Miscellaneous Writings
1883-1896
by
Mary Baker Eddy
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science
and Author of Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures
Published by the
Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy
Boston, U. S. A.
Copyright, 1896
By Mary Baker G. Eddy
Copyright renewed, 1924
CONTENTS
Dedication.
Epigrams.
Preface.
Chapter I. Introductory.
Prospectus.
A Timely Issue.
Love Your Enemies.
Christian Theism.
The New Birth.
Chapter II. One Cause And Effect.
Chapter III. Questions And Answers.
Chapter IV. Addresses.
Christian Science In Tremont Temple.
Science And The Senses.
Extract From My First Address In The Mother Church, May 26, 1895
Address Before The Alumni Of The Massachusetts Metaphysical College,
1895
Address Before The Christian Scientist Association Of The Massachusetts
Metaphysical College, In 1893
Communion Address, January, 1896
Message To The Annual Meeting Of The Mother Church, Boston, 1896
Chapter V. Letters.
To The Mother Church.
To ——, On Prayer.
To The National Christian Scientist Association.
To The College Association.
To The National Christian Scientist Association.
To The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston.
To Donors Of Boat, From Toronto, Canada.
Address,—Laying The Corner-Stone.
To The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston
The First Members Of The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, Boston,
Massachusetts
Extract From A Letter
To The Mother Church
To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Oconto
To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Scranton
To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Denver
To First Church Of Christ, Scientist, In Lawrence
To Correspondents
To Students
To A Student
To A Student
Extract From A Christmas Letter
Chapter VI. Sermons.
A Christmas Sermon
Editor’s Extracts From Sermon
Extract From A Sermon Delivered In Boston, January 18, 1885
Sunday Services on July Fourth
Easter Services
Bible Lessons
Chapter VII. Pond And Purpose.
Chapter VIII. Precept Upon Precept
“Thy Will Be Done”
“Put Up Thy Sword”
Scientific Theism
Mental Practice
Taking Offense
Hints To The Clergy
Perfidy And Slander
Contagion
Improve Your Time
Thanksgiving Dinner
Christian Science
Injustice
Reformers
Mrs. Eddy Sick
“I’ve Got Cold”
“Prayer And Healing”
Veritas Odium Parit
Falsehood
Love
Address On The Fourth Of July At Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., Before
2,500 Members Of The Mother Church, 1897
Well Doinge Is The Fruite Of Doinge Well
Little Gods
Advantage Of Mind-Healing
A Card
Spirit And Law
Truth-Healing
Heart To Heart
Things To Be Thought Of
Unchristian Rumor
Vainglory
Compounds
Close Of The Massachusetts Metaphysical College
Malicious Reports
Loyal Christian Scientists
The March Primary Class
Obtrusive Mental Healing
Wedlock
Judge Not
New Commandment
A Cruce Salus
Comparison to English Barmaids
A Christian Science Statute
Advice To Students
Notice
Angels
Deification Of Personality
A Card
Overflowing Thoughts
A Great Man And His Saying
Words Of Commendation
Church And School
Class, Pulpit, Students’ Students
My Students And Thy Students
Unseen Sin
A Word To The Wise
Christmas
Card
Message To The Mother Church
Chapter IX. The Fruit Of Spirit
An Allegory
Voices Of Spring
“Where Art Thou?”
Divine Science
Fidelity
True Philosophy And Communion
Origin Of Evil
Truth Versus Error
Fallibility Of Human Concepts
The Way
Science And Philosophy
“Take Heed!”
The Cry Of Christmas-Tide
Blind Leaders
“Christ And Christmas”
Sunrise At Pleasant View
Chapter X. Inklings Historic
Chapter XI. Poems
Come Thou
Meeting Of My Departed Mother And Husband
Love
Woman’s Rights
The Mother’s Evening Prayer
June
Wish And Item
The Oak On The Mountain’s Summit
Isle Of Wight
Hope
Rondelet
To Mr. James T. White
Autumn
Christ My Refuge
“Feed My Sheep”
Communion Hymn
Laus Deo!
A Verse
Chapter XII. Testimonials
Footnotes
DEDICATION.
