# Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1898)/13 Teaching Christian Science

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.
WHEN the discoverer of Christian Science is consulted by her followers, as to the propriety, advantage, and consistency of ordinary medical study, she Study of medicine. tries to show them that any exercise of faith in matter or corporeality must tend to alienate them from their confidence in omnipotent Mind, as really possessing all power. While such a course of study is at times severely condemned by some persons, however, 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 should be the Master's counsel, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
If patients fail to experience the healing power of Christian Science, and think they may be benefited by Failure's lessons. certain ordinary physical methods of medical treatment, then the Mind-physician ought to give up such cases, and leave invalids free to resort to whatever other systems they fancy will afford relief. Thus they may learn the value of the apostolic precept: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” If the sick find these expedients unsatisfactory, and they ​receive no help therefrom, these very failures may open their blind eyes. In some way, 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 the dictum of Scripture.
If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from other Scientists, — their brethren, upon whom they may Brotherliness. call, — God will still guide such sufferers into the use of right means. Step by step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Students are advised, by their Teacher, to be charitable and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion Charity to opposition. and medicine, but to those who hold these opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing the way through Christ, as we understand it; but let us also be careful never to “judge unrighteous judgment,” or condemn rashly. “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” If ecclesiastical sects or medical schools turn a deaf ear to the teachings of Christian Science, then part from these opponents as did Abraham, when he parted from Lot, and say with the heart: “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we are brethren.” Immortals, or God's children in Divine Science, are one family; but mortals, or the “children of men” in sense, are one unreal family, and are false brethren.
The teacher must make clear to students the Science of Healing, especially its ethics, — that all is Mind, and that the Scientist must conform to God's requirements ​Then no hypothesis, as to the existence of another power, can interpose a doubt or fear, to hinder the Explicit rules. demonstration of Christian Science. Unfold the latent energies and capacities for good in your scholar. Teach the great possibilities of man endued with Divine Science. Teach the fatal effect of dwarfing the spiritual understanding by recourse to material means for healing. Teach the meekness and might of “Life hidden with Christ,” and there will be no desire for 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 thought, the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.
Christian Science silences human will, quiets material thought with Truth and Love, and illustrates the Untaught activity. unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick. Self-seeking, envy, passion, pride, hatred, and revenge flee before the Mind which heals disease. Whatever maketh or worketh a lie, hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to health, and is the cause of disease, rather than its cure.
There is great danger in teaching Mind-healing indiscriminately, thus disregarding the morals of the Virus of avarice. student, and caring only for the fees. To quote Jefferson's words about slavery, “I tremble, when I remember that God is just,” the author trembles whenever she sees a man, for a petty consideration of money, teaching his slight knowledge of Mind-power, — perhaps communicating his own bad morals by mental inoculation, and in this way dealing pitilessly with a community unprepared for self-defence.
​The perusal of the author's publications heals sickness constantly. If patients sometimes seem the worse for Sanative leafage. reading this book, the change may either arise from the alarm of the physician, or may mark the crisis of the disease. Perseverance in its perusal has generally healed them completely.
Whoever practises the Science the author teaches, through which Mind pours light and healing upon this Exclusion of malpractice. generation, can practise on no one from sinister nor malicious motives without destroying his power to heal and his own health. Good must dominate in the thoughts of the healer, or his demonstration is protracted and impossible in Science. 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 God strengthens hope, enthrones faith in Truth, and verifies Jesus' word: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end.”
Resisting evil, you overcome it, and prove its nothingness. Not human platitudes, but the divine beatitudes, Iniquity overcome. reflect the spiritual light and might which heal the sick. The exercise of will tends to bring on a hypnotic state, detrimental to health and integrity of purpose. This must therefore be watched and guarded against. Covering iniquity will prevent personal prosperity, and the ultimate triumph of any cause. Ignorance of the error to be eradicated will oftentimes subject you to its abuse; whatever error is affecting your patients, you must destroy.
