0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

  	ADDRESS BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
  	              METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE, 1895 

15	    My Beloved Students: — Weeks have passed into
  	months, and months into years, since last we met; but
  	time and space, when encompassed by divine presence,
18	do not separate us. Our hearts have kept time together,
  	and our hands have wrought steadfastly at the same
  	object-lesson, while leagues have lain between us. 
21	    We may well unite in thanksgiving for the continued
  	progress and unprecedented prosperity of our Cause. It
  	is already obvious that the world's acceptance and the
24	momentum of Christian Science, increase rapidly as
  	years glide on. 
  	    As Christian Scientists, you have dared the perilous de-
27	fense of Truth, and have succeeded. You have learned
  	how fleeting is that which men call great; and how per-
  	manent that which God calls good. 
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address before the Alumni of the  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	    You have proven that the greatest piety is scarcely
  	sufficient to demonstrate what you have adopted and
 3	taught; that your work, well done, would dignify angels. 
  	    Faithfully, as meekly, you have toiled all night; and
  	at break of day caught much. At times, yo...ur net has
 6	been so full that it broke:  human pride, creeping into
  	its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then,
  	losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and pos-
 9	sibly blamed others more than yourself. But those whom
  	God makes "fishers of men" will not pull for the shore;
  	like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets
12	on the right side, compensate loss, and gain a higher sense
  	of the true idea. Nothing is lost that God gives:  had He
  	filled the net, it would not have broken. 
15	    Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propa-
  	gates:  the tares cannot hinder it. Our Master said,
  	"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
18	not pass away;" and Jesus' faith in Truth must not ex-
  	ceed that of Christian Scientists who prove its power to
  	be immortal. 
21	    The Christianity that is merely of sects, the pulpit, and
  	fashionable society, is brief; but the Word of God abideth. 
  	Plato was a pagan; but no greater difference existed be-
24	tween his doctrines and those of Jesus, than to-day exists
  	between the Catholic and Protestant sects. I love the
  	orthodox church; and, in time, that church will love
27	Christian Science. Let me specially call the attention of
  	this Association to the following false beliefs inclining
  	mortal mind more deviously: —  
30	    The belief in anti-Christ:  that somebody in the flesh
  	is the son of God, or is another Christ, or is a spiritually
  	adopted child, or is an incarnated babe, is the evil one — 
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address before the Alumni of the  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	in other words, the one evil — disporting itself with the
  	subtleties of sin! 
 3	    Even honest thinkers, not knowing whence they come,
  	may deem these delusions verities, before they know it,
  	or really look the illusions in the face. The ages are bur-
 6	dened with material modes. Hypnotism, microbes, X-rays,
  	and ex-common sense, occupy time and thought; and
  	error, given new opportunities, will improve them. The
 9	most just man can neither defend the innocent nor detect
  	the guilty, unless he knows how to be just; and this knowl-
  	edge demands our time and attention. 
12	    The mental stages of crime, which seem to belong to
  	the latter days, are strictly classified in metaphysics as
  	some of the many features and forms of what is properly
15	denominated, in extreme cases, moral idiocy. I visited
  	in his cell the assassin of President Garfield, and found
  	him in the mental state called moral idiocy. He had no
18	sense of his crime; but regarded his act as one of simple
  	justice, and himself as the victim. My few words touched
  	him; he sank back in his chair, limp and pale; his flip-
21	pancy had fled. The jailer thanked me, and said, "Other
  	visitors have brought to him bouquets, but you have
  	brought what will do him good." 
24	    This mental disease at first shows itself in extreme
  	sensitiveness; then, in a loss of self-knowledge and of
  	self-condemnation, — a shocking inability to see one's
27	own faults, but an exaggerating sense of other people's. 
  	Unless this mental condition be overcome, it ends in a
  	total loss of moral, intellectual, and spiritual discernment,
30	and is characterized in this Scripture: "The fool hath
  	said in his heart, There is no God." This state of mind
  	is the exemplification of total depravity, and the result
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address before the Alumni of the  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	of sensuous mind in matter. Mind that is God is not in
  	matter; and God's presence gives spiritual light, wherein
 3	is no darkness. 
  	    If, as is indisputably true, "God is Spirit," and Spirit
  	is our Father and Mother, and that which it includes is
 6	all that is real and eternal, when evil seems to predomi-
  	nate and divine light to be obscured, free moral agency
  	is lost; and the Revelator's vision, that "no man might
 9	buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
  	beast, or the number of his name," is imminent. 
  	    Whoever is mentally manipulating human mind, and
12	is not gaining a higher sense of Truth by it, is losing in
  	the scale of moral and spiritual being, and may be car-
  	ried to the depths of perdition by his own consent. He
15	who refuses to be influenced by any but the divine Mind,
  	commits his way to God, and rises superior to sugges-
  	tions from an evil source. Christian Science shows that
18	there is a way of escape from the latter-day ultimatum
  	of evil, through scientific truth; so that all are without
  	excuse. 
21	    Already I clearly recognize that mental malpractice,
  	if persisted in, will end in insanity, dementia, or moral
  	idiocy. Thank God! this evil can be resisted by true
24	Christianity. Divine Love is our hope, strength, and
  	shield. We have nothing to fear when Love is at the
  	helm of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and
27	in heaven. 
  	    The systematized centres of Christian Science are life-
  	giving fountains of truth. Our churches, The Christian
30	Science Journal, and the Christian Science Quarterly,
  	are prolific sources of spiritual power whose intellectual,
  	moral, and spiritual animus is felt throughout the land. 
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address Before the Alumni of The  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	Our Publishing Society, and our Sunday Lessons, are
  	of inestimable value to all seekers after Truth. The Com-
 3	mittee on Sunday School Lessons cannot give too much
  	time and attention to their task, and should spare no
  	research in the preparation of the Quarterly as an educa-
 6	tional branch. 
  	    The teachers of Christian Science need to watch inces-
  	santly the trend of their own thoughts; watch that these
 9	be not secretly robbed, and themselves misguided, and
  	so made to misteach others. Teachers must conform
  	strictly to the rules of divine Science announced in the
12	Bible and their textbook, "Science and Health with Key
  	to the Scriptures." They must themselves practise, and
  	teach others to practise, the Hebrew Decalogue, the Ser-
15	mon on the Mount, and the understanding and enuncia-
  	tion of these according to Christ. 
  	    They must always have on armor, and resist the foe
18	within and without. They cannot arm too thoroughly
  	against original sin, appearing in its myriad forms:  pas-
  	sion, appetites, hatred, revenge, and all the et cetera of
21	evil. Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously,
  	or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fer-
  	vently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus
24	doing, Scientists will silence evil suggestions, uncover
  	their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon the
  	lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom
27	will test all mankind on all questions; and then, if found
  	faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us
  	the powerlessness of evil, — even its utter nothingness. 
30	    The teacher in Christian Science who does not spe-
  	cially instruct his pupils how to guard against evil and
  	its silent modes, and to be able, through Christ, the liv-
 
