Independent Christian Science articles

Mind’s Control Over the Body

From the August 7, 1915 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

From time immemorial, humanity, striving to be better and purer, has sought to control the body, and Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 417) that it is important to understand “the complete control which Mind holds over the body.” It would take many volumes to describe with any degree of accuracy the well-nigh innumerable ways and means which have been used by mortals in the attempt to bring their bodies into subjection. When the motive has been solely ethical or religious, the results have been apparently most grotesque and unsatisfactory. Efforts to chastise the body or to render it insensible have led to pitiable exhibitions and mutilations, thus making the physical more conspicuous and more obtrusive instead of reducing it to relative unimportance. So likewise has the attempt to control the body by drugs, manipulations, injections, and the like, proved unfortunate. The more attention the body has received, the more it has seemed to demand. Even when the motive has been purely esthetic, the pampered flesh has not rewarded the care expended upon it and real beauty has vanished in proportion as artificial aids have been considered necessary.

Perhaps the least illogical of the illusions about the body has been the athletic point of view, which seeks to gain and to establish power, grace, and activity and place the body in subjection to the law of dominion by exercising it. It should be recognized that law is mental, not physical, and therefore to bring the body into subjection to law for any purpose, whether it be religious, curative, esthetic, or athletic, necessarily involves a mental modus operandi. Christian Science shows how this control is to be accomplished in a Christian and scientific manner. The general practice of doing this has seized the problem at the wrong end. The right practice is just as necessary today as it was in the time of Paul, and it involves being “absent from the body” and “present with the Lord.” Paradoxical as it may seem, the only sure way of controlling the body is to be absent from it. To be present with Christ, Truth, means the rejection of materiality and reveals man as wholly spiritual, governed by the law of God, Spirit, and not by matter.

The inevitable effect of dwelling constantly in the thought of the body is set forth on page 260 of the Christian Science text-book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mrs. Eddy: “Selfishness and sensualism are educated in mortal mind by the thoughts ever recurring to one’s self, by conversation about the body, and by the expectation of perpetual pleasure or pain from it; and this education is at the expense of spiritual growth.” Thus the attempt to spiritualize thought by making the body a first consideration, either by punishing it, starving, drugging, or exercising it, is doomed to failure, because such action constantly recalls it to one’s attention and revives it in one’s thought. Obviously, then, the true way of controlling the body, to make it subservient instead of masterful, is to turn away from the contemplation of it. It is not possible to reach the kingdom of heaven, the consciousness of the presence of God as All, by a choice of foods. Neither dieting nor fasting can procure for us this state of consciousness, but being “present with the Lord” can and does accomplish this. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” writes the apostle. Lay down this false sense of man as a material body, even the generally accepted teachings of anatomy and physiology, and present man as the spiritual, incorporeal idea of divine Mind, then the sacrifice of the false is complete and the presentation of the true has taken place.

This realization of the truth about man cannot, however, be reached without a preliminary spiritual understanding about God. It is the genius of Christian Science that it bases its teachings wholly upon God as first cause, Principle, source, and origin of all that has existence. Popular opinion is rapidly outgrowing the belief that God is corporeal. We are today very far from the primitive notion of God as a being who can be depicted or outlined in painting or statue. The savage with his hideous idols, and the artist in bygone ages who ventured the attempt to give form to God, would find no acceptance today in popular opinion for their concepts. Yet the thought of God as person, with attributes and characteristics common to human persons, such as jealousy and the desire for punishment and revenge, has by no means disappeared. For great multitudes God is still an object of fear, and not in the Biblical sense of fear as reverence, but rather as downright fright. In the imagination of innumerable individuals God is still the watchful parent waiting to catch them in their misdeeds and administer to them the strokes of correction. It still remains to displace this false picture by the impersonal understanding which Christian Science teaches, namely, that “God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love” (Science and Health, p. 465). The divine nature thus explained cannot inspire fear, but on the other hand evokes admiration, adoration, and love.

This understanding makes God available in the hour of temptation, sin, sickness, suffering, and sorrow. From this understanding also the student of Christian Science can advance to the spiritual perception of man as the idea of divine Mind, discarding the false belief that he is a material body that needs to be either drugged or dieted, pampered or pounded into health and harmony. Man as idea reflects or expresses divine perfection, and the realization of this is what brings well-being to the human consciousness, and so to the substratum of mortal mind, namely, the physical body.

The road to health for the physical body lies through metaphysics. Physics cannot reach the source of being, nor accomplish any more for the body than to indulge its false beliefs. Metaphysics of the right kind, based upon the teachings of the great Master, illustrated by his glorious works, and explained by Christian Science in our own time, brings the body into subjection to Truth and leaves it in the control of Principle. Therefore whosoever would establish a spiritual ascendency over physical sense and thus become a law unto himself, can do so by placing himself under the law of God, which governs man harmoniously. Before this law all manifestation of weakness, disorder, pain, or stagnation will vanish; all riotous desire for self-indulgence will fade away; mad ambition, equally with self-love and egotism, will be corrected; the overweening sense of self-importance which comes from constant thought about physique will yield to the joyous emancipation from material thraldom. Then will remain the spiritual satisfaction of unity with God, and humanity, no longer trammeled by the fear or love of the material body, will reach the true perception of the atonement, the at-one-ment of God and man, Principle and idea.

Labor of Love

From the August 31, 1918 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

In the language of affairs the word labor has acquired a restricted sense which does an injustice to the word itself and to those associated therewith. In this sense labor is defined as meaning, “Those who labor; the laboring class collectively.” In the United States a special holiday has been set apart under the designation of Labor Day. In order that the meaning of this day may be raised from matter into mind, it must be recognized that all labor is primarily mental, and that all who think productively belong to the classification of “those who labor.” In this manner Labor Day acquires a meaning transcending class and condition. One step further in our metaphysical definition brings us to the recognition that the highest type of labor is the labor of love,—and wherein can human beings most assuredly perform this labor of love for their fellow men? The scientifically Christian answer indicates that the highest service to others is to ascend one’s self out of the valley of mist into the radiant heights of Truth, thereby drawing others unto the light.

Man as the exact image and likeness of God thinks invariably in accord with perfect Mind; indeed cannot think otherwise, for there is nothing imperfect in the divine Mind. The unreflecting human may argue that these statements are academic and superfine, hence of no practical value. But at this point divine Science becomes Christian Science through its application to human needs, for human footsteps must be taken in Christian Science. Here then is the answer to the cry of the sick and wounded, the shocked, the betrayed, the sinning, and the hopeless. Here is the supreme labor of love. Behold, the truth can be realized here and now and thereby failing strength can be restored, blurred vision cleared, hate replaced by love, and sorrow wiped away by joy.

