Chapter XII · - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTICE

Why art thou cast down, O my soul [sense]? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance and my God. - PSALMS.

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - JESUS.

A gospel narrative

362:1 IT is related in the seventh chapter of Luke's Gospel that Jesus was once the honored guest of a certain 362:3 Pharisee, by name Simon, though he was quite unlike Simon the disciple. While they were at meat, an unusual incident occurred, as if to interrupt the scene 362:6 of Oriental festivity. A "strange woman" came in. Heedless of the fact that she was debarred from such a place and such society, especially under the stern 362:9 rules of rabbinical law, as positively as if she were a Hin- doo pariah intruding upon the household of a high-caste Brahman, this woman (Mary Magdalene, as she has 362:12 since been called) approached Jesus. According to the custom of those days, he reclined on a couch with his head towards the table and his bare feet away from it. 362:15 It was therefore easy for the Magdalen to come behind 363:1 the couch and reach his feet. She bore an alabaster jar containing costly and fragrant oil, - sandal oil perhaps, 363:3 which is in such common use in the East. Breaking the sealed jar, she perfumed Jesus' feet with the oil, wiping them with her long hair, which hung loosely 363:6 about her shoulders, as was customary with women of her grade.

Parable of the creditor

Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adora- 363:9 tion? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was this all. Knowing what those around him were saying in their hearts, especially his host, 363:12 - that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the exalted guest did not at once detect the woman's immoral status and bid her depart, - knowing this, Jesus rebuked 363:15 them with a short story or parable. He described two debtors, one for a large sum and one for a smaller, who were released from their obligations by their common 363:18 creditor. "Which of them will love him most?" was the Master's question to Simon the Pharisee; and Simon re- plied, "He to whom he forgave most." Jesus approved 363:21 the answer, and so brought home the lesson to all, follow- ing it with that remarkable declaration to the woman, "Thy sins are forgiven."

Divine insight

363:24 Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love? Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight detect this unspoken moral uprising? She 363:27 bathed his feet with her tears before she anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the 363:30 expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man 364:1 of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this 364:3 planet. Her reverence was unfeigned, and it was mani- fested towards one who was soon, though they knew it not, to lay down his mortal existence in behalf of all 364:6 sinners, that through his word and works they might be redeemed from sensuality and sin.

Penitence or hospitality

Which was the higher tribute to such ineffable affec- 364:9 tion, the hospitality of the Pharisee or the contrition of the Magdalen? This query Jesus answered by rebuking self-righteousness and declaring 364:12 the absolution of the penitent. He even said that this poor woman had done what his rich entertainer had neg- lected to do, - wash and anoint his guest's feet, a special 364:15 sign of Oriental courtesy.

Here is suggested a solemn question, a question indi- cated by one of the needs of this age. Do Christian 364:18 Scientists seek Truth as Simon sought the Saviour, through material conservatism and for personal homage? Jesus told Simon that such seekers as he gave small reward 364:21 in return for the spiritual purgation which came through the Messiah. If Christian Scientists are like Simon, then it must be said of them also that they /love/ 364:24 little.

Genuine repentance

On the other hand, do they show their regard for Truth, or Christ, by their genuine repentance, by their 364:27 broken hearts, expressed by meekness and human affection, as did this woman? If so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus said of the 364:30 unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because much is forgiven them.

Compassion requisite

Did the careless doctor, the nurse, the cook, and the 365:1 brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly 365:3 homesick looking away from earth, - Oh, did they know! - this knowledge would do much more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers 365:6 for the "midnight call," than all cries of "Lord, Lord!" The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal 365:9 the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring; but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common 365:12 sense and common humanity are disregarded, what men- tal quality remains, with which to evoke healing from the outstretched arm of righteousness?

Speedy healing

365:15 If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native 365:18 nothingness like dew before the morning sun- shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag- 365:21 dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas- sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual 365:24 intent.

Truth desecrated

If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice finds its way into the chambers of disease through the would-be 365:27 healer, it would, if it were possible, convert into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy Ghost, - the patient's spiritual power to resuscitate him- 365:30 self. The unchristian practitioner is not giving to mind or body the joy and strength of Truth. The poor suf- fering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace, 366:1 patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear Father's loving-kindness.

Moral evils to be cast out

366:3 In order to cure his patient, the metaphysician must first cast moral evils out of himself and thus attain the spiritual freedom which will en- 366:6 able him to cast physical evils out of his patient; but heal he cannot, while his own spiritual barrenness debars him from giving drink to the thirsty 366:9 and hinders him from reaching his patient's thought, - yea, while mental penury chills his faith and under- standing.

The true physician

366:12 The physician who lacks sympathy for his fellow- being is deficient in human affection, and we have the apostolic warrant for asking: "He that loveth 366:15 not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Not having this spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine 366:18 Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which alone confers the healing power. Such so-called Scien- tists will strain out gnats, while they swallow the camels 366:21 of bigoted pedantry.

Source of calmness

The physician must also watch, lest he be over- whelmed by a sense of the odiousness of sin and by the 366:24 unveiling of sin in his own thoughts. The sick are terrified by their sick beliefs, and sinners should be affrighted by their sinful beliefs; but 366:27 the Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is God and God is All.

Genuine healing

366:30 If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent 367:1 of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the /morale /of Christian Science in the grave-clothes 367:3 of its letter. The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than 367:6 hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame 367:9 with divine Love.

Gratitude and humility

This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not "for the loaves and fishes," nor, like the Pharisee, with 367:12 the arrogance of rank and display of scholar- ship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the sum- mit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and 367:15 the perfume of /gratitude/, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.

The salt of the earth

A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period 367:18 of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: "Ye are the salt of the earth." "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill can- 367:21 not be hid." Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.

367:24 The infinite Truth of the Christ-cure has come to this age through a "still, small voice," through silent utter- ances and divine anointing which quicken and increase 367:27 the beneficial effects of Christianity. I long to see the consummation of my hope, namely, the student's higher attainments in this line of light.

Real and counterfeit

367:30 Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the 368:1 counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The 368:3 confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that 368:6 time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals, and truth will become still clearer as error is self- 368:9 destroyed.

Results of faith in Truth

Against the fatal beliefs that error is as real as Truth, that evil is equal in power to good if not superior, and that 368:12 discord is as normal as harmony, even the hope of freedom from the bondage of sickness and sin has little inspiration to nerve endeavor. When we 368:15 come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man, 368:18 then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error.

