A note about the cover sketch by Luanne:
Boston Light — little Brewster Island (outer Boston Harbor), Massachusetts
Boston Light was the first light station in North America and is the country’s oldest continuously used lighthouse site. The original structure, built in 1716, was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Rebuilt in 1783, it has been called “the ideal American lighthouse.” Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1964, it is the only manned lighthouse in the United States.
“Cast Out Demons”
Casting Out Evils |
Mary A. Daggett |
Christian Science Sentinel July 7, 1917
People have wondered how Jesus’ command to his followers to cast out devils is to be obeyed. Christian Science answers that it can be accomplished through spiritual power alone. “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” In proportion as we have subdued our own human will and belief in materiality, are we able to cast out the same errors in another.
Just what are the devils of today? Christian Science reveals that evil thinking, bad habits, and human traits not generally thought of as sinful, can eventually dominate a person, and become his own personal devils. Human will tends to antagonize and stir up the evil spirit. Only thought that has been disciplined through conquest over self, has dominion, and the power of spiritual love casts out the devil.
Jesus taught that right thinking and Christian living prevent one from becoming possessed of devils. Those disciples whose spiritual growth enabled them to cast out devils must have understood this in some degree; but little was then known of spiritual law and its demonstration.
We may rejoice today that we have the exact Science, the perfect Principle and rules for preventing all manner of disease and evil. By applying these rules and cultivating spiritual aspirations, we will never harbor devils in our own consciousness, and prevent our becoming victims of hypnotism or mental malpractice of any kind.
Mrs. Eddy writes on page 242 of Science and Health, “In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, — which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.”
The Greater Works |
Editor’s Table |
Christian Science Journal 1902
Some say that modern medical and surgical skill is eclipsing the healing works of Jesus, and that these greater works are in fulfilment of his teaching. But they need to look more carefully into that teaching and compare his teaching with his works. Perhaps no better example of what he taught in reference to healing can be found than in his commission to the disciples: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils.”
1. HEAL THE SICK. Some clergymen have claimed that medicine, as now understood and administered, is healing the sick in greater ways and larger measure than Jesus healed the sick. We have no desire to take from the medical profession one laurel that properly belongs to it. But since this profession makes no such claim, we merely quote from the best class of physicians themselves — that it is more relieve-ative than curative. Thus we have disproved the claim of our clerical advocates, so far as this part of the commission is concerned.
2. RAISE THE DEAD. We do not understand modern physicians’ claim that drugs or medicines will raise the dead. We are not aware that modern surgical skill so claims. Therefore our clerical advocates’ case fails as to that part of the commission.
3. CLEANSE THE LEPERS. Leprosy is not now as common a disease as in Jesus’ time and country. He healed many lepers, and healed them quickly. We do not understand that modern physicians claim to heal leprosy, since they class leprosy among the incurable diseases. As to this part of Jesus’ works, then, our clerical advocates have failed of making their case.
4. CAST OUT DEVILS. If our modern physicians claim that drugs will cast out devils, we are not aware of it. Nor have we heard of any attempts to cast out devils with surgical instruments. Whether devils be understood as personalities obsessing other personalities, as some construe the Biblical use of the term, or as evil thoughts, as Christian Science uses it, does not alter the case. Physicians and surgeons do not profess to excise or exorcise devils, or evil thoughts, either through drugs or by the knife.
Jesus and his disciples, according to the Biblical record, did all these things. They did not teach the use of drugs, or material means, nor did they resort to their use. They relied exclusively on prayer and the understanding of God’s healing power. It will not do to attempt to exalt any system which does not rely directly on prayer or upon God. The prayer of the righteous should be effectual in every age in healing both sickness and sin. This surely is the teaching of the Scriptures, and Christian Scientists accept the Scriptures as meaning what they say upon this subject, and are endeavoring earnestly, sincerely, and conscientiously, to obey the Scriptural teachings. They are doing greater healing works through prayer than the adherents of other systems of healing are able to do, and to that extent, certainly, they are justified in maintaining that medicine and surgery are not equal to prayer as healing means.
The Demon of Delusion |
Parthens |
From Plainfield Forum
There is a video that shows an Australian entertainer, Benjamin Demase, who has hypnotized three men into believing that they are the Australian swim team at the Olympic finals, and that the floor beneath them is an Olympic-sized pool. One at a time, as in a relay race, the swimmers flop down onto the floor, as though diving into the water, and proceed to “swim” across the floor.
What is striking here is the frenzied dedication with which the “swimmers” perform their task — which has no basis in reality, but is as unsubstantial as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Shakespeare’s Macbeth): a keen reminder of how convincing the “Adam-dream” can be and how necessary it is for me to consecrate my mind, subordinate my thought-life — all of it, every day — to the Mind of God continually.
Response:
Thank you for this — really helpful to see how mesmerism can seem so real when it is not!! Thank God for Christian Science!
Response:
Very good! And, really, no different than the belief that God breathed life into Adam’s nostrils and caused his material body to be a living soul. This belief (Mrs. Eddy calls it “delusion”) that matter has life and intelligence causes men to do the craziest things, as Shakespeare well observed. Only extreme cases are considered “insane” by the psychiatric profession, but in Science, the whole human dream is revealed to be wrong — a form of insanity.
It was recorded that a mesmerist once tried to mesmerize Mrs. Eddy and stated that it was impossible to mesmerize her.
