Mary Baker Eddy An abridgment of Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Verse references such as ¹·⁶ in- dicate the original source of the text, but donʼt imply a full quotation. ¹·¹The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick ²is an absolute faith that all things are possi- ble to God. ¹·⁶Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self- sacrifice, ⁷are Godʼs gracious means for accomplishing ⁸whatever has been successfully done for mankind. ¹·¹¹Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, ¹²that they may be moulded and exalted ¹³before they take form in words and in deeds. ²·⁸God isnʼt moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has already done. ¹¹We can do more for our- selves by humble fervent petitions, ¹²but the All- loving doesnʼt grant them ¹³simply on the ground of lip service. ²·¹⁵Prayer cannot change the Science of being, ¹⁶but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. ²·²⁴God is intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of ²⁵anything He doesnʼt already comprehend? ²⁶Do we expect to change perfection? ²⁷Shall we plead for more at the open fount, ²⁸which is already pouring forth more than we accept? ³·⁴Who would stand before a blackboard, ⁵and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? ⁶The rule is already established, ⁷and it is our task to work out the solution. ³·²¹We plead for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. ²²Are we really grateful for the good already received? ²³Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, ²⁴and thus be fitted to receive more. ²⁵Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. ²⁶Action expresses more gratitude than speech. ³·²⁷If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, ²⁸and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, ²⁹we are insincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites. ³⁰In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips. ⁵·³Sorrow for wrongdoing is but one step towards re- form and the very easiest step. ⁴The next and great step ⁵is the test of our sincerity — ⁶namely, reformation. ⁵·²⁵If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled, ²⁶and that man is made better merely by praying, prayer is an evil. ²⁷He grows worse who continues in sin ²⁸because he fancies himself forgiv- en. ⁶·⁷Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, ⁸implies the vain supposition that ⁹we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, ¹⁰and that af- terwards we shall be free to repeat the offence. ⁸·³¹If a friend informs us of a fault, ³²do we lis- ten patiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? ⁹·²During many years I have been most grateful for merited rebuke. ³The wrong lies in unmerited censure. ¹⁰·²⁹It isnʼt always best for us to receive what we desire and what we ask for. ³⁰In this case infinite Love wonʼt grant the request. ¹³·⁵In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions, ⁶beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. ⁷If we arenʼt secretly yearning and openly striving for ⁸the accomplishment of all we ask, ⁹our prayers are “vain repetitions.” ¹⁰If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; ¹¹and our Fa- ther, who sees in secret, will reward us openly. ¹³Do we gain the omnipotent ear sooner by words than by thoughts? ¹⁶If we cherish our desire honestly and si- lently and humbly, ¹⁷God will bless it, ¹⁸and we shall incur less risk of overwhelming our real wishes ¹⁹with a torrent of words. ¹⁵·⁷The Father is unseen to the physical senses, ⁸but He knows all things and rewards according to motives, ⁹not according to speech. — ¹⁸·⁶Jesus did lifeʼs work aright ⁸to show mortals how to do theirs, but not to do it for them ⁹nor to re- lieve them of a single responsibility. ¹⁰He acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the sen- ses, ¹¹against Pharisaical creeds and practices. ¹⁹·⁵Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, ⁶for Truth and error are irreconcilable. ¹⁹·²³Practical repentance reforms the heart ²⁴and enables man to do the will of wisdom. ²⁰·¹⁰Jesus established no ritualistic worship. ¹¹He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the clergy, ¹²observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, ¹³and yet be sensual and sinful. ²⁰·²⁵The truth is the center of all religion. ²¹·¹²If honest, the disciple will be in earnest from the start, ¹³and gain a little each day in the right direction, ¹⁴until at last he finishes his course with joy. ²⁹·⁷Christian experience teaches faith in the right and disbelief in the wrong. ⁸It bids us work the more earnestly in times of persecution, ⁹because then our labor is more needed. ⁴⁰·⁹Science removes the penalty only by first removing the sin which incurs the penalty. ¹⁰This is my sense of divine pardon, ¹¹which I understand to mean Godʼs method of destroying sin. ¹⁴Anotherʼs suf- fering cannot lessen our own liability. ⁴⁰·²⁵Our heavenly Father demands that all men ²⁶should follow the example of Jesus and his apos- tles, ²⁷not merely worship his personality. ²⁸Itʼs sad that the phrase “divine service” has come so generally to mean public worship instead of daily