|
Page
176
TO
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, WILMINGTON, N. C.
|
| 3 |
IN
APPRECIATION OF A GIFT OF FIFTY DOLLARS IN GOLD TOWARDS
THE
CONCORD (N. H.) STREET FUND
My Beloved
Brethren: - Long ago you of the
dear |
| 6 |
South paved the way to my forever
gratitude, and now
illustrate the past by your present love. God grant
that such great goodness, pointing the path to heaven |
| 9 |
within you, hallow your Palmetto home with
palms of
victory and songs of glory.
Page
177
CHAPTER VIII - DEDICATORY MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
of CHICAGO, ILL.
|
| 3 |
BELOVED BRETHREN: - Most happily would I
com-
ply with your cordial invitation and be with you on
so
interesting an occasion as the dedication of First |
| 6 |
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Chicago.
But daily duties
attention elsewhere, and I am glad to say that
there
seems to be no special need of my personal pres- |
| 9 |
ence at your religious jubilee. I am quite
able to take
the trip to your city, and if wisdom lengthens my sum
of
years to fourscore (already imputed to me), I shall |
| 12 |
then be even younger and nearer the eternal
meridian
than now, for the true knowledge and proof of life is in
putting off the limitations and putting on the possibilities |
| 15 |
and permanence of Life.
In your renowned city, the genesis of
Christian Science
was allied to that olden axiom: "The blood of the
martyrs |
| 18 |
is the seed of the Church;" but succeeding
years show in
livid lines that the great Shepherd has nurtured and
nourished this church as a fatling of the flock. To-day |
| 21 |
the glory of His presence rests upon it,
the joy of many
generations awaits it, and this prophecy of Isaiah is
fulfilled among you: "I will direct their work in truth, |
| 24 |
and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them."
Page
178
|
| 1 |
Your Bible and your textbook, pastor and
ethical
tenets, do not mislead the seeker after Truth. These |
| 3 |
unpretentious preachers cloud not the
spiritual meaning
of Holy Writ by material interpretations, nor lose
the
invincible process and purity of Christianity whereby |
| 6 |
the sick are healed and sinners saved. The
Science of
Christianity is not generally understood, but it hastens
hourly to this end. This Science is the essence of religion, |
| 9 |
distilled in the laboratory of infinite
Love and prepared
for all peoples. And because Science is naturally
divine,
is this natural Science less profitable or scientific than |
| 12 |
"counting the legs of insects"? The
Scripture declares
that God is All. Then all is Spirit and spiritual.
The
true sense of life is lost to those who regard being |
| 15 |
as material. The Scripture pronounces all
that God
made "good;" therefore if evil exists, it exists without
God.
But this is impossible in reality, for He made |
| 18 |
all "that was made." Hence the inevitable
revelation
of Christian Science - that evil is unreal; and this is
the
best of it.
|
| 21 |
On April 15, 1891, the Christian Science
textbook lay
on a table in a burning building. A Christian Scientist
entered the house through a window and snatched this |
| 24 |
book from the flames. Instantly the table
sank a charred
mass. The covers of the book were burned up, but not
one
word in the book was effaced. If the world were in |
| 27 |
ashes, the contents of "Science and Health
with Key to
the Scriptures" would remain immortal.
It is said that the
nearest approach to the sayings of |
| 30 |
the great Master is the Logia of
Papias, written in A.D.
145, and that all else reported as his sayings are
transla-
tions. The ancient Logia, or imputed sayings of Jesus
Page
179
|
| 1 |
by Papias, are undoubtedly the beginning of
the gospel
writings. The synoptic Scriptures, as set forth in the |
| 3 |
first and second chapters of Genesis, were
in two dis-
tinct manuscripts. The first gave an account of the
spiritual creation, and the second was an opposite story, |
| 6 |
or allegory, of a material universe and man
made of
dust. In this allegorical document the power and pre-
rogative
of Spirit are submerged in matter. In other |
| 9 |
words, soul enters non-intelligent dust and
man becomes
both good and evil, both mind and matter, mortal and
immortal, - all of which divine Science shows to be an |
| 12 |
impossibility.
The Old and the New Testaments contain
self-evident
truths that cannot be lost, but being translations, the
|
| 15 |
Scriptures are criticized. Some dangerous
skepticism ex-
ists as to the verification of our Master's sayings. But
Christians and Christian Scientists know that if the Old |
| 18 |
Testament and gospel narratives had never
been written,
the nature of Christianity, as depicted in the life of
our
Lord, and the truth in the Scriptures, are sufficient to au- |
| 21 |
thenticate Christ's Christianity as the
perfect ideal. The
character of the Nazarene Prophet illustrates the
Prin-
ciple and practice of a true divinity and humanity. The |
| 24 |
different renderings or translations of
Scripture in no
wise affect Christian Science. Christianity and
Science,
being contingent on nothing written and based on the |
| 27 |
divine Principle of being, must be, are,
irrefutable and
eternal.
We are indeed privileged in having the
untranslated |
| 30 |
revelations of Christian Science. They
afford such expo-
sitions of the therapeutics, ethics, and Christianity
of
Christ as make even God demonstrable, the divine Love
Page
180
practical, and so furnish rules whereby
man can prove
God's love, healing the sick and the sinner.
|
| 3 |
Whosoever understands Christian Science
knows beyond
a doubt that its life-giving truths were preached and
practised in the first century by him who proved their |
| 6 |
practicality, who uttered Christ's Sermon
on the Mount,
who taught his disciples the healing Christianity which
applies to all ages, and who dated time. A spiritual |
| 9 |
understanding of the Scriptures restores
their origi-
nal tongue in the language of Spirit, that primordial
standard of Truth.
|
| 12 |
Christian Science contains no element
whatever of hyp-
notism or animal magnetism. It appeals alone to God,
to
the divine Principle, or Life, Truth, and Love, to whom |
| 15 |
all things are possible; and this Principle
heals sin, sick-
ness, disease, and death. Christian Science meets
error
with Truth, death with Life, hate with Love, and thus, |
| 18 |
and only thus, does it overcome evil and
heal disease.
The obstinate sinner, however, refuses to see this grand
verity or to acknowledge it, for he knows not that in justice, |
| 21 |
as well as in mercy, God is Love.
In our struggles with sin and sinners,
when we drop
compliance with their desires, insist on what we know is
|
| 24 |
right, and act accordingly, the disguised
or the self-
satisfied mind, not ready to be uplifted, rebels, miscon-
strues our best motives, and calls them unkind. But this |
| 27 |
is the cross. Take it up, - it wins the
crown; and in
the spirit of our great Exemplar pray: "Father, forgive
them; for they know not what they do."
|
| 30 |
No warfare exists between divine theology
and Christian
Science, for the latter solves the whence and why of the
cosmos and defines noumenon and phenomena spiritually,
Page
181
|
| 1 |
not materially. The specific quest of
Christian Science is
to settle all points beyond cavil, on the Biblical
basis that |
| 3 |
God is All-in-all; whereas philosophy and
so-called natural
science, dealing with human hypotheses, or material
cause
and effect, are aided only at long intervals with elementary |
| 6 |
truths, and ultimate in unsolved problems
and outgrown,
proofless positions.
Progress is
spiritual. Progress is the maturing concep- |
| 9 |
tion of divine Love; it demonstrates the
scientific, sinless
life of man and mortal's painless departure from
matter
to Spirit, not through death, but through the true idea of |
| 12 |
Life, - and Life not in matter but in
Mind.
The Puritans
possessed the motive of true religion,
which, demonstrated on the Golden
Rule, would have |
| 15 |
solved ere this the problem of religious
liberty and human
rights. It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished"
that all nations shall speedily learn and practise the |
| 18 |
intermediate line of justice between the
classes and masses
of mankind, and thus exemplify in all things the
universal
equity of Christianity.
|
| 21 |
Thirty years ago (1866) Christian Science
was discovered
in America. Within those years it is estimated that
Chicago has gained from a population of 238,000 to the |
| 24 |
number of 1,650,000 inhabitants.
The statistics of
mortality show that thirty years ago
the death-rate was at its maximum.
Since that time it |
| 27 |
has steadily decreased. It is authentically
said that one
expositor of Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867
for
the return of Christ - the return of the spiritual idea to |
| 30 |
the material earth or antipode of heaven.
It is a marked
coincidence that those dates were the first two years of
my discovery of Christian Science.
Page
182
Thirty years ago
Chicago had few Congregational
churches. To-day it is said to have a
majority of these |
| 3 |
churches over any other city in the United
States. Thirty
years ago at my request I received from the Congrega-
tional Church a letter of dismissal and recommendation |
| 6 |
to evangelical churches - thenceforth to
exemplify my
early love for this church and a membership of thirty
years by establishing a new-old church, the foundations |
| 9 |
of which are the same, even Christ, Truth,
as the chief
corner-stone.
In 1884, I taught a
class in Christian Science and |
| 12 |
formed a Christian Scientist Association in
Chicago.
From this small sowing of the seed of Truth, which, when
sown,
seemed the least among seeds, sprang immortal |
| 15 |
fruits through God's blessing and the
faithful labor of
loyal students, - the healing of the sick, the
reforming
of the sinner, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, with |
| 18 |
its large membership and majestic
cathedral.
Humbly, gratefully,
trustingly, I dedicate this beauti-
ful house of worship to the God of
Israel, the divine |
| 21 |
Love that reigns above the shadow, that
launched the
earth in its orbit, that created and governs the universe
-
guarding, guiding, giving grace, health, and immortality |
| 24 |
to man.
May the wanderer in
the wilderness of mortal beliefs
and fears turn hither with satisfied hope.
May the birds |
| 27 |
of passage rest their weary wings amid the
fair foliage of
this vine of His husbanding, find shelter from the
storm
and a covert from the tempest. May this beloved |
| 30 |
church adhere to its tenets, abound in the
righteousness
of Love, honor the name of Christian Science, prove the
practicality of perfection, and press on to the infinite
Page
183
|
| 1 |
uses of Christ's creed, namely, - "Thou
shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, |
| 3 |
and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind; and
thy neighbor as thyself." Thus may First Church of
Christ,
Scientist, in this great city of Chicago, verify what |
| 6 |
John Robinson wrote in 1620 to our Pilgrim
Fathers:
"When Christ reigns, and not till then, will the world
have
rest."
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
LONDON, ENGLAND
Beloved Brethren across the Sea: -
To-day a nation is |
| 12 |
born. Spiritual apprehension unfolds,
transfigures, heals.
With you be there no more sea, no ebbing faith, no
night.
Love be thy light upon the mountain of Israel. God |
| 15 |
will multiply thee.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
|
| 18 |
Beloved Brethren: - I rejoice with
you; the day has
come when the forest becomes a fruitful field, and the
deaf
hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind see |
| 21 |
out of obscurity.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
DETROIT, MICH.
|
| 24 |
Beloved Students and Church: -
Thanks for invitation
to your dedication. Not afar off I am blending
with
thine my prayer and rejoicing. God is with thee. "Arise, |
| 27 |
shine; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee."
Page
184
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
TORONTO, CANADA
|
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - Have just
received your des-
patch. Since the world was, men have not heard with
the ear, neither hath the eye seen, what God hath prepared |
| 6 |
for them that wait upon Him and work
righteousness.
WHITE MOUNTAIN CHURCH
My Beloved Brethren: - To-day I am
privileged to |
| 9 |
congratulate the Christian Scientists of my
native State
upon having built First Church of Christ, Scientist, at
the the Mountains. Your kind card, inviting me to |
| 12 |
be present at at dedication, came when I
was so occu-
pied that I omitted to wire an acknowledgment thereof
and
to return my cordial thanks at an earlier date. The |
| 15 |
beautiful birch bark on which it was
written pleased me;
it was so characteristic of our Granite State, and
I
treasure it next to your compliments. That rustic scroll |
| 18 |
brought back to me the odor of my
childhood, a love
which stays the shadows of years. God grant that this
little church shall prove a historic gem on the glowing |
| 21 |
records of Christianity, and lay upon its
altars a sacrifice
and service acceptable in God's sight.
Your rural chapel is a social success
quite sacred in its |
| 24 |
results. The prosperity of Zion is very
precious in the
sight of divine Love, holding unwearied watch over a
world. Isaiah said: "How beautiful upon the mountains |
| 27 |
are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, . . . that
saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" Surely, the
Word
that is God must at some time find utterance and accept-
Page
185
|
| 1 |
ance throughout the earth, for he that
soweth shall reap.
To such as have waited patiently for the appearing
of |
| 3 |
Truth, the day dawns and the harvest bells
are ringing.
"Let us, then, be up
and doing,
With a heart for any
fate; |
| 6 |
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and
to wait."
The peace of Love is
published, and the sword of the |
| 9 |
Spirit is drawn; nor will it be sheathed
till Truth shall
reign triumphant over all the earth. Truth, Life, and
Love are formidable, wherever thought, felt, spoken, or |
| 12 |
written, - in the pulpit, in the
court-room, by the way-
side, or in our homes. They are the victors never
to be
vanquished. Love is the generic term for God. Love |
| 15 |
formed this trinity, Truth, Life, Love, the
trinity no man
can sunder. Life is the spontaneity of Love,
inseparable
from Love, and Life is the "Lamb slain from the foun- |
| 18 |
dation of the world," - even that which
"was dead, and
is alive again; and was lost, and is found;" for Life is
Christ, and Christ, as aforetime, heals the sick, saves |
| 21 |
sinners, and destroys the last enemy,
death.
In 1888 I visited
these mountains and spoke to an
attentive audience collected in the hall at
the Fabyan |
| 24 |
House. Then and there I foresaw this hour,
and spoke
of the little church to be in the midst of the mountains,
closing my remarks with the words of Mrs. Hemans: -
|
| 27 |
For the strength of the hills, we bless
Thee,
Our God, our
fathers' God!
The sons and
daughters of the Granite State are rich in |
| 30 |
signs and symbols, sermons in stones,
refuge in mountains,
Page
186
|
| 1 |
and good universal. The rocks, rills,
mountains, meadows,
fountains, and forests of our native State should
be
3 prophetic of the
finger divine that writes in living char-
acters their lessons on our
lives. May God's little ones
cluster around this rock-ribbed church like
tender nestlings |
| 6 |
in the crannies of the rocks, and preen
their thoughts for
upward flight.
Though neither dome
nor turret tells the tale of your |
| 9 |
little church, its song and sermon will
touch the heart,
point the path above the valley, up the mountain, and
on
to the celestial hills, echoing the Word welling up from |
| 12 |
the infinite and swelling the loud anthem
of one Father-
Mother God, o'er all victorious! Rest assured that He
in
whom dwelleth all life, health, and holiness, will supply |
| 15 |
all your needs according to His riches in
glory.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
DULUTH, MINN.
18 First Church of Christ, Scientist,
Duluth, Minn.: - May
our God make this church the fold of flocks, and
may
those that plant the vineyard eat the fruit thereof. Here |
| 21 |
let His promise be verified: "Before they
call, I will
answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Beloved Brethren: - Accept my
thanks for your cordial
card inviting me to be with you on the day of your
church |
| 27 |
dedication. It gives me great pleasure to
know that
you have erected a Church of Christ, Scientist, in your
Page
187
|
| 1 |
city. Surely, your fidelity, faith, and
Christian zeal
fairly indicate that, spiritually as well as literally,
the |
| 3 |
church in Salt Lake City hath not lost its
saltness. I
may at some near future visit your city, but am too busy
to
think of doing so at present.
|
| 6 |
May the divine light of Christian Science
that lighteth
every enlightened thought illumine your faith and under-
standing, exclude all darkness or doubt, and signal the |
| 9 |
perfect path wherein to walk, the perfect
Principle whereby
to demonstrate the perfect man and the perfect law of
God. In the words of St. Paul: "Now the end of the |
| 12 |
commandment is charity out of a pure heart,
and of a
good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;" and St. John
says:
"For this is the message that ye heard from the |
| 15 |
beginning, that we should love one
another."
