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Title: Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896

Author: Mary Baker Eddy

Release Date: February 27, 2010 [Ebook #31427]

Language: English

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***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS, 1883-1896***

Miscellaneous Writings

1883-1896

by

Mary Baker Eddy

Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science

and Author of Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures

Published by the

Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy

Boston, U. S. A.

Copyright, 1896

By Mary Baker G. Eddy

Copyright renewed, 1924


Contents

[pg v]

Dedication.

To
Loyal Christian Scientists
In This And Every Land
I Lovingly Dedicate These Practical Teachings
Indispensable To The Culture And Achievements Which
Constitute The Success Of A Student
And Demonstrate The Ethics
Of Christian Science

Mary Baker Eddy

[pg vii]

Epigrams.

Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand,
To read it well; that is, to understand.

Ben Jonson: Epigram 1

When I would know thee ... my thought looks
Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends.

Ben Jonson: Epigram 86

If worlds were formed by matter,
And mankind from the dust;
Till time shall end more timely,
There's nothing here to trust.
Thenceforth to evolution's
Geology, we say,—
Nothing have we gained therefrom,
And nothing have to pray:
My world has sprung from Spirit,
In everlasting day;
Whereof, I've more to glory,
Wherefor, have much to pay.

Mary Baker Eddy

[pg ix]

Preface.

[Transcriber's Note: The original book includes line numbers throughout the text, for easy reference to the text by page number and line number. This transcription retains those page and line numbers; the numbers in [square brackets] at the right ends of lines are the original book's line numbers. The paragraphs are not adjusted as is customary for text in e-books, nor are words split by hyphens rejoined, so that the lines shown below have the same words as the lines in the original book.]

A certain apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher [1]
suits my sense of doing good. It reads thus: “The
noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting
charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a
man to dispense with alms.” [5]
In the early history of Christian Science, among my
thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian
Scientists are not indigent; and their comfortable fortunes
are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically,
spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures—once [10]
fragmentary and faint—now rejuvenated by the touch
of God's right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap-
pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits
dove-like.
To preserve a long course of years still and uniform, [15]
amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and
tempest, requires strength from above,—deep draughts
from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said:
There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never
grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is [20]
ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however,
is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of
[pg x]
perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of [1]
a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and
sincere in trial or in triumph.
The opportunity has at length offered itself for me to
comply with an oft-repeated request; namely, to collect [5]
my miscellaneous writings published in The Christian
Science Journal, since April, 1883, and republish them
in book form,—accessible as reference, and reliable as
old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my
time in the early pioneer days, most of these articles [10]
were originally written in haste, without due preparation.
To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein
appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these
are most requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the
distance,—or the difference between then and now,— [15]
in the opinions of men and the progress of our Cause.
My signature has been slightly changed from my
Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early
years caused me, as an author, to assume various noms
de plume. After my first marriage, to Colonel Glover [20]
of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of
Morse to retain my maiden name,—thinking that other-
wise the name would be too long.
In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American
Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary [25]
Baker Eddy, and thereafter adopted that form of signature,
except in connection with my published works.
[pg xi]
The first edition of Science and Health having been [1]
copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name
of Glover, caused me to retain the initial “G” on my
subsequent books.
These pages, although a reproduction of what has [5]
been written, are still in advance of their time; and are
richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for
the race. While no offering can liquidate one's debt of
gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are
not unknown to nor unrewarded by Him. [10]
May this volume be to the reader a graphic guide-
book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling
him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored
fields of Science. At each recurring holiday the Christian
Scientist will find herein a “canny” crumb; and thus [15]
may time's pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.
Realism will at length be found to surpass imagination,
and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of
religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be
no battledores to fling it back and forth. It is reason for [20]
rejoicing that the vox populi is inclined to grant us peace,
together with pardon for the preliminary battles that
purchased it.
With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory,
through the dim corridors of years, on to old battle- [25]
grounds, there sadly to survey the fields of the slain and
the enemy's losses. In compiling this work, I have tried
[pg xii]
to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to [1]
retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace.
With armor on, I continue the march, command and
countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought
this afterpiece of battle. Supported, cheered, I take my [5]
pen and pruning-hook, to “learn war no more,” and with
strong wing to lift my readers above the smoke of conflict
into light and liberty.

Mary Baker Eddy

Concord, N.H.
January, 1897

[pg 001]

Chapter I. Introductory.

Prospectus.

The ancient Greek looked longingly for the Olym- [1]
piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a
star; to him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome
of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heav- [5]
ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers,
said, “Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye
not discern the signs of the times?”—for he forefelt
and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated
by sinners. [10]
To kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the
new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs
to be understood. The seer of this age should be a
sage.
Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition [15]
of Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and
strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops
the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes
only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness
reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled [20]
up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of
[pg 002]
advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of [1]
Truth and Love to heal the sick.
Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the
least wisdom or experience; and they steal from their
neighbor, because they have so little of their own. [5]
The signs of these times portend a long and strong
determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the
flesh, and evil, causing great obscuration of Spirit.
When we remember that God is just, and admit the
total depravity of mortals, alias mortal mind,—and that [10]
this Adam legacy must first be seen, and then must be
subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri-
bute of Truth,—the outlook demands labor, and the
laborers seem few. To-day we behold but the first
faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces [15]
a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and
divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life,
Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin,
sickness, and death; when God, man's saving Principle,
and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed. [20]
Man's probation after death is the necessity of his
immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc-
tive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed.
If man should not progress after death, but should re-
main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated. [25]
Those upon whom “the second death hath no power”
are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil,
their mortal element, and into good that is immortal;
thus laying off the material beliefs that war against
Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine [30]
Science.
While we entertain decided views as to the best method
[pg 003]
for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritually, [1]
and shall express these views as duty demands, we
shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no
supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural
than evil, and spiritual understanding—the true knowl- [5]
edge of God—as imparting the only power to heal the
sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the
power of Truth and Love.
The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica-
ble to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this [10]
very purpose; and his demonstration hath taught us
that “through his stripes”—his life-experience—and
divine Science, brought to the understanding through
Christ, the Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved.
No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this [15]
line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are
needed to aid spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation,
and mesmerism are not Mind's medicine. The Principle
of all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind.
We have learned that the erring or mortal thought holds [20]
in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these
states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind,
as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these
material elements of sin and death.
Because God is supreme and omnipotent, materia [25]
medica, hygiene, and animal magnetism are impotent;
and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-
ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity.
The tendency of mental healing is to uplift mankind; but
this method perverted, is “Satan let loose.” Hence the [30]
deep demand for the Science of psychology to meet sin,
and uncover it; thus to annihilate hallucination.
[pg 004]
Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in- [1]
structed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the
most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth.
At this period there is a marked tendency of mortal
mind to plant mental healing on the basis of hypnotism, [5]
calling this method “mental science.” All Science is
Christian Science; the Science of the Mind that is God,
and of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each
other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good,
not evil.

A Timely Issue.

At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published
by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many
questions important to be disposed of come to the Col-
lege and to the practising students, yet but little time [15]
has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight-
enment is necessary for the age, and a periodical de-
voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the
requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed
on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many [20]
minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so
that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth
are not understood.
It is often said, “You must have a very strong will-
power to heal,” or, “It must require a great deal of faith [25]
to make your demonstrations.” When it is answered
that there is no will-power required, and that something
more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression
of incredulity. It is not alone the mission of Christian
Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal [30]
[pg 005]
thought. This work well done will elevate and purify [1]
the race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best
energies to the work.
Science reveals man as spiritual, harmonious, and eter-
nal. This should be understood. Our College should [5]
be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate
themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be
able to produce perfect health and perfect morals in their
children—and ministers, to heal the sick—by study-
ing this scientific method of practising Christianity. [10]
Many say, “I should like to study, but have not suffi-
cient faith that I have the power to heal.” The healing
power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the
greatest emergencies.
Materia medica says, “I can do no more. I have [15]
done all that can be done. There is nothing to build
upon. There is no longer any reason for hope.” Then
metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit,
not matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on
the stone that the builders have rejected, and is suc- [20]
cessful.
Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a miracle and a
mystery to those only who do not understand the grand
reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge
an erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat- [25]
ter. That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect
in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily
accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate-
rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid
substance to this thought. It is much easier for people [30]
to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the
mind affects the body.
[pg 006]
We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a [1]
discipline to bring man nearer to God,—even though
sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from
complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as
evil. [5]
The most of our Christian Science practitioners have
plenty to do, and many more are needed for the ad-
vancement of the age. At present the majority of the
acute cases are given to the M. D.'s, and only those
cases that are pronounced incurable are passed over to [10]
the Scientist. The healing of such cases should cer-
tainly prove to all minds the power of metaphysics over
physics; and it surely does, to many thinkers, as the
rapid growth of the work shows. At no distant day,
Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy [15]
and homœopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed
where error fails.
Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect,
there is no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and
Love must be perfect; and with that basic truth we con- [20]
quer sickness, sin, and death. Frequently it requires
time to overcome the patient's faith in drugs and mate-
rial hygiene; but when once convinced of the uselessness
of such material methods, the gain is rapid.
It is a noticeable fact, that in families where laws [25]
of health are strictly enforced, great caution is observed
in regard to diet, and the conversation chiefly confined
to the ailments of the body, there is the most sickness.
Take a large family of children where the mother has
all that she can attend to in keeping them clothed and
fed, and health is generally the rule; whereas, in small
families of one or two children, sickness is by no means
[pg 007]
the exception. These children must not be allowed to [1]
eat certain food, nor to breathe the cold air, because
there is danger in it; when they perspire, they must be
loaded down with coverings until their bodies become
dry,—and the mother of one child is often busier than [5]
the mother of eight.
Great charity and humility is necessary in this work
of healing. The loving patience of Jesus, we must
strive to emulate. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself” has daily to be exemplified; and, although [10]
skepticism and incredulity prevail in places where
one would least expect it, it harms not; for if serving
Christ, Truth, of what can mortal opinion avail? Cast
not your pearls before swine; but if you cannot bring
peace to all, you can to many, if faithful laborers in His [15]
vineyard.
Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally
reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease
seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to
many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon [20]
the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to
some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper,
at the price at which we shall issue it, we shall be able
to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought.
A great work already has been done, and a greater work [25]
yet remains to be done. Oftentimes we are denied the
results of our labors because people do not understand
the nature and power of metaphysics, and they think
that health and strength would have returned natu-
rally without any assistance. This is not so much from [30]
a lack of justice, as it is that the mens populi is not suffi-
ciently enlightened on this great subject. More thought
[pg 008]
is given to material illusions than to spiritual facts. If [1]
we can aid in abating suffering and diminishing sin,
we shall have accomplished much; but if we can bring
to the general thought this great fact that drugs do not,
cannot, produce health and harmony, since “in Him [5]
[Mind] we live, and move, and have our being,” we shall
have done more.”

Love Your Enemies.

Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is
it a creature or a thing outside thine own creation? [10]
Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this
enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception?
What is it that harms you? Can height, or
depth, or any other creature separate you from the
Love that is omnipresent good,—that blesses infinitely [15]
one and all?
Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles,
defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should
reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates
human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in [20]
the process. Shakespeare writes: “Sweet are the uses
of adversity.” Jesus said: “Blessed are ye, when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; ... for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before [25]
you.”
The Hebrew law with its “Thou shalt not,” its de-
mand and sentence, can only be fulfilled through the
gospel's benediction. Then, “Blessed are ye,” inso-
[pg 009]
much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace, [1]
comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified
by the purification it brings to the flesh,—to pride, self-
ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet,
indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the [5]
Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod
into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them
refuge at last from the elements of earth.
“Love thine enemies” is identical with “Thou hast
no enemies.” Wherein is this conclusion relative to [10]
those who have hated thee without a cause? Simply, in
that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best
friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee
good far beyond the present sense which thou canst entertain
of good. [15]
Whom we call friends seem to sweeten life's cup and
to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this cup
to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in frag-
ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its
tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar- [20]
gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con-
tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost
its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and
unworthy of human aims.
And wherefore our failure longer to relish this fleet- [25]
ing sense, with its delicious forms of friendship,
wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in
personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace?
Because it is the great and only danger in the path
that winds upward. A false sense of what consti- [30]
tutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress
than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon
[pg 010]
the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements [1]
wherewith to obstruct life's joys and enhance its sor-
rows.
We have no enemies. Whatever envy, hatred, revenge
—the most remorseless motives that govern mortal mind [5]
—whatever these try to do, shall “work together for good
to them that love God.”
Why?
Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped
them, and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their [10]
God will not let them be lost; and if they fall they shall
rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good
cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble.
If they mistake the divine command, they will recover
it, countermand their order, retrace their steps, and [15]
reinstate His orders, more assured to press on safely.
The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing
swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments
of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their
strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found [20]
their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear
is self-immolated.
This destruction is a moral chemicalization, wherein
old things pass away and all things become new. The
worldly or material tendencies of human affections and [25]
pursuits are thus annihilated; and this is the advent of
spiritualization. Heaven comes down to earth, and
mortals learn at last the lesson, “I have no enemies.”
Even in belief you have but one (that, not in reality),
and this one enemy is yourself—your erroneous belief [30]
that you have enemies; that evil is real; that aught but
good exists in Science. Soon or late, your enemy will
[pg 011]
wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent; to [1]
find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold.
Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy,
and justice. I used to think it sufficiently just to abide
by our State statutes; that if a man should aim a ball at [5]
my heart, and I by firing first could kill him and save
my own life, that this was right. I thought, also, that
if I taught indigent students gratuitously, afterwards
assisting them pecuniarily, and did not cease teachi
ing the wayward ones at close of the class term, but [10]
followed them with precept upon precept; that if my
instructions had healed them and shown them the sure way
of salvation,—I had done my whole duty to students.
Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy.
If one's life were attacked, and one could save it only [15]
in accordance with common law, by taking another's,
would one sooner give up his own? We must love our
enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby
we love our friends; must even try not to expose their
faults, but to do them good whenever opportunity [20]
occurs. To mete out human justice to those who per-
secure and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribu-
tion to God and returning blessing for cursing. If special
opportunity for doing good to one's enemies occur not,
one can include them in his general effort to benefit the [25]
race. Because I can do much general good to such as
hate me, I do it with earnest, special care—since they
permit me no other way, though with tears have I striven
for it. When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the
other: I have but two to present. [30]
I would enjoy taking by the hand all who love me not,
and saying to them, I love you, and would not know-
[pg 012]
ingly harm you.” Because I thus feel, I say to others: [1]
Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads
its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us;
brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through-
out time and beyond the grave. If you have been badly [5]
wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this
wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him
who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil;
and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged
when you have not been. [10]
The present is ours; the future, big with events.
Every man and woman should be to-day a law to him-
self, herself,—a law of loyalty to Jesus' Sermon on the
Mount. The means for sinning unseen and unpunished
have so increased that, unless one be watchful and stead- [15]
fast in Love, one's temptations to sin are increased a
hundredfold. Mortal mind at this period mutely works
in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least
understood; hence the need of watching, and the danger
of yielding to temptation from causes that at former [20]
periods in human history were not existent. The action
and effects of this so-called human mind in its silent argu-
ments, are yet to be uncovered and summarily dealt with
by divine justice.
In Christian Science, the law of Love rejoices the heart; [25]
and Love is Life and Truth. Whatever manifests aught
else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not Love.
We should measure our love for God by our love for man;
and our sense of Science will be measured by our obedience
to God,—fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all; [30]
imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love
to all within the radius of our atmosphere of thought.
[pg 013]
The only justice of which I feel at present capable, [1]
is mercy and charity toward every one,—just so far as
one and all permit me to exercise these sentiments toward
them,—taking special care to mind my own business.
The falsehood, ingratitude, misjudgment, and sharp [5]
return of evil for good—yea, the real wrongs (if wrong
can be real) which I have long endured at the hands of
others—have most happily wrought out for me the law
of loving mine enemies. This law I now urge upon the
solemn consideration of all Christian Scientists. Jesus [10]
said, “If ye love them which love you, what thank have
ye? for sinners also love those that love them.”

Christian Theism.

Scholastic theology elaborates the proposition that
evil is a factor of good, and that to believe in the reality [15]
of evil is essential to a rounded sense of the existence of
good.
This frail hypothesis is founded upon the basis of mate-
rial and mortal evidence—only upon what the shifting
mortal senses confirm and frail human reason accepts. [20]
The Science of Soul reverses this proposition, overturns
the testimony of the five erring senses, and reveals in
clearer divinity the existence of good only; that is, of
God and His idea.
This postulate of divine Science only needs to be con- [25]
ceded, to afford opportunity for proof of its correctness
and the clearer discernment of good.
Seek the Anglo-Saxon term for God, and you will
find it to be good; then define good as God, and you
will find that good is omnipotence, has all power; it fills [30]
[pg 014]
all space, being omnipresent; hence, there is neither place [1]
nor power left for evil. Divest your thought, then, of
the mortal and material view which contradicts the ever-
presence and all-power of good; take in only the immor-
tal facts which include these, and where will you see or [5]
feel evil, or find its existence necessary either to the origin
or ultimate of good?
It is urged that, from his original state of perfec-
tion, man has fallen into the imperfection that requires
evil through which to develop good. Were we to [10]
admit this vague proposition, the Science of man could
never be learned; for in order to learn Science, we
begin with the correct statement, with harmony and
its Principle; and if man has lost his Principle and
its harmony, from evidences before him he is inca- [15]
pable of knowing the facts of existence and its con-
comitants: therefore to him evil is as real and eternal
as good, God! This awful deception is evil's umpire
and empire, that good, God, understood, forcibly
destroys. [20]
What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be
the necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites
to be without necessity. Good is the primitive Princi-
ple of man; and evil, good's opposite, has no Principle,
and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good. [25]
Thus evil is neither a primitive nor a derivative, but
is suppositional; in other words, a lie that is incapable
of proof—therefore, wholly problematical.
The Science of Truth annihilates error, deprives evil
of all power, and thereby destroys all error, sin, sickness, [30]
disease, and death. But the sinner is not sheltered from
suffering from sin: he makes a great reality of evil, iden-
[pg 015]
tifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it, and [1]
will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure
the effects of his delusion until he awakes from it.

The New Birth.

St. Paul speaks of the new birth as “waiting for the [5]
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The
great Nazarene Prophet said, “Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God.” Nothing aside from the
spiritualization—yea, the highest Christianization—of
thought and desire, can give the true perception of God [10]
and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and
holiness.
The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins
with moments, and goes on with years; moments of sur-
render to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption [15]
of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration,
heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.
Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the
new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law
of infinity. Only through the sore travail of mortal mind [20]
shall soul as sense be satisfied, and man awake in His
likeness. What a faith-lighted thought is this! that
mortals can lay off the “old man,” until man is found
to be the image of the infinite good that we name God,
and the fulness of the stature of man in Christ appears. [25]
In mortal and material man, goodness seems in em-
bryo. By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out
of the mortal and material sense of man, thought is de-
veloped into an infant Christianity; and, feeding at first
on the milk of the Word, it drinks in the sweet revealings [30]
[pg 016]
of a new and more spiritual Life and Love. These nourish [1]
the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor-
tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith:
In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down
to earth. [5]
But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood
of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very
much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one
saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is
indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite [10]
claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human;
and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being
His likeness and image, man must reflect the full
dominion of Spirit—even its supremacy over sin, sick-
ness, and death. [15]
Here, then, is the awakening from the dream of life
in matter, to the great fact that God is the only Life;
that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both
God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely
more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that [20]
God is a divine Whole, and All, an all-pervading in-
telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and
that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly
awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates
from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun [25]
in Christian Science.
Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn-
estly to contemplate this new-born spiritual altitude; for
this statement demands demonstration.
Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite [30]
Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible con-
flict between the flesh and Spirit. You stand before the
[pg 017]
awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the [1]
thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to
the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as
opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om-
nipotent harmony and good, as opposed to any supposi- [5]
titious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the
flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like
the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes—lay aside
your material appendages, human opinions and doc-
trines, give up your more material religion with its rites [10]
and ceremonies, put off your materia medica and hygiene
as worse than useless—to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then,
you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea
that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal
and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first [15]
time the divine Principle that redeems man from under
the curse of materialism,—sin, disease, and death.
This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand-
ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy
of Spirit, and of man as His likeness, whereby man reflects [20]
the divine power to heal the sick.
A material or human birth is the appearing of a mor-
tal, not the immortal man. This birth is more or less
prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un-
timely circumstances, the normal or abnormal material [25]
conditions attending it.
With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless,
spiritual existence dawns on human thought,—through
the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing
pleasure and accumulating pains of sense,—by which [30]
one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of
Spirit and spiritual man.
[pg 018]
The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit, [1]
develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man,
and efface the mark of the beast. “Whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth;” therefore rejoice in tribulation, and wel- [5]
come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law
and gospel of Christ, Truth.
The prominent laws which forward birth in the divine
order of Science, are these: “Thou shalt have no other
gods before me;” “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” [10]
These commands of infinite wisdom, translated into
the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou
shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every God-
quality, even in substance; thou shalt recognize thy-
self as God's spiritual child only, and the true man [15]
and true woman, the all-harmonious “male and female,”
as of spiritual origin, God's reflection,—thus as chil-
dren of one common Parent,—wherein and whereby
Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and
divine idea, even the divine “Us”—one in good, and [20]
good in One.
With this recognition man could never separate him-
self from good, God; and he would necessarily entertain
habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting
evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil [25]
thoughts, can we in belief separate one man's interests
from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt
to separate Life from God. This is the mistake that
causes much that must be repented of and overcome.
Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that [30]
aught that God sends is unjust,—or that those whom
He commissions bring to you at His demand that which
[pg 019]
is unjust,—is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking, [1]
evil speaking, covetousness, lust, hatred, malice, are
always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian
Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of
God, and the obedience demanded of His servants in [5]
carrying out what He teaches them,—these are never
unmerciful, never unwise.
The task of healing the sick is far lighter than that
of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris-
tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men [10]
to adopt them and bring them out in human lives. He
who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually
accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine
Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked
endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the [15]
current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God,
its divine source.
But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover
iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit.
I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, [20]
one who abides by his statements and works upon as
high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could
or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental
malpractitioner.
Between the centripetal and centrifugal mental forces [25]
of material and spiritual gravitations, we go into or we
go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and
its results. Which, then, shall be our choice,—the sin-
ful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving,
and eternal? [30]
The spiritual sense of Life and its grand pursuits is
of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring. This
[pg 020]
sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of [1]
divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and
physically,—exhaling the aroma of Jesus' own words,
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.” [5]
[pg 021]

Chapter II. One Cause And Effect.

Christian Science begins with the First Com- [1]
mandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me.” It goes on in
perfect unity with Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and
in that age culminates in the Revelation of St. John, [5]
who, while on earth and in the flesh, like ourselves,
beheld “a new heaven and a new earth,”—the spiritual
universe, whereof Christian Science now bears testimony.
Our Master said, “The works that I do shall ye do
also;” and, “The kingdom of God is within you.” This [10]
makes practical all his words and works. As the ages
advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen
to depart from the trend of other Christian denomina-
tions in no wise except by increase of spirituality.
My first plank in the platform of Christian Science [15]
is as follows: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor
substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is [20]
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man
is not material; he is spiritual.”1
[pg 022]
I am strictly a theist—believe in one God, one Christ [1]
or Messiah.
Science is neither a law of matter nor of man. It is
the unerring manifesto of Mind, the law of God, its
divine Principle. Who dare say that matter or [5]
mortals can evolve Science? Whence, then, is it, if not
from the divine source, and what, but the contempor-
ary of Christianity, so far in advance of human knowl-
edge that mortals must work for the discovery of even a
portion of it? Christian Science translates Mind, God, [10]
to mortals. It is the infinite calculus defining the line,
plane, space, and fourth dimension of Spirit. It abso-
lutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorp-
tion, or annihilation of individuality. It shows the
impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one [15]
individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve
in God's orbits: they come from God and return to
Him,—and untruths belong not to His creation, there-
fore these are null and void. It hath no peer, no comp-
petitor, for it dwelleth in Him besides whom “there is [20]
none other.”
That Christian Science is Christian, those who have
demonstrated it, according to the rules of its divine
Principle,—together with the sick, the lame, the deaf, and
the blind, healed by it,—have proven to a waiting world. [25]
He who has not tested it, is incompetent to condemn it;
and he who is a willing sinner, cannot demonstrate it.
A falling apple suggested to Newton more than the
simple fact cognized by the senses, to which it seemed
to fall by reason of its own ponderosity; but the primal [30]
cause, or Mind-force, invisible to material sense, lay
concealed in the treasure-troves of Science. True,
[pg 023]
Newton named it gravitation, having learned so much; [1]
but Science, demanding more, pushes the question:
Whence or what is the power back of gravitation,—the
intelligence that manifests power? Is pantheism true?
Does mind “sleep in the mineral, or dream in the [5]
animal, and wake in man”? Christianity answers this
question. The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demon-
strated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called
material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves,
obey this intelligence. Was it Mind or matter that spake [10]
in creation, “and it was done”? The answer is self-
evident, and the command remains, “Thou shalt have
no other gods before me.”
It is plain that the Me spoken of in the First Com-
mandment, must be Mind; for matter is not the Chris- [15]
tian's God, and is not intelligent. Matter cannot even
talk; and the serpent, Satan, the first talker in its behalf,
lied. Reason and revelation declare that God is both
noumenon and phenomena,—the first and only cause.
The universe, including man, is not a result of atomic [20]
action, material force or energy; it is not organized dust.
God, Spirit, Mind, are terms synonymous for the one
God, whose reflection is creation, and man is His image
and likeness. Few there are who comprehend what Chris-
tian Science means by the word reflection. God is seen [25]
only in that which reflects good, Life, Truth, Love—
yea, which manifests all His attributes and power, even
as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror repeats
precisely the looks and actions of the object in front of it.
All must be Mind and Mind's ideas; since, according to [30]
natural science, God, Spirit, could not change its species
and evolve matter.
[pg 024]
These facts enjoin the First Commandment; and [1]
knowledge of them makes man spiritually minded. St.
Paul writes: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace.” This knowl-
edge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it [5]
to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned
on the night of material sense. This knowledge is
practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from
an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal
by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called [10]
for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I
read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and
the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after
was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That
short experience included a glimpse of the great fact [15]
that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely,
Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of
existence. I learned that mortal thought evolves a sub-
jective state which it names matter, thereby shutting
out the true sense of Spirit. Per contra, Mind and man [20]
are immortal; and knowledge gained from mortal sense
is illusion, error, the opposite of Truth; therefore it
cannot be true. A knowledge of both good and evil
(when good is God, and God is All) is impossible. Speak-
ing of the origin of evil, the Master said: “When he [25]
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it.” God warned man not to believe
the talking serpent, or rather the allegory describing
it. The Nazarene Prophet declared that his followers
should handle serpents; that is, put down all subtle falsi- [30]
ties or illusions, and thus destroy any supposed effect
arising from false claims exercising their supposed power
[pg 025]
on the mind and body of man against his holiness and [1]
health.
That there is but one God or Life, one cause and
one effect, is the multum in parvo of Christian Science;
and to my understanding it is the heart of Christianity, [5]
the religion that Jesus taught and demonstrated. In
divine Science it is found that matter is a phase of
error, and that neither one really exists, since God is
Truth, and All-in-all. Christ's Sermon on the Mount,
in its direct application to human needs, confirms this [10]
conclusion.
Science, understood, translates matter into Mind,
rejects all other theories of causation, restores the spir-
itual and original meaning of the Scriptures, and ex-
plains the teachings and life of our Lord. It is religion's [15]
“new tongue,” with “signs following,” spoken of by
St. Mark. It gives God's infinite meaning to mankind,
healing the sick, casting out evil, and raising the spirit-
ually dead. Christianity is Christlike only as it re-
iterates the word, repeats the works, and manifests the [20]
spirit of Christ.
Jesus' only medicine was omnipotent and omniscient
Mind. As omni is from the Latin word meaning all,
this medicine is all-power; and omniscience means as
well, all-science. The sick are more deplorably situated [25]
than the sinful, if the sick cannot trust God for help and
the sinful can. If God created drugs good, they cannot be
harmful; if He could create them otherwise, then they
are bad and unfit for man; and if He created drugs for
healing the sick, why did not Jesus employ them and [30]
recommend them for that purpose?
No human hypotheses, whether in philosophy, medi-
[pg 026]
cine, or religion, can survive the wreck of time; but [1]
whatever is of God, hath life abiding in it, and ulti-
mately will be known as self-evident truth, as demonstra-
ble as mathematics. Each successive period of progress
is a period more humane and spiritual. The only logical [5]
conclusion is that all is Mind and its manifestation, from
the rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a potato-
patch.
The agriculturist ponders the history of a seed, and
believes that his crops come from the seedling and the [10]
loam; even while the Scripture declares He made “every
plant of the field before it was in the earth.” The Scien-
tist asks, Whence came the first seed, and what made
the soil? Was it molecules, or material atoms? Whence
came the infinitesimals,—from infinite Mind, or from [15]
matter? If from matter, how did matter originate? Was
it self-existent? Matter is not intelligent, and thus able
to evolve or create itself: it is the very opposite of Spirit,
intelligent, self-creative, and infinite Mind. The belief
of mind in matter is pantheism. Natural history shows [20]
that neither a genus nor a species produces its opposite.
God is All, in all. What can be more than All? Noth-
ing: and this is just what I call matter, nothing. Spirit,
God, has no antecedent; and God's consequent is the
spiritual cosmos. The phrase, “express image,” in the [25]
common version of Hebrews i. 3, is, in the Greek Tes-
tament, character.
The Scriptures name God as good, and the Saxon
term for God is also good. From this premise comes
the logical conclusion that God is naturally and divinely [30]
infinite good. How, then, can this conclusion change,
or be changed, to mean that good is evil, or the creator
[pg 027]
of evil? What can there be besides infinity? Nothing! [1]
Therefore the Science of good calls evil nothing. In
divine Science the terms God and good, as Spirit, are
synonymous. That God, good, creates evil, or aught
that can result in evil,—or that Spirit creates its oppo- [5]
site, named matter,—are conclusions that destroy their
premise and prove themselves invalid. Here is where
Christian Science sticks to its text, and other systems
of religion abandon their own logic. Here also is found
the pith of the basal statement, the cardinal point in [10]
Christian Science, that matter and evil (including all
inharmony, sin, disease, death) are unreal. Mortals
accept natural science, wherein no species ever pro-
duces its opposite. Then why not accept divine Sci-
ence on this ground? since the Scriptures maintain [15]
this fact by parable and proof, asking, “Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” “Doth a
fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and
bitter?”
According to reason and revelation, evil and matter [20]
are negation: for evil signifies the absence of good, God,
though God is ever present; and matter claims some-
thing besides God, when God is really All. Creation,
evolution, or manifestation,—being in and of Spirit,
Mind, and all that really is,—must be spiritual and [25]
mental. This is Science, and is susceptible of proof.
But, say you, is a stone spiritual?
To erring material sense, No! but to unerring spiritual
sense, it is a small manifestation of Mind, a type of spirit-
ual substance, “the substance of things hoped for.” [30]
Mortals can know a stone as substance, only by first ad-
mitting that it is substantial. Take away the mortal sense
[pg 028]
of substance, and the stone itself would disappear, only [1]
to reappear in the spiritual sense thereof. Matter can
neither see, hear, feel, taste, nor smell; having no sen-
sation of its own. Perception by the five personal senses
is mental, and dependent on the beliefs that mortals [5]
entertain. Destroy the belief that you can walk, and
volition ceases; for muscles cannot move without mind.
Matter takes no cognizance of matter. In dreams, things
are only what mortal mind makes them; and the phe-
nomena of mortal life are as dreams; and this so-called [10]
life is a dream soon told. In proportion as mortals turn
from this mortal and material dream, to the true sense
of reality, everlasting Life will be found to be the only
Life. That death does not destroy the beliefs of the flesh,
our Master proved to his doubting disciple, Thomas. Also, [15]
he demonstrated that divine Science alone can overbear
materiality and mortality; and this great truth was shown
is by his ascension after death, whereby he arose above
the illusion of matter.
The First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other [20]
gods before me,” suggests the inquiry, What meaneth
this Me,—Spirit, or matter? It certainly does not
signify a graven idol, and must mean Spirit. Then
the commandment means, Thou shalt recognize no
intelligence nor life in matter; and find neither pleasure [25]
nor pain therein. The Master's practical knowledge
of this grand verity, together with his divine Love,
healed the sick and raised the dead. He literally
annulled the claims of physique and of physical law,
by the superiority of the higher law; hence his decla- [30]
ration, “These signs shall follow them that believe;...
if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
[pg 029]
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” [1]
Do you believe his words? I do, and that his prom-
ise is perpetual. Had it been applicable only to his
immediate disciples, the pronoun would be you, not them. [5]
The purpose of his life-work touches universal human-
ity. At another time he prayed, not for the twelve
only, but “for them also which shall believe on me through
their word.”
The Christ-healing was practised even before the Christ- [10]
ian era; “the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” There is, however, no analogy between Christian
Science and spiritualism, or between it and any specu-
lative theory.
In 1867, I taught the first student in Christian Science. [15]
Since that date I have known of but fourteen deaths
in the ranks of my about five thousand students. The
census since 1875 (the date of the first publication of
my work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
tures”) shows that longevity has increased. Daily letters [20]
inform me that a perusal of my volume is healing the
writers of chronic and acute diseases that had defied medi-
cal skill.
Surely the people of the Occident know that esoteric
magic and Oriental barbarisms will neither flavor Chris- [25]
tianity nor advance health and length of days.
Miracles are no infraction of God's laws; on the
contrary, they fulfil His laws; for they are the signs fol-
lowing Christianity, whereby matter is proven power-
less and subordinate to Mind. Christians, like students [30]
in mathematics, should be working up to those higher
rules of Life which Jesus taught and proved. Do we
[pg 030]
really understand the divine Principle of Christianity [1]
before we prove it, in at least some feeble demonstra-
tion thereof, according to Jesus' example in healing the
sick? Should we adopt the “simple addition” in Chris-
tian Science and doubt its higher rules, or despair of [5]
ultimately reaching them, even though failing at first to
demonstrate all the possibilities of Christianity?
St. John spiritually discerned and revealed the sum
total of transcendentalism. He saw the real earth and
heaven. They were spiritual, not material; and they [10]
were without pain, sin, or death. Death was not the
door to this heaven. The gates thereof he declared were
inlaid with pearl,—likening them to the priceless under-
standing of man's real existence, to be recognized here
and now. [15]
The great Way-shower illustrated Life unconfined, un-
contaminated, untrammelled, by matter. He proved the
superiority of Mind over the flesh, opened the door to
the captive, and enabled man to demonstrate the law of
Life, which St. Paul declares “hath made me free from [20]
the law of sin and death.”
The stale saying that Christian Science “is neither
Christian nor science!” is to-day the fossil of wisdom-
less wit, weakness, and superstition. “The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God.” [25]
Take courage, dear reader, for any seeming mysti-
cism surrounding realism is explained in the Scripture,
“There went up a mist from the earth [matter];” and
the mist of materialism will vanish as we approach spirit-
uality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in Christ's [30]
righteousness; bathe in the baptism of Spirit, and awake
in His likeness.
[pg 031]

Chapter III. Questions And Answers.

