Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
| 1 |
MY beloved brethren, methinks even I am touched
with the
tone of your happy hearts, and can see |
| 3 |
your glad faces, aglow with gratitude, chinked within the
storied walls of The Mother Church. If, indeed, we may
be absent from
the body and present with the ever-present |
| 6 |
Love filling all space, time, and immortality - then I am
with thee, heart answering to heart, and mine to thine in
the glow of
divine reflection.
|
| 9 |
I am grateful to say that in the last year of the nine-
teenth century this first church of our denomination,
chartered in 1879, is
found crowned with unprecedented |
| 12 |
prosperity; a membership of over sixteen thousand com-
municants in unity, with rapidly increasing numbers, rich
spiritual
attainments, and right convictions fast forming |
| 15 |
themselves into conduct.
Christian Science already has a
hearing and following
in the five grand divisions of the globe; in
Australia, the |
| 18 |
Philippine Islands, Hawaiian Islands; and in most of the
principal cities, such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Washington,
Baltimore, Charleston, S. C., Atlanta, New |
| 21 |
Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Salt Lake City, San
Francisco, Montreal, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris,
Berlin, Rome, Pekin.
Judging from the number of the |
| 24 |
readers of my books and those interested in them, over a
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|
| 1 |
million of people are already interested in Christian
Science; and this interest increases. Churches of this |
| 3 |
denomination are springing up in the above-named cities,
and, thanks to God, the people most interested in this
old-new theme of
redeeming Love are among the best people |
| 6 |
on earth and in heaven.
The song of Christian Science is,
"Work - work -
work - watch and pray." The close observer
reports |
| 9 |
three types of human nature - the right thinker and
worker, the idler, and the intermediate.
The right thinker works; he gives
little time to society |
| 12 |
manners or matters, and benefits society by his example
and usefulness. He takes no time for amusement, ease,
frivolity; he earns
his money and gives it wisely to the |
| 15 |
world.
The wicked idler earns little and is
stingy; he has
plenty of means, but he uses them evilly. Ask how
he |
| 18 |
gets his money, and his satanic majesty is supposed to
answer smilingly: "By cheating, lying, and crime; his
dupes are his
capital; his stock in trade, the wages of sin; |
| 21 |
your idlers are my busiest workers; they will leave a
lucrative business to work for me." Here we add: The
doom of such workers
will come, and it will be more sudden, |
| 24 |
severe, and lasting than the adversary can hope.
The intermediate worker works at
times. He says:
"It is my duty to take some time for myself; however,
I |
| 27 |
believe in working when it is convenient." Well, all that
is good. But what of the fruits of your labors? And he
answers: "I am not
so successful as I could wish, but I |
| 30 |
work hard enough to be so."
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|
| 1 |
Now, what saith Christian Science? "When a man is
right,
his thoughts are right, active, and they are fruitful; |
| 3 |
he loses self in love, and cannot hear himself, unless he
loses the chord. The right thinker and worker does his
best, and does
the thinking for the ages. No hand that |
| 6 |
feels not his help, no heart his comfort. He improves
moments; to him time is money, and he hoards this capital
to distribute
gain."
|
| 9 |
If the right thinker and worker's servitude is duly valued,
he is not thereby worshipped. One's idol is by no means
his servant,
but his master. And they who love a good |
| 12 |
work or good workers are themselves workers who appre-
ciate a life, and labor to awake the slumbering capability
of man. And what
the best thinker and worker has said |
| 15 |
and done, they are not far from saying and doing. As a
rule the Adam-race are not apt to worship the pioneer
of spiritual ideas, -
but ofttimes to shun him as their |
| 18 |
tormentor. Only the good man loves the right thinker
and
worker, and cannot worship him, for that would de-
stroy this man's
goodness.
|
| 21 |
To-day it surprises us that during the period of captivity
the Israelites in Babylon hesitated not to call the divine
name
Yahwah, afterwards transcribed Jehovah; also |
| 24 |
that women's names contained this divine appellative and
so sanctioned idolatry, - other gods. In the heathen
conception Yahwah,
misnamed Jehovah, was a god of |
| 27 |
hate and of love, who repented himself, improved on his
work of creation, and revenged himself upon his enemies.
However, the
animus of heathen religion was not the in- |
| 30 |
centive of the devout Jew - but has it not tainted the
reli-
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|
| 1 |
gious sects? This seedling misnomer couples love and
hate, good and evil, health and sickness, life and death, |
| 3 |
with man - makes His opposites as real and normal as
the
one God, and so unwittingly consents to many minds
and many gods. This
precedent that would commingle |
| 6 |
Christianity, the gospel of the New Testament and the
teaching of the righteous Galilean, Christ Jesus, with the
Babylonian and
Neoplatonic religion, is being purged by |
| 9 |
a purer Judaism and nearer approach to monotheism and
the perfect worship of one God.