The reward of labor corresponds to the quality of labor. If the sowing of the seed has been a labor of love, the harvest will satisfy abundantly. If the builder communes with God when he lays the foundations of the house, his labor of love will withstand the attempts of hate or jealousy to undermine it. As the psalmist sang: “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” The sentinel who does not love the army of truth and liberty may go to sleep at his post; the merchant who dislikes or mistakes his vocation fails to serve his customers properly; the housekeeper who cannot make of her occupation a labor of love cannot make a happy home for others. So the child who cannot be interested in school work wishes to play truant in order to find something he can enjoy. The fruit tree yields “fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.” In human experience seeds of fear, envy, self-pity, revenge, produce bitter fruit and sour grapes; but in the absolute Science of real being the seed is of good quality only and the fruit good. In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 507) Mrs. Eddy has written: “Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas material. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all—as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind’s infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product.”

In Christian Science the approach to the solution of the problems of mankind is through the realization of Truth. Therefore the work of healing and regenerating becomes a labor of love. Those who sit in darkness are sufficiently punished by that darkness. The light brings them deliverance; their prayerful desire is answered; they themselves become laborers in God’s vineyard and the cycle of good, in the unity of good, continues “yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.” These “are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

To lift the concept of labor out of matter into joyous mental activity will answer pending questions of church and state, school and factory. Much contention arises to-day from the mistaken concept that labor must be drudgery, must be ill requited and forced upon unwilling masses. But behold the labors of those who seek distraction, the endless pains people will give themselves to pursue what they crave, the hardships faced by the explorers, by those who love nature enough to wrest its secrets from it, by students of recondite subjects! Think of the mothers of children, whose work is never done; the nurses watching beside the sick; the generals in the field, and especially the reformers working to save the world, while the world knows them not!

God is on the side of honest labor. His law sustains it, gladdens it, makes it fruitful. His reward is sure. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 384 of Science and Health: “Let us reassure ourselves with the law of Love. God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his protest against this belief in order to annul it.”

Let this then be the preeminent labor of love to-day, to ease the burden of those “that labour and are heavy laden” by cheerfully rising through demonstration into the heights. Thus will Labor Day and every day be a veritable day of love for all mankind.

Classification

From the September 30, 1916 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

LET classification be done by divine Science, and not by human knowledge so called. The latter sins against Truth and tyrannizes over mankind. Custom classifies persons as good or bad, young or old, strong or weak, healthy or diseased, wise or foolish. It differentiates according to sex, color, race, nationality, religion, personal appearance, height or breadth. In some cases it even seems to delight in separating human beings into masters and slaves, in herding them into antagonistic professions and rival occupations, in creating menial servitude, in exalting one type and depressing another. Such classification may pretend to follow lines supposed to be mental as well as physical, but in reality it must deal wholly with material conditions because dictated by a supposititious material mind.

Thus for the sake of convenience, customary classification tends to create classes into which individuals can permit themselves to be thrust and from which they can be prevented from emerging except through spiritual understanding. Mortal mind describes persons much in the same manner as Adam named “every living creature” in the Scriptural allegory of the false creation, and with the Adam name goes the Adam nature and the Adam law of sin, sickness, and death. Therefore one of the principal objections to the customary classification is the swarm of Adam laws which accompanies such classification. The numerous physical sciences are special sinners against mankind in this respect. Mistaking man for material instead of spiritual, they classify him as subject to material law and thus entangle mortal man in a network from which he can be saved only by Spirit’s proper classification, which reveals the real man to be the idea of divine Mind, subject only to the spiritual law of God.

Mrs. Eddy gives the cure for false classification in the following words : “Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof” (Science and Health, p. 513). Spiritual understanding of the nature and attributes of God provides the standard of true classification for man. Then if the sinning or sick person appeals for help, what should be the scientific mental attitude of the helper? The sin and the sickness are only mesmeric conditions of personal sense; therefore they can be separated from the person who needs to be saved or healed. The wrong classification can be corrected. Spiritual intuition reveals the real man of God’s making as ever expressing divine qualities, thinking true thoughts, obeying spiritual law, and so dwelling in the gracious security of Mind undefiled.

Paul made some striking classifications when, in the epistle to the Galatians, he listed “the works of the flesh” over against “the fruit of the Spirit.” On page 252 of “Miscellaneous Writings” Mrs. Eddy states, “Christian Science classifies thought thus : Right thoughts are reality and power ; wrong thoughts are unreality and powerless, possessing the nature of dreams.” In the epistle referred to above, Paul writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Here then is the true classification, which does not draw a line of separation between man and man or man and woman, but between the Son of God and Adam, between truth and error, reality and unreality, between the divine law and the beliefs of law based upon pretended human knowledge.

Mortal mind in attempting to classify, condemns. It is constantly trying to weave a web of restrictions and limitations. or to confine mankind to a fatal groove, to the routine of sin and death. The divine classification admits no extraneous considerations, but goes straight to the mark. It declares, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” What if “the world knoweth us not”? God does know us for He has classified us as His image and likeness.

“Arise, let us go hence”

From the September 28, 1918 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

Let us arise and leave behind the old theories which have been found wanting, the sterile philosophies, the threatening theologies, and the sad solemnities of mourning for the dead. In that deeply compassionate fourteenth chapter of John, in which Jesus is described as comforting his disciples by promising them the “Spirit of truth,” he is also represented as telling them that he was going away. He even felt constrained to say: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

The roots of indolence strike deep in human consciousness. When they are watered with fear they grow into a hard fiber which is known as stubbornness. There is generally an instinctive reluctance to go forward. Indolence seeks worldly wisdom as an ally, and hopes thereby to find the line of safety; but the only real safety lies in obedience to God,—as Jesus expressed it, “And as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” When the Christian Scientist permits himself to be halted in his spiritual progress by the twin highwaymen, indolence and fear, he is in danger of being robbed of his spiritual understanding. On page 24 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” Mrs. Eddy writes: “Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and instigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.” In physics the natural indisposition on the part of matter to move, its apparent resistance to change, is called inertia. Christian Science shows that there is no matter and that the mental state called materiality is fundamentally inert, because it is unintelligent, and of itself incapable of motion, or of acting as cause or effect.

Whither then shall we go? Leaving all for Christ, having discounted all earthly attractions, and placing our reliance solely on God, are we willing to go away as the Master did? In reality there is no elsewhere into which to go. God is here, heaven is here. Going hence is a mere figure of speech, for God’s man constantly abides in God’s peace. God’s work was finished in the beginning. The advancing Christian Scientist rejoices in this. He leaves nothing real behind, but finds the whole creation everywhere. No vain regrets, no baffled plans mar his joy when he follows the Christ, Truth, as it calls to him, “Arise, let us go hence.” In the words of Isaiah he answers, “Here am I; send me.”

Public opinion does not believe in what it terms miracles. Christian Science shows that the so-called miracle is the normal expression of spiritual activity. The carnal mind says of some individual, He is sick unto death; only a miracle can save him. Christian Science replies, Let the miracle be performed, for there is nothing impossible with God,—and behold, the sick man is healed. In the same way the human verdict declares that a certain situation must lead to war, only a miracle can avert it; but Christian Science, reiterating the good news of God’s omnipotence, causes the warlike clouds of hate and distrust to vanish.

