Opening…

Preface

vi:1 To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds vi:3 the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet- shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in vi:6 cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be- nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ vi:9 Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn- ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise- men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of vi:12 divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.

The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the vi:15 portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping- vi:18 stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall vi:21 reign forever."

A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy vi:24 pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished.

vi:27 Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in vii:1 the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but vii:3 to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense vii:6 must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet con- cord to sound.

vii:9 Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's oppo- vii:12 site. The question, What is Truth, is answered by demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and this demonstration shows that Christian healing con- vii:15 fers the most health and makes the best men. On this basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness has been combated for centuries by doctors using ma- vii:18 terial remedies; but the question arises, Is there less sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous "No" is the response deducible from two connate vii:21 facts, - the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians, and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of diseases since the flood.

vii:24 In the author's work, RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPEC- TION, may be found a biographical sketch, narrating experiences which led her, in the year 1866, to the dis- vii:27 covery of the system that she denominated Christian Science. As early as 1862 she began to write down and give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for vii:30 the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions were crude, the first steps of a child in the newly dis- covered world of Spirit.

ix:1 She also began to jot down her thoughts on the main subject, but these jottings were only infantile ix:3 lispings of Truth. A child drinks in the outward world through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet ix:6 he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words, and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite ix:9 thought, though still imperfectly.

So was it with the author. As a certain poet says of himself, she "lisped in numbers, for the numbers ix:12 came." Certain essays written at that early date are still in circulation among her first pupils; but they are feeble attempts to state the Principle and practice of ix:15 Christian healing, and are not complete nor satisfac- tory expositions of Truth. To-day, though rejoicing in some progress, she still finds herself a willing dis- ix:18 ciple at the heavenly gate, waiting for the Mind of Christ.

Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copy- ix:21 righted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject ix:24 could be profitably studied. From 1867 until 1875, copies were, however, in friendly circulation.

Before writing this work, SCIENCE AND HEALTH, she ix:27 made copious notes of Scriptural exposition, which have never been published. This was during the years 1867 and 1868. These efforts show her comparative ix:30 ignorance of the stupendous Life-problem up to that time, and the degrees by which she came at length to its solution; but she values them as a parent x:1 may treasure the memorials of a child's growth, and she would not have them changed.

x:3 The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was pub- lished in 1875. Various books on mental healing have since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory x:6 and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH. They regard the human mind as a healing agent, whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of x:9 Christian Science. A few books, however, which are based on this book, are useful.

The author has not compromised conscience to suit x:12 the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and hon- estly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so in- x:15 finite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated cases of healing, she and her students have proved the worth of her teachings. These cases for the most part x:18 have been abandoned as hopeless by regular medical attendants. Few invalids will turn to God till all physical supports have failed, because there is so little x:21 faith in His disposition and power to heal disease.

The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its x:24 purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more po- tent than that of any other sanitary method. The un- biased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, x:27 and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her method who do not understand her meaning, or dis- cerning the truth, come not to the light lest their x:30 works be reproved. No intellectual proficiency is req- uisite in the learner, but sound morals are most de- sirable.

xi:1 Many imagine that the phenomena of physical heal- ing in Christian Science present only a phase of the xi:3 action of the human mind, which action in some unex- plained way results in the cure of disease. On the con- trary, Christian Science rationally explains that all xi:6 other pathological methods are the fruits of human faith in matter, faith in the workings, not of Spirit, but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science.

xi:9 The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their real- xi:12 ity in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works xi:15 are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and re- xi:18 peating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], And recovering of sight to the blind, xi:21 To set at liberty them that are bruised.

When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and xi:24 water His vineyard.

The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing was started by the author with only one student in xi:27 Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881, she opened the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston, under the seal of the Commonwealth, a law xi:30 relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled her to get this institution chartered for medical pur- xii:1 poses. No charters were granted to Christian Scien- tists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that xii:3 date, hers was the only College of this character which had been established in the United States, where Christian Science was first introduced.

xii:6 During seven years over four thousand students were taught by the author in this College. Meanwhile she was pastor of the first established Church of xii:9 Christ, Scientist; President of the first Christian Sci- entist Association, convening monthly; publisher of her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole xii:12 editor and publisher of the Christian Science Journal, the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists. She closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of xii:15 its prosperity with a deep-lying conviction that the next two years of her life should be given to the prep- aration of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which xii:18 was published in 1891. She retained her charter, and as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as auxil- iary to her church. Until June 10, 1907, she had never xii:21 read this book throughout consecutively in order to elu- cidate her idealism.

In the spirit of Christ's charity, as one who "hopeth xii:24 all things, endureth all things," and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.

MARY BAKER EDDY

NOTE. - The author takes no patients, and declines medical consultation.

I. PRAYER

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him. - CHRIST JESUS.

1:1 THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are 1:3 possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say or think on this subject, I speak from experience. 1:6 Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im- molation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christian- 1:9 ization and health of mankind.

Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from 1:12 trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.

Right motives

2:1 What are the motives for prayer? Do we pray to make ourselves better or to benefit those who hear us, 2:3 to enlighten the infinite or to be heard of men? Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteous- 2:6 ness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return unto us void.

Deity unchangeable

God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more 2:9 than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchang- ing wisdom and Love. We can do more for 2:12 ourselves by humble fervent petitions, but the All-lov- ing does not grant them simply on the ground of lip- service, for He already knows all.

2:15 Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at- tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that 2:18 God will save us is not all that is required. The mere habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as 2:21 humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit- ual growth.

God's standard

God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is 2:24 intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any- thing He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall 2:27 we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour- ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire does bring us nearer the source of all existence and 2:30 blessedness.

Asking God to /be/ God is a vain repetition. God is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and 3:1 He who is immutably right will do right without being reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not 3:3 sufficient to warrant him in advising God.

The spiritual mathematics

Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The 3:6 rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own 3:9 work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His bless- ing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.

3:12 The Divine Being must be reflected by man, - else man is not the image and likeness of the patient, tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to 3:15 understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.

Prayerful ingratitude

How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit 3:18 theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omni- present, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind. We plead 3:21 for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the 3:24 blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.

3:27 If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in- sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pro- 3:30 nounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from 4:1 divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingrati- tude of barren lives.

Efficacious petitions

4:3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the com- 4:6 mandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has 4:9 done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

4:12 The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas- ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not 4:15 acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness to be partakers of Love.

Watchfulness requisite

Simply asking that we may love God will never 4:18 make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchful- ness and in striving to assimilate more of 4:21 the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the Science of Christianity through demonstration of the 4:24 divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring experience.

Veritable devotion

4:27 Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer, watchfulness, and devout obedience enable 4:30 us to follow Jesus' example. Long prayers, superstition, and creeds clip the strong pinions of love, and clothe religion in human forms. Whatever mate- 5:1 rializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps him from demonstrating his power over error.

Sorrow and reformation

5:3 Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step re- quired by wisdom is the test of our sincerity, 5:6 - namely, reformation. To this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for 5:9 what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall 5:12 be measured to you again," and it will be full "and run- ning over."

Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always 5:15 in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and 5:18 affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sin- ners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther, the Psalmist could see their end, - the destruction of sin 5:21 through suffering.

Cancellation of human sin

Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin. Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven 5:24 only as it is destroyed by Christ, - Truth and Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying, 5:27 prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin because he fancies himself forgiven.

Diabolism destroyed

An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to 5:30 "destroy the /works/ of the devil." We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the de- struction of all evil works, error and disease included. 6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scrip- tures say, that if we deny Christ, " he also will deny us."

Pardon and amendment

6:3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner. God is not separate from the wis- 6:6 dom He bestows. The talents He gives we must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition 6:9 that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.

To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means 6:12 of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until be- lief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach 6:15 heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand the divine Principle of being.

Mercy without partiality

"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask, 6:18 higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or un- 6:21 sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing.

Divine severity

Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it 6:24 out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound her, and to Peter he said, "Thou art an of- fence unto me." He came teaching and 6:27 showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death. He said of the fruitless tree, "[It] is hewn down."

It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, 6:30 who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: "His rebuke is fearful." The strong language of our Mas- ter confirms this description.

7:1 The only civil sentence which he had for error was, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Still stronger evidence 7:3 that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found in his own words,- showing the necessity for such forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed 7:6 the sick and sinning. The relinquishment of error de- prives material sense of its false claims.

Audible praying

Audible prayer is impressive; it gives momentary 7:9 solemnity and elevation to thought. But does it pro- duce any lasting benefit? Looking deeply into these things, we find that "a zeal . . . 7:12 not according to knowledge" gives occasion for reac- tion unfavorable to spiritual growth, sober resolve, and wholesome perception of God's requirements. The mo- 7:15 tives for verbal prayer may embrace too much love of applause to induce or encourage Christian sentiment.

Emotional utterances

Physical sensation, not Soul, produces material ec- 7:18 stasy and emotion. If spiritual sense always guided men, there would grow out of ecstatic mo- ments a higher experience and a better life 7:21 with more devout self-abnegation and purity. A self- satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments never makes a Christian. God is not influenced by man. The "di- 7:24 vine ear" is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied.

Danger from audible prayer

7:27 The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp- tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut- tering desires which are not real and consoling 7:30 ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for- giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.

8:1 A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self- justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite. 8:3 We never need to despair of an honest heart; but there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi- cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to 8:6 hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond with their character. They hold secret fellowship with sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like 8:9 unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."

Aspiration and love

If a man, though apparently fervent and prayerful, is impure and therefore insincere, what must be the 8:12 comment upon him? If he reached the loftiness of his prayer, there would be no occasion for comment. If we feel the aspiration, hu- 8:15 mility, gratitude, and love which our words express,- this God accepts; and it is wise not to try to deceive ourselves or others, for "there is nothing covered that 8:18 shall not be revealed." Professions and audible pray- ers are like charity in one respect,- they "cover the multitude of sins." Praying for humility with what- 8:21 ever fervency of expression does not always mean a desire for it. If we turn away from the poor, we are not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses 8:24 the poor. We confess to having a very wicked heart and ask that it may be laid bare before us, but do we not already know more of this heart than we are 8:27 willing to have our neighbor see?

Searching the heart

We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way 8:30 only can we learn what we honestly are. If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen pa- tiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not 9:1 rather give thanks that we are "not as other men"? During many years the author has been most grateful 9:3 for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited cen- sure,- in the falsehood which does no one any good.

Summit of aspiration

The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these 9:6 questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfish- ness, satisfied with having prayed for some- 9:9 thing better, though we give no evidence of the sin- cerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, 9:12 we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is 9:15 a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith.

Practical religion

Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy 9:18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"? This command includes much, even the sur- render of all merely material sensation, affec- 9:21 tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, 9:24 and material sense and human will have no place.

The chalice sacrificial

Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire 9:27 to attain this point? No! Then why make long prayers about it and ask to be Christians, since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our 9:30 dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right. 10:1 Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed- 10:3 ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord, we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.

The world must grow to the spiritual understanding 10:6 of prayer. If good enough to profit by Jesus' cup of earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these sor- rows. Until we are thus divinely qualified and are 10:9 willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions will never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in demonstration of power and "with signs following." 10:12 Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.

Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables 10:15 us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life.

Perfunctory prayers

One of the forms of worship in Thibet is to carry a 10:18 praying-machine through the streets, and stop at the doors to earn a penny by grinding out a prayer. But the advance guard of progress has 10:21 paid for the privilege of prayer the price of persecution.

Asking amiss

Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some mis- 10:24 apprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness, or we should certainly receive that for which we ask. The Scrip- 10:27 tures say: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." That which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always 10:30 best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will not grant the request. Do you ask wisdom to be mer- ciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss." 11:1 Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer, "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of 11:3 forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, "Go, and sin no more."

Remission of penalty

A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this 11:6 may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it only saves the criminal from one form of punishment. The moral law, which has the 11:9 right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitu- tion before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law brings penalty in order to compel this progress.

Truth annihilates error

11:12 Mere legal pardon (and there is no other, for divine Principle never pardons our sins or mistakes till they are corrected) leaves the offender free to re- 11:15 peat the offence, if indeed, he has not already suffered sufficiently from vice to make him turn from it with loathing. Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but 11:18 wipes it out in the most effectual manner. Jesus suffered for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an in- dividual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering.

Desire for holiness

11:21 Petitions bring to mortals only the results of mor- tals' own faith. We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we 11:24 desire holiness above all else, we shall sac- rifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road 11:27 to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual 11:30 desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life.

Prayer for the sick

12:1 "The prayer of faith shall save the sick," says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? A mere re- 12:3 quest that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand. The beneficial effect of 12:6 such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, mak- ing it act more powerfully on the body through a blind faith in God. This, however, is one belief casting out 12:9 another, - a belief in the unknown casting out a belief in sickness. It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human under- 12:12 standing of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and con- scientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to 12:15 God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.

Prayer to a corporeal God affects the sick like a drug, which has no efficacy of its own but borrows its 12:18 power from human faith and belief. The drug does nothing, because it has no intelligence. It is a mortal belief, not divine Principle or Love, which causes a 12:21 drug to be apparently either poisonous or sanative.

The common custom of praying for the recovery of the sick finds help in blind belief, whereas help should come 12:24 from the enlightened understanding. Changes in belief may go on indefinitely, but they are the merchandise of human thought and not the outgrowth of divine Science.

Love impartial and universal

12:27 Does Deity interpose in behalf of one worshipper, and not help another who offers the same measure of prayer? If the sick recover because they 12:30 pray or are prayed for audibly, only peti- tioners (/per se/ or by proxy) should get well. In divine Science, where prayers are mental, /all/ may avail them- 13:1 selves of God as "a very present help in trouble." Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and 13:3 bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."

Public exaggerations

In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions, 13:6 beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. If we are not secretly yearning and openly striv- ing for the accomplishment of all we ask, 13:9 our prayers are "vain repetitions," such as the heathen use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward 13:12 us openly. Can the mere public expression of our de- sires increase them? Do we gain the omnipotent ear sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is 13:15 sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our fellow-beings about it. If we cherish the desire hon- estly and silently and humbly, God will bless it, and 13:18 we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real wishes with a torrent of words.

Corporeal ignorance

If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will 13:21 prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi- 13:24 nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle, Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal 13:27 creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely physical, and are ignorant of man as God's image or re- flection and of man's eternal incorporeal existence. The 13:30 world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, - blind to the reality of man's existence, - for the world of sen- sation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body.

Bodily presence

14:1 If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipo- tence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we 14:3 would gain, we are not "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" in the demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two mas- 14:6 ters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demon- stration and understanding of Life as revealed in 14:9 Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love,- by Spirit, not by matter.

Spiritualized consciousness

14:12 Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of matter, - and the body will then utter no 14:15 complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spir- 14:18 itual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I 14:21 go unto my Father," - [because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material 14:24 sense.

Entirely separate from the belief and dream of mate- rial living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual under- 14:27 standing and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak 14:30 "as one having authority."

"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 15:1 which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."

Spiritual sanctuary

15:3 So spake Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to 15:6 error, it is open to Truth, and /vice versa/. The Father in secret is unseen to the physical senses, but He knows all things and rewards according to 15:9 motives, not according to speech. To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent, 15:12 that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error.

Effectual invocation

In order to pray aright, we must enter into the 15:15 closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must 15:18 deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We 15:21 must "pray without ceasing." Such prayer is an- swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and 15:24 let our lives attest our sincerity.

Trustworthy beneficence

Christians rejoice in secret beauty and bounty, hidden from the world, but known to God. Self-forgetfulness, 15:27 purity, and affection are constant prayers. Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and 15:30 they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthi- ness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness.

Loftiest adoration

16:1 A great sacrifice of material things must precede this advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer 16:3 is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra- tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth 16:6 that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.

The prayer of Jesus Christ

Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer, which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Mas- 16:9 ter said, "After this manner therefore pray ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs. There is indeed some doubt 16:12 among Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an addition to the prayer by a later copyist; but this does not affect the meaning of the prayer itself.

16:15 In the phrase, "Deliver us from evil," the original properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil one." This reading strengthens our scientific apprehension of the peti- 16:18 tion, for Christian Science teaches us that "the evil one," or one evil, is but another name for the first lie and all liars.

Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and 16:21 sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir- itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick. 16:24 Here let me give what I understand to be the spir- itual sense of the Lord's Prayer:

Our Father which art in heaven, 16:27 /Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious/,

Hallowed be Thy name. /Adorable One./

16:30 Thy kingdom come. /Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present./

17:1 Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. /Enable us to know,- as in heaven, so on earth,- God is 17:3 omnipotent, supreme/.

Give us this day our daily bread; /Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;/

17:6 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. /And Love is reflected in love;/

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 17:9 evil; /And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death./

17:12 For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. /For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All./

II. ATONEMENT AND EUCHARIST

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. - PAUL.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. - PAUL.

For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. - JESUS.

Divine oneness

18:1 ATONEMENT is the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, 18:3 and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both in- 18:6 dividual and collective. He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,- to show them how to do theirs, but not to do 18:9 it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility. Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he 18:12 refuted all opponents with his healing power.

Human reconciliation

The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, 18:15 and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself. The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ, 18:18 Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived 19:1 from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ's purpose to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and 19:3 Truth are not at war with God's image and likeness. Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for him- self. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for 19:6 Truth and error are irreconcilable. Jesus aided in recon- ciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer 19:9 sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,- the law of divine Love.

19:12 The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, de- claring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and death, although his teaching set households at variance, 19:15 and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a sword.

Efficacious repentance

Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort 19:18 for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to understand Jesus' atonement for sin and aid its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray 19:21 and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone- ment,- in the /at-one-ment/ with God,- for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables 19:24 man to do the will of wisdom. Those who cannot dem- onstrate, at least in part, the divine Principle of the teach- ings and practice of our Master have no part in God. If 19:27 living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no secur- ity, although God is good.

Jesus' sinless career

Jesus urged the commandment, "Thou shalt have no 19:30 other gods before me," which may be ren- dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,- 20:1 even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are 20:3 God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved, not by spirits but by Spirit.

20:6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee Jesus said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." Jesus' history made a 20:9 new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the 20:12 clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet be sensual and sinful.

Perfect example

Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal 20:15 belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are healed." "Despised and rejected of men," returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor- 20:18 tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, 20:21 well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness.

Behest of the cross

20:24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into 20:27 the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 20:30 is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing.

Moral victory

21:1 If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and conversation, you can finally say, "I have fought a 21:3 good fight . . . I have kept the faith," be- cause you are a better man. This is having our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love. 21:6 Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting because of another's goodness, suffering, and triumph, that they shall reach his harmony and reward.

21:9 If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striv- ing to enter in. He constantly turns away from ma- terial sense, and looks towards the imperishable things 21:12 of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy.

Inharmonious travellers

21:15 If my friends are going to Europe, while I am /en route/ for California, we are not journeying together. We have separate time-tables to consult, 21:18 different routes to pursue. Our paths have diverged at the very outset, and we have little oppor- tunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my 21:21 friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our 21:24 companionship may continue.

Zigzag course

Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thither- 21:27 ward. He is like a traveller going westward for a pleasure-trip. The company is alluring and the pleasures exciting. After following the sun for 21:30 six days, he turns east on the seventh, satisfied if he can only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By- and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow 22:1 the passport of some wiser pilgrim, thinking with the aid of this to find and follow the right road.

Moral retrogression

22:3 Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope of forgiveness,- selfishness and sensuality causing con- stant retrogression,- our moral progress will 22:6 be slow. Waking to Christ's demand, mortals experience suffering. This causes them, even as drown- ing men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and 22:9 through Christ's precious love these efforts are crowned with success.

Wait for reward

"Work out your own salvation," is the demand of 22:12 Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you. "Occupy till I come!" Wait for your re- ward, and "be not weary in well doing." If 22:15 your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race.

22:18 When the smoke of battle clears away, you will dis- cern the good you have done, and receive according to your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from 22:21 temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified.

Deliverance not vicarious

Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in 22:24 immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious 22:27 effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God.

Justice and substitution

22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not 23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. 23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That 23:6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien- 23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf- fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.

Doctrines and faith

23:12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine, firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him." This preaching receives a strong rebuke in 23:15 the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead." Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be- tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, 23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab- lishes the claims of God.

Self-reliance and confidence

23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, /faith/ and the words corresponding thereto have these two defini- tions, /trustfulness/ and /trustworthiness/. One 23:24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem- 23:27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!" expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!" 23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir- itual understanding and confides all to God.

The Hebrew verb /to believe/ means also /to be firm/ or 24:1 /to be constant/. This certainly applies to Truth and Love understood and practised. Firmness in error will never 24:3 save from sin, disease, and death.

Life's healing currents

Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and 24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where 24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.

Radical changes

He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will 24:12 believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re- generation. This is having part in the atone- ment; this is the understanding, in which 24:15 Jesus suffered and triumphed. The time is not distant when the ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great change, - a change as radical as that 24:18 which has come over popular opinions in regard to pre- destination and future punishment.

Purpose of crucifixion

Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus 24:21 chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it and are willing to be forgiven? Does spiritualism find Jesus' death necessary 24:24 only for the presentation, after death, of the material Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then we must differ from them both.

24:27 The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical af- fection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that 24:30 it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own disciples could not admit such an event to be possible. After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was 25:1 forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of Truth and Love.

True flesh and blood

25:3 The spiritual essence of blood is sacrifice. The effi- cacy of Jesus' spiritual offering is infinitely greater than can be expressed by our sense of human 25:6 blood. The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon "the accursed tree," than when it was flowing in 25:9 his veins as he went daily about his Father's business. His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine 25:12 Life.

Effective triumph

Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals 25:15 the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By 25:18 his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu- ally than all others the Principle of being. Hence the force of his admonition, "If ye love me, keep my com- 25:21 mandments."

Though demonstrating his control over sin and disease, the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving 25:24 the requisite proofs of their own piety. He worked for their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as he did and understand its divine Principle. Implicit faith 25:27 in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the 25:30 great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow upon us. The divinity of the Christ was made manifest in the humanity of Jesus.

