|
TO THE COLLEGE
ASSOCIATION
Letter read at the
meeting of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
|
| 24 |
College Association, June 3, 1891
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS'
ASSOCIATION OF |
| 27 |
THE MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE
My Beloved Students: - You may be looking to see
me
in my accustomed place with you, but this you must no
Page 136 |
| 1 |
longer expect. When I retired from the field of labor,
it
was a departure, socially, publicly, and finally, from |
| 3 |
the routine of such material modes as society and our
societies demand. Rumors are rumors, - nothing more.
I am still with you on
the field of battle, taking forward |
| 6 |
marches, broader and higher views, and with the hope
that you will follow.
The eternal and infinite, already
brought to your |
| 9 |
earnest consideration, so grow upon my vision that I
cannot feel justified in turning aside for one hour from
contemplation of
them and of the faith unfeigned. |
| 12 |
When the verities of being seem to you as to me, - as
they must some time, - you will understand the neces-
sity for my
seclusion, and its fulfilment of divine order. |
| 15 |
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa-
rate, saith the Lord."
All our thoughts should be given to
the absolute |
| 18 |
demonstration of Christian Science. You can well
afford
to give me up, since you have in my last re-
vised edition of Science and
Health your teacher and |
| 21 |
guide.
I recommend that the June session of
this honorable
body shall close your meetings for the summer; also,
that |
| 24 |
hereafter you hold three sessions annually, convening
once in four months; oftener is not requisite, and the
members coming from
a distance will be accommodated |
| 27 |
by this arrangement.
Yours affectionately,
MARY B. G. EDDY
Page 137
TO THE NATIONAL
CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST ASSOCIATION
My Dear Students and Friends:
- Accept my thanks |
| 3 |
for your card of invitation, your badge, and order of
exer-
cise, all of which are complete.
When I gave you a meagre reception in
Boston at the |
| 6 |
close of the first convention of the National Christian
Scientist Association, it was simply to give you the privi-
lege, poor as
it was, of speaking a few words aside to your |
| 9 |
teacher. I remember my regret, when, having asked in
general assembly if you had any questions to propose, I
received no reply.
Since then you have doubtless realized |
| 12 |
that such opportunity might have been improved; but
that time has passed.
I greatly rejoice over the growth of
my students within |
| 15 |
the last few years. It was kind of you to part so gently
with the protecting wings of the mother-bird, and to spread
your own so
bravely. Now, dear ones, if you take my |
| 18 |
advice again, you will do - what?
Even this: Disorganize the National
Christian Scien-
tist Association! and each one return to his place
of |
| 21 |
labor, to work out individually and alone, for himself
and
for others, the sublime ends of human life.
To accomplish this, you must give much
time to self- |
| 24 |
examination and correction; you must control appetite,
passion, pride, envy, evil-speaking, resentment, and each
one of the
innumerable errors that worketh or maketh |
| 27 |
a lie. Then you can give to the world the benefit of all
this, and heal and teach with increased confidence. My
students can
now organize their students into associa- |
| 30 |
tions, form churches, and hold these organizations of
their
Page 138 |
| 1 |
own, - until, in turn, their students will sustain them-
selves and work for others. |
| 3 |
The time it takes yearly to prepare for this national
convention is worse than wasted, if it causes thought to
wander in the
wilderness or ways of the world. The de- |
| 6 |
tail of conforming to society, in any way, costs you what
it would to give time and attention to hygiene in your
ministry and
healing. |
| 9 |
For students to work together is not always to co-
operate, but sometimes to coelbow! Each student should
seek alone the
guidance of our common Father - even |
| 12 |
the divine Principle which he claims to demonstrate, -
and especially should he prove his faith by works, ethi-
cally, physically,
and spiritually. Remember that the |
| 15 |
first and last lesson of Christian Science is love,
perfect
love, and love made perfect through the cross.
I once thought that in unity was human
strength; but |
| 18 |
have grown to know that human strength is weakness, -
that unity is divine might, giving to human power, peace.
My counsel is applicable to the state
of general growth |
| 21 |
in the members of the National Christian Scientist Asso-
ciation, but it is not so adapted to the members of
students'
organizations. And wherefore? Because the |
| 24 |
growth of these at first is more gradual; but whenever
they are equal to the march triumphant, God will give
to all His soldiers
of the cross the proper command, and |
| 27 |
under the banner of His love, and with the "still, small
voice" for the music of our march, we all shall take step
and march on in
spiritual organization. |
| 30 |
Your loving teacher,
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
CONCORD, N. H., May 23, 1890
Page 139 |
| 1 |
N. B. I recommend this honorable body to adjourn,
if it
does not disorganize, to three years from this date; |
| 3 |
or, if it does disorganize, to meet again in three
years.
Then bring your tithes into the storehouse, and God will
pour
you out a blessing such as you even yet have not
received.
M. B. G. E.
TO THE FIRST CHURCH
OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, BOSTON
(For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
casting down
12 imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the
obedience of Christ. - 2 COR. x. 4, 5. |
| 15 |
In April, 1883, I started the Journal of Christian
Science, with a portion of the above Scripture for its
motto. |
| 18 |
On December 10, 1889, I gave a lot of land - in
Boston, situated near the beautiful Back Bay Park, now
valued at $20,000 and rising in value - for the purpose |
| 21 |
of having erected thereon a church edifice to be called The
Church of Christ, Scientist.
I had this desirable site transferred in a
circuitous, |
| 24 |
novel way, at the wisdom whereof a few persons have
since scrupled; but to my spiritual perception, like all
true wisdom, this
transaction will in future be regarded |
| 27 |
as greatly wise, and it will be found that this act was in
advance of the erring mind's apprehension.
As with all former efforts in the interest of
Christian |
| 30 |
Science, I took care that the provisions for the land
and
Page 140 |
| 1 |
building were such as error could not control. I knew
that to God's gift, foundation and superstructure, no one |
| 3 |
could hold a wholly material title. The land, and the
church standing on it, must be conveyed through a type
representing the
true nature of the gift; a type morally |
| 6 |
and spiritually inalienable, but materially questionable
- even after the manner that all spiritual good comes
to Christian
Scientists, to the end of taxing their faith |
| 9 |
in God, and their adherence to the superiority of the
claims of Spirit over matter or merely legal titles.
No one could buy, sell, or mortgage my
gift as I had |
| 12 |
it conveyed. Thus the case rested, and I supposed the
trustee-deed was legal; but this was God's business, not
mine. Our church
was prospered by the right hand of |
| 15 |
His righteousness, and contributions to the Building Fund
generously poured into the treasury. Unity prevailed, -
till mortal man
sought to know who owned God's temple, |
| 18 |
and adopted and urged only the material side of this
question.
The lot of land which I donated I
redeemed from under |
| 21 |
mortgage. The foundation on which our church was to
be
built had to be rescued from the grasp of legal power,
and now it must be
put back into the arms of Love, if we |
| 24 |
would not be found fighting against God.
The diviner claim and means for
upbuilding the Church
of Christ were prospered. Our title to God's acres
will |
| 27 |
be safe and sound - when we can "read our title clear"
to
heavenly mansions. Built on the rock, our church
will stand the storms of
ages: though the material super- |
| 30 |
structure should crumble into dust, the fittest would
sur-
vive, - the spiritual idea would live, a perpetual type of
the
divine Principle it reflects.
Page 141 |
| 1 |
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, our prayer in
stone, will be the prophecy fulfilled, the monument up- |
| 3 |
reared, of Christian Science. It will speak to you of the
Mother, and of your hearts' offering to her through whom
was revealed to
you God's all-power, all-presence, and |
| 6 |
all-science. This building begun, will go up, and no one
can suffer from it, for no one can resist the power that
is behind it; and
against this church temple "the gates |
| 9 |
of hell" cannot prevail.
All loyal Christian Scientists hail
with joy this pro-
posed type of universal Love; not so, however,
with |
| 12 |
error, which hates the bonds and methods of Truth, and
shudders at the freedom, might, and majesty of Spirit,
- even the
annihilating law of Love. |
| 15 |
I vindicate both the law of God and the laws of our
land. I believe, - yea, I understand, - that with the
spirit of Christ
actuating all the parties concerned about |
| 18 |
the legal quibble, it can easily be corrected to the
satis-
faction of all. Let this be speedily done. Do not, I im-
plore
you, stain the early history of Christian Science by |
| 21 |
the impulses of human will and pride; but let the divine
will and the nobility of human meekness rule this busi-
ness transaction,
in obedience to the law of Love and the |
| 24 |
laws of our land.
As the ambassador of Christ's
teachings, I admonish
you: Delay not longer to commence building our
church |
| 27 |
in Boston; or else return every dollar that you
yourselves
declare you have had no legal authority for obtaining, to
the several contributors, - and let them, not you, say |
| 30 |
what shall be done with their money.
Of our first church in Boston, O
recording angel!
write: God is in the midst of her: how beautiful are
her
Page 142 |
| 1 |
feet! how beautiful are her garments! how hath He en-
larged her borders! how hath He made her wildernesses |
| 3 |
to bud and blossom as the rose!
With love,
MARY
BAKER EDDY
TO DONORS OF BOAT,
FROM TORONTO, CANADA
Written on receipt of a
beautiful boat presented by Christian
Scientists in Toronto, for the little
pond at Pleasant View. The |
| 9 |
boat displays, among other beautiful
decorations, a number of
masonic symbols.
Beloved Students and Friends: - Accept my
thanks |
| 12 |
for the beautiful boat and presentation poem. Each day
since they arrived I have said, Let me write to the donors,
- and
what? |
| 15 |
My first impression was to indite a poem; my second,
a
psalm; my third, a letter. Why the letter alone? Be-
cause your dear hearts
expressed in their lovely gift such |
| 18 |
varying types of true affection, shaded as autumn leaves
with bright hues of the spiritual, that my Muse lost her
lightsome lyre,
and imagery of thought gave place to |
| 21 |
chords of feeling too deep for words.
A boat song seemed more Olympian than the psalm in
spiritual strains of the Hebrew bard. So I send my |
| 24 |
answer in a commonplace letter. Poor return, is it
not?
The symbols of freemasonry depicted on the boat |
| 27 |
wakened memory, touched tender fibres of thought, and
I
longed to say to the masonic brothers: If as a woman
I may not unite with
you in freemasonry, nor you with |
| 30 |
me in Christian Science, yet as friends we can feel the
Page 143 |
| 1 |
touch of heart to heart and hand to hand, on the broad
basis and sure foundation of true friendship's "level" |
| 3 |
and the "square" of moral sentiments.
My dear students may have explained to
the kind par-
ticipants in beautifying this boat our spiritual
points, |
| 6 |
above the plane of matter. If so, I may hope that a
closer link hath bound us. Across lakes, into a kingdom,
I reach out my
hand to clasp yours, with this silent bene- |
| 9 |
diction: May the kingdom of heaven come in each of
your
hearts!
With love, |
| 12 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
ADDRESS, - LAYING
THE CORNER-STONE
Beloved Students:-On the 21st day of May, A. D. |
| 15 |
1894, with quiet, imposing ceremony, is laid the corner-
stone of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist," in
Boston. |
| 18 |
It gives me great pleasure to say that you, principally
the Normal class graduates of my College, well known
physicians, teachers,
editors, and pastors of churches, |
| 21 |
by contributions of one thousand dollars each, husband
and wife reckoned as one, have, within about three
months, donated the
munificent sum of forty-two thou- |
| 24 |
sand dollars toward building The Mother Church. A
quiet
call from me for this extra contribution, in aid of
our Church Building
Fund, found you all "with one |
| 27 |
accord in one place." Each donation came promptly;
sometimes at much self-sacrifice, but always accompanied
with a touching
letter breathing the donor's privileged joy.
Page 144 |
| 1 |
The granite for this church was taken from the quar-
ries
in New Hampshire, my native State. The money |
| 3 |
for building "Mother's Room," situated in the second
story of the tower on the northeast corner of this build-
ing, and the name
thereof, came from the dear children |
| 6 |
of Christian Scientists; a little band called Busy Bees,
organized by Miss Maurine R. Campbell.
On this memorable day there are laid
away a copy of |
| 9 |
this address, the subscription list on which appear your
several names in your own handwriting, your textbook,
"Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures," and |
| 12 |
other works written by the same author, your teacher,
the
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science; (1) with-
out pomp or pride,
laid away as a sacred secret in the |
| 15 |
heart of a rock, there to typify the prophecy, "And a man
shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest; .
. . as the shadow of a great rock in |
| 18 |
weary land:" henceforth to whisper our Master's
promise,
"Upon this rock I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." |
| 21 |
To-day, be this hope in each of our hearts, - precious
in
God's sight as shall be the assembling of His people
in this temple, sweet
as the rest that remaineth for the |
| 24 |
righteous, and fresh as a summer morn, - that, from
earth's pillows of stone, our visible lives are rising to
God. As in the
history of a seed, so may our earthly |
| 27 |
sowing bear fruit that exudes the inspiration of the
wine
poured into the cup of Christ.
To-day I pray that divine Love, the
life-giving Prin- |
| 30 |
ciple of Christianity, shall speedily wake the long night
of materialism, and the universal dawn shall break upon
the spire of
this temple. The Church, more than any
(1) A copy of the Bible was included
among the books placed in the corner-stone.
Page 145 |
| 1 |
other institution, at present is the cement of society,
and
it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty. |
| 3 |
But the time cometh when the religious element, or Church
of Christ, shall exist alone in the affections, and need no
organization to
express it. Till then, this form of godli- |
| 6 |
ness seems as requisite to manifest its spirit, as
individ-
uality to express Soul and substance.
Does a single bosom burn for fame and
power? Then |
| 9 |
when that person shall possess these, let him ask him-
self, and answer to his name in this corner-stone of our
temple: Am I
greater for them? And if he thinks that |
| 12 |
he is, then is he less than man to whom God gave "do-
minion over all the earth," less than the meek who "in-
herit the earth."
Even vanity forbids man to be vain; |
| 15 |
and pride is a hooded hawk which flies in darkness. Over
a wounded sense of its own error, let not mortal thought
resuscitate too
soon. |
| 18 |
In our rock-bound friendship, delicate as dear, our
names may melt into one, and common dust, and their
modest sign be
nothingness. Be this as it may, the visible |
| 21 |
unity of spirit remains, to quicken even dust into sweet
memorial such as Isaiah prophesied: "The wolf also shall
dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with |
| 24 |
the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; and a little child shall lead them."
When the hearts of Christian
Scientists are woven to- |
| 27 |
gether as are their names in the web of history, earth will
float majestically heaven's heraldry, and echo the song
of angels:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth |
| 30 |
peace, good will toward men."
To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, and to
the dear children that my heart folds within it, let me
Page 146 |
| 1 |
say, 'Tis sweet to remember thee, and God's Zion, with
healing on her wings. May her walls be vocal with sal- |
| 3 |
vation; and her gates with praise!
TO THE FIRST CHURCH
OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, BOSTON |
| 6 |
My Beloved Students: - I cannot conscientiously
lend
my counsel to direct your action on receiving or dismiss-
ing
candidates. To do this, I should need to be with |
| 9 |
you. I cannot accept hearsay, and would need to know
the
circumstances and facts regarding both sides of the
subject, to form a
proper judgment. This is not my |
| 12 |
present province; hence I have hitherto declined to be
consulted on these subjects, and still maintain this
position. |
| 15 |
These are matters of grave import; and you cannot
be
indifferent to this, but will give them immediate at-
tention, and be
governed therein by the spirit and the |
| 18 |
letter of this Scripture: "Whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so to them."
