A spiritual seer; disappearance of mate-

rial sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth.

593:6
PURSE. Laying up treasures in matter; error.

593:7
RED DRAGON. Error; fear; inflammation; sensuality;

subtlety; animal magnetism; envy; revenge.

593:9
RESURRECTION. Spiritualization of thought; a new

and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence;

material belief yielding to spiritual understanding.

593:12
REUBEN (Jacob's son). Corporeality; sensuality; de-

lusion; mortality; error.

593:14
RIVER. Channel of thought.

593:15
When smooth and unobstructed, it typifies the course

of Truth; but muddy, foaming, and dashing, it is a type

of error.

593:18
ROCK. Spiritual foundation; Truth. Coldness and

stubbornness.

593:20
SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and

demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and

death destroyed.

593:23
SEAL. The signet of error revealed by Truth

594:1
SERPENT (ophis, in Greek; nacash, in Hebrew).

Subtlety; a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error;

the first statement of mythology and idolatry; the belief

in more than one God; animal magnetism; the first lie

of limitation; finity; the first claim that there is an oppo-

site of Spirit, or good, termed matter, or evil; the first

delusion that error exists as fact; the first claim that sin,

sickness, and death are the realities of life. The first

audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that

there was another power, named evil, which was as real

and eternal as God, good.

594:12
SHEEP. Innocence; inoffensiveness; those who follow

their leader.

594:14
SHEM (Noah's son). A corporeal mortal; kindly affec-

594:1
tion; love rebuking error; reproof of sensualism.

594:2
SON. The Son of God, the Messiah or Christ. The

son of man, the offspring of the flesh. "Son of a year."

594:18
SOULS. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 466.

594:19
SPIRIT. Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle;

all that is good; God; that only which is perfect, ever‑

lasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite.

594:22
SPIRITS. Mortal beliefs; corporeality; evil minds;

supposed intelligences, or gods; the opposites of God;

errors; hallucinations. (See page 466.)

594:25
SUBSTANCE. See chapter on Recapitulation, page 468.

595:1
SUN. The symbol of Soul governing man, – of

Truth, Life, and Love.

595:3
SWORD. The idea of Truth; justice. Revenge;

anger.

595:5
TARES. Mortality; error; sin; sickness; disease;

death.

595:7
TEMPLE. Body; the idea of Life, substance, and in-

telligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of

Love; a material superstructure, where mortals congre-

gate for worship.

595:11
THUMMIM. Perfection; the eternal demand of divine

Science.

595:13
The Urim and Thummim, which were to be on Aaron's

breast when he went before Jehovah, were holiness and

purification of thought and deed, which alone can fit us

for the office of spiritual teaching.

595:17
TIME. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are

summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions,

knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before,

and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal

disappears and spiritual perfection appears.

595:22
TITHE. Contribution; tenth part; homage; gratitude.

A sacrifice to the gods.

595:24
UNCLEANLINESS. Impure thoughts; error; sin; dirt.

595:25
UNGODLINESS. Opposition to the divine Principle and

its spiritual idea.

596:1
UNKNOWN. That which spiritual sense alone compre-

hends, and which is unknown to the material senses.

596:3
Paganism and agnosticism may define Deity as "the

great unknowable;" but Christian Science brings God

much nearer to man, and makes Him better known as

the All-in-all, forever near.

596:7
Paul saw in Athens an altar dedicated "to the unknown

God." Referring to it, he said to the Athenians: "Whom

therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."

(Acts xvii. 23.)

596:11
URIM. Light.

596:12
The rabbins believed that the stones in the breast-

plate of the high-priest had supernatural illumination,

but Christian Science reveals Spirit, not matter, as the

illuminator of all. The illuminations of Science give us

a sense of the nothingness of error, and they show the

spiritual inspiration of Love and Truth to be the only fit

preparation for admission to the presence and power of

the Most High.

596:20
VALLEY. Depression; meekness; darkness.

596:21
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

death, I will fear no evil." (Psalm xxiii.4.)

596:23
Though the way is dark in mortal sense, divine Life

and Love illumine it, destroy the unrest of mortal thought,

the fear of death, and the supposed reality of error. Chris-

tian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud

and blossom as the rose.

596:28
VEIL. A cover; concealment; hiding; hypocrisy.

596:29
The Jewish women wore veils over their faces in token

597:1
of reverence and submission and in accordance with

Pharisaical notions.

597:3
The Judaic religion consisted mostly of rites and cere-

monies. The motives and affections of a man were of

little value, if only he appeared unto men to fast. The

great Nazarene, as meek as he was mighty, rebuked the

hypocrisy, which offered long petitions for blessings upon

material methods, but cloaked the crime, latent in thought,

which was ready to spring into action and crucify God's

anointed. The martyrdom of Jesus was the culminating

sin of Pharisaism. It rent the veil of the temple. It re-

vealed the false foundations and superstructures of super-

ficial religion, tore from bigotry and superstition their

coverings, and opened the sepulchre with divine Science,

– immortality and Love.

597:16
WILDERNESS. Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spon-

taneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a

material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense

unfolds the great facts of existence.

597:20
WILL. The motive-power of error; mortal belief; ani-

mal power. The might and wisdom of God.

597:22
"For this is the will of God." (I Thessalonians

iv. 3.)

597:24
Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong‑

doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term

as applied to Mind or to one of God's qualities.

597:27
WIND. That which indicates the might of omnipo-

tence and the movements of God's spiritual government,

encompassing all things. Destruction; anger; mortal

passions.

598:1
The Greek word for wind (pneuma) is used also for

spirit, as in the passage in John's Gospel, the third chap-

ter, where we read: "The wind [pneuma] bloweth where

it listeth. . . . So is every one that is born of the Spirit

[pneuma]." Here the original word is the same in both

cases, yet it has received different translations, as in other

passages in this same chapter and elsewhere in the New

Testament. This shows how our Master had constantly

to employ words of material significance in order to unfold

spiritual thoughts. In the record of Jesus' supposed

death, we read: "He bowed his head, and gave up the

ghost;" but this word ghost is pneuma. It might be trans-

lated wind or air, and the phrase is equivalent to our

common statement, "He breathed his last." What

Jesus gave up was indeed air, an etherealized form of

matter, for never did he give up Spirit, or Soul.

598:17
WINE. Inspiration; understanding. Error; fornica-

tion; temptation; passion.

598:19
YEAR. A solar measurement of time; mortality;

space for repentance.

598:21
"One day is with the Lord as a thousand years."

(II Peter iii. 8.)

598:23
One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual

understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.

This exalted view, obtained and retained when the Sci-

ence of being is understood, would bridge over with life

discerned spiritually the interval of death, and man

would be in the full consciousness of his immortality and

eternal harmony, where sin, sickness, and death are un-

known. Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which

599:1
is the solar year. Eternity is God's measurement of Soul‑

filled years.

599:3
YOU. As applied to corporeality, a mortal; finity.

599:4
ZEAL. The reflected animation of Life, Truth, and

Love. Blind enthusiasm; mortal will.

599:6
ZION. Spiritual foundation and superstructure; in-

spiration; spiritual strength. Emptiness; unfaithful-

ness; desolation.

Chapter XVIII

Fruitage

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. – JESUS.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruit-

ful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. –

PAUL.

Let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish,

whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. –

SOLOMON'S SONG.

600:1
THOUSANDS of letters could be presented in testi-

mony of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and

particularly concerning the vast number of people who

have been reformed and healed through the perusal or

study of this book.

600:6
For the assurance and encouragement of the reader, a

few of these letters are here republished from THE CHRIS-

TIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL and CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTI-

NEL. The originals are in the possession of the Editor,

who can authenticate the testimonials which follow.

600:11
RHEUMATISM HEALED

600:12
I was a great sufferer from a serious form of rheumatic

trouble, my hands being affected to such an extent that it

was impossible for me even to dress without assistance.

The trouble finally reached the knees, and I became very

lame and had to be assisted in and out of bed. I went

to the different health resorts for the benefit I hoped to

derive from the baths and waters that were prescribed by

601:1
physicians, but found no permanent relief. I was placed

under an X-ray examination, and was told that the joints

were becoming ossified. I then consulted a celebrated

specialist, who after a thorough examination said my

condition would continue to grow worse and that I would

become completely helpless.

601:7
At that time a copy of "Science and Health with Key to

the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was loaned me. I read it

more from curiosity than with the thought of any physical

benefit. As the truth was unfolded to me, I realized that

the mental condition was what needed correcting, and

that the Spirit of truth which inspired this book was my

physician. My healing is complete, and the liberation in

thought is manifest in a life of active usefulness rather

than the bondage of helpless invalidism and suffering. I

owe to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gratitude which

words cannot express. Her revelation of the practical

rather than the merely theoretical application of Jesus'

words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall

make you free," proved to be my redeemer. I did not

even have to apply to a practitioner, but am most grate-

ful for the helpful words of loving friends. – E. B. B.,

Pasadena, Cal.

601:24
ASTIGMATISM AND HERNIA HEALED

601:25
It is nearly five years since I bought my first copy of

Science and Health, the reading of which cured me of

chronic constipation, nervous headache, astigmatism, and

hernia, in less than four months.

601:29
Where would I be now, had not this blessed truth been

brought to me by much persuasion of a very dear friend?

602:1
I certainly should have been deep in the slough of despond,

if not in the grave. Am I truly thankful for all the good

that has come to me and mine? I try to let my works

testify of that; but to those whom I do not meet in person,

I can truly say, Yes; I am indeed more thankful than

words can express for the glorious healing that has come

to me, both physical, mental, and moral, and I also con-

vey herein, my song of gratitude to the dear Leader who

has through her fidelity to Truth enabled me to touch

at least the hem of Christ's garment. – B. S. J., Sioux

City, Iowa.

602:12
SUBSTANCE OF LUNGS RESTORED

602:13
It was about fifteen years ago that Christian Science

first came to my notice. At that time I had been a chronic

invalid for a good many years. I had acute bowel

trouble, bronchitis, and a number of other troubles. One

physician had told me that my lungs were like wet paper,

ready to tear at any time, and I was filled with fear, as

my mother, two brothers, and a sister had been vic-

tims of consumption. I tried many physicians and

every material remedy that promised help, but no help

came until I found a copy of Mrs. Eddy's book, Sci-

ence and Health. The book was placed in my hands

by one who did not then appreciate it, and I was told

that it would be hard for me to understand it. I com-

menced reading it with this thought, but I caught beau-

tiful glimpses of Truth, which took away my fear and

healed me of all those diseases, and they have never

returned.

602:30
I would also like to tell how I was healed of a sprained

603:1
ankle. The accident occurred in the morning, and all

that day and during the night I gave myself Christian

Science treatment, as best I could. The next morning

it seemed to be no better, being very sore, badly swollen,

and much discolored. Feeling that I had done all I could,

I decided to stop thinking about it. I took my copy of

Science and Health and began reading. Very soon I

became so absorbed in the book that I forgot all about

my ankle; it went entirely out of my thought, for I had

a glimpse of all God's creation as spiritual, and for the

time being lost sight of my material selfhood. After two

hours I laid the book down and walked into another room.

When next I thought of my ankle, I found it was not hurt-

ing me. The swelling had gone down, the black and blue

appearance had nearly vanished, and it was perfectly well.

It was healed while I was "absent from the body" and

"present with the Lord." This experience was worth

a great deal to me, for it showed me how the healing is

done. – C. H., Portland, Ore.

603:20
FIBROID TUMOR HEALED IN A FEW DAYS

603:21
My gratitude for Christian Science is boundless. I

was afflicted with a fibroid tumor which weighed not

less than fifty pounds, attended by a continuous hem-

orrhage for eleven years. The tumor was a growth of

eighteen years.

603:26
I lived in Fort Worth, Tex., and I had never heard

of Christian Science before leaving there for Chicago

in the year 1887. I had tried to live near to God, and

I feel sure He guided me in all my steps to this heal-

ing and saving truth. After being there several weeks

604:1
I received letters from a Texas lady who had herself been

healed, and who wrote urging me to try Christian

Science.

604:4
Changing my boarding-place, I met a lady who owned

a copy of Science and Health, and in speaking to her of

having seen the book, she informed me she had one, and

she got it and told me I could read it. The revelation

was marvelous and brought a great spiritual awakening.

This awakened sense never left me, and one day when

walking alone it came to me very suddenly that I was

healed, and I walked the faster declaring every step that

I was healed. When I reached my boarding-place, I

found my hostess and told her I was healed. She looked

the picture of amazement. The tumor began to disap-

pear at once, the hemorrhage ceased, and perfect strength

was manifest.

604:17
There was no joy ever greater than mine for this Christ‑

cure, for I was very weary and heavy laden. I thought

very little of either sleeping or eating, and my heart was

filled with gratitude, since I knew I had touched the hem

of his garment.

604:22
I must add that the reading of Science and Health, and

that alone, healed me, and it was the second copy I ever

saw. – S. L., Fort Worth, Tex.

604:25
INSANITY AND EPILEPSY HEALED

604:26
While an inmate of the State asylum for the insane at

Middletown, Conn., an epileptic, and at times confined to

my bed with bilious attacks, pronounced incurable by the

doctors (at least six in number), the book, Science and

Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mrs. Eddy was

605:1
placed in my hands. After reading a few pages, I be-

came very much impressed with the truth therein stated,

and although I was surrounded with opposition, I knew

that "underneath are the everlasting arms." Since that

time – past the middle of the year 1899 – I have kept

pressing on, until I have been healed by reading Science

and Health. At times I was beset by what seemed un-

conquerable opposition, until the first week in October,

1904, when, upon going to my home in Darien for a visit,

I was given my liberty, and I am now earning my living

in this city. After having been subject to epileptic at-

tacks since 1892, and at one time pronounced dying

by the doctor in charge, I am now well. I have had no

fit, or symptoms of any, since the first week in May,

1904.

605:16
I trust that this testimony to the healing power of Truth,

realized by reading Science and Health (for I had no treat-

ment), may reach the eye of some to whom the battle

seems long, and inspire them with fresh courage and a

realization of the worth of the victory. I am filled with

inexpressible gratitude and love to God, and to Mrs.

Eddy. – Mrs. B. B. C., Stamford, Conn.

605:23
A CASE OF MENTAL SURGERY

605:24
I have felt for some time I should give my experience

in mental surgery. In May, 1902, going home for

lunch, on a bicycle, and while riding down a hill at a

rapid gait, I was thrown from the wheel, and falling

on my left side with my arm under my head, the bone

was broken about half-way between the shoulder and

elbow. While the pain was intense, I lay still in the dust,

606:1
declaring the truth and denying that there could

be a break or accident in the realm of divine Love,

until a gentleman came to assist me, saying, he

thought I had been stunned. I was only two and a

half blocks from home, so I mounted my wheel again

and managed to reach it. On arriving there I lay

down and asked my little boy to bring me our text-

book. He immediately brought Science and Health,

which I read for about ten minutes, when all pain

left.

606:11
I said nothing to my family of the accident, but at-

tended to some duties and was about half an hour late

in returning to the office, this being my only loss of time

from work. My friends claimed that the arm had not

been broken, as it would have been impossible for me to

continue my work without having it set, and carrying it

in a sling until the bone knit together. Their insistence

almost persuaded me that I might have been mistaken,

until one of my friends invited me to visit a physician's

office where they were experimenting with an X-ray ma-

chine. The physician was asked to examine my left

arm to see if it differed from the ordinary. On look-

ing through it, he said, "Yes, it has been broken, but

whoever set it made a perfect job of it, and you will

never have any further trouble from that break." My

friend then asked the doctor to show how he could

tell where the break had been. The doctor pointed

out the place as being slightly thicker at that part,

like a piece of steel that had been welded. This

was the first of several cases of mental surgery that

have come under my notice, and it made a deep

impression on me.

607:1
For the benefit of others who may have something

similar to meet, I will say that I have overcome almost

constant attacks of sick headaches, extending back

to my earliest recollection. – L. C. S., Salt Lake City,

Utah.

607:6
CATARACT QUICKLY CURED

607:7
I wish to add my testimony to those of others, and

hope that it may be the means of bringing some poor

sufferer to health, to happiness, and to God. I was

healed through simply reading this wonderful book,

Science and Health. I had been troubled periodically

for many years with sore eyes, and had been to many

doctors, who called the disease iritis and cataract. They

told me that my eyes would always give me trouble, and

that I would eventually lose my sight if I remained in

an office, and advised me to go under an operation. Later

on I had to wear glasses at my work, also out of doors

as I could not bear the winds, and my eyes were gradually

becoming worse. I could not read for longer than a few

minutes at a time, otherwise they would smart severely.

I had to rest my eyes each evening to enable me to use

them the next day; in fact gas-light was getting unbearable

because of the pain, and I made home miserable. A

dear brother told me about Christian Science, and said

that if I would read Science and Health it would help

me. He procured for me the loan of the book. The

first night I read it, it so interested me I quite forgot

all about my eyes until my wife remarked that it was

eleven o'clock. I found that I had been reading this

book for nearly four hours, and I remarked immediately

after, "I believe my eyes are cured," which was really

608:1
the case. The next day, on looking at my eyes, my wife

noticed that the cataract had disappeared. I put away

my outdoor glasses, which I have not required since, and

through the understanding gained by studying Christian

Science I have been able to do away with my indoor

glasses also, and have had no return of pain in my eyes

since. This is now a year and a half ago. – G. F. S.,

Liverpool, England.

