|
PERFIDY AND
SLANDER |
| 9 |
What has an individual gained by losing his own self-
respect? or what has he lost when, retaining his own, he loses the homage
of fools, or the pretentious praise of |
| 12 |
hypocrites, false to themselves as to others?
Shakespeare, the immortal
lexicographer of mortals, writes: - |
| 15 |
To thine own self be
true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be
false to any man. |
| 18 |
When Aristotle was asked what a person could gain by
uttering a falsehood, he replied, "Not to be credited when he shall tell
the truth." |
| 21 |
The character of a liar and hypocrite is so contempti-
ble, that even of those who have lost their honor it might be expected that
from the violation of truth they should |
| 24 |
be restrained by their pride.
Perfidy of an inferior quality, such
as manages to evade the law, and which dignified natures cannot stoop
to |
| 27 |
notice, except legally, disgraces human nature more than
do most vices.
Slander is a midnight robber; the
red-tongued assas- |
| 30 |
sin of radical worth; the conservative swindler, who
Page 227 |
| 1 |
sells himself in a traffic by which he can gain nothing.
It can retire for forgiveness to no fraternity where its |
| 3 |
crime may stand in the place of a virtue; but must at
length be given up to the hisses of the multitude, with- out friend and
without apologist. |
| 6 |
Law has found it necessary to offer to the innocent,
security from slanderers - those pests of society - when their crime comes
within its jurisdiction. Thus, to evade |
| 9 |
the penalty of law, and yet with malice aforethought to
extend their evil intent, is the nice distinction by which they endeavor to
get their weighty stuff into the hands |
| 12 |
of gossip! Some uncharitable one may give it a forward
move, and, ere that one himself become aware, find himself responsible for
kind (?) endeavors. |
| 15 |
Would that my pen or pity could raise these weak,
pitifully poor objects from their choice of self-degrada- tion to the
nobler purposes and wider aims of a life made |
| 18 |
honest: a life in which the fresh flowers of feeling
blos- som, and, like the camomile, the more trampled upon, the sweeter
the odor they send forth to benefit mankind; |
| 21 |
a life wherein calm, self-respected thoughts abide in
tabernacles of their own, dwelling upon a holy hill, speak- ing the truth
in the heart; a life wherein the mind can |
| 24 |
rest in green pastures, beside the still waters, on isles
of sweet refreshment. The sublime summary of an honest life satisfies the
mind craving a higher good, and |
| 27 |
bathes it in the cool waters of peace on earth; till it
grows into the full stature of wisdom, reckoning its own by the amount of
happiness it has bestowed upon |
| 30 |
others.
Not to avenge one's self upon one's
enemies, is the command of almighty wisdom; and we take this to be
Page 228 |
| 1 |
a safer guide than the promptings of human nature. To
know that a deception dark as it is base has been |
| 3 |
practised upon thee, - by those deemed at least indebted
friends whose welfare thou hast promoted, - and yet not to avenge thyself,
is to do good to thyself; is to take |
| 6 |
a new standpoint whence to look upward; is to be calm
amid excitement, just amid lawlessness, and pure amid corruption. |
| 9 |
To be a great man or woman, to have a name whose odor
fills the world with its fragrance, is to bear with patience the buffetings
of envy or malice - even while |
| 12 |
seeking to raise those barren natures to a capacity for a
higher life. We should look with pitying eye on the momentary success of
all villainies, on mad ambition |
| 15 |
and low revenge. This will bring us also to look on a
kind, true, and just person, faithful to conscience and honest beyond
reproach, as the only suitable fabric out |
| 18 |
of which to weave an existence fit for earth and
heaven.
CONTAGION |
| 21 |
Whatever man sees, feels, or in any way takes cog-
nizance of, must be caught through mind; inasmuch as perception, sensation,
and consciousness belong to |
| 24 |
mind and not to matter. Floating with the popular current
of mortal thought without questioning the re- liability of its conclusions,
we do what others do, |
| 27 |
believe what others believe, and say what others say.
Common consent is contagious, and it makes disease catching. |
| 30 |
People believe in infectious and contagious diseases,
Page 229 |
| 1 |
and that any one is liable to have them under certain
predisposing or exciting causes. This mental state pre- |
| 3 |
pares one to have any disease whenever there appear the
circumstances which he believes produce it. If he believed as sincerely
that health is catching when exposed to con- |
| 6 |
tact with healthy people, he would catch their state of
feeling quite as surely and with better effect than he does the sick
man's. |
| 9 |
If only the people would believe that good is more
contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how much more certain
would be the doctor's success, and |
| 12 |
the clergyman's conversion of sinners. And if only the
pulpit would encourage faith in God in this direction and faith in Mind
over all other influences governing |
| 15 |
the receptivity of the body, theology would teach man as
David taught: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even
the most High thy habitation; |
| 18 |
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any
plague come nigh thy dwelling."
The confidence of mankind in
contagious disease would |
| 21 |
thus become beautifully less; and in the same propor-
tion would faith in the power of God to heal and to save mankind increase,
until the whole human race would |
| 24 |
become healthier, holier, happier, and longer lived. A
calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventive of contagion than a
drug, or than any other possible sana- |
| 27 |
tive method; and the "perfect Love" that "casteth out
fear" is a sure defense.
Page 230
IMPROVE YOUR
TIME
Success in life depends upon
persistent effort, upon |
| 3 |
the improvement of moments more than upon any other one
thing. A great amount of time is consumed in talking nothing, doing
nothing, and indecision as to what one |
| 6 |
should do. If one would be successful in the future, let
him make the most of the present.
Three ways of wasting time, one of
which is con- |
| 9 |
temptible, are gossiping mischief, making lingering
calls, and mere motion when at work, thinking of nothing or planning
for some amusement, - travel of limb more |
| 12 |
than mind. Rushing around smartly is no proof of ac-
complishing much.
All successful individuals have become
such by hard |
| 15 |
work; by improving moments before they pass into hours,
and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit of pleasure. They
spend no time in sheer idleness, in |
| 18 |
talking when they have nothing to say, in building air-
castles or floating off on the wings of sense: all of which drop human life
into the ditch of nonsense, and worse |
| 21 |
than waste its years.
"Let us, then, be up and
doing, With a heart for any fate; |
| 24 |
Still achieving, still
pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait."
THANKSGIVING
DINNER |
| 27 |
It was a beautiful group! needing but canvas and the
touch of an artist to render it pathetic, tender, gorgeous.
Page 231 |
| 1 |
Age, on whose hoary head the almond-blossom formed a
crown of glory; middle age, in smiles and the full fruition |
| 3 |
of happiness; infancy, exuberant with joy, - ranged side
by side. The sober-suited grandmother, rich in ex- perience, had seen
sunshine and shadow fall upon ninety- |
| 6 |
six years. Four generations sat at that dinner-table. The
rich viands made busy many appetites; but, what of the poor! Willingly -
though I take no stock in |
| 9 |
spirit-rappings - would I have had the table give a
spiritual groan for the unfeasted ones.
Under the skilful carving of the
generous host, the |
| 12 |
mammoth turkey grew beautifully less. His was the glory
to vie with guests in the dexterous use of knife and fork, until delicious
pie, pudding, and fruit caused un- |
| 15 |
conditional surrender.
And the baby! Why, he made a big hole,
with two incisors, in a big pippin, and bit the finger
presump- |
| 18 |
tuously poked into the little mouth to arrest the peel!
