Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📖

divine Principle wrought

wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and 133:18 in kings’ palaces.

 

Judaism antipathetic

 

Judaism was the antithesis of Christianity, because

Judaism engendered the limited form of a national or 133:21 tribal religion. It was a finite and material

system, carried out in special theories concerning God, man, sanitary methods, and a religious cultus. 133:24 That he made “himself equal with God,” was one of the

Jewish accusations against him who planted Christianity

on the foundation of Spirit, who taught as he was in-133:27 spired by the Father and would recognize no life, intelligence, nor substance outside of God.

 

Priestly learning

 

The Jewish conception of God, as Yawah, Jehovah, 133:30 or only a mighty hero and king, has not quite

given place to the true knowledge of God.

Creeds and rituals have not cleansed their hands of 134:1 rabbinical lore. To-day the cry of bygone ages is repeated, “Crucify him!” At every advancing step, truth 134:3 is still opposed with sword and spear.

 

Testimony of martyrs

 

The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but

those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted 134:6 unto death, that at length the word martyr

was narrowed in its significance and so has

come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions. 134:9 The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred

of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of

Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted; 134:12 and so it came about that human rights were hallowed

by the gallows and the cross.

 

Absence of Christ-power

 

Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed 134:15 strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power,

how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ

or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi-134:18 bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very

element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and

unequalled success in the first century.

 

Basis of miracles

134:21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the

natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not

because this Science is supernatural or pre-134:24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of

divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,

good. Jesus said: “I knew that Thou hearest me al-134:27 ways;” and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the

tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There

is divine authority for believing in the superiority of 134:30 spiritual power over material resistance.

 

Lawful wonders

 

A miracle fulfils God’s law, but does not violate that

law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than 135:1 the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: “What ailed

thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, 135:3 that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains,

that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills,

like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the 135:6 Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” The miracle

introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order,

establishing the Science of God’s unchangeable law. 135:9 Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of

divine power.

 

Fear and sickness identical

 

The same power which heals sin heals also sickness. 135:12 This is “the beauty of holiness,” that when Truth heals

the sick it casts out evils, and when Truth

casts out the evil called disease, it heals the 135:15 sick. When Christ cast out the devil of

dumbness, “it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,

the dumb spake.” There is to-day danger of repeating 135:18 the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel

and asking: “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”

What cannot God do?

 

The unity of Science and Christianity 135:21 It has been said, and truly, that Christianity must be

Science, and Science must be Christianity, else one or the

other is false and useless; but neither is unim-135:24 portant or untrue, and they are alike in demonstration. This proves the one to be identical

with the other. Christianity as Jesus taught it was not 135:27 a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift

from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration

of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick, 135:30 not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demonstration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of

divine light.

 

The Christ-mission

136:1 Jesus established his church and maintained his mission

on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught 136:3 his followers that his religion had a divine

Principle, which would cast out error and heal

both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-136:6 gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the

persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine

power to save men both bodily and spiritually.

 

Ancient spiritualism

136:9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the

sick? His answer to this question the world rejected.

He appealed to his students: “Whom do 136:12 men say that I, the Son of man, am?” That

is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting

out evils and healing the sick? They replied, “Some 136:15 say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and

others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” These prophets

were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that 136:18 some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium,

controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.

 

This ghostly fancy was repeated by Herod himself. 136:21 That a wicked king and debauched husband should have

no high appreciation of divine Science and the great work

of the Master, was not surprising; for how could such 136:24 a sinner comprehend what the disciples did not fully

understand? But even Herod doubted if Jesus was controlled by the sainted preacher. Hence Herod’s asser-136:27 tion: “John have I beheaded: but who is this?” No

wonder Herod desired to see the new Teacher.

 

Doubting disciples

 

The disciples apprehended their Master better than 136:30 did others; but they did not comprehend all

that he said and did, or they would not have

questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in 137:1 teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His students saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil, 137:3 raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work

was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the

crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before 137:6 them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and

the grave.

 

Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated, 137:9 “But whom say ye that I am?” This renewed inquiry

meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so

mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the 137:12 answer already given and his renewal of the question,

it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow

opinion implied in their citation of the common report 137:15 about him.

 

A divine response

 

With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his

brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: “Thou 137:18 art the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

That is: The Messiah is what thou hast declared, - Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and 137:21 Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from

Jesus the benediction, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 137:24 but my Father which is in heaven;” that is, Love hath

shown thee the way of Life!

 

The true and living rock

 

Before this the impetuous disciple had been called 137:27 only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of

Jona; but now the Master gave him a spiritual name in these words: “And I say also 137:30 unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the

meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build

my church; and the gates of hell [/hades/, the under- 138:1 world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it.” In

other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not 138:3 on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God—

power which lay behind Peter’s confession of the true

Messiah.

 

Sublime summary

138:6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and

Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the

sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm 138:9 of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis

Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to

outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither 138:12 by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by

the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind.

The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which 138:15 Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion

of Love.

 

New era in Jesus

 

Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for 138:18 all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are

under as direct orders now, as they were then,

to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to 138:21 follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as

the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sickness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with 138:24 pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleasure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as

readily is it was proved centuries ago.

 

Healthful theology

138:27 Our Master said to every follower: “Go ye into all the

world, and preach the gospel to every creature! …

Heal the sick! … Love thy neighbor as 138:30 thyself!” It was this theology of Jesus which

healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this

book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which 139:1 heals the sick and causes the wicked to “forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” It was our Mas-139:3 ter’s theology which the impious sought to destroy.

 

Marvels and reformations

 

From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of

accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter. 139:6 Moses proved the power of Mind by what men

called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and

Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and 139:9 wonders. Reforms have commonly been attended with

bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been

brightness and peace; but the present new, yet old, re-139:12 form in religious faith will teach men patiently and wisely

to stem the tide of sectarian bitterness, whenever it flows

inward.

 

Science obscured

139:15 The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what

should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the 139:18 thirty thousand different readings in the Old

Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New,

- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole 139:21 into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some

extent the inspired pages. But mistakes could neither

wholly obscure the divine Science of the Scriptures seen 139:24 from Genesis to Revelation, mar the demonstration of

Jesus, nor annul the healing by the prophets, who foresaw

that “the stone which the builders rejected” would be-139:27 come “the head of the corner.”

 

Opponents benefited

 

Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are

opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary re-139:30 ligion; but it does not follow that the profane

or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Christian Science. The moral condition of such a man de-140:1 mands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most

cases; and Science is more than usually