608:9
VALVULAR HEART DISEASE HEALED

608:10
Fourteen years ago my heart awoke to gratitude to

God and the dear Leader at the same time. After a

patient and persistent effort of three months' duration, to

procure a copy of Science and Health (during which time

I had visited every bookstore, and many of the second-

hand bookstores in the city of St. Paul), and had failed

to find it, I at last remembered that the stranger who told

me I might be healed, had mentioned a name, and

McVicker's Theatre Building in Chicago as being in

some way connected with the work. I sent there for

information regarding a book called Health and Science,

and the return mail brought me the book, Science and

Health, and in it I at once found sure promise of deliver-

ance from valvular heart disease, with all the accompani-

ments, such as extreme nervousness, weakness, dyspepsia,

and insomnia. I had suffered from these all my life,

finding no permanent relief, even, in material remedies,

and no hope of cure at any time. Only those who have

been held in such bondage and have been liberated by

the same means, can know the eager joy of the first perusal

of that wonderful book.

609:1
Half a day's reading convinced me that I had found

the way to holiness and health. I read on, thinking only

of the spiritual enlightenment, content to wait until I

should be led to some person who would heal me; but

old things had passed away, and all things had become

new. I was completely healed before I had met a Scien-

tist, or one who knew anything about Christian Science,

and before I had read a line of any other Christian Science

literature except one leaf of a tract; so it is absolutely

certain that the healing was entirely impersonal, as was

also the teaching, which enabled me to begin at once

demonstrating the power of Truth to destroy all forms

of error. – E. J. W., North Yakima, Wash.

609:14
THE TRUE PHYSICIAN FOUND

609:15
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I send the

particulars of my healing through Christian Science.

While visiting friends in the southwestern part of On-

tario, about three years ago, my attention was called

to Christian Science and the wonderful healing it was

doing. I had lived in New York for twenty-five years,

but had never heard of Christian Science before, to my

recollection.

609:23
Up to that time, for seventeen years, I had suffered

with indigestion and gastritis in the worst form, often

being overcome from a seeming pressure against the heart.

I had asthma for four years, also had worn glasses for

four years. It seemed to me that I had swallowed every

known medicine to relieve my indigestion, but they only

gave me temporary benefit. I purchased a copy of Sci-

ence and Health, and simply from the reading of that

610:1
grand book I was completely healed of all my physical

ailments in two weeks' time. I have used no medi-

cine from that day to this, and with God's help, and

the wonderful light revealed to me through the reading

of Mrs. Eddy's book, I never expect to again. I used

to smoke eight or ten cigars a day, and also took an

occasional drink, but the desire for these has gone, – I

feel forever. I travel on the road, and am constantly

being invited to indulge, but it is no effort to abstain,

and in many instances I find that my refusal helps

others.

610:12
While I fully appreciate the release from my physical

troubles, this pales into insignificance in comparison with

the spiritual uplifting Christian Science has brought me.

I had not been inside a church for more than ten years,

to attend regular services, until I entered a Christian

Science church. What I saw and realized there, seemed

so genuine that I loved Christian Science from the very

start. I have never taken a treatment, – every inch

of the way has been through study and practical demon-

stration, and I know that all can do the same thing if they

will try.

610:23
Since I have been in Science I have overcome a case of

ulcerated tooth in one night through the reading of Science

and Health; also a severe attack of grip in thirty-six hours

by obeying the Scripture saying, "Physician, heal thy-

self." – B. H. N., New York, N. Y.

610:28
CANCER AND CONSUMPTION HEALED

610:29
I was a great sufferer for many years from internal

cancer and consumption. I was treated by the best of

611:1
physicians in New York, Minneapolis, and Duluth, and

was finally given up as incurable, when I heard of Chris-

tian Science. A neighbor who had been healed of con-

sumption, kindly loaned me Science and Health by Mrs.

Eddy, which I read and became interested in. In three

months' time, I was healed, the truth conveyed to me by

this book being the healer, and not only of these diseases,

but I was made whole mentally as well. I have not been

in bed one day since, or rather in eleven years. I have

had many good demonstrations during this time, have

passed through many a "fiery trial," but this blessed truth

has caused me to stand, at times seemingly alone, and

God was with me.

611:14
I will mention a demonstration of painless childbirth

which I have had since coming to Idaho. Perhaps it may

help some sister who is looking through the Journal for

a demonstration of this kind, as I was before my baby

came. Good help being scarce here, I did my housework

up to the time I was confined, and was in perfect health.

I awoke my husband one morning at five o'clock, and at

half past five baby was born, no one being present but

my husband and myself. It was quite a surprise to the

rest of the family to see me sitting by the fire with a new

baby on my lap. My son got the breakfast, of which I

ate heartily; at noon I joined the family in the dining-

room. I was out on the porch the second day, around

the yard the third day, and have been perfectly well

ever since, which has been now over three years. To

one who had previously passed through agony untold,

with a physician in attendance, this seemed wonderful.

I hope this will interest some one who is seeking the truth,

and I wish to express my sincere love for our beloved

612:1
Leader, who has given us the "Key to the Scriptures." –

E. C. C., Lewiston, Idaho.

612:3
A REMARKABLE CASE

612:4
Nine years ago my only child was hovering between

life and death. Some of the best physicians in Boston

had pronounced his case incurable, saying that if he

lived he would always be an invalid and a cripple. One

of the diseases was gastric catarrh. He was allowed

to eat but very few things, and even after taking every

precaution, he suffered to the extent that he would

lie in spasms for half a day. He also had rickets; physi-

cians saying that there was not a natural bone in his

body.

612:14
It was while he was in what seemed to be his greatest

agony, and when I was in the darkest despair, that I

first heard of Christian Science. The bearer of the joyful

tidings could only tell me to come and hear of the wonder-

ful things that Christian Science was doing. I accepted

the invitation, for I was willing to try anything to save

my child, and the following Friday evening I attended

my first meeting, which was in The Mother Church of

Christ, Scientist. Long before the service began every

seat was filled, which was amazing to me, being an ordi-

nary weekly meeting, and that night I realized from the

testimonies given that Christian Science was the religion

for which I had been searching for years. The next

day I went to find a practitioner, but was unable to get

the one who had been recommended, he being too busy.

On my way home I thought of some of the testimonies

which I had heard the night before, – of people being

613:1
healed by simply reading Science and Health. I resolved

at once to borrow a copy, and not dreaming of the

sacrifice that my friend would make by conferring such

a favor, I went and asked her for a loan of Science

and Health. I never saw any one part so reluctantly

with a book as my friend did with her copy of the

textbook.

613:8
I read it silently and audibly, day and night, in my

home, and although I could not seem to understand

it, yet the healing commenced to take place at once.

The little mouth which had been twisted by spasms

grew natural and the child was soon able to be up,

playing and romping about the house as any child

should. About this time we decided to move to the

far West.

613:16
I was young in Science at the time, and my husband

greatly feared that the journey would cause a relapse

for the child, but instead, he continued to improve. I

constantly read the Bible, Science and Health, and Mis-

cellaneous Writings, the two weeks we traveled, and we

were the only ones in our car who, throughout the journey,

did not get train sick. The child's limbs grew perfectly

straight, he ate anything he wanted, and for years he has

been a natural, healthy child in every way. He has passed

through some of the worst forms of contagion untouched

and unharmed.

613:27
I had been reading Science and Health several months,

before I gave any thought to myself and my numerous

complaints. I had never been very strong, and some of

my ailments were supposed to be hereditary and chronic,

hence I dragged through many tedious years with a belief

in medical laws and hereditary laws resting upon me.

614:1
Just before I commenced reading Science and Health

I spent a half day in having my eyes examined by one

of the leading oculists in Boston. His verdict was that

my eyes were in a dreadful condition, and that I would

always need to wear glasses. In the meantime I com-

menced to read Science and Health, and when I thought

of my eyes, I had no need for glasses. The years that

I have been in Science I have used my eyes incessantly,

night as well as day, doing all kinds of trying work and

without requiring the aid of glasses. I was healed of

all my complaints whilst seeking the truth for my child,

and many of them have never returned. Those that

appeared simply came to the surface to be destroyed.

Teeth have been restored and facial blemishes re-

moved, unconsciously, simply by reading Science and

Health. All of this is, however, nothing to compare

with the spiritual uplifting which I have received,

and I have everything to be thankful for. – M. T. W., Los

Angeles, Cal.

614:20
INTENSE SUFFERING OVERCOME

614:21
For about five years I was afflicted with sciatic rheu-

matism, in such a severe form that my body was drawn

out of shape. When able to be around, I walked with

the assistance of a cane. The attacks were periodical,

recurring every few months; any exposure to rain or

dampness would bring one. At one time I was in bed

eleven weeks, suffering intensely all the time except when

relieved by hypodermic injections. When I had these

attacks, my regular physician was always in attendance.

My daughter consulted another physician, who said there

615:1
would have to be an operation which would include

the exposing and scraping of the sciatic nerve. There

was also another physician who, knowing of the case,

examined my heart and claimed that it was weak and

that I was liable to pass on at any time from heart

trouble.

615:7
After suffering three years I heard of Christian Science,

but did not avail myself of it for two years, when I de-

cided to give up all other means and rely wholly upon

it. It was not convenient to call a practitioner, so I took

Science and Health and applied its teachings as best

I could. In three days the trouble completely left

me and there has never been the slightest return. My

health has been good ever since, and I am at present

in perfect physical health. I have been benefited in

every way by Christian Science, physically, mentally, and

spiritually, and would not be without my understand-

ing of it for anything. – Mrs. E. A. K., Billings,

Mont.

615:20
HEALED OF RHEUMATISM AND BRIGHT'S DISEASE

615:21
I am very thankful to God for what He has done for

me. I was suddenly left alone, with many troubles

and trials, and I took up the study of the Bible. I

was trying to understand it, prior to joining some

church, as it seemed to me this would be expected. I

had attended all sorts of churches from my childhood

up, but never could find any that met my need. As

time passed on, my condition became very alarming.

Sciatic rheumatism, that had troubled me for some

years, became so severe I could scarcely do anything.

616:1
Then there appeared some complications, so distressing

that I was unable to walk far, and had to sit down fre-

quently by the way. I thought I had Bright's disease, –

such excruciating pains, no tongue could tell my suffer-

ings. With all these things upon me, death seemed very

near. I had never joined any church, and I thought it

now too late, as I would have to wait six months on pro-

bation, and I would be dead before that.

616:9
About this time I made some inquiries of my sister in

reference to Christian Science, as she had already turned to

that faith, and I soon found that it was just what I had

been looking for. I saw at once that it declared the truth

and nothing but the truth. I commenced reading Science

and Health, also the New Testament. I wanted to find

out what Jesus said, as I did not expect then to live long.

I did not go to the meetings, nor did I read Science and

Health to be cured, – not thinking of that, – but to be

saved from an everlasting hell hereafter. My sister urged

me to have a practitioner, but I kept on reading, and

praying to God in silence, and what happened? Where

had the diseases gone? I persisted in reading Science

and Health, together with the Bible, with the knowl-

edge that God as revealed by Christ Jesus can do

everything, that He made everything that was made,

that He can and does heal the afflicted. He has healed

me, thanks to His most holy name. – G. J. H., Charles-

ton, Ill.

616:28
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS

616:29
In the year 1901, Christian Science found me a hope-

less invalid. I had suffered for seven years previous with

a very painful back, the result of an operation. I could

617:1
get no rest or sleep at night, as I could not lie down, but

had to sit propped in a chair with pillows around me.

Only those who have suffered as I did can know the full

misery of it. I had come to the end of material means

and never hoped to get well. One day, however, while

out walking, it was my good fortune to come to a Christian

Scientist's house, and there the teaching was explained

to me. I was advised to buy Science and Health, which

I did, and the study of this book has healed my back en-

tirely. Christian Science has also cured me of long-

standing catarrh of the throat, and neuralgia with which

I had been afflicted from childhood. Before coming into

Science I had doctored with three of the best physicians

in Seattle, but none could give me relief.

617:15
I am no longer a sufferer, but rejoice exceedingly in

Christian Science. God's promise has been fulfilled to

me, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of

righteousness arise with healing in his wings." – E. O.,

Georgetown, Wash.

617:20
FREED FROM NEURASTHENIC AND OTHER TROUBLES

617:21
Christian Science found in me a minister's son who

had failed to profit by continuous teaching in the old

thought. Some years ago I was pronounced by a pro-

fessor of materia medica, whose works are in general use,

a neurasthenic. I had been in this condition more or less

for eight years, and up to two years ago, when Christian

Science was first brought to my attention (thanks to Al-

mighty God) through a kind friend, I was almost con-

stantly taking medicine and had in all eleven physicians

who undoubtedly did their best, but without avail, not-

618:1
withstanding almost all known drugs were prescribed,

and further I had tried very many patent medicines. I

was also put through forms of hygienic treatment and

other things that offered inducements. At the time of

coming into Science I was taking three times daily forty

minims of cod-liver oil and three of creosote, also three

drops of Fowler's solution of arsenic, and on the month

or so previous had bought eighteen dollars' worth of

patent medicine. I was restricted to the simplest means

of diet, – all stews, fries, sweets, berries, and tomatoes I

had not touched for two years.

618:12
I started to read Science and Health, and before I had

half finished the book once I was eating everything that

any one does. I read the book eleven times straight

ahead and many times skipping about. The book

has done the work and I am a well man. – C. E. M.,

Philadelphia, Pa.

618:18
MANY ILLS OVERCOME

618:19
I have received much help, spiritually and physically,

through Christian Science. I had what the doctors

diagnosed as muscular rheumatism, dropsy, and con-

stipation of thirty years' standing. A dear friend whom

I had known as an invalid had been healed by Christian

Science and advised me to read Science and Health. I

did so, having a desire to know the truth. One of my

troubles was that I could not sleep. I began reading the

Bible and the Christian Science textbook, and troubles

of every kind disappeared before I had read Science and

Health through. The thought came, What about the

old remedies? but truth prevailed, and I took all the

619:1
material remedies I had and threw them away. That

was seven years ago, and I have not had any use for them

since. My husband was healed of the tobacco habit

of fifty years' standing, also of kidney trouble, by read-

ing Science and Health. I have not words to express

the gratitude I feel to-day for the many blessings that

have come to our home. – Mrs. M. K. O., Seattle,

Wash.

619:9
A HELPFUL HEALING

619:10
I became interested in Christian Science about eleven

years ago, and was healed of neuralgia of the stomach,

from which I had suffered from a child. As I grew older,

the spells became more frequent and more severe; the

only relief physicians could give me was by hypodermic

injections of morphine. Finally, after each spell, I would

be prostrated for a day or two with the after-effect of the

morphine. I was entirely healed of this trouble through

the study of Science and Health. I think I never realized

what fear meant until I began to try and put into practice

my understanding of Christian Science for my children.

I have proved, however, many times, that fear can

neither help nor hinder in our demonstration of truth.

The first time I realized this was in the overcoming of

a severe case of croup for my little boy. I was

awakened one night by the sound that seems to bring

terror to every mother's heart, and found the little

fellow sitting up in bed, gasping for breath. I got up,

took him in my arms, and went into the next room.

My first thought was, "O if only there was another

Christian Scientist in town!" But there was not, and

the work must be done and done quickly. I tried

620:1
to treat him, but was so frightened I could not think;

so I picked up Science and Health, which lay on the

table beside me, and began reading aloud. I had read

but a few lines when these words came to me as though

a voice spoke, "The word of God is quick, and powerful,

and sharper than any two-edged sword." Almost im-

mediately after, the little one said, "Mamma, sing 'Shep-

herd,'" – our Leader's hymn, that both the big and

the little children love. I began singing, and commenc-

ing with the second line, the little voice joined me. I

shall never forget the feeling of joy and peace that came

over me, when I realized how quickly God's word, through

Science and Health and the beautiful hymn, had accom-

plished the healing work. This is only one of many

instances in which the power of God's word to heal has

been demonstrated in our home. – A. J. G., River-

side, Cal.

620:18
RELIEF FROM MANY ILLS

620:19
Paul said, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your

mind." In my own case deafness has been overcome by

an enlarged understanding of God's word, as explained

by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. Many times I

have been enabled to turn to God, to know it was His

will to help in trouble, and obtained the needed benefit.

Catarrh has disappeared; tonsilitis, which very frequently

laid me aside from duties in the schoolroom and home,

is no longer manifest. When temptation comes (for

Christian Science is both preventive and curative), I turn

to that wonderful book, Science and Health, and my

precious Bible, grown dearer since read in the new light

621:1
of spiritual understanding, until I know that my mind is

renewed, because the action is changed and the inflam-

mation has abated.

621:4
Thus in my experience in Christian Science, I have seen

the transformation begun, and Truth is able to perfect

that which is begun in me so gloriously. – Mrs. C.A.

McL., Brooklyn, Nova Scotia.