In vain do the hands of false religion try to prevent this new pilgrim’s progress by clutching at his seamless robe, when he has decided to rise and go hence. He keeps his shining face upturned to the light of Truth, not faltering in the forward step. The white light streams in a glorious flood upon his path. The gates of New Jerusalem open to him. There is no material temple there, no idol worship, no accuser, no false self that can experience sin, disease, fear, or death.

Christian Science has brought to view the full realization of man’s perfection, in which there is no hurt, no suffering. As Mrs. Eddy writes on page 76 of Science and Health: “The sinless joy,—the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain,—constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence is scientific and intact,—a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science.”

Thus Christian Science gently leads those who have been made ready, out of the old dispensation wherein evil was believed to be real, into the new dispensation which destroys evil by proving its nothingness, and which knows only the good of God. The remnant of Israel spoken of by Isaiah arise and go hence to abide in the presence of divine Love, clad with the immortality of Life.

Christian Science: The Promised Comforter

A Lecture Delivered by William D. McCrackan, M.A., Member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., March 6, 1914, from the June 1914 issue of the Christian Science Journal

DEEP down in the heart of every one is an ideal which represents what mankind would like to be. It is well for humanity if this ideal stands for the highest human concept of nobility, purity, grace, honesty, perfection. Sometimes it must seem so vague that it can hardly be expressed in words; at other times it may seem so sacred that people do not speak of it even to their closest friends. In moments of clearest and most exalted thinking, however, it should present itself as an ideal of the perfect man, possessing dominion and authority over untoward circumstances, enjoying the right to holiness, happiness, health, and manifesting perspicacity, intelligence, ability to do and to be, strength to perform all duties, joy and love to beautify every task.

This ideal never entirely deserts mankind. When we have stumbled and fallen and risen again, there it is ready to greet us once more. When we have been temporarily overwhelmed by sin, sickness, or sorrow, and the clouds begin to lift, it reveals itself again, full of inspiration and encouragement, to cheer us on our way from sense to Soul. It prevents us from falling permanently under the influence of discouragement or disillusionment, and helps us to avoid the pitfall of cynicism, which would try to argue itself into our consciousness with advancing years. Above all, it is full of vigor, freshness, spontaneity, and alertness; it radiates the beauty of holiness, and is anointed with the oil of gladness.

Now, if it could be shown that this ideal is no idle dream but a reality of being, and if we could have a proof of this fact, the news would be glorious indeed. If it could be shown that even an approximation toward it is possible here and now, the discovery would prove of the highest value to suffering humanity. This ideal man already exists in consciousness as the man of God’s creation, who lives and moves and has his being in God, who represents God, is the idea of the divine Mind, the manifestation of Spirit, the expression of eternal Life and of eternal Love. He always has existed and always will exist as the Christ-idea so clearly perceived and understood by the Master, who was justly called “Jesus the Christ,” “Jesus the anointed,” the “God-crowned” (Science and Health, p. 313).

The Ideal Man

But of what nature is this ideal man, and where is he to be found? In matter? in the flesh? within the evidence and testimony of physical sense? The reply must be No, for all such evidence speaks only of imperfection, of temporary and unstable conditions, of a supposedly perishable man, doomed to extinction from his very birth. The evidence of physical sense does not embrace and therefore cannot testify to this ideal man. Spiritual testimony alone can reveal this real man of God’s creation.

According to the testimony of physical sense, there is no salvation from material disability, no way out except to die out. It is a losing battle against the elements, against the supposed forces of nature, against what are regarded as ruthless, destructive powers. Physical sense knows of no central Principle, no eternal Life, no invariable Truth, no inexhaustible Love capable of shattering evil and delivering mankind. Evidently we must go behind mere appearance to find the ideal man and the divine law which operates to remove the veil and reveal the reality. Only then shall we find that beyond the perception of physical sense there is true substance, spiritual and not material, which fadeth not away, but is eternal and indestructible. This is the substance concerning which Isaiah declared, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”

According to the Hebrew prophet, physical hearing and sight cannot reveal what God has in store for him who seeks true salvation. The testimony of physical sense is not competent to inform man about the truth of being, the eternal facts of existence, nor to solve the problems of human want and woe. Paul refers to “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;” for “the things which are seen,” he declares, “are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It is in the realm of the unseen and the eternal that man finds his true being and his true ideals. Thence comes the Saviour, sent in the name of the divine Father. From this source alone spring the healing waters of divine compassion,—from God, who is Mind, and not from matter.

Deliverance of Mankind

The Christ-idea, then, comes to save, to brush aside the false testimony and establish the true. The need of mankind is to be delivered from its woes, to be set free from its miseries. It reaches out for help against sickness, sin, and death. It prays for holiness, happiness, and health. And what are the prevailing methods put forth to meet this want? The unprejudiced observer is bound to declare that never during the whole course of history have such efforts been put forward to improve human conditions as at the present time. This is preeminently an altruistic age. In our time people can no longer contemplate with equanimity the spectacle of injustice, oppression, sorrow, impairment of faculties, failure, and want in others. The desire to reform evil conditions, to bring order out of chaos, to insure to all the blessings of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is becoming paramount in human consciousness and is manifesting itself in numberless ways.

The earth is dotted with institutions whose purpose it is to relieve mankind from the grasp of evil. Churches there are in great numbers designed to show mankind the way of escape from sin, and to increase holiness, spirituality, and purity among men. A multitude of material methods are being tried to combat disease and to establish health. A multitude of amusements and entertainments are devised to distract mankind from the contemplation of its miseries, and yet in spite of all these efforts men still cry out to be delivered from their woes and will not be permanently comforted. It would seem as though the prevailing methods were inadequate to meet the great need, as though they had been weighed and found wanting when balanced against the great mass of human woe.

Complete Salvation

Christian Science declares that Christianity, when scientifically understood, is amply capable of fulfilling all the legitimate desires of mankind; that it brings a complete salvation, reforming the sinner, comforting the sorrowing, healing the sick, giving hope to the discouraged strength to the weak, rest and peace to those harassed and haunted by that arch enemy, that chief procurer of all evil conditions, namely, fear.

Christian Science does not reserve this help for a future state of existence, but declares it to be available now. It does not encourage the supposition that salvation is for a select few, but teaches that salvation is open to all men, can be earned by all, that to each individual is granted the power and ability to work out his own salvation. In thus pronouncing itself, Christian Science does not reject a single one of the fundamentals of the Christian religion. It bases itself upon the inspired word of the Bible, and acknowledges one God, one Christ, one Comforter. It explains the atonement as denoting man’s at-one-ment with God, and so leading to the salvation of men. It teaches the prayer of faith, which James assures us shall not only save the sinner but also the sick.

When we come to examine more particularly into the reason why the prevailing efforts to establish holiness, happiness, and health among men are inadequate to meet the demands made upon them, we shall find that this is due, in great measure, to the materialism which mars their efficiency. Why should these wellmeant endeavors so constantly meet with disappointment and defeat?