The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon man's individual right of self-government. We have no authority in Christian Science, and no moral right, to ​attempt to influence the thoughts of another, except it be to benefit him, or we are personally requested to give Tampering with self-domination. him aid. In mental practice you must not forget that erring human opinions, conflicting selfish motives, and ignorant attempts to do good often render you incapable of knowing or judging accurately the needs of your fellow-men. Therefore this need must be personally expressed, and your aid solicited, before it is silently imparted to patients or people.
Ignorance, subtlety, and false charity do not forever conceal error; it will in time disclose and kill itself. The Exposure. recuperative action of the system, when mentally sustained by Truth, goes on naturally. When the reverse of Truth seems true to material sense, impart spiritual understanding, which destroys false evidence without frightening or discouraging the patient. Expose and denounce the claim of evil, in all its forms, but acknowledge no reality in them. A sinner is not reformed merely by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner, because 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 prove its unreality.
A sinner is afraid to cast the first stone. He may say, as a subterfuge, that evil is unreal; but to prove it, he must Evasions. demonstrate his statement. To assume there are no claims of evil, and yet indulge them, is a moral offence. Blindness and self-righteousness cling 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, but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if evil is ​uncondemned, it is undenied. Under such circumstances, to say there is no evil, is an evil in itself. Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.
Christian Science rises above the evidence of the corporeal senses; but if you have not risen above sin Valueless negations. yourself, do not congratulate yourself upon your blindness to evil, or upon the good you know and do not. A dishonest position is far from Christianly Scientific. “He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy.” Try to leave on every student's mind the impress of Divine Science, a high sense of the moral and spiritual qualifications requisite for healing, well knowing it to be impossible for error and hate to accomplish the grand results of Truth and Love. The reception and pursuit of instructions opposite to the absolute must always hinder Scientific demonstration.
If the student adheres strictly to its teachings, and ventures not to break the rules of Christian Science, Adherence to righteousness. he cannot fail of success in healing. It is Christian Science to do right, and nothing short of right-doing has any claim to the name. To talk right and live wrong is foolish deceit, doing one's self the most harm. Fettered by sin yourself, it is difficult to free another from the fetters of disease. With your own wrists manacled, it is hard to break another's chains. A little 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 gained, in order to continue in well-doing.
​The wrong done to another reacts most heavily against one's self. Right adjusts the balance sooner or later. Impartation and reaction. Think it easier to make evil good, than to benefit yourself by injuring others. Man's moral mercury, rising 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 and fidelity, — qualities which insure success in this Science; but it requires a higher understanding to teach this subject properly and correctly, than to heal the most difficult case.
The baneful effect of evil associates is less seen than felt. The inoculation of evil human thoughts ought to Inoculation and repulsion. be understood and guarded against. A good detective of individual character is the first impression made on a mind which is attracted or repelled according to personal merit or demerit. Certain minds meet, only to separate through simultaneous repulsion. They are enemies, without the preliminary offence. The impure are at peace with the impure. Only virtue is a rebuke to vice. A teacher of Christian Science is at fault, if he improves not the health and the morals of his students. He is a Scientist only in name.
There is a large class of thinkers whose bigotry and conceit twist every fact to suit themselves. Their creed Three classes of neophytes. teaches belief in a mysterious, supernatural God, and in a supernatural, all-powerful Devil. Another class of people, still more unfortunate, are so depraved that they appear to be innocent. They utter a falsehood, while looking you blandly in the face, and never fail to stab benefactors in the back. A third class of thinkers build with solid masonry. ​They are generous, lofty, and open to the approach and recognition of Truth. To teach Christian Science to such as these is no task. They do not incline longingly to error, whine over the demands of Truth, or play the traitor for place and power.
Some people yield slowly to the touch of Truth. Few yield without a struggle, and many are reluctant to Touchstone of Science. acknowledge that they have yielded; but unless this admission is made, evil will boast itself above Good. The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness, and the allness of God, or Good. Sickness to him is no less a temptation than sin is, and he heals them both by understanding God's power over them. He knows they are errors of belief, which Truth can and will destroy.
