Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures Part 62

Careful guidance

428:30 The author has healed hopeless organic disease, and raised the dying to life and health through the under- standing of G.o.d as the only Life. It is a sin to believe 429:1 that aught can overpower omnipotent and eternal Life, and this Life must be brought to light by the understand- 429:3 ing that there is no death, as well as by other graces of Spirit. We must begin, however, with the more simple demonstrations of control, and 429:6 the sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration takes time for its accomplishment. When walking, we are guided by the eye. We look before our feet, and if 429:9 we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of spiritual advancement.

Clay replying to the potter

The corpse, deserted by thought, is cold and decays, 429:12 but it never suffers. Science declares that man is sub- ject to Mind. Mortal mind affirms that mind is subordinate to the body, that the body is 429:15 dying, that it must be buried and decomposed into dust; but mortal mind's affirmation is not true.

Mortals waken from the dream of death with bodies un- 429:18 seen by those who think that they bury the body.

Continuity of existence

If man did not exist before the material organization began, he could not exist after the body is disintegrated.

429:21 If we live after death and are immortal, we must have lived before birth, for if Life ever had any beginning, it must also have an ending, even ac- 429:24 cording to the calculations of natural science. Do you believe this? No! Do you understand it? No! This is why you doubt the statement and do not demonstrate 429:27 the facts it involves. We must have faith in all the say- ings of our Master, though they are not included in the teachings of the schools, and are not understood gener- 429:30 ally by our ethical instructors.

Life all-inclusive

Jesus said (John viii. 51), "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." That statement is not con- 430:1 fined to spiritual life, but includes all the phenomena of existence. Jesus demonstrated this, healing the dying 430:3 and raising the dead. Mortal mind must part with error, must put off itself with its deeds, and immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, will appear.

430:6 Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base by resting upon Spirit instead of matter. When man gives up his belief in death, he will advance more rapidly 430:9 towards G.o.d, Life, and Love. Belief in sickness and death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the true sense of Life and health. When will mankind wake 430:12 to this great fact in Science?

I here present to my readers an allegory ill.u.s.trative of the law of divine Mind and of the supposed laws of mat- 430:15 ter and hygiene, an allegory in which the plea of Christian Science heals the sick.

A mental court case

Suppose a mental case to be on trial, as cases are tried 430:18 in court. A man is charged with having committed liver- complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates, and the trial commences. Personal Sense is 430:21 the plaintiff. Mortal Man is the defendant. False Belief is the attorney for Personal Sense. Mortal Minds, Ma- teria Medica, Anatomy, Physiology, Hypnotism, Envy, 430:24 Greed and Ingrat.i.tude, const.i.tute the jury. The court- room is filled with interested spectators, and Judge Medicine is on the bench.

430:27 The evidence for the prosecution being called for, a witness testifies thus: -

I represent Health-laws. I was present on certain nights 430:30 when the prisoner, or patient, watched with a sick friend.

Although I have the superintendence of human affairs, I was personally abused on those occasions. I was told that 431:1 I must remain silent until called for at this trial, when I would be allowed to testify in the case. Notwithstanding 431:3 my rules to the contrary, the prisoner watched with the sick every night in the week. When the sick mortal was thirsty, the prisoner gave him drink. During all this time the pris- 431:6 oner attended to his daily labors, partaking of food at ir- regular intervals, sometimes going to sleep immediately after a heavy meal. At last he committed liver-complaint, 431:9 which I considered criminal, inasmuch as this offence is deemed punishable with death. Therefore I arrested Mor- tal Man in behalf of the state (namely, the body) and cast 431:12 him into prison.

At the time of the arrest the prisoner summoned Physi- ology, Materia Medica, and Hypnotism to prevent his pun- 431:15 ishment. The struggle on their part was long. Materia Medica held out the longest, but at length all these a.s.sist- ants resigned to me, Health-laws, and I succeeded in get- 431:18 ting Mortal Man into close confinement until I should release him.

The next witness is called:-

431:21 I am Coated Tongue. I am covered with a foul fur, placed on me the night of the liver-attack. Morbid Secre- tion hypnotized the prisoner and took control of his mind, 431:24 making him despondent.

Another witness takes the stand and testifies:-

I am Sallow Skin. I have been dry, hot, and chilled by 431:27 turns since the night of the liver-attack. I have lost my healthy hue and become unsightly, although nothing on my part has occasioned this change. I practise daily ablutions 431:30 and perform my functions as usual, but I am robbed of my good looks.

