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

go forth, like wandering pollen,

from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected 235:3 lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.

Better suffer a doctor infected with smallpox to attend

you than to be treated mentally by one who does not obey 235:6 the requirements of divine Science.

 

Teachers’ functions

 

The teachers of schools and the readers in churches

should be selected with as direct reference to their 235:9 morals as to their learning or their correct

reading. Nurseries of character should be

strongly garrisoned with virtue. School-examinations are 235:12 one-sided; it is not so much academic education, as a

moral and spiritual culture, which lifts one higher. The

pure and uplifting thoughts of the teacher, constantly 235:15 imparted to pupils, will reach higher than the heavens of

astronomy; while the debased and unscrupulous mind,

though adorned with gems of scholarly attainment, will 235:18 degrade the characters it should inform and elevate.

 

Physicians’ privilege

 

Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,

should be models of virtue. They should be wise spir-235:21 itual guides to health and hope. To the tremblers on the brink of death, who understand

not the divine Truth which is Life and perpetuates being, 235:24 physicians should be able to teach it. Then when the soul

is willing and the flesh weak, the patient’s feet may be

planted on the rock Christ Jesus, the true idea of spiritual 235:27 power.

 

Clergymen’s duty

 

Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,

should uplift the standard of Truth. They should so raise 235:30 their hearers spiritually, that their listeners

will love to grapple with a new, right idea

and broaden their concepts. Love of Christianity, rather 236:1 than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor

and progress. Truth should emanate from the pulpit, 236:3 but never be strangled there. A special privilege is vested

in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the

interests of humanity, not of sect.

236:6 Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather

than the dignity of God’s laws, which many leaders seek?

Do not inferior motives induce the infuriated attacks on 236:9 individuals, who reiterate Christ’s teachings in support

of his proof by example that the divine Mind heals sickness as well as sin?

 

A mother’s responsibility

236:12 A mother is the strongest educator, either for or

against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of another mortal mind, and unconsciously mould 236:15 it, either after a model odious to herself or

through divine influence, “according to the pattern

showed to thee in the mount.” Hence the importance 236:18 of Christian Science, from which we learn of the one

Mind and of the availability of good as the remedy for

every woe.

 

Children’s tractability

236:21 Children should obey their parents; insubordination

is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government.

Parents should teach their children at the 236:24 earliest possible period the truths of health

and holiness. Children are more tractable than adults,

and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will 236:27 make them happy and good.

 

Jesus loved little children because of their freedom

from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While 236:30 age is halting between two opinions or battling with

false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards

Truth.

237:1 A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my explanations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not 237:3 to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered

ingenuously, “There is no sensation in matter.” Bound—

ing off with laughing eyes, she presently added, “Mamma, 237:6 my finger is not a bit sore.”

 

Soil and seed

 

It might have been months or years before her parents

would have laid aside their drugs, or reached the mental 237:9 height their little daughter so naturally attained. The more stubborn beliefs and theories of parents often choke the good seed in the minds of 237:12 themselves and their offspring. Superstition, like “the

fowls of the air,” snatches away the good seed before it

has sprouted.

 

Teaching children

237:15 Children should be taught the Truth-cure, Christian

Science, among their first lessons, and kept from discussing or entertaining theories or thoughts about 237:18 sickness. To prevent the experience of error

and its sufferings, keep out of the minds of your children

either sinful or diseased thoughts. The latter should 237:21 be excluded on the same principle as the former. This

makes Christian Science early available.

 

Deluded invalids

 

Some invalids are unwilling to know the facts or to 237:24 hear about the fallacy of matter and its supposed laws.

They devote themselves a little longer to their

material gods, cling to a belief in the life and 237:27 intelligence of matter, and expect this error to do more

for them than they are willing to admit the only living and

true God can do. Impatient at your explanation, unwill-237:30 ing to investigate the Science of Mind which would rid

them of their complaints, they hug false beliefs and suffer

the delusive consequences.

 

Patient waiting

238:1 Motives and acts are not rightly valued before they are

understood. It is well to wait till those whom you would 238:3 benefit are ready for the blessing, for Science

is working changes in personal character as

well as in the material universe. 238:6 To obey the Scriptural command, “Come out from

among them, and be ye separate,” is to incur society’s

frown; but this frown, more than flatteries, enables one 238:9 to be Christian. Losing her crucifix, the Roman Catholic

girl said, “I have nothing left but Christ.” “If God be

for us, who can be against us?”

