Here ends the colloquy; and a voice from heaven seems [15] to say, "Come and see."

The nineteenth-century prophets repeat, "Unto us a son is given."

The shepherds shout, "We behold the appearing of the star!"—and the pure in heart clap their hands. [20]



Editor's Extracts From Sermon

TEXT: Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.—MATT. xxii. 29.

The Christian Science Journal reported as follows:—

The announcement that the Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy [25] would speak before the Scientist denomination on the afternoon of October 26, drew a large audience. Haw- thorne Hall was densely packed, and many had to go away unable to obtain seats. The distinguished speaker began by saying:— [30]

[Page 169.]

Within Bible pages she had found all the divine Science [1] she preaches; noticing, all along the way of her researches therein, that whenever her thoughts had wandered into the bypaths of ancient philosophies or pagan literatures, her spiritual insight had been darkened thereby, till [5] she was God-driven back to the inspired pages. Early training, through the misinterpretation of the Word, had been the underlying cause of the long years of in- validism she endured before Truth dawned upon her understanding, through right interpretation. With the [10] understanding of Scripture-meanings, had come physical rejuvenation. The uplifting of spirit was the upbuild- ing of the body.

She affirmed that the Scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must [15] be spiritually discerned, before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts. That there is a dual meaning to every Biblical passage, the most eminent divines of the world have concluded; and to get at the highest, or metaphysical, it is necessary rightly to read [20] what the inspired writers left for our spiritual instruction. The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them noth- ing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all. The literal or material reading is [25] the reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward God, Spirit.

Taking several Bible passages, Mrs. Eddy showed how beautiful and inspiring are the thoughts when rightly understood. "Let the dead bury their dead; follow [30] thou me," was one of the passages explained metaphysi- cally. In their fullest meaning, those words are salvation

[Page 170.]

from the belief of death, the last enemy to be overthrown; [1] for by following Christ truly, resurrection and life im- mortal are brought to us. If we follow him, to us there can be no dead. Those who know not this, may still believe in death and weep over the graves of their beloved; [5] but with him is Life eternal, which never changes to death. The eating of bread and drinking of wine at the Lord's supper, merely symbolize the spiritual refresh- ment of God's children having rightly read His Word, whose entrance into their understanding is healthful life. [10] This is the reality behind the symbol.

So, also, she spoke of the hades, or hell of Scripture, saying, that we make our own heavens and our own hells, by right and wise, or wrong and foolish, conceptions of God and our fellow-men. Jesus interpreted all spirit- [15] ually: "I have bread to eat that ye know not of," he said. The bread he ate, which was refreshment of divine strength, we also may all partake of.

The material record of the Bible, she said, is no more important to our well-being than the history of Europe [20] and America; but the spiritual application bears upon our eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely meta- physical; and no other method is Christian Science. In the passage recording Jesus' proceedings with the blind man (Mark viii.) he is said to have spat upon the dust. [25] Spitting was the Hebrew method of expressing the utmost contempt. So Jesus is recorded as having expressed contempt for the belief of material eyes as having any power to see. Having eyes, ye see not; and ears, ye hear not, he had just told them. The putting on of hands [30] mentioned, she explained as the putting forth of power. "Hand," in Bible usage, often means spiritual power.

[Page 171.]

"His hand is not shortened that it cannot save," can [1] never be wrested from its true meaning to signify human hands. Jesus' first effort to realize Truth was not wholly successful; but he rose to the occasion with the second attempt, and the blind saw clearly. To suppose that [5] Jesus did actually anoint the blind man's eyes with his spittle, is as absurd as to think, according to the report of some, that Christian Scientists sit in back-to-back seances with their patients, for the divine power to filter from vertebrae to vertebrae. When one comes to the age [10] with spiritual translations of God's messages, expressed in literal or physical terms, our right action is not to con- demn and deny, but to "try the spirits" and see what manner they are of. This does not mean communing with spirits supposed to have departed from the earth, [15] but the seeking out of the basis upon which are accom- plished the works by which the new teacher would prove his right to be heard. By these signs are the true disciples of the Master known: the sick are healed; to the poor the gospel is preached. [20]



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

TEXT: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.—MATT. xiii. 33.

Few people at present know aught of the Science of mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in the name of Science, that it behooves all clad in the shin- ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep [30]

[Page 172.]

their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives [1] steadfast in Truth.

Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and the negative of metaphysical Science; what it is, and [5] what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in a higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers [10] the veriest sinner.

Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the three measures be accomplished, and he arrives at fulness of stature; for "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." [15]

Science is divine: it is neither of human origin nor of human direction. That which is termed "natural science," the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite law of God; which law is written on the heart, received [20] through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem- onstrated in our lives.

This law of God is the Science of mental healing, spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed.

Mental Science, and the five personal senses, are at [25] war; and peace can only be declared on the side of im- mutable right,—the health, holiness, and immortality of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda- mental rule of Science must be understood and adhered to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture [30] that God is good; hence, good is omnipotent and omnipresent.

[Page 173.]

Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or [1] man's theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees nothing but a law of matter.

Who has ever learned of the schools that there is but [5] one Mind, and that this is God, who healeth all our sick- ness and sins?

Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan phi- losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law of Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation [10] to, or recognition of, matter?

Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is God, omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo- site so-called science, which says that man is both matter and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite [15] be within the finite? And must not man have preexisted in the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without space to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that it is man?

If God is Mind and fills all space, is everywhere, matter [20] is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, God, is all-power and all-presence, man is not met by another power and presence, that—obstructing his intelligence— pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man is intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that [25] is not the counterpart but the counterfeit of man's creator? Surely not from God, for He made man in His own likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it? But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of [30] Mind?

For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created.

[Page 174.]

Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter [1] than has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against Truth; idolatry, having other gods; evil, having presence and power over omnipotence! [5]

Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us come into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui- ties, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that [10] moves all in harmony,—from the falling of a sparrow to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons, broader than the solar system and higher than the at- mosphere of our planet, is the Science of mental healing. [15]

What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit, the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is there—nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this kingdom afar off? No: it is ever-present here. The first to declare against this kingdom is matter. Shall [20] that be called heresy which pleads for Spirit—the All of God, and His omnipresence?

The kingdom of heaven is the reign of divine Science: it is a mental state. Jesus said it is within you, and taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come;" but he did [25] not teach us to pray for death whereby to gain heaven. We do not look into darkness for light. Death can never usher in the dawn of Science that reveals the spiritual facts of man's Life here and now.

The leaven which a woman took and hid in three [30] measures of meal, is Divine Science; the Comforter; the Holy Ghost that leadeth into all Truth; the "still,

[Page 175.]

small voice" that breathes His presence and power, cast- [1] ing out error and healing the sick. And woman, the spiritual idea, takes of the things of God and showeth them unto the creature, until the whole sense of being is leavened with Spirit. The three measures of meal [5] may well be likened to the false sense of life, substance, and intelligence, which says, I am sustained by bread, matter, instead of Mind. The spiritual leaven of divine Science changes this false sense, giving better views of Life; saying, Man's Life is God; and when this shall [10] appear, it shall be "the substance of things hoped for."

The measure of Life shall increase by every spiritual touch, even as the leaven expands the loaf. Man shall keep the feast of Life, not with the old leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, neither with "the leaven of malice [15] and wickedness; but the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Thus it can be seen that the Science of mental healing must be understood. There are false Christs that would "deceive, if it were possible, the very elect," by institut- [20] ing matter and its methods in place of God, Mind. Their supposition is, that there are other minds than His; that one mind controls another; that one belief takes the place of another. But this ism of to-day has nothing to do with the Science of mental healing which acquaints [25] us with God and reveals the one perfect Mind and His laws.

The attempt to mix matter and Mind, to work by means of both animal magnetism and divine power, is literally saying, Have we not in thy name cast out devils, [30] and done many wonderful works?

But remember God in all thy ways, and thou shalt

[Page 176.]

find the truth that breaks the dream of sense, letting the [1] harmony of Science that declares Him, come in with healing, and peace, and perfect love.