I cannot be the conscience for this
church; but if I |
| 21 |
were, I would gather every reformed mortal that desired
to come, into its fold, and counsel and help him to walk
in the footsteps
of His flock. I feel sure that as Chris- |
| 24 |
tian Scientists you will act, relative to this matter, up
to
your highest understanding of justice and mercy.
Affectionately
yours, |
| 27 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
Feb. 12, 1895
Page 147
THE FIRST MEMBERS OF
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,
BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS |
| 3 |
My Beloved Students: - Another year has rolled on,
another annual meeting has convened, another space of
time has been given
us, and has another duty been done |
| 6 |
and another victory won for time and eternity? Do you
meet in unity, preferring one another, and demonstrating
the divine
Principle of Christian Science? Have you |
| 9 |
improved past hours, and ladened them with records
worthy
to be borne heavenward? Have you learned
that sin is inadmissible, and
indicates a small mind? |
| 12 |
Do you manifest love for those that hate you and de-
spitefully use you?
The man of integrity is one who makes it his
constant |
| 15 |
rule to follow the road of duty, according as Truth and
the voice of his conscience point it out to him. He is not
guided merely by
affections which may some time give |
| 18 |
the color of virtue to a loose and unstable character.
The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which
destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to |
| 21 |
abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him
ever the same, - at all times the trusty friend, the affec-
tionate
relative, the conscientious man of business, the |
| 24 |
pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.
He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no
mask to
cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he |
| 27 |
is indeed what he appears to be, - full of truth, candor,
and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path
but the fair, open, and
direct one, and would much rather |
| 30 |
fail of success than attain it by reproachable means. He
Page 148 |
| 1 |
never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates
evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part |
| 3 |
of his character at variance with another.
Lovingly
yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY |
| 6 |
Sept. 30, 1895
EXTRACT FROM A
LETTER
The Rules and By-laws in the Manual of
The First |
| 9 |
Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, originated not in
solemn conclave as in ancient Sanhedrim. They were
not arbitrary opinions
nor dictatorial demands, such as |
| 12 |
one person might impose on another. They were im-
pelled
by a power not one's own, were written at differ-
ent dates, and as the
occasion required. They sprang |
| 15 |
from necessity, the logic of events, - from the immedi-
ate demand for them as a help that must be supplied to
maintain the dignity
and defense of our Cause; hence |
| 18 |
their simple, scientific basis, and detail so requisite
to
demonstrate genuine Christian Science, and which will
do for the
race what absolute doctrines destined for future |
| 21 |
generations might not accomplish.
TO THE MOTHER
CHURCH
Beloved Brethren: - Until recently, I was not aware |
| 24 |
that the contribution box was presented at your Friday
evening meetings. I specially desire that you collect no
moneyed
contributions from the people present on these |
| 27 |
occasions.
Let the invitation to this sweet
converse be in the words
of the prophet Isaiah: "Ho, every one that
thirsteth,
Page 149 |
| 1 |
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come
ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without |
| 3 |
money and without price."
Invite all cordially and freely to
this banquet of Chris-
tian Science, this feast and flow of Soul. Ask them
to |
| 6 |
bring what they possess of love and light to help leaven
your loaf and replenish your scanty store. Then, after
presenting the
various offerings, and one after another |
| 9 |
has opened his lips to discourse and distribute what God
has given him of experience, hope, faith, and under-
standing, gather up
the fragments, and count the baskets |
| 12 |
full of accessions to your love, and see that nothing
has
been lost.
With love, |
| 15 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
TO FIRST CHURCH OF
CHRIST, SCIENTIST, IN OCONTO |
| 18 |
My Beloved Brethren: - Lips nor pen can ever ex-
press the joy you give me in parting so promptly with
your beloved pastor,
Rev. Mr. Norcross, to send him to |
| 21 |
aid me. It is a refreshing demonstration of Christianity,
brotherly love, and all the rich graces of the Spirit. May
this sacrifice
bring to your beloved church a vision of the |
| 24 |
new church, that cometh down from heaven, whose altar
is
a loving heart, whose communion is fellowship with
saints and angels. This
example of yours is a light that |
| 27 |
cannot be hid.
Guided by the pillar and the cloud,
this little church
that built the first temple for Christian Science
worship |
| 30 |
shall abide steadfastly in the faith of Jesus' words:
"Fear
Page 150 |
| 1 |
not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure
to
give you the kingdom." May He soon give you a pastor; |
| 3 |
already you have the great Shepherd of Israel watch-
ing
over you. Give my forever-love to your dear church.
Yours in bonds of
Christ, |
| 6 |
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
Boston, Mass., 1889
TO FIRST CHURCH OF
CHRIST, SCIENTIST, IN SCRANTON
Beloved Brethren: - Space is no separator of hearts.
Spiritually, I am with
all who are with Truth, and whose |
| 12 |
hearts to-day are repeating their joy that God dwelleth
in the congregation of the faithful, and loveth the gates
of Zion. |
| 15 |
The outlook is cheering. We have already seen the
salvation of many people by means of Christian Science.
Chapels and
churches are dotting the entire land. Con- |
| 18 |
venient houses and halls can now be obtained wherein, as
whereout, Christian Scientists may worship the Father
"in spirit and in
truth," as taught by our great Master. |
| 21 |
"If God be for us, who can be against us?" If He
be with
us, the wayside is a sanctuary, and the desert a
resting-place peopled with
living witnesses of the fact |
| 24 |
that "God is Love."
God is universal; confined to no spot,
defined by no
dogma, appropriated by no sect. Not more to one
than |
| 27 |
to all, is God demonstrable as divine Life, Truth, and
Love; and His people are they that reflect Him - that
reflect Love. Again,
this infinite Principle, with its uni- |
| 30 |
versal manifestation, is all that really is or can be;
hence God is our Shepherd. He guards, guides, feeds,
Page 151 |
| 1 |
and folds the sheep of His pasture; and their ears are
attuned to His call. In the words of the loving disciple, |
| 3 |
"My sheep hear my voice, . . . and they follow me;
neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand." |
| 6 |
God is a consuming fire. He separates the dross from
the
gold, purifies the human character, through the
furnace of affliction.
Those who bear fruit He purgeth, |
| 9 |
that they may bear more fruit. Through the sacred law,
He
speaketh to the unfruitful in tones of Sinai: and, in
the gospel, He saith
of the barren fig-tree, "Cut it down; |
| 12 |
why cumbereth it the ground?"
God is our Father and our Mother, our
Minister and
the great Physician: He is man's only real relative
on |
| 15 |
earth and in heaven. David sang, "Whom have I in
heaven
but thee? and there is none upon earth that I
desire beside thee." |
| 18 |
Brother, sister, beloved in the Lord, knowest thou
thyself, and art thou acquainted with God? If not, I
pray thee as a
Christian Scientist, delay not to make Him |
| 21 |
thy first acquaintance.
Glorious things are spoken of you in
His Word. Ye
are a chosen people, whose God is - what? Even
All. |
| 24 |
May mercy and truth go before you: may the lamp of
your
life continually be full of oil, and you be wedded
to the spiritual idea,
Christ; then will you heal, and |
| 27 |
teach, and preach, on the ascending scale of everlasting
Life and Love.
Affectionately yours in Christ, |
| 30 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
Page 152
TO FIRST CHURCH OF
CHRIST, SCIENTIST, IN DENVER |
| 3 |
Beloved Pastor and Brethren: - "As in water face
answereth to face," and in love continents clasp hands, so
the oneness of
God includes also His presence with those |
| 6 |
whose hearts unite in the purposes of goodness. Of this
we may be sure: that thoughts winged with peace and
love breathe a silent
benediction over all the earth, co- |
| 9 |
operate with the divine power, and brood unconsciously
o'er the work of His hand.
I, as a corporeal person, am not in
your midst: I, as a |
| 12 |
dictator, arbiter, or ruler, am not present; but I, as a
mother whose heart pulsates with every throb of theirs
for the welfare of
her children, am present, and rejoice |
| 15 |
with them that rejoice.
May meekness, mercy, and love dwell
forever in the
hearts of those who worship in this tabernacle:
then |
| 18 |
will they receive the heritage that God has prepared for
His people,-made ready for the pure in affection, the
meek in spirit, the
worshipper in truth, the follower of |
| 21 |
good.
Thus founded upon the rock of Christ,
when storm
and tempest beat against this sure foundation,
you, |
| 24 |
safely sheltered in the strong tower of hope, faith, and
Love, are God's nestlings; and He will hide you in His
feathers till the
storm has passed. Into His haven of |
| 27 |
Soul there enters no element of earth to cast out angels,
to silence the right intuition which guides you safely
home. |
| 30 |
Exercise more faith in God and His spiritual means
Page 153 |
| 1 |
and methods, than in man and his material ways and
means,
of establishing the Cause of Christian Science. |
| 3 |
If right yourself, God will confirm His inheritance. "Be
not weary in well doing." Truth is restful, and Love is
triumphant. |
| 6 |
When God went forth before His people, they were
fed
with manna: they marched through the wilderness:
they passed through the
Red Sea, untouched by the bil- |
| 9 |
lows. At His command, the rock became a fountain;
and the
land of promise, green isles of refreshment. In
the words of the Psalmist,
when" the Lord gave the word: |
| 12 |
great was the company of those that published it."
God is good to Israel, - washed in the
waters of
Meribah, cleansed of the flesh, - good to His
Israel |
| 15 |
encompassed not with pride, hatred, self-will, and self-
justification; wherein violence covereth men as a gar-
ment, and as
captives are they enchained. |
| 18 |
Christian Scientists bring forth the fruits of Spirit,
not flesh; and God giveth this "new name" to no man
who honors Him not by
positive proof of trust worthiness. |
| 21 |
May you be able to say, "I have not cleansed my heart
in vain."
Sir Edwin Arnold, to whom I presented
a copy of |
| 24 |
my first edition of "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," writes: -
Peace on earth
and Good-will! |
| 27 |
Souls that are gentle and still
Hear the first music of this
Far-off, infinite, Bliss! |
| 30 |
So may the God of peace be and abide with this church.
Affectionately yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY
Page 154
TO FIRST CHURCH OF
CHRIST, SCIENTIST, IN LAWRENCE |
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - The spreading branches of The
Church of Christ, Scientist, are fast reaching out their
broad shelter to
the entire world. Your faith has not |
| 6 |
been without works, - and God's love for His flock is
manifest in His care. He will dig about this little church,
prune its
encumbering branches, water it with the dews |
| 9 |
of heaven, enrich its roots, and enlarge its borders with
divine Love. God only waits for man's worthiness to
enhance the means and
measure of His grace. You |
| 12 |
have already proof of the prosperity of His Zion. You
sit
beneath your own vine and fig-tree as the growth
of spirituality - even
that vine whereof our Father is |
| 15 |
husbandman.
It is the purpose of divine Love to
resurrect the under-
standing, and the kingdom of God, the reign of
har- |
| 18 |
mony already within us. Through the word that is
spoken
unto you, are you made free. Abide in His word,
and it shall abide in you;
and the healing Christ will |
| 21 |
again be made manifest in the flesh - understood and
glorified.
Honor thy Father and Mother, God.
Continue in |
| 24 |
His love. Bring forth fruit - "signs following" - that
your prayers be not hindered. Pray without ceasing.
Watch diligently; never
desert the post of spiritual ob- |
| 27 |
servation and self-examination. Strive for self-abnega-
tion, justice, meekness, mercy, purity, love. Let your
light reflect Light.
Have no ambition, affection, nor |
| 30 |
aim apart from holiness. Forget not for a moment, that
Page 155 |
| 1 |
God is All-in-all-therefore, that in reality there is but
one cause and effect. |
| 3 |
The pride of circumstance or power is the prince of
this
world that has nothing in Christ. All power and
happiness are spiritual,
and proceed from goodness. |
| 6 |
Sacrifice self to bless one another, even as God has
blessed you. Forget self in laboring for mankind; then
will you woo the
weary wanderer to your door, win the |
| 9 |
pilgrim and stranger to your church, and find access to
the heart of humanity. While pressing meekly on, be
faithful, be valiant in
the Christian's warfare, and peace |
| 12 |
will crown your joy.
Lovingly yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY
TO
CORRESPONDENTS
Beloved Students: - Because Mother has not the time
even to read all of her
interesting correspondence, and |
| 18 |
less wherein to answer it (however much she desires
thus
to do), she hereby requests: First, that you, her
students' students, who
write such excellent letters to |
| 21 |
her, will hereafter, as a general rule, send them to the
editors of The Christian Science Journal for publication,
and
thereby give to us all the pleasure of hearing from you. |
| 24 |
If my own students cannot spare time to write to God,
-
when they address me I shall be apt to forward their
letters to Him as our
common Parent, and by way of |
| 27 |
The Christian Science Journal; thus fulfilling their
moral
obligation to furnish some reading-matter for our denomi-
national organ. Methinks, were they to contemplate the |
| 30 |
universal charge wherewith divine Love has entrusted us,
Page 156
Miscellaneous Writings |
| 1 |
in behalf of a suffering race, they would contribute oftener
to the pages of this swift vehicle of scientific thought; |
| 3 |
for it reaches a vast number of earnest readers, and
seek-
ers after Truth.
With love,
MARY BAKER EDDY
TO STUDENTS
Beloved Christian
Scientists: - Please send in your
contributions as usual to our Journal. All is well at
head- |
| 9 |
quarters, and when the mist shall melt away you will see
clearly the signs of Truth and the heaven of Love within
your hearts. Let
the reign of peace and harmony be |
| 12 |
supreme and forever yours.
I proposed to merge the adjourned
meeting in the one
held at Chicago, because I saw no advantage, but
great |
| 15 |
disadvantage, in one student's opinions or modus oper-
andi becoming the basis for others: read "Retrospection"
on this
subject. Science is absolute, and best under- |
| 18 |
stood through the study of my works and the daily Chris-
tian demonstration thereof. It is their materiality that
clogs the
progress of students, and "this kind goeth not |
| 21 |
forth but by prayer and fasting." It is materialism
through
which the animal magnetizer preys, and in turn becomes
a prey.
Spirituality is the basis of all true thought and |
| 24 |
volition. Assembling themselves together, and listening
to each other amicably, or contentiously, is no aid to
students in
acquiring solid Christian Science. Experi- |
| 27 |
ence and, above all, obedience, are the aids and
tests of
growth and understanding in this direction.
With love, |
| 30 |
MARY B. G. EDDY
Page 157
TO A STUDENT
My Dear Student: - It is a great thing to be found |
| 3 |
worthy to suffer for Christ, Truth. Paul said, "If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him." Reign then, my
beloved in the Lord.
He that marketh the sparrow's fall |
| 6 |
will direct thy way.
I have written, or caused my secretary
to write, to Mr.
and Mrs. Stewart, of Toronto, Canada (you will find
their |
| 9 |
card in The C. S. Journal), that you or your lawyer
will
ask them all questions important for your case, and re-
quested
that they furnish all information possible. They |
| 12 |
will be glad to help you. Every true Christian Scientist
will feel "as bound with you," but as free in Truth and
Love, safe under
the shadow of His wing. |
| 15 |
Yes, my student, my Father is your Father; and He
helps
us most when help is most needed, for He is the
ever-present help. |
| 18 |
I am glad that you are in good cheer. I enclose you
the
name of Mr. E. A. Kimball, C. S. D., of Chicago, -
5020 Woodlawn Ave., -
for items relative to Mrs. Steb- |
| 21 |
bin's case.
"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust
also in Him;
and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring
forth |
| 24 |
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the
noonday." This I know, for God is for us.
