Mary Baker Eddy, Her Spiritual Footsteps



by Gilbert C. Carpenter



Table of Contents




Text of Her Remarks

Note under picture in book: Mary Baker Eddy Speaking to Her Followers from the Balcony at Pleasant View, with Calvin Frye at Her Right Hand

Mary Baker Eddy Speaking to Her Followers from the Balcony at Pleasant View, with Calvin Frye at Her Right Hand



“My dear Students: Guard your tongues. When you see sin in others, know that you have it in yourselves, and become repentant. If you think you are not mortal, you are mistaken. I find my students either in an apathy or a frenzy. I am astonished at your ignorance of the methods of animal magnetism. Your enemies are working incessantly, while you are not working as you should. They do not knock, they come with a rush. They do not take me unawares. I know before they come. Would that my head were a fountain of waters, and my eyes rivers of tears that I might weep, because of the apathy of the students and the little that they have accomplished. You have never seen me in my real home, but you may sometime. Come with me into it.”




Author's Note

In considering the various books written concerning Mary Baker Eddy, we have been impressed with the need of transcribing her life, not merely as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, but as the Demonstrator of her own revelation, as one whose life sets forth both the operation of that human deterrent called evil, and a scientific method of overcoming it. Pre-eminently in the world, Mrs. Eddy's life stands forth as the history of the one who has thrown the most light on the unseen and unknown claims of evil, as they are presented to all spiritually-minded persons, endeavoring to find the way out of this human maze called mortal existence. Therefore, it took only the desire of the Christian Science Board of Directors in Boston, expressed through Judge Clifford P. Smith, that we should compile this material, to crystalize certain conceptions, which were originally intended to clear up several misunderstandings, regarding Mrs. Eddy, which had been circulated by those who knew something of the inside operation of Mrs. Eddy's household, by throwing upon her footsteps the light of spiritual understanding. The method of approach to Mrs. Eddy's experience, that is portrayed in this volume, grew out of the realization that the effort to judge her life from the human standpoint of good, has never struck one true note regarding the character of God. Nevertheless, when her activities and teaching in her household are understood from the spiritual standpoint, they set forth lucidly and extensively the true nature of Deity, as expressed through man by reflection.




Foreword

If the teaching of Christian Science be correct, that the spiritual method is always the reverse of the material, might not this same rule apply to the writing of the life of its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy? The human method selects outstanding events in one’s life, incidents of significance and moment, and records them as characteristic and explanatory of the life of the individual in question. Logically, the reverse of this would be, to set forth the spiritual cause from which came not only the thought-arresting events but the minutiae of experience, and to emphasize and interpret it so correctly, that the life and purpose of the individual are revealed in their true greatness, comprehended through countless consistent revealings, much as the beauty of woman’s hair is the summation of numberless individual strands.

The Master said, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If every effect has a mental cause, the hairs of the head might represent the entire mental life of man, as revealed through his daily thoughts. Hence, the correct effort to write such a life of Mrs. Eddy should be to number her hairs, or to recount the orderly way in which she brought every thought into captivity to Christ, until her work was completed.

If feet symbolize spiritual understanding, then, when Mary Magdalen wiped the Master’s feet with her hair, as is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, that act represented a pledge to bend every effort of her mind to the attaining of Jesus’ spiritual understanding. Thus, her future endeavors would comprise the numbering of the hairs of her head, as she spiritualized each thought that it might measure up to the Christ ideal. It was as if she said, “I dedicate my life to the attainment of right thinking as revealed through the Christ, and I will not neglect one thought in this effort.”

Every act in one’s life signifies something, and reveals that individual’s ebbing or flowing state of thought. Hence, properly to number the hairs of one’s head requires having the spiritual insight to write his or her mental history, as traced through the outward experiences, thereby determining the orderly development of that one’s thought as it approaches the Christ ideal.

This unfolds the possibility of each student of Christian Science writing our Leader’s mental and spiritual history, through the effort to understand the spiritual footsteps which she took, in their order. But this is a history which is inscribed in the heart and mind, imperishably established in the understanding.

In the following pages will be found, not a complete exegesis of this conception of portraying Mrs. Eddy’s history, but a specimen analysis intended to stimulate the minds of those who read it to a similar attempt. There has been made no effort to set forth any definite continuity, but rather to present a series of sketches, which will serve to illustrate the vast possibilities presented by the life of our beloved Leader to the spiritual perception of the student; a perception, the development of which marks the only true method of attaining spiritual growth.

The importance of writing a life of Mrs. Eddy from this standpoint may be deduced from the following: The value of studying Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures lies in the fact that it expounds an operative principle, and develops in man a spiritual sense, whereby the things hidden from material sense are seen and understood. The study of the Bible is equally important, because it offers the opportunity, in gaining its spiritual meaning, to develop the use of this spiritual inspiration until it becomes demonstrable and permanent. Furthermore, the same spiritual method necessary to unfold the hidden meanings of the Bible, is requisite to gain a right understanding of God. With these points in mind, it can be perceived that the study of these two books must always go together, as the warp and woof of the student’s growing spiritual understanding.

At this point a third element must be added, namely, the life of Mary Baker Eddy, recorded not only from the standpoint of material cause and effect, but also analyzed from the basis of spiritual cause and effect. This third study is vital, because her experience illustrates not only how animal magnetism appears in the life of a Christian Scientist determined to overcome it, but how it may be detected and overcome as well. This study of animal magnetism is essential to the seeker after Truth, since it brings out the fact that many things which a sense of good that is purely human would condemn, are imperative steps demanded by progress on the road from sense to Soul. Without this knowledge, the weary pilgrim might weep over what seemed to be mistakes and failures in his own efforts to attain the spiritual goal, lacking the understanding of animal magnetism, which operates maliciously to induce this misunderstanding in order to stop his further progress.

Mrs. Eddy styled herself the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. She was both the Revelator and Demonstrator. As the former, she was the Son of God, and as the latter, the Son of man. As the Son of God, she thundered forth the revelation of Truth to humanity; as the Son of man, she stepped down from the pulpit to join with the congregation in the demonstration of Truth. This analysis solves the enigma of her life, giving a perfect rule. Whatever of God she reflected, whatever of revelation she set forth, belongs to the Son of God. Whatever struggles she had, whatever of the human that she had to overcome, belongs to the Son of man. We find the Revelator in her textbook and the Demonstrator in her life. The importance of this classification is embodied in the fact that, because Mrs. Eddy was one with us in the demonstration of her revelation, it becomes possible for every child, man, and woman to follow in her footsteps and gain the inspiration from God which she gained. The human record of her experience must be expunged when she is set forth as the Discoverer, and explained spiritually when she is portrayed as the Founder.

The following pages, setting forth spiritual cause and effect, represent an effort to provide a life of our Leader as the Demonstrator, based on the realization that, whereas the Bible and Science and Health teach by precept, Mrs. Eddy’s life teaches by practice.




Chapter One — Demonstration the Law in Mrs. Eddy's Home

On one occasion Mrs. Eddy wrote a note in pencil to her coachman, Adolph Stevenson, calling his attention to the fact that the hair-dresser had cut his hair too high on the back of his neck. (Mr. Stevenson had been my patient, and when I heard of Mrs. Eddy’s need of a coachman, I recommended him for the position.) Such a definite rebuke provides a perfect illustration of one of the minute incidents of Mrs. Eddy’s experience that is fraught with spiritual implications, significance and teaching. It is the sure indication that nothing was too small in Mrs. Eddy’s estimation to be used to denote a falling-away of spiritual thought. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Mrs. Eddy manifested the office of a spiritual Father toward the students in her home. How natural it was, that their immature upward-soaring thoughts could not fall to earth without her knowing it!

When Mrs. Eddy rebuked an outward manifestation of this kind, she was simply rebuking the student’s failure to measure up to the standard of scientific thinking which she demanded in the home, and upon which she depended. A poor haircut was sufficient, in her estimation, to serve as an excuse to call the attention of the student to a hundred ways in which his reflection of Truth might be made more practical. In reality this was, and is, a rebuke to any student of Christian Science who confines his spiritual thinking to his health or the condition of his finances.

Let us regard this from Mrs. Eddy’s standpoint. If her coachman was alert enough to endeavor to make such a simple thing as a haircut a matter of scientific demonstration, might that not lead him to recognize, as never before, that he was a representative of the Cause of Christian Science and that he would be judged as such?

Mrs. Eddy was continually emphasizing to her students the importance of remembering that manifestation is the outward indication of one’s thinking. This is why Christian Scientists should be well-dressed people, and excel in whatever they undertake, because, if they truly reflect the harmony and activity of divine Mind, such manifestation must necessarily follow.

Mrs. Eddy desired Mr. Stevenson to realize that even in the minutiae of daily life, Christian Scientists express the spiritual ideal which they have accepted. Mrs. Eddy herself always exemplified this ideal, and the outward manifestation always accorded with the beauty, importance and value of her spiritual thought.

Mrs. Eddy knew that as one’s thought improved, his whole standard would evidence growth. Everything connected with man partakes of the nature of his thinking. Hence, the student of Christian Science will always give a satisfactory outward appearance when the measure of his thinking is scientifically beneficent. Everyone who comes into his presence will bask in the spiritual atmosphere he reflects.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, on page 25, Mrs. Eddy writes, “The divinity of the Christ was made manifest in the humanity of Jesus.” The Bible tells us that, many times when Jesus saw the multitudes weighed down by mortal belief, “he was moved with compassion toward them.” This compassion, or humanity, was the proof that the divine Mind was entering into his thought in a right and ever-increasing measure. The Christian Scientist has no proof within himself of any true divinity, unless he feels moved with compassion for all humanity, no matter in what way they may be following out the suggestions of fear or sin. Mrs. Eddy desired that all her students manifest this humanity in every direction, as evidence of spiritual growth. She wanted them to understand that the demonstration of Christian Science broadens instead of narrowing one, and that for one to endeavor to have even his outward appearance improve, because of the Principle he stands for and reflects, is of itself, an effort which will stimulate to a broader and broader interpretation and application of Truth.

If man’s reflection of Truth could be differentiated from his application of Truth, by calling the former his profession and the latter his business, we could say that Mrs. Eddy made the business of her students her daily care and watchful solicitude, whereas their profession was a sacred precinct wherein she would not trespass without permission. If the student did not have enough love and persistence to endeavor to gain more and more of the divine Mind each day, that called for no rebuke from Mrs. Eddy, unless it was requested. In fact, such a lack is only known to the student himself, when it shows itself in its outward manifestation. After the groundwork of spiritual understanding was established, however, then the matter of broadening such a demonstration of spiritual thinking, and applying it in every right way, became Mrs. Eddy’s concern as Leader, since she was endeavoring to wean her students from the narrow conception which fancied that sitting in a chair and saying, “God is Love,” constituted the demonstration of Christian Science. As she once said to a student, “You may sit in your chair all day and say over beautiful words, and it does not amount to anything; it is the Spirit that is needed.”

Mrs. Eddy required a practical and correct utilization of one’s profession. She knew that if the world should find aught to criticize in the student, it would reflect against the Cause. She perceived the vital importance of each student reaching the point, where he could broaden his thought to realize that he was carrying on his shoulders, the responsibility of the integrity of the entire Cause, since Christian Science is judged through the lives of the individuals who profess to be followers of this movement. The greatest advertisement for Christian Science is the mode of living of the individual student, because the world’s estimate of it rests upon him.

Mrs. Eddy insisted that the students in her home handle the claim of mental apathy, as if their lives depended on spiritual alertness. A man who is usually careful about his appearance, would surely never allow his barber to give him a poor haircut unless he were off guard, or asleep as to what was being done. Hence, we can infer that Mrs. Eddy was rebuking Mr. Stevenson for being asleep mentally on this one point, which indicated the possibility of his being asleep to things much more important and vital.

It is a fact that there were students who, in their inmost hearts, considered that Mrs. Eddy’s age had made her unnecessarily punctilious about the little things in the home; but, because they loved her so deeply and were so appreciative of her teachings, they forgave her. Mrs. Eddy was far from being humanly a taskmaster. Exacting she was, if that word is interpreted to mean that she held for all her students the high goal that they do everything from the standpoint of demonstration, where demonstration means being guided by the Mind of God, rather than being under the control of human belief. The vital and important demand Mrs. Eddy made on the students in the home, was that they maintain that spiritual poise of thought at all times, which would enable them to reflect the divine Mind, and hence, to hold up her hands. As she once said to a student in the home, “There is one thing needed all over the Field and which is only supplied here, and might not be supplied in the Field in centuries; that is, to have but one God, divine Principle and its demonstration. (There is nothing can prevent it.)”

To be sure, Mrs. Eddy’s criticisms often touched the minor things of life. For example, I (Whenever I is used in the text, it refers to Mr. Carpenter, Sr.) can remember her rebuking the way I tucked in her robe as she left for her drive. At the time, I knew that she expected me to trace back and realize that a rebuke from the Leader, no matter what might have occasioned it, was, in reality, a rebuke for a lack of demonstration. Under such circumstances, I would retire to my room and wake myself up spiritually, until I was satisfied that the divine Mind had the upper hand in me. Even from a human standpoint, when one stubs his toe, breaks a plate, or the like, he feels in a vague sort of way that the devil must be after him. If the devil in such cases be denominated as careless, human thinking, then Mrs. Eddy’s rebukes become even more comprehensible.

If Mr. Stevenson were to be presented at the Court of St. James, there is no doubt that every detail of his toilet would have been arranged in perfect harmony and taste. Mrs. Eddy recognized herself as the spiritual Leader, and hence, as the direct representative of God for her Cause. She also knew that being in her home was an opportunity that was accorded to fewer people, than was that of being presented at any Court, and was a far greater privilege.

It was well for those who lived in her home to remember what this priceless opportunity was, and endeavor to live, both inwardly and outwardly, so as to show forth their appreciation of this honor.

All the workers in Mrs. Eddy’s home, whether they cooked for her or attended to her correspondence, whether they occupied the guest chamber or the attic, were her valued students, and it required a spiritual understanding to demonstrate their work. This requirement was the law of the home. Hence, Mrs. Eddy’s interest in Mr. Stevenson’s appearance showed that she had the same concern about having him maintain his scientific thinking, that she had for the thinking of those who, from the world’s standpoint, were engaged in more metaphysical work.




Chapter Two — Demonstration or Nothing

In a book called Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy by Adam H. Dickey, he mentions the fact that Mrs. Eddy rebuked the students if the chairs were not put back into their places after her rooms had been cleaned. If such misplacement were due to a lack of experience in the worker, or to an effort to accomplish too much in a given interval of time, then Mrs. Eddy’s rebukes might reflect on her Christian character.

Why should anyone reprimand students for such trivial matters? In order to understand this, one must realize that Mrs. Eddy was a metaphysician, who lived largely in Mind. To such a one, all outward effects are the indication of the mental state from which these effects proceed. Hence, even a slight misplacement of the furniture became to her an important way by which she might gauge intelligently the mental condition of the students in her home, who, standing porter at the mental door, either fulfilled their privileged task of keeping error out, or else yielded to a mental state of drunkenness, self-pity or misunderstanding, thereby permitting their thought to play traitor, and letting in that which might break up the spiritual poise of the one who required that poise, in order to translate the Father’s will to the successful guidance of our great Cause.

In the Bureau of Standards in Washington, the standard foot rule rests in a glass compartment, free from changes of temperature, or moving air currents. It seems almost incredible that a breath of air, of which a man might be unconscious, would affect the accuracy of this rule, yet such is the case.

There were students who misunderstood the significance of the little things in Mrs. Eddy’s household experience, which to her constituted a thermometer of the state of thought over which she watched with such great care. Hence, when this book describes how the students drove small brass nails into the floor, in order to enable them to put the chairs back in just the same place each time, he did not realize, any more than did the students, that they were robbing Mrs. Eddy of one of the means invaluable to her as a check on their demonstration.

Students who failed to appreciate Mrs. Eddy’s demand for constructive thinking, protective thinking, or, at least, harmless thinking, might malpractice on our Leader; failing to perceive that the very hairs of her head were all numbered, that nothing in her home or life was too trivial to be overlooked, because her goal was to bring every thought into captivity to Christ.

Once, when Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was on a tour of inspection of the royal laboratories, with just a touch of his hand he disturbed an instrument which had been adjusted with infinite care. He merely turned a small screw. Yet, that was enough to throw the delicate instrument out of precision. His failure to have a proper appreciation of the situation cost many hours of patient toil.

The beginner in Christian Science, who has not departed to any great extent from dependence on the action of human law, as manifested in physical health, bodily vigor and financial prosperity, can have little appreciation of the infinite care with which Mrs. Eddy preserved her mental poise, the delicate adjustment which the sensitive beginnings of spiritual thought find necessary in the midst of gross mortal mind. A change in the mental atmosphere might go unnoticed, except by the one who, having this standard of measurement in his care, perceives by the effect upon his “mental mercury” the disturbing action of that which is misunderstood or undetected by a less sensitive thought. Mrs. Eddy was like one endeavoring to dial a radio receiver into a station requiring precise tuning. Hence, such a one might find that even the soft footsteps of his pet dog constituted a definite interference to the task at hand.

When this fact about Mrs. Eddy is understood by the student, then, as he reads of her experience, he can perceive the reasons for much that otherwise might puzzle him.

Students who did not have the spiritual insight to trace Mrs. Eddy’s rebukes back to cause, might believe that Mrs. Eddy was unduly particular, to the point of fussiness, about trivial matters. Upon such, Mrs. Eddy’s demand that everything be done from the standpoint of demonstration would sometimes produce a chemicalization, because they felt that she not only criticized them unduly, but often found fault with their best efforts. They failed to see that in numbering the hairs of her head, she refused to leave out one strand. Such a misunderstanding would cause the student to seek refuge, not in the effort to correct his or her thinking, but to be more careful in the human service rendered Mrs. Eddy. She never criticized demonstration, however, but only a lack of it.

An illustration of this mistaken notion was found in the cook, who often prepared two complete dinners for Mrs. Eddy, calling one the in-case, meaning thereby that in case Mrs. Eddy sent back the first meal served, because she did not like it, there would be a second to offer. Such a procedure showed a failure to realize, that only the service rendered Mrs. Eddy from the standpoint of demonstration was satisfactory to her; anything else, although humanly without a flaw, called forth her rebuke. Yet, because this rebuke was forthcoming only at such times as Mrs. Eddy felt a waning spiritual thought in herself, the students were apt to get careless, until brought to task by the one who loved them enough to rebuke them, and risk their displeasure.

Critics, learning about the in-case meal, might seize upon it to prove that Mrs. Eddy was over-particular about her food. With justice, they might point to the labor involved in cooking two complete meals! Nevertheless, those with discerning eyes knew that Mrs. Eddy was not hard to please. Often, she hardly knew what she ate. Notwithstanding, she was extremely sensitive to thought, and during those times when her own thinking was under pressure through some urgent problem, a humanly-balanced thought in a student, even though expressed in the most loving desire to serve, would definitely disturb her spiritual poise, and might be as disastrous as physical suffering.

Yet, although Mrs. Eddy was not concerned about the food itself, she did require that it be flavored with scientific right thinking, cooked with spiritual understanding, and served with a loving consciousness of man’s oneness with God. In this requirement, Mrs. Eddy was only being consistent with the entire purpose of Christian Science, and teaching the students what they came to her home to learn.

The student who is willing to be criticized, will grow spiritually. The one who tries to protect himself from criticism by any human method of gaining accuracy and correctness, will thereby lose his sense of the importance of demonstration. “He that will save his life shall lose it.” Every student should be willing to let his work be an accurate index of his thinking, and be criticized, if necessary. He should be grateful for such a reprimand, since, if his thought is not on the right side of the mental balance, he thus finds it out, and can take the steps necessary to regain his demonstrating sense, which is the most precious thing a Christian Scientist has. The one who is glad to be rebuked for the sake of readjusting his mental state, when it is not correct, will progress spiritually.

Let it be remembered that a right diagnosis of mortal mind reveals that any outward effect, no matter whether the senses adjudge it good or bad, if it proceeds from any cause other than the divine Mind, is the effect of error. The most punctilious church attendance, the most unselfish giving, the most conscientious effort to prepare Mrs. Eddy’s meals or put her furniture back in place, would be the effect of error, if not prompted by demonstration, or a right balance of spiritual thought.

In summing up the points connected with the in-case, it must be understood that it was only when an extra pressure disturbed Mrs. Eddy’s scientific balance, that she rebuked any lack of spiritual support on the part of those around her. Then, if she would refuse a dinner that was perfection from the standard of cookery, why would she accept the second meal, unless it were more the manifestation of demonstration than the first? The reason was that she recognized that, even though the cook was lacking in demonstration, still she had a loving desire to please her. Although this was not the scientific support that Mrs. Eddy needed, yet it was a Christian thought, and Mrs. Eddy accepted it as such. Our Leader realized that if the cook had had more confidence in demonstration making the first meal acceptable, she would not have relied on preparing a second. The cook had a desire to please and a fear that she might not. Nevertheless, if she had realized that demonstration was always acceptable to Mrs. Eddy, in whatever form it manifested itself, the mistake might have been avoided.

Today students can learn a priceless lesson from the in-case, for it teaches that, if their spiritual demonstration is lacking, they should not fall back on human ways and means, education, ingenuity, etc. There is no doubt that it requires courage to stand on the platform DEMONSTRATION OR NOTHING, but only through that, comes satisfactory spiritual growth, and a radical reliance on God.

In relation to her household, Mrs. Eddy’s thought was like a thermometer. She rebuked them for their work, not because of results, but because of the way the work was done. A slight touch on a radiator will indicate whether a furnace is working properly. Mrs. Eddy’s sensitivity was uplifted if any of the work in and for the home was done scientifically, even when it came to the preparing of her meals; but if it was done by the letter, and the spirit was lacking, it depressed her. For this reason she was unerring in her ability to know whether the students needed reproof or praise.

Her home was the only spot on earth in which every activity was used to restore spiritual thinking. A student who failed to do his tasks from the standpoint of spiritual thinking, therefore, deserved a rebuke and received it. The ultimate of the entire teaching of Christian Science is to restore to man his consciousness of divine Mind as his only Mind. Whatever was done in Mrs. Eddy’s home, apart from divine Mind, was a wasted opportunity, a sin of omission, that God rebuked through her. This same proposition holds true in the home of every Christian Scientist who desires and seeks to pattern his home after hers.




Chapter Three — Independent Thought Needed by Pioneer

Weeds find little chance to take root and flourish in soil that is composed largely of clay, and for this reason, a farmer would find it a difficult task to raise crops. So if he rejoiced because of the ease with which he kept his farm free from weeds, he would feel sad when he saw what a scanty crop he could raise. On the other hand, rich land invites a luxuriant growth of worthless plants, until it has been properly weeded. Then the good seed, planted, will bring an abundant harvest.

Many great men and women, whose later destinies revealed a great richness of thought, have manifested in youth an indication of this future prolificness by the greater growth of what might be called weeds. Parents who have rejoiced in model children, however, have lived to see these children grow up and amount to very little.

The above offers an interesting line of thought in connection with a book entitled, Fads and Quackery in Healing, by Morris Fishbein, M.D. In this book he writes of Mrs. Eddy as a girl as follows: “No-one had trouble with Mary when she could have her way, but when crossed she could put on a performance that would stop the family. She was frail, delicate, oversensitive, frequently given to spasms and attacks of tantrums.” In writing of her forty years later he says, “She lay in bed arguing, battling, contesting with everyone.”

Without taking up the question of the correctness of the source for such an extravagant picture, let us dissect it on the assumption that it might be correct. Can we not show that it would enhance rather than belittle our memory of Mrs. Eddy?

A child who has unusual strength of character is always a problem, always difficult to handle, always hard to understand. Such a child is troubled by the common-place things of daily living, which often provoke in him a storm of protest. If it were true that Mrs. Eddy did seem selfwilled in her youth, and a problem to her father, that would indicate the presence in her of a great desire, a searching for satisfaction, an inability to find peace of mind from a human standpoint.

If, in the splendid soil of Mrs. Eddy’s mind, any weeds of morbidity, discontent, or insubordination flourished, as Dr. Fishbein would have the world believe, they would merely point to that which later was proved to be so fertile, because of the plenteous harvest that followed the planting of the spiritual seed. If there was any lack of human docility in the child, Mary Baker, any lack of effort to make the best of things, any lack of unprotesting obedience to a situation in life which most people would consider inevitable, this would be a definite signpost pointing to her fitness to be entrusted with a message from God, and its unfoldment to humanity. Anything critical biographers may unearth in Mrs. Eddy’s early experience that might point to an undue independence of spirit, would only prove how impossible it is to control and direct a great mind with human rules and regulations. When will any mortal waken to spiritual freedom, unless the hunger for such freedom first produces a mounting discontent with the cold restrictions of material law?

Hence, if Mary Baker did have any objectionable human qualities, might it not be possible that after she had discovered Christian Science, and these qualities which stood out as undesirable were put under the control of the divine Mind; they became important as adjuncts to independence of thought, which was so needed by one who literally became an eddy in the great stream of thought, where an eddy is defined by Webster as “a current of water flowing back, or in a direction contrary to the main stream?”

Love for Mrs. Eddy might tend to cause young students to sugarcoat her early life to suit his or her fancy. Yet, if she were the child such a fancy might picture, from whence would have come that strength and rugged courage, which enabled her to emerge triumphant as a Leader worthy to follow?

Most parents endeavor to bend the will of a child so that it may be driven down the path of human destiny without resistance. Yet, the child who submits to this without a protest, does not represent the one with qualities capable of being developed into leadership, but rather into lifelong subjection.

I once owned two hunting dogs. One was obedient and easily trained. The other was so high-spirited that it took many patient hours to break him to the trail. Yet the latter became the finest bird dog I ever owned. The former was perfectly obedient, but lacked initiative; he was never able to find a bird. The high spirits of the latter became valuable, after they were trained to be expressed in the right way; whereas the meek submission of the former made him of little value.

No-one can question that from her early childhood Mrs. Eddy had a driving force within, which, before it was turned into God’s channels, might have been something to complain of in a child who was not understood. Her mother never found it so. She is quoted as having said, after Mary went away, “That dear child’s bright laugh has gone out of the house.” Her father found her a different problem, and spent many hours in trying to break her independence of thought, because it opposed his theology.

Certainly Mary Baker must have had a mental energy and independence which, when properly applied, resulted in a magnificent achievement. So Dr. Fishbein’s picture is interesting, because it would indicate a powerful individuality emerging from the crushing influence of human mob psychology, as it falls like a waffle-iron on each newcomer on the scene of human life, to press and force him or her into a certain predestined human pattern.

Let us suppose that Mary Baker, as a girl, being physically weak and not able to gain her way by fighting, did fall back on a woman's weapons. Let us conclude that she did have an indomitable determination which, when misapplied, became a difficult problem. Even this would redound to Mrs. Eddy’s praise.

Surely Mary Baker had a natural instinct which made her dissatisfied and discontented under human domination. The regime of mortal existence in no way satisfied the demands of her heart and soul. When individuals of Mrs. Eddy’s type appear in the course of history, they are bound to search for possible means of happiness, until they find the object of that search.

Little can be done with a thought that is negative. Even those who have positive opposition to Christian Science seem to make the most steadfast workers we have, when once they have been converted. St. Paul illustrates this point. He was a bitter opponent of Christianity. Yet when his mental energy was divinely directed, it brought great spiritual fruitage.

Hence, no matter what Dr. Fishbein might say of Mrs. Eddy, the fact remains that she was never possessed of a negative mind. Just what impression she created as a child, it would be hard to say. Probably she was not so different from many children, except for this inflexibility of thought—inflexible as far as holding rigidly to her own views is concerned. But, if we say that when her thought finally yielded, it yielded to God, then that would explain the steadfast quality which made her such a wonderful Leader, once the right path was unfolded to her. Thereafter, nothing swerved her from that path, not even the greatest pressure that the world could bring to bear of suffering, persecution and loss.

Another illustration of the cold hand of criticism, redounding to Mrs. Eddy’s praise, is to be found in a volume by Stephan Zweig called Mental Healers, published in February, 1932. On page 246 he writes, “What was molten lava when erupted from the volcanic soul of Mary Baker Eddy, is now cold, and a tranquil fellowship of undistinguished folk has established itself on the lower slopes of the extinct crater.”

Let us consider the implications in this statement. Could anyone refer to Mrs. Eddy as having a “volcanic soul,” without acknowledging that she was animated by a mighty sincerity, and that the irresistible volume of Truth, which she poured forth from revelation and inspiration, produced a mighty upheaval in the world of thought? Would not such an admission compensate for the recital of fiction in regard to our Leader’s life contained in the book under consideration?

Hence, we can be grateful for this implication of Mrs. Eddy’s mighty sincerity and spontaneous outpouring of that which welled up in her consciousness with such power, that it forced her to tell her story to an incredulous world. What does it matter that Herr Zweig states that Mrs. Eddy’s doctrine, once revolutionary in character, has now grown cold? No doubt he believes this to be true. He sees her followers today, a peaceful people, friendly and happy, not disposed to make trouble nor attack the treasured beliefs of others. He forgets, however, that when territory is being prepared for man’s use, there is a mighty upheaval and blasting, there is much to be done and much resistance to be overcome. The soil must be cleared and enriched. When this pioneering work is completed and the seed sown, there descends upon the scene a peace and tranquillity, which might deceive one who had not the insight to detect the miracle taking place underground, unseen to the eyes of man.

Today, the action of Truth, as taught by the Master, rediscovered by Mrs. Eddy, and now planted in the hearts of humanity, is performing a miracle. Although the action seems peaceful, yet those who have a finger on the pulse of present day affairs, recognize the signs of a mighty spiritual fruitage for the world, coming from the sowing which Mrs. Eddy did in those tumultuous pioneering days.

The question comes up, what is the soil in which the seed of Truth best germinates and grows? Mary Baker Eddy had a deep desire for something beyond what the world could give, a desire so strong that she was willing to endure misrepresentation, misunderstanding, persecution and hardship in order to gain it. Any quality of thought that hungers enough to be willing to go through such experiences, without losing sight of the object of that hunger, makes the finest quality of thought in which to develop the incorruptible seed of Truth. The moment Mrs. Eddy’s desire was awakened to discover the things of God, then all her background of determination and persistence came to her aid, to help her eventually to attain the thing she wanted.

When desire is strong enough in a man or woman, he or she will let nothing stand in the way, nor sidetrack either in the attaining of that goal. If one with such possibilities of attainment can only be given the right goal to strive for, then attainment enriches all.

It is commonly believed that the best soil for spiritual achievement is represented by human qualities of love, thoughtfulness, charity, etc. But such Christian qualities are effect and not cause. Hence, the right soil is not indicated by what one manifests, but by the motive in thought which prompts the manifestation. Contrary to the evidence, the Master found good soil in Mary Magdalen. Although the manifestation was obnoxious, yet the underlying motive was good. The reverse of this is the deception of a fine outward expression, where the motive is selfish and wrong. The rich young man who came to Jesus had a fine outward expression; yet the Master unerringly detected the underlying selfishness, the desire to be well thought of by others. The Master told him to sell all and give to the poor, to eliminate all the seemingly good outward manifestation, and give attention to correcting the poor inward motive.

From this it follows, that in reference to their Leader, Christian Scientists stand on this platform: that Mrs. Eddy’s final spiritual goal demonstrates beyond all question the integrity and rightness of her underlying motive that animated her throughout her experience. Let critics tear the outward manifestation of her life to pieces and say whatever error directs them to. But, until they can impugn her life motive, they can do her no harm.

When a broom is introduced into a room badly in need of cleaning, the clouds of dust raised before the room is thoroughly swept, illustrate the action on the human mind, when the cleansing properties of the divine Mind enter human thought with the purpose of purification. In analyzing the value of stirring up dust which has been hidden for years, the only correct perspective can be gained through viewing the eventual results. Thus, noone can rightly criticize a single footstep Mrs. Eddy took, that did not seem to be in the direct line of spiritual progress, because such footsteps had no effect in preventing her from reaching her ultimate goal, or fulfilling her aspirations and desires, and no doubt each one was necessary in its own time as part of her effort to determine the right road.

Sometimes the pioneer of spiritual truth may yield to certain false arguments, because the strength necessary to stand at that time is not discerned. Sad experiences are needed to force him or her to investigate the claims of evil which, like the newly-adapted transparent wrapping called cellophane, are so imperceptible, that one cannot understand why a lofty spiritual desire and a sanctified consistent life do not bring the right results, until further spiritual understanding reveals this hidden claim, which is then destroyed through being seen as nothing. Such experiences, which would be used by critical thought to try to rob a great reformer of entitled glory, by setting forth a wrong picture, only point to the value and helpfulness of such a life, to those desirous of following in the footsteps of the pioneer.

Those naturally great in the world’s history have not the value to humanity that is commonly attributed to them, as compared with those who have acquired greatness through struggle and self-denial; who, having been overcome by evil, are not discouraged, but press on to final victory. These, recognizing the fallibility of human reason or experience, as a guide to enable them to surmount the obstacles which everyone must, in order to reach a divine status above the limitations of age or dependence on physical strength, rise to that point where they depend on the divine Mind alone, and discover that it never fails them when it is appealed to rightly. Such an experience is not only an individual triumph, but presents a great hope to all the world, because it shows the possibility of each individual taking the same steps and arriving at the same glorious results.

No-one is fit to touch the hem of Mrs. Eddy’s garment, to criticize one act in her life, to emphasize one experience, because it appears to be inconsistent with the spiritual perfection she revealed as a possible attainment for all, unless such a one understands to some degree her motives, what she had to overcome, and more than all else, the fact that she did accomplish and attain in a large measure what she set forth as attainable, or unless he recognizes the radical changes that have taken place in the lives of her followers who are consistent with her teachings. No-one who has any correct knowledge of the facts, can gainsay the dignity, the normality, and the sincerity of her followers who, knowing her as her enemies could never do, have never changed their estimate of her unselfish purpose and her absolute divergence from those things of the flesh, which so often draw men and women away from the object to which they have dedicated their lives.

There is a certain jealous thought that would attempt to show that Mrs. Eddy’s object in giving Christian Science to the world was to gain money. No-one could accuse Mrs. Eddy of the love of money, or of being a miser, after he learns how freely she bestowed her fortune on charity, and above all, to the building up of the Cause of Christian Science. Those who knew Mrs. Eddy intimately, can testify that the amount of money she spent on herself was very small. For years she enjoyed no other form of recreation or pleasure than her daily drive. When she was at an age when most people retire from active effort, the song of her life was that which she said was the song of Christian Science, in her Message for 1900, “Work—work—work— watch and pray.” She cared only to give to the world more clearly the principles which she felt confident would increase man’s faith in God, and would teach him the availability and value of the divine Mind as being adequate for every human need, not only to relieve man from the depression, despair, and fear which so-called disease brings to man, but also to furnish him with that unerring wisdom which alone can guide the individual and the nation aright, into the true harbor of perpetual peace, spiritual Truth, and divine Love.




Chapter Four — The Pearl of Great Price

It is true in every direction that great pioneers have little time to straighten roads and beautify surroundings. This work is usually left to future generations. The pioneer must break through the uncharted country, which is of itself a great attainment. One of the wonders of Mrs. Eddy’s achievements is the fact that she was both Discoverer and Founder. Certainly those who would criticize the paths she took, which at times were necessarily circuitous, must have little appreciation of her attainment, its value to the world and the honor due to such a one for reaching the goal, especially if this goal be that inspiration which is the greatest goal of all, namely, the desire and ability to unfold the process of right thinking and right living, so that man may be reunited to his Father in that heavenly sense of home, where joy and peace, without interruption, attend man’s service of God.

In considering Mrs. Eddy’s life and her so-called human experiences, one must bear in mind that everything she did, every move she made, was with the express intention and determination to guard and protect, at any cost, this pearl of great price which to her would be her spiritual thinking, since, without this spiritual thinking, her value as Discoverer, as a Teacher, and as a Leader would be rendered null and void.

With the average person, the motive that impels him to take thought for his life, what he should eat or drink, to be obedient to his physician and to the laws of health, is that he may preserve his human health and life. This was not true of Mrs. Eddy as I knew her. To judge her as one impelled by fear for her physical condition, or by the effort to preserve a human sense of life, is entirely to misunderstand the motives from which her actions proceeded. Furthermore, Mrs. Eddy passed on to her followers the valuable lesson that health proceeds from, and is the manifestation of, spiritual right thinking. Therefore, above all, the student attempts to guard and preserve from invasion the integrity of his thinking. Hence, he looks upon yielding to anger, personal criticism, irritation, as well as to human satisfaction and human pleasure, as being the natural enemies of his scientific right thinking. He watches lest his thought be contaminated by yielding to these temptations, as carefully as mankind in general would protect itself from poison and undue exposure. The Christian Scientist knows well that his spiritual value to the world, his ability to be used by God, the blessing he can extend to humanity, and his ability to relieve the sick and suffering, the poor and discouraged, is in direct proportion to the attainment and preservation of his spiritual thinking.

The students in Mrs. Eddy’s home saw her assailed by error at times; but if they ever considered that such errors were what might be termed natural manifestations, that would indicate that they failed to realize that these errors were the impersonal attempt of mortal belief to silence the voice of Truth, as it spoke through our Leader, to prevent the continuation of her teaching, guidance, and watchful direction, the loss of which might have left the Cause in a state of confusion and fear. Above all, Mrs. Eddy had overcome dependence on physicality and had handled the common claims of sickness. The phases of error and sickness which assailed Mrs. Eddy were, therefore, the attempt of evil minds to crucify her as they did the Master.

