reign of Christianity began the loftiest intellects have had
a practical faith in God.” Daniel Webster said, “My
heart has always assured and reassured me that Chris-
tianity must be a divine reality.” [20]
To turn the popular indignation against an advanced
form of religion, the pagan slanderers affirmed that
Christians took their infants to a place of worship in
order to offer them in sacrifice,—a baptism not of
water but of blood, thus distorting or misapprehending [25]
the purpose of Christian sacraments. Christians met
in midnight feasts in the early days, and talked of the
crucified Saviour; thence arose the rumor that it was
a part of Christian worship to kill and eat a human
being. [30]
Really, Christianity turned men away from the thought
of fleshly sacrifice, and directed them to spiritual attain-
[pg 346]
ments. Life, not death, was and is the very centre of [1]
its faith. Christian Science carries this thought even
higher, and insists on the demonstration of moral and
spiritual healing as eminent proof that God is understood
and illustrated. [5]
Происхождение зла
The origin of evil is the problem of ages. It confronts
each generation anew. It confronts Christian Science.
The question is often asked, If God created only the
good, whence comes the evil? [10]
To this question Christian Science replies: Evil never
did exist as an entity. It is but a belief that there is an
opposite intelligence to God. This belief is a species of
idolatry, and is not more true or real than that an image
graven on wood or stone is God. [15]
The mortal admission of the reality of evil perpetuates
faith in evil; and the Scriptures declare that “to whom
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye
are.” This leading, self-evident proposition of Christian
Science, that, good being real, its opposite is necessarily [20]
unreal, needs to be grasped in all its divine requirements.
Истина против заблуждения
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures
of silver.” It is a rule in Christian Science never to re-
peat error unless it becomes requisite to bring out Truth. [25]
Then lift the curtain, let in the light, and countermand
[pg 347]
this first command of Solomon, “Answer not a fool accord- [1]
ing to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him,”
A distant rumbling and quivering of the earth foretell
the internal action of pent-up gas. To avoid danger from
this source people have to escape from their houses to the [5]
open space. A conical cloud, hanging like a horoscope
in the air, foreshadows a cyclone. To escape from this
calamity people prepare shelter in caves of the earth.
They who discern the face of the skies cannot always
discern the mental signs of these times, and peer through [10]
the opaque error. Where my vision begins and is clear,
theirs grows indistinct and ends.
There are diversities of operation by the same spirit.
Two individuals, with all the goodness of generous na-
tures, advise me. One says, Go this way; the other [15]
says, Take the opposite direction! Between the two I
stand still; or, accepting the premonition of one of them,
I follow his counsel, take a few steps, then halt. A true
sense not unfamiliar has been awakened. I see the way
now. The guardians of His presence go before me. I [20]
enter the path. It may be smooth, or it may be rugged;
but it is always straight and narrow; and if it be up-
hill all the way, the ascent is easy and the summit can
be gained.
God is responsible for the mission of those whom He [25]
has anointed. Those who know no will but His take
His hand, and from the night He leads to light. None
can say unto Him, What doest Thou?
The Christian Science Journal was the oldest and
only authenticated organ of Christian Science up to [30]
1898. Loyal Scientists are targets for envy, rivalry,
slander; and whoever hits this mark is well paid by the
[pg 348]
umpire. But the Scientists aim highest. They press for- [1]
ward towards the mark of a high calling. They recog-
nize the claims of the law and the gospel. They know
that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. They
infringe neither the books nor the business of others; and [5]
with hearts overflowing with love for God, they help on the
brotherhood of men. It is not mine but Thine they seek.
When God bids one uncover iniquity, in order to
exterminate it, one should lay it bare; and divine Love
will bless this endeavor and those whom it reaches. [10]
“Nothing is hid that shall not be revealed.”
It is only a question of time when God shall reveal His
rod, and show the plan of battle. Error, left to itself,
accumulates. Hence, Solomon's transverse command:
“Answer a fool according, to his folly, lest he be wise in [15]
his own conceit.”
