{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16734/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16734","id":"gutenberg_16734","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16734","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian Science","Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Justin Gillbank, Josephine Paolucci and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRETROSPECTION\n\nAND\n\nINTROSPECTION\n\n\nBY\n\nMARY BAKER EDDY\n\nAUTHOR OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES\n\n    Registered\n    U.S. Patent Office\n\n    Published by The\n    Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy\n    BOSTON, U.S.A.\n\n    Authorized Literature of\n    THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST\n    in Boston, Massachusetts\n\n    _Copyright, 1891, 1892_\n    BY MARY BAKER G. EDDY\n    Copyright renewed 1919 and 1920\n\n_All rights reserved_\n\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nANCESTRAL SHADOWS\n\nAUTOBIOGRAPHIC REMINISCENCES\n\nVOICES NOT OUR OWN\n\nEARLY STUDIES\n\nGIRLHOOD COMPOSITION\n\nTHEOLOGICAL REMINISCENCE\n\nTHE COUNTRY-SEAT (POEM)\n\nMARRIAGE AND PARENTAGE\n\nEMERGENCE INTO LIGHT\n\nTHE GREAT DISCOVERY\n\nFOUNDATION WORK\n\nMEDICAL EXPERIMENTS\n\nFIRST PUBLICATION\n\nTHE PRECIOUS VOLUME\n\nRECUPERATIVE INCIDENT\n\nA TRUE MAN\n\nCOLLEGE AND CHURCH\n\n\"FEED MY SHEEP\" (POEM)\n\nCOLLEGE CLOSED\n\nGENERAL ASSOCIATIONS AND OUR MAGAZINE\n\nFAITH-CURE\n\nFOUNDATION-STONES\n\nTHE GREAT REVELATION\n\nSIN, SINNER, AND ECCLESIASTICISM\n\nTHE HUMAN CONCEPT\n\nPERSONALITY\n\nPLAGIARISM\n\nADMONITION\n\nEXEMPLIFICATION\n\nWAYMARKS\n\n\n\n\nRETROSPECTION AND INTROSPECTION\n\n\n\n\nANCESTRAL SHADOWS\n\n\nMy ancestors, according to the flesh, were from both Scotland and England,\nmy great-grandfather, on my father's side, being John McNeil of Edinburgh.\n\nHis wife, my great-grandmother, was Marion Moor, and her family is said to\nhave been in some way related to Hannah More, the pious and popular English\nauthoress of a century ago.\n\nI remember reading, in my childhood, certain manuscripts containing\nScriptural sonnets, besides other verses and enigmas which my grandmother\nsaid were written by my great-grandmother. But because my great-grandmother\nwrote a stray sonnet and an occasional riddle, it was no sign that she\ninherited a spark from Hannah More, or was her relative.\n\nJohn and Marion Moor McNeil had a daughter, who perpetuated her mother's\nname. This second Marion McNeil in due time was married to an Englishman,\nnamed Joseph Baker, and so became my paternal grandmother, the Scotch and\nEnglish elements thus mingling in her children.\n\nMrs. Marion McNeil Baker was reared among the Scotch Covenanters, and had\nin her character that sturdy Calvinistic devotion to Protestant liberty\nwhich gave those religionists the poetic daring and pious picturesqueness\nwhich we find so graphically set forth in the pages of Sir Walter Scott and\nin John Wilson's sketches.\n\nJoseph Baker and his wife, Marion McNeil, came to America seeking \"freedom\nto worship God;\" though they could hardly have crossed the Atlantic more\nthan a score of years prior to the Revolutionary period.\n\nWith them they brought to New England a heavy sword, encased in a brass\nscabbard, on which was inscribed the name of a kinsman upon whom the weapon\nhad been bestowed by Sir William Wallace, from whose patriotism and bravery\ncomes that heart-stirring air, \"Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled.\"\n\nMy childhood was also gladdened by one of my Grandmother Baker's books,\nprinted in olden type and replete with the phraseology current in the\nseventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\n\nAmong grandmother's treasures were some newspapers, yellow with age. Some\nof these, however, were not very ancient, nor had they crossed the ocean;\nfor they were American newspapers, one of which contained a full account of\nthe death and burial of George Washington.\n\nA relative of my Grandfather Baker was General Henry Knox of Revolutionary\nfame. I was fond of listening, when a child, to grandmother's stories about\nGeneral Knox, for whom she cherished a high regard.\n\nIn the line of my Grandmother Baker's family was the late Sir John\nMacneill, a Scotch knight, who was prominent in British politics, and at\none time held the position of ambassador to Persia.\n\nMy grandparents were likewise connected with Capt. John Lovewell of\nDunstable, New Hampshire, whose gallant leadership and death, in the Indian\ntroubles of 1722-1725, caused that prolonged contest to be known\nhistorically as Lovewell's War.\n\nA cousin of my grandmother was John Macneil, the New Hampshire general who\nfought at Lundy's Lane, and won distinction in 1814 at the neighboring\nbattle of Chippewa, towards the close of the War of 1812.\n\n\n\n\nAUTOBIOGRAPHIC REMINISCENCES\n\n\nThis venerable grandmother had thirteen children, the youngest of whom was\nmy father, Mark Baker, who inherited the homestead, and with his brother,\nJames Baker, he inherited my grandfather's farm of about five hundred\nacres, lying in the adjoining towns of Concord and Bow, in the State of New\nHampshire.\n\nOne hundred acres of the old farm are still cultivated and owned by Uncle\nJames Baker's grandson, brother of the Hon. Henry Moore Baker of\nWashington, D.C.\n\nThe farm-house, situated on the summit of a hill, commanded a broad\npicturesque view of the Merrimac River and the undulating lands of three\ntownships. But change has been busy. Where once stretched broad fields of\nbending grain waving gracefully in the sunlight, and orchards of apples,\npeaches, pears, and cherries shone richly in the mellow hues of\nautumn,--now the lone night-bird cries, the crow caws cautiously, and\nwandering winds sigh low requiems through dark pine groves. Where green\npastures bright with berries, singing brooklets, beautiful wild flowers,\nand flecked with large flocks and herds, covered areas of rich acres,--now\nthe scrub-oak, poplar, and fern flourish.\n\nThe wife of Mark Baker was Abigail Barnard Ambrose, daughter of Deacon\nNathaniel Ambrose of Pembroke, a small town situated near Concord, just\nacross the bridge, on the left bank of the Merrimac River.\n\nGrandfather Ambrose was a very religious man, and gave the money for\nerecting the first Congregational Church in Pembroke.\n\nIn the Baker homestead at Bow I was born, the youngest of my parents' six\nchildren and the object of their tender solicitude.\n\nDuring my childhood my parents removed to Tilton, eighteen miles from\nConcord, and there the family remained until the names of both father and\nmother were inscribed on the stone memorials in the Park Cemetery of that\nbeautiful village.\n\nMy father possessed a strong intellect and an iron will. Of my mother I\ncannot speak as I would, for memory recalls qualities to which the pen can\nnever do justice. The following is a brief extract from the eulogy of the\nRev. Richard S. Rust, D.D., who for many years had resided in Tilton and\nknew my sainted mother in all the walks of life.\n\n    The character of Mrs. Abigail Ambrose Baker was distinguished for\n    numerous excellences. She possessed a strong intellect, a\n    sympathizing heart, and a placid spirit. Her presence, like the\n    gentle dew and cheerful light, was felt by all around her. She\n    gave an elevated character to the tone of conversation in the\n    circles in which she moved, and directed attention to themes at\n    once pleasing and profitable.\n\n    As a mother, she was untiring in her efforts to secure the\n    happiness of her family. She ever entertained a lively sense of\n    the parental obligation, especially in regard to the education of\n    her children. The oft-repeated impressions of that sainted spirit,\n    on the hearts of those especially entrusted to her watch-care, can\n    never be effaced, and can hardly fail to induce them to follow her\n    to the brighter world. Her life was a living illustration of\n    Christian faith.\n\nMy childhood's home I remember as one with the open hand. The needy were\never welcome, and to the clergy were accorded special household privileges.\n\nAmong the treasured reminiscences of my much respected parents, brothers,\nand sisters, is the memory of my second brother, Albert Baker, who was,\nnext to my mother, the very dearest of my kindred. To speak of his\nbeautiful character as I cherish it, would require more space than this\nlittle book can afford.\n\nMy brother Albert was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1834, and was\nreputed one of the most talented, close, and thorough scholars ever\nconnected with that institution. For two or three years he read law at\nHillsborough, in the office of Franklin Pierce, afterwards President of the\nUnited States; but later Albert spent a year in the office of the Hon.\nRichard Fletcher of Boston. He was consequently admitted to the bar in two\nStates, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 1837 he succeeded to the\nlaw-office which Mr. Pierce had occupied, and was soon elected to the\nLegislature of his native State, where he served the public interests\nfaithfully for two consecutive years. Among other important bills which\nwere carried through the Legislature by his persistent energy was one for\nthe abolition of imprisonment for debt.\n\nIn 1841 he received further political preferment, by nomination to\nCongress on a majority vote of seven thousand,--it was the largest vote of\nthe State; but he passed away at the age of thirty-one, after a short\nillness, before his election. His noble political antagonist, the Hon.\nIsaac Hill, of Concord, wrote of my brother as follows:--\n\n    Albert Baker was a young man of uncommon promise. Gifted with the\n    highest order of intellectual powers, he trained and schooled them\n    by intense and almost incessant study throughout his short life.\n    He was fond of investigating abstruse and metaphysical principles,\n    and he never forsook them until he had explored their every nook\n    and corner, however hidden and remote. Had life and health been\n    spared to him, he would have made himself one of the most\n    distinguished men in the country. As a lawyer he was able and\n    learned, and in the successful practice of a very large business.\n    He was noted for his boldness and firmness, and for his powerful\n    advocacy of the side he deemed right. His death will be deplored,\n    with the most poignant grief, by a large number of friends, who\n    expected no more than they realized from his talents and\n    acquirements. This sad event will not be soon forgotten. It\n    blights too many hopes; it carries with it too much of sorrow and\n    loss. It is a public calamity.\n\n\n\n\nVOICES NOT OUR OWN\n\n\nMany peculiar circumstances and events connected with my childhood throng\nthe chambers of memory. For some twelve months, when I was about eight\nyears old, I repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by name, three\ntimes, in an ascending scale. I thought this was my mother's voice, and\nsometimes went to her, beseeching her to tell me what she wanted. Her\nanswer was always, \"Nothing, child! What do you mean?\" Then I would say,\n\"Mother, who _did_ call me? I heard somebody call _Mary_, three times!\"\nThis continued until I grew discouraged, and my mother was perplexed and\nanxious.\n\nOne day, when my cousin, Mehitable Huntoon, was visiting us, and I sat in a\nlittle chair by her side, in the same room with grandmother,--the call\nagain came, so loud that Mehitable heard it, though I had ceased to notice\nit. Greatly surprised, my cousin turned to me and said, \"Your mother is\ncalling you!\" but I answered not, till again the same call was thrice\nrepeated. Mehitable then said sharply, \"Why don't you go? your mother is\ncalling you!\" I then left the room, went to my mother, and once more asked\nher if she had summoned me? She answered as always before. Then I earnestly\ndeclared my cousin had heard the voice, and said that mother wanted me.\nAccordingly she returned with me to grandmother's room, and led my cousin\ninto an adjoining apartment. The door was ajar, and I listened with bated\nbreath. Mother told Mehitable all about this mysterious voice, and asked if\nshe really did hear Mary's name pronounced in audible tones. My cousin\nanswered quickly, and emphasized her affirmation.\n\nThat night, before going to rest, my mother read to me the Scriptural\nnarrative of little Samuel, and bade me, when the voice called again, to\nreply as he did, \"Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.\" The voice came;\nbut I was afraid, and did not answer. Afterward I wept, and prayed that God\nwould forgive me, resolving to do, next time, as my mother had bidden me.\nWhen the call came again I did answer, in the words of Samuel, but never\nagain to the material senses was that mysterious call repeated.\n\n    Is it not much that I may worship Him,\n      With naught my spirit's breathings to control,\n    And feel His presence in the vast and dim\n      And whispering woods, where dying thunders roll\n    From the far cataracts? Shall I not rejoice\n    That I have learned at last to know His voice\n      From man's?--I will rejoice! My soaring soul\n    Now hath redeemed her birthright of the day,\n    And won, through clouds, to Him, her own unfettered way!\n                                              --MRS. HEMANS.\n\n\n\n\nEARLY STUDIES\n\n\nMy father was taught to believe that my brain was too large for my body and\nso kept me much out of school, but I gained book-knowledge with far less\nlabor than is usually requisite. At ten years of age I was as familiar with\nLindley Murray's Grammar as with the Westminster Catechism; and the latter\nI had to repeat every Sunday. My favorite studies were natural philosophy,\nlogic, and moral science. From my brother Albert I received lessons in the\nancient tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. My brother studied Hebrew during\nhis college vacations. After my discovery of Christian Science, most of the\nknowledge I had gleaned from schoolbooks vanished like a dream.\n\nLearning was so illumined, that grammar was eclipsed. Etymology was divine\nhistory, voicing the idea of God in man's origin and signification. Syntax\nwas spiritual order and unity. Prosody, the song of angels, and no earthly\nor inglorious theme.\n\n\n\n\nGIRLHOOD COMPOSITION\n\n\nFrom childhood I was a verse-maker. Poetry suited my emotions better than\nprose. The following is one of my girlhood productions.\n\nALPHABET AND BAYONET\n\n    If fancy plumes aerial flight,\n      Go fix thy restless mind\n    On learning's lore and wisdom's might,\n      And live to bless mankind.\n    The sword is sheathed, 'tis freedom's hour,\n      No despot bears misrule,\n    Where knowledge plants the foot of power\n      In our God-blessed free school.\n\n    Forth from this fount the streamlets flow,\n      That widen in their course.