0.0 – Mary Baker Eddy’s Other Writings – Prose Works + Manual

     RETROSPECTION 
                      
                                   AND 

     INTROSPECTION
 
	        ...                                by 

                   MARY BAKER EDDY

	Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science
	       and Author of Science and Health
	              with Key to the Scriptures

 	Published by the
      Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
                          Boston, U.S.A.
 
	Copyright, 1891, 1892
	By Mary Baker G. Eddy
	


	Printed in the United States of America

                  Contents
 
	1             Ancestral Shadows
	4             Autobiographic Reminiscences
	8             Voices Not Our Own
	10           Early Studies
	11           Girlhood Composition
	13           Theological Reminiscence
	17           The Country-seat (Poem)
	19           Marriage and Parentage
	23           Emergence into Light
	24           The Great Discovery
	30           Foundation Work
	33           Medical Experiments
	35           First Publication
	37           The Precious Volume
	40           Recuperative Incident
	42           A True Man
	43           College and Church
	46           "Feed My Sheep" (Poem)
	47           College Closed
	52           General Associations, and Our Magazine
	54           Faith-cure
	56           Foundation-stones
	59           The Great Revelation
	63           Sin, Sinner, and Ecclesiasticism
	67           The Human Concept
	73           Personality
	75           Plagiarism
	78           Admonition
	86           Exemplification
         93           Waymarks

      RETROSPECTION AND
  	           INTROSPECTION 

  	                 ANCESTRAL SHADOWS 


 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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Ancestral Shadows                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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Ancestral Shadows                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.

         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
 
                                                                                                       5 
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Autobiographic Reminiscences         


 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-
 
                                                                                                       6
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Autobiographic Reminiscences        


 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
 
                                                                                                          7 
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Autobiographic Reminiscences         


 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.

               VOICES NOT OUR OWN 

 1	    Many peculiar circumstances and events connected
  	with my childhood thro...ng 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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Voices Not Our Own               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,
  	   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

                    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.

            GIRLHOOD COMPOSITION 

 1	    From childhood I was a verse-maker. Poetry suited
  	my emotions better tha...n 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,
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Girlhood Composition           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.

            THEOLOGICAL REMINISCENCE 

 1	    At the age of twelve¹ I was admitted to the Congre-
  	gational (Trini...tarian) 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-

  	¹See Page 311, Lines 12 to 17, "The First Church of Christ,
  	 Scientist, and Miscellany."
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Theological Reminiscence   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
  
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Theological Reminiscence    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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Theological Reminiscence    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	      ¹This 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
24	 which the charter for The Mother Church was obtained, instead of
  	 August 23, 1879, the correct date.

                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. 

 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Country-Seat                 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. 

  	      ¹An alder growing from the bent branch of a pear-tree.

                     MARRIAGE AND PARENTAGE 


 1	    In 1843 I was united to my first husband, Colonel George
  	Wa...shington 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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Marriage and Parentage      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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Marriage and Parentage       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-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Marriage and Parentage       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.

                     EMERGENCE INTO LIGHT 

 1	    The trend of human life was too eventful to leave me
  	undisturbe...d 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.

                    THE GREAT DISCOVERY 

 1	    It was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, and after
  	the death o...f 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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Discovery            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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Discovery            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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Discovery            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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Discovery            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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Discovery            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."

                        FOUNDATION WORK 

 1	    As the pioneer of Christian Science I stood alone in
  	this conflic...t, 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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Foundation Work                  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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Foundation Work                  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.

               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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Medical Experiments            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.

                      FIRST PUBLICATION 

 1	    In 1870 I copyrighted the first publication on spirit-
  	ual, scien...tific 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
21	claim too immanent to fall to the ground beneath the stroke
  	of artless workmen. 
  	    Though a man were girt with the Urim and Thummim
24	of priestly office, and denied the perpetuity of Jesus' com-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- First Publication                    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.

                   THE PRECIOUS VOLUME 

 1	    The first edition of my most important work, Science
  	and Health, c...ontaining 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-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Precious Volume           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. 
 

  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Precious Volume           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.

                         RECUPERATIVE INCIDENT 

 1	    Through four successive years I healed, preached,
  	and taug...ht 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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Recuperative Incident          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.

                                          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.)

                            COLLEGE AND CHURCH 

 1	    In 1867 I introduced the first purely metaphysical sys-
  	te...m 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
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College and Church             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

  	     ¹Steps were taken to promote the Church of Christ, Scientist,
  	 in April, May, and June; formal organization was accomplished and
33	 the charter obtained in August, 1879.
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College and Church             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.

            "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.

                                      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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College Closed                     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-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College Closed                     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 

 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College Closed                     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. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- College Closed                     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.

                       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	worker in this vineyard of Truth. 
  	    To meet the broader wants of humanity, and provide
  	folds for the sheep that were without shepherds, I sug-
12	gested to my students, in 1886, the propriety of forming
  	a National Christian Scientist Association. This was
  	immediately done, and delegations from the Christian
15	Scientist Association of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
  	College, and from branch associations in other States,
  	met in general convention at New York City, February
18	11, 1886. 
  	    The first official organ of the Christian Scientist Asso-
  	ciation was called Journal of Christian Science. I started
21	it, April, 1883, as editor and publisher. 
  	    To the National Christian Scientist Association, at its
  	meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, June, 1889, I sent a letter,
 

Retrospection and Introspection – General Associations            53


 1	presenting to its loyal members The Christian Science
  	Journal, as it was now called, and the funds belonging
 3	thereto. This monthly magazine had been made success-
  	ful and prosperous under difficult circumstances, and was
  	designed to bear aloft the standard of genuine Christian
 6	Science.

                                          FAITH-CURE 

 1	    It is often asked, Why are faith-cures sometimes more
 ... 	speedy than some of the cures wrought through Chris-
 3	tian Scientists? Because faith is belief, and not under-
  	standing; and it is easier to believe, than to understand
  	spiritual Truth. It demands less cross-bearing, self
 6	renunciation, and divine Science to admit the claims of
  	the corporeal senses and appeal to God for relief through
  	a humanized conception of His power, than to deny these
 9	claims and learn the divine way, — drinking Jesus' cup,
  	being baptized with his baptism, gaining the end through
  	persecution and purity. 
12	    Millions are believing in God, or good, without bearing
  	the fruits of goodness, not having reached its Science. 
  	Belief is virtually blindness, when it admits Truth with-
15	out understanding it. Blind belief cannot say with the
  	apostle, "I know whom I have believed." There is danger
  	in this mental state called belief; for if Truth is admitted,
18	but not understood, it may be lost, and error may enter
  	through this same channel of ignorant belief. The faith-
  	cure has devout followers, whose Christian practice is far
21	in advance of their theory. 
  	    The work of healing, in the Science of Mind, is the most
  	sacred and salutary power which can be wielded. My
24	Christian students, impressed with the true sense of the
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Faith-cure                             55


 1	great work before them, enter this strait and narrow path,
  	and work conscientiously. 
 3	    Let us follow the example of Jesus, the master Meta-
  	physician, and gain sufficient knowledge of error to destroy
  	it with Truth. Evil is not mastered by evil; it can only
 6	be overcome with good. This brings out the nothingness
  	of evil and the eternal somethingness, vindicates the divine
  	Principle, and improves the race of Adam.

