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

 

The true and living rock
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
147:1
the age in which we live. This system enables the
learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
disease.
147:6
Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine
rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the
broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-
plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-
manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost
none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-
turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules
on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.
Perusal and practice
147:14
Although this volume contains the complete Science of
Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole
meaning of the Science by a simple perusal
of this book. The book needs to be studied,
and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing
will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of
Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the
perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and en-
ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto
unattained and seemingly dim.
A definite rule discovered
147:24
Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal-
ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to
his students; but he left no definite rule for
demonstrating this Principle of healing and
preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered
in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good-
ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of
goodness and demonstrates its rules.
Jesus' own practice
147:32
Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult
148:1
to heal. When his students brought to him a case they
had failed to heal, he said to them, "O faithless gen-
eration," implying that the requisite power
to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs,
urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct
disobedience to them.
The man of anatomy and of theology
148:7
Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man
as created by Spirit, – as God's man. The former ex-
plains the men of men, or the "children of
men," as created corporeally instead of spir-
itually and as emerging from the lowest, in-
stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both
anatomy and theology define man as both physical and
mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every
function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes
up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the
true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the-
ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo-
nious man, and deal – the one wholly, the other primarily
– with matter, calling that man which is not the counter-
part, but the counterfeit, of God's man. Then theology
tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, – how
from this basis of division and discord to produce the con-
cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.
Physiology deficient
148:25
Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims
to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When
physiology fails to give health or life by this
process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable
or unwilling to render help in time of physical need.
When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them
to the guidance of a theology which admits God to be
the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great
149:1
Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness
as well as from sin.
Blunders and blunderers
149:3
Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as
in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine
Science in every case. Is materia medica a
science or a bundle of speculative human
theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in-
stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different
mental states of the patient. These states are not com-
prehended and they are left without explanation except
in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera-
tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any
case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of
Christ, Truth, more in your own life, – because you have
not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine
Science.
Old-school physician
149:17
A physician of the old school remarked with great
gravity: "We know that mind affects the body some-
what, and advise our patients to be hopeful
and cheerful and to take as little medicine as
possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties."
The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author
has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she
has cured purely functional disease, and with no power
but the divine Mind.
Tests in our day
149:26
Since God, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but
supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.
Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits
mind and body. We need to understand the
affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and
demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there
is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to
150:1
be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue
and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian
system of healing disease.
The main purpose
150:4
To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-
strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a
phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the
coming anew of the gospel of "on earth peace,
good-will toward men." This coming, as was promised
by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian
Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration,
is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then,
signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-
ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-
strate its divine origin, – to attest the reality of the higher
mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the
world.
Exploded doctrine
150:18
The science (so-called) of physics would have one be-
lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease,
and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro-
test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.
This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and
it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to
all others at some future day, as the practically rejected
doctrine of the predestination of souls to damnation or
salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov-
erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that
he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of
matter, – even the doctrine of the superiority of matter
over Mind, – is fading out.
Disease mental
150:31
The hosts of AEsculapius are flooding the world with
diseases, because they are ignorant that the human mind
151:1
and body are myths. To be sure, they sometimes treat
the sick as if there was but one factor in the case; but
this one factor they represent to be body, not
mind. Infinite Mind could not possibly create
a remedy outside of itself, but erring, finite, human mind
has an absolute need of something beyond itself for its
redemption and healing.
Intentions respected
151:8
Great respect is due the motives and philanthropy of
the higher class of physicians. We know that if they un-
derstood the Science of Mind-healing, and were
in possession of the enlarged power it confers
to benefit the race physically and spiritually, they would
rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would
ultimately deliver mankind from the awful and oppres-
sive bondage now enforced by false theories, from which
multitudes would gladly escape.
Man governed by Mind
151:17
Mortal belief says that death has been occasioned by
fright. Fear never stopped being and its action. The
blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing
to do with Life, God. Every function of the
real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human
mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no con-
trol over God's man. The divine Mind that made man
maintains His own image and likeness. The human
mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul
declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and
its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found har-
monious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to
see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and
follow the leadings of truth.
Mortal mind dethroned
151:31
That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the
mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so‑
152:1
called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield
to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but
it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind
takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and
saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored
to make this book the AEsculapius of mind as well as of
body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them,
although they know not how the work is done. Truth
has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.
All activity from thought
152:10
Anatomy describes muscular action as produced by
mind in one instance and not in another. Such errors
beset every material theory, in which one
statement contradicts another over and over
again. It is related that Sir Humphry Davy once ap-
parently cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing
a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did
merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body;
but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended
to heal him, and he recovered accordingly. Such a fact
illustrates our theories.
The author's experiments in medicine
152:21
The author's medical researches and experiments had
prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian
Science. Every material dependence had
failed her in her search for truth; and she can
now understand why, and can see the means
by which mortals are divinely driven to a spiritual source
for health and happiness.
Homoeopathic attenuations
152:28
Her experiments in homoeopathy had made her skep-
tical as to material curative methods. Jahr, from
Aconitum to Zincum oxydatum, enumerates
the general symptoms, the characteristic
signs, which demand different remedies; but the drug
153:1
is frequently attenuated to such a degree that not a ves-
tige of it remains. Thus we learn that it is not the drug
which expels the disease or changes one of the symptoms
of disease.
Only salt and water
153:5
The author has attenuated Natrum muriaticum (com-
mon table-salt) until there was not a single saline property
left. The salt had "lost his savour;" and yet,
with one drop of that attenuation in a goblet of
water, and a teaspoonful of the water administered at in-
tervals of three hours, she has cured a patient sinking in
the last stage of typhoid fever. The highest attenuation
of homoeopathy and the most potent rises above matter into
mind. This discovery leads to more light. From it may
be learned that either human faith or the divine Mind is
the healer and that there is no efficacy in a drug.
Origin of pain
153:16
You say a boil is painful; but that is impossible, for
matter without mind is not painful. The boil simply
manifests, through inflammation and swell-
ing, a belief in pain, and this belief is called a
boil. Now administer mentally to your patient a high
attenuation of truth, and it will soon cure the boil. The
fact that pain cannot exist where there is no mortal mind
to feel it is a proof that this so-called mind makes its
own pain – that is, its own belief in pain.
Source of contagion
153:25
We weep because others weep, we yawn because they
yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but
mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries
the infection. When this mental contagion is
understood, we shall be more careful of our mental con-
ditions and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about
disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither
sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish
154:1
error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's
advocate.
Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-
sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain
diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-
tains credit through association, – calling up the fear that
creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-
tation in the body.
Imaginary cholera
154:9
This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following
incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a
bed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-
diately the symptoms of this disease appeared,
and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught
the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient
had been in that bed.
Children's ailments
154:16
If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the
mother is frightened and says, "My child will be sick."
The law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-
ern her child more than the child's mind gov-
erns itself, and they produce the very results which might
have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
Then it is believed that exposure to the contagion wrought
the mischief.
154:24
That mother is not a Christian Scientist, and her affec-
tions need better guidance, who says to her child: "You
look sick," "You look tired," "You need rest," or "You
need medicine."
154:28
Such a mother runs to her little one, who thinks she has
hurt her face by falling on the carpet, and says, moaning
more childishly than her child, "Mamma knows you are
hurt." The better and more successful method for any
mother to adopt is to say: "Oh, never mind! You're not
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