Chapter XIV: Recapitulation

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there
a little. - ISAIAH.

465:1 THIS chapter is from the first edition of the author's
class-book, copyrighted in 1870. After much labor
465:3 and increased spiritual understanding, she revised that
treatise for this volume in 1875. Absolute Christian
Science pervades its statements, to elucidate scientific
465:6 metaphysics.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

/Question/. - What is God?
465:9 /Answer/. - God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite
Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

/Question/. - Are these terms synonymous?
465:12 /Answer/. - They are. They refer to one absolute God.
They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and
wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice,
465:15 mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.

/Question/. - Is there more than one God or Principle?
/Answer/. - There is not. Principle and its idea is one,
465:18 and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-
466:1 present Being, and His reflection is man and the universe.
/Omni/ is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying /all/.
466:3 Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science
or true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifesta-
tions of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter,
466:6 and have one Principle.

Real /versus/ unreal

/Question/. - What are spirits and souls?
/Answer/. - To human belief, they are personalities
466:9 constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth and
error, good and evil; but these contrasting
pairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-
466:12 tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together nor
assimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truth
is limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error
466:15 is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is
unreal. This last statement contains the point you will
most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the
466:18 most important to understand.

Mankind redeemed

The term /souls/ or /spirits/ is as improper as the term
/gods/. Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else.
466:21 There is no finite soul nor spirit. Soul or
Spirit means only one Mind, and cannot be
rendered in the plural. Heathen mythology and Jewish
466:24 theology have perpetuated the fallacy that intelligence,
soul, and life can be in matter; and idolatry and ritualism
are the outcome of all man-made beliefs. The Science
466:27 of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate the
chaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright,
and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and
466:30 its divine Principle, making mankind better physically,
morally, and spiritually.

Two chief commands

467:1 /Question/. - What are the demands of the Science of
Soul?
467:3 /Answer/. - The first demand of this Science is, " Thou
shalt have no other gods before me." This /me/ is Spirit.
Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt
467:6 have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no
truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second
is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
467:9 It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one
Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love.
Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact
467:12 becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brother-
hood of man will be established. Having no other gods,
turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide
467:15 him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, hav-
ing that Mind which was also in Christ.

Soul not confined in body

Science reveals Spirit, Soul, as not in the body, and
467:18 God as not in man but as reflected by man. The greater
cannot be in the lesser. The belief that the
greater can be in the lesser is an error that
467:21 works ill. This is a leading point in the Science of Soul,
that Principle is not in its idea. Spirit, Soul, is not
confined in man, and is never in matter. We reason im-
467:24 perfectly from effect to cause, when we conclude that
matter is the effect of Spirit; but /a priori/ reasoning
shows material existence to be enigmatical. Spirit gives
467:27 the true mental idea. We cannot interpret Spirit, Mind,
through matter. Matter neither sees, hears, nor feels.

Sinlessness of Mind, Soul

Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind,
467:30 we begin with Mind, which must be under-
stood through the idea which expresses it and
cannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we
468:1 arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own
unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human
468:3 illusions. If Soul sinned, it would be mortal, for sin is
mortality's self, because it kills itself. If Truth is im-
mortal, error must be mortal, because error is unlike
468:6 Truth. Because Soul is immortal, Soul cannot sin, for
sin is not the eternal verity of being.

/Question/. - What is the scientific statement of being?
468:9 /Answer/. - There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub-
stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
468:12 Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore
468:15 man is not material; he is spiritual.

Spiritual synonyms

/Question/. - What is substance?
/Answer/. - Substance is that which is eternal and inca-
468:18 pable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are
substance, as the Scriptures use this word in
Hebrews: "The substance of things hoped
468:21 for, the evidence of things not seen." Spirit, the synonym
of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The
spiritual universe, including individual man, is a com-
468:24 pound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit.

Eternity of Life

/Question/. - What is Life?
/Answer/. - Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit.
468:27 Life is without beginning and without end.
Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of
Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in
468:30 proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite;
469:1 eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of mat-
ter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which
469:3 includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Mat-
ter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not
limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If
469:6 Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.

/Question/. - What is intelligence?
/Answer/. - Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence,
469:9 and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality
of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, - Life, Truth,
and Love, - named God.