In the first place, the power of God to save and to heal is by no means unquestioned by prevailing public opinion. This power is sometimes supposed to be exercised with favoritism. Mankind has been bewildered by the commonly accepted teaching about prayer, about heaven, about the acts recorded as miracles. Christian Science puts order into these unscientific modes of thought. It is constructive instead of destructive. It rears upon the simple teachings of the lowly Nazarene a structure perfectly fitted in all its parts, unshakable in time of storm and stress, because built upon the rock of spiritual understanding. A brief examination into the prevailing methods for meeting man’s innate desire for holiness, happiness, health, and heaven will show the reason for this lack of success.

Holiness and Happiness

There is perhaps a nearer approach to agreement among men on the subject of the essential nature of holiness than there is regarding the nature of happiness, health, or heaven. Holiness is quite generally conceded to be a spiritual state, a state of consciousness, to be derived from the understanding of God. It would be difficult to find any one who would insist that holiness was a material or a physical condition. It is obviously spiritual in its nature, and thus dependent upon spiritual conditions. There is an almost universal agreement upon the fact that holiness is a distinctly religious experience, that spirituality and purity are fostered and maintained by religion.

When we come to the consideration of happiness, we find that the agreement among men is less complete. It is not universally admitted that happiness, like holiness, is a state of consciousness and is to be derived from the understanding of God. For many people happiness seems to be a material condition, dependent upon material circumstances and environment, and to be acquired and maintained by material means. It is probably no exaggeration to say that for the majority of mankind happiness means the acquisition and accumulation of material things. For some it consists in the exercise of personal power and control over others; for some, perhaps, in the expression of the artistic impulse.

In spite of all these mistaken opinions, however, experience and science alike show that the more of matter a man accumulates the less genuine satisfaction he feels; the more he follows the promptings of the carnal or material mind, the more misery he encounters; the more he builds up his own will, indulges his own personal desires, the more certainly he misses the mark for which he is aiming. Entirely separate from the delusions of wilful pleasure and self-indulgence is the consciousness of true happiness. They who would be anointed with the oil of gladness must recognize happiness to be a state of consciousness, dependent upon spiritual understanding and derived from the source of all good—from God Himself. Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has characterized happiness as “spiritual, born of Truth and Love” (Science and Health, p. 57).

The Subject of Health

When we come to the consideration of the subject of health, we find even less agreement among men as to its essential nature and origin. It must be frankly admitted that for almost all men health is believed to be wholly a material condition, dependent upon material means, so called, at the mercy of material forces, and to be fostered or preserved by material remedies. According to public opinion, health stands in quite a different category from either holiness or happiness and is in no way related to them. Upon the supposition that health can be established and maintained by material means, a great many systems have been built up whose purpose it is to discover and apply such means to the safeguarding of private and public health.

There is one special characteristic which these material systems possess in common. They all assume that in order to know anything about health one must first know all about disease; that in order to impart health one must first immerse one’s self in a profound study of its supposed opposite, of that which is not health, never will be and never can be, namely, disease. This is very much as though some one, in his desire to know all about mathematics, should first study the mistakes that can be made in attempting to apply the rules of mathematics, immerse himself in a profound study of that which is not mathematics, never will be and never can be, that, indeed, which is the negation or absence of mathematics. Again, it is as though a man, in his desire to know all about light, its properties and laws, should make a profound study of darkness, of that which is not light, never will be and never can be, that which is the negation or absence of light. He who would learn to express music does not begin by studying discord, nor does he who would become a good detector of counterfeit money study the counterfeit. Rather does he strive at all times to familiarize himself with the genuine.

The assumption seems to be that somehow health is dependent upon disease, that health must ask permission of disease in order to be, that disease is a positive fact, while health is only a negative condition. Now, it might be possible for a man to know all there is to know about disease, yet have no health himself and no way of imparting it to others.

Health a Fact

Christian Science proves that health is an entity, a state of consciousness, that it is a positive fact. Like holiness, like happiness, health is spiritual and mental in quality, and, like them, is to be derived from a right understanding of God. In order to find the truly Christian and scientific concept of health, let us turn to the Scriptures. Christian Science bases its testimony wholly upon the Scriptures. In them we find that David spoke of God as the health of his countenance. He also referred to God’s “saving health among all nations.” Again he says that it is the Lord “who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.”

The prophet Isaiah declared concerning the result of true repentance, which is, of course, a spiritual or mental change, “Thine health shall spring forth speedily.” He also prophesied concerning the coming of the Messiah, of him who should make clear to mankind the truth about God and man.”Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”

Coming to the New Testament, we find Jesus healing the sick by spiritual means, without regard to any material methods or remedies whatsoever, looking to God as the source of all health, teaching his disciples to do the same, urging them not only to “preach the gospel” but to “heal the sick” as well. We find the early Christians continuing this natural and normal method of healing, until the period when Christianity became a state religion, some three or four hundred years after the crucifixion. Then slowly this Christian and scientific view of health became practically obsolete, until its rediscovery in modern times by Mrs. Eddy.

It is significant that Mrs. Eddy placed the word “health” in the title of the text-book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” in which she announced her discovery of Christian Science to the world. Among her many references to health in that work we note in this connection the following: “Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind.” “The basis of all health, sinlessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is the only Mind.” “If God were understood instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health” (pp. 120, 339, 203).

It will be seen, therefore, that in this, as in all its teachings, Christian Science coincides with the Scriptures in declaring that health is a mental or spiritual condition and is to be derived from the understanding of God. The way to health is not material, but spiritual. The establishment and maintenance of health is not a question of physics, but of divine metaphysics. It is not pagan, but Christian; not fortuitous or experimental, but demonstrable and scientific.

What Is God?

This inquiry as to the nature of holiness, happiness, and health, and their origin, points unmistakably to the further question, What is God? The answer to this latter question can alone supply the spiritual understanding which saves the sick and the sinner, which shows the way to holiness, happiness, and health.

At the very beginning of our inquiry into the nature of God we meet a common objection which has frequently deterred mankind from trying to know God. It has been commonly believed that God is wholly mystical and mysterious, that Spirit is shadow, while matter is substance. It has been assumed that while man might observe and dogmatize to his heart’s content about physical phenomena, he could never really know anything about fundamental cause; while he might ascertain the operation of law, he could never hope to acquire any certain knowledge about law-governing Principle.

Because of these fundamental errors religion has been deemed to be visionary, problematical, of very little practical import, and largely a matter of blind belief or sentiment. There is no question that false notions about God have haunted and harassed mankind and have been productive of sin, sickness, and death. In removing these false notions Christian Science is performing a great service to mankind.

God Is One

In defining God, Mrs. Eddy uses the terms Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. She has laid special emphasis on the unity of God. God is one. There are not gods many. It is not possible to conceive of more than one first cause, to think of more than one original source of creation.

The evident unity of the universe, its homogeneity, the revolving of the stars in their orbits without clash or interference,—all these point to some central plan, to one guiding hand, one directing Mind. God’s universe is infinite, and it follows from this fact that there is nothing outside of His universe, that all which has existence, reality, or entity is comprised within that universe and is subject to divine control. The oneness of God also declares the brotherhood of man. Having one God makes all men the children of one FatherMother, and so establishes our fraternal relationship.