What was uppermost in Mrs. Eddy’s thought was not any fear of death coming through a human desire to live, but the realization of the vital importance of remaining to finish her work for the Cause. She saw the work that needed to be done and was able to make the demonstration, which was to remain and do it.




Chapter Five — Mrs. Eddy's Divine Standard

Mrs. Eddy's teachings, properly understood, disclose that there is no effect existing in the world, not even the fall of a sparrow, that is not the manifestation of mind as cause. Therefore, as we gain the recognition that the most insignificant, as well as the most notable manifestations, are purely the outward expression, either of the fact that man is letting error gain control of his thinking, or else is letting go of the claim, we can see that the life of Mrs. Eddy, given merely as an accurate rehearsal of events, has no practical value, unless the student has the insight to trace the development of the thoughts, of which these outward events were but the visible expression.

Therefore, the true history of Mrs. Eddy must be a record of her mental struggle to throw off the domination of mortal belief in all its phases, from the aggressive to the somnolent, thereby letting in light.

Mrs. Eddy reserved her strongest rebukes, not for the evidence of fear and disturbance in the students, but for those phases of human thought which produced a quiet feeling of satisfaction, that all was well with the world. She fought this apathy, called it mental drunkenness, a peace, peace, where there was no peace, and insisted upon the students fighting it, insisted with more persistence than she did when it came to the aggressive and disturbing phases of experience and thought. Undoubtedly she knew that the students needed no prodding to persuade them to fight that which produces discomfort and fear, whereas it was necessary for her to waken them from the false comfort of a false peace, a human peace not based on a triumphant sense of good, but a sympathy with error.

It requires a well-developed spiritual thought to be able to trace the mental cause from its human manifestation. No-one without it could have detected any difference between the offerings brought by Cain and Abel. Yet, the Lord, or spiritual perception, had not respect unto Cain’s offering because it was discerned that back of it was the human, and not the divine Mind. This fact was exposed to be true, because of the murder of Abel by Cain which followed. To some degree the necromancers of Egypt, through false thinking, produced the same outward appearance in results as did Moses through right thinking. Beyond a certain point, however, the human mind cannot follow the divine Mind. This point is illustrated in the healing of the sick through Christian Science, where the outward appearance of restored health might not differ from a case which recovered under medical aid; yet, in the former case, unknown to the beneficiary, a spiritual inflow has been started, the result of which marks the final overthrow of all matter. It is at this point of demarcation that the student, who is capable of translating effect back to cause, must begin, in order to set forth to the inquirer the true demonstration of Mrs. Eddy, the casting off of those activities of mortal mind, manifested both in the malicious and the natural, which becloud vision and shut man off from being taught of God. There is little use, however, in attempting to explain Mrs. Eddy’s life from the spiritual standpoint to those who are so dulled mentally, that they would insist that Moses’ mental operations were the same as those of the necromancers; a supposition which would put Moses’ demonstration on the level of the human, implying that he used the human mind, instead of the divine, to produce his results.

What use would it be to try to unfold spiritual facts to one who insisted that the offerings of Cain and Abel were alike in value because of their outward appearance? The greater works which the Master promises, and which follow when man’s thought goes to the Father, can alone convince one’s beclouded sense of the true divinity of the thought back of the works, since beclouded sense sees no further than the surface from which to judge.

If mind is causation, then every effect must follow a mental cause. Only as this is understood, can the importance be recognized of replacing the so-called human mind with the divine. Otherwise one will judge effects at their face value, regardless of the cause back of them. The standard Mrs. Eddy presented is, that no matter how wonderful effect may appear to be, it is to be cast aside as worthless, unless the cause is spiritual and hence, right. From this, is it not apparent that the greatest study, the most important study that can be made by the student desiring to gain a comprehensive and demonstrable understanding of Mrs. Eddy’s experience and revelation, must be the study of her life, not as a series of human vicissitudes, but as a development of the spiritual seed, which, taking lodgment in the receptive and good soil of her thought, began to shake her life to its very foundation, and to drive her through those human experiences from which she learned that every attempt to find lasting peace, security, or health in any phase of human thought, no matter how good it might appear to be on the surface, is an impossibility? She discovered and passed on to us, as a priceless boon won through costly struggles, the knowledge that only as we find our happiness and our true spiritual destiny in receiving the things of God and giving them out to humanity, do we approach the divine standard.

Mrs. Eddy surrounded herself with students of Christian Science, who, through sincerity and sacrifice, were ready to give their all to help support and sustain their beloved Leader. Because of their inability to be sustained on her spiritual plane, however, their attempts were both helpful and deterring; helpful, when Mrs. Eddy, by her admonitions and her sharp rebukes, as well as by the spiritually sustaining power of her support, enabled them to unite with her in sending out a great volume of constructive and protective thought, which was felt all over the world; deterring, when the rising flood of animal magnetism reached those students who were on a lower plane, and, thereby, gave her the double task of saving herself and her students as well. Jesus had the same experience with his disciples. They left him unsupported when he needed them the most. Yet, in spite of denial and betrayal, he accomplished his demonstration and finished his work. What is more wonderful, he left the perpetuation of his teaching in the hands of these disciples, who, through their understanding of his life and the mental force at work to prevent the accomplishment of his divine purpose, were able to give to the world his important teachings, which would uncover evil and free man from it, thus enabling him to touch the garment of Truth.

Mrs. Eddy knew that the students who labored to help her and do things for her, did them either through demonstration or animal magnetism. There can be no middle ground. We have seen a boy’s whole life ruined by a mother’s love and kindness. Does that not prove that that love must have been directed by animal magnetism, in order to produce such an unhappy result?

When a student loved the Leader and desired with the whole heart to help her, he or she was apt to believe that such a desire to serve, prompted by a great sense of love, could not help being productive of good results. Yet, without the right demonstration, all that love was of no value. In fact, the reverse was true. Often it would result in discord and bring a wave of error into the home.

There is no half-way position. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” No-one can be a channel for Truth and error at the same time. There are only two motivating or directing forces, the divine Mind or animal magnetism, one of which goes out when the other comes in.

The natural human tendency is to let one’s thought and ideals come forth into activity, covered up with that which seems good on the surface, but with animal magnetism as the source. Unless, however, one makes a definite effort to work out of this inclination, he is bound to be governed by animal magnetism. No matter how sweet and loving the effort may seem, the object of animal magnetism is always to prevent or to break up the action of scientific demonstration. This explains why it was such a difficult task to serve the Leader in a way that was both scientific and constructive.

Although the mantle that clothed the effort might be human sweetness and love, so that the student would think the effort must be good because the mantle was good, yet Mrs. Eddy saw through this and perceived the underlying animal magnetism.

How difficult for the students to accept as a fact that which she declared she saw in them, when they could not see it in themselves! How difficult to accept a rebuke based on something they could not see! To my knowledge, Mrs. Eddy designated one of her active students a “moral idiot,” and yet that student was conscious only of a love for the Leader and an active, honest desire to help her and the Cause.

This could be illustrated by a student bringing Mrs. Eddy a beautiful wreath and receiving a rebuke because Mrs. Eddy detected branches of poison ivy hidden in the wreath. The student who did not see the poison ivy would not understand.

The kindly thought of the unspiritual so neutralizes the underlying animal magnetism, that it is not recognized. Mrs. Eddy, however, was never deceived. The result was that she rebuked students when they felt that she was unjust, because they were performing their duties with such a great sense of love and loyalty. Notwithstanding, Mrs. Eddy knew when the directing thought back of these activities was animal magnetism, or divine Mind. Hence, no student could rightly fulfill his or her privileged obligation to our Leader, when he was not making the definite attempt to do everything, no matter how simple, from the standpoint of demonstration.

I repeat, that one of the sources of misunderstanding of Mrs. Eddy on the part of her students was their failure to trace effect back to cause and perceive that, when she rebuked them for outward acts, no matter how trivial, it was because she lived so much in Mind, that these outward things to her represented the continual inward struggle, the ebbing and flowing of thought as, under the greatest kind of mental pressure, mortal belief or human thinking would creep into the thought in the home and then be driven out again.

Years ago, the Mississippi river was systematically hemmed in by dikes, in order that the stream would flow down and be lost in the gulf, instead of spreading over the country. At times, during this great undertaking, when a dike gave way, no attention was paid to the water as it rushed through the break. Every effort was concentrated on repairing the breach to prevent further devastation.

From this illustration, one can see that the true interpretation of Mrs. Eddy’s guidance in handling her students so that they might be of the utmost value to her and the Cause, was to realize that she detected that their protection against the flood of animal magnetism was weakening, and their thought in danger of being inundated, when some of them began to lose their mental alertness, which Mrs. Eddy called a state of mental drunkenness. Nevertheless, it seemed a great trial, when a sense of this peace, induced by apathy, caused us all to feel so harmonious, where we felt that the Cause of Christian Science was progressing, that everybody was at his or her post of duty in the home, and all was well, to have it rudely invaded by the one who watched so lovingly and persistently, yet, who would give the rebuke for that which seemed unimportant, or insignificant. Mrs. Eddy, however, from her mental height, looked down and saw the small beginning of a leak in our thought, into which animal magnetism had begun to flow. She knew that if it were not stopped, serious results might happen to the spiritual thought in the home, to the growth of the student, and to the activities for which he or she were responsible. Mrs. Eddy rightly expected that those students had assimilated her teachings sufficiently, so that they would know that she was not criticizing effect, but through effect was pointing to the cause, and that they would perceive the value of this rebuke, and fortify themselves spiritually. At this point, it is well to state that when any student was thus mentally fortified, he was not rebuked by our beloved Leader. Yet, no student could keep himself or herself at all times at the high point of alertness, necessary to understand the subtlety of error. So how fortunate we were to have such an alert spiritual Leader who could understand, and who had enough love in her heart, and interest in her students, to awaken them as the need arose.




Chapter Six — The Spiritual Atmosphere at Pleasant View

The early environment of Mary Baker Eddy was Calvinistic, which means that the whole trend of thought at that time was on the serious side, with long sermons and solemn Sabbaths. But Mrs. Eddy was reaching out for warmth and joy and, not finding it in the church of her fathers, she sought it in the intellect, in literature, and in poetry. It is reasonable to believe that this early solemnity of thought was a better field to take off from, than would be one so grown up with beautiful vegetation, that it offered little opportunity for an airplane to taxi around, in order to gain the necessary speed. You must have a clear field for a good takeoff, and the barren Calvinistic field was well suited to this purpose. In such a doctrine was to be found little human warmth or mental recreation to balance properly the somberness of thought. It was a faith which contained little sweetness to make it attractive. For this reason, no-one could long sustain his or her interest in it, except from a sense of duty, and duty carries man but a short distance along the spiritual path. First, Mrs. Eddy turned to the intellect, believing that through study and the acquiring of book knowledge, she might meet her needs. However, intellectual pursuits never constitute anything more than a mental skeleton, even though they may furnish a preliminary scaffolding. Such has no value unless filled out with beauty, warmth and desirability. The valley of dry bones, in Ezekiel 37, represents the effort to gain spirituality through the intellect, yet the moment any true spirituality is borne in on such a thought, the bones come to life, take on beauty and form, and express the graces of the Spirit.

There is an error abroad that attempts to set forth that, in her early days, Mrs. Eddy had these graces of the Spirit naturally. If this were true, then unlike the students she taught and the members of her church, she made no spiritual progress; yet, if there is any one thing we must conclude concerning Mrs. Eddy, it was that her spiritual understanding was continually developing and growing. In order to understand all of her steps, however, one must understand her first steps. If these had been complete, it would imply that she made no progress.

When our troops surprised the Hessians, who were the soldiers hired by the British in the Revolutionary war, they were celebrating Christmas, and were full of meat and drink. This was a celebration of enjoyment and religious loyalty, which normally would be considered not only harmless, but orderly and proper. Yet, as far as results were concerned, the soldiers might just as well have swallowed deadly poison and been on their death beds, since, because of the circumstances, they fell an easy prey to the sword.

Does not this illustration show why human satisfaction and well-being, exhibited by her students, disturbed Mrs. Eddy? Her rebukes were based on her knowledge that such a mental condition was just as effective in clogging thought, and so barring the spiritual idea from man’s door, as would be fear, which forcibly ejects the spiritual idea. Yet, there is this difference: when the spiritual idea is forcibly ejected, you desire to regain it more than anything else in the world. If you have learned any processes that will bring the Christ back, you will put forth every energy in order to accomplish this. On the other hand, when the spiritual idea is barred because of human satisfaction and apathy, man’s desire grows indifferent, unless sharply rebuked, and indifference is just as effective in keeping it out, as would be a window heavily barred.

There is a temptation that has been put forth by error, for man to believe that the wisdom which alone can guide the Christian Scientist aright, is something which may be developed through experience, or by the mere human study of Mrs. Eddy’s works. Yet, the sum total of her teaching is, that divine wisdom is that wisdom which comes from God; it cannot be developed, but must be reflected. Hence, the study of Christian Science through the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings, plus the effort to demonstrate her teachings, is necessary to enable the student to locate, understand and neutralize those errors that fill thought, and effectively prevent the wisdom of God from entering the hearts of men. So, logically, anything that prevents the things of God from being reflected by His idea, man, must be considered the enemy of the student, no matter how apparently good. This assertion will help to explain Mrs. Eddy’s frequent rebukes for that which, on the surface, did not seem to merit such a rebuke. It is interesting to note this perplexing point, that Mrs. Eddy did not rebuke evil, in the common use of that word; she rebuked that which she knew to be a spiritual deterrent in the student’s efforts to hold up her hands. Evil is self-explanatory in calling attention to one’s erroneous human thinking, whereas human good, which also has its origin in human thinking, and hence is a natural enemy of God, is something that may require a loving explanation by a spiritually-minded person, who is able to detect the error, in order to be seen as evil.

At times, Mrs. Eddy seemed to expect and need the demonstration of the students in maintaining the spiritual atmosphere of the home. While her faith in their ability stimulated them to do good work in this direction, yet mature consideration informs us that, without the spiritual support which she lent her household, their demonstration would never have accomplished the desired results.

Who of Mrs. Eddy’s students have since experienced the spiritual uplift which was felt at Pleasant View, the free-flowing of spiritual thought which comes from God alone, the continuous harmony of mind and body? This should prove that Mrs. Eddy’s part in preserving the spiritual atmosphere of the home was of primary importance, even though the students contributed their share, under her direction. Mrs. Eddy not only supplied the larger part of the spiritual uplift through her own mental ministrations, but also watched over the students with such great care that, when she perceived error menacing them, she forced them to drive it out. No matter how high the student’s thought might be in the spiritual scale, she required him to rise still higher toward the limitless spiritual ideal. Thus, whatever work the students did that was spiritually efficacious in maintaining an atmosphere of spiritual harmony in the home, was directly due to Mrs. Eddy’s continued watchfulness over her helpers, her willingness to assume full responsibility for the demonstration, (if help was not forthcoming from the students), and her unselfed love, which gave the needed rebuke, without counting the possible cost. As she says in Science and Health, page 571, “It requires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake of doing right and benefiting our race.”

If those consecrated workers, who are with us today and who were privileged to work in that blessed home, will seek spiritual self-analysis, will strive to understand the motive that governed all of Mrs. Eddy’s actions and to see, without prejudice or sentiment, mental cause and effect; the relation of Mrs. Eddy to her students; the effect of her clear thought upon the Christian Science Movement, as well as upon all the nations of the earth; and to perceive her use of every human problem to establish spiritual understanding and development; then these students may be of inestimable value to the field in laying out these facts, and in assisting those who could not have the privilege of a personal contact with our beloved Leader, in gaining their appreciation of Mrs. Eddy’s mental history, from which alone can be deduced the footsteps leading up to the throne of God.

It was the Mind of God reflected by the Master which taught his disciples, and left the spiritual precepts which are for the guidance of the whole world. It was the Mind of God which was in Christ Jesus, to which he referred when he said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.” So it must be the attainment of the reflection of that Mind, which comes through its guidance, and of the spiritual perception of the processes by which the human mind is taught to lay off its limitation and human qualities, which will finally bring man to the reflection of infallible wisdom. Thus, the vital thing that interests the true Christian Scientist must be the understanding of these mental processes; and whatever may be correctly set forth about the mental life of the one who has attained the reflection of this divine Mind in a great degree, would be the knowledge above price, to which we all aspire.

This leads to the conclusion that there is nothing insignificant in revelation. The simplest statements are fraught with the most profound meaning. Acts which seem trivial, have a spiritual analysis. Mrs. Eddy’s own teachings reiterate that the evidence of the material senses is the reverse of the spiritual fact. Therefore, how could you be sure that you were portraying those experiences in the life of our Leader that were spiritually great, unless the mortal senses called them insignificant and small. Hence, we can see that everything connected with the Revelator of Christian Science and the revelation is important, and must be understood by Christian Scientists; the false estimate of mortal mind must be rejected, and the facts of Mrs. Eddy’s life brought into their true spiritual perspective.




Chapter Seven — Understanding Mrs. Eddy’s Experience

On the page which separates the main body of Science and Health from the Key to the Scriptures, the following is quoted from Revelation 3:8: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” At one time while I was at Pleasant View, I kept opening to this page whenever I opened a copy of Science and Health. Finally, it became such a marked phenomenon, that I experimented with new copies of Science and Health which came to the home. I opened to the same place. At length, I realized that this passage must have a spiritual message for me. I saw that Mrs. Eddy not only taught the opening of the door which let in the light of spiritual understanding, a light which must be shed abroad as well as received, but Mrs. Eddy herself was this open door and must be so understood. It is with this desire, that I would endeavor to set before the world the results of a personal acquaintance with our Leader, as well as an effort, extending over nearly forty years, to understand her mission in its spiritual significance, what she stood for, and something of the obstructions that were continually placed in her path, in the attempt of evil to interfere with the final revelation of Truth being presented to humanity in its present form.

Primarily, the Master set before the world inspiration and its divine source as the only true wisdom and guide to eternal life. Mrs. Eddy has added to this the unfoldment and explanation of the maze into which error has led man, while it hides behind the garments of Truth. Thus, Mrs. Eddy has shown us the way out. In her first spiritual enlightenment, the practicality and truth of Jesus’ teaching were unfolded to her. Then, she realized that the problem of this age and generation must be the dissection and analysis of the deception, by which man has been encouraged to turn away from a right idea of God, while believing that he was following the true idea. The notion that this human existence is composed of combined wheat and tares, which must be separated, was part of the deception which she exposed. She showed that only that which comes from God is good and worthy to be attained or retained. This cannot include any phase of so-called human existence.

It should not disturb the student of Christian Science when he finds himself healed through Mrs. Eddy’s stripes, or the recipient of her spiritual bounty, gathered with bleeding footsteps. How could one provide the solution of a problem, unless he or she had worked it out?

The two phases of error with which Mrs. Eddy was concerned, were the wolf with and without sheep’s clothing. The wolf, alone, represents those aggressive forms of sin and disease which create fear and suffering; the wolf in sheep’s clothing represents the false peace and pleasure which man, when blinded by mesmerism to its true nature, experiences in the presence of aggressive evil.

In order to understand Mrs. Eddy’s life and mission from a spiritual standpoint, it must first be understood that without a spiritually developed ability to detect mental cause and effect, no-one could understand the significance of her experiences, her temptations, the magnificent overcoming which culminated in the final establishment of our great Cause, and the finished demonstration of what she put forth for our self-instruction, embodied in her great work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Three notable things stand out in my thought in connection with my knowledge of Mrs. Eddy: first, was the incredible sweetness of her thought. Every night she sat on the upper porch in her swing from eight until nine, at which time she retired. Just before leaving for her room, she might call me to come to her swing to say good night. I always felt that she devoted this hour to a general outpouring of spiritual good to humanity, because the sweetness of her thought stood out so vividly when she said good night, that it never failed to bring tears to my eyes. It seemed more than I could stand. A peace, a love, a strength and calm emanated from her thought to such a degree, that human sense could hardly endure it.

The second notable thing was the activity of her thought and its incisive detection of the presence of alien thought in the home. Hostile critics could never explain her perception of what she named malicious animal magnetism as being purely of the imagination. It was appreciated and understood, in a degree, by every metaphysician in the home. Furthermore, under her direction, the students made it their first and only effort to destroy it, by reestablishing the Mind of God in the home; this invariably restored peace and harmony.

The third notable thing was the fact that, at times, this mental inroad and stir expressed itself through Mrs. Eddy in a way that required a spiritual struggle on her part. Any student who failed to see the wolf back of the sheep’s clothing, would misunderstand the significance of Mrs. Eddy’s struggle with what seemed just an ordinary bodily ailment, and the mighty victory that always followed, a victory which seldom left any trace of the upheaval on Mrs. Eddy. After a night when the whole home was disturbed, and the students did not close their eyes, because of Mrs. Eddy’s struggle, she would appear at her desk in the morning, as fresh and serene as if nothing had happened, but the students would all be weary and worn. Notwithstanding, the grand work that was being done at Pleasant View for humanity never faltered because of these disturbances.

Yet, because of the sweat of her agony at such times, students can feel assured that there is no phase of error, whether personal or collective, so devious or subtle, that has not been faced and overcome, and that she has shown them how to develop a spiritually listening ear, so that they may be taught of God with such infallible wisdom, that no problem continues to be a problem, no evil is left with any sense of power, no deception can continue to deceive.

Above all others, Mrs. Eddy knew unerringly when God talked to her. Furthermore, she knew that nothing could supersede what was thus revealed. Hence, her struggle was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Her problem was to cast out and destroy these conspirators against her desire always to keep her mental door open, so that she might take the things of God and show them to the creature.

Thus, understood from the standpoint of mental cause and effect, those parts of Mrs. Eddy’s experience which, to unenlightened thought, appear incomprehensible or else seem to point to a lack of true spirituality, become clear; with this unfoldment comes loyalty and a true appreciation of her life struggle against the claims of mortality.

Much has been written about Mrs. Eddy’s human history, her parentage and youth, her limited opportunities, her intellect, her love for humanity, but no-one will ever exhaust the true appreciation and understanding of her adoption as a child of God, and the wonder of the demonstration that she made with the poorest equipment, as far as physical strength and health are concerned. At the age of eighty-five, she was at her post every day. From my personal knowledge, her labors would have exhausted the most robust man or woman the world has yet produced.

We would all be glad if a record could have been kept of those early experiences and struggles, which Jesus must have had. Yet, the most important part of his experience has been given to humanity, namely, the record of his words and deeds in the journey from sense to Soul, his struggles to maintain a spiritual and scientific attitude toward all people and things, and his final embodiment of the spiritual idea as his permanent selfhood.

It is this same desire that leads authors to endeavor to set forth known facts concerning Mrs. Eddy’s early experience. However, the greatest growth to the Christian Scientist comes through the effort to understand her life spiritually, her struggles, her victories and the spiritual presence which perpetually hovered over her head, even though at times darkness seemed to intervene. This study is not a sentimental appreciation because of the benefits received from Christian Science. It is not the effort to gain an emotional reaction through the thought of living in the same generation with a spiritual prophet. It is the effort, through the development of our spiritual apprehension of Truth, to comprehend each step that she took, every struggle that she made, and to recognize their significance in relation to the whole, as well as to study in her teachings the steps which she outlined, necessary to reach that well of living water, to which Jesus referred, springing up into everlasting life, that fount of inspiration which reveals all things in their true light. The true and spiritual history of Mrs. Eddy always will be that which records the progress of thought from the human to the divine, and the unfolding of what should be termed mental interference, as interpreted through her outward life.

An uninspired effort to understand Mrs. Eddy’s experience from a human standpoint, might cause one to view it as exemplifying the foibles of the human mind, rather than as bringing to the light the last and most subtle form of animal magnetism. The wolf in sheep’s clothing rightly characterized the last infirmity of evil which Mrs. Eddy had to unfold and handle. This is its deception, namely, the subtlety and viciousness of error, concealed in a simple and harmless appearing guise. There are students of Christian Science who, if they had seen Mrs. Eddy struggling with some error, might have said, “Why, I have had just as bad a difficulty as that, and I did not begin to make the ado and fuss about it that she does.” Why could not Mrs. Eddy make as little of her experiences, as perhaps her students could under the same circumstances? Wherein lies the so-called strength of a condition that is made manifest on an inharmonious body? It must be in the degree of mental confusion and stir of thought that is back of it. Hence, the dropping of spiritual thought in one student might manifest itself in a toothache, and in another, it might be a complete prostration. In other words, a student might lapse into a state of thought so disturbing, that any constructive thinking seemed impossible, and yet the outward physical manifestation might seem a simple thing to handle. However, the apparent power of this confusion that had only a slight manifestation, might make it absolutely necessary that the Christian Scientist take drastic steps to clear up the situation, steps, which, to the onlooker, seemed out of proportion to the seriousness of the ailment. The deduction from this is, that one cannot judge by an outward physical manifestation, the strength of an error, or the drain of spiritual thought required to produce the outward condition.

Thus, an inability on the part of a student to trace back from effect to cause, and diagnose from the standpoint of cause, would make it impossible for such a one to appreciate the nature of the error which Mrs. Eddy overcame. Therefore, no-one could even hope to touch the subject of Mrs. Eddy’s true spiritual history, who was not an advanced metaphysician. This exposes the error in endeavoring to put before the public a life of Mrs. Eddy, assumed to be a true appreciation and picture, yet written by an uninspired thought. Even the New Testament does not unfold the real nature of the obstacles placed in the path of the Master to overcome. Hence, the world believes that, when on the cross he cried with a loud voice, it was because the nails hurt his nerve-centers. Yet, can we believe that a man who had made the demonstration to walk on the water, had not made the demonstration over sensation in matter?

The seriousness of the error of trying to present Mrs. Eddy’s experience from an uninspired standpoint, lies in the fact that, to the uninspired thought, she was so often struggling with a lamb, making such an ado about it, while spiritual perception would detect at once that it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the carnal mind making deadly thrusts at the Christ-idea. If one thought she were dealing with a lamb, she would seem often to have been a quitter, and even a coward, making a stir where another would have endured without murmuring.

When is animal magnetism the most subtle? When it works in the dark, and takes on the appearance of a gentle, harmless lamb? Yes. Then the soldier of God is battling with the greatest subtlety, in danger of the last straw of being misunderstood. The one who fights thus is robbed in two ways: the world says that he or she did not have the courage to fight a simple lamb without making a great complaint and fuss; also, when the victory comes, nobody believes it to be of any significance. Hence, the world at large is robbed of the knowledge of the Goliath that was overcome, as well as the spiritual help needed to rout the enemy.

The Master said, “I have overcome the world.” Such a statement means little to uninspired thought, because Jesus referred to the mental victory, which none can comprehend but those spiritually enlightened. Yet, from the standpoint of divine Mind, the mental victory is the only one that has any real value, since, in reality, what man has to overcome is neither a wolf nor a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but the illusion which causes him to believe either that he has some mighty evil power to destroy or else, because of apparent harmony, that God is in control, hence, he has nothing to do.

Thus, I was impressed by three distinct phases in our Leader’s thought; her incredible tenderness and love, her great activity of thought wherein she indicated her mastery of mortal belief, and finally, the experiences that the casual observer would characterize as fear. Notwithstanding all appearances, I know that this state of thought was not a fear resulting from the presence of suffering, old age, or persecution. It entirely concerned the possibility of losing her spiritual sense, upon which she depended more than anything else. Usually her fear was based on her quick detection of a careless withdrawal of mental support on the part of her students. What Mrs. Eddy really feared was that, when she was not as securely poised on the side of spiritual confidence as usual, the students would go to sleep mentally and leave her without support. Let no-one imagine that Mrs. Eddy’s sense of fear was any lack of courage. The best illustration that comes to mind is to picture Mrs. Eddy as a swimmer breasting the waves. When she felt the tidal currents sweeping her backward, she realized that a desperate effort was necessary to withstand this pressure, and she relied on her students to help her, as did the Master in the garden of Gethsemane. To her regret, she saw animal magnetism putting her students to sleep, as it did the disciples of old. She recognized so clearly that a state of mental lethargy is more successful in robbing the Christian Scientist of his mental poise than is a temptation of suffering and pain, since the latter automatically rouses man to action. The time must come when the Field is awakened to see the danger involved in such a mental condition acting as a deterrent, so that it will never submit to the encroachment of apathy.

When one is jostled on the sidewalk, it amounts to nothing. What about such an incident, however, when one is walking on a chalk-line? Again, how do the actions of a sparrow concern the ordinary man? Nevertheless, one of these little birds can be dangerous to one walking over Niagara on a tightrope. If such a one was leaving a history for the guidance of others who wished to attempt the same feat, would he not record the necessity for guarding against the birds, as one would against thieves and assassins? On the one hand, those who had no understanding, would laugh at such a treatise; while on the other hand, those who were blindly loyal to the writer of the treatise, might argue that these little birds were an especially powerful and wicked variety, which would be an effort to vindicate the author, yet to do it blindly.

One of the important parts of Mrs. Eddy’s discovery, was the fact that that which might throw one’s spiritual thought off its scientific base, did not have to be something terrible. It might be some pleasant phase of things, some little distraction that seemed of no moment. Hence, we see that animal magnetism, as Mrs. Eddy unfolded it, is that which tends to throw spiritual thought off its scientific balance. Anyone who reaches the point Mrs. Eddy reached, where the growth of a whole Cause and the spiritual success of thousands of students depends on thought being scientifically balanced, will realize that it was a matter of life and death to Mrs. Eddy when anything threatened to shake her thought. This point is contained in a message which she wrote in pencil and sent to me: “If you had a belief of struggling with indigestion, would you like to have somebody hand a letter to you, that would naturally shock you from head to foot?”

A failure to understand Mrs. Eddy, shows a failure to understand her teachings. Thus, the student must unfold her life spiritually, in order to ascertain how it exemplified and verified her teachings.

Only the man whose hands have become calloused, can pick up a live coal and not suffer. He laughs at the sensitive one who cannot. So the world laughs at the Christian Scientist who is so sensitive, that an alien atmosphere affects him adversely. However, those who are growing in the Truth must reach this standpoint, because mental callousness departs from, rather than approaches, God. Yet, beyond this point, the student can reach the ability to gain a scientific thought and to maintain it without suffering.

One of the greatest crimes of the century would be the glossing over of Mrs. Eddy’s experience, so that her life might appear as a series of incidents in all of which she was the serene victor. What advantage would her life’s record be to those who are struggling to follow in her footsteps, when they face experiences where their faith falters and their hope grows dim, if the times when she had exactly the same struggle should be expunged from her life’s record? In Rudimental Divine Science Mrs. Eddy writes, “The Discoverer of this Science could tell you of timidity, of self-distrust, of friendlessness, toil, agonies, and victories under which she needed miraculous vision to sustain her, when taking the first footsteps in this Science.” Page 17.




Chapter Eight — Mrs. Eddy's Reflection of Divine Wisdom

In Adam H. Dickey’s Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, on page 85, he writes, “Mrs. Eddy realized that what was disturbing the Directors was the fact that she had changed her mind about something that they had considered quite important, but it seems that the changing of her mind was a privilege that our Leader reserved for herself, and she exercised it without any regard whatever for what had gone before, or what had been said. She declared, ‘Is a Leader any less a Leader because she changes her mind?’ Then she said to me, ‘Mr. Dickey, people say I am changeable, that I change my mind frequently.’ Then she added in a most significant way, ‘I do change my mind frequently, but when I do, it is always God that changes me. Sometimes I will be headed in one direction, like a weather vane, and will stay that way for several days. The next time you see me, I will have turned completely around and am going the other way, but in the meantime God has given me additional light and has led me to make the change.’ She said, ‘There have been times in working out a problem when I have not known just what step to take, and finding it necessary to make a move of some sort, I have taken a step as nearly as I could in the right direction. Perhaps I would find out shortly that it was wrong, but this step gave me a new point of view that I would not have had, had I not taken it as I did. I would not condemn myself, therefore, for what seemed to be a mistake, but would include it as a part of the working out of the problem.’”

What an inspiring example to students this provides! If the student can only put aside the pride that asks recognition for purely human wisdom and cleverness, and can follow Mrs. Eddy, who was never ashamed to admit when she was wrong, he will take an advanced step in the development of his ability to reflect divine wisdom. This attitude on the part of Mrs. Eddy proved that, even after feeling that she had heard the voice of God aright, she continued to apply herself to the problem, until the fact of its rightness or wrongness was revealed.

Yet, when Mrs. Eddy made a decision which she later reversed, does that prove that in the first instance she was governed by mortal mind? Surely, she was guided by the divine Mind at all times. She was led by prayer and by wisdom in every effort she made to establish the Cause of Christian Science. The times when she reversed her decisions represented a human mistake in interpreting divine wisdom. The Scriptures are full of the unscientific statements and acts of those who were governed by Spirit to a great degree. Such things happened, because man’s demonstration of divine wisdom did not keep pace with his demonstration of divine power. Nevertheless, there is not one of the statements or acts that cannot be explained as holding within it the inspiration of good.

The Bible tells us that “the preparation of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” If this preparation is not scientific, neither will the answer from the Lord be scientific.

If one thought that Mrs. Eddy issued decisions and then reversed them, then one might feel that at first she was mentally lazy and did not make the right effort to hear the voice of God. The fact is, that at times she failed to interpret the divine guidance correctly, as Abraham misinterpreted the demand of divine wisdom, when he thought that God called upon him to sacrifice his son, whereas the real demand was not revealed until later.

Everything Mrs. Eddy did, was done with the greatest preparation and prayer. At times, however, the window of thought might be clouded. What could she do under those circumstances, but express the nearest sense of God’s guidance that she received at the time?

All through the ages, men and women have gladly sacrificed their dearest treasures on the altar of God. Yet, there is one thing which man will fight against giving up, when the call comes: that is his developed human opinion. For this reason, the most important demand of Christian Science is that man yield his stubborn mind and will to God.

It is always an interesting commentary on human nature to see the stubborn resistance to the introduction of labor-saving machinery and modern methods for eliminating drudgery on the part of the very ones who would be benefited. Yet this resistance is hardly comparable to the inflexibility Christian Science encounters, when confronting the educated beliefs and opinions of the developed human intellect, and denominating them worthless from the spiritual standpoint, in the effort to persuade the individual to relinquish them in favor of the divine Mind.

Not since the days of the Master, has the world seen such a notable example of Jesus’ statement, “Not my will, but Thine be done,” as in Mary Baker Eddy. This was Jesus’ war-cry, his object of attainment, and Mrs. Eddy made it hers. She would reach a decision, but if the recognition came that what she had declared, differed from a higher glimpse of the divine will, how selfless she was, and devoid of pride, in her willingness to relinquish it, in order to voice the will of God!

This is one of the chief requirements of reflecting the divine Mind in Christian Science: that man acknowledge the divine Mind which he reflects as supreme, and himself as nothing, in line with Jesus’ statement, “I can of mine own self do nothing.”

Yet intellectual thought will cling to its own developed ideas and chemicalize, when Christian Science unfolds the fact that such ideas are animal magnetism, and that they have their origin, not in the individual’s mind, but in the so-called universal human mind. The Master said that he came, not to call the righteous, or those who cling to their developed intellect as being a right guide for man, but sinners, those who have investigated the products of mortal mind which are under its domination, and have perceived what a worthless and pain-bringing pursuit this investigation is.

The Master knew that when the intellectual one suffers, he is apt to feel that his remedy lies in a further development of the very thing that has been his worst enemy; whereas, when the sinner suffers, he gladly turns to God and leaves the husks behind.

In Zephaniah 3:11 we read, “In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me.” From this Scripture, we can deduce that, when the underlying motive of the Christian Scientist is fundamentally right, then every experience is important, and there is nothing of which he need be ashamed. This applied to Mrs. Eddy. Both her defeats and victories are sublime manifestations of the guiding rule of Christian Science, as being available for any sincere seeker. She understood this, and hence, was never ashamed of any manifestation that gave apparent evidence of a failure on her part. Is a man ashamed, because he erects a structure and then must pull it down, because it is found inadequate for his needs? If he thought the first one adequate and later had to discover his mistake, then the erection of the first one was part of his training and experience. Surely, the temporary structures were not unnecessary to the permanent spiritual structure that Mrs. Eddy was building. We need not be ashamed of the experiences we go through, provided that back of them is the steady, unquenchable desire and determination to arrive at the spiritual point of realizing perfection, where we come face to face with God.

Suppose one is buffeted in his effort to meet and overthrow material sense? There are two ways to be buffeted, just as there are two ways of becoming involved in a fight. You may associate with ruffians until you become embroiled, or you may meet these ruffians, as you are making an honest effort to reach a right objective. The former is a blameworthy thing, whereas the latter deserves commendation. Therefore, before judgment is passed on the facts apparent in the life of any student of Christian Science, one must know his motives and aims. If he is buffeted and suffers, because he is walking the path of human destiny, that is one thing. But if he suffers in an honest attempt to throw off the belief in a human destiny, and to show others how this can be done, through divine help, then he deserves the highest praise.

Never for an instant did Mrs. Eddy lose sight of her objective. Hence, every experience aided her in reaching that objective. This accords with the Bible warning not to be ashamed, even though we might look back and feel that we could have avoided certain experiences of the past, if we had been more watchful. Perhaps Columbus, after he had reached our shores, found that he might have come a much shorter and more direct route. Yet, how could he have known this, before crossing the Atlantic? How could he have been sure of a favorable wind? How could he have avoided all storms?




