RUDIMENTAL DIVINE SCIENCE By MARY BAKER EDDY Published by The Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy 1891, 1908 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS TENDERLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO ALL LOYAL STUDENTS, WORKING AND WAITING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SCIENCE OF MIND-HEALING MARY BAKER EDDY CONTENTS DEFINITION OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PERSONALITY OF GOD HEALING SICKNESS AND SIN INDIVIDUALITY OF GOD MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL SCIENCE NON-EXISTENCE OF MATTER MATERIALITY INTANGIBLE BASIS OF MIND-HEALING MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL MAN DEMONSTRATION IN HEALING MEANS AND METHODS ONLY ONE SCHOOL _How would you define Christian Science?_ As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony. _What is the Principle of Christian Science?_ It is God, the Supreme Being, infinite and immortal Mind, the Soul of man and the universe. It is our Father which is in heaven. It is substance, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love,--these are the deific Principle. _Do you mean by this that God is a person?_ The word _person_ affords a large margin for misapprehension, as well as definition. In French the equivalent word is _personne_. In Spanish, Italian, and Latin, it is _persona_. The Latin verb _personare_ is compounded of the prefix _per_ (through) and _sonare_ (to sound). In law, Blackstone applies the word _personal_ to _bodily presence_, in distinction from one's appearance (in court, for example) by deputy or proxy. Other definitions of _person_, as given by Webster, are "a living soul; a self-conscious being; a moral agent; especially, a living human being, a corporeal man, woman, or child; an individual of the human race." He adds, that among Trinitarian Christians the word stands for one of the three subjects, or agents, constituting the Godhead. In Christian Science we learn that God is definitely individual, and not a _person_, as that word is used by the best authorities, if our lexicographers are right in defining _person_ as especially a finite _human being_; but God is personal, if by _person_ is meant infinite Spirit. We do not conceive rightly of God, if we think of Him as less than infinite. The human person is finite; and therefore I prefer to retain the proper sense of Deity by using the phrase _an individual_ God, rather than _a personal_ God; for there is and can be but one infinite individual Spirit, whom mortals have named God. Science defines the individuality of God as supreme good, Life, Truth, Love. This term enlarges our sense of Deity, takes away the trammels assigned to God by finite thought, and introduces us to higher definitions. _Is healing the sick the whole of Science?_