Independent Christian Science articles

The Way that is Best

From the May 31, 1919 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

Many have noticed how in one of his psalms King David expresses increasing confidence in God. First he says of the Almighty: “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.” He goes on to say, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” The word “wait” as here used means to be silent, to cease, to stand still; so the psalmist calls upon his inner sense to cease from mental contest with his enemies, to silence resentment, to stand still before God. Then he can repeat what he said before about God being his defense, or high place, but with added confidence; for he now says, “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.”

It is not at all strange that the Leader of the Christian Science movement should have understood well the spiritual experience of the psalmist, and should have enriched it with her vision of the Christ. From what she proved in her own life she was able to be interpreter for mankind of spiritual experience, and hence reveals the basis for that trust in God which cannot be moved. This she explains in “Retrospection and Introspection” (p. 93) thus: “The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action.”

It is the characteristic of error to have no silence, no peace, but to make perpetual invasion upon the quiet lives and the useful and peaceful occupations of the men of good will in the world; for as Isaiah says, “Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood.” Ezekiel describes the invasion of a city, saying, “Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, a men enter into a city wherein is made a breach;” so does it seem if one forgets that Mind is his defense, and allows the hordes of suggested thoughts to enter with their noise and confusion. David evidenced stages of recovery from the invasion of error in his case, saying first, “I shall not be greatly moved,” but ending with the actual realization, since he could emphatically say and know, “I shall not be moved.”

It is of highest import that every individual worker shall know how to win his victory in like manner when aggressive mental suggestions seem to surround his citadel—setting engines of war against the walls, and with axes striving to break down the towers. Just as the host of Ben-hadad fled from before Samaria, and when searchers “were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there,” so the cloud of false witnesses, the noisy arguments, distressing contention, irritating resentment, may all be dismissed. The one thing necessary is right action within, and that rests upon right attitude to God. Here again in the words of our Leader we find exact guidance, for Mrs. Eddy says in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 267): “The predisposing and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedience to God, spiritualizes man’s motives and methods, and crowns them with success; while disobedience to this divine Principle materializes human modes and consciousness, and defeats them. Two personal queries give point to human action: Who shall be greatest? and, Who shall be best? Earthly glory is vain; but not vain enough to attempt pointing the way to heaven, the harmony of being. The imaginary victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats. The Holy One saith, ‘O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river.'”

Our Master was appreciative because he valued the actual demonstration. One remembers well what he said about the widow’s offering of two mites, which together make only a farthing, and how he said of one whose offering was enriched by love, “She hath done what she could.” Paul was practical in this same matter, saying in regard to gifts, “It is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” Hence, for a man to reach his best requires no comparison of himself with others, but only his own decision within to wait on God, to silence human ambition, to cease from vainglory, to obey Love. Truly, the all-loving, all-knowing, all-acting divine Mind must know best, love best of all, act for the best. The obedient one, then, is not left to laborious self-maintenance, or to struggle with other contestants for supremacy. Out of all contests and strifes of tongues he is lifted. Disquieting rumors no more invade his peace; “he shall not be afraid of evil tidings.” He simply is not moved, since he knows goodness and greatness as one, and is obedient to both precept and example of the Master, of whom it was said that he “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Thus it is that intuition comes whereby Mrs. Eddy’s words in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 10) can be fully understood. In that Message she declares: “All that worketh good is some manifestation of God asserting and developing good. Evil is illusion, that after a fight vanisheth with the new birth of the greatest and best.”

Servants To God Only

From the June 1918 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

We find that a servant is “an agent who is subject to the direction and control of his principal;” and so when Paul speaks about “being made free from sin, and become servants to God,” we understand his metaphysical meaning to be that such a free man is an agent of Principle. The fact is, as the apostle brings out, that every man is the servant of that which he obeys. If he yields himself obedient to sin, he is sin’s servant; and if that service continues, it ultimates in death, “for the wages of sin is death.” On the other hand, obedience to Principle not only frees a man from sin’s dominion, but is itself expressed in righteousness; “made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness,” Paul says, and continues the analogy by urging that as their members had been serving vice, they should now dedicate them to righteousness and so evidence holiness or consecration.

The question is timely for every living man to-day: What is it that has the hold over you? What do you desire to obey? The question is timely because of the “war in heaven” wherein all that perfectly obeys Principle is meeting the assaults of everything that desires kingdom, and dominion, and power apart from Principle. No such kingdom as that of mortal mind, a “house divided against itself,” can stand. But even though the end of human ambition is death instead of enduring righteousness, human lust for godless power rises to mislead nation after nation and to torment the world. “Let us live while we live,” becomes the motto of those who seek a brief satisfaction for their animalism. Mrs. Eddy says regarding this (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 36): “Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety, are the animal qualities of sinning mortals.” Repentance and sorrow for sin would be the salvation of men from these conditions, but instead of this and obedience to God’s call, there is too often what Isaiah depicted, “Joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.”