Chapter Nine — Two Bible Lessons by Mrs. Eddy

One of the outstanding memories I have of our Leader was her insistence on demonstration. I mention this time after time as I speak of her, because she impressed it on me, so that I might never forget it. It is from this standpoint that I interpret her statement on page xii of the preface to Science and Health, where she, as the author, writes, “Until June 10, 1907, she had never read this book throughout consecutively in order to elucidate her idealism.” Mrs. Eddy reached the scientific standpoint of thought, where Truth flooded in as inspiration when she wrote Science and Health. Hence, when she needed some scientific truth from her own volume, she used the same inspiration to lead her to that truth, which originally came through inspiration. In other words, she opened Science and Health at random, relying on demonstration to show her the message she needed. Thus, when in need of special guidance, she put aside the method of consecutive reading (the page after page method that mortal mind offers as the orderly procedure), and no doubt hoped that her students would take the timely hint. In Mr. Dickey’s Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, on page 36, he writes, “In commenting upon the passing on of her coachman she opened Science and Health, and turned to page 187, line 13, and at the same time she said to me, ‘Mr. Dickey, when I turn to this book, I am like a mechanic who turns to his tools and picks up the one he wants.’”

Mrs. Eddy also opened the Bible in the same way, through demonstration. She would apparently open at random, and then expound to the students on whatever verse caught her eye when she opened the book. The morning lessons were most remarkable and inspiring, and served to impress us with the wonderful guidance shown in her being led to the various portions of Scripture that just fitted into the need of the moment.

After I had left Pleasant View in 1906, my wife and I were invited to return for a visit. On the morning of April 27, 1906, Mrs. Eddy gave us the following Bible lesson. She opened at random to Luke 9:56, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” On the train coming home, Mrs. Carpenter wrote down this unfoldment as she recalled it. It is as follows:

“What is the Son of man? He is the idea of God, the consciousness of Truth. If you had children, you would make them obey. You would find some way to make them mind, and if you couldn’t do it any other way, you would punish them. If you wanted to get a man out of a house, would you make it comfortable for him? No, you would make it uncomfortable. You would pull down the chimneys and take out the windows. Now we have got to get out of this house (mortal habitation). What holds us in it, pleasure or pain? The pleasures of sense hold us, not the pains of sense. I’ve got to get out of this old woman, and you, Mrs. Carpenter, have got to get out of this young woman. Is this mortal existence real? No. Is there any mortal man? No. It is only the Adam-dream. Is it real, then? No. Then, is there any pain? No. Then we are out of it now. Is there any creation apart from God? No. Is man a creator? No. Then, is he the father of children? No. Can he be the father of a lie? No. Has a lie a father? No. Then, is there any lie?”

I should like to include, in this connection, the Bible lesson given by Mrs. Eddy on September 24, 1903, for it reiterates the same central point:

“‘When you are on the housetop, don’t go down to take anything out of the house.’ I am a great way out of the house (body) and it will not do for me to go down into the house (argument); I gain more by holding to God; if you are in the house, you will have to heal others (argue), and so get out of the house. One who has suffered sickness or discord I have always found more tractable in Science, than one who has always been well. Do we have to be sick to work out? Not if you can get out without. Health in matter must be given up for health in God. If one is a tenant and is satisfied, he will remain there. The owner may want him out of the tenement, and so takes out the windows, boards up the doors and makes it so uncomfortable for him, he finally gets out. God is the owner; if one is comfortable in the material tenement, he must be made uncomfortable in order to get out; but if he gets out without being made uncomfortable (sick, etc.), all right. I have never seen one who did. The Bible continually speaks of tribulation; if you are well, heal the sick and get out of the material tenement (matter), and learn health in God. Do not court sickness, but get out of material belief. I have come so far through tribulation.”




Chapter Ten — The Demonstration of Truth

At the time of my first interview with our Leader, she answered every question that had troubled me in Christian Science for two years, without my voicing any of the questions. During this inspired talk, Mrs. Eddy told me of a demonstration that took place, when the roof of The Mother Church was being put on. It did not rain for about sixty days. Finally, the milkman left word at Pleasant View that he would be unable to bring any more milk, since there was not enough water in his well for his cows and they were drying off. The next day, however, he came as usual with the milk, saying there were two or three feet of water in his well, despite the fact it had not rained. He asked the students who met him, if they were witches or prophets.

After telling this demonstration Mrs. Eddy said, “Isn’t God good? Oh! Mr. Carpenter, trust in the dear, good God.” To me this seemed to mean, “Trust in your developing consciousness of good.” After she had said this, I had the distinct sense that she had gone into a state of spiritual consciousness where I could not follow.

In II Kings 3:17 we read, “For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.” It would seem that Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration in the above case was a present day fulfillment of this Scriptural prophecy. Let us consider why it is so important as a part of Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual history.

In our Wednesday evening meetings, we make the effort to gather evidence of the healing efficacy of Christian Science in a sufficient volume, so that mortal mind cannot gainsay it. Any one case of healing might be explained away, but a great mass of evidence cannot be. There comes the time, however, when the demonstration of Truth exceeds the limitations of the human to such a degree, that it could not be explained away by any human possibilities. For instance, if in this case the valley filled with water because of the wind and rain, then people would say that it just happened, and that there was no intervention of divine power. But when the valley fills without the storm, human sense must recognize it as what it would call a miracle, and be willing to admit the action of divine power.

The Master made few demonstrations that human sense could explain away. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes, finding money in the fish’s mouth, changing water into wine, healing leprosy and blindness, were all proofs of divine power that stood alone, without the necessity of having to add to them a mass of other similar happenings, in order to make them convincing.

Mrs. Eddy recognized that there were few demonstrations made through Christian Science today that could not be explained away, and so she provided for the amassing of evidence in such a way that it could not be gain said.

Therefore, this demonstration that brought water to a well during a drought, is of importance because it is a demonstration that stands alone, since it is not susceptible of any human explanation that would say, “Oh, it would have happened anyway.” Hence, Mrs. Eddy, in this instance, provided an exhibition of divine power for which there could be no human explanation. Therefore, it stands as one of the great manifestations of the activity of the divine Mind in this age.




Chapter Eleven — Mrs. Eddy's Attitude Towards Organization

One of the interesting lessons I learned at Pleasant View was in connection with Mrs. Eddy’s attitude toward the Christian Science organization. She asked each newcomer at the home, “Do you want to go to church?” as though the members of the household were privileged to go if they so desired. If the student said, “Yes,” then she carefully explained that it was a mistaken sense for a mature student to desire to go to church in order to get good out of it, when his or her work was on such an advanced spiritual plane, and so much broader in its application. She said that the work we were doing under her guidance, was so much more vital in spreading the gospel of Truth, that it was a return to old theology to desire to attend church as a receiver. She did not say, “I do not want you to go to church.” Her thought was that she did not want us to want to go, because that desire revealed our conception of ourselves as receivers more than givers, whereas her whole effort was to enlarge our concept of ourselves as impersonal givers. Hence, Mrs. Eddy’s attitude was not to belittle church attendance, but merely to dissect our attitude toward it. She understood the value of the organization, but she recognized that if organization passed spirituality in the race, and thus weighed more in the minds of the students, disaster would follow, since organization must always be subservient to inspiration and spirituality.

One of the early students has quoted Mrs. Eddy as saying, relative to organization, “Organization is a method of Mind and, of course, a necessity of creation. This is indicated by the perfection of the counterfeit. The form and structure of personality are the crowning work of material sense, and show the effort of error to rival the true and enduring. Idea bodies forth Principle in various manifestations. Because mortal sense bodies forth the highly organized personality, it is an indication that the best success in reaching thought will be along the line of organization. To reflect as perfectly as possible divine methods, Science chooses the best belief of mortal sense to indicate to mortals the perfection of the infinite idea. Of two seemingly necessary evils, always choose the less. Select the best beliefs and methods of mortal mind, and make them serve your highest understanding. The without should reflect the within. Our organization should show, above all things, unity. There should be but one fold. The church in Boston should be the centre, The Church of Christ, Scientist, all others tributary to it, not separate organizations. So the thought of many members, but one body, should come into expression. Organization is necessary to meet the banding together of all phases of error.”

In the days when there existed a National Christian Scientist Association, there appeared in the Journal for July, 1889, the following relative to organization:

“The study of the resolutions adopted by the Association will satisfy every one that the means of separation from error, and for the propagation of Truth are now provided. Herein is seen the wonderful power of organization. This is only to mortal sense, but we are in the mortal and must work in its conditions. Organization is the highest mortal expression of omnipotence. Today the feeblest and the most remote and solitary Scientist, working on the lines laid down by the Association, can feel that his or her strength is added to the power of the whole. In organization, nothing is lost; not only does the smallest mite of effort go to swell the grand volume, but to the feeblest effort is lent the power of the whole.”




Chapter Twelve — Dependence on the Christ the Source of Wisdom

The story of Peter’s denial, as told in the twenty-second chapter of Luke, holds a thought that bears on the problem of understanding our Leader. “But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.”

One of the ways that mortal belief competes with the spiritual idea is that it permits man to believe that, when he voices that which is clever and wise, such thoughts are the product of man’s own brain, instead of recognizing them for what they really are, the ventilation of mortal thoughts that man does not originate, but merely absorbs. Truth does not permit this self-aggrandizement. In order to reflect Truth, man must relinquish all pride and, in humility, recognize that all he is, he owes to what he reflects from God.

All through the human realm, there is the instinct for the male to show off before the female. Even the male birds strut around during the mating season. There is no doubt that Peter felt this urge to appear to the best advantage in the eyes of this maid. Spiritually considered, for him to have acknowledged the Christ would have been to lose his personal prestige, because it would have been the admission that all the wisdom he possessed, came from a source outside of himself, whereas the normal male is continually tempted to astonish the female with his own wisdom. Hence, Peter did not maintain that humility which dependence on the Christ as the only source of wisdom demands. Dependence upon divine wisdom offers the male no opportunity to show off before the female, with a dominant, self-dependent sense, which she is supposed to favor. When the maid queried Peter, every male instinct rose up to deny that he relied on, or was a party to, any wisdom outside of himself. From this standpoint, to deny the Christ would be to deny that man has an infallible source of wisdom outside of himself, to which he can gain access. It means that pride is causing him to cling to a belief in self-generated wisdom.

One of the points in connection with our Leader, that convinced me above all others that she really had access to the fount of divine wisdom, was the fact that, no matter how greatly she was swayed to decide a matter from the standpoint of her own wisdom, even when she believed at the time that it was divine wisdom, she never rested, until she was convinced by further demonstration that it was revealed wisdom from God. If further light was revealed, she had no pride about relinquishing the first decision. Think of a woman so spiritually assertive and dominant, with so little pride! At a time when her students hung on every word she uttered, she did not fall into the trap which animal magnetism sets for the unwary, and which in the last analysis, betrays the spiritual idea, because it causes man to take pride in a self-derived wisdom.




Chapter Thirteen — Mrs. Eddy's Demonstration of Supply

Much is said about Mrs. Eddy’s large financial holdings. Even students of Christian Science have wondered about it, knowing that, although a student might make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness to the extent of having his modest needs taken care of, yet a further gathering of this world’s goods might make him a slave to mammon, so that his spiritual progress is interfered with. From this standpoint, how can Mrs. Eddy’s possession of so much wealth be explained?

A wise man once said, “If you seek more mammon than you can handle, it will handle you.” The moneys that flowed in to Mrs. Eddy in her later experiences, meant no more to her than the opportunity to relieve her mind of the financial burden which had been hers for many years; beyond that, money simply provided her with the sinews of war for the carrying on of the great Cause of Christian Science. There was no time in her life that a modest income would not have supplied her with all that she demanded for herself.

One reason Mrs. Eddy was able to accumulate a large surplus, was because she spent so little in those ways which would prove a deterrent to any Christian Scientist indulging them, such as spending for personal gratification, putting on an outward show to impress others, in other words, spending unnecessarily.

Mrs. Eddy had large residences both at Pleasant View, and at Brookline, but they functioned more as a college or institution, where she trained students to aid in carrying on her work. Her home represented the Cause of Christian Science, to which she invited workers who were ready for such a high calling. As a result, she had little of the real privacy of a home, a retreat where she might find peace and rest. Usually, when people accumulate money, either they desire rest and pleasure, or else they become miserly, getting a morbid satisfaction out of mere possessions. With all the money Mrs. Eddy acquired, she spent none for amusement or pleasure, nor did she rest. Furthermore, the use she put her money to, proved that she was not a miser. She was lacking in any motive through which she might take satisfaction or enjoyment in the possession of material wealth, apart from the good she might do with it.

If the student of Christian Science makes a scientific demonstration of supply for the sole purpose of setting his thought free from mundane cares, that it may master the infinite idea, a right sense of supply will be the visible expression of such a thought. Now, let us suppose this student should so lose himself in the Church, that he should forget himself in thinking of the great movement of which he is privileged to be a part. If he does not differentiate between his needs and the needs of the Cause, then his demonstration of supply will broaden proportionately to cover those of the Cause, as well as his own. The deduction is, therefore, that Mrs. Eddy received a larger amount of mammon than she needed for her own individual requirements, because she linked herself with the Cause of Christian Science, thereby making her needs those of the Cause. Hence, in making the demonstration to supply the needs of the Cause, she supplied her individual ones at the same time.

Mrs. Eddy’s individual needs were interwoven in this way with those of her church. Hence, her demonstration of supply broadened to cover the church. Notwithstanding, this larger manifestation never turned around and throttled her own spiritual growth, as it might have done, had it merely represented her personal needs and demonstration. If a student, not having this mental relationship to the Cause, should demonstrate more mammon than was necessary, you would be forced to conclude that his thinking on the side of mammon overbalanced his thinking on the side of Spirit.




Chapter Fourteen — Preparation for the Reflection of Truth

Mortal man shows a tendency that is similar to that manifested by sheep, desiring to follow rather than to lead, to worship blindly rather than to endeavor to understand, to be satisfied with an interpreter of God, rather than to seek God for himself. This error has caused the life and teachings of our Master to become almost impractical in the world, by the effort to exalt the human to the level of the divine, thus causing both to be considered miraculous, and thereby making it seem impossible for the average man to follow in his footsteps. This same tendency caused the children of Israel to demand a king, as set forth in I Samuel. In reality, Jesus’ teachings made simple that which was complex and difficult of understanding; took religion out of the category of belonging to the privileged and educated classes, and gave it back to universal humanity, ignorant and intellectual alike; and simplified a knowledge of it so that a wayfaring man, though a fool, could not err therein. Had this been comprehended, then the tendency to deify the Way-shower might have been overcome, and Jesus’ teachings and example would have been recognized as a sufficient guide to eternal life.

It was this deification of the human side of the Master that made Mary Baker Eddy a necessity. Then, what would be said of a tendency today to deify the human side of Mrs. Eddy, and thus once more place the teachings of Truth in the discard, as far as their practical value to humanity is concerned? If the theory is advanced that Mrs. Eddy’s experience was a miracle from beginning to end, that she started with remarkable religious instincts from childhood, and hence, was a spiritual prodigy, that would place her life so far above the possibility of the average mortal following her footsteps, that it would discourage the average student in his or her effort to imitate her demonstration, and strengthen the belief in a vicarious atonement, thus landing once more on the ancient platform that destroyed the vitality and practicality of the teachings of the Master.

The chief error in this platform is the miracle of his birth, which causes man to feel that he cannot follow Jesus’ example because of the material nature of his own birth. This error has resulted definitely from the effort to deify Jesus to the level of the Christ. Yet, Mrs. Eddy teaches that nothing in man that is human comes from God, no matter how gifted, trained or educated that human may be. Only that which is spiritual has its origin in Spirit. Hence, the spiritual is all that is eternal in man, all that is to be, or that can be retained. When man realizes this, he will never fail to differentiate between Jesus and the Christ, between man and the Christ in man, between the human Mrs. Eddy and the spiritual idea which she embodied.

There can be no miracle in the human preparation for the divine. It is simply a oneness of purpose and a persistent determination; the human urge in man giving way to the divine. When the life of Mrs. Eddy is portrayed in such a way that the world can appreciate her dissatisfaction with existence in the flesh, her spiritual emptiness which caused her more determinedly to endeavor to find Truth, then the world will recognize the fact, that it was this emptiness which made room for the great demonstration of Truth that she finally brought to this generation. Thus, a true history of this great woman should depict the reasons for this spiritual emptiness, why it was produced, and how it was filled to overflowing with the life-giving Truth, which is for the healing of the nations.

Therefore, the miracle does not lie in the human preparation, but is the result of it. Throughout the ages, many have taken the human steps and gone no further. So, if the word miracle is used at all, it should apply to the divine light shining through the one who has not only immolated his human self, but gained spiritual understanding. In other words, one should marvel, not at the cleansing of the windowpane, but at the brilliance of the sunshine streaming through.

In her Message for 1901, page 34, Mrs. Eddy gives a word to the wise when she states: “. . . follow your Leader only so far as she follows Christ.” This is a warning not to exalt the human but the divine, not to place spiritual valuation on the human sense of Mrs. Eddy, but to separate it at all times from the divine, and to retain only the latter as worthy and real. It is impossible to put too much emphasis on the divine, and far too easy to exalt the human. It requires determination to behold the high goal and walk in its direction, whereas it seems easy to yield to the human tendency to commemorate the human footsteps which have little or no spiritual value, after they have been taken, since no two individuals ever take the same human footsteps in the journey to the Father.

The deification of personality, an error which Mrs. Eddy stresses in no uncertain terms in Miscellany, on page 116, makes useless the Truth that comes from one so deified. It is idolatry, in that it endeavors to satisfy the divine with the products of the human. It personalizes Truth by making it seem the product of human fullness, instead of human emptiness. It makes Truth a development rather than a reflection, something that comes from within rather than from without. If Truth is ever assumed to be personal, or the product of the development of the individual, that places the ancient limitations on it that make it once more mortal, an error that must never be permitted to creep into the doctrine of Christian Science.

Then, who must write the spiritual history of our Leader, but each individual Christian Scientist? Where must he write it, but in his heart? This exactly accords with the necessity for each one’s tracing the history of the Christ back to its inception, and inscribing its history within.

Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual history starts with the infancy of the spiritual idea in her. The true history of the Christidea is always the same for all, and starts the moment its birth takes place in consciousness.

Those who demand Mrs. Eddy’s material history to satisfy their human desire to exalt someone, would find a greater blessing and lose that human demand, if they would endeavor to try to understand the birth of the Christ, both in Mrs. Eddy and in themselves. The history that deserves to be recorded, is the history of when and how the Christ awoke in man. Thus, the effort to turn one’s thought to that side of Mrs. Eddy’s experience, and let his or her mind grasp that part of her life which has spiritual significance, and learn to detect what must be eliminated from the spiritual scale, would mean a tremendous blessing and spiritual growth. In fact, it is a definite part of the education of each student of Christian Science to do this. Jesus’ spiritual history was written as a sample for us, showing only that part which was important for future generations and leaving the rest a blank, thus setting a standard for all spiritual history, for it points out what should be retained, and what discarded, in the life of any pilgrim. It is illustrative, and sets a model of history for all reformers, or those who have made their connection with God and given forth the Truth. In conclusion, then, we might say that the above indicates the necessity for each student’s endeavoring to follow this pattern in portraying Mrs. Eddy’s life in its spiritual import.




Chapter Fifteen — Mrs. Eddy’s True Portrait

What should we say to the young student who, looking upon the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science as a superhuman woman, questions our statement that Mrs. Eddy’s human side was at times subject to fear? Should we not say that whether she was at times fearful makes no difference, so long as we realize that if she was, she was continually endeavoring to master such fear and eliminate it? Certainly, if she did have struggles with fear, she would not want the history of it written, except as it might show forth her footsteps to some weary follower. She would not want the mere human side of the picture deified or exalted.

In Stevenson’s immortal story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the history of the former was certainly not that of the latter. Furthermore, the balance changed as time went on, causing Mr. Hyde to wield more and more power, and Dr. Jekyll to grow more and more subordinate. Conversely, Mrs. Eddy was continually living more and more in the spiritual, until she outgrew the human. Therefore, we are led to conclude that the human should never be brought into the picture, except as a waning sense.

After she discovered Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy’s experience might be said to have been a combination of Jesus’ two statements, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” and “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” These two never united; for when one came, the other departed. One represented fear, and the other, spiritual confidence. One represented his struggle with animal magnetism, and the other, the spiritual supremacy with which he thundered forth the power and revelation of Truth. Mrs. Eddy’s whole effort was to maintain spiritual cause and to eliminate any opposite belief; it must also be ours. What flows in from a spiritual cause we must strive to retain, and what flows in from the human mind, or from the belief in a human cause, must be expunged. This rule applies to our comprehension of our Leader’s life.

First in her experience came a dissatisfaction with the things of the flesh. Then came the recognition that true wisdom never flows from man, but flows into him from a divine source. Even in the Master’s experience, there is nothing recorded relative to the human side of his nature, that he continually struggled to overcome and eliminate.

Many artists have essayed to paint Mrs. Eddy’s portrait. Her true nature, however, was spiritual; the painter who had not the spiritual perception and ability to portray that, would fail in his attempt. All he would record would be Mrs. Eddy’s human mask. This explanation accounts for the failure of so many pictures of our Leader to portray an adequate likeness. This same analysis would apply to any biography of her, written by one who could not appreciate the true spiritual nature of this great woman. Hence, such a work would be little more than a word picture of her human mask.

On April 17, 1902, Mrs. Eddy wrote to the artist who painted the picture of her that is the frontispiece of Dr. Lyman Powell’s biography of her: “I can never express my full appreciation of the loving care which prompted the dear church in Baltimore to give a portrait of me to the world. I have often wondered, when thinking of the indifference that other churches have shown on this point, which does concern the history of Christian Science at present, and will in the future more than today.” And on June 27, 1895, she wrote to Emma McLauthlin: “I have no picture of myself that pleases me. I mean by this, that looks as I feel sometimes. This is what I want to get, this is the expression that artists have not yet caught. Oh, for the far-off gaze, the absent from the body look, the expression that comes over me at times from what I see and feel!”




Chapter Sixteen — Spiritual Significance of Mrs. Eddy's Life

As an individual, Jesus remained on earth for a brief period. As the Christ, he is ever-present, an eternal dispensation. Yet this fact was lost sight of; and it remained for Mrs. Eddy, as the prophet to this age, to restore the Christ-idea to humanity, giving to all the knowledge of the possibility of embodying this idea.

Although she herself has passed from the earthly sight of those in this age, still there are enough consecrated students who understand how to embody and retain the Christ-idea, to prevent it ever again being lost to humanity, as it was three hundred years after the ascension. To endeavor to retain the Christ-idea is the great obligation laid on Christian Scientists today. Mrs. Eddy has shown how this is to be done, but she did not and could not do it for us. We must individually make this demonstration, in spite of the temptations that are always present to cause our thought to return to mortal conceptions. No one can retain this Christ-idea, so long as he personalizes it. This he does, if his concept of it is confined to Jesus, or to Mrs. Eddy, believing that either embodied it as a special dispensation, and that others cannot do it. Such an attitude discourages anyone else attempting to strive for the goal. Yet each student must gird himself for the strife, and follow in Mrs. Eddy’s mental footsteps.

One of the seemingly clever arguments of animal magnetism, in its endeavor to nullify the blessing of Mrs. Eddy’s teachings, and to discourage others in their attempt to embody the spiritual idea she brought us, is to suggest that her capacity for inspiration was a special gift, or that she was specially endowed.

Of what value is Mr. Walter Brownell’s new hardy climbing yellow rose, unless he can provide his friends and the public with slips, together with instructions describing the way to cultivate them to maturity? Mrs. Eddy sought the Christ herself. It was the Christ idea that she reflected, that wrote Science and Health; and whatever else she did from the spiritual standpoint, was done by this same Christ-idea. Yet, to pay respect to her as being a wonderful person, is permissible in Christian Science, only as we recognize the fact that her true mission and greatness lie in her renewal of the process whereby man may become a disciple of the Christ, and may thereby learn to embody the Christ to retain it forever, and also, to unfold to others the process of maintaining it, so that it will be a universal and perpetual dispensation, and not be lost after a few hundred years, as happened after the ascension.

A building half done has no more value than one not begun, unless, of course, the work is finally brought to completion. Did Mrs. Eddy do more than lay the foundation for the great building up of the Cause of Christian Science? No. Is it not our task to carry on this work, through understanding how to translate the demands of God, the great spiritual architect, into the building? Yes. The only reason Mrs. Eddy could so infallibly direct the upbuilding of the Cause to its success, was because she was able to translate the directions of God into admonitions for man. This same vital work must now be continued, otherwise Mrs. Eddy’s travail will have been for naught.

Is it disloyalty to our Leader, and does it show a lack of proper appreciation, to say that there was nothing spiritually remarkable about her, until she resurrected this divine spark within her? When this took place, it made her the greatest woman of all time and of all nations. She was not an ordinary woman at any time of her life, yet she was not an extraordinary one, prior to her great discovery. The most she could claim, before that divine spark flared up into brilliance, was an intellectual learning and also, skill as a verse-maker. Yet, the more critics would try to portray Mrs. Eddy as an ordinary woman, before the year 1866, the more encouraging it is to those endeavoring to walk in her footsteps. Mrs. Eddy had nothing to give the world of value without Christian Science, and the effort to say that she had, belittles the action of inspiration and Truth upon her, just as it belittles Christian Science to confuse its treatments with those of the medical physician. Before Mrs. Eddy made her great discovery, her thought was often morbid and stilted, containing little of the divine spark, although there are certain specific instances of spiritual illumination that cannot be gainsaid, as, for instance, when in Rumney she healed an infant of sore eyes. Even that healing, however, was somewhat like the young child, who unconsciously strikes a beautiful chord on the piano, and thereby finds itself instilled with the urge to become a great pianist.

Lest the statement be misunderstood concerning our Leader’s spirituality before she learned Christian Science, let spirituality be regarded as that which is left after mortal man’s belief in materiality has been eliminated, just as a mirror’s power to reflect is what is left, after it has been cleaned. Then, since all mirrors that have been cleaned have an equal ability to reflect, the difference between them lies wholly in the fact that some require less cleaning than others.

According to her own teaching, Mrs. Eddy, as God’s idea, had no more power to reflect than do we, but unquestionably, she had less belief in materiality to eliminate. Hence, she earlier and more convincingly proved Christian Science than could one less spiritual. Yet the paradox of her life, was the fact that, at times, she appeared to manifest more materiality than the students close to her expected her to. However, error that is not recognized as error, can never be eliminated. Hence these periods were always followed by the attainment of a higher spiritual standpoint, and only those students criticized her, who failed to perceive that animal magnetism, being dust and dirt in the mental realm, must be first recognized and then eliminated; and this task is far more important than the effort to keep our homes clean.

Mrs. Eddy’s achievement of mental purification that enabled her to reflect God clearly, served to prove what is true concerning all of us, namely, that when thought is cleansed of mortal belief or animal magnetism, we all reflect God equally. The first mirror to be cleaned proves that all mirrors, when cleaned, reflect equally.




Chapter Seventeen — Receiving Truth from the Divine Source

An interesting question grows out of the fact that the Old Testament records that the Lord rained manna from heaven for the Children of Israel. Notwithstanding this fact, the Master plainly states that Moses gave them not that true bread from heaven. Which record is true?

Surely, the spiritual inspiration and guidance that Moses received, came down from heaven. Nevertheless, it was his demonstration that provided the manna for the others. Hence, to them it was an influx that came not through their own demonstration, but through that of Moses. Strictly speaking, it did not come down from heaven, but came through Moses, much as a healing in Christian Science does not come down from heaven to the patient directly, but comes indirectly through the thought of the practitioner. It is the difference between the light of the sun coming to earth directly, or being reflected by the moon as a secondary light.

Following the logic of this reasoning, we must conclude that Moses did not give them the true bread from heaven. In truth, no one can give another the true bread from heaven, since only that which is the fruit of one’s individual demonstration is true bread from heaven, that which flows directly from God to man.

Similarly, Mrs. Eddy demonstrated the true bread from heaven; she learned how to be taught of God, and receive the influx of revelation directly from the divine Mind. Although Mrs. Eddy has left this vast spiritual esource for our partaking, yet, to us, it is not the true bread from heaven as long as we are content to feed on her inspiration. The bread that cometh down from heaven is our true bread, when we gain the ability that Mrs. Eddy had and taught, namely, to reflect this inspiration directly from its divine source.

One great difference between our Leader and Moses was that, whereas Moses knew how to reflect this divine inpouring, he did not teach the method to others. (Perhaps the reason for this oversight may be traced to Moses’ inability to impart the process.) Mrs. Eddy not only reflected this heavenly essence of good, but she recorded the rules for so doing, that all who run may read and follow.

It is one thing to drink of the living water furnished by one spiritually endowed, and another to gain for one’s self the understanding of how to gain that living water. Yet, no one is a true Christian Scientist until he makes this demonstration. No one can call himself Mrs. Eddy’s true follower, merely because he or she appreciates and partakes of the living water she has furnished. “Go, and do thou likewise,” is the demand of infinite Love. Each pilgrim must go to the Father, in order to do those greater works to which Jesus referred.

Any branch church of Christ, Scientist, will suffer a loss in spirituality, if the membership permits itself to allow one spiritually-minded student to carry the burden of demonstration. False peace may be the outward sign of this loss of demonstration; but such a situation stifles individual growth, and is really the blind leading the blind, where the one who leads and those who follow, are blind to the seriousness of the situation.

One of the most vital things that the Children of Israel should have been told was, that simply following Moses did not make them the promised children. Yet, they were the most spiritually-minded people on earth at that time. Only as they gained the understanding of how to draw their spiritual sustenance directly from divine Mind, could they claim to be the children of the promise. Still, the Master, by his request of the woman of Samaria at the well of Sychar, implied that another might go to the divine source and give him living water. He said, “Give me to drink.”

What a glad surprise and yet, a shock, it must have been to this member of a despised race to have had the Master, a Jew, one of the chosen race, thus call upon her for such service. But the Master knew, that whatever comes from God can feed another, even if the latter might be the most spiritually endowed mortal on earth. Although Jesus recognized the spiritual possibility of everyone’s going to the divine source and feeding another, he taught that the highest and most important demonstration is learning to draw from the well of inspiration for one’s self.

Christian Science unfolds the fact, that for one to harbor the self-depreciating thought of himself as a mortal, especially when that includes membership in a despised race, would be an effective barrier to his recognition of himself as a son of God. Thus, it was a true healing thought for Jesus to imply that she could perform a service for him. The drink of cool water was symbolic of the possibility of her being a channel to him for spiritual good. A realization of these facts would be an effective neutralizer to aid in restoring her spiritual ‘amour propre.’

The possibility is evident of one who is spiritually advanced, reaching the point where he might feel that if he got into trouble, he would have difficulty finding another to help him. Such a situation might bring a feeling of isolation, as if, at a time when thought became clouded, so that the student could not break through to.

I speak of this, because there were nights when our Leader would call different members of her household to her room to help her, to give her to drink of the living water, to lift her out of a sense of depression and fear. Think how it affected us, thus to be called by the one we knew to be so spiritually great. We felt as the woman of Samaria must have, a glad surprise to be summoned, and yet, a great consciousness of the spiritual distance that lay between the humble disciple and the one so spiritually advanced. Nevertheless, through scientific argument would come the restoration of her faith and trust.

When a bird, accustomed to soar in the upper reaches of the air, flies by mistake into a narrow room, it becomes confused and fearful. It flies around and around the room, beating its wings against the walls, in a vain search for liberty. Finally, it becomes so exhausted, that it permits you to pick it up and release it through the open window. The moment it feels its accustomed freedom, its strength returns, and it wings its way skyward. Thus, thought that is accustomed to the spiritual freedom of right thinking, becomes bewildered when it is forced into the narrow confines of the thought of self.

In this manner, I would diagnose our Leader’s experience. When her thought was released from this unaccustomed sense of self, it would soar again into the spiritual reaches where it was at home.

Through audible argument, we would assure her that because she was the servant of God, and called of God to do His work, that God would take care of her, protect her and hold her safe until that work was completed. We would assert, that there was no power that could claim to stand before the power of God that filled all space, nor was here any delusion of fear, that could rob her of the recognition that the all-pervading, all-sustaining consciousness of God was caring for all, especially those called according to His purpose.

The metaphysician is accustomed to dwell in a consciousness of spiritual and mental freedom. When he loses that, his thought becomes bewildered in the narrow confines of fear and limitation; but the moment he is led out, he recognizes it and is all right. Such was our Leader’s experience.

Hence, referring to the incident with the woman of Samaria, we perceive that Jesus disclosed the wonderful lesson, that at any time in our human experience, no matter how far advanced we may be spiritually, we can receive help from God through those to whom we apply; and the humblest thought can be this channel, if, in some degree, it is spiritually attuned. Thus, like the Master, Mrs. Eddy was willing to ask spiritual drink of a humble one, when she was spiritually thirsty. It is probable that the Master was not in need of a spiritual touch from this woman, but it was necessary that he ask her, in order to set forth the lesson, and thereby, encourage the sweet and simple thought by revealing its possibilities as a channel for good.




Chapter Eighteen — Sanctification of Heavenward Footsteps

It is well to remember, that Mrs. Eddy’s life can never be defended through the human effort to meet argument with argument, as animal magnetism would present them. The right way is to narrate her life in a simple straightforward manner, but with so much inspiration and love for our Leader put back of it, that those who read it will feel this inspiration.

Before successful flights were made in heavier-than-air machines, arguments, which seemed final, were circulated to prove it to be impossible. Yet, when the first flight was made, that automatically silenced all such arguments. Mrs. Eddy set spirituality as her goal. Then, she purposed to set forth the process of gaining this spirituality in such a concrete form, that any honest student might attain it for himself. Critics may pick at her life to prove this or that to her discredit, but the indisputable fact that she did reach her goal, silences such attempts, and justifies every step that she took. She did attain the spiritual-mindedness necessary to bring down the fire of inspiration from heaven. That is enough.

Thus, with this information in mind, no student need ever attempt to defend her memory through argument. Otherwise, he may become like the bear, who in friendliness, used a stone to kill a bothersome fly on a man’s head. The fly was killed, but so was the man.

Let us further analyze this question: Why need no student of Christian Science ever attempt to defend Mrs. Eddy’s memory from the attacks of animal magnetism?

The only defence Mrs. Eddy needs from any student, is for him to destroy in his own consciousness any fear, lest the searchlight of human criticism find something in our Leader’s life that cannot be explained away, or that might be inconsistent with what she teaches.

Neither good nor evil can be understood from a human standpoint, since the effort to do so is the attempt to apprehend effect without knowing cause. If cause is not understood, error may use effect to deceive, rather than to instruct.

In the life of one who is truly consecrated to the dissemination of spiritual good, every experience is needed, and is important in attaining that good. While this fact may not be apparent during the struggle, yet the motive and attainment sanctify the method. It cannot be denied, that there is much in the journey from sense to Soul that gives the appearance of being evil, until spiritual perception shows it to be good. A piece of steel might be convinced, that its being plunged from a red hot furnace into a bath of oil, was an evil experience, until the future discloses, that that drastic treatment is needed, in order to prepare it to function successfully under extreme conditions.

Thus we arrive at the important conclusion, that it is foolish and abortive to criticise the waymarks of a reformer from a human standpoint of good, for some of the very things one might wish never had happened, things that hostile critics unearth in their unfriendly research, are found to have been of the utmost importance, when viewed from the standpoint of spiritual understanding. Thus is exemplified the Biblical statement, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,” or to them who have a deep and profound desire for God, which they put first in their thought and life; who recognize the call of God to awaken from the human mesmerism, which would divert and pervert thought from its natural attraction to God; who also become the channels through which God calls all mankind to a spiritual status, the ones who send out the mental call for all mankind to come into a faith in God, rather than a faith in matter; who have the desire to assist mankind in their warfare against the action of mesmerism in manipulating their thinking; and finally, who are unswerving in this effort. Since Mrs. Eddy fulfilled these requirements in her life, she has the honor of coming under the category that all things worked together for her good and, therefore, she is above criticism of any kind.

Oh! Students of Christian Science who love our Leader and are grateful for her ministry, be not afraid! Let the heathen rage! For when the spiritual searchlight of God is thrown on the misunderstood experiences of our beloved Leader, it will be seen that they contributed the most important stones in the foundation of her spiritual building.




Chapter Nineteen — The True Service Required by Our Leader

One of the fundamental teachings of Christian Science is, that hidden in man, as his most precious and yet least appreciated possession, is the gift of God, man’s underlying spiritual nature. No human imagination can compass the lasting joy, the permanent peace that flows from the development of this unseen seed of Truth, that is, unseen to the material senses. Yet the illusive pleasures and anticipations, which mortal belief holds before the mesmerized gaze of mankind, compete successfully with this heavenly rapture, until disillusionment in the human causes man to look hopelessly at his lost opportunities, and to reach out, as did the prodigal son, for the chance to return to his Father’s house.

Mary Baker Eddy, chasing the shadows of intellect, false religion and education, through a screen of almost continuous ill health, finally turned to the unseen, as her only escape from a purely human destiny. Under her cherishing hand, was unfolded a spiritual receiver within herself, through which the voice of God brought wisdom, power and love. At that point, her search in the chaos of human phenomena was forever ended, for the infallible voice of wisdom became her only guide. From then on, her dominant problem was purely to keep this spiritual receptor in operation. This brought the necessity for her to detect the deterrent called evil, or animal magnetism, and its subtle operations, which have for an object either to blind man to the existence of a spiritual nature, or else to engulf that nature, when discovered, in a purely human sense. This error constituted the only enemy against which she had to wage a persistent warfare. It revealed the truth of the Biblical statement, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” This discovery came, because she had only a few faithful students who understood the fact that her real needs were mental and not physical, and who realized, that as long as the inflow of Truth overbalanced the inflow of that belief called error, this right balance of thought brought out progress, healing, spiritual development, and the unerring guidance of God.