To
Loyal Christian Scientists
In This And Every Land
I Lovingly Dedicate These Practical Teachings
Indispensable To The Culture And Achievements Which
Constitute The Success Of A Student
And Demonstrate The Ethics
Of Christian Science
Mary Baker Eddy
EPIGRAMS.
Pray thee, take care, that tak’st my book in hand,
To read it well; that is, to understand.
BEN JONSON: _Epigram_ 1
When I would know thee ... my thought looks
Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends.
BEN JONSON: _Epigram_ 86
If worlds were formed by matter,
And mankind from the dust;
Till time shall end more timely,
There’s nothing here to trust.
Thenceforth to evolution’s
Geology, we say,—
Nothing have we gained therefrom,
And nothing have to pray:
My world has sprung from Spirit,
In everlasting day;
Whereof, I’ve more to glory,
Wherefor, have much to pay.
MARY BAKER EDDY
PREFACE.
[Page ix.]
[Transcriber’s Note: The original book includes line numbers throughout
the text, for easy reference to the text by page number and line number.
This transcription retains those page and line numbers; the numbers in
[square brackets] at the right ends of lines are the original book’s line
numbers. The paragraphs are not adjusted as is customary for text in
e-books, nor are words split by hyphens rejoined, so that the lines shown
below have the same words as the lines in the original book.]
A certain apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher [1]
suits my sense of doing good. It reads thus: “The
noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting
charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a
man to dispense with alms.” [5]
In the early history of Christian Science, among my
thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian
Scientists are not indigent; and their comfortable fortunes
are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically,
spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures—once [10]
fragmentary and faint—now rejuvenated by the touch
of God’s right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap-
pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits
dove-like.
To preserve a long course of years still and uniform, [15]
amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and
tempest, requires strength from above,—deep draughts
from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said:
There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never
grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is [20]
ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however,
is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of
[Page x.]
perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of [1]
a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and
sincere in trial or in triumph.
The opportunity has at length offered itself for me to
comply with an oft-repeated request; namely, to collect [5]
my miscellaneous writings published in _The Christian_
_Science Journal_, since April, 1883, and republish them
in book form,—accessible as reference, and reliable as
old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my
time in the early pioneer days, most of these articles [10]
were originally written in haste, without due preparation.
To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein
appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these
are most requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the
distance,—or the difference between then and now,— [15]
in the opinions of men and the progress of our Cause.
My signature has been slightly changed from my
Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early
years caused me, as an author, to assume various _noms_
_de plume_. After my first marriage, to Colonel Glover [20]
of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of
Morse to retain my maiden name,—thinking that other-
wise the name would be too long.
In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American
Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary [25]
Baker Eddy, and thereafter adopted that form of signature,
except in connection with my published works.
[Page xi.]
The first edition of Science and Health having been [1]
copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name
of Glover, caused me to retain the initial “G” on my
subsequent books.
These pages, although a reproduction of what has [5]
been written, are still in advance of their time; and are
richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for
the race. While no offering can liquidate one’s debt of
gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are
not unknown to nor unrewarded by Him. [10]
May this volume be to the reader a graphic guide-
book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling
him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored
fields of Science. At each recurring holiday the Christian
Scientist will find herein a “canny” crumb; and thus [15]
may time’s pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.
Realism will at length be found to surpass imagination,
and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of
religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be
no battledores to fling it back and forth. It is reason for [20]
rejoicing that the _vox populi_ is inclined to grant us peace,
together with pardon for the preliminary battles that
purchased it.
With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory,
through the dim corridors of years, on to old battle- [25]
grounds, there sadly to survey the fields of the slain and
the enemy’s losses. In compiling this work, I have tried
[Page xii.]
to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to [1]
retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace.
With armor on, I continue the march, command and
countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought
this afterpiece of battle. Supported, cheered, I take my [5]
pen and pruning-hook, to “learn war no more,” and with
strong wing to lift my readers above the smoke of conflict
into light and liberty.
Mary Baker Eddy
CONCORD, N.H.
January, 1897
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
Prospectus.
[Page 1.]
