Rudimental Divine Science

by Mary Baker Eddy



THIS LITTLE BOOK

IS

TENDERLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

TO ALL

LOYAL STUDENTS, WORKING AND WAITING

FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE

SCIENCE OF MIND-HEALING


MARY BAKER EDDY



Table of Contents





1      How would you define Christian Science?


         AS the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and
3      demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of
         universal harmony.



         What is the Principle of Christian Science?


6      It is God, the Supreme Being, infinite and immortal
         Mind, the Soul of man and the universe. It is our Father
         which is in heaven. It is substance, Spirit, Life, Truth,
9      and Love, — these are the deific Principle.



         Do you mean by this that God is a person?


         The word person affords a large margin for misappre-
12    hension, as well as definition. In French the equivalent
         word is personne. In Spanish, Italian, and Latin, it is
         persona. The Latin verb personare is compounded of
15    the prefix per (through) and sonare (to sound).

         In law, Blackstone applies the word personal to bodily
         presence, in distinction from one's appearance (in court,
         for example) by deputy or proxy.


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1      Other definitions of person, as given by Webster, are
         "a living soul; a self-conscious being; a moral agent;
3      especially, a living human being, a corporeal man, woman,
         or child; an individual of the human race." He adds,
         that among Trinitarian Christians the word stands for one
6      of the three subjects, or agents, constituting the Godhead.

         In Christian Science we learn that God is definitely indi-
         vidual, and not a person, as that word is used by the best
9      authorities, if our lexicographers are right in defining
         person as especially a finite human being; but God is
         personal, if by person is meant infinite Spirit.

12    We do not conceive rightly of God, if we think of Him
         as less than infinite. The human person is finite; and
         therefore I prefer to retain the proper sense of Deity by
15    using the phrase an individual God, rather than a per-
         sonal God; for there is and can be but one infinite indi-
         vidual Spirit, whom mortals have named God.

18    Science defines the individuality of God as supreme
         good, Life, Truth, Love. This term enlarges our sense
         of Deity, takes away the trammels assigned to God by
21    finite thought, and introduces us to higher definitions.



         Is healing the sick the whole of Science?


         Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Chris-
24    tian Science. It is only the bugle-call to thought and
         action, in the higher range of infinite goodness. The
         emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the healing of
27    sin; and this task, sometimes, may be harder than the


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1      cure of disease; because, while mortals love to sin, they
         do not love to be sick. Hence their comparative acqui-
3      escence in your endeavors to heal them of bodily ills, and
         their obstinate resistance to all efforts to save them from
         sin through Christ, spiritual Truth and Love, which
6      redeem them, and become their Saviour, through the
         flesh, from the flesh, — the material world and evil.

         This Life, Truth, and Love — this trinity of good — was
9      individualized, to the perception of mortal sense, in the
         man Jesus. His history is emphatic in our hearts, and it
         lives more because of his spiritual than his physical healing.
12    His example is, to Christian Scientists, what the models
         of the masters in music and painting are to artists.

         Genuine Christian Scientists will no more deviate mor-
15    ally from that divine digest of Science called the Sermon
         on the Mount, than they will manipulate invalids, prescribe
         drugs, or deny God. Jesus' healing was spiritual in its
18    nature, method, and design. He wrought the cure of
         disease through the divine Mind, which gives all true
         volition, impulse, and action; and destroys the mental
21    error made manifest physically, and establishes the oppo-
         site manifestation of Truth upon the body in harmony
         and health.



24    By the individuality of God, do you mean that God has
         a finite form?


         No. I mean the infinite and divine Principle of all
27    being, the ever-present I am, filling all space, including


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1      in itself all Mind, the one Father-Mother God. Life,
         Truth, and Love are this trinity in unity, and their uni-
3      verse is spiritual, peopled with perfect beings, harmonious
         and eternal, of which our material universe and men are
         the counterfeits.



6      Is God the Principle of all science, or only of Divine or
         Christian Science?


         Science is Mind manifested. It is not material; neither
9      is it of human origin.

         All true Science represents a moral and spiritual force,
         which holds the earth in its orbit. This force is Spirit,
12    that can "bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades," and
         "loose the bands of Orion."