Insanity |
Herbert W. Eustace |
Insanity is the generic term used to designate the beliefs of a disordered or dis-eased brain. A common mistake is to think that insanity means a disordered mind. It does not. It appears as a disordered mind because human belief has designated the brain as that whereby thinking is done. The brain has no more to do with thinking than the heart with emotion. Who, today, believes that the heart has emotions and that it feels? Mind alone thinks, and no human concept, called brain, has anything to do with it.
Because brain is the specific point of attack in arguing against insanity, it is necessary to establish the truth about brain before proceeding further. What do you know about brain?
Psychologists, according to their own claim, are today restoring lost brain functions, and lost brain grooves, by the re-education of the individual on the lapsed points. They are doing this, they say, by using another portion of the brain, one that has not been affected by whatever caused the lapse. Does this not prove that it is not the brain grooves that make the intelligence, but intelligence that makes the brain grooves?
Because God is All, He must, and does, include in His allness, all that there is to brain. Therefore, all that God is, brain must be. Brain shows forth the perfection and completeness of God. This perfection and completeness precludes the possibility of a brain being inflamed, diseased or deranged, because the order, harmony and arrangement that is God is the order, harmony and arrangement of brain.
The one right brain exists just where the lie is saying there exists an imperfect brain, a diseased brain, a deranged brain. The belief that there is a mind apart from God, and that this mind operates as hypnotic suggestion and appears as a belief of imperfect brain, is all there is to the claim.
Because God is the one and only Mind, there is no suppositional opposite to appear as the negation of Mind; there is no malicious mind.
The realization of this is the healing.
Alibis and Excuses |
Martha Wilcox |
What does the Science of Psychology, or the Science of divine Intelligence uncover about alibis and excuses? They claim that alibis and excuses are natural tendencies in which our human mind indulges. Practically all of us use alibis and excuses, and sometimes quite unconsciously. We make them a smoke screen for our mistakes, failures, and imperfections. Our pet alibis are, “It was the other fellow’s fault”; “It was an unavoidable circumstance”; or “We did not have a fair chance.”
The harmful effect of alibis and excuses on the individual is far more serious than we realize. Many persons are in hospitals, even in insane hospitals, because they have hidden behind an alibi or an excuse until their so-called human intellect is enfeebled and impaired. They permitted their headaches, their indigestion, their nerves, their belief in persons and circumstances, to be an alibi or excuse for something that was hard to do, or that they did not want to do, until they literally lost the power to decide things intelligently.
There was a statement made by a noted surgeon. He said, in substance, that no organic cure could be permanent until a solution for the mental difficulties was found. He said that a lack of harmony in the realm of spirit often led to functional disorders and organic disease, and these could not be cured permanently until there was an adjustment of the underlying mental conflict.
It is the duty of each Christian Scientist to examine his own mind and take into strict account what is going on within his own mentality. Today each one of us is being impelled to revamp his mental and emotional existence; each one of us is being forced to change his opinions and attitudes, in order to tune in properly with the incoming of this new order of Life, this age of divine Intelligence.
Each student of Christian Science is required to hear with a new distinctiveness and understanding, and it is necessary to govern his thoughts and acts accordingly. Christian Scientists are to give to the world the human proof of their divine and spiritual existence, the proof that we are now the sons and daughters of God, the expression of divine intelligence, exempt from lack, age, decay, sin, and death.
False Appetites |
Herbert W. Eustace |
There are many phases of drunkenness; alcoholic drunkenness is but one of them. All belief in materiality is drunkenness in varying degrees; for it is the belief in something apart from Mind, a desire for something outside of itself. It is the breaking of the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Mary Baker Eddy writes, “If a man is an inebriate, a slave to tobacco, or the special servant of any one of the myriad forms of sin, meet and destroy these errors with the truth of being ... by convincing him that there is no real pleasure in false appetites.” (S&H)
The unwillingness to give up what is pleasurable — this very word “pleasurable” means trusting in materiality — is the unseen sin. To the consciousness aroused by Truth, things will not be merely pleasurable. To the quickened sense of what true substance is, Mind alone is joy. Then, what you see, taste, smell, hear and feel will testify of God.
Mrs. Eddy has also said, “The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind’s mastery of the body.” These drugs are indulged in for their so-called “stimulating” qualities. Since God is the only power, all true stimulation comes from Him.
Because man is the idea of Mind, he has the right to be absolutely satisfied — he is satisfied, complete. When anything arrays itself against Mind, it must be rejected and replaced. You must cheerfully give up cherished beliefs if you would enter into the kingdom of your birthright.
The Devil’s Last Throw |
Charles H. Spurgeon |
“There is a name high over all,
In hell, and earth, and sky.
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.”
That one name is the name of Jesus, the Son of God, to whom all power is given. He can deliver any man from the dominion of evil, whatever form it may have assumed, and however long established the dominion may be. Nothing else can rescue a man from the thralldom of his sin but the word of Jesus. When the word of power is spoken from his divine mouth, all things obey; but none out of the ten thousand voices of earth can deliver us from evil. We are shut up to heaven’s unique remedy: God grants that, being so shut up, we may avail ourselves of it.
Christian Science |
Frances Benedict |
Christian Science Journal 1902
Jesus spoke with authority to malice, and it obeyed him. He discerned mentally and uncovered audibly the sin of the Samarian woman, and the error of her who, amidst the eager throng, silently called upon him with her whole heart’s desire. He constantly surprised his followers by the breaking of useless, material laws, as modern Christian Scientists are called upon to do, while honoring all laws appointed for man’s good.
Thoughts |
Max Dunaway |
Not what we do or say, but what we think
Determines what we are.
Within the realm of high and noble thought
Soars mankind’s highest star.
