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Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy

CHAPTER III

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What do you consider to be mental malpractice?

MENTAL malpractice is a bland denial of Truth, and is the antipode of Christian Science. To mentally argue in a manner that can disastrously affect the happiness of a fellow-being -- harm him morally, physically, or spiritually -- breaks the Golden Rule and subverts the scientific laws of being. This, therefore, is not the use but the abuse of mental treatment, and is mental malpractice. It is needless to say that such a subversion of right is not scientific. Its claim to power is in proportion to the faith in evil, and consequently to the lack of faith in good. Such false faith finds no place in, and receives no aid from, the Principle or the rules of Christian Science; for it denies the grand verity of this Science, namely, that God, good, has all power.

This leaves the individual no alternative but to relinquish his faith in evil, or to argue against his own convictions of good and so destroy his power to be or to do good, because he has no faith in the omnipotence of God, good. He parts with his understanding of good, in order to retain his faith in evil and so succeed with his wrong argument, -- if indeed he desires success in this broad road to destruction.

How shall we demean ourselves towards the students of disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's remarks on "Christ and Christmas"?

From this question, I infer that some of my students seem not to know in what manner they should act towards the students of false teachers, or such as have strayed from the rules and divine Principle of Christian Science. The query is abnormal, when "precept upon precept; line upon line" are to be found in the Scriptures, and in my books, on this very subject.

In Mark, ninth chapter, commencing at the thirty-third verse, you will find my views on this subject; love alone is admissible towards friend and foe. My sympathies extend to the above-named class of students more than to many others. If I had the time to talk with all students of Christian Science, and correspond with them, I would gladly do my best towards helping those unfortunate seekers after Truth whose teacher is straying from the straight and narrow path. But I have not moments enough in which to give to my own flock all the time and attention that they need, -- and charity must begin at home.

Distinct denominational and social organizations and societies are at present necessary for the individual, and for our Cause. But all people can and should be just, merciful; they should never envy, elbow, slander, hate, or try to injure, but always should try to bless their fellow-mortals.

To the query in regard to some clergyman's comments on my illustrated poem, I will say: It is the righteous prayer that avails with God. Whatever is wrong will receive its own reward. The high priests of old cause the crucifixion of even the great Master; and thereby they lost, and he won, heaven. I love all ministers and ministries of Christ, Truth.

All clergymen may not understand the illustrations in "Christ and Christmas;" or that these refer not to personality, but present the type and shadow of Truth's appearing in the womanhood as well as in the manhood of God, our divine Father and Mother.

Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be healed by it?

This is a question that is being asked every day. It has not proved impossible to heal those who, when they began treatment, had no faith whatever in the Science, -- other than to place themselves under my care, and follow the directions given. Patients naturally gain confidence in Christian Science as they recognize the help they derive therefrom.

What are the advantages of your system of healing, over the ordinary methods of healing disease?

Healing by Christian Science has the following advantages: --

First: It does away with all material medicines, and recognizes the fact that, as mortal mind is the cause of all "the ills that flesh is heir to," the antidote for sickness, as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind's opposite, -- the divine Mind.

Second: It is more effectual than drugs; curing where these fail, and leaving none of the harmful "after effects" of these in the system; thus proving that metaphysics is above physics.

Third: One who has been healed by Christian Science is not only healed of the disease, but is improved morally. The body is governed by mind; and mortal mind must be improved, before the body is renewed and harmonious, -- since the physique is simply thought made manifest.

Is spiritualism or mesmerism included in Christian Science?

They are wholly apart from it. Christian Science is based on divine Principle; whereas spiritualism, so far as I understand it, is a mere speculative opinion and human belief. If the departed were to communicate with us, we should see them as they were before death, and have them with us; after death, they can no more come to those they have left, than we, in our present state of existence, can go to the departed or the adult can return to his boyhood. We may pass on to their state of existence, but they cannot return to ours. Man is im -mortal, and there is not a moment when he ceases to exist. All that are called "communications from spirits," lie within the realm of mortal thought on this present plane of existence, and are the antipodes of Christian Science; the immortal and mortal are as a direct opposites as light and darkness.

