0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 10 – Miscellaneous Writings – Chpt 4 – Addresses – Subtitles

Christian Science in Tremont Temple

 1	           CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN TREMONT TEMPLE 

  	    From the platform of the Monday lectureship in
 3	Tremont Temple, on Monday, March 16, 1885, as
  	will be seen by what  follows, Reverend Mary Baker G. 
  	Eddy was presented to Mr. Cook's audience, and allowed
 6	ten minutes in which to reply to his public letter con-
  	demning her doctrines; which reply was taken in full by
  	a shorthand reporter who was present, and is transcribed
 9	below. 
  	    Mrs. Eddy responding, said: —  
  	    As the time so kindly allotted me is insufficient for
12	even a synopsis of Christian Science, I shall confine my-
  	self to questions and answers. 
  	    Am I a spiritualist? 
15	    I am not, and never was. I understand the impossi-
  	bility of intercommunion between the so-called dead and
  	living. There have always attended my life phenomena
18	of an uncommon order, which spiritualists have mis-
  	called mediumship; but I clearly understand that no
  	human agencies were employed, — that the divine Mind
21	reveals itself to humanity through spiritual law. And
  	to such as are "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the re-
  	demption of our body," Christian Science reveals the in-
 
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 1	finitude of divinity and the way of man's salvation from
  	sickness and death, as wrought out by Jesus, who robbed
 3	the grave of victory and death of its sting. I understand
  	that God is an ever-present help in all times of trouble, — 
  	have found Him so; and would have no other gods, no
 6	remedies in drugs, no material medicine. 
  	    Do I believe in a personal God? 
  	    I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not
 9	what the person of omnipotence and omnipresence is,
  	or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that
  	of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and
12	Mother; then, as thought ascends the scale of being to
  	diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the
  	apostle who declared it, "God is Love," — divine Prin-
15	ciple, — which I worship; and "after the manner of my
  	fathers, so worship I God." 
  	    Do I believe in the atonement of Christ? 
18	    I do; and this atonement becomes more to me since
  	it includes man's redemption from sickness as well as
  	from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before. 
21	    It brings to my sense, and to the sense of all who en-
  	tertain this understanding of the Science of God, a whole
  	salvation. 
24	    How is the healing done in Christian Science? 
  	    This answer includes too much to give you any con-
  	clusive idea in a brief explanation. I can name some
27	means by which it is not done. 
  	    It is not one mind acting upon another mind; it is
  	not the transference of human images of thought to
30	other minds; it is not supported by the evidence before
  	the personal senses, — Science contradicts this evidence;
  	it is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is Christ come
 
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 1	to destroy the power of the flesh; it is Truth over error;
  	that understood, gives man ability to rise above the evi-
 3	dence of the senses, take hold of the eternal energies of
  	Truth, and destroy mortal discord with immortal har-
  	mony, — the grand verities of being. It is not one mortal
 6	thought transmitted to another's thought from the human
  	mind that holds within itself all evil. 
  	    Our Master said of one of his students, "He is a devil,"
 9	and repudiated the idea of casting out devils through
  	Beelzebub. Erring human mind is by no means a de-
  	sirable or efficacious healer. Such suppositional healing
12	I deprecate. It is in no way allied to divine power. All
  	human control is animal magnetism, more despicable
  	than all other methods of treating disease. 
15	    Christian Science is not a remedy of faith alone, but
  	combines faith with understanding, through which we
  	may touch the hem of His garment; and know that om-
18	nipotence has all power. "I am the Lord, and there is
  	none else, there is no God beside me." 
  	    Is there a personal man? 
21	    The Scriptures inform us that man was made in the
  	image and likeness of God. I commend the Icelandic
  	translation: "He created man in the image and likeness
24	of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind created
  	He him." To my sense, we have not seen all of man;
  	he is more than personal sense can cognize, who is the
27	image and likeness of the infinite. I have not seen a
  	perfect man in mind or body, — and such must be the
  	personality of him who is the true likeness:  the lost
30	image is not this personality, and corporeal man is this
  	lost image; hence, it doth not appear what is the real
  	personality of man. The only cause for making this
 
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1	question of personality a point, or of any importance, is
  	that man's perfect model should be held in mind, whereby
 3	to improve his present condition; that his contemplation
  	regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sick-
  	ness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker. 