To quench the growing flames of falsehood, once in
about seven years I have to repeat this,—that I use no
drugs whatever, not even coffea (coffee), thea (tea), cap-
sicum (red pepper); though every day, and especially at [20]
dinner, I indulge in homœopathic doses of Natrum muri-
aticum (common salt).
When I found myself under this new régime of medi-
cine, the medicine of Mind, I wanted to satisfy my curi-
osity as to the effect of drugs on one who had lost all [25]
faith in them. Hence I tried several doses of medicine,
and so proved to myself that drugs have no beneficial
effect on an individual in a proper state of mind.
I have by no means encouraged students of the Massa-
chusetts Metaphysical College to enter medical schools, [30]
and afterwards denied this and objected to their entering
those schools. A student who consulted me on this sub-
[pg 349]
ject, received my consent and even the offer of pecuniary [1]
assistance to take lessons outside of my College, provided
he received these lessons of a certain regular-school physi-
cian, whose instructions included about twelve lessons,
three weeks' time, and the surgical part of midwifery. I [5]
have students with the degree of M. D., who are skilful
obstetricians. Such a course with such a teacher would
not necessitate essential materialization of a student's
thought, nor detract from the metaphysical mode of
obstetrics taught in my College. [10]
This student had taken the above-named course in
obstetrics when he consulted me on the feasibility of enter-
ing a medical school; and to this I objected on the ground
that it was inconsistent with Christian Science, which he
claimed to be practising; but I was willing, and said [15]
so, that, notwithstanding my objection, he should do as
he deemed best, for I claim no jurisdiction over any stu-
dents. He entered the medical school, and several other
students with him. My counsel to all of them was in
substance the same as the foregoing, and some of these [20]
students have openly acknowledged this.
In answer to a question on the following subject, I
will state that I preached four years, and built up the
church, before I would accept the slightest remuneration.
When the church had sufficient members and means to [25]
pay a salary, and refused to give me up or to receive my
gratuitous services, I accepted, for a time, fifteen dollars
each Sunday when I preached. I never received more
than this; and the contributions, when I preached,
doubled that amount. I have accepted no pay from my [30]
church for about three years, and believe that I have
put into the church-fund about two thousand dollars of
[pg 350]
my own contributions. I hold receipts for $1,489.50 paid [1]
in, and the balance was never receipted for.
I temporarily organized a secret society known as the
P. M., the workings whereof were not “terrible and too
shocking to relate.” By and with advice of the very [5]
student who brings up the question of this society, it
was formed. The P. M. (Private Meeting) Society met
only twice. The first subject given out for considera-
tion was this: “There is no Animal Magnetism.” There
was no advice given, no mental work, and there were [10]
no transactions at those meetings which I would hesitate
to have known. On the contrary, our deliberations
were, as usual, Christian, and like my public instruction.
The second P. M. convened in about one week from the
first. The subject given out at that meeting was, in sub- [15]
stance, “God is All; there is none beside Him.” This
proved to be our last meeting. I dissolved the society,
and we have not met since. If harm could come from
the consideration of these two topics, it was because of
the misconception of those subjects in the mind that [20]
handled them. An individual state of mind sometimes
occasions effects on patients which are not in harmony
with Science and the soundness of the argument used.
Hence it prevents the normal action, and the benefit that would otherwise accrue. [25]
I issue no arguments, and cause none to be used in
mental practice, which consign people to suffering. On
the contrary, I cannot serve two masters; therefore I
teach the use of such arguments only as promote health
and spiritual growth. My life, consecrated to humanity [30]
through nameless suffering and sacrifice, furnishes its
own proof of my practice.
[pg 351]
I have sometimes called on students to test their ability [1]
and meet the mental malpractice, so as to lift the burdens
imposed by students.