True sense of infinitude

469:12 /Question/. - What is Mind?
/Answer/. - Mind is God. The exterminator of error
is the great truth that God, good, is the /only/ Mind, and
469:15 that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind
- called /devil/ or evil - is not Mind, is not
Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There
469:18 can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and
if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other,
sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if
469:21 that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude,
when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a
place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all
469:24 space is filled with God.

The sole governor

We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when
after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and
469:27 has all-power, we still believe there is another
power, named /evil/. This belief that there
is more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology
469:30 as are ancient mythology and pagan idolatry. With
470:1 one Father, even God, the whole family of man would
be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good,
470:3 the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth,
and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which
constitute divine Science. The supposed existence of
470:6 more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This
error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the
spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an
470:9 unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and
universal.

The divine standard of perfection

Divine Science explains the abstract statement that
470:12 there is one Mind by the following self-evident propo-
sition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, the
unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can
470:15 only seem to be real by giving reality to the
unreal. The children of God have but one Mind. How
can good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man,
470:18 never sins? The standard of perfection was originally
God and man. Has God taken down His own standard,
and has man fallen?

Indestructible relationship

470:21 God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle
of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection,
man, remains perfect. Man is the expression
470:24 of God's being. If there ever was a moment
when man did not express the divine perfec-
tion, then there was a moment when man did not express
470:27 God, and consequently a time when Deity was unex-
pressed - that is, without entity. If man has lost per-
fection, then he has lost his perfect Principle, the divine
470:30 Mind. If man ever existed without this perfect Principle
or Mind, then man's existence was a myth.

The relations of God and man, divine Principle and
471:1 idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows
no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine
471:3 order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He cre-
ates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged
in its eternal history.

Celestial evidence

471:6 The unlikeness of Truth, - named /error/, - the op-
posite of Science, and the evidence before the five cor-
poreal senses, afford no indication of the grand
471:9 facts of being; even as these so-called senses
receive no intimation of the earth's motions or of the
science of astronomy, but yield assent to astronomical
471:12 propositions on the authority of natural science.

The facts of divine Science should be admitted, -
although the evidence as to these facts is not supported
471:15 by evil, by matter, or by material sense, - because the
evidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained by
spiritual sense. Man is, and forever has been, God's re-
471:18 flection. God is infinite, therefore ever present, and
there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirit-
uality of the universe is the only fact of creation. "Let
471:21 God be true, but every [material] man a liar."

The test of experience

/Question/. - Are doctrines and creeds a benefit to man?
/Answer/. - The author subscribed to an orthodox
471:24 creed in early youth, and tried to adhere to it until she
caught the first gleam of that which inter-
prets God as above mortal sense. This
471:27 view rebuked human beliefs, and gave the spiritual im-
port, expressed through Science, of all that proceeds
from the divine Mind. Since then her highest creed has
471:30 been divine Science, which, reduced to human apprehen-
sion, she has named Christian Science. This Science
472:1 teaches man that God is the only Life, and that this Life
is Truth and Love; that God is to be understood, adored,
472:3 and demonstrated; that divine Truth casts out supposi-
tional error and heals the sick.

God's law destroys evil

The way which leads to Christian Science is straight
472:6 and narrow. God has set His signet upon Science, mak-
ing it coordinate with all that is real and only
with that which is harmonious and eternal.
472:9 Sickness, sin, and death, being inharmonious, do not
originate in God nor belong to His government. His
law, rightly understood, destroys them. Jesus furnished
472:12 proofs of these statements.

Evanescent materiality

/Question/. - What is error?
/Answer/. - Error is a supposition that pleasure and
472:15 pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in mat-
ter. Error is neither Mind nor one of Mind's
faculties. Error is the contradiction of Truth.
472:18 Error is a belief without understanding. Error is unreal
because untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not.
If error were true, its truth would be error, and we should
472:21 have a self-evident absurdity - namely, /erroneous truth/.
Thus we should continue to lose the standard of Truth.

Unrealities that seem real

/Question/. - Is there no sin?
472:24 /Answer/. - All reality is in God and His creation, har-
monious and eternal. That which He creates is good,
and He makes all that is made. Therefore
472:27 the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is
the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring
belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not
472:30 true, because they are not of God. We learn in Christian
473:1 Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illu-
sion, possessing neither reality nor identity though seeming
473:3 to be real and identical.