Science and the Senses

6	                        SCIENCE AND THE SENSES 

  	Substance of my Address at the National Convention in Chicago,
  	                                   June 13, 1888 

 9	    The National Christian Scientist Association has
  	brought us together to minister and to be ministered
  	unto; mutually to aid one another in finding ways and
12	means for helping the whole human family; to quicken
  	and extend the interest already felt in a higher mode of
  	medicine; to watch with eager joy the individual growth
15	of Christian Scientists, and the progress of our common
  	Cause in Chicago, — the miracle of the Occident. We
  	come to strengthen and perpetuate our organizations
18	and institutions; and to find strength in union, — strength
  	to build up, through God's right hand, that pure and
  	undefiled religion whose Science demonstrates God and
21	the perfectibility of man. This purpose is immense,
  	and it must begin with individual growth, a "consum-
  	mation devoutly to be wished." The lives of all re-
24	formers attest the authenticity of their mission, and call
  	the world to acknowledge its divine Principle. Truly
  	is it written: — 

27	 "Thou must be true thyself, if thou the truth would'st teach;
  	 Thy heart must overflow, if thou another's heart would'st
  	      reach."  

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Science and the Senses                    
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1	    Science is absolute and final. It is revolutionary in
  	its very nature; for it upsets all that is not upright. 
 3	It annuls false evidence, and saith to the five material
  	senses, "Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not;
  	neither can you understand." To weave one thread of
 6	Science through the looms of time, is a miracle in itself. 
  	The risk is stupendous. It cost Galileo, what? This
  	awful price:  the temporary loss of his self-respect. His
 9	fear overcame his loyalty; the courage of his convictions
  	fell before it. Fear is the weapon in the hands of
  	tyrants. 
12	    Men and women of the nineteenth century, are you
  	called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey
  	this call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaf-
15	fold, but take not back the words of Truth. How many
  	are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand
  	a long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be
18	in the battle every day? 
  	    In no other one thing seemed Jesus of Nazareth more
  	divine than in his faith in the immortality of his words. 
21	He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
  	words shall not pass away;" and they have not. The
  	winds of time sweep clean the centuries, but they can
24	never bear into oblivion his words. They still live, and
  	to-morrow speak louder than to-day. They are to-day
  	as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make
27	straight God's paths; make way for health, holiness,
  	universal harmony, and come up hither." The gran-
  	deur of the word, the power of Truth, is again casting
30	out evils and healing the sick; and it is whispered, "This
  	is Science." 
  	    Jesus taught by the wayside, in humble homes. He
 
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 1	spake of Truth and Love to artless listeners and dull
  	disciples. His immortal words were articulated in a
 3	decaying language, and then left to the providence of
  	God. Christian Science was to interpret them; and
  	woman, "last at the cross," was to awaken the dull senses,
 6	intoxicated with pleasure or pain, to the infinite mean-
  	ing of those words. 
  	    Past, present, future, will show the word and might of
 9	Truth — healing the sick and reclaiming the sinner — 
  	so long as there remains a claim of error for Truth to
  	deny or to destroy. Love's labors are not lost. The
12	five personal senses, that grasp neither the meaning nor
  	the magnitude of self-abnegation, may lose sight thereof;
  	but Science voices unselfish love, unfolds infinite good,
15	leads on irresistible forces, and will finally show the fruits
  	of Love. Human reason is inaccurate; and the scope
  	of the senses is inadequate to grasp the word of Truth,
18	and teach the eternal. 
  	    Science speaks when the senses are silent, and then
  	the evermore of Truth is triumphant. The spiritual mon-
21	itor understood is coincidence of the divine with the
  	human, the acme of Christian Science. Pure humanity,
  	friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth
24	a foretaste of heaven. They unite terrestrial and celes-
  	tial joys, and crown them with blessings infinite. 
  	    The Christian Scientist loves man more because he
27	loves God most. He understands this Principle, — Love. 
  	Who is sufficient for these things? Who remembers that
  	patience, forgiveness, abiding faith, and affection, are
30	the symptoms by which our Father indicates the dif-
  	ferent stages of man's recovery from sin and his en-
  	trance into Science? Who knows how the feeble lips
 