Life independent of matter

That Life is not contingent on bodily conditions is 368:21 proved, when we learn that life and man survive this body. Neither evil, disease, nor death can be spiritual, and the material belief in them dis- 368:24 appears in the ratio of one's spiritual growth. Because matter has no consciousness or Ego, it cannot act; its conditions are illusions, and these false conditions are the 368:27 source of all seeming sickness. Admit the existence of matter, and you admit that mortality (and therefore dis- ease) has a foundation in fact. Deny the existence of matter, and you can destroy the belief in material con- ditions. When fear disappears, the foundation of disease is gone. Once let the mental physician believe in the 369:1 reality of matter, and he is liable to admit also the reality of all discordant conditions, and this hinders his de- 369:3 stroying them. Thus he is unfitted for the successful treatment of disease.

Man's entity

In proportion as matter loses to human sense all en- 369:6 tity as man, in that proportion does man become its master. He enters into a diviner sense of the facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus 369:9 as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead, and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested Jesus' control over the belief that matter is substance, 369:12 that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any form of existence.

The Christ treatment

We never read that Luke or Paul made a reality of 369:15 disease in order to discover some means of healing it. Jesus never asked if disease were acute or chronic, and he never recommended atten- 369:18 tion to laws of health, never give drugs, never prayed to know if God were willing that a man should live. He understood man, whose life is God, to be immortal, and 369:21 knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible.

Matter not medicine

The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the prevent- 369:24 ive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology, or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood. 369:27 Unscientific methods are finding their dead level. Lim- ited to matter by their own law, what have they of the advantages of Mind and immortality?

No healing in sin

369:30 No man is physically healed in wilful error or by it, any more than he is morally saved in or by sin. It is error even to murmur or to be angry over sin. To be 370:1 every whit whole, man must be better spiritually as well as physically. To be immortal, we must forsake the 370:3 mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being from the divine Mind. The body improves under the 370:6 same regimen which spiritualizes the thought; and if health is not made manifest under this regimen, this proves that fear is governing the body. This is the law 370:9 of cause and effect, or like producing like.

Like curing like

Homoeopathy furnishes the evidence to the senses, that symptoms, which might be produced by a certain drug, 370:12 are removed by using the same drug which might cause the symptoms. This confirms my theory that faith in the drug is the sole factor in the 370:15 cure. The effect, which mortal mind produces through one belief, it removes through an opposite belief, but it uses the same medicine in both cases. 370:18 The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on the body. A physical diagnosis of disease - since mor- 370:21 tal mind must be the cause of disease - tends to induce disease.

Transient potency of drugs

According to both medical testimony and individual 370:24 experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power and do no more for the patient. Hygienic treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery 370:27 likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These les- sons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely 370:30 change our basis from sensation to Christian Science, from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.

Diagnosis of matter

Physicians examine the pulse, tongue, lungs, to dis- 371:1 cover the condition of matter, when in fact all is Mind. The body is the substratum of mortal mind, 371:3 and this so-called mind must finally yield to the mandate of immortal Mind.

Ghost-stories inducing fear

Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar 371:6 to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in the dark. By those uninstructed in Christian Science, nothing is really understood of material 371:9 existence. Mortals are believed to be here without their consent and to be removed as involuntarily, not knowing why nor when. As frightened children look everywhere 371:12 for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult, in bond- 371:15 age to his beliefs, no more comprehends his real being than does the child; and the adult must be taken out of his darkness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffer- 371:18 ings which throng the gloaming. The way in divine Science is the only way out of this condition.

Mind imparts purity, health, and beauty

I would not transform the infant at once into a 371:21 man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong babe. No impossible thing do I ask when urging the claims of Christian Science; but because 371:24 this teaching is in advance of the age, we should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment. Mankind will improve through Science and Christi- 371:27 anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak- 371:30 ness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an altera- tive in the entire system, and can make it "every whit whole."

Brain not intelligent

372:1 Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick, and Mind is immortal. The mortal body is only an erro- 372:3 neous mortal belief of mind in matter. What you call matter was originally error in solu- tion, elementary mortal mind, - likened by Milton to 372:6 "chaos and old night." One theory about this mortal mind is, that its sensations can reproduce man, can form blood, flesh, and bones. The Science of being, in which 372:9 all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought, 372:12 bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds material and name them divine law.

Veritable success

When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, 372:15 he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject to matter, nor disobey the law of God. There- fore he will be as the angels in heaven. Chris- 372:18 tian Science and Christianity are one. How, then, in Christianity any more than in Christian Science, can we believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error, 372:21 Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries? Matter is not self-sustaining. Its false supports fail one after another. Matter succeeds for a period only by 372:24 falsely parading in the vestments of law.

Recognition of benefits

"Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." In Chris- 372:27 tian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, super- 372:30 stition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick and the success of the student.

Disease far more docile than iniquity

373:1 If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian- 373:3 ity includes, then we must have more faith in God on this subject and be more alive to His promises. It is easier to cure the most 373:6 malignant disease than it is to cure sin. The author has raised up the dying, partly because they were willing to be restored, while she has struggled long, and perhaps in 373:9 vain, to lift a student out of a chronic sin. Under all modes of pathological treatment, the sick recover more rapidly from disease than does the sinner from his sin. 373:12 Healing is easier than teaching, if the teaching is faithfully done.

Love frees from fear

The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources 373:15 of man's enslavement. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," but the Scriptures also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that 373:18 "perfect Love casteth out fear."

The fear occasioned by ignorance can be cured; but to remove the effects of fear produced by sin, you must 373:21 rise above both fear and sin. Disease is expressed not so much by the lips as in the functions of the body. Es- tablish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the 373:24 oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its healthy functions.

Mind circulates blood

373:27 When the blood rushes madly through the veins or languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these conditions disease. This is a misconception. 373:30 Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard 374:1 which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for health. Anodynes, counter-irritants, and depletion never 374:3 reduce inflammation scientifically, but the truth of being, whispered into the ear of mortal mind, will bring relief.

