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

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 eternal, 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 perfect 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 practice 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 person 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 disease, - 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 exemption 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 scientifically 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 concerning 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 contemplation 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 arguments 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, explain 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 troubling and perplexing their thought. The Christian Scientist’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 perfection is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is 414:30 blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine

Love.

 

Matter is not inflamed

 

Matter cannot be inflamed. Inflammation is fear, an 415:1 excited state of mortals which is not normal. Immortal Mind is the only cause; therefore disease is neither a 415:3 cause nor an effect. Mind in every case is the

eternal God, good. Sin, disease, and death

have no foundations in Truth. Inflamation as a mor-415:6 tal belief quickens or impedes the action of the system,

because thought moves quickly or slowly, leaps or halts

when it contemplates unpleasant things, or when the in-415:9 dividual looks upon some object which he dreads. Inflammation never appears in a part which mortal thought

does not reach. That is why opiates relieve inflammation. 415:12 They quiet the thought by inducing stupefaction and by

resorting to matter instead of to Mind. Opiates do not

remove the pain in any scientific sense. They only ren-415:15 der mortal mind temporarily less fearful, till it can master

an erroneous belief.

 

Truth calms the thought

 

Note how thought makes the face pallid. It either re-415:18 tards the circulation or quickens it, causing a pale or

flushed cheek. In the same way thought increases or diminishes the secretions, the action 415:21 of the lungs, of the bowels, and of the heart. The muscles, moving quickly or slowly and impelled or palsied by

thought, represent the action of all the organs of the hu-415:24 man system, including brain and viscera. To remove

the error producing disorder, you must calm and instruct

mortal mind with immortal Truth.

 

Effects of etherization

415:27 Etherization will apparently cause the body to disappear. Before the thoughts are fully at rest, the limbs

will vanish from consciousness. Indeed, the 415:30 whole frame will sink from sight along with

surrounding objects, leaving the pain standing forth as

distinctly as a mountain-peak, as if it were a separate 416:1 bodily member. At last the agony also vanishes. This

process shows the pain to be in the mind, for the inflam-416:3 mation is not suppressed; and the belief of pain will

presently return, unless the mental image occasioning

the pain be removed by recognizing the truth of being.

 

Sedatives valueless

416:6 A hypodermic injection of morphine is administered

to a patient, and in twenty minutes the sufferer is quietly asleep. To him there is no longer any 416:9 pain. Yet any physician - allopathic, homoe—

opathic, botanic, eclectic - will tell you that