Then he was caught walking! one, two, three steps, - and papa knew that he
could walk, but grandpa was |
| 21 |
taken napping. Now! baby has tumbled, soft as thistle-
down, on the floor; and instead of a real set-to at crying, a look of cheer
and a toy from mamma bring the soft |
| 24 |
little palms patting together, and pucker the rosebud
mouth into saying, "Oh, pretty!" That was a scientific baby; and his first
sitting-at-table on Thanksgiving Day |
| 27 |
- yes, and his little rainbowy life - brought sunshine to
every heart. How many homes echo such tones of heartfelt joy on
Thanksgiving Day! But, alas! for the |
| 30 |
desolate home; for the tear-filled eyes looking
longingly at the portal through which the loved one comes not, or
gazing silently on the vacant seat at fireside and board -
Page 232 |
| 1 |
God comfort them all! we inwardly prayed - but the memory
was too much; and, turning from it, in a bumper |
| 3 |
of pudding-sauce we drank to peace, and plenty, and
happy households.
CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE |
| 6 |
This age is reaching out towards the perfect Principle of
things; is pushing towards perfection in art, inven- tion, and manufacture.
Why, then, should religion be |
| 9 |
stereotyped, and we not obtain a more perfect and prac-
tical Christianity? It will never do to be behind the times in things most
essential, which proceed from the |
| 12 |
standard of right that regulates human destiny. Human
skill but foreshadows what is next to appear as its divine origin.
Proportionately as we part with material systems |
| 15 |
and theories, personal doctrines and dogmas, meekly to
ascend the hill of Science, shall we reach the maximum of perfection in all
things. |
| 18 |
Spirit is omnipotent; hence a more spiritual Chris-
tianity will be one having more power, having perfected in Science that
most important of all arts, - healing. |
| 21 |
Metaphysical healing, or Christian Science, is a de- mand
of the times. Every man and every woman would desire and demand it, if he
and she knew its infinite |
| 24 |
value and firm basis. The unerring and fixed Principle of
all healing is God; and this Principle should be sought from the love of
good, from the most spiritual |
| 27 |
and unselfish motives. Then will it be understood to be
of God, and not of man; and this will prevent mankind from striking out
promiscuously, teaching and practising
Page 233
in the name of Science without
knowing its fundamental Principle. |
| 3 |
It is important to know that a malpractice of the best
system will result in the worst form of medicine. More- over, the feverish,
disgusting pride of those who call |
| 6 |
themselves metaphysicians or Scientists, - but are such
in name only, - fanned by the breath of mental mal- practice, is the
death's-head at the feast of Truth; the |
| 9 |
monkey in harlequin jacket that will retard the onward
march of life-giving Science, if not understood and with- stood, and so
strangled in its attempts. |
| 12 |
The standard of metaphysical healing is traduced by
thinking to put into the old garment of drugging the new cloth of
metaphysics; or by trying to twist the fatal |
| 15 |
magnetic force of mortal mind, termed hypnotism, into a
more fashionable cut and naming that "mind-cure," or - which is still
worse in the eyes of Truth - terming |
| 18 |
it metaphysics! Substituting good words for a good life,
fair-seeming for straightforward character, mental mal- practice for the
practice of true medicine, is a poor shift |
| 21 |
for the weak and worldly who think the standard of
Christian Science too high for them.
What think you of a scientist in
mathematics who finds |
| 24 |
fault with the exactness of the rule because unwilling to
work hard enough to practise it? The perfection of the rule of Christian
Science is what constitutes its utility: |
| 27 |
having a true standard, if some fall short, others will
approach it; and these are they only who adhere to that standard. |
| 30 |
Matter must be understood as a false belief or product
of mortal mind: whence we learn that sensation is not in matter, but in
this so-called mind; that we see and
Page 234 |
| 1 |
feel disease only by reason of our belief in it: then
shall matter remain no longer to blind us to Spirit, and clog |
| 3 |
the wheels of progress. We spread our wings in vain when
we attempt to mount above error by speculative views of Truth. |
| 6 |
Love is the Principle of divine Science; and Love is not
learned of the material senses, nor gained by a culpa- ble attempt to seem
what we have not lifted ourselves |
| 9 |
to be, namely, a Christian. In love for man, we gain
a true sense of Love as God; and in no other way can we reach this
spiritual sense, and rise - and still rise - to |
| 12 |
things most essential and divine. What hinders man's
progress is his vain conceit, the Phariseeism of the times, also his effort
to steal from others and avoid hard work; |
| 15 |
errors which can never find a place in Science. Empiri-
cal knowledge is worse than useless: it never has advanced man a single
step in the scale of being. |
| 18 |
That one should have ventured on such unfamiliar ground,
and, self-forgetful, should have gone on to estab- lish this mighty system
of metaphysical healing, called |
| 21 |
Christian Science, against such odds, - even the entire
current of mortality, - is matter of grave wonderment to profound thinkers.
That, in addition to this, she has made |
| 24 |
some progress, has seen far into the spiritual facts of
be- ing which constitute physical and mental perfection, in the midst
of an age so sunken in sin and sensuality, seems |
| 27 |
to them still more inconceivable.
In this new departure of metaphysics,
God is regarded more as absolute, supreme; and Christ is clad with
a |
| 30 |
so richer illumination as our Saviour from sickness,
sin, and death. God's fatherliness as Life, Truth, and Love, makes His
sovereignty glorious.
Page 235 |
| 1 |
By this system, too, man has a changed recognition of
his relation to God. He is no longer obliged to sin, |
| 3 |
be sick, and die to reach heaven, but is required and em-
powered to conquer sin, sickness, and death; thus, as image and likeness,
to reflect Him who destroys death |
| 6 |
and hell. By this reflection, man becomes the partaker
of that Mind whence sprang the universe.
In Christian Science, progress is
demonstration, not |
| 9 |
doctrine. This Science is ameliorative and regenerative,
delivering mankind from all error through the light and love of Truth. It
gives to the race loftier desires and new |
| 12 |
possibilities. It lays the axe at the root of the tree of
knowledge, to cut down all that bringeth not forth good fruit; "and blessed
is he, whosoever shall not be offended |
| 15 |
in me." It touches mind to more spiritual issues, sys-
tematizes action, gives a keener sense of Truth and a stronger desire for
it. |
| 18 |
Hungering and thirsting after a better life, we shall
have it, and become Christian Scientists; learn God aright, and know
something of the ideal man, the real |
| 21 |
man, harmonious and eternal. This movement of thought
must push on the ages: it must start the wheels of reason aright, educate
the affections to higher resources, and |
| 24 |
leave Christianity unbiased by the superstitions of a
senior period.
INJUSTICE |
| 27 |
Who that has tried to follow the divine precept, "All
things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to
them," has not suffered from the
Page 236 |
| 1 |
situation? - has not found that human passions in their
reaction have misjudged motives? |
| 3 |
Throughout our experience since undertaking the labor of
uplifting the race, we have been made the re- pository of little else than
the troubles, indiscretions, |
| 6 |
and errors of others; until thought has shrunk from
contact with family difficulties, and become weary with study to counsel
wisely whenever giving advice on per- |
| 9 |
sonal topics.
To the child complaining of his
parents we have said, "Love and honor thy parents, and yield obedience
to |
| 12 |
them in all that is right; but you have the rights of
con- science, as we all have, and must follow God in all your
ways." |
| 15 |
When yielding to constant solicitations of husband or
wife to give, to one or the other, advice concerning diffi- culties and the
best way to overcome them, we have done |
| 18 |
this to the best of our ability, - and always with the
pur- pose to restore harmony and prevent dishonor. In such cases we
have said, "Take no counsel of a mortal, even |
| 21 |
though it be your best friend; but be guided by God
alone;" meaning by this, Be not estranged from each other by anything that
is said to you, but seek in divine |
| 24 |
Love the remedy for all human discord.
Yet, notwithstanding one's good
intentions, in some way or at some step in one's efforts to help another,
as |
| 27 |
a general rule, one will be blamed for all that is not
right: but this must not deter us from doing our duty, whatever else
may appear, and at whatever cost.
