Defending Your Thought

June 12, 2019
Hymns: 12, 510, 573
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The Bible & Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

PSALMS
27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid?
17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

GENESIS
2:21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept…
3:1-7 (to;) 9 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field…And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman
said…We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; … And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said… Where art thou?

SH 544:17-19
The first statement about evil, — the first suggestion of more than the one Mind, — is in the
fable of the serpent.

SH 529:21-31
Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love? The serpent enters
into the metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the animal kingdom which represents the
species described, — a talking serpent, — and should rejoice that evil, by whatever figure
presented, contradicts itself and has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing this, we
should have faith to fight all claims of evil, because we know that they are worthless and unreal.
Adam, the synonym for error, stands for a belief of material mind.

SH 306:32-2
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the
delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.

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SH 280:16-17
Through this error, human belief comes to have “gods many and lords many.”
SH 308:5-8
Until the lesson is learned that God is the only Mind governing man, mortal belief will be afraid
as it was in the beginning, and will hide from the demand, “Where art thou?”

EXODUS
4:1-4… Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my
voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him,
What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it
on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and
it became a rod in his hand:

SH 103:18-23
As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or
mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as
real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one quality of Truth. It is either ignorant or
malicious.

SH 102:3
Its basis being a belief and this belief animal, in Science animal magnetism, mesmerism, or
hypnotism is a mere negation, possessing neither intelligence, power, nor reality, and in sense it
is an unreal concept of the so-called mortal mind.

SH 101:29-31
In no instance is the effect of animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other than the effect
of illusion.

SH 283:1-3
As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence
apart from God.

MARK (J.B. Phillips)
7:21 …it is from inside, from men’s hearts and minds, that evil thoughts arise…

PROVERBS
3:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

MATTHEW
4:1-11 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the
tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made
bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city,

3 and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It
is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then
saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and
ministered unto him.

SH 298:28-29 (to,);15(np)
Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love,…By giving earnest heed to
these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain “angels unawares.”

SH 564:14-16
Since Jesus must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate, met and conquered sin in
every form.

SH 583:26-27 (to ;)
Animal magnetism; so-called mortal mind controlling mortal mind;
SH 86:29-31
Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees
its own thoughts.

SH 332:9-11
Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human
consciousness.

II CORINTHIANS
10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

PSALMS
36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

SH 476:32-4
Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears
to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man
healed the sick.

SH 286:21-22
God’s thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance and Life
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SH 276:12
The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings objects and thoughts into human view in their
true light, and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony in man is as real and immortal
as in music. Discord is unreal and mortal.

MARK
5:38-42 he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that
wept and wailed greatly. And…he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel
is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn…when he had put them all out, he
taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in
where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said…, Talitha cumi;
which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, …

SH 14:31-6
“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” So spake
Jesus. The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets
in Truth, Life, and Love. Closed to error, it is open to Truth, and vice versa.

SH 71:1
Nothing is real and eternal, — nothing is Spirit, — but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is
neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.

MATTHEW
26:38-40;42-45 Then saith he unto them…watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell
on his face, and prayed…And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith
unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?…He went away again the second time,
and prayed…And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left
them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he
to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at
hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

SH 234:17-18;25-27;31-3
If mortals would keep proper ward over mortal mind, the brood of evils which infest it would be
cleared out…Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested. You must control
evil thoughts in the first instance, or they will control you in the second. Evil thoughts and aims
reach no farther and do no more harm than one’s belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another,
finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.

SH 442:30
Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when
asleep or when awake.

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SH 392:24-27;31-32;8-10;12-13(np)
Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in
bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously…Exclude from mortal mind the offending
errors; then the body cannot suffer from them…Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and
can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority…Rise in the strength of
Spirit to resist all that is unlike good.

MARK
13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

SH 307:31-1
Above error’s awful din, blackness, and chaos, the voice of Truth still calls: “Adam, where art
thou? Consciousness, where art thou?

SH 252:7
When false human beliefs learn even a little of their own falsity, they begin to disappear. A
knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which
destroys error, until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity,
man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his Maker.

SH 469:13-17
The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the
supposititious opposite of infinite Mind — called devil or evil — is not Mind, is not Truth, but
error, without intelligence or reality.

SH 102:16-23
The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappearing, and its aggressive features are coming to
the front. The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour
weaving webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the present methods of animal
magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject
which the criminal desires.

SH 403:14-20
You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception
and not the truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly producing on mortal body the results of
false opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal error is deprived of its imaginary
powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion.

ROMANS
8:38-39…neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

COLOSSIANS
1:27…Christ in you, the hope of glory:
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SH 351:13
It was the living, palpitating presence of Christ, Truth, which healed the sick.

SH 249:6-10
Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal
nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers
that be.” Such is the true Science of being.

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
The Manual of the Mother Church
By Mary Baker Eddy
“It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive
mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to
mankind. By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned.” (p 42)

HANDLING ANIMAL MAGNETISM
FREDDA R. GRATKE
The Christian Science Journal, August 1943
…Animal magnetism is nothing to fear. It is only another term for mortal mind, or error, and
should never be thought of as anything else… To handle animal magnetism in Christian Science
is to see its unreal nature on the basis that all reality is in God and His idea… To indulge in mere
human planning for the future holds thought in bondage, and interferes with the normal
unfoldment of good from the operation of Principle…God lives in the eternal now, and moment
by moment man’s thought should reflect divine Mind’s activity…The habit of holding mental
conversations about error, with ourselves or another, weaves a dark curtain of mortal thinking
through which Love’s healing light cannot penetrate… The child consciousness dwells in joyous
appreciation of present moments, unconcerned by past or future events…simple truths, firmly
held to, lift thought to conscious at-one-ment with divine Love, bringing instantaneous healing…

Prose Works
By Mary Baker Eddy
To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and
the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science. (My 160:5)
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