\n    Hero and sage arise to show\n      Science the mighty source,\n    And laud the land whose talents rock\n      The cradle of her power,\n    And wreaths are twined round Plymouth Rock,\n      From erudition's bower.\n\n    Farther than feet of chamois fall,\n      Free as the generous air,\n    Strains nobler far than clarion call\n      Wake freedom's welcome, where\n    Minerva's silver sandals still\n      Are loosed, and not effete;\n    Where echoes still my day-dreams thrill,\n      Woke by her fancied feet.\n\n\n\n\nTHEOLOGICAL REMINISCENCE\n\n\nAt the age of twelve[A] I was admitted to the Congregational (Trinitarian)\nChurch, my parents having been members of that body for a half-century. In\nconnection with this event, some circumstances are noteworthy. Before this\nstep was taken, the doctrine of unconditional election, or predestination,\ngreatly troubled me; for I was unwilling to be saved, if my brothers and\nsisters were to be numbered among those who were doomed to perpetual\nbanishment from God. So perturbed was I by the thoughts aroused by this\nerroneous doctrine, that the family doctor was summoned, and pronounced me\nstricken with fever.\n\nMy father's relentless theology emphasized belief in a final judgment-day,\nin the danger of endless punishment, and in a Jehovah merciless towards\nunbelievers; and of these things he now spoke, hoping to win me from\ndreaded heresy.\n\nMy mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God's love,\nwhich would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do,\nseeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over\nme. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal\ncondition of health. Mother saw this, and was glad. The physician\nmarvelled; and the \"horrible decree\" of predestination--as John Calvin\nrightly called his own tenet--forever lost its power over me.\n\nWhen the meeting was held for the examination of candidates for membership,\nI was of course present. The pastor was an old-school expounder of the\nstrictest Presbyterian doctrines. He was apparently as eager to have\nunbelievers in these dogmas lost, as he was to have elect believers\nconverted and rescued from perdition; for both salvation and condemnation\ndepended, according to his views, upon the good pleasure of infinite Love.\nHowever, I was ready for his doleful questions, which I answered without a\ntremor, declaring that never could I unite with the church, if assent to\nthis doctrine was essential thereto.\n\nDistinctly do I recall what followed. I stoutly maintained that I was\nwilling to trust God, and take my chance of spiritual safety with my\nbrothers and sisters,--not one of whom had then made any profession of\nreligion,--even if my creedal doubts left me outside the doors. The\nminister then wished me to tell him when I had experienced a change of\nheart; but tearfully I had to respond that I could not designate any\nprecise time. Nevertheless he persisted in the assertion that I _had_ been\ntruly regenerated, and asked me to say how I felt when the new light dawned\nwithin me. I replied that I could only answer him in the words of the\nPsalmist: \"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my\nthoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way\neverlasting.\"\n\nThis was so earnestly said, that even the oldest church-members wept. After\nthe meeting was over they came and kissed me. To the astonishment of many,\nthe good clergyman's heart also melted, and he received me into their\ncommunion, and my protest along with me. My connection with this religious\nbody was retained till I founded a church of my own, built on the basis of\nChristian Science, \"Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.\"\n\nIn confidence of faith, I could say in David's words, \"I will go in the\nstrength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of\nThine only. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I\ndeclared Thy wondrous works.\" (Psalms lxxi. 16, 17.)\n\nIn the year 1878 I was called to preach in Boston at the Baptist Tabernacle\nof Rev. Daniel C. Eddy, D.D.,--by the pastor of this church. I accepted the\ninvitation and commenced work.\n\nThe congregation so increased in number the pews were not sufficient to\nseat the audience and benches were used in the aisles. At the close of my\nengagement we parted in Christian fellowship, if not in full unity of\ndoctrine.\n\nOur last vestry meeting was made memorable by eloquent addresses from\npersons who feelingly testified to having been healed through my preaching.\nAmong other diseases cured they specified cancers. The cases described had\nbeen treated and given over by physicians of the popular schools of\nmedicine, but I had not heard of these cases till the persons who divulged\ntheir secret joy were healed. A prominent churchman agreeably informed the\ncongregation that many others present had been healed under my preaching,\nbut were too timid to testify in public.\n\nOne memorable Sunday afternoon, a soprano,--clear, strong,\nsympathetic,--floating up from the pews, caught my ear. When the meeting\nwas over, two ladies pushing their way through the crowd reached the\nplatform. With tears of joy flooding her eyes--for she was a mother--one of\nthem said, \"Did you hear my daughter sing? Why, she has not sung before\nsince she left the choir and was in consumption! When she entered this\nchurch one hour ago she could not speak a loud word, and now, oh, thank\nGod, she is healed!\"\n\nIt was not an uncommon occurrence in my own church for the sick to be\nhealed by my sermon. Many pale cripples went into the church leaning on\ncrutches who went out carrying them on their shoulders. \"And these signs\nshall follow them that believe.\"\n\nThe charter for The Mother Church in Boston was obtained June, 1879,[B] and\nthe same month the members, twenty-six in number, extended a call to Mary\nB.G. Eddy to become their pastor. She accepted the call, and was ordained\nA.D. 1881.\n\n\n\n\nTHE COUNTRY-SEAT\n\nWritten in youth, while visiting a family friend in the beautiful suburbs\nof Boston.\n\n\n    Wild spirit of song,--midst the zephyrs at play\n    In bowers of beauty,--I bend to thy lay,\n    And woo, while I worship in deep sylvan spot,\n    The Muses' soft echoes to kindle the grot.\n    Wake chords of my lyre, with musical kiss,\n    To vibrate and tremble with accents of bliss.\n\n    Here morning peers out, from her crimson repose,\n    On proud Prairie Queen and the modest Moss-rose;\n    And vesper reclines--when the dewdrop is shed\n    On the heart of the pink--in its odorous bed;\n    But Flora has stolen the rainbow and sky,\n    To sprinkle the flowers with exquisite dye.\n\n    Here fame-honored hickory rears his bold form,\n    And bares a brave breast to the lightning and storm,\n    While palm, bay, and laurel, in classical glee,\n    Chase tulip, magnolia, and fragrant fringe-tree;\n    And sturdy horse-chestnut for centuries hath given\n    Its feathery blossom and branches to heaven.\n\n    Here is life! Here is youth! Here the poet's world-wish,--\n    Cool waters at play with the gold-gleaming fish;\n    While cactus a mellower glory receives\n    From light colored softly by blossom and leaves;\n    And nestling alder is whispering low,\n    In lap of the pear-tree, with musical flow.[C]\n\n    Dark sentinel hedgerow is guarding repose,\n    Midst grotto and songlet and streamlet that flows\n    Where beauty and perfume from buds burst away,\n    And ope their closed cells to the bright, laughing day;\n    Yet, dwellers in Eden, earth yields you her tear,--\n    Oft plucked for the banquet, but laid on the bier.\n\n    Earth's beauty and glory delude as the shrine\n    Or fount of real joy and of visions divine;\n    But hope, as the eaglet that spurneth the sod,\n    May soar above matter, to fasten on God,\n    And freely adore all His spirit hath made,\n    Where rapture and radiance and glory ne'er fade.\n\n    Oh, give me the spot where affection may dwell\n    In sacred communion with home's magic spell!\n    Where flowers of feeling are fragrant and fair,\n    And those we most love find a happiness rare;\n    But clouds are a presage,--they darken my lay:\n    This life is a shadow, and hastens away.\n\n\n\n\nMARRIAGE AND PARENTAGE\n\n\nIn 1843 I was united to my first husband, Colonel George Washington Glover\nof Charleston, South Carolina, the ceremony taking place under the paternal\nroof in Tilton.\n\nAfter parting with the dear home circle I went with him to the South; but\nhe was spared to me for only one brief year. He was in Wilmington, North\nCarolina, on business, when the yellow-fever raged in that city, and was\nsuddenly attacked by this insidious disease, which in his case proved\nfatal.\n\nMy husband was a freemason, being a member in Saint Andrew's Lodge, Number\n10, and of Union Chapter, Number 3, of Royal Arch masons. He was highly\nesteemed and sincerely lamented by a large circle of friends and\nacquaintances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to support me in this\nterrible bereavement. A month later I returned to New Hampshire, where, at\nthe end of four months, my babe was born.\n\nColonel Glover's tender devotion to his young bride was remarked by all\nobservers. With his parting breath he gave pathetic directions to his\nbrother masons about accompanying her on her sad journey to the North. Here\nit is but justice to record, they performed their obligations most\nfaithfully.\n\nAfter returning to the paternal roof I lost all my husband's property,\nexcept what money I had brought with me; and remained with my parents until\nafter my mother's decease.\n\nA few months before my father's second marriage, to Mrs. Elizabeth\nPatterson Duncan, sister of Lieutenant-Governor George W. Patterson of New\nYork, my little son, about four years of age, was sent away from me, and\nput under the care of our family nurse, who had married, and resided in the\nnorthern part of New Hampshire. I had no training for self-support, and my\nhome I regarded as very precious. The night before my child was taken from\nme, I knelt by his side throughout the dark hours, hoping for a vision of\nrelief from this trial. The following lines are taken from my poem,\n\"Mother's Darling,\" written after this separation:--\n\n    Thy smile through tears, as sunshine o'er the sea,\n      Awoke new beauty in the surge's roll!\n    Oh, life is dead, bereft of all, with thee,--\n      Star of my earthly hope, babe of my soul.\n\nMy second marriage was very unfortunate, and from it I was compelled to ask\nfor a bill of divorce, which was granted me in the city of Salem,\nMassachusetts.\n\nMy dominant thought in marrying again was to get back my child, but after\nour marriage his stepfather was not willing he should have a home with me.\nA plot was consummated for keeping us apart. The family to whose care he\nwas committed very soon removed to what was then regarded as the Far West.\n\nAfter his removal a letter was read to my little son, informing him that\nhis mother was dead and buried. Without my knowledge a guardian was\nappointed him, and I was then informed that my son was lost. Every means\nwithin my power was employed to find him, but without success. We never met\nagain until he had reached the age of thirty-four, had a wife and two\nchildren, and by a strange providence had learned that his mother still\nlived, and came to see me in Massachusetts.\n\nMeanwhile he had served as a volunteer throughout the war for the Union,\nand at its expiration was appointed United States Marshal of the Territory\nof Dakota.\n\nIt is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but\nthe record of dreams, not of man's real existence, and the dream has no\nplace in the Science of being. It is \"as a tale that is told,\" and \"as the\nshadow when it declineth.\" The heavenly intent of earth's shadows is to\nchasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and turn it gladly\nfrom a material, false sense of life and happiness, to spiritual joy and\ntrue estimate of being.\n\nThe awakening from a false sense of life, substance, and mind in matter, is\nas yet imperfect; but for those lucid and enduring lessons of Love which\ntend to this result, I bless God.\n\nMere historic incidents and personal events are frivolous and of no moment,\nunless they illustrate the ethics of Truth. To this end, but only to this\nend, such narrations may be admissible and advisable; but if spiritual\nconclusions are separated from their premises, the _nexus_ is lost, and the\nargument, with its rightful conclusions, becomes correspondingly obscure.\nThe human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged.\n\nThe Gospel narratives bear brief testimony even to the life of our great\nMaster. His spiritual noumenon and phenomenon silenced portraiture. Writers\nless wise than the apostles essayed in the Apocryphal New Testament a\nlegendary and traditional history of the early life of Jesus. But St. Paul\nsummarized the character of Jesus as the model of Christianity, in these\nwords: \"Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against\nhimself.\" \"Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,\ndespising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of\nGod.\"\n\nIt may be that the mortal life-battle still wages, and must continue till\nits involved errors are vanquished by victory-bringing Science; but this\ntriumph will come! God is over all. He alone is our origin, aim, and being.\nThe real man is not of the dust, nor is he ever created through the flesh;\nfor his father and mother are the one Spirit, and his brethren are all the\nchildren of one parent, the eternal good.\n\n\n\n\nEMERGENCE INTO LIGHT\n\n\nThe trend of human life was too eventful to leave me undisturbed in the\nillusion that this so-called life could be a real and abiding rest. All\nthings earthly must ultimately yield to the irony of fate, or else be\nmerged into the one infinite Love.\n\nAs these pungent lessons became clearer, they grew sterner. Previously the\ncloud of mortal mind seemed to have a silver lining; but now it was not\neven fringed with light. Matter was no longer spanned with its rainbow of\npromise. The world was dark. The oncoming hours were indicated by no floral\ndial. The senses could not prophesy sunrise or starlight.\n\nThus it was when the moment arrived of the heart's bridal to more spiritual\nexistence. When the door opened, I was waiting and watching; and, lo, the\nbridegroom came! The character of the Christ was illuminated by the\nmidnight torches of Spirit. My heart knew its Redeemer. He whom my\naffections had diligently sought was as the One \"altogether lovely,\" as\n\"the chiefest,\" the only, \"among ten thousand.\" Soulless famine had fled.\nAgnosticism, pantheism, and theosophy were void. Being was beautiful, its\nsubstance, cause, and currents were God and His idea. I had touched the hem\nof Christian Science.