Page 237
REFORMERS
The olden opinion that hell is fire
and brimstone, has |
| 3 |
yielded somewhat to the metaphysical fact that suffering
is a thing of mortal mind instead of body: so, in place of material flames
and odor, mental anguish is generally |
| 6 |
accepted as the penalty for sin. This changed belief has
wrought a change in the actions of men. Not a few individuals serve God (or
try to) from fear; but remove |
| 9 |
that fear, and the worst of human passions belch forth
their latent fires. Some people never repent until earth gives them such a
cup of gall that conscience strikes home; |
| 12 |
then they are brought to realize how impossible it is to
sin and not suffer. All the different phases of error in human nature the
reformer must encounter and help to |
| 15 |
eradicate.
This period is not essentially one of
conscience: few feel and live now as when this nation began, and
our |
| 18 |
forefathers' prayers blended with the murmuring winds of
their forest home. This is a period of doubt, inquiry, speculation,
selfishness; of divided interests, marvellous |
| 21 |
good, and mysterious evil. But sin can only work out its
own destruction; and reform does and must push on the growth of
mankind. |
| 24 |
Honor to faithful merit is delayed, and always has been;
but it is sure to follow. The very streets through which Garrison was
dragged were draped in honor of |
| 27 |
the dead hero who did the hard work, the immortal work,
of loosing the fetters of one form of human slavery. I remember, when a
girl, and he visited my father, how a |
| 30 |
childish fear clustered round his coming. I had heard
Page 238 |
| 1 |
the awful story that "he helped 'niggers' kill the white
folks!" Even the loving children are sometimes made |
| 3 |
to believe a lie, and to hate reformers. It is pleasant,
now, to contrast with that childhood's wrong the reverence of my riper
years for all who dare to be true, honest to |
| 6 |
their convictions, and strong of purpose.
The reformer has no time to give in
defense of his own life's incentive, since no sacrifice is too great for
the |
| 9 |
silent endurance of his love. What has not unselfed love
achieved for the race? All that ever was accomplished, and more than
history has yet recorded. The reformer |
| 12 |
works on unmentioned, save when he is abused or his work
is utilized in the interest of somebody. He may labor for the establishment
of a cause which is fraught |
| 15 |
with infinite blessings, - health, virtue, and heaven;
but what of all that? Who should care for everybody? It is enough, say
they, to care for a few. Yet the good |
| 18 |
done, and the love that foresees more to do, stimulate
philanthropy and are an ever-present reward. Let one's life answer well
these questions, and it already hath a |
| 21 |
benediction:
Have you renounced self? Are you
faithful? Do you love?
MRS. EDDY SICK
The frequent public allegement that I
am "sick, unable to speak a loud word," or that I died of palsy, and
am |
| 27 |
dead, - is but another evidence of the falsehoods kept
constantly before the public.
While I accord these evil-mongers due
credit for their
Page 239 |
| 1 |
desire, let me say to you, dear reader: Call at the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College, in 1889, and judge |
| 3 |
for yourself whether I can talk-and laugh too! I never
was in better health. I have had but four days' vacation for the past year,
and am about to com- |
| 6 |
mence a large class in Christian Science. Lecturing,
writing, preaching, teaching, etc., give fair proof that my shadow is not
growing less; and substance is taking |
| 9 |
larger proportions.
"I'VE GOT COLD"
Out upon the sidewalk one winter
morning, I observed |
| 12 |
a carriage draw up before a stately mansion; a portly
gentleman alight, and take from his carriage the ominous hand-trunk. |
| 15 |
"Ah!" thought I, "somebody has to take it; and what may
the potion be?"
Just then a tiny, sweet face appeared
in the vestibule, |
| 18 |
and red nose, suffused eyes, cough, and tired look, told
the story; but, looking up quaintly, the poor child said, -
"I've got cold,
doctor." |
| 21 |
Her apparent pride at sharing in a popular influenza was
comical. However, her dividend, when compared with that of the household
stockholders, was new; and |
| 24 |
doubtless their familiarity with what the stock paid,
made them more serious over it.
What if that sweet child, so bravely
confessing that |
| 27 |
she had something that she ought not to have, and which
mamma thought must be gotten rid of, had been taught the value of saying
even more bravely, and believing |
| 30 |
it, -
Page 240 |
| 1 |
"I have not got cold."
Why, the doctor's squills and bills
would have been |
| 3 |
avoided; and through the cold air the little one would
have been bounding with sparkling eyes, and ruby cheeks painted and
fattened by metaphysical hygiene. |
| 6 |
Parents and doctors must not take the sweet freshness out
of the children's lives by that flippant caution, "You will get
cold." |
| 9 |
Predicting danger does not dignify life, whereas fore-
casting liberty and joy does; for these are strong pro- moters of health
and happiness. All education should |
| 12 |
contribute to moral and physical strength and freedom. If
a cold could get into the body without the assent of mind, nature would
take it out as gently, or let it remain |
| 15 |
as harmlessly, as it takes the frost out of the ground
or puts it into the ice-cream to the satisfaction of all.
The sapling bends to the breeze, while
the sturdy oak, |
| 18 |
with form and inclination fixed, breasts the tornado. It
is easier to incline the early thought rightly, than the biased mind.
Children not mistaught, naturally love |
| 21 |
God; for they are pure-minded, affectionate, and gen-
erally brave. Passions, appetites, pride, selfishness, have slight sway
over the fresh, unbiased thought. |
| 24 |
Teach the children early self-government, and teach them
nothing that is wrong. If they see their father with a cigarette in his
mouth - suggest to them that the habit |
| 27 |
of smoking is not nice, and that nothing but a loathsome
worm naturally chews tobacco. Likewise soberly inform them that
"Battle-Axe Plug" takes off men's heads; or, |
| 30 |
leaving these on, that it takes from their bodies a
sweet something which belongs to nature, - namely, pure odors.
Page 241 |
| 1 |
From a religious point of view, the faith of both youth
and adult should centre as steadfastly in God to benefit |
| 3 |
the body, as to benefit the mind. Body and mind are
correlated in man's salvation; for man will no more enter heaven sick than
as a sinner, and Christ's Christi- |
| 6 |
anity casts out sickness as well as sin of every sort.
Test, if you will, metaphysical
healing on two patients: one having morals to be healed, the other having a
physi- |
| 9 |
cal ailment. Use as your medicine the great alterative,
Truth: give to the immoralist a mental dose that says, "You have no
pleasure in sin," and witness the effects. |
| 12 |
Either he will hate you, and try to make others do like-
wise, so taking a dose of error big enough apparently to neutralize your
Truth, else he will doubtingly await the |
| 15 |
result; during which interim, by constant combat and
direful struggles, you get the victory and Truth heals him of the moral
malady. |
| 18 |
On the other hand, to the bedridden sufferer admin- ister
this alterative Truth: "God never made you sick: there is no necessity for
pain; and Truth destroys the |
| 21 |
error that insists on the necessity of any man's bondage
to sin and sickness. 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free."' |
| 24 |
Then, like blind Bartimeus, the doubting heart looks up
through faith, and your patient rejoices in the gospel of health. |
| 27 |
Thus, you see, it is easier to heal the physical than the
moral ailment. When divine Truth and Love heal, of sin, the sinner who is
at ease in sin, how much more should |
| 30 |
these heal, of sickness, the sick who are dis-eased,
dis- comforted, and who long for relief !
Page 242
"PRAYER AND HEALING"
The article of Professor T- , having
the above cap- |
| 3 |
tion, published in Zion's Herald, December third,
came not to my notice until January ninth. In it the Professor offered
me, as President of the Metaphysical College in |
| 6 |
Boston, or one of my students, the liberal sum of one
thousand dollars if either would reset certain dislocations without the use
of hands, and two thousand dollars if |
| 9 |
either would give sight to one born blind.
