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

absolute centre and circumference

of his being.

 

The true sense

 

Job said: “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the 262:18 ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.” Mortals will echo

Job’s thought, when the supposed pain and

pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They 262:21 will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of

joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,

working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God. 262:24 Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for “where

your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

 

Mind only the cause

262:27 The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of

man’s origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every

concept which seems to begin with the brain 262:30 begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause

or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter,

in mortal mind, or in physical forms.

 

Human egotism

263:1 Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be

independent workers, personal authors, and even privi-263:3 leged originators of something which Deity

would not or could not create. The creations

of mortal mind are material. Immortal spiritual man 263:6 alone represents the truth of creation.

 

Mortal man a mis-creator

 

When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence

with the spiritual and works only as God works, 263:9 he will no longer grope in the dark and cling

to earth because he has not tasted heaven.

Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-263:12 tary hypocrite, - producing evil when he would create

good, forming deformity when he would outline grace

and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He 263:15 becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a

semi-god. His “touch turns hope to dust, the dust we

all have trod.” He might say in Bible language: “The 263:18 good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would

not, that I do.”

 

No new creation

 

There can be but one creator, who has created all. 263:21 Whatever seems to be a new creation, is but the discovery

of some distant idea of Truth; else it is a

new multiplication or self-division of mor-263:24 tal thought, as when some finite sense peers from its

cloister with amazement and attempts to pattern the

infinite.

263:27 The multiplication of a human and mortal sense of persons and things is not creation. A sensual thought, like

an atom of dust thrown into the face of spiritual im-263:30 mensity, is dense blindness instead of a scientific eternal

consciousness of creation.

 

Mind’s true camera

 

The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and ma-264:1 terial earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind.

They have their day before the permanent facts and their 264:3 perfection in Spirit appear. The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place

to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the 264:6 camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading,

finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. 264:9 Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm

of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we

must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we 264:12 have our being.

 

Self-completeness

 

As mortals gain more correct views of God and man,

multitudinous objects of creation, which before were 264:15 invisible, will become visible. When we

realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of

matter, this understanding will expand into self-com- 264:18 pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other

consciousness.

 

Spiritual proofs of existence

 

Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. 264:21 Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit. Sin

is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and

death were overcome by Jesus, who proved 264:24 them to be forms of error. Spiritual living

and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can

recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace 264:27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.

 

When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man’s spiritual being, we shall behold and under-264:30 stand God’s creation, - all the glories of earth and heaven

and man.

 

Godward gravitation

 

The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings, 265:1 and its government is divine Science. Man is the offspring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of 265:3 Mind. Man understands spiritual existence

in proportion as his treasures of Truth and

Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, 265:6 their affections and aims grow spiritual, - they must near

the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper

sense of the infinite, - in order that sin and mortality 265:9 may be put off.

 

This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for

Spirit, by no means suggests man’s absorption into Deity 265:12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,

a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent 265:15 peace.

 

Mortal birth and death

 

The senses represent birth as untimely and death as

irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a 265:18 flower withered by the sun and nipped by

untimely frosts; but this is true only of a

mortal, not of a man in God’s image and likeness. The 265:21 truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and

obsolete.

 

Blessings from pain

 

Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained 265:24 stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after

heavenly good comes even before we discover

what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss 265:27 of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending

path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform

us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is 265:30 spiritual.

 

Decapitation of error

 

The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away

false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections 266:1 from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good,

“rejoicing the heart.” Such is the sword of 266:3 Science, with which Truth decapitates error,

materiality giving place to man’s higher individuality and

destiny.

 

Uses of adversity

266:6 Would existence without personal friends be to you

a blank? Then the time will come when you will be

solitary, left without sympathy; but this 266:9 seeming vacuum is already filled with divine

Love. When this hour of development comes, even if

you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will 266:12 force you to accept what best promotes your growth.

Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the

lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for “man’s extremity 266:15 is God’s opportunity.” The author has experienced the

foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches

mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality. 266:18 This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love

is the divine way in Christian Science.

 

The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the 266:21 saint his own heaven by doing right. The opposite persecutions of material sense, aiding evil with evil, would

deceive the very elect.

 

Beatific presence

266:24 Mortals must follow Jesus’ sayings and his demonstrations, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite

Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs 266:27 which originate in mortals are hell. Man is the

idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming

the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He 266:30 is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the barriers

of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with

God and the universe.

 

The infinitude of God

267:1 Every object in material thought will be destroyed, but

the spiritual idea, whose substance is in Mind, is eternal. 267:3 The offspring of God start not from matter

or ephemeral dust. They are in and of Spirit,

divine Mind, and so forever continue. God is one. The 267:6 allness of Deity is His oneness. Generically man is one,

and specifically man means all men.

 

It is generally conceded that God is Father, eternal, self-267:9 created, infinite. If this is so, the forever Father must

have had children prior to Adam. The great I AM made

all “that was made.” Hence man and the spiritual uni-267:12 verse coexist with God.

 

Christian Scientists understand that, in a religious

sense, they have the same authority for the appellative 267:15 mother, as for that of brother and sister. Jesus said:

“For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which

is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 267:18 mother.”

 

Waymarks to eternal Truth

 

When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals

present more than is detected upon the surface, since 267:21 inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must

be counterfeits of Truth. Thought is borrowed from a higher source than matter, and 267:24 by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind,

in which all error disappears in celestial Truth. The

robes of Spirit are “white and glistering,” like the raiment 267:27 of Christ. Even in this world, therefore, “let thy garments be always white.” “Blessed is the man that endureth [overcometh] temptation: for when he is tried, 267:30 [proved faithful], he shall receive the crown of life,

which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

(James i. 12.)