Individual experience

26:1 While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with gratitude for what he did for mortals, - treading alone 26:3 his loving pathway up to the throne of glory, in speechless agony exploring the way for us, - yet Jesus spares us not one individual expe- 26:6 rience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed 26:9 through divine Love.

Christ's demonstration

The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: "I am the way, the truth, and the life;" 26:12 "I and my Father are one." This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, 26:15 Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does 26:18 for man.

Proof in practice

A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by prac- 26:21 tice as well as precept. Jesus' teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was 26:24 the precious import of our Master's sinless career and of his demonstration of power over death. He proved by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin, 26:27 and death.

Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief. It was the divine Principle of all real being which he 26:30 taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love. 27:1 Jesus sent a message to John the Baptist, which was in- tended to prove beyond a question that the Christ had 27:3 come: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 27:6 to the poor the gospel is preached." In other words: Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is, and he will at once perceive that God is the power in 27:9 the Messianic work.

Living temple

That Life is God, Jesus proved by his reappearance after the crucifixion in strict accordance with his scien- 27:12 tific statement: "Destroy this temple [body], and in three days I [Spirit] will raise it up." It is as if he had said: The I - the Life, substance, 27:15 and intelligence of the universe - is not in matter to be destroyed.

Jesus' parables explain Life as never mingling with 27:18 sin and death. He laid the axe of Science at the root of material knowledge, that it might be ready to cut down the false doctrine of pantheism, - that God, or 27:21 Life, is in or of matter.

Recreant disciples

Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits 27:24 him with two or three hundred other disciples who have left no name. "Many are called, but few are chosen." They fell away from grace because 27:27 they never truly understood their Master's instruction.

Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the essential religion he came to establish? Jesus' persecu- 27:30 tors made their strongest attack upon this very point. They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.

Help and hindrance

28:1 The Pharisees claimed to know and to teach the di- vine will, but they only hindered the success of Jesus' 28:3 mission. Even many of his students stood in his way. If the Master had not taken a student and taught the unseen verities of God, he would 28:6 not have been crucified. The determination to hold Spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love.

28:9 While respecting all that is good in the Church or out of it, one's consecration to Christ is more on the ground of demonstration than of profession. In conscience, we 28:12 cannot hold to beliefs outgrown; and by understanding more of the divine Principle of the deathless Christ, we are enabled to heal the sick and to triumph over sin.

Misleading conceptions

28:15 Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of Jesus was generally understood. Not a single compo- nent part of his nature did the material 28:18 world measure aright. Even his righteous- less and purity did not hinder men from saying: He is a glutton and a friend of the impure, and Beelzebub is 28:21 his patron.

Persecution prolonged

Remember, thou Christian martyr, it is enough if thou art found worthy to unloose the sandals of thy 28:24 Master's feet! To suppose that persecution for righteousness' sake belongs to the past, and that Christianity to-day is at peace with the world 28:27 because it is honored by sects and societies, is to mis- take the very nature of religion. Error repeats itself. The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle, 28:30 "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some form, every pioneer of truth.

Christian warfare

There is too much animal courage in society and not 29:1 sufficient moral courage. Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple 29:3 with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the 29:6 crown of rejoicing.

Christian experience teaches faith in the right and dis- belief in the wrong. It bids us work the more earnestly 29:9 in times of persecution, because then our labor is more needed. Great is the reward of self-sacrifice, though we may never receive it in this world.

The Fatherhood of God

29:12 There is a tradition that Publius Lentulus wrote to the authorities at Rome: "The disciples of Jesus be- lieve him the Son of God." Those instructed 29:15 in Christian Science have reached the glori- ous perception that God is the only author of man. The Virgin-mother conceived this idea of God, and 29:18 gave to her ideal the name of Jesus - that is, Joshua, or Saviour.

Spiritual conception

The illumination of Mary's spiritual sense put to 29:21 silence material law and its order of generation, and brought forth her child by the revelation of Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of 29:24 men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recog- nition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever 29:27 an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed.

29:30 Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit, is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self- 30:1 conscious communion with God. Hence he could give a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could 30:3 demonstrate the Science of Love - his Father or divine Principle.

Jesus the way-shower

Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook 30:6 partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was en- dowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, with- out measure. This accounts for his struggles 30:9 in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to be the mediator, or /way-shower/, between God and men. Had his origin and birth been wholly apart from mortal 30:12 usage, Jesus would not have been appreciable to mortal mind as "the way."

Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said: 30:15 "An eye for an eye," and "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Not so did Jesus, the new executor for God, present the divine law of Love, 30:18 which blesses even those that curse it.

Rebukes helpful

As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death,- 30:21 to point out the way of Truth and Life. This ideal was demonstrated throughout the whole earthly career of Jesus, showing the difference between 30:24 the offspring of Soul and of material sense, of Truth and of error.

If we have triumphed sufficiently over the errors of 30:27 material sense to allow Soul to hold the control, we shall loathe sin and rebuke it under every mask. Only in this way can we bless our enemies, though they 30:30 may not so construe our words. We cannot choose for ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way Jesus taught. In meekness and might, he was found 31:1 preaching the gospel to the poor. Pride and fear are unfit to bear the standard of Truth, and God will never place 31:3 it in such hands.

Fleshly ties temporal

Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, 31:6 which is in heaven." Again he asked: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren," im- plying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We 31:9 have no record of his calling any man by the name of /father/. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.

Healing primary

31:12 First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his fol- lowers the healing power of Truth and Love. He attached no importance to dead ceremonies. It is the 31:15 living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes Jesus "the resurrection and the life" to all who follow him in deed. Obeying his precious precepts, - following his 31:18 demonstration so far as we apprehend it, - we drink of his cup, partake of his bread, are baptized with his pu- rity; and at last we shall rest, sit down with him, in a full 31:21 understanding of the divine Principle which triumphs over death. For what says Paul? "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 31:24 death till he come."

Painful prospect

Referring to the materiality of the age, Jesus said: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- 31:27 shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Again, foreseeing the perse- cution which would attend the Science of Spirit, Jesus 31:30 said: "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service; and these things will they 32:1 do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me."

Sacred sacrament

32:3 In ancient Rome a soldier was required to swear allegiance to his general. The Latin word for this oath was /sacramentum/, and our English word 32:6 /sacrament/ is derived from it. Among the Jews it was an ancient custom for the master of a feast to pass each guest a cup of wine. But the 32:9 Eucharist does not commemorate a Roman soldier's oath, nor was the wine, used on convivial occasions and in Jewish rites, the cup of our Lord. The cup shows 32:12 forth his bitter experience, - the cup which he prayed might pass from him, though he bowed in holy submis- sion to the divine decree.

32:15 "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and 32:18 gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it."

Spiritual refreshment

The true sense is spiritually lost, if the sacrament is 32:21 confined to the use of bread and wine. The disciples had eaten, yet Jesus prayed and gave them bread. This would have been foolish in a 32:24 literal sense; but in its spiritual signification, it was nat- ural and beautiful. Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with 32:27 spiritual views.

Jesus' sad repast

The Passover, which Jesus ate with his disciples in the month Nisan on the night before his crucifixion, 32:30 was a mournful occasion, a sad supper taken at the close of day, in the twilight of a glorious career with shadows fast falling around; and 33:1 this supper closed forever Jesus' ritualism or concessions to matter.

Heavenly supplies

33:3 His followers, sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour of their Master's betrayal, partook of the heavenly manna, which of old had fed in the wilderness the 33:6 persecuted followers of Truth. Their bread indeed came down from heaven. It was the great truth of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error. 33:9 Their Master had explained it all before, and now this bread was feeding and sustaining them. They had borne this bread from house to house, /breaking/ (explaining) it to 33:12 others, and now it comforted themselves.

For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow. 33:15 He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlast- ing victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said, "Drink ye all of it."

The holy struggle

33:18 When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but Thine, be done!"- that is, Let not the flesh, 33:21 but the Spirit, be represented in me. This is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the 33:24 sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek in heart.

Incisive questions

33:27 Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions which attend a new and higher understand- 33:30 ing of God? If not, can you then say that you have commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing 34:1 truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspira- 34:3 tion to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out error and making the body "holy, acceptable unto God," that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ, 34:6 Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other com- memoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or /God with us/; and if a friend be with us, why need we 34:9 memorials of that friend?

Millennial glory

If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of 34:12 his cup, they would have revolutionized the world. If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal 34:15 the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor, - the receptive thought, - they will bring in the millennium.

Fellowship with Christ

34:18 Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught. His resurrection was also their resur- 34:21 rection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this 34:24 quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness, 34:27 he would disappear to material sense in that change which has since been called the ascension.

The last breakfast

What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and 34:30 his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples in the bright morning hours at the joyful meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom 35:1 had passed into glory, and His disciples' grief into repent- ance, - hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced 35:3 of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right 35:6 side. Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into new- 35:9 ness of life as Spirit.

This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists 35:12 commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to re- ceive more of his reappearing and silently to commune with the divine Principle, Love. They celebrate their 35:15 Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh after death, its exemplification of human probation, and his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh, 35:18 when he rose out of material sight.

Spiritual Eucharist

Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can 35:21 unite with this church only as we are new- born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth 35:24 the fruits of Love, - casting out error and healing the sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven," 35:27 is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspira- tion of Love, the draught our Master drank and com- mended to his followers.

Final purpose

35:30 The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to re- form him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to 36:1 the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of 36:3 Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after 36:6 death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with God's govern- 36:9 ment, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

Jesus endured the shame, that he might pour his dear-bought bounty into barren lives. What was his 36:12 earthly reward? He was forsaken by all save John, the beloved disciple, and a few women who bowed in silent woe beneath the shadow of his cross. The earthly 36:15 price of spirituality in a material age and the great moral distance between Christianity and sensualism preclude Christian Science from finding favor with the worldly- 36:18 minded.

Righteous retribution

A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the un- limited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as 36:21 well as of mercy. It is quite as impossible for sinners to receive their full punishment this side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the right- 36:24 eous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven, 36:27 or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mock- ery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.

Vicarious suffering

36:30 Religious history repeats itself in the suf- fering of the just for the unjust. Can God therefore overlook the law of righteousness which de- 37:1 stroys the belief called sin? Does not Science show that sin brings suffering as much to-day as yesterday? They 37:3 who sin must suffer. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

Martyrs inevitable

History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of 37:6 the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit. 37:9 Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's lumi- naries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of 37:12 material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals. Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated 37:15 by lookers-on.

Complete emulation

When will Jesus' professed followers learn to emulate him in /all/ his ways and to imitate his mighty works? 37:18 Those who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May 37:21 the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im- port of that career! It is possible, - yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, - to follow 37:24 in some degree the example of the Master by the demon- stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Chris- tians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in 37:27 the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative com- mands: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!" "Go ye into all the world, 37:30 and preach the gospel to every creature!" "/Heal the sick/!"

Jesus' teaching belittled

Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration 38:1 to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are assured that this command was intended only for a par- 38:3 ticular period and for a select number of fol- lowers. This teaching is even more pernicious than the old doctrine of foreordination, - the election of a 38:6 few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of 38:9 divine Science.