May the grace and
love of God be and abide with
you all.
|
| 18 |
PLEASANT
VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
November
16, 1898
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
My Beloved Brethren: - You have met
to conse-
crate your beautiful temple to the worship of the only |
| 24 |
true God. Since the day in which you were
brought into
the light and liberty of His children, it has been in the
hearts of this people to build a house unto Him whose |
| 27 |
name they would glorify in a new
commandment -
"that ye love one another." In this new recognition of
the riches of His love and the majesty of His might you |
| 30 |
have built this house - laid its
foundations on the rock
Page
188
|
| 1 |
of Christ, and the stone which the builders
rejected you
have made the head of the corner. This house is hallowed |
| 3 |
by His promise: "I have hallowed this
house, which thou
hast built, to put my name there forever; and mine
eyes
and mine heart shall be there perpetually." "Now mine |
| 6 |
eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent
unto the prayer
that is made in this place." Your feast days will not be
in commemoration, but in recognition of His presence; |
| 9 |
your ark of the covenant will not be
brought out of the
city of David, but out of "the secret place of the
most
High," whereof the Psalmist sang, even the omniscience |
| 12 |
of omnipotence; your tabernacle of the
congregation will
not be temporary, but a "house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens;" your oracle, under the wings of |
| 15 |
the cherubim, is Truth's evangel,
enunciating, "God is
Love."
In spirit I enter
your inner sanctuary, your heart's |
| 18 |
heart, breathing a benediction for God's
largess. He
surely will not shut me out from your presence, and the
ponderous walls of your grand cathedral cannot prevent |
| 21 |
me from entering where the heart of a
Southron has
welcomed me.
Christian Science
has a place in its court, in which, like |
| 24 |
beds in hospitals, one man's head lies at
another's feet.
As you work, the ages win; for the majesty of Christian
Science teaches the majesty of man. When it is learned |
| 27 |
that spiritual sense and not the material
senses convey all
impressions to man, man will naturally seek the Science
of
his spiritual nature, and finding it, be God-endowed for |
| 30 |
discipleship.
When divine Love
gains admittance to a humble heart,
that individual ascends the scale of
miracles and meets the
Page
189
|
| 1 |
warmest wish of men and angels. Clad in
invincible
armor, grasping the sword of Spirit, you have started in |
| 3 |
this sublime ascent, and should reach the
mount of revela-
tion; for if ye would run, who shall hinder you? So
dear,
so due, to God is obedience, that it reaches high heaven |
| 6 |
in the common walks of life, and it
affords even me a
perquisite of joy.
You worship no
distant deity, nor talk of unknown |
| 9 |
love. The silent prayers of our churches,
resounding
through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of
sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one |
| 12 |
pulpit to another and from one heart to
another, till
truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer,
shall encircle and cement the human race.
|
| 15 |
The government of divine Love derives its
omnipotence
from the love it creates in the heart of man; for love is
allegiant, and there is no loyalty apart from love. When |
| 18 |
the human senses wake from their long
slumber to see how
soon earth's fables flee and faith grows wearisome,
then
that which defies decay and satisfies the immortal cravings |
| 21 |
is sought and found. In the twilight of the
world's
pageantry, in the last-drawn sigh of a glory gone, we are
drawn towards God.
|
| 24 |
Beloved brethren, I cannot forget that
yours is the first
church edifice of our denomination erected in the
sunny
South - once my home. There my husband died, and |
| 27 |
the song and the dirge, surging my being,
gave expression
to a poem written in 1844, from which I copy this verse:
-
Friends, why throng
in pity round me? |
| 30 |
Wherefore, pray, the bell did toll?
Dead is he who loved me dearly:
Am I not alone in soul?
Page
190
|
| 1 |
Did that midnight shadow, falling upon the
bridal
wreath, bring the recompense of human woe, which is the |
| 3 |
merciful design of divine Love, and so help
to evolve that
larger sympathy for suffering humanity which is eman-
cipating it with the morning beams and noonday glory of |
| 6 |
Christian Science?
The age is fast
answering this question: Does Christian
Science equal materia medica
in healing the worst forms |
| 9 |
of contagious and organic diseases? My
experience in
both practices - materia medica and the scientific
meta-
physical practice of medicine - shows the latter not only |
| 12 |
equalling but vastly excelling the former.
Christians who
accept our Master as authority, regard
his sayings as infallible. Jesus'
students, failing to cure a |
| 15 |
severe case of lunacy, asked their great
Teacher, "Why
could not we cast him out?" He answered, "This kind
goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." This declara- |
| 18 |
tion of our Master, as to the relative
value, skill, and
certainty of the divine laws of Mind over the human
mind and above matter in healing disease, remains beyond |
| 21 |
questioning a divine decision in behalf of
Mind.
Jesus gave his
disciples (students) power over all manner
of diseases; and the Bible was
written in order that all |
| 24 |
peoples, in all ages, should have the same
opportunity to
become students of the Christ, Truth, and thus become
God-endued with power (knowledge of divine law) and |
| 27 |
with "signs following." Jesus declared that
his teaching
and practice would remain, even as it did, "for them also
which shall believe on me through their word." Then, |
| 30 |
in the name of God, wherefore vilify His
prophets to-day
who are fulfilling Jesus' prophecy and verifying his
last
promise, "Lo, I am with you alway"? It were well for
Page
191
|
| 1 |
the world if there survived more of the
wisdom of Nico-
demus of old, who said, "No man can do these miracles |
| 3 |
that thou doest, except God be with him."
Be patient towards
persecution. Injustice has not a
tithe of the power of justice. Your
enemies will advertise |
| 6 |
for you. Christian Science is spreading
steadily through-
out the world. Persecution is the weakness of tyrants
engendered by their fear, and love will cast it out. Con- |
| 9 |
tinue steadfast in love and good works.
Children of
light, you are not children of darkness. Let your light
shine. Keep in mind the foundations of Christian |
| 12 |
Science - one God and one Christ. Keep
personality
out of sight, and Christ's "Blessed are ye" will seal your
apostleship.
|
| 15 |
This glad Easter morning witnesseth a risen
Saviour, a
higher human sense of Life and Love, which wipes away
all
tears. With grave-clothes laid aside, Christ, Truth, has |
| 18 |
come forth from the tomb of the past, clad
in immortality.
The sepulchres give up their dead. Spirit is saying
unto
matter: I am not there, am not within you. Behold the |
| 21 |
place where they laid me; but human
thought has risen!
Mortality's thick
gloom is pierced. The stone is rolled
away. Death has lost its sting, and
the grave its victory. |
| 24 |
Immortal courage fills the human breast
and lights the
living way of Life.
SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
CHICAGO, ILL.
My Beloved Brethren: - Your card of
invitation to this
feast of soul - the dedication of your church - was
duly |
| 30 |
received. Accept my thanks.
Page
192
|
| 1 |
Ye sit not in the idol's temple. Ye build
not to an
unknown God. Ye worship Him whom ye serve. Boast |
| 3 |
not thyself, thou ransomed of divine Love,
but press on
unto the possession of unburdened bliss. Heal the sick,
make spotless the blemished, raise the living dead, cast |
| 6 |
out fashionable lunacy.
The ideal robe of
Christ is seamless. Thou hast touched
its hem, and thou art being healed.
The risen Christ is |
| 9 |
thine. The haunting mystery and gloom of
his glory
rule not this century. Thine is the upspringing hope, the
conquest over sin and mortality, that lights the living |
| 12 |
way to Life, not to death.
May the God of our
fathers, the infinite Person whom
we worship, be and abide with you. May
the blessing of |
| 15 |
divine Love rest with you. My heart hovers
around your
churches in Chicago, for the dove of peace sits smilingly
on these branches and sings of our Redeemer.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
LOS ANGELES, CAL.
Beloved Students: - Your kind
letter, inviting me to |
| 21 |
be present at the dedication of your
church, was duly
received. It would indeed give me pleasure to visit
you,
to witness your prosperity, and "rejoice with them that |
| 24 |
do rejoice," but the constant recurring
demands upon
my time and attention pin me to my post. Of this,
however,
I can sing: My love can fly on wings of joy to |
| 27 |
you and leave a leaf of olive; it can
whisper to you of
the divine ever-presence, answering your prayers,
crown-
ing your endeavors, and building for you a house "eternal |
| 30 |
in the heavens."
Page
193
|
| 1 |
You will dedicate your temple in faith
unfeigned, not to
the unknown God, but unto Him whom to know aright |
| 3 |
is life everlasting. His presence with you
will bring to
your hearts so much of heaven that you will not feel my
absence. The privilege remains mine to watch and work |
| 6 |
for all, from East to West, from the
greensward and
gorgeous skies of the Orient to your dazzling glory
in
the Occident, and to thank God forever "for His |
| 9 |
goodness, and for His wonderful works to
the children
of men."
PLEASANT
VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
12
November 20, 1902
SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
|
| 15 |
Beloved: - The spiritual dominates
the temporal. Love
gives nothing to take away. Nothing dethrones His
house. You are dedicating yours to Him. Protesting |
| 18 |
against error, you unite with all who
believe in Truth.
God guard and guide you.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
NEW YORK, N. Y.
Beloved Brethren: - Carlyle writes,
"Give a thing time;
if it succeeds, it is a right thing." Here I aver that
you |
| 24 |
have grasped time and labor, taking the
first by the fore-
lock and the last by love. In this lofty temple,
dedicated
to God and humanity, may the prophecy of Isaiah be |
| 27 |
fulfilled: "Fear not: . . . I have called
thee by thy
name; thou art mine." Within its sacred walls may
Page
194
|
| 1 |
song and sermon generate only that which
Christianity
writes in broad facts over great continents - sermons |
| 3 |
that fell forests and remove mountains,
songs of joy
and gladness.
The letter of your
work dies, as do all things material, |
| 6 |
but the spirit of it is immortal. Remember
that a temple
but foreshadows the idea of God, the "house not made
with
hands, eternal in the heavens," while a silent, grand |
| 9 |
man or woman, healing sickness and
destroying sin,
builds that which reaches heaven. Only those men and
women gain greatness who gain themselves in a complete |
| 12 |
subordination of self.
The tender memorial
engraven on your grand edifice
stands for human self lost in divine light,
melted into the |
| 15 |
radiance of His likeness. It stands for
meekness and
might, for Truth as attested by the Founder of your
denomination and emblazoned on the fair escutcheon of |
| 18 |
your church.
Beloved
Students: - Your telegram, in which you
pre-
sent to me the princely gift of your magnificent church
|
| 21 |
edifice in New York City, is an unexpected
token of your
gratitude and love. I deeply appreciate it, profoundly
thank you for it, and gratefully accept the spirit of it; |
| 24 |
but I must decline to receive that for
which you have
sacrificed so much and labored so long. May divine
Love
abundantly bless you, reward you according to |
| 27 |
your works, guide and guard you and your
church
through the depths; and may you
"Who stood the storm
when seas were rough, |
| 30 |
Ne'er in a sunny hour fall off."
Page
195
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
CLEVELAND, OHIO
|
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - You will pardon
my delay in
acknowledging your card of invitation to the dedicatory
services of your church. Adverse circumstances, loss of |
| 6 |
help, new problems to be worked out for the
field, etc,.
have hitherto prevented my reply. However, it is
never
too late to repent, to love more, to work more, to watch |
| 9 |
and pray; but those privileges I have not
had time to
express, and so have submitted to necessity, letting the
deep love which I cherished for you be hidden under an |
| 12 |
appearance of indifference.
We must resign with good grace what we are
denied, and
press on with what we are, for we cannot do more than we
|
| 15 |
are nor understand what is not ripening in
us. To do
good to all because we love all, and to use in God's service
the one talent that we all have, is our only means of |
| 18 |
adding to that talent and the best way to
silence a deep
discontent with our shortcomings.
Christian Science is at length learned to
be no miserable |
| 21 |
piece of ideal legerdemain, by which we
poor mortals ex-
pect to live and die, but a deep-drawn breath fresh
from
God, by whom and in whom man lives, moves, and has |
| 24 |
deathless being. The praiseworthy success
of this church,
and its united efforts to build an edifice in which to
worship
the infinite, sprang from the temples erected first in the |
| 27 |
hearts of its members - the unselfed love
that builds
without hands, eternal in the heaven of Spirit. God
grant
that this unity remain, and that you continue to |
| 30 |
build, rebuild, adorn, and fill these
spiritual temples with
grace, Truth, Life, and Love.
Page
196
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
PITTSBURGH, PA.
|
| 3 |
My Beloved Brethren: - I
congratulate you upon erect-
ing the first edifice of our denomination in
the Keystone
State, a State whose metropolis is called the "city of |
| 6 |
brotherly love." May this dear church
militant accept
my tender counsel in these words of the Scripture, to
be
engrafted in church and State: -
|
| 9 |
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to
speak, slow to
wrath." "He that is slow to anger is better than the
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh |
| 12 |
a city." "If any man offend not in word,
the same is
a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."
"By
thy words thou shalt be condemned." "Love thy |
| 15 |
neighbor as thyself."
"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us
an example,
that [we] should follow his steps: . . . who, when he was
|
| 18 |
reviled, reviled not again; when he
suffered, he threatened
not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth
right-
eously." "Consider him that endured such contradiction |
| 21 |
of sinners against himself, lest ye be
wearied and faint in
your minds."
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
ST. LOUIS, MO.
My Beloved Brethren: - The good in
being, even the
spiritually indispensable, is your daily bread. Work
and |
| 27 |
pray for it. The poor toil for our bread,
and we should
work for their health and holiness. Over the glaciers of
winter the summer glows. The beauty of holiness comes
Page
197
|
| 1 |
with the departure of sin. Enjoying good
things is
not evil, but becoming slaves to pleasure is. That error |
| 3 |
is most forcible which is least distinct
to conscience.
Attempt nothing without God's help.
May the beauty of
holiness be upon this dear people, |
| 6 |
and may this beloved church be glorious,
without spot
or blemish.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
SAN JOSE, CAL.
Beloved Students: -Words are
inadequate to express
my deep appreciation of your labor and success in
com- |
| 12 |
pleting and dedicating your church edifice,
and of the
great hearts and ready hands of our far Western students,
the Christian Scientists.
|
| 15 |
Comparing such students with those whose
words
are but the substitutes for works, we learn that the
translucent
atmosphere of the former must illumine the |
| 18 |
midnight of the latter, else Christian
Science will dis-
appear from among mortals.
I thank divine Love for the hope set
before us in the |
| 21 |
Word and in the doers thereof, "for of
such is the kingdom
of heaven."
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
WILMINGTON, N. C.
My Beloved Brethren: - At this
dedicatory season of
your church edifice in the home of my heart, I send
lov- |
| 27 |
ing congratulations, join with you in song
and sermon.
God will bless the work of your hearts and hands.
PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N.
H.,
30 July 27, 1907
Page
198
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
LONDON, ENGLAND
|
| 3 |
Beloved Students and Brethren: -
Your letters of May 1
and June 19, informing me of the
dedication of your
magnificent church edifice, have been
received with many |
| 6 |
thanks to you and great gratitude to our
one Father.
May God grant not only the continuance of
His favors, but their abundant and ripened fruit.
|
| 9 |
CHESTNUT HILL,
MASS.,
June 26, 1909
Page
199
CHAPTER IX - LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
|
| 3 |
MY BELOVED STUDENTS AND BRETHREN: - I
rejoice
with thee. Blessed art thou. In place of dark-
ness, light hath
sprung up. The reward of thy hands |
| 6 |
is given thee to-day. May God say this of
the church
in Philadelphia: I have naught against thee.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Beloved Brethren: - The Board of
Directors and
Trustees of this church will please accept my grateful
|
| 12 |
acknowledgment of the receipt of their
Christian canon
pertaining to the hour. The joint resolutions contained
therein show explicitly the attitude of this church in our |
| 15 |
capital towards me and towards the Cause of
Christian
Science, so dear to our hearts and to all loyal lovers of
God
and man.
|
| 18 |
This year, standing on the verge of the
twentieth cen-
tury, has sounded the tocsin of a higher hope, of
strength-
ened hands, of unveiled hearts, of fourfold unity between |
| 21 |
the churches of our denomination in this
and in other
Page
200
|
| 1 |
lands. Religious liberty and individual
rights under the
Constitution of our nation are rapidly advancing,
avow- |
| 3 |
ing and consolidating the genius of
Christian Science.
Heaven be praised
for the signs of the times. Let "the
heathen rage, and the people imagine a
vain thing;" our |
| 6 |
trust is in the Almighty God, who ruleth
in heaven and
upon earth, and none can stay His hand or say, "What
doest thou?"
