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

could not exist after the body is disintegrated. 429:21 If we live after death and are immortal, we

must have lived before birth, for if Life ever

had any beginning, it must also have an ending, even ac-429:24 cording to the calculations of natural science. Do you

believe this? No! Do you understand it? No! This

is why you doubt the statement and do not demonstrate 429:27 the facts it involves. We must have faith in all the sayings of our Master, though they are not included in the

teachings of the schools, and are not understood gener-429:30 ally by our ethical instructors.

 

Life all-inclusive

 

Jesus said (John viii. 51), “If a man keep my saying,

he shall never see death.” That statement is not con-430:1 fined to spiritual life, but includes all the phenomena of

existence. Jesus demonstrated this, healing the dying 430:3 and raising the dead. Mortal mind must part

with error, must put off itself with its deeds,

and immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, will appear. 430:6 Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base

by resting upon Spirit instead of matter. When man

gives up his belief in death, he will advance more rapidly 430:9 towards God, Life, and Love. Belief in sickness and

death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the

true sense of Life and health. When will mankind wake 430:12 to this great fact in Science?

 

I here present to my readers an allegory illustrative

of the law of divine Mind and of the supposed laws of mat-430:15 ter and hygiene, an allegory in which the plea of Christian

Science heals the sick.

 

A mental court case

 

Suppose a mental case to be on trial, as cases are tried 430:18 in court. A man is charged with having committed liver-complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates,

and the trial commences. Personal Sense is 430:21 the plaintiff. Mortal Man is the defendant. False Belief

is the attorney for Personal Sense. Mortal Minds, Materia Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Hypnotism, Envy, 430:24 Greed and Ingratitude, constitute the jury. The court—

room is filled with interested spectators, and Judge

Medicine is on the bench. 430:27 The evidence for the prosecution being called for, a

witness testifies thus: -

 

I represent Health-laws. I was present on certain nights 430:30 when the prisoner, or patient, watched with a sick friend.

Although I have the superintendence of human affairs, I

was personally abused on those occasions. I was told that 431:1 I must remain silent until called for at this trial, when I

would be allowed to testify in the case. Notwithstanding 431:3 my rules to the contrary, the prisoner watched with the sick

every night in the week. When the sick mortal was thirsty,

the prisoner gave him drink. During all this time the pris-431:6 oner attended to his daily labors, partaking of food at ir—

regular intervals, sometimes going to sleep immediately

after a heavy meal. At last he committed liver-complaint, 431:9 which I considered criminal, inasmuch as this offence is

deemed punishable with death. Therefore I arrested Mortal Man in behalf of the state (namely, the body) and cast 431:12 him into prison.

 

At the time of the arrest the prisoner summoned Physiology, Materia Medica, and Hypnotism to prevent his pun-431:15 ishment. The struggle on their part was long. Materia

Medica held out the longest, but at length all these assist—

ants resigned to me, Health-laws, and I succeeded in get-431:18 ting Mortal Man into close confinement until I should

release him.

 

The next witness is called:-

431:21 I am Coated Tongue. I am covered with a foul fur,

placed on me the night of the liver-attack. Morbid Secretion hypnotized the prisoner and took control of his mind, 431:24 making him despondent.

 

Another witness takes the stand and testifies:-

 

I am Sallow Skin. I have been dry, hot, and chilled by 431:27 turns since the night of the liver-attack. I have lost my

healthy hue and become unsightly, although nothing on my

part has occasioned this change. I practise daily ablutions 431:30 and perform my functions as usual, but I am robbed of my

good looks.

432:1 The next witness testifies: -

 

I am Nerve, the State Commissioner for Mortal Man. 432:3 I am intimately acquainted with the plaintiff, Personal

Sense, and know him to be truthful and upright, whereas

Mortal Man, the prisoner at the bar, is capable of false-432:6 hood. I was witness to the crime of liver-complaint. I

knew the prisoner would commit it, for I convey messages

from my residence in matter, alias brain, to body.

432:9 Another witness is called for by the Court of Error

and says: -

 

I am Mortality, Governor of the Province of Body, in 432:12 which Mortal Man resides. In this province there is a statute regarding disease, - namely, that he upon whose person disease is found shall be treated as a criminal and 432:15 punished with death.

 

The Judge asks if by doing good to his neighbor, it is

possible for man to become diseased, transgress the laws, 432:18 and merit punishment, and Governor Mortality replies in

the affirmative.

 

Another witness takes the stand and testifies: -

432:21 I am Death. I was called for, shortly after the report of

the crime, by the officer of the Board of Health, who protested that the prisoner had abused him, and that my pres-432:24 ence was required to confirm his testimony. One of the

prisoner’s friends, Materia Medica, was present when I

arrived, endeavoring to assist the prisoner to escape from 432:27 the hands of justice, alias nature’s so-called law; but my

appearance with a message from the Board of Health

changed the purpose of Materia Medica, and he decided at 432:30 once that the prisoner should die.

