0.0 – Christian Science – 16 Books by Mary Baker Eddy – Bk 10 – Miscellaneous Writings – Chpt 8 – Precept Upon Precept

1	                                    "THY WILL BE DONE" 

  	    This is the law of Truth to error, "Thou shalt surely
 3	die." This law is a divine energy. Mortals cannot
  	prevent the fulfilment of this law; it covers all sin and
  	its effects. God is All, and by virtue of this nature and
 6	allness He is cognizant only of good. Like a legislative
  	bill that governs millions of mortals whom the legislators
  	know not, the universal law of God has no knowledge
 9	of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and
  	governs it. 
  	    Mortals have only to submit to the law of God, come
12	into sympathy with it, and to let His will be done. This
  	unbroken motion of the law of divine Love gives, to the
  	weary and heavy-laden, rest. But who is willing to do
15	His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own
  	wills, and so  disobey the divine order. 
  	    All states and stages of human error are met and
18	mastered by divine Truth's negativing error in the way
  	of God's appointing. Those "whom the Lord loveth He
  	chasteneth." His rod brings to view His love, and inter-
21	prets to mortals the gospel of healing. David said, "Be-
  	fore I was afflicted I went astray:  but now have I
  	kept Thy word." He who knows the end from the be-
 
  Miscellaneous Writings --- “Thy Will Be Done”                           209

 1	ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and
  	remedies. 
 3	    Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga-
  	tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to pun-
  	ish sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets,
 6	and cry, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace," — yea,
  	that healest the wounds of my people slightly? 
  	    The Principle of divine Science being Love, the divine
 9	rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that
  	human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own
  	physics. Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of
12	cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics
  	admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more
  	dangerous pleasures. 
15	    Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv-
  	ion nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose
  	Life is God, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps. The
18	loss of gustatory enjoyment and the ills of indigestion
  	tend to rebuke appetite and destroy the peace of a false
  	sense. False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no
21	right to be at peace. To suffer for having "other gods
  	before me," is divinely wise. Evil passions die in their
  	own flames, but are punished before extinguished. Peace
24	has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be
  	concealed and that life and happiness should still attend
  	it. Joy is self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are
27	one:  suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master of
  	evil. 
  	    To this scientific logic and the logic of events, egotism
30	and false charity say, "'Not so, Lord;' it is wise to
  	cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have
  	peace." Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of

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 1	error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its
  	disguises, and — behold the result:  evil, uncovered, is
 3	self-destroyed. 
  	    Christian Science never healed a patient without prov-
  	ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found
 6	out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third
  	kills itself. Do men whine over a nest of serpents, and
  	post around it placards warning people not to stir up
 9	these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said,
  	"They shall take up serpents;" and, "Be ye therefore
  	wise as serpents and harmless as doves." The wisdom
12	of a serpent is to hide itself. The wisdom of God, as
  	revealed in Christian Science, brings the serpent out of
  	its hole, handles it, and takes away its sting. Good deeds
15	are harmless. He who has faith in woman's special adapt-
  	ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked
  	when she puts her foot on the head of the serpent, as it
18	biteth at the heel. 
  	    Intemperance begets a belief of disordered brains,
  	membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves
21	to uncover and kill this lurking serpent, intemperance,
  	that hides itself under the false pretense of human need,
  	innocent enjoyment, and a medical prescription. The
24	belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the
  	shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and
  	thus may save him from his destroyer. 
27	    Charity has the courage of conviction; it may suffer
  	long, but has neither the cowardice nor the foolhardiness
  	to cover iniquity. Charity is Love; and Love opens
30	the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out. 
  	Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer
  	from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not
 
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 1	lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform
  	them. 
 3	    Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not
  	cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor-
  	tals to handle serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision
 6	must be clear to open the eyes of others, else the blind
  	will lead the blind and both shall fall. The sickly charity
  	that supplies criminals with bouquets has been dealt
 9	with summarily by the good judgment of people in
  	the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla-
  	tion, and Salem witchcraft, are not indigenous to her
12	soil. 
  	    "Out of the depths have I delivered thee." The
  	drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave is
15	unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his
  	peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because
  	you wish to save him from death. Then, if a criminal
18	is at peace, is he not to be pitied and brought back to
  	life? Or, are you afraid to do this lest he suffer, trample
  	on your pearls of thought, and turn on you and rend you? 
21	Cowardice is selfishness. When one protects himself at
  	his neighbor's cost, let him remember, "Whosoever will
  	save his life shall lose it." He risks nothing who obeys
24	the law of God, and shall find the Life that cannot be
  	lost. 
  	    Our Master said, "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup." 
27	Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with
  	God. He drank this cup giving thanks, and he said to
  	his followers, "Drink ye all of it," — drink it all, and let
30	all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer, — "Thy
  	kingdom come." Shall we repeat our Lord's Prayer
  	when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and

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 1	to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy
  	is a fool that saith in his heart, "No God" — a caressing
 3	Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This god-
  	less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is
  	obtained. 
 6	    Jesus did his work, and left his glorious career for our
  	example. On the shore of Gennesaret he tersely re-
  	minded his students of their worldly policy. They had
 9	suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused
  	them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas-
  	ter and cast their nets on the right side. When they
12	were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The
  	ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means
  	ought to silence ours. One step away from the direct
15	line of divine Science cost them — what? A speedy re-
  	turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre-
  	quited toil. 
18	    The currents of human nature rush in against the right
  	course; health, happiness, and life flow not into one of
  	their channels. The law of Love saith, "Not my will,
21	but Thine, be done," and Christian Science proves that
  	human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white
  	Christ, is the remunerator. 
24	    If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a
  	wrong direction, who will step forward and open his
  	eyes to see this error? He who is a Christian Scientist,
27	who has cast the beam out of his own eye, speaks plainly
  	to the offender and tries to show his errors to him before
  	letting another know it. 
30	    Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting
  	form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis-
  	ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of
 
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 1	him; they could not behold his immortal being in the
  	form of Godlikeness. 
 3	    All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good,
  	flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my
  	faith in the right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the
 6	proportion that their instructions are assimilated, will
  	point the way, shorten the process, and consummate the
  	joys of acquiescence in the methods of divine Love. The
 9	Scripture saith, "He that covereth his sins shall not pros-
  	per." No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni-
  	ties which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm
12	our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can
  	be destroyed. 
  	    May my friends and my enemies so profit by these
15	waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined
  	another's way may perfect their own lives by gentle
  	benedictions. In every age, the pioneer reformer must
18	pass through a baptism of fire. But the faithful adher-
  	ents of Truth have gone on rejoicing. Christian Science
  	gives a fearless wing and firm foundation. These are
21	its inspiring tones from the lips of our Master, "My
  	sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
  	me:  and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
24	never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
  	my hand." He is but "an hireling" who fleeth when he
  	seeth the wolf coming. 
27	    Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer:  the night
  	is far spent, the day dawns; God's universal kingdom
  	will appear, Love will reign in every heart, and His will
30	be done on earth as in heaven. 
 
                                                                                                   214

 1	                                  "PUT UP THY SWORD" 

  	    While Jesus' life was full of Love, and a demonstra-
 3	tion of Love, it appeared hate to the carnal mind, or
  	mortal thought, of his time. He said, "Think not that
  	I am come to send peace on earth:  I came not to send
 6	peace, but a sword.  For I am come to set a man at
  	variance against his father, and the daughter against her
  	mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-
 9	law.  And a man's foes shall be they of his own house-
  	hold." 
  	    This action of Jesus was stimulated by the same Love
12	that closed — to the senses — that wondrous life, and
  	that summed up its demonstration in the command,
  	"Put up thy sword." The very conflict his Truth brought,
15	in accomplishing its purpose of Love, meant, all
  	the way through, "Put up thy sword;" but the sword
  	must have been drawn before it could be returned into
18	the scabbard. 
  	    My students need to search the Scriptures and "Science
  	and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to understand
21	the personal Jesus' labor in the flesh for their salvation:
  	they need to do this even to understand my works, their
  	motives, aims, and tendency. 
24	    The attitude of mortal mind in being healed morally,
  	is the same as its attitude physically. The Christian
  	Scientist cannot heal the sick, and take error along with
27	Truth, either in the recognition or approbation of it. 
  	This would prevent the possibility of destroying the
  	tares:  they must be separated from the wheat before
30	they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “Put Up Thy Sword”                           215

 1	and the final destruction of error through this very pro-
  	cess, — the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal
 3	mind is to go from one extreme to another:  Truth comes
  	into the intermediate space, saying, "I wound to heal;
  	I punish to reform; I do it all in love; my peace I leave
 6	with thee:  not as the world giveth, give I unto thee.  
  	Arise, let us go hence; let us depart from the material
  	sense of God's ways and means, and gain a spiritual
 9	understanding of them." 
  	    But let us not seek to climb up some other way, as we
  	shall do if we take the end for the beginning or start
12	from wrong motives. Christian Science demands order
  	and truth. To abide by these we must first understand
  	the Principle and object of our work, and be clear that
15	it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we
  	shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap-
  	pointment, and not according to the infantile concep-
18	tion of our way; as when a child in sleep walks on the
  	summit of the roof of the house because he is a som-
  	nambulist, and thinks he is where he is not, and would
21	fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he
  	was doing. 
  	    My students are at the beginning of their demonstra-
24	tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves
  	and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use
  	the sword of Spirit. 
27	    They cannot in the beginning take the attitude, nor
  	adopt the words, that Jesus used at the end of his
  	demonstration. 
30	    If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try
  	to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor
  	yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment

 Miscellaneous Writings --- “Put Up Thy Sword”                           216

 1	must be used in your application of his words and infer-
  	ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat
 3	with error. There remaineth, it is true, a Sabbath rest
  	for the people of God; but we must first have done our
  	work, and entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give
 6	example. 

  	                                     SCIENTIFIC THEISM 

  	    In the May number of our Journal, there appeared a
 9	review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism,"
  	by Phare Pleigh. 
  	    Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than "hands
12	off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon
  	tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying
  	on of hands," as well. Whatever his nom de plume
15	means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one
  	in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a
  	big protest against injustice; but, the best may be
18	mistaken. 
  	    One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat,
  	which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end
21	of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained
  	some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty
  	or a happy hit at idealism, to illustrate the author's fol-
24	lowing point? —  
  	  "When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither
  	laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the
27	attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a
  	phenomenon without a noumenon may succeed, but not
  	before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without
30	a cat." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                               217

 1	    True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in
  	logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An
 3	effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso-
  	phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con-
  	ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than
 6	Spirit; hence that the universe of God is spiritual, — even
  	the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle,
  	with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in
 9	quality and quantity. 
  	    The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this:  that
  	matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe-
12	nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat-
  	ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable,
  	and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things
15	is unchanged, and that nature is constituted of and by
  	Spirit. 
  	    Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that
18	nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con-
  	taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup-
  	positional unity and personality, produce matter, — a
21	third quality unlike God. Again, that matter is both
  	cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its
  	cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good, — 
24	and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither
  	Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a
  	kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought
27	to desolation. 
  	    The nature of God must change in order to become
  	matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter
30	must disappear, for Spirit to appear. To the material
  	sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human
  	thought, and our convictions change:  for spiritual sense
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                              218

  1	takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and
  	Spirit is God, and God is good. Science unfolds the fact
 3	that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never
  	produced Mind, and vice versa. 
  	    The visible universe declares the invisible only by re-
 6	version, as error declares Truth. The testimony of mate-
  	rial sense in relation to existence is false; for matter can
  	neither see, hear, nor feel, and mortal mind must change
 9	all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence,
  	before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas. 
  	It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material
12	senses whence to reason out God, when it is conceded
  	that the five personal senses can take no cognizance of
  	Spirit or of its phenomena. False realistic views sap the
15	Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal
  	and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth
  	comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and un-
18	folds the real nature of God and the universe to the spirit-
  	ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and
  	not material. 
21	    To begin with, the notion of Spirit as cause and end,
  	with matter as its effect, is more ridiculous than the "grin
  	without a cat;" for a grin expresses the nature of a cat,
24	and this nature may linger in memory:  but matter does
  	not express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven
  	grins are neither eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What
27	can illustrate Dr.  —— 's views better than Pat's echo,
  	when he said "How do you do?" and echo answered,
  	"Pretty well, I thank you!" 
30	    Dr.  ——  says: "The recognition of teleology in nature
  	is necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual person-
  	ality in God." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Scientific Theism                               219

  1	    According to lexicography, teleology is the science of
  	the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all
 3	Science is divine) neither reveals God in matter, cause
  	in effect, nor teaches that nature and her laws are the
  	material universe, or that the personality of infinite Spirit
 6	is finite or material. Jesus said, "Ye do err, not know-
  	ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Now, what
  	saith the Scripture? "God is a Spirit:  and they that
 9	worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
  	truth." 

    	                                      MENTAL PRACTICE 

12	    It is admitted that mortals think wickedly and act
  	wickedly:  it is beginning to be seen by thinkers, that
  	mortals think also after a sickly fashion. In common
15	parlance, one person feels sick, another feels wicked. A
  	third person knows that if he would remove this feeling
  	in either case, in the one he must change his patient's
18	consciousness of dis-ease and suffering to a consciousness
  	of ease and loss of suffering; while in the other he must
  	change the patient's sense of sinning at ease to a sense of
21	discomfort in sin and peace in goodness. 
  	    This is Christian Science:  that mortal mind makes
  	sick, and immortal Mind makes well; that mortal mind
24	makes sinners, while immortal Mind makes saints; that
  	a state of health is but a state of consciousness made mani-
  	fest on the body, and vice versa; that while one person
27	feels wickedly and acts wickedly, another knows that if
  	he can change this evil sense and consciousness to a good
  	sense, or conscious goodness, the fruits of goodness will
30	follow, and he has reformed the sinner. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Mental Practice                                 220

  1	    Now, demonstrate this rule, which obtains in every
  	line of mental healing, and you will find that a good rule
 3	works one way, and a false rule the opposite way. 
  	    Let us suppose that there is a sick person whom an-
  	other would heal mentally. The healer begins by mental
 6	argument. He mentally says, "You are well, and you
  	know it;" and he supports this silent mental force by
  	audible explanation, attestation, and precedent. His
 9	mental and oral arguments aim to refute the sick man's
  	thoughts, words, and actions, in certain directions, and
  	turn them into channels of Truth. He persists in this
12	course until the patient's mind yields, and the harmonious
  	thought has the full control over this mind on the point
  	at issue. The end is attained, and the patient says and
15	feels, "I am well, and I know it." 
  	    This mental practitioner has changed his patient's
  	consciousness from sickness to health. The patient's
18	mental state is now the diametrical opposite of what it
  	was when the mental practitioner undertook to transform
  	it, and he is improved morally and physically. 
21	    That this mental method has power and bears fruit,
  	is patent both to the conscientious Christian Scientist and
  	the observer. Both should understand with equal clear-
24	ness, that if this mental process and power be reversed,
  	and people believe that a man is sick and knows it, and
  	speak of him as being sick, put it into the minds of others
27	that he is sick, publish it in the newspapers that he is
  	failing, and persist in this action of mind over mind, it
  	follows that he will believe that he is sick, — and Jesus
30	said it would be according to the woman's belief; but if
  	with the certainty of Science he knows that an error of
  	belief has not the power of Truth, and cannot, does
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Mental Practice                                 221

 1	not, produce the slightest effect, it has no power over
  	him. Thus a mental malpractitioner may lose his
 3	power to harm by a false mental argument; for it
  	gives one opportunity to handle the error, and when
  	mastering it one gains in the rules of metaphysics, and
 6	thereby learns more of its divine Principle. Error pro-
  	duces physical sufferings, and these sufferings show
  	the fundamental Principle of Christian Science; namely,
 9	that error and sickness are one, and Truth is their
  	remedy. 
  	    The evil-doer can do little at removing the effect of sin
12	on himself, unless he believes that sin has produced the
  	effect and knows he is a sinner; or, knowing that he is a
  	sinner, if he denies it, the good effect is lost. Either of
15	these states of mind will stultify the power to heal men-
  	tally. This accounts for many helpless mental practi-
  	tioners and mysterious diseases. 
18	    Again: If error is the cause of disease, Truth being
  	the cure, denial of this fact in one instance and
  	acknowledgment of it in another saps one's under-
21	standing of the Science of Mind-healing. Such denial
  	dethrones demonstration, baffles the student of Mind-
  	healing, and divorces his work from Science. Such de-
24	nial also contradicts the doctrine that we must mentally
  	struggle against both evil and disease, and is like saying
  	that five times ten are fifty while ten times five are not
27	fifty; as if the multiplication of the same two numbers
  	would not yield the same product whichever might serve
  	as the multiplicand. 
30	    Who would tell another of a crime that he himself is
  	committing, or call public attention to that crime? The
  	belief in evil and in the process of evil, holds the issues
  
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Mental Practice                                 222

1	of death to the evil-doer. It takes away a man's proper
  	sense of good, and gives him a false sense of both evil
 3	and good. It inflames envy, passion, evil-speaking, and
  	strife. It reverses Christian Science in all things. It
  	causes the victim to believe that he is advancing while
 6	injuring himself and others. This state of false conscious-
  	ness in many cases causes the victim great physical suffer-
  	ing; and conviction of his wrong state of feeling reforms
 9	him, and so heals him:  or, failing of conviction and re-
  	form, he becomes morally paralyzed — in other words,
  	a moral idiot. 
12	    In this state of misled consciousness, one is ready to
  	listen complacently to audible falsehoods that once he
  	would have resisted and loathed; and this, because the
15	false seems true. The malicious mental argument and
  	its action on the mind of the perpetrator, is fatal, morally
  	and physically. From the effects of mental malpractice
18	the subject scarcely awakes in time, and must suffer its
  	full penalty after death. This sin against divine Science
  	is cancelled only through human agony:  the measure it
21	has meted must be remeasured to it. 
  	    The crimes committed under this new regime of mind-
  	power, when brought to light, will make stout hearts quail. 
24	Its mystery protects it now, for it is not yet known. Error
  	is more abstract than Truth. Even the healing Principle,
  	whose power seems inexplicable, is not so obscure; for
27	this is the power of God, and good should seem more
  	natural than evil. 
  	    I shall not forget the cost of investigating, for this age,
30	the methods and power of error. While the ways, means,
  	and potency of Truth had flowed into my consciousness
  	as easily as dawns the morning light and shadows flee,
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Mental Practice                                 223

 1	the metaphysical mystery of error — its hidden paths,
  	purpose, and fruits — at first defied me. I was say-
 3	ing all the time, "Come not thou into the secret" — 
  	but at length took up the research according to God's
  	command. 
 6	    Streams which purify, necessarily have pure fountains;
  	while impure streams flow from corrupt sources. Here,
  	divine light, logic, and revelation coincide. 
 9	    Science proves, beyond cavil, that the tree is known
  	by its fruit; that mind reaches its own ideal, and cannot
  	be separated from it. I respect that moral sense which
12	is sufficiently strong to discern what it believes, and to say,
  	if it must, "I discredit Mind with having the power to
  	heal." This individual disbelieves in Mind-healing, and
15	is consistent. But, alas! for the mistake of believing in
  	mental healing, claiming full faith in the divine Principle,
  	and saying, "I am a Christian Scientist," while doing
18	unto others what we would resist to the hilt if done unto
  	ourselves. 
  	    May divine Love so permeate the affections of all those
21	who have named the name of Christ in its fullest sense,
  	that no counteracting influence can hinder their growth
  	or taint their examples. 