         There is no material science, if by that term you mean
15    material intelligence. God is infinite Mind, hence there
         is no other Mind. Good is Mind, but evil is not Mind.
         Good is not in evil, but in God only. Spirit is not in matter,
18    but in Spirit only. Law is not in matter, but in Mind only.



         Is there no matter?


         All is Mind. According to the Scriptures and Christian
21    Science, all is God, and there is naught beside Him. "God
         is Spirit;" and we can only learn and love Him through
         His spirit, which brings out the fruits of Spirit and ex-
24    tinguishes forever the works of darkness by His marvel-
         lous light.

         The five material senses testify to the existence of


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1      matter. The spiritual senses afford no such evidence,
         but deny the testimony of the material senses. Which
3      testimony is correct? The Bible says: "Let God be
         true, and every man a liar." If, as the Scriptures imply,
         God is All-in-all, then all must be Mind, since God is
6      Mind. Therefore in divine Science there is no material
         mortal man, for man is spiritual and eternal, he being
         made in the image of Spirit, or God.

9      There is no material sense. Matter is inert, inanimate,
         and sensationless, — considered apart from Mind. Lives
         there a man who has ever found Soul in the body or in
12    matter, who has ever seen spiritual substance with the
         eye, who has found sight in matter, hearing in the material
         ear, or intelligence in non-intelligence? If there is any
15    such thing as matter, it must be either mind which is
         called matter, or matter without Mind.

         Matter without Mind is a moral impossibility. Mind
18    in matter is pantheism. Soul is the only real conscious-
         ness which cognizes being. The body does not see, hear,
         smell, or taste. Human belief says that it does; but
21    destroy this belief of seeing with the eye, and we could
         not see materially; and so it is with each of the physical
         senses.

24    Accepting the verdict of these material senses, we should
         believe man and the universe to be the football of chance
         and sinking into oblivion. Destroy the five senses as
27    organized matter, and you must either become non-exist-
         ent, or exist in Mind only; and this latter conclusion is


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1      the simple solution of the problem of being, and leads to
         the equal inference that there is no matter.



3      The sweet sounds and glories of earth and sky, assum-
         ing manifold forms and colors, — are they not tangible and
         material?


6      As Mind they are real, but not as matter. All beauty
         and goodness are in and of Mind, emanating from God;
         but when we change the nature of beauty and goodness
9      from Mind to matter, the beauty is marred, through a
         false conception, and, to the material senses, evil takes
         the place of good.

12    Has not the truth in Christian Science met a response
         from Prof. S. P. Langley, the young American astronomer?
         He says that "color is in us," not "in the rose;" and he
15    adds that this is not "any metaphysical subtlety," but a
         fact "almost universally accepted, within the last few
         years, by physicists."



18    Is not the basis of Mind-healing a destruction of the evi-
         dence of the material senses, and restoration of the true
         evidence of spiritual sense?


21    It is, so far as you perceive and understand this predi-
         cate and postulate of Mind-healing; but the Science of
         Mind-healing is best understood in practical demonstra-
24    tion. The proof of what you apprehend, in the simplest
         definite and absolute form of healing, can alone answer
         this question of how much you understand of Christian


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1      Science Mind-healing. Not that all healing is Science,
         by any means; but that the simplest case, healed in Science,
3      is as demonstrably scientific, in a small degree, as the most
         difficult case so treated.

         The infinite and subtler conceptions and consistencies
6      of Christian Science are set forth in my work Science and
         Health.



         Is man material or spiritual?


9      In Science, man is the manifest reflection of God, per-
         fect and immortal Mind. He is the likeness of God; and
         His likeness would be lost if inverted or perverted.

12    According to the evidence of the so-called physical
         senses, man is material, fallen, sick, depraved, mortal.
         Science and spiritual sense contradict this, and they afford
15    the only true evidence of the being of God and man, the
         material evidence being wholly false.

         Jesus said of personal evil, that "the truth abode not
18    in him," because there is no material sense. Matter, as
         matter, has neither sensation nor personal intelligence.
         As a pretension to be Mind, matter is a lie, and "the
21    father of lies;" Mind is not in matter, and Spirit cannot
         originate its opposite, named matter.