There is no deed of valor, might, or right
Without the thought behind.
No work of love was ever wrought or taught
But started in the mind.
No king, dictator, or president defines
What thoughts we choose to think.
No prison bars can hold or stay the thought
That is with God a link.
Would you rule over all that life can bring,
Be joyous, strong, and free?
Guard, then, the thoughts of every hour, for these
Are life and destiny.
From Mrs. Eddy
Personality |
Mary Baker Eddy |
Mary Baker Eddy’s Lessons of the Seventh Day
“How can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?” — Matthew 12:29
Personality is the strong man that the Truth of being binds before destroying error. Bind the strong man, hold sense in subjection to Soul, then you can despoil his goods, i.e., prevent sin and suffering.
There is no personality. There is no mortal mind to embody itself and call that embodiment by my name, and hold over it the laws of limitation. God is Mind; I have the sense of that Mind and I have no mortal mind to look for pain or pleasure, health or sickness.
There is no person or persons that have control over us. God governs. Nothing that the divine Mind created can be perverted, reversed, relapsed or changed. The infinite light forever protects its ideas in the substance of Soul. Man was never educated to believe in, or rely on, false theology or materia medica to heal and save him. Man relies entirely on the Principle of being for health, supply, and happiness.
The work of Christian Science is transformation. “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Quote from Science and Health |
Mary Baker Eddy |
The treatment of insanity is especially interesting. However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than do most diseases to the salutary action of truth, which counteracts error. The arguments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter, brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is called dementia, hatred, or any other discord. (p. 414)
The unseen, silent forces of God are standing sentinel over me and mine and all, silencing, destroying, and annihilating the unseen, silent arguments of the serpent, material sense.
Mary Baker Eddy (WPA)Mrs. Eddy’s Thoughts on Demons |
He who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God, its divine source.
Miscellaneous Writings, page 19When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit.
Science and Health, page 84One Mind demonstrated handles serpents, casts out demons of sense with [the] power of Truth.
Course in Divinity and General Collectanea(The Blue Book) p. 54
August 7, 1903. It is not enough to smile and look pleasant when talking to the devil; speak with authority, stamp your foot if necessary and command it to come out of him as Jesus did. The smile and pleasantness will be all right when you are out of the flesh, but in the flesh you must strive.
Course in Divinity and General Collectanea(The Blue Book) p. 9
An Example of Casting Out Demons |
Course in Divinity and General Collectanea
(The Blue Book) page 10
Mrs. Eddy was called to a case of fever where two physicians present said the man could not live; he had refused to eat anything for a week; as she went to his door he was saying, “This tastes good and that tastes good,” and he did not have any food in the room. Mrs. Eddy said, “With that consciousness he can live without eating.” The physicians laughed at it. “Well, then he can eat,” she said, and instantly he was in his right mind, recognized someone in the room and called for something to eat; they brought him a bountiful supply and he ate it all; dressed himself, went out in the yard and was entirely well. Mrs. Eddy did not think about the physical, just “God is All,” and shut out what the physicians had said and everything else from the sense side. She at first demonstrated health in the flesh; now she is demonstrating health outside of the flesh, she said.
God As Love |
Mary Baker Eddy |
Christian Healing, page 6
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils.” The word devil comes from the Greek diabolos; in Hebrew it is belial, and signifies “that which is good for nothing, lust,” etc. The signs referred to are the manifestations of the power of Truth to cast out error; and, correcting error in thought, it produces the harmonious effect on the body. “Them that believe” signifies those who understand God’s supremacy, — the power of Mind over matter. “The new tongue” is the spiritual meaning as opposed to the material. It is the language of Soul instead of the senses; it translates matter into its original language, which is Mind, and gives the spiritual instead of the material signification. It begins with motive, instead of act, where Jesus formed his estimate; and there correcting the motive, it corrects the act that results from the motive. The Science of Christianity makes pure the fountain, in order to purify the stream. It begins in mind to heal the body, the same as it begins in motive to correct the act, and through which to judge of it. The Master of metaphysics, reading the mind of the poor woman who dropped her mite into the treasury, said, “She hath cast in more than they all.” Again, he charged home a crime to mind, regardless of any outward act, and sentenced it as our judges would not have done to-day. Jesus knew that adultery is a crime, and mind is the criminal. I wish the age was up to his understanding of these two facts, so important to progress and Christianity.
Taking Offense |
Mary Baker Eddy |
Miscellaneous Writings, page 224
There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” Hannah More said, “If I wished to punish my enemy, I should make him hate somebody.
To punish ourselves for others’ faults, is superlative folly. The mental arrow shot from another’s bow is practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it. It is our pride that makes another’s criticism rankle, our self-will that makes another’s deed offensive, our egotism that feels hurt by another’s self-assertion. Well may we feel wounded by our own faults; but we can hardly afford to be miserable for the faults of others.
A courtier told Constantine that a mob had broken the head of his statue with stones. The emperor lifted his hands to his head, saying: “It is very surprising, but I don’t feel hurt in the least.”
We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless action and reaction upon each other of these different atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world’s evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, — determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God.
Nothing short of our own errors should offend us. He who can willfully attempt to injure another, is an object of pity rather than of resentment; while it is a question in my mind, whether there is enough of a flatterer, a fool, or a liar, to offend a whole-souled woman.
Gems
When we find ourselves in the valley of depression, we should pray for spiritual awakening, rather than for a change of environment.”
Amanda ColbathThe answer to every problem is already in divine Mind, and therefore we must take our problems to God in order to solve them.”