Jesus said: "These signs shall follow them that be- lieve; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they 38:12 shall recover." Who believes him? He was addressing his disciples, yet he did not say, " These signs shall follow /you/," but /them/- "them that believe" in all time to come. 38:15 Here the word /hands/ is used metaphorically, as in the text, "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have 38:18 been done spiritually. At another time Jesus prayed, not for the twelve only, but for as many as should believe "through their word."

Material pleasures

38:21 Jesus experienced few of the pleasures of the physical senses, but his sufferings were the fruits of other peo- ple's sins, not of his own. The eternal Christ, 38:24 his spiritual selfhood, never suffered. Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love. To those buried in the 38:27 belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the grati- fication of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should un- 38:30 derstand and be converted, and I might heal you. He taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its healing power.

Mockery of truth

39:1 Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecog- nized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his fol- 39:3 lowers will endure until Christianity's last triumph. He won eternal honors. He over- came the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving 39:6 their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. We need "Christ, and him cruci- fied." We must have trials and self-denials, as well as 39:9 joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.

A belief suicidal

The educated belief that Soul is in the body causes mortals to regard death as a friend, as a stepping-stone 39:12 out of mortality into immortality and bliss. The Bible calls death an enemy, and Jesus overcame death and the grave instead of yielding to them. 39:15 He was "the way." To him, therefore, death was not the threshold over which he must pass into living glory.

Present salvation

39:18 "/Now/," cried the apostle, "is the accepted time; be- hold, /now/ is the day of salvation," - meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salva- 39:21 tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleas- 39:24 ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists 39:27 and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attain- ment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as 39:30 triumphs.

Sin and penalty

Who will stop the practice of sin so long as he believes in the pleasures of sin? When mortals once admit that 40:1 evil confers no pleasure, they turn from it. Remove error from thought, and it will not appear in effect. The ad- 40:3 vanced thinker and devout Christian, perceiv- ing the scope and tendency of Christian healing and its Science, will support them. Another will say: 40:6 "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee."

Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted 40:9 it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of divine pardon, which I understand to mean God's method 40:12 of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's sin there's doom. Another's suffering cannot lessen our 40:15 own liability. Did the martyrdom of Savonarola make the crimes of his implacable enemies less criminal?

Suffering inevitable

Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was 40:18 inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way and the power of Truth. If a career so great and good as that of Jesus could not avert a 40:21 felon's fate, lesser apostles of Truth may endure human brutality without murmuring, rejoicing to enter into fellowship with him through the triumphal arch of 40:24 Truth and Love.

Service and worship

Our heavenly Father, divine Love, demands that all men should follow the example of our Master and his 40:27 apostles and not merely worship his personal- ity. It is sad that the phrase /divine service/ has come so generally to mean public worship instead of 40:30 daily deeds.

Within the veil

The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of 41:1 hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and 41:3 this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and triumphs of the right- eous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. 41:6 Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being.

The thorns and flowers

The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with 41:9 bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap what they now sow. The pampered hypo- crite may have a flowery pathway here, but 41:12 he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the penalty due.

Healing early lost

The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave 41:15 by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his earthly mission; but in the Christian Church this demonstration of healing was early lost, 41:18 about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient school of philosophy, /materia medica/, or scholastic theol- ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of 41:21 absolute Science.

Immortal achieval

Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered 41:24 him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and then sat down at the right hand of the Father. Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about 41:27 doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at. Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing 41:30 to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick. 42:1 Jesus' life proved, divinely and scientifically, that God is Love, whereas priest and rabbi affirmed God to be a 42:3 mighty potentate, who loves and hates. The Jewish the- ology gave no hint of the unchanging love of God.

A belief in death

The universal belief in death is of no advantage. It 42:6 cannot make Life or Truth apparent. Death will be found at length to be a mortal dream, which comes in darkness and disappears with the light.

Cruel desertion

42:9 The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or popularity. Though entitled to the homage of the world and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval 42:12 of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa- lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends, who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.

Death outdone

42:15 The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God's power was the proof of his final triumph over body and matter, and gave full evidence of divine 42:18 Science, - evidence so important to mortals. The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine 42:21 Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won- drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp- tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus. 42:24 Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates that in Christian Science the true man is governed by 42:27 God - by good, not evil - and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal. Jesus had taught his disciples the Science of this proof. He was here to enable them to 42:30 test his still uncomprehended saying, "He that believ- eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." They must understand more fully his Life-principle by casting 43:1 out error, healing the sick, and raising the dead, even as they did understand it after his bodily departure.

Pentecost repeated

43:3 The magnitude of Jesus' work, his material disappear- ance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled the disciples to understand what Jesus had 43:6 said. Heretofore they had only believed; now they understood. The advent of this understanding is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost, - that 43:9 influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecos- tal Day and is now repeating its ancient history.

Convincing evidence

Jesus' last proof was the highest, the most convincing, 43:12 the most profitable to his students. The malignity of brutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to 43:15 the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God, which Jesus' persecutors had mocked and tried to slay. The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught, 43:18 and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu- ated and extended it.

Divine victory

43:21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned him, but he was demonstrating divine Science. 43:24 Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies, he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat- ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him. 43:27 The divine must overcome the human at every point. The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelli- 43:30 gence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such beliefs.

Love must triumph over hate. Truth and Life must 44:1 seal the victory over error and death, before the thorns can be laid aside for a crown, the benediction follow, 44:3 "Well done, good and faithful servant," and the suprem- acy of Spirit be demonstrated.

Jesus in the tomb

The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge 44:6 from his foes, a place in which to solve the great problem of being. His three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time. 44:9 He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the mas- ter of hate. He met and mastered on the basis of Chris- tian Science, the power of Mind over matter, all the claims 44:12 of medicine, surgery, and hygiene.

He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not depend upon food or pure air to resuscitate wasted 44:15 energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and lacerated feet, that he might use those hands to remove 44:18 the napkin and winding-sheet, and that he might employ his feet as before.

The deific naturalism

Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature 44:21 to sustain Jesus in his proof of man's truly derived power? It was a method of surgery beyond material art, but it was not a supernatural act. On 44:24 the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ- healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of 44:27 human invention.

Obstacles overcome

His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon- 44:30 strating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense. There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great 45:1 stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law 45:3 of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting victory.

Victory over the grave

45:6 Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Sci- ence in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and 45:9 for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death. Paul writes: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death 45:12 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Three days after his bodily burial he talked with his disciples. The persecutors had failed to hide im- 45:15 mortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre.

The stone rolled away

Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu- 45:18 man hope and faith, and through the reve- lation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual 45:21 idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.

After the resurrection

They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught, 45:24 misconstrued that event. Even his disciples at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre, for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was: 45:27 "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit. He presented the same body that he had before his cru- 45:30 cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over matter.

Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un- 46:1 derstand their Master's triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion 46:3 and learned that he had not died. This convinced them of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.

Spiritual interpretation

In the walk to Emmaus, Jesus was known to his friends 46:6 by the words, which made their hearts burn within them, and by the breaking of bread. The divine Spirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries 46:9 ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speak through it in every age and clime. It is revealed to the receptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and 46:12 healing the sick.

Corporeality and Spirit

The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit, and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses 46:15 that his body was not changed until he himself ascended, - or, in other words, rose even higher in the understanding of Spirit, God. To convince 46:18 Thomas of this, Jesus caused him to examine the nail- prints and the spear-wound.

Spiritual ascension

Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed 46:21 to be death was followed by his exaltation above all ma- terial conditions; and this exaltation explained his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a 46:24 probationary and progressive state beyond the grave. Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascen- 46:27 sion, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more.

Pentecostal power

46:30 His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Sci- 47:1 ence, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them 47:3 a faint conception of the Life which is God. They no longer measured man by material sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master, 47:6 they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter, but on the divine Principle of their work. The influx of light was sudden. It was sometimes an overwhelming 47:9 power as on the Day of Pentecost.

The traitor's conspiracy

Judas conspired against Jesus. The world's ingratitude and hatred towards that just man effected his betrayal. 47:12 The traitor's price was thirty pieces of silver and the smiles of the Pharisees. He chose his time, when the people were in doubt concerning Jesus' 47:15 teachings.

A period was approaching which would reveal the in- finite distance between Judas and his Master. Judas 47:18 Iscariot knew this. He knew that the great goodness of that Master placed a gulf between Jesus and his betrayer, and this spiritual distance inflamed Judas' envy. The 47:21 greed for gold strengthened his ingratitude, and for a time quieted his remorse. He knew that the world generally loves a lie better than Truth; and so he plotted the be- 47:24 trayal of Jesus in order to raise himself in popular esti- mation. His dark plot fell to the ground, and the traitor fell with it. 47:27 The disciples' desertion of their Master in his last earthly struggle was punished; each one came to a vio- lent death except St. John, of whose death we have no 47:30 record.

Gethsemane glorified

During his night of gloom and glory in the garden, Jesus realized the utter error of a belief in any possi- 48:1 ble material intelligence. The pangs of neglect and the staves of bigoted ignorance smote him sorely. His stu- 48:3 dents slept. He said unto them: "Could Ye not watch with me one hour?" Could they not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voice- 48:6 less agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world? There was no response to that human yearning, and so Jesus turned forever away from earth to heaven, from 48:9 sense to Soul.

Remembering the sweat of agony which fell in holy benediction on the grass of Gethsemane, shall the hum- 48:12 blest or mightiest disciple murmur when he drinks from the same cup, and think, or even wish, to escape the exalt- ing ordeal of sin's revenge on its destroyer? Truth and 48:15 Love bestow few palms until the consummation of a life-work.

Defensive weapons

Judas had the world's weapons. Jesus had not one 48:18 of them, and chose not the world's means of defence. "He opened not his mouth." The great dem- onstrator of Truth and Love was silent before 48:21 envy and hate. Peter would have smitten the enemies of his Master, but Jesus forbade him, thus rebuking re- sentment or animal courage. He said: "Put up thy 48:24 sword."

Pilate's question

Pale in the presence of his own momentous question, "What is Truth," Pilate was drawn into acquiescence 48:27 with the demands of Jesus' enemies. Pilate was ignorant of the consequences of his awful decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing 48:30 not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for man.

49:1 The women at the cross could have answered Pilate's question. They knew what had inspired their devotion, 49:3 winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understand- ing, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples to say to their Master: "Even the devils are subject 49:6 unto us through thy name."

Students' ingratitude

Where were the seventy whom Jesus sent forth? Were all conspirators save eleven? Had they forgotten the 49:9 great exponent of God? Had they so soon lost sight of his mighty works, his toils, privations, sacrifices, his divine patience, sublime courage, and unre- 49:12 quited affection? O, why did they not gratify his last human yearning with one sign of fidelity?

Heaven's sentinel

The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instruc- 49:15 tor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with God. No human eye was there to pity, no arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had 49:18 blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest post of power, charged with the grandest trust of heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing 49:21 of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ is not subject to material conditions, but is above the reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, 49:24 Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and the grave.