What do you consider to be mental malpractice? [1]

Mental malpractice is a bland denial of Truth,
and is the antipode of Christian Science. To
mentally argue in a manner that can disastrously
affect the happiness of a fellow-being—harm him [5]
morally, physically, or spiritually—breaks the Golden
Rule and subverts the scientific laws of being. This,
therefore, is not the use but the abuse of mental treat-
ment, and is mental malpractice. It is needless to
say that such a subversion of right is not scientific. Its [10]
claim to power is in proportion to the faith in evil, and
consequently to the lack of faith in good. Such false
faith finds no place in, and receives no aid from, the
Principle or the rules of Christian Science; for it denies
the grand verity of this Science, namely, that God, good, [15]
has all power.
This leaves the individual no alternative but to re-
linquish his faith in evil, or to argue against his own
convictions of good and so destroy his power to be or
to do good, because he has no faith in the omnipotence [20]
of God, good. He parts with his understanding of good,
in order to retain his faith in evil and so succeed with his
[pg 032]
wrong argument,—if indeed he desires success in this [1]
broad road to destruction.
How shall we demean ourselves towards the students
of disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's
remarks on Christ and Christmas? [5]
From this question, I infer that some of my students
seem not to know in what manner they should act towards
the students of false teachers, or such as have strayed
from the rules and divine Principle of Christian Science.
The query is abnormal, when “precept upon precept; [10]
line upon line” are to be found in the Scriptures, and in
my books, on this very subject.
In Mark, ninth chapter, commencing at the thirty-
third verse, you will find my views on this subject; love
alone is admissible towards friend and foe. My sym- [15]
pathies extend to the above-named class of students more
than to many others. If I had the time to talk with all
students of Christian Science, and correspond with them,
I would gladly do my best towards helping those un-
fortunate seekers after Truth whose teacher is straying [20]
from the straight and narrow path. But I have not mo-
ments enough in which to give to my own flock all the
time and attention that they need,—and charity must
begin at home.
Distinct denominational and social organizations and [25]
societies are at present necessary for the individual,
and for our Cause. But all people can and should be
just, merciful; they should never envy, elbow, slander,
hate, or try to injure, but always should try to bless their
fellow-mortals. [30]
To the query in regard to some clergyman's com-
[pg 033]
ments on my illustrated poem, I will say: It is the righteous [1]
prayer that avails with God. Whatever is wrong will
receive its own reward. The high priests of old caused
the crucifixion of even the great Master; and thereby
they lost, and he won, heaven. I love all ministers and [5]
ministries of Christ, Truth.
All clergymen may not understand the illustrations
in “Christ and Christmas;” or that these refer not to
personality, but present the type and shadow of Truth's
appearing in the womanhood as well as in the manhood [10]
of God, our divine Father and Mother.
Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be
healed by it?
This is a question that is being asked every day. It
has not proved impossible to heal those who, when they [15]
began treatment, had no faith whatever in the Science,
—other than to place themselves under my care, and
follow the directions given. Patients naturally gain con-
fidence in Christian Science as they recognize the help
they derive therefrom. [20]
What are the advantages of your system of healing, over
the ordinary methods of healing disease?
Healing by Christian Science has the following advantages:—
First: It does away with all material medicines, and [25]
recognizes the fact that, as mortal mind is the cause of
all “the ills that flesh is heir to,” the antidote for sickness,
as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind's
opposite,—the divine Mind.
Second: It is more effectual than drugs; curing where [30]
[pg 034]
these fail, and leaving none of the harmful “after effects” [1]
of these in the system; thus proving that metaphysics
is above physics.
Third: One who has been healed by Christian Sci-
ence is not only healed of the disease, but is improved [5]
morally. The body is governed by mind; and mortal
mind must be improved, before the body is renewed
and harmonious,—since the physique is simply thought
made manifest.
Is spiritualism or mesmerism included in Christian [10]
Science?
They are wholly apart from it. Christian Science is
based on divine Principle; whereas spiritualism, so far
as I understand it, is a mere speculative opinion and
human belief. If the departed were to communicate [15]
with us, we should see them as they were before death,
and have them with us; after death, they can no more
come to those they have left, than we, in our present state
of existence, can go to the departed or the adult can re-
turn to his boyhood. We may pass on to their state [20]
of existence, but they cannot return to ours. Man is
im-mortal, and there is not a moment when he ceases to
exist. All that are called “communications from spirits,”
lie within the realm of mortal thought on this present plane
of existence, and are the antipodes of Christian Science; [25]
the immortal and mortal are as direct opposites as light
and darkness.

Who is the Founder of mental healing?

The author of “Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures,” who discovered the Science of healing em- [30]
[pg 035]
bodied in her works. Years of practical proof, through [1]
homœopathy, revealed to her the fact that Mind, in-
stead of matter, is the Principle of pathology; and
subsequently her recovery, through the supremacy of
Mind over matter, from a severe casualty pronounced [5]
by the physicians incurable, sealed that proof with the
signet of Christian Science. In 1883, a million of peo-
ple acknowledge and attest the blessings of this mental
system of treating disease. Perhaps the following
words of her husband, the late Dr. Asa G. Eddy, [10]
afford the most concise, yet complete, summary of the
matter:—
“Mrs, Eddy's works are the outgrowths of her life.
I never knew so unselfish an individual.”
Will the book Science and Health, that you offer for sale [15]
at three dollars, teach its readers to heal the sick,—or is
one obliged to become a student under your personal in-
struction? And if one is obliged to study under you, of
what benefit is your book?
Why do we read the Bible, and then go to church to [20]
hear it expounded? Only because both are important.
Why do we read moral science, and then study it at
college?
You are benefited by reading Science and Health, but
it is greatly to your advantage to be taught its Science [25]
by the author of that work, who explains it in detail.
What is immortal Mind?
In reply, we refer you to “Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures,”2 Vol. I. page 14: “That which
[pg 036]
is erring, sinful, sick, and dying, termed material or [1]
mortal man, is neither God's man nor Mind; but to be
understood, we shall classify evil and error as mortal
mind, in contradistinction to good and Truth, or the
Mind which is immortal.” [5]

Do animals and beasts have a mind?