Write me when you need me. Error has
no power |
| 27 |
but to destroy itself. It cannot harm you; it cannot
stop
the eternal currents of Truth.
Ever with love, |
| 30 |
MARY B. G. EDDY
Page 158
TO A STUDENT
My Beloved Student: - In reply to your letter I will |
| 3 |
say: God's ways are not as our ways; but higher far
than
the heavens above the earth is His wisdom above
ours. When I requested you
to be ordained, I little |
| 6 |
thought of the changes about to be made. When I in-
sisted on your speaking without notes, I little knew that
so soon another
change in your pulpit would be demanded. |
| 9 |
But now, after His messenger has obeyed the message
of
divine Love, comes the interpretation thereof. But you
see we both had
first to obey, and to do this through faith, |
| 12 |
not sight.
The meaning of it all, as now shown,
is this: when
you were bidden to be ordained, it was in reward for
your |
| 15 |
faithful service, thus to honor it. The second command,
to drop the use of notes, was to rebuke a lack of faith in
divine help, and
to test your humility and obedience in |
| 18 |
bearing this cross.
All God's servants are minute men and
women. As
of old, I stand with sandals on and staff in hand,
wait- |
| 21 |
ing for the watchword and the revelation of what, how,
whither. Let us be faithful and obedient, and God will
do the rest. |
| 24 |
In the April number of The Christian Science Journal
you will find the forthcoming completion (as I now think)
of the
divine directions sent out to the churches. It is |
| 27 |
satisfactory to note, however, that the order therein
given
corresponds to the example of our Master. Jesus was
not ordained
as our churches ordain ministers. We |
| 30 |
have no record that he used notes when preaching. He
Page 159 |
| 1 |
spake in their synagogues, reading the Scriptures and
expounding them; and God has given to this age "Science |
| 3 |
and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to elucidate
His
Word.
You may read this letter to your
church, and then |
| 6 |
send it to Rev. Mr. Norcross, and he will understand.
May
the God of all grace give you peace.
With love, |
| 9 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
EXTRACT FROM A
CHRISTMAS LETTER
Beloved Students: - My heart has many rooms: one |
| 12 |
of these is sacred to the memory of my students. Into
this upper chamber, where all things are pure and of
good report, - into
this sanctuary of love, - I often |
| 15 |
retreat, sit silently, and ponder. In this chamber is
memory's wardrobe, where I deposit certain recollec-
tions and rare grand
collections once in each year. This |
| 18 |
is my Christmas storehouse. Its goods commemorate,
- not
so much the Bethlehem babe, as the man of God,
the risen Christ, and the
adult Jesus. Here I deposit |
| 21 |
the gifts that my dear students offer at the shrine of
Christian Science, and to their lone Leader. Here I talk
once a year, - and
this is a bit of what I said in 1890: |
| 24 |
"O glorious Truth ! O Mother Love ! how has the sense
of
Thy children grown to behold Thee! and how have
many weary wings
sprung upward! and how has our |
| 27 |
Model, Christ, been unveiled to us, and to the age!"
I look at the rich devices in
embroidery, silver, gold,
and jewels,-all gifts of Christian Scientists
from all |
| 30 |
parts of our nation, and some from abroad, - then al-
Page 160 |
| 1 |
most marvel at the power and permanence of affection
under the régime of Christian Science! Never did grati- |
| 3 |
tude and love unite more honestly in uttering the word
thanks, than ours at this season. But a mother's love
behind words
has no language; it may give no material |
| 6 |
token, but lives steadily on, through time and circum-
stance, as part and paramount portion of her being.
Thus may our lives flow on in the same
sweet rhythm |
| 9 |
of head and heart, till they meet and mingle in bliss
super-
nal. There is a special joy in knowing that one is gaining
constantly in the knowledge of Truth and divine Love. |
| 12 |
Your progress, the past year, has been marked. It satis-
fies my present hope. Of this we rest assured, that every
trial of our
faith in God makes us stronger and firmer in |
| 15 |
understanding and obedience.
Lovingly yours,
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
Page 161
CHAPTER VI - SERMONS
A CHRISTMAS
SERMON
DELIVERED IN
CHICKERING HALL, BOSTON, MASS., ON THE
SUNDAY BEFORE
CHRISTMAS, 1888
SUBJECT:
The Corporeal and Incorporeal Saviour
TEXT: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the |
| 6 |
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall
be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The
Prince of Peace. - ISAIAH ix. 6. |
| 9 |
TO the senses, Jesus was the son of man: in Science,
man
is the son of God. The material senses could
not cognize the Christ, or Son
of God: it was Jesus' |
| 12 |
approximation to this state of being that made him the
Christ-Jesus, the Godlike, the anointed.
The prophet whose words we have chosen for our |
| 15 |
text, prophesied the appearing of this dual nature, as
both human and divinely endowed, the personal and the
impersonal
Jesus. |
| 18 |
The only record of our Master as a public benefactor,
or
personal Saviour, opens when he was thirty years of
age; owing in part,
perhaps, to the Jewish law that none |
| 21 |
should teach or preach in public under that age. Also,
it is natural to conclude that at this juncture he was
specially endowed
with the Holy Spirit; for he was given |
| 24 |
the new name, Messiah, or Jesus Christ, - the God-
Page 162 |
| 1 |
anointed; even as, at times of special enlightenment,
Jacob was called Israel; and Saul, Paul. |
| 3 |
The third event of this eventful period, - a period of
such wonderful spiritual import to mankind! - was the
advent of a higher
Christianity. |
| 6 |
From this dazzling, God-crowned summit, the Naza-
rene
stepped suddenly before the people and their schools
of philosophy;
Gnostic, Epicurean, and Stoic. He must |
| 9 |
stem these rising angry elements, and walk serenely over
their fretted, foaming billows.
Here the cross became the emblem of
Jesus' history; |
| 12 |
while the central point of his Messianic mission was
peace,
good will, love, teaching, and healing.
Clad with divine might, he was ready
to stem the tide |
| 15 |
of Judaism, and prove his power, derived from Spirit, to
be supreme; lay himself as a lamb upon the altar of
materialism, and
therefrom rise to his nativity in Spirit. |
| 18 |
The corporeal Jesus bore our infirmities, and through
his
stripes we are healed. He was the Way-shower, and
suffered in the flesh,
showing mortals how to escape from |
| 21 |
the sins of the flesh.
There was no incorporeal Jesus of
Nazareth. The
spiritual man, or Christ, was after the similitude of
the |
| 24 |
Father, without corporeality or finite mind.
Materiality, worldliness, human pride,
or self-will, by
demoralizing his motives and Christlikeness, would
have |
| 27 |
dethroned his power as the Christ.
To carry out his holy purpose, he must
be oblivious of
human self. |
| 30 |
Of the lineage of David, like him he went forth, simple
as the shepherd boy, to disarm the Goliath. Panoplied
in the strength of an
exalted hope, faith, and understand-
Page 163 |
| 1 |
ing, he sought to conquer the three-in-one of error: the
world, the flesh, and the devil. |
| 3 |
Three years he went about doing good. He had for
thirty
years been preparing to heal and teach divinely;
but his three-years
mission was a marvel of glory: its |
| 6 |
chaplet, a grave to mortal sense dishonored - from which
sprang a sublime and everlasting victory!
He who dated time, the Christian era,
and spanned |
| 9 |
eternity, was the meekest man on earth. He healed
and
taught by the wayside, in humble homes: to arrant
hypocrite and to dull
disciples he explained the Word |
| 12 |
of God, which has since ripened into interpretation
through Science.
His words were articulated in the
language of a de- |
| 15 |
clining race, and committed to the providence of God.
In
no one thing seemed he less human and more divine
than in his unfaltering
faith in the immortality of Truth. |
| 18 |
Referring to this, he said, "Heaven and earth shall
pass
away, but my words shall not pass away!" and
they have not: they still
live; and are the basis of divine |
| 21 |
liberty, the medium of Mind, the hope of the race.
Only three years a personal Saviour!
yet the founda-
tions he laid are as eternal as Truth, the chief
corner- |
| 24 |
stone.
After his brief brave struggle, and
the crucifixion of
the corporeal man, the incorporeal Saviour - the
Christ |
| 27 |
or spiritual idea which leadeth into all Truth - must
needs come in Christian Science, demonstrating the spir-
itual healing of
body and mind. |
| 30 |
This idea or divine essence was, and is, forever about
the Father's business; heralding the Principle of health,
holiness, and
immortality.
Page 164 |
| 1 |
Its divine Principle interprets the incorporeal idea, or
Son of God; hence the incorporeal and corporeal are |
| 3 |
distinguished thus: the former is the spiritual idea that
represents divine good, and the latter is the human
presentation of
goodness in man. The Science of Chris- |
| 6 |
tianity, that has appeared in the ripeness of time, re-
veals the incorporeal Christ; and this will continue
to be seen more
clearly until it be acknowledged, under- |
| 9 |
stood, - and the Saviour, which is Truth, be compre-
hended.
To the vision of the Wisemen, this
spiritual idea of the |
| 12 |
Principle of man or the universe, appeared as a star. At
first, the babe Jesus seemed small to mortals; but from
the mount of
revelation, the prophet beheld it from the |
| 15 |
beginning as the Redeemer, who would present a wonder-
ful manifestation of Truth and Love.
In our text Isaiah foretold, "His name
shall be called |
| 18 |
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace."
As the Wisemen grew in the
understanding of Christ, |
| 21 |
the spiritual idea, it grew in favor with them. Thus it
will continue, as it shall become understood, until man
be found in the
actual likeness of his Maker. Their |
| 24 |
highest human concept of the man Jesus, that portrayed
him as the only Son of God, the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace
and Truth, will become so magnified |
| 27 |
to human sense, by means of the lens of Science, as to
reveal man collectively, as individually, to be the son of
God. |
| 30 |
The limited view of God's ideas arose from the testimony
of the senses. Science affords the evidence that God is the
Father of man,
of all that is real and eternal. This spir-
Page 165 |
| 1 |
itual idea that the personal Jesus demonstrated, casting
out evils and healing, more than eighteen centuries ago, |
| 3 |
disappeared by degrees; both because of the ascension
of
Jesus, in which it was seen that he had grown beyond
the human sense of
him, and because of the corruption of |
| 6 |
the Church.
The last appearing of Truth will be a
wholly spiritual
idea of God and of man, without the fetters of the flesh,
or |
| 9 |
corporeality. This infinite idea of infinity will be, is,
as
eternal as its divine Principle. The daystar of this appear-
ing is
the light of Christian Science - the Science which |
| 12 |
rends the veil of the flesh from top to bottom. The light
of this revelation leaves nothing that is material; neither
darkness,
doubt, disease, nor death. The material cor- |
| 15 |
poreality disappears; and individual spirituality,
perfect
and eternal, appears - never to disappear.
The truth uttered and lived by Jesus,
who passed on |
| 18 |
and left to mortals the rich legacy of what he said and
did, makes his followers the heirs to his example; but
they can neither
appreciate nor appropriate his treasures |
| 21 |
of Truth and Love, until lifted to these by their own
growth and experiences. His goodness and grace pur-
chased the means of
mortals' redemption from sin; but, |
| 24 |
they never paid the price of sin. This cost, none but the
sinner can pay; and accordingly as this account is settled
with divine
Love, is the sinner ready to avail himself of |
| 27 |
the rich blessings flowing from the teaching, example,
and suffering of our Master.
The secret stores of wisdom must be
discovered, their |
| 30 |
treasures reproduced and given to the world, before man
can truthfully conclude that he has been found in the
order, mode, and
virgin origin of man according to divine
Page 166 |
| 1 |
Science, which alone demonstrates the divine Principle
and spiritual idea of being. |
| 3 |
The monument whose finger points upward, commem-
orates
the earthly life of a martyr; but this is not all of
the philanthropist,
hero, and Christian. The Truth he |
| 6 |
has taught and spoken lives, and moves in our midst a
divine afflatus. Thus it is that the ideal Christ - or
impersonal infancy,
manhood, and womanhood of Truth |
| 9 |
and Love - is still with us.
And what of this child? - "For
unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall |
| 12 |
be upon his shoulder."
This child, or spiritual idea, has
evolved a more ready
ear for the overture of angels and the scientific
under- |
| 15 |
standing of Truth and Love. When Christ, the incor-
poreal idea of God, was nameless, and a Mary knew not
how to declare its
spiritual origin, the idea of man was |
| 18 |
not understood. The Judaean religion even required the
Virgin-mother to go to the temple and be purified, for
having given birth
to the corporeal child Jesus, whose |
| 21 |
origin was more spiritual than the senses could inter-
pret. Like the leaven that a certain woman hid in three
measures of meal,
the Science of God and the spiritual |
| 24 |
idea, named in this century Christian Science, is leaven-
ing the lump of human thought, until the whole shall
be leavened and all
materialism disappear. This action |
| 27 |
of the divine energy, even if not acknowledged, has
come
to be seen as diffusing richest blessings. This
spiritual idea, or Christ,
entered into the minutiae of the |
| 30 |
life of the personal Jesus. It made him an honest man,
a
good carpenter, and a good man, before it could make
him the glorified.
Page 167 |
| 1 |
The material questions at this age on the reappearing
of
the infantile thought of God's man, are after the man- |
| 3 |
ner of a mother in the flesh, though their answers per-
tain to the spiritual idea, as in Christian Science: -
Is he deformed? |
| 6 |
He is wholly symmetrical; the one altogether lovely.
Is the babe a son, or daughter?
Both son and daughter: even the compound idea
of |
| 9 |
all that resembles God.
How
much does he weigh?
His substance outweighs
the material world. |
| 12 |
How old is he?
Of his days there
is no beginning and no ending.
What is his name? |
| 15 |
Christ Science.
Who are his
parents, brothers, and sisters?
His Father
and Mother are divine Life, Truth, and |
| 18 |
Love; and they who do the will of his Father are his
brethren.
Is he heir to an estate? |
| 21 |
"The government shall be upon his shoulder!" He
has
dominion over the whole earth; and in admiration
of his origin, he
exclaims, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord |
| 24 |
of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things
from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes !" |
| 27 |
Is he wonderful?
His works thus prove him. He giveth
power, peace,
and holiness; he exalteth the lowly; he giveth liberty
Page 168 |
| 1 |
to the captive, health to the sick, salvation from sin to
the sinner - and overcometh the world ! |
| 3 |
Go, and tell what things ye shall see and hear: how
the
blind, spiritually and physically, receive sight; how
the lame, those
halting between two opinions or hob- |
| 6 |
bling on crutches, walk; how the physical and moral
lepers are cleansed; how the deaf - those who, having
ears, hear not, and
are afflicted with "tympanum on the |
| 9 |
brain" - hear; how the dead, those buried in dogmas
and
physical ailments, are raised; that to the poor -
the lowly in Christ, not
the man-made rabbi - the |
| 12 |
gospel is preached. Note this: only such as are pure
in
spirit, emptied of vainglory and vain knowledge, re-
ceive Truth. |
| 15 |
Here ends the colloquy; and a voice from heaven seems
to
say, "Come and see."
The nineteenth-century prophets
repeat, "Unto us a |
| 18 |
son is given."
The shepherds shout, "We behold the
appearing of
the star!" - and the pure in heart clap their hands.
EDITOR'S EXTRACTS
FROM SERMON
TEXT: Ye do err, not knowing the
Scriptures, nor the power of
God. - MATT. xxii. 29. |
| 24 |
The Christian Science Journal reported as follows:
-
The announcement that the Rev. Mary B.
