Part Five

A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STATUTE

I hereby state, in unmistakable language, the follow-

ing statute in the morale of Christian Science: -

18 A man or woman, having voluntarily entered into

wedlock, and accepted the claims of the marriage cove-

nant, is held in Christian Science as morally bound to

21 fulfil all the claims growing out of this contract, unless

such claims are relinquished by mutual consent of both

parties, or this contract is legally dissolved. If the man

24 is dominant over the animal, he will count the conse-

quences of his own conduct; will consider the effects,

on himself and his progeny, of selfishness, unmerciful-

ness, tyranny, or lust.

Trust Truth, not error; and Truth will give you all

that belongs to the rights of freedom. The Hebrew bard

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1 wrote, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean

not unto thine own understanding." Nothing is gained

3 by wrong-doing. St. Paul's words take in the situation:

"Not . . . (as we be slanderously reported, and as some

affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come?

whose damnation is just."

When causing others to go astray, we also are wan-

derers. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be meas-

9 ured to you again." Ask yourself: Under the same

circumstances, in the same spiritual ignorance and power

of passion, would I be strengthened by having my best

12 friend break troth with me? These words of St. Matthew

have special application to Christian Scientists; namely,

"It is not good to marry."

15 To build on selfishness is to build on sand. When

Jesus received the material rite of water baptism, he did

not say that it was God's command; but implied that

18 the period demanded it. Trials purify mortals and deliver

them from themselves, - all the claims of sensuality.

Abide by the morale of absolute Christian Science, -

self-abnegation and purity; then Truth delivers you from

the seeming power of error, and faith vested in righteous-

ness triumphs!

ADVICE TO STUDENTS

The true consciousness is the true health. One says,

"I find relief from pain in unconscious sleep." I say,

27 You mistake; through unconsciousness one no more

gains freedom from pain than immunity from evil. When

unconscious of a mistake, one thinks he is not mistaken;

but this false consciousness does not change the fact, or

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1 its results; suffering and mistakes recur until one is awake

to their cause and character. To know the what, when,

3 and how of error, destroys error. The error that is seen

aright as error, has received its death-blow; but never

until then.

6 Let us look through the lens of Christian Science,

not of "self," at the following mistake, which demands

our present attention. I have no time for detailed report

9 of this matter, but simply answer the following question

sent to me; glad, indeed, that this query has finally come

with the courage of conviction to the minds of many

students.

"Is it right to copy your works and read them for our

public services?"

15 The good which the material senses see not is the only

absolute good; the evil which these senses see not is the

only absolute evil.

18 If I enter Mr. Smith's store and take from it his gar-

ments that are on sale, array myself in them, and put

myself and them on exhibition, can I make this right

21 by saying, These garments are Mr. Smith's; he manu-

factured them and owns them, but you must pay me,

not him, for this exhibit?

24 The spectators may ask, Did he give you permission

to do this, did he sell them or loan them to you? No.

Then have you asked yourself this question on the sub-

27 ject, namely, What right have I to do this? True, it

saves your purchasing these garments, and gives to the

public new patterns which are useful to them; but does

this silence your conscience? or, because you have con-

fessed that they are the property of a noted firm, and

you wished to handle them, does it justify you in appro-

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1 priating them, and so avoiding the cost of hiring or

purchasing?

3 Copying my published works verbatim, compiling them

in connection with the Scriptures, taking this copy into

the pulpit, announcing the author's name, then reading

it publicly as your own compilation, is - what?

We answer, It is a mistake; in common parlance, it

is an ignorant wrong.

9 If you should print and publish your copy of my works,

you would be liable to arrest for infringement of copy-

right, which the law defines and punishes as theft. Read-

12 ing in the pulpit from copies of my publications gives

you the clergyman's salary and spares you the printer's

bill, but does it spare you our Master's condemnation?

15 You literally publish my works through the pulpit, instead

of the press, and thus evade the law, but not the gospel.

When I consent to this act, you will then be justified

in it.

Your manuscript copy is liable, in some way, to be

printed as your original writings, thus incurring the pen-

alty of the law, and increasing the record of theft in the

United States Circuit Court.

To The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, which I

24 had organized and of which I had for many years been

pastor, I gave permission to cite, in the Christian Science

Quarterly, from my work Science and Health, passages

giving the spiritual meaning of Bible texts; but this was

a special privilege, and the author's gift.

Christian Science demonstrates that the patient who

pays whatever he is able to pay for being healed, is more

apt to recover than he who withholds a slight equiva-

lent for health. Healing morally and physically are one.

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1 Then, is compiling and delivering that sermon for which

you pay nothing, and which you deliver without the

3 author's consent, and receive pay therefor, the precedent

for preaching Christian Science, - and are you doing

to the author of the above-named book as you would

have others do unto you?

Those authors and editors of pamphlets and periodi-

cals whose substance is made up of my publications, are

9 morally responsible for what the law construes as crime.

There are startling instances of the above-named law-

breaking and gospel-opposing system of authorship, which

12 characterize the writings of a few professed Christian

Scientists. My Christian students who have read copies

of my works in the pulpit require only a word to be wise;

15 too sincere and morally statuesque are they to be long

led into temptation; but I must not leave persistent

plagiarists without this word of warning in public, since

my private counsel they disregard.

To the question of my true-hearted students, "Is it

right to copy your works and read them for our public

21 services?" I answer: It is not right to copy my book

and read it publicly without my consent. My reasons are

as follows: -

First: This method is an unseen form of injustice

standing in a holy place.

Second: It breaks the Golden Rule, - a divine rule

for human conduct.

Third: All error tends to harden the heart, blind

the eyes, stop the ears of understanding, and inflate

self; counter to the commands of our hillside Priest, to

whom Isaiah alluded thus: "I have trodden the wine-

press alone; and of the people there was none with me."

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1 Behind the scenes lurks an evil which you can prevent

it is a purpose to kill the reformation begun and increas-

3 ing through the instructions of "Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures;" it encourages infringement of my

6 - while the perverter preserves in his own consciousness

and teaching the name without the Spirit, the skeleton

without the heart, the form without the comeliness, the

9 sense without the Science, of Christ's healing. My stu-

dents are expected to know the teaching of Christian Sci-

ence sufficiently to discriminate between error and Truth,

thus sparing their teacher a task and themselves the

temptation to be misled.

Much good has been accomplished through Christian

15 Science Sunday services. If Christian Scientists occasion-

ally mistake in interpreting revealed Truth, of two evils

the less would be not to leave the Word unspoken and

18 untaught. I allowed, till this permission was withdrawn,

students working faithfully for Christ's cause on earth,

the privilege of copying and reading my works for Sunday

21 service; provided, they each and all destroyed the copies

at once after said service. When I should so elect and

give suitable notice, they were to desist from further copy-

ing of my writings as aforesaid.

This injunction did not curtail the benefit which the

student derived from making his copy, nor detract from

27 the good that his hearers received from his reading thereof;

but it was intended to forestall the possible evil of putting

the divine teachings contained in "Science and Health

with Key to the Scriptures" into human hands, to sub-

vert or to liquidate.

I recommend that students stay within their own fields

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1 of labor, to work for the race; they are lights that can-

not be hid, and need only to shine from their home sum-

mits to be sought and found as healers physical and

moral.

The kindly shepherd has his own fold and tends his

6 own flock. Christian students should have their own

institutes and, unmolested, be governed by divine Love

alone in teaching and guiding their students. When

9 wisdom garrisons these strongholds of Christian Science,

peace and joy, the fruits of Spirit, will rest upon us all.

We are brethren in the fullest sense of that word; there-

12 fore no queries should arise as to "who shall be great-

est." Let us serve instead of rule, knock instead of

push at the door of human hearts, and allow to each

15 and every one the same rights and privileges that we

claim for ourselves. If ever I wear out from serving

students, it shall be in the effort to help them to obey

the Ten Commandments and imbibe the spirit of Christ's

Beatitudes.

NOTICE

21 Editor of Christian Science Journal: - You will oblige

me by giving place in your Journal to the following notice.

The idea and purpose of a Liberty Bell is pleasing, and

24 can be made profitable to the heart of our country. I feel

assured that many Christian Scientists will respond to this

letter by contributions.

MARY BAKER EDDY

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COLUMBIAN LIBERTY BELL COMMITTEE,

1505 PENNA. AVE., WASHINGTON, D. C.

TO THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: -

It has been determined to create a Columbian Liberty

Bell, to be placed by the lovers of liberty and peace in

6 the most appropriate place in the coming World's Expo-

sition at Chicago. After the close of the Exhibition this

bell will pass from place to place throughout the world

as a missionary of freedom, coming first to the capital

of the nation under the care of our society.

Then it will go to Bunker Hill or Liberty Island, to

12 the battle-field of New Orleans ( 1812), to San Francisco,

to the place where any great patriotic celebration is being

held, until 1900, when it will be sent to the next World's

Exhibition, which takes place at Paris, France. There it

will continue until that Exhibition closes.

When not in use in other places, it will return to Wash-

18 ington under the care of the Daughters of the American

Revolution. Washington will be its home, and from there

it will journey from place to place, fulfilling its mission

throughout the world.

The following is the proposed use of the bell: It shall

ring at sunrise and sunset; at nine o'clock in the morn-

24 ing on the anniversaries of the days on which great events

have occurred marking the world's progress toward liberty;

at twelve o'clock on the birthdays of the "creators of

27 liberty;" and at four o'clock it will toll on the anniver-

saries of their death. (It will always ring at nine o'clock

on October 11th, in recognition of the organization on

that day of the Daughters of the American Revolution.)

. . The responsibility of its production, and the direc-

tion of its use, have been placed in the hands of a

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1 committee of women representing each State and Ter-

ritory, one representative from each Republic in the

3 world, and a representative from the patriotic societies,

- Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution,

the Lyceum League of America, the Society of Ger-

man Patriots, the Human Freedom League, and kindred

organizations.

The National Board of Management has placed upon

9 me the responsibility of representing the National Society

of the Daughters of the American Revolution upon the

General Committee, and this circular is sent to every

12 member of the society, asking for her personal coopera-

tion in making the undertaking successful. In creating

the bell it is particularly desired that the largest number

15 of persons possible shall have a part in it. For this reason

small contributions from many persons are to be asked

for, rather than large contributions from a few. They

are to be of two kinds: -

First: Material that can be made a part of the bell;

articles of historic interest will be particularly appre-

ciated - gold, silver, bronze, copper, and nickel can be

fused.

Second: Of money with which to pay for the bell.

24 Each member of the society is asked to contribute one

cent to be fused into the bell, and twenty-five cents to

pay for it. She is also asked to collect two dollars from

27 others, in pennies, if possible, and send with the amount

the name of each contributor. In order that the bell

shall be cast April 30th, the anniversary of the inaugu-

ration of George Washington as the first President of

the United States, we ask every one receiving this cir-

cular to act at once.

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1 In forwarding material to be melted into the bell, please

send fullest historical description. This will be entered

carefully in a book which will accompany the bell wherever

it goes.

. . . As the motto has not yet been decided upon, any

6 ideas on that subject will be gratefully received; we will

also welcome suggestions of events to be celebrated and

names to be commemorated.

9 Very cordially yours,

MARY DESHA,

ex-Vice-President General, D. A. R.

12 Contributions should be sent to the Liberty National

Bank, corner Liberty and West Streets, New York, and

a duplicate letter written, as a notification of the same,

to Miss Mary Desha, 1505 Penna. Ave., Washington,

D. C., or to Miss Minnie F. Mickley, Mickleys, Pa.

We would add, as being of interest, that Mrs. Eddy is

18 a member of the above organization, having been made

such by the special request of the late Mrs. Harrison,

wife of the ex-President, who was at that time the Presi-

dent thereof. - ED.

ANGELS

When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings,

24 nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but

we know their presence by the love they create in our

hearts. Oh, may you feel this touch, - it is not the

clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more

than this: it is a spiritual idea that lights your path!

The Psalmist saith: "He shall give His angels charge

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1 over thee." God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in

turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-

3 morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present

help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have

all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance

6 is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent

Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want:

more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the

"Peace, be still" to all human fears, to suffering of every

sort.

DEIFICATION OF PERSONALITY

12 Notwithstanding the rapid sale already of two editions

of "Christ and Christmas," and many orders on hand, I

have thought best to stop its publication.

15 In this revolutionary religious period, the increasing

inquiry of mankind as to Christianity and its unity -

and above all, God's love opening the eyes of the blind

- is fast fitting all minds for the proper reception of

Christian Science healing.

But I must stand on this absolute basis of Christian

21 Science; namely, Cast not pearls before the unprepared

thought. Idolatry is an easily-besetting sin of all peoples.

The apostle saith, "Little children, keep yourselves from

idols."

The illustrations were not intended for a golden calf,

at which the sick may look and be healed. Christian

27 Scientists should beware of unseen snares, and adhere

to the divine Principle and rules for demonstration.

They must guard against the deification of finite person-

ality. Every human thought must turn instinctively to

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1 the divine Mind as its sole centre and intelligence. Until

this be done, man will never be found harmonious and

immortal.

Whosoever looks to me personally for his health or

holiness, mistakes. He that by reason of human love or

6 hatred or any other cause clings to my material per-

sonality, greatly errs, stops his own progress, and loses

the path to health, happiness, and heaven. The Scrip-

9 tures and Christian Science reveal "the way," and per-

sonal revelators will take their proper place in history,

but will not be deified.

12 Advanced scientific students are ready for "Christ

and Christmas;" but those are a minority of its readers,

and even they know its practicality only by healing

15 the sick on its divine Principle. In the words of the

prophet, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one

Lord."

18 Friends, strangers, and Christian Scientists, I thank

you, each and all, for your liberal patronage and scholarly,

artistic, and scientific notices of my book. This little

21 messenger has done its work, fulfilled its mission, retired

with honor (and mayhap taught me more than it has

others), only to reappear in due season. The knowledge

24 that I have gleaned from its fruitage is, that intensely

contemplating personality impedes spiritual growth; even

as holding in mind the consciousness of disease prevents

the recovery of the sick.

Christian Science is taught through its divine Prin-

ciple, which is invisible to corporeal sense. A material

30 human likeness is the antipode of man in the image and

likeness of God. Hence, a finite person is not the model

for a metaphysician. I earnestly advise all Christian

Scientists to remove from their observation or study

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1 the personal sense of any one, and not to dwell in thought

upon their own or others' corporeality, either as good or

evil.

According to Christian Science, material personality is

an error in premise, and must result in erroneous con-

6 clusions. All will agree with me that material portraiture

often fails to express even mortal man, and this declares

its unfitness for fable or fact to build upon.

