Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
| 1 |
MY ancestors, according to the flesh, were from both
Scotland and England, my great-grandfather, on |
| 3 |
my father's side, being John McNeil of Edinburgh.
His wife, my great-grandmother, was
Marion Moor,
and her family is said to have been in some way
related |
| 6 |
to Hannah More, the pious and popular English authoress
of a century ago.
I remember reading, in my childhood,
certain manu- |
| 9 |
scripts containing Scriptural sonnets, besides other
verses
and enigmas which my grandmother said were written
by my
great-grandmother. But because my great-grand- |
| 12 |
mother wrote a stray sonnet and an occasional riddle, it
was no sign that she inherited a spark from Hannah More,
or was her
relative. |
| 15 |
John and Marion Moor McNeil had a daughter, who
perpetuated her mother's name. This second Marion
McNeil in due time was
married to an Englishman, |
| 18 |
named Joseph Baker, and so became my paternal grand-
mother, the Scotch and English elements thus mingling
in her children.
Page 2 |
| 1 |
Mrs. Marion McNeil Baker was reared among the
Scotch
Covenanters, and had in her character that sturdy |
| 3 |
Calvinistic devotion to Protestant liberty which gave
those
religionists the poetic daring and pious picturesqueness
which we
find so graphically set forth in the pages of Sir |
| 6 |
Walter Scott and in John Wilson's sketches.
Joseph Baker and his wife, Marion
McNeil, came to
America seeking "freedom to worship God;"
though |
| 9 |
they could hardly have crossed the Atlantic more than a
score of years prior to the Revolutionary period.
With them they brought to New England
a heavy sword, |
| 12 |
encased in a brass scabbard, on which was inscribed the
name of a kinsman upon whom the weapon had been
bestowed by Sir William
Wallace, from whose patriotism |
| 15 |
and bravery comes that heart-stirring air, "Scots wha
hae
wi' Wallace bled."
My childhood was also gladdened by one
of my Grand- |
| 18 |
mother Baker's books, printed in olden type and replete
with the phraseology current in the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth
centuries. |
| 21 |
Among grandmother's treasures were some newspapers,
yellow with age. Some of these, however, were not very
ancient, nor had
they crossed the ocean; for they were |
| 24 |
American newspapers, one of which contained a full ac-
count of the death and burial of George Washington.
A relative of my Grandfather Baker was
General Henry |
| 27 |
Knox of Revolutionary fame. I was fond of listening,
when
a child, to grandmother's stories about General
Knox, for whom she
cherished a high regard. |
| 30 |
In the line of my Grandmother Baker's family was the
Page 3 |
| 1 |
late Sir John Macneill, a Scotch knight, who was promi-
nent in British politics, and at one time held the position |
| 3 |
of ambassador to Persia.
My grandparents were likewise
connected with Capt.
John Lovewell of Dunstable, New Hampshire,
whose |
| 6 |
gallant leadership and death, in the Indian troubles of
1722-1725, caused that prolonged contest to be known
historically as
Lovewell's War. |
| 9 |
A cousin of my grandmother was John Macneil, the
New
Hampshire general who fought at Lundy's Lane,
and won distinction in 1814
at the neighboring battle of |
| 12 |
Chippewa, towards the close of the War of 1812.
Page 4
AUTOBIOGRAPHIC
REMINISCENCES |
| 1 |
THIS venerable grandmother had thirteen children,
the
youngest of whom was my father, Mark Baker, |
| 3 |
who inherited the homestead, and with his brother, James
Baker, he inherited my grandfather's farm of about five
hundred acres,
lying in the adjoining towns of Concord |
| 6 |
and Bow, in the State of New Hampshire.
One hundred acres of the old farm are
still cultivated
and owned by Uncle James Baker's grandson, brother
of |
| 9 |
the Hon. Henry Moore Baker of Washington, D. C.
The farm-house, situated on the summit
of a hill, com-
manded a broad picturesque view of the Merrimac
River |
| 12 |
and the undulating lands of three townships. But change
has been busy. Where once stretched broad fields of
bending grain waving
gracefully in the sunlight, and |
| 15 |
orchards of apples, peaches, pears, and cherries shone
richly in the mellow hues of autumn, - now the lone night-
bird cries, the
crow caws cautiously, and wandering winds |
| 18 |
sigh low requiems through dark pine groves. Where
green
pastures bright with berries, singing brooklets,
beautiful wild flowers,
and flecked with large flocks and |
| 21 |
herds, covered areas of rich acres, - now the scrub-oak,
poplar, and fern flourish.
The wife of Mark Baker was Abigail
Barnard Ambrose, |
| 24 |
daughter of Deacon Nathaniel Ambrose of Pembroke, a
Page 5 |
| 1 |
small town situated near Concord, just across the bridge,
on the left bank of the Merrimac River. |
| 3 |
Grandfather Ambrose was a very religious man, and
gave
the money for erecting the first Congregational
Church in Pembroke. |
| 6 |
In the Baker homestead at Bow I was born, the young-
est
of my parents' six children and the object of their
tender solicitude. |
| 9 |
During my childhood my parents removed to Tilton,
eighteen miles from Concord, and there the family re-
mained until the
names of both father and mother were |
| 12 |
inscribed on the stone memorials in the Park Cemetery
of
that beautiful village.
My father possessed a strong intellect
and an iron will. |
| 15 |
Of my mother I cannot speak as I would, for memory
recalls qualities to which the pen can never do justice.
The following is a
brief extract from the eulogy of the Rev. |
| 18 |
Richard S. Rust, D. D., who for many years had re-
sided
in Tilton and knew my sainted mother in all the
walks of life. |
| 21 |
The character of Mrs. Abigail Ambrose Baker was distin-
guished for numerous excellences. She possessed a strong
intellect, a
sympathizing heart, and a placid spirit. Her |
| 24 |
presence, like the gentle dew and cheerful light, was felt
by
all around her. She gave an elevated character to the tone of
conversation in the circles in which she moved, and directed |
| 27 |
attention to themes at once pleasing and profitable.
As a mother, she was untiring in her
efforts to secure the
happiness of her family. She ever entertained a
lively sense |
| 30 |
of the parental obligation, especially in regard to the
educa-
Page 6 |
| 1 |
tion of her children. The oft-repeated impressions of
that
sainted spirit, on the hearts of those especially entrusted to
her |
| 3 |
watch-care, can never be effaced, and can hardly fail to
induce
them to follow her to the brighter world. Her life was a
living
illustration of Christian faith. |
| 6 |
My childhood's home I remember as one with the open
hand.
The needy were ever welcome, and to the clergy
were accorded special
household privileges. |
| 9 |
Among the treasured reminiscences of my much re-
spected
parents, brothers, and sisters, is the memory of
my second brother, Albert
Baker, who was, next to my |
| 12 |
mother, the very dearest of my kindred. To speak of his
beautiful character as I cherish it, would require more
space than this
little book can afford. |
| 15 |
My brother Albert was graduated at Dartmouth Col-
lege in
1834 and was reputed one of the most talented,
close, and thorough scholars
ever connected with that |
| 18 |
institution. For two or three years he read law at Hills-
borough, in the office of Franklin Pierce, afterwards Presi-
dent of the
United States; but later Albert spent a year |
| 21 |
in the office of the Hon. Richard Fletcher of Boston.