Presumably the rich man whose lands were so fertile he planned to build greater barns and then to take his ease, was himself a good worker, toiling through the years for this final abundance. He may have been what we might call an honest materialist. It is an ancient temptation for the materialist, however, not to be honest, but to look upon the earth as a reservoir for the satisfaction of his animal propensities, and by simply taking from others what they possess, to have “much goods laid up for many years,” and be able, therefore, to “eat, drink, and be merry.” This is the hour when the true word can be understood regarding this false belief, as long ago declared: “He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”

The desire for gaining through might unearned advantages and possessions, indicates resentment against God’s call to obedience and holiness, and reveals indeed ill will to Principle itself. To gain by right seems a process too slow for the ambitious man, because he believes in the brevity of life. The Discoverer of Christian Science thus denounces this false belief (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 277): “I cannot help loathing the phenomena of drunkenness produced by animality. I rebuke it wherever I see it. The vision of the Revelator is before me. The wines of fornication, envy, and hatred are the distilled spirits of evil, and are the signs of these times; but I am not dismayed, and my peace returns unto me.” Further she says, “It is the love of God, and not the fear of evil, that is the incentive in Science.” Herein surely is both incentive for the repression of animal propensities and inspiration for our becoming servants to God only. How beautifully this service is spoken of in “Unity of Good” (p. 3): “Now this self-same God is our helper. He pities us. He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers. He is near to them who adore Him. To understand Him, without a single taint of our mortal, finite sense of sin, sickness, or death, is to approach Him and become like Him.”

This will be found true primarily,— that we obey what we love. But there is a secondary fact that a kind of obedience may be given to that which we fear. A man unenlightened may love sin and obey its behests with alacrity, not willing to pray the prayer which says, “Lead us not into temptation,” but rather inviting the tempter with a readiness to do whatever new thing might stimulate or intoxicate the jaded senses. And yet such a one, for fear of God, might on stated occasions go through forms of religion, or do penance or contribute heavily. Here everything is turned wrong way about. He fears where he should love, and loves what he should avoid. In such a state of mind, there is no mental health. The true way was stated by Jesus with perfect simplicity when he defined the First Commandment: “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” Of course the correlative to this must follow, bringing out love for man.

If we love God, then, we are servants to good only, and not in bondage to any man nor to any disease, fear, or false belief. People think of consecration as limitation, but it is a spiritual fact that consecration and liberty go together. Freedom and holiness are necessarily conjoined, and fullness of joy is one with obedience to God. Out of this Phoenix fire which is engirdling the world, what shall arise? Men are expecting a new order of things, and some have faith that the new order will be a universal expression of obedience to the one Master, who said, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” His life was the example of obedience. Christian Science is bringing to the world a right understanding of his life. When people whisper hopefully about “a new religion,” what are they expecting but just the practical application of Christianity as it is being brought out through Christian Science.

Unbelief And Faith

From the July 1910 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

The unbelief which stands in the way of spiritual progress is not so much disbelief of the truth which has been presented, as it is the occupation of the mind with beliefs which are contrary to the truth. Since the mind is thus preoccupied, it has no hospitality for the truth. “Why do ye not understand my speech?” asked Jesus; and in reply he went on to say, “even because ye cannot hear my word.” He was speaking to those who claimed to be the children of Abraham without discerning the spirit which had animated Abraham; they were proud of their lineal descent, but unable to discern the qualities of mind which exalted their great ancestor. Their formality and pride prevented them from accepting the teaching which was in accord with the vision and faith of Abraham. Later, Jesus made the sweeping statement, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” The converse of this would be that they who were of error did not hear, because they were listening for something else than the voice of Truth. “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them,” is the explanation given by John, regarding those who affiliate with the “spirit of error.”

Unbelief, then, is that condition of mind which is so receptive of erroneous views that the word of Truth seems to be a strange language, and there is no hospitality for its messenger. Disbelief may express itself in argument and controversy, and finally be changed to a new conviction as it yields to facts; but unbelief is of the nature of apathy and deafness, and it is necessary that there should first be an arousing, an awakening, then a clearing of thought, whereby the beliefs in error sheltered in the house of unbelief are dispersed. In speaking of the kind of grieving which effects repentance, Paul said, “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves.”

The abolishment of unbelief is accomplished by such a clearing of thought that wrong beliefs are seen to be without basis, and as they are dispersed there comes a vision of that which has basis and enduring cause. The false sense of man as a composite of sensations, errors, sicknesses, sins, and unsatisfied desires, yields to a vision of the truth of being. As discernment of that on which being depends, the creative power which we name God, becomes clearer, eventually it can be said that by faith we understand what man is; we are able to see the causal connection between the Father and the son who is the expression of the Father’s being and character.

When we consider this matter practically we recognize that every argument we use to favor the prepossession that evil is power, whether we give to the argument the name of any one of the thousand diseases which men believe to be hurtful, or the name of any one of the innumerable sins which men believe to be delightful, is really a statement of unbelief in God. Any belief in sickness is really an expression of unbelief in omnipotent goodness; if there were faith, there would be healing. Every sin is an expression of unbelief in omnipotent goodness; if there were faith, there would be righteousness. If men fear evil so as to be sick, and love evil so that they are sinful, what is this but unbelief in the real power which manifests itself in healing and happiness among men? How shall we help this unbelief, or rather help men out of it and bring them into the salvation which comes by faith?