Who that has felt the perilous beliefs in life, substance, and intelligence separated from God, can say False claims annihilated. there is no error of belief? Knowing the claim of animal magnetism, that there is life, substance, and intelligence in matter, electricity, animal nature, and organic life, who will deny that these are the errors which Truth must and will annihilate? Christian learners must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command, to come out from the world and be separate. They must renounce oppression and the pride of existence. Christianity must be their Queen of Life, with the crown of Love upon her brow.
Students of Christian Science who start with its letter, and think to succeed without the Spirit, will either make shipwreck of their faith, or be turned sadly awry. They ​must not only seek, but strive, to enter the narrow path of Life, for “broad is the road that leads to death, and Shipwreck and goal. many there be which go in thereat.” Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and “where his treasure is, there will his heart be also.” If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not from beneath, and they bear, as of old, the fruits of the Spirit.
Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacher of the Science of Mind-healing, knows that hypnotism Obligations of teachers. is error, and he must recognize this in order to defend himself from its influence. He feels morally obligated to open the eyes of his students to perceive the nature and methods of error of every sort, especially the highest degrees of evil, deceived and deceiving. All mental malpractice arises from ignorance or malice aforethought. It is the action of one mortal mind taking control of another, without the other's knowledge or consent, and is practised from mistaken or wicked motives.
Show your student that all animal magnetism blasts the moral sense, health, and human life. Instruct him Defence. how to bar the door of his mind against this seeming power, — a task not difficult, when one understands that evil has really no power. Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error. The wrong thought should be arrested, before it has a chance to manifest itself.
Walking in the light, we are accustomed to it, and Egotistic darkness. require it. We cannot see in darkness; but eyes accustomed to darkness are pained by the light. Outgrowing the old, fear not to put on the new. ​Your course may provoke envy, but will attract respect also. When error confronts you, withhold not the rebuke or explanation which destroys it. Never breathe an immoral atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it. Better is the frugal intellectual meal, with contentment and virtue, than the luxury of learning, with egotism and vice.
Right is radical. The teacher must know the Truth himself. He must live it and love it, or he cannot Unwarranted expectations. impart it to others. We soil our garments with conservatism, and afterwards must wash them clean. When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds her harmonies to you, take no risks in the policy of error. Expect to heal by simply repeating the author's words, by right talking and wrong acting, and you will be disappointed. Such practices as these do not demonstrate the Science whereby divine Mind heals the sick.
Acting from sinister motives destroys your power of healing from the right motive. If you had the inclination Reliable authority. or power to practise wrongfully, and then should adopt Christian Science, the lesser power would be destroyed, and vice versa. You do not deny the mathematician's right to distinguish the correct from the incorrect, among the examples on the blackboard, or disbelieve the musician, when he distinguishes concord from discord. In like manner the author ought to understand what she is saying.
Wrong and right, Truth and error, will be at strife in the minds of students, until victory rests on the side Winning the field. of immutable right. Mental chemicalization follows the explanation of Truth, and a higher basis is thus won; but with some individuals ​the morbid moral and physical symptoms constantly reappear, I have never witnessed as decided effects from the use of material remedies as from the use of spiritual.
Teach your student that he must know himself, before he can know others and minister to human needs. Knowledge and honesty. Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help. You uncover sin, not in order to injure, but in order to bless the corporeal man; and a right motive has its reward. Hidden sin is spiritual wickedness in high places. The masquerader in this Science thanks God there is no evil, yet serves evil in the name of Good.
You should treat sickness mentally just as you would sin, except that you must not tell the patient he is sick, Treatment. or give names to diseases; for such a course increases fear, the foundation of disease, and impresses more deeply the wrong mind-picture. A Christian Scientist's medicine is Mind. He never recommends hygiene, never manipulates. He never tries to “focus mind.” He never places patient and practitioner back to back, never consults spirits, or requires the life-history of his patient. Above all, he cannot trespass on the rights of mind through animal magnetism. It need not be added that the use of tobacco and intoxicating drinks is not in harmony with Christian Science.
