understanding of how you are healed. In 1885, this [5]
knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad
at this early date some grossly incorrect and false
teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such
beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim; [10]
whereas the Founder of genuine Christian Science has
been all her years in giving it birth.
Can you take care of yourself?
God giveth to every one this puissance; and I have
faith in His promise, “Lo, I am with you alway”—[15]
all the way. Unlike the M. D.'s, Christian Scientists
are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this
medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, ex-
haustless source they intend to fill the human mind with
enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump. [20]
There may be exceptional cases, where one Christian
Scientist who has more to meet than others needs support
at times; then, it is right to bear “one another's burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
In what way is a Christian Scientist an instrument by [25]
which God reaches others to heal them, and what most
obstructs the way?
A Christian, or a Christian Scientist, assumes no more
when claiming to work with God in healing the sick,
than in converting the sinner. Divine help is as neces-
[pg 040]
sary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Prin- [1]
ciple of healing demands such cooperation; but this
unison and its power would be arrested if one were to
mix material methods with the spiritual—were to min-
gle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same pro- [5]
cess—and thus serve “other gods.” Truth is as
effectual in destroying sickness as in the destruction
of sin.
It is often asked, “If Christian Science is the same
method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used, [10]
why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures
as did those in the first century of the Christian era?”
In some instances the students of Christian Science
equal the ancient prophets as healers. All true healing
is governed by, and demonstrated on, the same Princi- [15]
ple as theirs; namely, the action of the divine Spirit,
through the power of Truth to destroy error, discord
of whatever sort. The reason that the same results fol-
low not in every ease, is that the student does not in
every case possess sufficiently the Christ-spirit and its [20]
power to cast out the disease. The Founder of Chris-
tian Science teaches her students that they must possess
the spirit of Truth and Love, must gain the power
over sin in themselves, or they cannot be instantaneous
healers. [25]
In this Christian warfare the student or practitioner
has to master those elements of evil too common to other
minds. If it is hate that is holding the purpose to kill
his patient by mental means, it requires more divine
understanding to conquer this sin than to nullify either [30]
the disease itself or the ignorance by which one unin-
tentionally harms himself or another. An element of
[pg 041]
brute-force that only the cruel and evil can send forth, is [1]
given vent in the diabolical practice of one who, having
learned the power of liberated thought to do good, per-
verts it, and uses it to accomplish an evil purpose. This
mental malpractice would disgrace Mind-healing, were it [5]
not that God overrules it, and causes “the wrath of man”
to praise Him. It deprives those who practise it of the
power to heal, and destroys their own possibility of
progressing.
The honest student of Christian Science is purged [10]
through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in
the ennobling strife. The good fight must be fought by
those who keep the faith and finish their course. Mental
purgation must go on: it promotes spiritual growth,
scales the mountain of human endeavor, and gains the [15]
summit in Science that otherwise could not be reached,
—where the struggle with sin is forever done.
Can all classes of disease be healed by your method?
We answer, Yes. Mind is the architect that builds
its own idea, and produces all harmony that appears. [20]
There is no other healer in the case. If mortal mind,
through the action of fear, manifests inflammation and a
belief of chronic or acute disease, by removing the cause
in that so-called mind the effect or disease will disappear
and health will be restored; for health, alias harmony, [25]
is the normal manifestation of man in Science. The
divine Principle which governs the universe, including
man, if demonstrated, is sufficient for all emergencies.
But the practitioner may not always prove equal to
bringing out the result of the Principle that he knows to [30]
be true.
[pg 042]
After the change called death takes place, do we meet [1]
those gone before?—or does life continue in thought only
as in a dream?
Man is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity,
by passing through the belief called death. After the [5]
momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this
mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the in-
dividual has but passed through a moment of extreme
mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as