|
.
Study
Topics
For
more information on the teachings of Christian
Science, explore the following study
topics:
Angels
Animal
Magnetism
Baptism
The
Bible
CS
vs. Evolution and
Creationism
Christ
Jesus
Death
Devil
God
Heaven
Hell
Holy
Ghost
Marriage
Mortals
and Immortals
The
New Tongue
Purity
Salvation
The
Term "Science"
"Science
and Health"
Stages
of Advancement
The
Tenets of Christian
Science
The
Trinity
|
|
An Introduction to Christian
Science
"SCIENCE AND
HEALTH"
References
for Study
The following passages are from the writings of
Mary Baker Eddy.
The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,
p. 181:27
It is authentically said that one expositor of
Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867 for the
return of Christ—the
return of the spiritual idea to the material earth
or antipode of heaven. It is a marked coincidence
that those dates were the first two years of my
discovery of Christian Science.
Message
for 1900, pp. 6:28 - 7:2
Some modern exegesis on the prophetic Scriptures
cites 1875 as the year of the second coming of
Christ. In that year the Christian Science
textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," was first published.
Science
and Health, pp. 558:1-559:31
St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of his
book of Revelation:—
And
I saw another mighty angel come down from
heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was
upon his head, and his face was as it were the
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had
in his hand a little book open: and he set his
right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on
the earth.
This
angel or message which comes from God, clothed with
a cloud, prefigures divine Science. To mortal sense
Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and dark;
but a bright promise crowns its brow. When
understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When
you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its
means, and it has for you a light above the sun,
for God "is the light thereof." Its feet are
pillars of fire, foundations of Truth and Love. It
brings the baptism of the Holy Ghost, whose flames
of Truth were prophetically described by John the
Baptist as consuming error.
This
angel had in his hand "a little book," open for all
to read and understand. Did this same book contain
the revelation of divine Science, the "right foot"
or dominant power of which was upon the
sea,—upon
elementary, latent error, the source of all error's
visible forms? The angel's left foot was upon the
earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised
upon visible error and audible sin. The "still,
small voice" of scientific thought reaches over
continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.
The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind,
"as when a lion roareth." It is heard in the desert
and in dark places of fear. It arouses the "seven
thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent forces to
utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is
the power of Truth demonstrated,—made
manifest in the destruction of error. Then will a
voice from harmony cry: "Go and take the little
book. . . . Take it, and eat it up; and it shall
make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth
sweet as honey." Mortals, obey the heavenly
evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from
beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be
indeed sweet at its first taste, when it heals you;
but murmur not over Truth, if you find its
digestion bitter. When you approach nearer and
nearer to this divine Principle, when you eat the
divine body of this Principle,—thus
partaking of the nature, or primal elements, of
Truth and Love,—do
not be surprised nor discontented because you must
share the hemlock cup and eat the bitter herbs; for
the Israelites of old at the Paschal meal thus
prefigured this perilous passage out of bondage
into the El Dorado of faith and
hope.
The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,
pp. 114:14 - 115:9
My first writings on Christian Science began
with notes on the Scriptures. I consulted no other
authors and read no other book but the Bible for
about three years. What I wrote had a strange
coincidence or relationship with the light of
revelation and solar light. I could not write these
notes after sunset. All thoughts in the line of
Scriptural interpretation would leave me until the
rising of the sun. Then the influx of divine
interpretation would pour in upon my spiritual
sense as gloriously as the sunlight on the material
senses. It was not myself, but the divine power of
Truth and Love, infinitely above me, which dictated
"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." I
have been learning the higher meaning of this book
since writing it.
Is
it too much to say that this book is leavening the
whole lump of human thought? You can trace its
teachings in each step of mental and spiritual
progress, from pulpit and press, in religion and
ethics, and find these progressive steps either
written or indicated in the book. It has mounted
thought on the swift and mighty chariot of divine
Love, which to-day is circling the whole
world.
I
should blush to write of "Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures" as I have, were it of human
origin, and were I, apart from God, its author.
But, as I was only a scribe echoing the harmonies
of heaven in divine metaphysics, I cannot be
super-modest in my estimate of the Christian
Science textbook.
Science
and Health, p. 110:13
In following these leadings of scientific
revelation, the Bible was my only textbook. The
Scriptures were illumined; reason and revelation
were reconciled, and afterwards 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.
Science
and Health, p. 361:21
I have revised SCIENCE AND HEALTH only to give a
clearer and fuller expression of its original
meaning. Spiritual ideas unfold as we advance. A
human perception of divine Science, however
limited, must be correct in order to be Science and
subject to demonstration. A germ of infinite Truth,
though least in the kingdom of heaven, is the
higher hope on earth, but it will be rejected and
reviled until God prepares the soil for the seed.
That which when sown bears immortal fruit, enriches
mankind only when it is
understood,—hence
the many readings given the Scriptures, and the
requisite revisions of SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY
TO THE SCRIPTURES.
Science
and Health, p. 456:25
A Christian Scientist requires my work SCIENCE
AND HEALTH for his textbook, and so do all his
students and patients. Why? First: Because
it is the voice of Truth to this age, and contains
the full statement of Christian Science, or the
Science of healing through Mind. Second:
Because it was the first book known, containing a
thorough statement of Christian Science. Hence it
gave the first rules for demonstrating this
Science, and registered the revealed Truth
uncontaminated by human hypotheses. Other works,
which have borrowed from this book without giving
it credit, have adulterated the Science.
Third: Because this book has done more for
teacher and student, for healer and patient, than
has been accomplished by other
books.
Science
and Health, p. 147:14
Although this volume contains the complete
Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can
absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple
perusal of this book. The book needs to be
studied, and the demonstration of the rules
of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the
spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This
proof lifts you high above the perishing fossils of
theories already antiquated, and enables you to
grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto
unattained and seemingly dim.
|