24	                                    TAKING OFFENSE 

  	    There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, "He
  	that is slow to anger is better than the mighty." Hannah
27	More said, "If I wished to punish my enemy, I should
  	make him hate somebody." 
  	    To punish ourselves for others' faults, is superlative
30	folly. The mental arrow shot from another's bow is
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Taking Offense                                 224

 1	practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it. 
  	It is our pride that makes another's criticism rankle, our
 3	self-will that makes another's deed offensive, our egotism
  	that feels hurt by another's self-assertion. Well may we
  	feel wounded by our own faults; but we can hardly afford
 6	to be miserable for the faults of others. 
  	    A courtier told Constantine that a mob had broken
  	the head of his statue with stones. The emperor lifted
 9	his hands to his head, saying: "It is very surprising, but
  	I don't feel hurt in the least." 
  	    We should remember that the world is wide; that there
12	are a thousand million different human wills, opinions,
  	ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a differ-
  	ent history, constitution, culture, character, from all the
15	rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless
  	action and reaction upon each other of these different
  	atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest
18	expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen
  	relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great,
  	and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction
21	of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with
  	an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor
  	accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a
24	charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and
  	sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, — de-
  	termined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor
27	even when it is, unless the offense be against God. 
  	    Nothing short of our own errors should offend us. He
  	who can wilfully attempt to injure another, is an object
30	of pity rather than of resentment; while it is a question
  	in my mind, whether there is enough of a flatterer, a fool,
  	or a liar, to offend a whole-souled woman. 
                                                                                                   225
          
 1	                              HINTS TO THE CLERGY 

  	    At the residence of Mr. Rawson, of Arlington, Massa-
 3	chusetts, a happy concourse of friends had gathered to
  	celebrate the eighty-second birthday of his mother — a
  	friend of mine, and a Christian Scientist. 
 6	    Among the guests, were an orthodox clergyman, his
  	wife and child. 
  	    In the course of the evening, conversation drifted to
 9	the seventh modern wonder, Christian Science; where-
  	upon the mother, Mrs. Rawson, who had drunk at its
  	fount, firmly bore testimony to the power of Christ, Truth,
12	to heal the sick. 
  	    Soon after this conversation, the clergyman's son
  	was taken violently ill. Then was the clergyman's
15	opportunity to demand a proof of what the Christian
  	Scientist had declared; and he said to this venerable
  	Christian: —  
18	    "If you heal my son, when seeing, I may be led to
  	believe." 
  	    Mrs. Rawson then rose from her seat, and sat down
21	beside the sofa whereon lay the lad with burning brow,
  	moaning in pain. 
  	    Looking away from all material aid, to the spiritual
24	source and ever-present help, silently, through the divine
  	power, she healed him. 
  	    The deep flush faded from the face, a cool perspira-
27	tion spread over it, and he slept. 
  	    In about one hour he awoke, and was hungry. 
  	    The parents said: —  
30	    "Wait until we get home, and you shall have some
  	gruel." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Hints to the Clergy                            226

 1	    But Mrs. Rawson said: —  
  	    "Give the child what he relishes, and doubt not that
 3	the Father of all will care for him." 
  	    Thus, the unbiased youth and the aged Christian
  	carried the case on the side of God; and, after eating
 6	several ice-creams, the clergyman's son returned home
  	 — well. 

  	                                  PERFIDY AND SLANDER 

 9	    What has an individual gained by losing his own self-
  	respect? or what has he lost when, retaining his own,
  	he loses the homage of fools, or the pretentious praise of
12	hypocrites, false to themselves as to others? 
  	    Shakespeare, the immortal lexicographer of mortals,
  	writes: — 

15	                   To thine own self be true,
  	     And it must follow, as the night the day,
  	     Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

18	    When Aristotle was asked what a person could gain
  	by uttering a falsehood, he replied, "Not to be credited
  	when he shall tell the truth." 
21	    The character of a liar and hypocrite is so contempti-
  	ble, that even of those who have lost their honor it might
  	be expected that from the violation of truth they should
24	be restrained by their pride. 
  	    Perfidy of an inferior quality, such as manages to evade
  	the law, and which dignified natures cannot stoop to
27	notice, except legally, disgraces human nature more than
  	do most vices. 
  	    Slander is a midnight robber; the red-tongued assas-
30	sin of radical worth; the conservative swindler, who
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Perfidy and Slander                          227

 1	sells himself in a traffic by which he can gain nothing. 
  	It can retire for forgiveness to no fraternity where its
 3	crime may stand in the place of a virtue; but must at
  	length be given up to the hisses of the multitude, with-
  	out friend and without apologist. 
 6	    Law has found it necessary to offer to the innocent,
  	security from slanderers — those pests of society — when
  	their crime comes within its jurisdiction. Thus, to evade
 9	the penalty of law, and yet with malice aforethought to
  	extend their evil intent, is the nice distinction by which
  	they endeavor to get their weighty stuff into the hands
12	of gossip! Some uncharitable one may give it a forward
  	move, and, ere that one himself become aware, find
  	himself responsible for kind (?) endeavors. 
15	    Would that my pen or pity could raise these weak,
  	pitifully poor objects from their choice of self-degrada-
  	tion to the nobler purposes and wider aims of a life made
18	honest:  a life in which the fresh flowers of feeling blos-
  	som, and, like the camomile, the more trampled upon,
  	the sweeter the odor they send forth to benefit mankind;
21	a life wherein calm, self-respected thoughts abide in
  	tabernacles of their own, dwelling upon a holy hill, speak-
  	ing the truth in the heart; a life wherein the mind can
24	rest in green pastures, beside the still waters, on isles
  	of sweet refreshment. The sublime summary of an
  	honest life satisfies the mind craving a higher good, and
27	bathes it in the cool waters of peace on earth; till it
  	grows into the full stature of wisdom, reckoning its
  	own by the amount of happiness it has bestowed upon
30	others. 
  	    Not to avenge one's self upon one's enemies, is the
  	command of almighty wisdom; and we take this to be
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Perfidy and Slander                          228

 1	a safer guide than the promptings of human nature. 
  	To know that a deception dark as it is base has been
 3	practised upon thee, — by those deemed at least indebted
  	friends whose welfare thou hast promoted, — and yet
  	not to avenge thyself, is to do good to thyself; is to take
 6	a new standpoint whence to look upward; is to be calm
  	amid excitement, just amid lawlessness, and pure amid
  	corruption. 
 9	    To be a great man or woman, to have a name whose
  	odor fills the world with its fragrance, is to bear with
  	patience the buffetings of envy or malice — even while
12	seeking to raise those barren natures to a capacity for a
  	higher life. We should look with pitying eye on the
  	momentary success of all villainies, on mad ambition
15	and low revenge. This will bring us also to look on a
  	kind, true, and just person, faithful to conscience and
  	honest beyond reproach, as the only suitable fabric out
18	of which to weave an existence fit for earth and
  	heaven. 

  	                                            CONTAGION 

21	    Whatever man sees, feels, or in any way takes cog-
  	nizance of, must be caught through mind; inasmuch
  	as perception, sensation, and consciousness belong to
24	mind and not to matter. Floating with the popular
  	current of mortal thought without questioning the re-
  	liability of its conclusions, we do what others do,
27	believe what others believe, and say what others say. 
  	Common consent is contagious, and it makes disease
  	catching. 
30	    People believe in infectious and contagious diseases,

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Contagion                                         229

 1	and that any one is liable to have them under certain
  	predisposing or exciting causes. This mental state pre-
 3	pares one to have any disease whenever there appear the
  	circumstances which he believes produce it. If he believed
  	as sincerely that health is catching when exposed to con-
 6	tact with healthy people, he would catch their state of
  	feeling quite as surely and with better effect than he does
  	the sick man's. 
 9	    If only the people would believe that good is more
  	contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how
  	much more certain would be the doctor's success, and
12	the clergyman's conversion of sinners. And if only the
  	pulpit would encourage faith in God in this direction,
  	and faith in Mind over all other influences governing
15	the receptivity of the body, theology would teach man
  	as David taught: "Because thou hast made the Lord,
  	which is my refuge, even the most High thy habitation;
18	there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
  	come nigh thy dwelling." 
  	    The confidence of mankind in contagious disease would
21	thus become beautifully less; and in the same propor-
  	tion would faith in the power of God to heal and to save
  	mankind increase, until the whole human race would
24	become healthier, holier, happier, and longer lived. A
  	calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventive of
  	contagion than a drug, or than any other possible sana-
27	tive method; and the "perfect Love" that "casteth out
  	fear" is a sure defense. 
 
                                                                                                   230

 1	                                      IMPROVE YOUR TIME 

  	    Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon
 3	the improvement of moments more than upon any other
  	one thing. A great amount of time is consumed in talking
  	nothing, doing nothing, and indecision as to what one
 6	should do. If one would be successful in the future, let
  	him make the most of the present. 
  	    Three ways of wasting time, one of which is con-
 9	temptible, are gossiping mischief, making lingering calls,
  	and mere motion when at work, thinking of nothing or
  	planning for some amusement, — travel of limb more
12	than mind. Rushing around smartly is no proof of ac-
  	complishing much. 
  	    All successful individuals have become such by hard
15	work; by improving moments before they pass into hours,
  	and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit
  	of pleasure. They spend no time in sheer idleness, in
18	talking when they have nothing to say, in building air-
  	castles or floating off on the wings of sense:  all of which
  	drop human life into the ditch of nonsense, and worse
21	than waste its years. 

  	     "Let us, then, be up and doing,
  	        With a heart for any fate;
24	      Still achieving, still pursuing,
  	        Learn to labor and to wait."   

  	                                  THANKSGIVING DINNER 

27	    It was a beautiful group! needing but canvas and the
  	touch of an artist to render it pathetic, tender, gorgeous. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Thanksgiving Dinner                          231

 1	Age, on whose hoary head the almond-blossom formed a
  	crown of glory; middle age, in smiles and the full fruition
 3	of happiness; infancy, exuberant with joy, — ranged side
  	by side. The sober-suited grandmother, rich in ex-
  	perience, had seen sunshine and shadow fall upon ninety-
 6	six years. Four generations sat at that dinner-table. 
  	The rich viands made busy many appetites; but, what
  	of the poor! Willingly — though I take no stock in
 9	spirit-rappings — would I have had the table give a
  	spiritual groan for the unfeasted ones. 
  	    Under the skilful carving of the generous host, the
12	mammoth turkey grew beautifully less. His was the
  	glory to vie with guests in the dexterous use of knife and
  	fork, until delicious pie, pudding, and fruit caused un-
15	conditional surrender. 
  	    And the baby! Why, he made a big hole, with two
  	incisors, in a big pippin, and bit the finger presump-
18	tuously poked into the little mouth to arrest the peel! 
  	Then he was caught walking! one, two, three steps, — 
  	and papa knew that he could walk, but grandpa was
21	taken napping. Now! baby has tumbled, soft as thistle-
  	down, on the floor; and instead of a real set-to at crying,
  	a look of cheer and a toy from mamma bring the soft
24	little palms patting together, and pucker the rosebud
  	mouth into saying, "Oh, pretty!" That was a scientific
  	baby; and his first sitting-at-table on Thanksgiving Day
27	 — yes, and his little rainbowy life — brought sunshine
  	to every heart. How many homes echo such tones of
  	heartfelt joy on Thanksgiving Day! But, alas! for the
30	desolate home; for the tear-filled eyes looking longingly
  	at the portal through which the loved one comes not, or
  	gazing silently on the vacant seat at fireside and board — 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Thanksgiving Dinner                          232

1	God comfort them all! we inwardly prayed — but the
  	memory was too much; and, turning from it, in a bumper
 3	of pudding-sauce we drank to peace, and plenty, and
  	happy households. 

  	                                         CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

 6	    This age is reaching out towards the perfect Principle
  	of things; is pushing towards perfection in art, inven-
  	tion, and manufacture. Why, then, should religion be
 9	stereotyped, and we not obtain a more perfect and prac-
  	tical Christianity? It will never do to be behind the
  	times in things most essential, which proceed from the
12	standard of right that regulates human destiny. Human
  	skill but foreshadows what is next to appear as its divine
  	origin. Proportionately as we part with material systems
15	and theories, personal doctrines and dogmas, meekly to
  	ascend the hill of Science, shall we reach the maximum
  	of perfection in all things. 
18	    Spirit is omnipotent; hence a more spiritual Chris-
  	tianity will be one having more power, having perfected
  	in Science that most important of all arts, — healing. 
21	    Metaphysical healing, or Christian Science, is a de-
  	mand of the times. Every man and every woman would
  	desire and demand it, if he and she knew its infinite
24	value and firm basis. The unerring and fixed Principle
  	of all healing is God; and this Principle should be
  	sought from the love of good, from the most spiritual
27	and unselfish motives. Then will it be understood to be
  	of God, and not of man; and this will prevent mankind
  	from striking out promiscuously, teaching and practising

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Christian Science                              233

 1	in the name of Science without knowing its fundamental
  	Principle. 
 3	    It is important to know that a malpractice of the best
  	system will result in the worst form of medicine. More-
  	over, the feverish, disgusting pride of those who call
 6	themselves metaphysicians or Scientists, — but are such
  	in name only, — fanned by the breath of mental mal-
  	practice, is the death's-head at the feast of Truth; the
 9	monkey in harlequin jacket that will retard the onward
  	march of life-giving Science, if not understood and with-
  	stood, and so strangled in its attempts. 
12	    The standard of metaphysical healing is traduced by
  	thinking to put into the old garment of drugging the new
  	cloth of metaphysics; or by trying to twist the fatal
15	magnetic force of mortal mind, termed hypnotism, into
  	a more fashionable cut and naming that "mind-cure,"
  	or — which is still worse in the eyes of Truth — terming
18	it metaphysics! Substituting good words for a good life,
  	fair-seeming for straightforward character, mental mal-
  	practice for the practice of true medicine, is a poor shift
21	for the weak and worldly who think the standard of
  	Christian Science too high for them. 
  	    What think you of a scientist in mathematics who finds
24	fault with the exactness of the rule because unwilling to
  	work hard enough to practise it? The perfection of the
  	rule of Christian Science is what constitutes its utility:
27	having a true standard, if some fall short, others will
  	approach it; and these are they only who adhere to that
  	standard. 
30	    Matter must be understood as a false belief or product
  	of mortal mind:  whence we learn that sensation is not
  	in matter, but in this so-called mind; that we see and

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Christian Science                              234

 1	feel disease only by reason of our belief in it:  then shall
  	matter remain no longer to blind us to Spirit, and clog
 3	the wheels of progress. We spread our wings in vain when
  	we attempt to mount above error by speculative views
  	of Truth. 
 6	    Love is the Principle of divine Science; and Love is
  	not learned of the material senses, nor gained by a culpa-
  	ble attempt to seem what we have not lifted ourselves
 9	to be, namely, a Christian. In love for man, we gain a
  	true sense of Love as God; and in no other way can we
  	reach this spiritual sense, and rise — and still rise — to
12	things most essential and divine. What hinders man's
  	progress is his vain conceit, the Phariseeism of the times,
  	also his effort to steal from others and avoid hard work;
15	errors which can never find a place in Science. Empiri-
  	cal knowledge is worse than useless:  it never has advanced
  	man a single step in the scale of being. 
18	    That one should have ventured on such unfamiliar
  	ground, and, self-forgetful, should have gone on to estab-
  	lish this mighty system of metaphysical healing, called
21	Christian Science, against such odds, — even the entire
  	current of mortality, — is matter of grave wonderment to
  	profound thinkers. That, in addition to this, she has made
24	some progress, has seen far into the spiritual facts of be-
  	ing which constitute physical and mental perfection, in
  	the midst of an age so sunken in sin and sensuality, seems
27	to them still more inconceivable. 
  	    In this new departure of metaphysics, God is regarded
  	more as absolute, supreme; and Christ is clad with a
30	richer illumination as our Saviour from sickness, sin,
  	and death. God's fatherliness as Life, Truth, and Love,
  	makes His sovereignty glorious. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Christian Science                              235

 1	    By this system, too, man has a changed recognition
  	of his relation to God. He is no longer obliged to sin,
 3	be sick, and die to reach heaven, but is required and em-
  	powered to conquer sin, sickness, and death; thus, as
  	image and likeness, to reflect Him who destroys death
 6	and hell. By this reflection, man becomes the partaker
  	of that Mind whence sprang the universe. 
  	    In Christian Science, progress is demonstration, not
 9	doctrine. This Science is ameliorative and regenerative,
  	delivering mankind from all error through the light and
  	love of Truth. It gives to the race loftier desires and new
12	possibilities. It lays the axe at the root of the tree of
  	knowledge, to cut down all that bringeth not forth good
  	fruit; "and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended
15	in me." It touches mind to more spiritual issues, sys-
  	tematizes action, gives a keener sense of Truth and a
  	stronger desire for it. 
18	    Hungering and thirsting after a better life, we shall
  	have it, and become Christian Scientists; learn God
  	aright, and know something of the ideal man, the real
21	man, harmonious and eternal. This movement of thought
  	must push on the ages:  it must start the wheels of reason
  	aright, educate the affections to higher resources, and
24	leave Christianity unbiased by the superstitions of a
  	senior period. 

  	                                            INJUSTICE 

27	    Who that has tried to follow the divine precept, "All
  	things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto
  	you, do ye even so to them," has not suffered from the
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Injustice                                             236

 1	situation? — has not found that human passions in their
  	reaction have misjudged motives? 
 3	    Throughout our experience since undertaking the
  	labor of uplifting the race, we have been made the re-
  	pository of little else than the troubles, indiscretions,
 6	and errors of others; until thought has shrunk from
  	contact with family difficulties, and become weary with
  	study to counsel wisely whenever giving advice on per-
 9	sonal topics. 
  	    To the child complaining of his parents we have said,
  	"Love and honor thy parents, and yield obedience to
12	them in all that is right; but you have the rights of con-
  	science, as we all have, and must follow God in all your
  	ways." 
15	    When yielding to constant solicitations of husband or
  	wife to give, to one or the other, advice concerning diffi-
  	culties and the best way to overcome them, we have done
18	this to the best of our ability, — and always with the pur-
  	pose to restore harmony and prevent dishonor. In such
  	cases we have said, "Take no counsel of a mortal, even
21	though it be your best friend; but be guided by God
  	alone;" meaning by this, Be not estranged from each
  	other by anything that is said to you, but seek in divine
24	Love the remedy for all human discord. 
  	    Yet, notwithstanding one's good intentions, in some
  	way or at some step in one's efforts to help another, as
27	a general rule, one will be blamed for all that is not right:
  	but this must not deter us from doing our duty, whatever
  	else may appear, and at whatever cost. 
 
                                                                                                   237

 1	                                          REFORMERS 

  	    The olden opinion that hell is fire and brimstone, has
 3	yielded somewhat to the metaphysical fact that suffering
  	is a thing of mortal mind instead of body:  so, in place
  	of material flames and odor, mental anguish is generally
 6	accepted as the penalty for sin. This changed belief
  	has wrought a change in the actions of men. Not a few
  	individuals serve God (or try to) from fear; but remove
 9	that fear, and the worst of human passions belch forth
  	their latent fires. Some people never repent until earth
  	gives them such a cup of gall that conscience strikes home;
12	then they are brought to realize how impossible it is to
  	sin and not suffer. All the different phases of error in
  	human nature the reformer must encounter and help to
15	eradicate. 
  	    This period is not essentially one of conscience: few
  	feel and live now as when this nation began, and our
18	forefathers' prayers blended with the murmuring winds
  	of their forest home. This is a period of doubt, inquiry,
  	speculation, selfishness; of divided interests, marvellous
21	good, and mysterious evil. But sin can only work out
  	its own destruction; and reform does and must push on
  	the growth of mankind. 
24	    Honor to faithful merit is delayed, and always has
  	been; but it is sure to follow. The very streets through
  	which Garrison was dragged were draped in honor of
27	the dead hero who did the hard work, the immortal work,
  	of loosing the fetters of one form of human slavery. I
  	remember, when a girl, and he visited my father, how a
30	childish fear clustered round his coming. I had heard
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Reformers                                         238

 1	the awful story that "he helped 'niggers' kill the white
  	folks!" Even the loving children are sometimes made
 3	to believe a lie, and to hate reformers. It is pleasant,
  	now, to contrast with that childhood's wrong the reverence
  	of my riper years for all who dare to be true, honest to
 6	their convictions, and strong of purpose. 
  	    The reformer has no time to give in defense of his
  	own life's incentive, since no sacrifice is too great for the
 9	silent endurance of his love. What has not unselfed love
  	achieved for the race? All that ever was accomplished,
  	and more than history has yet recorded. The reformer
12	works on unmentioned, save when he is abused or his
  	work is utilized in the interest of somebody. He may
  	labor for the establishment of a cause which is fraught
15	with infinite blessings, — health, virtue, and heaven;
  	but what of all that? Who should care for everybody? 
  	It is enough, say they, to care for a few. Yet the good
18	done, and the love that foresees more to do, stimulate
  	philanthropy and are an ever-present reward. Let one's
  	life answer well these questions, and it already hath a
21	benediction: 
  	    Have you renounced self? Are you faithful? Do
  	you love? 