Christ the ideal Truth

The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God,
is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are
473:6 to be classified as effects of error. Christ
came to destroy the belief of sin. The God-
principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is every-
473:9 where, and nothing apart from Him is present or has
power. Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal
sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes
473:12 all power to God. Jesus is the name of the man who,
more than all other men, has presented Christ, the true
idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroy-
473:15 ing the power of death. Jesus is the human man, and
Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus the
Christ.

Jesus not God

473:18 In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced
the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the
proof of Christianity's truth and love; but to
473:21 reach his example and to test its unerring Sci-
ence according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and
death, a better understanding of God as divine Prin-
473:24 ciple, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is
required.

Jesus not understood

Jesus established what he said by demonstration,
473:27 thus making his acts of higher importance than his
words. He proved what he taught. This
is the Science of Christianity. Jesus /proved/
473:30 the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error,
to be divine. Few, however, except his students un-
derstood in the least his teachings and their glorious
474:1 proofs, - namely, that Life, Truth, and Love (the Prin-
ciple of this unacknowledged Science) destroy all error,
474:3 evil, disease, and death.

Miracles rejected

The reception accorded to Truth in the early Chris-
tian era is repeated to-day. Whoever introduces the
474:6 Science of Christianity will be scoffed at and
scourged with worse cords than those which
cut the flesh. To the ignorant age in which it first
474:9 appears, Science seems to be a mistake, - hence the
misinterpretation and consequent maltreatment which
it receives. Christian marvels (and /marvel/ is the sim-
474:12 ple meaning of the Greek word rendered /miracle/ in the
New Testament) will be misunderstood and misused
by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is
474:15 gained.

Divine fulfilment

If sin, sickness, and death are as real as Life, Truth,
and Love, then they must all be from the same source;
474:18 God must be their author. Now Jesus came
to destroy sin, sickness, and death yet the
Scriptures aver, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
474:21 Is it possible, then, to believe that the evils which Jesus
lived to destroy are real or the offspring of the divine
will?

Truth destroys falsity

474:24 Despite the hallowing influence of Truth in the de-
struction of error, must error still be immortal? Truth
spares all that is true. If evil is real, Truth
474:27 must make it so; but error, not Truth, is
the author of the unreal, and the unreal vanishes,
while all that is real is eternal. The apostle says that
474:30 the mission of Christ is to "destroy the works of the
devil." Truth destroys falsity and error, for light and
darkness cannot dwell together. Light extinguishes the
475:1 darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is "no
night there." To Truth there is no error, - all is Truth.
475:3 To infinite Spirit there is no matter, - all is Spirit, divine
Principle and its idea.

Fleshly factors unreal

/Question/. - What is man?
475:6 /Answer/. - Man is not matter; he is not made up of
brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The
Scriptures inform us that man is made in
475:9 the image and likeness of God. Matter is
not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so
unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect; and be-
475:12 cause he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so under-
stood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of
Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of
475:15 God, including all right ideas; the generic term for
all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which man is
475:18 the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;
that which has no separate mind from God; that which
has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which
475:21 possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.

And God said: "Let us make man in our image, after
475:24 our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
475:27 creepeth upon the earth."

Man unfallen

Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The
real man cannot depart from holiness, nor
475:30 can God, by whom man is evolved, engender
the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not
476:1 God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil,
476:3 which declares that man begins in dust or as a material
embryo. In divine Science, God and the real man are
inseparable as divine Principle and idea.

Mortals are not immortals

476:6 Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
Error will cease to claim that soul is in body, that life
and intelligence are in matter, and that
476:9 this matter is man. God is the Principle of
man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not
mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and im-
476:12 mortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only
and eternal verities of man. Mortals are not fallen chil-
dren of God. They never had a perfect state of being,
476:15 which may subsequently be regained. They were, from
the beginning of mortal history, "conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniquity." Mortality is finally swallowed
476:18 up in immortality. Sin, sickness, and death must dis-
appear to give place to the facts which belong to immortal
man.

Imperishable identity

476:21 Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual
status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.
Remember that the Scriptures say of mortal
476:24 man: "As for man, his days are as grass: as
a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall
476:27 know it no more."

The kingdom within

When speaking of God's children, not the children of
men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;"
476:30 that is, Truth and Love reign in the real
man, showing that man in God's image is
unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the per-
477:1 fect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal
man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour
477:3 saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man
healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom
of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
477:6 Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself
spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect
nor material.