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST,
LONDON, ENGLAND
My Beloved Brethren: - The chain of
Christian unity, |
| 12 |
unbroken, stretches across the sea and
rises upward to the
realms of incorporeal Life - even to the glorious
beati-
tudes of divine Love. Striving to be good, to do good, and |
| 15 |
to love our neighbor as ourself, man's soul
is safe; man
emerges from mortality and receives his rights inalienable
- the love of God and man. What holds us to the Chris- |
| 18 |
tian life is the seven-fold shield of
honesty, purity, and
unselfed love. I need not say this to you, for you
know
the way in Christian Science.
|
| 21 |
Pale, sinful sense, at work to lift itself
on crumbling
thrones of justice by pulling down its benefactors,
will
tumble from this scheme into the bottomless |
| 24 |
abyss of self-damnation, there to
relinquish its league
with evil. Wide yawns the gap between this course
and Christian Science.
|
| 27 |
God spare this plunge, lessen its depths,
save sin-
ners and fit their being to recover its connection with
its
divine Principle, Love. For this I shall continue to |
| 30 |
pray.
Page
201
|
| 1 |
God is blessing you, my beloved students
and breth-
ren. Press on towards the high calling whereunto |
| 3 |
divine Love has called us and is fast
fulfilling the
promises.
Satan is unchained
only for a season, as the Revelator |
| 6 |
foresaw, and love and good will to man,
sweeter than a
sceptre, are enthroned now and forever.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, NEW YORK, N. Y.
My Beloved
Brethren: - Your Soul-full words and song
repeat my legacies in blossom. Such elements of friend- |
| 12 |
ship, faith, and hope repossess us of
heaven. I thank
you out of a full heart. Even the crown of thorns,
which
mocked the bleeding brow of our blessed Lord, was over- |
| 15 |
crowned with a diadem of duties done. So
let us meekly
meet, mercifully forgive, wisely ponder, and lovingly
scan the convulsions of mortal mind, that its sudden |
| 18 |
sallies may help us, not to a start, but to
a tenure of
unprecarious joy. Rich hope have I in him who says in
his
heart: -
|
| 21 |
I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my
footsteps stray;
I will follow and rejoice |
| 24 |
All the
rugged way.
SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, NEW YORK, N. Y.
|
| 27 |
Beloved Brethren: - Please accept a
line from me in lieu
of my presence on the auspicious occasion of the
open-
ing of your new church edifice. Hope springs exultant
Page
202
|
| 1 |
on this blest morn. May its white wings
overshadow this
white temple and soar above it, pointing the path from |
| 3 |
earth to heaven - from human ambition,
fear, or distrust
to the faith, meekness, and might of him who hallowed
this Easter morn.
|
| 6 |
Now may his salvation draw near, for the
night is far
spent and the day is at hand. In the words of St. Paul:
"Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom |
| 9 |
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; . .
. honor to
whom honor. Owe no man any thing, but to love one
another:
for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the |
| 12 |
law."
May the benediction
of "Well done, good and faithful,"
rest worthily on the builders of this
beautiful temple, and |
| 15 |
the glory of the resurrection morn burst
upon the spiritual
sense of this people with renewed vision, infinite
mean-
ings, endless hopes, and glad victories in the onward and |
| 18 |
upward chain of being.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, OAKLAND, CAL.
|
| 21 |
Beloved Brethren: - I thank you for
the words of cheer
and love in your letter. The taper unseen in
sunlight
cheers the darkness. My work is reflected light, - a |
| 24 |
drop from His ocean of love, from the
underived glory,
the divine Esse. From the dear tone of your
letter,
you must be bringing your sheaves into the store- |
| 27 |
house. Press on. The way is narrow at
first, but it
expands as we walk in it. "Herein is my Father glori-
fied, that ye bear much fruit." God bless this vine of |
| 30 |
His planting.
Page
203
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, WASHINGTON, D. C.
|
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - I have nothing
new to communi-
cate; all is in your textbooks. Pray aright and demon-
strate your prayer; sing in faith. Know that religion |
| 6 |
should be distinct in our consciousness and
life, but not
clamorous for worldly distinction. Church laws which
are
obeyed without mutiny are God's laws. Goodness |
| 9 |
and philanthropy begin with work and never
stop working.
All that is worth reckoning is what we do, and the best
of
everything is not too good, but is economy and riches. |
| 12 |
Be great not as a grand obelisk, nor by
setting up to be
great, - only as good. A spiritual hero is a mark for
gamesters, but he is unutterably valiant, the summary of |
| 15 |
suffering here and of heaven hereafter. Our
thoughts
beget our actions; they make us what we are. Dis-
honesty is a
mental malady which kills its possessor; it |
| 18 |
is a sure precursor that its possessor is
mortal. A deep
sincerity is sure of success, for God takes care of it.
God
bless this dear church, and I am sure that He will if it is |
| 21 |
ready for the blessing.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, LONDON, ENGLAND
|
| 24 |
Beloved Students: - You have laid
the corner-stone of
your church edifice impressively, and buried
immortal
truths in the bosom of earth safe from all chance of being |
| 27 |
challenged.
You whose labors are
doing so much to benefit mankind
will not be impatient if you have not
accomplished all you
Page
204
|
| 1 |
desire, nor will you be long in doing more.
My faith in
God and in His followers rests in the fact that He is
infinite |
| 3 |
good, and that He gives His followers
opportunity to use
their hidden virtues, to put into practice the power
which
lies concealed in the calm and which storms awaken to |
| 6 |
vigor and to victory.
It is only by
looking heavenward that mutual friend-
ships such as ours can begin and
never end. Over sea |
| 9 |
and over land, Christian Science unites
its true followers
in one Principle, divine Love, that sacred ave
and essence
of Soul which makes them one in Christ.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, COLUMBUS, OHIO
IN REPLY TO A LETTER
ANNOUNCING THE PURPOSE OF THE |
| 15 |
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS TO
PRACTISE WITHOUT FEES IN COM-
PLIANCE WITH THE STATE LAWS
Beloved Brethren: - I congratulate you tenderly on the |
| 18 |
decision you have made as to the present
practice of
Christian Science in your State, and thoroughly recom-
mend
it under the circumstances. I practised gratui- |
| 21 |
tously when starting this great Cause,
which was then the
scoff of the age.
The too long treatment of a disease, the
charging of |
| 24 |
the sick whom you have not healed a full
fee for treat-
ment, the suing for payment, hypnotism, and the resent-
ing of injuries, are not the fruits of Christian Science, |
| 27 |
while returning good for evil, loving one's
enemies, and
overcoming evil with good, - these are its fruits;
and its
therapeutics, based as aforetime on this divine |
| 30 |
Principle, heals all disease.
Page
205
|
| 1 |
We read in the Scriptures: "There is
therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk |
| 3 |
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
"Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free." "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless |
| 6 |
as doves."
Wisdom is won
through faith, prayer, experience; and
God is the giver.
|
| 9 |
"God moves in a mysterious way
His
wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea |
| 12 |
And rides upon the storm."
THIRD CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, LONDON, ENGLAND
|
| 15 |
Beloved Brethren: - Love and unity
are hieroglyphs of
goodness, and their philosophical impetus, spiritual
Aesculapius and Hygeia, saith, "As the thought is, so is the |
| 18 |
deed; as the thing made is good or bad, so
is its maker."
This idealism connects itself with spiritual
understanding,
and so makes God more supreme in consciousness, man |
| 21 |
more His likeness, friends more faithful,
and enemies
harmless. Scholastic theology at its best touches but the
hem of Christian Science, shorn of all personality, wholly |
| 24 |
apart from human hypotheses, matter, creed
and dogma,
the lust of the flesh and the pride of power. Christian
Science is the full idea of its divine Principle, God; it is |
| 27 |
forever based on Love, and it is
demonstrated by perfect
rules; it is unerring. Hence health, holiness,
immortality,
are its natural effects. The practitioner may fail, but
the |
| 30 |
Science never.
Page 206
Miscellany
|
| 1 |
Philosophical links, which would unite dead
mat-
ter with animate, Spirit with matter and material |
| 3 |
means, prayer with power and pride of
position, hinder
the divine influx and lose Science,- lose the
Principle
of divine metaphysics and the tender grace of spiritual |
| 6 |
understanding, that love-linked holiness
which heals
and saves.
Schisms, imagination, and human beliefs
are not |
| 9 |
parts of Christian Science; they darken the
discern-
ment of Science; they divide Truth's garment and cast
lots for
it.
|
| 12 |
Seeing a man in the moon, or seeing a
person in the
picture of Jesus, or believing that you see an individual
who has passed through the shadow called death, is |
| 15 |
not seeing the spiritual idea of God; but
it is seeing
a human belief, which is far from the fact that portrays
Life, Truth, Love.
|
| 18 |
May these words of the Scriptures comfort
you: "The
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God
thy
glory." "The city had no need of the sun, neither |
| 21 |
of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory
of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "Ye
are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy |
| 24 |
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should
show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into
His marvellous light." "Giving thanks unto the Father, |
| 27 |
which hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inherit-
ance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the |
| 30 |
kingdom of His dear Son." "Ye were
sometimes dark-
ness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as
children
of light."
Page
207
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, MILWAUKEE, WIS.
|
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - Your
communication is gratefully
received. Press on! The wrath of men shall
praise God,
and the remainder thereof He will restrain.
A
TELEGRAM AND MRS. EDDY'S REPLY
Beloved
Leader: - The representatives of churches
and
societies of Christian Science in Missouri, in annual |
| 9 |
conference assembled, unite in loving
greetings to you,
and pledge themselves to strive more earnestly, day
by day, for the clearer understanding and more perfect |
| 12 |
manifestation of the truth which you have
unfolded to
the world, and by which sin and sickness are destroyed
and
life and immortality brought to light. |
| 15 |
Yours in loving obedience,
CHURCHES AND
SOCIETIES OF CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE IN MISSOURI |
| 18 |
ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI,
January 5, 1909
Mrs. Eddy's Reply
|
| 21 |
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant:
. . . enter
thou into the joy of thy lord" - the satisfaction of
meeting and mastering evil and defending good, thus |
| 24 |
predicating man upon divine Science. (See
Science
and Health, p. 227.)
CHESTNUT HILL,
MASS, |
| 27 |
January 6, 1909
Page
208
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
|
| 3 |
Beloved Brethren: - Accept my deep
thanks for your
highly interesting letter. It would seem as if the
whole
import of Christian Science had been mirrored forth by |
| 6 |
your loving hearts, to reflect its
heavenly rays over all the
earth.
BOX G,
BROOKLINE, MASS., |
| 9 |
July 15,
1909
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
|
| 12 |
Beloved Christian Scientists: - Like
the gentle dews of
heaven and the refreshing breeze of morn, comes your
dear letter to my waiting heart, - waiting in due expec- |
| 15 |
tation of just such blessedness, crowning
the hope and
hour of divine Science, than which nothing can exceed
its
ministrations of God to man.
|
| 18 |
I congratulate you on the prospect of
erecting a church
building, wherein to gather in praise and prayer for
the
whole human family.
|
| 21 |
BOX G,
BROOKLINE, MASS.,
November 2, 1909
THE COMMITTEES IN CONFERENCE, CHICAGO, ILL.
|
| 24 |
The Committees: - God bless the
courageous, far-seeing
committees in conference for their confidence in
His
ways and means of reaching the very acme of Christian |
| 27 |
Science.
Page
209
COMMENT ON LETTER FROM
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, OTTAWA, ONTARIO
|
| 3 |
God will abundantly bless this willing and
obedient
church with the rich reward of those that seek and serve
Him.
No greater hope have we than in right thinking |
| 6 |
and right acting, and faith in the
blessing of fidelity,
courage, patience, and grace.
Page
210
CHAPTER X - ADMONITION AND COUNSEL
WHAT OUR LEADER SAYS
BELOVED Christian
Scientists, keep your minds so |
| 3 |
filled with Truth and Love, that sin,
disease, and
death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can
be
added to the mind already full. There is no door |
| 6 |
through which evil can enter, and no space
for evil to fill
in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an
impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely |
| 9 |
shielded from the attacks of error of every
sort. And not
only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest
upon are thereby benefited.
|
| 12 |
The self-seeking pride of the evil thinker
injures him
when he would harm others. Goodness involuntarily
resists
evil. The evil thinker is the proud talker and |
| 15 |
doer. The right thinker abides under the
shadow of the
Almighty. His thoughts can only reflect peace, good will
towards men, health, and holiness.(1)
WAYS THAT ARE VAIN
Certain individuals
entertain the notion that Chris-
tian Science Mind-healing should be
two-sided, and only |
| 21 |
denounce error in general, - saying
nothing, in particu-
(1) Copyright,
1909, by Mary Baker Eddy. Renewed, 1937.
Page
211
|
| 1 |
lar, of error that is damning men. They are
sticklers
for a false, convenient peace, straining at gnats and |
| 3 |
swallowing camels. The unseen wrong to
individuals
and society they are too cowardly, too ignorant, or too
wicked to uncover, and excuse themselves by denying |
| 6 |
that this evil exists. This mistaken way,
of hiding sin
in order to maintain harmony, has licensed evil,
allowing
it first to smoulder, and then break out in devouring |
| 9 |
flames. All that error asks is to be let
alone; even as
in Jesus' time the unclean spirits cried out, "Let us
alone; what have we to do with thee?"
|
| 12 |
Animal magnetism, in its ascending steps of
evil,
entices its victim by unseen, silent arguments. Revers-
ing the
modes of good, in their silent allurements to |
| 15 |
health and holiness, it impels mortal mind
into error of
thought, and tempts into the committal of acts foreign
to the natural inclinations. The victims lose their |
| 18 |
individuality, and lend themselves as
willing tools to
carry out the designs of their worst enemies, even
those
who would induce their self-destruction. Animal mag- |
| 21 |
netism fosters suspicious distrust where
honor is due, fear
where courage should be strongest, reliance where
there
should be avoidance, a belief in safety where there is |
| 24 |
most danger; and these miserable lies,
poured constantly
into his mind, fret and confuse it, spoiling that
indi-
vidual's disposition, undermining his health, and sealing |
| 27 |
his doom, unless the cause of the mischief
is found out
and destroyed.
Other minds are made
dormant by it, and the victim |
| 30 |
is in a state of semi-individuality, with
a mental hazi-
ness which admits of no intellectual culture or
spiritual
growth. The state induced by this secret evil influence
Page
212
|
| 1 |
is a species of intoxication, in which the
victim is led to
believe and do what he would never, otherwise, think |
| 3 |
or do voluntarily.
This intricate
method of animal magnetism is the
essence, or spirit, of evil, which makes
mankind drunken. |
| 6 |
In this era it is taking the place of older
and more open
sins, and other forms of intoxication. A harder fight
will be necessary to expose the cause and effects of |
| 9 |
this evil influence, than has been required
to put down
the evil effects of alcohol. The alcoholic habit is the
use
of higher forms of matter, wherewith to do evil; |
| 12 |
whereas animal magnetism is the highest
form of mental
evil, wherewith to complete the sum total of sin.
The question is
often asked, Why is there so much |
| 15 |
dissension among mental practitioners? We
answer,
Because they do not practise in strict accordance with
the
teaching of Christian Science Mind-healing. If they |
| 18 |
did, there would be unity of action. Being
like the
disciples of old, "with one accord in one place," they
would
receive a spiritual influx impossible under other |
| 21 |
conditions, and so would recognize and
resist the
animal magnetism by which they are being deceived
and
misled.
|
| 24 |
The mental malpractitioner, interfering
with the
rights of Mind, destroys the true sense of Science, and
loses
his own power to heal. He tries to compensate |
| 27 |
himself for his own loss by hindering in
every way con-
ceivable the success of others. You will find this prac-
titioner saying that animal magnetism never troubles |
| 30 |
him, but that Mrs. Eddy teaches animal
magnetism;
and he says this to cover his crime of mental malprac-
tice,
in furtherance of unscrupulous designs.
Page
213
|
| 1 |
The natural fruits of Christian Science
Mind-healing
are harmony, brotherly love, spiritual growth and |
| 3 |
activity. The malicious aim of perverted
mind-power,
or animal magnetism, is to paralyze good and give
activity
to evil. It starts factions and engenders envy |
| 6 |
and hatred, but as activity is by no means
a right of
evil and its emissaries, they ought not to be encouraged
in
it. Because this age is cursed with one rancorous |
| 9 |
and lurking foe to human weal, those who
are the
truest friends of mankind, and conscientious in their
desire
to do right and to live pure and Christian lives, |
| 12 |
should be more zealous to do good, more
watchful and
vigilant. Then they will be proportionately successful
and bring out glorious results.
|
| 15 |
Unless one's eyes are opened to the modes
of mental
malpractice, working so subtly that we mistake its sug-
gestions for the impulses of our own thought, the victim |
| 18 |
will allow himself to drift in the wrong
direction with-
out knowing it. Be ever on guard against this enemy.