Mind can destroy all ills

Hatred and its effects on the body are removed by 374:6 Love. Because mortal mind seems to be conscious, the sick say: "How can my mind cause a disease I never thought of and knew nothing about, 374:9 until it appeared on my body?" The author has an- swered this question in her explanation of disease as origi- nating in human belief before it is consciously apparent 374:12 on the body, which is in fact the objective state of mortal mind, though it is called matter. This mortal blindness and its sharp consequences show our need of divine meta- 374:15 physics. Through immortal Mind, or Truth, we can destroy all ills which proceed from mortal mind.

Ignorance of the cause or approach of disease is no 374:18 argument against the mental origin of disease. You con- fess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve your own existence, and this belief helps rather than 374:21 hinders disease. Such a state of mind induces sickness. It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice. You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps 374:24 are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental cause and effect.

Temperature is mental

Heat and cold are products of mortal mind. The body, 374:27 when bereft of mortal mind, at first cools, and after- wards it is resolved into its primitive mortal elements. Nothing that lives ever dies, and 374:30 /vice versa/. Mortal mind produces animal heat, and then expels it through the abandonment of a belief, or in- creases it to the point of self-destruction. Hence it is 375:1 mortal mind, not matter, which says, "I die." Heat would pass from the body as painlessly as gas dissipates 375:3 into the air when it evaporates but for the belief that in- flammation and pain must accompany the separation of heat from the body.

Science /versus /hypnotism

375:6 Chills and heat are often the form in which fever mani- fests itself. Change the mental state, and the chills and fever disappear. The old-school physician 375:9 proves this when his patient says, " I am better," but the patient believes that matter, not mind, has helped him. The Christian Scientist demonstrates 375:12 that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses the patient of his individuality in order to control him. No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any 375:15 mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be under- stood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian 375:18 Scientist is adding to his patient's mental and moral power, and is increasing his patient's spirituality while restoring him physically through divine Love.

Cure for palsy

375:21 Palsy is a belief that matter governs mortals, and can paralyze the body, making certain portions of it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal 375:24 mind that muscles have no power to be lost, for Mind is supreme, and you cure the palsy.

Latent fear diagnosed

Consumptive patients always show great hopeful- 375:27 ness and courage, even when they are supposed to be in hopeless danger. This state of mind seems anomalous except to the expert in Christian 375:30 Science. This mental state is not understood, simply because it is a stage of fear so excessive that it amounts to fortitude. The belief in consumption presents to mor- 376:1 tal thought a hopeless state, an image more terrifying than that of most other diseases. The patient turns involun- 376:3 tarily from the contemplation of it, but though unacknowl- edged, the latent fear and the despair of recovery remain in thought.

Insidious concepts

376:6 Just so is it with the greatest sin. It is the most subtle, and does its work almost self-deceived. The diseases deemed dangerous sometimes come from the 376:9 most hidden, undefined, and insidious beliefs. The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood 376:12 never gave life and can never take it away, - that Life is Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one good motive and act, than in all the blood which ever 376:15 flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal sense of life.

Remedy for fever

If the body is material, it cannot, for that very reason, 376:18 suffer with a fever. Because the so-called material body is a mental concept and governed by mortal mind, it manifests only what that so-called 376:21 mind expresses. Therefore the efficient remedy is to destroy the patient's false belief by both silently and au- dibly arguing the true facts in regard to harmonious 376:24 being, - representing man as healthy instead of diseased, and showing that it is impossible for matter to suffer, to feel pain or heat, to be thirsty or sick. Destroy fear, 376:27 and you end fever. Some people, mistaught as to Mind- science, inquire when it will be safe to check a fever. Know that in Science you cannot check a fever after ad- 376:30 mitting that it must have its course. To fear and admit the power of disease, is to paralyze mental and scientific demonstration.

377:1 If your patient believes in taking cold, mentally con- vince him that matter cannot take cold, and that thought 377:3 governs this liability. If grief causes suffering, convince the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love.

Climate harmless

377:6 Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their lives, but they come back no better than when they went away. Then is the time to cure them through 377:9 Christian Science, and prove that they can be healthy in all climates, when their fear of climate is exterminated.

Mind governs body

377:12 Through different states of mind, the body becomes suddenly weak or abnormally strong, showing mortal mind to be the producer of strength or weak- 377:15 ness. A sudden joy or grief has caused what is termed instantaneous death. Because a belief origi- nates unseen, the mental state should be continually 377:18 watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects. The author never knew a patient who did not recover when the belief of the disease had gone. Remove the 377:21 leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind, and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the mor- bid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in 377:24 this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as functional difficulties.

The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal 377:27 fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. With- 377:30 out this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of it- self powerless to produce suffering. It is latent belief in disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sick- 378:1 ness with certain circumstances and causes the two to appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are repro- 378:3 duced in union by human memory. Disease has no in- telligence. Unwittingly you sentence yourself to suffer. The understanding of this will enable you to commute this 378:6 self-sentence, and meet every circumstance with truth. Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it.

Latent power

Without the so-called human mind, there can be no 378:9 inflammatory nor torpid action of the system. Remove the error, and you destroy its effects. By looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles 378:12 Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An ani- mal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and both will fight for nothing. A man's gaze, fastened 378:15 fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the power of Truth over error, - the might of intelligence 378:18 exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; whereas hypnotism and hygienic drilling and drugging, adopted to cure matter, is represented by two material erroneous 378:21 bases.

Disease powerless

Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into 378:24 its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given, nor a self-constituted material power, which copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God 378:27 never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord. Such a power, without the divine permission, is incon- 378:30 ceivable; and if such a power could be divinely directed, it would manifest less wisdom than we usually find dis- played in human governments.

Jurisdiction of Mind

379:1 If disease can attack and control the body without the consent of mortals, sin can do the same, for both 379:3 are errors, announced as partners in the be- ginning. The Christian Scientist finds only effects, where the ordinary physician looks for causes. 379:6 The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind.

Power of imagination

379:9 A felon, on whom certain English students experi- mented, fancied himself bleeding to death, and died be- cause of that belief, when only a stream of 379:12 warm water was trickling over his arm. Had he known his sense of bleeding was an illusion, he would have risen above the false belief. Let the despairing in- 379:15 valid, inspecting the hue of her blood on a cambric hand- kerchief, think of the experiment of those Oxford boys, who caused the death of a man, when not a drop of his 379:18 blood was shed. Then let her learn the opposite state- ment of life as taught in Christian Science, and she will understand that she is not dying on account of the state of 379:21 her blood, but is suffering from her belief that blood is destroying her life. The so-called vital current does not affect the invalid's health, but her belief produces the 379:24 very results she dreads.

