Contents

Preface

Introductory

Spiritual Experience

Spiritual Experience In Works

Lesson 1. Being

Lesson 2. Thought

Lesson 3. The Effect Of Thought

Lesson 4. Law Of Expression

Lesson 5. Law Of Expression

Lesson 6. Denial And Affirmation

Preface To Lesson 7. Baptism By The Spirit

Lesson 7. Prayer

Lesson 8. Faith

Lesson 9. Intuition

Lesson 10. Truth’s Practice

Preface To Lesson 11. Expression Of Consciousness

Lesson 11. The Spoken Word, The Purpose Of God

Lesson 12. Heal The Sick

Lesson 13. Facts About Healing

Lesson 14. Special Instructions To Patients

Lesson 15. Faith And Belief A Unit

Lesson 16. Marriage

Lesson 17. Marriage

Lesson 18. Overcoming Poverty

Lesson 19. Immortality

Lesson 20. Questions By Beginners

Lesson 21. Theological Questions

Lesson 22. About Healing

Lesson 23. Conclusion

Preface

As the light-house throws its beams to guide the mariner through trackless waters, so upon the world’s waste, this book is sent out to warn the wayfarer from time and place, and to guide him into the secure peace and rest of Infinite Love. May this chart of Divine realization of Truth and illumination guide all pilgrims on the path of life into the harbor of Infinite Being.

As the light shining from the light-house warns from danger and lights the way into safe harbor, so the Truth set forth in this book of lessons will be seen to reveal what the true light is ‘That lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” which makes clear the way to Christ-consciousness.

The purpose of this book is to teach the principle of Unity, which alone makes clear the true relation existing between humanity and God, and the purpose of God manifesting in humanity; to point out the direct and sure way of safety and rest.

May the contents of this book illumine those who study it, with a knowledge of Truth which to know makes free, and enable them to demonstrate health, success and happiness. So will it be. Natural science deals with effects in Nature’s realm, and treats of the relation of things to things. Its theory is, that various and general results proceed from particular causes, which causes are themselves results.

The Universal Law of Creation, or Science of Expression, as taught and strictly adhered to in Divine Science and Healing is as essential to a perfect understanding of the detail of Science as is the Statement of Being essential to its perfect solution and demonstration.

To understand the height and depth and breadth of Truth expressed in these pages, it is essential that the student place him or herself at one with Infinite Omnipresent Spirit, and then know that the teaching has been formulated from the consciousness and realization of this oneness. A consciousness of the way creative power expresses itself in creation is also a knowledge of the power expressed in the Spoken Word; of how the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us and is full of grace and truth.

Divine Science teaches that re-creation or re-generation is simply a repetition of God creating or generating. This brings us back to original Truth and proves that God is the source of man, his nature, form and all.

In the science of numbers an understanding of principle assures correct solution of every problem and produces a true example. In Divine Science a knowledge of the nature and infinitude of the One All assures truthful conclusions, right thought, word and deed, and demonstrates health, peace, and satisfaction.

He who is uncertain hesitates, and he who hesitates is like a wave of the sea, agitated and tossed by the wind. — James, 1:6. He is like a ship at sea in thick darkness, attempting to make safe harbor without guidance from a beacon light, and is at the mercy of wind and wave. All who hesitate will find true anchorage for soul and body in the Truth of Divine Science. It points the way to wholeness for all to enjoy who will partake. This book is not intended as light reading, to be read and laid aside, but, instead, should be thoroughly studied and applied, which will bring perfect illumination. It will bring the student to a spiritual sense of the natural, normal and unchangeable state of Being. Its study will give ease instead of disease; love void of fear, charity in place of criticism, faith that knows no doubt, truth in which is no error, knowledge instead of opinion, happiness that does not yield to sorrow, harmony that cannot be made discordant.

That is, the light of pure intelligence will prove to be the only light, and to be already in the world illumining mentality and visibility. To be healed means realized unity with God.

Divine Science knows no authority but self-evident Truth; hence, its teaching is all based in the Statement of Being; and its numerous expressions are all formulated to accord with the Law of Expression. The Statement of Being and the Law of Expression distinguishes Divine Science and presents it as equally science and religion, and as demonstrable and applicable. Therefore, they who give Divine Science thorough study will find in it the mental discipline, concentration, change of habits and the building of character essential to the demonstration and embodiment of freedom; it will bring out their ability to teach and heal. With this discipline they will be thoroughly prepared to finish the full college course by simply taking the theological and normal instruction which prepares for the Christ Ministry of Divine Science, to preach the glad tidings of peace on earth and healing for the nations.

We know there are earnest seekers in all parts of the world who are thirsting for the truth that is promised shall make free — persons who, in seeming, are “heavy laden” with mortal beliefs and cares — who cannot enter The Home College of Divine Science, or even take a course of class-teaching. To these dear sisters and brothers this book will be a messenger of peace, health, prosperity and happiness; to study and apply its teachings will furnish the basis for a thorough spiritual education, which will unfold from within as the study is persevered in. It will be of great value alike to teachers and healers who are in the field. A knowledge of the everywhereness and the allness of absolute Good is that knowledge which contains faith and secures certainty of success. It is realization of wholeness and power to heal. Permanent health is Truth known and believed in. Humanity must come to know that it has ever held and will ever hold a true and unfailing relationship to all Good. We have only to perceive the relationship that is, in order to know the past and future. As God is one, His method of expression is one, everywhere at all times.

Therefore, in Divine Science time and place are illumined with the consciousness that eternity is now — that the ever present is from everlasting to everlasting.

Introductory

Mathematics is that science which treats of the exact relations existing between quantities or magnitudes, and of the methods by which quantities sought are deducible from other quantities known or supposed. The Science of God expressed in creation is that science which includes all Science or Truth, and treats of the exact relation existing between individuals and between them and God. A more universal statement is, it treats of the true relationship existing between all things in creation and between the Creator and every creation, visible and invisible.

A mathematical demonstration is one that accords perfectly with principle, one in which principle is expressed and proven.

It is axiomatic that there is unchanging principle underlying mathematical demonstration. So is it that truthful conclusion, or harmonious expression, is in exact accord with the unchanging nature of Being; it is that in which Being is expressed and proven. It is axiomatic that there is unchanging law underlying truthful conclusion and harmonious expression.

Supreme Being is one; hence, the Law of Expression is one. As in the study of the Science of Numbers all problems solved are known to be in exact accord with principle, so in the study of the Science of Being all conclusions are predicated upon what Being is : all statements partake of its nature. The first purpose to be accomplished in the study of Divine Science is to find who, what and where Supreme Being, the self-existing all, is. When this is accomplished, it is easy to account scientifically for individuality and visible form; it is, also, perfectly natural to think true thoughts, speak true words, do true deeds, believe aright and enjoy the certainty of faith.

To know the unity of the one all is to have no other Gods before Me; it is to give place to this supreme and limitless Me in all our ways; it is to find that unlimited good, and nothing but the good, flows out from us; it is radiating the Light and glorifying the Life of the Infinite One. Those who solve Life’s problem according to the principle of Divine Science will experience these results. Divine Science teaches the natural order of Being and Being’s own Law of Self-Expression.

There could be no expression without an Expressor, no unfoldment without an Unfolder, no existence without Being, no creation without a Creator, no demonstration without a Demonstrator, and no effect without a Cause. A visible form could not be without the Invisible Presence of The One who formed it. There cannot be a thought without a Thinker, a word spoken without a Speaker, a deed done without a Doer, or an act without an Actor.

“Great are the Symbols of Being, but that which is symboled is greater.

“Vast the Create and beheld, but vaster the inward Creator.”

Never a time the I of every individual was not. Each one who studies this book may understandingly say, the I that I am will never cease to be.

They will come to the knowledge that visible forms in nature hold the same relation to their source that examples in mathematics do to principle. The examples symbolize the principle; so the living forms in nature are expressions of the Creator; they are neither the cause of their own appearance, nor do they exist separate from their Cause; they are proof of the presence of the one that expresses them; they reveal the unity of Expressor and expression.

“We are hid with Christ in God.” In learning Truth it is found that man is forever in the Creator and is an eternal, conscious, inseparable identity. Truth a unit, God as all, and all there is as good and very good, the equality of Father and Son are forever foremost in the teachings of Divine Science as the basis for right thinking.

As in reading, the harmony of a sentence is promoted by adapting the sound to its true meaning, or as the meaning of idea is fully expressed by adapting thought, voice and gesture to the spirit of it, so the harmony of our bodily existence is maintained by adapting thought, motive, reason, belief, word and deed to the nature of the Divine Presence. To do so is freedom.

Harmonious bodily conditions are to be enjoyed by a knowledge of, and conformity to the relationship existing between the body and its Source.

Harmonious expressions and true interpretation are one and inseparable. The demonstration of God’s Truth, which is individual wholeness, happiness and freedom, is as simple in method as is the demonstration of the Science of Mathematics.

Science is exact knowledge — truth ascertained. Truth cannot be ascertained, or knowledge gained, but of that which is exact and unchanging.

True knowledge consists, therefore, in knowing the nature of the Supreme Source and Cause, its action and result and the individual application of this knowledge in the various walks of life.

Therefore, the demonstrations of Divine Science are thus proven to be the manifestations of God.

Spiritual Experience

Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go. (John, 8:14.)

He who knows what Truth is, speaks of the One Eternal Self-Existing Source and Cause as constituting all that is real and permanent, and of conditions that have passed away as temporary beliefs and opinions.

It was early one morning in the year 1885, during an hour of earnest meditation and prayerful seeking, that I asked myself the following questions; they were asked with faith, believing they would be answered, and with a willingness to abide the decision whatever it might be: “Is there any way out of these conditions; is there any Power in the vast Universe that can heal me?” An immediate and all-convincing reply came. The reply was not an audible voice, nor was it an inaudible voice in the sense that it could not be understandingly heard; it was not as one person speaking to another; it was, instead, an intuitive response from the depths of Being, which embodied its very nature. The realization pervaded the body thoroughly throughout, illumining and vivifying its every atom with newness of Life and strength. Instantly Omnipresent Spirit was realized and everything was transformed into Spirit. What I had heard of Spirit, with the hearing of the ear, from early childhood became an actual reality, a conscious living presence. From the depths of this knowledge of the conscious presence of Spirit, or God as all, I felt and knew to a certainty that “If I ever got well it would be by the power of Holy Spirit.” I quickly arose from my chair, and walked the floor, saying: “ IF, if, if I ever get well it will be by the power of Spirit. Then there is one way out of these conditions; I must seek that way, the Truth of the presence of Spirit.”

At that time I had been under medical treatment the greater part of twenty-three years out of twenty-five of invalidism. During that period I had received the best of medical advice, which I endeavored to obey implicitly. For the first time I had given up hope of obtaining relief from medicine or through any material means and was determined to do the best I could without it. My good husband and several friends who were anxious for my recovery were urging me to see another physician, a specialist. My case had baffled the best physicians both in the East and in California; twelve had pronounced me incurable. The verdict of physicians, as well as of the best magnetic healers, electricians and the majority of my friends, was, “ She is incurable.” Out of the kindness of their hearts, my friends urged me to see the specialist, saying: “It will do no harm, if it does no good.” Being unwilling to experiment further with medical treatment I found myself opposing their suggestions, but finally concluded to consult two physicians about the matter whom I had come to regard as personal friends; one of them had treated me five years and the other two. I was somewhat surprised when they both advised me to conform to the wishes of my friends, for, said they: “Judging according to symptoms you have need of the services of a specialist.” With this advice I grew more positive within myself, which at the time surprised me. My answer was: “I thought you were my friends. I will see no other physician.” One morning, shortly after this experience, my husband anxiously inquired what I intended doing in the matter, to which I replied (not understanding the full import of my words): “Get well, of course; but I will not see another physician.” After he had gone to business I thought, “Why did I speak in that positive and determined manner?” I had never before spoken so decidedly in opposition to his suggestion. So I went to my room to contemplate the nature of my conduct and to criticise if I found it merited criticism; but, to my surprise I grew all the more determined to abide by my decision not to see another physician. It was during this contemplation that I asked myself the above questions concerning my healing and received the all-convincing response of realization.

The last physician employed, who treated me about two years, said: “The only hope I have of your recovery is based in your remarkable patience and willingness to endure pain and suffering.” Quite different this, from the opinion of one of the best and most prominent magnetic healers and physicians who, after having treated me several weeks, wrote: “I would have hope of your recovery if you were not so patiently enduring your conditions, and so submissive to your sufferings; you are altogether too resigned.”

During the entire twenty-three years of medical treatment I was either taking medicine or applying some external method of cure, fully imbued with the belief that something must be done to recover health. I thought constant doing essential to overcome conditions to which I supposed myself to be subject, the most of which were believed to be inherited. During that entire period there was no realizing sense of bodily ease, mental rest, or spiritual satisfaction.

While under treatment in New York, the physician advised California climate as my only hope of relief, which, of course, necessitated a long journey in search of health, which I now know was always with me. I returned from New York to my home in Indiana, where I remained a few months, then came to California. Those who believe they are subject to conditions and environments and believe in the efficacy of climate as a means of cure, will be somewhat surprised to learn that I lived in the breezy and balmy climate of San Francisco fifteen years before experiencing any real and lasting benefit. When I did experience health it was not attributable to the climate, but rather because I had learned that neither locality nor climate is the cause of health, but that which makes whole is One, is whole in all climates and in every locality.

The answer to my earnest inquiry, as to whether there was any power that could heal me, was an all-absorbing realization of a presence and power not before realized. This presence was more than personal, it was omnipresence; it was more than any visible object before me; it was real and permanent. It was so vivifying and illumining I knew that I was one with it. I realized it to be my life; the very being, knowledge, health and power that I am. It was as a “Consuming fire,” in that all things became It and were this One Presence manifested. Simultaneously with finding myself in God, I experienced the in-drawing of all things, i. e., that all are in the embrace of one eternal Good. As I looked out over creation, I beheld a “New heaven and a new earth, old things had passed away.”

That hour was the beginning of my realization of the oneness of Life, a gleam of its truth flashed across my mental vision at that time which I now understand to be the at-one-ment of the whole, Creator, creative action and creation. From that moment I have not questioned concerning “The Way,” nor have I known or taught any Spiritual authority but self-evident Truth.

Prior to this experience, the presence and omnipresence of God had been but a vague belief; it was with me, as it is with many others, a mere hope, or Truth unrealized. If anyone had asked me if I believed that absolute good was everywhere present, that the Infinite Life was manifest perfectly within all living, in that there is one God and Father of All, who is in all, and through all, and above all, my answer would have been, “I do not. I have no realizing sense of it.” This is the test of realization or non-realization.

At that time I had no thought of healing and teaching others, or doing any of the work in which I am now engaged.

This realizing sense of things was to me, going unto God. I then knew I must think and speak from His standpoint, would I abide in Him and demonstrate that Good is all in all. I was certainly changed, mentally, in the twinkling of an eye, and each succeeding day I was able to say, understandingly, “God hath begotten me;” I am here to testify of the Truth of Being.

In most convincing and satisfactory ways have I realized and enjoyed the freedom of Truth. I certainly know that I have everything to be thankful for. Through living the Truth, I have cast mountains of seeming difficulty into the sea of oblivion. With the first realization of the omnipresence of Supreme Being, I made my first promise, which was essentially this: that if I could be healed through a knowledge of Truth — which to know makes free — I would, with singleness of purpose, endeavor to proclaim the Truth to the best of my ability. I was ready to affirm that as much Truth as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel. I was conscious that the One to whom this promise was made was expressed in all living. When the full import of the promise dawned upon me, it was somewhat startling, but I said, “Truth will present its own simple method of expression,” and it has done so in the teachings of Divine Science. The Truth of being whole now, was so much more than the hope of becoming whole, that it destroyed all disposition to say, “Lo here, or lo there;” for the kingdom of heaven was found to be within, and was very apparent. The actualization of the presence of one living and true God rent the veil of separateness and made Truth visible.

At this point the question that naturally arises is, “Were you instantly healed?”

The answer to this is: I at once saw the unreality of the conditions of disease and was free from the belief that they had any power, or could control for either good or ill. Thus the ax was struck at the root of the tree, and the old conditions passed away as fast as I disowned the old habits of belief.

When my friends heard that I was recovering health, they called to ascertain what remedy it was that was benefiting me. They found me, as they expressed it, “Looking like a new person,” and asked: “Is it possible you are getting well? Is it true that you can sit up all day? Can you go upstairs alone ?” etc. This enabled me to see with what strength of conviction they held me as being incurable. This determined me to free myself from their beliefs, and I saw that the only way to accomplish this was to free them from their false beliefs about me. So when any of my acquaintances inquired about my health, I told them that I was quite well. I discovered that to enjoy health it was necessary to break up the habit of inquiring about feelings of ease or disease. Putting this discovery into practice enabled me to realize freedom from the beliefs of others. It was not long until my friends asked me to give them treatment, and as I believe that I should do unto others as I would that they should do unto me, and as I wanted to appear in their sight as being whole, I was glad to treat and hold them in the consciousness of being whole.

Among my first patients were three cases of healing that stand out more clearly in memory than others. My first patient was a young lady friend, whom the doctors had pronounced as having quick consumption. Her friends were contemplating taking her to another physician for a special examination of the lungs. The day before the examination was to take place, she called to see if it were true that I was getting well, and I persuaded her to come to me every day for a week, before going to the doctor, which she did; and before the expiration of that time she realized perfect healing, and has been free from that condition ever since, and is a well woman today.

My next patient was one who had been an invalid for seventeen years. She was thoroughly healed; and from that time has demonstrated the freedom of Truth in perfect health for herself and family.

After the healing of this case, the wife of a physician who had attended her for several years, asked me how I came to heal her. She said: “How did you do it?

What did you call her disease? What was the matter with her? My husband believed her to be incurable.” To which I replied: “Truth made her whole, and I neither saw nor named disease.”

The third case was one that had suffered extreme pain, at times, for more than five years, and had tried the remedies of the best physicians. She was faithful in coming to me every day for three weeks; at the expiration of that time she suddenly realized relief.

I then decided to set apart one afternoon each week for free treatment and invited all to come who would. The number that generally came was from fifteen to twenty. After experiencing good results from the treatment, they requested me to instruct them in my method of healing. My effort to comply was the beginning of my teaching. I found myself ready and willing to do whatever was requested. I felt just as though previous preparation had been made.

During the hours devoted to silent meditation and affirmation of the good, I realized that the mental change taking place was the mental act of passing from the personal to the universal; and at one time, while making absolute statements of Life, I saw the fallacy of the popular belief that there is a “lower self and a higher self.” I knew that Cause and Effect were forever united; that the Creator includes creation within Himself. With this realization, the belief of separation of Spirit and body passed away. I saw that holiness consisted in oneness; that in Truth, Spirit and body are in a state of at-one-ment. When there was no longer a belief of two selves, and no body of falsehood to deny, my health sprang forth speedily, and I soon realized freedom of body, and could say, “A body thou hast fitted me.”

One day, after having treated seventeen cases with a marked degree of success, I experienced spiritual wholeness beyond all former conceptions: I realized the passing from and blending of the individual into the Universal Spirit of consciousness. In thought, I paused, to ask myself: “Am I drifting from my family and friends?” But intuitively I knew, that where I am in Being there dwell my family and friends. “That where I am, there ye may be also.” Truth never separates family or friends. It embraces each member of the family or community; there can be no truth in the belief that separates families in their feelings or interests. All seeming separation is but a negative condition, a nonacceptance of Truth.

The principal thought that I held while treating the seventeen cases was the Infinitude, Omnipresence and Spiritual Allness of God; that God is Spirit — hence, all that is, is Spirit; that the Holy Spirit comprised the whole, whose law is Love. I affirmed that the perfect demonstrations of God were before me and that His Love reigned everywhere in all living.

Upon retiring that evening I was blessed with a realization that was more than a mere mental conception. It was a knowledge of being Omnipresent Mind. As soon as I laid my head upon the pillow I consciously withdrew from the body and looked upon it lying on the bed, and realized it to be a thought within My Mind. I then said inquiringly: ‘Where am I, and what am I? Simultaneous with this question, I saw a white, ethereal form, vapory and cloud like. This form enveloped the body lying on the bed and pervaded it through and through. They were both perfectly transparent. My realization was beyond all question that all form was a thought in my Mind. Then, with increased earnestness, I thought, “Where am I, and what am I? In answer to my question there was a center of light, something like unto a six-pointed star, pure and clear as diamond light; its center as calm and as transparent as pure crystal. This center was radiating the light of Life— the pure intelligence or consciousness of the one Self-existing Omnipresence.

It was an inseparable individualized center of the One Presence. Again, I knew to a certainty that it was a thought in my Mind. I intuitively knew its connection with the body and with Omnipresent Mind. Then I said with even more emphasis:

“Who am I, and what am I? Simultaneous with the asking of this question the third time, was completed the realization unto full consciousness of Being. I was that Omnipresence which lies back of all form; the Divine Mind which contains within Itself the things that are seen; the Mind not seen, but which Itself is Consciousness. I was not only conscious, but was consciousness Itself.

The consciousness that I realized myself to be was absolute stillness and illimitable Light.

As soon as I thought of the immensity of Omnipresence and of my being it, form appeared within me, and I pervaded it. Then I knew that God never thought without producing form; that the universe of form was within Omnipresent Being. Then the whole of visibility was transparent and I embraced, pervaded and lived all. I had outpassed all forms, and was the Source and Cause of them. This consciousness of Being was the actualization of the Truth of the Allness of God, which I had with earnest conviction claimed for the patients I had treated during the day. In this realization I experienced the true relation existing between Cause and effect. I saw the Unity and at-one-ment existing in the Mind Infinite, its action and the result of action.

As my attention was again directed to the body lying on the bed, and I opened my eyes on the world of form, my experience was that the state of Being is the most blissful peace imaginable; my feelings were harmonious beyond compare.

Do you wonder that I know and teach the Unity of Life, and the Divinity of all Living? You will not wonder at my earnestness in preaching this gospel of Supreme-Being and freedom alike for all, and at my determination to do all in my power to forward its cause and extend it throughout the world, that all may be brought to a knowledge of the Truth of Being and of Brotherhood.

This Consciousness of Being has been the one and only basis for all the work in which I am now engaged, or have been instrumental in inaugurating.

Spiritual Experience In Works

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me.” (John, vii., 32.)

When I began teaching classes in 1887, I saw the necessity of systematizing my teaching; that as Truth was very simple, it was to be presented in the simplified form of the trinity, Being, Action and Result; that this Trinity being the All, it was all-powerful for good and was the true basis for all application of Truth; that it would enable its adherents to speak with authority. I determined, therefore, that my teaching should be thoroughly scientific and not partake of mere sentiment, opinion, or speculation. I resolved to give a true reason, one based in the Reality of what is, for every statement or claim made. My purpose was to logically show the conclusions that must necessarily be drawn from a true knowledge of The Statement of Being and The Law of Expression. With that determination I have persevered in bringing out the detail of Truth and presenting it as Divine Science.

Strict adherence to the Truth of Being, its action and result, has enabled me to systematize Primary, Training, Theological and Normal Courses of lessons; also, to publish The Divine Science Text-Book, Science and Healing, and a logical and practical little work called Basic Statements and Health Treatments of Truth, besides editing the monthly magazine, Harmony, since October, 1888.

I had heard speakers say, “We must talk Truth to the comprehension of the people.” I knew that spiritual things were spiritually understood; therefore, the true spiritual teacher must speak truth to the Spirit in the people. It is principle that Science teaching deals with in all its presentation and not the present comprehension or limited beliefs of people. So, from the beginning I have written and spoken as if my readers and hearers were already illumined with the Divine Mind. If this is not done, what regard is shown for Omnipresence, and what reward have we in Tightness?

Some of my friends were desirous that I should speak altogether extemporaneously from the beginning and cultivate what they termed “Inspirational speaking.” I was unmoved in my determination, which was, that I would speak the Truth that I knew; that I was to have a thorough consciousness of the reality of all my teaching. The more excellent way is to teach from knowledge and not from inspired conditions. To Be, is greater than to receive. To be the Expresser of any power, is greater than the belief that we receive the expression from a source infinitely beyond us in possibility. I found myself saying, quite frequently: “I am doing what I wish to do; in giving class instruction, I desire to analyze every sentence, that I may know to a certainty that it embodies the very nature of Truth.” This method has proven eminently satisfactory, in that the teaching of Divine Science will stand the test of the true analysis of Principle, and will enable those who study to apply it in every practical way, and to every question pertaining to the real good of humanity. It has enabled me to speak with certainty. This was the means, and the only means, by which I overcame extreme timidity. I am sure that nothing but self-evident Truth would have enabled me to come up over the shrinking habit of fear, and to move with no uncertain tread in all undertakings.

The truth that I have taught and published for the past seventeen years has been derived from no book, but from the Omnipresent Source of all Truth, which is an open book and accessible to all who choose to read it.

During these years of writing and teaching I have had before me in consciousness the omnipresence and infinitude of God as the only basis and authority. One day while writing my first lessons I was somewhat at a loss to find language with which to express my ideas in the most desirable way, which to me was to express them as if Spirit or God were speaking. I walked the floor for a time, affirming, “I am Language, all language is potential in the Spirit which I am; I can and do express myself clearly.” I walked to the window and looked to the right, my eyes resting upon the beautiful hills called “Twin Peaks,” and instantly I saw “The Law of Expression.” I turned from the window, and said to myself: “I see in this law, or trinity, — Creator, Creative Action and Creation — the Unity and fulfillment of all law; a method by which humanity can free itself from the false race belief of separation from God, and from all errors or belief resulting therefrom.”

This Law of Expression distinguishes Divine Science. It is the very bottom of Unity; it proves that we are the All-Good in Being, at one with God; we proceed forth in perfect action at one with Him, and in perfect result at one with His result, or creation.

In the early part of the year 1888, I realized that my time was to be devoted to the teaching of Truth and Healing, and preparing others to go and do likewise; so in the month of May of that year, I decided to open a school for that purpose. We then chartered The Home College of Divine Science, for educational, ethical and religious purposes; for instruction in Divine Science and its therapeutic application— the Christ Method of Healing.

Divine Science College was chartered May fourth, 1888, and dedicated to Truth. The following is quoted from the dedicatory address:

“There is no Truth that is not included in Spirit, Science is co-eternal with Spirit, its action and result. Then, to Truth, to the Good, we dedicate The Home College. To Universal Spirit — in which we live and move and have our being, and which is our eternal home — we dedicate this College. To the Source of all Truth, the Bestower of all Blessings, the Life of all Things, we dedicate our College.” Then, “As much Truth as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel.”

In August, 1888, I decided to publish a magazine in connection with the College, setting forth its teaching. The intentions then were just what they are now. Since realizing what Truth is, my habit has been to commence a work as soon as I saw it was the right thing to do. I have neither asked for nor tried to see the ultimate result before commencing the work, but have met the detail of it from day to day as it appeared before me. When I decided to issue the first number of Harmony, in October, and spoke to Mr. Cramer of my intentions, he said: “You have had no experience in that line of work!” to which I replied : “No, but I am to have, and it is for me to commence its publication.” He then said: “Have you a subscription list?” to which I replied: “No, not even one subscriber; I have not even thought that a subscription list is essential.” He then pressed his questions further, and asked if I had sufficient money; to which I frankly replied, “I have not enough as yet to pay for the first issue.” He then continued: “If you have but ten subscribers, you will be obliged to get out a certain number each month, and it will be as much work for you as if you had a thousand; the work will be constant, and you will take upon your shoulders the expenditure of about a thousand dollars the first year, besides your work. Now, let us consider the matter. Are you ready to meet it?” This was the first time my husband had made suggestions that in any way seemed opposed to what I had planned to do. I took the matter into consideration for about fifteen minutes, and viewed it from the standpoint of his suggestions; it brought a very uncomfortable feeling. I felt as if a dense cloud had settled over me. I then said: “I will not question the outcome; this work is for me to do, and I will do it. The first number of Harmony will be issued in October.”

I fully realized at that time, as I do now, that there is no way by which good can be accomplished that is not open to those who act from the plane of Divine Being— from the Spirit of wholeness — for it is the Spirit that works all things together for good. The means necessary to carry on any work is included in the necessity for the work.

Being raised a Quaker, I was not wholly unfamiliar with the idea that I must listen to the still small voice, and having heard it, must obey. With the publication of Harmony, we took a decided stand against the supposition that there are two minds, “Divine and mortal,” and that there are two selves, a “higher and lower,” or two powers, a “good and evil,” that are warring against each other. The Trinity or Law of Expression proves the absurdity of these suppositions, and all similar ones.

I have neither advocated nor adopted the voluntary system as generally understood, for there is nothing in it that changes any vital point of interest either in the teaching or practice of Truth. It is simply a matter of who shall set the price for the services rendered, whether it be the one who renders the service or the one who receives it. I have not made it a point in my work to speak of money, except as a medium of exchange. All the work that I have inaugurated and engaged in has been commenced without funds in hand, and I have demonstrated sufficiently along every line to succeed. No effort has been abandoned for lack of means. I have had absolute faith that the work would sustain itself. In the work of Divine Science there is no realizing sense of want. The demand for the work includes everything needful for its completion; for this reason it is supplied. My entire experience is proof against the belief that it is necessary to have money in the purse before commencing any enterprise for which there is a demand. Faith and works, knowledge and truth go hand in hand in Science.

Lesson 1. Being

Divine Science is the Truth of Infinite Being, and its application is the Christ method of healing; it teaches that Being is all power, all knowledge, all presence, everywhere all the time.

Being is a law unto itself. The orderly and unchanging method by which Being expresses itself is its own law of expression. It is the knowledge of Being, alone, that enables one to demonstrate one’s true nature. John 10:30, John 17:22.

2. The names given to the various Philosophies, Religions and Sciences that are before the world neither make them true nor false. If these names stood for the Infinitude of God, the unlimited nature of Truth and the interpretation given them was true to the allness of God and the all-powerfulness of Truth, and was given in a universal and impersonal way, they would cover the same ground as does Divine Science. The Truth of God applies alike to every creature under Heaven. There is one Science. There is no religion but Truth; religion is, therefore, practical alike to all; it is innate in every individual and is demonstrated when and wherever the Spirit of Unity is actualized in either thought, word or deed. Where Truth is there are no differences. It follows that all who arrive at first and final Truth recognize the same Truth as did Jesus, whenever and wherever expressed; even though more were to be perceived and demonstrated than is recorded of His sayings and doings, they would all harmonize perfectly and make an harmonious whole. John, 4:23, 24.

All religions, ancient or modern, are based upon the rock foundation of Truth, but all interpreters of them have not been impersonal enough to give an analytical and true interpretation from that basis. No individual or religion has all of Truth to the exclusion of others. God is no respecter of persons. He pervades all alike, and has informed all alike who have turned to Him in faith, believing. That is, all who have mentally conformed to the unchanging principle of good have by the Spirit been illumined to see the same Truth. Even though one should perceive and enjoy the whole of Truth, it would not be so to the exclusion of any or all others doing likewise. PS 133:1, Matt 23:8-9, 1 Cor 12:13.

3. In all things a right beginning is essential to a correct ending. John 1-1-14, John 6:63 In Divine Science it is taught that the source in which all things originate is the true plane and place to originate thoughts and base all work. An infinite foundation is necessary for the erection of the permanent mansion of Truth. An absolute and unchanging Principle underlies all expression, by which to solve the problem of life and produce correct and harmonious results. To state a problem correctly we must perceive the principle underlying it, and in order to work out the problem correctly, the successive steps must be taken in agreement with the principle. To state Truth correctly and express harmony, it is essential that we perceive the unchanging truth of Being which underlies existence and then proceed to make statements that are true of Being. John 13:17, Prov. 15:7.

4. The true method of conveying knowledge in Science is that of reasoning from the Abstract to the concrete; from the Infinite to its manifestation, or from Creator to creation. This method is the key that unlocks the door to the chamber of Eternal Life, and brings immortality to light. Teachers can state the truth of the basic principles to their pupils, but the pupils must work to prove the principles for themselves by right thought, word and action. Earnest application brings conviction, and conviction is realization. Teaching, experience and proof go hand in hand. When truth is once clearly defined to the student, the student should hold to that consciousness of truth and refuse to entertain its opposite until understanding comes. Understanding erases error.

5. The teaching of this book is truly represented by the name Divine Science. The word “Divine,” means pertaining to God, as, “The immensity of the Divine Nature,” “Proceeding from God.” The word “Science” means truth ascertained; knowledge duly arranged; complete and pure knowledge. Hence, the teaching of Divine Science is classified knowledge of Being manifested in existence — God expressed in creation — the Creator revealed in the creature. In other words, it is knowledge of Being, its action and the result of its action; existence proceeding from Being. It is the Truth of the all in all that equally concerns all living. Its study assures true spiritual education and the real advancement of society. John 17:3, John 5:19, Isa 52:6, Col 3:10.

All things or forms are the effect of the action of power, and power is another name for Being. Being is what is, and all that is. Action is the process by which it expresses its possibilities. That which possesses power of action, and through action to produce effects or living forms, is Being itself. It is that which is in and of itself independent of any source or cause; if it were dependent upon another source for its existence, that source could only be the power or Being that created power or Being. Hence, in reality it would be the same; therefore, it must be eternal, what has always been and will always be, and be the substance of all that is created. Its omnipresence shows that all things live and move within it; that their Being has neither beginning nor end of days, and can not be limited by either time, space or condition. The nature of Divine Being can only be realized by giving it expression and embodying it in our thoughts, words and deeds. Just as much Truth as we acknowledge do we think and make manifest. It is like that perceives like; it is Spirit — God — which perceives its own Truth. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned and revealed. Rom 8-2, Gal 5:22-25.

Statement of Being

6. There can be but one all. This all in all is God and God manifest. Ex 3:14, Isa 45:5. One is the number of unity. Unity is forever the state or nature of one.

God being Infinite, there is no finite. He is all of Being, creative action, and Creation. “I and my Father are one.”

God is Spirit, all of Life, Love, Truth, Substance, Soul and Intelligence; all of Knowledge, all of Power, all of Presence. Like expresses like; hence, man is Spirit, lite, love, truth, substance, soul, intelligence, knowledge, power and Presence, the exact image and likeness of God, co-eternal and co-equal with Him. John, 14:20, John,16:13-15, 14:7-14.

Nothing can be manifested that is not before it is manifested. As God alone is, it is God who is manifested in an ever-present creation.

That which is begotten of Spirit is spirit. I am before I am manifested. Man is potential in God, and is expressor, co-worker and capable of doing His will, Being demonstrating the nature of Spirit.

Man is Being and existence, created in the image of God’s eternity and wholeness. There is one Spirit and one body. Individually, we are inseparable. 1 Cor 8:6, Phil 2:5, 6.

Explanatory

7. As God is Spirit, Mind, Principle, Infinite Being, Being is Immutable, Indivisible, One. It is Life, Love, Truth, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence.

Being, therefore, is the permanent good that substands the three divisions of Time, the past, present and future. That the omnipresence of Supreme Being has hitherto been accepted theoretically, is apparent in the feeling of helplessness and ungratified wants that people have.

Truly, a God that we can only progress toward — a Life-giver whom we may possibly approach at some future time, in some far away place, has been replaced in Divine Science by the true God — the Good of our being, who is our Life, Love, Truth, Health, Breath and all things. A knowledge of this Truth, practically applied, must bring “Eternal Life and Immortality to light” to the individual, then to humanity, for humanity is the sum of individuality. Phil 2:5 6,7, John 3:14, 15. The true destiny of Divine Science demonstration is individual immortality. The truth of the Creator and Creation, is Science, and it is religion; hence, it is scientific religion in which the omnipresence of the Creator is a working basis; it is the basis of the Unity of all there is, including right thinking, true judgment, and their true application in word and deed in all social and business relations. The good everywhere is ever active in making itself known in visible creation. Eph 4:4-7, Mal 2:10. This excludes the possibility of there being another life, substance or power. “There is no Power but of God.”

8. A belief in two powers, one good and the other evil, one warring against the other, and a belief that matter, so-called, is in its nature the reverse of Spirit, and has powers and laws that are opposed to Spirit, is the suppositional division that causes all seeming inharmony; all sense of fear, want and suffering. The belief that we have a “lower and a higher self,” each striving for supremacy, is as a house divided against itself; it cannot stand the light of true analysis. This supposition is not a rock foundation, but is a delusive belief and engenders feelings of separateness from God and all goodness. It results in jealousy, hatred and enmity, one toward another. Matt 7:27.

Intuition — the eye of knowledge — perceives but one Power, God; one Faith, Substance; and one Law, Love. It is self-evident that we can have but one self and that the nature of that self is wholly good. God creates not in time, but in Eternity, by means of His own creative action; not in place, but within Himself; then visible creation is His ideal image, which, in its nature is like the Creator. Duet 4:39, 40, Luke. 12:32. Individuality is indivisibility. Its destiny is the full expression of the nature of its identity, its identity is God-hood — limitless and free.

Not until through Divine knowledge we know there can be but one Source and Power, do we feel on good terms with ourselves, and that we are harmonious in our relations to others. John 7:24, Duet 1:15-18. Ignorance is ignoring the Unity of the one all, and causes the erroneous race beliefs of duality. Ignoring of Truth is a habit of drawing conclusions from observation, and rendering decisions upon what it suggests. Divine knowledge illumines mentality and makes the testimony of the senses accurate and affords perfect observation; but without it the testimony of observation is illusive.

9. Intellect uninformed of the Spirit will oppose these truths; but, when working the Law of Spirit it will affirm them. When intellect rules, instead of Spirit, it argues in favor of observation for the purpose of sustaining differences. It places limits upon the good and doubts the power of God. It perceives God, the Good, in the distance, which makes the possible seem impossible. It argues that Divine Truth was once understood and will be again, but it cannot be understood by us at the present time. It holds all permanent good and knowledge of the Divine at a distance, either in the past or for the future. Intellectual persons, unillumined are cold, for they feel not the presence of Holy Spirit and permanent Goodness within; through their efforts to sustain apparent limitations — the testimony of observation — they make presumptuous statements, some of which are as follows:

“We cannot know what God is.

“We cannot come into consciousness of Him at any time, except through foreign agents.

“We cannot actually know anything that is Eternal, while in the physical body.”

They conclude that God’s present ability consists in just how much they know and understand.

The above statements of self-placed limitations prevent the individual from realizing the ever-present Good, and from knowing His own unlimited power. Until pride in opinions, the general claims of limitation and personality are given up, there is no intuitive answer, of spiritual truth, that can satisfy the questioning of the intellect. Rom 10:10, Matt 12:37.

10. As Spirit is omnipresent and absolutely fills all and is Infinite, there can be no power of evil anywhere.

The belief of evil is a misconception as to God being Infinite, All in All. It is a supposition of what might be, were not the All God or Good. It, therefore, can not be real or permanent; its foundation cannot be Truth. It can never be a living presence, a creation, or anything to Spirit or God. It is nothing but a belief that “misses the mark,” “falls short of Truth” in calculation. Since there is but One, all wisdom is One. To believe that a knowledge of good and evil is good to make wise is to believe that the Source of the Universe is a contradiction. Gen 2:15-18, 3:6, 24. If the Source and Cause of the Universe or the expression of any quality of Being is composed of opposites, we need never expect to have any but contradictory experiences, any peace on Earth or good will among men. But since the nature of the One All is One, to think and believe aright is to exercise dominion and have no contradictory experiences, and enjoy peace, and exercise good will. We may have unlimited experiences, but they will not be at crosspurposes; they will all combine to constitute one perfect and harmonious result Gen 1:1, 27, 28, John 1:3, 4, 5. All things work together for Good in the consciousness of Truth. Since there is but one Source of existence, one partakes of forbidden fruit when he proclaims a dual basis for the expression of Wisdom or any quality of Being. The belief that there is infinite good and infinite evil must ever engender a sense of mental and bodily weakness; a feeling of fear and doubt and a belief in limitation and want, from which the claim is made that we are subject to all manner of evil and inharmonious conditions.

The supposition that there are two powers, the reverse of each other, is the underlying error of all errors. This false claim is at the bottom of all belief in separation from God the Good Matt 7:16-20, Matt 12, 32, 33. All incorrect judgment relative to Supreme Being, and man’s subjection to all conditions of belief is traceable to this untruthful claim. It has kept the thought fluctuating between two supposed sources, which is always a state of doubt. In knowledge there is no doubt. Knowledge is the certainty of truth. In Love there is no fear.

Fear is purely negative, so in fear there is no Love, nor Life.

Love is a unit. In Love’s action unity of purpose is always apparent. Where there is Truth there is oneness — not division. Where there is division there are beliefs of weakness; perfect faith is not acknowledged, not accepted, nor enjoyed.

Without Faith we can not realize that perfect satisfaction for which we hunger and thirst. It follows that to realize that One is All, is to know that Unity of Good is the basis of knowledge, health, happiness, success and satisfaction.

Rock Foundation

11. The first step for the student of Truth to take, is to put away the belief of an evil power, and take his or her stand in the foundation of Unity — that good alone is real and is all there is. Then by forming all conclusions from that basis, permanent unfoldment of knowledge and power is assured. 1 Cor 3:11, Col 1:10. Spirit can manifest nothing from or within itself that is not a likeness of itself. This furnishes a basis from which to see how many false beliefs and opinions there are for us to refuse to credit with reality. Man exists as God-idea imaged forth into form; he is one in Nature, not twain; he is not a contradiction; he is a unit, complete in Being Ephe 2:14-16, Rom 6:6. In the beginning of the study of Divine Science if students do not understand it they should indulge no argument within themselves from the standpoint of previous beliefs and opinions; nor should they argue with others, from that standpoint, about what they do not understand. In calm meditation learn to reason from the plane of Unity. Commence your calculation in Infinite Being, where all things commence, and you will know the Truth that frees.

What Truth Is

12. God is Truth. I am Truth. All that is, is Being and is Truth.

To perceive all things within the loving embrace of God and sustained by Him, is Truth.

To say that all things are embraced within God and sustained by Him is to speak Truth.

To know that our Being is God, and that He is the Life and Light of all at all times, is to know the Truth.

To know that there can never be a time when the Holy Spirit does not fill full his Holy Temple, not made with hands, is to know Truth Acts 17:24-28, Ps 100:3, 4. All that we know of Spirit is perceived in Spirit. All that we mentally express of Spirit is conceived by thinking.

Practice of Truth is Natural

What naturally suggests itself to you at this point in our lesson? Is it not that the lesson of life to be learned is to recognize the Divinity that is ever present, by conforming to it all mental conduct and habits, or by representing it in all our ways? Is not this the truth that is life to live? And is it not the religion which binds us to the one All — which Jesus practiced and of which it may be said there is none higher.

13. With the beginning of your conception of Truth, you will naturally think that “If the All Good and All Powerful is about us and through us, it is not merely a duty, but a privilege to acknowledge its presence, feel happy and satisfied; not to do so would be ingratitude.” Being You are now unwilling to entertain feelings of inharmony. When this unwillingness comes, the shadows of false belief are dropping; the longings of the heart are being gratified. When the Infinite Spirit in which man is inherent is acknowledged, realization of the limitless Source of existence is felt and the two are understood to be one, the heart then rejoices in the oneness; this actualizes the peace of Heaven within. l Cor 3:9, Prov 16:3.

