Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
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PASTOR'S MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER
CHURCH, ON THE OCCASION OF
THE |
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JUNE COMMUNION, 1898
SUBJECT: Not Pantheism, but Christian Science
BELOVED brethren, since last you gathered at the |
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feast of our Passover, the winter winds have come
and
gone; the rushing winds of March have shrieked and
hummed their hymns; the
frown and smile of April, the |
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laugh of May, have fled; and the roseate blush of joyous
June is here and ours.
In unctuous unison with nature, mortals are hoping and
|
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working, putting off outgrown, wornout, or soiled gar-
ments - the pleasures and pains of sensation and the
sackcloth of waiting -
for the springtide of Soul. For |
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what a man seeth he hopeth not for, but hopeth for what
he hath not seen, and waiteth patiently the appearing
thereof. The night is
far spent, and day is not distant in |
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the horizon of Truth - even the day when all people
shall know and acknowledge one God and one Christianity.
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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE NOT PANTHEISM
At this period of enlightenment, a
declaration from the |
| 3 |
pulpit that Christian Science is pantheism is anomalous
to
those who know whereof they speak - who know that
Christian Science
is Science, and therefore is neither |
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hypothetical nor dogmatical, but demonstrable, and
looms
above the mists of pantheism higher than Mt.
Ararat above the deluge. |
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ANALYSIS OF "PANTHEISM"
According to Webster the word
"pantheism" is de-
rived from two Greek words meaning "all" and
"god." |
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Webster's derivation of the English word "pantheism"
is
most suggestive. His uncapitalized word "god" gives
the meaning of
pantheism as a human opinion of "gods |
| 15 |
many," or mind in matter. "The doctrine that the uni-
verse, conceived of as a whole, is God; that there is no
God but the
combined forces and laws which are mani- |
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fested in the existing universe."
The Standard Dictionary has it that
pantheism is the
doctrine of the deification of natural causes, conceived
as |
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one personified nature, to which the religious sentiment
is
directed.
Pan is a Greek prefix, but it might stand, in the term
|
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pantheism, for the mythological deity of that name; and
theism for a belief concerning Deity in theology. How-
ever, Pan in
imagery is preferable to pantheism in theology.
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The mythical deity may please the fancy, while pantheism
suits not at all the Christian sense of religion. Pan, as a |
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deity, is supposed to preside over sylvan solitude, and is a
horned and hoofed animal, half goat and half man, that
poorly presents
the poetical phase of the genii of forests.(1) |
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My sense of nature's rich glooms is, that loneness lacks
but one charm to make it half divine - a friend, with
whom to whisper,
"Solitude is sweet." Certain moods |
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of mind find an indefinable pleasure in stillness, soft,
silent as the storm's sudden hush; for nature's stillness
is voiced with a
hum of harmony, the gentle murmur of |
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early morn, the evening's closing vespers, and lyre of
bird
and brooklet.
"O sacred solitude! divine
retreat! |
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Choice of the prudent! envy
of the great!
By thy pure stream, or in thy evening shade,
We court
fair wisdom, that celestial maid." |
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Theism is the belief in the personality and infinite mind
of one supreme, holy, self-existent God, who reveals Him-
self
supernaturally to His creation, and whose laws are |
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not reckoned as science. In religion, it is a belief in
one
God, or in many gods. It is opposed to atheism and
(1) In Roman mythology (one of my girlhood
studies), Pan stood |
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for "universal nature proceeding from the
divine Mind and provi-
dence, of which heaven, earth, sea, the eternal
fire, are so many mem-
bers." Pan was the god of shepherds and hunters,
leader of the |
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nymphs, president of the mountains, patron of
country life, and guar-
dian of flocks and herds. His pipe of seven reeds
denotes the celestial
harmony of the seven planets; his shepherd's crook,
that care and |
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providence by which he governs the universe;
his spotted skin, the
stars; his goat's feet, the solidity of the
earth; his man-face, the
celestial world.
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monotheism, but agrees with certain forms of pantheism
and polytheism. It is the doctrine that the universe owes |
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its origin and continuity to the reason, intellect, and will
of
a self-existent divine Being, who possesses all wisdom,
goodness,
and power, and is the creator and preserver of |
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man.
A theistic theological belief may
agree with physics and
anatomy that reason and will are properly classified
as |
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mind, located in the brain; also, that the functions of
these faculties depend on conditions of matter, or brain,
for their proper
exercise. But reason and will are human; |
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God is divine. In academics and in religion it is patent
that will is capable of use and of abuse, of right and wrong
action, while
God is incapable of evil; that brain is matter, |
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and that there are many so-called minds; that He is the
creator of man, but that man also is a creator, making
two creators; but
God is Mind and one. |
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GOD - NOT HUMAN DEVICES - THE PRESERVER
OF MAN
God, Spirit, is indeed the preserver
of man. Then, in |
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the words of the Hebrew singer, "Why art thou cast down,
O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope
thou in God: for I
shall yet praise Him, who is the health |
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of my countenance, and my God. . . . Who forgiveth
all
thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." This
being the case, what
need have we of drugs, hygiene, and |
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medical therapeutics, if these are not man's preservers?
By admitting self-evident affirmations and then contra-
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dicting them, monotheism is lost and pantheism is found
in scholastic theology. Can a single quality of God, |
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Spirit, be discovered in matter? The Scriptures plainly
declare, "The Word was God;" and "all things were
made by Him," - the Word. What, then,
can matter |
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create, or how can it exist?
JESUS' DEFINITION OF EVIL
Did God create evil? or is evil
self-existent, and so |
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possessed of the nature of God, good? Since evil is not
self-made, who or what hath made evil? Our Master
gave the proper answer
for all time to this hoary query. |
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He said of evil: "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning,
and abode not in the truth [God], because |
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here is no truth [reality] in him [evil] . When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it
[a lie]." |
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Jesus' definition of devil (evil) explains evil. It shows
that evil is both liar and lie, a delusion and illusion. There-
fore
we should neither believe the lie, nor believe that it |
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hath embodiment or power; in other words, we should
not
believe that a lie, nothing, can be something, but deny
it and prove its
falsity. After this manner our Master cast |
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out evil, healed the sick, and saved sinners. Knowing
that evil is a lie, and, as the Scripture declares, brought
sin, sickness,
and death into the world, Jesus treated the |
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lie summarily. He denied it, cast it out of mortal mind,
and thus healed sickness and sin. His treatment of evil
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and disease, Science will restore and establish, - first,
because it was more effectual than all other means; and, |
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second, because evil and disease will never disappear in
any other way.
Finally, brethren, let us continue to
denounce evil as the |
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illusive claim that God is not supreme, and continue to
fight it until it disappears, - but not as one that beateth
the mist, but
lifteth his head above it and putteth his foot |
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upon a lie.
EVIL, AS PERSONIFIED BY THE
SERPENT
Mosaic theism introduces evil, first,
in the form of a |
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talking serpent, contradicting the word of God and
thereby
obtaining social prestige, a large following, and changing
the
order and harmony of God's creation. But the higher |
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criticism is not satisfied with this theism, and asks, If
God
is infinite good, what and where is evil? And if Spirit
made all that was made, how can matter be an intelligent |
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creator or coworker with God? Again: Did one Mind,
or two
minds, enter into the Scriptural allegory, in the
colloquy between good and
evil, God and a serpent? - and |
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if two minds, what becomes of theism in Christianity? For
if God, good, is Mind, and evil also is mind, the Christian
religion has at
least two Gods. If Spirit is sovereign, how |
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can matter be force or law; and if God, good, is omnipo-
tent, what power hath evil?
It is plain that elevating evil to the
altitude of mind gives |
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it power, and that the belief in more than one spirit,
if
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Spirit, God, is infinite, breaketh the First Commandment
in the Decalogue. |
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Science shows that a plurality of minds, or intelligent
matter, signifies more than one God, and thus prevents the
demonstration
that the healing Christ, Truth, gave and |
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gives in proof of the omnipotence of one divine,
infinite
Principle.
Does not the theism or belief, that
after God, Spirit, had |
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created all things spiritually, a material creation took
place, and God, the preserver of man, declared that man
should die, lose
the character and sovereignty of Jehovah, |
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and hint the gods of paganism?
THEISTIC RELIGIONS
We know of but three theistic
religions, the Mosaic, the |
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Christian, and the Mohammedan. Does not each of these
religions mystify the absolute oneness and infinity of God,
Spirit? |
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A close study of the Old and New Testaments in con-
nection with the original text indicates, in the third chap-
ter of
Genesis, a lapse in the Mosaic religion, wherein |
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theism seems meaningless, or a vague apology for con-
tradictions. It certainly gives to matter and evil reality
and power,
intelligence and law, which implies Mind, |
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Spirit, God; and the logical sequence of this error is
idol-
atry - other gods.
Again: The hypothesis of mind in
matter, or more than |
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one Mind, lapses into evil dominating good, matter
govern-
ing Mind, and makes sin, disease, and death inevitable,
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despite of Mind, or by the consent of Mind! Next, it
follows that the disarrangement of matter causes a man to |
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be mentally deranged; and the Babylonian sun god, moon
god, and sin god find expression in sun worship, lunacy,
sin, and
mortality. |
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Does not the belief that Jesus, the man of Galilee, is
God, imply two Gods, one the divine, infinite Person, the
other a human
finite personality? Does not the belief |
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that Mary was the mother of God deny the self-existence
of God? and does not the doctrine that Mohammed is
the only prophet of God
infringe the sacredness of one |
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Christ Jesus?
SCIENTIFIC CHRISTIANITY MEANS ONE GOD
Christianity, as taught and
demonstrated in the first |
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century by our great Master, virtually annulled the so-
called laws of matter, idolatry, pantheism, and polytheism.
Christianity
then had one God and one law, namely, |
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divine Science. It said, "Call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven."
Speaking of
himself, Jesus said, "My Father is greater |
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than I." Christianity, as he taught and demonstrated it,
must ever rest on the basis of the First Commandment and
love for man. |
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The doctrines that embrace pantheism, polytheism, and
paganism are admixtures of matter and Spirit, truth and
error, sickness and
sin, life and death. They make man |
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the servant of matter, living by reason of it, suffering
be-
cause of it, and dying in consequence of it. They con-
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stantly reiterate the belief of pantheism, that mind
"sleeps
in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and wakes in man. " |
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"Infinite Spirit" means one God and His creation, and
no
reality in aught else. The term "spirits" means more
than one Spirit; - in
paganism they stand for gods; in |
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spiritualism they imply men and women; and in Christian-
ity they signify a good Spirit and an evil spirit.
Is there a religion under the sun that
hath demonstrated |
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one God and the four first rules pertaining thereto,
namely,
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me;" "Love thy
neighbor
as thyself;" "Be ye therefore perfect, even as |
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your Father which is in heaven is perfect;" "Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (John xi. 26.)
What mortal to-day is wise enough to
do himself no |
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harm, to hinder not the attainment of scientific Chris-
tianity? Whoever demonstrates the highest humanity, -
long-suffering,
self-surrender, and spiritual endeavor to |
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bless others, - ought to be aided, not hindered, in his
holy mission. I would kiss the feet of such a messenger,
for to help such a
one is to help one's self. The demon- |
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stration of Christianity blesses all mankind. It loves
one's
neighbor as one's self; it loves its enemies - and this
love
benefits its enemies (though they believe it not), and |
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rewards its possessor; for, "If ye love them which love
you,
what reward have ye?"