The ancient Greek looked longingly for the Olym- [1]
piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a
star; to him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome
of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heav- [5]
ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers,
said, “Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye
not discern the signs of the times?”—for he forefelt
and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated
by sinners. [10]
To kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the
new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs
to be understood. The seer of this age should be a
sage.
Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition [15]
of Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and
strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops
the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes
only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness
reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled [20]
up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of
[Page 2.]
advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of [1]
Truth and Love to heal the sick.
Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the
least wisdom or experience; and they steal from their
neighbor, because they have so little of their own. [5]
The signs of these times portend a long and strong
determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the
flesh, and evil, causing great obscuration of Spirit.
When we remember that God is just, and admit the
total depravity of mortals, _alias_ mortal mind,—and that [10]
this Adam legacy must first be seen, and then must be
subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri-
bute of Truth,—the outlook demands labor, and the
laborers seem few. To-day we behold but the first
faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces [15]
a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and
divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life,
Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin,
sickness, and death; when God, man’s saving Principle,
and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed. [20]
Man’s probation after death is the necessity of his
immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc-
tive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed.
If man should not progress after death, but should re-
main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated. [25]
Those upon whom “the second death hath no power”
are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil,
their mortal element, and into good that is immortal;
thus laying off the material beliefs that war against
Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine [30]
Science.
While we entertain decided views as to the best method
[Page 3.]
for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritually, [1]
and shall express these views as duty demands, we
shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no
supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural
than evil, and spiritual understanding—the true knowl- [5]
edge of God—as imparting the only power to heal the
sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the
power of Truth and Love.
The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica-
ble to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this [10]
very purpose; and his demonstration hath taught us
that “through his stripes”—his life-experience—and
divine Science, brought to the understanding through
Christ, the Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved.
No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this [15]
line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are
needed to aid spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation,
and mesmerism are not Mind’s medicine. The Principle
of all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind.
We have learned that the erring or mortal thought holds [20]
in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these
states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind,
as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these
material elements of sin and death.
Because God is supreme and omnipotent, _materia_ [25]
_medica_, hygiene, and animal magnetism are impotent;
and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-
ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity.
The tendency of mental healing is to uplift mankind; but
this method perverted, is “Satan let loose.” Hence the [30]
deep demand for the Science of psychology to meet sin,
and uncover it; thus to annihilate hallucination.
[Page 4.]
Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in- [1]
structed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the
most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth.
At this period there is a marked tendency of mortal
mind to plant mental healing on the basis of hypnotism, [5]
calling this method “mental science.” All _Science_ is
_Christian_ Science; the Science of the Mind that is God,
and of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each
other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good,
not evil.
A Timely Issue.
At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published
by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many
questions important to be disposed of come to the Col-
lege and to the practising students, yet but little time [15]
has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight-
enment is necessary for the age, and a periodical de-
voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the
requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed
on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many [20]
minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so
that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth
are not understood.
It is often said, “You must have a very strong will-
power to heal,” or, “It must require a great deal of faith [25]
to make your demonstrations.” When it is answered
that there is no will-power required, and that something
more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression
of incredulity. It is not alone the mission of Christian
Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal [30]
[Page 5.]
thought. This work well done will elevate and purify [1]
the race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best
energies to the work.
Science reveals man as spiritual, harmonious, and eter-
nal. This should be understood. Our College should [5]
be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate
themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be
able to produce perfect health and perfect morals in their
children—and ministers, to heal the sick—by study-
ing this scientific method of practising Christianity. [10]
Many say, “I should like to study, but have not suffi-
cient faith that I have the power to heal.” The healing
power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the
greatest emergencies.
_Materia medica_ says, “I can do no more. I have [15]
done all that can be done. There is nothing to build
upon. There is no longer any reason for hope.” Then
metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit,
not matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on
the stone that the builders have rejected, and is suc- [20]
cessful.
Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a miracle and a
mystery to those only who do not understand the grand
reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge
an erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat- [25]
ter. That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect
in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily
accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate-
rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid
substance to this thought. It is much easier for people [30]
to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the
mind affects the body.
[Page 6.]