It is evident that the belief of gods many lies at the base of all strife between men and nations. If different religious denominations, different political groups, and different racial units each possess a different god, then it becomes the duty of each to fight in behalf of their own god, and the result is pandemonium. But if there is only one God governing the universe, including man, then obedience to that one God insures peace, cooperation, and mutual helpfulness among men and nations. The Science which is giving man an understanding of the one God is, therefore, providing the final cure for all religious, social, political, and economic conflicts and contests.

God Is Principle

Scholastic theology has generally applied the term person to God, and in so doing has tended to perpetuate the notion of an anthropomorphic or manlike god. The word person conveys the impression of a being with human attributes, human limitations, and human imperfections, capable of being outlined and formed. It can readily be seen how this attempt to outline God would tend to produce idolatry.

Again, a person may be influenced by temporary conditions and be capable of favoritism, may show partiality. The term Principle is not open to any of these objections. God as Principle never varies, never changes, is absolutely reliable, dependable at all times and under all circumstances. It is the very nature of Principle to be ever active, lawful, unmoved by personal considerations. Thus the term Principle as applied to God has been found to enhance man’s confidence in Him, to increase his trust in God’s impartiality, justice, and power.

God Is Spirit

Every step in the direction of the right understanding of God brings its own reward. The study of each of the synonyms for God leads to practical conclusions which become at once available in every-day experience. The use of the word Spirit in defining God reveals the essential nature of man, for the Scriptures assure us that man was made in the image and likeness of God; then, if God is Spirit, as Jesus declared to the Samaritan woman, man must be spiritual, must partake of the nature of God. This description of man is at variance with the teaching of scholastic theology that man is a miserable sinner, and with the teaching of the so-called physical sciences that man is a material mechanism.

The saving and healing practice of the Founder of the Christian religion was based upon spiritual understanding, not upon the evidence of sensetestimony. The theology, medicine, and science of Jesus were all one. His understanding of God and of man constituted the whole of his culture and learning, and made him the wisest as well as the most scientific of all men. He did not need one kind of wisdom in order to save the sinner, another kind to heal the sick, and yet another to enable him to walk the waves and still the storm. His understanding of God made him master over sin, sickness, death, and material law, gave him authority to say to the man sick of the palsy not only “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” but also “Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk,” and to command the storm to cease with his authoritative “Peace, be still.”

God Is Love

The definition of God as Love, given by John, leads immediately to the understanding that God did not make evil. It is inconceivable that Love could be the author and distributor of evil, and this comforting conclusion places evil where it belongs, namely, outside the infinite realm of a wholly good God, in the outer void of nothingness. If evil is of God’s creation, it can never be destroyed. If it is a reality, it is eternal and indestructible. But if it is a mistake or delusion about the truth, it can be swept aside in order that the truth may be revealed. Jesus declared of personified evil that it was “a liar, and the father of it.” Christian Science follows in the footsteps of the Master’s teaching and brands all evil as false in its essential nature, without real law, without real origin.

When we come to consider the essential nature of matter, the question arises, Is matter of God’s creation? Is God, who is Spirit, the creator of that which is so unlike Himself? It should be noted that thinkers in all ages have found it very difficult to define matter. The most successful definitions have been in terms of mind, that is, have been metaphysical, not physical. The theory about matter which has prevailed but is now waning, is called the atomic theory. This presupposes that matter can be finally subdivided into particles so minute that they can no longer be further subdivided. These final particles are called atoms, but they cannot be apprehended by the physical senses, upon whose testimony they depend for their claim of existence. They can only be imagined, supposed, assumed.

At this point there arises a metaphysical difficulty which has never been successfully explained away. The human mind cannot conceive of a particle being incapable of subdivision so long as it continues to be something. The human mind argues that if a particle is something, it can still be further subdivided. Only if the particle should become nothing would it cease to be capable of being subdivided. This argument of the human mind leads to the following dilemma: Either matter must be conceived of as being capable of being subdivided ad infinitum, which is an absurdity, or else matter must finally be reduced to the point of zero, or nothing.

In recent years the popular supposition that matter is indestructible substance has received some very marked modifications. The theory that the atom has substance has now given place to the theory that the atom is an electrical ion, and that the electrical ion is equivalent to energy, or to a form of motion. The more the atom is pursued the more evanescent it becomes, until it is reduced to a mere supposition.

Matter an Error

Now, if matter resolves itself into an assumption, it is obvious that its seemingly pernicious activities can be corrected mentally, through spiritual understanding, through Christ, Truth. If matter is not an independent entity, dictating terms to man, but is under control through Christian Science, then one of the most prolific sources of fear has been overcome,—the fear that matter is an uncontrollable power urging man forward to an irresistible doom. Public opinion is being constantly prepared, through the investigation of the physicists themselves, to accept the conclusions reached by Mrs. Eddy so many years ago, that “matter is an error of statement” (Science and Health, p. 277).

It should be understood that God governs the universe, including man, through law. There is nothing accidental about His government, nor is it characterized by special interposition, favoritism, or partiality, but by immutable law. God’s law must inevitably partake of His nature, and so be wholly good, and wholly spiritual or mental. The law of God cannot be productive of evil, nor can it be physical or material. God’s law never ultimates in sin or sickness, nor does it produce the physical phenomna which destroy and maim the innocent and the defenseless. The law of destruction is the law of the carnal mind, of self-will, of mortality and personal sense, and it is curbed and made of none effect by the law of God.

Miracles

When we come to consider those acts recorded in the Scriptures, commonly called miracles, the questions which present themselves in regard to them are these: Were they performed according to law? Are they natural, normal, and legitimate manifestations of power, or are they unnatural, abnormal, and illegitimate? Do they represent an infraction of law, or are they in accordance with lawful procedure? Are they the manifestations of a special interposition of Providence, or the grant of a special privilege? Are they altogether exceptional and confined to a special time and place, or are they to be expected among all men, in all places, at all periods of the world’s history, in response to the definite and eternal law of God? In modern times, when confronted with the evidence of these acts recorded in the Scriptures, the tendency of mankind has been either to doubt the authenticity of the records, or to describe them as altogether exceptional and as the result of a special power conferred solely upon Jesus.