In her work, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy has written, “The demands of God appeal to thought only.” Because it was the demand of God in her, correctly fulfilled, that established our great Cause, the real support she demanded of her students, was what came from their spiritually awakened thought, applied to providing an atmosphere in which the Spirit of God could dwell. No outward human service weighed against this spiritual support. Whatever human service was rendered Mrs. Eddy in her home, by way of the care of her house, her clothes, food, etc., was acceptable to her, and made for her mental freedom, only when it was the manifestation of demonstration and spiritual love.

As we study the changes in her life, her steps from fear to fearlessness, from sickness to health, from discouragement to a divine confidence, we find that the record of her outward life has little scientific value and is apt to start controversy, except as it traces for the student the operation of that error that dogged her footsteps, as it does those of any onward-marching pilgrim, as he endeavors to maintain a scientific connection with God. This study will aid the student in uncovering the difficulties encountered in attempting to feed his spiritual nature, which can be starved more easily than the physical body would waste away through lack of food.

The whole sum and substance of Mrs. Eddy’s teaching which she gave to her students, was that it was exactness of mind, rather than matter, that she required and hoped for. She looked at the exactness of matter, only as the outward proof, that the students were furnishing mentally and spiritually, that which the home needed to make it a house of prayer.

The true history of Mrs. Eddy is the record, first, of the development of those footsteps by which her human thought threw off materiality, a struggle which started through suffering and human dissatisfaction. Then came the discovery in her of the spiritual nature, and its consequent development, which provided a permanent substitute for the things of the flesh given up, and the selfprotection of that spiritual wisdom that unfolds the operation of evil, as it destroys it. This history is a true wayshowing, and, when properly followed, leads us to the place where God becomes the Teacher and source of the true bread from heaven, and where man has awakened to perceive his possibilities as an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ.

Once, after Mrs. Eddy had delivered a stirring rebuke to the students, at a time when their best effort was vitally needed, she remarked that it seemed a pity to touch the whip to a pair of fine horses who were struggling, as best they could, to draw a load up a hill; yet, that flick of the whip would cause them to exert the extra ounce of effort needed to reach the top of the hill, where they could rest. Hence, such a use of the whip was kindness and love, not cruelty; wisdom and guidance, not ignorance. Mrs. Eddy often used this whip of loving rebuke and, when the lesson was learned, the students recognized the wisdom that prompted her, as well as the love.

Nevertheless, such is the perversity of human nature, that a misunderstanding of this at times produced fear and discouragement in the minds of some students, which prevented them from taking fearless footsteps, lest they call down her criticism, not recognizing her wise use of the Master’s revealed wisdom, as stated in John 15:2, “Every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

Today, even with our Leader not present, we have the same prod or whip with us, as embodied in the censure of other members of the organization. Even if those who offer criticism so freely, have not the same Christly motive back of it that she had, yet we can use their whip to drive us to a more determined effort in our handling of error and our demonstration of Truth, as well as in gaining a more Christlike attitude of mind. Thus shall the wrath of man praise Him, for if we have gone to sleep, we can wake up; if we are doing well, we can do still better. If the censure is unjust, we thereby discover what animal magnetism is endeavoring to fasten on us. Furthermore, we learn that whatever forces growth and drives man to God, is a true friend.




Chapter Twenty — Following the Christ-Idea

On October 23, 1905, Mrs. Eddy sent a telegram to the secretary of the Christian Science Board of Directors, William B. Johnson, who was in New York City. It read as follows: “Thanks for the telegram. Hand in hand, heart with heart, take step forward, march and hold fire on your Leader. God bless you. Lovingly, Mary Baker Eddy.”

In this telegram, did Mrs. Eddy refer to the fire of malpractice? Did she imply that a member of her own Board of Directors might be malpracticing on her, and that she wanted him to cease?

Mr. Johnson was on important business for the Cause, when this telegram was sent. Mrs. Eddy sent no idle nor unnecessary words. Then, what was the metaphysical and scientific meaning back of her statement?

We learn in Christian Science that our thinking alone is the important thing. Whatever follows from that thinking, is but the effect of cause, a shadow made visible by the light shining on an object. If, as a Christian Scientist, you were endeavoring to maintain in your home a spiritual atmosphere of thought, and another in the home, whose thought was on a less spiritual level, should show an undue interest or curiosity in what you were trying to do, might you not feel that material thought hindering your spiritual thought from having free and full expression?

After students who had been living with Mrs. Eddy left, they could tell what her activities were in the home every hour of the day, since she followed such a strict routine. Thus, if they turned their thought toward Pleasant View after they left, they could enter into the mental activity of Mrs. Eddy’s life, almost the same as if they still lived in the home.

I speak of this, because there were times when Mrs. Eddy felt an interference, resulting from this ignorant effort to perpetuate the routine of Pleasant View, as if it were responsible for some period of confusion through which her thought might be passing. Hence, she would often write and ask students not to think of her, but to turn their thoughts away from her entirely.

Mrs. Eddy went to Pleasant View to escape those activities of the Christian Science organization, which weighed so heavily around her neck, because she found it a continual struggle to have what she put forth and knew was right, opposed by her own students, who had not the perception to see the wisdom back of her moves. Another reason for her withdrawal, was the desire to wean her students from leaning on her demonstration, so that they might learn to lean on Principle. In this, she was not as successful as she had hoped she would be. Even today, there are still those who would lean on her demonstration of spiritual wisdom, trying to do what they feel she would have wanted them to, as if she were still present, instead of recognizing that her only desire was to have her students learn to lean on divine Principle, as she did.

In the Church Manual, Mrs. Eddy included many ByLaws which required the approval of the Pastor Emeritus. Even though she recognized that her consent could no longer be gained after she had passed from our midst, nevertheless, she definitely left this requirement in many of the By-Laws. Understood spiritually, however, this is our assurance that she left the impersonal guidance of the Christ, which is with us always. Hence, today Mrs. Eddy’s demand upon her faithful followers is that they always go, as she did, to divine wisdom for guidance and consent in matters pertaining to the furthering of this great Cause.

She realized that, unless students were weaned from her demonstration to make their own, they would cease to progress. The Master recognized this point so strongly, that he said, in John 8:21, “I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.” In other words, if your effort goes no further than to seek to have me take you into the kingdom of heaven on my demonstration, instead of embodying the Christ for yourselves, and gaining heaven through your own demonstration, then your lack of understanding of the true spiritual method will be the sin of ignorance, which will mean the death of your spiritual progress.

Both the Master and Mrs. Eddy taught that the time must come with every student, when the help of another spiritually-minded pilgrim must turn into self-help, where the Christ must be lost as something to follow after, and gained as something to be embodied. It is a profitless thing to continue to seek the help of another in Christian Science, if it is continued beyond the point, where wisdom would indicate that one should rely on his own efforts. Every gardener knows, that the very glass frame which is necessary to give his plants their start and protection, becomes a definite obstruction to the development of the plants, beyond a certain stage of growth. They must be transplanted into the open.

It might be said, that there is a point at which we follow the Christ in another, a point where we catch up with Him, and finally a point where we embody Him. Jesus called that embodying of the Christ, eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It is as if a man, weak with hunger, were being drawn in a cart by an ox. Finally, he kills the ox and eats his flesh. Then he finds he has gained the strength to pull the cart himself. From this, we can describe the crucifixion as symbolic of the point where Christ is taken away as something that can be followed, only to reappear and come to life again, as something to be embodied by man. It dies as something apart from man, and comes to life as his own true selfhood. This might be taken as a warning to students of today, that if they feel suddenly bereft, as if they no longer received the help they expected, from those to whom they have been accustomed to turn, that indicates that the time has come for them to embody the Christ for themselves, which means to recognize within themselves the ever-enlarging spiritual spark.

When Mrs. Eddy acted for the Cause, it was divine Principle that dominated her thought, rather than human opinion. This, and this alone, was what she wanted her students to follow. “Follow me only as I follow Christ,” was her most profound counsel.

Did our Master wield a mighty divine power and law, or did the divine power or law wield the Master? This is a more significant question than might appear at first reading. In Science and Health, on page 119, we read that man “is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it seems otherwise to finite sense.” Surely, the divine law was the master of Jesus, and not Jesus the master of divine law. Hence, he is called Master, because he, above all men, was the humble instrument of Principle, and allowed this divine Principle to master him completely.

This same truth pertains to our Leader, and represents the great lesson which she inculcated on her students. To illustrate how complete was her yielding to the mastery of divine Love, she said to Lida Fitzpatrick, a student in the home, on March 17, 1907, “I used to say before going before an audience, Now dear God, here I am, use me; I am absent from the body and present with Thee in consciousness. Love uses me in its own good way. I would lift myself right out of the material sense of self and audience, and let God use me.”

This self-immolation of our Leader must be understood, before God’s use of her can be rightly perceived. During the effort to wean her students from leaning on her demonstration, Mrs. Eddy constantly advised them to seek guidance from above, and to let God use them. When a splendid worker in the Field was commissioned to handle some vital matter, and Mrs. Eddy sensed that he was trying to figure out how she would want the thing handled, she would call this malpractice, because she could definitely feel a sense of anxiety and fear, as well as an effort to lean on her demonstration of divine guidance, a fear to depend on his own unaided understanding of God’s leading. To be sure, Mrs. Eddy did not accuse such a student of deliberately sending out something toward her that he knew was wrong, but she wanted him to realize, when she said, “Hold fire on your Leader,” that such an attitude of mind, as described above, would tend to rob her of her mental peace and of her ability to hold up her thought spiritually. Jesus voiced the same thought, when he said to Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” In other words, he had not attained the divine Spirit so permanently, but that he could still be reached through the thought of his students.

It must be recognized, that Mrs. Eddy’s gauge of whether her thought was handled by animal magnetism, differed from that of many of her students, for they measured the extent to which error was influencing them by how they felt: depressed, sick, in pain, or discouraged. Such was not Mrs. Eddy’s standard. She gauged her freedom from mortal belief solely by the clarity of her spiritual thought, by whether she could think of God intelligently, by how real and how near He seemed to her.

This is a most important metaphysical point for the advanced student, because the mistake of using one’s feelings as a gauge, as to whether one is handled by animal magnetism is that, in a mental state of exhilaration without an ache or a pain, man may be further from God, than when he is depressed or is suffering. When he feels badly, he is out of tune with God, to be sure, but he is struggling to get back. But, when he is in a state of mental exhilaration, he may be out of tune with God, and in tune with that with which he should not be; yet, because he feels well and happy, he is not driven to make the struggle to throw off the domination of the enemy of God.

Thus, we deduce that Mrs. Eddy had more to contend with from ignorant malpractice, than she did from malicious, and that her telegram was a protest against loving malpractice, if one can express it that way. The Board of Directors represented the most spiritually active thought in the Field. Hence, Mrs. Eddy’s rebuke was not personal, but a general warning, that was illustrative of her desire, that none of the students permit their thought to come back to her continually for guidance, and thus add to her burden.

Students feared Mrs. Eddy’s criticism, just as they do that of the Board of Directors today. Hence, they endeavored to follow what they thought Mrs. Eddy wanted, rather than what they had demonstrated that God wanted them to follow, when, in reality, with Mrs. Eddy, these two would always coincide. We know that today, as yesterday, such criticism is given in the most loving way, and is intended only to bless and to be constructive. Therefore, why be afraid of it?

There were students, who acted as if Mrs. Eddy’s criticisms were a death blow to all their hopes. Why should we not take as our working basis this statement: “Now, I am going to endeavor to do the best I can, and I pray God that there will be somebody with enough love and alertness to point out to me the wrong steps I may take at times, in my effort to progress spiritually.”

Pride prompts human thought to endeavor to erect a barrier against criticism. If the Field had listened more understandingly to Mrs. Eddy’s criticisms, when she was with us, they might have collected more oil for their lamps to sustain their light, now that she is gone.

I must repeat, that in this telegram, Mrs. Eddy had no intention of accusing Mr. Johnson of malpracticing on her intentionally. She wanted him to appreciate that, although he was absent from her, he was, at the same time, sending his thought back to her, seeking help, and that this process of mental dependence upon her might cause her to go through the same experience of anxiety, as if she had been in New York personally, burdened with the same problem. Hence, if, in being absent from her in body, he should still be present with her in thought, that would not spare her one bit. Furthermore, to spare her was part of his responsibility.

This represents a difficult point in Mrs. Eddy’s history because, if these splendid workers looked within their hearts to detect evidence of malpracticing on their Leader, they would have found only love; but if it was a love that leaned, a love that constantly depended on Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration, rather than on their own, then it constituted a malpractice that Mrs. Eddy needed to rebuke, for the sake of their spiritual growth, as well as her own freedom.

The letters that Mrs. Eddy sent to those who had left Pleasant View, instructing them to keep their thought away from the home and not to think of her, showed that she considered this a form of malpractice. When the students left, she wanted them to leave mentally, as well as bodily. Why? There are several scientific points involved, but among them is the fact, that Mrs. Eddy was able to guide spiritually the mental efforts of those in the home. This enabled them to pursue their mental ministrations in the way that would be most helpful to her and the Cause. Let us suppose, however, that those students after leaving, should continue the same work for Mrs. Eddy that they did under her direction, while with her. Even though that work was done with a sincere love and a right motive, it might prove to be a definite interference. Mrs. Eddy once likened it to many animals locking their horns together, and attacking a common enemy en masse, without the proper direction of a leader.

Mrs. Eddy guided the loving effort of her students into the wisest channels, and so she was not disturbed at the derelictions of any of those living with her; she could always handle such a condition, correct it, and make it productive of good. When she saw a student in the home on the wrong mental track, she would always lift him back to the spiritual point where his work became helpful.

If the student returned home, however, and continued in this effort, without Mrs. Eddy’s wisdom to guide it, the result might not be constructive. A loving effort to do good might become malpractice. It was not that the students who returned home fired at Mrs. Eddy mentally. It was, that after a long period of effort to help our Leader, where such daily prayer had become a habit, it was most natural that their thoughts should return to roost, where they had labored so long and lovingly. However, to Mrs. Eddy, there were times when this constituted a definite interference.

In order to consider another side of the letters received by students after leaving Pleasant View, it is necessary to take up one of the important planks in the doctrine of Christian Science. As a specimen of such a letter, I offer the following:

28, 1906

Beloved Students

I have so much on hand, I cannot see you as often as I would like to. Please do not think of me unless I request it. Try to be happy and have faith “that all things work together for good to them that love God.” We do love God, good, hence can claim this promise to us.

Lovingly in haste M. B. Eddy

The question comes up whether, in such a letter, Mrs. Eddy did not personalize error. This is the criticism that is brought against her for the chapter, Demonology, in the third edition of Science and Health, where she comes out so plainly, and attributes to K— such evil motives and aims.

Is this consistent with a statement from page 285 of Miscellaneous Writings, where she carefully writes, “An edition of one thousand pamphlets I ordered to be laid away and not one of them circulated, because I had been personal in condemnation?” Notwithstanding, there are many facts in Mrs. Eddy’s experience, where it would seem as if she definitely personalized error. How can one reconcile this with the fact that Christian Science shows so plainly, that to personalize error, gives it a reality for the time being, that precludes the possibility of its destruction? It is the difference between a drop of water on, or a flaw in, the reflecting surface of a beautiful mirror. In the latter case, the mirror is worthless. Whereas, in the former, the water may be wiped away with the utmost ease. Hence, if evil is part of man in any way, then man is forever doomed. If, however, it is merely a false belief that claims expression as man, and yet is not part of the real man, then it can be easily destroyed through the power of the divine Mind. Mrs. Eddy writes (ibid. page 310), “To impersonalize scientifically the material sense of existence—rather than cling to personality—is the lesson of to-day.”

As a matter of fact, if a critic is going to accuse Mrs. Eddy of inconsistency, saying that she taught the impersonalization of error in theory, but personalized it in practice, then, by the same token, that critic must include the Master in this category, because he plainly called Herod a fox and Judas a devil. For the Master to speak thus, was apparently to designate man as a source of evil, instead of a channel for it. This criticism would apply to Mrs. Eddy, when she designated any of her students as a source of interference to her.

Nevertheless, it is possible to identify error through its mouthpiece, without personalizing it. The Master could recognize the animal qualities that Herod and Judas were expressing, and yet not come down from his high mental standpoint of recognizing their real selfhood as the perfect child of God. So our Leader could scientifically detect the channel, through which error was being expressed, and yet not personalize error.

Mrs. Eddy was a pioneer in the discovery of the nature and sources of the devil, that keeps mortal man in bondage. Many of the spiritual facts, which are well known to the Christian Scientist to-day, and which seem so simple, cost Mrs. Eddy years of arduous search and prayer. Some of the simplest, and yet, most important forward steps in material invention and research are met by the statement, “Why, that is so simple; why didn’t somebody think of it before?” Such a discovery might be the fulfilment of years of research. Edison experimented with several thousand different materials, before he hit on one that would light his incandescent lamp. A carbonized twisted cotton thread was the ultimate solution. How simple! How profound! Just a twisted cotton thread revolutionizing the lighting of the world!

Thus, Mrs. Eddy was led to trace all evil back to aggressive mental suggestion. She named it animal magnetism, and showed it to be merely false belief, or man hypnotized into accepting a false estimate of God, and hence, of himself, and reading this into everything. How simple! How profound! The discovery of Mary Baker Eddy, that all evil is mesmerism, or false belief, destined to revolutionize the whole world’s method of eliminating the falsity, that attempts to separate man from his heavenly Father! Yet, no-one will ever know what this discovery cost our Leader.

The simple doctrine of impersonalizing evil, in reducing it to nothingness, just as one separates the parasite from the oak tree, and thus destroys it by cutting it off from that upon which it lives and draws its life, is so well known to the Christian Scientist today, that it seems impossible, that even after Mrs. Eddy discovered this fact, she should have ever made error personal. Why did she do it? Why does a man lose his way through the woods, after he has climbed a tree and seen his objective? Because he is blazing a new trail and going over unfamiliar ground.

From the time of our Master, Mrs. Eddy was the only one successfully to assume the task of exposing the true nature and powerlessness of error. Her first steps in this task involved attacking its surface manifestations. Then, through suffering and prayer, she began to work deeper and deeper, until finally she reached cause. If one reduced Mrs. Eddy’s experiences to what she revealed and laid forth in her book of instruction, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, one would never assert that Mrs. Eddy ever personalized error or made a reality of it, after she gained her revelation. Mrs. Eddy knew that evil was not personal, and that to see it as impersonal gave one spiritual power over it, and the ability to eliminate it. She knew that obedience to animal magnetism produced all the so-called phenomena of evil. Thus, her writings set forth no temptation to believe in the personalization of animal magnetism, or to believe that she ever yielded to this error.

Then, what about her exposure of K—? The answer is, that it is possible that, under the great pressure which a pioneer would feel in delving into the hidden workings of evil, that had defied the greatest thinkers of all ages, her thought might at times bend temporarily under the evidence of personified evil. This explanation exposes the effort of animal magnetism to sidetrack her demonstration and render it in vain. Under such circumstances, the evidence multiplies to convince one that he has been picked out as a mark by the evil one. When one seeks the hidden cause of all evil, the cornered beast sets up a clamor of adverse argument, that makes it seem impossible not to believe that certain people, especially certain renegade students, to whom Mrs. Eddy had taught her mental method, are not turning this very teaching against one and hence, such are the direct cause of one’s suffering. What was more natural, than to believe that these students, having learned and understood the power of thought under Mrs. Eddy’s tutelage, were the ones who were able to reach her through animal magnetism?

Criminal history records many organizations, whose head is one with a developed intelligence and cleverness, yet entrenched in such secrecy, that it is almost impossible to reach him. He is called the man higher up. Until he is caught, the organization will continue, in spite of all efforts to wipe it out. Every once in a while, the police think that they have caught the right one, only to be disappointed.

Mrs. Eddy was endeavoring to find the man higher up, meaning the cause of the evil that held the world in suffering. Was it in God? Was it a devil that existed in spite of God? Was it in man? Her thought searched and searched. She did her utmost to clarify her spiritual vision through purification and prayer, in order that she might come into the secret, and unfold the metaphysical mystery of error, “its hidden paths, purpose and fruits” (Miscellany, 223). Her thought ranged the world. It compassed spiritualism, theosophy, astrology, materia medica, scholastic theology.

What she finally discovered, seems almost too simple to us today to have required such consecration and persistence. Yet, the world still quarrels over her contention that mortal belief is an impersonal claim, unreal and yet believed in. Was it not natural, that Mrs. Eddy should have sought for the cause of evil in a malicious motive, animating either certain individuals or groups? Is it strange that at first she personalized it to some extent?

If all evil can be analyzed in terms of mesmerism, the human thought demands to know, “Who does the hypnotizing?” If man has been under the spell of false belief since Adam, what existed before Adam to put him under the spell, if it were not God? According to Christian Science, we have God, man and false belief. God did not create, could not create, false belief. Then, where did it come from? This was the great question, and, when you realize Mrs. Eddy’s effort to uncover the most important phases of evil that keep man out of heaven, or keep heaven out of man, there is no surprise in realizing that Mrs. Eddy required spiritual growth herself, before she fully recognized the impersonal nature of evil in her practice. It takes much spiritual growth, before one can understand how impersonal evil can result in a personal attack. Mrs. Eddy took into account everything that might possibly be the cause of evil, as it seemed to attack her with malicious intent, everything that might throw any light on the origin of evil. She traced it all back to animal magnetism.

Her final discovery was, that there is only one way to handle animal magnetism, and the Christian Scientist who is good enough to be assailed by it, is good enough to use this process, which is to turn to divine wisdom for guidance, knowing that that wisdom will unerringly direct thought to the source of the error, which is always in some false belief, accepted and not cast out.

Under stress, the Christian Scientist may momentarily personalize error, yet, when the pressure has been lifted, the clarity of scientific thought is found to have been enhanced, and not dulled, by the experience. Letters, which instructed students who had left Mrs. Eddy’s home, not to think of her, were the outpourings of an harassed thought, searching in every direction to try to locate the agent of the evil. When the situation cleared, as it always did, the impersonal nature of all mortal belief was again spiritually discerned. The effect of animal magnetism is directly to darken thought. What one does under such manipulation is the thermometer, indicating that thought has been darkened.

One way that error would attack Mrs. Eddy, was to try to make her conscious of a personal vulnerability, and to try to arouse a present disturbance, by bringing back to memory the black times of the past, which were associated with such an aggressive sense of personal malice. From a human standpoint, our Leader was incapable of performing the great duties for the Cause which lay before her. As a humanly normal woman, she would not have been able to do it. Hence, error would argue remembrance of past weakness and suffering. If one is relying absolutely on the divine Mind, and leaning upon it for support, strength and courage, whatever would attempt to take that away, would be an attempt to throw that one back into a sense of incapacity.

The student must understand, that Mrs. Eddy was not like one who has a natural sense of endurance and strength, and, when robbed temporarily of his spiritual thought and thrown back on his human sense, is thrown back on something that gives a limited measure of support. Hence, such an experience would not produce fear. But with Mrs. Eddy, the cry was, “Lord, save or I perish.” Without the support of the divine Mind, she had nothing left to turn to, with any degree of strength or courage. In fact, Mrs. Eddy faced the human claim of death, whenever anything threatened to rob her of her spiritual sense, because that alone supported her and gave her life.

When the students at Pleasant View settled down into the state of thought that most distressed Mrs. Eddy, they were merely apathetic. It disturbed her, because she realized that, if she should permit herself to sink down into such sloth, it spelled death. However, it did not bother the students. I would not imply that she feared death, but she knew she must stay to finish her work. When she found the students in that state, which she called mental drunkenness and human complaisance, she would call each one to her and wake him or her up. She would thunder at me, “Haven’t you got a heavenly Father?” “Yes, mother,” would be my meek reply. “Then why don’t you trust in Him?”

Mrs. Eddy recognized, that human smoothness offered the advanced student nothing on which he might get a foothold to progress spiritually. It can be described in metaphor, by picturing the futile efforts of a mouse to escape from a glass globe by climbing up the smooth sides. She also perceived the temptation that the students might come under, of basking in the sweet sense of harmony and protection, that her demonstration of God’s love and presence brought into the home. Therefore, it was with the greatest sense of love and spiritual wisdom, that she would break up such a sense of human smoothness, in order that her students might not stagnate in their spiritual endeavors.

Once she said, “The drunkenness produced by belief in wine is not to be compared with the drunkenness in thought; ‘mental darkness.’ We are all drunk without wine, in the senses.”

Each time Mrs. Eddy felt that she might lose her spiritual thought, she fought a death struggle, because that spiritual consciousness was all that she had to sustain her, but it was enough! It enabled her to accomplish every day, what six women could not have done with only physical strength to sustain them. Nevertheless, the realization of this fact will aid the follower in her footsteps to understand much in her experience, that otherwise seems anomalous.

In a critical and biased biography of any great man or woman, the evil lies in the emphasis placed on experiments and struggles, which amounted to nothing in themselves, except to teach mankind what to avoid. What if Mrs. Eddy did have struggles and did write to students not to think of her? Her veritable teachings are to be found in her published writings, and she adhered to and lived up to them to the best of her ability. The value of finding inconsistencies in the life of any great pioneer, is very questionable in proving anything except what every wise man knows, that, in blazing a path through a forest, if he could go straight ahead without turning to the right or left, there would be no need of blazing a path. The very need of such a road costs him his struggle. Mrs. Eddy would not have been needed as the Revelator to this age, if she could have gone straight through the mists of mortality without making a mistake.

The critic may discover some of the wrong turns Mrs. Eddy made, and emphasize them sufficiently to cause some unwatchful ones to turn away from the path she eventually took. But, the only thing such an effort proves, is that the critic is an obstructionist and an enemy of Truth.

Any attempt to criticize Mrs. Eddy’s experience from the human standpoint of good, is bound to cause misunderstanding. Accomplishment alone enables footsteps to be judged correctly. The most unselfish and devoted effort to live a life of human good, never yet has made the things of God real to mankind.

How grateful we are that Mrs. Eddy left us this important admonition, “Follow me only as I follow Christ;” for in this statement she revealed to us that which unfolds an understandable process, whereby all can be taught of God. Then, in order to turn thought away from the worthless side of her human experience, she advised this scientific analysis, so we might follow that part of her experience and that alone, where she embodied and practised the Christ wisdom and Truth. Mrs. Eddy laid down scientific spiritual teachings. Then, she advised us to adopt these teachings, provided we could recognize in her life the practical adaptation of these teachings as reflecting and demonstrating the Christ, or wisdom, Truth and Love. This thought also carries the necessity to discard every part of her human experience, which was not the exemplification of her revelation. Biographers of Mrs. Eddy’s life may attempt to portray the worthless side of her experience, worthless as a guide to those in the mire of mortal belief, and having no value from the standpoint of scientific demonstration; but such efforts will always do more harm than good, and feed in the minds of students a human attitude toward Mrs. Eddy, which should be starved into extinction.

Let the student eschew such biographies which attempt to foist upon the public some of Mrs. Eddy’s worthless experiences, as being the following of the Christ, when they are not. When one’s thought sloughs off from scientific thinking, he is no longer following the Christ. During that lapse, his experience is worthless from a spiritual standpoint, and has no value, except for the man who may get lost in the same bypath. A chart of such a bypath might help another, who fell into the same morass; but once back on the right path, to follow that chart would mean to follow a mistaken sense of the Christ. It must be emphasized, that Mrs. Eddy did not tell us to follow her as she followed Jesus, apart from the Christ.




Chapter Twenty-one — The Daily Work at Pleasant View

A description of a representative day at Pleasant View might interest future generations, as exemplifying the guidance of divine Love over Mrs. Eddy and her home. Breakfast was at 7:30 a.m. The assistant secretary sorted the mail, with the specific instructions from our Leader to withhold all letters which would be possible for her secretaries to answer, giving her only that which was imperative. There could be no mistake in keeping mail from her, but there could be in giving it to her. The morning Watch Hour was from nine to ten, when each student returned to his or her room to do the mental work to destroy fear, and to recognize the presence and power of God as supreme in the home, as well as in the whole universe. This work did not vary from day to day, except where special instruction was needed and given to us. These watching instructions were written out either by Mrs. Eddy, or by Mr. Frye under her supervision, and were passed around to us. One of these papers that is representative of her specific instruction, as to what line of thought to take up, reads as follows: “No fear; no poison, arsenic, etc.; no suffering caused here by the readers of S. & H.; no evil minds; no feeling the beliefs of patients; no relapse, no reversal of truth. There is but one Mind, God, good. Evil is not mind, it has no power. We can help ourselves and help others, we do. We are not self-mesmerized. God, good, alone controls us. We feel no mind but His. There is no other mind to feel. God gives all the thoughts we have, governs all we do and say and think.”

At ten a.m. work on the mail was resumed. At 10:45, the mail that had been selected was carried to Mrs. Eddy. Her dinner was served in her study at 12 noon. After the noon meal, she took a drive that lasted about an hour. During that time all duties were done, including the physical work around the rooms in the home. Each one endeavored to be in his or her place, when she returned between 2:00 and 2:30. After her return, she rested for about one-half hour.

There was another general Watch Hour from three to four, and the last was from eight to nine. Everyone, including our Leader, joined in these periods of watching. In addition to these, each student had an individual Watch Hour. For instance, every night I worked mentally from eleven to midnight.

After the afternoon Watch Hour, Mrs. Eddy read and answered letters, or gave them to her secretaries to answer. Sometimes, she would dictate the answers to us. Supper was at six. Occasionally, after supper she would call the students to her for a period of quiet and peaceful conversation. At times, I went in and talked to her. It was during such a period that she dictated to me some of her own early history, and that of the church. She also dictated articles to me, as, for instance, the one on Christmas on page 259 of Miscellany. At eight, she always went out on the porch and sat in the swing until nine, which was the last general Watch Hour for the day. I always felt that it was during this hour that she worked for the world, and encompassed all humanity with her love, for when she came in to retire, she often called me to her side to say good-night, and the love that she radiated was almost more than I could stand, it affected me to such a degree.

This general program for each day never varied, and there was nothing to indicate that a day was Sunday or week day. This does not mean that when there was a special need, the whole machinery of the home was not interrupted. There were times, when the whole household worked mentally for hours at a time. Sometimes it would be all night long. I can recall a time, when I did not remove my clothes for seventy-two hours.




Chapter Twenty-two — Mrs. Eddy Roused Students From Human Harmony

In the handling of her students, Mrs. Eddy combined a driving force with a loving cooperation and appreciation. Both these elements were necessary. Our Leader set a standard, and then demanded that the students live up to it. We see in Jesus’ experience, when the eleven disciples failed to give him the support that he hoped for, that Judas, the twelfth, became a whip that drove him. This was a blessing in disguise. From this standpoint, Judas might be called an unwitting driver, instead of a betrayer, and his apostacy regarded as a friend of Jesus’ spiritual growth. This concept agrees with Jesus’ admonition to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, to recognize the action of mortal belief, as it attempts to betray one’s spiritual thought, as a friend, because it compels progress. Jesus’ disciples might be likened to a flock of sheep with one goat. The shepherd comes to a broad pit, over which he must jump. The sheep cry, sympathize, and go to sleep; while the goat butts him, thereby giving him just the extra impetus needed to accomplish the leap. Jesus knew that Judas was a devil, but he also knew that it was possible to utilize that erroneous sense expressed by Judas, in such a scientific way, that it would serve to drive him to a higher demonstration. Hence, Judas became the whip to flick the Master into that last grand spiritual effort, that altered the whole face of man’s struggle to gain immortality.

To me, there was a great significance in the way our Leader would flick the whip on her students to drive them to a supreme spiritual endeavor. I seemed to sense that she recognized that, since we lacked the wholesome effect of a Judas to whip us, she must supply this need.

Mrs. Eddy was most troubled by what she termed a negative state of mind in her students, which would steal over them when everything seemed humanly harmonious. The students failed to detect what she felt, namely, that it was the quiet before the storm. Hence, we see why she considered it necessary to create an artificial storm in the home, by calling the students in and waking them up spiritually, until the whole house was in what appeared to be an unnecessary uproar. When an opportunity presented itself for sitting back to enjoy a pleasant feeling of relaxation, the students could sense no harm in it, and could discover small reason why Mrs. Eddy broke it up in such a determined way.

It is said, that among those men who have charge of the repair crews of the subways in New York City, there comes a depressed feeling, for which there is no accounting, when two or three days pass by without a call for repairs of any kind. Normally, the calls come in on the average of one each hour, day and night. Therefore, a long period of quiet is looked upon as the calm before the storm, where the storm is some major accident. This is, of course, rank fear and superstition, but it does illustrate what Mrs. Eddy perceived in the mental realm. She recognized the student’s lethargy as an open door to animal magnetism, just as she would have detected in the minds of these men in New York a state of thought, that invited the very thing they dreaded.

Mrs. Eddy provided the driving force for her students. She inspired them to a demonstration which, otherwise, they might not have attained, unless confronted with some sharp hnever permits him to relax from his scientific watchfulness and demonstration, may consider that he numbers among his mental disciples a Judas, for which he may thank God; not a betraying, but a driving Judas. Judas took the joy out of the unity of that band of workers, and turned the Master over to his enemies. So our Judas is that, which seems to rob us of our human joy and satisfaction in relaxation, just when we would sit down to the banquet of materiality with a keen anticipation. At this point, our Judas comes, pricks the bubble, and forces us up to God. Is that a friend or foe? The mortality in mortals is always wishing that this Judas might be removed, so that it can take unalloyed pleasure in the harmless phases of human life; but the Christ-idea in man always thanks the dear Father for the mammon of unrighteousness which, when he makes friends with it, or gains a spiritual attitude of mind toward it, forwards his spiritual growth beyond what he deemed possible.

When spiritual growth brought the students up to the point, where they could appreciate what their Leader did for them, by forwarding their demonstration through what seemed a whip, their hearts went out in gratitude, and they reproached themselves for ever doubting the wisdom that she manifested, in thus flicking the whip on their spiritual possibilities.

In the tenth chapter of Luke the Master said, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” It is quite evident to me, that the state of peace in the students, which disturbed Mrs. Eddy, was a rejoicing because the devils were subject unto them, and not because their names, as insignia of their relationship to God, were written in heaven.

What is this state of having the devils subject unto you? In the world, the man who is capable of living under the domination of mortal mind, or the devil, and, at the same time, steering his life down pleasant and prosperous paths, rejoices. But the Christian Scientist is not deceived into accepting any happiness that results from his ability to handle human affairs, so that they extend to him the pleasant side of mortal existence. His only happiness (and cause of rejoicing) should be because, to some extent, he has his name written in heaven, or is gaining a spiritual consciousness of God as his true Father and Mother.

Mrs. Eddy recognized, that the most deadly action of mortal belief is where man is able to make it subject unto him, as expressed in so-called human good. If a man was put into a den of lions, he would want to get out as soon as he could. He would actively seek a way out. But suppose he found, that he could handle these lions, and make them obedient unto him, so that he could lie down with them, and let them keep him warm. Would he not lose his fear of them, because he found them subject unto him? Would not his interest in seeking his way out of the cage wane? Would not the lions be much more dangerous tame, than they would be wild; for no matter how tame a lion is, he never loses his ferocity, hence, this murderous nature will appear, just when man’s fear of him has almost disappeared?

Mrs. Eddy knew that mortal mind is always mortal mind, animal magnetism, the murderer from the beginning, that has no gentle or safe side. No matter how man is able to make it subject unto him, and appropriate it, so that it gives him a sense of pleasure and satisfaction, because the inner nature of mortal mind never changes, the time always comes, when this inner nature breaks through the crust of false peace, and appears in its true colors, the great red dragon of Revelation.

So, in summing up, we can say that Mrs. Eddy perceived the inwardness of mortal mind as malicious animal magnetism. She warned her students and the world against the deadly effect of believing that, through civilization, education and refinement, the nature of the lion has been, or can be, changed, because for the present it operates for their apparent good. In a word, she placed the sign, Danger, Beware, over the lion’s cage, and then offered the world the simple way out of the cage. Is it any wonder that, to her, the highest degree of all evil was to see a man in the cage, oblivious of his danger, grateful to the lions for their kindness, and fighting tooth and nail anything that might expose the situation, so that he might see it correctly? Is it any wonder, that the one thing that troubled her was to see her students unafraid of the lions, rejoicing, and feeling satisfied, that the beasts were subject unto them? As long as she saw her students aware of the situation, active in seeking the spiritual mode of escape from animal magnetism, and joyous in their growing consciousness of their relationship to the divine Mind, she knew them to be safe.

In the healing of the man with the unclean spirit, Jesus caused the legion of devils to go into the herd of swine. A spiritual unfoldment might show that, if the swine were symbolic of swinish, human thinking, then back of them or in them, was the devil already, and Jesus simply caused this fact to be appreciated. In other words, if man was permitting swinish thoughts to remain and to multiply in his consciousness, and the Christ, Truth, should reveal that back of such thoughts was the devil of animal magnetism, that would cause him to cast out such thoughts. If a Christian Scientist harbors human thinking at any time, it is merely because he or she does not recognize the legion of animal magnetism that is hidden within such thinking. The swine appear harmless enough, until the Christ exposes their true inwardness. When one finally discovers the destructive nature of human thinking, it seems as if the devil had suddenly entered into the swine, when, in reality, it was there all the time. What Christian Scientist would tolerate human thinking, if he perceived the evil back of it? So, before the right effort is made to cast out human thinking, the devil must enter into it, or be perceived in it. The same point is illustrated by the man who quickly throws away some food, when he learns that it is permeated with poison. Human thinking contains the poison of animal magnetism and, therefore, should be disposed of.