                     FOUNDATION-STONES 


 1	    The following ideas of Deity, antagonized by finite
  	theories, do...ctrines, and hypotheses, I found to be
 3	demonstrable rules in Christian Science, and that we
  	must abide by them. 
  	    Whatever diverges from the one divine Mind, or God,
 6	 — or divides Mind into minds, Spirit into spirits, Soul
  	into souls, and Being into beings, — is a misstatement
  	of the unerring divine Principle of Science, which inter-
 9	rupts the meaning of the omnipotence, omniscience, and
  	omnipresence of Spirit, and is of human instead of divine
  	origin. 
12	    War is waged between the evidences of Spirit and the
  	evidences of the five physical senses; and this contest
  	must go on until peace be declared by the final triumph
15	of Spirit in immutable harmony. Divine Science disclaims
  	sin, sickness, and death, on the basis of the omnipotence
  	and omnipresence of God, or divine good. 
18	    All consciousness is Mind, and Mind is God. Hence
  	there is but one Mind; and that one is the infinite good,
  	supplying all Mind by the reflection, not the subdivision,
21	of God. Whatever else claims to be mind, or consciousness,
  	is untrue. The sun sends forth light, but not suns; so
  	God reflects Himself, or Mind, but does not subdivide
24	Mind, or good, into minds, good and evil. Divine Sci-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Foundation-stones               57


 1	ence demands mighty wrestlings with mortal beliefs, as
  	we sail into the eternal haven over the unfathomable
 3	sea of possibilities. 
  	    Neither ancient nor modern philosophy furnishes a
  	scientific basis for the Science of Mind-healing. Plato
 6	believed he had a soul, which must be doctored in order
  	to heal his body. This would be like correcting the prin-
  	ciple of music for the purpose of destroying discord. Prin-
 9	ciple is right; it is practice that is wrong. Soul is right;
  	it is the flesh that is evil. Soul is the synonym of Spirit,
  	God; hence there is but one Soul, and that one is infinite. 
12	If that pagan philosopher had known that physical sense,
  	not Soul, causes all bodily ailments, his philosophy would
  	have yielded to Science. 
15	    Man shines by borrowed light. He reflects God as
  	his Mind, and this reflection is substance, — the substance
  	of good. Matter is substance in error, Spirit is substance
18	in Truth. 
  	    Evil, or error, is not Mind; but infinite Mind is sufficient
  	to supply all manifestations of intelligence. The notion
21	of more than one Mind, or Life, is as unsatisfying as it is
  	unscientific. All must be of God, and not our own, sepa-
  	rated from Him. 
24	    Human systems of philosophy and religion are depart-
  	ures from Christian Science. Mistaking divine Principle
  	for corporeal personality, ingrafting upon one First Cause
27	such opposite effects as good and evil, health and sickness,
  	life and death; making mortality the status and rule of
  	divinity, — such methods can never reach the perfection
30	and demonstration of metaphysical, or Christian Science. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Foundation-stones               58


 1	    Stating the divine Principle, omnipotence (omnis potens),
  	and then departing from this statement and taking the
 3	rule of finite matter, with which to work out the problem
  	of infinity or Spirit, — all this is like trying to compensate
  	for the absence of omnipotence by a physical, false, and
 6	finite substitute. 
  	    With our Master, life was not merely a sense of exist-
  	ence, but an accompanying sense of power that subdued
 9	matter and brought to light immortality, insomuch that
  	the people "were astonished at his doctrine:  for he taught
  	them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." 
12	Life, as defined by Jesus, had no beginning; it was not
  	the result of organization, or infused into matter; it was
  	Spirit.

                     THE GREAT REVELATION 

 1	    Christian Science reveals the grand verity, that
  	to believe man... has a finite and erring mind, and
 3	consequently a mortal mind and soul and life, is error. 
  	Scientific terms have no contradictory significations. 
  	    In Science, Life is not temporal, but eternal, without
 6	beginning or ending. The word Life never means that
  	which is the source of death, and of good and evil. Such
  	an inference is unscientific. It is like saying that addition
 9	means subtraction in one instance and addition in an-
  	other, and then applying this rule to a demonstration of
  	the science of numbers; even as mortals apply finite terms
12	to God, in demonstration of infinity. Life is a term used
  	to indicate Deity; and every other name for the Supreme
  	Being, if properly employed, has the signification of
15	Life. Whatever errs is mortal, and is the antipodes of
  	Life, or God, and of health and holiness, both in idea
  	and demonstration. 
18	    Christian Science reveals Mind, the only living and true
  	God, and all that is made by Him, Mind, as harmonious,
  	immortal, and spiritual:  the five material senses define
21	Mind and matter as distinct, but mutually dependent,
  	each on the other, for intelligence and existence. Science
  	defines man as immortal, as coexistent and coeternal with
24	God, as made in His own image and likeness; material
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Revelation           60


 1	sense defines life as something apart from God, beginning
  	and ending, and man as very far from the divine likeness. 
 3	Science reveals Life as a complete sphere, as eternal, self-
  	existent Mind; material sense defines life as a broken
  	sphere, as organized matter, and mind as something sep-
 6	arate from God. Science reveals Spirit as All, averring
  	that there is nothing beside God; material sense says that
  	matter, His antipode, is something besides God. Material
 9	sense adds that the divine Spirit created matter, and that
  	matter and evil are as real as Spirit and good. 
  	    Christian Science reveals God and His idea as the All
12	and Only. It declares that evil is the absence of good;
  	whereas, good is God ever-present, and therefore evil is
  	unreal and good is all that is real. Christian Science saith
15	to the wave and storm, "Be still," and there is a great
  	calm. Material sense asks, in its ignorance of Science,
  	"When will the raging of the material elements cease?" 
18	Science saith to all manner of disease, "Know that God
  	is all-power and all-presence, and there is nothing beside
  	Him;" and the sick are healed. Material sense saith,
21	"Oh, when will my sufferings cease?  Where is God?  
  	Sickness is something besides Him, which He cannot, or
  	does not, heal." 
24	    Christian Science is the only sure basis of harmony. 
  	Material sense contradicts Science, for matter and its
  	so-called organizations take no cognizance of the spir-
27	itual facts of the universe, or of the real man and God. 
  	Christian Science declares that there is but one Truth,
  	Life, Love, but one Spirit, Mind, Soul. Any attempt
30	to divide these arises from the fallibility of sense, from
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Revelation           61