G. Eddy
would speak before the Scientist denomination on
the |
| 27 |
afternoon of October 26, drew a large audience. Haw-
thorne Hall was densely packed, and many had to go
away unable to obtain
seats. The distinguished speaker |
| 30 |
began by saying: -
Page 169 |
| 1 |
Within Bible pages she had found all the divine Science
she preaches; noticing, all along the way of her researches |
| 3 |
therein, that whenever her thoughts had wandered into
the
bypaths of ancient philosophies or pagan literatures,
her spiritual insight
had been darkened thereby, till |
| 6 |
she was God-driven back to the inspired pages. Early
training, through the misinterpretation of the Word,
had been the
underlying cause of the long years of in- |
| 9 |
validism she endured before Truth dawned upon her
understanding, through right interpretation. With the
understanding of
Scripture-meanings, had come physical |
| 12 |
rejuvenation. The uplifting of spirit was the upbuild-
ing of the body.
She affirmed that the Scriptures
cannot properly be |
| 15 |
interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must
be spiritually discerned, before their message can be
borne fully to our
minds and hearts. That there is a |
| 18 |
dual meaning to every Biblical passage, the most eminent
divines of the world have concluded; and to get at the
highest, or
metaphysical, it is necessary rightly to read |
| 21 |
what the inspired writers left for our spiritual
instruction.
The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them noth-
ing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and |
| 24 |
hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and
peace and hope for all. The literal or material reading is
the reading of
the carnal mind, which is enmity toward |
| 27 |
God, Spirit.
Taking several Bible passages, Mrs.
Eddy showed how
beautiful and inspiring are the thoughts when
rightly |
| 30 |
understood. "Let the dead bury their dead; follow
thou
me," was one of the passages explained metaphysi-
cally. In their fullest
meaning, those words are salvation
Page 170 |
| 1 |
from the belief of death, the last enemy to be
overthrown;
for by following Christ truly, resurrection and life im- |
| 3 |
mortal are brought to us. If we follow him, to us there
can be no dead. Those who know not this, may still
believe in death and
weep over the graves of their beloved; |
| 6 |
but with him is Life eternal, which never changes to
death. The eating of bread and drinking of wine at the
Lord's supper,
merely symbolize the spiritual refresh- |
| 9 |
ment of God's children having rightly read His Word,
whose entrance into their understanding is healthful life.
This is the
reality behind the symbol. |
| 12 |
So, also, she spoke of the hades, or hell of Scripture,
saying, that we make our own heavens and our own hells,
by right and wise,
or wrong and foolish, conceptions of |
| 15 |
God and our fellow-men. Jesus interpreted all spirit-
ually: "I have bread to eat that ye know not of," he
said. The bread he
ate, which was refreshment of divine |
| 18 |
strength, we also may all partake of.
The material record of the Bible, she
said, is no more
important to our well-being than the history of
Europe |
| 21 |
and America; but the spiritual application bears upon
our
eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely meta-
physical; and no other
method is Christian Science. In |
| 24 |
the passage recording Jesus' proceedings with the blind
man (Mark viii.) he is said to have spat upon the dust.
Spitting was the
Hebrew method of expressing the utmost |
| 27 |
contempt. So Jesus is recorded as having expressed
contempt for the belief of material eyes as having any
power to see. Having
eyes, ye see not; and ears, ye hear |
| 30 |
not, he had just told them. The putting on of hands
mentioned, she explained as the putting forth of power.
"Hand," in Bible
usage, often means spiritual power.
Page 171 |
| 1 |
"His hand is not shortened that it cannot save," can
never be wrested from its true meaning to signify human |
| 3 |
hands. Jesus' first effort to realize Truth was not
wholly
successful; but he rose to the occasion with the second
attempt,
and the blind saw clearly. To suppose that |
| 6 |
Jesus did actually anoint the blind man's eyes with his
spittle, is as absurd as to think, according to the report
of some, that
Christian Scientists sit in back-to-back |
| 9 |
seances with their patients, for the divine power to
filter
from vertebrae to vertebrae. When one comes to the age
with
spiritual translations of God's messages, expressed |
| 12 |
in literal or physical terms, our right action is not to
con-
demn and deny, but to "try the spirits" and see what
manner they
are of. This does not mean communing |
| 15 |
with spirits supposed to have departed from the earth,
but the seeking out of the basis upon which are accom-
plished the works by
which the new teacher would prove |
| 18 |
his right to be heard. By these signs are the true
disciples
of the Master known: the sick are healed; to the poor
the
gospel is preached.
EXTRACT FROM A
SERMON DELIVERED IN BOSTON,
JANUARY
18, 1885
TEXT: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a
woman |
| 24 |
took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened.
- MATT. xiii. 33.
Few people at present know aught of the Science of |
| 27 |
mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the
public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in
the name of Science,
that it behooves all clad in the shin- |
| 30 |
ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep
Page 172 |
| 1 |
their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives
steadfast in Truth. |
| 3 |
Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the
tares
from the wheat, let us declare the positive and
the negative of
metaphysical Science; what it is, and |
| 6 |
what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in
a
higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat
the claims of sense
and sin, regardless of the bans or |
| 9 |
clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged
charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers
the veriest
sinner. |
| 12 |
Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the
three
measures be accomplished, and he arrives at
fulness of stature; for "the
Lord God omnipotent |
| 16 |
reigneth."
Science is divine: it is neither of
human origin nor of
human direction. That which is termed "natural
science," |
| 18 |
the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal
senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite
law of God;
which law is written on the heart, received |
| 21 |
through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem-
onstrated in our lives.
This law of God is the Science of
mental healing, |
| 24 |
spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed.
Mental Science, and the five personal
senses, are at
war; and peace can only be declared on the side of
im- |
| 27 |
mutable right, - the health, holiness, and immortality
of
man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda-
mental rule of
Science must be understood and adhered |
| 30 |
to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture
that God is good; hence, good is omnipotent and
omnipresent.
Page 173 |
| 1 |
Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or
man's
theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle |
| 3 |
and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees
nothing but a law of matter.
Who has ever learned of the schools
that there is but |
| 6 |
one Mind, and that this is God, who healeth all our
sick-
ness and sins?
Who has ever learned from the schools,
pagan phi- |
| 9 |
losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law
of
Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation
to, or
recognition of, matter? |
| 12 |
Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God,
omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo-
site so-called science,
which says that man is both matter |
| 15 |
and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite
be
within the finite? And must not man have preexisted
in the All and Only?
Does an evil mind exist without |
| 18 |
space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that
it is man?
If God is Mind and fills all space, is
everywhere, matter |
| 21 |
is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, God, is
all-power
and all-presence, man is not met by another power
and
presence, that - obstructing his intelligence - |
| 24 |
pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man
is
intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that
is not the counterpart
but the counterfeit of man's creator? |
| 27 |
Surely not from God, for He made man in His own
likeness.
Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called
matter? Have attraction and
cohesion formed it? |
| 30 |
But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of
Mind?
For matter to be matter, it must have
been self-created.
Page 174 |
| 1 |
Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter
than
has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement |
| 3 |
of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim
against
Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having presence
and
power over omnipotence! |
| 6 |
Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us
come
into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui-
ties, and healeth all our
diseases. Let us attach our sense |
| 9 |
of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within
man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that
moves all in harmony,
- from the falling of a sparrow |
| 12 |
to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons,
broader than the solar system and higher than the at-
mosphere of our
planet, is the Science of mental |
| 15 |
healing.
What is the kingdom of heaven? The
abode of Spirit,
the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night
is |
| 18 |
there - nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this
kingdom afar off? No: it is ever-present here. The
first to declare against
this kingdom is matter. Shall |
| 21 |
that be called heresy which pleads for Spirit - the All
of
God, and His omnipresence?
The kingdom of heaven is the reign of
divine Science: |
| 24 |
it is a mental state. Jesus said it is within you, and
taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come;" but he did
not teach us to pray for
death whereby to gain heaven. |
| 27 |
We do not look into darkness for light. Death can never
usher in the dawn of Science that reveals the spiritual
facts of man's Life
here and now. |
| 30 |
The leaven which a woman took and hid in three
measures
of meal, is Divine Science; the Comforter;
the Holy Ghost that leadeth into
all Truth; the "still,
Page 175 |
| 1 |
small voice" that breathes His presence and power, cast-
ing out error and healing the sick. And woman, the |
| 3 |
spiritual idea, takes of the things of God and showeth
them unto the creature, until the whole sense of being
is leavened with
Spirit. The three measures of meal |
| 6 |
may well be likened to the false sense of life, substance,
and intelligence, which says, I am sustained by bread,
matter, instead
of Mind. The spiritual leaven of divine |
| 9 |
Science changes this false sense, giving better views of
Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall
appear, it shall be
"the substance of things hoped for." |
| 12 |
The measure of Life shall increase by every spiritual
touch, even as the leaven expands the loaf. Man shall
keep the feast of
Life, not with the old leaven of the |
| 15 |
scribes and Pharisees, neither with "the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth." |
| 18 |
Thus it can be seen that the Science of mental healing
must be understood. There are false Christs that would
"deceive, if it were
possible, the very elect," by institut- |
| 21 |
ing matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their
supposition is, that there are other minds than His; that
one mind controls
another; that one belief takes the |
| 24 |
place of another. But this ism of to-day has nothing
to
do with the Science of mental healing which acquaints
us with God and
reveals the one perfect Mind and His |
| 27 |
laws.
The attempt to mix matter and Mind, to
work by
means of both animal magnetism and divine power, is |
| 30 |
literally saying, Have we not in thy name cast out
devils,
and done many wonderful works?
But remember God in all thy ways, and
thou shalt
Page 176 |
| 1 |
find the truth that breaks the dream of sense, letting
the
harmony of Science that declares Him, come in with |
| 3 |
healing, and peace, and perfect love.
SUNDAY SERVICES ON
JULY FOURTH
- EXTEMPORE
REMARKS |
| 6 |
The great theme so deeply and solemnly expounded
by the
preacher, has been exemplified in all ages, but
chiefly in the great crises
of nations or of the human race. |
| 9 |
It is then that supreme devotion to Principle has espe-
cially been called for and manifested. It is then that we
learn a little
more of the nothingness of evil, and more |
| 12 |
of the divine energies of good, and strive valiantly for the
liberty of the sons of God.
The day we celebrate reminds us of the heroes and |
| 15 |
heroines who counted not their own lives dear to them,
when they sought the New England shores, not as the
flying nor as
conquerors, but, steadfast in faith and love, |
| 18 |
to build upon the rock of Christ, the true idea of God -
the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter.
When first the
Pilgrims planted their feet on Plymouth |
| 21 |
Rock, frozen ritual and creed should forever have melted
away in the fire of love which came down from heaven.
The Pilgrims came to
establish a nation in true freedom, |
| 24 |
in the rights of conscience.
But what of ourselves, and our times and obligations?
Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and |
| 27 |
responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve
them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith
we are armored?
Page 177 |
| 1 |
Never was there a more solemn and imperious call
than God
makes to us all, right here, for fervent de- |
| 3 |
votion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and
holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great
battle of Armageddon is
upon us. The powers of evil |
| 6 |
are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the
Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and opera-
tive in Christian
Science. Large numbers, in desperate |
| 9 |
malice, are engaged day and night in organizing action
against us. Their feeling and purpose are deadly, and
they have sworn
enmity against the lives of our standard- |
| 12 |
bearers.
What will you do about it? Will you be
equally in
earnest for the truth? Will you doff your
lavender-kid |
| 15 |
zeal, and become real and consecrated warriors? Will
you
give yourselves wholly and irrevocably to the great
work of establishing
the truth, the gospel, and the Science |
| 18 |
which are necessary to the salvation of the world from
error, sin, disease, and death? Answer at once and practi-
cally, and
answer aright!
EASTER SERVICES
The editor of The Christian Science
Journal said that
at three o'clock, the hour for the church service
proper, |
| 24 |
the pastor, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, accompanied
by Rev.
D. A. Easton, who was announced to preach
the sermon, came on the platform.
The pastor intro- |
| 27 |
duced Mr. Easton as follows: -
Friends: - The homesick traveller in foreign lands
greets with joy
a familiar face. I am constantly home- |
| 30 |
sick for heaven. In my long journeyings I have met
Page 178 |
| 1 |
one who comes from the place of my own sojourning
for
many years, - the Congregational Church. He is |
| 3 |
a graduate of Bowdoin College and of Andover The-
ological School. He has left his old church, as I did,
from a yearning of
the heart; because he was not sat- |
| 6 |
isfied with a manlike God, but wanted to become a God-
like man. He found that the new wine could not be
put into old bottles
without bursting them, and he came |
| 9 |
to us.
Mr. Easton then delivered an
interesting discourse
from the text, "If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek |
| 12 |
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God" (Col. iii. 1), which he prefaced by
saying: - |
| 15 |
"I think it was about a year ago that I strayed into
this
hall, a stranger, and wondered what sort of people
you were, and of what
you were worshippers. If any |
| 18 |
one had said to me that to-day I should stand before
you
to preach a sermon on Christian Science, I should
have replied, 'Much
learning' - or something else - |
| 21 |
'hath made thee mad.' If I had not found Christian
Science a new gospel, I should not be standing before you:
if I had not
found it truth, I could not have stood up |
| 24 |
again to preach, here or elsewhere."
At the conclusion of the sermon, the
pastor again came
forward, and added the following: - |
| 27 |
My friends, I wished to be excused from speaking
to-day,
but will yield to circumstances. In the flesh, we
are as a partition wall
between the old and the new; |
| 30 |
between the old religion in which we have been educated,
and the new, living, impersonal Christ-thought that has
been given to the
world to-day.
Page 179 |
| 1 |
The old churches are saying, "He is not here;" and,
"Who
shall roll away the stone?" |
| 3 |
The stone has been rolled away by human suffer-
ing. The
first rightful desire in the hour of loss, when
believing we have lost
sight of Truth, is to know where |
| 6 |
He is laid. This appeal resolves itself into these
questions: -
Is our consciousness in matter or in
God? Have we |
| 9 |
any other consciousness than that of good? If we have,
He is saying to us to-day, "Adam, where art thou?" We
are wrong if our
consciousness is in sin, sickness, and |
| 12 |
death. This is the old consciousness.
In the new religion the teaching is,
"He is not here;
Truth is not in matter; he is risen; Truth has
become |
| 15 |
more to us, - more true, more spiritual."
Can we say this to-day? Have we left
the conscious-
ness of sickness and sin for that of health
and |
| 18 |
holiness?
What is it that seems a stone between
us and the
resurrection morning? |
| 21 |
It is the belief of mind in matter. We can only come
into the spiritual resurrection by quitting the old con-
sciousness of Soul
in sense. |
| 24 |
These flowers are floral apostles. God does all this
through His followers; and He made every flower in
Mind before it sprang
from the earth: yet we look into |
| 27 |
matter and the earth to give us these smiles of God!
We must lay aside material
consciousness, and then
we can perceive Truth, and say with Mary,
"Rabboni!" |
| 30 |
- Master!
In 1866, when God revealed to me this
risen Christ,
this Life that knows no death, that saith, "Because he
Page 180 |
| 1 |
lives, I live," I awoke from the dream of Spirit in the
flesh so far as to take the side of Spirit, and strive to cease |
| 3 |
my warfare.
When, through this consciousness, I
was delivered from
the dark shadow and portal of death, my friends
were |
| 6 |
frightened at beholding me restored to health.