The fact is, that for want of time, and for the purpose
of blessing even my enemies, I neglect myself. I never [5]
have practised by arguments which, perverted, are the
weapons of the silent mental malpractice. I have no skill
in occultism; and I could not if I would, and would not
if I could, harm any one through the mental method of
Mind-healing, or in any manner. [10]
The late much-ado-about-nothing arose solely from
mental malicious practice, and the audible falsehood
designed to stir up strife between brethren, for the purpose
of placing Christian Science in the hands of aspirants
for place and power. These repeated attempts of mad [15]
ambition may retard our Cause, but they never can place
it in the wrong hands and hold it there, nor benefit
mankind by such endeavors.
Ошибочность человеческих концепций
Evil counterfeits good: it says, “I am Truth,” though [20]
it is a lie; it says, “I am Love,”—but Love is spirit-
ual, and sensuous love is material, wherefore it is hate
instead of Love; for the five senses give to mortals pain,
sickness, sin, and death,—pleasure that is false, life that
leads unto death, joy that becomes sorrow. Love that is [25]
not the procurator of happiness, declares itself the anti-
pode of Love; and Love divine punishes the joys of this
false sense of love, chastens its affection, purifies it, and
turns it into the opposite channels.
Material life is the antipode of spiritual life; it mocks [30]
[pg 352]
the bliss of spiritual being; it is bereft of permanence and [1]
peace.
When human sense is quickened to behold aright the
error,—the error of regarding Life, Truth, Love as
material and not spiritual, or as both material and spirit- [5]
ual,—it is able for the first time to discern the Science
of good. But it must first see the error of its present
erroneous course, to be able to behold the facts of Truth
outside of the error; and, vice versa, when it discovers
the truth, this uncovers the error and quickens the true [10]
consciousness of God, good. May the human shadows of
thought lengthen as they approach the light, until they
are lost in light and no night is there!
In Science, sickness is healed upon the same Principle
and by the same rule that sin is healed. To know the [15]
supposed bodily belief of the patient and what has claimed
to produce it, enables the practitioner to act more under-
standingly in destroying this belief. Thus it is in heal-
ing the moral sickness; the malicious mental operation
must be understood in order to enable one to destroy [20]
it and its effects. There is not sufficient spiritual power
in the human thought to heal the sick or the sinful.
Through the divine energies alone one must either get
out of himself and into God so far that his consciousness
is the reflection of the divine, or he must, through argu- [25]
ment and the human consciousness of both evil and good,
overcome evil.
The only difference between the healing of sin and the
healing of sickness is, that sin must be uncovered before
it can be destroyed, and the moral sense be aroused to [30]
reject the sense of error; while sickness must be cov-
ered with the veil of harmony, and the consciousness be
[pg 353]
allowed to rejoice in the sense that it has nothing to mourn [1]
over, but something to forget.
Human concepts run in extremes; they are like the
action of sickness, which is either an excess of action or
not action enough; they are fallible; they are neither [5]
standards nor models.
If one asks me, Is my concept of you right? I reply, The
human concept is always imperfect; relinquish your human
concept of me, or of any one, and find the divine, and you
have gained the right one—and never until then. People [10]
give me too much attention of the misguided, fallible sort,
and this misrepresents one through malice or ignorance.
My brother was a manufacturer; and one day a work-
man in his mills, a practical joker, set a man who applied
for work, in the overseer's absence, to pour a bucket of [15]
water every ten minutes on the regulator. When my
brother returned and saw it, he said to the jester, “You
must pay that man.” Some people try to tend folks, as
if they should steer the regulator of mankind. God makes
us pay for tending the action that He adjusts. [20]
The regulator is governed by the principle that makes
the machinery work rightly; and because it is thus gov-
erned, the folly of tending it is no mere jest. The divine
Principle carries on His harmony.