An illustration of such apparently harmless human thinking, but with the legion of devils hidden within, would be for one to look at a man and think, “Why, that man is sick; I judge by his appearance, he is not long for this world.” Through Christian Science, that thought, which appears to be sympathy and friendship, is uncovered to be innocent malpractice. It is thinking that appears harmless, but, in reality, it is barbed with unintended venom.

Mrs. Eddy perceived the legion of devils in the herd of swine, or human thinking, when her students failed to do so. It was her obligation to awaken them to this fact, a thing which oftentimes she had to do with vigor, and for which those who understood, respected and loved her.

If one should conclude that the teaching is too strong for young students, that back of all human thinking is animal magnetism, or a swinish element, even though Mrs. Eddy shows that this element is not native or natural to man, let him consider her letter to Eugene H. Greene, written on May 31, 1906, when he was about to teach the Metaphysical College, “One thing I forgot to name is this: Teach your class that the pleasures of sense material are to be overcome, as well as its pains. Hence the Scripture, ‘None but the pure in heart can see God.’ The sexual element is not natural, if nature is God, and it certainly is God, for matter is not God, and material sense has no law and no gospel on its side. Even eating is a ‘suffer it to be so now.’ Sometime we shall all learn this. Let us begin now to learn it, and to teach it, and to practice it.”




Chapter Twenty-three — Mrs. Eddy's Unselfed Love

In Luke, the Master speaks of the Pharisees as loving the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and being as “graves that appear not.” The Master realized the humility that was necessary to attain true greatness, the self-immolation that brings reflection. He also recognized that the moment man experiences that greatness, he is tempted to lose his humility; if he does, he also loses his greatness. When man permits self-aggrandizement to rob him of his spiritual achievement, at that point he becomes a concealed grave to those who listen to him, because he points them to himself, instead of to God; a gesture that always indicates the death of spiritual progress.

Mrs. Eddy knew God as the only power. Hence, whatever was accomplished, came through His power. This reasoning unfolds that man’s work is effort or reflection, and God’s work is achievement. Hence, when man takes credit for achievement, that is self-aggrandizement. It is like taking all the credit, simply because you introduced a man in want to the one who would supply that want. What credit is due you for that? Similarly, a practitioner merely introduces his patient to God. Therefore, why should he take credit to himself for what results by way of healing and regeneration? The only credit Mrs. Eddy ever took to herself was for being a channel for God. The world criticizes her for her effort, and aggrandizes her for her achievement. As a matter of fact, she should be praised for her effort, and God be praised for her achievement.

As evidence of Mrs. Eddy’s humility, I quote her own words, “There is but one way through, and only one way through; and that is to unself. It is my unselfed love that has made a success of this Cause for the world.” She perfectly illustrated David’s statement in Psalm 63: “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” Mrs. Eddy recognized that she was not the wings. Those belonged to God. She was willing humbly to rejoice in their shadow, keeping self out of sight. She let the wings do the work, and now, the world would accuse her of self-aggrandizement. But, once it is recognized that her whole urge was to remain in the background, to remain hidden in the shadow of His wings, then it will be seen that the great upbuilding of the Cause was the result of the divine Mind’s activity, for which Mrs. Eddy was but the humble channel. She knew, that a desire for the uppermost seats in the synagogue would mark the end of her humility, which in turn would mark the end of God’s help. So she wrote in Miscellaneous Writings, page 1, “Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition of Deity.”




Chapter twenty-four — Mrs. Eddy's Rebuke of Students

Once when Mrs. Eddy wished to confer with two of her students, and found that they had just gone on a vacation, she wrote them: “Return at once to Boston and find your retreat for an outing within a short distance of human help. Had I known sooner the place you were sent by m.a.m., I would sooner have delivered my message to you no doubt.” This was written July 28, 1897, and may be found in part on page 177 of Lyman Powell’s book.

Although the tone of this letter was severe, she intended it not for criticism, but instruction. Notwithstanding this fact, it would seem as if she had taken a position that was arbitrary and dictatorial, expecting her faithful workers to continue year after year without recreation.

The spiritual interpretation of such a simple episode as this deserves an important place in this book, because it illustrates so perfectly the fact, that such events in our Leader’s experience are susceptible of two interpretations, even as the Bible can be taken literally or unfolded inspirationally. Taken literally, Mrs. Eddy’s letter might be seized upon by critics as exposing her unreasonable attitude in handling her students, demanding a blind and implicit obedience to inflexible decisions. Understood and interpreted from a spiritual standpoint, however, it shows a scientific expectancy and keen endeavor to keep herself and her students always in tune with God’s great plan of salvation, which was being made manifest in the upbuilding of the Cause of Christian Science. Jesus said, “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.” In other words, when one has gained a scientific understanding, thereafter he can never judge Mrs. Eddy’s life from anything but a spiritual standpoint. Thus is exposed the fallacy of critical biography.

In building a skyscraper, there are orderly traffic regulations governing the incoming material. If a man, who was one cog in this smooth-running machinery, should be absent from his post, when he is needed to do his part, that might involve delay in the whole construction.

Mrs. Eddy was engaged in the upbuilding of the great structure of Christian Science. If one of her workers was absent when needed, she knew that he was handled by animal magnetism. She demanded that if a worker take a vacation, he must make a demonstration of it, which would mean going in God’s time. The materially-minded man is always out of season. He is out of tune with good, with the great ever-active tides of spiritual thought. He goes away when he will be needed and should remain at his post, and stays at home when he is not needed. If a man is thinking in tune with the divine government, he is instant in season and out of season. Hence, Mrs. Eddy rebuked these students for yielding to that which sent them away, when they should have been at their posts, an act which displayed a lack of spiritual demonstration.

Mrs. Eddy had a right to expect, that all those of her students who were in tune with divine wisdom, would be kept in their places, when and where they were needed, and that the impulses which decided them when and where to go, would be those that fitted into the spiritual upbuilding of the Cause. If their lives and thoughts were devoted to the Cause, it was not unreasonable to expect that their individual motivation would fit in with the universal scheme of salvation. Hence, because of the proved loyalty of these students, Mrs. Eddy braved being misunderstood, in order to rebuke the error, and instruct them in the higher demands of God. She expected them to be guided by demonstration at all times. Semper paratus, always ready, was Mrs. Eddy’s motto. Still, those who understand nothing of mental action, might believe that when it was just a matter of luck or chance that brought out inharmony and interruption, she was unjust and unreasonable in her demands; but she stood on the platform, that all things work together for good to those who love God. She knew, that no one could be of value to the Cause, who did not struggle to be guided by the same divine wisdom that guided her. When two are being guided by the same wisdom, their acts must dovetail, and chance cannot enter into it. If they do not dovetail, then one is out of tune with the divine Mind. Was it Mrs. Eddy, in this case, or her students?

Jesus judged his disciples by a standard that seemed harsh. It seems unreasonable that he should have rebuked them for sleeping, when they were almost overcome by sleep. Furthermore, was it not just as natural for them to sleep, when tired, as for these students to go on a vacation in the hot period of the year? Yet, Mrs. Eddy might have said to her students, “Could ye not watch with me one hour, or when you were needed by God, instead of being asleep on a vacation?” Jesus did not rebuke his disciples for sleeping at night, but for sleeping when God needed them, when they should have been awake and watching. This fact proved that animal magnetism, or being out of tune with God, had put them to sleep; hence, it was an induced sleep, that was not what would be termed natural. Mrs. Eddy did not rebuke these students for taking a vacation, but for yielding to the pull of animal magnetism, which took them away just when God’s work needed them at their posts. On the other hand, it would have been just as much a lack of demonstration for one who was useful to our Leader, always to have stayed at home, fearing lest she might need him or her at some unexpected time. Demonstration would mean, that a needful recreation would never find that one absent from his or her post when the call came. Unless one functions under demonstration, he is either too hot or too cold.

Mortal mind tempts us to quit work, just when that work is most needed. Many students do their best work when that work is not needed, and then, when the storm comes, they are so mentally seasick that they are of little help to the helmsman.

Testimonies are given in the Wednesday meetings by students who, through demonstration, find themselves in the right place at the right time. Should not this realization open their eyes, to make them more watchful, so that when they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, they will swallow their pride and admit it to be a lack of demonstration? From that standpoint, they can renew their consecration, and endeavor to be guided wholly by the Mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then, and only then, will they be not “made to forget nor to neglect [their] duty to God, to [their] Leader, and to mankind.”




Chapter Twenty-five — Mortal Mind and Matter Analyzed

At one time Mrs. Eddy said to a student, “If you take up arsenic, you will hit it in most of the cases in 1903.” At another time, during one of the general Watch Hours, Mrs. Eddy sent me the following directions, written in her hand-writing, covering work for Calvin Frye who was in need of help at that time: “No arsenical nor mercurial rheumatism or neuralgia; no effect of arsenic on the nerves, stomach or liver. No relapse or return of these beliefs. It does him good to work for me. This with all else that God gives, use in arguments for F.”

These instructions bring up an important and interesting point in any effort to trace Mrs. Eddy’s footsteps of thought, since this subject of arsenic appears time and time again in her history, as it did in her instructions to us. In the Lynn Reporter for June 23,1882, she stated that her husband, Dr. Eddy, had died from “arsenical poison mentally administered.” She wrote, “. . . every symptom he had can be found in medical works as occurring from doses of arsenic.”.

What is the answer to this phase of Mrs. Eddy’s teaching, which has furnished her enemies with so much to scoff at?.

Metaphysics is science that treats of the mind. Yet, the only mind there is, in reality, is the divine Mind, and the only science is Spiritual Science. In this Science, the correct application is the effort to apply the divine Mind to the so-called human mind as the human cause, and not to its grosser substratum, matter. In the realm of the human, mortal mind is that counterfeit of the divine Mind, which assumes a despotic control over the individual mind, to force it to whatever issues it desires. In this action, an important fact must be noted, namely, that the influence of this human mind is exercised largely through the grosser substratum called matter, or symbol, the objects and substances of this material existence. The Roman Catholics use a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary, to act as a symbol, or finger, pointing to the high spiritual ideal which she exemplified; but with the passing of time, the inherent tendency to idolatry in mortal man comes to the fore, and the ideal is lost sight of. In this manner, the lifeless symbol becomes endowed with spiritual qualities which rightly belong to Mind alone, cause is lost in effect, and faith is hung on the object instead of the idea. This process is illustrative of how man has relinquished his divine rights of mind in every direction, delegating to shadow the prerogatives of substance, and then complaining at his loss of harmony and control over his destiny. An illustration of this point is the simple act of eating, where mortal mind attributes to matter, or shadow, the power to sustain man’s life and strength, a power that belongs to Mind alone. Herein is embodied the dominant error of mortal existence, that Mrs. Eddy corrects with the scientific statement of being, on page 468 of Science and Health, which begins, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.” If this statement should be applied to the case of the statue of the Virgin Mary, it would be the mental effort to withdraw from the lifeless symbol all sense of significance that had been read into it, and restore to the mental ideal that which, through ignorance, had been attributed to transient clay.

Many physicians, who recommend a diet of milk to increase weight, have noted that it signally fails when the patient dislikes to drink milk. Why is this, if the milk is self-acting, apart from the mind of the patient? Mrs. Eddy has proved beyond cavil that “. . . faith in the drug is the sole factor in the cure.” (ibid., 370). To sum up this discovery, we can say that all action in the human is mind on mind; for matter, or shadow, merely offers the peg upon which thought pins its faith, much as a child needs symbols of numbers for use on the blackboard in solving mathematical problems, but which the mature scholar is able to do mentally, without the aid of such symbols.

This evolves the point, that matter is only the symbol, behind which mortal mind hides in its domination over man. Thus, when a man takes arsenic, the only effect he can possibly feel, is produced through the effect of mortal belief acting on him through his individual belief in the innate power of the drug, his faith in it, and fear of it. This mental influence, in turn, expresses itself on his body. Yet, it is a scientific fact, that the arsenic per se produces not the slightest effect. The phenomenon is wholly mental.

This advancing spiritual understanding brings to the student an increasing realization of the action and operation of thought, wholly apart from the symbol called matter. From her exalted spiritual perception, Mrs. Eddy recognized the action of mortal mind as injurious and poisonous at all times. She also saw that until man realized this, he could not free his thought to find God. In other words, thought must withdraw from the symbol, or, as the Master stated it, the mountain must be cast into the sea; the mountain standing for the objects of matter, and the sea, for mortal mind. Once the student has traced back to mortal mind as cause, then he can replace the human with the divine cause, and thus the mortal problem is solved. In this process, however, the action of mortal thought becomes more and more subtle, only because there is less and less tell-tale, or shadow, to serve as an outward indication of the true inwardness of thought. The advancing Scientist, however, is able to discern the action of thought without the tell-tale, and can direct his work to neutralize the error, even though there is no manifestation present, either as a seeming cause or effect.

Those to whom the inwardness of Science and Health is becoming more and more plain, can recognize that, in Mrs. Eddy’s statement regarding tea, coffee, alcohol, opium, on page 406, the further call is to handle the belief of mortal mind working through these human symbols. Unless the claim of mortal mind is handled, the student may find himself expressing the same symptoms as those who use these narcotics. He may believe that, because he has risen to the point where he no longer uses tobacco, coffee, etc., he has fulfilled God’s demands. He may be rudely awakened, however, to discover that he was fighting effect instead of cause, and has left the real enemy untouched.

It is a fact, that the world will acknowledge in time, that alcohol, as matter, never causes intoxication. That result always follows the action of mortal mind, or false belief, held in thought by the majority. This conception agrees with Mrs. Eddy’s statement in Miscellaneous Writings, page 48, “It is alleged that at one of his recent lectures in Boston, Mr. Carpenter made a man drunk on water, and then informed his audience that he could produce the effect of alcohol, or of any drug, on the human system, through the action of mind alone.” This makes it evident that as thought rises superior to matter, or symbol, it becomes more susceptible to recognizing how man is affected directly by mortal mind, and the symbol, or matter, is only the agent of animal magnetism, holding sway over minds which require sense evidence for conviction. As this becomes less and less necessary, mind begins to gain its freedom and discover the way of escape. But this growing freedom demands a growing protection that untutored minds know nothing about.

There is no doubt that Mrs. Eddy recognized, that the action of mortal mind on Mr. Frye came under the head of poison, and she set the students to work in this direction.

It is a temptation to believe, that back of malpractice must be a malicious sense in the mind of the individual malpracticing. Yet Christian Science shows that man is never malicious; he merely expresses that malice, or permits it to use him. Mortal mind is malicious; it is enmity against God and fights against Him with murderous attempt, which extends to fighting against those who reflect God. It works to interfere with the spiritual balance of thought in the Scientist. If it succeeds in overbalancing his thought on the side of falsity, its effect is always detrimental and poisonous. Hence, Mrs. Eddy was instructing the students to direct their effort towards destroying in Mr. Frye the action of mortal thought, expressing itself as poison.

One of the points of value in this discovery of the dominance of all action as being mental, lies in the fact that it equips man with the necessary protection against poisons of all kinds. Knowing that matter is never selfacting, and that belief is responsible for every effect supposed to proceed from it, the Scientist can free himself from the effect of mortal mind by excluding mortal mind, even if he has by mistake swallowed poison. “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” Mortal mind sets up its grosser substratum, matter, as being endowed with power, only that it may operate behind this lie, unobserved and undetected. Mrs. Eddy followed this reasoning, even to the conclusion that a leaden bullet had no power to deprive a man of Life, God. Science and Health, page 358.

What is called sense testimony, is calculated to deceive man to the point where he will admit substance to be in its shadow, cause in effect. But the Christian Scientist, in his effort to correct this error, notes the various effects matter is supposed to have on man. Then he eliminates matter from the problem, and is left dealing only and directly with mind acting on mind, and as he brings in the divine Mind, the false sense of mind is ruled out; but this can never be done as long as matter, or effect, enters into the problem, any more than a man can repair the leak in his roof, as long as he spends his time wiping up the water that drips on his floor.

From this standpoint, Christian Science calls the material body nothing, because it is nothing to try to correct, nothing to deal with, nothing to take into consideration, except as an indicator, that helps to record outwardly to man’s observation, the errors that are within his thought.

Mrs. Eddy could tell from Mr. Frye’s symptoms of depression and unconsciousness, that mortal mind was affecting him like a poison. Hence, she was able to point out the remedy; and the fact that, while I was at Pleasant View, I saw her bring him back from what seemed death, after all of her students had failed, would indicate the scientific correctness of her diagnosis.

If, through Christian Science, students have learned that the scientific method of disposing of animal magnetism is to see its nothingness, then whatever brings them up to the mental standpoint of seeing it unreal, is a blow at error. If a sentry, who has allowed his imagination to trick him, calls out that the enemy is coming, he will bring the troops into battle array as effectively as if there were a real battle. If critics should argue, that Mrs. Eddy was putting forth a call to fight windmills or imaginary errors, when she specified arsenic, they should learn that imaginary error is all man ever has to combat, no matter what the evidences may appear to be. So why look for a real error? The most that can be said about animal magnetism, as far as its power is concerned, is that it is entirely founded on imagination, its only power is imagination, and the only way it can possibly operate, is through imagination.

There are certain slang words in English which, if used among a group of men, will start a fight. We often hear such terms referred to as fighting words. Mrs. Eddy had fighting words, which were intended instantly to rouse her students to a positive effort against mortal belief. I am convinced that arsenic was one of these fighting words, and, when she gave it to us, we were supposed to recognize the need of stimulating our effort into activity, by breaking up the illusion and fear of animal magnetism.

The action of mortal belief can be roughly divided into three main heads; acting through matter, through mind without, and through mind within. In connection with arsenic, the first action would result from actually drinking a dose of it. The second would be, where you felt effects in your body which you believed could be traced to suggestion or malpractice, indulged in by others. The third would be, where your own thought should become obsessed with the fear that would manifest itself as the symptoms of poison. In Christian Science these three modes are really one, based on false belief. In one case, man must drink a potion in order to become convinced that he is poisoned. In the second case, the conviction strikes home through the belief that others are transmitting the suggestion maliciously. In the third case, man conjures up the effect through the action of his own imagination. Yet, belief causes the effects in each instance. For one to believe that another is maliciously dosing him with arsenic mentally, is valueless superstition based on fear, and is not the explanation of animal magnetism, any more than taking the actual dose into his system. We are apt to laugh, however, at the man whose thought ebbs and flows under the action of its own imagination, and feel a sympathy for the one who has swallowed the poison, but both require the same metaphysical treatment in Christian Science. It is helpful when the student is able to recognize these three phases as all coming from animal magnetism, although the first man requires tangible evidence before he will accept the belief.

The question might come up, “What if the man takes poison and does not know it?” Mrs. Eddy says on page 177 of Science and Health, “In such cases a few persons believe the potion swallowed by the patient to be harmless, but the vast majority of mankind, though they know nothing of this particular case and this special person, believe the arsenic, the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to be poisonous, for it is set down as a poison by mortal mind. Consequently, the result is controlled by the majority of opinions, not by the infinitesimal minority of opinions in the sick-chamber.”

From the foregoing, it follows that when Mrs. Eddy specified that arsenic be taken up, she was outlining the universal process of handling all belief, and also the necessity for doing it, showing that no matter what the human evidence may be of poison or disease, it is to be handled purely as animal magnetism.

It is a generally accepted fact that the fear of disease may destroy a man, as surely as would the disease itself. So, even if an expert analysis fails to reveal the slightest trace of the disease, nevertheless the patient is not healed of that which he thinks is destroying him, if he is not convinced by this diagnosis.

Christian Science has proven that a correction of thought will heal a patient, whether the case is imaginary or based on definite symptoms. This fact indicates that the correct method of handling the effects of arsenic, whether they be mental or physical, must be by handling animal magnetism, which is always a mental rather than a physical process. A physical method of handling arsenical poisoning, where the victim has actually taken a dose, would never touch aught but such a physical case, whereas the mental method of Christian Science covers both the imaginary and the actual. The mental method is efficacious, whether you have taken it in through the mouth or the mind. This proves that the spiritual and correct method for handling every phase of disease, is to handle animal magnetism. Whether the case claims a direct physical cause, or a mental one, the healing is sure.

Thus, it can be seen that Mrs. Eddy was justified in instructing her students to work against arsenic mentally. Furthermore, where, under medicine, the type of disease must be ascertained, since different treatment is given to different types, in Christian Science the treatment for all disease is the same, namely, the bringing about of a change of thought in the patient, through the eradication of the fear and belief that man, as a child of God, can express anything that does not come from Him. Therefore, to instruct a student to work against arsenic, if he understood the true inwardness of such instruction, would be to furnish him with a strong sense of the necessity of giving his best scientific effort to the case at hand. Even if arsenic were not the right diagnosis, such a treatment would neutralize and destroy the error.

This point may be illustrated by the story of the father who stated in his will, that gold was buried on his farm. His sons, aroused by this information, dug over every inch of the property. Although they found no buried treasure, they raised such an abundant crop, because they had thoroughly spaded the field, that it brought them much gold. In like manner, the stirring of the thought, which the instruction to handle arsenic produced in the minds of the students, caused them faithfully and conscientiously to go over the whole mental ground and eradicate the mortality included in this error. This good work so purified and spiritualized their thoughts that, not only was falsity eliminated from their minds, but the soil was prepared for the reception of the spiritual idea, which is the end and aim of Christian Science.

Thus, we see that Christian Science classifies discordant effects in the human body as being produced in three distinct ways: the effects which material evidence can trace to a material cause, such as an accident, exposure, poison, etc.; the effects following the belief in the power of other minds; and, finally, the effects of selfmesmerism, which operates through individual fear and belief, thus turning so-called medical law in on one’s self.

The Christian Science practitioner, who accepts this classification in his dealing with his patients, finds himself always tending to make a definite differentiation in his application of Christian Science to these three phases of error. He is liable to feel that the first one has a purely physical cause and, therefore, that the patient must be lifted out of the belief of life, truth, intelligence, or substance in matter. In the second case, he may feel that he is somewhat out of his element, because he is dealing with unseen and unknown mental agencies. This carries a temptation for him to be afraid. Last of all, he may conclude that, because the effects of self-mesmerism indicate a sense of weak-mindedness on the part of the patient, there is no good reason why he or she does not entally rise up and throw it off. Therefore, this effort becomes the endeavor of the practitioner in this last case.

Scientific insight demands that the practitioner group these into one. He must recognize that, until the divine Mind is seen and demonstrated as supreme, the so-called human mind, which is always opposed to the divine Mind and hence, was denominated by Mrs. Eddy as animal magnetism, must be dealt with and overcome. Then, that realization will give him the right unction and stimulation to approach every human need from the same standpoint, which is to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. As Mrs. Eddy writes, on page 427 of Science and Health, “Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual.” Each case that comes to the practitioner will thus be a call to arms, because it indicates that the human mind is endeavoring to supersede the divine Mind, when it should be eliminated and forced to give up its false claims, because the effect of mortal mind is always the action of poison in some form.

Understanding the call of our Leader to take up arsenic, represents a priceless teaching, intended to unify all methods of handling the claim of error. It avoids the danger either of believing that, because a disease has a cause that is tangible, it must be dealt with from that basis, or that, because it comes through malpractice or self-mesmerism, it requires a different handling. In Mrs. Eddy’s call to take up arsenic from the mental standpoint, she indicated the cause of all erroneous effects as being animal magnetism. To the Christian Scientist, this recognition always demands authoritative handling of it. Mrs. Eddy once said, “It is not enough to smile and look pleasant when talking to the devil; speak with authority, stamp your foot if necessary, and command it to come out of him as Jesus did.”

Corroborating this thought is Ezekiel 6:11, “Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot . . . ,” which symbolizes the destruction of error’s power and its entire elimination. It is similar to blowing out a match and then grinding it to bits under your heel, which, in the case of error, would represent its reduction to dust, or nothingness. Smiting with the hand would refer to driving your way through the claim of animal magnetism by spiritual power, in order to take away its claim of power. Stamping with the foot is the accentuation of determination, whereby understanding is resolved into demonstration, and the error is destroyed. Smiting with the hand is the use of spiritual power to destroy the power of the human opposition, that would attempt to interfere with spiritual growth. Stamping with the foot is the effective use of understanding, which eliminates the so-called existence of any power apart from God. It is destroying the seeming power of animal magnetism, and also the belief in its existence, through an aggressive application of spiritual power.

In Psalms 63:8, David says, “My soul followeth hard after thee.” This statement implies that God is in motion, and man must run hard to catch up with Him, a thing which would be contrary to fact. Perhaps David had in mind some spiritual method, whereby man is urged to exert his highest and best spiritual effort. In whippet races, artificial rabbits are used, which can be sent down the track by electrical control. The purpose of this is to call forth from the dogs their utmost speed and effort.

Mrs. Eddy used her teaching in regard to the handling of arsenic and animal magnetism in a similar way, calling from the students their immediate, aggressive and finest spiritual endeavor. She knew that the human mind must be stirred to its highest point of activity, in order that it may be thrown off, and a spiritual activity take its place. She devised many ways to do this, in order to draw forth from students the last ounce of effort needed.

No one could criticise Mrs. Eddy’s methods, since they bore such glorious fruitage. She perceived the necessity of the student overcoming the human tendency to laziness, which otherwise might stupefy him into yielding to animal magnetism and its lies. She adopted a standard in her home so high, that there were those who called it unnecessary fussiness. Nevertheless, she set the goal high intentionally, so that it could be fulfilled only through demonstration. Such a move was spiritually wise, because it brought forth from the students their best efforts, and kept them on their toes. Its fruitage was made manifest in their demonstrations.

Paul used this same method of endeavoring to bring out a present, instead of a delayed effort, when he wrote, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” meaning thereby, that now was the only time in which to find God, so man must act quickly. This buglecall to activity is necessary to rouse students from a lethargic putting off of the right effort into some future time.




Chapter Twenty-six — Mrs. Eddy's Insistence on Accuracy

In stating that, judged from the human standpoint, Mrs. Eddy might be justly considered over-particular in small matters, I am liable to be misunderstood. Therefore, there will be found in these pages a repeated effort to clarify this point.

The slightest discord or inaccuracy expressed in effect was noted by Mrs. Eddy and might call forth her rebuke. On one occasion, the rebuke was for misplaced furniture, but her intention was to correct the lack of demonstration in the student, that was expressing itself through that misplacement. Such a lack of demonstration indicates an error in the premise of all scientific effort.

Students who came to Pleasant View to serve the Leader in various capacities, paramount among which was mental work, were called from their posts of duty in the Field. That meant that the standard to which they were trained, in regard to demonstration, related only to objects and conditions which the world would call discordant, as indicating that they were entertaining animal magnetism, or unscientific thinking. On the other hand, Mrs. Eddy had a much broader standard, for it included all effects, or fingers pointing to the presence of animal magnetism, which would have gone unnoticed by those who came to work with our Leader. Such seemingly insignificant things were noted by Mrs. Eddy, however, as being straws which showed which way the wind was blowing, and as indicating a small spiritual let-down which, if not detected and rebuked, might result in the students becoming unfit for the work which she gave them to do.

Perhaps Mrs. Eddy herself knew that she might bring down human criticism on her head, because of her handling of matters pertaining to the home and the work of the students in this way. But that did not deter her from following the path God pointed out to her as being the right one. When matters of spiritual truth were involved, she never failed to be dominant and forceful, no matter where she was, or to whom she was talking. Even members of royalty, who came to see her, sat at her feet, in the sense that she did not yield to them her position of superiority. However, because it was a spiritual superiority, it was never offensive. You knew that it was the spirit of God in her that made her great. The moment she lost that temporarily, the sense of dominance went with it. As a woman, she was not dominant. Equipped with deifical power, she was.

One can picture a student of singing whose teacher, having only a superficial understanding of the correct methods of singing, imparts this to the pupil. Later, the pupil is called to sing before a great teacher, who detects errors, and so proceeds to pull the work of the first teacher to pieces. Having been built up by the praise of the first teacher, the pupil can hardly stand the shock. He is able to carry on, only because he is determined to learn how to sing correctly, and because he recognizes that the second teacher is superior to the first. He knows that this criticism is only intended for his good, to help him to attain the correct method, and to throw off all faulty habits of singing.

It required time and great love, as well as the destruction of pride in the students, for them to come to the appreciation that the difference between Mrs. Eddy’s standard and that of the Field, was the result of the higher understanding of Truth under which she functioned. Mrs. Eddy’s expectation for every student so far exceeded what anyone else might have in the Field, that it was both complimentary and discouraging.




Chapter Twenty-seven — The Doctrine of Impersonalization

At another time during my stay at Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy directed me to take up the following points: (In her handwriting) 1. “Better for her teaching and help, etc. 2. No relapse, etc. 3. No reversal of Truth, etc.” (In my handwriting) “No pain; no night (fear and doubt), all is joy and peace. No arsenical or mercurial rheumatism or neuralgia. No Catholic prayers to harm us, for the wrath of man shall praise Him.”

Why did she instruct me to take up Catholic prayers? Was this an order for me to attack a body of religious people and personalize evil, as if it came through innocent channels, members of another denomination? Would this not conflict with her statement, Miscellany, page 4, “A genuine Christian Scientist loves Protestant and Catholic, D.D. and M.D., —loves all who love God, good; and he loves his enemies.”

In Revelation 2:9, John speaks of those who say that they are Jews and are not. This refers to the fact, that at one time the Jews were the guardians of the most enlightened spiritual thought on earth. Thus, the name came to designate those who possessed the true Christ-spirit, just as today we have so associated the name Russian, with red radicalism, that it is hard to think of one without the other. Secret service men might be instructed to work against the activities of the Russians, when by that term would be meant no disrespect for a mighty nation, but merely the activities of those members of that nation which might be inimical to our government.

Similarly, there are those among the Catholic hierarchy who advocate the discipline of the church body through a domination that whips the membership into line through fear. This well-known fact has associated the term Catholic with the tendency to use the human will to dominate, and Catholics should not feel Mrs. Eddy’s analysis to be a personal insult, any more than a Christian Scientist is disturbed, because his religion has become associated in the minds of many with the thought, “Those are the people who say you are not sick, when you are.”

The Jews were called the chosen people. This should mean that to be a Jew, not through birth but in spirit, one must be a voluntary chooser of the things of Spirit, as opposed to the flesh. Notwithstanding, there was, and is to be found, such spirituality outside of the Jewish race, just as there is domination by fear, practiced outside of the Catholic religious system, and political radicalism advocated by those who are not Russians.

Evidently, John’s condemnation was for those who called themselves Jews, because they conformed to the outward requirements of the Jewish faith, and yet lacked this inner spirituality, much as today a Christian Scientist would be condemned, if he possessed the letter without the spirit. John knew the blasphemy of those who would claim to have a scientific and spiritual state of mind, when in reality, wrong thinking was hiding behind adherence to the letter of Truth.

Mrs. Eddy could never rightly be accused of setting forth, that Catholicism is an evil thing, even though it was revealed to her that it is an evil practice for anyone on earth to develop the aggressive and despotic features and tendencies of the human mind, no matter under what name it might be done.

Yet, because such use of the human mind is not generally considered as being evil, either by Catholics or the world, Mrs. Eddy found herself on dangerous ground, that is, as far as arraying public sentiment against her discovery was concerned. But her conviction was born of God, that the one who is seeking to attain the divine Mind as his sole basis of thought and action, must shun whatever would accentuate and inflate the action of the human will, which he is trying to starve into weakness and annihilation, in order that the divine may take its place. He must guard his thought against accepting any tendency of the human mind that might cause him to attempt to dominate others, or to permit others to dominate him.

Another point of danger in connection with Mrs. Eddy’s setting forth her discovery, was that, if she pointed to one group of religious professors as representatives of this practice, which she called an error, it might cause her students to personalize the action of the human mind, as it attempts to become more and more aggressive and dominant, a misunderstanding which would effectively betray them into the very mistake she was helping them to avoid.

At one time, my sister constructed a fierce-looking dragon to wear in a play. The performance was quite impressive, as far as the children-spectators were concerned. If one could picture this dragon suit attached to many ropes, which were in the hands of an operator high in the wings, one might gain a hint of the teaching of Christian Science as to how mortal mind, through mesmerism, dominates, animates, and completely controls the false concept called mortal man. This Science reveals, however, that this dragon, or animal concept, is not the real man, the perfect man of God’s creating. Despite this fact, if man believes the dragon to be man, and thereby identifies himself with it, he finds himself under a dominant control that is wholly foreign to his real being. From this illustration can be understood the Christian Science doctrine that comes under the term, impersonalization, where this expression represents the development which enables one to make a distinction between the dragon under the manipulation of the operator, and the man inside, who, once he has freed himself from the costume, is free to resume his normal state of activity.

Similar control of the mass as puppets, manipulated by those higher up, is strikingly evident in every department of human life. But, because it not only is practiced in the Catholic church, but is used as a God-given mode, it becomes a veritable symbol of the attempt of the human mind to usurp the prerogatives of Deity and demand to be worshipped. (This last infirmity of mortal mind must be the great red dragon of Revelation, swollen with sin, and ripe for destruction).

Hence, there was spiritual insight back of Mrs. Eddy’s instruction to take up the thought of Catholic prayers, meaning no insult to a sincere and great body of people, but recognizing the mental miasma of prayers unwittingly directed to the human mind, instead of to God. Unless one is awake to the true nature of such a situation, he might go to sleep mentally, and be content to remain identified with the dragon’s investiture, a spineless servant of sin unto death, instead of throwing off this false concept of animal magnetism, in order to come into the heritage of those servants of God who, through obedience, come into righteousness. Romans 6:16.

It is patent from the above unfoldment, why a spiritual analysis of our Leader’s life is a vital necessity. Without it, some of the noblest and most inspired pronouncements of her whole ministry, apart from her published writings, might be considered to be a blot on her memory.




Chapter Twenty-eight — Mrs. Eddy's Reflection of Truth

Man possesses a God-given quality, which is to receive the things of God and give them forth to the universe. Through this same transforming ability, man is able to take error, which is only Truth reversed, and reverse it back, and thereby gain the spiritual fact of which the error was the counterfeit. It would be similar to one’s turning a glove right-side-out, that had been handed to one turned inside-out.

Mortal mind has nothing of its own; it creates nothing and hence, possesses nothing. If it claims to send man something, it must be something of God’s that has been reversed into a seeming error. If he quickly reverses it, he will gain a blessing on the basis of Science and Health, page 574, “Note this,—that the very message, or swiftwinged thought, which poured forth hatred and torment, brought also the experience which at last lifted the seer to behold the great city, the four equal sides of which were heaven-bestowed and heaven-bestowing. . . . The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”

As a sequel to this point, there follows the possibility of a man, whose thought is so in tune with mortal belief, that he abuses this God-given power and takes the things of God, and reverses them into the things of mortality, although, of course, he does this unconsciously. If he is handed a glove right-side-out, he turns it inside-out. If an angel comes to him unawares, he turns it into a wrathful circumstance, or rather, the angel, viewed through his downward earthly sense, appears as a messenger of wrath.

No one, who does not comprehend the metaphysics involved in this point, should undertake to estimate the spiritual footsteps of Mary Baker Eddy. If he does understand it, he will begin to comprehend the honesty of her critics, materialists, who, by nature, reverse Truth into error. Hence, instead of appearing as an angel of light to this age, she was considered by them as a mistaken plagiarist, and one who distorted the simple teachings of the Bible. The sublime Truth she was bringing to humanity, caused the same chemicalization in them, as it did when the Master brought it to the world two thousand years ago. There is no question, that it appeared to them to be veritable evil. Thus, in the Master’s own words, we can say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

The natural action of Truth is to destroy error, whenever and wherever it is found. So, when it is applied to the human mind of a patient requesting treatment, his thought must be prepared. Furthermore, the direct effects of Truth must be softened, lest the action of a scientific treatment result in an outward expression that would be similar to the effects of evil. When such upheavals occur through Christian Science treatment, they are called chemicalization. Does not this explanation unfold why Mrs. Eddy stirred up so much hatred against herself?

When Jesus treated the epileptic, the Bible states that the boy was as one dead. This condition, understood by Jesus, was turned into health and life. When one is called upon to take a splinter out of the foot of an animal, strong measures are necessary to quiet fear, since the animal believes that it is going to be destroyed.

Similarly, the action of the Truth reflected by Mrs. Eddy, caused evil natures to foam in hatred, and to heap persecution on her head. This condition indicates the necessity for every Christian Scientist to heed such a possibility, and to establish the fact that man desires only good, seeks only good, and to affirm that no action of animal magnetism can make the good, which must accrue to man as the result of having evil purged out of him, seem to be evil.




Chapter Twenty-nine — Mrs. Eddy's Demand for Inspiration

Demonstration and inspiration were our Leader’s basis of judgment. She detected and rebuked whatever did not measure up to that standard. While I was at Pleasant View, she sent in a correction of one of the editorials in the Sentinel. Her article appears today in Miscellany. There is very little evidence in this editorial of anything but the finest kind of metaphysics. Yet, Mrs. Eddy detected the editor’s waning spiritual sense, and his consequent reliance on his early training as a human writer to compensate for his loss of inspiration. It was, as if her cook had prepared her food with unwashed hands. The food might appear palatable, but one who knew the facts would have the right to condemn it. Mrs. Eddy, with her spiritual insight, condemned the spiritual food the editor was putting forth, because he had not sufficiently cleansed his hands, or his spiritual consciousness, from all taint of materiality, which included a sense of the value of intellectuality and human education, as a desirable adjunct to true spirituality, a notion that would contradict Science and Health (page 126), “. . . the human mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive sound.”