24	                                           MRS. EDDY SICK 

  	    The frequent public allegement that I am "sick, unable
  	to speak a loud word," or that I died of palsy, and am
27	dead, — is but another evidence of the falsehoods kept
  	constantly before the public. 
  	    While I accord these evil-mongers due credit for their
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Mrs. Eddy Sick                                  239

 1	desire, let me say to you, dear reader:  Call at the
  	Massachusetts Metaphysical College, in 1889, and judge
 3	for yourself whether I can talk — and laugh too! I
  	never was in better health. I have had but four
  	days' vacation for the past year, and am about to com-
 6	mence a large class in Christian Science. Lecturing,
  	writing, preaching, teaching, etc., give fair proof that
  	my shadow is not growing less; and substance is taking
 9	larger proportions. 

  	                                             "I'VE GOT COLD" 

  	    Out upon the sidewalk one winter morning, I observed
12	a carriage draw up before a stately mansion; a portly
  	gentleman alight, and take from his carriage the ominous
  	hand-trunk. 
15	    "Ah!" thought I, "somebody has to take it; and what
  	may the potion be?" 
  	    Just then a tiny, sweet face appeared in the vestibule,
18	and red nose, suffused eyes, cough, and tired look, told
  	the story; but, looking up quaintly, the poor child said, —  
  	    "I've got cold, doctor." 
21	    Her apparent pride at sharing in a popular influenza
  	was comical. However, her dividend, when compared
  	with that of the household stockholders, was new; and
24	doubtless their familiarity with what the stock paid, made
  	them more serious over it. 
  	    What if that sweet child, so bravely confessing that
27	she had something that she ought not to have, and which
  	mamma thought must be gotten rid of, had been taught
  	the value of saying even more bravely, and believing
30	it, —  
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “I’ve Got Cold”                                   240

 1	    "I have not got cold." 
  	    Why, the doctor's squills and bills would have been
 3	avoided; and through the cold air the little one would
  	have been bounding with sparkling eyes, and ruby cheeks
  	painted and fattened by metaphysical hygiene. 
 6	    Parents and doctors must not take the sweet freshness
  	out of the children's lives by that flippant caution, "You
  	will get cold." 
 9	    Predicting danger does not dignify life, whereas fore-
  	casting liberty and joy does; for these are strong pro-
  	moters of health and happiness. All education should
12	contribute to moral and physical strength and freedom. 
  	If a cold could get into the body without the assent of
  	mind, nature would take it out as gently, or let it remain
15	as harmlessly, as it takes the frost out of the ground or
  	puts it into the ice-cream to the satisfaction of all. 
  	    The sapling bends to the breeze, while the sturdy oak,
18	with form and inclination fixed, breasts the tornado. It
  	is easier to incline the early thought rightly, than the
  	biased mind. Children not mistaught, naturally love
21	God; for they are pure-minded, affectionate, and gen-
  	erally brave. Passions, appetites, pride, selfishness, have
  	slight sway over the fresh, unbiased thought. 
24	    Teach the children early self-government, and teach
  	them nothing that is wrong. If they see their father with
  	a cigarette in his mouth — suggest to them that the habit
27	of smoking is not nice, and that nothing but a loathsome
  	worm naturally chews tobacco. Likewise soberly inform
  	them that "Battle-Axe Plug" takes off men's heads; or,
30	leaving these on, that it takes from their bodies a sweet
  	something which belongs to nature, — namely, pure
  	odors. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- “I’ve Got Cold”                                   241

 1	    From a religious point of view, the faith of both youth
  	and adult should centre as steadfastly in God to benefit
 3	the body, as to benefit the mind. Body and mind are
  	correlated in man's salvation; for man will no more
  	enter heaven sick than as a sinner, and Christ's Christi-
 6	anity casts out sickness as well as sin of every sort. 
  	    Test, if you will, metaphysical healing on two patients:
  	one having morals to be healed, the other having a physi-
 9	cal ailment. Use as your medicine the great alterative,
  	Truth:  give to the immoralist a mental dose that says,
  	"You have no pleasure in sin," and witness the effects. 
12	    Either he will hate you, and try to make others do like-
  	wise, so taking a dose of error big enough apparently to
  	neutralize your Truth, else he will doubtingly await the
15	result; during which interim, by constant combat and
  	direful struggles, you get the victory and Truth heals him
  	of the moral malady. 
18	    On the other hand, to the bedridden sufferer admin-
  	ister this alterative Truth: "God never made you sick:
  	there is no necessity for pain; and Truth destroys the
21	error that insists on the necessity of any man's bondage
  	to sin and sickness.  'Ye shall know the truth, and the
  	truth shall make you free.'" 
24	    Then, like blind Bartimeus, the doubting heart looks
  	up through faith, and your patient rejoices in the gospel
  	of health. 
27	    Thus, you see, it is easier to heal the physical than the
  	moral ailment. When divine Truth and Love heal, of
  	sin, the sinner who is at ease in sin, how much more should
30	these heal, of sickness, the sick who are dis-eased, dis-
  	comforted, and who long for relief! 
 
                                                                                                   242

 1	                                       "PRAYER AND HEALING" 

  	    The article of Professor T —— , having the above cap-
 3	tion, published in Zion's Herald, December third, came
  	not to my notice until January ninth. In it the Professor
  	offered me, as President of the Metaphysical College in
 6	Boston, or one of my students, the liberal sum of one
  	thousand dollars if either would reset certain dislocations
  	without the use of hands, and two thousand dollars if
 9	either would give sight to one born blind. 
  	    Will the gentleman accept my thanks due to his gener-
  	osity; for, if I should accept his bid on Christianity, he
12	would lose his money. 
  	    Why? 
  	    Because I performed more difficult tasks fifteen years
15	ago. At present, I am in another department of Christian
  	work, "where there shall no signs be given them," for
  	they shall be instructed in the Principle of Christian
18	Science that furnishes its own proof. 
  	    But, to reward his liberality, I offer him three thou-
  	sand dollars if he will heal one single case of opium-eating
21	where the patient is very low and taking morphine powder
  	in its most concentrated form, at the rate of one ounce in
  	two weeks, — having taken it twenty years; and he is to
24	cure that habit in three days, leaving the patient well. I
  	cured precisely such a case in 1869. 
  	    Also, Mr. C. M. H —— , of Boston, formerly partner
27	of George T. Brown, pharmacist, No. 5 Beacon St., will
  	tell you that he was my student in December, 1884; and
  	that before leaving the class he took a patient thoroughly
30	addicted to the use of opium — if she went without it
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “Prayer and Healing”                         243

1	twenty-four hours she would have delirium — and in
  	forty-eight hours cured her perfectly of this habit,
 3	with no bad results, but with decided improvement in
  	health. 
  	    I have not yet made surgery one of the mental branches
 6	taught in my college; although students treat sprains,
  	contusions, etc., successfully. In the case of sprain of the
  	wrist-joint, where the regular doctor had put on splints
 9	and bandages to remain six weeks, a student of mine
  	removed these appliances the same day and effected the
  	cure in less than one week. Reference, Mrs. M. A. F —— ,
12	107 Eutaw Street, East Boston. 
  	    I agree with the Professor, that every system of medi-
  	cine claims more than it practises. If the system is Science,
15	it includes of necessity the Principle, which the learner
  	can demonstrate only in proportion as he understands it. 
  	Boasting is unbecoming a mortal's poor performances. 
18	My Christian students are proverbially modest:  their
  	works alone should declare them, since my system of medi-
  	cine is not generally understood. There are charlatans
21	in "mind-cure," who practise on the basis of matter, or
  	human will, not Mind. 
  	    The Professor alludes to Paul's advice to Timothy. 
24	Did he refer to that questionable counsel, "Take a little
  	wine for thy stomach's sake"? Even doctors disagree
  	on that prescription:  some of the medical faculty will
27	tell you that alcoholic drinks cause the coats of the stomach
  	to thicken and the organ to contract; will prevent the
  	secretions of the gastric juice, and induce ulceration,
30	bleeding, vomiting, death. 
  	    Again, the Professor quotes, in justification of material
  	methods, and as veritable: "He took a bone from the
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “Prayer and Healing”                         244

 1	side of Adam, closed up the wound thereof, and builded
  	up the woman."  (Gen. ii. 21.) 
 3	    Here we have the Professor on the platform of Christian
  	Science! even a "surgical operation" that he says was
  	performed by divine power, — Mind alone constructing
 6	the human system, before surgical instruments were
  	invented, and closing the incisions of the flesh. 
  	    He further states that God cannot save the soul without
 9	compliance to ordained conditions. But, we ask, have
  	those conditions named in Genesis been perpetuated in
  	the multiplication of mankind? And, are the conditions
12	of salvation mental, or physical; are they bodily penance
  	and torture, or repentance and reform, which are the
  	action of mind? 
15	    He asks, "Has the law been abrogated that demands
  	the employment of visible agencies for specific ends?" 
  	    Will he accept my reply as derived from the life and
18	teachings of Jesus? — who annulled the so-called laws of
  	matter by the higher law of Spirit, causing him to walk
  	the wave, turn the water into wine, make the blind to see,
21	the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to be
  	raised without matter-agencies. And he did this for man's
  	example; not to teach himself, but others, the way of
24	healing and salvation. He said, "And other sheep I have,
  	which are not of this fold." 
  	    The teachings and demonstration of Jesus were for
27	all peoples and for all time; not for a privileged class or
  	a restricted period, but for as many as should believe in
  	him. 
30	    Are the discoverers of quinine, cocaine, etc., espe-
  	cially the children of our Lord because of their medical
  	discoveries? 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “Prayer and Healing”                         245

 1	    We have no record showing that our Master ever used,
  	or recommended others to use, drugs; but we have his
 3	words, and the prophet's, as follows: "Take no thought,
  	saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?" 
  	"And Asa . . . sought not to the Lord, but to the phy-
 6	sicians.  And Asa slept with his fathers." 

  	                                      VERITAS ODIUM PARIT 

  	    The combined efforts of the materialistic portion of
 9	the pulpit and press in 1885, to retard by misrepresen-
  	tation the stately goings of Christian Science, are giving
  	it new impetus and energy; calling forth the vox populi
12	and directing more critical observation to its uplifting
  	influence upon the health, morals, and spirituality of
  	mankind. 
15	    Their movements indicate fear and weakness, a physi-
  	cal and spiritual need that Christian Science should re-
  	move with glorious results. The conclusion cannot now
18	be pushed, that women have no rights that man is bound
  	to respect. This is woman's hour, in all the good tend-
  	encies, charities, and reforms of to-day. It is difficult
21	to say which may be most mischievous to the human
  	heart, the praise or the dispraise of men. 
  	    I have loved the Church and followed it, thinking that
24	it was following Christ; but, if the pulpit allows the people
  	to go no further in the direction of Christlikeness, and
  	rejects apostolic Christianity, seeking to stereotype infinite
27	Truth, it is a thing to be thankful for that one can walk
  	alone the straight and narrow way; that, in the words of
  	Wendell Phillips, "one with God is a majority." 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Veritas Odium Parit                           246

 1	    It is the pulpit and press, clerical robes and the pro-
  	hibiting of free speech, that cradles and covers the sins of
 3	the world, — all unmitigated systems of crime; and it
  	requires the enlightenment of these worthies, through
  	civil and religious reform, to blot out all inhuman codes. 
 6	It was the Southern pulpit and press that influenced the
  	people to wrench from man both human and divine rights,
  	in order to subserve the interests of wealth, religious caste,
 9	civil and political power. And the pulpit had to be
  	purged of that sin by human gore, — when the love of
  	Christ would have washed it divinely away in Christian
12	Science! 
  	    The cry of the colored slave has scarcely been heard
  	and hushed, when from another direction there comes
15	another sharp cry of oppression. Another form of inhu-
  	manity lifts its hydra head to forge anew the old fetters;
  	to shackle conscience, stop free speech, slander, vilify;
18	to invite its prey, then turn and refuse the victim a solitary
  	vindication in this most unprecedented warfare. 
  	    A conflict more terrible than the battle of Gettysburg
21	awaits the crouching wrong that refused to yield its
  	prey the peace of a desert, when a voice was heard
  	crying in the wilderness, — the spiritual famine of 1866,
24	 — "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths
  	straight." 
  	    Shall religious intolerance, arrayed against the rights
27	of man, again deluge the earth in blood? The question
  	at issue with mankind is:  Shall we have a spiritual Chris-
  	tianity and a spiritual healing, or a materialistic religion
30	and a materia medica? 
  	    The advancing faith and hope of Christianity, the
  	earnest seeking after practical truth that shall cast out  

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Veritas Odium Parit                           247

1	error and heal the sick, wisely demand for man his God-
  	given heritage, both human and divine rights; namely,
 3	that his honest convictions and proofs of advancing truth
  	be allowed due consideration, and treated not as pearls
  	trampled upon. 
 6	    Those familiar with my history are more tolerant; those
  	who know me, know that I found health in just what I
  	teach. I have professed Christianity a half-century; and
 9	now I calmly challenge the world, upon fair investigation,
  	to furnish a single instance of departure in one of my
  	works from the highest possible ethics. 
12	    The charges against my views are false, but natural,
  	since those bringing them do not understand my state-
  	ment of the Science I introduce, and are unwilling to be
15	taught it, even gratuitously. If they did understand it, they
  	could demonstrate this Science by healing the sick; hence
  	the injustice of their interpretations. 
18	    To many, the healing force developed by Christian
  	Science seems a mystery, because they do not understand
  	that Spirit controls body. They acknowledge the exist-
21	ence of mortal mind, but believe it to reside in matter
  	of the brain; but that man is the idea of infinite Mind,
  	is not so easily accepted. That which is temporary
24	seems, to the common estimate, solid and substantial. 
  	It is much easier for people to believe that the body
  	affects mind, than that the body is an expression of
27	mind, and reflects harmony or discord according to
  	thought. 
  	    Everything that God created, He pronounced good. 
30	He never made sickness. Hence that is only an evil belief
  	of mortal mind, which must be met, in every instance,
  	with a denial by Truth. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Veritas Odium Parit                           248

 1	    This is the "new tongue," the language of them that
  	"lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover," whose
 3	spiritual interpretation they refuse to hear. For instance:
  	the literal meaning of the passage "lay hands on the sick"
  	would be manipulation; its moral meaning, found in the
 6	"new tongue," is spiritual power, — as, in another Scrip-
  	ture, "I will triumph in the works of Thy hands." 

  	                                                FALSEHOOD 

 9	    The Greeks showed a just estimate of the person they
  	called slanderer, when they made the word synonymous
  	with devil. If the simple falsehoods uttered about me
12	were compounded, the mixture would be labelled thus:
  	"Religionists' mistaken views of Mrs. Eddy's book, 'Sci-
  	ence and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' and the
15	malice aforethought of sinners." 
  	    That I take opium; that I am an infidel, a mesmerist,
  	a medium, a "pantheist;" or that my hourly life is prayer-
18	less, or not in strict obedience to the Mosaic Decalogue,  — 
  	is not more true than that I am dead, as is oft reported. 
  	The St. Louis Democrat is alleged to have reported my
21	demise, and to have said that I died of poison, and be-
  	queathed my property to Susan Anthony. 
  	    The opium falsehood has only this to it:  Many years
24	ago my regular physician prescribed morphine, which I
  	took, when he could do no more for me. Afterwards,
  	the glorious revelations of Christian Science saved me
27	from that necessity and made me well, since which time
  	I have not taken drugs, with the following exception:
  	When the mental malpractice of poisoning people was

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Falsehood                                         249

 1	first undertaken by a mesmerist, to test that malprac-
  	tice I experimented by taking some large doses of mor-
 3	phine, to see if Christian Science could not obviate its
  	effect; and I say with tearful thanks, "The drug had
  	no effect upon me whatever." The hour has struck,
 6	 — "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
  	them." 
  	    The false report that I have appropriated other people's
 9	manuscripts in my works, has been met and answered
  	legally. Both in private and public life, and especially
  	through my teachings, it is well known that I am not a
12	spiritualist, a pantheist, or prayerless. The most devout
  	members of evangelical churches will say this, as well as
  	my intimate acquaintances. None are permitted to re-
15	main in my College building whose morals are not un-
  	questionable. I have neither purchased nor ordered a
  	drug since my residence in Boston; and to my knowledge,
18	not one has been sent to my house, unless it was something
  	to remove stains or vermin. 
  	    The report that I was dead arose no doubt from the
21	combined efforts of some malignant students, expelled
  	from my College for immorality, to kill me:  of their mental
  	design to do this I have proof, but no fear. My heavenly
24	Father will never leave me comfortless, in the amplitude
  	of His love; coming nearer in my need, more tenderly to
  	save and bless. 

27	                                           LOVE 

  	    What a word! I am in awe before it. Over what
  	worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the un-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Love                                                  250

 1	derived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the
  	alone God, is Love. 
 3	    By what strange perversity is the best become the most
  	abused, — either as a quality or as an entity? Mortals
  	misrepresent and miscall affection; they make it what
 6	it is not, and doubt what it is. The so-called affection
  	pursuing its victim is a butcher fattening the lamb to
  	slay it. What the lower propensities express, should be
 9	repressed by the sentiments. No word is more mis-
  	construed; no sentiment less understood. The divine
  	significance of Love is distorted into human qualities,
12	which in their human abandon become jealousy and
  	hate. 
  	    Love is not something put upon a shelf, to be taken
15	down on rare occasions with sugar-tongs and laid on a
  	rose-leaf. I make strong demands on love, call for active
  	witnesses to prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand
18	achievements as its results. Unless these appear, I cast
  	aside the word as a sham and counterfeit, having no ring
  	of the true metal. Love cannot be a mere abstraction, or
21	goodness without activity and power. As a human quality,
  	the glorious significance of affection is more than words:
  	it is the tender, unselfish deed done in secret; the silent,
24	ceaseless prayer; the self-forgetful heart that overflows;
  	the veiled form stealing on an errand of mercy, out of a
  	side door; the little feet tripping along the sidewalk; the
27	gentle hand opening the door that turns toward want and
  	woe, sickness and sorrow, and thus lighting the dark
  	places of earth. 