Amanda ColbathThe infinite selfhood of Love is satisfied, joyous, and nothing unlike good ever knocks at the door of this true consciousness.”
Bicknell YoungWhen you read about the perfect man, who is the image and reflection of the Creator, do you realize that you are reading your own biography? If you do not, you miss the point. There is no place for man, no place for you, but to abide in Life.”
Peter V. RossThe truth will find its way gently to our understanding. It will lead us to relinquish the desire and affection for all that is unlike Good.”
Edward A. KimballThe universal peace which comes from the Father extends to you. This peace, as well as unlimited vigor and confidence, reigns supreme in your habitation.”
Peter V. RossThe way to liberate our souls from the bonds that tie us to earth is to strengthen the cords that bind us to heaven.”
Charles SpurgeonHold on and persist for good, because there never is a hopeless situation. When error meets with resistance, it begins to be scattered. Where a situation seems unbearable, it is because error is letting go.”
Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, page 40<When you affirm that which is true, although human reasoning and sight may say it is not true at all, you will bring it to pass. Why? Because it is already the fact.”
Herbert EustaceThe man nearest to God is the one who claims to have nothing, and to know nothing, apart from God, the one who regards himself as the servant of all.”
Gilbert CarpenterHold mankind as the image and likeness of perfection, exempt from the influence of the world, and according to thy faithfulness in so doing, will it be unto thee.”
Frank MasonWe are just what we think. What we think about most will govern us most.”
Samuel GreenwoodPut God in charge of all we have and are. Each morning we should realize that God is the Head of our home, and earnestly seek to know what He would have us do. There is never any freedom resulting from neglecting God.”
Gilbert CarpenterFrom the Early Workers
Some Considerations |
A Student |
This article appeared in an 1887 Journal, and it is thought to have been written by Mary Baker Eddy.
Error, in and of itself, is absolutely nothing. It seems to be, but is not. It is absolutely without power or force in and of itself; and it appears to have either only when it is associated with human belief — only when the human mind, so called, believing the lie of error (for every error is a lie) lends to the lie its own power.
To illustrate: I am to go by train to another city. My train leaves at nine, but error has told me that it leaves at ten; consequently, I miss my train. Now error had no power to make me miss the train, only so far as I believed in it. Had I suspected error to be error, instead of believing it, I should have made investigation and learned the truth. The moment Truth appeared, error would have lost the only power it ever possessed (the power I myself gave it by believing it), and it would have been at once condemned to its real condition of powerless nothingness, would have had no control over me, and would have disappeared.
Error is the absence of Truth. The moment Truth appears, error disappears. The comparison of light and darkness is exactly applicable here. As stated by the physical scientists, darkness is absolutely nothing; it is only the absence of something. When light goes, darkness comes. It has no quality except such as it derives from the absence of light; it has no power over anything; it even has no existence of its own; it never replaces anything; it never drives away the light; but the presence of light always destroys darkness, solely by its presence. Error is also absolutely nothing, and only the absence of something. It is the darkness caused by the absence of the light of Truth.
Truth casts out all error, just as absolutely and completely as light casts out darkness. Truth relieves us of our belief in error; and as the belief alone gave to error all its semblance of power, then, when the belief is gone, the power is gone also, and error stands in its naked powerlessness and its unqualified, absolute nothingness, and leaves absolutely no trace behind.
Belief is the link which binds error to the human — or mortal — mind, and is itself without intelligence or reality. It is in itself nothing, and has no continuation, life, or existence, except in mortal mind. In the presence of understanding, it disappears. Change the belief, and what before seemed real now seems unreal.
The world speaks of true and false beliefs, and of good and bad beliefs. A belief in Truth is a good belief; but it has no stability or reality, so long as it remains a belief only. It is only when belief passes to a higher plane — passes out of belief into understanding — that it acquires reality and becomes permanent.
Watch your thought. Do not permit anything to enter contrary to your own welfare. Doing this faithfully, you will not admit anything to enter contrary to any other person’s welfare.
Bicknell YoungRegenerative Mental Practice |
Samuel Greenwood |
Christian Science Journal, August 1916
Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Of course, he was referring to a change of consciousness, a regeneration or transformation from the material modes of thinking to the spiritual.
The only means for truly accomplishing this transformation is found in Christian Science. It is sometimes claimed that the practice of Christian Science is identical with certain mental methods of the so-called human mind — hypnotism, psychology, will-power, etc. — but these methods are totally unlike Christian Science in that they do not acknowledge God to be the only Mind. Although such mental systems claim that disease and sin may in some instances be overcome by human will, they offer no escape from belief in the human mind itself; and are, at best, temporary.
The use of will-power to overcome evil only increases one’s belief in a mind separate from God, for this same will-power is the means by which mortals also commit evil. It is certain that will-power cannot lead mortals into a knowledge of Truth, and a knowledge of Truth is all that destroys error.
The tendency of all human modes is to glorify the human mind; but Christian Science glorifies God, and acknowledges no other intelligence. It stands alone, not only in its teaching and method, but in the results produced.
Merely changing error from one form to another does not destroy it, but entrenches it more strongly in consciousness. Evil continues to operate in human belief until it is cast out, but that which is itself a form of evil cannot cast it out. Evil succumbs only to the power of good, as demonstrated through spiritual understanding.