Beasts, as well as men, express Mind as their origin;
but they manifest less of Mind. The first and only
cause is the eternal Mind, which is God, and there is
but one God. The ferocious mind seen in the beast is [10]
mortal mind, which is harmful and proceeds not from
God; for His beast is the lion that lieth down with
the lamb. Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety,
are the animal qualities of sinning mortals; and the
beasts that have these propensities express the lower [15]
qualities of the so-called animal man; in other words,
the nature and quality of mortal mind,—not immortal
Mind.
What is the distinction between mortal mind and immortal
Mind? [20]
Mortal mind includes all evil, disease, and death;
also, all beliefs relative to the so-called material laws,
and all material objects, and the law of sin and death.
The Scripture says, “The carnal mind [in other words,
mortal mind] is enmity against God; for it is not sub- [25]
ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Mortal
mind is an illusion; as much in our waking moments
as in the dreams of sleep. The belief that intelligence,
Truth, and Love, are in matter and separate from God,
is an error; for there is no intelligent evil, and no power [30]
[pg 037]
besides God, good. God would not be omnipotent if [1]
there were in reality another mind creating or governing
man or the universe.
Immortal Mind is God; and this Mind is made
manifest in all thoughts and desires that draw man- [5]
kind toward purity, health, holiness, and the spiritual
facts of being.
Jesus recognized this relation so clearly that he said,
“I and my Father are one.” In proportion as we oppose
the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death, [10]
and recognize ourselves under the control of God,
spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the
animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those
words of Jesus, “Go ye into all the world ... heal the
sick.” [15]
Can your Science cure intemperance?
Christian Science lays the axe at the root of the tree.
Its antidote for all ills is God, the perfect Mind, which
corrects mortal thought, whence cometh all evil. God
can and does destroy the thought that leads to moral [20]
or physical death. Intemperance, impurity, sin of every
sort, is destroyed by Truth. The appetite for alcohol
yields to Science as directly and surely as do sickness
and sin.
Does Mrs. Eddy take patients? [25]
She now does not. Her time is wholly devoted to in-
struction, leaving to her students the work of healing;
which, at this hour, is in reality the least difficult of the
labor that Christian Science demands.
[pg 038]
Why do you charge for teaching Christian Science, when [1]
all the good we can do must be done freely?
When teaching imparts the ability to gain and main-
tain health, to heal and elevate man in every line of
life,—as this teaching certainly does,—is it un- [5]
reasonable to expect in return something to support
one's self and a Cause? If so, our whole system
of education, secular and religious, is at fault, and the
instructors and philanthropists in our land should ex-
pect no compensation. “If we have sown unto you [10]
spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your
carnal things?”
How happened you to establish a college to instruct in
metaphysics, when other institutions find little interest in
such a dry and abstract subject? [15]
Metaphysics, as taught by me at the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, is far from dry and abstract. It
is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical
application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten
and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics need- [20]
ful, indispensable. Teaching metaphysics at other col-
leges means, mainly, elaborating a man-made theory,
or some speculative view too vapory and hypothetical
for questions of practical import.
Is it necessary to study your Science in order to be healed [25]
by it and keep well?
It is not necessary to make each patient a student
in order to cure his present disease, if this is what
you mean. Were it so, the Science would be of less
[pg 039]
practical value. Many who apply for help are not [1]
prepared to take a course of instruction in Christian
Science.
To avoid being subject to disease, would require the
understanding of how you are healed. In 1885, this [5]
knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad
at this early date some grossly incorrect and false
teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such
beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim; [10]
whereas the Founder of genuine Christian Science has
been all her years in giving it birth.
Can you take care of yourself?
God giveth to every one this puissance; and I have
faith in His promise, “Lo, I am with you alway”— [15]
all the way. Unlike the M. D.'s, Christian Scientists
are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this
medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, ex-
haustless source they intend to fill the human mind with
enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump. [20]
There may be exceptional cases, where one Christian
Scientist who has more to meet than others needs support
at times; then, it is right to bear “one another's burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
In what way is a Christian Scientist an instrument by [25]
which God reaches others to heal them, and what most
obstructs the way?
A Christian, or a Christian Scientist, assumes no more
when claiming to work with God in healing the sick,
than in converting the sinner. Divine help is as neces-
[pg 040]
sary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Prin- [1]
ciple of healing demands such cooperation; but this
unison and its power would be arrested if one were to
mix material methods with the spiritual,—were to min-
gle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same pro- [5]
cess,—and thus serve “other gods.” Truth is as
effectual in destroying sickness as in the destruction
of sin.
It is often asked, “If Christian Science is the same
method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used, [10]
why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures
as did those in the first century of the Christian era?”
In some instances the students of Christian Science
equal the ancient prophets as healers. All true healing
is governed by, and demonstrated on, the same Princi- [15]
ple as theirs; namely, the action of the divine Spirit,
through the power of Truth to destroy error, discord
of whatever sort. The reason that the same results fol-
low not in every ease, is that the student does not in
every case possess sufficiently the Christ-spirit and its [20]
power to cast out the disease. The Founder of Chris-
tian Science teaches her students that they must possess
the spirit of Truth and Love, must gain the power
over sin in themselves, or they cannot be instantaneous
healers. [25]
In this Christian warfare the student or practitioner
has to master those elements of evil too common to other
minds. If it is hate that is holding the purpose to kill
his patient by mental means, it requires more divine
understanding to conquer this sin than to nullify either [30]
the disease itself or the ignorance by which one unin-
tentionally harms himself or another. An element of
[pg 041]
brute-force that only the cruel and evil can send forth, is [1]
given vent in the diabolical practice of one who, having
learned the power of liberated thought to do good, per-
verts it, and uses it to accomplish an evil purpose. This
mental malpractice would disgrace Mind-healing, were it [5]
not that God overrules it, and causes “the wrath of man”
to praise Him. It deprives those who practise it of the
power to heal, and destroys their own possibility of
progressing.
The honest student of Christian Science is purged [10]
through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in
the ennobling strife. The good fight must be fought by
those who keep the faith and finish their course. Mental
purgation must go on: it promotes spiritual growth,
scales the mountain of human endeavor, and gains the [15]
summit in Science that otherwise could not be reached,
—where the struggle with sin is forever done.
Can all classes of disease be healed by your method?
We answer, Yes. Mind is the architect that builds
its own idea, and produces all harmony that appears. [20]
There is no other healer in the case. If mortal mind,
through the action of fear, manifests inflammation and a
belief of chronic or acute disease, by removing the cause
in that so-called mind the effect or disease will disappear
and health will be restored; for health, alias harmony, [25]
is the normal manifestation of man in Science. The
divine Principle which governs the universe, including
man, if demonstrated, is sufficient for all emergencies.
But the practitioner may not always prove equal to
bringing out the result of the Principle that he knows to [30]
be true.
[pg 042]
After the change called death takes place, do we meet [1]
those gone before?—or does life continue in thought only
as in a dream?
Man is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity,
by passing through the belief called death. After the [5]
momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this
mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the in-
dividual has but passed through a moment of extreme
mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as
material as before. Science and Health clearly states [10]
that spiritualization of thought is not attained by the death
of the body, but by a conscious union with God. When
we shall have passed the ordeal called death, or destroyed
this last enemy, and shall have come upon the same plane
of conscious existence with those gone before, then we [15]
shall be able to communicate with and to recognize them.
If, before the change whereby we meet the dear de-
parted, our life-work proves to have been well done, we
shall not have to repeat it; but our joys and means of ad-
vancing will be proportionately increased. [20]
The difference between a belief of material existence
and the spiritual fact of Life is, that the former is a dream
and unreal, while the latter is real and eternal. Only
as we understand God, and learn that good, not evil,
lives and is immortal, that immortality exists only in [25]
spiritual perfection, shall we drop our false sense of Life
in sin or sense material, and recognize a better state of
existence.
Can I be treated without being present during treatment?
Mind is not confined to limits; and nothing but our [30]
own false admissions prevent us from demonstrating this
[pg 043]
great fact. Christian Science, recognizing the capabili- [1]
ties of Mind to act of itself, and independent of matter,
enables one to heal cases without even having seen the
individual,—or simply after having been made ac-
quainted with the mental condition of the patient. [5]
Do all who at present claim to be teaching Christian
Science, teach it correctly?
By no means: Christian Science is not sufficiently un-
derstood for that. The student of this Science who under-
stands it best, is the one least likely to pour into other [10]
minds a trifling sense of it as being adequate to make safe
and successful practitioners. The simple sense one gains
of this Science through careful, unbiased, contemplative
reading of my books, is far more advantageous to the
sick and to the learner than is or can be the spurious [15]
teaching of those who are spiritually unqualified. The
sad fact at this early writing is, that the letter is gained
sooner than the spirit of Christian Science: time is re-
quired thoroughly to qualify students for the great ordeal
of this century. [20]
If one student tries to undermine another, such sinister
rivalry does a vast amount of injury to the Cause. To
fill one's pocket at the expense of his conscience, or to
build on the downfall of others, incapacitates one to
practise or teach Christian Science. The occasional tem- [25]
porary success of such an one is owing, in part, to the im-
possibility for those unacquainted with the mighty Truth
of Christian Science to recognize, as such, the barefaced
errors that are taught—and the damaging effects these
leave on the practice of the learner, on the Cause, and [30]
on the health of the community.
[pg 044]
Honest students speak the truth “according to the [1]
pattern showed to thee in the mount,” and live it: these
are not working for emoluments, and may profitably
teach people, who are ready to investigate this subject,
the rudiments of Christian Science. [5]
Can Christian Science cure acute cases where there is
necessity for immediate relief, as in membranous croup?
The remedial power of Christian Science is positive,
and its application direct. It cannot fail to heal in
every case of disease, when conducted by one who un- [10]
derstands this Science sufficiently to demonstrate its
highest possibilities.
If I have the toothache, and nothing stops it until I
have the tooth extracted, and then the pain ceases, has
the mind, or extracting, or both, caused the pain to [15]
cease?
What you thought was pain in the bone or nerve, could
only have been a belief of pain in matter; for matter
has no sensation. It was a state of mortal thought made
manifest in the flesh. You call this body matter, when [20]
awake, or when asleep in a dream. That matter can re-
report pain, or that mind is in matter, reporting sensa-
tions, is but a dream at all times. You believed that if
the tooth were extracted, the pain would cease: this de-
mand of mortal thought once met, your belief assumed [25]
a new form, and said, There is no more pain. When
your belief in pain ceases, the pain stops; for matter
has no intelligence of its own. By applying this men-
tal remedy or antidote directly to your belief, you scien-
[pg 045]
tifically prove the fact that Mind is supreme. This is not [1]
done by will-power, for that is not Science but mesmerism.
The full understanding that God is Mind, and that mat-
ter is but a belief, enables you to control pain. Chris-
tian Science, by means of its Principle of metaphysical [5]
healing, is able to do more than to heal a toothache;
although its power to allay fear, prevent inflammation,
and destroy the necessity for ether—thereby avoiding
the fatal results that frequently follow the use of that
drug—render this Science invaluable in the practice [10]
of dentistry.
Can an atheist or a profane man be cured by metaphysics,
or Christian Science?
The moral status of the man demands the remedy of
Truth more in this than in most cases; therefore, under [15]
the deific law that supply invariably meets demand, this
Science is effectual in treating moral ailments. Sin is
not the master of divine Science, but vice versa; and
when Science in a single instance decides the conflict,
the patient is better both morally and physically. [20]
If God made all that was made, and it was good, where
did evil originate?
It never originated or existed as an entity. It is but a
false belief; even the belief that God is not what the
Scriptures imply Him to be, All-in-all, but that there [25]
is an opposite intelligence or mind termed evil. This
error of belief is idolatry, having “other gods before me.”
In John i. 3 we read, “All things were made by Him;
and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
[pg 046]
The admission of the reality of evil perpetuates the belief [1]
or faith in evil. The Scriptures declare, “To whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are.”
The leading self-evident proposition of Christian Science
is: good being real, evil, good's opposite, is unreal. This [5]
truism needs only to be tested scientifically to be found
true, and adapted to destroy the appearance of evil to an
extent beyond the power of any doctrine previously
entertained.
Do you teach that you are equal with God? [10]
A reader of my writings would not present this ques-
tion. There are no such indications in the premises or
conclusions of Christian Science, and such a misconcep-
tion of Truth is not scientific. Man is not equal with
his Maker; that which is formed is not cause, but effect, [15]
and has no power underived from its creator. It is pos-
sible, and it is man's duty, so to throw the weight of his
thoughts and acts on the side of Truth, that he be ever
found in the scale with his creator; not weighing
equally with Him, but comprehending at every point, in [20]
divine Science, the full significance of what the apostle
meant by the declaration, “The Spirit itself beareth wit-
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ.” In Science, man represents his divine Prin- [25]
ciple,—the Life and Love that are God,—even as the
idea of sound, in tones, represents harmony; but thought
has not yet wholly attained unto the Science of being,
wherein man is perfect even as the Father, his divine
Principle, is perfect. [30]
[pg 047]
How can I believe that there is no such thing as matter, [1]
when I weigh over two hundred pounds and carry about
this weight daily?
By learning that matter is but manifest mortal mind.
You entertain an adipose belief of yourself as substance; [5]
whereas, substance means more than matter: it is the
glory and permanence of Spirit: it is that which is
hoped for but unseen, that which the material senses
cannot take in. Have you never been so preoccupied in
thought when moving your body, that you did this with- [10]
out consciousness of its weight? If never in your waking
hours, you have been in your night-dreams; and these
tend to elucidate your day-dream, or the mythical nature
of matter, and the possibilities of mind when let loose
from its own beliefs. In sleep, a sense of the body ac- [15]
companies thought with less impediment than when
awake, which is the truer sense of being. In Science,
body is the servant of Mind, not its master: Mind is
supreme. Science reverses the evidence of material
sense with the spiritual sense that God, Spirit, is the only [20]
substance; and that man, His image and likeness, is
spiritual, not material. This great Truth does not de-
stroy but substantiates man's identity,—together with
his immortality and preexistence, or his spiritual co-
existence with his Maker. That which has a beginning [25]
must have an ending.
What should one conclude as to Professor Carpenter's
exhibitions of mesmerism?
That largely depends upon what one accepts as either
useful or true. I have no knowledge of mesmerism, [30]
[pg 048]
practically or theoretically, save as I measure its demon- [1]
strations as a false belief, and avoid all that works ill. If
mesmerism has the power attributed to it by the gentle-
man referred to, it should neither be taught nor practised,
but should be conscientiously condemned. One thing [5]
is quite apparent; namely, that its so-called power is
despotic, and Mr. Carpenter deserves praise for his public
exposure of it. If such be its power, I am opposed to it,
as to every form of error,—whether of ignorance or
fanaticism, prompted by money-making or malice. It [10]
is enough for me to know that animal magnetism is neither
of God nor Science.
It is alleged that at one of his recent lectures in Bos-
ton Mr. Carpenter made a man drunk on water, and
then informed his audience that he could produce the [15]
effect of alcohol, or of any drug, on the human system,
through the action of mind alone. This honest declara-
tion as to the animus of animal magnetism and the pos-
sible purpose to which it can be devoted, has, we trust,
been made in season to open the eyes of the people to the [20]
hidden nature of some tragic events and sudden deaths
at this period.
Was ever a person made insane by studying meta-
physics?
Such an occurrence would be impossible, for the [25]
proper study of Mind-healing would cure the insane.
That persons have gone away from the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College “made insane by Mrs. Eddy's
teachings,” like a hundred other stories, is a baseless
fabrication offered solely to injure her or her school. [30]
The enemy is trying to make capital out of the follow-
[pg 049]
ing case. A young lady entered the College class who, [1]
I quickly saw, had a tendency to monomania, and re-
quested her to withdraw before its close. We are cred-
ibly informed that, before entering the College, this
young lady had manifested some mental unsoundness, [5]
and have no doubt she could have been restored by
Christian Science treatment. Her friends employed a
homœopathist, who had the skill and honor to state, as his
opinion given to her friends, that “Mrs. Eddy's teach-
ings had not produced insanity.” This is the only case [10]
that could be distorted into the claim of insanity ever
having occurred in a class of Mrs. Eddy's; while ac-
knowledged and notable cases of insanity have been
cured in her class.
If all that is mortal is a dream or error, is not [15]
our capacity for formulating a dream, real; is it not
God-made; and if God-made, can it be wrong, sinful, or
an error?
The spirit of Truth leads into all truth, and enables
man to discern between the real and the unreal. Enter- [20]
taining the common belief in the opposite of goodness,
and that evil is as real as good, opposes the leadings of
the divine Spirit that are helping man Godward: it pre-
vents a recognition of the nothingness of the dream, or
belief, that Mind is in matter, intelligence in non-intel- [25]
ligence, sin, and death. This belief presupposes not
only a power opposed to God, and that God is not All-
in-all, as the Scriptures imply Him to be, but that the
capacity to err proceeds from God.
That God is Truth, the Scriptures aver; that Truth [30]
never created error, or such a capacity, is self-evident;
[pg 050]
that God made all that was made, is again Scriptural; [1]
therefore your answer is, that error is an illusion of
mortals; that God is not its author, and it cannot be
real.
Does Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures [5]
explain the entire method of metaphysical healing, or is
there a secret back of what is contained in that book, as
some say?
“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”
is a complete textbook of Christian Science; and its [10]
metaphysical method of healing is as lucid in presenta-
tion as can be possible, under the necessity to express
the metaphysical in physical terms. There is absolutely
no additional secret outside of its teachings, or that gives
one the power to heal; but it is essential that the student [15]
gain the spiritual understanding of the contents of this
book, in order to heal.
Do you believe in change of heart?
We do believe, and understand—which is more—
that there must be a change from human affections, de- [20]
sires, and aims, to the divine standard, “Be ye therefore
perfect;” also, that there must be a change from the be-
lief that the heart is matter and sustains life, to the
understanding that God is our Life, that we exist in
Mind, live thereby, and have being. This change of [25]
heart would deliver man from heart-disease, and ad-
vance Christianity a hundredfold. The human affections
need to be changed from self to benevolence and love
for God and man; changed to having but one God and
loving Him supremely, and helping our brother man. [30]
[pg 051]
This change of heart is essential to Christianity, and [1]
will have its effect physically as well as spiritually,
healing disease. Burnt offerings and drugs, God does
not require.
Is a belief of nervousness, accompanied by great mental [5]
depression, mesmerism?
All mesmerism is of one of three kinds; namely, the
ignorant, the fraudulent, or the malicious workings of
error or mortal mind. We have not the particulars of
the case to which you may refer, and for this reason can- [10]
not answer your question professionally.
How can I govern a child metaphysically? Doesn't the
use of the rod teach him life in matter?
The use of the rod is virtually a declaration to the
child's mind that sensation belongs to matter. Motives [15]
govern acts, and Mind governs man. If you make clear
to the child's thought the right motives for action, and
cause him to love them, they will lead him aright: if you
educate him to love God, good, and obey the Golden
Rule, he will love and obey you without your having to [20]
resort to corporeal punishment.
"When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath
Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze
The whole dark pile of human mockeries;
Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth, [25]
And starting fresh, as from a second birth,
Man in the sunshine of the world's new spring,
Shall walk transparent like some holy thing.
Are both prayer and drugs necessary to heal?
The apostle James said, “Ye ask, and receive not, [30]
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
[pg 052]
lusts.” This text may refer to such as seek the material [1]
to aid the spiritual, and take drugs to support God's
power to heal them. It is difficult to say how much
one can do for himself, whose faith is divided be-
tween catnip and Christ; but not so difficult to know [5]
that if he were to serve one master, he could do vastly
more. Whosoever understands the power of Spirit, has
no doubt of God's power,—even the might of Truth,—
to heal, through divine Science, beyond all human means
and methods. [10]
What do you think of marriage?
That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and
occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of
many definitions. It sometimes presents the most
wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, [15]
it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift
mortals higher.
If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed,
by death,—if one gets tired of it, why not commit
suicide? [20]
Man's existence is a problem to be wrought in divine
Science. What progress would a student of science
make, if, when tired of mathematics or failing to dem-
onstrate one rule readily, he should attempt to work
out a rule farther on and more difficult—and this, [25]
because the first rule was not easily demonstrated? In
that case he would be obliged to turn back and work
out the previous example, before solving the advanced
problem. Mortals have the sum of being to work out,
and up, to its spiritual standpoint. They must work [30]
[pg 053]
out of this dream or false claim of sensation and life [1]
in matter, and up to the spiritual realities of existence,
before this false claim can be wholly dispelled. Com-
mitting suicide to dodge the question is not working
it out. The error of supposed life and intelligence in [5]
matter, is dissolved only as we master error with Truth.
Not through sin or suicide, but by overcoming tempta-
tion and sin, shall we escape the weariness and wicked-
ness of mortal existence, and gain heaven, the harmony
of being. [10]
Do you sometimes find it advisable to use medicine to
assist in producing a cure, when it is difficult to start the
patient's recovery?
You only weaken your power to heal through Mind,
by any compromise with matter; which is virtually ac- [15]
knowledging that under difficulties the former is not equal
to the latter. He that resorts to physics, seeks what is
below instead of above the standard of metaphysics;
showing his ignorance of the meaning of the term and
of Christian Science. [20]
If Christian Science is the same as Jesus taught, why is
it not more simple, so that all can readily understand it?
The teachings of Jesus were simple; and yet he found
it difficult to make the rulers understand, because of
their great lack of spirituality. Christian Science is [25]
simple, and readily understood by the children; only
the thought educated away from it finds it abstract or
difficult to perceive. Its seeming abstraction is the
mystery of godliness; and godliness is simple to the
godly; but to the unspiritual, the ungodly, it is dark [30]
[pg 054]
and difficult. The carnal mind cannot discern spiritual [1]
things.
Has Mrs. Eddy lost her power to heal?
Has the sun forgotten to shine, and the planets to
revolve around it? Who is it that discovered, dem- [5]
onstrated, and teaches Christian Science? That one,
whoever it be, does understand something of what can-
not be lost. Thousands in the field of metaphysical
healing, whose lives are worthy testimonials, are her
students, and they bear witness to this fact. Instead [10]
of losing her power to heal, she is demonstrating the
power of Christian Science over all obstacles that envy
and malice would fling in her path. The reading of her
book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,”
is curing hundreds at this very time; and the sick, un- [15]
asked, are testifying thereto.
Must I study your Science in order to keep well all my
life? I was healed of a chronic trouble after one month's
treatment by one of your students.
When once you are healed by Science, there is no rea- [20]
son why you should be liable to a return of the disease
that you were healed of. But not to be subject again to
any disease whatsoever, would require an understanding
of the Science by which you were healed.
Because none of your students have been able to perform [25]
as great miracles in healing as Jesus and his disciples did,
does it not suggest the possibility that they do not heal on
the same basis?
You would not ask the pupil in simple equations to
solve a problem involving logarithms; and then, because [30]
[pg 055]
he failed to get the right answer, condemn the pupil [1]
and the science of numbers. The simplest problem
in Christian Science is healing the sick, and the least
understanding and demonstration thereof prove all its
possibilities. The ability to demonstrate to the extent [5]
that Jesus did, will come when the student possesses as
much of the divine Spirit as he shared, and utilizes its
power to overcome sin.
Opposite to good, is the universal claim of evil that
seeks the proportions of good. There may be those [10]
who, having learned the power of the unspoken thought,
use it to harm rather than to heal, and who are using
that power against Christian Scientists. This giant sin
is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of in Matt.
xii. 31, 32. [15]
Is Christian Science based on the facts of both Spirit
and matter?
Christian Science is based on the facts of Spirit and
its forms and representations, but these facts are the
direct antipodes of the so-called facts of matter; and [20]
the eternal verities of Spirit assert themselves over their
opposite, or matter, in the final destruction of all that
is unlike Spirit.
Man knows that he can have one God only, when
he regards God as the only Mind, Life, and substance. [25]
If God is Spirit, as the Scriptures declare, and All-in-
all, matter is mythology, and its laws are mortal
beliefs.
If Mind is in matter and beneath a skull bone, it is
in something unlike Him; hence it is either a godless and [30]
material Mind, or it is God in matter,—which are theo-
[pg 056]
ries of agnosticism and pantheism, the very antipodes [1]
of Christian Science
What is organic life?
Life is inorganic, infinite Spirit; if Life, or Spirit,
were organic, disorganization would destroy Spirit and [5]
annihilate man.
If Mind is not substance, form, and tangibility, God
is substanceless; for the substance of Spirit is divine
Mind. Life is God, the only creator, and Life is im-
mortal Mind, not matter. [10]
Every indication of matter's constituting life is mortal,
the direct opposite of immortal Life, and infringes the
rights of Spirit. Then, to conclude that Spirit consti-
tutes or ever has constituted laws to that effect, is a mor-
tal error, a human conception opposed to the divine [15]
government. Mind and matter mingling in perpetual
warfare is a kingdom divided against itself, that shall be
brought to desolation. The final destruction of this
false belief in matter will appear at the full revelation
of Spirit,—one God, and the brotherhood of man. [20]
Organic life is an error of statement that Truth destroys.
The Science of Life needs only to be understood; its dem-
onstration proves the correctness of my statements, and
brings blessings infinite.
Why did God command, Be fruitful, and multiply, [25]
and replenish the earth, if all minds (men) have existed
from the beginning, and have had successive stages of
existence to the present time?
Your question implies that Spirit, which first spirit-
ually created the universe, including man, created man [30]
[pg 057]
over again materially; and, by the aid of mankind, all [1]
was later made which He had made. If the first record
is true, what evidence have you—apart from the evi-
dence of that which you admit cannot discern spiritual
things—of any other creation? The creative “Us” [5]
made all, and Mind was the creator. Man originated
not from dust, materially, but from Spirit, spiritually.
This work had been done; the true creation was finished,
and its spiritual Science is alluded to in the first chapter
of Genesis. [10]
Jesus said of error, “That thou doest, do quickly.”
By the law of opposites, after the truth of man had been
demonstrated, the postulate of error must appear. That
this addendum was untrue, is seen when Truth, God,
denounced it, and said: “I will greatly multiply thy [15]
sorrow.” “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.” The opposite error said, “I am true,” and
declared, “God doth know ... that your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods,” creators. This was false;
and the Lord God never said it. This history of a falsity [20]
must be told in the name of Truth, or it would have no
seeming. The Science of creation is the universe with man
created spiritually. The false sense and error of creation
is the sense of man and the universe created materially.
Why does the record make man a creation of the sixth [25]
and last day, if he was coexistent with God?
In its genesis, the Science of creation is stated in mathe-
matical order, beginning with the lowest form and ascend-
ing the scale of being up to man. But all that really is,
always was and forever is; for it existed in and of the Mind [30]
that is God, wherein man is foremost.
[pg 058]
If one has died of consumption, and he has no remem- [1]
brance of that disease or dream, does that disease have any
more power over him?
Waking from a dream, one learns its unreality; then
it has no power over one. Waking from the dream of [5]
death, proves to him who thought he died that it was a
dream, and that he did not die; then he learns that con-
sumption did not kill him. When the belief in the power
of disease is destroyed, disease cannot return.
How does Mrs. Eddy know that she has read and studied [10]
correctly, if one must deny the evidences of the senses?
She had to use her eyes to read.
Jesus said, “Having eyes, see ye not?” I read the in-
spired page through a higher than mortal sense. As
matter, the eye cannot see; and as mortal mind, it is a [15]
belief that sees. I may read the Scriptures through a
belief of eyesight; but I must spiritually understand
them to interpret their Science.
Does the theology of Christian Science aid its heal-
ing? [20]
Without its theology there is no mental science, no
order that proceeds from God. All Science is divine,
not human, in origin and demonstration. If God does
not govern the action of man, it is inharmonious: if He
does govern it, the action is Science. Take away the [25]
theology of mental healing and you take away its science,
leaving it a human “mind-cure,” nothing more nor less,
—even one human mind governing another; by which,
if you agree that God is Mind, you admit that there is
[pg 059]
more than one government and God. Having no true [1]
sense of the healing theology of Mind, you can neither
understand nor demonstrate its Science, and will prac-
tise your belief of it in the name of Truth. This is the
mortal “mind-cure” that produces the effect of mes- [5]
merism. It is using the power of human will, instead
of the divine power understood, as in Christian Science;
and without this Science there had better be no “mind-
cure,”—in which the last state of patients is worse than
the first. [10]
Is it wrong to pray for the recovery of the sick?
Not if we pray Scripturally, with the understanding
that God has given all things to those who love Him;
but pleading with infinite Love to love us, or to restore
health and harmony, and then to admit that it has been [15]
lost under His government, is the prayer of doubt and
mortal belief that is unavailing in divine Science.
Is not all argument mind over mind?
The Scriptures refer to God as saying, “Come now, and
let us reason together.” There is but one right Mind, and [20]
that one should and does govern man. Any copartnership
with that Mind is impossible; and the only benefit in
speaking often one to another, arises from the success that
one individual has with another in leading his thoughts
away from the human mind or body, and guiding them [25]
with Truth. That individual is the best healer who as-
serts himself the least, and thus becomes a transparency
for the divine Mind, who is the only physician; the divine
Mind is the scientific healer.
[pg 060]
How can you believe there is no sin, and that God does [1]
not recognize any, when He sent His Son to save from
sin, and the Bible is addressed to sinners? How can you
believe there is no sickness, when Jesus came healing the
sick? [5]
To regard sin, disease, and death with less deference,
and only as the woeful unrealities of being, is the only
way to destroy them; Christian Science is proving this by
healing cases of disease and sin after all other means have
failed. The Nazarene Prophet could make the unreality [10]
of both apparent in a moment.
Does it not limit the power of Mind to deny the possi-
bility of communion with departed friends—dead only in
belief?
Does it limit the power of Mind to say that addition [15]
is not subtraction in mathematics? The Science of Mind
reveals the impossibility of two individual sleepers, in
different phases of thought, communicating, even if touch-
ing each other corporeally; or for one who sleeps to
communicate with another who is awake. Mind's possi- [20]
bilities are not lessened by being confined and conformed
to the Science of being.
If mortal mind and body are myths, what is the con-
nection between them and real identity, and why are there
as many identities as mortal bodies? [25]
Evil in the beginning claimed the power, wisdom, and
utility of good; and every creation or idea of Spirit has
its counterfeit in some matter belief. Every material be-
lief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals
are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that ma- [30]
[pg 061]
terial belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be [1]
found the type and representative of verities priceless,
eternal, and just at hand.
The education of the future will be instruction, in spir-
itual Science, against the material symbolic counterfeit [5]
sciences. All the knowledge and vain strivings of mortal
mind, that lead to death,—even when aping the wisdom
and magnitude of immortal Mind,—will be swallowed
up by the reality and omnipotence of Truth over error,
and of Life over death. [10]
Dear Mrs. Eddy:—In the October Journal I read
the following: “But the real man, who was created in the
image of God, does not commit sin.” What then does sin?
What commits theft? Or who does murder? For instance,
the man is held responsible for the crime; for I went once [15]
to a place where a man was said to be “hanged for mur-
der”—and certainly I saw him, or his effigy, dangling
at the end of a rope. This “man” was held responsible
for the ‘sin.’ ”
What sins? [20]
According to the Word, man is the image and likeness
of God. Does God's essential likeness sin, or dangle at
the end of a rope? If not, what does? A culprit, a sinner,
—anything but a man! Then, what is a sinner? A
mortal; but man is immortal. [25]
Again: mortals are the embodiments (or bodies, if
you please) of error, not of Truth; of sickness, sin, and
death. Naming these His embodiment, can neither make
them so nor overthrow the logic that man is God's like-
ness. Mortals seem very material; man in the likeness [30]
[pg 062]
of Spirit is spiritual. Holding the right idea of man in my [1]
mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individ-
uality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image
of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more
improve health or morals, than holding in thought the [5]
form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a
landscape.
Man is seen only in the true likeness of his Maker.
Believing a lie veils the truth from our vision; even as
in mathematics, in summing up positive and negative [10]
quantities, the negative quantity offsets an equal positive
quantity, making the aggregate positive, or true quantity,
by that much, less available.
Why do Christian Scientists hold that their theology is
essential to heal the sick, when the mind-cure claims to heal [15]
without it?
The theology of Christian Science is Truth; opposed
to which is the error of sickness, sin, and death, that
Truth destroys.
A “mind-cure” is a matter-cure. An adherent to this [20]
method honestly acknowledges this fact in her work
entitled “Mind-cure on a Material Basis.” In that
work the author grapples with Christian Science, attempts
to solve its divine Principle by the rule of human mind,
fails, and ends in a parody on this Science which is amus- [25]
ing to astute readers,—especially when she tells them
that she is practising this Science.
The theology of Christian Science is based on the action
of the divine Mind over the human mind and body;
whereas, “mind-cure” rests on the notion that the human [30]
mind can cure its own disease, or that which it causes,
[pg 063]
and the sickness of matter,—which is infidel in the one [1]
case, and anomalous in the other. It was said of old by
Truth-traducers, that Jesus healed through Beelzebub;
but the claim that one erring mind cures another one was
at first gotten up to hinder his benign influence and to hide [5]
his divine power.
Our Master understood that Life, Truth, Love are the
triune Principle of all pure theology; also, that this divine
trinity is one infinite remedy for the opposite triad, sick-
ness, sin, and death. [10]
If there is no sin, why did Jesus come to save sinners?
If there is no reality in sickness, why does a Chris-
tian Scientist go to the bedside and address himself to
the healing of disease, on the basis of its unreality?
Jesus came to seek and to save such as believe in the [15]
reality of the unreal; to save them from this false belief;
that they might lay hold of eternal Life, the great reality
that concerns man, and understand the final fact,—that
God is omnipotent and omnipresent; yea, “that the Lord
He is God; there is none else beside Him,” as the Scrip- [20]
tures declare.
If Christ was God, why did Jesus cry out, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?
Even as the struggling heart, reaching toward a higher
goal, appeals to its hope and faith, Why failest thou [25]
me? Jesus as the son of man was human: Christ as
the Son of God was divine. This divinity was reaching
humanity through the crucifixion of the human,—that
momentous demonstration of God, in which Spirit proved
its supremacy over matter. Jesus assumed for mortals the [30]
[pg 064]
weakness of flesh, that Spirit might be found “All-in-all.” [1]
Hence, the human cry which voiced that struggle;
thence, the way he made for mortals' escape. Our
Master bore the cross to show his power over death;
then relinquished his earth-task of teaching and dem- [5]
onstrating the nothingness of sickness, sin, and death,
and rose to his native estate, man's indestructible eternal
life in God.
What can prospective students of the College take for
preliminary studies? Do you regard the study of litera- [10]
ture and languages as objectionable?
Persons contemplating a course at the Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, can prepare for it through no
books except the Bible, and “Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures.” Man-made theories are nar- [15]
row, else extravagant, and are always materialistic.
The ethics which guide thought spiritually must bene-
fit every one; for the only philosophy and religion that
afford instruction are those which deal with facts and
resist speculative opinions and fables. [20]
Works on science are profitable; for science is not
human. It is spiritual, and not material. Literature
and languages, to a limited extent, are aids to a student
of the Bible and of Christian Science.
Is it possible to know why we are put into this condition [25]
of mortality?
It is quite as possible to know wherefore man is thus
conditioned, as to be certain that he is in a state of
mortality. The only evidence of the existence of a mor-
tal man, or of a material state and universe, is gathered [30]
[pg 065]
from the five personal senses. This delusive evidence, [1]
Science has dethroned by repeated proofs of its falsity.
We have no more proof of human discord,—sin,
sickness, disease, or death,—than we have that the
earth's surface is flat, and her motions imaginary. If [5]
man's ipse dixit as to the stellar system is correct, this
is because Science is true, and the evidence of the senses
is false. Then why not submit to the affirmations of
Science concerning the greater subject of human weal
and woe? Every question between Truth and error, [10]
Science must and will decide. Left to the decision of
Science, your query concerns a negative which the posi-
tive Truth destroys; for God's universe and man are
immortal. We must not consider the false side of exist-
ence in order to gain the true solution of Life and its [15]
great realities.
Have you changed your instructions as to the right way
of treating disease?
I have not; and this important fact must be, and al-
ready is, apprehended by those who understand my in- [20]
structions on this question. Christian Science demands
both law and gospel, in order to demonstrate healing,
and I have taught them both in its demonstration, and
with signs following. They are a unit in restoring the
equipoise of mind and body, and balancing man's ac- [25]
count with his Maker. The sequence proves that strict
adherence to one is inadequate to compensate for the
absence of the other, since both constitute the divine law
of healing.
The Jewish religion demands that “whoso sheddeth [30]
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” But this
[pg 066]
law is not infallible in wisdom; and obedience thereto [1]
may be found faulty, since false testimony or mistaken
evidence may cause the innocent to suffer for the guilty.
Hence the gospel that fulfils the law in righteousness,
the genius whereof is displayed in the surprising wisdom [5]
of these words of the New Testament: “Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” No possible
injustice lurks in this mandate, and no human mis-
judgment can pervert it; for the offender alone suffers,
and always according to divine decree. This sacred, [10]
solid precept is verified in all directions in Mind-
healing, and is supported in the Scripture by parallel
proof.
The law and gospel of Truth and Love teach, through
divine Science, that sin is identical with suffering, and [15]
that suffering is the lighter affliction. To reach the sum-
mit of Science, whence to discern God's perfect ways
and means, the material sense must be controlled by
the higher spiritual sense, and Truth be enthroned,
while “we look not at the things which are seen, but at [20]
the things which are not seen.”
Cynical critics misjudge my meaning as to the sci-
entific treatment of the sick. Disease that is superin-
duced by sin is not healed like the more physical
ailment. The beginner in sin-healing must know this, or [25]
he never can reach the Science of Mind-healing, and
so “overcome evil with good.” Error in premise is met
with error in practice; yea, it is “the blind leading the
blind.” Ignorance of the cause of disease can neither
remove that cause nor its effect. [30]
I endeavor to accommodate my instructions to the
present capability of the learner, and to support the
[pg 067]
liberated thought until its altitude reaches beyond the [1]
mere alphabet of Mind-healing. Above physical wants,
lie the higher claims of the law and gospel of healing.
First is the law, which saith:—
“Thou shalt not commit adultery;” in other words, [5]
thou shalt not adulterate Life, Truth, or Love,—men-
tally, morally, or physically. “Thou shalt not steal;”
that is, thou shalt not rob man of money, which is but
trash, compared with his rights of mind and character.
“Thou shalt not kill;” that is, thou shalt not strike at the [10]
eternal sense of Life with a malicious aim, but shalt
know that by doing thus thine own sense of Life shall be
forfeited. “Thou shalt not bear false witness;” that is,
thou shalt not utter a lie, either mentally or audibly, nor
cause it to be thought. Obedience to these command- [15]
ments is indispensable to health, happiness, and length
of days.
The gospel of healing demonstrates the law of Love.
Justice uncovers sin of every sort; and mercy demands
that if you see the danger menacing others, you shall, [20]
Deo volente, inform them thereof. Only thus is the right
practice of Mind-healing achieved, and the wrong prac-
tice discerned, disarmed, and destroyed.
Do you believe in translation?
If your question refers to language, whereby one ex- [25]
presses the sense of words in one language by equiva-
lent words in another, I do. If you refer to the removal
of a person to heaven, without his subjection to death,
I modify my affirmative answer. I believe in this
removal being possible after all the footsteps requisite [30]
have been taken up to the very throne, up to the
[pg 068]
spiritual sense and fact of divine substance, intelligence, [1]
Life, and Love. This translation is not the work of mo-
ments; it requires both time and eternity. It means more
than mere disappearance to the human sense; it must
include also man's changed appearance and diviner form [5]
visible to those beholding him here.
The Rev. —— said in a sermon: A true Christian
would protest against metaphysical healing being called
Christian Science. He also maintained that pain and
disease are not illusions but realities; and that it is not [10]
Christian to believe they are illusions. Is this so?
It is unchristian to believe that pain and sickness are
anything but illusions. My proof of this is, that the
penalty for believing in their reality is the very pain and
disease. Jesus cast out a devil, and the dumb spake; [15]
hence it is right to know that the works of Satan are the
illusion and error which Truth casts out.
Does the gentleman above mentioned know the
meaning of divine metaphysics, or of metaphysical
theology? [20]
According to Webster, metaphysics is defined thus:
“The science of the conceptions and relations which are
necessary to thought and knowledge; science of the
mind.” Worcester defines it as “the philosophy of mind,
as distinguished from that of matter; a science of which [25]
the object is to explain the principles and causes of
all things existing,” Brande calls metaphysics “the
science which regards the ultimate grounds of being, as
distinguished from its phenomenal modifications.” “A
speculative science, which soars beyond the bounds of [30]
experience,” is a further definition.
[pg 069]
Divine metaphysics is that which treats of the exist- [1]
ence of God, His essence, relations, and attributes. A
sneer at metaphysics is a scoff at Deity; at His goodness,
mercy, and might.
Christian Science is the unfolding of true metaphysics; [5]
that is, of Mind, or God, and His attributes. Science rests
on Principle and demonstration. The Principle of Chris-
tian Science is divine. Its rule is, that man shall utilize
the divine power.
In Genesis i. 26, we read: “Let us make man in [10]
our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air.”
I was once called to visit a sick man to whom the
regular physicians had given three doses of Croton [15]
oil, and then had left him to die. Upon my arrival I
found him barely alive, and in terrible agony. In one
hour he was well, and the next day he attended to his
business. I removed the stoppage, healed him of en-
teritis, and neutralized the bad effects of the poison- [20]
ous oil. His physicians had failed even to move his
bowels,—though the wonder was, with the means
used in their effort to accomplish this result, that
they had not quite killed him. According to their
diagnosis, the exciting cause of the inflammation and [25]
stoppage was—eating smoked herring. The man is
living yet; and I will send his address to any one
who may wish to apply to him for information about
his case.
Now comes the question: Had that sick man dominion [30]
over the fish in his stomach?
His want of control over “the fish of the sea” must
[pg 070]
have been an illusion, or else the Scriptures misstate [1]
man's power. That the Bible is true I believe, not
only, but I demonstrated its truth when I exercised
my power over the fish, cast out the sick man's illu-
sion, and healed him. Thus it was shown that the [5]
healing action of Mind upon the body has its only ex-
planation in divine metaphysics. As a man “thinketh
in his heart, so is he.” When the mortal thought, or be-
lief, was removed, the man was well.
What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief, [10]
To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise?
Paradisaical rest from physical agony would come to
the criminal, if the dream of dying should startle him
from the dream of suffering. The paradise of Spirit
would come to Jesus, in a spiritual sense of Life and [15]
power. Christ Jesus lived and reappeared. He was too
good to die; for goodness is immortal. The thief was
not equal to the demands of the hour; but sin was de-
stroying itself, and had already begun to die,—as
the poor thief's prayer for help indicated. The dy- [20]
ing malefactor and our Lord were inevitably sepa-
rated through Mind. The thief's body, as matter,
must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the
body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal. That
day the thief would be with Jesus only in a finite [25]
and material sense of relief; while our Lord would
soon be rising to the supremacy of Spirit, working
out, even in the silent tomb, those wonderful demon-
strations of divine power, in which none could equal his
glory. [30]
[pg 071]
Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely [1]
well myself?
The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from
an appetite for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he
saved many a drunkard from this fatal appetite. Paul [5]
had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was
troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore
eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were
sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and heal-
ing the sick is a very right thing to do. [10]
Does Christian Science set aside the law of transmission,
prenatal desires, and good or bad influences on the unborn
child?
Science never averts law, but supports it. All actual
causation must interpret omnipotence, the all-knowing [15]
Mind. Law brings out Truth, not error; unfolds divine
Principle,—but neither human hypothesis nor matter.
Errors are based on a mortal or material formation; they
are suppositional modes, not the factors of divine presence
and power. [20]
Whatever is humanly conceived is a departure from
divine law; hence its mythical origin and certain end.
According to the Scriptures,—St. Paul declares astutely,
“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things,”—man is incapable of originating; nothing can [25]
be formed apart from God, good, the all-knowing Mind.
What seems to be of human origin is the counterfeit
of the divine,—even human concepts, mortal shadows
flitting across the dial of time.
Whatever is real is right and eternal; hence the im- [30]
mutable and just law of Science, that God is good only,
[pg 072]
and can transmit to man and the universe nothing evil, [1]
or unlike Himself. For the innocent babe to be born a
lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins,
were sore injustice. Science sets aside man as a creator,
and unfolds the eternal harmonies of the only living and [5]
true origin, God.
According to the beliefs of the flesh, both good and
bad traits of the parents are transmitted to their help-
less offspring, and God is supposed to impart to man
this fatal power. It is cause for rejoicing that this belief [10]
is as false as it is remorseless. The immutable Word
saith, through the prophet Ezekiel, “What mean ye, that
ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, [15]
ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb
in Israel.”
Are material things real when they are harmonious, and
do they disappear only to the natural sense? Does this
Scripture, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have [20]
need of all these things imply that Spirit takes note of
matter?
The Science of Mind, as well as the material unii
verse, shows that nothing which is material is in
perpetual harmony. Matter is manifest mortal mind, [35]
and it exists only to material sense. Real sensation
is not material; it is, and must be, mental: and Mind
is not mortal, it is immortal. Being is God, infinite
Spirit; therefore it cannot cognize aught material, or
outside of infinity. [30]
The Scriptural passage quoted affords no evidence of
[pg 073]
the reality of matter, or that God is conscious of it. [1]
The so-called material body is said to suffer, but this
supposition is proven erroneous when Mind casts out
the suffering. The Scripture saith, “Whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth;” and again, “He doth not [5]
afflict willingly.” Interpreted materially, these pas-
sages conflict; they mingle the testimony of immor-
tal Science with mortal sense; but once discern their
spiritual meaning, and it separates the false sense from
the true, and establishes the reality of what is spiritual, [10]
and the unreality of materiality.
Law is never material: it is always mental and moral,
and a commandment to the wise. The foolish disobey
moral law, and are punished. Human wisdom therefore
can get no farther than to say, He knoweth that we have [15]
need of experience. Belief fulfils the conditions of a be-
lief, and these conditions destroy the belief. Hence the
verdict of experience: We have need of these things; we
have need to know that the so-called pleasures and pains
of matter—yea, that all subjective states of false sensa- [20]
tion—are unreal.
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you,
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the [25]
twelve tribes of Israel. (Matt. xix. 28.) What is meant
by regeneration?
It is the appearing of divine law to human under-
standing; the spiritualization that comes from spiritual
sense in contradistinction to the testimony of the so- [30]
called material senses. The phenomena of Spirit in
[pg 074]
Christian Science, and the divine correspondence of [1]
noumenon and phenomenon understood, are here signi-
fied. This new-born sense subdues not only the false
sense of generation, but the human will, and the un-
natural enmity of mortal man toward God. It quickly [5]
imparts a new apprehension of the true basis of being,
and the spiritual foundation for the affections which en-
throne the Son of man in the glory of his Father; and
judges, through the stern mandate of Science, all human
systems of etiology and teleology. [10]
If God does not recognize matter, how did Jesus, who was
the way, the truth, and the life, cognize it?
Christ Jesus' sense of matter was the opposite of that
which mortals entertain: his nativity was a spiritual and
immortal sense of the ideal world. His earthly mission [15]
was to translate substance into its original meaning,
Mind. He walked upon the waves; he turned the water
into wine; he healed the sick and the sinner; he raised
the dead, and rolled away the stone from the door of his
own tomb. His demonstration of Spirit virtually van- [20]
quished matter and its supposed laws. Walking the
wave, he proved the fallacy of the theory that matter is
substance; healing through Mind, he removed any sup-
position that matter is intelligent, or can recognize or
express pain and pleasure. His triumph over the grave [25]
was an everlasting victory for Life; it demonstrated the
lifelessness of matter, and the power and permanence
of Spirit. He met and conquered the resistance of the
world.
If you will admit, with me, that matter is neither [30]
substance, intelligence, nor Life, you may have all that
[pg 075]
is left of it; and you will have touched the hem of the [1]
garment of Jesus' idea of matter, Christ was “the way;”
since Life and Truth were the way that gave us, through
a human person, a spiritual revelation of man's possible
earthly development. [5]
Why do you insist that there is but one Soul, and that
Soul is not in the body?
First: I urge this fundamental fact and grand verity
of Christian Science, because it includes a rule that must
be understood, or it is impossible to demonstrate the Sci- [10]
ence. Soul is a synonym of Spirit, and God is Spirit.
There is but one God, and the infinite is not within the
finite; hence Soul is one, and is God; and God is not in
matter or the mortal body.
Second: Because Soul is a term for Deity, and this [15]
term should seldom be employed except where the word
God can be used and make complete sense. The word
Soul may sometimes be used metaphorically; but if this
term is warped to signify human quality, a substitution
of sense for soul clears the meaning, and assists one to [20]
understand Christian Science. Mary's exclamation,
“"My soul doth magnify the Lord,” is rendered in Sci-
ence, “My spiritual sense doth magnify the Lord;”
for the name of Deity used in that place does not bring
out the meaning of the passage. It was evidently an [25]
illuminated sense through which she discovered the
spiritual origin of man. “The soul that sinneth, it shall
die,” means, that mortal man (alias material sense) that
sinneth, shall die; and the commonly accepted view is
that soul is deathless. Soul is the divine Mind,—for [30]
Soul cannot be formed or brought forth by human
[pg 076]
thought,—and must proceed from God; hence it must [1]
be sinless, and destitute of self-created or derived capacity
to sin.
Third: Jesus said, “If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death.” This statement of our Master [5]
is true, and remains to be demonstrated; for it is the
ultimatum of Christian Science; but this immortal saying
can never be tested or proven true upon a false premise,
such as the mortal belief that soul is in body, and life
and intelligence are in matter. That doctrine is not [10]
theism, but pantheism. According to human belief the
bodies of mortals are mortal, but they contain immortal
souls! hence these bodies must die for these souls to
escape and be immortal. The theory that death must
occur, to set a human soul free from its environments, [15]
is rendered void by Jesus' divine declaration, who spake
as never man spake,—and no man can rationally reject
his authority on this subject and accept it on other topics
less important.
Now, exchange the term soul for sense whenever this [20]
word means the so-called soul in the body, and you will
find the right meaning indicated. The misnamed human
soul is material sense, which sinneth and shall die; for
it is an error or false sense of mentality in matter, and
matter has no sense. You will admit that Soul is the [25]
Life of man. Now if Soul sinned, it would die; for “the
wages of sin is death.” The Scripture saith, “When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.” The Science of Soul, Spirit,
involves this appearing, and is essential to the fulfilment [30]
of this glorious prophecy of the master Metaphysician,
who overcame the last enemy, death.
[pg 077]
Did the salvation of the eunuch depend merely on his [1]
believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God?
It did; but this believing was more than faith in the
fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Here the verb believe
took its original meaning, namely, to be firm,—yea, to [5]
understand those great truths asserted of the Messiah:
it meant to discern and consent to that infinite demand
made upon the eunuch in those few words of the apostle.
Philip's requirement was, that he should not only ac-
knowledge the incarnation,—God made manifest through [10]
man,—but even the eternal unity of man and God, as
the divine Principle and spiritual idea; which is the in-
dissoluble bond of union, the power and presence, in
divine Science, of Life, Truth, and Love, to support their
ideal man. This is the Father's great Love that He [15]
hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless
Life and one eternal round of harmonious being. It
guides him by Truth that knows no error, and with
supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love. To
believe is to be firm. In adopting all this vast idea of [20]
Christ Jesus, the eunuch was to know in whom he be-
lieved. To believe thus was to enter the spiritual sanctuary
of Truth, and there learn, in divine Science, somewhat
of the All-Father-Mother God. It was to understand
God and man: it was sternly to rebuke the mortal [25]
belief that man has fallen away from his first estate; that
man, made in God's own likeness, and reflecting Truth,
could fall into mortal error; or, that man is the father
of man. It was to enter unshod the Holy of Holies, where
the miracle of grace appears, and where the miracles of [30]
Jesus had their birth,—healing the sick, casting out
evils, and resurrecting the human sense to the belief
[pg 078]
that Life, God, is not buried in matter. This is the spirit- [1]
ual dawn of the Messiah, and the overture of the
angels. This is when God is made manifest in the
flesh, and thus it destroys all sense of sin, sickness, and
death,—when the brightness of His glory encompasseth [5]
all being.
Can Christian Science Mind-healing be taught to those
who are absent?
The Science of Mind-healing can no more be taught
thus, than can science in any other direction. I know [10]
not how to teach either Euclid or the Science of Mind
silently; and never dreamed that either of these partook
of the nature of occultism, magic, alchemy, or necro-
mancy. These “ways that are vain” are the inventions
of animal magnetism, which would deceive, if possible, [15]
the very elect. We will charitably hope, however, that
some people employ the et cetera of ignorance and self-
conceit unconsciously, in their witless ventilation of false
statements and claims. Misguiding the public mind and
taking its money in exchange for this abuse, has become [20]
too common: we will hope it is the froth of error passing
off; and that Christian Science will some time appear all
the clearer for the purification of the public thought con-
cerning it.
Has man fallen from a state of perfection? [25]
If God is the Principle of man (and He is), man is the
idea of God; and this idea cannot fail to express the ex-
act nature of its Principle,—any more than goodness,
to present the quality of good. Human hypotheses are
always human vagaries, formulated views antagonistic [30]
[pg 079]
to the divine order and the nature of Deity. All these [1]
mortal beliefs will be purged and dissolved in the cru-
cible of Truth, and the places once knowing them will
know them no more forever, having been swept clean
by the winds of history. The grand verities of Science [5]
will sift the chaff from the wheat, until it is clear to hu-
man comprehension that man was, and is, God's perfect
likeness, that reflects all whereby we can know God. In
Him we live, move, and have being. Man's origin and
existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of per- [10]
fection, and by no means the medium of imperfection.
Immortal man is the eternal idea of Truth, that cannot
lapse into a mortal belief or error concerning himself
and his origin: he cannot get out of the focal distance of
infinity. If God is upright and eternal, man as His like- [15]
ness is erect in goodness and perpetual in Life, Truth,
and Love. If the great cause is perfect, its effect is per-
fect also; and cause and effect in Science are immutable
and immortal. A mortal who is sinning, sick, and dying,
is not immortal man; and never was, and never can be, [20]
God's image and likeness, the true ideal of immortal
man's divine Principle. The spiritual man is that per-
fect and unfallen likeness, coexistent and coeternal with
God. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive.” [25]
What course should Christian Scientists take in regard
to aiding persons brought before the courts for violation of
medical statutes?
Beware of joining any medical league which in any
way obligates you to assist—because they chance to be [30]
under arrest—vendors of patent pills, mesmerists,
[pg 080]
occultists, sellers of impure literature, and authors of [1]
spurious works on mental healing. By rendering error
such a service, you lose much more than can be gained
by mere unity on the single issue of opposition to unjust
medical laws. [5]
A league which obligates its members to give money
and influence in support and defense of medical char-
latans in general, and possibly to aid individual rights
in a wrong direction—which Christian Science eschews
—should be avoided. Anybody and everybody, who [10]
will fight the medical faculty, can join this league. It is
better to be friendly with cultured and conscientious
medical men, who leave Christian Science to rise or fall
on its own merit or demerit, than to affiliate with a wrong
class of people. [15]
Unconstitutional and unjust coercive legislation and
laws, infringing individual rights, must be “of few days,
and full of trouble.” The vox populi, through the provi-
dence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and,
at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injus- [20]
tice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Govern-
ment. God reigns, and will “turn and overturn” until
right is found supreme.
In a certain sense, we should commiserate the lot of
regular doctors, who, in successive generations for cen- [25]
turies, have planted and sown and reaped in the fields
of what they deem pathology, hygiene, and therapeutics,
but are now elbowed by a new school of practitioners,
outdoing the healing of the old. The old will not patronize
the new school, at least not until it shall come to understand [30]
the medical system of the new.
Christian Science Mind-healing rests demonstrably on
[pg 081]
the broad and sure foundation of Science; and this is [1]
not the basis of materia medica, as some of the most skil-
ful and scholarly physicians openly admit.
To prevent all unpleasant and unchristian action—as
we drift, by right of God's dear love, into more spiritual [5]
lines of life—let each society of practitioners, the matter-
physicians and the metaphysicians, agree to disagree, and
then patiently wait on God to decide, as surely He will,
which is the true system of medicine.
Do we not see in the commonly accepted teachings of the [10]
day, the Christ-idea mingled with the teachings of John
the Baptist? or, rather, Are not the last eighteen centuries
but the footsteps of Truth being baptized of John, and com-
ing up straightway out of the ceremonial (or ritualistic)
waters to receive the benediction of an honored Father, and [15]
afterwards to go up into the wilderness, in order to over-
come mortal sense, before it shall go forth into all the cities
and towns of Judea, or see many of the people from beyond
Jordan? Now, if all this be a fair or correct view of this
question, why does not John hear this voice, or see the [20]
dove,—or has not Truth yet reached the shore?
Every individual character, like the individual John
the Baptist, at some date must cry in the desert of
earthly joy; and his voice be heard divinely and
humanly. In the desolation of human understanding, [25]
divine Love hears and answers the human call for help;
and the voice of Truth utters the divine verities of being
which deliver mortals out of the depths of ignorance
and vice. This is the Father's benediction. It gives
lessons to human life, guides the understanding, peoples [30]
[pg 082]
the mind with spiritual ideas, reconstructs the Judean [1]
religion, and reveals God and man as the Principle and
idea of all good.
Understanding this fact in Christian Science, brings
the peace symbolized by a dove; and this peace floweth [5]
as a river into a shoreless eternity. He who knew the
foretelling Truth, beheld the forthcoming Truth, as it
came up out of the baptism of Spirit, to enlighten and
redeem mortals. Such Christians as John cognize the
symbols of God, reach the sure foundations of time, stand [10]
upon the shore of eternity, and grasp and gather—in all
glory—what eye hath not seen.
Is there infinite progression with man after the destruc-
tion of mortal mind?
Man is the offspring and idea of the Supreme Being, [15]
whose law is perfect and infinite. In obedience to this
law, man is forever unfolding the endless beatitudes of
Being; for he is the image and likeness of infinite Life,
Truth, and Love.
Infinite progression is concrete being, which finite [20]
mortals see and comprehend only as abstract glory. As
mortal mind, or the material sense of life, is put off,
the spiritual sense and Science of being is brought to
light.
Mortal mind is a myth; the one Mind is immortal. [25]
A mythical or mortal sense of existence is consumed
as a moth, in the treacherous glare of its own flame—
the errors which devour it. Immortal Mind is God,
immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith “we live,
and move, and have our being.” This Mind, then, is not [30]
subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine
[pg 083]
intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding [1]
man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss,
as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible
good.
In your book, Science and Health,3 page 181, you [5]
say: Every sin is the author of itself, and every
invalid the cause of his own sufferings. On page
182 you say: Sickness is a growth of illusion, spring-
ing from a seed of thought,—either your own thought
or another's. Will you please explain this seeming [10]
contradiction?
No person can accept another's belief, except it be
with the consent of his own belief. If the error which
knocks at the door of your own thought originated in
another's mind, you are a free moral agent to reject or [15]
to accept this error; hence, you are the arbiter of your
own fate, and sin is the author of sin. In the words
of our Master, you are “a liar, and the father of it
[the lie].”
Why did Jesus call himself the Son of man? [20]
In the life of our Lord, meekness was as conspicuous
as might. In John xvii. he declared his sonship with
God: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” [25]
The hour had come for the avowal of this great truth,
and for the proof of his eternal Life and sonship. Jesus'
[pg 084]
wisdom ofttimes was shown by his forbearing to speak, [1]
as well as by speaking, the whole truth. Haply he waited
for a preparation of the human heart to receive start-
ling announcements. This wisdom, which character-
ized his sayings, did not prophesy his death, and thereby [5]
hasten or permit it.
The disciples and prophets thrust disputed points on
minds unprepared for them. This cost them their lives,
and the world's temporary esteem; but the prophecies
were fulfilled, and their motives were rewarded by [10]
growth and more spiritual understanding, which dawns
by degrees on mortals. The spiritual Christ was infal-
lible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ. The
“man of sorrows” knew that the man of joys, his spiritual
self, or Christ, was the Son of God; and that the mor- [15]
tal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human
manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of
man, or Mary's son.
Please explain Paul's meaning in the text, For to me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [20]
The Science of Life, overshadowing Paul's sense of
life in matter, so far extinguished the latter as forever
to quench his love for it. The discipline of the flesh is
designed to turn one, like a weary traveller, to the home
of Love. To lose error thus, is to live in Christ, Truth. [25]
A true sense of the falsity of material joys and sorrows,
pleasures and pains, takes them away, and teaches Life's
lessons aright. The transition from our lower sense of
Life to a new and higher sense thereof, even though it be
through the door named death, yields a clearer and [30]
nearer sense of Life to those who have utilized the present,
[pg 085]
and are ripe for the harvest-home. To the battle- [1]
worn and weary Christian hero, Life eternal brings
blessings.
Is a Christian Scientist ever sick, and has he who is
sick been regenerated? [5]
The Christian Scientist learns spiritually all that he
knows of Life, and demonstrates what he understands.
God is recognized as the divine Principle of his being,
and of every thought and act leading to good. His pur-
pose must be right, though his power is temporarily lim- [10]
ited. Perfection, the goal of existence, is not won in a
moment; and regeneration leading thereto is gradual,
for it culminates in the fulfilment of this divine rule in
Science: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect.” [15]
The last degree of regeneration rises into the rest of
perpetual, spiritual, individual existence. The first
feeble fluttering of mortals Christward are infantile
and more or less imperfect. The new-born Christian
Scientist must mature, and work out his own salvation. [20]
Spirit and flesh antagonize. Temptation, that mist of
mortal mind which seems to be matter and the environ-
ment of mortals, suggests pleasure and pain in matter;
and, so long as this temptation lasts, the warfare is not
ended and the mortal is not regenerated. The pleas- [25]
ures—more than the pains—of sense, retard regenera-
tion; for pain compels human consciousness to escape
from sense into the immortality and harmony of Soul.
Disease in error, more than ease in it, tends to destroy
error: the sick often are thereby led to Christ, Truth, [30]
and to learn their way out of both sickness and sin.
[pg 086]
The material and physical are imperfect. The in- [1]
dividual and spiritual are perfect; these have no fleshly
nature. This final degree of regeneration is saving, and
the Christian will, must, attain it; but it doth not yet
appear. Until this be attained, the Christian Scientist [5]
must continue to strive with sickness, sin, and death—
though in lessening degrees—and manifest growth at
every experience.
Is it correct to say of material objects, that they are noth-
ing and exist only in imagination? [10]
Nothing and something are words which need correct
definition. They either mean formations of indefinite
and vague human opinions, or scientific classifications
of the unreal and the real. My sense of the beauty of
the universe is, that beauty typifies holiness, and is some- [15]
thing to be desired. Earth is more spiritually beautiful
to my gaze now than when it was more earthly to the
eyes of Eve. The pleasant sensations of human belief,
of form and color, must be spiritualized, until we gain the
glorified sense of substance as in the new heaven and [20]
earth, the harmony of body and Mind.
Even the human conception of beauty, grandeur, and
utility is something that defies a sneer. It is more than
imagination. It is next to divine beauty and the gran-
deur of Spirit. It lives with our earth-life, and is [25]
the subjective state of high thoughts. The atmos-
phere of mortal mind constitutes our mortal envi-
ronment. What mortals hear, see, feel, taste, smell,
constitutes their present earth and heaven: but we must
grow out of even this pleasing thraldom, and find wings [30]
to reach the glory of supersensible Life; then we shall
[pg 087]
soar above, as the bird in the clear ether of the blue tem- [1]
poral sky.
To take all earth's beauty into one gulp of vacuity
and label beauty nothing, is ignorantly to caricature
God's creation, which is unjust to human sense and [5]
to the divine realism. In our immature sense of spirit-
ual things, let us say of the beauties of the sensuous
universe: “I love your promise; and shall know, some
time, the spiritual reality and substance of form, light,
and color, of what I now through you discern dimly; and [10]
knowing this, I shall be satisfied. Matter is a frail con-
ception of mortal mind; and mortal mind is a poorer
representative of the beauty, grandeur, and glory of the
immortal Mind.”
Please inform us through your Journal; if you sent [15]
Mrs. —— to ——. She said that you sent her there to look
after the students; and also, that no one there was working
in Science,—which is certainly a mistake.
I never commission any one to teach students of mine.
After class teaching, he does best in the investigation of [20]
Christian Science who is most reliant on himself and
God. My students are taught the divine Principle and
rules of the Science of Mind-healing. What they need
thereafter is to study thoroughly the Scriptures and
“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” To [25]
watch and pray, to be honest, earnest, loving, and truth-
ful, is indispensable to the demonstration of the truth
they have been taught.
If they are haunted by obsequious helpers, who, un-
called for, imagine they can help anybody and steady [30]
God's altar—this interference prolongs the struggle
[pg 088]
and tends to blight the fruits of my students. A faith- [1]
ful student may even sometimes feel the need of
physical help, and occasionally receive it from others;
but the less this is required, the better it is for that
student. [5]
Please give us, through your Journal, the name of
the author of that genuine critique in the September
number, What Quibus Thinks.
I am pleased to inform this inquirer, that the author
of the article in question is a Boston gentleman whose [10]
thought is appreciated by many liberals. Patience, ob-
servation, intellectual culture, reading, writing, exten-
sive travel, and twenty years in the pulpit, have equipped
him as a critic who knows whereof he speaks. His allu-
sion to Christian Science in the following paragraph, [15]
glows in the shadow of darkling criticism like a mid-
night sun. Its manly honesty follows like a benediction
after prayer, and closes the task of talking to deaf ears
and dull debaters.
“We have always insisted that this Science is natural, [20]
spiritually natural; that Jesus was the highest type of
real nature; that Christian healing is supernatural, or
extra-natural, only to those who do not enter into its
sublimity or understand its modes—as imported ice
was miraculous to the equatorial African, who had never [25]
seen water freeze.”
Is it right for a Scientist to treat with a doctor?
This depends upon what kind of a doctor it is. Mind-
healing, and healing with drugs, are opposite modes of
medicine. As a rule, drop one of these doctors when you [30]
[pg 089]
employ the other. The Scripture saith, “No man can [1]
serve two masters;” and, “Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation.”
If Scientists are called upon to care for a member of
the family, or a friend in sickness, who is employing a [5]
regular physician, would it be right to treat this patient
at all; and ought the patient to follow the doctor's
directions?
When patients are under material medical treatment,
it is advisable in most cases that Scientists do not treat [10]
them, or interfere with materia medica. If the patient
is in peril, and you save him or alleviate his sufferings,
although the medical attendant and friends have no
faith in your method, it is humane, and not unchristian,
to do him all the good you can; but your good will gen- [15]
erally “be evil spoken of.” The hazard of casting “pearls
before swine” caused our Master to refuse help to some
who sought his aid; and he left this precaution for
others.
If mortal man is unreal, how can he be saved, and why [20]
does he need to be saved? I ask for information, not for
controversy, for I am a seeker after Truth.
You will find the proper answer to this question in
my published works. Man is immortal. Mortal man
is a false concept that is not spared or prolonged by being [25]
saved from itself, from whatever is false. This salva-
tion means: saved from error, or error overcome. Im-
mortal man, in God's likeness, is safe in divine Science.
Mortal man is saved on this divine Principle, if he will
only avail himself of the efficacy of Truth, and recog- [30]
[pg 090]
nize his Saviour. He must know that God is omnipo- [1]
tent; hence, that sin is impotent. He must know that
the power of sin is the pleasure in sin. Take away this
pleasure, and you remove all reality from its power. Jesus
demonstrated sin and death to be powerless. This [5]
practical Truth saves from sin, and will save all who
understand it.
Is it wrong for a wife to have a husband treated for
sin, when she knows he is sinning, or for drinking and
smoking? [10]
It is always right to act rightly; but sometimes, under
circumstances exceptional, it is inexpedient to attack
evil. This rule is forever golden: “As ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Do you
desire to be freed from sin? Then help others to be free; [15]
but in your measures, obey the Scriptures, “Be ye wise
as serpents.” Break the yoke of bondage in every wise
way. First, be sure that your means for doing good
are equal to your motives; then judge them by their
fruits. [20]
If not ordained, shall the pastor of the Church of
Christ, Scientist, administer the communion,—and
shall members of a church not organized receive the
communion?
Our great Master administered to his disciples the [25]
Passover, or last supper, without this prerogative being
conferred by a visible organization and ordained priest-
hood. His spiritually prepared breakfast, after his
resurrection, and after his disciples had left their nets
to follow him, is the spiritual communion which Chris- [30]
[pg 091]
tian Scientists celebrate in commemoration of the Christ. [1]
This ordinance is significant as a type of the true worship,
and it should be observed at present in our churches.
It is not indispensable to organize materially Christ's
church. It is not absolutely necessary to ordain pas- [5]
tors and to dedicate churches; but if this be done,
let it be in concession to the period, and not as a per-
petual or indispensable ceremonial of the church. If
our church is organized, it is to meet the demand,
“Suffer it to be so now.” The real Christian compact [10]
is love for one another. This bond is wholly spiritual
and inviolate.
It is imperative, at all times and under every cir-
cumstance, to perpetuate no ceremonials except as
types of these mental conditions,—remembrance and [15]
love; a real affection for Jesus' character and example.
Be it remembered, that all types employed in the ser-
vice of Christian Science should represent the most spir-
itual forms of thought and worship that can be made
visible. [20]
Should not the teacher of Christian Science have our
textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,
in his schoolroom and teach from it?
I never dreamed, until informed thereof, that a loyal
student did not take his textbook with him into the class- [25]
room, ask questions from it, answer them according to
it, and, as occasion required, read from the book as au-
thority for what he taught. I supposed that students
had followed my example, and that of other teachers,
sufficiently to do this, and also to require their pupils to [30]
study the lessons before recitations.
[pg 092]
To omit these important points is anomalous, con- [1]
sidering the necessity for understanding Science, and
the present liability of deviating from Christian Science.
Centuries will intervene before the statement of the inex-
haustible topics of that book become sufficiently under- [5]
stood to be absolutely demonstrated. The teacher of
Christian Science needs continually to study this textbook.
His work is to replenish thought, and to spiritualize human
life, from this open fount of Truth and Love.
He who sees most clearly and enlightens other minds [10]
most readily, keeps his own lamp trimmed and burning.
He will take the textbook of Christian Science into his
class, repeat the questions in the chapter on Recapitula-
tion, and his students will answer them from the same
source. Throughout his entire explanations, the teacher [15]
should strictly adhere to the questions and answers con-
tained in that chapter of “Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures.” It is important to point out the
lesson to the class, and to require the students thor-
oughly to study it before the recitations; for this spirit- [20]
ualizes their thoughts. When closing his class, the
teacher should require each member to own a copy of
the above-named book and to continue the study of this
textbook.
The opinions of men cannot be substituted for God's [25]
revelation. It must not be forgotten that in times past,
arrogant ignorance and pride, in attempting to steady
the ark of Truth, have dimmed the power and glory of
the Scriptures, to which this Christian Science textbook
is the Key. [30]
That teacher does most for his students who most
divests himself of pride and self, spiritualizes his own
[pg 093]
thought, and by reason thereof is able to empty his stu- [1]
dents' minds, that they may be filled with Truth.
Beloved students, so teach that posterity shall call
you blessed, and the heart of history shall be made
glad! [5]
Can fear or sin bring back old beliefs of disease that have
been healed by Christian Science?
The Scriptures plainly declare the allness and oneness
of God to be the premises of Truth, and that God is
good: in Him dwelleth no evil. Christian Science au- [10]
thorizes the logical conclusion drawn from the Scriptures,
that there is in reality none besides the eternal, infinite
God, good. Evil is temporal: it is the illusion of time
and mortality.
This being true, sin has no power; and fear, its coeval, [15]
is without divine authority. Science sanctions only what
is supported by the unerring Principle of being. Sin can
do nothing: all cause and effect are in God. Fear is a
belief of sensation in matter: this belief is neither main-
tained by Science nor supported by facts, and exists only [20]
as fable. Your answer is, that neither fear nor sin can
bring on disease or bring back disease, since there is in
reality no disease.
Bear in mind, however, that human consciousness does
not test sin and the fact of its nothingness, by believing [25]
that sin is pardoned without repentance and reforma-
tion. Sin punishes itself, because it cannot go unpun-
ished either here or hereafter. Nothing is more fatal than
to indulge a sinning sense or consciousness for even one
moment. Knowing this, obey Christ's Sermon on the [30]
Mount, even if you suffer for it in the first instance,—
[pg 094]
are misjudged and maligned; in the second, you will [1]
reign with him.
I never knew a person who knowingly indulged evil,
to be grateful; to understand me, or himself. He must
first see himself and the hallucination of sin; then he [5]
must repent, and love good in order to understand God.
The sinner and the sin are the twain that are one flesh,—
but which God hath not joined together.
[pg 095]