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 1	are made eloquent, how hearts are inspired, how heal-
  	ing becomes spontaneous, and how the divine Mind is
 3	understood and demonstrated? He alone knows these
  	wonders who is departing from the thraldom of the
  	senses and accepting spiritual truth, — that which blesses
 6	its adoption by the refinement of joy and the dismissal of
  	sorrow. 
  	    Christian Science and the senses are at war. It is a
 9	revolutionary struggle. We already have had two in
  	this nation; and they began and ended in a contest for
  	the true idea, for human liberty and rights. Now cometh
12	a third struggle; for the freedom of health, holiness, and
  	the attainment of heaven. 
  	    The scientific sense of being which establishes har-
15	mony, enters into no compromise with finiteness and
  	feebleness. It undermines the foundations of mortality,
  	of physical law, breaks their chains, and sets the captive
18	free, opening the doors for them that are bound. 
  	    He who turns to the body for evidence, bases his con-
  	clusions on mortality, on imperfection; but Science saith
21	to man, "God hath all-power." 
  	    The Science of omnipotence demonstrates but one
  	power, and this power is good, not evil; not matter,
24	but Mind. This virtually destroys matter and evil, in-
  	cluding sin and disease. 
  	    If God is All, and God is good, it follows that all
27	must be good; and no other power, law, or intelligence
  	can exist. On this proof rest premise and conclusion in
  	Science, and the facts that disprove the evidence of the
30	senses. 
  	    God is individual Mind. This one Mind and His
  	individuality comprise the elements of all forms and
 
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 1	individualities, and prophesy the nature and stature of
  	Christ, the ideal man. 
 3	    A corporeal God, as often defined by lexicographers
  	and scholastic theologians, is only an infinite finite being,
  	an unlimited man, — a theory to me inconceivable. If
 6	the unlimited and immortal Mind could originate in a
  	limited body, Mind would be chained to finity, and the
  	infinite forever finite. 
 9	    In this limited and lower sense God is not personal. 
  	His infinity precludes the possibility of corporeal person-
  	ality. His being is individual, but not physical. 
12	    God is like Himself and like nothing else. He is uni-
  	versal and primitive. His character admits of no degrees
  	of comparison. God is not part, but the whole. In His
15	individuality I recognize the loving, divine Father-Mother
  	God. Infinite personality must be incorporeal. 
  	    God's ways are not ours. His pity is expressed in
18	modes above the human. His chastisements are the
  	manifestations of Love. The sympathy of His eternal
  	Mind is fully expressed in divine Science, which blots
21	out all our iniquities and heals all our diseases. Human
  	pity often brings pain. 
  	    Science supports harmony, denies suffering, and de-
24	stroys it with the divinity of Truth. Whatever seems mate-
  	rial, seems thus only to the material senses, and is but the
  	subjective state of mortal and material thought. 
27	    Science has inaugurated the irrepressible conflict be-
  	tween sense and Soul. Mortal thought wars with this
  	sense as one that beateth the air, but Science outmasters
30	it, and ends the warfare. This proves daily that "one
  	on God's side is a majority." 
  	    Science defines omnipresence as universality, that which
 
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 1	precludes the presence of evil. This verity annuls the tes-
  	timony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil power,
 3	and substance is perishable. Intelligent Spirit, Soul, is
  	substance, far more impregnable and solid than matter; for
  	one is temporal, while the other is eternal, the ultimate
 6	and predicate of being. 
  	    Mortality, materiality, and destructive forces, such as
  	sin, disease, and death, mortals virtually name substance;
 9	but these are the substance of things not hoped for. For
  	lack of knowing what substance is, the senses say vaguely:
  	"The substance of life is sorrow and mortality; for who
12	knoweth the substance of good?" In Science, form and
  	individuality are never lost, thoughts are outlined, indi-
  	vidualized ideas, which dwell forever in the divine Mind
15	as tangible, true substance, because eternally conscious. 
  	Unlike mortal mind, which must be ever in bondage,
  	the eternal Mind is free, unlimited, and knows not the
18	temporal. 
  	    Neither does the temporal know the eternal. Mortal
  	man, as mind or matter, is neither the pattern nor Maker
21	of immortal man. Any inference of the divine derived
  	from the human, either as mind or body, hides the actual
  	power, presence, and individuality of God. 
24	    Jesus' personality in the flesh, so far as material sense
  	could discern it, was like that of other men; but Science
  	exchanges this human concept of Jesus for the divine
27	ideal, his spiritual individuality that reflected the Im-
  	manuel, or "God with us." This God was not outlined. 
  	He was too mighty for that. He was eternal Life, infinite
30	Truth and Love. The individuality is embraced in Mind,
  	therefore is forever with the Father. Hence the Scrip-
  	ture, "I am a God at hand, saith the Lord." Even while
 
