DISCOVERY AND EARLY RESEARCH OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

"In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth,
and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously
preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the
absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing." (107)

"Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, -- a conviction antagonistic to the
testimony of the physical senses? According to St. Paul, it was 'the gift of the grace
of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.' It was the divine law
of Life and Love, unfolding to me the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither
sensation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and
that immortal cravings, 'the price of learning love,' establish the truism that the only
sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer.

"My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence of this revelation to
multiply with mathematical certainty and the lesser demonstration to prove the
greater, as the product of three multiplied by three, equalling nine, proves conclu-
sively that three times three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, -- not a
fraction more, not a unit less.

"When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the
shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real
being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful
and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, -- called error, sin, sickness, disease,
death, -- is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this
false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same
so-called mind names 'matter,' thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit.

"My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed mind produces all the organism and
action of the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels, and led up to
my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the
leading factor in Mind-science." (108-109)

"For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-
healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and
devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule. The search was sweet,
calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all
harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive
Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing,
and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and
demonstration. The revelation of Truth in the understanding came to me gradually
and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth,
the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: 'Unto us a child is born,
. . . and his name shall be called Wonderful.'" (109)

"Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful unreality called evil. The
equipollence of God brought to light another glorious proposition, -- man's
perfectibility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

"In following these leadings of scientific revelation, the Bible was my only textbook.
The Scriptures were illumined; reason and revelation were reconciled, and after-
wards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated. No human pen nor tongue
taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH; and neither
tongue nor pen can overthrow it. This book may be distorted by shallow criticism
or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas may be temporarily abused and
misrepresented; but the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be discerned
and demonstrated." (110)

"After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its demonstration in healing the
sick, this fact became evident to me, -- that Mind governs the body, not partially but
wholly. I submitted my metaphysical system of treating disease to the broadest
practical tests. Since then this system has gradually gained ground, and has proved
itself, whenever scientifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent in
medical practice." (111)

"The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by the author to designate the
scientific system of divine healing.

"The revelation consists of two parts:

"1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind healing, through a spiritual sense
of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the
Master.

"2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-called miracles of Jesus did
not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an ever-
operative divine Principle. The operation of this Principle indicates the eternality of
the scientific order and continuity of being." (123)

"I have set forth Christian Science and its application to the treatment of disease just
as I have discovered them. I have demonstrated through Mind the effects of Truth on
the health, longevity, and morals of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in
modern systems on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations
of our great Master and the lives of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my
only authority. I have had no other guide in 'the straight and narrow way' of Truth.

"If Christendom resists the author's application of the word Science to Christianity,
or questions her use of the word Science, she will not therefore lose faith in Chris-
tianity, nor will Christianity lose its hold upon her. If God, the All-in-all, be the
creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything entitled to a classi-
fication as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of
God, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity." (126-127)

"The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine. I therefore
plant myself unreservedly on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of the prophets,
and on the testimony of the Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none. All

other systems -- systems based wholly or partly on knowledge gained through the
material senses -- are reeds shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.

"The theories I combat are these: (1) that all is matter; (2) that matter originates in
Mind, and is as real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life. The first theory, that
matter is everything, is quite as reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter
coexist and cooperate. One only of the following statements can be true: (1) that
everything is matter; (2) that everything is Mind. Which one is it?" (269)

"Until the author of this book learned the vastness of Christian Science, the fixedness
of mortal illusions, and the human hatred of Truth, she cherished sanguine hopes
that Christian Science would meet with immediate and universal acceptance." (330)

"Many years ago the author made a spiritual discovery, the scientific evidence of
which has accumulated to prove that the divine Mind produces in man health, harmony,
and immortality. Gradually this evidence will gather momentum and clearness, until
it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and proof." (380)

 

 

"When the Science of Mind was a fresh revelation to the author, she had to impart,

while teaching its grand facts, the hue of spiritual ideas from her own spiritual

condition, and she had to do this orally through the meagre channel afforded by

language and by her manuscript circulated among the students. As former beliefs

were gradually expelled from her thought, the teaching became clearer, until finally

the shadow of old errors was no longer cast upon divine Science." (460)

 

"When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also

the charge to plant and water His vineyard.

 

"The first school of Christian Science Mind-healing was started by the author with

only one student in Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1867. In 1881, she opened

the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston, under the seal of the Common-

wealth, a law relative to colleges having been passed, which enabled her to get this

institution chartered for medical purposes. No charters were granted to Christian

Scientists for such institutions after 1883, and up to that date, hers was the only

College of this character which had been established in the United States, where

Christian Science was first introduced.

 

"During seven years over four thousand students were taught by the author in this

College. Meanwhile she was pastor of the first established Church of Christ,

Scientist; President of the first Christian Scientist Association, convening monthly;

publisher of her own works; and (for a portion of this time) sole editor and publisher

of the Christian Science Journal, the first periodical issued by Christian Scientists.

She closed her College, October 29, 1889, in the height of its prosperity with a

deep-lying conviction that the next two years of her life should be given to the

preparation of the revision of SCIENCE AND HEALTH, which was published in

1891. She retained her charter, and as its President, reopened the College in 1899 as

auxiliary to her church."  (Preface xi-xii)

 

"There is great danger in teaching Mind-healing indiscriminately, thus disregarding

the morals of the student and caring only for the fees. Recalling Jefferson's words

about slavery, 'I tremble, when I remember that God is just,' the author trembles

whenever she sees a man, for the petty consideration of money, teaching his slight

knowledge of Mind-power, -- perhaps communicating his own bad morals, and in

this way dealing pitilessly with a community unprepared for self-defence." 

(445-446)

"When the discoverer of Christian Science is consulted by her followers as to the

propriety, advantage, and consistency of systematic medical study, she tries to show

them that under ordinary circumstances a resort to faith in corporeal means tends to

deter those, who make such a compromise, from entire confidence in omnipotent

Mind as really possessing all power. While a course of medical study is at times

severely condemned by some Scientists, she feels, as she always has felt, that all

are privileged to work out their own salvation according to their light, and that our

motto should be the Master's counsel, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'" (443)

 

"Christian Science can be taught only by those who are morally advanced and

spiritually endowed, for it is not superficial, nor is it discerned from the standpoint

of the human senses. Only by the illumination of the spiritual sense, can the light of

understanding be thrown upon this Science, because Science reverses the evidence

before the material senses and furnishes the eternal interpretation of God and man."

(461)