Cruel contumely

The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly 49:27 walked, and those to whom he had given the highest proofs of divine power, mocked him on the cross, saying derisively, "He saved others; 49:30 himself he cannot save." These scoffers, who turned "aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High," esteemed Jesus as "stricken, smitten of God." 50:1 "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." 50:3 "Who shall declare his generation?" Who shall decide what truth and love are?

A cry of despair

The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor- 50:6 ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude of his work, wrung from Jesus' lips the awful cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" 50:9 This despairing appeal, if made to a human parent, would impugn the justice and love of a father who could with- hold a clear token of his presence to sustain and bless so 50:12 faithful a son. The appeal of Jesus was made both to his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself, Love's pure idea. Had Life, Truth, and Love forsaken 50:15 him in his highest demonstration? This was a startling question. No! They must abide in him and he in them, or that hour would be shorn of its mighty blessing for the 50:18 human race.

Divine Science misunderstood

If his full recognition of eternal Life had for a mo- ment given way before the evidence of the bodily senses, 50:21 what would his accusers have said? Even what they did say, - that Jesus' teachings were false, and that all evidence of their cor- 50:24 rectness was destroyed by his death. But this saying could not make it so.

The real pillory

The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human 50:27 conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving the purpose of his mission, was a million times sharper than the thorns which pierced 50:30 his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love. Not the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful 51:1 lips the plaintive cry, "/Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?/" It was the possible loss of something more important than 51:3 human life which moved him, - the possible misappre- hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This dread added the drop of gall to his cup.

Life-power indestructible

51:6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; 51:9 but he allowed men to attempt the destruc- tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life 51:12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accom- plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, 51:15 was found forever the same. He knew that matter had no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could 51:18 be extinguished.

Example for our salvation

His consummate example was for the salvation of us all, but only through doing the works which he did and 51:21 taught others to do. His purpose in healing was not alone to restore health, but to demon- strate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by 51:24 Truth and Love, in all that he said and did. The motives of his persecutors were pride, envy, cruelty, and vengeance, inflicted on the physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine Prin- 51:27 ciple, Love, which rebuked their sensuality.

Jesus was unselfish. His spirituality separated him from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist 51:30 to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the dead.

Master's business

52:1 From early boyhood he was about his "Father's busi- ness." His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His mas- 52:3 ter was Spirit; their master was matter. He served God; they served mammon. His affec- tions were pure; theirs were carnal. His senses drank in 52:6 the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life; their senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evi- dence of sin, sickness, and death.

Purity's rebuke

52:9 Their imperfections and impurity felt the ever-present rebuke of his perfection and purity. Hence the world's hatred of the just and perfect Jesus, and the 52:12 prophet's foresight of the reception error would give him. "Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace. 52:15 Herod and Pilate laid aside old feuds in order to unite in putting to shame and death the best man that ever trod the globe. To-day, as of old, error and evil again 52:18 make common cause against the exponents of truth.

Saviour's prediction

The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing- ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac- 52:21 tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high- 52:24 est earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: 52:27 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."

Defamatory accusations

The accusations of the Pharisees were as self-contra- 52:30 dictory as their religion. The bigot, the deb- auchee, the hypocrite, called Jesus a glutton and a wine-bibber. They said: "He casteth out devils 53:1 through Beelzebub," and is the "friend of publicans and sinners." The latter accusation was true, but not in their 53:3 meaning. Jesus was no ascetic. He did not fast as did the Baptist's disciples; yet there never lived a man so far removed from appetites and passions as the Nazarene. 53:6 He rebuked sinners pointedly and unflinchingly, because he was their friend; hence the cup he drank.

Reputation and character

The reputation of Jesus was the very opposite of his 53:9 character. Why? Because the divine Principle and practice of Jesus were misunderstood. He was at work in divine Science. His words 53:12 and works were unknown to the world because above and contrary to the world's religious sense. Mortals be- lieved in God as humanly mighty, rather than as divine, 53:15 infinite Love.

Inspiring discontent

The world could not interpret aright the discomfort which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which 53:18 might flow from such discomfort. Science shows the cause of the shock so often pro- duced by the truth, - namely, that this shock arises from 53:21 the great distance between the individual and Truth. Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, instead of denying the truth or mocking the lifelong sacrifice which 53:24 goodness makes for the destruction of evil.

Bearing our sins

Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the mortal errors which constitute the material body, and 53:27 could destroy those errors; but at the time when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of ma- 53:30 terial life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of spiritual power.

Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others, he would 54:1 have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine 54:3 Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he de- fined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, 54:6 seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified example introduced.

Inspiration of sacrifice

Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All 54:9 must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true idea of God. That he might liberally pour his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin- 54:12 filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus' intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine com- mission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and 54:15 Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest proof he could have offered of divine Love. His hearers 54:18 understood neither his words nor his works. They would not accept his meek interpretation of life nor follow his example.

Spiritual friendship

54:21 His earthly cup of bitterness was drained to the dregs. There adhered to him only a few unpretentious friends, whose religion was something more 54:24 than a name. It was so vital, that it en- abled them to understand the Nazarene and to share the glory of eternal life. He said that those who fol- 54:27 lowed him should drink of his cup, and history has con- firmed the prediction.

Injustice to the Saviour

If that Godlike and glorified man were physically on 54:30 earth to-day, would not some, who now pro- fess to love him, reject him? Would they not deny him even the rights of humanity, if he enter- 55:1 tained any other sense of being and religion than theirs? The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the 55:3 invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but this does not affect the invincible facts. 55:6 Perhaps the early Christian era did Jesus no more injustice than the later centuries have bestowed upon the healing Christ and spiritual idea of being. Now 55:9 that the gospel of healing is again preached by the wayside, does not the pulpit sometimes scorn it? But that curative mission, which presents the Saviour in a 55:12 clearer light than mere words can possibly do, cannot be left out of Christianity, although it is again ruled out of the synagogue.

55:15 Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall 55:18 recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as himself, - when he shall realize God's omnipotence and the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done 55:21 and is doing for mankind. The promises will be ful- filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly 55:24 all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.

55:27 In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you /forever/." This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.

III. MARRIAGE

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. - JESUS.

56:1 WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism, John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus 56:3 added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain cases) to material methods were for the advancement of 56:6 spiritual good.

Marriage temporal

Marriage is the legal and moral provision for genera- tion among human kind. Until the spiritual creation 56:9 is discerned intact, is apprehended and under- stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision of the Apocalypse, - where the corporeal sense of crea- 56:12 tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from heaven, - marriage will continue, subject to such moral regulations as will secure increasing virtue.

Fidelity required

56:15 Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, . . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday." 56:18 The commandment, "Thou shalt not com- mit adultery," is no less imperative than the one, "Thou shalt not kill."

57:1 Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it 57:3 one cannot attain the Science of Life.

Mental elements

Union of the masculine and feminine qualities consti- tutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a 57:6 higher tone through certain elements of the feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour- age and strength through masculine qualities. These 57:9 different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac- 57:12 tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like the returning spring.

Affection's demands

57:15 Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, good- 57:18 ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to 57:21 share it.

Help and discipline

Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, en- 57:24 larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec- tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance 57:27 of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for 57:30 heaven.

Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap- pointments it involves or the hopes it fulfils. To happify 58:1 existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of 58:3 spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping wings trail in dust.

Chord and discord

Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the 58:6 human mind may be different, but they should be con- cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, - 58:9 these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in- dividually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.

Mutual freedom

58:12 There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of all another's time and thoughts. With ad- 58:15 ditional joys, benevolence should grow more diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will 58:18 not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love; but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for 58:21 the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the bound- ary, of the affections.

A useful suggestion

58:24 Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more together than they eat separately." This is a hint that a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance 58:27 or stupid ease, because another supplies her wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth- 58:30 ing can abolish the cares of marriage.

Differing duties

"She that is married careth . . . how she may please her husband," says the Bible; and this is the pleasantest 59:1 thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on 59:3 both sides. There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu- tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years 59:6 of married life.

Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact which might otherwise become unbearable. Man should 59:9 not be required to participate in all the annoyances and cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex- pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the 59:12 different demands of their united spheres, their sympa- thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each partner sustaining the other, - thus hallowing the union 59:15 of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace and home.

Trysting renewed

Tender words and unselfish care in what promotes the 59:18 welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this 59:21 and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the old trysting-times.

After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati- 59:24 bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should exist before this union and continue ever after, for decep- tion is fatal to happiness.

Permanent obligation

59:27 The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re- 59:30 lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal mistakes are undermining its foundations. Separation never should take place, and it never would, if both 60:1 husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists. Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of 60:3 harmony and happiness.

Permanent affection

Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary to the formation of a happy and permanent companion- 60:6 ship. The beautiful in character is also the good, welding indissolubly the links of affec- tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her 60:9 child, because the mother-love includes purity and con- stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal affection lives on under whatever difficulties. 60:12 From the logic of events we learn that selfishness and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined 60:15 together.

Centre for affections

Marriage should improve the human species, becoming a barrier against vice, a protection to woman, strength to 60:18 man, and a centre for the affections. This, however, in a majority of cases, is not its present tendency, and why? Because the education of 60:21 the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations, - passion, frivolous amusements, personal adornment, display, and pride, - occupy thought.

Spiritual concord

60:24 An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat- ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true happiness of being, places it on a false basis. 60:27 Science will correct the discord, and teach us life's sweeter harmonies.

Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, 60:30 and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal 61:1 man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real 61:3 enjoyment.

Ascendency of good

The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi- 61:6 ness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi- 61:9 tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring 61:12 of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better balanced minds, and sounder constitutions.

Propensities inherited

If some fortuitous circumstance places promising chil- 61:15 dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful children early droop and die, like tropical flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance 61:18 they live to become parents in their turn, they may re- produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble 61:21 ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath- some wreck?

61:24 Is not the propagation of the human species a greater responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks 61:27 and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be transmitted to children.

The formation of mortals must greatly improve to 61:30 advance mankind. The scientific /morale/ of marriage is spiritual unity. If the propagation of a higher human species is requisite to reach this goal, then its material con- 62:1 ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener- ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the 62:3 period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity.

The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, 62:6 with which the child can meet and master the belief in so- called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease.

Inheritance heeded

If parents create in their babes a desire for incessant 62:9 amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked to, those parents should not, in after years, complain of their children's fretfulness or fri- 62:12 volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned. Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what 62:15 ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the rising generation than you dream. Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should 62:18 become men and women only through growth in the understanding of man's higher nature.

The Mind creative

We must not attribute more and more intelligence 62:21 to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human 62:24 body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter- fere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of erring, human concepts.

Superior law of Soul

62:27 The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower; if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed. Our false views of life hide eternal harmony, 62:30 and produce the ills of which we complain. Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and 63:1 the superior law of Soul last. You would never think that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease 63:3 than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science of being.

Spiritual origin

In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti- 63:6 ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior 63:9 to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti- mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being.

The rights of woman

63:12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no precedent for such injustice, and civilization 63:15 mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than does either Christian Science or civilization.