Watch your thoughts, and see whether they lead you |
| 21 |
to God and into harmony with His true
followers.
Guard and strengthen your own citadel more strongly.
Thus
you will grow wiser and better through every |
| 24 |
attack of your foe, and the Golden Rule
will not rust
for lack of use or be misinterpreted by the adverse
influence of animal magnetism.
ONLY ONE QUOTATION
The following three
quotations from "Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures" are
submitted |
| 30 |
to the dear Churches of Christ, Scientist.
From these
Page
214
|
| 1 |
they may select one only to place on the
walls of their
church. Otherwise, as our churches multiply, promiscu- |
| 3 |
ous selections would write your textbook on
the walls of
your churches.
Divine Love always has met and always
will meet every |
| 6 |
human need.
MARY BAKER EDDY
Christianity is
again demonstrating the Life that is |
| 9 |
Truth, and the Truth that is Life.
MARY BAKER EDDY
Jesus' three days'
work in the sepulchre set the seal |
| 12 |
of eternity on time. He proved Life to be
deathless and
Love to be the master of hate.
MARY BAKER EDDY
THE LABORER AND HIS HIRE
In reply to letters
questioning the consistency of
Christian Scientists taking pay for their
labors, and with |
| 18 |
the hope of relieving the questioners'
perplexity, I will say:
Four years after my discovery of Christian Science,
while
taking no remuneration for my labors, and for healing all |
| 21 |
manner of diseases, I was confronted with
the fact that I
had no monetary means left wherewith to hire a hall in
which to speak, or to establish a Christian Science home |
| 24 |
for indigent students, which I yearned to
do, or even to
meet my own current expenses. I therefore halted from
necessity.
|
| 27 |
I had cast my all into the treasury of
Truth, but where
were the means with which to carry on a Cause? To
desert the Cause never occurred to me, but nobody
Page
215
|
| 1 |
then wanted Christian Science, or gave it a
halfpenny.
Though sorely oppressed, I was above begging and |
| 3 |
knew well the priceless worth of what had
been bestowed
without money or price. Just then God stretched forth
His
hand. He it was that bade me do what I did, |
| 6 |
and it prospered at every step. I wrote
"Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures," taught students for
a
tuition of three hundred dollars each, though I seldom |
| 9 |
taught without having charity scholars,
sometimes a
dozen or upward in one class. Afterwards, with touch-
ing
tenderness, those very students sent me the full |
| 12 |
tuition money. However, I returned this
money with
love; but it was again mailed to me in letters begging
me
to accept it, saying, "Your teachings are worth much |
| 15 |
more to me than money can be."
It was thus that I
earned the means with which to start
a Christian Science home for the poor
worthy student, to |
| 18 |
establish a Metaphysical College, to plant
our first maga-
zine, to purchase the site for a church edifice, to give
my
church The Christian Science Journal, and to keep "the |
| 21 |
wolves in sheep's clothing," preying upon
my pearls, from
clogging the wheels of Christian Science.
When the great
Master first sent forth his students, he |
| 24 |
bade them take no scrip for their journey,
saying, "The
laborer is worthy of his hire." Next, on the contrary,
he
bade them take scrip. Can we find a better example |
| 27 |
for our lives than that of our Master? Why
did he send
forth his students first without, and then with, provision
for their expenses? Doubtless to test the effect of both |
| 30 |
methods on mankind. That he preferred the
latter is
evident, since we have no hint of his changing this direc-
tion; and that his divine wisdom should temper human
Page
216
|
| 1 |
affairs, is plainly set forth in the
Scriptures. Till Christian
Scientists give all their time to spiritual
things, live without |
| 3 |
eating, and obtain their money from a
fish's mouth, they
must earn it in order to help mankind with it. All
sys-
tems of religion stand on this basis.
|
| 6 |
The law and the gospel, - Christian, civil,
and educa-
tional means, - manufacture, agriculture, tariff, and
revenue subsist on demand and supply, regulated by a |
| 9 |
government currency, by which each is
provided for and
maintained. What, then, can a man do with truth
and
without a cent to sustain it? Either his life must |
| 12 |
be a miracle that frightens people, or his
truth not
worth a cent.
THE CHILDREN CONTRIBUTORS
|
| 15 |
My Beloved Children: - Tenderly
thanking you for
your sweet industry and love on behalf of the room
of
the Pastor Emeritus in The First Church of Christ, |
| 18 |
Scientist, Boston, I say: The purpose of
God to you-
ward indicates another field of work which I present to
your thought, work by which you can do much good and |
| 21 |
which is adapted to your present unfolding
capacity. I
request that from this date you disband as a society,
drop
the insignia of "Busy Bees," work in your own sev- |
| 24 |
eral localities, and no longer contribute
to The Mother
Church flower fund.
As you grow older,
advance in the knowledge of self- |
| 27 |
support, and see the need of self-culture,
it is to be expected
you will feel more than at present that charity begins
at
home, and that you will want money for your own uses. |
| 30 |
Contemplating these important wants, I see
that you
should begin now to earn for a purpose even higher, the
Page
217
|
| 1 |
money that you expend for flowers. You will
want it for
academics, for your own school education, or, if need be, |
| 3 |
to help your parents, brothers, or
sisters.
Further to encourage
your early, generous incentive
for action, and to reward your hitherto
unselfish toil, I |
| 6 |
have deeded in trust to The Mother Church
of Christ,
Scientist, in Boston, the sum of four thousand dollars
to be
invested in safe municipal bonds for my dear chil- |
| 9 |
dren contributors to the room of the Pastor
Emeritus.
This sum is to remain on interest till it is disbursed in
equal shares to each contributor. This disbursal will |
| 12 |
take place when the contributors shall have
arrived at
legal age, and each contributor will receive his divi-
dend
with interest thereon up to date, provided he has |
| 15 |
complied with my request as above named.
A
CORRECTION
In the last
Sentinel [Oct. 12, 1899] was the following |
| 18 |
question: "If all matter is unreal, why do
we deny the
existence of disease in the material body and not the body
itself?"
|
| 21 |
We deny first the existence of
disease, because we can
meet this negation more readily than we can
negative all
that the material senses affirm. It is written in
"Science |
| 24 |
and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "An
improved
belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the
next
step and in understanding the situation in Christian |
| 27 |
Science" (p. 296).
Thus it is that
our great Exemplar, Jesus of Nazareth,
first takes up the subject. He does
not require the last
|
| 30 |
step to be taken first. He came to the
world not to
destroy the law of being, but to fulfil it in
righteousness.
Page
218
|
| 1 |
He restored the diseased body to its normal
action,
functions, and organization, and in explanation of his |
| 3 |
deeds he said, "Suffer it to be so now: for
thus it be-
cometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Job said, "In
my
flesh shall I see God." Neither the Old nor the New |
| 6 |
Testament furnishes reasons or examples for
the destruc-
tion of the human body, but for its restoration to life
and health as the scientific proof of "God with us." |
| 9 |
The power and prerogative of Truth are to
destroy all
disease and to raise the dead - even the self-same
Lazarus.
The spiritual body, the incorporeal idea, came |
| 12 |
with the ascension.
Jesus demonstrated
the divine Principle of Christian
Science when he presented his
material body absolved |
| 15 |
from death and the grave. The introduction
of pure
abstractions into Christian Science, without their correl-
atives, leaves the divine Principle of Christian Science |
| 18 |
unexplained, tends to confuse the mind of
the reader, and
ultimates in what Jesus denounced, namely, straining
at
gnats and swallowing camels.
QUESTION ANSWERED
A fad of belief is
the fool of mesmerism. The belief
that an individual can either teach or
heal by proxy is a |
| 24 |
false faith that will end bitterly. My
published works are
teachers and healers. My private life is given to a
serv-
itude the fruit of which all mankind may share. Such |
| 27 |
labor is impartial, meted out to one no
more than to
another. Therefore an individual should not enter the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College with the expecta- |
| 30 |
tion of receiving instruction from me,
other than that
Page
219
|
| 1 |
which my books afford, unless I am
personally present.
Nor should patients anticipate being helped by me
through |
| 3 |
some favored student. Such practice would
be erro-
neous, and such an anticipation on the part of the sick a
hindrance rather than help.
|
| 6 |
My good students have all the honor of
their success
in teaching or in healing. I by no means would pluck
their plumes. Human power is most properly used in |
| 9 |
preventing the occasion for its use;
otherwise its use
is abuse.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HEALING
|
| 12 |
To say that it is sin to ride to church on
an electric
car, would not be more preposterous than to believe
that
man's Maker is not equal to the destruction of disease |
| 15 |
germs. Christ, Truth, the ever-present
spiritual idea,
who raises the dead, is equal to the giving of life and
health
to man and to the healing, as aforetime, of all manner of |
| 18 |
diseases. I would not charge Christians
with doubting
the Bible record of our great Master's life of healing, since
Christianity must be predicated of what Christ Jesus |
| 21 |
taught and did; but I do say that Christian
Science cannot
annul nor make void the laws of the land, since Christ,
the great demonstrator of Christian Science, said, "Think |
| 24 |
not that I am come to destroy the law, or
the prophets:
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
I have expressed my
opinion publicly as to the pre- |
| 27 |
cautions against the spread of so-called
infectious and
contagious diseases in the following words: -
"Rather than quarrel over vaccination, I recommend, if |
| 30 |
the law demand, that an individual submit
to this process,
that he obey the law, and then appeal to the gospel
to
Page
220
|
| 1 |
save him from bad physical results.
Whatever changes
come to this century or to any epoch, we may safely |
| 3 |
submit to the providence of God, to common
justice, to
the maintenance of individual rights, and to govern-
mental
usages. This statement should be so interpreted |
| 6 |
as to apply, on the basis of Christian
Science, to the
reporting of a contagious case to the proper
authorities
when the law so requires. When Jesus was questioned |
| 9 |
concerning obedience to human law, he
replied: 'Render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,' even while
you
render 'to God the things that are God's.' "
|
| 12 |
I believe in obeying the laws of the land.
I practise and
teach this obedience, since justice is the moral
signification
of law. Injustice denotes the absence of law. Each day |
| 15 |
I pray for the pacification of all national
difficulties, for
the brotherhood of man, for the end of idolatry and
infidelity, and for the growth and establishment of |
| 18 |
Christian religion - Christ's Christianity.
I also have
faith that my prayer availeth, and that He who is
overturning will overturn until He whose right it is shall |
| 21 |
reign. Each day I pray: "God bless my
enemies; make
them Thy friends; give them to know the joy and the
peace
of love."
|
| 24 |
Past, present, or future philosophy or
religion, which
departs from the instructions and example of the great
Galilean Prophet, cannot be Christlike. Jesus obeyed |
| 27 |
human laws and fell a victim to those laws.
But nineteen
centuries have greatly improved human nature and
human
statutes. That the innocent should suffer for the |
| 30 |
guilty, seems less divine, and that
humanity should share
alike liberty of conscience, seems more divine to-day
than
it did yesterday.
Page
221
|
| 1 |
The earthly price of spirituality in
religion and medicine
in a material age is persecution, and the moral
distance |
| 3 |
between Christianity and materialism
precludes Jesus'
doctrine, now as then, from finding favor with certain
purely human views. The prophets of old looked for |
| 6 |
something higher than the systems and
practices of their
times. They foresaw the new dispensation of Truth
and the demonstration of God in His more infinite |
| 9 |
meanings, - the demonstration which was to
destroy sin,
disease, and death, establish the definition of
omnipotence,
and illustrate the Science of Mind. Earth has not known |
| 12 |
another so great and good as Christ Jesus.
Then can
we find a better moral philosophy, a more complete,
natural,
and divine Science of medicine, or a better |
| 15 |
religion than his?
God is Spirit. Then
modes of healing, other than the
spiritual and divine, break the First
Commandment of |
| 18 |
the Decalogue, "Thou shalt have no other
gods before
me." There are no other heaven-appointed means than
the
spiritual with which to heal sin and disease. Our |
| 21 |
Master conformed to this law, and
instructed his follow-
ers, saying, "He that believeth on me, the works
that I
do shall he do also." This is enough.
|
| 24 |
All issues of morality, of Christianity, of
pleasure, or of
pain must come through a correct or incorrect state
of
thought, since matter is not conscious; then, like a |
| 27 |
watchman forsaking his post, shall we have
no faith in
God, in the divine Mind, thus throwing the door wide
open
to the intruding disease, forgetting that the divine |
| 30 |
Mind, Truth and Life, can guard the
entrance?
We earnestly ask:
Shall we not believe the Scripture,
"The prayer of faith shall save the
sick"? In the seven-
Page
222
|
| 1 |
teenth chapter of the Gospel according to
St. Matthew,
we read that even the disciples of Jesus once failed
mentally |
| 3 |
to cure by their faith and understanding a
violent case of
lunacy. And because of this Jesus rebuked them, saying:
"O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be |
| 6 |
with you ? how long shall I suffer you?
bring him hither to
me." When his disciples asked him why they could
not
heal that case, Jesus, the master Metaphysician, answered, |
| 9 |
"Because of your unbelief" (lack of
faith); and then
continued: "If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence |
| 12 |
to yonder place; and it shall remove." Also
he added:
"This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting"
(refraining from admitting the claims of the senses). |
| 15 |
Even in those dark days Jesus was not
arrested and
executed (for "insanity") because of his faith and
his
great demands on the faith of his followers, but |
| 18 |
he was arrested because, as was said, "he
stirreth
up the people." Be patient, O Christian Scientist!
It is well
that thou canst unloose the sandals of thy |
| 21 |
Master's feet.
The Constitution of
the United States does not provide
that materia medica shall make
laws to regulate man's |
| 24 |
religion; rather does it imply that
religion shall permeate
our laws. Mankind will be God-governed in
proportion
as God's government becomes apparent, the Golden Rule |
| 27 |
utilized, and the rights of man and the
liberty of conscience
held sacred. Meanwhile, they who name the name of
Christian Science will assist in the holding of crime in |
| 30 |
check, will aid the ejection of error,
will maintain law
and order, and will cheerfully await the end - justice
and
judgment.
Page
223
RULES OF CONDUCT
I hereby notify the
public that no comers are received |
| 3 |
at Pleasant View without previous
appointment by letter.
Also that I neither listen to complaints, read
letters, nor
dictate replies to letters which pertain to church diffi- |
| 6 |
culties outside of The Mother Church of
Christ, Scientist,
or to any class of individual discords. Letters from
the
sick are not read by me or by my secretaries. They |
| 9 |
should be sent to the Christian Science
practitioners
whose cards are in The Christian Science Journal.
Letters and
despatches from individuals with whom I |
| 12 |
have no acquaintance and of whom I have no
knowl-
edge, containing questions about secular affairs, I do
not
answer. First, because I have not sufficient time to |
| 15 |
waste on them; second, because I do not
consider myself
capable of instructing persons in regard to that of
which
I know nothing. All such questions are superinduced by |
| 18 |
wrong motives or by "evil suggestions,"
either of which
I do not entertain.
All inquiries,
coming directly or indirectly from a |
| 21 |
member of The Mother Church of Christ,
Scientist, which
relate in any manner to the keeping or the breaking
of one of the Church By-laws, should be addressed to |
| 24 |
the Christian Science Board of Directors
and not to the
Pastor Emeritus.
A
WORD TO THE WISE
|
| 27 |
The hour is imminent. Upon it lie burdens
that
time will remove. Just now divine Love and wisdom
saith, "Be
still, and know that I am God." Do all Chris-
Page
224
|
| 1 |
tian Scientists see or understand the
importance of that
demand at the moment, when human wisdom is inade- |
| 3 |
quate to meet the exigencies of the hour
and when they
should wait on the logic of events?
I respectfully call
your attention to this demand, know- |
| 6 |
ing a little, as I ought, the human need,
the divine com-
mand, the blessing which follows obedience and the bane
which follows disobedience. Hurried conclusions as to |
| 9 |
the public thought are not apt to be
correctly drawn. The
public sentiment is helpful or dangerous only in
proportion
to its right or its wrong concept, and the forward
footsteps |
| 12 |
it impels or the prejudice it instils. This
prejudice the
future must disclose and dispel. Avoid for the immediate
present public debating clubs. Also be sure that you are |
| 15 |
not caught in some author's net, or made
blind to his
loss of the Golden Rule, of which Christian Science is the
predicate and postulate, when he borrows the thoughts, |
| 18 |
words, and classification of one author
without quotation-
marks, at the same time giving full credit to another
more
fashionable but less correct.
|
| 21 |
My books state Christian Science correctly.