Material body never God's idea

477:9 Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal
senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but
Christian Science reveals man as the idea of
477:12 God, and declares the corporeal senses to be
mortal and erring illusions. Divine Science
shows it to be impossible that a material body, though
477:15 interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed
mind, should be man, - the genuine and perfect man,
the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.
477:18 Were it otherwise, man would be annihilated.

Reflection of Spirit

/Question/. - What are body and Soul?
/Answer/. - Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the re-
477:21 flection in multifarious forms of the living Principle,
Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelli-
gence of man, which is individualized, but not
477:24 in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to
Spirit.

Man inseparable from Spirit

Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught
477:27 some glimpses of the underlying reality, when
they called a certain beautiful lake "the smile
of the Great Spirit." Separated from man,
477:30 who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man,
divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity. But there is,
478:1 there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with
God.

A vacant domicile

478:3 What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you
within mortality? Even according to the teachings of
natural science, man has never beheld Spirit
478:6 or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What
basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except
the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of
478:9 the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a cer-
tain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seen
to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they
478:12 even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul
in the body?

Harmonious functions

/Question/. - Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and
478:15 is there intelligence in matter?
/Answer/. - No, not if God is true and mortal man a
liar. The assertion that there can be pain or pleasure
478:18 in matter is erroneous. That body is most
harmonious in which the discharge of the nat-
ural functions is least noticeable. How can intelligence
478:21 dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and
brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the
functions of Mind. Error says, "I am man;" but this
478:24 belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning
to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-
man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which
478:27 reflects God. St. Paul said, "But when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood."

Immortal birthright

478:30 /Mortal man/ is really a self-contradictory phrase, for
man is not mortal, "neither indeed can be;" man is im-
479:1 mortal. If a child is the offspring of physical sense and
not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spirit-
479:3 ual origin. With what truth, then, could the
Scriptural rejoicing be uttered by any mother,
"I have gotten a man from the Lord"? On the con-
479:6 trary, if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and
material; it must be immortal and spiritual.

Matter's supposed selfhood

Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit.
479:9 An image of mortal thought, reflected on the retina, is
all that the eye beholds. Matter cannot see,
feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-
479:12 cognizant, - cannot feel itself, see itself, nor
understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind,
which constitutes matter's supposed selfhood, and matter
479:15 can take no cognizance of matter. Does that which we
call dead ever see, hear, feel, or use any of the physical
senses?

Chaos and darkness

479:18 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep."
479:21 (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the
Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit
and its innumerable creations. Darkness and chaos
479:24 are the imaginary opposites of light, understanding,
and eternal harmony, and they are the elements of
nothingness.

Spiritual reflection

479:27 We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light. So evil should be denied identity or power,
because it has none of the divine hues. Paul
479:30 says: "For the invisible things of Him, from
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made." (Romans i. 20.)
480:1 When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Sci-
ence, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where
480:3 the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, - the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit. If there is no spiritual reflection, then
480:6 there remains only the darkness of vacuity and not a trace
of heavenly tints.

Harmony from Spirit

Nerves are an element of the belief that there is sensa-
480:9 tion in matter, whereas matter is devoid of sensation.
Consciousness, as well as action, is governed
by Mind, - is in God, the origin and gov-
480:12 ernor of all that Science reveals. Material sense has
its realm apart from Science in the unreal. Harmonious
action proceeds from Spirit, God. inharmony has no
480:15 Principle; its action is erroneous and presupposes man
to be in matter. Inharmony would make matter the
cause as well as the effect of intelligence, or Soul, thus
480:18 attempting to separate Mind from God.

Evil non-existent

Man is not God, and God is not man. Again, God,
or good, never made man capable of sin. It is the oppo-
480:21 site of good - that is, evil - which seems to
make men capable of wrong-doing. Hence,
evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis. Evil is a
480:24 false belief. God is not its author. The supposititious
parent of evil is a lie.

Vapor and nothingness

The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him
480:27 [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything,
made that was made." This is the eternal
verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness,
480:30 death were understood as nothingness, they would dis-
appear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would
vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the
481:1 other. How important, then, to choose good as the
reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing
481:3 else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and
boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is
481:6 free "to enter into the holiest," - the realm of God.