Sunday Services on July Fourth

EXTEMPORE REMARKS

The great theme so deeply and solemnly expounded by the preacher, has been exemplified in all ages, but chiefly in the great crises of nations or of the human race. It is then that supreme devotion to Principle has espe- cially been called for and manifested. It is then that we [10] learn a little more of the nothingness of evil, and more of the divine energies of good, and strive valiantly for the liberty of the sons of God.

The day we celebrate reminds us of the heroes and heroines who counted not their own lives dear to them, [15] when they sought the New England shores, not as the flying nor as conquerors, but, steadfast in faith and love, to build upon the rock of Christ, the true idea of God— the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter. When first the Pilgrims planted their feet on Plymouth [20] Rock, frozen ritual and creed should forever have melted away in the fire of love which came down from heaven. The Pilgrims came to establish a nation in true freedom, in the rights of conscience.

But what of ourselves, and our times and obligations? [25] Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith we are armored?

[Page 177.]

Never was there a more solemn and imperious call [1] than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent de- votion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil [5] are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and opera- tive in Christian Science. Large numbers, in desperate malice, are engaged day and night in organizing action against us. Their feeling and purpose are deadly, and [10] they have sworn enmity against the lives of our standard- bearers.

What will you do about it? Will you be equally in earnest for the truth? Will you doff your lavender-kid zeal, and become real and consecrated warriors? Will [15] you give yourselves wholly and irrevocably to the great work of establishing the truth, the gospel, and the Science which are necessary to the salvation of the world from error, sin, disease, and death? Answer at once and practi- cally, and answer aright! [20]



Easter Services

The editor of The Christian Science Journal said that at three o'clock, the hour for the church service proper, the pastor, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, accompanied by Rev. D. A. Easton, who was announced to preach [25] the sermon, came on the platform. The pastor introduced Mr. Easton as follows:—

Friends:—The homesick traveller in foreign lands greets with joy a familiar face. I am constantly home- sick for heaven. In my long journeyings I have met [30]

[Page 178.]

one who comes from the place of my own sojourning [1] for many years,—the Congregational Church. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and of Andover The- ological School. He has left his old church, as I did, from a yearning of the heart; because he was not sat- [5] isfied with a manlike God, but wanted to become a God- like man. He found that the new wine could not be put into old bottles without bursting them, and he came to us.

Mr. Easton then delivered an interesting discourse [10] from the text, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. iii. 1), which he prefaced by saying:—

"I think it was about a year ago that I strayed into [15] this hall, a stranger, and wondered what sort of people you were, and of what you were worshippers. If any one had said to me that to-day I should stand before you to preach a sermon on Christian Science, I should have replied, "Much learning"—or something else— [20] "hath made thee mad." If I had not found Christian Science a new gospel, I should not be standing before you: if I had not found it truth, I could not have stood up again to preach, here or elsewhere."

At the conclusion of the sermon, the pastor again came [25] forward, and added the following:—

My friends, I wished to be excused from speaking to-day, but will yield to circumstances. In the flesh, we are as a partition wall between the old and the new; between the old religion in which we have been educated, [30] and the new, living, impersonal Christ-thought that has been given to the world to-day.

[Page 179.]

The old churches are saying, "He is not here;" and, [1] "Who shall roll away the stone?"

The stone has been rolled away by human suffer- ing. The first rightful desire in the hour of loss, when believing we have lost sight of Truth, is to know where [5] He is laid. This appeal resolves itself into these questions:—

Is our consciousness in matter or in God? Have we any other consciousness than that of good? If we have, He is saying to us to-day, "Adam, where art thou?" We [10] are wrong if our consciousness is in sin, sickness, and death. This is the old consciousness.

In the new religion the teaching is, "He is not here; Truth is not in matter; he is risen; Truth has become more to us,—more true, more spiritual." [15]

Can we say this to-day? Have we left the conscious- ness of sickness and sin for that of health and holiness?

What is it that seems a stone between us and the resurrection morning? [20]

It is the belief of mind in matter. We can only come into the spiritual resurrection by quitting the old con- sciousness of Soul in sense.

These flowers are floral apostles. God does all this through His followers; and He made every flower in [25] Mind before it sprang from the earth: yet we look into matter and the earth to give us these smiles of God!

We must lay aside material consciousness, and then we can perceive Truth, and say with Mary, "Rabboni!" —Master! [30]

In 1866, when God revealed to me this risen Christ, this Life that knows no death, that saith, "Because he

[Page 180.]

lives, I live," I awoke from the dream of Spirit in the [1] flesh so far as to take the side of Spirit, and strive to cease my warfare.

When, through this consciousness, I was delivered from the dark shadow and portal of death, my friends were [5] frightened at beholding me restored to health.

A dear old lady asked me, "How is it that you are restored to us? Has Christ come again on earth?"

"Christ never left," I replied; "Christ is Truth, and Truth is always here,—the impersonal Saviour." [10]

Then another person, more material, met me, and I said, in the words of my Master, "Touch me not." I shuddered at her material approach; then my heart went out to God, and I found the open door from this sepulchre of matter. [15]

I love the Easter service: it speaks to me of Life, and not of death.

Let us do our work; then we shall have part in his resurrection.



Bible Lessons

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.—JOHN i. 12, 13.

Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to [25] become the son of God. In the Hebrew text, the word "son" is defined variously; a month is called the son of a year. This term, as applied to man, is used in both a material and a spiritual sense. The Scriptures speak of Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of man; but [30]

[Page 181.]

Jesus said to call no man father; "for one is your Father," [1] even God.

Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or is it the reality of his being, in divine Science? Man's knowledge of this grand verity gives him power to dem- [5] onstrate his divine Principle, which in turn is requisite in order to understand his sonship, or unity with God, good. A personal requirement of blind obedience to the law of being, would tend to obscure the order of Science, unless that requirement should express the claims [10] of the divine Principle. Infinite Principle and infinite Spirit must be one. What avail, then, to quarrel over what is the person of Spirit,—if we recognize infinitude as personality,—for who can tell what is the form of infinity? When we understand man's true birthright, that [15] he is "born, not ... of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," we shall understand that man is the offspring of Spirit, and not of the flesh; recognize him through spiritual, and not material laws; and regard him as spiritual, and not material. His sonship, referred [20] to in the text, is his spiritual relation to Deity: it is not, then, a personal gift, but is the order of divine Science. The apostle urges upon our acceptance this great fact: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Mortals will lose their sense [25] of mortality—disease, sickness, sin, and death—in the proportion that they gain the sense of man's spirit- ual preexistence as God's child; as the offspring of good, and not of God's opposite,—evil, or a fallen man. [30]

John the Baptist had a clear discernment of divine Science: being born not of the human will or flesh, he

[Page 182.]

antedated his own existence, began spiritually instead [1] of materially to reckon himself logically; hence the im- possibility of putting him to death, only in belief, through violent means or material methods.

"As many as received him;" that is, as many as per- ceive man's actual existence in and of his divine Princi- [5] ple, receive the Truth of existence; and these have no other God, no other Mind, no other origin; therefore, in time they lose their false sense of existence, and find their adoption with the Father; to wit, the redemption [10] of the body. Through divine Science man gains the power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect and eternal estate.

"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh." This passage refers to man's primal, spirit- [15] ual existence, created neither from dust nor carnal desire. "Nor of the will of man." Born of no doctrine, no human faith, but beholding the truth of being; even the understanding that man was never lost in Adam, since he is and ever was the image and likeness of God, [20] good. But no mortal hath seen the spiritual man, more than he hath seen the Father. The apostle indicates no personal plan of a personal Jehovah, partial and finite; but the possibility of all finding their place in God's great love, the eternal heritage of the Elohim, His sons and [25] daughters. The text is a metaphysical statement of existence as Principle and idea, wherein man and his Maker are inseparable and eternal.