A mortal hypnotized into the belief that he is healthy or righteous is but as the house built upon the sand. Practicing hypnotism in the name of good is the attempt to usurp divine power and to rob Christianity of its spiritualizing influence. Christian Science stands upon the line of demarcation between material and spiritual sense, and works to eliminate the belief in a carnal mind, which is the only avenue and instrument of evil. It should be self-evident that to accept a material and sinful consciousness as the truth of one’s being is to shut the door upon progress, — the final recognition of God’s creation as spiritual, sinless, and perfect.
The purpose and method of Christian Science is not to turn a lie into the truth, for that is impossible, but to destroy the lie through the demonstration of Truth. The image and likeness of God is not a reformed mortal or a redeemed sinner, but is coexistent with God. The new birth is the awakening from the dream of material sense. Mary Baker Eddy writes: “Christian Science has opened the door of the human understanding. None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door.” (S&H)
This appearing of Truth does not reach humanity through mental suggestion, but through revelation and demonstration of the truth. The change of mental base gained in Christian Science brings a new sense of being, begins the eradication of sinful thought, and prepares the way in human consciousness for the coming of Christ’s kingdom.
The nothingness of evil will appear to us when we have overcome it, but never while we simply overlook it.
Anna E. HerzogIndividuality |
Hendrik J. de Lange |
Christian Science Journal, February 1928
Most people consider their relations with others from the standpoint of personality — material people possessing separate minds, often resulting in competitive struggles for wealth, influence, and happiness. This type of conflict is not limited to people, but is also seen as a struggle between nations.
Christian Science presents an entirely different point of view. It does not start out with material personality, but sees each one as an individual expression of the one divine Mind. The evil we appear to encounter is, therefore, never part of man. Then we are not alarmed or indignant or fearful when evil shows itself; we can simply know that it seems to appear only to disappear.
In this divine relationship of God and man, we learn to see all mankind as individual expressions of the one divine Mind. We expect righteousness and peace; and this rightful expectation brings out the naturally inherent virtues, and obliterates the tendencies not belonging to man. The assurance that there is place enough in God’s universe for all, stimulates good will among nations.
In this way we practice the healing method of our Master. Mrs. Eddy explains it in the following words: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.” (S&H)
Substituting perfect individuality for sinning mortal personality, we lay aside a mortal sense of self. Mrs. Eddy says, “To impersonalize scientifically the material sense of existence — rather than cling to personality — is the lesson of to-day.” (Mis.)
Bible Translations
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
“I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose — I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]”
Amplified BibleJesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4: 13, 14“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”
Amplified BibleA wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Proverbs 1:5“Let the sage too listen and learn sense, let the intelligent know how to handle life.”
James Moffatt TranslationHe hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8“O man, he has told you what is good; what does the Eternal ask from you but to be just and kind and live in quiet fellowship with your God?”
James Moffatt TranslationThe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalm 23“The Eternal shepherds me, I lack for nothing; he makes me lie in meadows green, he leads me to refreshing streams, he revives life in me.
“He guides me by true paths, as he himself is true. My road may run through a glen of gloom, but I fear no harm, for thou art beside me; thy club, thy staff — they give me courage.
“Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me, while my foes have to look on! Thou hast poured oil upon my head, my cup is brimming over; yes, and all through my life Goodness and Kindness wait on me, the Eternal’s guest within his household evermore.”
James Moffatt Translation
Painting by Luanne Tucker
Psalm 42: 6-7
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Current Articles
Use the Truth You Know |
Florence Roberts |
Christian Science truly gives the understanding of God and oneself, which inverts the old false beliefs and corrects them with the upright, spiritual view of oneself.
One of the lessons I have learned is to use the truths I understand, no matter how simple.
I used to go for walks in our neighborhood. One day while walking in one of my favorite directions, I felt breathless and had to stop several times. This direction had a slightly steep incline, and several old beliefs came to thought. When I got home I made a point to use the truths I have been understanding to overcome this lie.
Some of those truths were: I live, move and have my being in God, I am the image and likeness of God, and the Scientific Statement of Being: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.” And one quote from Job was: The spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.
Before and during my next walk in that direction, I prayed with these truths and affirmed my spiritual individuality. With uplifted thought in these truths, I was able to walk without any of the breathlessness I had experienced before, and walked farther than usual.
I am so grateful that I have not experienced that feeling of breathlessness again when I walk in that direction. I sincerely thank God for that opportunity which proved the power of these truths. It is true that when we use the truths we know, we bring them into our hearts with understanding and they reveal to us the unreality of any false claims.
If we have been made aware of these truths, we have the solemn responsibility to use them, prove them, and help others to do the same. They are God’s rich bounty for all His children, everywhere; we cannot use them only for our own benefit.
Freedom in God |
Luanne Tucker |
A quote from Henry David Thoreau was mentioned in a recent class: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go on to the grave with a song still in them.” That described my life until I found Plainfield Church, and how glad I am that I did!
All through my childhood, I lived a life of quiet desperation. Quietly suffering, not only unnoticed by others, but clearly unable to notice the toll it was taking on my own mental state. I felt at ease living in the shadows. My family said I was shy. We were all just living in survival mode. Life was lived in fear; that’s just the way it was.
I longed for peace. Sometimes I would sit atop a tall pine tree and take in all the beauty of nature, or listen for the whippoorwill calling at night. For me, it was my salvation. It was a moment of sanity and the only thing that made sense. I didn’t understand how the world could be so cruel and untrustworthy. Where was love, where was life, where was truth? I wanted to climb up the tallest mountain and yell, “STOP!” I prayed often to “the unknown God,” to take me away from it all.