A dear old lady asked me, "How is it
that you are
restored to us? Has Christ come again on
earth?" |
| 9 |
"Christ never left," I replied; "Christ is Truth, and
Truth is always here, - the impersonal Saviour."
Then another person, more material,
met me, and I |
| 12 |
said, in the words of my Master, "Touch me not." I
shuddered at her material approach; then my heart went
out to God, and I
found the open door from this sepulchre |
| 15 |
of matter.
I love the Easter service: it
speaks to me of Life, and
not of death. |
| 18 |
Let us do our work; then we shall have part in his
resurrection.
BIBLE
LESSONS |
| 21 |
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were
born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of |
| 24 |
God. - JOHN i. 12, 13.
Here, the apostle assures us that man
has power to
become the son of God. In the Hebrew text, the
word |
| 27 |
"son" is defined variously; a month is called the son
of
a year. This term, as applied to man, is used in both
a material and a
spiritual sense. The Scriptures speak |
| 30 |
of Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of man; but
Page 181 |
| 1 |
Jesus said to call no man father; "for one is your
Father,"
even God. |
| 3 |
Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or
is
it the reality of his being, in divine Science? Man's
knowledge of this
grand verity gives him power to dem- |
| 6 |
onstrate his divine Principle, which in turn is requisite
in order to understand his sonship, or unity with God,
good. A
personal requirement of blind obedience to |
| 9 |
the law of being, would tend to obscure the order of
Science, unless that requirement should express the claims
of the divine
Principle. Infinite Principle and infinite |
| 12 |
Spirit must be one. What avail, then, to quarrel over
what is the person of Spirit, - if we recognize infinitude
as
personality,-for who can tell what is the form of |
| 15 |
infinity ? When we understand man's true birthright, that
he is "born, not . . . of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man,
but of God," we shall understand that man |
| 18 |
is the offspring of Spirit, and not of the flesh; recognize
him through spiritual, and not material laws; and regard
him as
spiritual, and not material. His sonship, referred |
| 21 |
to in the text, is his spiritual relation to Deity: it is
not,
then, a personal gift, but is the order of divine Science.
The
apostle urges upon our acceptance this great fact: |
| 24 |
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to
become the sons of God." Mortals will lose their sense
of mortality -
disease, sickness, sin, and death - in |
| 27 |
the proportion that they gain the sense of man's spirit-
ual preexistence as God's child; as the offspring of
good, and not of God's
opposite, - evil, or a fallen |
| 30 |
man.
John the Baptist had a clear
discernment of divine
Science: being born not of the human will or flesh,
he
Page 182 |
| 1 |
antedated his own existence, began spiritually instead
of
materially to reckon himself logically; hence the im- |
| 3 |
possibility of putting him to death, only in belief,
through
violent means or material methods.
"As many as received him;" that is, as
many as per- |
| 6 |
ceive man's actual existence in and of his divine Princi-
ple, receive the Truth of existence; and these have no
other God, no other
Mind, no other origin; therefore, in |
| 9 |
time they lose their false sense of existence, and find
their adoption with the Father; to wit, the redemption
of the body. Through
divine Science man gains the |
| 12 |
power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect
and eternal estate.
"Which were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of |
| 15 |
the flesh." This passage refers to man's primal, spirit-
ual existence, created neither from dust nor carnal de-
sire. "Nor of the
will of man." Born of no doctrine, |
| 18 |
no human faith, but beholding the truth of being; even
the understanding that man was never lost in Adam,
since he is and ever was
the image and likeness of God, |
| 21 |
good. But no mortal hath seen the spiritual man, more
than he hath seen the Father. The apostle indicates
no personal plan of a
personal Jehovah, partial and finite; |
| 24 |
but the possibility of all finding their place in God's
great
love, the eternal heritage of the Elohim, His sons and
daughters.
The text is a metaphysical statement of exist- |
| 27 |
ence as Principle and idea, wherein man and his Maker
are inseparable and eternal.
When the Word is made flesh, - that
is, rendered |
| 30 |
practical, - this eternal Truth will be understood; and
sickness, sin, and death will yield to it, even as they did
more than
eighteen centuries ago. The lusts of the flesh
Page 183 |
| 1 |
and the pride of life will then be quenched in the divine
Science of being; in the ever-present good, omnipotent |
| 3 |
Love, and eternal Life, that know no death. In the great
forever, the verities of being exist, and must be acknowl-
edged and
demonstrated. Man must love his neighbor |
| 6 |
as himself, and the power of Truth must be seen and
felt
in health, happiness, and holiness: then it will be
found that Mind is
All-in-all, and there is no matter to |
| 9 |
cope with.
Man is free born: he is neither the
slave of sense, nor a
silly ambler to the so-called pleasures and pains of
self- |
| 12 |
conscious matter. Man is God's image and likeness;
whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God's
reflection.
Through the transparency of Science we learn |
| 15 |
this, and receive it: learn that man can fulfil the Scrip-
tures in every instance; that if he open his mouth it shall
be filled
- not by reason of the schools, or learning, but |
| 18 |
by the natural ability, that reflection already has bestowed
on him, to give utterance to Truth.
"Who hath believed our report?" Who
understands |
| 21 |
these sayings? He to whom the arm of the Lord is re-
vealed; to whom divine Science unfolds omnipotence,
that equips man with
divine power while it shames human |
| 24 |
pride. Asserting a selfhood apart from God, is a denial
of man's spiritual sonship; for it claims another father.
As many as do
receive a knowledge of God through |
| 27 |
Science, will have power to reflect His power, in proof of
man's "dominion over all the earth." He is bravely
brave who dares at
this date refute the evidence of material |
| 30 |
sense with the facts of Science, and will arrive at the
true
status of man because of it. The material senses would
make man,
that the Scriptures declare reflects his Maker,
Page 184
the very opposite of that Maker, by
claiming that God is
Spirit, while man is matter; that God is good, but man
is |
| 3 |
evil; that Deity is deathless, but man dies. Science and
sense conflict, from the revolving of worlds to the death
of a
sparrow. |
| 6 |
The Word will be made flesh and dwell among mortals,
only
when man reflects God in body as well as in mind.
The child born of a woman
has the formation of his |
| 9 |
parents; the man born of Spirit is spiritual, not
material.
Paul refers to this when speaking of presenting our bodies
holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service; |
| 12 |
and this brings to remembrance the Hebrew strain,
"Who
healeth all thy diseases."
If man should say of the power to be
perfect which he |
| 15 |
possesses, "I am the power," he would trespass upon
divine Science, yield to material sense, and lose his power;
even as when
saying, "I have the power to sin and be |
| 18 |
sick," and persisting in believing that he is sick and a
sinner. If he says, "I am of God, therefore good," yet
persists in evil,
he has denied the power of Truth, and |
| 21 |
must suffer for this error until he learns that all power
is
good because it is of God, and so destroys his self-de-
ceived sense
of power in evil. The Science of being gives |
| 24 |
back the lost likeness and power of God as the seal of
man's adoption. Oh, for that light and love ineffable,
which casteth out
all fear, all sin, sickness, and death; |
| 27 |
that seeketh not her own, but another's good; that saith
Abba, Father, and is born of God!
John came baptizing with water. He
employed a type |
| 30 |
of physical cleanliness to foreshadow metaphysical
purity,
even mortal mind purged of the animal and human, and
submerged
in the humane and divine, giving back the
Page 185 |
| 1 |
lost sense of man in unity with, and reflecting, his
Maker.
None but the pure in heart shall see God, - shall be able |
| 3 |
to discern fully and demonstrate fairly the divine Principle
of Christian Science. The will of God, or power of Spirit,
is made
manifest as Truth, and through righteousness, - |
| 6 |
not as or through matter, - and it strips matter of all
claims, abilities or disabilities, pains or pleasures. Self-
renunciation
of all that constitutes a so-called material |
| 9 |
man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his
spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that
opens the very
flood-gates of heaven; whence good |
| 12 |
flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of
all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demon-
strating the true
image and likeness. There is no other |
| 15 |
way under heaven whereby we can be saved, and man
be
clothed with might, majesty, and immortality.
"As many as received him," - as accept
the truth |
| 18 |
of being, - "to them gave he power to become the sons
of
God." The spiritualization of our sense of man opens
the gates of paradise
that the so-called material senses |
| 21 |
would close, and reveals man infinitely blessed, upright,
pure, and free; having no need of statistics by which to
learn his
origin and age, or to measure his manhood, or to |
| 24 |
know how much of a man he ever has been: for, "as
many
as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God." |
| 27 |
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a
living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. - I COR. xv.
45.
When reasoning on this subject of man
with the Corin- |
| 30 |
thian brethren, the apostle first spake from their
stand-
point of thought; namely, that creation is material:
Page 186 |
| 1 |
he was not at this point giving the history of the
spiritual
man who originates in God, Love, who created man |
| 3 |
in His own image and likeness. In the creation of Adam
from dust, - in which Soul is supposed to enter the
embryo-man after his
birth, - we see the material self- |
| 6 |
constituted belief of the Jews as referred to by St.
Paul.
Their material belief has fallen far below man's original
standard, the spiritual man made in the image and like- |
| 9 |
ness of God; for this erring belief even separates its
conception of man from God, and ultimates in the op-
posite of
immortal man, namely, in a sick and sinning |
| 12 |
a mortal.
We learn in the Scriptures, as in
divine Science, that
God made all; that He is the universal Father and
Mother |
| 15 |
of man; that God is divine Love: therefore divine Love
is
the divine Principle of the divine idea named man;
in other words, the
spiritual Principle of spiritual man. |
| 18 |
Now let us not lose this Science of man, but gain it
clearly;
then we shall see that man cannot be separated from
his
perfect Principle, God, inasmuch as an idea cannot |
| 21 |
be torn apart from its fundamental basis. This scien-
tific knowledge affords self-evident proof of immortality;
proof, also,
that the Principle of man cannot produce a |
| 24 |
less perfect man than it produced in the beginning. A
material sense of existence is not the scientific fact of
being; whereas,
the spiritual sense of God and His uni- |
| 27 |
verse is the immortal and true sense of being.
As the apostle proceeds in this line
of thought, he
undoubtedly refers to the last Adam represented by
the |
| 30 |
Messias, whose demonstration of God restored to mortals
the lost sense of man's perfection, even the sense of the
real man in God's
likeness, who restored this sense by
Page 187 |
| 1 |
the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body, -
casting out evils, healing the sick, and raising the dead. |
| 3 |
The man Jesus demonstrated over sin, sickness, disease,
and death. The great Metaphysician wrought, over and
above every sense of
matter, into the proper sense of the |
| 6 |
possibilities of Spirit. He established health and har-
mony, the perfection of mind and body, as the reality of
man; while
discord, as seen in disease and death, was to |
| 9 |
him the opposite of man, hence the unreality; even as in
Science a chord is manifestly the reality of music, and
discord the
unreality. This rule of harmony must be ac- |
| 12 |
cepted as true relative to man.
The translators of the older
Scriptures presuppose a
material man to be the first man, solely because
their |
| 15 |
transcribing thoughts were not lifted to the inspired sense
of the spiritual man, as set forth in original Holy Writ.
Had both
writers and translators in that age fully com- |
| 18 |
prehended the later teachings and demonstrations of
our
human and divine Master, the Old Testament might
have been as spiritual as
the New. |
| 21 |
The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and
that
one is God, - Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent,
perfect, and eternal
are God; and man is their reflection |
| 24 |
and glory. Did the substance of God, Spirit, become a
clod, in order to create a sick, sinning, dying man? The
primal facts of
being are eternal; they are never extin- |
| 27 |
guished in a night of discord.
That man must be evil before he can be
good; dying,
before deathless; material, before spiritual; sick and
a |
| 30 |
sinner in order to be healed and saved, is but the
declara-
tion of the material senses transcribed by pagan religion-
ists, by wicked mortals such as crucified our Master, -
Page 188 |
| 1 |
whose teachings opposed the doctrines of Christ that
demonstrated the opposite, Truth. |
| 3 |
Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever,
as
when the stars first sang together, and creation joined
in the grand chorus
of harmonious being. It is the trans- |
| 6 |
lator, not the original Word, who presents as being first
that which appears second, material, and mortal; and
as last, that which is
primal, spiritual, and eternal. Be- |
| 9 |
cause of human misstatement and misconception of God
and
man, of the divine Principle and idea of being, there
seems to be a war
between the flesh and Spirit, a contest |
| 12 |
between Truth and error; but the apostle says, "There
is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the |
| 15 |
Spirit."
On our subject, St. Paul first reasons
upon the basis
of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material
senses; |
| 18 |
thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual
sense;
and right there he leaves the subject.
Just there, in the intermediate line
of thought, is where |
| 21 |
the present writer found it, when she discovered
Christian
Science. And she has not left it, but continues the ex-
planation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, |
| 24 |
its allness. The recognition of this power came to her
through a spiritual sense of the real, and of the unreal
or mortal sense of
things; not that there is, or can |
| 27 |
be, an actual change in the realities of being, but
that
we can discern more of them. At the moment
of her discovery, she knew that
the last Adam, namely, |
| 30 |
the true likeness of God, was the first, the only man.
This knowledge did become to her "a quickening
spirit;" for she beheld the
meaning of those words
Page 189 |
| 1 |
of our Master, "The last shall be first, and the first
last." |
| 3 |
When, as little children, we are receptive, become
willing to accept the divine Principle and rule of being,
as unfolded in
divine Science, the interpretation therein |
| 6 |
will be found to be the Comforter that leadeth into all
truth.
The meek Nazarene's steadfast and true
knowledge of |
| 9 |
preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of God
and man, - made him mighty. Spiritual insight of
Truth and Love antidotes
and destroys the errors of flesh, |
| 12 |
and brings to light the true reflection: man as God's
image, or "the first man," for Christ plainly declared,
through Jesus,
"Before Abraham was, I am." |
| 15 |
The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into
matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false
sense of existence,
and the quickening spirit takes it |
| 18 |
away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and per-
fection of a released sense of Life in God and Life as
God. The
Scriptures declare Life to be the infinite I |
| 21 |
AM, - not a dweller in matter. For man to know Life
as it
is, namely God, the eternal good, gives him not
merely a sense of
existence, but an accompanying con- |
| 24 |
sciousness of spiritual power that subordinates matter
and destroys sin, disease, and death. This, Jesus demon-
strated; insomuch
that St. Matthew wrote, "The people |
| 27 |
were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them
as
one having authority, and not as the scribes." This
spiritual power,
healing sin and sickness, was not con- |
| 30 |
fined to the first century; it extends to all time, inhabits
eternity, and demonstrates Life without beginning or
end.
Page 190 |
| 1 |
Atomic action is Mind, not matter. It is neither the
energy of matter, the result of organization, nor the out- |
| 3 |
come of life infused into matter: it is infinite Spirit,
Truth,
Life, defiant of error or matter. Divine Science demon-
strates
Mind as dispelling a false sense and giving the |
| 6 |
true sense of itself, God, and the universe; wherein the
mortal evolves not the immortal, nor does the material
ultimate in the
spiritual; wherein man is coexistent with |
| 9 |
Mind, and is the recognized reflection of infinite Life
and
Love.
And he was casting out a devil, and
it was dumb. And it came to |
| 12 |
pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake. -
LUKE xi. 14.
The meaning of the term "devil" needs
yet to be
learned. Its definition as an individual is too
limited |
| 15 |
and contradictory. When the Scripture is understood,
the
spiritual signification of its terms will be understood,
and will
contradict the interpretations that the senses |
| 18 |
give them; and these terms will be found to include the
inspired meaning.
