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

CHAPTER XIII - TEACHING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:

teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. - PROVERBS.

 

Study of medicine

443:1 WHEN the discoverer of Christian Science is consulted by her followers as to the propriety, advan-443:3 tage, and consistency of systematic medical

study, she tries to show them that under ordinary circumstances a resort to faith in corporeal means 443:6 tends to deter those, who make such a compromise, from

entire confidence in omnipotent Mind as really possessing

all power. While a course of medical study is at times 443:9 severely condemned by some Scientists, she feels, as she

always has felt, that all are privileged to work out their

own salvation according to their light, and that our motto 443:12 should be the Master’s counsel, “Judge not, that ye be

not judged.”

 

Failure’s lessons

 

If patients fail to experience the healing power of 443:15 Christian Science, and think they can be benefited by

certain ordinary physical methods of medical

treatment, then the Mind-physician should 443:18 give up such cases, and leave invalids free to resort to

whatever other systems they fancy will afford relief.

Thus such invalids may learn the value of the apostolic 443:21 precept: “Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering

and doctrine.” If the sick find these material expedients 444:1 unsatisfactory, and they receive no help from them, these

very failures may open their blind eyes. In some way, 444:3 sooner or later, all must rise superior to materiality, and

suffering is oft the divine agent in this elevation. “All

things work together for good to them that love God,” is 444:6 the dictum of Scripture.

 

Refuge and strength

 

If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from

other Scientists, - their brethren upon whom they may 444:9 call, - God will still guide them into the right

use of temporary and eternal means. Step by

step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge 444:12 and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

 

Charity to those opposed

 

Students are advised by the author to be charitable

and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion 444:15 and medicine, but to those who hold these differing opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing

the way through Christ, as we understand it, 444:18 but let us also be careful always to “judge righteous judgment,” and never to condemn rashly. “Whosoever shall

smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” 444:21 That is, Fear not that he will smite thee again for thy for—

bearance. If ecclesiastical sects or medical schools turn

a deaf ear to the teachings of Christian Science, then part 444:24 from these opponents as did Abraham when he parted

from Lot, and say in thy heart: “Let there be no strife, I

pray thee, between me and thee, and between My herd-444:27 men and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” Immortals,

or God’s children in divine Science, are one harmonious

family; but mortals, or the “children of men” in material 444:30 sense, are discordant and ofttimes false brethren.

 

Conforming to explicit rules

 

The teacher must make clear to students the Science

of healing, especially its ethics, - that all is Mind, and 445:1 that the Scientist must conform to God’s requirements.

Also the teacher must thoroughly fit his students to defend 445:3 themselves against sin, and to guard against the

attacks of the would-be mental assassin, who

attempts to kill morally and physically. No 445:6 hypothesis as to the existence of another power should

interpose a doubt or fear to hinder the demonstration of

Christian Science. Unfold the latent energies and capac-445:9 ities for good in your pupil. Teach the great possibilities

of man endued with divine Science. Teach the dangerous

possibility of dwarfing the spiritual understanding and 445:12 demonstration of Truth by sin, or by recourse to material

means for healing. Teach the meekness and might of life

“hid with Christ in God,” and there will be no desire for 445:15 other healing methods. You render the divine law of

healing obscure and void, when you weigh the human in

the scale with the divine, or limit in any direction of 445:18 thought the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.

 

Divine energy

 

Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with

Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion 445:21 of the divine energy in healing the sick. Self—

seeking, envy, passion, pride, hatred, and

revenge are cast out by the divine Mind which heals 445:24 disease. The human will which maketh and worketh a lie,

hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to

health, and is the cause of disease rather than its cure.

 

Blight of avarice

445:27 There is great danger in teaching Mind-healing indis—

criminately, thus disregarding the morals of the student

and caring only for the fees. Recalling Jeffer-445:30 son’s words about slavery, “I tremble, when I

remember that God is just,” the author trembles whenever

she sees a man, for the petty consideration of money, 446:1 teaching his slight knowledge of Mind-power, - perhaps communicating his own bad morals, and in this way 446:3 dealing pitilessly with a community unprepared for self—

defence.

 

A thorough perusal of the author’s publications heals 446:6 sickness. If patients sometimes seem worse while reading this book, the change may either arise from the alarm

of the physician, or it may mark the crisis of the disease. 446:9 Perseverance in the perusal of the book has generally

completely healed such cases.