 1	mortal man's ignorance, from enmity to God and divine
  	Science. 
 3	    Christian Science declares that sickness is a belief, a
  	latent fear, made manifest on the body in different forms
  	of fear or disease. This fear is formed unconsciously in
 6	the silent thought, as when you awaken from sleep and
  	feel ill, experiencing the effect of a fear whose existence
  	you do not realize; but if you fall asleep, actually con-
 9	scious of the truth of Christian Science, — namely, that
  	man's harmony is no more to be invaded than the rhythm
  	of the universe, — you cannot awake in fear or suffering
12	of any sort. 
  	    Science saith to fear, "You are the cause of all sick-
  	ness; but you are a self-constituted falsity, — you are
15	darkness, nothingness.  You are without 'hope, and with-
  	out God in the world.' You do not exist, and have no
  	right to exist, for 'perfect Love casteth out fear.'" 
18	    God is everywhere. "There is no speech nor language,
  	where their voice is not heard;" and this voice is Truth
  	that destroys error and Love that casts out fear. 
21	    Christian Science reveals the fact that, if suffering exists,
  	it is in the mortal mind only, for matter has no sensation
  	and cannot suffer. 
24	    If you rule out every sense of disease and suffering from
  	mortal mind, it cannot be found in the body. 
  	    Posterity will have the right to demand that Christian
27	Science be stated and demonstrated in its godliness and
  	grandeur, — that however little be taught or learned, that
  	little shall be right. Let there be milk for babes, but let
30	not the milk be adulterated. Unless this method be pur-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Great Revelation           62


 1	sued, the Science of Christian healing will again be lost,
  	and human suffering will increase. 
 3	    Test Christian Science by its effect on society, and you
  	will find that the views here set forth — as to the illusion
  	of sin, sickness, and death — bring forth better fruits of
 6	health, righteousness, and Life, than a belief in their reality
  	has ever done. A demonstration of the unreality of evil
  	destroys evil.

           SIN, SINNER, AND ECCLESIASTICISM 

 1	    Why do Christian Scientists say God and His idea
  	are the only... realities, and then insist on the need
 3	of healing sickness and sin? Because Christian Science
  	heals sin as it heals sickness, by establishing the recogni-
  	tion that God is All, and there is none beside Him, — that
 6	all is good, and there is in reality no evil, neither sickness
  	nor sin. We attack the sinner's belief in the pleasure of
  	sin, alias the reality of sin, which makes him a sinner, in
 9	order to destroy this belief and save him from sin; and
  	we attack the belief of the sick in the reality of sickness,
  	in order to heal them. When we deny the authority of
12	sin, we begin to sap it; for this denunciation must precede
  	its destruction. 
  	    God is good, hence goodness is something, for it rep-
15	resents God, the Life of man. Its opposite, nothing,
  	named evil, is nothing but a conspiracy against man's
  	Life and goodness. Do you not feel bound to expose this
18	conspiracy, and so to save man from it? Whosoever
  	covers iniquity becomes accessory to it. Sin, as a claim,
  	is more dangerous than sickness, more subtle, more diffi-
21	cult to heal. 
  	    St. Augustine once said, "The devil is but the ape of
  	God." Sin is worse than sickness; but recollect that it
24	encourages sin to say, "There is no sin," and leave the
  	subject there. 
 

  Retro and Intro --- Sin, Sinner, and Ecclesiasticism                     64   


 1	    Sin ultimates in sinner, and in this sense they are one. 
  	You cannot separate sin from the sinner, nor the sinner
 3	from his sin. The sin is the sinner, and vice versa, for
  	such is the unity of evil; and together both sinner and sin
  	will be destroyed by the supremacy of good. This, how-
 6	ever, does not annihilate man, for to efface sin, alias the
  	sinner, brings to light, makes apparent, the real man,
  	even God's "image and likeness." Need it be said that
 9	any opposite theory is heterodox to divine Science, which
  	teaches that good is equally one and all, even as the oppo-
  	site claim of evil is one. 
12	    In Christian Science the fact is made obvious that the
  	sinner and the sin are alike simply nothingness; and this
  	view is supported by the Scripture, where the Psalmist
15	saith: "He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they
  	shall never see light.  Man that is in honor, and under-
  	standeth not, is like the beasts that perish." God's ways
18	and works and thoughts have never changed, either in
  	Principle or practice. 
  	    Since there is in belief an illusion termed sin, which
21	must be met and mastered, we classify sin, sickness, and
  	death as illusions. They are supposititious claims of
  	error; and error being a false claim, they are no claims
24	at all. It is scientific to abide in conscious harmony, in
  	health-giving, deathless Truth and Love. To do this,
  	mortals must first open their eyes to all the illusive forms,
27	methods, and subtlety of error, in order that the illusion,
  	error, may be destroyed; if this is not done, mortals will
  	become the victims of error. 
30	    If evangelical churches refuse fellowship with the
 
                                                                                                       
  Retro and Intro --- Sin, Sinner, and Ecclesiasticism                     65   


 1	Church of Christ, Scientist, or with Christian Science,
  	they must rest their opinions of Truth and Love on
 3	the evidences of the physical senses, rather than on
  	the teaching and practice of Jesus, or the works of the
  	Spirit. 
 6	    Ritualism and dogma lead to self-righteousness and
  	bigotry, which freeze out the spiritual element. Pharisa-
  	ism killeth; Spirit giveth Life. The odors of persecution,
 9	tobacco, and alcohol are not the sweet-smelling savor of
  	Truth and Love. Feasting the senses, gratification of
  	appetite and passion, have no warrant in the gospel or
12	the Decalogue. Mortals must take up the cross if they
  	would follow Christ, and worship the Father "in spirit
  	and in truth." 
15	    The Jewish religion was not spiritual; hence Jesus
  	denounced it. If the religion of to-day is constituted of
  	such elements as of old ruled Christ out of the synagogues,
18	it will continue to avoid whatever follows the example of
  	our Lord and prefers Christ to creed. Christian Science
  	is the pure evangelic truth. It accords with the trend and
21	tenor of Christ's teaching and example, while it demon-
  	strates the power of Christ as taught in the four Gospels. 
  	Truth, casting out evils and healing the sick; Love, ful-
24	filling the law and keeping man unspotted from the world,
  	 — these practical manifestations of Christianity constitute
  	the only evangelism, and they need no creed. 
27	    As well expect to determine, without a telescope, the
  	magnitude and distance of the stars, as to expect to obtain
  	health, harmony, and holiness through an unspiritual and
30	unhealing religion. Christianity reveals God as ever-
 
                                                                      
  Retro and Intro --- Sin, Sinner, and Ecclesiasticism                     66   


 1	present Truth and Love, to be utilized in healing the sick,
  	in casting out error, in raising the dead. 
 3	    Christian Science gives vitality to religion, which is no
  	longer buried in materiality. It raises men from a material
  	sense into the spiritual understanding and scientific demon-
 6	stration of God.

