to which it seemed
to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal [30]
cause, or Mind-force, invisible to material sense, lay
concealed in the treasure-troves of Science. True,
[pg 023]
Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much; [1]
but Science, demanding more, pushes the question:
Whence or what is the power back of gravitation—the
intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true?
Does mind “sleep in the mineral, or dream in the [5]
animal, and wake in man”? Christianity answers this
question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon-
strated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called
material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves,
obey this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake [10]
in creation, “and it was done”? The answer is self-
evident, and the command remains, “Thou shalt have
no other gods before me.”
It is plain that the Me spoken of in the First Com-
mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris- [15]
tian's God, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even
talk; and the serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf,
lied. Reason and revelation declare that God is both
noumenon and phenomena—the first and only cause.
The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic [20]
action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust.
God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one
God, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image
and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris-
tian Science means by the word reflection. God is seen [25]
only in that which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love—
yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats
precisely the looks and actions of the object in front of it.
All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to [30]
natural science, God, Spirit, could not change its species
and evolve matter.
[pg 024]
These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and [1]
knowledge of them makes man spiritually minded. St.
Paul writes: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace.” This knowl-
edge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it [5]
to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned
on the night of material sense. This knowledge is
practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from
an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal
by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called [10]
for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I
read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and
the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after
was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That
short experience included a glimpse of the great fact [15]
that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely,
Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of
existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub-
jective state which it names matter, thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit. Per contra, Mind and man [20]
are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense
is illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it
cannot be true. A knowledge of both good and evil
(when good is God, and God is All) is impossible. Speak-
ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: “When he [25]
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it.” God warned man not to believe
the talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing
it. The Nazarene Prophet declared that his followers
should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle falsi- [30]
ties or illusions, and thus destroy any supposed effect
arising from false claims exercising their supposed power
[pg 025]
on the mind and body of man against his holiness and [1]
health.
That there is but one God or Life, one cause and
one effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science;
and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity, [5]
the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In
divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of
error, and that neither one really exists, since God is
Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount,
in its direct application to human needs, confirms this [10]
conclusion.
Science, understood, translates matter into Mind,
rejects all other theories of causation, restores the spir-
itual and original meaning of the Scriptures, and ex-
plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is religion's [15]
“new tongue,” with “signs following,” spoken of by
St. Mark. It gives God's infinite meaning to mankind,
healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the spirit-
ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re-
iterates the word, repeats the works, and manifests the [20]
spirit of Christ.
Jesus' only medicine was omnipotent and omniscient
Mind. As omni is from the Latin word meaning all,
this medicine is all-power; and omniscience means as
well, all-science. The sick are more deplorably situated [25]
than the sinful, if the sick cannot trust God for help and
the sinful can. If God created drugs good, they cannot be
harmful; if He could create them otherwise, then they
are bad and unfit for man; and if He created drugs for
healing the sick, why did not Jesus