When the Word is made flesh,—that is, rendered practical,—this eternal Truth will be understood; and [30] sickness, sin, and death will yield to it, even as they did more than eighteen centuries ago. The lusts of the flesh

[Page 183.]

and the pride of life will then be quenched in the divine [1] Science of being; in the ever-present good, omnipotent Love, and eternal Life, that know no death, In the great forever, the verities of being exist, and must be acknowl- edged and demonstrated. Man must love his neighbor [5] as himself, and the power of Truth must be seen and felt in health, happiness, and holiness: then it will be found that Mind is All-in-all, and there is no matter to cope with.

Man is free born: he is neither the slave of sense, nor a [10] silly ambler to the so-called pleasures and pains of self- conscious matter. Man is God's image and likeness; whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God's reflection. Through the transparency of Science we learn this, and receive it: learn that man can fulfil the Scrip- [15] tures in every instance; that if he open his mouth it shall be filled—not by reason of the schools, or learning, but by the natural ability, that reflection already has bestowed on him, to give utterance to Truth.

"Who hath believed our report?" Who understands [20] these sayings? He to whom the arm of the Lord is re- vealed; to whom divine Science unfolds omnipotence, that equips man with divine power while it shames human pride. Asserting a selfhood apart from God, is a denial of man's spiritual sonship; for it claims another father. [25] As many as do receive a knowledge of God through Science, will have power to reflect His power, in proof of man's "dominion over all the earth." He is bravely brave who dares at this date refute the evidence of material sense with the facts of Science, and will arrive at the true [30] status of man because of it. The material senses would make man, that the Scriptures declare reflects his Maker,

[Page 184.]

the very opposite of that Maker, by claiming that God is [1] Spirit, while man is matter; that God is good, but man is evil; that Deity is deathless, but man dies. Science and sense conflict, from the revolving of worlds to the death of a sparrow.

The Word will be made flesh and dwell among mortals, only when man reflects God in body as well as in mind. The child born of a woman has the formation of his parents; the man born of Spirit is spiritual, not material. Paul refers to this when speaking of presenting our bodies [10] holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service; and this brings to remembrance the Hebrew strain, "Who healeth all thy diseases."

If man should say of the power to be perfect which he possesses, "I am the power," he would trespass upon [15] divine Science, yield to material sense, and lose his power; even as when saying, "I have the power to sin and be sick," and persisting in believing that he is sick and a sinner. If he says, "I am of God, therefore good," yet persists in evil, he has denied the power of Truth, and [20] must suffer for this error until he learns that all power is good because it is of God, and so destroys his self-de- ceived sense of power in evil. The Science of being gives back the lost likeness and power of God as the seal of man's adoption. Oh, for that light and love ineffable, [25] which casteth out all fear, all sin, sickness, and death; that seeketh not her own, but another's good; that saith Abba, Father, and is born of God!

John came baptizing with water. He employed a type of physical cleanliness to foreshadow metaphysical purity, [30] even mortal mind purged of the animal and human, and submerged in the humane and divine, giving back the

[Page 185.]

lost sense of man in unity with, and reflecting, his Maker. [1] None but the pure in heart shall see God,—shall be able to discern fully and demonstrate fairly the divine Principle of Christian Science. The will of God, or power of Spirit, is made manifest as Truth, and through righteousness,— [5] not as or through matter,—and it strips matter of all claims, abilities or disabilities, pains or pleasures. Self- renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that [10] opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demon- strating the true image and likeness. There is no other way under heaven whereby we can be saved, and man [15] be clothed with might, majesty, and immortality.

"As many as received him,"—as accept the truth of being,—"to them gave he power to become the sons of God." The spiritualization of our sense of man opens the gates of paradise that the so-called material senses [20] would close, and reveals man infinitely blessed, upright, pure, and free; having no need of statistics by which to learn his origin and age, or to measure his manhood, or to know how much of a man he ever has been: for, "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become [25] the sons of God."

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.—1 COR. xv. 45.

When reasoning on this subject of man with the Corin- thian brethren, the apostle first spake from their stand- [30] point of thought; namely, that creation is material:

[Page 186.]

he was not at this point giving the history of the spiritual [1] man who originates in God, Love, who created man in His own image and likeness. In the creation of Adam from dust,—in which Soul is supposed to enter the embryo-man after his birth,—we see the material self- [5] constituted belief of the Jews as referred to by St. Paul. Their material belief has fallen far below man's original standard, the spiritual man made in the image and like- ness of God; for this erring belief even separates its conception of man from God, and ultimates in the opposite [10] of immortal man, namely, in a sick and sinning mortal.

We learn in the Scriptures, as in divine Science, that God made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother of man; that God is divine Love: therefore divine Love [15] is the divine Principle of the divine idea named man; in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man. Now let us not lose this Science of man, but gain it clearly; then we shall see that man cannot be separated from his perfect Principle, God, inasmuch as an idea cannot [20] be torn apart from its fundamental basis. This scien- tific knowledge affords self-evident proof of immortality; proof, also, that the Principle of man cannot produce a less perfect man than it produced in the beginning. A material sense of existence is not the scientific fact of [25] being; whereas, the spiritual sense of God and His universe is the immortal and true sense of being.

As the apostle proceeds in this line of thought, he undoubtedly refers to the last Adam represented by the Messias, whose demonstration of God restored to mortals [30] the lost sense of man's perfection, even the sense of the real man in God's likeness, who restored this sense by

[Page 187.]

the spiritual regeneration of both mind and body,— [1] casting out evils, healing the sick, and raising the dead. The man Jesus demonstrated over sin, sickness, disease, and death. The great Metaphysician wrought, over and above every sense of matter, into the proper sense of the [5] possibilities of Spirit. He established health and har- mony, the perfection of mind and body, as the reality of man; while discord, as seen in disease and death, was to him the opposite of man, hence the unreality; even as in Science a chord is manifestly the reality of music, and [10] discord the unreality. This rule of harmony must be ac- cepted as true relative to man.

The translators of the older Scriptures presuppose a material man to be the first man, solely because their transcribing thoughts were not lifted to the inspired sense [15] of the spiritual man, as set forth in original Holy Writ. Had both writers and translators in that age fully com- prehended the later teachings and demonstrations of our human and divine Master, the Old Testament might have been as spiritual as the New. [20]

The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and that one is God,—Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are God; and man is their reflection and glory. Did the substance of God, Spirit, become a clod, in order to create a sick, sinning, dying man? The [25] primal facts of being are eternal; they are never extin- guished in a night of discord.

That man must be evil before he can be good; dying, before deathless; material, before spiritual; sick and a sinner in order to be healed and saved, is but the declara- [30] tion of the material senses transcribed by pagan religion- ists, by wicked mortals such as crucified our Master,—

[Page 188.]

whose teachings opposed the doctrines of Christ that [1] demonstrated the opposite, Truth.

Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever, as when the stars first sang together, and creation joined in the grand chorus of harmonious being. It is the trans- lator, not the original Word, who presents as being first [5] that which appears second, material, and mortal; and as last, that which is primal, spiritual, and eternal. Be- cause of human misstatement and misconception of God and man, of the divine Principle and idea of being, there [10] seems to be a war between the flesh and Spirit, a contest between Truth and error; but the apostle says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." [15]

On our subject, St. Paul first reasons upon the basis of what is seen, the effects of Truth on the material senses; thence, up to the unseen, the testimony of spiritual sense; and right there he leaves the subject.

Just there, in the intermediate line of thought, is where [20] the present writer found it, when she discovered Christian Science. And she has not left it, but continues the ex- planation of the power of Spirit up to its infinite meaning, its allness. The recognition of this power came to her through a spiritual sense of the real, and of the unreal [25] or mortal sense of things; not that there is, or can be, an actual change in the realities of being, but that we can discern more of them. At the moment of her discovery, she knew that the last Adam, namely, the true likeness of God, was the first, the only man. [30] This knowledge did become to her "a quickening spirit;" for she beheld the meaning of those words

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of our Master, "The last shall be first, and the first [1] last."

When, as little children, we are receptive, become willing to accept the divine Principle and rule of being, as unfolded in divine Science, the interpretation therein will be found to be the Comforter that leadeth into all truth. [5]

The meek Nazarene's steadfast and true knowledge of preexistence, of the nature and the inseparability of God and man,—made him mighty. Spiritual insight of [10] Truth and Love antidotes and destroys the errors of flesh, and brings to light the true reflection: man as God's image, or "the first man," for Christ plainly declared, through Jesus, "Before Abraham was, I am."