Who is the Founder of mental healing?

The author of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," who discovered the Science of healing embodied in her works. Years of practical proof, through homoepathy, revealed to her the fact that Mind, instead of matter, is the Principle of pathology; and subsequently her recovery, through the supremacy of Mind over matter, from a severe casualty pronounced by the physicians incurable, sealed that proof with the signet of Christian Science. In 1883, a million of people acknowledge and attest the blessings of this mental system of treating disease. Perhaps the following words of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy, afford the most concise, yet complete, summary of the matter: --

"Mrs. Eddy's works are the outgrowths of her life. I never knew so unselfish an individual."

Will the book Science and Health, that you offer for sale at three dollars, teach its readers to heal the sick, -- or is one obliged to become a student under your personal instruction? And if one is obliged to study under you, of what benefit is your book?

Why do we read the Bible, and then go to church to hear it expounded? Only because both are important. Why do we read moral science, and then study it at college?

You are benefited by reading Science and Health, but it is greatly to your advantage to be taught its Science by the author of that work, who explains it in detail.

What is immortal Mind?

In reply, we refer you to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," (1) Vol. I. page 14: "That which is erring, sinful, sick, and dying, termed material or mortal man, is neither God's man nor Mind; but to be understood, we shall classify evil and error as mortal mind, in contradistinction to good and Truth, or the Mind which is immortal."

Do animals and beasts have a mind?

Beasts, as well as men, express Mind as their origin; but they manifest less of Mind. The first and only cause is the eternal Mind, which is God. and there is but one God. The ferocious mind seen in the beast is mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with the lamb. Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety, are the animal qualities of sinning mortals; and the beasts that have these propensities express the lower qualities of the so-called animal man; in other words, the nature and quality of mortal mind, -- not immortal Mind.

What is the distinction between mortal mind and immortal Mind?

Mortal mind includes all evil, disease, and death; also, all beliefs relative to the so-called material laws, and all material objects, and the law of sin and death.

The Scripture says, "The carnal mind [in other words, mortal mind] is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Mortal mind is an illusion; as much in our waking moments as in the dreams of sleep. The belief that intelligence, Truth, and Love, are in matter and separate from God, is an error; for there is no intelligent evil, and no power besides God, good. God would not omnipotent if there were in reality another mind creating or governing man or the universe.

Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is made manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw mankind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual facts of being.

Jesus recognized this relation so clearly that he said, "I and my Father are one." In proportion as we oppose the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death, and recognize ourselves under the control of God, spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those words of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world . . . heal the sick."

Can your Science cure intemperance?

Christian Science lays the axe at the root of the tree. Its antidote for all ills is God, the perfect Mind, which corrects mortal thought, whence cometh all evil. God can and does destroy the thought that leads to moral or physical death. Intemperance, impurity, sin of every sort, is destroyed by Truth. The appetite for alcohol yields to Science as directly and surely as do sickness and sin.

Does Mrs. Eddy take patients?

She now does not. Her time is wholly devoted to instruction, leaving to her students the work of healing; which, at this hour, is in reality the least difficult of the labor that Christian Science demands.

Why do you charge for teaching Christian Science, when all the good we can do must be done freely?

When teaching imparts the ability to gain and maintain health, to heal and elevate man in every line of life,-- as this teaching certainly does,-- is it unreasonable to expect in return something to support one's self and a Cause? If so, our whole system of education, secular and religious, is at fault, and the instructors and philanthropists in our land should expect no compensation. "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?"

How happened you to establish a college to instruct in metaphysics, when other institutions find little interest in such a dry and abstract subject?

Metaphysics, as taught by me at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, is far from dry and abstract. It is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics needful, indispensable. Teaching metaphysics at other colleges means, mainly, elaborating a man-made theory, or some speculative view too vapory and hypothetical for questions of practical import.