In the Science of Numbers recognition is the one demand made by principle which must be met if the solution of the problem be correct. Acknowledgment is the one demand that Infinite Being makes of Its children that must be met if we know Truth and consciously express harmony. “ ’Recognize me in all your ways’ (is the voice of Spirit to Its children) and you shall demonstrate Immortal Being.” Ephe 2:10, Phil 1:11. One’s feelings should never be permitted to form a basis for judgment as to what the real state of Being is. All Truthful decisions about self are based on the unchanging, undying and unlimited nature of Being. Truth embodied disembodies error.

14. We are sure that those who study Divine Science will not allow themselves for one moment to entertain the belief of separateness from the Good; that God is located in some far-away place. You will soon cease to entertain feelings of nonpossession, want and doubt. All your affirmations will be upon the side of wholeness, abundant supply and present possessions; when this is done, permanent health, harmony and supply will result therefrom. Col 1:10, Jer 3:17. You will see the necessity of changing your way of speaking of yourselves and others. Say no more, “I am mortal, limited, finite and environed by conditions; a sinner, sick and unhappy; or that everything works at cross-purposes.” This course, persevered in, will remove erroneously placed limitations and free mental conception. Then let the True Light shine. The author of existence places no limit on our powers for good and is it not folly for us to do so? Even the Kingdom of God is ours to enjoy as soon as we receive it.

15. In Divine Science the command, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me,” is fulfilled and the highest spiritual unfoldment is enjoyed. It reveals that all the Scriptural promises were made for this world, for the here and the now. Refusing to speak from observation, in opposition to what is true of Infinite Spirit, prepares the way for us to experience and enjoy the expression of Omnipresent Good. To turn in thought from Good is to give place to the belief that it has an opposite. The above commandment means to the Scientist that the individual should not allow himself to indulge in negative thought; that is, in thought that contradicts the everywhere present Good. Not until the individual fully awakens to the knowledge of his union with the Omnipresence of the One All, and to the Truth that there has never been a living form separate from or unlike it, does he realize what existence is to God and what it contains for us. When this is done it becomes a most sacred privilege to think, to speak and act like that which he believes himself to be, and to be surrounded by. Num 23:19, 20, 2 Tim 2:13. You may know the voice of Spirit, pure Being, by the kind of affirmations it makes, it never denies itself, but ever affirms its true nature. We practice true knowledge of ourselves by the same method, that of affirming the attributes of Being in all our ways.

16. In one sense only can it be true that our bodies contain soul and Spirit, inasmuch as soul and Spirit pervade body. But the new and true interpretation from the standpoint of Spirit is, that Spirit contains both soul and body, for it being Omnipresent, can only be imaged or expressed in form, but never divided or separated. In God we Live. Being is perfect and complete and from its own plane or within itself it always knows its perfection. If in belief or thought Truth be disregarded, feeling is disturbed and our sensations and sense of things seem disturbed, imperfect, and limited. Without recognition of Truth consciousness is believed to be limited to expression, instead of being the real state of the Expressor.

That we have not known the Truth of Being proves nothing against our being just what the One All is. We are not that which is dependent on recognition for Being, but recognition, objects and expressions are the evidence and product of our Being. The folly of not mentally knowing self as Divine Being seemingly binds thought with belief-chains of sin, sickness, mortality and death. Hos 6:6, 7:14, Matt 12:3, 5. Ignorance of Truth causes sensations of disease. The seeming great delusion of the world is ignorance. Ignorance is unsuspectingly taking things for what they are not; e. g., taking the expression for the Expressor; the body for the source of Self; the brain for the source of Mind; the letter for the Spirit, etc.

When in the broad sunlight of Truth we view ourselves by its light as individualized soul or idea, and as Universal Spirit, we realize the oneness and Divinity of the Life of all things. How quickly this realization fills the heart with universal love! John. 12:31, 32, 33, Eze 18:1-5. Awakening a sense of universal justice, a sense of strength and harmony naturally results.

Physician and Metaphysician

17. The physician’s method of interpretation is as follows: He believes his patient to be a physical, visible being, afflicted with a physical disease, resulting from a material cause; and he treats the body to cure the patient. So, to remove the disease, which both doctor and patient believe to be real, he applies a material remedy to remove a material cause from a material body. The remedy and body both being material — external effects of an interior cause — to attempt to cure an effect with an effect is as “A kingdom divided against itself which cannot stand.” The basis of interpretation being false, its practice can — at best — only change a belief for a belief, thus postponing permanent healing. Medicine can never unfold a consciousness of immortality. Hos 4:4, 6, 2 chron 16:12. It does not give us knowledge of our possibilities, and a knowledge of them is the only permanent remedy for suffering.

The Divine Scientist’s or Metaphysician’s method of procedure is, to receive his patient as a pupil, and perceive him or her to be pure Spirit substance, including both the invisible identity and visible form, perfect as Expressor and expression and in a state of ease and rest. The healer perceives that the holding of beliefs that are false of the nature of Being, is the disease that is felt. John 8:32, 36, 1 Cor. 12:1, 9. There is nothing in the body or in mentality to be removed that is real and true; but there is a permanent Principle for the patient to recognize and express. The scientist’s remedy is Truth. Truth’s practice bears away all suffering. He gives this Truth in the form of a silent lesson, first correcting the patient’s false judgment of himself. Then by speaking the word of Spirit, the healer calls the attention of the pupil to true consciousness of Being, and Being responds to its own words of Truth and the healing is done. There is but one healer who is the Good operating through all for permanent relief. If I cast out devils by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you; which is a permanent remedy for all suffering. Matt 12:28 Dan 7:14.

Summary and Practical Advice

The practice of Science consists, first in placing self right, and demonstrating the individual’s true relationship to Infinite Mind, or Supreme Omnipresent Being; then in correcting the delusive testimony of observation.

Science secures to each one a right view point from which observation is based in knowledge; it teaches the student to see all things according to the nature of Being, and establishes his faith and enables him to speak with authority. It is working from the plane of Being that enables one to exercise dominion over the senses, and demonstrate the highest concentration.

19. Let every one who reads this book study it carefully and keep the Unity of the One All before him as a guiding star by which to live, reason, think true thoughts, and do right deeds. When once your true relationship to God is realized and you can perceive Good as much in one place as another, you have entered “The path,” and know what Love and Faith are. You know all women and men to be your Divine sisters and brothers. Heb 11:1, Mark 11:22. The one Source that includes all is the connecting link whose presence binds all together as one family— as one body — with one calling. This expands mental conception and gives place to innate consciousness and illumines the entire body, the results of which are harmonious experiences. Matt 6:6, 22. When finding yourselves free from the delusive belief of separation of Spirit and body, there is no sense of limitation.

Now that you have entered “The path,” if the windows of mentality be kept open to the consciousness of what Being is, you will hear with the ear of knowledge the inexpressible words of the Silence, the inaudible language of Spirit. 1 Kings 19:12, John 18:37. The process of awakening has commenced and truth after truth will unveil within your consciousness, and with every truth made apparent error of belief will flee before it. We prophesy that in time you will realize that it is not you personally or individually who live, but the Father in you; that is, you will realize He is your light and life; that you and the Father of all are one — not two. When will and thought are born of Being, knowledge of truth accompanies them.

20. Renunciation of old habits of belief and regeneration mean work. Without work one cannot turn away from old habits of belief and conform to Truth.

Since all that truly is, is good, one should believe there is no real evil. You will hasten unfoldment of true knowledge if you study these lessons quietly and without argument about that which is not understood. 1 Cor 2:11, 13, Ep. 4:13. The Science of the Silence can only be realized by a passive, tranquil mental state.

In the beginning of your study do not attempt to account for special appearances of so-called sickness, sin and sorrow; stand firm and unwavering in Truth that all is Good; that God, Spirit, Mind, Being is truly in every place at all times.

Refuse to compromise the Statement of Being with the habit of reasoning from observation, and you will soon begin to realize the unreality of the appearances of sickness, inharmony and death. As you become conscious of Eternal Life and Truth you know there is no death.

You will know that Life is ever Life and cannot die; and suffering will flee from you.

Put away each day trifling things that would annoy. Begin your day’s work with acknowledgment of Omnipresent Good; and if you meet with the usual cares and vexations of every-day life, say to each one as it comes along, It is nothing, it is of no importance whether it is this way or otherwise. Then say to yourself, — I will perform my daily work with Love in my heart and without being annoyed or troubled.

Think of your children, friends and all persons, not as they seem to observation, but as they are in Being; as that which is, was, and evermore shall be; as that which thinks and knows; both the knowing and the knowable; that which is the Expressor and which expresses itself perfectly. Think of yourselves as the Truth of God; be where He is and what He is with a nature that is Eternal. Know that what is true of God is true of man. From this standpoint you can deny sickness intelligently and master all the cares of life. From this standpoint it is right for you to deny from you all thoughts and feelings that are the opposite of Divine Love, Truth, Knowledge, Power, Strength, Health, Happiness, Success and Perfect Harmony. This is freely partaking of the free gift Eternal Life. It is ceasing to forget God our Good. It heals by replacing health for disease; thinking and speaking Truth in place of error. John 15:11, 15, John 16:24.

Healing Thought for Daily Practice

I am Divine wholeness.

I am wholly Divine.

I am unlimited Power.

The Power that I am is unlimited.

I know what Truth is and I enjoy it.

I am satisfied and happy.

I am unlimited possibility to bring forth the nature of Being.

Lesson 2. Thought

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths.” — (Prov. 3:6)

These lessons are written in the natural order of expression. First, the lesson on Being, second, on Thought, and the following: The Effect of Thought. The thought-image is the first-born of Being, so its relation to the Supreme, its nature and office naturally follow the study of Being. Since Unity is forever the state or nature of the One All, Life-problems can not be solved if the principle of Unity is lost sight of. To know Infinite Being and the orderly method in which it expresses itself in creation, is to understand Science.

Science includes the relationship existing between the many different forms constituting nature, and the relation of each and all to the common Parent Source; the same is spiritual understanding and demonstrable Truth.

2. In our first lesson students are instructed to put away the belief in an evil power and accept Unity as a working basis, which is an essential beginning for a thorough and permanent awakening to Truth. Not until the erroneous belief that there are two powers and two natures inherent in man is dispelled, and the supposition that there is duality consisting of opposites, everywhere, is seen to be false, will students become established in Truth and illumined with knowledge.

When it is known there is but one Source, and one Power, thought ceases to fluctuate between the beliefs of good and evil; this strikes at the root of fear and doubt and they disappear for want of mental attention and sustenance. Prov 16:3, Matt 6:27. Fear is the one condition of erroneous belief, which weakens the sense of feeling, that is felt as mental depression and bodily weakness. Fear is void of faith or substance, hence, is unreal.

3. It is supposed that all who read this lesson have studied and applied the lesson on Being and are free from the mists of illusive belief and thoroughly willing to be established in knowledge and faith; that they are holding firmly to the fact that One is All. The time has come when we are ready for a complete change of thought, and a deep conviction of Truth. John 4:35, 36, John 6:57. We are ready to receive our Good in its fullness. The greatest need of humanity is a knowledge of Truth with its certainty and unwavering faith in the All as Good; a consciousness of where to find and how to demonstrate health, happiness and success, and to realize peace and enjoy rest. Recognition of the ever-present Good is the means by which it is realized and enjoyed. We can only realize the Good in which we live by means of loving acknowledgment in our own life and ways.

4. In Science the right use of thought is an essential problem to solve. Since Being precedes thought-action, in the order of expression, we must accept ourselves to be the Thinker, and as such know we are not subject to thought; we are neither made nor marred by it; nor is it a barometer by which to judge all things. 2 Cor 4, 5, Rom 8:17, 27. We think about visible objects according to the appearance they present, but we spiritually comprehend what they are by thinking the Creator’s true idea of them into existence.

Thought includes feeling and purpose, hence, thought is the avenue of sensation and accomplishment. That feeling is agreeable or disagreeable, depends upon whether our conclusions agree or disagree with the Thinker or nature of Being; in either case the bodily sensations are in harmony with them.

We can find no fault with or make no complaint about another, One is All. Faultfinding and complaining are with and about one’s self. “Ye are doers of what ye condemn.” “Judge not according to appearances.” Our beliefs should all be in perfect accord with our highest idea of Good to enjoy perfectly harmonious feeling. Ps 139:17, 23, 1 Cor - 13:11. Thousands have been blessed with health, happiness and success through the study of our Lessons in Science and Healing, by applying them, and changing their habits of thought and speech, making them represent the truth of themselves. If, therefore, we think from pure Being, according to its nature, we determine our course in life along lines of health, happiness and success. The Infinite Power is with us and not against us. Would we externalize love, our thoughts must be filled with love. Would we externalize health and prosperity, we must perceive and hold them in memory. Would we enjoy harmonious conditions, we must believe in harmony. Not until our decisions about each other and about ourselves are those of perfection are we working in concert with and doing the will of perfection. Not until we think the thoughts of the All-Good, that all is Good, is there a conscious oneness with it. Not until Truth is practiced will conflict and confusion of belief cease. To the pure in thought all things are pure and to goodness all things are good.

5. Can we so control thought as to bring about any desired condition? People often speak of changing their minds, which means changing their thoughts; if they can be changed, they can also be controlled and made to assume any form by understanding the basis from which this is to be done, and by strict adherence to, and perseverance in knowledge of Truth; thus thought becomes direct expression of Divine will; but if left uncontrolled, with no recognition and embodiment of the nature of Being, like the Prodigal Son, it wanders into a far country, as it were, and feeds on husks of belief and opinion. As through understanding alone we can analyze and interpret the real meaning of thought, understanding must cause it to arise to go to the Father; in other words, it must call in every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Heb 3:6, Heb 1:2. When the student has placed self in the Omnipresent All and has assumed the position of being the Divine Thinker of his own thoughts, he will think and represent himself divinely; he will have no conflicting thoughts; he will show out the very highest concentration and most perfect self-poise; his poise will be an attitude not easily disturbed; it will enable him to turn from his work, when interrupted, without any nervous tension or irritability of feeling; then take up his work again as placidly as if there had been no interruption; he will have learned the lesson of letting go, and will practice it as easily as he has learned to take hold of his work and continue it to completion. Self-poise may be likened unto the sun that keeps on shining, regardless of the clouds that float beneath. Matt 5:14, 16, Matt 5:44, 43. True poise maintains a happy concentration, regardless of surrounding conditions and circumstances.

Our conception of body can never be higher, nor our sense of its freedom can never be fuller than the truth we acknowledge for it. Our actions do not belie our thoughts; correct thinking is, therefore, necessary to good results. A righteous thought precedes a right act. A loving thought precedes an act of love. A good deed follows a good thought.

6. If you earnestly think that you are perfect in Being you will realize that perfection, and it will be manifest in the body. If you think that you are imperfect, sick, or sinful, the same will seem real to you. It matters not what beliefs your thoughts accept if you persistently entertain them you will sense the same.

One of the common beliefs entertained is, that while we are innocent, God brings affliction upon us. We frequently hear people say: “I am at a loss to understand why God should have brought this affliction upon me; I do not see what I have done to deserve it (which is virtually saying I am innocent) yet an all-good, allwise and powerful God has brought this upon me and I must be patient, endure and try to believe that He knows what is best for me.” James 1:13, Gal 6:7. Why does intellect thus reason? It does so because through desire it draws conclusions from human opinions and appearances; it concludes that appearances are sources for good or ill, for health or disease, for life or death. Not knowing the falsity of its premise, it attributes the inharmony resulting therefrom to God.

7. The true idealistic teaching proves that the real source of thought is in Being and is a most substantial expression of it. Visible creation is formed by the creative action which may be called the Creator’s thinking. Thought, says the Cabala, is the source of all that is visible. “The first-Begotten of the great Unknown.” The Hermetic philosophy defines thought as the Son, or “firstborn.” In the beginning God alone is, that which is, and evermore shall be.

Beginning, means Source, Origin. The first chapter of Genesis is an account of the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created (in Infinite Mind). “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.” This truth is expressed in various allegories in the ancient books of wisdom. “At the beginning of a day of creation, Brahm, awakening from his sleep, begins to think, and his thoughts call worlds into existence.”

Correct thinking brings harmonious results — the right word and deed in the right time and place. Truth is that which never changes; it is the same yesterday, today, and forever; it appears alike to every person, at all times, in all places; it is good for all at all times.

Idea is potential in Supreme Being, i. e., is inherent in Infinite Mind, and is the very soul of our bodies and all visible things. It is true that all Idea becomes visible and all visible things are purely ideal. “There is nothing hid that is not revealed.” God’s purpose in creation is to express His possibilities. Thought, being the ancestor of word, deed and sensation, it precedes speech, whether the language is perfect or imperfect; it precedes deed whether it be right or wrong; it precedes sensation whether of pleasure or pain. All external conditions sensed, are the result of subjects thought about, decisions rendered and believed in.

To image the nature of Being is to be impersonal and universal in thought and deed. Truthful and permanent ideas are imaged and given form by the action of will directing thought, according to the law of Love. It follows, therefore, that to change feeling, any bodily condition or mental habit, we must first change the basis of thought and belief from observation to Eternal Being. Job 22:21-23, 2 Cor 3:17. Would we externalize the perfect, the perfect idea, ever in absolute consciousness, must be made apparent. Would we externalize health, we must perceive that health is an idea to be expressed. Would we enjoy harmonious conditions, we must conceive them and think accordingly. 2 Cor 6:1 , John 5:17

If we would heal humanity of its belief of good and evil, we must speak and act Truth at all times, in every place and be its living embodiment.

8. What observation reveals to us as self is not self. We can find ourselves only by seeking in the depths of Supreme Being. (See Statement of Being.) An essential thing in the beginning of our work is that of changing the basis of thought from observation to Principle; from the creature to the Creator. This first step is necessary would we awaken to the wealth of love and goodness therein; by knowing what is there we give it expression and baptize the body with the living waters of Truth. “Thought-germs grow in mind as the seeds of plants grow in the soil.” The latter are quickened by the light of the sun, the former by the light of pure intelligence. But few persons have known that it was possible to control their own thoughts. To enjoy the freedom of Truth all must learn to regard themselves as the intelligent Thinker. It is a law as fixed as the eternal principle of mathematics, that as men and women think in their hearts (the depths of their Being) so do they manifest their true and immortal nature. It is the nature of the beliefs that we rely and dwell upon that brings us our experiences of either pleasure or pain, light or shadow. So it is our own mental conduct and recognition that make conditions either pleasant or unpleasant. 1 Cor 3:13, Gal 6:4, 5. We receive from Infinite Justice full payment for services rendered. The law of the universe is just and never is it otherwise. Recognize me in all your ways. The Divine attributes of the Infinite are winged with aspiration, ever ready when recognized, to take flight to outward manifestation.

9. All creative work is done in Truth. The Creator’s idea of any form is its Soul and is always perfect. The Soul that sinneth spoken of in the Scriptures, is simply a false belief, called idea, it shall surely die. One might say of it what St. Paul said of “The old man” it is already dead. If we form the perfect idea of Divine humanity, perceiving One as All, that there is nothing lacking morally, mentally, or spiritually, we shall manifest power over external conditions and reveal more and more of the Life in which we live until we express harmony Divine. Ps 55:22, Ps 37:1, 3, 4.

It is not a law that we take cold if we sit in a draught, or that we should suffer any inconvenience by so doing; if it were a law, sickness would inevitably result every time we did so, and there would be no escaping the consequences.

10. It is argued by some that there is no forgiveness of the violation of natural law. Let us consider this in the matter of healing. Healing is taking place all the time, and we know it is God who is doing the work. The belief, therefore, is not to be entertained that any Science student will ever rise too high to do healing. It is generally believed that the violation of natural laws must result in bodily suffering; that there is no forgiveness of mental and moral states. Luke 11:4, Luke 5:24.

Men and women have gone to insane asylums through supposing these false statements to be true. If it were true that there was no forgiveness every member of our Divine humanity would retain all pin-scratches, cuts, bruises, or burns that they ever had; every pimple, boil, or sore and every conceivable condition of mental, moral and bodily dis-ease would be retained. What a spectacle! How could we expect any one to hear the word of God; how could we expect to perceive the Truth that frees? In the face of these facts, let us cease arguing for physical causation and that we are under the dominion of the violation of law. Let us know what our dominion consists in being and demonstrating law. There is no law to God save his own supreme nature. John 5:26, John 6:63. Many of the so-called natural laws are simply erroneous beliefs; in and of themselves they are innocent, but the belief that they are true of our Being is harmful.

Forgiveness of sin, a falling short of Truth, is proven in Divine Science not to be an exceptional manifestation of Supreme Power; it is the expression of the nature of Omnipresent God, the loving Father of us all; it is the practice of God’s nature toward His children. The law of forgiveness is the practice of the Almighty Good.

It is said that if you put your finger in the flame of fire it will burn, pray as you will; and yet, Divine Scientists have demonstrated instantaneously over severe burns, through denying so-called natural law and affirming the Truth of God. Luke 6:37. It is further argued that if you fall any distance you will break a bone, however pious you may be. Mark, 11:24, 25. Is it indeed true that there is no forgiveness of the violation of natural law? What a strange looking people we would be if there were none! The boy cuts his finger, and the Spirit, God, present within and around begins to heal it at once; he breaks his arm — the same Spirit, begins to knit the bone; he burns his finger — the same Holy One provides a new skin. This is forgiveness, or giving up the condition. Some say it is nature that does the work; but it is Omnipresent Spirit in which all nature lives that does the work; it is the Source and Cause of nature that heals and gives to all Life and breath and all things. Luke 7:47-48.

11. Shall we think that the Holy Spirit that heals the finger and helps the man to a new skin, and knits the bone, cares nothing for the moral and mental state and will not illumine those who in calculation have fallen short of Truth? Law is beneficent in all things. Luke 7:47, 48.

Forgiveness, in the Greek, means sending away of sin, doing away with the habit of falling short of truth, ceasing to miss the mark of Oneness with God. It has been proven time and again by Scientists that if we cut a finger, burn the hand, or break a bone, we need not suffer what is generally called the penalty.

When we work in Unity with Holy Spirit, there is immediate redemption from the whole thing; the healing is instantaneous, the bone has been knit strongly together without pain or soreness. Neither healing nor redemption is barring the doors in one place and opening them in another; it is bearing away the conditions of disease which are not at-one with the normal state of bodily ease; it is doing away with the claims and theories based in the belief of separation from God. If we properly understand our spiritual power, and direct our thoughts in accord with that understanding, we can do more for the recovery of the sick and unhappy than all the remedies in Materia Medica, for we express creative power.

Our bodily condition is the result of our way of thinking and believing. If we wish to change the condition from weakness to strength, from disease to health, from pain to ease, we must believe that the desired change is taking place; then shall we find relief according to the intensity and sincerity of our thought. Our inward thoughts give form to our feelings, so we seem to ourselves to be the conditions we externalize.

They who intelligently and impartially analyze their own mental conditions, may remember the arguments that have arisen in thought in favor of desire, sensation, suffering and inability to endure, overcome or change either their mental or physical conditions. They may also remember the mental debates and arguments used to sustain their belief in the reality of such conditions. Close analysis will show such reasoning to be based on observation and not in God.

Sickness, sorrow and trouble cannot come to one who abides in the secret place of the most high.

12. Thought is the angel of the congregation of the senses, and when it falls a victim to the senses it betrays the congregation and knows not from whence it has fallen. Job 1:7. “If one ponders on objects of sense, there springs attraction; from attraction grows desire, desire flames to fierce passion, passion breeds recklessness, then the memory all betrayed, lets noble purpose go and saps the mind, till purpose, mind and man are all undone.” Job 1:12. To be mentally free from illusion, is to have no opinion, render no decision and make no declaration that is not true of Truth and Life. This is perfect motive or purpose relative to God.

13. All know that many persons have passed through the change called death from fear of what are called contagious diseases. It is said that fright has turned the hair white in a single hour; that it has marked and disfigured the form of the unborn child; that at certain stages of its development strong and lasting impressions have been made. In Truth none of these things occur, even if one is suddenly startled, the reaction is as sudden and no detrimental or inharmonious results follow. The first thought of a Scientist, in case of fright, is that Good is Omnipresent and there is nothing to fear. Fear invites the condition feared. To fear sickness, evil or poverty, is to virtually say to the false belief or condition, you have power over me; hence, the decision is that we are subject to conditions feared. Not knowing that which is real and permanent, and being unable to trust beliefs that are not based therein, causes fear in its many forms. When our thoughts are not based in the Unity of God we deal with each other as though we were separated, not only from other men, but from God, and talk of what should be and what should not be, but not of what really is.

14. One of the fundamental facts of Science is that all thought, so-called, not based in Omnipresent Spirit, is negative to it, and negation of Spirit makes one mentally negative to the only Source there is; nothing but struggle and strife ensues, feelings of inability and fear arise. “He that is not against us is for us.” “Since God is for us who can be against us.” The nature of our beliefs blend with all others of like nature. Our conclusions are one with all of similar character.

Truthful thinking is at-one with all Truth ever thought, spoken or written. Truth is protection because of its very nature, and it protects against all erroneous race beliefs in sickness and sin. As long as we believe that good and evil, health and disease are equally real, we shall sometimes serve one, and sometimes the other.

A house built upon sand has a shifting foundation. A castle in air is without foundation. They cannot stand. So all sensuous beliefs and opinions, when exposed to the light of Divine Science, lose place and appearance.

15. To think and feel yourselves united with all humanity as one in faith, purpose and destiny will determine the Universal Good to your aid in every wish and work; first acknowledge that all that truly is, is One in Spirit. Luke 9:55, Phil 1:27.

Then, that all creation is within Infinite Spirit, and is the perfect expression of its idea. Being then made free from sin, we become servants of righteousness. (Rom vi:18).

Conclusion

Thought is the instrument of the creative power of Mind and sustains a casual relation to word, deed and sensation. To think is proof that I am. I am, therefore I think. There cannot be a thought without a Thinker. The act of thinking is the act of forming conclusions that embody Truth or the act of rendering decisions based upon Truth. So the true use of thought is that of an instrument of power, which uses it to embody and manifest itself. The subjects of greatest value for the world’s consideration is Being and correct thinking; how to think, to bring into manifestation the wealth of power and goodness potential in Being. These subjects are of equal interest to every man, woman and child.

A belief in physical causation and spiritual causation is a supposition that there is separation in God. All delusive belief springs from this false claim. From the plane of this belief people try to make creation a source for good or ill, to which they are subject. To know there is but one Source and Cause will heal all, of false belief and from all its consequences.

To understand the true relation of existence to Being, is to understand the way by which the right or righteous habit of thought and imagination can be maintained and kept in the way of Truth and life, and consciously work the Law of the All Good. The understanding that Truth heals and makes free from error, is of no avail unless Truth be practiced. To be righteous is to think, image and do what is right. To do what is right one must have a standard of right, which represents a principle. There is no standard but God; hence, whatever He is should be our guide for thought, word and act. We know that He is Life, Love, Power, Wisdom, Knowledge, Health, Perfection, Success and all that we can conceive to be Good. Then if we wish to think right thoughts and image them forth, they must be according to these inherent qualities; these thoughts, being right, any the opposite of them are wrong.

If we suppose that we are weak, sick, sinful, or imperfect in Being, we suppose ourselves to be something that God the Good is not; we suppose inherent attributes and qualities for ourselves that are unlike Him. As thought is used as the basis to form conclusions, and conclusions to form words and shape our deeds, we erroneously claim by thought, word and deed, that we possess something more than God is, and that something is His opposite or adversary. This attitude does not show a humble and contrite Spirit. It is evident that our thoughts and affirmations must be at-one with Him and His attributes, no matter what appearances may indicate. An appearance the opposite of perfection is only the appearance of a false conclusion that there is something unlike God; hence, we should absolutely deny that these falsehoods, or false appearances, have any real existence and never try to account or find a place for them. This is the method and the only method by which to control thought and express or image our highest conceptions of health and perfection. “Whose-so-ever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. Whose-so-ever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

Guide to Truth

Broad is the Way that leadeth to destruction The belief in Death or ignorance,

Hate or weakness,

Doubt or fear,

Prejudice or aversion,

Revenge or cruelty,

Disease or evil, is the result of a belief in separateness from God.

They constitute appearances of sin, sickness and poverty. Therefore, deny it from you. “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee.”

Narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life

Affirm that you are

Life, Truth and Intelligence,

Love and Strength,

Knowledge and Faith,

No respecter of persons,

Justice and Mercy,

Harmony and Goodness.

All that you show forth or manifest of these qualities, represent your true Being.

Henceforth speak the word of Spirit and do the Will of the Father. “The words that I speak unto you, are Spirit and are Life.”

The first set of statements stand for the conditions of belief based in a supposed separation from God. The second set of statements truthfully represent what God is. Therefore, keep the above before you as a guide for right thinking. In giving the following treatment you are to know that the patient and yourself are the Truth you affirm, and not what is denied.

Treatment

The race belief in sickness, sin and death, cannot affect Spirit. The I that I am is Spirit. I am ever active and expressing myself perfectly. My thought, word and deed bear fruit of Spirit. The channels through which God works to will and to do cannot be imperfect. My expressions are in the image of God and at-one with all that He is. “It is the will of the Father that none should suffer.” Therefore, I deny the belief of imperfection, weakness, mortality and limitation. I affirm wholeness, strength, immortality and limitless power for myself. I live in the Kingdom of Good where there is no wrong or lack. No false belief environs or limits me, no shadow darkens my mental vision. God pervades His holy temple at this time. I cannot get out of harmony, for where the Father is, there is perfect peace and rest. I cannot get out of health, for the Father is in me, around me, above me and everywhere. This is speak the word, doing the will and knowing the doctrine that it is of God. I am at rest in him.

Lesson 3. The Effect Of Thought

“In a beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and a God was the Word.” — (John, 1:1. Wilson’s Diaglott.)

1. Though the Infinite Creator has an Infinite variety of creations, yet there can be but one method by which self-expression takes place. Idea, thought and the effect of thought is the trinity which comprises Life’s Problem, solution and example. Thought must necessarily precede and be the means by which the expression of Truth takes place in word and deed. Idea precedes thought, not in time, but in order,, and in the same sense does thought precede the spoken word. By the spoken word, which also includes deed and sensation, we can know whether the nature of our thought, which includes motive and feeling, is at one with Being’s Idea, or whether it expresses “The Way the Truth and the Life.” Matt 7:17-22, Matt 12:33. True thoughts partake of the real nature of this Source and give form to Divine ideas and attributes; by giving expression to them law is fulfilled. (See Guide to Truth, Lesson II.)

True thoughts are not mere opinions drawn from observation, or conclusions formed from appearances and sensations; but instead, they act to give form to the qualities of Being and thus express inherent ideas.

2. God, the One All, is Creator, creative action and creation — a trinity in Unity. Another way for the individual to express this same Truth is, I am the Thinker, thought and word; God manifest in form. John, 1:13-17, Ex. 20:1-6. Soul is creation potential in the Creator before it is expressed in form. In other words, it is Idea potential in Infinite Mind before it is made manifest, and is that which is expressed or made visible in creation. — (See Statement of Being, Lesson I.) “Nothing can be made manifest that is not,” etc. Soul being forever inherent in the Source and Cause of all things it always sustains a casual relation to the body and to words, deeds and sensations; also to the entire visible plane. Ezek 18:4,

20, Rom 6:23. Therefore, bodies are effects — the spoken words of the Creator. “Of the fullness of Christ have all we received.”1 John 4:7, John 2:6.

Neither form, the brain, nor any part of the body is the source of Soul, Life, Intelligence or Power; nor is it the source of thought, or the effect of thought. There is no physical causation. Forms are not the source of forms; creatures are not the creator of creatures. Brains are not the source of thought, word, deed or sensation. The I, Being, or Spirit is the source of body, brains and all that is visible. Soul or Idea is that which Being externalizes in form. Bodies being effect, they sense the nature of thought, and feeling takes form according to the nature of our fixed beliefs. If we, therefore, know ourselves to be Spirit, the only true Being, and our bodies to be at-one with us, our thoughts will be true, and our feelings harmonious. “And all our knowledge is, ourselves to know.” Bodily conditions, so to speak, are wholly due to the quality of thought and line of belief held to and relied upon. Ex 9:16, Rom 9:17.

3. Three facts are necessary for any or every expression; nothing is accomplished without the Trinity or Rule of Three, viz. : the Thinker, the thought and the idea or thing thought about. The purpose of creation is that the Creator may be expressed and the purpose of individual expression is, that the Creator may be expressed individually. John 17:4-6, 10:24-26. Omnipresence of the One All is the power of each individual to think truthfully. It does not compel one line of thought; so when mental attention is given principally to observation, there are conclusions formed that do not represent the real nature of the Unity of the One All. When appearances are made the basis from which to reason, a belief in two Sources the reverse of each other, becomes apparent. This belief is sensed as disease. As a man thinketh in his heart so is it unto him, is a statement that represents the fact that according to our thoughts so do things come to pass for us. To seek for literal treasures, believing them to be the source of happiness, health and success, is to work according to the suppositional belief of mortality, and where the attention is centered, there will the thought be attracted. If we feel ourselves limited by our bodies or on account of external things and conditions, it is because of a belief in physical causation, a cause separate from and unlike God. Rom 8:5-7, 6-21, Gal 6:8. The Scriptures say to thus believe is to be carnally minded. To look upon the body and place our affections upon it and to have the true appreciation of money, houses and land, in a way not to bring sorrow upon ourselves, we should know and maintain the knowledge of ourselves, that we are Immortal now. Then if changes take place in the body, nothing whatever is lost to us. We know no loss even as there is none to God. Seek to know yourselves as Immortal Spirit — Limitless Being — which is real and eternal.

4. Divine Science transfers the attention from the visible to the invisible and thus changes the basis of our affections. Through its study one becomes conscious of being invisible and unlimited Spirit, and as one can not love the immortal until he knows himself to be it, he can not have true beliefs about his body until he sees the true nature of its substance and knows how it is that the Word, which is God, has become flesh in his form, and is full of grace and truth. John 1:i4, John 14:9. This is true knowledge and true thinking — the trinity of Law, and Unity of the all. “To hold self in Truth” is to know one Spirit within and pervading all.

5. All visible things are Idea or Soul before they are expressed in form and this Idea is in Infinite mind, or this Soul is in Holy Spirit. For this reason body always senses Divine harmony when thought, the instrument for expressing, pictures forth true Idea. Nothing but effect can be affected by Cause; the Thinker is above and beyond change — at-one with the Infinite source. Rev 3:21, John 1:i7. This is Law, nor ever is it otherwise. This should do away with the sensitiveness beginners have upon hearing that their suffering is not real, but merely a belief; also upon hearing that their suffering is the result of so-called evil thought or erroneous belief. “Memory is the only friend that grief can call its own.” To let go of the past and live in the present, and in the Omnipresence of Spirit is to live in life. To let go of the belief of non-possession and acknowledge that all possibility is yours now, is to live in the fullness of Spirit — the Kingdom of Unity. Now is the eternal present within and about us. What we do not recognize as being present and claim as ours we do not enjoy. Then, claim health, power, knowledge, good — in short claim wholeness, that now are you complete in the Infinite Good; and you will enjoy it and have peace and rest. Eph 4:6, l Cor. 8:6. The living God is around you, above you and through you all; so you are protected and shielded by the perfect Good at all times. This consciousness is above the plane of expression and knows no limitation. Acknowledge or recognize this Truth and it will make you happy and free.

6. Divine Science is in the world at the right time, and in the right way; it has been formulated to teach Truth, which to know is the freedom of Life Eternal.

It predicates everything on Being and shows the true relation of all things to their source and that the true and full use of our mental faculties is the means through which this relationship is enjoyed. It necessarily demonstrates the Power of Knowledge and carries with it the sense of the limitless. Then, put from you all beliefs of imperfection from time to time, as they arise, that you may keep in remembrance the truth that God is all in all. 1 Cor 15:27, 28, 1 Cor 3:11. If you have believed yourself to be sinful — the opposite in being from God — you have been believing erroneously; the proof that you were in error is the suffering, unrest and sense of limitation it brought you. You, being the Thinker of true thoughts, can change your way of believing and believe yourself Divine, a son or daughter of God, and that your life is God. Then, think of your life as perfect, unlimited and unending; there is but One Life. This is Truth, that to know, makes free and brings peace that passeth understanding. This knowledge is perfect seeing and hearing — the full-grown tree of life consciously being lived. John 17:16, 22, John 1:3.

7. We now realize that if our words are at-one with the attributes of Being, we are doing the “Will of the Father.” There can be but one purpose in creation, so, the purpose of the Father and of the children are one. To speak in concert with the Father is to be consciously in the Kingdom and know that there is but One Power. Unlimited Unity measures not limitation to any one.

“God measures not His Spirit unto His children.” So, if we speak His words by shaping our ways to correspond to His nature, we fulfill the only Law, Love, and know there is no limit to our power for Good. Matt 7:21, John 4:24. “Be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect,” is a command by the Spirit of Truth that we should see the perfection of Being — and know ourselves as we are in our relation to God. To find what is real and permanent is to find our true nature and know what we shall be forever more.

8. As the Thinker is one and is capable of bringing out limitless ideas in thought, so thought is capable of formulating and expressing Idea in myriad forms of word, deed and sensation, and all are united to make a harmonious whole. Every Truth spoken is within consciousness, and helps to grow the tree of Life within you, and to work the law of pure intelligence and power from within out, which is pure illumination. Spoken words of Truth are also leaves for the healing of the nations.

Dear readers, the Omnipresent Spirit is the I or Life of ourselves; hence, we could not live a separate life from God or Good were we to try. Acts 17:25, 28, John 15:4. They who believe themselves to be mortal, finite and limited, and subject to sin, sickness and death are, in belief, living a separate life from God. Their eyes are single to beliefs that fall short of Truth, and their whole lives seem full of darkness. Let all who thus believe draw nigh unto the place of understanding, unto that which is impersonal and inseparable. Not until we acknowledge the Infinite Source as the I that I am, are we in a condition to think and act divinely; for we shall always think and act just like what we believe ourselves to be and to be related to. John 6:37, John 16:15. Not until we hold ourselves individually as Divine Being, which pervades visibility, can we solve the problem of Life correctly, nor do we enter the way that leads to a knowledge of Life Eternal which Jesus gave to the world. This attitude is that of dominion, in which we may understand all things.

Conclusion

10. The spoken Word which has been scientifically accounted for in this lesson, when viewed from the standpoint of the Creator, includes all creation. The various forms constituting the visible universe are the spoken words or language of God.

It is from this viewpoint that students will comprehend and know what these lessons contain. They will understand that thought takes form in word; that the creative idea is ever active to produce form, and that the body of man and all forms are the out-showing of this activity. They are produced by purely spiritual methods, and wholly composed of spiritual substance. It is through the perfect spiritual conception that we recognize the Truth of what form is. John 15:7, Ps 33:13, 14. True conceptions bring forth forms. Therefore, when we say we see, hear, feel or in any way sense form or effect, we mean that the I sees and thought conceives it. If thought were not the means through which Infinite Idea was formed, thought would have no connection with form, but because it is the means it is ever formulating idea and making it visible through the body. Not to mentally understand that we are Infinite Idea in Being and to suppose that we are body only, is to conclude that we can be young or old, sick or well, alive or dead, according to circumstances and conditions over which we have no control. That while we have power to change and effect results, results also have power to effect themselves and be a cause for other results. People thus argue, claiming themselves to be effects or results of some unknown cause separate and apart from themselves, and in this separation believe they are able to be a cause for further results. Hence, the world has a Science (so-called) built upon the theory that various and general results proceed from particular “causes,” which supposed causes, are themselves, results. No effect caused by creative action can ever be a cause to produce other effects. This is so, for the simple reason that the source and cause producing all things is Omnipresent and ever active and there is no place for any other cause of activity. To believe ourselves separated from God is to go away from our identity. Erroneous belief thus leads from true consciousness, which is un-consciousness.

Cease, then, from trying to make the visible world produce true happiness for you— from seeking to make sensation the cause of real joy — happiness is the real state of Being, and we must speak true words to bring it forth, and do true deeds to actualize it. Live in the present and in the presence of Good and you will abide in the bosom of Omnipresence; this is true abiding and is Life Eternal. John 15:7.

Truth

There is but one Life, which is Infinite Spirit; Infinite Spirit is the one Substance, which is Infinite Mind.

There is but one Law, which is Infinite Love.

There is but one Method of Creation or manifestation, which method is the action of Divine Being.

The One Life is the Life of all.

The One Substance is the Substance of all, within and of which all things are produced.

That power which forms one thing forms all.

That which loves one loves all. All are in and of One source. As the One Spirit, which is no respecter of of persons, loved one, even our great Master, so does It love and respect each one of us, even the least thing it has created. “It is not the will of the Father that the least of one of these should suffer.” 1 John 3:1, 2.

Healing Affirmations

“Of all that God has given me, I can lose nothing.”

The gift of God is Eternal Life, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Strength, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Health, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Faith, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Cheerfulness, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Wisdom, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Love, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Peace, I cannot lose it.

God has given me a Perfect Body, I cannot lose it.

God has given me Rest, I cannot lose it.

All things that the Father hath are mine, I cannot lose them.

These words are Spirit and they are Life.

“All mine are thine, and all thine are mine.”

God knows not Death, I cannot know it.

God has not given me Weakness, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Sickness, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Doubt, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Despondency, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Ignorance, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Fear, I cannot have it.

God has not given me Strife, I cannot have it.

God has not given me An Imperfect Body, I cannot have one.

God has not given me Unrest, I cannot have it.

I cannot experience any result but the result of Truth and Truth is absolute Freedom.

“My words shall not pass away.”

Lesson 4. Law Of Expression

THE WHOLE IS EQUAL TO THE SUM OF ALL ITS PARTS.

Divine Science is Divine Knowledge. It is Truth’s classification of the One All. The basis upon which its conclusions are predicated and from which its affirmations are formulated is The Statement of Being and The Law of Expression.

Divine Science proves that the Unity of Creator, creative action and creation is an exact and demonstrable science, which gives to its adherents a haven of rest; an ever abiding place in the One Self-Existing Source and Cause. The value of Science is its unfailing principle, its never-changing basis, its exactness, certainty and universal applicability. People are glad to give up uncertainty of opinion for the certainty of principle; for this changeless, self-existing Source and Cause we love to call God.

No other basis could be found that would satisfy the intellectual and reasoning capacity of man. Order is Law. The beginning of any building is its foundation. Now, what foundation have we upon which to build the temple not made with hands, if it is not the One Supreme Self-Existing Source? The strength and safety of our building depends upon the permanency and unchangeableness of its foundation. The foundation of Science is a rock of everlasting strength and endurance. We shall now study the Eternal and its method of self-expression. The law of expression is the simple rule of three — a trinity.

