Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U.S.A.
1 |
MY ancestors, according to the flesh, were from both
Scotland and England, my great-grandfather, on |
3 |
my father's side, being John McNeil of Edinburgh.
His wife, my great-grandmother, was
Marion Moor, and her family is said to have been in some way
related |
6 |
to Hannah More, the pious and popular English authoress
of a century ago.
I remember reading, in my childhood,
certain manu- |
9 |
scripts containing Scriptural sonnets, besides other
verses and enigmas which my grandmother said were written by my
great-grandmother. But because my great-grand- |
12 |
mother wrote a stray sonnet and an occasional riddle, it
was no sign that she inherited a spark from Hannah More, or was her
relative. |
15 |
John and Marion Moor McNeil had a daughter, who
perpetuated her mother's name. This second Marion McNeil in due time was
married to an Englishman, |
18 |
named Joseph Baker, and so became my paternal grand-
mother, the Scotch and English elements thus mingling in her children.
Page 2 |
1 |
Mrs. Marion McNeil Baker was reared among the Scotch
Covenanters, and had in her character that sturdy |
3 |
Calvinistic devotion to Protestant liberty which gave
those religionists the poetic daring and pious picturesqueness which we
find so graphically set forth in the pages of Sir |
6 |
Walter Scott and in John Wilson's sketches.
Joseph Baker and his wife, Marion
McNeil, came to America seeking "freedom to worship God;"
though |
9 |
they could hardly have crossed the Atlantic more than a
score of years prior to the Revolutionary period.
With them they brought to New England
a heavy sword, |
12 |
encased in a brass scabbard, on which was inscribed the
name of a kinsman upon whom the weapon had been bestowed by Sir William
Wallace, from whose patriotism |
15 |
and bravery comes that heart-stirring air, "Scots wha
hae wi' Wallace bled."
My childhood was also gladdened by one
of my Grand- |
18 |
mother Baker's books, printed in olden type and replete
with the phraseology current in the seventeenth and eigh- teenth
centuries. |
21 |
Among grandmother's treasures were some newspapers,
yellow with age. Some of these, however, were not very ancient, nor had
they crossed the ocean; for they were |
24 |
American newspapers, one of which contained a full ac-
count of the death and burial of George Washington.
A relative of my Grandfather Baker was
General Henry |
27 |
Knox of Revolutionary fame. I was fond of listening, when
a child, to grandmother's stories about General Knox, for whom she
cherished a high regard. |
30 |
In the line of my Grandmother Baker's family was the
Page 3 |
1 |
late Sir John Macneill, a Scotch knight, who was promi-
nent in British politics, and at one time held the position |
3 |
of ambassador to Persia.
My grandparents were likewise
connected with Capt. John Lovewell of Dunstable, New Hampshire,
whose |
6 |
gallant leadership and death, in the Indian troubles of
1722-1725, caused that prolonged contest to be known historically as
Lovewell's War. |
9 |
A cousin of my grandmother was John Macneil, the New
Hampshire general who fought at Lundy's Lane, and won distinction in 1814
at the neighboring battle of |
12 |
Chippewa, towards the close of the War of 1812.
Page 4
AUTOBIOGRAPHIC
REMINISCENCES |
1 |
THIS venerable grandmother had thirteen children, the
youngest of whom was my father, Mark Baker, |
3 |
who inherited the homestead, and with his brother, James
Baker, he inherited my grandfather's farm of about five hundred acres,
lying in the adjoining towns of Concord |
6 |
and Bow, in the State of New Hampshire.
One hundred acres of the old farm are
still cultivated and owned by Uncle James Baker's grandson, brother
of |
9 |
the Hon. Henry Moore Baker of Washington, D. C.
The farm-house, situated on the summit
of a hill, com- manded a broad picturesque view of the Merrimac
River |
12 |
and the undulating lands of three townships. But change
has been busy. Where once stretched broad fields of bending grain waving
gracefully in the sunlight, and |
15 |
orchards of apples, peaches, pears, and cherries shone
richly in the mellow hues of autumn, - now the lone night- bird cries, the
crow caws cautiously, and wandering winds |
18 |
sigh low requiems through dark pine groves. Where green
pastures bright with berries, singing brooklets, beautiful wild flowers,
and flecked with large flocks and |
21 |
herds, covered areas of rich acres, - now the scrub-oak,
poplar, and fern flourish.
The wife of Mark Baker was Abigail
Barnard Ambrose, |
24 |
daughter of Deacon Nathaniel Ambrose of Pembroke, a
Page 5 |
1 |
small town situated near Concord, just across the bridge,
on the left bank of the Merrimac River. |
3 |
Grandfather Ambrose was a very religious man, and gave
the money for erecting the first Congregational Church in Pembroke. |
6 |
In the Baker homestead at Bow I was born, the young- est
of my parents' six children and the object of their tender solicitude. |
9 |
During my childhood my parents removed to Tilton,
eighteen miles from Concord, and there the family re- mained until the
names of both father and mother were |
12 |
inscribed on the stone memorials in the Park Cemetery of
that beautiful village.
My father possessed a strong intellect
and an iron will. |
15 |
Of my mother I cannot speak as I would, for memory
recalls qualities to which the pen can never do justice. The following is a
brief extract from the eulogy of the Rev. |
18 |
Richard S. Rust, D. D., who for many years had re- sided
in Tilton and knew my sainted mother in all the walks of life. |
21 |
The character of Mrs. Abigail Ambrose Baker was distin-
guished for numerous excellences. She possessed a strong intellect, a
sympathizing heart, and a placid spirit. Her |
24 |
presence, like the gentle dew and cheerful light, was felt
by all around her. She gave an elevated character to the tone of
conversation in the circles in which she moved, and directed |
27 |
attention to themes at once pleasing and profitable.
As a mother, she was untiring in her
efforts to secure the happiness of her family. She ever entertained a
lively sense |
30 |
of the parental obligation, especially in regard to the
educa-
Page 6 |
1 |
tion of her children. The oft-repeated impressions of
that sainted spirit, on the hearts of those especially entrusted to
her |
3 |
watch-care, can never be effaced, and can hardly fail to
induce them to follow her to the brighter world. Her life was a living
illustration of Christian faith. |
6 |
My childhood's home I remember as one with the open hand.
The needy were ever welcome, and to the clergy were accorded special
household privileges. |
9 |
Among the treasured reminiscences of my much re- spected
parents, brothers, and sisters, is the memory of my second brother, Albert
Baker, who was, next to my |
12 |
mother, the very dearest of my kindred. To speak of his
beautiful character as I cherish it, would require more space than this
little book can afford. |
15 |
My brother Albert was graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in
1834 and was reputed one of the most talented, close, and thorough scholars
ever connected with that |
18 |
institution. For two or three years he read law at Hills-
borough, in the office of Franklin Pierce, afterwards Presi- dent of the
United States; but later Albert spent a year |
21 |
in the office of the Hon. Richard Fletcher of Boston. He
was consequently admitted to the bar in two States, Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. In 1837 he suc- |
24 |
ceeded to the law-office which Mr. Pierce had occupied,
and was soon elected to the Legislature of his native State, where he
served the public interests faithfully for two |
27 |
consecutive years. Among other important bills which were
carried through the Legislature by his persistent en- ergy was one for the
abolition of imprisonment for debt. |
30 |
In 1841 he received further political preferment, by
Page 7 |
1 |
nomination to Congress on a majority vote of seven
thousand, - it was the largest vote of the State; but he |
3 |
passed away at the age of thirty-one, after a short
illness, before his election. His noble political antagonist, the Hon.
Isaac Hill, of Concord, wrote of my brother as |
6 |
follows: -
Albert Baker was a young man of
uncommon promise. Gifted with the highest order of intellectual powers, he
trained |
9 |
and schooled them by intense and almost incessant study
throughout his short life. He was fond of investigating ab- struse and
metaphysical principles, and he never forsook |
12 |
them until he had explored their every nook and corner,
however hidden and remote. Had life and health been spared to him, he would
have made himself one of the most distin- |
15 |
guished men in the country. As a lawyer he was able and
learned, and in the successful practice of a very large business. He was
noted for his boldness and firmness, and for his power- |
18 |
ful advocacy of the side he deemed right. His death will
be deplored, with the most poignant grief, by a large number of
friends, who expected no more than they realized from his |
21 |
talents and acquirements. This sad event will not be
soon forgotten. It blights too many hopes; it carries with it too much
of sorrow and loss. It is a public calamity.
Page 8
VOICES NOT OUR
OWN |
1 |
MANY peculiar circumstances and events connected with my
childhood throng the chambers of memory. |
3 |
For some twelve months, when I was about eight years old,
I repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by name, three times, in
an ascending scale. I thought this |
6 |
was my mother's voice, and sometimes went to her, be-
seeching her to tell me what she wanted. Her answer was always, "Nothing,
child! What do you mean?" Then |
9 |
I would say, "Mother, who did call me? I heard
some- body call Mary, three times!" This continued until I grew
discouraged, and my mother was perplexed and |
12 |
anxious.
One day, when my cousin, Mehitable
Huntoon, was visiting us, and I sat in a little chair by her side, in
the |
15 |
same room with grandmother, - the call again came, so
loud that Mehitable heard it, though I had ceased to notice it. Greatly
surprised, my cousin turned to me and |
18 |
said, "Your mother is calling you!" but I answered not,
till again the same call was thrice repeated. Mehitable then said sharply,
"Why don't you go? your mother is |
21 |
calling you!" I then left the room, went to my mother,
and once more asked her if she had summoned me? She answered as always
before. Then I earnestly declared |
24 |
my cousin had heard the voice, and said that mother
Page 9 |
1 |
wanted me. Accordingly she returned with me to grand-
mother's room, and led my cousin into an adjoining apart- |
3 |
ment. The door was ajar, and I listened with bated
breath. Mother told Mehitable all about this mysterious voice, and asked if
she really did hear Mary's name pro- |
6 |
nounced in audible tones. My cousin answered quickly,
and emphasized her affirmation.
That night, before going to rest, my
mother read to me |
9 |
the Scriptural narrative of little Samuel, and bade me,
when the voice called again, to reply as he did, "Speak, Lord; for Thy
servant heareth." The voice came; but |
12 |
I was afraid, and did not answer. Afterward I wept, and
prayed that God would forgive me, resolving to do, next time, as my mother
had bidden me. When the call came |
15 |
again I did answer, in the words of Samuel, but never
again to the material senses was that mysterious call repeated. |
18 |
Is it not much that I may
worship Him, With naught my spirit's breathings to control, And feel
His presence in the vast and dim |
21 |
And whispering woods, where
dying thunders roll From the far cataracts? Shall I not rejoice That I
have learned at last to know His voice |
24 |
From man's? - I will rejoice!
My soaring soul Now hath redeemed her birthright of the day, And won,
through clouds, to Him, her own unfettered way! |
27 |
- MRS. HEMANS
Page 10
EARLY
STUDIES |
1 |
MY father was taught to believe that my brain was too
large for my body and so kept me much out of |
3 |
school, but I gained book-knowledge with far less labor
than is usually requisite. At ten years of age I was as familiar with
Lindley Murray's Grammar as with the |
6 |
Westminster Catechism; and the latter I had to repeat
every Sunday. My favorite studies were natural philoso- phy, logic, and
moral science. From my brother Al- |
9 |
bert I received lessons in the ancient tongues, Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. My brother studied Hebrew during his college vacations.
After my discovery of Christian |
12 |
Science, most of the knowledge I had gleaned from
schoolbooks vanished like a dream.
Learning was so illumined, that
grammar was eclipsed. |
15 |
Etymology was divine history, voicing the idea of God in
man's origin and signification. Syntax was spiritual order and unity.
Prosody, the song of angels, and no earthly |
18 |
or inglorious theme.
Page 11
GIRLHOOD
COMPOSITION |
1 |
FROM childhood I was a verse-maker. Poetry suited my
emotions better than prose. The following is |
3 |
one of my girlhood productions.
ALPHABET AND BAYONET
If fancy plumes aerial
flight, |
6 |
Go fix thy restless mind
On learning's lore and wisdom's might, And live to bless
mankind. |
9 |
The sword is sheathed, 't is
freedom's hour, No despot bears misrule, Where knowledge plants the
foot of power |
12 |
In our God-blessed free
school.
Forth from this fount the
streamlets flow, That widen in their course. |
15 |
Hero and sage arise to
show Science the mighty source, And laud the land whose talents
rock |
18 |
The cradle of her power,
And wreaths are twined round Plymouth Rock, From erudition's
bower. |
21 |
Farther than feet of chamois
fall, Free as the generous air,
Page 12 |
1 |
Strains nobler far than
clarion call Wake freedom's welcome, where |
3 |
Minerva's silver sandals
still Are loosed, and not effete; Where echoes still my day-dreams
thrill, |
6 |
Woke by her fancied
feet.
Page 13
THEOLOGICAL
REMINISCENCE |
1 |
AT the age of twelve (1) I was admitted to the Congre-
gational (Trinitarian) Church, my parents having |
3 |
been members of that body for a half-century. In connec-
tion with this event, some circumstances are noteworthy. Before this step
was taken, the doctrine of unconditional |
6 |
election, or predestination, greatly troubled me; for I
was unwilling to be saved, if my brothers and sisters were to be numbered
among those who were doomed to per- |
9 |
petual banishment from God. So perturbed was I by the
thoughts aroused by this erroneous doctrine, that the family doctor was
summoned, and pronounced me stricken |
12 |
with fever.