Will the gentleman accept my thanks
due to his gener- osity; for, if I should accept his bid on Christianity,
he |
| 12 |
would lose his money.
Why?
Because I performed more difficult
tasks fifteen years |
| 15 |
ago. At present, I am in another department of Christian
work, "where there shall no signs be given them," for they shall be
instructed in the Principle of Christian |
| 18 |
Science that furnishes its own proof.
But, to reward his liberality, I offer
him three thou- sand dollars if he will heal one single case of
opium-eating |
| 21 |
where the patient is very low and taking morphine powder
in its most concentrated form, at the rate of one ounce in two weeks, -
having taken it twenty years; and he is to |
| 24 |
cure that habit in three days, leaving the patient well.
I cured precisely such a case in 1869.
Also, Mr. C. M. H - , of Boston,
formerly partner |
| 27 |
of George T. Brown, pharmacist, No. 5 Beacon St., will
tell you that he was my student in December, 1884; and that before leaving
the class he took a patient thoroughly |
| 30 |
addicted to the use of opium - if she went without it
Page 243 |
| 1 |
twenty-four hours she would have delirium - and in
forty-eight hours cured her perfectly of this habit, |
| 3 |
with no bad results, but with decided improvement in
health.
I have not yet made surgery one of the
mental branches |
| 6 |
taught in my college; although students treat sprains,
contusions, etc., successfully. In the case of sprain of the wrist joint,
where the regular doctor had put on splints |
| 9 |
and bandages to remain six weeks, a student of mine
removed these appliances the same day and effected the cure in less than
one week. Reference, Mrs. M. A. F -, |
| 12 |
107 Eutaw Street, East Boston.
I agree with the Professor, that every
system of medi- cine claims more than it practises. If the system is
Science, |
| 15 |
it includes of necessity the Principle, which the learner
can demonstrate only in proportion as he understands it. Boasting is
unbecoming a mortal's poor performances. |
| 18 |
My Christian students are proverbially modest: their
works alone should declare them, since my system of medi- cine is not
generally understood. There are charlatans |
| 21 |
in "mind-cure," who practise on the basis of matter, or
human will, not Mind.
The Professor alludes to Paul's advice
to Timothy. |
| 24 |
Did he refer to that questionable counsel, "Take a little
wine for thy stomach's sake"? Even doctors disagree on that prescription:
some of the medical faculty will |
| 27 |
tell you that alcoholic drinks cause the coats of the
stomach to thicken and the organ to contract; will prevent the
secretions of the gastric juice, and induce ulceration, |
| 30 |
bleeding, vomiting, death.
Again, the Professor quotes, in
justification of material methods, and as veritable: "He took a bone from
the
Page 244 |
| 1 |
side of Adam, closed up the wound thereof, and builded up
the woman." (Gen. ii. 21.) |
| 3 |
Here we have the Professor on the platform of Christian
Science! even a "surgical operation" that he says was performed by divine
power, - Mind alone constructing |
| 6 |
the human system, before surgical instruments were
invented, and closing the incisions of the flesh.
He further states that God cannot save
the soul without |
| 9 |
compliance to ordained conditions. But, we ask, have
those conditions named in Genesis been perpetuated in the multiplication of
mankind? And, are the conditions |
| 12 |
of salvation mental, or physical; are they bodily penance
and torture, or repentance and reform, which are the action of mind ? |
| 15 |
He asks, "Has the law been abrogated that demands the
employment of visible agencies for specific ends?"
Will he accept my reply as derived
from the life and |
| 18 |
teachings of Jesus? - who annulled the so-called laws of
matter by the higher law of Spirit, causing him to walk the wave, turn the
water into wine, make the blind to see, |
| 21 |
the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to be
raised without matter-agencies. And he did this for man's example; not to
teach himself, but others, the way of |
| 24 |
healing and salvation. He said, "And other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold."
The teachings and demonstration of
Jesus were for |
| 27 |
all peoples and for all time; not for a privileged class
or a restricted period, but for as many as should believe in him. |
| 30 |
Are the discoverers of quinine, cocaine, etc., espe-
cially the children of our Lord because of their medical discoveries?
Page 245 |
| 1 |
We have no record showing that our Master ever used, or
recommended others to use, drugs; but we have his |
| 3 |
words, and the prophet's, as follows: "Take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?" "And Asa . . . sought
not to the Lord, but to the phy- |
| 6 |
sicians. And Asa slept with his fathers."
VERITAS ODIUM
PARIT
The combined efforts of the
materialistic portion of |
| 9 |
the pulpit and press in 1885, to retard by misrepresen-
tation the stately goings of Christian Science, are giving it new impetus
and energy; calling forth the vox populi |
| 12 |
and directing more critical observation to its uplifting
influence upon the health, morals, and spirituality of mankind. |
| 15 |
Their movements indicate fear and weakness, a physi- cal
and spiritual need that Christian Science should re- move with glorious
results. The conclusion cannot now |
| 18 |
be pushed, that women have no rights that man is bound to
respect. This is woman's hour, in all the good tend- encies, charities, and
reforms of to-day. It is difficult |
| 21 |
to say which may be most mischievous to the human heart,
the praise or the dispraise of men.
I have loved the Church and followed
it, thinking that |
| 24 |
it was following Christ; but, if the pulpit allows the
people to go no further in the direction of Christlikeness, and rejects
apostolic Christianity, seeking to stereotype infinite |
| 27 |
Truth, it is a thing to be thankful for that one can
walk alone the straight and narrow way; that, in the words of Wendell
Phillips, "one with God is a majority."
Page 246 |
| 1 |
It is the pulpit and press, clerical robes and the pro-
hibiting of free speech, that cradles and covers the sins of |
| 3 |
the world, - all unmitigated systems of crime; and it
requires the enlightenment of these worthies, through civil and religious
reform, to blot out all inhuman codes. |
| 6 |
It was the Southern pulpit and press that influenced the
people to wrench from man both human and divine rights, in order to
subserve the interests of wealth, religious caste, |
| 9 |
civil and political power. And the pulpit had to be
purged of that sin by human gore, - when the love of Christ would have
washed it divinely away in Christian |
| 12 |
Science!
The cry of the colored slave has
scarcely been heard and hushed, when from another direction there
comes |
| 15 |
another sharp cry of oppression. Another form of inhu-
manity lifts its hydra head to forge anew the old fetters; to shackle
conscience, stop free speech, slander, vilify; |
| 18 |
to invite its prey, then turn and refuse the victim a
solitary vindication in this most unprecedented warfare.
A conflict more terrible than the
battle of Gettysburg |
| 21 |
awaits the crouching wrong that refused to yield its prey
the peace of a desert, when a voice was heard crying in the wilderness, -
the spiritual famine of 1866, |
| 24 |
- "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths
straight."
Shall religious intolerance, arrayed
against the rights |
| 27 |
of man, again deluge the earth in blood? The question at
issue with mankind is: Shall we have a spiritual Chris- tianity and a
spiritual healing, or a materialistic religion |
| 30 |
and a materia medica?
The advancing faith and hope of Christianity, the
earnest seeking after practical truth that shall cast out
Page 247 |
| 1 |
error and heal the sick, wisely demand for man his God-
given heritage, both human and divine rights; namely, |
| 3 |
that his honest convictions and proofs of advancing
truth be allowed due consideration, and treated not as pearls trampled
upon. |
| 6 |
Those familiar with my history are more tolerant; those
who know me, know that I found health in just what I teach. I have
professed Christianity a half-century; and |
| 9 |
now I calmly challenge the world, upon fair
investigation, to furnish a single instance of departure in one of my
works from the highest possible ethics. |
| 12 |
The charges against my views are false, but natural,
since those bringing them do not understand my state- ment of the Science I
introduce, and are unwilling to be |
| 15 |
taught it, even gratuitously. If they did understand it,
they could demonstrate this Science by healing the sick; hence the
injustice of their interpretations. |
| 18 |
To many, the healing force developed by Christian Science
seems a mystery, because they do not understand that Spirit controls body.
