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If the human body could speak, it would doubtless agree...
The Christian Science Monitor
If the human body could speak, it would doubtless agree with the psalmist when he says: "False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not." Mrs. Eddy states the case of the false witnesses in another way when she says in Science and Health (p. 308): "This awful demand, 'Adam, where art thou?' is met by the admission from the head, heart, stomach, blood, nerves, etc.: 'Lo, here I am, looking for happiness and life in the body, but finding only an illusion, a blending of false claims, false pleasure, pain, sin, sickness, and death.'"
The question, What controls the body? is perennially turning mortal reasoning and human philosophy awry. Among the men who are said to be professionally qualified to understand what it is that controls the human body, this question is usually answered by the words, "Brain and nerves." This answer reminds one of the ancient myth in which the god Atlas is seen supporting the earth upon his back. When, however, that simple question is asked, What supports Atlas? we have suddenly reached the end of human fiction. Just so the question, What causes brain and nerves to act (if they act at all)? has a similar effect; for we have reached our starting point, having completed the circle of human limitations.
Plainly, then, the answer to the question, What governs the body? is not to be found in the body itself. We must look outside the body if we want to learn anything of value concerning its government. A very minute description of a trolley car, for instance, would hardly be called a definition of or a treatise on power. Yet the minute description of the anatomy and physiology of the human body has been held before the public so long that mankind have actually come to believe that the body contains within itself the issues of health and disease, life and death. It is no wonder, therefore, that the body seems to be the master instead of the servant of mankind, which is about as sensible as it would be for the trolley car to claim that it is the master of the power that moves it.
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May 25, 1918 issue
View Issue-
Holding the Line
JOHN V. DITTEMORE
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Thought Censorship
LILLIAN BARKER BEEDE
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Reading and Studying
WILLIAM R. RATHVON
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The Higher Patriotism
BESSIE TURNER ALLEN
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Permanence of Truth
IRVIN DE R. MILLER
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Fear Dispelled
HENRIETTA A. FIELD
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"Love thy neighbor as thyself"
JOHN ASHCROFT
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How Great Is God!
PEARLE M. WARREN
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Since the causes of the war find their root in fear, with...
Robert G. Steel
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Christian Science advocates but one method in the healing...
Samuel Greenwood
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Excerpts from the writings of Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer...
Aaron E. Brandt
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It may be said without fear of contradiction that no...
Albert F. Gilmore
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A Day of Prayer
The Christian Science Board of Directors
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The Annual Business Meeting of The Mother Church
The Christian Science Board of Directors
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The Red Cross
The Christian Science Board Of Directors
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The Work of Mercy
William P. McKenzie
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On the Topmost Bough
William D. McCrackan
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Strength and Courage
Annie M. Knott
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The Lectures
with contributions from Earl Virden, George W. Opell
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A good many years ago, after being told by one of our...
Corinne Beall Moody
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About five years ago I had an ailment which seven physicians...
Emerson A. Chapin
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I have often been impressed with the marvelous results...
Nettie Atchinson Jones
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I wish to express my gratitude for the many blessings...
Josephine Crosley
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In the hope that this testimony will help many who are...
Susan A. Packer with contributions from Sarah Williams
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The testimonies in the Sentinel and the Journal have...
Marie Stuart Taylor
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The early spring of 1905 found me "having no hope, and...
Orrin H. Wilkins
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About five years ago, friends visiting at my home brought...
Mabel Potter Ringoen
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Notices
with contributions from The Christian Science Publishing Society