My father's relentless theology
emphasized belief in a final judgment-day, in the danger of endless
punishment, |
15 |
and in a Jehovah merciless towards unbelievers; and of
these things he now spoke, hoping to win me from dreaded heresy. |
18 |
My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean
on God's love, which would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I
was wont to do, seeking His |
21 |
guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came
over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal
condition of health. Mother saw this, |
24 |
and was glad. The physician marvelled; and the "hor-
(1) See Page 311, Lines 12 to 17, "The
First Church of Christ,
Scientist, and Miscellany."
Page 14 |
1 |
rible decree" of predestination - as John Calvin rightly
called his own tenet - forever lost its power over me. |
3 |
When the meeting was held for the examination of can-
didates for membership, I was of course present. The pastor was an
old-school expounder of the strictest Pres- |
6 |
byterian doctrines. He was apparently as eager to have
unbelievers in these dogmas lost, as he was to have elect believers
converted and rescued from perdition; for both |
9 |
salvation and condemnation depended, according to his
views, upon the good pleasure of infinite Love. However, I was ready for
his doleful questions, which I answered with- |
12 |
out a tremor, declaring that never could I unite with
the church, if assent to this doctrine was essential thereto.
Distinctly do I recall what followed.
I stoutly main- |
15 |
tained that I was willing to trust God, and take my
chance of spiritual safety with my brothers and sisters, - not one of
whom had then made any profession of religion, - |
18 |
even if my creedal doubts left me outside the doors. The
minister then wished me to tell him when I had experi- enced a change of
heart; but tearfully I had to respond |
21 |
that I could not designate any precise time.
Nevertheless, he persisted in the assertion that I had been truly
regene- rated, and asked me to say how I felt when the new light |
24 |
dawned within me. I replied that I could only answer him
in the words of the Psalmist: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: |
27 |
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
the way everlasting."
This was so earnestly said, that even
the oldest church- |
30 |
members wept. After the meeting was over they came
Page 15 |
1 |
and kissed me. To the astonishment of many, the good
clergyman's heart also melted, and he received me into |
3 |
their communion, and my protest along with me. My con-
nection with this religious body was retained till I founded a church of my
own, built on the basis of Christian Science, |
6 |
"Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."
In confidence of faith, I could say in
David's words, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will
make |
9 |
mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only. O God,
Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hith- erto have I declared Thy
wondrous works." (Psalms lxxi. |
12 |
16, 17.)
In the year 1878 I was called to
preach in Boston at the Baptist Tabernacle of Rev. Daniel C. Eddy, D. D., -
by |
15 |
the pastor of this church. I accepted the invitation and
commenced work.
The congregation so increased in
number the pews were |
18 |
not sufficient to seat the audience and benches were used
in the aisles. At the close of my engagement we parted in Christian
fellowship, if not in full unity of doctrine. |
21 |
Our last vestry meeting was made memorable by elo- quent
addresses from persons who feelingly testified to having been healed
through my preaching. Among other |
24 |
diseases cured they specified cancers. The cases
described had been treated and given over by physicians of the popu-
lar schools of medicine, but I had not heard of these cases |
27 |
till the persons who divulged their secret joy were
healed. A prominent churchman agreeably informed the congre- gation
that many others present had been healed under |
30 |
my preaching, but were too timid to testify in public.
Page 16 |
1 |
One memorable Sunday afternoon, a soprano, - clear,
strong, sympathetic, - floating up from the pews, caught |
3 |
my ear. When the meeting was over, two ladies pushing
their way through the crowd reached the platform. With tears of joy
flooding her eyes - for she was a mother - |
6 |
one of them said, "Did you hear my daughter sing? Why,
she has not sung before since she left the choir and was in consumption!
When she entered this church one hour |
9 |
ago she could not speak a loud word, and now, oh, thank
God, she is healed!"
It was not an uncommon occurrence in
my own church |
12 |
for the sick to be healed by my sermon. Many pale
cripples went into the church leaning on crutches who went out carrying
them on their shoulders. "And these signs shall |
15 |
follow them that believe."
The charter for The Mother Church in
Boston was ob- tained June, 1879,(1) and the same month the
members, |
18 |
twenty-six in number, extended a call to Mary B. G. Eddy
to become their pastor. She accepted the call, and was ordained A. D.
1881. |
21 |
(1)This statement appears to be based upon the Annual Report
of the Secretary of The Christian Scientist Association,
read at its meeting, January 15, 1880, in which
June is named as the month in which the charter
for The Mother Church was obtained, instead of August 23, 1879, the correct date.
Page 17
THE
COUNTRY-SEAT |
1 |
Written in youth, while
visiting a family friend in the beautiful suburbs of Boston |
3 |
WILD spirit of song, - midst the zephyrs at play In
bowers of beauty, - I bend to thy lay, And woo, while I worship in deep
sylvan spot, |
6 |
The Muses' soft echoes to kindle the grot. Wake chords of
my lyre, with musical kiss, To vibrate and tremble with accents of
bliss. |
9 |
Here morning peers out, from her crimson repose, On proud
Prairie Queen and the modest Moss-rose; And vesper reclines - when the
dewdrop is shed |
12 |
On the heart of the pink - in its odorous bed; But Flora
has stolen the rainbow and sky, To sprinkle the flowers with exquisite
dye. |
15 |
Here fame-honored hickory rears his bold form, And bares
a brave breast to the lightning and storm, While palm, bay, and laurel, in
classical glee, |
18 |
Chase tulip, magnolia, and fragrant fringe-tree; And
sturdy horse-chestnut for centuries hath given Its feathery blossom and
branches to heaven.
Page 18 |
1 |
Here is life! Here is youth! Here the poet's world-
wish, - |
3 |
Cool waters at play with the gold-gleaming fish; While
cactus a mellower glory receives From light colored softly by blossom and
leaves; |
6 |
And nestling alder is whispering low, In lap of the
pear-tree, with musical flow.(1)
Dark sentinel hedgerow is guarding
repose, |
9 |
Midst grotto and songlet and streamlet that flows Where
beauty and perfume from buds burst away, And ope their closed cells to the
bright, laughing day; |
12 |
Yet, dwellers in Eden, earth yields you her tear, - Oft
plucked for the banquet, but laid on the bier.
Earth's beauty and glory delude as the
shrine |
15 |
Or fount of real joy and of visions divine; But hope, as
the eaglet that spurneth the sod, May soar above matter, to fasten on
God, |
18 |
And freely adore all His spirit hath made, Where
rapture and radiance and glory ne'er fade.
Oh, give me the spot where affection
may dwell |
21 |
In sacred communion with home's magic spell! Where
flowers of feeling are fragrant and fair, And those we most love find a
happiness rare; |
24 |
But clouds are a presage, - they darken my lay: This
life is a shadow, and hastens away.
(1)An alder growing from the bent
branch of a pear-tree.
Page 19
MARRIAGE AND
PARENTAGE |
1 |
IN 1843 I was united to my first husband, Colonel George
Washington Glover of Charleston, South Carolina, |
3 |
the ceremony taking place under the paternal roof in
Tilton.
After parting with the dear home
circle I went with |
6 |
him to the South; but he was spared to me for only one
brief year. He was in Wilmington, North Carolina, on business, when the
yellow-fever raged in that city, and was |
9 |
suddenly attacked by this insidious disease, which in
his case proved fatal.
My husband was a freemason, being a
member in Saint |
12 |
Andrew's Lodge, Number 10 and of Union Chapter, Num- ber
3, of Royal Arch masons. He was highly esteemed and sincerely lamented by a
large circle of friends and ac- |
15 |
quaintances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to sup-
port me in this terrible bereavement. A month later I returned to New
Hampshire, where, at the end of four |
18 |
months, my babe was born.
Colonel Glover's tender devotion to
his young bride was remarked by all observers. With his parting
breath |
21 |
he gave pathetic directions to his brother masons about
accompanying her on her sad journey to the North. Here it is but justice to
record, they performed their obligations |
24 |
most faithfully.
Page 20 |
1 |
After returning to the paternal roof I lost all my hus-
band's property, except what money I had brought with |
3 |
me; and remained with my parents until after my mother's
decease.
A few months before my father's second
marriage, to |
6 |
Mrs. Elizabeth Patterson Duncan, sister of Lieutenant-
Governor George W. Patterson of New York, my little son, about four years
of age, was sent away from me, and |
9 |
put under the care of our family nurse, who had married,
and resided in the northern part of New Hampshire. I had no training for
self-support, and my home I regarded |
12 |
as very precious. The night before my child was taken
from me, I knelt by his side throughout the dark hours, hoping for a vision
of relief from this trial. The follow- |
15 |
ing lines are taken from my poem, "Mother's Darling,"
written after this separation: -
Thy smile through tears, as
sunshine o'er the sea, |
18 |
Awoke new beauty in the
surge's roll! Oh, life is dead, bereft of all, with thee, - Star of my
earthly hope, babe of my soul. |
21 |
My second marriage was very unfortunate, and from it I
was compelled to ask for a bill of divorce, which was granted me in the
city of Salem, Massachusetts. |
24 |
My dominant thought in marrying again was to get back my
child, but after our marriage his stepfather was not willing he should have
a home with me. A plot was |
27 |
consummated for keeping us apart. The family to whose
care he was committed very soon removed to what was then regarded as the
Far West.
Page 21 |
1 |
After his removal a letter was read to my little son,
informing him that his mother was dead and buried. |
3 |
Without my knowledge a guardian was appointed him, and I
was then informed that my son was lost. Every means within my power was
employed to find him, but without |
6 |
success. We never met again until he had reached the age
of thirty-four, had a wife and two children, and by a strange providence
had learned that his mother still lived, |
9 |
and came to see me in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile he had served as a volunteer
throughout the war for the Union, and at its expiration was
appointed |
12 |
United States Marshal of the Territory of Dakota.
It is well to know, dear reader, that
our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man's real
ex- |
15 |
istence, and the dream has no place in the Science of
being. It is "as a tale that is told," and "as the shadow when it
declineth." The heavenly intent of earth's shadows is to |
18 |
chasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and
turn it gladly from a material, false sense of life and happi- ness, to
spiritual joy and true estimate of being. |
21 |
The awakening from a false sense of life, substance, and
mind in matter, is as yet imperfect; but for those lucid and enduring
lessons of Love which tend to this result, |
24 |
I bless God.
Mere historic incidents and personal
events are frivo- lous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics
of |
27 |
Truth. To this end, but only to this end, such narrations
may be admissible and advisable; but if spiritual con- clusions are
separated from their premises, the nexus is |
30 |
lost, and the argument, with its rightful conclusions,
be-
Page 22 |
1 |
comes correspondingly obscure. The human history needs to
be revised, and the material record expunged. |
3 |
The Gospel narratives bear brief testimony even to the
life of our great Master. His spiritual noumenon and phenomenon silenced
portraiture. Writers less wise than |
6 |
the apostles essayed in the Apocryphal New Testament a
legendary and traditional history of the early life of Jesus. But St. Paul
summarized the character of Jesus |
9 |
as the model of Christianity, in these words: "Consider
him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." "Who for
the joy that was set before him en- |
12 |
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God."
It may be that the mortal life-battle
still wages, and |
15 |
must continue till its involved errors are vanquished by
victory-bringing Science; but this triumph will come! God is over all. He
alone is our origin, aim, and being. |
18 |
The real man is not of the dust, nor is he ever created
through the flesh; for his father and mother are the one Spirit, and his
brethren are all the children of one parent, |
21 |
the eternal good.
Page 23
EMERGENCE INTO
LIGHT |
1 |
THE trend of human life was too eventful to leave me
undisturbed in the illusion that this so-called life |
3 |
could be a real and abiding rest. All things earthly must
ultimately yield to the irony of fate, or else be merged into the one
infinite Love. |
6 |
As these pungent lessons became clearer, they grew
sterner. Previously the cloud of mortal mind seemed to have a silver
lining; but now it was not even fringed with |
9 |
light. Matter was no longer spanned with its rainbow of
promise. The world was dark. The oncoming hours were indicated by no floral
dial. The senses could not |
12 |
prophesy sunrise or starlight.
Thus it was when the moment arrived of
the heart's bridal to more spiritual existence. When the door
opened, |
15 |
I was waiting and watching; and, lo, the bridegroom came!
The character of the Christ was illuminated by the midnight torches of
Spirit. My heart knew its Re- |
18 |
deemer. He whom my affections had diligently sought was
as the One "altogether lovely," as "the chiefest," the only, "among ten
thousand." Soulless famine had |
21 |
fled. Agnosticism, pantheism, and theosophy were void.
Being was beautiful, its substance, cause, and currents were God and His
idea. I had touched the hem of Chris- |
24 |
tian Science.