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 1	his personality was on earth and in anguish, his individual
  	being, the Christ, was at rest in the eternal harmony. 
 3	His unseen individuality, so superior to that which was
  	seen, was not subject to the temptations of the flesh, to
  	laws material, to death, or the grave. Formed and gov-
 6	erned by God, this individuality was safe in the substance
  	of Soul, the substance of Spirit, — yea, the substance of
  	God, the one inclusive good. 
 9	    In Science all being is individual; for individuality is
  	endless in the calculus of forms and numbers. Herein
  	sin is miraculous and supernatural; for it is not in the
12	nature of God, and good is forever good. Accord-
  	ing to Christian Science, perfection is normal, — not
  	miraculous. Clothed, and in its right Mind, man's
15	individuality is sinless, deathless, harmonious, eternal. 
  	His materiality, clad in a false mentality, wages feeble
  	fight with his individuality, — his physical senses with
18	his spiritual senses. The latter move in God's grooves
  	of Science:  the former revolve in their own orbits, and
  	must stand the friction of false selfhood until self-
21	destroyed. 
  	    In obedience to the divine nature, man's individuality
  	reflects the divine law and order of being. How shall
24	we reach our true selves? Through Love. The Prin-
  	ciple of Christian Science is Love, and its idea represents
  	Love. This divine Principle and idea are demonstrated,
27	in healing, to be God and the real man. 
  	    Who wants to be mortal, or would not gain the true
  	ideal of Life and recover his own individuality? I will
30	love, if another hates. I will gain a balance on the side of
  	good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces of
  	God wherewith to overcome all error. On this rests the
 
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 1	implicit faith engendered by Christian Science, which
  	appeals intelligently to the facts of man's spirituality, in-
 3	dividuality, to disdain the fears and destroy the discords
  	of this material personality. 
  	    On our Master's individual demonstrations over sin,
 6	sickness, and death, rested the anathema of priesthood
  	and the senses; yet this demonstration is the foundation
  	of Christian Science. His physical sufferings, which
 9	came from the testimony of the senses, were over when
  	he resumed his individual spiritual being, after showing
  	us the way to escape from the material body. 
12	    Science would have no conflict with Life or common
  	sense, if this sense were consistently sensible. Man's real
  	life or existence is in harmony with Life and its glorious
15	phenomena. It upholds being, and destroys the too
  	common sense of its opposites — death, disease, and sin. 
  	Christian Science is an everlasting victor, and vanquish-
18	ment is unknown to the omnipresent Truth. I must ever
  	follow this line of light and battle. 
  	    Christian Science is my only ideal; and the individual
21	and his ideal can never be severed. If either is misunder-
  	stood or maligned, it eclipses the other with the shadow
  	cast by this error. 
24	    Truth destroys error. Nothing appears to the physi-
  	cal senses but their own subjective state of thought. The
  	senses join issue with error, and pity what has no right
27	either to be pitied or to exist, and what does not exist in
  	Science. Destroy the thought of sin, sickness, death, and
  	you destroy their existence. "Whatsoever a man soweth,
30	that shall he also reap." 
  	    Because God is Mind, and this Mind is good, all
  	is good and all is Mind. God is the sum total of the
 
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 1	universe. Then what and where are sin, sickness, and
  	death? 
 3	    Christian Science and Christian Scientists will, must,
  	have a history; and if I could write the history in poor
  	parody on Tennyson's grand verse, it would read
 6	thus: — 

  	                        Traitors to right of them,
  	                        M. D.'s to left of them,
 9	                        Priestcraft in front of them,
  	                           Volleyed and thundered! 
  	                       Into the jaws of hate,
12	                       Out through the door of Love,
  	                       On to the blest above,
  	                          Marched the one hundred. 

Extract from My First Address in The Mother  Church, May 26, 1895
SHOW ALL

15	    EXTRACT FROM MY FIRST ADDRESS IN THE MOTHER
  	                               CHURCH,  MAY 26, 1895 

  	    Friends and Brethren: — Your Sunday Lesson, com-
18	posed of Scripture and its correlative in "Science and
  	Health with Key to the Scriptures," has fed you. In addi-
  	tion, I can only bring crumbs fallen from this table of
21	Truth, and gather up the fragments. 
  	    It has long been a question of earnest import, How
  	shall mankind worship the most adorable, but most
24	unadored, — and where shall begin that praise that shall
  	never end? Beneath, above, beyond, methinks I hear
  	the soft, sweet sigh of angels answering, "So live, that
27	your lives attest your sincerity and resound His praise." 
  	    Music is the harmony of being; but the music of Soul
  	affords the only strains that thrill the chords of feeling
30	and awaken the heart's harpstrings. Moved by mind,
  	your many-throated organ, in imitative tones of many
 
                                                                                                  page 107
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Extract from My First Address in 
                                          The Mother Church, May 26, 1895                                                                               

