Science and Health
with Key to The Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
Chapter VI - Science, Theology, Medicine

 

Reluctant guests
130:1
God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by con-
stant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is dis-
couraged over its slight spiritual prospects.
When all men are bidden to the feast, the ex-
cuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise,
and therefore they cannot accept.
Excuses for ignorance
130:7
It is vain to speak dishonestly of divine Science, which
destroys all discord, when you can demonstrate
the actuality of Science. It is unwise to doubt
if reality is in perfect harmony with God, divine Principle,
– if Science, when understood and demonstrated, will
destroy all discord, – since you admit that God is om-
nipotent; for from this premise it follows that good and
its sweet concords have all-power.
Children and adults
130:15
Christian Science, properly understood, would dis-
abuse the human mind of material beliefs which war
against spiritual facts; and these material
beliefs must be denied and cast out to make
place for truth. You cannot add to the contents of a
vessel already full. Laboring long to shake the adult's
faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, –
an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body har-
monious, – the author has often remembered our Master's
love for little children, and understood how truly such as
they belong to the heavenly kingdom.
All evil unnatural
130:26
If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, – no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should
131:1
not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth. Sickness should not seem
so real as health. There is no error in Science, and our
lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.
The error of carnality
131:6
When once destroyed by divine Science, the false evi-
dence before the corporeal senses disappears. Hence the
opposition of sensuous man to the Science of
Soul and the significance of the Scripture, "The
carnal mind is enmity against God." The central fact of
the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.
131:12
THEOLOGY
Churchly neglect
131:13
Must Christian Science come through the Christian
churches as some persons insist? This Science has come
already, after the manner of God's appoint-
ing, but the churches seem not ready to re-
ceive it, according to the Scriptural saying, "He came
unto his own, and his own received him not." Jesus once
said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." As afore-
time, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the cere-
monies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the
hearts of men are made ready for it.
John the Baptist, and the Messiah
131:26
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and ex-
plained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural
demonstrations of the divine power, demonstra-
tions which were not understood. Jesus' works
established his claim to the Messiahship. In
reply to John's inquiry, "Art thou he that should come,"
132:1
Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works
instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully an-
swer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see: the
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In
other words, he gave his benediction to any one who
should not deny that such effects, coming from divine
Mind, prove the unity of God, – the divine Principle
which brings out all harmony.
Christ rejected
132:14
The Pharisees of old thrust the spiritual idea and the
man who lived it out of their synagogues, and retained
their materialistic beliefs about God. Jesus'
system of healing received no aid nor approval
from other sanitary or religious systems, from doctrines
of physics or of divinity; and it has not yet been gener-
ally accepted. To-day, as of yore, unconscious of the
reappearing of the spiritual idea, blind belief shuts the
door upon it, and condemns the cure of the sick and sin-
ning if it is wrought on any but a material and a doctrinal
theory. Anticipating this rejection of idealism, of the
true idea of God, – this salvation from all error, physi-
cal and mental, – Jesus asked, "When the Son of man
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
John's misgivings
132:28
Did the doctrines of John the Baptist confer healing
power upon him, or endow him with the truest concep-
tion of the Christ? This righteous preacher
once pointed his disciples to Jesus as "the
Lamb of God;" yet afterwards he seriously questioned
133:1
the signs of the Messianic appearing, and sent the inquiry
to Jesus, "Art thou he that should come?"
Faith according to works
133:3
Was John's faith greater than that of the Samaritan
woman, who said, "Is not this the Christ?"
There was also a certain centurion of whose
faith Jesus himself declared, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel."
133:8
In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
in kings' palaces.
Judaism antipathetic
133:19
Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because
Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or
tribal religion. It was a finite and material
system, carried out in special theories concern-
ing God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus.
That he made "himself equal with God," was one of the
Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity
on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-
spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelli-
gence, nor substance outside of God.
Priestly learning
133:29
The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah,
or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite
given place to the true knowledge of God.
Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of
134:1
rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-
peated, "Crucify him!" At every advancing step, truth
is still opposed with sword and spear.
Testimony of martyrs
134:4
The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but
those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted
unto death, that at length the word martyr
was narrowed in its significance and so has
come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions.
The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred
of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of
Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted;
and so it came about that human rights were hallowed
by the gallows and the cross.
Absence of Christ-power
134:14
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed
strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,
how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ
or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-
bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very
element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and
unequalled success in the first century.
Basis of miracles
134:21
The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, – not
because this Science is supernatural or pre-
ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
spiritual power over material resistance.
Lawful wonders
134:31
A miracle fulfils God's law, but does not violate that
law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than
135:1
the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: "What ailed
thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan,
that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,
that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,
like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." The miracle
introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,
establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of
divine power.