621:8
HEALTH AND PEACE ATTAINED

621:9
For fifteen years I was a great sufferer physically and

mentally. Eminent physicians treated me for hereditary

consumption, torpid liver, and many other diseases. I

sought relief at famous springs, the ozone of Florida, and

the pure air of Colorado, but in vain. My life was one

ceaseless torture.

621:15
During all this time, however, I was an earnest seeker

after Truth. I examined every religious teaching with

a calm and unprejudiced attention. From an orthodox

Protestant I became a skeptic, and a follower of Voltaire,

Tom Paine, and Ingersoll; yet all the while I retained

faith in a supreme intelligent Being who made all. Sick,

weary, doubting, and despairing, I accidentally went into

a Christian Science church in New York City, on a Wed-

nesday evening, not knowing what kind of a place it was.

Seeing a large number of people going into the build-

ing, I followed, supposing that a marriage ceremony

had attracted the crowd. Being informed it was their

regular Wednesday evening service, I inquired as to the

denomination. I concluded that it was another new fad,

but after investigation I procured a copy of Science and

Health, promising I would read it carefully. I began

622:1
reading the book on Tuesday and finished on Friday of

the same week. I was still in the dark. I laid the book

down, involuntarily closed my eyes, and silently prayed

to God.

622:5
I remained in that attitude a few moments, when I

felt like the mariner who had been tossed for days upon

a boisterous sea, the clouds bending low, the billows

rolling high, all nature wrapped in darkness; in his de-

spair he kneels and commits his soul to God, when he

suddenly beholds the North Star breaking through the

clouds, enabling him to guide his ship to the shores of

safety. Many things were made plain to me. I saw

that there is one Fatherhood of God and one brother-

hood of man; that though "once I was blind, now I see;"

that there was no more pain, nor aches, no fear, nor in-

digestion. I slept that night like a babe and awoke next

morning refreshed. There are now no traces whatever of

my former complaint and I feel like a new being. – L. P.,

New York, N. Y.

622:20
HEALTH AND PEACE GAINED

622:21
About nine years ago I was drawn to Christian

Science by a relative whose many afflictions had given

place to health and harmony, and whose loving grati-

tude was reflected in every word and deed. The

thought came to me, God indeed healeth all our

diseases.

622:27
My first reading of Science and Health was without

understanding. I was full of darkness and gloom, and

it was laid aside for a time. The good seed had been

sown, however, and erelong the reading was resumed,

623:1
and with such interest that my afflictions disappeared

"like mist before the morning sun." Asthma (thought

to be hereditary), neuralgia in an aggravated form, and

besides these, the tobacco and liquor habit of many years'

standing left me. Bless the Lord, "He sent his word"

and healed me, – for the reading of Science and Health

brought to my consciousness the truth that makes free. –

S., Shellman, Ga.

623:9
CONSUMPTION QUICKLY CURED

623:10
I became interested in Christian Science nearly five

years ago through the healing of my wife of what the

doctors called consumption in its last stages. I had tried

everything that I could get in the way of materia medica,

and every doctor would tell me nearly the same story

about the case. At last they recommended for her only

a higher, drier climate, and when she would be at her

worst to give her something to quiet her.

623:18
I tried different climates, but she was no better,

indeed worse. At last she struggled along until the

first of March, 1899. She had taken to her bed again.

For two days and nights she suffered, and I called a

physician. He came and diagnosed the case, and said

that he could do nothing for her but give her some

morphine tablets to make her rest. I gave her two

of them according to direction, and just before the

time to give her the third, she called me to her bed-

side, and said, "Don't give me any more of that stuff,

for it does me more harm than good," so I turned and

placed them in the fire, though I did not then know any-

thing about Christian Science. We had heard of it, but

624:1
that was all. I gave her the last tablet at eight o'clock

that night, and about nine o'clock the next day a lady

who had been healed in Christian Science visited her,

and introduced her to this great truth. She accepted it

and thought she would try it. The lady loaned her Sci-

ence and Health. She got the book about ten o'clock

that day and read it until dinner was called. She ate a

hearty dinner, the first in about three days, and that same

evening she dressed herself, walked into the dining-room,

ate a hearty supper and enjoyed it. She slept well that

night. She borrowed this lady's copy of Science and

Health two hours each day for eight days, and was

healed. The first day that she read Science and Health

she weighed about ninety-five pounds. Three months

later she weighed one hundred and thirty-five pounds. –

A. J. D., Houston, Tex.

624:17
A PROFITABLE STUDY

624:18
It may help others to know that some one was really

healed of severe illness through Christian Science. It

is over nine years since we first became interested in

the Science, and it would be hard to find a healthier

person than I am now. I can go all day, from morn-

ing till night, upheld by the thought that "they that

wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." I

can truly say that I scarcely know what physical wear-

iness is any more. Before I came into Science the

physicians said that one lung was gone, and that the

other was affected with tuberculosis; so, from their

standpoint, there was little left for me to hope for. We

had tried every remedy that they had suggested. I had

625:1
gone to the mountains, but could not stay there on account

of the altitude; and when they did not know what else

to do, they said we would better go to England – that

the ocean air would be beneficial. So we spent three

months in the British Isles, and when I came back I

seemed much better, but this only lasted a short time.

In little more than a month I was worse than ever, and

my mother was told that I had but a few weeks, or at

most months, to live.

625:10
At that time, a lady, a stranger to us, suggested that

we try Christian Science. There was no prejudice against

it, as we did not even know what it was. We knew of

no Scientists in the Western town where we were living,

and when we were told that we could send to Kansas City

for absent treatment, we thought it was absurd. We were

then told that many people had been healed through the

reading of the Christian Science textbook, Science and

Health, and to us this seemed a little worse than the

absent treatment, but as we had tried everything we

had heard of up to that time, my mother sent for the

book.

625:22
It came in the middle of October and we began to read

it together. It seemed to me from the first that it was

something I had always believed, but did not know how

to express – it seemed such a natural thing. My im-

provement was very gradual, but I felt I was recovering.

After the Christmas holidays I started in at school and

went the whole term without missing a day, – some-

thing I had never done before. I finished my school

course without missing a day – in fact, I have not spent

a day in bed since that time. I feel absolutely certain

that I have two sound, healthy lungs now. The hollows

626:1
in my chest have filled out, and I breathe perfectly on both

sides; rarely have a cold to meet, and have not a sign of

a cough.

626:4
People sometimes say, "Oh, well, maybe you never had

consumption." Well, I had all the symptoms, and they

are every one gone through the reading of Science and

Health. – E. L. B., Chicago, Ill.

626:8
HEALED OF INFIDELITY AND MANY PHYSICAL ILLS

626:9
I feel compelled to write my testimony and hope that

I may be accepted as one more witness to the Truth as con-

tained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

626:12
In the year 1883 I first heard of Christian Science. I

was sitting in a saloon in Leadville, Col., reading a daily

paper of that place. My eyes lighted upon an article

which spoke of some peculiar people in Boston who

claimed to have discovered how to heal as Jesus healed.

I do not remember much of the article, but those words

stayed with me.

626:19
I had drifted out to Colorado from New York City (my

home), where I had been under the treatment of many

leading physicians. The last one, who was too honest

to take my money knowing that he could not cure me,

advised me to keep away from doctors and quit taking

medicine, as nothing but death could cure me. My

trouble was pronounced by some to be Bright's disease,

by others gravel on the kidneys with very acute inflam-

mation of the bladder and prostate gland.

626:28
In the spring of 1888 my wife and myself were spend-

ing the evening at the house of a gentleman whose wife

had been healed in the East by Christian Science. The

627:1
gentleman took a book from its bookcase saying, "Here

is a work on Christian Science." It proved to be Science

and Health. I knew as soon as I had read the title-page

that this was the very book we wanted. We immediately

sent for the book, and when it arrived we obeyed the angel

and feasted on it. I was very much prejudiced against

the Bible, and my first demonstration over self was to

consent to read the four Gospels. My wife bought me a

New Testament and I began to read it. What a change

came over me! All my prejudice was gone in an instant!

When I read the Master's words, I caught his meaning

and the lesson he tried to convey. It was not difficult for

me to accept the whole Bible, for I could not help myself,

I was just captured. The disease with which I had been

troubled for years tormented me worse than ever for

about six months, as if trying to turn me aside; but I lost

all fear of it.

627:18
I kept up my study of Science and Health and the dis-

ease disappeared. I can honestly say that Science and

Health was my only healer, and it has been my only

teacher. – R. A. C., Los Angeles, Cal.

627:22
DISEASED EYES CURED

627:23
Christian Science came to me when I was a wreck, my

body being completely covered with sores. My eyes were

very bad, so that I sat in a darkened room for weeks to-

gether, most of the time in bed under opiates. The home

doctor and a specialist said the disease of the eyes could not

be cured, though they might help me for a while. I had

one operation, and the doctor said if I took cold I would

become totally blind. My suffering was beyond telling.

628:1
A clergyman called almost every day, and sat by my bed

and wept, and my good, kind doctor shed tears many times.

Finally, after a year of this terrible suffering, I was sent

to Indiana, to a sister who had been healed of lung trouble

by Christian Science. The first day I was there she read

to me from the Bible and from "Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and I was healed.

I knew that God was no respecter of persons, and when I

saw what had been done for my sister, who was changed

from being a mere frame to a strong, robust, healthy, rosy-

cheeked woman, the cough all gone, I said, "God has as

much for me, if I will accept it." I was healed instan-

taneously by Christian Science, and am thankful to God

for giving us this understanding through Mrs. Eddy,

our beloved Leader. I am now in perfect health. –

Mrs. F. S., Laurel, Miss.

628:17
THE TEXTBOOK HEALED ME

628:18
For twelve years previous to the fall of 1897 I had been

under the care of a physician much of the time. Different

opinions were given by them, as to the nature of the trouble,

some diagnosing it as an abnormal growth, etc. I was

healed through reading "Science and Health with Key to

the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. It was a clear case of

transformation of the body by the renewal of the mind.

I am perfectly well at the present time. – J. M. H.,

Omaha, Neb.

628:27
OBSTINATE STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED

628:28
There is no doubt that by far the greater number come

to Christian Science by the way of physical healing, but

629:1
there are those to whom this does not particularly appeal.

In the hope that it may be of benefit to some such, and in

gratitude for help received, I submit my own experience.

Three years ago I knew nothing of Christian Science, aside

from the knowledge gathered from the daily papers and

current literature. When I thought of the subject at all,

it was to class Christian Science with various human the-

ories with which I could not be in sympathy, for they

seemed to rely upon both good and evil. I had never

known of a case of healing, had never read the textbook

or heard of the Journal or Sentinel, but I would sometimes

see people going into the Christian Science church. I was

tired of trying to find anything satisfactory in religious

belief, for it seemed as if God either could not or would

not bring into harmony the terrible conditions existing in

human society. I had quit using any form of prayer ex-

cept the Lord's Prayer, and even then omitted the words

"lead us not into temptation." How I longed to know

just a little of the "why?" and "wherefore?" of it all.

629:20
Here is where Christian Science found me. I was

thrown in contact with a dear friend of whom I had seen

very little for a year or more, a thoroughly educated woman

and a thinker. She told me she had taken some treatments

in Christian Science for a physical trouble, and had be-

come very much interested in the study of "Science and

Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. She

asked me if I would like to look at the book, and I said I

I would be glad to do so. The first chapter, "Prayer,"

appealed to me from the first, and when I came to Mrs.

Eddy's spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer (Science and

Health, p. 17), my interest was fully aroused. I knew

that in a dim way I was learning what it means to "pray

630:1
without ceasing." Very soon I bought a book of my own,

and with the help of our Lesson-Sermons, as given in the

Quarterly, I began in earnest the study of Science and

Health, in connection with the Bible.

630:5
I stood very much in need of physical healing at this

time, having suffered for several years from an obstinate

form of stomach trouble. So far as I know, I gave no

thought to the benefits I might derive physically from the

study, but I did believe this Science held the truth of things,

and I was so absorbed in getting an understanding of the

Principle that I thought very little of myself. After about

three or four months' study I realized that the stomach

trouble was gone, and with it went other physical troubles,

which have never returned. This healing was brought

about by the earnest, conscientious seeking for the truth,

as contained in the Bible and interpreted by our Leader

in our textbook, Science and Health. I have since learned

more of the Science of healing and have been able in a

small way to help others in need. I have also learned

that in living and loving is healing realized, and in reflect-

ing divine Love I have the "signs following."

630:22
When we think of the pure, loving, unselfish life Mrs.

Eddy must have lived in order to become conscious of this

truth and give it to us, words are a poor medium through

which to express the gratitude which her followers feel for

her. It is best expressed by obediently following her, even

as she is following Christ. – H. T., Omaha, Neb.

630:28
DYSPEPSIA QUICKLY HEALED

630:29
It has occurred to me that I have had ample time to

meditate on the many blessings which I have received

631:1
through Christian Science, as it is now more than six

years since I was entirely healed of dyspepsia as well as

constipation in its worst form by the reading of Science

and Health. So aggravated were the conditions that for

three years or more I was unable to drink a glass of cold

water. Everything that I drank had to be hot, and my

only means of relief from the bowel trouble was hot water

injections, for a period of more than three years.

631:9
I can truthfully say that I was permanently, and I might

say instantly, healed of those two ailments by reading

Science and Health as before stated, and in fact I do not

think I had read more than thirty pages of this book when

I ignored entirely the most rigid kind of diet. I ate and

drank everything I wished without a single harmful effect

from that time to this date, and there has not been a drop

of medicine in our home for more than six years, in a fam-

ily of five.

631:18
I have also seen the power of Truth manifested in our

home by having our youngest child relieved of the most

excruciating pain, and changed to his most playful mood,

immediately upon notifying one of the faithful practi-

tioners of this city. For all this I am endeavoring to be

thankful to God and to our faithful Leader, Mrs. Eddy,

whose pure and undefiled life enabled her to discover this

precious truth for the benefit of all mankind. – M. C.

McK., Denver, Col.

631:27
AFTER TWENTY YEARS' SUFFERING

631:28
From early girlhood I was considered an invalid, hav-

ing been injured by a hard fall while playing. The pain

was intense for some time and for several hours I was un-

632:1
able to walk or stand alone. Later, a growing weakness

of the back accompanied with sharp pains alarmed my

parents, who called a physician, and he pronounced it

spinal trouble. Then followed nearly twenty years of

increased suffering, at times very severe. As years went

by and I became a wife and mother, my suffering in-

creased. Everything that medical skill could do was

done, but finding no lasting benefit from anything, I lost

hope of recovery.

632:10
When Christian Science found me I was under the

doctor's sentence that if I lived the week through I would

become entirely helpless, not able to move hand or foot.

My husband was a travelling man, and being urgently

called home, he met an old friend on the train who asked

why we did not try Christian Science. The reply, We

know nothing of it, was followed by a brief explanation

of its healing power and the benefit his family had re-

ceived. This inspired my husband with new hope, and

on his arrival at home he called on a practitioner, who

recommended our getting Science and Health, which we

did, but ignorance and the prejudice of old education

produced such fear that I hid the book under the covers

of the bed whenever the children came into the room,

fearing that it was not of God and would injure them.

God's dear love was, however, more potent than these

foolish fears, and the first day I read from its sacred pages

I was convinced its teachings were the same truths as

Jesus Christ had taught centuries ago. When I had read

a few pages, I reached out and threw my medicine from the

open window at the head of my bed. I then turned back to

the book and began reading again, when, lo, the Christ-idea

dawned upon me, and I was healed instantaneously.

633:1
I first noticed the spot in my back cooling, and soon

I got out of bed. I continued to read eagerly; I felt as

if I wanted to devour the healing truth, and drank it in

as a thirsty plant does the gentle rain. When dinner was

prepared, I walked out and ate a hearty meal with the

family, to the amazement of all. We shall never forget

what a joyful meal this was. How we did thank God

for Christian Science!

633:9
As year after year has gone by, till twenty years have

passed and the healing has remained perfect, I have

grown to thank God with deeper sincerity that one brave

woman was found pure enough to bring forth this Christ‑

healing again, to remain forever among men and to save

suffering humanity from all disease and sin. – Mrs.

P. L. H., Fairmont, Minn.

633:16
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE AND JOY

633:17
I have often had a desire to make public what Chris-

tian Science has done for me, but I never could tell of

all my blessings, they are so many. From childhood

I was always sick, never knew one hour of rest, and was

under the doctor's care most of the time. I was living in

the East at that time, and was advised to try change of

climate, which I did. I came West with my family in

the spring of the year, but instead of growing better I

grew steadily worse, until at last I was obliged to keep

my bed for nearly three years, – a great sufferer. My

ailments were, it seemed, all that flesh is heir to, and

were called incurable by the doctors; viz., Bright's dis-

ease, and many others, – in the last stages. My case was

known among physicians, many of whom were prominent

634:1
specialists, as a most extreme one. Many, upon looking

at me, would turn away with a wise shake of the head

and say, "What keeps her alive?" My physicians, who

were exceedingly kind and did all that lay within their

power for me, gave me up and the death sentence was

pronounced on me by all who attended me.

634:7
It was then I realized that "man's extremity is God's

opportunity." The "little book" was handed me at this

hour of great need. I read it, not thinking it would heal

me, but, like a drowning man, I grasped at it. I read it,

read it again, and soon found myself growing stronger;

then I kept on reading and was perfectly healed of all the

supposedly incurable diseases. – L. B., Austin, Minn.