Teach your students the omnipotence of Truth, which illustrates the impotence of error. The understanding, Impotence and hate. in a degree, of the divine all-power, destroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path, — the path which leads to the house built without hands, ​“eternal in the Heavens.” Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom. Love is enthroned. That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science; and this is the great Truth which strips all disguise from error.
He who understands in any degree the Principle of Mind-healing, points out to his student error as well as Love the incentive. Truth, the wrong as well as the right practice. Love for God and man is the true incentive to both healing and teaching. It inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for Spirit to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the divine concept. Patience must “have her perfect work.”
Do not dismiss students, at the close of a class term, feeling that you have no more to do for them. Note Continuity of interest. well their future years. Let loving care and counsel support all feeble footsteps, until they tread firmly in the strait and narrow way. The superiority of spiritual power over sensuous is the central point of Christian Science. Remember that the letter and mental argument are only human auxiliaries, to aid in bringing thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love.
A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt, or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth, are unsuitable Weakness and guilt. conditions for healing the sick. Such mental states indicate weakness, instead of strength. Hence the necessity of being right yourself, in ordei to teach this Science of Healing. You must utilize the ​moral might of Mind, in order to walk over the waves of error, and support your claims by demonstration. If yourself lost in the belief and fear of disease and sin, and, ignorant of the remedy, you fail to use the energies of Mind in your own behalf, you can exercise little or no power for others' help. “First cast the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye.”
The student who receives his knowledge of Christian Science, or Metaphysical Healing, from a human teacher. Highest teaching. may be mistaken in judgment and demonstration; but God cannot mistake. He selects for the highest service one who has grown into such a fitness for it as renders any abuse of the mission an impossibility. The All-wise does not bestow His trusts upon the unworthy, when He commissions a messenger who is spiritually near Himself. No one can misuse this mental force, if taught of God to discern the healing power of Truth.
This strong point in Christian Science is not to be overlooked, — that the same fountain cannot send forth both Strong point. sweet and bitter waters. The higher your attainment in the Science of mental healing and teaching, the more impossible it will become for you to influence minds in any way adverse to their highest interest.
Teaching or practising in the name of Truth, but contrary to its rules, is most dangerous quackery. Strict Chicanery. adherence to the Principle and rules of the Scientific method has secured the only success of its students. That alone entitles them to the high standing which many of them hold in the community, a reputation experimentally justified by their efforts. ​Whosoever affirms that there is more than one method of demonstrating this Science greatly errs, ignorantly or intentionally, and separates himself from the true conception of its healing, and hence from its possible demonstration.
Any dishonesty in your theory and practice betrays a gross ignorance of the method of the Christ-cure which Dishonest concessions. Christian Science reveals. Science makes no concessions to persons or opinions. One must abide strictly by its rules, or he cannot demonstrate its Principle. So long as drugs are administered, or external applications prescribed, illness cannot be efficaciously treated by the metaphysical process. Truth alone does the work, and you must both understand and abide by this divine Principle of your demonstration.
A Christian Scientist requires my work on Science and Health for his textbook, and so do all his students This volume indispensable. and patients. Why? First: Because it is the voice of Truth to this age, and contains the whole of Christian Science, or the Science of healing through Mind. Second: Because it was the first published book containing a statement of Christian Science, gave the first rules for demonstrating this Science, and registered this revealed Truth, uncontaminated with human hypotheses. Other works, which have borrowed from this book without giving it credit, have adulterated the Science. Third: Because this work has done more for teacher and student, for healer and patient, than has been accomplished by other works.
Since the divine light of Christian Science first dawned upon the author, she has never used this newly discovered power in any direction which she fears to have ​openly known. Her object, ever since entering this field of labor, has been to prevent suffering, never to Misuse. produce it. That we cannot mentally both produce and prevent error is self-evident. In the legend of the shield which led to a quarrel between two knights, because each of them could see but one face of it, both sides were beautiful, according to their degree; but there is no good aspect to malpractice, either silvern or golden.