Is it necessary to study your Science in order to be healed by it and keep well?

It is not necessary to make each patient a student in order to cure his present disease, if this is what you mean. Were it so, the Science would be of less practical value. Many who apply for help are not prepared to take a course of instruction in Christian Science.

To avoid being subject to disease, would require the understanding of how you are healed. In 1885, this 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; 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 everyone this puissance; and I have faith in His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway"-- all the way. Unlike the and M.D.'s, Christian Scientists are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, exhaustless source they intend to fill the human mind with enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump. 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 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 necessary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Principle 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 mingle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same process, -- 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, 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 Principle 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 follow not in every case, is that the student does not in every case possess sufficiently the Christ-spirit and its power to cast out the disease. The Founder of Christian 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.

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 the disease itself or the ignorance by which one unintentionally harms himself or another. An element of brute-force that only the cruel and evil can send forth, is given vent in the diabolical practice of one who, having learned the power of liberated thought to do good, perverts it, and uses it to accomplish an evil purpose. This mental malpractice would disgrace Mind-healing, were it 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 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 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. 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, 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 be true. After the change called death takes place, do we meet 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 momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the individual has but passed through a moment of extreme mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as material as before. Science and Health clearly states that spiritualization of thought is not attained by the death of the body, but by a conscious union with God. When we shall have passed the ordeal called death, or destroyed this last enemy, and shall have come upon the same plane of conscious existence with those gone before, then we shall be able to communicate with and to recognize them.

If, before the change whereby we meet the dear departed, our life-work proves to have been well done, we shall not have to repeat it; but our joys and means of advancing will be proportionately increased.

The difference between a belief of material existence and the spiritual fact of Life is, that the former is a dream and unreal, while the latter is real and eternal. Only as we understand God, and learn that good, not evil, lives and is immortal, that immortality exists only in spiritual perfection, shall we drop our false sense of Life in the sin or sense material, and recognize a better state of existence.

Can I be treated without being present during treatment?

Mind is not confined to limits; and nothing but our own false admissions prevent us from demonstrating this great fact. Christian Science, recognizing the capabilities of Mind to act of itself, and independent of matter, enables one to heal cases without even having seen the individual, -- or simply after having been made acquainted with the mental condition of the patient.

Do all who at present claim to be teaching Christian Science, teach it correctly?

By no means: Christian Science is not sufficiently understood for that. The student of this Science who understands it best, is the one least likely to pour into other minds a trifling sense of it as being adequate to make safe and successful practitioners. The simple sense one gains of this Science through careful, unbiased, contemplative reading of my books, is far more advantageous to the sick and to the learner than is or can be the spurious teaching of those who are spiritually unqualified. The sad fact at this early writing is, that the letter is gained sooner than the spirit of Christian Science: time is required thoroughly to qualify students for the great ordeal of this century.

If one student tries to undermine another, such sinister rivalry does a vast amount of injury to the Cause. To fill one's pocket at the expense of his conscience, or to build on the downfall of others, incapacitates one to practise or teach Christian Science. The occasional temporary success of such and one is owing, in part, to the impossibility for those unacquainted with the mighty Truth of Christian Science to recognize, as such, the barefaced errors that are taught -- and the damaging effects these leave on the practice of the learner, on the Cause, and on the health of the community.

Honest students speak the truth "according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount," and live it: these are not working for emoluments, and may profitably teach people, who are ready to investigate this subject, the rudiments of Christian Science.

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 understands 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 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 awake, or when asleep in a dream. That matter can report pain, or that mind is in matter, reporting sensations, is but a dream at all times. You believe that if the truth were extracted, the pain would cease: this demand of mortal thought once met, your belief assumed 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 mental remedy or antidote directly to your belief, you scientifically prove the fact that mind is supreme. This is not done by will-power, for that is not Science but mesmerism. The full understanding that God is Mind, and that matter is but a belief, enables you to control pain. Christian Science, by means of its Principle of metaphysical 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 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 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.