The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into [15] matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false sense of existence, and the quickening spirit takes it away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and per- fection of a released sense of Life in God and Life as God. The Scriptures declare Life to be the infinite I [20] AM,—not a dweller in matter. For man to know Life as it is, namely God, the eternal good, gives him not merely a sense of existence, but an accompanying con- sciousness of spiritual power that subordinates matter and destroys sin, disease, and death. This, Jesus demon- [25] strated; insomuch that St. Matthew wrote, "The people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." This spiritual power, healing sin and sickness, was not con- fined to the first century; it extends to all time, inhabits [30] eternity, and demonstrates Life without beginning or end.

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Atomic action is Mind, not matter. It is neither the [1] energy of matter, the result of organization, nor the out- come of life infused into matter: it is infinite Spirit, Truth, Life, defiant of error or matter. Divine Science demon- strates Mind as dispelling a false sense and giving the [5] true sense of itself, God, and the universe; wherein the mortal evolves not the immortal, nor does the material ultimate in the spiritual; wherein man is coexistent with Mind, and is the recognized reflection of infinite Life and Love. [10]

And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake.—LUKE xi. 14.

The meaning of the term "devil" needs yet to be learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited and contradictory. When the Scripture is understood, [15] the spiritual signification of its terms will be understood, and will contradict the interpretations that the senses give them; and these terms will be found to include the inspired meaning.

It could not have been a person that our great Master [20] cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh ill. In this case it was the evil of dumbness, an error of material sense, cast out by the spiritual truth of being; namely, that speech belongs to Mind instead of matter, [25] and the wrong power, or the lost sense, must yield to the right sense, and exist in Mind.

In the Hebrew, "devil" is denominated Abaddon; in the Greek, Apollyon, serpent, liar, the god of this world, etc. The apostle Paul refers to this personality of evil [30] as "the god of this world;" and then defines this god

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as "dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of God [1] deceitfully." The Hebrew embodies the term "devil" in another term, serpent,—which the senses are supposed to take in,—and then defines this serpent as "more subtle than all the beasts of the field." Subsequently, [5] the ancients changed the meaning of the term, to their sense, and then the serpent became a symbol of wisdom.

The Scripture in John, sixth chapter and seventieth verse, refers to a wicked man as the devil: "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Accord- [10] ing to the Scripture, if devil is an individuality, there is more than one devil. In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty- eighth verse, it reads: "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name." Here is an assertion indicating the existence of more than one devil; and by omitting the [15] first letter, the name of his satanic majesty is found to be evils, apparent wrong traits, that Christ, Truth, casts out. By no possible interpretation can this passage mean several individuals cast out of another individual no bigger than themselves. The term, being here em- [20] ployed in its plural number, destroys all consistent sup- position of the existence of one personal devil. Again, our text refers to the devil as dumb; but the original devil was a great talker, and was supposed to have out- talked even Truth, and carried the question with Eve. [25] Also, the original texts define him as an "accuser," a "calumniator," which would be impossible if he were speechless. These two opposite characters ascribed to him could only be possible as evil beliefs, as different phases of sin or disease made manifest. [30]

Let us obey St. Paul's injunction to reject fables, and accept the Scriptures in their broader, more spiritual

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and practical sense. When we speak of a good man, we [1] do not mean that man is God because the Hebrew term for Deity was "good," and vice versa; so, when referring to a liar, we mean not that he is a personal devil, because the original text defines devil as a "liar." [5]

It is of infinite importance to man's spiritual progress, and to his demonstration of Truth in casting out error, —sickness, sin, disease, and death, in all their forms,— that the terms and nature of Deity and devil be understood.

He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.— JOHN xiv. 12.

Such are the words of him who spake divinely, well knowing the omnipotence of Truth. The Hebrew bard saith, "His name shall endure forever: His name shall [15] be continued as long as the sun." Luminous with the light of divine Science, his words reveal the great Principle of a full salvation. Neither can we question the practi- cability of the divine Word, who have learned its adapta- bility to human needs, and man's ability to prove the [20] truth of prophecy.

The fulfilment of the grand verities of Christian healing belongs to every period; as the above Scripture plainly declares, and as primitive Christianity confirms. Also, the last chapter of Mark is emphatic on this subject; [25] making healing a condition of salvation, that extends to all ages and throughout all Christendom. Nothing can be more conclusive than this: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; ... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." This declaration of [30] our Master settles the question; else we are entertaining

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the startling inquiries, Are the Scriptures inspired? Are [1] they true? Did Jesus mean what he said?

If this be the cavil, we reply in the affirmative that the Scripture is true; that Jesus did mean all, and even more than he said or deemed it safe to say at that time. His [5] words are unmistakable, for they form propositions of self-evident demonstrable truth. Doctrines that deny the substance and practicality of all Christ's teachings cannot be evangelical; and evangelical religion can be established on no other claim than the authenticity of [10] the Gospels, which support unequivocally the proof that Christian Science, as defined and practised by Jesus, heals the sick, casts out error, and will destroy death.

Referring to The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, of which I am pastor, a certain clergyman charitably [15] expressed it, "the so-called Christian Scientists."

I am thankful even for his allusion to truth; it being a modification of silence on this subject, and also of what had been said when critics attacked me for supplying the word Science to Christianity,—a word which the people [20] are now adopting.

The next step for ecclesiasticism to take, is to admit that all Christians are properly called Scientists who follow the commands of our Lord and His Christ, Truth; and that no one is following his full command without [25] this enlarged sense of the spirit and power of Christianity. "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do," is a radical and unmistakable declaration of the right and power of Christianity to heal; for this is Christlike, and includes the understanding of man's capabilities and [30] spiritual power. The condition insisted upon is, first, "belief;" the Hebrew of which implies understanding.

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How many to-day believe that the power of God equals [1] even the power of a drug to heal the sick! Divine Science reveals the Principle of this power, and the rule whereby sin, sickness, disease, and death are destroyed; and God is this Principle. Let us, then, seek this Science; that we [5] may know Him better, and love Him more.

Though a man were begirt with the Urim and Thum- mim of priestly office, yet should deny the validity or permanence of Christ's command to heal in all ages, this denial would dishonor that office and misinterpret [10] evangelical religion. Divine Science is not an interpo- lation of the Scriptures, but is redolent with love, health, and holiness, for the whole human race. It only needs the prism of this Science to divide the rays of Truth, and bring out the entire hues of Deity, which scholastic theol- [15] ogy has hidden. The lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight; and we then see the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter.

The context of the foregoing Scriptural text explains Jesus' words, "because I go unto my Father." "Because" [20] in following him, you understand God and how to turn from matter to Spirit for healing; how to leave self, the sense material, for the sense spiritual; how to accept God's power and guidance, and become imbued with divine Love that casts out all fear. Then are you bap- [25] tized in the Truth that destroys all error, and you receive the sense of Life that knows no death, and you know that God is the only Life.

To reach the consummate naturalness of the Life that is God, good, we must comply with the first condition [30] set forth in the text, namely, believe; in other words, understand God sufficiently to exclude all faith in any

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other remedy than Christ, the Truth that antidotes all [1] error. Thence will follow the absorption of all action, motive, and mind, into the rules and divine Principle of metaphysical healing.

Whosoever learns the letter of Christian Science but [5] possesses not its spirit, is unable to demonstrate this Science; or whosoever hath the spirit without the letter, is held back by reason of the lack of understanding. Both the spirit and the letter are requisite; and having these, every one can prove, in some degree, the validity of those [10] words of the great Master, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

It has been said that the New Testament does not au- thorize us to expect the ministry of healing at this period.