We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a [1]
discipline to bring man nearer to God,—even though
sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from
complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as
evil. [5]
The most of our Christian Science practitioners have
plenty to do, and many more are needed for the ad-
vancement of the age. At present the majority of the
acute cases are given to the M. D.’s, and only those
cases that are pronounced incurable are passed over to [10]
the Scientist. The healing of such cases should cer-
tainly prove to all minds the power of metaphysics over
physics; and it surely does, to many thinkers, as the
rapid growth of the work shows. At no distant day,
Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy [15]
and homœopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed
where error fails.
Mind governs all. That we exist in God, perfect,
there is no doubt, for the conceptions of Life, Truth, and
Love must be perfect; and with that basic truth we con- [20]
quer sickness, sin, and death. Frequently it requires
time to overcome the patient’s faith in drugs and mate-
rial hygiene; but when once convinced of the uselessness
of such material methods, the gain is rapid.
It is a noticeable fact, that in families where laws [25]
of health are strictly enforced, great caution is observed
in regard to diet, and the conversation chiefly confined
to the ailments of the body, there is the most sickness.
Take a large family of children where the mother has
all that she can attend to in keeping them clothed and
fed, and health is generally the rule; whereas, in small
families of one or two children, sickness is by no means
[Page 7.]
the exception. These children must not be allowed to [1]
eat certain food, nor to breathe the cold air, because
there is danger in it; when they perspire, they must be
loaded down with coverings until their bodies become
dry,—and the mother of one child is often busier than [5]
the mother of eight.
Great charity and humility is necessary in this work
of healing. The loving patience of Jesus, we must
strive to emulate. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself” has daily to be exemplified; and, although [10]
skepticism and incredulity prevail in places where
one would least expect it, it harms not; for if serving
Christ, Truth, of what can mortal opinion avail? Cast
not your pearls before swine; but if you cannot bring
peace to all, you can to many, if faithful laborers in His [15]
vineyard.
Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally
reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease
seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to
many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon [20]
the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to
some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper,
at the price at which we shall issue it, we shall be able
to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought.
A great work already has been done, and a greater work [25]
yet remains to be done. Oftentimes we are denied the
results of our labors because people do not understand
the nature and power of metaphysics, and they think
that health and strength would have returned natu-
rally without any assistance. This is not so much from [30]
a lack of justice, as it is that the _mens populi_ is not suffi-
ciently enlightened on this great subject. More thought
[Page 8.]
is given to material illusions than to spiritual facts. If [1]
we can aid in abating suffering and diminishing sin,
we shall have accomplished much; but if we can bring
to the general thought this great fact that drugs do not,
cannot, produce health and harmony, since “in Him [5]
[Mind] we live, and move, and have our being,” we shall
have done more.”
Love Your Enemies.
Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is
it a creature or a thing outside thine own creation? [10]
Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this
enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception?
What is it that harms you? Can height, or
depth, or any other creature separate you from the
Love that is omnipresent good,—that blesses infinitely [15]
one and all?
Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles,
defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should
reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates
human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in [20]
the process. Shakespeare writes: “Sweet are the uses
of adversity.” Jesus said: “Blessed are ye, when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you _falsely_, for my sake; ... for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before [25]
you.”
The Hebrew law with its “Thou shalt not,” its de-
mand and sentence, can only be fulfilled through the
gospel’s benediction. Then, “Blessed are ye,” inso-
[Page 9.]
much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace, [1]
comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified
by the purification it brings to the flesh,—to pride, self-
ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet,
indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the [5]
Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod
into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them
refuge at last from the elements of earth.
“Love thine enemies” is identical with “Thou hast
no enemies.” Wherein is this conclusion relative to [10]
those who have hated thee without a cause? Simply, in
that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best
friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee
good far beyond the present sense which thou canst entertain
of good. [15]
Whom we call friends seem to sweeten life’s cup and
to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this cup
to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in frag-
ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its
tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar- [20]
gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con-
tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost
its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and
unworthy of human aims.
And wherefore our failure longer to relish this fleet- [25]
ing sense, with its delicious forms of friendship,
wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in
personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace?
Because it is the great and only danger in the path
that winds upward. A false sense of what consti- [30]
tutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress
than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon
[Page 10.]
the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements [1]
wherewith to obstruct life’s joys and enhance its sor-
rows.