They acknowledge the exist- |
| 21 |
ence of mortal mind, but believe it to reside in matter
of the brain; but that man is the idea of infinite Mind, is not so easily
accepted. That which is temporary |
| 24 |
seems, to the common estimate, solid and substantial. It
is much easier for people to believe that the body affects mind, than that
the body is an expression of |
| 27 |
mind, and reflects harmony or discord according to
thought.
Everything that God created, He
pronounced good. |
| 30 |
He never made sickness. Hence that is only an evil
belief of mortal mind, which must be met, in every instance, with a
denial by Truth.
Page 248 |
| 1 |
This is the "new tongue," the language of them that "lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover," whose |
| 3 |
spiritual interpretation they refuse to hear. For
instance: the literal meaning of the passage "lay hands on the sick"
would be manipulation; its moral meaning, found in the |
| 6 |
"new tongue," is spiritual power, - as, in another
Scrip- ture, "I will triumph in the works of Thy hands."
FALSEHOOD |
| 9 |
The Greeks showed a just estimate of the person they
called slanderer, when they made the word synonymous with devil. If the
simple falsehoods uttered about me |
| 12 |
were compounded, the mixture would be labelled thus:
"Religionists' mistaken views of Mrs. Eddy's book, 'Sci- ence and Health
with Key to the Scriptures,' and the |
| 15 |
malice aforethought of sinners."
That I take opium; that I am an
infidel, a mesmerist, a medium, a "pantheist;" or that my hourly life is
prayer- |
| 18 |
less, or not in strict obedience to the Mosaic Decalogue,
- is not more true than that I am dead, as is oft reported. The St.
Louis Democrat is alleged to have reported my |
| 21 |
demise, and to have said that I died of poison, and be-
queathed my property to Susan Anthony.
The opium falsehood has only this to
it: Many years |
| 24 |
ago my regular physician prescribed morphine, which I
took, when he could do no more for me. Afterwards, the glorious revelations
of Christian Science saved me |
| 27 |
from that necessity and made me well, since which time I
have not taken drugs, with the following exception: When the mental
malpractice of poisoning people was
Page 249 |
| 1 |
first undertaken by a mesmerist, to test that malprac-
tice I experimented by taking some large doses of mor- |
| 3 |
phine, to see if Christian Science could not obviate its
effect; and I say with tearful thanks, "The drug had no effect upon me
whatever." The hour has struck, |
| 6 |
- "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them."
The false report that I have
appropriated other people's |
| 9 |
manuscripts in my works, has been met and answered
legally. Both in private and public life, and especially through my
teachings, it is well known that I am not a |
| 12 |
spiritualist, a pantheist, or prayerless. The most devout
members of evangelical churches will say this, as well as my intimate
acquaintances. None are permitted to re- |
| 15 |
main in my College building whose morals are not un-
questionable. I have neither purchased nor ordered a drug since my
residence in Boston; and to my knowledge, |
| 18 |
not one has been sent to my house, unless it was
something to remove stains or vermin.
The report that I was dead arose no
doubt from the |
| 21 |
combined efforts of some malignant students, expelled
from my College for immorality, to kill me: of their mental design to do
this I have proof, but no fear. My heavenly |
| 24 |
Father will never leave me comfortless, in the amplitude
of His love; coming nearer in my need, more tenderly to save and bless.
LOVE
What a word! I am in awe before it.
Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the un-
Page 250 |
| 1 |
derived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the
alone God, is Love. |
| 3 |
By what strange perversity is the best become the most
abused, - either as a quality or as an entity? Mortals misrepresent and
miscall affection; they make it what |
| 6 |
it is not, and doubt what it is. The so-called affection
pursuing its victim is a butcher fattening the lamb to slay it. What the
lower propensities express, should be |
| 9 |
repressed by the sentiments. No word is more mis-
construed; no sentiment less understood. The divine significance of Love is
distorted into human qualities, |
| 12 |
which in their human abandon become jealousy and
hate.
Love is not something put upon a
shelf, to be taken |
| 15 |
down on rare occasions with sugar-tongs and laid on a
rose-leaf. I make strong demands on love, call for active witnesses to
prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand |
| 18 |
achievements as its results. Unless these appear, I cast
aside the word as a sham and counterfeit, having no ring of the true metal.
Love cannot be a mere abstraction, or |
| 21 |
goodness without activity and power. As a human quality,
the glorious significance of affection is more than words: it is the
tender, unselfish deed done in secret; the silent, |
| 24 |
ceaseless prayer; the self-forgetful heart that
overflows; the veiled form stealing on an errand of mercy, out of a
side door; the little feet tripping along the sidewalk; the |
| 27 |
gentle hand opening the door that turns toward want and
woe, sickness and sorrow, and thus lighting the dark places of earth.
Page 251
ADDRESS ON THE
FOURTH OF JULY AT PLEASANT VIEW,
CONCORD, N. H.,
BEFORE 2,500 MEMBERS OF THE
MOTHER CHURCH, 1897
My beloved brethren, who have come all the way from the
Pacific to the Atlantic shore, from the Palmetto to the |
| 6 |
Pine Tree State, I greet you; my hand may not touch
yours to-day, but my heart will with tenderness untalkable.
His Honor, Mayor Woodworth, has welcomed you to |
| 9 |
Concord most graciously, voicing the friendship of this
city and of my native State - loyal to the heart's core to religion, home,
friends, and country. |
| 12 |
To-day we commemorate not only our nation's civil and
religious freedom, but a greater even, the liberty of the sons of God, the
inalienable rights and radiant reality |
| 15 |
of Christianity, whereof our Master said: "The works that
I do shall he do;" and, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation"
(with knowledge obtained from |
| 18 |
the senses), but "the kingdom of God is within you," -
within the present possibilities of mankind.
Think of this inheritance! Heaven right here, where |
| 21 |
angels are as men, clothed more lightly, and men as angels
who, burdened for an hour, spring into liberty, and the good they
would do, that they do, and the evil they would |
| 24 |
not do, that they do not.
From the falling leaves of old-time faiths men learn a
parable of the period, that all error, physical, moral, or |
| 27 |
religious, will fall before Truth demonstrated, even as
dry leaves fall to enrich the soil for fruitage.
Sin, sickness, and disease flee before the evangel
of |
| 30 |
Truth as the mountain mists before the sun. Truth is
Page 252 |
| 1 |
the tonic for the sick, and this medicine of Mind is not
necessarily infinitesimal but infinite. Herein the mental |
| 3 |
medicine of divine metaphysics and the medical systems of
allopathy and homoeopathy differ. Mental medi- cine gains no potency by
attenuation, and its largest |
| 6 |
dose is never dangerous, but the more the better in
every case.
Christian Science classifies thought
thus: Right thoughts |
| 9 |
are reality and power; wrong thoughts are unreality and
powerless, possessing the nature of dreams. Good thoughts are potent; evil
thoughts are impotent, and they should |
| 12 |
appear thus. Continuing this category, we learn that sick
thoughts are unreality and weakness; while healthy thoughts are reality and
strength. My proof of these |
| 15 |
novel propositions is demonstration, whereby any man can
satisfy himself of their verity.
Christian Science is not only the acme
of Science |
| 18 |
but the crown of Christianity. It is universal. It ap-
peals to man as man; to the whole and not to a por- tion; to man
physically, as well as spiritually, and to all |
| 21 |
mankind.