432:1 The next witness testifies: -

I am Nerve, the State Commissioner for Mortal Man.

432:3 I am intimately acquainted with the plaintiff, Personal Sense, and know him to be truthful and upright, whereas Mortal Man, the prisoner at the bar, is capable of false- 432:6 hood. I was witness to the crime of liver-complaint. I knew the prisoner would commit it, for I convey messages from my residence in matter, alias brain, to body.

432:9 Another witness is called for by the Court of Error and says: -

I am Mortality, Governor of the Province of Body, in 432:12 which Mortal Man resides. In this province there is a stat- ute regarding disease, - namely, that he upon whose per- son disease is found shall be treated as a criminal and 432:15 punished with death.

The Judge asks if by doing good to his neighbor, it is possible for man to become diseased, transgress the laws, 432:18 and merit punishment, and Governor Mortality replies in the affirmative.

Another witness takes the stand and testifies: -

432:21 I am Death. I was called for, shortly after the report of the crime, by the officer of the Board of Health, who pro- tested that the prisoner had abused him, and that my pres- 432:24 ence was required to confirm his testimony. One of the prisoner's friends, Materia Medica, was present when I arrived, endeavoring to a.s.sist the prisoner to escape from 432:27 the hands of justice, _alias_ nature's so-called law; but my appearance with a message from the Board of Health changed the purpose of Materia Medica, and he decided at 432:30 once that the prisoner should die.

Judge Medicine charges the jury

433:1 The testimony for the plaintiff, Personal Sense, being closed, Judge Medicine arises, and with great solemnity 433:3 addresses the jury of Mortal Minds. He an- alyzes the offence, reviews the testimony, and explains the law relating to liver-complaint.

433:6 His conclusion is, that laws of nature render disease homicidal. In compliance with a stern duty, his Honor, Judge Medicine, urges the jury not to allow their judg- 433:9 ment to be warped by the irrational, unchristian sugges- tions of Christian Science. The jury must regard in such cases only the evidence of Personal Sense against Mortal 433:12 Man.

As the Judge proceeds, the prisoner grows restless. His sallow face blanches with fear, and a look of despair and 433:15 death settles upon it. The case is given to the jury. A brief consultation ensues, and the jury returns a verdict of "Guilty of liver-complaint in the first degree."

Mortal Man sentenced

433:18 Judge Medicine then proceeds to p.r.o.nounce the solemn sentence of death upon the prisoner. Because he has loved his neighbor as himself, Mortal Man has 433:21 been guilty of benevolence in the first degree, and this has led him into the commission of the second crime, liver-complaint, which material laws condemn as 433:24 homicide. For this crime Mortal Man is sentenced to be tortured until he is dead. "May G.o.d have mercy on your soul," is the Judge's solemn peroration.

433:27 The prisoner is then remanded to his cell (sick-bed), and Scholastic Theology is sent for to prepare the fright- ened sense of Life, G.o.d, - which sense must be immortal, 433:30 - for _death_.

Appeal to a higher tribunal

Ah! but Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors 434:1 and set the captive free. Swift on the wings of divine Love, there comes a despatch: "Delay the execution; 434:3 the prisoner is not guilty." Consternation fills the prison-yard. Some exclaim, "It is con- trary to law and justice." Others say, 434:6 "The law of Christ supersedes _our_ laws; let us follow Christ."

Counsel for defence

After much debate and opposition, permission is ob- 434:9 tained for a trial in the Court of Spirit, where Christian Science is allowed to appear as counsel for the unfortunate prisoner. Witnesses, judges 434:12 and jurors, who were at the previous Court of Error, are now summoned to appear before the bar of Justice and eternal Truth.

434:15 When the case for Mortal Man _versus_ Personal Sense is opened, Mortal Man's counsel regards the prisoner with the utmost tenderness. The counsel's earnest, 434:18 solemn eyes, kindling with hope and triumph, look up- ward. Then Christian Science turns suddenly to the supreme tribunal, and opens the argument for the 434:21 defence: -

The prisoner at the bar has been unjustly sentenced.

His trial was a tragedy, and is morally illegal. Mortal 434:24 Man has had no proper counsel in the case. All the test- mony has been on the side of Personal Sense, and we shall unearth this foul conspiracy against the liberty and life of 434:27 Man. The only valid testimony in the case shows the alleged crime never to have been committed. The pris- oner is not proved "worthy of death, or of bonds."