We ask what is the authority for such a conclusion, [15] the premises whereof are not to be found in the Scriptures. The Master's divine logic, as seen in our text, contradicts this inference,—these are his words: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." That per- fect syllogism of Jesus has but one correct premise and [20] conclusion, and it cannot fall to the ground beneath the stroke of unskilled swordsmen. He who never unsheathed his blade to try the edge of truth in Christian Science, is unequal to the conflict, and unfit to judge in the case; the shepherd's sling would slay this Goliath. I once be- [25] lieved that the practice and teachings of Jesus relative to healing the sick, were spiritual abstractions, impractical and impossible to us; but deed, not creed, and practice more than theory, have given me a higher sense of Christianity. [30]

The "I" will go to the Father when meekness, purity, and love, informed by divine Science, the Comforter,

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lead to the one God: then the ego is found not in [1] matter but in Mind, for there is but one God, one Mind; and man will then claim no mind apart from God. Idolatry, the supposition of the existence of many minds and more than one God, has repeated itself in all manner [5] of subtleties through the entire centuries, saying as in the beginning, "Believe in me, and I will make you as gods;" that is, I will give you a separate mind from God (good), named evil; and this so-called mind shall open your eyes and make you know evil, and thus become [10] material, sensual, evil. But bear in mind that a serpent said that; therefore that saying came not from Mind, good, or Truth. God was not the author of it; hence the words of our Master: "He is a liar, and the father of it;" also, the character of the votaries to "other gods" which [15] sprung from it.

The sweet, sacred sense and permanence of man's unity with his Maker, in Science, illumines our present existence with the ever-presence and power of God, good. It opens wide the portals of salvation from sin, sickness, [20] and death. When the Life that is God, good, shall ap- pear, "we shall be like Him;" we shall do the works of Christ, and, in the words of David, "the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner," because the "I" does go unto the Father, the ego does [25] arise to spiritual recognition of being, and is exalted,— not through death, but Life, God understood.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.—ACTS xvi. 31.

The Scriptures require more than a simple admission [30] and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they

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require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons [1] into our lives that these truths become the motive-power of every act.

ur chosen text is one more frequently used than many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from sin [5] and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import of this text is not yet recognized. It means a full salva- tion,—man saved from sin, sickness, and death; for, unless this be so, no man can be wholly fitted for heaven in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers [10] pursue.

In order to comprehend the meaning of the text, let us see what it is to believe. It means more than an opinion entertained concerning Jesus as a man, as the Son of God, or as God; such an action of mind would be of no more [15] help to save from sin, than would a belief in any historical event or person. But it does mean so to understand the beauty of holiness, the character and divinity which Jesus presented in his power to heal and to save, that it will compel us to pattern after both; in other words, to "let [20] this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil. ii. 5.)

Mortal man believes in, but does not understand life in, Christ. He believes there is another power or intelli- gence that rules over a kingdom of its own, that is both [25] good and evil; yea, that is divided against itself, and there- fore cannot stand. This belief breaks the First Command- ment of God.

Let man abjure a theory that is in opposition to God, recognize God as omnipotent, having all-power; and, [30] placing his trust in this grand Truth, and working from no other Principle, he can neither be sick nor forever a

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sinner. When wholly governed by the one perfect Mind, [1] man has no sinful thoughts and will have no desire to sin.

To arrive at this point of unity of Spirit, God, one must commence by turning away from material gods; denying [5] material so-called laws and material sensation,—or mind in matter, in its varied forms of pleasure and pain. This must be done with the understanding that matter has no sense; thus it is that consciousness silences the mortal claim to life, substance, or mind in matter, with the words [10] of Jesus: "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own." (John viii. 44.)

When tempted to sin, we should know that evil pro- ceedeth not from God, good, but is a false belief of the personal senses; and if we deny the claims of these senses [15] and recognize man as governed by God, Spirit, not by material laws, the temptation will disappear.

On this Principle, disease also is treated and healed. We know that man's body, as matter, has no power to govern itself; and a belief of disease is as much the prod- [20] uct of mortal thought as sin is. All suffering is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil; of adherence to the "doubleminded" senses, to some belief, fear, theory, or bad deed, based on physical material law, so-called as opposed to good,—all of which is corrected [25] alone by Science, divine Principle, and its spiritual laws. Suffering is the supposition of another intelligence than God; a belief in self-existent evil, opposed to good; and in whatever seems to punish man for doing good,— by saying he has overworked, suffered from inclement [30] weather, or violated a law of matter in doing good, there- fore he must suffer for it.

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God does not reward benevolence and love with pen- [1] alties; and because of this, we have the right to deny the supposed power of matter to do it, and to allege that only mortal, erring mind can claim to do thus, and dignify the result with the name of law: thence comes man's ability [5] to annul his own erring mental law, and to hold himself amenable only to moral and spiritual law,—God's gov- ernment. By so doing, male and female come into their rightful heritage, "into the glorious liberty of the children of God." [10]

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.—2 COR. xii. 10.

The miracles recorded in the Scriptures illustrate the life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the [15] hatred of the rabbis. The rulers sought the life of Jesus; they would extinguish whatever denied and defied their superstition. We learn somewhat of the qualities of the divine Mind through the human Jesus. The power of his transcendent goodness is manifest in the control it [20] gave him over the qualities opposed to Spirit which mor- tals name matter.

The Principle of these marvellous works is divine; but the actor was human. This divine Principle is discerned in Christian Science, as we advance in the spiritual under- [25] standing that all substance, Life, and intelligence are God. The so-called miracles contained in Holy Writ are neither supernatural nor preternatural; for God is good, and goodness is more natural than evil. The marvellous healing-power of goodness is the outflowing life of Chris- [30] tianity, and it characterized and dated the Christian era.

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It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the [1] mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instan- taneous. Jesus regarded good as the normal state of man, and evil as the abnormal; holiness, life, and health as the better representatives of God than sin, disease, and [5] death. The master Metaphysician understood omnipo- tence to be All-power: because Spirit was to him All- in-all, matter was palpably an error of premise and conclusion, while God was the only substance, Life, and intelligence of man. [10]

The apostle Paul insists on the rare rule in Christian Science that we have chosen for a text; a rule that is sus- ceptible of proof, and is applicable to every stage and state of human existence. The divine Science of this rule is quite as remote from the general comprehension of man- [15] kind as are the so-called miracles of our Master, and for the sole reason that it is their basis. The foundational facts of Christian Science are gathered from the supremacy of spiritual law and its antagonism to every supposed ma- terial law. Christians to-day should be able to say, with [20] the sweet sincerity of the apostle, "I take pleasure in infirmities,"—I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and all suffering of the flesh, because it compels me to seek the remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the per- sonal senses. The holy calm of Paul's well-tried hope [25] met no obstacle or circumstances paramount to the tri- umph of a reasonable faith in the omnipotence of good, involved in its divine Principle, God: the so-called pains and pleasures of matter were alike unreal to Jesus; for he regarded matter as only a vagary of mortal belief, and sub- [30] dued it with this understanding.

The abstract statement that all is Mind, supports the

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entire wisdom of the text; and this statement receives [1] the mortal scoff only because it meets the immortal de- mands of Truth. The Science of Paul's declaration re- solves the element misnamed matter into its original sin, or human will; that will which would oppose bringing the [5] qualities of Spirit into subjection to Spirit. Sin brought death; and death is an element of matter, or material falsity, never of Spirit.

When Jesus reproduced his body after its burial, he revealed the myth or material falsity of evil; its power- [10] lessness to destroy good, and the omnipotence of the Mind that knows this: he also showed forth the error and nothingness of supposed life in matter, and the great somethingness of the good we possess, which is of Spirit, and immortal. [15]

Understanding this, Paul took pleasure in infirmities, for it enabled him to triumph over them,—he declared that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death;" he took pleasure in "reproaches" and "persecutions," because [20] they were so many proofs that he had wrought the prob- lem of being beyond the common apprehension of sinners; he took pleasure in "necessities," for they tested and de- veloped latent power.

We protect our dwellings more securely after a robbery, [25] and our jewels have been stolen; so, after losing those jewels of character,—temperance, virtue, and truth,— the young man is awakened to bar his door against further robberies.

Go to the bedside of pain, and there you can demon- [30] strate the triumph of good that has pleasure in infirmities; because it illustrates through the flesh the divine power

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of Spirit, and reaches the basis of all supposed miracles; [1] whereby the sweet harmonies of Christian Science are found to correct the discords of sense, and to lift man's being into the sunlight of Soul.