Mrs. Eddy never hesitated to rebuke a lack of inspiration in the students and workers. Those who understood, loved her more for her rebukes because they realized that they had an alert Leader, who loved enough to risk the displeasure of her students as she sharply reproved them, in her effort to keep them up to the mark. Such a rebuke to the editor, for instance, was not intended to dry up his flow of inspiration, but to enhance it. The same is true today. When a rebuke is forthcoming from the Editorial Board, for instance, the purpose is not to kill out inspiration in the one attempting to lisp Truth, but to encourage a greater effort in the right direction.

Of course, the question comes up, why Mrs. Eddy did not state, in the plainest terms, that this editorial lacked inspiration, instead of putting forth an article that has been a puzzle to so many metaphysicians. The answer is that the great difficulty in judging song, sermon, or an article on Christian Science, lies in the fact that inspiration is such an intangible thing, that no human criticism can explain or even affirm its lack. One accurate gauge of the presence of inspiration is whether the song, sermon, or article heals. It is the inspiration back of all expression that heals. Hence, when this healing is lacking, that is a good indication that the inspiration is lacking.

Mrs. Eddy has outlined the process of how the student may best become a channel for the divine Mind. If, in following out that process, he refuses to accept the human substitute for inspiration, which is the improvement brought to the human mind by the stimulation of Truth, he will be rewarded by an overflow of spiritual thought, that will attend everything that he does, and that will become the light which lighteth every man who partakes with him of that heavenly feast.

Mrs. Eddy was continually urging, nay, even driving the students, to depend on spiritual guidance rather than on her. She knew that the value to the student of much in her experience, lay in the necessity for him to work out the explanation for himself from the spiritual standpoint. She knew that method always supersedes results. The laziness of the human mind is always expressed in its preference to having a thing unfolded, rather than to being driven to find it out for one’s self.

It must be taken into consideration, that much of one’s functioning under the guidance of Truth, is comparatively in the dark, as far as what one is doing, or why one is doing it, is concerned. It is nothing derogatory to Mrs. Eddy to say, that she did not work out the reasons why she did much that she did, beyond the fact that she knew it was demonstration, and that God told her to do it. As a matter of fact, in the home, nothing human bothered her. It was always what was back of it. Even then, she did not reason it out. She knew that it offended her spiritual sense, and that was enough.

It is a possibility that Mrs. Eddy could not have told just what was wrong with this student’s editorial, except that God told her that it was wrong, without taking the time to work it out spiritually. She was a scribe under orders, governed by God. He told her that the editorial was a counterfeit. It was a dollar that looked just as it should, but it was made of lead and had not the ring of the true metal. It was intellectually and grammatically perfect, but spiritually lacking.

The spiritual ideas Mrs. Eddy set forth were not things that she knew of herself, but rather things that she reflected from the divine Mind, just as if it were the encyclopedia of all knowledge, which she might open and read at any time. To say that Mrs. Eddy knew something five minutes before she reflected it from God, would be to say that which was not true. However, she had access to the infinite Mind that knows all things.

Our Leader could not provide students with an unprejudiced persistence, with a selflessness of purpose. She could not eradicate from their minds the desire for spiritual aggrandizement and the appreciation of the multitude. She could not banish from their minds the ambition to hold positions of authority and prominence in the Cause. But she could teach those who were spiritually desirous, how to go to the divine fount for spiritual unfoldment, as she did, and receive it. It is always there, when needed.

Hence, it was enough that wisdom had criticised the article, that she detected something in it that should not be there, or the lack of something that should be there. She was not concerned about those who were bothered because they could find nothing wrong with it. She knew that if God told her it was not right, that was all there was to it. Yet we know by her teachings, that a thing was to her either good or bad, as the thinking back of it was right or wrong.

Inspiration is ever-present for the taking. Mrs. Eddy has told us how to gain it. Then, all that remains is one’s desire for it, and the willingness to refuse to adopt any other method or substitute. One must solemnly pledge to keep silent, until one is able to speak with divine authority.

Mrs. Eddy demanded inspiration as the source of everything that entered into the constructive life of the individual and the Cause. She was like a sentinel on guard, watching to accept and approve the spiritual, when it appeared, and to detect and rebuke the human, wherever it showed itself. She fully recognized the difficulty that confronted her Board of Directors, the necessity in the midst of pressing material duties and distractions, to keep thought sufficiently balanced on the side of the spiritual, to be able to detect and approve inspiration, and cast out the spurious, all that proceeds from the human mind, intellect, erudition, training in educational directions, etc., which have no place in true Christian Science, when offered as substitutes for spirituality.

Mrs. Eddy’s basis was that unless God leads, man will be led astray. Her example to the Field was to teach us all to place a black mark of disapproval on everything not proceeding from inspiration. Yet she did not intend, through her rebukes, to seal up the fount of inspiration, but rather to seal up any fount that was not inspiration, in order that inspiration might flow freely.

There are many people who could instantly detect the original canvas of the Mona Lisa from a perfect copy. Almost unconsciously, they feel the inspiration back of the original, which is not back of the copy. This accounts for the great value of such a painting.

Students of Christian Science may find it difficult to detect when an article on Christian Science lacks inspiration, but when true inspiration is present, they are quick to perceive it. Mrs. Eddy, however, demanded as a proof, that the student possessed true spiritual perception, the ability not only to detect the presence of inspiration, but also its absence. Therefore, she selected as an object lesson an article on Christian Science that was letter perfect. Thus would the student be driven to the deduction, that the editorial in question was lacking spiritually.

If one is tempted to wonder at such insistence on demonstration and inspiration, as was displayed by our Leader, let him realize that it was revealed to her that inspiration alone conveyed the healing power of divine Love. Therefore, she knew that an article which was the product of an intellectual thought on a human basis, must necessarily lack the very essence of Christian Science, namely, the power to heal.




Chapter Thirty — Mrs. Eddy's Standard Was Divine Thinking

In Isaiah 41, we find the promise of a new, sharp, threshing instrument, a prophecy which has an interesting fulfillment in the case of Mrs. Eddy. The threshing instrument was used in those days to separate the chaff from the wheat. In the experience of the beginner in Christian Science, this separation is applied to the right and wrong thoughts in his consciousness. What possible ideal can lie beyond that of separating between good thoughts and evil thoughts? Why does the Bible mention a new, sharp, threshing instrument as a necessity in the course of man’s spiritual growth? Does not such an instrument become a requirement, when the student discovers that his old sense of separation was based on his conception of good and evil thoughts, a conception which was, to a large extent, furnished by human education, religion, and civilization? In other words, the young student of Christian Science has little knowledge of right thinking, where that term means spiritual thinking. It requires great growth to take him beyond the standpoint of the old threshing instrument, which separates between good and evil thoughts, according to a standard that is tinged with the human.

To be sure, this standard is necessary up to a certain point of growth. But the time comes, when the new threshing instrument becomes vital to the student’s hopes for further spiritual advancement. It is a separator, not between thoughts which seem right and wrong to human sense, but between those thoughts which come from the human mind and those which come from the divine Mind. It is the separation between human thinking and divine thinking, where human thinking is not evil because it seems evil to human sense, but because it has an evil origin, namely the human mind. This includes human thoughts which not only seem harmless, but which the world would commend as being of the highest order. Nevertheless, in Science, such thoughts must be rejected, just as money which comes as a political bribe must be rejected, not because of its evident badness, but because of the nature of its origin.

This leads up to the point that, at times, Mrs. Eddy rebuked the students for wrong thinking, when from the standpoint of the old threshing instrument, they could find no evil thinking in their hearts. It was at this stage of growth, that it became necessary for them to learn that Mrs. Eddy’s standard was divine thinking, not human; that to her, any thinking that was human was evil. This accounts for the fact, that she laid so much stress on the uncovering of animal magnetism, an uncovering necessary in order to expose the error involved in human thinking, which, per se, carried no evidence of its human, or evil, source. Yet, such human thinking indulged in by her students, even thinking that seemed harmless, loving, or kind, interfered with her work, at times even produced suffering. Thus, her requirement was that the students stop their wrong thinking, where wrong meant human. To her, right thinking meant thinking entirely divorced from the human. This was the new, sharp, threshing instrument, having teeth, which detected in human complacence and contentment, a state of drunkenness, that exposed its human origin, and stamped it as an enemy of the spiritual idea.

Further light on this point may be gained through this simple illustration. Let us assume that a screw is countersunk in wood, with the hole over the screw filled with putty to hide the head of the screw. Let the screw illustrate man’s unconscious thought, bound by belief to matter, the space above the screw for man’s conscious thought, and the screwdriver for the action of the divine Mind, that would act to release man from this bondage to mortal belief. It is obvious that before this release can function, man’s conscious thought must be emptied of every deterrent that would fill it, and thereby exclude the possible action of the divine Mind in bringing about man’s release. Then, what difference does it make, what fills the space above the screw, either deadly poison or solid gold? Both exclude the screwdriver, and must be eliminated. The only point involved, is that one would be far more ready to work to eliminate, or expel, the poison from the aperture, than the solid gold, because one is manifestly bad and the other apparently good. Nevertheless, from Mrs. Eddy’s standpoint, whatever filled conscious thought to the exclusion of the divine Mind, was a definite enemy, to be handled as animal magnetism, whether it appeared as some aggressive phase of poisonous evil, or the gold of human thought, that seemed harmless, and even good, so that no one without spiritual perception would accept for one moment the proposition that he was harboring a Judas, that effectually excluded the possibility of divine help, in releasing him from human bondage.




Chapter Thirty-one — Adam Dickey's Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy

The following authentic incident is related by Adam H. Dickey in his Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, published in 1927. It has its place in this history as a spiritual footstep of our Leader, that cannot be understood without spiritual insight.

“It was the custom of our Leader to lie down for an hour each afternoon and rest. Sometimes she would fall asleep, and upon awakening would seem mentally refreshed after her labors of the day. Many times when important matters were under consideration she would, on awakening from these short naps, come to a quick determination as to the right method to pursue in whatever she had in hand.

“On Tuesday, August 25, 1908, my bell rang, calling me to Mrs. Eddy’s apartment. When I entered her study, she was lying on the lounge where she usually took her rest. Requesting Mrs. Sargent, Mr. Frye, and a third student to leave the room, she beckoned me to approach. She extended her hand to me, took mine in both of hers, and asked in a deep, earnest voice, ‘Mr. Dickey, I want you to promise me something, will you?’

“‘I said, ‘Yes, Mother, I certainly will.’

“‘Well’, she continued, ‘if I should ever leave here, do you know what I mean by that?’

“‘Yes, Mother.’

“‘If I should ever leave here,’ she repeated, ‘will you promise me that you will write a history of what has transpired in your experiences with me, and say that I was mentally murdered?’

“‘Now, Mr. Dickey, do not let anything interfere with your keeping this promise. Will you swear to me before God that you will not fail to carry out my wish?’

“I raised my right hand and said, ‘Mother, I swear before God that I will do what you request of me, namely, write a history of what I have seen, and heard from your lips, concerning your life.’

“‘That will do, dear. I know now that you will not fail me.’

“Her whole demeanor was one of solemn intensity, and there was an eagerness in her voice and manner such as I seldom saw.

“I returned to my room and pondered deeply over what she had said. In a few minutes one of the workers and Mrs. Sargent brought me a sealed envelope. In it was a penciled note reiterating the statement that she had made in our conversation of a short time before.”

Although Mrs. Eddy did not instruct Mr. Dickey to give her history to the world, she did instruct him to record it. Why did she wish to have recorded the statement, that she was mentally murdered? Did this have any relationship to the statement in Science and Health, page 445, “Also the teacher must thoroughly fit his students to defend themselves against sin, and to guard against the attacks of the would-be mental assassin, who attempts to kill morally and physically?”

One of the significant statements made by the Master is in the eighth chapter of John, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”

If the proposition is accepted as a truism that, “If Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending,” Science and Health, page 469, then Jesus’ statement could be paraphrased, “The devil was a murderer, from the beginning he put upon man.” If, from the understanding of cause and effect, you wanted to murder a man, would you need to do more than to persuade him to accept the false belief that he had a beginning, thus assuring an ultimate end? The reverse of this conception would be to explain to the man who believed that he had a beginning, and, consequently, that he must have an end, that, from the standpoint of divine Science, he never did have, or could have had, a beginning, since Life as God is eternal, without beginning or end, and that he is the eternal reflection of that Life. If he can be made to understand, accept, and demonstrate this proposition of divine metaphysics, then you have saved him from death.

Hence, the devil is a murderer, because the devil, as exposed in Christian Science, is false belief, and false belief murders by causing man to believe in a beginning, or a birth into matter. This unfoldment traces mental murder back to its origin, denominating it a belief of a beginning, carried to its logical termination, death.

It is highly significant in this connection, that in the manuscript, The Science of Man, from which Mrs. Eddy taught her classes, and which formed the basis of the chapter, Recapitulation, in Science and Health, there appeared the following question and answer in the version that Mrs. Eddy used in teaching Mrs. Sally Wentworth of Stoughton, Mass., in 1869: “In teaching this Science, which is the leading error to be attacked? The first error of matter birth, viz., the belief that man made you and that life was ever born into matter, or the body.”

Thus, when Mrs. Eddy told Adam Dickey to record that she was mentally murdered, did she not mean that she could detect the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the murderous purpose behind what seemed to be innocent thought? For instance, Arthur Brisbane published a little book, in which he set forth what a well-preserved woman Mrs. Eddy was at eighty-six. Back of this kindly intention on Mr. Brisbane’s part, Mrs. Eddy detected the impersonal evil, or devil, persistently hammering for admission, declaring that it was a certain number of years since she had been born into matter. To one who was endeavoring to hold to the realization of man’s endlessness, these seemingly kind thoughts as to her age and faculties constituted the mental assassin, because to admit the birth from which her years were dated, was to admit that which would inevitably assure her death. What is the mental assassin, but the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the mental arguments regarding human life and birth, which seem harmless on the surface, but, in reality, spell man’s death?

How many times we hear old people say with pride, “I am over eighty years old!” When a Christian Scientist hears this, he says in the words of our Leader, “Alas for the blindness of belief,” Science and Health, page 486. Such a simple admission, by an aged man or woman, represents the acceptance of all the error necessary to make death seem a real and inescapable experience. No wonder that with such emphasis being laid on her age, not only by the world at large, but by Christian Scientists, Mrs. Eddy felt the touch of that belief which her spiritual insight perceived spelled “end” to the one who accepted it! No wonder she called it murder! How else was she to awaken students like Mr. Dickey to see the full significance of thoughts about her age, which seemed harmless enough on the surface? How else can you rouse students to handle the wolf in sheep’s clothing, unless you denominate the animal magnetism something like the term, mental assassin, that is calculated to rouse thought into action?

In reference to Mrs. Eddy’s request, that Mr. Dickey write a history of what had transpired in his experiences with her, it is my conviction that this was a request that she made of each student that came to her home. Doubtless she perceived, that her experience as Revelator and Demonstrator, revealing the Truth and then applying it practically, represented two distinct threads. She was conscious of the importance of portraying to the world her life, not only as the Revelator of Christian Science, but as the Demonstrator thereof, as stepping down from the pulpit and joining the multitude in its effort to make her divine teachings practical. Every sincere seeker of Truth must face and overcome the claim of animal magnetism. This Mrs. Eddy did, and did successfully. With this knowledge of her victory, comes the assurance of a possible success for everyone. Yet, in order to portray this thread of her life rightly, the light of spiritual understanding must be thrown upon it. Otherwise, the lessons taught by both her temporary failures, as well as her eventual successes in meeting the dark and misunderstood activities of what seemed to be a power opposed to God, will be incomprehensible, and be a deterrent, rather than a necessary help to the sincere follower of Truth.




Chapter Thirty-two — Unselfishness Needed to Serve at Pleasant View

It is said that, at one time, Mrs. Eddy called a certain student to come to Pleasant View, but carefully instructed her to say nothing about it to anyone. This student was very watchful on this point. But, as she entered the grounds of Pleasant View, she met a very dear friend who was just coming out. In her happiness and enthusiasm, she told her all about the wonderful thing that had happened to her, namely, that she had been called by the Leader.

Much to her surprise, when she arrived at the house, Mrs. Eddy would not see her, and gave no explanation. She went away in the depths of dejection. When her scientific thought reasserted itself, however, she determined to apply herself to the study and application of Christian Science, as never before.

In about a year’s time the call came again. She went to the home and remained with Mrs. Eddy, proving herself to be a valuable worker.

Apart from the great lesson of obedience, what is the metaphysics embodied in this incident? Certainly we can glean a practical lesson from it.

Primarily, we see one going to sleep just at the termination of a good demonstration, and allowing thought to become unguarded; a condition which resulted from an overwhelming thought of self, because of the anticipation of the great blessings she expected to receive, and the honors to be heaped upon her. Would not such a mental attitude numb her spiritual activity and watchfulness? For the moment, she lost sight of the fact that she had been called to Pleasant View as a giver rather than as a receiver, and this unwatchfulness cost her the fruitage of her spiritual endeavor.

One deterrent, which would prevent a student from being called by Mrs. Eddy, was the desire on his or her part to go to receive the spiritual blessing of her personal instruction. There was only one possible reason why a student was called to Pleasant View. That was to help our Leader, to become one of the servants of God in aiding Mrs. Eddy and in holding up her hands, so that she might be freer to demonstrate the wisdom needed by the Cause of Christian Science.

A wealthy Christian Scientist offered Mrs. Eddy a million dollars for the privilege of going to Pleasant View to stay with her for a year, but our Leader lovingly pointed out to her the error involved in such a proposition.

The student who disobeyed our Leader’s directions did so, because she felt such an eagerness to tell her friend the good news, and because her thought was overflowing with the joy of foreseeing the good she expected to receive. This state of mind caused her thought to be carried away by selfishness, which Mrs. Eddy recognized as mental drunkenness, or unwatchfulness. Her refusal to see this woman was based on spiritual perception, backed up by no human knowledge. Our Leader had such a faith in her spiritual insight, that she would act upon it without hesitancy.

Many individuals have been sustained in death-defying stunts and explorations by the anticipation of the human fame and glory which would accrue to them, if successful. This same human impulse might knock at the mental door of a student of Christian Science. For example, the wealthy Christian Scientist, mentioned above, illustrates this point. No doubt she recognized that the prestige of having lived with the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science would remain with her as long as she lived. Thus, a student might feel tempted to desire this honor, because he or she felt that it would put him or her into a more favorable position in the Field.

Such a bias of thought was useless to our Leader in the work she was doing. There was only one quality of thought in a student that could possibly be of any value to Mrs. Eddy. This was such a love for the Cause, that ambition was stilled in an honest desire to unite with Mrs. Eddy in holding up her hands, in order that she might have more freedom to guide the Cause, more freedom of thought to receive divine direction. Such a one coming to Pleasant View with the same purpose and motive that our Leader had, the thought of selfless giving, enabled Mrs. Eddy to work with such timber, because he or she was imbued with her own desire and purpose. Once she said, “The students who are called here, do not come to this house for glory; when they come here, they come to the cross.”

Mrs. Eddy did not work for human emoluments. She had no thought for such. This is evident because, when they were presented to her, she never considered them, nor permitted them to be bestowed upon her, except in those instances where she felt that it would enhance the glory of her Cause. First, last, and always, she did not want any aggrandizement for service. What she endeavored to do, was to develop in her students that genuine love for the Cause, from which any desire for personal gain had been eliminated. She demanded demonstration on the part of every student; and when one, in anticipation of the benefits he hoped to receive, bubbled over with human joy to the point where he disobeyed, his conduct was evidence of a lack of demonstration.

Mrs. Eddy labored and prayed to bring out in the students a thought from which fear and pride had been eliminated, so that nothing could prevent their rallying to a common purpose, by being inspired with her motives and desires. Today, our great Cause needs the same selfless service which directs its perilous passage through the waters of animal magnetism, and which fires students with the determination to give of their spiritual bounty to all mankind, in such a manner that they are protected from those temptations of error, which can never touch a giving thought, but which, when they find entrance into thought, effectually shut man off from the reception of that wisdom that alone can guide the Cause out of animal magnetism into divine guidance.




Chapter Thirty-three — Mrs. Eddy God's Window Letting in the Light

One interesting phenomenon in connection with Mrs. Eddy’s revelations of Truth was, that when she first expressed these spiritual thoughts, before she had taken time to adapt them to the understanding of Christian Scientists, these thoughts might be in a cryptic form that would require demonstration on the part of the student to understand. This fact is illustrated by one statement which she gave, when she spoke to the students from the balcony, “If you think you are not mortal, you are mistaken.” Strange as this statement may sound, what is it but a call to realize, that one’s thought generates no spiritual power through the human process called thinking? We must know that we are not mortal, not merely think it, in order to have it effectual.

In the following chapters is included a series of such cryptic statements which our Leader made at Pleasant View. I have endeavored to detect the hidden meaning she intended to convey, by unfolding them spiritually from a Christian Science standpoint.

What did our Leader mean when she said, “I live with the Bible; I have not another thing on earth to be one with but the Bible and Science and Health. I, the Bible, and Science and Health, the trinity, three in one?”

The trinity represents the three essential elements in creation. The Bible presents God in His highest interpretation. The Christ, as the second element of creation, was lost sight of, soon after the Master’s ascension. As reflected by Jesus, the Christ was relegated to a miraculous status which made him of no active value in the problem creation. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy brought back the Christ with its demonstration. How could she herself represent the third element? In order for the trinity to be operative, a third member, that transforms the divine power, so that it becomes practical and applicable to humanity, is necessary. Jesus represented this third element, since through him Truth found expression to bless mankind. In this age, however, it was through Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration that the Truth again found entrance into the world.

If this third element of the trinity is missing, and there is found no human who is spiritually endowed to be a transformer, then both God and His Christ are shut out from this human sense of things. Hence, the third element is similar to the aperture in an hour glass, which must be open in order that the sand may flow freely from one bulb to the other. His conception does not infer that Mrs. Eddy was this third element for any other reason than that, through Christian Science, she developed her spiritual oneness and openness. Thus we are forced to the conclusion that, in any age, anyone who is spiritually open to be this transforming element, stands as the necessary doorway, through which the things of God, operating through the Christ, reach mankind, and do their resuscitating and regenerating work, freeing man from false bondage, and restoring him to his rightful place as God’s perfect reflection. As the Master said, “I am the door....”

Without the one who understands, interprets and reflects God, both Father and Son are shut out from the human world, where they are most needed. But, when one establishes and recognizes that God is operating through him, and pouring into him health, harmony and spiritual consciousness of all things, that thought, extended, brings God down to earth as the Christ.

A humble illustration is meat, which is of value to man, only when transformed by the heat of the oven into a form fit for his consumption. Then, and only then, can man take it in, digest and assimilate it. So Mrs. Eddy’s mission might be called a chemical change that, taking place, enables man to reflect God. At this point, the light of Truth floods into the darkness of mortal thought, and becomes practical and applicable to man’s needs.

Therefore, Mrs. Eddy stood as the symbol to this age of the third element of the trinity. Nevertheless, each individual student of Christian Science must take up the work and follow her; and each time he brings God out of heaven down to earth through reflection, he represents, as did our Leader, the third part of the trinity. Thus, God and man become united, or, rather, the eternal unity of God and man is brought to light.

Today, through Christian Science, it has been established, so that all may understand, that God’s part is done, that He stands forever as the perfect creator of all things, and that the spiritual idea, which is the Christ, has been reduced to a form that may be embodied by man as the true idea of himself, and shown forth as his true and only identity. Therefore, if man will do his part as the transformer of Spirit into its proper place in the government of the universe, including man, then the trinity will become operative.

Another illustration Mrs. Eddy frequently used in connection with herself, was a window letting in the light. On Feb. 19, 1903, she wrote in a private letter: “The sick are healed to all appearances, and the gospel is taught by mortal mind, but the fact remains that only the immortal Mind can heal the sick or save the sinner. Divine Love knows that love is light, even that light which is the Life of man. Divine Love knows His window, and knows that it gives light, not darkness, and is the means of love’s entrance into the hearts of men. The wonder is, that aught can make God’s window seem to be what it is not. It was the doubt and ignorance of what Jesus was and did for all mankind, that shut out, and still shuts out, the light of Love. What if the window does offend the senses with the objects it reveals and the path it points out! It is Love’s window and Love’s revelation to mankind. The good gaze, at last, with gratitude and joy on what they had not seen, but now see, through the window that disturbed the senses, but pointed the way in Science.”




Chapter Thirty-four — Impersonal Loving

Another time Mrs. Eddy said to one who professed to love her, “Don’t love me, (person) but love; then you will include me and all, but if you love some person, you are shutting out Love; if you were to love a person, you would probably love me more than anyone else, but if you loved person, you would have the result of it. Oh! The infinitude of divine Science.” What did she mean when she said, “If you loved person, you would have the result of it?”

Part of the art of present-day salesmanship is to use hypnotism, in order to make an article a man does not want, seem desirable in his eyes. If, through this method, a man was sold a worthless automobile, he would have in his possession, after the spell was broken, the result of that hypnotism, which would be a thing of no value.

Through human love, false belief invests person, or corporeality, with qualities of desirability. The individual who yields to this falsity, invites the inevitable disillusionment. One might say that animal magnetism puts forth sales arguments, which cause man to desire the worthless symbols of matter, and to look to them for life, happiness and health. The result of this mistake is the limitation, and consequent fear, that must follow adherence to effect instead of cause. If you love person, you put limits on your reflection of God; you accept the belief in many minds; you make a reality of the mortality of man, with the inevitable result that you experience the effects of limitation, or sin, sickness, and death.

It is understood in Christian Science, that the false concept of man is the manifestation of mortal mind, and therefore, is controlled by this mind through hypnotism, just as the operator in a show controls his puppets. Thus, for man to accept a false sense of himself, is to put himself under the domination of false law, where he is but a tool or servant of sin, whose destiny, like the herd of swine in Scripture, is to run down the hill of human life into the sea of oblivion. One of the chief methods used by animal magnetism, in persuading man to accept a false concept of himself, is to argue love of person. If man accepts this argument, even if the person be someone other than himself, nevertheless, it constitutes a trick whereby he places himself with the herd, just as to touch a live wire puts one in connection with the entire voltage. To love person, links man to the entire claim of a power and mind apart from God.

Mrs. Eddy summed up this point in her own words as follows: “The true sense of love is to love God, good, then we love all, for God is all. That love is unlimited and flows out freely to all, and all feel it. The human sense of love narrows itself down to a concept, or a person, and shuts out others; that is not love. Really, we do not love person; it is the good we love. This true sense of Love brings freedom and an enlarged sense of things. Keep awake by loving more; love the idea of God, and you will love God; you can only love God as far as you love His idea; and love will be expressed. What would you think of one who says he loves, but never expresses it? Love does express itself. It heals. If you do not heal, you have not enough love. Prove your love. Love is God and expresses itself.”

A false sense of love opens the door between you and the one you love, so that you are exposed and made subject to the abuse of those defects and errors to which all mankind are liable. The reason a spy is so dangerous is because he or she may be a person you like and enjoy. The sense of security and trustfulness accompanying friendship quiets your suspicion, and being thus off guard, you unconsciously reveal information that jeopardizes your country. Impersonal living opens your thought to God alone. Therefore, it blesses mankind without danger to one’s self.




Chapter Thirty-five — Universal Right Thinking

At one time, Mrs. Eddy told of a “woman who was ill, who used to watch for Mrs. Eddy’s carriage to pass; finally the woman said Mrs. Eddy had healed her by just riding past the house.” Apart from the fact that this incident illustrates the blessing of the impersonal loving described in the previous chapter, why did Mrs. Eddy speak of this to her students? Does it not sound like faith-cure or superstition?

If you possessed the power to create rain, you could put it into operation in two definite ways, one being a local shower and the other, country wide. If the local shower should illustrate the treatment in Christian Science that is confined to an individual patient, then if the practitioner should extend his consciousness to the recognition of his ability to do impersonal and universal work for the whole world, and to reflect the power of God to all mankind, that would cause a shower of spiritual blessings to fall on every receptive thought.

Through love for humanity, our Leader definitely and daily did much impersonal and universal work. Her whole thought was a sense of spiritual giving. At one time, I asked her what she considered the most profound statement, that was included in the textbook, Science and Health. She at once asked me to answer my own question. I replied by quoting from page 518, “Blessed is that man who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another’s good.” She agreed that this was the most profound statement in her book. It corresponds to I Corinthians 10:24, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”

The nearer the Christian Scientist assimilates his thought to God, the more power he has to accomplish universal good through universal right thinking. Such a healing, as this one that Mrs. Eddy told, was the result of such impersonal work, just as the woman was healed by touching the hem of the Master’s garment, or coming in contact with his impersonal radiation of good.




Chapter Thirty-six — Understanding the Operation of Mortal Mind

The following, which Mrs. Eddy said to the students at the home, is unusual: “Those who understand the operation of mortal mind profess to make a law that will hold good for six months; they do not sit up nights to work. Now break these laws; then when that is accomplished, and you go out from here, you are ready for the next that is to be met, and when the need is to come here, you will come back again; but if you do not meet it, and go out from here you are not ready for the next, and so cannot come back." The question to be considered is, what did she mean by a law that will hold good for six months?

All students of Christian Science recognize that mortal mind claims to make laws that hold good after fifty or sixty years, that teeth will come out, hair grow gray and wrinkles appear. What do they do about it? Mrs. Eddy intended to waken us to realize that if mortal mind, liberated even a little through those who understand it, could claim to put forth laws holding good for six months, how alert we must be to the uses of infinite Mind, and not limit divine power to the narrow bounds of our own demonstration of it. In other words, we must outgrow the limited conception that the divine Mind is operating only at such times as we are striving to think right. Does not our spiritual understanding of the divine Mind include in it a law that operates irrespective of time or place, that continues after we have stopped, and no man can limit its capacity for accomplishment? Mrs. Eddy was always expanding the comprehension of the students to grasp the limitless capacity of infinite Mind. She desired that her students compass the grand lesson of the power of the divine Mind and its possibilities in governing man asleep or awake, old or young, and to establish for all time the perpetual government of man by the divine law, in order that man might be awakened to reject the belief that he, at any time, can be under the action of any hypnotic laws of mortal belief.




Chapter Thirty-seven — Taking Spiritual Footsteps in Scientific Order

Again, Mrs. Eddy said, “Now drop arguing and hold to God. I used to do my healing with ‘God is all.’ I never argued until I began teaching students, and I had to meet the thought where it stood. Now hold the allness of God, then there is nothing else; if error says arsenic, can’t sleep, can’t eat,—can; there is only one God. I have been made the way-shower; the devil said to Jesus, ‘Others he saved, himself he cannot save. Come down from the cross, He will send angels to bear thee up, etc.’ What did Jesus say? ‘Get thee behind me, Satan.’ It says now, ‘Come down from the cross. You have said you do not have to eat or sleep to nourish the body; come down and prove it;’ Jesus told Satan to get behind; he was not ready for that proof yet; when he was, he made it. So will this be; I can eat, I can sleep; when I am ready for that demonstration, it will be made. If the students that have passed on had understood this, they would have been here today.” In reading this quotation, one might ask, what did Mrs. Eddy mean in her last statement about the students who have passed on?

An important point in Christian Science involves taking scientific footsteps in their right order. The Master expressed this requirement when he said, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” The effort should never be made to spiritualize one’s self before healing one’s self. One cannot go from the error of believing that he or she cannot eat because of stomach disorder, directly to the understanding that man does not need to eat, because he is spiritual. One cannot skip the necessary demonstration that he or she can eat normally according to human dietetics. Mrs. Eddy expresses this idea in Miscellany page 217: “(Jesus) does not require the last step to be taken first. He restored the diseased body to its normal action, functions, and organization...”

It is evident that the student must overcome the abnormal beliefs of mortal mind, before he can break up mortal belief itself. If one is in the dungeon of a jail, he must first escape from the dungeon, before he can escape from the jail. Mortal mind, like an unruly horse, must be disciplined, before man can gain his freedom by riding the broken horse out of the desert to civilization. Hence, students who endeavor to skip the intermediate stage of spiritual demonstration, may make a shipwreck of their faith. The rule is to improve human thinking, which, in turn, improves the body. Then must come scientific thinking, which, in turn, eliminates the belief in body.




Chapter Thirty-eight — A New Sense of Life

The following is another statement by our Leader, given to the students: “There is a great struggle before us, and it is for Life; what is our Life? ‘Hid with Christ in God.’ ” What is this struggle for Life?—is a question awakened by this statement.

In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This statement implies, that if man’s sense of life does not extend beyond eating or being sustained by matter, he cannot be said to live. So, a material sense of life is not life, and should not be considered as such. As man grows in spiritual understanding, however, he finds that life is truly spiritual, the reflection of God, who is Life. Thus it would be foolish to believe that, as the Christian Scientist endeavors to demonstrate Life as the daily reflection of good, instead of the daily taking in of matter, error would make deadly thrusts at this human sense of life, especially as the Christian Scientist is putting that off as fast as possible. Hence, the only conclusion is, that animal magnetism strikes at this newfound sense of spiritual Life, which can be starved far more easily than the human body can be, and at man’s daily supply of Truth, which is requisite to sustain this higher sense.

Mrs. Eddy realized that Christian Science had inaugurated a new struggle for life, or a struggle for a new sense of life, and that every effort of animal magnetism to darken man’s sense of Truth was a blow at this Life. Therefore, in the above, she was proclaiming the great fact that, in Christian Science, our struggle is to maintain that daily influx of inspiration that feeds the spiritual nature with that food it so needs. It is a struggle, because the entire mass of mortal mind arguments is intended to belittle inspiration, to break down man’s spiritual morale, and to deny that man needs anything from God, or, if he does, that he cannot get it, in short, to put every kind of a mental barrier between man and God. Nevertheless, after this whole mass of suggestion is sifted down, it proves to be not power, not reality, but deception. In other words, nothing can separate man from Life, God. Hence, the only success of animal magnetism is to present arguments which claim man to be separated from God, and which are so cleverly designed that man will accept them.




Chapter Thirty-nine — Tell the Truth About the Lie

Again our Leader said, “Do not tell anyone that he can’t die, can’t be sick, until you can prove it to him. I used to look away from the patient sometimes, until I would get the thought, and the patient would vanish right out of my thought, and when I would look back at him, he would be well. I never told them they could not die, until I could see it; then when I spoke, it was done. But we must keep at it, declaring it to ourselves, until we can see it.” What is the spiritual lesson embodied in the above?

It is possible for students to learn the letter and theory of Christian Science, and then to make scientific statements which they have not proved. This condition was illustrated by the student who presented herself before Mrs. Eddy one morning with the symptoms of a severe cold. Mrs. Eddy inquired how she felt and received the response, “I am all right.” Mrs. Eddy’s reproof still rings in my ears as such a needful and enlightening point for every Christian Scientist to know. It is, “Tell the truth about the lie.” Had she completed instructing this student, she might have said, “When I have such symptoms, I do not say I have no cold until I know it, and when I know it, the demonstration is made.”

From my association with Mrs. Eddy, this statement, “Tell the truth about the lie,” has stayed with me as the most helpful thing she said. It has adjusted my thought to the point of being able to maintain a classification of thoughts and statements in Christian Science, so that I put everything under two heads, either as being the truth about the lie, or the truth about Truth. A bird dog flushes the game, so that his master may see it and shoot it. Telling the truth about the lie, puts all error into its rightful classification as being a belief. In that form, truth can destroy it, since on page 297 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures we read, “Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth.”




Chapter Forty — The Spirit Versus the Letter

Mrs. Eddy once gave the students the following statements regarding her father and brother: “My brother George was not a religious man, and it troubled my father who was religious; when George was on his dying bed, my father asked him to accept Christ. George said, during the intervals of labored breathing, ‘I have always done as near right as I knew how, the rest I leave with God’. George awakened in heaven, and my father awakened disappointed, after passing on.” How could Mrs. Eddy make such a statement as this?

If reality is infinite progression, then heaven would be the realization of right progress. If this was not true, then heaven would be attainment, which would be stagnation. Heaven, therefore, must be infinite progression and reflection.

Mrs. Eddy’s father, Mark Baker, belonged to the old school of religion, which held that profession and outward confession of faith, rather than the actual life of a man, where he does the best he knows how, constitute the fulfilment of the demands of God. Thus, George, who tried to do the best he could, had the true spirit, whereas the father relied on the letter as the most important thing. George lived a life of kindliness and helpfulness, according to his highest sense of good; hence, in passing, he would find continued growth, which would be a continuation of what he started here. Since heaven, as we understand it, is right progress on the journey from sense to Soul, George would find, at least to some degree, heaven, or continued spiritual progress. On the other hand, because the father believed in high-sounding assertions, as constituting spirituality and the fulfilment of the demands of God, he would be disappointed after passing on, because he would discover he had been on the wrong track, with many footsteps to retrace. Analysis shows, that right doing usually comes from love, whereas right talking, that does not take form in right doing, is apt to come from pride.




Chapter Forty-one — The Importance of Pitying Rather than Hating

Protecting One's Spiritual Thought

Another statement by our Leader was, “In Science and Health, I wrote, ‘Sin makes deadly thrusts,’ etc., and I knew no more than a babe what it meant when I wrote it; now I do.” What did she mean by such a statement?

She wrote Science and Health through divine inspiration; it was years before she brought up her own demonstration to see the infinite significance of what she had written.

Talbot Mundy, in his volume, The Devil’s Guard, published in 1927, narrates the story of a man traveling in Tibet who is seized upon and tortured by a band of men that would be classified as malpractitioners, in that they were endeavoring to gain an erroneous mental control over the traveler. Despite their efforts, this adventurer endeavored to love these men who were torturing him, but, because they were so despicable, he found himself unequal to the task. But he found he could pity them. This he did. It was not until after he had escaped from their clutches, that he learned that these men constituted an organization of priests, whose motives were base, seeking his downfall through gaining a mental domination over him. It was then that he discovered, that his ability to pity them had saved him, because they could not gain entrance into his mind, as long as a sense of pity was flowing out. If they could have made him hate, that would have opened his thought to them.