Fevers the effect of fear

Fevers are errors of various types. The quickened pulse, coated tongue, febrile heat, dry skin, pain in the 379:27 head and limbs, are pictures drawn on the body by a mortal mind. The images, held in this disturbed mind, frighten conscious thought. Unless 379:30 the fever-picture, drawn by millions of mortals and im- aged on the body through the belief that mind is in matter and discord is as real as harmony, is destroyed through 380:1 Science, it may rest at length on some receptive thought, and become a fever case, which ends in a belief called 380:3 death, which belief must be finally conquered by eternal Life. Truth is always the victor. Sickness and sin fall by their own weight. Truth is the rock of ages, the head- 380:6 stone of the corner, "but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."

Misdirected contention

Contending for the evidence or indulging the demands 380:9 of sin, disease, or death, we virtually contend against the control of Mind over body, and deny the power of Mind to heal. This false method 380:12 is as though the defendant should argue for the plaintiff in favor of a decision which the defendant knows will be turned against himself.

Benefits of metaphysics

380:15 The physical effects of fear illustrate its illusion. Gaz- ing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not terrify a man. The body is affected only with 380:18 the belief of disease produced by a so-called mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease. Noth- ing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of 380:21 error, and prove man's dominion over error.

A higher discovery

Many years ago the author made a spiritual discov- ery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to 380:24 prove that the divine Mind produces in man health, harmony, and immortality. Gradu- ally this evidence will gather momentum and clearness, 380:27 until it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and proof. Nothing is more disheartening than to believe that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that 380:30 God endows this opposing power with strength to be used against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.

Ignorance of our rights

Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern 381:1 man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust 381:3 decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop- 381:6 ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp- tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.

No laws of matter

When infringing some supposed law, you say that 381:9 there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer from breaking anything except a moral or 381:12 spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal, and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods, 381:15 and types of disease, with which mortals die. God is the lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes. In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor 381:18 death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God.

God-given dominion

Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you 381:21 will sooner grasp man's God-given dominion. You must understand your way out of human theories relating to health, or you will never believe 381:24 that you are quite free from some ailment. The har- mony and immortality of man will never be reached without the understanding that Mind is not in matter. 381:27 Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony, - God's law. It is man's moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never 381:30 inflicted by divine authority.

Begin rightly

Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of 382:1 health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine au- 382:3 thority and having only human approval for their sanction.

Hygiene excessive

If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the 382:6 study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of thought, this alone would usher in the millen- inium. Constant bathing and rubbing to alter 382:9 the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from the cuticle receive a useful rebuke from Jesus' precept, "Take no thought . . . for the body." We must beware 382:12 of making clean merely the outside of the platter.

Blissful ignorance

He, who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law, is more receptive of spiritual power and of faith in one 382:15 God, than is the devotee of supposed hygienic law, who comes to teach the so-called igno- rant one. Must we not then consider the so-called law 382:18 of matter a canon "more honored in the breach than the observance"? A patient thoroughly booked in medi- cal theories is more difficult to heal through Mind than 382:21 one who is not. This verifies the saying of our Master: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein."

382:24 One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual oblivion, in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I should have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach, 382:27 - supporting the power of Mind over the body and show- ing me the nothingness of the so-called pleasures and pains of sense. The treatises I had read and the medicines I 382:30 had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily, 383:1 but mental, and I was cured when I learned my way in Christian Science."

A clean mind and body

383:3 We need a clean body and a clean mind, - a body rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water. One says: "I take good care of my body." 383:6 To do this, the pure and exalting influence of the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves 383:9 it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is "willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be pres- ent with the Lord."

383:12 A hint may be taken from the emigrant, whose filth does not affect his happiness, because mind and body rest on the same basis. To the mind equally gross, dirt 383:15 gives no uneasiness. It is the native element of such a mind, which is symbolized, and not chafed, by its sur- roundings; but impurity and uncleanliness, which do 383:18 not trouble the gross, could not be borne by the refined. This shows that the mind must be clean to keep the body in proper condition.

Beliefs illusive

383:21 The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison for half a century, sometimes tells you that the weed preserves his health, but does this make it so? Does his 383:24 assertion prove the use of tobacco to be a salu- brious habit, and man to be the better for it? Such in- stances only prove the illusive physical effect of a false 383:27 belief, confirming the Scriptural conclusion concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

The movement-cure - pinching and pounding the poor 383:30 body, to make it sensibly well when it ought to be in- sensibly so - is another medical mistake, resulting from the common notion that health depends on inert matter 384:1 instead of on Mind. Can matter, or what is termed matter, either feel or act without mind?

Corporeal penalties

384:3 We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought that we have transgressed a material law and must of necessity pay the penalty. Let us reassure 384:6 ourselves with the law of Love. God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, 384:9 cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his 384:12 protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through this action of thought and its results upon the body, the student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the 384:15 grand verities of Christian Science.

Not matter, but Mind

If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza, 384:18 congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy is safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such 384:21 symptoms are not apt to follow exposure; but if you believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects when transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own case or 384:24 to destroy the bad effects of your belief. When the fear subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other 384:27 disease will ever result from exposure to the weather. In Science this is an established fact which all the evidence before the senses can never overrule.

Benefit of philanthropy

384:30 Sickness, sin, and death must at length quail before the divine rights of intelligence, and then the power of Mind over the entire functions and organs of the 385:1 human system will be acknowledged. It is proverbial that Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists en- 385:3 gaged in humane labors have been able to undergo without sinking fatigues and expo- sures which ordinary people could not endure. The ex- 385:6 planation lies in the support which they derived from the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and en- 385:9 durance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best deeds. Let us remember that the eternal law of right, 385:12 though it can never annul the law which makes sin its own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but those due for wrong-doing.

Honest toil has no penalty

385:15 Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untow- ard conditions, /if without sin/, can be experienced with- out suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do, 385:18 you can do without harm to yourself. If you sprain the muscles or wound the flesh, your remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the 385:21 flesh shall be discolored, painful, swollen, and inflamed.