deeds. — ⁵⁷·⁴Union of the masculine and feminine qualities constitutes completeness. ⁸These different elements conjoin naturally with each other, ⁹and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. ¹⁰Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. ⁵⁷·¹⁵Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections between the sexes, ¹⁶and should never weigh against the better claims of ¹⁷intellect, goodness, and virtue. ⁵⁷·²²Human affection isnʼt poured forth vainly, even though it meets no return. ²³Love enriches the na- ture, ²⁴enlarging, purifying, and elevating it. ²⁵The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of af- fection, and scatter them to the winds; ²⁶but this severance of fleshly ties ²⁷serves to unite thought more closely to God, ²⁸for Love supports the struggling heart ²⁹until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for heaven. ⁵⁸·¹⁶The narrowness and jealousy which would confine a wife ¹⁷or a husband forever within four walls ¹⁸wonʼt promote a sweet interchange of confidence and love. ¹⁹On the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant amusement outside the home ²⁰is a poor indicator for the happiness of wedlock. ²¹Home is the dearest spot on earth, ²²and it should be the center, ²³though not the boundary, of the affections. ⁵⁸·²⁶A wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance ²⁷or stupid ease because another supplies her wants. ⁵⁹·¹⁷Tender words and unselfish care that promote the welfare and happiness of your wife ¹⁸will prove more salutary in prolonging her health and smiles ¹⁹than stolid indifference or jealousy. ²⁰Husbands, remem- ber ²¹how slight a word or deed may renew ²²the old trysting times. ⁶⁰·⁴Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are nec- essary to ⁵a happy and permanent companionship. ⁶⁰·¹⁶Marriage should improve the human species, ¹⁷be- coming a barrier against vice, a protection to wom- an, ¹⁸strength to man, and a center for the affections. ¹⁹This, however, in a majority of cases, isnʼt its present tendency, and why? ²¹Because other considerations — ²²passion, frivolous amusements, per- sonal adornment, display, and pride — ²³occupy thought. ⁶¹·²⁴Isnʼt the propagation of the human species a greater responsibility, ²⁵a more solemn charge, than the culture of your garden ²⁶or the raising of stock to increase your flocks and herds? ²⁷Nothing unwor- thy of perpetuity should be transmitted to children. ⁶³·¹²Civil law establishes very unfair differences be- tween the rights of the two sexes. ¹³Christian Science furnishes no precedent for such injustice. ⁶⁴·⁸Pride, envy, or jealousy seems on most occasions to be the master of ceremonies, ⁹ruling out primitive Christianity. ¹⁰When a man lends a helping hand to some noble woman, ¹¹struggling alone with adversity, his wife should not say, ¹²“It is never well to in- terfere with your neighborʼs business.” ¹³A wife is sometimes debarred ¹⁴by a covetous domestic tyrant ¹⁵from giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would afford. ⁶⁸·²At present mortals progress slowly ³for fear of being thought ridiculous. ⁴They are slaves to fash- ion, pride, and sense. ⁶We ought to weary of the fleeting and false ⁷and to cherish nothing which ⁸hinders our highest selfhood. ⁶⁸·⁹Jealousy is the grave of affection. ¹⁰The pres- ence of mistrust, where confidence is due, ¹¹scatters loveʼs petals to decay. — ⁷¹·¹⁰Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a flower — ¹¹that you touch and smell it. ¹²Thus you learn that the flower is a product of the mind, ¹³a formation of thought rather than of matter. ⁷²·¹⁹Error isnʼt a sieve ²⁰through which truth can be strained. ⁸⁰·¹We have strength in proportion to our understand- ing of the truth. ³A cup of coffee or tea isnʼt e- qual to truth ⁴for the inspiration of a sermon ⁵or for the support of bodily endurance. ⁸⁷·¹⁹The mine knows nothing of the emeralds within its rocks; ²⁰the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns, ²¹of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships that float on its bosom, ²²or of the bodies which lie buried in its sands: ²³yet these are all there. ²⁴Do not suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do not think of it. ²⁵The true concept is never lost. ²⁶The strong impressions pro- duced on mortal mind by friendship ²⁷or by any intense feeling are lasting. ⁹⁶·¹Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense in- to spiritual understanding; ²unwillingness to learn all things rightly ³binds Christendom with chains. — ¹⁰⁴·⁸An author has wisely said: ⁹“Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. ¹⁰First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. ¹¹Next, they say it has been discovered before. ¹²Lastly, they say they have always believed it.” ¹⁰⁴·³¹Is it not clear that the human mind must move the body to a wicked act? ³²Isnʼt mortal mind the mur- derer? ¹⁰⁵·¹The hands, without mortal mind to direct them, ²could not commit a murder. — ¹⁰⁹·²Mind is All and matter is nothing. ¹⁰⁹·¹¹For three years after my discovery, ¹²I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-healing, ¹³searched the Scriptures and read little