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  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address before the Alumni of the  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	ing Truth, to protect themselves therefrom, is commit-
  	ting an offense against God and humanity. With Science
 3	and Health for their textbook, I am astounded at the
  	apathy of some students on the subject of sin and mental
  	malpractice, and their culpable ignorance of the work-
 6	ings of these — and even the teacher's own deficiency in
  	this department. I can account for this state of mind in
  	the teacher only as the result of sin; otherwise, his own
 9	guilt as a mental malpractitioner, and fear of being found
  	out. 
  	    The helpless ignorance of the community on this sub-
12	ject is pitiable, and plain to be seen. May God enable
  	my students to take up the cross as I have done, and meet
  	the pressing need of a proper preparation of heart to prac-
15	tise, teach, and live Christian Science! Your means of
  	protection and defense from sin are, constant watchful-
  	ness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and
18	are delivered from every claim of evil, till you intelligently
  	know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has neither
  	prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All-
21	in-all. 
  	    The increasing necessity for relying on God to de-
  	fend us against the subtler forms of evil, turns us more
24	unreservedly to Him for help, and thus becomes a means
  	of grace. If one lives rightly, every effort to hurt one
  	will only help that one; for God will give the ability to
27	overcome whatever tends to impede progress. Know
  	this:  that you cannot overcome the baneful effects of
  	sin on yourself, if you in any way indulge in sin; for,
30	sooner or later, you will fall the victim of your own as
  	well as of others' sins. Using mental power in the right
  	direction only, doing to others as you would have them
 
                                                                                                  page 116
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address before the Alumni of the  
                             Massachusetts Metaphysical College 1895                                                                               

 1	do to you, will overcome evil with good, and destroy
  	your own sensitiveness to the power of evil. 
 3	    The God of all grace be with you, and save you from
  	"spiritual wickedness in high places." 
  	    Pleasant View, Concord, N. H.,
 6	                 June 3, 1895 
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