The fruit forbidden

Material sense never helps mortals to understand
Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man com-
481:9 prehends and loves Deity. The various con-
tradictions of the Science of Mind by the ma-
terial senses do not change the unseen Truth, which re-
481:12 mains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge,
against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of
error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death,
481:15 and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This
is the significance of the Scripture concerning this "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," - this growth of
481:18 material belief, of which it is said: "In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Human hypotheses
first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and
481:21 then assume the necessity of these evils because of their
admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the pro-
curers of all discord.

Sense and pure Soul

481:24 If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements
of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is
supported, God must uphold it, and this is
481:27 impossible, since Truth cannot support error.
Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, -
hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that
481:30 it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be
found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a
sinful soul. When reading the Scriptures, the substitu-
482:1 tion of the word /sense/ for /soul/ gives the exact meaning in
a majority of cases.

Soul defined

482:3 Human thought has adulterated the meaning of the
word /soul/ through the hypothesis that soul is both an evil
and a good intelligence, resident in matter.
482:6 The proper use of the word /soul/ can always
be gained by substituting the word /God/, where the deific
meaning is required. In other cases, use the word /sense/,
482:9 and you will have the scientific signification. As used
in Christian Science, Soul is properly the synonym of
Spirit, or God; but out of Science, soul is identical with
482:12 sense, with material sensation.

Sonship of Jesus

/Question/. - Is it important to understand these ex-
planations in order to heal the sick?
482:15 /Answer/. - It is, since Christ is "the way" and the
truth casting out all error. Jesus called himself " the
Son of man," but not the son of Joseph. As
482:18 woman is but a species of the genera, he was
literally the Son of Man. Jesus was the highest human
concept of the perfect man. He was inseparable from
482:21 Christ, the Messiah, - the divine idea of God outside
the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his con-
trol over matter. Angels announced to the Wisemen of
482:24 old this dual appearing, and angels whisper it, through
faith, to the hungering heart in every age.

Sickness erroneous

Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out.
482:27 Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law
of Truth, which heals the sick, on the basis
of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no
482:30 other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not
a healer, but causes the belief in disease.

True healing transcendent

483:1 Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and
animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they
483:3 do not heal, but only relieve suffering tempo-
rarily, exchanging one disease for another.
We classify disease as error, which nothing but Truth or
483:6 Mind can heal, and this Mind must be divine, not human.
Mind transcends all other power, and will ultimately su-
persede all other means in healing. In order to heal by
483:9 Science, you must not be ignorant of the moral and spir-
itual demands of Science nor disobey them. Moral igno-
rance or sin affects your demonstration, and hinders its
483:12 approach to the standard in Christian Science.

Terms adopted by the author

After the author's sacred discovery, she affixed the
name "Science" to Christianity, the name "error" to
483:15 corporeal sense, and the name "substance" to
Mind. Science has called the world to battle
over this issue and its demonstration, which
483:18 heals the sick, destroys error, and reveals the universal
harmony. To those natural Christian Scientists, the an-
cient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, God certainly revealed
483:21 the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter.

Science the way

Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-
honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with
483:24 material observations alone, this Science has
met with opposition; but if any system honors
God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-
483:27 ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as
no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way
of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works
483:30 through the divine name and nature. One must fulfil
one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be
well done, the work must be done unselfishly. Christianity
484:1 will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to
be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached. When
484:3 this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry,
nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon
the rock, Christ.

Mindless methods

484:6 /Question/. - Does Christian Science, or metaphysical
healing, include medication, material hygiene, mesmer-
ism, hypnotism, theosophy, or spiritualism?
484:9 /Answer/. - Not one of them is included in it. In di-
vine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the
law of Mind. What are termed natural
484:12 science and material laws are the objective
states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses
the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.
484:15 Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and
hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind.
Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Cer-
484:18 tain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really
caused by the faith in them which the false human con-
sciousness is educated to feel.

Animal magnetism error

484:21 Mesmerism is mortal, material illusion. Animal mag-
netism is the voluntary or involuntary action of error
in all its forms; it is the human antipode
484:24 of divine Science. Science must triumph
over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting
an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories
484:27 and practices.

Error only ephemeral

/Question/. - Is materiality the concomitant of spirit-
uality, and is material sense a necessary preliminary to
484:30 the understanding and expression of Spirit?
485:1 /Answer/. - If error is necessary to define or to reveal
Truth, the answer is yes; but not otherwise. /Material
485:3 sense/ is an absurd phrase, for matter has no
sensation. Science declares that Mind, not
matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts
485:6 this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays
mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimpor-
tant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because
485:9 of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephem-
eral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth.
Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how
485:12 to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more
unreal?