The expression of unbelief may be in a variety of beliefs. In this usage of the word a “belief” is a conviction as to the reality of something not caused by God, and a consequent experience of conditions which correspond to the conviction. James Whitcomb Riley tells a pathetic story of a man who came to believe that he could not speak, and met the love and persuasion of his family with apparent stubbornness in the conviction that it was of no avail to try to use his voice. At last the tenderness of his daughter so touched his own love, that he broke through the barrier of his fear and false belief with answering speech to hers.

In the case of the epileptic boy brought by his father to Jesus after he came down from the mount of transfiguration, the measure of the father’s conviction as to his son’s affliction was the measure of his unbelief in any healing power. His doubts were confirmed by the failure of the disciples to help him, but his strong belief in the reality and incurable nature of the disease had practically brought the disciples to his way of thinking; hence they were for the time in a state of unbelief. To meet the need of them all, and of the world, Jesus analyzed the error, and sharply rebuked the father of the boy when his recital of the symptoms and manifestation of the disease ended with the doubt,—”If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus replied to him in words that awakened a new sense of the case, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The man was trying to put the responsibility upon the healer; now he was shown that faith leads to the power which heals, and his heart melted with new love and hope. How graphic is the record: “Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Then followed the healing of the boy, and it was a permanent cure; “the child was cured from that very hour,” as one of the evangelists affirms.

The disciples were still puzzled over their failure, and not discerning their Master’s method, asked him why they were not able to cast out the demon. Jesus showed them that they were in the same case as the father of the boy, who had a prepossession as to the reality of the disease, and had affected them with the same belief, and thus had brought them into a state of unbelief. “Why could not we cast him out?” asked they. “Because of your unbelief,” replied Jesus, with the indisputable authority of the completed demonstration. Furthermore he said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Further instruction still he gave them, when he said, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” As ceremonially observed, fasting was merely abstinence from food, or from certain proscribed kinds of food. Of course it cannot be within the power of either fasting or feasting, in a material sense, to deliver one from unbelief; but when we consider how with greediness the mortal mind assimilates the various beliefs in error which human imagination has originated, one can see that a fast from such indiscriminate gorging would be a blessing. Like the “crop-full bird,” men become heavy and sordid with their beliefs, and their eyes become too dull to have any vision of divine realities. To fast, in the sense of giving up such sense-gratification, and to pray aright, which is to commune with God, to turn one’s thought to the contemplation of that real cause of happiness and well-being for man, that source of life which to every returning prodigal is Father, cannot fail to establish faith in good. The process is well stated by Isaiah: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord.” If we recall the word spoken by Jesus in connection with salvation, “With God all things are possible,” it must be evident that when through fasting and prayer we both forsake the false belief, and also realize the new vision of divine goodness, we shall be equipped for the work of casting out demons, as the disciples desired to be.

Casting out false beliefs, we assail unbelief; but the mind must not be left empty, lest they return with added torment. The comforting remedy, the action of the spirit of Truth, must be applied. Fear has torment; but sin also, though it may begin in deceptive pleasure, has torment. The man seeking comfort needs to be led by the Comforter into truth as to physical well-being, as to usefulness and efficiency, as to happiness and destiny. Then faith becomes his attitude to God; and the good which he expects from God is done unto him, and proved to others.

For an example of faith let us take the case of that blind beggar, the son of Timæus, who sat by the wayside near the Jericho gate. When Jesus went out of the city with his disciples, a multitude followed; and hearing the footfall and rustling of many people moving, this blind man, Bartimæus as he was known, asked of some one what it meant. They replied that Jesus of Nazareth was passing on his way. What had this man heard of the prophet of Nazareth that hope should leap up in his breast? Enough he had heard to believe that this was “great David’s greater son,” so he began to cry out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” The people that went before told him to be still; indeed he attracted the notice of several, for it is recorded that “many charged him that he should hold his peace.” But he was not discouraged. This was the great moment of his life. More vehemently still he continued to cry out, until he was heard by the Master, who listening stood still, and bade that the man be called.

Then, instead of rebuking the blind man, those about him encouraged him, saying, “Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.” Then Bartimæus rose and came, but there is a graphic touch in the story whereby we may infer that it was probably written by a spectator. The writer says that Bartimæus, “casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.” Doing this, he not only showed his alertness and expectation, but left behind him perhaps all that he had of value. To a beggar the thick outer garment or cloak was almost a necessity for protection during the chill of the cold nights. One thing only was before his thought, and Jesus by a question made him state that desire, which was to receive his sight. Through all the tests Bartimæus had come: he believed that this greatest good to him could be made manifest by Jesus; and so the Master quietly said, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole [saved thee].” Was it any wonder that the story ended: “And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”

It needs but little analysis of this case of healing to see that the mind of the man who was healed was not preoccupied with unbelief. Even the blindness which was a chronic condition was not uppermost in his mind as an argument to prevent him from seeking a cure. That argument might have been present in the minds of those who rebuked him, their rebuke being the result of a belief that it was of no use to ask for help in such a case. One thing only was in the thought of the blind man, and when he put it into words, he expressed his faith and expectation: “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Notice that he did not ask for the cure of his blindness, but for that condition of harmony which he felt ought to belong to him according to the law of good, which really was his, so that he could already call it “my sight.” How naturally, then, through the channel of faith, that which he so confidently expected appeared to him, since the demonstration of the Master was in no wise resisted. How different it was when Jesus was in his own country, where he could do “no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.” Even to Jesus it seemed wonderful that the minds of his neighbors should be so occupied with set beliefs that they could not be hospitable to the blessing of healing. It is recorded that “he marveled because of their unbelief.”