634:14
TRUTH MAKES FREE

634:15
As the son of a physician, a graduate in pharmacy,

and an ex-druggist, I had a perfect contempt for what

I thought Christian Science to be. About six and a half

years ago, however, having exhausted all material means

at my command, – materia medica, electricity, gym-

nastics, cycling, and so on, – and being in a hopeless

state, the study of Christian Science was taken up. I

had been a sufferer from catarrh and sore throat for over

thirty years, and in the last five were added several others,

including dyspepsia, and bronchitis, and a loss in flesh of

sixty pounds. I was completely healed, and regained

health, strength, and flesh through the spiritual under-

standing of Christian Science, the result of about six

weeks' study. This good and perfect gift came to me

through the careful and prayerful study of Christian

Science, as revealed to the world to-day through Science

635:1
and Health. The promise of Christ Jesus, "the truth

shall make you free," was fulfilled, and the past six years

of health and harmony have been spent in striving to

"hold fast that which is good."

635:5
While most grateful for the physical healing, my grati-

tude for the mental and spiritual regeneration is beyond

expression. When I learned that Jesus' mission of heal-

ing sickness as well as sin did not end with his short stay

upon earth, but is practical in all ages, my joy was un-

bounded. Having spent thousands in the old way, it

seemed wonderful to be healed at such small cost as the

price of the "little book" and a few weeks' study. Every

thought of prejudice immediately vanished before the

proofs that Christian Science is indeed the elucidation

and practical application of Jesus' teachings, which are

demonstrable truth, "The same yesterday, and to-day,

and forever." – C. N. C., Memphis, Tenn.

635:18
DEAF EARS UNSTOPPED

635:19
As a mother of a family my heart goes out in love and

gratitude to that good woman we are privileged to call

our Leader, for all she has done through her book for me

and mine.

635:23
Ten years ago I was healed of hereditary deafness and

catarrh of the head, simply through reading the book,

Science and Health. For years previous I had consulted

and taken treatment from some of the best specialists

for the ear and throat, both in England and America,

but grew worse all the time. I was then urged by a lady

who had been healed through Christian Science to buy

this book and study it. I did so very reluctantly, but

636:1
had not read fifty pages before I felt I had indeed found

the truth which makes free, and can truly say, from that

time I have never had a return of the ailment.

636:4
That for which I am, however, most grateful, is the

daily help it is to me in my household of young chil-

dren. I am sure if mothers only knew what Christian

Science truly means they would give all they possess

to know it. We have seen croup, measles, fever, and

various other children's complaints, so-called, disappear

like dew before the morning sun, through the applica-

tion of Christian Science, – the understanding of God

as ever-present and omnipotent. It has been proven

to me without a doubt that God is a very present help in

trouble, and what a blessed help this wonderful truth is

in the training of our children, and how quickly the child

grasps it.

636:17
Some time ago my little girl, then three years old,

dislocated her shoulder. I was alone in the house at

the time. The pain was so intense that she became

faint. I treated her the best I knew how, but kept

holding the thought that just as soon as some one came

I would run for help. She seemed to grow worse and

cried very much. I undressed her and tried to twist

the arm into place, but it caused such suffering that I

began to get afraid. Then like a flash came the thought,

What would you do if you were out of the reach of a prac-

titioner? Now is your time to prove God's power and

presence. With these thoughts came such a sense of

calm and trustfulness that I lost all fear. I then asked

the child if I should read to her; she said "Yes, mamma,

read the truth-book." I began reading aloud to her

from Science and Health. In about half an hour I noticed

637:1
she tried to lift the arm but screamed and became

very pale. I continued to read aloud and again she made

an effort to put some candy into her mouth. This time

I noticed with joy that she almost reached her mouth

before she felt the pain. I kept reading aloud to her

until my sister and two boys came in, when she jumped

off her bed, so delighted to see her brothers that she for-

got her arm. She then began to tell her aunt that she

had broken her arm and mamma treated it with the truth-

book. When this happened, it was about 10.30 A. M.

and by 3 P. M. she was playing out doors as though

nothing had ever happened. – Mrs. M. G., Winnipeg,

Man.

637:14
SAVED FROM INSANITY AND SUICIDE

637:15
A few years ago, while under a sense of darkness and

despair caused by ill health and an unhappy home, Sci-

ence and Health was loaned me with a request that I

should read it.

637:19
At that time my daughter was given up by materia

medica to die of lingering consumption, supposed to have

been inherited. My own condition seemed even more

alarming, as insanity was being manifested, and rather

than go to an insane asylum, it seemed to me the only

thing to do was to commit suicide. Heart trouble, kid-

ney complaint, and continual headaches caused from

female trouble were some of the many ailments I had

to contend with. My doctor tried to persuade me to

undergo an operation as a means of relief, but I had

submitted to a severe operation ten years previous, and

found only additional suffering as a result, so I would

not consent.

638:1
When I began with Science and Health, I read the

chapter on "Prayer" first, and at that time did not sup-

pose it possible for me to remember anything I read,

but felt a sweet sense of God's protection and power,

and a hope that I should at last find Him to be what

I so much needed, – a present help in time of trouble.

Before that chapter on "Prayer" was finished, my daugh-

ter was downstairs eating three meals a day, and daily

growing stronger. Before I had finished reading the

textbook she was well, but never having heard that the

reading of Science and Health healed any one, it was

several months before I gave God the glory.

638:13
One by one my many ailments left me, all but the head-

aches; they were less frequent, until at the end of three

years the fear of them was entirely overcome.

638:16
Neither myself nor my daughter have ever received

treatments, but the study of the Bible and Science and

Health, the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy,

has healed us and keeps us well.

638:20
While Christian Science was very new to me, I at-

tended an experience meeting in First Church of Christ,

Scientist, Chicago. A gentleman told of an unhappy

woman who was about to separate from her husband.

This gentleman had asked her if she did not love her

husband. She replied, "No; when I married him I

did, but not now." He told her God made man in His

image and likeness, and that He is perfect. He said

to her, "Go home and see only God's perfect man; you

don't need to love a sinful mortal such as you have been

looking upon." The lady followed his advice, as he

told her there is no separation in divine Mind. In a

short time peace and harmony were in her home, and

639:1
both husband and wife became members of a Christian

Science church.

639:3
This testimony was like a message from heaven to me.

I had received many benefits from the study of Science

and Health, but it had never dawned upon my darkened

consciousness till then how wonderful our God is. I

knew what had taken place in that home could take place

in my unhappy home where there was neither rest nor

peace.

639:10
I hopefully took up my cross, and step by step my

burden grew lighter, as I journeyed along, realizing the

presence of the Christ, Truth, that indeed makes us

free. Not all at once did any outward change appear,

but at the end of three years all was peace, all the

members of the family attending church together and

realizing that there is but one Mind. – E. J. B., Supe-

rior, Wis.

639:18
STOMACH TROUBLE HEALED

639:19
I was healed of stomach trouble of many years' stand-

ing by reading Science and Health. My condition had

reached the stage in which I had periodical attacks, that

came on with greater frequency. I was a travelling sales-

man, and it was a common occurrence for me to have to

call a physician to my hotel to administer morphine for

an acute form of this disease. This became a regular

thing at certain places, and these attacks always left me

worse than before. As a result of the last one I lost a

great deal in weight. I had tried many physicians and

most of the usual remedies during these years of suffer-

ing, without any good result. Finally, as a last resort, I

640:1
decided to try Christian Science, and I was healed by

reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"

by Mrs. Eddy.

640:4
My health has been of the best since I was healed, now

six years ago. In the family we have depended entirely

on Christian Science for our healing, and have ever found

it efficacious. We consider the physical healing, however,

only incidental to the understanding of God and His good-

ness. This, together with our increased love for the Bible,

is proving most valuable to us. We are humbly trying

to live the lives that will prove our gratitude to God, and

to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy. – Charles E. Peck,

St. Johnsbury, Vt.

640:14
FREED FROM MANY YEARS OF SUFFERING

640:15
In the spring of 1880 I was taken down with a severe

attack of stomach trouble, was bedfast for three months,

and not able to drive out for nearly six months. During

this time I had three good doctors treating me. I gained

a little in strength, but had very little relief from the

stomach trouble. I was recommended to try mineral

springs and did so, but with the same disappointment. I

went to a sanitarium, but yet the stomach trouble pre-

vailed. I had some friends who recommended patent

medicines, but no healing came.

640:25
I worried along in this way for several years. Finally

I read medicine nearly two years with a good doctor

friend, especially for my own benefit, and during this

time I had a severe attack of bladder trouble, and for

fifteen years I suffered so severely at times that I thought

life was not really worth living. In connection with these

641:1
troubles I suffered every winter with rheumatism and

the grip. I also had a growth coming on both eyes called

cataract, which caused my eyes to be inflamed nearly

all the time, and this growth had made such progress

that it was causing my vision to be very dim when read-

ing. Corns were not forgotten, as I was reminded of

them very frequently, and for all these troubles I had tried

every remedy I heard of that I was able to get, specialists

included, without relief.

641:10
Thanks to a friend who took me in this hopeless, dis

couraged condition and led me to the light that never

knows darkness, I got a copy of Science and Health by

Mrs. Eddy and was healed in a short time by reading this

work. – D. W. L., Anderson, Ind.

641:15
RELIEF FROM INTENSE SUFFERING

641:16
I became interested in Christian Science in 1901. For

four or five years I had suffered with severe attacks which

nothing but an opiate seemed to relieve. After one

which I think was the worst I ever had, I consulted our

family physician, who diagnosed my case as a dangerous

kidney disease and said that no medicine could help me

but that I must undergo a surgical operation. I con-

tinued to grow worse and went to see the physician again,

and he advised me to consult a doctor who was connected

with the city hospital of Augusta. This doctor made

an examination and diagnosed the difficulty as some-

thing different but quite as serious. Meanwhile a friend

offered me a copy of Science and Health. I said I did

not care to read the book, but she was so urgent that I

finally promised to do so. I received the book on Satur-

642:1
day, and on Sunday morning I sat down to read it. When

I reached the place where Mrs. Eddy says she found this

truth in the Bible, I began comparing the two books. I

read passages which looked very reasonable to me, and

said to myself, This is nearer to the truth than any-

thing I have ever seen. I continued to read all day,

stopping only long enough to eat my dinner. As I read

on, everything became clearer to me, and I felt that I

was healed. During the evening a neighbor came in,

and I said, "I am healed, and that book has healed me."

I read on and was certainly healed. Eight days after

my healing I did my own washing. This occurred in

February, 1901. About six weeks after, I was called

to care for my mother, who was under the care of my

former physician. I again let him examine my side,

as he wished to see if the trouble was still there. He

said, "It is certainly gone." I said to him, "Doctor,

you told me I would never be a well woman unless I was

operated upon; what has healed me?" He replied, "God

has healed you." – S. H. L., North Pittston, Me.

642:21
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS

642:22
It is with sincere gratitude for the many blessings Chris-

tian Science has brought me, that I give this testimony.

I first heard of Christian Science about fifteen years

ago. A friend of mine was taking treatment for physical

troubles, and was reading the textbook of Christian

Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

The title of the book appealed to me very strongly. I

said to my friend, "If that is a Key to the Scriptures,

I must have it."

643:1
I had long been a member of a Bible class in an or-

thodox Sabbath school, but I never felt satisfied with

that which was taught; there was something lacking,

I did not understand then what it was. I purchased a

copy of Science and Health and began to study it. I

wish I could express in words what that book brought

me. It illumined the Bible with a glorious light and I

began to understand some of the Master's sayings, and

tried to apply them.

643:10
I had had a longing to live a better Christian life for

many years, and often wondered why I failed so utterly

to understand the Bible. Now I knew; it was lack of

spiritual apprehension.

643:14
I did not know at first that people were healed of dis-

ease and sin by simply reading Science and Health,

but found after a while that such was the case. At

that time I had many physical troubles, and one after

another of these ills simply disappeared and I found

that I had no disease, – I was perfectly free. The

spiritual uplifting was glorious, too, and as I go on in the

study of this blessed Science, I find I am gaining surely

an understanding that helps me to overcome both sin and

disease in myself and in others. My faith in good is in-

creased and I know I am losing my belief in evil as a power

equal to good. The pathway is not wearisome, because

each victory over self gives stronger faith and a more

earnest desire to press on. – E. J. R., Toledo, Ohio.

643:28
GRATEFUL FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

643:29
About four years ago, after I had tried different ways

and means to be relieved from bodily suffering, a faith-

644:1
ful friend called my attention to the teaching of Chris-

tian Science. After some opposition, I decided to in-

vestigate it, with the thoughtthat if this teaching would

be helpful, it was meant for me as well as for others; if

it did not afford any help, I could put it aside again, but

that I would find out and be convinced.

644:7
After I had read Mrs. Eddy's work, Science and Health,

a few days, I found that my ailments had disappeared,

and a rest had come to me which I had never before known.

I had smoked almost incessantly, although I had often

determined to use my will power and never smoke again,

but had always failed. This desire as well as the de-

sire for drink simply disappeared, and I wish to say here,

that I received all these benefits before I had gained much

understanding of what I was reading. Like a prisoner,

who had been in chains for years, I was suddenly set free.

I did not then know how the chain had been removed,

but I had to acknowledge that it came through the reading

of this book. I then felt an ardent desire to read more,

and to know what this power was that had freed me

in a few days of that which I had been trying for years

to shake off and had failed. It then became clear to

me that this was the truth which Jesus Christ taught

and preached to free humanity almost two thousand

years ago. It did not, however, occur to me to apply

it in my business affairs; on the contrary, I first thought

that if I continued in my study I would have to retire

from business.

644:29
This did not happen, however, for I gradually found

that the little understanding of this wonderful teach-

ing which I had acquired became a great help to me in

my business. I became more friendly, more honest,

645:1
more loving to my fellow-men; and I also acquired better

judgment and was able to do the right thing at the right

time. As a natural result my business improved. Be-

fore I knew anything of Christian Science my business

had often been a burden to me, fear and worry deprived

me of my rest. How different it is now! Through the

study of the Bible, which now possesses unmeasurable

treasures for me, and for our textbook, Science and Health,

and the other works of our Leader, I receive peace and

confidence in God and that insight into character which

is necessary for the correct management of any business.

– W. H. H., Bloomfield, Neb.

645:13
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE LUNGS CURED

645:14
For a long time I have been impelled to contribute a

testimony of the healing power of Truth. As I read

other testimonies and rejoice in them, some one may

rejoice in mine. I was healed by reading Science and

Health. By applying it, I found it to be the truth that

Jesus taught, – the truth that sets free.

645:20
From childhood I had never known a well day. I

was healed of lung trouble of long standing. Con-

sumption was hereditary in our family, my mother and

three brothers having passed on with it. The law of

materia medica said that in a short time I must fol-

low them. I also had severe stomach trouble of over

eight years' standing, during which time I always re-

tired without supper, as the fear of suffering from my

food was so great that I denied myself food when hun-

gry. For over twenty years I had ovarian trouble,

which was almost unbearable at times. It dated from

646:1
the birth of my first child, and at one time necessitated

an operation. I suffered with about all the ills that

flesh is heir to: I had trouble with my eyes from a child;

wore glasses for fourteen years, several oculists saying

I would go blind, one declaring I would be blind in less

than a year if I did not submit to an operation, which I

refused to do.

646:8
But thanks be to God whose Truth reached me through

the study of our textbook. Words fail to express what

Christian Science has done for me in various ways, for

my children, my home, my all. The physical healing

is but a small part; the spiritual unfolding and uplifting

is the "pearl of great price," the half that has never been

told. – Mrs. J. P. M., Kansas City, Mo.

646:15
TEXTBOOK APPRECIATED

646:16
It has been my privilege to have interviews with

representatives of more than sixty per cent of the na-

tions of this earth, under their own vine and fig-tree.

I had never heard a principle understandingly ad-

vanced that would enable mankind to obey the apos-

tolic command, "prove all things," until Science and

Health with Key to the Scriptures was placed in my

hands. I believe that the honest study of this book

in connection with the Bible will enable one to "prove

all things."

646:26
I make this unqualified statement because of what

my eyes have seen and my ears heard from my fellow‑

men of unquestioned integrity, and the positive proofs

I have gained by the study of these books. Many

supposed material laws that had been rooted and

647:1
grounded in my mentality from youth have been over-

come. It required some time for me to wake up to

our Leader's words in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206:

"The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained

through growth, not accretion." I had many disappoint-

ments and falls before I was willing to do the scientific

work required to prove this statement; yet notwithstanding

the cost to ourselves, I am convinced that we cannot do

much credit to the cause we profess to love until we place

ourselves in a position to prove God as He really is to us

individually, and our relation to Him, by scientific work.

647:12
I wish to express loving gratitude to our Leader for

the new edition of Science and Health. In studying

this new edition one cannot help seeing the wisdom,

love, and careful and prayerful thought expressed in

the revision. Often the changing of a single word in

a sentence makes the scientific thought not only more

lucid to him who is familiar with the book, but also to

those just coming into the blessed light. All honor to

that God-loving, God-fearing woman, Mary Baker G.

Eddy, whose only work is the work of love in the helping

of mankind to help themselves; who has placed before her

fellow-men understandingly, what man's divine rights are,

and what God really is. – H. W. B., Hartford, Conn.

647:25
RUPTURE AND OTHER SERIOUS ILLS HEALED

647:26
When I took up the study of Christian Science

nearly three years ago, I was suffering from a very

bad rupture of thirty-two years' standing. Sometimes

the pain was so severe that it seemed as if I could not

endure it. These spells would last four or five hours,

648:1
and while everything was done for me that could be

done, no permanent relief came to me until I com-

menced reading Science and Health with Key to the

Scriptures. After I had once looked into it I wanted to

read all the time. I was so absorbed in the study of

the "little book" that I hardly realized when the healing

came, but I was healed, not only of the rupture, but also

of other troubles, – inflammatory rheumatism, catarrh,

corns, and bunions.

648:10
I would never part with the book if I could not get

another. I am seventy-seven years old, and am enjoy-

ing very good health. – Mrs. M. E. P., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

648:13
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER HEALED

648:14
When Christian Science came to me, I had been tak-

ing medicine every day for twenty years, on account of

constipation. I had been treated by doctors and spe-

cialists; had taken magnetic treatments and osteopathy;

had tried change of climate; had an operation in a hospital,

and when I came out was worse than before. I was

so discouraged, after I had tried everything I ever heard

of, and was no better but rather grew worse, that it seemed

as though I must give up trying to get well, when a friend

suggested that I try Christian Science. I had heard

that Christian Scientists healed by prayer, and I thought

this must be the way Jesus had healed. I felt that this

was all there was left for me to try. I sent for the book,

Science and Health, and commenced to read it out of

curiosity, not thinking or knowing that I could be helped

by the reading, but thinking I must still take medicine

and that I must also have treatment by a Scientist. I,

649:1
however, dropped my medicine and read for three days;

then a light began to shine in the darkness. I was healed

of the trouble and have never had to take medicine since.

I have studied Science and Health faithfully ever since,

and other ailments have disappeared. My little daughter

has also been healed and has learned to use this knowledge

in her school work. – Mrs. O. R., Leadville, Col.

649:8
LIVER COMPLAINT HEALED

649:9
As my thoughts go back to the time when I believed

I had nothing to live for, and when each morning's awak-

ing from sleep brought a sense of disappointment to find

myself still among the living (for I had hoped each night

that I closed my eyes in sleep that it would be the last

time), my heart overflows with love and gratitude to

God for our dear Leader who discovered this blessed

truth and to the dear ones who have helped me so lov-

ingly and patiently over many rough places.

649:18
Twelve years ago, I consulted a physician because I

had noticed some odd-looking spots on one of my arms.

He said they were liver spots, but that it was not worth

while prescribing for those few, that I should wait until

I was covered with them. About three months later,

with the exception of my face and hands, I was covered

with them. Then I became alarmed and called on

another physician who prescribed for me, but he finally

said he could do no more for me. Other physicians

were consulted with no better results. Six years ago,

friends advised me to see their family physician, and

when I called on him he said he was positive he could

cure me, so I asked him to prescribe for me. At the

650:1
end of two years, after prescribing steadily, he said I

was so full of medicine that he was afraid to have me

take any more, and advised a rest. After having paid

out a small fortune, I was no better, and very much

discouraged.

650:6
Two years ago, having failed in business, I applied to

one of my patrons for a furnished room where I could

meet the few I still had left. This lady, who is a Christian

Scientist, loaned me Science and Health, and because

she asked me so often how I was getting on with the

book, I began reading it. I also attended the Wednes-

day evening meetings which I found very interesting.

After hearing the testimonies at the meetings, I decided

to speak to some practitioner about these spots, but

not until I had at least a hundred dollars on hand, be-

cause I thought I would require that amount for treat-

ments, as I had been accustomed to paying high prices.

I had not inquired about prices, and in fact did not speak

to any one about my intentions, because I felt sensitive

on this subject. When I had read about half of Science

and Health, I missed the spots, and upon searching

could find no trace of them. They had entirely dis-

appeared without treatment. In a few weeks the read-

ing of that book had accomplished what materia medica

had failed to accomplish in ten years. It is impossible

to express the feeling of relief and happiness which came

over me then. – C. K., Astoria, N. Y.

650:28
A CONVINCING INVESTIGATION

650:29
While I have testified to those around me and in many

localities, of my healing in Christian Science, I feel that

651:1
it is high time I put the candle in the candlestick where

all who will may see. My earliest recollection was a day

of suffering, – a physical inheritance from my mother,

which gave simple interest for a time until years ad-

vanced and compound interest was added. My father

was a physician, and material remedies were used for

my mother without avail, consequently his confidence

in them for me was shaken, – in fact he often told me

it was better to suffer without medicine than become a

chronic doser, without pain.

651:11
I began teaching in early life and continued for more

than twenty years, and during that time not a day passed

without pain, or fear of pain, and only for my innate

love of life it would have become an intolerable burden.

For five years oatmeal was my chief food and I became

almost as attached to it as Kaspar Hauser to his crust.

I was early taught to have faith in God, and many times

was relieved of pain only to have it appear again in an

aggravated form.

651:20
At last my heart cried out for the living God, and

the answer came by one of His messengers, who told

me of Christian Science. I replied that I believed God

could heal, but that I had no faith in the healing of Chris-

tian Science, but would like to investigate its theology,

as it might aid in giving me some clue to the meaning

of life. For three years I had searched the works of

the most scientific writers to find the origin of life; many

times I would think I had traced it to the beginning,

but it would elude my grasp every time. One day in

talking with my friend, she said she would like to loan

me the textbook, Science and Health, which I very will-

ingly accepted. Not long afterward I felt a severe

652:1
attack of suffering. I opened the book for the first

time and found a paragraph near the middle which

attracted my attention. I read the same paragraph over

and over for nearly two hours. When the tea bell rang

I closed the book and I shall never forget my per-

ception of the new heaven and the new earth, – every-

thing in nature that I could see seemed to have been

washed and made clean. The flowers that I have

always loved so much, and that from childhood had

told me such sweet stories, now spoke to me of the

All-in-all, the hearts of my friends seemed kinder, – I

had touched the hem of the garment of healing.

652:13
I ate my supper that evening forgetful of the prepa-

rations I had made for suffering, and when the next

day began I was more zealous of good work than ever

before. Since closing Science and Health at my first

reading I have never been able to find the paragraph

which I had read so many times over, the words seemed

to have slipped away from me, but my joy knew no

bounds at having found the pearl of great price. By

the continued reading of the book I was entirely

healed, and for fourteen years I have not seen a day

of physical suffering. – Miss L. M., Rome, N. Y.

652:24
DEAFNESS AND DROPSY HEALED

652:25
I had been deaf from childhood. I suffered intensely

after eating, and dropsy was another of my complaints.

This, with consumption, caused one doctor to say, "It

puzzles me; I have never seen such a case before as

yours."

652:30
I met a friend who had been cured in Christian

653:1
Science, and she said, "Try Christian Science." I got

a copy of Science and Health and in three weeks I

was entirely cured. I felt uplifted. It seemed as if

God's arms were around and about me. I felt as if

heaven had come down to earth for me. After five

years of suffering can any one wonder at my unspeak-

able gratitude? – A. B., Pittsburg, Pa.

653:8
GRATEFUL FOR MANY BLESSINGS

653:9
In 1894 I began the study of Christian Science. At

that time I was greatly in need of its healing truth.

For a number of years previous I had been a semi‑

invalid with no hope of ever being well and strong

again. Several years before this time I had undergone

an operation which resulted in peritonitis. For three

years previous to my study of Science and Health

by Mrs. Eddy, I was scarcely ever free from headache

caused by the weakened and diseased condition of the

internal organs. At the time I began the study of

Christian Science I was taking five kinds of medicine.

653:20
I began to read Science and Health, and did not

take treatment, for I thought, "If this is truth, I shall

be healed; if it is not, I shall be able to detect it,

and will have nothing to do with it." I became a

devoted student and gradually my bodily diseases left

me, – I was free, and since that time, nearly ten

years ago, neither my two children nor myself have

taken any medicine; and our understanding of truth

has been able to meet and overcome any suggestion of

illness.

653:30
I was a devoted member of an orthodox church,

654:1
but as I grew older I began to question my beliefs,

and to my questions I could find no satisfactory an-

swer. I became dissatisfied and finally ceased attend-

ing church. I could not accept the idea of God taught

there, and at last my friends looked sadly upon me as

an atheist. There I stood until I learned to know God

as revealed in Science and Health, and then all my

questionings were answered. In my girlhood I had

always prayed to the God I held in mind, and when

the shadows of sickness pain, and death came to my

family, I prayed as only those can who know that if

He helps not, there is none; but my prayers were

unanswered. Then I closed my Bible, saying, "There

is a mistake somewhere, perhaps some time I may

know."

654:16
Only those who know the attitude of mind that I

was in can understand the joy that came to me as I

began to learn of God in Christian Science, and of my

relation to Him.

654:20
Many proofs of the healing power of Truth and of

His protecting care throng my thoughts. Seven years

ago, when we were in a far distant country, where

Christian Science was then unknown, my little daughter

came in one morning from her school, saying, "Mother,

I have measles; twenty of the girls are sick in bed and I

am afraid they will put me there also." Her face, hands,

and chest were covered with a deep red rash, throat sore,

and eyes inflamed. We began immediately to do our work

in Science and at night, when I left her at the door of the

college, her face was clear, her eyes bright, and all fear

destroyed. That was the end of the disease. – F. M. P.,

Boston, Mass.

655:1
A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE

655:2
In love and gratitude to God, and to Mrs. Eddy, the

interpreter of Jesus' beautiful teachings, I wish to tell

of some of the benefits which I have received from

Christian Science. It is a little over a year since

Science found me in a deplorable condition, physically

as well as mentally. I had ailments of many years'

standing, – chronic stomach trouble, severe eye trouble,

made almost unbearable from the constant fear of

losing my sight (a fate which had befallen my

mother), also a painful rupture of twenty-five years'

standing. These ailments, combined with unhappy

conditions in my home, made me very despondent. I

had entirely lost my belief in an all-merciful God, and

I did not know where to turn for help. At that time

Christian Science was brought to my notice, and I shall

never forget the sublime moment when I perceived that

an all-loving Father is always with me. Forgotten was

all sorrow and worry, and after four weeks' reading in

Science and Health all my ailments had disappeared.

I am today a healthy, contented woman.

655:22
All this has come to pass in one short year, and my

earnest desire is to be more and more worthy to be

called a child of God. This is in loving gratitude for

an understanding of this glorious truth. – Mrs. R. J.,

Chicago, Ill.

655:27
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP

655:28
It is a year since I began to read Science and Health,

and I will now try to outline what a knowledge of its

teachings has done for me.

656:1
My condition was then very trying; my eyes, which

had caused me much trouble since childhood, were

very painful. For these I had been treated by some

of the best specialists in my native land, and after

coming to the United States I had been doctored

much and had worn glasses for four years. I also had

catarrh, for which I had taken much medicine without

being relieved. In addition to this I was an excessive

smoker, using tobacco in some form almost constantly.

I had contracted a smoker's heart, and used liquors

freely.

656:12
The one who brought to me that which I now prize

so highly, was a book agent. I told him that I should

be forced to leave my trade on account of my eyes.

He then told me of having been healed of a cancer,

through Christian Science treatment. He showed me

a copy of Science and Health, which had the signs of

much use, and after being assured that if I did my part

I would be healed of all my diseases, I sent for a copy of

the book.

656:21
My recovery was very rapid, for after reading the

book only three weeks I was completely healed of the

tobacco habit. I will say, in regard to this healing,

that it did not require even as much as a resolution

on my part. I was smoking a cigar, while reading

Science and Health, when all the desire to continue

smoking left me, and I have never had a desire to use

tobacco in any form since then. My eyes were the

next to manifest the influence of the new knowledge

gained, and had soon so far recovered that I could go

about my work with ease, and I have had no more

use for glasses. To-day my heart is normal, the catarrh

657:1
has totally disappeared, and I am not addicted to the

use of liquor.

657:3
Christian Science has proved to be an ever-present

help, not only in overcoming physical ailments, but in

business and daily life. It has also overcome a great

sense of fear. The Bible, which I regarded with

suspicion, has become my guide, and Christianity has

become a sweet reality, because the Christian Science

textbook has indeed been a "Key to the Scriptures" and

has breathed through the Gospel pages a sweet sense of

harmony. – A. F., Sioux City, Iowa.

657:12
SEVERE EYE TROUBLE OVERCOME

657:13
After hearing Christian Science lightly spoken of,

from a Christian pulpit, I decided to go to one of the

services and hear for myself. From infancy I had

been devoted to my church, and as soon as I was old

enough I was ever active in the work. Feeling it to

be my duty to attend every service held in my own

church, I took advantage of the Wednesday evening

meetings. My first visit was not my last, I am thank-

ful to say, for I saw immediately that these people

not only preached Christianity, but practised and lived

it. At that time I was wearing glasses and had worn

them for sixteen years. At times I suffered the most

intense pain, and for this phase of the trouble, one

specialist after another had been consulted. All gave

me very much the same advice; each one urged ex-

treme carefulness and gave me glasses that seemed to

relieve for a time. None of them held out any hope

that my sight would ever be restored, saying that the

658:1
defect had existed since infancy, and that in time I should

be blind.

658:3
The thought of blindness was very distressing to me,

but I tried to bear it with Christian resignation, since

I thought that God had seen fit to afflict me; but since

I have learned that He is a loving Father, who gives

only good, I regret that I ever charged Him with my

affliction. I had no treatment, but I read Science and

Health, and my eyes were healed and glasses laid aside.

I can never find words to express my thanks to our dear

Leader, through whose teachings my sight has been re-

gained. I can truthfully say that "whereas I was blind,

now I see" – through an understanding of Truth I

have found my sight perfect as God gave it. – Miss

B. S., Wilmington, N. C.

658:16
A TESTIMONY FROM IRELAND

658:17
It is with a heart full of love and gratitude to God,

and to our dear Leader, that I send this testimony to

the Field. I had never been a strong girl; had always

been subject to colds and chills, and suffered all my

life from a delicate throat. Seven years ago I had a

very severe attack of rheumatic fever and subsequently

two less severe ones. These left all sorts of evils be-

hind them, – debility, chronic constipation, and several

others, so that with these ills my life was often a

burden to me and I used to think I never should re-

ceive relief or health. I had also lost all love for

God and faith in Him. I could not accept a God who,

as I then believed, visited sickness and sorrow upon

His children as a means for drawing them to Him.

659:1
I was in this state of mind and body when Christian

Science found me. A dear friend, seeing my suffering,

presented the truth to me, and though at first I did not

believe that there could be healing for me, the Chris-

tian Scientists' God seemed to be the one I had been

looking for all my life. I began to read Science and

Health, and shall never forget my joy at finding that

I could love and trust God. I took to studying the

Bible, and read nothing but Science and Health and

other Christian Science literature for a year. After

studying the "little book" for about six weeks, I one

day realized that I was a well woman, that I had taken

no medicine for three weeks, and that my body was

perfectly harmonious. The reading of Science and

Health had healed me. The wonderful joy and spirit-

ual uplifting which came to me then no words of mine

can describe. I had also suffered from astigmatism

and had for several years been obliged to use special

glasses when reading or working, and could never use

my eyes for more than half an hour; but from the first

reading of Science and Health I found that I could read

in any light and for any length of time without the slight-

est discomfort. I am not only grateful for the physi-

cal healing but for the mental regeneration. I rejoice

that I am now able to help others who are sick and sor-

rowing. – E. E. L., Curragh Camp, County Kildare,

Ireland.

659:28
THE TEXTBOOK MAKES OPERATION UNNECESSARY

659:29
In the early part of the year 1895 my physician said I

must undergo a surgical operation in order ever to be well.

660:1
While in great fear, and dreading the operation, a kind

neighbor called, and after telling me of Christian Science

gave me a copy of Science and Health. She said I must

put aside all medicine, and by reading faithfully she knew

I could be healed. The book became my constant com-

panion, and in a short time I was healed. Besides the

relief from an operation, I was completely healed of severe

headaches and stomach trouble. Physicians could give

me no help for either of these ailments. For ten years I

have not used medicine of any kind, and have not missed

a Christian Science service on account of sickness during

this period. I am perfectly well. To say that I am grate-

ful to God for all this does not express my feelings. The

physical healing was wonderful, but the understanding

given me of God, and the ability to help others out-

weigh all else. I also love our dear Leader. – Mrs.

V. I. B., Concord, N. H.

660:18
KIDNEY DISEASE AND EYE TROUBLE HEALED

660:19
Early in 1904 I was teaching in a private boarding‑

school. I was a very unhappy, discontented woman; I

had kidney disease, besides sore eyes, and my general

health was very bad. The doctor said that the climate

did not suit me, and that I certainly should have a change.

The best thing, he said, was to go back to France (my

own country); but I did not like to leave the school, so I

struggled on until July, when we went travelling for a

month, but I came home worse than ever. I had a lot

of worry, one disappointment after another, and I often

thought that life was not worth living. In September,

1904, we heard for the first time of Christian Science

661:1
through a girl who was attending our boarding-school,

and who was healed through Christian Science treatment.