It has one God. It demonstrates the
divine Principle, rules and practice of the great healer and master of
meta- |
| 24 |
physics, Jesus of Nazareth. It spiritualizes religion and
restores its lost element, namely, healing the sick. It consecrates and
inspires the teacher and preacher; it |
| 27 |
equips the doctor with safe and sure medicine; it en-
courages and empowers the business man and secures the success of honesty.
It is the dear children's toy and |
| 30 |
strong tower; the wise man's spiritual dictionary; the
poor man's money; yea, it is the pearl priceless whereof our Master said,
if a man findeth, he goeth and selleth
Page 253 |
| 1 |
all that he hath and buyeth it. Buyeth it! Note the scope
of that saying, even that Christianity is not merely |
| 3 |
a gift, as St. Paul avers, but is bought with a price, a
great price; and what man knoweth as did our Master its value, and the
price that he paid for it? |
| 6 |
Friends, I am not enough the new woman of the period for
outdoor speaking, and the incidental platform is not broad enough for me,
but the speakers that will now ad- |
| 9 |
dress you - one a congressman - may improve our
platforms; and make amends for the nothingness of matter with the allness
of Mind.
WELL DOINGE IS THE
FRUITE OF DOINGE WELL
HERRICK
This period is big with events. Fraught with
history, |
| 15 |
it repeats the past and portends much for the future.
The Scriptural metaphors, - of the woman in travail, the
great red dragon that stood ready to devour the child |
| 18 |
as soon as it was born, and the husbandmen that said,
"This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the in- heritance may be
ours," - are type and shadow of this |
| 21 |
hour.
A mother's love touches the heart of God, and should it
not appeal to human sympathy? Can a mother tell |
| 24 |
her child one tithe of the agonies that gave that child
birth? Can that child conceive of the anguish, until she herself is become
a mother? |
| 27 |
Do the children of this period dream of the spiritual
Mother's sore travail, through the long night, that has opened their eyes
to the light of Christian Science? Cherish
Page 254 |
| 1 |
these new-born children that filial obedience to which
the Decalogue points with promise of prosperity? Should not |
| 3 |
the loving warning, the far-seeing wisdom, the gentle en-
treaty, the stern rebuke have been heeded, in return for all that love
which brooded tireless over their tender |
| 6 |
years? for all that love that hath fed them with Truth, -
even the bread that cometh down from heaven, - as the mother-bird tendeth
her young in the rock-ribbed nest of |
| 9 |
the raven's callow brood!
And what of the hope of that parent
whose children rise up against her; when brother slays brother,
and |
| 12 |
the strength of union grows weak with wickedness? The
victim of mad ambition that saith, "This is the heir: come, let us kill
him, that the inheritance |
| 15 |
may be ours," goes on to learn that he must at last kill
this evil in "self" in order to gain the kingdom of God. |
| 18 |
Envy, the great red dragon of this hour, would obscure
the light of Science, take away a third part of the stars from the
spiritual heavens, and cast them to the earth. |
| 21 |
This is not Science. Per contra, it is the mortal
mind sense - mental healing on a material basis - hurling its so-called
healing at random, filling with hate its |
| 24 |
deluded victims, or resting in silly peace upon the
laurels of headlong human will. "What shall, therefore, the Lord of the
vineyard do? He will come and de- |
| 27 |
stroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto
others."
Page 255
LITTLE GODS
It is sometimes said, cynically, that
Christian Scien- |
| 3 |
tists set themselves on pedestals, as so many petty
deities; but there is no fairness or propriety in the aspersion.
Man is not equal to his Maker. That
which is formed |
| 6 |
is not cause, but effect; and has no underived power. But
it is possible, and dutiful, to throw the weight of thought and action on
the side of right, and to be thus |
| 9 |
lifted up.
Man should be found not claiming
equality with, but growing into, that altitude of Mind which was in
Christ |
| 12 |
Jesus. He should comprehend, in divine Science, a
recognition of what the apostle meant when he said: "The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that |
| 15 |
we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."
ADVANTAGE OF
MIND-HEALING |
| 18 |
It is sometimes asked, What are the advantages of your
system of healing?
I claim for healing by Christian
Science the following |
| 21 |
advantages: -
First: It does away with material medicine, and rec- ognizes the
fact that the antidote for sickness, as well |
| 24 |
as for sin, may be found in God, the divine Mind.
Second: It is more effectual than drugs, and cures where they
fail, because it is this divine antidote, and |
| 27 |
metaphysics is above physics.
Page 256 |
| 1 |
Third: Persons who have been healed by Christian
Science are not only cured of their belief in disease, but |
| 3 |
they are at the same time improved morally. The body is
governed by Mind, and mortal mind must be corrected in order to make the
body harmonious.
A CARD
While gratefully acknowledging the
public confidence manifested in daily letters that protest against
receiving |
| 9 |
instruction in the Massachusetts Metaphysical College
from any other than Mrs. Eddy, I feel, deeply, that of necessity this
imposes on me the severe task of remain- |
| 12 |
ing at present a public servant: also, that this must
pre- vent my classes from forming as frequently as was an- nounced in
the October number of the Journal, and |
| 15 |
necessitates receiving but a select number of students.
To meet the old impediment, lack of time, that has oc- casioned the
irregular intervals between my class terms, |
| 18 |
I shall continue to send to each applicant a notice from
one to two weeks previous to the opening term. MARY BAKER G. EDDY
SPIRIT AND LAW
We are accustomed to think and to
speak of gravita- tion as a law of matter; while every quality of
matter, |
| 24 |
in and of itself, is inert, inanimate, and
non-intelligent. The assertion that matter is a law, or a lawgiver, is
anomalous. Wherever law is, Mind is; and the notion
Page 257 |
| 1 |
that Mind can be in matter is rank infidelity, which
either excludes God from the universe, or includes Him in every |
| 3 |
mode and form of evil. Pantheism presupposes that God
sleeps in the mineral, dreams in the animal, and wakes in a wicked
man. |
| 6 |
The distinction between that which is and that which is
not law, must be made by Mind and as Mind. Law is either a moral or an
immoral force. The law of God is |
| 9 |
the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of immor-
tal and divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an immoral force of
erring mortal mind, alias the minds of |
| 12 |
mortals. This so-called force, or law, at work in nature
as a power, prohibition, or license, is cruel and merciless. It punishes
the innocent, and repays our best deeds |
| 15 |
with sacrifice and suffering. It is a code whose modes
trifle with joy, and lead to immediate or ultimate death. It fosters
suspicion where confidence is due, fear where |
| 18 |
courage is requisite, reliance where there should be
avoidance, a belief in safety where there is most danger. Our Master called
it "a murderer from the |
| 21 |
beginning."
Electricity, governed by this
so-called law, sparkles on the cloud, and strikes down the hoary saint.
Floods |
| 24 |
swallow up homes and households; and childhood, age, and
manhood go down in the death-dealing wave. Earth- quakes engulf cities,
churches, schools, and mortals. |
| 27 |
Cyclones kill and destroy, desolating the green earth.
This pitiless power smites with disease the good Samari- tan ministering to
his neighbor's need. Even the chamber |
| 30 |
where the good man surrenders to death is not exempt
from this law. Smoothing the pillow of pain may infect you with smallpox,
according to this lawless law which
Page 258 |
| 1 |
dooms man to die for loving his neighbor as himself, -
when Christ has said that love is the fulfilling of the |
| 3 |
law.