else, ¹⁴kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule. ¹⁵The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, ¹⁶not selfish nor depressing. ¹¹¹·²⁸Mind governs the body, not partially but whol- ly. ¹¹⁹·²⁵In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it ²⁶con- tradicts the evidence before the senses to believe that ²⁷the earth is in motion and the sun at rest. ²⁸As astronomy reverses the human perception of ²⁹the movement of the solar system, ³⁰so Christian Science reverses the seeming relation of Soul and body ³¹and makes body tributary to Mind. ¹²¹·¹⁷The earthʼs diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical eye, ¹⁸and the sun seems to move from east to west, ¹⁹instead of the earth from west to east. ²⁰Until rebuked by clearer views of the ever- lasting facts, ²¹this false testimony of the eye de- luded the judgment and induced false conclusions. ²²Science shows appearances often to be erroneous. ¹²²·¹⁸The barometer, ¹⁹denying the testimony of the senses, ²⁰points to fair weather in the midst of murky clouds and drenching rain. ²¹Experience is full of similar illusions, ²²which every thinker can recall for himself. ¹²⁵·²What is now considered the best condition for ³health in the human body ⁴may no longer be found indispensable. ⁵Moral conditions will be found al- ways ⁶harmonious and health-giving. ¹²⁸·⁴The term Science, properly understood, refers on- ly to the laws of God ⁵and to His government of the universe. ¹²⁹·²²We must look deep into realism ²³instead of accepting only the outward sense of things. ²⁴Can we gather peaches from a pine tree, ²⁵or learn from dis- cord the concord of being? ¹³⁰·¹⁸Material beliefs must be cast out to make place for truth. ¹⁹You cannot add to the contents of a ves- sel already full. ²⁰Laboring long to shake the adultʼs faith in matter, ²³the author has often re- membered our Masterʼs love for little children, ²⁴and understood how truly they ²⁵belong to the heavenly kingdom. ¹³¹·⁴Our lives must be governed by reality in order to be ⁵in harmony with God. ¹³⁴·³¹A miracle fulfills Godʼs law, but doesnʼt violate that law. ¹³⁵·⁷The miracle introduces no dis- order, but unfolds the primal order. ¹³⁵·²⁶Christianity as Jesus taught it was not a creed, ²⁷nor a system of ceremonies, ²⁸nor a special gift from a ritualistic Jehovah. ¹⁴¹·¹⁰The popular thought is that all revelation ¹¹must come from the schools and along the line of scholarly and ecclesiastical descent, ¹²as kings are crowned from a royal dynasty. ¹³In healing the sick and sinning, ¹⁴Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect ¹⁵followed the understanding of the divine Principle. ¹⁷For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly. ¹⁹Its only priest is the spiritualized man. ¹⁴²·¹¹If the soft palm upturned to a lordly salary ¹²and architectural skill making dome and spire tremulous with beauty ¹³turn the poor and the strang- er from the gate, ¹⁴they at the same time shut the door on progress. ¹⁴³·¹Truth is Godʼs remedy for error of every kind, ²and Truth destroys only what is untrue. ¹⁴⁴·²⁷When the Science of being is universally under- stood, ²⁸every man will be his own physician, ²⁹and Truth will be the universal panacea. ¹⁴⁷·¹⁵Never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning ¹⁶of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. ¹⁷The book needs to be studied. ¹⁴⁹·⁷The prescription which succeeds in one instance fails in another, ⁸and this is owing to the differ- ent mental states of the patient. ¹⁵¹·²⁶All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, ²⁸The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, ²⁹yield to this power, ³⁰and follow the leadings of truth. ¹⁵²·⁹Truth has a healing effect, even when not fully understood. ¹⁵³·²⁵We weep because others weep, we yawn because they yawn, ²⁷but mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection. ²⁸When this mental contagion is understood, ²⁹we shall be more careful of our mental conditions, ³⁰and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about disease, ³¹as we would a- void advocating crime. ¹⁵⁴·²⁶“You look sick,” “You look tired,” “You need rest,” or ²⁷“You need medicine.” ²⁸Such a mother runs to her little one, ²⁹who thinks he has hurt his face by falling on the carpet, and says, ³⁰“Mamma knows you are hurt.” ³¹The better and more successful method for any mother to adopt is to say: ³²“Oh, nev- er mind!” ¹⁵⁵·¹Presently the child forgets all about the accident, and is at play. ¹⁵⁷·²⁶Narcotics quiet mortal mind, and so relieve the body; ²⁷but they leave both mind and body worse for this submission. — ¹⁶⁵·¹⁸You consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, ¹⁹when your remedy lies in forget- ting the whole thing. ¹⁶⁶·³As a man thinketh, so is he. ⁴Mind is all that feels, acts, or impedes action. ⁵Ignorant of this, or shrinking from its implied responsibility, ⁶the heal- ing effort is made on the wrong side, ⁷and thus con- scious control over the body is lost. ¹⁶⁷·³⁰Only through radical reliance on Truth ³¹can scientific healing power be realized. ¹⁶⁸·¹⁰When sick (according to belief) you rush after drugs, ¹¹search out the so-called material laws of health, ¹²and depend upon them