If God made all that was made, and it was good, where did evil originate?

It never originated or existed as an entity. It is but a false belief; even the belief that God is not what the Scriptures imply Him to be, All-in-all, but that there is an opposite intelligence or mind termed evil. This error of belief is idolatry, having "other gods before me." In John i.3 we read, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."

The admission of the reality of evil perpetuates the belief 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 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 God?

A reader of my writings would not present this question. There are no such indications in the premises or conclusions of Christian Science, and such a misconception of Truth is not scientific. Man is not equal with his Maker; that which is formed is not cause, but effect, and has no power underived from its creator. It is possible, 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 divine Science, the full significance of what the apostle meant by the declaration, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." In Science, man represents his divine Principle, -- the Life and Love that are God, -- 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.

How can I believe that there is no such thing as matter, when I weigh over two hundread pounds and carry about this weight daily?

By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind. You entertain an adipose belief of your self as substance; 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 without 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 mystical nature of matter, and the possibilities of mind when let loose from its own beliefs. In sleep, a sense of the body accompanies 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 God, Spirit, is the only substance; and that man, His image and likeness, is spiritual, not material. This great Truth does not destroy but substantiates man's identity, -- together with his immortality and preexistence, or his spiritual coexistence with his Maker. That which has a beginning 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, practically or theoretically, save as I measure its demonstrations as a false belief, and avoid all that works ill. If mesmerism has the power attributed to it by the gentleman referred to, it should neither be taught nor practised, but should be conscientiously condemned. One thing 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 is enough for me to know that animal magnetism is neither of God nor Science.

It is alleged that at one of his recent lectures in Boston Mr. Carpenter made a man drunk on water, and then informed his audience that he could produce the effect of alcohol, or of any drug, on the human system, through the action of mind alone. This honest declaration as to the animus of animal magnetism and the possible purpose to which it can be devoted, has, we trust, been made in season to open the eyes of the people to the hidden nature of some tragic events and sudden deaths at this period.

Was ever a person made insane by studying metaphysics?

Such an occurrence would be impossible, for the proper study of Mind-healing would cure the insane. That persons have gone away from the Massachusetts metaphysical College "made insane by Mrs. Eddy's teachings," like a hundread other stories, is a baseless fabrication offered solely to injure her or her school. The enemy is trying to make capital out of the following case. A young lady entered the College class who, I quickly saw, had a tendency to monomania, and requested her to withdraw before its close. We are credibly informed that, before entering the College, this young lady had manifested some mental unsoundness, and have no doubt she could have been restored by Christian Science treatment. Her friends employed a homoepathist, who had the skill and honor to state, as his opinion given to her friends, that "Mrs. Eddy's teachings had not produced insanity." This is the only case that could be distorted into the claim of insanity ever having occurred in a class of Mrs. Eddy's; while acknowledged and notable cases of insanity have been cured in her class.

If all that is mortal is a dream or error, is not our capacity for formulating a dream, real; is it not God-made, and if God-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. Entertaining 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 Godward: it prevents a recognition of the nothingness of the dream, or belief, that Mind is in matter, intelligence in non-intelligence, sin, and death. This belief presupposes not only a power opposed to God, and that God is not All-in-all, as the Scriptures imply Him to be, but that the capacity to err proceeds from God.

That God is Truth, the Scriptures of aver; that Truth never created error, or such a capacity, is self-evident; that God made all that was made, is again Scriptural; therefore your answer is, that error is an illusion of mortals; that God is not its author, and it cannot be real.

Does "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" explain the entire method of metaphysical healing, or is there a secret back of what is contained in that book, as some say?

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" is a complete textbook of Christian Science; and its metaphysical method of healing is as lucid in presentation as can be possible, under the necessity to express the metaphysical in physical terms. There is absolutely no additional secret outside of its teachings, or that gives one the power to heal; but it is essential that the student gain the spiritual understanding of the contents of this book, in order to heal.