                                                                                                   251
 

 1	    ADDRESS ON THE FOURTH OF JULY AT PLEASANT VIEW,
  	           CONCORD, N. H., BEFORE 2,500 MEMBERS
 3	           OF THE MOTHER CHURCH, 1897 

  	    My beloved brethren, who have come all the way from
  	the Pacific to the Atlantic shore, from the Palmetto to the
 6	Pine Tree State, I greet you; my hand may not touch
  	yours to-day, but my heart will with tenderness untalkable. 
  	    His Honor, Mayor Woodworth, has welcomed you to
 9	Concord most graciously, voicing the friendship of this
  	city and of my native State — loyal to the heart's core to
  	religion, home, friends, and country. 
12	    To-day we commemorate not only our nation's civil
  	and religious freedom, but a greater even, the liberty of
  	the sons of God, the inalienable rights and radiant reality
15	of Christianity, whereof our Master said: "The works
  	that I do shall he do;" and, "The kingdom of God cometh
  	not with observation" (with knowledge obtained from
18	the senses), but "the kingdom of God is within you," — 
  	within the present possibilities of mankind. 
  	    Think of this inheritance! Heaven right here, where
21	angels are as men, clothed more lightly, and men as angels
  	who, burdened for an hour, spring into liberty, and the
  	good they would do, that they do, and the evil they would
24	not do, that they do not. 
  	    From the falling leaves of old-time faiths men learn a
  	parable of the period, that all error, physical, moral, or
27	religious, will fall before Truth demonstrated, even as
  	dry leaves fall to enrich the soil for fruitage. 
  	    Sin, sickness, and disease flee before the evangel of
30	Truth as the mountain mists before the sun. Truth is
 
                                                                                                   252
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Pleasant View Address July 4, 1897            

1	the tonic for the sick, and this medicine of Mind is not
  	necessarily infinitesimal but infinite. Herein the mental
 3	medicine of divine metaphysics and the medical systems
  	of allopathy and homoeopathy differ. Mental medi-
  	cine gains no potency by attenuation, and its largest
 6	dose is never dangerous, but the more the better in every
  	case. 
  	    Christian Science classifies thought thus: Right thoughts
 9	are reality and power; wrong thoughts are unreality and
  	powerless, possessing the nature of dreams. Good thoughts
  	are potent; evil thoughts are impotent, and they should
12	appear thus. Continuing this category, we learn that
  	sick thoughts are unreality and weakness; while healthy
  	thoughts are reality and strength. My proof of these
15	novel propositions is demonstration, whereby any man
  	can satisfy himself of their verity. 
  	    Christian Science is not only the acme of Science
18	but the crown of Christianity. It is universal. It ap-
  	peals to man as man; to the whole and not to a por-
  	tion; to man physically, as well as spiritually, and to all
21	mankind. 
  	    It has one God. It demonstrates the divine Principle,
  	rules and practice of the great healer and master of meta-
24	physics, Jesus of Nazareth. It spiritualizes religion and
  	restores its lost element, namely, healing the sick. It
  	consecrates and inspires the teacher and preacher; it
27	equips the doctor with safe and sure medicine; it en-
  	courages and empowers the business man and secures
  	the success of honesty. It is the dear children's toy and
30	strong tower; the wise man's spiritual dictionary; the
  	poor man's money; yea, it is the pearl priceless whereof
  	our Master said, if a man findeth, he goeth and selleth
 
                                                                                                   253
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Pleasant View Address July 4, 1897              

 1	all that he hath and buyeth it. Buyeth it! Note the
  	scope of that saying, even that Christianity is not merely
 3	a gift, as St. Paul avers, but is bought with a price, a great
  	price; and what man knoweth as did our Master its
  	value, and the price that he paid for it? 
 6	    Friends, I am not enough the new woman of the period
  	for outdoor speaking, and the incidental platform is not
  	broad enough for me, but the speakers that will now ad-
 9	dress you — one a congressman — may improve our
  	platforms; and make amends for the nothingness of
  	matter with the allness of Mind. 

12	        WELL DOINGE IS THE FRUITE OF DOINGE WELL
  	                                                                             HERRICK 

  	    This period is big with events. Fraught with history,
15	it repeats the past and portends much for the future. 
  	    The Scriptural metaphors, — of the woman in travail,
  	the great red dragon that stood ready to devour the child
18	as soon as it was born, and the husbandmen that said,
  	"This is the heir:  come, let us kill him, that the in-
  	heritance may be ours," — are type and shadow of this
21	hour. 
  	    A mother's love touches the heart of God, and should
  	it not appeal to human sympathy? Can a mother tell
24	her child one tithe of the agonies that gave that child
  	birth? Can that child conceive of the anguish, until she
  	herself is become a mother? 
27	    Do the children of this period dream of the spiritual
  	Mother's sore travail, through the long night, that has
  	opened their eyes to the light of Christian Science? Cherish
 
                                                                                                   254
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Well Doinge is the Fruite of Doinge Well     

 1	these new-born children that filial obedience to which the
  	Decalogue points with promise of prosperity? Should not
 3	the loving warning, the far-seeing wisdom, the gentle en-
  	treaty, the stern rebuke have been heeded, in return for
  	all that love which brooded tireless over their tender
 6	years? for all that love that hath fed them with Truth, — 
  	even the bread that cometh down from heaven, — as the
  	mother-bird tendeth her young in the rock-ribbed nest of
 9	the raven's callow brood! 
  	    And what of the hope of that parent whose children
  	rise up against her; when brother slays brother, and
12	the strength of union grows weak with wickedness? 
  	The victim of mad ambition that saith, "This is
  	the heir:  come, let us kill him, that the inheritance
15	may be ours," goes on to learn that he must at last
  	kill this evil in "self" in order to gain the kingdom
  	of God. 
18	    Envy, the great red dragon of this hour, would obscure
  	the light of Science, take away a third part of the stars
  	from the spiritual heavens, and cast them to the earth. 
21	This is not Science. Per contra, it is the mortal mind
  	sense — mental healing on a material basis — hurling
  	its so-called healing at random, filling with hate its
24	deluded victims, or resting in silly peace upon the
  	laurels of headlong human will. "What shall, therefore,
  	the Lord of the vineyard do?  He will come and de-
27	stroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto
  	others." 
 
                                                                                                   255

 1	                                           LITTLE GODS 

  	    It is sometimes said, cynically, that Christian Scien-
 3	tists set themselves on pedestals, as so many petty deities;
  	but there is no fairness or propriety in the aspersion. 
  	    Man is not equal to his Maker. That which is formed
 6	is not cause, but effect; and has no underived power. 
  	But it is possible, and dutiful, to throw the weight of
  	thought and action on the side of right, and to be thus
 9	lifted up. 
  	    Man should be found not claiming equality with, but
  	growing into, that altitude of Mind which was in Christ
12	Jesus. He should comprehend, in divine Science, a
  	recognition of what the apostle meant when he said:
  	"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
15	we are the children of God:  and if children, then heirs;
  	heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 

  	ADVANTAGE OF MIND-HEALING 

18	    It is sometimes asked, What are the advantages of your
  	system of healing? 
  	    I claim for healing by Christian Science the following
21	advantages: —  
  	    First:  It does away with material medicine, and rec-
  	ognizes the fact that the antidote for sickness, as well
24	as for sin, may be found in God, the divine Mind. 
  	    Second:  It is more effectual than drugs, and cures
  	where they fail, because it is this divine antidote, and
27	metaphysics is above physics. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advantage of Mind-healing                256

 1	    Third:  Persons who have been healed by Christian
  	Science are not only cured of their belief in disease, but
 3	they are at the same time improved morally. The body
  	is governed by Mind, and mortal mind must be corrected
  	in order to make the body harmonious. 

 6	                                                A CARD 

  	    While gratefully acknowledging the public confidence
  	manifested in daily letters that protest against receiving
 9	instruction in the Massachusetts Metaphysical College
  	from any other than Mrs. Eddy, I feel, deeply, that of
  	necessity this imposes on me the severe task of remain-
12	ing at present a public servant:  also, that this must pre-
  	vent my classes from forming as frequently as was an-
  	nounced in the October number of the Journal, and
15	necessitates receiving but a select number of students. 
  	To meet the old impediment, lack of time, that has oc-
  	casioned the irregular intervals between my class terms,
18	I shall continue to send to each applicant a notice from
  	one to two weeks previous to the opening term. 
  	                                     MARY BAKER G. EDDY 

21	                                         SPIRIT AND LAW 

  	    We are accustomed to think and to speak of gravita-
  	tion as a law of matter; while every quality of matter,
24	in and of itself, is inert, inanimate, and non-intelligent. 
  	The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is
  	anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Spirit and Law                                    257

 1	that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which either
  	excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every
 3	mode and form of evil. Pantheism presupposes that
  	God sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and
  	wakes in a wicked man. 
 6	    The distinction between that which is and that which
  	is not law, must be made by Mind and as Mind. Law is
  	either a moral or an immoral force. The law of God is
 9	the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of immor-
  	tal and divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an
  	immoral force of erring mortal mind, alias the minds of
12	mortals. This so-called force, or law, at work in nature
  	as a power, prohibition, or license, is cruel and merciless. 
  	It punishes the innocent, and repays our best deeds
15	with sacrifice and suffering. It is a code whose modes
  	trifle with joy, and lead to immediate or ultimate death. 
  	It fosters suspicion where confidence is due, fear where
18	courage is requisite, reliance where there should be
  	avoidance, a belief in safety where there is most
  	danger. Our Master called it "a murderer from the
21	beginning." 
  	    Electricity, governed by this so-called law, sparkles
  	on the cloud, and strikes down the hoary saint. Floods
24	swallow up homes and households; and childhood, age,
  	and manhood go down in the death-dealing wave. Earth-
  	quakes engulf cities, churches, schools, and mortals. 
27	Cyclones kill and destroy, desolating the green earth. 
  	This pitiless power smites with disease the good Samari-
  	tan ministering to his neighbor's need. Even the chamber
30	where the good man surrenders to death is not exempt
  	from this law. Smoothing the pillow of pain may infect
  	you with smallpox, according to this lawless law which
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Spirit and Law                                    258

 1	dooms man to die for loving his neighbor as himself, — 
  	when Christ has said that love is the fulfilling of the
 3	law. 
  	    Our great Ensample, Jesus of Nazareth, met and abol-
  	ished this unrelenting false claim of matter with the
 6	righteous scorn and power of Spirit. When, through
  	Mind, he restored sight to the blind, he figuratively and
  	literally spat upon matter; and, anointing the wounded
 9	spirit with the great truth that God is All, he demon-
  	strated the healing power and supremacy of the law of
  	Life and Love. 
12	    In the spiritual Genesis of creation, all law was vested
  	in the Lawgiver, who was a law to Himself. In divine
  	Science, God is One and All; and, governing Himself,
15	He governs the universe. This is the law of creation:
  	"My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in
  	heart." And that infinite Mind governs all things. On
18	this infinite Principle of freedom, God named Him-
  	self, I AM. Error, or Adam, might give names to itself,
  	and call Mind by the name of matter, but error could
21	neither name nor demonstrate Spirit. The name, I
  	AM, indicated no personality that could be paralleled
  	with it; but it did declare a mighty individuality,
24	even the everlasting Father, as infinite consciousness,
  	ever-presence, omnipotence; as all law, Life, Truth, and
  	Love. 
27	    God's interpretation of Himself furnishes man with
  	the only suitable or true idea of Him; and the divine
  	definition of Deity differs essentially from the human. 
30	It interprets the law of Spirit, not of matter. It explains
  	the eternal dynamics of being, and shows that nature
  	and man are as harmonious to-day as in the beginning,

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Spirit and Law                                   259

 1	when "all things were made by Him; and without Him
  	was not any thing made." 
 3	    Whatever appears to be law, but partakes not of the
  	nature of God, is not law, but is what Jesus declared
  	it, "a liar, and the father of it." God is the law of Life,
 6	not of death; of health, not of sickness; of good, not
  	of evil. It is this infinitude and oneness of good that
  	silences the supposition that evil is a claimant or a claim. 
 9	The consciousness of good has no consciousness or knowl-
  	edge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or
  	eliminated by good:  while iniquity, too evil to conceive
12	of good as being unlike itself, declares that God knows
  	iniquity! 
  	    When the Lawgiver was the only law of creation, free-
15	dom reigned, and was the heritage of man; but this
  	freedom was the moral power of good, not of evil:  it
  	was divine Science, in which God is supreme, and the
18	only law of being. In this eternal harmony of Science,
  	man is not fallen:  he is governed in the same rhythm
  	that the Scripture describes, when "the morning stars
21	sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 

  	                                 TRUTH-HEALING 

  	    The spiritual elevator of the human race, physically,
24	morally, and Christianly, is the truism that Truth dem-
  	onstrates good, and is natural; while error, or evil,
  	is really non-existent, and must have produced its own
27	illusion, — for it belongs not to nature nor to God. Truth
  	is the power of God which heals the sick and the sinner,
  	and is applicable to all the needs of man. It is the uni-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Truth-healing                                     260

 1	versal, intelligent Christ-idea illustrated by the life of
  	Jesus, through whose "stripes we are healed." By con-
 3	flicts, defeats, and triumphs, Christian Science has been
  	reduced to the understanding of mortals, and found able
  	to heal them. 
 6	    Pagan mysticism, Grecian philosophy, or Jewish reli-
  	gion, never entered into the line of Jesus' thought or
  	action. His faith partook not of drugs, matter, nor of
 9	the travesties of mortal mind. The divine Mind was
  	his only instrumentality and potency, in religion or medi-
  	cine. The Principle of his cure was God, in the laws
12	of Spirit, not of matter; and these laws annulled all other
  	laws. 
  	    Jesus knew that erring mortal thought holds only in
15	itself the supposition of evil, and that sin, sickness, and
  	death are its subjective states; also, that pure Mind is
  	the truth of being that subjugates and destroys any sup-
18	positional or elementary opposite to Him who is All. 
  	    Truth is supreme and omnipotent. Then, whatever
  	else seemeth to be intelligence or power is false, delud-
21	ing reason and denying revelation, and seeking to dethrone
  	Deity. The truth of Mind-healing uplifts mankind, by
  	acknowledging pure Mind as absolute and entire, and
24	that evil is naught, although it seems to be. 
  	    Pure Mind gives out an atmosphere that heals and
  	saves. Words are not always the auxiliaries of Truth. 
27	The spirit, and not the letter, performs the vital func-
  	tions of Truth and Love. Mind, imbued with this Science
  	of healing, is a law unto itself, needing neither license
30	nor prohibition; but lawless mind, with unseen motives,
  	and silent mental methods whereby it may injure the
  	race, is the highest attenuation of evil. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Truth-healing                                     261

 1	    Again:  evil, as mind, is doomed, already sentenced,
  	punished; for suffering is commensurate with evil, and
 3	lasts as long as the evil. As mind, evil finds no escape
  	from itself; and the sin and suffering it occasions can
  	only be removed by reformation. 
 6	    According to divine law, sin and suffering are not
  	cancelled by repentance or pardon. Christian Science
  	not only elucidates but demonstrates this verity of be-
 9	ing; namely, that mortals suffer from the wrong they
  	commit, whether intentionally or ignorantly; that every
  	effect and amplification of wrong will revert to the wrong-
12	doer, until he pays his full debt to divine law, and the
  	measure he has meted is measured to him again, full,
  	pressed down, and running over. Surely "the way of
15	the transgressor is hard." 
  	    In this law of justice, the atonement of Christ loses
  	no efficacy. Justice is the handmaid of mercy, and show-
18	eth mercy by punishing sin. Jesus said, "I came not to
  	destroy the law," — the divine requirements typified in
  	the law of Moses, — "but to fulfil it" in righteousness,
21	by Truth's destroying error. No greater type of divine
  	Love can be presented than effecting so glorious a purpose. 
  	This spirit of sacrifice always has saved, and still saves
24	mankind; but by mankind I mean mortals, or a kind
  	of men after man's own making. Man as God's idea
  	is already saved with an everlasting salvation. It is im-
27	possible to be a Christian Scientist without apprehend-
  	ing the moral law so clearly that, for conscience' sake,
  	one will either abandon his claim to even a knowledge
30	of this Science, or else make the claim valid. All Science
  	is divine. Then, to be Science, it must produce physical
  	and moral harmony. 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Truth-healing                                     262

 1	    Dear readers, our Journal is designed to bring health
  	and happiness to all households wherein it is permitted
 3	to enter, and to confer increased power to be good and
  	to do good. If you wish to brighten so pure a purpose,
  	you will aid our prospect of fulfilling it by your kind
 6	patronage of The Christian Science Journal, now enter-
  	ing upon its fifth volume, clad in Truth-healing's new
  	and costly spring dress. 

 9	                                        HEART TO HEART 

  	    When the heart speaks, however simple the words,
  	its language is always acceptable to those who have
12	hearts. 
  	    I just want to say, I thank you, my dear students, who
  	are at work conscientiously and assiduously, for the good
15	you are doing. I am grateful to you for giving to the
  	sick relief from pain; for giving joy to the suffering and
  	hope to the disconsolate; for lifting the fallen and strength-
18	ening the weak, and encouraging the heart grown faint
  	with hope deferred. We are made glad by the divine
  	Love which looseth the chains of sickness and sin, open-
21	ing the prison doors to such as are bound; and we should
  	be more grateful than words can express, even through
  	this white-winged messenger, our Journal. 
24	    With all the homage beneath the skies, yet were our
  	burdens heavy but for the Christ-love that makes them
  	light and renders the yoke easy. Having his word, you
27	have little need of words of approval and encouragement
  	from me. Perhaps it is even selfish in me sometimes to
  	relieve my heart of its secrets, because I take so much

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Heart to Heart                                   263

 1	pleasure in thus doing; but if my motives are sinister,
  	they will harm myself only, and I shall have the unself-
 3	ish joy of knowing that the wrong motives are not yours,
  	to react on yourselves. 
  	    These two words in Scripture suggest the sweetest
 6	similes to be found in any language — rock and feathers:
  	"Upon this rock I will build my church;" "He shall
  	cover thee with His feathers." How blessed it is to
 9	think of you as "beneath the shadow of a great rock in
  	a weary land," safe in His strength, building on His
  	foundation, and covered from the devourer by divine
12	protection and affection. Always bear in mind that His
  	presence, power, and peace meet all human needs and
  	reflect all bliss. 

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
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Things To Be Thought Of                 264

 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-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Things To Be Thought Of                 265

 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-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Things To Be Thought Of                 266

 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. 

  	                                   UNCHRISTIAN RUMOR 

18	    The assertion that I have said hard things about my
  	loyal students in Chicago, New York, or any other place,
  	is utterly false and groundless. I speak of them as I feel,
21	and I cannot find it in my heart not to love them. They
  	are essentially dear to me, who are toiling and achieving
  	success in unison with my own endeavors and prayers. 
24	If I correct mistakes which may be made in teaching or
  	lecturing on Christian Science, this is in accordance with
  	my students' desires, and thus we mutually aid each other,
27	and obey the Golden Rule. 
  	    The spirit of lies is abroad. Because Truth has spoken
  	aloud, error, running to and fro in the earth, is scream-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Unchristian Rumor                            267

 1	ing, to make itself heard above Truth's voice. The
  	audible and inaudible wail of evil never harms Scientists,
 3	steadfast in their consciousness of the nothingness of
  	wrong and the supremacy of right. 
  	    Our worst enemies are the best friends to our growth. 
 6	Charity students, for whom I have sacrificed the most
  	time, — those whose chief aim is to injure me, — have
  	caused me to exercise most patience. When they report
 9	me as "hating those whom I do not love," let them re-
  	member that there never was a time when I saw an op-
  	portunity really to help them and failed to improve it;
12	and this, too, when I knew they were secretly striving
  	to injure me. 