9 The face of Jesus has uniformly been so unnaturally

delineated that it has turned many from the true con-

templation of his character. He advances most in divine

12 Science who meditates most on infinite spiritual sub-

stance and intelligence. Experience proves this true.

Pondering on the finite personality of Jesus, the son of

15 man, is not the channel through which we reach the

Christ, or Son of God, the true idea of man's divine

Principle.

18 I warn students against falling into the error of anti-

Christ. The consciousness of corporeality, and what-

ever is connected therewith, must be outgrown. Corporeal

21 falsities include all obstacles to health, holiness, and

heaven. Man's individual life is infinitely above a

bodily form of existence, and the human concept an-

24 tagonizes the divine. "Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures," on page 229, third and fourth para-

graphs, elucidates this topic.(l)

27 My Christmas poem and its illustrations are not a text-

book. Scientists sometimes take things too intensely.

Let them soberly adhere to the Bible and Science and

Health, which contain all and much more than they

have yet learned. We should prohibit ourselves the

(1) See the revised edition of 1890, or page 334, in editions

subsequent to 1902.

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1 childish pleasure of studying Truth through the senses,

for this is neither the intent of my works nor possible

in Science.

Even the teachings of Jesus would be misused by sub-

stituting personality for the Christ, or the impersonal

6 form of Truth, amplified in this age by the discovery of

Christian Science. To impersonalize scientifically the

material sense of existence - rather than cling to per-

sonality - is the lesson of to-day.

A CARD

My answer to manifold letters relative to the return

12 of members that have gone out of The First Church of

Christ, Scientist, in Boston, is this: While my affec-

tions plead for all and every one, and my desire is that

15 all shall be redeemed, I am not unmindful that the Scrip-

tures enjoin, "Let all things be done decently and in

order."

18 To continue one's connection with this church, or to

regain it, one must comply with the church rules. All

who desire its fellowship, and to become members of it,

21 must send in their petitions to this effect to the Clerk

of the church; and upon a meeting being called, the

First Members will determine the action of the church

on this subject.

OVERFLOWING THOUGHTS

In this receding year of religious jubilee, 1894, I as

an individual would cordially invite all persons who

have left our fold, together with those who never have

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1 been in it, - all who love God and keep His command-

ments, - to come and unite with The Mother Church in

3 Boston. The true Christian Scientists will be welcomed,

greeted as brethren endeavoring to walk with us hand

in hand, as we journey to the celestial city.

6 Also, I would extend a tender invitation to Christian

Scientists' students, those who are ready for the table of

our Lord: so, should we follow Christ's teachings; so,

9 bury the dead past; so, loving one another, go forth to

the full vintage-time, exemplifying what we profess. But

some of the older members are not quite ready to take

12 this advanced step in the full spirit of that charity which

thinketh no evil; and if it be not taken thus, it is impracti-

cal, unfruitful, Soul-less.

15 My deepest desires and daily labors go to prove that

I love my enemies and would help all to gain the abiding

consciousness of health, happiness, and heaven.

18 I hate no one; and love others more than they can

love me. As I now understand Christian Science, I would

as soon harm myself as another; since by breaking

Christ's command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as

thyself," I should lose my hope of heaven.

The works I have written on Christian Science con-

24 tain absolute Truth, and my necessity was to tell it;

therefore I did this even as a surgeon who wounds

to heal. I was a scribe under orders; and who can

27 refrain from transcribing what God indites, and ought

not that one to take the cup, drink all of it, and give

thanks?

Being often reported as saying what never escaped

from my lips, when rehearsing facts concerning others

who were reporting false charges, I have been sorry that

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1 I spoke at all, and wished I were wise enough to guard

against that temptation. Oh, may the love that is talked,

3 be felt! and so lived, that when weighed in the scale of

God we be not found wanting. Love is consistent, uni-

form, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, unutterably kind; even

6 that which lays all upon the altar, and, speechless and

alone, bears all burdens, suffers all inflictions, endures

all piercing for the sake of others, and for the kingdom

of heaven's sake.

A GREAT MAN AND HIS SAYING

Hon. Charles Carrol Bonney, President of the World's

12 Congress Auxiliary, in his remarks before that body,

said, "No more striking manifestation of the interposi-

tion of divine Providence in human affairs has come in

15 recent years, than that shown in the raising up of the

body of people known as Christian Scientists, who are

called to declare the real harmony between religion and

Science, and to restore the waning faith of many in the

verities of the sacred Scriptures."

In honest utterance of veritable history, and his own

21 spiritual discernment, this man must have risen above

worldly schemes, human theorems or hypotheses, to

conclusions which reason too supine or misemployed

24 cannot fasten upon. He spake inspired; he touched a

tone of Truth that will continue to reverberate and renew

its emphasis throughout the entire centuries, into the vast

forever.

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WORDS OF COMMENDATION

Editor of The Christian Science Journal: - Permit me

to say that your editorial in the August number is par

excellence.

It is a digest of good manners, morals, methods, and

6 means. It points to the scientific spiritual molecule,

pearl, and pinnacle, that everybody needs. May the

Christlikeness it reflects rest on the dear readers, and

9 throw the light of penetration on the page; even as the

dawn, kindling its glories in the east, lightens earth's

landscape.

12 I thank the contributors to The Christian Science

Journal for their jewels of thought, so adapted to the

hour, and without ill-humor or hyperbolic tumor. I

15 was impressed by the articles entitled "The New Pas-

tor," by Rev. Lanson P. Norcross, "The Lamp," by

Walter Church, "The Temptation," a poem by J. J.

Rome, etc.

The field waves its white ensign, the reapers are strong,

the rich sheaves are ripe, the storehouse is ready: pray

ye therefore the God of harvest to send forth more

laborers of the excellent sort, and garner the supplies

for a world.

CHURCH AND SCHOOL

Humbly, and, as I believe, divinely directed, I hereby

ordain the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key

to the Scriptures," to be hereafter the only pastor of

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1 The Church of Christ, Scientist, throughout our land

and in other lands.

3 From this date the Sunday services of our denomina-

tion shall be conducted by Readers in lieu of pastors.

Each church, or society formed for Sunday worship,

6 shall elect two Readers: a male, and a female. One of

these individuals shall open the meeting by reading the

hymns, and chapter (or portion of the chapter) in the

9 Bible, lead in silent prayer, and repeat in concert with

the congregation the Lord's Prayer. Also, this First

Reader shall give out any notices from the pulpit, shall

12 read the Scriptures indicated in the Sunday School Les-

son of the Christian Science Quarterly, and shall pro-

nounce the benediction.

15 The First Reader shall read from my book, "Science

and Health with Key to the Scriptures," alternately in

response to the congregation, the spiritual interpreta-

18 tion of the Lord's Prayer; also, shall read all the selec-

tions from Science and Health referred to in the Sunday

Lessons.

21 The Reader of the Scriptures shall name, at each

reading, the book, chapter, and verses. The Reader of

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" shall

24 commence by announcing the full title of this book, with

the name of its author, and add to this announcement,

"the Christian Science textbook." It is unnecessary to

27 repeat the title or page. This form shall also be observed

at the Communion service; the selections from both the

Bible and the Christian Science textbook shall be taken

from the Quarterly, as heretofore, and this Lesson shall

be such as is adapted to that service. On the first Sunday

of each month, except Communion Sunday, a sermon

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1 shall be preached to the children, from selections taken

from the Scriptures and Science and Health, especially

3 adapted to the occasion, and read after the manner of

the Sunday service. The children's service shall be

held on the Sunday following Communion Day.

6 No copies from my books are allowed to be written,

and read from manuscripts, either in private or in pub-

lic assemblies, except by their author.

9 Christian Scientists, all over the world, who are let-

terly fit and specially spiritually fitted for teachers, can

teach annually three classes only. They shall teach

12 from the Christian Science textbook. Each class shall

consist of not over thirty-three students, carefully selected,

and only of such as have promising proclivities toward

15 Christian Science. The teacher shall hold himself mor-

ally obligated to look after the welfare of his students,

not only through class term, but after it; and to watch

well that they prove sound in sentiment, health, and

practical Christian Science.

Teaching Christian Science shall be no question of

21 money, but of morals and of uplifting the race. Teachers

shall form associations for this purpose; and for the

first few years, convene as often as once in three months.

24 Teachers shall not silently mentally address the thought,

to handle it, nor allow their students to do thus, except

the individual needing it asks for mental treatment.

27 They shall steadily and patiently strive to educate their

students in conformity to the unerring wisdom and law

of God, and shall enjoin upon them habitually to study

His revealed Word, the Scriptures, and "Science and

Health with Key to the Scriptures."

They shall teach their students how to defend them-

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1 selves against mental malpractice, but never to return

evil for evil; never to attack the malpractitioner, but

to know the truth that makes free, - and so to be a law

not unto others, but themselves.

CLASS, PULPIT, STUDENTS' STUDENTS

When will you take a class in Christian Science or

speak to your church in Boston? is often asked.

I shall speak to my dear church at Boston very seldom.

9 The Mother Church must be self-sustained by God.

The date of a class in Christian Science should depend

on the fitness of things, the tide which flows heavenward,

12 the hour best for the student. Until minds become less

worldly-minded, and depart farther from the primitives

of the race, and have profited up to their present capac-

ity from the written word, they are not ready for the

word spoken at this date.

My juniors can tell others what they know, and turn

18 them slowly toward the haven. Imperative, accumula-

tive, sweet demands rest on my retirement from life's

bustle. What, then, of continual recapitulation of tired

21 aphorisms and disappointed ethics; of patching breaches

widened the next hour; of pounding wisdom and love

into sounding brass; of warming marble and quench-

24 ing volcanoes! Before entering the Massachusetts Meta-

physical College, had my students achieved the point

whence they could have derived most benefit from their

pupilage, to-day there would be on earth paragons of

Christianity, patterns of humility, wisdom, and might

for the world.

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1 To the students whom I have not seen that ask, "May

I call you mother?" my heart replies, Yes, if you are

doing God's work. When born of Truth and Love, we

are all of one kindred.

The hour has struck for Christian Scientists to do their

6 own work; to appreciate the signs of the times; to dem-

onstrate self-knowledge and self-government; and to

demonstrate, as this period demands, over all sin, disease,

9 and death. The dear ones whom I would have great

pleasure in instructing, know that the door to my teaching

was shut when my College closed.

12 Again, it is not absolutely requisite for some people

to be taught in a class, for they can learn by spiritual

growth and by the study of what is written. Scarcely a

15 moiety, compared with the whole of the Scriptures and

the Christian Science textbook, is yet assimilated spirit-

ually by the most faithful seekers; yet this assimilation is

18 indispensable to the progress of every Christian Scientist.

These considerations prompt my answers to the above

questions. Human desire is inadequate to adjust the

21 balance on subjects of such earnest import. These

words of our Master explain this hour: "What I do

thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter."

24 My sympathies are deeply enlisted for the students

of students; having already seen in many instances their

talents, culture, and singleness of purpose to uplift the

27 race. Such students should not pay the penalty for

other people's faults; and divine Love will open the

way for them. My soul abhors injustice, and loves

mercy. St. John writes: "Whom God hath sent speaketh

the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by meas-

ure unto him."

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MY STUDENTS AND THY STUDENTS

Mine and thine are obsolete terms in absolute Christian

3 Science, wherein and whereby the universal brotherhood

of man is stated and demands to be demonstrated. I have

a large affection, not alone for my students, but for thy

6 students, - for students of the second generation. I can-

not but love some of those devoted students better than

some of mine who are less lovable or Christly. This

9 natural affection for goodness must go on ad libitum unto

the third and fourth and final generation of those who

love God and keep His commandments. Hence the

following is an amendment of the paragraph on page 47 (1)

of "Retrospection and Introspection": -

Any student, having received instructions in a Primary

15 class from me, or from a loyal student of Christian Science,

and afterwards studied thoroughly "Science and Health

with Key to the Scriptures," can enter upon the gospel

18 work of teaching Christian Science, and so fulfil the com-

mand of Christ. Before entering this sacred field of labor,

the student must have studied faithfully the latest edi-

21 tions of my works, and be a good Bible scholar and a

devout, consecrated Christian.

These are the indispensable demands on all those who

become teachers.

UNSEEN SIN

Two points of danger beset mankind; namely, making

sin seem either too large or too little: if too large, we

(1) See edition of 1909.

Page 319

1 are in the darkness of all the ages, wherein the true sense

of the unity of good and the unreality of evil is lost.

3 If good is God, even as God is good, then good and

evil can neither be coeval nor coequal, for God is All-in-

all. This closes the argument of aught besides Him, aught

else than good.

If the sense of sin is too little, mortals are in danger

of not seeing their own belief in sin, but of seeing too

9 keenly their neighbor's. Then they are beset with

egotism and hypocrisy. Here Christian Scientists must

be most watchful. Their habit of mental and audible

12 protest against the reality of sin, tends to make sin less

or more to them than to other people. They must either

be overcoming sin in themselves, or they must not lose

sight of sin; else they are self-deceived sinners of the

worst sort.

A WORD TO THE WISE

18 Will all the dear Christian Scientists accept my tender

greetings for the forthcoming holidays, and grant me

this request, - let the present season pass without one

gift to me.

Our church edifice must be built in 1894. Take thither

thy saintly offerings, and lay them in the outstretched

24 hand of God. The object to be won affords ample oppor-

tunity for the grandest achievement to which Christian

Scientists can direct attention, and feel themselves alone

among the stars.

No doubt must intervene between the promise and

event; faith and resolve are friends to Truth; seize them,

Page 320

trust the divine Providence, push upward our prayer in

stone, - and God will give the benediction.

CHRISTMAS

This interesting day, crowned with the history of

Truth's idea, - its earthly advent and nativity, - is

6 especially dear to the heart of Christian Scientists; to

whom Christ's appearing in a fuller sense is so precious,

and fraught with divine benedictions for mankind.

9 The star that looked lovingly down on the manger of

our Lord, lends its resplendent light to this hour: the

light of Truth, to cheer, guide, and bless man as he

12 reaches forth for the infant idea of divine perfection

dawning upon human imperfection, - that calms man's

fears, bears his burdens, beckons him on to Truth and

Love and the sweet immunity these bring from sin, sick-

ness, and death.

This polar star, fixed in the heavens of divine Science,

18 shall be the sign of his appearing who "healeth all our

diseases;" it hath traversed night, wading through

darkness and gloom, on to glory. It doth meet the

antagonism of error; addressing to dull ears and undis-

ciplined beliefs words of Truth and Life.

The star of Bethlehem is the star of Boston, high in

24 the zenith of Truth's domain, that looketh down on the

long night of human beliefs, to pierce the darkness and

melt into dawn.