A brief illustration comes to mind whereby the diverse action of faith and of false belief, or unbelief, may be shown. A young boy while playing lacerated his foot with a rusty nail, and as his homeward way was marked by blood and tears, there were several who talked with him, and who without exception spoke of the danger from the wound, and predicted such possibility of disaster that the lad was hysterical with fear when he got home. Even His mother’s tender care did not soothe him. The parents consulted as to what it was best to do, but found that they could not reach any outside help. At last the boy himself asked the father to work for him, and with much trepidation he undertook to treat him. Soon confidence was gained, however, and the quiet of sleep came to the little fellow. For a long time the father worked to confirm his own faith in the truth that God is the only power, and that God expresses in man “saving health.” In the morning the inflammation was gone, and the boy was as active and free from anxiety as if he had been never wounded. He could not be induced to take even ordinary care of himself; it was as if the disaster of the previous day had been obliterated from his mind. It was not till afterward that the father of the boy heard the list of arguments of unbelief, or prophecies of disaster, which had been made to occupy the child’s mind through the solicitude of others, who by the way had no comfort to give, because they did not have faith in God as man’s deliverer from every kind of evil and distress.

It is by work as patient as that of the gardener that we are to eradicate the various false beliefs which are the expression of the attitude of unbelief. They are from no heavenly origin of good seed; where they seem to grow, it is from such sowing as the perverted imagination of men has been doing for ages. There is comfort in knowing of the impermanence of all these conditions. Our Master declared, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”

A League of Understanding Hearts

From the November 15, 1919 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

In the collection of religious poems attributed to King David is one psalm wherein he complains of those who reverence not the unchanging God. He shows how a man may with suave and deceitful talk cover over his malign intention. Of such a one he says: “He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” Our Master revealed the residence of error when he said, “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Now if war and its train of evil is to cease it must be deprived of residence and retreat where in concealment it may crouch behind the screen of false and smooth words. Entertained in the heart it grows like the tiger cub kept as a plaything, which in its mature brutality may slay its host. From earliest times it has been said, “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” It is not by victories in war, but by victories over war that men will find themselves delivered. Mrs. Eddy has said (Miscellany, p. 281), “War will end when nations are ripe for progress.”

It sometimes happens that the right-minded and good-humored people of the world are called upon to fight the others who believe in war. People occupied in the ways of peace will prosper; there will be fertile fields, flocks and herds, homes where art produces ornaments and treasures. The tribal chief who has war in his heart calls his men to observe that they can rob the granaries, drive off the herds, loot and destroy the homes, and enslave the people who through peace are prosperous and happy. Thus he denies the moral law and promulgates a devil’s law, promising that they shall steal and kill and commit adultery, and lay hands on whatsoever they covet. It is necessary, then, if not for the protection of their property, yet for the protection of human beings, of women and children, that the workers in peace should sometimes take up arms and fight. They may do this not at all with war in their hearts, but with courage, resolution, and faith. But if all in the world who reverence the moral law, if all who love peace and orderly ways and the joy of constructive work, were united, they could proclaim a prohibitive No to all the proposers of war, and thus the prophecy would be naturally fulfilled which says of the nations: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.”

When there is in a man that same mind “which was also in Christ Jesus,” from his life flow such influences and effects as characterized the lives of those whom the Master called his disciples. To have healing in the heart is just the reverse of war in the heart. Every century has its proud despot who would make earth tremble because of his shaken sword. By his ambitions he troubles mankind, sending his armies forth to conquer and destroy. He justifies cruelty and treachery if it will subserve his purposes, and so upon the earth come confusion, famine, plague, ruin, sorrow, death. Century by century it has been so, but surely it is time for the world’s ignorance to have an end. Let us remember that only a small minority in the world believe in war. How could they by mesmerism drag others into conformity with their plans if these others were clear in their thinking? A few forgers and account manipulators and dishonest speculators do not mislead those who think mathematically and honestly. Suppose, then, that there be an agreement among men to think Christianly and scientifically; that is, to accept God as Principle and Christ Jesus as example; would men not then understand the working of divine Principle, and say as the psalmist said, “He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth”?

Christian Scientists throughout the world are united in a noble purpose. They are striving to be themselves healed, and to prove to others the goodness of our God who says, “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” They foresee that as Christianity becomes practical and men cease to war over doctrinal opinions and political advantages there will come international unity because there will be obedience to the moral law, and illustration in the lives of men of the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Naturally they aid and further every honest effort to establish righteousness in the world, be it a leaguing of nations or the uniting of sundered family ties. In fact, all who obey Principle are in league and amity for this purpose, that the kingdom of God come. This unity of those who have understanding hearts is essential, for the opponents of the Prince of peace are in alliance and confederate. Mrs. Eddy has said (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 177), “The powers of evil are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science.” Then she asks: “What will you do about it? Will you be equally in earnest for the truth? Will you doff your lavender-kid zeal, and become real and consecrated warriors? Will you give yourselves wholly and irrevocably to the great work of establishing the truth, the gospel, and the Science which are necessary to the salvation of the world from error, sin, disease, and death? Answer at once and practically, and answer aright!”