They may
not be as taking to those ignorant of this Science as
books
less correct and therefore less profound. But it is |
| 24 |
not safe to accept the latter as standards.
We would not
deny their authors a hearing, since the Scripture
declares,
"He that is not against us is on our part." And we should |
| 27 |
also speak in loving terms of their
efforts, but we cannot
afford to recommend any literature as wholly
Christian
Science which is not absolutely genuine.
|
| 30 |
Beloved students, just now let us adopt
the classic
saying, "They also serve who only stand and wait."
Our
Cause is growing apace under the present persecution
Page
225
|
| 1 |
thereof. This is a crucial hour, in which
the coward and
the hypocrite come to the surface to pass off, while
the |
| 3 |
loyal at heart and the worker in the
spirit of Truth are
rising to the zenith of success, - the "Well done,
good
and faithful," spoken by our Master.
CAPITALIZATION
A correct use of
capital letters in composition caps the
climax of the old "new tongue. "
Christian Science is not |
| 9 |
understood by the writer or the reader who
does not com-
prehend where capital letters should be used in writing
about Christian Science.
|
| 12 |
In divine Science all belongs to God, for
God is All;
hence the propriety of giving unto His holy name
due
deference, - the capitalization which distinguishes |
| 15 |
it from all other names, thus obeying the
leading of our
Lord's Prayer.
The coming of
Christ's kingdom on earth begins in the |
| 18 |
minds of men by honoring God and sacredly
holding His
name apart from the names of that which He creates.
Mankind
almost universally gives to the divine Spirit |
| 21 |
the name God. Christian Science names God
as divine
Principle, Love, the infinite Person. In this, as in all
that is right, Christian Scientists are expected to stick |
| 24 |
to their text, and by no illogical
conclusion, either in
speaking or in writing, to forget their prayer,
"Hallowed
be Thy name."
|
| 27 |
In their textbook it is clearly stated that
God is divine
Principle and that His synonyms are Love, Truth, Life,
Spirit, Mind, Soul, which combine as one. The divine |
| 30 |
Principle includes them all. The word
Principle, when
referring to God, should not be written or used as a
Page
226
|
| 1 |
common noun or in the plural number. To
avoid using
this word incorrectly, use it only where you can substi- |
| 3 |
tute the word God and make sense. This rule
strictly
observed will preserve an intelligent usage of the word
and
convey its meaning in Christian Science.
|
| 6 |
What are termed in common speech the
principle of har-
monious vibration, the principle of conservation of
num-
ber in geometry, the principle of the inclined plane in |
| 9 |
mechanics, etc., are but an effect
of one universal cause, -
an emanation of the one divine intelligent
Principle that
holds the earth in its orbit by evolved spiritual
power, |
| 12 |
that commands the waves and the winds, that
marks the
sparrow's fall, and that governs all from the infinitesimal
to the infinite, - namely, God. Withdraw God, divine |
| 15 |
Principle, from man and the universe, and
man and the
universe would no longer exist. But annihilate matter,
and
man and the universe would remain the forever fact, |
| 18 |
the spiritual "substance of things hoped
for;" and the
evidence of the immortality of man and the cosmos is
sustained by the intelligent divine Principle, Love.
|
| 21 |
Beloved students, in this you learn to
hallow His name,
even as you value His all-power, all-presence,
all-Science,
and depend on Him for your existence.
WHEREFORE?
Our faithful
laborers in the field of Science have
been told by the alert
editor-in-chief of the Christian |
| 27 |
Science Sentinel and Journal
that "Mrs. Eddy advises,
until the public thought becomes better acquainted
with
Christian Science, that Christian Scientists decline to |
| 30 |
doctor infectious or contagious diseases."
Page
227
|
| 1 |
The great Master said, "For which of those
works do
ye stone me?" He said this to satisfy himself regarding |
| 3 |
that which he spake as God's representative
- as one who
never weakened in his own personal sense of righteousness
because of another's wickedness or because of the minify- |
| 6 |
ing of his own goodness by another. Charity
is quite as
rare as wisdom, but when charity does appear, it is known
by its patience and endurance.
|
| 9 |
When, under the protection of State or
United States
laws, good citizens are arrested for manslaughter
because
one out of three of their patients, having the same disease |
| 12 |
and in the same family, dies while the
others recover, we
naturally turn to divine justice for support and wait
on
God. Christian Scientists should be influenced by their |
| 15 |
own judgment in taking a case of malignant
disease.
They should consider well their ability to cope with the
claim, and they should not overlook the fact that there |
| 18 |
are those lying in wait to catch them in
their sayings;
neither should they forget that in their practice,
whether
successful or not, they are not specially protected by
law. |
| 21 |
The above quotation by the editor-in-chief
stands for this:
Inherent justice, constitutional individual rights,
self-
preservation, and the gospel injunction, "Neither cast |
| 24 |
ye your pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under
their feet, and turn again and rend you."
And it stands side
by side with Christ's command, |
| 27 |
"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to
him the other also." I abide by this rule and triumph by
it. The sinner may sneer at this beatitude, for "the fool |
| 30 |
hath said in his heart, There is no God."
Statistics show
that Christian Science cures a larger per cent of
malignant
diseases than does materia medica.
Page
228
|
| 1 |
I call disease by its name and have cured
it thus; so
there is nothing new on this score. My book Science and |
| 3 |
Health names disease, and thousands are
healed by
learning that so-called disease is a sensation of mind, not
of matter. Evil minds signally blunder in divine meta- |
| 6 |
physics; hence I am always saying the
unexpected to
them. The evil mind calls it "skulking," when to me it
is
wisdom to "overcome evil with good." I fail to know |
| 9 |
how one can be a Christian and yet depart
from Christ's
teachings.
SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS
|
| 12 |
Who shall be greatest? Referring to John
the Baptist,
of whom he said none greater had been born of women,
our
Master declared: "He that is least in the kingdom of |
| 15 |
heaven is greater than he." That is, he
that hath the
kingdom of heaven, the reign of holiness, in the least in his
heart, shall be greatest.
|
| 18 |
Who shall inherit the earth? The meek, who
sit at the
feet of Truth, bathing the human understanding with
tears of
repentance and washing it clean from the taints of |
| 21 |
self-righteousness, hypocrisy, envy, -
they shall inherit
the earth, for "wisdom is justified of her children."
"Who shall dwell in
Thy holy hill? He that walketh |
| 24 |
uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the
truth in his heart."
Who shall be called
to Pleasant View? He who strives, |
| 27 |
and attains; who has the divine presumption
to say: "For
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him |
| 30 |
against that day" (St. Paul). It goes
without saying that
such a one was never called to Pleasant View for
penance
Page
229
|
| 1 |
or for reformation; and I call none but
genuine Christian
Scientists, unless I mistake their calling. No
mesmerist |
| 3 |
nor disloyal Christian Scientist is fit to
come hither. I
have no use for such, and there cannot be found at
Pleasant
View one of this sort. "For all that do these things
are |
| 6 |
an abomination unto the Lord: and because
of these
abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from
before
thee." (Deuteronomy 18: 12.)
|
| 9 |
It is true that loyal Christian Scientists,
called to the
home of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science,
can acquire in one year the Science that otherwise might |
| 12 |
cost them a half century. But this should
not be the
incentive for going thither. Better far that Christian
Scientists go to help their helper, and thus lose all selfish- |
| 15 |
ness, as she has lost it, and thereby help
themselves and
the whole world, as she has done, according to this
saying
of Christ Jesus: "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, |
| 18 |
and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
MENTAL DIGESTION
Will those beloved
students, whose growth is taking in |
| 21 |
the Ten Commandments and scaling the steep
ascent of
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, accept profound thanks for
their swift messages of rejoicing over the twentieth cen- |
| 24 |
tury Church Manual? Heaps upon heaps of
praise con-
front me, and for what? That which I said in my heart
would
never be needed, - namely, laws of limitation for a |
| 27 |
Christian Scientist. Thy ways are not as
ours. Thou
knowest best what we need most, - hence my disap-
pointed
hope and grateful joy. The redeemed should be |
| 30 |
happier than the elect. Truth is strong
with destiny;
it takes life profoundly; it measures the infinite
against
Page
230
|
| 1 |
the finite. Notwithstanding the
sacrilegious moth of time,
eternity awaits our Church Manual, which will
maintain |
| 3 |
its rank as in the past, amid ministries
aggressive and
active, and will stand when those have passed to rest.
Scientific pathology
illustrates the digestion of spiritual |
| 6 |
nutriment as both sweet and bitter, - sweet
in expectancy
and bitter in experience or during the senses'
assimilation
thereof, and digested only when Soul silences the
dyspepsia |
| 9 |
of sense. This church is impartial. Its
rules apply not
to one member only, but to one and all equally. Of this
I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will |
| 12 |
increase the spirituality of him who obeys
it, invigorate his
capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn,
and
to awaken the sinner.
TEACHING IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
TO THE
SUPERINTENDENT AND TEACHERS OF THE
MOTHER CHURCH SUNDAY SCHOOL
|
| 18 |
Beloved Students: - I read with
pleasure your approval
of the amendments to Article XIX, Sections 5 and 6,
(1)
in our Church Manual. Be assured that fitness and |
| 21 |
fidelity such as thine in the officials of
my church give
my solitude sweet surcease. It is a joy to know that
they who are faithful over foundational trusts, such as |
| 24 |
the Christian education of the dear
children, will reap
the reward of rightness, rise in the scale of being,
and
realize at last their Master's promise, "And they shall be |
| 27 |
all taught of God."
PLEASANT
VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.,
November 14, 1904
|
| 30 |
(1) Article XX, Sections 2 and 3 in 89th
edition.
Page
231
CHARITY AND INVALIDS
Mrs. Eddy endeavors
to bestow her charities for such |
| 3 |
purposes only as God indicates. Giving
merely in com-
pliance with solicitations or petitions from strangers,
incurs the liability of working in wrong directions. As |
| 6 |
a rule, she has suffered most from those
whom she has
labored much to benefit - also from the undeserving
poor
to whom she has given large sums of money, worse |
| 9 |
than wasted. She has, therefore, finally
resolved to
spend no more time or money in such uncertain, un-
fortunate investments. She has qualified students for |
| 12 |
healing the sick, and has ceased practice
herself in order
to help God's work in other of its highest and
infinite
meanings, as God, not man, directs. Hence, letters from |
| 15 |
invalids demanding her help do not reach
her. They are
committed to the waste-basket by her secretaries.
"Charity suffereth
long and is kind," but wisdom must |
| 18 |
govern charity, else love's labor is lost
and giving is un-
kind. As it is, Mrs. Eddy is constantly receiving
more
important demands on her time and attention than one |
| 21 |
woman is sufficient to supply. It would
therefore be as
unwise for her to undertake new tasks, as for a
landlord
who has not an empty apartment in his house, to receive |
| 24 |
more tenants.
LESSONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
TO THE
OFFICERS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL OF SECOND CHURCH |
| 27 |
OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST, NEW YORK
Beloved Brethren: -You will accept
my thanks for your
interesting report regarding the By-law, "Subject
for |
| 30 |
Lessons" (Article XX, Section 3 of Church
Manual).
Page
232
|
| 1 |
It rejoices me that you are recognizing the
proper course,
unfurling your banner to the breeze of God, and sailing |
| 3 |
over rough seas with the helm in His hands.
Steering
thus, the waiting waves will weave for you their winning
webs
of life in looms of love that line the sacred shores. |
| 6 |
The right way wins the right of way, even
the way of
Truth and Love whereby all our debts are paid, mankind
blessed, and God glorified.
WATCHING versus WATCHING OUT
COMMENT ON AN EDITORIAL WHICH APPEARED IN THE CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE SENTINEL, SEPTEMBER 23, 1905
|
| 12 |
Our Lord and Master left to us the
following sayings as
living lights in our darkness: "What I say unto you I
say
unto all, Watch" (Mark 13: 37); and, "If the goodman |
| 15 |
of the house had known what hour the thief
would come,
he would have watched, and not have suffered his house
to
be broken through." (Luke 12: 39.)
|
| 18 |
Here we ask: Are Christ's teachings the
true authority
for Christian Science? They are. Does the textbook of
Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the |
| 21 |
Scriptures," read on page 252, "A knowledge
of error
and of its operations must precede that understanding
of
Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, |
| 24 |
material error finally disappears, and the
eternal verity,
man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recog-
nized as the true likeness of his Maker"? It does. If |
| 27 |
so-called watching produces fear or
exhaustion and no
good results, does that watch accord with Jesus'
saying?
It does not. Can watching as Christ demands harm |
| 30 |
you? It cannot. Then should not "watching
out"
mean, watching against a negative watch, alias, no
Page
233
|
| 1 |
watch, and gaining the spirit of true
watching, even the
spirit of our Master's command? It must mean that.
|
| 3 |
Is there not something to watch in
yourself, in your
daily life, since "by their fruits ye shall know them,"
which prevents an effective watch? Otherwise, where- |
| 6 |
fore the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from
evil"? And
if this something, when challenged by Truth, frightens
you,
should you not put that out instead of putting |
| 9 |
out your watch? I surely should.
Then are you not
made better by watching? I am. Which should we
prefer,
ease or dis-ease in sin? Is not discomfort from |
| 12 |
sin better adapted to deliver mortals from
the effects of
belief in sin than ease in sin? and can you demonstrate
over the effects of other people's sins by ind]ifference |
| 15 |
thereto? I cannot.
The Scriptures say,
"They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, Peace, |
| 18 |
peace; when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:
14), thus
taking the name of God in vain. Ignorance of self is the
most
stubborn belief to overcome, for apathy, dishonesty, |
| 21 |
sin, follow in its train. One should watch
to know what
his errors are; and if this watching destroys his peace in
error, should one watch against such a result? He should |
| 24 |
not. Our Master said, "He that taketh not
his cross,
and followeth after me, is not worthy of me . . . and he
that loseth his life [his false sense of life] for my sake shall |
| 27 |
find it." (Matthew 10: 38, 39.)
PRINCIPLE OR PERSON?
Do Christian
Scientists love God as much as they love |
| 30 |
mankind? Aye, that's the question. Let us
examine it
for ourselves. Thinking of person implies that one is not
Page
234
|
| 1 |
thinking of Principle, and fifty telegrams
per holiday sig-
nalize the thinking of person. Are the holidays blest
by |
| 3 |
absorbing one's time writing or reading
congratulations?
I cannot watch and pray while reading telegrams; they
only cloud the clear sky, and they give the appearance of |
| 6 |
personal worship which Christian Science
annuls. Did
the dear students know how much I love them, and how
I need
every hour wherein to express this love in labor |
| 9 |
for them, they would gladly give me the
holidays for this
work and not task themselves with mistaken means.
But
God will reward their kind motives, and guide them |
| 12 |
every step of the way from human affection
to spiritual
understanding, from faith to achievement, from light to
Love, from sense to Soul.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND CHINA
Beloved
Student: - The report of the success of
Christian
Science in benighted China, when regarded on one side
|
| 18 |
only, is cheering, but to look at both
sides of the great
question of introducing Christian Science into a
heathen
nation gives the subject quite another aspect. I believe |
| 21 |
that all our great Master's sayings are
practical and
scientific. If the Dowager Empress could hold her
nation,
there would be no danger in teaching Christian |
| 24 |
Science in her country. But a war on
religion in
China would be more fatal than the Boxers' rebellion.
Silent prayer in and for a heathen nation is just what |
| 27 |
is needed. But to teach and to demonstrate
Christian
Science before the minds of the people are prepared
for it,
and when the laws are against it, is fraught with |
| 30 |
danger.
Page
235
INCONSISTENCY
To teach the truth
of life without using the word |
| 3 |
death, the suppositional opposite of life,
were as impos-
sible as to define truth and not name its opposite,
error.
Straining at gnats, one may swallow camels.
|
| 6 |
The tender mother, guided by love, faithful
to her in-
stincts, and adhering to the imperative rules of Science,
asks herself: Can I teach my child the correct numer- |
| 9 |
ation of numbers and never name a cipher?
Knowing
that she cannot do this in mathematics, she should know
that
it cannot be done in metaphysics, and so she should |
| 12 |
definitely name the error, uncover it, and
teach truth
scientifically.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
|
| 15 |
Is God infinite? Yes. Did God make man?
Yes.
