Читать книгу Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 - Mary Baker Eddy - Страница 8

Even as the struggling heart, reaching toward a higher

goal, appeals to its hope and faith, Why failest thou [25]

me? Jesus as the son of man was human: Christ as

the Son of God was divine. This divinity was reaching

humanity through the crucifixion of the human—that

momentous demonstration of God, in which Spirit proved

its supremacy over matter. Jesus assumed for mortals the [30]

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weakness of flesh, that Spirit might be found “All-in-all.” [1]

Hence, the human cry which voiced that struggle;

thence, the way he made for mortals' escape. Our

Master bore the cross to show his power over death;

then relinquished his earth-task of teaching and dem- [5]

onstrating the nothingness of sickness, sin, and death,

and rose to his native estate, man's indestructible eternal

life in God.

What can prospective students of the College take for

preliminary studies? Do you regard the study of litera- [10]

ture and languages as objectionable?

Persons contemplating a course at the Massachusetts

Metaphysical College, can prepare for it through no

books except the Bible, and “Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures.” Man-made theories are nar- [15]

row, else extravagant, and are always materialistic.

The ethics which guide thought spiritually must bene-

fit every one; for the only philosophy and religion that

afford instruction are those which deal with facts and

resist speculative opinions and fables. [20]

Works on science are profitable; for science is not

human. It is spiritual, and not material. Literature

and languages, to a limited extent, are aids to a student

of the Bible and of Christian Science.

Is it possible to know why we are put into this condition [25]

of mortality?

It is quite as possible to know wherefore man is thus

conditioned, as to be certain that he is in a state of

mortality. The only evidence of the existence of a mor-

tal man, or of a material state and universe, is gathered [30]

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from the five personal senses. This delusive evidence, [1]

Science has dethroned by repeated proofs of its falsity.

We have no more proof of human discord—sin,

sickness, disease, or death—than we have that the

earth's surface is flat, and her motions imaginary. If [5]

man's ipse dixit as to the stellar system is correct, this

is because Science is true, and the evidence of the senses

is false. Then why not submit to the affirmations of

Science concerning the greater subject of human weal

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

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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

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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 this is, that the

penalty for believing in their reality is the very pain and

disease. Jesus cast out a devil, and the dumb spake; [15]

hence it is right to know that the works of Satan are the

illusion and error which Truth casts out.

Does the gentleman above mentioned know the

meaning of divine metaphysics, or of metaphysical

theology? [20]

According to Webster, metaphysics is defined thus:

“The science of the conceptions and relations which are

necessary to thought and knowledge; science of the

mind.” Worcester defines it as “the philosophy of mind,

as distinguished from that of matter; a science of which [25]

the object is to explain the principles and causes of

all things existing,” Brande calls metaphysics “the

science which regards the ultimate grounds of being, as

distinguished from its phenomenal modifications.” “A

speculative science, which soars beyond the bounds of [30]

experience,” is a further definition.

[pg 069]

Divine metaphysics is that which treats of the exist- [1]

ence of God, His essence, relations, and attributes. A

sneer at metaphysics is a scoff at Deity; at His goodness,

mercy, and might.

Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics; [5]

that is, of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests

on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Chris-

tian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize

the divine power.

In Genesis i. 26, we read: “Let us make man in [10]

our image, after our likeness: and let them have

dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of

the air.”

I was once called to visit a sick man to whom the

regular physicians had given three doses of Croton [15]

oil, and then had left him to die. Upon my arrival I

found him barely alive, and in terrible agony. In one

hour he was well, and the next day he attended to his

business. I removed the stoppage, healed him of en-

teritis, and neutralized the bad effects of the poison- [20]

ous oil. His physicians had failed even to move his

bowels—though the wonder was, with the means

used in their effort to accomplish this result, that

they had not quite killed him. According to their

diagnosis, the exciting cause of the inflammation and [25]

stoppage was—eating smoked herring. The man is

living yet; and I will send his address to any one

who may wish to apply to him for information about

his case.

Now comes the question: Had that sick man dominion [30]

over the fish in his stomach?

His want of control over “the fish of the sea” must

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have been an illusion, or else the Scriptures misstate [1]

man's power. That the Bible is true I believe, not

only, but I demonstrated its truth when I exercised

my power over the fish, cast out the sick man's illu-

sion, and healed him. Thus it was shown that the [5]

healing action of Mind upon the body has its only ex-

planation in divine metaphysics. As a man “thinketh

in his heart, so is he.” When the mortal thought, or be-

lief, was removed, the man was well.

What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief, [10]

“To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”?

Paradisaical rest from physical agony would come to

the criminal, if the dream of dying should startle him

from the dream of suffering. The paradise of Spirit

would come to Jesus, in a spiritual sense of Life and [15]

power. Christ Jesus lived and reappeared. He was too

good to die; for goodness is immortal. The thief was

not equal to the demands of the hour; but sin was de-

stroying itself, and had already begun to die—as

the poor thief's prayer for help indicated. The dy- [20]

ing malefactor and our Lord were inevitably sepa-

rated through Mind. The thief's body, as matter,

must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the

body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal. That

day the thief would be with Jesus only in a finite [25]

and material sense of relief; while our Lord would

soon be rising to the supremacy of Spirit, working

out, even in the silent tomb, those wonderful demon-

strations of divine power, in which none could equal his

glory. [30]

[pg 071]

Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely [1]

well myself?

