With God all things are possible

Mary Baker Eddy did three things for her followers. First she opened their eyes to the enemy and exposed how it relies on a surprise attack for its success. For instance, one may wonder how he could come down with a particular sickness, when he was not thinking about it, or harboring conscious fear of it. Mortal belief hides its claims so that they will not be detected, but will come as a surprise. Mortals touch poison ivy, that to the ignorant one appears to be a harmless leaf, and are poisoned. In like manner mortals accept suggestions that appear to be harmless and even good, when contained in them is some hidden claim of sin or sickness.

The second thing Mrs. Eddy did was to furnish her followers with weapons that, rightly used, will always overthrow the enemy. In this way they may prevent the enemy from stealing that incalculably valuable thing, namely, their spiritual thought and conscious oneness with God.

The purpose of animal magnetism is not to make us sick or poor or sinful. It is always to rob us of that precious thing, our consciousness of God, with which we can conquer the world, the flesh and the devil, and help to restore all humanity to their right relation to God.

Finally Mrs. Eddy provided her followers with fresh mounts along the way, giving them thoughts to refresh them and keep them active for the fray. In the work of demonstration that Science and Health sets forth, parts of the book are intended to lighten and refresh thought; but one should never enjoy that revivifying sense to the point where he neglects the rest of the work. For instance, one should not enjoy the Lesson-Sermons on God, Life, Truth and Love to the extent that he neglects those on animal magnetism. It is true that the latter call for practical demonstration, in contrast to the refreshment that comes from the former; but in order for the refreshment to fulfil its purpose, one must use it to keep ahead of the enemy, exactly as the rider of the pony express would use a fresh mount, when his old one was fatigued.

At times, when students work mentally, they are driven by an excess of fear, and so do not work scientifically or correctly. They approach the error through fear rather than through expectancy, and soon become so mentally weary that their work is not only ineffective, but not intelligent. It is not intelligent to work against error as if it were real and needed the mighty power of God to crush it, when it is merely a claim of nothingness, a dream, or an hallucination.

It is a trick of animal magnetism to tempt one with the argument of mental weariness, so that his work becomes mechanical and fruitless. Refreshment and relaxation of thought are permissible at intervals, if one believes that he needs to recuperate from the vain attempt to apply Science with a weary sense. When thought is refreshed, it rises up to overthrow the claim of evil with the needed expectancy and clarity of vision.

Some battle-scarred practitioners at times permit thought to become so weighed down with an excess of effort and a weary beating of the air, that they do not think intelligently. They possess the necessary knowledge and ability to handle the error, but in belief they become worn with the strife and need a fresh mount. The moment they gain the needed refreshment, thought rises spontaneously to destroy fear, their vision becomes clear, and the problem is solved. They know the truth and the truth makes them free.

Christian Science is not a prizefight, where one opponent continually strikes another, until he overthrows him. The contest is with oneself. It consists of throwing off the false beliefs that hold thought down. When thought is fresh, this can be done with ease; but when thought is weighed down and weary, it needs refreshment, not work.

Samson furnishes an illustration of one with an understanding which enabled him to meet daily all the error that presented itself. Then through subtlety and trickery, he was robbed of his spiritual thinking, as symbolized by his hair. He was overthrown and retired from any further fighting. Yet after a while his hair grew again; his thought became refreshed, and he was able to rise up again and to overthrow the enemy.

This line of thought leads up to the concept of safety, showing that it is not enough for a student to embrace the first two points Mrs. Eddy has furnished, namely, a knowledge of evil and the weapons to use against it. In order to awaken his thought and handle error, one must have a rested sense. Once Mrs. Eddy expressed this by saying, “Touch lightly on evil when treating, as you would upon the grace notes on a piano.” It requires a light thought in order to do this, since one characteristic of the claim of mental weariness is that it bears down heavily on the claim at error, and thus tends to make it more real, instead of less.

Under human courage man feels personally capable of taking the responsibility for doing whatever is necessary, and of standing up under whatever affliction may come to him. The error of this point of view is that it is wholly deceptive, since only spiritual courage will enable one to meet affliction, and to rise above it constructively.

Spiritual courage does not rely on self. It is based on the recognition that God is with men, and that He takes care of His own. It is a leaning courage, and that is why it is scientific. Under it man recognizes his own inadequacy, in accordance with the Master’s words, “I can of mine own self do nothing.” He knew that with God all things are possible. Therefore the courage that sustained him was the knowledge of his oneness with the Father.