To-day people are surprised at the new
and forward |
| 12 |
steps in religion, which indicate a renaissance greater
than
in the mediaeval period; but ought not this to be an agree-
able
surprise, inasmuch as these are progressive signs of |
| 15 |
the times?
It should seem rational that the only
perfect religion is
divine Science, Christianity as taught by our great
Master; |
| 18 |
that which leaves the beaten path of human doctrines and
is the truth of God, and of man and the universe. The
divine Principle and
rules of this Christianity being de- |
| 21 |
monstrable, they are undeniable; and they must be found
final, absolute, and eternal. The question as to religion
is: Does it
demonstrate its doctrines? Do religionists |
| 24 |
believe that God is One and All? Then whatever
is real
must proceed from God, from Mind, and is His reflection
and
Science. Man and the universe coexist with God in |
| 27 |
Science, and they reflect God and nothing else. In divine
Science, divine Love includes and reflects all that really
is, all
personality and individuality. St. Paul beautifully |
| 30 |
enunciates this fundamental fact of Deity as the "Father
Page 5
of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all."
This scientific statement of the origin, nature, and
govern- |
| 3 |
ment of all things coincides with the First Commandment
of the Decalogue, and leaves no opportunity for idolatry
or aught besides
God, good. It gives evil no origin, no |
| 6 |
reality. Here note the words of our Master corroborating
this as self-evident. Jesus said the opposite of God -
good - named devil -
evil - "is a liar, and the father |
| 9 |
of it" - that is, its origin is a myth, a lie.
Applied to Deity, Father and Mother
are synonymous
terms; they signify one God. Father, Son, and
Holy |
| 12 |
Ghost mean God, man, and divine Science. God is self-
existent, the essence and source of the two latter, and their
office is
that of eternal, infinite individuality. I see no |
| 15 |
other way under heaven and among men whereby to have
one
God, and man in His image and likeness, loving an-
other as himself. This
being the divine Science of divine |
| 18 |
Love, it would enable man to escape from idolatry of
every kind, to obey the First Commandment of the Deca-
logue: "Thou shalt
have no other gods before me;" |
| 21 |
and the command of Christ: "Love thy neighbor as thy-
self." On this rock Christian Science is built. It may
be the rock which
the builders reject for a season; but |
| 24 |
it is the Science of God and His universe, and it will
be-
come the head of the corner, the foundation of all systems
of
religion.
|
| 27 |
The spiritual sense of the Scriptures understood enables
one to utilize the power of divine Love in casting out God's
opposites,
called evils, and in healing the sick. Not mad- |
| 30 |
ness, but might and majesty attend every footstep of
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|
| 1 |
Christian Science. There is no imperfection, no lack in
the Principle and rules which demonstrate it. Only the |
| 3 |
demonstrator can mistake or fail in proving its power and
divinity. In the words of St. Paul: "I count not myself
to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting |
| 6 |
those things which are behind, and reaching forth to
those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" - in the |
| 9 |
true idea of God. Any mystery in Christian Science de-
parts when dawns the spiritual meaning thereof; and the
spiritual sense of
the Scriptures is the scientific sense which |
| 12 |
interprets the healing Christ. A child can measurably
understand Christian Science, for, through his simple faith
and purity, he
takes in its spiritual sense that puzzles the |
| 15 |
man. The child not only accepts Christian Science more
readily than the adult, but he practises it. This notable
fact proves that
the so-called fog of this Science obtains |
| 18 |
not in the Science, but in the material sense which the
adult entertains of it. However, to a man who uses to-
bacco, is profane,
licentious, and breaks God's com- |
| 21 |
mandments, that which destroys his false appetites and
lifts him from the stubborn thrall of sin to a meek and
loving disciple of
Christ, clothed and in his right mind, is |
| 24 |
not darkness but light.