We bought the textbook, "Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and what a revelation

it was and is to us; it is indeed the fountain of Truth. I

had read Science and Health but a very short time when

I took off my glasses, began to sleep well, and soon found

myself well in mind and body. Besides this, it has brought

harmony into our school, where there had been discord,

and everything is changed for the better. I cannot de-

scribe the happiness that has come to me through Chris-

tian Science; I can only exclaim with the psalmist: "Bless

the Lord, O my soul;" and may God bless Mrs. Eddy.

661:14
My one aim now is to live Christian Science, not in words

only, but in deeds; loving God more and my neighbor as

myself, and following meekly and obediently all our

Leader's teachings. Words cannot express my gratitude

to Mrs. Eddy for Christian Science. – S. A. K., Van-

couver, B. C.

661:20
DISEASE OF BOWELS HEALED

661:21
When I first heard of Christian Science I had been

afflicted for nine years with a very painful disease of the

bowels, which four physicians failed even to diagnose,

all giving different causes for the dreadful sufferings I

endured. The last physician advised me to take no more

medicine for these attacks, as drugs would not reach the

cause, or do any good. About this time I heard of

Christian Science, and had the opportunity of reading

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs.

Eddy, a few minutes every day for about a week, and I

662:1
was thereby healed. In looking back I found I had not

suffered in the least from the time I began reading this

book. It has been nearly seventeen years since this won-

derful healing, and I have had no return of the disease.

My gratitude is endless and can be best expressed by

striving mightily to walk in the path our Leader has so

lovingly shown us in Science and Health. – Mrs.

J. W. C., Scranton, Pa.

662:9
HEALED BY READING THE TEXTBOOK

662:10
After doctoring about a year, I was obliged to give

up school and was under medical care for two years;

but grew worse instead of better. I was then taken to

specialists, who pronounced my case incurable, saying

I was in the last stages of kidney disease and could

live only a short time. Shortly afterward my uncle

gave me a copy of "Science and Health with Key to

the Scriptures," and asked me to study it. After study-

ing a short time I was able to walk a distance of several

miles, which I had not been able to do for three years.

I also laid aside glasses which I had worn seven years,

having been told I would become blind if my eyes did

not receive proper care. It is over a year since I re-

ceived God's blessing, and I am now enjoying perfect

health and happiness. I have never had my glasses on

since I first began reading Science and Health, and I have

not used any medicine. – L. R., Spring Valley, Minn.

662:27
A TESTIMONY FROM SCOTLAND

662:28
I came to Christian Science purely for physical healing.

I was very ill and unhappy; very cynical and disbeliev-

ing in regard to what I heard of God and religion.

663:1
I tried to live my life in my own way and put religion

aside. I was a great believer in fate and in will-power,

and thought to put them in the place of God, with

the consequence that I was led to do many rash and

foolish things. I am now thankful to say that my out-

look on life is entirely changed; I have proved God's

wisdom and goodness so often that I am willing and

thankful to know my future is in His hands and that

all things must work out for the best. I have found a

God whom I can love and worship with my whole

heart, and I now read my Bible with interest and

understanding.

663:13
I was healed of very bad rheumatism simply by read-

ing Science and Health. I had tried many medicines,

also massage, with no result, and the doctors told me

that I would always suffer from this disease, as it

was inherited, and also because I had rheumatic fever

when a child. I suffered day and night, and nothing

relieved me until Science proved to me the falseness

of this belief by removing it. I gave up all the medi-

cines I was taking and have never touched any since,

and that is more than two years ago. Before this I

had often tried to do without a medicine that I had

taken every day for ten years, but was always ill and had

to return to it, until I found out that one Mind is the only

medicine, and then I was freed from the suffering.

663:27
I had also suffered constantly from bilious attacks,

colds, and a weak chest, and had been warned not to

be out in wet weather, etc., but now, I am glad to say,

I am quite free from all those material laws and go

out in all sorts of weather. – R. D. F., Edinburgh,

Scotland.

664:1
CURING BETTER THAN ENDURING

664:2
For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak

lungs and after being treated by ten different physi-

cians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colo-

rado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery

from what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was

hereditary, my father having been afflicted with it. I

was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about.

My general condition was aggravated by what the doc-

tors said was paralysis of the bowels. Three physi-

cians so diagnosed it at different times, and assured

my husband that I could never get more than tem-

porary relief. This indeed I found difficult to obtain,

in spite of my almost frantic efforts. At times I was

nearly insane from suffering, and after eight years of

doctoring I found myself steadily growing worse. For

four years I did not have a normal action of the bowels,

and it was only by extreme effort and by resort to pow-

erful drugs or mechanical means, with resultant suffering,

that any action whatever could be brought about.

664:21
I had heard nothing of the curative power of Chris-

tian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went one

night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week

testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much

impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once

to investigate this strange religion, in the hope that it

might have something good for me. I bought the text-

book, Science and Health, and from the first I found

myself growing stronger and better, both physically and

mentally, as I acquired a better understanding and en-

deavored toput into practice what I learned. In one week

665:1
I was able to get along better without drugs than I had for

years with them, and before three months had passed I

was better than I had been any time in my life, for I

had always suffered more or less from bowel trouble.

Since that time I have taken no medicine whatever, and

rely wholly upon Christian Science. My lungs are now

sound, my bowels normally active, my general health

excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue

tasks that before would have prostrated me. The

study of our textbook was the sole means of my healing.

– L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.

665:12
SEVERE ECZEMA DESTROYED

665:13
It is only two years since I came from darkness into

the light of Christian Science, and to me the spiritual

uplifting has been wonderful, to say nothing of the

physical healing. Words cannot express my gratitude

for benefits I have received in that time. For five

years I suffered with that dreaded disease, eczema, all

over my body. Five doctors said there was no help

for me. The suffering seemed as terrible as the hell

fire that I had been taught to believe in. When Christian

Science came to me two years ago through a dear friend,

she gave me a copy of Science and Health and asked

me to read it. I told her that I would, for I was like a

drowning man grasping at a straw. I had been a Bible

student for twenty-eight years, but when I commenced

reading Science and Health with the Bible I was healed

in less than a week. I never had a treatment. A case

of measles was also destroyed in twenty-four hours after

it appeared. – Mrs. M. B. G., Vermilion, Ohio.

666:1
SCIENCE AND HEALTH A PRICELESS BOON

666:2
I am a willing witness to the healing power of Chris-

tian Science, having had a lifetime's battle with dis-

ease and medical experiments. Various doctors finally

admitted that they had exhausted their resources, and

could only offer me palliatives, saying that a cure was

impossible. I had paralysis of the bowels, frequent

sick headaches with unutterable agony, and my mortal

career was nearly brought to an end by a malignant

type of yellow fever. Many were the attending evils of

this physical inharmony, but God confounds the wis-

dom of men, for while studying Science and Health

two years ago, the veil of ignorance was lifted and

perfect health was shown to me to be my real con-

dition, and to such there is no relapse. The constant

use of glasses, which were apparently a necessity to

me for years, was proven needless, and they were laid

aside. Mrs. Eddy has made Scripture reading a never‑

failing well of comfort to me. By her interpretation

"the way of the Lord" is made straight to me and

mine. It aids us in our daily overcoming of the tyr-

anny of the flesh and its rebellion against the blessed

leading of Christ, Truth. The daily study of the Bible

and our textbook is bringing more and more into our con-

sciousness the power of God unto salvation. – J. C.,

Manatee, Fla.

666:27
A CRITIC CONVINCED

666:28
With gratitude to God I acknowledge my lifelong

debt to Christian Science. In 1895 I attended my first

667:1
Christian Science meeting, and was deeply impressed

with the earnestness of the people and the love re-

flected, but as for the spiritual healing of the physical

body, I did not believe such a thing to be possible.

I bought Science and Health and studied it to be

able to dispute intelligently with the supposedly de-

luded followers of Christian Science. I pursued the

study carefully and thoroughly, and I have had abun-

dant reason since to be glad that I did, for through this

study, and the resultant understanding of my rela-

tion to God, I was healed of a disease with which I

had been afflicted since childhood and for which there

was no known remedy. Surely my experience has

been the fulfilling in part of the Scripture:

"He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from

their destructions." I believe that Science and Health

reveals the Word referred to by David. – C. A. B. B.,

Kansas City, Mo.

667:19
BORN AGAIN

667:20
It was in April, 1904, that I first heard the "still,

small voice" of the Christ and received healing through

Christian Science; and the blessings have been so

many since, that it would take too much space to

name them. Reared from childhood in an intellectual

atmosphere, my paternal grandfather having been an

orthodox minister of the old school for forty years,

and my father a deep student, ever seeking for the

truth of all things, I began early to ponder and to

study into the meaning of life, and came to the con-

clusion before I was twenty that though God probably

668:1
existed in some remote place, still it was impossible to

connect Him with my present living. My highest

creed, therefore, became, "Do right because it is right

and not for fear of being punished." Then began the

suffering. Sorrow after sorrow followed each other

in rapid succession; for ten long years there was no

rest, the road was indeed long and hard and had no

turning, until finally the one thing that had stood by

me all through the trials, namely, my health, gave

way, and with that went my last hope. But the last

hour of the night had come, the dawn of day was at

hand; a dear friend left Science and Health upon my

piano one day, saying that I would gain much good by

reading it.

668:15
Glad to get away from my own poor thoughts, I

opened the "little book" and began to read. I had

read only a short time when such a wonderful trans-

formation took place! I was renewed; born again.

Mere words cannot tell the story of the mighty up-

lifting that carried me to the very gates of heaven.

When I began to read the book, life was a burden, but

before I had finished reading it the first time, I was doing

all my housework and doing it easily; and since that

glorious day I have been a well woman. My health

is splendid, and I am striving to let my light so shine

that others may be led to the truth. There have been

some mighty struggles with error, and I have learned

that we cannot reach heaven with one long stride or

easily drift inside the gate, but that the "asking" and

the "seeking" and the "knocking" must be earnest and

persistent.

668:32
For a long time I was always looking back to see if

669:1
the error had gone, until one day when I realized

that to catch a glimpse of what spiritual sense means

I must put corporeal sense behind me. I then set to

work in earnest to find the true way. I opened

Science and Health and these words were before me,

"If God were understood, instead of being merely be-

lieved, this understanding would establish health" (p. 203).

I saw that I must get the right understanding of God!

I closed the book and with head bowed in prayer I

waited with longing intensity for some answer. How

long I waited I do not know, but suddenly, like a won-

derful burst of sunlight after a storm, came clearly

this thought, "Be still, and know that I am God." I

held my breath – deep into my hungering thought

sank the infinite meaning of that "I." All self‑

conceit, egotism, selfishness, everything that constitutes

the mortal "I," sank abashed out of sight. I trod, as

it were, on holy ground. Words are inadequate to con-

vey the fullness of that spiritual uplifting, but others

who have had similar experiences will understand.

669:21
From that hour I have had an intelligent consciousness

of the ever-presence of an infinite God who is only good.

– C. B. G., Hudson, Mass.

669:24
A RESTLESS SENSE OF EXISTENCE DESTROYED

669:25
Through reading Science and Health and the illu-

mination which followed, I was healed of ulceration of

the stomach and kindred troubles, a restless sense of

existence, agnosticism, etc. The torture I endured with

the stomach trouble I will not attempt to describe. The

attending physician declared that I could live but a short

670:1
time, and I felt there would be a limit to my endur-

ance of the torture, but the disease was dissipated into

nothingness through Christian Science, which brought

me peace.

670:5
Like many others I had been seemingly lost in the

sea of error, without a compass, yet earnestly and hon-

estly seeking a haven. I had investigated all kinds of

religions and philosophies that came under my notice,

with the exception of Christian Science, which was

not then deemed worthy of inquiry, and yet it held

the very truth I was searching for – the light which

"shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comp-

rehended it not." Three years of stubborn resist-

ance to Truth, with increasing suffering, followed –

then the light came, and with it a new experience.

Now, after nine years of Christian Science experience,

under severe tests, it can be truthfully said that it

has not failed me in any hour of need. – J. F. J.,

Cincinnati, Ohio.

670:20
MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY HEALED

670:21
I did not accept Christian Science on account of any

healing of my own, but after seeing my mother, who was

fast drifting toward helplessness with rheumatism, restored

to perfect health with only a few treatments in Christian

Science, I thought surely this must be the truth as Jesus

taught and practised it, and if so it was what I had been

longing for.

670:28
This was about ten years ago and was the first I had

ever heard of Christian Science. We soon got a copy

of Science and Health and I began in the right way to

671:1
see if Christian Science were the truth. I had no thought

of studying it for bodily healing; in fact, I did not think

I needed it for that, but my soul cried out for something

I had not yet found. This book was indeed a key to the

Scriptures.

671:6
It was not long after I began reading before I dis-

covered that my eyes were good and strong, I could

read as much as I wished, and at any time, which was

something I could not do before, as my eyes had always

been weak. The doctors said they never would be very

strong, and that if I did not wear glasses, I might lose

my sight altogether. I never gave up to wearing glasses,

and now, thanks to Christian Science, I do not need them,

my work for the past two years as a railway mail clerk

being a good test. At the same time my eyes were healed,

I also noticed that I was entirely healed of another ail-

ment which had been with me all my life, and which was

believed to be inherited. Since that time my growth

has seemed to me slow, yet when I look back and view

myself as I was before Christian Science found me, and

compare it with my life as it now is, I can only close my

eyes to the picture and rejoice that I have been "born

again" and that I have daily been putting off "the

old man with his deeds," and putting on "the new

man."

671:26
Some of the many things that have been overcome

through the study of Science and Health, and through

realizing and practising the truth it teaches, are pro-

fanity, the use of tobacco, a very quick temper, which

made both myself and those around me at times very

miserable, and such thoughts as malice, revenge, etc. –

O. L. R., Fort Worth, Tex.

672:1
HEALTH AND UNDERSTANDING GAINED

672:2
Most of my boyhood days were spent in the hands

of physicians. From birth I was considered a very

weakly child, but my mother was brave, and being

much devoted to me did everything within her knowl-

edge and power for my comfort. Sickness and medi-

cine were continually before me, and by the time I

reached my teens I thought I knew a material remedy

for every ill. I continued in my delusion, because I

was never told the real cause of my trouble. Besides

being under a leading specialist for two years, I was

also an outdoor patient at a noted hospital, but I was

not healed. It is wonderful how the "little ones" are

cared for in the face of all these seeming difficulties.

I always used the prayers that I had been taught, and

as I grew older I began to ask for wisdom. Little by

little I gained a desire for freedom, and my prayers

finally led me to the truth. The first week that I

heard of Christian Science, I visited the home of dear

Christian Science friends, and was at once refreshed

by their purity of thought and example. I bought

a copy of Science and Health, and, after studying it

a little while with the Bible, I saw that if the Bible

was true, Science and Health must also be true. I

began to demonstrate over my physical and mental

condition, and as soon as the fear and pain began

to leave me I felt encouraged to go on. I was healed,

and stopped complaining. I kept on studying our

textbook, and when I got an understanding in a

small degree of the Science of Mind, my first thought

was to help others. I was guided where I could pro-

673:1
gress in Science, and was no longer "carried about with

every wind of doctrine," but held to Principle as closely

as possible. From the time the healing came into my

consciousness, the desire for material remedies left me,

because Christian Science at once pointed out the way to

get at the cause of discord and disease. All that I had to

give up were the false beliefs of mortal mind. Christian

Science then taught me to love the church, and to appre-

ciate what it had already done for mankind. I often

thought of the old adage, "Charity begins at home,"

and after three years' preparation I felt able to take Chris-

tian Science to my home, where it found, in due time,

ready acceptance and willing disciples. This gave me

even greater joy than my own healing. The more good

I saw accomplished, the more love I had for the truth.

Christian Science changed my course from the first, and

gave me a nobler aim and purpose in life. I was not

so easily influenced by other people's shortcomings,

when I learned that evil has neither personality nor place.

I was not so ready to take offence, when I found out the

way to work unselfishly for the upbuilding of the Cause.

– A. E. J., Toledo, Ohio.

673:23
AN EVER-PRESENT HELP FOUND

673:24
On the 23rd of March, 1900, I received from one of my

daughters a copy of Science and Health on my seventy-first

birthday. Although a constant reader of all kinds of papers

and books, I had never heard anything of Christian Sci-

ence, except a short notice that spring in a San Francisco

newspaper, from an orthodox clergyman, referring to the

Christian Science people in not very complimentary style.

674:1
In Mrs. Eddy's book I came across a great deal of

thought that was not readily understood at the first read-

ing, but by continued and careful study, and a good deal

of help from my knowledge of chemistry and natu-

ral philosophy, I soon shook off the belief of sensation

in matter, – the so-called elementary substance. One

afternoon I put the belt on my circular saw to cut blocks

of firewood and also to split a small stick of frame tim-

ber. In doing this the stick closed and pinched the saw.

