465:1 THIS chapter is from the first edition of the author's
class-book, copyrighted in 1870. After much labor
465:3 and increased spiritual understanding, she revised that
treatise for this volume in 1875. Absolute Christian
Science pervades its statements, to elucidate scientific
465:6 metaphysics.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
/Question/. - What is God?
465:9 /Answer/. - God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite
Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
/Question/. - Are these terms synonymous?
465:12 /Answer/. - They are. They refer to one absolute God.
They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and
wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice,
465:15 mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.
/Question/. - Is there more than one God or Principle?
/Answer/. - There is not. Principle and its idea is one,
465:18 and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-
466:1 present Being, and His reflection is man and the universe.
/Omni/ is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying /all/.
466:3 Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science
or true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifesta-
tions of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter,
466:6 and have one Principle.
Real /versus/ unreal
/Question/. - What are spirits and souls?
/Answer/. - To human belief, they are personalities
466:9 constituted of mind and matter, life and death, truth and
error, good and evil; but these contrasting
pairs of terms represent contraries, as Chris-
466:12 tian Science reveals, which neither dwell together nor
assimilate. Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truth
is limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error
466:15 is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is
unreal. This last statement contains the point you will
most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the
466:18 most important to understand.
Mankind redeemed
The term /souls/ or /spirits/ is as improper as the term
/gods/. Soul or Spirit signifies Deity and nothing else.
466:21 There is no finite soul nor spirit. Soul or
Spirit means only one Mind, and cannot be
rendered in the plural. Heathen mythology and Jewish
466:24 theology have perpetuated the fallacy that intelligence,
soul, and life can be in matter; and idolatry and ritualism
are the outcome of all man-made beliefs. The Science
466:27 of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate the
chaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright,
and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and
466:30 its divine Principle, making mankind better physically,
morally, and spiritually.
Two chief commands