Fear and sickness identical
135:11
The same power which heals sin heals also sickness.
This is "the beauty of holiness," that when Truth heals
the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth
casts out the evil called disease, it heals the
sick. When Christ cast out the devil of
dumbness, "it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
the dumb spake." There is to-day danger of repeating
the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel
and asking: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?"
What cannot God do?
The unity of Science and Christianity
135:21
It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be
Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the
other is false and useless; but neither is unim-
portant or untrue, and they are alike in demon-
stration. This proves the one to be identical
with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not
a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift
from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration
of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick,
not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demon-
stration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of
divine light.
The Christ-mission
136:1
Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
his followers that his religion had a divine
Principle, which would cast out error and heal
both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-
gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the
persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine
power to save men both bodily and spiritually.
Ancient spiritualism
136:9
The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the
sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.
He appealed to his students: "Whom do
men say that I, the Son of man, am?" That
is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting
out evils and healing the sick? They replied, "Some
say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." These prophets
were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that
some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,
controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.
136:20
This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself.
That a wicked king and debauched husband should have
no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work
of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such
a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully
understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was con-
trolled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod's asser-
tion: "John have I beheaded: but who is this?" No
wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.
Doubting disciples
136:29
The disciples apprehended their Master better than
did others; but they did not comprehend all
that he said and did, or they would not have
questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in
137:1
teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His stu-
dents saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil,
raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work
was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the
crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before
them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and
the grave.
137:8
Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated,
"But whom say ye that I am?" This renewed inquiry
meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so
mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the
answer already given and his renewal of the question,
it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow
opinion implied in their citation of the common report
about him.
A divine response
137:16
With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his
brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God!"
That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-
clared, – Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and
Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from
Jesus the benediction, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-
jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven;" that is, Love hath
shown thee the way of Life!
The true and living rock
137:26
Before this the impetuous disciple had been called
only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of
Jona; but now the Master gave him a spir-
itual name in these words: "And I say also
unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the
meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build
my church; and the gates of hell [hades, the under-
138:1
world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it." In
other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not
on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God‑
power which lay behind Peter's confession of the true
Messiah.
Sublime summary
138:6
It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and
Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the
sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm
of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis
Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to
outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither
by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by
the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which
Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion
of Love.
New era in Jesus
138:17
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for
all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are
under as direct orders now, as they were then,
to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to
follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as
the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sick-
ness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with
pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleas-
ure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as
readily is it was proved centuries ago.
Healthful theology
138:27
Our Master said to every follower: "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . .
Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as
thyself!" It was this theology of Jesus which
healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this
book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which
139:1
heals the sick and causes the wicked to "forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It was our Mas-
ter's theology which the impious sought to destroy.
Marvels and reformations
139:4
From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of
accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter.
Moses proved the power of Mind by what men
called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and
Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and
wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with
bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been
brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-
form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely
to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows
inward.
Science obscured
139:15
The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what
should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the man-
ifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the
thirty thousand different readings in the Old
Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,
– these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole
into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some
extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither
wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen
from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of
Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw
that "the stone which the builders rejected" would be-
come "the head of the corner."
Opponents benefited
139:28
Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are
opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-
ligion; but it does not follow that the profane
or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Chris-
tian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-
140:1
mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most
cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the
treatment of moral ailments.
God invisible to the senses
140:4
That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm.
The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not
see My face; for there shall no man see Me
and live." Not materially but spiritually we
know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We
shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the
divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no
more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence
of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of
the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-
scriptive from lack of love, – straining out gnats and
swallowing camels.
The true worship
140:16
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship
materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Chris-
tianity. Worshipping through the medium of
matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals
are but types and shadows of true worship. "The true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
truth."
Anthropomorphism
140:23
The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God,
liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.
The Christian Science God is universal, eter-
nal, divine love, which changeth not and caus-
eth no evil, disease, nor death. It is indeed mournfully
true that the older Scripture is reversed. In the begin-
ing God created man in His, God's, image; but mor-
tals would procreate man, and make God in their own
human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
magnified?
More than profession required
141:1
This indicates the distance between the theological and
ritualistic religion of the ages and the truth preached by
Jesus. More than profession is requisite for
Christian demonstration. Few understand or
adhere to Jesus' divine precepts for living and
healing. Why? Because his precepts require the disci-
ple to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
– that is, to set aside even the most cherished beliefs
and practices, to leave all for Christ.