He
was consequently admitted to the bar in two States,
Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. In 1837 he suc- |
| 24 |
ceeded to the law-office which Mr. Pierce had occupied,
and was soon elected to the Legislature of his native State,
where he
served the public interests faithfully for two |
| 27 |
consecutive years. Among other important bills which
were
carried through the Legislature by his persistent en-
ergy was one for the
abolition of imprisonment for debt. |
| 30 |
In 1841 he received further political preferment, by
Page 7 |
| 1 |
nomination to Congress on a majority vote of seven
thousand, - it was the largest vote of the State; but he |
| 3 |
passed away at the age of thirty-one, after a short
illness,
before his election. His noble political antagonist, the
Hon.
Isaac Hill, of Concord, wrote of my brother as |
| 6 |
follows: -
Albert Baker was a young man of
uncommon promise.
Gifted with the highest order of intellectual powers, he
trained |
| 9 |
and schooled them by intense and almost incessant study
throughout his short life. He was fond of investigating ab-
struse and
metaphysical principles, and he never forsook |
| 12 |
them until he had explored their every nook and corner,
however hidden and remote. Had life and health been spared
to him, he would
have made himself one of the most distin- |
| 15 |
guished men in the country. As a lawyer he was able and
learned, and in the successful practice of a very large business.
He was
noted for his boldness and firmness, and for his power- |
| 18 |
ful advocacy of the side he deemed right. His death will
be
deplored, with the most poignant grief, by a large number of
friends, who expected no more than they realized from his |
| 21 |
talents and acquirements. This sad event will not be
soon
forgotten. It blights too many hopes; it carries with it too
much
of sorrow and loss. It is a public calamity.
Page 8
VOICES NOT OUR
OWN |
| 1 |
MANY peculiar circumstances and events connected
with my
childhood throng the chambers of memory. |
| 3 |
For some twelve months, when I was about eight years
old,
I repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by
name, three times, in
an ascending scale. I thought this |
| 6 |
was my mother's voice, and sometimes went to her, be-
seeching her to tell me what she wanted. Her answer was
always, "Nothing,
child! What do you mean?" Then |
| 9 |
I would say, "Mother, who did call me? I heard
some-
body call Mary, three times!" This continued until I
grew
discouraged, and my mother was perplexed and |
| 12 |
anxious.
One day, when my cousin, Mehitable
Huntoon, was
visiting us, and I sat in a little chair by her side, in
the |
| 15 |
same room with grandmother, - the call again came, so
loud that Mehitable heard it, though I had ceased to
notice it. Greatly
surprised, my cousin turned to me and |
| 18 |
said, "Your mother is calling you!" but I answered not,
till again the same call was thrice repeated. Mehitable
then said sharply,
"Why don't you go? your mother is |
| 21 |
calling you!" I then left the room, went to my mother,
and once more asked her if she had summoned me? She
answered as always
before. Then I earnestly declared |
| 24 |
my cousin had heard the voice, and said that mother
Page 9 |
| 1 |
wanted me. Accordingly she returned with me to grand-
mother's room, and led my cousin into an adjoining apart- |
| 3 |
ment. The door was ajar, and I listened with bated
breath. Mother told Mehitable all about this mysterious
voice, and asked if
she really did hear Mary's name pro- |
| 6 |
nounced in audible tones. My cousin answered quickly,
and emphasized her affirmation.
That night, before going to rest, my
mother read to me |
| 9 |
the Scriptural narrative of little Samuel, and bade me,
when the voice called again, to reply as he did, "Speak,
Lord; for Thy
servant heareth." The voice came; but |
| 12 |
I was afraid, and did not answer. Afterward I wept, and
prayed that God would forgive me, resolving to do, next
time, as my mother
had bidden me. When the call came |
| 15 |
again I did answer, in the words of Samuel, but never
again to the material senses was that mysterious call
repeated. |
| 18 |
Is it not much that I may
worship Him,
With naught my spirit's breathings to control,
And feel
His presence in the vast and dim |
| 21 |
And whispering woods, where
dying thunders roll
From the far cataracts? Shall I not rejoice
That I
have learned at last to know His voice |
| 24 |
From man's? - I will rejoice!
My soaring soul
Now hath redeemed her birthright of the day,
And won,
through clouds, to Him, her own unfettered way! |
| 27 |
- MRS. HEMANS
Page 10
EARLY
STUDIES |
| 1 |
MY father was taught to believe that my brain was
too
large for my body and so kept me much out of |
| 3 |
school, but I gained book-knowledge with far less labor
than is usually requisite. At ten years of age I was as
familiar with
Lindley Murray's Grammar as with the |
| 6 |
Westminster Catechism; and the latter I had to repeat
every Sunday. My favorite studies were natural philoso-
phy, logic, and
moral science. From my brother Al- |
| 9 |
bert I received lessons in the ancient tongues, Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. My brother studied Hebrew during
his college vacations.
After my discovery of Christian |
| 12 |
Science, most of the knowledge I had gleaned from
schoolbooks vanished like a dream.
Learning was so illumined, that
grammar was eclipsed. |
| 15 |
Etymology was divine history, voicing the idea of God in
man's origin and signification. Syntax was spiritual order
and unity.
Prosody, the song of angels, and no earthly |
| 18 |
or inglorious theme.
Page 11
GIRLHOOD
COMPOSITION |
| 1 |
FROM childhood I was a verse-maker. Poetry suited
my
emotions better than prose. The following is |
| 3 |
one of my girlhood productions.
ALPHABET AND BAYONET
If fancy plumes aerial
flight, |
| 6 |
Go fix thy restless mind
On learning's lore and wisdom's might,
And live to bless
mankind. |
| 9 |
The sword is sheathed, 't is
freedom's hour,
No despot bears misrule,
Where knowledge plants the
foot of power |
| 12 |
In our God-blessed free
school.
Forth from this fount the
streamlets flow,
That widen in their course. |
| 15 |
Hero and sage arise to
show
Science the mighty source,
And laud the land whose talents
rock |
| 18 |
The cradle of her power,
And wreaths are twined round Plymouth Rock,
From erudition's
bower. |
| 21 |
Farther than feet of chamois
fall,
Free as the generous air,
Page 12 |
| 1 |
Strains nobler far than
clarion call
Wake freedom's welcome, where |
| 3 |
Minerva's silver sandals
still
Are loosed, and not effete;
Where echoes still my day-dreams
thrill, |
| 6 |
Woke by her fancied
feet.
Page 13
THEOLOGICAL
REMINISCENCE |
| 1 |
AT the age of twelve (1) I was admitted to the Congre-
gational (Trinitarian) Church, my parents having |
| 3 |
been members of that body for a half-century. In connec-
tion with this event, some circumstances are noteworthy.
Before this step
was taken, the doctrine of unconditional |
| 6 |
election, or predestination, greatly troubled me; for I
was unwilling to be saved, if my brothers and sisters were
to be numbered
among those who were doomed to per- |
| 9 |
petual banishment from God. So perturbed was I by the
thoughts aroused by this erroneous doctrine, that the
family doctor was
summoned, and pronounced me stricken |
| 12 |
with fever.
My father's relentless theology
emphasized belief in a
final judgment-day, in the danger of endless
punishment, |
| 15 |
and in a Jehovah merciless towards unbelievers; and of
these things he now spoke, hoping to win me from dreaded
heresy. |
| 18 |
My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade
me lean
on God's love, which would give me rest, if I
went to Him in prayer, as I
was wont to do, seeking His |
| 21 |
guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came
over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed
myself, in a normal
condition of health. Mother saw this, |
| 24 |
and was glad. The physician marvelled; and the "hor-
(1) See Page 311, Lines 12 to 17, "The
First Church of Christ,
Scientist, and Miscellany."