Page 24
THE GREAT
DISCOVERY |
1 |
IT was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, and after the
death of the magnetic doctor, Mr. P. P. Quimby, |
3 |
whom spiritualists would associate therewith, but who was
in no wise connected with this event, that I discov- ered the Science of
divine metaphysical healing which I |
6 |
afterwards named Christian Science. The discovery came to
pass in this way. During twenty years prior to my discovery I had been
trying to trace all physical effects to |
9 |
a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained
the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a
mental phenomenon. |
12 |
My immediate recovery from the effects of an injury
caused by an accident, an injury that neither medicine nor surgery could
reach, was the falling apple that led me to |
15 |
the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make
others so.
Even to the homoeopathic physician who
attended me, |
18 |
and rejoiced in my recovery, I could not then explain the
modus of my relief. I could only assure him that the divine Spirit
had wrought the miracle - a miracle which later |
21 |
I found to be in perfect scientific accord with divine
law.
I then withdrew from society about
three years, - to ponder my mission, to search the Scriptures, to find
the |
24 |
Science of Mind that should take the things of God and
Page 25 |
1 |
show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative
Principle, - Deity. |
3 |
The Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions as to
how I was healed; but the Scriptures had to me a new meaning, a new tongue.
Their spiritual significa- |
6 |
tion appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in
their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstra- tion, and the
Principle and rule of spiritual Science and |
9 |
metaphysical healing, - in a word, Christian Science.
I named it Christian, because
it is compassionate, helpful, and spiritual. God I called immortal
Mind. That |
12 |
which sins, suffers, and dies, I named mortal mind.
The physical senses, or sensuous nature, I called error and
shadow. Soul I denominated substance, because Soul |
15 |
alone is truly substantial. God I characterized as
individ- ual entity, but His corporeality I denied. The real I claimed
as eternal; and its antipodes, or the temporal, |
18 |
I described as unreal. Spirit I called the reality;
and matter, the unreality.
I knew the human conception of God to
be that He was |
21 |
a physically personal being, like unto man; and that the
five physical senses are so many witnesses to the physical personality of
mind and the real existence of matter; but |
24 |
I learned that these material senses testify falsely,
that matter neither sees, hears, nor feels Spirit, and is therefore
inadequate to form any proper conception of the infinite |
27 |
Mind. "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not
true." (John v. 31.)
I beheld with ineffable awe our great
Master's purpose |
30 |
in not questioning those he healed as to their disease
or
Page 26 |
1 |
its symptoms, and his marvellous skill in demanding
neither obedience to hygienic laws, nor prescribing drugs |
3 |
to support the divine power which heals. Adoringly I
discerned the Principle of his holy heroism and Christian example on the
cross, when he refused to drink the "vine- |
6 |
gar and gall," a preparation of poppy, or aconite, to
allay the tortures of crucifixion.
Our great Way-shower, steadfast to the
end in his obedi- |
9 |
ence to God's laws, demonstrated for all time and peoples
the supremacy of good over evil, and the superiority of Spirit over
matter. |
12 |
The miracles recorded in the Bible, which had before
seemed to me supernatural, grew divinely natural and ap- prehensible;
though uninspired interpreters ignorantly |
15 |
pronounce Christ's healing miraculous, instead of seeing
therein the operation of the divine law.
Jesus of Nazareth was a natural and
divine Scientist. |
18 |
He was so before the material world saw him. He who
antedated Abraham, and gave the world a new date in the Christian era, was
a Christian Scientist, who needed no |
21 |
discovery of the Science of being in order to rebuke the
evidence. To one "born of the flesh," however, divine Science must be a
discovery. Woman must give it birth. |
24 |
It must be begotten of spirituality, since none but the
pure in heart can see God, - the Principle of all things pure; and none
but the "poor in spirit" could first state this |
27 |
Principle, could know yet more of the nothingness of mat-
ter and the allness of Spirit, could utilize Truth, and ab- solutely reduce
the demonstration of being, in Science, to |
30 |
the apprehension of the age.
Page 27 |
1 |
I wrote also, at this period, comments on the Scriptures,
setting forth their spiritual interpretation, the Science of |
3 |
the Bible, and so laid the foundation of my work called
Science and Health, published in 1875.
If these notes and comments, which
have never been |
6 |
read by any one but myself, were published, it would show
that after my discovery of the absolute Science of Mind-healing, like all
great truths, this spiritual |
9 |
Science developed itself to me until Science and Health
was written. These early comments are valu- able to me as waymarks of
progress, which I would not |
12 |
have effaced.
Up to that time I had not fully voiced
my discov- ery. Naturally, my first jottings were but efforts
to |
15 |
express in feeble diction Truth's ultimate. In
Longfellow's language, -
But the feeble hands and
helpless, |
18 |
Groping blindly in the
darkness, Touch God's right hand in that darkness, And are lifted up
and strengthened. |
21 |
As sweet music ripples in one's first thoughts of it like
the brooklet in its meandering midst pebbles and rocks, before the mind can
duly express it to the ear, - so the |
24 |
harmony of divine Science first broke upon my sense,
before gathering experience and confidence to articulate it. Its natural
manifestation is beautiful and euphonious, |
27 |
but its written expression increases in power and
perfection under the guidance of the great Master.
The divine hand led me into a new
world of light and |
30 |
Life, a fresh universe - old to God, but new to His
"little
Page 28 |
1 |
one." It became evident that the divine Mind alone must
answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle, of all being; |
3 |
and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would
be at peace. He must be ours practically, guiding our every thought and
action; else we cannot understand |
6 |
the omnipresence of good sufficiently to demonstrate,
even in part, the Science of the perfect Mind and divine healing. |
9 |
I had learned that thought must be spiritualized, in
order to apprehend Spirit. It must become honest, un- selfish, and pure, in
order to have the least understanding |
12 |
of God in divine Science. The first must become last. Our
reliance upon material things must be transferred to a perception of and
dependence on spiritual things. For |
15 |
Spirit to be supreme in demonstration, it must be supreme
in our affections, and we must be clad with divine power. Purity,
self-renunciation, faith, and understanding must |
18 |
reduce all things real to their own mental denomina-
tion, Mind, which divides, subdivides, increases, dimin- ishes,
constitutes, and sustains, according to the law of |
21 |
God.
I had learned that Mind reconstructed
the body, and that nothing else could. How it was done, the
spiritual |
24 |
Science of Mind must reveal. It was a mystery to me then,
but I have since understood it. All Science is a revelation. Its Principle
is divine, not human, reaching |
27 |
higher than the stars of heaven.
Am I a believer in spiritualism? I
believe in no ism. This is my endeavor, to be a Christian, to
assimilate the |
30 |
character and practice of the anointed; and no motive
Page 29 |
1 |
can cause a surrender of this effort. As I understand it,
spiritualism is the antipode of Christian Science. I esteem |
3 |
all honest people, and love them, and hold to loving our
enemies and doing good to them that "despitefully use you and persecute
you."
Page 30
FOUNDATION
WORK |
1 |
AS the pioneer of Christian Science I stood alone in this
conflict, endeavoring to smite error with the |
3 |
falchion of Truth. The rare bequests of Christian Science
are costly, and they have won fields of battle from which the dainty
borrower would have fled. Ceaseless toil, self- |
6 |
renunciation, and love, have cleared its pathway.
The motive of my earliest labors has
never changed. It was to relieve the sufferings of humanity by a
sanitary |
9 |
system that should include all moral and religious
reform.
It is often asked why Christian
Science was revealed to me as one intelligence, analyzing, uncovering, and
annihi- |
12 |
lating the false testimony of the physical senses. Why
was this conviction necessary to the right apprehension of the
invincible and infinite energies of Truth and Love, as con- |
15 |
trasted with the foibles and fables of finite mind and
ma- terial existence.
The answer is plain. St. Paul declared
that the law |
18 |
was the schoolmaster, to bring him to Christ. Even so was
I led into the mazes of divine metaphysics through the gospel of suffering,
the providence of God, and the |
21 |
cross of Christ. No one else can drain the cup which I
have drunk to the dregs as the Discoverer and teacher of Christian Science;
neither can its inspiration be gained |
24 |
without tasting this cup.
Page 31 |
1 |
The loss of material objects of affection sunders the
dominant ties of earth and points to heaven. Nothing |
3 |
can compete with Christian Science, and its demonstra-
tion, in showing this solemn certainty in growing freedom and vindicating
"the ways of God" to man. The abso- |
6 |
lute proof and self-evident propositions of Truth are im-
measurably paramount to rubric and dogma in proving the Christ. |
9 |
From my very childhood I was impelled, by a hunger and
thirst after divine things, - a desire for something higher and better than
matter, and apart from it, - to |
12 |
seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great
and ever-present relief from human woe. The first spon- taneous motion of
Truth and Love, acting through Chris- |
15 |
tian Science on my roused consciousness, banished at once
and forever the fundamental error of faith in things ma- terial; for this
trust is the unseen sin, the unknown foe, - |
18 |
the heart's untamed desire which breaketh the divine com-
mandments. As says St. James: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty |
21 |
of all."
Into mortal mind's material obliquity
I gazed, and stood abashed. Blanched was the cheek of pride. My
heart |
24 |
bent low before the omnipotence of Spirit, and a tint of
humility, soft as the heart of a moonbeam, mantled the earth. Bethlehem and
Bethany, Gethsemane and Calvary, |
27 |
spoke to my chastened sense as by the tearful lips of a
babe. Frozen fountains were unsealed. Erudite systems of philosophy and
religion melted, for Love unveiled the |
30 |
healing promise and potency of a present spiritual
afflatus.
Page 32 |
1 |
It was the gospel of healing, on its divinely appointed
human mission, bearing on its white wings, to my appre- |
3 |
hension, "the beauty of holiness," - even the possibili-
ties of spiritual insight, knowledge, and being.
Early had I learned that whatever is
loved materially, |
6 |
as mere corporeal personality, is eventually lost. "For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it," saith the Master. Exultant
hope, if tinged with earthliness, is crushed as the |
9 |
moth.
What is termed mortal and material
existence is graph- ically defined by Calderon, the famous Spanish poet,
who |
12 |
wrote, -
What is life? 'T is but a
madness. What is life? A mere illusion, |
15 |
Fleeting pleasure, fond
delusion, Short-lived joy, that ends in sadness, Whose most constant
substance seems |
18 |
But the dream of other
dreams.
Page 33
MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS |
1 |
THE physical side of this research was aided by hints
from homoeopathy, sustaining my final conclusion |
3 |
that mortal belief, instead of the drug, governed the
action of material medicine.
I wandered through the dim mazes of
materia medica, |
6 |
till I was weary of "scientific guessing," as it has been
well called. I sought knowledge from the different schools, -
allopathy, homoeopathy, hydropathy, electricity, and from |
9 |
various humbugs, - but without receiving satisfaction.
I found, in the two hundred and
sixty-two remedies enumerated by Jahr, one pervading secret; namely,
that |
12 |
the less material medicine we have, and the more Mind,
the better the work is done; a fact which seems to prove the Principle of
Mind-healing. One drop of the thirtieth |
15 |
attenuation of Natrum muriaticum, in a
tumbler-full of water, and one teaspoonful of the water mixed with the
faith of ages, would cure patients not affected by a |
18 |
larger dose. The drug disappears in the higher attenua-
tions of homoeopathy, and matter is thereby rarefied to its fatal essence,
mortal mind; but immortal Mind, the |
21 |
curative Principle, remains, and is found to be even
more active.
The mental virtues of the material
methods of medicine, |
24 |
when understood, were insufficient to satisfy my doubts
Page 34 |
1 |
as to the honesty or utility of using a material curative.
I must know more of the unmixed, unerring source, in order |
3 |
to gain the Science of Mind, the All-in-all of Spirit, in
which matter is obsolete. Nothing less could solve the mental problem. If I
sought an answer from the medical |
6 |
schools, the reply was dark and contradictory. Neither
ancient nor modern philosophy could clear the clouds, or give me one
distinct statement of the spiritual Science of |
9 |
Mind-healing Human reason was not equal to it.
I claim for healing scientifically the
following advan- tages: First: It does away with all material
medicines, |
12 |
and recognizes the antidote for all sickness, as well as
sin, in the immortal Mind; and mortal mind as the source of all the
ills which befall mortals. Second: It is more effec- |
15 |
tual than drugs, and cures when they fail, or only
relieve; thus proving the superiority of metaphysics over physics.
Third: A person healed by Christian Science is not only |
18 |
healed of his disease, but he is advanced morally and
spiritually. The mortal body being but the objective state of the mortal
mind, this mind must be renovated to im- |
21 |
prove the body.
Page 35
FIRST
PUBLICATION |
1 |
IN 1870 I copyrighted the first publication on spirit-
ual, scientific Mind-healing, entitled "The Science of |
3 |
Man." This little book is converted into the chapter on
Recapitulation in Science and Health. It was so new - the basis it laid
down for physical and moral health was |
6 |
so hopelessly original, and men were so unfamiliar with
the subject - that I did not venture upon its publication until later,
having learned that the merits of Christian |
9 |
Science must be proven before a work on this subject
could be profitably published.
The truths of Christian Science are
not interpolations |
12 |
of the Scriptures, but the spiritual interpretations
thereof. Science is the prism of Truth, which divides its rays and
brings out the hues of Deity. Human hypotheses have |
15 |
darkened the glow and grandeur of evangelical religion.