I picked up a small wooden wedge and tried to drive

it into the saw kerf, but a bit of ice let the stick on to the

back of the saw and instantly it flew, with heavy force,

into my face, and bouncing off my left cheek fell about

twenty feet off on the snow. The blood spattered on the

snow next the saw table, and on feeling with my hand

there were two wounds, one on the lock of the jaw and

another forward, as big as a dollar, on the cheek bone.

"Now," I thought to myself, "there is a case of surgery

for you," and without further ceremony, I began to

treat the case to the best of my knowledge, with the

result that the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and

so did a thumping pain, which had commenced. I

paid no more attention to the matter, but finished my

work, and then went to supper. When I washed my

face, I felt a big lump on the jawbone where the block

of wood struck, but after my usual reading I went to

bed and slept all night until near daylight, when a pain

on the right side awoke me. On feeling with my hand

there was another big lump on the right side, but I

treated it and went to sleep again. I never lost an

hour from the hurt, although I found out that my jaw

was broken. There is no scar, only a little red spot on

675:1
the cheek, and the lumps on the bone have long since

disappeared.

675:3
In summing up the benefits I have received from

the reading of Science and Health, I can but refer to

a condition of sickness dating back to the war (1862),

when chronic and malignant diarrhea came near

making an end of my material existence. My hearing,

also, was seriously impaired from the effect of cannon

firing at Shiloh, but it has come back to me, and where

I formerly dared not eat an orange, or grapes, I can now

eat anything without being hurt. My peace of mind

is giving me a rest which I never experienced before

during my life, and I have ceased to look away off for

the divine presence that was always near, though I did

not know it. – L. B., Baldy, N. M.

675:16
MANY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TROUBLES OVERCOME

675:17
Less than a year ago, when nothing but trouble seemed

to encompass me, I was led to Christian Science. My

mother's copy of Science and Health was always lying

on the table, but I scarcely ever read it. One day, how-

ever, the mental conflict was so great I commenced read-

ing in the hope of obtaining peace. Every day since

then my companions have been the Bible and Science

and Health. At that time I had a very serious eruption

on my face, which had been there two years. We had

consulted several physicians, and used every remedy

suggested to eradicate it, but they proved useless. I

had given up all hopes of its ever being healed, as the

physician we last consulted pronounced it tuberculosis

of the skin and incurable. A few weeks after I com-

676:1
menced reading, I was amazed to see it almost healed

over, and to-day my cheek is perfectly smooth, while the

scar is disappearing.

676:4
In April my baby was born with only the practitioner

and a woman friend present. I suffered little pain, and

the third day I went down-stairs. I am able to nurse

him, – a privilege of which I was deprived with my first

child. He is a picture of health, having never been

sick a day since he was born. – K. E. W. L., Mt.

Dora, Fla.

676:11
A NEW LIFE GAINED

676:12
Leaving home when a young man, I carried with me

a protection against the temptation of a great city, – a

mother's prayers and a small Bible. For a time I read

the Bible and prayed, but without understanding. This

did not suffice, and evil seemed to gain the victory. I

soon omitted to read my Bible; forgot to go to God in

prayer for guidance and help, and looked to the world

for that which it never has and never can give, – health,

peace, and joy.

676:21
Thus, years later, when Christian Science came into

my home, it found me prayerless, churchless, godless;

a home discordant, and with no thought or knowledge

of spiritual things. Up to this time, my wife had for

years been seeking health through the physicians,

but without success, and as a last resort had been

sent to Christian Science. The help received was so

wonderful that I commenced the study of Science and

Health. The first effect which I realized from the

reading of our textbook, was a great love for the Bible

and a desire to read it, something which I had not done

677:1
for years. I went in silent prayer to God, that I might

see the light and truth which would enable me to be-

come a better man. "Ye must be born again." Thus

again, and as a child, was I taught to pray "the effectual

fervent prayer" which "availeth much." In a few

weeks' study of Science and Health together with the

Bible, and without other help, I was healed of a desire

for liquor, of years' standing, and of the use of tobacco.

Ten years have passed and these appetites have never

returned. I have never used either liquor or tobacco

in any form from that time to the present. Surely this

Scripture is fulfilled in our home: "Old things are passed

away; behold, all things are become new." How can

we estimate the value of a book, the study of which brings

such transformation and regeneration? Only as we

endeavor to live, and strive to practise what it teaches,

can we begin to pay our debt to God, and to her whom

He has sent to make plain to human understanding the

life and teaching of Christ Jesus. – W. H. P., Boston,

Mass.

677:21
A VOICE FROM ENGLAND

677:22
For a number of years I was a weary woman, not ill

enough in health to, be called an invalid, but suffering

more than could be told with fatigue and weakness.

Feeling that this was God's will, I did not ask to be healed,

although I was constantly doctoring. I suffered with dys-

pepsia, congestion of the liver, and many other things,

including weak eyesight. With all the medicine, and

with different changes for rest, I never regained health,

and thought I never should, so I prayed for grace to bear

my cross patiently for others' sake. One day, while

678:1
lying on my couch exhausted, which had become a fre-

quent experience, the words came to me, "Whatsoever

ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." I

rose, knelt down and said, O God, make me well. I

was telling a friend this and she kindly gave me a Sen-

tinel. Imagine my joy when I saw the testimonies of heal-

ing! I believed them, remembering our Lord's words,

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have be-

lieved." I obtained a copy of Science and Health and

before a week had passed I realized that if God was my

all I needed no glasses. My eyes were healed in a few

days, and since then I have never thought of glasses.

I was also cured of dyspepsia, and nothing that I have

eaten has hurt me since then. The belief in health laws

was next destroyed, by knowing that our heavenly Father

did not make them, and from this has come the beautiful

experience of the overcoming of fatigue.

678:18
For this alone I can never be thankful enough. True

indeed are the words, "They shall run, and not be weary."

This was more than a year ago, and I can say that not

once have I felt inclined to lie on the couch, nor have I

had a headache, although I am doing more work than

ever before. Fear has also been overcome in many ways.

– A. L., Chelmsford, England.

678:25
DEPRAVED APPETITES OVERCOME

678:26
When Christian Science first came to me, or rather,

when I first came to Christian Science, I did not have

a very bad opinion of myself. I thought I was a pretty

good fellow. I had no religious views. I seemed to be

getting along as well as, if not better than, some who

679:1
professed Christianity. So I drifted along until I was

led to investigate Christian Science.

679:3
As I progressed in the understanding as gained from

the study of both Science and Health and the Bible,

and commenced to know myself, I found that a great

change had been wrought in me. For fifteen years I

had used tobacco, both chewing and smoking; for ten

years I had been a victim of the drink habit, sometimes

to excess; I was also addicted to profanity. Christian

Science removed these appetites. A stomach trouble

and other lesser ills, such as headache, a bad temper, an

inordinate love of money, etc., disappeared under the

same benign influence. Those things that seemed to be

pleasure do not give me pleasure now. They were not

real pleasure. I have lost nothing, I have sacrificed

nothing; but I have gained everything, and not yet the

whole, for I can see plenty yet to be done.

679:18
The condition of mind before investigating and after

is as different as black and white. As Mrs. Eddy

says, "Not matter, but Mind, satisfieth." – G. B. P.,

Henry, S. D.

679:22
CATARRH OF THE STOMACH HEALED

679:23
I should like to express my gratitude for the many

benefits I have received through Christian Science, and

to mention the great joy brought to me in the thought

that man is not the helpless victim of sin, disease, and

death. Through its teachings I have been able to over-

come many errors.

679:29
When Christian Science found me, one year ago

last April, in Chicago, I was suffering from catarrh

680:1
of the stomach, which had been very persistent, and I

had been a slave to the cigarette habit for eighteen

years. Pain and weakness had robbed me of all that

one holds dear. The first symptoms of the disease

appeared about five years ago in the form of severe

cramps of the stomach, which finally developed into

other symptoms of that painful disease. I doctored

continually, my diet daily becoming more rigid, until

three slices of toast became my daily allowance of food.

680:10
In this condition I left the East for my home in

Chicago, hoping that a change of climate might benefit

me. After spending six weeks there and finding no re-

lief, I concluded to return East. The Sunday morning

before leaving I picked up a Sunday paper, and glanc-

ing through the religious items my eyes fell on the notices

of Christian Science church services. Curiosity led me

to a service and I shall never forget that morning or the

surprise and joy it gave me to find that beautiful church,

and to know that so great a number actually believed

that God does heal the sick to-day. This brought a first

ray of hope. The evening service found me there again.

Among the notices read was that of a reading room,

giving the location and time of opening. Monday morn-

ing found me there promptly, and the first book I picked

up was Science and Health which opened a new

world to me.

680:27
I had dieted so long and suffered so much that I had

a morbid fear of food. When I had reached and read

"neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of

mortal mind, can make one suffer" (Science and Health,

p. 221), I left the reading room for something to eat. I

found a bakery near by, and bought a bag of cakes

681:1
which I ate, and shortly after I had a hearty dinner with-

out the least complaint from my stomach.

681:3
From that time until now I have eaten anything that I

wished, and the craving for cigarettes, which I had for

many years, has entirely vanished. The understanding

of Truth, which entirely relieved the diseased stomach,

healed also the morbid appetite for smoking. After

coming back East, I bought a copy of Science and Health,

which I have read daily, and find it a continual help in

all the affairs of life.

681:11
In my home and at work I find this Science a com-

fort and source of strength. I have had many difficulties

in the way, but it has helped me out of them all. – W. E.

B., New Britain, Conn.

681:15
SPINAL DISEASE HEALED

681:16
When I first heard of Christian Science, seven years

ago, I supposed that it was some old fad under a new

name. In the little Texas town where we then lived

there were two or three Christian Scientists who met

at the home of one of their number to read the Lesson‑

Sermon. Meeting one of them one day, I asked if un-

believers could come to their meetings. She said that

they could if they wanted to. I went, expecting them

to do something that I could laugh at when telling my

friends about it. How surprised I was to find out that

they didn't do anything but read the Bible and another

book which they called Science and Health. I still

thought it all foolishness, but resolved to go to their meet-

ings until I found out all they believed. I continued to

go until I began to understand a little of what they knew,

682:1
not what they believed; and instead of spending my

time telling others what a silly thing Christian Science

is, I am now trying to find words to tell what a great

and wonderful thing it is. I have been healed of so‑

called incurable spinal disease of ten years' standing

by studying the Bible and Science and Health. Science

and Health has been my only teacher, and I wish to send

my thanks to our dear Leader.

682:9
There are no other Scientists near where we now live,

but I have the Quarterly and study the lessons by myself.

I have five small children, and Christian Science is in-

valuable to me in controlling them, and in overcoming

their common ills. They often help themselves and

each other to destroy their little hurts and fears. – Mrs.

M. H., Oleta, Okla.

682:16
MANY TROUBLES OVERCOME

682:17
In the second chapter of First Peter, ninth verse, I

read "that ye should show forth the praises of him who

hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous

light." The periodicals so wisely established by our

Leader give us one means of showing forth the praises

of Truth.

682:23
From the darkness of physical pain and weariness into

the light of wholeness and joyousness in work and

living, – from the darkness of a clouded sight into the

light of clearer vision, – from the darkness of doubt

and discord into the marvellous light of the reality of

good, – this is what a reading of the Christian Science

textbook has done for me.

682:30
At the time the book was lent to me, I was teach-

683:1
ing in the public schools of Chicago, and absences from

my work on account of illness were of frequent occurrence.

For five weeks I had been under the care of a specialist

for an organic trouble, and he said I would have to come

as many more months before a cure could be effected.

At this time, Science and Health was brought to my

notice. I never thought of such a thing as being healed

by the reading of the book, but my thought was so changed

that I was healed, not only of the organic trouble, but of

blurred eyesight, fatigue, and a train of other discordant

manifestations. I did not go back to the physician

until four months later to pay my bill (which, by the

way, was more than five times the price of the Science

and Health I had purchased). From the time I read

the book I taught steadily without losing time from my

work. I was helped, too, with my work in many other

ways.

683:18
Through reading the textbook I learned that God has

given us strength to do all we have to do, and that it is

the things we do not have to do (the envying, strife, emu-

lating, vainglorying, and so on) that leave in their wake

fatigue and discord.

683:23
Gratitude to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, and

to her faithful students, with whom I afterwards be-

came associated, can be expressed only by daily efforts

to put into practice what has been taught. – T. H. A.,

Madison, Wis.

683:28
PREJUDICE OVERCOME

683:29
I became interested in Christian Science somewhat

over three years ago when in much need of help. I

had never been strong, and as I grew older I grew

684:1
weaker and at last became so ill that life was a burden

to me. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy was sent

to me, in answer to prayer, as I thought. I was a little

afraid of all these new fads, as I thought them, but I

had not read far before I felt that I had found the truth

which makes us free. I was healed of stomach trouble,

inward weakness, and bilious attacks.

684:8
One physician said I might have to undergo an opera-

tion before I could get well, but, thanks to this Truth, I

have found that the only operation needed was the re-

generation of this so-called human mind by learning to

know God. In many cases I have been able to help

myself and others.

684:14
Words cannot express my thanks to Mrs. Eddy, and

to all who are bringing these great truths to the help of

the whole world. – E. E. M., Huntington, W. Va.

684:17
A CONVINCING TESTIMONY

684:18
I became interested in Christian Science some five

years ago, the practical nature of its statements appeal-

ing to me, and I must say, at the outset, that with my

little experience I have found it all and more than I ever

dreamt of realizing on this plane of existence. I am

satisfied that I have found Truth. God is indeed to me

an ever-present help.

684:25
My little girl, some ten months old, was afflicted

with constipation. It was so severe I dreaded to go

out anywhere with her, as I knew not when she would

be taken with a convulsion. I had tried all the usual

remedies in such cases, but it seemed to grow more ob-

stinate. There was a Christian Scientist living in

685:1
the same house with us, a Scientist who let her light

shine, and while she said little, I felt the reflection of

Love. I had no knowledge of the teachings of Chris-

tian Science, save that God was the physician at all

times. In my own way I believed He was all-power-

ful, and I said to my husband one day, "I am through

with medicine for baby. I am just going to leave her

in God's care and see what He will do. I have done

all I can." I did as I said, laid my burden at God's

feet, and did not pick it up again. In two days the

child was perfectly natural, and has since been free

from the trouble. She is now six years of age. Some

months later a second test came. She woke up at nine

o'clock at night crying and holding her ear. There

was to sense a gathering. I was alone. I took up my

Science and Health and Bible, but the more I worked

the louder she screamed. Error kept suggesting ma-

terial remedies, but I said firmly: "No; I shall not go

back to error. God will help me." Just then I thought

of my own fear, how excessive it was, and a conversation

I had with the Scientist who first voiced the truth to me,

came to mind. She said she always found it helpful

to treat herself and cast out her own fear before treat-

ing a patient. I put baby down and again took up

my Science and Health, and these were the words I

read: –

685:27
"Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.

The more difficult seems the material condition to be

overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith

and the purer our love. The Apostle John says: 'There

is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear'"

(Science and Health, p. 410). I looked up, the crying

686:1
had ceased, the child was smiling, and in a few minutes

asked to be put to bed. There has been no further

trouble of that kind.

686:4
I have since seen the power of Truth overcome error

of many forms, including croup, whooping-cough, ton-

silitis, etc. I am thankful for all these proofs, but far

more grateful am I for the spiritual teaching to love, to

forgive, to curb my tongue, and cease my criticism. –

M. A. H., Brockton, Mass.

686:10
HEALED PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY

686:11
I had been taking medicine continually for many

years. Finally I was taken suddenly ill and could not

leave my room for about two months, then I went away

for three months, thinking that I should come back

and be able to continue my work. I improved very much,

but the fear of quick consumption was with my doctor

and my family and friends, and I was warned about the

coming winter. Only too soon the fear manifested

itself. I had worked just three weeks when all the pains

and aches returned, and I had to go to bed as soon as I

got home, so there was no pleasure in living. My em-

ployer advised me to see my physician, and said perhaps

I should not work that winter. I then and there turned

to Christian Science. I could not afford to give up work

and live away from home, neither did I want to depend

on doctors and medicine any longer. I took the book

and read it on my way to work, and at noon I lay down

on a couch instead of going out for luncheon and fell

asleep. When I awoke I was a different person, all

pains and aches had gone, and I was free. I was so

687:1
happy I could hardly contain myself; to material

sense it was wonderful. As I walked I kept saying,

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," and tried to un-

derstand "the scientific statement of being" by repeat-

ing portions at a time, then pondering over them. I

read the book four times in succession, and every

time I found more and more to aid in the under-

standing.

687:9
This healing was in October, 1901, with no other

help than Science and Health, and soon I was relieved

of other chronic ailments. In February I was able to

put away eyeglasses, which I had worn ten years and

a half for astigmatism. Oculists told me I would always

have to wear them. A month later my father asked

me to help him, as he was suffering so much from con-

stipation, dyspepsia, and neuralgia. He had been sub-

sisting on bran, nearly starving himself until be was most

miserable, and his limbs seemed so cold that they were

kept wrapped in blankets. I felt very humble as he

asked me, and told him I would have a practitioner help

him, as I had never treated any one; but he would not

consent to have any one but myself, and I finally told

him I would try, but that he must not hold Science respon-

sible if he were not benefited, for my lack of understand-

ing, and not Science, would be at fault. At my request

he read Science and Health, ate whatever he wanted,

and used no medicine in any form. After two treat-

ments I received word from him that he was healed

of that bondage of thirty years' standing. In view of

all these signs which followed my acceptance of Chris-

tian Science, I knew it must be true. – R. L. A.,

Chicago, Ill.

