Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 10
_Are both prayer and drugs necessary to heal?_
The apostle James said, "Ye ask, and receive not, [30]
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
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l.u.s.ts." This text may refer to such as seek the material [1]
to aid the spiritual, and take drugs to support G.o.d's power to heal them. It is difficult to say how much one can do for himself, whose faith is divided be- tween catnip and Christ; but not so difficult to know [5]
that if he were to serve one master, he could do vastly more. Whosoever understands the power of Spirit, has no doubt of G.o.d's power,-even the might of Truth,- to heal, through divine Science, beyond all human means and methods. [10]
_What do you think of marriage?_
That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, [15]
it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher.
_If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed,_ _by death,-if one gets tired of it, why not commit_ _suicide?_ [20]
Man's existence is a problem to be wrought in divine Science. What progress would a student of science make, if, when tired of mathematics or failing to dem- onstrate one rule readily, he should attempt to work out a rule farther on and more difficult-and this, [25]
because the first rule was not easily demonstrated? In that case he would be obliged to turn back and work out the previous example, before solving the advanced problem. Mortals have the sum of being to work out, and up, to its spiritual standpoint. They must work [30]
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out of this dream or false claim of sensation and life [1]
in matter, and up to the spiritual realities of existence, before this false claim can be wholly dispelled. Com- mitting suicide to dodge the question is not working it out. The error of supposed life and intelligence in [5]
matter, is dissolved only as we master error with Truth.
Not through sin or suicide, but by _overcoming_ tempta- tion and sin, shall we escape the weariness and wicked- ness of mortal existence, and gain heaven, the harmony of being. [10]
_Do you sometimes find it advisable to use medicine to_ _a.s.sist in producing a cure, when it is difficult to start the_ _patient's recovery?_
You only weaken your power to heal through Mind, by any compromise with matter; which is virtually ac- [15]
knowledging that under difficulties the former is not equal to the latter. He that resorts to physics, seeks what is below instead of above the standard of metaphysics; showing his ignorance of the meaning of the term and of Christian Science. [20]
_If Christian Science is the same as Jesus taught, why is_ _it not more simple, so that all can readily understand it?_
The teachings of Jesus were simple; and yet he found it difficult to make the rulers understand, because of their great lack of spirituality. Christian Science is [25]
simple, and readily understood by the children; only the thought educated away from it finds it abstract or difficult to perceive. Its seeming abstraction is the mystery of G.o.dliness; and G.o.dliness is simple to the G.o.dly; but to the unspiritual, the unG.o.dly, it is dark [30]
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and difficult. The carnal mind cannot discern spiritual [1]
things.
_Has Mrs. Eddy lost her power to heal?_
Has the sun forgotten to shine, and the planets to revolve around it? Who is it that discovered, dem- [5]
onstrated, and teaches Christian Science? That one, whoever it be, does understand something of what can- not be lost. Thousands in the field of metaphysical healing, whose lives are worthy testimonials, are her students, and they bear witness to this fact. Instead [10]
of losing her power to heal, she is demonstrating the power of Christian Science over all obstacles that envy and malice would fling in her path. The reading of her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"
is curing hundreds at this very time; and the sick, un- [15]
asked, are testifying thereto.
_Must I study your Science in order to keep well all my_ _life? I was healed of a chronic trouble after one month's_ _treatment by one of your students._
When once you are healed by Science, there is no rea- [20]
son why you should be liable to a return of the disease that you were healed of. But not to be subject again to any disease whatsoever, would require an understanding of the Science by which you were healed.
_Because none of your students haw been able to perform_ [25]
_as great miracles in healing as Jesus and his disciples did,_ _does it not suggest the possibility that they do not heal on_ _the same basis?_
You would not ask the pupil in simple equations to solve a problem involving logarithms; and then, because [30]
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he failed to get the right answer, condemn the pupil [1]
and the science of numbers. The simplest problem in Christian Science is healing the sick, and the least understanding and demonstration thereof prove all its possibilities. The ability to demonstrate to the extent [5]
that Jesus did, will come when the student possesses as much of the divine Spirit as he shared, and utilizes its power to overcome sin.
Opposite to good, is the universal claim of evil that seeks the proportions of good. There may be those [10]
who, having learned the power of the unspoken thought, use it to harm rather than to heal, and who are using that power against Christian Scientists. This giant sin is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of in Matt.
xii. 31, 32. [15]
_Is Christian Science based on the facts of both Spirit_ _and matter?_
Christian Science is based on the facts of Spirit and its forms and representations, but these facts are the direct antipodes of the so-called facts of matter; and [20]
the eternal verities of Spirit a.s.sert themselves over their opposite, or matter, in the final destruction of all that is unlike Spirit.
Man knows that he can have one G.o.d only, when he regards G.o.d as the only Mind, Life, and substance. [25]
If G.o.d is Spirit, as the Scriptures declare, and All-in- all, matter is mythology, and its laws are mortal beliefs.
If Mind is in matter and beneath a skull bone, it is in something unlike Him; hence it is either a G.o.dless and [30]
material Mind, or it is G.o.d in matter,-which are theo-
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ries of agnosticism and pantheism, the very antipodes [1]
of Christian Science
_What is organic life?_
Life is inorganic, infinite Spirit; if Life, or Spirit, were organic, disorganization would destroy Spirit and [5]
annihilate man.
If Mind is not substance, form, and tangibility, G.o.d is substanceless; for the substance of Spirit is divine Mind. Life is G.o.d, the only creator, and Life is im- mortal Mind, not matter. [10]
Every indication of matter's const.i.tuting life is mortal, the direct opposite of immortal Life, and infringes the rights of Spirit. Then, to conclude that Spirit consti- tutes or ever has const.i.tuted laws to that effect, is a mor- tal error, a human conception opposed to the divine [15]
government. Mind and matter mingling in perpetual warfare is a kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation. The final destruction of this false belief in matter will appear at the full revelation of Spirit,-one G.o.d, and the brotherhood of man. [20]
Organic life is an error of statement that Truth destroys.
The Science of Life needs only to be understood; its dem- onstration proves the correctness of my statements, and brings blessings infinite.