Our sleep and food

You say that you have not slept well or have overeaten. You are a law unto yourself. Saying this and believing 385:24 it, you will suffer in proportion to your belief and fear. Your sufferings are not the penalty for having broken a law of matter, for it is a law of mortal 385:27 mind which you have disobeyed. You say or think, be- cause you have partaken of salt fish, that you must be thirsty, and you are thirsty accordingly, while the oppo- 385:30 site belief would produce the opposite result.

Doubtful evidence

Any supposed information, coming from the body or from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu- 386:1 sion of mortal mind, - one of its dreams. Realize that the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted 386:3 in the case of sickness, any more than it is in the case of sin.

Climate and belief

Expose the body to certain temperatures, and belief 386:6 says that you may catch cold and have catarrh; but no such result occurs without mind to demand it and produce it. So long as mortals declare 386:9 that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh, fever, rheumatism, or consumption, those effects will follow, - not because of the climate, but on account of 386:12 the belief. The author has in too many instances healed disease through the action of Truth on the minds of mor- tals, and the corresponding effects of Truth on the body, 386:15 not to know that this is so.

Erroneous despatch

A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's 386:18 real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and 386:21 you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause 386:24 for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.

Mourning causeless

If a Christian Scientist had said, while you were labor- 386:27 ing under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sor- row is without cause," you would not have understood him, although the correctness of 386:30 the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So, when our friends pass from our sight and we lament, that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall 387:1 perceive this to be true when we grow into the under- standing of Life, and know that there is no death.

Mind heals brain-disease

387:3 Because mortal mind is kept active, must it pay the penalty in a softened brain? Who dares to say that actual Mind can be overworked? When we reach 387:6 our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, 387:9 and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by 387:12 the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.

Right never punishable

Our thinkers do not die early because they faithfully perform the natural functions of being. If printers and 387:15 authors have the shortest span of earthly ex- istence, it is not because they occupy the most important posts and perform the most vital functions in 387:18 society. That man does not pay the severest penalty who does the most good. By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, - instead of reading disquisitions on 387:21 the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, - one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of 387:24 love, but grows stronger because of it. It is a law of so- called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all things discordant.

Christian history

387:27 The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent 387:30 Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering.

388:1 The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power 388:3 of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corpo- real senses, a victory which Science alone can explain. Stolidity, which is a resisting state of mortal mind, suffers 388:6 less, only because it knows less of material law.

The Apostle John testified to the divine basis of Chris- tian Science, when dire inflictions failed to destroy his 388:9 body. Idolaters, believing in more than one mind, had "gods many," and thought that they could kill the body with matter, independently of mind.

Sustenance spiritual

388:12 Admit the common hypothesis that food is the nutri- ment of life, and the follows the necessity for another admission in the opposite direction, - that 388:15 food has power to destroy Life, God, through a deficiency or an excess, a quality or a quantity. This is a specimen of the ambiguous nature of all material 388:18 health-theories. They are self-contradictory and self-de- structive, constituting a "kingdom divided against itself," which is "brought to desolation." If food was prepared 388:21 by Jesus for his disciples, it cannot destroy life.

God sustains man

The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that 388:24 God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond 388:27 our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall 388:30 neither eat to live nor live to eat.

Diet and digestion

If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought 389:1 must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left 389:3 to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf of the control of Mind over this belief and every erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we 389:6 know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat- ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested. 389:9 Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo- 389:12 site evidence.

Scripture rebukes

Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can 389:15 kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in Scripture by the metaphors about the fount and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di- 389:18 vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite 389:21 law that food shall be inimical to existence.

Ancient confusion

Materialists contradict their own statements. Their belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac- 389:24 tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the 389:27 battle-axe of Science.

A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came under my observation. In her belief the woman had 389:30 chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de- 390:1 spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My food is all digested, and I should like something more 390:3 to eat."

Ultimate harmony

We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim- 390:6 ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seem- ing discord. It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and 390:9 the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.

Unnecessary prostration

390:12 When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let your higher sense of justice destroy the false 390:15 process of mortal opinions which you name law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last far- 390:18 thing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon 390:21 the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no 390:24 law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sick- ness, but you have divine authority for denying that neces- sity and healing the sick.

Treatment of disease

390:27 "Agree to disagree" with approaching symptoms of chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consump- tion, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages 390:30 of disease with as powerful mental opposi- tion as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the 391:1 spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, /alias/ matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit. 391:3 Blot out the images of mortal thought and its beliefs in sickness and sin. Then, when thou art delivered to the judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, "Thou 391:6 art whole!"

Righteous rebellion

Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against 391:9 them. Banish the belief that you can possi- bly entertain a single intruding pain which can- not be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way 391:12 you can prevent the development of pain in the body. No law of God hinders this result. It is error to suffer for aught but your own sins. Christ, or Truth, will de- 391:15 stroy all other supposed suffering, and real suffering for your own sins will cease in proportion as the sin ceases.

Contradict error

Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice de- 391:18 clares the absence of law. When the body is supposed to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty. Since matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind 391:21 which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a pro- test. If you say, "I am sick," you plead guilty. Then your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal 391:24 mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has no intelligence to declare itself something and announce its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore 391:27 make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself and to others.

Sin to be overcome

Mentally contradict every complaint from the body, 391:30 and rise to the true consciousness of Life as Love, - as all that is pure, and bearing the fruits of Spirit. Fear is the fountain of sickness, 392:1 and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease. 392:3 Only while fear or sin remains can it bring forth death. To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear, 392:6 which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to 392:9 take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God's image.

Illusions about nerves

The physical affirmation of disease should always be 392:12 met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is pro- duced on the body, must be expressed men- tally, and thought should be held fast to this 392:15 ideal. If you believe in inflamed and weak nerves, you are liable to an attack from that source. You will call it neuralgia, but we call it a belief. If you think that con- 392:18 sumption is hereditary in your family, you are liable to the development of that thought in the form of what is termed pulmonary disease, unless Science shows you 392:21 otherwise. If you decide that climate or atmosphere is unhealthy, it will be so to you. Your decisions will mas- ter you, whichever direction they take.

Guarding the door

392:24 Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself har- 392:27 moniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office 392:30 as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or 393:1 pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forget- 393:3 ting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

The strength of Spirit

The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their 393:6 results, - ignorant that the predisposing, re- mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the 393:9 master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. 393:12 Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on 393:15 man.

No pain in matter

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern- 393:18 ment. Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have 393:21 no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch, 393:24 were it not for mortal mind.

