0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

15	THINGS TO BE THOUGHT OF 

  	    The need of their teacher's counsel, felt by students,
  	especially by those at a distance, working assiduously for
18	our common Cause, — and their constant petitions for
  	the same, should be met in the most effectual way. 
  	    To be responsible for supplying this want, and poise
21	the wavering balance on the right side, is impracticable
  	without a full knowledge of the environments. The
  	educational system of Christian Science lacks the aid
24	and protection of State laws. The Science is hampered
  	by immature demonstrations, by the infancy of its dis-
  	covery, by incorrect teaching; and especially by unprin-
27	cipled claimants, whose mad ambition drives them to
  	appropriate my ideas and discovery, without credit, ap-
  	preciation, or a single original conception, while they

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 1	quote from other authors and give them credit for every
  	random thought in line with mine. 
 3	    My noble students, who are loyal to Christ, Truth, and
  	human obligations, will not be disheartened in the midst
  	of this seething sea of sin. They build for time and eter-
 6	nity. The others stumble over misdeeds, and their own
  	unsubstantiality, without the groundwork of right, till,
  	like camera shadows thrown upon the mists of time, they
 9	melt into darkness. 
  	    Unity is the essential nature of Christian Science. Its
 ... 	Principle is One, and to demonstrate the divine One,
12	demands oneness of thought and action. 
  	    Many students enter the Normal class of my College
  	whom I have not fitted for it by the Primary course. 
15	They are taught their first lessons by my students; hence
  	the aptness to assimilate pure and abstract Science is
  	somewhat untested. 
18	    "As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." As mortal
  	mind is directed, it acts for a season. Some students
  	leave my instructions before they are quite free from
21	the bias of their first impressions, whether those be cor-
  	rect or incorrect. Such students are more or less subject
  	to the future mental influence of their former teacher. 
24	Their knowledge of Mind-healing may be right theo-
  	retically, but the moral and spiritual status of thought
  	must be right also. The tone of the teacher's mind must
27	be pure, grand, true, to aid the mental development of
  	the student; for the tint of the instructor's mind must
  	take its hue from the divine Mind. A single mistake in
30	metaphysics, or in ethics, is more fatal than a mistake in
  	physics. 
  	    If a teacher of Christian Science unwittingly or inten-
 
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 1	tionally offers his own thought, and gives me as authority
  	for it; if he diverges from Science and knows it not, or,
 3	knowing it, makes the venture from vanity, in order to
  	be thought original, or wiser than somebody else, — this
  	divergence widens. He grows dark, and cannot regain,
 6	at will, an upright understanding. This error in the
  	teacher also predisposes his students to make mistakes
  	and lose their way. Diverse opinions in Science are
 9	stultifying. All must have one Principle and the same
  	rule; and all who follow the Principle and rule have but
  	one opinion of it. 
12	    Whosoever understands a single rule in Science, and
  	demonstrates its Principle according to rule, is master
  	of the situation. Nobody can gainsay this. The ego-
15	tistical theorist or shallow moralist may presume to
  	make innovations upon simple proof; but his mistake
  	is visited upon himself and his students, whose minds
18	are, must be, disturbed by this discord, which extends
  	along the whole line of reciprocal thought. An error
  	in premise can never bring forth the real fruits of Truth. 
21	After thoroughly explaining spiritual Truth and its ethics
  	to a student, I am not morally responsible for the mis-
  	statements or misconduct of this student. My teachings
24	are uniform. Those who abide by them do well. If
  	others, who receive the same instruction, do ill, the fault
  	is not in the culture but the soil. 
27	    I am constantly called to settle questions and disaf-
  	fections toward Christian Science growing out of the
  	departures from Science of self-satisfied, unprincipled
30	students. If impatient of the loving rebuke, the stu-
  	dent must stop at the foot of the grand ascent, and there
  	remain until suffering compels the downfall of his self-

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 1	conceit. Then that student must struggle up, with bleed-
  	ing footprints, to the God-crowned summit of unselfish
 3	and pure aims and affections. 
  	    To be two-sided, when these sides are moral oppo-
  	sites, is neither politic nor scientific; and to abridge a
 6	single human right or privilege is an error. Whoever
  	does this may represent me as doing it; but he mistakes
  	me, and the subjective state of his own mind for mine. 
 9	    The true leader of a true cause is the unacknowledged
  	servant of mankind. Stationary in the background, this
  	individual is doing the work that nobody else can or will
12	do. An erratic career is like the comet's course, dash-
  	ing through space, headlong and alone. A clear-headed
  	and honest Christian Scientist will demonstrate the Prin-
15	ciple of Christian Science, and hold justice and mercy as
  	inseparable from the unity of God. 
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