                                 THE HUMAN CONCEPT 

 1	    Sin existed as a false claim before the human concept
  	...of sin was formed; hence one's concept of error is
 3	not the whole of error. The human thought does not
  	constitute sin, but vice versa, sin constitutes the human or
  	physical concept. 
 6	    Sin is both concrete and abstract. Sin was, and is, the
  	lying supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are
  	both material and spiritual, and yet are separate from
 9	God. The first iniquitous manifestation of sin was a
  	finity. The finite was self-arrayed against the infinite,
  	the mortal against immortality, and a sinner was the
12	antipode of God. 
  	    Silencing self, alias rising above corporeal personality,
  	is what reforms the sinner and destroys sin. In the ratio
15	that the testimony of material personal sense ceases, sin
  	diminishes, until the false claim called sin is finally lost
  	for lack of witness. 
18	    The sinner created neither himself nor sin, but sin
  	created the sinner; that is, error made its man mortal,
  	and this mortal was the image and likeness of evil, not of
21	good. Therefore the lie was, and is, collective as well as
  	individual. It was in no way contingent on Adam's
  	thought, but supposititiously self-created. In the words
24	of our Master, it, the "devil" (alias evil), "was a liar, and
  	the father of it." 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Human Concept            68


 1	    This mortal material concept was never a creator, al-
  	though as a serpent it claimed to originate in the name of
 3	"the Lord," or good, — original evil; second, in the name
  	of human concept, it claimed to beget the offspring of evil,
  	alias an evil offspring. However, the human concept
 6	never was, neither indeed can be, the father of man. 
  	Even the spiritual idea, or ideal man, is not a parent,
  	though he reflects the infinity of good. The great differ-
 9	ence between these opposites is, that the human material
  	concept is unreal, and the divine concept or idea is spiritu-
  	ally real. One is false, while the other is true. One is
12	temporal, but the other is eternal. 
  	    Our Master instructed his students to "call no man
  	your father upon the earth:  for one is your Father, which
15	is in heaven."  (Matt. xxiii. 9.) 
  	    Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science,
  	treats of the human concept, and the transference of
18	thought, as follows: —  

  	    "How can matter originate or transmit mind?  We
  	answer that it cannot.  Darkness and doubt encompass
21	thought, so long as it bases creation on materiality"
  	(p. 551). 
  	    "In reality there is no mortal mind, and consequently
24	no transference of mortal thought and will-power.  Life
  	and being are of God.  In Christian Science, man can do
  	no harm, for scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing
27	from God to man" (pp. 103, 104). 
  	    "Man is the offspring of Spirit.  The beautiful, good,
  	and pure constitute his ancestry.  His origin is not, like
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Human Concept            69


1	that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through
  	material conditions prior to reaching intelligence.  Spirit
 3	is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his
  	Father, and Life is the law of his being" (p. 63). 
  	    "The parent of all human discord was the Adam-
 6	dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion
  	that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into
  	matter.  This pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, in-
 9	sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, 'Ye shall be
  	as gods;' that is, I will make error as real and eternal as
  	Truth. . . .  'I will put spirit into what I call matter, and
12	matter shall seem to have life as much as God, Spirit,
  	who is the only Life.'  This error has proved itself to be
  	error.  Its life is found to be not Life, but only a transient,
15	false sense of an existence which ends in death" (pp. 306,
  	307). 
  	    "When will the error of believing that there is life in
18	matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of
  	God, be unmasked?  When will it be understood that
  	matter has no intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that
21	the opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering?  
  	God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and
  	eternal.  Where then is the necessity for recreation or
24	procreation?" (p. 205). 
  	    "Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the
  	voice of Truth still calls: 'Adam, where art thou?  Con-
27	sciousness, where art thou?  Art thou dwelling in the be-
  	lief that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art
  	thou in the living faith that there is and can be but one
30	God, and keeping His commandment?'" (pp. 307, 308). 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Human Concept            70


 1	    "Mortal mind inverts the true likeness, and confers
  	animal names and natures upon its own misconceptions.  
 3	Ignorant of the origin and operations of mortal mind, — 
  	that is, ignorant of itself, — this so-called mind puts forth
  	its own qualities, and claims God as their author; . . .
 6	usurps the deific prerogatives and is an attempted in-
  	fringement on infinity" (pp. 512, 513). 

  	    We do not question the authenticity of the Scriptural
 9	narrative of the Virgin-mother and Bethlehem babe, and
  	the Messianic mission of Christ Jesus; but in our time
  	no Christian Scientist will give chimerical wings to his
12	imagination, or advance speculative theories as to the
  	recurrence of such events. 
  	    No person can take the individual place of the Virgin
15	Mary. No person can compass or fulfil the individual
  	mission of Jesus of Nazareth. No person can take the
  	place of the author of Science and Health, the Discoverer
18	and Founder of Christian Science. Each individual must
  	fill his own niche in time and eternity. 
  	    The second appearing of Jesus is, unquestionably, the
21	spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in Chris-
  	tian Science. 
  	    And the scientific ultimate of this God-idea must be,
24	will be, forever individual, incorporeal, and infinite, even
  	the reflection, "image and likeness," of the infinite God. 
  	    The right teacher of Christian Science lives the truth he
27	teaches. Preeminent among men, he virtually stands at
  	the head of all sanitary, civil, moral, and religious reform. 
  	Such a post of duty, unpierced by vanity, exalts a mortal
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Human Concept            71


 1	beyond human praise, or monuments which weigh dust,
  	and humbles him with the tax it raises on calamity to open
 3	the gates of heaven. It is not the forager on others' wis-
  	dom that God thus crowns, but he who is obedient to the
  	divine command, "Render to Caesar the things that are
 6	Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 
  	    Great temptations beset an ignorant or an unprincipled
  	mind-practice in opposition to the straight and narrow
 9	path of Christian Science. Promiscuous mental treat-
  	ment, without the consent or knowledge of the individual
  	treated, is an error of much magnitude. People unaware
12	of the indications of mental treatment, know not what is
  	affecting them, and thus may be robbed of their individual
  	rights, — freedom of choice and self-government. Who is
15	willing to be subjected to such an influence? Ask the un-
  	bridled mind-manipulator if he would consent to this; and
  	if not, then he is knowingly transgressing Christ's com-
18	mand. He who secretly manipulates mind without the
  	permission of man or God, is not dealing justly and
  	loving mercy, according to pure and undefiled religion. 
21	    Sinister and selfish motives entering into mental practice
  	are dangerous incentives; they proceed from false con-
  	victions and a fatal ignorance. These are the tares grow-
24	ing side by side with the wheat, that must be recognized,
  	and uprooted, before the wheat can be garnered and
  	Christian Science demonstrated. 
27	    Secret mental efforts to obtain help from one who is
  	unaware of this attempt, demoralizes the person who does
  	this, the same as other forms of stealing, and will end in
30	destroying health and morals. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- The Human Concept            72


 1	    In the practice of Christian Science one cannot impart
  	a mental influence that hazards another's happiness, nor
 3	interfere with the rights of the individual. To disregard
  	the welfare of others is contrary to the law of God; there-
  	fore it deteriorates one's ability to do good, to benefit
 6	himself and mankind. 
  	    The Psalmist vividly portrays the result of secret faults,
  	presumptuous sins, and self-deception, in these words:
 9	"How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!  
  	They are utterly consumed with terrors."