Chapter IV. Addresses.

Christian Science In Tremont Temple.

From the platform of the Monday lectureship in [2]
Tremont Temple, on Monday, March 16, 1885, as
will be seen by what follows. Reverend Mary Baker G.
Eddy was presented to Mr. Cook's audience, and allowed [5]
ten minutes in which to reply to his public letter con-
demning her doctrines; which reply was taken in full by
a shorthand reporter who was present, and is transcribed
below.
Mrs. Eddy responding, said:— [10]
As the time so kindly allotted me is insufficient for
even a synopsis of Christian Science, I shall confine my-
self to questions and answers.
Am I a spiritualist?
I am not, and never was. I understand the impossi- [15]
bility of intercommunion between the so-called dead and
living. There have always attended my life phenomena
of an uncommon order, which spiritualists have mis-
called mediumship; but I clearly understand that no
human agencies were employed,—that the divine Mind [20]
reveals itself to humanity through spiritual law. And
to such as are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption
of our body,” Christian Science reveals the in-
[pg 096]
finitude of divinity and the way of man's salvation from [1]
sickness and death, as wrought out by Jesus, who robbed
the grave of victory and death of its sting. I understand
that God is an ever-present help in all times of trouble,—
have found Him so; and would have no other gods, no [5]
remedies in drugs, no material medicine.
Do I believe in a personal God?
I believe in God as the Supreme Being. I know not
what the person of omnipotence and omnipresence is,
or what the infinite includes; therefore, I worship that [10]
of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and
Mother; then, as thought ascends the scale of being to
diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the
apostle who declared it, “God is Love,”—divine Prin-
ciple,—which I worship; and “after the manner of my [15]
fathers, so worship I God.”
Do I believe in the atonement of Christ?
I do; and this atonement becomes more to me since
it includes man's redemption from sickness as well as
from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before. [20]
It brings to my sense, and to the sense of all who enter-
tain this understanding of the Science of God, a whole
salvation.
How is the healing done in Christian Science?
This answer includes too much to give you any con- [25]
clusive idea in a brief explanation. I can name some
means by which it is not done.
It is not one mind acting upon another mind; it is
not the transference of human images of thought to
other minds; it is not supported by the evidence before [30]
the personal senses,—Science contradicts this evidence;
it is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is Christ come
[pg 097]
to destroy the power of the flesh; it is Truth over error; [1]
that understood, gives man ability to rise above the evi-
dence of the senses, take hold of the eternal energies of
Truth, and destroy mortal discord with immortal har-
mony,—the grand verities of being. It is not one mortal [5]
thought transmitted to another's thought from the human
mind that holds within itself all evil.
Our Master said of one of his students, “He is a devil,”
and repudiated the idea of casting out devils through
Beelzebub. Erring human mind is by no means a de- [10]
sirable or efficacious healer. Such suppositional healing
I deprecate. It is in no way allied to divine power. All
human control is animal magnetism, more despicable
than all other methods of treating disease.
Christian Science is not a remedy of faith alone, but [15]
combines faith with understanding, through which we
may touch the hem of His garment; and know that om-
nipotence has all power. “I am the Lord, and there is
none else, there is no God beside me.”
Is there a personal man? [20]
The Scriptures inform us that man was made in the
image and likeness of God. I commend the Icelandic
translation: “He created man in the image and likeness
of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind created
He him.” To my sense, we have not seen all of man; [25]
he is more than personal sense can cognize, who is the
image and likeness of the infinite. I have not seen a
perfect man in mind or body,—and such must be the
personality of him who is the true likeness: the lost
image is not this personality, and corporeal man is this [30]
lost image; hence, it doth not appear what is the real
personality of man. The only cause for making this
[pg 098]
question of personality a point, or of any importance, is [1]
that man's perfect model should be held in mind, whereby
to improve his present condition; that his contemplation
regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sick-
ness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker. [5]

Science And The Senses.

Substance of my Address at the National Convention in Chicago,
June 13, 1888
The National Christian Scientist Association has
brought us together to minister and to be ministered [10]
unto; mutually to aid one another in finding ways and
means for helping the whole human family; to quicken
and extend the interest already felt in a higher mode of
medicine; to watch with eager joy the individual growth
of Christian Scientists, and the progress of our common [15]
Cause in Chicago,—the miracle of the Occident. We
come to strengthen and perpetuate our organizations
and institutions; and to find strength in union,—strength
to build up, through God's right hand, that pure and
undefiled religion whose Science demonstrates God and [20]
the perfectibility of man. This purpose is immense,
and it must begin with individual growth, a “consum-
mation devoutly to be wished.” The lives of all re-
formers attest the authenticity of their mission, and call
the world to acknowledge its divine Principle. Truly [25]
is it written:—
“Thou must be true thyself, if thou the truth would'st teach;
Thy heart must overflow, if thou another's heart would'st reach.”
[pg 099]
Science is absolute and final. It is revolutionary in [1]
its very nature; for it upsets all that is not upright.
It annuls false evidence, and saith to the five material
senses, “Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not;
neither can you understand.” To weave one thread of [5]
Science through the looms of time, is a miracle in itself.
The risk is stupendous. It cost Galileo, what? This
awful price: the temporary loss of his self-respect. His
fear overcame his loyalty; the courage of his convictions
fell before it. Fear is the weapon in the hands of [10]
tyrants.
Men and women of the nineteenth century, are you
called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey
this call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaf-
fold, but take not back the words of Truth. How many [15]
are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand
a long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be
in the battle every day?
In no other one thing seemed Jesus of Nazareth more
divine than in his faith in the immortality of his words. [20]
He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away;” and they have not. The
winds of time sweep clean the centuries, but they can
never bear into oblivion his words. They still live, and
to-morrow speak louder than to-day. They are to-day [25]
as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make
straight God's paths; make way for health, holiness,
universal harmony, and come up hither.” The gran-
deur of the word, the power of Truth, is again casting
out evils and healing the sick; and it is whispered, “This [30]
is Science.”
Jesus taught by the wayside, in humble homes. He
[pg 100]
spake of Truth and Love to artless listeners and dull [1]
disciples. His immortal words were articulated in a
decaying language, and then left to the providence of
God. Christian Science was to interpret them; and
woman, “last at the cross,” was to awaken the dull senses, [5]
intoxicated with pleasure or pain, to the infinite meaning
of those words.
Past, present, future, will show the word and might of
Truth—healing the sick and reclaiming the sinner—
so long as there remains a claim of error for Truth to [10]
deny or to destroy. Love's labors are not lost. The
five personal senses, that grasp neither the meaning nor
the magnitude of self-abnegation, may lose sight thereof;
but Science voices unselfish love, unfolds infinite good,
leads on irresistible forces, and will finally show the fruits [15]
of Love. Human reason is inaccurate; and the scope
of the senses is inadequate to grasp the word of Truth,
and teach the eternal.
Science speaks when the senses are silent, and then
the evermore of Truth is triumphant. The spiritual mon- [20]
itor understood is coincidence of the divine with the
human, the acme of Christian Science. Pure humanity,
friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth
a foretaste of heaven. They unite terrestrial and celes-
tial joys, and crown them with blessings infinite. [25]
The Christian Scientist loves man more because he
loves God most. He understands this Principle,—Love.
Who is sufficient for these things? Who remembers that
patience, forgiveness, abiding faith, and affection, are
the symptoms by which our Father indicates the dif- [30]
ferent stages of man's recovery from sin and his en-
trance into Science? Who knows how the feeble lips
[pg 101]
are made eloquent, how hearts are inspired, how heal- [1]
ing becomes spontaneous, and how the divine Mind is
understood and demonstrated? He alone knows these
wonders who is departing from the thraldom of the
senses and accepting spiritual truth,—that which blesses [5]
its adoption by the refinement of joy and the dismissal of
sorrow.
Christian Science and the senses are at war. It is a
revolutionary struggle. We already have had two in
this nation; and they began and ended in a contest for [10]
the true idea, for human liberty and rights. Now cometh
a third struggle; for the freedom of health, holiness, and
the attainment of heaven.
The scientific sense of being which establishes har-
mony, enters into no compromise with finiteness and [15]
feebleness. It undermines the foundations of mortality,
of physical law, breaks their chains, and sets the captive
free, opening the doors for them that are bound.
He who turns to the body for evidence, bases his con-
clusions on mortality, on imperfection; but Science saith
to man, “God hath all-power.” [20]
The Science of omnipotence demonstrates but one
power, and this power is good, not evil; not matter,
but Mind. This virtually destroys matter and evil, in-
cluding sin and disease. [25]
If God is All, and God is good, it follows that all
must be good; and no other power, law, or intelligence
can exist. On this proof rest premise and conclusion in
Science, and the facts that disprove the evidence of the
senses. [30]
God is individual Mind. This one Mind and His
individuality comprise the elements of all forms and
[pg 102]
individualities, and prophesy the nature and stature of [1]
Christ, the ideal man.
A corporeal God, as often defined by lexicographers
and scholastic theologians, is only an infinite finite being,
an unlimited man,—a theory to me inconceivable. If [5]
the unlimited and immortal Mind could originate in a
limited body, Mind would be chained to finity, and the
infinite forever finite.
In this limited and lower sense God is not personal.
His infinity precludes the possibility of corporeal person- [10]
ality. His being is individual, but not physical.
God is like Himself and like nothing else. He is uni-
versal and primitive. His character admits of no degrees
of comparison. God is not part, but the whole. In His
individuality I recognize the loving, divine Father-Mother [15]
God. Infinite personality must be incorporeal.
God's ways are not ours. His pity is expressed in
modes above the human. His chastisements are the
manifestations of Love. The sympathy of His eternal
Mind is fully expressed in divine Science, which blots [20]
out all our iniquities and heals all our diseases. Human
pity often brings pain.
Science supports harmony, denies suffering, and de-
stroys it with the divinity of Truth. Whatever seems mate-
rial, seems thus only to the material senses, and is but the [25]
subjective state of mortal and material thought.
Science has inaugurated the irrepressible conflict be-
tween sense and Soul. Mortal thought wars with this
sense as one that beateth the air, but Science outmasters
it, and ends the warfare. This proves daily that “one [30]
on God's side is a majority.”
Science defines omnipresence as universality, that which
[pg 103]
precludes the presence of evil. This verity annuls the tes- [1]
timony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil power,
and substance is perishable. Intelligent Spirit, Soul, is
substance, far more impregnable and solid than matter; for
one is temporal, while the other is eternal, the ultimate [5]
and predicate of being.
Mortality, materiality, and destructive forces, such as
sin, disease, and death, mortals virtually name substance;
but these are the substance of things not hoped for. For
lack of knowing what substance is, the senses say vaguely: [10]
“The substance of life is sorrow and mortality; for who
knoweth the substance of good?” In Science, form and
individuality are never lost, thoughts are outlined, indi-
vidualized ideas, which dwell forever in the divine Mind
as tangible, true substance, because eternally conscious. [15]
Unlike mortal mind, which must be ever in bondage,
the eternal Mind is free, unlimited, and knows not the
temporal.
Neither does the temporal know the eternal. Mortal
man, as mind or matter, is neither the pattern nor Maker [20]
of immortal man. Any inference of the divine derived
from the human, either as mind or body, hides the actual
power, presence, and individuality of God.
Jesus' personality in the flesh, so far as material sense
could discern it, was like that of other men; but Science [25]
exchanges this human concept of Jesus for the divine
ideal, his spiritual individuality that reflected the Im-
manuel, or “God with us.” This God was not outlined.
He was too mighty for that. He was eternal Life, infinite
Truth and Love. The individuality is embraced in Mind, [30]
therefore is forever with the Father. Hence the Scrip-
ture, “I am a God at hand, saith the Lord.” Even while
[pg 104]
his personality was on earth and in anguish, his individual [1]
being, the Christ, was at rest in the eternal harmony.
His unseen individuality, so superior to that which was
seen, was not subject to the temptations of the flesh, to
laws material, to death, or the grave. Formed and gov- [5]
erned by God, this individuality was safe in the substance
of Soul, the substance of Spirit,—yea, the substance of
God, the one inclusive good.
In Science all being is individual; for individuality is
endless in the calculus of forms and numbers. Herein [10]
sin is miraculous and supernatural; for it is not in the
nature of God, and good is forever good. Accord-
ing to Christian Science, perfection is normal,—not
miraculous. Clothed, and in its right Mind, man's
individuality is sinless, deathless, harmonious, eternal. [15]
His materiality, clad in a false mentality, wages feeble
fight with his individuality,—his physical senses with
his spiritual senses. The latter move in God's grooves
of Science: the former revolve in their own orbits, and
must stand the friction of false selfhood until self- [20]
destroyed.
In obedience to the divine nature, man's individuality
reflects the divine law and order of being. How shall
we reach our true selves? Through Love. The Prin-
ciple of Christian Science is Love, and its idea represents [25]
Love. This divine Principle and idea are demonstrated,
in healing, to be God and the real man.
Who wants to be mortal, or would not gain the true
ideal of Life and recover his own individuality? I will
love, if another hates. I will gain a balance on the side of [30]
good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces of
God wherewith to overcome all error. On this rests the
[pg 105]
implicit faith engendered by Christian Science, which [1]
appeals intelligently to the facts of man's spirituality, in-
dividuality, to disdain the fears and destroy the discords
of this material personality.
On our Master's individual demonstrations over sin, [5]
sickness, and death, rested the anathema of priesthood
and the senses; yet this demonstration is the foundation
of Christian Science. His physical sufferings, which
came from the testimony of the senses, were over when
he resumed his individual spiritual being, after showing [10]
us the way to escape from the material body.
Science would have no conflict with Life or common
sense, if this sense were consistently sensible. Man's real
life or existence is in harmony with Life and its glorious
phenomena. It upholds being, and destroys the too [15]
common sense of its opposites—death, disease, and sin.
Christian Science is an everlasting victor, and vanquish-
ment is unknown to the omnipresent Truth. I must ever
follow this line of light and battle.
Christian Science is my only ideal; and the individual [20]
and his ideal can never be severed. If either is misunder-
stood or maligned, it eclipses the other with the shadow
cast by this error.
Truth destroys error. Nothing appears to the physi-
cal senses but their own subjective state of thought. The [25]
senses join issue with error, and pity what has no right
either to be pitied or to exist, and what does not exist in
Science. Destroy the thought of sin, sickness, death, and
you destroy their existence. “Whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap.” [30]
Because God is Mind, and this Mind is good, all
is good and all is Mind. God is the sum total of the
[pg 106]
universe. Then what and where are sin, sickness, and [1]
death?
Christian Science and Christian Scientists will, must,
have a history; and if I could write the history in poor
parody on Tennyson's grand verse, it would read [5]
thus:—
Traitors to right of them,
M. D.'s to left of them,
Priestcraft in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered! [10]
Into the jaws of hate,
Out through the door of Love,
On to the blest above,
Marched the one hundred.

Extract From My First Address In The Mother Church, May 26, 1895

Friends and Brethren:—Your Sunday Lesson, com-
posed of Scripture and its correlative in “Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures,” has fed you. In addi- [20]
tion, I can only bring crumbs fallen from this table of
Truth, and gather up the fragments.
It has long been a question of earnest import, How
shall mankind worship the most adorable, but most
unadored,—and where shall begin that praise that shall
never end? Beneath, above, beyond, methinks I hear [25]
the soft, sweet sigh of angels answering, “So live, that
your lives attest your sincerity and resound His praise.”
Music is the harmony of being; but the music of Soul
affords the only strains that thrill the chords of feeling
and awaken the heart's harpstrings. Moved by mind, [30]
your many-throated organ, in imitative tones of many
[pg 107]
instruments, praises Him; but even the sweetness and [1]
beauty in and of this temple that praise Him, are earth's
accents, and must not be mistaken for the oracles of God.
Art must not prevail over Science. Christianity is not
superfluous. Its redemptive power is seen in sore trials, [5]
self-denials, and crucifixions of the flesh. But these come
to the rescue of mortals, to admonish them, and plant
the feet steadfastly in Christ. As we rise above the seem-
ing mists of sense, we behold more clearly that all the
heart's homage belongs to God. [10]
More love is the great need of mankind. A pure af-
fection, concentric, forgetting self, forgiving wrongs and
forestalling them, should swell the lyre of human love.
Three cardinal points must be gained before poor
humanity is regenerated and Christian Science is dem- [15]
onstrated: (1) A proper sense of sin; (2) repentance;
(3) the understanding of good. Evil is a negation: it
never started with time, and it cannot keep pace with
eternity. Mortals' false senses pass through three states
and stages of human consciousness before yielding error. [20]
The deluded sense must first be shown its falsity through
a knowledge of evil as evil, so-called. Without a sense
of one's oft-repeated violations of divine law, the in-
dividual may become morally blind, and this deplorable
mental state is moral idiocy. The lack of seeing one's [25]
deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep,
never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain mor-
bid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists.
Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe
that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian [30]
Scientist.
Mankind thinks either too much or too little of sin.
[pg 108]
The sensitive, sorrowing saint thinks too much of it: the [1]
sordid sinner, or the so-called Christian asleep, thinks too
little of sin.
To allow sin of any sort is anomalous in Christian
Scientists, claiming, as they do, that good is infinite, All. [5]
Our Master, in his definition of Satan as a liar from the
beginning, attested the absolute powerlessness—yea,
nothingness—of evil: since a lie, being without founda-
tion in fact, is merely a falsity; spiritually, literally, it
is nothing. [10]
Not to know that a false claim is false, is to be in danger
of believing it; hence the utility of knowing evil aright,
then reducing its claim to its proper denominator,—
nobody and nothing. Sin should be conceived of only
as a delusion. This true conception would remove mortals' [15]
ignorance and its consequences, and advance the second
stage of human consciousness, repentance. The first
state, namely, the knowledge of one's self, the proper
knowledge of evil and its subtle workings wherein evil
seems as real as good, is indispensable; since that which [20]
is truly conceived of, we can handle; but the misconcep-
tion of what we need to know of evil,—or the concep-
tion of it at all as something real,—costs much. Sin
needs only to be known for what it is not; then we are
its master, not servant. Remember, and act on, Jesus' [25]
definition of sin as a lie. This cognomen makes it less
dangerous; for most of us would not be seen believing
in, or adhering to, that which we know to be untrue.
What would be thought of a Christian Scientist who be-
lieved in the use of drugs, while declaring that they have [30]
no intrinsic quality and that there is no matter? What
should be thought of an individual believing in that
[pg 109]
which is untrue, and at the same time declaring the unity [1]
of Truth, and its allness? Beware of those who mis-
represent facts; or tacitly assent where they should dis-
sent; or who take me as authority for what I disapprove,
or mayhap never have thought of, and try to reverse, in- [5]
vert, or controvert, Truth; for this is a sure pretext of
moral defilement.
Examine yourselves, and see what, and how much, sin
claims of you; and how much of this claim you admit
as valid, or comply with. The knowledge of evil that [10]
brings on repentance is the most hopeful stage of mortal
mentality. Even a mild mistake must be seen as a mis-
take, in order to be corrected; how much more, then,
should one's sins be seen and repented of, before they
can be reduced to their native nothingness! [15]
Ignorance is only blest by reason of its nothingness;
for seeing the need of somethingness in its stead, blesses
mortals. Ignorance was the first condition of sin in the
allegory of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Their
mental state is not desirable, neither is a knowledge of [20]
sin and its consequences, repentance, per se; but, ad-
mitting the existence of both, mortals must hasten through
the second to the third stage,—the knowledge of good;
for without this the valuable sequence of knowledge
would be lacking,—even the power to escape from the [25]
false claims of sin. To understand good, one must discern
the nothingness of evil, and consecrate one's life anew.
Beloved brethren, Christ, Truth, saith unto you, “Be
not afraid!”—fear not sin, lest thereby it master you;
but only fear to sin. Watch and pray for self-knowledge; [30]
since then, and thus, cometh repentance,—and your
superiority to a delusion is won.
[pg 110]
Repentance is better than sacrifice. The costly balm [1]
of Araby, poured on our Master's feet, had not the value
of a single tear.
Beloved children, the world has need of you,—and
more as children than as men and women: it needs your [5]
innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontami-
nated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you
preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through
contact with the world. What grander ambition is there
than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to [10]
know that your example, more than words, makes morals
for mankind!

