0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 10 – Miscellaneous Writings – Chpt 7 – Pond and Purpose – Subtitles

Pond and Purpose

	                 Pond and Purpose 

 1	    Beloved Students: — In thanking you for your
  	gift of the pretty pond contributed to Pleasant View,
 3	in Concord,  New Hampshire, I make no distinction be-
  	tween my students and your students; for here, thine
  	becomes mine through gratitude and affection. 
 6	    From my tower window, as I look on this smile of
  	Christian Science, this gift from my students and their
  	students, it will always mirror their love, loyalty, and
 9	good works. Solomon saith, "As in water face answereth
  	to face, so the heart of man to man." 
  	    The waters that run among the valleys, and that
12	you have coaxed in their course to call on me, have
  	served the imagination for centuries. Theology religiously
  	bathes in water, medicine applies it physically, hydrology
15	handles it with so-called science, and metaphysics appro-
  	priates it topically as type and shadow. Metaphysically,
  	baptism serves to rebuke the senses and illustrate Christian
18	Science. 
  	    First:  The baptism of repentance is indeed a stricken
  	state of human consciousness, wherein mortals gain
21	severe views of themselves; a state of mind which rends
  	the veil that hides mental deformity. Tears flood the eyes,

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Pond and Purpose                            
  page 204

 1	agony struggles, pride rebels, and a mortal seems a
  	monster, a dark, impenetrable cloud of error; and falling
 3	on the bended knee of prayer, humble before God, he
  	cries, "Save, or I perish." Thus Truth, searching the
  	heart, neutralizes and destroys error. 
 6	    This mental period is sometimes chronic, but oftener
  	acute. It is attended throughout with doubt, hope, sorrow,
  	joy, defeat, and triumph. When the good fight is fought,
 9	error yields up its weapons and kisses the feet of Love,
  	while white-winged peace sings to the heart a song of
  	angels. 
12	    Second:  The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the spirit
  	of Truth cleansing from all sin; giving mortals new
  	motives, new purposes, new affections, all pointing up-
15	ward. This mental condition settles into strength, free-
  	dom, deep-toned faith in God; and a marked loss of faith
  	in evil, in human wisdom, human policy, ways, and means. 
18	It develops individual capacity, increases the intellectual
  	activities, and so quickens moral sensibility that the
  	great demands of spiritual sense are recognized, and they
21	rebuke the material senses, holding sway over human
  	consciousness. 
  	    By purifying human thought, this state of mind per-
24	meates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human
  	affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom,
  	and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadi-
27	ness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the
  	accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of
  	Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition,
30	and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives pru-
  	dence and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry,
  	evil thinking, evil speaking and acting; and mortal

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Pond and Purpose                           
  page 205

 1	mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of
  	itself. 
 3	    This practical Christian Science is the divine Mind,
  	the incorporeal Truth and Love, shining through the mists
  	of materiality and melting away the shadows called sin,
 6	disease, and death. 
  	    In mortal experience, the fire of repentance first sepa-
  	rates the dross from the gold, and reformation brings
 9	the light which dispels darkness. Thus the operation
  	of the spirit of Truth and Love on the human thought,
  	in the words of St. John, "shall take of mine and show it
12	unto you." 
  	    Third:  The baptism of Spirit, or final immersion of
  	human consciousness in the infinite ocean of Love, is the
15	last scene in corporeal sense. This omnipotent act drops
  	the curtain on material man and mortality. After this,
  	man's identity or consciousness reflects only Spirit, good,
18	whose visible being is invisible to the physical senses:  eye
  	hath not seen it, inasmuch as it is the disembodied in-
  	dividual Spirit-substance and consciousness termed in
21	Christian metaphysics the ideal man — forever permeated
  	with eternal life, holiness, heaven. This order of Science
  	is the chain of ages, which maintain their obvious corre-
24	spondence, and unites all periods in the divine design. 
  	Mortal man's repentance and absolute abandonment of
  	sin finally dissolves all supposed material life or physical
27	sensation, and the corporeal or mortal man disappears
  	forever. The encumbering mortal molecules, called man,
  	vanish as a dream; but man born of the great Forever,
30	lives on, God-crowned and blest. 
  	    Mortals who on the shores of time learn Christian
  	Science, and live what they learn, take rapid transit to

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Pond and Purpose                           
  page 206

 1	heaven, — the hinge on which have turned all revolu-
  	tions, natural, civil, or religious, the former being servant
 3	to the latter, — from flux to permanence, from foul to
  	pure, from torpid to serene, from extremes to intermediate. 
  	Above the waves of Jordan, dashing against the receding
 6	shore, is heard the Father and Mother's welcome, saying
  	forever to the baptized of Spirit: "This is my beloved
  	Son." What but divine Science can interpret man's
 9	eternal existence, God's allness, and the scientific inde-
  	structibility of the universe? 
  	    The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained
12	through growth, not accretion; idleness is the foe of
  	progress. And scientific growth manifests no weakness,
  	no emasculation, no illusive vision, no dreamy absentness,
15	no insubordination to the laws that be, no loss nor lack
  	of what constitutes true manhood. 
  	    Growth is governed by intelligence; by the active,
18	all-wise, law-creating, law-disciplining, law-abiding Prin-
  	ciple, God. The real Christian Scientist is constantly
  	accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and
21	orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven:
  	"Good is my God, and my God is good.  Love is my God,
  	and my God is Love." 
24	    Beloved students, you have entered the path. Press
  	patiently on; God is good, and good is the reward of all
  	who diligently seek God. Your growth will be rapid, if
27	you love good supremely, and understand and obey the
  	Way-shower, who, going before you, has scaled the steep
  	ascent of Christian Science, stands upon the mount of
30	holiness, the dwelling-place of our God, and bathes in the
  	baptismal font of eternal Love. 
  	    As you journey, and betimes sigh for rest "beside the

  Miscellaneous Writings --- Pond and Purpose                           
  page 207

 1	still waters," ponder this lesson of love. Learn its pur-
  	pose; and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart
 3	reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the
  	spirit of my life-purpose, — to impress humanity with
  	the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian
     6    Science.