Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 13

thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love,-men- tally, morally, or physically. "Thou shalt not steal;"

that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but trash, compared with his rights of mind and character.

"Thou shalt not kill;" that is, thou shalt not strike at the [10]

eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt know that by doing thus thine own sense of Life shall be forfeited. "Thou shalt not bear false witness;" that is, thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor cause it to be thought. Obedience to these command- [15]

ments is indispensable to health, happiness, and length of days.

The gospel of healing demonstrates the law of Love.

Justice uncovers sin of every sort; and mercy demands that if you see the danger menacing others, you shall, [20]

_Deo volente_, inform them thereof. Only thus is the right practice of Mind-healing achieved, and the wrong prac- tice discerned, disarmed, and destroyed.

_Do you believe in translation?_

If your question refers to language, whereby one ex- [25]

presses the sense of words in one language by equiva- lent words in another, I do. If you refer to the removal of a person to heaven, without his subjection to death, I modify my affirmative answer. I believe in this removal being possible after all the footsteps requisite [30]

have been taken up to the very throne, up to the

[Page 68.]

spiritual sense and fact of divine substance, intelligence, [1]

Life, and Love. This translation is not the work of mo- ments; it requires both time and eternity. It means more than mere disappearance to the human sense; it must include also man's changed appearance and diviner form [5]

visible to those beholding him here.

_The Rev. -- said in a sermon: A true Christian_ _would protest against metaphysical healing being called_ _Christian Science. He also maintained that pain and_ _disease are not illusions but realities; and that it is not_ [10]

_Christian to believe they are illusions. Is this so?_

It is unchristian to believe that pain and sickness are anything _but_ illusions. My proof of this is, that the penalty for believing in their reality is the very pain and disease. Jesus cast out a devil, and the dumb spake; [15]

hence it is right to know that the works of Satan are the illusion and error which Truth casts out.

Does the gentleman above mentioned know the meaning of divine metaphysics, or of metaphysical theology? [20]

According to Webster, metaphysics is defined thus: "The science of the conceptions and relations which are necessary to thought and knowledge; science of the mind." Worcester defines it as "the philosophy of mind, as distinguished from that of matter; a science of which [25]

the object is to explain the principles and causes of all things existing," Brande calls metaphysics "the science which regards the ultimate grounds of being, as distinguished from its phenomenal modifications." "A speculative science, which soars beyond the bounds of [30]

experience," is a further definition.

[Page 69.]

Divine metaphysics is that which treats of the exist- [1]

ence of G.o.d, His essence, relations, and attributes. A sneer at metaphysics is a scoff at Deity; at His goodness, mercy, and might.

Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics; [5]

that is, of Mind, or G.o.d, and His attributes. Science rests on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Chris- tian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize the divine power.

In Genesis i. 26, we read: "Let us make man in [10]

our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air."

I was once called to visit a sick man to whom the regular physicians had given three doses of Croton [15]

oil, and then had left him to die. Upon my arrival I found him barely alive, and in terrible agony. In one hour he was well, and the next day he attended to his business. I removed the stoppage, healed him of en- teritis, and neutralized the bad effects of the poison- [20]

ous oil. His physicians had failed even to move his bowels,-though the wonder was, with the means used in their effort to accomplish this result, that they had not quite killed him. According to their diagnosis, the exciting cause of the inflammation and [25]

stoppage was-eating smoked herring. The man is living yet; and I will send his address to any one who may wish to apply to him for information about his case.

Now comes the question: Had that sick man dominion [30]

over the fish in his stomach?

His want of control over "the fish of the sea" must

[Page 70.]

have been an illusion, or else the Scriptures misstate [1]

man's power. That the Bible is true I believe, not only, but I _demonstrated_ its truth when I exercised my power over the fish, cast out the sick man's illu- sion, and healed him. Thus it was shown that the [5]

healing action of Mind upon the body has its only ex- planation in divine metaphysics. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." When the mortal thought, or be- lief, was removed, the man was well.

_What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief,_ [10]

_"__To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise__"__?_

Paradisaical rest from physical agony would come to the criminal, if the dream of dying should startle him from the dream of suffering. The paradise of Spirit would come to Jesus, in a spiritual sense of Life and [15]

power. Christ Jesus lived and reappeared. He was too good to die; for goodness is immortal. The thief was not equal to the demands of the hour; but sin was de- stroying itself, and had already begun to die,-as the poor thief's prayer for help indicated. The dy- [20]

ing malefactor and our Lord were inevitably sepa- rated through Mind. The thief's body, as matter, must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal. That day the thief would be with Jesus only in a finite [25]

and material sense of relief; while our Lord would soon be rising to the supremacy of Spirit, working out, even in the silent tomb, those wonderful demon- strations of divine power, in which none could equal his glory. [30]

[Page 71.]

_Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely_ [1]

_well myself?_

The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from an appet.i.te for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he saved many a drunkard from this fatal appet.i.te. Paul [5]

had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and heal- ing the sick is a very right thing to do. [10]

_Does Christian Science set aside the law of transmission,_ _prenatal desires, and good or bad influences on the unborn_ _child?_

Science never averts law, but supports it. All actual causation must interpret omnipotence, the all-knowing [15]

Mind. Law brings out Truth, not error; unfolds divine Principle,-but neither human hypothesis nor matter.

Errors are based on a mortal or material formation; they are suppositional modes, not the factors of divine presence and power. [20]

Whatever is humanly conceived is a departure from divine law; hence its mythical origin and certain end.

According to the Scriptures,-St. Paul declares astutely, "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things,"-man is incapable of originating; nothing can [25]

be formed apart from G.o.d, good, the all-knowing Mind.

What seems to be of human origin is the counterfeit of the divine,-even human concepts, mortal shadows flitting across the dial of time.

Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the im- [30]

mutable and just law of Science, that G.o.d is good only,

[Page 72.]

and can transmit to man and the universe nothing evil, [1]

or unlike Himself. For the innocent babe to be born a lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins, were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator, and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and [5]

true origin, G.o.d.

According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their help- less offspring, and G.o.d is supposed to impart to man this fatal power. It is cause for rejoicing that this belief [10]

is as false as it is remorseless. The immutable Word saith, through the prophet Ezekiel, "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord G.o.d, [15]

ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel."