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Page
95
CHAPTER IV - ADDRESSES
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN TREMONT TEMPLE
FROM the platform of
the Monday lectureship in |
| 3 |
Tremont Temple, on Monday, March 16, 1885,
as
will be seen by what follows, Reverend Mary Baker G.
Eddy was
presented to Mr. Cook's audience, and allowed |
| 6 |
ten minutes in which to reply to his public
letter con-
demning her doctrines; which reply was taken in full by
a
shorthand reporter who was present, and is transcribed |
| 9 |
below.
Mrs. Eddy
responding, said: -
As the time so
kindly allotted me is insufficient for |
| 12 |
even a synopsis of Christian Science, I
shall confine my-
self to questions and answers.
Am I a
spiritualist? |
| 15 |
I am not, and never was. I understand the
impossi-
bility of intercommunion between the so-called dead and
living. There have always attended my life phenomena |
| 18 |
of an uncommon order, which spiritualists
have mis-
called mediumship; but I clearly understand that no
human
agencies were employed, - that the divine Mind |
| 21 |
reveals itself to humanity through
spiritual law. And
to such as are "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
re-
demption of our body," Christian Science reveals the in-
Page
96 |
| 1 |
finitude of divinity and the way of man's
salvation from
sickness and death, as wrought out by Jesus, who robbed |
| 3 |
the grave of victory and death of its
sting. I understand
that God is an ever-present help in all times of
trouble, -
have found Him so; and would have no other gods, no |
| 6 |
remedies in drugs, no material medicine.
Do I believe in a
personal God?
I believe in God as
the Supreme Being. I know not |
| 9 |
what the person of omnipotence and
omnipresence is,
or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship
that
of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and |
| 12 |
Mother; then, as thought ascends the scale
of being to
diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the
apostle
who declared it, "God is Love," - divine Prin- |
| 15 |
ciple, - which I worship; and "after the
manner of my
fathers, so worship I God."
Do I believe in the
atonement of Christ? |
| 18 |
I do; and this atonement becomes more to me
since
it includes man's redemption from sickness as well as
from sin. I
reverence and adore Christ as never before. |
| 21 |
It brings to my sense, and to the sense of
all who en-
tertain this understanding of the Science of God, a
whole
salvation. |
| 24 |
How is the healing done in Christian
Science?
This answer includes
too much to give you any con-
clusive idea in a brief explanation. I can
name some |
| 27 |
means by which it is not done.
It is not one mind
acting upon another mind; it is
not the transference of human images of
thought to |
| 30 |
other minds; it is not supported by the
evidence before
the personal senses, - Science contradicts this
evidence;
it is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is Christ come
Page
97 |
| 1 |
to destroy the power of the flesh; it is
Truth over error;
that understood, gives man ability to rise above the
evi- |
| 3 |
dence of the senses, take hold of the
eternal energies of
Truth, and destroy mortal discord with immortal
har-
mony, - the grand verities of being. It is not one mortal |
| 6 |
thought transmitted to another's thought
from the human
mind that holds within itself all evil.
Our Master said of
one of his students, "He is a devil," |
| 9 |
and repudiated the idea of casting out
devils through
Beelzebub. Erring human mind is by no means a de-
sirable or efficacious healer. Such suppositional healing |
| 12 |
I deprecate. It is in no way allied to
divine power. All
human control is animal magnetism, more despicable
than all other methods of treating disease. |
| 15 |
Christian Science is not a remedy of faith
alone, but
combines faith with understanding, through which we
may
touch the hem of His garment; and know that om- |
| 18 |
nipotence has all power. "I am the Lord,
and there is
none else, there is no God beside me."
Is there a personal
man? |
| 21 |
The Scriptures inform us that man was made
in the
image and likeness of God. I commend the Icelandic
translation:
"He created man in the image and likeness |
| 24 |
of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind
created
He him." To my sense, we have not seen all of man;
he is more
than personal sense can cognize, who is the |
| 27 |
image and likeness of the infinite. I have
not seen a
perfect man in mind or body, - and such must be the
personality of him who is the true likeness: the lost |
| 30 |
image is not this personality, and
corporeal man is this
lost image; hence, it doth not appear what is the
real
personality of man. The only cause for making this
Page
98 |
| 1 |
question of personality a point, or of any
importance, is
that man's perfect model should be held in mind,
whereby |
| 3 |
to improve his present condition; that his
contemplation
regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sick-
ness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker.
SCIENCE AND THE SENSES
Substance of my Address at
the National Convention in Chicago,
June 13, 1888 |
| 9 |
The National Christian Scientist
Association has
brought us together to minister and to be ministered
unto; mutually to aid one another in finding ways and |
| 12 |
means for helping the whole human family;
to quicken
and extend the interest already felt in a higher mode of
medicine; to watch with eager joy the individual growth |
| 15 |
of Christian Scientists, and the progress
of our common
Cause in Chicago, - the miracle of the Occident. We
come
to strengthen and perpetuate our organizations |
| 18 |
and institutions; and to find strength in
union, - strength
to build up, through God's right hand, that pure and
undefiled religion whose Science demonstrates God and |
| 21 |
the perfectibility of man. This purpose is
immense,
and it must begin with individual growth, a "consum-
mation
devoutly to be wished." The lives of all re- |
| 24 |
formers attest the authenticity of their
mission, and call
the world to acknowledge its divine Principle. Truly
is it written: - |
| 27 |
"Thou must be true
thyself, if thou the truth would'st teach;
Thy heart must overflow, if thou
another's heart would'st
reach."
Page
99 |
| 1 |
Science is absolute and final. It is
revolutionary in
its very nature; for it upsets all that is not
upright. |
| 3 |
It annuls false evidence, and saith to the
five material
senses, "Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not;
neither can you understand." To weave one thread of |
| 6 |
Science through the looms of time, is a
miracle in itself.
The risk is stupendous. It cost Galileo, what? This
awful price: the temporary loss of his self-respect. His |
| 9 |
fear overcame his loyalty; the courage of
his convictions
fell before it. Fear is the weapon in the hands of
tyrants. |
| 12 |
Men and women of the nineteenth century,
are you
called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey
this
call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaf- |
| 15 |
fold, but take not back the words of Truth.
How many
are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand
a
long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be |
| 18 |
in the battle every day?
In no other one
thing seemed Jesus of Nazareth more
divine than in his faith in the
immortality of his words. |
| 21 |
He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my
words shall not pass away;" and they have not. The
winds of
time sweep clean the centuries, but they can |
| 24 |
never bear into oblivion his words. They
still live, and
to-morrow speak louder than to-day. They are to-day
as
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make |
| 27 |
straight God's paths; make way for health,
holiness,
universal harmony, and come up hither." The gran-
deur of
the word, the power of Truth, is again casting |
| 30 |
out evils and healing the sick; and it is
whispered, "This
is Science."
Jesus taught by the
wayside, in humble homes. He
Page
100 |
| 1 |
spake of Truth and Love to artless
listeners and dull
disciples. His immortal words were articulated in a |
| 3 |
decaying language, and then left to the
providence of
God. Christian Science was to interpret them; and
woman,
"last at the cross," was to awaken the dull senses, |
| 6 |
intoxicated with pleasure or pain, to the
infinite mean-
ing of those words.
Past, present, future, will show the word
and might of |
| 9 |
Truth - healing the sick and reclaiming the
sinner -
so long as there remains a claim of error for Truth to
deny or
to destroy. Love's labors are not lost. The |
| 12 |
five personal senses, that grasp neither
the meaning nor
the magnitude of self-abnegation, may lose sight
thereof;
but Science voices unselfish love, unfolds infinite good, |
| 15 |
leads on irresistible forces, and will
finally show the fruits
of Love. Human reason is inaccurate; and the
scope
of the senses is inadequate to grasp the word of Truth, |
| 18 |
and teach the eternal.
Science speaks when the senses are silent,
and then
the evermore of Truth is triumphant. The spiritual mon- |
| 21 |
itor understood is coincidence of the
divine with the
human, the acme of Christian Science. Pure humanity,
friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth |
| 24 |
a foretaste of heaven. They unite
terrestrial and celes-
tial joys, and crown them with blessings
infinite.
The Christian Scientist loves man more
because he |
| 27 |
loves God most. He understands this
Principle, - Love.
Who is sufficient for these things? Who remembers
that
patience, forgiveness, abiding faith, and affection, are |
| 30 |
the symptoms by which our Father indicates
the dif-
ferent stages of man's recovery from sin and his en-
trance
into Science? Who knows how the feeble lips
Page
101 |
| 1 |
are made eloquent, how hearts are inspired,
how heal-
ing becomes spontaneous, and how the divine Mind is |
| 3 |
understood and demonstrated? He alone knows
these
wonders who is departing from the thraldom of the
senses and
accepting spiritual truth, - that which blesses |
| 6 |
its adoption by the refinement of joy and
the dismissal of
sorrow.
Christian Science
and the senses are at war. It is a |
| 9 |
revolutionary struggle. We already have had
two in
this nation; and they began and ended in a contest for
the true
idea, for human liberty and rights. Now cometh |
| 12 |
a third struggle; for the freedom of
health, holiness, and
the attainment of heaven.
The scientific sense
of being which establishes har- |
| 15 |
mony, enters into no compromise with
finiteness and
feebleness. It undermines the foundations of mortality,
of physical law, breaks their chains, and sets the captive |
| 18 |
free, opening the doors for them that are
bound.
He who turns to the
body for evidence, bases his con-
clusions on mortality, on imperfection;
but Science saith |
| 21 |
to man, "God hath all-power."
The Science of
omnipotence demonstrates but one
power, and this power is good, not evil;
not matter, |
| 24 |
but Mind. This virtually destroys matter
and evil, in-
cluding sin and disease.
If God is All, and
God is good, it follows that all |
| 27 |
must be good; and no other power, law, or
intelligence
can exist. On this proof rest premise and conclusion in
Science, and the facts that disprove the evidence of the |
| 30 |
senses.
God is individual
Mind. This one Mind and His
individuality comprise the elements of all
forms and
Page
102
individualities, and
prophesy the nature and stature of
Christ, the ideal man. |
| 3 |
A corporeal God, as often defined by
lexicographers
and scholastic theologians, is only an infinite finite
being,
an unlimited man, - a theory to me inconceivable. If |
| 6 |
the unlimited and immortal Mind could
originate in a
limited body, Mind would be chained to finity, and the
infinite forever finite. |
| 9 |
In this limited and lower sense God is not
personal.
His infinity precludes the possibility of corporeal person-
ality. His being is individual, but not physical. |
| 12 |
God is like Himself and like nothing else.
He is uni-
versal and primitive. His character admits of no degrees
of
comparison. God is not part, but the whole. In His |
| 15 |
individuality I recognize the loving,
divine Father-Mother
God. Infinite personality must be incorporeal.
God's ways are not
ours. His pity is expressed in |
| 18 |
modes above the human. His chastisements
are the
manifestations of Love. The sympathy of His eternal
Mind is
fully expressed in divine Science, which blots |
| 21 |
out all our iniquities and heals all our
diseases. Human
pity often brings pain.
Science supports
harmony, denies suffering, and de- |
| 24 |
stroys it with the divinity of Truth.
Whatever seems mate-
rial, seems thus only to the material senses, and is
but the
subjective state of mortal and material thought. |
| 27 |
Science has inaugurated the irrepressible
conflict be-
tween sense and Soul. Mortal thought wars with this
sense
as one that beateth the air, but Science outmasters |
| 30 |
it, and ends the warfare. This proves
daily that "one
on God's side is a majority."
Science defines
omnipresence as universality, that which
Page
103 |
| 1 |
precludes the presence of evil. This verity
annuls the tes-
timony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil
power, |
| 3 |
and substance is perishable. Intelligent
Spirit, Soul, is
substance, far more impregnable and solid than matter;
for
one is temporal, while the other is eternal, the ultimate |
| 6 |
and predicate of being.
Mortality,
materiality, and destructive forces, such as
sin, disease, and death,
mortals virtually name substance; |
| 9 |
but these are the substance of things
not hoped for. For
lack of knowing what substance is, the senses say
vaguely:
"The substance of life is sorrow and mortality; for who |
| 12 |
knoweth the substance of good?" In Science,
form and
individuality are never lost, thoughts are outlined, indi-
vidualized ideas, which dwell forever in the divine Mind |
| 15 |
as tangible, true substance, because
eternally conscious.
Unlike mortal mind, which must be ever in bondage,
the eternal Mind is free, unlimited, and knows not the |
| 18 |
temporal.
Neither does the
temporal know the eternal. Mortal
man, as mind or matter, is neither the
pattern nor Maker |
| 21 |
of immortal man. Any inference of the
divine derived
from the human, either as mind or body, hides the actual
power, presence, and individuality of God. |
| 24 |
Jesus' personality in the flesh, so far as
material sense
could discern it, was like that of other men; but
Science
exchanges this human concept of Jesus for the divine |
| 27 |
ideal, his spiritual individuality that
reflected the Im-
manuel, or "God with us." This God was not outlined.
He was too mighty for that. He was eternal Life, infinite |
| 30 |
Truth and Love. The individuality is
embraced in Mind,
therefore is forever with the Father. Hence the
Scrip-
ture, "I am a God at hand, saith the Lord." Even while
Page
104 |
| 1 |
his personality was on earth and in
anguish, his individual
being, the Christ, was at rest in the eternal
harmony. |
| 3 |
His unseen individuality, so superior to
that which was
seen, was not subject to the temptations of the flesh,
to
laws material, to death, or the grave. Formed and gov- |
| 6 |
erned by God, this individuality was safe
in the substance
of Soul, the substance of Spirit, - yea, the substance
of
God, the one inclusive good. |
| 9 |
In Science all being is individual; for
individuality is
endless in the calculus of forms and numbers. Herein
sin is miraculous and supernatural; for it is not in the |
| 12 |
nature of God, and good is forever good.
Accord-
ing to Christian Science, perfection is normal, - not
miraculous. Clothed, and in its right Mind, man's |
| 15 |
individuality is sinless, deathless,
harmonious, eternal.
His materiality, clad in a false mentality, wages
feeble
fight with his individuality, - his physical senses with |
| 18 |
his spiritual senses. The latter move in
God's grooves
of Science: the former revolve in their own orbits, and
must stand the friction of false selfhood until self- |
| 21 |
destroyed.
In obedience to the
divine nature, man's individuality
reflects the divine law and order of
being. How shall |
| 24 |
we reach our true selves? Through Love. The
Prin-
ciple of Christian Science is Love, and its idea represents
Love.
This divine Principle and idea are demonstrated, |
| 27 |
in healing, to be God and the real man.
Who wants to be
mortal, or would not gain the true
ideal of Life and recover his own
individuality? I will |
| 30 |
love, if another hates. I will gain a
balance on the side of
good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces
of
God wherewith to overcome all error. On this rests the
Page
105 |
| 1 |
implicit faith engendered by Christian
Science, which
appeals intelligently to the facts of man's spirituality,
in- |
| 3 |
dividuality, to disdain the fears and
destroy the discords
of this material personality.
On our Master's
individual demonstrations over sin, |
| 6 |
sickness, and death, rested the anathema of
priesthood
and the senses; yet this demonstration is the foundation
of
Christian Science. His physical sufferings, which |
| 9 |
came from the testimony of the senses, were
over when
he resumed his individual spiritual being, after showing
us
the way to escape from the material body. |
| 12 |
Science would have no conflict with Life or
common
sense, if this sense were consistently sensible. Man's real
life
or existence is in harmony with Life and its glorious |
| 15 |
phenomena. It upholds being, and destroys
the too
common sense of its opposites - death, disease, and sin.
Christian Science is an everlasting victor, and vanquish- |
| 18 |
ment is unknown to the omnipresent Truth.
I must ever
follow this line of light and battle.
Christian Science is
my only ideal; and the individual |
| 21 |
and his ideal can never be severed. If
either is misunder-
stood or maligned, it eclipses the other with the
shadow
cast by this error. |
| 24 |
Truth destroys error. Nothing appears to
the physi-
cal senses but their own subjective state of thought. The
senses join issue with error, and pity what has no right |
| 27 |
either to be pitied or to exist, and what
does not exist in
Science. Destroy the thought of sin, sickness, death,
and
you destroy their existence. "Whatsoever a man soweth, |
| 30 |
that shall he also reap."
Because God is Mind,
and this Mind is good, all
is good and all is Mind. God is the sum total of
the
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106 |
| 1 |
universe. Then what and where are sin,
sickness, and
death? |
| 3 |
Christian Science and Christian Scientists
will, must,
have a history; and if I could write the history in
poor
parody on Tennyson's grand verse, it would read |
| 6 |
thus: -
Traitors to
right of them,
M. D.'s to left of them, |
| 9 |
Priestcraft in front of
them,
Volleyed and thundered!
Into the jaws of hate, |
| 12 |
Out through the door of
Love,
On to the blest above,
Marched the one hundred.
EXTRACT FROM MY
FIRST ADDRESS IN THE MOTHER CHURCH,
MAY 26, 1895
Friends and
Brethren: - Your Sunday Lesson,
com- |
| 18 |
posed of Scripture and its correlative in
"Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures," has fed you. In addi-
tion, I can only bring crumbs fallen from this table of |
| 21 |
Truth, and gather up the fragments.
It has long been a
question of earnest import, How
shall mankind worship the most adorable,
but most |
| 24 |
unadored, - and where shall begin that
praise that shall
never end? Beneath, above, beyond, methinks I hear
the soft, sweet sigh of angels answering, "So live, that |
| 27 |
your lives attest your sincerity and
resound His praise."
Music is the harmony
of being; but the music of Soul
affords the only strains that thrill the
chords of feeling |
| 30 |
and awaken the heart's harpstrings. Moved
by mind,
your many-throated organ, in imitative tones of many
Page
107 |
| 1 |
instruments, praises Him; but even the
sweetness and
beauty in and of this temple that praise Him, are
earth's |
| 3 |
accents, and must not be mistaken for the
oracles of God.
Art must not prevail over Science. Christianity is not
superfluous. Its redemptive power is seen in sore trials, |
| 6 |
self-denials, and crucifixions of the
flesh. But these come
to the rescue of mortals, to admonish them, and
plant
the feet steadfastly in Christ. As we rise above the seem- |
| 9 |
ing mists of sense, we behold more clearly
that all the
heart's homage belongs to God.
More love is the
great need of mankind. A pure af- |
| 12 |
fection, concentric, forgetting self,
forgiving wrongs and
forestalling them, should swell the lyre of human
love.
Three cardinal
points must be gained before poor |
| 15 |
humanity is regenerated and Christian
Science is dem-
onstrated: (1) A proper sense of sin; (2) repentance;
(3) the understanding of good. Evil is a negation: it |
| 18 |
never started with time, and it cannot keep
pace with
eternity. Mortals' false senses pass through three states
and
stages of human consciousness before yielding error. |
| 21 |
The deluded sense must first be shown its
falsity through
a knowledge of evil as evil, so-called. Without a sense
of one's oft-repeated violations of divine law, the in- |
| 24 |
dividual may become morally blind, and this
deplorable
mental state is moral idiocy. The lack of seeing one's
deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep, |
| 27 |
never to be repented of, is retarding, and
in certain mor-
bid instances stopping, the growth of Christian
Scientists.
Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe |
| 30 |
that it destroys them, no person is or can
be a Christian
Scientist.
Mankind thinks
either too much or too little of sin.
Page
108 |
| 1 |
The sensitive, sorrowing saint thinks too
much of it: the
sordid sinner, or the so-called Christian asleep, thinks
too |
| 3 |
little of sin.
To allow sin of any
sort is anomalous in Christian
Scientists, claiming, as they do, that good
is infinite, All. |
| 6 |
Our Master, in his definition of Satan as a
liar from the
beginning, attested the absolute powerlessness - yea,
nothingness - of evil: since a lie, being without founda- |
| 9 |
tion in fact, is merely a falsity;
spiritually, literally, it
is
nothing.
Not to know that a
false claim is false, is to be in danger |
| 12 |
of believing it; hence the utility of
knowing evil aright,
then reducing its claim to its proper denominator,
-
nobody and nothing. Sin should be conceived of only |
| 15 |
as a delusion. This true conception would
remove mortals'
ignorance and its consequences, and advance the second
stage of human consciousness, repentance. The first |
| 18 |
state, namely, the knowledge of one's self,
the proper
knowledge of evil and its subtle workings wherein evil
seems
as real as good, is indispensable; since that which |
| 21 |
is truly conceived of, we can handle; but
the misconcep-
tion of what we need to know of evil, - or the concep-
tion of it at all as something real, - costs much. Sin |
| 24 |
needs only to be known for what it is not;
then we are
its master, not servant. Remember, and act on, Jesus'
definition of sin as a lie. This cognomen makes it less |
| 27 |
dangerous; for most of us would not be seen
believing
in, or adhering to, that which we know to be untrue.
What
would be thought of a Christian Scientist who be- |
| 30 |
lieved in the use of drugs, while
declaring that they have
no intrinsic quality and that there is no matter?
What
should be thought of an individual believing in that
Page
109 |
| 1 |
which is untrue, and at the same time
declaring the unity
of Truth, and its allness? Beware of those who
mis- |
| 3 |
represent facts; or tacitly assent where
they should dis-
sent; or who take me as authority for what I
disapprove,
or mayhap never have thought of, and try to reverse, in- |
| 6 |
vert, or controvert, Truth; for this is a
sure pretext of
moral defilement.
Examine yourselves,
and see what, and how much, sin |
| 9 |
claims of you; and how much of this claim
you admit
as valid, or comply with. The knowledge of evil that
brings
on repentance is the most hopeful stage of mortal |
| 12 |
mentality. Even a mild mistake must be seen
as a mis-
take, in order to be corrected; how much more, then,
should
one's sins be seen and repented of, before they |
| 15 |
can be reduced to their native
nothingness!
Ignorance is only
blest by reason of its nothingness;
for seeing the need
of somethingness in its stead, blesses |
| 18 |
mortals. Ignorance was the first condition
of sin in the
allegory of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Their
mental state is not desirable, neither is a knowledge of |
| 21 |
sin and its consequences, repentance,
per se; but, ad-
mitting the existence of both, mortals must hasten
through
the second to the third stage, - the knowledge of good; |
| 24 |
for without this the valuable sequence of
knowledge
would be lacking, - even the power to escape from the
false
claims of sin. To understand good, one must discern |
| 27 |
the nothingness of evil, and consecrate
one's life anew.
Beloved brethren,
Christ, Truth, saith unto you, "Be
not afraid!" - fear not sin, lest
thereby it master you; |
| 30 |
but only fear to sin. Watch and
pray for self-knowledge;
since then, and thus, cometh repentance, - and
your
superiority to a delusion is won.
Page
110 |
| 1 |
Repentance is better than sacrifice. The
costly balm
of Araby, poured on our Master's feet, had not the value |
| 3 |
of a single tear.
Beloved children,
the world has need of you, - and
more as children than as men and women: it
needs your |
| 6 |
innocence, unselfishness, faithful
affection, uncontami-
nated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that
you
preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through |
| 9 |
contact with the world. What grander
ambition is there
than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and
to
know that your example, more than words, makes morals |
| 12 |
for mankind !
ADDRESS BEFORE
THE ALUMNI
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE, 1895 |
| 15 |
My Beloved Students: - Weeks have
passed into
months, and months into years, since last we met; but
time
and space, when encompassed by divine presence, |
| 18 |
do not separate us. Our hearts have kept
time together,
and our hands have wrought steadfastly at the same
object-lesson, while leagues have lain between us. |
| 21 |
We may well unite in thanksgiving for the
continued
progress and unprecedented prosperity of our Cause. It
is
already obvious that the world's acceptance and the |
| 24 |
momentum of Christian Science, increase
rapidly as
years glide on.
As Christian
Scientists, you have dared the perilous de- |
| 27 |
fense of Truth, and have succeeded. You
have learned
how fleeting is that which men call great; and how per-
manent that which God calls good.
Page
111 |
| 1 |
You have proven that the greatest piety is
scarcely
sufficient to demonstrate what you have adopted and |
| 3 |
taught; that your work, well done, would
dignify angels.
Faithfully, as
meekly, you have toiled all night; and
at break of day caught much. At
times, your net has |
| 6 |
been so full that it broke: human pride,
creeping into
its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then,
losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and pos- |
| 9 |
sibly blamed others more than yourself. But
those whom
God makes "fishers of men" will not pull for the shore;
like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets |
| 12 |
on the right side, compensate loss, and
gain a higher sense
of the true idea. Nothing is lost that God gives: had
He
filled the net, it would not have broken. |
| 15 |
Leaving the seed of Truth to its own
vitality, it propa-
gates: the tares cannot hinder it. Our Master said,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall |
| 18 |
not pass away;" and Jesus' faith in Truth
must not ex-
ceed that of Christian Scientists who prove its power to
be immortal. |
| 21 |
The Christianity that is merely of sects,
the pulpit, and
fashionable society, is brief; but the Word of God
abideth.
Plato was a pagan; but no greater difference existed be- |
| 24 |
tween his doctrines and those of Jesus,
than to-day exists
between the Catholic and Protestant sects. I love
the
orthodox church; and, in time, that church will love |
| 27 |
Christian Science. Let me specially call
the attention of
this Association to the following false beliefs
inclining
mortal mind more deviously: - |
| 30 |
The belief in anti-Christ: that somebody
in the flesh
is the son of God, or is another Christ, or is a
spiritually
adopted child, or is an incarnated babe, is the evil one-
Page
112 |
| 1 |
in other words, the one evil - disporting
itself with the
subtleties of sin ! |
| 3 |
Even honest thinkers, not knowing whence
they come,
may deem these delusions verities, before they know it,
or
really look the illusions in the face. The ages are bur- |
| 6 |
dened with material modes. Hypnotism,
microbes, X-rays,
and ex-common sense, occupy time and thought; and
error, given new opportunities, will improve them. The |
| 9 |
most just man can neither defend the
innocent nor detect
the guilty, unless he knows how to be just; and
this knowl-
edge demands our time and attention. |
| 12 |
The mental stages of crime, which seem to
belong to
the latter days, are strictly classified in metaphysics as
some of the many features and forms of what is properly |
| 15 |
denominated, in extreme cases, moral
idiocy. I visited
in his cell the assassin of President Garfield, and
found
him in the mental state called moral idiocy. He had no |
| 18 |
sense of his crime; but regarded his act as
one of simple
justice, and himself as the victim. My few words touched
him; he sank back in his chair, limp and pale; his flip- |
| 21 |
pancy had fled. The jailer thanked me, and
said, "Other
visitors have brought to him bouquets, but you have
brought what will do him good." |
| 24 |
This mental disease at first shows itself
in extreme
sensitiveness; then, in a loss of self-knowledge and of
self-condemnation, - a shocking inability to see one's |
| 27 |
own faults, but an exaggerating sense of
other people's.
Unless this mental condition be overcome, it ends in a
total loss of moral, intellectual, and spiritual discernment, |
| 30 |
and is characterized in this Scripture:
"The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God." This state of mind
is the exemplification of total depravity, and the result
Page
113 |
| 1 |
of sensuous mind in matter. Mind that is
God is not in
matter; and God's presence gives spiritual light,
wherein |
| 3 |
is no darkness.
If, as is
indisputably true, "God is Spirit," and Spirit
is our Father and Mother,
and that which it includes is |
| 6 |
all that is real and eternal, when evil
seems to predomi-
nate and divine light to be obscured, free moral
agency
is lost; and the Revelator's vision, that "no man might |
| 9 |
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or
the name of the
beast, or the number of his name," is imminent.
Whoever is mentally
manipulating human mind, and |
| 12 |
is not gaining a higher sense of Truth by
it, is losing in
the scale of moral and spiritual being, and may be
car-
ried to the depths of perdition by his own consent. He |
| 15 |
who refuses to be influenced by any but the
divine Mind,
commits his way to God, and rises superior to sugges-
tions from an evil source. Christian Science shows that |
| 18 |
there is a way of escape from the
latter-day ultimatum
of evil, through scientific truth; so that all are
without
excuse. |
| 21 |
Already I clearly recognize that mental
malpractice,
if persisted in, will end in insanity, dementia, or moral
idiocy. Thank God! this evil can be resisted by true |
| 24 |
Christianity. Divine Love is our hope,
strength, and
shield. We have nothing to fear when Love is at the
helm
of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and |
| 27 |
in heaven.
The systematized
centres of Christian Science are life-
giving fountains of truth. Our
churches, The Christian |
| 30 |
Science Journal, and the
Christian Science Quarterly,
are prolific sources of spiritual power
whose intellectual,
moral, and spiritual animus is felt throughout the
land.
Page
114 |
| 1 |
Our Publishing Society, and our Sunday
Lessons, are
of inestimable value to all seekers after Truth. The Com- |
| 3 |
mittee on Sunday School Lessons cannot give
too much
time and attention to their task, and should spare no
research
in the preparation of the Quarterly as an educa- |
| 6 |
tional branch.
The teachers of
Christian Science need to watch inces-
santly the trend of their own
thoughts; watch that these |
| 9 |
be not secretly robbed, and themselves
misguided, and
so made to misteach others. Teachers must conform
strictly to the rules of divine Science announced in the |
| 12 |
Bible and their textbook, "Science and
Health with Key
to the Scriptures." They must themselves practise, and
teach others to practise, the Hebrew Decalogue, the Ser- |
| 15 |
mon on the Mount, and the understanding
and enuncia-
tion of these according to Christ.
They must always
have on armor, and resist the foe |
| 18 |
within and without. They cannot arm too
thoroughly
against original sin, appearing in its myriad forms: pas-
sion, appetites, hatred, revenge, and all the et cetera of |
| 21 |
evil. Christian Scientists cannot watch too
sedulously,
or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fer-
vently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus |
| 24 |
doing, Scientists will silence evil
suggestions, uncover
their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon
the
lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom |
| 27 |
will test all mankind on all questions; and
then, if found
faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us
the powerlessness of evil, - even its utter nothingness. |
| 30 |
The teacher in Christian Science who does
not spe-
cially instruct his pupils how to guard against evil and
its
silent modes, and to be able, through Christ, the liv-
Page
115 |
| 1 |
ing Truth, to protect themselves therefrom,
is commit-
ting an offense against God and humanity. With Science |
| 3 |
and Health for their textbook, I am
astounded at the
apathy of some students on the subject of sin and
mental
malpractice, and their culpable ignorance of the work- |
| 6 |
ings of these - and even the teacher's own
deficiency in
this department. I can account for this state of mind in
the teacher only as the result of sin; otherwise, his own |
| 9 |
guilt as a mental malpractitioner, and
fear of being found
out.
The helpless
ignorance of the community on this sub- |
| 12 |
ject is pitiable, and plain to be seen. May
God enable
my students to take up the cross as I have done, and meet
the pressing need of a proper preparation of heart to prac- |
| 15 |
tise, teach, and live Christian Science!
Your means of
protection and defense from sin are, constant watchful-
ness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and |
| 18 |
are delivered from every claim of evil,
till you intelligently
know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has
neither
prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All- |
| 21 |
in-all.
The increasing
necessity for relying on God to de-
fend us against the subtler forms of
evil, turns us more |
| 24 |
unreservedly to Him for help, and thus
becomes a means
of grace. If one lives rightly, every effort to hurt
one
will only help that one; for God will give the ability to |
| 27 |
overcome whatever tends to impede progress.
Know
this that you cannot overcome the baneful effects of
sin on
yourself, if you in any way indulge in sin; for, |
| 30 |
sooner or later, you will fall the victim
of your own as
well as of others' sins. Using mental power in the right
direction only, doing to others as you would have them
Page
116 |
| 1 |
do to you, will overcome evil with good,
and destroy
your own sensitiveness to the power of evil. |
| 3 |
The God of all grace be with you, and save
you from
"spiritual wickedness in high places."
PLEASANT VIEW,
CONCORD, N. H., |
| 6 |
JUNE 3, 1895
ADDRESS BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST
ASSOCIATION
OF THE MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE,
IN 1893
SUBJECT: |
| 9 |
"Obedience"
My Beloved
Students: - This question, ever
nearest |
| 12 |
to my heart, is to-day uppermost: Are we
filling the
measures of life's music aright, emphasizing its grand
strains, swelling the harmony of being with tones whence |
| 15 |
come glad echoes? As crescendo and
diminuendo accent
music, so the varied strains of human chords
express
life's loss or gain, - loss of the pleasures and pains and |
| 18 |
pride of life: gain of its sweet concord,
the courage of
honest convictions, and final obedience to spiritual
law.
The ultimate of scientific research and attainment in |
| 21 |
divine Science is not an argument: it is
not merely say-
ing, but doing, the Word - demonstrating Truth - even
as the fruits of watchfulness, prayer, struggles, tears, and |
| 24 |
triumph.
Obeying the divine
Principle which you profess to un-
derstand and love, demonstrates Truth.
Never absent |
| 27 |
from your post, never off guard, never
ill-humored, never
unready to work for God, - is obedience; being
"faith-
ful over a few things." If in one instance obedience be |
| 30 |
lacking, you lose the scientific rule and
its reward: namely,
Page
117 |
| 1 |
to be made "ruler over many things." A
progressive
life is the reality of Life that unfolds its immortal Prin-
ciple. |
| 3 |
The student of Christian Science must first
separate the
tares from the wheat; discern between the thought, |
| 6 |
motive, and act superinduced by the wrong
motive or
the true - the God-given intent and volition - arrest
the
former, and obey the latter. This will place him on |
| 9 |
the safe side of practice. We always know
where to look
for the real Scientist, and always find him there. I
agree
with Rev. Dr. Talmage, that "there are wit, humor, and |
| 12 |
enduring vivacity among God's people."
Obedience is the
offspring of Love; and Love is the
Principle of unity, the basis of all
right thinking and |
| 15 |
acting; it fulfils the law. We see eye to
eye and know as we
are known, reciprocate kindness and work wisely, in
proportion as we love. |
| 18 |
It is difficult for me to carry out a
divine commission
while participating in the movements, or modus
operandi,
of other folks. To point out every step to a student
and |
| 21 |
then watch that each step be taken,
consumes time, -
and experiments ofttimes are costly. According to my
calendar, God's time and mortals' differ. The neo- |
| 24 |
phyte is inclined to be too fast or too
slow: he works
somewhat in the dark; and, sometimes out of season,
he
would replenish his lamp at the midnight hour and |
| 27 |
borrow oil of the more provident watcher.
God is the
fountain of light, and He illumines one's way when one
is
obedient. The disobedient make their moves before |
| 30 |
God makes His, or make them too late to
follow Him.
Be sure that God directs your way; then, hasten to
follow
under every circumstance.
Page
118 |
| 1 |
Human will must be subjugated. We cannot
obey
both God, good, and evil, - in other words, the ma- |
| 3 |
terial senses, false suggestions,
self-will, selfish motives,
and human policy. We shall have no faith in
evil
when faith finds a resting-place and scientific under- |
| 6 |
standing guides man. Honesty in every
condition,
under every circumstance, is the indispensable rule of
obedience. To obey the principle of mathematics ninety- |
| 9 |
nine times in one hundred and then allow
one numeral
to make incorrect your entire problem, is neither Science
nor obedience. |
| 12 |
However keenly the human affections yearn
to for-
give a mistake, and pass a friend over it smoothly, one's
sympathy can neither atone for error, advance individual |
| 15 |
growth, nor change this immutable decree of
Love: "Keep
My commandments." The guerdon of meritorious
faith or
trustworthiness rests on being willing to work |
| 18 |
alone with God and for Him, - willing to
suffer patiently
for error until all error is destroyed and His rod and
His
staff comfort you. |
| 21 |
Self-ignorance, self-will,
self-righteousness, lust, covet-
ousness, envy, revenge, are foes to grace,
peace, and
progress; they must be met manfully and overcome, |
| 24 |
or they will uproot all happiness. Be of
good cheer;
the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty
of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with |
| 27 |
you, - and obedience crowns persistent
effort with
everlasting victory. Every attempt of evil to harm good
is
futile, and ends in the fiery punishment of the |
| 30 |
evil-doer.
Jesus said, "Not
that which goeth into the mouth
defileth a man; but that which cometh out
of the mouth,
Page
119 |
| 1 |
this defileth a man." If malicious
suggestions whisper
evil through the mind's tympanum, this were no
apology |
| 3 |
for acting evilly. We are responsible for
our thoughts and
acts; and instead of aiding other people's devices by
obeying them, - and then whining over misfortune, - |
| 6 |
rise and overthrow both. If a criminal coax
the unwary
man to commit a crime, our laws punish the dupe as ac-
cessory to the fact. Each individual is responsible for |
| 9 |
himself.
Evil is impotent to
turn the righteous man from his
uprightness. The nature of the individual,
more stub- |
| 12 |
born than the circumstance, will always be
found argu-
ing for itself, - its habits, tastes, and indulgences. This
material nature strives to tip the beam against the spir- |
| 15 |
itual nature; for the flesh strives against
Spirit, - against
whatever or whoever opposes evil, - and weighs
mightily
in the scale against man's high destiny. This conclusion |
| 18 |
is not an argument either for pessimism or
for optimism,
but is a plea for free moral agency, - full exemption
from all necessity to obey a power that should be and is |
| 21 |
found powerless in Christian Science.
Insubordination to
the law of Love even in the least,
or strict obedience thereto, tests and
discriminates be- |
| 24 |
tween the real and the unreal Scientist.
Justice, a
prominent statute in the divine law, demands of all
trespassers upon the sparse individual rights which one |
| 27 |
justly reserves to one's self, - Would you
consent that
others should tear up your landmarks, manipulate your
students, nullify or reverse your rules, countermand |
| 30 |
your orders, steal your possessions, and
escape the
penalty therefor? No! "Therefore all things what-
soever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even
Page
120 |
| 1 |
so to them." The professors of Christian
Science must
take off their shoes at our altars; they must unclasp |
| 3 |
the material sense of things at the very
threshold of
Christian Science: they must obey implicitly each and
every injunction of the divine Principle of life's long |
| 6 |
problem, or repeat their work in tears. In
the words
of St. Paul, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your-
selves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye |
| 9 |
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto
righteousness?"
Beloved students,
loyal laborers are ye that have wrought |
| 12 |
valiantly, and achieved great guerdons in
the vineyard
of our Lord; but a mighty victory is yet to be won, a
great freedom for the race; and Christian success is |
| 15 |
under arms, - with armor on, not laid down.
Let us
rejoice, however, that the clarion call of peace will at
length
be heard above the din of battle, and come more |
| 18 |
sweetly to our ear than sound of vintage
bells to villagers
on the Rhine.
I recommend that
this Association hereafter meet tri- |
| 21 |
ennially: many of its members reside a long
distance from
Massachusetts, and they are members of The Mother
Church
who would love to be with you on Sunday, and |
| 24 |
once in three years is perhaps as often as
they can afford
to be away from their own fields of labor.
COMMUNION ADDRESS, JANUARY, 1896 |
| 27 |
Friends and Brethren: - The Biblical
record of the
great Nazarene, whose character we to-day commemorate,
is
scanty; but what is given, puts to flight every doubt as |
| 30 |
to the immortality of his words and works.
Though
Page
121 |
| 1 |
written in a decaying language, his words
can never pass
away: they are inscribed upon the hearts of men: they |
| 3 |
are engraved upon eternity's tablets.
Undoubtedly our
Master partook of the Jews' feast
of the Passover, and drank from their
festal wine-cup. |
| 6 |
This, however, is not the cup to which I
call your at-
tention, - even the cup of martyrdom: wherein Spirit
and
matter, good and evil, seem to grapple, and the |
| 9 |
human struggles against the divine, up to a
point of
discovery; namely, the impotence of evil, and the om-
nipotence of good, as divinely attested. Anciently, the |
| 12 |
blood of martyrs was believed to be the
seed of the Church.
Stalled theocracy would make this fatal doctrine
just
and sovereign, even a divine decree, a law of Love! That |
| 15 |
the innocent shall suffer for the guilty,
is inhuman. The
prophet declared, "Thou shalt put away the guilt of
innocent blood from Israel." This is plain: that what- |
| 18 |
ever belittles, befogs, or belies the
nature and essence of
Deity, is not divine. Who, then, shall father or
favor
this sentence passed upon innocence? thereby giving the |
| 21 |
signet of God to the arrest, trial, and
crucifixion of His
beloved Son, the righteous Nazarene, - christened by
John the Baptist, "the Lamb of God." |
| 24 |
Oh! shameless insult to divine royalty,
that drew
from the great Master this answer to the questions of the
rabbinical rabble: "If I tell you, ye will not believe; and |
| 27 |
if I also ask you, ye will not answer me,
nor let me go."
Infinitely greater
than human pity, is divine Love, -
that cannot be unmerciful. Human
tribunals, if just, |
| 30 |
borrow their sense of justice from the
divine Principle
thereof, which punishes the guilty, not the innocent.
The
Teacher of both law and gospel construed the substitution
Page
122 |
| 1 |
of a good man to suffer for evil-doers - a
crime! When
foretelling his own crucifixion, he said, "Woe unto
the |
| 3 |
world because of offenses! for it must
needs be that
offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh!" |
| 6 |
Would Jesus thus have spoken of what was
indis-
pensable for the salvation of a world of sinners, or of the
individual instrument in this holy (?) alliance for accom- |
| 9 |
plishing such a monstrous work? or have
said of him
whom God foreordained and predestined to fulfil a divine
decree, "It were better for him that a millstone were |
| 12 |
hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the
depth of the sea"?
The divine order is
the acme of mercy: it is neither |
| 15 |
questionable nor assailable: it is not evil
producing good,
nor good ultimating in evil. Such an inference were
impious. Holy Writ denounces him that declares, "Let |
| 18 |
us do evil, that good may come! whose
damnation is
just."
Good is not educed
from its opposite: and Love divine |
| 21 |
spurned, lessens not the hater's hatred nor
the criminal's
crime; nor reconciles justice to injustice; nor
substitutes
the suffering of the Godlike for the suffering due to sin. |
| 24 |
Neither spiritual bankruptcy nor a
religious chancery can
win high heaven, or the "Well done, good and
faithful
servant, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." |
| 27 |
Divine Love knows no hate; for hate, or the
hater, is
nothing: God never made it, and He made all that was
made.
The hater's pleasures are unreal; his sufferings, |
| 30 |
self-imposed; his existence is a parody,
and he ends -
with suicide.
The murder of the
just Nazarite was incited by the
Page
123 |
| 1 |
same spirit that in our time massacres our
missionaries,
butchers the helpless Armenians, slaughters innocents. |
| 3 |
Evil was, and is, the illusion of breaking
the First Com-
mandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me:"
it
is either idolizing something and somebody, or hating |
| 6 |
them: it is the spirit of idolatry, envy,
jealousy, covet-
ousness, superstition, lust, hypocrisy,
witchcraft.
That man can break
the forever-law of infinite Love, |
| 9 |
was, and is, the serpent's biggest lie! and
ultimates in
a religion of pagan priests bloated with crime; a religion
that demands human victims to be sacrificed to human |
| 12 |
passions and human gods, or tortured to
appease the
anger of a so-called god or a miscalled man or woman !
The
Assyrian Merodach, or the god of sin, was the "lucky |
| 15 |
god;" and the Babylonian Yawa, or Jehovah,
was the
Jewish tribal deity. The Christian's God is neither, and
is too pure to behold iniquity. |
| 18 |
Divine Science has rolled away the stone
from the sepul-
chre of our Lord; and there has risen to the awakened
thought the majestic atonement of divine Love. The |
| 21 |
at one ment with Christ has appeared - not
through
vicarious suffering, whereby the just obtain a pardon for
the
unjust, - but through the eternal law of justice; |
| 24 |
wherein sinners suffer for their own sins,
repent, forsake
sin, love God, and keep His commandments, thence to
receive the reward of righteousness: salvation from sin, |
| 27 |
not through the death of a man, but
through a divine Life,
which is our Redeemer.
Holy Writ declares
that God is Love, is Spirit; hence |
| 30 |
it follows that those who worship Him,
must worship
Him spiritually, - far apart from physical sensation
such
as attends eating and drinking corporeally. It is
Page
124 |
| 1 |
plain that aught unspiritual, intervening
between God
and man, would tend to disturb the divine order, and |
| 3 |
countermand the Scripture that those who
worship the
Father must worship Him in spirit. It is also plain,
that
we should not seek and cannot find God in mat- |
| 6 |
ter, or through material methods; neither
do we love
and obey Him by means of matter, or the flesh, - which
warreth against Spirit, and will not be reconciled |
| 9 |
thereto.
We turn, with
sickened sense, from a pagan Jew's
or Moslem's misconception of Deity, for
peace; and find |
| 12 |
rest in the spiritual ideal, or Christ. For
"who is so
great a God as our God!" unchangeable, all-wise, all-
just,
all-merciful; the ever-loving, ever-living Life, Truth, |
| 15 |
Love: comforting such as mourn, opening the
prison
doors to the captive, marking the unwinged bird, pitying
with
more than a father's pity; healing the sick, cleansing |
| 18 |
the leper, raising the dead, saving
sinners. As we think
thereon, man's true sense is filled with peace, and
power;
and we say, It is well that Christian Science has taken |
| 21 |
expressive silence wherein to muse His
praise, to kiss the
feet of Jesus, adore the white Christ, and stretch out
our
arms to God. |
| 24 |
The last act of the tragedy on Calvary rent
the veil
of matter, and unveiled Love's great legacy to mortals:
Love forgiving its enemies. This grand act crowned |
| 27 |
and still crowns Christianity: it manumits
mortals; it
translates love; it gives to suffering, inspiration; to
patience, experience; to experience, hope; to hope, faith; |
| 30 |
to faith, understanding; and to
understanding, Love tri-
umphant!
In proportion to a
man's spiritual progress, he will
Page
125 |
| 1 |
indeed drink of our Master's cup, and be
baptized with
his baptism ! be purified as by fire, - the fires of
suffering; |
| 3 |
then hath he part in Love's atonement, for
"whom the
Lord loveth He chasteneth." Then shall he also reign
with
him: he shall rise to know that there is no sin, |
| 6 |
that there is no suffering; since all that
is real is right.
This knowledge enables him to overcome the
world, the
flesh, and all evil, to have dominion over his own sinful |
| 9 |
sense and self. Then shall he drink anew
Christ's cup,
in the kingdom of God - the reign of righteousness -
within him; he shall sit down at the Father's right hand: |
| 12 |
sit down; not stand waiting and
weary; but rest on the
bosom of God; rest, in the understanding of divine
Love
that passeth all understanding; rest, in that which "to |
| 15 |
know aright is Life eternal," and whom,
not having seen,
we love.
Then shall he press
on to Life's long lesson, the eternal |
| 18 |
lore of Love; and learn forever the
infinite meanings of
these short sentences: "God is Love;" and, All that
is
real is divine, for God is All-in-all.
MESSAGE TO THE ANNUAL MEETING
OF
THE MOTHER CHURCH, BOSTON, 1896
Beloved Brethren, Children, and
Grandchildren: - |
| 24 |
Apart from the common walks of mankind,
revolving
oft the hitherto untouched problems of being, and
oftener,
perhaps, the controversies which baffle it, |
| 27 |
Mother, thought-tired, turns to-day to you;
turns to
her dear church, to tell the towers thereof the remarkable
achievements that have been ours within the past few |
| 30 |
years: the rapid transit from halls to
churches, from un-
Page
126 |
| 1 |
settled questions to permanence, from
danger to escape,
from fragmentary discourses to one eternal sermon;
yea, |
| 3 |
from darkness to daylight, in physics and
metaphysics.
Truly, I half wish
for society again; for once, at least,
to hear the soft music of our
Sabbath chimes saluting the |
| 6 |
ear in tones that leap for joy, with love
for God and
man.
Who hath not learned
that when alone he has his |
| 9 |
own thoughts to guard, and when struggling
with man-
kind his temper, and in society his tongue? We also
have
gained higher heights; have learned that trials lift |
| 12 |
us to that dignity of Soul which sustains
us, and finally
conquers them; and that the ordeal refines while it
chastens. |
| 15 |
Perhaps our church is not yet quite
sensible of what
we owe to the strength, meekness, honesty, and obedi-
ence of the Christian Science Board of Directors; to |
| 18 |
the able editors of The Christian
Science Journal, and
to our efficient Publishing Society.
No reproof is so
potent as the silent lesson of a good |
| 21 |
example. Works, more than words, should
characterize
Christian Scientists. Most people condemn evil-doing,
evil-speaking; yet nothing circulates so rapidly: even gold |
| 24 |
is less current. Christian Scientists have
a strong race to
run, and foes in ambush; but bear in mind that, in the
long race, honesty always defeats dishonesty. |
| 27 |
God hath indeed smiled on my church, -
this
daughter of Zion: she sitteth in high places; and to de-
ride her
is to incur the penalty of which the Hebrew |
| 30 |
bard spake after this manner: "He that
sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in
derision."
Page
127 |
| 1 |
Hitherto, I have observed that in
proportion as this
church has smiled on His "little ones," He has
blessed |
| 3 |
her. Throughout my entire connection with
The Mother
Church, I have seen, that in the ratio of her love for
others, hath His love been bestowed upon her; watering |
| 6 |
her waste places, and enlarging her
borders.
One thing I have
greatly desired, and again earnestly
request, namely, that Christian
Scientists, here and |
| 9 |
elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not
verbally, nor
on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importu-
nately. When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father- |
| 12 |
Mother God for bread, it is not given a
stone, - but
more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble
and
trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the |
| 15 |
bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will
be conformed to
a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will
flow
into it the "river of His pleasure," the tributary of divine |
| 18 |
Love, and great growth in Christian
Science will follow, -
even that joy which finds one's own in another's
good.
To love, and to be
loved, one must do good to others. |
| 21 |
The inevitable condition whereby to become
blessed, is to
bless others: but here, you must so know yourself, under
God's direction, that you will do His will even though |
| 24 |
your pearls be downtrodden. Ofttimes the
rod is His
means of grace; then it must be ours, - we cannot avoid
wielding it if we reflect Him. |
| 27 |
Wise sayings and garrulous talk may fall to
the ground,
rather than on the ear or heart of the hearer; but a tender
sentiment felt, or a kind word spoken, at the right moment, |
| 30 |
is never wasted. Mortal mind presents
phases of charac-
ter which need close attention and examination. The
human heart, like a feather bed, needs often to be stirred,
Page
128 |
| 1 |
sometimes roughly, and given a variety of
turns, else it
grows hard and uncomfortable whereon to repose. |
| 3 |
The lessons of this so-called life in
matter are too vast
and varied to learn or to teach briefly; and
especially
within the limits of a letter. Therefore I close here, |
| 6 |
with the apostle's injunction: "Finally,
brethren, what-
soever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, |
| 9 |
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye |
| 12 |
have both learned, and received, and
heard, and seen in
me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."
With love, Mother,
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
Page
129
CHAPTER V - LETTERS
TO
THE MOTHER CHURCH
MY BELOVED BRETHREN:
- If a member of the church |
| 3 |
is inclined to be uncharitable, or to
condemn his
brother without cause, let him put his finger to his lips,
and forgive others as he would be forgiven. One's first |
| 6 |
lesson is to learn one's self; having done
this, one will
naturally, through grace from God, forgive his brother
and
love his enemies. To avenge an imaginary or an actual |
| 9 |
wrong, is suicidal. The law of our God and
the rule of
our church is to tell thy brother his fault and thereby
help
him. If this rule fails in effect, then take the next Scrip- |
| 12 |
tural step: drop this member's name from
the church, and
thereafter "let the dead bury their dead," - let silence
prevail over his remains. |
| 15 |
If a man is jealous, envious, or
revengeful, he will seek
occasion to balloon an atom of another man's
indis-
cretion, inflate it, and send it into the atmosphere of mortal |
| 18 |
mind - for other green eyes to gaze on: he
will always
find somebody in his way, and try to push him aside;
will
see somebody's faults to magnify under the lens that |
| 21 |
he never turns on himself.
What have been your
Leader's precepts and example!
Were they to save the sinner, and to spare
his exposure
so long as a hope
remained of thereby benefiting him?
Has her life exemplified
long-suffering, meekness, charity, |
| 3 |
purity?
She readily leaves the answer to those who
know
her. |
| 6 |
Do we yet understand how much better it is
to be
wronged, than to commit wrong? What do we find in
the Bible, and
in the Christian Science textbook, on this |
| 9 |
subject? Does not the latter instruct you
that looking
continually for a fault in somebody else, talking about
it,
thinking it over, and how to meet it, - "rolling sin as a |
| 12 |
sweet morsel under your tongue," - has the
same power
to make you a sinner that acting thus regarding disease
has
to make a man sick? Note the Scripture on this |
| 15 |
subject: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the
Lord."
The Christian Science Board of Directors
has borne |
| 18 |
the burden in the heat of the day, and it
ought not to
be expected that they could have accomplished, without
one
single mistake, such Herculean tasks as they have |
| 21 |
accomplished. He who judges others should
know well
whereof he speaks. Where the motive to do right exists,
and
the majority of one's acts are right, we should avoid |
| 24 |
referring to past mistakes. The greatest
sin that one can
commit against himself is to wrong one of God's
"little
ones." |
| 27 |
Know ye not that he who exercises the
largest charity,
and waits on God, renews his strength, and is exalted?
Love is not puffed up; and the meek and loving, God |
| 30 |
anoints and appoints to lead the line of
mankind's tri-
umphal march out of the wilderness, out of darkness
into
light.
Page
131 |
| 1 |
Whoever challenges the errors of others and
cherishes
his own, can neither help himself nor others; he will be |
| 3 |
called a moral nuisance, a fungus, a
microbe, a mouse
gnawing at the vitals of humanity. The darkness in
one's self must first be cast out, in order rightly to discern |
| 6 |
darkness or to reflect light.
If the man of more
than average avoirdupois kneels on
a stool in church, let the leaner sort
console this brother's |
| 9 |
necessity by doing likewise. Christian
Scientists preserve
unity, and so shadow forth the substance of our
sublime
faith, and the evidence of its being built upon the rock of |
| 12 |
divine oneness, - one faith, one God, one
baptism.
If our Board of
Directors is prepared to itemize a report
of the first financial year since
the erection of the edifice of |
| 15 |
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, let
it do so; other-
wise, I recommend that you waive the church By-law
relating to finances this year of your firstfruits. This |
| 18 |
Board did not act under that By-law; it was
not in ex-
istence all of the year. It is but just to consider the great
struggles with perplexities and difficulties which the |
| 21 |
Directors encountered in Anno Domini 1894,
and which
they have overcome. May God give unto us all that lov-
ing
sense of gratitude which delights in the opportunity to |
| 24 |
cancel accounts. I, for one, would be
pleased to have the
Christian Science Board of Directors itemize a bill of
this
church's gifts to Mother; and then to have them let her |
| 27 |
state the value thereof, if, indeed, it
could be estimated.
After this financial
year, when you call on the members
of the Christian Science Board of
Directors to itemize or |
| 30 |
audit their accounts, these will be found
already itemized,
and last year's records immortalized, with perils past
and
victories won.
Page
132 |
| 1 |
A motion was made, and a vote passed, at
your last
meeting, on a subject the substance whereof you had al- |
| 3 |
ready accepted as a By-law. But, I shall
take this as a
favorable omen, a fair token that heavy lids are
opening, |
| 6 |
even wider than before, to the light of
Love - and By-laws.
Affectionately
yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY
TO
- , ON PRAYER |
| 9 |
MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE,
571 COLUMBUS
AVENUE,
BOSTON, March 21,
1885 |
| 12 |
Dear Sir: - In your communication to
Zion's Herald,
March 18, under the heading, "Prayer and Healing;
sup-
plemental," you state that you would "like to hear from |
| 15 |
Dr. Cullis; and, by the way, from Mrs.
Eddy, also."
Because of the great demand upon my time,
consisting
in part of dictating answers through my secretary, or
an- |
| 18 |
swering personally manifold letters and
inquiries from all
quarters, - having charge of a church, editing a
maga-
zine, teaching Christian Science, receiving calls, etc., - I |
| 21 |
find it inconvenient to accept your
invitation to answer
you through the medium of a newspaper; but, for
infor-
mation as to what I believe and teach, would refer you to |
| 24 |
the Holy Scriptures, to my various
publications, and to my
Christian students.
It was with a thrill of pleasure that I
read in your arti- |
| 27 |
cle these words: "If we have in any way
misrepresented
either Dr. Cullis or Mrs. Eddy, we are sorry." Even the
desire to be just is a vital spark of Christianity. And those |
| 30 |
words inspire me with the hope that you
wish to be just.
Page
133 |
| 1 |
If this is so, you will not delay
corrections of the statement
you make at the close of your article, when
referring to |
| 3 |
me, "the pantheistic and prayerless Mrs.
Eddy, of Boston."
It would be
difficult to build a sentence of so few words
conveying ideas more opposite
to the fact. |
| 6 |
In refutation of your statement that I am
a pantheist,
I request you to read my sermons and publications.
As to being
"prayerless," I call your attention and |
| 9 |
deep consideration to the following
Scripture, that voices
my impressions of prayer: -
"When thou prayest,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites |
| 12 |
are: for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and
in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of
men.
. . . But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, |
| 15 |
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to
thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly." |
| 18 |
I hope I am not wrong in literally
following the dictum
of Jesus; and, were it not because of my desire to
set
you right on this question, I should feel a delicacy in mak- |
| 21 |
ing the following statement: -
Three times a day, I
retire to seek the divine blessing
on the sick and sorrowing, with my face
toward the Jeru- |
| 24 |
salem of Love and Truth, in silent prayer
to the Father
which "seeth in secret," and with childlike confidence
that
He will reward "openly." In the midst of depressing care |
| 27 |
and labor I turn constantly to divine Love
for guidance,
and find rest. It affords me great joy to be able to attest
to
the truth of Jesus' words. Love makes all burdens light, |
| 30 |
it giveth a peace that passeth
understanding, and with
"signs following." As to the peace, it is
unutterable; as
to "signs," behold the sick who are healed, the sorrowful
Page
134 |
| 1 |
who are made hopeful, and the sinful and
ignorant who
have become "wise unto salvation"! |
| 3 |
And now, dear sir, as you have expressed
contrition for
an act which you have immediately repeated, you are
placed in this dilemma: To reiterate such words of |
| 6 |
apology as characterize justice and
Christianity.
Very truly,
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
TO
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST ASSOCIATION
Beloved Students:
- Meet together and meet en masse,
in 1888, at the annual session of the National Christian |
| 12 |
Scientist Association. Be "of one mind,"
"in one place,"
and God will pour you out a blessing such as you never
before received. He who dwelleth in eternal light is |
| 15 |
bigger than the shadow, and will guard and
guide His
own.
Let no consideration
bend or outweigh your purpose |
| 18 |
to be in Chicago on June 13. Firm in your
allegiance to
the reign of universal harmony, go to its rescue. In
God's
hour, the powers of earth and hell are proven powerless. |
| 21 |
The reeling ranks of materia
medica, with poisons, nos-
trums, and knives, are impotent when at
war with the
omnipotent! Like Elisha, look up, and behold: "They |
| 24 |
that be with us, are more than they that
be with them."
Error is only
fermenting, and its heat hissing at the
"still, small voice" of Truth; but
it can neither silence |
| 27 |
nor disarm God's voice. Spiritual
wickedness is stand-
ing in high places; but, blind to its own fate, it
will tumble
into the bottomless.
Page
135 |
| 1 |
Christians, and all true Scientists,
marching under what-
soever ensign, come into the ranks ! Again I repeat,
per- |
| 3 |
son is not in the question of Christian
Science. Principle,
instead of person, is next to our hearts, on our lips,
and
in our lives. Our watchwords are Truth and Love; and |
| 6 |
if we abide in these, they will abound in
us, and we shall
be one in heart,-one in motive, purpose, pursuit.
Abid-
ing in Love, not one of you can be separated from me; and |
| 9 |
the sweet sense of journeying on together,
doing unto
others as ye would they should do unto you, conquers all
opposition, surmounts all obstacles, and secures success. |
| 12 |
If you falter, or fail to fulfil this
Golden Rule, though you
should build to the heavens, you would build on
sand.
Is it a cross to
give one week's time and expense to the |
| 15 |
jubilee of Spirit? Then take this cross,
and the crown
with it. Sending forth currents of Truth, God's methods
and means of healing, and so spreading the gospel of |
| 18 |
Love, is in itself an eternity of joy that
outweighs an
hour. Add one more noble offering to the unity of good,
and so cement the bonds of Love. |
| 21 |
With love,
MARY BAKER
EDDY |