Later in life, I stopped searching for answers. I could not stand to be alone with my thoughts, so I did whatever I could to drown out the noise, including taking pain pills in excess. I became cruel and hateful. I had lost my moral courage, my sense of worth, and became engrossed in my own suffering. I was dying and desperately needed help.
A friend urged me to call a practitioner from Plainfield Church. After a few years of deliberation, thinking that no one would understand, I was finally able to force myself to make the call. I never felt so loved in all my life. I knew, for the first time, there was a God, and He loved me. It took some time to untangle the web and trust everything my practitioner was telling me, but after many sleepless, tear-filled nights, the dream was broken and I was healed.
I no longer live a life of quiet desperation; I have a new song to sing, for the past is gone, and I have much work to do for God. Christian Science has awakened me to my true inheritance, as the child of God. As I go forward, I continue to see God ever more apparent in the world. I am learning to watch my thoughts and pray daily: “‘Thy Kingdom come;’ let the reign of divine Truth, Life and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them”! from The Daily Prayer, by Mary Baker Eddy.
I am so grateful for my practitioner, for the continual support she has given me and the healings that have occurred under her care. I am grateful for this church, the Bible Studies and Roundtable discussions that help me to understand God and my relationship with Him. Nothing is hopeless — God has an answer of peace! I know; I found it.
True Success |
Gary Singleterry |
We all strive to succeed at something, but one of the lessons I am learning here in Christian Science is what success really is.
There is a statement in Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy that reads, “Let it be understood that success in error is defeat in Truth.” When I came to Plainfield I was very ambitious and wanted very much to succeed. I had a very high-paying job in New York City that demanded a lot of time. The success that it offered was all very human. It fit the world’s definition of success, but it was a very unsatisfying situation for me. I always felt torn between working more, and doing things for God, for the church, and for my family. It was something that bothered me for a long time.
I finally opened up to a practitioner at this church and told him about my feeling constrained. He listened patiently and then responded with, “Where is God in all of this? Who are you blessing doing all this work, all this activity, all this stuff?” A light bulb went on inside my head and I began to realize success is not anything like what the world tells you it is. It is not about more things or more admiration of others. Real success is pleasing and obeying God! It is that simple, and yet when I began to realize this, it made a huge difference in my life.
Shortly after, I left that job and found one much more satisfying, much more beloved, and I felt much happier. I felt like I had been freed from a very destructive, self-centered belief of success. I also learned not to compartmentalize life. Working for God and glorifying Him is a full-time occupation — not something to be turned on and off at will. Wherever I am, I can express God and bless others.
My family and I have never lacked anything, because God takes good care of us, as He cares for all of us. I am grateful for the help of that practitioner many years ago who gave me an inkling of what true success is.
What Blesses One Blesses All |
Jeremy Palmer |
In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy has written, “whatever blesses one blesses all.” The idea that every bit of good we do, no matter how small, goes outward and continues to multiply and bless others is quite profound.
When I first arrived in Plainfield, I had an old car that was on its last leg. A fellow church member helped me to lease a new car, even though my credit was very bad. This act of generosity allowed me to start putting my finances in order, and I was recently able to purchase this car at the end of its lease, all on my own.
And the blessing continues to grow. I have been able to use this car to bless others by driving them to church gatherings; and also making trips to Connecticut every other weekend to get my children.
I am so grateful to God for how, through every mile, He has provided us with safety, and what often feels like a front row seat to the beauty of His creation — the most beautiful sunsets, gorgeous scenery, and so many deer and other animals.
So when I look back at the blessing that this fellow member felt led to bring to me, and then how much goodness has come from that blessing, I just feel awestruck. We never really know what will come of what God is leading us to do, but Christian Science is helping me to be completely certain that blessings come from every God-directed action. I am so grateful to God for all the blessings He has provided to me, and for all the opportunities He has given to me.
Sickness Is Not To Be Accepted! |
Dede De Almeida |
Through my study of Christian Science, I’ve come to understand the importance of questioning sickness, rather than accepting it as the norm, or as anything necessary.
In the past, whenever I was faced with sickness I would either get down about it, or be afraid of it, while sometimes desperately trying to find a remedy or cure.
I now understand that sickness is wrong and not a part of me, that God, good is all that is real and eternal and anything unlike good is not of God and therefore never to be accepted!
I’m thankful for the strength that comes with this new understanding and the protection that results from it.
Inheritance |
Mary Beth Singleterry |
It is generally accepted that inheritance is a human thing. It’s normally thought of as some monetary inheritance, but it also can be the belief that we have inherited certain traits, and even a propensity for certain diseases, from our parents, or ancestors.
The Bible states, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.” (Ps. 16) The psalmist is telling us that God is the one and only source of our inheritance. The other is nothing but a false belief. In Christian Science we know the Biblical truth is that our inheritance is from God, good, and He gives us all good.
Mary Baker Eddy says, “the beautiful, good, and pure constitute our ancestry.” If we claim this and know this is what is true about us, this is what we will have. In Science and Health p. 228 we read, “The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncrasies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact of being were learned, — namely, that nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God. Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin theories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear.”
So what are we going to believe to be true, the truths in the Bible, that our inheritance is from God, that He is our Mother and Father and we are all brothers and sisters in Him, and that it is all good? Or are we going to believe all the beliefs of the human mind?
So many people do believe in human inheritance and therefore experience what they think. We can pull ourselves out from those false beliefs and understand the truth of our being. God is our Father and He made each one of us in His likeness. All that we can receive is a wonderful inheritance from the Father-Mother God, who loves each and every one of us!