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT DISCOVERY\n\n\nIt was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, and after the death of the\nmagnetic doctor, Mr. P.P. Quimby, whom spiritualists would associate\ntherewith, but who was in no wise connected with this event, that I\ndiscovered the Science of divine metaphysical healing which I afterwards\nnamed Christian Science. The discovery came to pass in this way. During\ntwenty years prior to my discovery I had been trying to trace all physical\neffects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the\nscientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental\nphenomenon.\n\nMy immediate recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an accident,\nan injury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was the falling\napple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make\nothers so.\n\nEven to the homoeopathic physician who attended me, and rejoiced in my\nrecovery, I could not then explain the _modus_ of my relief. I could only\nassure him that the divine Spirit had wrought the miracle--a miracle which\nlater I found to be in perfect scientific accord with divine law.\n\nI then withdrew from society about three years,--to ponder my mission, to\nsearch the Scriptures, to find the Science of Mind that should take the\nthings of God and show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative\nPrinciple,--Deity.\n\nThe Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions as to how I was healed;\nbut the Scriptures had to me a new meaning, a new tongue. Their spiritual\nsignification appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in their\nspiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstration, and the Principle and\nrule of spiritual Science and metaphysical healing,--in a word, Christian\nScience.\n\nI named it _Christian_, because it is compassionate, helpful, and\nspiritual. God I called _immortal Mind_. That which sins, suffers, and\ndies, I named _mortal mind_. The physical senses, or sensuous nature, I\ncalled _error_ and _shadow_. Soul I denominated _substance_, because Soul\nalone is truly substantial. God I characterized as individual entity, but\nHis corporeality I denied. The real I claimed as eternal; and its\nantipodes, or the temporal, I described as unreal. Spirit I called the\n_reality_; and matter, the _unreality_.\n\nI knew the human conception of God to be that He was a physically personal\nbeing, like unto man; and that the five physical senses are so many\nwitnesses to the physical personality of mind and the real existence of\nmatter; but I learned that these material senses testify falsely, that\nmatter neither sees, hears, nor feels Spirit, and is therefore inadequate\nto form any proper conception of the infinite Mind. \"If I bear witness of\nmyself, my witness is not true.\" (John v. 31.)\n\nI beheld with ineffable awe our great Master's purpose in not questioning\nthose he healed as to their disease or its symptoms, and his marvellous\nskill in demanding neither obedience to hygienic laws, nor prescribing\ndrugs to support the divine power which heals. Adoringly I discerned the\nPrinciple of his holy heroism and Christian example on the cross, when he\nrefused to drink the \"vinegar and gall,\" a preparation of poppy, or\naconite, to allay the tortures of crucifixion.\n\nOur great Way-shower, steadfast to the end in his obedience to God's laws,\ndemonstrated for all time and peoples the supremacy of good over evil, and\nthe superiority of Spirit over matter.\n\nThe miracles recorded in the Bible, which had before seemed to me\nsupernatural, grew divinely natural and apprehensible; though uninspired\ninterpreters ignorantly pronounce Christ's healing miraculous, instead of\nseeing therein the operation of the divine law.\n\nJesus of Nazareth was a natural and divine Scientist. He was so before the\nmaterial world saw him. He who antedated Abraham, and gave the world a new\ndate in the Christian era, was a Christian Scientist, who needed no\ndiscovery of the Science of being in order to rebuke the evidence. To one\n\"born of the flesh,\" however, divine Science must be a discovery. Woman\nmust give it birth. It must be begotten of spirituality, since none but the\npure in heart can see God,--the Principle of all things pure; and none but\nthe \"poor in spirit\" could first state this Principle, could know yet more\nof the nothingness of matter and the allness of Spirit, could utilize\nTruth, and absolutely reduce the demonstration of being, in Science, to the\napprehension of the age.\n\nI wrote also, at this period, comments on the Scriptures, setting forth\ntheir spiritual interpretation, the Science of the Bible, and so laid the\nfoundation of my work called Science and Health, published in 1875.\n\nIf these notes and comments, which have never been read by any one but\nmyself, were published, it would show that after my discovery of the\nabsolute Science of Mind-healing, like all great truths, this spiritual\nScience developed itself to me until Science and Health was written. These\nearly comments are valuable to me as waymarks of progress, which I would\nnot have effaced.\n\nUp to that time I had not fully voiced my discovery. Naturally, my first\njottings were but efforts to express in feeble diction Truth's ultimate. In\nLongfellow's language,--\n\n    But the feeble hands and helpless,\n    Groping blindly in the darkness,\n    Touch God's right hand in that darkness,\n    And are lifted up and strengthened.\n\nAs sweet music ripples in one's first thoughts of it like the brooklet in\nits meandering midst pebbles and rocks, before the mind can duly express it\nto the ear,--so the harmony of divine Science first broke upon my sense,\nbefore gathering experience and confidence to articulate it. Its natural\nmanifestation is beautiful and euphonious, but its written expression\nincreases in power and perfection under the guidance of the great Master.\n\nThe divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh\nuniverse--old to God, but new to His \"little one.\" It became evident that\nthe divine Mind alone must answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle,\nof all being; and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would be\nat peace. He must be ours practically, guiding our every thought and\naction; else we cannot understand the omnipresence of good sufficiently to\ndemonstrate, even in part, the Science of the perfect Mind and divine\nhealing.\n\nI had learned that thought must be spiritualized, in order to apprehend\nSpirit. It must become honest, unselfish, and pure, in order to have the\nleast understanding of God in divine Science. The first must become last.\nOur reliance upon material things must be transferred to a perception of\nand dependence on spiritual things. For Spirit to be supreme in\ndemonstration, it must be supreme in our affections, and we must be clad\nwith divine power. Purity, self-renunciation, faith, and understanding must\nreduce all things real to their own mental denomination, Mind, which\ndivides, subdivides, increases, diminishes, constitutes, and sustains,\naccording to the law of God.\n\nI had learned that Mind reconstructed the body, and that nothing else\ncould. How it was done, the spiritual Science of Mind must reveal. It was a\nmystery to me then, but I have since understood it. All Science is a\nrevelation. Its Principle is divine, not human, reaching higher than the\nstars of heaven.\n\nAm I a believer in spiritualism? I believe in no _ism_. This is my\nendeavor, to be a Christian, to assimilate the character and practice of\nthe anointed; and no motive can cause a surrender of this effort. As I\nunderstand it, spiritualism is the antipode of Christian Science. I esteem\nall honest people, and love them, and hold to loving our enemies and doing\ngood to them that \"despitefully use you and persecute you.\"\n\n\n\n\nFOUNDATION WORK\n\n\nAs the pioneer of Christian Science I stood alone in this conflict,\nendeavoring to smite error with the falchion of Truth. The rare bequests of\nChristian Science are costly, and they have won fields of battle from which\nthe dainty borrower would have fled. Ceaseless toil, self-renunciation, and\nlove, have cleared its pathway.\n\nThe motive of my earliest labors has never changed. It was to relieve the\nsufferings of humanity by a sanitary system that should include all moral\nand religious reform.\n\nIt is often asked why Christian Science was revealed to me as one\nintelligence, analyzing, uncovering, and annihilating the false testimony\nof the physical senses. Why was this conviction necessary to the right\napprehension of the invincible and infinite energies of Truth and Love, as\ncontrasted with the foibles and fables of finite mind and material\nexistence.\n\nThe answer is plain. St. Paul declared that the law was the schoolmaster,\nto bring him to Christ. Even so was I led into the mazes of divine\nmetaphysics through the gospel of suffering, the providence of God, and the\ncross of Christ. No one else can drain the cup which I have drunk to the\ndregs as the Discoverer and teacher of Christian Science; neither can its\ninspiration be gained without tasting this cup.\n\nThe loss of material objects of affection sunders the dominant ties of\nearth and points to heaven. Nothing can compete with Christian Science, and\nits demonstration, in showing this solemn certainty in growing freedom and\nvindicating \"the ways of God\" to man. The absolute proof and self-evident\npropositions of Truth are immeasurably paramount to rubric and dogma in\nproving the Christ.\n\nFrom my very childhood I was impelled, by a hunger and thirst after divine\nthings,--a desire for something higher and better than matter, and apart\nfrom it,--to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and\never-present relief from human woe. The first spontaneous motion of Truth\nand Love, acting through Christian Science on my roused consciousness,\nbanished at once and forever the fundamental error of faith in things\nmaterial; for this trust is the unseen sin, the unknown foe,--the heart's\nuntamed desire which breaketh the divine commandments. As says St. James:\n\"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is\nguilty of all.\"\n\nInto mortal mind's material obliquity I gazed, and stood abashed. Blanched\nwas the cheek of pride. My heart bent low before the omnipotence of Spirit,\nand a tint of humility, soft as the heart of a moonbeam, mantled the earth.\nBethlehem and Bethany, Gethsemane and Calvary, spoke to my chastened sense\nas by the tearful lips of a babe. Frozen fountains were unsealed. Erudite\nsystems of philosophy and religion melted, for Love unveiled the healing\npromise and potency of a present spiritual _afflatus_. It was the gospel\nof healing, on its divinely appointed human mission, bearing on its white\nwings, to my apprehension, \"the beauty of holiness,\"--even the\npossibilities of spiritual insight, knowledge, and being.\n\nEarly had I learned that whatever is loved materially, as mere corporeal\npersonality, is eventually lost. \"For whosoever will save his life shall\nlose it,\" said the Master. Exultant hope, if tinged with earthliness, is\ncrushed as the moth.\n\nWhat is termed mortal and material existence is graphically defined by\nCalderon, the famous Spanish poet, who wrote,--\n\n    What is life? 'Tis but a madness.\n      What is life? A mere illusion,\n      Fleeting pleasure, fond delusion,\n    Short-lived joy, that ends in sadness,\n      Whose most constant substance seems\n      But the dream of other dreams.\n\n\n\n\nMEDICAL EXPERIMENTS\n\n\nThe physical side of this research was aided by hints from homoeopathy,\nsustaining my final conclusion that mortal belief, instead of the drug,\ngoverned the action of material medicine.\n\nI wandered through the dim mazes of _materia medica_, till I was weary of\n\"scientific guessing,\" as it has been well called. I sought knowledge from\nthe different schools,--allopathy, homoeopathy, hydropathy, electricity,\nand from various humbugs,--but without receiving satisfaction.\n\nI found, in the two hundred and sixty-two remedies enumerated by Jahr, one\npervading secret; namely, that the less material medicine we have, and the\nmore Mind, the better the work is done; a fact which seems to prove the\nPrinciple of Mind-healing. One drop of the thirtieth attenuation of _Natrum\nmuriaticum_, in a tumbler-full of water, and one teaspoonful of the water\nmixed with the faith of ages, would cure patients not affected by a larger\ndose. The drug disappears in the higher attenuations of homoeopathy, and\nmatter is thereby rarefied to its fatal essence, mortal mind; but immortal\nMind, the curative Principle, remains, and is found to be even more active.\n\nThe mental virtues of the material methods of medicine, when understood,\nwere insufficient to satisfy my doubts as to the honesty or utility of\nusing a material curative. I must know more of the unmixed, unerring\nsource, in order to gain the Science of Mind, the All-in-all of Spirit, in\nwhich matter is obsolete. Nothing less could solve the mental problem. If I\nsought an answer from the medical schools, the reply was dark and\ncontradictory. Neither ancient nor modern philosophy could clear the\nclouds, or give me one distinct statement of the spiritual Science of\nMind-healing. Human reason was not equal to it.\n\nI claim for healing scientifically the following advantages: _First_: It\ndoes away with all material medicines, and recognizes the antidote for all\nsickness, as well as sin, in the immortal Mind; and mortal mind as the\nsource of all the ills which befall mortals. _Second_: It is more effectual\nthan drugs, and cures when they fail, or only relieve; thus proving the\nsuperiority of metaphysics over physics. _Third_: A person healed by\nChristian Science is not only healed of his disease, but he is advanced\nmorally and spiritually. The mortal body being but the objective state of\nthe mortal mind, this mind must be renovated to improve the body.\n\n\n\n\nFIRST PUBLICATION\n\n\nIn 1870 I copyrighted the first publication on spiritual, scientific\nMind-healing, entitled \"The Science of Man.\" This little book is converted\ninto the chapter on Recapitulation in Science and Health. It was so\nnew--the basis it laid down for physical and moral health was so hopelessly\noriginal, and men were so unfamiliar with the subject--that I did not\nventure upon its publication until later, having learned that the merits of\nChristian Science must be proven before a work on this subject could be\nprofitably published.\n\nThe truths of Christian Science are not interpolations of the Scriptures,\nbut the spiritual interpretations thereof. Science is the prism of Truth,\nwhich divides its rays and brings out the hues of Deity. Human hypotheses\nhave darkened the glow and grandeur of evangelical religion. When speaking\nof his true followers in every period, Jesus said, \"_They_ shall lay hands\non the sick, and they shall recover.