The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from

an appetite for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he

saved many a drunkard from this fatal appetite. Paul [5]

had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was

troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore

eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were

sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and heal-

ing the sick is a very right thing to do. [10]

Does Christian Science set aside the law of transmission,

prenatal desires, and good or bad influences on the unborn

child?

Science never averts law, but supports it. All actual

causation must interpret omnipotence, the all-knowing [15]

Mind. Law brings out Truth, not error; unfolds divine

Principle—but neither human hypothesis nor matter.

Errors are based on a mortal or material formation; they

are suppositional modes, not the factors of divine presence

and power. [20]

Whatever is humanly conceived is a departure from

divine law; hence its mythical origin and certain end.

According to the Scriptures—St. Paul declares astutely,

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all

things,”—man is incapable of originating; nothing can [25]

be formed apart from God, good, the all-knowing Mind.

What seems to be of human origin is the counterfeit

of the divine—even human concepts, mortal shadows

flitting across the dial of time.

Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the im- [30]

mutable and just law of Science, that God is good only,

[pg 072]

and can transmit to man and the universe nothing evil, [1]

or unlike Himself. For the innocent babe to be born a

lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins,

were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator,

and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and [5]

true origin, God.

According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and

bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their help-

less offspring, and God is supposed to impart to man

this fatal power. It is cause for rejoicing that this belief [10]

is as false as it is remorseless. The immutable Word

saith, through the prophet Ezekiel, “What mean ye, that

ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's

teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, [15]

ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb

in Israel.”

Are material things real when they are harmonious, and

do they disappear only to the natural sense? Does this

Scripture, “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have [20]

need of all these things” imply that Spirit takes note of

matter?

The Science of Mind, as well as the material unii

verse, shows that nothing which is material is in

perpetual harmony. Matter is manifest mortal mind, [35]

and it exists only to material sense. Real sensation

is not material; it is, and must be, mental: and Mind

is not mortal, it is immortal. Being is God, infinite

Spirit; therefore it cannot cognize aught material, or

outside of infinity. [30]

The Scriptural passage quoted affords no evidence of

[pg 073]

the reality of matter, or that God is conscious of it. [1]

The so-called material body is said to suffer, but this

supposition is proven erroneous when Mind casts out

the suffering. The Scripture saith, “Whom the Lord

loveth He chasteneth;” and again, “He doth not [5]

afflict willingly.” Interpreted materially, these pas-

sages conflict; they mingle the testimony of immor-

tal Science with mortal sense; but once discern their

spiritual meaning, and it separates the false sense from

the true, and establishes the reality of what is spiritual, [10]

and the unreality of materiality.

Law is never material: it is always mental and moral,

and a commandment to the wise. The foolish disobey

moral law, and are punished. Human wisdom therefore

can get no farther than to say, He knoweth that we have [15]

need of experience. Belief fulfils the conditions of a be-

lief, and these conditions destroy the belief. Hence the

verdict of experience: We have need of these things; we

have need to know that the so-called pleasures and pains

of matter—yea, that all subjective states of false sensa- [20]

tion—are unreal.

“And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,

That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when

the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,

ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the [25]

twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt. xix. 28.) What is meant

by regeneration?

It is the appearing of divine law to human under-

standing; the spiritualization that comes from spiritual

sense in contradistinction to the testimony of the so- [30]

called material senses. The phenomena of Spirit in

[pg 074]

Christian Science, and the divine correspondence of [1]

noumenon and phenomenon understood, are here signi-

fied. This new-born sense subdues not only the false

sense of generation, but the human will, and the un-

natural enmity of mortal man toward God. It quickly [5]

imparts a new apprehension of the true basis of being,

and the spiritual foundation for the affections which en-

throne the Son of man in the glory of his Father; and

judges, through the stern mandate of Science, all human

systems of etiology and teleology. [10]

If God does not recognize matter, how did Jesus, who was

“the way, the truth, and the life,” cognize it?

Christ Jesus' sense of matter was the opposite of that

which mortals entertain: his nativity was a spiritual and

immortal sense of the ideal world. His earthly mission [15]

was to translate substance into its original meaning,

Mind. He walked upon the waves; he turned the water

into wine; he healed the sick and the sinner; he raised

the dead, and rolled away the stone from the door of his

own tomb. His demonstration of Spirit virtually van- [20]

quished matter and its supposed laws. Walking the

wave, he proved the fallacy of the theory that matter is

substance; healing through Mind, he removed any sup-

position that matter is intelligent, or can recognize or

express pain and pleasure. His triumph over the grave [25]

was an everlasting victory for Life; it demonstrated the

lifelessness of matter, and the power and permanence

of Spirit. He met and conquered the resistance of the

world.