                                     PERSONALITY 

 1	    The immortal man being spiritual, individual, and
  	eterna...l, his mortal opposite must be material, cor-
 3	poreal, and temporal. Physical personality is finite; but
  	God is infinite. He is without materiality, without finite-
  	ness of form or Mind. 
 6	    Limitations are put off in proportion as the fleshly
  	nature disappears and man is found in the reflection of
  	Spirit. 
 9	    This great fact leads into profound depths. The mate-
  	rial human concept grew beautifully less as I floated into
  	more spiritual latitudes and purer realms of thought. 
12	    From that hour personal corporeality became less to
  	me than it is to people who fail to appreciate individual
  	character. I endeavored to lift thought above physical
15	personality, or selfhood in matter, to man's spiritual in-
  	dividuality in God, — in the true Mind, where sensible
  	evil is lost in supersensible good. This is the only way
18	whereby the false personality is laid off. 
  	    He who clings to personality, or perpetually warns you
  	of "personality," wrongs it, or terrifies people over it,
21	and is the sure victim of his own corporeality. Constantly
  	to scrutinize physical personality, or accuse people of being
  	unduly personal, is like the sick talking sickness. Such
24	errancy betrays a violent and egotistical personality,
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Personality                           74


 1	increases one's sense of corporeality, and begets a fear of
  	the senses and a perpetually egotistical sensibility. 
 3	    He who does this is ignorant of the meaning of the word
  	personality, and defines it by his own corpus sine pectore
  	(soulless body), and fails to distinguish the individual, or
 6	real man from the false sense of corporeality, or egotistic
  	self. 
  	    My own corporeal personality afflicteth me not wittingly;
 9	for I desire never to think of it, and it cannot think
  	of me.

                           PLAGIARISM 

 1	    The various forms of book-borrowing without credit
  	spring from this... ill-concealed question in mortal
 3	mind, Who shall be greatest? This error violates the
  	law given by Moses, it tramples upon Jesus' Sermon
  	on the Mount, it does violence to the ethics of Christian
 6	Science. 
  	    Why withhold my name, while appropriating my lan-
  	guage and ideas, but give credit when citing from the works
 9	of other authors? 
  	    Life and its ideals are inseparable, and one's writings
  	on ethics, and demonstration of Truth, are not, cannot be,
12	understood or taught by those who persistently misunder-
  	stand or misrepresent the author. Jesus said, "For there
  	is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can
15	lightly speak evil of me." 
  	    If one's spiritual ideal is comprehended and loved, the
  	borrower from it is embraced in the author's own mental
18	mood, and is therefore honest. The Science of Mind ex-
  	cludes opposites, and rests on unity. 
  	    It is proverbial that dishonesty retards spiritual growth
21	and strikes at the heart of Truth. If a student at Harvard
  	College has studied a textbook written by his teacher, is
  	he entitled, when he leaves the University, to write out as
24	his own the substance of this textbook? There is no war-
  	rant in common law and no permission in the gospel
 
   
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Plagiarism                            76


 1	for plagiarizing an author's ideas and their words. 
  	Christian Science is not copyrighted; nor would pro-
 3	tection by copyright be requisite, if mortals obeyed
  	God's law of manright. A student can write volumi-
  	nous works on Science without trespassing, if he writes
 6	honestly, and he cannot dishonestly compose Christian
  	Science. The Bible is not stolen, though it is cited,
  	and quoted deferentially. 
 9	    Thoughts touched with the Spirit and Word of Christian
  	Science gravitate naturally toward Truth. Therefore the
  	mind to which this Science was revealed must have risen
12	to the altitude which perceived a light beyond what others
  	saw. 
  	    The spiritually minded meet on the stairs which lead up
15	to spiritual love. This affection, so far from being per-
  	sonal worship, fulfils the law of Love which Paul enjoined
  	upon the Galatians. This is the Mind "which was also
18	in Christ Jesus," and knows no material limitations. It is
  	the unity of good and bond of perfectness. This just affec-
  	tion serves to constitute the Mind-healer a wonder-worker,
21	 — as of old, on the Pentecost Day, when the disciples were
  	of one accord. 
  	    He who gains the God-crowned summit of Christian
24	Science never abuses the corporeal personality, but up-
  	lifts it. He thinks of every one in his real quality, and
  	sees each mortal in an impersonal depict. 
27	    I have long remained silent on a growing evil in plagi-
  	arism; but if I do not insist upon the strictest observance
  	of moral law and order in Christian Scientists, I become
 
   
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Plagiarism                            77


 1	responsible, as a teacher, for laxity in discipline and law-
  	lessness in literature. Pope was right in saying, "An
 3	honest man's the noblest work of God;" and Ingersoll's
  	repartee has its moral: "An honest God's the noblest
  	work of man."

                              ADMONITION 

 1	    The neophyte in Christian Science acts like a diseased
  	physique,... — being too fast or too slow. He is in-
 3	clined to do either too much or too little. In healing and
  	teaching the student has not yet achieved the entire wis-
  	dom of Mind-practice. The textual explanation of this
 6	practice is complete in Science and Health; and scientific
  	practice makes perfect, for it is governed by its Principle,
  	and not by human opinions; but carnal and sinister
 9	motives, entering into this practice, will prevent the
  	demonstration of Christian Science. 
  	    I recommend students not to read so-called scientific
12	works, antagonistic to Christian Science, which advocate
  	materialistic systems; because such works and words be-
  	cloud the right sense of metaphysical Science. 
15	    The rules of Mind-healing are wholly Christlike and
  	spiritual. Therefore the adoption of a worldly policy or a
  	resort to subterfuge in the statement of the Science of
18	Mind-healing, or any name given to it other than Christian
  	Science, or an attempt to demonstrate the facts of this
  	Science other than is stated in Science and Health — is a
21	departure from the Science of Mind-healing. To becloud
  	mortals, or for yourself to hide from God, is to conspire
  	against the blessings otherwise conferred, against your
24	own success and final happiness, against the progress of
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                           79


 1	the human race as well as against honest metaphysical
  	theory and practice. 
 3	    Not by the hearing of the ear is spiritual truth learned
  	and loved; nor cometh this apprehension from the ex-
  	periences of others. We glean spiritual harvests from our
 6	own material losses. In this consuming heat false images
  	are effaced from the canvas of mortal mind; and thus does
  	the material pigment beneath fade into invisibility. 
 9	    The signs for the wayfarer in divine Science lie in meek-
  	ness, in unselfish motives and acts, in shuffling off scholastic
  	rhetoric, in ridding the thought of effete doctrines, in the
12	purification of the affections and desires. 
  	    Dishonesty, envy, and mad ambition are "lusts of the
  	flesh," which uproot the germs of growth in Science and
15	leave the inscrutable problem of being unsolved. Through
  	the channels of material sense, of worldly policy, pomp,
  	and pride, cometh no success in Truth. If beset with mis-
18	guided emotions, we shall be stranded on the quicksands
  	of worldly commotion, and practically come short of the
  	wisdom requisite for teaching and demonstrating the
21	victory over self and sin. 
  	    Be temperate in thought, word, and deed. Meekness
  	and temperance are the jewels of Love, set in wisdom. 
24	Restrain untempered zeal. "Learn to labor and to wait." 
  	Of old the children of Israel were saved by patient waiting. 
  	    "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the
27	violent take it by force!" said Jesus. Therefore are
  	its spiritual gates not captured, nor its golden streets
  	invaded. 
30	    We recognize this kingdom, the reign of harmony
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                           80


 1	within us, by an unselfish affection or love, for this is the
  	pledge of divine good and the insignia of heaven. This
 3	also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be graciously
  	gentle, yet it may seem severe. 