\" There is no authority for querying\nthe authenticity of this declaration, for it already was and is\ndemonstrated as practical, and its claim is substantiated,--a claim too\nimmanent to fall to the ground beneath the stroke of artless workmen.\n\nThough a man were girt with the Urim and Thummim of priestly office, and\ndenied the perpetuity of Jesus' command, \"Heal the sick,\" or its\napplication in all time to those who understand Christ as the Truth and the\nLife, that man would not expound the gospel according to Jesus.\n\nFive years after taking out my first copyright, I taught the Science of\nMind-healing, _alias_ Christian Science, by writing out my manuscripts for\nstudents and distributing them unsparingly. This will account for certain\npublished and unpublished manuscripts extant, which the evil-minded would\ninsinuate did not originate with me.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRECIOUS VOLUME\n\n\nThe first edition of my most important work, Science and Health, containing\nthe complete statement of Christian Science,--the term employed by me to\nexpress the divine, or spiritual, Science of Mind-healing, was published in\n1875.\n\nWhen it was first printed, the critics took pleasure in saying, \"This book\nis indeed wholly original, but it will never be read.\"\n\nThe first edition numbered one thousand copies. In September, 1891, it had\nreached sixty-two editions.\n\nThose who formerly sneered at it, as foolish and eccentric, now declare\nBishop Berkeley, David Hume, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or certain German\nphilosophers, to have been the originators of the Science of Mind-healing\nas therein stated.\n\nEven the Scriptures gave no direct interpretation of the scientific basis\nfor demonstrating the spiritual Principle of healing, until our heavenly\nFather saw fit, through the Key to the Scriptures, in Science and Health,\nto unlock this \"mystery of godliness.\"\n\nMy reluctance to give the public, in my first edition of Science and\nHealth, the chapter on Animal Magnetism, and the divine purpose that this\nshould be done, may have an interest for the reader, and will be seen in\nthe following circumstances. I had finished that edition as far as that\nchapter, when the printer informed me that he could not go on with my work.\nI had already paid him seven hundred dollars, and yet he stopped my work.\nAll efforts to persuade him to finish my book were in vain.\n\nAfter months had passed, I yielded to a constant conviction that I must\ninsert in my last chapter a partial history of what I had already observed\nof mental malpractice. Accordingly, I set to work, contrary to my\ninclination, to fulfil this painful task, and finished my copy for the\nbook. As it afterwards appeared, although I had not thought of such a\nresult, my printer resumed his work at the same time, finished printing the\ncopy he had on hand, and then started for Lynn to see me. The afternoon\nthat he left Boston for Lynn, I started for Boston with my finished copy.\nWe met at the Eastern depot in Lynn, and were both surprised,--I to learn\nthat he had printed all the copy on hand, and had come to tell me he wanted\nmore,--he to find me _en route_ for Boston, to give him the closing chapter\nof my first edition of Science and Health. Not a word had passed between\nus, audibly or mentally, while this went on. I had grown disgusted with my\nprinter, and become silent. He had come to a standstill through motives and\ncircumstances unknown to me.\n\nScience and Health is the textbook of Christian Science. Whosoever learns\nthe letter of this book, must also gain its spiritual significance, in\norder to demonstrate Christian Science.\n\nWhen the demand for this book increased, and people were healed simply by\nreading it, the copyright was infringed. I entered a suit at law, and my\ncopyright was protected.\n\n\n\n\nRECUPERATIVE INCIDENT\n\n\nThrough four successive years I healed, preached, and taught in a general\nway, refusing to take any pay for my services and living on a small\nannuity.\n\nAt one time I was called to speak before the Lyceum Club, at Westerly,\nRhode Island. On my arrival my hostess told me that her next-door neighbor\nwas dying. I asked permission to see her. It was granted, and with my\nhostess I went to the invalid's house.\n\nThe physicians had given up the case and retired. I had stood by her side\nabout fifteen minutes when the sick woman rose from her bed, dressed\nherself, and was well. Afterwards they showed me the clothes already\nprepared for her burial; and told me that her physicians had said the\ndiseased condition was caused by an injury received from a surgical\noperation at the birth of her last babe, and that it was impossible for her\nto be delivered of another child. It is sufficient to add her babe was\nsafely born, and weighed twelve pounds. The mother afterwards wrote to me,\n\"I never before suffered so little in childbirth.\"\n\nThis scientific demonstration so stirred the doctors and clergy that they\nhad my notices for a second lecture pulled down, and refused me a hearing\nin their halls and churches. This circumstance is cited simply to show the\nopposition which Christian Science encountered a quarter-century ago, as\ncontrasted with its present welcome into the sickroom.\n\nMany were the desperate cases I instantly healed, \"without money and\nwithout price,\" and in most instances without even an acknowledgment of the\nbenefit.\n\n\n\n\nA TRUE MAN\n\n\nMy last marriage was with Asa Gilbert Eddy, and was a blessed and spiritual\nunion, solemnized at Lynn, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Samuel Barrett\nStewart, in the year 1877. Dr. Eddy was the first student publicly to\nannounce himself a Christian Scientist, and place these symbolic words on\nhis office sign. He forsook all to follow in this line of light. He was the\nfirst organizer of a Christian Science Sunday School, which he\nsuperintended. He also taught a special Bible-class; and he lectured so\nably on Scriptural topics that clergymen of other denominations listened to\nhim with deep interest. He was remarkably successful in Mind-healing, and\nuntiring in his chosen work. In 1882 he passed away, with a smile of peace\nand love resting on his serene countenance. \"Mark the perfect _man_, and\nbehold the upright: for the end of _that_ man _is_ peace.\" (Psalms xxxvii.\n37.)\n\n\n\n\nCOLLEGE AND CHURCH\n\n\nIn 1867 I introduced the first purely metaphysical system of healing since\nthe apostolic days. I began by teaching one student Christian Science\nMind-healing. From this seed grew the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in\nBoston, chartered in 1881. No charter was granted for similar purposes\nafter 1883. It is the only College, hitherto, for teaching the pathology of\nspiritual power, _alias_ the Science of Mind-healing.\n\nMy husband, Asa G. Eddy, taught two terms in my College. After I gave up\nteaching, my adopted son, Ebenezer J. Foster-Eddy, a graduate of the\nHahneman Medical College of Philadelphia, and who also received a\ncertificate from Dr. W.W. Keen's (allopathic) Philadelphia School of\nAnatomy and Surgery,--having renounced his material method of practice and\nembraced the teachings of Christian Science, taught the Primary, Normal,\nand Obstetric class one term. Gen. Erastus N. Bates taught one Primary\nclass, in 1889, after which I judged it best to close the institution.\nThese students of mine were the only assistant teachers in the College.\n\nThe first Christian Scientist Association was organized by myself and six\nof my students in 1876, on the Centennial Day of our nation's freedom. At a\nmeeting of the Christian Scientist Association, on April 12, 1879, it was\nvoted to organize a church to commemorate the words and works of our\nMaster, a Mind-healing church, without a creed, to be called the Church of\nChrist, Scientist, the first such church ever organized. The charter for\nthis church was obtained in June, 1879,[D] and during the same month the\nmembers, twenty-six in number, extended a call to me to become their\npastor. I accepted the call, and was ordained in 1881, though I had\npreached five years before being ordained.\n\nWhen I was its pastor, and in the pulpit every Sunday, my church increased\nin members, and its spiritual growth kept pace with its increasing\npopularity; but when obliged, because of accumulating work in the College,\nto preach only occasionally, no student, at that time, was found able to\nmaintain the church in its previous harmony and prosperity.\n\nExamining the situation prayerfully and carefully, noting the church's\nneed, and the predisposing and exciting cause of its condition, I saw that\nthe crisis had come when much time and attention must be given to defend\nthis church from the envy and molestation of other churches, and from the\ndanger to its members which must always lie in Christian warfare. At this\njuncture I recommended that the church be dissolved. No sooner were my\nviews made known, than the proper measures were adopted to carry them out,\nthe votes passing without a dissenting voice.\n\nThis measure was immediately followed by a great revival of mutual love,\nprosperity, and spiritual power.\n\nThe history of that hour holds this true record. Adding to its ranks and\ninfluence, this spiritually organized Church of Christ, Scientist, in\nBoston, still goes on. A new light broke in upon it, and more beautiful\nbecame the garments of her who \"bringeth good tidings, that publisheth\npeace.\"\n\nDespite the prosperity of my church, it was learned that material\norganization has its value and peril, and that organization is requisite\nonly in the earliest periods in Christian history. After this material form\nof cohesion and fellowship has accomplished its end, continued organization\nretards spiritual growth, and should be laid off,--even as the corporeal\norganization deemed requisite in the first stages of mortal existence is\nfinally laid off, in order to gain spiritual freedom and supremacy.\n\nFrom careful observation and experience came my clue to the uses and abuses\nof organization. Therefore, in accord with my special request, followed\nthat noble, unprecedented action of the Christian Scientist Association\nconnected with my College when dissolving that organization,--in forgiving\nenemies, returning good for evil, in following Jesus' command, \"Whosoever\nshall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.\" I saw\nthese fruits of Spirit, long-suffering and temperance, fulfil the law of\nChrist in righteousness. I also saw that Christianity has withstood less\nthe temptation of popularity than of persecution.\n\n\n\n\n\"FEED MY SHEEP\"\n\nLines penned when I was pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist, in\nBoston.\n\n\n    Shepherd, show me how to go\n      O'er the hillside steep,\n    How to gather, how to sow,--\n      How to feed Thy sheep;\n    I will listen for Thy voice,\n      Lest my footsteps stray;\n    I will follow and rejoice\n      All the rugged way.\n\n    Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,\n      Wound the callous breast,\n    Make self-righteousness be still,\n      Break earth's stupid rest.\n    Strangers on a barren shore,\n      Lab'ring long and lone,\n    We would enter by the door,\n      And Thou know'st Thine own.\n\n    So, when day grows dark and cold,\n      Tear or triumph harms,\n    Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,\n      Take them in Thine arms;\n    Feed the hungry, heal the heart,\n      Till the morning's beam;\n    White as wool, ere they depart,\n      Shepherd, wash them clean.\n\n\n\n\nCOLLEGE CLOSED\n\n\nThe apprehension of what has been, and must be, the final outcome of\nmaterial organization, which wars with Love's spiritual compact, caused me\nto dread the unprecedented popularity of my College. Students from all over\nour continent, and from Europe, were flooding the school. At this time\nthere were over three hundred applications from persons desiring to enter\nthe College, and applicants were rapidly increasing. Example had shown the\ndangers arising from being placed on earthly pinnacles, and Christian\nScience shuns whatever involves material means for the promotion of\nspiritual ends.\n\nIn view of all this, a meeting was called of the Board of Directors of my\nCollege, who, being informed of my intentions, unanimously voted that the\nschool be discontinued.\n\nA Primary class student, richly imbued with the spirit of Christ, is a\nbetter healer and teacher than a Normal class student who partakes less of\nGod's love. After having received instructions in a Primary class from me,\nor a loyal student, and afterwards studied thoroughly Science and Health, a\nstudent can enter upon the gospel work of teaching Christian Science, and\nso fulfil the command of Christ. But before entering this field of labor he\nmust have studied the latest editions of my works, be a good Bible scholar\nand a consecrated Christian.\n\nThe Massachusetts Metaphysical College drew its breath from me, but I was\nyearning for retirement. The question was, Who else could sustain this\ninstitute, under all that was aimed at its vital purpose, the establishment\nof _genuine_ Christian Science healing? My conscientious scruples about\ndiplomas, the recent experience of the church fresh in my thoughts, and the\ngrowing conviction that every one should build on his own foundation,\nsubject to the one builder and maker, God,--all these considerations moved\nme to close my flourishing school, and the following resolutions were\npassed:--\n\n    At a special meeting of the Board of the Metaphysical College\n    Corporation, Oct. 29, 1889, the following are some of the\n    resolutions which were presented and passed unanimously:--\n\n    WHEREAS, The Massachusetts Metaphysical College,\n    chartered in January, 1881, for medical purposes, to give\n    instruction in scientific methods of mental healing on a purely\n    practical basis, to impart a thorough understanding of\n    metaphysics, to restore health, hope, and harmony to man,--has\n    fulfilled its high and noble destiny, and sent to all parts of our\n    country, and into foreign lands, students instructed in Christian\n    Science Mind-healing, to meet the demand of the age for something\n    higher than physic or drugging; and\n\n    WHEREAS, The material organization was, in the beginning\n    in this institution, like the baptism of Jesus, of which he said,\n    \"Suffer it to be so now,\" though the teaching was a purely\n    spiritual and scientific impartation of Truth, whose Christly\n    spirit has led to higher ways, means, and understanding,--the\n    President, the Rev. Mary B.G. Eddy, at the height of prosperity\n    in the institution, which yields a large income, is willing to\n    sacrifice all for the advancement of the world in Truth and Love;\n    and\n\n    WHEREAS, Other institutions for instruction in Christian\n    Science, which are working out their periods of organization, will\n    doubtless follow the example of the _Alma Mater_ after having\n    accomplished the worthy purpose for which they were organized, and\n    the hour has come wherein the great need is for more of the spirit\n    instead of the letter, and Science and Health is adapted to work\n    this result; and\n\n    WHEREAS, The fundamental principle for growth in\n    Christian Science is spiritual formation first, last, and always,\n    while in human growth material organization is first; and\n\n    WHEREAS, Mortals must learn to lose their estimate of the\n    powers that are not ordained of God, and attain the bliss of\n    loving unselfishly, working patiently, and conquering all that is\n    unlike Christ and the example he gave; therefore\n\n    _Resolved_, That we thank the State for its charter, which is the\n    only one ever granted to a _legal college_ for teaching the\n    Science of Mind-healing; that we thank the public for its liberal\n    patronage. And everlasting gratitude is due to the President, for\n    her great and noble work, which we believe will prove a healing\n    for the nations, and bring all men to a knowledge of the true God,\n    uniting them in one common brotherhood.