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

spiritual individuality from the infinitesimal to the infinite.

 

The real manhood

336:9 XXII. Immortal man was and is God’s image or idea,

even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with that 336:12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal

Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but

is reflected by man. The spiritual man’s consciousness 336:15 and individuality are reflections of God. They are the

emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Immortal man is not and never was material, but always 336:18 spiritual and eternal.

 

Indivisibility of the infinite

 

XXIII. God is indivisible. A portion of God could

not enter man; neither could God’s fulness be reflected 336:21 by a single man, else God would be manifestly

finite, lose the deific character, and become

less than God. Allness is the measure of the infinite, and 336:24 nothing less can express God.

 

God the parent Mind

 

XXIV. God, the divine Principle of man, and man in

God’s likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal. 336:27 The Science of being furnishes the rule of perfection, and brings immortality to light. God

and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci-336:30 ence, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the

parent Mind, and man is God’s spiritual offspring.

 

Man reflects the perfect God

 

XXV. God is individual and personal in a scientific 337:1 sense, but not in any anthropomorphic sense. Therefore

man, reflecting God, cannot lose his individuality; but as 337:3 material sensation, or a soul in the body, blind

mortals do lose sight of spiritual individuality.

Material personality is not realism; it is not 337:6 the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect God. Sensualism is not bliss, but bondage. For true happiness,

man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the 337:9 Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with

Christ. According to divine Science, man is in a degree

as perfect as the Mind that forms him. The truth of be-337:12 ing makes man harmonious and immortal, while error is

mortal and discordant.

 

Purity the path to perfection

 

XXVI. Christian Science demonstrates that none but 337:15 the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel

teaches. In proportion to his purity is man

perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial 337:18 being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life’s spiritual

ideal.

 

True idea of man

 

XXVII. The true idea of man, as the reflection of the 337:21 invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses

as is man’s infinite Principle. The visible universe and material man are the poor counter-337:24 feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal

things (verities) are God’s thoughts as they exist in the

spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the 337:27 thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal.

 

Truth demonstrated

 

XXVIII. Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule 337:30 of health and holiness in Christian Science,

and you ascertain that this Science is demonstrably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no 338:1 other system can. Christian Science, rightly understood, leads to eternal harmony. It brings to light the 338:3 only living and true God and man as made in His likeness; whereas the opposite belief - that man originates

in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both 338:6 soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and

material - terminates in discord and mortality, in the

error which must be destroyed by Truth. The mortality 338:9 of material man proves that error has been ingrafted

into the premises and conclusions of material and mortal

humanity.

 

Adam not ideal man

338:12 XXIX. The word Adam is from the Hebrew adamah,

signifying the red color of the ground, dust, nothingness.

Divide the name Adam into two syllables, 338:15 and it reads, a dam, or obstruction. This

suggests the thought of something fluid, of mortal mind

in solution. It further suggests the thought of that 338:18 ” darkness … upon the face of the deep,” when matter or dust was deemed the agent of Deity in creating

man, - when matter, as that which is accursed, stood 338:21 opposed to Spirit. Here a dam is not a mere play upon

words; it stands for obstruction, error, even the supposed separation of man from God, and the obstacle 338:24 which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and

his creator. The dissection and definition of words,

aside from their metaphysical derivation, is not scien-338:27 tific. Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and

from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwithstanding God had blessed the earth “for man’s sake.” 338:30 From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man

for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was

revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.

 

Divine pardon

339:1 XXX. The destruction of sin is the divine method of

pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys 339:3 error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.

Does not God’s pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy 339:6 and involve the final destruction of all sin?

 

Evil not produced by God

 

XXXI. Since God is All, there is no room for His

unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it 339:9 good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good,

is unreal, and cannot be the product of God.

A sinner can receive no encouragement from the fact that 339:12 Science demonstrates the unreality of evil, for the sinner

would make a reality of sin, - would make that real

which is unreal, and thus heap up “wrath against the 339:15 day of wrath.” He is joining in a conspiracy against

himself, - against his own awakening to the awful unreality by which he has been deceived. Only those, who 339:18 repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand

the unreality of evil.

 

Basis of health and immortality

 

XXXII. As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded 339:21 to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material

theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite

gives place to the infinite, sickness to health, 339:24 sin to holiness, and God’s kingdom comes “in

earth, as it is in heaven.” The basis of all health, sinlessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is 339:27 the only Mind; and this Mind must be not merely believed, but it must be understood. To get rid of sin

through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind 339:30 or reality, and never to admit that sin can have intelligence or power, pain or pleasure. You conquer error by

denying its verity. Our various theories will never lose 340:1 their imaginary power for good or evil, until we lose our

faith in them and make life its own proof of harmony 340:3 and God.

 

This text in the book of Ecclesiastes conveys the

Christian Science thought, especially when the word 340:6 duty, which is not in the original, is omitted: “Let

us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,

and keep His commandments: for this is the whole 340:9 duty of man.” In other words: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His

commandments: for this is the whole of man in His 340:12 image and likeness. Divine Love is infinite. Therefore

all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His

love.

340:15 “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus

xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text.

It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-340:18 unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall

have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and

that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle 340:21 of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by

which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal.

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; con-340:24 stitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the

Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates

pagan and Christian idolatry, - whatever is wrong in 340:27 social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes;

equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves

nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.