Did God make all that was made? He did. Is God
Spirit? He is. Did
infinite Spirit make that which is |
| 18 |
not spiritual? No. Who or what made matter?
Matter
as substance or intelligence never was made. Is mortal
man a
creator, is he matter or spirit ? Neither one. Why? |
| 21 |
Because Spirit is God and infinite;
hence there can be
no other creator and no other creation. Man is but
His
image and likeness.
|
| 24 |
Are you a Christian Scientist? I am. Do you
adopt
as truth the above statements? I do. Then why this
meaningless
commemoration of birthdays, since there are |
| 27 |
none?
Had I known what was
being done in time to have
prevented it, that which commemorated in deed or
in |
| 30 |
word what is not true, would never have
entered into the
Page
236
|
| 1 |
history of our church buildings. Let us
have no more of
echoing dreams. Will the beloved students accept my |
| 3 |
full heart's love for them and their kind
thoughts.
NOTA BENE
My Beloved
Christian Scientists: - Because I
suggested |
| 6 |
the name for one central Reading Room, and
this name
continues to be multiplied, you will permit me to make
the
amende honorable - notwithstanding "incompetence" |
| 9 |
- and to say, please adopt generally for
your name,
Christian Science Reading Room. An old axiom says:
Too much
of one thing spoils the whole. Too many |
| 12 |
centres may become equivalent to no
centre.
Here I have the joy
of knowing that Christian Scientists
will exchange the present name for the
one which I sug- |
| 15 |
gest, with the sweet alacrity and
uniformity with which
they accepted the first name.
Merely this
appellative seals the question of unity, and |
| 18 |
opens wide on the amplitude of liberty and
love a far-
reaching motive and success, of which we can say, the
more
the better.
|
| 21 |
PLEASANT
VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.
JULY 8, 1907
TAKE NOTICE
|
| 24 |
I request the Christian Scientists
universally to read
the paragraph beginning at line 30 of page 442 in
the
edition of Science and Health which will be issued Febru- |
| 27 |
ary 29 [1908]. I consider the information
there given to
be of great importance at this stage of the workings of
animal magnetism, and it will greatly aid the students in |
| 30 |
their individual experiences.
Page
237
|
| 1 |
The contemplated reference in Science and
Health to
the "higher criticism" announced in the Sentinel a
few |
| 3 |
weeks ago, I have since decided not to
publish.
TAKE NOTICE
What I wrote on
Christian Science some twenty-five |
| 6 |
years ago I do not consider a precedent for
a present
student of this Science. The best mathematician has
not
attained the full understanding of the principle |
| 9 |
thereof, in his earliest studies or
discoveries. Hence, it
were wise to accept only my teachings that I know
to
be correct and adapted to the present demand.
TAKE NOTICE
To Christian
Scientists: - See Science and Health, page
442, line 30, and give daily attention thereto.
PRACTITIONERS' CHARGES
Christian Science
practitioners should make their
charges for treatment equal to those of
reputable phy- |
| 18 |
sicians in their respective localities.
BROOKLINE,
MASS., December 24, 1909
TAKE NOTICE
|
| 21 |
The article on the Church Manual by Blanche
Hersey
Hogue, in the Sentinel of September 10 [1910] is practi-
cal and scientific, and I recommend its careful study to all |
| 24 |
Christian Scientists.
Page
238
CHAPTER XI - QUESTIONS ANSWERED
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Will the Bible,
if read and practised, heal as effectually |
| 3 |
as your book, "Science and Health with
Key to the
Scriptures"?
THE exact degree of
comparison between the effects |
| 6 |
produced by reading the above-named books
can
only be determined by personal proof. Rightly to read
and to
practise the Scriptures, their spiritual sense must |
| 9 |
be discerned, understood, and demonstrated.
God being
Spirit, His language and meaning are wholly spiritual.
Uninspired knowledge of the translations of the Scriptures |
| 12 |
has imparted little power to practise the
Word. Hence
the revelation, discovery, and presentation of Christian
Science - the Christ Science, or "new tongue" of which |
| 15 |
St. Mark prophesied - became requisite in
the divine
order. On the swift pinions of spiritual thought man
rises
above the letter, law, or morale of the inspired Word |
| 18 |
to the spirit of Truth, whereby the Science
is reached
that demonstrates God. When the Bible is thus read
and
practised, there is no possibility of misinterpreta- |
| 21 |
tion. God is understandable, knowable, and
applicable
to every human need. In this is the proof that Chris-
tian
Science is Science, for it demonstrates Life, not
Page
239
|
| 1 |
death; health, not disease; Truth, not
error; Love, not
hate. The Science of the Scriptures coexists with
God; |
| 3 |
and "Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures"
relegates Christianity to its primitive proof, wherein
reason, revelation, the divine Principle, rules, and prac- |
| 6 |
tice of Christianity acquaint the student
with God. In
the ratio that Christian Science is studied and under-
stood, mankind will, as aforetime, imbibe the spirit and |
| 9 |
prove the practicality, validity, and
redemptive power of
Christianity by healing all manner of disease, by
over-
coming sin and death.
|
| 12 |
Must mankind wait for the ultimate of
the millennium -
until every man and woman comes into the knowledge of
Christ and all are taught of God and see their apparent |
| 15 |
identity as one man and one woman - for
God to be
represented by His idea or image and likeness?
God is one, and His
idea, image, or likeness, man, is one. |
| 18 |
But God is infinite and so includes
all in one. Man is the
generic term for men and women. Man, as the
idea or
image and likeness of the infinite God, is a compound, com- |
| 21 |
plex idea or likeness of the infinite
one, or one infinite,
whose image is the reflection of all that is
real and eternal
in infinite identity. Gender means a kind. Hence
man- |
| 24 |
kind - in other words, a kind of man who is
identi-
fied by sex - is the material, so-called man born of the
flesh,
and is not the spiritual man, created by God, |
| 27 |
Spirit, who made all that was made. The
millennium
is a state and stage of mental advancement, going
on since
ever time was. Its impetus, accelerated by |
| 30 |
the advent of Christian Science, is
marked, and will
Page
240
|
| 1 |
increase till all men shall know Him
(divine Love) from
the least to the greatest, and one God and the
brother- |
| 3 |
hood of man shall be known and
acknowledged through-
out the earth.
THE HIGHER CRITICISM
|
| 6 |
An earnest student writes to me: "Would it
be asking
too much of you to explain more fully why you call Chris-
tian Science the higher criticism?"
|
| 9 |
I called Christian Science the higher
criticism in my
dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, June 10,
1906,
when I said, "This Science is a law of divine Mind, |
| 12 |
. . . an ever-present help. Its presence is
felt, for it
acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of
hope, faith, understanding."
|
| 15 |
I now repeat another proof, namely, that
Christian
Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil,
disease, and death - all that is unlike God, good - on a |
| 18 |
Scriptural basis, and approves or
disapproves according
to the word of God. In the next edition of Science
and
Health I shall refer to this. |
| 21 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
CLASS TEACHING
Mrs. Eddy thus
replies, through her student, Mr. |
| 24 |
Adam Dickey, to the question, Does Mrs.
Eddy approve
of class teaching: -
Yes! She most
assuredly does, when the teaching is |
| 27 |
done by those who are duly qualified, who
have re-
ceived certificates from the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College or the Board of Education, and who have the
Page
241
|
| 1 |
necessary moral and spiritual
qualifications to perform
this important work. Class teaching will not be
abol- |
| 3 |
ished until it has accomplished that for
which it was
established; viz., the elucidation of the Principle and
rule of Christian Science through the higher meaning |
| 6 |
of the Scriptures. Students who are ready
for this
step should beware the net that is craftily laid and cun-
ningly concealed to prevent their advancement in this |
| 9 |
direction.
INSTRUCTION BY MRS. EDDY
We are glad to have
the privilege of publishing an ex- |
| 12 |
tract from a letter to Mrs. Eddy, from a
Christian Scien-
tist in the West, and Mrs. Eddy's reply thereto. The
issue raised is an important one and one upon which |
| 15 |
there should be absolute and correct
teaching. Christian
Scientists are fortunate to receive instruction from
their
Leader on this point. The question and Mrs. Eddy's |
| 18 |
reply follow.
"Last evening I was
catechized by a Christian Science
practitioner because I referred to myself
as an immortal |
| 21 |
idea of the one divine Mind. The
practitioner said that
my statement was wrong, because I still lived in
my
flesh. I replied that I did not live in my flesh, that |
| 24 |
my flesh lived or died according to the
beliefs I enter-
tained about it; but that, after coming to the light
of
Truth, I had found that I lived and moved and had |
| 27 |
my being in God, and to obey Christ was
not to know
as real the beliefs of an earthly mortal. Please give the
truth in the Sentinel, so that all may know it."
Page
242
Mrs. Eddy's Reply
You are
scientifically correct in your statement about |
| 3 |
yourself. You can never demonstrate
spirituality until you
declare yourself to be immortal and understand
that
you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither |
| 6 |
behind the point of perfection nor
advancing towards
it; it is at this point and must be practised
therefrom.
Unless you fully perceive that you are the child |
| 9 |
of God, hence perfect, you have no
Principle to demon-
strate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I
do not mean that mortals are the children of God, - |
| 12 |
far from it. In practising Christian
Science you must
state its Principle correctly, or you forfeit your
ability
to demonstrate it.
TAKE NOTICE
I hereby announce to
the Christian Science field that
all inquiries or information relating to
Christian Science |
| 18 |
practice, to publication committee work,
reading-room
work, or to Mother Church membership, should be sent
to
the Christian Science Board of Directors of The |
| 21 |
Mother Church; and I have requested my
secretary
not to make inquiries on these subjects, nor to reply to
any
received, but to leave these duties to the Clerk of |
| 24 |
The Mother Church, to whom they belong.
MARY BAKER EDDY
September
28, 1910
Page 243
CHAPTER XII - READERS, TEACHERS, LECTURERS
THE NEW YORK CHURCHES
MY BELOVED STUDENTS:
- According to reports, the |
| 3 |
belief is springing up among you that the
several
churches in New York City should come together and
form one
church. This is a suggestion of error, which |
| 6 |
should be silenced at its inception. You
cannot have lost
sight of the rules for branch churches as published in
our
Church Manual. The Empire City is large, and there |
| 9 |
should be more than one church in it.
The Readers of The
Church of Christ, Scientist, hold
important, responsible offices, and two
individuals would |
| 12 |
meet meagrely the duties of half a dozen or
more of the
present incumbents. I have not yet had the privilege of
knowing two students who are adequate to take charge |
| 15 |
of three or more churches. The students in
New York
and elsewhere will see that it is wise to remain in their
own
fields of labor and give all possible time and attention |
| 18 |
to caring for their own flocks.
THE NOVEMBER CLASS, 1898
Beloved Christian
Scientists: - Your prompt presence
in |
| 21 |
Concord at my unexplained call witnesses
your fidelity
to Christian Science and your spiritual unity with your
Page
244
|
| 1 |
Leader. I have awaited your arrival before
informing
you of my purpose in sending for you, in order to avoid |
| 3 |
the stir that might be occasioned among
those who wish
to share this opportunity and to whom I would gladly
give it at this time if a larger class were advantageous |
| 6 |
to the students.
You have been
invited hither to receive from me one or
more lessons on Christian Science,
prior to conferring on |
| 9 |
any or all of you who are ready for it, the
degree of C.S.D.,
of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. This
oppor-
tunity is designed to impart a fresh impulse to our spiritual |
| 12 |
attainments, the great need of which I
daily discern.
I have awaited the right hour, and to be called of God
to contribute my part towards this result.
|
| 15 |
The "secret place," whereof David sang, is
unquestion-
ably man's spiritual state in God's own image and like-
ness, even the inner sanctuary of divine Science, in which |
| 18 |
mortals do not enter without a struggle or
sharp experi-
ence, and in which they put off the human for the divine.
Knowing this, our Master said: "Many are called, but few |
| 21 |
are chosen." In the highest sense of a
disciple, all loyal
students of my books are indeed my students, and
your
wise, faithful teachers have come so to regard them.
|
| 24 |
What I have to say may not require more
than one
lesson. This, however, must depend on results. But
the lessons
will certainly not exceed three in number. |
| 27 |
No charge will be made for my services.
MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE
The Massachusetts
Metaphysical College of Boston, |
| 30 |
Massachusetts, was chartered A.D. 1881. As
the people
observed the success of this Christian system of heal-
Page
245
|
| 1 |
ing all manner of disease, over and above
the approved
schools of medicine, they became deeply interested |
| 3 |
in it. Now the wide demand for this
universal bene-
fice is imperative, and it should be met as heretofore,
cautiously, systematically, scientifically. This Chris- |
| 6 |
tian educational system is established on a
broad and
liberal basis. Law and order characterize its work
and
secure a thorough preparation of the student for |
| 9 |
practice.
The growth of human
inquiry and the increasing pop-
ularity of Christian Science, I regret to
say, have called |
| 12 |
out of their hiding-places those poisonous
reptiles and de-
vouring beasts, superstition and jealousy. Towards the
animal elements manifested in ignorance, persecution, |
| 15 |
and lean glory, and to their Babel of
confusion worse
confounded, let Christian Scientists be charitable. Let
the voice of Truth and Love be heard above the dire |
| 18 |
din of mortal nothingness, and the majestic
march of
Christian Science go on ad infinitum, praising God,
doing the works of primitive Christianity, and enlighten- |
| 21 |
ing the world.
To protect the
public, students of the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College have received
certificates, and these |
| 24 |
credentials are still required of all who
claim to teach
Christian Science.
Inquiries have been
made as to the precise significa- |
| 27 |
tion of the letters of degrees that follow
the names of
Christian Scientists. They indicate, respectively, the
degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Christian Science, |
| 30 |
conferred by the President or
Vice-President of the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. The first
degree
(C.S.B.) is given to students of the Primary class; the
Page
246
|
| 1 |
second degree (C.S.D.) is given to those
who, after
receiving the first degree, continue for three years as |
| 3 |
practitioners of Christian Science in good
and regular
standing.
Students who enter
the Massachusetts Metaphys- |
| 6 |
ical College, or are examined under its
auspices by
the Board of Education, must be well educated and
have
practised Christian Science three years with good |
| 9 |
success.
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
In the year 1889, to
gain a higher hope for the race, I |
| 12 |
closed my College in the midst of
unprecedented pros-
perity, left Boston, and sought in solitude and silence
a
higher understanding of the absolute scientific unity which |
| 15 |
must exist between the teaching and letter
of Christianity
and the spirit of Christianity, dwelling forever in the
divine Mind or Principle of man's being and revealed |
| 18 |
through the human character.
While revising
"Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," the light and might of the
divine concur- |
| 21 |
rence of the spirit and the Word appeared,
and the
result is an auxiliary to the College called the Board of
Education of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, |
| 24 |
in Boston, Mass.
Our Master said:
"What I do thou knowest not now;
but thou shalt know hereafter;" and the
spirit of his |
| 27 |
mission, the wisdom of his words, and the
immortal-
ity of his works are the same to-day as yesterday and
forever.
|
| 30 |
The Magna Charta of Christian Science
means much,
Page
247
|
| 1 |
multum in parvo, - all-in-one and
one-in-all. It stands
for the inalienable, universal rights of men.
Essentially |
| 3 |
democratic, its government is administered
by the
common consent of the governed, wherein and whereby
man
governed by his creator is self-governed. The |
| 6 |
church is the mouthpiece of Christian
Science, - its
law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; its rules
are health, holiness, and immortality, - equal rights and |
| 9 |
privileges, equality of the sexes,
rotation in office.
TO
A FIRST READER
Beloved
Student: - Christ is meekness and
Truth |
| 12 |
enthroned. Put on the robes of Christ, and
you will
be lifted up and will draw all men unto you. The
little fishes
in my fountain must have felt me when I |
| 15 |
stood silently beside it, for they came out
in orderly
line to the rim where I stood. Then I fed these
sweet
little thoughts that, not fearing me, sought their |
| 18 |
food of me.
God has called
you to be a fisher of men. It is not a
stern but a loving look which brings
forth mankind to
|
| 21 |
receive your bestowal, - not so much
eloquence as tender
persuasion that takes away their fear,
for it is Love alone
that feeds them.
|
| 24 |
Do you come to your little flock so filled
with divine
food that you cast your bread upon the waters? Then
be sure
that after many or a few days it will return |
| 27 |
to you.
The little that I
have accomplished has all been
done through love, - self-forgetful,
patient, unfaltering |
| 30 |
tenderness.