Address Before The Alumni Of The Massachusetts Metaphysical College, 1895

My Beloved Students:—Weeks have passed into [15]
months, and months into years, since last we met; but
time and space, when encompassed by divine presence,
do not separate us. Our hearts have kept time together,
and our hands have wrought steadfastly at the same
object-lesson, while leagues have lain between us. [20]
We may well unite in thanksgiving for the continued
progress and unprecedented prosperity of our Cause. It
is already obvious that the world's acceptance and the
momentum of Christian Science, increase rapidly as
years glide on. [25]
As Christian Scientists, you have dared the perilous de-
fense of Truth, and have succeeded. You have learned
how fleeting is that which men call great; and how per-
manent that which God calls good.
[pg 111]
You have proven that the greatest piety is scarcely [1]
sufficient to demonstrate what you have adopted and
taught; that your work, well done, would dignify angels.
Faithfully, as meekly, you have toiled all night; and
at break of day caught much. At times, your net has [5]
been so full that it broke: human pride, creeping into
its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then,
losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and pos-
sibly blamed others more than yourself. But those whom
God makes “fishers of men” will not pull for the shore; [10]
like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets
on the right side, compensate loss, and gain a higher sense
of the true idea. Nothing is lost that God gives: had He
filled the net, it would not have broken.
Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propa- [15]
gates: the tares cannot hinder it. Our Master said,
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away;” and Jesus' faith in Truth must not ex-
ceed that of Christian Scientists who prove its power to
be immortal. [20]
The Christianity that is merely of sects, the pulpit, and
fashionable society, is brief; but the Word of God abideth.
Plato was a pagan; but no greater difference existed be-
tween his doctrines and those of Jesus, than to-day exists
between the Catholic and Protestant sects. I love the [25]
orthodox church; and, in time, that church will love
Christian Science. Let me specially call the attention of
this Association to the following false beliefs inclining
mortal mind more deviously:—
The belief in anti-Christ: that somebody in the flesh [30]
is the son of God, or is another Christ, or is a spiritually
adopted child, or is an incarnated babe, is the evil one—
[pg 112]
in other words, the one evil—disporting itself with the [1]
subtleties of sin!
Even honest thinkers, not knowing whence they come,
may deem these delusions verities, before they know it,
or really look the illusions in the face. The ages are bur- [5]
dened with material modes. Hypnotism, microbes, X-rays,
and ex-common sense, occupy time and thought; and
error, given new opportunities, will improve them. The
most just man can neither defend the innocent nor detect
the guilty, unless he knows how to be just; and this knowl- [10]
edge demands our time and attention.
The mental stages of crime, which seem to belong to
the latter days, are strictly classified in metaphysics as
some of the many features and forms of what is properly
denominated, in extreme cases, moral idiocy. I visited [15]
in his cell the assassin of President Garfield, and found
him in the mental state called moral idiocy. He had no
sense of his crime; but regarded his act as one of simple
justice, and himself as the victim. My few words touched
him; he sank back in his chair, limp and pale; his flip- [20]
pancy had fled. The jailer thanked me, and said, “Other
visitors have brought to him bouquets, but you have
brought what will do him good.”
This mental disease at first shows itself in extreme
sensitiveness; then, in a loss of self-knowledge and of [25]
self-condemnation,—a shocking inability to see one's
own faults, but an exaggerating sense of other people's.
Unless this mental condition be overcome, it ends in a
total loss of moral, intellectual, and spiritual discernment,
and is characterized in this Scripture: “The fool hath [30]
said in his heart, There is no God.” This state of mind
is the exemplification of total depravity, and the result
[pg 113]
of sensuous mind in matter. Mind that is God is not in [1]
matter; and God's presence gives spiritual light, wherein
is no darkness.
If, as is indisputably true, “God is Spirit,” and Spirit
is our Father and Mother, and that which it includes is [5]
all that is real and eternal, when evil seems to predomi-
nate and divine light to be obscured, free moral agency
is lost; and the Revelator's vision, that “no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name,” is imminent. [10]
Whoever is mentally manipulating human mind, and
is not gaining a higher sense of Truth by it, is losing in
the scale of moral and spiritual being, and may be car-
ried to the depths of perdition by his own consent. He
who refuses to be influenced by any but the divine Mind, [15]
commits his way to God, and rises superior to sugges-
tions from an evil source. Christian Science shows that
there is a way of escape from the latter-day ultimatum
of evil, through scientific truth; so that all are without
excuse. [20]
Already I clearly recognize that mental malpractice,
if persisted in, will end in insanity, dementia, or moral
idiocy. Thank God! this evil can be resisted by true
Christianity. Divine Love is our hope, strength, and
shield. We have nothing to fear when Love is at the [25]
helm of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and
in heaven.
The systematized centres of Christian Science are life-
giving fountains of truth. Our churches, The Christian
Science Journal, and the Christian Science Quarterly, [30]
are prolific sources of spiritual power whose intellectual,
moral, and spiritual animus is felt throughout the land.
[pg 114]
Our Publishing Society, and our Sunday Lessons, are [1]
of inestimable value to all seekers after Truth. The Com-
mittee on Sunday School Lessons cannot give too much
time and attention to their task, and should spare no
research in the preparation of the Quarterly as an educa- [5]
tional branch.
The teachers of Christian Science need to watch inces-
santly the trend of their own thoughts; watch that these
be not secretly robbed, and themselves misguided, and
so made to misteach others. Teachers must conform [10]
strictly to the rules of divine Science announced in the
Bible and their textbook, “Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures.” They must themselves practise, and
teach others to practise, the Hebrew Decalogue, the Ser-
mon on the Mount, and the understanding and enuncia- [15]
tion of these according to Christ.
They must always have on armor, and resist the foe
within and without. They cannot arm too thoroughly
against original sin, appearing in its myriad forms: pass-
sion, appetites, hatred, revenge, and all the et cetera of [20]
evil. Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously,
or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fer-
vently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus
doing, Scientists will silence evil suggestions, uncover
their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon the [25]
lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom
will test all mankind on all questions; and then, if found
faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us
the powerlessness of evil,—even its utter nothingness.
The teacher in Christian Science who does not spe- [30]
cially instruct his pupils how to guard against evil and
its silent modes, and to be able, through Christ, the liv-
[pg 115]
ing Truth, to protect themselves therefrom, is commit- [1]
ting an offense against God and humanity. With Science
and Health for their textbook, I am astounded at the
apathy of some students on the subject of sin and mental
malpractice, and their culpable ignorance of the work- [5]
ing of these—and even the teacher's own deficiency in
this department. I can account for this state of mind in
the teacher only as the result of sin; otherwise, his own
guilt as a mental malpractitioner, and fear of being found
out. [10]
The helpless ignorance of the community on this sub-
ject is pitiable, and plain to be seen. May God enable
my students to take up the cross as I have done, and meet
the pressing need of a proper preparation of heart to prac-
tise, teach, and live Christian Science! Your means of [15]
protection and defense from sin are, constant watchful-
ness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and
are delivered from every claim of evil, till you intelligently
know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has neither
prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All- [20]
in-all.
The increasing necessity for relying on God to de-
fend us against the subtler forms of evil, turns us more
unreservedly to Him for help, and thus becomes a means
of grace. If one lives rightly, every effort to hurt one [25]
will only help that one; for God will give the ability to
overcome whatever tends to impede progress. Know
this: that you cannot overcome the baneful effects of
sin on yourself, if you in any way indulge in sin; for,
sooner or later, you will fall the victim of your own as [30]
well as of others' sins. Using mental power in the right
direction only, doing to others as you would have them
[pg 116]
do to you, will overcome evil with good, and destroy [1]
your own sensitiveness to the power of evil.
The God of all grace be with you, and save you from
“spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., [5]
June 3, 1895

Address Before The Christian Scientist Association Of The Massachusetts Metaphysical College, In 1893

Subject: Obedience [10]
My Beloved Students:—This question, ever nearest
to my heart, is to-day uppermost: Are we filling the
measures of life's music aright, emphasizing its grand
strains, swelling the harmony of being with tones whence
come glad echoes? As crescendo and diminuendo accent [15]
music, so the varied strains of human chords express
life's loss or gain,—loss of the pleasures and pains and
pride of life: gain of its sweet concord, the courage of
honest convictions, and final obedience to spiritual law.
The ultimate of scientific research and attainment in [20]
divine Science is not an argument: it is not merely say-
ing, but doing, the Word—demonstrating Truth—even
as the fruits of watchfulness, prayer, struggles, tears, and
triumph.
Obeying the divine Principle which you profess to un- [25]
derstand and love, demonstrates Truth. Never absent
from your post, never off guard, never ill-humored, never
unready to work for God,—is obedience; being “faith-
ful over a few things.” If in one instance obedience be
lacking, you lose the scientific rule and its reward: namely, [30]
[pg 117]
to be made “ruler over many things.” A progressive [1]
life is the reality of Life that unfolds its immortal Prin-
ciple.
The student of Christian Science must first separate the
tares from the wheat; discern between the thought, [5]
motive, and act superinduced by the wrong motive or
the true—the God-given intent and volition—arrest
the former, and obey the latter. This will place him on
the safe side of practice. We always know where to look
for the real Scientist, and always find him there. I agree [10]
with Rev. Dr. Talmage, that “there are wit, humor, and
enduring vivacity among God's people.”
Obedience is the offspring of Love; and Love is the
Principle of unity, the basis of all right thinking and
acting; it fulfils the law. We see eye to eye and know as we [15]
are known, reciprocate kindness and work wisely, in
proportion as we love.
It is difficult for me to carry out a divine commission
while participating in the movements, or modus operandi,
of other folks. To point out every step to a student and [20]
then watch that each step be taken, consumes time,—
and experiments ofttimes are costly. According to my
calendar, God's time and mortals' differ. The neo-
phyte is inclined to be too fast or too slow: he works
somewhat in the dark; and, sometimes out of season, [25]
he would replenish his lamp at the midnight hour and
borrow oil of the more provident watcher. God is the
fountain of light, and He illumines one's way when one
is obedient. The disobedient make their moves before
God makes His, or make them too late to follow Him. [30]
Be sure that God directs your way; then, hasten to follow
under every circumstance.
[pg 118]
Human will must be subjugated. We cannot obey [1]
both God, good, and evil,—in other words, the ma-
terial senses, false suggestions, self-will, selfish motives,
and human policy. We shall have no faith in evil
when faith finds a resting-place and scientific under- [5]
standing guides man. Honesty in every condition,
under every circumstance, is the indispensable rule of
obedience. To obey the principle of mathematics ninety-
nine times in one hundred and then allow one numeral
to make incorrect your entire problem, is neither Science [10]
nor obedience.
However keenly the human affections yearn to for-
give a mistake, and pass a friend over it smoothly, one's
sympathy can neither atone for error, advance individual
growth, nor change this immutable decree of Love: “Keep [15]
My commandments.” The guerdon of meritorious
faith or trustworthiness rests on being willing to work
alone with God and for Him,—willing to suffer patiently
for error until all error is destroyed and His rod and His
staff comfort you. [20]
Self-ignorance, self-will, self-righteousness, lust, covet-
ousness, envy, revenge, are foes to grace, peace, and
progress; they must be met manfully and overcome,
or they will uproot all happiness. Be of good cheer;
the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty [25]
of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with
you,—and obedience crowns persistent effort with
everlasting victory. Every attempt of evil to harm good
is futile, and ends in the fiery punishment of the
evil-doer. [30]
Jesus said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth
defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth,
[pg 119]
this defileth a man.” If malicious suggestions whisper [1]
evil through the mind's tympanum, this were no apology
for acting evilly. We are responsible for our thoughts and
acts; and instead of aiding other people's devices by
obeying them,—and then whining over misfortune,— [5]
rise and overthrow both. If a criminal coax the unwary
man to commit a crime, our laws punish the dupe as ac-
cessory to the fact. Each individual is responsible for
himself.
Evil is impotent to turn the righteous man from his [10]
uprightness. The nature of the individual, more stub-
born than the circumstance, will always be found argu-
ing for itself,—its habits, tastes, and indulgences. This
material nature strives to tip the beam against the spir-
itual nature; for the flesh strives against Spirit,—against [15]
whatever or whoever opposes evil,—and weighs mightily
in the scale against man's high destiny. This conclusion
is not an argument either for pessimism or for optimism,
but is a plea for free moral agency,—full exemption
from all necessity to obey a power that should be and is [20]
found powerless in Christian Science.
Insubordination to the law of Love even in the least,
or strict obedience thereto, tests and discriminates be-
tween the real and the unreal Scientist. Justice, a
prominent statute in the divine law, demands of all [25]
trespassers upon the sparse individual rights which one
justly reserves to one's self,—Would you consent that
others should tear up your landmarks, manipulate your
students, nullify or reverse your rules, countermand
your orders, steal your possessions, and escape the [30]
penalty therefor? No! “Therefore all things what-
soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
[pg 120]
so to them.” The professors of Christian Science must [1]
take off their shoes at our altars; they must unclasp
the material sense of things at the very threshold of
Christian Science: they must obey implicitly each and
every injunction of the divine Principle of life's long [5]
problem, or repeat their work in tears. In the words
of St. Paul, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your-
selves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?” [10]
Beloved students, loyal laborers are ye that have wrought
valiantly, and achieved great guerdons in the vineyard
of our Lord; but a mighty victory is yet to be won, a
great freedom for the race; and Christian success is
under arms,—with armor on, not laid down. Let us [15]
rejoice, however, that the clarion call of peace will at
length be heard above the din of battle, and come more
sweetly to our ear than sound of vintage bells to villagers
on the Rhine.
I recommend that this Association hereafter meet tri- [20]
ennially; many of its members reside a long distance from
Massachusetts, and they are members of The Mother
Church who would love to be with you on Sunday, and
once in three years is perhaps as often as they can afford
to be away from their own fields of labor. [25]

Communion Address, January, 1896

Friends and Brethren:—The Biblical record of the
great Nazarene, whose character we to-day commemorate,
is scanty; but what is given, puts to flight every doubt as
to the immortality of his words and works. Though [30]
[pg 121]
written in a decaying language, his words can never pass [1]
away: they are inscribed upon the hearts of men: they
are engraved upon eternity's tablets.
Undoubtedly our Master partook of the Jews' feast
of the Passover, and drank from their festal wine-cup. [5]
This, however, is not the cup to which I call your at-
tention,—even the cup of martyrdom: wherein Spirit
and matter, good and evil, seem to grapple, and the
human struggles against the divine, up to a point of
discovery; namely, the impotence of evil, and the om- [10]
nipotence of good, as divinely attested. Anciently, the
blood of martyrs was believed to be the seed of the Church.
Stalled theocracy would make this fatal doctrine just
and sovereign, even a divine decree, a law of Love! That
the innocent shall suffer for the guilty, is inhuman. The [15]
prophet declared, “Thou shalt put away the guilt of
innocent blood from Israel.” This is plain: that what-
ever belittles, befogs, or belies the nature and essence of
Deity, is not divine. Who, then, shall father or favor
this sentence passed upon innocence? thereby giving the [20]
signet of God to the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of His
beloved Son, the righteous Nazarene,—christened by
John the Baptist, “the Lamb of God.”
Oh! shameless insult to divine royalty, that drew
from the great Master this answer to the questions of the [25]
rabbinical rabble: “If I tell you, ye will not believe; and
if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.”
Infinitely greater than human pity, is divine Love,—
that cannot be unmerciful. Human tribunals, if just,
borrow their sense of justice from the divine Principle [30]
thereof, which punishes the guilty, not the innocent. The
Teacher of both law and gospel construed the substitution
[pg 122]
of a good man to suffer for evil-doers—a crime! When [1]
foretelling his own crucifixion, he said, “Woe unto the
world because of offenses! for it must needs be that
offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh!” [5]
Would Jesus thus have spoken of what was indis-
pensable for the salvation of a world of sinners, or of the
individual instrument in this holy (?) alliance for accom-
plishing such a monstrous work? or have said of him
whom God foreordained and predestined to fulfil a divine [10]
decree, “It were better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the
depth of the sea”?
The divine order is the acme of mercy: it is neither
questionable nor assailable: it is not evil producing good, [15]
nor good ultimating in evil. Such an inference were
impious. Holy Writ denounces him that declares, “Let
us do evil, that good may come! whose damnation is
just.”
Good is not educed from its opposite: and Love divine [20]
spurned, lessens not the hater's hatred nor the criminal's
crime; nor reconciles justice to injustice; nor substitutes
the suffering of the Godlike for the suffering due to sin.
Neither spiritual bankruptcy nor a religious chancery can
win high heaven, or the “Well done, good and faithful [25]
servant,... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
Divine Love knows no hate; for hate, or the hater, is
nothing: God never made it, and He made all that was
made. The hater's pleasures are unreal; his sufferings,
self-imposed; his existence is a parody, and he ends— [30]
with suicide.
The murder of the just Nazarite was incited by the
[pg 123]
same spirit that in our time massacres our missionaries, [1]
butchers the helpless Armenians, slaughters innocents.
Evil was, and is, the illusion of breaking the First Com-
mandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me:”
it is either idolizing something and somebody, or hating [5]
them: it is the spirit of idolatry, envy, jealousy, covet-
ousness, superstition, lust, hypocrisy, witchcraft.
That man can break the forever-law of infinite Love,
was, and is, the serpent's biggest lie! and ultimates in
a religion of pagan priests bloated with crime; a religion [10]
that demands human victims to be sacrificed to human
passions and human gods, or tortured to appease the
anger of a so-called god or a miscalled man or woman!
The Assyrian Merodach, or the god of sin, was the “lucky
god;” and the Babylonian Yawa, or Jehovah, was the [15]
Jewish tribal deity. The Christian's God is neither, and
is too pure to behold iniquity.
Divine Science has rolled away the stone from the sepul-
chre of our Lord; and there has risen to the awakened
thought the majestic atonement of divine Love. The [20]
at-one-ment with Christ has appeared—not through
vicarious suffering, whereby the just obtain a pardon for
the unjust,—but through the eternal law of justice;
wherein sinners suffer for their own sins, repent, forsake
sin, love God, and keep His commandments, thence to [25]
receive the reward of righteousness: salvation from sin,
not through the death of a man, but through a divine Life,
which is our Redeemer.
Holy Writ declares that God is Love, is Spirit; hence
it follows that those who worship Him, must worship [30]
Him spiritually,—far apart from physical sensation
such as attends eating and drinking corporeally. It is
[pg 124]
plain that aught unspiritual, intervening between God [1]
and man, would tend to disturb the divine order, and
countermand the Scripture that those who worship the
Father must worship Him in spirit. It is also plain,
that we should not seek and cannot find God in mat- [5]
ter, or through material methods; neither do we love
and obey Him by means of matter, or the flesh,—which
warreth against Spirit, and will not be reconciled
thereto.
We turn, with sickened sense, from a pagan Jew's [10]
or Moslem's misconception of Deity, for peace; and find
rest in the spiritual ideal, or Christ. For “who is so
great a God as our God!” unchangeable, all-wise, all-
just, all-merciful; the ever-loving, ever-living Life, Truth,
Love: comforting such as mourn, opening the prison [15]
doors to the captive, marking the unwinged bird, pitying
with more than a father's pity; healing the sick, cleansing
the leper, raising the dead, saving sinners. As we think
thereon, man's true sense is filled with peace, and power;
and we say, It is well that Christian Science has taken [20]
expressive silence wherein to muse His praise, to kiss the
feet of Jesus, adore the white Christ, and stretch out our
arms to God.
The last act of the tragedy on Calvary rent the veil
of matter, and unveiled Love's great legacy to mortals: [25]
Love forgiving its enemies. This grand act crowned
and still crowns Christianity: it manumits mortals; it
translates love; it gives to suffering, inspiration; to
patience, experience; to experience, hope; to hope, faith;
to faith, understanding; and to understanding, Love tri- [30]
umphant!
In proportion to a man's spiritual progress, he will
[pg 125]
indeed drink of our Master's cup, and be baptized with [1]
his baptism! be purified as by fire,—the fires of suffering;
then hath he part in Love's atonement, for “whom the
Lord loveth He chasteneth.” Then shall he also reign
with him: he shall rise to know that there is no sin, [5]
that there is no suffering; since all that is real is right.
This knowledge enables him to overcome the world, the
flesh, and all evil, to have dominion over his own sinful
sense and self. Then shall he drink anew Christ's cup,
in the kingdom of God—the reign of righteousness— [10]
within him; he shall sit down at the Father's right hand:
sit down; not stand waiting and weary; but rest on the
bosom of God; rest, in the understanding of divine Love
that passeth all understanding; rest, in that which “to
know aright is Life eternal,” and whom, not having seen, [15]
we love.
Then shall he press on to Life's long lesson, the eternal
lore of Love; and learn forever the infinite meanings of
these short sentences: “God is Love;” and, All that is
real is divine, for God is All-in-all. [20]

Message To The Annual Meeting Of The Mother Church, Boston, 1896

Beloved Brethren, Children, and Grandchildren:—
Apart from the common walks of mankind, revolving
oft the hitherto untouched problems of being, and [25]
oftener, perhaps, the controversies which baffle it,
Mother, thought-tired, turns to-day to you; turns to
her dear church, to tell the towers thereof the remarkable
achievements that have been ours within the past few
years: the rapid transit from halls to churches, from un- [30]
[pg 126]
settled questions to permanence, from danger to escape, [1]
from fragmentary discourses to one eternal sermon; yea,
from darkness to daylight, in physics and metaphysics.
Truly, I half wish for society again; for once, at least,
to hear the soft music of our Sabbath chimes saluting the [5]
ear in tones that leap for joy, with love for God and
man.
Who hath not learned that when alone he has his
own thoughts to guard, and when struggling with man-
kind his temper, and in society his tongue? We also [10]
have gained higher heights; have learned that trials lift
us to that dignity of Soul which sustains us, and finally
conquers them; and that the ordeal refines while it
chastens.
Perhaps our church is not yet quite sensible of what [15]
we owe to the strength, meekness, honesty, and obedi-
ence of the Christian Science Board of Directors; to
the able editors of The Christian Science Journal, and
to our efficient Publishing Society.
No reproof is so potent as the silent lesson of a good [20]
example. Works, more than words, should characterize
Christian Scientists. Most people condemn evil-doing,
evil-speaking; yet nothing circulates so rapidly: even gold
is less current. Christian Scientists have a strong race to
run, and foes in ambush; but bear in mind that, in the [25]
long race, honesty always defeats dishonesty.
God hath indeed smiled on my church,—this
daughter of Zion: she sitteth in high places; and to de-
ride her is to incur the penalty of which the Hebrew
bard spake after this manner: “He that sitteth in the [30]
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in
derision.”
[pg 127]
Hitherto, I have observed that in proportion as this [1]
church has smiled on His “little ones,” He has blessed
her. Throughout my entire connection with The Mother
Church, I have seen, that in the ratio of her love for
others, hath His love been bestowed upon her; watering [5]
her waste places, and enlarging her borders.
One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly
request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and
elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor
on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importu- [10]
nately. When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-
Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone,—but
more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble
and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the
bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to [15]
a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow
into it the “river of His pleasure,” the tributary of divine
Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow,—
even that joy which finds one's own in another's good.
To love, and to be loved, one must do good to others. [20]
The inevitable condition whereby to become blessed, is to
bless others: but here, you must so know yourself, under
God's direction, that you will do His will even though
your pearls be downtrodden. Ofttimes the rod is His
means of grace; then it must be ours,—we cannot avoid [25]
wielding it if we reflect Him.
Wise sayings and garrulous talk may fall to the ground,
rather than on the ear or heart of the hearer; but a tender
sentiment felt, or a kind word spoken, at the right moment,
is never wasted. Mortal mind presents phases of charac- [30]
ter which need close attention and examination. The
human heart, like a feather bed, needs often to be stirred,
[pg 128]
sometimes roughly, and given a variety of turns, else it [1]
grows hard and uncomfortable whereon to repose.
The lessons of this so-called life in matter are too vast
and varied to learn or to teach briefly; and especially
within the limits of a letter. Therefore I close here, [5]
with the apostle's injunction: “Finally, brethren, what-
soever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any [10]
praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye
have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in
me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
With love, Mother,
Mary Baker G. Eddy
[pg 129]

Chapter V. Letters.

To The Mother Church.

My Beloved Brethren:—If a member of the church
is inclined to be uncharitable, or to condemn his
brother without cause, let him put his finger to his lips,
and forgive others as he would be forgiven. One's first [5]
lesson is to learn one's self; having done this, one will
naturally, through grace from God, forgive his brother and
love his enemies. To avenge an imaginary or an actual
wrong, is suicidal. The law of our God and the rule of
our church is to tell thy brother his fault and thereby help [10]
him. If this rule fails in effect, then take the next Scrip-
tural step: drop this member's name from the church, and
thereafter “let the dead bury their dead,”—let silence
prevail over his remains.
If a man is jealous, envious, or revengeful, he will seek [15]
occasion to balloon an atom of another man's indis-
cretion, inflate it, and send it into the atmosphere of mortal
mind—for other green eyes to gaze on: he will always
find somebody in his way, and try to push him aside;
will see somebody's faults to magnify under the lens that [20]
he never turns on himself.
What have been your Leader's precepts and example!
Were they to save the sinner, and to spare his exposure
[pg 130]
so long as a hope remained of thereby benefiting him? [1]
Has her life exemplified long-suffering, meekness, charity,
purity?
She readily leaves the answer to those who know
her. [5]
Do we yet understand how much better it is to be
wronged, than to commit wrong? What do we find in
the Bible, and in the Christian Science textbook, on this
subject? Does not the latter instruct you that looking
continually for a fault in somebody else, talking about it, [10]
thinking it over, and how to meet it,—“rolling sin as a
sweet morsel under your tongue,”—has the same power
to make you a sinner that acting thus regarding disease
has to make a man sick? Note the Scripture on this
subject: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the [15]
Lord.”
The Christian Science Board of Directors has borne
the burden in the heat of the day, and it ought not to
be expected that they could have accomplished, without
one single mistake, such Herculean tasks as they have [20]
accomplished. He who judges others should know well
whereof he speaks. Where the motive to do right exists,
and the majority of one's acts are right, we should avoid
referring to past mistakes. The greatest sin that one can
commit against himself is to wrong one of God's “little [25]
ones.”
Know ye not that he who exercises the largest charity,
and waits on God, renews his strength, and is exalted?
Love is not puffed up; and the meek and loving, God
anoints and appoints to lead the line of mankind's tri- [30]
umphal march out of the wilderness, out of darkness
into light.
[pg 131]
Whoever challenges the errors of others and cherishes [1]
his own, can neither help himself nor others; he will be
called a moral nuisance, a fungus, a microbe, a mouse
gnawing at the vitals of humanity. The darkness in
one's self must first be cast out, in order rightly to discern [5]
darkness or to reflect light.
If the man of more than average avoirdupois kneels on
a stool in church, let the leaner sort console this brother's
necessity by doing likewise. Christian Scientists preserve
unity, and so shadow forth the substance of our sublime [10]
faith, and the evidence of its being built upon the rock of
divine oneness,—one faith, one God, one baptism.
If our Board of Directors is prepared to itemize a report
of the first financial year since the erection of the edifice of
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, let it do so; other- [15]
wise, I recommend that you waive the church By-law
relating to finances this year of your firstfruits. This
Board did not act under that By-law; it was not in ex-
istence all of the year. It is but just to consider the great
struggles with perplexities and difficulties which the [20]
Directors encountered in Anno Domini 1894, and which
they have overcome. May God give unto us all that loving
sense of gratitude which delights in the opportunity to
cancel accounts. I, for one, would be pleased to have the
Christian Science Board of Directors itemize a bill of this [25]
church's gifts to Mother; and then to have them let her
state the value thereof, if, indeed, it could be estimated.
After this financial year, when you call on the members
of the Christian Science Board of Directors to itemize or
audit their accounts, these will be found already itemized, [30]
and last year's records immortalized, with perils past and
victories won.
[pg 132]
A motion was made, and a vote passed, at your last [1]
meeting, on a subject the substance whereof you had al-
ready accepted as a By-law. But, I shall take this as a
favorable omen, a fair token that heavy lids are opening,
even wider than before, to the light of Love—and By-laws. [5]
Affectionately yours,
Mary Baker Eddy

To ——, On Prayer.

Massachusetts Metaphysical College,
571 Columbus Avenue, [10]
Boston, March 21, 1885
Dear Sir:—In your communication to Zion's Herald,
March 18, under the heading, “Prayer and Healing; sup-
plemental,” you state that you would “like to hear from
Dr. Cullis; and, by the way, from Mrs. Eddy, also.” [15]
Because of the great demand upon my time, consisting
in part of dictating answers through my secretary, or an-
swering personally manifold letters and inquiries from all
quarters,—having charge of a church, editing a maga-
zine, teaching Christian Science, receiving calls, etc.,—I [20]
find it inconvenient to accept your invitation to answer
you through the medium of a newspaper; but, for infor-
mation as to what I believe and teach, would refer you to
the Holy Scriptures, to my various publications, and to my
Christian students. [25]
It was with a thrill of pleasure that I read in your arti-
cle these words: “If we have in any way misrepresented
either Dr. Cullis or Mrs. Eddy, we are sorry.” Even the
desire to be just is a vital spark of Christianity. And those
words inspire me with the hope that you wish to be just. [30]
[pg 133]
If this is so, you will not delay corrections of the statement [1]
you make at the close of your article, when referring to
me, “the pantheistic and prayerless Mrs. Eddy, of Boston.”
It would be difficult to build a sentence of so few words
conveying ideas more opposite to the fact. [5]
In refutation of your statement that I am a pantheist,
I request you to read my sermons and publications.
As to being “prayerless,” I call your attention and
deep consideration to the following Scripture, that voices
my impressions of prayer:— [10]
“When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and
in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father [15]
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.”
I hope I am not wrong in literally following the dictum
of Jesus; and, were it not because of my desire to set
you right on this question, I should feel a delicacy in mak- [20]
ing the following statement:—
Three times a day, I retire to seek the divine blessing
on the sick and sorrowing, with my face toward the Jeru-
salem of Love and Truth, in silent prayer to the Father
which “seeth in secret,” and with childlike confidence that [25]
He will reward “openly.” In the midst of depressing care
and labor I turn constantly to divine Love for guidance,
and find rest. It affords me great joy to be able to attest to
the truth of Jesus' words. Love makes all burdens light,
it giveth a peace that passeth understanding, and with [30]
“signs following.” As to the peace, it is unutterable; as
to “signs,” behold the sick who are healed, the sorrowful
[pg 134]
who are made hopeful, and the sinful and ignorant who [1]
have become “wise unto salvation”!
And now, dear sir, as you have expressed contrition for
an act which you have immediately repeated, you are
placed in this dilemma: To reiterate such words of [5]
apology as characterize justice and Christianity.
Very truly,
Mary Baker G. Eddy

To The National Christian Scientist Association.

Beloved Students:—Meet together and meet en masse, [10]
in 1888, at the annual session of the National Christian
Scientist Association. Be “of one mind,” “in one place,”
and God will pour you out a blessing such as you never
before received. He who dwelleth in eternal light is
bigger than the shadow, and will guard and guide His [15]
own.
Let no consideration bend or outweigh your purpose
to be in Chicago on June 13. Firm in your allegiance to
the reign of universal harmony, go to its rescue. In God's
hour, the powers of earth and hell are proven powerless. [20]
The reeling ranks of materia medica, with poisons, nos-
trums, and knives, are impotent when at war with the
omnipotent! Like Elisha, look up, and behold: “They
that be with us, are more than they that be with them.”
Error is only fermenting, and its heat hissing at the [25]
“still, small voice” of Truth; but it can neither silence
nor disarm God's voice. Spiritual wickedness is stand-
ing in high places; but, blind to its own fate, it will tumble
into the bottomless.
[pg 135]
Christians, and all true Scientists, marching under what- [1]
soever ensign, come into the ranks! Again I repeat, per-
son is not in the question of Christian Science. Principle,
instead of person, is next to our hearts, on our lips, and
in our lives. Our watchwords are Truth and Love; and [5]
if we abide in these, they will abound in us, and we shall
be one in heart,—one in motive, purpose, pursuit. Abid-
ing in Love, not one of you can be separated from me; and
the sweet sense of journeying on together, doing unto
others as ye would they should do unto you, conquers all [10]
opposition, surmounts all obstacles, and secures success.
If you falter, or fail to fulfil this Golden Rule, though you
should build to the heavens, you would build on sand.
Is it a cross to give one week's time and expense to the
jubilee of Spirit? Then take this cross, and the crown [15]
with it. Sending forth currents of Truth, God's methods
and means of healing, and so spreading the gospel of
Love, is in itself an eternity of joy that outweighs an
hour. Add one more noble offering to the unity of good,
and so cement the bonds of Love. [20]
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy

To The College Association.

Letter read at the meeting of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College Association, June 3, 1891. [25]
To the Members of the Christian Scientists' Association of
the Massachusetts Metaphysical College
My Beloved Students:—You may be looking to see me
in my accustomed place with you, but this you must no
[pg 136]
longer expect. When I retired from the field of labor, [1]
it was a departure, socially, publicly, and finally, from
the routine of such material modes as society and our
societies demand. Rumors are rumors,—nothing more.
I am still with you on the field of battle, taking forward [5]
marches, broader and higher views, and with the hope
that you will follow.
The eternal and infinite, already brought to your
earnest consideration, so grow upon my vision that I
cannot feel justified in turning aside for one hour from [10]
contemplation of them and of the faith unfeigned.
When the verities of being seem to you as to me,—as
they must some time,—you will understand the neces-
sity for my seclusion, and its fulfilment of divine order.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa- [15]
rate, saith the Lord.”
All our thoughts should be given to the absolute
demonstration of Christian Science. You can well
afford to give me up, since you have in my last re-
vised edition of Science and Health your teacher and [20]
guide.
I recommend that the June session of this honorable
body shall close your meetings for the summer; also, that
hereafter you hold three sessions annually, convening
once in four months; oftener is not requisite, and the [25]
members coming from a distance will be accommodated
by this arrangement.
Yours affectionately,
Mary B. G. Eddy
[pg 137]

To The National Christian Scientist Association.

My Dear Students and Friends:—Accept my thanks
for your card of invitation, your badge, and order of exer-
cise, all of which are complete.
When I gave you a meagre reception in Boston at the [5]
close of the first convention of the National Christian
Scientist Association, it was simply to give you the privi-
lege, poor as it was, of speaking a few words aside to your
teacher. I remember my regret, when, having asked in
general assembly if you had any questions to propose, I [10]
received no reply. Since then you have doubtless realized
that such opportunity might have been improved; but
that time has passed.
I greatly rejoice over the growth of my students within
the last few years. It was kind of you to part so gently [15]
with the protecting wings of the mother-bird, and to spread
your own so bravely. Now, dear ones, if you take my
advice again, you will do—what?
Even this: Disorganize the National Christian Scientist
Association! and each one return to his place of [20]
labor, to work out individually and alone, for himself and
for others, the sublime ends of human life.
To accomplish this, you must give much time to self-
examination and correction; you must control appetite,
passion, pride, envy, evil-speaking, resentment, and each [25]
one of the innumerable errors that worketh or maketh
a lie. Then you can give to the world the benefit of all
this, and heal and teach with increased confidence. My
students can now organize their students into associa-
tions, form churches, and hold these organizations of their [30]
[pg 138]
own,—until, in turn, their students will sustain them- [1]
selves and work for others.
The time it takes yearly to prepare for this national
convention is worse than wasted, if it causes thought to
wander in the wilderness or ways of the world. The de- [5]
tail of conforming to society, in any way, costs you what
it would to give time and attention to hygiene in your
ministry and healing.
For students to work together is not always to co-
operate, but sometimes to coelbow! Each student should [10]
seek alone the guidance of our common Father—even
the divine Principle which he claims to demonstrate,—
and especially should he prove his faith by works, ethi-
cally, physically, and spiritually. Remember that the
first and last lesson of Christian Science is love, perfect [15]
love, and love made perfect through the cross.
I once thought that in unity was human strength; but
have grown to know that human strength is weakness,—
that unity is divine might, giving to human power, peace.
My counsel is applicable to the state of general growth [20]
in the members of the National Christian Scientist Asso-
ciation, but it is not so adapted to the members of
students' organizations. And wherefore? Because the
growth of these at first is more gradual; but whenever
they are equal to the march triumphant, God will give [25]
to all His soldiers of the cross the proper command, and
under the banner of His love, and with the “still, small
voice” for the music of our march, we all shall take step
and march on in spiritual organization.
Your loving teacher, [30]
Mary Baker G. Eddy
Concord, N. H., May 23, 1890
[pg 139]
N. B. I recommend this honorable body to adjourn, [1]
if it does not disorganize, to three years from this date;
or, if it does disorganize, to meet again in three years.
Then bring your tithes into the storehouse, and God will
pour you out a blessing such as you even yet have not [5]
received.
M. B. G. E.

To The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston.