Page 14 |
| 1 |
rible decree" of predestination - as John Calvin rightly
called his own tenet - forever lost its power over me. |
| 3 |
When the meeting was held for the examination of can-
didates for membership, I was of course present. The
pastor was an
old-school expounder of the strictest Pres- |
| 6 |
byterian doctrines. He was apparently as eager to have
unbelievers in these dogmas lost, as he was to have elect
believers
converted and rescued from perdition; for both |
| 9 |
salvation and condemnation depended, according to his
views, upon the good pleasure of infinite Love. However, I
was ready for
his doleful questions, which I answered with- |
| 12 |
out a tremor, declaring that never could I unite with
the
church, if assent to this doctrine was essential thereto.
Distinctly do I recall what followed.
I stoutly main- |
| 15 |
tained that I was willing to trust God, and take my
chance
of spiritual safety with my brothers and sisters, - not one
of
whom had then made any profession of religion, - |
| 18 |
even if my creedal doubts left me outside the doors. The
minister then wished me to tell him when I had experi-
enced a change of
heart; but tearfully I had to respond |
| 21 |
that I could not designate any precise time.
Nevertheless,
he persisted in the assertion that I had been truly
regene-
rated, and asked me to say how I felt when the new light |
| 24 |
dawned within me. I replied that I could only answer
him
in the words of the Psalmist: "Search me, O God,
and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: |
| 27 |
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
the way everlasting."
This was so earnestly said, that even
the oldest church- |
| 30 |
members wept. After the meeting was over they came
Page 15 |
| 1 |
and kissed me. To the astonishment of many, the good
clergyman's heart also melted, and he received me into |
| 3 |
their communion, and my protest along with me. My con-
nection with this religious body was retained till I founded
a church of my
own, built on the basis of Christian Science, |
| 6 |
"Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."
In confidence of faith, I could say in
David's words,
"I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will
make |
| 9 |
mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only. O
God,
Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hith-
erto have I declared Thy
wondrous works." (Psalms lxxi. |
| 12 |
16, 17.)
In the year 1878 I was called to
preach in Boston at the
Baptist Tabernacle of Rev. Daniel C. Eddy, D. D., -
by |
| 15 |
the pastor of this church. I accepted the invitation and
commenced work.
The congregation so increased in
number the pews were |
| 18 |
not sufficient to seat the audience and benches were used
in the aisles. At the close of my engagement we parted
in Christian
fellowship, if not in full unity of doctrine. |
| 21 |
Our last vestry meeting was made memorable by elo-
quent
addresses from persons who feelingly testified to
having been healed
through my preaching. Among other |
| 24 |
diseases cured they specified cancers. The cases
described
had been treated and given over by physicians of the popu-
lar schools of medicine, but I had not heard of these cases |
| 27 |
till the persons who divulged their secret joy were
healed.
A prominent churchman agreeably informed the congre-
gation
that many others present had been healed under |
| 30 |
my preaching, but were too timid to testify in public.
Page 16 |
| 1 |
One memorable Sunday afternoon, a soprano, - clear,
strong, sympathetic, - floating up from the pews, caught |
| 3 |
my ear. When the meeting was over, two ladies pushing
their way through the crowd reached the platform. With
tears of joy
flooding her eyes - for she was a mother - |
| 6 |
one of them said, "Did you hear my daughter sing? Why,
she has not sung before since she left the choir and was
in consumption!
When she entered this church one hour |
| 9 |
ago she could not speak a loud word, and now, oh, thank
God, she is healed!"
It was not an uncommon occurrence in
my own church |
| 12 |
for the sick to be healed by my sermon. Many pale
cripples
went into the church leaning on crutches who went out
carrying
them on their shoulders. "And these signs shall |
| 15 |
follow them that believe."
The charter for The Mother Church in
Boston was ob-
tained June, 1879,(1) and the same month the
members, |
| 18 |
twenty-six in number, extended a call to Mary B. G. Eddy
to become their pastor. She accepted the call, and was
ordained A. D.
1881. |
| 21 |
(1)This statement appears to be based upon the Annual Report
of the Secretary of The Christian Scientist Association,
read at its meeting, January 15, 1880, in which
June is named as the month in which the charter
for The Mother Church was obtained, instead of August 23, 1879, the correct date.
Page 17
THE
COUNTRY-SEAT |
| 1 |
Written in youth, while
visiting a family friend in the beautiful
suburbs of Boston |
| 3 |
WILD spirit of song, - midst the zephyrs at play
In
bowers of beauty, - I bend to thy lay,
And woo, while I worship in deep
sylvan spot, |
| 6 |
The Muses' soft echoes to kindle the grot.
Wake chords of
my lyre, with musical kiss,
To vibrate and tremble with accents of
bliss. |
| 9 |
Here morning peers out, from her crimson repose,
On proud
Prairie Queen and the modest Moss-rose;
And vesper reclines - when the
dewdrop is shed |
| 12 |
On the heart of the pink - in its odorous bed;
But Flora
has stolen the rainbow and sky,
To sprinkle the flowers with exquisite
dye. |
| 15 |
Here fame-honored hickory rears his bold form,
And bares
a brave breast to the lightning and storm,
While palm, bay, and laurel, in
classical glee, |
| 18 |
Chase tulip, magnolia, and fragrant fringe-tree;
And
sturdy horse-chestnut for centuries hath given
Its feathery blossom and
branches to heaven.
Page 18 |
| 1 |
Here is life! Here is youth! Here the poet's world-
wish, - |
| 3 |
Cool waters at play with the gold-gleaming fish;
While
cactus a mellower glory receives
From light colored softly by blossom and
leaves; |
| 6 |
And nestling alder is whispering low,
In lap of the
pear-tree, with musical flow.(1)
Dark sentinel hedgerow is guarding
repose, |
| 9 |
Midst grotto and songlet and streamlet that flows
Where
beauty and perfume from buds burst away,
And ope their closed cells to the
bright, laughing day; |
| 12 |
Yet, dwellers in Eden, earth yields you her tear, -
Oft
plucked for the banquet, but laid on the bier.
Earth's beauty and glory delude as the
shrine |
| 15 |
Or fount of real joy and of visions divine;
But hope, as
the eaglet that spurneth the sod,
May soar above matter, to fasten on
God, |
| 18 |
And freely adore all His spirit hath made,
Where
rapture and radiance and glory ne'er fade.
Oh, give me the spot where affection
may dwell |
| 21 |
In sacred communion with home's magic spell!
Where
flowers of feeling are fragrant and fair,
And those we most love find a
happiness rare; |
| 24 |
But clouds are a presage, - they darken my lay:
This
life is a shadow, and hastens away.
(1)An alder growing from the bent
branch of a pear-tree.
Page 19
MARRIAGE AND
PARENTAGE |
| 1 |
IN 1843 I was united to my first husband, Colonel George
Washington Glover of Charleston, South Carolina, |
| 3 |
the ceremony taking place under the paternal roof in
Tilton.
After parting with the dear home
circle I went with |
| 6 |
him to the South; but he was spared to me for only one
brief year. He was in Wilmington, North Carolina, on
business, when the
yellow-fever raged in that city, and was |
| 9 |
suddenly attacked by this insidious disease, which in
his
case proved fatal.
My husband was a freemason, being a
member in Saint |
| 12 |
Andrew's Lodge, Number 10 and of Union Chapter, Num-
ber
3, of Royal Arch masons. He was highly esteemed
and sincerely lamented by a
large circle of friends and ac- |
| 15 |
quaintances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to sup-
port me in this terrible bereavement. A month later I
returned to New
Hampshire, where, at the end of four |
| 18 |
months, my babe was born.