Do you believe in change of heart?

We do believe, and understand -- which is more -- that there must be a change from human affections, desires, and aims, to the divine standard, "Be ye therefore perfect;" also, that there must be a change from the belief that the heart is matter and sustains life, to the understanding that God is our Life, that we exist in Mind, live thereby, and have being. This change of heart would deliver man from heart-disease, and advance Christianity a hundredfold. The human affections need to be changed from self to benevolence and love for God and man; changed to having but one God and loving Him supremely, and helping our brother man.

This change of heart is essential to Christianity, and will have its effect physically as well as spiritually, healing disease. Burnt offerings and drugs, God does not require.

Is a belief of nervousness, accompanied by great mental depression, mesmerism?

All mesmerizing is of one of three kinds; namely, the ignorant, the fraudulent, or the malicious workings of error or mortal mind. We have not the particulars of the case to which you may refer, and for this reason cannot answer your question professionally.

How can I govern a child metaphysically? Doesn't the use of the rod teach him life in matter?

The use of the rod is virtually a declaration to the child's mind that sensation belongs to matter. Motives govern acts, and Mind governs man. If you make clear to the child's thought the right motives for action, and cause him to love them, they will lead him aright: if you educate him to love God, good, and obey the Golden Rule, he will love and obey you without your having to resort to corporal punishment.

"When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath

Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze

The whole dark pile of human mockeries;

Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth,

And starting fresh, as from a second birth,

Man in the sunshine of the world's new spring,

Shall walk transparent like some holy thing."

Are both prayer and drugs necessary to heal?

The apostle James said, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." This text may refer to such as seek the material to aid the spiritual, and take drugs to support God's power to heal them. It is difficult to say how much one can do for himself, whose faith is divided between catnip and Christ; but not so difficult to know that if he were to serve one master, he could do vastly more. Whosoever understands the power of Spirit, has no doubt of God's power, -- even the might of Truth, -- to heal, through divine Science, beyond all human means and methods.

What do you think of marriage?

That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher.

If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed, by death, -- if one gets tired of it, why not commit suicide?

Man's existence is a problem to be wrought in divine Science. What progress would a student of science make, if, when tired of mathematics or failing to demonstrate one rule readily, he should attempt to work out a rule farther on and more difficult -- and this, because the first rule was not easily demonstrated? In that case he would be obliged to turn back and work out the previous example, before solving the advanced problem. Mortals have the sum of being to work out, and up, to its spiritual standpoint. They must work out of this dream or false claim of sensation and life in matter, and up to the spiritual realities of existence, before this false claim can be wholly dispelled. Committing suicide to dodge the question is not working it out. The error of supposed life and intelligence in matter, is dissolved only as we master error with Truth. Not through sin or suicide, but by overcoming temptation and sin, shall we escape the weariness and wickedness of mortal existence, and gain heaven, the harmony of being.

Do you sometimes find it advisable to use medicine to assist in producing a cure, when it is difficult to start the patient's recovery?

You only weaken your power to heal through Mind, by any compromise with matter; which is virtually acknowledging that under difficulties the former is not equal to the latter. He that resorts to physics, seeks what is below instead of above the standard of metaphysics; showing his ignorance of the meaning of the term and of Christian Science.

If Christian Science is the same as Jesus taught, why is it not more simple, so that all can readily understand it?

The teachings of Jesus were simple; and yet he found it difficult to make the rulers understand, because of their great lack of spirituality. Christian Science is simple, and readily understood by the children; only the thought educated away from it finds it abstract or difficult to perceive. Its seeming abstraction is the mystery of godliness; and godliness is simple to the godly; but to the unspiritual, the ungodly, it is dark and difficult. The carnal mind cannot discern spiritual things. Has Mrs. Eddy lost her power to heal?