\n\n    After due deliberation and earnest discussion it was unanimously\n    voted: That as all debts of the corporation have been paid, it is\n    deemed best to dissolve this corporation, and the same is hereby\n    dissolved.\n\n    C.A. FRYE, _Clerk_.\n\nWhen God impelled me to set a price on my instruction in Christian Science\nMind-healing, I could think of no financial equivalent for an impartation\nof a knowledge of that divine power which heals; but I was led to name\nthree hundred dollars as the price for each pupil in one course of lessons\nat my College,--a startling sum for tuition lasting barely three weeks.\nThis amount greatly troubled me. I shrank from asking it, but was finally\nled, by a strange providence, to accept this fee.\n\nGod has since shown me, in multitudinous ways, the wisdom of this decision;\nand I beg disinterested people to ask my loyal students if they consider\nthree hundred dollars any real equivalent for my instruction during twelve\nhalf-days, or even in half as many lessons. Nevertheless, my list of\nindigent charity scholars is very large, and I have had as many as\nseventeen in one class.\n\nLoyal students speak with delight of their pupilage, and of what it has\ndone for them, and for others through them. By loyalty in students I mean\nthis,--allegiance to God, subordination of the human to the divine,\nsteadfast justice, and strict adherence to divine Truth and Love.\n\nI see clearly that students in Christian Science should, at present,\ncontinue to organize churches, schools, and associations for the\nfurtherance and unfolding of Truth, and that my necessity is not\nnecessarily theirs; but it was the Father's opportunity for furnishing a\nnew rule of order in divine Science, and the blessings which arose\ntherefrom. Students are not environed with such obstacles as were\nencountered in the beginning of pioneer work.\n\nIn December, 1889, I gave a lot of land in Boston to my student, Mr. Ira O.\nKnapp of Roslindale,--valued in 1892 at about twenty thousand dollars, and\nrising in value,--to be appropriated for the erection, and building on the\npremises thereby conveyed, of a church edifice to be used as a temple for\nChristian Science worship.\n\n\n\n\nGENERAL ASSOCIATIONS, AND OUR MAGAZINE\n\n\nFor many successive years I have endeavored to find new ways and means for\nthe promotion and expansion of scientific Mind-healing, seeking to broaden\nits channels and, if possible, to build a hedge round about it that should\nshelter its perfections from the contaminating influences of those who have\na small portion of its letter and less of its spirit. At the same time I\nhave worked to provide a home for every true seeker and honest worker in\nthis vineyard of Truth.\n\nTo meet the broader wants of humanity, and provide folds for the sheep that\nwere without shepherds, I suggested to my students, in 1886, the propriety\nof forming a National Christian Scientist Association. This was immediately\ndone, and delegations from the Christian Scientist Association of the\nMassachusetts Metaphysical College, and from branch associations in other\nStates, met in general convention at New York City, February 11, 1886.\n\nThe first official organ of the Christian Scientist Association was called\n_Journal of Christian Science_. I started it, April, 1883, as editor and\npublisher.\n\nTo the National Christian Scientist Association, at its meeting in\nCleveland, Ohio, June, 1889, I sent a letter, presenting to its loyal\nmembers _The Christian Science Journal_, as it was now called, and the\nfunds belonging thereto. This monthly magazine had been made successful and\nprosperous under difficult circumstances and was designed to bear aloft the\nstandard of genuine Christian Science.\n\n\n\n\nFAITH-CURE\n\n\nIt is often asked, Why are faith-cures sometimes more speedy than some of\nthe cures wrought through Christian Scientists? Because faith is belief,\nand not understanding; and it is easier to believe, than to understand\nspiritual Truth. It demands less cross-bearing, self-renunciation, and\ndivine Science to admit the claims of the corporeal senses and appeal to\nGod for relief through a humanized conception of His power, than to deny\nthese claims and learn the divine way,--drinking Jesus' cup, being baptized\nwith his baptism, gaining the end through persecution and purity.\n\nMillions are believing in God, or good, without bearing the fruits of\ngoodness, not having reached its Science. Belief is virtually blindness,\nwhen it admits Truth without understanding it. Blind belief cannot say with\nthe apostle, \"I know whom I have believed.\" There is danger in this mental\nstate called belief; for if Truth is admitted, but not understood, it may\nbe lost, and error may enter through this same channel of ignorant belief.\nThe faith-cure has devout followers, whose Christian practice is far in\nadvance of their theory.\n\nThe work of healing, in the Science of Mind, is the most sacred and\nsalutary power which can be wielded. My Christian students, impressed with\nthe true sense of the great work before them, enter this strait and narrow\npath, and work conscientiously.\n\nLet us follow the example of Jesus, the master Metaphysician, and gain\nsufficient knowledge of error to destroy it with Truth. Evil is not\nmastered by evil; it can only be overcome with good. This brings out the\nnothingness of evil and the eternal somethingness, vindicates the divine\nPrinciple, and improves the race of Adam.\n\n\n\n\nFOUNDATION-STONES\n\n\nThe following ideas of Deity, antagonized by finite theories, doctrines,\nand hypotheses, I found to be demonstrable rules in Christian Science, and\nthat we must abide by them.\n\nWhatever diverges from the one divine Mind, or God,--or divides Mind into\nminds, Spirit into spirits, Soul into souls, and Being into beings,--is a\nmisstatement of the unerring divine Principle of Science, which interrupts\nthe meaning of the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of Spirit,\nand is of human instead of divine origin.\n\nWar is waged between the evidences of Spirit and the evidences of the five\nphysical senses; and this contest must go on until peace be declared by the\nfinal triumph of Spirit in immutable harmony. Divine Science disclaims sin,\nsickness, and death, on the basis of the omnipotence and omnipresence of\nGod, or divine good.\n\nAll consciousness is Mind, and Mind is God. Hence there is but one Mind;\nand that one is the infinite good, supplying all Mind by the reflection,\nnot the subdivision, of God. Whatever else claims to be mind, or\nconsciousness, is untrue. The sun sends forth light, but not suns; so God\nreflects Himself, or Mind, but does not subdivide Mind, or good, into\nminds, good and evil. Divine Science demands mighty wrestlings with mortal\nbeliefs, as we sail into the eternal haven over the unfathomable sea of\npossibilities.\n\nNeither ancient nor modern philosophy furnishes a scientific basis for the\nScience of Mind-healing. Plato believed he had a soul, which must be\ndoctored in order to heal his body. This would be like correcting the\nprinciple of music for the purpose of destroying discord. Principle is\nright; it is practice that is wrong. Soul is right; it is the flesh that is\nevil. Soul is the synonym of Spirit, God; hence there is but one Soul, and\nthat one is infinite. If that pagan philosopher had known that physical\nsense, not Soul, causes all bodily ailments, his philosophy would have\nyielded to Science.\n\nMan shines by borrowed light. He reflects God as his Mind, and this\nreflection is substance,--the substance of good. Matter is substance in\nerror, Spirit is substance in Truth.\n\nEvil, or error, is not Mind; but infinite Mind is sufficient to supply all\nmanifestations of intelligence. The notion of more than one Mind, or Life,\nis as unsatisfying as it is unscientific. All must be of God, and not our\nown, separated from Him.\n\nHuman systems of philosophy and religion are departures from Christian\nScience. Mistaking divine Principle for corporeal personality, ingrafting\nupon one First Cause such opposite effects as good and evil, health and\nsickness, life and death; making mortality the status and rule of\ndivinity,--such methods can never reach the perfection and demonstration of\nmetaphysical, or Christian Science.\n\nStating the divine Principle, omnipotence (_omnis potens_), and then\ndeparting from this statement and taking the rule of finite matter, with\nwhich to work out the problem of infinity or Spirit,--all this is like\ntrying to compensate for the absence of omnipotence by a physical, false,\nand finite substitute.\n\nWith our Master, life was not merely a sense of existence, but an\naccompanying sense of power that subdued matter and brought to light\nimmortality, insomuch that the people \"were astonished at his doctrine: for\nhe taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.\" Life, as\ndefined by Jesus, had no beginning; it was not the result of organization,\nor infused into matter; it was Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT REVELATION\n\n\nChristian Science reveals the grand verity, that to believe man has a\nfinite and erring mind, and consequently a mortal mind and soul and life,\nis error. Scientific terms have no contradictory significations.\n\nIn Science, Life is not temporal, but eternal, without beginning or ending.\nThe word _Life_ never means that which is the source of death, and of good\nand evil. Such an inference is unscientific. It is like saying that\naddition means subtraction in one instance and addition in another, and\nthen applying this rule to a demonstration of the science of numbers; even\nas mortals apply finite terms to God, in demonstration of infinity. _Life_\nis a term used to indicate Deity; and every other name for the Supreme\nBeing, if properly employed, has the signification of Life. Whatever errs\nis mortal, and is the antipodes of Life, or God, and of health and\nholiness, both in idea and demonstration.\n\nChristian Science reveals Mind, the only living and true God, and all that\nis made by Him, Mind, as harmonious, immortal, and spiritual: the five\nmaterial senses define Mind and matter as distinct, but mutually dependent,\neach on the other, for intelligence and existence. Science defines man as\nimmortal, as coexistent and coeternal with God, as made in His own image\nand likeness; material sense defines life as something apart from God,\nbeginning and ending, and man as very far from the divine likeness. Science\nreveals Life as a complete sphere, as eternal, self-existent Mind; material\nsense defines life as a broken sphere, as organized matter, and mind as\nsomething separate from God. Science reveals Spirit as All, averring that\nthere is nothing beside God; material sense says that matter, His antipode,\nis something besides God. Material sense adds that the divine Spirit\ncreated matter, and that matter and evil are as real as Spirit and good.\n\nChristian Science reveals God and His idea as the All and Only. It declares\nthat evil is the absence of good; whereas, good is God ever-present, and\ntherefore evil is unreal and good is all that is real. Christian Science\nsaith to the wave and storm, \"Be still,\" and there is a great calm.\nMaterial sense asks, in its ignorance of Science, \"When will the raging of\nthe material elements cease?\" Science saith to all manner of disease, \"Know\nthat God is all-power and all-presence, and there is nothing beside Him;\"\nand the sick are healed. Material sense saith, \"Oh, when will my sufferings\ncease? Where is God? Sickness is something besides Him, which He cannot, or\ndoes not, heal.\"\n\nChristian Science is the only sure basis of harmony. Material sense\ncontradicts Science, for matter and its so-called organizations take no\ncognizance of the spiritual facts of the universe, or of the real man and\nGod. Christian Science declares that there is but one Truth, Life, Love,\nbut one Spirit, Mind, Soul. Any attempt to divide these arises from the\nfallibility of sense, from mortal man's ignorance, from enmity to God and\ndivine Science.\n\nChristian Science declares that sickness is a belief, a latent fear, made\nmanifest on the body in different forms of fear or disease. This fear is\nformed unconsciously in the silent thought, as when you awaken from sleep\nand feel ill, experiencing the effect of a fear whose existence you do not\nrealize; but if you fall asleep, actually conscious of the truth of\nChristian Science,--namely, that man's harmony is no more to be invaded\nthan the rhythm of the universe,--you cannot awake in fear or suffering of\nany sort.\n\nScience saith to fear, \"You are the cause of all sickness; but you are a\nself-constituted falsity,--you are darkness, nothingness. You are without\n'hope, and without God in the world.' You do not exist, and have no right\nto exist, for 'perfect Love casteth out fear.'\"\n\nGod is everywhere. \"There is no speech nor language, where their voice is\nnot heard;\" and this voice is Truth that destroys error and Love that casts\nout fear.\n\nChristian Science reveals the fact that, if suffering exists, it is in the\nmortal mind only, for matter has no sensation and cannot suffer.\n\nIf you rule out every sense of disease and suffering from mortal mind, it\ncannot be found in the body.\n\nPosterity will have the right to demand that Christian Science be stated\nand demonstrated in its godliness and grandeur,--that however little be\ntaught or learned, that little shall be right. Let there be milk for babes,\nbut let not the milk be adulterated. Unless this method be pursued, the\nScience of Christian healing will again be lost, and human suffering will\nincrease.