MAN THE TRUE IMAGE OF GOD
|
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From a material standpoint, the best of people some-
times object to the philosophy of Christian Science, on the
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ground that it takes away man's personality and makes
man
less than man. But what saith the apostle? - even |
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this: "If a man think himself to be something, when he is
nothing, he deceiveth himself." The great Nazarene
Prophet said, "By their
fruits ye shall know them :" then, |
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if the effects of Christian Science on the lives of men
be thus judged, we are sure the honest verdict of hu-
manity will attest
its uplifting power, and prevail over the |
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opposite notion that Christian Science lessens man's in-
dividuality.
The students at the Massachusetts
Metaphysical Col- |
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lege, generally, were the average man and woman. But
after graduation, the best students in the class averred
that they were
stronger and better than before it. With |
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twelve lessons or less, the present and future of those
stu-
dents had wonderfully broadened and brightened before
them, thus
proving the utility of what they had been taught. |
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Christian Scientists heal functional, organic, chronic,
and
acute diseases that M.D.'s have failed to heal; and,
better still,
they reform desperate cases of intemperance, |
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tobacco using, and immorality, which, we regret to say,
other religious teachers are unable to effect. All this is
accomplished by
the grace of God, - the effect of God |
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understood. A higher manhood is manifest, and
never
lost, in that individual who finds the highest joy, - there-
fore
no pleasure in loathsome habits or in sin, and no |
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necessity for disease and death. Whatever promotes
statuesque being, health, and holiness does not degrade
man's personality.
Sin, sickness, appetites, and passions, |
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constitute no part of man, but obscure man. Therefore it
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required the divinity of our Master to perceive the real
man, and to cast out the unreal or counterfeit. It caused |
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St. Paul to write, - "Lie not one to another, seeing that
ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put
on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after |
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the image of Him that created him."
Was our Master mistaken in
judging a cause by its
effects? Shall the opinions, systems, doctrines, and
dog-
|
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mas of men gauge the animus of man? or shall his stature
in Christ, Truth, declare him? Governed by the divine
Principle of his
being, man is perfect. When will the |
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schools allow mortals to turn from clay to Soul for the
model? The Science of being, understood and obeyed,
will demonstrate man to
be superior to the best church- |
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member or moralist on earth, who understands not this
Science. If man is spiritually fallen, it matters not what
he believes; he
is not upright, and must regain his native |
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spiritual stature in order to be in proper shape, as
certainly
as the man who falls physically needs to rise again.
Mortals, content with something less
than perfection - |
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the original standard of man - may believe that evil de-
velops good, and that whatever strips off evil's disguise be-
littles
man's personality. But God enables us to know that |
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evil is not the medium of good, and that good supreme de-
stroys all sense of evil, obliterates the lost image that
mortals are
content to call man, and demands man's un- |
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fallen spiritual perfectibility.
The grand realism that man is the
true image of God,
not fallen or inverted, is demonstrated by Christian
Science.
|
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And because Christ's dear demand, "Be ye therefore
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perfect," is valid, it will be found possible to fulfil it.
Then
also will it be learned that good is not educed from evil, |
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but comes from the rejection of evil and its modus
operandi.