to heal you, ¹³though you have already brought yourself into the quagmire of disease ¹⁴through just this false belief. ¹⁶⁸·²⁴I have discerned disease in the human mind, ²⁵and recognized the patientʼs fear of it, ²⁶months before the so-called disease made its appearance in the body. ²⁷Disease being a belief, ²⁸the sensation would not appear if the error of belief was ²⁹destroyed by truth. ¹⁷⁴·⁴Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, ⁵that man should bow down to an exfoliating brush, to flannels, ⁶to baths, diet, exercise, and air? ¹⁷⁴·²⁰Truth is revealed. It needs only to be prac- tised. ¹⁷⁵·¹⁷Our forefathers ¹⁹had less time for ²⁰selfish- ness, coddling, and sickly after-dinner talk. ²¹The exact amount of food the stomach could digest ²²was not discussed nor referred to sanitary laws. ²³A manʼs belief in those days was not so severe upon the gastric juices. ¹⁷⁶·⁷The primitive custom of taking no thought about food ⁸left the stomach and bowels free to act in obe- dience to nature, ⁹and gave the gospel a chance to be seen ¹⁰in its glorious effects upon the body. ¹¹A ghastly array of diseases was not paraded before the imagination. ¹⁷⁶·¹⁷Human fear of miasma would load with disease the air of Eden, ¹⁸and weigh down mankind with conjectural evils. ¹⁹Mortal mind is the worst foe of the body, ²⁰while divine Mind is its best friend. ¹⁷⁹·³²Descriptions of disease given by physicians, ¹⁸⁰·¹and advertisements of quackery are both sources of sickness. ¹⁸³·¹⁶The supposed laws which result in weariness ¹⁷and disease arenʼt His laws. ¹⁸⁴·⁶Belief produces the results of belief, ⁷and the penalties it affixes last so long as the belief and are inseparable from it. ⁸The remedy consists in probing the trouble to the bottom, ⁹in finding and casting out ¹⁰the error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, ¹¹never honoring erroneous belief with the title of law ¹²nor yielding obedience to it. ¹⁸⁴·²⁰Matter cannot suffer. ²¹Mortal mind alone suffers — ²²not because a law of matter has been transgressed, ²³but because a law of this so-called mind has been disobeyed. ¹⁸⁸·²⁴The soil of disease is mortal mind, ²⁵and you have an abundant or scanty crop of disease ²⁶accord- ing to the seedlings of fear. ²⁷Sin and the fear of disease must be uprooted and cast out. ¹⁹²·⁴We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance ⁵upon what is false and grasp the true. ¹⁹²·²³The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. ²⁴Evil isnʼt power. ²⁵Itʼs a mockery of strength, which soon betrays its weakness and falls, ²⁶never to rise. ¹⁹⁶·⁴The power of mortal mind over its own body is little understood. ¹⁹⁶·²⁰Books that rule disease out of mortal mind ²¹and remove the images and thoughts of disease — ²²instead of impressing them ²³with forcible descriptions and medical details — ²⁴will help to abate sickness and to destroy it. ¹⁹⁶·³¹The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows ³²and diseases among the human family. ¹⁹⁷·¹It does this by giving names to diseases ²and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. ³A new name for an ailment affects people ⁴like a Parisian name for a novel garment. ⁵Everyone hastens to get it. ⁶A minutely de- scribed disease costs many men their earthly days of comfort. ¹⁹⁹·²¹The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible. ¹⁹⁹·³²When Homer sang of the Grecian gods, Olympus was dark, ²⁰⁰·¹but through his verse the gods became alive ²in a nationʼs belief. — ²⁰¹·¹The best sermon ever preached is Truth prac- tised and demonstrated. ²⁰¹·⁷We cannot build safely on false foundations. ¹³We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. ²⁰⁸·²⁸A mortal man makes his body harmonious or discordant according to ²⁹the images of thought impressed upon it. ³¹You should delineate upon your body thoughts of health, not of sickness. ³²You should banish all thoughts of disease and sin. ²⁰⁹·²It is the mortal belief which makes the body discordant and diseased ³in proportion as ignorance, ⁴fear, or human will governs mortals. ²²⁰·¹⁸Mortal mind produces its own phenomena, ¹⁹and then charges them to something else — ²⁰like a kitten glancing into the mirror at itself and ²¹thinking it sees another kitten. ²²¹·¹⁹God never ordained a law that ²⁰fasting should be a means of health. ²¹Hence semi-starvation isnʼt acceptable to wisdom. ²²²·¹⁴Take less thought about what you should eat or drink, ¹⁵consult the stomach less about ¹⁶the economy of living and God more. ²²⁵·⁵You may know when Truth first leads by the fewness ⁶and faithfulness of its followers. ⁸The powers of this world will fight, ⁹and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard ¹⁰un- til it subscribes to their systems; ¹¹but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. ¹²There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truthʼs standard. ²³²·⁵The beliefs we commonly entertain about happi- ness and life afford ⁶no permanent evidence of ei- ther. ²³³·⁷Godʼs law demands of us only what we can cer- tainly fulfill. ²³³·⁸In the midst of imperfection, perfection is seen and acknowledged only by degrees. ⁹The ages must slowly work up to