  	                                           VAINGLORY 

15	            Comparisons are odorous. — SHAKESPEARE 

  	    Through all human history, the vital outcomes of
  	Truth have suffered temporary shame and loss from
18	individual conceit, cowardice, or dishonesty. The bird
  	whose right wing flutters to soar, while the left beats its
  	way downward, falls to the earth. Both wings must be
21	plumed for rarefied atmospheres and upward flight. 
  	    Mankind must gravitate from sense to Soul, and human
  	affairs should be governed by Spirit, intelligent good. 
24	The antipode of Spirit, which we name matter, or non-
  	intelligent evil, is no real aid to being. The predisposing
  	and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the
27	sun, rests on this scientific basis:  that action, in obedi-
  	ence to God, spiritualizes man's motives and methods,
  	and crowns them with success; while disobedience to
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Vainglory                                           268

 1	this divine Principle materializes human modes and con-
  	sciousness, and defeats them. 
 3	    Two personal queries give point to human action:  Who
  	shall be greatest? and, Who shall be best? Earthly
  	glory is vain; but not vain enough to attempt pointing
 6	the way to heaven, the harmony of being. The imaginary
  	victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats. The Holy
  	One saith, "O that thou hadst hearkened to My com-
 9	mandments! then had thy peace been as a river." He
  	is unfit for Truth, and the demonstration of divine power,
  	who departs from Mind to matter, and from Truth to
12	error, in pursuit of better means for healing the sick and
  	casting out error. 
  	    The Christian Scientist keeps straight to the course. 
15	His whole inquiry and demonstration lie in the line of
  	Truth; hence he suffers no shipwreck in a starless night
  	on the shoals of vainglory. His medicine is Mind — 
18	the omnipotent and ever-present good. His "help is
  	from the Lord," who heals body and mind, head and
  	heart; changing the affections, enlightening the mis-
21	guided senses, and curing alike the sin and the mortal
  	sinner. God's preparations for the sick are potions of
  	His own qualities. His therapeutics are antidotes for
24	the ailments of mortal mind and body. Then let us not
  	adulterate His preparations for the sick with material
  	means. 
27	    From lack of moral strength empires fall. Right alone
  	is irresistible, permanent, eternal. Remember that hu-
  	man pride forfeits spiritual power, and either vacillating
30	good or self-assertive error dies of its own elements. 
  	Through patience we must possess the sense of Truth;
  	and Truth is used to waiting. "Commit thy way unto
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Vainglory                                           269

 1	the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to
  	pass." 
 3	    By using falsehood to regain his liberty, Galileo vir-
  	tually lost it. He cannot escape from barriers who com-
  	mits his moral sense to a dungeon. Hear the Master
 6	on this subject: "No man can serve two masters:  for
  	either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he
  	will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot
 9	serve God and mammon." 
  	    Lives there a man who can better define ethics, better
  	elucidate the Principle of being, than he who "spake as
12	never man spake," and whose precepts and example have
  	a perpetual freshness in relation to human events? 
  	    Who is it that understands, unmistakably, a fraction
15	of the actual Science of Mind-healing? 
  	    It is he who has fairly proven his knowledge on a Chris-
  	tian, mental, scientific basis; who has made his choice
18	between matter and Mind, and proven the divine Mind
  	to be the only physician. These are self-evident proposi-
  	tions:  That man can only be Christianized through Mind;
21	that without Mind the body is without action; that Science
  	is a law of divine Mind. The conclusion follows that the
  	correct Mind-healing is the proper means of Christianity,
24	and is Science. 
  	    Christian Science may be sold in the shambles. Many
  	are bidding for it, — but are not willing to pay the price. 
27	Error is vending itself on trust, well knowing the will-
  	ingness of mortals to buy error at par value. The Reve-
  	lator beheld the opening of this silent mental seal, and
30	heard the great Red Dragon whispering that "no man
  	might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name
  	of the beast, or the number of his name." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Vainglory                                           270

 1	    We are in the Valley of Decision. Then, let us take
  	the side of him who "overthrew the tables of the money-
 3	changers, and the seats of them that sold doves," — of
  	such as barter integrity and peace for money and fame. 
  	What artist would question the skill of the masters in
 6	sculpture, music, or painting? Shall we depart from the
  	example of the Master in Christian Science, Jesus of
  	Nazareth, — than whom mankind hath no higher ideal? 
 9	He who demonstrated his power over sin, disease, and
  	death, is the master Metaphysician. 
  	    To seek or employ other means than those the Master
12	used in demonstrating Life scientifically, is to lose the
  	priceless knowledge of his Principle and practice. He
  	said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His right-
15	eousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." 
  	Gain a pure Christianity; for that is requisite for heal-
  	ing the sick. Then you will need no other aid, and will
18	have full faith in his prophecy, "And there shall be one
  	fold, and one shepherd;" but, the Word must abide in
  	us, if we would obtain that promise. We cannot depart
21	from his holy example, — we cannot leave Christ for the
  	schools which crucify him, and yet follow him in heal-
  	ing. Fidelity to his precepts and practice is the only pass-
24	port to his power; and the pathway of goodness and
  	greatness runs through the modes and methods of God. 
  	    "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 

27	                                        COMPOUNDS 

  	    Homoeopathy is the last link in material medicine. 
  	The next step is Mind-medicine. Among the foremost
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Compounds                                       271

 1	virtues of homoeopathy is the exclusion of compounds
  	from its pharmacy, and the attenuation of a drug up to
 3	the point of its disappearance as matter and its manifesta-
  	tion in effect as a thought, instead of a thing. 
  	    Students of Christian Science (and many who are not
 6	students) understand enough of this to keep out of their
  	heads the notion that compounded metaphysics (so-called)
  	is, or can be, Christian Science, — that rests on oneness;
 9	one cause and one effect. 
  	    They should take our magazine, work for it, write for
  	it, and read it. They should eschew all magazines and
12	books which are less than the best. 
  	    "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Cleanse
  	your mind of the cobwebs which spurious "compounds"
15	engender. Before considering a subject that is unworthy
  	of thought, take in this axiomatic truism: "Trust her
  	not, she's fooling thee;" and Longfellow is right. 

18	        CLOSE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS METAPHYSICAL
  	                                            COLLEGE 

  	    Much is said at this date, 1889, about Mrs. Eddy's
21	Massachusetts Metaphysical College being the only
  	chartered College of Metaphysics. To make this plain,
  	the Publishing Committee of the Christian Scientist
24	Association has published in the Boston Traveler the
  	following: —  

  	    "To benefit the community, and more strongly mark
27	the difference between true and false teachers of mental
  	healing, the following history and statistics are officially
  	submitted: —  
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Close Of Metaphysical College         272

 1	    "Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy obtained a college charter
  	in January, 1881, with all the rights and privileges per-
 3	taining thereunto (including the right to grant degrees)
  	under Act of 1874, Chapter 375, Section 4. 
  	    "This Act was repealed from and after January 31,
 6	1882.  Mrs. Eddy's grant for a college, for metaphysical
  	purposes only, is the first on record in history, and no
  	charters were granted for similar colleges, except hers,
 9	from January, 1881, till the repealing of said Act in
  	January, 1882. 
  	    "The substance of this Act is at present incorporated
12	in Public Statutes, Chapter 115, Section 2, with the fol-
  	lowing important restrictions:  In accordance with Statutes
  	of 1883, Chapter 268, any officer, agent, or servant of any
15	corporation or association, who confers, or authorizes
  	to be conferred, any diploma or degree, shall be pun-
  	ished by a fine not less than five hundred dollars and
18	not more than one thousand dollars. 
  	    "All the mind-healing colleges (except Rev. Mrs.  
  	Eddy's) have simply an incorporated grant, which may
21	be called a charter, such as any stock company may ob-
  	tain for any secular purposes; but these so-called char-
  	ters bestow no rights to confer degrees.  Hence to name
24	these institutions, under such charters, colleges, is a fraud-
  	ulent claim.  There is but one legally chartered college
  	of metaphysics, with powers to confer diplomas and de-
27	grees, and that is the Massachusetts Metaphysical College,
  	of which Rev. Mrs. Eddy is founder and president." 

  	    I have endeavored to act toward all students of Chris-
30	tian Science with the intuition and impulse of love. If
  	certain natures have not profited by my rebukes, — 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Close Of Metaphysical College         273

 1	some time, as Christian Scientists, they will know the
  	value of these rebukes. I am thankful that the neo-
 3	phyte will be benefited by experience, although it will
  	cost him much, and in proportion to its worth. 
  	    I close my College in order to work in other directions,
 6	where I now seem to be most needed, and where none
  	other can do the work. I withdraw from an overwhelm-
  	ing prosperity. My students have never expressed so
 9	grateful a sense of my labors with them as now, and
  	never have been so capable of relieving my tasks as at
  	present. 
12	    God bless my enemies, as well as the better part of
  	mankind, and gather all my students, in the bonds of
  	love and perfectness, into one grand family of Christ's
15	followers. 
  	    Loyal Christian Scientists should go on in their pres-
  	ent line of labor for a good and holy cause. Their insti-
18	tutes have not yet accomplished all the good they are
  	capable of accomplishing; therefore they should con-
  	tinue, as at present, to send out students from these
21	sources of education, to promote the growing interest in
  	Christian Science Mind-healing. 
  	    There are one hundred and sixty applications lying on
24	the desk before me, for the Primary class in the Massa-
  	chusetts Metaphysical College, and I cannot do my best
  	work for a class which contains that number. When
27	these were taught, another and a larger number would
  	be in waiting for the same class instruction; and if I
  	should teach that Primary class, the other three classes
30	 — one Primary and two Normal — would be delayed. 
  	The work is more than one person can well accomplish,
  	and the imperative call is for my exclusive teaching. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Close Of Metaphysical College         274

1	    From the scant history of Jesus and of his disciples,
  	we have no Biblical authority for a public institution. 
 3	This point, however, had not impressed me when I opened
  	my College. I desire to revise my book "Science and
  	Health with Key to the Scriptures," and in order to do
 6	this I must stop teaching at present. The work that
  	needs to be done, and which God calls me to outside
  	of College work, if left undone might hinder the progress
 9	of our Cause more than my teaching would advance it:
  	therefore I leave all for Christ. 
  	    Deeply regretting the disappointment this will occa-
12	sion, and with grateful acknowledgments to the public
  	for its liberal patronage, I close my College. 
  	                                     MARY BAKER G. EDDY 

15	                                    MALICIOUS REPORTS 

  	    Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. — ISA. lix. 14. 

  	    When the press is gagged, liberty is besieged; but
18	when the press assumes the liberty to lie, it discounts
  	clemency, mocks morality, outrages humanity, breaks
  	common law, gives impulse to violence, envy, and hate,
21	and prolongs the reign of inordinate, unprincipled clans. 
  	At this period, 1888, those quill-drivers whose consciences
  	are in their pockets hold high carnival. When news-
24	dealers shout for class legislation, and decapitated reputa-
  	tions, headless trunks, and quivering hearts are held up
  	before the rabble in exchange for money, place, and
27	power, the vox populi is suffocated, individual rights
  	are trodden under foot, and the car of the modern In-
  	quisition rolls along the streets besmeared with blood. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Malicious Reports                              275

 1	Would not our Master say to the chief actors in scenes
  	like these, "Ye fools and blind!" Oh, tardy human
 3	justice! would you take away even woman's trembling,
  	clinging faith in divine power? Who can roll away the
  	stone from the door of this sepulchre? Who — but God's
 6	avenging angel! 
  	    In times like these it were well to lift the veil on the
  	sackcloth of home, where weepeth the faithful, stricken
 9	mother, and the bruised father bendeth his aching head;
  	where the bereft wife or husband, silent and alone, looks
  	in dull despair at the vacant seat, and the motherless
12	little ones, wondering, huddle together, and repeat with
  	quivering lips words of strange import. May the great
  	Shepherd that "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,"
15	and binds up the wounds of bleeding hearts, just comfort,
  	encourage, and bless all who mourn. 
  	    Father, we thank Thee that Thy light and Thy love
18	reach earth, open the prison to them that are bound, con-
  	sole the innocent, and throw wide the gates of heaven. 

                                                      LOYAL CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS 

21	    Pen can never portray the satisfaction that you afforded
  	me at the grand meeting in Chicago of the National Chris-
  	tian Scientist Association in 1888. Your public and
24	private expressions of love and loyalty were very touch-
  	ing. They moved me to speechless thanks. 
  	    Chicago is the wonder of the western hemisphere. The
27	Palmer House, where we stopped, is magnificent and
  	orderly. The servants are well-mannered, and the fare
  	is appetizing. The floral offerings sent to my apartments

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Loyal Christian Scientists                  276

 1	were superb, especially the large book of rare flowers, and
  	the crescent with a star. 
 3	    The reception in the spacious rooms of the Palmer
  	House, like all else, was purely Western in its cordiality
  	and largeness. I did not hold interviews with all with
 6	whom I desired to, solely because so many people and
  	circumstances demanded my attention that my person-
  	ality was not big enough to fill the order; but rest as-
 9	sured my heart's desire met the demand. 
  	    My students, our delegates, about one thousand Chris-
  	tian Scientists, active, earnest, and loyal, formed a goodly
12	assemblage for the third convention of our National As-
  	sociation, — an assemblage found waiting and watching
  	for the full coming of our Lord and Christ. 
15	    In Christian Science the midnight hour will always be
  	the bridal hour, until "no night is there." The wise
  	will have their lamps aglow, and light will illumine the
18	darkness. 
  	    Out of the gloom comes the glory of our Lord, and
  	His divine Love is found in affliction. When a false
21	sense suffers, the true sense comes out, and the bride-
  	groom appears. We are then wedded to a purer, higher
  	affection and ideal. 
24	    I pray that all my students shall have their lamps
  	trimmed and burning at the noon of night, that not one
  	of them be found borrowing oil, and seeking light from
27	matter instead of Spirit, or at work erroneously, thus
  	shutting out spiritual light. Such an error and loss will
  	be quickly learned when the door is shut. Error giveth
30	no light, and it closes the door on itself. 
  	    In the dark hours, wise Christian Scientists stand
  	firmer than ever in their allegiance to God. Wisdom
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Loyal Christian Scientists                  277

 1	is wedded to their love, and their hearts are not
  	troubled. 
 3	    Falsehood is on the wings of the winds, but Truth
  	will soar above it. Truth is speaking louder, clearer,
  	and more imperatively than ever. Error is walking to
 6	and fro in the earth, trying to be heard above Truth,
  	but its voice dies out in the distance. Whosoever pro-
  	claims Truth loudest, becomes the mark for error's shafts. 
 9	The archers aim at Truth's mouthpiece; but a heart
  	loyal to God is patient and strong. Justice waits, and
  	is used to waiting; and right wins the everlasting
12	victory. 
  	    The stake and scaffold have never silenced the mes-
  	sages of the Most High. Then can the present mode of
15	attempting this — namely, by slanderous falsehoods, and
  	a secret mind-method, through which to effect the pur-
  	poses of envy and malice — silence Truth? Never. They
18	but open the eyes to the truth of Benjamin Franklin's
  	report before the French Commissioners on Mesmerism:
  	"It is one more fact to be recorded in the history of the
21	errors of the human mind." 
  	    "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice." 
  	    No evidence before the material senses can close my
24	eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme. 
  	Though clouds are round about Him, the divine justice
  	and judgment are enthroned. Love is especially near
27	in times of hate, and never so near as when one can be
  	just amid lawlessness, and render good for evil. 
  	    I thunder His law to the sinner, and sharply lighten
30	on the cloud of the intoxicated senses. I cannot help
  	loathing the phenomena of drunkenness produced by
  	animality. I rebuke it wherever I see it. The vision
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Loyal Christian Scientists                  278

 1	of the Revelator is before me. The wines of fornica-
  	tion, envy, and hatred are the distilled spirits of evil,
 3	and are the signs of these times; but I am not dismayed,
  	and my peace returns unto me. 
  	    Error will hate more as it realizes more the presence
 6	of its tormentor. I shall fulfil my mission, fight the good
  	fight, and keep the faith. 
  	    There is great joy in this consciousness, that through-
 9	out my labors, and in my history as connected with the
  	Cause of Christian Science, it can be proven that I have
  	never given occasion for a single censure, when my mo-
12	tives and acts are understood and seen as my Father
  	seeth them. I once wondered at the Scriptural declara-
  	tion that Job sinned not in all he said, even when he cursed
15	the hour of his birth; but I have learned that a curse on
  	sin is always a blessing to the human race. 
  	    Those only who are tried in the furnace reflect the
18	image of their Father. You, my beloved students, who
  	are absent from me, and have shared less of my labors
  	than many others, seem stronger to resist temptation
21	than some of those who have had line upon line and
  	precept upon precept. This may be a serviceable hint,
  	since necessities and God's providence are foreshadowed. 
24	I have felt for some time that perpetual instruction of
  	my students might substitute my own for their growth,
  	and so dwarf their experience. If they must learn by
27	the things they suffer, the sooner this lesson is gained
  	the better. 
  	    For two years I have been gradually withdrawing from
30	active membership in the Christian Scientist Association. 
  	This has developed higher energies on the part of true
  	followers, and led to some startling departures on the
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Loyal Christian Scientists                  279

 1	other hand. "Offenses will come:  but woe unto him,
  	through whom they come." 
 3	    Why does not the certainty of individual punishment
  	for sin prevent the wrong action? It is the love of God,
  	and not the fear of evil, that is the incentive in Science. 
 6	I rejoice with those who rejoice, and am too apt to weep
  	with those who weep, but over and above it all are eter-
  	nal sunshine and joy unspeakable. 

 9	                                   THE MARCH PRIMARY CLASS 

  	           To the Primary Class of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
  	               College, 571 Columbus Avenue, that Assembled Feb. 25,
12	               1889, with an Attendance of Sixty-five Students 

  	    My students, three picture-stories from the Bible pre-
  	sent themselves to my thought; three of those pictures
15	from which we learn without study. The first is that of
  	Joshua and his band before the walls of Jericho. They
  	went seven times around these walls, the seven times
18	corresponding to the seven days of creation:  the six days
  	are to find out the nothingness of matter; the seventh
  	is the day of rest, when it is found that evil is naught
21	and good is all. 
  	    The second picture is of the disciples met together in
  	an upper chamber; and they were of one mind. Mark,
24	that in the case of Joshua and his band they had all to
  	shout together in order that the walls might fall; and the
  	disciples, too, were of one mind. 
27	    We, to-day, in this class-room, are enough to con-
  	vert the world if we are of one Mind; for then the whole
  	world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- The March Primary Class                  280

1	earth was without form, and Mind spake and form
  	appeared. 
 3	    The third picture-lesson is from Revelation, where, at
  	the opening of the seals, one of the angels presented him-
  	self with balances to weigh the thoughts and actions of
 6	men; not angels with wings, but messengers of pure and
  	holy thoughts that say, See thou hurt not the holy things
  	of Truth. 
 9	    You have come to be weighed; and yet, I would not
  	weigh you, nor have you weighed. How is this? Be-
  	cause God does all, and there is nothing in the opposite
12	scale. There are not two, — Mind and matter. We
  	must get rid of that notion. As we commonly think, we
  	imagine all is well if we cast something into the scale of
15	Mind, but we must realize that Mind is not put into the
  	scales with matter; then only are we working on one side
  	and in Science. 
18	    The students of this Primary class, dismissed the fifth
  	of March, at close of the lecture on the fourth presented
  	their teacher with an elegant album costing fifty dollars,
21	and containing beautiful hand-painted flowers on each
  	page, with their autographs. The presentation was made
  	in a brief address by Mr. D. A. Easton, who in appro-
24	priate language and metaphor expressed his fellow-stu-
  	dents' thanks to their teacher. 
  	    On the morning of the fifth, I met the class to answer
27	some questions before their dismissal, and allude briefly
  	to a topic of great import to the student of Christian
  	Science, — the rocks and sirens in their course, on and
30	by which so many wrecks are made. The doors of animal
  	magnetism open wide for the entrance of error, some-
  	times just at the moment when you are ready to enter on

 Miscellaneous Writings --- The March Primary Class                  281

 1	the fruition of your labors, and with laudable ambition
  	are about to chant hymns of victory for triumphs. 
 3	    The doors that this animal element flings open are
  	those of rivalry, jealousy, envy, revenge. It is the self-
  	asserting mortal will-power that you must guard against. 
 6	But I find also another mental condition of yours that
  	fills me with joy. I learned long ago that the world could
  	neither deprive me of something nor give me anything,
 9	and I have now one ambition and one joy. But if
  	one cherishes ambition unwisely, one will be chastened
  	for it. 
12	    Admiral Coligny, in the time of the French Huguenots,
  	was converted to Protestantism through a stray copy of
  	the Scriptures that fell into his hands. He replied to his
15	wife, who urged him to come out and confess his faith,
  	"It is wise to count the cost of becoming a true Chris-
  	tian." She answered him, "It is wiser to count the cost
18	of not becoming a true Christian." So, whatever we meet
  	that is hard in the Christian warfare we must count as
  	nothing, and must think instead, of our poverty and help-
21	lessness without this understanding, and count ourselves
  	always as debtors to Christ, Truth. 
  	    Among the gifts of my students, this of yours is one
24	of the most beautiful and the most costly, because you
  	have signed your names. I felt the weight of this yes-
  	terday, but it came to me more clearly this morning when
27	I realized what a responsibility you assume when sub-
  	scribing to Christian Science. But, whatever may come
  	to you, remember the words of Solomon, "Though hand
30	join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished:  but
  	the seed of the righteous shall be delivered." 
  	    You will need, in future, practice more than theory. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- The March Primary Class                  282

 1	You are going out to demonstrate a living faith, a true
  	sense of the infinite good, a sense that does not limit God,
 3	but brings to human view an enlarged sense of Deity. 
  	Remember, it is personality, and the sense of personality
  	in God or in man, that limits man. 