Has the sun forgotten to shine, and the planets to revolve around it? Who is it that discovered, demonstrated, and teaches Christian Science? That one, whoever it be, does understand something of what cannot be lost. Thousands in the field of metaphysical healing, whose lives are worthy testimonials, are her students, and they bear witness to this fact. Instead of losing her power to heal, she is demonstrating the power of Christian Science over all obstacles that envy and malice would fling in her path. The reading of her book, " Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," is curing hundreds at this very time; and the sick, unasked, are testifying thereto.

Must I study your Science in order to keep well all my life? I was healed of a chronic trouble after one month's treatment by one of your students.

When once you are healed by Science, there is no reason why you should be liable to a return of the disease that you were healed of. But not to be subject again to any disease whatsoever, would require an understanding of the Science by which you were healed.

Because none of your students have been able to perform as great miracles in healing as Jesus and his disciples did, does it not suggest the possibility that they do not heal on the same basis?

You would not ask the pupil in simple equations to solve a problem involving logarithms; and then, because he failed to get the right answer, condemn the pupil and the science of numbers. The simplest problem in Christian Science is healing the sick, and the least understanding and demonstration thereof prove all its possibilities. The ability to demonstrate to the extent that Jesus did, will come when the student possesses as much of the divine Spirit as he shared, and utilizes its power to overcome sin.

Opposite to good, is the universal claim of evil that seeks the proportions of good. There may be those who, having learned the power of the unspoken thought, use it to harm rather than to heal, and who are using that power against Christian Scientists. This giant sin is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of in Matt. xii.31,32.

Is Christian Science based on the facts of both Spirit and matter?

Christian Science is based on the facts of Spirit and its forms and representations, but these facts are the direct antipodes of the so-called facts of matter; and the eternal verities of Spirit assert themselves over their opposite, or matter, in the final destruction of all that is unlike Spirit.

Man knows that he can have one God only, when he regards God as the only Mind, Life, and substance. If God is Spirit, as the Scriptures declare, and All-in-all, matter is mythology, and its laws are mortal beliefs.

If Mind is in matter and beneath a skull bone, it is in something unlike Him; hence it is either a godless and material Mind, or it is God in matter, -- which are theories of agnosticism and pantheism, the very antipodes of Christian Science.

What is organic life?

Life is inorganic, infinite Spirit; if Life, or Spirit, were organic, disorganization would destroy Spirit and annihilate man.

If Mind is not substance, form, and tangibility, God is substanceless; for the substance of Spirit is divine Mind. Life is God, the only creator, and Life is immortal Mind, not matter.

Every indication of matter's constituting life is mortal, the direct opposite of immortal Life, and infringes the rights of Spirit. Then, to conclude that Spirit constitutes or ever has constituted laws to that effect, is a mortal error, a human conception opposed to the divine government. Mind and matter mingling in perpetual warfare is a kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation. The final destruction of this false belief in matter will appear at the full revelation of Spirit,-- one God, and the brotherhood of man. Organic life is an error of statement that Truth destroys. The Science of Life needs only to be understood; its demonstration proves the correctness of my statements, and brings blessings infinite.

Why did God command, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," if all minds (men) have existed from the beginning, and have had successive stages of existence to the present time?

Your question implies that Spirit, which first spiritually created the universe, including man, created man over again materially; and, by the aid of mankind, all was later made which He had made. If the first record is true, what evidence have you -- apart from the evidence of that which you admit cannot discern spiritual things -- of any other creation? The creative "Us" made all, and Mind was the creator. Man originated not from dust, materially, but from Spirit, spiritually. This work had been done; the true creation was finished, and its spiritual Science is alluded to in the first chapter of Genesis.

Jesus said of error, "That thou doest, do quickly." By the law of opposites, after the truth of man had been demonstrated, the postulate of error must appear. That this addendum was untrue, is seen when Truth, God, denounced it, and said: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow." "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The opposite error said, "I am true," and declared, "God doth know . . . that your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods," creators. This was false; and the Lord God never said it. This history of a falsity must be told in the name of Truth, or it would have no seeming. The Science of creation is the universe with man created spiritually. The false sense and error of creation is the sense of man and the universe created materially.