 

Judge Medicine charges the jury

433:1 The testimony for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, being

closed, Judge Medicine arises, and with great solemnity 433:3 addresses the jury of Mortal Minds. He an—

alyzes the offence, reviews the testimony, and

explains the law relating to liver-complaint. 433:6 His conclusion is, that laws of nature render disease

homicidal. In compliance with a stern duty, his Honor,

Judge Medicine, urges the jury not to allow their judg-433:9 ment to be warped by the irrational, unchristian suggestions of Christian Science. The jury must regard in such

cases only the evidence of Personal Sense against Mortal 433:12 Man.

 

As the Judge proceeds, the prisoner grows restless. His

sallow face blanches with fear, and a look of despair and 433:15 death settles upon it. The case is given to the jury. A

brief consultation ensues, and the jury returns a verdict

of “Guilty of liver-complaint in the first degree.”

 

Mortal Man sentenced

433:18 Judge Medicine then proceeds to pronounce the solemn

sentence of death upon the prisoner. Because he has

loved his neighbor as himself, Mortal Man has 433:21 been guilty of benevolence in the first degree,

and this has led him into the commission of the second

crime, liver-complaint, which material laws condemn as 433:24 homicide. For this crime Mortal Man is sentenced to

be tortured until he is dead. “May God have mercy on

your soul,” is the Judge’s solemn peroration.

433:27 The prisoner is then remanded to his cell (sick-bed),

and Scholastic Theology is sent for to prepare the frightened sense of Life, God, - which sense must be immortal, 433:30 - for death.

 

Appeal to a higher tribunal

 

Ah! but Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the

friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors 434:1 and set the captive free. Swift on the wings of divine

Love, there comes a despatch: “Delay the execution; 434:3 the prisoner is not guilty.” Consternation fills

the prison-yard. Some exclaim, “It is contrary to law and justice.” Others say, 434:6 “The law of Christ supersedes our laws; let us follow

Christ.”

 

Counsel for defence

 

After much debate and opposition, permission is ob-434:9 tained for a trial in the Court of Spirit, where Christian

Science is allowed to appear as counsel for

the unfortunate prisoner. Witnesses, judges 434:12 and jurors, who were at the previous Court of Error,

are now summoned to appear before the bar of Justice

and eternal Truth.

434:15 When the case for Mortal Man versus Personal Sense

is opened, Mortal Man’s counsel regards the prisoner

with the utmost tenderness. The counsel’s earnest, 434:18 solemn eyes, kindling with hope and triumph, look upward. Then Christian Science turns suddenly to the

supreme tribunal, and opens the argument for the 434:21 defence: -

 

The prisoner at the bar has been unjustly sentenced.

His trial was a tragedy, and is morally illegal. Mortal 434:24 Man has had no proper counsel in the case. All the test—

mony has been on the side of Personal Sense, and we shall

unearth this foul conspiracy against the liberty and life of 434:27 Man. The only valid testimony in the case shows the

alleged crime never to have been committed. The prisoner is not proved “worthy of death, or of bonds.”

434:30 Your Honor, the lower court has sentenced Mortal Man

to die, but God made Man immortal and amenable to

Spirit only. Denying justice to the body, that court com-435:1 mended man’s immortal Spirit to heavenly mercy, - Spirit

which is God Himself and Man’s only lawgiver! Who or 435:3 what has sinned? Has the body or has Mortal Mind

committed a criminal deed? Counsellor False Belief has

argued that the body should die, while Reverend Theology 435:6 would console conscious Mortal Mind, which alone is capable of sin and suffering. The body committed no offence.

Mortal Man, in obedience to higher law, helped his fellow-435:9 man, an act which should result in good to himself as well

as to others.

 

The law of our Supreme Court decrees that whosoever 435:12 sinneth shall die; but good deeds are immortal, bringing

joy instead of grief, pleasure instead of pain, and life

instead of death. If liver-complaint was committed by 435:15 trampling on Laws of Health, this was a good deed, for the

agent of those laws is an outlaw, a destroyer of Mortal

Man’s liberty and rights. Laws of Health should be sen-435:18 tenced to die.

 

Watching beside the couch of pain in the exercise of a

love that “is the fulfilling of the law,” - doing “unto 435:21 others as ye would that they should do unto you,” - this

is no infringement of law, for no demand, human or divine,

renders it just to punish a man for acting justly. If mor-435:24 tals sin, our Supreme Judge in equity decides what penalty

is due for the sin, and Mortal Man can suffer only for his

sin. For naught else can he be punished, according to the 435:27 law of Spirit, God.

 

Then what jurisdiction had his Honor, Judge Medicine,

in this case? To him I might say, in Bible language, “Sit-435:30 test thou to judge … after the law, and commandest …

to be smitten contrary to the law?” The only jurisdiction

to which the prisoner can submit is that of Truth, Life, and 435:33 Love. If they condemn him not, neither shall Judge Medicine condemn him; and I ask that the prisoner be restored

to the liberty of which he has been unjustly deprived.

436:1 The principal witness (the officer of the Health-laws)

deposed that he was an eye-witness to the good deeds for 436:3 which Mortal Man is under sentence of death. After betraying him into the hands of your law, the Health-agent

disappeared, to reappear however at the trial as a witness 436:6 against Mortal Man and in the interest of Personal Sense,

a murderer. Your Supreme Court must find the prisoner on the night of the alleged offence to have been acting 436:9 within the limits of the