"Guarding the door"

Many thousands of people throughout the civilized world are ever ready to give grateful acknowledgment of the fact that, in the light of their own personal experience, Christian Science heals. The truth of what is taught in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science to this age, she always insists, must be measured on the basis of demonstration or proof. Most of those who have turned to Christian Science for healing, for the first time, have only done so after other methods have failed. With the desired results once attained, it is but natural that an understanding of the nature and essence of Christian Science should be eagerly sought. One of the first points gained by the student is that instead of looking to matter or material conditions for cause, he must turn away from matter and seek causation instead in the realm of thought or mind. This applies likewise to every form of discord.

It is quite plain to see that everything, even in what is called the material universe, is the effect of something conceived in thought, or of mental origin. A moment's reflection will prove this. Whether one considers the great Pyramid, the Panama Canal, a radio telegraph, or an automobile, it becomes self-evident that each is the outcome or expression of the one who conceived it. Hence the origin is purely mental and not to be found in the realm of matter at all. This applies with equal force to anything and everything, and one must clearly see that what is termed material is, after all, but the subjective state or objectification of a wholly mental noumenon. It then becomes apparent that when one once recognizes that God, divine Principle, is the one and only cause, the entire spiritual universe is not one of things, but of divine ideas proceeding from the infinite Mind.

"Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered," declares Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 170), "for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress." And on the next page is to be found the following: "The so-called laws of matter are nothing but false beliefs that intelligence and life are present where Mind is not." Christ Jesus set this forth most clearly when he said that it is that which cometh out of a man which defileth, "for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts ... and defible the man." How could he have more plainly shown his hearers that causation is mental and that one expresses precisely what one entertains concerning one's self, delineating either discord or harmony on the body? For, as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." Thus it will be recognized that all depends upon the individual's thinking, and he is in no wise governed or influenced by others' thoughts when once awake to his true sonship or at-one-ment with divine Principle or Mind. Hence all depends upon one's alertness and mental activity, until finally one is aroused to the realization that he is truly a law unto himself, and must be ever on his guard against every intruding thought or fear that would attempt to deprive him of his God-given heritage. And the method that Christian Science prescribes, while quite simple, leads to the fulfillment of all its rich promises of peace and joy that await those who are faithful in carrying out its injunctions.