\n\nTest Christian Science by its effect on society, and you will find that the\nviews here set forth--as to the illusion of sin, sickness, and death--bring\nforth better fruits of health, righteousness, and Life, than _a belief in\ntheir reality has ever done_. A demonstration of the _unreality_ of evil\ndestroys evil.\n\n\n\n\nSIN, SINNER, AND ECCLESIASTICISM\n\n\nWhy do Christian Scientists say God and His idea are the only realities,\nand then insist on the need of healing sickness and sin? Because Christian\nScience heals sin as it heals sickness, by establishing the recognition\nthat God _is All_, and there is none beside Him,--that all is good, and\nthere is in reality no evil, neither sickness nor sin. We attack the\nsinner's belief in the pleasure of sin, _alias_ the reality of sin, which\nmakes him a sinner, in order to destroy this belief and save him from sin;\nand we attack the belief of the sick in the reality of sickness, in order\nto heal them. When we deny the authority of sin, we begin to sap it; for\nthis denunciation must precede its destruction.\n\nGod is good, hence goodness is something, for it represents God, the Life\nof man. Its opposite, nothing, named _evil_, is nothing but a conspiracy\nagainst man's Life and goodness. Do you not feel bound to expose this\nconspiracy, and so to save man from it? Whosoever covers iniquity becomes\naccessory to it. Sin, as a claim, is more dangerous than sickness, more\nsubtle, more difficult to heal.\n\nSt. Augustine once said, \"The devil is but the ape of God.\" Sin is worse\nthan sickness; but recollect that it encourages sin to say, \"There is no\nsin,\" and leave the subject there.\n\nSin ultimates in sinner, and in this sense they are one. You cannot\nseparate sin from the sinner, nor the sinner from his sin. The sin is the\nsinner, and _vice versa_, for such is the unity of evil; and together both\nsinner and sin will be destroyed by the supremacy of good. This, however,\ndoes not annihilate man, for to efface sin, _alias_ the sinner, brings to\nlight, makes apparent, the real man, even God's \"image and likeness.\" Need\nit be said that any opposite theory is heterodox to divine Science, which\nteaches that good is equally _one_ and _all_, even as the opposite claim of\nevil is one.\n\nIn Christian Science the fact is made obvious that the sinner and the sin\nare alike simply nothingness; and this view is supported by the Scripture,\nwhere the Psalmist saith: \"He shall go to the generation of his fathers;\nthey shall never see light. Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is\nlike the beasts that perish.\" God's ways and works and thoughts have never\nchanged, either in Principle or practice.\n\nSince there is in belief an illusion termed sin, which must be met and\nmastered, we classify sin, sickness, and death as illusions. They are\nsupposititious claims of error; and error being a false claim, they are no\nclaims at all. It is scientific to abide in conscious harmony, in\nhealth-giving, deathless Truth and Love. To do this, mortals must first\nopen their eyes to all the illusive forms, methods, and subtlety of error,\nin order that the illusion, error, may be destroyed; if this is not done,\nmortals will become the victims of error.\n\nIf evangelical churches refuse fellowship with the Church of Christ,\nScientist, or with Christian Science, they must rest their opinions of\nTruth and Love on the evidences of the physical senses, rather than on the\nteaching and practice of Jesus, or the works of the Spirit.\n\nRitualism and dogma lead to self-righteousness and bigotry, which freeze\nout the spiritual element. Pharisaism killeth; Spirit giveth Life. The\nodors of persecution, tobacco, and alcohol are not the sweet-smelling savor\nof Truth and Love. Feasting the senses, gratification of appetite and\npassion, have no warrant in the gospel or the Decalogue. Mortals must take\nup the cross if they would follow Christ, and worship the Father \"in spirit\nand in truth.\"\n\nThe Jewish religion was not spiritual; hence Jesus denounced it. If the\nreligion of to-day is constituted of such elements as of old ruled Christ\nout of the synagogues, it will continue to avoid whatever follows the\nexample of our Lord and prefers Christ to creed. Christian Science is the\npure evangelic truth. It accords with the trend and tenor of Christ's\nteaching and example, while it demonstrates the power of Christ as taught\nin the four Gospels. Truth, casting out evils and healing the sick; Love,\nfulfilling the law and keeping man unspotted from the world,--these\npractical manifestations of Christianity constitute the only evangelism,\nand they need no creed.\n\nAs well expect to determine, without a telescope, the magnitude and\ndistance of the stars, as to expect to obtain health, harmony, and holiness\nthrough an unspiritual and unhealing religion. Christianity reveals God as\never-present Truth and Love, to be utilized in healing the sick, in\ncasting out error, in raising the dead.\n\nChristian Science gives vitality to religion, which is no longer buried in\nmateriality. It raises men from a material sense into the spiritual\nunderstanding and scientific demonstration of God.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUMAN CONCEPT\n\n\nSin existed as a false claim before the human concept of sin was formed;\nhence one's concept of error is not the whole of error. The human thought\ndoes not constitute sin, but _vice versa_, sin constitutes the human or\nphysical concept.\n\nSin is both concrete and abstract. Sin was, and _is_, the lying supposition\nthat life, substance, and intelligence are both material and spiritual, and\nyet are separate from God. The first iniquitous manifestation of sin was a\nfinity. The finite was self-arrayed against the infinite, the mortal\nagainst immortality, and a sinner was the antipode of God.\n\nSilencing self, _alias_ rising above corporeal personality, is what reforms\nthe sinner and destroys sin. In the ratio that the testimony of material\npersonal sense ceases, sin diminishes, until the false claim called sin is\nfinally lost for lack of witness.\n\nThe sinner created neither himself nor sin, but sin created the sinner;\nthat is, error made its man mortal, and this mortal was the image and\nlikeness of evil, not of good. Therefore the lie was, and _is_, collective\nas well as individual. It was in no way contingent on Adam's thought, but\nsupposititiously self-created. In the words of our Master, it, the \"devil\"\n(_alias_ evil), \"was a liar, and the father of it.\"\n\nThis mortal material concept was never a creator, although as a serpent it\nclaimed to originate in the name of \"the Lord,\" or good,--original evil;\nsecond, in the name of human concept, it claimed to beget the offspring of\nevil, _alias_ an evil offspring. However, the human concept never was,\nneither indeed can be, the father of man. Even the spiritual idea, or ideal\nman, is not a parent, though he reflects the infinity of good. The great\ndifference between these opposites is, that the human material concept is\n_unreal_, and the divine concept or idea is spiritually real. One is false,\nwhile the other is true. One is temporal, but the other is eternal.\n\nOur Master instructed his students to \"call no man your father upon the\nearth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.\" (Matt. xxiii. 9.)\n\nScience and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, treats of the human\nconcept, and the transference of thought, as follows:--\n\n    \"How can matter originate or transmit mind? We answer that it\n    cannot. Darkness and doubt encompass thought, so long as it bases\n    creation on materiality\" (p. 551).\n\n    \"In reality there is no _mortal_ mind, and consequently no\n    transference of mortal thought and will-power. Life and being are\n    of God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for scientific\n    thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God to man\" (pp. 103,\n    104).\n\n    \"Man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure\n    constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals,\n    in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions\n    prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and\n    ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law\n    of his being\" (p. 63).\n\n    \"The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep\n    sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence\n    proceeded from and passed into matter. This pantheistic error, or\n    so-called _serpent_, insists still upon the opposite of Truth,\n    saying, 'Ye shall be as gods;' that is, I will make error as real\n    and eternal as Truth.... 'I will put spirit into what I call\n    matter, and matter shall seem to have life as much as God, Spirit,\n    who _is_ the only Life.' This error has proved itself to be error.\n    Its life is found to be not Life, but only a transient, false\n    sense of an existence which ends in death\" (pp. 306, 307).\n\n    \"When will the error of believing that there is life in matter,\n    and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be\n    unmasked? When will it be understood that matter has no\n    intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is\n    the prolific source of all suffering? God created all through\n    Mind, and made all perfect and eternal. Where then is the\n    necessity for recreation or procreation?\" (p. 205).\n\n    \"Above error's awful din, blackness, and chaos, the voice of Truth\n    still calls: 'Adam, where art thou? Consciousness, where art thou?\n    Art thou dwelling in the belief that mind is in matter, and that\n    evil is mind, or art thou in the living faith that there is and\n    can be but one God, and keeping His commandment?'\" (pp. 307,\n    308). \"Mortal mind inverts the true likeness, and confers animal\n    names and natures upon its own misconceptions. Ignorant of the\n    origin and operations of mortal mind,--that is, ignorant of\n    itself,--this so-called mind puts forth its own qualities, and\n    claims God as their author;... usurps the deific prerogatives and\n    is an attempted infringement on infinity\" (pp. 512, 513).\n\nWe do not question the authenticity of the Scriptural narrative of the\nVirgin-mother and Bethlehem babe, and the Messianic mission of Christ\nJesus; but in our time no Christian Scientist will give chimerical wings to\nhis imagination, or advance speculative theories as to the recurrence of\nsuch events.\n\nNo person can take the individual place of the Virgin Mary. No person can\ncompass or fulfil the individual mission of Jesus of Nazareth. No person\ncan take the place of the author of Science and Health, the Discoverer and\nFounder of Christian Science. Each individual must fill his own niche in\ntime and eternity.\n\nThe second appearing of Jesus is, unquestionably, the spiritual advent of\nthe advancing idea of God, as in Christian Science.\n\nAnd the scientific ultimate of this God-idea must be, will be, forever\nindividual, incorporeal, and infinite, even the reflection, \"image and\nlikeness,\" of the infinite God.\n\nThe right teacher of Christian Science lives the truth he teaches.\nPreeminent among men, he virtually stands at the head of all sanitary,\ncivil, moral, and religious reform. Such a post of duty, unpierced by\nvanity, exalts a mortal beyond human praise, or monuments which weigh\ndust, and humbles him with the tax it raises on calamity to open the gates\nof heaven. It is not the forager on others' wisdom that God thus crowns,\nbut he who is obedient to the divine command, \"Render to Caesar the things\nthat are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.\"\n\nGreat temptations beset an ignorant or an unprincipled mind-practice in\nopposition to the straight and narrow path of Christian Science.\nPromiscuous mental treatment, without the consent or knowledge of the\nindividual treated, is an error of much magnitude. People unaware of the\nindications of mental treatment, know not what is affecting them, and thus\nmay be robbed of their individual rights,--freedom of choice and\nself-government. Who is willing to be subjected to such an influence? Ask\nthe unbridled mind-manipulator if he would consent to this; and if not,\nthen he is knowingly transgressing Christ's command. He who secretly\nmanipulates mind without the permission of man or God, is not dealing\njustly and loving mercy, according to pure and undefiled religion.\n\nSinister and selfish motives entering into mental practice are dangerous\nincentives; they proceed from false convictions and a fatal ignorance.\nThese are the tares growing side by side with the wheat, that must be\nrecognized, and uprooted, before the wheat can be garnered and Christian\nScience demonstrated.\n\nSecret mental efforts to obtain help from one who is unaware of this\nattempt, demoralizes the person who does this, the same as other forms of\nstealing, and will end in destroying health and morals.\n\nIn the practice of Christian Science one cannot impart a mental influence\nthat hazards another's happiness, nor interfere with the rights of the\nindividual. To disregard the welfare of others is contrary to the law of\nGod; therefore it deteriorates one's ability to do good, to benefit himself\nand mankind.\n\nThe Psalmist vividly portrays the result of secret faults, presumptuous\nsins, and self-deception, in these words: \"How are they brought into\ndesolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.\"\n\n\n\n\nPERSONALITY\n\n\nThe immortal man being spiritual, individual, and eternal, his mortal\nopposite must be material, corporeal, and temporal. Physical personality is\nfinite; but God is infinite. He is without materiality, without finiteness\nof form or Mind.\n\nLimitations are put off in proportion as the fleshly nature disappears and\nman is found in the reflection of Spirit.\n\nThis great fact leads into profound depths. The material human concept grew\nbeautifully less as I floated into more spiritual latitudes and purer\nrealms of thought.\n\nFrom that hour personal corporeality became less to me than it is to people\nwho fail to appreciate individual character. I endeavored to lift thought\nabove physical personality, or selfhood in matter, to man's spiritual\nindividuality in God,--in the true Mind, where sensible evil is lost in\nsupersensible good. This is the only way whereby the false personality is\nlaid off.\n\nHe who clings to personality, or perpetually warns you of \"personality,\"\nwrongs it, or terrifies people over it, and is the sure victim of his own\ncorporeality. Constantly to scrutinize physical personality, or accuse\npeople of being unduly personal, is like the sick talking sickness. Such\nerrancy betrays a violent and egotistical personality, increases one's\nsense of corporeality, and begets a fear of the senses and a perpetually\negotistical sensibility.\n\nHe who does this is ignorant of the meaning of the word _personality_, and\ndefines it by his own _corpus sine pectore_ (soulless body), and fails to\ndistinguish the individual, or real man from the false sense of\ncorporeality, or egotistic self.