Scientific translations

Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not
485:15 to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come
naturally into Spirit through better health and
morals and as the result of spiritual growth.
485:18 Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man im-
mortal. The belief that life can be in matter or soul in
body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg,
485:21 is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth,
destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which
man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven
485:24 is perfect." If thought yields its dominion to other '
powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful
images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents,
485:27 called disease and sin.

Material beliefs

The heathen gods of mythology controlled war and
agriculture as much as nerves control sensation or
485:30 muscles measure strength. To say that
strength is in matter, is like saying that the
power is in the lever. The notion of any life or intelli-
486:1 gence in matter is without foundation in fact, and you
can have no faith in falsehood when you have learned
486:3 falsehood's true nature.

Sense /versus/ Soul

Suppose one accident happens to the eye, another to
the ear, and so on, until every corporeal sense is quenched.
486:6 What is man's remedy? To die, that he may
regain these senses? Even then he must gain
spiritual understanding and spiritual sense in order to
486:9 possess immortal consciousness. Earth's preparatory
school must be improved to the utmost. In reality man
never dies. The belief that he dies will not establish his
486:12 scientific harmony. Death is not the result of Truth but
of error, and one error will not correct another.

Death an error

Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that his body
486:15 was the same immediately after death as before. If death
restores sight, sound, and strength to man,
then death is not an enemy but a better friend
486:18 than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes
harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet
supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long
486:21 as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mor-
tal in belief and subject to chance and change.

Permanent sensibility

Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are
486:24 eternal. They cannot be lost. Their reality and immor-
tality are in Spirit and understanding, not in
matter, - hence their permanence. If this
486:27 were not so, man would be speedily annihilated. If the
five corporeal senses were the medium through which
to understand God, then palsy, blindness, and deafness
486:30 would place man in a terrible situation, where he would
be like those "having no hope, and without God in the
world;" but as a matter of fact, these calamities often
487:1 drive mortals to seek and to find a higher sense of happi-
ness and existence.

Exercise of Mind-faculties

487:3 Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of
man, never attainable through death, but gained by walk-
ing in the pathway of Truth both before and
487:6 after that which is called death. There is more
Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually
than materially. There is more Science in the perpetual
487:9 exercise of the Mind-faculties than in their loss. Lost
they cannot be, while Mind remains. The apprehension
of this gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf cen-
487:12 turies ago, and it will repeat the wonder.

Understanding /versus/ belief

/Question/. - You speak of belief. Who or what is it
that believes?
487:15 /Answer/. - Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the
need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind
understands. The body cannot believe. The
487:18 believer and belief are one and are mortal.
Christian evidence is founded on Science or
demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and
487:21 there is in reality no such thing as /mortal/ mind. Mere
belief is blindness without Principle from which to ex-
plain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sen-
487:24 tient and intelligent matter is erroneous.

The Apostle James said, "Show me thy faith without
thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."
487:27 The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens
our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless
reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

Confirmation by healing

487:30 This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This
Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the
488:1 enduring and harmonious phases of things. The result
of our teachings is their sufficient confirmation. When,
488:3 on the strength of these instructions, you are
able to banish a severe malady, the cure shows
that you understand this teaching, and therefore you re-
488:6 ceive the blessing of Truth.

Belief and firm trust

The Hebrew and Greek words often translated /belief/
differ somewhat in meaning from that conveyed by the
488:9 English verb /believe/; they have more the sig-
nificance of faith, understanding, trust, con-
stancy, firmness. Hence the Scriptures often appear in
488:12 our common version to approve and endorse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity of understanding.

All faculties from Mind

/Question/. - Do the five corporeal senses constitute
488:15 man?
/Answer/. - Christian Science sustains with immortal
proof the impossibility of any material sense, and defines
488:18 these so-called senses as /mortal beliefs/, the
testimony of which cannot be true either of
man or of his Maker. The corporeal senses can take no
488:21 cognizance of spiritual reality and immortality. Nerves
have no more sensation, apart from what belief be-
stows upon them, than the fibres of a plant. Mind alone
488:24 possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension.
Therefore mental endowments are not at the mercy of
organization and decomposition, - otherwise the very
488:27 worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the
real senses of man to be injured, Soul could reproduce
them in all their perfection; but they cannot be dis-
488:30 turbed nor destroyed, since they exist in immortal Mind,
not in matter.