We have no enemies. Whatever envy, hatred, revenge
—the most remorseless motives that govern mortal mind [5]
—whatever these try to do, shall “work together for good
to them that love God.”
Why?
Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped
them, and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their [10]
God will not let them be lost; and if they fall they shall
rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good
cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble.
If they mistake the divine command, they will recover
it, countermand their order, retrace their steps, and [15]
reinstate His orders, more assured to press on safely.
The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing
swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments
of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their
strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found [20]
their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear
is self-immolated.
This destruction is a moral chemicalization, wherein
old things pass away and all things become new. The
worldly or material tendencies of human affections and [25]
pursuits are thus annihilated; and this is the advent of
spiritualization. Heaven comes down to earth, and
mortals learn at last the lesson, “I have no enemies.”
Even in belief you have but one (that, not in reality),
and this one enemy is yourself—your erroneous belief [30]
that you have enemies; that evil is real; that aught but
good exists in Science. Soon or late, your enemy will
[Page 11.]
wake from his delusion to suffer for his evil intent; to [1]
find that, though thwarted, its punishment is tenfold.
Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy,
and justice. I used to think it sufficiently just to abide
by our State statutes; that if a man should aim a ball at [5]
my heart, and I by firing first could kill him and save
my own life, that this was right. I thought, also, that
if I taught indigent students gratuitously, afterwards
assisting them pecuniarily, and did not cease teachi
ing the wayward ones at close of the class term, but [10]
followed them with precept upon precept; that if my
instructions had healed them and shown them the sure way
of salvation,—I had done my whole duty to students.
Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy.
If one’s life were attacked, and one could save it only [15]
in accordance with common law, by taking another’s,
would one sooner give up his own? We must love our
enemies in all the manifestations wherein and whereby
we love our friends; must even try not to expose their
faults, but to do them good whenever opportunity [20]
occurs. To mete out human justice to those who per-
secure and despitefully use one, is not leaving all retribu-
tion to God and returning blessing for cursing. If special
opportunity for doing good to one’s enemies occur not,
one can include them in his general effort to benefit the [25]
race. Because I can do much general good to such as
hate me, I do it with earnest, special care—since they
permit me no other way, though with tears have I striven
for it. When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the
other: I have but two to present. [30]
I would enjoy taking by the hand all who love me not,
and saying to them, “_I_ love _you_, and would not know-
[Page 12.]
ingly harm you.” _Because_ I thus feel, I say to others: [1]
Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads
its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us;
brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through-
out time and beyond the grave. If you have been badly [5]
wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this
wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him
who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil;
and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged
when you have not been. [10]
The present is ours; the future, big with events.
Every man and woman should be to-day a law to him-
self, herself,—a law of loyalty to Jesus’ Sermon on the
Mount. The means for sinning unseen and unpunished
have so increased that, unless one be watchful and stead- [15]
fast in Love, one’s temptations to sin are increased a
hundredfold. Mortal mind at this period mutely works
in the interest of both good and evil in a manner least
understood; hence the need of watching, and the danger
of yielding to temptation from causes that at former [20]
periods in human history were not existent. The action
and effects of this so-called human mind in its silent argu-
ments, are yet to be uncovered and summarily dealt with
by divine justice.
In Christian Science, the law of Love rejoices the heart; [25]
and Love is Life and Truth. Whatever manifests aught
else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not Love.
We should measure our love for God by our love for man;
and our sense of Science will be measured by our obedience
to God,—fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all; [30]
imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love
to all within the radius of our atmosphere of thought.
[Page 13.]
The only justice of which I feel at present capable, [1]
is mercy and charity toward every one,—just so far as
one and all permit me to exercise these sentiments toward
them,—taking special care to mind my own business.
The falsehood, ingratitude, misjudgment, and sharp [5]
return of evil for good—yea, the real wrongs (if wrong
can be real) which I have long endured at the hands of
others—have most happily wrought out for me the law
of loving mine enemies. This law I now urge upon the
solemn consideration of all Christian Scientists. Jesus [10]
said, “If ye love them which love you, what thank have
ye? for sinners also love those that love them.”