\n\nMy own corporeal personality afflicteth me not wittingly; for I desire\nnever to think of it, and it cannot think of me.\n\n\n\n\nPLAGIARISM\n\n\nThe various forms of book-borrowing without credit spring from this\nill-concealed question in mortal mind, Who shall be greatest? This error\nviolates the law given by Moses, it tramples upon Jesus' Sermon on the\nMount, it does violence to the ethics of Christian Science.\n\nWhy withhold my name, while appropriating my language and ideas, but give\ncredit when citing from the works of other authors?\n\nLife and its ideals are inseparable, and one's writings on ethics, and\ndemonstration of Truth, are not, cannot be, understood or taught by those\nwho persistently misunderstand or misrepresent the author. Jesus said, \"For\nthere is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak\nevil of me.\"\n\nIf one's spiritual ideal is comprehended and loved, the borrower from it is\nembraced in the author's own mental mood, and is therefore _honest_. The\nScience of Mind excludes opposites, and rests on unity.\n\nIt is proverbial that dishonesty retards spiritual growth and strikes at\nthe heart of Truth. If a student at Harvard College has studied a textbook\nwritten by his teacher, is he entitled, when he leaves the University, to\nwrite out as his own the substance of this textbook? There is no warrant in\ncommon law and no permission in the gospel for plagiarizing an author's\nideas and their words. Christian Science is not copyrighted; nor would\nprotection by copyright be requisite, if mortals obeyed God's law of\n_manright_. A student can write voluminous works on Science without\ntrespassing, if he writes honestly, and he cannot dishonestly compose\n_Christian Science_. The Bible is not stolen, though it is cited, and\nquoted deferentially.\n\nThoughts touched with the Spirit and Word of Christian Science gravitate\nnaturally toward Truth. Therefore the mind to which this Science was\nrevealed must have risen to the altitude which perceived a light beyond\nwhat others saw.\n\nThe spiritually minded meet on the stairs which lead up to spiritual love.\nThis affection, so far from being personal worship, fulfils the law of Love\nwhich Paul enjoined upon the Galatians. This is the Mind \"which was also in\nChrist Jesus,\" and knows no material limitations. It is the unity of good\nand bond of perfectness. This just affection serves to constitute the\nMind-healer a wonder-worker,--as of old, on the Pentecost Day, when the\ndisciples were of one accord.\n\nHe who gains the God-crowned summit of Christian Science never abuses the\ncorporeal personality, but uplifts it. He thinks of every one in his real\nquality, and sees each mortal in an impersonal depict.\n\nI have long remained silent on a growing evil in plagiarism; but if I do\nnot insist upon the strictest observance of moral law and order in\nChristian Scientists, I become responsible, as a teacher, for laxity in\ndiscipline and lawlessness in literature. Pope was right in saying, \"An\nhonest man's the noblest work of God;\" and Ingersoll's repartee has its\nmoral: \"An honest God's the noblest work of man.\"\n\n\n\n\nADMONITION\n\n\nThe neophyte in Christian Science acts like a diseased physique,--being too\nfast or too slow. He is inclined to do either too much or too little. In\nhealing and teaching the student has not yet achieved the entire wisdom of\nMind-practice. The textual explanation of this practice is complete in\nScience and Health; and scientific practice makes perfect, for it is\ngoverned by its Principle, and not by human opinions; but carnal and\nsinister motives, entering into this practice, will prevent the\ndemonstration of Christian Science.\n\nI recommend students not to read so-called scientific works, antagonistic\nto Christian Science, which advocate materialistic systems; because such\nworks and words becloud the right sense of metaphysical Science.\n\nThe rules of Mind-healing are wholly Christlike and spiritual. Therefore\nthe adoption of a worldly policy or a resort to subterfuge in the statement\nof the Science of Mind-healing, or any name given to it other than\nChristian Science, or an attempt to demonstrate the facts of this Science\nother than is stated in Science and Health--is a departure from the Science\nof Mind-healing. To becloud mortals, or for yourself to hide from God, is\nto conspire against the blessings otherwise conferred, against your own\nsuccess and final happiness, against the progress of the human race as\nwell as against _honest_ metaphysical theory and practice.\n\nNot by the hearing of the ear is spiritual truth learned and loved; nor\ncometh this apprehension from the experiences of others. We glean spiritual\nharvests from our own material losses. In this consuming heat false images\nare effaced from the canvas of mortal mind; and thus does the material\npigment beneath fade into invisibility.\n\nThe signs for the wayfarer in divine Science lie in meekness, in unselfish\nmotives and acts, in shuffling off scholastic rhetoric, in ridding the\nthought of effete doctrines, in the purification of the affections and\ndesires.\n\nDishonesty, envy, and mad ambition are \"lusts of the flesh,\" which uproot\nthe germs of growth in Science and leave the inscrutable problem of being\nunsolved. Through the channels of material sense, of worldly policy, pomp,\nand pride, cometh no success in Truth. If beset with misguided emotions, we\nshall be stranded on the quicksands of worldly commotion, and practically\ncome short of the wisdom requisite for teaching and demonstrating the\nvictory over self and sin.\n\nBe temperate in thought, word, and deed. Meekness and temperance are the\njewels of Love, set in wisdom. Restrain untempered zeal. \"Learn to labor\nand to wait.\" Of old the children of Israel were saved by patient waiting.\n\n\"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by\nforce!\" said Jesus. Therefore are its spiritual gates not captured, nor its\ngolden streets invaded.\n\nWe recognize this kingdom, the reign of harmony within us, by an unselfish\naffection or love, for this is the pledge of divine good and the insignia\nof heaven. This also is proverbial, that though eternal justice be\ngraciously gentle, yet it may seem severe.\n\n    For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,\n    And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.\n\nAs the poets in different languages have expressed it:--\n\n    Though the mills of God grind slowly,\n      Yet they grind exceeding small;\n    Though with patience He stands waiting,\n      With exactness grinds He all.\n\nThough the divine rebuke is effectual to the pulling down of sin's\nstrongholds, it may stir the human heart to resist Truth, before this heart\nbecomes obediently receptive of the heavenly discipline. If the Christian\nScientist recognize the mingled sternness and gentleness which permeate\njustice and Love, he will not scorn the timely reproof, but will so absorb\nit that this warning will be within him a spring, welling up into unceasing\nspiritual rise and progress. Patience and obedience win the golden\nscholarship of experimental tuition.\n\nThe kindly shepherd of the East carries his lambs in his arms to the\nsheepcot, but the older sheep pass into the fold under his compelling rod.\nHe who sees the door and turns away from it, is guilty, while innocence\nstrayeth yearningly.\n\nThere are no greater miracles known to earth than perfection and an\nunbroken friendship. We love our friends, but ofttimes we lose them in\nproportion to our affection. The sacrifices made for others are not\ninfrequently met by envy, ingratitude, and enmity, which smite the heart\nand threaten to paralyze its beneficence. The unavailing tear is shed both\nfor the living and the dead.\n\nNothing except sin, in the students themselves, can separate them from me.\nTherefore we should guard thought and action, keeping them in accord with\nChrist, and our friendship will surely continue.\n\nThe letter of the law of God, separated from its spirit, tends to\ndemoralize mortals, and must be corrected by a diviner sense of liberty and\nlight. The spirit of Truth extinguishes false thinking, feeling, and\nacting; and falsity must thus decay, ere spiritual sense, affectional\nconsciousness, and genuine goodness become so apparent as to be well\nunderstood.\n\nAfter the supreme advent of Truth in the heart, there comes an overwhelming\nsense of error's vacuity, of the blunders which arise from wrong\napprehension. The enlightened heart loathes error, and casts it aside; or\nelse that heart is consciously untrue to the light, faithless to itself and\nto others, and so sinks into deeper darkness. Said Jesus: \"If the light\nthat is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!\" and Shakespeare\nputs this pious counsel into a father's mouth:--\n\n    This above all: To thine own self be true;\n    And it must follow, as the night the day,\n    Thou canst not then be false to any man.\n\nA realization of the shifting scenes of human happiness, and of the frailty\nof mortal anticipations,--such as first led me to the feet of Christian\nScience,--seems to be requisite at every stage of advancement. Though our\nfirst lessons are changed, modified, broadened, yet their core is\nconstantly renewed; as the law of the chord remains unchanged, whether we\nare dealing with a simple Latour exercise or with the vast Wagner Trilogy.\n\nA general rule is, that my students should not allow their movements to be\ncontrolled by other students, even if they are teachers and practitioners\nof the same blessed faith. The exception to this rule should be very rare.\n\nThe widest power and strongest growth have always been attained by those\nloyal students who rest on divine Principle for guidance, not on\nthemselves; and who locate permanently in one section, and adhere to the\norderly methods herein delineated.\n\nAt this period my students should locate in large cities, in order to do\nthe greatest good to the greatest number, and therein abide. The population\nof our principal cities is ample to supply many practitioners, teachers,\nand preachers with work. This fact interferes in no way with the prosperity\nof each worker; rather does it represent an accumulation of power on his\nside which promotes the ease and welfare of the workers. Their liberated\ncapacities of mind enable Christian Scientists to consummate much good or\nelse evil; therefore their examples either excel or fall short of other\nreligionists; and they must be found dwelling together in harmony, if even\nthey compete with ecclesiastical fellowship and friendship.\n\nIt is often asked which revision of Science and Health is the best. The\narrangement of my last revision, in 1890, makes the subject-matter clearer\nthan any previous edition, and it is therefore better adapted to\nspiritualize thought and elucidate scientific healing and teaching. It has\nalready been proven that this volume is accomplishing the divine purpose to\na remarkable degree. The wise Christian Scientist will commend students and\npatients to the teachings of this book, and the healing efficacy thereof,\nrather than try to centre their interest on himself.\n\nStudents whom I have taught are seldom benefited by the teachings of other\nstudents, for scientific foundations are already laid in their minds which\nought not to be tampered with. Also, they are prepared to receive the\ninfinite instructions afforded by the Bible and my books, which mislead no\none and are their best guides.\n\nThe student may mistake in his conception of Truth, and this error, in an\nhonest heart, is sure to be corrected. But if he misinterprets the text to\nhis pupils, and communicates, even unintentionally, his misconception of\nTruth, thereafter he will find it more difficult to rekindle his own light\nor to enlighten them. Hence, as a rule, the student should explain only\nRecapitulation, the chapter for the class-room, and leave Science and\nHealth to God's daily interpretation.\n\nChristian Scientists should take their textbook into the schoolroom the\nsame as other teachers; they should ask questions from it, and be answered\naccording to it,--occasionally reading aloud from the book to corroborate\nwhat they teach. It is also highly important that their pupils study each\nlesson before the recitation.\n\nThat these essential points are ever omitted, is anomalous, when we\nconsider the necessity of thoroughly understanding Science, and the present\nliability of deviating from absolute Christian Science.\n\nCenturies will intervene before the statement of the inexhaustible topics\nof Science and Health is sufficiently understood to be fully demonstrated.\n\nThe teacher himself should continue to study this textbook, and to\nspiritualize his own thoughts and human life from this open fount of Truth\nand Love.\n\nHe who sees clearly and enlightens other minds most readily, keeps his own\nlamp trimmed and burning. Throughout his entire explanations he strictly\nadheres to the teachings in the chapter on Recapitulation. When closing the\nclass, each member should own a copy of Science and Health, and continue to\nstudy and assimilate this inexhaustible subject--Christian Science.\n\nThe opinions of men cannot be substituted for God's revelation. In times\npast, arrogant pride, in attempting to steady the ark of Truth, obscured\neven the power and glory of the Scriptures,--to which Science and Health is\nthe Key.\n\nThat teacher does most for his students who divests himself most of pride\nand self, and by reason thereof is able to empty his students' minds of\nerror, that they may be filled with Truth. Thus doing, posterity will call\nhim blessed, and the tired tongue of history be enriched.\n\nThe less the teacher personally controls other minds, and the more he\ntrusts them to the divine Truth and Love, the better it will be for both\nteacher and student.\n\nA teacher should take charge only of his own pupils and patients, and of\nthose who voluntarily place themselves under his direction; he should avoid\nleaving his own regular institute or place of labor, or expending his labor\nwhere there are other teachers who should be specially responsible for\ndoing their own work well.\n\nTeachers of Christian Science will find it advisable to band together their\nstudents into associations, to continue the organization of churches, and\nat present they can employ any other organic operative method that may\ncommend itself as useful to the Cause and beneficial to mankind.\n\nOf this also rest assured, that books and teaching are but a ladder let\ndown from the heaven of Truth and Love, upon which angelic thoughts ascend\nand descend, bearing on their pinions of light the Christ-spirit.