27 The star of Bethlehem is the light of all ages; is the

light of Love, to-day christening religion undefiled, divine

Science; giving to it a new name, and the white stone in

token of purity and permanence.

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1 The wise men follow this guiding star; the watchful

shepherd chants his welcome over the cradle of a great

3 truth, and saith, "Unto us a child is born," whose birth

is less of a miracle than eighteen centuries ago; and "his

name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty

God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

My heart is filled with joy, that each receding year sees

the steady gain of Truth's idea in Christian Science; that

9 each recurring year witnesses the balance adjusted more

on the side of God, the supremacy of Spirit; as shown

by the triumphs of Truth over error, of health over sick-

ness, of Life over death, and of Soul over sense.

"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor-

shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."

15 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made

me free from the law of sin and death." "Fear not, little

flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you

the kingdom."

Press on, press on! ye sons of light,

Untiring in your holy fight,

Still treading each temptation down,

And battling for a brighter crown.

CARD

24 In reply to all invitations from Chicago to share the

hospitality of their beautiful homes at any time during

the great wonder of the world, the World's Fair, I say,

Do not expect me. I have no desire to see or to hear

what is to be offered upon this approaching occasion.

I have a world of wisdom and Love to contemplate,

that concerns me, and you, infinitely beyond all earthly

Page 322

1 expositions or exhibitions. In return for your kindness,

I earnestly invite you to its contemplation with me, and

to preparation to behold it.

MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER CHURCH

Beloved Brethren: - People coming from a distance

6 expecting to hear me speak in The Mother Church,

are frequently disappointed. To avoid this, I may here-

after notify the Directors when I shall be present to

9 address this congregation, and the Clerk of the church

can inform correspondents. Your dual and impersonal

pastor, the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key to

12 the Scriptures," is with you; and the Life these give, the

Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is

the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth

15 them "beside the still waters." By any personal pres-

ence, or word of mine, your thought must not be diverted

or diverged, your senses satisfied, or self be justified.

18 Therefore, beloved, my often-coming is unnecessary;

for, though I be present or absent, it is God that feed-

eth the hungry heart, that giveth grace for grace, that

21 healeth the sick and cleanseth the sinner. For this

consummation He hath given you Christian Science,

and my past poor labors and love. He hath shown you

24 the amplitude of His mercy, the justice of His judgment,

the omnipotence of His love; and this, to compensate

your zealous affection for seeking good, and for labor-

ing in its widening grooves from the infinitesimal to the

infinite.

Page 323

CHAPTER IX - THE FRUIT OF SPIRIT

AN ALLEGORY

PICTURE to yourself "a city set upon a hill," a

3 celestial city above all clouds, in serene azure and

unfathomable glory: having no temple therein, for God is

the temple thereof; nor need of the sun, neither of the

6 moon, for God doth lighten it. Then from this sacred

summit behold a Stranger wending his way downward,

to where a few laborers in a valley at the foot of the moun-

tain are working and watching for his coming.

The descent and ascent are beset with peril, priva-

tion, temptation, toil, suffering. Venomous serpents hide

12 among the rocks, beasts of prey prowl in the path, wolves

in sheep's clothing are ready to devour; but the Stranger

meets and masters their secret and open attacks with

serene confidence.

The Stranger eventually stands in the valley at the

foot of the mountain. He saith unto the patient toilers

18 therein: "What do ye here? Would ye ascend the moun-

tain, - climbing its rough cliffs, hushing the hissing

serpents, taming the beasts of prey, -and bathe in its

21 streams, rest in its cool grottos, and drink from its living

fountains? The way winds and widens in the valley;

up the hill it is straight and narrow, and few there be that

find it."

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1 His converse with the watchers and workers in the

valley closes, and he makes his way into the streets of a

city made with hands.

Pausing at the threshold of a palatial dwelling, he

knocks and waits. The door is shut. He hears the

6 sounds of festivity and mirth; youth, manhood, and age

gayly tread the gorgeously tapestried parlors, dancing-

halls, and banquet-rooms. But a little while, and the

9 music is dull, the wine is unsipped, the footfalls abate,

the laughter ceases. Then from the window of this dwel-

ling a face looks out, anxiously surveying him who waiteth

at the door.

Within this mortal mansion are adulterers, fornicators,

idolaters; drunkenness, witchcraft, variance, envy, emu-

15 lation, hatred, wrath, murder. Appetites and passions

have so dimmed their sight that he alone who looks from

that dwelling, through the clearer pane of his own heart

tired of sin, can see the Stranger.

Startled beyond measure at beholding him, this mortal

inmate withdraws; but growing more and more troubled,

21 he seeks to leave the odious company and the cruel walls,

and to find the Stranger. Stealing cautiously away from

his comrades, he departs; then turns back, - he is afraid

24 to go on and to meet the Stranger. So he returns to the

house, only to find the lights all wasted and the music

fled. Finding no happiness within, he rushes again

27 into the lonely streets, seeking peace but finding none.

Naked, hungry, athirst, this time he struggles on, and

at length reaches the pleasant path of the valley at the

foot of the mountain, whence he may hopefully look for

the reappearance of the Stranger, and receive his heavenly

guidance.

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1 The Stranger enters a massive carved stone mansion,

and saith unto the dwellers therein, "Blessed are the

poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." But

they understand not his saying.

These are believers of different sects, and of no sect;

6 some, so-called Christian Scientists in sheep's clothing;

and all "drunken without wine." They have small con-

ceptions of spiritual riches, few cravings for the immortal,

9 but are puffed up with the applause of the world: they

have plenty of pelf, and fear not to fall upon the Stranger,

seize his pearls, throw them away, and afterwards try to

kill him.

Somewhat disheartened, he patiently seeks another

dwelling, - only to find its inmates asleep at noontide!

15 Robust forms, with manly brow nodding on cushioned

chairs, their feet resting on footstools, or, flat on their

backs, lie stretched on the floor, dreaming away the

18 hours. Balancing on one foot, with eyes half open,

the porter starts up in blank amazement and looks at

the Stranger, calls out, rubs his eyes, - amazed beyond

measure that anybody is animated with a purpose, and

seen working for it!

They in this house are those that "provoke Him in

24 the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert." Away

from this charnel-house of the so-called living, the Stranger

turns quickly, and wipes off the dust from his feet as a

27 testimony against sensualism in its myriad forms. As

he departs, he sees robbers finding ready ingress to that

dwelling of sleepers in the midst of murderous hordes,

without watchers and the doors unbarred!

Next he enters a place of worship, and saith unto them,

"Go ye into all the world; preach the gospel, heal the

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1 sick, cast out devils, raise the dead; for the Scripture

saith the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath

made you free from the law of sin and death." And they

cast him out.

Once more he seeks the dwelling-place of mortals and

6 knocks loudly. The door is burst open, and sufferers

shriek for help: that house is on fire! The flames caught

in the dwelling of luxury, where the blind saw them not,

9 but the flesh at length did feel them; thence they spread

to the house of slumberers who heeded them not, until

they became unmanageable; fed by the fat of hypocrisy

12 and vainglory, they consumed the next dwelling; then

crept unseen into the synagogue, licking up the blood

of martyrs and wrapping their altars in ruins. "God is a

consuming fire."

Thus are all mortals, under every hue of circumstances,

driven out of their houses of clay and, homeless wan-

18 derers in a beleaguered city, forced to seek the Father's

house, if they would be led to the valley and up the

mount.

21 Seeing the wisdom of withdrawing from those who

persistently rejected him, the Stranger returned to the

valley; first, to meet with joy his own, to wash their

24 feet, and take them up the mountain. Well might this

heavenly messenger exclaim, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which

are sent unto thee, . . . Behold, your house is left unto

you desolate."

Discerning in his path the penitent one who had groped

his way from the dwelling of luxury, the Stranger saith

unto him, "Wherefore comest thou hither?"

He answered, "The sight of thee unveiled my sins, and

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1 turned my misnamed joys to sorrow. When I went back

into the house to take something out of it, my misery

3 increased; so I came hither, hoping that I might follow

thee whithersoever thou goest."

And the Stranger saith unto him, "Wilt thou climb

the mountain, and take nothing of thine own with thee?"

He answered, "I will."

"Then," saith the Stranger, "thou hast chosen the

9 good part; follow me."

Many there were who had entered the valley to specu-

late in worldly policy, religion, politics, finance, and to

12 search for wealth and fame. These had heavy baggage

of their own, and insisted upon taking all of it with them,

which must greatly hinder their ascent.

15 The journey commences. The encumbered travellers

halt and disagree. They stoutly belay those who, hav-

ing less baggage, ascend faster than themselves, and

18 betimes burden them with their own. Despairing of

gaining the summit, loaded as they are, they conclude to

stop and lay down a few of the heavy weights, - but

only to take them up again, more than ever determined

not to part with their baggage.

All this time the Stranger is pointing the way, show-

24 ing them their folly, rebuking their pride, consoling their

afflictions, and helping them on, saying, "He that loseth

his life for my sake, shall find it."

27 Obstinately holding themselves back, and sore-footed,

they fall behind and lose sight of their guide; when,

stumbling and grumbling, and fighting each other, they

plunge headlong over the jagged rocks.

Then he who has no baggage goes back and kindly

binds up their wounds, wipes away the blood stains, and

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1 would help them on; but suddenly the Stranger shouts,

"Let them alone; they must learn from the things they

3 suffer. Make thine own way; and if thou strayest, listen

for the mountain-horn, and it will call thee back to the

path that goeth upward."

6 Dear reader, dost thou suspect that the valley is hu-

mility, that the mountain is heaven-crowned Christianity,

and the Stranger the ever-present Christ, the spiritual

9 idea which from the summit of bliss surveys the vale of

the flesh, to burst the bubbles of earth with a breath of

heaven, and acquaint sensual mortals with the mystery

12 of godliness, - unchanging, unquenchable Love? Hast

not thou heard this Christ knock at the door of thine own

heart, and closed it against Truth, to "eat and drink

15 with the drunken"? Hast thou been driven by suffer-

ing to the foot of the mount, but earth-bound, burdened

by pride, sin, and self, hast thou turned back, stumbled,

18 and wandered away? Or hast thou tarried in the habita-

tion of the senses, pleased and stupefied, until wakened

through the baptism of fire?

21 He alone ascends the hill of Christian Science who

follows the Way-shower, the spiritual presence and idea

of God. Whatever obstructs the way, - causing to

24 stumble, fall, or faint, those mortals who are striving

to enter the path, - divine Love will remove; and up-

lift the fallen and strengthen the weak. Therefore, give

27 up thy earth-weights; and observe the apostle's admoni-

tion, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and

reaching forth unto those which are before." Then,

loving God supremely and thy neighbor as thyself, thou

wilt safely bear thy cross up to the throne of everlasting

glory.

Page 329

VOICES OF SPRING

Mine is an obstinate penchant for nature in all her

3 moods and forms, a satisfaction with whatever is hers.

And what shall this be named, a weakness, or a -

virtue?

6 In spring, nature like a thrifty housewife sets the earth

in order; and between taking up the white carpets and

putting down the green ones, her various apartments are

dismally dirty.

Spring is my sweetheart, whose voices are sad or glad,

even as the heart may be; restoring in memory the sweet

rhythm of unforgotten harmonies, or touching tenderly

its tearful tones.

Spring passes over mountain and meadow, waking up

15 the world; weaving the wavy grass, nursing the timid

spray, stirring the soft breeze; rippling all nature in

ceaseless flow, with "breath all odor and cheek all bloom."

18 Whatever else droops, spring is gay: her little feet trip

lightly on, turning up the daisies, paddling the water-

cresses, rocking the oriole's cradle; challenging the sed-

21 entary shadows to activity, and the streams to race for the

sea. Her dainty fingers put the fur cap on pussy-willow,

paint in pink the petals of arbutus, and sweep in soft

24 strains her Orphean lyre. "The voice of the turtle is

heard in our land." The snow-bird that tarried through

the storm, now chirps to the breeze; the cuckoo sounds

27 her invisible lute, calling the feathered tribe back to their

summer homes. Old robin, though stricken to the heart

with winter's snow, prophesies of fair earth and sunny

skies. The brooklet sings melting murmurs to merry

Page 330

1 meadows; the leaves clap their hands, and the winds

make melody through dark pine groves.

What is the anthem of human life?

Has love ceased to moan over the new-made grave,

and, looking upward, does it patiently pray for the per-

6 petual springtide wherein no arrow wounds the dove?

Human hope and faith should join in nature's grand har-

mony, and, if on minor key, make music in the heart.

9 And man, more friendly, should call his race as gently

to the springtide of Christ's dear love. St. Paul wrote,

"Rejoice in the Lord always." And why not, since man's

possibilities are infinite, bliss is eternal, and the conscious-

ness thereof is here and now?

The alders bend over the streams to shake out their

15 tresses in the water-mirrors; let mortals bow before the

creator, and, looking through Love's transparency, behold

man in God's own image and likeness, arranging in the

18 beauty of holiness each budding thought. It is good to

talk with our past hours, and learn what report they

bear, and how they might have reported more spirit-

21 ual growth. With each returning year, higher joys,

holier aims, a purer peace and diviner energy, should

freshen the fragrance of being. Nature's first and last

24 lessons teach man to be kind, and even pride should

sanction what our natures need. Popularity, - what is

it? A mere mendicant that boasts and begs, and God

denies charity.

When gentle violet lifts its blue eye to heaven, and

crown imperial unveils its regal splendor to the sun;

when the modest grass, inhabiting the whole earth, stoops

meekly before the blast; when the patient corn waits

on the elements to put forth its slender blade, construct

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1 the stalk, instruct the ear, and crown the full corn in the

ear, - then, are mortals looking up, waiting on God,

3 and committing their way unto Him who tosses earth's

mass of wonders into their hands? When downtrodden

like the grass, did it make them humble, loving, obedi-

6 ent, full of good odor, and cause them to wait patiently

on God for man's rich heritage, - "dominion over all

the earth"? Thus abiding in Truth, the warmth and

9 sunlight of prayer and praise and understanding will

ripen the fruits of Spirit, and goodness will have its spring-

tide of freedom and greatness.

12 When the white-winged dove feeds her callow brood,

nestles them under her wings, and, in tones tremulous

with tenderness, calls them to her breast, do mortals

15 remember their cradle hymns, and thank God for those

redemptive words from a mother's lips which taught

them the Lord's Prayer?

18 O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;

O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour;

Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!

21 Keep Thou my child on upward wing to-night.

Midst the falling leaves of old-time faiths, above the

frozen crust of creed and dogma, the divine Mind-force,

24 filling all space and having all power, upheaves the earth.