Mrs. Eddy knew that sin made deadly thrusts at the Christian Scientist, but it required years for her to learn that the malpractitioners could gain nothing by inflicting pain on one, if that one refused to yield mentally to any sense of hatred or enmity, which that torture was intended to produce. It required spiritual growth for her to comprehend that any attack of animal magnetism, which seemed like a deadly thrust at the physical body, was really aimed at one’s mental and spiritual powers. She discovered that if, through a sense of sickness or pain, one’s thought could be made to abandon its struggle, or to go to sleep through a condition of physical ease, then the object of animal magnetism was accomplished.

The young student in Christian Science is apt to hold that sickness and suffering are the direct effect and purpose of animal magnetism, instead of being merely a means to another end, namely, the effort to darken his or her spiritual thought.

In other words, judged rightly, the only deadly thrust of sin is that which attempts to kill out the infant spiritual idea, struggling to be acknowledged as the mind of man.




Chapter Forty-two — The Tares and the Wheat

Why did Mrs. Eddy make the following statement at another time? “I know what is coming. I dare not tell you what I know; you are young yet; and now is the time to experiment. You will know some day.”

Mrs. Eddy recognized that, if she unfolded to the students all that she knew about the inward nature of mortal belief, before they had developed the spiritual actuality, they would feel as if they had had their very foundations knocked out from under them, with nothing left to cling to. The right action of spiritual growth is to fill in the space with Truth, as fast as error is extracted, but not to do it prematurely, so as to leave a vacuum. Old theology tears down, without giving man anything constructive to take its place.

Even the Master recommended that we let both the wheat and tares grow until the harvest. But, here arises the question, would his doctrine be scientific, if it recommended man to permit evil to flourish side by side with good? Could the Master have meant evil, when referring to the tares? If not, what do the tares represent? Must they not represent human good, or those phases of the human which seem good, and which man is not ready to put off, until spiritual growth has brought him to the place where he can discern between the products of the divine Mind and mortal belief. Mrs. Eddy perceived, that many of the things that her students held to as good, had their origin in the human mind and hence, were tares. Notwithstanding, she did not dare tell the students, because they had not matured spiritually to the point where it would have been a safe thing to do. She knew that, when the harvest came, which was the point of spiritual perception, where the student is able to differentiate between the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit, the true separation would be made. It is legitimate in Christian Science, yea, even necessary, for the student to work with human good so-called, under the belief that it is spiritual, until growth brings the ability to make the right cleavage.




Chapter Forty-three — Handling Mesmerism of False Laws

What did Mrs. Eddy mean, when she said to her students at Pleasant View, “There are a few laws to be broken, then we will be free”? Is this consistent with the conception of the work of the Christian Scientist as set forth in Science and Health?

When the student contemplates effect, or the outward evidence of the material senses, he is apt to become discouraged by the multiplicity of what his scientific demonstration must include, before he can gain his freedom. When he contemplates cause, however, he recognizes that there are only a few laws, so-called, which must be broken, in order for man to gain his freedom; and, through the breaking of these few laws relating to cause, effect will be rectified in all its ramifications, which seem so complicated, just as a large picture shown on a screen is brought into sharp focus, with all its numberless details, just by turning a tiny thumbscrew that regulates the position of the lenses.

The first false law to be handled, is the mesmerism relating to a false sense of God, or Mind, which looms up as a mortal mind cause, seeming real. Next in order, must be handled the mesmerism relating to our own thinking, and our own capacity to be hypnotized; for a proper effort in this direction obliterates the belief in a power apart from God, and our own capacity to be influenced by such a belief, or false mind. Finally comes the so-called law relating to the error that sees all mankind mesmerized, with their thinking manipulated, because they are susceptible to this mesmerism. The breaking of these few laws represents the work necessary, in order to bring the whole picture of God’s perfect universe back into its right focus, so that we shall be free from this distortion which we call the material world.

This unfoldment is based on the fact, that the error in creation is not in what we see, but in the way we see it. This circumstance would hold true of a man wearing blue glasses. The trouble lies not with the landscape, but with that which he is looking through. Just a little correction will bring the whole landscape back in its normal beauty to his eyes.




Chapter Forty-four — Dual Nature of Error's Deceptions

The following statements by our Leader contain a thought that is not self-evident upon casual reading. What did she mean by the internal fire of malice? “We are told the world will be destroyed; how? By malice. By cyclones, electricity and be burned up. What is a cyclone? It is a condition of mortal mind—malice. What burns up? Malice. We are told, like Mt. Pelee, there is an internal fire, malice, that will finally burst forth and destroy the world. It is all malice, and our textbook tells us, Christian Scientists will hold such things in check. God never made them, and they can be overcome just the same as sickness. It is all within.”

Mrs. Eddy’s revelation unfolded to her, that mortal mind has an inherent malicious intent, which is to kill out the spiritual idea, whenever and wherever it appears. On page 564 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy calls it “this malicious animal instinct, of which the dragon is the type.” This criminal instinct was evident both at the birth and crucifixion of the Master. Yet, from the Master’s experience we learn that, in its infancy, the spiritual idea can and must be protected, and, in its maturity, it is indestructible. People mourn over the crucifixion, instead of rejoicing in the realization that it revealed the indestructibility of the spiritual idea.

Mrs. Eddy felt this hidden fire of malice, but she did not fear it. In his book, Mary Baker Eddy, Lyman P. Powell quotes her as saying, “The love that is going out to the world through Christian Science is the greatest power there is, and the only thing that will change that thought.

I have often felt these hard, unloving thoughts of others come about me like dark clouds, and seem to surround me, but they never touched me, and why? Because my thoughts were going out to them all the time in love, and with a desire to help them.”

Yet, when Mrs. Eddy warned her students, and the world, of the existence of this malicious animosity, those who were ignorant of its existence, or too much part of it to be conscious of it, criticised her as if, through this teaching of animal magnetism, she were giving power to that which had no power, when, in reality, she was taking away the belief of power from that which, up to that time, nobody realized had a claim of power. Thus, one might say that Christian Science doubles the claim of evil, before it reduces it to nothingness. It reveals mortal mind as the wolf, with a fundamentally malicious nature, which Paul tells us is “enmity against God.” Furthermore, it uncovers the fact that this human mind has two phases, one the wolf, the other, the wolf in sheep’s clothing; pain and pleasure; sorrow and joy; the pleasant side of life and its dark opposite. This dual experience is a necessity, in order that mortal belief may perpetuate its deception, for, by having a dark and painful side, it is able to persuade man to accept its brighter side as something to strive for and enjoy, even though this brighter side is full of flaws. The status of mortal man is similar to that of a wife, whose husband is so brutal and offensive when he is intoxicated, that she welcomes those days when he is sober, even though, at such times, he is so grouchy and full of false promises, as to be a poor excuse for a husband. He is not a worthy husband, drunk or sober. So, it might be said, that it is through contrast that the wife is held in bonds.

In this spiritual unfoldment, Mrs. Eddy was led to denominate the wolf as malicious animal magnetism, and to stress that its so-called alluring side, or cloak of sheep’s clothing, constituted the greatest deception, the enemy of man, because it is the enemy of God.

When mortal existence, or human belief, shows its pleasant side, man thinks it is desirable by contrast with its devilish aspects. Mrs. Eddy undertook to expose both the discord and harmony, so-called, of mortal belief, to be evil because of their evil origin. Then she showed how they could be handled as nothingness, and man set free. But she realized, that until one understood that back of every mortal mind manifestation was this internal fire of malice, where the malice is not toward man, but God, he is not prepared to handle it, because he will do as the old church does, namely, pray to God to take away the wolf, and help him to retain the wolf in sheep’s clothing, thus straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. In the latter analogy, the gnat would represent the unpleasant phases of human experience, which man strains to get rid of; while the camel would symbolize the so-called pleasant phases, which man struggles to retain.




Chapter Forty-five — Overcoming Seemingly Organized Malice with Truth

“It used to be easy healing sickness: anything, a man all cut to pieces. But now we are meeting sin; I would rather have a man with his head cut off, to heal, rather than sin.” What did Mrs. Eddy mean by this cryptic statement which she made to the students?

If one farmer should undersell the milk trust, there might be scant attention paid to him for a time. But if, little by little, it becomes known that this farmer is the agent of powerful interests, which finally intend to dominate the whole market, then that demands drastic action. At once, an organization of opposition rises up to combat the organization of progress.

History records many who have possessed the power of spiritual healing as a natural gift. Such isolated activity seldom brings out any organized opposition from medical thought, because it is not considered inimical to the status of materia medica, so infrequently does a healer become notable enough to require constrictive action.

When Mrs. Eddy first started her healing mission, it was thought to be an occasional exhibition of one who found herself with this gift. Little notice was taken of the fact that she was able to impart this healing power to others. Hence, the early students, with perhaps less spirituality than is possessed by the average Christian Science practitioner today, were able to perform, with ease, healings which now require much more understanding.

When it began to be evident, however, that Mrs. Eddy had founded an organization where the power to heal through spiritual law could be taught and spread, so that inevitably the whole civilized world would be full of spiritual healers, at once, the doctors, ministers, and sinners stirred themselves to unite in stemming this tide; the doctors, because their source of income was threatened; the ministers, because their congregations were threatened; and the sinners, because their peace in sin was threatened.

Thus, our Leader recognized that today, in order to heal the sick scientifically through spiritual means, the claim of sin must be handled, where sin is defined as the malicious intent of organized mortal mind or animal magnetism, to hinder and stop the march of Truth on earth. The above quotation from our Leader, therefore, points to a work which was not needed in the early days of Christian Science to the extent that it is needed today.

Thus, Mrs. Eddy wanted the students at Pleasant View not to become discouraged, when they heard about the miracles which she and the early students performed so easily, as if they possessed a spirituality far above any present possibility. The early workers had less organized interference. Mrs. Eddy knew, that if we had been healing in those early days, we would have performed the same great works with the same ease.

In the above statement, by the term sin, she unquestionably meant the malicious tendency of organized opposition, endeavoring to obstruct the path of Truth in its onward and irresistible march; she realized, that she would rather have the worst case to heal, than to meet and overcome this malicious element in mortal thought. Yet she did meet it, and so can we.




Chapter Forty-six — Never Compromise with Error

Again Mrs. Eddy said, “Charity is good and peaceful, but it must not cover iniquity; just as long as you compromise with error, just so long will the error stick to you. In teaching students, I have always uncovered the error to them; that is what should be done, and not all the pleasant things said only. 'He that covereth iniquity (his sins) shall not prosper.' The error that is holding them must be uncovered to students, so they can overcome it.” What was this compromise with error that she referred to?

In Miscellaneous Writings, on pages 288-9, she writes, “Wisdom in human action begins with what is nearest right under the circumstances, and thence achieves the absolute. . . . From a human standpoint of good, mortals must first choose between evils, and of two evils choose the less; and, at present, the application of scientific rules to human life seems to rest on this basis.”

It is a compromise with error, when the young student accepts the best in mortal thought and affiliates himself with it. Nevertheless, does it not seem necessary to do this, in accordance with the above instruction by our Leader? Yes, but that does not take it out of the category of being a compromise. It is a compromise to walk with crutches. However, one might be forced to do this for a time. The error in the situation would arise when, after he has gained the strength to walk alone, he continues to rely on his crutches.

It is natural, that the first effect of Truth on the human consciousness should be, that the student desires with all his heart the betterment of all mankind. This right longing first finds expression in the adoption of methods which, although a step in advance along the path, are nevertheless not wholly scientific, and represent a compromise with error, although being the lesser of two evils. Hence, we deduce that one sign of a spiritually progressive thought, which had adopted methods of blessing humanity that represent a compromise with error, is the willingness and readiness to cast off those methods, when improved and more scientific ones are unfolded.

An illustration of this matter is the law of prohibition, which found such whole-hearted support in Christian Scientists everywhere. Yet, when a Christian Scientist advocates human prohibition as a means of betterment for the country at large, he is compromising with error and, of two evils, choosing the less. But, if such a method be on the road to the absolute spiritual good, which Christian Science marks as the goal, then it becomes legitimate. However, to stagnate with a faulty human method and advocate it as the all-in-all, is to make that compromise with error whereby error sticks to one, since there is no human method of handling the liquor question, or any other human evil, that does not make a reality of it, emphasize the inherent naturalness of man’s craving for it, and hence, set forth the fact that man must be denied indulgence. The only scientific way is the recognition, that any desire man might feel for evil of any kind is wholly unnatural, is induced by animal magnetism, and therefore, when animal magnetism is handled, there is no need for any prohibition, since man comes to himself as did the prodigal, and discovers that, by nature, he desires only good.




Chapter Forty-seven — Overcoming Belief of Age

At one time Mrs. Eddy said, “All there is of us, is what there is of us under the fire of mesmerism.” At an earlier date, she gave the same thought as follows: “All there is of man, is what is left after animal magnetism has gotten through with him; now measure your height.”

If a boy has both freckles and dirt on his face, all there is left, when his mother has finished scrubbing him, are the freckles. Those will not wash off, because they are part of him.

All the student really knows of Christian Science, is what he can retain under the pressure of animal magnetism. Whatever understanding of Christian Science he can be robbed of, he never really had. If his knowledge goes no deeper than the surface, then animal magnetism can deprive him of it, either through pleasure or pain, the former through stagnation, and the latter through fear. Pleasure is an attack on the quantity of spiritual thought, and pain, on the quality. The effect of pleasure is to lessen the amount of spiritual thinking the student does. The effect of pain is to confuse thought, so that the spiritual quality is impaired. In either case, the result is spiritual ineffectiveness. When mortal mind says that everything is harmonious, even though man’s thought may be scientifically balanced, he accomplishes little, because his effort lacks vigor and conviction. In suffering, although there may be an increase in mental activity, nevertheless, it lacks spiritual incisiveness.

In Psalms 103, we read of the Lord, “who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” This verse hints at the spiritual truism, that merely listening to Truth does not make it our own. We can claim it, only when we take it in and digest it, until it becomes so firmly implanted in consciousness that we cannot be robbed of it. To use a crude illustration: after you have been in swimming and have dried off, all the water that stays with you is that which you have swallowed, and not that which lodged on you externally.

On the other hand, the reverse of Mrs. Eddy’s statement gives a wonderful assurance that, when one has embodied the spiritual idea in Christian Science, until it has become part of his very daily thinking, there is no claim of animal magnetism that can ever rob him of it. Even the claim of passing on will in no way take from man the Truth that he has made his own. The Master proved this, by passing through the claim of death, and then afterwards appearing with his spiritual understanding unimpaired.

The proof that Mrs. Eddy gave to the world through her own experience, was that the claim of old age can never strip man of the Truth that he has made his own. With many mortals, as age creeps over them, you can see them being stripped of the human knowledge that they have spent a lifetime in gaining. But, when I lived with our Leader, I saw her at eighty-five with a spiritual consciousness in no way impaired by the encroachments of old age. Every bit of Truth she had ever demonstrated and attained, she still had. She evinced no signs of age mentally. On the contrary, her mentality showed an increasing spiritual comprehension and power; and it is surely a logical sequence to assume, that now she is still increasing in spiritual understanding, and imparting that knowledge.

Furthermore, when asked by a student, “Will we have Science and Health or the Bible on the other side?” She assured her, “When we go to heaven, the book will be there.” Then she called attention to Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life.”




Chapter Forty-eight — Mrs. Eddy's Detection of Error's Arguments

Let us consider another statement made by Mrs. Eddy to the students: “When I let my thought down, I can hear the mental arguments of error, or the devil (there is no devil); it cannot hide from me when I want to know what it is doing. I can lift my thought right above it and shut it all out, or I can find out what it is doing. If there was an assassin which could overpower you, it would be better for you to know what he was doing, so as to be better prepared to meet it.”

The knowledge of good means that one has shut out all acknowledgment of any claims of evil, and does not hear them. So, when a practitioner attempts to help a patient, temporarily he must do an unscientific thing; he must acknowledge the claim of evil in order to find out what it is, bring it out from under cover, and thus compass its destruction. In the above, Mrs. Eddy states in plain language the scientific ability which she possessed to know, when she needed to, the secrets of mortal mind. This disclosure is very similar to the declarations she wrote to Judge Hanna in a letter which he published in the first edition of his pamphlet, Christian Science History, “I possess a spiritual sense of what the malicious mental malpractitioner is mentally arguing which cannot be deceived. I can discern in the human mind, thoughts, motives, and purpose; and neither mental arguments nor psychic power can affect this spiritual insight.” These are scientific arguments, intended to establish beyond question her spiritual perception.

Another point explained by Mrs. Eddy in her statement, that she could hear the mental arguments of error when she let her thought down, is illustrated by the radio. There are often severe storms of static which interfere with radio communications all over the world. But, in order to become aware of such storms, one would need a radio that was adjusted to a fine tuning. If the owner of such a radio should tell a man without a radio about the existence of such a storm, he would not know what it was all about. It is probable that Mrs. Eddy detected disturbances in the higher reaches of mortal mind, which called for drastic measures on her part and the part of her students; while the students might be oblivious of such upheavals. Even though they did not recognize the danger, she could direct their thought to take up the neutralizing arguments.

It is evident that, on such occasions, the students either would have to admit that Mrs. Eddy had tuned into mortal mind in a way they could not grasp, or else her human imagination was playing her tricks, a supposition unthinkable to one who can appreciate her mental history. No doubt, many of the dark experiences she went through, which her students could not understand, were the result of her thought dropping to the place where she could begin to hear the arguments of error.




Chapter Forty-nine — Protecting One's Knowledge of Truth

Mrs. Eddy said at one time, “If the work had been done in the time of Jesus, it would not have to be done now; but the disciples did not do their part; they were not obedient to him; they questioned what he was doing; did not understand, and it was not done. So it must be done now.” What was the work Mrs. Eddy referred to, that was not done in the time of Jesus and must be done now?

Students love to contemplate the great goodness of God, but are not so willing to dip down into the uncovering of the hidden modes of evil, a thing that must be done if man desires to find his spiritual freedom. They would like to be translated now, without first having to fulfill the obligation of uncovering error’s hidden ways. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, page 570, “Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind, but they are not so willing to point out the evil in human thought, and expose evil’s hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity.”

There is no record that the disciples did the work necessary to understand animal magnetism sufficiently to uncover its secret to themselves and the world. This painful task was left for Mrs. Eddy. And that it was a painful task, may be gleaned from her statement in Miscellaneous Writings, page 222:“I shall not forget the cost of investigating, for this age, the methods and power of error.”

It is one thing for a man to discover gold in the ground and dig it out where all may see it, and another thing to probe the activities of those who intend to try to steal this gold, so that he can frustrate their purpose. Great is the attainment of bringing man the true knowledge of God, so that all may be blessed by it. Greater is the attainment of uncovering the hidden action of that which, if not uncovered, would rob man of that spiritual good.

One might ask, “Of what value is a knowledge of God, if it does not include the knowledge of how to protect it from the inroads of animal magnetism?” Thus, we are forced to the conclusion, that the work which was not done in Jesus’ time, was the uncovering of the claim of animal magnetism, that presumes both to rob man of his spiritual consciousness, and of his knowledge of the scientific process of reducing this claim to its native nothingness, as Christian Science teaches.




Chapter Fifty — Arguments Serve Only to Lift Thought

One morning Mrs. Eddy said, “If you are a Christian Scientist and can speak the Word, and it is done, all right; but if you have to argue, be very careful what you argue.” This quotation recalls the statement in Science and Health, page 454, “Remember that the letter and mental argument are only human auxiliaries to aid in bringing thought into accord with the spirit of Truth and Love, which heals the sick and the sinner.”

Healing by the Spirit means that one is in a state of mind where the unreality of all things material, or the fallacy of mortal belief, is so self-evident that one need not bring one’s self by the letter, or the ladder of argument, into that state of mind through which God heals. If, on the other hand, thought needs this initial adjustment in order that it may reach the scientific standpoint, which is the healing point, it is more or less labor, a tiresome journey. Thus, the student is constantly tempted to use a formula, the letter without the Spirit, which degenerates into vain repetition, or a superstitious faith in the efficacy of mere words, or phrases used over and over again. Even the scientific statements in the textbook are not exempt from such a classification of being a formula, when misused in this manner.

Such a situation is illustrated by prizefighting, where a man is instructed in this art according to certain rules. Yet, when the actual hour of the match comes, he cannot fight by applying mechanically what he has learned in the instruction book, but must diagnose and apply his knowledge to meet each juncture as it presents itself. If he fought according to a campaign formulated in advance, he would not be allowing for the exigencies of the moment. Such an unintelligent procedure would show that he had not studied the art of prizefighting sufficiently to make it his own. A formula always betrays a lack of understanding. It is usually the effort to parade in borrowed garments, relying on memory rather than spirituality. When one uses the inspired instructions in Science and Health to spiritualize one’s thought, he is applying them properly.

One must never accept the notion that his scientific arguments constitute spiritual ammunition to be fired at a patient to heal him. In reality, the practitioner fires these arguments at himself, to lift his own thought to the place where it is open to reflect the healing power of divine Truth and Love.

Suppose a man were in a fort without a gun, but, near at hand, is a soldier with one. The first man might lift the soldier to his shoulders, in order that the latter might fire over the wall at the enemy. Hence, we see in this process that the act of lifting up the soldier would not be the act of shooting at the enemy; for the soldier does that after he is lifted up. So, the act of lifting up the Christ through our mental argument does not heal the sick; but, when the Christ is lifted up, or exalted in consciousness as the real and only healing power, it accomplishes the healing.

There are only a few formulated statements in Christian Science which must necessarily be repeated over and over again. Therefore, it is a mistake to use these as formulas and believe that, of themselves, they heal the sick. Their use is defined by Mrs. Eddy, when she calls them auxiliaries to aid in bringing thought into accord with Truth and Love. Hence, we have Mrs. Eddy’s admonition that if we use argument in the healing work, we should be careful what we argue, and what we try to accomplish through the means of argument.




Chapter Fifty-one — The Picket's Song

In the Christian Science Sentinel for March 16, 1899, there appeared the following, quoted from the Presbyterian: Some Americans, who were crossing the Atlantic, met in the cabin on Sunday night to sing hymns. As they sang the last hymn, “Jesus, Lover of my soul,” one of them heard an exceedingly rich and beautiful voice behind him. He looked around, and although he did not know the face, he thought that he knew the voice. So, when the music ceased, he turned and asked the man if he had been in the Civil War. The man replied that he had been a Confederate soldier. “Were you at such a place on such a night?” asked the first man. “Yes,” replied the second man, “and a curious thing happened that night, which this hymn has recalled to my mind. I was posted on sentry duty, near the edge of a wood. It was a dark night and very cold, and I was a little frightened, because the enemy were supposed to be very near. About midnight, when everything was still, and I was feeling homesick, and miserable, and weary, I thought that I would comfort myself by praying and singing a hymn. I remember singing these lines: ‘All my trust on Thee is stayed. All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenceless head, With the shadow of Thy wing.’ After singing that, a strange peace came down upon me, and through the long night I felt no more fear.” “Now,” said the other, “listen to my story. I was a Union soldier, and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. I saw you standing, although I did not see your face. My men had their rifles focused upon you, waiting for the word to fire, but when you sang, ‘Cover my defenceless head with the shadow of Thy wing,’ I said, ‘Boys, lower your rifles, we will go home.’”

This story has been made the basis for an article, entitled Watching, by John C. Lathrop in the Christian Science Sentinel for October 13, 1923. Furthermore, it has been set forth in poetical form under the title, The Picket's Song, by Alice May Youse.

“Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly:
While the waters near me roll,
While the tempest still is high.”

It was on an ocean steamer,
And one voice above the rest,
Beautiful, pure, rich and mellow,
All the air with music blest.
Something more, a faint remembrance
Broke upon the listener’s ear.
“Yes,” he thought, “’tis not the first time
That sweet voice is mine to hear.”

Silence followed. Then the stranger
Stept up to the singer rare,
“Were you in the Civil War, sir?”
“A Confederate, I was there.”
Then a time, a place, were mentioned.
“Were you?” “Yes, and strange to say
This same hymn was then my comfort,
That you hear us sing today.

“Dark the night, so cold and dreary,
And my boyish heart felt low,
Pacing there on sentry duty,
Dangerously near the foe.
Midnight came, the darkness deepened,
Thoughts of home, foreboding brought.
So, for comfort, prayer and singing,
Dissipated gloomy thought.

“‘All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my hope from Thee I bring,
Cover my defenceless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.’
Then a strange peace came upon me,
No more fear and gloom that night,
Dawn came, heralding the morrow
Ere the first faint streak of light.”

Then the other told his story:
“I, a Union soldier, true,
In those woods that very evening,
With my scouts was passing through.
You were standing, and our rifles
Covered you. We heard you sing:
‘Cover my defenceless head
With the shadow of Thy wing!’

“Twas enough, ‘Boys,’ I said,
‘Come, Lower rifles; We’ll go home.’”

Mrs. Eddy was evidently impressed by this story, because, in 1903, she said, “You must watch, as Jesus said, if you would not have the house broken open; you think you are watching, but are you, when the house is broken open? What would be thought of a watchman who would let the place watched be burglarized? Would he be the right kind of a watchman? That is just why I named our paper, Sentinel, and on it, ‘Watch.’ Now how should we watch? A guard who was watching on the side of the Union soldiers in time of the war, was walking up and down while on duty, when he suddenly felt the approach of the enemy, danger; so he began to sing, ‘Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, etc.,’ and the verse that did the work was, ‘Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee, etc.’ He gave up to God. He afterward talked with the man who said he approached with his gun to his shoulder to shoot the guard, and he said his arm fell and the rifle with it; he could not shoot. That was watching. We must feel the danger and lift our thought to God. He will save us. If we do not feel the danger, and go right on as though everything were all right, declaring you are all right, you cannot die, etc., when the seeming is all wrong, you will not be watching with God. When we feel the danger, then we earnestly turn to God. Keep awake— watch; the right kind of watching.”

Was it scientific for Mrs. Eddy to advocate that the student feel a sense of danger in his watching? Furthermore, if one’s thought is spiritually awake, is not that the whole demonstration? After you have perceived the danger, is there anything more to do?

When an engineer, who has charge of keeping a head of steam in a boiler up to a certain pressure, is conscious that more steam is being drawn out than usual, he stirs up the fire and adds more coal. The effect of error on the spiritually-minded one is to depress thought. When he feels this depression, he should immediately rouse his thought to return it to the spiritual level where it belongs. Hence, the moment he feels a warning, announcing that error is endeavoring to touch his thought, depress it, and pull it down from its exalted level, he must add more truth to keep his thought up to that level of divine protection.

Once, a student who was clerk of a branch church of Christ, Scientist, remarked to her teacher what a splendid Sunday morning service they had just had. The teacher rebuked her, by saying that it might have seemed so to one whose thought was spiritually dulled, or self-centered in demonstration, but, in reality, the mental atmosphere was so devoid of spiritual thought, that it proved that most of the students had failed to recognize the universal need.

It is possible for a user of tobacco to grow so callous in his taste, that he must highly season everything he eats in order that he may enjoy it. Under such conditions, might he not even eat tainted food without realizing it?

Christian Science unfolds that everything mortal mind has to offer is tainted, because it has a mortal origin. The student who is gaining true spirituality, is becoming so mentally sensitive, that he can detect the blighting touch of materiality, wherever and whenever it appears. Thus, in Miscellaneous Writings, on page 180, Mrs. Eddy graphically describes her experience when she felt this mental pollution, “Then another person, more material, met me, and I said, in the words of my Master, ‘Touch me not.’ I shuddered at her material approach; then my heart went out to God, and I found the open door from this sepulchre of matter.”

Hence, the clerk of the church who felt that, because she enjoyed the Sunday service, it was not necessary for her to do any mental work, mistook a human sense of harmony for a spiritually demonstrated atmosphere. Her own words, therefore, exposed the spiritual deadness of her thought, revealing how lacking it was in sensitiveness to the presence of the claim of animal magnetism.

From the standpoint of Christian Science, mortal belief has no atmosphere in which the Christian Scientist should relax, feel content, and become unwatchful. In corroboration of this statement, we need only turn to the Master’s saying, “The Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20. Hence, we conclude that the only way a student can relax and feel safe in the lion’s den of animal magnetism, is to become unconscious of the danger. By this assertion we mean, man being in a state of mesmerism, where he is so contented in the flesh and mentally callous, that he could sit on a barrel of dynamite and smoke his pipe with pleasure.

There is no way in Christian Science for the student to spiritualize his thought, without first becoming conscious of, and sensitive to, error. Our Leader set this idea forth, when she said to the household, “The higher one senses harmony, the more sensitive he is to discord; the same in music.” Then, the next step is to eliminate the belief of error, thus leaving man conscious of Truth only.

In mining gold, one first digs out the ore. Then, a further process eliminates the dross and leaves the gold. Nevertheless, in the first process, both gold and dross are brought to light. Similarly, when one’s thought, while working to separate Truth from error, is spiritually active and infused with Truth, it recognizes when specific animal magnetism approaches. Then comes the second spiritual step, which eliminates the sense of error and leaves thought free. The way to become conscious of error for protective purposes, is to spiritualize one’s own thought, so that it becomes repelled by, rather than attracted to, any human sense of good.

The sentry on duty felt the approach of the enemy, because he was sensitive both to error and truth, and because he was mentally on guard and saw the fingerprint of error on the polished surface of his clean mental windowpane. In other words, a thought that is watching has polished the window to let in all the light possible, and hence, is conscious of the danger of dirty fingerprints being put upon it. It follows, that if the window is dirty in the first place, such fingerprints will not show.

Why does Mrs. Eddy say that we must be conscious of our danger? Would not that word danger tend to arouse fear in the mind of the student? Are weeds dangerous? Only when permitted to grow unmolested, until they crowd out the plants. If you are watching, the error that touches you has no more power than mice or moths, that only destroy when not detected. When thought is watching and is touched by error, it is simply the announcement that there is a claim present, that would grow upon the thought if permitted to, as a false and malicious bit of gossip might make a mental impression, if not instantly rebuked. The danger connected with error is not the danger of an opponent with horseshoes hidden in his boxing gloves. No error can ever produce a physical effect, except as it works through man’s own belief. Hence, the physical manifestation is the price man pays for entertaining fear and false deductions. Or, looked at in another way, the outward manifestation is a protection, for it announces without, the presence within, of an error which is being entertained, instead of being destroyed.

Thus, when Mrs. Eddy recommended her students to be conscious of their danger, she was calling their attention to the danger resident in cause, and not effect, which is a very important differentiation. The only effect of the enemy, animal magnetism, is to tempt one to think incorrectly, to think from the standpoint of sense testimony, rather than from scientific knowledge.

Is the burglar alarm afraid of the burglar? Does it stay awake all night in fear of danger? No! It knows that the only danger from a thief, would be if he slipped in unnoticed and was allowed to work in the dark, for thus, undetected, he might accomplish his evil purpose. Once his presence is discovered, however, his power is gone. Similarly, the burglar-alarm is a symbol of scientific watchfulness. When one’s spiritually-watchful thought is rightly conscious of the danger, it is always ready to give the alarm, when the fingerprint of animal magnetism sullies the clean windowpane of spiritual reflection. Then the scientific remedy can be applied instantly.

There is a dual watching that is necessary in connection with Christian Science church services. One must watch against human harmony, or apathy, that tends to lull thought into inactivity, and also against the temptation to hide one’s light under a bushel, selfishly to demonstrate a little globe of harmony in a big globe of discord. The effort to free one’s own thought from mesmerism in order to enjoy a service, is in direct disobedience to the Manual, Art. 8, Sec. 5. Science and Health instructs students to seek their own in another’s good; to follow the example of the Master, who took upon himself the iniquity of us all, or who recognized any sense of inharmony he might feel, as a call to help his brother in distress. When a Christian Scientist feels within himself that which he should recognize as a demand upon him to help his brother, it is a misuse of Truth to apply it selfishly in an effort to silence that call. The scientific attitude of mind in a Christian Scientist, is to regard himself as a servant of God, because he is the custodian of the mental atmosphere of the world. Then his watching will bless all humanity.




Chapter Fifty-two — Mrs. Eddy's Spiritual Level

In Adam H. Dickey’s Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, page 47, Mrs. Eddy is quoted as having said, “You don’t any of you realize what is going on. This is a dark hour for the Cause and you do not seem to be awake to it. I am now working on a plane that would mean instantaneous death to any of you.”

In unfolding this series of statements by our Leader for this volume, I had in mind the possibility of students young in the study of Christian Science, who might not perceive the inspirational nature of all of our Leader’s pronouncements, and who might, therefore, attempt to comprehend them from a human standpoint. One who did this, would entirely misunderstand them.

Obviously, the right method of guarding against such a mistake, is to bring to the attention of students enough spiritual unfoldments of this nature, so that they will be convinced that there is only one right mode to follow in an effort to understand inspirational statements, namely, to gain for one’s self the same inspirational standpoint of thought that was possessed by the one who wrote such statements.

If one was to regard Mrs. Eddy’s statement in regards to instantaneous death literally, would it not sound unscientific? Rather would it be scientific to think of the plane on which Mrs. Eddy was working, as being so near to the divine Mind, that it would necessarily mean a greater influx of Life to anyone who might attain such a mental height.

But there is this point to be considered. Working on such a higher plane means that one has so risen above the claims of mortal belief, that one is no longer sustained by a human sense of life. Such a one has no human reserve to fall back on, but relies wholly on reflecting the sustaining power of God. Therefore, does not reaching such a position involve the necessity for an understanding of the claims of animal magnetism, since such claims are definitely directed at one’s ability to reflect God, Life?

A claim of animal magnetism that would not even be appreciated by one on a lower plane of thought, if yielded to by the one on the higher plane of thought, would mean the loss of spiritual light. This would involve immediate death.

From this line of thought comes the deduction that Mrs. Eddy recognized, that if the students had been on her spiritual level, without paying any more attention to the claims of animal magnetism than they were at the time, their thought would be so darkened that they would be at once robbed of their sense of spiritual reflection, reflection that means life itself to the advanced metaphysician. Thus, for a student to be on Mrs. Eddy’s plane of thought, with no more consideration for the claims of animal magnetism and the necessity for meeting them, than he or she had on the present level of thought, would mean a spiritual shipwreck, if such were a possibility.

Our Leader saw her students assailed by animal magnetism, or the domination of the human mind. She saw them unaware and unaffected by this fact. To her, they were like children who were under the domination of some desperate criminal, unaware of the fact, because at the time he was treating them with kindness.

From her standpoint, the domination of mortal mind represented control by a murderer. Hence, any such encroachment was a call to arms, proclaiming the need for instant action. What did she think when she saw such a need and yet, saw the students unaware of it? So, she rebuked them in such a way, that they would realize that such neglect as they were manifesting would be disastrous on a higher plane of thought, whereas, on their present level, it was possible for them to ignore the suppositional domination of the human mind, and yet carry on by relying on a human sense for support. Mrs. Eddy felt the urgent call to impress on her students that this falling back on a humanly harmonious sense, when spiritual light wanes, was something she could not do, because she had reached a spiritual dependence that had outgrown any possibility of leaning on a material sense for her life.




Chapter Fifty-three — Scientific Statements of Truth

It was always such a proof to me of our Leader’s inspirational basis of thought, when she could voice one simple, yet cryptic statement, that would unlock a wealth of spiritual treasure. For instance, she made the statement, “God demands God,” which indicates that the only way Spirit can help man and manifest itself through him, is when man takes on, or realizes, that he already has a spiritual sense, which is of God.

The army recognizes no one as a member of its ranks without a uniform. Hence, if you desire to be a soldier, you must apply at the place of enlistment, before you come under the daily care and protection that is extended to the soldiers. Then you must put on the uniform. Another analogy, explaining this same point, is the telephone system. Here, you must call the representative to come and install one of the company’s telephones in your house, before you can take advantage of their nation wide, yea, world wide system, as it is in use today.

For this reason, it becomes a fundamental axiom in Christian Science that God demands God; because there is no way by which you can gain or attain a connection with God and hence, the power, love and wisdom which emanates from Him, except as you take on a God-likeness, through which these qualities of God may flow. The fact that there is no other process than this, precludes the possibility of what is wrongly called prayer, or a petition to a false sense of God, of availing anything. True prayer is the effort made scientifically to eliminate materiality and to take on spirituality. It is the only method establishing that connection with God, over which power, wisdom and understanding may flow. Hence, effective prayer is not a process in which we can engage when fearful. First, man must have a scientific understanding of the reasons why there is nothing for him to fear. Momentarily, he must put himself in the mental position of a child of God, who is governed by the divine Mind and by nothing else, for, only at that instant, is he free from the influence of animal magnetism and hence, able to perceive scientifically that which is real. When such an endeavor destroys the belief in everything that is destructive and disturbing, man can truthfully say, “There is no power apart from God.”

If you climb to the top of the highest mountain, you can say of a truth that, at that moment, you are at the point that is higher than all else. This statement holds true only as long as you are at the top of the mountain; for, when you come down, it becomes a palpable lie. Therefore, any time you wish to make that declaration and have it true, you must climb to the top again. Similarly, the student of Christian Science climbs to the top of his mental mountain, where he puts all things under his feet. From his eminence, he sees and declares the absolute Truth. But if he comes down, and insists upon declaring as true the same statements he made on the summit, they become false because of his position. Furthermore, they accomplish nothing, and only succeed in chemicalizing those who hear them.