Christmas and the New Birth

From the December 27, 1919 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

One who was healed through the ministry of Christian Science at once connected her experience with divine Principle, declaring: “To me the most convincing proof that the healing came from God, was that I knew I was loving good. I had turned right around; had begun to be mentally regenerated.” In such a connection we think at once of what our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, said in “Miscellaneous Writings” in regard to regeneration (p. 74): “This new-born sense subdues not only the false sense of generation, but the human will, and the unnatural enmity of mortal man toward God. It quickly imparts a new apprehension of the true basis of being, and the spiritual foundation for the affections which enthrone the Son of man in the glory of his Father.”

Among the northern peoples winter was a time dark and dreary. So in mid-yule, when the winter solstice was past and the days began to lengthen, they welcomed with noisy feasting the turning of the year the the growing light. When we now speak of yuletide, the word refers to Christmas time, for the feast of the Nativity of Christ Jesus superseded the ancient festival. The historian Bede says that “the ancient peoples of the Angli began the year on the twenty-fifth of December, when we now celebrate the birthday of the Lord.” This celebration came into fashion slowly, accompanied by much debate, the date of its establishment as Alexandria being given as 440 A. D., and the feast of the Nativity was held as a protest against those who denied the incarnation. In 1644 some English puritans by act of parliament forbade merriment or even religious celebrations on Christmas day, ordering the day to be kept as a fast, for even at that date many looked upon the festival as being an institution of heathen origin.

The question important for every man to consider is whether or not the Christ is born to him. Does he know of the disappearing of evil because consciousness has become cognizant of good? Is there the subsidence of willfulness, pride, envy, and covetous desire because the birth of true Christianity is going on through regeneration by the holy spirit of God?

Our Leader refers to Christmas as a time for remembering rather than for the confusion of merrymaking and the giving and receiving of souvenirs, which is a transferred custom from the Teutonic nations, since other nations chose the New Year for gift giving and congratulations. She says (Miscellany, p. 258): “The memory of the Bethlehem babe bears to mortals gifts greater than those of Magian kings,—hopes that cannot deceive, that waken prophecy, gleams of glory, coronals of meekness, diadems of love.” And she further reminds us how “divinely beautiful are the Christmas memories of him who sounded all depts of love, grief, death, and humanity.”

It is not, then, difficult to understand Mrs. Eddy’s desire to be exempt from the turmoil of gift receiving and the balancing of obligations, the question of due acknowledgment or reciprocity, because to her Christianity had indeed arrived in full stature and power. And that activity of kindliness with which most people are able to glow for one day in the year,—this Christly good will was the motion of her thought the year through. She recognized the fragility of the material gift and the unreliability of mortal, human affection, and well understood what the all-satisfying spiritual gift is when the sinner is regenerated, and those weak and worn with illness find themselves quickened with a divine strength.

The apostle Peter reminded his Christian brethren of the important fact of their new birth when he wrote about their “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” This familiar passage gains somewhat from a closer translation given in the words, “You are born anew of immortal, not of mortal seed, by the living, lasting word of God.” The apostle lifts up this truth like a lantern on our path, and in its light we more clearly understand what Mrs. Eddy says concerning Christmas celebration. In “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany” (p. 262) her statement is: “I celebrate Christmas with my soul, my spiritual sense, and so commemorate the entrance into human understanding of the Christ conceived of Spirit, of God and not of a woman—as the birth of Truth, the dawn of divine Love breaking upon the gloom of matter and evil with the glory of infinite being.” Further, as setting us an example by the expression of her own ideal, she says: “I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing.”

The Mirage Disappears

From the Christian Science Sentinel,January 18, 1919, by

In the midst of the recent war a captain, who was a poet, wrote of the dreams of conquest, the plots and plans, ambitions and boastings, of a reigning family thus: “They are all the mirage of a dying dynasty in the desert it made for its burying place.” This poet becomes prophet in saying: “When their race has died, the earth shall smile again, for their deadly mirage will oppress us no more. The cities shall rise again and the farms come back; hedgerows and orchards shall be seen again; the woods shall slowly lift their heads from the dust and gardens shall come again where the desert was.” Such a predicted restoration comes in obedience to that order proclaimed by Isaiah as being of God: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.” The same hope is beautifully brought out in Ezekiel: “For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

And what of that theory which gloried in ability to cause desolation? Mrs. Eddy has for all time characterized what she so aptly terms “uncivil economics.” In “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany” (p. 278) she declares: “Governments have no right to engraft into civilization the burlesque of uncivil economics. War is in itself an evil, barbarous, devilish. Victory in error is defeat in Truth. War is not in the domain of good; war weakens power and must finally fall, pierced by its own sword.”

Furthermore, in perfect accord with what we find in the Bible in such a reference as that one which says: “The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike,” Mrs. Eddy shows how in Truth there need not be conflict arising out of mental differences between those who have one God, for she declares (Science and Health, p. 276): “When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: ‘Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'”

Not suddenly is a nation pervaded by the mesmerism of materialism and its false beliefs. They come in a series of temptations, and can be agreed to or rejected. For forty years prior to 1871 Edgar Quinet lifted his voice as one who divined coming disaster to the German people, and warned men to repent. Concerning the growing materialism through which they forgot romance and poetic aspiration and love of the ideal, he says: “It was like a low murmur coming from no man knew where. It had neither form nor substance. It appeared here and there in conversations, in broken utterances, in sudden enthusiasms that flared up and disappeared like a flash of light.”