In sacred solitude divine Science evolved nature as thought,

and thought as things. This supreme potential Principle

reigns in the realm of the real, and is "God with us,"

the I AM.

As mortals awake from their dream of material sen-

sation, this adorable, all-inclusive God, and all earth's

hieroglyphics of Love, are understood; and infinite Mind

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1 is seen kindling the stars, rolling the worlds, reflecting

all space and Life, - but not life in matter. Wisely

3 governing, informing the universe, this Mind is Truth, -

not laws of matter. Infinitely just, merciful, and wise,

this Mind is Love, - but not fallible love.

6 Spring is here! and doors that closed on Christian

Science in "the long winter of our discontent," are open

flung. Its seedtime has come to enrich earth and en-

robe man in righteousness; may its sober-suited autumn

follow with hues of heaven, ripened sheaves, and harvest

songs.

"WHERE ART THOU?"

In the allegory of Genesis, third chapter and ninth

verse, two mortals, walking in the cool of the day midst

15 the stately palms, many-hued blossoms, perfume-laden

breezes, and crystal streams of the Orient, pondered the

things of man and God.

18 A sense of evil is supposed to have spoken, been listened

to, and afterwards to have formed an evil sense that

blinded the eyes of reason, masked with deformity the

glories of revelation, and shamed the face of mortals.

What was this sense? Error versus Truth: first, a

supposition; second, a false belief; third, suffering;

24 fourth, death.

Is man the supposer, false believer, sufferer?

Not man, but a mortal - the antipode of immortal

27 man. Supposing, false believing, suffering are not fac-

ulties of Mind, but are qualities of error.

The supposition is, that God and His idea are not all-

power; that there is something besides Him; that this

Page 333

1 something is intelligent matter; that sin - yea, self-

hood - is apart from God, where pleasure and pain,

3 good and evil, life and death, commingle, and are for-

ever at strife; even that every ray of Truth, of infinity,

omnipotence, omnipresence, goodness, could be absorbed

6 in error! God cannot be obscured, and this renders error

a palpable falsity, yea, nothingness; on the basis that

black is not a color because it absorbs all the rays of

light.

The "Alpha and Omega" of Christian Science voices

this question: Where do we hold intelligence to be? Is

12 it in both evil and good, in matter as well as Spirit?

If so, we are literally and practically denying that God,

good, is supreme, all power and presence, and are turn-

ing away from the only living and true God, to "lords

many and gods many."

Where art thou, O mortal! who turnest away from

18 the divine source of being, - calling on matter to work

out the problem of Mind, to aid in understanding and

securing the sweet harmonies of Spirit that relate to the

universe, including man?

Paul asked: "What communion hath light with dark-

ness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?" The

24 worshippers of Baal worshipped the sun. They believed

that something besides God had authority and power,

could heal and bless; that God wrought through matter

27 - by means of that which does not reflect Him in a single

quality or quantity! - the grand realities of Mind, thus

to exemplify the power of Truth and Love.

The ancient Chaldee hung his destiny out upon the

heavens; but ancient or modern Christians, instructed in

divine Science, know that the prophet better understood

Page 334

1 Him who said: "He doeth according to His will in the

army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth;

and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest

Thou?"

Astrology is well in its place, but this place is second-

6 ary. Necromancy has no foundation, - in fact, no

intelligence; and the belief that it has, deceives itself.

Whatever simulates power and Truth in matter, does this

9 as a lie declaring itself, that mortals' faith in matter may

have the effect of power; but when the whole fabrication

is found to be a lie, away goes all its supposed power and

prestige.

Why do Christian Scientists treat disease as disease,

since there is no disease?

15 This is done only as one gives the lie to a lie; because

it is a lie, without one word of Truth in it. You must

find error to be nothing: then, and only then, do you

18 handle it in Science. The diabolism of suppositional

evil at work in the name of good, is a lie of the highest

degree of nothingness: just reduce this falsity to its proper

denomination, and you have done with it.

How shall we treat a negation, or error - by means

of matter, or Mind? Is matter Truth? No! Then it

cannot antidote error.

Can belief destroy belief? No: understanding is re-

quired to do this. By the substitution of Truth demon-

strated, Science remedies the ills of material beliefs.

Because I have uncovered evil, and dis-covered for

you divine Science, which saith, "Be not overcome of

evil, but overcome evil with good," and you have not

loved sufficiently to understand this Golden Rule and

demonstrate the might of perfect Love that casteth out

Page 335

1 all fear, shall you turn away from this divine Principle

to graven images? Remember the Scripture: -

"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart,

My lord delayeth his coming;

"And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to

eat and drink with the drunken;

"The lord of that servant shall come in a day when

he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not

aware of,

"And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his por-

tion with the hypocrites."

12 One mercilessly assails me for opposing the subtle lie,

others charge upon me with full-fledged invective for, as

they say, having too much charity; but neither moves

me from the path made luminous by divine Love.

In my public works I lay bare the ability, in belief, of

evil to break the Decalogue, - to murder, steal, commit

18 adultery, and so on. Those who deny my wisdom or

right to expose error, are either willing participants in

wrong, afraid of its supposed power, or ignorant of it.

21 The notion that one is covering iniquity by asserting

its nothingness, is a fault of zealots, who, like Peter,

sleep when the Watcher bids them watch, and when the

24 hour of trial comes would cut off somebody's ears. Such

people say, "Would you have me get out of a burning

house, or stay in it?"

27 I would have you already out, and know that you are

out; also, to remember the Scripture concerning those

who do evil that good may come, - "whose damnation

is just;" and that whoso departeth from divine Science,

seeking power or good aside from God, has done himself

harm.

Page 336

1 Mind is supreme: Love is the master of hate; Truth,

the victor over a lie. Hath not Science voiced this les-

3 son to you, - that evil is powerless, that a lie is never

true? It is your province to wrestle with error, to handle

the serpent and bruise its head; but you cannot, as a

Christian Scientist, resort to stones and clubs,-yea, to

matter, - to kill the serpent of a material mind.

Do you love that which represents God most, His high-

est idea as seen to-day? No!

Then you would hate Jesus if you saw him personally,

and knew your right obligations towards him. He would

12 insist on the rule and demonstration of divine Science:

even that you first cast out your own dislike and hatred

of God's idea, - the beam in your own eye that hinders

15 your seeing clearly how to cast the mote of evil out of

other eyes. You cannot demonstrate the Principle of

Christian Science and not love its idea: we gather not

grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.

Where art thou?

DIVINE SCIENCE

21 What is it but another name for Christian Science,

the cognomen of all true religion, the quintessence of

Christianity, that heals disease and sin and destroys

24 death! Part and parcel of Truth and Love, wherever

one ray of its effulgence looks in upon the heart, behold

a better man, woman, or child.

27 Science is the fiat of divine intelligence, which, hoary

with eternity, touches time only to take away its frailty.

That it rests on everlasting foundations, the sequence

proves.

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1 Have I discovered and founded at this period Chris-

tian Science, that which reveals the truth of Love, - is

the question.

And how can you be certain of so momentous an

affirmative? By proving its effect on yourself to be -

divine.

What is the Principle and rule of Christian Science?

Infinite query! Wonder in heaven and on earth, -

9 who shall say? The immaculate Son of the Blessed

has spoken of them as the Golden Rule and its Principle,

God who is Love. Listen, and he illustrates the rule:

12 "Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the

midst of them, and said, . . . Whosoever . . . shall

humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest

in the kingdom of heaven."

Harmony is heaven. Science brings out harmony;

but this harmony is not understood unless it produces a

18 growing affection for all good, and consequent disaffec-

tion for all evil, hypocrisy, evil-speaking, lust, envy, hate.

Where these exist, Christian Science has no sure foot-

21 hold: they obscure its divine element, and thus seem

to extinguish it. Even the life of Jesus was belittled

and belied by personalities possessing these defacing de-

24 formities. Only the devout Marys, and such as lived

according to his precepts, understood the concrete char-

acter of him who taught - by the wayside, in humble

homes, to itching ears and to dull disciples - the words

of Life.

The ineffable Life and light which he reflected through

divine Science is again reproduced in the character which

sensualism, as heretofore, would hide or besmear. Sin

of any sort tends to hide from an individual this grand

Page 338

1 verity in Science, that the appearing of good in an in-

dividual involves the disappearing of evil. He who first

3 brings to humanity some great good, must have gained

its height beforehand, to be able to lift others toward

it. I first proved to myself, not by "words," - these

6 afford no proof, - but by demonstration of Christian

Science, that its Principle is divine. All must go and do

likewise.

9 Faith illumined by works; the spiritual understanding

which cannot choose but to labor and love; hope hold-

ing steadfastly to good in the midst of seething evil;

12 charity that suffereth long and is kind, but cancels not

sin until it be destroyed, - these afford the only rule I

have found which demonstrates Christian Science.

15 And remember, a pure faith in humanity will subject

one to deception; the uses of good, to abuses from evil;

and calm strength will enrage evil. But the very heavens

18 shall laugh at them, and move majestically to your de-

fense when the armies of earth press hard upon you.

"Thou must be true thyself,

21 If thou the truth wouldst teach;

Thy soul must overflow, if thou

Another's soul wouldst reach;

It needs the overflow of heart,

To give the lips full speech.

"Think truly, and thy thoughts

27 Shall the world's famine feed;

Speak truly, and each word of thine

Shall be a fruitful seed;

Live truly, and thy life shall be

A great and noble creed."

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FIDELITY

If people would confine their talk to subjects that are

3 profitable, that which St. John informs us took place

once in heaven, would happen very frequently on earth,

- silence for the space of half an hour.

6 Experience is victor, never the vanquished; and out

of defeat comes the secret of victory. That to-morrow

starts from to-day and is one day beyond it, robes the

future with hope's rainbow hues.

In the battle of life, good is made more industrious

and persistent because of the supposed activity of evil.

12 The elbowing of the crowd plants our feet more firmly.

In the mental collisions of mortals and the strain of in-

tellectual wrestlings, moral tension is tested, and, if it

15 yields not, grows stronger. The past admonishes us:

with finger grim and cold it points to every mortal mistake;

or smiling saith, "Thou hast been faithful over a few

things."

Art thou a child, and hast added one furrow to the

brow of care? Art thou a husband, and hast pierced

21 the heart venturing its all of happiness to thy keeping?

Art thou a wife, and hast bowed the o'erburdened head

of thy husband? Hast thou a friend, and forgettest to be

24 grateful? Remember, that for all this thou alone canst

and must atone. Carelessly or remorselessly thou mayest

have sent along the ocean of events a wave that will some

time flood thy memory, surge dolefully at the door of con-

science, and pour forth the unavailing tear.

Change and the grave may part us; the wisdom that

might have blessed the past may come too late. One

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1 backward step, one relinquishment of right in an evil

hour, one faithless tarrying, has torn the laurel from many

a brow and repose from many a heart. Good is never

the reward of evil, and vice versa.

There is no excellence without labor; and the time to

6 work, is now. Only by persistent, unremitting, straight-

forward toil; by turning neither to the right nor to the

left, seeking no other pursuit or pleasure than that which

cometh from God, can you win and wear the crown of the

faithful.

That law-school is not at fault which sends forth a

12 barrister who never brings out a brief. Why? Because

he followed agriculture instead of litigation, forsook

Blackstone for gray stone, dug into soils instead of delv-

15 ing into suits, raised potatoes instead of pleas, and drew

up logs instead of leases. He has not been faithful over

a few things.

18 Is a musician made by his teacher? He makes him-

self a musician by practising what he was taught. The

conscientious are successful. They follow faithfully;

21 through evil or through good report, they work on to the

achievement of good; by patience, they inherit the prom-

ise. Be active, and, however slow, thy success is sure:

toil is triumph; and - thou hast been faithful over a few

things.

The lives of great men and women are miracles of pa-

27 tience and perseverance. Every luminary in the constel-

lation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in

the darkness to shine with the reflected light of God.

Material philosophy, human ethics, scholastic theology,

and physics have not sufficiently enlightened mankind.

Human wrong, sickness, sin, and death still appear in

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1 mortal belief, and they never bring out the right action

of mind or body. When will the whole human race have

3 one God, - an undivided affection that leaves the unreal

material basis of things, for the spiritual foundation and

superstructure that is real, right, and eternal?

6 First purify thought, then put thought into words,

and words into deeds; and after much slipping and

clambering, you will go up the scale of Science to the

9 second rule, and be made ruler over many things. Fidelity

finds its reward and its strength in exalted purpose. Seek-

ing is not sufficient whereby to arrive at the results of

Science: you must strive; and the glory of the strife

comes of honesty and humility.

Do human hopes deceive? is joy a trembler? Then,

15 weary pilgrim, unloose the latchet of thy sandals; for the

place whereon thou standest is sacred. By that, you may

know you are parting with a material sense of life and

18 happiness to win the spiritual sense of good. O learn to

lose with God! and you find Life eternal: you gain all.

To doubt this is implicit treason to divine decree.

21 The parable of "the ten virgins" serves to illustrate

the evil of inaction and delay. This parable is drawn

from the sad history of Vesta, - a little girl of eight

24 years, who takes the most solemn vow of celibacy for thirty

years, and is subject to terrible torture if the lamp she

tends is not replenished with oil day and night, so that the

flame never expires. The moral of the parable is pointed,

and the diction purely Oriental.

We learn from this parable that neither the cares of

this world nor the so-called pleasures or pains of mate-

rial sense are adequate to plead for the neglect of spiritual

light, that must be tended to keep aglow the flame of

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1 devotion whereby to enter into the joy of divine Science

demonstrated.

3 The foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps: their

way was material; thus they were in doubt and dark-

ness. They heeded not their sloth, their fading warmth

6 of action; hence the steady decline of spiritual light,

until, the midnight gloom upon them, they must borrow

the better-tended lamps of the faithful. By entering

9 the guest-chamber of Truth, and beholding the bridal

of Life and Love, they would be wedded to a higher

understanding of God. Each moment's fair expect-

ancy was to behold the bridegroom, the One "altogether

lovely."

It was midnight: darkness profound brooded over

15 earth's lazy sleepers. With no oil in their lamps, no

spiritual illumination to look upon him whom they had

pierced, they heard the shout, "The bridegroom cometh!"

18 But how could they behold him? Hear that human

cry: "Oh, lend us your oil! our lamps have gone out,

- no light! earth's fables flee, and heaven is afar

off."

The door is shut. The wise virgins had no oil to spare,

and they said to the foolish, "Go to them that sell, and

24 buy for yourselves." Seek Truth, and pursue it. It should

cost you something: you are willing to pay for error

and receive nothing in return; but if you pay the price of

Truth, you shall receive all.