Colonel Glover's tender devotion to
his young bride
was remarked by all observers. With his parting
breath |
| 21 |
he gave pathetic directions to his brother masons about
accompanying her on her sad journey to the North. Here
it is but justice to
record, they performed their obligations |
| 24 |
most faithfully.
Page 20 |
| 1 |
After returning to the paternal roof I lost all my hus-
band's property, except what money I had brought with |
| 3 |
me; and remained with my parents until after my mother's
decease.
A few months before my father's second
marriage, to |
| 6 |
Mrs. Elizabeth Patterson Duncan, sister of Lieutenant-
Governor George W. Patterson of New York, my little
son, about four years
of age, was sent away from me, and |
| 9 |
put under the care of our family nurse, who had married,
and resided in the northern part of New Hampshire. I
had no training for
self-support, and my home I regarded |
| 12 |
as very precious. The night before my child was taken
from me, I knelt by his side throughout the dark hours,
hoping for a vision
of relief from this trial. The follow- |
| 15 |
ing lines are taken from my poem, "Mother's Darling,"
written after this separation: -
Thy smile through tears, as
sunshine o'er the sea, |
| 18 |
Awoke new beauty in the
surge's roll!
Oh, life is dead, bereft of all, with thee, -
Star of my
earthly hope, babe of my soul. |
| 21 |
My second marriage was very unfortunate, and from it
I
was compelled to ask for a bill of divorce, which was
granted me in the
city of Salem, Massachusetts. |
| 24 |
My dominant thought in marrying again was to get
back my
child, but after our marriage his stepfather was
not willing he should have
a home with me. A plot was |
| 27 |
consummated for keeping us apart. The family to whose
care he was committed very soon removed to what was
then regarded as the
Far West.
Page 21 |
| 1 |
After his removal a letter was read to my little son,
informing him that his mother was dead and buried. |
| 3 |
Without my knowledge a guardian was appointed him, and
I
was then informed that my son was lost. Every means
within my power was
employed to find him, but without |
| 6 |
success. We never met again until he had reached the
age
of thirty-four, had a wife and two children, and by a
strange providence
had learned that his mother still lived, |
| 9 |
and came to see me in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile he had served as a volunteer
throughout
the war for the Union, and at its expiration was
appointed |
| 12 |
United States Marshal of the Territory of Dakota.
It is well to know, dear reader, that
our material, mortal
history is but the record of dreams, not of man's real
ex- |
| 15 |
istence, and the dream has no place in the Science of
being.
It is "as a tale that is told," and "as the shadow when it
declineth." The heavenly intent of earth's shadows is to |
| 18 |
chasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and
turn it gladly from a material, false sense of life and happi-
ness, to
spiritual joy and true estimate of being. |
| 21 |
The awakening from a false sense of life, substance, and
mind in matter, is as yet imperfect; but for those lucid
and enduring
lessons of Love which tend to this result, |
| 24 |
I bless God.
Mere historic incidents and personal
events are frivo-
lous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics
of |
| 27 |
Truth. To this end, but only to this end, such narrations
may be admissible and advisable; but if spiritual con-
clusions are
separated from their premises, the nexus is |
| 30 |
lost, and the argument, with its rightful conclusions,
be-
Page 22 |
| 1 |
comes correspondingly obscure. The human history needs
to
be revised, and the material record expunged. |
| 3 |
The Gospel narratives bear brief testimony even to the
life of our great Master. His spiritual noumenon and
phenomenon silenced
portraiture. Writers less wise than |
| 6 |
the apostles essayed in the Apocryphal New Testament
a
legendary and traditional history of the early life of
Jesus. But St. Paul
summarized the character of Jesus |
| 9 |
as the model of Christianity, in these words: "Consider
him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself." "Who for
the joy that was set before him en- |
| 12 |
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down
at
the right hand of the throne of God."
It may be that the mortal life-battle
still wages, and |
| 15 |
must continue till its involved errors are vanquished by
victory-bringing Science; but this triumph will come!
God is over all. He
alone is our origin, aim, and being. |
| 18 |
The real man is not of the dust, nor is he ever created
through the flesh; for his father and mother are the one
Spirit, and his
brethren are all the children of one parent, |
| 21 |
the eternal good.
Page 23
EMERGENCE INTO
LIGHT |
| 1 |
THE trend of human life was too eventful to leave me
undisturbed in the illusion that this so-called life |
| 3 |
could be a real and abiding rest. All things earthly must
ultimately yield to the irony of fate, or else be merged
into the one
infinite Love. |
| 6 |
As these pungent lessons became clearer, they grew
sterner. Previously the cloud of mortal mind seemed to
have a silver
lining; but now it was not even fringed with |
| 9 |
light. Matter was no longer spanned with its rainbow
of
promise. The world was dark. The oncoming hours
were indicated by no floral
dial. The senses could not |
| 12 |
prophesy sunrise or starlight.
Thus it was when the moment arrived of
the heart's
bridal to more spiritual existence. When the door
opened, |
| 15 |
I was waiting and watching; and, lo, the bridegroom
came!
The character of the Christ was illuminated by
the midnight torches of
Spirit. My heart knew its Re- |
| 18 |
deemer. He whom my affections had diligently sought
was
as the One "altogether lovely," as "the chiefest,"
the only, "among ten
thousand." Soulless famine had |
| 21 |
fled. Agnosticism, pantheism, and theosophy were void.
Being was beautiful, its substance, cause, and currents
were God and His
idea. I had touched the hem of Chris- |
| 24 |
tian Science.
Page 24
THE GREAT
DISCOVERY |
| 1 |
IT was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, and after
the
death of the magnetic doctor, Mr. P. P. Quimby, |
| 3 |
whom spiritualists would associate therewith, but who
was
in no wise connected with this event, that I discov-
ered the Science of
divine metaphysical healing which I |
| 6 |
afterwards named Christian Science. The discovery came
to
pass in this way. During twenty years prior to my
discovery I had been
trying to trace all physical effects to |
| 9 |
a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained
the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and
every effect a
mental phenomenon. |
| 12 |
My immediate recovery from the effects of an injury
caused by an accident, an injury that neither medicine nor
surgery could
reach, was the falling apple that led me to |
| 15 |
the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make
others so.
Even to the homoeopathic physician who
attended me, |
| 18 |
and rejoiced in my recovery, I could not then explain the
modus of my relief. I could only assure him that the divine
Spirit
had wrought the miracle - a miracle which later |
| 21 |
I found to be in perfect scientific accord with divine
law.
I then withdrew from society about
three years, - to
ponder my mission, to search the Scriptures, to find
the |
| 24 |
Science of Mind that should take the things of God and
Page 25 |
| 1 |
show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative
Principle, - Deity. |
| 3 |
The Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions
as to
how I was healed; but the Scriptures had to me a
new meaning, a new tongue.
Their spiritual significa- |
| 6 |
tion appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in
their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstra-
tion, and the
Principle and rule of spiritual Science and |
| 9 |
metaphysical healing, - in a word, Christian Science.
I named it Christian, because
it is compassionate,
helpful, and spiritual. God I called immortal
Mind. That |
| 12 |
which sins, suffers, and dies, I named mortal mind.
The
physical senses, or sensuous nature, I called error and
shadow. Soul I denominated substance, because Soul |
| 15 |
alone is truly substantial. God I characterized as
individ-
ual entity, but His corporeality I denied. The real I
claimed
as eternal; and its antipodes, or the temporal, |
| 18 |
I described as unreal. Spirit I called the reality;
and
matter, the unreality.