But he saw no repentance; and then a great glorification of materialistic power took place in that war instigated by a forgery, and a neighbor country was exploited with autocratic brutality. Thoughts of these conditions burned in a poet’s mind, who foresaw the time coming

When all the forger’s fame
Is shriveled up in shame;
When all imperial notes of praise and prayer
And hoarse thanksgiving raised
To the abject god they praised
For murderous mercies, are but poisonous air.

The time has come, and what is the lesson for the world and the inhabitants thereof? This already has been written out for us to understand, as in the second psalm: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” Exhibitions of willful, unprincipled human power are like intoxications of a drunkard, stages on the path of degradation, downward to despair and death. The great lesson, however, may be put in the words of a proverb which says, “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”

Furthermore, the writer of wisdom says, “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” In fact, the lesson for every one to learn is the hopelessness of trying to live without understanding Principle and becoming obedient to it, and Mrs. Eddy sets before all mankind the hope of understanding, when she says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 331): “As mortals awake from their dream of material sensation, this adorable, all-inclusive God, and all earth’s hieroglyphics of Love, are understood; and infinite Mind is seen kindling the stars, rolling the worlds, reflecting all space and Life,—but not life in matter. Wisely governing, informing the universe, this Mind is Truth,—not laws of matter. Infinitely just, merciful, and wise, this Mind is Love,—but not fallible love.”

A New Heart

From the Christian Science Sentinel, January 5, 1918 by

It is probable that throughout Christendom and in all Jewry the deliverance of Jerusalem has caused men to study with care Ezekiel’s thirty-sixth chapter. The promise expressed indirectly in connection with the prophet’s earlier vision is here made direct and universal with the authorization, “Thus saith the Lord God.” This is the promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

It became part of the tradition of Israel how Pharaoh and the Egyptians had hardened their hearts, and so had gone on to destruction; yet, despite this warning, we find generation after generation of the Israelites falling into idolatry, and as distinctly becoming unresponsive to the word of God as the Egyptians had been. Concerning this condition the proverb was, “Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”

We find our Master very compassionate and patient with the unfaith and cold-heartedness of his followers. Mark records their surprise over the demonstration when he walked the waves and made the storm a calm. He explained their unawakened condition on the ground that “they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.” Again, when Jesus warned his disciples against the leaven of false doctrine they as literalists reasoned, saying: “It is because we have no bread;” to which he replied: “Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?” He was kindly asking them why they were so little impressed by the spiritual and unable to respond to Principle, which to him was all-important.

Paul, quoting from a psalm of his people, credits its inspiration to divine Mind, saying: “As the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts … But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” The heart hardened is unsusceptible to spiritual influences because deceived by sin. But the new heart will surely mean a consciousness expressing the influences of Spirit that heal and bless, a consciousness of good which no mesmerism of evil can invade. It must be a new understanding of life itself, fulfilling the promise of Science and Health on page 264, “When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.”

Can we find a better term for this new heart given by God than by naming it the Christ-spirit? Made alive by this, we recognize old things to have passed away, and find a renewing as of dawn brightening a valley, or spring reviving a whole countryside, or a prophet’s vision enlightening a world, whereby joy and vivifying life and brotherly love enrich us. Lacking these, how dark and cold and hateful can be the experiences of men. Mrs. Eddy speaks of herself as knowing both the old and the new, but she has become the revelator by whom all in the world may know and rejoice in the new,—may rejoice in dawn, and spring, and enlightenment. In “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 178) our Leader says: “In the flesh, we are as a partition wall between the old and the new, between the old religion in which we have been educated, and the new, living, impersonal Christ-thought that has been given to the world to-day.”

At this time, when much is said of new year, new hope, new resolutions, is it not well to desire a new heart, a new warmth of love? Where power, control, and rule center in personal will, or human mind, there is found a heart of stone, as history shows. Others besides Machiavelli have taught that the prince must absolve himself from all compassion; and a long line of princes in church and state have illustrated this. Hence the time is nigh for men to look away from the dynastic helper, “the son of man, in whom there is no help,” and to turn to Principle itself, divine Love, which invites mankind, saying, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”

Paul and Barnabas quoted the prophecy concerning the Messiah, “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” Christian Science is showing the fulfillment in continuity of this prophecy, because it shows how men everywhere may be enlightened and saved, and teaches them how to have “a new heart,” or the Christ-spirit, to-day. The author of Science and Health, on page 141 of this textbook, thus unfolds the possibilities before us all: “In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sovereignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers are made ‘kings and priests unto God.'”

From the Christian Science Journal, February 1918, by

Joy is the great antagonist of that mental malpractice by which the overserious may be threatened at times, with which the wicked may agree, and to which the fearful may yield. The glad heart always has splendid resisting power against its assaults. To be full of joy is to have a defense impregnable. At the rebuilding of Jerusalem this was brought out by Nehemiah, who besought the people not to mourn, “neither be ye sorry,” he said; “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” At the institution of Christianity, its Founder said to his disciples, “Your joy no man taketh from you.”