No ecclesiastical monopoly
141:10
All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come
from the schools and along the line of scholarly and eccle-
siastical descent, as kings are crowned from a
royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning,
Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect
followed the understanding of the divine Principle and
of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical
monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sover-
eignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The
Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and
priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and
do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ; there-
fore they cannot demonstrate God's healing power.
Neither can this manifestation of Christ be com-
prehended, until its divine Principle is scientifically
understood.
A change demanded
141:27
The adoption of scientific religion and of divine heal-
ing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our
pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let
it have fair representation by the press. Give
to it the place in our institutions of learning now occu-
pied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will
142:1
eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems,
devised for subduing them, have required for self-estab-
lishment and propagation.
Two claims omitted
142:4
Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured
Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death;
but modern religions generally omit all but one
of these powers, – the power over sin. We
must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our
first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can
furnish us with absolute evidence.
Selfishness and loss
142:11
If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and archi-
tectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with
beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the
gate, they at the same time shut the door on
progress. In vain do the manger and the cross tell their
story to pride and fustian. Sensuality palsies the right
hand, and causes the left to let go its grasp on the divine.
Temple cleansed
142:18
As in Jesus' time, so to-day, tyranny and pride need to
be whipped out of the temple, and humility and divine Sci-
ence to be welcomed in. The strong cords of
scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded
by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their
vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet
dwelling-places for the Most High.
142:25
MEDICINE
Question of precedence
142:26
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was
first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have
been the first medicine. God being All-in‑
all, He made medicine; but that medicine was
Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs
from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth
143:1
is God's remedy for error of every kind, and Truth de-
stroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day,
as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the
sick.
Methods rejected
143:5
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene,
nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have
recommended and employed them in his heal-
ing. The sick are more deplorably lost than
the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and
the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter
medicine, and matter required a material and human be-
lief before it could be considered as medicine.
Error not curative
143:13
Sometimes the human mind uses one error to medi-
cine another. Driven to choose between two difficulties,
the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from starva-
tion by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You
admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but
you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones,
etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by
this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on
the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this de-
prives you of the available superiority of divine Mind.
The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative
mind.
Impossible coalescence
143:26
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power
except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was
first chronologically, is first potentially, and
must be first eternally, then give to Mind the
glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its
holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will
144:1
not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make
them do so, since no good can come of it?
If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind,
which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if
these so-called powers are real.
144:6
Naught is the squire, when the king is nigh;
Withdraws the star, when dawns the sun's brave light.
Soul and sense
144:8
The various mortal beliefs formulated in human philoso-
phy, physiology, hygiene, are mainly predicated of matter,
and afford faint gleams of God, or Truth.
The more material a belief, the more obstinately
tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of
the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.
Will-power detrimental
144:14
Human will-power is not Science. Human will belongs
to the so-called material senses, and its use is to be con-
demned. Willing the sick to recover is not the
metaphysical practice of Christian Science, but
is sheer animal magnetism. Human will-power may in-
fringe the rights of man. It produces evil continually,
and is not a factor in the realism of being. Truth, and
not corporeal will, is the divine power which says to
disease, "Peace, be still."
Conservative antagonism
144:23
Because divine Science wars with so-called physical
science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools
still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice
closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped.
When the Science of being is universally understood,
every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be
the universal panacea.
Ancient healers
144:30
It is a question to-day, whether the ancient inspired
healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or
145:1
whether they caught its sweet tones, as the natural
musician catches the tones of harmony, without being
able to explain them. So divinely imbued
were they with the spirit of Science, that the
lack of the letter could not hinder their work; and that
letter, without the spirit, would have made void their
practice.
The struggle and victory
145:8
The struggle for the recovery of invalids goes on, not
between material methods, but between mortal minds
and immortal Mind. The victory will be on
the patient's side only as immortal Mind
through Christ, Truth, subdues the human belief in
disease. It matters not what material method one may
adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or reliance
on some other minor curative.
Mystery of godliness
145:16
Scientific healing has this advantage over other meth-
ods, – that in it Truth controls error. From this fact
arise its ethical as well as its physical ef-
fects. Indeed, its ethical and physical effects
are indissolubly connected. If there is any mystery
in Christian healing, it is the mystery which godliness
always presents to the ungodly, – the mystery always
arising from ignorance of the laws of eternal and unerr-
ing Mind.
Matter versus matter
145:25
Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of
matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost
145:31
The theology of Christian Science includes healing
the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded
146:1
to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
has this element of Christianity been lost?
Because our systems of religion are governed
more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
Christlike.
Drugs and divinity
146:13
Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
God – even the might of Mind – to heal the body.
Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God
146:23
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
all space.
Reduction to system
146:31
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of
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