When Jesus declares that "the light of the body is the eye," he certainly means that light depends upon Mind, 393:27 not upon the complex humors, lenses, muscles, the iris and pupil, constituting the visual organism.

No real disease

Man is never sick, for Mind is not sick and matter 393:30 cannot be. A false belief is both the tempter and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the disease and its cause. It is well to be calm in sickness; 394:1 to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sick- ness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming 394:3 reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the uni- versal and perfect remedy.

Recuperation mental

By conceding power to discord, a large majority of 394:6 doctors depress mental energy, which is the only real recuperative power. Knowledge that we can accomplish the good we hope for, stimu- 394:9 lates the system to act in the direction which Mind points out. The admission that any bodily condition is beyond the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from 394:12 helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. To those struggling with sickness, such admissions are dis- couraging, - as much so as would be the advice to a man 394:15 who is down in the world, that he should not try to rise above his difficulties.

Experience has proved to the author the fallacy of 394:18 material systems in general, - that their theories are sometimes pernicious, and that their denials are better than their affirmations. Will you bid a man let evils 394:21 overcome him, assuring him that all misfortunes are from God, against whom mortals should not contend? Will you tell the sick that their condition is hopeless, unless it 394:24 can be aided by a drug or climate? Are material means the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony, 394:27 with Truth and Love?

Arguing wrongly

We should remember that Life is God, and that God is omnipotent. Not understanding Christian 394:30 Science, the sick usually have little faith in it till they feel its beneficent influence. This shows that faith is not the healer in such cases. The sick 395:1 unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it. They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it. 395:3 They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the deceitful senses, and maintain man's immortality and eternal likeness to God.

Divine authority

395:6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal 395:9 senses and to assert its claims over mortal- ity and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a car- 395:12 nal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death will disappear.

Aids in sickness

395:15 Prayers, in which God is not asked to heal but is be- sought to take the patient to Himself, do not benefit the sick. An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceit- 395:18 ful person should not be a nurse. The nurse should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of faith, - receptive to Truth and Love.

Mental quackery

395:21 It is mental quackery to make disease a reality - to hold it as something seen and felt - and then to attempt its cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous 395:24 to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in 395:27 physical belief. Mental practice, which holds disease as a reality, fastens disease on the patient, and it may appear in a more alarming form.

Effacing images of disease

395:30 The knowledge that brain-lobes cannot kill a man nor affect the functions of mind would prevent the brain from becoming diseased, though a moral offence is indeed the 396:1 worst of diseases. One should never hold in mind the thought of disease, but should efface from 396:3 thought all forms and types of disease, both for one's own sake and for that of the patient.

Avoid talking disease

Avoid talking illness to the patient. Make no unne- 396:6 cessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. Never startle with a discouraging remark about re- covery, nor draw attention to certain symp- 396:9 toms as unfavorable, avoid speaking aloud the name of the disease. Never say beforehand how much you have to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient's 396:12 thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis is passed.

False testimony refuted

The refutation of the testimony of material sense is 396:15 not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this testimony. The refutation becomes arduous, not because the testimony of sin or disease is 396:18 true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm- ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, - all teaching 396:21 that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.

Healthful explanation

At the right time explain to the sick the power which their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine 396:24 and wholesome understanding, with which to combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the images of sickness from mortal mind. Keep distinctly in 396:27 thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man; that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit, outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life 396:30 and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to under- stand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by matter nor by the divine Mind.

Misleading methods

397:1 By not perceiving vital metaphysical points, not seeing how mortal mind affects the body, - acting beneficially 397:3 or injuriously on the health, as well as on the morals and the happiness of mortals, - we are misled in our conclusions and methods. We throw the 397:6 mental influence on the wrong side, thereby actually in- juring those whom we mean to bless.

Remedy for accidents

Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoy- 397:9 ment. You cause bodily sufferings and increase them by admitting their reality and continuance, as directly as you enhance your joys by be- 397:12 lieving them to be real and continuous. When an ac- cident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!" Your thought is more powerful than your words, more 397:15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real.

Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt 397:18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta- 397:21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be.

Independent mentality

To heal the sick, one must be familiar with the great 397:24 verities of being. Mortals are no more material in their waking hours than when they act, walk, see, hear, enjoy, or suffer in dreams. We can 397:27 never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and 397:30 you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You will understand yourself and your Maker better than before.

Naming maladies

398:1 Sometimes Jesus called a disease by name, as when he said to the epileptic boy, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I 398:3 charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him." It is added that "the spirit [error] cried, and rent him sore and came out of him, and 398:6 he was as one dead," - clear evidence that the malady was not material. These instances show the concessions which Jesus was willing to make to the popular ignorance 398:9 of spiritual Life-laws. Often he gave no name to the distemper he cured. To the synagogue ruler's daughter, whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not 398:12 dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise!" To the sufferer with the withered hand he said, "Stretch forth thine hand," and it "was restored 398:15 whole, like as the other."

The action of faith

Homoeopathic remedies, sometimes not containing a particle of medicine, are known to relieve the symptoms 398:18 of disease. What produces the change? It is the faith of the doctor and the patient, which reduces self-inflicted sufferings and produces a new effect 398:21 upon the body. In like manner destroy the illusion of pleasure in intoxication, and the desire for strong drink is gone. Appetite and disease reside in mortal mind, not 398:24 in matter.

So also faith, cooperating with a belief in the healing effects of time and medication, will soothe fear and change 398:27 the belief of disease to a belief of health. Even a blind faith removes bodily ailments for a season, but hypnotism changes such ills into new and more difficult forms of dis- 398:30 ease. The Science of Mind must come to the rescue, to work a radical cure. Then we understand the process. The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has 399:1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore good is infinite, is All.

Corporeal combinations

399:3 You say that certain material combinations produce disease; but if the material body causes disease, can matter cure what matter has caused? Mortal 399:6 mind prescribes the drug, and administers it. Mortal mind plans the exercise, and puts the body through certain motions. No gastric gas accumulates, not a se- 399:9 cretion nor combination can operate, apart from the action of mortal thought, /alias /mortal mind.

