Golden Text
II Timothy 2:7 the
7. . . the Lord will give you understanding in all things.
The Golden Text is from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
Responsive Reading
Job 38:1 the, 2, 4–7, 18, 36; Job 42:1–3; Proverbs 2:6 the
Job 38:1. . . the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
18Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
42:1Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Prov. 2:6. . . the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Section 1
The Bible
Isaiah 29:11–14 the
11the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Job 32:8 there
8there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Psalms 62:11
11God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
Proverbs 1:5
5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
124:14
Right
interpretation
The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.
128:4–6
The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe, inclusive of man.
275:17
No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.
123:30
Scientific
basis
Christian Science differs from material science, but not on that account is it less scientific. On the contrary, Christian Science is pre-eminently scientific, being based on Truth, the Principle of all science.
547:25
True theory
of the
universe
The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal.
Section 2
The Bible
Psalms 97:1, 2, 4, 6
1The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
4His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
6The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
Psalms 107:23–25, 28–30
23They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
24These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
25For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
28Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Isaiah 44:2 (to 1st ,), 3 2nd I will, 6 I am
2Thus saith the Lord that made thee,
3I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
6I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Science and Health
240:1–2
Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature.
183:19–21
Laws of
nature spiritual
Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but mortals commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of Spirit.
118:26–18
Certain
contradictions
The definitions of material law, as given by natural science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against itself, because these definitions portray law as physical, not spiritual. Therefore they contradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in which nature and God are one and the natural order of heaven comes down to earth.
Unescapable
dilemma
When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, — that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we cannot really endow matter with what it does not and cannot possess, — we disown the Almighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and consider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the creator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disasters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpetual misrule in the form and under the name of natural law.
In one sense God is identical with nature, but this nature is spiritual and is not expressed in matter.
273:2–3, 7, 21–24
There is no material truth.
Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law.
Spiritual law
the only law
God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the wisdom of the creator.
119:21
God is natural good, and is represented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature of Spirit, God.
114:27–29
In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal.
Section 3
The Bible
James 3:11–13
11Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
II Kings 2:19–22 the
19the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is nought, and the ground barren.
20And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
21And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
22So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
Science and Health
83:12
Natural
wonders
Miracles are impossible in Science, and here Science takes issue with popular religions. The scientific manifestation of power is from the divine nature and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication of nature. The belief that the universe, including man, is governed in general by material laws, but that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, — this belief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit.
335:18–20 Nothing
Soul and
Spirit one
Nothing but Spirit, Soul, can evolve Life, for Spirit is more than all else.
207:27–29
The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth.
78:1
Unnatural
deflections
The decaying flower, the blighted bud, the gnarled oak, the ferocious beast, — like the discords of disease, sin, and death, — are unnatural. They are the falsities of sense, the changing deflections of mortal mind; they are not the eternal realities of Mind.
195:11–12
The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal mind or immortal Mind that is causative.
507:22
The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.
209:5–8
Allness of
Truth
Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind.
Section 4
The Bible
I Timothy 1:1, 2 Grace
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
2Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
Colossians 3:16 (to ;)
16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
Acts 13:43 many
43many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Acts 14:8–15
8And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:
9The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
10Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
11And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
12And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
13Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
14Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
15And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Romans 16:25–27 (to 1st .)
25Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
27To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.
Science and Health
145:31–2 (to 2nd .)
The theology of Christian Science includes healing the sick. Our Master’s first article of faith propounded to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by his works. The ancient Christians were healers.
347:23
If Christian Science takes away the popular gods, — sin, sickness, and death, — it is Christ, Truth, who destroys these evils, and so proves their nothingness.
149:29–31
We need to understand the affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ.
146:23–23 (next page)
Christian
Science as
old as God
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible, and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through the holy influence of Truth in healing sickness and sin. This healing power of Truth must have been far anterior to the period in which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as “the Ancient of days.” It lives through all Life, and extends throughout all space.
Reduction
to system
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of the age in which we live. This system enables the learner to demonstrate the divine Principle, upon which Jesus’ healing was based, and the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of disease.
Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly applied under circumstances where demonstration was humanly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though centuries had passed away since Jesus practised these rules on the hills of Judæa and in the valleys of Galilee.
Perusal and
practice
Although this volume contains the complete Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and enables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim.
69:2–5
The scientific fact that man and the universe are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.
391:24–32
Disease has no intelligence to declare itself something and announce its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself and to others.
Mentally contradict every complaint from the body, and rise to the true consciousness of Life as Love, — as all that is pure, and bearing the fruits of Spirit.
423:8
Scientific
corrective
The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error. This corrective is an alterative, reaching to every part of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches “the joints and marrow,” and it restores the harmony of man.
144:27
When the Science of being is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea.
Section 5
The Bible
Job 33:4
4The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Revelation 10:1, 2, 5, 6
1And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
5And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Exodus 15:18
18The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.
Science and Health
559:1–8
Truth’s
volume
This angel had in his hand “a little book,” open for all to read and understand. Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science, the “right foot” or dominant power of which was upon the sea, — upon elementary, latent error, the source of all error’s visible forms? The angel’s left foot was upon the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon visible error and audible sin.
205:7–9
When will the error of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be unmasked?
97:17
The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being.
266:27–29 (to 1st .), 30
Beatific
presence
Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light.
He does not cross the barriers of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with God and the universe.
468:28–29
Eternity
of Life
Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity.
64:30
Spirit will ultimately claim its own, — all that really is, — and the voices of physical sense will be forever hushed.