RUDIMENTAL DIVINE SCIENCE
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
How would you define Christian Science?
As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating thedivine 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 manand 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 asdefinition. In French the equivalent word is personne. In Spanish,Italian, and Latin, it is persona. The Latin verb personare iscompounded of the prefix per (through) and sonare (to sound).
In law, Blackstone applies the word personal to bodily presence, indistinction from one's appearance (in court, for example) by deputy orproxy.
Other definitions of person, as given by Webster, are "a living soul; aself-conscious being; a moral agent; especially, a living human being,a corporeal man, woman, or child; an individual of the human race." Headds, that among Trinitarian Christians the word stands for one of thethree subjects, or agents, constituting the Godhead.
In Christian Science we learn that God is definitely individual, andnot a person, as that word is used by the best authorities, if ourlexicographers are right in defining person as especially a finitehuman being; but God is personal, if by person is meantinfinite Spirit.
We do not conceive rightly of God, if we think of Him as less thaninfinite. The human person is finite; and therefore I prefer to retainthe proper sense of Deity by using the phrase ...