In reply to these views it must be said, in the first place, that these acts are as well authenticated as any that are recorded in history. It is just as easy to prove that certain historical events which are undisputed today never took place, as it is to prove that these miracles were not actual occurrences. Then, if they are believed to be the result of a special power conferred upon Jesus, this does not take into consideration similar acts recorded in the Old Testament, nor the works done by the disciples of Jesus and by the early Christians for several centuries. Neither does it take into account Jesus’ own commands and injunctions to his disciples, not only to “preach the gospel” but also to “heal the sick;” likewise his prophecy and promise that “he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father;” nor his statement, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

This makes it evident that in considering the acts recorded in the Scriptures, commonly called miracles, we are dealing, not with isolated instances, but with phenomena which manifest law. But what is the nature of this law? Is the law of spiritual transformation and healing a law of the carnal mind, as Paul calls it, or mortal mind, as Mrs. Eddy so aptly terms it? or is this the law of God? In the first place it should be recognized that the word miracle does not necessarily denote anything supernatural. The words used in the text to denote these acts mean marvels, object-lessons, or illustrations, wonderful indeed to human sense but perfectly natural to spiritual understanding, to that understanding which knows God and man as they really are. It is possible in each instance of a recorded miracle to recognize that the discord to be corrected is due to a supposed law of the carnal mind, while the correction is accomplished by the operation of the law of God. Paul summed up this whole process in a few words when he declared:”The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The Discoverer and Founder

The world owes the discovery of Christian Science, the rediscovery of the Principle by which the healing was done in Bible times, to a consecrated Christian woman, Mrs. Eddy. It was my great privilege to speak with Mrs. Eddy herself, to receive her advice and admonition, and I would like to bear testimony to the fact that I have never met any one who manifested so much of the universal, impartial, and divine Love as she did, and with it all a great sense of might, of the might associated with meekness, derived from an understanding of God as the one and only power.

It was in 1866 that Mrs. Eddy’s discovery of Christian Science took place as the result of her sudden recovery from an accident. For twenty years before that she had been studying the question of mental causation for all physical effects, but it was this sudden recovery which acted as a sign, showing her the way to the true healing as spiritual, as both Christian and scientific. She searched the Scriptures, taking the Bible as her only text-book, and finally, in 1875, published the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” She founded, one by one, all the various means by which Christian Science has been brought before the public, displaying in this beneficent work a wisdom and loving kindness which stamp her, not only as a great discoverer, but also as a large-hearted and broad-minded woman. Under her wise care the periodicals were established which illustrate the teachings of Christian Science in human affairs, and which go to all portions of the globe, carrying with them the glad tidings of spiritual healing and regeneration.

The Comforter

To those looking with hope and faith for better things, Christian Science comes as the Comforter promised by the Master. It shows that the right ideals which we have cherished and nourished are not idle dreams, but realities of God’s creation; that the ideal man is God’s man now; that the kingdom of God is at hand. It answers the cry of mankind for deliverance from its woes. It assures us that no sorrow is too deep, no sin too persistent, no sickness too severe, no question too perplexing, and no burden too heavy for the saving grace of spiritual understanding. It teaches us to know God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. It corrects the false concept of God as the supposed source of evil, shows that evil has no real origin, permanency, and power, and thus, once and for all, removes the sting of fear from our existence.

No more comforting statement was ever made than this from the Scriptures: “Perfect love casteth out fear.” Fear seems to be a component part of almost every case of sin, sickness, or crime. Banish fear, and a great percentage of all human woe would disappear. Christian Science is showing the way to do this. It is proving the correctness of its teachings by its works. It is going to those who are considered hopeless victims of bad habits and striking off their shackles. It is going to the bedside of those who have been declared incurable, because there is nothing in the whole range of material remedies which can reach their cases, and is making them well and strong again. It is going to families once disrupted by vice and misunderstanding, and is establishing peace and mutual respect.

To all those who are in need of any sort, whether harassed and haunted by pain or heartache or fear for the future, Christian Science says, with infinite compassion and with absolute certainty, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,”—the kingdom of heaven, the assurance of perfect safety and protection, the possession and enjoyment of holiness, happiness,, and health.

Toiled All The Night

From the February 1918 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

One of Simon Peter’s noblest qualities, namely his genuine trust in the Master, made him willing to declare, “We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” Toiling all the night in vain is the human method, but letting down the net in obedience to God’s command incloses “a great multitude of fishes.” Ecclesiastical ingenuity in its conceit has planned to further the progress of Christianity by the human method, only to find that the poor in spirit using the divine method inherit the kingdom and see God. The simple, single minded, poor in material belief but rich in spiritual perception, show the faith of the mustard seed and learn by obedience to remove mountains. Fears, tall as towers and acting in human consciousness as walled obstructions to spiritual progress, have vanished in a night with the dawning light of true understanding. The word of God was the healing touch which Jesus Christ brought to the world, the first ray of light to the dark ages. Mrs. Eddy toiled many years in the night, until Christian Science came into her consciousness with the light of revelation, and restored Christian healing to its rightful place.

Many parents have toiled all the night over the cradle in fear during the wakeful hours of their little ones, only to realize in the crisis how futile are human efforts in comparison with the application of Christian Science treatment. Practitioners have labored through the night in order to bring out a healing, until there came the quick assurance that God is the only physician and power, the only cause, and that His creation is the only effect. Then leaving the patient entirely in this powerful protection of God, that is, casting the net on the right side, the practitioner found that the work was finished, as it was in the beginning with God. To know the right words at the right time is to be constantly under the injunction to let the Spirit speak which quickeneth. Did not Jesus advise his disciples that Spirit would supply the needed words, when he said, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you”? Then let the Holy Ghost be heard through God’s word. Let there be no resistance to the outflow of the divine word, that the channels of consciousness may be opened wide to the golden tide of Christian healing. The compassionate touch of human kindness and gentle love, and the all-enduring spiritual power of Truth break the long night of toiling and discord and usher in an eternal day of concord.

Christian Science is needed in the sick room. The downhearted and downtrodden call for its uplifting, healing qualities. The spiritual glow of true metaphysics throws an effulgent light upon human sorrows, and wipes out the old way with the new. Every example of overcoming error given by Christian Scientists is a step forward and upward and an encouragement to those who are real workers in righteousness. All those who are willing to obey God can learn to handle and heal error of every kind, including disease, in the way of His choosing. Mrs. Eddy states clearly on page 378 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”: “Disease is not an intelligence to dispute the empire of Mind or to dethrone Mind and take the government into its own hands. Sickness is not a God-given, nor a self-constituted material power, which copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord.”

Those who are learning to “let down the net” in obedience can also handle the scourge of gossiping, the betrayal of confidences, the habit of condemning and judging, of defacing as well as debasing character. Such practices cause the perpetrators to drop the net on the wrong side, thus for the time being thrusting themselves out of the kingdom of heaven into perdition. The poisonous fires of jealousy, hatred, and envy burn up even the good human character, leaving only the charred outline of pitiless revenge. Human greed is never satisfied and cannot be satisfied. It finds no real reward in using evil elements, whether unconsciously or with evil intent. This sort of toil is carried on in the long night when mortal mind problems are met with mortal mind answers. Chaos, perplexity, dejection of spirit, and distrustfulness prove that the workings of the evil-minded contain no correct answers, but force from mankind the cry of distress, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!” The only real answer to human problems is God’s answer. He bids mankind turn aside from the ways of the carnal mind, for His way is one way, that of Spirit and not of matter.