"The children of this world are in their generation

wiser than the children of light;" they watch the market,

acquaint themselves with the etiquette of the exchange,

and are ready for the next move. How much more should

we be faithful over the few things of Spirit, that are able

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1 to make us wise unto salvation! Let us watch and pray

that we enter not into the temptation of ease in sin; and

3 let us not forget that others before us have laid upon the

altar all that we have to sacrifice, and have passed to

their reward. Too soon we cannot turn from disease

6 in the body to find disease in the mortal mind, and its cure,

in working for God. Thought must be made better, and

human life more fruitful, for the divine energy to move

it onward and upward.

Warmed by the sunshine of Truth, watered by the

heavenly dews of Love, the fruits of Christian Science

12 spring upward, and away from the sordid soil of self and

matter. Are we clearing the gardens of thought by up-

rooting the noxious weeds of passion, malice, envy, and

15 strife? Are we picking away the cold, hard pebbles of

selfishness, uncovering the secrets of sin and burnishing

anew the hidden gems of Love, that their pure perfection

shall appear? Are we feeling the vernal freshness and

sunshine of enlightened faith?

The weeds of mortal mind are not always destroyed

21 by the first uprooting; they reappear, like devastating

witch-grass, to choke the coming clover. O stupid gar-

dener ! watch their reappearing, and tear them away from

their native soil, until no seedling be left to propagate -

and rot.

Among the manifold soft chimes that will fill the haunted

chambers of memory, this is the sweetest: "Thou hast

been faithful !"

Page 344

TRUE PHILOSOPHY AND COMMUNION

It is related of Justin Martyr that, hearing of a Pythag-

3 orean professor of ethics, he expressed the wish to be-

come one of his disciples. "Very well," the teacher

replied; "but have you studied music, astronomy, and

6 geometry, and do you think it possible for you to under-

stand aught of that which leads to bliss, without hav-

ing mastered the sciences that disengage the soul from

9 objects of sense, so rendering it a fit habitation for

the intelligences?" On Justin's confessing that he had

not studied those branches, he was dismissed by the

professor.

Alas for such a material science of life! Of what

avail would geometry be to a poor sinner struggling with

temptation, or to a man with the smallpox?

Ancient and modern philosophies are spoiled by lack

of Science. They would place Soul wholly inside of body,

18 intelligence in matter; and from error of premise would

seek a correct conclusion. Such philosophy can never

demonstrate the Science of Life, - the Science which

21 Paul understood when he spoke of willingness "to be

absent from the body, and present with the Lord." Such

philosophy is far from the rules of the mighty Nazarene

24 Prophet. His words, living in our hearts, were these:

"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as

a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." Not through

astronomy did he point out the way to heaven and the

reign of harmony.

We need the spirit of St. Paul, when he stood on Mars'

hill at Athens, bringing Christianity for the first time

Page 345

1 into Europe. The Spirit bestows spiritual gifts, God's

presence and providence. St. Paul stood where Socrates

3 had stood four hundred years before, defending himself

against the charge of atheism; in the place where De-

mosthenes had pleaded for freedom in immortal strains

of eloquence.

We need the spirit of the pious Polycarp, who, when

the proconsul said to him, "I will set the beasts upon

9 you, unless you yield your religion," replied: "Let them

come; I cannot change from good to bad." Then they

bound him to the stake, set fire to the fagots, and his

pure and strong faith rose higher through the baptism

of flame.

Methinks the infidel was blind who said, "Christianity

15 is fit only for women and weak men;" but even infidels

may disagree. Bonaparte declared, "Ever since the

reign of Christianity began the loftiest intellects have had

18 a practical faith in God." Daniel Webster said, "My

heart has always assured and reassured me that Chris-

tianity must be a divine reality."

21 To turn the popular indignation against an advanced

form of religion, the pagan slanderers affirmed that

Christians took their infants to a place of worship in

24 order to offer them in sacrifice, - a baptism not of

water but of blood, thus distorting or misapprehending

the purpose of Christian sacraments. Christians met

27 in midnight feasts in the early days, and talked of the

crucified Saviour; thence arose the rumor that it was

a part of Christian worship to kill and eat a human

being.

Really, Christianity turned men away from the thought

of fleshly sacrifice, and directed them to spiritual attain-

Page 346

1 ments. Life, not death, was and is the very centre of

its faith. Christian Science carries this thought even

higher, and insists on the demonstration of moral and

spiritual healing as eminent proof that God is understood

and illustrated.

ORIGIN OF EVIL

The origin of evil is the problem of ages. It confronts

each generation anew. It confronts Christian Science.

The question is often asked, If God created only the

good, whence comes the evil?

To this question Christian Science replies: Evil never

12 did exist as an entity. It is but a belief that there is an

opposite intelligence to God. This belief is a species of

idolatry, and is not more true or real than that an image

graven on wood or stone is God.

The mortal admission of the reality of evil perpetuates

faith in evil; and the Scriptures declare that "to whom

18 ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye

are." This leading, self-evident proposition of Christian

Science, that, good being real, its opposite is necessarily

unreal, needs to be grasped in all its divine requirements.

TRUTH VERSUS ERROR

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures

of silver." It is a rule in Christian Science never to re-

peat error unless it becomes requisite to bring out Truth.

Then lift the curtain, let in the light, and countermand

Page 347

1 this first command of Solomon, "Answer not a fool accord-

ing to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him."

3 A distant rumbling and quivering of the earth foretell

the internal action of pent-up gas. To avoid danger from

this source people have to escape from their houses to the

6 open space. A conical cloud, hanging like a horoscope

in the air, foreshadows a cyclone. To escape from this

calamity people prepare shelter in caves of the earth.

9 They who discern the face of the skies cannot always

discern the mental signs of these times, and peer through

the opaque error. Where my vision begins and is clear,

theirs grows indistinct and ends.

There are diversities of operation by the same spirit.

Two individuals, with all the goodness of generous na-

15 tures, advise me. One says, Go this way; the other

says, Take the opposite direction! Between the two I

stand still; or, accepting the premonition of one of them,

18 I follow his counsel, take a few steps, then halt. A true

sense not unfamiliar has been awakened. I see the way

now. The guardians of His presence go before me. I

21 enter the path. It may be smooth, or it may be rugged;

but it is always straight and narrow; and if it be up-

hill all the way, the ascent is easy and the summit can

be gained.

God is responsible for the mission of those whom He

has anointed. Those who know no will but His take

His hand, and from the night He leads to light. None

can say unto Him, What doest Thou?

The Christian Science Journal was the oldest and

only authenticated organ of Christian Science up to

1898. Loyal Scientists are targets for envy, rivalry,

slander; and whoever hits this mark is well paid by the

Page 348

1 umpire. But the Scientists aim highest. They press for-

ward towards the mark of a high calling. They recog-

3 nize the claims of the law and the gospel. They know

that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. They

infringe neither the books nor the business of others; and

with hearts overflowing with love for God, they help on the

brotherhood of men. It is not mine but Thine they seek.

When God bids one uncover iniquity, in order to

9 exterminate it, one should lay it bare; and divine Love

will bless this endeavor and those whom it reaches.

"Nothing is hid that shall not be revealed."

12 It is only a question of time when God shall reveal His

rod, and show the plan of battle. Error, left to itself,

accumulates. Hence, Solomon's transverse command:

"Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in

his own conceit."

To quench the growing flames of falsehood, once in

18 about seven years I have to repeat this, - that I use no

drugs whatever, not even coffea (coffee), thea (tea), cap-

sicum (red pepper); though every day, and especially at

dinner, I indulge in homoeopathic doses of Natrum muri-

aticum (common salt).

When I found myself under this new régime of medi-

24 cine, the medicine of Mind, I wanted to satisfy my curi-

osity as to the effect of drugs on one who had lost all

faith in them. Hence I tried several doses of medicine,

and so proved to myself that drugs have no beneficial

effect on an individual in a proper state of mind.

I have by no means encouraged students of the Massa-

chusetts Metaphysical College to enter medical schools,

and afterwards denied this and objected to their entering

those schools. A student who consulted me on this sub-

Page 349

1 ject, received my consent and even the offer of pecuniary

assistance to take lessons outside of my College, provided

3 he received these lessons of a certain regular-school physi-

cian, whose instructions included about twelve lessons,

three weeks' time, and the surgical part of midwifery. I

6 have students with the degree of M. D., who are skilful

obstetricians. Such a course with such a teacher would

not necessitate essential materialization of a student's

thought, nor detract from the metaphysical mode of

obstetrics taught in my College.

This student had taken the above-named course in

12 obstetrics when he consulted me on the feasibility of enter-

ing a medical school; and to this I objected on the ground

that it was inconsistent with Christian Science, which he

15 claimed to be practising; but I was willing, and said

so, that, notwithstanding my objection, he should do as

he deemed best, for I claim no jurisdiction over any stu-

18 dents. He entered the medical school, and several other

students with him. My counsel to all of them was in

substance the same as the foregoing, and some of these

students have openly acknowledged this.

In answer to a question on the following subject, I

will state that I preached four years, and built up the

24 church, before I would accept the slightest remuneration.

When the church had sufficient members and means to

pay a salary, and refused to give me up or to receive my

27 gratuitous services, I accepted, for a time, fifteen dollars

each Sunday when I preached. I never received more

than this; and the contributions, when I preached,

doubled that amount. I have accepted no pay from my

church for about three years, and believe that I have

put into the church-fund about two thousand dollars of

Page 350

1 my own contributions. I hold receipts for $1,489.50 paid

in, and the balance was never receipted for.

3 I temporarily organized a secret society known as the

P. M., the workings whereof were not "terrible and too

shocking to relate." By and with advice of the very

6 student who brings up the question of this society, it

was formed. The P. M. (Private Meeting) Society met

only twice. The first subject given out for considera-

9 tion was this: "There is no Animal Magnetism." There

was no advice given, no mental work, and there were

no transactions at those meetings which I would hesi-

12 tate to have known. On the contrary, our deliberations

were, as usual, Christian, and like my public instruction.

The second P. M. convened in about one week from the

15 first. The subject given out at that meeting was, in sub-

stance, "God is All; there is none beside Him." This

proved to be our last meeting. I dissolved the society,

18 and we have not met since. If harm could come from

the consideration of these two topics, it was because of

the misconception of those subjects in the mind that

21 handled them. An individual state of mind sometimes

occasions effects on patients which are not in harmony

with Science and the soundness of the argument used.

Hence it prevents the normal action, and the benefit that

would otherwise accrue.

I issue no arguments, and cause none to be used in

27 mental practice, which consign people to suffering. On

the contrary, I cannot serve two masters; therefore I

teach the use of such arguments only as promote health

and spiritual growth. My life, consecrated to humanity

through nameless suffering and sacrifice, furnishes its

own proof of my practice.

Page 351

1 I have sometimes called on students to test their ability

and meet the mental malpractice, so as to lift the burdens

imposed by students.

The fact is, that for want of time, and for the purpose

of blessing even my enemies, I neglect myself. I never

6 have practised by arguments which, perverted, are the

weapons of the silent mental malpractice. I have no skill

in occultism; and I could not if I would, and would not

if I could, harm any one through the mental method of

Mind-healing, or in any manner.

The late much-ado-about-nothing arose solely from

12 mental malicious practice, and the audible falsehood

designed to stir up strife between brethren, for the purpose

of placing Christian Science in the hands of aspirants

15 for place and power. These repeated attempts of mad

ambition may retard our Cause, but they never can place

it in the wrong hands and hold it there, nor benefit

mankind by such endeavors.

FALLIBILITY OF HUMAN CONCEPTS

Evil counterfeits good: it says, "I am Truth," though

21 it is a lie; it says, "I am Love," - but Love is spirit-

ual, and sensuous love is material, wherefore it is hate

instead of Love; for the five senses give to mortals pain,

24 sickness, sin, and death, - pleasure that is false, life that

leads unto death, joy that becomes sorrow. Love that is

not the procurator of happiness, declares itself the anti-

27 pode of Love; and Love divine punishes the joys of this

false sense of love, chastens its affection, purifies it, and

turns it into the opposite channels.

Material life is the antipode of spiritual life; it mocks

Page 352

1 the bliss of spiritual being; it is bereft of permanence and

peace.

3 When human sense is quickened to behold aright the

error, - the error of regarding Life, Truth, Love as

material and not spiritual, or as both material and spir-

6 itual, - it is able for the first time to discern the Science

of good. But it must first see the error of its present

erroneous course, to be able to behold the facts of Truth

9 outside of the error; and, vice versa, when it discovers

the truth, this uncovers the error and quickens the true

consciousness of God, good. May the human shadows of

thought lengthen as they approach the light, until they

are lost in light and no night is there!

In Science, sickness is healed upon the same Principle

15 and by the same rule that sin is healed. To know the

supposed bodily belief of the patient and what has claimed

to produce it, enables the practitioner to act more under-

18 standingly in destroying this belief. Thus it is in heal-

ing the moral sickness; the malicious mental operation

must be understood in order to enable one to destroy

21 it and its effects. There is not sufficient spiritual power

in the human thought to heal the sick or the sinful.

Through the divine energies alone one must either get

24 out of himself and into God so far that his consciousness

is the reflection of the divine, or he must, through argu-

ment and the human consciousness of both evil and good,

overcome evil.

The only difference between the healing of sin and the

healing of sickness is, that sin must be uncovered before

it can be destroyed, and the moral sense be aroused to

reject the sense of error; while sickness must be cov-

ered with the veil of harmony, and the consciousness be

Page 353

1 allowed to rejoice in the sense that it has nothing to mourn

over, but something to forget.

3 Human concepts run in extremes; they are like the

action of sickness, which is either an excess of action or

not action enough; they are fallible; they are neither

standards nor models.

If one asks me, Is my concept of you right? I reply, The

human concept is always imperfect; relinquish your human

9 concept of me, or of any one, and find the divine, and you

have gained the right one - and never until then. People

give me too much attention of the misguided, fallible sort,

and this misrepresents one through malice or ignorance.

My brother was a manufacturer; and one day a work-

man in his mills, a practical joker, set a man who applied

15 for work, in the overseer's absence, to pour a bucket of

water every ten minutes on the regulator. When my

brother returned and saw it, he said to the jester, "You

18 must pay that man." Some people try to tend folks, as

if they should steer the regulator of mankind. God makes

us pay for tending the action that He adjusts.

21 The regulator is governed by the principle that makes

the machinery work rightly; and because it is thus gov-

erned, the folly of tending it is no mere jest. The divine

Principle carries on His harmony.

