Part 22 (1/2)

Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of 147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the learner to demonstrate the divine Principle, 147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of disease.

147:6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap- 147:9 plied under circ.u.mstances where demonstration was hu- manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen- 147:12 turies had pa.s.sed away since Jesus practised these rules on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.

Perusal and practice

Although this volume contains the complete Science of 147:15 Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple _perusal_ of this book. The book needs to be _studied_, 147:18 and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the 147:21 peris.h.i.+ng fossils of theories already antiquated, and en- ables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim.

A definite rule discovered

147:24 Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian heal- ing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to his students; but he left no definite rule for 147:27 demonstrating this Principle of healing and preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered in Christian Science. A pure affection takes form in good- 147:30 ness, but Science alone reveals the divine Principle of goodness and demonstrates its rules.

Jesus' own practice

Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult 148:1 to heal. When his students brought to him a case they had failed to heal, he said to them, ”O faithless gen- 148:3 eration,” implying that the requisite power to heal was in Mind. He prescribed no drugs, urged no obedience to material laws, but acted in direct 148:6 disobedience to them.

The man of anatomy and of theology

Neither anatomy nor theology has ever described man as created by Spirit, - as G.o.d's man. The former ex- 148:9 plains the men of _men_, or the ”children of men,” as created corporeally instead of spir- itually and as emerging from the lowest, in- 148:12 stead of from the highest, conception of being. Both anatomy and theology define man as both physical and mental, and place mind at the mercy of matter for every 148:15 function, formation, and manifestation. Anatomy takes up man at all points materially. It loses Spirit, drops the true tone, and accepts the discord. Anatomy and the- 148:18 ology reject the divine Principle which produces harmo- nious man, and deal - the one wholly, the other primarily - with matter, calling that _man_ which is not the counter- 148:21 part, but the counterfeit, of G.o.d's man. Then theology tries to explain how to make this man a Christian, - how from this basis of division and discord to produce the con- 148:24 cord and unity of Spirit and His likeness.

Physiology deficient

Physiology exalts matter, dethrones Mind, and claims to rule man by material law, instead of spiritual. When 148:27 physiology fails to give health or life by this process, it ignores the divine Spirit as unable or unwilling to render help in time of physical need.

148:30 When mortals sin, this ruling of the schools leaves them to the guidance of a theology which admits G.o.d to be the healer of sin but not of sickness, although our great 149:1 Master demonstrated that Truth could save from sickness as well as from sin.

Blunders and blunderers

149:3 Mind as far outweighs drugs in the cure of disease as in the cure of sin. The more excellent way is divine Science in every case. Is _materia medica_ a 149:6 science or a bundle of speculative human theories? The prescription which succeeds in one in- stance fails in another, and this is owing to the different 149:9 mental states of the patient. These states are not com- prehended and they are left without explanation except in Christian Science. The rule and its perfection of opera- 149:12 tion never vary in Science. If you fail to succeed in any case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of Christ, Truth, more in your own life, - because you have 149:15 not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine Science.

Old-school physician

A physician of the old school remarked with great 149:18 gravity: ”We know that mind affects the body some- what, and advise our patients to be hopeful and cheerful and to take as little medicine as 149:21 possible; but mind can never cure organic difficulties.”

The logic is lame, and facts contradict it. The author has cured what is termed organic disease as readily as she 149:24 has cured purely functional disease, and with no power but the divine Mind.

Tests in our day

Since G.o.d, divine Mind, governs all, not partially but 149:27 supremely, predicting disease does not dignify therapeutics.

Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits mind and body. We need to understand the 149:30 affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superst.i.tion, and demonstrate truth according to Christ. To-day there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to 150:1 be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian 150:3 system of healing disease.

The main purpose

To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon- strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a 150:6 phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the coming anew of the gospel of ”on earth peace, good-will toward men.” This coming, as was promised 150:9 by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, 150:12 is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal- ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon- 150:15 strate its divine origin, - to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world.

Exploded doctrine

150:18 The science (so-called) of physics would have one be- lieve that both matter and mind are subject to disease, and that, too, in spite of the individual's pro- 150:21 test and contrary to the law of divine Mind.

This human view infringes man's free moral agency; and it is as evidently erroneous to the author, and will be to 150:24 all others at some future day, as the practically rejected doctrine of the predestination of souls to d.a.m.nation or salvation. The doctrine that man's harmony is gov- 150:27 erned by physical conditions all his earthly days, and that he is then thrust out of his own body by the operation of matter, - even the doctrine of the superiority of matter 150:30 over Mind, - is fading out.

Disease mental