When speaking of his true followers in every period, Jesus said,
"They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall |
18 |
recover." There is no authority for querying the authen-
ticity of this declaration, for it already was and is demon- strated as
practical, and its claim is substantiated, - a |
18 |
claim too immanent to fall to the ground beneath the
stroke of artless workmen.
Though a man were girt with the Urim
and Thummim |
21 |
of priestly office, and denied the perpetuity of Jesus'
com-
Page 36 |
1 |
mand, "Heal the sick," or its application in all time to
those who understand Christ as the Truth and the Life, |
3 |
that man would not expound the gospel according to
Jesus.
Five years after taking out my first
copyright, I taught |
6 |
the Science of Mind-healing, alias Christian Science,
by writing out my manuscripts for students and distribut- ing them
unsparingly. This will account for certain pub- |
9 |
lished and unpublished manuscripts extant, which the
evil-minded would insinuate did not originate with me.
Page 37
THE PRECIOUS
VOLUME |
1 |
THE first edition of my most important work, Science and
Health, containing the complete statement of |
3 |
Christian Science, - the term employed by me to express
the divine, or spiritual, Science of Mind-healing, was pub- lished in
1875. |
6 |
When it was first printed, the critics took pleasure in
saying, "This book is indeed wholly original, but it will never be
read." |
9 |
The first edition numbered one thousand copies. In
September, 1891, it had reached sixty-two editions.
Those who formerly sneered at it, as
foolish and ec- |
12 |
centric, now declare Bishop Berkeley, David Hume, Ralph
Waldo Emerson, or certain German philosophers, to have been the originators
of the Science of Mind-healing as |
15 |
therein stated.
Even the Scriptures gave no direct
interpretation of the scientific basis for demonstrating the spiritual
Principle |
18 |
of healing, until our heavenly Father saw fit, through
the Key to the Scriptures, in Science and Health, to unlock this
"mystery of godliness." |
21 |
My reluctance to give the public, in my first edition of
Science and Health, the chapter on Animal Magnetism, and the divine purpose
that this should be done, may |
24 |
have an interest for the reader, and will be seen in the
fol-
Page 38 |
1 |
lowing circumstances. I had finished that edition as far
as that chapter, when the printer informed me that he |
3 |
could not go on with my work. I had already paid him
seven hundred dollars, and yet he stopped my work. All efforts to persuade
him to finish my book were in |
6 |
vain.
After months had passed, I yielded to
a constant con- viction that I must insert in my last chapter a
partial |
9 |
history of what I had already observed of mental mal-
practice. Accordingly, I set to work, contrary to my in- clination, to
fulfil this painful task, and finished my copy |
12 |
for the book. As it afterwards appeared, although I had
not thought of such a result, my printer resumed his work at the same time,
finished printing the copy he had on |
15 |
hand, and then started for Lynn to see me. The after-
noon that he left Boston for Lynn, I started for Boston with my finished
copy. We met at the Eastern depot in |
18 |
Lynn, and were both surprised, - I to learn that he had
printed all the copy on hand, and had come to tell me he wanted more, - he
to find me en route for Boston, to give |
21 |
him the closing chapter of my first edition of Science
and Health. Not a word had passed between us, audibly or mentally,
while this went on. I had grown disgusted |
24 |
with my printer, and become silent. He had come to a
standstill through motives and circumstances unknown to me. |
27 |
Science and Health is the textbook of Christian Science.
Whosoever learns the letter of this book, must also gain its spiritual
significance, in order to demonstrate Christian |
30 |
Science.
Page 39 |
1 |
When the demand for this book increased, and people were
healed simply by reading it, the copyright was in- |
3 |
fringed. I entered a suit at law, and my copyright was
protected.
Page 40
RECUPERATIVE
INCIDENT |
1 |
THROUGH four successive years I healed, preached, and
taught in a general way, refusing to take any |
3 |
pay for my services and living on a small annuity.
At one time I was called to speak
before the Lyceum Club, at Westerly, Rhode Island. On my arrival
my |
6 |
hostess told me that her next-door neighbor was dying. I
asked permission to see her. It was granted, and with my hostess I went to
the invalid's house. |
9 |
The physicians had given up the case and retired. I had
stood by her side about fifteen minutes when the sick woman rose from her
bed, dressed herself, and was well. |
12 |
Afterwards they showed me the clothes already prepared
for her burial; and told me that her physicians had said the diseased
condition was caused by an injury received |
15 |
from a surgical operation at the birth of her last babe,
and that it was impossible for her to be delivered of another child. It
is sufficient to add her babe was safely born, |
18 |
and weighed twelve pounds. The mother afterwards wrote
to me, "I never before suffered so little in child- birth." |
21 |
This scientific demonstration so stirred the doctors and
clergy that they had my notices for a second lecture pulled down, and
refused me a hearing in their halls and churches. |
24 |
This circumstance is cited simply to show the opposition
Page 41 |
1 |
which Christian Science encountered a quarter-century
ago, as contrasted with its present welcome into the sick- |
3 |
room.
Many were the desperate cases I
instantly healed, "without money and without price," and in most
instances |
6 |
without even an acknowledgment of the benefit.
Page 42
A TRUE
MAN |
1 |
MY last marriage was with Asa Gilbert Eddy, and was a
blessed and spiritual union, solemnized at |
3 |
Lynn, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Samuel Barrett Stewart,
in the year 1877. Dr. Eddy was the first student publicly to announce
himself a Christian Scientist, and place these |
6 |
symbolic words on his office sign. He forsook all to
follow in this line of light. He was the first organizer of a Chris-
tian Science Sunday School, which he superintended. He |
9 |
also taught a special Bible-class; and he lectured so
ably on Scriptural topics that clergymen of other denomina- tions
listened to him with deep interest. He was remark- |
12 |
ably successful in Mind-healing, and untiring in his
chosen work. In 1882 he passed away, with a smile of peace and love
resting on his serene countenance. "Mark the per- |
15 |
fect man, and behold the upright: for the end of
that man is peace." (Psalms xxxvii. 37.)
Page 43
COLLEGE AND
CHURCH |
1 |
IN 1867 I introduced the first purely metaphysical sys-
tem of healing since the apostolic days. I began by |
3 |
teaching one student Christian Science Mind-healing.
From this seed grew the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston,
chartered in 1881. No charter was |
6 |
granted for similar purposes after 1883. It is the only
College, hitherto, for teaching the pathology of spiritual power,
alias the Science of Mind-healing. |
9 |
My husband, Asa G. Eddy, taught two terms in my College.
After I gave up teaching, my adopted son, Ebenezer J. Foster-Eddy, a
graduate of the Hahnemann |
12 |
Medical College of Philadelphia, and who also received a
certificate from Dr. W. W. Keen's (allopathic) Philadelphia School of
Anatomy and Surgery, - having renounced his |
15 |
material method of practice and embraced the teach- ings
of Christian Science, taught the Primary, Normal, and Obstetric class one
term. Gen. Erastus N. Bates |
18 |
taught one Primary class, in 1889, after which I judged
it best to close the institution. These students of mine were the only
assistant teachers in the College. |
21 |
The first Christian Scientist Association was organized
by myself and six of my students in 1876, on the Centen- nial Day of our
nation's freedom. At a meeting of the |
24 |
Christian Scientist Association, on April 12, 1879, it
was
Page 44 |
1 |
voted to organize a church to commemorate the words and
works of our Master, a Mind-healing church, without |
3 |
a creed, to be called the Church of Christ, Scientist,
the first such church ever organized. The charter for this church was
obtained in June, 1879(1) and during the same |
6 |
month the members, twenty-six in number, extended a call
to me to become their pastor. I accepted the call, and was ordained in
1881, though I had preached five |
9 |
years before being ordained.
When I was its pastor, and in the
pulpit every Sunday, my church increased in members, and its spiritual
growth |
12 |
kept pace with its increasing popularity; but when
obliged, because of accumulating work in the College, to preach only
occasionally, no student, at that time, was found able |
15 |
to maintain the church in its previous harmony and
prosperity.
Examining the situation prayerfully
and carefully, noting |
18 |
the church's need, and the predisposing and exciting
cause of its condition, I saw that the crisis had come when much time
and attention must be given to defend this church |
21 |
from the envy and molestation of other churches, and from
the danger to its members which must always lie in Christian warfare. At
this juncture I recommended that |
24 |
the church be dissolved. No sooner were my views made
known, than the proper measures were adopted to carry them out, the votes
passing without a dissenting voice. |
27 |
This measure was immediately followed by a great re-
vival of mutual love, prosperity, and spiritual power.
The history of that hour holds this
true record. Add- |
30 |
ing to its ranks and influence, this spiritually
organized
(1) Steps were taken to promote the Church
of Christ, Scientist, in April, May, and June;
formal organization was accomplished and the charter obtained in August,
1879.
Page 45 |
1 |
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, still goes on. A
new light broke in upon it, and more beautiful became |
3 |
the garments of her who "bringeth good tidings, that
pub- lisheth peace."
Despite the prosperity of my church,
it was learned |
6 |
that material organization has its value and peril, and
that organization is requisite only in the earliest periods in
Christian history. After this material form of cohesion |
9 |
and fellowship has accomplished its end, continued
organi- zation retards spiritual growth, and should be laid off, - even
as the corporeal organization deemed requisite in |
12 |
the first stages of mortal existence is finally laid off,
in order to gain spiritual freedom and supremacy.
From careful observation and
experience came my clue |
15 |
to the uses and abuses of organization. Therefore, in ac-
cord with my special request, followed that noble, un- precedented action
of the Christian Scientist Association |
18 |
connected with my College when dissolving that organiza-
tion, - in forgiving enemies, returning good for evil, in following Jesus'
command, "Whosoever shall smite thee |
21 |
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." I saw
these fruits of Spirit, long-suffering and temperance, ful- fil the law of
Christ in righteousness. I also saw that |
24 |
Christianity has withstood less the temptation of
popularity than of persecution.
Page 46
"FEED MY
SHEEP" |
1 |
Lines penned when I was
pastor of the Church of Christ, Scien-
tist, in
Boston |
3 |
SHEPHERD show me how to go O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow, - |
6 |
How to feed Thy sheep; I will listen for Thy voice,
Lest my footsteps stray; |
9 |
I will follow and rejoice All the rugged way.
Thou wilt bind the stubborn
will, |
12 |
Wound the callous breast, Make self-righteousness be
still, Break earth's stupid rest. |
15 |
Strangers on a barren shore, Lab'ring long and lone,
We would enter by the door, |
18 |
And Thou know'st Thine own.
So, when day grows dark and cold,
Tear or triumph harms, |
21 |
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold, Take them in Thine
arms; Feed the hungry, heal the heart, |
24 |
Till the morning's beam; White as wool, ere they
depart, Shepherd, wash them clean.
Page 47
COLLEGE
CLOSED |
1 |
THE apprehension of what has been, and must be, the final
outcome of material organization, which wars |
3 |
with Love's spiritual compact, caused me to dread the
unprecedented popularity of my College. Students from all over our
continent, and from Europe, were flooding |
6 |
the school. At this time there were over three hundred
applications from persons desiring to enter the College, and applicants
were rapidly increasing. Example had |
9 |
shown the dangers arising from being placed on earthly
pinnacles, and Christian Science shuns whatever involves material means for
the promotion of spiritual ends. |
12 |
In view of all this, a meeting was called of the Board of
Directors of my College, who, being informed of my intentions, unanimously
voted that the school be |
15 |
discontinued.
A Primary class student, richly imbued
with the spirit of Christ, is a better healer and teacher than a
Normal |
18 |
class student who partakes less of God's love. After hav-
ing received instructions in a Primary class from me, or a loyal student,
and afterwards studied thoroughly Science |
21 |
and Health, a student can enter upon the gospel work of
teaching Christian Science, and so fulfil the command of Christ. But before
entering this field of labor he must |
24 |
have studied the latest editions of my works, be a good
Bible scholar and a consecrated Christian.
