Section 1

The Bible

5Come and see the works of God:

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12and God saw that it was good.

21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

2Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

4For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.

Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy

Genesis i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Ideas and
identities

The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning  is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe. The creative Principle — Life, Truth, and Love — is God.

One primal
cause

There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause.

The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it.

Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.

Creator. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating divine Principle of all that is real and good;

Section 2

The Bible

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her:

17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed;

1And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Science and Health

Spirit names and blesses all.

Continuity
of thoughts

Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.

There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God.

Mental
propagation

Even in Christian Science, reproduction by Spirit’s individual ideas is but the reflection of the creative power of the divine Principle of those ideas. The reflection, through mental manifestation, of the multitudinous forms of Mind which people the realm of the real is controlled by Mind, the Principle governing the reflection. Multiplication of God’s children comes from no power of propagation in matter, it is the reflection of Spirit.

Spiritual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle, and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense of being.

God is the parent Mind, and man is God’s spiritual offspring.

Section 3

The Bible

31Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

14the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

4when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

11unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

40And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

35Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

8Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.

Science and Health

The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days.

Christ
Jesus

Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed to speak God’s word and to appear to mortals in such a form of humanity as they could understand as well as perceive.

Immaculate
conception

Jesus’ spiritual origin and understanding enabled him to demonstrate the facts of being, — to prove irrefutably how spiritual Truth destroys material error, heals sickness, and overcomes death. The divine conception of Jesus pointed to this truth and presented an illustration of creation.

Explaining and demonstrating the way of divine Science, he became the way of salvation to all who accepted his word.

Jesus represented Christ, the true idea of God.

Christ presents the indestructible man, whom Spirit creates, constitutes, and governs.

Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, — of Spirit, not of matter.

He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.

Section 4

The Bible

4Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

5Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

12Blessed art thou, O Lord:

18Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

6When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

7And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

8The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

10Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

11He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

13They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

14And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

16Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

17They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

26Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

27He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again?

32Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

33If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

Science and Health

Spiritual law
the only law

God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the wisdom of the creator.

God, good, can no more produce sickness than goodness can cause evil and health occasion disease.

Physical causation was put aside from first to last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that is real.

The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or “God with us,” — a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime, To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised.

The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God’s unchangeable law.

Spiritual
origin

In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being.

Scientific
corrective

The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error. This corrective is an alterative, reaching to every part of the human system.

Section 5

The Bible

1God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us;

2That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

3Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God;

11For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Science and Health

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.

Science and
Christianity

If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.

Tests in
our day

We need to understand the affirmations of divine Science, dismiss superstition, and demonstrate truth according to Christ.

Sinlessness of
Mind, Soul

Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind, we begin with Mind, which must be understood through the idea which expresses it and cannot be learned from its opposite, matter.

To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, — this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, “whose builder and maker is God.”

Intelligent
consecration

We should consecrate existence, not “to the unknown God” whom we “ignorantly worship,” but to the eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material.

Section 6

The Bible

28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

6Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him:

Science and Health

Everything in God’s universe expresses Him.

The universal
cause

God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind.

Impossible
coalescence

Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.