perfection. ²³⁴·⁴Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — ⁵be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family ⁶with crumbs of comfort. ²³⁴·⁹We should become more familiar with good than with evil, ¹⁰and guard against false beliefs as watch- fully ¹¹as we bar our doors against the approach of thieves and murderers. ¹²We should love our enemies ¹³and help them on the basis of the Golden Rule; ¹⁴but avoid casting pearls before those who trample them under foot, ¹⁵thereby robbing both themselves and others. ²³⁴·¹⁷If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind, ¹⁸the brood of evils which infest it would be cleared out. ¹⁹We must begin with this mind ²⁰and emp- ty it of sin and sickness, ²¹or sin and sickness will never cease. ²³⁴·²⁵Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested. ²⁶You must control evil thoughts in the first instance, ²⁷or they will control you in the second. ²³⁵·¹Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes can- not go forth, like wandering pollen, ²from one mind to another, finding an unsuspected foothold, ³if vir- tue and truth build a strong defense. ²³⁵·⁷The teachers of schools and the readers in churches ⁸should be selected with as direct reference to their morals ⁹as to their learning or their cor- rect reading. ²³⁵·²⁸Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world, ²⁹should uplift the standard of Truth. ³⁰They should so raise their hearers spiritually, ³¹that their listeners will love to grapple with ³²a new, right idea, and broaden their concepts. ²³⁶·²Truth should emanate from the pulpit, ³but nev- er be strangled there. ²³⁶·¹²A mother is the strongest educator. ¹³Her thoughts form the embryo of another mortal mind, ¹⁴and unconsciously mould it. ²³⁶·²¹Children should obey their parents; ²²insubordination is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government. ²³Parents should teach their chil- dren ²⁴at the earliest possible period the truths of health and holiness. ²⁵Children are more tractable than adults, ²⁶and learn more readily to love the sim- ple verities ²⁷that will make them happy and good. ²³⁶·²⁸Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong ²⁹and their receptiveness of right. ³⁰While age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, ³¹youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth. ²³⁷·¹⁰The more stubborn beliefs ¹¹and theories of par- ents often choke the good seed in the minds ¹²of them- selves and their offspring. ¹³Superstition, like “the fowls of the air,” snatches away the good seed be- fore it has sprouted. ²³⁸·¹Motives and acts arenʼt rightly valued before they are understood. ²It is well to wait until those you would benefit ³are ready for the blessing. ²³⁸·⁶To obey the Scriptural command, ⁷“Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” is to incur societyʼs frown; ⁸but this frown, more than flatteries, enables one to be Christian. ²³⁸·²⁷People with mental work before them ²⁸have no time for gossip about false testimony. ²⁹To place the fact above the falsehood ³⁰is the work of time. ²³⁹·⁵Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, ⁶which weigh not one jot in the bal- ance of God, ⁷and we get clearer views of Principle. ⁸Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, ⁹and we get bet- ter views of humanity. ²³⁹·¹²Let it be understood that success in error is defeat in Truth. ¹³The watchword of Christian Science is Scriptural: ¹⁴“Let the wicked forsake their way, ¹⁵and the unrighteous their thoughts.” ²³⁹·¹⁶To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our affections are placed ¹⁷and whom we acknowledge and obey as God. ¹⁸If divine Love is becoming nearer, ¹⁹dearer, and more real to us, matter is then submit- ting to Spirit. ²⁰The objects we pursue and the spir- it we manifest ²¹reveal our standpoint, ²²and show what we are winning. ²⁴⁰·³Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, ⁴mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens ⁵all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. ⁶The floral apos- tles are hieroglyphs of Deity. ⁷Suns and planets teach grand lessons. ⁸The stars make night beauti- ful, ⁹and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light. ²⁴⁰·²⁷In trying to undo the errors of sense ²⁸one must pay fully and fairly the utmost farthing, ²⁹un- til all error is finally brought into subjection to Truth. ³⁰The divine method of paying sinʼs wages involves unwinding oneʼs snarls. ²⁴¹·¹⁰Falsehood, envy, hypocrisy, malice, hate, revenge, and so forth, ¹¹steal away the treasures of Truth. ²⁴¹·¹⁷The error of ages is preaching without prac- tice. ²⁴¹·²³Oneʼs aim should be to find the footsteps of Truth, ²⁴the way to health and holiness. ²⁴³·²We can never succeed in the Science and demonstration of ³spiritual good through ignorance or hypocrisy. ²⁴⁷·¹⁰Beauty, as well as truth, is eternal; ¹¹but the beauty of material things passes away, fading and fleeting as mortal belief. ¹²Custom, education, and fashion ¹³form the transient standards of mortals. ²⁴⁸·²⁵We must first turn our gaze in the right direction, ²⁶and then walk that way. ²⁷We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continual- ly, ²⁸or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. ²⁹Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, and