0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

  	                 ADDRESS BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST
  	                    ASSOCIATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
 9	                          METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE, IN 1893 

  	                                      SUBJECT: Obedience 

  	    My Beloved Students: — This question, ever nearest
12	to my heart, is to-day uppermost:  Are we filling the
  	measures of life's music aright, emphasizing its grand
  	strains, swelling the harmony of being with tones whence
15	come glad echoes? As crescendo and diminuendo accent
  	music, so the varied strains of human chords express
  	life's loss or gain, — loss of the pleasures and pains and
18	pride of life:  gain of its sweet concord, the courage of
  	honest convictions, and final obedience to spiritual law. 
  	The ultimate of scientific research and attainment in
21	divine Science is not an argument:  it is not merely say-
  	ing, but doing, the Word — demonstrating Truth — even
  	as the fruits of watchfulness, prayer, struggles, tears, and
24	triumph. 
  	    Obeying the divine Principle which you profess to un-
  	derstand and love, demonstrates Truth. Never absent
27	from your post, never off guard, never ill-humored, never
  	unready to work for God, — is obedience; being "faith-
  	ful over a few things." If in one instance obedience be
30	lacking, you lose the scientific rule and its reward: namely,
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address in1893. Subject: Obedience   
  page 117

 1	to be made "ruler over many... things." A progressive
  	life is the reality of Life that unfolds its immortal Prin-
 3	ciple. 
  	    The student of Christian Science must first separate the
  	tares from the wheat; discern between the thought,
 6	motive, and act superinduced by the wrong motive or
  	the true — the God-given intent and volition — arrest
  	the former, and obey the latter. This will place him on
 9	the safe side of practice. We always know where to look
  	for the real Scientist, and always find him there. I agree
  	with Rev. Dr. Talmage, that "there are wit, humor, and
12	enduring vivacity among God's people." 
  	    Obedience is the offspring of Love; and Love is the
  	Principle of unity, the basis of all right thinking and
15	acting; it fulfils the law. We see eye to eye and know as we
  	are known, reciprocate kindness and work wisely, in
  	proportion as we love. 
18	    It is difficult for me to carry out a divine commission
  	while participating in the movements, or modus operandi,
  	of other folks. To point out every step to a student and
21	then watch that each step be taken, consumes time, — 
  	and experiments ofttimes are costly. According to my
  	calendar, God's time and mortals' differ. The neo-
24	phyte is inclined to be too fast or too slow:  he works
  	somewhat in the dark; and, sometimes out of season,
  	he would replenish his lamp at the midnight hour and
27	borrow oil of the more provident watcher. God is the
  	fountain of light, and He illumines one's way when one
  	is obedient. The disobedient make their moves before
30	God makes His, or make them too late to follow Him. 
  	Be sure that God directs your way; then, hasten to follow
  	under every circumstance. 
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address in1893. Subject: Obedience  
  page 118

1	    Human will must be subjugated. We cannot obey
  	both God, good, and evil, — in other words, the ma-
 3	terial senses, false suggestions, self-will, selfish motives,
  	and human policy. We shall have no faith in evil
  	when faith finds a resting-place and scientific under-
 6	standing guides man. Honesty in every condition,
  	under every circumstance, is the indispensable rule of
  	obedience. To obey the principle of mathematics ninety-
 9	nine times in one hundred and then allow one numeral
  	to make incorrect your entire problem, is neither Science
  	nor obedience. 
12	    However keenly the human affections yearn to for-
  	give a mistake, and pass a friend over it smoothly, one's
  	sympathy can neither atone for error, advance individual
15	growth, nor change this immutable decree of Love: "Keep
  	My commandments." The guerdon of meritorious
  	faith or trustworthiness rests on being willing to work
18	alone with God and for Him, — willing to suffer patiently
  	for error until all error is destroyed and His rod and His
  	staff comfort you. 
21	    Self-ignorance, self-will, self-righteousness, lust, covet-
  	ousness, envy, revenge, are foes to grace, peace, and
  	progress; they must be met manfully and overcome,
24	or they will uproot all happiness. Be of good cheer;
  	the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty
  	of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with
27	you, — and obedience crowns persistent effort with
  	everlasting victory. Every attempt of evil to harm good
  	is futile, and ends in the fiery punishment of the
30	evil-doer. 
  	    Jesus said, "Not that which goeth into the mouth
  	defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth,
  
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address in1893. Subject: Obedience  
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1	this defileth a man." If malicious suggestions whisper
  	evil through the mind's tympanum, this were no apology
 3	for acting evilly. We are responsible for our thoughts and
  	acts; and instead of aiding other people's devices by
  	obeying them, — and then whining over misfortune, — 
 6	rise and overthrow both. If a criminal coax the unwary
  	man to commit a crime, our laws punish the dupe as ac-
  	cessory to the fact. Each individual is responsible for
 9	himself. 
  	    Evil is impotent to turn the righteous man from his
  	uprightness. The nature of the individual, more stub-
12	born than the circumstance, will always be found argu-
  	ing for itself, — its habits, tastes, and indulgences. This
  	material nature strives to tip the beam against the spir-
15	itual nature; for the flesh strives against Spirit, — against
  	whatever or whoever opposes evil, — and weighs mightily
  	in the scale against man's high destiny. This conclusion
18	is not an argument either for pessimism or for optimism,
  	but is a plea for free moral agency, — full exemption
  	from all necessity to obey a power that should be and is
21	found powerless in Christian Science. 
  	    Insubordination to the law of Love even in the least,
  	or strict obedience thereto, tests and discriminates be-
24	tween the real and the unreal Scientist. Justice, a
  	prominent statute in the divine law, demands of all
  	trespassers upon the sparse individual rights which one
27	justly reserves to one's self, — Would you consent that
  	others should tear up your landmarks, manipulate your
  	students, nullify or reverse your rules, countermand
30	your orders, steal your possessions, and escape the
  	penalty therefor? No! "Therefore all things what-
  	soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
 
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 1	so to them." The professors of Christian Science must
  	take off their shoes at our altars; they must unclasp
 3	the material sense of things at the very threshold of
  	Christian Science:  they must obey implicitly each and
  	every injunction of the divine Principle of life's long
 6	problem, or repeat their work in tears. In the words
  	of St. Paul, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your-
  	selves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
 9	obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
  	righteousness?" 
  	    Beloved students, loyal laborers are ye that have wrought
12	valiantly, and achieved great guerdons in the vineyard
  	of our Lord; but a mighty victory is yet to be won, a
  	great freedom for the race; and Christian success is
15	under arms, — with armor on, not laid down. Let us
  	rejoice, however, that the clarion call of peace will at
  	length be heard above the din of battle, and come more
18	sweetly to our ear than sound of vintage bells to villagers
  	on the Rhine. 
  	    I recommend that this Association hereafter meet tri-
21	ennially:  many of its members reside a long distance from
  	Massachusetts, and they are members of The Mother
  	Church who would love to be with you on Sunday, and
24	once in three years is perhaps as often as they can afford
  	to be away from their own fields of labor. 
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