Two things, the reverse of each other, could not occupy the same place at the same time. Light and darkness, heat and cold, health and sickness could not exist in the same place at the same time; no more could love and hate, good and evil, God and devil. The All is Good and the All is here. God is Omnipresent and we are in His presence from everlasting to everlasting. This proves the Unity of God and man, for man’s existence is right where God is. It is, “I in God, and God in me.” Man could not exist as the reverse of God. The “new and living way” of knowledge is a consciousness of what the real is, and of the true Nature of existing things around us. If we do not rely on the real nature of what is and is Self-Existing, we have no basis for rest; no source for faith — the substance of things hoped for.

There is no light by which darkness can be found; no truth by which sin, sickness and death, so-called, can be proven real. One may suppose there are two ways, the reverse of each other, that represent the Truth of Unity; while this supposition is possible, but one of the ways can be law or principle.

From observation one can suppose the earth to be flat, that the sun rises and sets, etc. This viewpoint is not from the universal. The viewpoint of knowledge tells us that the earth is round, that its revolution upon its axis causes the seeming rising and setting of the sun. No false supposition concerning the earth can make it flat, no miscalculation concerning anything can change the truth of it. A false supposition about anything has nothing to do with its reality.

The suppositional way of presenting Unity allows man (what is falsely supposed to be man) to claim that as long as he believed the earth to be flat, to him it was true; and when he discovered the earth to be round and knew his former belief to be false, to further claim that his former false view was of just as much value to him, while he believed it, as his knowledge is at the present time. This shows but little appreciation of knowledge. It serves to illustrate the low estimate placed upon Truth by those who endeavor to make God the source of both Truth and error and claim there is no one to believe falsely but Him; they ignorantly endeavor to bring God down to harmonize with previous false beliefs and conditions sensed therefrom. They who thus reason expect in the order of their evolution to surmount what they claim their Source and Cause to be the origin of; this shows they have made a God, unto themselves, in the image and likeness of false belief. To overcome that which has its source in God would mean that one must be over and above Him, and be superior to that which is Self-Existing. Their basis is an changeable one; as they “rise spirally upward and onward forever” their present consciousness is always greater than that from which it was evolved. They claim that what is Truth today was not Truth yesterday, and will not be Truth tomorrow, Their foundation for Unity of the whole is as shifting sand.

This way of reasoning can never be proven scientific or the way of Truth and Life. In this presentation there is no unchanging basis to think, speak and work from; no perfect law to demonstrate; it is not the new and living way. The true realization of Unity is interior Truth, Scientific Law. It is knowing the true nature of Creator and creation, and conforming our ways to it. It is being lifted up to know that all that really is, is Good; it enables one to justly and correctly act in Unity with the whole of Power and the All of Good.

The erroneous method of reasoning idealizes the false suppositions of what might be were God not All in All. The true method of reasoning knows and justly presents the true idea of all things and predicates every conclusion upon the premise that the All is Good. In this method one sees the whole of creation lifted up and partaking of the very nature of the Creator and as being good and very good.

Divine Science teaches that creation is the Creator expressed, that self-revelation is the law and order of the Infinite One. It reveals the law by which the Invisible Source becomes visible in effect. It is one law, hence all must necessarily see Unity and know Truth in order to experience the fulfillment of law within themselves. John 3:16, 17, John 1:13. God is known as a Trinity in Unity — the Creator, creative action and creation. This trinity has always been, and will ever be; in other words, man is Being, doing and result, or he is the I am, that thinks and speaks.

An Infinite Source and Cause cannot be conceived of without containing perfect intelligence and limitless idea. It must be the intelligence that is revealed in expressing its idea in creation; so it is logical to conclude that Being or Mind contains both intelligence and idea. Man must of necessity be the same in being and nature to live and fulfill the Law of Life. No power could accomplish anything without a beginning, and there could be no beginning without intelligence and idea, — without being conscious of innate possibility equal to the work to be accomplished. John 15:1-3, Rev 22:2. Man is a triune being; he is cause, action and result. This Truth is represented in the Scriptures as “Tree of Life,” and “The Vine and Branches.” As the tree contains root, body and branch, and requires the three to make the whole, and as they are never separated into qualities of substance or by space, so man is Being, action and result, and the whole man includes the three; he is not divided by qualities of substance, degrees of conscious mind, or states of unfoldment. Man is one solitary substance, pure Spirit throughout. The whole man is equal to the sum of the three. Let him not separate, by space or by any theory, what God has united. There is not a visible thing in existence that is not Eternal in the Invisible.

Through this rule of three, we perceive the method by which the One All reveals itself in visible creation; so “The invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen by the things which are made.” Each one can say, “I am the vine”; the roots stand for our identity in God, the body of the vine for the individual through which the identity acts to produce visible bodies or branches. The branches stand for the many forms that are spoken of in the Scriptures, as being members of and constituting the body of Christ. Since the Law of Expression reveals the body to be included in Spirit, even as the branches are included in the vine and Spirit to be God, the body is not denied in the practice of Truth. It is given its true place in Being. In Divine Science the statement of Being and the Law of Expression are unwaveringly adhered to. It never deviates from them in its explanation of life or interpretations of Scripture. There can be no law of the self-existing one but its own inherent potency; it must therefore ever embody its real nature in what it expresses. The belief of inequality is departure from Truth.

As the figure 1, the unit in the science of numbers is the basis from which all figures are derived, so in the study of Science it is essential that we see first of all that there is but One Supreme Being, which is the Source of all creation, from which all forms proceed, and in which they live. As in the science of numbers there is but one principle underlying all examples, so in Divine Science there is but one Being or Holy Spirit underlying the Infinite variety of living forms expressed. The word expression, when defined, proves to be in its meaning very similar to the word existence. The prefix ex, which means out of, when attached to the word pressed, signifies that something is out pressed, caused to come forth, hence expressed. In these lessons we shall speak of the visible universe and all it contains, as that which has been expressed of the Creator or Expressor. This is using the word in both a universal and individual sense. The word expressing means acting, and expressed the result of acting. A living thing, then, is a thing expressed. Creation is the expression of the Creator. The Law of Expression is the way by which the Creator reveals or produces creation. It must, therefore, show the relationship existing between Cause and effect, between God the Creator and God the Creation.

1. Being

2. Doing

3. Result

No. 1, is Cause; 2, is action; 3, the result, as shown in diagram. This law is worked from the Invisible to the visible, — from the Principle to the example, — from the Inner to the outer. “Heaven shall have come when two have become as one, the outer as the Inner.” To illustrate: — Principle is that which is highest, first; that from which anything proceeds. In the Science of numbers examples are the expression of Invisible Principle, and are Principle itself, visibly demonstrated.

1. Principle

2. Solution

3. Example

The order in which they stand to each other is shown in the diagram. In Divine Science the Principle, God, is highest, first, the One from which all visibility proceeds. Creation is the expression of the Creator and is the Creator visibly expressed.

While in mathematics, examples are the expressions and finished work of the Principle and are proof or evidence of it, they are not the Cause for the Principle, but just the reverse is true; the Principle is the Source of and Cause for the example; it is universally conceded that the example is all that is ever formed or made visible of the Principle. It is I — Real Being — that knows the Principle, hence works the problem according to it, and produces perfect results. He who understands the analysis of his own work, knows that his examples are expressions of the invisible principle and are the Invisible made visible; that mathematical demonstrations accord perfectly with Principle.

1. Invisible

2. Action

3. Visible

In this analysis there is no separation; none between Principle and example. No one would think of saying that the example was not as perfect as the Principle. Principle is the Law, so examples are harmonious in their relation to it; the only purpose they serve is to represent the Principle; they represent it in all business relations. The mathematician knows no law by which to produce the perfect result but the one of calculating every step of the way according to Principle. He would not think of following error or miscalculation to find a correct result, nor would he endeavor to find the source of the mistake in Principle. John 16:10, 11, John 5:32. He would make no effort in that direction, but would erase all mistakes, and commence again in Principle, and keep the example at-one with it. The working of Principle is the only method by which to obtain a correct answer. Error serves no purpose. In Divine Science all creation is known as composed of Spirit substance and spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Living things are the expressions and finished work of Spirit or God, and are proof or evidence of the existence of Spirit. This is true discernment. Existing things are not a cause unto their source, but just the reverse is true. Spirit is the Source and Cause of, and for, existing things; and it is universally conceded that the universe is all that is formed or made visible of the Invisible Spirit. It is I — Real Being — that knows that “I and my Father are One,” not two, hence works out life’s problem according to at-one-ment and produces perfect results. He who understands the Law of Expression knows that his existence — and all existing things — are expressions of the Invisible One, and are the invisible made visible; that scientific demonstrations accord perfectly with the Spirit of wholeness; the Truth of the Allness of Spirit. John 1:14, Rev 22:14. In this analysis the claim that Spirit is to be conceived of only apart from embodiment, or distinct from form, is proven to be a fallacy. This Law proves the long looked for atonement.

With this understanding, no one can longer think that the living things of God are not complete and perfect demonstrations of the Creator. As the Supreme Nature is the only law, creatures are ever harmonious in their relation to the Creator; the purpose they serve is to express their Source. The Scientist knows no law by which to produce the perfect result, but to live and calculate every step of the way, according to the Truth that All is Good. John 1:i7, Gen 2:17. He would not continue calculating according to the erroneous race beliefs of separation, expecting to find Truth and produce perfect demonstrations, but would cease thinking or making any effort whatever from that standpoint of belief, and commence again in the Spirit of wholeness. This is the only method by which to prove existence at-one with its Source, and to glorify God on earth.

Nothing is gained through mistakes. Now that the Law of Expression opens our eyes with understanding, let us not close them again to Truth. Cease saying that “When you look upon my body you see nothing whatever of me,” and know that you do see the living, thinking Being Expressed. To do this it must be seen that in substance and reality it is just what the One All is, and is the Ideal and Spiritual form. “If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

1. God the creator

2. God the creating

3. God the creature

The One All is now revealed to be Creator, creative action, and creation. Let us understand, then, that if you have seen the Truth of self you have seen the Father, for there is none but God to express Himself in creation. Direct expression, as shown in this lesson, is an eternal law everywhere demonstrated in creation. So created things are not the Source of man.

As one knows that the visible example is the demonstration of Principle and problem, one must conclude that Principle is the Source that includes problem, and is expressed in the example. The demonstration of the problem which is inherent in Principle must be the result of the action of Principle. Thus Principle proves to be the Law and basis of expression. So, to Divine knowledge creation is the expression of the One Creator, and it is self-evident that the Creator is the Source that includes Fatherhood and sonship. The demonstration of Fatherhood inherent in the Creator must be the result of the creative activity, which proves the Law of Expression in sonship. Every possibility inherent within Being is possible of expression, first in thought and then in word; here, there seems to be two expressions of one Cause; but remember that the Eternal Being is before it thinks, and its thought embodies the Truth of its nature. Acts 15:18, 1 Cor. 14:33. Thought precedes its spoken word; the word is its form; hence, Creator, creative action, and creation, or I am, I think, I speak, correctly sets forth the order of the Law of Expression by which all things are out pressed or caused to exist as form.

“Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” The Law of the Lord, is equal. As true as is the time-honored mathematical axiom that “The whole is equal to the sum of all its parts.” So is the nature of Being equal to Infinitude. The One All is equal to all of the above trinity, for whatever is, has power to be eternally; there is, therefore, no mortality in the One All. Think of yourself as being eternal; as being that which precedes doing, that which is consciousness and knows its power of expression. I must be before I act or think; and I must act or think before I speak or produce. I, then, must be the Source and Cause of my thoughts, also my words, which are the forms of my thoughts. I, therefore, can never be under their dominion. By result is meant finished work, a thing completed; my thoughts are expressed and complete in my words. St. Paul has said, “There is one Spirit and one body;” by correct analysis from Principle Divine Science proves this to be true. The absolute statement that God and God manifest, is all there is in truth, implies action; for a self-existing Source could not be the cause of any living thing without creative action, so, between Being and existence there is action which must be understood in its proper relation to both in order to understand their relation to each other. Lamen 3:38, Matt. 4:4.

Considering Divine Mind, Spirit or Creator as God, the following diagram will illustrate the order of the “Law of Expression.” Expression never takes place in the reverse order, — from the visible to the Invisible. It is to be understood that in the diagram, Mind, Mentality and Visibility are synonymous with Spirit, Soul and Body, or with Creator, Creating and Creation. Here we have the basis for

1. Mind. 1.  Spirit.1. Creator.

2. Mentality. 2.  Living Soul. 2. Creating.

3. Visibility.3.  Body. 3. Creation.

The Law works from within Being, out to visibility, by means of mentality.

Mentality is Mind’s center of action; it is more than thought; it means all that is essential to Mind for its perfect expression in visibility.

It describes our individuality and shows its inseparableness from God; there is no individuality apart from God, the One Source and Cause, Divine mentality — the living Soul — or individuality, in the language of Genesis is spoken of in the plural, as stars in the firmament of heaven. We, as individuals, are firmly fixed as centers of action in the Infinite One. Indeed, are we stars in the firmament of heaven.

The problem of Life it is evident is a study that is of special interest and importance to every person. This law of expression, fully understood, is of the greatest value to you, it is the way by which your existence has come forth; so you need to apply it for the purpose of realizing your true and harmonious relationship, not only with your Source and Cause, but with humanity. The same order by which God is manifested in existence must be maintained in existence in solving the problem of Life and demonstrating true freedom. Deut 33:27, Rev 1:8. Let us compare our existence to nothing but the Spirit of wholeness, and liken the temple of God unto it, and thus reverse the common order of belief, which claims that there is physical, material or external causation, which can and does act for our good or ill.

Nothing but confusion can possibly be sensed from the belief in physical causation. As God is not the author of confusion let us fully understand and then practice the one Law of Expression. According to this Law, God made man in His own image and likeness; so let us look upon man and think of him as being the image and likeness of all that is Good. Heb 13:8. Every expression comes under the law by which it is expressed; but, understanding that we are one with God, the Creator and creation, we being the law are not under the law. Eph 3:9, Col 1:16. It cannot act as a school-master to bring us to God and then cease to be. The nature and grace of God being ours, we are the fulfilling of the law. We see it to be the only order by which demonstration can take place.

Hence, it is necessary that every student should thoroughly understand this law and realize the importance of applying it in all demonstration and also in every interpretation. The author spiritually perceived this law seventeen years ago, and knew at a glance that she realized a Truth that could not be questioned. That it embraced The All, and that error could not possibly be identified in any way with this Trinity; so when understood and lived it would free every one from all false belief and erroneous opinion in regard to God and man, and all creation. This Law, taught only in Divine Science, proves the absolute at-one-ment of God and man. It is the basis for all true reasoning. It is Divine order, it is method; it is applicable always and everywhere. It distinguishes and illumines Divine Science.

Lesson 5. Law Of Expression

The word Soul has been used in so many ways in the past, and without definite meaning or practical application, that it is thought best in scientific teaching to use the word only in a definite way, so that it may be scientifically applied. The use of other words, the meaning of which is synonymous with Soul, frequently gives a new view to the word. Soul has been thought to be something that could either be saved and made to enjoy eternal bliss, or could be lost and made to suffer eternal agony; that through its own efforts it could be either saint or sinner, and the final test of what it was to become through its own efforts would be revealed after death; which state would be a reward for its good conduct, or a punishment for its evil. These conclusions are not drawn from Principle, hence are not scientific. The true meaning of Soul is idea, the eternal idea inherent in Divine Mind, the potentiality of the Creator, the invisible side of every creation. Individuality and Divine mentality, when used in their true relation to Being, are synonymous with Soul in its action, and is sometimes called living Soul.

Man is not something that has Spirit, but is Spirit. He is not something that has Soul, but is Soul. He is not something that has body, but is body. These statements, especially the last one, will astonish many, and unsettle their beliefs. There has been too much supposed knowledge of that which was not true. The acceptance of these statements mean the maintenance of Unity, and this Unity is what the Law of Expression means. The whole man is equal to the sum of all his parts. The word expression is not used in Science in a limited manner, as one might say, what a beautiful and practical expression, or what a suggestive or strange expression in reference to subjects under consideration. It means all manifestation of visible form, “animate and inanimate,” or all that results from Source and Cause. The universality of expression is shown in the universe of form.

We have the unchangeable fact of the Trinity, illustrated in various ways in this lesson, as the fixed order of the universe from which to reason. To accept one’s self as being the totality of this Trinity is to be able to express and put our real nature to practical use in everything we do, and in every result accomplished. The three constitute wholeness, hence are co-eternal, but not interchangeable in regard to position. Always and everywhere must the Creator include His action and creation. Principle must include solution and example. Being must contain doing and result. Our sense of harmony and happiness depends upon our maintenance and application of this Divine order.

We would not tolerate the teachings of one who endeavored to reverse the order in mathematics, and said example is the source of principle; or who in Science thought that the body was the source of Soul or Spirit. No more should we sanction the claim that the brain is the source of mind, idea, intelligence or thought. This shows how essential it is for one to faithfully adhere to this true order in applying Life-principle or in considering the nature of Being. We always want to express the principle in the science of numbers in our business transactions. In Divine Science we want to express Being in all our ways, in our dealings with each other; this is essential that we may know the outer to be as the inner, the body to be as the Spirit, and enjoy the health of wholeness.

This Trinity proves direct expression of the one self-existing Source and Cause in all living, at the same time. It does away with striving to become what Being is not; and banishes forever the theory that our unfoldment is just beyond what we have been; that our unfoldment will forever be greater than our Being, which unfolds. There is no unfoldment without an Unfolder. There is no unfoldment beyond or greater than its Source. It is law that unfoldment be equal to the innate possibilities of its Source.

Because visible man is the expression of a Cause, expression comes under the head of result or creation. His very existence proves that he is Being. The fact that he lives proves that he is Life ; because body is result proves that he is Cause. “Nothing can be expressed that is not.” (See Statement of Being.) Jesus knew the interior nature of Being when he raised Lazarus from the dead, and when he called Moses and Elias to him to talk of what manner of death he should die.

The word visibility is used to represent the whole of creation.

The word mentality represents the whole of creative action — the means through which the Creator expresses His own nature. The word Mind means totality; it includes all that is Self-Existing, all action and result. This constitutes the wholeness in which we rest, and contains the detail of Science. No part of this Trinity is the result of experience. Nothing is made that is made by experience. To God experience is self-expression.

All that belongs to Being is comprised in number one; what pertains to action constitutes number two; all result is contained in number three. Then, again, two and three are included in One, hence One is totality — the All is One. Man’s mentality, being the region of action and centered in the Infinite Being, it comprises thought, motive, and feeling, intellect, reason and will, conception, recognition, and realization, etc. Each faculty works in union with every other, which results in images or forms. The whole combined has power to formulate Soul — idea — into things. Ideas are forms, and forms are ideas made manifest. The body of man constitutes a member of visibility. It is composed of members and organs working harmoniously together, and is a living demonstration of the eternal nature of man. It is the outshowing of the Creative Idea, or Soul of things. Whatever exists as an expression does so by virtue of there being an active Expressor. The mathematical application of the time-honored axiom, “The whole is equal to the sum of all its parts,” is equally applicable in Divine Science, Being is equal to all action and result.

The students of Divine Science find it a haven of rest, a real, practical religion in every time of need. This is proven by the large number that are being healed, and the number of students who are successful healers. There is no limit to the demonstrations of good to be wrought and enjoyed through the study and appreciation of Divine Science. It is the unfailing.

The Trinity, or Law of Expression, reveals the body to be Spirit Expressed; it is embraced in Spirit, just as the branch is in the vine.

Let us conclude that as One is All, unity is always the right starting-point, the basis from which to work. It is a rock foundation never to be forgotten. Man should never forget what manner of Being he is. In truth man knows there is nothing outside of God; nothing lives apart from Him. Let us see the Source of all living forms in one living Cause, whether they are visible or invisible to the natural eye. The expression of the One Expressor Law of comprises the whole universe. The universe is all that is Expression formed or made visible; it is a harmonious whole. Omnipresent Spirit has one purpose; that purpose is to express itself as the universe of visible things. Let us affirm:

I am unlimited in Being.

I am unlimited in action.

I am unlimited in the result of my action.

My body is Spirit-Substance in the form of limitless Idea.

My eyes are open to Truth. They behold the perfect law of liberty.

My Divine Nature is the law that I express in all my ways.

I acknowledge the Good in all my ways.

My paths are paths of peace.

“I stand in the great forever,

I lave in the Ocean of Truth,

And I bask in the golden sunshine Of endless love and youth.”

Lesson 6. Denial And Affirmation

“If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” — (Ephesians, iv 121-26. )

The Old and the New

1. The great lost secret that people in general are in need of recovering and acknowledging, in all their ways, is the basis of demonstration — the knowledge of God and his relation to man. The loss of this knowledge or lack of acknowledgment of it, is due principally to the generally accepted belief of the separation of God and man; that they are entirely different in their nature, in their thought and the effect of thought. They seem not to know that to yield themselves to the belief of separation causes them to serve that belief, and to know that they being one with God causes them to be one with Him in thought and the result of thought. To place our being beneath God is to fall, as it were, from true consciousness and Divine knowledge; hence, from the Unity of God and creation, and separates us in belief from our idea of Good. Divine Science reveals that the old, old Truth, is also the new, and the new is also the eternal; it is the living way of the Good continually expressing itself in us. Truth never changes. This lesson presents the way by which the reader may practice the knowledge contained in preceding ones; it will erase the habit of acknowledging good and evil, and establish the habit of partaking freely and fully of the tree of life, or first and final Truth of Being.

2. Now is always the right time to recognize and practically acknowledge that all that is, is present. To constantly acknowledge the presence of Good is to live in the consciousness of a wholeness that is incapable of division. Now is the time to reap, “That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” If we do not acknowledge the everywhere present Good as ours now we shall not rejoice with the one ceaseless sower whose joy is eternal. Wages are not received until we reap, and reaping is not done until we acknowledge and affirm our Good. Faithfulness in recognizing beliefs and opinions and temporary conditions is unable to give a haven of rest or satisfy hunger and thirst for righteousness. To believe in the conditions of so-called sickness and inharmonious environments that we wish to be free from is to believe in what is called temporal and corruptible; the only reaping therefrom is disappointment. Whatever it is desirable to be free from we should cease to believe in. True Being expresses its own nature in living form, and it is always saying to its expression, “Because I am, thou art; thou art my very self revealed, and like ever expresses like.” No longer is God concealed from us, to be revealed in the remote future; but is a living, loving, acting Presence. Ex 3:14, 1 Cor 8:6. No longer is our path dark and dreary, shadowed by delusive beliefs and opinions.

“He who finds not God within himself may seek in vain elsewhere.” He who finds not himself in God, and as God, will have sought the Christ in vain. When God is sought and found as the Expressor of form, and as expressed in form, there is no place where He is not apparent; this is finding the kingdom. Study these lessons from the plane of Spirit; meditate upon their Truths from that high plane and you will know their Truth and read between the lines. You will worship in Spirit and in Truth and experience health.

The False and the True

3. If it be that we are taught by the Christ, as the Truth was in Jesus of Nazareth, we shall experience within ourselves the Truth that he voiced. We shall cease conversing about impure and diseased bodies; cease identifying ourselves with erroneous beliefs and opinions; cease centering self-hood in them. We will think and act the Truth that we are centered in God. Life is present Goodness. To identify ourselves with past beliefs and opinions or to believe they are the source of our present consciousness, is to identify ourselves with what has no power or life to express in the present; this brings a sense of limitation, a desire to struggle with, an unrest to dislike, a pain and disease to set aside. If it be that we speak Truth for truth’s sake we shall refuse to let former beliefs and opinions speak its opposite. Through faith and knowledge of Truth we must assume our true position as limitless Idea or Soul and think of ourselves as being perfect, powerful and knowing. Heb 2:20, 1 Pet 1:15, 16. In this true consciousness and Unity there is no disposition to make excuses or find places for past erroneous beliefs. One cannot say, because Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I fell into doubt and desire; but can say with Christ, “I am risen,” I am living with Christ in God; this is the ever new and living dispensation. Thought fluctuating between two or more opposing beliefs constitutes a state of doubt. To doubt is to stand still; and to stand still is stagnation.

4. Through speaking Truth with love we unfold conscious at-one-ment with the Father, the fountain-head of all good. Through daring to bear witness of our Divinity and that God is our Being, that we have no other, and that He is our life, and that we have no other; and through daring to declare the unalterable truth, that in the same way that God lives we live, that there can be no separation in Being, in creative action, or in creation, we shall bring immorality and eternal x life to light, and overcome even the last enemy, Death. 1 Tim 6:17-19, Cor 6:17. To acknowledge these truths with love is to fulfill our duty to God, and do His will. This true relationship must be recognized by the children of God before they can be conscious of working with him. This practice illumines the senses and makes the eye single to Truth, and is true observation. In this consciousness we cease to say “Impossible” to anything; we cease to claim weakness or limitation or bondage of environment. To live Truth is heaven here.

There is no strife in the freedom of Truth, in the nature of it there are no torments.

5. Not only is it essential to put away the belief of separation, but to cease practicing the habits that are centered therein. We should learn to speak with true meaning. We can no longer think that visible things constitute the plane of cause, or that we exist as mortal, limited or finite beings. As we are eternal Being, and the Being that we are includes all nature, we do not speak of physical strength and physical weakness, or as if the body was the Source of life, intelligence and power, or as if it was the Source of thought, motive and feeling. Deut 33:27, Kings 18:21. We recognize ourselves dead indeed unto sin (beliefs that fall short of Truth) and alive unto God for evermore; hence, at-one with the Source of all expressed strength, life and power, of all thought, motive and feeling. There are no mists of illusion in Truth or its practice; we have discovered that the body does not limit us, it has no power to cause us trouble or to prevent the expressing of our possibilities in full. We should cease all conversation that would convey the false race supposition that we are something that can die; that we can be dead at one time and alive at another; sick at one time and well at another. The gift of God is eternal Life. Bodily, we are clothed upon with God — true Being. Our whole body is full of light. Matt 6:22, Luke 11:33. Put off such false conversation as that changes of the weather are able to bring you life or death and are always working in you for good or ill; also about the wind being disagreeable, or about disliking it. Cease believing that food is digestible at one time and indigestible at another; good sometimes and bad at others; that you are subject to it. In Truth we use, appropriate and enjoy all things lawfully, with good results to ourselves bodily. All habits of conversation along negative lines belong to what St. Paul called “The old man,” which he said, were according to the deceit of sense; such habits are sensed bodily not in ease, the true state of Being, but in disease, unrest or pain.

It is noticeable that they who believe themselves mortal now, and expect to be immortal after death, indulge these habits of conversation; believing they are subject to physical things and dependent upon them for life, intelligence and power, that when they die they are going to have another Source for all Good, turns their attention and conception from the Truth of wholeness and brings about the condition called death. People really go where they think their Good is, and if they place it afar off in an invisible world, they withdraw from the visible and experience a sense of separation. Ezek 18:31, Hos 4:6. To think aright and speak the new language of living Truth, our God or Good must be here now, manifested in the world.

6. Do not use the metaphysical statement, “When you look upon my body, you see nothing whatever of me.” Make use of true wholeness, or holiness, and declare you see the expression of the real immortal self. 1 Tim 3:16, Rom 12, 1, 2. Place your body in Being and yourself in perfect at-one-ment with all that

Being implies; thus you will have the true oversight of your body and be master over your own house. You will love and nourish it and give it the best of care.

The law of expression is from Infinite Spirit or Mind to mentality, then to material form; or from the Thinker to Thought, to Word; and never is it otherwise. It works not from form to Spirit from Word to Thinker; hence it is absolutely false to believe that effects or external things can react and affect Being. John 3:13, Eph 4:1. This false belief is the only inlet for outside error; which is spoken of as “taking on conditions” and being affected by the thoughts of others. It is the only means by which we can relate our bodies to what is called miasmal or poisonous atmospheres.

7. To put away error by speaking the truth is to overcome evil with good; to do this is to see no evil. To five no place to devil as we are admonished is to know no devil. We can know reality, what truly is, and can live it. “That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine,” that is, to be no more acted upon in belief from without or by the opinion of friends; let us speak Truth to them in love and thus hold the reins of freedom in our grasp and guide our way in harmony of truth. Error cannot disturb Truth; it is forever above and beyond disturbance; and all who hold themselves in Truth, as being it, know that they are not acted upon by mortal conditions of belief As Christ led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, so when we awaken to Truth we lead the senses captive from the standpoint of Spirit. The Spirit sees and bears witness through us; and we express its power, which is the gift- of Spirit.

8. Divine Science denies nothing that truly is. In giving treatment the body should never be denied. Rom 6:6, 1 Cor 11:30. Should a man come to a Divine Scientist to be treated for blood poison in the arm, or any other condition, the Scientist would not deny the arm; to do so would be to work with the physicians who amputate. The true Scientist would make no claim or affirmation that would actualize in removing one member of the body from another, or in separating body from Spirit. He would know that the patient could be healed of the seeming blood poison, and of all belief and sense of disease, without losing any member of the body. The body must be held to be perfect without disease, and that no disease is necessary to its perfection. Ex 15:26, John 15:3. In Truth the body always stands as a holy temple of Good; therefore, speak Truth of it, affirm that it is eternal substance, living substance, limitless idea expressed. Deny false beliefs about it by affirming the Truth of it, but never deny the body by thought, word or deed. Give the body a place in your Being, and your Being a place in the Supreme All.

What to Deny and What to Affirm

9. God is infinite, indivisible and unalterable goodness. Goodness includes life, truth, love, power, understanding, and strength, knowledge, faith, presence, justice, mercy, harmony and charity.

As God is infinite and unalterable goodness, then all goodness must be eternal; and the opposite must be false appearance.

As life, truth and understanding are eternal, death, falsehood and ignorance must be false appearances.

As love, strength, knowledge and faith are eternal, hate, weakness, fear and doubt must be false appearances.

As God is love, and everywhere at all times, and no respecter of persons, then prejudice and aversion are false appearances.

As justice, mercy, harmony and charity are eternal, then revenge, cruelty, disease and envy are false appearances.

As that which is eternal is Truth, temporary appearances are false.

As that which is eternal is real, temporary appearances must be unreal.

As that which is eternal is substance, temporary appearances must be shadow.

Then the new man is the man of truth; the old man is the man of falsehood.

The new man is the real man, the old man is the unreal. The new man is the man of substance, the old man is the man of shadow.

To put off the old man is to cease thinking that you are that which is temporary; to put on the new man is to think that you are that which is eternal.

To put off the old man is to cease thinking death, falsehood, ignorance, hate, or weakness. To put on the new man is to think life, truth, and understanding, love and strength.

To put off the old man is to cease thinking fear, doubt, prejudice and aversion. Putting on the new man is thinking knowledge, faith, ad universal love — without respect to person.

To put off the old man is to cease thinking revenge or cruelty, disease or evil; putting on the new man is thinking justice, mercy, harmony and charity.

To put off the old man is to refrain from judging according to appearances. To put on the new man is to judge according to the nature of Spirit.

To put away lying is to put away all conversation about being temporary and mortal.

To speak the truth with each other, is to converse about immortality and as if we were eternal.

To be in error of belief is to suppose we are mortal now.

To be in Truth is to know that we are immortal now. The Infinite and Unalterable Good says: Believe in nothing but the Infinite and Unalterable and you will find the Truth that frees and the peace that passeth understanding.

Judging from observation says, “Believe in appearances, and you shall Become as gods ;” this promise believed in leads to unconsciousness, ignorance and desolation.

10. Put off this false condition of belief, styled “The old man,” and let childhood pass by. Assume the true position of a Son of God, and express the Truth in wholeness. All perfection, that has been, and that ever will be, is now. To recognize is to realize it; to acknowledge it, is to awaken to a sense of Being it, which will enable you to speak the Truth as it was in Jesus. Truth is daily and hourly baptism to the awakened. So the Scientist renders thanks hourly for good received, for knowledge gained, for health expressed, for truth perceived, for love manifest, for God revealed, for ever-present Goodness. Ps 107:20, Ps 103:2-3.

11. Just as sure as we have ears to hear what the Spirit says, and have heard, we will put off all conversation concerning the old man, and will take on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Henceforth, Reason as if temporary conditions of belief are dead, and as if you are alive with Christ unto God. Consider that you are identified with the One, who is Creator and life of all things, and are renewed in the spirit of your mind with knowledge. According to the measure of Truth have you expressed Christ as it was in Jesus.

To express the truth is to express immortality; Truth is the permanent remedy for all disease.

Healing Affirmations

The salvation of. Truth is mine now.

The Kingdom of God is in me now.

The all of heaven is at hand now.

I believe and practice Truth now.

I am free from the belief of sin now.

I am eternal Life, free from death now.

The Spirit of Life in Christ makes me free now.

I worship God in Spirit and in Truth now.

I know of no good that can be withheld now.

Faith is substance of things hoped for now.

I am living substance now.

I have come to the Christ, where all things are now ready for acceptance. The self-existing Unity of God and man is testified of in the following hymn:

God Dwelleth In Us

“Our God is never so far off As even to be near;

He is within; our spirit is The home he holds most dear.

To think of him as by our side Is almost as untrue As to remove his throne beyond Those skies of starry blue.

So all the while I thought myself Homeless, forlorn and weary,

Missing my joy, I walked the earth,

Myself God’s sanctuary.”

Preface To Lesson 7. Baptism By The Spirit

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. — (Ephesians, 6:17.)

Infinite Spirit’s instruction to the individual: Thou art my very self manifest. I am thy life, power and substance; I live in thee, and thou by Me, and we can never be separated. Thou hast not at any time fallen or wandered away from Me. My being thy life is, and thou hast no other life or being; for I am everywhere, and include all within Myself.

Thou art good, because I am goodness; thou art living, because I am Life; thou art loving, for I am Love; thou art true, for I am Truth; thou art impersonal, for I am Infinite and no respecter of persons; thou art created in righteousness and true holiness, for thou art created within Myself, and art Myself expressed.

Dear child of My being! speak My word for thyself, by claiming wholeness. Awake from the dream of sense, and know that thou art within My kingdom at this time, and know that thou art radiant within and without My Being; thou art clothed with the Sun of Truth now. Make thine eye single to Me, and thou wilt know that thou art full of light. Believe in Me, and manifest Me in all thy ways, and I will direct thy path. Recognize absolute Goodness and see naught but Goodness, and thou shalt have dominion over all manifestation; for he that doeth My will cometh to Me, and shall do the things that I do, and realize the peace which passeth understanding, which I alone possess. Thou art at this time whole and complete and lack nothing, for I am thy sufficiency.

This baptismal treatment is a sample of the way in which true prayer, taught in this lesson, may be applied in healing, and blessing others in their efforts to realize their union with the all Good. Let your blessings rest upon all.

Lesson 7. Prayer

The Scientists pray in Spirit and with understanding; they render thanks for what has been received and joyfully acknowledge omnipresent good. To turn from the letter to the Spirit and recognize the presence of goodness adjusts mental and bodily conditions to law. Knowledge is manifested through faithfulness to the good. Faithfulness is activity having source in Life, the substance of all power, and is capable of bringing forth what is hoped for.

2. True prayer is seeking understandingly, true seeking is finding; finding is not merely seeking where the object is that is sought. Spiritually speaking, it is being the thing sought. Every attribute that Holy Spirit is, is to be found in Spirit by being spirit. Then true prayer is acknowledging, affirming and acting the true nature of Being. To recognize the One All as present is to know that we have what we recognize; this is finding and receiving our good.

Prayer does not change Divine Law. John 16:23, 24. The infinite law being one may be defined in one word, Love. Law is not changeable or breakable. Personal opinion has no influence over it. In the practice of Truth, by means of true prayer, personal opinion must be set aside for unchangeable law. So prayer is not intended to change the divine order or plan, but is an earnest acknowledgment of the perfect adjustment of mentality and body to the Truth of Spirit. When truth is not fully understood prayer may be called an earnest desire to become conscious of the All-Good and enjoy the perfect adjustment of all things. Such prayer is uttered with the hope of relief from the supposed bondage of limitation. 1 Cor 3:23, Rom 8:32. Prayer and faith go hand in hand. If we pray for health, happiness, or to have any condition removed, we should have faith that the freedom hoped for is, and is for us to sense; thus faith is the substance of what is prayed for. Many persons pray for health, believing more in the sense and appearance of disease than they do in health; they pray to the Father to be relieved from suffering, but decide to take medicine to feel sure of recovery.

Then, if they are not relieved either by medicine or by prayer, they conclude they are not worthy of having their prayers answered. The reason why they seem to be unanswered is because of their division in faith. If faith in medicine is strictly adhered to, and is strong enough, an equilibrium may be established; then faith is the substance of health hoped for. Beliefs in external remedies do not bring the patients into knowledge of truth, If they are relieved from pain by their Faith in medicine they think no more of the efficacy of prayer. 1 Cor 14:15, Isa 1:5. What we have Faith in we pray to, or yield our thoughts to obey.

3. True seeking or asking is admitting that what is desirable to be received is ours now and that we can demonstrate it. When we admit the truth that all good is omnipresent and is our life, and that we have no other, we learn to glorify God in our bodies, and find our life to be infinite; the belief of separation is lost; this is divine love or conscious law. So, “He that finds his life shall lose it;” shall lose the sense of being separate from universal Life. Let us seek in faith, believing, not wavering, and be stable in our thoughts of truth, and cease being tossed to and fro, mentally, by every wind of doctrine. Let no one who believes in duality, or is double-minded, think that he shall receive anything from the Lord through the practice of that belief. As long as we waver in belief we are not truly seeking the good or admitting that it is ours. It is clear, therefore, that the efficacy of prayer is not understood and enjoyed by means of belief in dualism. Matt 13:58, Phil 4:19. We hold conditions of suffering because of unwillingness to give up duality. Persons who doubt generally believe in conflicting powers, and would be surprised if they realized the fulfillment of their prayers. They who pray with understanding pray in faith, believing that what they pray for is, and is for them, and that ‘‘God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The giver of all good, being our life, we receive goodness outwardly by manifesting it in thought, word and deed. According to our faithfulness to the All as good, will it be unto us in expression. Not until we acknowledge the good as the only presence there is shall we demonstrate over erroneous belief, the sense of limitation and feeling of inharmony. The faithful to truth shall wear the spiritual crown of knowledge and power.

4. Prayer is usually considered to be a recognized need; an expressed desire to have that need supplied. True prayer is an act, the act of doing the right, the just and loving deed to God first, because He includes man, then to man. This is rendering thanks in a practical way. With unwavering energy every soul in nature prays to manifest itself; it loves to do as God does. The Creator who pervades all, acts in all; and the substance of that action is faith pressing the possibility or Soul of things outward into manifestation of visible form. Phil 4:19, Matt 6:7. The answer to prayer may be said “to be divine faith or substance unfolding, or speaking word or form in Nature, and representing itself in growth. Therefore, prayerful seeking is the act of revealing the inner and invisible Life in the seed, the plant, the animal, and man; causing the seed to struggle in the darkness of earth, as it were, and burst the ground apart, come up and face the sunlight. The plant or tree is the answer to or result of that prayer; it is the experience of Soul in manifesting itself. All things in nature are obeying the Divine injunction placed upon them by the Creator: “Increase, multiply, and replenish the earth.”

5. Every form that is visible is a symbol of what is contained in the invisible. All power is invisible. Heb 11:3, Gen. 1:1, 2. “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” — 1 Cor iv: 20. We are commanded to overcome evil with good. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” “He that loveth another, fulfilleth the law.” To fulfill the law by loving thought and deed, is true prayer. As there is no power to overcome evil but good, to recognize the truth is to act accordingly. Recognition is the sure method of seeking, receiving and having — the method that brings the highest unfoldment to the individual. The answer to Darwin suggests that the way the eagle got his wings was from his inward impulse to soar. This inward impulse is in all things. It is omnipresent and expresses itself everywhere in nature; that is, prayer is the silent impulse which moves alike in the blade of grass and man. It moves outward in the act of producing form, unto the expression of all that the Self-existing One implies. Thus is God demonstrated.

6. Pray without ceasing; but let your prayer be one of acknowledgment, a prayer of Spirit and of understanding. “Happy is the man who getteth wisdom; she is the tree of life to them who lay hold upon her.” Mark 11:24, Isa 65:24. “Through wisdom the Lord hath formed the earth.” To pray understandingly, enter the silence — the Omnipresent Spirit of Truth — and there found the mansion of Truth in consciousness. Be perfect in being and perfect in body. Insist upon perfect health, happiness, and success for yourself. When you enter the silence or center your attention in Spirit, close the door to observation and commune with Spirit. Then the mansion of truth thus founded in consciousness will become your visible habitation; that is — “Thy Father which heareth in secret will reward thee openly.” The omnipresent Spirit is the closet, the place divinely guarded with silence most profound. When entering the closet to pray, “Forgive if ye have aught against another, that your Father may forgive your trespasses.” John 4:116, James 1:22. To be forgiven is to correct our own error of belief; this prayer adjusts our thoughts to God the Good, and fulfills law; it proves that Faith with works is powerful to accomplish good results. “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” As it is true that according to our faith do we realize, we should be careful to base our faith aright. Let us not put our faith in beliefs and opinions, even though they are generally accepted as true. False beliefs are obsessing in their nature and will not be turned out, but by prayer of understanding, and fasting from error. With consciousness born from this all-inclusive Truth, whatsoever ye ask in faith (by speaking the truth) ye shall receive, or manifest visibly. Always pray by speaking the truth, and it will make you free. Matt 7:1-7, Prov 12:17. “Pray for them which despitefully use you,” by thinking of them as good and doing the right thing by you; and you will fulfill the law of being, and manifest perfect reconciliation. Love is the angel of Peace that guides out of darkness into light. Truth is the light accompanying Love, which illumines mentality and frees from suppositional bondage. Love and truth are free from limitation ; therefore, when applied will make free.

If we pray for mercy, we must render the deeds of mercy.

If we ask forgiveness for shortcomings, the answer comes, “Forgive those who trespass against us.”

Let us ask that blessings be bestowed upon us as we bestow them upon others. Let us expect to be loved and judged as we love and judge others.

As we measure, it is measured to us again.

Each one should look after and be responsible for his own conduct.

When we consciously fulfill the Lord’s Prayer, it is universal to us in meaning and application. The following rendering is the language that will be required to express that consciousness:

Fulfillment of the Lord’s Prayer

I, Father am in Heaven,

Hallowed is my name.

My Kingdom is come,

My will is done,

In (creating) earth as it is in Heaven.

I give this day my daily bread,

And forgive debts as debtors are forgiven.

I lead not into temptation,

But deliver from all evil.

For mine is the Kingdom, and The power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen.

No False Science - Foreword to Following Lessons

In the science of numbers there is nothing but the science — there is neither more nor less than what is scientific. There is nothing in it that differs from principle. Mistakes are only incidents in the attempt at solving problems; they count for naught. The science never tries to appropriate, nor find a place for them; principle excludes all miscalculation. It can only be represented by true calculation. So to miss the principle is to miss the solution and example also ; hence nothing is accomplished when principle is not applied.

In either the philosophy or practice of Divine Science we never try to find a place for nor to appropriate error of belief. The Spirit Omnipresent excludes all miscalculation; it can only be represented by true calculation. So if the nature of our conclusions are not in accord with the fact that One is All and that One the Creator, including creative action and creation, we miss the Truth of Being and of its action and have no result, so nothing is accomplished. Missing the All is not calculation, but is called miscalculation. The seeming false sense of sin, sickness and death, poverty, weakness and failure, are only incidents, not reality.