love ³⁰reign within us, ³¹and sin, disease, and death will diminish ³²un- til they finally disappear. ²⁵⁰·¹²Man isnʼt God, but like a ray of light which co- mes from the sun, ¹³man reflects God. ²⁵²·⁷When false human beliefs learn even a little of their own falsity, ⁸they begin to disappear. ⁹A knowl- edge of error and of its operations must precede ¹⁰that understanding of Truth which destroys error. ²⁵³·¹⁸If you believe in and practice wrong knowing- ly, ¹⁹you can at once change your course and do right. ²⁵⁴·²Individuals are consistent who, ³watching and praying, can “run and not be weary; ⁴walk and not faint,” who gain good rapidly ⁵and hold their posi- tion, ⁶or attain slowly and donʼt yield to discouragement. ⁷God requires perfection, but not un- til the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought. — ²⁵⁶·¹Progress takes off human shackles. ²⁶⁰·¹⁵Distrust of oneʼs ability to gain the goodness desired and ¹⁶to bring out better and higher results, ¹⁷often ensures failure at the outset. ²⁶⁶·²⁰The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, ²¹and the saint his own heaven by doing right. — ²⁷⁰·²⁴Mortals think wickedly; consequently they are wicked. ²⁵They think sickly thoughts, and so become sick. ²⁸¹·³⁰The old belief must be cast out ³¹or the new idea will be spilled, ³²and the inspiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be lost. ²⁸⁴·²¹The physical senses can obtain no proof of God. ²²They can neither see Spirit through the eye nor hear it through the ear, ²³nor can they feel, taste, or smell Spirit. ²⁸⁵·¹⁶The belief that a material body is man ¹⁷is a false conception of man. ²⁹⁵·¹The belief that a severed limb is aching in the old location, ²the sensation seeming to be in nerves which are no longer there, ³is an added proof of the unreliability of physical testimony. ²⁹⁵·¹⁶The manifestation of God through mortals is as light ¹⁷passing through the windowpane. ¹⁸The light and the glass never mingle, ¹⁹but the glass is less o- paque than the walls. ²⁰The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly ²¹is that one which has lost much error ²²in order to become a better transparency for Truth. ²³Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun. ²⁹⁶·⁴Progress is born of experience. ²⁹⁶·¹⁶Mortal belief must lose all satisfaction in er- ror and sin ¹⁷in order to part with them. ²⁹⁶·²⁸An improved belief is one step out of error, ²⁹and aids in taking the next step. ²⁹⁶·³²Mortal belief says, “You are wretched!” and mortals think they are so; ²⁹⁷·¹and nothing can change this state, until the belief changes. ²Mortal belief says, “You are happy!” and mortals are so; ³and no circumstance can alter the situation, ⁴until the belief on this subject changes. ⁵Human belief says to mortals, ⁶“You are sick!” and this testimony manifests itself on the body as sickness. ³²⁰·⁷The Scriptures have both a spiritual and a lit- eral meaning. ³²²·²⁴A man who refrains from wrong only through fear of consequences ²⁵is neither a temperate man nor a re- liable religionist. ³²²·³²It is easier to desire Truth than to rid one- self of error. ³²³·¹Mortals may seek the understand- ing of Christian Science, ²but they wonʼt be able to glean from Christian Science ³the facts of being with- out striving for them. ⁴This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind ⁵and to pos- sess no other consciousness but good. ³²³·¹³In order to apprehend more, ¹⁴we must put into practice what we already know. ¹⁵We must recollect that Truth is demonstrable when understood, ¹⁶and that good isnʼt understood until demonstrated. ³²³·³⁰We are either turning away from the “still, small voice” of Truth, ³¹or we are listening to it and going up higher. ³²Willingness to leave the old for the new ³²⁴·¹renders thought receptive to the ad- vanced idea. ²Gladness to leave the false landmarks ³and joy to see them disappear ⁴— this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. ³²⁴·¹³Be watchful, sober, and vigilant. ¹⁴The way is straight and narrow. ³²⁷·¹Reform comes by understanding that there is no abiding pleasure in evil, ²and also by gaining an af- fection for good. ³²⁷·⁸What a pitiful sight is malice, finding pleas- ure in revenge! ⁹Evil is sometimes a manʼs highest conception of right, ¹⁰until his grasp on good grows stronger. ¹¹Then he loses pleasure in wickedness, and it becomes his torment. ¹²The way to escape the mis- ery of sin is to cease sinning. ¹³There is no other way. ³²⁷·²²Fear of punishment never made man truly hon- est. ²³Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to proclaim the right. ³²⁹·¹⁴One should not tarry in the storm if the body is freezing, ¹⁵nor should he remain in the devouring flames. ¹⁶Until one is able to prevent bad results, he should avoid their occasion. ³³⁰·³Until I learned the vastness of Christian Science, ⁴the fixedness of mortal illusions, ⁵and the human hatred of Truth, ⁶I cherished sanguine hopes that Christian Science would meet with immediate and universal acceptance. ³³⁹·³¹You conquer error by denying its verity. ³²Our various theories will never lose their imaginary pow- er for good or