388:12 Admit the common hypothesis that food is the nutri-
ment of life, and the follows the necessity for another
admission in the opposite direction, - that
388:15 food has power to destroy Life, God, through
a deficiency or an excess, a quality or a quantity. This
is a specimen of the ambiguous nature of all material
388:18 health-theories. They are self-contradictory and self-de-
structive, constituting a "kingdom divided against itself,"
which is "brought to desolation." If food was prepared
388:21 by Jesus for his disciples, it cannot destroy life.
God sustains man
The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of
man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that
388:24 God is our Life. Because sin and sickness are
not qualities of Soul, or Life, we have hope in
immortality; but it would be foolish to venture beyond
388:27 our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until
we gain perfection and a clear comprehension of the living
Spirit. In that perfect day of understanding, we shall
388:30 neither eat to live nor live to eat.
Diet and digestion
If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious
functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought
389:1 must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with
the belief. Which shall it be? If this decision be left
389:3 to Christian Science, it will be given in behalf
of the control of Mind over this belief and every
erroneous belief, or material condition. The less we
389:6 know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed
to sickness. Recollect that it is not the nerves, not mat-
ter, but mortal mind, which reports food as undigested.
389:9 Matter does not inform you of bodily derangements; it
is supposed to do so. This pseudo-mental testimony can
be destroyed only by the better results of Mind's oppo-
389:12 site evidence.
Scripture rebukes
Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the
life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can
389:15 kill man. This false reasoning is rebuked in
Scripture by the metaphors about the fount
and stream, the tree and its fruit, and the kingdom di-
389:18 vided against itself. If God has, as prevalent theories
maintain, instituted laws that food shall support human
life, He cannot annul these regulations by an opposite
389:21 law that food shall be inimical to existence.
Ancient confusion
Materialists contradict their own statements. Their
belief in material laws and in penalties for their infrac-
389:24 tion is the ancient error that there is fraternity
between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God
and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the
389:27 battle-axe of Science.
A case of convulsions, produced by indigestion, came under my observation. In her belief the woman had 389:30 chronic liver-complaint, and was then suffering from a complication of symptoms connected with this belief. I cured her in a few minutes. One instant she spoke de- 390:1 spairingly of herself. The next minute she said, "My food is all digested, and I should like something more 390:3 to eat."