Unfair discrimination

63:18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their discrimination as to the person, property, and parental claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran- 63:21 chise for women will remedy the evil with- out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational 63:24 means of improvement at present is the elevation of society in general and the achievement of a nobler race for legislation, - a race having higher aims and 63:27 motives.

If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be 63:30 allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her children free from interference.

64:1 Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers 64:3 exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and 64:6 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

Benevolence hindered

Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to 64:9 be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris- tianity. When a man lends a helping hand to some noble woman, struggling alone with 64:12 adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from 64:15 giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would afford.

Progressive development

Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Further- 64:18 more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, 64:21 but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re- joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis- 64:24 dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per- petual peace.

Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar- 64:27 riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of 64:30 the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its own, - all that really is, - and the voices of physical sense will be forever hushed.

Blessing of Christ

65:1 Experience should be the school of virtue, and human happiness should proceed from man's highest nature. 65:3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and 65:6 eternal existence may be discerned.

Righteous foundations

If the foundations of human affection are consistent with progress, they will be strong and enduring. Divorces 65:9 should warn the age of some fundamental error in the marriage state. The union of the sexes suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its 65:12 harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.

Powerless promises

The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of 65:15 the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home 65:18 happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher affection.

Transition and reform

There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many 65:21 other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left among the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is 65:24 not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot- 65:27 ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more spiritual adherence.

The mental chemicalization, which has brought con- 65:30 jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off this evil, and marriage will become purer when the scum is gone.

Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity: 66:3 Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Salutary sorrow

66:6 Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, - a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy 66:9 and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi- 66:12 nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc- 66:15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.

Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re- 66:18 member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal infelicity, it is well to hope, pray, and wait patiently on divine wisdom to point out the path.

Patience is wisdom

66:21 Husbands and wives should never separate if there is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the logic of events than for a wife precipitately 66:24 to leave her husband or for a husband to leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good 66:27 company. Socrates considered patience salutary under such circumstances, making his Xantippe a discipline for his philosophy.

The gold and dross

66:30 Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us where it found us. The furnace separates the gold from the dross that the precious metal may 67:1 be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons 67:3 He teaches?

Weathering the storm

When the ocean is stirred by a storm, then the clouds lower, the wind shrieks through the tightened shrouds, 67:6 and the waves lift themselves into mountains. We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He 67:9 answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under- 67:12 standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work- 67:15 ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens the troubled sea.

Spiritual power

67:18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force to character is too absurd for consideration, when we remember that through spiritual ascendency 67:21 our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other 67:24 means and methods.

The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor 67:27 of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal.

Basis of true religion

67:30 Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains and pleasures, but Jesus rebuked the suffering from any such cause or effect. The epoch approaches when the 68:1 understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for 68:3 fear of being thought ridiculous. They are slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some- time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has 68:6 created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood.

68:9 Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not 68:12 in haste to take the vow "until death do us part." Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela- tions to your growth and to your influence on other 68:15 lives.

Insanity and agamogenesis

I never knew more than one individual who believed in agamogenesis; she was unmarried, a lovely charac- 68:18 ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon 68:21 the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per- 68:24 petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is evident, but I discredit the belief that agamogenesis applies to the human species.

God's creation intact

68:27 Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion; it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind, but an impartation of the divine Mind to man 68:30 and the universe. Proportionately as human generation ceases, the unbroken links of eternal, har- monious being will be spiritually discerned; and man, 69:1 not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe 69:3 are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease. 69:6 Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ- ing that man is a creator. God's children already created will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being. 69:9 Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con- 69:12 tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in- finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip- 69:15 tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain, and of man deathless and perfect and eternal.

If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring 69:18 spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First 69:21 Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach 69:24 that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques- tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry, 69:27 and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac- counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in 69:30 marriage."

IV. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE VERSUS SPIRITUALISM

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, And unto wizards that peep and that mutter; Should not a people seek unto their God? - ISAIAH.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. - JOHN.

The infinite one Spirit

70:1 MORTAL existence is an enigma. Every day is a mystery. The testimony of the corporeal senses 70:3 cannot inform us what is real and what is delusive, but the revelations of Christian Science unlock the treasures of Truth. Whatever is false or sinful can 70:6 never enter the atmosphere of Spirit. There is but one Spirit. Man is never God, but spiritual man, made in God's likeness, reflects God. In this scientific 70:9 reflection the Ego and the Father are inseparable. The supposition that corporeal beings are spirits, or that there are good and evil spirits, is a mistake.

Real and unreal identity

70:12 The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The questions are: What are God's identities? 70:15 What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing formed?

71:1 Nothing is real and eternal, - nothing is Spirit, - but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither 71:3 person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.

The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever; 71:6 but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not /in/ Spirit's formations. Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form, 71:9 which forms only reflect.

Dream-lessons

Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a flower, - that you touch and smell it. Thus you learn 71:12 that the flower is a product of the so-called mind, a formation of thought rather than of matter. Close your eyes again, and you may see land- 71:15 scapes, men, and women. Thus you learn that these also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence. From 71:18 dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor matter is the image or likeness of God, and that im- mortal Mind is not in matter.

Found wanting

71:21 When the Science of Mind is understood, spiritualism will be found mainly erroneous, having no scientific basis nor origin, no proof nor power outside of 71:24 human testimony. It is the offspring of the physical senses. There is no sensuality in Spirit. I never could believe in spiritualism.

71:27 The basis and structure of spiritualism are alike ma- terial and physical. Its spirits are so many corporealities, limited and finite in character and quality. Spiritualism 71:30 therefore presupposes Spirit, which is ever infinite, to be a corporeal being, a finite form, - a theory contrary to Christian Science.

72:1 There is but one spiritual existence, - the Life of which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The 72:3 divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense. If a material body - in other words, mortal, material sense - were permeated by Spirit, that body would 72:6 disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A con- dition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of spiritual life. Spirits obsolete

72:9 So-called /spirits/ are but corporeal communicators. As light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God, 72:12 is the only truth-giver to man. Truth de- stroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth 72:15 (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which are not united by progress, but separated.

Perfection is not expressed through imperfection. 72:18 Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the anti- pode of Spirit. Error is not a convenient sieve through which truth can be strained.

Scientific phenomena

72:21 God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never present. In Science, individual good derived 72:24 from God, the infinite All-in-all, may flow from the departed to mortals; but evil is neither com- municable nor scientific. A sinning, earthly mortal is 72:27 not the reality of Life nor the medium through which truth passes to earth. The joy of intercourse becomes the jest of sin, when evil and suffering are communicable. 72:30 Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the com- municator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and humanity. As readily can you mingle fire and frost as 73:1 Spirit and matter. In either case, one does not support the other.

73:3 Spiritualism calls one person, living in this world, /ma- terial/, but another, who has died to-day a sinner and sup- posedly will return to earth to-morrow, it terms a /spirit/. 73:6 The fact is that neither the one nor the other is infinite Spirit, for Spirit is God, and man is His likeness.

One government

The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an- 73:9 other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and the Science of man, for man is image. God controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any 73:12 other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, - the repe- tition of evil.

73:15 If Spirit, or God, communed with mortals or controlled them through electricity or any other form of matter, the divine order and the Science of omnipotent, omnipresent 73:18 Spirit would be destroyed.

Incorrect theories

The belief that material bodies return to dust, hereafter to rise up as spiritual bodies with material sensations and 73:21 desires, is incorrect. Equally incorrect is the belief that spirit is confined in a finite, ma- terial body, from which it is freed by death, and that, when 73:24 it is freed from the material body, spirit retains the sensa- tions belonging to that body.

No me-diumship

It is a grave mistake to suppose that matter is any part 73:27 of the reality of intelligent existence, or that Spirit and matter, intelligence and non-intelligence, can commune together. This error Science will 73:30 destroy. The sensual cannot be made the mouthpiece of the spiritual, nor can the finite become the channel of the infinite. There is no communication between so- 74:1 called material existence and spiritual life which is not subject to death.

Opposing conditions

74:3 To be on communicable terms with Spirit, persons must be free from organic bodies; and their return to a mate- rial condition, after having once left it, would 74:6 be as impossible as would be the restoration to its original condition of the acorn, already absorbed into a sprout which has risen above the soil. The seed 74:9 which has germinated has a new form and state of exist- ence. When here or hereafter the belief of life in matter is extinct, the error which has held the belief dissolves 74:12 with the belief, and never returns to the old condition. No correspondence nor communion can exist between persons in such opposite dreams as the belief of having 74:15 died and left a material body and the belief of still living in an organic, material body.

Bridgeless division

The caterpillar, transformed into a beautiful insect, 74:18 is no longer a worm, nor does the insect return to fraternize with or control the worm. Such a backward transformation is impossible in 74:21 Science. Darkness and light, infancy and manhood, sickness and health, are opposites, - different beliefs, which never blend. Who will say that infancy can utter 74:24 the ideas of manhood, that darkness can represent light, that we are in Europe when we are in the opposite hemi- sphere? There is no bridge across the gulf which divides 74:27 two such opposite conditions as the spiritual, or incor- poreal, and the physical, or corporeal.

In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, 74:30 never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead and living cannot commune together, for they are in separate states of existence, or consciousness.

Unscientific investiture

75:1 This simple truth lays bare the mistaken assumption that man dies as matter but comes to life as spirit. The 75:3 so-called dead, in order to reappear to those still in the existence cognized by the physical senses, would need to be tangible and material, - to have 75:6 a material investiture, - or the material senses could take no cognizance of the so-called dead.

Spiritualism would transfer men from the spiritual sense 75:9 of existence back into its material sense. This gross mate- rialism is scientifically impossible, since to infinite Spirit there can be no matter.

Raising the dead

75:12 Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that 75:15 Lazarus had never died, not by an admis- sion that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his 75:18 body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it.

75:21 When you can waken yourself or others out of the belief that all must die, you can then exercise Jesus' spiritual power to reproduce the presence of those who have thought 75:24 they died, - but not otherwise.

Vision of the dying

There is one possible moment, when those living on the earth and those called dead, can commune together, and 75:27 that is the moment previous to the transition, - the moment when the link between their op- posite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through 75:30 which we pass from one dream to another dream, or when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those 76:1 who have gone before. The ones departing may whisper this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the 76:3 hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes aloud his rapture.

Real Life is God

76:6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as neither material nor finite, but as infinite, - as God, universal good; and the belief that life, or 76:9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never 76:12 raised from matter. When advanced to spiritual being and the understanding of God, man can no longer com- mune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more 76:15 than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem to be corporeal, but he will be an individual conscious- ness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter.

76:18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When divine Science is universally understood, they will have no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by 76:21 divine authority.

Immaterial pleasure

The sinless joy, - the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness 76:24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, - constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence 76:27 is scientific and intact, - a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of 76:30 existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears.

The recognition of Spirit and of infinity comes not 77:1 suddenly here or hereafter. The pious Polycarp said: "I cannot turn at once from good to evil." Neither do 77:3 other mortals accomplish the change from error to truth at a single bound.

