Miscellaneous Writings Part 9

_Can Christian Science cure acute cases where there is_ _necessity for immediate relief, as in membranous croup?_

The remedial power of Christian Science is positive, and its application direct. It cannot fail to heal in every case of disease, when conducted by one who un- [10]

derstands this Science sufficiently to demonstrate its highest possibilities.

_If I have the toothache, and nothing stops it until I_ _have the tooth extracted, and then the pain ceases, has_ _the mind, or extracting, or both, caused the pain to_ [15]

_cease?_

What you thought was pain in the bone or nerve, could only have been a belief of pain in matter; for matter has no sensation. It was a state of mortal thought made manifest in the flesh. You call this body matter, when [20]

awake, or when asleep in a dream. That matter can re- report pain, or that mind is _in_ matter, reporting sensa- tions, is but a dream at all times. You believed that if the tooth were extracted, the pain would cease: this de- mand of mortal thought once met, your belief a.s.sumed [25]

a new form, and said, There is no more pain. When your belief in pain ceases, the pain stops; for matter has no intelligence of its own. By applying this men- tal remedy or antidote directly to your belief, you scien-

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tifically prove the fact that Mind is supreme. This is not [1]

done by will-power, for that is not Science but mesmerism.

The full understanding that G.o.d is Mind, and that mat- ter is but a belief, enables you to control pain. Chris- tian Science, by means of its Principle of metaphysical [5]

healing, is able to do more than to heal a toothache; although its power to allay fear, prevent inflammation, and destroy the necessity for ether-thereby avoiding the fatal results that frequently follow the use of that drug-render this Science invaluable in the practice [10]

of dentistry.

_Can an atheist or a profane man be cured by metaphysics,_ _or Christian Science?_

The moral status of the man demands the remedy of Truth more in this than in most cases; therefore, under [15]

the deific law that supply invariably meets demand, this Science is effectual in treating moral ailments. Sin is not the master of divine Science, but _vice versa_; and when Science in a single instance decides the conflict, the patient is better both morally and physically. [20]

_If G.o.d made all that was made, and it was good, where_ _did evil originate?_

It never originated or existed as an ent.i.ty. It is but a false belief; even the belief that G.o.d is not what the Scriptures imply Him to be, All-in-all, but that there [25]

is an opposite intelligence or mind termed evil. This error of belief is idolatry, having "other G.o.ds before me."

In John i. 3 we read, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

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The admission of the reality of evil perpetuates the belief [1]

or faith in evil. The Scriptures declare, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are."

The leading self-evident proposition of Christian Science is: good being real, evil, good's opposite, is unreal. This [5]

truism needs only to be tested scientifically to be found true, and adapted to destroy the appearance of evil to an extent beyond the power of any doctrine previously entertained.

_Do you teach that you are equal with G.o.d?_ [10]

A reader of my writings would not present this ques- tion. There are no such indications in the premises or conclusions of Christian Science, and such a misconcep- tion of Truth is not scientific. Man is not equal with his Maker; that which is formed is not cause, but effect, [15]

and has no power underived from its creator. It is pos- sible, and it is man's duty, so to throw the weight of his thoughts and acts on the side of Truth, that he be ever found in the scale _with_ his creator; not weighing equally with Him, but comprehending at every point, in [20]

divine Science, the full significance of what the apostle meant by the declaration, "The Spirit itself beareth wit- ness with our spirit, that we are the children of G.o.d: and if children, then heirs; heirs of G.o.d, and joint-heirs with Christ." In Science, man represents his divine Prin- [25]

ciple,-the Life and Love that are G.o.d,-even as the idea of sound, in tones, represents harmony; but thought has not yet wholly attained unto the Science of being, wherein man is perfect even as the Father, his divine Principle, is perfect. [30]

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_How can I believe that there is no such thing as matter,_ [1]

_when I weigh over two hundred pounds and carry about_ _this weight daily?_

By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind.

