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

divine law, and in obedience

thereto. Upon this statute hangs all the law and testimony.

Giving a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, is a Christian 436:12 service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man

should find it again. Such acts bear their own justification, and are under the protection of the Most High.

436:15 Prior to the night of his arrest, the prisoner summoned

two professed friends, Materia Medica and Physiology, to

prevent his committing liver-complaint, and thus save him 436:18 from arrest. But they brought with them Fear, the sheriff,

to precipitate the result which they were called to prevent.

It was Fear who handcuffed Mortal Man and would now 436:21 punish him. You have left Mortal Man no alternative.

He must obey your law, fear its consequences, and be punished for his fear. His friends struggled hard to rescue the 436:24 prisoner from the penalty they considered justly due, but

they were compelled to let him be taken into custody, tried,

and condemned. Thereupon Judge Medicine sat in judg-436:27 ment on the case, and substantially charged the jury, twelve

Mortal Minds, to find the prisoner guilty. His Honor sentenced Mortal Man to die for the very deeds which the di-436:30 vine law compels man to commit. Thus the Court of Error

construed obedience to the law of divine Love as disobedience to the law of Life. Claiming to protect Mortal Man 436:33 in right-doing, that court pronounced a sentence of death

for doing right.

 

One of the principal witnesses, Nerve, testified that he 437:1 was a ruler of Body, in which province Mortal Man resides.

He also testified that he was on intimate terms with the 437:3 plaintiff, and knew Personal Sense to be truthful; that he

knew Man, and that Man was made in the image of God,

but was a criminal. This is a foul aspersion on man’s 437:6 Maker. It blots the fair escutcheon of omnipotence. It indicates malice aforethought, a determination to condemn

Man in the interest of Personal Sense. At the bar of Truth, 437:9 in the presence of divine Justice, before the Judge of our

higher tribunal, the Supreme Court of Spirit, and before

its jurors, the Spiritual Senses, I proclaim this witness, 437:12 Nerve, to be destitute of intelligence and truth and to be

a false witness.

 

Man self-destroyed; the testimony of matter respected; 437:15 Spirit not allowed a hearing; Soul a criminal though

recommended to mercy; the helpless innocent body tortured, - these are the terrible records of your Court of 437:18 Error, and I ask that the Supreme Court of Spirit reverse

this decision.

 

Here the opposing counsel, False Belief, called Chris-437:21 tian Science to order for contempt of court. Various

notables - Materia Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Scholastic Theology, and Jurisprudence - rose to the ques-437:24 tion of expelling Christian Science from the bar, for such

high-handed illegality. They declared that Christian Science was overthrowing the judicial proceedings of a regu-437:27 larly constituted court.

 

But Judge Justice of the Supreme Court of Spirit overruled their motions on the ground that unjust usages 437:30 were not allowed at the bar of Truth, which ranks above

the lower Court of Error.

 

The attorney, Christian Science, then read from the 437:33 supreme statute-book, the Bible, certain extracts on the 438:1 Rights of Man, remarking, that the Bible was better authority than Blackstone: -

438:3 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and

let them have dominion.

 

Behold, I give unto you power … over all the power 438:6 of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

 

If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

 

Then Christian Science proved the witness, Nerve, to 438:9 be a perjurer. Instead of being a ruler in the Province

of Body, in which Mortal Man was reported to reside,

Nerve was an insubordinate citizen, putting in false 438:12 claims to office and bearing false witness against Man.

Turning suddenly to Personal Sense, by this time silent,

Christian Science continued: -

438:15 I ask your arrest in the name of Almighty God on three

distinct charges of crime, to wit: perjury, treason, and conspiracy against the rights and life of man.

438:18 Then Christian Science continued:

 

Another witness, equally inadequate, said that on the

night of the crime a garment of foul fur was spread over 438:21 him by Morbid Secretion, while the facts in the case show

that this fur is a foreign substance, imported by False Belief, the attorney for Personal Sense, who is in partnership 438:24 with Error and smuggles Error’s goods into market without the inspection of Soul’s government officers. When

the Court of Truth summoned Furred Tongue for examina-438:27 tion, he disappeared and was never heard of more.

 

Morbid Secretion is not an importer or dealer in fur, but

we have heard Materia Medica explain how this fur is 438:30 manufactured, and we know Morbid Secretion to be on

friendly terms with the firm of Personal Sense, Error, & 439:1 Co., receiving pay from them and introducing their goods

into the market. Also, be it known that False Belief, the 439:3 counsel for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, is a buyer for this

firm. He manufactures for it, keeps a furnishing store,

and advertises largely for his employers.

439:6 Death testified that he was absent from the Province of

Body, when a message came from False Belief, commanding him to take part in the homicide. At this request 439:9 Death repaired to the spot where the liver-complaint was

in process, frightening away Materia Medica, who was then

manacling the prisoner in the attempt to save him. True, 439:12 Materia Medica was a misguided participant in the misdeed

for which the Health-officer had Mortal Man in custody,

though Mortal Man was innocent.