Page 48 |
1 |
The Massachusetts Metaphysical College drew its breath
from me, but I was yearning for retirement. The |
3 |
question was, Who else could sustain this institute,
under all that was aimed at its vital purpose, the establishment of
genuine Christian Science healing? My conscientious |
6 |
scruples about diplomas, the recent experience of the
church fresh in my thoughts, and the growing conviction that every one
should build on his own foundation, sub- |
9 |
ject to the one builder and maker, God, - all these con-
siderations moved me to close my flourishing school, and the following
resolutions were passed: - |
12 |
At a special meeting of the Board of the Metaphysical
College Corporation, Oct. 29, 1889, the following are some of the
resolutions which were presented and passed |
15 |
unanimously: -
WHEREAS, The Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, chartered in January, 1881, for medical purposes, to
give |
18 |
instruction in scientific methods of mental healing on a
purely practical basis, to impart a thorough understanding of meta-
physics, to restore health, hope, and harmony to man, - has |
21 |
fulfilled its high and noble destiny, and sent to all parts
of our country, and into foreign lands, students instructed in Chris-
tian Science Mind-healing, to meet the demand of the age for |
24 |
something higher than physic or drugging; and
WHEREAS, The material organization
was, in the beginning in this institution, like the baptism of Jesus, of
which he said, |
27 |
"Suffer it to be so now," though the teaching was a
purely spiritual and scientific impartation of Truth, whose Christly
spirit has led to higher ways, means, and understanding, - the |
30 |
President, the Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy, at the height of
pros-
Page 49 |
1 |
perity in the institution, which yields a large income, is
willing to sacrifice all for the advancement of the world in Truth and |
3 |
Love; and
WHEREAS, Other institutions for
instruction in Christian Science, which are working out their periods of
organization, |
6 |
will doubtless follow the example of the Alma Mater
after having accomplished the worthy purpose for which they were
organized, and the hour has come wherein the great need is |
9 |
for more of the spirit instead of the letter, and Science
and Health is adapted to work this result; and
WHEREAS, The fundamental principle for
growth in Chris- |
12 |
tian Science is spiritual formation first, last, and always,
while in human growth material organization is first; and
WHEREAS, Mortals must learn to lose
their estimate |
15 |
of the powers that are not ordained of God, and attain
the bliss of loving unselfishly, working patiently, and con- quering all
that is unlike Christ and the example he gave; |
18 |
therefore
Resolved, That we thank the State for its charter, which is the
only one ever granted to a legal college for teaching
the |
21 |
Science of Mind-healing; that we thank the public for its
liberal patronage. And everlasting gratitude is due to the President, for
her great and noble work, which we believe |
24 |
will prove a healing for the nations, and bring all men to
a knowledge of the true God, uniting them in one common
brotherhood. |
27 |
After due deliberation and earnest discussion it was
unani- mously voted: That as all debts of the corporation have been
paid, it is deemed best to dissolve this corporation, and the |
30 |
same is hereby dissolved. C. A. FRYE, Clerk
Page 50 |
1 |
When God impelled me to set a price on my instruction in
Christian Science Mind-healing, I could think of no |
3 |
financial equivalent for an impartation of a knowledge of
that divine power which heals; but I was led to name three hundred dollars
as the price for each pupil in one course |
6 |
of lessons at my College, - a startling sum for tuition
lasting barely three weeks. This amount greatly troubled me. I shrank from
asking it, but was finally led, by a |
9 |
strange providence, to accept this fee.
God has since shown me, in
multitudinous ways, the wisdom of this decision; and I beg disinterested
people |
12 |
to ask my loyal students if they consider three hundred
dollars any real equivalent for my instruction during twelve half-days, or
even in half as many lessons. Never- |
15 |
theless, my list of indigent charity scholars is very
large, and I have had as many as seventeen in one class.
Loyal students speak with delight of
their pupilage, |
18 |
and of what it has done for them, and for others through
them. By loyalty in students I mean this, - allegiance to God,
subordination of the human to the divine, stead- |
21 |
fast justice, and strict adherence to divine Truth and
Love.
I see clearly that students in
Christian Science should, |
24 |
at present, continue to organize churches, schools, and
associations for the furtherance and unfolding of Truth, and that my
necessity is not necessarily theirs; but it was |
27 |
the Father's opportunity for furnishing a new rule of
order in divine Science, and the blessings which arose therefrom.
Students are not environed with such obstacles as were |
30 |
encountered in the beginning of pioneer work.
Page 51 |
1 |
In December, 1889, I gave a lot of land in Boston to my
student, Mr. Ira O. Knapp of Roslindale, - valued in |
3 |
1892 at about twenty thousand dollars, and rising in
value, - to be appropriated for the erection, and building on the
premises thereby conveyed, of a church edifice to be |
6 |
used as a temple for Christian Science worship.
Page 52
GENERAL
ASSOCIATIONS, AND OUR MAGAZINE |
1 |
FOR many successive years I have endeavored to find new
ways and means for the promotion and expan- |
3 |
sion of scientific Mind-healing, seeking to broaden its
channels and, if possible, to build a hedge round about it that should
shelter its perfections from the contaminat- |
6 |
ing influences of those who have a small portion of its
letter and less of its spirit. At the same time I have worked to provide a
home for every true seeker and honest |
9 |
worker in this vineyard of Truth.
To meet the broader wants of humanity,
and provide folds for the sheep that were without shepherds, I
sug- |
12 |
gested to my students, in 1886, the propriety of forming
a National Christian Scientist Association. This was immediately done, and
delegations from the Christian |
15 |
Scientist Association of the Massachusetts Metaphysical
College, and from branch associations in other States, met in general
convention at New York City, February |
18 |
11, 1886.
The first official organ of the
Christian Scientist Asso- ciation was called Journal of Christian
Science. I started |
21 |
it, April, 1883, as editor and publisher.
To the National Christian Scientist
Association, at its meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, June, 1889, I sent a
letter,
Page 53 |
1 |
presenting to its loyal members The Christian Science
Journal, as it was now called, and the funds belonging |
3 |
thereto. This monthly magazine had been made success- ful
and prosperous under difficult circumstances, and was designed to bear
aloft the standard of genuine Christian |
6 |
Science.
Page 54
FAITH-CURE |
1 |
IT is often asked, Why are faith-cures sometimes more
speedy than some of the cures wrought through Chris- |
3 |
tian Scientists? Because faith is belief, and not under-
standing; and it is easier to believe, than to understand spiritual Truth.
It demands less cross-bearing, self- |
6 |
renunciation, and divine Science to admit the claims of
the corporeal senses and appeal to God for relief through a humanized
conception of His power, than to deny these |
9 |
claims and learn the divine way, - drinking Jesus' cup,
being baptized with his baptism, gaining the end through persecution and
purity. |
12 |
Millions are believing in God, or good, without bearing
the fruits of goodness, not having reached its Science. Belief is virtually
blindness, when it admits Truth with- |
15 |
out understanding it. Blind belief cannot say with the
apostle, "I know whom I have believed." There is danger in this mental
state called belief; for if Truth is admitted, |
18 |
but not understood, it may be lost, and error may enter
through this same channel of ignorant belief. The faith- cure has devout
followers, whose Christian practice is far |
21 |
in advance of their theory.
The work of healing, in the Science of
Mind, is the most sacred and salutary power which can be wielded.
My |
24 |
Christian students, impressed with the true sense of the
Page 55 |
1 |
great work before them, enter this strait and narrow
path, and work conscientiously. |
3 |
Let us follow the example of Jesus, the master Meta-
physician, and gain sufficient knowledge of error to destroy it with Truth.
Evil is not mastered by evil; it can only |
6 |
be overcome with good. This brings out the nothingness
of evil and the eternal somethingness, vindicates the divine Principle, and
improves the race of Adam.
Page 56
FOUNDATION-STONES |
1 |
THE following ideas of Deity, antagonized by finite
theories, doctrines, and hypotheses, I found to be |
3 |
demonstrable rules in Christian Science, and that we
must abide by them.
Whatever diverges from the one divine
Mind, or God, |
6 |
- or divides Mind into minds, Spirit into spirits, Soul
into souls, and Being into beings, - is a misstatement of the unerring
divine Principle of Science, which inter- |
9 |
rupts the meaning of the omnipotence, omniscience, and
omnipresence of Spirit, and is of human instead of divine origin. |
12 |
War is waged between the evidences of Spirit and the
evidences of the five physical senses; and this contest must go on until
peace be declared by the final triumph |
15 |
of Spirit in immutable harmony. Divine Science disclaims
sin, sickness, and death, on the basis of the omnipotence and omnipresence
of God, or divine good. |
18 |
All consciousness is Mind, and Mind is God. Hence there
is but one Mind; and that one is the infinite good, supplying all Mind by
the reflection, not the subdivision, |
21 |
of God. Whatever else claims to be mind, or
consciousness, is untrue. The sun sends forth light, but not suns; so
God reflects Himself, or Mind, but does not subdivide |
24 |
Mind, or good, into minds, good and evil. Divine Sci-
Page 57 |
1 |
ence demands mighty wrestlings with mortal beliefs, as we
sail into the eternal haven over the unfathomable |
3 |
sea of possibilities.
Neither ancient nor modern philosophy
furnishes a scientific basis for the Science of Mind-healing.
Plato |
6 |
believed he had a soul, which must be doctored in order
to heal his body. This would be like correcting the prin- ciple of music
for the purpose of destroying discord. Prin- |
9 |
ciple is right; it is practice that is wrong. Soul is
right; it is the flesh that is evil. Soul is the synonym of Spirit,
God; hence there is but one Soul, and that one is infinite. |
12 |
If that pagan philosopher had known that physical sense,
not Soul, causes all bodily ailments, his philosophy would have yielded to
Science. |
15 |
Man shines by borrowed light. He reflects God as his
Mind, and this reflection is substance, - the substance of good. Matter is
substance in error, Spirit is substance |
18 |
in Truth.
Evil, or error, is not Mind; but
infinite Mind is sufficient to supply all manifestations of intelligence.
The notion |
21 |
of more than one Mind, or Life, is as unsatisfying as it
is unscientific. All must be of God, and not our own, sepa- rated from
Him. |
24 |
Human systems of philosophy and religion are depart- ures
from Christian Science. Mistaking divine Principle for corporeal
personality, ingrafting upon one First Cause |
27 |
such opposite effects as good and evil, health and
sickness, life and death; making mortality the status and rule of
divinity, - such methods can never reach the perfection |
30 |
and demonstration of metaphysical, or Christian Science.
Page 58 |
1 |
Stating the divine Principle, omnipotence (omnis
potens), and then departing from this statement and taking the |
3 |
rule of finite matter, with which to work out the problem
of infinity or Spirit, - all this is like trying to compensate for the
absence of omnipotence by a physical, false, and |
6 |
finite substitute.
With our Master, life was not merely a
sense of exist- ence, but an accompanying sense of power that
subdued |
9 |
matter and brought to light immortality, insomuch that
the people "were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one
having authority, and not as the scribes." |
12 |
Life, as defined by Jesus, had no beginning; it was not
the result of organization, or infused into matter; it was Spirit.
Page 59
THE GREAT
REVELATION |
1 |
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE reveals the grand verity, that to
believe man has a finite and erring mind, and |
3 |
consequently a mortal mind and soul and life, is error.
Scientific terms have no contradictory significations.
In Science, Life is not temporal, but
eternal, without |
6 |
beginning or ending. The word Life never means
that which is the source of death, and of good and evil. Such an
inference is unscientific. It is like saying that addition |
9 |
means subtraction in one instance and addition in an-
other, and then applying this rule to a demonstration of the science of
numbers; even as mortals apply finite terms |
12 |
to God, in demonstration of infinity. Life is a term
used to indicate Deity; and every other name for the Supreme Being, if
properly employed, has the signification of |
15 |
Life. Whatever errs is mortal, and is the antipodes of
Life, or God, and of health and holiness, both in idea and
demonstration. |
18 |
Christian Science reveals Mind, the only living and true
God, and all that is made by Him, Mind, as harmonious, immortal, and
spiritual: the five material senses define |
21 |
Mind and matter as distinct, but mutually dependent, each
on the other, for intelligence and existence. Science defines man as
immortal, as coexistent and coeternal with |
24 |
God, as made in His own image and likeness; material
Page 60 |
1 |
sense defines life as something apart from God, beginning
and ending, and man as very far from the divine likeness. |
3 |
Science reveals Life as a complete sphere, as eternal,
self- existent Mind; material sense defines life as a broken sphere, as
organized matter, and mind as something sep- |
6 |
arate from God. Science reveals Spirit as All, averring
that there is nothing beside God; material sense says that matter, His
antipode, is something besides God. Material |
9 |
sense adds that the divine Spirit created matter, and
that matter and evil are as real as Spirit and good.
Christian Science reveals God and His
idea as the All |
12 |
and Only. It declares that evil is the absence of good;
whereas, good is God ever-present, and therefore evil is unreal and good is
all that is real. Christian Science saith |
15 |
to the wave and storm, "Be still," and there is a great
calm. Material sense asks, in its ignorance of Science, "When will the
raging of the material elements cease?" |
18 |
Science saith to all manner of disease, "Know that God is
all-power and all-presence, and there is nothing beside Him;" and the sick
are healed. Material sense saith, |
21 |
"Oh, when will my sufferings cease? Where is God?
Sickness is something besides Him, which He cannot, or does not,
heal." |
24 |
Christian Science is the only sure basis of harmony.
Material sense contradicts Science, for matter and its so-called
organizations take no cognizance of the spir- |
27 |
itual facts of the universe, or of the real man and God.
Christian Science declares that there is but one Truth, Life, Love, but one
Spirit, Mind, Soul. Any attempt |
30 |
to divide these arises from the fallibility of sense,
from
Page 61 |
1 |
mortal man's ignorance, from enmity to God and divine
Science. |
3 |
Christian Science declares that sickness is a belief, a
latent fear, made manifest on the body in different forms of fear or
disease. This fear is formed unconsciously in |
6 |
the silent thought, as when you awaken from sleep and
feel ill, experiencing the effect of a fear whose existence you do not
realize; but if you fall asleep, actually con- |
9 |
scious of the truth of Christian Science, - namely, that
man's harmony is no more to be invaded than the rhythm of the universe, -
you cannot awake in fear or suffering |
12 |
of any sort.