Christian Theism.
Scholastic theology elaborates the proposition that
evil is a factor of good, and that to believe in the reality [15]
of evil is essential to a rounded sense of the existence of
good.
This frail hypothesis is founded upon the basis of mate-
rial and mortal evidence—only upon what the shifting
mortal senses confirm and frail human reason accepts. [20]
The Science of Soul reverses this proposition, overturns
the testimony of the five erring senses, and reveals in
clearer divinity the existence of good only; that is, of
God and His idea.
This postulate of divine Science only needs to be con- [25]
ceded, to afford opportunity for proof of its correctness
and the clearer discernment of good.
Seek the Anglo-Saxon term for God, and you will
find it to be good; then define good as God, and you
will find that good is omnipotence, has all power; it fills [30]
[Page 14.]
all space, being omnipresent; hence, there is neither place [1]
nor power left for evil. Divest your thought, then, of
the mortal and material view which contradicts the ever-
presence and all-power of good; take in only the immor-
tal facts which include these, and where will you see or [5]
feel evil, or find its existence necessary either to the origin
or ultimate of good?
It is urged that, from his original state of perfec-
tion, man has fallen into the imperfection that requires
evil through which to develop good. Were we to [10]
admit this vague proposition, the Science of man could
never be learned; for in order to learn Science, we
begin with the correct statement, with harmony and
its Principle; and if man has lost his Principle and
its harmony, from evidences before him he is inca- [15]
pable of knowing the facts of existence and its con-
comitants: therefore to him evil is as real and eternal
as good, God! This awful deception is evil’s umpire
and empire, that good, God, understood, forcibly
destroys. [20]
What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be
the necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites
to be without necessity. Good is the primitive Princi-
ple of man; and evil, good’s opposite, has no Principle,
and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good. [25]
Thus evil is neither a primitive nor a derivative, but
is suppositional; in other words, a lie that is incapable
of proof—therefore, wholly problematical.
The Science of Truth annihilates error, deprives evil
of all power, and thereby destroys all error, sin, sickness, [30]
disease, and death. But the sinner is not sheltered from
suffering from sin: he makes a great reality of evil, iden-
[Page 15.]
tifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it, and [1]
will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure
the effects of his delusion until he awakes from it.
The New Birth.
St. Paul speaks of the new birth as “waiting for the [5]
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The
great Nazarene Prophet said, “Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God.” Nothing aside from the
spiritualization—yea, the highest Christianization—of
thought and desire, can give the true perception of God [10]
and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and
holiness.
The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins
with moments, and goes on with years; moments of sur-
render to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption [15]
of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration,
heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.
Time may commence, but it cannot complete, the
new birth: eternity does this; for progress is the law
of infinity. Only through the sore travail of mortal mind [20]
shall soul as sense be satisfied, and man awake in His
likeness. What a faith-lighted thought is this! that
mortals can lay off the “old man,” until man is found
to be the image of the infinite good that we name God,
and the fulness of the stature of man in Christ appears. [25]
In mortal and material man, goodness seems in em-
bryo. By suffering for sin, and the gradual fading out
of the mortal and material sense of man, thought is de-
veloped into an infant Christianity; and, feeding at first
on the milk of the Word, it drinks in the sweet revealings [30]
[Page 16.]
of a new and more spiritual Life and Love. These nourish [1]
the hungry hope, satisfy more the cravings for immor-
tality, and so comfort, cheer, and bless one, that he saith:
In mine infancy, this is enough of heaven to come down
to earth. [5]
But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood
of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very
much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one
saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is
indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite [10]
claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human;
and man’s ability to meet them is from God; for, being
His likeness and image, man must reflect the full
dominion of Spirit—even its supremacy over sin, sick-
ness, and death. [15]
Here, then, is the awakening from the dream of life
in matter, to the great fact that _God is the only Life_;
that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both
God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely
more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that [20]
God is a divine _Whole_, and _All_, an all-pervading in-
telligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and
that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly
awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates
from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun [25]
in Christian Science.
Now, dear reader, pause for a moment with me, earn-
estly to contemplate this new-born spiritual altitude; for
this statement demands demonstration.