I knew the human conception of God to
be that He was |
| 21 |
a physically personal being, like unto man; and that the
five physical senses are so many witnesses to the physical
personality of
mind and the real existence of matter; but |
| 24 |
I learned that these material senses testify falsely,
that
matter neither sees, hears, nor feels Spirit, and is therefore
inadequate to form any proper conception of the infinite |
| 27 |
Mind. "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not
true." (John v. 31.)
I beheld with ineffable awe our great
Master's purpose |
| 30 |
in not questioning those he healed as to their disease
or
Page 26 |
| 1 |
its symptoms, and his marvellous skill in demanding
neither obedience to hygienic laws, nor prescribing drugs |
| 3 |
to support the divine power which heals. Adoringly I
discerned the Principle of his holy heroism and Christian
example on the
cross, when he refused to drink the "vine- |
| 6 |
gar and gall," a preparation of poppy, or aconite, to
allay
the tortures of crucifixion.
Our great Way-shower, steadfast to the
end in his obedi- |
| 9 |
ence to God's laws, demonstrated for all time and peoples
the supremacy of good over evil, and the superiority of
Spirit over
matter. |
| 12 |
The miracles recorded in the Bible, which had before
seemed to me supernatural, grew divinely natural and ap-
prehensible;
though uninspired interpreters ignorantly |
| 15 |
pronounce Christ's healing miraculous, instead of seeing
therein the operation of the divine law.
Jesus of Nazareth was a natural and
divine Scientist. |
| 18 |
He was so before the material world saw him. He who
antedated Abraham, and gave the world a new date in the
Christian era, was
a Christian Scientist, who needed no |
| 21 |
discovery of the Science of being in order to rebuke the
evidence. To one "born of the flesh," however, divine
Science must be a
discovery. Woman must give it birth. |
| 24 |
It must be begotten of spirituality, since none but the
pure
in heart can see God, - the Principle of all things pure;
and none
but the "poor in spirit" could first state this |
| 27 |
Principle, could know yet more of the nothingness of mat-
ter and the allness of Spirit, could utilize Truth, and ab-
solutely reduce
the demonstration of being, in Science, to |
| 30 |
the apprehension of the age.
Page 27 |
| 1 |
I wrote also, at this period, comments on the Scriptures,
setting forth their spiritual interpretation, the Science of |
| 3 |
the Bible, and so laid the foundation of my work called
Science and Health, published in 1875.
If these notes and comments, which
have never been |
| 6 |
read by any one but myself, were published, it would
show
that after my discovery of the absolute Science
of Mind-healing, like all
great truths, this spiritual |
| 9 |
Science developed itself to me until Science and
Health
was written. These early comments are valu-
able to me as waymarks of
progress, which I would not |
| 12 |
have effaced.
Up to that time I had not fully voiced
my discov-
ery. Naturally, my first jottings were but efforts
to |
| 15 |
express in feeble diction Truth's ultimate. In
Longfellow's
language, -
But the feeble hands and
helpless, |
| 18 |
Groping blindly in the
darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness,
And are lifted up
and strengthened. |
| 21 |
As sweet music ripples in one's first thoughts of it like
the brooklet in its meandering midst pebbles and rocks,
before the mind can
duly express it to the ear, - so the |
| 24 |
harmony of divine Science first broke upon my sense,
before gathering experience and confidence to articulate
it. Its natural
manifestation is beautiful and euphonious, |
| 27 |
but its written expression increases in power and
perfection
under the guidance of the great Master.
The divine hand led me into a new
world of light and |
| 30 |
Life, a fresh universe - old to God, but new to His
"little
Page 28 |
| 1 |
one." It became evident that the divine Mind alone must
answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle, of all being; |
| 3 |
and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would
be at peace. He must be ours practically, guiding our
every thought and
action; else we cannot understand |
| 6 |
the omnipresence of good sufficiently to demonstrate,
even in part, the Science of the perfect Mind and divine
healing. |
| 9 |
I had learned that thought must be spiritualized, in
order to apprehend Spirit. It must become honest, un-
selfish, and pure, in
order to have the least understanding |
| 12 |
of God in divine Science. The first must become last.
Our
reliance upon material things must be transferred to
a perception of and
dependence on spiritual things. For |
| 15 |
Spirit to be supreme in demonstration, it must be supreme
in our affections, and we must be clad with divine power.
Purity,
self-renunciation, faith, and understanding must |
| 18 |
reduce all things real to their own mental denomina-
tion, Mind, which divides, subdivides, increases, dimin-
ishes,
constitutes, and sustains, according to the law of |
| 21 |
God.
I had learned that Mind reconstructed
the body, and
that nothing else could. How it was done, the
spiritual |
| 24 |
Science of Mind must reveal. It was a mystery to me
then,
but I have since understood it. All Science is a
revelation. Its Principle
is divine, not human, reaching |
| 27 |
higher than the stars of heaven.
Am I a believer in spiritualism? I
believe in no ism.
This is my endeavor, to be a Christian, to
assimilate the |
| 30 |
character and practice of the anointed; and no motive
Page 29 |
| 1 |
can cause a surrender of this effort. As I understand it,
spiritualism is the antipode of Christian Science. I esteem |
| 3 |
all honest people, and love them, and hold to loving our
enemies and doing good to them that "despitefully use
you and persecute
you."
Page 30
FOUNDATION
WORK |
| 1 |
AS the pioneer of Christian Science I stood alone in
this
conflict, endeavoring to smite error with the |
| 3 |
falchion of Truth. The rare bequests of Christian Science
are costly, and they have won fields of battle from which
the dainty
borrower would have fled. Ceaseless toil, self- |
| 6 |
renunciation, and love, have cleared its pathway.
The motive of my earliest labors has
never changed.
It was to relieve the sufferings of humanity by a
sanitary |
| 9 |
system that should include all moral and religious
reform.
It is often asked why Christian
Science was revealed to
me as one intelligence, analyzing, uncovering, and
annihi- |
| 12 |
lating the false testimony of the physical senses. Why
was
this conviction necessary to the right apprehension of the
invincible and infinite energies of Truth and Love, as con- |
| 15 |
trasted with the foibles and fables of finite mind and
ma-
terial existence.
The answer is plain. St. Paul declared
that the law |
| 18 |
was the schoolmaster, to bring him to Christ. Even so
was
I led into the mazes of divine metaphysics through
the gospel of suffering,
the providence of God, and the |
| 21 |
cross of Christ. No one else can drain the cup which I
have drunk to the dregs as the Discoverer and teacher of
Christian Science;
neither can its inspiration be gained |
| 24 |
without tasting this cup.
Page 31 |
| 1 |
The loss of material objects of affection sunders the
dominant ties of earth and points to heaven. Nothing |
| 3 |
can compete with Christian Science, and its demonstra-
tion, in showing this solemn certainty in growing freedom
and vindicating
"the ways of God" to man. The abso- |
| 6 |
lute proof and self-evident propositions of Truth are im-
measurably paramount to rubric and dogma in proving
the Christ. |
| 9 |
From my very childhood I was impelled, by a hunger
and
thirst after divine things, - a desire for something
higher and better than
matter, and apart from it, - to |
| 12 |
seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great
and ever-present relief from human woe. The first spon-
taneous motion of
Truth and Love, acting through Chris- |
| 15 |
tian Science on my roused consciousness, banished at once
and forever the fundamental error of faith in things ma-
terial; for this
trust is the unseen sin, the unknown foe, - |
| 18 |
the heart's untamed desire which breaketh the divine com-
mandments. As says St. James: "Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty |
| 21 |
of all."