         According to divine Science, Spirit no more changes its
24    species, by evolving matter from Spirit, than natural
         science, so-called, or material laws, bring about altera-
         tion of species by transforming minerals into vegetables
27    or plants into animals, — thus confusing and confounding


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1      the three great kingdoms. No rock brings forth an apple;
         no pine-tree produces a mammal or provides breast-milk
3      for babes.

         To sense, the lion of to-day is the lion of six thousand
         years ago; but in Science, Spirit sends forth its own harm-
6      less likeness.



         How should I undertake to demonstrate Christian Science
         in healing the sick?


9      As I have given you only an epitome of the Principle,
         so I can give you here nothing but an outline of the prac-
         tice. Be honest, be true to thyself, and true to others;
12    then it follows thou wilt be strong in God, the eternal
         good. Heal through Truth and Love; there is no other
         healer.

15    In all moral revolutions, from a lower to a higher con-
         dition of thought and action, Truth is in the minority and
         error has the majority. It is not otherwise in the field
18    of Mind-healing. The man who calls himself a Christian
         Scientist, yet is false to God and man, is also uttering
         falsehood about good. This falsity shuts against him the
21    Truth and the Principle of Science, but opens a way
         whereby, through will-power, sense may say the unchris-
         tian practitioner can heal; but Science shows that he makes
24    morally worse the invalid whom he is supposed to cure.

         By this I mean that mortal mind should not be falsely
         impregnated. If by such lower means the health is seem-
27    ingly restored, the restoration is not lasting, and the patient


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1      is liable to a relapse, — "The last state of that man is
         worse than the first."

3      The teacher of Mind-healing who is not a Christian,
         in the highest sense, is constantly sowing the seeds of
         discord and disease. Even the truth he speaks is more
6      or less blended with error; and this error will spring up
         in the mind of his pupil. The pupil's imperfect knowl-
         edge will lead to weakness in practice, and he will be a
9      poor practitioner, if not a malpractitioner.

         The basis of malpractice is in erring human will, and
         this will is an outcome of what I call mortal mind, — a
12    false and temporal sense of Truth, Life, and Love. To
         heal, in Christian Science, is to base your practice on
         immortal Mind, the divine Principle of man's being; and
15    this requires a preparation of the heart and an answer
         of the lips from the Lord.

         The Science of healing is the Truth of healing. If
18    one is untruthful, his mental state weighs against his
         healing power; and similar effects come from pride,
         envy, lust, and all fleshly vices.

21    The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, with-
         out a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument,
         has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases.

24    The thoughts of the practitioner should be imbued with
         a clear conviction of the omnipotence and omnipresence
         of God; that He is All, and that there can be none beside
27    Him; that God is good, and the producer only of good;
         and hence, that whatever militates against health, har-


Page 10


1      mony, or holiness, is an unjust usurper of the throne of
         the controller of all mankind. Note this, that if you have
3      power in error, you forfeit the power that Truth bestows,
         and its salutary influence on yourself and others.

         You must feel and know that God alone governs man;
6      that His government is harmonious; that He is too pure
         to behold iniquity, and divides His power with nothing
         evil or material; that material laws are only human be-
9      liefs, which govern mortals wrongfully. These beliefs arise
         from the subjective states of thought, producing the be-
         liefs of a mortal material universe, — so-called, and of
12    material disease and mortality. Mortal ills are but errors
         of thought, — diseases of mortal mind, and not of matter;
         for matter cannot feel, see, or report pain or disease.

15    Disease is a thing of thought manifested on the body;
         and fear is the procurator of the thought which causes
         sickness and suffering. Remove this fear by the true
18    sense that God is Love, — and that Love punishes nothing
         but sin, — and the patient can then look up to the loving
         God, and know that He afflicteth not willingly the children
21    of men, who are punished because of disobedience to His
         spiritual law. His law of Truth, when obeyed, removes
         every erroneous physical and mental state. The belief
24    that matter can master Mind, and make you ill, is an
         error which Truth will destroy.

         You must learn to acknowledge God in all His ways.
27    It is only a lack of understanding of the allness of God,
         which leads you to believe in the existence of matter, or


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1      that matter can frame its own conditions, contrary to the
         law of Spirit.