evil, ³⁴⁰·¹until we lose our faith in them. — ³⁴¹·¹The criticisms of this volume would condemn to oblivion the truth, ²which is raising up thousands from helplessness to strength ³and elevating them from a theoretical to a practical Christianity. ³⁴⁹·¹³The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine Science accurately ¹⁴to human thought lies in this, ¹⁵that like all other languages, English is inadequate. ³⁵⁵·¹¹Let discord of every name and nature be heard no more. ³⁶¹·²¹I have revised Science and Health only to give a clearer ²²and fuller expression of its original meaning. ²³Spiritual ideas unfold as we advance. — ³⁶⁶·²⁵The sick are terrified by their sick beliefs, ²⁶and sinners should be affrighted by their sinful beliefs; ²⁷but the Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of ²⁸both sin and disease. ³⁷²·²⁷A denial of Truth is fatal, ²⁸while a just acknowledgement of Truth and ²⁹of what it has done for us is an effectual help. ³⁰If pride, superstition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, ³¹this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick. ³⁷⁷·⁶Invalids flee to tropical climates in order to save their lives, ⁷but they come back no better than when they went away. ⁸Then is the time to cure them, ⁹and prove that they can be healthy in all climates, ¹⁰when their fear of climate is exterminated. ³⁸²·⁸Constant bathing and rubbing to alter the secretions ¹⁰receives a useful rebuke from Jesusʼ precept, ¹¹“Take no thought ... for the body.” ¹²We must beware of making clean merely the outside of the platter. ³⁸³·³We need a clean body and a clean mind — ⁴a body rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water. ⁸The Christian Scientist takes the best care of his body ⁹when he leaves it most out of his thought. ³⁸⁴·³We should relieve our minds from the depressing thought ⁴that we have transgressed a material law ⁵and must of necessity pay the penalty. ³⁸⁶·¹⁶A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, ¹⁷occasions the same grief that the friendʼs ¹⁸real death would bring. ¹⁹You think that your anguish is occassioned by your loss. ²⁰Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, ²¹and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. ²²Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. ²³You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, ²⁴and divine wisdom will then be understood. ²⁵Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth. ³⁹¹·¹⁴It is error to suffer for anything but your own sins, ¹⁶and real suffering for your own sins will cease in proportion as the sin ceases. ³⁹²·²⁴Stand guard at the door of thought. ²⁵If you ad- mit only such conclusions as you wish realized in bod- ily results, ²⁶you will control yourself harmoniously. ²⁷When the condition is present ²⁸which you say induces disease, ²⁹whether it be air, exer- cise, heredity, contagion, or accident, ³⁰then per- form your office as guard and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. ³¹Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; ³²then the body cannot suf- fer from them. ³⁹³·³²It is well to be calm in sickness; ³⁹⁴·¹to be hopeful is still better; ²but to understand that sick- ness isnʼt real and that Truth can destroy its seem- ing reality, is best of all, ³for this understanding is the universal and perfect remedy. ³⁹⁵·¹⁷An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceitful per- son ¹⁸should not be a nurse. ¹⁹The nurse should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of faith — ²⁰receptive to Truth and Love. ³⁹⁶·¹One should never hold in mind the thought of dis- ease, ²but should efface from thought ³all forms and types of disease, ⁴both for oneʼs own sake and for that of the patient. ⁵Avoid talking illness to the pa- tient. ⁶Make no unnecessary inquiries relative to feelings or disease. ⁷Never startle with a discouraging remark about recovery, ⁸nor draw atten- tion to certain symptoms as unfavorable, ⁹avoid speak- ing aloud the name of the disease. ¹⁰Never say be- forehand how much you have to contend with in a case, ¹¹nor encourage in the patientʼs thought ¹²the expec- tation of growing worse before a crisis is passed. ³⁹⁷·⁸Suffering is no less a mental condition than is enjoyment. ⁴⁰¹·²⁸It is better for Christian Scientists to leave surgery ²⁹and the adjustment of broken bones and dislocations ³⁰to the fingers of a surgeon, ³¹while the mental healer confines himself chiefly to mental reconstruction. ⁴⁰³·¹⁴You command the situation if you understand that ¹⁵mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being. ¹⁶Mortal mind is con- stantly producing on mortal body ¹⁷the results of false opinions. ⁴⁰⁵·⁵Christian Science commands man to master the propensities — ⁶to hold hatred in abeyance with kind- ness, ⁷to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, ⁸and to overcome deceit with honesty. ⁴⁰⁵·²²It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth ²³than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty conscience. ²⁴The abiding consciousness of wrongdoing ²⁵tends to destroy the ability to do right. ²⁸You are conquered by the moral penalties you incur ²⁹and the ills they bring. ⁴⁰⁶·¹⁹Resist error of