 

Unimproved opportunities

238:12 To fall away from Truth in times of persecution, shows

that we never understood Truth. From out the bridal

chamber of wisdom there will come the warn-238:15 ing, “I know you not.” Unimproved opportunities will rebuke us when we attempt to claim the

benefits of an experience we have not made our own, try 238:18 to reap the harvest we have not sown, and wish to enter

unlawfully into the labors of others. Truth often remains

unsought, until we seek this remedy for human woe be-238:21 cause we suffer severely from error.

 

Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over

mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves 238:24 all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity.

 

Society and intolerance

 

Society is a foolish juror, listening only to one side of

the case. Justice often comes too late to secure a verdict. 238:27 People with mental work before them have

no time for gossip about false law or testimony.

To reconstruct timid justice and place the fact above the 238:30 falsehood, is the work of time.

 

The cross is the central emblem of history. It is the

lodestar in the demonstration of Christian healing, - the 239:1 demonstration by which sin and sickness are destroyed.

The sects, which endured the lash of their predecessors, 239:3 in their turn lay it upon those who are in advance of

creeds.

 

Right views of humanity

 

Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, 239:6 which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we

get clearer views of Principle. Break up

cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth 239:9 be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views

of humanity.

 

The wicked man is not the ruler of his upright 239:12 neighbor. Let it be understood that success in error is

defeat in Truth. The watchword of Christian Science

is Scriptural: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the 239:15 unrighteous man his thoughts.”

 

Standpoint revealed

 

To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our

affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and 239:18 obey as God. If divine Love is becoming

nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is

then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and 239:21 the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show

what we are winning.

 

Antagonistic sources

 

Mortal mind is the acknowledged seat of human mo-239:24 tives. It forms material concepts and produces every

discordant action of the body. If action proceeds from the divine Mind, action is harmo-239:27 nious. If it comes from erring mortal mind, it is discordant and ends in sin, sickness, death. Those two opposite

sources never mingle in fount or stream. The perfect 239:30 Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind. Imperfect mortal mind sends forth its own resemblances, of

which the wise man said, “All is vanity.”

 

Some lessons from nature

240:1 Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love,

but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, 240:3 sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds,

mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers,

and glorious heavens, - all point to Mind, the spiritual 240:6 intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hiero—

glyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons.

The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns nat-240:9 urally towards the light.

 

Perpetual motions

 

In the order of Science, in which the Principle is above

what it reflects, all is one grand concord. Change this 240:12 statement, suppose Mind to be governed by

matter or Soul in body, and you lose the keynote of being, and there is continual discord. Mind is 240:15 perpetual motion. Its symbol is the sphere. The rota—

tions and revolutions of the universe of Mind go on

eternally.

 

Progress demanded

240:18 Mortals move onward towards good or evil as time

glides on. If mortals are not progressive, past failures

will be repeated until all wrong work is ef-240:21 faced or rectified. If at present satisfied with

wrong-doing, we must learn to loathe it. If at present

content with idleness, we must become dissatisfied with 240:24 it. Remember that mankind must sooner or later, either

by suffering or by Science, be convinced of the error that

is to be overcome.

240:27 In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay fully

and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is finally

brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method 240:30 of paying sin’s wages involves unwinding one’s snarls

and learning from experience how to divide between sense

and Soul.

241:1 “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.” He, who

knows God’s will or the demands of divine Science and 241:3 obeys them, incurs the hostility of envy; and he who

refuses obedience to God, is chastened by Love.

 

The doom of sin

 

Sensual treasures are laid up “where moth and rust 241:6 doth corrupt.” Mortality is their doom. Sin breaks in

upon them, and carries off their fleeting joys.

The sensualist’s affections are as imaginary, 241:9 whimsical, and unreal as his pleasures. Falsehood, envy,

hypocrisy, malice, hate, revenge, and so forth, steal away

the treasures of Truth. Stripped of its coverings, what 241:12 a mocking spectacle is sin!

 

Spirit transforms

 

The Bible teaches transformation of the body by the

renewal of Spirit. Take away the spiritual signification 241:15 of Scripture, and that compilation can do no

more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt

a river of ice. The error of the ages is preaching without 241:18 practice.

 

The substance of all devotion is the reflection and

demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and 241:21 destroying sin. Our Master said, “If ye love me, keep

my commandments.”

 

One’s aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the 241:24 footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness. We

should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is revealed; and the corner-stone of all spiritual building is 241:27 purity. The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all

the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart

see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its 241:30 demonstration.

 

Spiritual baptism

 

It is “easier for a camel to go through the eye