Part 58 (2/2)

Skilful surgery

401:27 Until the advancing age admits the efficacy and suprem- acy of Mind, it is better for Christian Scientists to leave surgery and the adjustment of broken bones 401:30 and dislocations to the fingers of a surgeon, while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental reconstruction and to the prevention of inflammation.

402:1 Christian Science is always the most skilful surgeon, but surgery is the branch of its healing which will be last 402:3 acknowledged. However, it is but just to say that the author has already in her possession well-authenticated records of the cure, by herself and her students through 402:6 mental surgery alone, of broken bones, dislocated joints, and spinal vertebrae.

Indestructible life of man

The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake 402:9 its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when im- mortal Mind and its formations will be appre- hended in Science, and material beliefs will 402:12 not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible and eternal. Sometime it will be learned that mortal mind constructs the mortal body with this mind's own 402:15 mortal materials. In Science, no breakage nor dislocation can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is 402:18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin.

The evil of mesmerism

We say that one human mind can influence another and 402:21 in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that we govern our own bodies. The error, mes- merism - or hypnotism, to use the recent term 402:24 - ill.u.s.trates the fact just stated. The operator would make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield 402:27 to this influence, it is because their belief is not better instructed by spiritual understanding. Hence the proof that hypnotism is not scientific; Science cannot produce 402:30 both disorder and order. The involuntary pleasure or pain of the person under hypnotic control is proved to be a belief without a real cause.

Wrong-doer should suffer

403:1 So the sick through their beliefs have induced their own diseased conditions. The great difference between vol- 403:3 untary and involuntary mesmerism is that vol- untary mesmerism is induced consciously and should and does cause the perpetrator to suffer, while self- 403:6 mesmerism is induced unconsciously and by his mistake a man is often instructed. In the first instance it is under- stood that the difficulty is a mental illusion, while in the 403:9 second it is believed that the misfortune is a material effect.

The human mind is employed to remove the illusion in one case, but matter is appealed to in the other. In real- 403:12 ity, both have their origin in the human mind, and can be healed only by the divine Mind.

Error's power imaginary

You command the situation if you understand that 403:15 mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly producing on mortal body the results of false 403:18 opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.

403:21 The most Christian state is one of rect.i.tude and spir- itual understanding, and this is best adapted for heal- ing the sick. Never conjure up some new discovery from 403:24 dark forebodings regarding disease and then acquaint your patient with it.

Disease-production

The mortal so-called mind produces all that is unlike 403:27 the immortal Mind. The human mind determines the nature of a case, and the pract.i.tioner improves or injures the case in proportion to the truth 403:30 or error which influences his conclusions. The mental conception and development of disease are not under- stood by the patient, but the physician should be familiar 404:1 with mental action and its effect in order to judge the case according to Christian Science.

Appet.i.tes to be abandoned

404:3 If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and destroy these errors with the truth of being, - 404:6 by exhibiting to the wrong-doer the suffering which his submission to such habits brings, and by con- vincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appe- 404:9 t.i.tes. A corrupt mind is manifested in a corrupt body.

l.u.s.t, malice, and all sorts of evil are diseased beliefs, and you can destroy them only by destroying the wicked 404:12 motives which produce them. If the evil is over in the repentant mortal mind, while its effects still remain on the individual, you can remove this disorder as G.o.d's law is 404:15 fulfilled and reformation cancels the crime. The healthy sinner is the hardened sinner.

Temperance reform

The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results 404:18 from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree that brings not forth good fruit. This con- viction, that there is no real pleasure in sin, 404:21 is one of the most important points in the theology of Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure, 404:24 and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and increases his ability to master evil and to love good.

Sin or fear the root of sickness

Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and 404:27 the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require the same method and are inseparable in Truth.

Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth, 404:30 make a man sick, and neither material medi- cine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body, unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him 405:1 from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind.

Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence 405:3 of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Mental conspirators

Christian Science commands man to master the pro- 405:6 pensities, - to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer l.u.s.t with chast.i.ty, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with hon- 405:9 esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you 405:12 to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and 405:15 body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing is paid, - until you have balanced your account with G.o.d. ”Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 405:18 reap.” The good man finally can overcome his fear of sin. This is sin's necessity, - to destroy itself. Im- mortal man demonstrates the government of G.o.d, good, 405:21 in which is no power to sin.

c.u.mulative repentence

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