In Divine Science there is nothing but the science. In the One All there is neither more nor less than what is scientific. There is nothing in it that differs from the Unity of the All. False beliefs are mere incidents in the attempt at solving Life problems ; they count for naught. Science is from everlasting to everlasting, flawless and limitless. To bring immortality and eternal life to light, one must understand the true unity of the The Law of Expression as constituting the All. Then proceed forth in a Godly way from Invisible Being to visible expression, holding the body to be perfect expression, even as the example, is a perfect expression of a perfect principle in the science of numbers.

There is no poverty, weakness or failure. We are heirs of God — Infinite and limitless Being. No one understanding the Truth of Divine Science can sense bondage or limitation from it. The broadness of what the All is, is the breadth of Divine Science. Because Science is Truth, it needs no personal assertions of broadness, nor claims of extreme liberality for its leaders; they are as broad as Truth and as liberal as unlimited Unity. The fact should not be overlooked that Divine Science is the Truth of truths, the Science of sciences, the meaning of both the Creator and creation — all there is. Its benefits are alike for all people.

The only true liberality is found and enjoyed in the Science of pure Being; it can no more be made illiberal than can Infinite nature. No conception can reach beyond what really is; it cannot grasp what is not. Out of nothing nothing comes, and nothing is not conceivable.

Greater liberality has no one than that of knowledge and practice of Truth which applies alike to all.

Greater meekness has no one than the realization that Truth makes all equal.

Greater power has no one than the exercise of equality with the Infinite.

That which is to be observed always and everywhere is the Truth of what things are. The consciousness of pure Being never thinks of saying “I am a broad and liberal thinker.” Its Infinite and limitless nature make such claims of no value. Broad and liberal thinking is thinking that which is true; it does not consist in accepting Truth and erroneous belief as of equal value and saying. “They are one and lead to the same end.”

Lesson 8. Faith

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” — (Heb. Xv: 1-3.)

As the only uncreated Being, God, fills the universe, it is self-evident that to speak the truth that frees, the word spoken must be true of that Being. The Creator of all may be called the Unmanifest until through creative action It manifests Itself. Eph 1:23, Jer 23:24. To base our faith aright is to base it in Being. To speak the word for one is to speak it for all. To have faith in visible things is to have it in effect instead of Cause, in the creature instead of the Creator. As temporal beliefs are ever changing, to attempt to build upon the supposition that effect is Cause is to build upon a sandy foundation — one ever shifting and changing with human beliefs and opinions. Disappointment and failure follow such building as surely as the wheels of a carriage follow him who draws it.

2. To base faith aright is to believe in our oneness with Spirit. To manifest our faith is to speak and act as Spirit does.

Jesus called forth an expression of faith, or recognized it manifest by those he healed, before speaking the words of power, “Be healed, sin no more.” Mark 11:22-25, Matt.’i7:20. “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” “According to thy faith be it unto thee.” The word of faith called forth and acknowledged by him united their thought and consciousness with his. This was done as a means of demonstrating the unseen power of the Spirit and giving instant relief. God rewards openly by manifesting in us the condition hoped for. This method the writer has experienced and demonstrated many times.

2. “Through faith we understand that worlds were framed by the word of God.” This text teaches that the power of Truth is the substance and nature of thought. For if it be the power and substance of planets, it is the power and substance of all things that are seen, of all that is made manifest; therefore, planets and all that is manifest are proofs of the faith of Spirit. 1 Cor 2:5, 1 Cor 12:9. So it is written, “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” John 14:6, John 10:9. So he that cometh to a consciousness of life, law, substance and power, peace and harmony, must believe that they are; and that they are Spirit, the only Creator. If we do not believe that life, law, substance, peace and harmony are, and are for us, it is useless to attempt to pray or ask for them. We cannot expect to manifest that which is not, or that which is, if we believe it is not for us. If we ask without believing we ask without faith, and receive not because we ask amiss; if we do not have faith in the unseen or uncreated Being we ask amiss. All that is, was, or ever will be, is real. All that is called inharmony, sickness, sin and imperfect manifestation, comes from mentally facing the wrong way, and from trying to make effect, cause, and in believing that it can bring to us pleasure or pain; dual and conflicting results. All so-called imperfect manifestation is due to or is the result of the false premise from which we calculate. When we calculate as if the visible plane was a plane of cause we place the letter where the Spirit should be; or take the example for the principle. We are thus trying to solve the problem of life according to the letter, example or form, and ignoring Principle or Spirit. The result is, that the form of our words, deeds and sensations show many mistakes; our mental solutions and pictures are simply copies of previous mistakes.

3. As Spirit is all, we are just what we are by virtue of Spirit being what it is. It is not sufficient that we have faith in Spirit, but we must express the faith of Spirit. To truthfully represent our Being in thought proves there is no limit to our life, substance, power and harmony; the more we give or exercise of life, power, substance and harmony, the more do we manifest. Then, dear students, it is clear that inharmonious appearances are simply mistakes or wrong calculation made apparent in the body, the blackboard of nature. Such out-picturing as neuralgia, headache, rheumatism, dyspepsia, etc., should be regarded as mistakes made in the attempt at solving life’s problem from a wrong basis. Wrong interpretation is pain. The pain itself suggests the wrong. Truth is the remedy, the only relief. John 15:6, 7, Matt 3:10. When healing takes place nothing changes but our beliefs. There is no real life, substance, intelligence or power in erroneous belief to be utilized. In the science of numbers the thoughtful child would not look upon the mistake made in working the example and expect it to become a cause for future consideration; he would erase it, commence again, and in future consult the principle every step of the way. This is the simple method of Truth’s practice.

Erase all imperfect examples or leave out of your conception all belief of imperfection, then consult the Truth of Spirit every step of the way. This is accomplished by thinking its thoughts and speaking its words. John 14:1-5, John 12:26.

4. To the pure all things are pure. To God all things are good. All things in Truth exist to man as they are to God. Science teaches that which is perfect and accords with the Creator’s idea; it knows no imperfection. The Scientist calculates according to Infinite Spirit. True calculation admits of no error and expresses nothing but truth; it reveals knowledge, wisdom and harmony. When faith is based in visible things, supposing them to be active causes instead of being effects, a belief of physical causation is established. Then we begin to think of ourselves as being subject to things; from this belief comes fear of them; a lack of ease is then sensed and we name it dis-ease and naturally suppose it to be cause for other conditions. Thus error is made the basis of an unreal seeing or false sense of things. All idolatrous or erroneous belief comes from reversing the relations of cause and effect to each other. We cannot truthfully say that “Truth is not, unless or until we see or perceive it.” Truth is, therefore we mentally see or perceive it, and can know and give it expression. Knowing Truth is knowing health, applying it is healing. To know Truth is to know that we are already free; to apply Truth is to use that knowledge in all our ways. To express Truth is to be free from limitation and suffering. As the law of Being works from within out, the Expresser of Truth must learn to speak from the within the living words that represent the Spirit; or speak in God’s stead. Do not believe there is another power beside God and your faith and love will be rightly based; ever in its source, the All Good.

5. Cease trying to serve two masters. Cease believing that there are two causes the reverse of each other; know that all effects are forever in Cause; then you are in a position mentally to think, speak and act as Cause to all effects ; to your body first, and to all conditions and environments; this position will afford you perfect demonstration and cause you to sense harmonious results. “If the eye be single to Truth the body will be full of light.” Regard your body as a perfect expression of the Whole Spirit. As it is true that Spirit is infinite and indivisible, it is self-evident that visible forms are itself expressed. To rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, is to rejoice in all bodies; our delights are with the children of God. God is continually saying, “Let there be light,” and as we mentally awaken to the light of Truth or to knowledge and wisdom we rejoice in the consciousness of Being. John 12:45,John 14:9.

6. ”Renouncing self for Me, full of Me, fixed “To serve only the highest, night and day;

“Musing on Me — him will I swiftly lift “Forth from life’s ocean of distress and death,

“Whose soul clings fast to Me. Cling thou to Me!

“Clasp Me with heart and mind ! so shalt thou dwell “Surely with Me on high. But, if thy thought “Droop from such height; if thou be’st weak to set “Body and soul upon Me constantly,

“Despair not! Give Me lower service! Seek “To reach Me!”

He who is faithful by speaking the truth, does the will, and bears the fruit of knowledge, power and harmony. 1 John 1:3-7, John 1:7. If we do not speak the whole truth, if we do not grasp the truth of Spirit heart and soul in every hour, despair not; every Truth spoken is an acknowledgment of Its presence and bears its fruit. Dear student, remember the peace of God is nigh thee, and by renouncing form, the manifest, for Spirit, the manifestor, and placing form in Spirit, you will find the Kingdom. Through faithfulness to Truth all come into God consciousness. All who live the life in full devotion, fixed to serve the Spirit night and day, know “‘T is life to live “In single fervid faith and love unseeing, “Drinking How well we know ‘t is life to live in undivided faith! To live in the Unity of Spirit is to know that the One is all; to fully realize this is to feel as safe and secure as is pure Being. To know that the one Spirit holds all creation within itself and that it is Life, Love and Truth, is to enjoy the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

7. If it be that we have ears to hear, and hear the still small voice of Spirit, we will hear it say, “I am the way, the Truth and the Life; my faith is thy faith, my word is thy word; bear witness of me and thou shalt know health, harmony and power.” John 16:14-15, John 17:10. If we are ready to serve the Highest, night and day, by right thinking, speaking and acting, swiftly are we lifted above the ocean of distress, where there is no limitation, and no affliction. He who lives in single undivided faith or love,

“Who hateth naught

“Of all which lives, living himself benign,

“Compassionate, from arrogance exempt,

“Exempt from love of self, unchangeable “By good or ill;” is doing the will of the Father, and expressing his nature. Through faith we see or perceive Spirit, and hear with the ear of understanding. To truthfully see and hear is to know and consciously enjoy the life of Being.

The Spirit of prayer by which we receive and realize the desires of our hearts is Faith; it is the substance of all known visible expression; it is the prayer which brings out health, peace and harmony; it is the recognition of all goodness and must precede thought and word and be their substance. Mark 11:24, Matt 7:7. In healing realize that all truth and only truth, all power and only power, dwells in Spirit. As Spirit is omnipresent all the time there can be no other presence anywhere at any time. John 6:63, 2 Cor 3:6. When healing use the prayer of understanding that concludes this lesson:

Our Father, which art all, and art Infinite Spirit, we glorify Thee as One, and seek to serve Thee in single, fervid faith.

We thank Thee for the knowledge that Thou art all Being, Creator and manifest or of all.

We thank Thee for the knowledge that we arc thine own; that Thou art our Father and that we have no other. And that Thou hast made us whole and like unto Thyself, good, holy and entire.

We thank Thee for the knowledge that Thy decisions are not for time, but for eternity; that all things are good, for Thy word cannot be altered by mortal belief. We know it is Thy will that we should think as Thou thinkest; and abide Thy decision, knowing naught but Thyself.

We thank Thee for all experiences which come from the light of Thy truth.

We thank Thee that Thou hast rolled the stone from the sepulcher of materiality and limitation, and that we arc raised from the unconsciousness of matter to the consciousness of Thy eternal Life, Love and Truth.

We thank Thee for the knowledge that Thou art omnipresent life, love and truth, all goodness; and that we can never be separated from Thee or Thy attributes. We love to speak Thy word by loving all. We love to speak Thy word by being faithful in love to Thy children, and to all things, even as Thou art faithful to all. We love to speak Thy word by bearing witness of Thee in our secret thoughts.

We love to recognize and love Thy holy presence in all places, at all times, in all things. We love to be what we conceive Thee to be. We are in love with Thy life, love and truth; and we love to look upon all with Thy thought of perfection. We love to say, that to the pure all things are pure; and to goodness all things are good. We love to see as Thou seest, that there is no shadow; that Thou dost shine in what seems dark. We love to face absolute goodness, and realize that Thou art all; and say that our peace passeth understanding. We thank Thee that we are in love with life, love and truth.

These words used understandingly will heal yourself or others. Recognize perfection only, and let your words apply to all alike. While speaking these words make no reference to the conditions you are desirous of healing or changing.

Lesson 9. Intuition

The word God and Good are written exactly alike in Anglo-Saxon; it has been inferred that God was named from his goodness. The corresponding words in most of the other languages are not the same, and it is believed no instance can be found of a name given to Supreme Being from the attributes of goodness. It is probably an idea too remote from the rude conceptions of men in early ages.

Tuition is the particular watch of a tutor or guardian over his pupil and the act of teaching the various branches of learning. Tuition refers to an individual teacher instructing the pupil from the plane of sense in sensible things. Intuition is cognition of first or primary Truth, truth that cannot be acquired but can be experienced by means of knowledge; it is discovery of law or principle that has always been. The difference between tuition and intuition is that tuition is instruction given to pupils by an individual in the various branches of learning, and intuition is innate knowledge. Knowledge understands what Truth is, it knows all things as they are within and unto their Source and Cause; it neither sees nor teaches from the standpoint of human belief and opinion. Intuition reveals itself as that knowledge which knows all things. It is the real conscious knowledge of the One All. To be consciously at-one with the whole is to intuitionally perceive and demonstrate its Truth. John 3:6, Ps. 40:3. As like perceives like, that which is perceived by Spirit is also spirit. Intuition is Spirit’s perception of its own limitless and powerful nature, which is able to accomplish all things; it is cognition of first and final Truth, the principle upon which creation is based. It reveals the Law of Expression, the Unity of the whole. An essential step in the development of intuition is that of accepting the Truth that individuality is unlimited and unenvironed save by the good of Omnipresence: this furnishes a new and true viewpoint, which affords perfect vision. Turning from the letter to the Spirit, from the spoken word to the Speaker, from the visible to the Invisible, relying solely upon the nature and power of the Invisible for every need and luxury necessary to the body visible is trusting, even as a little child trusts its parents for its every necessity and pleasure. Luke 18:16-18.

2. Intuition, heeded, is obedience, it is the quickening Spirit. It blends or reveals the blending of intellect and reason with pure intelligence and knowledge. It enables one to think the thoughts of Being which are free from illusive beliefs and hypnotic suggestions; they know no separation of Divine Will or Law; they cause one to realize “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me,” and enables one to fulfill the command, “Do unto others’ as you would that they should do unto you.” Intuition yields not her thought to serve the senses, but instead it illumines and gives them truthful information concerning all things. Other foundations beside Truth can never be laid. Since the One All is and is the Cause of visibility, the Source of our existence can never be changed by science, philosophy or religion. Each one must understandingly build upon the Truth of Cause and effect, knowing that God the Creator and God the creation is the true and only Cause and effect; also that effect is in Cause and has being or source nowhere else. Pure and undefiled religion is Truth.

3. The discovery of first and final Truth is an individual awakening from the dream of observation and hypnotic suggestion. Its practice is not that of yielding to suggestions, but it is that of expressing innate power and possibility. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The same Being that gave this invitation said, “What is begotten of Spirit is spirit,” which shows that the same being that I am is what we should accept as ourselves in order to find rest. Each one must mentally come unto Me; this Me is yourself, the Christ. Phil 2:8-12, Isa 45:22-25. “I am the way, the Truth and the Life” is a statement that declares the truth of what the I that I am is. Knowing who we are affords perfect observation and illumines every suggestion with Divine knowledge. To come unto me and find rest is to know that there is no opposing life, substance, power or intelligence to that which I am; that there is nothing real or actual to deny, but everything to understand, appreciate and affirm. Gen 3:24, Heb 1:7. True thinking should be indulged in every hour to keep mental activity free from the mist of erroneous suppositions. Once the real Truth is understood we should distinguish between it and previous beliefs, the reverse of Truth; this should be done to maintain our sense of Divine freedom. John 13:17, James 1:25.

4. The highest unfoldment of intuition is an earnest and honest acknowledgment that the I that I am is God. “Be still and ye shall know that I am God.” This means nothing less than the Christ — unlimited Spirit of Truth. We should, therefore, insist upon manifesting the infinity and permanency of Truth; that God’s being is ours and we have no other; that the qualities of His nature or attributes are ours and we have none that are different. We have learned from previous lessons that one may believe effect to be cause, and sense the confusion of its falsity; the Truth of Cause and effect cannot be changed by that belief, nor can the relation they hold to each other. The race belief that sickness, sin and death are real, natural and inevitable cannot make them so. All who are heavy laden with seeming sickness, care and anxious belief, will find rest in the fact that it is not God’s will that they should suffer. Matt 28:19, 20, Matt 18:14-18. No matter what the occupation, nor how humble the position, if Truth is thought and spoken, success, health and happiness are sure to follow. The way of knowledge and power is to make God’s method and purpose our method and purpose, His thought and word our thought and word, by speaking the truth of Him, and nothing but the truth. Thus the individual proves to be the willing instrument of the All Good ; this is intuition.

5. In the silence of the Invisible Spirit is contained all power and truth; so there is where truth or principle is to be sought and found, and when found we no longer think of ourselves as separate from it, but are ourselves the sanctuary of all principle; this is knowing self. To perceive the truth is not to create or change it.

It is to mentally awaken from the unconsciousness of human belief to the consciousness of realty and divinity which was, is and evermore shall be. To consult Spirit and base all conclusions upon its nature, as we would base solution on principle in mathematical problems, is to guide ourselves into all truth; it is to lay hold of the method of the Supreme, to which there can be no opposition. This course will lead one to believe in God as All and in All as absolute Good; it will cause one not to believe in any mental or bodily condition the reverse in nature of the One who is unlimited, unenvironed, and always harmonious. Spirit will instruct each one at all times, not to hate persons, time or place, or to have an aversion for the weather, daily duties, or any other thing. The word of Spirit is like unto it, and testifies of its nature; it being Infinite, it represents nothing but itself; so, when it speaks it necessarily voices itself. To voice the true nature of what is, Being, is the true use of language. To overcome and blend thought, motive and feeling with Spirit means renunciation of the belief of a separate selfhood from Spirit. “Very near to renunciation, very near dwelleth eternal peace.” Truth is the only authority Science recognizes. Students should ask themselves daily and hourly, is this conclusion true of Spirit, or is it merely a suggestion born of observation? Seek to demonstrate Truth in this way, and you will experience it in all your ways. From the silent depths of Being expect to realize that life and light which lives and lights every one who comes into the world. Ask in faith by affirming I am this life and light. I individually live and move and have Being within God. Would you realize the Truth contained in this book and demonstrate its fullness of power, then take your position at-one with your maker; from this plane only can you clearly see with the understanding of Spirit. To seek in the depths of Being is to acknowledge its nature and conform our thoughts, will, words and deeds to it ; to do this brings realization, joy, contentment and strength of purpose. This practice makes known the Unity of God and man; it is intuitive knowledge sought and found.

“Do you ask what I found in the valley?

‘T is my trysting place with the Divine;

And I fell at the feet of the holy;

And around me a voice said, be mine.

Then arose from the depths of my soul,

An echo, my heart shall be thine.”

6. God’s word to the individual is, you are my very self manifest and you have no other Being; my infinitude of good is yours. With all sacredness and holiness of purpose you should believe yourselves to be whole, pure and healthy; feel yourselves united to all life, have love for all things, at all times and in all places.

When you have done what the Father does, by being universal in thoughts and deeds, you will hear the voice of Spirit say: “You are a son in whom I am well pleased.” To reach this exalted state in realization is to act from the Spirit within. None can realize their union with God as long as there is prejudice against, or a dislike for God manifest in any creature. “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” John 4:12-14-20. John, 4:23, 24. Those who would perceive themselves as they truly are in Being, must drop from their conception the belief of dislike, prejudice, evil, sickness and sorrow; this is to be done by knowing they are not real. There are no such attributes in the One All. It is an offense against God to believe that there are powers the opposite of His nature. Both race and personal beliefs the reverse of the nature of God are sensed as sickness, sin and death; they are not creative in their nature, hence, cannot sustain the body. It is clear that to think and believe in goodness, health and life is to preserve and enjoy the true harmony of the body. “First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all else will come ; the fullness of Good will be yours. Thought can be controlled only because you are the Thinker and you precede thought in the order of the Trinity of Being, action and result. You can produce perfect harmony in the body, because you are its life, substance and power; you are Cause, and it is effect.

This is intuitive knowledge. Men and women are equally intuitive, hence, can apply this knowledge equally for themselves or in healing others. When our mental conception is free from illusive beliefs we know that visible Intuition things are not master, but it is God who works to will and to do of His good pleasure.

7. All conclusions based upon the truth that Good is Infinite are Divine; in their results these conclusions may be likened unto the budding forth of leaves and flowers in springtime ; they are more than buds of promise, they are buds of actual fulfillment, of health, of harmony, love and good will ; they spring forth from the depths and nature of Being. To cling earnestly to Truth and assert that you are immortal now will manifest the power of immortality and actualize it in the body.

To recognize yourself as eternal now is true adoration.

To realize yourself as one with God is true meditation.

To declare this truth in thought, word and act is true Faith. It is speaking the word that manifests God. Denial of error and affirmation of truth simply means turning away falsehood and accepting truth; ceasing to judge from observation and judging all things in the Unity of Spirit. “To be carnally minded is death,” that is, to mind the things of false belief is to serve them; to the Spirit this is disobedience. “To be spiritually minded is peace and life,” it is consciousness of being Life and Truth. To speak truth one must cease claiming self-hood to be mortal, finite or limited, subject to thought, to deed or to feeling and sensation; and never claim to be subject to hypnotic suggestion or to influences from the visible or invisible. To speak truth only, one must assert, I think truth and I demonstrate it in deed; I feel its peace and sense it bodily; I am the Expressor and power of truth. To attain clear and deep intuitive perception, we recognize God our teacher by thinking His thoughts. To state in another way — unless we think according to the Principle or Spirit underlying all creation we are not solving our problem according to the Unity of Life, nor are we mentally obeying the command of our Being to increase and multiply.

8. Beginners inquire what the Science teachers would do if they suffered pain they could not remove. “ Would they not acknowledge they were sick?” In order to heal, one must know that sickness has no more reality than a shadow. Why should we turn from Truth in time of seeming need?

Truth is never sick. Sickness is but the shadowing forth of erroneous beliefs. We should never compromise with a condition we know has no reality, any more than we should compromise with a wrong statement in mathematics. We should place every form and figure in its right place and then affirm God and principle in our thought and calculation. First restore your beliefs to health, then believe you have received and the signs will follow. To declare the Truth of God for ourselves is to manifest freedom or law. 1 Cor 15:26-28, 1 Peter 1:15, 16. We should never allow our sensations of pleasure or pain to form a basis for our judgment as to what the real state of our Being is. Not until we live the life, do we know the power of good that is at hand and that we are it. Goodness yields not to beliefs of self-placed limitation, but it is ready at any hour to give or manifest itself to us when we step from behind the bar of supposed environment.

“So the soul receives its message By a route we may not trace, From the deeps where fathomless silence Broods ever in endless space.

“Where the finite may not measure With its puny rule and rod, The truths which the soul receiveth Intuition Direct from the heart of God.”

9. Christ said : “I say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father, which is in heaven; for he maketh the sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth the rain upon the just and the unjust.” In manifesting as sons of God, we fulfill these commandments. Matt 5:23, 24, Matt 6:14, 15. Our thought, word and act are pure and extend equally to the just and seeming unjust, to the good and seeming evil. This can be accomplished only by ceasing all negation and living a life of Absolute Truth. Those who labor under the delusion that they are an enemy to any person, or that any person is an enemy to them can be blessed, only, by removing the delusion; the power of Truth alone can do this. The true practitioner of Divine Science will hold all alike in truth, as brothers and sisters in the embrace of Infinite Love, regardless of their thought and deed. So, if any have the false belief, that they are our enemies or that we are theirs, we should not allow that to change our thought or feeling toward them; thus can we prevent false belief from shaping our conduct and turning us from justice. To give hate or revenge in return is to permit their erroneous thought and deed to form a basis for ours; hence, we are guilty of what we condemn; that is, we are doers of what we dislike. Matt 7:1, 13, Luke 6:37. To be true to ourselves is to be true to others; it is not to change our feelings toward them when they fail to act the part of truth toward us, but regard this as their hour of need and as our opportunity; then we shall not be found wanting in time of need. Not to be wanting in time of need, is to bestow thoughts of love upon them at the time their belief Soul and Body, we find that all life, substance, intelligence and power is of God; and as those holding false beliefs do not know this and realize what the nature of Being is, and as we do know, it is our duty and good pleasure to hold them in truth and love. Matt 7:16-20, Luke 6:43, 44. We perceive them as Divine in Being, but in belief misrepresenting their nature. Our practice should be that of speaking to them, saying the following words of Life: —

Treatment

10. There is no reality or Truth in the belief that you feel revengeful, or hate, or would like to illy use me; you do not think such thoughts; it is no more you who think, for such thoughts do not represent you; belief of hate and revenge are not even a symbol of the nature of Being. There is no attribute of hate or revenge in Being. These beliefs are a misrepresentation of yourself. You have your being in God, and are divine. You understand this truth, for in Spirit you hear what I tell you. You know that you have love for all persons and things; you are my divine brother or sister, and as such I love and bless you. The Infinite Being, or Spirit of Goodness, is your life, substance and power, and the same is mine; and we have no other. You are blessed with the same consciousness of truth as am I. You understand me, dear brother or sister, and I understand you. Matt 6:24, Matt 7:12. All false beliefs are dispelled by the light of our truthful thought; you now realize that you are free, fearless and loving, and that love abideth in you for all humanity, and that you can think nothing but love of me.

11. We speak not to the patient to destroy the law, but that it may be fulfilled.

This treatment and similar thought should be given freely to all who believe they are enemies or have enemies, or to anyone whose conception is darkened with the belief of envy, jealousy, malice, cruelty, revenge, etc., By thinking truthfully of them with love we adjust their thought to the law of Being and fulfill the command, “Love your enemies, and do good to those who despitefully use you and persecute you.”

It is not sufficient for us to merely think about the goodness of God as objective and outside of ourselves; we are here to bear witness of the Spirit of Truth, as did Jesus the Christ, by thinking its thoughts, and doing its work in Earth. John 14:1 15, John 15:3-11.

It is not sufficient that we merely know that truth frees, but it is necessary that we think the truth in order to realize its freedom.

It is not sufficient for us to think about getting well, but in order to practice the Truth that we are well it is necessary to affirm health, wholeness and perfection for ourselves. To affirm the truth of Infinite Being in thought, word and deed, is to manifest peace and harmony. We cannot be separated from Omnipresence, and as it cannot become less than itself, our duty and privilege is to recognize its infinitude and identify ourselves with it. To do this, is to know freedom and eternal life, and realize the peace of Being. Each and every individual has the power to perceive the truth of Being; that is, they have the ability to truthfully interpret it, which is intuition. We can only realize ourselves as Divine by expressing the Divine.

12. Do not argue about Divine Science with one another. The still, small voice cannot be heard, neither is it known to speak, in argumentative tones, for such is not the resemblance of the quiet way the Supreme One creates. John 5:19, John 12:36. To hear the unutterable voice of the Supreme, it is necessary to adopt a peaceful, tranquil habit of thought. The highest consciousness can be manifested by appropriating and trusting the Truth of Being, not by relying on experiences. They who live the life will know the Truth; it is necessary that we be the law, love, in order to express it in thought and deed. Do not believe that the trifling things which have annoyed you can longer annoy or have influence over you. How can circumstance or event that has past, annoy or trouble you? If you believe it can, then it is the belief that troubles you and not the circumstance or event. All troubles are misinterpretation of things relative to their nature in Being. The remedy is to know Truth and live it.

13. Do not listen to recitals of sin, sickness and sorrow, without denying their reality; this will prevent you from sympathizing with error of belief. Give thoughts of love and Truth in return. Speak not of any person’s belief in sickness, as having power over them. Cease the idolatrous habit of claiming that form has power over Being. All who believe it has, suffer a sense of limitation. It has been written that Truth is a jealous goddess, and suffers no rival. They who love her will serve her; she never compromises with falsehood. Not until we serve the Truth and fulfill the unchanging law (love) of Being, or put away lying and speak the truth, are we free from the chastisement of law; but when we fulfill the law we prove not only our oneness with it, but that we are Law.

14. They who select Wisdom for their bride, must woo her with all their hearts, (with undivided Love) and dismiss false claims from the bridal-chamber of Soul (their consciousness). This chamber must be furnished with Truth, and ornamented with the realities of Being. Wisdom, the bride of Love, is modest, and only appears in the presence of her bridegroom, Love. When the bridal-chamber of consciousness is thus furnished, they who turn from the letter to the Spirit, with love and attention fixed therein to serve the Spirit of Truth day and night, will unite themselves with wisdom. They who love to serve the Truth with unwavering faith, will find Me, Wisdom; for I am easily found by a constant devotion to Me, and love for truth. I am united and wedded to Love by the Supreme One, and they whom God hath sealed together cannot be separated. In whomsoever the love of God is manifest, the same is the Wisdom Bride.

Healing Ideas

Prayer is fulfilled by demonstrating God-idea in thought, word and deed. “Going into the silence” does not fully express what is meant to be conveyed by the statement; it simply means being still mentally for the purpose of realizing the truth of the power and possibility of Being. To speak in symbolic language this is entering the closet, closing the door, and praying to the Father who hears in secret, and rewards openly. When you have closed the door of observation, acknowledged the presence of Supreme Being, the fullness of Good, put on the armor of Truth and instruct your patient in the true healing idea.

Treatment

Dear sister or brother, belief in sickness is misplaced confidence. “Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” The sense of disease or pain is evidence of the misplaced confidence or misinterpretation. You now believe in God, believe equally in yourself, equality is the law of the Lord, in which is no iniquity.

You are in Infinite Spirit, or Mind, one with all goodness; you are good, peaceful, harmonious and free, for God is your life, substance and power. You are God’s image and likeness and cannot be sick. To be, is to be one with God the Father; you possess, therefore, all that you desire to manifest, viz.: life, love, truth, wisdom, justice, faith and strength. The Spirit of Truth that to know, makes free is ever in you and you in it. You can not be absent from the perfect. Be ye perfect, means, know the Truth that your Father and Heaven are manifest in you, and you have Being in Him; in His presence, there is pleasure evermore. You are whole, entire, wanting nothing, absolutely full of peace and harmony at this time.

This Truth is not absence, but is positive and eternal presence, from which you can not be separated.

Lesson 10. Truth’s Practice

In the preface of this book we have told you that to be healed, means a spiritual and normal condition, which brings into expression consciousness of unity and wholeness. A spiritual and normal condition is one like unto Infinite Spirit with which we are one. In order to realize the harmony of Spirit, we are to manifest the knowledge of what we are by using it, and be concerned only with the permanent and real, not with transient passing beliefs.

2. To affirm, in thought and act, the truth that we are one with the Infinite whole, that we are wholly good and harmonious, is the work that lies before us. Affirmation brings realization; it is the word of Truth and Life; the pinnacle of absolute consciousness; the Unity of Spirit. Affirmation knows no temptation, no sense delusion, no lack. It reveals that Being is eternal, superior to time, place and circumstance. John 17:9, Deut 33:27. They who realize this Truth are caused to turn from darkness to light, from the seeming to the real, from disease to ease, from fear and its torments to love and its bliss, from prejudice to justice, from doubt to faith, from false belief to knowledge, from all erroneous belief concerning God and partake of “the bread of life.”

3. The question may arise with many, is it possible at all times and in all places to rise superior to environments, surrounding conditions and circumstances? This question may be answered correctly by the one asking it, by first perceiving what Being is. Do not forget what manner of Spirit you are of. All know that they are, but to know what they are is to manifest inherent knowledge. One can have but a glimpse of the real Truth as long as God is looked upon as an object or form to be worshiped, or as long as one looks upon any form in heaven or in earth as objective to Being. Ex. 20:4, Lev 26:13. He must have the spiritual ingathering and gather every visible form, even the whole universe, into the Omnipresence of God ; then learn to look at things from the stand- point of God as a conscious living presence embracing all. When this is done know that environment, condition and circumstance are effects, not cause; that we are cause and included within our Being is the effect or body Cause has produced. Effect cannot environ, condition nor limit cause. He who has an eye to see, will see that he has not been, neither can he be, environed or limited by forms, circumstances or events. To believe in limitation of any kind is to believe erroneously and make vain effort to overcome what has no real existence; one’s time is spent in vain who thus believes. The truth is, we include our expressions within ourselves just as Omnipresence includes all creation within itself, hence our freedom is of the same nature as is the freedom of Omnipresent Spirit.

4. It is to be understood that the term “holding ourselves in Truth,” means, we are to unwaveringly hold to the fact that we are Truth, and know that the control of thought is spiritually accomplished by proving that we are demonstrable Truth.

Thought is not to be controlled through any of the usual lines of concentration of personal effort or determination. Eph 3:11, Rom. 8:28. It is only by being the Christ in God, the Thinker of absolute Good, that we think with power and authority. The I that I am is always concentration. I never scatter my forces, nor am I ever confused in my action; my thoughts are orderly and accord perfectly with what I am. I am capable of everything that is right and just.

Through knowing that we are Truth we realize that we are not troubled with or by effects. Not until we take the attitude of Being and the responsibility of thinking according to its nature do we realize ourselves to be in the paradise of God, where God has placed us.

5. To indulge erroneous mental conditions such as envy, prejudice, jealousy, hate, fear, etc., sets at naught the true service and expression of the Spirit. Rom 6:16, Acts 5:29. The conditions that we yield our thoughts to obey we serve in belief. If through force of habit we find ourselves reasoning in favor of seeming sin, sickness, death, envy, prejudice or hate, etc., we are not to feel discouraged and change our belief about the nature and power of Being; we are to quietly deny that line of reasoning by taking up the true one and reasoning from the standpoint of God. Think and manifest salvation, not sin; health, not sickness; life, not death; justice, not envy; love, not hate ; truth, not error ; by so doing you serve God, and make desirable conditions. The Science of God is also the Science of the Good, true and beautiful.

6. ”Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.’’ His fixed beliefs are sensed in the body. Unless his beliefs are at-one with God they will never be atone with the body; nor can they become a part of it, or be sensed but as discordant feelings and dis-eased conditions. 1 Tim 6:12, 19, John 5:13. If error of belief was at-one with the body it would be sensed as peace and health. Each demonstrator of Truth must break the habit of indulging the race belief that ignorance of Truth and erroneous beliefs can become part of the body or can make it over after their kind. The body should be constantly held to be in a perfect state of agreement with Spirit. It is just as wrong to tell a child that his thoughts or words will make him sick as to tell him that his food and the weather can make him sick.

7. It is a step in the right direction to cease identifying God with disease or thinking he is the author of it; but we do not take the final step and perceive and practice the whole Truth until we cease identifying either Spirit, Soul or body with disease.

The last enemy to be overcome is death or separateness from God. Sickness must be rejected in order to set at naught the last enemy. 1 Cor 15-54, Is 25:8. The lesson of letting go is an important one to understand. To get understanding is to let go of error. When we know the Spirit we serve but one master, and quickly do we pass from false race beliefs and their effects, to true knowledge and peace. This change, though it be sudden, is effectual.

Some persons say they fear to let go of the belief of the reality of sin, sickness and death, for fear they may come upon them; so they are afraid not to fear. It is written, “God hath not given you the spirit of fear,” with its torments. He has given you the spirit of perfect love with its bliss, which when recognized, obeyed and made manifest, casts out fear. He who manifested patience divinely while suffering, said, “The things that I feared, have come upon me.”

8. Everyone’s work of Truth should be commenced just where they are, regardless of conditions and surroundings. Begin to think and speak Truth for yourselves without even pausing to take a glance at what has seemed to be obstacles. Matt 5:22, Luke 9:60, 62. Affirm there are no obstacles; I do not fear, there is nothing to fear. The allness and everywhereness of the good satisfies every desire of my heart; it is my life, love, power, faith or substance; it is all that I need and want. I love the Truth, I am the Truth, I am now manifesting it fearlessly and am free.

If you believe in and fear age of body, it is because, in belief, the body has been separated from the Spirit. To erase that belief you should consciously affirm the Truth; I am eternal life, I have always been and will ever be; rouse up and claim the truth of Being for yourself. Age cannot touch you, death cannot come to you.

“Never the Spirit was born; the Spirit shall cease to be never;

Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams !

Birthless, and deathless, and changeless, remaineth the Spirit forever;

Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!”

Shall such continue to say, I fear age, I doubt, I am subject to sin, sickness and death? Can that which endureth forever, be subject to the symbol of life? You will say no, forever no! Then if race belief be sensed in the body as disease, it is for the reason that we have not been conscious of the reality of self, who includes the body in Truth, therefore, not active in truthful thought and belief. Disease and pain are always subject to our will, they yield to consciousness of Truth, which proves the unreality of the conditions of disease whatever they may be called from a medical standpoint. When there is an appearance of pain, if you doubt not that Truth will heal you; speak quickly the words of life and Truth and you will prove its mastery and freedom.

Christ said, “Resist not evil.” You may ask, if one comes to my house or place of business with misunderstanding about some business matter, is angry and perverse, and will not reason, am I not to resist his abuse?

“A soft answer turneth away wrath.” All recognize that anger is error; if you meet error with error, it is the blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch. Truth is power and harmony; therefore, if you meet anger with steady, unwavering thoughts, words and deeds of Truth, thus self-centered, your mental condition being at-one with Spirit, is master of the condition of anger. If you are moved to anger by his expression, you thereby make his expression yours, and the two conditions are one. Hence, you are doer of what you condemn.

9. Truth applies alike to all, and will to you in your present occupation, whatever the occupation may be. Matt 6:27-30, Matt 11:27-30. It is not wise to fret and worry about business; it renders one less competent to act with judgment and make desirable conditions. The strength and concentration which is necessary for the accomplishment of the work, is expended in worry and fretting; therefore, say there is nothing to worry and fret about, that you desire to do what you are doing, and that you are happy. If you thus affirm, believing, your work becomes a pleasure, and worry ceases. Blessed are they by their words and works, who thus speak and act. The time spent in worry and fretful thinking is fruitless, for during such time thought (the channel of expression) is occupied with perversity and negation of Spirit; such attempt at thinking is void of principle and life, for it is not in accord with Spirit. Spirit manifests with order and law. Its thought is a living image of itself; its word is a form or symbol of its thought. It has no anxiety nor worry; fear, anxiety, fault-finding, are effects of selfishness, or selfdesire; in the present moment, hour, or day, there is sufficient work to be done, without taking thought of the morrow or fearing the future. Sufficient unto the day is the work thereof.

10. If a man is building a bridge, vessel, or structure of any kind, the plan of the structure is first completed, then the builder, step by step, is guided by the plan to its completion. Each day brings its duty, or new part of the work, which brings it further on the way toward a perfect whole; and today’s work is a preparation for tomorrow’s work. No amount of anxiety can aid the work or hasten its completion, or change the plan. If by accident any part of the structure be destroyed, no amount of anxiety can aid in replacing it; the work must be done again, and can be accomplished better without anxiety and fear, than with them. So, also, can the problem of life be demonstrated better by each individual without anxiety.

When truthful thought takes the place of error, and knowledge of ignorance, the effects of ignorance called disease, sorrow and trouble, are rapidly dispelled.

11. Some persons conscientiously say, “I feel that I am powerless to help myself ; I have not attained to Truth, but I believe I could attain to it and live the life if I was situated as some are, etc.” Dear friends, do not feel discouraged though you have tried a thousand times to live the life, and have seemed to fail ; all effort with right motive is success and will actualize. Do not be anxious about your situation — be willing to commence your work in your present surroundings, for you now know that you are not subject to the elements, climate, surrounding environments, heredity, nor any mortal belief, for the immortal cannot be subjected to error of belief. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Christ Jesus means God with us. If old habits of thought return, keep in remembrance, through renewed effort, I am pure Being, I am the light of the world. Therefore, I serve one master, have one guide, one Father or Parent Source. Cease trying to feed on husks by placing self beneath and subject to effect. They who would raise themselves from the dead, from mere appearance, etc., to a consciousness of life eternal with God, must stand firm in this high and truthful position, the one which God hath given and the only one known to Him.

12. If you are in the habit of saying that you are sensitive, negative, and receptive to surroundings and to your own error of belief or that of others, and that you must be situated in certain physical surroundings to be happy, know that it is another way of saying, I am inferior to the most external effects, and therefore dependent upon them for life and peace; this is placing things and conditions between you and God, your Good. True happiness, strength, knowledge and power come from having no other God before me. This is true, for the reason that we are the idea, or word, which was before the beginning, which was with God, and which was God. Therefore, when we place effects between ourselves and God, our false attitude is sensed as limitation. If we believe we must have certain conditions, we should understand that we are maker of them; that we can place our thought and belief subject to or above conditions and the erroneous race beliefs. To believe that the thought of others is the cause of our illness is to suppose we are subject to error of belief. We should place self in its true position, as one with Infinite Good, above error of belief, and see the persons there with us whom we have thought were the cause of our illness. This practice of Truth is a safe method, which is sure to bring good results to all concerned.

13. I hear the thought of thousands, asking from out the silence, “Can we maintain our self-hood in this high attitude of Infinite Good while in this mundane sphere?” When you regard the Spirit of Infinite Goodness as the only Spirit and presence, as all of power, all of Good, all of Life, Love and Truth, all that is, you are consciously in the high attitude of Spirit; you have gone up into the mount of Being, and when you are set or established you will draw your own unto you, and disciples will come and work with you.

Ignorance is the cause of all suffering, a knowledge of Truth is its remedy. It is sense seeing, unillumined by Spirit perception that primarily results in a sense of discord, trouble and inharmony and causes us to affirm them for ourselves. We should be sure that what we claim for ourselves is truly ours, that it actually belongs to us; then we can have faith in our affirmations. As we have no life substance or power that is not God we should be careful not to misrepresent our nature by affirming at random. It is not profitable to claim what God has not given; to do so is to deny what he has given. They who decide not to lay up mortal treasure of erroneous belief, trouble and inharmony, but are determined that their treasure shall consist of immortal Truth, peace and harmony, the real and permanent, will be faithful in the practice of Truth.

14. If we give place in our thought to the word of prejudice spoken by another we have listened to that which will bear no fruit and is of no value. A teacher of Divine Science once said to her class, “If at any time circumstances make is necessary for you to listen to recitals of prejudice, envy, malice, etc., say to yourself, ‘My Soul does not hear it.’ “ What we refuse to admit in the Soul, or even in belief, we have not heard. This is the true method of rejecting error.

“If, therefore, thine eye be single (to Truth) thy whole body shall be full of light.” Mentality blending with the consciousness of Spirit affirms I am the light of the world; it lets light shine, Spirit is manifested within and through it. No ill can befall one who sees no ill. They who fulfill the royal law, resist not evil, see no power in what is called evil ; goodness being Infinite, they know all there is as Good. The silent thought of many, while reading this lesson, will be, what am I to do with what I see? I see nothing but evil, error, and suffering. Whence does it come — whither does it go — this appearance called evil and suffering? I certainly know what I see before me.

Dear friends, do you know what you see before you? Whence does it come, whither does it go? proves that you do not understand what you see. What is seen is not permanent, unchanging, nor is it knowledge, nor a source of knowledge. Therefore, it cannot impart knowledge to you. Science of truth is exact knowledge, and there cannot be exact knowledge but of the permanent and unchanging.

