2i 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



under its own canons of procedure, subject to the laws of obser- 

 vation and induction that govern all investigation. The validity 

 of its conclusions must be allowed to rest on the proofs of con- 

 formity to these scientific tests. 



The charge that Christian Science contemns natural science is 

 as unfounded as that it disregards observation and induction. It 

 is said in " Science and Health " : 



Learning is useful if it is of the right sort. History, observation, invention, 

 philosophic research, and original thought, are essential to the growth of mortal 

 mind out of itself, error. The tangled barbarism of learning we deplore — the 

 mere dogma, the speculative theory, the nauseous fiction. 



If natural science says one thing more clearly than another, it is this : that 

 law is everywhere, and that there can be no exception to it. Natural science 

 denies miracles, if by a miracle is meant aDy variation from the regular order of 

 divine cause and effect. 



Herein Christian Science is in a line with natural science. Christian Science 

 devoutly believes the wonderful works performed by Jesus, but affirms that his 

 so-called miracles were in accord with the highest law ; that they proceeded from 

 the divine Principle of him, which is the Christ or anointed imperial humanity. 

 Miracles are impossible in Science. The highest manifestation of Life or Truth is 

 divine — not supernatural or preternatural, since Science is nature explicated. 



The rational claims of natural science against the authority 

 and mere belief of dogmatic theology have all been anticipated 

 and formulated in "Science and Health/' The comparison of 

 " The Devil-Theory," in the editor's table of the April "Monthly," 

 with the following passage from the chapter "Imposition and 

 Demonstration," will illustrate this identity of attitude : 



God, or good, has not created a mind susceptible of creating evil, for evil is the 

 opposing error, and not the truth of creation. 



As I understand it, the only evil, or devil, in the universe is made np of such 

 erroneous beliefs as these : that man is a compound of both mind and matter ; 

 that a wicked mind can exist in a material form, and both form and mind can be 

 created by the Divine Mind ; that God is the author of sin, sickness, and death ; 

 and that Mind can be an entity within the cranium, with power to sin ad libitum. 

 In other words, Satan is not a person but an illusion. A lie is the only Satan there 

 is, as results prove. All the discords of earth are lies, and falsehood can not pro- 

 ceed from Truth. In and of itself discord is a falsity. It does not represent the 

 fact relative to God or man. 



To give the merest outline of the Principle and rule of Chris- 

 tian Science, as laid down in " Science and Health," would require 

 a volume. Some of the phenomena and workings of human con- 

 sciousness, and conclusions from the standpoint of Christian Sci- 

 ence, can only be briefly referred to in the space at command. 



Man may be denned as a state of consciousness, and the con- 

 dition of consciousness constitutes the individuality. Conscious- 

 ness is related to two distinct classes of phenomena. One of these 