The basis of this joy is the assurance we have as to the being and character of God, and the settled peace and certainty as to His goodness. Christian Science develops in man the joy of this certainty, and our Leader says (Science and Health, p. 419), “Never fear the mental malpractitioner, the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind, tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God is the only power.”

The mental manipulator referred to may be anyone who for the time being is actuated by a determination to “rule or ruin” others, and his influence is measured by the favor or fear with which his efforts are regarded. He may gather into a band those who are like-minded, and make them cooperative in his evil plot or scheme, but over every such effort hangs the verdict of the law, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” If the evil worker cannot influence another into confederacy in evil by persuasion, he will try to produce acquiescence through fear; and emboldened by his belief that there is no God, he will claim to be an evil power able to produce suffering and death. It is clear enough, however, that darkness has no power over light, since even a little candle shineth far. So likewise even a momentary vision of the light of God brings illumination, and with it assurance that the works of darkness are not to be feared,—from which enlightenment and assurance comes a secret and sacred joy, an exultance in the omnipotence of good. It is the business of the Christian Scientist to increase and maintain this joy; then obedience becomes spontaneous to the admonition of our Leader (Science and Health, p. 442), “Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.”

Christ Jesus, in that most loving address wherein he set forth the safety of the branches which abide in the vine, said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” It was the characteristic of the Son to attribute all power to the Father and to do nothing of himself. When man gains the Christ-spirit he then ascribes all power to God, that is to good—hence his joy, which cannot be invaded or destroyed. His peace of mind enables him to say, “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” Mrs. Eddy says clearly that “Christian Science translates Mind, God, to mortals” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 22). She continues, “It shows the impossibility of transmitting human ills, or evil, from one individual to another; that all true thoughts revolve in God’s orbits: they come from God and return to Him,—and untruths belong not to His creation, therefore these are null and void.”

The conclusion then is that we do well if we “rejoice evermore;” also that it is unwise to whisper and wonder, to imagine and guess what occult evil may be able to do, just as if we thought there was no God. Let us be wise, for it is the fool who “hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Real joy is the cure for such folly; for the joyous heart finds cause for thanking and loving God hour by hour. This gladness brings companionship with the Christ, the divine Truth which overcomes the world. Spiritual joy unfolding divine Life, overcomes the flesh and the ills to which it is heir. Joy revealing God as Love shows how “the accuser of our brethren is cast down,” and enables us to hear the “loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.”

Dominion and Power of Spirit

From the Christian Science Sentinel, December 13, 1919, by

When in the history of a country an epoch is marked by the coming to the throne of a new dynasty, time is frequently dated from the accession of this ruling house. Likewise in the human life a new era begins, in effect like a new creation, when there is accession of spirituality. Of this Mrs. Eddy says in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 204), “Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition, and acts of the Scientist.”

The enthronement of divine Principle, which is Love, means the dethronement forever of the carnal mind, whose characteristic is the reverse of love, or hostility to love, described by Paul as “enmity against God.” Fleshly beliefs are of course hostile to all that is spiritual, and so they are insubordinate to divine law; they are “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Consequently when one becomes obedient to the law of Spirit his former manner of life ends and a new kind of life is known, even that life manifested in Christ Jesus; “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Human beings have suffered much, not only from pagan theories but from various misconceivings of Christianity. The Master found his disciples slow to apprehend his true mission. They wanted power and self-magnification, and reached an undue point of self-glorification when they wanted to call down upon a village of the Samaritans the destruction of fire because the people would not make preparations to entertain them. Quietly he, their teacher, checked their ardor. He is credited with saying to them: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Manifestly Christianity could not be established by the thumbscrew and the boot, by rack or tourniquet. The hideous torture of human beings in the name of religion indicates always the design of human will to enthrone itself in power and to control others through fear. Exactly opposite to this is religion itself, because true religion unfolds to each individual the righteous government of God. Of the effects of this government Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellany, p. 189), “The government of divine Love derives its omnipotence from the love it creates in the heart of man; for love is allegiant, and there is no loyalty apart from love.”

We have long admitted that love is the antithesis of hate. Ordinary teaching still respects the ancient adage, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy,” although Christ Jesus required love to be supreme; but to the spiritually minded, love becomes the habitude of thought, and they find wonderful results in that not only is hatred dismissed with all its malignancy, jealousy, and cruel imaginings, but fear is likewise disposed of. They then recognize how truly metaphysical John is in giving his assurance that “there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.”