Christian Science is not an exception to the general rule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct Backsliders and fighters. line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at the same time defeat the enemy. To pursue other vocations, and at the same time advance rapidly in the demonstration of this Science, is not possible. Departing from Christian Science, many learners commend diet and hygiene. They even administer drugs, intending thereby to initiate the cure which they mean to complete with Mind! The Scientist's demonstration rests on one Principle, and there must and can be no opposite rule. Christian Science is fully stated in this book. Let it be applied to the cure of disease, without resort to other means.
Mental quackery rests on the same platform with all other quackery. The chief plank in this platform is the Charlatanism. doctrine that Science has two principles in partnership, one good, the other bad, — one spiritual, the other material, — and that these two may be simultaneously at work on the sick. This theory is supposed to favor practice from both a mental and material standpoint. Another plank in the platform is this, that error will finally have the same effect as Truth.
​It is anything but Scientifically Christian to think of aiding the divine Principle of healing, or trying to Ever ready. sustain the human body until the divine Mind is ready to take the case. Divinity is always ready. Semper paratus is Truth's motto. Having seen so much suffering from quackery herself, the author desires to keep it out of Christian Science. The two-edged sword of Truth must turn in every direction, to guard this Tree of Life.
Sin makes deadly thrusts at the Christian Scientist, as ritualism and creed are summoned to give place to The panoply of wisdom. higher law; but Science will ameliorate mortal malice. The spiritually Scientific man reflects the divine law, thus becoming a law unto himself. He does violence to no man, neither is he a false accuser. The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind. He must practically acknowledge, through healing as well as teaching, that Christ's way is the only one whereby mortals are radically saved from sin and sorrow.
Christianity causes men to turn naturally from materialism to Soul, as the flower turns from darkness to Advancement and sacrifice. light. Man then appropriates those things which “the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard.” Paul and John had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice, so he must gain heavenly riches, by forsaking all other wealth. Then he will have nothing in common with the worldling's affections, motives, and aims. Judge not the future advancement of Christian Science by the steps already taken, lest ​ye be condemned for failing to take the first step yourself.
Any attempt to heal mortality with erring mortal mind, instead of resting on the omnipotence of immortal Dangerous ignorance. Mind, must prove abortive. Committing the process of Mind-healing to frail mortals, untaught and unrestrained by Science, is like putting a sharp knife into the hands of a blind man or a raging maniac, and turning him loose in the crowded streets of a city. Whether animated by malice or ignorance, such a practitioner will work mischief, — and ignorance is ofttimes more harmful than wilful wickedness, because the latter is distrusted, and thwarted in its incipiency.
The Science is abstract, but the process is simple, and the results are sure if the Science is understood. The Simplicity. tree must be good, which produces good fruit. Guided by divine Truth, and not guesswork, the Theologus (that is, the student — the Christian and Scientific expounder — of the divine law) treats disease with more certain results than any other healer on the globe. The Christian Scientist should understand and adhere strictly to the rules of metaphysics, as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstration on its sure basis.
Ontology is defined as “the science of the necessary constituents and relations of all beings,” and it underlies Ontology. all metaphysical practice. Our system of Mind-healing rests on the apprehension of the nature and essence of all Being, — on Mind, and its essential qualities. Its pharmacy is moral, and its medicine is intellectual and spiritual, though used for physical healing; yet this most fundamental part of ​metaphysics is the one most difficult to understand and demonstrate, for to the material thought all things are sure to be material, till rectified by Spirit.
Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal, — that is, to the false sense of the patient. It is more than Mischievous imagination. fancy, for it is solid conviction. It is therefore to be dealt with through right apprehension of the Truth of Being. If Christian Healing is abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes a tedious mischief-maker. Instead of Scientifically effecting a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every cripple and invalid, buffeting him with the superficial and cold assertion, “Nothing ails you.”