"The chamber where the good man meets his fate [5] Is privileged beyond the walks of common life, Quite on the verge of heaven."



CHAPTER VII. POND AND PURPOSE.

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Beloved Students:—In thanking you for your [1] gift of the pretty pond contributed to Pleasant View, in Concord, New Hampshire, I make no distinction be- tween my students and your students; for here, thine becomes mine through gratitude and affection. [5]

From my tower window, as I look on this smile of Christian Science, this gift from my students and their students, it will always mirror their love, loyalty, and good works. Solomon saith, "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." [10]

The waters that run among the valleys, and that you have coaxed in their course to call on me, have served the imagination for centuries. Theology religiously bathes in water, medicine applies it physically, hydrology handles it with so-called science, and metaphysics appro- [15] priates it topically as type and shadow. Metaphysically, baptism serves to rebuke the senses and illustrate Christian Science.

First: The baptism of repentance is indeed a stricken state of human consciousness, wherein mortals gain [20] severe views of themselves; a state of mind which rends the veil that hides mental deformity. Tears flood the eyes,

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agony struggles, pride rebels, and a mortal seems a [1] monster, a dark, impenetrable cloud of error; and falling on the bended knee of prayer, humble before God, he cries, "Save, or I perish." Thus Truth, searching the heart, neutralizes and destroys error. [5]

This mental period is sometimes chronic, but oftener acute. It is attended throughout with doubt, hope, sorrow, joy, defeat, and triumph. When the good fight is fought, error yields up its weapons and kisses the feet of Love, while white-winged peace sings to the heart a song of [10] angels.

Second: The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the spirit of Truth cleansing from all sin; giving mortals new motives, new purposes, new affections, all pointing up- ward. This mental condition settles into strength, free- [15] dom, deep-toned faith in God; and a marked loss of faith in evil, in human wisdom, human policy, ways, and means. It develops individual capacity, increases the intellectual activities, and so quickens moral sensibility that the great demands of spiritual sense are recognized, and they [20] rebuke the material senses, holding sway over human consciousness.

By purifying human thought, this state of mind per- meates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, [25] and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadi- ness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition, and acts of the Scientist. The divine ruling gives prudence [30] and energy; it banishes forever all envy, rivalry, evil thinking, evil speaking and acting; and mortal

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mind, thus purged, obtains peace and power outside of [1] itself.

This practical Christian Science is the divine Mind, the incorporeal Truth and Love, shining through the mists of materiality and melting away the shadows called sin, [5] disease, and death.

In mortal experience, the fire of repentance first sepa- rates the dross from the gold, and reformation brings the light which dispels darkness. Thus the operation of the spirit of Truth and Love on the human thought, [10] in the words of St. John, "shall take of mine and show it unto you."

Third: The baptism of Spirit, or final immersion of human consciousness in the infinite ocean of Love, is the last scene in corporeal sense. This omnipotent act drops [15] the curtain on material man and mortality. After this, man's identity or consciousness reflects only Spirit, good, whose visible being is invisible to the physical senses: eye hath not seen it, inasmuch as it is the disembodied in- dividual Spirit-substance and consciousness termed in [20] Christian metaphysics the ideal man—forever permeated with eternal life, holiness, heaven. This order of Science is the chain of ages, which maintain their obvious corre- spondence, and unites all periods in the divine design. Mortal man's repentance and absolute abandonment of [25] sin finally dissolves all supposed material life or physical sensation, and the corporeal or mortal man disappears forever. The encumbering mortal molecules, called man, vanish as a dream; but man born of the great Forever, lives on, God-crowned and blest. [30]

Mortals who on the shores of time learn Christian Science, and live what they learn, take rapid transit to

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heaven,—the hinge on which have turned all revolu- [1] tions, natural, civil, or religious, the former being servant to the latter,—from flux to permanence, from foul to pure, from torpid to serene, from extremes to intermediate. Above the waves of Jordan, dashing against the receding [5] shore, is heard the Father and Mother's welcome, saying forever to the baptized of Spirit: "This is my beloved Son." What but divine Science can interpret man's eternal existence, God's allness, and the scientific inde- structibility of the universe? [10]

The advancing stages of Christian Science are gained through growth, not accretion; idleness is the foe of progress. And scientific growth manifests no weakness, no emasculation, no illusive vision, no dreamy absentness, no insubordination to the laws that be, no loss nor lack [15] of what constitutes true manhood.

Growth is governed by intelligence; by the active, all-wise, law-creating, law-disciplining, law-abiding Prin- ciple, God. The real Christian Scientist is constantly accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and [20] orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven: "Good is my God, and my God is good. Love is my God, and my God is Love."

Beloved students, you have entered the path. Press patiently on; God is good, and good is the reward of all [25] who diligently seek God. Your growth will be rapid, if you love good supremely, and understand and obey the Way-shower, who, going before you, has scaled the steep ascent of Christian Science, stands upon the mount of holiness, the dwelling-place of our God, and bathes in the [30] baptismal font of eternal Love.

As you journey, and betimes sigh for rest "beside the

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still waters," ponder this lesson of love. Learn its pur- [1] pose;and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the spirit of my life-purpose,—to impress humanity with the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian [5] Science.



CHAPTER VIII. PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT

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"Thy Will Be Done"

This is the law of Truth to error, "Thou shalt surely die." This law is a divine energy. Mortals cannot prevent the fulfilment of this law; it covers all sin and its effects. God is All, and by virtue of this nature and [5] allness He is cognizant only of good. Like a legislative bill that governs millions of mortals whom the legislators know not, the universal law of God has no knowledge of evil, and enters unconsciously the human heart and governs it. [10]

Mortals have only to submit to the law of God, come into sympathy with it, and to let His will be done. This unbroken motion of the law of divine Love gives, to the weary and heavy-laden, rest. But who is willing to do His will or to let it be done? Mortals obey their own [15] wills, and so disobey the divine order.

All states and stages of human error are met and mastered by divine Truth's negativing error in the way of God's appointing. Those "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." His rod brings to view His love, and inter- [20] prets to mortals the gospel of healing. David said, "Be- fore I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word." He who knows the end from the be-

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ginning, attaches to sin due penalties as its antidotes and [1] remedies.

Who art thou, vain mortal, that usurpest the preroga- tive of divine wisdom, and wouldst teach God not to punish sin? that wouldst shut the mouth of His prophets, [5] and cry, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace,"—yea, that healest the wounds of my people slightly?

The Principle of divine Science being Love, the divine rule of this Principle demonstrates Love, and proves that human belief fulfils the law of belief, and dies of its own [10] physics. Metaphysics also demonstrates this Principle of cure when sin is self-destroyed. Short-sighted physics admits the so-called pains of matter that destroy its more dangerous pleasures.

Insomnia compels mortals to learn that neither obliv- [15] ion nor dreams can recuperate the life of man, whose Life is God, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps. The loss of gustatory enjoyment and the ills of indigestion tend to rebuke appetite and destroy the peace of a false sense. False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no [20] right to be at peace. To suffer for having "other gods before me," is divinely wise. Evil passions die in their own flames, but are punished before extinguished. Peace has no foothold on the false basis that evil should be concealed and that life and happiness should still attend [25] it. Joy is self-sustained; goodness and blessedness are one: suffering is self-inflicted, and good is the master of evil.

To this scientific logic and the logic of events, egotism and false charity say, " 'Not so, Lord;' it is wise to [30] cover iniquity and punish it not, then shall mortals have peace." Divine Love, as unconscious as incapable of

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error, pursues the evil that hideth itself, strips off its [1] disguises, and—behold the result: evil, uncovered, is self-destroyed.

Christian Science never healed a patient without prov- ing with mathematical certainty that error, when found [5] out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself. Do men whine over a nest of serpents, and post around it placards warning people not to stir up these reptiles because they have stings? Christ said, "They shall take up serpents;" and, "Be ye therefore [10] wise as serpents and harmless as doves." The wisdom of a serpent is to hide itself. The wisdom of God, as revealed in Christian Science, brings the serpent out of its hole, handles it, and takes away its sting. Good deeds are harmless. He who has faith in woman's special adapt- [15] ability to lead on Christian Science, will not be shocked when she puts her foot on the head of the serpent, as it biteth at the heel.