Science saith to fear, "You are the
cause of all sick- ness; but you are a self-constituted falsity, - you
are |
15 |
darkness, nothingness. You are without 'hope, and with-
out God in the world.' You do not exist, and have no right to exist, for
'perfect Love casteth out fear.'" |
18 |
God is everywhere. "There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard;" and this voice is Truth that destroys
error and Love that casts out fear. |
21 |
Christian Science reveals the fact that, if suffering
exists, it is in the mortal mind only, for matter has no sensation and
cannot suffer. |
24 |
If you rule out every sense of disease and suffering
from mortal mind, it cannot be found in the body.
Posterity will have the right to
demand that Christian |
27 |
Science be stated and demonstrated in its godliness and
grandeur, - that however little be taught or learned, that little shall be
right. Let there be milk for babes, but let |
30 |
not the milk be adulterated. Unless this method be pur-
Page 62 |
1 |
sued, the Science of Christian healing will again be
lost, and human suffering will increase. |
3 |
Test Christian Science by its effect on society, and you
will find that the views here set forth - as to the illusion of sin,
sickness, and death - bring forth better fruits of |
6 |
health, righteousness, and Life, than a belief in their
reality has ever done. A demonstration of the unreality of
evil destroys evil.
Page 63
SIN, SINNER, AND
ECCLESIASTICISM |
1 |
WHY do Christian Scientists say God and His idea are the
only realities, and then insist on the need |
3 |
of healing sickness and sin? Because Christian Science
heals sin as it heals sickness, by establishing the recogni- tion that God
is All, and there is none beside Him, - that |
6 |
all is good, and there is in reality no evil, neither
sickness nor sin. We attack the sinner's belief in the pleasure of sin,
alias the reality of sin, which makes him a sinner, in |
9 |
order to destroy this belief and save him from sin; and
we attack the belief of the sick in the reality of sickness, in order to
heal them. When we deny the authority of |
12 |
sin, we begin to sap it; for this denunciation must
precede its destruction.
God is good, hence goodness is
something, for it rep- |
15 |
resents God, the Life of man. Its opposite, nothing,
named evil, is nothing but a conspiracy against man's Life and
goodness. Do you not feel bound to expose this |
18 |
conspiracy, and so to save man from it? Whosoever covers
iniquity becomes accessory to it. Sin, as a claim, is more dangerous than
sickness, more subtle, more diffi- |
21 |
cult to heal.
St. Augustine once said, "The devil is
but the ape of God." Sin is worse than sickness; but recollect that
it |
24 |
encourages sin to say, "There is no sin," and leave the
subject there.
Page 64 |
1 |
Sin ultimates in sinner, and in this sense they are one.
You cannot separate sin from the sinner, nor the sinner |
3 |
from his sin. The sin is the sinner, and vice versa,
for such is the unity of evil; and together both sinner and sin will be
destroyed by the supremacy of good. This, how- |
6 |
ever, does not annihilate man, for to efface sin,
alias the sinner, brings to light, makes apparent, the real man,
even God's "image and likeness." Need it be said that |
9 |
any opposite theory is heterodox to divine Science, which
teaches that good is equally one and all, even as the oppo-
site claim of evil is one. |
12 |
In Christian Science the fact is made obvious that the
sinner and the sin are alike simply nothingness; and this view is supported
by the Scripture, where the Psalmist |
15 |
saith: "He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
they shall never see light. Man that is in honor, and under- standeth
not, is like the beasts that perish." God's ways |
18 |
and works and thoughts have never changed, either in
Principle or practice.
Since there is in belief an illusion
termed sin, which |
21 |
must be met and mastered, we classify sin, sickness, and
death as illusions. They are supposititious claims of error; and error
being a false claim, they are no claims |
24 |
at all. It is scientific to abide in conscious harmony,
in health-giving, deathless Truth and Love. To do this, mortals must
first open their eyes to all the illusive forms, |
27 |
methods, and subtlety of error, in order that the
illusion, error, may be destroyed; if this is not done, mortals will
become the victims of error. |
30 |
If evangelical churches refuse fellowship with the
Page 65 |
1 |
Church of Christ, Scientist, or with Christian Science,
they must rest their opinions of Truth and Love on |
3 |
the evidences of the physical senses, rather than on the
teaching and practice of Jesus, or the works of the Spirit. |
6 |
Ritualism and dogma lead to self-righteousness and
bigotry, which freeze out the spiritual element. Pharisa- ism killeth;
Spirit giveth Life. The odors of persecution, |
9 |
tobacco, and alcohol are not the sweet-smelling savor of
Truth and Love. Feasting the senses, gratification of appetite and passion,
have no warrant in the gospel or |
12 |
the Decalogue. Mortals must take up the cross if they
would follow Christ, and worship the Father "in spirit and in truth." |
15 |
The Jewish religion was not spiritual; hence Jesus
denounced it. If the religion of to-day is constituted of such elements as
of old ruled Christ out of the synagogues, |
18 |
it will continue to avoid whatever follows the example of
our Lord and prefers Christ to creed. Christian Science is the pure
evangelic truth. It accords with the trend and |
21 |
tenor of Christ's teaching and example, while it demon-
strates the power of Christ as taught in the four Gospels. Truth, casting
out evils and healing the sick; Love, ful- |
24 |
filling the law and keeping man unspotted from the world,
- these practical manifestations of Christianity constitute the only
evangelism, and they need no creed. |
27 |
As well expect to determine, without a telescope, the
magnitude and distance of the stars, as to expect to obtain health,
harmony, and holiness through an unspiritual and |
30 |
unhealing religion. Christianity reveals God as ever-
Page 66 |
1 |
present Truth and Love, to be utilized in healing the
sick, in casting out error, in raising the dead. |
3 |
Christian Science gives vitality to religion, which is no
longer buried in materiality. It raises men from a material sense into the
spiritual understanding and scientific demon- |
6 |
stration of God.
Page 67
THE HUMAN
CONCEPT |
1 |
SIN existed as a false claim before the human concept of
sin was formed; hence one's concept of error is |
3 |
not the whole of error. The human thought does not
constitute sin, but vice versa, sin constitutes the human or
physical concept. |
6 |
Sin is both concrete and abstract. Sin was, and is,
the lying supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are both
material and spiritual, and yet are separate from |
9 |
God. The first iniquitous manifestation of sin was a
finity. The finite was self-arrayed against the infinite, the mortal
against immortality, and a sinner was the |
12 |
antipode of God.
Silencing self, alias rising
above corporeal personality, is what reforms the sinner and destroys sin.
In the ratio |
15 |
that the testimony of material personal sense ceases, sin
diminishes, until the false claim called sin is finally lost for lack of
witness. |
18 |
The sinner created neither himself nor sin, but sin
created the sinner; that is, error made its man mortal, and this mortal was
the image and likeness of evil, not of |
21 |
good. Therefore the lie was, and is, collective as
well as individual. It was in no way contingent on Adam's thought, but
supposititiously self-created. In the words |
24 |
of our Master, it, the "devil" (alias evil), "was a
liar, and the father of it."
Page 68 |
1 |
This mortal material concept was never a creator, al-
though as a serpent it claimed to originate in the name of |
3 |
"the Lord," or good, - original evil; second, in the name
of human concept, it claimed to beget the offspring of evil, alias
an evil offspring. However, the human concept |
6 |
never was, neither indeed can be, the father of man. Even
the spiritual idea, or ideal man, is not a parent, though he reflects the
infinity of good. The great differ- |
9 |
ence between these opposites is, that the human material
concept is unreal, and the divine concept or idea is spiritu- ally
real. One is false, while the other is true. One is |
12 |
temporal, but the other is eternal.
Our Master instructed his students to
"call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
which |
15 |
is in heaven." (Matt. xxiii. 9.)
Science and Health, the textbook of
Christian Science, treats of the human concept, and the transference
of |
18 |
thought, as follows: -
"How can matter originate or transmit
mind? We answer that it cannot. Darkness and doubt
encompass |
21 |
thought, so long as it bases creation on materiality"
(p. 551).
"In reality there is no mortal
mind, and consequently |
24 |
no transference of mortal thought and will-power. Life
and being are of God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for
scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing |
27 |
from God to man" (pp. 103, 104) .
"Man is the offspring of Spirit. The
beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not,
like
Page 69 |
1 |
that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass
through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit |
3 |
is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is
his Father, and Life is the law of his being" (p. 63).
"The parent of all human discord was
the Adam- |
6 |
dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion
that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter. This
pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, in- |
9 |
sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, 'Ye shall
be as gods;' that is, I will make error as real and eternal as Truth. .
. . 'I will put spirit into what I call matter, and |
12 |
matter shall seem to have life as much as God, Spirit,
who is the only Life.' This error has proved itself to be error. Its
life is found to be not Life, but only a transient, |
15 |
false sense of an existence which ends in death" (pp.
306, 307).
"When will the error of believing that
there is life in |
18 |
matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations
of God, be unmasked? When will it be understood that matter has no
intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that |
21 |
the opposite belief is the prolific source of all
suffering? God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and
eternal. Where then is the necessity for recreation or |
24 |
procreation?" (p. 205).
"Above error's awful din, blackness,
and chaos, the voice of Truth still calls: 'Adam, where art thou?
Con- |
27 |
sciousness, where art thou? Art thou dwelling in the be-
lief that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art thou in the
living faith that there is and can be but one |
30 |
God, and keeping His commandment?"' (pp. 307, 308).
Page 70 |
1 |
"Mortal mind inverts the true likeness, and confers
animal names and natures upon its own misconceptions. |
3 |
Ignorant of the origin and operations of mortal mind, -
that is, ignorant of itself, - this so-called mind puts forth its own
qualities, and claims God as their author; . . . |
6 |
usurps the deific prerogatives and is an attempted in-
fringement on infinity" (pp. 512, 513).
We do not question the authenticity of
the Scriptural |
9 |
narrative of the Virgin-mother and Bethlehem babe, and
the Messianic mission of Christ Jesus; but in our time no Christian
Scientist will give chimerical wings to his |
12 |
imagination, or advance speculative theories as to the
recurrence of such events.
No person can take the individual
place of the Virgin |
15 |
Mary. No person can compass or fulfil the individual
mission of Jesus of Nazareth. No person can take the place of the author of
Science and Health, the Discoverer |
18 |
and Founder of Christian Science. Each individual must
fill his own niche in time and eternity.
The second appearing of Jesus is,
unquestionably, the |
21 |
spiritual advent of the advancing idea of God, as in
Chris- tian Science.
And the scientific ultimate of this
God-idea must be, |
24 |
will be, forever individual, incorporeal, and infinite,
even the reflection, "image and likeness," of the infinite God.
The right teacher of Christian Science
lives the truth he |
27 |
teaches. Preeminent among men, he virtually stands at
the head of all sanitary, civil, moral, and religious reform. Such a post
of duty, unpierced by vanity, exalts a mortal
Page 71 |
1 |
beyond human praise, or monuments which weigh dust, and
humbles him with the tax it raises on calamity to open |
3 |
the gates of heaven. It is not the forager on others'
wis- dom that God thus crowns, but he who is obedient to the divine
command, "Render to Caesar the things that are |
6 |
Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Great temptations beset an ignorant or
an unprincipled mind-practice in opposition to the straight and
narrow |
9 |
path of Christian Science. Promiscuous mental treat-
ment, without the consent or knowledge of the individual treated, is an
error of much magnitude. People unaware |
12 |
of the indications of mental treatment, know not what is
affecting them, and thus may be robbed of their individual rights, -
freedom of choice and self-government. Who is |
15 |
willing to be subjected to such an influence? Ask the un-
bridled mind-manipulator if he would consent to this; and if not, then he
is knowingly transgressing Christ's com- |
18 |
mand. He who secretly manipulates mind without the
permission of man or God, is not dealing justly and loving mercy, according
to pure and undefiled religion. |
21 |
Sinister and selfish motives entering into mental
practice are dangerous incentives; they proceed from false con-
victions and a fatal ignorance. These are the tares grow- |
24 |
ing side by side with the wheat, that must be recognized,
and uprooted, before the wheat can be garnered and Christian Science
demonstrated. |
27 |
Secret mental efforts to obtain help from one who is
unaware of this attempt, demoralizes the person who does this, the same as
other forms of stealing, and will end in |
30 |
destroying health and morals.
Page 72 |
1 |
In the practice of Christian Science one cannot impart a
mental influence that hazards another's happiness, nor |
3 |
interfere with the rights of the individual. To disregard
the welfare of others is contrary to the law of God; there- fore it
deteriorates one's ability to do good, to benefit |
6 |
himself and mankind.
The Psalmist vividly portrays the
result of secret faults, presumptuous sins, and self-deception, in these
words: |
9 |
"How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment !
They are utterly consumed with terrors."
Page 73
PERSONALITY |
1 |
THE immortal man being spiritual, individual, and
eternal, his mortal opposite must be material, cor- |
3 |
poreal, and temporal. Physical personality is finite; but
God is infinite. He is without materiality, without finite- ness of form or
Mind. |
6 |
Limitations are put off in proportion as the fleshly
nature disappears and man is found in the reflection of Spirit. |
9 |
This great fact leads into profound depths. The mate-
rial human concept grew beautifully less as I floated into more spiritual
latitudes and purer realms of thought. |
12 |
From that hour personal corporeality became less to me
than it is to people who fail to appreciate individual character. I
endeavored to lift thought above physical |
15 |
personality, or selfhood in matter, to man's spiritual
in- dividuality in God, - in the true Mind, where sensible evil is lost
in supersensible good. This is the only way |
18 |
whereby the false personality is laid off.