Now turn from the metaphor of the mill to the Mother's

four thousand children, most of whom, at about three

27 years of scientific age, setup housekeeping alone. Certain

students, being too much interested in themselves to think

of helping others, go their way. They do not love Mother,

but pretend to; they constantly go to her for help, interrupt

the home-harmony, criticise and disobey her; then "return

to their vomit," - world worship, pleasure seeking, and

Page 354

1 sense indulgence, - meantime declaring they "never dis-

obey Mother"! It exceeds my conception of human

3 nature. Sin in its very nature is marvellous ! Who but a

moral idiot, sanguine of success in sin, can steal, and lie

and lie, and lead the innocent to doom? History needs it,

and it has the grandeur of the loyal, self-forgetful, faith-

ful Christian Scientists to overbalance this foul stuff.

When the Mother's love can no longer promote peace

9 in the family, wisdom is not "justified of her children."

When depraved reason is preferred to revelation, error

to Truth, and evil to good, and sense seems sounder than

12 Soul, the children are tending the regulator; they are

indeed losing the knowledge of the divine Principle and

rules of Christian Science, whose fruits prove the nature

15 of their source. A little more grace, a motive made pure,

a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character

subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action

of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the move-

ment of body and soul in accord with God.

Instead of relying on the Principle of all that really

21 exists, - to govern His own creation, - self-conceit, igno-

rance, and pride would regulate God's action. Expe-

rience shows that humility is the first step in Christian

Science, wherein all is controlled, not by man or laws

material, but by wisdom, Truth, and Love.

Go gaze on the eagle, his eye on the sun,

27 Fast gathering strength for a flight well begun,

As rising he rests in a liberty higher

Than genius inflated with worldly desire.

30 No tear dims his eye, nor his pinions lose power

To gaze on the lark in her emerald bower -

Whenever he soareth to fashion his nest,

No vision more bright than the dream in his breast.

Page 355

THE WAY

The present stage of progress in Christian Science pre-

3 sents two opposite aspects, - a full-orbed promise, and

a gaunt want. The need, however, is not of the letter,

but the spirit.

6 Less teaching and good healing is to-day the acme of

"well done;" a healing that is not guesswork, - chronic

recovery ebbing and flowing, - but instantaneous cure.

9 This absolute demonstration of Science must be revived.

To consummate this desideratum, mortal mind must pass

through three stages of growth.

12 First, self-knowledge. The physician must know him-

self and understand the mental state of his patient. Error

found out is two-thirds destroyed, and the last third

15 pierces itself, for the remainder only stimulates and gives

scope to higher demonstration. To strike out right and

left against the mist, never clears the vision; but to lift

18 your head above it, is a sovereign panacea. Mental dark-

ness is senseless error, neither intelligence nor power, and

its victim is responsible for its supposititious presence.

21 "Cast the beam out of thine own eye." Learn what in

thine own mentality is unlike "the anointed," and cast

it out; then thou wilt discern the error in thy patient's

mind that makes his body sick, and remove it, and rest

like the dove from the deluge.

"Physician, heal thyself." Let no clouds of sin gather

27 and fall in mist and showers from thine own mental

atmosphere. Hold thy gaze to the light, and the iris of

faith, more beautiful than the rainbow seen from my

window at the close of a balmy autumnal day, will span

thy heavens of thought.

Page 356

1 A radiant sunset, beautiful as blessings when they take

their flight, dilates and kindles into rest. Thus will a

life corrected illumine its own atmosphere with spiritual

glow and understanding.

The pent-up elements of mortal mind need no terrible

6 detonation to free them. Envy, rivalry, hate need no

temporary indulgence that they be destroyed through

suffering; they should be stifled from lack of air and

freedom.

My students, with cultured intellects, chastened affec-

tions, and costly hopes, give promise of grand careers.

12 But they must remember that the seedtime is passed,

the harvest hour has come; and songs should ascend

from the mount of revelation, sweeter than the sound of

vintage bells.

The seed of Christian Science, which when sown was

"the least of all seeds," has sprung up, borne fruit, and

18 the birds of the air, the uplifted desires of the human

heart, have lodged in its branches. Now let my faithful

students carry the fruit of this tree into the rock-ribbed

nests of the raven's callow brood.

The second stage of mental development is humility.

This virtue triumphs over the flesh; it is the genius of

24 Christian Science. One can never go up, until one has

gone down in his own esteem. Humility is lens and

prism to the understanding of Mind-healing; it must be

27 had to understand our textbook; it is indispensable to

personal growth, and points out the chart of its divine

Principle and rule of practice.

Cherish humility, "watch," and "pray without ceas-

ing," or you will miss the way of Truth and Love. Hu-

mility is no busybody: it has no moments for trafficking

Page 357

1 in other people's business, no place for envy, no time for

idle words, vain amusements, and all the et cetera of the

ways and means of personal sense.

Let Christian Scientists minister to the sick; the school-

room is the dernier ressort. Let them seek the lost sheep

6 who, having strayed from the true fold, have lost their

great Shepherd and yearn to find living pastures and

rest beside still waters. These long for the Christlike-

9 ness that is above the present status of religion and be-

yond the walks of common life, quite on the verge of

heaven. Without the cross and healing, Christianity has

no central emblem, no history.

The seeds of Truth fall by the wayside, on artless

listeners. They fall on stony ground and shallow soil.

15 The fowls of the air pick them up. Much of what has

been sown has withered away, but what remaineth has

fallen into the good and honest hearts and is bearing

fruit.

The third stage of mental growth is manifested in love,

the greatest of all stages and states of being; love that

21 is irrespective of self, rank, or following. For some time

it has been clear to my thought that those students of

Christian Science whose Christian characters and lives

24 recommend them, should receive full fellowship from us,

no matter who has taught them. If they have been taught

wrongly, they are not morally responsible for this, and

27 need special help. They are as lambs that have sought

the true fold and the great Shepherd, and strayed inno-

cently; hence we should be ready and glad to help them

and point the way.

Divine Love is the substance of Christian Science, the

basis of its demonstration, yea, its foundation and super-

Page 358

1 structure. Love impels good works. Love is greatly

needed, and must be had to mark the way in divine

Science.

The student who heals by teaching and teaches by

healing, will graduate under divine honors, which are

6 the only appropriate seals for Christian Science. State

honors perish, and their gain is loss to the Christian

Scientist. They include for him at present naught but

9 tardy justice, hounded footsteps, false laurels. God

alone is his help, his shield and great reward. He that

seeketh aught besides God, loseth in Life, Truth, and

12 Love. All men shall be satisfied when they "awake in

His likeness," and they never should be until then. Hu-

man pride is human weakness. Self-knowledge, humility,

15 and love are divine strength. Christ's vestures are put

on only when mortals are "washed in the blood of the

Lamb;" we must walk in the way which Jesus marked

out, if we would reach the heaven-crowned summit of

Christian Science.

Be it understood that I do not require Christian Sci-

entists to stop teaching, to dissolve their organizations,

or to desist from organizing churches and associations.

The Massachusetts Metaphysical College, the first

24 and only College for teaching Christian Science Mind-

healing, after accomplishing the greatest work of the

ages, and at the pinnacle of prosperity, is closed. Let

27 Scientists who have grown to self-sacrifice do their

present work, awaiting, with staff in hand, God's

commands.

When students have fulfilled all the good ends of

organization, and are convinced that by leaving the

material forms thereof a higher spiritual unity is won,

Page 359

1 then is the time to follow the example of the Alma Mater.

Material organization is requisite in the beginning; but

3 when it has done its work, the purely Christly method

of teaching and preaching must be adopted. On the same

principle, you continue the mental argument in the prac-

tice of Christian healing until you can cure without it

instantaneously, and through Spirit alone.

St. Paul says: "When I was a child, I spake as a

9 child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but

when I became a man, I put away childish things. For

now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to

12 face." Growth is restricted by forcing humanity out of

the proper channels for development, or by holding it in

fetters.

15 For Jesus to walk the water was scientific, insomuch

as he was able to do this; but it is neither wisdom nor

Science for poor humanity to step upon the Atlantic until

we can walk on the water.

Peter's impetuosity was rebuked. He had to learn

from experience; so have we. The methods of our

21 Master were in advance of the period in which he per-

sonally appeared; but his example was right, and is

available at the right time. The way is absolute divine

Science: walk ye in it; but remember that Science is

demonstrated by degrees, and our demonstration rises

only as we rise in the scale of being.

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

Men give counsel; but they give not the wisdom to

profit by it. To ask wisdom of God, is the beginning of

wisdom.

Page 360

1 Meekness, moderating human desire, inspires wisdom

and procures divine power. Human lives are yet un-

3 carved, - in the rough marble, encumbered with crude,

rude fragments, and awaiting the hammering, chiselling,

and transfiguration from His hand.

6 Great only as good, because fashioned divinely, were

those unpretentious yet colossal characters, Paul and

Jesus. Theirs were modes of mind cast in the moulds

9 of Christian Science: Paul's, by the supremely natural

transforming power of Truth; and the character of

Jesus, by his original scientific sonship with God. Phi-

12 losophy never has produced, nor can it reproduce, these

stars of the first magnitude - fixed stars in the heavens

of Soul. When shall earth be crowned with the true

knowledge of Christ?

When Christian Science has melted away the cloud of

false witnesses; and the dews of divine grace, fall-

18 sing upon the blighted flowers of fleeting joys, shall

lift every thought-leaflet Spiritward; and "Israel after

the flesh," who partaketh of its own altars, shall be

21 no more, - then, "the Israel according to Spirit"

shall fill earth with the divine energies, understanding,

and ever-flowing tides of spiritual sensation and con-

sciousness.

When mortal mind is silenced by the "still, small voice"

of Truth that regenerates philosophy and logic; and

27 Jesus, as the true idea of Him, is heard as of yore saying

to sensitive ears and dark disciples, "I came from the

Father," "Before Abraham was, I am," coexistent and

coeternal with God, - and this idea is understood, -

then will the earth be filled with the true knowledge of

Christ. No advancing modes of human mind made

Page 361

1 Jesus; rather was it their subjugation, and the pure

heart that sees God.

3 When the belief in material origin, mortal mind, sen-

sual conception, dissolves through self-imposed suffering,

and its substances are found substanceless, - then its

6 miscalled life ends in death, and death itself is swallowed

up in Life, - spiritual Life, whose myriad forms are

neither material nor mortal.

9 When every form and mode of evil disappear to hu-

man thought, and mollusk and radiate are spiritual con-

cepts testifying to one creator, - then, earth is full of

12 His glory, and Christian Science has overshadowed all

human philosophy, and being is understood in startling

contradiction of human hypotheses; and Socrates, Plato,

Kant, Locke, Berkeley, Tyndall, Darwin, and Spencer

sit at the feet of Jesus.

To this great end, Paul admonished, "Let us lay aside

18 every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,

and let us run with patience the race that is set before

us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our

21 faith." So shall mortals soar to final freedom, and rest

from the subtlety of speculative wisdom and human

woe.

24 God is the only Mind, and His manifestation is the

spiritual universe, including man and all eternal indi-

viduality. God, the only substance and divine Principle

27 of creation, is by no means a creative partner in the firm

of error, named matter, or mortal mind. He elucidates

His own idea, wherein Principle and idea, God and man,

are not one, but are inseparable as cause and effect. If

one, who could say which that "one" was?

His ways are not as our ways. The divine modes

Page 362

1 and manifestations are not those of the material senses;

for instance, intelligent matter, or mortal mind, material

3 birth, growth, and decay: they are the forever-existing

realities of divine Science; wherein God and man are

perfect, and man's reason is at rest in God's wisdom, -

who comprehends and reflects all real mode, form, indi-

viduality, identity.

Scholastic dogma has made men blind. Christ's logos

9 gives sight to these blind, ears to these deaf, feet to these

lame, - physically, morally, spiritually. Theologians

make the mortal mistake of believing that God, having

12 made all, made evil; but the Scriptures declare that all

that He made was good. Then, was evil part and parcel

of His creation?

15 Philosophy hypothetically regards creation as its own

creator, puts cause into effect, and out of nothing would

create something, whose noumenon is mortal mind,

18 with its phenomenon matter, - an evil mind already

doomed, whose modes are material manifestations of

evil, and that continually, until self-extinguished by

suffering!

Here revelation must come to the rescue of mortals,

to remove this mental millstone that is dragging them

24 downward, and refute erring reason with the spiritual

cosmos and Science of Soul. We all must find shelter

from the storm and tempest in the tabernacle of Spirit.

27 Truth is won through Science or suffering: O vain mor-

tals! which shall it be? And suffering has no reward,

except when it is necessary to prevent sin or reform

the sinner. And pleasure is no crime except when it

strengthens the influence of bad inclinations or lessens

the activities of virtue. The more nearly an erring so-

Page 363

1 called mind approaches purity, the more conscious it

becomes of its own unreality, and of the great reality of

divine Mind and true happiness.

The "ego" that claims selfhood in error, and passes

from molecule and monkey up to man, is no ego, but is

6 simply the supposition that the absence of good is mind

and makes men, - when its greatest flatterer, identifica-

tion, is piqued by Him who compensateth vanity with

nothingness, dust with dust!

The mythology of evil and mortality is but the ma-

terial mode of a suppositional mind; while the immortal

12 modes of Mind are spiritual, and pass through none of

the changes of matter, or evil. Truth said, and said from

the beginning, "Let us [Spirit] make man perfect;" and

15 there is no other Maker: a perfect man would not desire

to make himself imperfect, and God is not chargeable

with imperfection. His modes declare the beauty of holi-

18 ness, and His manifold wisdom shines through the visible

world in glimpses of the eternal verities. Even through

the mists of mortality is seen the brightness of His

coming.

We must avoid the shoals of a sensual religion or

philosophy that misguides reason and affection, and

24 hold fast to the Principle of Christian Science as the

Word that is God, Spirit, and Truth. This Word cor-

rects the philosopher, confutes the astronomer, exposes

27 the subtle sophist, and drives diviners mad. The Bible

is the learned man's masterpiece, the ignorant man's

dictionary, the wise man's directory.

I foresee and foresay that every advancing epoch of

Truth will be characterized by a more spiritual appre-

hension of the Scriptures, that will show their marked

Page 364

1 consonance with the textbook of Christian Science Mind-

healing, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

3 Interpreting the Word in the "new tongue," whereby

the sick are healed, naturally evokes new paraphrase

from the world of letters. "Wait patiently on the Lord,

6 and He will renew your strength." In return for indi-

vidual sacrifice, what a recompense to have healed, through

Truth, the sick and sinful, made the public your friend,

and posterity your familiar!