As Simon Peter and the disciples found the true way after they had toiled all the night, so Christian Science has shown the people of this age the way out of toiling in sin, suffering, sickness, and sorrow, lifting the thought into health, joy, and spiritual content. As a rule people prefer to hear what pleases them, for the human ear readily admits the suggestions of educated beliefs and inherited doctrines, as well as the easy talk about matter. But the power of God through the discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy has forced humanity to listen to the new tongue, has caused scholastic beliefs to give way before the understanding of God and what He really is. Christian Science is breaking the night of cold conventionalities, material laws, and religious creeds and persecutions. It has brought the day that knows no toil and has placed man on the throne with God, coexistent with Him, giving him his true inheritance as the son of God and manifesting the aristocracy of God, man made in His image and likeness.

All who have been nurtured in the Christian faith

From the November 1916 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

All who have been nurtured in the Christian faith can recall the story of Mary’s flight into Egypt. Many artists during many centuries have been inspired by the dramatic aspect of this incident, and a well-known modern picture represents Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms and resting between the paws of the mythical Sphinx, while Joseph sleeps on the ground and the stars glitter in the eastern heavens. But what could have induced a Hebrew mother to take her child into Egypt for safety? Of all places of refuge surely this was the most unlikely to provide shelter and security to a child of Israel of tender years. Still a metaphysical explanation of this seeming paradox is at hand which contains a lesson and an inspiration for those striving Spiritward.

The familiar facts which led up to Mary’s flight into Egypt are these: the wise men from the east had come to Jerusalem, “saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” This had aroused Herod’s apprehension, but before he could take measures to discover Jesus, a very strange message came to Joseph “in a dream”: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

The author of the Christian Science text-book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” has revealed to humanity the true meaning of Jesus’ birth. No religious writer has ever explained Mary’s conception of Jesus with such profound spiritual insight and such loving solicitude as has Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. On page 29 of her epoch-making text-book we find these words: “Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God;” and also, “The Christ dwelt forever an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed.” It was “this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed,” which Mary sought to safeguard by fleeing into Egypt. Now, every scientific Christian must be ready to rescue his own conception of the Christ from the grasp of the would-be destroyer. Who has not, among those consecrated to Christian Science, experienced the moment when Herod was groping about in the darkness of intrigue to seize upon and destroy the young child. Is not this spiritual idea, when born to human consciousness, the most precious of possible possessions, and is there any earthly sacrifice too great to insure its safety and to keep it inviolate?

The hour of choice sometimes strikes unexpectedly. The scientific Christian may find himself amid surroundings of material ease which appeal to the drowsy sense of personal satisfaction. In such an environment the spiritual idea does not grow and wax strong. Perhaps persecution of a particularly subtle sort tries to stifle the spiritual idea, lest it take its rightful place on the throne of righteousness in the kingdom of consciousness. A substitute is then sometimes suggested which will be wholly acceptable to false belief and will not outrage material sense. Again there may come the time when the cares of this world and the loud cries of its hollow mockeries seem to cause neglect of the Christ. Indeed, the very conscientiousness in which merely human goodness takes, pride may become an occasion for neglecting the spiritual idea. A Martha “careful and troubled about many things” in church organization, may overlook the presence of the Christ who comes to save, to heal, and to raise the dead. Therefore when a choice seems necessary between Christ and the persecutions of a Herod, let there be not a moment’s hesitation. In order to rescue spiritual understanding, it is sometimes necessary to flee into Egypt itself, even to the extent of going into any place, any condition, where the spiritual idea may best be protected. There should be no tarrying even for one instant; every inducement to parley or make terms should be resisted. One thing only is required of the scientific Christian, namely, to possess the Christ-consciousness; having that, salvation is at hand, the sick are healed, the sad are comforted, the bound are set free.

Should the hour ever come when those who have the name but have not preserved the understanding of the Christ, attempt to separate the scientific Christian from the Son of God, let not even this secret sin, designed to deceive the elect, deceive him. He will follow faithfully the spiritual idea, nourish it, cherish it, abide by it, and steadfastly obey it. When we have chosen the one thing needful, the better part, Christ, Truth, will lead us out of every danger, break every yoke, lighten every burden, and dissipate every doubt.

Then, when the danger is passed, when Herod has fulfilled the destructive belief he held in reserve for others, there will come another angel or messenger, “saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.” Be certain that no paying tithe of mint and anise and cummin, required by pharisaical observance, no unguided human goodness, no precision of personal affairs, no mere avoidance of disagreeable matters, no smoothness of tongue or outward conforming, will save the sick or raise the dead. But Christ is sufficient for all things. Through good and evil report the Christian Scientist learns to safeguard his perception of the Christ and not to be afraid of Egypt, for truly even seeming darkness may be turned into a temporary abode of safety by the consciousness of “God with us.”

The Chimes of Liberty

From the May 4, 1918 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

Liberty is of God. The more men understand God’s power, the more liberty they have. In the liberty of God, men are tuned to each other in one grand harmony of unity. The chimes of spiritual liberty ring for victory even while physical sense seems to lie in bondage. They announce to receptive hearts the dawn of day, the reign of righteousness, of lessons learned, evil plans forestalled, revenge frustrated, hatred baffled — announcing the kingdom of heaven at hand!

The famous Liberty Bell of the United States was brought from England and recast in Philadelphia, and the following Bible text placed upon it: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” This proclamation is true to-day in a spiritual sense which the American patriots of Washington’s time could not have understood. Christian Science has caused the true song of liberty to be heard, liberty from sin, sickness, and the fear of death.

Through her discovery of Christian Science in 1866 Mrs. Eddy inaugurated another and greater struggle for liberty than the world had ever known, and for this the bells are today ringing in the hearts of uncounted thousands. She explained this struggle in an address delivered in Chicago in 1888, and to be found on page 101 of Miscellaneous Writings. There she says: “Christian Science and the senses are at war. It is a revolutionary struggle. We already have had two in this nation; and they began and ended in a contest for the true idea, for human liberty and rights. Now cometh a third struggle; for the freedom of health, holiness, and the attainment of heaven.”

Former invalids, doomed by material medicine to lifelong imprisonment, sing in their hearts that the truth has made them free in the true liberty of health; those who were once sick unto death are today robust and useful citizens by reason of it; little children given up as incurable run and play and rejoice in these chimes of liberty.

Christian Science holds out real liberty, and reconstructs the fallen lives on the sure foundation of the rock of the Christ healing power. The former slaves of bad habits, those who have been liberated from prisons and asylums by Christian Science, join in this great hymn of praise and thanksgiving.

Truly, as our dear Leader has said (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 343), “Among the manifold soft chimes that will fill the haunted chambers of memory, this is the sweetest: ‘Thou hast been faithful!’”

“I Serve”

From the Christian Science Sentinel, January 13, 1906, by

The ancient motto, “Ich dien” (I serve), which is attached to the crest of the Prince of Wales, deserves to be adopted by all practical Christians, for one of the unfailing signs of moral regeneration in human nature is the desire to serve. A tradition, which recent historical investigators are inclined to discredit, affirms that at the Battle of Crécy, in 1346, the fifteen-year-old Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, took this device from the helmet of the fallen King John of Bohemia. Be that as it may, the motto, “I serve,” has been associated for many centuries with princely rank, and has thereby emphasized a truth of rare significance. The desire to rule others may be part of the sordid sensuousness which mortals must outgrow, but the longing to serve can only proceed from noble aspirations, deep-seated love, and genuine tender-heartedness.