 6	                                      OBTRUSIVE MENTAL HEALING 

  	    The question will present itself:  Shall people be treated
  	mentally without their knowledge or consent? The
 9	direct rule for practice of Christian Science is the Golden
  	Rule, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye." 
  	Who of us would have our houses broken open or our
12	locks picked? and much less would we have our minds
  	tampered with. 
  	    Our Master said, "When ye enter a house, salute it." 
15	Prolonging the metaphysical tone of his command, I say,
  	When you enter mentally the personal precincts of human
  	thought, you should know that the person with whom
18	you hold communion desires it. There are solitary ex-
  	ceptions to most given rules:  the following is an exception
  	to the above rule of mental practice. 
21	    If the friends of a patient desire you to treat him with-
  	out his knowing it, and they believe in the efficacy of
  	Mind-healing, it is sometimes wise to do so, and the end
24	justifies the means; for he is restored through Christian
  	Science when other means have failed. One other oc-
  	casion which may call for aid unsought, is a case from
27	accident, when there is no time for ceremony and no other
  	aid is near. 
  	    The abuse which I call attention to, is promiscuous 

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Obtrusive Mental Healing                  283

 1	and unannounced mental practice where there is no neces-
  	sity for it, or the motive is mercenary, or one can to ad-
 3	vantage speak the truth audibly; then the case is not
  	exceptional. As a rule, one has no more right to enter
  	the mind of a person, stir, upset, and adjust his thoughts
 6	without his knowledge or consent, than one has to enter
  	a house, unlock the desk, displace the furniture, and suit
  	one's self in the arrangement and management of another
 9	man's property. 
  	    It would be right to break into a burning building and
  	rouse the slumbering inmates, but wrong to burst open
12	doors and break through windows if no emergency de-
  	manded this. Any exception to the old wholesome rule,
  	"Mind your own business," is rare. For a student of
15	mine to treat another student without his knowledge, is
  	a breach of good manners and morals; it is nothing less
  	than a mistaken kindness, a culpable ignorance, or a
18	conscious trespass on the rights of mortals. 
  	    I insist on the etiquette of Christian Science, as well
  	as its morals and Christianity. The Scriptural rule of
21	this Science may momentarily be forgotten; but this is
  	seldom the case with loyal students, or done without
  	incriminating the person who did it. 
24	    Each student should, must, work out his own problem
  	of being; conscious, meanwhile, that God worketh with
  	him, and that he needs no personal aid. It is the genius
27	of Christian Science to demonstrate good, not evil, — 
  	harmony, not discord; for Science is the mandate of
  	Truth which destroys all error. 
30	    Whoever is honestly laboring to learn the principle of
  	music and practise it, seldom calls on his teacher or mu-
  	sician to practise for him. The only personal help re-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Obtrusive Mental Healing                  284

 1	quired in this Science is for each one to do his own work
  	well, and never try to hinder others from doing theirs
 3	thus. 
  	    Christian Science, more than any other system of
  	religion, morals, or medicine, is subject to abuses. Its
 6	infinite nature and uses occasion this. Even the human-
  	itarian at work in this field of limitless power and good
  	may possess a zeal without knowledge, and thus mistake
 9	the sphere of his present usefulness. 
  	    Students who strictly adhere to the right, and make the
  	Bible and Science and Health a study, are in no danger
12	of mistaking their way. 
  	    This question is often proposed, How shall I treat
  	malicious animal magnetism? The hour has passed for
15	this evil to be treated personally, but it should have been
  	so dealt with at the outset. Christian Scientists should
  	have gone personally to the malpractitioner and told
18	him his fault, and vindicated divine Truth and Love
  	against human error and hate. This growing sin must
  	now be dealt with as evil, and not as an evil-doer or per-
21	sonality. It must also be remembered that neither an evil
  	claim nor an evil person is real, hence is neither to be
  	feared nor honored. 
24	    Evil is not something to fear and flee before, or that
  	becomes more real when it is grappled with. Evil let
  	alone grows more real, aggressive, and enlarges its claims;
27	but, met with Science, it can and will be mastered by
  	Science. 
  	    I deprecate personal animosities and quarrels. But if
30	one is intrusted with the rules of church government, to
  	fulfil that trust those rules must be carried out; thus it
  	is with all moral obligations. I am opposed to all personal
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Obtrusive Mental Healing                  285

 1	attacks, and in favor of combating evil only, rather than
  	person. 
 3	    An edition of one thousand pamphlets I ordered to
  	be laid away and not one of them circulated, because I
  	had been personal in condemnation. Afterwards, by a
 6	blunder of the gentleman who fills orders for my books,
  	some of these pamphlets were mistaken for the corrected
  	edition, and sold. 
 9	    Love is the fulfilling of the law. Human life is too
  	short for foibles or failures. The Christian Science Jour-
  	nal will hold high the banner of Truth and Love, and be
12	impartial and impersonal in its tenor and tenets. 

  	                                           WEDLOCK 

  	    It was about the year 1875 that Science and Health
15	first crossed swords with free-love, and the latter fell hors
  	de combat; but the whole warfare of sensuality was not
  	then ended. Science and Health, the book that cast the
18	first stone, is still at work, deep down in human conscious-
  	ness, laying the axe at the root of error. 
  	    We have taken the precaution to write briefly on mar-
21	riage, showing its relation to Christian Science. In the
  	present or future, some extra throe of error may conjure
  	up a new-style conjugality, which, ad libitum, severs the
24	marriage covenant, puts virtue in the shambles, and
  	coolly notifies the public of broken vows. Springing
  	up from the ashes of free-love, this nondescript phoenix,
27	in the face and eyes of common law, common sense, and
  	common honesty, may appear in the role of a superfine
  	conjugality; but, having no Truth, it will have no past,
30	present, or future. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Wedlock                                            286

 1	    The above prophecy, written years ago, has already
  	been fulfilled. It is seen in Christian Science that the
 3	gospel of marriage is not without the law, and the solemn
  	vow of fidelity, "until death do us part;" this verity in
  	human economy can neither be obscured nor throttled. 
 6	Until time matures human growth, marriage and progeny
  	will continue unprohibited in Christian Science. We look
  	to future generations for ability to comply with absolute
 9	Science, when marriage shall be found to be man's one-
  	ness with God, — the unity of eternal Love. At present,
  	more spiritual conception and education of children will
12	serve to illustrate the superiority of spiritual power over
  	sensuous, and usher in the dawn of God's creation,
  	wherein they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
15	but are as the angels. To abolish marriage at this period,
  	and maintain morality and generation, would put inge-
  	nuity to ludicrous shifts; yet this is possible in Science,
18	although it is to-day problematic. 
  	    The time cometh, and now is, for spiritual and eternal
  	existence to be recognized and understood in Science. 
21	All is Mind. Human procreation, birth, life, and death
  	are subjective states of the human erring mind; they
  	are the phenomena of mortality, nothingness, that illus-
24	trate mortal mind and body as one, and neither real nor
  	eternal. 
  	    It should be understood that Spirit, God, is the only
27	creator:  we should recognize this verity of being, and
  	shut out all sense of other claims. Until this absolute
  	Science of being is seen, understood, and demonstrated
30	in the offspring of divine Mind, and man is perfect even
  	as the Father is perfect, human speculation will go on,
  	and stop at length at the spiritual ultimate:  creation

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Wedlock                                             287

 1	understood as the most exalted divine conception. The
  	offspring of an improved generation, however, will go out
 3	before the forever fact that man is eternal and has no
  	human origin. Hence the Scripture: "It is He that hath
  	made us, and not we ourselves;" and the Master's de-
 6	mand, "Call no man your father upon the earth:  for one
  	is your Father, which is in heaven." 
  	    To an ill-attuned ear, discord is harmony; so personal
 9	sense, discerning not the legitimate affection of Soul,
  	may place love on a false basis and thereby lose it. Science
  	corrects this error with the truth of Love, and restores
12	lost Eden. Soul is the infinite source of bliss:  only high
  	and holy joy can satisfy immortal cravings. The good
  	in human affections should preponderate over the evil,
15	and the spiritual over the animal, — until progress lifts
  	mortals to discern the Science of mental formation and
  	find the highway of holiness. 
18	    In the order of wisdom, the higher nature of man
  	governs the lower. This lays the foundations of human
  	affection in line with progress, giving them strength and
21	permanence. 
  	    When asked by a wife or a husband important ques-
  	tions concerning their happiness, the substance of my reply
24	is:  God will guide you. Be faithful over home rela-
  	tions; they lead to higher joys:  obey the Golden Rule
  	for human life, and it will spare you much bitterness. 
27	It is pleasanter to do right than wrong; it makes one
  	ruler over one's self and hallows home, — which is woman's
  	world. Please your husband, and he will be apt to please
30	you; preserve affection on both sides. 
  	    Great mischief comes from attempts to steady other
  	people's altars, venturing on valor without discretion,
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Wedlock                                             288

 1	which is virtually meddlesomeness. Even your sincere
  	and courageous convictions regarding what is best for
 3	others may be mistaken; you must be demonstratively
  	right yourself, and work out the greatest good to the
  	greatest number, before you are sure of being a fit coun-
 6	sellor. Positive and imperative thoughts should be dropped
  	into the balances of God and weighed by spiritual Love,
  	and not be found wanting, before being put into action. 
 9	A rash conclusion that regards only one side of a ques-
  	tion, is weak and wicked; this error works out the results
  	of error. If the premise of mortal existence is wrong,
12	any conclusion drawn therefrom is not absolutely right. 
  	Wisdom in human action begins with what is nearest
  	right under the circumstances, and thence achieves the
15	absolute. 
  	    Is marriage nearer right than celibacy? 
  	    Human knowledge inculcates that it is, while Science
18	indicates that it is not. But to force the consciousness
  	of scientific being before it is understood is impossible,
  	and believing otherwise would prevent scientific demon-
21	stration. To reckon the universal cost and gain, as well
  	as thine own, is right in every state and stage of being. 
  	The selfish role of a martyr is the shift of a dishonest
24	mind, nothing short of self-seeking; and real suffering
  	would stop the farce. 
  	    The cause of temperance receives a strong impulse
27	from the cause of Christian Science:  temperance and
  	truth are allies, and their cause prospers in proportion
  	to the spirit of Love that nerves the struggle. People
30	will differ in their opinions as to means to promote the
  	ends of temperance; that is, abstinence from intoxicat-
  	ing beverages. Whatever intoxicates a man, stultifies

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Wedlock                                             289

 1	and causes him to degenerate physically and morally. 
  	Strong drink is unquestionably an evil, and evil cannot
 3	be used temperately:  its slightest use is abuse; hence
  	the only temperance is total abstinence. Drunkenness
  	is sensuality let loose, in whatever form it is made
 6	manifest. 
  	    What is evil? It is suppositional absence of good. 
  	From a human standpoint of good, mortals must first
 9	choose between evils, and of two evils choose the less;
  	and at present the application of scientific rules to hu-
  	man life seems to rest on this basis. 
12	    All partnerships are formed on agreements to certain
  	compacts:  each party voluntarily surrenders independ-
  	ent action to act as a whole and per agreement. This
15	fact should be duly considered when by the marriage
  	contract two are made one, and, according to the divine
  	precept, "they twain shall be one flesh." Oneness in
18	spirit is Science, compatible with home and heaven. 
  	Neither divine justice nor human equity has divorced
  	two minds in one. 
21	    Rights that are bargained away must not be retaken
  	by the contractors, except by mutual consent. Human
  	nature has bestowed on a wife the right to become a
24	mother; but if the wife esteems not this privilege, by
  	mutual consent, exalted and increased affections, she
  	may win a higher. Science touches the conjugal ques-
27	tion on the basis of a bill of rights. Can the bill of con-
  	jugal rights be fairly stated by a magistrate, or by a
  	minister? Mutual interests and affections are the spirit
30	of these rights, and they should be consulted, augmented,
  	and allowed to rise to the spiritual altitude whence they
  	can choose only good. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Wedlock                                             290

 1	    A third person is not a party to the compact of two
  	hearts. Let other people's marriage relations alone: two
 3	persons only, should be found within their precincts. 
  	The nuptial vow is never annulled so long as the animus
  	of the contract is preserved intact. Science lifts humanity
 6	higher in the scale of harmony, and must ultimately break
  	all bonds that hinder progress. 

  	                                          JUDGE NOT 

 9	    Mistaken views ought to be dissolving views, since
  	whatever is false should disappear. To suppose that hu-
  	man love, guided by the divine Principle, which is Love,
12	is partial, unmerciful, or unjust, indicates misapprehen-
  	sion of the divine Principle and its workings in the human
  	heart. 
15	    A person wrote to me, naming the time of the occur-
  	rence, "I felt the influence of your thought on my mind,
  	and it produced a wonderful illumination, peace, and
18	understanding;" but, I had not thought of the writer
  	at that time. I knew that this person was doing well,
  	and my affections involuntarily flow out towards all. 
21	    When will the world cease to judge of causes from a
  	personal sense of things, conjectural and misapprehen-
  	sive! When thought dwells in God, — and it should not,
24	to our consciousness, dwell elsewhere, — one must bene-
  	fit those who hold a place in one's memory, whether it
  	be friend or foe, and each share the benefit of that radia-
27	tion. This individual blessedness and blessing comes
  	not so much from individual as from universal love:  it
  	emits light because it reflects; and all who are receptive
30	share this equally. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Judge Not                                          291

 1	    Mistaken or transient views are human:  they are not
  	governed by the Principle of divine Science:  but the
 3	notion that a mind governed by Principle can be forced
  	into personal channels, affinities, self-interests, or obliga-
  	tions, is a grave mistake; it dims the true sense of God's
 6	reflection, and darkens the understanding that demon-
  	strates above personal motives, unworthy aims and
  	ambitions. 
 9	    Too much and too little is attached to me as authority
  	for other people's thoughts and actions. A tacit acqui-
  	escence with others' views is often construed as direct
12	orders, — or at least it so appears in results. I desire
  	the equal growth and prosperity of all Christian Scien-
  	tists, and the world in general; each and every one has
15	equal opportunity to be benefited by my thoughts and
  	writings. If any are not partakers thereof, this is not
  	my fault, and is far from my desire; the possible per-
18	version of Christian Science is the irony of fate, if the
  	spirit thereof be lacking. I would part with a blessing
  	myself to bestow it upon others, but could not deprive
21	them of it. False views, however engendered, relative
  	to the true and unswerving course of a Christian Scientist,
  	will at length dissolve into thin air. The dew of heaven
24	will fall gently on the hearts and lives of all who are found
  	worthy to suffer for righteousness, — and have taught
  	the truth which is energizing, refreshing, and consecrat-
27	ing mankind. 
  	    To station justice and gratitude as sentinels along the
  	lines of thought, would aid the solution of this problem,
30	and counteract the influence of envious minds or the mis-
  	guided individual who keeps not watch over his emotions
  	and conclusions. 
 
                                                                                                   292

 1	                                      NEW COMMANDMENT 

  	    The divinity of St. John's Gospel brings to view over-
 3	whelming tides of revelation, and its spirit is baptismal;
  	he chronicles this teaching, "A new commandment I
  	give unto you, That ye love one another." 
 6	    Jesus, who so loved the world that he gave his life
  	(in the flesh) for it, saw that Love had a new command-
  	ment even for him. What was it? 
 9	    It must have been a rare revelation of infinite Love, a
  	new tone on the scale ascending, such as eternity is ever
  	sounding. Could I impart to the student the higher
12	sense I entertain of Love, it would partly illustrate the
  	divine energy that brings to human weakness might and
  	majesty. Divine Love eventually causes mortals to turn
15	away from the open sepulchres of sin, and look no more
  	into them as realities. It calls loudly on them to bury
  	the dead out of sight; to forgive and forget whatever is
18	unlike the risen, immortal Love; and to shut out all op-
  	posite sense. Christ enjoins it upon man to help those
  	who know not what he is doing in their behalf, and there-
21	fore curse him; enjoins taking them by the hand and
  	leading them, if possible, to Christ, by loving words and
  	deeds. Charity thus serves as admonition and instruc-
24	tion, and works out the purposes of Love. 
  	    Christian Science, full of grace and truth, is accom-
  	plishing great good, both seen and unseen; but have
27	mortals, with the penetration of Soul, searched the secret
  	chambers of sense? I never knew a student who fully
  	understood my instructions on this point of handling
30	evil, — as to just how this should be done, — and carried
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- New Commandment                          293

 1	out my ideal. It is safe not to teach prematurely the
  	infant thought in Christian Science — just breathing new
 3	Life and Love — all the claims and modes of evil; there-
  	fore it is best to leave the righteous unfolding of error
  	(as a general rule) alone, and to the special care of the
 6	unerring modes of divine wisdom. This uncovering and
  	punishing of sin must, will come, at some date, to the
  	rescue of humanity. The teacher of divine metaphysics
 9	should impart to his students the general knowledge that
  	he has gained from instruction, observation, and mental
  	practice. 
12	    Experience weighs in the scales of God the sense and
  	power of Truth against the opposite claims of error. 
  	If spiritual sense is not dominant in a student, he will
15	not understand all your instructions; and if evil domi-
  	nates his character, he will pervert the rules of Christian
  	Science, and the last error will be worse than the first — 
18	inasmuch as wilful transgression brings greater torment
  	than ignorance. 

  	                                      A CRUCE SALUS 

21	    The sum total of Love reflected is exemplified, and
  	includes the whole duty of man: Truth perverted, in
  	belief, becomes the creator of the claim of error. To
24	affirm mentally and audibly that God is All and there is
  	no sickness and no sin, makes mortals either saints or
  	sinners. 
27	    Truth talked and not lived, rolls on the human heart
  	a stone; consigns sensibility to the charnel-house of sen-
  	suality, ease, self-love, self-justification, there to moulder
30	and rot. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- A Cruce Salus                                   294

 1	    The noblest work of God is man in the image of his
  	Maker; the last infirmity of evil is so-called man, swayed
 3	by the maelstrom of human passions, elbowing the con-
  	cepts of his own creating, making place for himself and
  	displacing his fellows. 
 6	    A real Christian Scientist is a marvel, a miracle in the
  	universe of mortal mind. With selfless love, he inscribes
  	on the heart of humanity and transcribes on the page
 9	of reality the living, palpable presence — the might and
  	majesty! — of goodness. He lives for all mankind, and
  	honors his creator. 
12	    The vice versa of this man is sometimes called a
  	man, but he is a small animal:  a hived bee, with sting
  	ready for each kind touch, he makes honey out of
15	the flowers of human hearts and hides it in his cell of
  	ingratitude. 
  	    O friendly hand! keep back thy offerings from asps
18	and apes, from wolves in sheep's clothing and all raven-
  	ing beasts. Love such specimens of mortality just enough
  	to reform and transform them, — if it be possible, — 
21	and then, look out for their stings, and jaws, and claws;
  	but thank God and take courage, — that you desire to
  	help even such as these. 