Again, that Christian Science is the
Science of God is
proven when, in the degree that you accept it,
understand |
| 27 |
and practise it, you are made better physically, morally,
and spiritually. Some modern exegesis on the prophetic
Scriptures cites
1875 as the year of the second coming of |
| 30 |
Christ. In that year the Christian Science textbook,
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|
| 1 |
"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," was
first published. From that year the United States official |
| 3 |
statistics show the annual death-rate to have gradually
diminished. Likewise the religious sentiment has in-
creased; creeds and
dogmas have been sifted, and a |
| 6 |
greater love of the Scriptures manifested. In 1895 it was
estimated that during the past three years there had been
more Bibles
sold than in all the other 1893 years. Many |
| 9 |
of our best and most scholarly men and women, distin-
guished members of the bar and bench, press and pulpit,
and those in all
the walks of life, will tell you they never |
| 12 |
loved the Bible and appreciated its worth as they did after
reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. "
This is my
great reward for having suffered, lived, and |
| 15 |
learned, in a small degree, the Science of perfectibility
through Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Is there more than one Christ, and
hath Christ a second |
| 18 |
appearing? There is but one Christ. And from ever-
lasting to everlasting this Christ is never absent. In doubt
and darkness
we say as did Mary of old: "I know not |
| 21 |
where they have laid him." But when we behold the
Christ
walking the wave of earth's troubled sea, like Peter
we believe in the
second coming, and would walk more |
| 24 |
closely with Christ; but find ourselves so far from the em-
bodiment of Truth that ofttimes this attempt measurably
fails, and we
cry, "Save, or I perish !" Then the tender, |
| 27 |
loving Christ is found near, affords help, and we are saved
from our fears. Thus it is we walk here below, and wait
for the full
appearing of Christ till the long night is past |
| 30 |
and the morning dawns on eternal day. Then, if sin and
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|
| 1 |
flesh are put off, we shall know and behold more nearly
the embodied Christ, and with saints and angels shall be |
| 3 |
satisfied to go on till we awake in his likeness.
The good man imparts knowingly and
unknowingly
goodness; but the evil man also exhales consciously
and |
| 6 |
unconsciously his evil nature - hence, be careful of your
company. As in the floral kingdom odors emit character-
istics of tree and
flower, a perfume or a poison, so the hu- |
| 9 |
man character comes forth a blessing or a bane upon
individuals and society. A wicked man has little real
intelligence; he may
steal other people's good thoughts, |
| 12 |
and wear the purloined garment as his own, till God's
discipline takes it off for his poverty to appear.
Our Master saith to his followers:
"Bring forth things |
| 15 |
new and old." In this struggle remember that sensitive-
ness is sometimes selfishness, and that mental idleness or
apathy is always
egotism and animality. Usefulness is |
| 18 |
doing rightly by yourself and others. We lose a
percentage
due to our activity when doing the work that belongs to
another. When a man begins to quarrel with himself he |
| 21 |
stops quarrelling with others. We must exterminate self
before we can successfully war with mankind. Then, at
last, the right will
boil over the brim of life and the fire |
| 24 |
that purifies sense with Soul will be extinguished. It is
not
Science for the wicked to wallow or the good to weep.
Learn to obey; but learn first what
obedience is. |
| 27 |
When God speaks to you through one of His little ones,
and you obey the mandate but retain a desire to follow
your own
inclinations, that is not obedience. I some- |
| 30 |
times advise students not to do certain things which I
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|
| 1 |
know it were best not to do, and they comply with my
counsel; but, watching them, I discern that this obedience |
| 3 |
is contrary to their inclination. Then I sometimes with-
draw that advice and say: "You may do it if you de-
sire." But I say this
not because it is the best thing to |
| 6 |
do, but because the student is not willing - therefore,
not ready - to obey.
The secret of Christian Science in
right thinking and |
| 9 |
acting is open to mankind, but few, comparatively, see
it;
or, seeing it, shut their eyes and wait for a more convenient
season; or as of old cry out: "Why art thou come hither |
| 12 |
to torment me before the time?"
Strong desires bias human judgment and
misguide ac-
tion, else they uplift them. But the reformer
continues |
| 15 |
his lightning, thunder, and sunshine till the mental at-
mosphere is clear. The reformer must be a hero at all
points, and he must
have conquered himself before he can |
| 18 |
conquer others. Sincerity is more successful than genius
or talent.
The twentieth century in the ebb and
flow of thought |
| 21 |
will challenge the thinkers, speakers, and workers to do
their best. Whosoever attempts to ostracize Christian
Science will signally
fail; for no one can fight against God, |
| 24 |
and win.
My loyal students will tell you that
for many years I
have desired to step aside and to have some one take
my |
| 27 |
place as leader of this mighty movement. Also that I
strove earnestly to fit others for this great responsibility.
But no one
else has seemed equal to "bear the burden and |
| 30 |
heat of the day."
