and woe? Every question between Truth and error, [10]
Science must and will decide. Left to the decision of
Science, your query concerns a negative which the posi-
tive Truth destroys; for God's universe and man are
immortal. We must not consider the false side of exist-
ence in order to gain the true solution of Life and its [15]
great realities.
Have you changed your instructions as to the right way
of treating disease?
I have not; and this important fact must be, and al-
ready is, apprehended by those who understand my in- [20]
structions on this question. Christian Science demands
both law and gospel, in order to demonstrate healing,
and I have taught them both in its demonstration, and
with signs following. They are a unit in restoring the
equipoise of mind and body, and balancing man's ac- [25]
count with his Maker. The sequence proves that strict
adherence to one is inadequate to compensate for the
absence of the other, since both constitute the divine law
of healing.
The Jewish religion demands that “whoso sheddeth [30]
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” But this
[pg 066]
law is not infallible in wisdom; and obedience thereto [1]
may be found faulty, since false testimony or mistaken
evidence may cause the innocent to suffer for the guilty.
Hence the gospel that fulfils the law in righteousness,
the genius whereof is displayed in the surprising wisdom [5]
of these words of the New Testament: “Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” No possible
injustice lurks in this mandate, and no human mis-
judgment can pervert it; for the offender alone suffers,
and always according to divine decree. This sacred, [10]
solid precept is verified in all directions in Mind-
healing, and is supported in the Scripture by parallel
proof.
The law and gospel of Truth and Love teach, through
divine Science, that sin is identical with suffering, and [15]
that suffering is the lighter affliction. To reach the sum-
mit of Science, whence to discern God's perfect ways
and means, the material sense must be controlled by
the higher spiritual sense, and Truth be enthroned,
while “we look not at the things which are seen, but at [20]
the things which are not seen.”
Cynical critics misjudge my meaning as to the sci-
entific treatment of the sick. Disease that is superin-
duced by sin is not healed like the more physical
ailment. The beginner in sin-healing must know this, or [25]
he never can reach the Science of Mind-healing, and
so “overcome evil with good.” Error in premise is met
with error in practice; yea, it is “the blind leading the
blind.” Ignorance of the cause of disease can neither
remove that cause nor its effect. [30]
I endeavor to accommodate my instructions to the
present capability of the learner, and to support the
[pg 067]
liberated thought until its altitude reaches beyond the [1]
mere alphabet of Mind-healing. Above physical wants,
lie the higher claims of the law and gospel of healing.
First is the law, which saith:—
“Thou shalt not commit adultery;” in other words, [5]
thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love—men-
tally, morally, or physically. “Thou shalt not steal;”
that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but
trash, compared with his rights of mind and character.
“Thou shalt not kill;” that is, thou shalt not strike at the [10]
eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt
know that by doing thus thine own sense of Life shall be
forfeited. “Thou shalt not bear false witness;” that is,
thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor
cause it to be thought. Obedience to these command- [15]
ments is indispensable to health, happiness, and length
of days.
The gospel of healing demonstrates the law of Love.
Justice uncovers sin of every sort; and mercy demands
that if you see the danger menacing others, you shall, [20]
Deo volente, inform them thereof. Only thus is the right
practice of Mind-healing achieved, and the wrong prac-
tice discerned, disarmed, and destroyed.
Do you believe in translation?
If your question refers to language, whereby one ex- [25]
presses the sense of words in one language by equiva-
lent words in another, I do. If you refer to the removal
of a person to heaven, without his subjection to death,
I modify my affirmative answer. I believe in this
removal being possible after all the footsteps requisite [30]
have been taken up to the very throne, up to the
[pg 068]
spiritual sense and fact of divine substance, intelligence, [1]
Life, and Love. This translation is not the work of mo-
ments; it requires both time and eternity. It means more
than mere disappearance to the human sense; it must
include also man's changed appearance and diviner form [5]
visible to those beholding him here.
The Rev. ——said in a sermon: A true Christian
would protest against metaphysical healing being called
Christian Science. He also maintained that pain and
disease are not illusions but realities; and that it is not [10]
Christian to believe they are illusions. Is this so?
It is unchristian to believe that pain and sickness are
anything but illusions. My proof of