  	               For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
 6	               And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. 

  	    As the poets in different languages have expressed it: — 

  	               Though the mills of God grind slowly,
 9	                 Yet they grind exceeding small;
  	               Though with patience He stands waiting,
  	                 With exactness grinds He all. 

12	    Though the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling
  	down of sin's strongholds, it may stir the human heart to
  	resist Truth, before this heart becomes obediently recep-
15	tive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian Scientist
  	recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which
  	permeate justice and Love, he will not scorn the timely re-
18	proof, but will so absorb it that this warning will be within
  	him a spring, welling up into unceasing spiritual rise and
  	progress. Patience and obedience win the golden scholar-
21	ship of experimental tuition. 
  	    The kindly shepherd of the East carries his lambs in his
  	arms to the sheepcot, but the older sheep pass into the fold
24	under his compelling rod. He who sees the door and turns
  	away from it, is guilty, while innocence strayeth yearningly. 
  	    There are no greater miracles known to earth than per-
27	fection and an unbroken friendship. We love our friends,
  	but ofttimes we lose them in proportion to our affection. 
  	The sacrifices made for others are not infrequently met by
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                            81


 1	envy, ingratitude, and enmity, which smite the heart and
  	threaten to paralyze its beneficence. The unavailing tear
 3	is shed both for the living and the dead. 
  	    Nothing except sin, in the students themselves, can
  	separate them from me. Therefore we should guard
 6	thought and action, keeping them in accord with Christ,
  	and our friendship will surely continue. 
  	    The letter of the law of God, separated from its spirit,
 9	tends to demoralize mortals, and must be corrected by a
  	diviner sense of liberty and light. The spirit of Truth ex-
  	tinguishes false thinking, feeling, and acting; and falsity
12	must thus decay, ere spiritual sense, affectional conscious-
  	ness, and genuine goodness become so apparent as to be
  	well understood. 
15	    After the supreme advent of Truth in the heart, there
  	comes an overwhelming sense of error's vacuity, of the
  	blunders which arise from wrong apprehension. The en-
18	lightened heart loathes error, and casts it aside; or else
  	that heart is consciously untrue to the light, faithless to
  	itself and to others, and so sinks into deeper darkness. 
21	Said Jesus: "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how
  	great is that darkness!" and Shakespeare puts this pious
  	counsel into a father's mouth: — 

24	               This above all:  To thine own self be true;
  	               And it must follow, as the night the day,
  	               Thou canst not then be false to any man. 


27	    A realization of the shifting scenes of human happiness,
  	and of the frailty of mortal anticipations, — such as first
  	led me to the feet of Christian Science, — seems to be requi-
30	site at every stage of advancement. Though our first les-
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                            82


 1	sons are changed, modified, broadened, yet their core is
  	constantly renewed; as the law of the chord remains
 3	unchanged, whether we are dealing with a simple Latour
  	exercise or with the vast Wagner Trilogy. 
  	    A general rule is, that my students should not allow their
 6	movements to be controlled by other students, even if they
  	are teachers and practitioners of the same blessed faith. 
  	The exception to this rule should be very rare. 
 9	    The widest power and strongest growth have always
  	been attained by those loyal students who rest on divine
  	Principle for guidance, not on themselves; and who locate
12	permanently in one section, and adhere to the orderly
  	methods herein delineated. 
  	    At this period my students should locate in large cities,
15	in order to do the greatest good to the greatest number, and
  	therein abide. The population of our principal cities is
  	ample to supply many practitioners, teachers, and preachers
18	with work. This fact interferes in no way with the pros-
  	perity of each worker; rather does it represent an accumu-
  	lation of power on his side which promotes the ease and
21	welfare of the workers. Their liberated capacities of mind
  	enable Christian Scientists to consummate much good or
  	else evil; therefore their examples either excel or fall short
24	of other religionists; and they must be found dwelling
  	together in harmony, if even they compete with ecclesias-
  	tical fellowship and friendship. 
27	    It is often asked which revision of Science and Health is
  	the best. The arrangement of my last revision, in 1890,
  	makes the subject-matter clearer than any previous edition,
30	and it is therefore better adapted to spiritualize thought
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                            83


 1	and elucidate scientific healing and teaching. It has
  	already been proven that this volume is accomplishing the
 3	divine purpose to a remarkable degree. The wise Chris-
  	tian Scientist will commend students and patients to the
  	teachings of this book, and the healing efficacy thereof,
 6	rather than try to centre their interest on himself. 
  	    Students whom I have taught are seldom benefited by
  	the teachings of other students, for scientific foundations
 9	are already laid in their minds which ought not to be tam-
  	pered with. Also, they are prepared to receive the infinite
  	instructions afforded by the Bible and my books, which
12	mislead no one and are their best guides. 
  	    The student may mistake in his conception of Truth, and
  	this error, in an honest heart, is sure to be corrected. But
15	if he misinterprets the text to his pupils, and communicates,
  	even unintentionally, his misconception of Truth, there-
  	after he will find it more difficult to rekindle his own light
18	or to enlighten them. Hence, as a rule, the student should
  	explain only Recapitulation, the chapter for the class-room,
  	and leave Science and Health to God's daily interpretation. 
21	    Christian Scientists should take their textbook into the
  	schoolroom the same as other teachers; they should ask
  	questions from it, and be answered according to it, — occa-
24	sionally reading aloud from the book to corroborate what
  	they teach. It is also highly important that their pupils
  	study each lesson before the recitation. 
27	    That these essential points are ever omitted, is anoma-
  	lous, when we consider the necessity of thoroughly under-
  	standing Science, and the present liability of deviating
30	from absolute Christian Science. 
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                            84


 1	    Centuries will intervene before the statement of the inex-
  	haustible topics of Science and Health is sufficiently under-
 3	stood to be fully demonstrated. 
  	    The teacher himself should continue to study this text-
  	book, and to spiritualize his own thoughts and human life
 6	from this open fount of Truth and Love. 
  	    He who sees clearly and enlightens other minds most
  	readily, keeps his own lamp trimmed and burning. 
 9	Throughout his entire explanations he strictly adheres to
  	the teachings in the chapter on Recapitulation. When
  	closing the class, each member should own a copy of
12	Science and Health, and continue to study and assimilate
  	this inexhaustible subject — Christian Science. 
  	    The opinions of men cannot be substituted for God's
15	revelation. In times past, arrogant pride, in attempting to
  	steady the ark of Truth, obscured even the power and
  	glory of the Scriptures, — to which Science and Health is
18	the Key. 
  	    That teacher does most for his students who divests him-
  	self most of pride and self, and by reason thereof is able to
21	empty his students' minds of error, that they may be filled
  	with Truth. Thus doing, posterity will call him blessed,
  	and the tired tongue of history be enriched. 
24	    The less the teacher personally controls other minds, and
  	the more he trusts them to the divine Truth and Love, the
  	better it will be for both teacher and student. 
27	    A teacher should take charge only of his own pupils and
  	patients, and of those who voluntarily place themselves
  	under his direction; he should avoid leaving his own regu-
30	lar institute or place of labor, or expending his labor where
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Admonition                           85