Second death

Existence continues to be a belief of corporeal sense 77:6 until the Science of being is reached. Error brings its own self-destruction both here and hereafter, for mortal mind creates its own physical con- 77:9 ditions. Death will occur on the next plane of existence as on this, until the spiritual understanding of Life is reached. Then, and not until then, will it be demon- 77:12 strated that "the second death hath no power."

A dream vanishing

The period required for this dream of material life, embracing its so-called pleasures and pains, to vanish 77:15 from consciousness, "knoweth no man . . . neither the Son, but the Father." This period will be of longer or shorter duration according to the 77:18 tenacity of error. Of what advantage, then, would it be to us, or to the departed, to prolong the material state and so prolong the illusion either of a soul inert or of a sinning, 77:21 suffering sense, - a so-called mind fettered to matter.

Progress and purgatory

Even if communications from spirits to mortal con- sciousness were possible, such communications would 77:24 grow beautifully less with every advanced stage of existence. The departed would gradually rise above ignorance and materiality, and Spiritualists 77:27 would outgrow their beliefs in material spiritualism. Spiritism consigns the so-called dead to a state resembling that of blighted buds, - to a wretched purgatory, where 77:30 the chances of the departed for improvement narrow into nothing and they return to their old standpoints of matter.

Unnatural deflections

78:1 The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak, the ferocious beast, - like the discords of disease, sin, 78:3 and death, - are unnatural. They are the fal- sities of sense, the changing deflections of mor- tal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind.

Absurd oracles

78:6 How unreasonable is the belief that we are wearing out life and hastening to death, and that at the same time we are communing with immortality! 78:9 If the departed are in rapport with mor- tality, or matter, they are not spiritual, but must still be mortal, sinning, suffering, and dying. Then why 78:12 look to them - even were communication possible - for proofs of immortality, and accept them as oracles? Com- munications gathered from ignorance are pernicious in 78:15 tendency.

Spiritualism with its material accompaniments would destroy the supremacy of Spirit. If Spirit pervades all 78:18 space, it needs no material method for the transmission of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order to be omnipresent.

Spirit intangible

78:21 Spirit is not materially tangible. How then can it communicate with man through electric, material effects? How can the majesty and omnipotence of 78:24 Spirit be lost? God is not in the medley where matter cares for matter, where spiritism makes many gods, and hypnotism and electricity are claimed 78:27 to be the agents of God's government.

Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are 78:30 comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science.

Thought regarding death

79:1 The act of describing disease - its symptoms, locality, and fatality - is not scientific. Warning people against 79:3 death is an error that tends to frighten into death those who are ignorant of Life as God. Thousands of instances could be cited of health restored 79:6 by changing the patient's thoughts regarding death.

Fallacious hypotheses

A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the use of drugs, and such a mental method produces perma- 79:9 nent health. Science must go over the whole ground, and dig up every seed of error's sow- ing. Spiritualism relies upon human beliefs and hy- 79:12 potheses. Christian Science removes these beliefs and hypotheses through the higher understanding of God, for Christian Science, resting on divine Principle, not on ma- 79:15 terial personalities, in its revelation of immortality, intro- duces the harmony of being.

Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. The Apostle 79:18 Paul bade men have the Mind that was in the Christ. Jesus did his own work by the one Spirit. He said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He never de- 79:21 scribed disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels, but he healed disease.

Mistaken methods

The unscientific practitioner says: "You are ill. Your 79:24 brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is weak, and it must be strengthened. You have nervous prostration, and must be treated for it." 79:27 Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of in- telligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.

Divine strength

Mind-science teaches that mortals need "not be weary 79:30 in well doing." It dissipates fatigue in doing good. Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. 80:1 We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving 80:3 utterance to truth. A cup of coffee or tea is not the equal of truth, whether for the inspiration of a sermon or for the support of bodily endurance.

A denial of immortality

80:6 A communication purporting to come from the late Theodore Parker reads as follows: "There never was, and there never will be, an immortal spirit." 80:9 Yet the very periodical containing this sen- tence repeats weekly the assertion that spirit-communica- tions are our only proofs of immortality.

Mysticism unscientific

80:12 I entertain no doubt of the humanity and philanthropy of many Spiritualists, but I cannot coincide with their views. It is mysticism which gives spiritual- 80:15 ism its force. Science dispels mystery and explains extraordinary phenomena; but Science never removes phenomena from the domain of reason into the 80:18 realm of mysticism.

Physical falsities

It should not seem mysterious that mind, without the aid of hands, can move a table, when we already know 80:21 that it is mind-power which moves both table and hand. Even planchette - the French toy which years ago pleased so many people - attested the con- 80:24 trol of mortal mind over its substratum, called matter.

It is mortal mind which convulses its substratum, matter. These movements arise from the volition of human belief, 80:27 but they are neither scientific nor rational. Mortal mind produces table-tipping as certainly as table-setting, and believes that this wonder emanates from spirits and elec- 80:30 tricity. This belief rests on the common conviction that mind and matter cooperate both visibly and invisibly, hence that matter is intelligent.

Poor post-mortem evidence

81:1 There is not so much evidence to prove intercommuni- cation between the so-called dead and the living, as there 81:3 is to show the sick that matter suffers and has sensation; yet this latter evidence is destroyed by the Mind-science. If Spiritualists understood the 81:6 Science of being, their belief in mediumship would vanish.

No proof of immortality

At the very best and on its own theories, spiritualism can only prove that certain individuals have a continued 81:9 existence after death and maintain their affili- ation with mortal flesh; but this fact affords no certainty of everlasting life. A man's assertion that 81:12 he is immortal no more proves him to be so, than the op- posite assertion, that he is mortal, would prove immor- tality a lie. Nor is the case improved when alleged spirits 81:15 teach immortality. Life, Love, Truth, is the only proof of immortality.

Mind's manifestations immortal

Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science can- 81:18 not help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to wither and the flower to fade, they reappear. Erase the figures which express number, silence 81:21 the tones of music, give to the worms the body called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on, - in the case of man as truly as in 81:24 the case of numbers and of music, - despite the so-called laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Though the inharmony resulting from material sense hides the 81:27 harmony of Science, inharmony cannot destroy the divine Principle of Science. In Science, man's immortality de- pends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary 81:30 consequence of the immortality of good.

Reading thoughts

That somebody, somewhere, must have known the deceased person, supposed to be the communicator, is 82:1 evident, and it is as easy to read distant thoughts as near. We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one 82:3 present. It is no more difficult to read the absent mind than it is to read the present. Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought 82:6 in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal exist- ence we may be in doubt?

Impossible intercommunion

82:9 If spiritual life has been won by the departed, they cannot return to material existence, because different states of consciousness are involved, and one 82:12 person cannot exist in two different states of consciousness at the same time. In sleep we do not communicate with the dreamer by our side despite 82:15 his physical proximity, because both of us are either un- conscious or are wandering in our dreams through differ- ent mazes of consciousness.

82:18 In like manner it would follow, even if our departed friends were near us and were in as conscious a state of existence as before the change we call death, that their 82:21 state of consciousness must be different from ours. We are not in their state, nor are they in the mental realm in which we dwell. Communion between them and 82:24 ourselves would be prevented by this difference. The mental states are so unlike, that intercommunion is as impossible as it would be between a mole and a human 82:27 being. Different dreams and different awakenings be- token a differing consciousness. When wandering in Australia, do we look for help to the Esquimaux in their 82:30 snow huts?

In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to 83:1 consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one. What the prophets of 83:3 Jehovah did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do; yet artifice and delusion claimed that they could equal the work of wisdom.

83:6 Science only can explain the incredible good and evil elements now coming to the surface. Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter 83:9 days. Nothing is more antagonistic to Christian Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such a belief hides Truth and builds on error.

Natural wonders

83:12 Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science takes issue with popular religions. The scientific mani- festation of power is from the divine nature 83:15 and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication of nature. The belief that the universe, in- cluding man, is governed in general by material laws, but 83:18 that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, - this be- lief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit.

Conflicting standpoints

83:21 It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life is either material or organically spiritual. Between Christian Science and all forms of superstition 83:24 a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that be- tween Dives and Lazarus. There is mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind-reading. The latter is a revelation 83:27 of divine purpose through spiritual understanding, by which man gains the divine Principle and explanation of all things. Mortal mind-reading and immortal Mind- 83:30 reading are distinctly opposite standpoints, from which cause and effect are interpreted. The act of reading mortal mind investigates and touches only human beliefs. 84:1 Science is immortal and coordinate neither with the premises nor with the conclusions of mortal beliefs.

Scientific foreseeing

84:3 The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction, - predict- 84:6 ing the future from a groundwork of corpo- reality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men 84:9 become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit. It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and 84:12 of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future.

Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to 84:15 commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired, - yea, to reach the range of fetter- 84:18 less Mind.

The Mind unbounded

To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for 84:21 sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind- science by which we discern man's nature and existence. 84:24 This true conception of being destroys the belief of spirit- ualism at its very inception, for without the concession of material personalities called spirits, spiritualism has no 84:27 basis upon which to build.

Scientific foreknowing

All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian 84:30 Science. If this Science has been thoroughly learned and properly digested, we can know the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read 85:1 the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of 85:3 the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the ca- pacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the 85:6 divine Mind.

Value of intuition

Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and per- petuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not 85:9 evil. You will reach the perfect Science of healing when you are able to read the human mind after this manner and discern the error you would 85:12 destroy. The Samaritan woman said: "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

85:15 It is recorded that Jesus, as he once journeyed with his students, "knew their thoughts," - read them scientifi- cally. In like manner he discerned disease and healed 85:18 the sick. After the same method, events of great mo- ment were foretold by the Hebrew prophets. Our Master rebuked the lack of this power when he said: 85:21 "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

Hypocrisy condemned

Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal 85:24 senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. Jesus knew the generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek- ing the material more than the spiritual. His 85:27 thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation.. He said: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other 85:30 undone." The great Teacher knew both cause and effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never imparts error.

Mental contact

86:1 Jesus once asked, "Who touched me?" Supposing this inquiry to be occasioned by physical contact alone, 86:3 his disciples answered, "The multitude throng thee." Jesus knew, as others did not, that it was not matter, but mortal mind, whose touch called 86:6 for aid. Repeating his inquiry, he was answered by the faith of a sick woman. His quick apprehension of this mental call illustrated his spirituality. The disciples' 86:9 misconception of it uncovered their materiality. Jesus possessed more spiritual susceptibility than the disciples. Opposites come from contrary directions, and produce 86:12 unlike results.

Images of thought

Mortals evolve images of thought. These may appear to the ignorant to be apparitions; but they are myste- 86:15 rious only because it is unusual to see thoughts, though we can always feel their influence. Haunted houses, ghostly voices, unusual 86:18 noises, and apparitions brought out in dark seances either involve feats by tricksters, or they are images and sounds evolved involuntarily by mortal mind. Seeing 86:21 is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one? Education alone determines the difference. In reality 86:24 there is none.

Phenomena explained

Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman- ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences, 86:27 can all be taken from pictorial thought and memory as readily as from objects cognizable by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as 86:30 certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it 87:1 with all material conceptions. Mind-readers perceive these pictures of thought. They copy or reproduce 87:3 them, even when they are lost to the memory of the mind in which they are discoverable.