Now turn from the metaphor of the mill to the Mother's [25]
four thousand children, most of whom, at about three
years of scientific age, set up housekeeping alone. Certain
students, being too much interested in themselves to think
of helping others, go their way. They do not love Mother,
but pretend to; they constantly go to her for help, interrupt [30]
the home-harmony, criticise and disobey her; then “return
to their vomit,”—world worship, pleasure seeking, and
[pg 354]
sense indulgence,—meantime declaring they “never dis- [1]
obey Mother”! It exceeds my conception of human
nature. Sin in its very nature is marvellous! Who but a
moral idiot, sanguine of success in sin, can steal, and lie
and lie, and lead the innocent to doom? History needs it, [5]
and it has the grandeur of the loyal, self-forgetful, faith-
ful Christian Scientists to overbalance this foul stuff.
When the Mother's love can no longer promote peace
in the family, wisdom is not “justified of her children.”
When depraved reason is preferred to revelation, error [10]
to Truth, and evil to good, and sense seams sounder than
Soul, the children are tending the regulator; they are
indeed losing the knowledge of the divine Principle and
rules of Christian Science, whose fruits prove the nature
of their source. A little more grace, a motive made pure, [15]
a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character
subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action
of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the move-
ment of body and soul in accord with God.
Instead of relying on the Principle of all that really [20]
exists,—to govern His own creation,—self-conceit, igno-
rance, and pride would regulate God's action. Expe-
rience shows that humility is the first step in Christian
Science, wherein all is controlled, not by man or laws
material, but by wisdom, Truth, and Love. [25]
Go gaze on the eagle, his eye on the sun,
Fast gathering strength for a flight well begun,
As rising he rests in a liberty higher
Than genius inflated with worldly desire.
No tear dims his eye, nor his pinions lose power [30]
To gaze on the lark in her emerald bower—
Whenever he soareth to fashion his nest,
No vision more bright than the dream in his breast.
[pg 355]
Путь
The present stage of progress in Christian Science pre- [2]
sents two opposite aspects,—a full-orbed promise, and
a gaunt want. The need, however, is not of the letter,
but the spirit. [5]
Less teaching and good healing is to-day the acme of
“well done;” a healing that is not guesswork,—chronic
recovery ebbing and flowing,—but instantaneous cure.
This absolute demonstration of Science must be revived.
To consummate this desideratum, mortal mind must pass [10]
through three stages of growth.
First, self-knowledge. The physician must know him-
self and understand the mental state of his patient. Error
found out is two-thirds destroyed, and the last third
pierces itself, for the remainder only stimulates and gives [15]
scope to higher demonstration. To strike out right and
left against the mist, never clears the vision; but to lift
your head above it, is a sovereign panacea. Mental dark-
ness is senseless error, neither intelligence nor power, and
its victim is responsible for its supposititious presence. [20]
“Cast the beam out of thine own eye.” Learn what in
thine own mentality is unlike “the anointed,” and cast
it out; then thou wilt discern the error in thy patient's
mind that makes his body sick, and remove it, and rest
like the dove from the deluge. [25]
“Physician, heal thyself.” Let no clouds of sin gather
and fall in mist and showers from thine own mental
atmosphere. Hold thy gaze to the light, and the iris of
faith, more beautiful than the rainbow seen from my
window at the close of a balmy autumnal day, will span [30]
thy heavens of thought.
[pg 356]
A radiant sunset, beautiful as blessings when they take [1]
their flight, dilates and kindles into rest. Thus will a
life corrected illumine its own atmosphere with spiritual
glow and understanding.
The pent-up elements of mortal mind need no terrible [5]
detonation to free them. Envy, rivalry, hate need no
temporary indulgence that they be destroyed through
suffering; they should be stifled from lack of air and
freedom.
My students, with cultured intellects, chastened affec- [10]
tions, and costly hopes, give promise of grand careers.
But they must remember that the seedtime is passed,
the harvest hour has come; and songs should ascend
from the mount of revelation, sweeter than the sound of
vintage bells. [15]
The seed of Christian Science, which when sown was
“the least of all seeds,” has sprung up, borne fruit, and