Our great Ensample, Jesus of Nazareth,
met and abol- ished this unrelenting false claim of matter with
the |
| 6 |
righteous scorn and power of Spirit. When, through Mind,
he restored sight to the blind, he figuratively and literally spat upon
matter; and, anointing the wounded |
| 9 |
spirit with the great truth that God is All, he demon-
strated the healing power and supremacy of the law of Life and Love. |
| 12 |
In the spiritual Genesis of creation, all law was vested
in the Lawgiver, who was a law to Himself. In divine Science, God is One
and All; and, governing Himself, |
| 15 |
He governs the universe. This is the law of creation: "My
defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart." And that infinite
Mind governs all things. On |
| 18 |
this infinite Principle of freedom, God named Him- self,
I AM. Error, or Adam, might give names to itself, and call Mind by the name
of matter, but error could |
| 21 |
neither name nor demonstrate Spirit. The name, I AM,
indicated no personality that could be paralleled with it; but it did
declare a mighty individuality, |
| 24 |
even the everlasting Father, as infinite consciousness,
ever-presence, omnipotence; as all law, Life, Truth, and Love. |
| 27 |
God's interpretation of Himself furnishes man with the
only suitable or true idea of Him; and the divine definition of Deity
differs essentially from the human. |
| 30 |
It interprets the law of Spirit, not of matter. It
explains the eternal dynamics of being, and shows that nature and man
are as harmonious to-day as in the beginning,
Page 259 |
| 1 |
when "all things were made by Him; and without Him was
not any thing made." |
| 3 |
Whatever appears to be law, but partakes not of the
nature of God, is not law, but is what Jesus declared it, "a liar, and the
father of it." God is the law of Life, |
| 6 |
not of death; of health, not of sickness; of good, not of
evil. It is this infinitude and oneness of good that silences the
supposition that evil is a claimant or a claim. |
| 9 |
The consciousness of good has no consciousness or knowl-
edge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or eliminated by good:
while iniquity, too evil to conceive |
| 12 |
of good as being unlike itself, declares that God knows
iniquity!
When the Lawgiver was the only law of
creation, free- |
| 15 |
dom reigned, and was the heritage of man; but this
freedom was the moral power of good, not of evil: it was divine Science, in
which God is supreme, and the |
| 18 |
only law of being. In this eternal harmony of Science,
man is not fallen: he is governed in the same rhythm that the Scripture
describes, when "the morning stars |
| 21 |
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
TRUTH-HEALING
The spiritual elevator of the human
race, physically, |
| 24 |
morally, and Christianly, is the truism that Truth dem-
onstrates good, and is natural; while error, or evil, is really
non-existent, and must have produced its own |
| 27 |
illusion, - for it belongs not to nature nor to God.
Truth is the power of God which heals the sick and the sinner, and is
applicable to all the needs of man. It is the uni-
Page 260 |
| 1 |
versal, intelligent Christ-idea illustrated by the life
of Jesus, through whose "stripes we are healed." By con- |
| 3 |
flicts, defeats, and triumphs, Christian Science has been
reduced to the understanding of mortals, and found able to heal them. |
| 6 |
Pagan mysticism, Grecian philosophy, or Jewish reli-
gion, never entered into the line of Jesus' thought or action. His faith
partook not of drugs, matter, nor of |
| 9 |
the travesties of mortal mind. The divine Mind was his
only instrumentality and potency, in religion or medi- cine. The Principle
of his cure was God, in the laws |
| 12 |
of Spirit, not of matter; and these laws annulled all
other laws.
Jesus knew that erring mortal thought
holds only in |
| 15 |
itself the supposition of evil, and that sin, sickness,
and death are its subjective states; also, that pure Mind is the truth
of being that subjugates and destroys any sup- |
| 18 |
positional or elementary opposite to Him who is All.
Truth is supreme and omnipotent. Then,
whatever else seemeth to be intelligence or power is false,
delud- |
| 21 |
ing reason and denying revelation, and seeking to
dethrone Deity. The truth of Mind-healing uplifts mankind, by
acknowledging pure Mind as absolute and entire, and |
| 24 |
that evil is naught, although it seems to be.
Pure Mind gives out an atmosphere that
heals and saves. Words are not always the auxiliaries of
Truth. |
| 27 |
The spirit, and not the letter, performs the vital func-
tions of Truth and Love. Mind, imbued with this Science of healing, is a
law unto itself, needing neither license |
| 30 |
nor prohibition; but lawless mind, with unseen motives,
and silent mental methods whereby it may injure the race, is the highest
attenuation of evil.
Page 261 |
| 1 |
Again: evil, as mind, is doomed, already
sentenced, punished; for suffering is commensurate with evil, and |
| 3 |
lasts as long as the evil. As mind, evil finds no
escape from itself; and the sin and suffering it occasions can only be
removed by reformation. |
| 6 |
According to divine law, sin and suffering are not
cancelled by repentance or pardon. Christian Science not only elucidates
but demonstrates this verity of be- |
| 9 |
ing; namely, that mortals suffer from the wrong they
commit, whether intentionally or ignorantly; that every effect and
amplification of wrong will revert to the wrong- |
| 12 |
doer, until he pays his full debt to divine law, and the
measure he has meted is measured to him again, full, pressed down, and
running over. Surely "the way of |
| 15 |
the transgressor is hard."
In this law of justice, the atonement
of Christ loses no efficacy. Justice is the handmaid of mercy, and
show- |
| 18 |
eth mercy by punishing sin. Jesus said, "I came not to
destroy the law," - the divine requirements typified in the law of Moses, -
"but to fulfil it" in righteousness, |
| 21 |
by Truth's destroying error. No greater type of divine
Love can be presented than effecting so glorious a purpose. This spirit of
sacrifice always has saved, and still saves |
| 24 |
mankind; but by mankind I mean mortals, or a kind of men
after man's own making. Man as God's idea is already saved with an
everlasting salvation. It is im- |
| 27 |
possible to be a Christian Scientist without apprehend-
ing the moral law so clearly that, for conscience' sake, one will either
abandon his claim to even a knowledge |
| 30 |
of this Science, or else make the claim valid. All
Science is divine. Then, to be Science, it must produce physical and
moral harmony.
Page 262 |
| 1 |
Dear readers, our Journal is designed to bring
health and happiness to all households wherein it is permitted |
| 3 |
to enter, and to confer increased power to be good and to
do good. If you wish to brighten so pure a purpose, you will aid our
prospect of fulfilling it by your kind |
| 6 |
patronage of The Christian Science Journal, now
enter- ing upon its fifth volume, clad in Truth-healing's new and
costly spring dress.
HEART TO HEART
When the heart speaks, however simple
the words, its language is always acceptable to those who
have |
| 12 |
hearts.
I just want to say, I thank you, my
dear students, who are at work conscientiously and assiduously, for the
good |
| 15 |
you are doing. I am grateful to you for giving to the
sick relief from pain; for giving joy to the suffering and hope to the
disconsolate; for lifting the fallen and strength- |
| 18 |
ening the weak, and encouraging the heart grown faint
with hope deferred. We are made glad by the divine Love which looseth the
chains of sickness and sin, open- |
| 21 |
ing the prison doors to such as are bound; and we should
be more grateful than words can express, even through this white-winged
messenger, our Journal. |
| 24 |
With all the homage beneath the skies, yet were our
burdens heavy but for the Christ-love that makes them light and renders the
yoke easy. Having his word, you |
| 27 |
have little need of words of approval and encouragement
from me. Perhaps it is even selfish in me sometimes to relieve my heart of
its secrets, because I take so much
Page 263 |
| 1 |
pleasure in thus doing; but if my motives are sinister,
they will harm myself only, and I shall have the unself- |
| 3 |
ish joy of knowing that the wrong motives are not yours,
to react on yourselves.