3      Sickness is the schoolmaster, leading you to Christ;
         first to faith in Christ; next to belief in God as omnipo-
         tent; and finally to the understanding of God and man
6      in Christian Science, whereby you learn that God is good,
         and in Science man is His likeness, the forever reflection of
         goodness. Therefore good is one and All.

9      This brings forward the next proposition in Christian
         Science, — namely, that there are no sickness, sin, and
         death in the divine Mind. What seem to be disease, vice,
12    and mortality are illusions of the physical senses. These
         illusions are not real, but unreal. Health is the conscious-
         ness of the unreality of pain and disease; or, rather, the
15    absolute consciousness of harmony and of nothing else.
         In a moment you may awake from a night-dream; just
         so you can awake from the dream of sickness; but the
18    demonstration of the Science of Mind-healing by no means
         rests on the strength of human belief. This demonstra-
         tion is based on a true understanding of God and divine
21    Science, which takes away every human belief, and,
         through the illumination of spiritual understanding, re-
         veals the all-power and ever-presence of good, whence
24    emanate health, harmony, and Life eternal.

         The lecturer, teacher, or healer who is indeed a Christian
         Scientist, never introduces the subject of human anatomy;
27    never depicts the muscular, vascular, or nervous opera-
         tions of the human frame. He never talks about the


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1      structure of the material body. He never lays his hands
         on the patient, nor manipulates the parts of the body sup-
3      posed to be ailing. Above all, he keeps unbroken the Ten
         Commandments, and practises Christ's Sermon on the
         Mount.

6      Wrong thoughts and methods strengthen the sense of
         disease, instead of cure it; or else quiet the fear of the
         sick on false grounds, encouraging them in the belief of
9      error until they hold stronger than before the belief that
         they are first made sick by matter, and then restored
         through its agency. This fosters infidelity, and is mental
12    quackery, that denies the Principle of Mind-healing. If
         the sick are aided in this mistaken fashion, their ailments
         will return, and be more stubborn because the relief is
15    unchristian and unscientific.

         Christian Science erases from the minds of invalids
         their mistaken belief that they live in or because of matter,
18    or that a so-called material organism controls the health
         or existence of mankind, and induces rest in God, divine
         Love, as caring for all the conditions requisite for the well-
21    being of man. As power divine is the healer, why should
         mortals concern themselves with the chemistry of food?
         Jesus said: "Take no thought what ye shall eat."

24    The practitioner should also endeavor to free the minds
         of the healthy from any sense of subordination to their
         bodies, and teach them that the divine Mind, not material
27    law, maintains human health and life.

         A Christian Scientist knows that, in Science, disease


Page 13


1      is unreal; that Mind is not in matter; that Life is God,
         good; hence Life is not functional, and is neither matter
3      nor mortal mind; knows that pantheism and theosophy
         are not Science. Whatever saps, with human belief,
         this basis of Christian Science, renders it impossible to
6      demonstrate the Principle of this Science, even in the
         smallest degree.

         A mortal and material body is not the actual individuality
9      of man made in the divine and spiritual image of God.
         The material body is not the likeness of Spirit; hence it
         is not the truth of being, but the likeness of error — the
12    human belief which saith there is more than one God, —
         there is more than one Life and one Mind.

         In Deuteronomy (iv. 35) we read: "The Lord, He is
15    God; there is none else beside Him." In John (iv. 24)
         we may read: "God is Spirit." These propositions, un-
         derstood in their Science, elucidate my meaning.

18    When treating a patient, it is not Science to treat every
         organ in the body. To aver that harmony is the real and
         discord is the unreal, and then give special attention to
21    what according to their own belief is diseased, is scientific;
         and if the healer realizes the truth, it will free his patient.



         What are the means and methods of trustworthy Christian
24    Scientists?


         These people should not be expected, more than others,
         to give all their time to Christian Science work, receiving
27    no wages in return, but left to be fed, clothed, and sheltered


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1      by charity. Neither can they serve two masters, giving
         only a portion of their time to God, and still be Christian
3      Scientists. They must give Him all their services, and
         "owe no man." To do this, they must at present ask a
         suitable price for their services, and then conscientiously
6      earn their wages, strictly practising Divine Science, and
         healing the sick.