 

Exclusion of malpractice

 

Whoever practises the Science the author teaches, 446:12 through which Mind pours light and healing upon this

generation, can practise on no one from sin—

ister or malicious motives without destroying 446:15 his own power to heal and his own health. Good must

dominate in the thoughts of the healer, or his demonstration is protracted, dangerous, and impossible in Sci-446:18 ence. A wrong motive involves defeat. In the Science

of Mind-healing, it is imperative to be honest, for victory

rests on the side of immutable right. To understand 446:21 God strengthens hope, enthrones faith in Truth, and

verifies Jesus’ word: “Lo, I am with you alway, even

unto the end of the world.”

 

Iniquity overcome

446:24 Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness. Not human platitudes, but divine beatitudes, reflect the spiritual light and might which heal 446:27 the sick. The exercise of will brings on a

hypnotic state, detrimental to health and integrity of

thought. This must therefore be watched and guarded 446:30 against. Covering iniquity will prevent prosperity and the

ultimate triumph of any cause. Ignorance of the error

to be eradicated oftentimes subjects you to its abuse.

 

No trespass on human rights

447:1 The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon

man’s individual right of self-government. We have no 447:3 authority in Christian Science and no moral

right to attempt to influence the thoughts of

others, except it be to benefit them. In men-447:6 tal practice you must not forget that erring human opinions, conflicting selfish motives, and ignorant attempts

to do good may render you incapable of knowing or 447:9 judging accurately the need of your fellow-men. Therefore the rule is, heal the sick when called upon for aid,

and save the victims of the mental assassins.

 

Expose sin without believing in it

447:12 Ignorance, subtlety, or false charity does not forever conceal error; evil will in time disclose and punish itself. The recuperative action of the 447:15 system, when mentally sustained by Truth,

goes on naturally. When sin or sickness -

the reverse of harmony - seems true to material sense, 447:18 impart without frightening or discouraging the patient the truth and spiritual understanding, which destroy disease. Expose and denounce the claims of 447:21 evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no

reality in them. A sinner is not reformed merely

by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because 447:24 there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin,

you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the

illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove 447:27 its unreality. The sick are not healed merely by

declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that

there is none.

 

Wicked evasions

447:30 A sinner is afraid to cast the first stone. He may

say, as a subterfuge, that evil is unreal, but to know it,

he must demonstrate his statement. To assume that 448:1 there are no claims of evil and yet to indulge them, is

a moral offence. Blindness and self-righteousness cling 448:3 fast to iniquity. When the Publican’s wail

went out to the great heart of Love, it won his

humble desire. Evil which obtains in the bodily senses, 448:6 but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if

evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured. Under

such circumstances, to say that there is no evil, is an evil 448:9 in itself. When needed tell the truth concerning the lie.

Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down

from the pinnacle.

 

Truth’s grand results

448:12 Christian Science rises above the evidence of the corporeal senses; but if you have not risen above sin yourself, do not congratulate yourself upon your 448:15 blindness to evil or upon the good you know

and do not. A dishonest position is far from Christianly

scientific. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: 448:18 but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have

mercy.” Try to leave on every student’s mind the strong

impress of divine Science, a high sense of the moral and 448:21 spiritual qualifications requisite for healing, well knowing

it to be impossible for error, evil, and hate to accomplish

the grand results of Truth and Love. The reception or 448:24 pursuit of instructions opposite to absolute Christian

Science must always hinder scientific demonstration.

 

Adherence to righteousness

 

If the student adheres strictly to the teachings of Chris-448:27 tian Science and ventures not to break its rules, he cannot fail of success in healing. It is Christian

Science to do right, and nothing short of right-448:30 doing has any claim to the name. To talk the right and

live the wrong is foolish deceit, doing one’s self the most

harm. Fettered by sin yourself, it is difficult to free 449:1 another from the fetters of disease. With your own wrists

manacled, it is hard to break another’s chains. A little 449:3 leaven causes the whole mass to ferment. A grain of

Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be 449:6 gained in order to continue in well doing.

 

Right adjusts the balance

 

The wrong done another reacts most heavily against

one’s self. Right adjusts the balance sooner or later. 449:9 Think it “easier for a camel to go through

the eye of a needle,” than for you to benefit

yourself by injuring others. Man’s moral mercury, ris-449:12 ing or falling, registers his healing ability and fitness to

teach. You should practise well what you know, and

you will then advance in proportion to your honesty 449:15 and fidelity, - qualities which insure success in this

Science; but it requires a higher understanding to teach

this subject properly and