Other methods undertake to oppose error with error,
and thus they increase the antagonism of one form of
145:27 matter towards other forms of matter or error,
and the warfare between Spirit and the flesh
goes on. By this antagonism mortal mind must con-
145:30 tinually weaken its own assumed power.
How healing was lost
The theology of Christian Science includes healing
the sick. Our Master's first article of faith propounded
146:1 to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by
his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why
146:3 has this element of Christianity been lost?
Because our systems of religion are governed
more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idol-
146:6 atry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered
faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By
trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and
146:9 harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren
of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense
is made the servant of Science and religion becomes
146:12 Christlike.
Drugs and divinity
Material medicine substitutes drugs for the power of
God - even the might of Mind - to heal the body.
146:15 Scholasticism clings for salvation to the per-
son, instead of to the divine Principle, of the
man Jesus; and his Science, the curative agent of God,
146:18 is silenced. Why? Because truth divests material drugs
of their imaginary power, and clothes Spirit with suprem-
acy. Science is the "stranger that is within thy gates,"
146:21 remembered not, even when its elevating effects prac-
tically prove its divine origin and efficacy.
Christian Science as old as God
Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible,
146:24 and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through
the holy influence of Truth in healing sick-
ness and sin. This healing power of Truth
146:27 must have been far anterior to the period in
which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as "the Ancient of
days." It lives through all Life, and extends throughout
146:30 all space.
Reduction to system
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a
form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of
147:1 the age in which we live. This system enables the
learner to demonstrate the divine Principle,
147:3 upon which Jesus' healing was based, and
the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of
disease.
147:6 Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine
rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the
broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-
147:9 plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-
manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost
none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-
147:12 turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules
on the hills of Judaea and in the valleys of Galilee.