He who clings to personality, or
perpetually warns you of "personality," wrongs it, or terrifies people over
it, |
21 |
and is the sure victim of his own corporeality.
Constantly to scrutinize physical personality, or accuse people of being
unduly personal, is like the sick talking sickness. Such |
24 |
errancy betrays a violent and egotistical personality,
Page 74 |
1 |
increases one's sense of corporeality, and begets a fear
of the senses and a perpetually egotistical sensibility. |
3 |
He who does this is ignorant of the meaning of the word
personality, and defines it by his own corpus sine pectore
(soulless body), and fails to distinguish the individual, or |
6 |
real man from the false sense of corporeality, or
egotistic self.
My own corporeal personality
afflicteth me not wittingly; |
9 |
for I desire never to think of it, and it cannot think
of me.
Page 75
PLAGIARISM |
1 |
THE various forms of book-borrowing without credit spring
from this ill-concealed question in mortal |
3 |
mind, Who shall be greatest? This error violates the law
given by Moses, it tramples upon Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, it does
violence to the ethics of Christian |
6 |
Science.
Why withhold my name, while
appropriating my lan- guage and ideas, but give credit when citing from the
works |
9 |
of other authors?
Life and its ideals are inseparable,
and one's writings on ethics, and demonstration of Truth, are not, cannot
be, |
12 |
understood or taught by those who persistently misunder-
stand or misrepresent the author. Jesus said, "For there is no man which
shall do a miracle in my name, that can |
15 |
lightly speak evil of me."
If one's spiritual ideal is
comprehended and loved, the borrower from it is embraced in the author's
own mental |
18 |
mood, and is therefore honest. The Science of Mind
ex- cludes opposites, and rests on unity.
It is proverbial that dishonesty
retards spiritual growth |
21 |
and strikes at the heart of Truth. If a student at
Harvard College has studied a textbook written by his teacher, is he
entitled, when he leaves the University, to write out as |
24 |
his own the substance of this textbook? There is no war-
rant in common law and no permission in the gospel
Page 76 |
1 |
for plagiarizing an author's ideas and their words.
Christian Science is not copyrighted; nor would pro- |
3 |
tection by copyright be requisite, if mortals obeyed
God's law of manright. A student can write volumi- nous works on
Science without trespassing, if he writes |
6 |
honestly, and he cannot dishonestly compose Christian
Science. The Bible is not stolen, though it is cited, and quoted
deferentially. |
9 |
Thoughts touched with the Spirit and Word of Christian
Science gravitate naturally toward Truth. Therefore the mind to which this
Science was revealed must have risen |
12 |
to the altitude which perceived a light beyond what
others saw.
The spiritually minded meet on the
stairs which lead up |
15 |
to spiritual love. This affection, so far from being per-
sonal worship, fulfils the law of Love which Paul enjoined upon the
Galatians. This is the Mind "which was also |
18 |
in Christ Jesus," and knows no material limitations. It
is the unity of good and bond of perfectness. This just affec- tion
serves to constitute the Mind-healer a wonder-worker, |
21 |
- as of old, on the Pentecost Day, when the disciples
were of one accord.
He who gains the God-crowned summit of
Christian |
24 |
Science never abuses the corporeal personality, but up-
lifts it. He thinks of every one in his real quality, and sees each mortal
in an impersonal depict. |
27 |
I have long remained silent on a growing evil in plagi-
arism; but if I do not insist upon the strictest observance of moral law
and order in Christian Scientists, I become
Page 77 |
1 |
responsible, as a teacher, for laxity in discipline and
law- lessness in literature. Pope was right in saying, "An |
3 |
honest man's the noblest work of God;" and Ingersoll's
repartee has its moral: "An honest God's the noblest work of man."
Page 78
ADMONITION |
1 |
THE neophyte in Christian Science acts like a diseased
physique, - being too fast or too slow. He is in- |
3 |
clined to do either too much or too little. In healing
and teaching the student has not yet achieved the entire wis- dom of
Mind-practice. The textual explanation of this |
6 |
practice is complete in Science and Health; and
scientific practice makes perfect, for it is governed by its Principle,
and not by human opinions; but carnal and sinister |
9 |
motives, entering into this practice, will prevent the
demonstration of Christian Science.
I recommend students not to read
so-called scientific |
12 |
works, antagonistic to Christian Science, which advocate
materialistic systems; because such works and words be- cloud the right
sense of metaphysical Science. |
15 |
The rules of Mind-healing are wholly Christlike and
spiritual. Therefore the adoption of a worldly policy or a resort to
subterfuge in the statement of the Science of |
18 |
Mind-healing, or any name given to it other than
Christian Science, or an attempt to demonstrate the facts of this
Science other than is stated in Science and Health - is a |
21 |
departure from the Science of Mind-healing. To becloud
mortals, or for yourself to hide from God, is to conspire against the
blessings otherwise conferred, against your |
24 |
own success and final happiness, against the progress of
Page 79 |
1 |
the human race as well as against honest
metaphysical theory and practice. |
3 |
Not by the hearing of the ear is spiritual truth learned
and loved; nor cometh this apprehension from the ex- periences of others.
We glean spiritual harvests from our |
6 |
own material losses. In this consuming heat false images
are effaced from the canvas of mortal mind; and thus does the material
pigment beneath fade into invisibility. |
9 |
The signs for the wayfarer in divine Science lie in meek-
ness, in unselfish motives and acts, in shuffling off scholastic rhetoric,
in ridding the thought of effete doctrines, in the |
12 |
purification of the affections and desires.
Dishonesty, envy, and mad ambition are
"lusts of the flesh," which uproot the germs of growth in Science
and |
15 |
leave the inscrutable problem of being unsolved. Through
the channels of material sense, of worldly policy, pomp, and pride, cometh
no success in Truth. If beset with mis- |
18 |
guided emotions, we shall be stranded on the quicksands
of worldly commotion, and practically come short of the wisdom requisite
for teaching and demonstrating the |
21 |
victory over self and sin.
Be temperate in thought, word, and
deed. Meekness and temperance are the jewels of Love, set in
wisdom. |
24 |
Restrain untempered zeal. "Learn to labor and to wait."
Of old the children of Israel were saved by patient waiting.
"The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the |
27 |
violent take it by force!" said Jesus. Therefore are its
spiritual gates not captured, nor its golden streets invaded. |
30 |
We recognize this kingdom, the reign of harmony
Page 80 |
1 |
within us, by an unselfish affection or love, for this is
the pledge of divine good and the insignia of heaven. This |
3 |
also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be
graciously gentle, yet it may seem severe.
For whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, |
6 |
And scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth. As the poets in different
languages have expressed it: - Though the mills of God grind slowly, |
9 |
Yet they grind exceeding
small; Though with patience He
stands waiting, With exactness
grinds He all. |
12 |
Though the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling down
of sin's strongholds, it may stir the human heart to resist Truth, before
this heart becomes obediently recep- |
15 |
tive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian
Scientist recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which permeate
justice and Love, he will not scorn the timely re- |
18 |
proof, but will so absorb it that this warning will be
within him a spring, welling up into unceasing spiritual rise and
progress. Patience and obedience win the golden scholar- |
21 |
ship of experimental tuition.
The kindly shepherd of the East
carries his lambs in his arms to the sheepcot, but the older sheep pass
into the fold |
24 |
under his compelling rod. He who sees the door and turns
away from it, is guilty, while innocence strayeth yearningly.
There are no greater miracles known to
earth than per- |
27 |
fection and an unbroken friendship. We love our friends,
but ofttimes we lose them in proportion to our affection. The sacrifices
made for others are not infrequently met by
Page 81 |
1 |
envy, ingratitude, and enmity, which smite the heart and
threaten to paralyze its beneficence. The unavailing tear |
3 |
is shed both for the living and the dead.
Nothing except sin, in the students
themselves, can separate them from me. Therefore we should
guard |
6 |
thought and action, keeping them in accord with Christ,
and our friendship will surely continue.
The letter of the law of God,
separated from its spirit, |
9 |
tends to demoralize mortals, and must be corrected by a
diviner sense of liberty and light. The spirit of Truth ex- tinguishes
false thinking, feeling, and acting; and falsity |
12 |
must thus decay, ere spiritual sense, affectional
conscious- ness, and genuine goodness become so apparent as to be well
understood. |
15 |
After the supreme advent of Truth in the heart, there
comes an overwhelming sense of error's vacuity, of the blunders which arise
from wrong apprehension. The en- |
18 |
lightened heart loathes error, and casts it aside; or
else that heart is consciously untrue to the light, faithless to itself
and to others, and so sinks into deeper darkness. |
21 |
Said Jesus: "If the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness !" and Shakespeare puts this pious counsel
into a father's mouth: - |
24 |
This above all: To thine own
self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not
then be false to any man. |
27 |
A realization of the shifting scenes of human happiness,
and of the frailty of mortal anticipations, - such as first led me to the
feet of Christian Science, - seems to be requi- |
30 |
site at every stage of advancement. Though our first
les-
Page 82 |
1 |
sons are changed, modified, broadened, yet their core is
constantly renewed; as the law of the chord remains |
3 |
unchanged, whether we are dealing with a simple Latour
exercise or with the vast Wagner Trilogy.
A general rule is, that my students
should not allow their |
6 |
movements to be controlled by other students, even if
they are teachers and practitioners of the same blessed faith. The
exception to this rule should be very rare. |
9 |
The widest power and strongest growth have always been
attained by those loyal students who rest on divine Principle for guidance,
not on themselves; and who locate |
12 |
permanently in one section, and adhere to the orderly
methods herein delineated.
At this period my students should
locate in large cities, |
15 |
in order to do the greatest good to the greatest number,
and therein abide. The population of our principal cities is ample to
supply many practitioners, teachers, and preachers |
18 |
with work. This fact interferes in no way with the pros-
perity of each worker; rather does it represent an accumu- lation of power
on his side which promotes the ease and |
21 |
welfare of the workers . Their liberated capacities of
mind enable Christian Scientists to consummate much good or else evil;
therefore their examples either excel or fall short |
24 |
of other religionists; and they must be found dwelling
together in harmony, if even they compete with ecclesias- tical fellowship
and friendship. |
27 |
It is often asked which revision of Science and Health is
the best. The arrangement of my last revision, in 1890, makes the
subject-matter clearer than any previous edition, |
30 |
and it is therefore better adapted to spiritualize
thought
Page 83 |
1 |
and elucidate scientific healing and teaching. It has
already been proven that this volume is accomplishing the |
3 |
divine purpose to a remarkable degree. The wise Chris-
tian Scientist will commend students and patients to the teachings of this
book, and the healing efficacy thereof, |
6 |
rather than try to centre their interest on himself.
Students whom I have taught are seldom
benefited by the teachings of other students, for scientific
foundations |
9 |
are already laid in their minds which ought not to be
tam- pered with. Also, they are prepared to receive the infinite
instructions afforded by the Bible and my books, which |
12 |
mislead no one and are their best guides.
The student may mistake in his
conception of Truth, and this error, in an honest heart, is sure to be
corrected. But |
15 |
if he misinterprets the text to his pupils, and
communicates, even unintentionally, his misconception of Truth, there-
after he will find it more difficult to rekindle his own light |
18 |
or to enlighten them. Hence, as a rule, the student
should explain only Recapitulation, the chapter for the class-room, and
leave Science and Health to God's daily interpretation. |
21 |
Christian Scientists should take their textbook into the
schoolroom the same as other teachers; they should ask questions from it,
and be answered according to it, - occa- |
24 |
sionally reading aloud from the book to corroborate what
they teach. It is also highly important that their pupils study each lesson
before the recitation. |
27 |
That these essential points are ever omitted, is anoma-
lous, when we consider the necessity of thoroughly under- standing Science,
and the present liability of deviating |
30 |
from absolute Christian Science.
Page 84 |
1 |
Centuries will intervene before the statement of the
inex- haustible topics of Science and Health is sufficiently under- |
3 |
stood to be fully demonstrated.
The teacher himself should continue to
study this text- book, and to spiritualize his own thoughts and human
life |
6 |
from this open fount of Truth and Love.
He who sees clearly and enlightens
other minds most readily, keeps his own lamp trimmed and
burning. |
9 |
Throughout his entire explanations he strictly adheres to
the teachings in the chapter on Recapitulation. When closing the class,
each member should own a copy of |
12 |
Science and Health, and continue to study and assimilate
this inexhaustible subject - Christian Science.
The opinions of men cannot be
substituted for God's |
15 |
revelation. In times past, arrogant pride, in attempting
to steady the ark of Truth, obscured even the power and glory of the
Scriptures, - to which Science and Health is |
18 |
the Key.