 1	there are other teachers who should be specially responsible
  	for doing their own work well. 
 3	    Teachers of Christian Science will find it advisable to
  	band together their students into associations, to continue
  	the organization of churches, and at present they can
 6	employ any other organic operative method that may
  	commend itself as useful to the Cause and beneficial to
  	mankind. 
 9	    Of this also rest assured, that books and teaching are but
  	a ladder let down from the heaven of Truth and Love, upon
  	which angelic thoughts ascend and descend, bearing on
12	their pinions of light the Christ-spirit. 
  	    Guard yourselves against the subtly hidden suggestion
  	that the Son of man will be glorified, or humanity benefited,
15	by any deviation from the order prescribed by supernal
  	grace. Seek to occupy no position whereto you do not feel
  	that God ordains you. Never forsake your post without
18	due deliberation and light, but always wait for God's finger
  	to point the way. The loyal Christian Scientist is incapable
  	alike of abusing the practice of Mind-healing or of healing
21	on a material basis. 
  	    The tempter is vigilant, awaiting only an opportunity
  	to divide the ranks of Christian Science and scatter the
24	sheep abroad; but "if God be for us, who can be against
  	us?" The Cause, our Cause, is highly prosperous, rapidly
  	spreading over the globe; and the morrow will crown the
27	effort of to-day with a diadem of gems from the New
  	Jerusalem.

                             EXEMPLIFICATION 

 1	    To energize wholesome spiritual warfare, to rebuke
  	vainglory..., to offset boastful emptiness, to crown
 3	patient toil, and rejoice in the spirit and power of Christian
  	Science, we must ourselves be true. There is but one way
  	of doing good, and that is to do it! There is but one way of
 6	being good, and that is to be good! 
  	    Art thou still unacquainted with thyself? Then be in-
  	troduced to this self. "Know thyself!" as said the classic
 9	Grecian motto. Note well the falsity of this mortal self! 
  	Behold its vileness, and remember this poverty-stricken
  	"stranger that is within thy gates." Cleanse every stain
12	from this wanderer's soiled garments, wipe the dust from
  	his feet and the tears from his eyes, that you may behold
  	the real man, the fellow-saint of a holy household. There
15	should be no blot on the escutcheon of our Christliness
  	when we offer our gift upon the altar. 
  	    A student desiring growth in the knowledge of Truth,
18	can and will obtain it by taking up his cross and following
  	Truth. If he does this not, and another one undertakes to
  	carry his burden and do his work, the duty will not be
21	accomplished. No one can save himself without God's
  	help, and God will help each man who performs his own
  	part. After this manner and in no other way is every
24	man cared for and blessed. To the unwise helper our
 
  
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 1	Master said, "Follow me; and let the dead bury their
  	dead." 
 3	    The poet's line, "Order is heaven's first law," is so eter-
  	nally true, so axiomatic, that it has become a truism; and
  	its wisdom is as obvious in religion and scholarship as in
 6	astronomy or mathematics. 
  	    Experience has taught me that the rules of Christian
  	Science can be far more thoroughly and readily acquired
 9	by regularly settled and systematic workers, than by un-
  	settled and spasmodic efforts. Genuine Christian Scien-
  	tists are, or should be, the most systematic and law-abiding
12	people on earth, because their religion demands implicit
  	adherence to fixed rules, in the orderly demonstration
  	thereof. Let some of these rules be here stated. 
15	    First: Christian Scientists are to "heal the sick" as the
  	Master commanded. 
  	    In so doing they must follow the divine order as pre-
18	scribed by Jesus, — never, in any way, to trespass upon
  	the rights of their neighbors, but to obey the celestial in-
  	junction, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to
21	you, do ye even so to them." 
  	    In this orderly, scientific dispensation healers become a
  	law unto themselves. They feel their own burdens less,
24	and can therefore bear the weight of others' burdens, since
  	it is only through the lens of their unselfishness that the
  	sunshine of Truth beams with such efficacy as to dissolve
27	error. 
  	    It is already understood that Christian Scientists will
  	not receive a patient who is under the care of a regular
30	physician, until he has done with the case and different aid
 
  
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 1	is sought. The same courtesy should be observed in the
  	professional intercourse of Christian Science healers with
 3	one another. 
  	    Second: Another command of the Christ, his prime
  	command, was that his followers should "raise the dead." 
 6	He lifted his own body from the sepulchre. In him, Truth
  	called the physical man from the tomb to health, and the
  	so-called dead forthwith emerged into a higher manifesta-
 9	tion of Life. 
  	    The spiritual significance of this command, "Raise the
  	dead," most concerns mankind. It implies such an eleva-
12	tion of the understanding as will enable thought to appre-
  	hend the living beauty of Love, its practicality, its divine
  	energies, its health-giving and life-bestowing qualities, — 
15	yea, its power to demonstrate immortality. This end Jesus
  	achieved, both by example and precept. 
  	    Third: This leads inevitably to a consideration of an-
18	other part of Christian Science work, — a part which con-
  	cerns us intimately, — preaching the gospel. 
  	    This evangelistic duty should not be so warped as to
21	signify that we must or may go, uninvited, to work in other
  	vineyards than our own. One would, or should, blush to
  	enter unasked another's pulpit, and preach without the
24	consent of the stated occupant of that pulpit. The Lord's
  	command means this, that we should adopt the spirit of
  	the Saviour's ministry, and abide in such a spiritual atti-
27	tude as will draw men unto us. Itinerancy should not be
  	allowed to clip the wings of divine Science. Mind demon-
  	strates omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves
30	on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its pres-
 
  
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 1	ence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love. The
  	divine potency of this spiritual mode of Mind, and the hin-
 3	drance opposed to it by material motion, is proven beyond
  	a doubt in the practice of Mind-healing. 
  	    In those days preaching and teaching were substantially
 6	one. There was no church preaching, in the modern sense
  	of the term. Men assembled in the one temple (at Jeru-
  	salem) for sacrificial ceremonies, not for sermons. Into
 9	the synagogues, scattered about in cities and villages, they
  	went for liturgical worship, and instruction in the Mosaic
  	law. If one worshipper preached to the others, he did so
12	informally, and because he was bidden to this privileged
  	duty at that particular moment. It was the custom to pay
  	this hortatory compliment to a stranger, or to a member
15	who had been away from the neighborhood; as Jesus was
  	once asked to exhort, when he had been some time absent
  	from Nazareth but once again entered the synagogue which
18	he had frequented in childhood. 
  	    Jesus' method was to instruct his own students; and he
  	watched and guarded them unto the end, even according
21	to his promise, "Lo, I am with you alway!" Nowhere in
  	the four Gospels will Christian Scientists find any prece-
  	dent for employing another student to take charge of
24	their students, or for neglecting their own students, in
  	order to enlarge their sphere of action. 
  	    Above all, trespass not intentionally upon other people's
27	thoughts, by endeavoring to influence other minds to any
  	action not first made known to them or sought by them. 
  	Corporeal and selfish influence is human, fallible, and tem-
30	porary; but incorporeal impulsion is divine, infallible, and
 