every sort and it will flee from you. ⁴⁰⁶·²⁸The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, ²⁹tea, coffee, and opium is destroyed only by Mindʼs mastery of the body. ⁴⁰⁷·⁶Manʼs enslavement to the most relentless masters — ⁷passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge — ⁸is conquered only by a mighty struggle. ⁹Every hour of delay makes the struggle more severe. ⁴⁰⁹·²⁹We cannot spend our days here in ignorance, ³⁰and expect to find beyond the grave ³¹a reward for this ignorance. ³²Death wonʼt make us harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance. ⁴¹⁶·²⁹Assure the sick that they think too much about their ailments, ³⁰and have already heard too much on that subject. ³¹Turn their thoughts away from their bodies to higher objects. ⁴¹⁷·³Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more than their doctors. ⁴¹⁹·¹A moral question may hinder the recovery of the sick. ²Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate ³will perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. ⁴¹⁹·¹⁸Think less of material conditions and more of spiritual. ⁴²⁰·¹⁰Instruct the sick that they arenʼt helpless victims, ¹¹for if they will only accept Truth, ¹²they can resist disease and ward it off, ¹³as positively as they can the temptation to sin. ⁴²⁶·⁵I find the path ⁶less difficult when I have the high goal always before my thoughts ⁷than when I count my footsteps ⁸in endeavoring to reach it. — ⁴⁴³·¹⁰All are privileged to work out their own salva- tion ¹¹according to their light. ¹²Our motto should be the Masterʼs counsel, ¹³“Judge not, that you might not be judged.” ⁴⁴³·¹⁴If patients fail to experience the healing pow- er of Christian Science, ¹⁵and think they can be benefited by ¹⁶ordinary physical methods of medical treatment, ¹⁷then the Mind-physician should give up such cases, ¹⁸and leave invalids free to resort to whatever other systems they fancy will afford re- lief. ⁴⁴⁴·¹³I advise students to be charitable and kind, ¹⁴not only towards differing forms of religion and medicine, ¹⁵but to those who hold these differing opinions. ⁴⁴⁵·¹⁹Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, ²⁰and illustrates the unlabored motion ²¹of the divine energy in healing the sick. ²²Self-seeking, envy, passion, pride, ha- tred, and revenge ²³are cast out by the divine Mind which heals disease. ⁴⁴⁷·¹The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon ²manʼs individual right of self-government. ⁶You must not forget that erring human opinions, ⁷conflicting selfish motives, ⁸and ignorant attempts to do good may render you incapable of ⁹knowing or judging accurately the need of your fellow-men. ¹⁰Therefore the rule is, heal the sick when called upon for aid. ⁴⁴⁷·²⁷The sick arenʼt healed merely by declaring there is no sickness, ²⁸but by knowing that there is none. ⁴⁴⁸·⁹When needed, tell the truth concerning the lie. ¹⁰Evasion of Truth cripples integrity ¹¹and casts you down from the pinnacle. ⁴⁴⁸·³⁰To talk the right and live the wrong is fool- ish deceit, ³¹doing oneself the most harm. ⁴⁴⁹·⁷The wrong done another reacts most heavily against oneself. ⁸Right adjusts the balance sooner or later. ⁹It is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” ¹⁰than for you to benefit yourself by injuring others. ⁴⁵²·⁴Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error. ⁵The wrong thought should be arrested before it has a chance ⁶to manifest itself. ⁴⁵²·⁷Walking in the light, we are accustomed to the light and require it; ⁸we cannot see in darkness. ⁹But eyes accustomed to darkness are pained by the light. ¹⁰When outgrowing the old, you should not fear to put on the new. ⁴⁵³·¹⁶Honesty is spiritual power. ¹⁷Dishonesty is hu- man weakness, which forfeits divine help. ⁴⁵⁸·²³The Christianly scientific man ²⁵does violence to no man. Neither is he a false accuser. ²⁶The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, ²⁷and is honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind. ⁴⁶⁰·¹⁴Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal ¹⁵to the frightened, false sense of the patient. ¹⁶Sick- ness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. ¹⁷It is therefore to be dealt with ¹⁸through right appre- hension of the truth. ¹⁹If Christian healing is abused by mere smatterers in Science, ²⁰it becomes a tedious mischief-maker. ²¹Instead of scientifically effecting a cure, it starts a petty crossfire over every cripple and invalid, ²²buffeting them with the superficial and cold assertion, ²³“Nothing ails you.” ⁴⁶⁰·²⁴When the Science of Mind was a fresh revela- tion to me, ²⁶I had to impart the hue of spiritual ideas from my own spiritual condition, ²⁷and I had to do this orally ²⁸through the meager channel afforded by language ²⁹and by my manuscript circulated among students. ³⁰As former beliefs were gradually expelled from my thought, ³¹the teaching became clearer, ³²un- til finally the shadow of old errors was no longer cast upon divine Science. — ⁴⁸²·²⁶Sickness is part of the error which Truth casts out. ²⁷Error wonʼt expel error. ⁴⁹⁵·²Truth casts out error now ³as surely as it did centuries ago. ⁴All of Truth isnʼt understood; ⁵hence its healing power isnʼt fully demonstrated.