Possibilities of Life

489:1 The less mind there is manifested in matter the better.
When the unthinking lobster loses its claw, the claw grows
489:3 again. If the Science of Life were understood,
it would be found that the senses of Mind are
never lost and that matter has no sensation. Then the
489:6 human limb would be replaced as readily as the lobster's
claw, - not with an artificial limb, but with the genuine
one. Any hypothesis which supposes life to be in matter
489:9 is an educated belief. In infancy this belief is not equal
to guiding the hand to the mouth; and as consciousness
develops, this belief goes out, - yields to the reality of
489:12 everlasting Life.

Decalogue disregarded

Corporeal sense defrauds and lies; it breaks all the
commands of the Mosaic Decalogue to meet its own de-
489:15 mands. How then can this sense be the God-
given channel to man of divine blessings or
understanding? How can man, reflecting God, be de-
489:18 pendent on material means for knowing, hearing, seeing?
Who dares to say that the senses of man can be at one time
the medium for sinning against God, at another the me-
489:21 dium for obeying God? An affirmative reply would con-
tradict the Scripture, for the same fountain sendeth not
forth sweet waters and bitter.

Organic construction valueless

489:24 The corporeal senses are the only source of evil or
error. Christian Science shows them to be false, be-
cause matter has no sensation, and no organic
489:27 construction can give it hearing and sight nor
make it the medium of Mind. Outside the
material sense of things, all is harmony. A wrong sense
489:30 of God, man, and creation is /non-sense/, want of sense.
Mortal belief would have the material senses sometimes
good and sometimes bad. It assures mortals that there
490:1 is real pleasure in sin; but the grand truths of Christian
Science dispute this error.

Will-power an animal propensity

490:3 Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief
commits depredations on harmony. Human will is an
animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul.
490:6 Hence it cannot govern man aright. Chris-
tian Science reveals Truth and Love as the
motive-powers of man. Will - blind, stubborn, and head-
490:9 long - cooperates with appetite and passion. From this
cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its pow-
erlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.

Theories helpless

490:12 The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until
it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of
Truth. Human theories are helpless to make
490:15 man harmonious or immortal, since he is so
already, according to Christian Science. Our only need
is to know this and reduce to practice the real man's di-
490:18 vine Principle, Love

True nature and origin

"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings."
Human belief - or knowledge gained from the so-called
490:21 material senses - would, by fair logic, anni-
hilate man along with the dissolving elements
of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the
490:24 nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with
immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers
in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained
490:27 in no other way.

Sleep an illusion

Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of
material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either
490:30 oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.
Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man
will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he
491:1 is swimming when he is on dry land. Needle-thrusts will
not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.
491:3 Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and
shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or va-
lidity. Change the belief, and the sensation changes.
491:6 Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears.

Man linked with Spirit

Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary
error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter
491:9 calling itself right. Man's spiritual individual-
ity is never wrong. It is the likeness of man's
Maker. Matter cannot connect mortals with the true
491:12 origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only
by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls
the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and
491:15 find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man
forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.

Material man as a dream

The belief that matter and mind are one, - that mat-
491:18 ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-
times presenting no appearance of mind, -
this belief culminates in another belief, that
491:21 man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real
being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are
closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are
491:24 lost from the body, and they wander whither they will
apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-
sonality is not the individuality of man. A wicked man
491:27 may have an attractive personality.

Spiritual existence the one fact

When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-
ures of matter. Who will say, even though he
491:30 does not understand Christian Science, that
this dream - rather than the dreamer - may
not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise,
492:1 when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and
thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious?
492:3 For right reasoning there should be but one fact before
the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there
is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its
492:6 unlikeness, mortality.

Mind one and all

Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already
proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,
492:9 will uplift the physical and moral standard
of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify
and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy
492:12 all error, and bring immortality to light. We know that
a statement proved to be good must be correct. New
thoughts are constantly obtaining the floor. These two
492:15 contradictory theories - that matter is something, or
that all is Mind - will dispute the ground, until one is
acknowledged to be the victor. Discussing his cam-
492:18 paign, General Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on
this line, if it takes all summer." Science says: All is
Mind and Mind's idea. You must fight it out on this
492:21 line. Matter can afford you no aid.