688:1
A VOICE FROM THE SOUTH

688:2
I was delicate from childhood, and my parents did

not think it was possible for me to live more than a

few years. I lived, however, although there was not

much improvement in my health. Travel and change

of climate brought only temporary relief, and the physi-

cians gave me no hope that I would ever be well.

688:8
As a last resort I began the study of Science and

Health, and before I had finished reading the book I

realized that its author was divinely commissioned to

bring this spiritual message to a waiting world. Through

this reading my health was restored, and I was healed

of one disease that has been called incurable by all

physicians.

688:15
For this, together with the greater and higher bles-

sing of having the spiritual fact of being unfolded to me,

I am most grateful.

688:18
What shall be rendered for such benefits received and

made possible by the consecrated life of our revered

Leader? Only by following the teachings of our text-

book, and by loving obedience to her gentle and timely

admonitions can we show our true sense of gratitude. –

F. H. D., De Funiak Springs, Fla.

688:24
HEALED AFTER MUCH SUFFERING

688:25
A testimony given in the Journal led me to investi-

gate Christian Science, and I hope in return to be the

means of leading some one else to see the beauty of this

saving truth, and to learn to know God aright and

man's relationship to Him. I know from experience

689:1
that it is prejudice and misapprehension of what Christian

Science is, that keeps many from enjoying the blessings

it bestows.

689:4
I had been taking patent medicines for several years,

and had been to one of the best sanitariums in this country,

but was not healed, although I received some benefit, for

which I shall always feel grateful, for I know the physi-

cians did all they could for me. I sometimes thought

I had exhausted all remedies, but did not give up, for

I felt there must be something to heal me if I could

find it.

689:12
When in this state of mind Christian Science came to

my notice, and after reading several Journals, I pur-

chased a copy of Science and Health. I read for several

days at odd times. I commenced to improve, and in

about a week I was healed of most of my ills, among

which were dyspepsia and nervous debility.

689:18
Although I had heard about Christian Science before,

I had never heard that the reading of the Christian

Science textbook had ever effected the healing of anybody.

I commenced reading to find out what Christian Science

was, but was surprised to find myself improving, and was

soon assured that it was the theology of Science and

Health that healed me, just as it was the theology of

Jesus that healed the sick.

689:26
It has also proved to me that there can be no

Christian Science Church that does not heal the sick

and sinful, for healing follows as the natural result of the

teaching of Christian Science. The Bible has become

a new revelation to me, and I can read it much more

understandingly by the light received through the reading

of Science and Health. – A. F. M., Fairmont, Minn.

690:1
THROUGH GREAT TRIBULATIONS

690:2
When I attempt to make plain what Christian Science

has done for me, words fail me. For twenty years

I was a constant sufferer, my spine having been

injured when I was very young. As a little child I

suffered so much that I would look up to the stars

and beg God, who I thought might be up there

somewhere, to take me away from the earth, – I was

so tired. A great wall of pain seemed to separate me

from the pleasures enjoyed by others, and I could not

explain how I felt, because no one could understand.

Years passed, and I saw my earthly happiness swept

away; my heart was broken and I did not know what

to do. I cried for help, day after day and night after

night, although I was not sure what God was, nor where

He was. I only knew that I suffered, and was

in need of help, and that there was no earthly help

for either mind or body. I loved purity, truth, and

right always, and this made evil seem a most terrible

reality. I was unable to cope with it, and so found

myself in despair. This was my condition when I com-

menced reading Science and Health. I was ready for

its message, and in about ten days there came a won-

derful insight into the truth which heals the sick and

binds up the broken-hearted. All pain left me, I had

a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth, and

was beginning to be fed by Love divine.

690:28
I had suffered for years with insomnia. That night

I rested like a child, and awoke the next morning well

and happy. A flood of light daily illumined the pages

of the "little book," and the revelation it holds for all

691:1
came to my waiting heart. "The peace which passeth

all understanding" rested upon me, and joy too deep for

words transformed my life. My prayers were answered,

for I had found God in Christian Science.

691:5
The Bible, which I knew very little about, became

my constant study, my joy, and my guide. The copy

which I bought at the time of my healing is marked

from Genesis to Revelation. It was so constantly

in my hands for three years that the cover became

worn and the leaves loose, so it has been laid away

for a new one. Two and three o'clock in the morning

often found me poring over its pages, which grew

more and more sacred to me every day, and the help

I received therefrom was wonderful, for which I can

find no words to express iny gratitude. – I. L., Los

Angeles, Cal.

691:17
A HELPFUL TESTIMONY

691:18
Words cannot express my gratitude to God for

Christian Science. When I first read Science and

Health, I had tried every remedy I had ever heard of.

I felt no change in mind or body that I was conscious

of until I read page 16 of the chapter on "Prayer," in

Science and Health. The first words of the "spiritual

sense of the Lord's Prayer," telling of our Father‑

Mother God, gave me a glimpse of heavenly light. I

stopped and reasoned, and remembered the teachings

of Jesus. The truth of man's spiritual being dawned

on my consciousness. I realized I was not subject to

mortal laws, as I had been taught all my life. I could

not explain how I knew this, but I knew it. Through

Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy had given me what

692:1
I had longed for all my life, – a Mother, a perfect

"Father-Mother God." I had known there was a

great lack, and at that time I believe the orthodox

world had but half of the truth which Jesus came to

establish. When I read, "Give us this day our daily

bread," and its spiritual interpretation, my tears began

to flow; all the years of bitterness, hate, and fear melted

away. I knew then, as I know now, that nothing satisfies

but Love. That day began the outward and inward

conscious healing, – mental and physical. There never

came a doubt! I absolutely knew that Christian Science

was and is the truth. Money, friends, materiality, are

nothing beside the conscious knowledge of God, man,

and the universe.

692:15
I did not need treatment from any one, – Science

and Health was so clear and beautiful. I could not

understand the Bible before, but I found it illumined

now that I had a little understanding of Christian

Science. For ten years I have not had to lie down in

the daytime from any sickness. I am now, and have

been all these years, the picture of perfect health.

When I first read Science and Health I weighed one

hundred and four pounds; I now weigh over one hun-

dred and sixty. This physical health is not to be com-

pared to my happiness, – my harmony that nothing

can take away, – because it is the gift of God. Nothing

has shown me the perversity of the human mind more

than in its conclusions in regard to my healing. Even

when I felt and knew that I was healed, people con-

stantly said, because I was thin and delicate looking,

"You are not well, any one could look at you and know

it." Now that I am fleshy, they say, "You don't look

693:1
as if you ever had a pain in all your life. You could not

have had consumption."

693:3
When I think what my life was before I had Christian

Science, of the six years of colds, suffering, and cough-

ing, not to mention the unhappiness, I want to "work,

watch, and pray" for the Mind of Christ, that I may work

rightly in God's vineyard, and to know that in truth, what

belongs to one belongs to all, – that one God, one Life,

Truth, and Love is all. – A. C. L., Kansas City, Kans.

693:10
DESIRE FOR LIQUOR AND TOBACCO DISAPPEARED

693:11
I first heard of Christian Science four years ago. At

that time drinking and smoking were my comforters. I

had no other companionship. I had lived almost con-

stantly from childhood in an evil atmosphere. Though

I was far from being satisfied with my condition, I failed

to see how to better it until I read Science and Health.

I used occasionally to listen to a sermon, but sermons

did not give me any more comfort than I derived from

my pipe, hence I concluded that church-going could not

satisfy me and I preferred drinking and smoking. When

I began to read Science and Health, I saw it offered some-

thing substantial. After a few months' study all desire

for drinking and smoking disappeared. I did not give

them up; I made no sacrifices, I simply found some-

thing better. I might mention that I had smoked ever

since I can remember. I used to smoke years before I

left school, and, like most Englishmen, loved my pipe, and

would almost prefer to miss a meal rather than to go

without my smoke. I used to think it gave me comfort.

693:30
During my four years' study of Christian Science I

694:1
have not spent a cent for doctors or medicine, neither

have I lost a day from my work on account of sickness,

which compares wonderfully with the previous four years.

I take a great interest and pleasure in reading the Bible

and studying the lessons in the Quarterly. The Bible

used to be a most mysterious book to me, but Science

and Health makes it a most precious book, making its

meaning clearer, plainer, and simpler.

694:9
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mrs.

Eddy and to the friend who invited me to attend the ser-

vice held in the Auditorium years ago. I also wish to

acknowledge the benefit I have had from the Journal

and the Sentinel. They have helped me wonderfully. If

the value of Science and Health and these publications

were measured as business men value things, by the

results or benefits they bring, they certainly would be

priceless to me. It would be impossible to measure

their value, as I have got something from Science and

Health that all the money in the world could not buy. –

H. P. H., Chicago, Ill.

694:21
AN EXPRESSION OF LOVING GRATITUDE

694:22
In the spring of 1893, while studying for the minis-

try, Science and Health was placed in my hands, and

the truth contained therein at once became to me the

pearl of great price. I literally devoured the book,

reading it about eighteen hours a day. Its originality

was startling, upsetting my preconceived opinions of

God, man, and creation. Two sentences especially

appealed to me: "The foundation of mortal discord is a

false sense of man's origin" (p. 262), and, "For right

695:1
reasoning, there should be but one fact before the thought,

namely, spiritual existence" (p. 492). I had found the

keynote to the Science of being as taught in this marvel-

lous book, and persevered until a glimpse of the new heav-

ens and new earth came, for the old were passing away.

With this spiritual uplifting came also physical health.

695:7
All my life had been spent in semi-invalidism, and

I seemed destined to a life of suffering. In three

weeks after beginning Science and Health, to my joy-

ful surprise I found myself a well man, sound physi-

cally, and uplifted spiritually. Life was being lived

from a new basis, the old things of personal sense

were passing away and all things becoming new. I

learned that the infinite good is the one Friend upon

whom we can call at all times, an all-powerful, ever‑

present help in every time of trouble; that His children

are really governed in peace and harmony by spiritual

law, and as the right understanding of it is gained, the

other things soon follow, bringing a peace the human

concept can never know.

695:21
For the last twelve years my whole time has been

devoted to Christian Science practice, and I have seen

nearly every so-called incurable disease healed by its

beneficent influence. God bless our dear Leader! She

has set before us an open door, which no man can shut,

and it is but a question of time when the world will know

her better and love her more. – E. E. N., Washington,

D. C.

695:29
HEALED OF BRIGHT'S DISEASE

695:30
August 18, 1902, I was taken down with what three

doctors pronounced Bright's disease, and they stated

696:1
that I would not live a year, or if I did succeed in liv-

ing longer, I would be mentally unbalanced. On Decem-

ber 6, 1902, my wife presented me with Science and

Health as a birthday gift, and it was indeed the

best present I ever received. Since that time I have

been reading it and attending the Second Church

here. I have not used any medicine since, nor has any

one in our home. I am in the finest of health and have

lost all my bad habits. This truth has brought a great

spiritual uplifting to all of us, and words cannot express

my gratitude to Mrs. Eddy and to all who have helped

me to the same. – T. V., Chicago, Ill.

696:13
FIBROID TUMOR DESTROYED

696:14
When quite young I was impressed that the Bible

was not properly interpreted by the preachers, for I

could not conceive of a God of wrath who was unjust

enough to allow His little ones to suffer pain, misery, and

death. I had hope, however, that some day the truth

would be revealed to an awakening world, but little did

I dream that even then there was one of God's noble

women who reflected sufficient purity and holiness to

entertain the "angel of his presence," and commune with

the true God.

696:24
I was believed to be predisposed to scrofula, so that

I was not a strong or attractive child, and my girlhood

and womanhood were scarcely ever free from dread of

the laws of matter and lack of strength. The climax

was reached when a physician informed me, after weeks

of treatment, that I had a fibroid tumor, which required

an operation. The conditions were most trying and I

697:1
was heartsick and discouraged when, in January, 1893,

I heard of Christian Science through a letter from a dear

sister who had been greatly benefited thereby, and I re-

solved to go at once to a practitioner, for I believed it

to be the long-lost truth that would make me free. It

meant a great effort and sacrifice for me to go to Chicago

at that time, but divine Love opened the way and I reached

there in March. I had been in my sister's home but

a few days, reading Science and Health almost con-

stantly, when I asked her if I had not better have

treatment for the tumor, which had given me so much

trouble. She said to me, "You feel well, do you not?"

I assured her that I never had felt so well as I had since

reaching there. "Well," she said with decision, "your

tumor is gone, for God never made it," and her statements

were true, for it has never been heard of from that day.

Since then I have been healed of chronic sore throat,

hay fever, and other troubles, and I know that Christian

Science is the truth. – B. W. S., Coldwater, Mich.

697:21
LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS

697:22
I have received so much benefit from the testimonies

in the Sentinel and Journal that I send mine, hoping

it may cheer some struggling heart. I was reared by

kind and loving Christian parents and was a member

of an orthodox church for over twenty years, but I was

never satisfied. I was filled with fear and bound down

by the false gods of this world, – sin, disease, and pov-

erty; consequently every way I turned, and in everything

I attempted to do, I was met with disappointment and

failure; but God was leading me into a different life.

698:1
My interest was first awakened to Christian Science

about thirteen years ago, and I have been a willing dis-

ciple ever since. Through the reading of Science and

Health I was healed of chronic catarrh and laryngitis,

and it also enabled me to lay off my glasses. Christian

Science has not only helped me mentally, morally, and

physically, but the greatest blessing of all is the spirit-

ual uplifting which enabled me to know that God is both

able and willing to care for His children, if we are but

willing to do our part and bear the cross which, though

it seems heavy at times, always brings a sure reward.

Christian Science has not only helped me, but it has

enabled me to help others.

698:14
The Bible is a new book to me. I now see what

Jesus meant when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that

labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

698:17
My heart goes out in gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for the

work she has done and is still doing for the world, and

to God I am most grateful that He has guided me into the

truth, that I may have life, and have it more abundantly.

– Mrs. M. M., Chicago, Ill.

698:22
A PRICELESS BOON

698:23
I have long desired to express my gratitude for what

Christian Science has done, through reading Science

and Health, for me and my family. I was healed of

profanity, the tobacco habit, and a bad temper, through

the understanding that man is the image and likeness of

God. I was also healed of kidney disease and rheuma

tism. What surprised me most, however, was this; I

had had one finger thrown out of place some fifteen years

699:1
before. It was crooked, but it became straight and use-

ful. A bone in my foot had also been broken, leaving

a bunch, which disappeared after I studied Christian

Science and received class instruction. I am an entirely

well man and for this I am very grateful. I am also

glad that I have learned enough of Truth and love to

be able to heal others. I wish to express my thankful

appreciation of our Leader, also of the Sentinel and the

Journal. – N. R. F., Salina, Kans.

699:10
HEALED OF CONSUMPTION AND ASTHMA

699:11
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the great benefits which

have come to me through Christian Science. It is nearly

ten years since I began the investigation of the subject by

borrowing a copy of Science and Health. I had become

a hopeless sufferer from asthma, – the disease being so

aggravated at times as to make breathing almost impos-

sible. I was also a victim of that dread disease, consump-

tion. It was hereditary, nearly all my family on both

sides having passed away with it. I took up Christian

Science very much as a drowning man catches at a straw.

However, I was much interested as soon as I began to

understand it, and having read the book nearly all my

waking hours for a few weeks, I became so much better

and so convinced of its truth, that myself and wife de-

stroyed all the medicines in the home, and have never

since used any remedy except Christian Science. I con-

tinued to study and to put into practice the teaching as

best I knew, and was restored to health in a few months.

699:29
Prior to my investigation of Christian Science I had

been from boyhood an outspoken infidel, had read that

700:1
class of literature extensively, and had no desire for

anything of a religious nature, – the orthodox teaching

never having appealed to me as a rational exposition of

an all-wise God. I now have no more doubt of the truth

of the teaching of the great Way-shower, Jesus of Naza-

reth, than I doubt the correctness of the basic law of

mathematics or music. I have no doubt whatever that

Christian Science saved me from the grave, and thus

proved a most practicable and efficient help in time of

greatest need. However great my physical suffering has

been, I can but feel glad that through it the door of con-

sciousness was opened to let in the light of Truth. Thus

I have progressed a little way in the knowledge of God,

good, as revealed in Christian Science. – C. B., Webb

City, Mo.

700:16
A GRATEFUL TESTIMONY

700:17
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto

my path."

700:19
This has been proven to me in every way. When

Christian Science came to me, I was a wreck, physically,

mentally, and financially; but since the reading of Sci-

ence and Health turned my thought toward the light, I

have found that, as far as I am willing to receive the word

and live it, all comforts are supplied me. I am especially

grateful for the spiritual help. I know that things which

I did and thought last year I would not do or think this

year, and am satisfied. Through the careful and prayer-

ful study of Science and Health I have been lifted from

sickness to health, from sorrow to peace, from lack to

plenty, and, the most beautiful of all, from darkness to

light. – Mrs. H. S. C., Seattle, Wash.

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