Automatic mechanism

So-called mortal mind sends its despatches over its 399:12 body, but this so-called mind is both the service and message of this telegraphy. Nerves are un- able to talk, and matter can return no an- 399:15 swer to immortal Mind. If Mind is the only actor, how can mechanism be automatic? Mortal mind perpetuates its own thought. It constructs a machine, manages it, 399:18 and then calls it material. A mill at work or the action of a water-wheel is but a derivative from, and continua- tion of, the primitive mortal mind. Without this force 399:21 the body is devoid of action, and this deadness shows that so-called mortal life is mortal mind, not matter.

Mental strength

Scientifically speaking, there is no mortal mind out of 399:24 which to make material beliefs, springing from illusion. This misnamed mind is not an entity. It is only a false sense of matter, since matter is not 399:27 sensible. The one Mind, God, contains no mortal opin- ions. All that is real is included in this immortal Mind.

Confirmation in a parable

Our Master asked: "How can one enter into a strong 399:30 man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?" In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called 400:1 mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear 400:3 of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thor- oughly cured. Mortal mind is "the strong man," which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health 400:6 and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil "the strong man" of his goods, - namely, of sin and disease.

Eradicate error from thought

400:9 Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine Mind, and abandon their material beliefs. 400:12 Eradicate the image of disease from the per- turbed thought before it has taken tangible shape in conscious thought, /alias/ the body, and you pre- 400:15 vent the development of disease. This task becomes easy, if you understand that every disease is an error, and has no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to 400:18 it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con- tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.

Mortal mind controlled

When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed 400:21 mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought alone creates the suffering. Mortal mind rules all that is mortal. We see in the body 400:24 the images of this mind, even as in optics we see painted on the retina the image which becomes visible to the senses. The action of so-called mortal mind must be 400:27 destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony of being. Without divine control there is discord, mani- fest as sin, sickness, and death.

Mortal mind not a healer

400:30 The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this. It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many 401:1 mighty works "because of their unbelief" in Truth. Any human error is its own enemy, and works against itself; 401:3 it does nothing in the right direction and much in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer, 401:6 but it engenders disease and death.

Effect of opposites

If faith in the truth of being, which you impart men- tally while destroying error, causes chemicalization (as 401:9 when an alkali is destroying an acid), it is be- cause the truth of being must transform the error to the end of producing a higher manifestation. 401:12 This fermentation should not aggravate the disease, but should be as painless to man as to a fluid, since matter has no sensation and mortal mind only feels and sees 401:15 materially.

What I term /chemicalization/ is the upheaval produced when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal be- 401:18 lief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case with a fermenting fluid.

Medicine and brain

401:21 The only effect produced by medicine is dependent upon mental action. If the mind were parted from the body, could you produce any effect upon the brain 401:24 or body by applying the drug to either? Would the drug remove paralysis, affect organization, or restore will and action to cerebrum and cerebellum?

Skilful surgery

401:27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem- acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave surgery and the adjustment of broken bones 401:30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon, while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation. 402:1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last 402:3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the author has already in her possession well-authenticated records of the cure, by herself and her students through 402:6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints, and spinal vertebrae.

Indestructible life of man

The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake 402:9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im- mortal Mind and its formations will be appre- hended in Science, and material beliefs will 402:12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own 402:15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is 402:18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.

The evil of mesmerism

We say that one human mind can influence another and 402:21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that we govern our own bodies. The error, mes- merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term 402:24 - illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield 402:27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce 402:30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be a belief without a real cause.

Wrong-doer should suffer

403:1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own diseased conditions. The great difference between vol- 403:3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol- untary mesmerism is induced consciously and should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self- 403:6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under- stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the 403:9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect. The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real- 403:12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be healed only by the divine Mind.

Error's power imaginary

You command the situation if you understand that 403:15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly producing on mortal body the results of false 403:18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion. 403:21 The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spir- itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal- ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from 403:24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint your patient with it.

Disease-production

The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike 403:27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the nature of a case, and the practitioner improves or injures the case in proportion to the truth 403:30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental conception and development of disease are not under- stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar 404:1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case according to Christian Science.

Appetites to be abandoned

404:3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and destroy these errors with the truth of being, - 404:6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering which his submission to such habits brings, and by con- vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe- 404:9 tites. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body. Lust, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked 404:12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the individual, you can remove this disorder as God's law is 404:15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy sinner is the hardened sinner.

Temperance reform

The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results 404:18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree that brings not forth good fruit. This con- viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin, 404:21 is one of the most important points in the theology of Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure, 404:24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and increases his ability to master evil and to love good.

Sin or fear the root of sickness

Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and 404:27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require the same method and are inseparable in Truth. Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth, 404:30 make a man sick, and neither material medi- cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body, unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him 405:1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind. Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence 405:3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Mental conspirators

Christian Science commands man to master the pro- 405:6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with hon- 405:9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you 405:12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and 405:15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing is paid, - until you have balanced your account with God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 405:18 reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im- mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good, 405:21 in which is no power to sin.

Cumulative repentence

It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty con- 405:24 science. The abiding consciousness of wrong- doing tends to destroy the ability to do right. If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is 405:27 hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are con- quered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its 405:30 pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.

The leaves of healing

406:1 The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." 406:3 Sin and sickness are both healed by the same Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering 406:6 full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated 406:9 in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. "Per- fect Love casteth out fear."

Sickness will abate

The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and 406:12 spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth. Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will abate and seem less real as we approach the 406:15 scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he 406:18 should be as fearless on the question of disease.

Resist to the end

Resist evil - error of every sort - and it will flee from you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately 406:21 shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direc- tion of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go 406:24 on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of any kind involves weakness and suffering, - a loss of 406:27 control over the body.

Morbid cravings

The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery 406:30 of the body. This normal control is gained through divine strength and understanding. There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a 407:1 fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to 407:3 man's self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of to- bacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no crea- ture except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.

Universal panacea

407:6 Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters - passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge - is con- quered only by a mighty struggle. Every 407:9 hour of delay makes the struggle more severe. If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian 407:12 Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the weakness of mortal mind, - strength from the immortal and omnipotent Mind, - and lifting humanity above 407:15 itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and good-will to man.

Let the slave of wrong desire learn the lessons of Chris- 407:18 tian Science, and he will get the better of that desire and ascend a degree in the scale of health, happiness, and existence.

Immortal memory

407:21 If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contra- dict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. In Science, all being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmoni- 407:24 ous in every action. Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized op- posite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, 407:27 and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.