When the Science of Mind was a new revelation to the author, she had to impart, while teaching its grand Author's early instructions. facts, the hue of spiritual ideas from her own spiritual condition, and to do this through the meagre channel afforded by language. As former beliefs were gradually expelled from her mind, the teaching became clearer, until finally the shadow of old errors was no longer cast upon Divine Science.
Christian Science must be accepted, at this period, by induction. We admit the whole, because a part is proven, Induction. and that part illustrates and proves the entire Principle. Christian Science should be taught only by those who are morally advanced and spiritually endowed; for it is not superficial, nor is it discerned from the standpoint of the human senses. Only by the illumination of the spiritual sense, can the light of understanding be thrown upon this Science, because it reverses the evidence before the material senses, and furnishes the eternal interpretation of God and man.
​Systematic teaching, and the student's spiritual growth and experience in practice, are requisite for a thorough Assimilation. comprehension of Christian Science. Some individuals assimilate truth more rapidly than others; but I never knew a student, who adhered to the divine precepts of this Science, and practised them unselfishly, who did not heal the sick, and add continually to his store of spiritual understanding, potency, enlightenment, and success.
If the student goes away to practise Truth's teachings only in part, dividing his interests between God and Divided loyalty. Mammon, and substituting his own views for Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows. Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every statement, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There is nothing difficult or toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out; but sincerity and persistence alone win the prize, as they almost invariably do in every department of life.
Anatomy, according to Christian Science, is mental self-knowledge, and consists in the art of dissecting thoughts, Anatomy defined. in order to discover their quality, quantity, and origin. Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question. This branch of study is indispensable to the excision of error. The anatomy of Christian Science teaches when and how to probe the self-inflicted wounds of malice, envy, and hate. It teaches the control of mad ambition. It unfolds the hallowed influences of unselfishness, philanthropy, spiritual love. It urges the government of the body, both in health and sickness. The Christian Scientist, through ​understanding mental anatomy, discerns and deals with the real cause of disease. The material physician gropes among phenomena which fluctuate every instant, under influences not embraced in his diagnosis; and so he stumbles and falls in the darkness.
Teacher and student should also be familiar with the obstetrics taught by this Science. To attend properly Obstetrics. the birth of the new child, or the divine idea, you should so detach mortal thought from its material conceptions, that the birth will be natural and safe. Though gathering new energies, an idea should injure none of its useful surroundings, in the travail of spiritual birth. It should not have within it a single element of error, and should remove properly whatever is offensive. Then would the new idea, conceived and born of Truth and Love, be clad in white garments. Its beginning will be meek, its growth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying. When this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant is born of the Spirit, and can cause the mother no more suffering. Thus will it always be, when Truth is allowed to fulfil her perfect work.
To decide quickly as to the proper treatment of error, — whether it be manifested in forms of sickness, sin, Decision. or death, — is the first step towards destroying it. Our Master treated it through Mind. He never enjoined obedience to the laws of Nature, if by that is meant laws of matter, nor did he use drugs. There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is a spiritual law instead of material. The sick are not healed by inanimate matter or drugs only, as they believe they are, and this is a mental action or causation.
​It has been said to the author: “The world is benefited by you, but it feels your influence without seeing Seclusion of the author. you. Why do you not make yourself more widely known?” Could her friends know how little time the author has had in which to make herself outwardly known, except through her laborious publications, — and how much time and toil are still required to establish the stately operations of Christian Science, — they would understand why she is so secluded. Others could not take her place, even if willing to do so. She has therefore remained unseen at her post, working for the generations to come, never looking for a present reward.
In founding an ethical and medical system, I have labored to expound divine Principle, not to exalt personality. Motives and substitutes. When striving to benefit mankind I have disregarded certain persistent efforts to misrepresent me, hinder my work, hide my character, and pervert my methods. I have clung to Truth most closely in the hour of trial. The weapons of bigotry, selfishness, ignorance, and error may often pierce our heart, but remember they chasten it as well. “The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” Who would gain worldly and temporary advantages by adulterating Christian Science, and so making it void? All such falsity has a foundation of sand. Dishonesty can never found a true system of ethics or health.