Mental environment

It is needless for the thought or for the person hold- 87:6 ing the transferred picture to be individually and con- sciously present. Though individuals have passed away, their mental environment re- 87:9 mains to be discerned, described, and transmitted. Though bodies are leagues apart and their associations forgotten, their associations float in the general atmosphere of human 87:12 mind.

Second sight

The Scotch call such vision "second sight", when really it is first sight instead of second, for it presents 87:15 primal facts to mortal mind. Science enables one to read the human mind, but not as a clairvoyant. It enables one to heal through Mind, but 87:18 not as a mesmerist.

Buried secrets

The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns, 87:21 of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not 87:24 suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friend- 87:27 ship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind- readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions.

Recollected friends

Memory may reproduce voices long ago silent. We 87:30 have but to close the eyes, and forms rise before us, which are thousands of miles away or altogether gone from physical sight and sense, and 88:1 this not in dreamy sleep. In our day-dreams we can recall that for which the poet Tennyson expressed the 88:3 heart's desire, - the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still.

88:6 The mind may even be cognizant of a present flavor and odor, when no viand touches the palate and no scent salutes the nostrils.

Illusions not ideas

88:9 How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from il- lusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, 88:12 proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material be- liefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs 88:15 proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another are called spirits.

88:18 To love one's neighbor as one's self, is a divine idea; but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood through the physical senses. Excite the organ of ven- 88:21 eration or religious faith, and the individual manifests profound adoration. Excite the opposite development, and he blasphemes. These effects, however, do not pro- 88:24 ceed from Christianity, nor are they spiritual phenomena, for both arise from mortal belief.

Trance speaking illusion

Eloquence re-echoes the strains of Truth and Love. 88:27 It is due to inspiration rather than to erudition. It shows the possibilities derived from divine Mind, though it is said to be a gift whose endowment 88:30 is obtained from books or received from the impulsion of departed spirits. When eloquence proceeds from the belief that a departed spirit is speaking, who 89:1 can tell what the unaided medium is incapable of know- ing or uttering? This phenomenon only shows that the 89:3 beliefs of mortal mind are loosed. Forgetting her igno- rance in the belief that another mind is speaking through her, the devotee may become unwontedly eloquent. Hav- 89:6 ing more faith in others than in herself, and believing that somebody else possesses her tongue and mind, she talks freely.

89:9 Destroy her belief in outside aid, and her eloquence disappears. The former limits of her belief return. She says, " I am incapable of words that glow, for I am un- 89:12 educated." This familiar instance reaffirms the Scrip- tural word concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." If one believes that he cannot be an orator with- 89:15 out study or a superinduced condition, the body responds to this belief, and the tongue grows mute which before was eloquent.

Scientific improvisation

89:18 Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, 89:21 God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phe- 89:24 nomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.

Divine origination

Matter is neither intelligent nor creative. The tree is not the author of itself. Sound is not the originator of 89:27 music, and man is not the father of man. Cain very naturally concluded that if life was in the body, and man gave it, man had the right to take it away. 89:30 This incident shows that the belief of life in matter was "a murderer from the beginning."

If seed is necessary to produce wheat, and wheat to 90:1 produce flour, or if one animal can originate another, how then can we account for their primal origin? How 90:3 were the loaves and fishes multiplied on the shores of Galilee, - and that, too, without meal or monad from which loaf or fish could come?

Mind is substance

90:6 The earth's orbit and the imaginary line called the equator are not substance. The earth's motion and position are sustained by Mind alone. Divest 90:9 yourself of the thought that there can be sub- stance in matter, and the movements and transitions now possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally 90:12 possible for the body. Then being will be recognized as spiritual, and death will be obsolete, though now some insist that death is the necessary prelude to 90:15 immortality.

Mortal delusions

In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend. The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed 90:18 inhabitant of that body carries it through the air and over the ocean. This shows the possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters men- 90:21 tally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and knowledge are.

Scientific finalities

90:24 The admission to one's self that man is God's own like- ness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This con- viction shuts the door on death, and opens it 90:27 wide towards immortality. The understanding and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being 90:30 through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know this when man reflects God.

91:1 The Revelator tells us of "a new heaven and a new earth." Have you ever pictured this heaven and 91:3 earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?

Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated 91:6 from God, and obey only the divine principle, Life and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth.

Man's genuine being

91:9 It is difficult for the sinner to accept divine Science, because Science exposes his nothingness; but the sooner error is reduced to its native nothingness, the 91:12 sooner man's great reality will appear and his genuine being will be understood. The destruction of error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but 91:15 is the acknowledgment of them.

Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of 91:18 material selfhood aids the discernment of man's spirit- ual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed 91:21 the material senses.

Erroneous postulates

Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered in order that the spiritual facts may be better 91:24 apprehended.

The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance, life, and intelligence are something apart from God. 91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both mental and material.

The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil 91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the medium of evil, for Mind is God.

The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in- 92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part of himself.

92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also 92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of mortal bodies in what is termed death. 92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power of sinning now and forever.

Knowledge of good and evil

In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around 92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve. This represents the serpent in the act of commending to our first parents the knowl- 92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter, or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor- 92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of material sense.

Opposing power

92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness - appears, the moral demand will not be met, 92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief 92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real, 92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in the superiority of error.

The age's privilege

Do you say the time has not yet come in which to 93:1 recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries 93:3 ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also," and who also said, "But the hour 93:6 cometh, and /now is/, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "Behold, /now/ is the accepted time; behold, /now/ is the day of sal- 93:9 vation," said Paul.

Logic and revelation

Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe otherwise, we may be sure that either our 93:12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught that can cause evil.

93:15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of in- 93:18 finite good. Whatever contradicts the real nature of the divine /Esse/, though human faith may clothe it with angelic vestments, is without foundation.

Derivatives of spirit

93:21 The belief that Spirit is finite as well as infinite has darkened all history. In Christian Science, Spirit, as a proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being. 93:24 It means quantity and quality, and applies ex- clusively to God. The modifying derivatives of the word /spirit/ refer only to quality, not to God. Man is spiritual. 93:27 He is not God, Spirit. If man were Spirit, then men would be spirits, gods. Finite spirit would be mortal, and this is the error embodied in the belief that the infi- 93:30 nite can be contained in the finite. This belief tends to becloud our apprehension of the kingdom of heaven and of the reign of harmony in the Science of being.

Scientific man

94:1 Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, - of Spirit, not of 94:3 matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and Love. The nature of man, thus understood, includes all that is implied by the terms "image" and 94:6 "likeness" as used in Scripture. The truly Christian and scientific statement of personality and of the relation of man to God, with the demonstration which accompa- 94:9 nied it, incensed the rabbis, and they said: "Crucify him, crucify him . . . by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

94:12 The eastern empires and nations owe their false gov- ernment to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent. Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, 94:15 arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.

Ingratitude and denial

The progress of truth confirms its claims, and our 94:18 Master confirmed his words by his works. His healing- power evoked denial, ingratitude, and be- trayal, arising from sensuality. Of the ten 94:21 lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God thanks, - that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle which had healed him.

Spiritual insight

94:24 Our Master easily read the thoughts of mankind, and this insight better enabled him to direct those thoughts aright; but what would be said at this period of an in- 94:27 fidel blasphemer who should hint that Jesus used his in- cisive power injuriously? Our Master read mortal mind on a scientific basis, that of the omnipresence of Mind. 94:30 An approximation of this discernment indicates spiritual growth and union with the infinite capacities of the one Mind. Jesus could injure no one by his Mind-reading. 95:1 The effect of his Mind was always to heal and to save, and this is the only genuine Science of reading mortal 95:3 mind. His holy motives and aims were tra- duced by the sinners of that period, as they would be to-day if Jesus were personally present. Paul 95:6 said, "To be spiritually minded is life." We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel- ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all 95:9 human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them. Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.

95:12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good- ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern 95:15 thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit- uality. This kind of mind-reading is not clairvoyance, but it is important to success in healing, and is one of the 95:18 special characteristics thereof.

Christ's reappearance

We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end of error, because even human invention must have its 95:21 day, and we want that day to be succeeded by Christian Science, by divine reality. Mid- night foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid 95:24 the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship of Truth. Is the wise man of to-day believed, when he beholds the light which heralds Christ's eternal dawn 95:27 and describes its effulgence?

Spiritual awakening

Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. 95:30 Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances 96:1 slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen- 96:3 dom with chains.

The darkest hours of all

Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir- itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error 96:6 is wholly destroyed, there will be interrup- tions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, 96:9 seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."

Arena of contest

96:12 This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be 96:15 Science and peace. The breaking up of mate- rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new 96:18 phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb- ances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth. 96:21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is 96:24 changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

Millennial glory

As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science 96:27 will endure to the end. As material knowl- edge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally 96:30 instead of materially.

During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but 97:1 those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They 97:3 will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.

Dangerous resemblances

In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and 97:6 so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the more impotent error becomes as a belief. Ac- cording to human belief, the lightning is fierce 97:9 and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science the flight of one and the blow of the other will become harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the 97:12 more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing 97:15 the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes for destruction. The more material the belief, the more 97:18 obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its do- main, dominates all matter, and man is found in the like- ness of Spirit, his original being.

97:21 The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth 97:24 lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in- articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.

"He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scrip- 97:27 ture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit.

Christianity still rejected

Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is 97:30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apos- tolic work of casting out error and healing the sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which 98:1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recom- pense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex- 98:3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.

Spiritual foreshadowings

The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Chris- 98:6 tianity which heals the sick and destroys error, and no other sign shall be given. Body can- not be saved except through Mind. The Science of Chris- 98:9 tianity is misinterpreted by a material age, for it is the healing influence of Spirit (not /spirits/) which the material senses cannot comprehend, which can only be spiritu- 98:12 ally discerned. Creeds, doctrines, and human hypotheses do not express Christian Science; much less can they demonstrate it.

Revelation of Science

98:15 Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian Mind-healing stands a revealed and practical 98:18 Science. It is imperious throughout all ages as Christ's revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which remains inviolate for every man to understand and to 98:21 practise.

Science as foreign to all religion

For centuries - yea, always - natural science has not been considered a part of any religion, Christianity not 98:24 excepted. Even now multitudes consider that which they call /science/ has no proper con- nection with faith and piety. Mystery does 98:27 not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theo- retical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and being practical and complete, they are not deprived of 98:30 their essential vitality.

Key to the kingdom

The way through which immortality and life are learned is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine, 99:1 not physical but metaphysical, not material but scien- tifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and super- 99:3 stition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which mortals can escape from sin; yet to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work 99:6 out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good 99:9 pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Sci- ence has opened the door of the human understanding. 99:12 None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door. The ordinary teachings are material and not spiritual. Christian Science teaches only that which is spiritual and 99:15 divine, and not human. Christian Science is unerring and Divine; the human sense of things errs because it is human.

99:18 Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism, or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is 99:21 not with the individual, but with the false system. I love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure.

The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the 99:24 manifestations of which are health, purity, and self- immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposi- 99:27 tion, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect man.