24	             COMPARISON TO ENGLISH BARMAIDS 

  	    Since my residence in Concord, N. H., I have read
  	the daily paper, and had become an admirer of Edgar
27	L. Wakeman's terse, graphic, and poetic style in his
  	"Wanderings," richly flavored with the true ideas of
  	humanity and equality. In an issue of January 17, how-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Comparison to English Barmaids      295

 1	ever, were certain references to American women which
  	deserve and elicit brief comment. 
 3	    Mr. Wakeman writes from London, that a noted Eng-
  	lish leader, whom he quotes without naming, avers that
  	the "cursed barmaid system" in England is evolved by
 6	the same power which in America leads women "along
  	a gamut of isms and ists, from female suffrage, past a
  	score of reforms, to Christian Science." This anony-
 9	mous talker further declares, that the central cause of
  	this "same original evil" is "a female passion for some
  	manner of notoriety." 
12	    Is Mr. Wakeman awake, and caught napping? While
  	praising the Scotchman's national pride and affection,
  	has our American correspondent lost these sentiments
15	from his own breast? Has he forgotten how to honor
  	his native land and defend the dignity of her daughters
  	with his ready pen and pathos? 
18	    The flaunting and floundering statements of the great
  	unknown for whose ability and popularity Mr. Wakeman
  	strongly vouches, should not only be queried, but flatly
21	contradicted, as both untrue and uncivil. English senti-
  	ment is not wholly represented by one man. Nor is the
  	world ignorant of the fact that high and pure ethical
24	tones do resound from Albion's shores. The most ad-
  	vanced ideas are inscribed on tablets of such an organi-
  	zation as the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society
27	of Great Britain, an institution which names itself after
  	her who is unquestionably the best queen on earth; who
  	for a half century has with such dignity, clemency, and
30	virtue worn the English crown and borne the English
  	sceptre. 
  	    Now, I am a Christian Scientist, — the Founder of
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Comparison to English Barmaids      296

  1	this system of religion, — widely known; and, by special
  	invitation, have allowed myself to be elected an associate
 3	life-member of the Victoria Institute, which numbers
  	among its constituents and managers — not barmaids,
  	but bishops — profound philosophers, brilliant scholars. 
 6	    Was it ignorance of American society and history,
  	together with unfamiliarity with the work and career
  	of American women, which led the unknown author
 9	cited by Mr. Wakeman to overflow in shallow sarcasm,
  	and place the barmaids of English alehouses and rail-
  	ways in the same category with noble women who min-
12	ister in the sick-room, give their time and strength to
  	binding up the wounds of the broken-hearted, and live
  	on the plan of heaven? 
15	    This writer classes Christian Science with theosophy
  	and spiritualism; whereas, they are by no means iden-
  	tical — nor even similar. Christian Science, antagonis-
18	tic to intemperance, as to all immorality, is by no means
  	associated therewith. Do manly Britons patronize tap-
  	rooms and lazar-houses, and thus note or foster a fem-
21	inine ambition which, in this unknown gentleman's
  	language, "poises and poses, higgles and wriggles" it-
  	self into publicity? Why fall into such patronage, unless
24	from their affinity for the worst forms of vice? 
  	    And the barmaids! Do they enter this line of occu-
  	pation from a desire for notoriety and a wish to promote
27	female suffrage? or are they incited thereto by their
  	own poverty and the bad appetites of men? What man-
  	ner of man is this unknown individual who utters bar-
30	maid and Christian Scientist in the same breath? If he
  	but knew whereof he speaks, his shame would not lose
  	its blush! 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Comparison to English Barmaids      297

  1	    Taking into account the short time that has elapsed
  	since the discovery of Christian Science, one readily sees
 3	that this Science has distanced all other religious and
  	pathological systems for physical and moral reforma-
  	tion. In the direction of temperance it has achieved far
 6	more than has been accomplished by legally coercive
  	measures, — and because this Science bases its work on
  	ethical conditions and mentally destroys the appetite for
 9	alcoholic drinks. 
  	    Smart journalism is allowable, nay, it is commend-
  	able; but the public cannot swallow reports of American
12	affairs from a surly censor ventilating his lofty scorn of
  	the sects, or societies, of a nation that perhaps he has
  	never visited. 

15	                   A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STATUTE 

  	    I hereby state, in unmistakable language, the follow-
  	ing statute in the morale of Christian Science: —  
18	    A man or woman, having voluntarily entered into
  	wedlock, and accepted the claims of the marriage cove-
  	nant, is held in Christian Science as morally bound to
21	fulfil all the claims growing out of this contract, unless
  	such claims are relinquished by mutual consent of both
  	parties, or this contract is legally dissolved. If the man
24	is dominant over the animal, he will count the conse-
  	quences of his own conduct; will consider the effects,
  	on himself and his progeny, of selfishness, unmerciful-
27	ness, tyranny, or lust. 
  	    Trust Truth, not error; and Truth will give you all
  	that belongs to the rights of freedom. The Hebrew bard
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- A Christian Science Statute              298

  1	wrote, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean
  	not unto thine own understanding." Nothing is gained
 3	by wrong-doing. St. Paul's words take in the situation:
  	"Not . . . (as we be slanderously reported, and as some
  	affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come?  
 6	whose damnation is just." 
  	    When causing others to go astray, we also are wan-
  	derers. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be meas-
 9	ured to you again." Ask yourself:  Under the same
  	circumstances, in the same spiritual ignorance and power
  	of passion, would I be strengthened by having my best
12	friend break troth with me? These words of St. Matthew
  	have special application to Christian Scientists; namely,
  	"It is not good to marry." 
15	    To build on selfishness is to build on sand. When
  	Jesus received the material rite of water baptism, he did
  	not say that it was God's command; but implied that
18	the period demanded it. Trials purify mortals and deliver
  	them from themselves, — all the claims of sensuality. 
  	Abide by the morale of absolute Christian Science, — 
21	self-abnegation and purity; then Truth delivers you from
  	the seeming power of error, and faith vested in righteous-
  	ness triumphs! 

24	                               ADVICE TO STUDENTS 

  	    The true consciousness is the true health. One says,
  	"I find relief from pain in unconscious sleep." I say,
27	You mistake; through unconsciousness one no more
  	gains freedom from pain than immunity from evil. When
  	unconscious of a mistake, one thinks he is not mistaken;
30	but this false consciousness does not change the fact, or
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advice To Students                           299

 1	its results; suffering and mistakes recur until one is awake
  	to their cause and character. To know the what, when,
 3	and how of error, destroys error. The error that is seen
  	aright as error, has received its death-blow; but never
  	until then. 
 6	    Let us look through the lens of Christian Science,
  	not of "self," at the following mistake, which demands
  	our present attention. I have no time for detailed report
 9	of this matter, but simply answer the following question
  	sent to me; glad, indeed, that this query has finally come
  	with the courage of conviction to the minds of many
12	students. 
  	    "Is it right to copy your works and read them for our
  	public services?" 
15	    The good which the material senses see not is the only
  	absolute good; the evil which these senses see not is the
  	only absolute evil. 
18	    If I enter Mr. Smith's store and take from it his gar-
  	ments that are on sale, array myself in them, and put
  	myself and them on exhibition, can I make this right
21	by saying, These garments are Mr. Smith's; he manu-
  	factured them and owns them, but you must pay me,
  	not him, for this exhibit? 
24	    The spectators may ask, Did he give you permission
  	to do this, did he sell them or loan them to you? No. 
  	Then have you asked yourself this question on the sub-
27	ject, namely, What right have I to do this? True, it
  	saves your purchasing these garments, and gives to the
  	public new patterns which are useful to them; but does
30	this silence your conscience? or, because you have con-
  	fessed that they are the property of a noted firm, and
  	you wished to handle them, does it justify you in appro-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advice To Students                           300

 1	priating them, and so avoiding the cost of hiring or
  	purchasing? 
 3	    Copying my published works verbatim, compiling them
  	in connection with the Scriptures, taking this copy into
  	the pulpit, announcing the author's name, then reading
 6	it publicly as your own compilation, is — what? 
  	    We answer, It is a mistake; in common parlance, it
  	is an ignorant wrong. 
 9	    If you should print and publish your copy of my works,
  	you would be liable to arrest for infringement of copy-
  	right, which the law defines and punishes as theft. Read-
12	ing in the pulpit from copies of my publications gives
  	you the clergyman's salary and spares you the printer's
  	bill, but does it spare you our Master's condemnation? 
15	You literally publish my works through the pulpit, instead
  	of the press, and thus evade the law, but not the gospel. 
  	When I consent to this act, you will then be justified
18	in it. 
  	    Your manuscript copy is liable, in some way, to be
  	printed as your original writings, thus incurring the pen-
21	alty of the law, and increasing the record of theft in the
  	United States Circuit Court. 
  	    To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, which I
24	had organized and of which I had for many years been
  	pastor, I gave permission to cite, in the Christian Science
  	Quarterly, from my work Science and Health, passages
27	giving the spiritual meaning of Bible texts; but this was
  	a special privilege, and the author's gift. 
  	    Christian Science demonstrates that the patient who
30	pays whatever he is able to pay for being healed, is more
  	apt to recover than he who withholds a slight equiva-
  	lent for health. Healing morally and physically are one. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advice To Students                            301

 1	Then, is compiling and delivering that sermon for which
  	you pay nothing, and which you deliver without the
 3	author's consent, and receive pay therefor, the precedent
  	for preaching Christian Science, — and are you doing
  	to the author of the above-named book as you would
 6	have others do unto you? 
  	    Those authors and editors of pamphlets and periodi-
  	cals whose substance is made up of my publications, are
 9	morally responsible for what the law construes as crime. 
  	There are startling instances of the above-named law-
  	breaking and gospel-opposing system of authorship, which
12	characterize the writings of a few professed Christian
  	Scientists. My Christian students who have read copies
  	of my works in the pulpit require only a word to be wise;
15	too sincere and morally statuesque are they to be long
  	led into temptation; but I must not leave persistent
  	plagiarists without this word of warning in public, since
18	my private counsel they disregard. 
  	    To the question of my true-hearted students, "Is it
  	right to copy your works and read them for our public
21	services?" I answer:  It is not right to copy my book
  	and read it publicly without my consent. My reasons are
  	as follows: —  
24	    First:  This method is an unseen form of injustice
  	standing in a holy place. 
  	    Second:  It breaks the Golden Rule, — a divine rule
27	for human conduct. 
  	    Third:  All error tends to harden the heart, blind
  	the eyes, stop the ears of understanding, and inflate
30	self; counter to the commands of our hillside Priest, to
  	whom Isaiah alluded thus: "I have trodden the wine-
  	press alone; and of the people there was none with me." 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advice To Students                           302

 1	    Behind the scenes lurks an evil which you can prevent:
  	it is a purpose to kill the reformation begun and increas-
 3	ing through the instructions of "Science and Health with
  	Key to the Scriptures;" it encourages infringement of my
  	copyright, and seeks again to "cast lots for his vesture,"
 6	 — while the perverter preserves in his own consciousness
  	and teaching the name without the Spirit, the skeleton
  	without the heart, the form without the comeliness, the
 9	sense without the Science, of Christ's healing. My stu-
  	dents are expected to know the teaching of Christian Sci-
  	ence sufficiently to discriminate between error and Truth,
12	thus sparing their teacher a task and themselves the
  	temptation to be misled. 
  	    Much good has been accomplished through Christian
15	Science Sunday services. If Christian Scientists occasion-
  	ally mistake in interpreting revealed Truth, of two evils
  	the less would be not to leave the Word unspoken and
18	untaught. I allowed, till this permission was withdrawn,
  	students working faithfully for Christ's cause on earth,
  	the privilege of copying and reading my works for Sunday
21	service; provided, they each and all destroyed the copies
  	at once after said service. When I should so elect and
  	give suitable notice, they were to desist from further copy-
24	ing of my writings as aforesaid. 
  	    This injunction did not curtail the benefit which the
  	student derived from making his copy, nor detract from
27	the good that his hearers received from his reading thereof;
  	but it was intended to forestall the possible evil of putting
  	the divine teachings contained in "Science and Health
30	with Key to the Scriptures" into human hands, to sub-
  	vert or to liquidate. 
  	    I recommend that students stay within their own fields
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Advice To Students                           303

 1	of labor, to work for the race; they are lights that can-
  	not be hid, and need only to shine from their home sum-
 3	mits to be sought and found as healers physical and
  	moral. 
  	    The kindly shepherd has his own fold and tends his
 6	own flock. Christian students should have their own
  	institutes and, unmolested, be governed by divine Love
  	alone in teaching and guiding their students. When
 9	wisdom garrisons these strongholds of Christian Science,
  	peace and joy, the fruits of Spirit, will rest upon us all. 
  	We are brethren in the fullest sense of that word; there-
12	fore no queries should arise as to "who shall be great-
  	est." Let us serve instead of rule, knock instead of
  	push at the door of human hearts, and allow to each
15	and every one the same rights and privileges that we
  	claim for ourselves. If ever I wear out from serving
  	students, it shall be in the effort to help them to obey
18	the Ten Commandments and imbibe the spirit of Christ's
  	Beatitudes. 

  	                                               NOTICE 

21	    Editor of Christian Science Journal: — You will oblige
  	me by giving place in your Journal to the following notice. 
  	The idea and purpose of a Liberty Bell is pleasing, and
24	can be made profitable to the heart of our country. I feel
  	assured that many Christian Scientists will respond to this
  	letter by contributions. 
27	                                                       MARY BAKER EDDY 
 
                                                                                                304

 1	                              COLUMBIAN LIBERTY BELL COMMITTEE,
  	                                        1505 PENNA. AVE., WASHINGTON, D. C. 

 3	TO THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: —  

  	    It has been determined to create a Columbian Liberty
  	Bell, to be placed by the lovers of liberty and peace in
 6	the most appropriate place in the coming World's Expo-
  	sition at Chicago. After the close of the Exhibition this
  	bell will pass from place to place throughout the world
 9	as a missionary of freedom, coming first to the capital
  	of the nation under the care of our society. 
  	    Then it will go to Bunker Hill or Liberty Island, to
12	the battle-field of New Orleans (1812), to San Francisco,
  	to the place where any great patriotic celebration is being
  	held, until 1900, when it will be sent to the next World's
15	Exhibition, which takes place at Paris, France. There it
  	will continue until that Exhibition closes. 
  	    When not in use in other places, it will return to Wash-
18	ington under the care of the Daughters of the American
  	Revolution. Washington will be its home, and from there
  	it will journey from place to place, fulfilling its mission
21	throughout the world. 
  	    The following is the proposed use of the bell: It shall
  	ring at sunrise and sunset; at nine o'clock in the morn-
24	ing on the anniversaries of the days on which great events
  	have occurred marking the world's progress toward liberty;
  	at twelve o'clock on the birthdays of the "creators of
27	liberty;" and at four o'clock it will toll on the anniver-
  	saries of their death. (It will always ring at nine o'clock
  	on October 11th, in recognition of the organization on
30	that day of the Daughters of the American Revolution.) 
  	. . . The responsibility of its production, and the direc-
  	tion of its use, have been placed in the hands of a
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Notice – Liberty Bell Committee        305

1	committee of women representing each State and Ter-
  	ritory, one representative from each Republic in the
 3	world, and a representative from the patriotic societies,
  	 — Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution,
  	the Lyceum League of America, the Society of Ger-
 6	man Patriots, the Human Freedom League, and kindred
  	organizations. 
  	    The National Board of Management has placed upon
 9	me the responsibility of representing the National Society
  	of the Daughters of the American Revolution upon the
  	General Committee, and this circular is sent to every
12	member of the society, asking for her personal coopera-
  	tion in making the undertaking successful. In creating
  	the bell it is particularly desired that the largest number
15	of persons possible shall have a part in it. For this reason
  	small contributions from many persons are to be asked
  	for, rather than large contributions from a few. They
18	are to be of two kinds: —  
  	    First: Material that can be made a part of the bell;
  	articles of historic interest will be particularly appre-
21	ciated — gold, silver, bronze, copper, and nickel can be
  	fused. 
  	    Second: Of money with which to pay for the bell. 
24	Each member of the society is asked to contribute one
  	cent to be fused into the bell, and twenty-five cents to
  	pay for it. She is also asked to collect two dollars from
27	others, in pennies, if possible, and send with the amount
  	the name of each contributor. In order that the bell
  	shall be cast April 30th, the anniversary of the inaugu-
30	ration of George Washington as the first President of
  	the United States, we ask every one receiving this cir-
  	cular to act at once. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Notice – Liberty Bell Committee        306

 1	    In forwarding material to be melted into the bell, please
  	send fullest historical description. This will be entered
 3	carefully in a book which will accompany the bell wherever
  	it goes. 
  	    . . . As the motto has not yet been decided upon, any
 6	ideas on that subject will be gratefully received; we will
  	also welcome suggestions of events to be celebrated and
  	names to be commemorated. 
 9	                       Very cordially yours
  	                                            MARY DESHA,
  	                      ex-Vice-President General, D.A.R. 

12	    Contributions should be sent to the Liberty National
  	Bank, corner Liberty and West Streets, New York, and
  	a duplicate letter written, as a notification of the same,
15	to Miss Mary Desha, 1505 Penna. Ave., Washington,
  	D. C., or to Miss Minnie F. Mickley, Mickleys, Pa. 
  	    We would add, as being of interest, that Mrs. Eddy is
18	a member of the above organization, having been made
  	such by the special request of the late Mrs. Harrison,
  	wife of the ex-President, who was at that time the Presi-
21	dent thereof. — ED. 

  	                                                  ANGELS 

  	    When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings,
24	nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but
  	we know their presence by the love they create in our
  	hearts. Oh, may you feel this touch, — it is not the
27	clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more
  	than this:  it is a spiritual idea that lights your path! 
  	The Psalmist saith: "He shall give His angels charge
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Angels                                               307

 1	over thee." God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in
  	turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-
 3	morrow:  it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present
  	help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have
  	all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance
 6	is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent
  	Love! More we cannot ask:  more we do not want:
  	more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the
 9	"Peace, be still" to all human fears, to suffering of every
  	sort. 

  	                            DEIFICATION OF PERSONALITY 

12	    Notwithstanding the rapid sale already of two editions
  	of "Christ and Christmas," and many orders on hand, I
  	have thought best to stop its publication. 
15	    In this revolutionary religious period, the increasing
  	inquiry of mankind as to Christianity and its unity — 
  	and above all, God's love opening the eyes of the blind
18	 — is fast fitting all minds for the proper reception of
  	Christian Science healing. 
  	    But I must stand on this absolute basis of Christian
21	Science; namely, Cast not pearls before the unprepared
  	thought. Idolatry is an easily-besetting sin of all peoples. 
  	The apostle saith, "Little children, keep yourselves from
24	idols." 
  	    The illustrations were not intended for a golden calf,
  	at which the sick may look and be healed. Christian
27	Scientists should beware of unseen snares, and adhere
  	to the divine Principle and rules for demonstration. 
  	They must guard against the deification of finite person-
30	ality. Every human thought must turn instinctively to

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Deification of Personality                   308

1	the divine Mind as its sole centre and intelligence. Until
  	this be done, man will never be found harmonious and
 3	immortal. 
  	    Whosoever looks to me personally for his health or
  	holiness, mistakes. He that by reason of human love or
 6	hatred or any other cause clings to my material per-
  	sonality, greatly errs, stops his own progress, and loses
  	the path to health, happiness, and heaven. The Scrip-
 9	tures and Christian Science reveal "the way," and per-
  	sonal revelators will take their proper place in history,
  	but will not be deified. 
12	    Advanced scientific students are ready for "Christ
  	and Christmas;" but those are a minority of its readers,
  	and even they know its practicality only by healing
15	the sick on its divine Principle. In the words of the
  	prophet, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one
  	Lord." 
18	    Friends, strangers, and Christian Scientists, I thank
  	you, each and all, for your liberal patronage and scholarly,
  	artistic, and scientific notices of my book. This little
21	messenger has done its work, fulfilled its mission, retired
  	with honor (and mayhap taught me more than it has
  	others), only to reappear in due season. The knowledge
24	that I have gleaned from its fruitage is, that intensely
  	contemplating personality impedes spiritual growth; even
  	as holding in mind the consciousness of disease prevents
27	the recovery of the sick. 
  	    Christian Science is taught through its divine Prin-
  	ciple, which is invisible to corporeal sense. A material
30	human likeness is the antipode of man in the image and
  	likeness of God. Hence, a finite person is not the model
  	for a metaphysician. I earnestly advise all Christian
33	Scientists to remove from their observation or study
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Deification of Personality                   309

 1	the personal sense of any one, and not to dwell in thought
  	upon their own or others' corporeality, either as good or
 3	evil. 
  	    According to Christian Science, material personality is
  	an error in premise, and must result in erroneous con-
 6	clusions. All will agree with me that material portraiture
  	often fails to express even mortal man, and this declares
  	its unfitness for fable or fact to build upon. 
 9	    The face of Jesus has uniformly been so unnaturally
  	delineated that it has turned many from the true con-
  	templation of his character. He advances most in divine
12	Science who meditates most on infinite spiritual sub-
  	stance and intelligence. Experience proves this true. 
  	Pondering on the finite personality of Jesus, the son of
15	man, is not the channel through which we reach the
  	Christ, or Son of God, the true idea of man's divine
  	Principle. 
18	    I warn students against falling into the error of anti-
  	Christ. The consciousness of corporeality, and what-
  	ever is connected therewith, must be outgrown. Corporeal
21	falsities include all obstacles to health, holiness, and
  	heaven. Man's individual life is infinitely above a
  	bodily form of existence, and the human concept an-
24	tagonizes the divine. "Science and Health with Key
  	to the Scriptures," on page 229, third and fourth para-
  	graphs, elucidates this topic.¹ 
27	    My Christmas poem and its illustrations are not a text-
  	book. Scientists sometimes take things too intensely. 
  	Let them soberly adhere to the Bible and Science and
30	Health, which contain all and much more than they
  	have yet learned. We should prohibit ourselves the

  	¹See the revised edition of 1890, or page 334, lines 10-30
33	 in current editions.

