0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 16 – The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany – Chpt 10 – Admonition and Counsel

                    Chapter X 

  	          ADMONITION AND COUNSEL

 1	               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 


18	                           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 par-

  	      ¹Copyright, 1909, by Mary Baker Eddy. Renewed, 1937.
 
                                                    Ways that are Vain                        211




1	ticular, 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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 
  
                                               Only One Quotation                          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. 


27	                         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
  
                                                                Miscellany                               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


15	                  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
  
                                     The Laborer and his Hire                        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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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
 
                                                               A Correction                             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. 
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 


21	                            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
 
                                  Christian Science Healing                        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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 
 
                                  Christian Science Healing                        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-
  
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 

 
                                  Christian Science Healing                        223


 1	                              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-
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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
 
                                                         Capitalization                               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. 


 6	                                     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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 


24	                                   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." 
 
                                                           Wherefore?                                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. 
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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
 
                                                   Mental Digestion                             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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 


15	              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	                 ¹Article XX, Sections 2 and 3 in 89th edition.

 
                                  Lessons in the Sunday School                    231


 1	                         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). 
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 


 9	                  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
 
                                                    Principle or Person?                         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 indifference
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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 


15	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. 


 
                                                    Principle or Person?                         235


 1	                                 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
 
                                                                Miscellany                               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. 
 
                                                             Take Notice                               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. 


12	                                       TAKE NOTICE 

  	    To Christian Scientists: — See Science and Health, page
  	442, line 30, and give daily attention thereto. 


15	                       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.SHOW ALL