Here you stand face to face with the laws of infinite [30]
Spirit, and behold for the first time the irresistible con-
flict between the flesh and Spirit. You stand before the
[Page 17.]
awful detonations of Sinai. You hear and record the [1]
thunderings of the spiritual law of Life, as opposed to
the material law of death; the spiritual law of Love, as
opposed to the material sense of love; the law of om-
nipotent harmony and good, as opposed to any supposi- [5]
titious law of sin, sickness, or death. And, before the
flames have died away on this mount of revelation, like
the patriarch of old, you take off your shoes—lay aside
your material appendages, human opinions and doc-
trines, give up your more material religion with its rites [10]
and ceremonies, put off your _materia medica_ and hygiene
as worse than useless—to sit at the feet of Jesus. Then,
you meekly bow before the Christ, the spiritual idea
that our great Master gave of the power of God to heal
and to save. Then it is that you behold for the first [15]
time the divine Principle that redeems man from under
the curse of materialism,—sin, disease, and death.
This spiritual birth opens to the enraptured understand-
ing a much higher and holier conception of the supremacy
of Spirit, and of man as His likeness, whereby man reflects [20]
the divine power to heal the sick.
A material or human birth is the appearing of a mor-
tal, not the immortal man. This birth is more or less
prolonged and painful, according to the timely or un-
timely circumstances, the normal or abnormal material [25]
conditions attending it.
With the spiritual birth, man’s primitive, sinless,
spiritual existence dawns on human thought,—through
the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing
pleasure and accumulating pains of sense,—by which [30]
one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of
Spirit and spiritual man.
[Page 18.]
The purification or baptismals that come from Spirit, [1]
develop, step by step, the original likeness of perfect man,
and efface the mark of the beast. “Whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth;” therefore rejoice in tribulation, and wel- [5]
come these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law
and gospel of Christ, Truth.
The prominent laws which forward birth in the divine
order of Science, are these: “Thou shalt have no other
gods before me;” “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” [10]
These commands of infinite wisdom, translated into
the new tongue, their spiritual meaning, signify: Thou
shalt love Spirit only, not its opposite, in every God-
quality, even in substance; thou shalt recognize thy-
self as God’s spiritual child only, and the true man [15]
and true woman, the all-harmonious “male and female,”
as of spiritual origin, God’s reflection,—thus as chil-
dren of one common Parent,—wherein and whereby
Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and
divine idea, even the divine “Us”—one in good, and [20]
good in One.
With this recognition man could never separate him-
self from good, God; and he would necessarily entertain
habitual love for his fellow-man. Only by admitting
evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil [25]
thoughts, can we in belief separate one man’s interests
from those of the whole human family, or thus attempt
to separate Life from God. This is the mistake that
causes much that must be repented of and overcome.
Not to know what is blessing you, but to believe that [30]
aught that God sends is unjust,—or that those whom
He commissions bring to you at His demand that which
[Page 19.]
is unjust,—is wrong and cruel. Envy, evil thinking, [1]
evil speaking, covetousness, lust, hatred, malice, are
always wrong, and will break the rule of Christian
Science and prevent its demonstration; but the rod of
God, and the obedience demanded of His servants in [5]
carrying out what He teaches them,—these are never
unmerciful, never unwise.
The task of healing the sick is far lighter than that
of so teaching the divine Principle and rules of Chris-
tian Science as to lift the affections and motives of men [10]
to adopt them and bring them out in human lives. He
who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually
accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine
Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked
endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the [15]
current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God,
its divine source.
But, taking the livery of heaven wherewith to cover
iniquity, is the most fearful sin that mortals can commit.
I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, [20]
one who abides by his statements and works upon as
high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could
or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental
malpractitioner.
Between the centripetal and centrifugal mental forces [25]
of material and spiritual gravitations, we go into or we
go out of materialism or sin, and choose our course and
its results. Which, then, shall be our choice,—the sin-
ful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving,
and eternal? [30]
The spiritual sense of Life and its grand pursuits is
of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring. This
[Page 20.]
sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of [1]
divine Love; heals man spontaneously, morally and
physically,—exhaling the aroma of Jesus’ own words,
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.” [5]