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|
| 1 |
Success in sin is downright defeat. Hatred bites the
heel
of love that is treading on its head. All that worketh |
| 3 |
good is some manifestation of God asserting and develop-
ing good. Evil is illusion, that after a fight vanisheth with
the new
birth of the greatest and best. Conflict and perse- |
| 6 |
cution are the truest signs that can be given of the
greatness
of a cause or of an individual, provided this warfare is
honest and a world-imposed struggle. Such conflict never |
| 9 |
ends till unconquerable right is begun anew, and hath
gained fresh energy and final victory.
Certain elements in human nature would
undermine |
| 12 |
the civic, social, and religious rights and laws of
nations
and peoples, striking at liberty, human rights, and self-
government - and this, too, in the name of God, justice, |
| 15 |
and humanity ! These elements assail even the new-old
doctrines of the prophets and of Jesus and his disciples.
History shows
that error repeats itself until it is extermi- |
| 18 |
nated. Surely the wisdom of our forefathers is not added
but subtracted from whatever sways the sceptre of self and
pelf over
individuals, weak provinces, or peoples. Here |
| 21 |
our hope anchors in God who reigns, and justice and
judg-
ment are the habitation of His throne forever.
Only last week I received a touching
token of unselfed |
| 24 |
manhood from a person I never saw. But since publishing
this page I have learned it was a private soldier who sent
to me, in the
name of a first lieutenant of the United States |
| 27 |
infantry in the Philippine Islands, ten five-dollar gold
pieces snuggled in Pears' soap. Surely it is enough for a
soldier serving
his country in that torrid zone to part with |
| 30 |
his soap, but to send me some of his hard-earned money
Page 11
|
| 1 |
cost me a tear! Yes, and it gave me more pleasure than
millions of money could have given.
|
| 3 |
Beloved brethren, have no discord over music. Hold
in
yourselves the true sense of harmony, and this sense
will harmonize, unify,
and unself you. Once I was pas- |
| 6 |
sionately fond of material music, but jarring elements
among musicians weaned me from this love and wedded
me to spiritual music,
the music of Soul. Thus it is with |
| 9 |
whatever turns mortals away from earth to heaven; we
have the promise that "all things work together for good
to them that love
God," - love good. The human sigh |
| 12 |
for peace and love is answered and compensated by divine
love. Music is more than sound in unison. The deaf
Beethoven besieges you
with tones intricate, profound, |
| 15 |
commanding. Mozart rests you. To me his composition
is
the triumph of art, for he measures himself against
deeper grief. I want
not only quality, quantity, and vari- |
| 18 |
ation in tone, but the unction of Love. Music is divine.
Mind, not matter, makes music; and if the divine tone be
lacking, the human
tone has no melody for me. Adelaide |
| 21 |
A. Proctor breathes my thought: -
It flooded the crimson
twilight
Like the close of an angel's psalm, |
| 24 |
And it lay on my fevered
spirit
With a touch of infinite calm.
In Revelation St. John refers to what
"the Spirit saith |
| 27 |
unto the churches." His allegories are the highest criticism
on all human action, type, and system. His symbolic
ethics bravely
rebuke lawlessness. His types of purity
Page 12
|
| 1 |
pierce corruption beyond the power of the pen. They are
bursting paraphrases projected from divinity upon human- |
| 3 |
ity, the spiritual import whereof "holdeth the seven
stars
in His right hand and walketh in the midst of the seven
golden
candlesticks" - the radiance of glorified Being.
|
| 6 |
In Revelation, second chapter, his messages to the
churches commence with the church of Ephesus. History
records Ephesus as an
illustrious city, the capital of Asia |
| 9 |
Minor. It especially flourished as an emporium in the
time of the Roman Emperor Augustus. St. Paul's life
furnished items
concerning this city. Corresponding to |
| 12 |
its roads, its gates, whence the Ephesian elders travelled
to
meet St. Paul, led northward and southward. At the head
of the
harbor was the temple of Diana, the tutelary divinity |
| 15 |
of Ephesus. The earlier temple was burned on the night
that Alexander the Great was born. Magical arts pre-
vailed at Ephesus;
hence the Revelator's saying: "I |
| 18 |
have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love . . . and will remove thy candlestick out of his
place, except
thou repent." This prophecy has been ful- |
| 21 |
filled. Under the influence of St. Paul's preaching the
magical books in that city were publicly burned. It were
well if we had a
St. Paul to purge our cities of charlatanism. |
| 24 |
During St. Paul's stay in that city - over two years - he
labored in the synagogue, in the school of Tyrannus, and
also in private
houses. The entire city is now in ruins.