It is ours to know the law of creation and the true relation of the Creator to the created; it is ours to know Cause and effect; that knowledge does not consist in seeing error; so, if you do not see anything but evil, error, and suffering, you do not see even the symbol of knowledge, or shadow of truth. “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.” Knowledge is not revealed through seeing error.

We are not manifesting the law of love, while we claim that we and others are expressing hate. A man once told the author that he had fought the devil forty years, and had gained many victories and felt very much elated with his success.

Shortly after he listened to a sermon on Divine Science, in which it was made clear that the time spent in fighting an imaginary devil was not spent in worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth; he saw that much valuable time had been lost that should have been spent in true Christian work.

Spirit perceives its own truth. To the pure all is pure. It is impossible to obtain knowledge from error, in error, or by error, or even from effect, in effect or by effect.

15. It is clear that as sensation of either pain or pleasure is an effect, it is something to be understood and not feared. Do not be frightened with the sense of pain; let Divine Love possess you and turn your quiet, loving thought upon the condition, then maintain a happy realization that you are God’s image and likeness and are all right, and it will soon be dispelled. The practitioner of Divine Science has the mistakes of the world to correct when healing. Two thousand years ago the Jews claimed to be the children of God, because they were descendants of Abraham. Their conclusion was not based in God; it showed they did not understand the law of Being, which works from the invisible to the visible. The world’s people are still claiming to be the children of God and the descendants of visible man, the result of flesh. Rom 1:19-23, Is 40:25, 26. This material belief is the root of idoltary, it makes a supposed separation. It should be denied by word and act. This is the scientific method of correcting false race beliefs. Truth is the sure remedy for all suffering; none other is offered in Divine Science, it heals every dis-ease or discomfort that comes before us.

16. What are the evidences of Truth? “These signs shall follow them that believe.”

He who was master of all conditions, who knew the possibility of humanity, said, “He that believeth shall do the things that I do.” And the apostles, according to the Acts, could heal even to the raising of the dead.

The Science of God is absolute mathematics. They who wish may demonstrate and prove it. A true practitioner will administer Truth for all beliefs of imperfection. To manifest Truth in the body is to heal. “He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your bodies because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Truth is the infallible and the only certain remedy for error. It will not compromise with it. All may heal, who think, speak and act Truth, free from personal opinions and beliefs. Healing by the Spirit of Truth, is casting out error by the power of God ; it is not a kingdom divided against itself. When the Spirit of Truth is manifest to the patient, God is manifest to him.

Truth is equally good for all; the more we give of this remedy the more we are conscious of having. In healing do not in thought hold your patients as body only nor use personal will; have no desire to dominate or control them; otherwise the effort will not be a Science treatment. When we speak from Spirit and claim all Goodness for another, our measure is according to the nature of Spirit; it is just and right. Truthful statements are God-like ; they destroy erroneous belief which is unlike God.

17. One more question is heard in the silence, which should be answered in this lesson. “How do you treat persons at the time they are passing through the change called death?” Speak to them with as much certainty and authority as did Jesus when he spoke to those he healed and raised from the dead. It is our consciousness of the presence of Holy Spirit and faith in our ability to speak its word, that heals. We should speak the word of eternal life. Our faith will cause the “living waters” of eternal life to spring up into harmonious activity. Speak silently, or openly, as seems best, and tell them who and what they are. That God and heaven are both here, they are in God and heaven is within them. Be loving and gentle, but firm and unwavering. Insist that they are consciously at-one with God, co-eternal and co-equal with him in Being.

“There is no death, what seems so is transition.” So we clothe them with love ; see them in the embrace of the all good. We speak to them in the silence and tell them they are eternal life now; to look within, to the Spirit in which they live, that there they will find heaven. We say you are at-one with the whole Spirit ; make this Truth your own, and all else will be added. If the healer’s sympathies are touched for the friends, include them in the words of life, and see all alike in Truth. You thoroughly understand from this lesson what it is to know all in Truth. Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.

Treatment

A formula by which to apply the substance of this lesson.

I am not a creature of circumstances that I should serve them. I am Life ; it is, therefore, mine to live and experience the peace of eternal being.

I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

I love people because they are like him.

I love people for their own sake.

I love people because they are one with me.

I love them because I see my own life in them.

I love people regardless of what they do.

I love them separate from their opinions.

I love them irrespective of thought, word and deed.

I love people not in a worldly way, but as God, who is love, loves them.

Not as the world gives, give I unto you; but as God gives, give I. “The gift of God is Eternal Life.” You are it. I am it.

I am always self-centered, and poised in Truth, and am Divine Concentration. I practice what I am.

Preface To Lesson 11. Expression Of Consciousness

In the Statement of Being man is placed in his right relation to the infinite whole— the Creator, creating and creation. All that can be said of man, in Truth, bears the same relation to the whole as does he. Through keeping the idea before us that man is consciously centered in God, that he is not destructible or corruptible Being, will bring forth true thought and realization. Hold firmly to the all-inclusive Truth of Divine Science and practice it from day to day with certainty, and from lesson to lesson as you read, re-read and study them. Realization of Unity with All Good will crown your efforts. Conviction, experienced in demonstrating Truth is certainty, nothing wavering; it is faith, rest and peace.

No man knoweth the things of God, save the Spirit of God within him. The Spirit of God expressed, in man, is he who understands Truth. We have found the Parent Source, as did Christ Jesus, and are at-one with it. We have not the spirit of the world, but of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. As like comprehends like, it is necessary that the ear be opened to understand the silence — the fount of knowledge and wisdom, that we may hear the voice of the Supreme and enlighten the senses. To remove all belief of limitation, take on and believe in the limitless, is to realize that we are in the Infinite ocean of absolute and unfailing Good.

In the beginning of your studies practice transferring the thought daily from the creature to the Creator, and think that which represents the Creator. Think life, love, intelligence, knowledge, power and presence of All Good. Practice thinking what it would be like to be present everywhere at the same time, sustaining, embracing and pervading all that live. What it means to be all of power, all of substance, all of law and all of love; yesterday, today, and forever the same. Just in proportion as you succeed will you comprehend the all-pervading Spirit and be rewarded with Divine knowledge. Extend your thought beyond limitation, out-pass form, enter the Source of all form, traverse all time, become eternity in thought, live in the present. Lift the thought above all heights, descend below all depths, that you may conceive of and know the Omnipresent Spirit and the true relationship existing between the Creator and creation; and that what is perceived is contained within the Perceiver. To thus perceive and think is freedom. In order to demonstrate self, it is necessary to know what our nature is like. If we perceive ourselves to be as closely related to the Supreme Being or Parent Source, as idea, which is inherent in Mind, is to Mind, then we may comprehend all that Being is and has expressed. If we perceive ourselves to be self-existing Spirit, one with the whole Parent Source, we have a truthful apprehension of self and the Parent Source. If we believe ourselves to be manifestation, the out-picturing of God as a ray or reflection, we apprehend that only which is limited and temporal. Hence, we speak from the plane of limitation, and not from the plane of consciousness and understanding, for we do not understand more than that which we believe ourselves to be.

Christ is to us “The way, the Truth and the life,” in that he reveals the true relation of the “I” or real self, to God. Not until we take our true position and maintain it as did He, have we placed ourselves in thought and consciousness where God has placed us ; nor can we demonstrate the Truth as it was demonstrated by Jesus.

Lesson 11. The Spoken Word, The Purpose Of God

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Rotherham’s translation of this verse is: Originally was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was originally with God. All things through Him came into existence ; and without Him, came into existence not even one thing which has come into existence. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

That is, in the beginning, or origin of creation all things were, are now and evermore shall be. All that is, is with God and is God. Prior to creative action is the Creator who creates or brings forth creation. All are familiar with the trinity, “Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” In the plane of self-existing Being this trinity means Spirit, Soul and Knowledge, or, in other words, Mind, Idea and Consciousness.

In the Divine order of creation, or “the Law of Expression,” Spirit is first in order, living Soul second in order, and Body the third. So whether one reasons from the plane of what is self-existing, or from the order of this one in its selfexpression, the conclusion is, there is but One All. As all things are produced by the power God puts into His creative action, the result in creation is an exact image of the idea of the Creator, and never is it otherwise. The idea is with God and is God. It is, therefore, perfectly just and pleasing to God for us to see the outer as the inner, and deal with the two as one. This is the Divine, eternal, unchangeable order.

2. He who knows himself thoroughly understands himself to be this one all-inclusive trinity of Mind, including idea, and consciousness, which in the order of Its expression is Mind, mentality and visibility. In other words, he knows himself to be Spirit, including soul and knowledge, which in the order of its expression is Spirit, living soul and body.

Thus the Word that is with God and is God becomes flesh (living form) and dwells among us; and of its fullness have all ye received and Grace for Grace.

3. The power to think creative thoughts and speak living words is contained in Being, they are born direct from Being. Being recognizes its own thought as absolute and perfect and knows its own words as conveying and embodying the truth of Itself. It is clear that when we perceive from the plane of Being, we perceive the truth relative to expression, and express in thought the power of Being, which is life and truth manifest or made apparent; this is bearing fruit of the Spirit.

While we are privileged to look upon the beautiful symbols in nature, yet we do not see that they are radiant with the light of Omnipresent Deity until we see them as living expressions of God.

Not until we do see them as such do we consciously ascertain and make known in our life the full purpose of God in creation. In solving the problem of Life the Divine order or Law of Expression must be maintained. The true mental image of an idea will always actualize itself in visible expression. It is actualized in the spoken word, in our dealings with each other, and in the sensations of bodily existence. The source of all idea being in God, the Omnipresent Mind, when His idea is brought forth into form it is health and ease; it is the real expressed and sensed.

4. When Divine Being is consciously imaged by us, we know what harmonious results are, by having produced them; being thus educated from within we learn that all things in nature are expressions of eternal ideas; hence, may be truthfully called spoken words of God. Every form in nature, or all that constitute the visible universe, may be spoken of as a whole, as constituting the language of God — the expressed words of the Infinite. That is, forms in nature are the expressed language of the interior ideas of the Supreme. Our bodies are unlimited idea made visible.

5. That which represents the nature of Being cannot control or guide Being, so it is clear that neither thought nor word can rightly control or guide. “I am the way” should be understood by each one; it means that the right way is that of being the way and expressing what we are. The only true control is in doing as the Father does — being the way and demonstrating self.

There are no self-made limitations in Truth.

There are no self-delusions;

No hypnotic conditions;

No mortal suggestions.

We must assume the responsibility of controlling thought by simply thinking correctly; of controlling words by speaking true to principle, and controlling deeds by acting in accord with the Unity of the Spirit. When this is done we shall be able to perceive and read the silent and invisible language or idea that lies back of all nature — the language which is, in the beginning, i. e., before thought — prior to expression. The highest truths of the unmanifest will reveal themselves to the perception of one whose mental condition is purified by perfect thought — that which represents the attributes and perfection of Being.

The power to perceive, read and realize the universal language which lies back of created things, is the deepest intuition, it is Spirit taking cognizance of its own truth. It is reading the Book of Life, or Life itself. This language is inwardly perceived; it has no sound, neither is it objective to the senses ; it is soundless, invisible presence, hidden in the secret depths of the everywhereness of God-Being; it is the very essence and meaning of all living form, and of every language spoken. This perception or realization, by the majority of humanity in its present state of understanding, is a possibility unthought of, while by other portions it is so perfectly expressed that they know themselves to be it and as living and moving in God idea, in a way that may be likened unto a light shining and radiating from within a Light. Faith in Truth is the power and illumination which penetrates the silence and finds the Cause of things in Principle. If we would trace manifestation to its ultimate in outer expression, we must take our position in Cause and commence our reasoning and perceiving where all things commence, and listen to the silence, the voice of Truth, and guide our thoughts by it.

6. The Christian Mystic, Jacob Boehme, an illuminated seer, expressed the same truth in the form of a dialogue between the Master and His disciple, as follows: The disciple said to the Master: “How can I succeed in arriving at that supersensual life in which I may see and hear the Supreme?” The Master answered: “If you can only for a moment enter in thought into the formless, where no creature resides, you will hear the voice of the Supreme.” The disciple said: “Is this far or near?” The Master answered: “It is in yourself, and if you can command only for one hour the silence of your desires, you will hear the inexpressible words of the Supreme. If your own will and self are silent in you, the perception of the eternal will be manifest through you; God will hear, and see, and talk through you; your own hearing, desiring and seeing, prevents you from hearing and seeing the Supreme.” Acknowledgment of the ever present Deity as being all there is, and meditating with calm and peaceful thought on the same, is the way to prove to ourselves the truth of the Master’s words to His disciple. Let your practice of concentration be as advised in the preface of this lesson, and you will hear the inexpressible words of the Supreme, saying, there is no limitation, and beliefs of limitation will disappear; for error is never apparent where truth is spoken and manifested.

7. At this point in our lesson, it is evident that our work resolves itself into this, that we are to make the thought, love, and motive of Spirit our thought, love and motive, and thus produce the fruits of Spirit — effects which harmonize with the Supreme All. Every word spoken has its origin in the silent and Invisible. Every thing in nature has its origin in the silent and Invisible. Everything in nature is an expression of the silent and Invisible Reality. Such is the nature of truthful perception and thought, that they who have the understanding to perceive things as they are, and call them by their true name, their Divine meaning, can produce good results at will representative of the idea resting in God. This is done by perceiving and maintaining that perfect idea in thought and consciousness.

The names by which forms in nature are known, are not their real and Divine names. They are not named according to their reality, but according to their appearance.

8. The pattern of all things is contained in the Holy Mount, prior to expression; the Holy Mount being Infinite Spirit or Mind, all ideas are contained in it prior to their expression; or it may be reasoned thus, that the Creator contains all ideas within himself before they are spoken or expressed in form, and to consciously abide in the Creator is to realize what they are.

There is one eternal, interior language, which contains the words that are in the beginning — that originally are and which are expressed in nature, and are intelligible to all. “The word is made flesh, and dwells among us,” and without it is not anything made that is made. This interior language is forever resting in the Parent Source, and includes all permanent ideas which are the souls of visible forms. Visible forms are spoken words of this unspoken and eternal soul or idea language. As all truth is one, and is forever the same, it is axiomatic that all that truly is, is united. It follows that as One, the Christ, has realized his union with the whole, they who are awakened to absolute consciousness, are illumined with a perception of first and final truth, and know that the same truth applies to them. All must understand this interior truth of the perfect Unity of God and His manifestations. While there will ever be the same beautiful variety of manifestation in nature, when the above truth is understood, these manifestations will no longer be marred by negations and misrepresentations of God’s infinite presence in all.

The finding of self, as one with the absolute, is the way to a perception of this Soul language, the Idea of things, the indwelling word of God. When we place self in consciousness where God has placed us, we shall be able to hear the still, small voice, and perceive with the eye of understanding.

9. I have not forgotten the lesson impressed upon my memory in early childhood, of how to listen to the silence and be guided by its word. Having a birthright to the Quaker Church, I was taught to depend upon the still, small voice to guide me in the straight and narrow way, and to an upright life; and, that if I did not listen to, and obey this voice, it would cease speaking to me. How true it is, that if we do not listen to the voice of Truth, and adjust our thought, word and deed to it, we lose the way of hearing, perceiving and understanding, and they who lose this way are lost in the wilderness of human beliefs and opinions. They have departed from the fact that I am the way.

If we do not seek first Cause, which is God, and rely upon it, we seek and rely upon that which is not Cause. To seek and lean upon effects is to serve Mammon, and be idolatrous in belief.

To seek and to depend upon manifesting God, for all expressions of Life and Strength, is to worship in Spirit and in Truth, is to base the motive and faith aright, and is to fulfill the Purpose of Life in Creation; for the purpose of life in creation is that God may be manifest, that we may, as individuals, come to know Him, the only true God and Jesus Christ, our true sonship, which is a consciousness of life eternal.

10. Our words may be said to be the expression of Divine Ideas imaged in consciousness by thinking: ideas are first and are the larger term, which includes the possibility of the word. Prior to the expression of an idea in word, the possibility of the word may be said to be a possibility resting in its Source unexpressed. This interior possibility is the substance and power of the word. As one idea is capable of being expressed in myriad forms of thought, so even one perfect thought may be expressed in myriad forms of word; word of sound, word of deed, word of sensation, word of visible body. When all this has been accomplished, we have neither added to nor taken from the idea; perfect from eternity to eternity is idea, the soul of things. The Father’s ideas constitute the language recorded in eternal life, the language of His Being. He who lives the life may read what is therein written.

The Divine Order of Expression

11. The Science of Expression works from within out; from God to nature, from Spirit to Body. Creation is that in which the law of revealment reaches its ultimate in demonstration.

Creation is here simply because the Creator is here, not because the Creator is in some far away place. His works are never in one place and he in another; they are living works only because the Creator is present in them. I in the Father and the Father in me is universally true for all time; everything that lives has its being in God. All that is produced by the creative action of power is the result of power; hence, creation and all effects are naturally passive; they are forever resting in the Creator; this the blessed truth of Omnipresence reveals to us.

Being is absolute power.

Creating, or Divine thinking, is the action of power.

Creation, or true speaking, is the result of power through action.

All form, therefore, stands for the idea of power.

“Know thyself and thou shalt know thy God.”

12. As grand and sublime as nature is, with all her planets and systems of planets, and all things thereon contained, yet she and all her forms are spoken words representative of the ideas that are forever resting in the Speaker. Creation therefore represents the Divine Ideas which are forever resting in the Creator. If nature, the appearance, be so sublime, how much more transcendently so must be the Creator who contains it all; hence the eternal truth conveyed in the words, “Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.” So let it be. What is it to find the Kingdom of Heaven and dwell therein? but to get understanding, and to become fully conscious that we live and move and have our Being in God. To thus know that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand is to live in the realization of the power and glory of Being.

Awaken, Oh, slumbering humanity, to thine own inheritance of pure and perfect Being; lay hold upon it, it is thine to use and to enjoy. Be passive in thought, and free from anxiety and fear; look steadfastly into the Unity of Being, the perfect law of liberty, and thou shalt see that all that is, is Divine; more than human. “Be still and know that I am God.”

13. In “Divine Science” we perceive God Idea as interior and anterior to thought, hence, we think that which represents it.

A question frequently asked is, if Infinite Spirit is the Thinker, how is it that some thoughts are not representative of the Thinker? It is true that many so-called thoughts are merely about the appearance of things, this is mental action contrasting things with things; its conclusions are formed from observation, and when these conclusions are taken for authority, in so far as they disregard God Idea, dualism is set up, a belief that there is something the reverse of God. The Creator being knowledge of his possibilities, or knowing his ideas, necessitates creative action and right thinking. As Spirit is all before it thinks, that allness is never diminished by anything that it does or produces. When we spiritually perceive a truth, we immediately through thought, give it form, which form is called decision or conclusion; this form furnishes the basis for and is the substance of visible form, the spoken word.

Therefore learn to glorify God in your bodies. As the white ray of light contains all possibilities of color and shades of color within itself, so also does Spirit or Infinite Being contain within itself all possibility of universal nature with all its variety of forms; and as the possibilities of the white ray are not recognized by the individual consciousness until they are brought forth in manifestation of various colors, so the possibilities of Infinite Spirit are unrecognized or unknown to the individual conception until they are made apparent in thought and expressed in form. The white ray, therefore, is fullness of color within itself, as Divine Being is fullness of power and goodness within itself. Being gives the power to think; but thought occupying the medium ground between Supreme Being and the spoken word, can image cause only from the plane of Being; it can image effects only from the ‘plane of observation by letting the object or form world impress mentality with conclusions that coincide with appearances. The former, or thought born of Being, must ever be a creation of life, the latter must ever be an imitation, or a mere picture of that which is created. Which is the correct and profitable way; which is the new and living way of the Christ? “Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image in heaven or in earth. Thou shalt not bow down nor worship them.” Pictures drawn from observation are innocent and harmless as long as we do not bow down and worship them by endeavoring to make them a basis for our conclusions and act as if they were a principle by which to shape our entire mental conduct. We should never forget that our mentality is to be kept constantly illumined with the God-Idea within.

15. They who make appearances the basis for conclusions generally make their conclusions the basis for further ones; so unrighteous judgment is set up concerning themselves and others and God-Omnipresence is left out. Negation of Truth whether indulged ignorantly or otherwise, bears bitter fruit — a sense of lack, ungratified desires accompanied with fear and doubt. Even they are nothing, they are but a falling short of Truth in conclusion, and nothing cannot produce something. “Judge, not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

As there is no separation of the living from absolute and eternal life, let us “Arise and go to the Father.” Let us cease to be prodigal in our conclusions and beliefs and awaken to our reality. In “coming to ourselves we come to life,” and we cease saying such things as, “I am sick to-day, I hope to be better to-morrow, and I would like to be well in the future.” We affirm that the I that I am is. Health and All Good is ours now.

As a photograph is an image of a living form, but is not the living form itself, so beliefs and opinions based upon observation are mental photos or impressions made upon the retina of the eye, yet they are not animated the same as are living forms, nor the same as are the God-ideas born in thought from within. They who permit the external to sway their thought, have strong likes and dislikes for people, places and conditions : their judgment being according to appearances, their conclusions serve appearances or mammon. Such persons are heard to say, I like or dislike the weather; I like or dislike certain environments or conditions; I believe a certain kind of food is digestible or indigestible; I believe if I were in a certain climate or locality I would be happy; if I were situated as some are I could be well, happy, and be a power to bless others. According to their statements of themselves they are wholly and entirely mortal, and are subject to every mortal belief ever indulged. The power to bless others comes not from this realm or line of thought and reasoning. Therefore those who would bless must first bless themselves by thinking right — claiming and being that which is real and permanent, and not subject to effects.

The original idea is the only living picture. Therefore form your mental images from the living idea, not from mere observation. A full understanding of the above, which is illustrative of the Science of Expression, enables us to set our house in order — to have a place for everything and everything in its place — that is, to place the true worth on Being and to see expression or creation as forever in Being. It is not well, even then, to momentarily turn to the shadowy side, or taste the forbidden fruit; for if tempted by the serpent of sense to make appearances the object of love, we are deceived by giving them the place of Being, and we partake of forbidden fruit; all who partake of it are cast out of the garden of Eden. Perfect knowledge illuminates observation and keeps the way of the tree of Life and retains us eternally in the Garden of God.

Lesson 12. Heal The Sick

“I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24.

“Pray one for another, that ye may be healed!’ — James 5:16.

Healing was an important part in the work of Jesus, and as he demonstrated what he taught, his demonstrations were the embodiment of what must ever be known as true Christianity. All the ministers that Jesus sent out, were to preach the Gospel and heal the sick; the words of the Gospel when applied, or spoken for healing, were to do their perfect work; hence his disciples healed and did the things that Jesus did. According to the record the disciples did not argue the question with Jesus, but did everything as they were commanded. The commandments were according to law, so they fulfilled the law by being obedient to the commands given them.

Divine Science, true Science and true religion, proves the reality and practicability of the words of the Angel Man of God: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” The good tidings of joy to all is the true Gospel; it teaches that “As he is, so are we in this world.” Christ’s own words are: “I in you and you in Me,” which means one Life, one Spirit, one Source or Father. The Gospel that Christians were to preach is the Truth of God, the Truth of self and the infinity of Good. Jesus sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick with the knowledge that if they believed they could do what He did.

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Do you not know that the Way, the Truth and the Life is just as powerful to heal in the present time as they ever were? The power to heal was not destroyed with the crucifixion of the body, after it took place Jesus Christ was not absent but present. Forty days after the crucifixion Jesus declared : “Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.’’ — Matt. 28:20. Thirty-one years after Paul testified, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever.” — Heb 13:8. Listen to Christ’s own words :

“I am come that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly.” “The Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives.” — Luke 9:56. The son of Man, born of woman, is not here to destroy but is here to fulfill; he is here that the works of God may be made manifest by him. “Now is the time for the son of Man to be glorified.” He is not here to destroy nor to be destroyed; so we should ever defend ourselves and each other against the surgeon’s knife. “The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” — 1 Cor 3:17.

2. The thief cometh to steal, to kill and to destroy. Thief, is a suppositional belief as to what Being is, that we are something different from the Infinite All. This false suppositional self, so to speak, claims conditions of inharmony for the body that do not belong to it; that it is subject to all manner of beliefs and opinions.

This is stealing, spiritually speaking, in the sense that it is taking to ourselves what does not belong to us. How different this from the attitude of the One who said: “Follow me.” All that is the Father’s is ours so we cannot steal from Father by claiming to be what he is and to do what he does ; by believing “All thine are mine and all mine are thine” and of “All that thou hast given me I can lose nothing.”

3. Many of the Divine Science Healers of the present day meet with those who have had similar experiences to the Sister spoken of in the Scriptures as “A certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse.” — Mark 5:25, 26. This same state of things exists today; it is almost a universal complaint; we hear of it by letter and from those who come for daily comfort. The complaint is made in similar words and we are appealed to very much as were Jesus and the Apostles.

4. Some ask why we cannot do our own praying and heal ourselves? This is just what Divine Science is teaching people to do. When its Truth is studied and given place its freedom will be realized. “Know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” They who ask for healing and do not understand Truth must be taught the unreality of their beliefs and sensations and the reality and limitless nature of their Being. Their feelings of sickness is evidence that the habitual prayer, (fixed belief), has not been of faith (substance) or the prayer of understanding and thanksgiving (knowledge of Truth and rejoicing). The habit has not been to acknowledge Truth in all their ways; this is the reason why we should pray one for another and do healing. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick.” In prayer we should earnestly desire that Truth be known and freedom be experienced by the patient. Ask in this way, in faith believing, and you shall know that what you ask for is yours. It is not an uncommon thing for those who write to the author for healing to receive help as soon as they write, even before the letter is posted, which proves that the promise is fulfilled, that “While ye are yet asking I will answer.” Also, “Ask and ye shall receive.” One who desires healing should ask of the healer as he would ask of the Lord and make no separation between Man and the Most High. The Lord responds through individual Man.

5. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad that the scriptural promises are all made for this world, the here and the now. Those made by Jesus, the Christ, and the Apostles, were made according to the understanding they had of the Gospel of Eternal Truth. They were not made for a special time or place but for the everywhere and ever-present now. They apply to us at this time, in this place, unless they have been revoked. If they have been revoked we may ask when and by whom? God’s promises are true to Himself; they remain in force from eternity to eternity; they can never be revoked, there is no one to revoke them, God is always the same. It is admitted by the Christian world that there was a time when God had power to heal, make Man every whit whole in His own image and likeness. It certainly is not consistent to claim that He has lost this power or any part of it, or that He is moody and has changed His mind. Has He ceased to be a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him? If not, should not the Gospel of Christ heal the sick throughout the Christian world to-day, and those also not known as Christians? Should not the words that we speak in preaching and teaching, heal as well as instruct or edify? Is not healing a mark or sign following the understanding of the preacher; is it not the test of whether it is law human, or Gospel Truth that is preached? Was not the healing commanded just as much as the preaching? Yes, and the words used in healing and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom are the same; they are Spirit and they are Life. When the true scientific teaching is applied in faith it always heals. Healing is promised as a result of knowledge of Truth, and through the word of Truth. “Now are ye clean through the words I have spoken unto you.” All things are possible to them that believe. Do you see that the word All, means that no possibility is excluded? “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” — Heb 3:12. Living God is God living in Man and all creation. “Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you?” — 2 Cor 13:5. “Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints.” — Jude 1:3. Insist upon the fact that you have the same faith; believe that the same has been given you.

6. “These signs shall follow them that believe; in My name * * * they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” — Mark 16:16-18. Christ said: “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do.” — John 14:12. To believe on Me is to believe in Man, male and female as the image of God; that Man is now just what God made him, good, whole and entire, like God in nature. Paul was not one of the twelve Apostles, nor was he one of the seventy disciples. He was not even converted until two years after the crucifixion, yet he healed the sick and raised the dead; because of this fact they who preach should consider that they could do likewise. Twenty-four years after Paul’s conversion he wrote to the Corinthians: “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” — 1 Cor 12:31. In the same chapter he mentions nine gifts ; the gift of healing was one of them, all by the same spirit, and there is no chapter or verse to show where any of these gifts died. If any of these gifts are dead, then by what authority do any continue to preach? — Ref. I Cor. 12:28.

They who believe the Apostolic age has passed and that healing by the word of God is not for this age, by what authority do they preach a Gospel that they claim to be the Gospel of Christianity and eliminate the healing? It would be a consistent conclusion, that if the healing was for the Apostolic age only and it had passed, that the doctrine also was for that age and the time had passed for preaching it and for us to attempt to live by it.

7. Fifty-nine years after Christ, Paul urges his church members at Corinth to desire spiritual gifts. — 1 Cor 14:1. He said that healing was one of the spiritual gifts. — 1 Cor 12:9. Concerning these spiritual gifts he would not have his church members remain ignorant. — Ref 1 Cor. 12:1. Should not the leaders of spiritual teaching of this day be as considerate of their pupils and congregations? “God gave gifts unto men.” — Eph 4:8. “And set them in the church.” — 1 Cor 12:28. “For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” —Eph 4:12. Our bodies are the bodies of Christ, for there is “One Spirit and one body;” we are all members one of another, all made of one substance. These gifts were to remain in the church “Till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man.” — Eph 4:13. And there is no record that God has taken away these spiritual gifts and put drugs in their place.

There are many in the present day who are saying to their physicians, “Thou hast no healing medicine.” — Jer 30:13. Many are saying, as did Job of old to his comforters, “Ye are physicians of no value.” — Job 13:4. There is a great cry going up by the people at this time, “Ye are physicians of no value.” According to the record, “Asa was diseased exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians; and Asa died. — Ref 2 Chron 16:12.

8. ”It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It is His will that they who heal the sick be his authorized preachers, and they who know Truth should be his authorized physicians. It was expected that the afflicted, so-called, would call for the elders of the church; that is, those who understood preached and demonstrated the Gospel of Truth. The elders of the church were to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over them, and all sins were to be forgiven, given up, and the Lord was to raise them up sinless, without spot or blemish. James was one of the twelve Apostles, and wrote these instructions A.D. 60 — 27 years after the crucifixion. — Ref James 5:14, 15.

In Palestine Jesus asked this prophetic question: “When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” — Luke 18:8. The Son of Man is come. We are alike the Son of Man and the Son of God. “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” — 1 John, 4:2. “Where is your faith?”— Luke 8:25.

Our faith in the Truth that God is manifest in the flesh, should calm every seeming storm.

Have patients anything to do with their own healing? Let the scriptures answer. There is no promise of healing to unbelievers. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” — Heb 11:6. “Faith cometh by hearing . . . the word of God.” —Romans 10:17. If you have been taught that the atonement (at-one-ment) does not cover all seeming physical and mental ailments, then make the following your own: “He healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the Prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sickness.” — Matt 8:16, 17. Then let Divine Scientists speak the word of Truth for each other; let it be spoken prayerfully and faithfully that health, happiness and prosperity may spring forth speedily and naturally. The power of the Lord — Law in Action — is present to heal. “He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.”

9. The only salvation there is, is one-ness with God, the all-Good, and if one-ness is not accepted then salvation is not apparent, and we are either afraid that we will lose our health or else we are desiring to regain it. He who is ever with you, will heal. The real Being and nature of man heals conditions of disease when given full acknowledgment. He who is whole needs no physician. “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” to those who have gone astray from the fact that the Way, the Truth and the Life that made the world and all things therein is already here. So the work of Divine Science is to teach and demonstrate the Truth of at-one-ment, God manifest in the flesh, and in all visibility, and demonstrate immortality and eternal life.

Healing Words

“All things work together for good.”

The word of Truth makes my heart glad. — Ref Prov 12:25.

I abound in every good work. — Ref II Cor 9:8.

Every creature of God is good. — Ref 1 Tim 4:4.

As the image of God I am good, and I am doing good. — Ref Ps 119:68.

My love for the good is my constant prosperity. — Ref Ps 122:6.

I have chosen the way of Truth.

I am the fullness of grace and Truth. — Ref John 1:14.

My life, substance, intelligence and power is God; there is nothing more, and nothing less than God. I am what I am, whole, perfect, without sin, or any so called affliction, because God is Infinite and everywhere present I have not sinned; I do not fall short of Truth; I have not missed the mark of my high calling in Christ Jesus ; I am not burdened with environments or opinions; I am not heavy laden with surrounding conditions; I am not weak or weary with hope deferred; I am in my Father’s kingdom, enjoying the power and glory of it; I am free, here and now.

Lesson 13. Facts About Healing

It is no more a burden for Spirit to demonstrate freedom of action in us, than it is for us to enjoy the free use of our hands. So, to make the nature of Spirit the basis and rule of our action, is to eventually enjoy perfect freedom of action.

When we begin to consciously exercise the power of Spirit, we see there is no struggle of attainment. It is being and then doing — unfolding the silent, invisible idea or soul into actual visible expression.

Nothing is gained through trying to reason one’s self into heaven through judgment from observation, or discovery of so-called physical laws. “The kingdom of heaven cometh not by observation.” The time has come for all who wish to realize spiritual things spiritually, and enjoy the freedom of Truth, to reason as if they were entirely separated from sin, as if they were incapable of falling short of Truth, and were alive unto God — even life eternal here and now. Heaven is the real state of Being, the true state of its action, and the real nature of the result of its action.

There are fully as many people at the present time who are claiming that they do not have to die to go to hell, as there are who claim that they do not have to die to go to heaven. This goes to show that as we cease practicing procrastination our beliefs of both good and evil face us in the present: so we frequently hear it said that heaven and hell are both of our own making. But when we come to realize the Truth of the words of Jesus, that the devil is a liar, we know that all false beliefs to which people have said I, and thus personified them, constitute the liar of which he spoke. So devil is falsehood personified, as it were, and has no reality.

In our study of Divine Science we find this wonderful Truth, that we must reason from the standpoint of the divine, just as if we knew and were going to make practical the fact that what is true of God is true of man. The word of the Omnipresent One is an expression of power, and can be powerfully used for success in all the walks of life.

The natural unfoldment of pure Being or Spirit is the only true healing: so the study of Being is the first requirement toward true and absolute recovery. Other systems claiming to heal may give temporary relief, but the natural and final establishment of unwavering health must be the true unfoldment of pure Being. It must be the result of consciousness which knows spiritual things spiritually, and which speaks the spiritual language. When I speak the word that is true of Omnipresent Spirit, and declare the word that is true of God for a patient or a student, the speaker of the words, the one giving the treatment or lesson is present in the patient or student. This shows that absent treatment is just as efficient as present; that the I that I am is really nearer a patient or pupil that mere bodily presence could suggest. This is the way Divine Science healing is accomplished.

Genius is not a gift of the gods. There are no gods. There is but one God. Genius, therefore, is the power of pure Being, that power that succeeds in every undertaking. It means success in every good effort. Wisdom is the unbroken unity of supreme will or law. So he who would exercise wisdom must abide. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye may ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.” What ye will think of it. You can readily see that Divine Healing is Divine Communion.

The author thinks it is but fair to say that all the so-called remedies that are offered to the world at this time, for the curing of disease, have seemed to benefit in some degree in some cases. Now, why is this true if no virtue is in many of them? Is it all due to the people’s faith in them as helps, or is it merely due to the ideal suggestion of health made by their advocates? It seems to be reasonable that the faith shows more power than suggestion. It is impossible for Spirit to lose faith in anything that exists; for the Creator to lose His substance in anything He creates. The fact that it cannot loose its hold on a single atom of substance — that it would not be All in All were there less or more than Spirit absolute anywhere in the universe, shows how impossible it is for us to be without faith. When our attention is wholly given to the external, and our education is from observation, we have faith in visible remedies; we must have faith; it is unavoidable; this is so, because it is our nature to have faith. We are and faith is and it is our nature. But there is a deeper reason that works in us, even before it is discovered to intellect. Every particle of all “remedies” have their origin in the same substance in which we exist, and of which we are composed; so when we remove from belief the name, and the claim that we need a remedy, we blend as perfectly in consciousness with the substance contained in the remedy as we do with that contained in our food. We only need to know the Truth of absolute Unity to do away with the fallacy that we need remedies, and put away the race supposition of duality. True spiritual education will do the work.

Man judges his faith to be the trust he puts in what he believes to be Truth. But Omnipresent Spirit knows faith to be the very nature of all substance. Then you may ask, does faith, the nature of all substance, lend itself to all these different methods of cure? No; it simply operates silently and undisturbed, according to its own method, regardless of any or all so-called methods of cure. This leads us to see that if we know ourselves to be the Truth, we are that which is operating independent and apart from false opinion and belief.

If we believe in each other, we do well. If we believe in the things of God, we do well. If we believe in ourselves, we do well. But if we know that all is God, the Creator and His creation, we do better; for we know how and love to act out the very best — the real Truth of Being. We find that our faith is always based in Truth and nothing else. Only by placing ourselves in Being can we see the Truth of Being and speak with authority, not doubting our statements.

When we speak in this way our patient hears and responds. We demonstrate the creative power through our thought in word, and the healing is direct expression of Being; the natural unfoldment of the limitless I am. It is more than the suggestion of a good thought. It is being the Thinker of good thoughts and speaker of good words.

Lesson 14. Special Instructions To Patients

When patients are being treated by the Truth of Divine Science, they should make a practice of going alone, at some convenient time, at least twenty minutes twice a day, and relax mentally and bodily from all nervous tension and anxiety. This is done by recognizing the All-powerful Good present throughout their bodies and everywhere around them. “Expression of Consciousness,” preface to lesson XI, should be applied in the effort to realize omnipresent good, the Truth of which to know makes free ; the same is harmony and rest. This relaxation can perhaps be better brought about by either reclining in an easy chair or lying down.

During the time of relaxation and treatment do not think of disease or give attention to any sense of inharmony; be restful and happy, and let your concentration be that of repose and clear vision. Earnestly and calmly repeat the Divine Science Statement of Being, expecting its full meaning to dawn upon you as something already actualized in your existence. Know that health and rest satisfaction and prosperity are for you and that you are to enjoy a realization of them.

Choose a convenient time for this treatment of repose in Truth, then let nothing interfere to prevent you from keeping this time; however, if the time should be unavoidably occupied, then take the earliest opportunity that can be arranged. Do not tax yourself to fix thought upon the healer who is giving treatment, but expect the word of Truth to bear record of itself and actualize in mental and bodily freedom; then will you receive the true thoughts and words of knowledge— the Truth imaged forth by the healer.

If the thought wanders do not strive with it. Let it be free to image every pleasing picture it desires and every good thing hoped for. If you feel like sleeping during the time of treatment, indulge it and know that the Divine Scientist will think nothing but absolute good and perfection for you; that taking rest in sleep is what you need or you would not have the desire.

First of all, relieve yourself of all nerve tension; relax your entire body and know that it is receptive to the fullness of omnipresent Good and feel that all things work together for Good. Be as indifferent as possible to the seeming sickness.

Say to yourself: I now receive all the Scriptural promises, and believe they are fulfilled within me. I affirm for myself and of myself health and every good I have hoped for. I now receive them.

The healer may be ever so desirous to heal every patient quickly, but if the patients are in the habit of nursing their seeming diseases and guarding them with zealous care, the healing will be much slower than it otherwise would be. In so far as patients give up the belief in diseases, as a reality, and cease to think and talk about them, do they become non-existent. This is as true to a nation as to an individual.

By relaxing yourselves daily you will drop the load of burdensome beliefs and opinions and your whole body will take on the Spirit of Life and power, and new habits will be formed, which are based in freedom, firmness and strength; thus the whole action of the body will be changed and made to co-operate with the new and living conception of life — the real nature of Being.

We, seemingly, put on mental and bodily tension unconsciously; but we must take it off consciously by applying our knowledge of Truth. The Divine “Law of Expression,” which is the only orderly method of procedure in the universe, does not cause one to nerve up as if he was going to battle with an army of foes. A knowledge of it relaxes and makes him non-resisting. Some think this tension and resistance is power of the One and only will; but it is just the reverse, in belief, for what could Infinite power nerve up to resist? There is no power but One. Take this Truth on, and new mental habits that represent the Divine will, will be formed, which always actualize in bodily freedom.

One must study and practice the relation of the spiritual will to mentality in order to enjoy absolute freedom and express that which neither knows evil nor anything that harms the body. A Divine Science healer knows only good, and can only practice that which he knows; but his knowledge is practical in all things, for no false use can possibly be made of Divine Science. There is no false side to it, any more than there is to the knowledge and practice of the science of numbers.

Every one who asks for treatment or who desires help from those who know Truth should make a statement of Truth when they think of or speak the name of the healer. This will cause them to sense the true unity existing between them, and where two are agreed in Truth concerning the demonstration of its freedom in health and happiness, there pure Being is in the midst. This practice assures spiritual co-operation, and proves every part of the body receptive to the word of Truth.

Every patient should do all within his power to interest and help himself; do all that can be done to image forth healthful conditions and happy feelings. This cannot be considered a trial or hardship to anyone; it is the way of ease; hence must be the easy way.

No cases are essentially incurable. Where the principle of Being is known and applied by all concerned, many rally from so-called dying conditions, and finally demonstrate perfect health. Life, liberty and happiness are their right.

All who want to experience the true freedom of Divine Science should read, re-read and study this book until all the good it contains is absorbed and its meaning put into practice.

If students and patients do their part — i. e., let go of false beliefs and opinions and lay hold of the Truth, Divine Science will heal them. “We cannot serve two masters,” etc. The more perfectly we accept the perfect for ourselves, and ourselves as being perfect Spirit-Being, the sooner will health be experienced.

True thoughts are a means to an end, and should be indulged freely and fully; of such one can partake without money and without price. One can express the whole nature of Being without let or hindrance. There is no power to thwart the purpose and dwarf the will of him who is determined to demonstrate the freedom of Truth and Life — the nature of Being.

Remember that in Divine Science treatment, healing is not done through thought transference, sent from one brain to another, nor from one mind to another. The belief that the brain is the source of thought, or that there are minds many that constitute the source of thought, is not correct. There is but one Mind or Spirit— but one All. Healing is not a vitalized essence going out from one center to another: from one object to another. Healing by the word of Truth — the Christ method — is the one Omnipresence, Infinite Mind, or Holy Spirit voicing its own nature — the truth of its self. It being in all and through all, its word is spoken and takes form in the one being treated, in its own living expression. It is essential that the body or form of this ever-present All be recognized as being a body of Life, intelligence, substance and Power. So the Divine Science healers know how to hold their patients in absolute health, happiness and prosperity.

If you sense pain in any part of the body, instead of fighting it and thus making it a power, in belief, keep tranquil and passive, and know that I, the real Being, am right there healing it: you do not even have to “send a thought,” you are there, thinking and harmonizing the forces ; such is the power and operations of Divine Mind or Holy Spirit.

When these practical suggestions are applied, you will realize for yourselves what others have who have practiced them.

Know that in practicing truth, you have the power to avoid wanting further experience in false methods of material beliefs offered as remedies for curing the sick.