 1	instruments, praises Him; but even the sweetness and
  	beauty in and of this temple that praise Him, are earth's
 3	accents, and must not be mistaken for the oracles of God. 
  	Art must not prevail over Science. Christianity is not
  	superfluous. Its redemptive power is seen in sore trials,
 6	self-denials, and crucifixions of the flesh. But these come
  	to the rescue of mortals, to admonish them, and plant
  	the feet steadfastly in Christ. As we rise above the seem-
 9	ing mists of sense, we behold more clearly that all the
  	heart's homage belongs to God. 
  	    More love is the great need of mankind. A pure af-
12	fection, concentric, forgetting self, forgiving wrongs and
  	forestalling them, should swell the lyre of human love. 
  	    Three cardinal points must be gained before poor
15	humanity is regenerated and Christian Science is dem-
  	onstrated:  (1) A proper sense of sin; (2) repentance;
  	(3) the understanding of good. Evil is a negation:  it
18	never started with time, and it cannot keep pace with
  	eternity. Mortals' false senses pass through three states
  	and stages of human consciousness before yielding error. 
21	The deluded sense must first be shown its falsity through
  	a knowledge of evil as evil, so-called. Without a sense
  	of one's oft-repeated violations of divine law, the in-
24	dividual may become morally blind, and this deplorable
  	mental state is moral idiocy. The lack of seeing one's
  	deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep,
27	never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain mor-
  	bid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists. 
  	Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe
30	that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian
  	Scientist. 
  	    Mankind thinks either too much or too little of sin. 
 
                                                                                                  page 108
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Extract from My First Address in 
                                          The Mother Church, May 26, 1895                                                                               

 1	The sensitive, sorrowing saint thinks too much of it:  the
  	sordid sinner, or the so-called Christian asleep, thinks too
 3	little of sin. 
  	    To allow sin of any sort is anomalous in Christian
  	Scientists, claiming, as they do, that good is infinite, All. 
 6	Our Master, in his definition of Satan as a liar from the
  	beginning, attested the absolute powerlessness — yea,
  	nothingness — of evil:  since a lie, being without founda-
 9	tion in fact, is merely a falsity; spiritually, literally, it
  	is nothing. 
  	    Not to know that a false claim is false, is to be in danger
12	of believing it; hence the utility of knowing evil aright,
  	then reducing its claim to its proper denominator, — 
  	nobody and nothing. Sin should be conceived of only
15	as a delusion. This true conception would remove mortals'
  	ignorance and its consequences, and advance the second
  	stage of human consciousness, repentance. The first
18	state, namely, the knowledge of one's self, the proper
  	knowledge of evil and its subtle workings wherein evil
  	seems as real as good, is indispensable; since that which
21	is truly conceived of, we can handle; but the misconcep-
  	tion of what we need to know of evil, — or the concep-
  	tion of it at all as something real, — costs much. Sin
24	needs only to be known for what it is not; then we are
  	its master, not servant. Remember, and act on, Jesus'
  	definition of sin as a lie. This cognomen makes it less
27	dangerous; for most of us would not be seen believing
  	in, or adhering to, that which we know to be untrue. 
  	What would be thought of a Christian Scientist who be-
30	lieved in the use of drugs, while declaring that they have
  	no intrinsic quality and that there is no matter? What
  	should be thought of an individual believing in that
 
                                                                                                  page 109
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Extract from My First Address in 
                                          The Mother Church, May 26, 1895                                                                               

 1	which is untrue, and at the same time declaring the unity
  	of Truth, and its allness? Beware of those who mis-
 3	represent facts; or tacitly assent where they should dis-
  	sent; or who take me as authority for what I disapprove,
  	or mayhap never have thought of, and try to reverse, in-
 6	vert, or controvert, Truth; for this is a sure pretext of
  	moral defilement. 
  	    Examine yourselves, and see what, and how much, sin
 9	claims of you; and how much of this claim you admit
  	as valid, or comply with. The knowledge of evil that
  	brings on repentance is the most hopeful stage of mortal
12	mentality. Even a mild mistake must be seen as a mis-
  	take, in order to be corrected; how much more, then,
  	should one's sins be seen and repented of, before they
15	can be reduced to their native nothingness! 
  	    Ignorance is only blest by reason of its nothingness;
  	for seeing the need of somethingness in its stead, blesses
18	mortals. Ignorance was the first condition of sin in the
  	allegory of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Their
  	mental state is not desirable, neither is a knowledge of
21	sin and its consequences, repentance, per se; but, ad-
  	mitting the existence of both, mortals must hasten through
  	the second to the third stage, — the knowledge of good;
24	for without this the valuable sequence of knowledge
  	would be lacking, — even the power to escape from the
  	false claims of sin. To understand good, one must discern
27	the nothingness of evil, and consecrate one's life anew. 
  	    Beloved brethren, Christ, Truth, saith unto you, "Be
  	not afraid!" — fear not sin, lest thereby it master you;
30	but only fear to sin. Watch and pray for self-knowledge;
  	since then, and thus, cometh repentance, — and your
  	superiority to a delusion is won. 
 