Christian Science refutes everything that is not a

postulate of the divine Principle, God. It is the soul of

12 divine philosophy, and there is no other philosophy. It

is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom: it is God's

right hand grasping the universe, - all time, space,

15 immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; con-

stituting and governing all identity, individuality, law,

and power. It stands on this Scriptural platform:

18 that He made all that was made, and it is good, reflects

the divine Mind, is governed by it; and that nothing

apart from this Mind, one God, is self-created or evolves

the universe.

Human hypotheses predicate matter of Spirit and

evil of good; hence these opposites must either cooperate

24 or quarrel throughout time and eternity, - or until

this impossible partnership is dissolved. If Spirit is the

lawgiver to matter, and good has the same power or

27 modes as evil, it has the same consciousness, and there

is no absolute good. This error, carried to its ultimate,

would either extinguish God and His modes, or give

reality and power to evil ad infinitum.

Christian Science rends this veil of the temple of gods,

and reproduces the divine philosophy of Jesus and Paul.

Page 365

1 This philosophy alone will bear the strain of time and

bring out the glories of eternity; for "other founda-

tion can no man lay than that is laid," which is Christ,

Truth.

Human theories weighed in the balances of God are

6 found wanting; and their highest endeavors are to Science

what a child's love of pictures is to art. The school whose

schoolmaster is not Christ, gets things wrong, and is igno-

rant thereof.

If Christian Science lacked the proof of its goodness

and utility, it would destroy itself; for it rests alone on

12 demonstration. Its genius is right thinking and right

acting, physical and moral harmony; and the secret of

its success lies in supplying the universal need of better

health and better men.

Good health and a more spiritual religion form the

common want, and this want has worked out a moral

18 result; namely, that mortal mind is calling for what im-

mortal Mind alone can supply. If the uniform moral

and spiritual, as well as physical, effects of divine Science

21 were lacking, the demand would diminish; but it con-

tinues, and increases, which shows the real value of

Christian Science to the race. Even doctors agree that

infidelity, bigotry, or sham has never met the growing

wants of humanity.

As a literature, Christian metaphysics is hampered by

27 lack of proper terms in which to express what it means.

As a Science, it is held back by the common ignorance

of what it is and of what it does, - and more than all

else, by the impostors that come in its name. To be

appreciated, it must be conscientiously understood and

introduced.

Page 366

1 If the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the

Scriptures" had in our schools the time or attention that

3 human hypotheses consume, they would advance the

world. True, it requires more study to understand and

demonstrate what they teach than to learn the doctrine

6 of theology, philosophy, or physics, because they con-

tain and offer Science, with fixed Principle, given rule,

and unmistakable proof.

9 The Scriptures give the keynote of Christian Science

from Genesis to Revelation, and this is the prolonged

tone: "For the Lord He is God, and there is

12 none beside Him." And because He is All-in-all,

He is in nothing unlike Himself; and nothing that

worketh or maketh a lie is in Him, or can be divine con-

sciousness.

At this date, poor jaded humanity needs to get her

eyes open to a new style of imposition in the field of

18 medicine and of religion, and to "beware of the leaven

of the scribes and Pharisees," the doctrines of men, even

as Jesus admonished. From first to last, evil insists on

21 the unity of good and evil as the purpose of God; and

on drugs, electricity, and animal magnetism as modes

of medicine. To a greater or less extent, all mortal con-

24 clusions start from this false premise, and they neces-

sarily culminate in sickness, sin, disease, and death.

Erroneous doctrines never have abated and never will

27 abate dishonesty, self-will, envy, and lust. To destroy

sin and its sequence, is the office of Christ, Truth, - ac-

cording to His mode of Christian Science; and this is

being done daily.

The false theories whose names are legion, gilded with

sophistry and what Jesus had not, namely, mere book-

Page 367

1 learning, - letter without law, gospel, or demonstration,

- have no place in Christian Science. This Science re-

quires man to be honest, just, pure; to love his neighbor

as himself, and to love God supremely.

Matter and evil are subjective states of error or mortal

6 mind. But Mind is immortal; and the fact of there

being no mortal mind, exposes the lie of suppositional

evil, showing that error is not Mind, substance, or

9 Life. Thus, whatever is wrongfully-minded will dis-

appear in the proportion that Science is understood,

and the reality of being - goodness and harmony - is

demonstrated.

Error says that knowing all things implies the neces-

sity of knowing evil, that it dishonors God to claim that

15 He is ignorant of anything; but God says of this fruit

of the tree of knowledge of both good and evil, "In the

day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." If

18 God is infinite good, He knows nothing but good; if He

did know aught else, He would not be infinite. Infinite

Mind knows nothing beyond Himself or Herself. To

21 good, evil is never present; for evil is a different state of

consciousness. It was not against evil, but against know-

ing evil, that God forewarned. He dwelleth in light;

24 and in the light He sees light, and cannot see darkness.

The opposite conclusion, that darkness dwelleth in light,

has neither precedent nor foundation in nature, in logic,

or in the character of Christ.

The senses would say that whatever saves from sin,

must know sin. Truth replies that God is too pure

to behold iniquity; and by virtue of His ignorance of

that which is not, He knoweth that which is, and

abideth in Himself, the only Life, Truth, and Love,

Page 368

1 - and is reflected by a universe in His own image

and likeness.

3 Even so, Father, let the light that shineth in dark-

ness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not, dispel this

illusion of the senses, open the eyes of the blind, and cause

the deaf to hear.

"Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own."

LOWELL

"TAKE HEED!"

12 We regret to be obliged to say that all are not meta-

physicians, or Christian Scientists, who call themselves

so. Charlatanism, fraud, and malice are getting into

15 the ranks of the good and pure, sending forth a poison

more deadly than the upas-tree in the eastern archi-

pelago. This evil obtains in the present false teaching

18 and false practice of the Science of treating disease through

Mind. The silent address of a mental malpractitioner

can only be portrayed in these words of the apostle,

"whisperers," and "the poison of asps is under their

tongue."

Some of the mere puppets of the hour are playing

24 only for money, and at a fearful stake. Others, from

malice and envy, are working out the destinies of the

damned. But while the best, perverted, on the mortal

plane may become the worst, let us not forget that the

Lord reigns, and that this earth shall some time rejoice

in His supreme rule, - that the tired watchmen on the

Page 369

1 walls of Zion, and the true Christian Scientist at the foot

of the mount of revelation, shall look up with shouts and

thanksgiving, - that God's law, as in divine Science,

shall be finally understood; and the gospel of glad tidings

bring "on earth peace, good will toward men."

THE CRY OF CHRISTMAS-TIDE

Metaphysics, not physics, enables us to stand erect

on sublime heights, surveying the immeasurable universe

9 of Mind, peering into the cause which governs all effects,

while we are strong in the unity of God and man. There

is "method" in the "madness" of this system, - since

12 madness it seems to many onlookers. This method sits

serene at the portals of the temple of thought, while

the leaders of materialistic schools indulge in mad

15 antics. Metaphysical healing seeks a wisdom that is

higher than a rhubarb tincture or an ipecacuanha pill.

This method is devout enough to trust Christ more than

it does drugs.

Meekly we kneel at our Master's feet, for even a crumb

that falleth from his table. We are hungry for Love,

21 for the white-winged charity that heals and saves; we

are tired of theoretic husks, - as tired as was the prodi-

gal son of the carobs which he shared with the swine,

24 to whom he fed that wholesome but unattractive food.

Like him, we would find our Father's house again -

the perfect and eternal Principle of man. We thirst

for inspiring wine from the vine which our Father tends.

We crave the privilege of saying to the sick, when their

Page 370

1 feebleness calls for help, "Rise and walk." We rejoice

to say, in the spirit of our Master, "Stretch forth thy

hand, and be whole!"

When the Pharisees saw Jesus do such deeds of mercy,

they went away and took counsel how they might remove

6 him. The antagonistic spirit of evil is still abroad; but

the greater spirit of Christ is also abroad, - risen from

the grave-clothes of tradition and the cave of ignorance.

9 Let the sentinels of Zion's watch-towers shout once

again, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is

given."

12 In different ages the divine idea assumes different

forms, according to humanity's needs. In this age it

assumes, more intelligently than ever before, the form

15 of Christian healing. This is the babe we are to cherish.

This is the babe that twines its loving arms about the

neck of omnipotence, and calls forth infinite care from

His loving heart.

BLIND LEADERS

What figure is less favorable than a wolf in sheep's

21 clothing? The braying donkey whose ears stick out is

less troublesome. What manner of man is it that has

discovered an improvement on Christian Science, a "met-

24 aphysical healing" by which error destroys error, and

would gather all sorts into a "national convention" by

the sophistry that such is the true fold for Christian heal-

ers, since the good shepherd cares for all?

Yes; the good Shepherd does care for all, and His

first care is to separate the sheep from the goats; and

Page 371

1 this is among the first lessons on healing taught by our

great Master.

3 If, as the gentleman aforesaid states, large flocks of

metaphysicians are wandering about without a leader,

what has opened his eyes to see the need of taking them

6 out of the care of the great Shepherd, and behold the

remedy, to help them by his own leadership? Is it that

he can guide Christian Scientists better than they, through

9 the guidance of our common Father, can guide them-

selves? or is it that they are incapable of helping them-

selves thus?

12 I as their teacher can say, They know far more of

Christian Science than he who deprecates their condition

appears to, and my heart pleads for them to possess

15 more and more of Truth and Love; but mixing all grades

of persons is not productive of the better sort, although

he who has self-interest in this mixing is apt to pro-

pose it.

Whoever desires to say, "good right, and good wrong,"

has no truth to defend. It is a wise saying that "men

21 are known by their enemies." To sympathize in any

degree with error, is not to rectify it; but error always

strives to unite, in a definition of purpose, with Truth,

to give it buoyancy. What is under the mask, but error

in borrowed plumes?

"CHRIST AND CHRISTMAS"

An Illustrated Poem

This poem and its illustrations are as hopelessly origi-

nal as is "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-

Page 372

1 tures." When the latter was first issued, critics declared

that it was incorrect, contradictory, unscientific, unchris-

3 tian; but those human opinions had not one feather's

weight in the scales of God. The fact remains, that

the textbook of Christian Science is transforming the

universe.

"Christ and Christmas" voices Christian Science

through song and object-lesson. In two weeks from the

9 date of its publication in December, 1893, letters extoll-

ing it were pouring in from artists and poets. A mother

wrote, "Looking at the pictures in your wonderful book

has healed my child."

Knowing that this book would produce a stir, I sought

the judgment of sound critics familiar with the works

15 of masters in France and Italy. From them came such

replies as the following: "The illustrations of your poem

are truly a work of art, and the artist seems quite familiar

18 with delineations from the old masters." I am delighted

to find "Christ and Christmas" in accord with the

ancient and most distinguished artists.

21 The Christian Science Journal gives no uncertain dec-

laration concerning the spirit and mission of "Christ and

Christmas."

24 I aimed to reproduce, with reverent touch, the modest

glory of divine Science. Not by aid of foreign device

or environment could I copy art, - never having seen

27 the painter's masterpieces; but the art of Christian

Science, with true hue and character of the living God,

is akin to its Science: and Science and Health gives

scopes and shades to the shadows of divinity, thus im-

parting to humanity the true sense of meekness and

might.

Page 373

1 One incident serves to illustrate the simple nature of

art.

3 I insisted upon placing the serpent behind the woman

in the picture "Seeking and Finding." My artist at the

easel objected, as he often did, to my sense of Soul's

6 expression through the brush; but, as usual, he finally

yielded. A few days afterward, the following from Roth-

erham's translation of the New Testament was handed

9 to me, - I had never before seen it: "And the serpent

cast out of his mouth, behind the woman, water as a

river, that he might cause her to be river-borne." Neither

12 material finesse, standpoint, nor perspective guides the

infinite Mind and spiritual vision that should, does, guide

His children.

15 One great master clearly delineates Christ's appear-

ing in the flesh, and his healing power, as clad not in

soft raiment or gorgeous apparel; and when forced out

18 of its proper channel, as living feebly, in kings' courts.

This master's thought presents a sketch of Christian-

ity's state, in the early part of the Christian era, as

21 homelessness in a wilderness. But in due time Chris-

tianity entered into synagogues, and, as St. Mark

writes, it has rich possession here, with houses and

24 lands. In Genesis we read that God gave man do-

minion over all things; and this assurance is followed

by Jesus' declaration, "All power is given unto me

27 in heaven and in earth," and by his promise that the

Christlike shall finally sit down at the right hand of the

Father.

Christian Science is more than a prophet or a proph-

ecy: it presents not words alone, but works, - the daily

demonstration of Truth and Love. Its healing and sav-

Page 374

1 ing power was so great a proof of Immanuel and the

realism of Christianity, that it caused even the publi-

3 cans to justify God. Although clad in panoply of power,

the Pharisees scorned the spirit of Christ in most of its

varied manifestations. To them it was cant and carica-

6 ture, - always the opposite of what it was. Keen and

alert was their indignation at whatever rebuked hypocrisy

and demanded Christianity in life and religion. In view

of this, Jesus said, "Wisdom is justified of all her

children."

Above the fogs of sense and storms of passion, Chris-

12 tian Science and its art will rise triumphant; ignorance,

envy, and hatred - earth's harmless thunder - pluck

not their heaven-born wings. Angels, with overtures,

hold charge over both, and announce their Principle and

idea.

It is most fitting that Christian Scientists memorize

18 the nativity of Jesus. To him who brought a great light

to all ages, and named his burdens light, homage is in-

deed due, - but is bankrupt. I never looked on my

ideal of the face of the Nazarite Prophet; but the one

illustrating my poem approximates it.

Extremists in every age either doggedly deny or fran-

24 tically affirm what is what: one renders not unto Caesar

"the things that are Caesar's;" the other sees "Helen's

beauty in a brow of Egypt."

27 Pictures are portions of one's ideal, but this ideal is

not one's personality. Looking behind the veil, he that

perceives a semblance between the thinker and his thought

on canvas, blames him not.

Because my ideal of an angel is a woman without

feathers on her wings, - is it less artistic or less natu-

Page 375

1 ral? Pictures which present disordered phases of ma-

terial conceptions and personality blind with animality,

are not my concepts of angels. What is the material ego,

but the counterfeit of the spiritual?

The truest art of Christian Science is to be a Chris-

tian Scientist; and it demands more than a Raphael to

delineate this art.

The following is an extract from a letter reverting to

the illustrations of "Christ and Christmas": -

"In my last letter, I did not utter all I felt about the

wonderful new book you have given us. Years ago,

12 while in Italy, I studied the old masters and their great

works of art thoroughly, and so got quite an idea of

what constitutes true art. Then I spent two years in

Paris, devoting every moment to the study of music and

art.