We know that all the power and force used by man spiritually, or for mechanical purposes, are Invisible, but there is no means more potent for good results than thought ; by it people are healed, and many are healed without knowing that they are being treated, and their lives are thereby turned in paths of peace and plenty. Let your relaxation be complete — take no anxious care concerning yourselves:

One who asks treatment for another should never make himself a medium through which the patient receives treatment. There are no mediators in Divine Science. The work is done direct through the law of expression. The law works from the Invisible into visible form. To hold the belief that you are the medium through which the healer transmits his thought to the patient, is a false attitude, and no good can result through it to the one who acts as medium. The attitude is not God-like.

In treating children, it is quite necessary at times to treat the parents against fear, doubt and the common false claims of the race, but the Truth that heals the child must be expressed in the child. While treating the parents, do not think of them as mediums through which your thought is transmitted to their children.

When either giving or receiving treatment, have no fear, anxiety, worry or care. Drop all criticism and fault-finding. Use the truth you know, and rely upon it; know that your consciousness of Truth is your freedom. Therefore affirm it earnestly regardless of circumstances and events.

Do not use denials in a way to convey the idea that there is something real and tangible to be destroyed. The proper use of denials and affirmations are set forth in our book, “Basic Statements.” The word of affirmation is a statement of Truth, hence is powerful for freedom.

Think that you have no burdens, that you are not heavy laden. That you are not living in postponement, and in beliefs of becoming; but are pure Being, simply expressing your own beautiful nature, and thus rest your souls from fanciful theories.

Lesson 15. Faith And Belief A Unit

“Without Faith it is impossible to please God.” — Heb xi:6.

“The just live by Faith.” — Rom i:17.

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith!’ — I John v:4.

“If thou canst believe, all things are possible.” “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” — Jesus.

Faith, says Webster, is belief — the assent of the Mind to the Truth. Of belief he says, it is the assent of the mind to a proposition, affirmation; or the acceptance of a fact as real or certain. Reliance on word or testimony. It is quite impossible for any man to be without faith, or to believe that God, Good, the Self-existing All, is not. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. He who realizes his oneness with the Whole must know that the whole is.

The evidences of Faith are so numerous within man and around him, that it is not possible to exist without acknowledging them. Is not existence itself sufficient evidence of Being? Is not creation ample evidence that there is a creator? What greater proof of wisdom could one possibly imagine as existing than the law and order now manifest in the world and system of worlds? The great architect of the universe proves to be Life, Substance, Knowledge, Power — the good, the whole of good and nothing but good. Let not your hearts be troubled about anything.

You believe in God, now believe in yourselves, and do so in the self-same way that you believe in Him. How can God be Infinite, Omnipresence, the All, and man differ from Him in nature? How can man be, and not be what he is, or exist separate from the infinitude of Omnipresence? Now, man must gird up his loins with the Spirit of Truth and acknowledge the nature of his being before he can prove that having eyes he sees and having ears he hears.

Put your faith and belief in the Whole Spirit — the wholeness and the allness of the only One there is. This One knows your every need and supplies your every want. So when man (male and female) takes the right position of at-one-ment with God, and justly and lawfully represents this oneness, he knows his own needs and supplies them. He can understandingly say, “I do what I see the Father doing.” Fatherhood is mine, source and cause I am. “We are co-workers together with God.” We can make no mistake when we conform to the Law of Unity. Go hand in hand with the All in All. Resist not lest you resist God, and in so doing resist yourself. One cannot resist anything that is, that has any real existence, without resisting God, and man is so related to God that it invariably means opposition to his own nature. When we are demanding right relations with others it is the part of faith, belief, justice and wisdom to remember that they are and where they are. Think instantly, they are not apart from God. There is but one all. They are not apart from me, they are within me; I now realize them, they are manifest within and to my senses.

When a little child you had no fear when a loving, wise hand led you,’ when your mother said: “We will go now.” We will do a certain thing. The loving interest she had for you and your confidence in her, stand for a relationship that is eternal and universal — Divine Cause and Effect or Father and Son. Repose your confidence in the Almighty help which includes all health, happiness and success. Do not try to control the Infinite, but instead move with it. Let its nature be your nature and let it come out in your thoughts, words and deeds.

Faith is not and never was without reason. Being, the I am, is the reason for every reasonable conclusion. There is every reason within you why you should manifest faith. One cannot behold the beauty of nature without seeing something that says : “Have the faith of God;” have faith in that which is everywhere manifesting itself. The grass that grows, the rose that sheds its fragrance, the vine that creeps toward the light, the trees, both large and small; the child’s prattle, the trust and confidence of children, the courage and perseverance of business men and women; the repose and certainty of aged people, the birds that sing, the fowls that fly in the open firmament of heaven, and all creeping things, do tell of their Source and of the wonderful Faith of the Power that has expressed them and in which they live and move.

Faith is inherent in the invisible Spirit, and is Spirit, it is the source of what it proves; the source of all the beautiful evidences that constitute nature. We walk, talk, think, and live by Faith. Faith is the active principle of Being. By faith we see, therefore it is sight; by it we hear, therefore it is hearing; by it we know Truth, therefore it is knowledge. All things in creation are not only evidence of its Omnipotence, but of its never failing certainty and unlimited good. All the accomplishments of man and all things accomplished by him, are the result and evidence of faith. Then “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Faith is the ability to live and succeed in every position in life. To accomplish the purpose which every right endeavor has in view and to better one’s conditions as the field of work requires. It is essential that we put faith in our spiritual endeavors, in our mental endeavors, and in our physical endeavors to enjoy satisfactory evidence of the substance of our Being, and have positive proof of the reality of the things hoped for.

Have you ever realized how helpless one feels who habitually says : “I can’t,” or “I am sure to fail.” I once knew a man whose father impressed him, when quite a boy, with the false belief that he would not succeed when a man. This man carried a heavy, depressing atmosphere that no one wanted to share with him.

He was always lonesome and seeking companionship, hoping to find satisfaction. At middle age he was striving to do good, and it was strife, for he omitted doing the essential thing — that of giving up previous habits of belief. He always talked as if failure was the only thing he was sure of. He bemoaned his fate and felt at cross purposes with the world. He was naturally drawn to meetings where discussions were indulged in an argumentative and combative spirit; where the disposition to tear down was cultivated. All this gave no satisfaction; no rest; no mental peace. It was not companionship, nor did it satisfy his spiritual thirst for truth.

At one time he advertised in all the city papers as a magnetic healer; he had at that time a very limited idea of “mind cure.” He engaged a suite of rooms for his work, moved in and was nicely situated. As his friends called to encourage him, he posed as a martyr to former beliefs. He met them all with the statements: “No one will come. The money paid for advertising is lost: my efforts will prove useless; there is nothing for me in this life; I shall have to give up the rooms.” I need not tell you what happened except that he met his own, he saw no good for himself, nor did he actualize anything but what he believed would occur. Have you not noticed how such beliefs add error to error by the confirmation “I told you so, I knew I was right.” It takes the attitude of a seer and a prophet. I tell you, friends, it is not profitable to “know so much that is not true.” However wise one may seem in such beliefs and opinions, that seeming wisdom is foolishness to the Law of Good. The mental attitude of our brother was on a par with affirmations we often hear. “I have no faith, no success; I have tried to get out of discord, but I find it wherever I go.” Such statements are like unto the sayings: “I have no ability; no life; no power; no being. I hope to become greater than I am, then I can accomplish what I desire, and blessed be nothing.”

Be a man; be a woman; and let children be children; and babes be babes, but we are not mere children playing with everything before us. We are men and women and are supposed to make proper use of all things. What could man do if he had no faith? How would he live if he had no life? How would he act if he had no power? How would he exist if he was not Being? We should all say and say it quickly and all the time: “Blessed be something; everything is blessed.

Faith is power, an active principle, far greater than we have perceived from a personal view-point. “All things are possible to them that believe.” Here we see that Jesus used the word Belief as synonymous with Faith. The action of Faith and of true belief are One. Both are inherent in Being. There is but one all. The one all is your life. Lay hold of it and do not let go. Have Faith in the Supreme as all in all and you will lift up your head with faith and believe in yourself as never before. It is a faithful, conscious, knowing Life Principle that endows us so richly with inherent Power.

That Blessed Spirit of peace and good will does live and breathe in us and we in it. Let us faithfully claim our conscious knowledge of the Oneness of the whole.

Our faithful action based in Truth is perfectly natural and wholly Divine. Faith is divinely manifested everywhere in nature just as all living are Divine by virtue of their Source being Divine. Then should we not wear the robes of Divinity and cease playing the part of beggars, cease indulging miserly habits of belief, such as beliefs in limitation, fear of coming to want, that we can make law or rules the reverse of God’s law of expression and expect Him to gratify our desires according to them? “God is not mocked.”

We cannot compel Life Principle to come our way unless our way is its way. They who understand Divine Science know and have Faith in Omnipresent Spirit as intelligence and power, that it speaks and creates within and unto itself. The Invisible law works from within out. The worker is Invisible Spirit and the work is visible form. We have faith that this Life, with all its beauty, its health, its good of every sort, is now in God the never failing good; that we have no existence that is not good.

“There is no saying shocks me so much as that which I hear very often, that a man does not know how to pass his time. It would have been but ill spoken by Methuselah in the nine hundred and sixty-ninth year of his life.” — Cowley.

But, in what form shall my success come? many ask. It will come in any business that you are rightly and justly engaged in.

Those who believe in separation from God, and limitation, reason as if the basis of power was external and consisted of visible possessions. The All Mighty Spirit of Truth is the power at work. Let it be so to you. That which comes to your hand to do, do with full strength and fear not. Murmur not at the need of a fixed purpose. But this understand: not one effort shall be in vain. The dream of success shall be less, not greater, than success itself. Shrink from no demand that the effort makes on you. Be strong, fearless, resolute.

The faith that resists not evil is the faith that does not recognize evil. It is that which recognizes good, and good alone that accomplishes good results. The effort made in resisting evil is vain effort, but, when used to accomplish good, there being no belief in the division of power, it is demonstrated that unity is the way of power.

“Suppose you would cast your old faith away, and try this new and living faith.” Then put all your confidence in good and none in evil and put your trust in Spirit, as the All Wise directing her creations and dealing justly with her own; how do you know what the outcome would be? Suppose everybody were to attend strictly to their own affairs, what would the result be? Faith is the very nature of Life — the very law of our being. It is ever active within us whether we recognize it or not. It is true that the just live by faith. They are alive with it. Christ found greater faith in the Centurion, a Gentile, than in all Israel. The Gentile’s faith in Jesus was actualized in the Gentile’s servant. Faith that sees itself in another, is the power that heals and the substance of all healing. Being that knows itself in all individualities, is the consciousness of Truth that tells no false stories of any.

Justice is Truth, so it is only by faith that one can live justly or truthfully and deal honorably with others. The just live by faith, not by works, because works are the result of Life’s action. The just do not live through efforts to become. Life makes no effort to become Life. It has faith in itself as Life and to live and manifest visibly. Faith is the motive power in Being and is cause to creative action. It is the assurance that its action will result as intended according to the nature of Being.

Everyone lives by the faith that is in him. Those who are just have a conscious, living faith in principle and in Truth, which never fails them. While those who are unjust in their beliefs, live according to the trust they have in their own opinions. These strive for a living in the world of competition. They say, we have no peace. They depend for success upon their opinions and not upon what they are. But the just have calm, inward assurance of the faith of God established in their hearts. Their experiences testify of the Father’s unfailing care and Love under all conditions. There is One who never forgets, and who is worthy our hearts’ perfect confidence.

Shall not principle sit as judge until the perfect image of wholeness and perfection is acknowledged and maintained in our hearts by our love for it?

We should have the same living faith in us that was in Jesus and the early Apostles: For Faith is the victory that overcometh the world. That demonstrates Immortality and eternal life here and now. We know that the words of Jesus are true, “Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above.” No one then can think anything but love of us, and we can think nothing but love of any one. All power comes forth from the One All, and no one can in truth think a thought or speak a word of us or do a deed for us, except the power in it be of God and man and work for good. A thought that has been sacred and of great value to the author is, there is no power working in me but the power of Truth, and it cannot work but for good. Therefore good results are always mine.

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Faith overcomes the world because it takes the place of the supposition that we are subject to worldly things and environed by them. If we issue a command, and really believe in it, to us that command will be fulfilled. The fulfillment is equivalent to knowledge. Having such knowledge and Faith, no worldly or material environment can stand in the way of our success. Environment does not even seem to be a power. This is the victory. The world is, therefore, overcome. Principle is infallible.

Health Affirmations

The spirit of the Lord is upon me.

“I Am” is my Name, forever. — Ref Ex 3:15.

“Holy is my Name.” — Ref Matt 6:9.

We receive all in the Name of Jesus. — Ref Luke 9:48.

Our Names are written in Heaven. — Ref Luke 10:20.

In the Name of the Lord Jesus I affirm that I am whole.— Ref John 16:23.

I do everything in the Name of the Son of God. — Ref Col 3:17.

In Truth my Name is that of Eternal Being. — Ref Heb 1: 4. Phil 2:9, 10.

The true idea of man is, that “He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Treatment of Truth

The unity of good is the unity of God. It includes me as perfect Being, perfect form, embodying all that is good.

There is no mortal self; there is no mortal body, no mortal mind, or man. No mortality whatever. The substance composing my body is Life “Eternal. The idea of its form is eternally perfect in God. I am bodily resting in the All Good, now. I am in an ocean of Love. A river of Life is flowing within me, living every part equally. Error has no claim upon me — it has no claim in Truth. I am free with the freedom of Truth. My light breaks forth as the morning. My health springs forth speedily. My righteousness goes before me. The glory of the Lord is my reward. — Ref Is 58:8.

Lesson 16. Marriage

“Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female.

“And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and ‘mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder:”—Matt 19:4, 5, 6.

Throughout all time the majority of people have thought marriage to be of Divine origin, though the idea of its divinity and just how it was based in the one Source was vague with many.

2. All scientific analysis is based in Principle; all true interpretation of Creation and what belongs to it, is based in the Creator where all things have origin and being. To begin our analysis aright it is essential to know that bodily existence could not be manifest were it not a possibility of Being; were it not potential in Being before it was brought forth in form. Right interpretation begins with the Unit. There is but one God, and what is begotten or expressed of God is God expressed. There is but one substance, constituting the Creator and creation. Man, male and female, must necessarily be, in their existence the image of God, and like Him in nature. The bodily existence of man is the expression of God’s idea which is ever potential within Him. Form is the result or expression of Divine idea; hence body is not the maker or creator of itself, the Creator is self-existent, eternal and always in action; hence, visible form is ever before us. The universe is eternally in God.

3. Men and women must learn the true significance of marriage, its true influence and character, by a knowledge of the truth of its origin. He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female and called their name Adam in the day in which he created them. — Genesis, 5:1. The potential idea, male and female, is expressed in all creation. The expression testifies of what is eternal within the Expressor. The beginning of creation is the source and origin of creative action; action has no reference to time or place, for it takes place within the Creator for the purpose of expressing the Creator’s possibilities. The Creator being omnipresent the beginning is here and now. To make man, male and female, is to make them in their Source or God. They who are in God have always been and will ever be. Paul’s statement that there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus, means that Christ Jesus is God with us expressed in bodily form, in His own image and likeness. That Christ Jesus, man, His image and likeness, excludes neither male nor female, Jesus, the expression of God, is the first born of every creature, and so includes male and female. Knowing that each are the same spirit and that the bodies of each are the same spirit-substance, is leaving father and mother and cleaving unto each other. It is Being of my Being and existence of my existence, or bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, what God has joined together.

According to the edict of human belief, the Creator made a great mistake in providing for reproduction. In Divine Science we are compelled to reverse this edict and let the search-light of Truth illumine the whole subject, a satisfactory solution of social problems is thus to be evolved. No part of the body should be under condemnation, nor should the method through which the body comes into existence be debased or thought lightly of.

In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy says : “Until the spirit of creation is discerned, and the union of male and female seen, as in the vision of the Apocalypse, where a spiritual sense was revealed from heaven, let this union continue.” In Divine Science the spiritual sense of marriage is revealed from heaven and we understand that there could be no creation, no offspring or expression of life in the creature, without the actual presence of the Creator in man, male and female. Then, shall marriage cease because we know the truth? By no means; for the truth simply reveals that it is eternal in Spirit, and stripped from all human opinions is wholly spiritual. Christ’s saying, that “In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,” means that in Truth the unity of Spirit and of body are eternal. The first fact for every student of Science to make his own, is that there is but one Spirit, one Substance; hence, there is oneness of bodies.

This brings us back to the grand old record of (genesis, where marriage is announced in allegoric language as, “Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh,” which, when referred to its primal subject, means, Being of my Being, and existence of my existence — one Spirit and one body, one Creator and one creation. Man and woman, side by side in the Lord is God manifest in form.

The Word becomes flesh. This discernment is the Truth of creation. The spiritual conception of man, male and female is expressed in the words, “That which is begotten of Spirit is spirit.” It is the revelation of the universal and never-failing law of expression, without which is not anything made that is made. In this spiritual view of marriage, recognizing the Omnipresence of Spirit as an ever-active power, as Life, Love, Intelligence and Power, operating in its own creation, one comes to conclusions that truthfully solve life’s problem and right all seeming wrongs. It is the presence of the Creator, and His action in man that prompts the true idea of marriage. This action is the origin of all children and of all activity of child-life; it is the inventive intelligence and innate possibility of all of man’s handiwork.

5. Christ did not mean that the symbol should be done away with when he said: “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning, made them male and female. . . . And they twain shall be one flesh?” He meant that, as they believed in one Spirit just so should they believe in oneness of flesh. Every truth expressed symbolizes the nature of the Expressor of it. But we should not rely on the symbol as the reality constituting marriage, for in the Resurrection there are no adverse opinions about it; but instead, “Two are seen to be as one,” and the oneness is what God has joined together. True marriage is based in unity of Being and upon the recognition of this Truth by both husband and wife. Voluntary cooperation is the result in all that pertains to the welfare of the family ; so true union is always based in Spirit. The marriage certificate, the wedding ring, the marriage ceremony, do not make two individuals agree as one. Marriage is not based in these; they are only the evidence or token of an Eternal Truth. There is no environment or limitation, when viewed aright, in complying with the literal law and time-honored custom of marriage. The real nature of the One All is Love. Love is God. Love knows no ownership. It expresses Itself through individuals, causing them to love each other. This is so because they are one Spirit and one body. The wife does not own the husband, nor the husband the wife. Their true independence is based in their unity and in the fact that they are born free and equal. There is no subjection, slavery or arbitrary ruling in Love. Love has no torments.

6. With the true understanding of Being the true married life is the freedom of unity, the naturalness of Life itself with its purity and perfection. With a knowledge of the law of Being and its true use, there can be no abuse; nor can the creative energy manifested, naturally, between husband and wife, be considered base or ignoble in purpose or actuality. Many think that the divinity of Christ and his pre-existence in God, proves nothing for us; is not a subject of interest of our day; that he came from heaven into the world, but that we were not before we were born as babes, and that our continued existence as a special personality depends on our believing on Christ, whom they think is altogether different in nature from what we are. But Science proves that we all were in God before we expressed ourselves in bodily form and that our bodies came forth by the same law of expression. Being is both Cause and effect, Creator and creation. In this consciousness, or “for this cause man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife.”

7. The fact that we are all born of Spirit, that even as babes we are begotten within and of Spirit, translates our origin as babes from what is claimed to be mortal man into immortal Spirit, where it is seen, “That which is born of Spirit is spirit,” and translates our visible parents into Spirit Being. Some have believed and presented theories to the effect that marriage is based in God, in that he creates in pairs, two souls that are especially adapted to each other; and who, when embodied in visible form, will never be satisfied and know happiness until they find each other. It is .left to conjecture as to how these two souls became separated. The claim suggests a personal God with ability to create just two that could agree and no more. If this were so He would have as many different souls and natures as there are pairs in the universe. The thought is exceedingly personal throughout, and does not represent the limitless Truth of Being. Therefore, this theory has never brought satisfaction to its followers, and never will. Man is the name for humanity. Male and female both belong to man; man is God’s idea, which idea is expressed in bodily form in men and women; man is the real self-hood of all men in God, and is also the real self-hood of all women in God.

8. ”Since the law is the shadow of good things to come,” says Origen, who writes sometimes of marriages, and husbands and wives, “we are not to understand it of marriages of flesh, but of the spiritual marriage of Christ and the Church. As, for instance, Abraham had two wives, etc., here we ought not to confine our thought to carnal marriages and their offspring, but to extend them to the mysteries herein signified. And there are numerous other places in the Scriptures about marriages, but every place should have a divine, moral, and spiritual construction put upon it. Whoever, therefore, reads the Scriptures about marriages and understands no more by them than carnal marriages, errs, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

Origen tells us that “The Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them according to the letter.” He says that “The source of many evils lies in adhering to the carnal or external part of the Scriptures.” And adds that, “Those who do so shall not attain to the kingdom of God.” Origen, St. Augustine, St. Theophilus of Antioch, St. Cyril, St. Jerome, all Fathers of the Church, interpret the marriage scene in Cana of Galilee in a spiritual sense, as designed to represent the union of the inner with the outer, which turns the water into wine the outer or letter into Spirit. As it is designed in Genesis to represent that “The waters under the firmament,” which include all existing things, and “The waters above the firmament,” which are all God’s possibilities, are forever united. The same spirit of Truth embodied in Christ made within himself of twain one new man, thus making peace. “This was most appropriately the first miracle our Lord (Truth and Life) is described as performing.”

9. St. Paul took the same view of marriage as did Origen, of which he writes and speaks so often. In his epistles to the Ephesians (chapter 5th), he interprets his meaning lest it be not understood by his readers, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church.” In the allegory he compared man, our real limitless self-hood, with Christ who is the head of the church. Now Christ, who is God expressed and dwelling in our midst, is the head of the church. We being God expressed, are in this Truth, the head of the church, and we with Christ are also its salvation or Savior.

Paul also placed wives in this allegory as individuality and bodily form, and says, “husbands, love your wives ;” that is, we in our invisible, potential self-hood, as Divine Idea, must love the individual and bodily existence, even as Christ (the Truth and Life) also loved the church and gave himself for it; “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church : For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Now, because we are just the same to God as is Christ, the Truth of self is spoken to us this day, and of His fulness have all we received.

10. Paul continues to say, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they two shall be one flesh.” This is a great mystery: “But I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” How could every one of you love his wife as himself if it were not that the primal subject of the allegory is that the eternal self-hood of male and female is the Christ of God, or man of God. Then we, as men and women from the plane of pure being, can love the wife, individuality and bodily form, as we love our life and self-hood; and then individuality will reverence the husband; and from the plane of individuality we can say, the Lord is my husbandman, for we, each, individually, are members of his body, flesh and bones.

Paul’s idea of submitting ourselves is expressed in the twenty-first verse. After telling them to give thanks always for all things unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear (reverence) of the Lord.” Then, when he told the wives in the allegory, to submit themselves unto the husbands as unto the Lord, he meant that we should mentally bow to the Truth of Pure Being, mentally conform to the Truth that our Being, body and all, is the Christ; and this men and women should ever do to practice Truth. This is the conception that Mary had of her husband when, the angel Gabriel appeared to her and the Holy Ghost descended upon her. In this Epistle Paul conveys no idea of inferiority or superiority between husband and wife. Love and reverence are one; and they two shall be one flesh, side by side in Truth.

11. Another allegory of Paul’s that has been greatly misunderstood and has aroused much sentimental feeling, is that of Abraham and his two wives.

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman.

“But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise.”

Here Paul plainly states: “Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, . . . and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

“But Jerusalem, which is above, which is free, is the mother of us all. . . .

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

“But as then, he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit.” Even so it is now. So will it ever be as long as we believe man has two natures — an immortal nature and a mortal one, a Spirit and body that are unlike each other. The law says, cast out the bond woman and her son; that is, cast out the false belief of physical causation and what is born of it, and know there is only one Source and Cause in which male and female are no more twain, but one flesh.

12. God could not be Infinite and Supreme Mind without also being Generative Idea; — the Mother Principle, — that idea in which the Father Idea, as principle acts to bring forth form. God does not act from without, but within himself to Create. Mind contains all idea, that of Fatherhood and Motherhood and childhood. Hence the consciousness of the one mind is One, and it has said in Genesis, “Let us make man.” Mind acts within its idea as Spirit acts within soul, and may be called Father-Mother idea or Father-Mother soul. What is produced by creative action in idea is actualized in form; is brought forth a living child; therefore, childhood is an expression of Parenthood. What is joined together in God, his Being forever holds united as one. Now it is clear that marriage is the unity of male and female and that unity is God. The injunction, “Increase and multiply,” is the law of Being. Shall marriage continue? Truth’s answer is, it shall never cease to be.

“What God hath joined together, (What is joined together in God) let no man put asunder.” For this reason, in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. They live according to the Truth of their unity.

13. Some will say, if we are to come back to the record of Genesis and realize that we are all one substance and that substance is God, where is there any choice in marriage? Whom shall I marry? What would my choice be based upon? I am sure that God-knowledge would do away with the necessity of these queries. The question would be settled as to what marriage is, and as to whom you were to live with; and if there was no choice based in desire, no one could be disappointed. The choice based in Truth would be a constant joy and rest. The knowledge of Being would fulfill its own law and we would demonstrate that we are as the angels of God in heaven. Marriage would be free from all worldly desire and everything that is not according to Divine Love; for this reason, all seeming trouble would be dispelled and false beliefs about marriage would end, because not joined together in God. Every child would be seen to be a Christ child ; which means, God with us. This is suffering little children to come unto Me. It is the state in which the wife is not without the husband, nor the husband without the wife in the Lord. It is also understood that “He that is joined unto the Lord is One Spirit ;” hence, one body. Here we can agree with Paul, “Every sin that a man doeth is without the body;” but he that committeth sin, sins against his own body.

14. As the origin of marriage is Spirit, and Spirit is one, a thorough study of Divine Science and knowledge of the Truth of what Being is, is the way by which the true soul communion and satisfaction can be enjoyed, which people expect and should find in marriage. With a knowledge of the Truth of Being, all apparent inharmony and trouble will adjust itself; desire will not govern the conduct of one toward the other. The consciousness that sex is potential in the Creator, and that the Law of the Creator is to bring forth in His own image and likeness, enables us to see that we are working like God in bringing forth in our image and likeness; increasing and multiplying after our kind; and that the son of man is the Son of God. So, dear friends, let us be glad and rejoice in our Divine Parenthood; that we were born right; that our Being is God; that all there is of us is Good.

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, and to her is granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

Let us rejoice that we are free from all worldly opinion and belief concerning marriage; that we are sons and daughters of the Most High, no more twain, but are joined together in that Spirit which is Cause and effect, which no man can put asunder.

Lesson 17. Marriage

“How shall this thing be, seeing I know not a man?”

The true idea of the unity of God advanced in the new Testament, is conveyed in what Gabriel — man of God — said to Mary before and after the above question. The answer to Mary’s question was based in the following conception of Truth: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” To be overshadowed by the power of the Highest is to see nothing but the presence that overshadows.

Marriage is based in the absolute consciousness of the unity of the one All, — the Source of creation, Production or Generation. Re-creation, re-production or re-generation mean repetition of these expressions. The power of the Highest overshadowing us is the consciousness that there is but one All. Seeing I know but one and that One not a man, but God, “How shall this thing be?” Because there is but One, and that One is God. “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,” the Son of the Highest. Nothing is impossible with the One All ; nothing is possible apart from it; it is ever present and manifesting in us all.

Mrs. Eddy says, that “Until it is learned that generation rests on no sexual basis, let marriage continue, and let us permit no such disregard of law as may lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Spirit will eventually claim its own, and the voice of physical sense be forever hushed.” It is true that generation does not rest on a sexual basis; but there is no basis for the sexes but the Creator. Let all things be based aright, and right results, which are just and loving, will follow. In the consciousness of Truth, as stated in the previous lesson on marriage, there is no limitation sensed by conforming to the law of the land. Spirit does claim its own in Truth and there is no physical sense. To believe that marriage is merely carnal, and that there is a physical sense of that fact, is to believe falsely concerning it. As we are united in Spirit and in Truth, we are truly One Spirit, and being thus united, our affection for each other is centered in Being. Love, which is God, and the attention given to each other in this true companionship is given to God manifest in the flesh; what God gives to His own. Two, then, are seen to be One Spirit and One Body, and what God has joined together cannot be put asunder. This true marriage was spoken of by Hosea: “And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (that is, my husband), and shalt call me no more Baali (that is, my Lord). And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.” — Hosea 2:16-19.

Husband and wife are forever united by the one Law of Expression, and it is an unalterable Truth, that what we are one with, we are wedded to. So, if we are wedded to form, it it because all living form is one substance; if we are wedded to the Creator of all form, it is because we are one with the Creator in substance.

So, it is written, if we are joined to the Lord, we are one Lord — one in Being. Literal marriage is, therefore, a symbol of the reality of God’s Eternal Unity. All the obligations of marriage are based in the Truth of unity, and are fulfilled by keeping this conscious unity in action. To keep what God is and does, in remembrance, is to know no man after the flesh but is to know God — the one and only Life with us — as the All in All; for what is conceived and brought forth is necessarily of the Most High. There is no end to the reign and the kingdom of this consciousness.

In the full consciousness that there is naught but God, the Good, there can be no undesired parenthood; the children that are, are divinely brought forth and treated as such. It has been the experience of many, who from a personal plane, and according to human belief, have planned and prepared for offspring, to bring forth children not different in disposition from those brought forth without previous preparation. In some cases, where much time was given to pleasantry, and what was supposed to be desirable to make the offspring perfect, it was found that anything but desirable conditions were present with the children. What lesson does this suggest to us? It is evident in Divine Science that we must know the nature of God, the One All, know the infinitude, perfection and goodness of the One and only Life, Substance and Power, before we can know that we are thinking true thoughts — those that bring forth the good that we desire. A true spiritual insight into marriage from the plane of Eternal Unity, reveals that there is no nature for us to partake of, or be, but the Divine, the nature of the One All.

But if our divine inheritance is not understood, we do not understand how to plan for or consider the same in our children, for in belief we are out of the way of understanding, and vain effort is made to obtain what we falsely imagine are our needs.

Men and women are equally spiritual in their desire to experience the office of parenthood. This is necessarily so, because it is the power and possibility of Being to bring forth after Its kind. “Let us make man,” is a possibility in Omnipresence which can only be expressed by Omnipresence. All men and women must, therefore, in nature be that Omnipresence. It is erroneous belief, and ignorance of Truth that shrinks from parenthood. Fear of suffering and the sense of it, belong to the same erroneous state. This is why many unwise things are done to prevent child-bearing. Painless parturition is the natural state of motherhood, and this natural state has been demonstrated time and again in Divine Science. The applied Truth of our Being proves that the natural office of child-bearing is performed free from pain and disability.

The love of the All Good, the conscious purity of purpose of this office, and the knowledge of the unity of All Power, firmly held to, frees from the usual sense of limitation, fear, and consequent suffering. Everyone should know the Truth of their own Being, and the Allness of God, regardless of seeming age of body. So children cannot be taught the Truth of their Being too young.

In Karezza, by Dr. Alice B. Stockham, we read: “Sexual science in human life bears such a close analogy to plant life, that it should be taught with the same freedom and reverence. Most emphatically the young should never receive any idea of shame or debasement in connection with any natural function.”

The only basis from which the Truth can be taught, is the unity of God, and when it is accepted as a basis for all educative subjects, then the Truth, the whole Truth of the law of Life working in men and women, will be as freely taught as is botany, and the signs of parenthood will be joyfully welcomed in the purity of the one Spirit of Life and Power. When we understand that our part in the reproduction of our kind is simply the repetition by the Creator producing in His own image and likeness, we have the right conception of unity, and have made a right beginning. This state of at-one-ment, held to, will produce correct results, those in accord with the true nature of our Being in all the relations and interests of married life.

If those who are seeking some new way by which to bring forth children knew the Truth of the old, or God’s way, we would not hear so many vulgar notions expressed about it. It is only in the failure to see the Truth of conception and birth that anything is found to condemn. To false belief, marriage is made so vulgar that plans are made to discover a new method. All that is necessary is to give up false beliefs about it, and accept it in its original purity.

The One All, being one in nature, we reason and practice poorly unless we conform in all our ways to the Truth of what is, and thus prove our ways to be spiritual, and ordered divinely. If this is done, we see that every child not only has a right to a parenthood of thoughtful preparation, but every child has a parenthood hitherto unrecognized save in the record of the birth of Jesus. This record testifies of the truth and reality concerning the birth of every child, and that everyone is the inheritor of Life, love and Truth, the same nature and mind that was in Jesus, the Christ. So, in a knowledge of the Truth is to be found all desirable conditions pertaining to the fulfillment of the command : “Multiply and replenish.” In a knowledge of the Truth there is no submitting to chance maternity, nor can it be considered a misfortune or accident. In it we see, as did Paul, “We are children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” What a wonderful conception! Heirs of God!

Not heirs of certain qualities of His nature, but heirs of His Infinity and Eternity. This consciousness affords children the best possible birth — the Immaculate and pure conception which must ever accompany the realization of His omnipresence, the power of the Highest overshadowing us. This consciousness is absolute purity, in which the entire nature of man, as he is to God, is expressed naturally. He does not think of himself as master and servant, of being dual, comprising a lower and higher nature, but knows himself as perfect man throughout, a perfect whole, knowing what he is doing, understanding his action and the natural result of action. This birthright of unity and equality with God is a pearl of great price, more precious than all human beliefs and theories. Would we enjoy the purity of this priceless gem, all human beliefs about what Being is, must be parted with. To see God as All-in-All is to know no man. It is to be freed from the so-called law of human belief, of which Paul speaks to the Romans in the following language: “Wherefore, my brethern, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” — (Romans 7:4.)

We are to conclude that in Truth, marriage is wholly spiritual, and thus seen it is freed from all the false beliefs that have been held about it. Two united in love, with purity of motive, is a perfect symbol of “Let us make man.” The image and likeness says, “Let us bring forth after our kind;” and it is so. God’s presence within them is His blessing and commandment, “Increase, multiply and replenish the earth.”

“This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.”

Lesson 18. Overcoming Poverty

“Give and it shall be given unto you.”

“Ask and ye shall receive”

“Seek and ye shall find.”

“Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

“That which a man soweth, the same shall he also reap.”

“Such as I have give I unto thee.”

Poverty means destitution of property, want of convenient means of subsistence, need.

Any deficiency of resources that are needed or desired. Especially a lack of sentiment or words.

“What is poverty to a gentleman, is competence to a day laborer.” These are Webster’s definitions of poverty.

2. To speak on the negative side of things, there are different kinds of poverty.

Any deficiency of resources that are needed or desired would come under that head. There may be poverty of thought, of feeling, of purpose. If so, it must show out in want of words, a lack of harmonious sensation, and desire for the ability to do good. While we are acknowledging lack within ourselves, — lack of happiness, lack of health, or a lack of success along any line we desire to succeed in, , we are claiming deficiency of resources, and are giving out what we do not wish to receive at the hands of others as full measure, pressed down and running over. We are sowing what we do not enjoy reaping.

3. So, there seems to be poverty of happiness, of good feeling and pure motive as well as of food, raiment and shelter, but there is no reason why this should seem to be so. The Supreme Source and Cause can never admit this seeming to a place among its own; it is not the outcome of knowledge, but the result of ignorance. Then, to do away with all seeming deficiency of resources is to know truth, which makes free; is to have knowledge of things as they are, and work the law that is all prosperous. Knowledge is always a remedy for ignorance.

In this enlightened age when there are so many Scientists, who have found their good and are demonstrating the law of affluence, every person should be encouraged to believe that what has been done can be done. What is for another to enjoy is for me to enjoy. Each one should encourage himself to believe that I can accomplish what others have accomplished.

4. When the majority of people know how to live, they will make Truth the law of the land, and will govern it accordingly. They will be a law unto themselves, and unhappiness, sickness and poverty will be among the by-gones of the past. True Spiritual education will have revealed to them that happiness is within themselves; will have revealed the unfailing health and absolute success of their own Being. They will have located their good in Being; which will enable them to demonstrate it. Some say, it is a disgrace to be financially poor, but we need not add the word disgrace to it, thinking it is more appropriate to do so than to add it to mental poverty, or a lack of spiritual appreciation of truth, or any other seeming deficiency.

5. In Divine Science students are first taught what Being’s power and possibilities are, then why they should and how they can make them manifest. Mental poverty leads to all other kinds, so to speak. Let us not be poor in thought or belief and we shall know that there are no barriers in the way of our demonstrating the freedom and fullness of Truth in all our ways. “In our present occupation there is not sufficient business to bring the income necessary for the needs of those depending upon it.” You naturally ask, “How shall I increase it?” We would answer by first knowing the fact and valuing it that you are the business manager, that you are the maker and creator of your own conditions; that you can manage your business in perfect accord with the universal law of success; and that you cannot work against the law, and do anything, without running against seeming obstacles. Thousands of Di- vine Scientists have testified to the increase of business through applying its principles, and those who have not as yet demonstrated can do so.

6. It was and is intended by the Creator that we succeed, be happy and healthy. You desire health; how will you get it? First acknowledge that it is located where you can have free access to it. You have lost your health? Then to find it you must be where it is; that which is lost cannot be found unless you are in the place where it is. You must either go to it, or it must come to you, or you must discover that both are in the same place. Recognize that the seeming lost health is in Being and then say, I am it; I am health, and am demonstrating it. The way to prove that you are not poor in health is to commence to be health its self, — the very wealth that you wish to demonstrate. If you V want to be happy do the same. Recognize that it is innate then give it full play in your thought, feeling and in all things you do. Finding the source of all things in Being where you can get at them opens the way for their demonstration. It does away with all anxious desire, worry and fretting with hope deferred and erroneous anticipations of the future. This is truly conquest of poverty, it is being the fund of wealth desired, that knows no lack. It is the finding that follows true seeking. It is the receiving that follows true asking. It is that which is given unto you, when you give yourself credit for being God-like and doing as He does and having the same results. There are no obstacles of duality in this conquest.

7. The overcoming of poverty is not merely personal or individual; it is universal, individual and personal. Some may say since there is no poverty how can one speak intelligently on the overcoming of poverty? The overcoming is the conquest of false beliefs; every erroneous belief of lack of whatever nature, and the conditions resulting therefrom. I am the conquest. I am the I resurrection. I am the manifestor of success, health and happiness.

8. In the old way of believing we have not enjoyed the riches that belonged to us. Our inheritance is God. We should say understandingly, “Such as I have give I thee,” and begin to give out of that which we have. This will soon bring the realization that giving and receiving, externally speaking, go hand in hand and are never separated; it will prove that having includes demonstration; that Being includes right doing in the right time and place.

9. We all really and truly enjoy a realization of true wealth, true overcoming, true conquest, by what we give out of that which is potential within. It seems paradoxical to say, we have just what we give or that we receive just that for which we ask, and reap just what we sow. We cannot sow one kind of seed and reap another. We cannot ask for one thing and be given another. If we ask for bread God will not give a stone. If we truly give we do not lose hat we have; for ye shall receive is the law of balance, the justice, love, and goodness that sustains the universe in order and supreme harmony.

10. He who overcomes seeming poverty knows no lack, no law by which poverty can be brought about and made real. In this conquest we know that there is a power of equalization, a law of justice that has said, “Give and ye shall receive,” that will prevent one class of people from impoverishing another class. That law is working now and will continue ever. If there were not enough in the world for the necessities and comfort of all people, outside of the accumulation of wealth held by trusts, this law of equalization would distribute what they had in store. It would not remain hoarded up for one moment. There are no vaults or safes that could prevent the law of justice from distributing what was therein contained, if there were not enough outside for the happiness of every person. Such is the comfort, rest and certainty of one who truly understands and has demonstrated over poverty. To Him the universe is a just one — its law is love; it is beneficent in all places at all times. There is no need to fear coming to want, at any time, in any place, under any conditions or circumstances. This law is operative for every individual. Rest, ye children of God, and cease your striving.

11. Divine Science is a great working and equalizing power in the world. Let every one who wants to help wield its power to silently and openly arbitrate matters, where there is seeming disagreement, instead of resorting to conflict, study deeply into the impersonal principles of Science and apply them. Individually we must each be givers and receivers — do the thing we would have done unto us. We should lovingly receive and appreciate our being treated by others as we have treated them. We should not receive to ourselves any other kind of treatment.

12. How shall we begin to give? You say I have nothing to spare, I cannot afford to give, I must receive before giving. Then know that the only receiving there is before giving is the willingness on our part to admit that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; that all that our Father has is ours and all that is ours is our Father’s, for we are one. That we are co-workers together with the all good. Now is the accepted time. The time to accept all that rightly belongs to us. Now you have received, then you should begin giving. Now is the time to be healthy, wealthy and happy. Give out health, give out the wealth of your being, give out its true happiness.

13. The author has practiced this and has experienced the working of the law of opulence in every conceivable way. She has no fear of coming to want, no consciousness that such a thing as real poverty can be. She knows that it is impossible to desire what she should not have; hence, cannot desire what she cannot have. If any one had told her before she realized truth, that she could or would carry on the responsible work, and accomplish the vast amount that she does from day to day, she would have thought and said, impossible. Since knowing that Being is the law of supply, she is free to undertake what should be accomplished, whether the money is in hand or not, knowing that the demand for the work contains the supply; that there is a Spirit Omnipresent in all, who distributes where it belongs. Where once she would have been nerved to a very high tension over conditions she now sees no power in them and no place for them, and is at rest in her work.

14. ”He that scattereth, increaseth.” We cannot gain riches along true lines by doing poor work. We should put our whole mind and soul in what we do, and not be poor in concentration, in attention, or in determination. Our attention must be given to our work to do it well. No one ever achieved greatness who allowed himself to be turned from his course, or switched about by every wind of doctrine. To practice truth go alone a few minutes as often as convenient with the consciousness of what Being is, and affirm the truth. Then go forth and practice it in thought, word and act. Think and say I am affluent until you feel that it is so. Then yield not your point of realization to old habits of speech and lines of thought, but hold on steadfastly to the realization, that I am affluent though there is not a penny in the purse or even in prospect in the ordinary view of things. Spiritually speaking, if you are one with God, money is yours just as much before it comes into your hand as it is after. Therefore, know that he who works all things together for good, according to his own infinite bounty, “knows that ye have need of these things,” and said, “If I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal 3:10. None of us desire to reap the reward of poor sowing or to eat the bread of poverty. We want a good bountiful harvest and the living bread of which, if we eat we shall not die. To store up a harvest of good and to partake of the true bread in the right way is desirable to all. “Behold, the fields are ripe and ready for harvest.” Now, is always the harvest time, spiritually speaking. In reaping we may gather tares (people may come to us with numerous undesirable experiences) but the first thing to be done is to bundle them altogether to be burned, — consumed as by fire; thus we gather the good unto ourselves. We find that our store house is always full of good things. The practice of truth means constant sowing, constant reaping and constant supply.

15. The author has no desire to say anything upon this subject that has not been her privilege to demonstrate. One can speak with authority of those things which they have actualized in their life. Divine Science is a living actualization in her daily work. Its law is demonstrable for every one who will go to the depths of its principles and apply them personally.