Our scholarly expositor of the Scriptures, Lyman Abbott,
D.D., writes, "God, Spirit, is ever in universal nature." |
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Then, we naturally ask, how can Spirit be constantly
pass-
ing out of mankind by death - for the universe includes
man? |
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THE GRANDEUR OF CHRISTIANITY
This closing century, and its
successors, will make strong
claims on religion, and demand that the
inspired Scriptural |
| 12 |
commands be fulfilled. The altitude of Christianity open-
eth, high above the so-called laws of matter, a door that no
man can shut;
it showeth to all peoples the way of escape |
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from sin, disease, and death; it lifteth the burden of
sharp
experience from off the heart of humanity, and so lighteth
the
path that he who entereth it may run and not weary, |
| 18 |
and walk, not wait by the roadside, - yea, pass gently on
without the alterative agonies whereby the way-seeker
gains and points the
path. |
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The Science of Christianity is strictly monotheism, -
it
has ONE GOD. And this divine infinite Principle,
noumenon and phenomena, is
demonstrably the self- |
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existent Life, Truth, Love, substance, Spirit, Mind,
which
includes all that the term implies, and is all that is real and
eternal. Christian Science is irrevocable - unpierced |
| 27 |
by bold conjecture's sharp point, by bald philosophy, or
by man's inventions. It is divinely true, and every hour
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in time and in eternity will witness more steadfastly to
its
practical truth. And Science is not pantheism, but Chris- |
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tian Science.
Chief among the questions herein, and
nearest my
heart, is this: When shall Christianity be
demonstrated |
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according to Christ, in these words: "Neither shall they
say, Lo, here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of
God is within
you"? |
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EXHORTATION
Beloved brethren, the love of our
loving Lord was never
more manifest than in its stern condemnation of all
error, |
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wherever found. I counsel thee, rebuke and exhort one
another. Love all Christian churches for the gospel's
sake; and be
exceedingly glad that the churches are united |
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in purpose, if not in method, to close the war between
flesh and Spirit, and to fight the good fight till God's will
be witnessed
and done on earth as in heaven. |
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Sooner or later all shall know Him, recognize the great
truth that Spirit is infinite, and find life in Him in whom
we do "live,
and move, and have our being" - life in |
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Life, all in All. Then shall all nations, peoples, and
tongues, in the words of St Paul, have "one God and
Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in |
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you all." (Ephesians iv. 6.)
Have I wearied you with the mysticism
of opposites?
Truly there is no rest in them, and I have only
traversed |
| 27 |
my subject that you may prove for yourselves the unsub-
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| 1 |
stantial nature of whatever is unlike good, weigh a sigh,
and rise into the rest of righteousness with its triumphant |
| 3 |
train.
Once more I write, Set your affections
on things above;
love one another; commune at the table of our Lord in
one |
| 6 |
spirit; worship in spirit and in truth; and if daily
adoring,
imploring, and living the divine Life, Truth, Love, thou
shalt
partake of the bread that cometh down from heaven, |
| 9 |
drink of the cup of salvation, and be baptized in
Spirit.
PRAYER FOR COUNTRY AND CHURCH
Pray for the prosperity of our
country, and for her vic- |
| 12 |
tory under arms; that justice, mercy, and peace continue
to characterize her government, and that they shall rule all
nations. Pray
that the divine presence may still guide and |
| 15 |
bless our chief magistrate, those associated with his
execu-
tive trust, and our national judiciary; give to our congress
wisdom, and uphold our nation with the right arm of His |
| 18 |
righteousness.
In your peaceful homes remember our
brave soldiers,
whether in camp or in battle.(1) Oh, may their love of
coun- |
| 21 |
try, and their faithful service thereof, be unto them
life-
preservers! May the divine Love succor and protect
them, as at
Manila, where brave men, led by the dauntless |
| 24 |
Dewey, and shielded by the power that saved them, sailed
victoriously through the jaws of death and blotted out the
Spanish
squadron. |
| 27 |
Great occasion have we to rejoice that our nation, which
(1) This refers to the war
between United States and Spain for
the liberty of Cuba.
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| 1 |
fed her starving foe, - already murdering her peaceful
seamen and destroying millions of her money, - will be |
| 3 |
as formidable in war as she has been compassionate in
peace.
May our Father-Mother God, who in
times past hath |
| 6 |
spread for us a table in the wilderness and "in the midst
of our enemies," establish us in the most holy faith, plant
our feet
firmly on Truth, the rock of Christ, the "substance |
| 9 |
of things hoped for" - and fill us with the life and under-
standing of God, and good will towards men.
MARY BAKER EDDY |