You entertain an adipose belief of yourself as substance; [5]

whereas, substance means more than matter: it is the glory and permanence of Spirit: it is that which is hoped for but unseen, that which the material senses cannot take in. Have you never been so preoccupied in thought when moving your body, that you did this with- [10]

out consciousness of its weight? If never in your waking hours, you have been in your night-dreams; and these tend to elucidate your day-dream, or the mythical nature of matter, and the possibilities of mind when let loose from its own beliefs. In sleep, a sense of the body ac- [15]

companies thought with less impediment than when awake, which is the truer sense of being. In Science, body is the servant of Mind, not its master: Mind is supreme. Science reverses the evidence of material sense with the spiritual sense that G.o.d, Spirit, is the only [20]

substance; and that man, His image and likeness, is spiritual, not material. This great Truth does not de- stroy but substantiates man's ident.i.ty,-together with his immortality and preexistence, or his spiritual co- existence with his Maker. That which has a beginning [25]

must have an ending.

_What should one conclude as to Professor Carpenter's_ _exhibitions of mesmerism?_

That largely depends upon what one accepts as either useful or true. I have no knowledge of mesmerism, [30]

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practically or theoretically, save as I measure its demon- [1]

strations as a false belief, and avoid all that works ill. If mesmerism has the power attributed to it by the gentle- man referred to, it should neither be taught nor practised, but should be conscientiously condemned. One thing [5]

is quite apparent; namely, that its so-called power is despotic, and Mr. Carpenter deserves praise for his public exposure of it. If such be its power, I am opposed to it, as to every form of error,-whether of ignorance or fanaticism, prompted by money-making or malice. It [10]

is enough for me to know that animal magnetism is neither of G.o.d nor Science.

It is alleged that at one of his recent lectures in Bos- ton Mr. Carpenter made a man drunk on water, and then informed his audience that he could produce the [15]

effect of alcohol, or of any drug, on the human system, through the action of mind alone. This honest declara- tion as to the animus of animal magnetism and the pos- sible purpose to which it can be devoted, has, we trust, been made in season to open the eyes of the people to the [20]

hidden nature of some tragic events and sudden deaths at this period.

_Was ever a person made insane by studying meta-_ _physics?_

Such an occurrence would be impossible, for the [25]

proper study of Mind-healing would cure the insane.

That persons have gone away from the Ma.s.sachusetts Metaphysical College "made insane by Mrs. Eddy's teachings," like a hundred other stories, is a baseless fabrication offered solely to injure her or her school. [30]

The enemy is trying to make capital out of the follow-

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ing case. A young lady entered the College cla.s.s who, [1]

I quickly saw, had a tendency to monomania, and re- quested her to withdraw before its close. We are cred- ibly informed that, before entering the College, this young lady had manifested some mental unsoundness, [5]

and have no doubt she could have been restored by Christian Science treatment. Her friends employed a h.o.m.opathist, who had the skill and honor to state, as his opinion given to her friends, that "Mrs. Eddy's teach- ings had not produced insanity." This is the only case [10]

that could be distorted into the claim of insanity ever having occurred in a cla.s.s of Mrs. Eddy's; while ac- knowledged and notable cases of insanity have been cured in her cla.s.s.

_If all that is mortal is a dream or error, is not_ [15]

_our capacity for formulating a dream, real; is it not_ _G.o.d-made; and if G.o.d-made, can it be wrong, sinful, or_ _an error?_

The spirit of Truth leads into all truth, and enables man to discern between the real and the unreal. Enter- [20]

taining the common belief in the opposite of goodness, and that evil is as real as good, opposes the leadings of the divine Spirit that are helping man G.o.dward: it pre- vents a recognition of the nothingness of the dream, or belief, that Mind is in matter, intelligence in non-intel- [25]

ligence, sin, and death. This belief presupposes not only a power opposed to G.o.d, and that G.o.d is not All- in-all, as the Scriptures imply Him to be, but that the capacity to err proceeds from G.o.d.

That G.o.d is Truth, the Scriptures aver; that Truth [30]

never created error, or such a capacity, is self-evident;

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