                                                                                                   page 110
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Extract from My First Address in 
                                          The Mother Church, May 26, 1895                                                                               

 1	    Repentance is better than sacrifice. The costly balm
  	of Araby, poured on our Master's feet, had not the value
 3	of a single tear. 
  	    Beloved children, the world has need of you, — and
  	more as children than as men and women:  it needs your
 6	innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontami-
  	nated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you
  	preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through
 9	contact with the world. What grander ambition is there
  	than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to
  	know that your example, more than words, makes morals
12	for mankind! 

Address before the Alumni of the Massachusetts Metaphysical  College 1895
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  	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. 
 
                                                                                                  page 111
  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, your 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 — 
 
                                                                                                  page 112
  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
 
                                                                                                  page 113
  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. 
 
                                                                                                  page 114
  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-
 
                                                                                                  page 115
  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 

Address before the Christian Scientist Association of the  Massachusetts Metaphysical College, in 1893. Subject: Obedience
SHOW ALL

  	                 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  
  page 119

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
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Address in1893. Subject: Obedience  
  page 120

 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. 

Communion Address, January, 1896

  	COMMUNION ADDRESS, JANUARY, 1896 

27	    Friends and Brethren: — The Biblical record of the
  	great Nazarene, whose character we to-day commemorate,
  	is scanty; but what is given, puts to flight every doubt as
30	to the immortality of his words  and works. Though

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Communion Address, January, 1896  
  page 121

 1	written in a decaying language, his words can never pass
  	away:  they are inscribed upon the hearts of men:  they
 3	are engraved upon eternity's tablets. 
  	    Undoubtedly our Master partook of the Jews' feast
  	of the Passover, and drank from their festal wine-cup. 
 6	This, however, is not the cup to which I call your at-
  	tention, — even the cup of martyrdom:  wherein Spirit
  	and matter, good and evil, seem to grapple, and the
 9	human struggles against the divine, up to a point of
  	discovery; namely, the impotence of evil, and the om-
  	nipotence of good, as divinely attested. Anciently, the
12	blood of martyrs was believed to be the seed of the Church. 
  	Stalled theocracy would make this fatal doctrine just
  	and sovereign, even a divine decree, a law of Love! That
15	the innocent shall suffer for the guilty, is inhuman. The
  	prophet declared, "Thou shalt put away the guilt of
  	innocent blood from Israel." This is plain:  that what-
18	ever belittles, befogs, or belies the nature and essence of
  	Deity, is not divine. Who, then, shall father or favor
  	this sentence passed upon innocence? thereby giving the
21	signet of God to the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of His
  	beloved Son, the righteous Nazarene, — christened by
  	John the Baptist, "the Lamb of God." 
24	    Oh! shameless insult to divine royalty, that drew
  	from the great Master this answer to the questions of the
  	rabbinical rabble: "If I tell you, ye will not believe; and
27	if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go." 
  	    Infinitely greater than human pity, is divine Love, — 
  	that cannot be unmerciful. Human tribunals, if just,
30	borrow their sense of justice from the divine Principle
  	thereof, which punishes the guilty, not the innocent. The
  	Teacher of both law and gospel construed the substitution

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Communion Address, January, 1896  
  page 122

1	of a good man to suffer for evil-doers — a crime! When
  	foretelling his own crucifixion, he said, "Woe unto the
 3	world because of offenses! for it must needs be that
  	offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense
  	cometh!" 
 6	    Would Jesus thus have spoken of what was indis-
  	pensable for the salvation of a world of sinners, or of the
  	individual instrument in this holy (?) alliance for accom-
 9	plishing such a monstrous work? or have said of him
  	whom God foreordained and predestined to fulfil a divine
  	decree, "It were better for him that a millstone were
12	hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the
  	depth of the sea"? 
  	    The divine order is the acme of mercy:  it is neither
15	questionable nor assailable:  it is not evil producing good,
  	nor good ultimating in evil. Such an inference were
  	impious. Holy Writ denounces him that declares, "Let
18	us do evil, that good may come! whose damnation is
  	just." 
  	    Good is not educed from its opposite: and Love divine
21	spurned, lessens not the hater's hatred nor the criminal's
  	crime; nor reconciles justice to injustice; nor substitutes
  	the suffering of the Godlike for the suffering due to sin. 
24	Neither spiritual bankruptcy nor a religious chancery can
  	win high heaven, or the "Well done, good and faithful
  	servant,...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
27	    Divine Love knows no hate; for hate, or the hater, is
  	nothing:  God never made it, and He made all that was
  	made. The hater's pleasures are unreal; his sufferings,
30	self-imposed; his existence is a parody, and he ends — 
  	with suicide. 
  	    The murder of the just Nazarite was incited by the  