Into mortal mind's material obliquity
I gazed, and stood
abashed. Blanched was the cheek of pride. My
heart |
| 24 |
bent low before the omnipotence of Spirit, and a tint of
humility, soft as the heart of a moonbeam, mantled the
earth. Bethlehem and
Bethany, Gethsemane and Calvary, |
| 27 |
spoke to my chastened sense as by the tearful lips of a
babe. Frozen fountains were unsealed. Erudite systems
of philosophy and
religion melted, for Love unveiled the |
| 30 |
healing promise and potency of a present spiritual
afflatus.
Page 32 |
| 1 |
It was the gospel of healing, on its divinely appointed
human mission, bearing on its white wings, to my appre- |
| 3 |
hension, "the beauty of holiness," - even the possibili-
ties of spiritual insight, knowledge, and being.
Early had I learned that whatever is
loved materially, |
| 6 |
as mere corporeal personality, is eventually lost. "For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it," saith the Master.
Exultant
hope, if tinged with earthliness, is crushed as the |
| 9 |
moth.
What is termed mortal and material
existence is graph-
ically defined by Calderon, the famous Spanish poet,
who |
| 12 |
wrote, -
What is life? 'T is but a
madness.
What is life? A mere illusion, |
| 15 |
Fleeting pleasure, fond
delusion,
Short-lived joy, that ends in sadness,
Whose most constant
substance seems |
| 18 |
But the dream of other
dreams.
Page 33
MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS |
| 1 |
THE physical side of this research was aided by hints
from homoeopathy, sustaining my final conclusion |
| 3 |
that mortal belief, instead of the drug, governed the
action
of material medicine.
I wandered through the dim mazes of
materia medica, |
| 6 |
till I was weary of "scientific guessing," as it has been
well
called. I sought knowledge from the different schools, -
allopathy, homoeopathy, hydropathy, electricity, and from |
| 9 |
various humbugs, - but without receiving satisfaction.
I found, in the two hundred and
sixty-two remedies
enumerated by Jahr, one pervading secret; namely,
that |
| 12 |
the less material medicine we have, and the more Mind,
the better the work is done; a fact which seems to prove
the Principle of
Mind-healing. One drop of the thirtieth |
| 15 |
attenuation of Natrum muriaticum, in a
tumbler-full
of water, and one teaspoonful of the water mixed with
the
faith of ages, would cure patients not affected by a |
| 18 |
larger dose. The drug disappears in the higher attenua-
tions of homoeopathy, and matter is thereby rarefied to
its fatal essence,
mortal mind; but immortal Mind, the |
| 21 |
curative Principle, remains, and is found to be even
more
active.
The mental virtues of the material
methods of medicine, |
| 24 |
when understood, were insufficient to satisfy my doubts
Page 34 |
| 1 |
as to the honesty or utility of using a material curative.
I
must know more of the unmixed, unerring source, in order |
| 3 |
to gain the Science of Mind, the All-in-all of Spirit, in
which matter is obsolete. Nothing less could solve the
mental problem. If I
sought an answer from the medical |
| 6 |
schools, the reply was dark and contradictory. Neither
ancient nor modern philosophy could clear the clouds, or
give me one
distinct statement of the spiritual Science of |
| 9 |
Mind-healing Human reason was not equal to it.
I claim for healing scientifically the
following advan-
tages: First: It does away with all material
medicines, |
| 12 |
and recognizes the antidote for all sickness, as well as
sin,
in the immortal Mind; and mortal mind as the source of
all the
ills which befall mortals. Second: It is more effec- |
| 15 |
tual than drugs, and cures when they fail, or only
relieve;
thus proving the superiority of metaphysics over physics.
Third: A person healed by Christian Science is not only |
| 18 |
healed of his disease, but he is advanced morally and
spiritually. The mortal body being but the objective state
of the mortal
mind, this mind must be renovated to im- |
| 21 |
prove the body.
Page 35
FIRST
PUBLICATION |
| 1 |
IN 1870 I copyrighted the first publication on spirit-
ual, scientific Mind-healing, entitled "The Science of |
| 3 |
Man." This little book is converted into the chapter on
Recapitulation in Science and Health. It was so new -
the basis it laid
down for physical and moral health was |
| 6 |
so hopelessly original, and men were so unfamiliar with
the subject - that I did not venture upon its publication
until later,
having learned that the merits of Christian |
| 9 |
Science must be proven before a work on this subject
could be profitably published.
The truths of Christian Science are
not interpolations |
| 12 |
of the Scriptures, but the spiritual interpretations
thereof.
Science is the prism of Truth, which divides its rays and
brings out the hues of Deity. Human hypotheses have |
| 15 |
darkened the glow and grandeur of evangelical religion.
When speaking of his true followers in every period, Jesus
said,
"They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall |
| 18 |
recover." There is no authority for querying the authen-
ticity of this declaration, for it already was and is demon-
strated as
practical, and its claim is substantiated, - a |
| 18 |
claim too immanent to fall to the ground beneath the
stroke
of artless workmen.
Though a man were girt with the Urim
and Thummim |
| 21 |
of priestly office, and denied the perpetuity of Jesus'
com-
Page 36 |
| 1 |
mand, "Heal the sick," or its application in all time to
those who understand Christ as the Truth and the Life, |
| 3 |
that man would not expound the gospel according to
Jesus.
Five years after taking out my first
copyright, I taught |
| 6 |
the Science of Mind-healing, alias Christian Science,
by
writing out my manuscripts for students and distribut-
ing them
unsparingly. This will account for certain pub- |
| 9 |
lished and unpublished manuscripts extant, which the
evil-minded would insinuate did not originate with me.
Page 37
THE PRECIOUS
VOLUME |
| 1 |
THE first edition of my most important work, Science
and
Health, containing the complete statement of |
| 3 |
Christian Science, - the term employed by me to express
the divine, or spiritual, Science of Mind-healing, was pub-
lished in
1875. |
| 6 |
When it was first printed, the critics took pleasure in
saying, "This book is indeed wholly original, but it will
never be
read." |
| 9 |
The first edition numbered one thousand copies. In
September, 1891, it had reached sixty-two editions.
Those who formerly sneered at it, as
foolish and ec- |
| 12 |
centric, now declare Bishop Berkeley, David Hume, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, or certain German philosophers, to have
been the originators
of the Science of Mind-healing as |
| 15 |
therein stated.
Even the Scriptures gave no direct
interpretation of the
scientific basis for demonstrating the spiritual
Principle |
| 18 |
of healing, until our heavenly Father saw fit, through
the
Key to the Scriptures, in Science and Health, to unlock
this
"mystery of godliness." |
| 21 |
My reluctance to give the public, in my first edition of
Science and Health, the chapter on Animal Magnetism,
and the divine purpose
that this should be done, may |
| 24 |
have an interest for the reader, and will be seen in the
fol-
Page 38 |
| 1 |
lowing circumstances. I had finished that edition as far
as that chapter, when the printer informed me that he |
| 3 |
could not go on with my work. I had already paid
him
seven hundred dollars, and yet he stopped my work.
All efforts to persuade
him to finish my book were in |
| 6 |
vain.
After months had passed, I yielded to
a constant con-
viction that I must insert in my last chapter a
partial |
| 9 |
history of what I had already observed of mental mal-
practice. Accordingly, I set to work, contrary to my in-
clination, to
fulfil this painful task, and finished my copy |
| 12 |
for the book. As it afterwards appeared, although I had
not thought of such a result, my printer resumed his work
at the same time,
finished printing the copy he had on |
| 15 |
hand, and then started for Lynn to see me. The after-
noon that he left Boston for Lynn, I started for Boston
with my finished
copy. We met at the Eastern depot in |
| 18 |
Lynn, and were both surprised, - I to learn that he had
printed all the copy on hand, and had come to tell me he
wanted more, - he
to find me en route for Boston, to give |
| 21 |
him the closing chapter of my first edition of Science
and
Health. Not a word had passed between us, audibly or
mentally,
while this went on. I had grown disgusted |
| 24 |
with my printer, and become silent. He had come to
a
standstill through motives and circumstances unknown
to me. |
| 27 |
Science and Health is the textbook of Christian Science.