It could not have been a person that
our great Master |
| 21 |
cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein
referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh
ill. In this case
it was the evil of dumbness, an error of |
| 24 |
material sense, cast out by the spiritual truth of being;
namely, that speech belongs to Mind instead of matter,
and the wrong power,
or the lost sense, must yield to the |
| 27 |
right sense, and exist in Mind.
In the Hebrew, "devil" is denominated
Abaddon; in
the Greek, Apollyon, serpent, liar, the god of this
world, |
| 30 |
etc. The apostle Paul refers to this personality of evil
as "the god of this world;" and then defines this god
Page 191 |
| 1 |
as "dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of God
deceitfully." The Hebrew embodies the term "devil" |
| 3 |
in another term, serpent, - which the senses are supposed
to take in, - and then defines this serpent as "more
subtle than all
the beasts of the field." Subsequently, |
| 6 |
the ancients changed the meaning of the term, to their
sense, and then the serpent became a symbol of wisdom.
The Scripture in John, sixth chapter
and seventieth |
| 9 |
verse, refers to a wicked man as the devil: "Have not
I
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ?" Accord-
ing to the
Scripture, if devil is an individuality, there is |
| 12 |
more than one devil. In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty-
eighth verse, it reads: "Master, we saw one casting out
devils in thy
name." Here is an assertion indicating |
| 15 |
the existence of more than one devil; and by omitting the
first letter, the name of his satanic majesty is found
to be evils,
apparent wrong traits, that Christ, Truth, |
| 18 |
casts out. By no possible interpretation can this passage
mean several individuals cast out of another individual
no bigger than
themselves. The term, being here em- |
| 21 |
ployed in its plural number, destroys all consistent sup-
position of the existence of one personal devil. Again,
our text refers to
the devil as dumb; but the original |
| 24 |
devil was a great talker, and was supposed to have out-
talked even Truth, and carried the question with Eve.
Also, the original
texts define him as an "accuser," a |
| 27 |
"calumniator," which would be impossible if he were
speechless. These two opposite characters ascribed to
him could only be
possible as evil beliefs, as different |
| 30 |
phases of sin or disease made manifest.
Let us obey St. Paul's injunction to
reject fables, and
accept the Scriptures in their broader, more
spiritual
Page 192 |
| 1 |
and practical sense. When we speak of a good man, we
do
not mean that man is God because the Hebrew term |
| 3 |
for Deity was "good," and vice versa; so, when
referring
to a liar, we mean not that he is a personal devil, because
the original text defines devil as a "liar." |
| 6 |
It is of infinite importance to man's spiritual progress,
and to his demonstration of Truth in casting out error,
- sickness, sin,
disease, and death, in all their forms, - |
| 9 |
that the terms and nature of Deity and devil be
understood.
He that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father. - |
| 12 |
JOHN xiv. 12.
Such are the words of him who spake
divinely, well
knowing the omnipotence of Truth. The Hebrew
bard |
| 15 |
saith, "His name shall endure forever: His name shall
be
continued as long as the sun." Luminous with the
light of divine Science,
his words reveal the great Principle |
| 18 |
of a full salvation. Neither can we question the practi-
cability of the divine Word, who have learned its adapta-
bility to human
needs, and man's ability to prove the |
| 21 |
truth of prophecy.
The fulfilment of the grand verities
of Christian healing
belongs to every period; as the above Scripture
plainly |
| 24 |
declares, and as primitive Christianity confirms. Also,
the last chapter of Mark is emphatic on this subject;
making healing a
condition of salvation, that extends to |
| 27 |
all ages and throughout all Christendom. Nothing can
be
more conclusive than this: "And these signs shall
follow them that believe;
. . . they shall lay hands on |
| 30 |
the sick, and they shall recover." This declaration of
our Master settles the question; else we are entertaining
Page 193 |
| 1 |
the startling inquiries, Are the Scriptures inspired? Are
they true? Did Jesus mean what he said? |
| 3 |
If this be the cavil, we reply in the affirmative that the
Scripture is true; that Jesus did mean all, and even more
than he said
or deemed it safe to say at that time. His |
| 6 |
words are unmistakable, for they form propositions of
self-evident demonstrable truth. Doctrines that deny
the substance and
practicality of all Christ's teachings |
| 9 |
cannot be evangelical; and evangelical religion can be
established on no other claim than the authenticity of
the Gospels, which
support unequivocally the proof that |
| 12 |
Christian Science, as defined and practised by Jesus,
heals the sick, casts out error, and will destroy death.
Referring to The Church of Christ,
Scientist, in Boston, |
| 15 |
of which I am pastor, a certain clergyman charitably
expressed it, "the so-called Christian Scientists."
I am thankful even for his allusion to
truth; it being |
| 18 |
a modification of silence on this subject, and also of what
had been said when critics attacked me for supplying the
word Science
to Christianity, - a word which the people |
| 21 |
are now adopting.
The next step for ecclesiasticism to
take, is to admit
that all Christians are properly called Scientists
who |
| 24 |
follow the commands of our Lord and His Christ, Truth;
and that no one is following his full command without
this enlarged sense
of the spirit and power of Christianity. |
| 27 |
"He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do,"
is a radical and unmistakable declaration of the right and
power
of Christianity to heal; for this is Christlike, |
| 30 |
and includes the understanding of man's capabilities and
spiritual power. The condition insisted upon is, first,
"belief;" the
Hebrew of which implies understanding.
Page 194 |
| 1 |
How many to-day believe that the power of God equals
even
the power of a drug to heal the sick! Divine Science |
| 3 |
reveals the Principle of this power, and the rule whereby
sin, sickness, disease, and death are destroyed; and God
is this Principle.
Let us, then, seek this Science; that we |
| 6 |
may know Him better, and love Him more.
Though a man were begirt with the Urim
and Thum-
mim of priestly office, yet should deny the validity
or |
| 9 |
permanence of Christ's command to heal in all ages,
this
denial would dishonor that office and misinterpret
evangelical religion.
Divine Science is not an interpo- |
| 12 |
lation of the Scriptures, but is redolent with love,
health,
and holiness, for the whole human race. It only needs
the prism
of this Science to divide the rays of Truth, and |
| 15 |
bring out the entire hues of Deity, which scholastic
theol-
ogy has hidden. The lens of Science magnifies the divine
power
to human sight; and we then see the supremacy |
| 18 |
of Spirit and the nothingness of matter.
The context of the foregoing
Scriptural text explains
Jesus' words, "because I go unto my Father."
"Because" |
| 21 |
in following him, you understand God and how to
turn
from matter to Spirit for healing; how to leave self, the
sense material, for the sense spiritual; how to accept |
| 24 |
God's power and guidance, and become imbued with
divine
Love that casts out all fear. Then are you bap-
tized in the Truth that
destroys all error, and you receive |
| 27 |
the sense of Life that knows no death, and you know
that
God is the only Life.
To reach the consummate naturalness of
the Life that |
| 30 |
is God, good, we must comply with the first condition
set forth in the text, namely, believe; in other words,
understand God
sufficiently to exclude all faith in any
Page 195 |
| 1 |
other remedy than Christ, the Truth that antidotes all
error. Thence will follow the absorption of all action, |
| 3 |
motive, and mind, into the rules and divine Principle of
metaphysical healing.
Whosoever learns the letter of
Christian Science but |
| 6 |
possesses not its spirit, is unable to demonstrate this
Science; or whosoever hath the spirit without the letter,
is held back by
reason of the lack of understanding. Both |
| 9 |
the spirit and the letter are requisite; and having
these,
every one can prove, in some degree, the validity of those
words
of the great Master, "For the Son of man is come |
| 12 |
to save that which was lost."
It has been said that the New
Testament does not au-
thorize us to expect the ministry of healing at this
period. |
| 15 |
We ask what is the authority for such a conclusion,
the
premises whereof are not to be found in the Scriptures.
The Master's divine
logic, as seen in our text, contradicts |
| 18 |
this inference, - these are his words: "He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also." That per-
fect syllogism of
Jesus has but one correct premise and |
| 21 |
conclusion, and it cannot fall to the ground beneath the
stroke of unskilled swordsmen. He who never unsheathed
his blade to try the
edge of truth in Christian Science, is |
| 24 |
unequal to the conflict, and unfit to judge in the case;
the shepherd's sling would slay this Goliath. I once be-
lieved that the
practice and teachings of Jesus relative to |
| 27 |
healing the sick, were spiritual abstractions,
impractical
and impossible to us; but deed, not creed, and practice
more than theory, have given me a higher sense of |
| 30 |
Christianity.
The "I" will go to the Father when
meekness, purity,
and love, informed by divine Science, the Comforter,
Page 196 |
| 1 |
lead to the one God: then the ego is found not in
matter
but in Mind, for there is but one God, one |
| 3 |
Mind; and man will then claim no mind apart from God.
Idolatry, the supposition of the existence of many minds
and more than one
God, has repeated itself in all manner |
| 6 |
of subtleties through the entire centuries, saying as in
the beginning, "Believe in me, and I will make you as
gods;" that is, I
will give you a separate mind from God |
| 9 |
(good), named evil; and this so-called mind shall open
your eyes and make you know evil, and thus become
material, sensual, evil.
But bear in mind that a serpent |
| 12 |
said that; therefore that saying came not from Mind,
good, or Truth. God was not the author of it; hence the
words of our
Master: "He is a liar, and the father of it;" |
| 15 |
also, the character of the votaries to "other gods"
which
sprung from it.
The sweet, sacred sense and permanence
of man's |
| 18 |
unity with his Maker, in Science, illumines our present
existence with the ever-presence and power of God, good.
It opens wide the
portals of salvation from sin, sickness, |
| 21 |
and death. When the Life that is God, good, shall ap-
pear, "we shall be like Him;" we shall do the works of
Christ, and, in the
words of David, "the stone which the |
| 24 |
builders refused is become the head stone of the corner,"
because the "I" does go unto the Father, the ego does
arise to spiritual
recognition of being, and is exalted, - |
| 27 |
not through death, but Life, God understood.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. - ACTS
xvi.
31. |
| 30 |
The Scriptures require more than a simple admission
and
feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they
Page 197 |
| 1 |
require a living faith, that so incorporates their
lessons
into our lives that these truths become the motive-power |
| 3 |
of every act.
Our chosen text is one more frequently
used than
many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from
sin |
| 6 |
and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import
of this text is not yet recognized. It means a full salva-
tion, - man saved from sin, sickness, and death; for, |
| 9 |
unless this be so, no man can be wholly fitted for heaven
in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers
pursue. |
| 12 |
In order to comprehend the meaning of the text, let
us
see what it is to believe. It means more than an opinion
entertained
concerning Jesus as a man, as the Son of God, |
| 15 |
or as God; such an action of mind would be of no more
help to save from sin, than would a belief in any historical
event or
person. But it does mean so to understand the |
| 18 |
beauty of holiness, the character and divinity which
Jesus
presented in his power to heal and to save, that it will
compel
us to pattern after both; in other words, to "let |
| 21 |
this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
(Phil. ii. 5.)
Mortal man believes in, but does not
understand life |
| 24 |
in, Christ. He believes there is another power or
intelli-
gence that rules over a kingdom of its own, that is both
good
and evil; yea, that is divided against itself, and there- |
| 27 |
fore cannot stand. This belief breaks the First Command-
ment of God.
Let man abjure a theory that is in
opposition to God, |
| 30 |
recognize God as omnipotent, having all-power; and,
placing his trust in this grand Truth, and working from
no other Principle,
he can neither be sick nor forever a
Page 198 |
| 1 |
sinner. When wholly governed by the one perfect Mind,
man
has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire |
| 3 |
to sin.
To arrive at this point of unity of
Spirit, God, one must
commence by turning away from material gods;
denying |
| 6 |
material so-called laws and material sensation, - or mind
in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain. This
must be done with
the understanding that matter has no |
| 9 |
sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal
claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words
of Jesus: "When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his |
| 12 |
own." (John viii. 44.)
When tempted to sin, we should know
that evil pro-
ceedeth not from God, good, but is a false belief of
the |
| 15 |
personal senses; and if we deny the claims of these
senses
and recognize man as governed by God, Spirit, not by
material
laws, the temptation will disappear. |
| 18 |
On this Principle, disease also is treated and healed.
We
know that man's body, as matter, has no power to
govern itself; and a
belief of disease is as much the prod- |
| 21 |
uct of mortal thought as sin is. All suffering is the
fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil; of
adherence to the "doubleminded" senses, to some belief, |
| 24 |
fear, theory, or bad deed, based on physical material
law,
so-called as opposed to good, - all of which is corrected
alone by
Science, divine Principle, and its spiritual laws. |
| 27 |
Suffering is the supposition of another intelligence than
God; a belief in self-existent evil, opposed to good; and
in whatever seems
to punish man for doing good, - |
| 30 |
by saying he has overworked, suffered from inclement
weather, or violated a law of matter in doing good, there-
fore he must
suffer for it.
Page 199 |
| 1 |
God does not reward benevolence and love with pen-
alties; and because of this, we have the right to deny the |
| 3 |
supposed power of matter to do it, and to allege that
only
mortal, erring mind can claim to do thus, and dignify the
result
with the name of law: thence comes man's ability |
| 6 |
to annul his own erring mental law, and to hold himself
amenable only to moral and spiritual law, - God's gov-
ernment. By so
doing, male and female come into their |
| 9 |
rightful heritage, "into the glorious liberty of the
children
of God."
Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in neces- |
| 12 |
sities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake. - 2 COR.
xii. 10.
The miracles recorded in the
Scriptures illustrate the |
| 15 |
life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the
hatred of the rabbis. The rulers sought the life of Jesus;
they would
extinguish whatever denied and defied their |
| 18 |
superstition. We learn somewhat of the qualities of the
divine Mind through the human Jesus. The power of
his transcendent goodness
is manifest in the control it |
| 21 |
gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mor-
tals name matter.
The Principle of these marvellous
works is divine; but |
| 24 |
the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned
in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under-
standing that
all substance, Life, and intelligence are |
| 27 |
God. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are
neither supernatural nor preternatural; for God is good,
and goodness is
more natural than evil. The marvellous |
| 30 |
healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of
Chris-
tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era.
Page 200 |
| 1 |
It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the
mind of
Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan- |
| 3 |
taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man,
and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as
the better
representatives of God than sin, disease, and |
| 6 |
death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo-
tence
to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All-
in-all, matter was palpably
an error of premise and |
| 9 |
conclusion, while God was the only substance, Life,
and
intelligence of man.
The apostle Paul insists on the rare
rule in Christian |
| 12 |
Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is
sus-
ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and
state of
human existence. The divine Science of this rule |
| 15 |
is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man-
kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for
the sole reason
that it is their basis. The foundational |
| 18 |
facts of Christian Science are gathered from the
supremacy
of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma-
terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with |
| 21 |
the sweet sincerity of the apostle, "I take pleasure in
infirmities," - I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and
all suffering of
the flesh, because it compels me to seek the |
| 24 |
remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per-
sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul's well-tried hope
met no obstacle or
circumstances paramount to the tri- |
| 27 |
umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good,
involved in its divine Principle, God: the so-called pains
and pleasures of
matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he |
| 30 |
regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and
sub-
dued it with this understanding.