Jesus read his students one of his most impressive lessons upon this subject, upon the occasion when two of them asked him for place and power. He pointed out to them in kindly admonition that the “great ones” among the Gentiles “exercise authority upon them,” but that their greatness was to be of another sort. He said, “And who soever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” At another time, shortly before his betrayal and crucifixion, he illustrated his idea of service by the apparently menial and material act of washing the feet of his disciples, thus symbolizing the exalted spiritual service of purification which they and all others who should understand his teaching were to perform for mankind. He said, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”

This desire to serve must have expressed itself strongly in Mary of Magdala, after the “seven devils” had been cast out of her, for Luke tells us that she and other women “ministered unto” the Master. She was also among the faithful few who stood last at the foot of the cross and first at the open sepulchre. In Wagner’s opera of “Parsifal,” in which the theme of healing is introduced, there occurs a deeply impressive scene, which would tend to show that the great composer had knowledge of the marked trait in human nature referred to above. After Parsifal had freed Kundry from the spell which seemed to bind her to an evil life, her one hope, ambition, and glory was summed up in the idea of service. She is represented after her deliverance from sin as serving mutely, neither speaking nor singing, except to utter the one word “Dienen” (to serve).

It should not be forgotten that the word “minister,” in common use as an equivalent for preacher or pastor, means “servant” in Latin, and indicated that those who fill such offices should learn to serve mankind as Jesus did, following his example in its entirety,—not merely essaying to reform the sinner, but healing the sick as well. The word “service” in the vernacular of religious denominations loses its true significance when it becomes a mere rehearsal of creed and doctrine and fails to include healing as well as instruction.

Christian Science shows how it is possible here and now to follow Jesus’ example, so as to produce the fruits of health as well as those of holiness. The practice of Christian Science constitutes a metaphysical washing of the feet. It also liberates man’s inherent desire to serve others from the trammels of impotence and sin, and gives this desire free play to act naturally, spontaneously, and effectively. It is part of the first grand impulse of gratitude which rises in the heart of him who has been healed by Christian Science, to wish to help and heal others. Indeed this impulse is one of the marks that the true healing has taken place. The promptness and joyousness with which the newly-healed often taken up the task of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice, serves as a wholesome example.

The desire to serve bursts the shell of selfishness, lifts the burden of belief which would impose upon mankind a weighty sense of “cannot,” and cuts short the tendency in human nature to fatten on the words and works of others without contributing to the common weal. Service makes “doers” and not merely “preachers” of the word, and stamps Christianity as practical and immediately available. The union of noble leadership and unremitting service is beautifully illustrated in our own day by the life of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who bids Scientists follow their Leader “only so far as she follows Christ” (Message, 1902).

Planting the Seed

From the Christian Science Sentinel, March 23, 1918, by

The world war makes the question of planting the seed more pressing than usual. What shall the harvest be? Evidently, according to the nature of the seed, the quality of soil, and the application of labor. God must preside over the planting and watering of His vineyard that the fruit of substance and gladness may ripen within it. Humanity must prepare the soil of its consciousness with plow and harrow to receive the seed, and there must be laborers. Jesus once said as he viewed the fainting multitude, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” The complaint of the hour in agricultural lands repeats the statement that the laborers are few, for the war activities have called many of them away from the fields, and the time has arrived when the Lord of the harvest must be besought to supply the need.

Christian Scientists realize that there must be a spiritual preparation of men and nations before the artificial scarcity produced by hate and fear can be wiped out. Spiritual planting reverses the material procedure of agriculture. It requires gathering before sowing, receiving from God before dispensing to others. Therefore, in placing the whole problem of successful harvesting into metaphysics, the first requirement is seen to be receptivity on the part of human consciousness to the eternal, spiritual facts of being. With reference to agriculture, one of these facts is expressed in the Scriptural statement that God created “every plant of the field before it was in the earth.” Interpreting this text on page 520 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: “Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all through Mind, not through matter,—that the plant grows, not because of seed or soil, but because growth is the eternal mandate of Mind.” The real plant partakes of the nature of its creator, God, the divine Mind, and is idea, not matter. Therefore a wide prospect of usefulness to mankind opens before the farmer-metaphysician who will learn to gather, sow, and harvest mentally in accordance with the law of divine Mind before placing the seed in the earth. Thus agriculture may be delivered from the false beliefs of mortal mind which subject the plant to destruction by frost or drought, by pest or mildew.

The world may be reluctant to admit that planting the seed must be done with spiritual understanding in order to be safe from the assaults of evil mental manipulation, but this lesson must be learned along with many others during the world turmoil. The whole problem reduces itself to the question of causation. Is God Mind or matter? Christian Science has long since settled this question for all clear thinkers. Mind creates and controls the universe including “every plant of the field.” Then it is impossible to safeguard God’s plant while pretending to ignore God Himself. It is true that human belief, calling for material food, requires that the seed shall be planted in the earth. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 183 of Science and Health: “Can the agriculturist, according to belief, produce a crop without sowing the seed and awaiting its germination according to the laws of nature? The answer is no, and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first caused the condemnation of man to till the ground, and indicate that obedience to God will remove this necessity.”

Obedience to God brings fruition. It causes the grass to grow in meekness; it brings forth the savory herb, the nourishing grain, the fruit tree with blossom of beauty and refreshing fruitage. There will be no lack of vegetation when the agriculturist knows that God is Mind, and Mind the only creator, and that the product of Mind is ideas which, manifested as plants, are not subject to decay, but are perennial, with unfailing times of renewal and joyous upspringing.

Christian Scientists at this season are under special orders to plant the right seed in the right way and to watch over it night and day, for while men slept a ruthless enemy “came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way,”—and now the tares are appearing and need to be burned. Years before the hurling of bombs and grenades and the shooting of shrapnel and torpedoes, the sowing of mental tares began through a mental malpractice, whose purpose it was to uncover national weaknesses in order to exploit them, thus reversing the modus operandi of Christian Science practice, which uncovers error in order to heal. The sowing of discord among allies, of class wars within nations, of apathy, discouragement, of peace without repentance, leaving the malpractitioners to suppose they can gain full control of the world’s activities,—these are some of the tares which the farmer-metaphysician must now gather and burn because they were sowed “while men slept.”

But what of the coming harvest? Christian Scientists, by watching, may prevent any attempted mental interference with God’s plan. They may prevent the sowing of further tares; protect the blade, the ear, and the full grain in the ear; the Lord of the harvest will answer the prayer of spiritual understanding for laborers, and throughout the impending changes in human belief, famine and want can be checked by metaphysical planting of the seed of righteousness. Mrs. Eddy’s wonderful prophecy as found on page 125 of Science and Health remains to cheer the faithful right thinker: “The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agriculturist will find that these changes cannot affect his crops. ‘As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed.’ … and the florist will find his flower before its seed.”

Love is the liberator.