Whosoever learns the letter of this book, must also gain
its spiritual
significance, in order to demonstrate Christian |
| 30 |
Science.
Page 39 |
| 1 |
When the demand for this book increased, and people
were
healed simply by reading it, the copyright was in- |
| 3 |
fringed. I entered a suit at law, and my copyright was
protected.
Page 40
RECUPERATIVE
INCIDENT |
| 1 |
THROUGH four successive years I healed, preached,
and
taught in a general way, refusing to take any |
| 3 |
pay for my services and living on a small annuity.
At one time I was called to speak
before the Lyceum
Club, at Westerly, Rhode Island. On my arrival
my |
| 6 |
hostess told me that her next-door neighbor was dying.
I
asked permission to see her. It was granted, and with
my hostess I went to
the invalid's house. |
| 9 |
The physicians had given up the case and retired. I
had
stood by her side about fifteen minutes when the sick
woman rose from her
bed, dressed herself, and was well. |
| 12 |
Afterwards they showed me the clothes already prepared
for her burial; and told me that her physicians had said
the diseased
condition was caused by an injury received |
| 15 |
from a surgical operation at the birth of her last babe,
and
that it was impossible for her to be delivered of another
child. It
is sufficient to add her babe was safely born, |
| 18 |
and weighed twelve pounds. The mother afterwards
wrote
to me, "I never before suffered so little in child-
birth." |
| 21 |
This scientific demonstration so stirred the doctors and
clergy that they had my notices for a second lecture pulled
down, and
refused me a hearing in their halls and churches. |
| 24 |
This circumstance is cited simply to show the opposition
Page 41 |
| 1 |
which Christian Science encountered a quarter-century
ago, as contrasted with its present welcome into the sick- |
| 3 |
room.
Many were the desperate cases I
instantly healed,
"without money and without price," and in most
instances |
| 6 |
without even an acknowledgment of the benefit.
Page 42
A TRUE
MAN |
| 1 |
MY last marriage was with Asa Gilbert Eddy, and
was a
blessed and spiritual union, solemnized at |
| 3 |
Lynn, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Samuel Barrett Stewart,
in the year 1877. Dr. Eddy was the first student publicly
to announce
himself a Christian Scientist, and place these |
| 6 |
symbolic words on his office sign. He forsook all to
follow
in this line of light. He was the first organizer of a Chris-
tian Science Sunday School, which he superintended. He |
| 9 |
also taught a special Bible-class; and he lectured so
ably
on Scriptural topics that clergymen of other denomina-
tions
listened to him with deep interest. He was remark- |
| 12 |
ably successful in Mind-healing, and untiring in his
chosen
work. In 1882 he passed away, with a smile of peace and
love
resting on his serene countenance. "Mark the per- |
| 15 |
fect man, and behold the upright: for the end of
that man
is peace." (Psalms xxxvii. 37.)
Page 43
COLLEGE AND
CHURCH |
| 1 |
IN 1867 I introduced the first purely metaphysical sys-
tem of healing since the apostolic days. I began by |
| 3 |
teaching one student Christian Science Mind-healing.
From this seed grew the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College in Boston,
chartered in 1881. No charter was |
| 6 |
granted for similar purposes after 1883. It is the only
College, hitherto, for teaching the pathology of spiritual
power,
alias the Science of Mind-healing. |
| 9 |
My husband, Asa G. Eddy, taught two terms in my
College.
After I gave up teaching, my adopted son,
Ebenezer J. Foster-Eddy, a
graduate of the Hahnemann |
| 12 |
Medical College of Philadelphia, and who also received a
certificate from Dr. W. W. Keen's (allopathic) Philadelphia
School of
Anatomy and Surgery, - having renounced his |
| 15 |
material method of practice and embraced the teach-
ings
of Christian Science, taught the Primary, Normal,
and Obstetric class one
term. Gen. Erastus N. Bates |
| 18 |
taught one Primary class, in 1889, after which I judged
it best to close the institution. These students of mine
were the only
assistant teachers in the College. |
| 21 |
The first Christian Scientist Association was organized
by myself and six of my students in 1876, on the Centen-
nial Day of our
nation's freedom. At a meeting of the |
| 24 |
Christian Scientist Association, on April 12, 1879, it
was
Page 44 |
| 1 |
voted to organize a church to commemorate the words
and
works of our Master, a Mind-healing church, without |
| 3 |
a creed, to be called the Church of Christ, Scientist,
the
first such church ever organized. The charter for this
church was
obtained in June, 1879(1) and during the same |
| 6 |
month the members, twenty-six in number, extended a
call
to me to become their pastor. I accepted the call,
and was ordained in
1881, though I had preached five |
| 9 |
years before being ordained.
When I was its pastor, and in the
pulpit every Sunday,
my church increased in members, and its spiritual
growth |
| 12 |
kept pace with its increasing popularity; but when
obliged,
because of accumulating work in the College, to preach
only
occasionally, no student, at that time, was found able |
| 15 |
to maintain the church in its previous harmony and
prosperity.
Examining the situation prayerfully
and carefully, noting |
| 18 |
the church's need, and the predisposing and exciting
cause
of its condition, I saw that the crisis had come when much
time
and attention must be given to defend this church |
| 21 |
from the envy and molestation of other churches, and
from
the danger to its members which must always lie in
Christian warfare. At
this juncture I recommended that |
| 24 |
the church be dissolved. No sooner were my views made
known, than the proper measures were adopted to carry
them out, the votes
passing without a dissenting voice. |
| 27 |
This measure was immediately followed by a great re-
vival of mutual love, prosperity, and spiritual power.
The history of that hour holds this
true record. Add- |
| 30 |
ing to its ranks and influence, this spiritually
organized
(1) Steps were taken to promote the Church
of Christ, Scientist, in April, May,
and June;
formal organization was accomplished and the charter obtained in
August,
1879.
Page 45 |
| 1 |
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, still goes on. A
new light broke in upon it, and more beautiful became |
| 3 |
the garments of her who "bringeth good tidings, that
pub-
lisheth peace."
Despite the prosperity of my church,
it was learned |
| 6 |
that material organization has its value and peril, and
that
organization is requisite only in the earliest periods in
Christian history. After this material form of cohesion |
| 9 |
and fellowship has accomplished its end, continued
organi-
zation retards spiritual growth, and should be laid off, -
even
as the corporeal organization deemed requisite in |
| 12 |
the first stages of mortal existence is finally laid off,
in
order to gain spiritual freedom and supremacy.
From careful observation and
experience came my clue |
| 15 |
to the uses and abuses of organization. Therefore, in ac-
cord with my special request, followed that noble, un-
precedented action
of the Christian Scientist Association |
| 18 |
connected with my College when dissolving that organiza-
tion, - in forgiving enemies, returning good for evil, in
following Jesus'
command, "Whosoever shall smite thee |
| 21 |
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." I saw
these fruits of Spirit, long-suffering and temperance, ful-
fil the law of
Christ in righteousness. I also saw that |
| 24 |
Christianity has withstood less the temptation of
popularity
than of persecution.