These two words in Scripture suggest
the sweetest |
| 6 |
similes to be found in any language - rock and
feathers: "Upon this rock I will build my church;" "He shall
cover thee with His feathers." How blessed it is to |
| 9 |
think of you as "beneath the shadow of a great rock in a
weary land," safe in His strength, building on His foundation, and covered
from the devourer by divine |
| 12 |
protection and affection. Always bear in mind that His
presence, power, and peace meet all human needs and reflect all bliss.
THINGS TO BE THOUGHT
OF
The need of their teacher's counsel,
felt by students, especially by those at a distance, working assiduously
for |
| 18 |
our common Cause, - and their constant petitions for the
same, should be met in the most effectual way.
To be responsible for supplying this
want, and poise |
| 21 |
the wavering balance on the right side, is impracticable
without a full knowledge of the environments. The educational system of
Christian Science lacks the aid |
| 24 |
and protection of State laws. The Science is hampered by
immature demonstrations, by the infancy of its dis- covery, by incorrect
teaching; and especially by unprin- |
| 27 |
cipled claimants, whose mad ambition drives them to
appropriate my ideas and discovery, without credit, ap- preciation, or a
single original conception, while they
Page 264 |
| 1 |
quote from other authors and give them credit for every
random thought in line with mine. |
| 3 |
My noble students, who are loyal to Christ, Truth, and
human obligations, will not be disheartened in the midst of this seething
sea of sin. They build for time and eter- |
| 6 |
nity. The others stumble over misdeeds, and their own
unsubstantiality, without the groundwork of right, till, like camera
shadows thrown upon the mists of time, they |
| 9 |
melt into darkness.
Unity is the essential nature of
Christian Science. Its Principle is One, and to demonstrate the divine
One, |
| 12 |
demands oneness of thought and action.
Many students enter the Normal class
of my College whom I have not fitted for it by the Primary
course. |
| 15 |
They are taught their first lessons by my students; hence
the aptness to assimilate pure and abstract Science is somewhat
untested. |
| 18 |
"As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." As mortal
mind is directed, it acts for a season. Some students leave my instructions
before they are quite free from |
| 21 |
the bias of their first impressions, whether those be
cor- rect or incorrect. Such students are more or less subject to the
future mental influence of their former teacher. |
| 24 |
Their knowledge of Mind-healing may be right theo-
retically, but the moral and spiritual status of thought must be right
also. The tone of the teacher's mind must |
| 27 |
be pure, grand, true, to aid the mental development of
the student; for the tint of the instructor's mind must take its hue from
the divine Mind. A single mistake in |
| 30 |
metaphysics, or in ethics, is more fatal than a mistake
in physics.
If a teacher of Christian Science
unwittingly or inten-
Page 265 |
| 1 |
tionally offers his own thought, and gives me as
authority for it; if he diverges from Science and knows it not, or, |
| 3 |
knowing it, makes the venture from vanity, in order to be
thought original, or wiser than somebody else, - this divergence widens. He
grows dark, and cannot regain, |
| 6 |
at will, an upright understanding. This error in the
teacher also predisposes his students to make mistakes and lose their way.
Diverse opinions in Science are |
| 9 |
stultifying. All must have one Principle and the
same rule; and all who follow the Principle and rule have but
one opinion of it. |
| 12 |
Whosoever understands a single rule in Science, and
demonstrates its Principle according to rule, is master of the situation.
Nobody can gainsay this. The ego- |
| 15 |
tistical theorist or shallow moralist may presume to make
innovations upon simple proof; but his mistake is visited upon himself and
his students, whose minds |
| 18 |
are, must be, disturbed by this discord, which extends
along the whole line of reciprocal thought. An error in premise can never
bring forth the real fruits of Truth. |
| 21 |
After thoroughly explaining spiritual Truth and its
ethics to a student, I am not morally responsible for the mis-
statements or misconduct of this student. My teachings |
| 24 |
are uniform. Those who abide by them do well. If others,
who receive the same instruction, do ill, the fault is not in the culture
but the soil. |
| 27 |
I am constantly called to settle questions and disaf-
fections toward Christian Science growing out of the departures from
Science of self-satisfied, unprincipled |
| 30 |
students. If impatient of the loving rebuke, the stu-
dent must stop at the foot of the grand ascent, and there remain until
suffering compels the downfall of his self-
Page 266 |
| 1 |
conceit. Then that student must struggle up, with bleed-
ing footprints, to the God-crowned summit of unselfish |
| 3 |
and pure aims and affections.
To be two-sided, when these sides are
moral oppo- sites, is neither politic nor scientific; and to abridge
a |
| 6 |
single human right or privilege is an error. Whoever does
this may represent me as doing it; but he mistakes me, and the subjective
state of his own mind for mine. |
| 9 |
The true leader of a true cause is the unacknowledged
servant of mankind. Stationary in the background, this individual is doing
the work that nobody else can or will |
| 12 |
do. An erratic career is like the comet's course, dash-
ing through space, headlong and alone. A clear-headed and honest Christian
Scientist will demonstrate the Prin- |
| 15 |
ciple of Christian Science, and hold justice and mercy
as inseparable from the unity of God.
UNCHRISTIAN
RUMOR |
| 18 |
The assertion that I have said hard things about my loyal
students in Chicago, New York, or any other place, is utterly false and
groundless. I speak of them as I feel, |
| 21 |
and I cannot find it in my heart not to love them. They
are essentially dear to me, who are toiling and achieving success in unison
with my own endeavors and prayers. |
| 24 |
If I correct mistakes which may be made in teaching or
lecturing on Christian Science, this is in accordance with my students'
desires, and thus we mutually aid each other, |
| 27 |
and obey the Golden Rule.
The spirit of lies is abroad. Because
Truth has spoken aloud, error, running to and fro in the earth, is
scream-
Page 267 |
| 1 |
ing, to make itself heard above Truth's voice. The
audible and inaudible wail of evil never harms Scientists, |
| 3 |
steadfast in their consciousness of the nothingness of
wrong and the supremacy of right.
Our worst enemies are the best friends
to our growth. |
| 6 |
Charity students, for whom I have sacrificed the most
time, - those whose chief aim is to injure me, - have caused me to exercise
most patience. When they report |
| 9 |
me as "hating those whom I do not love," let them
re- member that there never was a time when I saw an op- portunity
really to help them and failed to improve it; |
| 12 |
and this, too, when I knew they were secretly striving
to injure me.
VAIN
GLORY |
| 15 |
Comparisons are
odorous. - SHAKESPEARE
Through all human history, the vital outcomes of Truth
have suffered temporary shame and loss from |
| 18 |
individual conceit, cowardice, or dishonesty. The bird
whose right wing flutters to soar, while the left beats its way downward,
falls to the earth. Both wings must be |
| 21 |
plumed for rarefied atmospheres and upward flight.
Mankind must gravitate from sense to Soul, and human
affairs should be governed by Spirit, intelligent good. |
| 24 |
The antipode of Spirit, which we name matter, or
non- intelligent evil, is no real aid to being. The
predisposing and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the |
| 27 |
sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedi-
ence to God, spiritualizes man's motives and methods, and crowns them
with success; while disobedience to
Page 268 |
| 1 |
this divine Principle materializes human modes and con-
sciousness, and defeats them. |
| 3 |
Two personal queries give point to human action: Who
shall be greatest? and, Who shall be best? Earthly glory is vain; but not
vain enough to attempt pointing |
| 6 |
the way to heaven, the harmony of being. The imaginary
victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats. The Holy One saith, "O that
thou hadst hearkened to My com- |
| 9 |
mandments! then had thy peace been as a river." He is
unfit for Truth, and the demonstration of divine power, who departs from
Mind to matter, and from Truth to |
| 12 |
error, in pursuit of better means for healing the sick and
casting out error.
The Christian Scientist keeps straight to the
course. |
| 15 |
His whole inquiry and demonstra |