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Communion Address, January, 1896  
  page 123

1	same spirit that in our time massacres our missionaries,
  	butchers the helpless Armenians, slaughters innocents. 
 3	Evil was, and is, the illusion of breaking the First Com-
  	mandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me:"
  	it is either idolizing something and somebody, or hating
 6	them:  it is the spirit of idolatry, envy, jealousy, covet-
  	ousness, superstition, lust, hypocrisy, witchcraft. 
  	    That man can break the forever-law of infinite Love,
 9	was, and is, the serpent's biggest lie! and ultimates in
  	a religion of pagan priests bloated with crime; a religion
  	that demands human victims to be sacrificed to human
12	passions and human gods, or tortured to appease the
  	anger of a so-called god or a miscalled man or woman! 
  	The Assyrian Merodach, or the god of sin, was the "lucky
15	god;" and the Babylonian Yawa, or Jehovah, was the
  	Jewish tribal deity. The Christian's God is neither, and
  	is too pure to behold iniquity. 
18	    Divine Science has rolled away the stone from the sepul-
  	chre of our Lord; and there has risen to the awakened
  	thought the majestic atonement of divine Love. The
21	at-one-ment with Christ has appeared — not through
  	vicarious suffering, whereby the just obtain a pardon for
  	the unjust, — but through the eternal law of justice;
24	wherein sinners suffer for their own sins, repent, forsake
  	sin, love God, and keep His commandments, thence to
  	receive the reward of righteousness:  salvation from sin,
27	not through the death of a man, but through a divine Life,
  	which is our Redeemer. 
  	    Holy Writ declares that God is Love, is Spirit; hence
30	it follows that those who worship Him, must worship
  	Him spiritually, — far apart from physical sensation
  	such as attends eating and drinking corporeally. It is
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- Communion Address, January, 1896  
  page 124

 1	plain that aught unspiritual, intervening between God
  	and man, would tend to disturb the divine order, and
 3	countermand the Scripture that those who worship the
  	Father must worship Him in spirit. It is also plain,
  	that we should not seek and cannot find God in mat-
 6	ter, or through material methods; neither do we love
  	and obey Him by means of matter, or the flesh, — which
  	warreth against Spirit, and will not be reconciled
 9	thereto. 
  	    We turn, with sickened sense, from a pagan Jew's
  	or Moslem's misconception of Deity, for peace; and find
12	rest in the spiritual ideal, or Christ. For "who is so
  	great a God as our God!" unchangeable, all-wise, all-
  	just, all-merciful; the ever-loving, ever-living Life, Truth,
15	Love:  comforting such as mourn, opening the prison
  	doors to the captive, marking the unwinged bird, pitying
  	with more than a father's pity; healing the sick, cleansing
18	the leper, raising the dead, saving sinners. As we think
  	thereon, man's true sense is filled with peace, and power;
  	and we say, It is well that Christian Science has taken
21	expressive silence wherein to muse His praise, to kiss the
  	feet of Jesus, adore the white Christ, and stretch out our
  	arms to God. 
24	    The last act of the tragedy on Calvary rent the veil
  	of matter, and unveiled Love's great legacy to mortals:
  	Love forgiving its enemies. This grand act crowned
27	and still crowns Christianity:  it manumits mortals; it
  	translates love; it gives to suffering, inspiration; to
  	patience, experience; to experience, hope; to hope, faith;
30	to faith, understanding; and to understanding, Love tri-
  	umphant! 
  	    In proportion to a man's spiritual progress, he will  

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Communion Address, January, 1896  
  page 125

1	indeed drink of our Master's cup, and be baptized with
  	his baptism! be purified as by fire, — the fires of suffering;
 3	then hath he part in Love's atonement, for "whom the
  	Lord loveth He chasteneth." Then shall he also reign
  	with him:  he shall rise to know that there is no sin,
 6	that there is no suffering; since all that is real is right. 
  	This knowledge enables him to overcome the world, the
  	flesh, and all evil, to have dominion over his own sinful
 9	sense and self. Then shall he drink anew Christ's cup,
  	in the kingdom of God — the reign of righteousness — 
  	within him; he shall sit down at the Father's right hand:
12	sit down; not stand waiting and weary; but rest on the
  	bosom of God; rest, in the understanding of divine Love
  	that passeth all understanding; rest, in that which "to
15	know aright is Life eternal," and whom, not having seen,
  	we love. 
  	    Then shall he press on to Life's long lesson, the eternal
18	lore of Love; and learn forever the infinite meanings of
  	these short sentences: "God is Love;" and, All that is
  	real is divine, for God is All-in-all. 