How I Found Plainfield Church, |
Nancy S. from New Jersey
I first learned about Christian Science as a child. I attended Sunday school and loved all of the Bible stories and the beautiful statements of truth that I was learning. Although my teachers were very loving, I could never understand why, if I said I wasn’t feeling well, I was silenced and told that I was fine. I was never taught to understand why this was so. As time went on, I felt that, although I yearned for more understanding, there was something missing, and I eventually stopped attending church.
But I did not give up on Christian Science. I continued to read Science and Health and any literature that I could find. I felt that what I was reading was the truth. The seed of love for Christian Science, and Mary Baker Eddy, was firmly planted in my heart.
One day, during a conversation with my sister, she told me about this wonderful independent Christian Science Church in Plainfield that she found on the internet. She urged me to check out their website, which I immediately did. I was amazed at all of the resources available and eagerly visited the website every day. It turned out to be exactly what I had been searching for. I began to attend the Roundtables where I was learning for the first time how to pray correctly. I was so grateful to learn about watching, something I was not aware of. It was a joy to be able to participate in these watches, and to do them daily. Finally, I was being taught how to correctly uncover error, deny the claim, and confirm the truth.
I am so grateful for the support of a Plainfield practitioner, who firmly and lovingly told me exactly what I needed to hear — to let go of self-will and to let God’s plan unfold.
I am so grateful that I was recently able to visit this beautiful church, to attend the Roundtable and a Sunday service. I felt so lovingly welcomed. It is truly an atmosphere of Love divine.
Letters of Gratitude
I am writing from Nigeria. I am new to Christian Science, and a lot of things are confusing to me. But I really appreciate Christian Science and would like to know more. I have read some of the articles on your website and have downloaded a lot of them, and they are really exciting. I want to learn and know more.
NigeriaWe enjoyed the experience of attending the church service, as well as the Roundtable. All of you expressed such love, and isn’t that the power of God which we all express?
Enclosed please find a check for the library of books that we purchased from you; we are enjoying reading them.
New HampshireI have been studying Christian Science for about 5 years. I have attended the Mother Church and some branch churches, but becoming a member just didn’t feel right. I enjoy self-study with Mrs. Eddy’s works, the Bible, and with the writings of the early workers. My husband found your website just by chance, and introduced me to it. At first, I felt it was rather radical compared to the more vague teachings I seemed to have been receiving from the church, lectures, and various other testimony meetings and Bible study groups I have attended. But something kept drawing me back to your site and telling me to keep listening. It seems I have had such an eye-opening revelation that all that you teach, although it seems radical to human view, is actually the most loving and correct teaching that truly embodies Christian Science. I have learned more in the past few months by listening to your Roundtable discussions and Bible Study meetings than all of the previous years put together. I also love the format in which you present your Sunday service.
I am also so impressed that all of your members so enthusiastically give a testimony every week. As a student of Christian Science, I feel it should be natural to experience good and have healings. I have been to other testimony meetings where there is a heavy weight of silence. I feel it is right to express what God is showing and teaching us, and to know that these things are the works of God and not just coincidences or happenings by chance.
I was so moved by Luanne Tucker’s testimony “Death Isn’t the Answer.” It has helped me understand that we must live out of matter and we do not die. I can see that whatever problems we seem to have here, we take them with us if they still exist in consciousness. I see that we need to purify our thought of all evil to be wholly good and God’s image and likeness. I was so touched by Fairlie’s testimony of when she visited the Plainfield Church for a testimony meeting. The love and sincere gratitude brought me to tears.
I am so grateful to God for leading me to you all. Your light radiates out to bless the world. We are so blessed to have you!
MassachusettsI am a lifelong Christian Scientist and live in a remote area in northern New Mexico. I have found your glorious website and have been so blessed by the YouTube channel and all its generous postings. I would love to participate in the Roundtable discussions and offer testimonies at the Wednesday Testimony Meeting.
I am a member of a branch church but feel that I would like to be a member of Plainfield, as I attend these services regularly and the Spirit demonstrated by this congregation is so palpable.
I look forward to hearing from you.
New MexicoThank God for the Roundtable and for the Lesson.
UruguayThank you for the Wednesday readings on April 26, 2017. It is a comfort to realize that God is always taking us upward when we are willing to obey, listen, and not look back.
PennsylvaniaThank you for your wonderful website! You helped to keep me spiritually fed with inspiration from articles, Science and Health, and the many activities of Bible Study. I have learned so much and grown closer to an awareness of God’s love through your church.
FloridaThank you forever for your wonderful people, wonderful articles, audio on YouTube, Roundtables, watches. Your church is definitely the true way. Gems of wisdom and love abound from you all!
CaliforniaThank you for everything you do to bless humanity.
What Plainfield offers is making a noticeable difference in my growing understanding of God and the teachings of Christian Science and demonstration of them. The Roundtables, Bible Study, and ever-increasing number of articles available on the website are among the spiritual resources contributing to this. So, enclosed is another contribution to support this most important work.
MarylandScience in Action
Protection from Tornado |
from L. L. in Ohio
I am so grateful for all I am learning at Plainfield and for the understanding I am gaining from my practitioner. One recent Sunday we had tornado-force storms in parts of the city that caused much damage. Monday midday I went out to take care of grocery shopping. While I was in the store the power went out and it was pitch dark. Gratefully, they started a generator and the power came back on. I looked out the window and saw massive rain falling and extreme winds blowing sideways.
I called my practitioner who calmly assured me of my safety and of God’s presence. I was so grateful I was in the store and not on the road at this time. After the storm passed, I left the store and found power outages everywhere, and fallen trees all over. When I got to the house, the electricity was working. The house and new roof were not damaged. I am so very grateful to God, my practitioner, and Christian Science.