That teacher does most for his
students who divests him- self most of pride and self, and by reason
thereof is able to |
21 |
empty his students' minds of error, that they may be
filled with Truth. Thus doing, posterity will call him blessed, and the
tired tongue of history be enriched. |
24 |
The less the teacher personally controls other minds, and
the more he trusts them to the divine Truth and Love, the better it will be
for both teacher and student. |
27 |
A teacher should take charge only of his own pupils and
patients, and of those who voluntarily place themselves under his
direction; he should avoid leaving his own regu- |
30 |
lar institute or place of labor, or expending his labor
where
Page 85 |
1 |
there are other teachers who should be specially
responsible for doing their own work well. |
3 |
Teachers of Christian Science will find it advisable to
band together their students into associations, to continue the
organization of churches, and at present they can |
6 |
employ any other organic operative method that may
commend itself as useful to the Cause and beneficial to mankind. |
9 |
Of this also rest assured, that books and teaching are
but a ladder let down from the heaven of Truth and Love, upon which
angelic thoughts ascend and descend, bearing on |
12 |
their pinions of light the Christ-spirit.
Guard yourselves against the subtly
hidden suggestion that the Son of man will be glorified, or humanity
benefited, |
15 |
by any deviation from the order prescribed by supernal
grace. Seek to occupy no position whereto you do not feel that God ordains
you. Never forsake your post without |
18 |
due deliberation and light, but always wait for God's
finger to point the way. The loyal Christian Scientist is incapable
alike of abusing the practice of Mind-healing or of healing |
21 |
on a material basis.
The tempter is vigilant, awaiting only
an opportunity to divide the ranks of Christian Science and scatter
the |
24 |
sheep abroad; but "if God be for us, who can be against
us?" The Cause, our Cause, is highly prosperous, rapidly spreading
over the globe; and the morrow will crown the |
27 |
effort of to-day with a diadem of gems from the New
Jerusalem.
Page 86
EXEMPLIFICATION |
1 |
TO energize wholesome spiritual warfare, to rebuke
vainglory, to offset boastful emptiness, to crown |
3 |
patient toil, and rejoice in the spirit and power of
Christian Science, we must ourselves be true. There is but one way of
doing good, and that is to do it! There is but one way of |
6 |
being good, and that is to be good!
Art thou still unacquainted with
thyself ? Then be in- troduced to this self. "Know thyself! " as said the
classic |
9 |
Grecian motto. Note well the falsity of this mortal self!
Behold its vileness, and remember this poverty-stricken "stranger that is
within thy gates." Cleanse every stain |
12 |
from this wanderer's soiled garments, wipe the dust from
his feet and the tears from his eyes, that you may behold the real man, the
fellow-saint of a holy household. There |
15 |
should be no blot on the escutcheon of our Christliness
when we offer our gift upon the altar.
A student desiring growth in the
knowledge of Truth, |
18 |
can and will obtain it by taking up his cross and
following Truth. If he does this not, and another one undertakes to
carry his burden and do his work, the duty will not be |
21 |
accomplished. No one can save himself without God's
help, and God will help each man who performs his own part. After this
manner and in no other way is every |
24 |
man cared for and blessed. To the unwise helper our
Page 87 |
1 |
Master said, "Follow me; and let the dead bury their
dead." |
3 |
The poet's line, "Order is heaven's first law," is so
eter- nally true, so axiomatic, that it has become a truism; and its
wisdom is as obvious in religion and scholarship as in |
6 |
astronomy or mathematics.
Experience has taught me that the
rules of Christian Science can be far more thoroughly and readily
acquired |
9 |
by regularly settled and systematic workers, than by un-
settled and spasmodic efforts. Genuine Christian Scien- tists are, or
should be, the most systematic and law-abiding |
12 |
people on earth, because their religion demands implicit
adherence to fixed rules, in the orderly demonstration thereof. Let some of
these rules be here stated. |
15 |
First: Christian Scientists are to "heal the sick" as
the Master commanded.
In so doing they must follow the
divine order as pre- |
18 |
scribed by Jesus, - never, in any way, to trespass upon
the rights of their neighbors, but to obey the celestial in- junction,
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to |
21 |
you, do ye even so to them."
In this orderly, scientific
dispensation healers become a law unto themselves. They feel their own
burdens less, |
24 |
and can therefore bear the weight of others' burdens,
since it is only through the lens of their unselfishness that the
sunshine of Truth beams with such efficacy as to dissolve |
27 |
error.
It is already understood that
Christian Scientists will not receive a patient who is under the care of a
regular |
30 |
physician, until he has done with the case and different
aid
Page 88 |
1 |
is sought. The same courtesy should be observed in the
professional intercourse of Christian Science healers with |
3 |
one another.
Second: Another command of the Christ, his prime command, was
that his followers should "raise the dead." |
6 |
He lifted his own body from the sepulchre. In him, Truth
called the physical man from the tomb to health, and the so-called dead
forthwith emerged into a higher manifesta- |
9 |
tion of Life.
The spiritual significance of this
command, "Raise the dead," most concerns mankind. It implies such an
eleva- |
12 |
tion of the understanding as will enable thought to
appre- hend the living beauty of Love, its practicality, its divine
energies, its health-giving and life-bestowing qualities, - |
15 |
yea, its power to demonstrate immortality. This end
Jesus achieved, both by example and precept.
Third: This leads inevitably to a consideration of
an- |
18 |
other part of Christian Science work, - a part which
con- cerns us intimately, - preaching the gospel.
This evangelistic duty should not be
so warped as to |
21 |
signify that we must or may go, uninvited, to work in
other vineyards than our own. One would, or should, blush to enter
unasked another's pulpit, and preach without the |
24 |
consent of the stated occupant of that pulpit. The Lord's
command means this, that we should adopt the spirit of the Saviour's
ministry, and abide in such a spiritual atti- |
27 |
tude as will draw men unto us. Itinerancy should not be
allowed to clip the wings of divine Science. Mind demon- strates
omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves |
30 |
on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its
pres-
Page 89 |
1 |
ence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love. The
divine potency of this spiritual mode of Mind, and the hin- |
3 |
drance opposed to it by material motion, is proven
beyond a doubt in the practice of Mind-healing.
In those days preaching and teaching
were substantially |
6 |
one. There was no church preaching, in the modern sense
of the term. Men assembled in the one temple (at Jeru- salem) for
sacrificial ceremonies, not for sermons. Into |
9 |
the synagogues, scattered about in cities and villages,
they went for liturgical worship, and instruction in the Mosaic law. If
one worshipper preached to the others, he did so |
12 |
informally, and because he was bidden to this privileged
duty at that particular moment. It was the custom to pay this hortatory
compliment to a stranger, or to a member |
15 |
who had been away from the neighborhood; as Jesus was
once asked to exhort, when he had been some time absent from Nazareth but
once again entered the synagogue which |
18 |
he had frequented in childhood.
Jesus' method was to instruct his own
students; and he watched and guarded them unto the end, even
according |
21 |
to his promise, "Lo, I am with you alway!" Nowhere in the
four Gospels will Christian Scientists find any prece- dent for employing
another student to take charge of |
24 |
their students, or for neglecting their own students, in
order to enlarge their sphere of action.
Above all, trespass not intentionally
upon other people's |
27 |
thoughts, by endeavoring to influence other minds to any
action not first made known to them or sought by them. Corporeal and
selfish influence is human, fallible, and tem- |
30 |
porary; but incorporeal impulsion is divine, infallible,
and
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1 |
eternal. The student should be most careful not to thrust
aside Science, and shade God's window which lets in light, |
3 |
or seek to stand in God's stead.
Does the faithful shepherd forsake the
lambs, - retain- ing his salary for tending the home flock while he is
serving |
6 |
another fold? There is no evidence to show that Jesus
ever entered the towns whither he sent his disciples; no evidence that he
there taught a few hungry ones, and then |
9 |
left them to starve or to stray. To these selected ones
(like "the elect lady" to whom St. John addressed one of his epistles)
he gave personal instruction, and gave in plain |
12 |
words, until they were able to fulfil his behest and
depart on their united pilgrimages. This he did, even though one of the
twelve whom he kept near himself betrayed |
15 |
him, and others forsook him.
The true mother never willingly
neglects her children in their early and sacred hours, consigning them to
the care |
18 |
of nurse or stranger. Who can feel and comprehend the
needs of her babe like the ardent mother? What other heart yearns with her
solicitude, endures with her patience, |
21 |
waits with her hope, and labors with her love, to promote
the welfare and happiness of her children? Thus must the Mother in Israel
give all her hours to those first sacred |
24 |
tasks, till her children can walk steadfastly in
wisdom's ways.
One of my students wrote to me: "I
believe the proper |
27 |
thing for us to do is to follow, as nearly as we can, in
the path you have pursued!" It is gladdening to find, in such a
student, one of the children of light. It is safe to leave |
30 |
with God the government of man. He appoints and He
Page 91 |
1 |
anoints His Truth-bearers, and God is their sure defense
and refuge. |
3 |
The parable of "the prodigal son" is rightly called "the
pearl of parables," and our Master's greatest utterance may well be called
"the diamond sermon." No purer and more |
6 |
exalted teachings ever fell upon human ears than those
con- tained in what is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, -
though this name has been given it by compilers |
9 |
and translators of the Bible, and not by the Master him-
self or by the Scripture authors. Indeed, this title really indicates more
the Master's mood, than the material |
12 |
locality.
Where did Jesus deliver this great
lesson - or, rather, this series of great lessons - on humanity and
divinity? |
15 |
On a hillside, near the sloping shores of the Lake of
Gali- lee, where he spake primarily to his immediate disciples.
In this simplicity, and with such
fidelity, we see Jesus |
18 |
ministering to the spiritual needs of all who placed
them- selves under his care, always leading them into the divine order,
under the sway of his own perfect understanding. |
21 |
His power over others was spiritual, not corporeal. To
the students whom he had chosen, his immortal teaching was the bread of
Life. When he was with them, a fishing-boat |
24 |
became a sanctuary, and the solitude was peopled with
holy messages from the All-Father. The grove became his class-room, and
nature's haunts were the Messiah's |
27 |
university.
What has this hillside priest, this
seaside teacher, done for the human race? Ask, rather, what has he
not done. |
30 |
His holy humility, unworldliness, and self-abandonment
Page 92 |
1 |
wrought infinite results. The method of his religion was
not too simple to be sublime, nor was his power so exalted |
3 |
as to be unavailable for the needs of suffering mortals,
whose wounds he healed by Truth and Love.
His order of ministration was "first
the blade, then the |
6 |
ear, after that the full corn in the ear." May we unloose
the latchets of his Christliness, inherit his legacy of love, and reach
the fruition of his promise: "If ye abide in me, |
9 |
and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you."
Page 93
WAYMARKS |
1 |
IN the first century of the Christian era Jesus went
about doing good. The evangelists of those days wandered |
3 |
about. Christ, or the spiritual idea, appeared to human
consciousness as the man Jesus. At the present epoch the human concept of
Christ is based on the incorporeal |
6 |
divine Principle of man, and Science has elevated this
idea and established its rules in consonance with their Principle.
Hear this saying of our Master, "And I, if I be lifted up |
9 |
from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
The ideal of God is no longer
impersonated as a waif or wanderer; and Truth is not fragmentary,
disconnected, un- |
12 |
systematic, but concentrated and immovably fixed in
Princi- ple. The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting
human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary |
15 |
power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual
ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action.
St. Paul said to the Athenians, "For
in Him we live, |
18 |
and move, and have our being." This statement is in sub-
stance identical with my own: "There is no life, truth, substance, nor
intelligence in matter." It is quite clear |
21 |
that as yet this grandest verity has not been fully
demon- strated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science
reiterates St. Paul's teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, |
24 |
should give to the world convincing proof of the validity
of
Page 94 |
1 |
this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in
advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves |
3 |
and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.
At some period and in some way the
conclusion must be met that whatsoever seems true, and yet contradicts
divine |
6 |
Science and St. Paul's text, must be and is false; and
that whatsoever seems to be good, and yet errs, though ac- knowledging
the true way, is really evil. |
9 |
As dross is separated from gold, so Christ's baptism of
fire, his purification through suffering, consumes whatso- ever is of sin.
Therefore this purgation of divine mercy, |
12 |
destroying all error, leaves no flesh, no matter, to the
mental consciousness.
When all fleshly belief is
annihilated, and every spot and |
15 |
blemish on the disk of consciousness is removed, then,
and not till then, will immortal Truth be found true, and scien- tific
teaching, preaching, and practice be essentially one. |
18 |
"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth. . . . for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Romans
xiv. 22, 23.) |
21 |
There is no "lo here! or lo there!" in divine Science;
its manifestation must be "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever,"
since Science is eternally one, and |
24 |
unchanging, in Principle, rule, and demonstration.
I am persuaded that only by the
modesty and distin- guishing affection illustrated in Jesus' career, can
Chris- |
27 |
tian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ's kingdom
on the earth. In the first century of the Christian era Jesus' teachings
bore much fruit, and the Father was glorified |
30 |
therein. In this period and the forthcoming centuries,
Page 95 |
1 |
watered by dews of divine Science, this "tree of life"
will blossom into greater freedom, and its leaves will be "for |
3 |
the healing of the nations."
Ask God to give thee
skill In comfort's art: |
6 |
That thou may'st consecrated
be And set apart
Unto a life of
sympathy. |
9 |
For heavy is the weight of
ill In every heart;
And comforters are needed
much |
12 |
Of Christlike touch. - A. E.
HAMILTON |