Page
248
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF LECTURESHIP
Beloved
Students: - I am more than satisfied with
your |
| 3 |
work: its grandeur almost surprises me. Let
your watch-
word always be:
"Great, not like Caesar, stained with blood, |
| 6 |
But only
great as I am good."
You are not setting up to be great; you are here
for the
purpose of grasping and defining the demonstrable, the |
| 9 |
eternal. Spiritual heroes and prophets are
they whose
new-old birthright is to put an end to falsities in a wise
way and to proclaim Truth so winningly that an honest, |
| 12 |
fervid affection for the race is found
adequate for the
emancipation of the race.
You are the needed
and the inevitable sponsors for the |
| 15 |
twentieth century, reaching deep down into
the univer-
sal and rising above theorems into the transcendental,
the
infinite - yea, to the reality of God, man, nature, |
| 18 |
the universe. No fatal circumstance of
idolatry can fold
or falter your wings. No fetishism with a symbol can
fetter your flight. You soar only as uplifted by God's |
| 21 |
power, or you fall for lack of the divine
impetus. You
know that to conceive God aright you must be good.
The Christ mode of
understanding Life - of extermi- |
| 24 |
nating sin and suffering and their penalty,
death - I
have largely committed to you, my faithful witnesses.
You go
forth to face the foe with loving look and with the |
| 27 |
religion and philosophy of labor, duty,
liberty, and love,
to challenge universal indifference, chance, and
creeds.
Your highest inspiration is found nearest the divine |
| 30 |
Principle and nearest the scientific
expression of Truth.
Page
249
|
| 1 |
You may condemn evil in the abstract
without harming
any one or your own moral sense, but condemn persons |
| 3 |
seldom, if ever. Improve every opportunity
to correct
sin through your own perfectness. When error strives to
be
heard above Truth, let the "still small voice" produce |
| 6 |
God's phenomena. Meet dispassionately the
raging ele-
ment of individual hate and counteract its most gigantic
falsities.
|
| 9 |
The moral abandon of hating even one's
enemies ex-
cludes goodness. Hate is a moral idiocy let loose for
one's own destruction. Unless withstood, the heat of |
| 12 |
hate burns the wheat, spares the tares, and
sends forth a
mental miasma fatal to health, happiness, and the morals
of mankind, - and all this only to satiate its loathing of |
| 15 |
love and its revenge on the patience,
silence, and lives
of saints. The marvel is, that at this enlightened
period
a respectable newspaper should countenance such evil |
| 18 |
tendencies.
Millions may know
that I am the Founder of Chris-
tian Science. I alone know what that
means.
READERS IN CHURCH
The report that I
prefer to have a man, rather than
a woman, for First Reader in The Church
of Christ, |
| 24 |
Scientist, I desire to correct. My
preference lies with
the individual best fitted to perform this
important
function. If both the First and Second Readers are my |
| 27 |
students, then without reference to sex I
should prefer
that student who is most spiritually-minded. What our
churches need is that devout, unselfed quality of thought |
| 30 |
which spiritualizes the congregation.
Page
250
WORDS FOR THE WISE
The By-law of The
Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, |
| 3 |
relative to a three years' term for church
Readers, was
entitled to and has received profound attention. Rotation
in office promotes wisdom, quiets mad ambition, satisfies |
| 6 |
justice, and crowns honest endeavors.
The best Christian
Scientists will be the first to adopt
this By-law in their churches, and
their Readers will |
| 9 |
retire ex officio, after three years
of acceptable service as
church Readers, to higher usefulness in this vast
vineyard
of our Lord.
|
| 12 |
The churches who adopt this By-law will
please send
to the Editor of our periodicals notice of their action.
AFTERGLOW
|
| 15 |
Beloved Students: - The By-law of
The Mother
Church of Christ, Scientist, stipulating three years as
the
term for its Readers, neither binds nor compels the |
| 18 |
branch churches to follow suit; and the
By-law applies
only to Christian Science churches in the United States
and Canada. Doubtless the churches adopting this |
| 21 |
By-law will discriminate as regards its
adaptability to
their conditions. But if now is not the time, the
branch
churches can wait for the favored moment to act on this |
| 24 |
subject.
I rest peacefully in
knowing that the impulsion of this
action in The Mother Church was from
above. So I have |
| 27 |
faith that whatever is done in this
direction by the branch
churches will be blest. The Readers who have filled
this
sacred office many years, have beyond it duties and
Page
251
|
| 1 |
attainments beckoning them. What these are
I cannot
yet say. The great Master saith: "What I do thou |
| 3 |
knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter."
TEACHERS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
I reply to the
following question from unknown ques- |
| 6 |
tioners:
"Are the students,
whom I have taught, obliged to
take both Primary and Normal class
instruction in the |
| 9 |
Board of Education in order to become
teachers of Pri-
mary classes?"
No, not if you and
they are loyal Christian Scientists, |
| 12 |
and not if, after examination in the Board
of Education,
your pupils are found eligible to enter the Normal
class,
which at present is taught in the Board of Education |
| 15 |
only.
There is
evidently some misapprehension of my meaning
as to the mode of instruction
in the Board of Education.
|
| 18 |
A Primary student of mine can teach pupils
the prac-
tice of Christian Science, and after three years of good
practice, my Primary student can himself be examined in |
| 21 |
the Board of Education, and if found
eligible, receive a
certificate of the degree C.S.D.
THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS, 1903
|
| 24 |
My Beloved Students: - I call you
mine, for all is Thine
and mine. What God gives, elucidates, armors, and
tests
in His service, is ours; and we are His. You have con- |
| 27 |
vened only to convince yourselves of this
grand verity:
namely, the unity in Christian Science. Cherish stead-
fastly this fact. Adhere to the teachings of the Bible,
Page
252
|
| 1 |
Science and Health, and our Manual, and you
will obey
the law and gospel. Have one God and you will |
| 3 |
have no devil. Keep yourselves busy with
divine Love.
Then you will be toilers like the bee, always distributing
sweet things which, if bitter to sense, will be salutary as |
| 6 |
Soul; but you will not be like the spider,
which weaves
webs that ensnare.
Rest assured that
the good you do unto others you do |
| 9 |
to yourselves as well, and the wrong you
may commit
must, will, rebound upon you. The entire purpose of
true
education is to make one not only know the truth |
| 12 |
but live it - to make one enjoy doing
right, make one
not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but
work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and |
| 15 |
wait on God, the strong deliverer, who
will reward right-
eousness and punish iniquity. "As thy days, so shall thy
strength be."
THE LONDON TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, 1903
Beloved
Students: - Your letter and dottings are
an
oasis in my wilderness. They point to verdant pastures, |
| 21 |
and are already rich rays from the eternal
sunshine of
Love, lighting and leading humanity into paths of peace
and
holiness.
|
| 24 |
Your "Thanksgiving Day," instituted in
England on
New Year's Day, was a step in advance. It expressed
your
thanks, and gave to the "happy New Year" a higher |
| 27 |
hint. You are not aroused to this action by
the allure-
ments of wealth, pride, or power; the impetus comes from
above - it is moral, spiritual, divine. All hail to this |
| 30 |
higher hope that neither slumbers nor is
stilled by the
cold impulse of a lesser gain!
Page
253
|
| 1 |
It rejoices me to know that you know that
healing
the sick, soothing sorrow, brightening this lower sphere |
| 3 |
with the ways and means of the higher and
everlasting
harmony, brings to light the perfect original man and uni-
verse. What nobler achievement, what greater glory can |
| 6 |
nerve your endeavor? Press on! My heart
and hope
are with you.
"Thou art
not here for ease or pain, |
| 9 |
But
manhood's glorious crown to gain."
THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS, 1904
Beloved
Brethren: - I thank you. Jesus said:
"The |
| 12 |
world hath not known Thee: but I have
known Thee,
and these have known that Thou hast sent me."
THE CANADIAN TEACHERS, 1904
|
| 15 |
Beloved Brethren: - Accept my love
and these words
of Jesus: "Holy Father, keep through Thine own name
those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, |
| 18 |
as we are."
STUDENTS IN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DECEMBER, 1904
|
| 21 |
Beloved Students: - You will accept
my profound
thanks for your letter and telegram. If wishing is wise,
I
send with this a store of wisdom in three words: God |
| 24 |
bless you. If faith is fruition, you have
His rich blessing
already and my joy therewith.
We understand best
that which begins in ourselves |
| 27 |
and by education brightens into birth.
Dare to be
faithful to God and man. Let the creature become
Page
254
|
| 1 |
one with his creator, and mysticism
departs, heaven
opens, right reigns, and you have begun to be a Chris- |
| 3 |
tian Scientist.
THE MAY CLASS, 1905
Beloved: - I am glad you enjoy
the dawn of Christian |
| 6 |
Science; you must reach its meridian.
Watch, pray,
demonstrate. Released from materialism, you shall run
and
not be weary, walk and not faint.
THE DECEMBER CLASS, 1905
Beloved
Students: - Responding to your kind
letter,
let me say: You will reap the sure reward of right
think- |
| 12 |
ing and acting, of watching and praying,
and you will
find the ever-present God an ever-present help. I
thank
the faithful teacher of this class and its dear |
| 15 |
members.
"ROTATION IN OFFICE"
Dear
Leader: - May we have permission to print,
as |
| 18 |
a part of the preamble to our By-laws, the
following
extract from your article "Christian Science Board of
Education" in the June Journal of 1904, page 184: -
|
| 21 |
"The Magna Charta of Christian Science
means
much, multum in parvo, - all-in-one and one-in-all. It
stands for the inalienable, universal rights of men. |
| 24 |
Essentially democratic, its government is
administered
by the common consent of the governed, wherein and
whereby
man governed by his creator is self-governed. |
| 27 |
The church is the mouthpiece of Christian
Science,
- its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus;
Page
255
|
| 1 |
its rules are health, holiness, and
immortality, - equal
rights and privileges, equality of the sexes,
rotation |
| 3 |
in office."
Mrs. Eddy's Reply
Christian Science
churches have my consent to publish |
| 6 |
the foregoing in their By-laws. By
"rotation in office"
I do not mean that minor officers who are filling
their
positions satisfactorily should be removed every three |
| 9 |
years, or be elevated to offices for which
they are not
qualified.
CHESTNUT
HILL, MASS., |
| 12 |
March 6,
1909
Page
256
CHAPTER XIII - CHRISTMAS
EARLY CHIMES, DECEMBER, 1898
BEFORE the Christmas
bells shall ring, allow me |
| 3 |
to improvise some new notes, not specially
musi-
cal to be sure, but admirably adapted to the key of my
feeling
and emphatically phrasing strict observance or |
| 6 |
note well.
This year, my
beloved Christian Scientists, you must
grant me my request that I be
permitted total exemption |
| 9 |
from Christmas gifts. Also I beg to send to
you all a
deep-drawn, heartfelt breath of thanks for those things
of
beauty and use forming themselves in your thoughts |
| 12 |
to send to your Leader. Thus may I close
the door of
mind on this subject, and open the volume of Life on
the
pure pages of impersonal presents, pleasures, achieve- |
| 15 |
ments, and aid.
CHRISTMAS, 1900
Again loved
Christmas is here, full of divine benedic- |
| 18 |
tions and crowned with the dearest memories
in human
history - the earthly advent and nativity of our Lord
and
Master. At this happy season the veil of time |
| 21 |
springs aside at the touch of Love. We
count our bless-
ings and see whence they came and whither they tend.
Parents call home their loved ones, the Yule-fires burn, |
| 24 |
the festive boards are spread, the gifts
glow in the dark
Page
257
|
| 1 |
green branches of the Christmas-tree. But
alas for the
broken household band! God give to them more of |
| 3 |
His dear love that heals the wounded
heart.
To-day the watchful
shepherd shouts his welcome over
the new cradle of an old truth. This truth
has traversed |
| 6 |
night, through gloom to glory, from cradle
to crown. To
the awakened consciousness, the Bethlehem babe has left
his swaddling-clothes (material environments) for the |
| 9 |
farm and comeliness of the divine ideal,
which has passed
from a corporeal to the spiritual sense of Christ and
is
winning the heart of humanity with ineffable tenderness. |
| 12 |
The Christ is speaking for himself and for
his mother,
Christ's heavenly origin and aim. To-day the Christ is,
more than ever before, "the way, the truth, and the |
| 15 |
life," - "which lighteth every man that
cometh into the
world," healing all sorrow, sickness, and sin. To this
auspicious Christmastide, which hallows the close of the |
| 18 |
nineteenth century, our hearts are kneeling
humbly. We
own his grace, reviving and healing. At this immortal
hour,
all human hate, pride, greed, lust should bow and |
| 21 |
declare Christ's power, and the reign of
Truth and Life
divine should make man's being pure and blest.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS
|
| 24 |
Beloved Students: - For your
manifold Christmas memo-
rials, too numerous to name, I group you in one
benison
and send you my Christmas gift, two words enwrapped, |
| 27 |
- love and thanks.
To-day Christian
Scientists have their record in the
monarch's palace, the Alpine hamlet,
the Christian trav- |
| 30 |
eller's resting-place. Wherever the child
looks up in
Page
258
|
| 1 |
prayer, or the Book of Life is loved, there
the sinner is
reformed and the sick are healed. Those are the "signs |
| 3 |
following." What is it that lifts a system
of religion to
deserved fame? Nothing is worthy the name of religion
save one lowly offering - love.
|
| 6 |
This period, so fraught with opposites,
seems illumi-
nated for woman's hope with divine light. It bids her
bind the tenderest tendril of the heart to all of holiest |
| 9 |
worth. To the woman at the sepulchre, bowed
in strong
affection's anguish, one word, "Mary," broke the gloom
with
Christ's all-conquering love. Then came her resurrec- |
| 12 |
tion and task of glory, to know and to do
God's will, -
in the words of St. Paul: "Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set be- |
| 15 |
fore him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
The memory of the
Bethlehem babe bears to mortals |
| 18 |
gifts greater than those of Magian kings, -
hopes that
cannot deceive, that waken prophecy, gleams of glory,
coronals of meekness, diadems of love. Nor should they |
| 21 |
who drink their Master's cup repine over
blossoms that
mock their hope and friends that forsake. Divinely
beautiful are the Christmas memories of him who sounded |
| 24 |
all depths of love, grief, death, and
humanity.
To the dear children
let me say: Your Christmas gifts
are hallowed by our Lord's blessing. A
transmitted |
| 27 |
charm rests on them. May this consciousness
of God's
dear love for you give you the might of love, and may
you move
onward and upward, lowly in its majesty.
|
| 30 |
To the children who sent me that beautiful
statuette
in alabaster - a child with finger on her lip reading a book
- I write: Fancy yourselves with me; take a peep into
Page
259
|
| 1 |
my studio; look again at your gift, and you
will see the
sweetest sculptured face and form conceivable, mounted |
| 3 |
on its pedestal between my bow windows,
and on either
side lace and flowers. I have named it my white
student.
From First Church of
Christ, Scientist, in London, |
| 6 |
Great Britain, I received the following
cabled message: -
REV. MRS. EDDY, PLEASANT VIEW,
Concord, N.
H.
|
| 9 |
Loving, grateful Christmas greetings from
members
London, England, church.
December 24,
1901
|
| 12 |
To this church across the sea I return my
heart's wire-
less love. All our dear churches' Christmas telegrams to
me are refreshing and most pleasing Christmas presents, |
| 15 |
for they require less attention than
packages and give me
more time to think and work for others. I hope that
in
1902 the churches will remember me only thus. Do not |
| 18 |
forget that an honest, wise zeal, a lowly,
triumphant
trust, a true heart, and a helping hand constitute man,
and
nothing less is man or woman.
|
| 21 |
[New York World]
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS
Certain occasions,
considered either collectively or |
| 24 |
individually and observed properly, tend to
give the
activity of man infinite scope; but mere merry-making
or
needless gift-giving is not that in which human capac- |
| 27 |
ities find the most appropriate and proper
exercise.
Christmas respects the Christ too much to submerge
itself in
merely temporary means and ends. It represents |
| 30 |
the eternal informing Soul recognized only
in harmony,
Page
260
|
| 1 |
in the beauty and bounty of Life
everlasting, - in the
truth that is Life, the Life that heals and saves
man- |
| 3 |
kind. An eternal Christmas would make
matter an alien
save as phenomenon, and matter would reverentially
withdraw itself before Mind. The despotism of material |
| 6 |
sense or the flesh would flee before such
reality, to make
room for substance, and the shadow of frivolity and
the
inaccuracy of material sense would disappear.
|
| 9 |
In Christian Science, Christmas stands for
the real, the
absolute and eternal, - for the things of Spirit, not of mat-
ter. Science is divine; it hath no partnership with human |
| 12 |
means and ends, no half-way stations.