439:15 Christian Science turned from the abashed witnesses,

his words flashing as lightning in the perturbed faces

of these worthies, Scholastic Theology, Materia Medica, 439:18 Physiology, the blind Hypnotism, and the masked Personal Sense, and said: -

 

God will smite you, O whited walls, for injuring in your 439:21 ignorance the unfortunate Mortal Man who sought your

aid in his struggles against liver-complaint and Death.

You came to his rescue, only to fasten upon him an offence 439:24 of which he was innocent. You aided and abetted Fear

and Health-laws. You betrayed Mortal Man, meanwhile

declaring Disease to be God’s servant and the righteous 439:27 executor of His laws. Our higher statutes declare you all,

witnesses, jurors, and judges, to be offenders, awaiting the

sentence which General Progress and Divine Love will 439:30 pronounce.

 

We send our best detectives to whatever locality is reported to be haunted by Disease, but on visiting the spot, 439:33 they learn that Disease was never there, for he could not 440:1 possibly elude their search. Your Material Court of Errors,

when it condemned Mortal Man on the ground of hygienic 440:3 disobedience, was manipulated by the oleaginous machina—

tions of the counsel, False Belief, whom Truth arraigns

before the supreme bar of Spirit to answer for his crime. 440:6 Morbid Secretion is taught how to make sleep befool reason

before sacrificing mortals to their false gods.

 

Mortal Minds were deceived by your attorney, False Be-440:9 lief, and were influenced to give a verdict delivering Mortal

Man to Death. Good deeds are transformed into crimes,

to which you attach penalties; but no warping of justice 440:12 can render disobedience to the so-called laws of Matter

disobedience to God, or an act of homicide. Even penal

law holds homicide, under stress of circumstances, to be 440:15 justifiable. Now what greater justification can any deed

have, than that it is for the good of one’s neighbor? Wherefore, then, in the name of outraged justice, do you sentence 440:18 Mortal Man for ministering to the wants of his fellow-man

in obedience to divine law? You cannot trample upon the

decree of the Supreme Bench. Mortal Man has his appeal 440:21 to Spirit, God, who sentences only for sin.

 

The false and unjust beliefs of your human mental legislators compel them to enact wicked laws of sickness and so 440:24 forth, and then render obedience to these laws punishable

as crime. In the presence of the Supreme Lawgiver, standing at the bar of Truth, and in accordance with the divine 440:27 statutes, I repudiate the false testimony of Personal. Sense.

I ask that he be forbidden to enter against Mortal Man

any more suits to be tried at the Court of Material Error. 440:30 I appeal to the just and equitable decisions of divine Spirit

to restore to Mortal Man the rights of which he has been

deprived.

 

Charge of the Chief Justice

440:33 Here the counsel for the defence closed, and the Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court, with benign and imposing 441:1 presence, comprehending and defining all law and evidence, explained from his statute-book, the 441:3 Bible, that any so-called law, which undertakes to punish aught but sin, is null and void.

 

He also decided that the plaintiff, Personal Sense, be 441:6 not permitted to enter any suits at the bar of Soul, but

be enjoined to keep perpetual silence, and in case of

temptation, to give heavy bonds for good behavior. He 441:9 concluded his charge thus: -

 

The plea of False Belief we deem unworthy of a hearing.

Let what False Belief utters, now and forever, fall into 441:12 oblivion, “unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.” According to our statute, Material Law is a liar who cannot bear

witness against Mortal Man, neither can Fear arrest Mortal 441:15 Man nor can Disease cast him into prison. Our law refuses

to recognize Man as sick or dying, but holds him to be forever in the image and likeness of his Maker. Reversing the 441:18 testimony of Personal Sense and the decrees of the Court of

Error in favor of Matter, Spirit decides in favor of Man

and against Matter. We further recommend that Materia 441:21 Medica adopt Christian Science and that Health-laws,

Mesmerism, Hypnotism, Oriental Witchcraft, and Esoteric

Magic be publicly executed at the hands of our sheriff, 441:24 Progress.

 

The Supreme Bench decides in favor of intelligence, that

no law outside of divine Mind can punish or reward Mortal 441:27 Man. Your personal jurors in the Court of Error are

myths. Your attorney, False Belief, is an impostor, persuading Mortal Minds to return a verdict contrary to law 441:30 and gospel. The plaintiff, Personal Sense, is recorded in

our Book of books as a liar. Our great Teacher of mental

jurisprudence speaks of him also as “a murderer from the 441:33 beginning.” We have no trials for sickness before the tri-442:1 bunal of divine Spirit. There, Man is adjudged innocent

of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such 442:3 laws. Our statute is spiritual, our Government is divine.

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

 

Divine verdict

 

The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a 442:6 verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience—

chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty. Then

the prisoner rose up regenerated, strong, free. 442:9 We noticed, as he shook hands with his counsel, Christian Science, that all sallowness and debility had disappeared. His form was erect and commanding, his 442:12 countenance beaming with health and happiness. Divine

Love had cast out fear. Mortal Man, no longer sick

and in prison, walked forth, his feet “beautiful upon the 442:15 mountains,” as of one “that bringeth good tidings.”

 

Christ the great physician

 

Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters into

the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot 442:18 be reversed, but the reverse of error is true.

An improved belief cannot retrograde. When

Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into 442:21 a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understanding,