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty [10]
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.—2 Cor. x. 4, 5.
In April, 1883, I started the Journal of Christian [15]
Science, with a portion of the above Scripture for its
motto.
On December 10, 1889, I gave a lot of land—in
Boston, situated near the beautiful Back Bay Park, now
valued at $20,000 and rising in value—for the purpose [20]
of having erected thereon a church edifice to be called The
Church of Christ, Scientist.
I had this desirable site transferred in a circuitous,
novel way, at the wisdom whereof a few persons have
since scrupled; but to my spiritual perception, like all [25]
true wisdom, this transaction will in future be regarded
as greatly wise, and it will be found that this act was in
advance of the erring mind's apprehension.
As with all former efforts in the interest of Christian
Science, I took care that the provisions for the land and [30]
[pg 140]
building were such as error could not control. I knew [1]
that to God's gift, foundation and superstructure, no one
could hold a wholly material title. The land, and the
church standing on it, must be conveyed through a type
representing the true nature of the gift; a type morally [5]
and spiritually inalienable, but materially questionable
—even after the manner that all spiritual good comes
to Christian Scientists, to the end of taxing their faith
in God, and their adherence to the superiority of the
claims of Spirit over matter or merely legal titles. [10]
No one could buy, sell, or mortgage my gift as I had
it conveyed. Thus the case rested, and I supposed the
trustee-deed was legal; but this was God's business, not
mine. Our church was prospered by the right hand of
His righteousness, and contributions to the Building Fund [15]
generously poured into the treasury. Unity prevailed,—
till mortal man sought to know who owned God's temple,
and adopted and urged only the material side of this
question.
The lot of land which I donated I redeemed from under [20]
mortgage. The foundation on which our church was to
be built had to be rescued from the grasp of legal power,
and now it must be put back into the arms of Love, if we
would not be found fighting against God.
The diviner claim and means for upbuilding the Church [25]
of Christ were prospered. Our title to God's acres will
be safe and sound—when we can “read our title clear”
to heavenly mansions. Built on the rock, our church
will stand the storms of ages: though the material super-
structure should crumble into dust, the fittest would sur- [30]
vive,—the spiritual idea would live, a perpetual type of
the divine Principle it reflects.
[pg 141]
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, our prayer in [1]
stone, will be the prophecy fulfilled, the monument up-
reared, of Christian Science. It will speak to you of the
Mother, and of your hearts' offering to her through whom
was revealed to you God's all-power, all-presence, and [5]
all-science. This building begun, will go up, and no one
can suffer from it, for no one can resist the power that
is behind it; and against this church temple “the gates
of hell” cannot prevail.
All loyal Christian Scientists hail with joy this pro- [10]
posed type of universal Love; not so, however, with
error, which hates the bonds and methods of Truth, and
shudders at the freedom, might, and majesty of Spirit,
—even the annihilating law of Love.
I vindicate both the law of God and the laws of our [15]
land. I believe,—yea, I understand,—that with the
spirit of Christ actuating all the parties concerned about
the legal quibble, it can easily be corrected to the satis-
faction of all. Let this be speedily done. Do not, I im-
plore you, stain the early history of Christian Science by [20]
the impulses of human will and pride; but let the divine
will and the nobility of human meekness rule this busi-
ness transaction, in obedience to the law of Love and the
laws of our land.
As the ambassador of Christ's teachings, I admonish [25]
you: Delay not longer to commence building our church
in Boston; or else return every dollar that you yourselves
declare you have had no legal authority for obtaining, to
the several contributors,—and let them, not you, say
what shall be done with their money. [30]
Of our first church in Boston, O recording angel!
write: God is in the midst of her: how beautiful are her
[pg 142]
feet! how beautiful are her garments! how hath He en- [1]
larged her borders! how hath He made her wildernesses
to bud and blossom as the rose!
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy

To Donors Of Boat, From Toronto, Canada.

Written on receipt of a beautiful boat presented by Christian
Scientists in Toronto, for the little pond at Pleasant View. The
boat displays, among other beautiful decorations, a number of
masonic symbols. [10]
Beloved Students and Friends:—Accept my thanks
for the beautiful boat and presentation poem. Each day
since they arrived I have said, Let me write to the donors,
—and what?
My first impression was to indite a poem; my second, [15]
a psalm; my third, a letter. Why the letter alone? Be-
cause your dear hearts expressed in their lovely gift such
varying types of true affection, shaded as autumn leaves
with bright hues of the spiritual, that my Muse lost her
lightsome lyre, and imagery of thought gave place to [20]
chords of feeling too deep for words.
A boat song seemed more Olympian than the psalm in
spiritual strains of the Hebrew bard. So I send my
answer in a commonplace letter. Poor return, is it
not? [25]
The symbols of freemasonry depicted on the boat
wakened memory, touched tender fibres of thought, and
I longed to say to the masonic brothers: If as a woman
I may not unite with you in freemasonry, nor you with
me in Christian Science, yet as friends we can feel the [30]
[pg 143]
touch of heart to heart and hand to hand, on the broad [1]
basis and sure foundation of true friendship's “level”
and the “square” of moral sentiments.
My dear students may have explained to the kind par-
ticipants in beautifying this boat our spiritual points, [5]
above the plane of matter. If so, I may hope that a
closer link hath bound us. Across lakes, into a kingdom,
I reach out my hand to clasp yours, with this silent bene-
diction: May the kingdom of heaven come in each of
your hearts! [10]
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy

Address,—Laying The Corner-Stone.

Beloved Students:—On the 21st day of May, a.d.
1894, with quiet, imposing ceremony, is laid the corner- [15]
stone of “The First Church of Christ, Scientist,” in
Boston.
It gives me great pleasure to say that you, principally
the Normal class graduates of my College, well known
physicians, teachers, editors, and pastors of churches, [20]
by contributions of one thousand dollars each, husband
and wife reckoned as one, have, within about three
months, donated the munificent sum of forty-two thou-
sand dollars toward building The Mother Church. A
quiet call from me for this extra contribution, in aid of [25]
our Church Building Fund, found you all “with one
accord in one place.” Each donation came promptly;
sometimes at much self-sacrifice, but always accompanied
with a touching letter breathing the donor's privileged joy.
[pg 144]
The granite for this church was taken from the quar- [1]
ries in New Hampshire, my native State. The money
for building “Mother's Room,” situated in the second
story of the tower on the northeast corner of this build-
ing, and the name thereof, came from the dear children [5]
of Christian Scientists; a little band called Busy Bees,
organized by Miss Maurine R. Campbell.
On this memorable day there are laid away a copy of
this address, the subscription list on which appear your
several names in your own handwriting, your textbook, [10]
“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” and
other works written by the same author, your teacher,
the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;4 without
pomp or pride, laid away as a sacred secret in the
heart of a rock, there to typify the prophecy, “And a man [15]
shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest; ... as the shadow of a great rock in
a weary land:” henceforth to whisper our Master's
promise, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” [20]
To-day, be this hope in each of our hearts,—precious
in God's sight as shall be the assembling of His people
in this temple, sweet as the rest that remaineth for the
righteous, and fresh as a summer morn,—that, from
earth's pillows of stone, our visible lives are rising to [25]
God. As in the history of a seed, so may our earthly
sowing bear fruit that exudes the inspiration of the wine
poured into the cup of Christ.
To-day I pray that divine Love, the life-giving Prin-
ciple of Christianity, shall speedily wake the long night [30]
of materialism, and the universal dawn shall break upon
the spire of this temple. The Church, more than any
[pg 145]
other institution, at present is the cement of society, and [1]
it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty.
But the time cometh when the religious element, or Church
of Christ, shall exist alone in the affections, and need no
organization to express it. Till then, this form of godli- [5]
ness seems as requisite to manifest its spirit, as individ-
uality to express Soul and substance.
Does a single bosom burn for fame and power? Then
when that person shall possess these, let him ask him-
self, and answer to his name in this corner-stone of our [10]
temple: Am I greater for them? And if he thinks that
he is, then is he less than man to whom God gave “do-
minion over all the earth,” less than the meek who “in-
herit the earth.” Even vanity forbids man to be vain;
and pride is a hooded hawk which flies in darkness. Over [15]
a wounded sense of its own error, let not mortal thought
resuscitate too soon.
In our rock-bound friendship, delicate as dear, our
names may melt into one, and common dust, and their
modest sign be nothingness. Be this as it may, the visible [20]
unity of spirit remains, to quicken even dust into sweet
memorial such as Isaiah prophesied: “The wolf also shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; and a little child shall lead them.” [25]
When the hearts of Christian Scientists are woven to-
gether as are their names in the web of history, earth will
float majestically heaven's heraldry, and echo the song
of angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men.” [30]
To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and to
the dear children that my heart folds within it, let me
[pg 146]
say, 'Tis sweet to remember thee, and God's Zion, with [1]
healing on her wings. May her walls be vocal with sal-
vation; and her gates with praise!

To The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston

My Beloved Students:—I cannot conscientiously lend
my counsel to direct your action on receiving or dismiss-
ing candidates. To do this, I should need to be with
you. I cannot accept hearsay, and would need to know
the circumstances and facts regarding both sides of the [10]
subject, to form a proper judgment. This is not my
present province; hence I have hitherto declined to be
consulted on these subjects, and still maintain this
position.
These are matters of grave import; and you cannot [15]
be indifferent to this, but will give them immediate at-
tention, and be governed therein by the spirit and the
letter of this Scripture: “Whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so to them.”
I cannot be the conscience for this church; but if I [20]
were, I would gather every reformed mortal that desired
to come, into its fold, and counsel and help him to walk
in the footsteps of His flock. I feel sure that as Chris-
tian Scientists you will act, relative to this matter, up to
your highest understanding of justice and mercy. [25]
Affectionately yours,
Mary Baker Eddy
Feb. 12, 1895
[pg 147]

The First Members Of The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts

My Beloved Students:—Another year has rolled on, [3]
another annual meeting has convened, another space of
time has been given us, and has another duty been done [5]
and another victory won for time and eternity? Do you
meet in unity, preferring one another, and demonstrating
the divine Principle of Christian Science? Have you
improved past hours, and ladened them with records
worthy to be borne heavenward? Have you learned [10]
that sin is inadmissible, and indicates a small mind?
Do you manifest love for those that hate you and de-
spitefully use you?
The man of integrity is one who makes it his constant
rule to follow the road of duty, according as Truth and [15]
the voice of his conscience point it out to him. He is not
guided merely by affections which may some time give
the color of virtue to a loose and unstable character.
The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which
destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to [20]
abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him
ever the same,—at all times the trusty friend, the affec-
tionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the
pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.
He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no [25]
mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he
is indeed what he appears to be,—full of truth, candor,
and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path
but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather
fail of success than attain it by reproachable means. He [30]
[pg 148]
never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates [1]
evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part
of his character at variance with another.
Lovingly yours,
Mary Baker Eddy [5]
Sept. 30, 1895

Extract From A Letter

The Rules and By-laws in the Manual of The First
Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, originated not in
solemn conclave as in ancient Sanhedrim. They were [10]
not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial demands, such as
one person might impose on another. They were im-
pelled by a power not one's own, were written at differ-
ent dates, and as the occasion required. They sprang
from necessity, the logic of events,—from the immedi- [15]
ate demand for them as a help that must be supplied to
maintain the dignity and defense of our Cause; hence
their simple, scientific basis, and detail so requisite to
demonstrate genuine Christian Science, and which will
do for the race what absolute doctrines destined for future [20]
generations might not accomplish.

To The Mother Church

Beloved Brethren:—Until recently, I was not aware
that the contribution box was presented at your Friday
evening meetings. I specially desire that you collect no
moneyed contributions from the people present on these
occasions.
Let the invitation to this sweet converse be in the words
of the prophet Isaiah: “Ho, every one that thirsteth,
[pg 149]
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come [1]
ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.”
Invite all cordially and freely to this banquet of Chris-
tian Science, this feast and flow of Soul. Ask them to [5]
bring what they possess of love and light to help leaven
your loaf and replenish your scanty store. Then, after
presenting the various offerings, and one after another
has opened his lips to discourse and distribute what God
has given him of experience, hope, faith, and under- [10]
standing, gather up the fragments, and count the baskets
full of accessions to your love, and see that nothing has
been lost.
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy [15]

To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Oconto

My Beloved Brethren:—Lips nor pen can ever ex-
press the joy you give me in parting so promptly with
your beloved pastor, Rev. Mr. Norcross, to send him to [20]
aid me. It is a refreshing demonstration of Christianity,
brotherly love, and all the rich graces of the Spirit. May
this sacrifice bring to your beloved church a vision of the
new church, that cometh down from heaven, whose altar
is a loving heart, whose communion is fellowship with [25]
saints and angels. This example of yours is a light that
cannot be hid.
Guided by the pillar and the cloud, this little church
that built the first temple for Christian Science worship
shall abide steadfastly in the faith of Jesus' words: “Fear [30]
[pg 150]
not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to [1]
give you the kingdom.” May He soon give you a pastor;
already you have the great Shepherd of Israel watch-
ing over you. Give my forever-love to your dear church.
Yours in bonds of Christ,
Mary Baker G. Eddy [5]
Boston, Mass., 1889

To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Scranton

Beloved Brethren:—Space is no separator of hearts. [10]
Spiritually, I am with all who are with Truth, and whose
hearts today are repeating their joy that God dwelleth
in the congregation of the faithful, and loveth the gates
of Zion.
The outlook is cheering. We have already seen the [15]
salvation of many people by means of Christian Science.
Chapels and churches are dotting the entire land. Con-
venient houses and halls can now be obtained wherein, as
whereout, Christian Scientists may worship the Father
“in spirit and in truth,” as taught by our great Master. [20]
“If God be for us, who can be against us?” If He
be with us, the wayside is a sanctuary, and the desert a
resting-place peopled with living witnesses of the fact
that “God is Love.”
God is universal; confined to no spot, defined by no [25]
dogma, appropriated by no sect. Not more to one than
to all, is God demonstrable as divine Life, Truth, and
Love; and His people are they that reflect Him—that
reflect Love. Again, this infinite Principle, with its uni-
versal manifestation, is all that really is or can be; [30]
hence God is our Shepherd. He guards, guides, feeds,
[pg 151]
and folds the sheep of His pasture; and their ears are [1]
attuned to His call. In the words of the loving disciple,
“My sheep hear my voice,... and they follow me;
...neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand.” [5]
God is a consuming fire. He separates the dross from
the gold, purifies the human character, through the
furnace of affliction. Those who bear fruit He purgeth,
that they may bear more fruit. Through the sacred law,
He speaketh to the unfruitful in tones of Sinai: and, in [10]
the gospel, He saith of the barren fig-tree, “Cut it down;
why cumbereth it the ground?”
God is our Father and our Mother, our Minister and
the great Physician: He is man's only real relative on
earth and in heaven. David sang, “Whom have I in [15]
heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I
desire beside thee.”
Brother, sister, beloved in the Lord, knowest thou
thyself, and art thou acquainted with God? If not, I
pray thee as a Christian Scientist, delay not to make Him [20]
thy first acquaintance.
Glorious things are spoken of you in His Word. Ye
are a chosen people, whose God is—what? Even All.
May mercy and truth go before you: may the lamp of
your life continually be full of oil, and you be wedded
to the spiritual idea, Christ; then will you heal, and
teach, and preach, on the ascending scale of everlasting
Life and Love.
Affectionately yours in Christ,
Mary Baker Eddy [30]
[pg 152]

To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Denver

Beloved Pastor and Brethren:—“As in water face
answereth to face,” and in love continents clasp hands, so
the oneness of God includes also His presence with those [5]
whose hearts unite in the purposes of goodness. Of this
we may be sure: that thoughts winged with peace and
love breathe a silent benediction over all the earth, co-
operate with the divine power, and brood unconsciously
o'er the work of His hand. [10]
I, as a corporeal person, am not in your midst: I, as a
dictator, arbiter, or ruler, am not present; but I, as a
mother whose heart pulsates with every throb of theirs
for the welfare of her children, am present, and rejoice
with them that rejoice. [15]
May meekness, mercy, and love dwell forever in the
hearts of those who worship in this tabernacle: then
will they receive the heritage that God has prepared for
His people,—made ready for the pure in affection, the
meek in spirit, the worshipper in truth, the follower of [20]
good.
Thus founded upon the rock of Christ, when storm
and tempest beat against this sure foundation, you,
safely sheltered in the strong tower of hope, faith, and
Love, are God's nestlings; and He will hide you in His [25]
feathers till the storm has passed. Into His haven of
Soul there enters no element of earth to cast out angels,
to silence the right intuition which guides you safely
home.
Exercise more faith in God and His spiritual means [30]
[pg 153]
and methods, than in man and his material ways and [1]
means, of establishing the Cause of Christian Science.
If right yourself, God will confirm His inheritance. “Be
not weary in well doing.” Truth is restful, and Love is
triumphant. [5]
When God went forth before His people, they were
fed with manna: they marched through the wilderness:
they passed through the Red Sea, untouched by the bil-
lows. At His command, the rock became a fountain;
and the land of promise, green isles of refreshment. In [10]
the words of the Psalmist, when “the Lord gave the word:
great was the company of those that published it.”
God is good to Israel,—washed in the waters of
Meribah, cleansed of the flesh,—good to His Israel
encompassed not with pride, hatred, self-will, and self- [15]
justification; wherein violence covereth men as a gar-
ment, and as captives are they enchained.
Christian Scientists bring forth the fruits of Spirit,
not flesh; and God giveth this “new name” to no man
who honors Him not by positive proof of trustworthiness. [20]
May you be able to say, “I have not cleansed my heart
in vain.”
Sir Edwin Arnold, to whom I presented a copy of
my first edition of “Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures,” writes:— [25]
Peace on earth and Good-will!
Souls that are gentle and still
Hear the first music of this
Far-off, infinite, Bliss!
So may the God of peace be and abide with this church. [30]
Affectionately yours,
Mary Baker Eddy
[pg 154]

To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Lawrence

Beloved Brethren:—The spreading branches of The
Church of Christ, Scientist, are fast reaching out their
broad shelter to the entire world. Your faith has not [5]
been without works,—and God's love for His flock is
manifest in His care. He will dig about this little church,
prune its encumbering branches, water it with the dews
of heaven, enrich its roots, and enlarge its borders with
divine Love. God only waits for man's worthiness to [10]
enhance the means and measure of His grace. You
have already proof of the prosperity of His Zion. You
sit beneath your own vine and fig-tree as the growth
of spirituality—even that vine whereof our Father is
husbandman. [15]
It is the purpose of divine Love to resurrect the under-
standing, and the kingdom of God, the reign of har-
mony already within us. Through the word that is
spoken unto you, are you made free. Abide in His word,
and it shall abide in you; and the healing Christ will [20]
again be made manifest in the flesh—understood and
glorified.
Honor thy Father and Mother, God. Continue in
His love. Bring forth fruit—“signs following”—that
your prayers be not hindered. Pray without ceasing. [25]
Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual ob-
servation and self-examination. Strive for self-abnega-
tion, justice, meekness, mercy, purity, love. Let your
light reflect Light. Have no ambition, affection, nor
aim apart from holiness. Forget not for a moment, that [30]
[pg 155]
God is All-in-all—therefore, that in reality there is but [1]
one cause and effect.
The pride of circumstance or power is the prince of
this world that has nothing in Christ. All power and
happiness are spiritual, and proceed from goodness. [5]
Sacrifice self to bless one another, even as God has
blessed you. Forget self in laboring for mankind; then
will you woo the weary wanderer to your door, win the
pilgrim and stranger to your church, and find access to
the heart of humanity. While pressing meekly on, be [10]
faithful, be valiant in the Christian's warfare, and peace
will crown your joy.
Lovingly yours,
Mary Baker Eddy

To Correspondents

Beloved Students:—Because Mother has not the time
even to read all of her interesting correspondence, and
less wherein to answer it (however much she desires
thus to do), she hereby requests: First, that you, her
students' students, who write such excellent letters to [20]
her, will hereafter, as a general rule, send them to the
editors of The Christian Science Journal for publication,
and thereby give to us all the pleasure of hearing from you.
If my own students cannot spare time to write to God,
—when they address me I shall be apt to forward their [25]
letters to Him as our common Parent, and by way of
The Christian Science Journal; thus fulfilling their moral
obligation to furnish some reading-matter for our denomi-
national organ. Methinks, were they to contemplate the
universal charge wherewith divine Love has entrusted us, [30]
[pg 156]
in behalf of a suffering race, they would contribute oftener [1]
to the pages of this swift vehicle of scientific thought;
for it reaches a vast number of earnest readers, and seek-
ers after Truth.
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy

To Students

Beloved Christian Scientists:—Please send in your
contributions as usual to our Journal. All is well at head-
quarters, and when the mist shall melt away you will see
clearly the signs of Truth and the heaven of Love within [10]
your hearts. Let the reign of peace and harmony be
supreme and forever yours.
I proposed to merge the adjourned meeting in the one
held at Chicago, because I saw no advantage, but great
disadvantage, in one student's opinions or modus oper- [15]
andi becoming the basis for others: read “Retrospection”
on this subject. Science is absolute, and best under-
stood through the study of my works and the daily Chris-
tian demonstration thereof. It is their materiality that
clogs the progress of students, and “this kind goeth not [20]
forth but by prayer and fasting.” It is materialism through
which the animal magnetizer preys, and in turn becomes
a prey. Spirituality is the basis of all true thought and
volition. Assembling themselves together, and listening
to each other amicably, or contentiously, is no aid to [25]
students in acquiring solid Christian Science. Experi-
ence and, above all, obedience, are the aids and tests of
growth and understanding in this direction.
With love,
Mary B. G. Eddy [30]
[pg 157]

To A Student

My Dear Student:—It is a great thing to be found
worthy to suffer for Christ, Truth. Paul said, “If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him.” Reign then, my
beloved in the Lord. He that marketh the sparrow's fall [5]
will direct thy way.
I have written, or caused my secretary to write, to Mr.
and Mrs. Stewart, of Toronto, Canada (you will find their
card in The C. S. Journal,) that you or your lawyer will
ask them all questions important for your case, and re- [10]
quested that they furnish all information possible. They
will be glad to help you. Every true Christian Scientist
will feel “as bound with you,” but as free in Truth and
Love, safe under the shadow of His wing.
Yes, my student, my Father is your Father; and He [15]
helps us most when help is most needed, for He is the
ever-present help.
I am glad that you are in good cheer. I enclose you
the name of Mr. E. A. Kimball, C. S. D., of Chicago,—
5020 Woodlawn Ave.,—for items relative to Mrs. Steb- [20]
bin's case.
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him;
and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the
noonday.” This I know, for God is for us. [25]
Write me when you need me. Error has no power
but to destroy itself. It cannot harm you; it cannot stop
the eternal currents of Truth.
Ever with love,
Mary B. G. Eddy
[pg 158]

To A Student

My Beloved Student:—In reply to your letter I will
say: God's ways are not as our ways; but higher far
than the heavens above the earth is His wisdom above
ours. When I requested you to be ordained, I little [5]
thought of the changes about to be made. When I insisted
on your speaking without notes, I little knew that
so soon another change in your pulpit would be demanded.
But now, after His messenger has obeyed the message
of divine Love, comes the interpretation thereof. But you [10]
see we both had first to obey, and to do this through faith,
not sight.
The meaning of it all, as now shown, is this: when
you were bidden to be ordained, it was in reward for your
faithful service, thus to honor it. The second command, [15]
to drop the use of notes, was to rebuke a lack of faith in
divine help, and to test your humility and obedience in
bearing this cross.
All God's servants are minute men and women. As
of old, I stand with sandals on and staff in hand, wait- [20]
ing for the watchword and the revelation of what, how,
whither. Let us be faithful and obedient, and God will
do the rest.
In the April number of The Christian Science Journal
you will find the forthcoming completion (as I now think) [25]
of the divine directions sent out to the churches. It is
satisfactory to note, however, that the order therein given
corresponds to the example of our Master. Jesus was
not ordained as our churches ordain ministers. We
have no record that he used notes when preaching. He
[pg 159]
spake in their synagogues, reading the Scriptures and [1]
expounding them; and God has given to this age “Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” to elucidate
His Word.
You may read this letter to your church, and then [5]
send it to Rev. Mr. Norcross, and he will understand.
May the God of all grace give you peace.
With love,
Mary Baker Eddy

Extract From A Christmas Letter

Beloved Students:—My heart has many rooms: one
of these is sacred to the memory of my students. Into
this upper chamber, where all things are pure and of
good report,—into this sanctuary of love,—I often
retreat, sit silently, and ponder. In this chamber is [15]
memory's wardrobe, where I deposit certain recollec-
tions and rare grand collections once in each year. This
is my Christmas storehouse. Its goods commemorate,
—not so much the Bethlehem babe, as the man of God,
the risen Christ, and the adult Jesus. Here I deposit [20]
the gifts that my dear students offer at the shrine of
Christian Science, and to their lone Leader. Here I talk
once a year,—and this is a bit of what I said in 1890:
“O glorious Truth! O Mother Love! how has the sense
of Thy children grown to behold Thee! and how have [25]
many weary wings sprung upward! and how has our
Model, Christ, been unveiled to us, and to the age!”
I look at the rich devices in embroidery, silver, gold,
and jewels,—all gifts of Christian Scientists from all
parts of our nation, and some from abroad,—then al- [30]
[pg 160]
most marvel at the power and permanence of affection [1]
under the régime of Christian Science! Never did grati-
tude and love unite more honestly in uttering the word
thanks, than ours at this season. But a mother's love
behind words has no language; it may give no material [5]
token, but lives steadily on, through time and circum-
stance, as part and paramount portion of her being.
Thus may our lives flow on in the same sweet rhythm
of head and heart, till they meet and mingle in bliss super-
nal. There is a special joy in knowing that one is gaining [10]
constantly in the knowledge of Truth and divine Love.
Your progress, the past year, has been marked. It satis-
fies my present hope. Of this we rest assured, that every
trial of our faith in God makes us stronger and firmer in
understanding and obedience. [15]
Lovingly yours,
Mary Baker G. Eddy
[pg 161]

Chapter VI. Sermons.

A Christmas Sermon

Delivered in Chickering Hall, Boston, Mass., on the
Sunday Before Christmas, 1888
Subject: The Corporeal and Incorporeal Saviour
Text: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the [5]
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.Isaiah ix. 6.
To the senses, Jesus was the son of man: in Science,
man is the son of God. The material senses could [10]
not cognize the Christ, or Son of God: it was Jesus'
approximation to this state of being that made him the
Christ-Jesus, the Godlike, the anointed.
The prophet whose words we have chosen for our
text, prophesied the appearing of this dual nature, as [15]
both human and divinely endowed, the personal and the
impersonal Jesus.
The only record of our Master as a public benefactor,
or personal Saviour, opens when he was thirty years of
age; owing in part, perhaps, to the Jewish law that none [20]
should teach or preach in public under that age. Also,
it is natural to conclude that at this juncture he was
specially endowed with the Holy Spirit; for he was given
the new name, Messiah, or Jesus Christ,—the God-
[pg 162]
anointed; even as, at times of special enlightenment, [1]
Jacob was called Israel; and Saul, Paul.
The third event of this eventful period,—a period of
such wonderful spiritual import to mankind!—was the
advent of a higher Christianity. [5]
From this dazzling, God-crowned summit, the Naza-
rene stepped suddenly before the people and their schools
of philosophy; Gnostic, Epicurean, and Stoic. He must
stem these rising angry elements, and walk serenely over
their fretted, foaming billows. [10]
Here the cross became the emblem of Jesus' history;
while the central point of his Messianic mission was peace,
good will, love, teaching, and healing.
Clad with divine might, he was ready to stem the tide
of Judaism, and prove his power, derived from Spirit, to [15]
be supreme; lay himself as a lamb upon the altar of
materialism, and therefrom rise to his nativity in Spirit.
The corporeal Jesus bore our infirmities, and through
his stripes we are healed. He was the Way-shower, and
suffered in the flesh, showing mortals how to escape from [20]
the sins of the flesh.
There was no incorporeal Jesus of Nazareth. The
spiritual man, or Christ, was after the similitude of the
Father, without corporeality or finite mind.
Materiality, worldliness, human pride, or self-will, by [25]
demoralizing his motives and Christlikeness, would have
dethroned his power as the Christ.
To carry out his holy purpose, he must be oblivious of
human self.
Of the lineage of David, like him he went forth, simple [30]
as the shepherd boy, to disarm the Goliath. Panoplied
in the strength of an exalted hope, faith, and understand-
[pg 163]
ing, he sought to conquer the three-in-one of error: the [1]
world, the flesh, and the devil.
Three years he went about doing good. He had for
thirty years been preparing to heal and teach divinely;
but his three-years mission was a marvel of glory: its [5]
chaplet, a grave to mortal sense dishonored—from which
sprang a sublime and everlasting victory!
He who dated time, the Christian era, and spanned
eternity, was the meekest man on earth. He healed
and taught by the wayside, in humble homes: to arrant [10]
hypocrite and to dull disciples he explained the Word
of God, which has since ripened into interpretation
through Science.
His words were articulated in the language of a de-
clining race, and committed to the providence of God. [15]
In no one thing seemed he less human and more divine
than in his unfaltering faith in the immortality of Truth.
Referring to this, he said, “Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away!” and
they have not: they still live; and are the basis of divine [20]
liberty, the medium of Mind, the hope of the race.
Only three years a personal Saviour! yet the founda-
tions he laid are as eternal as Truth, the chief corner-stone.
After his brief brave struggle, and the crucifixion of [25]
the corporeal man, the incorporeal Saviour—the Christ
or spiritual idea which leadeth into all Truth—must
needs come in Christian Science, demonstrating the spir-
itual healing of body and mind.
This idea or divine essence was, and is, forever about [30]
the Father's business; heralding the Principle of health,
holiness, and immortality.
[pg 164]
Its divine Principle interprets the incorporeal idea, or [1]
Son of God; hence the incorporeal and corporeal are
distinguished thus: the former is the spiritual idea that
represents divine good, and the latter is the human
presentation of goodness in man. The Science of Chris- [5]
tianity, that has appeared in the ripeness of time, re-
veals the incorporeal Christ; and this will continue
to be seen more clearly until it be acknowledged, under-
stood,—and the Saviour, which is Truth, be compre-
hended. [10]
To the vision of the Wisemen, this spiritual idea of the
Principle of man or the universe, appeared as a star. At
first, the babe Jesus seemed small to mortals; but from
the mount of revelation, the prophet beheld it from the
beginning as the Redeemer, who would present a wonder- [15]
ful manifestation of Truth and Love.
In our text Isaiah foretold, “His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.”
As the Wisemen grew in the understanding of Christ, [20]
the spiritual idea, it grew in favor with them. Thus it
will continue, as it shall become understood, until man
be found in the actual likeness of his Maker. Their
highest human concept of the man Jesus, that portrayed
him as the only Son of God, the only begotten of the [25]
Father, full of grace and Truth, will become so magnified
to human sense, by means of the lens of Science, as to
reveal man collectively, as individually, to be the son of
God.
The limited view of God's ideas arose from the testimony [30]
of the senses. Science affords the evidence that God is the
Father of man, of all that is real and eternal. This spir-
[pg 165]
itual idea that the personal Jesus demonstrated, casting [1]
out evils and healing, more than eighteen centuries ago,
disappeared by degrees; both because of the ascension
of Jesus, in which it was seen that he had grown beyond
the human sense of him, and because of the corruption of [5]
the Church.
The last appearing of Truth will be a wholly spiritual
idea of God and of man, without the fetters of the flesh, or
corporeality. This infinite idea of infinity will be, is, as
eternal as its divine Principle. The daystar of this appear- [10]
ing is the light of Christian Science—the Science which
rends the veil of the flesh from top to bottom. The light
of this revelation leaves nothing that is material; neither
darkness, doubt, disease, nor death. The material cor-
poreality disappears; and individual spirituality, perfect [15]
and eternal, appears—never to disappear.
The truth uttered and lived by Jesus, who passed on
and left to mortals the rich legacy of what he said and
did, makes his followers the heirs to his example; but
they can neither appreciate nor appropriate his treasures [20]
of Truth and Love, until lifted to these by their own
growth and experiences. His goodness and grace pur-
chased the means of mortals' redemption from sin; but,
they never paid the price of sin. This cost, none but the
sinner can pay; and accordingly as this account is settled [25]
with divine Love, is the sinner ready to avail himself of
the rich blessings flowing from the teaching, example,
and suffering of our Master.
The secret stores of wisdom must be discovered, their
treasures reproduced and given to the world, before man [30]
can truthfully conclude that he has been found in the
order, mode, and virgin origin of man according to divine
[pg 166]
Science, which alone demonstrates the divine Principle [1]
and spiritual idea of being.
The monument whose finger points upward, commemorates
the earthly life of a martyr; but this is not all of
the philanthropist, hero, and Christian. The Truth he [5]
has taught and spoken lives, and moves in our midst a
divine afflatus. Thus it is that the ideal Christ—or
impersonal infancy, manhood, and womanhood of Truth
and Love—is still with us.
And what of this child?—“For unto us a child is [10]
born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall
be upon his shoulder.”
This child, or spiritual idea, has evolved a more ready
ear for the overture of angels and the scientific under-
standing of Truth and Love. When Christ, the incor- [15]
poreal idea of God, was nameless, and a Mary knew not
how to declare its spiritual origin, the idea of man was
not understood. The Judæan religion even required the
Virgin-mother to go to the temple and be purified, for
having given birth to the corporeal child Jesus, whose [20]
origin was more spiritual than the senses could inter-
pret. Like the leaven that a certain woman hid in three
measures of meal, the Science of God and the spiritual
idea, named in this century Christian Science, is leaven-
ing the lump of human thought, until the whole shall [25]
be leavened and all materialism disappear. This action
of the divine energy, even if not acknowledged, has
come to be seen as diffusing richest blessings. This
spiritual idea, or Christ, entered into the minutiæ of the
life of the personal Jesus. It made him an honest man, [30]
a good carpenter, and a good man, before it could make
him the glorified.
[pg 167]
The material questions at this age on the reappearing [1]
of the infantile thought of God's man, are after the man-
ner of a mother in the flesh, though their answers per-
tain to the spiritual idea, as in Christian Science:—
Is he deformed? [5]
He is wholly symmetrical; the one altogether lovely.
Is the babe a son, or daughter?
Both son and daughter: even the compound idea of
all that resembles God.
How much does he weigh? [10]
His substance outweighs the material world.
How old is he?
Of his days there is no beginning and no ending.
What is his name?
Christ Science. [15]
Who are his parents, brothers, and sisters?
His Father and Mother are divine Life, Truth, and
Love; and they who do the will of his Father are his is
brethren.
Is he heir to an estate? [20]
“The government shall be upon his shoulder!” He
has dominion over the whole earth; and in admiration
of his origin, he exclaims, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto [25]
babes!”
Is he wonderful?
His works thus prove him. He giveth power, peace,
and holiness; he exalteth the lowly; he giveth liberty
[pg 168]
to the captive, health to the sick, salvation from sin to [1]
the sinner—and overcometh the world!
Go, and tell what things ye shall see and hear: how
the blind, spiritually and physically, receive sight; how
the lame, those halting between two opinions or hob- [5]
bling on crutches, walk; how the physical and moral
lepers are cleansed; how the deaf—those who, having
ears, hear not, and are afflicted with “tympanum on the
brain”—hear; how the dead, those buried in dogmas
and physical ailments, are raised; that to the poor— [10]
the lowly in Christ, not the man-made rabbi—the
gospel is preached. Note this: only such as are pure
in spirit, emptied of vainglory and vain knowledge, re-
ceive Truth.
Here ends the colloquy; and a voice from heaven seems [15]
to say, “Come and see.”
The nineteenth-century prophets repeat, “Unto us a
son is given.”
The shepherds shout, “We behold the appearing of
the star!”—and the pure in heart clap their hands. [20]