Intemperance begets a belief of disordered brains, membranes, stomach, and nerves; and this belief serves [20] to uncover and kill this lurking serpent, intemperance, that hides itself under the false pretense of human need, innocent enjoyment, and a medical prescription. The belief in venereal diseases tears the black mask from the shameless brow of licentiousness, torments its victim, and [25] thus may save him from his destroyer.

Charity has the courage of conviction; it may suffer long, but has neither the cowardice nor the foolhardiness to cover iniquity. Charity is Love; and Love opens the eyes of the blind, rebukes error, and casts it out. [30] Charity never flees before error, lest it should suffer from an encounter. Love your enemies, or you will not

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lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform [1] them.

Christ points the way of salvation. His mode is not cowardly, uncharitable, nor unwise, but it teaches mor- tals to handle serpents and cast out evil. Our own vision [5] must be clear to open the eyes of others, else the blind will lead the blind and both shall fall. The sickly charity that supplies criminals with bouquets has been dealt with summarily by the good judgment of people in the old Bay State. Inhuman medical bills, class legisla- [10] tion, and Salem witchcraft, are not indigenous to her soil.

"Out of the depths have I delivered thee." The drowning man just rescued from the merciless wave is unconscious of suffering. Why, then, do you break his [15] peace and cause him to suffer in coming to life? Because you wish to save him from death. Then, if a criminal is at peace, is he not to be pitied and brought back to life? Or, are you afraid to do this lest he suffer, trample on your pearls of thought, and turn on you and rend you? [20] Cowardice is selfishness. When one protects himself at his neighbor's cost, let him remember, "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it." He risks nothing who obeys the law of God, and shall find the Life that cannot be lost. [25]

Our Master said, "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup." Jesus stormed sin in its citadels and kept peace with God. He drank this cup giving thanks, and he said to his followers, "Drink ye all of it,"—drink it all, and let all drink of it. He lived the spirit of his prayer,—"Thy [30] kingdom come." Shall we repeat our Lord's Prayer when the heart denies it, refuses to bear the cross and

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to fulfil the conditions of our petition? Human policy [1] is a fool that saith in his heart, "No God"—a caressing Judas that betrays you, and commits suicide. This god- less policy never knows what happiness is, and how it is obtained. [5]

Jesus did his work, and left his glorious career for our example. On the shore of Gennesaret he tersely re- minded his students of their worldly policy. They had suffered, and seen their error. This experience caused them to remember the reiterated warning of their Mas- [10] ter and cast their nets on the right side. When they were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means ought to silence ours. One step away from the direct line of divine Science cost them—what? A speedy re- [15] turn under the reign of difficulties, darkness, and unre- quited toil.

The currents of human nature rush in against the right course; health, happiness, and life flow not into one of their channels. The law of Love saith, "Not my will, [20] but Thine, be done," and Christian Science proves that human will is lost in the divine; and Love, the white Christ, is the remunerator.

If, consciously or unconsciously, one is at work in a wrong direction, who will step forward and open his [25] eyes to see this error? He who is a Christian Scientist, who has cast the beam out of his own eye, speaks plainly to the offender and tries to show his errors to him before letting another know it.

Pitying friends took down from the cross the fainting [30] form of Jesus, and buried it out of their sight. His dis- ciples, who had not yet drunk of his cup, lost sight of

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him; they could not behold his immortal being in the [1] form of Godlikeness.

All that I have written, taught, or lived, that is good, flowed through cross-bearing, self-forgetfulness, and my faith in the right. Suffering or Science, or both, in the [5] proportion that their instructions are assimilated, will point the way, shorten the process, and consummate the joys of acquiescence in the methods of divine Love. The Scripture saith, "He that covereth his sins shall not pros- per." No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportuni- [10] ties which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm our fellow-mortals against the evil which, if seen, can be destroyed.

May my friends and my enemies so profit by these waymarks, that what has chastened and illumined [15] another's way may perfect their own lives by gentle benedictions. In every age, the pioneer reformer must pass through a baptism of fire. But the faithful adher- ents of Truth have gone on rejoicing. Christian Science gives a fearless wing and firm foundation. These are [20] its inspiring tones from the lips of our Master, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He is but "an hireling" who fleeth when he [25] seeth the wolf coming.

Loyal Christian Scientists, be of good cheer: the night is far spent, the day dawns; God's universal kingdom will appear, Love will reign in every heart, and His will be done on earth as in heaven. [30]

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"Put Up Thy Sword"

While Jesus' life was full of Love, and a demonstra- tion of Love, it appeared hate to the carnal mind, or mortal thought, of his time. He said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send [5] peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in- law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own house- hold." [10]

This action of Jesus was stimulated by the same Love that closed—to the senses—that wondrous life, and that summed up its demonstration in the command, "Put up thy sword." The very conflict his Truth brought, in accomplishing its purpose of Love, meant, all [15] the way through, "Put up thy sword;" but the sword must have been drawn before it could be returned into the scabbard.

My students need to search the Scriptures and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to understand [20] the personal Jesus' labor in the flesh for their salvation: they need to do this even to understand my works, their motives, aims, and tendency.

The attitude of mortal mind in being healed morally, is the same as its attitude physically. The Christian [25] Scientist cannot heal the sick, and take error along with Truth, either in the recognition or approbation of it. This would prevent the possibility of destroying the tares: they must be separated from the wheat before they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour [30]

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and the final destruction of error through this very pro- [1] cess,—the sifting and the fire. The tendency of mortal mind is to go from one extreme to another: Truth comes into the intermediate space, saying, "I wound to heal; I punish to reform; I do it all in love; my peace I leave [5] with thee: not as the world giveth, give I unto thee. Arise, let us go hence; let us depart from the material sense of God's ways and means, and gain a spiritual understanding of them."

But let us not seek to climb up some other way, as we [10] shall do if we take the end for the beginning or start from wrong motives. Christian Science demands order and truth. To abide by these we must first understand the Principle and object of our work, and be clear that it is Love, peace, and good will toward men. Then we [15] shall demonstrate the Principle in the way of His ap- pointment, and not according to the infantile concep- tion of our way; as when a child in sleep walks on the summit of the roof of the house because he is a som- nambulist, and thinks he is where he is not, and would [20] fall immediately if he knew where he was and what he was doing.

My students are at the beginning of their demonstra- tion; they have a long warfare with error in themselves and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use [25] the sword of Spirit.

They cannot in the beginning take the attitude, nor adopt the words, that Jesus used at the end of his demonstration.

If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try [30] to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment

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must be used in your application of his words and infer- [1] ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat with error. There remaineth, it is true, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; but we must first have done our work, and entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give [5] example.



Scientific Theism

In the May number of our Journal, there appeared a review of, and some extracts from, "Scientific Theism," by Phare Pleigh. [10]

Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than "hands off." A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon tongue, might add to the above definition the "laying on of hands," as well. Whatever his nom de plume means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one [15] in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a big protest against injustice; but, the best may be mistaken.

One of these extracts is the story of the Cheshire Cat, which "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end [20] of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone." Was this a witty or a happy hit at idealism, to illustrate the author's fol- lowing point?—

"When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither [25] laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a phenomenon without a noumenon may succeed, but not before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without a cat." [30]

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True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in [1] logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso- phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con- ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than [5] Spirit; hence that the universe of God is spiritual,—even the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle, with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in quality and quantity.

The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this: that [10] matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe- nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat- ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things is unchanged, and that nature is constituted of and by [15] Spirit.

Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con- taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup- positional unity and personality, produce matter,—a [20] third quality unlike God. Again, that matter is both cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good,— and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a [25] kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation.

The nature of God must change in order to become matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter must disappear, for Spirit to appear. To the material [30] sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense

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takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and [1] Spirit is God, and God is good. Science unfolds the fact that Deity was forever Mind, Spirit; that matter never produced Mind, and vice versa.