Page 46
"FEED MY
SHEEP" |
| 1 |
Lines penned when I was
pastor of the Church of Christ, Scien-
tist, in
Boston |
| 3 |
SHEPHERD show me how to go
O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow, - |
| 6 |
How to feed Thy sheep;
I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my footsteps stray; |
| 9 |
I will follow and rejoice
All the rugged way.
Thou wilt bind the stubborn
will, |
| 12 |
Wound the callous breast,
Make self-righteousness be
still,
Break earth's stupid rest. |
| 15 |
Strangers on a barren shore,
Lab'ring long and lone,
We would enter by the door, |
| 18 |
And Thou know'st Thine own.
So, when day grows dark and cold,
Tear or triumph harms, |
| 21 |
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,
Take them in Thine
arms;
Feed the hungry, heal the heart, |
| 24 |
Till the morning's beam;
White as wool, ere they
depart,
Shepherd, wash them clean.
Page 47
COLLEGE
CLOSED |
| 1 |
THE apprehension of what has been, and must be, the
final
outcome of material organization, which wars |
| 3 |
with Love's spiritual compact, caused me to dread the
unprecedented popularity of my College. Students from
all over our
continent, and from Europe, were flooding |
| 6 |
the school. At this time there were over three hundred
applications from persons desiring to enter the College,
and applicants
were rapidly increasing. Example had |
| 9 |
shown the dangers arising from being placed on earthly
pinnacles, and Christian Science shuns whatever involves
material means for
the promotion of spiritual ends. |
| 12 |
In view of all this, a meeting was called of the Board
of
Directors of my College, who, being informed of
my intentions, unanimously
voted that the school be |
| 15 |
discontinued.
A Primary class student, richly imbued
with the spirit
of Christ, is a better healer and teacher than a
Normal |
| 18 |
class student who partakes less of God's love. After hav-
ing received instructions in a Primary class from me, or
a loyal student,
and afterwards studied thoroughly Science |
| 21 |
and Health, a student can enter upon the gospel work of
teaching Christian Science, and so fulfil the command of
Christ. But before
entering this field of labor he must |
| 24 |
have studied the latest editions of my works, be a good
Bible scholar and a consecrated Christian.
Page 48 |
| 1 |
The Massachusetts Metaphysical College drew its
breath
from me, but I was yearning for retirement. The |
| 3 |
question was, Who else could sustain this institute,
under
all that was aimed at its vital purpose, the establishment
of
genuine Christian Science healing? My conscientious |
| 6 |
scruples about diplomas, the recent experience of the
church fresh in my thoughts, and the growing conviction
that every one
should build on his own foundation, sub- |
| 9 |
ject to the one builder and maker, God, - all these con-
siderations moved me to close my flourishing school, and
the following
resolutions were passed: -
|
| 12 |
At a special meeting of the Board of the Metaphysical
College Corporation, Oct. 29, 1889, the following are some
of the
resolutions which were presented and passed |
| 15 |
unanimously: -
WHEREAS, The Massachusetts
Metaphysical College,
chartered in January, 1881, for medical purposes, to
give |
| 18 |
instruction in scientific methods of mental healing on a
purely
practical basis, to impart a thorough understanding of meta-
physics, to restore health, hope, and harmony to man, - has |
| 21 |
fulfilled its high and noble destiny, and sent to all parts
of our
country, and into foreign lands, students instructed in Chris-
tian Science Mind-healing, to meet the demand of the age for |
| 24 |
something higher than physic or drugging; and
WHEREAS, The material organization
was, in the beginning
in this institution, like the baptism of Jesus, of
which he said, |
| 27 |
"Suffer it to be so now," though the teaching was a
purely
spiritual and scientific impartation of Truth, whose Christly
spirit has led to higher ways, means, and understanding, - the |
| 30 |
President, the Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy, at the height of
pros-
Page 49 |
| 1 |
perity in the institution, which yields a large income, is
willing
to sacrifice all for the advancement of the world in Truth and |
| 3 |
Love; and
WHEREAS, Other institutions for
instruction in Christian
Science, which are working out their periods of
organization, |
| 6 |
will doubtless follow the example of the Alma Mater
after
having accomplished the worthy purpose for which they were
organized, and the hour has come wherein the great need is |
| 9 |
for more of the spirit instead of the letter, and Science
and
Health is adapted to work this result; and
WHEREAS, The fundamental principle for
growth in Chris- |
| 12 |
tian Science is spiritual formation first, last, and always,
while
in human growth material organization is first; and
WHEREAS, Mortals must learn to lose
their estimate |
| 15 |
of the powers that are not ordained of God, and attain
the bliss of loving unselfishly, working patiently, and con-
quering all
that is unlike Christ and the example he gave; |
| 18 |
therefore
Resolved, That we thank the State for its charter, which is
the
only one ever granted to a legal college for teaching
the |
| 21 |
Science of Mind-healing; that we thank the public for its
liberal patronage. And everlasting gratitude is due to the
President, for
her great and noble work, which we believe |
| 24 |
will prove a healing for the nations, and bring all men to
a
knowledge of the true God, uniting them in one common
brotherhood. |
| 27 |
After due deliberation and earnest discussion it was
unani-
mously voted: That as all debts of the corporation have been
paid, it is deemed best to dissolve this corporation, and the |
| 30 |
same is hereby dissolved.
C. A. FRYE, Clerk
Page 50 |
| 1 |
When God impelled me to set a price on my instruction
in
Christian Science Mind-healing, I could think of no |
| 3 |
financial equivalent for an impartation of a knowledge of
that divine power which heals; but I was led to name three
hundred dollars
as the price for each pupil in one course |
| 6 |
of lessons at my College, - a startling sum for tuition
lasting barely three weeks. This amount greatly troubled
me. I shrank from
asking it, but was finally led, by a |
| 9 |
strange providence, to accept this fee.
God has since shown me, in
multitudinous ways, the
wisdom of this decision; and I beg disinterested
people |
| 12 |
to ask my loyal students if they consider three hundred
dollars any real equivalent for my instruction during
twelve half-days, or
even in half as many lessons. Never- |
| 15 |
theless, my list of indigent charity scholars is very
large,
and I have had as many as seventeen in one class.
Loyal students speak with delight of
their pupilage, |
| 18 |
and of what it has done for them, and for others through
them. By loyalty in students I mean this, - allegiance
to God,
subordination of the human to the divine, stead- |
| 21 |
fast justice, and strict adherence to divine Truth and
Love.
I see clearly that students in
Christian Science should, |
| 24 |
at present, continue to organize churches, schools, and
associations for the furtherance and unfolding of Truth,
and that my
necessity is not necessarily theirs; but it was |
| 27 |
the Father's opportunity for furnishing a new rule of
order
in divine Science, and the blessings which arose therefrom.
Students are not environed with such obstacles as were |
| 30 |
encountered in the beginning of pioneer work.
Page 51 |
| 1 |
In December, 1889, I gave a lot of land in Boston to my
student, Mr. Ira O. Knapp of Roslindale, - valued in |
| 3 |
1892 at about twenty thousand dollars, and rising in
value,
- to be appropriated for the erection, and building on
the
premises thereby conveyed, of a church edifice to be |
| 6 |
used as a temple for Christian Science worship.
Page 52
GENERAL
ASSOCIATIONS, AND OUR MAGAZINE |
| 1 |
FOR many successive years I have endeavored to find
new
ways and means for the promotion and expan- |
| 3 |
sion of scientific Mind-healing, seeking to broaden its
channels and, if possible, to build a hedge round about
it that should
shelter its perfections from the contaminat- |
| 6 |
ing influences of those who have a small portion of its
letter and less of its spirit. At the same time I have
worked to provide a
home for every true seeker and honest |
| 9 |
worke |