16. When you read or listen to this glorious truth and great principle of opulence, do not try to find, in your imagination, another way by which its demonstration could have taken place. Never allow yourself to say, “It would have happened anyway; other people are healthy, happy and successful who are not scientists.” People can get themselves into such a mixed mental state by speaking in this way, that it is not an easy matter for them to discern truth enough to be happy any place, under any circumstances, or to harmonize with any surroundings. It is true that people often demonstrate temporarily along the various lines of success and accomplishments without studying science, but they are as apt to lose as to gain. There is no deep sense of rest or certainty in connection with their possessions. They are just as fearful of losing as they are eager to gain. While with scientists there is the certainty of knowledge, the rest of Being and the opulence of an unfailing law.

17. When you have read a science lesson or listened to the teachings of science or when you have made your affirmations, do not turn from truth by murmuring about your conditions, and affirm sickness, unhappiness and poverty for yourself. Do not murmur against the spiritual authority of any one, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” Miriam, the sister of Moses, rebelled against his authority and her punishment was, that she was stricken with leprosy. Rebel not, resist not, we should each attend strictly to our Father’s business; the business of the origin of all things. We cannot murmur against another for One is All. We can murmur only against ourselves. The habit of doing so is liable to show out in almost any undesirable condition.

18. Think and say, to and of others, your authority is all right. I am also authority in so far as I choose to recognize and practice truth. Say, nothing can prevent my own from coming to me. There is nothing to prevent my being healthy, happy

19. Do not always scrimp yourselves to succeed, but remember, “Such as I have give I thee.” “God loves a cheerful giver.” Treat yourselves until you have a realizing sense of being the principle of supply, even the law of success. All good should be accepted and handled with loving hearts.

20. In the old way of seeing things, and “becoming by and by,” if any seeming trouble arose the thought was, we are under its influence. We naturally fretted and chafed because of its supposed dominion and belief of our subjection. In the “new and living way” we stand unmoved, knowing our eternal dominion; that we are able to abound in all good things, even to the riches of the infinite whole. We thus continue the even tenor of our way. It may rain, hail and storm, mentally speaking, but we do not forget who we are, or what manner of Spirit we are of.

21. To be rich in Being is to be rich in mentality and is to be rich visibly. Then let us lay hold of the riches of Being, locate our wealth, so that we can prove our opulence. Let us sow freely, give forth full measure and we shall reap bountifully and receive abundantly. Let us affirm:

I am health, God is the health of His people.

I am success, God is unlimited success.

I am happy, God is supreme happiness.

I am not poor in health.

I am not poor financially.

I am not poor in happiness.

I have given what is given unto me.

I have received what I have asked for.

I have knocked and the source of all good has opened unto me.

I have sown from this source and have reaped its bountiful harvest.

I have given such as it contains.

The All is the Creator and creation.

We individually are givers and receivers.

Prayer of Thankfulness

22. Oh, thou holy presence in whom we all live and breathe and carry on our living work, we love to exalt Thee as all in all and glorify Thy name as wholeness. We rejoice in Thee, Oh, Supreme All as our abiding place forever. We rejoice that in Thee we live, are moved, and are; that none of Thy children are outside the fold of unity, which is Thy unfailing protection. We are thankful that all are in Thy loving embrace. May the heart of Thy blessed humanity be turned to this sustaining and comforting truth. May it find Thy health, Thy happiness and Thy bounty to be its very own. Our thankfulness consists in our realization that all things are ours, and that while we are yet asking it is given.

Lesson 19. Immortality

Immortality means the quality of being immortal; exemption from death and annihilation; unending existence; so it is clear that immortality does not necessarily refer to life after death, an existence that begins with the death of the body. It is more than this, it is self existence; Life entirely exempt from death.

Life that has always been, will always be. This is what the allness and unity of Life means.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush’s afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.”

Like expresses like. The perfection, purity and fullness of Infinite mind produces pure thought — thought fully rounded out — which shows accuracy in word and deed.

2. To accept the creator as our Being, one must stop the effort to create Being, or to create anything except by being the Source of it, or to express anything except by being the Expressor of it. To form or reform outward conditions or forms, the work must commence within and work from within out. Not that the work of reformation is that of an Infinite Mind or Being reforming itself, or making itself different from what it is; such a thing is simply impossible. To reform is a repetition of the act of Being imaging forth its nature.

Immortality is not gained by personal works that any man should boast, but it is the truth of an everywhere present intelligent Mind. It is to be laid hold of and brought to light. So, “If ye abide in me, (the I that I am,) and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it will be done unto you.”

3. Many at the present time, as well as in the past, have believed bodily immortality possible, and have worked to attain its demonstration. The general belief held is that immortality of form depends upon some special unfoldment, due to personal effort. The author has met with spiritual students who were trying to immortalize their bodies by affirmations without any knowledge of or reference to the greatest thing ever known, that there is but One Substance or One Spirit, and not two; and that two substances cannot be found any more than can the Holy Spirit and another spirit be known; and that the All is self-existing. The consciousness of Truth is the day, or light, in which Jesus said, “Ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” What is not, cannot be demonstrated. What is, can be.

4. The following testimony of a theologian is direct and good: “The most radical and far-reaching disclosure of the evolutionary philosophy is that of the unity of Law and Life and Truth. It is the revelation and convincing proof that there is not a dualism in the universe — that there are not two verities, one of the Divine and one of the human ; that there are not two moralities, the one of heaven, the other of earth — but that all law is one, all life is one, all Truth is one. It is almost bewildering to think of the effect of such a revelation upon all our thinking. It has already been the solvent of many ancient superstitions, and it will be the solvent of many more.”

The law of heaven is the law of earth. Those who are seeking the law of heaven through death, ignore the fact that it is the only law of earth manifested here and now. They are dealing with a supposed separation that does not exist. The law of God is God himself. The law of good is good itself. It is to be seen that Divine Science is entirely free from worldly opinions of materialism, mortality and dualism. Where this great Truth is not understood, immortality is argued for, as possible for the future, and the fact of its reality is overlooked.

5. Paul speaks of immortality as something that already is, and is to be put on. “When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,” death is swallowed up in life.

What is the truth to which Jesus referred, when he said: “If a man — any man — keep my sayings he shall never see death.” One of these sayings is, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Another is, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life ;” also, “I and my Father are One.” Then, it is clear from this teaching that we must see the Unity of Substance and accept the Truth that we are it, which is oneness with the Father; that in Him we have Being; that in Son-ship is life, and the life is the light of men; that in my flesh do I see God; that my substance was not hid from Thee or from Me before I was expressed in the earth; that I am co-eternal and self-existent in God.

6. Divine Science and Natural Science meet in the Infinitude and Omnipresence of God; the unity of the All. Divine Science has a definite system of teaching based on and in the allness and everywhereness of the One, and the nowness of Eternal Life. Natural Science has formulated nothing, but it holds in conjecture what will be the result of this mighty Truth.

The old line of demarcation between what was supposed to be the natural and the real, or the natural and the spiritual, has disappeared, for Science proves that we are here and now in a spiritual world, in the true sense of the term; and it is only to false beliefs and opinions that it does not seem so.

A minister once said to the author, “I would be afraid to teach as boldly as you do, for fear that some professor would discover something contrary to what I was teaching.” He who knows Truth is certain that all discoveries will blend with what he knows. Do you wonder that the feelings of so many people are deeply stirred at the present time on this mighty truth, when, as one Natural Scientist has expressed it, they see “God as the ultimate fact and Spirit the one foundation on which all things rest?” This is a well known fact, into which the scientists of the twentieth century have entered and are living.

Dr. S. Stanley Hall has said, “Out of the research of chemists and biologists there is unfolding something that might as well be called love as anything else. The word ‘love’ is the most fitting motto to be placed in any of our biological laboratories; for the reinforcement of the good old Bible doctrine of love is coming through the microscope and the laboratory.”

Prof. Dolbear says, “I think we are very near to a scientific basis of immortality that will transform most of our thinking.”

Prof. A. J. Duboise believes that the discovery has already been made, and presents his arguments with great force in an essay entitled “Science and Immortality.” The following is an extract: “The Scientific basis of Theism is recognized by all Scientific men, whatever their religious beliefs or their views of a future life.”

An eminent Physicist was asked the question, “Will college text books declare the unity of force, the oneness of phenomena, physical, mental and spiritual?” He replied, “Yes, even the most elementary manuals will begin with the fact of Deity as the first fact of physical knowledge, and thus bring Theology and Science into solidarity.” Commenting on this statement, Dr. C. T. Stockwell says: “What a thought is this ! As we look out into space we see God. In a rose, a lily, a sunset, we see God’s idea of beauty. Looking out among the swimming worlds of stars, the majesty of God is revealed to the open mind. This view leaves no room in the whole universe for death or dead matter. There is absolutely nothing but life anywhere. * * * God has nothing but Himself to make His children out of. They are perfect because He is perfect. They live because He lives. There is only one Mind, and they share it only one Spirit, and they are Spirit.”

7. The foregoing testimony of Scientists must forever do away with the belief that we are mortal, and establish the fact that there is no mortal mind, mortal man or self, or any mortality whatever.

Divine Science establishes fully, absolutely, through its system, and there is no dual power, no duality anywhere in Supreme Being, or in visible existence ; that the pronoun I, spoken with limitless meaning, and the word Father, are One. “He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the son.”

8. Let us conclude: That since there is but One Substance, two cannot be found ; so, if the bodies of two men, one in a state of health and the other supposed to be in a state of disease, were resolved back to their original elements, nothing would be found in one that could not be found in the other; the elements of either would not be found to be temporal or diseased; both are indestructible, hence in a state of ease. They are traceable chemically and scientifically to the one Supreme Cause. Not an atom of anything that is can in any wise by any means be annihilated.

Where then is immortality of body to be found, if not in the elements of which it is composed and in the indestructible idea of form. The idea of form being eternally in Infinite Mind, which is the basis of its continuous demonstration, or prolonged life, it should be recognized as eternal in idea. Mortality then is relegated to suppositional belief and opinion; into the nothingness of which falsehood consists. That which is without foundation is, in symbolic language, assigned to the bottomless pit. This pit is intended to represent what becomes of conditions and beliefs that have no reality in truth.

9. Jesus taught that “If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, then are ye my disciples, and ye shall snow the Truth and the Truth shall make you free” from death. He taught His disciples that they were what He was, and said: “Go tell the people that I ascend unto my God and your God, and my Father and your Father.’’ He taught the common origin of us all, and that we are all one in nature ; and the only demand that was made was that we “believe on Him whom God hath sent,” even on ourselves who are sent into the world. He said, “Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” He that believes in Jesus, must believe in himself as the sent of God.

10. Then can bodily immortality be demonstrated? Yes, Jesus demonstrated it. What has been done can be done and is being done. Jesus was an example of bodily immortality. To follow that example is to be what Jesus is and do as He does — the things that I do. How did Jesus bring Eternal Life and immortality to light? By revealing the truth of Being. “If ye keep my sayings ye shall never see death.” “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father,” for “I and my Father are One.” “The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.”

To keep His words is to represent the truth of what He is; and to thus represent the truth is to be what He is. Divine Science proves that immortality is not dependent and Healing on anything, but is, and is eternal Truth, which every tongue should confess; a truth to be realized both universally and individually. That the Supreme All is Eternal, is the foundation fact of realization.

11. Then to know that our bodies are included within ourselves, and that we are co-eternal and co-equal with God before our form is expressed, is to know that our bodies are begotten as was the body of Jesus; that God is the Father, Source and Cause of our bodies. That we are born into the world a living demonstration of the Fatherhood of God. Divine Science is the system of teaching in which man’s divinity is known and proven, as we find him here in bodily existence. It is the system that teaches the absolute salvation of the body, so that it can be understood and applied. It teaches the truth of Being, of creative action, and creation; and proves the Creator, creative action and creation to be a trinity in unity, One living and true Good. Divine Science recognizes no mortality, no corruption — “God will not allow His holy one to see corruption.” It recognizes no evil, or falling short in its system. It knows no partial truth, no temporal life, no death, for it is the perfect truth, which is always with us — that has already come; so that which was, in part to observation, is done away, with a true knowledge of Being. Salvation means to be saved from death, saved from death here and now. So let us lay hold of the allness and everywhereness of God, and prove that life is eternal; that it is now what it shall ever be. Let us live in the present, and know that now never ends, and we will find that all practical good is already demonstrated.

Life is all in all.

I am Life exempt from death.

I am Substance exempt from mortality.

I am Intelligence unvarying.

I am Power unending.

I am what is, was, and evermore shall be.

This is the True freedom promised us, even Eternal Life.

We are in Him who is True, even in His son Jesus Christ, and we are True.

This is the true God and eternal Life.

This is the Truth of man, who is Life never-ending.

Lesson 20. Questions By Beginners

Q. What are the first principles for students of Divine Science to learn?

A. The student should first learn what Being is. Then, what to think and do, and what not to think and not to do, to make thought and deed harmonize with their knowledge. The student should then learn to discriminate between Spirit and nature, between God and creation, but not separate them; between that which is eternal and beliefs that are temporal, and separate them. When students have realized the above they have laid the foundation for a practical realization of Divine Science.

Q. Why is it, that material remedies do not effect permanent cures?

A. Material remedies do not remove the cause of disease, which is ignorance, for this reason they can never make a permanent cure.

Q. Why is it that truth cures?

A. A knowledge of truth erases error and strikes at the root of the tree of false beliefs. Truth being the word of light and life, which never changes, it must ever heal.

Q. Is pain or disease cause or effect?

A. When disease makes its appearance, the sensing of it is effect. The disease that we feel — false belief — is mental. All seeming discord is false belief; it is purely mental and suppositional; not spiritual or real. The sense of disease indicates that there is something spiritual and real that should be recognized and brought out in our lives and unfoldment, and given a place in belief.

Q. What is it that invests disease and inharmony with seeming reality?

A. It is a suppositional belief that they are real. As long as we trust human beliefs and opinions disease seems to be real, and we try to get something out of it that it does not contain. We think it is necessary to our advancement, unfoldment or discipline. God is the only source, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Q. What is personality?

A. The usual interpretation of personality is limitation pertaining to persons. Feelings of limitation come from supposing the body to be all there is of self; and appearances and sensations to be real and to have dominion over us. The more contracted the beliefs of the person about himself, the closer will he cling to effects, and the less attention will he give to Supreme Cause. True personality is the expression of God. It is one with the Supreme One.

Q. Where shall we commence the work of regeneration?

A. Regeneration must begin where all creation begins; our work and workshop are both in Divine Mind. When the senses are enlightened by understanding, the production of Mind is realized to be one with it. To image Mind in thought is harmony.

Q. Why are Spiritual adepts without personal desire?

A. They are without desire because they know themselves. Desire is a recognized need; Spirit is fullness, wholeness; self demonstrable.

Q. How can we know that there is but one source of life, or but One Power?

A. There can be but one All. One being the number of unity, harmony is forever maintained in all there is. If a single atom of the One All could be destroyed we might reasonably suppose that all there is, could be. But as there is only One, there is nothing to act against it; so, it is free to be Its Self. As one fills the universe there is no room for another. Two self-existing powers are inconceivable. No matter how much we suppose there are powers many, there can really be no power but God, and God is one.

Q. What is the cause of suffering and the act called evil?

A. There is no cause in truth for either; they both show that truth has not been recognized and applied. When truth is not recognized we fall short of it in reasoning, believing and acting. Therefore, they come about through placing too low an estimate upon the nature of Being and existence; an estimate that falls short of what man is in his relationship to the all good. The knowledge of Being is the remedy.

Q. Should we treat for particular results?

A. Speak the truth of Being, with singleness of purpose. Treat, that God’s perfect expression may be made known to the patients. That His presence and motive may be apparent to them. Let your intention be to bring patients into the understanding of Being. From the standpoint of the universal we can treat for particular results. From the standpoint of personal desire we should not do so; nor should we treat at all from that standpoint. Treatment should never be given while holding the belief of necessity or disease in thought. The attention should be fully given to the fulfillment of all promises, and thanks should be rendered for the enjoyment of all seeming necessities and desirable ease. The universal treatment will bring all things to you, out of the universe of supply. In treating do not forget that man is one with God on the three planes constituting the Law of Expression, and your treatment will be all inclusive, all sufficient. To God there is no disease, no poverty, no death.

Q. How do you account for the recovery of my friend, who was ill over fifteen years?

A. God’s word is truth; and her recovery was due to the fact that when truth was spoken she responded and gave it expression. Sometimes it is easier for patients to recover after they have lost faith in all external remedies, and have lost attraction for external things, than it is if they still have hope in and desire for them. To God there is no incurable disease; they who believe, demonstrate.

Q. What did you call her disease?

A. I did not see disease, therefore no name was given it. When the false beliefs that patients hold about themselves are erased and truth is made manifest, they are quite at ease, tranquil and happy.

Q. What is prejudice, and its remedy?

A. Prejudice is pre-judgment; it is an opinion formed or decision rendered before knowing the truth about the person, or thing, which the prejudice is held against. When truth is heard concerning man or anything, if there is a desire to hold to and sustain previous opinions the reverse of truth, that desire is based in prejudice; it shows that more attention has been given to opinions than to truth. When there is no pre-judgment there are no opinions formed before knowing the truth concerning the person or thing about which judgment is to be rendered. When we admit the presence of all truth, we do away with all prejudice. Let not the mental eye be blinded.

Q. Why are some more difficult to heal than others?

A. The mental conditions of some persons are more tenacious of error, and less susceptible to truth than those of others. Such innocently believe that sympathy with and for conditions is comforting to the afflicted. They mistake sympathy for love and truth. This false view of sympathy is the means by which they mentally hold conditions of disease. They fear to let go of false beliefs, because they fear losing sympathy which seems to them so sweet and necessary to happiness. Fear is the only bondage sensed, and it holds no reality.

Q. You teach us that God is in every place, at all times. Then we are to conclude that perfect goodness is in every place at all times. How can perfect goodness be where evil is?

A. God being present Goodness, the life and mind which creates all things, creation has no other. Not for a single moment is he who is called a sinner out of the presence of perfect Goodness. He who perceives not this truth perceives not Spirit — God.

Beliefs expressed in sinful acts are those which result from the sense of separation from God, and which acts at the dictates of desire; they have no realizing sense of the presence of Good; “Light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”

To our sisters and brothers whom the world calls evil because of words spoken and deeds done through ignorance, we would say that you are living and moving in the presence of absolute Goodness at all times. This presence will cease to be vague, when you recognize the silent good within and around you, and make your decisions in unison with it, wholly disregarding appearances.

The Spirit will teach you the word of reconciliation; how to make your thoughts and deeds Its thoughts and deeds. Goodness is unmanifest in thought until you think it and make truthful decisions. When your thoughts are good, the good is manifest to you. Make the thought right, and your deeds will be good. As two things the reverse of each other could not occupy the same place at the same time, there is no evil power present anywhere. There is no power the reverse of Power.

Q. If God is all, how did the appearance of error or evil come into the world?

A. One says it came through man’s ignorance. We will not be able to solve this problem for ourselves until we realize that there is at all times but one method.

So the way error comes into the world at this time is precisely the way it came into the world in the beginning; for in truth now is the beginning, and now is the ending. But what is ignorance? Ignorance is taking things for what they are not. And what are things that are taken for what they are not? Things are forms; that which is made to appear or is made manifest. So ignorance is unsuspectingly taking forms to be separate from God, and believing them to be ourselves.

Q. How did you say that the mental becomes fixed in the letter or form?

A. The attention becomes fixed in the letter or form because the will accepts effects or appearances as a basis from which to reason; hence, thought forms erroneous conclusions. What we think about, that we are conscious of. As we have believed the body separate from Spirit and thought we were dependent upon it for happiness and health, our pleasure and pain were based therein.

This is a reversal of the true idea. The truth is, the body is not a cause for anything, but is a result of something. These beliefs are the cause of thought being centered in the letter or form.

Q. What is the way of return to knowledge and power?

A. The way to knowledge, power, health and to all that is good, is that of taking the position of thinker, of being them and then thinking right. The origin of man’s existence is God. In thought he goes out from the Father because his attention is given to the works of thought. He is not really away from God; to know this is to do away with the sense of delusion.

Q. Do the thoughts of others influence us, or our children before they are old enough to think for themselves?

A. Thoughts do not influence Being; hence, they do not influence the child. Thought shows our beliefs and opinions, which are sensed in the body of both parents and children. The beliefs of the parents and friends may be sensed in the bodies of children before they are old enough to think for themselves; but thought based in truth will never cause them any inconvenience. How essential it is, then, for us to know the truth not only for our own comfort but for the comfort of our children.

Q. Is thought affected by things around us?

A. What we see does cause us to change our thoughts, and we think according to our surroundings until we awaken to truth. Not until we awaken to truth can we stand unchanged in thought by our surroundings. When we know what mere appearances are, we attach no importance to them.

Q. Will every soul have to go through the experience necessary to demonstrate to itself the nothingness of evil?

A. Soul is always demonstrating the problem of life and knows the nothingness of evil ; that the non-recognition of good is not a power; that to ignore God or Goodness ignorantly or otherwise is not an expression of truth.

Q. We can think as quickly of a far place as a near one; can we see similarly?

A. Yes ; we can see as far as thought can reach. Seeing is mental. Through physical conditions you may see physical surroundings, but it is not a desirable attainment to work for; it keeps consciousness limited to form.

Q. Do we, in a future state of existence, retain our love for our own: i. e., the members of our family?

A. Certainly; for love is immortal. To love is to fulfill the law. You cannot lose love, for it is of God. Of all that is His nothing can be lost.

Q. Is not that love which excludes all but our own family circle, selfish?

A. Much of that which is called love in families, and among friends, is selfish because it is limited. You will lose all selfishness in time, for selfishness is temporary, and is doomed to travel the broad road. The time will come to every one of us when we will know we have no selfish desires.

Q. Then, may not all that we now call love, prove to be selfishness and pass away?

A. Yes ; all that is called love that is selfish will pass away, but all the Love that you now possess, whether you are expressing that love perfectly or not, you will retain throughout eternity; for the same is of God. You cannot lose the real and permanent; it is the unreal and false that is lost.

Q. Do we always have form?

A. Yes; to think is to form; therefore, as long as there is thought, there will be form. We will always have form, but we will never be merely form. Form is effect, and we are Cause, the Maker of effect. I, Being, include body, I am one perfect whole.

Q. If God is everywhere, what is meant by being lost?

A. To God, or Spirit, it has no meaning. The awakened are conscious that they are not lost, and they know that the unawakened are only lost in belief. Those who believe themselves to be lost, are like one in the wilderness trying to find a path which leads homeward, while He is the way. They are like a woman looking for her spectacles, while they are on her nose, and she is looking through them. To believe that we are to be cast into outer darkness, and remain there forever, is outer darkness itself; a condition than which there is none darker. To indulge in such habits of thought is to deny the goodness and love of God, and “His mercy which endureth forever.” Belief of being lost, is due to ignorance of where and what God and Christ (the Truth) are, that heaven is within, and only waiting recognition to be enjoyed, and that we live in the kingdom and presence of God at all times, and in all places.

Q. Do not persons who believe that they are lost, feel that there is something gone, that they must look for or seek?

A. Yes ; such an one is looking for and seeking — (though blindly), for that which is forever at hand. Salvation is not a matter of being transported, at a certain time to a certain place or locality; but it is consciousness of being what cannot be lost. To know the truth, and serve it, is to be saved from ignorance, selfishness, and false beliefs of separateness, and continually live in the sight of God.

If we indulge the habit of thinking of ourselves as isolated from God, or as separated from Goodness, we cultivate selfishness thereby, which accumulates troubles to its self. If self or person held in separation becomes our chief consideration, it generates fear; and fear considers all that it sees, as separate from, and an enemy to its self.

Q. What is the remedy for trouble and selfishness?

A. The remedy for littleness or limitation, is a knowledge of God and love for truth for its own sake. The remedy is a knowledge and love that knows no limitation.

Q. When we treat one, do we treat all?

A. Spirit bears witness of its self when science treatment is given. Truth applies alike to all in the healing of disease or erasing erroneous belief. To think is to centralize action, so, thought is under the direction of the thinker and always accomplishes what the motive indicates; in this sense thought is individual, but, is inseparable from the universal.

As many can be treated at one time, as conception and comprehension can hold and realize in truth. All are treated when knowledge is applied that embraces the whole. The motive in a special treatment is, that the truth shall be revealed from Spirit in that special case. In a universal treatment it is revealed universally. We frequently have universal demonstrations. A great change of thought and feeling takes place universally; a thought of cheer, a feeling of comfort, a satisfaction with, and an appreciation of the world. A blessing working from within, out, causing people to see that all things work together for good. Great waves of health and of self confidence and spirituality are awakened in humanity by our universal treatment.

Q. Are children to be treated the same as adults?

A. The same truth frees all. In healing men, women, or children, perceive them and yourself, to be pure Spirit or Mind, then, think and speak what is true of Spirit or Mind. Know there is no body of sin; therefore do not deny the body when denying false beliefs held about it. See the patient as a perfect whole. Say, There is no body of sin, no diseased body, no mortal or corruptible body, no body that is sick. Your body is a temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is glorified, sanctified, pure, perfect and complete; a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God. This is performing my reasonable service. Then say : We thank thee, O Lord, God all Mighty for this perfect body. I have not sinned against my body and my body has not sinned against me. There is no sin in me. I am dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God forever more. I am recreating my body with every breath and with every heart beat. Every day is a new day and nothing that belonged to yesterday can bind or limit me. I am fearless and free.

Q. Are there any true healers who do not suffer pain?

A. There are true healers who from the personal standpoint suffer pain. The author commenced her work of healing as soon as she grasped the truth, without waiting for bodily relief, and she did good and lasting healing. Some of the cases are spoken of, in the chapters on Spiritual Experience. But as a full realization of absolute truth, and living the life, and demonstrating it for others, soon relieved her, so will truth realized and applied relieve every one. Truth reveals that we are maker and master of sensation. Even a partial realization of truth enables us to mind not the things of the flesh, — that which would be painful and troublesome without the truth known and applied. This shows that true healing can be done from the standpoint of Spirit, while we are yet suffering pain bodily. If this were not so how could any heal themselves? as the author healed herself after twenty-five years of illness, so, her literature has proven self healing possible to many others. Every one who will lay hold of the truth can be healed, regardless of the seeming pain apparent.

Q. Why are animals allowed to suffer pain and disease?

A. They are made to fear and tremble, to doubt and to want at the hands of men. They are loved and petted, hated and rejected, sustained and fed, killed and eaten by men. Then, is it not because men are not single to truth in their conception and are not exercising unity, God given dominion, that the animals are caused to sense pain and suffer. Dualism, and a belief of separation, is the cause of the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together until now ; waiting to-wit, the redemption of our body. Ref. Rom 8:22, 24. With the redemption of our body, — the body of humanity, — from pain contains the redemption of the animals and all form. The animal cognizes through the five senses; by seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling. It is sensible of the manifest world, and sense fears to lose that of which it is alone sensible, and also fears that its desire will not be gratified. Much could be said concerning the fear caused by the manner in which they are treated by “human beings,” but it is not our purpose to do so at this time. Fear is suffering, for it is mental inharmony. Material things are continually changing; so mentality based therein, and limited thereto, must necessarily suffer from fear, and doubt, and desire. When the visible universe and sensation are all that the thought recognizes, pain results therefrom through a sense of limitation. The thought of fear is the mental disease which has its out-picturing in what is called physical disease; absolute freedom is painless; reality is void of suffering.

Q. Does Divine Science disregard man made law?

A. Divine Science recognizes and finds a place for all law and order. It knows no limitation and none can be felt in observing the laws of the land. Divine Scientists are a law-abiding people. Everything that really exists in the world symbolizes the truth of Being, and there is no limitation to the use that we may make of them. So, we may use man made laws with absolute freedom and power. He who knows the truth of Being has freedom in the use of all things.

Q. Has Divine Science anything to offer, as a basis, for the education of children?

A. The basis it has for the education of children is the truth of the nature of their being. The relationship they hold to others and to God; that the reality of all educative subjects is potential within and has simply to be brought out; Being as a basis throws light upon every study. Children respond to truth in marvelous ways — in God’s own way. Educators of children should recognize that children are made up right and that the power to know all things is God’s presence manifesting in them. They should be treated and talked to by their teachers as they would treat and talk to His Divine presence. This state of things will come, everything is tending that way. The recognition that children are not to be crammed, but that true education is bringing out what is potential, is right, and must work for good for both teacher and pupil. The time will soon come when the Omnipresence of all power and knowledge and of all that really is, will be recognized as a basis for all true education.

Q. Is thought power or the instrument of power?

A. It is the instrument of power, power reveals its possibilities to the individual by means of thought.

Q. Is unity, or equality, what people want to know and live? Do they not want to maintain their pride of attainment and belief in separateness?

A. People may not recognize that they want unity and equality, but it is the very infinitude of truth and law, that they want and are seeking for. They are seeking satisfaction. Unity or equality being infinite there is no satisfaction apart, or that differs from it in nature. People have no true desire to maintain pride of attainment based in the false sense of separateness. Unity of Being, unity of action and the result of action does not depreciate or limit individuality in the least; instead it brings out the beauty, the strength, the true culture and eternity of its nature.

Q. What method of discipline in truth is there for children?

A. Truth itself is the only discipline. “Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’’ First, see all children as Christ children and as begotten of God full of grace and truth and know that the heaven that is at hand contains them and is in them. Treat them as if all this were an eternal reality; then let them be natural ; you will find this method of realizing their being, their good and their freedom to be all sufficient. It will be the only mental training and discipline that children and parents require.

Q. Are accidents good?

A. If error is voiced it must be voiced by error. Since truth alone speaks truth, and in truth there are no accidents; to it there are none to be good. The good that really is, is not dependent upon what are called accidents, or mistakes, to bring out its goodness. Mistakes are of no value in the use of mathematics. Were one to say he was bodily in New York at the time he was in San Francisco and cause others to believe it, the erroneous statement would be of no value to the man who made it, nor to those who believed it ; then, it certainly would be of no value to God. Nor would miscalculation that resulted in any seeming accident be good, or of value to any one.

Q. Shall we disown the belief altogether, that experience is our best teacher?

A. You should certainly refuse to give this belief a place. God is not taught by experience. His experience is the sum of His Self manifestation, — the expression of His own knowledge. In truth we naturally know all things and were we to maintain the recognition of that fact we would prove it; until we do maintain a constant recognition of the truth that Being is knowledge, we should hold that It or God is the only teacher.

Q. Is the principle taught in Divine Science infallible?”

A. The principle taught in Divine Science is infallible; for principle is everywhere the same from eternity to eternity.

Q. How shall I teach my children to pray?

A. Children should be taught the prayer of thanksgiving and understanding; to pray by affirming the truth of God, their good for themselves.

Q. What thought shall I hold to secure success?

A. If you want to succeed, then practice success. The way to practice success is to act as if you were success itself. Have no fear, doubt not. Love and faith are power and substance. Go forth fully equipped with them.

To illustrate, when you want to buy something, buy it as if you could afford to do so and believe you can. Do not feel afraid to spend the last dollar in hand — all of God’s dollars are ours equally. On the other hand do not feel afraid to lay up money for certain purposes, or to wisely invest it that you may receive an income. Do not feel afraid that people will say you are not “in Truth” if you do. Attend strictly to your business, regardless of what others think or practice, and be not swerved by opinions and beliefs.

I am the way of success, is for everyone to know and demonstrate. You need not hold any thought, but be what God is — Conscious Law, Power and Success.

Affirm in every act, I am success.

Give and ye shall receive; receive and ye shall be able to give. First receive spiritually — accept what God has given you. Do as did Jesus when he said, “All mine are thine and all thine are mine.” This means, to have nothing but what is God’s, and that all that is His is yours. Accept this as a practical working basis, and then do not claim any more for yourself than you do for anyone else, and justice will be meted to you as you deal justly with others.

Q. I am at a loss to know how to present the law of growth scientifically. Will you please explain what it is?

A. The law of growth is not what it is generally supposed to be, development from a lower to a higher plane, state of Being, or degree of consciousness. It is not according to any theory in which the unfoldment is claimed to be greater than the Unfolder, the Source from which it is unfolded.

The way to understand the law of growth is to view it from the plane of the Creator. If it is a living growth, it must be viewed from the standpoint of Life. It is generally supposed that a child develops from a lower to a higher plane as he unfolds a knowledge of the principle of mathematics, or if he is faithful, and perseveres in practicing his music lessons. This seems to be correct when the subject is viewed from observation. But the right way to view all questions of growth and development, is to view them from the Source that causes growth. All power is in Life, and all that Life expresses is absolute. There is no high nor low. It requires as much power and intelligence to manifest one living form as another. There is no high nor low in mathematics when examples are viewed from principle. The principle being one it cannot be high and low, and it is the principle that is demonstrated in each example, simple or complex; it is the same intelligence revealed in both. As all harmony or music, unexpressed or expressed, is in Spirit, it is Spirit expressing its possibility in the growth or progress that is made by its student.

Strict adherence to principle, and the student’s faithful practice, brings out what is potential within. Mathematics and music are potential in Being. When we judge righteous judgment, we correctly perceive that the child simply unfolds the fullness of what is within him in his various mathematical demonstrations. There is but one state of intelligence manifest in the Infinite variety of living things.

The law of growth we can see, is simply the law of self expression, Being acting and revealing itself — God creating within and unto Himself. True education is said to be the act of calling forth what is potential within. True knowledge demonstrates and reveals, and gives form, or formulates what is potential within; so all living expressions are from within, out, and the only true unfoldment is the unfoldment of the powers and possibilities that we are. All unfoldment is the work of an Unfolder. All growth is the effect of that Omnipresent Being that causes it. So, direct expression of God in creation by means of Divine activity, is the law of growth and unfoldment.

Q. What is meant by going into the silence?

A. It means to enter into a state of mental abstraction in which thought and attention is withdrawn from the mere appearance of things and conditions, and is centered upon the truth. There are two ways of entering this state, one is positive and the other negative. When it is entered in the positive way the attention is withdrawn from the surface and centered upon Being, the principle, substance and reality of self and of all visibility. The purpose is to realize at-one-ment with God and thereby commune with him and self, and from this at-one-ment express inherent power and idea which we are in Being.

When the silence is entered in a negative way, the attention is withdrawn from the external, the same as in the positive, but it is not fixed upon Being, nor on any definite purpose to be accomplished; hence, it is an attitude of waiting for something to come, or to appear, not knowing from whence it is to come. The conclusion is that the impressions received must come from God, merely because they were received in the silence. The truth is that most, if not all, received in this negative state are simply impressions and are just as liable to be of some human belief and desire as from principle, reality or God. They are just as liable to be unprofitable as profitable. Going into the silence in this way means, if continued, to become a medium for impressions, from all manner of thoughts, beliefs and conditions, which is not advisable nor profitable. God expresses Himself, and is never impressed. It is advisable and profitable to follow His method and by so doing we shall express ourselves.

The common practice of holding in thought a word or words for the purpose of bringing things to pass, without knowing that Being is the reality of the words, brings nothing but sensuous response. To go into the silence understanding^, is to go into it for the purpose of speaking the positive words of the truth of what God is, which words testify of our at-one-ment with Him. These words do not result in a sensuous response, but make visible the truth of what God is.

When I cast out devils (personified beliefs and opinions) by the power of God, then God is come nigh unto the patient. When there are no more false beliefs personified the presence “of true Being is apparent.

Q. I have studied under a number of teachers of the “New Thought,” and have always been led to think that these higher truths should not be used on so low a plane as material prosperity, or business success. It was taught that we have a right to expect health and spiritual prosperity, but that it is wrong to use the Truth to further our financial interests.

I have gathered from the teaching that you not only approve of using Truth for prosperity, but teach that we may use science to promote material prosperity. Is this right? Is it according to the Bible?

A. If Truth is not to be used and made the basis for prosperity on this plane of existence, then there is nothing that can be used and made the basis of our dealings with each, other but error. As long as we hold that there is both material and spiritual prosperity, we will hold one in Truth and the other in error, which is a dual theory not found in unity. The moment we hold Truth for both they are seen to be one even as Truth is a unit.

If it is wrong to use the Truth to further our financial interests, it is certainly right to set Truth aside and use error. They who have been thus instructed in the New Thought have not been taught unity of action and result, hence it is possible for them to suppose that Truth could be used for the well being of some, and to the detriment of others, but this is not possible.

One who reads the Bible and does not see that prosperity is God’s law, does not read attentively, and all he needs to do to realize that God is His own success, is simply to behold the Truth of the visible universe Questions by spread abroad before us. Since God is successful, and Beginners is infinite, man’s success is to be found within Him, hence it is written, “No good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly.” “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”

“Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.” And Jesus said: “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Surely success must be a good thing, rightly understood, and being a good thing it is Godly; so I would say: “First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added.” In the Kingdom of God and His righteousness there is food, raiment and shelter for all.

The belief of inequality and want has come about through misunderstanding of God’s law, and through the belief that we are not to use the Truth in our every day walks of Life. Let us no longer hold our business in separation from God. Unity within is expressed in outward co-operation.

Q. With the full consciousness of the Divine Order of Infinite Mind, does the Law of Expression cease to be?

A. No ! emphatically no, no ! God never will nor can we do away with the Trinity of Being, action and result. Creator, creative action and creation. He is the whole trinity. All things share in it and it is all things. When Paul said, The Law acts as a school master to bring us to God, he referred to the Law of Moses, “Thou shalt not,” not to the Law of Expression which is the eternal, self existing trinity of Being.

I am, therefore, I think and speak, will never cease to be truth. Do not allow yourselves to give place to the erroneous suggestion that this question implies, for the law being self-existing it can never cease to be.

Lesson 21. Theological Questions

Q. What meaning does Divine Science give to the word Father as Jesus used it?

A. It means the one and only Creator or Expressor of visible existence — the universe of things. As the word man includes both male and female, so, the word Father as used by Jesus means universal parent-hood; the parent-hood of infinite and Omnipresent Mind or Spirit manifesting itself in all living.

Fatherhood, spiritually speaking, means God expressing Himself in all creation at the same time and sustaining all within Himself, and supplying every need.

Matt 5:16, 45, 48. 6:8, 38. Luke 12:30.

As Jesus recognized God as Father and advised that we say Father to God and to none other, and taught that His will is to be done in all things, so does Divine Science hold that the Fatherhood or parent-hood of God is also the one Supreme Will. “It is not the will of the Father that the least of one of these should suffer,” or that we should suffer in the least. We are all blessed in having one Parent Source and Cause in that we have Being within it; we are therefore eternal Being.

“It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” What is his pleasure to do, is done. In truth the kingdom is ours ; in it we know Power to be one ; Being to be one ; Life to be one. We know that as we honor the Father just so must we honor the Son. As we honor the one Source and Cause just so do we honor Its creation or Expression; for it is the Parent-hood of God that sends all into the world.

In the knowledge of truth, all that the Father has given us, we give or grant to all others, and what we can say of our relation to God we can say of the relationship of all others to Him. We have one Father, even God. In Science we can say, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,” and, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” The consciousness of this truth means “Atonement,” or “Ascension.” In this at-one-ment we can say, “Whatsoever ye ask of the Father that will I do, that the father may be glorified in the Son.” This is going unto the Father, and being able to say, “I and my Father are one.” In this state of consciousness the son of man is glorified. Remember this ascension is unto my Parent-hood, and your Parent-hood; my Good and your Good. My Source and Cause, and your Source and Cause.

Q. What is the true meaning of Son?

A. Son means in part, he who is a direct expression of God, — the image and likeness of God, — “The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” If there was anything in our existence that was not God expressed it could not claim son-ship. As nothing can be manifested that is not, the Son of God, or Man of God, could not exist in form without first being an eternal idea potential in the Father, or supreme Parent. Hence, speaking from the stand-point of God and according to His Allness, we say Man is with God and is God in the beginning. He is in reality the eternal idea that St. John recognized as the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, that was full of grace and truth; of which he affirmed that “Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” This truth he said came by Jesus Christ, and that it was the Life of every Man that comes into the world.

Jesus said, “The Son quickeneth whom he will,” also “The Son abideth ever,” and, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:35, 36.

The full meaning of Son is eternal Being expressed in existence co-eternal and coequal with God. Speaking from the stand-point of God Son-ship or child-hood is potential in Father-hood or Parent-hood. Speaking from the stand-point of Son-ship or child-hood Father-hood or Parent-hood is potential therein. In Divine Science the truth is spoken and the word of power is manifested from the standpoint of God.

Q. How does science explain the “First-born?”

A. The first-born is all that is begotten of God; nothing more nor less. “The only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth.” The first and only born of every creature.

Q. What is the fullness of the word God?

A. Its fullness is infinitude. Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence. All that this trinity implies. The word God comprehends all that really is. Truly, there is but One All.

Q. How does Divine Science explain the image and likeness of God?

A. Some ask, “if God is Omnipresent Spirit how can He be imaged?” They think that what is formless, and unseen by the natural eye, cannot bring forth after its kind in form. They think that man is form and that as such he brings forth form after his kind, and that all things in nature do the same. This is idolatrous belief, based in a supposed physical causation. The image of God is God expressed in individuality and visible form; it is infinite idea expressed and expressing itself in mentality and visibility.

The likeness of God means that all the attributes and qualities of God, — all the ideas or potentialities, — are expressed in his image. So, the image of God is exactly like Him in nature. God is Life, Love, Truth ; the image of God is life, love, truth, etc. As the Father is life, so is the Son life. In that all form is potential in the Infinite Source, every thing bringing forth after its kind, means that the Infinite Source brings forth after its kind that which is potential within Its Self. It is constantly expressing man as man. Its infinitude of variety does not consist in making one thing out of another (bread of stones), but it consists in expressing the unlimited possibility of Its nature, which contains all variety.

Q. If Heaven is not locality, how do you make it tangible and real?

A. Heaven is the real state of Being; we do not have to make it real, for it is eternal reality. We actualize and make it tangible by unfolding our real nature.

This is done by basing all our ways within it; by thinking, voicing and acting its truth, — by being, loving, and living its reality.

Q. What is the First Birth?

A. First Birth means born of God. The Christ Child. Every child that comes into the world, as it is to God. The entirety of every creature. “Born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of Man, but of God. It means born from above ; born of Spirit; born of the Infinite.

Q. What does the “Second Birth” mean?

A. It means a thorough Spiritual awakening and realization of the Truth of what the First Birth means.

Q. What is the First Death?

A. The First Death may be truly said to begin with a very subtle supposition that “Good and Evil,” Truth and a falling short of Truth are good to make wise; this leads to the belief that contrasting experiences, those supposed to be of opposite natures are the source and cause of wisdom; hence, numerous theories of dualism based in experience naturally result. Death is a suppositional belief that there is something that is not. All beliefs of dualism are of this nature ; they are life-less and can have no showing but in seeming separation called death. Death is belief in separation from God, or one might say separation of God, for the belief in division of power or that there is good and evil power is a supposed division in power. To suppose that there is something more or something less than God that is real, or that there is some other way to know wisdom and realize its fruits, beside being it as God is, is to die in belief, to the Unity and Allness of God. When these suppositions seem real to people, they actualize in what is called literal death.