The visible universe declares the invisible only by re- [5] version, as error declares Truth. The testimony of mate- rial sense in relation to existence is false; for matter can neither see, hear, nor feel, and mortal mind must change all its conceptions of life, substance, and intelligence, before it can reach the immortality of Mind and its ideas. [10] It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material senses whence to reason out God, when it is conceded that the five personal senses can take no cognizance of Spirit or of its phenomena. False realistic views sap the Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal [15] and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and unfolds the real nature of God and the universe to the spiri- ual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and not material. [20]

To begin with, the notion of Spirit as cause and end, with matter as its effect, is more ridiculous than the "grin without a cat;" for a grin expresses the nature of a cat, and this nature may linger in memory: but matter does not express the nature of Spirit, and matter's graven [25] grins are neither eliminated nor retained by Spirit. What can illustrate Dr. ——'s views better than Pat's echo, when he said "How do you do?" and echo answered, "Pretty well, I thank you!"

Dr. —— says: "The recognition of teleology in nature [30] is necessarily the recognition of purely spiritual personality in God."

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According to lexicography, teleology is the science of [1] the final cause of things; and divine Science (and all Science is divine) neither reveals God in matter, cause in effect, nor teaches that nature and her laws are the material universe, or that the personality of infinite Spirit [5] is finite or material. Jesus said, "Ye do err, not know- ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Now, what saith the Scripture? "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." [10]



Mental Practice

It is admitted that mortals think wickedly and act wickedly: it is beginning to be seen by thinkers, that mortals think also after a sickly fashion. In common parlance, one person feels sick, another feels wicked. A [15] third person knows that if he would remove this feeling in either case, in the one he must change his patient's consciousness of dis-ease and suffering to a consciousness of ease and loss of suffering; while in the other he must change the patient's sense of sinning at ease to a sense of [20] discomfort in sin and peace in goodness.

This is Christian Science: that mortal mind makes sick, and immortal Mind makes well; that mortal mind makes sinners, while immortal Mind makes saints; that a state of health is but a state of consciousness made mani- [25] fest on the body, and vice versa; that while one person feels wickedly and acts wickedly, another knows that if he can change this evil sense and consciousness to a good sense, or conscious goodness, the fruits of goodness will follow, and he has reformed the sinner. [30]

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Now, demonstrate this rule, which obtains in every [1] line of mental healing, and you will find that a good rule works one way, and a false rule the opposite way.

Let us suppose that there is a sick person whom an- other would heal mentally. The healer begins by mental [5] argument. He mentally says, "You are well, and you know it;" and he supports this silent mental force by audible explanation, attestation, and precedent. His mental and oral arguments aim to refute the sick man's thoughts, words, and actions, in certain directions, and [10] turn them into channels of Truth. He persists in this course until the patient's mind yields, and the harmonious thought has the full control over this mind on the point at issue. The end is attained, and the patient says and feels, "I am well, and I know it." [15]

This mental practitioner has changed his patient's consciousness from sickness to health. The patient's mental state is now the diametrical opposite of what it was when the mental practitioner undertook to transform it, and he is improved morally and physically. [20]

That this mental method has power and bears fruit, is patent both to the conscientious Christian Scientist and the observer. Both should understand with equal clear- ness, that if this mental process and power be reversed, and people believe that a man is sick and knows it, and [25] speak of him as being sick, put it into the minds of others that he is sick, publish it in the newspapers that he is failing, and persist in this action of mind over mind, it follows that he will believe that he is sick,—and Jesus said it would be according to the woman's belief; but if [30] with the certainty of Science he knows that an error of belief has not the power of Truth, and cannot, does

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not, produce the slightest effect, it has no power over [1] him. Thus a mental malpractitioner may lose his power to harm by a false mental argument; for it gives one opportunity to handle the error, and when mastering it one gains in the rules of metaphysics, and [5] thereby learns more of its divine Principle. Error pro- duces physical sufferings, and these sufferings show the fundamental Principle of Christian Science; namely, that error and sickness are one, and Truth is their remedy. [10]

The evil-doer can do little at removing the effect of sin on himself, unless he believes that sin has produced the effect and knows he is a sinner: or, knowing that he is a sinner, if he denies it, the good effect is lost. Either of these states of mind will stultify the power to heal men- [15] tally. This accounts for many helpless mental practi- tioners and mysterious diseases.

Again: If error is the cause of disease, Truth being the cure, denial of this fact in one instance and acknowledgment of it in another saps one's under- [20] standing of the Science of Mind-healing, Such denial dethrones demonstration, baffles the student of Mind- healing, and divorces his work from Science. Such de- nial also contradicts the doctrine that we must mentally struggle against both evil and disease, and is like saying [25] that five times ten are fifty while ten times five are not fifty; as if the multiplication of the same two numbers would not yield the same product whichever might serve as the multiplicand.

Who would tell another of a crime that he himself is [30] committing, or call public attention to that crime? The belief in evil and in the process of evil, holds the issues

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of death to the evil-doer. It takes away a man's proper [1] sense of good, and gives him a false sense of both evil and good. It inflames envy, passion, evil-speaking, and strife. It reverses Christian Science in all things. It causes the victim to believe that he is advancing while [5] injuring himself and others. This state of false conscious- ness in many cases causes the victim great physical suffering; and conviction of his wrong state of feeling reforms him, and so heals him: or, failing of conviction and re- form, he becomes morally paralyzed—in other words, [10] a moral idiot.

In this state of misled consciousness, one is ready to listen complacently to audible falsehoods that once he would have resisted and loathed; and this, because the false seems true. The malicious mental argument and [15] its action on the mind of the perpetrator, is fatal, morally and physically. From the effects of mental malpractice the subject scarcely awakes in time, and must suffer its full penalty after death. This sin against divine Science is cancelled only through human agony: the measure it [20] has meted must be remeasured to it.

The crimes committed under this new regime of mind- power, when brought to light, will make stout hearts quail. Its mystery protects it now, for it is not yet known. Error is more abstract than Truth. Even the healing Principle, [25] whose power seems inexplicable, is not so obscure; for this is the power of God, and good should seem more natural than evil.

I shall not forget the cost of investigating, for this age, the methods and power of error. While the ways, means, [30] and potency of Truth had flowed into my consciousness as easily as dawns the morning light and shadows flee,

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the metaphysical mystery of error—its hidden paths, [1] purpose, and fruits—at first defied me. I was say- ing all the time, "Come not thou into the secret"— but at length took up the research according to God's command. [5]

Streams which purify, necessarily have pure fountains; while impure streams flow from corrupt sources. Here, divine light, logic, and revelation coincide.

Science proves, beyond cavil, that the tree is known by its fruit; that mind reaches its own ideal, and cannot [10] be separated from it. I respect that moral sense which is sufficiently strong to discern what it believes, and to say, if it must, "I discredit Mind with having the power to heal." This individual disbelieves in Mind-healing, and is consistent. But, alas! for the mistake of believing in [15] mental healing, claiming full faith in the divine Principle, and saying, "I am a Christian Scientist," while doing unto others what we would resist to the hilt if done unto ourselves.

May divine Love so permeate the affections of all those [20] who have named the name of Christ in its fullest sense, that no counteracting influence can hinder their growth or taint their examples.



Taking Offense

There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, "He [25] that is slow to anger is better than the mighty." Hannah More said, "If I wished to punish my enemy, I should make him hate somebody."

To punish ourselves for others' faults, is superlative folly. The mental arrow shot from another's bow is [30]

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practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it. [1] It is our pride that makes another's criticism rankle, our self-will that makes another's deed offensive, our egotism that feels hurt by another's self-assertion. Well may we feel wounded by our own faults; but we can hardly afford [5] to be miserable for the faults of others.

A courtier told Constantine that a mob had broken the head of his statue with stones. The emperor lifted his hands to his head, saying: "It is very surprising, but I don't feel hurt in the least." [10]

We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a differ- ent history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless [15] action and reaction upon each other of these different atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction [20] of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it,—de- [25] termined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God.