Editor's Extracts From Sermon

Text: Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of
God.Matt. xxii. 29.
The Christian Science Journal reported as follows:—
The announcement that the Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy [25]
would speak before the Scientist denomination on the
afternoon of October 26, drew a large audience. Haw-
thorne Hall was densely packed, and many had to go
away unable to obtain seats. The distinguished speaker
began by saying:— [30]
[pg 169]
Within Bible pages she had found all the divine Science [1]
she preaches; noticing, all along the way of her researches
therein, that whenever her thoughts had wandered into
the bypaths of ancient philosophies or pagan literatures,
her spiritual insight had been darkened thereby, till [5]
she was God-driven back to the inspired pages. Early
training, through the misinterpretation of the Word,
had been the underlying cause of the long years of in-
validism she endured before Truth dawned upon her
understanding, through right interpretation. With the [10]
understanding of Scripture-meanings, had come physical
rejuvenation. The uplifting of spirit was the upbuild-
ing of the body.
She affirmed that the Scriptures cannot properly be
interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must [15]
be spiritually discerned, before their message can be
borne fully to our minds and hearts. That there is a
dual meaning to every Biblical passage, the most eminent
divines of the world have concluded; and to get at the
highest, or metaphysical, it is necessary rightly to read [20]
what the inspired writers left for our spiritual instruction.
The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them noth-
ing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and
hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and
peace and hope for all. The literal or material reading is [25]
the reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward
God, Spirit.
Taking several Bible passages, Mrs. Eddy showed how
beautiful and inspiring are the thoughts when rightly
understood. “Let the dead bury their dead; follow [30]
thou me,” was one of the passages explained metaphysi-
cally. In their fullest meaning, those words are salvation
[pg 170]
from the belief of death, the last enemy to be overthrown; [1]
for by following Christ truly, resurrection and life im-
mortal are brought to us. If we follow him, to us there
can be no dead. Those who know not this, may still
believe in death and weep over the graves of their beloved; [5]
but with him is Life eternal, which never changes to
death. The eating of bread and drinking of wine at the
Lord's supper, merely symbolize the spiritual refresh-
ment of God's children having rightly read His Word,
whose entrance into their understanding is healthful life. [10]
This is the reality behind the symbol.
So, also, she spoke of the hades, or hell of Scripture,
saying, that we make our own heavens and our own hells,
by right and wise, or wrong and foolish, conceptions of
God and our fellow-men. Jesus interpreted all spirit- [15]
ually: “I have bread to eat that ye know not of,” he
said. The bread he ate, which was refreshment of divine
strength, we also may all partake of.
The material record of the Bible, she said, is no more
important to our well-being than the history of Europe [20]
and America; but the spiritual application bears upon
our eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely meta-
physical; and no other method is Christian Science. In
the passage recording Jesus' proceedings with the blind
man (Mark viii.) he is said to have spat upon the dust. [25]
Spitting was the Hebrew method of expressing the utmost
contempt. So Jesus is recorded as having expressed
contempt for the belief of material eyes as having any
power to see. Having eyes, ye see not; and ears, ye hear
not, he had just told them. The putting on of hands [30]
mentioned, she explained as the putting forth of power.
“Hand,” in Bible usage, often means spiritual power.
[pg 171]
“His hand is not shortened that it cannot save,” can [1]
never be wrested from its true meaning to signify human
hands. Jesus' first effort to realize Truth was not wholly
successful; but he rose to the occasion with the second
attempt, and the blind saw clearly. To suppose that [5]
Jesus did actually anoint the blind man's eyes with his
spittle, is as absurd as to think, according to the report
of some, that Christian Scientists sit in back-to-back
seances with their patients, for the divine power to filter
from vertebræ to vertebræ. When one comes to the age [10]
with spiritual translations of God's messages, expressed
in literal or physical terms, our right action is not to con-
demn and deny, but to “try the spirits” and see what
manner they are of. This does not mean communing
with spirits supposed to have departed from the earth, [15]
but the seeking out of the basis upon which are accom-
plished the works by which the new teacher would prove
his right to be heard. By these signs are the true disciples
of the Master known: the sick are healed; to the poor
the gospel is preached. [20]

Extract From A Sermon Delivered In Boston, January 18, 1885

Text: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.Matt.
xiii. 33.
Few people at present know aught of the Science of
mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the
public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in
the name of Science, that it behooves all clad in the shin-
ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep [30]
[pg 172]
their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives [1]
steadfast in Truth.
Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the
tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and
the negative of metaphysical Science; what it is, and [5]
what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in
a higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat
the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or
clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged
charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers [10]
the veriest sinner.
Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the
three measures be accomplished, and he arrives at
fulness of stature; for “the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth.” [15]
Science is divine: it is neither of human origin nor of
human direction. That which is termed “natural science,”
the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal
senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite
law of God; which law is written on the heart, received [20]
through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem-
onstrated in our lives.
This law of God is the Science of mental healing,
spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed.
Mental Science, and the five personal senses, are at [25]
war; and peace can only be declared on the side of im-
mutable right,—the health, holiness, and immortality
of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda-
mental rule of Science must be understood and adhered
to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture [30]
that God is good; hence, good is omnipotent and
omnipresent.
[pg 173]
Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or [1]
man's theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle
and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees
nothing but a law of matter.
Who has ever learned of the schools that there is but [5]
one Mind, and that this is God, who healeth all our sick-
ness and sins?
Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan phi-
losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law of
Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation [10]
to, or recognition of, matter?
Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God,
omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo-
site so-called science, which says that man is both matter
and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite [15]
be within the finite? And must not man have preexisted
in the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without
space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that
it is man?
If God is Mind and fills all space, is everywhere, matter [20]
is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, God, is all-power
and all-presence, man is not met by another power
and presence, that—obstructing his intelligence—
pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man
is intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that [25]
is not the counterpart but the counterfeit of man's creator?
Surely not from God, for He made man in His own
likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called
matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it?
But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of [30]
Mind?
For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created.
[pg 174]
Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter [1]
than has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement
of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against
Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having presence
and power over omnipotence! [5]
Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us
come into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui-
ties, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense
of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within
man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that [10]
moves all in harmony,—from the falling of a sparrow
to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons,
broader than the solar system and higher than the at-
mosphere of our planet, is the Science of mental
healing. [15]
What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit,
the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is
there—nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this
kingdom afar off? No: it is ever-present here. The
first to declare against this kingdom is matter. Shall [20]
that be called heresy which pleads for Spirit—the All of
God, and His omnipresence?
The kingdom of heaven is the reign of divine Science:
it is a mental state. Jesus said it is within you, and
taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come;” but he did [25]
not teach us to pray for death whereby to gain heaven.
We do not look into darkness for light. Death can never
usher in the dawn of Science that reveals the spiritual
facts of man's Life here and now.
The leaven which a woman took and hid in three [30]
measures of meal, is Divine Science; the Comforter;
the Holy Ghost that leadeth into all Truth; the “still,
[pg 175]
small voice” that breathes His presence and power, cast- [1]
ing out error and healing the sick. And woman, the
spiritual idea, takes of the things of God and showeth
them unto the creature, until the whole sense of being
is leavened with Spirit. The three measures of meal [5]
may well be likened to the false sense of life, substance,
and intelligence, which says, I am sustained by bread,
matter, instead of Mind. The spiritual leaven of divine
Science changes this false sense, giving better views of
Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall [10]
appear, it shall be “the substance of things hoped for.”
The measure of Life shall increase by every spiritual
touch, even as the leaven expands the loaf. Man shall
keep the feast of Life, not with the old leaven of the
scribes and Pharisees, neither with “the leaven of malice [15]
and wickedness; but the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.”
Thus it can be seen that the Science of mental healing
must be understood. There are false Christs that would
“deceive, if it were possible, the very elect,” by institut- [20]
ing matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their
supposition is, that there are other minds than His; that
one mind controls another; that one belief takes the
place of another. But this ism of to-day has nothing
to do with the Science of mental healing which acquaints [25]
us with God and reveals the one perfect Mind and His
laws.
The attempt to mix matter and Mind, to work by
means of both animal magnetism and divine power, is
literally saying, Have we not in thy name cast out devils, [30]
and done many wonderful works?
But remember God in all thy ways, and thou shalt
[pg 176]
find the truth that breaks the dream of sense, letting the [1]
harmony of Science that declares Him, come in with
healing, and peace, and perfect love.

Sunday Services on July Fourth

Extempore Remarks
The great theme so deeply and solemnly expounded
by the preacher, has been exemplified in all ages, but
chiefly in the great crises of nations or of the human race.
It is then that supreme devotion to Principle has espe-
cially been called for and manifested. It is then that we [10]
learn a little more of the nothingness of evil, and more
of the divine energies of good, and strive valiantly for the
liberty of the sons of God.
The day we celebrate reminds us of the heroes and
heroines who counted not their own lives dear to them, [15]
when they sought the New England shores, not as the
flying nor as conquerors, but, steadfast in faith and love,
to build upon the rock of Christ, the true idea of God—
the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter.
When first the Pilgrims planted their feet on Plymouth [20]
Rock, frozen ritual and creed should forever have melted
away in the fire of love which came down from heaven.
The Pilgrims came to establish a nation in true freedom,
in the rights of conscience.
But what of ourselves, and our times and obligations? [25]
Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and
responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve
them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith
we are armored?
[pg 177]
Never was there a more solemn and imperious call [1]
than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent de-
votion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and
holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great
battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil [5]
are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the
Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and opera-
tive in Christian Science. Large numbers, in desperate
malice, are engaged day and night in organizing action
against us. Their feeling and purpose are deadly, and [10]
they have sworn enmity against the lives of our standard-
bearers.
What will you do about it? Will you be equally in
earnest for the truth? Will you doff your lavender-kid
zeal, and become real and consecrated warriors? Will [15]
you give yourselves wholly and irrevocably to the great
work of establishing the truth, the gospel, and the Science
which are necessary to the salvation of the world from
error, sin, disease, and death? Answer at once and practi-
cally, and answer aright! [20]

Easter Services

The editor of The Christian Science Journal said that
at three o'clock, the hour for the church service proper,
the pastor, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, accompanied
by Rev. D. A. Easton, who was announced to preach [25]
the sermon, came on the platform. The pastor introduced
Mr. Easton as follows:—
Friends:—The homesick traveller in foreign lands
greets with joy a familiar face. I am constantly home-
sick for heaven. In my long journeyings I have met [30]
[pg 178]
one who comes from the place of my own sojourning [1]
for many years,—the Congregational Church. He is
a graduate of Bowdoin College and of Andover The-
ological School. He has left his old church, as I did,
from a yearning of the heart; because he was not sat- [5]
isfied with a manlike God, but wanted to become a God-
like man. He found that the new wine could not be
put into old bottles without bursting them, and he came
to us.
Mr. Easton then delivered an interesting discourse [10]
from the text, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God” (Col. iii. 1), which he prefaced by
saying:—
“I think it was about a year ago that I strayed into [15]
this hall, a stranger, and wondered what sort of people
you were, and of what you were worshippers. If any
one had said to me that to-day I should stand before
you to preach a sermon on Christian Science, I should
have replied, “Much learning”—or something else— [20]
“hath made thee mad.” If I had not found Christian
Science a new gospel, I should not be standing before you:
if I had not found it truth, I could not have stood up
again to preach, here or elsewhere.”
At the conclusion of the sermon, the pastor again came [25]
forward, and added the following:—
My friends, I wished to be excused from speaking
to-day, but will yield to circumstances. In the flesh, we
are as a partition wall between the old and the new;
between the old religion in which we have been educated, [30]
and the new, living, impersonal Christ-thought that has
been given to the world to-day.
[pg 179]
The old churches are saying, “He is not here;” and, [1]
“Who shall roll away the stone?”
The stone has been rolled away by human suffer-
ing. The first rightful desire in the hour of loss, when
believing we have lost sight of Truth, is to know where [5]
He is laid. This appeal resolves itself into these
questions:—
Is our consciousness in matter or in God? Have we
any other consciousness than that of good? If we have,
He is saying to us to-day, “Adam, where art thou?” We [10]
are wrong if our consciousness is in sin, sickness, and
death. This is the old consciousness.
In the new religion the teaching is, “He is not here;
Truth is not in matter; he is risen; Truth has become
more to us,—more true, more spiritual.” [15]
Can we say this to-day? Have we left the conscious-
ness of sickness and sin for that of health and
holiness?
What is it that seems a stone between us and the
resurrection morning? [20]
It is the belief of mind in matter. We can only come
into the spiritual resurrection by quitting the old con-
sciousness of Soul in sense.
These flowers are floral apostles. God does all this
through His followers; and He made every flower in [25]
Mind before it sprang from the earth: yet we look into
matter and the earth to give us these smiles of God!
We must lay aside material consciousness, and then
we can perceive Truth, and say with Mary, “Rabboni!”
—Master! [30]
In 1866, when God revealed to me this risen Christ,
this Life that knows no death, that saith, “Because he
[pg 180]
lives, I live,” I awoke from the dream of Spirit in the [1]
flesh so far as to take the side of Spirit, and strive to cease
my warfare.
When, through this consciousness, I was delivered from
the dark shadow and portal of death, my friends were [5]
frightened at beholding me restored to health.
A dear old lady asked me, “How is it that you are
restored to us? Has Christ come again on earth?”
“Christ never left,” I replied; “Christ is Truth, and
Truth is always here,—the impersonal Saviour.” [10]
Then another person, more material, met me, and I
said, in the words of my Master, “Touch me not.” I
shuddered at her material approach; then my heart went
out to God, and I found the open door from this sepulchre
of matter. [15]
I love the Easter service: it speaks to me of Life, and
not of death.
Let us do our work; then we shall have part in his
resurrection.

Bible Lessons

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.John i. 12, 13.
Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to [25]
become the son of God. In the Hebrew text, the word
“son” is defined variously; a month is called the son
of a year. This term, as applied to man, is used in both
a material and a spiritual sense. The Scriptures speak
of Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of man; but [30]
[pg 181]
Jesus said to call no man father; “for one is your Father,” [1]
even God.
Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or
is it the reality of his being, in divine Science? Man's
knowledge of this grand verity gives him power to dem- [5]
onstrate his divine Principle, which in turn is requisite
in order to understand his sonship, or unity with God,
good. A personal requirement of blind obedience to
the law of being, would tend to obscure the order of
Science, unless that requirement should express the claims [10]
of the divine Principle. Infinite Principle and infinite
Spirit must be one. What avail, then, to quarrel over
what is the person of Spirit,—if we recognize infinitude
as personality,—for who can tell what is the form of
infinity? When we understand man's true birthright, that [15]
he is “born, not ... of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God,” we shall understand that man
is the offspring of Spirit, and not of the flesh; recognize
him through spiritual, and not material laws; and regard
him as spiritual, and not material. His sonship, referred [20]
to in the text, is his spiritual relation to Deity: it is not,
then, a personal gift, but is the order of divine Science.
The apostle urges upon our acceptance this great fact:
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God.” Mortals will lose their sense [25]
of mortality—disease, sickness, sin, and death—in
the proportion that they gain the sense of man's spirit-
ual preexistence as God's child; as the offspring of
good, and not of God's opposite,—evil, or a fallen
man. [30]
John the Baptist had a clear discernment of divine
Science: being born not of the human will or flesh, he
[pg 182]
antedated his own existence, began spiritually instead [1]
of materially to reckon himself logically; hence the im-
possibility of putting him to death, only in belief, through
violent means or material methods.
“As many as received him;” that is, as many as per-
ceive man's actual existence in and of his divine Princi- [5]
ple, receive the Truth of existence; and these have no
other God, no other Mind, no other origin; therefore, in
time they lose their false sense of existence, and find
their adoption with the Father; to wit, the redemption [10]
of the body. Through divine Science man gains the
power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect
and eternal estate.
“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh.” This passage refers to man's primal, spirit- [15]
ual existence, created neither from dust nor carnal desire.
“Nor of the will of man.” Born of no doctrine,
no human faith, but beholding the truth of being; even
the understanding that man was never lost in Adam,
since he is and ever was the image and likeness of God, [20]
good. But no mortal hath seen the spiritual man, more
than he hath seen the Father. The apostle indicates
no personal plan of a personal Jehovah, partial and finite;
but the possibility of all finding their place in God's great
love, the eternal heritage of the Elohim, His sons and [25]
daughters. The text is a metaphysical statement of existence
as Principle and idea, wherein man and his Maker
are inseparable and eternal.
When the Word is made flesh,—that is, rendered
practical,—this eternal Truth will be understood; and [30]
sickness, sin, and death will yield to it, even as they did
more than eighteen centuries ago. The lusts of the flesh
[pg 183]
and the pride of life will then be quenched in the divine [1]
Science of being; in the ever-present good, omnipotent
Love, and eternal Life, that know no death, In the great
forever, the verities of being exist, and must be acknowl-
edged and demonstrated. Man must love his neighbor [5]
as himself, and the power of Truth must be seen and
felt in health, happiness, and holiness: then it will be
found that Mind is All-in-all, and there is no matter to
cope with.
Man is free born: he is neither the slave of sense, nor a [10]
silly ambler to the so-called pleasures and pains of self-
conscious matter. Man is God's image and likeness;
whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God's
reflection. Through the transparency of Science we learn
this, and receive it: learn that man can fulfil the Scrip- [15]
tures in every instance; that if he open his mouth it shall
be filled—not by reason of the schools, or learning, but
by the natural ability, that reflection already has bestowed
on him, to give utterance to Truth.
“Who hath believed our report?” Who understands [20]
these sayings? He to whom the arm of the Lord is re-
vealed; to whom divine Science unfolds omnipotence,
that equips man with divine power while it shames human
pride. Asserting a selfhood apart from God, is a denial
of man's spiritual sonship; for it claims another father. [25]
As many as do receive a knowledge of God through
Science, will have power to reflect His power, in proof of
man's “dominion over all the earth.” He is bravely
brave who dares at this date refute the evidence of material
sense with the facts of Science, and will arrive at the true [30]
status of man because of it. The material senses would
make man, that the Scriptures declare reflects his Maker,
[pg 184]
the very opposite of that Maker, by claiming that God is [1]
Spirit, while man is matter; that God is good, but man is
evil; that Deity is deathless, but man dies. Science and
sense conflict, from the revolving of worlds to the death
of a sparrow.
The Word will be made flesh and dwell among mortals,
only when man reflects God in body as well as in mind.
The child born of a woman has the formation of his
parents; the man born of Spirit is spiritual, not material.
Paul refers to this when speaking of presenting our bodies [10]
holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service;
and this brings to remembrance the Hebrew strain,
“Who healeth all thy diseases.”
If man should say of the power to be perfect which he
possesses, “I am the power,” he would trespass upon [15]
divine Science, yield to material sense, and lose his power;
even as when saying, “I have the power to sin and be
sick,” and persisting in believing that he is sick and a
sinner. If he says, “I am of God, therefore good,” yet
persists in evil, he has denied the power of Truth, and [20]
must suffer for this error until he learns that all power is
good because it is of God, and so destroys his self-de-
ceived sense of power in evil. The Science of being gives
back the lost likeness and power of God as the seal of
man's adoption. Oh, for that light and love ineffable, [25]
which casteth out all fear, all sin, sickness, and death;
that seeketh not her own, but another's good; that saith
Abba, Father, and is born of God!
John came baptizing with water. He employed a type
of physical cleanliness to foreshadow metaphysical purity, [30]
even mortal mind purged of the animal and human, and
submerged in the humane and divine, giving back the
[pg 185]
lost sense of man in unity with, and reflecting, his Maker. [1]
None but the pure in heart shall see God,—shall be able
to discern fully and demonstrate fairly the divine Principle
of Christian Science. The will of God, or power of Spirit,
is made manifest as Truth, and through righteousness,— [5]
not as or through matter,—and it strips matter of all
claims, abilities or disabilities, pains or pleasures. Self-
renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material
man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his
spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that [10]
opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good
flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of
all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demon-
strating the true image and likeness. There is no other
way under heaven whereby we can be saved, and man [15]
be clothed with might, majesty, and immortality.
“As many as received him,”—as accept the truth
of being,—“to them gave he power to become the sons
of God.” The spiritualization of our sense of man opens
the gates of paradise that the so-called material senses [20]
would close, and reveals man infinitely blessed, upright,
pure, and free; having no need of statistics by which to
learn his origin and age, or to measure his manhood, or to
know how much of a man he ever has been: for, “as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become [25]
the sons of God.”
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.—1 Cor. xv. 45.
When reasoning on this subject of man with the Corin-
thian brethren, the apostle first spake from their stand- [30]
point of thought; namely, that creation is material:
[pg 186]
he was not at this point giving the history of the spiritual [1]
man who originates in God, Love, who created man
in His own image and likeness. In the creation of Adam
from dust,—in which Soul is supposed to enter the
embryo-man after his birth,—we see the material self- [5]
constituted belief of the Jews as referred to by St. Paul.
Their material belief has fallen far below man's original
standard, the spiritual man made in the image and like-
ness of God; for this erring belief even separates its
conception of man from God, and ultimates in the opposite [10]
of immortal man, namely, in a sick and sinning
mortal.
We learn in the Scriptures, as in divine Science, that
God made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother
of man; that God is divine Love: therefore divine Love [15]
is the divine Principle of the divine idea named man;
in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man.
Now let us not lose this Science of man, but gain it clearly;
then we shall see that man cannot be separated from
his perfect Principle, God, inasmuch as an idea cannot [20]
be torn apart from its fundamental basis. This scien-
tific knowledge affords self-evident proof of immortality;
proof, also, that the Principle of man cannot produce a
less perfect man than it produced in the beginning. A
material sense of existence is not the scientific fact of [25]
being; whereas, the spiritual sense of God and His universe
is the immortal and true sense of being.
As the apostle proceeds in this line of thought, he
undoubtedly refers to the last Adam represented by the
Messias, whose demonstration of God restored to mortals [30]
the lost sense of man's perfection, even the sense of the
real man in God's likeness, who restored this sense by
[pg 187]
the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body,— [1]
casting out evils, healing the sick, and raising the dead.
The man Jesus demonstrated over sin, sickness, disease,
and death. The great Metaphysician wrought, over and
above every sense of matter, into the proper sense of the [5]
possibilities of Spirit. He established health and har-
mony, the perfection of mind and body, as the reality of
man; while discord, as seen in disease and death, was to
him the opposite of man, hence the unreality; even as in
Science a chord is manifestly the reality of music, and [10]
discord the unreality. This rule of harmony must be ac-
cepted as true relative to man.
The translators of the older Scriptures presuppose a
material man to be the first man, solely because their
transcribing thoughts were not lifted to the inspired sense [15]
of the spiritual man, as set forth in original Holy Writ.
Had both writers and translators in that age fully com-
prehended the later teachings and demonstrations of
our human and divine Master, the Old Testament might
have been as spiritual as the New. [20]
The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and
that one is God,—Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent,
perfect, and eternal are God; and man is their reflection
and glory. Did the substance of God, Spirit, become a
clod, in order to create a sick, sinning, dying man? The [25]
primal facts of being are eternal; they are never extin-
guished in a night of discord.
That man must be evil before he can be good; dying,
before deathless; material, before spiritual; sick and a
sinner in order to be healed and saved, is but the declara- [30]
tion of the material senses transcribed by pagan religion-
ists, by wicked mortals such as crucified our Master,—
[pg 188]
whose teachings opposed the doctrines of Christ that [1]
demonstrated the opposite, Truth.
Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever,
as when the stars first sang together, and creation joined
in the grand chorus of harmonious being. It is the trans-
lator, not the original Word, who presents as being first [5]
that which appears second, material, and mortal; and
as last, that which is primal, spiritual, and eternal. Be-
cause of human misstatement and misconception of God
and man, of the divine Principle and idea of being, there [10]
seems to be a war between the flesh and Spirit, a contest
between Truth and error; but the apostle says, “There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.” [15]
On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis
of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses;
thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense;
and right there he leaves the subject.
Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where [20]
the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian
Science. And she has not left it, but continues the ex-
planation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning,
its allness. The recognition of this power came to her
through a spiritual sense of the real, and of the unreal [25]
or mortal sense of things; not that there is, or can
be, an actual change in the realities of being, but
that we can discern more of them. At the moment
of her discovery, she knew that the last Adam, namely,
the true likeness of God, was the first, the only man. [30]
This knowledge did become to her “a quickening
spirit;” for she beheld the meaning of those words
[pg 189]
of our Master, “The last shall be first, and the first [1]
last.”
When, as little children, we are receptive, become
willing to accept the divine Principle and rule of being,
as unfolded in divine Science, the interpretation therein
will be found to be the Comforter that leadeth into all
truth. [5]
The meek Nazarene's steadfast and true knowledge of
preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of God
and man,—made him mighty. Spiritual insight of [10]
Truth and Love antidotes and destroys the errors of flesh,
and brings to light the true reflection: man as God's
image, or “the first man,” for Christ plainly declared,
through Jesus, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into [15]
matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false
sense of existence, and the quickening spirit takes it
away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and per-
fection of a released sense of Life in God and Life as
God. The Scriptures declare Life to be the infinite I [20]
am,—not a dweller in matter. For man to know Life
as it is, namely God, the eternal good, gives him not
merely a sense of existence, but an accompanying con-
sciousness of spiritual power that subordinates matter
and destroys sin, disease, and death. This, Jesus demon- [25]
strated; insomuch that St. Matthew wrote, “The people
were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them
as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” This
spiritual power, healing sin and sickness, was not con-
fined to the first century; it extends to all time, inhabits [30]
eternity, and demonstrates Life without beginning or
end.
[pg 190]
Atomic action is Mind, not matter. It is neither the [1]
energy of matter, the result of organization, nor the out-
come of life infused into matter: it is infinite Spirit, Truth,
Life, defiant of error or matter. Divine Science demon-
strates Mind as dispelling a false sense and giving the [5]
true sense of itself, God, and the universe; wherein the
mortal evolves not the immortal, nor does the material
ultimate in the spiritual; wherein man is coexistent with
Mind, and is the recognized reflection of infinite Life and
Love. [10]
And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to
pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake.Luke xi. 14.
The meaning of the term “devil” needs yet to be
learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited
and contradictory. When the Scripture is understood, [15]
the spiritual signification of its terms will be understood,
and will contradict the interpretations that the senses
give them; and these terms will be found to include the
inspired meaning.
It could not have been a person that our great Master [20]
cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein
referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh
ill. In this case it was the evil of dumbness, an error of
material sense, cast out by the spiritual truth of being;
namely, that speech belongs to Mind instead of matter, [25]
and the wrong power, or the lost sense, must yield to the
right sense, and exist in Mind.
In the Hebrew, “devil” is denominated Abaddon; in
the Greek, Apollyon, serpent, liar, the god of this world,
etc. The apostle Paul refers to this personality of evil [30]
as “the god of this world;” and then defines this god
[pg 191]
as “dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of God [1]
deceitfully.” The Hebrew embodies the term “devil”
in another term, serpent,—which the senses are supposed
to take in,—and then defines this serpent as “more
subtle than all the beasts of the field.” Subsequently, [5]
the ancients changed the meaning of the term, to their
sense, and then the serpent became a symbol of wisdom.
The Scripture in John, sixth chapter and seventieth
verse, refers to a wicked man as the devil: “Have not
I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Accord- [10]
ing to the Scripture, if devil is an individuality, there is
more than one devil. In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty-
eighth verse, it reads: “Master, we saw one casting out
devils in thy name.” Here is an assertion indicating
the existence of more than one devil; and by omitting the [15]
first letter, the name of his satanic majesty is found
to be evils, apparent wrong traits, that Christ, Truth,
casts out. By no possible interpretation can this passage
mean several individuals cast out of another individual
no bigger than themselves. The term, being here em- [20]
ployed in its plural number, destroys all consistent sup-
position of the existence of one personal devil. Again,
our text refers to the devil as dumb; but the original
devil was a great talker, and was supposed to have out-
talked even Truth, and carried the question with Eve. [25]
Also, the original texts define him as an “accuser,” a
“calumniator,” which would be impossible if he were
speechless. These two opposite characters ascribed to
him could only be possible as evil beliefs, as different
phases of sin or disease made manifest. [30]
Let us obey St. Paul's injunction to reject fables, and
accept the Scriptures in their broader, more spiritual
[pg 192]
and practical sense. When we speak of a good man, we [1]
do not mean that man is God because the Hebrew term
for Deity was “good,” and vice versa; so, when referring
to a liar, we mean not that he is a personal devil, because
the original text defines devil as a “liar.” [5]
It is of infinite importance to man's spiritual progress,
and to his demonstration of Truth in casting out error,
—sickness, sin, disease, and death, in all their forms,—
that the terms and nature of Deity and devil be understood.
He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
John xiv. 12.
Such are the words of him who spake divinely, well
knowing the omnipotence of Truth. The Hebrew bard
saith, “His name shall endure forever: His name shall [15]
be continued as long as the sun.” Luminous with the
light of divine Science, his words reveal the great Principle
of a full salvation. Neither can we question the practi-
cability of the divine Word, who have learned its adapta-
bility to human needs, and man's ability to prove the [20]
truth of prophecy.
The fulfilment of the grand verities of Christian healing
belongs to every period; as the above Scripture plainly
declares, and as primitive Christianity confirms. Also,
the last chapter of Mark is emphatic on this subject; [25]
making healing a condition of salvation, that extends to
all ages and throughout all Christendom. Nothing can
be more conclusive than this: “And these signs shall
follow them that believe; ... they shall lay hands on
the sick, and they shall recover.” This declaration of [30]
our Master settles the question; else we are entertaining
[pg 193]
the startling inquiries, Are the Scriptures inspired? Are [1]
they true? Did Jesus mean what he said?
If this be the cavil, we reply in the affirmative that the
Scripture is true; that Jesus did mean all, and even more
than he said or deemed it safe to say at that time. His [5]
words are unmistakable, for they form propositions of
self-evident demonstrable truth. Doctrines that deny
the substance and practicality of all Christ's teachings
cannot be evangelical; and evangelical religion can be
established on no other claim than the authenticity of [10]
the Gospels, which support unequivocally the proof that
Christian Science, as defined and practised by Jesus,
heals the sick, casts out error, and will destroy death.
Referring to The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston,
of which I am pastor, a certain clergyman charitably [15]
expressed it, “the so-called Christian Scientists.”
I am thankful even for his allusion to truth; it being
a modification of silence on this subject, and also of what
had been said when critics attacked me for supplying the
word Science to Christianity,—a word which the people [20]
are now adopting.
The next step for ecclesiasticism to take, is to admit
that all Christians are properly called Scientists who
follow the commands of our Lord and His Christ, Truth;
and that no one is following his full command without [25]
this enlarged sense of the spirit and power of Christianity.
“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do,”
is a radical and unmistakable declaration of the right and
power of Christianity to heal; for this is Christlike,
and includes the understanding of man's capabilities and [30]
spiritual power. The condition insisted upon is, first,
“belief;” the Hebrew of which implies understanding.
[pg 194]
How many to-day believe that the power of God equals [1]
even the power of a drug to heal the sick! Divine Science
reveals the Principle of this power, and the rule whereby
sin, sickness, disease, and death are destroyed; and God
is this Principle. Let us, then, seek this Science; that we [5]
may know Him better, and love Him more.
Though a man were begirt with the Urim and Thum-
mim of priestly office, yet should deny the validity or
permanence of Christ's command to heal in all ages,
this denial would dishonor that office and misinterpret [10]
evangelical religion. Divine Science is not an interpo-
lation of the Scriptures, but is redolent with love, health,
and holiness, for the whole human race. It only needs
the prism of this Science to divide the rays of Truth, and
bring out the entire hues of Deity, which scholastic theol- [15]
ogy has hidden. The lens of Science magnifies the divine
power to human sight; and we then see the supremacy
of Spirit and the nothingness of matter.
The context of the foregoing Scriptural text explains
Jesus' words, “because I go unto my Father.” “Because” [20]
in following him, you understand God and how to turn
from matter to Spirit for healing; how to leave self, the
sense material, for the sense spiritual; how to accept
God's power and guidance, and become imbued with
divine Love that casts out all fear. Then are you bap- [25]
tized in the Truth that destroys all error, and you receive
the sense of Life that knows no death, and you know that
God is the only Life.
To reach the consummate naturalness of the Life that
is God, good, we must comply with the first condition [30]
set forth in the text, namely, believe; in other words,
understand God sufficiently to exclude all faith in any
[pg 195]
other remedy than Christ, the Truth that antidotes all [1]
error. Thence will follow the absorption of all action,
motive, and mind, into the rules and divine Principle of
metaphysical healing.
Whosoever learns the letter of Christian Science but [5]
possesses not its spirit, is unable to demonstrate this
Science; or whosoever hath the spirit without the letter,
is held back by reason of the lack of understanding. Both
the spirit and the letter are requisite; and having these,
every one can prove, in some degree, the validity of those [10]
words of the great Master, “For the Son of man is come
to save that which was lost.”
It has been said that the New Testament does not au-
thorize us to expect the ministry of healing at this period.
We ask what is the authority for such a conclusion, [15]
the premises whereof are not to be found in the Scriptures.
The Master's divine logic, as seen in our text, contradicts
this inference,—these are his words: “He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also.” That per-
fect syllogism of Jesus has but one correct premise and [20]
conclusion, and it cannot fall to the ground beneath the
stroke of unskilled swordsmen. He who never unsheathed
his blade to try the edge of truth in Christian Science, is
unequal to the conflict, and unfit to judge in the case;
the shepherd's sling would slay this Goliath. I once be- [25]
lieved that the practice and teachings of Jesus relative to
healing the sick, were spiritual abstractions, impractical
and impossible to us; but deed, not creed, and practice
more than theory, have given me a higher sense of
Christianity. [30]
The “I” will go to the Father when meekness, purity,
and love, informed by divine Science, the Comforter,
[pg 196]
lead to the one God: then the ego is found not in [1]
matter but in Mind, for there is but one God, one
Mind; and man will then claim no mind apart from God.
Idolatry, the supposition of the existence of many minds
and more than one God, has repeated itself in all manner [5]
of subtleties through the entire centuries, saying as in
the beginning, “Believe in me, and I will make you as
gods;” that is, I will give you a separate mind from God
(good), named evil; and this so-called mind shall open
your eyes and make you know evil, and thus become [10]
material, sensual, evil. But bear in mind that a serpent
said that; therefore that saying came not from Mind,
good, or Truth. God was not the author of it; hence the
words of our Master: “He is a liar, and the father of it;”
also, the character of the votaries to “other gods” which [15]
sprung from it.
The sweet, sacred sense and permanence of man's
unity with his Maker, in Science, illumines our present
existence with the ever-presence and power of God, good.
It opens wide the portals of salvation from sin, sickness, [20]
and death. When the Life that is God, good, shall ap-
pear, “we shall be like Him;” we shall do the works of
Christ, and, in the words of David, “the stone which the
builders refused is become the head stone of the corner,”
because the “I” does go unto the Father, the ego does [25]
arise to spiritual recognition of being, and is exalted,—
not through death, but Life, God understood.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.Acts
xvi. 31.
The Scriptures require more than a simple admission [30]
and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they
[pg 197]
require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons [1]
into our lives that these truths become the motive-power
of every act.
ur chosen text is one more frequently used than
many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from sin [5]
and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import
of this text is not yet recognized. It means a full salva-
tion,—man saved from sin, sickness, and death; for,
unless this be so, no man can be wholly fitted for heaven
in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers [10]
pursue.
In order to comprehend the meaning of the text, let
us see what it is to believe. It means more than an opinion
entertained concerning Jesus as a man, as the Son of God,
or as God; such an action of mind would be of no more [15]
help to save from sin, than would a belief in any historical
event or person. But it does mean so to understand the
beauty of holiness, the character and divinity which Jesus
presented in his power to heal and to save, that it will
compel us to pattern after both; in other words, to “let [20]
this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
(Phil. ii. 5.)
Mortal man believes in, but does not understand life
in, Christ. He believes there is another power or intelli-
gence that rules over a kingdom of its own, that is both [25]
good and evil; yea, that is divided against itself, and there-
fore cannot stand. This belief breaks the First Command-
ment of God.
Let man abjure a theory that is in opposition to God,
recognize God as omnipotent, having all-power; and, [30]
placing his trust in this grand Truth, and working from
no other Principle, he can neither be sick nor forever a
[pg 198]
sinner. When wholly governed by the one perfect Mind, [1]
man has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire
to sin.
To arrive at this point of unity of Spirit, God, one must
commence by turning away from material gods; denying [5]
material so-called laws and material sensation,—or mind
in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain. This
must be done with the understanding that matter has no
sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal
claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words [10]
of Jesus: “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
own.” (John viii. 44.)
When tempted to sin, we should know that evil pro-
ceedeth not from God, good, but is a false belief of the
personal senses; and if we deny the claims of these senses [15]
and recognize man as governed by God, Spirit, not by
material laws, the temptation will disappear.
On this Principle, disease also is treated and healed.
We know that man's body, as matter, has no power to
govern itself; and a belief of disease is as much the prod- [20]
uct of mortal thought as sin is. All suffering is the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil; of
adherence to the “doubleminded” senses, to some belief,
fear, theory, or bad deed, based on physical material law,
so-called as opposed to good,—all of which is corrected [25]
alone by Science, divine Principle, and its spiritual laws.
Suffering is the supposition of another intelligence than
God; a belief in self-existent evil, opposed to good; and
in whatever seems to punish man for doing good,—
by saying he has overworked, suffered from inclement [30]
weather, or violated a law of matter in doing good, there-
fore he must suffer for it.
[pg 199]
God does not reward benevolence and love with pen- [1]
alties; and because of this, we have the right to deny the
supposed power of matter to do it, and to allege that only
mortal, erring mind can claim to do thus, and dignify the
result with the name of law: thence comes man's ability [5]
to annul his own erring mental law, and to hold himself
amenable only to moral and spiritual law,—God's gov-
ernment. By so doing, male and female come into their
rightful heritage, “into the glorious liberty of the children
of God.” [10]
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.—2 Cor.
xii. 10.
The miracles recorded in the Scriptures illustrate the
life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the [15]
hatred of the rabbis. The rulers sought the life of Jesus;
they would extinguish whatever denied and defied their
superstition. We learn somewhat of the qualities of the
divine Mind through the human Jesus. The power of
his transcendent goodness is manifest in the control it [20]
gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mor-
tals name matter.
The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but
the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned
in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under- [25]
standing that all substance, Life, and intelligence are
God. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are
neither supernatural nor preternatural; for God is good,
and goodness is more natural than evil. The marvellous
healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of Chris- [30]
tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era.
[pg 200]
It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the [1]
mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan-
taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man,
and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as
the better representatives of God than sin, disease, and [5]
death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo-
tence to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All-
in-all, matter was palpably an error of premise and
conclusion, while God was the only substance, Life,
and intelligence of man. [10]
The apostle Paul insists on the rare rule in Christian
Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is sus-
ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and
state of human existence. The divine Science of this rule
is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man- [15]
kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for
the sole reason that it is their basis. The foundational
facts of Christian Science are gathered from the supremacy
of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma-
terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with [20]
the sweet sincerity of the apostle, “I take pleasure in
infirmities,”—I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and
all suffering of the flesh, because it compels me to seek the
remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per-
sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul's well-tried hope [25]
met no obstacle or circumstances paramount to the tri-
umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good,
involved in its divine Principle, God: the so-called pains
and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he
regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and sub- [30]
dued it with this understanding.
The abstract statement that all is Mind, supports the
[pg 201]
entire wisdom of the text; and this statement receives [1]
the mortal scoff only because it meets the immortal de-
mands of Truth. The Science of Paul's declaration re-
solves the element misnamed matter into its original sin,
or human will; that will which would oppose bringing the [5]
qualities of Spirit into subjection to Spirit. Sin brought
death; and death is an element of matter, or material
falsity, never of Spirit.
When Jesus reproduced his body after its burial, he
revealed the myth or material falsity of evil; its power- [10]
lessness to destroy good, and the omnipotence of the
Mind that knows this: he also showed forth the error
and nothingness of supposed life in matter, and the great
somethingness of the good we possess, which is of Spirit,
and immortal. [15]
Understanding this, Paul took pleasure in infirmities,
for it enabled him to triumph over them,—he declared
that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death;” he took
pleasure in “reproaches” and “persecutions,” because [20]
they were so many proofs that he had wrought the prob-
lem of being beyond the common apprehension of sinners;
he took pleasure in “necessities,” for they tested and de-
veloped latent power.
We protect our dwellings more securely after a robbery, [25]
and our jewels have been stolen; so, after losing those
jewels of character,—temperance, virtue, and truth,—
the young man is awakened to bar his door against further
robberies.
Go to the bedside of pain, and there you can demon- [30]
strate the triumph of good that has pleasure in infirmities;
because it illustrates through the flesh the divine power
[pg 202]
of Spirit, and reaches the basis of all supposed miracles; [1]
whereby the sweet harmonies of Christian Science are
found to correct the discords of sense, and to lift man's
being into the sunlight of Soul.
The chamber where the good man meets his fate [5]
Is privileged beyond the walks of common life,
Quite on the verge of heaven.
[pg 203]