|
| 27 |
The Revelation of St. John in the apostolic age is sym-
bolic, rather than personal or historical. It refers to the
Hebrew Balaam
as the devourer of the people. Nicolaitan |
| 30 |
church presents the phase of a great controversy, ready
to
Page 13
|
| 1 |
destroy the unity and the purity of the church. It is
said
"a controversy was inevitable when the Gentiles entered |
| 3 |
the church of Christ" in that city. The Revelator com-
mends the church at Ephesus by saying: "Thou hatest
the deeds of the
Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." It is |
| 6 |
written of this church that their words were brave and their
deeds evil. The orgies of their idolatrous feasts and their
impurities
were part of a system supported by their doc- |
| 9 |
trine and their so-called prophetic illumination. Their
distinctive feature the apostle justly regards as heathen,
and so he
denounces the Nicolaitan church.
|
| 12 |
Alexander the Great founded the city of Smyrna, and
after a series of wars it was taken and sacked. The Reve-
lator writes of
this church of Smyrna: "Be thou faithful |
| 15 |
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." A glad
promise to such as wait and weep.
The city of Pergamos was devoted to a
sensual worship. |
| 18 |
There AEsculapius, the god of medicine, acquired fame;
and a serpent was the emblem of AEsculapius. Its medical
practice included
charms and incantations. The Reve- |
| 21 |
lator refers to the church in this city as dwelling "where
Satan's seat is." The Pergamene church consisted of the
school of
Balaam and AEsculapius, idolatry and medicine.
|
| 24 |
The principal deity in the city of Thyatira was Apollo.
Smith writes: "In this city the amalgamation of different
pagan religions
seems not to have been wholly discoun- |
| 27 |
tenanced by the authorities of the Judaeo-Christian
church."
The Revelator speaks of the angel of
the church in |
| 30 |
Philadelphia as being bidden to write the approval of this
Page 14
|
| 1 |
church by our Master - he saith: "Thou hast a little
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my |
| 3 |
name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of
Satan
. . . to know that I have loved thee. . . . Hold
that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown."
|
| 6 |
He goes on to portray seven churches, the full number
of
days named in the creation, which signifies a complete
time or number of
whatever is spoken of in the Scriptures.
|
| 9 |
Beloved, let him that hath an ear (that discerneth
spirit-
ually) hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; and
seek
thou the divine import of the Revelator's vision - |
| 12 |
and no other. Note his inspired rebuke to all the
churches
except the church in Philadelphia-the name whereof
signifies
"brotherly love." I call your attention to this |
| 15 |
to remind you of the joy you have had in following the
more perfect way, or Golden Rule: "As ye would that
men should do to you,
do ye." Let no root of bitterness |
| 18 |
spring up among you, but hold in your full hearts
fervently
the charity that seeketh not only her own, but another's
good. The angel that spake unto the churches cites Jesus |
| 21 |
as "he that hath the key of David; that openeth and no
man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth;" in
other words, he that
toiled for the spiritually indispensable.
|
| 24 |
At all times respect the character and philanthropy of
the better class of M.D.'s - and if you are stoned from
the pulpit, say in
your heart as the devout St. Stephen said: |
| 27 |
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
When invited to a feast you naturally
ask who are to be
the guests. And being told they are distinguished
indi- |
| 30 |
viduals, you prepare accordingly for the festivity.
Putting
Page 15
|
| 1 |
aside the old garment, you purchase, at whatever price, a
new one that is up to date. To-day you have come to a |
| 3 |
sumptuous feast, to one that for many years has been await-
ing you. The guests are distinguished above human title
and this feast
is a Passover. To sit at this table of their |
| 6 |
Lord and partake of what divine Love hath prepared for
them, Christian Scientists start forward with true ambi-
tion. The
Passover, spiritually discerned, is a wonderful |
| 9 |
passage over a tear-filled sea of repentance - which of
all human experience is the most divine; and after this
Passover cometh
victory, faith, and good works.
|
| 12 |
When a supercilious consciousness that saith "there is
no sin," has awakened to see through sin's disguise the
claim of sin, and
thence to see that sin has no claim, it |
| 15 |
yields to sharp conviction - it sits in sackcloth - it waits
in the desert - and fasts in the wilderness. But all this
time divine
Love has been preparing a feast for this |
| 18 |
awakened consciousness. To-day you have come to Love's
feast, and you kneel at its altar. May you have on a wed-
ding garment new
and old, and the touch of the hem of |
| 21 |
his garment heal the sick and the sinner!
In the words of St. John, may the
angel of The Mother
Church write of this church: "Thou hast not left thy
first |
| 24 |
love, I know thy works, and charity, and service, and
faith,
and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more
than
the first."
|
| 27 |
Watch! till the storms are
o'er -
The cold blasts done,
The reign of heaven begun, |
| 30 |
And love, the evermore.
|