Nothing condi-
tional or material belongs to it. Human reason and phi-
losophy may pursue paths devious, the line of liquids, the |
| 15 |
lure of gold, the doubtful sense that
falls short of sub-
stance, the things hoped for and the evidence
unseen.
The basis of
Christmas is the rock, Christ Jesus; its |
| 18 |
fruits are inspiration and spiritual
understanding of joy
and rejoicing, - not because of tradition, usage, or
cor-
poreal pleasures, but because of fundamental and de- |
| 21 |
monstrable truth, because of the heaven
within us. The
basis of Christmas is love loving its enemies, returning
good for evil, love that "suffereth long, and is kind." The |
| 24 |
true spirit of Christmas elevates medicine
to Mind; it
casts out evils, heals the sick, raises the dormant facul-
ties, appeals to all conditions, and supplies every need of |
| 27 |
man. It leaves hygiene, medicine, ethics,
and religion
to God and His Christ, to that which is the Way, in word
and in deed, - the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
|
| 30 |
There is but one Jesus Christ on record.
Christ is
incorporeal. Neither the you nor the I in the flesh can
be or
is Christ.
Page
261
CHRISTMAS FOR THE CHILDREN
Methinks the loving
parents and guardians of youth |
| 3 |
ofttimes query: How shall we cheer the
children's Christ-
mas and profit them withal? The wisdom of their
elders,
who seek wisdom of God, seems to have amply provided |
| 6 |
for this, according to the custom of the
age and to the full
supply of juvenile joy. Let it continue thus with
one
exception: the children should not be taught to believe |
| 9 |
that Santa Claus has aught to do with this
pastime. A
deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be
done
towards guarding and guiding well the germinating |
| 12 |
and inclining thought of childhood. To
mould aright
the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetu-
ating
purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man |
| 15 |
in His image and likeness. St. Paul wrote,
"When I
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a
child, . . .
but when I became a man, I put away |
| 18 |
childish things."
PLEASANT VIEW,
CONCORD, N. H.,
December 28, 1905
|
| 21 |
[Ladies' Home Journal]
WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME
To me Christmas
involves an open secret, understood |
| 24 |
by few - or by none - and unutterable
except in Chris-
tian Science. Christ was not born of the flesh. Christ
is the Truth and Life born of God - born of Spirit and |
| 27 |
not of matter. Jesus, the Galilean
Prophet, was born
of the Virgin Mary's spiritual thoughts of Life and
its
manifestation.
Page
262
|
| 1 |
God creates man perfect and eternal in His
own image.
Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection |
| 3 |
- an ideal which cannot fall from its
inherent unity
with divine Love, from its spotless purity and original
perfection.
|
| 6 |
Observed by material sense, Christmas
commemorates
the birth of a human, material, mortal babe - a babe
born
in a manger amidst the flocks and herds of a Jewish |
| 9 |
village.
This homely origin
of the babe Jesus falls far short
of my sense of the eternal Christ, Truth,
never born and |
| 12 |
never dying. I celebrate Christmas with my
soul, my
spiritual sense, and so commemorate the entrance into
human
understanding of the Christ conceived of Spirit, |
| 15 |
of God and not of a woman-as the birth of
Truth, the
dawn of divine Love breaking upon the gloom of matter
and
evil with the glory of infinite being.
|
| 18 |
Human doctrines or hypotheses or vague
human phi-
losophy afford little divine effulgence, deific presence or
power. Christmas to me is the reminder of God's great |
| 21 |
gift, - His spiritual idea, man and the
universe, -
a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual giv-
ing that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and |
| 24 |
ritual of our common Christmas seem a human
mock-
ery in mimicry of the real worship in commemoration
of Christ's
coming.
|
| 27 |
I love to observe Christmas in quietude,
humility,
benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, elo-
quent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception |
| 30 |
of Truth's appearing.
The splendor of this
nativity of Christ reveals infinite
meanings and gives manifold blessings.
Material gifts
Page
263
|
| 1 |
and pastimes tend to obliterate the
spiritual idea in con-
sciousness, leaving one alone and without His
glory.
MRS. EDDY'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
MY HOUSEHOLD
Beloved: - A word to the wise
is sufficient. Mother |
| 6 |
wishes you all a happy Christmas, a
feast of Soul and a
famine of sense.
Lovingly thine, |
| 9 |
MARY BAKER EDDY
BOX G, BROOKLINE,
MASS.,
December 25, 1909
Page
264
CHAPTER XIV - CONTRIBUTIONS TO NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
|
| 1 |
[Boston Herald, May 5, 1900]
A
WORD IN DEFENCE
|
| 3 |
I EVEN hope that those who are kind enough
to
speak well of me may do so honestly and not too
earnestly, and this
seldom, until mankind learn more of |
| 6 |
my meaning and can speak justly of my
living.
[Boston
Globe, November 29, 1900]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THANKS
|
| 9 |
On the threshold of the twentieth century,
will you
please send through the Globe to the people of New
England, which is the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day, a |
| 12 |
sentiment on what the last Thanksgiving
Day of the
nineteenth century should signify to all mankind?
Mrs. Eddy's Response
|
| 15 |
New England's last Thanksgiving Day of this
century
signifies to the minds of men the Bible better understood
and
Truth and Love made more practical; the First |
| 18 |
Commandment of the Decalogue more
imperative, and
Page
265
|
| 1 |
"Love thy neighbor as thyself" more
possible and
pleasurable.
|
| 3 |
It signifies that love, unselfed, knocks
more loudly than
ever before at the heart of humanity and that it finds
admittance; that revelation, spiritual voice and vision, |
| 6 |
are less subordinate to material sight and
sound and more
apparent to reason; that evil flourishes less, invests
less
in trusts, loses capital, and is bought at par value; that |
| 9 |
the Christ-spirit will cleanse the earth of
human gore;
that civilization, peace between nations, and the brother-
hood of man should be established, and justice plead not |
| 12 |
vainly in behalf of the sacred rights of
individuals, peoples,
and nations.
It signifies that
the Science of Christianity has dawned |
| 15 |
upon human thought to appear full-orbed in
millennial
glory; that scientific religion and scientific therapeutics
are improving the morals and increasing the longevity |
| 18 |
of mankind, are mitigating and destroying
sin, disease,
and death; that religion and materia medica should
be
no longer tyrannical and proscriptive; that divine Love, |
| 21 |
impartial and universal, as understood in
divine Sci-
ence, forms the coincidence of the human and divine,
which
fulfils the saying of our great Master, "The king- |
| 24 |
dom of God is within you;" that the
atmosphere of the
human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with
divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in |
| 27 |
clearer skies, less thunderbolts,
tornadoes, and extremes of
heat and cold; that agriculture, manufacture,
commerce,
and wealth should be governed by honesty, indus- |
| 30 |
try, and justice, reaching out to all
classes and peoples.
For these signs of the times we thank our Father-
Mother God.
Page
266
[New York
World, December, 1900]
INSUFFICIENT FREEDOM
|
| 3 |
To my sense, the most imminent dangers
confronting
the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and
liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of |
| 6 |
politics and of human power, industrial
slavery, and insuf-
ficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual,
creed,
and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, "Whatsoever ye |
| 9 |
would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them."
[Concord (N.
H.) Monitor, July, 1902]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE TIMES
|
| 12 |
Your article on the decrease of students in
the semi-
naries and the consequent vacancies occurring in the
pulpits,
points unmistakably to the "signs of the times" |
| 15 |
of which Jesus spoke. This flux and flow in
one direc-
tion, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate - the
final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes, |
| 18 |
hypotheses, of man and the universe. How
can it be
otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that
really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the |
| 21 |
spiritualization of all?
Since 1877, these
special "signs of the times" have in-
creased year by year. My book,
"Science and Health |
| 24 |
with Key to the Scriptures," was published
in 1875.
Note, if you please, that many points in theology and
materia medica, at that date undisturbed, are now agitated, |
| 27 |
modified, and disappearing, and the more
spiritual modes
and significations are adopted.
It is undoubtedly
true that Christian Science is destined
Page
267
|
| 1 |
to become the one and the only religion and
therapeutics
on this planet. And why not, since Christianity is fully |
| 3 |
demonstrated to be divine Science? Nothing
can be cor-
rect and continue forever which is not divinely scientific,
for Science is the law of the Mind that is God, who is |
| 6 |
the originator of all that really is. The
Scripture reads:
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was
not
any thing made that was made." Here let us re- |
| 9 |
member that God is not the Alpha and Omega
of man
and the universe; He is supreme, infinite, the great for-
ever,
the eternal Mind that hath no beginning and no |
| 12 |
end, no Alpha and no Omega.
HEAVEN
|
| 15 |
Is heaven spiritual?
Heaven is spiritual.
Heaven is harmony, - infinite,
boundless bliss. The dying or the departed
enter heaven |
| 18 |
in proportion to their progress, in
proportion to their fit-
ness to partake of the quality and the quantity of
heaven.
One individual may first awaken from his dream of life |
| 21 |
in matter with a sense of music; another
with that of
relief from fear or suffering, and still another with a
bit-
ter sense of lost opportunities and remorse. Heaven is |
| 24 |
the reign of divine Science. Material
thought tends to
obscure spiritual understanding, to darken the true
con-
ception of man's divine Principle, Love, wherein and |
| 27 |
whereby soul is emancipate and environed
with ever-
lasting Life. Our great Teacher hath said: "Behold, the
kingdom of God is within you" - within man's spiritual |
| 30 |
understanding of all the divine modes,
means, forms, ex-
pression, and manifestation of goodness and
happiness.
Page
268
[Boston
Herald, March 5, 1905]
PREVENTION AND CURE OF DIVORCE
|
| 3 |
The nuptial vow should never be annulled so
long as
the morale of marriage is preserved. The frequency of
divorce shows that the imperative nature of the mar- |
| 6 |
riage relation is losing ground, - hence
that some funda-
mental error is engrafted on it. What is this error?
If the motives of human affection are right, the affec- |
| 9 |
tions are enduring and achieving. What God
hath joined
together, man cannot sunder.
Divorce and war
should be exterminated according to |
| 12 |
the Principle of law and gospel, - the
maintenance of
individual rights, the justice of civil codes, and the
power
of Truth uplifting the motives of men. Two command- |
| 15 |
ments of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt
not commit
adultery" and "Thou shalt not kill," obeyed, will elimi-
nate divorce and war. On what hath not a "Thus saith |
| 18 |
the Lord," I am as silent as the dumb
centuries without
a living Divina.
This time-world
flutters in my thought as an unreal |
| 21 |
shadow, and I can only solace the sore ills
of mankind by
a lively battle with "the world, the flesh and the devil,"
in which Love is the liberator and gives man the victory |
| 24 |
over himself. Truth, canonized by life and
love, lays
the axe at the root of all evil, lifts the curtain on the
Science of being, the Science of wedlock, of living and of |
| 27 |
loving, and harmoniously ascends the scale
of life. Look
high enough, and you see the heart of humanity warming
and winning. Look long enough, and you see male and |
| 30 |
female one - sex or gender eliminated; you
see the des-
ignation man meaning woman as well, and you see the
Page
269
|
| 1 |
whole universe included in one infinite
Mind and reflected
in the intelligent compound idea, image or likeness,
called |
| 3 |
man, showing forth the infinite divine
Principle, Love,
called God, - man wedded to the Lamb, pledged to inno-
cence, purity, perfection. Then shall humanity have |
| 6 |
learned that "they which shall be accounted
worthy to
obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can |
| 9 |
they die any more: for they are equal unto
the angels;
and are the children of God." (Luke 20: 35, 36.) This,
therefore, is Christ's plan of salvation from divorce.
|
| 12 |
All are
but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the
Soul.
- POPE
15 [The Independent, November,
1906]
HARVEST
God hath thrust in
the sickle, and He is separating the |
| 18 |
tares from the wheat. This hour is molten
in the furnace
of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known,
world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the |
| 21 |
beams of right have healing in their light.
The windows
of heaven are sending forth their rays of reality - even
Christian Science, pouring out blessing for cursing, and |
| 24 |
rehearsing: "I will rebuke the devourer for
your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground."
"Prove
me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I |
| 27 |
will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it."
|
| 30 |
The lie and the liar are self-destroyed.
Truth is im-
Page
270
|
| 1 |
mortal. "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: .
. . for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you." |
| 3 |
The cycle of good obliterates the epicycle
of evil.
Because of the
magnitude of their spiritual import, we
repeat the signs of these times. In
1905, the First Con- |
| 6 |
gregational Church, my first religious home
in this capital
city of Concord, N. H., kindly invited me to its one
hun-
dred and seventy-fifth anniversary; the leading editors |
| 9 |
and newspapers of my native State
congratulate me; the
records of my ancestry attest honesty and valor.
Divine
Love, nearer my consciousness than before, saith: I am |
| 12 |
rewarding your waiting, and "thy people
shall be my
people."
Let error rage and
imagine a vain thing. Mary Baker |
| 15 |
Eddy is not dead, and the words of those
who say that she
is are the father of their wish. Her life is proven
under
trial, and evidences "as thy days, so shall thy strength be."
|
| 18 |
Those words of our dear, departing Saviour,
breathing
love for his enemies, fill my heart: "Father, forgive them;
for they know not what they do." My writings heal the |
| 21 |
sick, and I thank God that for the past
forty years I
have returned good for evil, and that I can appeal to
Him
as my witness to the truth of this statement.
|
| 24 |
What we love determines what we are. I love
the
prosperity of Zion, be it promoted by Catholic, by Prot-
estant, or
by Christian Science, which anoints with |
| 27 |
Truth, opening the eyes of the blind and
healing the sick.
I would no more quarrel with a man because of his
religion
than I would because of his art. The divine Principle of |
| 30 |
Christian Science will ultimately be seen
to control both
religion and art in unity and harmony. God is Spirit,
and "they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
Page
271
|
| 1 |
and in truth." If, as the Scriptures
declare, God, Spirit,
is infinite, matter and material sense are null, and
there |
| 3 |
are no vertebrata, mollusca, or radiata.
When I wrote
"Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," I little understood all
that I indited; but |
| 6 |
when I practised its precepts, healing the
sick and reform-
ing the sinner, then I learned the truth of what I had
written. It is of comparatively little importance what a |
| 9 |
man thinks or believes he knows; the good
that a man does
is the one thing needful and the sole proof of
rightness.
[The Evening
Press, Grand Rapids, Mich., August, 1907]
MRS. EDDY DESCRIBES HER HUMAN IDEAL
In a modest,
pleasantly situated home in the city of
Concord, N. H., lives at eighty-six
years of age the most |
| 15 |
discussed woman in all the world. This lady
with sweet
smile and snowy hair is Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder
and
Leader of Christian Science, beloved of thousands |
| 18 |
of believers and followers of the thought
that has made
her famous. It was to this aged woman of world-wide
renown that the editor of The Evening Press addressed |
| 21 |
this question, requesting the courtesy of
a reply: -
"What is nearest and
dearest to your heart to-day?"
Mrs. Eddy's reply
will be read with deep interest by all |
| 24 |
Americans, who, whatever their religious
beliefs, cannot
fail to be impressed by the personality of this
remarkable
woman.
Mrs. Eddy's Answer
Editor of The
Evening Press: - To your courtesy and
to
your question permit me to say that, insomuch as I |
| 30 |
know myself, what is "nearest and dearest"
to my heart
Page
272
|
| 1 |
is an honest man or woman - one who
steadfastly and
actively strives for perfection, one who leavens the
loaf |
| 3 |
of life with justice, mercy, truth, and
love.
Goodness is
greatness, and the logic of events pushes
onward the centuries; hence the
Scripture, "The law of |
| 6 |
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me [man] free
from the law of sin and death."
This predicate and
ultimate of scientific being presents, |
| 9 |
however, no claim that man is equal to
God, for the finite
is not the altitude of the infinite.
The real man was,
is, and ever shall be the divine ideal, |
| 12 |
that is, God's image and likeness; and
Christian Science
reveals the divine Principle, the example, the rule,
and
the demonstration of this idealism. |
| 15 |
Sincerely yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY
PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.
[Cosmopolitan, November, 1907]
|
