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 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 an 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 cf 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 believed that if the tooth 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 hundred pounds and carry about this weight daily?
By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind. You entertain an adipose belief of yourself as substance; 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 mythical 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