434:30 Your Honor, the lower court has sentenced Mortal Man to die, but G.o.d made Man immortal and amenable to Spirit only. Denying justice to the body, that court com- 435:1 mended man's immortal Spirit to heavenly mercy, - Spirit which is G.o.d Himself and Man's only lawgiver! Who or 435:3 what has sinned? Has the body or has Mortal Mind committed a criminal deed? Counsellor False Belief has argued that the body should die, while Reverend Theology 435:6 would console conscious Mortal Mind, which alone is capa- ble of sin and suffering. The body committed no offence.

Mortal Man, in obedience to higher law, helped his fellow- 435:9 man, an act which should result in good to himself as well as to others.

The law of our Supreme Court decrees that whosoever 435:12 _sinneth_ shall die; but good deeds are immortal, bringing joy instead of grief, pleasure instead of pain, and life instead of death. If liver-complaint was committed by 435:15 trampling on Laws of Health, this was a good deed, for the agent of those laws is an outlaw, a destroyer of Mortal Man's liberty and rights. Laws of Health should be sen- 435:18 tenced to die.

Watching beside the couch of pain in the exercise of a love that "is the fulfilling of the law," - doing "unto 435:21 others as ye would that they should do unto you," - this is no infringement of law, for no demand, human or divine, renders it just to punish a man for acting justly. If mor- 435:24 tals sin, our Supreme Judge in equity decides what penalty is due for the sin, and Mortal Man can suffer only for his sin. For naught else can he be punished, according to the 435:27 law of Spirit, G.o.d.

Then what jurisdiction had his Honor, Judge Medicine, in this case? To him I might say, in Bible language, "Sit- 435:30 test thou to judge ... after the law, and commandest ...

to be smitten contrary to the law?" The only jurisdiction to which the prisoner can submit is that of Truth, Life, and 435:33 Love. If they condemn him not, neither shall Judge Medi- cine condemn him; and I ask that the prisoner be restored to the liberty of which he has been unjustly deprived.

436:1 The princ.i.p.al witness (the officer of the Health-laws) deposed that he was an eye-witness to the good deeds for 436:3 which Mortal Man is under sentence of death. After be- traying him into the hands of your law, the Health-agent disappeared, to reappear however at the trial as a witness 436:6 against Mortal Man and in the interest of Personal Sense, a murderer. Your Supreme Court must find the pris- oner on the night of the alleged offence to have been acting 436:9 within the limits of the divine law, and in obedience thereto. Upon this statute hangs all the law and testimony.

Giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name, is a Christian 436:12 service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man should find it again. Such acts bear their own justifica- tion, and are under the protection of the Most High.

436:15 Prior to the night of his arrest, the prisoner summoned two professed friends, Materia Medica and Physiology, to prevent his committing liver-complaint, and thus save him 436:18 from arrest. But they brought with them Fear, the sheriff, to precipitate the result which they were called to prevent.

It was Fear who handcuffed Mortal Man and would now 436:21 punish him. You have left Mortal Man no alternative.

He must obey your law, fear its consequences, and be pun- ished for his fear. His friends struggled hard to rescue the 436:24 prisoner from the penalty they considered justly due, but they were compelled to let him be taken into custody, tried, and condemned. Thereupon Judge Medicine sat in judg- 436:27 ment on the case, and substantially charged the jury, twelve Mortal Minds, to find the prisoner guilty. His Honor sen- tenced Mortal Man to die for the very deeds which the di- 436:30 vine law compels man to commit. Thus the Court of Error construed obedience to the law of divine Love as disobedi- ence to the law of Life. Claiming to protect Mortal Man 436:33 in right-doing, that court p.r.o.nounced a sentence of death for doing right.

One of the princ.i.p.al witnesses, Nerve, testified that he 437:1 was a ruler of Body, in which province Mortal Man resides.

He also testified that he was on intimate terms with the 437:3 plaintiff, and knew Personal Sense to be truthful; that he knew Man, and that Man was made in the image of G.o.d, but was a criminal. This is a foul aspersion on man's 437:6 Maker. It blots the fair escutcheon of omnipotence. It in- dicates malice aforethought, a determination to condemn Man in the interest of Personal Sense. At the bar of Truth, 437:9 in the presence of divine Justice, before the Judge of our higher tribunal, the Supreme Court of Spirit, and before its jurors, the Spiritual Senses, I proclaim this witness, 437:12 Nerve, to be dest.i.tute of intelligence and truth and to be a false witness.