         The author never sought charitable support, but gave
9      fully seven-eighths of her time without remuneration, ex-
         cept the bliss of doing good. The only pay taken for her
         labors was from classes, and often those were put off for
12    months, in order to do gratuitous work. She has never
         taught a Primary class without several, and sometimes
         seventeen, free students in it; and has endeavored to take
15    the full price of tuition only from those who were able to
         pay. The student who pays must of necessity do better
         than he who does not pay, and yet will expect and require
18    others to pay him. No discount on tuition was made on
         higher classes, because their first classes furnished students
         with the means of paying for their tuition in the higher
21    instruction, and of doing charity work besides. If the
         Primary students are still impecunious, it is their own
         fault, and this ill-success of itself leaves them unprepared
24    to enter higher classes.

         People are being healed by means of my instructions,
         both in and out of class. Many students, who have
27    passed through a regular course of instruction from me,
         have been invalids and were healed in the class; but ex-


Page 15


1      perience has shown that this defrauds the scholar, though
         it heals the sick.

3      It is seldom that a student, if healed in a class, has left
         it understanding sufficiently the Science of healing to im-
         mediately enter upon its practice. Why? Because the
6      glad surprise of suddenly regained health is a shock to
         the mind; and this holds and satisfies the thought with
         exuberant joy.

9      This renders the mind less inquisitive, plastic, and tract-
         able; and deep systematic thinking is impracticable until
         this impulse subsides.

12    This was the principal reason for advising diseased
         people not to enter a class. Few were taken besides inva-
         lids for students, until there were enough practitioners to
15    fill in the best possible manner the department of healing.
         Teaching and healing should have separate departments,
         and these should be fortified on all sides with suitable and
18    thorough guardianship and grace.

         Only a very limited number of students can advanta-
         geously enter a class, grapple with this subject, and well
21    assimilate what has been taught them. It is impossible
         to teach thorough Christian Science to promiscuous and
         large assemblies, or to persons who cannot be addressed
24    individually, so that the mind of the pupil may be dissected
         more critically than the body of a subject laid bare for
         anatomical examination. Public lectures cannot be such
27    lessons in Christian Science as are required to empty and
         to fill anew the individual mind.


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1      If publicity and material control are the motives for
         teaching, then public lectures can take the place of private
3      lessons; but the former can never give a thorough knowledge
         of Christian Science, and a Christian Scientist will never
         undertake to fit students for practice by such means. Lec-
6      tures in public are needed, but they must be subordinate
         to thorough class instruction in any branch of education.

         None with an imperfect sense of the spiritual significa-
9      tion of the Bible, and its scientific relation to Mind-
         healing, should attempt overmuch in their translation of
         the Scriptures into the "new tongue;" but I see that
12    some novices, in the truth of Science, and some impostors
         are committing this error.



         Is there more than one school of scientific healing?


15    In reality there is, and can be, but one school of the
         Science of Mind-healing. Any departure from Science is
         an irreparable loss of Science. Whatever is said and
18    written correctly on this Science originates from the Princi-
         ple and practice laid down in Science and Health, a work
         which I published in 1875. This was the first book, re-
21    corded in history, which elucidates a pathological Science
         purely mental.

         Minor shades of difference in Mind-healing have origi-
24    nated with certain opposing factions, springing up among
         unchristian students, who, fusing with a class of aspirants
         which snatch at whatever is progressive, call it their first-
27    fruits, or else post mortem evidence.


Page 17


1      A slight divergence is fatal in Science. Like certain
         Jews whom St. Paul had hoped to convert from mere
3      motives of self-aggrandizement to the love of Christ, these
         so-called schools are clogging the wheels of progress by
         blinding the people to the true character of Christian
6      Science, — its moral power, and its divine efficacy to
         heal.

         The true understanding of Christian Science Mind-
9      healing never originated in pride, rivalry, or the deification
         of self. The Discoverer of this Science could tell you of
         timidity, of self-distrust, of friendlessness, toil, agonies, and
12    victories under which she needed miraculous vision to
         sustain her, when taking the first footsteps in this
         Science.

15    The ways of Christianity have not changed. Meek-
         ness, selflessness, and love are the paths of His testimony
         and the footsteps of His flock.