The abstract statement that all is
Mind, supports the
Page 201 |
| 1 |
entire wisdom of the text; and this statement receives
the mortal scoff only because it meets the immortal de- |
| 3 |
mands of Truth. The Science of Paul's declaration re-
solves the element misnamed matter into its original sin,
or human will;
that will which would oppose bringing the |
| 6 |
qualities of Spirit into subjection to Spirit. Sin
brought
death; and death is an element of matter, or material
falsity,
never of Spirit. |
| 9 |
When Jesus reproduced his body after its burial, he
revealed the myth or material falsity of evil; its power-
lessness to
destroy good, and the omnipotence of the |
| 12 |
Mind that knows this: he also showed forth the error
and
nothingness of supposed life in matter, and the great
somethingness of the
good we possess, which is of Spirit, |
| 15 |
and immortal.
Understanding this, Paul took pleasure
in infirmities,
for it enabled him to triumph over them, - he
declared |
| 18 |
that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death;" he took
pleasure in
"reproaches" and "persecutions," because |
| 21 |
they were so many proofs that he had wrought the prob-
lem of being beyond the common apprehension of sinners;
he took pleasure in
"necessities," for they tested and de- |
| 24 |
veloped latent power.
We protect our dwellings more securely
after a robbery,
and our jewels have been stolen; so, after losing
those |
| 27 |
jewels of character, - temperance, virtue, and truth, -
the young man is awakened to bar his door against further
robberies. |
| 30 |
Go to the bedside of pain, and there you can demon-
strate the triumph of good that has pleasure in infirmities;
because it
illustrates through the flesh the divine power
Page 202 |
| 1 |
of Spirit, and reaches the basis of all supposed
miracles;
whereby the sweet harmonies of Christian Science are |
| 3 |
found to correct the discords of sense, and to lift
man's
being into the sunlight of Soul.
"The chamber where the good
man meets his fate |
| 6 |
Is privileged beyond the
walks of common life,
Quite on the verge of heaven."
Page 203
CHAPTER
VII
POND AND
PURPOSE |
| 1 |
BELOVED STUDENTS: - In thanking you for your
gift of the
pretty pond contributed to Pleasant View, |
| 3 |
in Concord, New Hampshire, I make no distinction be-
tween my students and your students; for here, thine
becomes mine through
gratitude and affection. |
| 6 |
From my tower window, as I look on this smile of
Christian Science, this gift from my students and their
students, it will
always mirror their love, loyalty, and |
| 9 |
good works. Solomon saith, "As in water face answereth
to face, so the heart of man to man."
The waters that run among the valleys,
and that |
| 12 |
you have coaxed in their course to call on me, have
served the imagination for centuries. Theology religiously
bathes in water,
medicine applies it physically, hydrology |
| 15 |
handles it with so-called science, and metaphysics appro-
priates it topically as type and shadow. Metaphysically,
baptism serves to
rebuke the senses and illustrate Christian |
| 18 |
Science.
First: The baptism of repentance is indeed a stricken
state of
human consciousness, wherein mortals gain |
| 21 |
severe views of themselves; a state of mind which rends
the veil that hides mental deformity. Tears flood the eyes,
Page 204 |
| 1 |
agony struggles, pride rebels, and a mortal seems a
monster, a dark, impenetrable cloud of error; and falling |
| 3 |
on the bended knee of prayer, humble before God, he
cries, "Save, or I perish." Thus Truth, searching the
heart, neutralizes
and destroys error. |
| 6 |
This mental period is sometimes chronic, but oftener
acute. It is attended throughout with doubt, hope, sorrow,
joy, defeat, and
triumph. When the good fight is fought, |
| 9 |
error yields up its weapons and kisses the feet of Love,
while white-winged peace sings to the heart a song of
angels. |
| 12 |
Second: The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the
spirit
of Truth cleansing from all sin; giving mortals new
motives, new
purposes, new affections, all pointing up- |
| 15 |
ward. This mental condition settles into strength, free-
dom, deep-toned faith in God; and a marked loss of faith
in evil, in human
wisdom, human policy, ways, and means. |
| 18 |
It develops individual capacity, increases the
intellectual
activities, and so quickens moral sensibility that the
great demands of spiritual sense are recognized, and they |
| 21 |
rebuke the material senses, holding sway over human
consciousness.
By purifying human thought, this state
of mind per- |
| 24 |
meates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human
affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom,
and power; it
unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadi- |
| 27 |
ness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the
accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of
Christian Science,
literally governs the aims, ambition, |
| 30 |
and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives pru-
dence and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry,
evil thinking,
evil speaking and acting; and mortal
Page 205 |
| 1 |
mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of
itself. |
| 3 |
This practical Christian Science is the divine Mind,
the
incorporeal Truth and Love, shining through the mists
of materiality and
melting away the shadows called sin, |
| 6 |
disease, and death.
In mortal experience, the fire of
repentance first sepa-
rates the dross from the gold, and reformation
brings |
| 9 |
the light which dispels darkness. Thus the operation
of
the spirit of Truth and Love on the human thought,
in the words of St.
John, "shall take of mine and show it |
| 12 |
unto you."
Third: The baptism of Spirit, or final immersion of
human
consciousness in the infinite ocean of Love, is the |
| 15 |
last scene in corporeal sense. This omnipotent act drops
the curtain on material man and mortality. After this,
man's identity or
consciousness reflects only Spirit, good, |
| 18 |
whose visible being is invisible to the physical senses:
eye
hath not seen it, inasmuch as it is the disembodied in-
dividual
Spirit-substance and consciousness termed in |
| 21 |
Christian metaphysics the ideal man - forever permeated
with eternal life, holiness, heaven. This order of Science
is the chain of
ages, which maintain their obvious corre- |
| 24 |
spondence, and unites all periods in the divine design.
Mortal man's repentance and absolute abandonment of
sin finally dissolves
all supposed material life or physical |
| 27 |
sensation, and the corporeal or mortal man disappears
forever. The encumbering mortal molecules, called man,
vanish as a dream;
but man born of the great Forever, |
| 30 |
lives on, God-crowned and blest.
Mortals who on the shores of time
learn Christian
Science, and live what they learn, take rapid transit
to
Page 206 |
| 1 |
heaven, - the hinge on which have turned all revolu-
tions, natural, civil, or religious, the former being servant |
| 3 |
to the latter, - from flux to permanence, from foul to
pure, from torpid to serene, from extremes to intermediate.
Above the waves
of Jordan, dashing against the receding |
| 6 |
shore, is heard the Father and Mother's welcome, saying
forever to the baptized of Spirit: "This is my beloved
Son." What but
divine Science can interpret man's |
| 9 |
eternal existence, God's allness, and the scientific
inde-
structibility of the universe?
The advancing stages of Christian
Science are gained |
| 12 |
through growth, not accretion; idleness is the foe of
progress. And scientific growth manifests no weakness,
no emasculation, no
illusive vision, no dreamy absentness, |
| 15 |
no insubordination to the laws that be, no loss nor lack
of what constitutes true manhood.
Growth is governed by intelligence; by
the active, |
| 18 |
all-wise, law-creating, law-disciplining, law-abiding
Prin-
ciple, God. The real Christian Scientist is constantly
accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and |
| 21 |
orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven:
"Good is my God, and my God is good. Love is my God,
and my God is
Love." |
| 24 |
Beloved students, you have entered the path. Press
patiently on; God is good, and good is the reward of all
who diligently
seek God. Your growth will be rapid, if |
| 27 |
you love good supremely, and understand and obey the
Way-shower, who, going before you, has scaled the steep
ascent of Christian
Science, stands upon the mount of |
| 30 |
holiness, the dwelling-place of our God, and bathes in
the
baptismal font of eternal Love.
As you journey, and betimes sigh for
rest "beside the
Page 207 |
| 1 |
still waters," ponder this lesson of love. Learn its pur-
pose; and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart |
| 3 |
reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of
the
spirit of my life-purpose, - to impress humanity with
the genuine
recognition of practical, operative Christian |
| 6 |
Science.
Page 208
CHAPTER
VIII - PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT
"THY WILL BE
DONE"
THIS is the law of Truth to error,
"Thou shalt surely |
| 3 |
die." This law is a divine energy. Mortals cannot
prevent
the fulfilment of this law; it covers all sin and
its effects. God is All,
and by virtue of this nature and |
| 6 |
allness He is cognizant only of good. Like a legislative
bill that governs millions of mortals whom the legislators
know not, the
universal law of God has no knowledge |
| 9 |
of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and
governs it.
Mortals have only to submit to the law
of God, come |
| 12 |
into sympathy with it, and to let His will be done. This
unbroken motion of the law of divine Love gives, to the
weary and
heavy-laden, rest. But who is willing to do |
| 15 |
His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own
wills, and so disobey the divine order.
All states and stages of human error
are met and |
| 18 |
mastered by divine Truth's negativing error in the way
of
God's appointing. Those "whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth." His rod
brings to view His love, and inter- |
| 21 |
prets to mortals the gospel of healing. David said, "Be-
fore I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I
kept Thy word." He who
knows the end from the be-
Page 209 |
| 1 |
ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes
and
remedies. |
| 3 |
Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga-
tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to pun-
ish sin? that
wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets, |
| 6 |
and cry, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace," - yea,
that healest the wounds of my people slightly?
The Principle of divine Science being
Love, the divine |
| 9 |
rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that
human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own
physics.
Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of |
| 12 |
cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics
admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more
dangerous
pleasures. |
| 15 |
Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv-
ion
nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose
Life is God, for God
neither slumbers nor sleeps. The |
| 18 |
loss of gustatory enjoyment and the ills of indigestion
tend to rebuke appetite and destroy the peace of a false
sense. False
pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no |
| 21 |
right to be at peace. To suffer for having "other gods
before me," is divinely wise. Evil passions die in their
own flames, but
are punished before extinguished. Peace |
| 24 |
has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be
concealed and that life and happiness should still attend
it. Joy is
self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are |
| 27 |
one: suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master
of
evil.
To this scientific logic and the logic
of events, egotism |
| 30 |
and false charity say, " 'Not so, Lord;' it is wise to
cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have
peace." Divine
Love, as unconscious as incapable of
Page 210 |
| 1 |
error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off
its
disguises, and - behold the result: evil, uncovered, is |
| 3 |
self-destroyed.
Christian Science never healed a
patient without prov-
ing with mathematical certainty that error, when
found |
| 6 |
out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third
kills itself. Do men whine over a nest of serpents, and
post around it
placards warning people not to stir up |
| 9 |
these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said,
"They shall take up serpents;" and, "Be ye therefore
wise as serpents and
harmless as doves." The wisdom |
| 12 |
of a serpent is to hide itself. The wisdom of God, as
revealed in Christian Science, brings the serpent out of
its hole, handles
it, and takes away its sting. Good deeds |
| 15 |
are harmless. He who has faith in woman's special adapt-
ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked
when she puts her
foot on the head of the serpent, as it |
| 18 |
biteth at the heel.
Intemperance begets a belief of
disordered brains,
membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief
serves |
| 21 |
to uncover and kill this lurking serpent, intemperance,
that hides itself under the false pretense of human need,
innocent
enjoyment, and a medical prescription. The |
| 24 |
belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the
shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and
thus may save
him from his destroyer. |
| 27 |
Charity has the courage of conviction; it may suffer
long, but has neither the cowardice nor the foolhardiness
to cover
iniquity. Charity is Love; and Love opens |
| 30 |
the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out.
Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer
from an encounter.
Love your enemies, or you will not
Page 211 |
| 1 |
loose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform
them. |
| 3 |
Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not
cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor-
tals to handle
serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision |
| 6 |
must be clear to open the eyes of others, else the blind
will lead the blind and both shall fall. The sickly charity
that supplies
criminals with bouquets has been dealt |
| 9 |
with summarily by the good judgment of people in
the old
Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla-
tion, and Salem
witchcraft, are not indigenous to her |
| 12 |
son.
"Out of the depths have I delivered
thee." The
drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave
is |
| 15 |
unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his
peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because
you wish to save
him from death. Then, if a criminal |
| 18 |
is at peace is he not to be pitied and brought back to
life? Or, are you afraid to do this lest he suffer, trample
on your pearls
of thought, and turn on you and rend you? |
| 21 |
Cowardice is selfishness. When one protects himself at
his neighbor's cost, let him remember, "Whosoever will
save his life shall
lose it." He risks nothing who obeys |
| 24 |
the law of God, and shall find the Life that cannot be
lost.
Our Master said, "Ye shall drink
indeed of my cup." |
| 27 |
Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with
God. He drank this cup giving thanks, and he said to
his followers, "Drink
ye all of it," - drink it all, and let |
| 30 |
all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer, -
"Thy
kingdom come." Shall we repeat our Lord's Prayer
when the heart
denies it, refuses to bear the cross and
Page 212 |
| 1 |
to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy
is
a fool that saith in his heart, "No God" - a caressing |
| 3 |
Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This god-
less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is
obtained. |
| 6 |
Jesus did his work, and left his glorious career for our
example. On the shore of Gennesaret he tersely re-
minded his students of
their worldly policy. They had |
| 9 |
suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused
them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas-
ter and cast their
nets on the right side. When they |
| 12 |
were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The
ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means
ought to silence ours. One
step away from the direct |
| 16 |
line of divine Science cost them - what? A speedy re-
turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre-
quited toil. |
| 18 |
The currents of human nature rush in against the right
course; health, happiness, and life flow not into one of
their channels.
The law of Love saith, "Not my will, |
| 21 |
but Thine, be done," and Christian Science proves that
human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white
Christ, is the
remunerator. |
| 24 |
If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a
wrong direction, who will step forward and open his
eyes to see this error?
He who is a Christian Scientist, |
| 27 |
who has cast the beam out of his own eye, speaks plainly
to the offender and tries to show his errors to him before
letting another
know it. |
| 30 |
Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting
form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis-
ciples, who had
not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of
Page 213 |
| 1 |
him; they could not behold his immortal being in the
form
of Godlikeness. |
| 3 |
All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good,
flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my
faith in the
right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the |
| 6 |
proportion that their instructions are assimilated, will
point the way, shorten the process, and consummate the
joys of acquiescence
in the methods of divine Love. The |
| 9 |
Scripture saith, "He that covereth his sins shall not
pros-
per." No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni-
ties
which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm |
| 12 |
our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can
be destroyed.
May my friends and my enemies so
profit by these |
| 15 |
waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined
another's way may perfect their own lives by gentle
benedictions. In every
age, the pioneer reformer must |
| 18 |
pass through a baptism of fire. But the faithful adher-
ents of Truth have gone on rejoicing. Christian Science
gives a fearless
wing and firm foundation. These are |
| 21 |
its inspiring tones from the lips of our Master, "My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me: and I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall |
| 24 |
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
my
hand." He is but "an hireling" who fleeth when he
seeth the wolf
coming. |
| 27 |
Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer: the night
is far spent, the day dawns; God's universal kingdom
will appear, Love will
reign in every heart, and His will |
| 30 |
be done on earth as in heaven.
Page 214
"PUT UP THY
SWORD"
While Jesus' life was full of Love,
and a demonstra- |
| 3 |
tion of Love, it appeared hate to the carnal mind, or
mortal thought, of his time. He said, "Think not that
I am come to send
peace on earth: I came not to send |
| 6 |
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in- |
| 9 |
law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own house-
hold."
This action of Jesus was stimulated by
the same Love |
| 12 |
that closed - to the senses - that wondrous life, and
that summed up its demonstration in the command,
"Put up thy sword. " The
very conflict his Truth brought, |
| 15 |
in accomplishing its purpose of Love, meant, all
the way
through, "Put up thy sword;" but the sword
must have been drawn before it
could be returned into |
| 18 |
the scabbard.