Q. What is the Second Death?

A. The Second Death is dying to all false beliefs, — all suppositions that fall short of Truth. It is putting away lying, and speaking truth with each other; it is putting on the new man created in righteousness and holiness of truth, it is putting on the whole armor of God, — the absolute Unity — as did Jesus the Christ; it is being the Christ or truth of God.

According to Revelation he who overcomes is not hurt by the second death. Overcoming causes the belief of death and hell to surrender every thing that it holds in its embrace; it delivers from the bondage of fear people who have spent their time from child-hood in preparing for death. Ref Rev 20:15. The second death means absolute annihilation of the belief in death and hell. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the Second Death.” Rev 20:14. All personalized conditions, — personified beliefs and opinions that have not their source in Life are consumed as by fire, when the Unity, Divinity, and Eternity of the one all is accepted. It is only false belief that believes in falsehood; it is only erroneous supposition that claims error to be real. This conclusion is summed up in Rev 21:8. Where it is said all false conditions of idolatry, and all idolaters and liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the Second Death. In the Second Death, the seeming self-hood that sins is seen to be nothing ; is consumed as by fire. A self-hood without spot or blemish, sinless and incapable of being less than God’s exact image and likeness is known, realized and unfolded with the second death. This is the meaning of “He that overcometh is not hurt by the Second Death.”

Q. What light does Divine Science throw upon the resurrection?

A. It throws the light of eternal Being upon it. “I am the resurrection and the life.” All that I am is not life without including my body; therefore, I raise it to Life, to what I am. I am Spirit soul and body, one perfect whole.

Q. How is the Crucifixion to be explained; what crucifies the body and who raises it?

A. All false beliefs are suppositions that there is something that is not or that things are different from what they are in reality and in truth; they include many seeming desires and needs, they hold the body as subject to everything, “good, bad, and indifferent,” these mental conditions crucify the body.

God, the I that I am, raises the body from the dead beliefs and opinions.

He who accepts God as all in all raises the body from erroneous belief and places it as subject to nothing; but as resting in the embrace of Infinite Being.

Q. According to Divine Science is there no sense in which God punishes his children or brings sickness upon them?

A. God is as far from punishing or bringing affliction upon His offspring, His own expressions, as the principle of mathematics is from bringing error into its examples. The only way the example suffers is by loss or lack of the principle; and the only way that the body suffers is by the belief of the lack of God within it, or from the loss of the realization of the presence of God all through it.

In that the principle cannot be used erroneously, miscalculation causes confusion. In that error of belief cannot express God, it can cause nothing but a sense of confusion, and seeming punishment. “God is not the author of confusion.” If he was the author of sickness, we could not demonstrate over it. We are not greater than the One All, that we can demonstrate over Its works. It is sufficient that we be equal with the one all.

Q. If all is good why do we not see it so?

A. The All in All does see it so. Nothing but erroneous belief fails to see as God sees. Erroneous belief has no being but its own error, as a believer in itself.

It never claims to be anything in the present; it is always hoping for something to come. We do see that all reality is good.

Q. What do you think about our knowing each other in the Spirit world?

A. To know each other at all truthfully, one must know what truth is; the truth is there is no world that is not spiritual, and it is God who knows his people.

It is because we are God in being that we know each other. Not unless God ceases to be God, nor unless we cease to be what He is shall we ever cease to know each other, at any time or in any place, or shall we ever be separated. As we know each other now, we shall always know each other. They who know the Statement of Being and the Law of Expression, know there is neither more nor less at any time than God expressed. Because individuality is inseparable from God, it is not capable of being separated. Those who have experienced what is called death, know us, and we know them. There is no lack of knowledge, and knowledge knows individuality and its manifestations.

Q. What is the sin that shall not be forgiven?

A. Forgiveness implies a forgiver. “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Sinning against the Holy Ghost would be like attempting to reason against Reason. “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of Men.” Sin is a falling short of Truth. If the son of Man falls short of Truth he can be forgiven by giving up the habit of falling short; but when the Holy Ghost comes upon him he knows that there is but One, and that one being Spirit or God, includes him individually and bodily: then it is no longer the son of man speaking, but the Holy One, and as God cannot sin against Himself, He cannot forgive Himself. Having no false habits he can give up none. Sinning against the Holy Ghost would be like God going against the knowledge that He is All in All. Knowing His infinitude, there is no one to forgive, and the attempt to forgive would be as error repeating itself. So, it is clear, that Jesus’ words: “He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,” is a figure of speech. In the consciousness of Truth we cannot forgive error for there is none to give up; we can only see its nothingness and live the life of Wholeness. “The son of Alan hath power on earth to forgive sins,” means that we personally have power to give up all shortcomings, and reform our ways and Healing in dealing with all things upon the earth; we have power to cease personalizing human beliefs and opinions, and to say I to the Holy Ghost or God manifest, and do so with knowledge, power and divine authority. He who hath never forgiveness, is error of belief, and is in danger of condemnation. We all are life and pure Being in Christ. There is nothing to fear.

Q. Why did Jesus say on Calvary, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

A. I, and my God mean two. It is not sufficient for atonement, or demonstration of absolute at-one-ment to hold that I am, and that God is, and that we have two wills, two natures or purposes that conflict. Jesus made this remark that the people standing by might realize what all must do; sooner or later they must surrender self to God wholly, and without spot or blemish that God be known as All in All including Creation, Jesus revealed His purpose when He said, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Also after the resurrection when he said, “Go tell the people I ascend unto my God and unto your God.” The ascension means there is but one All; therefore, all teachers of Truth know that Truth applies alike to all nations and that the baptism of Holy Spirit is immersion of self-hood into Spirit. It is baptizing all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. God always forsakes the claim of separate self-hood from Him. He disclaims the belief that there is a separate identity. I, and Father are identical in meaning. In absolute Truth the Son must be subject unto God that God may be All in All. Ref 1 Cor 15:27, 28.

Q. What is ascension?

A. It is knowledge that God is all. That, I am that I am, and beside me there is none other is eternally true. It is being what God is and doing His will. It is having no self-hood, no purpose nor will less than infinite.

Q. How did a cloud receive Jesus out of sight?

A. People who believe in dualism believe they are separate from God; they believe their being to be the reverse of Him in nature. To them there is a dividing line between God and Man, spoken of by Paul as a middle wall of partition,- and is sometimes called the veil of the temple. To those who believe in separation and becoming “by and by, over there,” there is always a seeming cloud that conceals from them the absolute truth of at-one-ment of God and Man. This at-one-ment is out of their sight. Why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? Jesus, whose real state is Heaven, shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go, Man must come out of the cloud in order to cease seeing Heaven and God beyond the cloud. Man in his state of at-one-ment with God, enjoying the real Heaven of Being, must be seen here and now with nothing between him and God; nothing between him and Creation; no veil over the temple; nothing to receive him out of sight. The spirit world, God’s potential creation, is here manifesting itself visibly. It was a supposed separation that caused Jesus’ ascension to mean, to the disciples, going away; a mere change of locality, and coming again. “Lo, I am with you always.” Jesus Christ is always come in the flesh ; this Truth is of God.

Q. Has immaculate conception a scientific meaning?

A. The immaculate conception is wholly scientific. The power of the highest, is the omnipresence of Spirit always over-shadowing, pervading, sustaining and living us ; ever holding us in its loving embrace, and filling us with its goodness and generative power. For fuller explanation study the lessons on marriage.

Q. Is Divine Science religious in its nature?

A. Science is absolute knowledge of what is and of all there is, it is knowledge of the unity of all that God’s omnipresence means. It leaves no room for disease, death or dead matter. All is Life. I am Life.

Divine Science knows no religion but Truth. No sentimental or restricted religion.

If religion means bound back or unity with God, Divine Science which proves the absolute unity and Allness of God is absolute religion or absolute Truth.

Q. What consolation does Divine Science give to those who are grieving for their dead friends?

A. It gives the consolation that there is no death, loss of life, consciousness or individual identity. That there is no separation by space or quality of substance between the Creator and Creation; that our identity is eternal in God. The scriptures support Divine Science in these conclusions in various ways. God recognized the conscious identity of individuality after so-called death when He said: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus said: “God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” He also recognized individuality after death when he raised Lazarus. He spoke to Lazarus as an individual and called him forth. He recognized conscious individuality when he raised the widow’s son. He proved the conscious individuality of those the world called dead when He stood talking with Moses and Elias about what manner of death he should die. Verily, there is no loss of consciousness, of individuality; no loss at all.’

Q. Can we derive any spiritual lesson from the cursing of the fig tree?

A. The substance of the spiritual lesson to be derived is contained in the first and second verses of the fifteenth chapter of St. John. “I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman, every branch in me which beareth not fruit He taketh away.”

It symbolizes the taking away from us, personally, all that does not bear fruit of the spirit, and it is taken away from root, body and branch. It showed His disciples the meaning of His words and works, that we are to place no value upon what bears no fruit, and is of no value to the husband-man or Spirit. “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” In the blasting of the fig tree, not even the root is left to sprout again. The whole is seen to be dead and of no value. It becomes as nothing in our conception.

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” So, we should have fruits, or results of the Spirit in our works. We can and we do demonstrate our possibilities and our eyes are open to see the truth of what we are doing.

Q. Upon what authority do you say that the kingdom of heaven, the celestial sphere, is a permanent condition and not locality?

A. Christ saying, “Heaven is at hand.” And “Heaven is within you,” was meant for every person to realize and for all time. Therefore, it must be everywhere at all times, and in us all. As Being is all in all, heaven must be contained in the all, and if so, it must be the eternal state or nature of the all. Our authority for this claim is the infinitude of God.

Q. If Divine Science takes from people their long cherished fear, what certainty have we that they will govern their conduct aright?

A. Nothing but truth banishes error. Nothing but love banishes fear; nothing but unity does away with duality. Nothing but the allness of good can do away with what is called evil. In at-one-ment of Being there is oneness of purpose and results are one and are wholly good. We have the certainty of God, — eternal principle, — all that really is that their conduct will be governed aright. The author has heard children say, that as long as they were afraid they would not know their lessons they were sure to miss in their examinations. We are all children mentally, and as long as we fear wrong doing, we are maintaining a wrong mental attitude.

In love there is no fear. Love is God. Then in God there is no fear. So He has not given us the spirit of fear. Therefore, we cannot fear and at the same time govern our conduct aright. He has given us the spirit of love and of power and a sound mind. Our conduct is then to be governed by knowing the truth of what He has given us, and acting accordingly.

Q. What are temptations?

A. God cannot be tempted; nor does He tempt any one. So, in truth there are no temptations. What are usually called temptations are in human belief and opinion, suppositional want, and desire. It is not actual need nor want of satisfaction. We should all know, as does God that we cannot tempt any one or be tempted.

Q. Do you believe immortality of body possible?

A. Yes. The Law of Expression teaches the truth of what the body is, of how to regard it and hold it in its right relation to all things. It is given its true place in life and power in Divine Science, and must be made free. Freedom is its right; its God-given state. Divine Science proves to be the method by which bodily immortality can be demonstrated.

Q. Does that which applies to Jesus apply to us?

A. Yes; certainly. He pointed the way in which all may walk, and know the truth of their union with God. We hold precisely the same relation to the Father as does Jesus ; this is an unalterable truth, to which all will awaken.

Q. Was Jesus in earth life any nearer God than the illumined exponent of spiritual philosophy of today? Christ said: “They who believe shall do the things that I do, and greater things than these shall ye do.”

A. As God is all-pervading Spirit, one can be no nearer to Him than another. One may recognize Him more than another and may consult His nature in all his ways more. He is as near to us, as we are to ourselves. For our life, substance, intelligence and power is God. He is our love, truth, beauty and perfection. There is no doubt but Jesus had a deeper conviction and realization of the truth of his Union with God, than any one of whom we have record; but they who experience the same conviction and realization will know what Christ knew and what he meant by, “My Name,” and will do the works that he did ; there is nothing to prevent. God measures not His Spirit to His children.

Q. Do you imply therefrom, that any one is incapable of doing greater things in his own name?

A. The teachings of Christ show that He, apart from God, could do nothing. That it was the Parent Source working in and through him; that He in being was one with the Father, and was doing His work.

He who knows where and what Being is, and works with the Parent Source, can do all things in his own name, but his own name will be that of the Christ and the Father; in truth there is no other — there is but One All. Therefore, “The Name” represents that One.

Q. What is the process of Divine Science Healing?

A. It is the Christ method of healing. The process is that of Being expressing Its Self. It is the direct expression of the Creator in the creature. Healing is accomplished by the word of power, word of faith, word of law, word of life, word of truth, or the word of God. Healing means the expression of all good, — good health, good life, good substance, good intelligence, knowledge and power. All that is, is good. Healing by Divine Science is more than thought transference or the power of suggestion, or mental therapeutics; it is the Creator, revealing His power bodily. In the Christ method, the healer speaks the universal principle into expression. He first thinks right, then voices His thought and performs the same in deed. Healing, therefore, in Divine Science is truly self unfoldment, revelation and illumination.

Q. What is repentance; is there such a thing after death?

A. Repentance means giving up beliefs and opinions that fall short of truth; such as beliefs in dualism, separation, limitation, sin, sickness and death; it means the surrender of such claims as, that there is partial truth, high and low truth, a higher and lower self, a divine and mortal mind; that there are two powers and that man is subject to both, and of all kindred suppositional opinions. To do all this, one must take on truth, and nothing but the truth. Take on the goodness, perfection and whole nature of God, His whole armor of Tightness. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Rom 2:4, 11:29. This change can take place only in the present, and as the present never ends, it can take place in the mentality of those who are said to be dead. The law works the same with us after what is called death as before; there is one law operating in all which works all things together for good. If we are concerned in living the life of truth and proving its doctrine by demonstration we will not be concerned with what we are to repent of or give up, but will simply live eternal life and let light shine, here, and hereafter. “After death” is a continuation of the never ending now.

Q. What is meant by the lost and saved spoken of in the scriptures?

A. Nothing suffers loss but false suppositions; or ignorance, which is unsuspectingly taking things for what they are not, such as taking human beliefs and opinions to be self; a supposed mortality, limitation and servitude as constituting the nature of our being.

The saved constitute all that is born of God. God knows no loss. Not a single atom of anything can be lost. Each individual can say, when speaking from the standpoint of the universal, “All Thine are mine and all mine are Thine,” and of all Thou hast given me I can lose nothing. Nothing that is Thine or mine can be lost. To the eternal, Self Existing All there is no loss nor gain.

Q. Give a description of Salvation?

A. Salvation is the unity of the whole. It is not possible, nor according to the nature of the one All that any of It should be lost. It is saved by virtue of its nature. The All eternally exists and can not be less than Its Self nor lost to Its Self. He that is our God is the God of Salvation ; and unto God, the Lord, belong the issues from death. Ps 68:20. 25:5. In Divine Science all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Ref Luke 3:6. This day salvation is ours. Truth is the gospel of salvation, the power of holiness. We may make confession of salvation and realize it by so doing. Ref Rom 10:10.

When man discovers he is the truth, God manifest in the flesh, he knows he is the Christ, and Christ has come the second time without sin unto salvation. There is no sin in man, male or female; they are eternally the likeness and image of God.

Q. Is it possible to know Spirit or God before we put on the incorruptible?

A. It is quite impossible to know God without and Healing knowing that all there is, is incorruptible, is eternal, and is self existing. In this knowledge death is swallowed up by life; it does away with the last enemy.

Q. Is it not our nature to sin or be sick?

A. It is not our nature to be anything that is different from God. If God is sin and is sick, then they are natural to us. A good tree bringeth not forth evil fruit.

“Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good.” Lam 3:38. Verily, we are not sinners nor are we sick. It is not the will of God that any should suffer.

Q. Why do we see death and decay if God does not allow his Holy One to see corruption?

A. Death and decay are supposed to be seen, by those who do not see aright. In truth they are unseen and unknown. The Holy One or One All, sees no corruption, no death or decay. There is no room in omnipresence for even the belief of death, dead matter, mortal mind, or self. There is no decay, destruction or loss in the sense that substance can change its nature or cease to be.

Q. Why are some healed and others not?

A. As there are no mistakes made in mathematics that can not be corrected by applying the principle, so there are no suppositional beliefs that can not be changed by applying truth, and as all diseases are based in erroneous belief, there are really no incurable diseases. There are none that can not be healed if either the healer or the patient works earnestly and faithfully in applying truth. When the disciples asked Jesus, why they could not heal the demoniac child, Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief.” This single statement is the only reason Jesus gave for failure in healing. If patients are not healed quickly it is no sign that they can not be healed if they work earnestly with some good Science Healer who is thoroughly established in knowledge and faith. It is not sufficient for healing to simply know that the nature of man is the nature of God, self-existing and eternal, but it must be applied. We must conform in our words and our deeds to it. Truth is a remedy for all seeming disease. Those who have not been healed, have not laid hold of truth, nor realized themselves to be it. All they can say is, I have tried, but they have not grasped the real idea of Being, what it means to be, and do. They should go deeper into the subject and carry self into the depths with them, and refuse to be any thing in belief but that which is free and limitless.

Q. Is Divine Science demonstrable within and for the lower kingdoms?

A. It is unto every creature under heaven, many animals have been healed by its application. Plants have been assisted in their growth. We have every reason to believe that all nature responds to the word of truth and power voiced in the gospel of Divine Science. It is truly the Christ method of healing.

Q. How can I apply the principles taught in this book in my home life, and in business ?

A. By first studying it until you master its teaching, until you realize Being and see that the truth of God and the truth of man are one; then see each member of your family by the light of the same truth that you see and know yourself. Carry this with you in business and apply it in your dealings with others. See them by the same light that you see self, deal with them as you would deal with yourself. Do to them as you would have them do to you, knowing that your success is established; that its source is within the Omnipresent One and that you can and are now manifesting it.

Lesson 22. About Healing

Go into the mount, as it were, of infinite consciousness, and know that Good is All, that absolute and unqualified unity is Truth; then mentally forgive yourself for having had ill-will against persons, things or conditions. Give up all antipathy, dislike and resistance, and let your true light shine, and the true love of your nature flow out and embrace every living creature, and every living thing. If you have been inclined to be critical, and to feel unkindly, check that disposition by speaking kindly and lovingly, in the silence, to all you have formerly criticized. Do not indulge harsh words with any one or against any thing. Let nothing rule in your heart but the Love, which is God, and which binds all together as one harmonious family. “He who loveth, knoweth God.” The Omnipresence of Goodness should never be denied, but should be regarded as a positive Presence, ever present, and expressing itself in us unto all good results. It is essential that we acknowledge this All Powerful Presence as the All Powerful Actor who is producing perfectly good results. When the mote is out of our own eye, we no longer indulge self-condemnation; it is not a good thing to indulge. It is good to be liberal and just always in our dealings with each other. If you have felt melancholy, sing, and speak to all with whom you have dealings in a cheerful tone.

If you remember that anyone has aught against you, be reconciled to him in absolute unity, by knowing the absolute Oneness of Life, Substance, Intelligence and Power; that in his essential nature he is just as you are. Affirm that “I do not believe in limitations; I do not believe in false environment; the only environment there is, is the Omnipresence of Good. I now affirm that the true sacrifice is the offering unto God the whole of his creation, without fault. I have now demonstrated the Truth that All is Good.”

This understood and applied will heal any undesirable condition.

Health Treatment

The following formulas are for the purpose of helping the student to practice the Christ method of healing. Every statement stands for God idea and is a healing word. For healing repeat one treatment each day of the week in the order in which they come.

Treatment I

“There is none good but one.” — Jesus. One is All. One is unity. All is good. The All is good. The All is unity. The All is one. I am what is, with all its limitless freedom. I know no limitation nor bondage.

“God is the health of His people.” I am one with Him, therefore I am mental and bodily health. I abound in health. Health is the real and eternal state of my Being. I am now demonstrating the Law of Being perfectly.

Treatment II

God is all of Being, creative action and creation. “I and my Father are one.” — Jesus. There is no mortal inheritance ; no separation of the One All; no absence of the good ; no mortality, evil power or sinful being. There is no production the opposite of God; no created thing that is of the earth and earthy. Nothing that exists is conceived in sin or born in iniquity. Nothing is born unequal with the Creator.

My conception is the rightness and holiness of truth. I exist as the child of God, the all knowing and all powerful good. I am heir of God and am in possession of my inheritance. All the blessed words of Christ are fulfilled in my life.

I am radiating the all good. My wealth consists of every good thing and everything is good.

O, thou infinite and eternal health, I am as thou art. I will to demonstrate thy never failing nature.

O, thou infinite and never failing affluence, I affirm that I willingly walk in thy way.

O, thou infinite happiness, I rejoice in being thy very self. I am unlimited health, affluence and happiness. Peace is mine most full and free. My thoughts are pure and holy, my ways are just and right.

Treatment III

“My body is the temple of God;” it is a holy temple. It is not made with hands and is eternal in the heavens. It is composed of living substance; indestructible substance ; intelligent substance. It responds when truth is spoken of it or when the attributes of Holy Spirit are applied to it.

My body is the expression of the word that is with God and is God in the beginning, which is the life of every man, and which has become flesh. My body is full of grace and truth. It is the absolute and perfect expression of an absolute and perfect Being. Nothing can be manifested that is not. I am before I manifest myself; I was before I expressed form, therefore I can express myself perfectly in the form. My body is a perfect result of a perfect cause. I offer it to God without spot or blemish by thus believing” in its perfection.

My body is healthy in every part; every organ functions perfectly and there is a sense of harmony throughout. I enjoy good health. I am divinely prosperous. I am radiantly happy.

Treatment IV

“That which is begotten of Spirit is spirit.” — Jesus.

God is Spirit. My body is begotten of God, therefore, it is Spirit substance. I worship God in Spirit by knowing, believing and acting the truth that I am Spirit and that the One All is Spirit. God seeketh such to worship Him.

I am the three great factors in the law of expression, Being, action and result. I am absolutely perfect in Being. I individually have being in God. I am absolutely perfect in action. I have action in God’s creative activity. I am absolutely perfect in the results of action. I have results in the infinitude of results. I am the whole law and its fulfillment.

I have not sinned against my body, nor has my body sinned against me. Christ who is our life, has appeared, and we also appear with Him in glory.

The power that is working in me is Truth. I am truth. Truth can work only for good. I can not sow evil seed. I cannot therefore reap evil results. All seeming evil is now consumed as by fire. All seeming sickness is now dispelled. All seeming inharmony is now dissipated. There is no sense of evil, of sickness, or of inharmony within me.

Treatment V - For Mental Discipline

I am Spirit.

I express Spirit.

I am life.

I express life.

I am love.

I express love.

I am truth.

I express truth.

I am substance.

I express substance.

I am soul.

I express soul.

I am intelligence.

I express intelligence.

I am knowledge.

I express knowledge.

I am power.

I express power.

I am presence.

I express presence.

I exist in the image of God,

I express the image of God,

Co-eternal with Him.

And shall ever do so.

My liberty is that with which Christ has made it free.

Treatment VI

“Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt of the ‘ evening” (Matthew Henry). There are three necessary accompaniments of prayer: Knowledge of Truth, Unity of Purpose, Unwavering Faith.

I pray always in Spirit and in truth. I pray understandingly. I make melody in my heart daily. I unfold my limitless possibilities harmoniously. I walk in the way of life. I pray by speaking holy words. I pray with faith believing; without doubt or condemnation. I pray with perseverance, thanksgiving, and with truth and love in my heart. I am abiding in the secret place of the “most high.” I pray in the name of the All Good, affirming the fulfillment of Its promises. I do this by keeping all commandments and acting according to divine will. I pray by doing the will of the Good constantly; by abiding in God and affirming He is my Being. There is no wavering in my prayer. It is the supreme consciousness of absolute truth. My prayer is one and is for all. What knowledge, true purpose and faith can do, is accomplished by my prayer.

Treatment VII

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.” I am the substance of things hoped for. I bring things to pass according to the law of Being as I live and demonstrate it in the eternal now.

“Behold, to-day is the day of salvation and now is the accepted time.” To-day and in the eternal now I live in a state of perpetual youth. The past has no power of action in the present, hence, it holds no limitations for me. The future is ever being absorbed in the present; so, it has no power to withhold any good from me. God has heard me this day, in a time accepted. Today my faith is established, my health is enjoyed, my peace is sensed, my success is certain, my salvation is sure, my freedom is active, my good is revealed. Now, is my time to be happy. I am happy now. I am cheerful. I am courageous. I am firm and unwavering. I am gentle and loving. The love of God rules in my heart for all things.

Treatment VIII - Against Heart Troubles

There is only one Source and Cause — God. All the action that is, is the action of that one Cause. The Cause being perfect, the action is perfect. There is no imperfect action. My heart is the heart of God. Its Creator is present within it. It exists because of the presence of God.

My heart is not the Source of Life, but Life is the Creator of my heart. Life being Eternal Activity, my heart acts in perfect unison with the even, regular, firm, powerful action of Life. I do not see nor fear the possibility of losing Life, because I see my whole body as the evidence of Life’s all powerful presence.

My heart is not troubled, neither am I afraid. I believe in God, and I believe also in “Me.” — Ref St John 14:1. Spirit, soul and body is the Holy Trinity.

“Perfect is my heart before Thee.”

Another for the Heart

The heart acts with the strength of the spirit. It is the power of Omnipotent Love that circulates my blood. There is perfect circulation, perfect respiration, perfect digestion, and perfect generation going on within me constantly. “God has kept the covenant with thee for perpetual generation. Believest thou this?” I know that I am whole as the idea of God, and have never been afflicted. God’s idea does not include nor take on any seeming disease. My heart is not troubled, it is not afraid. Divine Love rules in my heart now and forever. These statements are statements of Truth. To believe them is to believe in self, the one whom God hath sent.

Perfect Sight

Omniscience is my sight. I am sight and I am the maker of the instrument of sight. My eyes are the perfect expression of sight. They are clear and strong. There is no power in opposition to my clear vision. Sight, seeing, and the eyes are one. My eyes are open to see the beautiful things that God has expressed. I see perfectly far and near. My eyes do behold the glory of Good.

Expression of Sight

The holy presence of Being is the demonstrator of sight. My eyes are the eyes of the all-seeing One; I see perfectly at this time. I have sought and found, I have asked and received. No conditions of the past or of the present have any power to limit me or darken my vision, no seeming condition can possibly reach or mar the Life that I am; I am now proceeding forth from within; I am that power, that mind eternal which flame burns not, and water drowns not, nor which dry winds can wither; I am Mind impenetrable, sight unassailed, unharmed, untouched, immortal, invisible, and unencompassed by thought or word, ever and ever allsufficient in God; thus am I now, thus shall I be, thus have I been. I express pure knowledge in my clear vision.

All Inclusive Treatment

God is Omnipresent and expressed in all creation. I am all present, Spirit, Soul and Body. I am health in Spirit, health in Soul and health in Body. I am one perfect whole. I am one with the infinitude of Spirit, the infinitude of Soul and the infinitude of Body. I, Spirit, am one with all visibility. I, Body, am one with all that is invisible. I am one with God Almighty expressed in heaven and earth. Every atom of substance is intelligent and hears my voice. There is no lack of consciousness, no partial truth, mortality, loss, nor gain. I am now absolute life, consciousness its self, and am immortality.

Another All Inclusive Treatment

Omnipresent Mind is the all seeing I, the all hearing I, the all demonstrable I. Beside it there is none other. There is nothing to see that has not been seen.

There is nothing to hear that has not been heard. There is nothing demonstrable that has not been demonstrated I am building the body anew constantly. I and my Father are One, and One is All. I see now; I hear now ; I demonstrate perfectly now. I know it is God who is speaking, and it is finished. All things are new. I am the way, the new and living way.

For Daily Use

I am the Lord that Healeth Thee. — Exodus 15:26.

I do not believe in evil.

I do not believe in lack.

I am the possessor of all that I desire.

I do not believe in disease.

I am living in the kingdom of good.

I do not believe that the higher can be evolved from the lower.

My body is a heavenly body.

Lesson 23. Conclusion

“Know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”

They who consciously live Truth and Life, know their freedom.

They who understandingly live in the eternal now, enjoy their freedom.

They who live in the perfect idea of creation, demonstrate the freedom of their nature.

True realization consists of the knowledge and freedom of unchangeable truth.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. — Ephe 6:12.

Divine Science wages no warfare against the body or what is called matter. It accounts for visible existence and proves it to be eternal in idea and substance, and wholly spiritual in nature. Not a single atom of anything that exists can possibly cease to be, never a time it was not. Having nothing beside the eternal intelligent substance to deal with, it is easy to think aright of ourselves as a whole, and to transform our ways from dualism to unity and realize our unlimited nature in the divinity of the whole.

While in Christianity it is believed that the body is of God, yet that, as well as other religions, has in belief, practically separated Spirit and body by claiming that Spirit is immortal and body mortal: that the Spirit may survive sin, sickness, and death, but the body is subject to them. Divine Science dispels such seeming darkness in “high places of religious belief,” by illumining with the truth of the unity of God, and the oneness of man as Spirit, soul and body. It thus proves that Christ’s declaration, “I and my Father are one,” can be lawfully, scientifically and truthfully affirmed by every one and practically demonstrated and applied in all the walks of life. Where the truth of the unity of the whole is known and applied it is seen that there is no strife, nothing to strive with; that false’ belief and ignorance of truth are what people are to be healed of to experience bodily freedom. A knowledge that all evil, so-called, is a falling short of truth, suggests that one must lay hold of truth and nothing but truth and cease falling short in order to demonstrate what is desirable and pleasurable to experience.

The “chief corner stone” in the building of Divine Science is the Truth of eternal Being expressed in the body; the true and universal Law of Expression. The truth of Being, expressed in the body, or the law working from within out is the stone that has been rejected by builders from time immemorial; hence, they have received to themselves a building or body supposed to be mortal, finite and limited, subject to sin, sickness and death. While man is made upright (up right) as God’s image and likeness, yet because of the suppositional claim of separation from God, men have worked out many inventions for their salvation. With the first thought of separation from God arises the supposition that there are two beings, which expands into the belief that there are two powers, two substances, two minds, two spirits; and this leads to a further false claim of a division in man, of two selves or two natures; this results in double dealing. Mankind intuitively knows the right according to unity, but because of false education is inclined to do wrong and attribute it to a lower self. Divine Science understood eradicates all such belief.

The following conclusions are predicated of the principles of Divine Science: that One is All, self-existing, changeless in nature and substance; this All is God and is eternally Good. That unity is the real and eternal state of all that is, and is sensed as supreme harmony by those who demonstrate Truth. The self-existing One is Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence; it is Creator, creative action and creation.

Omniscience can neither be nor become ignorant. Omnipotence can neither be nor become weak. Omnipresence can neither be nor become absent. The eternal and Omnipresent Good can neither be nor become evil, at any time, in any place. That Holy Spirit can neither be divided, nor separated from Its Self; that Spirit is God, and God is Life, hence Life cannot die. That soul is eternal idea, is sinless and is expressed as body. All form is spirit’s expression of soul or idea. Man is eternal soul or idea in God, and is His image and likeness, both as Expressor and expression. That the self-existing All being Omnipresent precludes the possibility of Duality. Duality of life, mind, intelligence, substance, power, or presence cannot therefore be or be made to exist. The All being Life there is no existence of dead matter in the universe. “Death is swallowed up of Life.” That immortality is the eternal truth or conscious state of Being, and is ever being demonstrated before us. It is a fact to be accepted; a reality to be enjoyed and lived. It is the consciousness of being the whole trinity of self-existing Being, its action and result.

Man will prove his freedom from all error of belief in sin, sickness, and death by demonstrating his knowledge that God is the only Life or that all Life is God.

The belief that the body, or any visible thing, is the source of Life or sensation should be overcome, and is overcome and set at naught by the knowledge of the Law of Expression, which proves the body to be the direct expression of God and composed of immortal substance. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that to regard the body and treat it as immortal is to demonstrate the truth of its reality. The belief in the separation of man from God, in any of the three factors which comprise the Law of Expression, viz.: Being, action, and result, results in what is called death. Through this claim of separation death is supposed to reign throughout the universe, it is supposed to be the one thing that is certain and to be prepared for.

But the fact remains that the entire visible universe is in its source, the self-existing Mind, and is immortal substance. For Mind or Spirit and its expressions constitute the real and the All. Man is not the offspring of body, but is the offspring of God, the All; of Life, not death; of health, not disease; of the Provider, and not of poverty.

Since the Creator is Omnipresent there can be no creation by reflection. To have a reflection there must be focal distance; there is no focal distance in Omnipresent light, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” The reflection theory cannot therefore stand the test of true analysis. As man’s existence is a direct expression of God, he must have Being in Him before he is expressed. Man can ever truthfully recognize for himself what Jesus did when He said: “Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory I had with thee before the world was. I have glorified thee on earth and finished the work thou gavest me to do.”

We are to conclude that Fatherhood is universal, that God is Parenthood, the common Source of all things. That brotherhood is universal, that each individual holds the same relationship to God. Each one can say my Parent Source and your Parent Source; “My God and your God.” That the Truth I know is the truth for you to know, that Truth is a unit. That it is not possible to do the works Jesus did without being what He is: not possible to do the works of God without having our Being in Him and working from the one Source and Cause. The same Source and the same I are one to-day as they were two thousand years ago. The unity that Jesus recognized exists now, and is demonstrated in Divine Science.

The divine order, or trinity, called Law of Expression, shows that the One All is three fold in nature, Creator, creative action, and creation, that all things can say I am it. Divine Science knows no mortal mind, lower self or devil to which to attribute false beliefs and opinions. False belief — a falling short of truth — has no place in the science of God. As there is no power, no Being or presence but God, false beliefs are not powerful, real nor presence; they are non-existent save to false supposition. Man’s being must be in God, the All, or else he neither is nor exists. “In Him we live and move and have our Being.”

The great sin of the world is the suppositional belief of a duality of power; that we are separated from God by space and by quality of Being.

The Truth remains that the All is Omnipresence. The divine law by which the Creator expresses Himself, proves the divinity of man and everything that is expressed. To see the body as wholly spiritual, a living temple, is our reasonable service. It is true science which teaches that the infinite expresses what it is and neither does nor can express what it is not; and that there are no qualities inherent in man but God qualities; no attributes inherent in Man’s nature that are not attributable to God. No principles, attributes, or qualities of evil, sickness or death anywhere in the universal realm of Being, action or result.

All things are possible in Truth. Divine Science does not exalt one person above another. It exalts all to God-hood and original God given dominion. This is the truth that to know makes free. One of the principal distinctions between “Christian Science” and Divine Science is the difference between man as a reflection, or man existing as a direct expression of God, God expressed and expressing Himself. Divine Science finds the source of man in God and speaks from the standpoint of their oneness, which does away with all belief of mortality — mortal Mind — and makes no separation between Spirit and body. The separation that Divine Science does make is between Man, body and all, and false belief of sin, sickness and death. There is nothing to reconcile in life, substance and power. There is nothing to reconcile in what is called matter; it is eternal in all the elements of which it is composed, and as there is but one eternal, it is atone with all that is self-existing. “It is born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” There is no reconciliation between the self-existing all as a unit, and error, or a suppositional belief that there is something that is not; something more or less than or different from the One All.

The principal need of humanity is a true and spiritual education. One in which Being is known and made the basis of all conclusions.

In the practice of Truth the erroneous supposition that man is separated from God by space or quality of substance is to be erased. The destruction of erroneous claims is by no means the destruction of the body. We may disown every false belief and retain the body in its natural and normal state: this proves that form is not the product of error, but is in harmony with truth. No part of the body is lost by giving up false beliefs and opinions. There is no body of sin. The full and free acknowledgment that man is God expressed, demonstrates his freedom to be the freedom of infinite idea. This brings immortality to light and dissipates the belief in death. It is revealed in Divine Science that “the new heaven and the new earth,” spoken of in Revelation, are contained in Being. Heaven or harmony is the real state or nature of Being.

Science students are to free themselves of the following erroneous postulates: That creation is separated from the Creator; that heaven is a locality in space; that earth is separated from heaven and from the Creator; that heaven and earth are not simultaneous creations and are not conjoined. That man must die to gain eternal life, to go to heaven and be with God. That there is spirit, life, love, truth, soul, substance, intelligence, knowledge, power or presence apart from God. That man is twain in nature, both spiritual and material, good and evil, subject to life and death, and partaker of riches and poverty. That power is both good and evil, and that humanity and all creation partakes of both. That the body partakes always and everywhere of opposites; that it was conceived in sin and born in iniquity.

That mind, spirit, soul or life is evolved from matter or sustained by visible things. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” All are to be free from the claims that thought is the offspring of brain; that conscious life begins with either conception or birth of body, or ends with what is called death. That sickness, trials, and tribulations are essential to individual discipline, . growth and unfoldment. That man can progress eternally toward a source that can never be attained; that he has evolved from a lower state of unconscious life into a higher state of consciousness, that a higher spiritual, moral or bodily condition can be evolved out of a lower. That there is such a thing as physical causation; that visible bodies are the source of bodies. That form is the expressor of form. Not until it is seen that error of belief has no basis in the self-existing all is its nothingness apparent. In the science of numbers, music or grammar, mistakes are considered of no value, they are mere incidents in the attempt at perfect expression and are corrected by the teacher.

So, science attaches no value to such as the above erroneous postulates, but corrects them by presenting the Truth. The truth is, these statements being erroneous, their opposites are true.

Since good is infinite there is no evil. Since the infinite includes the whole there is no finite. (See statement of Being.) As like expresses like and like perceives like, it is seen that man is spirit because God is Spirit, that what is begotten of Spirit is spirit. This proves that one truth applies to God and man. A knowledge of this does not lower man’s estimate of God, but it elevates his estimation of self to his idea of God. This is true lifting up, where it is seen that all the scriptural promises are fulfilled here and now and are for our comfort and enjoyment in this world.

To realize the truth of Being, or God, one must cease trying to create Being; cease trying to improve upon it, or make it over. He must know what “I am” means, and then endeavor to demonstrate the nature of self or Being, to live according to its eternity and infinitude. The self-existing all is the basis for all creative action and result. The belief that matter, which comprises the visible universe, is different from spirit and is not spirit substance, is mortal and erroneous conception. Truth must dissipate it. What has been called matter is here to stay. It can neither be destroyed nor taken from the world.

Since God and heaven are here we are to conclude that we are here to stay, then we will begin to enjoy the divine presence in which we have Being, and realize the heavenly harmony that is ever at hand. The belief that a man has a higher and a lower self and that these two selves can go apart and one ascend to heaven, and the other descend to earth, is opposed to the law of unity. The I which has the higher and lower self is never described except to show that it is subject to both selves, and is called upon to subdue one and exalt the other to supremacy. It never occurs to those who reason thus, what a difficult position it places one in to have two selves the reverse of each other and not be either one, yet one is called upon to overcome the other and become supreme. Divine Scientists cannot afford to occupy such a weak and uncertain position as that of having two opposing natures and being divided in self. There is not a law in the universe by which division or duality can be truthfully sustained.

To overcome any condition, belief or environment, the first requisite is to know the truth of that which should be demonstrated to take the place of the seeming lack. There is no demonstrable principle but the truth of unity. It should therefore be perfectly understood that man is not to be divided into master and servant; that he is not to arbitrarily rule over his bodily existence. He is to be regarded as a united and indivisible whole. “The servant shall not abide in the house forever, but the son abideth ever.” The true idea of dominion is individual unity with, and Oneness of the Whole, which affords perfect communion and consultation. This is not a mere surface idea of unity, it is the infinite idea which is all inclusive and contains every true view that can be taken of unity. It is so far above the commonly accepted statement that spirit and body are unlike each other in substance, that statements of separation seem like a strange hallucination. True and permanent healing is done in the consciousness of unity, that it as principle is infallible. No indirect methods of so-called unity can be applied in healing. It is the divine order, the direct method of the trinity which is taught in Divine Science that is demonstrable in healing.

Divine Science proves that all so-called sickness or disease, sin or trouble of any kind or description, has origin not in Spirit, mentality, nor in body, but is a false conception, an erroneous claim or belief. Because these seeming conditions are not a part of Spirit, true mentality, and do not generate in the body, does not prove that the body is without feeling, life, truth, substance, intelligence and power, as some claim; but it does prove that the body is perfect, and feels so, without any of these conditions; that they are no part of the body, never were and never can be, and it can derive no benefit whatever from them. Some say, “Any and every kind of illness originates in the material mind, which is error, and when the error is touched with Truth, the error vanishes.” The Truth is, there is no material mind, and error is a supposition that there is something that is not, or that something that exists is different in its nature from what it really is — “It is a falling short of Truth;” so it is an error to suppose there is a material mind, for we see that such a mind is not, never was, and never can be in Truth; we see that Truth reigns supreme, and the seeming error has vanished.

What has no place in God, His Creative Action, and His Creation, has no place, no existence, is not, never was, and never can be. Every kind of seeming illness, sin or deprivation belongs to the false supposition of separation from the Good, the True and the Real; to the false supposition of limitation, to the claim that there is something that is not. At-one-ment is the remedy. The limitless is All in All. The conditions brought about by false believing are universally thought to be bad, untrue and temporal. This is a true conception, for the Eternal alone is, and we are it and are living it. It is for each one to know God, even as he is known of God; then all these seeming conditions shall have been dissipated and proven unreal.

We are not to say: “I certainly have a body that is unlike my highest idea of God;” even though to an inverted belief it seems to be so; for with perfect knowledge of Truth all false beliefs are given up, and we see ourselves as God sees us, and all things as He made them; this brings a consciousness of wholeness, a realizing sense that our bodies are eternal substance — God’s idea made “visible. This transcends all methods of cure — it is wholeness itself; it brings a conviction, the application of which has never been surpassed in goodness, and general satisfaction, and proves that there are no incurable diseases.

In Science there is no evolution from a lower to a higher plane. Just the reverse is true, for there is always direct expression of the Highest. No one who practices Truth in healing or in any of the walks of life, ever attempts to do so from the plane of evolution. They never attempt to put the theory that the higher is evolved from the lower into practice in a treatment. They do not, because it is incapable of demonstration. Nothing but direct expression of the Most High is expected in treatment. Nothing but the absolute is thought to be demonstrable in healing, so of what value, I would ask, are theories that cannot be proven by demonstration?

A true idea of God is essential to a correct understanding of Divine Science. From our knowledge of what He is, every conclusion is drawn concerning ourselves and the universe. It is said by some Scientists that “we mortals” can never get the true and absolute idea of God, but Divine Science proves that there is no mortality but to and of false belief; that the All in All is eternal, and no man, save the Spirit of God manifest, knows the things of God. In Truth there is no mortality; to God no loss nor gain. We find ourselves environed only with the Supreme Good, and we are absolutely without limitation here and now, save to a false sense of things, and when it is seen to be false, it is known to be powerless. Is not this scientific religion a grand and practical one?

Divine Science deals inclusively with God, pure Being, His creative action, perfect activity, and the result of His action, or finished work. It is that Truth that equally concerns all living. It most concerns the individual and humanity. It is true spiritual education, and the basis for the advancement of society.

Truth has made you free. The understanding” of truth is your realization of freedom.

THE END