Message to The Annual Meeting of the Mother  Church, Boston, 1896  
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21	MESSAGE TO THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MOTHER
  	                        CHURCH, BOSTON, 1896 

  	    Beloved Brethren, Children,  and Grandchildren: — 
24	Apart from the common walks of mankind, revolving
  	oft the hitherto untouched problems of being, and
  	oftener, perhaps, the controversies which baffle it,
27	Mother, thought-tired, turns to-day to you; turns to
  	her dear church, to tell the towers thereof the remarkable
  	achievements that have been ours within the past few
30	years: the rapid transit from halls to churches, from un-

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Message to The Mother Church, 1896  
  page 126

 1	settled questions to permanence, from danger to escape,
  	from fragmentary discourses to one eternal sermon; yea,
 3	from darkness to daylight, in physics and metaphysics. 
  	    Truly, I half wish for society again; for once, at least,
  	to hear the soft music of our Sabbath chimes saluting the
 6	ear in tones that leap for joy, with love for God and
  	man. 
  	    Who hath not learned that when alone he has his
 9	own thoughts to guard, and when struggling with man-
  	kind his temper, and in society his tongue? We also
  	have gained higher heights; have learned that trials lift
12	us to that dignity of Soul which sustains us, and finally
  	conquers them; and that the ordeal refines while it
  	chastens. 
15	    Perhaps our church is not yet quite sensible of what
  	we owe to the strength, meekness, honesty, and obedi-
  	ence of the Christian Science Board of Directors; to
18	the able editors of The Christian Science Journal, and
  	to our efficient Publishing Society. 
  	    No reproof is so potent as the silent lesson of a good
21	example. Works, more than words, should characterize
  	Christian Scientists. Most people condemn evil-doing,
  	evil-speaking; yet nothing circulates so rapidly:  even gold
24	is less current. Christian Scientists have a strong race to
  	run, and foes in ambush; but bear in mind that, in the
  	long race, honesty always defeats dishonesty. 
27	    God hath indeed smiled on my church, — this
  	daughter of Zion:  she sitteth in high places; and to de-
  	ride her is to incur the penalty of which the Hebrew
30	bard spake after this manner: "He that sitteth in the
  	heavens shall laugh:  the Lord shall have them in
  	derision." 

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Message to The Mother Church, 1896  
  page 127

 1	    Hitherto, I have observed that in proportion as this
  	church has smiled on His "little ones," He has blessed
 3	her. Throughout my entire connection with The Mother
  	Church, I have seen, that in the ratio of her love for
  	others, hath His love been bestowed upon her; watering
 6	her waste places, and enlarging her borders. 
  	    One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly
  	request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and
 9	elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor
  	on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importu-
  	nately. When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-
12	Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone, — but
  	more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble
  	and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the
15	bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to
  	a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow
  	into it the "river of His pleasure," the tributary of divine
18	Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow, — 
  	even that joy which finds one's own in another's good. 
  	    To love, and to be loved, one must do good to others. 
21	The inevitable condition whereby to become blessed, is to
  	bless others:  but here, you must so know yourself, under
  	God's direction, that you will do His will even though
24	your pearls be downtrodden. Ofttimes the rod is His
  	means of grace; then it must be ours, — we cannot avoid
  	wielding it if we reflect Him. 
27	    Wise sayings and garrulous talk may fall to the ground,
  	rather than on the ear or heart of the hearer; but a tender
  	sentiment felt, or a kind word spoken, at the right moment,
30	is never wasted. Mortal mind presents phases of charac-
  	ter which need close attention and examination. The
  	human heart, like a feather bed, needs often to be stirred,

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Message to The Mother Church, 1896  
  page 128

 1	sometimes roughly, and given a variety of turns, else it
  	grows hard and uncomfortable whereon to repose. 
 3	    The lessons of this so-called life in matter are too vast
  	and varied to learn or to teach briefly; and especially
  	within the limits of a letter. Therefore I close here,
 6	with the apostle's injunction: "Finally, brethren, what-
  	soever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
  	whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
 9	whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
  	good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
  	praise, think on these things.  Those things, which ye
12	have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in
  	me, do:  and the God of peace shall be with you." 
  	                                     With love, Mother,
   15  	                                             MARY BAKER G. EDDY