The choice before a man becomes simple when he is asked who or what shall have dominion over him. Will he allow carnality to be enthroned and his life enslaved? Or will he have spirituality enthroned and enjoy “the glorious liberty of the children of God”? The religious life has been depicted by those unacquainted with spiritual joy as gloomy, restricted, joyless, with cross-bearning, disappointment, and thwarting as its portion. The speculative, far-off heaven was to be won by present misery and depreciation, or to be secured at the cost of present wealth by priestly mediation. From none of these standpoints could one see any glowing joy coming to him because of divine goodness. God was as a man magnified,—a chief with his favorites and his enemies, a judge pledged to make out a case against those who resisted the theology of the time. But with the spiritual view comes the Christ for the salvation of the world, worthily revealing the character of God, touching receptive hearts with kindness, and unsealing fountains of gratitude and tender love. With the accession of spiritual love to the dominant place in life comes heaven in foretaste at least, for the quality of eternal life is tasted and known. “This is life eternal,” said Jesus, “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

The true God, then, being known as Principle, and Christ Jesus as the Exemplar, we have cause and effect understood. We are able to say with great love in our hearts that “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Likewise we understand how man by his practice, that is, his spiritual activity, can reveal Principle,—and how he can demonstrate Truth in righteousness, Life in healing, and Love in heavenly-mindedness. To the spiritually minded, happiness is as normal as daylight. To such a one the shadows are already passed away and he walks in the shining of the true light. Joy is inevitable in the life corrected, so that no hate arises and no fear enters. “Being His likeness and image, man must,” as our Leader says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 16), “reflect the full dominion of Spirit—even its supremacy over sin, sickness, and death.”

The Sound Mind

From the Christian Science Sentinel, November 9, 1918, by

The teaching of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science is both comforting and disturbing. It is of comfort unspeakable to that vast host of those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” since it proves the truth of Jesus’ promise by enabling them to find healing and fullness of spiritual satisfaction. On the other hand it is very disturbing to all the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who have cloaked their evil designs with the camouflage of blandness and formal courtesy and have mingled with the flock only to prey upon it secretly. Mrs. Eddy’s words truly lay the axe to the root of the evil tree when she says (Science and Health, p. 407): “There are many species of insanity. All sin is insanity in different degrees. Sin is spared from this classification, only because its method of madness is in consonance with common mortal belief.”

Now the sinner has taken credit to himself for being a truly clever fellow, and in seeking his earthly portion and the gratification of his evil desires, he has seemed to himself to have the right of way. He has often utilized other men or peoples for his purposes like the enslaved men who were made draft animals for Basta’s carriages and lashed by his myrmidons. Mrs. Eddy has attempted to give the very words of material sense, which in its pride seems to say: “What a nice thing is sin! How sin succeeds, where the good purpose waits! The world is my kingdom. I am enthroned in the gorgeousness of matter” (Science and Health, p. 252). It is, therefore, rather troubling to a self-confident and sinful mind when its position is correctly diagnosed as insanity, and yet, truly enough, sin being disorder or lawlessness is just insanity. For those who turn from material sense there is always the comfort of knowing that God’s goodness waits to bless, “for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

The ancients admired the mens sana in corpore sano, which was the well ordered mind in the well disciplined body. A mind that is in a ferment with caprice, selfish desire, envy, hatred, self-will, murder, knows not at all how “order is heaven’s first law,” but goes on sowing the wind, to reap, as Hosea so graphically says, the whirlwind. This evil sowing is most usually done in the effort for the aggrandizement of personal sense. The desire for super-place and for the subordination of others is evidenced by the boastful drunkard as well as by the magnificent, megalomaniac conqueror. The fault of the whole belief is that it avoids demonstration, choosing rather to take the gambler’s chance than to be held down to lawful and honest endeavor. But demonstration is necessary. No true life can be known without real believing, that is proving, of the truth to which Christ Jesus bore witness. Greatest of all, he came not to exploit mankind. Speaking of himself as the shepherd, he said of the flock, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The sound mind, then, truly is that very mind that was in Christ Jesus, which we may have in us if we are willing to be sinless; and all the attitudes of Antichrist are nothing but bedlam.

The highly self-important human mind that sets out to achieve for itself kingdom and power and glory, usually begins by being unfilial, giving no honor to father and mother; nor can it honor God, for it continually acquires other gods, imaging forth their characteristics in actions. It plans to steal the thing desired, without regard to the rights of others. It respects not the chastity of the home nor the sanctity of innocence. It will destroy without compunction the human life of anyone who stands in its way. It covets the visible good of others with an unslaked thirst. This, then, is insanity, but men have too often termed it greatness.

Sanity comports with humility, gentleness, forbearance, moral courage, and the glory of divine strength in doing well. It means love for one God, honor to parents, truth to friends, fairness and friendliness to all mankind. The sound mind is cleansed of sin as well as of sickness, and this purity is Christianity scientific.

When mortal man thinks of himself as a creator, that is, as the possible origin of life, or of truth, or indeed of love, it is found that only a troublesome cycle of mortal mind arises,—life with mortality as its end, truth that turns out to be fallibility, and love that shows itself only as encircling selfishness. Without God there is nothing. The dream of power for man or nation destroys itself through actions which it inspires. History records how the tyrant raises against himself the assassin, how the kingdom of the great conqueror wanes, how the individual sinner piles up accumulating distresses, since even from the heathen standpoint, “The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us.”

The unprofitableness of sin, the fact that sin is indeed insanity, is being shown upon a vast stage at the present time. Let us be thankful that at this very hour the power and glory and gladness sufficient to meet the whole world’s need, the truth of Christian Science, is being accepted and is teaching men sanity. Of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” its author, speaking reverently of the message given her from on high, humbly says (Miscellany, p. 114): “You can trace its teachings in each step of mental and spiritual progress, from pulpit and press, in religion and ethics, and find these progressive steps either written or indicated in the book. It has mounted thought on the swift and mighty chariot of divine Love, which to-day is circling the whole world.”

Love is the liberator.