"The first thing that impressed me in your illustra-

18 tions was the conscientious application to detail, which

is the foundation of true art. From that, I went on to

study each illustration thoroughly, and to my amazement

21 and delight I find an almost identical resemblance, in

many things, to the old masters! In other words, the art

is perfect.

24 "The hands and feet of the figures - how many times

have I seen these-hands and feet in Angelico's 'Jesus,'

or Botticelli's 'Madonna'!

27 "It gave me such a thrill of joy as no words can ex-

press, to see produced to-day that art - the only true

art - that we have identified with the old masters, and

mourned as belonging to them exclusively, - a thing of

the past, impossible of reproduction.

"All that I can say to you, as one who gives no mean

Page 376

1 attention to such matters, is that the art is perfect. It

is the true art of the oldest, most revered, most authen-

3 tic Italian school, revived. I use the words most au-

thentic in the following sense: the face, figure, and

drapery of Jesus, very closely resemble in detail the

6 face, figure, and drapery of that Jesus portrayed by the

oldest of the old masters, and said to have been authen-

tic; the face having been taken by Fra Angelico from

9 Caesar's Cameo, the figure and garments from a descrip-

tion, in The Galaxy, of a small sketch handed down

from the living reality. Their productions are expres-

12 sionless copies of an engraving cut in a stone. Yours

is a palpitating, living Saviour engraven on the heart.

You have given us back our Jesus, and in a much better

form."

SUNRISE AT PLEASANT VIEW

Who shall describe the brave splendor of a November

18 sky that this morning burst through the lattice for me,

on my bed? According to terrestrial calculations, above

the horizon, in the east, there rose one rod of rainbow

21 hues, crowned with an acre of eldritch ebony. Little

by little this topmost pall, drooping over a deeply daz-

zling sunlight, softened, grew gray, then gay, and glided

24 into a glory of mottled marvels. Fleecy, faint, fairy

blue and golden flecks came out on a background of

cerulean hue; while the lower lines of light kindled into

27 gold, orange, pink, crimson, violet; and diamond, topaz,

opal, garnet, turquoise, and sapphire spangled the gloom

in celestial space as with the brightness of His glory.

Then thought I, What are we, that He who fashions for-

Page 377

1 ever such forms and hues of heaven, should move our

brush or pen to paint frail fairness or to weave a web

of words that glow with gladdening gleams of God, so

unapproachable, and yet so near and full of radiant relief

in clouds and darkness!

Page 378

CHAPTER X

INKLINGS HISTORIC

1 ABOUT the year 1862, while the author of this work

was at Dr. Vail's Hydropathic Institute in New

3 Hampshire, this occurred: A patient considered incur-

able left that institution, and in a few weeks returned

apparently well, having been healed, as he informed

the patients, by one Mr. P. P. Quimby of Portland,

Maine.

After much consultation among ourselves, and a struggle

9 with pride, the author, in company with several other

patients, left the water-cure, en route for the aforesaid

doctor in Portland. He proved to be a magnetic practi-

tioner. His treatment seemed at first to relieve her, but

signally failed in healing her case.

Having practised homoeopathy, it never occurred to the

15 author to learn his practice, but she did ask him how

manipulation could benefit the sick. He answered kindly

and squarely, in substance, "Because it conveys electricity

to them." That was the sum of what he taught her of

his medical profession.

The readers of my books cannot fail to see that meta-

physical therapeutics, as in Christian Science, are farther

removed from such thoughts than the nebulous system

is from the earth.

Page 379

1 After treating his patients, Mr. Quimby would retire

to an anteroom and write at his desk. I had a curiosity

3 to know if he indited anything pathological relative to

his patients, and asked if I could see his pennings on

my case. He immediately presented them. I read the

6 copy in his presence, and returned it to him. The com-

position was commonplace, mostly descriptive of the gen-

eral appearance, height, and complexion of the individual,

9 and the nature of the case: it was not at all metaphysi-

cal or scientific; and from his remarks I inferred that

his writings usually ran in the vein of thought presented

12 by these. He was neither a scholar nor a metaphysician.

I never heard him say that matter was not as real as Mind,

or that electricity was not as potential or remedial, or

15 allude to God as the divine Principle of all healing. He

certainly had advanced views of his own, but they com-

mingled error with truth, and were not Science. On

his rare humanity and sympathy one could write a

sonnet.

I had already experimented in medicine beyond the

21 basis of materia medica, - up to the highest attenuation

in homoeopathy, thence to a mental standpoint not un-

derstood, and with phenomenally good results; (1) mean-

24 while, assiduously pondering the solution of this great

question: Is it matter, or is it Mind, that heals the

sick ?

27 It was after Mr. Quimby's death that I discovered,

in 1866, the momentous facts relating to Mind and its

superiority over matter, and named my discovery Chris-

tian Science. Yet, there remained the difficulty of ad-

justing in the scale of Science a metaphysical practice,

(1) See Science and Health, p. 47, revised edition of 1890, and

pp. 152, 153 in late editions.

Page 380

1 and settling the question, What shall be the outward

sign of such a practice: if a divine Principle alone heals,

3 what is the human modus for demonstrating this, - in

short, how can sinful mortals prove that a divine Principle

heals the sick, as well as governs the universe, time,

space, immortality, man?

When contemplating the majesty and magnitude of

this query, it looked as if centuries of spiritual growth

9 were requisite to enable me to elucidate or to dem-

onstrate what I had discovered: but an unlooked-for,

imperative call for help impelled me to begin this stu-

12 pendous work at once, and teach the first student in

Christian Science. Even as when an accident, called

fatal to life, had driven me to discover the Science of

Life, I again, in faith, turned to divine help, - and com-

menced teaching.

My students at first practised in slightly differing

18 forms. Although I could heal mentally, without a sign

save the immediate recovery of the sick, my students'

patients, and people generally, called for a sign-a ma-

21 terial evidence wherewith to satisfy the sick that some-

thing was being done for them; and I said, "Suffer it

to be so now," for thus saith our Master. Experience,

24 however, taught me the impossibility of demonstrating

the Science of metaphysical healing by any outward form

of practice.

27 In April, 1883, a bill in equity was filed in the United

States Circuit Court in Boston, to restrain, by decree and

order of the Court, the unlawful publishing and use of an

infringing pamphlet printed and issued by a student of

Christian Science.

Answer was filed by the defendant, alleging that the

Page 381

1 copyrighted works of Mrs. Eddy were not original with

her, but had been copied by her, or by her direction,

from manuscripts originally composed by Dr. P. P.

Quimby.

Testimony was taken on the part of Mrs. Eddy, the

6 defendant being present personally and by counsel. The

time for taking testimony on the part of the defendant

having nearly expired, he gave notice through his coun-

9 sel that he should not put in testimony. Later, Mrs.

Eddy requested her lawyer to inquire of defendant's

counsel why he did not present evidence to support his

12 claim that Dr. Quimby was the author of her writings !

Accordingly, her counsel asked the defendant's counsel

this question, and he replied, in substance, "There is

no evidence to present."

The stipulation for a judgment and a decree in favor

of Mrs. Eddy was drawn up and signed by counsel.

18 It was ordered that the complainant (Mrs. Eddy)

recover of the defendant her cost of suit, taxed at

($113.09) one hundred thirteen and 9/100 dollars.

21 A writ of injunction was issued under the seal of the

said Court, restraining the defendant from directly or

indirectly printing, publishing, selling, giving away,

24 distributing, or in any way or manner disposing of,

the enjoined pamphlet, on penalty of ten thousand

dollars.

27 The infringing books, to the number of thirty-eight

hundred or thereabouts, were put under the edge of

the knife, and their unlawful existence destroyed, in

Boston, Massachusetts.

It has been written that "nobody can be both founder

and discoverer of the same thing." If this declaration

Page 382

1 were either a truism or a rule, my experience would

contradict it and prove an exception.

3 No works on the subject of Christian Science existed,

prior to my discovery of this Science. Before the publi-

cation of my first work on this doctrine, a few manu-

6 scripts of mine were in circulation. The discovery and

founding of Christian Science has cost more than thirty

years of unremitting toil and unrest; but, comparing those

9 with the joy of knowing that the sinner and the sick are

helped thereby, that time and eternity bear witness to

this gift of God to the race, I am the debtor.

12 In the latter half of the nineteenth century I discov-

ered the Science of Christianity, and restored the first

patient healed in this age by Christian Science. I taught

15 the first student in Christian Science Mind-healing; was

author and publisher of the first books on this subject;

obtained the first charter for the first Christian Science

18 church, originated its form of government, and was its

first pastor. I donated to this church the land on which

in 1894 was erected the first church edifice of this de-

21 nomination in Boston; obtained the first and only charter

for a metaphysical medical college, - was its first and

only president; was editor and proprietor of the first

24 Christian Science periodical; organized the first Chris-

tian Scientist Association, wrote its constitution and by-

laws, - as also the constitution and by-laws of the

27 National Christian Science Association; and gave it

The Christian Science Journal; inaugurated our denom-

inational form of Sunday services, Sunday School, and

the entire system of teaching and practising Christian

Science.

In 1895 I ordained that the Bible, and "Science and

Page 383

1 Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Christian Science

textbook, be the pastor, on this planet, of all the churches

3 of the Christian Science denomination. This ordinance

took effect the same year, and met with the universal ap-

proval and support of Christian Scientists. Whenever

and wherever a church of Christian Science is established,

its pastor is the Bible and my book.

In 1896 it goes without saying, preeminent over igno-

9 rance or envy, that Christian Science is founded by its

discoverer, and built upon the rock of Christ. The ele-

ments of earth beat in vain against the immortal parapets

12 of this Science. Erect and eternal, it will go on with the

ages, go down the dim posterns of time unharmed, and

on every battle-field rise higher in the estimation of

thinkers and in the hearts of Christians.

Page 384

CHAPTER XI - POEMS

COME THOU

COME, in the minstrel's lay;

3 When two hearts meet,

And true hearts greet,

And all is morn and May.

6 Come Thou! and now, anew,

To thought and deed

Give sober speed,

Thy will to know, and do.

Stay! till the storms are o'er -

The cold blasts done,

The reign of heaven begun,

And Love, the evermore.

Be patient, waiting heart:

15 Light, Love divine

Is here, and thine;

You therefore cannot part.

18 "The seasons come and go:

Love, like the sea,

Rolls on with thee, -

But knows no ebb and flow.

Page 385

1 "Faith, hope, and tears, triune,

Above the sod

Find peace in God,

And one eternal noon."

Oh, Thou hast heard my prayer;

And I am blest!

This is Thy high behest:

Thou, here and everywhere.

MEETING OF MY DEPARTED MOTHER AND HUSBAND

"Joy for thee, happy friend! thy bark is past

The dangerous sea, and safely moored at last -

12 Beyond rough foam.

Soft gales celestial, in sweet music bore -

Spirit emancipate for this far shore -

Thee to thy home.

"You've travelled long, and far from mortal joys,

To Soul's diviner sense, that spurns such toys,

18 Brave wrestler, lone.

Now see thy ever-self; Life never fled;

Man is not mortal, never of the dead:

The dark unknown.

"When hope soared high, and joy was eagle-plumed,

Thy pinions drooped; the flesh was weak, and doomed

24 To pass away.

But faith triumphant round thy death-couch shed

Majestic forms; and radiant glory sped

The dawning day.

Page 396

1 "Intensely grand and glorious life's sphere, -

Beyond the shadow, infinite appear

3 Life, Love divine, -

Where mortal yearnings come not, sighs are stilled,

And home and peace and hearts are found and filled,

Thine, ever thine.

"Bearest thou no tidings from our loved on earth,

The toiler tireless for Truth's new birth

9 All-unbeguiled?

Our joy is gathered from her parting sigh:

This hour looks on her heart with pitying eye, -

What of my child?"

"When, severed by death's dream, I woke to Life,

She deemed I died, and could not know the strife

15 At first to fill

That waking with a love that steady turns

To God; a hope that ever upward yearns,

Bowed to His will.

"Years had passed o'er thy broken household band,

When angels beckoned me to this bright land,

21 With thee to meet.

She that has wept o'er thee, kissed my cold brow,

Rears the sad marble to our memory now,

In lone retreat.

"By the remembrance of her loyal life,

And parting prayer, I only know my wife,

27 Thy child, shall come -

Where farewells cloud not o'er our ransomed rest -

Hither to reap, with all the crowned and blest,

Of bliss the sum.

Page 387

1 "When Love's rapt sense the heart-strings gently sweep,

With joy divinely fair, the high and deep,

3 To call her home,

She shall mount upward unto purer skies;

We shall be waiting, in what glad surprise,

Our spirits' own!"

LOVE

Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing,

9 'Neath which our spirits blend

Like brother birds, that soar and sing,

And on the same branch bend.

The arrow that doth wound the dove

Darts not from those who watch and love.

If thou the bending reed wouldst break

15 By thought or word unkind,

Pray that his spirit you partake,

Who loved and healed mankind:

Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,

That make men one in love remain.

Learn, too, that wisdom's rod is given

21 For faith to kiss, and know;

That greetings glorious from high heaven,

Whence joys supernal flow,

Come from that Love, divinely near,

Which chastens pride and earth-born fear,

Page 388

1 Through God, who gave that word of might

Which swelled creation's lay:

3 "Let there be light, and there was light."

What chased the clouds away?

'T was Love whose finger traced aloud

A bow of promise on the cloud.

Thou to whose power our hope we give,

Free us from human strife.

9 Fed by Thy love divine we live,

For Love alone is Life;

And life most sweet, as heart to heart

Speaks kindly when we meet and part.

WOMAN'S RIGHTS

Grave on her monumental pile:

15 She won from vice, by virtue's smile,

Her dazzling crown, her sceptred throne,

Affection's wreath, a happy home;

18 The right to worship deep and pure,

To bless the orphan, feed the poor;

Last at the cross to mourn her Lord,

First at the tomb to hear his word:

To fold an angel's wings below;

And hover o'er the couch of woe;

To nurse the Bethlehem babe so sweet,

The right to sit at Jesus' feet;

Page 389

1 To form the bud for bursting bloom,

The hoary head with joy to crown;

In short, the right to work and pray,

"To point to heaven and lead the way."

THE MOTHER'S EVENING PRAYER

6 O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;

O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,

Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!

Keep Thou my child on upward wing to-night.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye

Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:

His habitation high is here, and nigh,

His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,

15 For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!

Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear

No ill, - since God is good, and loss is gain.

18 Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;

In that sweet secret of the narrow way,

Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:

"Lo, I am with you alway," - watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;

No night drops down upon the troubled breast,

When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,

And mother finds her home and heavenly rest.

Page 390

Part Six Table of Contents