Why does the record make man a creation of the sixth and last day, if he was coexistent with God?

In its genesis, the Science of creation is stated in mathematical order, beginning with the lowest form and the ascending the scale of being up to man. But all it really is, always was and forever is; for it existed in and of the Mind that is God, wherein man is foremost.

If one has died of consumption, and he has no remembrence of that disease or dream, does that disease have any more power over him?

Waking from a dream, one learns its unreality; then it has no power over one. Waking from the dream of death, proves to him who thought he died that it was a dream, and that he did not die; then he learns that consumption did not kill him. When the belief in the power of disease is destroyed, disease cannot return.

How does Mrs. Eddy know that she has read and studied correctly, if one must deny the evidences of the senses? She had to use her eyes to read.

Jesus said, "Having eyes, see ye not?" I read the inspired page through a higher than mortal sense. As matter, the eye cannot see; and as moral mind, it is a belief that sees. I may read the Scriptures through a belief of eyesight; but I must spiritually understand them to interpret their Science.

Does the theology of Christien Science aid its healing?

Without its theology there is no mental science, no order the proceeds from God. All Science is divine, not human, in origin and demonstration. If God does not govern the action of man, it is inharmonious: If He does govern it, the action is Science. Take away the theology of mental healing and you take away its science, leaving it a human "mind-cure," nothing more nor less, -- even one human mind governing another; by which, if you agree that God is Mind, you admit that there is more than one government and God. Having no true sense of the healing theology of Mind, you can neither understand nor demonstrate its Science, and will practise your belief of it in the name of Truth. This is the mortal "mind-cure" that produces the effect of mesmerism. It is using the power of human will, instead of the divine power understood, as in Christian Science; and without this Science there had better be no "mind cure," -- in which the last state of patients is worse than the first.

Is it wrong to pray for the recovery of the sick?

Not if we pray Scripturally, with the understanding that God has given all things to those who love Him; but pleading with infinite Love to love us, or to restore health and harmony, and then to admit that it has been lost under His government, is the prayer of doubt and mortal belief that is unavailing in divine Science.

Is not all argument mind over mind?

The Scriptures refer to God as saying, "Come now, and let us reason together." There is about one right Mind, and that one should and does govern man. Any copartnership with that Mind is impossible; and the only benefit in speaking often one to another, arises from the success that one individual has with another in leading his thoughts away from the human mind or body, and guiding them with Truth. That individual is the best healer who asserts himself the least, and thus becomes a transparency for the divine Mind, who is the only physician; the divine Mind is the scientific healer.

How can you believe there is no sin, and that God does not recognize any, when He sent His Son to save from sin, and the Bible is addressed to sinners? How can you believe there is no sickness, when Jesus came healing the sick?

To regard sin, disease, and death with less deference, and only as the woeful unrealities of being, is the only way to destroy them; Christian Science is proving this by healing cases of disease and sin after all other means have failed. The Nazarene Prophet could make the unreality of both apparent in a moment.

Does it not limit the power of Mind to deny the possibility of communion with departed friends, -- dead only in belief?

Does it limit the power of Mind to say that addition is not subtraction in mathematics? The Science of Mind reveals the impossibility of two individual sleepers, in different phases of thought, communicating, even if touching each other corporeally; or for one who sleeps to communicate with another who is awake. Mind's possibilities are not lessened by being confined and conformed to the Science of being.

If mortal mind and body are myths, what is the connection between them and real identity, and why are there as many identities as mortal bodies?

Evil in the beginning claimed the power, wisdom, and utility of good; and every creation or idea of Spirit has its counterfeit in some matter belief. Every material belief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that the material belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be found the type and representative of verities priceless, eternal, and just at hand.