Scientific ultimatum

The notion that mind and matter commingle in the
human illusion as to sin, sickness, and death must even-
492:24 tually submit to the Science of Mind, which
denies this notion. /God is Mind, and God is
infinite; hence all is Mind/. On this statement rests the
492:27 Science of being, and the Principle of this Science is di-
vine, demonstrating harmony and immortality.

Victory for Truth

The conservative theory, long believed, is that there
492:30 are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im-
possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error
always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.
493:1 On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows
Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun
493:3 appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand
still; but astronomical science contradicts this,
and explains the solar system as working on a differ-
493:6 ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the
knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to
Science, to the immortal truth of all things.

Mental preparation

493:9 /Question/, - Will you explain sickness and show how it
is to be healed?
/Answer/. - The method of Christian Science Mind-heal-
493:12 ing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian
Science Practice. A full answer to the above
question involves teaching, which enables the
493:15 healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle
and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.

Mind destroys all ills

Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the
493:18 five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sick-
ness is a belief, which must be annihilated by
the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of
493:21 so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the
body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense
of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or
493:24 mental inharmony. That man is material, and that mat-
ter suffers, - these propositions can only seem real and
natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the
493:27 reality of being.

If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of
death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false
493:30 sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the
power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever
494:1 intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire
action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body], and
494:3 in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this
for tired humanity's reassurance.

Inexhaustible divine Love

Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great
494:6 a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God,
who needed no help from Jesus' example to
preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals
494:9 did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every
human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-
494:12 strated the divine power to heal only for a select number
or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and
in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

Reason and Science

494:15 The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus
demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the
infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring
494:18 human sense to flee from its own convictions
and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-
rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but
494:21 sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-
periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-
ence of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with
494:24 the unbroken reality of scientific being.

Which of these two theories concerning man are you
ready to accept? One is the mortal testimony, changing,
494:27 dying, unreal. The other is the eternal and real evidence,
bearing Truth's signet, its lap piled high with immortal
fruits.

Followers of Jesus

494:30 Our Master cast out devils (evils) and healed the sick.
It should be said of his followers also, that they cast fear
and all evil out of themselves and others and heal the sick.
495:1 God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is
governed by God. Truth casts out error now
495:3 as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago. All
of Truth is not understood; hence its healing power is not
fully demonstrated.

Destruction of all evil

495:6 If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot
destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then
classify sickness and error as our Master did,
495:9 when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath
bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life-
giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power
495:12 which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and
sets the captive free physically and morally.

Steadfast and calm trust

When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling
495:15 steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His
likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither
fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and
495:18 calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious - as
Life eternally is - can destroy any painful sense of, or
belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science,
495:21 instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of
being, and this understanding will supplant error with
Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-
495:24 cord with harmony.

Rudiments and growth

/Question/. - How can I progress most rapidly in the
understanding of Christian Science?
495:27 /Answer/. - Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe
the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science and follow the behests of God,
495:30 abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and
Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain
496:1 that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn
that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions
496:3 from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind,
and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by
man and governs the entire universe. You will learn
496:6 that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey
God, to have one Mind, and to love another as
yourself.

Condition of progress

496:9 We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself:
Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?
Am I demonstrating the healing power of
496:12 Truth and Love? If so then the way will
grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits
will prove what the understanding of God brings to man.
496:15 Hold perpetually this thought, - that it is the spiritual
idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to
demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing,
496:18 based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-
lying, and encompassing all true being.

Triumph over death

"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
496:21 the law," - the law of mortal belief, at war with the
facts of immortal Life, even with the spiritual
law which says to the grave, "Where is thy
496:24 victory?" But "when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
496:27 is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

/Question/. - Have Christian Scientists any religious
creed?
496:30 /Answer/. - They have not, if by that term is meant
doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of
497:1 the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian
Science: -

497:3 1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word
of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and in-
497:6 finite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the
Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's
image and likeness.

497:9 3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the
destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that
casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is pun-
497:12 ished so long as the belief lasts.

4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evi-
dence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity
497:15 with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and
we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ,
through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the
497:18 Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming
sin and death.

5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and
497:21 his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eter-
nal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the noth-
ingness of matter.

497:24 6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for
that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to
do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and
497:27 to be merciful, just, and pure.

KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that
hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth;
and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold,
I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.
- REVELATION.