My students need to search the
Scriptures and "Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to
understand |
| 21 |
the personal Jesus' labor in the flesh for their
salvation:
they need to do this even to understand my works, their
motives, aims, and tendency. |
| 24 |
The attitude of mortal mind in being healed morally,
is
the same as its attitude physically. The Christian
Scientist cannot heal
the sick, and take error along with |
| 27 |
Truth, either in the recognition or approbation of it.
This would prevent the possibility of destroying the
tares: they must be
separated from the wheat before |
| 30 |
they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour
Page 215 |
| 1 |
and the final destruction of error through this very pro-
cess, - the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal |
| 3 |
mind is to go from one extreme to another: Truth comes
into the intermediate space, saying, "I wound to heal;
I punish to reform;
I do it all in love; my peace I leave |
| 6 |
with thee: not as the world giveth, give I unto thee.
Arise, let us go hence; let us depart from the material
sense of God's ways
and means, and gain a spiritual |
| 9 |
understanding of them."
But let us not seek to climb up some
other way, as we
shall do if we take the end for the beginning or
start |
| 12 |
from wrong motives. Christian Science demands order
and
truth. To abide by these we must first understand
the Principle and object
of our work, and be clear that |
| 15 |
it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we
shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap-
pointment, and not
according to the infantile concep- |
| 18 |
tion of our way; as when a child in sleep walks on the
summit of the roof of the house because he is a som-
nambulist, and thinks
he is where he is not, and would |
| 21 |
fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he
was
doing.
My students are at the beginning of
their demonstra- |
| 24 |
tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves
and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use
the sword of
Spirit. |
| 27 |
They cannot in the beginning take the attitude, nor
adopt
the words, that Jesus used at the end of his
demonstration. |
| 30 |
If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try
to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor
yet when it is in
the ear; a wise spiritual discernment
Page 216 |
| 1 |
must be used in your application of his words and infer-
ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat |
| 3 |
with error. There remaineth, it is true, a Sabbath
rest
for the people of God; but we must first have done our
work, and
entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give |
| 6 |
example.
SCIENTIFIC
THEISM
In the May number of our
Journal, there appeared a |
| 9 |
review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism,"
by Phare Pleigh.
Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more
than "hands |
| 12 |
off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon
tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying
on of hands," as
well. Whatever his nom de plume |
| 15 |
means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one
in
the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a
big protest against
injustice; but, the best may be |
| 18 |
mistaken.
One of these extracts is the story of
the Cheshire Cat,
which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the
end |
| 21 |
of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained
some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty
or a happy hit
at idealism, to illustrate the author's |
| 24 |
lowing point? -
"When philosophy becomes fairy-land,
in which neither
laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the |
| 27 |
attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a
phenomenon without a noumenon may succeed, but not
before; for it is
an attempt to conceive a grin without |
| 30 |
a cat."
Page 217 |
| 1 |
True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in
logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An |
| 3 |
effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso-
phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con-
ceive and
understand that Spirit cannot become less than |
| 6 |
Spirit; hence that the universe of God is spiritual, -
even
the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle,
with
which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in |
| 9 |
quality and quantity.
The fallacy of an unscientific
statement is this: that
matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the
phe- |
| 12 |
nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat-
ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable,
and animal
kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things |
| 15 |
is unchanged, and that nature is constituted of and by
Spirit.
Sensuous and material realistic views
presuppose that |
| 18 |
nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con-
taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup-
positional unity
and personality, produce matter, - a |
| 21 |
third quality unlike God. Again, that matter is both
cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its
cause; that
death is at war with Life, evil with good, - |
| 24 |
and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither
Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a
kingdom divided against
itself, that shall be brought |
| 27 |
to desolation.
The nature of God must change in order
to become
matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and
matter |
| 30 |
must disappear, for Spirit to appear. To the
material
sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human
thought,
and our convictions change: for spiritual sense
Page 218 |
| 1 |
takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and
Spirit is God, and God is good. Science unfolds the fact |
| 3 |
that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never
produced Mind, and vice versa.
The visible universe declares the
invisible only by re- |
| 6 |
version, as error declares Truth. The testimony of mate-
rial sense in relation to existence is false; for matter can
neither see,
hear, nor feel, and mortal mind must change |
| 9 |
all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence,
before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas.
It is erroneous
to accept the evidence of the material |
| 12 |
senses whence to reason out God, when it is conceded
that
the five personal senses can take no cognizance of
Spirit or of its
phenomena. False realistic views sap the |
| 15 |
Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal
and
inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth
comes to the rescue of
reason and immortality, and un- |
| 18 |
folds the real nature of God and the universe to the
spirit-
ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and
not
material. |
| 21 |
To begin with, the notion of Spirit as cause and end,
with matter as its effect, is more ridiculous than the "grin
without a
cat;" for a grin expresses the nature of a cat, |
| 24 |
and this nature may linger in memory: but matter does
not
express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven
grins are neither
eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What |
| 27 |
can illustrate Dr. - 's views better than Pat's echo,
when he said "How do you do?" and echo answered,
"Pretty well, I thank
you!" |
| 30 |
Dr. - says: "The recognition of teleology in nature
is
necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual person-
ality in God."
Page 219 |
| 1 |
According to lexicography, teleology is the science of
the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all |
| 3 |
Science is divine) neither reveals God in matter, cause
in effect, nor teaches that nature and her laws are the
material
universe, or that the personality of infinite Spirit |
| 6 |
is finite or material. Jesus said, "Ye do err, not know-
ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Now, what
saith the Scripture?
"God is a Spirit: and they that |
| 9 |
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth."
MENTAL
PRACTICE |
| 12 |
It is admitted that mortals think wickedly and act
wickedly: it is beginning to be seen by thinkers, that
mortals think also
after a sickly fashion. In common |
| 15 |
parlance, one person feels sick, another feels wicked. A
third person knows that if he would remove this feeling
in either case, in
the one he must change his patient's |
| 18 |
consciousness of dis-ease and suffering to a
consciousness
of ease and loss of suffering; while in the other he must
change the patient's sense of sinning at ease to a sense of |
| 21 |
discomfort in sin and peace in goodness.
This is Christian Science: that mortal
mind makes
sick, and immortal Mind makes well; that mortal
mind |
| 24 |
makes sinners, while immortal Mind makes saints; that
a
state of health is but a state of consciousness made mani-
fest on the
body, and vice versa; that while one person |
| 27 |
feels wickedly and acts wickedly, another knows that if
he can change this evil sense and consciousness to a good
sense, or
conscious goodness, the fruits of goodness will |
| 30 |
follow, and he has reformed the sinner.
Page 220 |
| 1 |
Now, demonstrate this rule, which obtains in every
line
of mental healing, and you will find that a good rule |
| 3 |
works one way, and a false rule the opposite way.
Let us suppose that there is a sick
person whom an-
other would heal mentally. The healer begins by
mental |
| 6 |
argument. He mentally says, "You are well, and you
know
it;" and he supports this silent mental force by
audible explanation,
attestation, and precedent. His |
| 9 |
mental and oral arguments aim to refute the sick man's
thoughts, words, and actions, in certain directions, and
turn them into
channels of Truth. He persists in this |
| 12 |
course until the patient's mind yields, and the
harmonious
thought has the full control over this mind on the point
at
issue. The end is attained, and the patient says and |
| 15 |
feels, "I am well, and I know it."
This mental practitioner has changed
his patient's
consciousness from sickness to health. The
patient's |
| 18 |
mental state is now the diametrical opposite of what it
was when the mental practitioner undertook to transform
it, and he is
improved morally and physically. |
| 21 |
That this mental method has power and bears fruit,
is
patent both to the conscientious Christian Scientist and
the observer. Both
should understand with equal clear- |
| 24 |
ness, that if this mental process and power be reversed,
and people believe that a man is sick and knows it, and
speak of him as
being sick, put it into the minds of others |
| 27 |
that he is sick, publish it in the newspapers that he is
failing, and persist in this action of mind over mind, it
follows that he
will believe that he is sick, - and Jesus |
| 30 |
said it would be according to the woman's belief; but if
with the certainty of Science he knows that an error of
belief has not the
power of Truth, and cannot, does
Page 221 |
| 1 |
not, produce the slightest effect, it has no power over
him. Thus a mental malpractitioner may lose his |
| 3 |
power to harm by a false mental argument; for it
gives
one opportunity to handle the error, and when
mastering it one gains in the
rules of metaphysics, and |
| 6 |
thereby learns more of its divine Principle. Error pro-
duces physical sufferings, and these sufferings show
the fundamental
Principle of Christian Science; namely, |
| 9 |
that error and sickness are one, and Truth is their
remedy.
The evil-doer can do little at
removing the effect of sin |
| 12 |
on himself, unless he believes that sin has produced the
effect and knows he is a sinner; or, knowing that he is a
sinner, if he
denies it, the good effect is lost. Either of |
| 15 |
these states of mind will stultify the power to heal men-
tally. This accounts for many helpless mental practi-
tioners and
mysterious diseases. |
| 18 |
Again: If error is the cause of disease, Truth being
the
cure, denial of this fact in one instance and
acknowledgment of it in
another saps one's under- |
| 21 |
standing of the Science of Mind-healing. Such denial
dethrones demonstration, baffles the student of Mind-
healing, and divorces
his work from Science. Such de- |
| 24 |
nial also contradicts the doctrine that we must mentally
struggle against both evil and disease, and is like saying
that five times
ten are fifty while ten times five are not |
| 27 |
fifty; as if the multiplication of the same two numbers
would not yield the same product whichever might serve
as the
multiplicand. |
| 30 |
Who would tell another of a crime that he himself is
committing, or call public attention to that crime ? The
belief in evil and
in the process of evil, holds the issues
Page 222 |
| 1 |
of death to the evil-doer. It takes away a man's proper
sense of good, and gives him a false sense of both evil |
| 3 |
and good. It inflames envy, passion, evil-speaking, and
strife. It reverses Christian Science in all things. It
causes the victim
to believe that he is advancing while |
| 6 |
injuring himself and others. This state of false
conscious-
ness in many cases causes the victim great physical suffer-
ing; and conviction of his wrong state of feeling reforms |
| 9 |
him, and so heals him: or, failing of conviction and re-
form, he becomes morally paralyzed - in other words,
a moral idiot. |
| 12 |
In this state of misled consciousness, one is ready to
listen complacently to audible falsehoods that once he
would have resisted
and loathed; and this, because the |
| 15 |
false seems true. The malicious mental argument and
its
action on the mind of the perpetrator, is fatal, morally
and physically.
From the effects of mental malpractice |
| 18 |
the subject scarcely awakes in time, and must suffer its
full penalty after death. This sin against divine Science
is cancelled only
through human agony: the measure it |
| 21 |
has meted must be remeasured to it.
The crimes committed under this new
régime of mind-
power, when brought to light, will make stout
hearts quail. |
| 24 |
Its mystery protects it now, for it is not yet known.
Error
is more abstract than Truth. Even the healing Principle,
whose
power seems inexplicable, is not so obscure; for |
| 27 |
this is the power of God, and good should seem more
natural than evil.
I shall not forget the cost of
investigating, for this age, |
| 30 |
the methods and power of error. While the ways, means,
and potency of Truth had flowed into my consciousness
as easily as dawns
the morning light and shadows flee,
Page 223 |
| 1 |
the metaphysical mystery of error - its hidden paths,
purpose, and fruits - at first defied me. I was say- |
| 3 |
ing all the time, "Come not thou into the secret" -
but
at length took up the research according to God's
command. |
| 6 |
Streams which purify, necessarily have pure fountains;
while impure streams flow from corrupt sources. Here,
divine light, logic,
and revelation coincide. |
| 9 |
Science proves, beyond cavil, that the tree is known
by
its fruit; that mind reaches its own ideal, and cannot
be separated from
it. I respect that moral sense which |
| 12 |
is sufficiently strong to discern what it believes, and to
say,
if it must, "I discredit Mind with having the power to
heal." This
individual disbelieves in Mind-healing, and |
| 15 |
is consistent. But, alas! for the mistake of believing in
mental healing, claiming full faith in the divine Principle,
and saying, "I
am a Christian Scientist," while doing |
| 18 |
unto others what we would resist to the hilt if done
unto
ourselves.
May divine Love so permeate the
affections of all those |
| 21 |
who have named the name of Christ in its fullest sense,
that no counteracting influence can hinder their growth
or taint their
examples.
TAKING OFFENSE
There is immense wisdom in the old
proverb, "He
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty."
Hannah |
| 27 |
More said, "If I wished to punish my enemy, I should
make him hate somebody."
To punish ourselves for others'
faults, is superlative |
| 30 |
folly. The mental arrow shot from another's bow is
Page 224 |
| 1 |
practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it.
It
is our pride that makes another's criticism rankle, our |
| 3 |
self-will that makes another's deed offensive, our
egotism
that feels hurt by another's self-assertion. Well may we
feel
wounded by our own faults; but we can hardly afford |
| 6 |
to be miserable for the faults of others.
A courtier told Constantine that a mob
had broken
the head of his statue with stones. The emperor
lifted |
| 9 |
his hands to his head, saying: "It is very surprising,
but
I don't feel hurt in the least."
We should remember that the world is
wide; that there |
| 12 |
are a thousand million different human wills, opinions,
ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a differ-
ent history,
constitution, culture, character, from all the |
| 15 |
rest; that human life is the work, the play, the
ceaseless
action and reaction upon each other of these different
atoms.
Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest |
| 18 |
expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen
relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great,
and good, but
with a temper so genial that the friction |
| 21 |
of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with
an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor
accidental disturbance
shall agitate or ruffle it; with a |
| 24 |
charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and
sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, - de-
termined not to be
offended when no wrong is meant, nor |
| 27 |
even when it is, unless the offense be against God.
Nothing short of our own errors should
offend us. He
who can wilfully attempt to injure another, is an
object |
| 30 |
of pity rather than of resentment; while it is a
question
in my mind, whether there is enough of a flatterer, a fool,
or
a liar, to offend a whole-souled woman.
Page 225
HINTS TO THE
CLERGY
At the residence of Mr. Rawson, of
Arlington, Massa- |
| 3 |
chusetts, a happy concourse of friends had gathered to
celebrate the eighty-second birthday of his mother - a
friend of mine, and
a Christian Scientist. |
| 6 |
Among the guests, were an orthodox clergyman, his
wife
and child.
In the course of the evening,
conversation drifted to |
| 9 |
the seventh modern wonder, Christian Science; where-
upon
the mother, Mrs. Rawson, who had drunk at its
fount, firmly bore testimony
to the power of Christ, Truth, |
| 12 |
to heal the sick.
Soon after this conversation, the
clergyman's son
was taken violently ill. Then was the
clergyman's |
| 15 |
opportunity to demand a proof of what the Christian
Scientist had declared; and he said to this venerable
Christian: - |
| 18 |
"If you heal my son, when seeing, I may be led to
believe."
Mrs. Rawson then rose from her seat,
and sat down |
| 21 |
beside the sofa whereon lay the lad with burning brow,
moaning in pain.
Looking away from all material aid, to
the spiritual |
| 24 |
source and ever-present help, silently, through the
divine
power, she healed him.
The deep flush
faded from the face, a cool perspira- |
| 27 |
tion spread over it, and he slept.
In about one hour he awoke, and was
hungry.
The parents said: - |
| 30 |
"Wait until we get home, and you shall have some
gruel."
Page 226 |
| 1 |
But Mrs. Rawson said: -
"Give
the child what he relishes, and doubt not that |
| 3 |
the Father of all will care for him."
Thus, the unbiased youth and the aged Christian
carried the case on the side of God; and, after eating |
| 6 |
several ice-creams, the clergyman's son returned home
-
well. |