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Deification of Personality                   310

 1	childish pleasure of studying Truth through the senses,
  	for this is neither the intent of my works nor possible
 3	in Science. 
  	    Even the teachings of Jesus would be misused by sub-
  	stituting personality for the Christ, or the impersonal
 6	form of Truth, amplified in this age by the discovery of
  	Christian Science. To impersonalize scientifically the
  	material sense of existence — rather than cling to per-
 9	sonality — is the lesson of to-day. 

  	                                           A CARD 

  	    My answer to manifold letters relative to the return
12	of members that have gone out of The First Church of
  	Christ, Scientist, in Boston, is this:  While my affec-
  	tions plead for all and every one, and my desire is that
15	all shall be redeemed, I am not unmindful that the Scrip-
  	tures enjoin, "Let all things be done decently and in
  	order." 
18	    To continue one's connection with this church, or to
  	regain it, one must comply with the church rules. All
  	who desire its fellowship, and to become members of it,
21	must send in their petitions to this effect to the Clerk
  	of the church; and upon a meeting being called, the
  	First Members will determine the action of the church
24	on this subject. 

  	OVERFLOWING THOUGHTS 

  	    In this receding year of religious jubilee, 1894, I as
27	an individual would cordially invite all persons who
  	have left our fold, together with those who never have

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Overflowing Thoughts                        311

 1	been in it, — all who love God and keep His command-
  	ments, — to come and unite with The Mother Church in
 3	Boston. The true Christian Scientists will be welcomed,
  	greeted as brethren endeavoring to walk with us hand
  	in hand, as we journey to the celestial city. 
 6	    Also, I would extend a tender invitation to Christian
  	Scientists' students, those who are ready for the table of
  	our Lord:  so, should we follow Christ's teachings; so,
 9	bury the dead past; so, loving one another, go forth to
  	the full vintage-time, exemplifying what we profess. But
  	some of the older members are not quite ready to take
12	this advanced step in the full spirit of that charity which
  	thinketh no evil; and if it be not taken thus, it is impracti-
  	cal, unfruitful, Soul-less. 
15	    My deepest desires and daily labors go to prove that
  	I love my enemies and would help all to gain the abiding
  	consciousness of health, happiness, and heaven. 
18	    I hate no one; and love others more than they can
  	love me. As I now understand Christian Science, I would
  	as soon harm myself as another; since by breaking
21	Christ's command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
  	thyself," I should lose my hope of heaven. 
  	    The works I have written on Christian Science con-
24	tain absolute Truth, and my necessity was to tell it;
  	therefore I did this even as a surgeon who wounds
  	to heal. I was a scribe under orders; and who can
27	refrain from transcribing what God indites, and ought
  	not that one to take the cup, drink all of it, and give
  	thanks? 
30	    Being often reported as saying what never escaped
  	from my lips, when rehearsing facts concerning others
  	who were reporting false charges, I have been sorry that
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Overflowing Thoughts                       312

 1	I spoke at all, and wished I were wise enough to guard
  	against that temptation. Oh, may the love that is talked,
 3	be felt! and so lived, that when weighed in the scale of
  	God we be not found wanting. Love is consistent, uni-
  	form, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, unutterably kind; even
 6	that which lays all upon the altar, and, speechless and
  	alone, bears all burdens, suffers all inflictions, endures
  	all piercing for the sake of others, and for the kingdom
 9	of heaven's sake. 

  	                   A GREAT MAN AND HIS SAYING 

  	    Hon. Charles Carrol Bonney, President of the World's
12	Congress Auxiliary, in his remarks before that body,
  	said, "No more striking manifestation of the interposi-
  	tion of divine Providence in human affairs has come in
15	recent years, than that shown in the raising up of the
  	body of people known as Christian Scientists, who are
  	called to declare the real harmony between religion and
18	Science, and to restore the waning faith of many in the
  	verities of the sacred Scriptures." 
  	    In honest utterance of veritable history, and his own
21	spiritual discernment, this man must have risen above
  	worldly schemes, human theorems or hypotheses, to
  	conclusions which reason too supine or misemployed
24	cannot fasten upon. He spake inspired; he touched a
  	tone of Truth that will continue to reverberate and renew
  	its emphasis throughout the entire centuries, into the vast
27	forever. 

                                                                                                   313

 1	                        WORDS OF COMMENDATION 

  	    Editor of The Christian Science Journal: — Permit me
 3	to say that your editorial in the August number is par
  	excellence. 
  	    It is a digest of good manners, morals, methods, and
 6	means. It points to the scientific spiritual molecule,
  	pearl, and pinnacle, that everybody needs. May the
  	Christlikeness it reflects rest on the dear readers, and
 9	throw the light of penetration on the page; even as the
  	dawn, kindling its glories in the east, lightens earth's
  	landscape. 
12	    I thank the contributors to The Christian Science
  	Journal for their jewels of thought, so adapted to the
  	hour, and without ill-humor or hyperbolic tumor. I
15	was impressed by the articles entitled "The New Pas-
  	tor," by Rev. Lanson P. Norcross, "The Lamp," by
  	Walter Church, "The Temptation," a poem by J. J. 
18	Rome, etc. 
  	    The field waves its white ensign, the reapers are strong,
  	the rich sheaves are ripe, the storehouse is ready:  pray
21	ye therefore the God of harvest to send forth more
  	laborers of the excellent sort, and garner the supplies
  	for a world. 

24	                             CHURCH AND SCHOOL 

  	    Humbly, and, as I believe, divinely directed, I hereby
  	ordain the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key
27	to the Scriptures," to be hereafter the only pastor of

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Church and School                            314

 1	The Church of Christ, Scientist, throughout our land
  	and in other lands. 
 3	    From this date the Sunday services of our denomina-
  	tion shall be conducted by Readers in lieu of pastors. 
  	Each church, or society formed for Sunday worship,
 6	shall elect two Readers:  a male, and a female. One of
  	these individuals shall open the meeting by reading the
  	hymns, and chapter (or portion of the chapter) in the
 9	Bible, lead in silent prayer, and repeat in concert with
  	the congregation the Lord's Prayer. Also, this First
  	Reader shall give out any notices from the pulpit, shall
12	read the Scriptures indicated in the Sunday School Les-
  	son of the Christian Science Quarterly, and shall pro-
  	nounce the benediction. 
15	    The First Reader shall read from my book, "Science
  	and Health with Key to the Scriptures," alternately in
  	response to the congregation, the spiritual interpreta-
18	tion of the Lord's Prayer; also, shall read all the selec-
  	tions from Science and Health referred to in the Sunday
  	Lessons. 
21	    The Reader of the Scriptures shall name, at each
  	reading, the book, chapter, and verses. The Reader of
  	"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" shall
24	commence by announcing the full title of this book, with
  	the name of its author, and add to this announcement,
  	"the Christian Science textbook." It is unnecessary to
27	repeat the title or page. This form shall also be observed
  	at the Communion service; the selections from both the
  	Bible and the Christian Science textbook shall be taken
30	from the Quarterly, as heretofore, and this Lesson shall
  	be such as is adapted to that service. On the first Sunday
  	of each month, except Communion Sunday, a sermon

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Church and School                            315

 1	shall be preached to the children, from selections taken
  	from the Scriptures and Science and Health, especially
 3	adapted to the occasion, and read after the manner of
  	the Sunday service. The children's service shall be
  	held on the Sunday following Communion Day. 
 6	    No copies from my books are allowed to be written,
  	and read from manuscripts, either in private or in pub-
  	lic assemblies, except by their author. 
 9	    Christian Scientists, all over the world, who are let-
  	terly fit and specially spiritually fitted for teachers, can
  	teach annually three classes only. They shall teach
12	from the Christian Science textbook. Each class shall
  	consist of not over thirty-three students, carefully selected,
  	and only of such as have promising proclivities toward
15	Christian Science. The teacher shall hold himself mor-
  	ally obligated to look after the welfare of his students,
  	not only through class term, but after it; and to watch
18	well that they prove sound in sentiment, health, and
  	practical Christian Science. 
  	    Teaching Christian Science shall be no question of
21	money, but of morals and of uplifting the race. Teachers
  	shall form associations for this purpose; and for the
  	first few years, convene as often as once in three months. 
24	Teachers shall not silently mentally address the thought,
  	to handle it, nor allow their students to do thus, except
  	the individual needing it asks for mental treatment. 
27	They shall steadily and patiently strive to educate their
  	students in conformity to the unerring wisdom and law
  	of God, and shall enjoin upon them habitually to study
30	His revealed Word, the Scriptures, and "Science and
  	Health with Key to the Scriptures." 
  	    They shall teach their students how to defend them-
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Church and School                            316

 1	selves against mental malpractice, but never to return
  	evil for evil; never to attack the malpractitioner, but
 3	to know the truth that makes free, — and so to be a law
  	not unto others, but themselves. 

  	             CLASS, PULPIT, STUDENTS' STUDENTS 

 6	    When will you take a class in Christian Science or
  	speak to your church in Boston? is often asked. 
  	    I shall speak to my dear church at Boston very seldom. 
 9	The Mother Church must be self-sustained by God. 
  	The date of a class in Christian Science should depend
  	on the fitness of things, the tide which flows heavenward,
12	the hour best for the student. Until minds become less
  	worldly-minded, and depart farther from the primitives
  	of the race, and have profited up to their present capac-
15	ity from the written word, they are not ready for the
  	word spoken at this date. 
  	    My juniors can tell others what they know, and turn
18	them slowly toward the haven. Imperative, accumula-
  	tive, sweet demands rest on my retirement from life's
  	bustle. What, then, of continual recapitulation of tired
21	aphorisms and disappointed ethics; of patching breaches
  	widened the next hour; of pounding wisdom and love
  	into sounding brass; of warming marble and quench-
24	ing volcanoes! Before entering the Massachusetts Meta-
  	physical College, had my students achieved the point
  	whence they could have derived most benefit from their
27	pupilage, to-day there would be on earth paragons of
  	Christianity, patterns of humility, wisdom, and might
  	for the world. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Class, Pulpit, Students’ Students      317

 1	    To the students whom I have not seen that ask, "May
  	I call you mother?" my heart replies, Yes, if you are
 3	doing God's work. When born of Truth and Love, we
  	are all of one kindred. 
  	    The hour has struck for Christian Scientists to do their
 6	own work; to appreciate the signs of the times; to dem-
  	onstrate self-knowledge and self-government; and to
  	demonstrate, as this period demands, over all sin, disease,
 9	and death. The dear ones whom I would have great
  	pleasure in instructing, know that the door to my teaching
  	was shut when my College closed. 
12	    Again, it is not absolutely requisite for some people
  	to be taught in a class, for they can learn by spiritual
  	growth and by the study of what is written. Scarcely a
15	moiety, compared with the whole of the Scriptures and
  	the Christian Science textbook, is yet assimilated spirit-
  	ually by the most faithful seekers; yet this assimilation is
18	indispensable to the progress of every Christian Scientist. 
  	These considerations prompt my answers to the above
  	questions. Human desire is inadequate to adjust the
21	balance on subjects of such earnest import. These
  	words of our Master explain this hour: "What I do
  	thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." 
24	    My sympathies are deeply enlisted for the students
  	of students; having already seen in many instances their
  	talents, culture, and singleness of purpose to uplift the
27	race. Such students should not pay the penalty for
  	other people's faults; and divine Love will open the
  	way for them. My soul abhors injustice, and loves
30	mercy. St. John writes: "Whom God hath sent speaketh
  	the words of God:  for God giveth not the Spirit by meas-
  	ure unto him." 
 
                                                                                                   318


 1	                       MY STUDENTS AND THY STUDENTS 

  	    Mine and thine are obsolete terms in absolute Christian
 3	Science, wherein and whereby the universal brotherhood
  	of man is stated and demands to be demonstrated. I have
  	a large affection, not alone for my students, but for thy
 6	students, — for students of the second generation. I can-
  	not but love some of those devoted students better than
  	some of mine who are less lovable or Christly. This
 9	natural affection for goodness must go on ad libitum unto
  	the third and fourth and final generation of those who
  	love God and keep His commandments. Hence the
12	following is an amendment of the paragraph on page 47¹
  	of "Retrospection and Introspection": —  
  	    Any student, having received instructions in a Primary
15	class from me, or from a loyal student of Christian Science,
  	and afterwards studied thoroughly "Science and Health
  	with Key to the Scriptures," can enter upon the gospel
18	work of teaching Christian Science, and so fulfil the com-
  	mand of Christ. Before entering this sacred field of labor,
  	the student must have studied faithfully the latest edi-
21	tions of my works, and be a good Bible scholar and a
  	devout, consecrated Christian. 
  	    These are the indispensable demands on all those who
24	become teachers. 

  	UNSEEN SIN 

  	    Two points of danger beset mankind; namely, making
27	sin seem either too large or too little:  if too large, we

  	¹See edition of 1909.

 Miscellaneous Writings --- Unseen Sin                                        319

 1	are in the darkness of all the ages, wherein the true sense
  	of the unity of good and the unreality of evil is lost. 
 3	    If good is God, even as God is good, then good and
  	evil can neither be coeval nor coequal, for God is All-in-
  	all. This closes the argument of aught besides Him, aught
 6	else than good. 
  	    If the sense of sin is too little, mortals are in danger
  	of not seeing their own belief in sin, but of seeing too
 9	keenly their neighbor's. Then they are beset with
  	egotism and hypocrisy. Here Christian Scientists must
  	be most watchful. Their habit of mental and audible
12	protest against the reality of sin, tends to make sin less
  	or more to them than to other people. They must either
  	be overcoming sin in themselves, or they must not lose
15	sight of sin; else they are self-deceived sinners of the
  	worst sort. 

  	                            A WORD TO THE WISE 

18	    Will all the dear Christian Scientists accept my tender
  	greetings for the forthcoming holidays, and grant me
  	this request, — let the present season pass without one
21	gift to me. 
  	    Our church edifice must be built in 1894. Take thither
  	thy saintly offerings, and lay them in the outstretched
24	hand of God. The object to be won affords ample oppor-
  	tunity for the grandest achievement to which Christian
  	Scientists can direct attention, and feel themselves alone
27	among the stars. 
  	    No doubt must intervene between the promise and
  	event; faith and resolve are friends to Truth; seize them,
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- A Word to the Wise                           320

 1	trust the divine Providence, push upward our prayer in
  	stone, — and God will give the benediction. 

 3	                                         CHRISTMAS 

  	    This interesting day, crowned with the history of
  	Truth's idea, — its earthly advent and nativity, — is
 6	especially dear to the heart of Christian Scientists; to
  	whom Christ's appearing in a fuller sense is so precious,
  	and fraught with divine benedictions for mankind. 
 9	    The star that looked lovingly down on the manger of
  	our Lord, lends its resplendent light to this hour:  the
  	light of Truth, to cheer, guide, and bless man as he
12	reaches forth for the infant idea of divine perfection
  	dawning upon human imperfection, — that calms man's
  	fears, bears his burdens, beckons him on to Truth and
15	Love and the sweet immunity these bring from sin, sick-
  	ness, and death. 
  	    This polar star, fixed in the heavens of divine Science,
18	shall be the sign of his appearing who "healeth all our
  	diseases;" it hath traversed night, wading through
  	darkness and gloom, on to glory. It doth meet the
21	antagonism of error; addressing to dull ears and undis-
  	ciplined beliefs words of Truth and Life. 
  	    The star of Bethlehem is the star of Boston, high in
24	the zenith of Truth's domain, that looketh down on the
  	long night of human beliefs, to pierce the darkness and
  	melt into dawn. 
27	    The star of Bethlehem is the light of all ages; is the
  	light of Love, to-day christening religion undefiled, divine
  	Science; giving to it a new name, and the white stone in
30	token of purity and permanence. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Christmas                                          321

 1	    The wise men follow this guiding star; the watchful
  	shepherd chants his welcome over the cradle of a great
 3	truth, and saith, "Unto us a child is born," whose birth
  	is less of a miracle than eighteen centuries ago; and "his
  	name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
 6	God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 
  	    My heart is filled with joy, that each receding year sees
  	the steady gain of Truth's idea in Christian Science; that
 9	each recurring year witnesses the balance adjusted more
  	on the side of God, the supremacy of Spirit; as shown
  	by the triumphs of Truth over error, of health over sick-
12	ness, of Life over death, and of Soul over sense. 
  	    "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-
  	shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." 
15	"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
  	me free from the law of sin and death." "Fear not, little
  	flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
18	the kingdom." 

  	     Press on, press on! ye sons of light,
  	     Untiring in your holy fight,
21	     Still treading each temptation down,
  	     And battling for a brighter crown.   

  	                                              CARD 

24	    In reply to all invitations from Chicago to share the
  	hospitality of their beautiful homes at any time during
  	the great wonder of the world, the World's Fair, I say,
27	Do not expect me. I have no desire to see or to hear
  	what is to be offered upon this approaching occasion. 
  	    I have a world of wisdom and Love to contemplate,
30	that concerns me, and you, infinitely beyond all earthly
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- Card                                                   322

 1	expositions or exhibitions. In return for your kindness,
  	I earnestly invite you to its contemplation with me, and
 3	to preparation to behold it. 

  	                MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER CHURCH 

  	    Beloved Brethren: — People coming from a distance
 6	expecting to hear me speak in The Mother Church,
  	are frequently disappointed. To avoid this, I may here-
  	after notify the Directors when I shall be present to
 9	address this congregation, and the Clerk of the church
  	can inform correspondents. Your dual and impersonal
  	pastor, the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key to
12	the Scriptures," is with you; and the Life these give, the
  	Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is
  	the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth
15	them "beside the still waters." By any personal pres-
  	ence, or word of mine, your thought must not be diverted
  	or diverged, your senses satisfied, or self be justified. 
18	    Therefore, beloved, my often-coming is unnecessary;
  	for, though I be present or absent, it is God that feed-
  	eth the hungry heart, that giveth grace for grace, that
21	healeth the sick and cleanseth the sinner. For this
  	consummation He hath given you Christian Science,
  	and my past poor labors and love. He hath shown you
24	the amplitude of His mercy, the justice of His judgment,
  	the omnipotence of His love; and this, to compensate
  	your zealous affection for seeking good, and for labor-
27	ing in its widening grooves from the infinitesimal to the
  	infinite.SHOW ALL