Rudimental Divine Science | Page 3

form of healing, can alone answer this question of how much you understand of Christian Science Mind-healing. Not that all healing is Science, 1 by any means; but that the simplest case, healed in Science, is as demonstrably scientific, in a small degree, as the most 3 difficult case so treated.
The infinite and subtler conceptions and consistencies of Christian Science are set forth in my work Science and 6 Health.
Is man material or spiritual?
In Science, man is the manifest reflection of God, per- 9 feet and immortal Mind. He is the likeness of God; and His likeness would be lost if inverted or perverted.
According to the evidence of the so-called physical 12 senses, man is material, fallen, sick, depraved, mortal. Science and spiritual sense contradict this, and they afford the only true evidence of the being of God and man, the 15 material evidence being wholly false.
Jesus said of personal evil, that "the truth abode not in him," because there is no material sense. Matter, as 18 matter, has neither sensation nor personal intelligence. As a pretension to be Mind, matter is a lie, and "the father of lies;" Mind is not in matter, and Spirit cannot 21 originate its opposite, named matter.
According to divine Science, Spirit no more changes its species, by evolving matter from Spirit, than natural 24 science, so-called, or material laws, bring about altera- tion of species by transforming minerals into vegetables or plants into animals, -- thus confusing and confounding 27 the three great kingdoms. No rock brings forth an apple; 1 no pine-tree produces a mammal or provides breast-milk for babes. 3
To sense, the lion of to-day is the lion of six thousand years ago; but in Science, Spirit sends forth its own harm- less likeness. 6
How should I undertake to demonstrate Christian Science in healing the sick?
As I have given you only an epitome of the Principle, 9 so I can give you here nothing but an outline of the prac- tice. Be honest, be true to thyself, and true to others; then it follows thou wilt be strong in God, the eternal 12 good. Heal through Truth and Love; there is no other healer.
In all moral revolutions, from a lower to a higher con- 15 dition of thought and action, Truth is in the minority and error has the majority. It is not otherwise in the field of Mind-healing. The man who calls himself a Christian 18 Scientist, yet is false to God and man, is also uttering falsehood about good. This falsity shuts against him the Truth and the Principle of Science, but opens a way 21 whereby, through will-power, sense may say the unchris- tian practitioner can heal; but Science shows that he makes morally worse the invalid whom he is supposed to cure. 24
By this I mean that mortal mind should not be falsely impregnated. If by such lower means the health is seem- ingly restored, the restoration is not lasting, and the patient 27 is liable to a relapse, -- "The last state of that man is 1 worse than the first."
The teacher of Mind-healing who is not a Christian, 3 in the highest sense, is constantly sowing the seeds of discord and disease. Even the truth he speaks is more or less blended with error; and this error will spring up 6 in the mind of his pupil. The pupil's imperfect knowl- edge will lead to weakness in practice, and he will be a poor practitioner, if not a malpractitioner. 9
The basis of malpractice is in erring human will, and this will is an outcome of what I call mortal mind, -- a false and temporal sense of Truth, Life, and Love. To 12 heal, in Christian Science, is to base your practice on immortal Mind, the divine Principle of man's being; and this requires a preparation of the heart and an answer 15 of the lips from the Lord.
The Science of healing is the Truth of healing. If one is untruthful, his mental state weighs against his 18 healing power; and similar effects come from pride, envy, lust, and all fleshly vices.
The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, with- 21 out a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument, has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases.
The thoughts of the practitioner should be imbued with 24 a clear conviction of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God; that He is All, and that there can be none beside Him; that God is good, and the producer only of good; 27 and hence, that whatever militates against health, har- mony, or holiness, is an unjust usurper of the throne of 1 the controller of all mankind. Note this, that if you have power in error, you forfeit the power that Truth bestows, 3 and its salutary influence on