Insomnia and Timidity Healed |
from F. M. in Maryland
I am very grateful for everything the Plainfield Church offers to us in order to practice Christian Science correctly: a wealth of Christian Science literature, ever-available practitioner support, weekly Bible Studies and Roundtable discussions. I want to express particular gratitude today for our website, because I would not be at Plainfield were it not for finding it through a search for Christian Science on the web.
The other day I was with an acquaintance, who is a successful lawyer and a civic leader, but she looked quite dragged out. She confided that she is suffering from constant insomnia. I had once told her that I am a Christian Scientist, so I told her that I, too, had suffered terribly from insomnia; but once I found the Plainfield Church and worked with my practitioner there, I was soon completely cured of insomnia. I referred her to our textbook, told her about our website, and she said she would definitely check it out.
Through being a member of Plainfield, I have gained a deeper sense of life as spiritual. I have been healed of depression and find that I now have a poise I did not have before. Situations that are challenging I can now meet with God, not scattered, but self-assured and poised. The other day I was to go to a meeting a long way from where I live, so I called a younger member near me to ask for a ride. I grew up as a fairly timid and anxious child, and unlike my peers, I wasn’t keen to learn to drive like they were when we reached sixteen. On this occasion, as I was driving to her home to get in her car, it occurred to me that I could offer her a ride instead. So I drove her and two other people a long way in heavy traffic, but was totally self-contained, knowing God was right with me.
I am very grateful to God, to Jesus, to Mrs. Eddy, to my practitioner, to my fellow members, and all those at Plainfield.
Error Has No Root |
from B. S. in California
In a recent Bible Lesson was the parable of the sower and the seed. It reminded me of a healing I had when I was in the 9th or 10th grade. I had been walking on the front lawn when I stepped on an in-ground sprinkler head the wrong way. It cut my foot a little by my little toe. It bled a small amount so I washed it off and put a bandage on it.
Several days later I noticed it wasn’t healing right. My mom called the practitioner. The practitioner talked to my mom and also spoke to me. She gave me a verse from the parable of the sower and the seed as told in Mark. It reads, “But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.” Mark 4: 6
While I don’t remember what the practitioner said, I do remember reading and thinking about that verse. I remember thinking that the sore on my foot had no root and could only wither away. Shortly after, I realized that I was healed and told my mom. Two days later the sore turned hard and just fell out, because it had no root.
This was a really important healing for me because I had no doubt that there is a God that heals, and that Christian Science works. I am also very grateful for practitioner help I am receiving in this church.
Healing of Vertigo |
from C. H. in Pennsylvania
I am very grateful for a healing I had of vertigo. One day several weeks ago I was too ill to take care of my young grandson. After calling a practitioner for help, I was quickly healed and I felt fine; but I noticed some dizziness when I got up from bed or tilted my head back.
For many days the practitioner worked patiently with me. With the practitioner’s help, I was able to overcome fear. I studied the 91st Psalm and articles by Mary Baker Eddy and early workers. I made sure I was being grateful for every good thing in my life, and I knew that since God did not cause this condition, I could be free from it. That is exactly what happened. Then, not long ago, I knew that the healing was complete when, at a hair salon, I sat up from a position where my head was tilted back and felt perfectly normal.
I am very grateful to be learning the laws of God taught here at Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent, and appreciate how Mrs. Eddy shared her understanding of the Christ with all who are willing to listen.
Abscessed Tooth Healed |
from F. R. in Georgia
I am forever grateful for a healing my mother had many years ago. This happened a few years after I started studying Christian Science and she had started to read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
She was living with us at that time when she developed a tooth abscess. Her face was swollen and she was in quite a lot of pain. Frightened by how her face looked and the severity of the pain, we decided to go to a dentist.
The first two dentists we went to were closed due to a holiday. The third one took a lot of X-rays and gave her two prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medicine for her to take for a few days before they could do anything for her.
Coming home we were a little disappointed, but we decided we were not going to fill the prescriptions but rely completely on God. I took my mother to her room when we came back home. I couldn’t look at her face anymore; so I walked away praying with the little understanding I had of Science, that this was not true, that it could not be true.
After about two hours my mother came into the living room, sat down, and said to me, “you know God is in control.” We both continued to pray, and soon the abscess broke, the swelling went down, and that evening she was able to eat on that side of her mouth. She never had such an experience again.
This healing proved to me then, and even more so now, with the increased understanding I have gained in Science, that sickness cannot be real. The power and presence of Truth, God, revealed the nothingness, the unreality, of what was presenting itself.
I think about this healing often, especially when any suggestions of doubt come about the healing power of God. I am so grateful that this healing grace through Christian Science is here to bless and save all mankind.
The “Noise Of Many Waters” Silenced |
from E. S. in Georgia
In a recent Lesson on Mind, there was a favorite citation from Psalms: “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”
When I was expecting my first child, I worked with this citation daily. I reasoned that the noise of many waters represented the medical profession, which makes very loud and persistent claims on the expectant mother. It was very comforting to know that God’s laws were mightier than any so-called material laws that claimed to operate.
At the time the doctor mentioned something troubling about the baby, and now, twenty years later, I can’t even remember the specifics of what that claim was; it disappeared naturally and is testament to the fact that we need only remember the good of the past. My son was born harmoniously and very quickly, as were the following two children.
“Publish the Word”
Broadcast the Truth
“Freely ye have received, freely give”