The education of the future will be instruction, in spiritual Science, against the material symbolic counterfeit sciences. All the knowledge and vain strivings of mortal mind, that lead to death, -- even when aping the wisdom and magnitude of immortal Mind, -- will be swallowed up by the reality and omnipotence of Truth over error, and of Life over death.

"Dear Mrs. Eddy:-- In the October Journal I read the following: 'But the real man, who was created in the image of God, does not commit sin.' What then does sin? What commits theft? Or who does murder? For instance, the man is held responsible for the crime; for I went once to a place where a man was said to be 'hanged for murder'-- and certainly I saw him, or his effigy, dangling at the end of a rope. This 'man' was held responsible for the 'sin.' "

What sins?

According to the Word, man is the image and likeness of God. Does God's essential likeness sin, or dangle at the end of a rope? If not, what does? A culprit, a sinner,-- anything but a man! Then, what is a sinner? A mortal; but man is immortal.

Again: mortals are the embodiments (or bodies, if you please) of error, not of Truth; of sickness, sin, and death. Naming these His embodiment, can neither make them so nor overthrow the logic that man is God's likeness. Mortals seem very material; man in the likeness of Spirit is spiritual. Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individuality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more improve health or morals, than holding in thought the form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a landscape.

Man is seen only in the true likeness of his Maker. Believing a lie veils the truth from our vision; even as in mathematics, in summing up positive and negative quantities, the negative quantity offsets an equal positive quantity, making the aggregate positive, or true quantity, by that much, less available.

Why do Christian Scientists hold that their theology is essential to heal the sick, when the mind-cure claims to heal without it?

The theology of Christian Science is Truth; opposed to which is the error of sickness, sin, and death, that Truth destroys.

A "mind-cure" is a matter-cure. And adherent to this method honestly acknowledges this fact in her work entitled "Mind-cure on a Material Basis." In that work the author grapples with Christian Science, attempts to solve its divine Principle by the rule of human mind, fails, and ends in a parody on this Science which is amusing to astute readers,-- especially when she tells them that she is practising this Science.

The theology of Christian Science is based on the action of the divine Mind over the human mind and body; whereas, "mind-cure" rests on the notion that the human mind can cure its own disease, or that which it causes, and the sickness of matter,-- which is infidel in the one case, and anomalous in the other. It was said of old by Truth-traducers, that Jesus healed through Beelzebub; but the claim that one erring mind cures another one was at first gotten up to hinder his benign influence and to hide his divine power.

Our Master understood that Life, Truth, Love are the triune Principle of all pure theology; also, that this divine trinity is one infinite remedy for the opposite triad, sickness, sin, and death.

If there is no sin, why did Jesus come to save sinners?

If there is no reality in sickness, why does a Christian Scientist go to the bedside and address himself to the healing of disease, on the basis of its unreality? Jesus came to seek and to save such as believe in the reality of the unreal; to save them from this false belief; that they might lay hold of eternal Life, the great reality that concerns man, and understand the final fact,-- that God is omnipotent and omnipresent; yea, "that the Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him," as the Scriptures declare.

If Christ was God, why did Jesus cry out, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Even as the struggling heart, reaching toward a higher goal, appeals to its hope and faith, Why failest thou 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 weakness of flesh, that Spirit might be found "All-in-all." 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 demonstrating 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 literature 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 narrow, else extravagant, and are always materialistic. The ethics which guide thought spiritually must benefit every one; for the only philosophy and religion that afford instruction are those which deal with facts and resist speculative opinions and fables.

Works on science are profitable; for science is not human. It is spiritual, and not material. Literature and languages, to a limited extent, are aides to a student of the Bible and of Christian Science.

Is it possible to know why we are put into this condition 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 mortal man, or of a material state and universe, is gathered from the five personal senses. This is delusive evidence, 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 a 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, Science must and will decide. Left to the decision of Science, your query concerns a negative which the positive Truth destroys; for God's universe and man are immortal. We must not consider the false side of existence in order to gain the true solution of Life and its great realities.