  
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 1	eternal. The student should be most careful not to thrust
  	aside Science, and shade God's window which lets in light,
 3	or seek to stand in God's stead. 
  	    Does the faithful shepherd forsake the lambs, — retain-
  	ing his salary for tending the home flock while he is serving
 6	another fold? There is no evidence to show that Jesus
  	ever entered the towns whither he sent his disciples; no
  	evidence that he there taught a few hungry ones, and then
 9	left them to starve or to stray. To these selected ones (like
  	"the elect lady" to whom St. John addressed one of his
  	epistles) he gave personal instruction, and gave in plain
12	words, until they were able to fulfil his behest and depart
  	on their united pilgrimages. This he did, even though
  	one of the twelve whom he kept near himself betrayed
15	him, and others forsook him. 
  	    The true mother never willingly neglects her children
  	in their early and sacred hours, consigning them to the care
18	of nurse or stranger. Who can feel and comprehend the
  	needs of her babe like the ardent mother? What other
  	heart yearns with her solicitude, endures with her patience,
21	waits with her hope, and labors with her love, to promote
  	the welfare and happiness of her children? Thus must the
  	Mother in Israel give all her hours to those first sacred
24	tasks, till her children can walk steadfastly in wisdom's
  	ways. 
  	    One of my students wrote to me: "I believe the proper
27	thing for us to do is to follow, as nearly as we can, in the
  	path you have pursued!" It is gladdening to find, in such
  	a student, one of the children of light. It is safe to leave
30	with God the government of man. He appoints and He
 
  
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 1	anoints His Truth-bearers, and God is their sure defense
  	and refuge. 
 3	    The parable of "the prodigal son" is rightly called "the
  	pearl of parables," and our Master's greatest utterance may
  	well be called "the diamond sermon." No purer and more
 6	exalted teachings ever fell upon human ears than those con-
  	tained in what is commonly known as the Sermon on the
  	Mount, — though this name has been given it by compilers
 9	and translators of the Bible, and not by the Master him-
  	self or by the Scripture authors. Indeed, this title really
  	indicates more the Master's mood, than the material
12	locality. 
  	    Where did Jesus deliver this great lesson — or, rather,
  	this series of great lessons — on humanity and divinity? 
15	On a hillside, near the sloping shores of the Lake of Gali-
  	lee, where he spake primarily to his immediate disciples. 
  	    In this simplicity, and with such fidelity, we see Jesus
18	ministering to the spiritual needs of all who placed them-
  	selves under his care, always leading them into the divine
  	order, under the sway of his own perfect understanding. 
21	His power over others was spiritual, not corporeal. To the
  	students whom he had chosen, his immortal teaching was
  	the bread of Life. When he was with them, a fishing-boat
24	became a sanctuary, and the solitude was peopled with
  	holy messages from the All-Father. The grove became
  	his class-room, and nature's haunts were the Messiah's
27	university. 
  	    What has this hillside priest, this seaside teacher, done
  	for the human race? Ask, rather, what has he not done. 
30	His holy humility, unworldliness, and self-abandonment
  
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Exemplification                     92


1	wrought infinite results. The method of his religion was
  	not too simple to be sublime, nor was his power so exalted
 3	as to be unavailable for the needs of suffering mortals,
  	whose wounds he healed by Truth and Love. 
  	    His order of ministration was "first the blade, then the
 6	ear, after that the full corn in the ear." May we unloose
  	the latchets of his Christliness, inherit his legacy of love,
  	and reach the fruition of his promise: "If ye abide in me,
 9	and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and
  	it shall be done unto you."

                                         WAYMARKS 

 1	    In the first century of the Christian era Jesus went about
...
  	doing good. The evangelists of those days wandered
 3	about. Christ, or the spiritual idea, appeared to human
  	consciousness as the man Jesus. At the present epoch
  	the human concept of Christ is based on the incorporeal
 6	divine Principle of man, and Science has elevated this idea
  	and established its rules in consonance with their Principle. 
  	Hear this saying of our Master, "And I, if I be lifted up
 9	from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 
  	    The ideal of God is no longer impersonated as a waif or
  	wanderer; and Truth is not fragmentary, disconnected, un-
12	systematic, but concentrated and immovably fixed in Princi-
  	ple. The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting
  	human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary
15	power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal
  	is made our own, it becomes the model for human action. 
  	    St. Paul said to the Athenians, "For in Him we live,
18	and move, and have our being." This statement is in sub-
  	stance identical with my own: "There is no life, truth,
  	substance, nor intelligence in matter." It is quite clear
21	that as yet this grandest verity has not been fully demon-
  	strated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science
  	reiterates St. Paul's teaching, we, as Christian Scientists,
24	should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of
 
  
  Retrospection and Introspection --- Waymarks                            94


 1	this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in
  	advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves
 3	and to the world a struggle for its demonstration. 
  	    At some period and in some way the conclusion must be
  	met that whatsoever seems true, and yet contradicts divine
 6	Science and St. Paul's text, must be and is false; and that
  	whatsoever seems to be good, and yet errs, though ac-
  	knowledging the true way, is really evil. 
 9	    As dross is separated from gold, so Christ's baptism of
  	fire, his purification through suffering, consumes whatso-
  	ever is of sin. Therefore this purgation of divine mercy,
12	destroying all error, leaves no flesh, no matter, to the mental
  	consciousness. 
  	    When all fleshly belief is annihilated, and every spot and
15	blemish on the disk of consciousness is removed, then, and
  	not till then, will immortal Truth be found true, and scien-
  	tific teaching, preaching, and practice be essentially one. 
18	"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing
  	which he alloweth. . . . for whatsoever is not of faith is
  	sin."  (Romans xiv. 22, 23.) 
21	    There is no "lo here! or lo there!" in divine Science;
  	its manifestation must be "the same yesterday, and
  	to-day, and forever," since Science is eternally one, and
24	unchanging, in Principle, rule, and demonstration. 
  	    I am persuaded that only by the modesty and distin-
  	guishing affection illustrated in Jesus' career, can Chris-
27	tian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ's kingdom
  	on the earth. In the first century of the Christian era Jesus'
  	teachings bore much fruit, and the Father was glorified
30	therein. In this period and the forthcoming centuries,
 
  
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 1	watered by dews of divine Science, this "tree of life" will
  	blossom into greater freedom, and its leaves will be "for
 3	the healing of the nations." 

  	               Ask God to give thee skill
  	                   In comfort's art:
 6	               That thou may'st consecrated be
  	                   And set apart
  	                 Unto a life of sympathy.  
 9	               For heavy is the weight of ill
  	                   In every heart;
  	               And comforters are needed much
12	                   Of Christlike touch.  
  	                                                   — A. E. HAMILTON