Sin a form of insanity

There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan- 407:30 ity in different degrees. Sin is spared from this classification, only because its method of madness is in consonance with common mortal belief. 408:1 Every sort of sickness is error, - that is, sickness is loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact 408:3 that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac- knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are sick.

408:6 There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien- 408:9 tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly 408:12 defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor- tal minds and bodies.

Drugs and brain-lobes

The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use 408:15 of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of insanity. Can drugs go of their own accord to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam- 408:18 mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal mind through matter? Drugs do not affect a corpse, and Truth does not distribute drugs through the blood, and 408:21 from them derive a supposed effect on intelligence and sen- timent. A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce insanity as perceptibly as would congestion of the brain, 408:24 were it not that mortal mind thinks that the tarsal joint is less intimately connected with the mind than is the brain. Reverse the belief, and the results would be perceptibly 408:27 different.

Matter and animate error

The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra- tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of 408:30 the body which we call sensation in matter is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it- self, - ignorant of the errors it includes and of their 409:1 effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You may say: "But if disease obtains in matter, why do 409:3 you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and not by matter?" /Mortal mind /and body combine as one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state- 409:6 ment, - animate error called nerves, brain, mind, - the more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease- beliefs.

Dictation of error

409:9 Unconscious mortal mind - /alias /matter, brain - can- not dictate terms to consciousness nor say, "I am sick." The belief, that the unconscious substratum 409:12 of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and reports disease independently of this so-called conscious mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing 409:15 how to govern their bodies.

So-called superiority

The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and 409:18 the stronger never yields to the weaker, ex- cept through fear or choice. The animate should be governed by God alone. The real man is 409:21 spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This 409:24 mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model.

Death no benefactor

409:27 We have no right to say that life depends on matter now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot spend our days here in ignorance of the Science 409:30 of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance. 410:1 If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual 410:3 Life hereafter.

Life eternal and present

"This is life eternal," says Jesus, - /is/, not /shall be/; and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge 410:6 of his Father and of himself, - the knowledge of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eter- nal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and 410:9 Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures say, "Man shall not live by bread /alone/, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," show- 410:12 ing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching practical.

Love casteth out fear

Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. 410:15 The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love. The Apostle 410:18 John says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made per- fect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclama- 410:21 tion of Christian Science.

MENTAL TREATMENT ILLUSTRATED

Be not afraid

The Science of mental practice is susceptible of no 410:24 misuse. Selfishness does not appear in the practice of Truth or Christian Science. If mental prac- tice is abused or is used in any way except to 410:27 promote right thinking and doing, the power to heal mentally will diminish, until the practitioner's healing ability is wholly lost. Christian scientific practice be- 410:30 gins with Christ's keynote of harmony, "Be not afraid!" 411:1 Said Job: "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me."

Naming diseases

411:3 My first discovery in the student's practice was this: If the student silently called the disease by name, when he argued against it, as a general rule the body 411:6 would respond more quickly, - just as a per- son replies more readily when his name is spoken; but this was because the student was not perfectly attuned to 411:9 divine Science, and needed the arguments of truth for reminders. If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific 411:12 way, and the healing is instantaneous.

Evils cast out

It is recorded that once Jesus asked the name of a dis- ease, - a disease which moderns would call /dementia/. 411:15 The demon, or evil, replied that his name was Legion. Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil, and the insane man was changed and straightway be- 411:18 came whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus caused the evil to be self-seen and so destroyed.

Fear as the foundation

The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is 411:21 fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed. Disease is an image of thought externalized. 411:24 The mental state is called a material state. Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body.

Unspoken pleading

411:27 Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp- tion from disease and danger. Watch the re- 411:30 sult of this simple rule of Christian Science, and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear, 412:1 your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand- 412:3 point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien- tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet 412:6 the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat, but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern- ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be 412:9 the victor.

Eloquent silence

You may call the disease by name when you mentally deny it; but by naming it audibly, you are liable under 412:12 some circumstances to impress it upon the thought. The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to un- 412:15 clasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.

Insistence requisite

To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth, of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material 412:18 senses. To heal by argument, find the type of the ailment, get its name, and array your mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men- 412:21 tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and 412:24 that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health 412:27 and harmony.

The cure of infants

If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently 412:30 or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian Science. The Scientist knows that there can be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent 413:1 and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter. 413:3 The act of yielding one's thoughts to the undue contem- plation of physical wants or conditions induces those very conditions. A single requirement, beyond what is neces- 413:6 sary to meet the simplest needs of the babe is harmful. Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter 413:9 does not. The wise or unwise views of parents and other persons on these subjects produce good or bad effects on the health of children.

Ablutions for cleanliness

413:12 The daily ablutions of an infant are no more natural nor necessary than would be the process of taking a fish out of water every day and covering it with dirt 413:15 in order to make it thrive more vigorously in its own element. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," but washing should be only for the purpose of keeping the 413:18 body clean, and this can be effected without scrubbing the whole surface daily. Water is not the natural habitat of humanity. I insist on bodily cleanliness within and with- 413:21 out. I am not patient with a speck of dirt; but in caring for an infant one need not wash his little body all over each day in order to keep it sweet as the new-blown flower.

Juvenile ailments

413:24 Giving drugs to infants, noticing every symptom of flatulency, and constantly directing the mind to such signs, - that mind being laden with illusions 413:27 about disease, health-laws, and death, - these actions convey mental images to children's budding thoughts, and often stamp them there, making it probable 413:30 at any time that such ills may be reproduced in the very ailments feared. A child may have worms, if you say so, or any other malady, timorously held in the beliefs con- 414:1 cerning his body. Thus are laid the foundations of the belief in disease and death, and thus are children educated 414:3 into discord.

Cure of insanity

The treatment of insanity is especially interesting. However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than 414:6 do most diseases to the salutary action of truth, which counteracts error. The argu- ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in 414:9 other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter, brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish 414:12 a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.

414:15 To fix truth steadfastly in your patients' thoughts, ex- plain Christian Science to them, but not too soon, - not until your patients are prepared for the explanation, - 414:18 lest you array the sick against their own interests by troub- ling and perplexing their thought. The Christian Scien- tist's argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of 414:21 being. The Scripture declares, "The Lord He is God [good]; there is none else beside Him." Even so, harmony is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de- 414:24 clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being, - that man is 414:27 the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfec- tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is 414:30 blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love.