Chapter VII. Pond And Purpose.

Beloved Students:—In thanking you for your [1]
gift of the pretty pond contributed to Pleasant View,
in Concord, New Hampshire, I make no distinction be-
tween my students and your students; for here, thine
becomes mine through gratitude and affection. [5]
From my tower window, as I look on this smile of
Christian Science, this gift from my students and their
students, it will always mirror their love, loyalty, and
good works. Solomon saith, “As in water face answereth
to face, so the heart of man to man.” [10]
The waters that run among the valleys, and that
you have coaxed in their course to call on me, have
served the imagination for centuries. Theology religiously
bathes in water, medicine applies it physically, hydrology
handles it with so-called science, and metaphysics appro- [15]
priates it topically as type and shadow. Metaphysically,
baptism serves to rebuke the senses and illustrate Christian
Science.
First: The baptism of repentance is indeed a stricken
state of human consciousness, wherein mortals gain [20]
severe views of themselves; a state of mind which rends
the veil that hides mental deformity. Tears flood the eyes,
[pg 204]
agony struggles, pride rebels, and a mortal seems a [1]
monster, a dark, impenetrable cloud of error; and falling
on the bended knee of prayer, humble before God, he
cries, “Save, or I perish.” Thus Truth, searching the
heart, neutralizes and destroys error. [5]
This mental period is sometimes chronic, but oftener
acute. It is attended throughout with doubt, hope, sorrow,
joy, defeat, and triumph. When the good fight is fought,
error yields up its weapons and kisses the feet of Love,
while white-winged peace sings to the heart a song of [10]
angels.
Second: The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the spirit
of Truth cleansing from all sin; giving mortals new
motives, new purposes, new affections, all pointing up-
ward. This mental condition settles into strength, free- [15]
dom, deep-toned faith in God; and a marked loss of faith
in evil, in human wisdom, human policy, ways, and means.
It develops individual capacity, increases the intellectual
activities, and so quickens moral sensibility that the
great demands of spiritual sense are recognized, and they [20]
rebuke the material senses, holding sway over human
consciousness.
By purifying human thought, this state of mind per-
meates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human
affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, [25]
and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadi-
ness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the
accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of
Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition,
and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives prudence [30]
and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry,
evil thinking, evil speaking and acting; and mortal
[pg 205]
mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of [1]
itself.
This practical Christian Science is the divine Mind,
the incorporeal Truth and Love, shining through the mists
of materiality and melting away the shadows called sin, [5]
disease, and death.
In mortal experience, the fire of repentance first sepa-
rates the dross from the gold, and reformation brings
the light which dispels darkness. Thus the operation
of the spirit of Truth and Love on the human thought, [10]
in the words of St. John, “shall take of mine and show it
unto you.”
Third: The baptism of Spirit, or final immersion of
human consciousness in the infinite ocean of Love, is the
last scene in corporeal sense. This omnipotent act drops [15]
the curtain on material man and mortality. After this,
man's identity or consciousness reflects only Spirit, good,
whose visible being is invisible to the physical senses: eye
hath not seen it, inasmuch as it is the disembodied in-
dividual Spirit-substance and consciousness termed in [20]
Christian metaphysics the ideal man—forever permeated
with eternal life, holiness, heaven. This order of Science
is the chain of ages, which maintain their obvious corre-
spondence, and unites all periods in the divine design.
Mortal man's repentance and absolute abandonment of [25]
sin finally dissolves all supposed material life or physical
sensation, and the corporeal or mortal man disappears
forever. The encumbering mortal molecules, called man,
vanish as a dream; but man born of the great Forever,
lives on, God-crowned and blest. [30]
Mortals who on the shores of time learn Christian
Science, and live what they learn, take rapid transit to
[pg 206]
heaven,—the hinge on which have turned all revolu- [1]
tions, natural, civil, or religious, the former being servant
to the latter,—from flux to permanence, from foul to
pure, from torpid to serene, from extremes to intermediate.
Above the waves of Jordan, dashing against the receding [5]
shore, is heard the Father and Mother's welcome, saying
forever to the baptized of Spirit: “This is my beloved
Son.” What but divine Science can interpret man's
eternal existence, God's allness, and the scientific inde-
structibility of the universe? [10]
The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained
through growth, not accretion; idleness is the foe of
progress. And scientific growth manifests no weakness,
no emasculation, no illusive vision, no dreamy absentness,
no insubordination to the laws that be, no loss nor lack [15]
of what constitutes true manhood.
Growth is governed by intelligence; by the active,
all-wise, law-creating, law-disciplining, law-abiding Prin-
ciple, God. The real Christian Scientist is constantly
accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and [20]
orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven:
“Good is my God, and my God is good. Love is my God,
and my God is Love.”
Beloved students, you have entered the path. Press
patiently on; God is good, and good is the reward of all [25]
who diligently seek God. Your growth will be rapid, if
you love good supremely, and understand and obey the
Way-shower, who, going before you, has scaled the steep
ascent of Christian Science, stands upon the mount of
holiness, the dwelling-place of our God, and bathes in the [30]
baptismal font of eternal Love.
As you journey, and betimes sigh for rest “beside the
[pg 207]
still waters,” ponder this lesson of love. Learn its pur- [1]
pose;and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart
reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the
spirit of my life-purpose,—to impress humanity with
the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian [5]
Science.
[pg 208]

Chapter VIII. Precept Upon Precept

Thy Will Be Done

This is the law of Truth to error, “Thou shalt surely
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 [5]
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
of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and
governs it. [10]
Mortals have only to submit to the law of God, come
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
His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own [15]
wills, and so disobey the divine order.
All states and stages of human error are met and
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- [20]
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-
[pg 209]
ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and [1]
remedies.
Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga-
tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to punish
sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets, [5]
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
rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that
human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own [10]
physics. Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of
cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics
admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more
dangerous pleasures.
Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv- [15]
ion nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose
Life is God, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps. The
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 [20]
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
has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be
concealed and that life and happiness should still attend [25]
it. Joy is self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are
one: suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master of
evil.
To this scientific logic and the logic of events, egotism
and false charity say, “ ‘Not so, Lord;’ it is wise to [30]
cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have
peace.” Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of
[pg 210]
error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its [1]
disguises, and—behold the result: evil, uncovered, is
self-destroyed.
Christian Science never healed a patient without prov-
ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found [5]
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
these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said,
“They shall take up serpents;” and, “Be ye therefore [10]
wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” The wisdom
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
are harmless. He who has faith in woman's special adapt- [15]
ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked
when she puts her foot on the head of the serpent, as it
biteth at the heel.
Intemperance begets a belief of disordered brains,
membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves [20]
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
belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the
shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and [25]
thus may save him from his destroyer.
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
the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out. [30]
Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer
from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not
[pg 211]
lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform [1]
them.
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 [5]
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
with summarily by the good judgment of people in
the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla- [10]
tion, and Salem witchcraft, are not indigenous to her
soil.
“Out of the depths have I delivered thee.” The
drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave is
unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his [15]
peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because
you wish to save him from death. Then, if a criminal
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? [20]
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
the law of God, and shall find the Life that cannot be
lost. [25]
Our Master said, “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.”
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
all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer,—“Thy [30]
kingdom come.” Shall we repeat our Lord's Prayer
when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and
[pg 212]
to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy [1]
is a fool that saith in his heart, “No God”—a caressing
Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This god-
less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is
obtained. [5]
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
suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused
them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas- [10]
ter and cast their nets on the right side. When they
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
line of divine Science cost them—what? A speedy re- [15]
turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre-
quited toil.
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, [20]
but Thine, be done,” and Christian Science proves that
human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white
Christ, is the remunerator.
If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a
wrong direction, who will step forward and open his [25]
eyes to see this error? He who is a Christian Scientist,
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.
Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting [30]
form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis-
ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of
[pg 213]
him; they could not behold his immortal being in the [1]
form of Godlikeness.
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 [5]
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
Scripture saith, “He that covereth his sins shall not pros-
per.” No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni- [10]
ties which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm
our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can
be destroyed.
May my friends and my enemies so profit by these
waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined [15]
another's way may perfect their own lives by gentle
benedictions. In every age, the pioneer reformer must
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 [20]
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
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
my hand.” He is but “an hireling” who fleeth when he [25]
seeth the wolf coming.
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
be done on earth as in heaven. [30]
[pg 214]

Put Up Thy Sword

While Jesus' life was full of Love, and a demonstra-
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 [5]
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-
law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own house-
hold.” [10]
This action of Jesus was stimulated by the same Love
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,
in accomplishing its purpose of Love, meant, all [15]
the way through, “Put up thy sword;” but the sword
must have been drawn before it could be returned into
the scabbard.
My students need to search the Scriptures and “Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” to understand [20]
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.
The attitude of mortal mind in being healed morally,
is the same as its attitude physically. The Christian [25]
Scientist cannot heal the sick, and take error along with
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
they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour [30]
[pg 215]
and the final destruction of error through this very pro- [1]
cess,—the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal
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 [5]
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
understanding of them.”
But let us not seek to climb up some other way, as we [10]
shall do if we take the end for the beginning or start
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
it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we [15]
shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap-
pointment, and not according to the infantile concep-
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 [20]
fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he
was doing.
My students are at the beginning of their demonstra-
tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves
and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use [25]
the sword of Spirit.
They cannot in the beginning take the attitude, nor
adopt the words, that Jesus used at the end of his
demonstration.
If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try [30]
to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor
yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment
[pg 216]
must be used in your application of his words and infer- [1]
ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat
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 [5]
example.

Scientific Theism

In the May number of our Journal, there appeared a
review of, and some extracts from, “Scientific Theism,”
by Phare Pleigh. [10]
Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than “hands
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
means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one [15]
in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a
big protest against injustice; but, the best may be
mistaken.
One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat,
which “vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end [20]
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-
lowing point?—
“When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither [25]
laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the
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
a cat.” [30]
[pg 217]
True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in [1]
logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An
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 [5]
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
quality and quantity.
The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this: that [10]
matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe-
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
is unchanged, and that nature is constituted of and by [15]
Spirit.
Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that
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 [20]
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,—
and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither
Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a [25]
kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought
to desolation.
The nature of God must change in order to become
matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter
must disappear, for Spirit to appear. To the material [30]
sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human
thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense
[pg 218]
takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and [1]
Spirit is God, and God is good. Science unfolds the fact
that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never
produced Mind, and vice versa.
The visible universe declares the invisible only by re- [5]
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
all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence,
before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas. [10]
It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material
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
Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal [15]
and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth
comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and unfolds
the real nature of God and the universe to the spiri-
ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and
not material. [20]
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,
and this nature may linger in memory: but matter does
not express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven [25]
grins are neither eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What
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!”
Dr. —— says: “The recognition of teleology in nature [30]
is necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual personality
in God.”
[pg 219]
According to lexicography, teleology is the science of [1]
the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all
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 [5]
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
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth.” [10]

Mental Practice

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
parlance, one person feels sick, another feels wicked. A [15]
third person knows that if he would remove this feeling
in either case, in the one he must change his patient's
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 [20]
discomfort in sin and peace in goodness.
This is Christian Science: that mortal mind makes
sick, and immortal Mind makes well; that mortal mind
makes sinners, while immortal Mind makes saints; that
a state of health is but a state of consciousness made mani- [25]
fest on the body, and vice versa; that while one person
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
follow, and he has reformed the sinner. [30]
[pg 220]
Now, demonstrate this rule, which obtains in every [1]
line of mental healing, and you will find that a good rule
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 [5]
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
mental and oral arguments aim to refute the sick man's
thoughts, words, and actions, in certain directions, and [10]
turn them into channels of Truth. He persists in this
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
feels, “I am well, and I know it.” [15]
This mental practitioner has changed his patient's
consciousness from sickness to health. The patient's
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. [20]
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-
ness, that if this mental process and power be reversed,
and people believe that a man is sick and knows it, and [25]
speak of him as being sick, put it into the minds of others
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
said it would be according to the woman's belief; but if [30]
with the certainty of Science he knows that an error of
belief has not the power of Truth, and cannot, does
[pg 221]
not, produce the slightest effect, it has no power over [1]
him. Thus a mental malpractitioner may lose his
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 [5]
thereby learns more of its divine Principle. Error pro-
duces physical sufferings, and these sufferings show
the fundamental Principle of Christian Science; namely,
that error and sickness are one, and Truth is their
remedy. [10]
The evil-doer can do little at removing the effect of sin
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
these states of mind will stultify the power to heal men- [15]
tally. This accounts for many helpless mental practi-
tioners and mysterious diseases.
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- [20]
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-
nial also contradicts the doctrine that we must mentally
struggle against both evil and disease, and is like saying [25]
that five times ten are fifty while ten times five are not
fifty; as if the multiplication of the same two numbers
would not yield the same product whichever might serve
as the multiplicand.
Who would tell another of a crime that he himself is [30]
committing, or call public attention to that crime? The
belief in evil and in the process of evil, holds the issues
[pg 222]
of death to the evil-doer. It takes away a man's proper [1]
sense of good, and gives him a false sense of both evil
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 [5]
injuring himself and others. This state of false conscious-
ness in many cases causes the victim great physical suffering;
and conviction of his wrong state of feeling reforms
him, and so heals him: or, failing of conviction and re-
form, he becomes morally paralyzed—in other words, [10]
a moral idiot.
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
false seems true. The malicious mental argument and [15]
its action on the mind of the perpetrator, is fatal, morally
and physically. From the effects of mental malpractice
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 [20]
has meted must be remeasured to it.
The crimes committed under this new régime of mind-
power, when brought to light, will make stout hearts quail.
Its mystery protects it now, for it is not yet known. Error
is more abstract than Truth. Even the healing Principle, [25]
whose power seems inexplicable, is not so obscure; for
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,
the methods and power of error. While the ways, means, [30]
and potency of Truth had flowed into my consciousness
as easily as dawns the morning light and shadows flee,
[pg 223]
the metaphysical mystery of error—its hidden paths, [1]
purpose, and fruits—at first defied me. I was say-
ing all the time, “Come not thou into the secret”
but at length took up the research according to God's
command. [5]
Streams which purify, necessarily have pure fountains;
while impure streams flow from corrupt sources. Here,
divine light, logic, and revelation coincide.
Science proves, beyond cavil, that the tree is known
by its fruit; that mind reaches its own ideal, and cannot [10]
be separated from it. I respect that moral sense which
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
is consistent. But, alas! for the mistake of believing in [15]
mental healing, claiming full faith in the divine Principle,
and saying, “I am a Christian Scientist,” while doing
unto others what we would resist to the hilt if done unto
ourselves.
May divine Love so permeate the affections of all those [20]
who have named the name of Christ in its fullest sense,
that no counteracting influence can hinder their growth
or taint their examples.

Taking Offense

There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, “He [25]
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” Hannah
More said, “If I wished to punish my enemy, I should
make him hate somebody.”
To punish ourselves for others' faults, is superlative
folly. The mental arrow shot from another's bow is [30]
[pg 224]
practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it. [1]
It is our pride that makes another's criticism rankle, our
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 [5]
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
his hands to his head, saying: “It is very surprising, but
I don't feel hurt in the least.” [10]
We should remember that the world is wide; that there
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
rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless [15]
action and reaction upon each other of these different
atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest
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 [20]
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
charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and
sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it,—de- [25]
termined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor
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
of pity rather than of resentment; while it is a question [30]
in my mind, whether there is enough of a flatterer, a fool,
or a liar, to offend a whole-souled woman.
[pg 225]

Hints To The Clergy

At the residence of Mr. Rawson, of Arlington, Massa-
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. [5]
Among the guests, were an orthodox clergyman, his
wife and child.
In the course of the evening, conversation drifted to
the seventh modern wonder, Christian Science; where-
upon the mother, Mrs. Rawson, who had drunk at its [10]
fount, firmly bore testimony to the power of Christ, Truth,
to heal the sick.
Soon after this conversation, the clergyman's son
was taken violently ill. Then was the clergyman's
opportunity to demand a proof of what the Christian [15]
Scientist had declared; and he said to this venerable
Christian:—
“If you heal my son, when seeing, I may be led to
believe.”
Mrs. Rawson then rose from her seat, and sat down [20]
beside the sofa whereon lay the lad with burning brow,
moaning in pain.
Looking away from all material aid, to the spiritual
source and ever-present help, silently, through the divine
power, she healed him. [25]
The deep flush faded from the face, a cool perspiration
spread over it, and he slept.
In about one hour he awoke, and was hungry.
The parents said:—
“Wait until we get home, and you shall have some [30]
gruel.”
[pg 226]
But Mrs. Rawson said:—[1]
“Give the child what he relishes, and doubt not that
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 [5]
several ice-creams, the clergyman's son returned home
well.

Perfidy And Slander

What has an individual gained by losing his own self-
respect? or what has he lost when, retaining his own, [10]
he loses the homage of fools, or the pretentious praise of
hypocrites, false to themselves as to others?
Shakespeare, the immortal lexicographer of mortals,
writes:—
To thine own self be true, [15]
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
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.” [20]
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
be restrained by their pride.
Perfidy of an inferior quality, such as manages to evade [25]
the law, and which dignified natures cannot stoop to
notice, except legally, disgraces human nature more than
do most vices.
Slander is a midnight robber; the red-tongued assas-
sin of radical worth; the conservative swindler, who [30]
[pg 227]
sells himself in a traffic by which he can gain nothing [1].
It can retire for forgiveness to no fraternity where its
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. [5]
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
the penalty of law, and yet with malice aforethought to
extend their evil intent, is the nice distinction by which [10]
they endeavor to get their weighty stuff into the hands
of gossip! Some uncharitable one may give it a forward
move, and, ere that one himself become aware, find
himself responsible for kind (?) endeavors.
Would that my pen or pity could raise these weak, [15]
pitifully poor objects from their choice of self-degrada-
tion to the nobler purposes and wider aims of a life made
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; [20]
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
rest in green pastures, beside the still waters, on isles
of sweet refreshment. The sublime summary of an [25]
honest life satisfies the mind craving a higher good, and
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
others. [30]
Not to avenge one's self upon one's enemies, is the
command of almighty wisdom; and we take this to be
[pg 228]
a safer guide than the promptings of human nature. [1]
To know that a deception dark as it is base has been
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 [5]
a new standpoint whence to look upward; is to be calm
amid excitement, just amid lawlessness, and pure amid
corruption.
To be a great man or woman, to have a name whose
odor fills the world with its fragrance, is to bear with [10]
patience the buffetings of envy or malice—even while
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
and low revenge. This will bring us also to look on a [15]
kind, true, and just person, faithful to conscience and
honest beyond reproach, as the only suitable fabric out
of which to weave an existence fit for earth and
heaven.

Contagion

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
mind and not to matter. Floating with the popular
current of mortal thought without questioning the re- [25]
liability of its conclusions, we do what others do,
believe what others believe, and say what others say.
Common consent is contagious, and it makes disease
catching.
People believe in infectious and contagious diseases, [30]
[pg 229]
and that any one is liable to have them under certain [1]
predisposing or exciting causes. This mental state pre-
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- [5]
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.
If only the people would believe that good is more
contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how [10]
much more certain would be the doctor's success, and
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
the receptivity of the body, theology would teach man [15]
as David taught: “Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the most High thy habitation;
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling.”
The confidence of mankind in contagious disease would [20]
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
become healthier, holier, happier, and longer lived. A
calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventive of [25]
contagion than a drug, or than any other possible sana-
tive method; and the “perfect Love” that “casteth out
fear” is a sure defense.
[pg 230]

Improve Your Time

Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon [1]
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
should do. If one would be successful in the future, let [5]
him make the most of the present.
Three ways of wasting time, one of which is con-
temptible, are gossiping mischief, making lingering calls,
and mere motion when at work, thinking of nothing or [10]
planning for some amusement,—travel of limb more
than mind. Rushing around smartly is no proof of ac-
complishing much.
All successful individuals have become such by hard
work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, [15]
and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit
of pleasure. They spend no time in sheer idleness, in
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 [20]
than waste its years.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait. [25]

Thanksgiving Dinner

It was a beautiful group! needing but canvas and the
touch of an artist to render it pathetic, tender, gorgeous.
[pg 231]
Age, on whose hoary head the almond-blossom formed a [1]
crown of glory; middle age, in smiles and the full fruition
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- [5]
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
spirit-rappings—would I have had the table give a
spiritual groan for the unfeasted ones. [10]
Under the skilful carving of the generous host, the
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-
conditional surrender. [15]
And the baby! Why, he made a big hole, with two
incisors, in a big pippin, and bit the finger presump-
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 [20]
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
little palms patting together, and pucker the rosebud
mouth into saying, “Oh, pretty!” That was a scientific [25]
baby; and his first sitting-at-table on Thanksgiving Day—
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
desolate home; for the tear-filled eyes looking longingly [30]
at the portal through which the loved one comes not, or
gazing silently on the vacant seat at fireside and board—
[pg 232]
God comfort them all! we inwardly prayed—but the [1]
memory was too much; and, turning from it, in a bumper
of pudding-sauce we drank to peace, and plenty, and
happy households.

Christian Science

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
stereotyped, and we not obtain a more perfect and prac-
tical Christianity? It will never do to be behind the [10]
times in things most essential, which proceed from the
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
and theories, personal doctrines and dogmas, meekly to [15]
ascend the hill of Science, shall we reach the maximum
of perfection in all things.
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. [20]
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
value and firm basis. The unerring and fixed Principle
of all healing is God; and this Principle should be [25]
sought from the love of good, from the most spiritual
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
[pg 233]
in the name of Science without knowing its fundamental [1]
Principle.
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 [5]
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
monkey in harlequin jacket that will retard the onward
march of life-giving Science, if not understood and with- [10]
stood, and so strangled in its attempts.
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
magnetic force of mortal mind, termed hypnotism, into [15]
a more fashionable cut and naming that “mind-cure,”
or—which is still worse in the eyes of Truth—terming
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 [20]
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
fault with the exactness of the rule because unwilling to
work hard enough to practise it? The perfection of the [25]
rule of Christian Science is what constitutes its utility:
having a true standard, if some fall short, others will
approach it; and these are they only who adhere to that
standard.
Matter must be understood as a false belief or product so [30]
of mortal mind: whence we learn that sensation is not
in matter, but in this so-called mind; that we see and
[pg 234]
feel disease only by reason of our belief in it: then shall [1]
matter remain no longer to blind us to Spirit, and clog
the wheels of progress. We spread our wings in vain when
we attempt to mount above error by speculative views
of Truth. [5]
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
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 [10]
reach this spiritual sense, and rise—and still rise—to
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;
errors which can never find a place in Science. Empiri- [15]
cal knowledge is worse than useless: it never has advanced
man a single step in the scale of being.
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 [20]
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
some progress, has seen far into the spiritual facts of be-
ing which constitute physical and mental perfection, in [25]
the midst of an age so sunken in sin and sensuality, seems
to them still more inconceivable.
In this new departure of metaphysics, God is regarded
more as absolute, supreme; and Christ is clad with a
richer illumination as our Saviour from sickness, sin, [30]
and death. God's fatherliness as Life, Truth, and Love,
makes His sovereignty glorious.
[pg 235]
By this system, too, man has a changed recognition [1]
of his relation to God. He is no longer obliged to sin,
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 [5]
and hell. By this reflection, man becomes the partaker
of that Mind whence sprang the universe.
In Christian Science, progress is demonstration, not
doctrine. This Science is ameliorative and regenerative,
delivering mankind from all error through the light and [10]
love of Truth. It gives to the race loftier desires and new
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
in me.” It touches mind to more spiritual issues, sys- [15]
tematizes action, gives a keener sense of Truth and a
stronger desire for it.
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 [20]
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
leave Christianity unbiased by the superstitions of a
senior period. [25]

Injustice

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
[pg 236]
situation?—has not found that human passions in their [1]
reaction have misjudged motives?
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, [5]
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-
sonal topics.
To the child complaining of his parents we have said, [10]
“Love and honor thy parents, and yield obedience to
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.”
When yielding to constant solicitations of husband or [15]
wife to give, to one or the other, advice concerning diffi-
culties and the best way to overcome them, we have done
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 [20]
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
Love the remedy for all human discord.
Yet, notwithstanding one's good intentions, in some [25]
way or at some step in one's efforts to help another, as
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.
[pg 237]

Reformers

The olden opinion that hell is fire and brimstone, has
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 [5]
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
that fear, and the worst of human passions belch forth
their latent fires. Some people never repent until earth [10]
gives them such a cup of gall that conscience strikes home;
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
eradicate. [15]
This period is not essentially one of conscience: few
feel and live now as when this nation began, and our
forefathers' prayers blended with the murmuring winds
of their forest home. This is a period of doubt, inquiry,
speculation, selfishness; of divided interests, marvellous [20]
good, and mysterious evil. But sin can only work out
its own destruction; and reform does and must push on
the growth of mankind.
Honor to faithful merit is delayed, and always has
been; but it is sure to follow. The very streets through [25]
which Garrison was dragged were draped in honor of
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
childish fear clustered round his coming. I had heard [30]
[pg 238]
the awful story that “he helped ‘niggers’ kill the white [1]
folks!” Even the loving children are sometimes made
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 [5]
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
silent endurance of his love. What has not unselfed love
achieved for the race? All that ever was accomplished, [10]
and more than history has yet recorded. The reformer
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
with infinite blessings,—health, virtue, and heaven; [15]
but what of all that? Who should care for everybody?
It is enough, say they, to care for a few. Yet the good
is 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 [20]
benediction:
Have you renounced self? Are you faithful? Do
you love?

Mrs. Eddy Sick

The frequent public allegement that I am “sick, unable [25]
to speak a loud word,” or that I died of palsy, and am
dead,—is but another evidence of the falsehoods kept
constantly before the public.
While I accord these evil-mongers due credit for their
[pg 239]
desire, let me say to you, dear reader: Call at the [1]
Massachusetts Metaphysical College, in 1889, and judge
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- [5]
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
larger proportions.

I've Got Cold

Out upon the sidewalk one winter morning, I observed
a carriage draw up before a stately mansion; a portly
gentleman alight, and take from his carriage the ominous
hand-trunk.
“Ah!” thought I, “somebody has to take it; and what [15]
may the potion be?”
Just then a tiny, sweet face appeared in the vestibule,
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.” [20]
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
doubtless their familiarity with what the stock paid, made
them more serious over it. [25]
What if that sweet child, so bravely confessing that
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
it,— [30]
[pg 240]
“I have not got cold.” [1]
Why, the doctor's squills and bills would have been
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. [5]
Parents and doctors must not take the sweet freshness
out of the children's lives by that flippant caution, “You
will get cold.”
Predicting danger does not dignify life, whereas fore-
casting liberty and joy does; for these are strong pro- [10]
moters of health and happiness. All education should
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
as harmlessly, as it takes the frost out of the ground or [15]
puts it into the ice-cream to the satisfaction of all.
The sapling bends to the breeze, while the sturdy oak,
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 [20]
God; for they are pure-minded, affectionate, and gen-
erally brave. Passions, appetites, pride, selfishness, have
slight sway over the fresh, unbiased thought.
Teach the children early self-government, and teach
them nothing that is wrong. If they see their father with [25]
a cigarette in his mouth—suggest to them that the habit
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,
leaving these on, that it takes from their bodies a sweet [30]
something which belongs to nature,—namely, pure
odors.
[pg 241]
From a religious point of view, the faith of both youth [1]
and adult should centre as steadfastly in God to benefit
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- [5]
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-
cal ailment. Use as your medicine the great alterative,