\n\nGuard yourselves against the subtly hidden suggestion that the Son of man\nwill be glorified, or humanity benefited, by any deviation from the order\nprescribed by supernal grace. Seek to occupy no position whereto you do not\nfeel that God ordains you. Never forsake your post without due deliberation\nand light, but always wait for God's finger to point the way. The loyal\nChristian Scientist is incapable alike of abusing the practice of\nMind-healing or of healing on a material basis.\n\nThe tempter is vigilant, awaiting only an opportunity to divide the ranks\nof Christian Science and scatter the sheep abroad; but \"if God be for us,\nwho can be against us?\" The Cause, _our_ Cause, is highly prosperous,\nrapidly spreading over the globe; and the morrow will crown the effort of\nto-day with a diadem of gems from the New Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\nEXEMPLIFICATION\n\n\nTo energize wholesome spiritual warfare, to rebuke vainglory, to offset\nboastful emptiness, to crown patient toil, and rejoice in the spirit and\npower of Christian Science, we must ourselves be true. There is but one way\nof _doing_ good, and that is to _do_ it! There is but one way of _being_\ngood, and that is to _be_ good!\n\nArt thou still unacquainted with thyself? Then be introduced to this self.\n\"Know thyself!\" as said the classic Grecian motto. Note well the falsity of\nthis mortal self! Behold its vileness, and remember this poverty-stricken\n\"stranger that is within thy gates.\" Cleanse every stain from this\nwanderer's soiled garments, wipe the dust from his feet and the tears from\nhis eyes, that you may behold the real man, the fellow-saint of a holy\nhousehold. There should be no blot on the escutcheon of our Christliness\nwhen we offer our gift upon the altar.\n\nA student desiring growth in the knowledge of Truth, can and will obtain it\nby taking up his cross and following Truth. If he does this not, and\nanother one undertakes to carry his burden and do his work, the duty will\n_not be accomplished_. No one can save himself without God's help, and God\nwill help each man who performs his own part. After this manner and in no\nother way is every man cared for and blessed. To the unwise helper our\nMaster said, \"Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.\"\n\nThe poet's line, \"Order is heaven's first law,\" is so eternally true, so\naxiomatic, that it has become a truism; and its wisdom is as obvious in\nreligion and scholarship as in astronomy or mathematics.\n\nExperience has taught me that the rules of Christian Science can be far\nmore thoroughly and readily acquired by regularly settled and systematic\nworkers, than by unsettled and spasmodic efforts. Genuine Christian\nScientists are, or should be, the most systematic and law-abiding people on\nearth, because their religion demands implicit adherence to fixed rules, in\nthe orderly demonstration thereof. Let some of these rules be here stated.\n\n_First_: Christian Scientists are to \"heal the sick\" as the Master\ncommanded.\n\nIn so doing they must follow the divine order as prescribed by\nJesus,--never, in any way, to trespass upon the rights of their neighbors,\nbut to obey the celestial injunction, \"Whatsoever ye would that men should\ndo to you, do ye even so to them.\"\n\nIn this orderly, scientific dispensation healers become a law unto\nthemselves. They feel their own burdens less, and can therefore bear the\nweight of others' burdens, since it is only through the lens of their\nunselfishness that the sunshine of Truth beams with such efficacy as to\ndissolve error.\n\nIt is already understood that Christian Scientists will not receive a\npatient who is under the care of a regular physician, until he has done\nwith the case and different aid is sought. The same courtesy should be\nobserved in the professional intercourse of Christian Science healers with\none another.\n\n_Second_: Another command of the Christ, his prime command, was that his\nfollowers should \"raise the dead.\" He lifted his own body from the\nsepulchre. In him, Truth called the physical man from the tomb to health,\nand the so-called dead forthwith emerged into a higher manifestation of\nLife.\n\nThe spiritual significance of this command, \"Raise the dead,\" most concerns\nmankind. It implies such an elevation of the understanding as will enable\nthought to apprehend the living beauty of Love, its practicality, its\ndivine energies, its health-giving and life-bestowing qualities,--yea, its\npower to demonstrate immortality. This end Jesus achieved, both by example\nand precept.\n\n_Third_: This leads inevitably to a consideration of another part of\nChristian Science work,--a part which concerns us intimately,--preaching\nthe gospel.\n\nThis evangelistic duty should not be so warped as to signify that we must\nor may go, uninvited, to work in other vineyards than our own. One would,\nor should, blush to enter unasked another's pulpit, and preach without the\nconsent of the stated occupant of that pulpit. The Lord's command means\nthis, that we should adopt the spirit of the Saviour's ministry, and abide\nin such a spiritual attitude as will draw men unto us. Itinerancy should\nnot be allowed to clip the wings of divine Science. Mind demonstrates\nomnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves on a spiritual axis, and\nits power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and\nimmovable Love. The divine potency of this spiritual mode of Mind, and the\nhindrance opposed to it by material motion, is proven beyond a doubt in the\npractice of Mind-healing.\n\nIn those days preaching and teaching were substantially one. There was no\nchurch preaching, in the modern sense of the term. Men assembled in the one\ntemple (at Jerusalem) for sacrificial ceremonies, not for sermons. Into the\nsynagogues, scattered about in cities and villages, they went for\nliturgical worship, and instruction in the Mosaic law. If one worshipper\npreached to the others, he did so informally, and because he was bidden to\nthis privileged duty at that particular moment. It was the custom to pay\nthis hortatory compliment to a stranger, or to a member who had been away\nfrom the neighborhood; as Jesus was once asked to exhort, when he had been\nsome time absent from Nazareth but once again entered the synagogue which\nhe had frequented in childhood.\n\nJesus' method was to instruct his own students; and he watched and guarded\nthem unto the end, even according to his promise, \"Lo, I am with you\nalway!\" Nowhere in the four Gospels will Christian Scientists find any\nprecedent for employing another student to take charge of their students,\nor for neglecting their own students, in order to enlarge their sphere of\naction.\n\nAbove all, trespass not intentionally upon other people's thoughts, by\nendeavoring to influence other minds to any action not first made known to\nthem or sought by them. Corporeal and selfish influence is human, fallible,\nand temporary; but incorporeal impulsion is divine, infallible, and\neternal. The student should be most careful not to thrust aside Science,\nand shade God's window which lets in light, or seek to stand in God's\nstead.\n\nDoes the faithful shepherd forsake the lambs,--retaining his salary for\ntending the home flock while he is serving another fold? There is no\nevidence to show that Jesus ever entered the towns whither he sent his\ndisciples; no evidence that he there taught a few hungry ones, and then\nleft them to starve or to stray. To these selected ones (like \"the elect\nlady\" to whom St. John addressed one of his epistles) he gave personal\ninstruction, and gave in plain words, until they were able to fulfil his\nbehest and depart on their united pilgrimages. This he did, even though one\nof the twelve whom he kept near himself betrayed him, and others forsook\nhim.\n\nThe true mother never willingly neglects her children in their early and\nsacred hours, consigning them to the care of nurse or stranger. Who can\nfeel and comprehend the needs of her babe like the ardent mother? What\nother heart yearns with her solicitude, endures with her patience, waits\nwith her hope, and labors with her love, to promote the welfare and\nhappiness of her children? Thus must the Mother in Israel give all her\nhours to those first sacred tasks, till her children can walk steadfastly\nin wisdom's ways.\n\nOne of my students wrote to me: \"I believe the proper thing for us to do is\nto follow, as nearly as we can, in the path you have pursued!\" It is\ngladdening to find, in such a student, one of the children of light. It is\nsafe to leave with God the government of man. He appoints and He anoints\nHis Truth-bearers, and God is their sure defense and refuge.\n\nThe parable of \"the prodigal son\" is rightly called \"the pearl of\nparables,\" and our Master's greatest utterance may well be called \"the\ndiamond sermon.\" No purer and more exalted teachings ever fell upon human\nears than those contained in what is commonly known as the Sermon on the\nMount,--though this name has been given it by compilers and translators of\nthe Bible, and not by the Master himself or by the Scripture authors.\nIndeed, this title really indicates more the Master's mood, than the\nmaterial locality.\n\nWhere did Jesus deliver this great lesson--or, rather, this series of great\nlessons--on humanity and divinity? On a hillside, near the sloping shores\nof the Lake of Galilee, where he spake primarily to his immediate\ndisciples.\n\nIn this simplicity, and with such fidelity, we see Jesus ministering to the\nspiritual needs of all who placed themselves under his care, always leading\nthem into the divine order, under the sway of his own perfect\nunderstanding. His power over others was spiritual, not corporeal. To the\nstudents whom he had chosen, his immortal teaching was the bread of Life.\nWhen _he_ was with them, a fishing-boat became a sanctuary, and the\nsolitude was peopled with holy messages from the All-Father. The grove\nbecame his class-room, and nature's haunts were the Messiah's university.\n\nWhat has this hillside priest, this seaside teacher, done for the human\nrace? Ask, rather, what has he _not_ done. His holy humility,\nunworldliness, and self-abandonment wrought infinite results. The method\nof his religion was not too simple to be sublime, nor was his power so\nexalted as to be unavailable for the needs of suffering mortals, whose\nwounds he healed by Truth and Love.\n\nHis order of ministration was \"first the blade, then the ear, after that\nthe full corn in the ear.\" May we unloose the latchets of his Christliness,\ninherit his legacy of love, and reach the fruition of his promise: \"If ye\nabide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it\nshall be done unto you.\"\n\n\n\n\nWAYMARKS\n\n\nIn the first century of the Christian era Jesus went about doing good. The\nevangelists of those days wandered about. Christ, or the spiritual idea,\nappeared to human consciousness as the man Jesus. At the present epoch the\nhuman concept of Christ is based on the incorporeal divine Principle of\nman, and Science has elevated this idea and established its rules in\nconsonance with their Principle. Hear this saying of our Master, \"And I, if\nI be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.\"\n\nThe ideal of God is no longer impersonated as a waif or wanderer; and Truth\nis not fragmentary, disconnected, unsystematic, but concentrated and\nimmovably fixed in Principle. The best spiritual type of Christly method\nfor uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary\npower, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our\nown, it becomes the model for human action.\n\nSt. Paul said to the Athenians, \"For in Him we live, and move, and have our\nbeing.\" This statement is in substance identical with my own: \"There is no\nlife, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.\" It is quite clear that\nas yet this grandest verity has not been fully demonstrated, but it is\nnevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul's teaching, we,\nas Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the\nvalidity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in\nadvance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the\nworld a struggle for its demonstration.\n\nAt some period and in some way the conclusion must be met that whatsoever\nseems true, and yet contradicts divine Science and St. Paul's text, must be\nand is false; and that whatsoever seems to be good, and yet errs, though\nacknowledging the true way, is really evil.\n\nAs dross is separated from gold, so Christ's baptism of fire, his\npurification through suffering, consumes whatsoever is of sin. Therefore\nthis purgation of divine mercy, destroying all error, leaves no flesh, no\nmatter, to the mental consciousness.\n\nWhen all fleshly belief is annihilated, and every spot and blemish on the\ndisk of consciousness is removed, then, and not till then, will immortal\nTruth be found true, and scientific teaching, preaching, and practice be\nessentially one. \"Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing\nwhich he alloweth ... for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.\" (Romans xiv.\n22, 23.)\n\nThere is no \"lo here! or lo there!\" in divine Science; its manifestation\nmust be \"the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever,\" since Science is\neternally one, and unchanging, in Principle, rule, and demonstration.\n\nI am persuaded that only by the modesty and distinguishing affection\nillustrated in Jesus' career, can Christian Scientists aid the\nestablishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth. In the first century of the\nChristian era Jesus' teachings bore much fruit, and the Father was\nglorified therein. In this period and the forthcoming centuries, watered\nby dews of divine Science, this \"tree of life\" will blossom into greater\nfreedom, and its leaves will be \"for the healing of the nations.\"\n\n    Ask God to give thee skill\n        In comfort's art:\n    That thou may'st consecrated be\n        And set apart\n      Unto a life of sympathy.\n    For heavy is the weight of ill\n        In every heart;\n    And comforters are needed much\n        Of Christlike touch.\n\n                --A.E. HAMILTON.\n\n\nTHE PLIMPTON PRESS\n\nNORWOOD MASS USA\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote A: See Page 311, Lines 12 to 17, \"The First Church of Christ,\nScientist, and Miscellany.\"]\n\n[Footnote B: This statement appears to be based upon the Annual Report of\nthe Secretary of The Christian Scientist Association, read at its meeting,\nJanuary 15, 1880, in which June is named as the month in which the charter\nfor The Mother Church was obtained, instead of August 23, 1879, the correct\ndate.]\n\n[Footnote C: An alder growing from the bent branch of a pear-tree.]\n\n[Footnote D: Steps were taken to promote the Church of Christ, Scientist,\nin April, May and June; formal organization was accomplished and the\ncharter obtained in August, 1879]","title":"Retrospection and Introspection","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":19399}