The only time the student can assert, “I am governed wholly by God and by nothing else,” is when he is at the summit of his mental mountain, or else when he is using such statements to aid his ascent. The scientific effectiveness of the absolute statements of Truth, as they are used by man, will always be due to the fact that they are used at the top of the mountain. Statements true at the top are not true at the bottom. The bottom represents being under the domination of mortal mind, which always involves believing in mortal mind as real. When you establish the unreality of this mind, you are freed from it. That means you have climbed to the top of the mountain. Hence, to declare that mortal mind is not real, while you are under its domination, is endeavoring to serve two masters, unless you are declaring that it is not real, as a step in the process of climbing into the atmosphere of God. Such working thoughts affirm that the things of the material senses and mortal mind are not real; that nothing can make them seem real or make us believe that they are real; that our thought does always dwell at the top of the mountain, is there now, where we know that all is infinite Mind and nothing else exists. These affirmative statements are helpful, only as we use them to climb the mountain. Then, when we reach the top of the mountain, they become helpful to all mankind, they broaden, extend and cover the earth.

This latter point can further be illustrated by the radio. We may turn on the broadcasting system and then assert scientific and constructive truths into the microphone. Following the elapse of several minutes, however, we discover that these statements are not being broadcast, even though the full power is turned on. Then, after climbing to the top of a high aerial tower, we find that there is a connection that must be made. When this task is completed, the message begins to go out to the world.

Similarly, the declarations the student makes on the plane of mortal mind, constitute the weapons of his warfare, that aid in keeping his thought rightly adjusted, but they do not go out to help humanity until thought has been elevated to the scientific sending point, where all that goes forth, comes from God, with man as the channel. In the case of the radio, the first time we make the assertions, we alone hear them. However, after the aerial has been connected, the world hears them.

From Mrs. Eddy’s simple statement, therefore, that, “God demands God,” comes the illumination that in order for man to be a channel for God, whereby he can extend to humanity a universal blessing, he must take on, or establish, a Godlike altitude of mind within himself, since “like attracts like.”




Chapter Fifty-four — Impersonal Radiation of Good

The unfoldment of these cryptic pronouncements of our Leader, in order to elucidate the inspirational nature of her daily statements to the students, must include the following point: Statements of Truth which Mrs. Eddy did not include in her published writings, must always be construed as teaching points given to individuals and hence, not intended for universal consumption. None of the teaching that the Master gave as individual instruction, has yet been discovered. Nothing is known to have been recorded, except those universal teachings which are applicable to all mankind. No doubt this is wisdom. In the case of Mrs. Eddy, however, so much of her private instructions were sent out broadcast, through letters and manuscripts, and by word of mouth, that for years such statements will continually come to light and find a ready circulation. Nothing can prevent this sharing process. Hence, all students should be warned that such scientific instruction should never be adopted as a universal teaching or rule, when it is not. All that was universal in its scope is contained in her published works.

Keeping these facts in mind, we perceive the obvious confusion that would ensue if the following statement, which Mrs. Eddy declared to the students that she once used, should become generally adopted as a working point for all. The story in Mrs. Eddy’s own words is quoted here: “I was in a street car once when a drunken man came in and sat down. I said mentally, ‘You are a fool and don’t know it’; I kept thinking that and nothing else; in a few moments that man was perfectly sober; it had roused his dormant sense to the situation, and when he saw, that was the end of it.”

Does not a sinner appeal to Christian Science for help, because it has struck home to him what a fool he is? Otherwise, would he knock at its door for a crust of Truth? Is it not indisputable that when he does come, he longs to stop being a fool? Furthermore, cannot this same point apply to the so-called righteous man? By this assertion we mean that if he does not turn to Christian Science, it proves that he is a fool and does not know it, because he is foolishly following a false sense of God, that will get him nowhere. From the foregoing argument, therefore, it is evident that a man’s coming to Christian Science, be he humanly a saint or sinner, hinges on his recognition of himself as a fool. Hence, no Christian Scientist would argue to a patient that he was a fool, because the very fact that he is applying for help, proves that this recognition has struck home.

However, this awakening had not come to the man in the car; and, hence, the case required the argument, “You are a fool and don’t know it.” Mrs. Eddy recognized that this was the claim, a lack of the recognition of what a fool he was. That blindness was holding him in bondage. Yet, nothing could gainsay the fact, that Mrs. Eddy had acquired a fundamental recognition which she could never lose, that the claim connected with alcohol, and all similar claims, are illusions. She knew this without conscious declaration. Therefore, when she brought him into the attitude of a patient, because the fact that he was a fool had struck home, her underlying spiritual consciousness of perfection healed him.

Let us suppose that one without this underlying spiritual perception had made this declaration.Would it have accomplished anything? If that argument is all that is needed, there would be few drunkards, since a drunkard is generally looked upon as a fool by the majority of enlightened people. Mrs. Eddy, however, was a Christian Scientist, and therefore, she had definitely destroyed for all time the false belief of there being any power inherent in what is called the action of alcohol, and the consequent claim of drunkenness. Furthermore, she had established within her consciousness the spiritual recognition of God as all, and man as His perfect reflection. This meant that unconsciously she radiated a healing atmosphere, in line with her own words as given in, “Mrs. Eddy as I Knew Her in 1870, ” by Samuel Putnam Bancroft: “Now, to advance continually throughout time and eternity in the Science by which harmony is given to man, you must perform the most labor with yourself. First, be right here, and then the very atmosphere of yourself will heal the sick. You will, in other words, exhale or throw off God, the Principle that heals wherever you are, and the sick will recover on account of you, whether you address them, or let them alone, but they may never know what healed them. Hundreds have I healed thus. In fact, the sick all begin to recover wherever I am. ”

The world calls a drunkard a fool, believing that he is a weakling who cannot control his appetite. Mrs. Eddy called the drunkard a fool, knowing that he was being fooled by the belief that it gave him pleasure to become intoxicated, when the truth is that liquor has no power to afford pleasure, nor to ensnare man in a vicious habit, apart from what belief declares.

We might call one a fool who was fooled by a ventriloquist. The drunkard is fooled by mortal law, which uses matter as its decoy. The argument, you are a fool and don’t know it, opened the man’s thought to the truth about the lie, namely, that man is never a victim of liquor, or matter, only of the so-called law of mortal belief. This knowledge awakened him to error’s deception and freed him.




Chapter Fifty-five — Symbolism of Dirt and Shadow

Of aid in gaining further ability to interpret our Leader’s spiritual footsteps is the following explanation of two statements which seem to contradict each other.

When Mrs. Eddy addressed her students from the balcony at Pleasant View at one of the yearly gatherings, she said, “When you see sin in others, know that you have it in yourselves, and become repentant. ”

The reverse of this instruction is the following extract taken from page 11 of the book, “Ira Oscar Knapp and Flavia Stickney Knapp”, privately printed by their son, Bliss Knapp, in 1925: “Mrs. Eddy possessed the ability to read the unspoken thoughts of her pupils. For example: a student called at her home for an interview and was told that Mrs. Eddy would see her in a few moments. While the student was looking out of the window as she waited for Mrs. Eddy, she saw an intoxicated man across the street. She began to ponder the case, and asked herself, ‘Where is that seeming error? Am I drunk or is that man drunk? Is the error in me or is it in him?’ Immediately Mrs. Eddy, who had entered the room unobserved, said aloud, ‘No, that error is not in your thought.'”

Is man’s concept of error all there is to it? On page 67 of Retrospection and Introspection, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Sin existed as a false claim before the human concept of sin was formed; hence one’s concept of error is not the whole of error.”

It is possible for the shadow of another’s error momentarily to affect the Science of one’s thinking, as in the above instance of Mrs. Eddy’s pupil, but, in this case, it was the wrong thinking of another, for which the woman herself was not responsible. She would have been reprehensible only if she had permitted it to take hold of her thought. A passing glimpse of falsity does not mean that it has any holding power to mar man's scientific conception.

If you were constructing a statue, you would not believe that a passing shadow, which suddenly made a dark place on the whiteness of the marble, was the same as dirt rubbed onto it from your own soiled hands. In fact, you would handle each situation as the need required, pulling up the shade to remove the shadow, and washing the statue to remove the dirt. In like manner, Mrs. Eddy wanted this student to know that that error was not in herself, not part of her own thinking, although reflected for a moment by her thought. Of course, the obligation was hers to deny the error, but not feel personally responsible for originating it.

There is a difference between having dust on the windshield of one’s automobile, or having it lodge on the piece of celluloid which forms the internal core of what is called the modern safety glass. One is easily wiped off, whereas the removal of the other involves an entire new core.

Thus, the dust of mortal thinking, which settles on thought from day to day, can be easily removed. Notwithstanding, the very presence of this dust is a constant reminder of the necessity for that effort which involves the establishment of an entirely new basis of thinking, a transference from the human to the divine; and the very fact that one sees sin in another, proves that this task has not yet been completed.




Chapter Fifty-six — Spiritual Interpretation of the Manual

Mrs. Eddy knew that God guided her in writing the Manual. On page 116 of Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, Adam Dickey quotes her as saying, “I prayed God day and night to show me how to form my Church, and how to go on with it. I understand that He showed me, just as I understand He showed me Christian Science and no human being ever showed me Christian Science. Then I have no right or desire to change what God has directed me to do, and it remains for the Church to obey it. What has prospered this Church for thirty years will continue to keep it.”

At another time, she spoke of the Manual as follows: “God gives us the victory. His plan is made long before we know anything about it; then we have to carry it out. The human heart requires many scourgings sometimes before it falls in line, but it must come. We can help one another and can help ourselves, but God gives the victory. When I used to preach in a hall, I would go there sometimes and the door would be locked; could not get in. Others would be inside in the front seats, laughing and talking. I would have to get a policeman to let me in; then in the room where I would stay until time to go out to speak, there would be cigar stumps lying around. Then when I had a Church I said, we will not have By-laws; see how I had to give that up? I finally said, there will have to be laws to put a stop to this (mortal mind) work. Then I wrote the Manual. I never had a Church until I had the Manual. See how God led me! I wrote the Manual as I did S. & H.”

Mrs. Eddy told me that the purpose of the Manual was to bless and encourage the students, to guide them wisely, but never to inculcate a human discipline according to mortal mind, which would endeavor to force others into doing and thinking what they should. She said, “When will the students learn how to utilize and interpret the Bylaws correctly? They are not intended to restrict nor to produce hardship.”

For instance, if the Manual instructed that the Readers be changed at stated intervals, Mrs. Eddy did not intend for them to follow it literally, if such meant to lower the spiritual standard. In defence of this statement, I will cite a definite case. When the students in New York wrote, asking Mrs. Eddy if John C. Lathrop could be considered a candidate for the Readership where he had read before, because the Manual called for a change, Mrs. Eddy wrote back a letter, which was dictated to me, in which she said that Mr. Lathrop should continue by all means, if they had no other suitable candidate, and that she never intended the Manual to lower the spiritual standard. Then, she said to me that she wished the students would understand the spirit in which the Manual was written.

Mrs. Eddy knew that a literal obedience to the By-laws was not sufficient; for the only true obedience is spiritual. They must all be obeyed in Spirit and in Truth. The Manual was provided for Christian Scientists, and not Christian Scientists for the Manual. The By-laws were spiritual revelations to our Leader, to be given to the Field as guides to set forth the better way. They require rotation in office, for instance, in order that no one student may yield to the error that would set one up as a Leader, and also, in order that as many students as possible may have the privilege of the blessings which accompany service in the various capacities which the organization offers. Through rotation, students discover that it requires demonstration to act correctly, rather than to have demonstration the result of one’s acts. Thus are workers built up for the Cause. Obedience without divine wisdom marks only the earliest steps of growth.

In reference to Mrs. Eddy’s speaking about the cigar stumps lying around, and the fact that she even found it difficult to get into the very hall where she was to speak, what did she intend to show forth?

That was simply to show that in the early days of Christian Science, before students were instructed sufficiently to know how to give her the necessary mental support at such times, she had to carry the whole burden alone, not only giving a lecture, but doing the mental work to support it as well. She was given no support either outwardly or mentally.




Chapter Fifty-seven — Replenishing One's Spiritual Store

Although Jesus was the Son of God, he called himself the Son of man. This dual nature represents a relationship with God whereby he received from God the treasures of Mind, and a relationship with man whereby he might take this spiritual inheritance and extend it to help others. In order for anyone to merit the title, Son of man, one must recognize the falsity of the mortal sense of man and be able, through spiritual understanding, to supply the world with the divine antidote, so that man may escape from a false sense of man to the true.

This dual functioning must be attained by man before he can begin to come into the fullness of his divine destiny. He must hold himself as a Son of God, because only through that metaphysical process and relationship does man receive the things of God. Then he must realize that he is the Son of man, and through that relationship he can recognize the human need and supply it, “seeking his own in another’s good.” Science and Health, page 518.

Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual attainment was outstanding in comparison with that of anyone else in this age, because she combined in such perfect balance the ability to be both a Christian and a Scientist. She never lost sight of this duality nor the need that her students emphasize both of these spiritual qualities. She was scientific, and yet maintained a simple direct faith in God. She was both a Son of God and a Son of man.

Of what permanent value would be the demonstration of a student who was a natural giver, and yet had little by way of spiritual treasure to give? Similarly, what would be thought of the Christian Science practitioner who, through the amount of his giving, became so mentally bound up in the problem of what to give and to whom to give it, that he failed to make the proper demonstration to receive? The practitioner who gives largely of his time to healing the sick, finds that his spiritual store must be regularly replenished. Otherwise, a desire to be a Son of man might overshadow the necessity of being a Son of God; the duties of one crowding out the duties of the other. Actually, one must complement the other, since, no matter how much one might desire to give, he has nothing to give unless he receives from God.

One can only go so far in an automobile before it becomes necessary to replenish the tank with gasoline. Otherwise, getting out and pushing becomes the only other alternative. Oh! that every student of Christian Science might resist this temptation to push! If, when a Christian Scientist temporarily loses his reserve of spiritual good, he was left with nothing human to fall back on, this temptation would not present itself. But, the moment spirituality departs, the point at which Jesus always withdrew from the multitude and went up on the mount to commune with the divine Mind, the educated human intellect rises up to offer itself as a substitute, to deceive the very elect.

When the Master said, “I can of mine own self do nothing,” he implied that he had no substitute human acumen or sagacity. All that he knew, all the mental powers he had, came through inspiration and reflection. Therefore, the moment he lost his inspiration, he lost his knowledge. Hence, we might modernize his above statement thus, “The only thing I can give out, is what I get from God. When I have not that, I have nothing to give.”

The student of Christian Science must realize that all he has to give at any time, that is good, is what he gets from God, whether he is healing the sick, reading in church, serving on a board of trustees, or writing lectures or articles for our periodicals. Also, he must learn that he can attain and retain such good, through scientific knowledge and demonstration alone. Sometimes, students become discouraged when they fail to attain the good they desire. They believe that their Christianity alone entitles them to oneness with God and the manifold blessings which follow, when what is needed is Science. Science enables us to reach God; Christianity enables us to give out this good to humanity.

Without it, Christianity is doomed to failure. Christianity is our foundation; but Science is our superstructure that takes us up to God. Of what avail is one without the other?




Chapter Fifty-eight — Understanding Mrs. Eddy's Life and Revelation

One point of misunderstanding in regard to Mrs. Eddy, is in connection with the persistence with which she has attached her name to everything associated with Christian Science, requiring it to be read at every Christian Science service, as author of the textbook. Can this demand be reconciled with the fact that she desired no self aggrandizement? We know that she wanted mankind to respect, appreciate, and, if possible, love her revelation. She also desired that the doctrine of Christian Science be perpetuated in its purity. But there is a further point which involves the fact, that she knew that a right appreciation of the revelation and the Revelator must be coincident. If animal magnetism darkened the thought of anyone concerning her experience, she knew that such a distorted vision was proof that this individual was governed by the adversary, and hence, could not possibly understand her revelation aright. Therefore, by attaching her name to her revelation, she made it impossible for anyone to approach Christian Science from a wrong basis of thought, without exposing this fact in his erroneous attitude toward her. As she once said, “Follow the wayshower and you will follow the divine idea; turn away from the way-shower and you turn away from the divine idea; like turning away from the window-pane, you turn away from the light.”

When a man falls overboard, he struggles and swims until he reaches the security and safety of the shore. If, in some conceivable way, he found that the water was frozen solid, he might sigh with relief because he had discovered that sense of security right at hand. Assuming that the shore represented the permanence of the divine and the real, we deduce that man’s struggle to seek and find God results from the insecure and treacherous nature of mortal mind. However, when this transient sense of mortality takes on a temporary solidity and stability, and appears as a sense of existence in which man may relax and feel at peace, then the struggle for the shore ceases until the melting time comes, as it always does.

This melting sense, or breaking up of the stability of the human, was an early part of Mrs. Eddy’s experience. Matter brought her little else than discomfort, even pain and suffering, nervousness, fear and loss. Because of it, she was driven to the struggle of gaining the “Golden Shore of Love,” Science and Health, page 576; and the fact that she unfolded its existence, can never be separated from her effort to reach it, as far as others following in her footsteps are concerned.

Only when the student understands Mrs. Eddy, can he successfully demonstrate Christian Science as it is intended to be demonstrated, to produce true spiritual growth. The Revelator and the revelation can never be separated. One is the exemplification of the process by which the other is brought to man. The moment Mrs. Eddy is separated from her revelation, man begins to try to live by the revelation alone; but the revelation alone does not expound the process by which man is able to gain the revelation.

If Mrs. Eddy had disclosed the truth of Christian Science and then retired from the scene, her revelation would not have been practical; for an abstract and impersonal doctrine has little practical and permanent value until man is educated to understand it. So Mrs. Eddy was needed as the educator as well as the demonstrator. Revelation includes the great knowledge of God, but it needs to be practiced in order to have disclosed the human footsteps necessary to reach Him. It declares the great fact that this “Golden Shore of Love” does exist and that man can reach it. But does it, however, unfold the human application of the revelation necessary to gain that Shore? No! As an impersonal revelation, it reveals the spiritual facts of being, which show man that there is no evil in existence, that there never has been and never will be. It describes how God and His idea fills all space, always has and always will, and that the belief in a power apart from God is an illusion, which keeps man from the recognition of the allness of God.

But on page 252 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, “A knowledge of error and its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error, . . .” Hence, one of the byproducts of revelation is, that as it is applied to the human problem, it begins to unfold the orderly process of separating the belief in a human cause, with everything that flows from that cause, from the divine cause and its infinite manifestation. Herein we discover Mrs. Eddy’s gift, which she has left to us as our rich heritage. It is possible to impersonalize Mrs. Eddy’s revelation and leave her out, but such a crime would leave mankind in their old darkness, because, when it comes to the practical knowledge and demonstration of the process by which mortals must first empty their mental channels of the false mind and its manifestation, in order that these pipes may be refilled with the divine Mind, the golden oil spoken of in the fourth chapter of Zechariah, the study and understanding of Mrs. Eddy’s own experience constitute an integral and necessary part of this work.

While Mrs. Eddy’s great contribution to humanity was her reflection of divine inspiration, as perpetuated in her published writings, her individual gift to the world was the demonstration of her revelation, as it is expressed in her life. Mrs. Eddy’s contribution and gift go hand in hand, are equal in importance, and must not be separated.

On page 52 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy calls the Master “the best man that ever trod the globe.” Does not this appraisal conflict with this rebuke of the one who called him good Master, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God?”

Jesus knew that he was good, and yet, he rebuked one who called him good. However, this goodness lay in the ability to reflect and manifest God; whereas, the only true goodness is what man reflects from God, which is never man nor in man. Notwithstanding this fact, man’s ability to make of himself a channel for the divine Mind, comes under the head of goodness. Our dilemma is solved, when we perceive that it is really the goodness of method versus that of results, one of which belongs to man and the other to God.

Jesus recognized that the appreciation which he received, was for what he was able to do for them, and not for the fact that he exhibited a method which he had learned from God, and which he followed out consistently. The fruitage that he brought into being, was the result of his struggle to obey implicitly the rules God had revealed to him. He recognized how necessary it was, to turn man’s thought away from what he reflects, to how he reflects it, attributing one to God and the other to man. Only in this way can the comprehension come, that the results of demonstration proceed from a process that is demonstrable and understandable.

Until appreciation is transferred from results to method, man does not accept the possibility of his following in the Revelator’s footsteps. When man does gain the right perspective, he will realize that Science and Health sets forth a doctrine which any man, woman, or child may demonstrate, and which makes them a channel for the divine power. At this point, it is well to keep in mind, however, that it is always divine power, or good, that should be man’s objective, not the human transformation into that which is called physical healing. Hence, in Christian Science, the effort is to emphasize, not the wonderful things which Mrs. Eddy or her followers have accomplished and are accomplishing, but the wonderful things which God can do, when man makes of himself a channel for the operation of this infinite good.

One might call a faucet which pours forth refreshing waters good, but this term would be a misnomer. If the faucet is held to be the source of the water, that recognition would omit the great reservoir, considering either that it did not exist or else that it was unnecessary. If, however, the water that comes from the reservoir is good, that does not make the faucet good. The only thing for which the faucet may be called good, is for functioning properly with the greatest degree of openness, being connected with the reservoir, and permitting the water to flow freely through it.

This point might be clarified, if it were possible to have two words, both of which meant good, one being applied to the water and the other to the fact that the faucet is open to the flow of water. Nevertheless, these two can never be separated. Both the Master and Mrs. Eddy were channels for the divine Mind. Yet, the good that flows from God through the channel is always impersonal. It is the uniting of the open channel to the infinite source that brings God’s goodness to man. Thus, the Master’s name was Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, or Jesus, the Christ. This term designates the impersonal good that came through a good man. In her sermon, Christian Healing, page 3, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Therefore Christ Jesus was an honorary title; it signified a ‘good man,’ which epithet the great goodness and wonderful works of our Master more than merited.”

Jesus represented the process by which man is able to reflect the Christ, or God, impersonal good. Hence, you can never separate Jesus and Christ. In this age, Mrs. Eddy represented this duality; and, hence, Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science are names that can never be separated, without breaking up the spiritual continuity of her revelation and her personal demonstration of it.

If the tendency should arise to attribute to Mrs. Eddy the good she reflected, as if it were something natural to her and part of her, that would correspond to the above error of naming the faucet as the source of the water, and ignoring the reservoir. Mrs. Eddy never put forth one iota of real good, until she had acquired the spiritual ability to reflect God. Then what she reflected was good, because it was God. It was the Word made flesh that dwelt among us.

Mrs. Eddy hoped that her students would always put a right understanding of her ahead of blind loyalty and human appreciation. Otherwise, she foresaw that they might attribute her goodness to her and thus make it personal, a special dispensation from God. Nevertheless, this very error was what put the world in darkness in regard to the Master.

The volunteer fireman who hears the call of the fire bell first, and lives nearest to the house that is afire, reaches the blaze first. Yet, the call is sent out impersonally. In this illustration, goodness would reside in each man equally, if goodness meant the desire to respond. However, that goodness first becomes expressed through the one who reaches the need first and meets it.

The call of the divine law is impersonal, but it is heard first by the one in whom goodness has worn through materiality. Mrs. Eddy, who was like a caged bird fretting to free herself, was called of God, but the call was for all; and down through the centuries, there have been many naturally good in the world who have heard this call. It was not her goodness alone that caused her to hear Truth speaking. It was her goodness, combined with her experience on the material side, her withdrawal from matter, because of what it offered: sickness, suffering, restriction, limitation.

If children have enough toys in a room to amuse them, they will not test the lock on the door, but take it for granted it is locked, because they heard the key turn. If the human door may be said to have a lock, it is on the inside. Yet mortal man does not even try to see if the door is unlocked, until the toys in the room cease to entertain.

The belief that the door is locked on the outside may be said to be the lie about the lie. The belief that mortals have unwittingly locked themselves in, is the truth about the lie. The truth about the Truth, that handles the situation, is the scientific realization that there is no door, no lock, no persons outside to do harm intentionally, or inside, to do it inadvertently to themselves or to others. God’s gift to man is freedom, and in reality he has this now. This gift is inviolate and can never be taken from him.

Mrs. Eddy was animated both by her love for good and her dissatisfaction with what earth had to offer her. She was by no means satisfied with the price she had to pay, as compared with what she received, in allowing herself to be placed under the domination of mortal mind. As she once said, “Mortal mind has not been kind enough to me to make me want to loiter in it.”

Mrs. Eddy could not be called good in the spiritual sense of that word, until she discovered Christian Science. Up to that time, her goodness covered all that she did to prepare herself to reflect the only real goodness that is God. Her sense of goodness alone did not make her a channel for God. She also needed to taste the bitterness of mortal belief, to the point where she struggled to throw it off. Thus her reaching out, and her throwing off, finally brought the influx of revelation which is destined to save the world.

Thus, when Mrs. Eddy’s name is linked with Christian Science, it points both to the immaculate goodness of God, and to the openness of the revelator, through whom, in this age, the things of God flowed in to man, as they did to the Saviour of old, the difference being that today, by being inscribed in a book, they have been made practical, usable and clear, so that all who will, may study and follow them.




Chapter Fifty-nine — Mrs. Eddy's Rebuke of Human Wisdom

On the surface, the Psalms seem to represent the Christian side of thought more than the scientific. Yet, that Christian side has its distinct place in aiding thought, when the claim is that it is heavy, weary or depressed. It must be recognized, however, that Science represents the only permanent attainment, and the Psalms fulfill their greatest mission through the Science they contain.

The Christian side of the Psalms, which inculcates a childlike faith in God, sets forth the possibility of rising temporarily above difficulties, although one still believes in the reality of error, which is never the scientific process. After the student has learned, however, to understand the unreality of error, its falsity, foolishness and deception, he must not believe that, if his thought once more sinks back into the belief in its reality, Science is the only way out. It is, to be sure, the only permanent way out, yet the Christian side of the Psalms represents a temporary way of escape, which may be necessary at times.

This point can be illustrated by the old fable of the lion and the mouse. The lion permitted the mouse to escape with its life, because the mouse promised to repay the lion when the opportunity arose. Although the lion laughed at the proposition, the day came when the mouse was able to set the lion free from a snare of strong ropes by gnawing them in two.

The mouse might illustrate a human faith in God, a childlike trust that we find present in the teachings of old theology; while the lion might represent the scientific understanding of God’s allness and man’s power when he reflects this divine Mind. Furthermore, it might typify that state of fearlessness which enables man to face mortal belief in all its manifestations, because he recognizes its scientific nothingness.

When Christian Science salvages from the wreck of old theology a simple faith in God, this mouse-like quality might thank Christian Science and say, “I will help you some day. ” It is obvious that the one armed with spiritual understanding would laugh at this promise, knowing how far from his thought such a human sense of God was. Yet, the day comes, when his thought becomes tired and bound up in fear; the logic of scientific argument no longer seems efficacious; he cannot see the unreality of sense testimony. Then comes the thought, illustrated by the mouse, a childlike trust in God, to help to release his thought from this snarl.

Thus, a wise Christian Scientist, no matter how scientific his understanding may be, never scorns a childlike faith in God, because, even though not the scientific method, it may be the means of helping him in time of need, aiding him to float when too weary to swim.

On page 23 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy makes this distinction, calling the mouse quality, trustfulness and the lion quality, trustworthiness. She speaks of these as two kinds of faith; one, that trusts one’s welfare to others, and the other, a self-reliance that includes spiritual understanding.

This matter under discussion suggests a point in Mrs. Eddy’s experience that has already been treated before: those times when she would refuse the dinner that had been prepared for her, and the cook would send up the incase, which was prepared and held in readiness.

It must be understood that our Leader’s portion of what would be called human health was really unimportant. Her health was a matter of spiritual demonstration. Hence, it required demonstration to maintain it. That is, her condition necessitated being fed spiritually, as well as materially. She required a spiritual thought with the food that was prepared for her. Thus we are faced with the question, how did she feel when she asked for bread and received a stone, meaning thereby that the food served to her was backed up by a stone, or an impenetrable state of materiality? How did she react, when she asked for a fish and received a serpent, or was presented with food which was backed up by a thought that had been made a channel for evil and human thinking?

It is not true, however, that, when Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual thought was in the ascendency, she depended on the students in the home to feed her spiritually. Her food at such times flowed in from the divine Mind, and a lack of demonstration, on the part of the students, did not affect her any more than high waves, beating against the base of a lighthouse, affect the light. If the supply of oil should run low, however, and the keeper finds it necessary to row to the mainland to replenish it, then the buffeting of the waves becomes a serious menace, and the assistants must be alert to pour oil on the waters, in order that the one in charge may make his necessary journey.

It was when error endeavored with persistence to rob Mrs. Eddy of her freedom of spiritual thought, divine optimism and dominion, that she expected and needed her students’ demonstrating sense to motivate every service rendered, whether it be in preparing her meals, cleaning the house, or tending to her correspondence. This was the standard by which all effort was measured. Hence, it was during our Leader’s hours of travail, that any lack of demonstration on the part of the students, was exposed. When she represented the lion of spiritual power, the students might let their demonstrating thought wane, and no rebuke would be forthcoming. But when, temporarily, her thought lost its spiritual poise, then any spiritual lack on the part of the workers became a breach of trust, which merited a severe rebuke.

At this point, it is necessary to say that, at those times when our Leader lost for the time being the dominion of the lion, and took refuge in the wisdom of the mouse, or a simple faith in God, it was as if the mouse ran into its hole in order to reappear as a lion, because our Leader never failed to rally once more to her mountain top of spiritual power through her reflection of God.

It was always our Leader’s hope, that she might find in the Field students ready to come to her and, in her hour of need, to contribute such a demonstrating sense, that she would be aided in her effort to restore her thought to its spiritual balance. So often, however, the very error which would touch her would limit the spiritual thought in her students at the same time; and she would then have the double task of regaining her own poise of thought, and of giving spiritual support to those, from whom she had expected such support.

It was always a source of interest to me, that she so often detected the lack of demonstration on the part of a student in the little services, which it was his or her privilege to render. For instance, as I have mentioned before, when it was my specific duty to hand her into her sleigh and arrange the robe for her, this service one day brought forth a loving word of praise, whereas the next day I received a sharp rebuke, even though I had done my best. There was not the slightest indication, that the second day’s effort differed from that of the first. My explanation for this dilemma was, that Mrs. Eddy’s sensitive thought had felt in me the lack of a right spiritual thought. She detected in my mind an unconscious malpractice, as if I were tucking in one whose age had made her sensitive to cold, instead of ministering to a representative of God. Accordingly, I would retreat to my room and wake myself up spiritually, endeavor to gain a more exalted spiritual consciousness, lest I be called an unfaithful steward in holding up the hands of our Leader.

As part of this effort to make clear to future generations the spiritual significance of Mrs. Eddy’s refusal of her dinner, of her rebuke to me when I tucked in the robe, or similar matters, trivial enough on the surface, it must be remembered that there was nothing wrong with the food which she refused, or the service rendered her in other ways, when judged according to human standards. The thing that was lacking, was the right spiritual thought. In proof of this deduction, I offer the fact that the moment a student was called upon to perform any service for our Leader, even the simplest act, if a demonstration was made of it, he could be assured that in her eyes it was never wrong. The student, who could overcome the human temptation to feel that she had criticised him unjustly, when he had done his best outwardly, and who would make the effort the next time to demonstrate a spiritual cause back of the service, would profit by our Leader’s corrections and be sure of her commendations in the future.

This simple incident of Mrs. Eddy’s demanding more than just a well-prepared meal really exemplified the statement in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ” It unfolds the great spiritual fact that it is never material food that nourishes man. Even though she had not yet reached that exalted standpoint where she could go without material food, still, it was the spiritual thought that comes from God alone, that made the food palatable and nourishing for her use. When she was in tune with God, she herself furnished the open door for this influx of spiritual good, which is necessary to make the human symbol called food acceptable to the advanced student of Christian Science. Hence, the student was rebuked for not supplying this spiritual nutriment, when Mrs. Eddy was incapable of doing it herself. Nevertheless, the students were expected to make such a demonstration continuously.

Another valuable point involved in this incident, is this: if one should find himself assailed by the ills of indigestion, he should realize that he cannot make the demonstration to overcome them, until he perceives that it is not food, either in quality or quantity, that is producing the physical disorder, or that is needed to nourish his body in health, but it is his lack of the realization of the true source from which all blessings come. Food, recognized through spiritual understanding, as a symbol of the love of God to man, could never cause any suffering, for this realization would be a healing for anyone, coming as it does, through the transfer of trust from matter to Mind. It is a sign of spiritual growth, when one is able to perceive the difference between food that emanates from mortal mind, and food in which demonstration has replaced mortal mind with divine Mind. When one is able to distinguish between those things which proceed from the divine Mind, which, because they are good, will always be acceptable to the spiritually-minded man; and those things which, no matter how apparently good they may seem to be, must be a source of darkness to the thought advanced in spiritual understanding, because they proceed from the source which is the avowed enemy of the things of Spirit, then the student will be able to perceive the valuable and important lessons which Mrs. Eddy’s daily experiences teach, when spiritually interpreted. Those who desire to follow in her footsteps, because they recognize her as the Revelator in this age, must gain this ability to translate all of her varied experiences in the flesh into waymarks, which point to her inward struggle, and eventual success, in being governed more and more by Spirit, instead of by the human mind. The human pages of her life are valueless to the student, unless their spiritual significance be understood and perceived as the orderly steps in the spiritualization of her thought, that constituted the numbering of the hairs of her head.

In Science and Health, page 239, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Success in error is defeat in Truth. ” When one finds that human wisdom fails to guide his footsteps aright, this cryptic statement should turn his thought to the only infallible source of wisdom, the divine Mind; but, as long as human wisdom seems to accomplish the results he desires, he may mistake this poor substitute for the divine wisdom. Such a sad misconception indicates how success in error is defeat in Truth, because it leaves man without the necessary incentive to make the effort to manifest Truth.

It is an interesting commentary on human blindness that any of Mrs. Eddy’s household should have felt that, although they had a great love for her and an appreciation for what was unquestionably good in her life and teaching, it required more or less tolerance on their part to overlook Mrs. Eddy’s own impatience, and to ignore her lack of appreciation, and even criticism, of what was done for her through their love and effort. To some, her rebukes seemed the voice of animal magnetism. They felt that, in coming to Pleasant View, they had come face to face at close range with the real Mrs. Eddy, and the idol was found to have feet of clay. On the surface, it would seem as if Mrs. Eddy was swayed by sentimental feelings, that she was unduly critical and that, when she had a difficulty of the flesh, she did not behave with the courage and determination that she would have demanded of her lowliest disciple, but instead, stirred everybody up unnecessarily. In reproving such a blind estimate, let us quote the Master: “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.” Does not this human picture of Mrs. Eddy resolve itself into the waymarks of divinity, under the searchlight of spiritual perception?

Mrs. Eddy’s own explanation of her often rebukes to her students, was that it was not lack of self-control that made her so often appear the unjust, or ungenerous, or unkind, or impatient one, but the obedience to God which she dare not disregard. Her own words were, “Oh! You don’t know what burdens I have borne through the necessity I have felt for rebuking students, but who could not receive my rebuke as coming from true love for them. This is the great test of the true student. If they are found unwilling to bear this test, they are not worthy to be found in this work. It is the resentment that rebuke uncovers or excites, that makes up the burden, the terrible burden, that I have had, and still have to bear, in this pioneer work of Christian Science. It was nothing but a constant joy to me to minister to the needs of humanity in the healing work. It was when I began to teach, and be faithful with students, that I began to know of suffering and sorrow.”

Scientifically understood, the very phases of Mrs. Eddy’s experience that might seem foreign to a patient, loving, Christian nature, teach lessons which are invaluable, and no more merit criticism as failures to live up to her own teachings, than do the sweeping strokes of the swimmer which he uses to produce progress, as compared with a calm floating on the surface, which is peaceful to be sure, but is not productive of any results. Whenever Mrs. Eddy felt her thought slowing up spiritually, she began to thrash the waters of mortal mind, in order that she might start a renewal of progress, a thing which she invariably accomplished. Hence, the end justified the means. At such times, she might be likened to a speed boat churning the water into waves which stir up all the other boats in the harbor. Consider, however, what a contrast its motion is, when compared with the other vessels aimlessly floating, but getting nowhere. Any criticism of the speed boat, for making waves that produce discomfort, must be swallowed up in the miracle of achievement. Mrs. Eddy’s own pronouncement of her standard was written to one of her secretaries on Jan. 21, 1904: “I have no hope in earthly ways and means; God has pointed my path higher. O for the eagle’s wings, the power divine, to mount to Thee!”




Chapter Sixty — The Student's Reflection of the Power of Truth

At one time Mrs. Eddy told me that I was to be her successor. I assumed that she said this same thing to every one of the students who gave any exhibition of spiritual understanding and power. Later, I learned that about a year before I arrived at the home, the point had come up and some student had stated that God would raise up someone who would be faithful as was John at the cross. Mrs. Eddy replied, “How do you know? Look within and see who that one should be. It is opium, ether, etc., that would cause you to suggest it should be someone else.”

I think that Mrs. Eddy hoped that every student who came to Pleasant View would be her successor, notwithstanding, by successor, she did not mean one who would step into her place as Leader.

Who could be Mrs. Eddy’s successor? In order to answer the question let me ask another: what was Mrs. Eddy’s work? Was it not to keep the mighty influx of spiritual revelation flowing freely to guide the great Cause of Christian Science and to bless humanity? Hence, would not all students who could successfully light the bright lamp of inspiration, and keep it burning and shining out to bless all mankind be her successors? This explanation defines Mrs. Eddy’s successor, a position of honor before God rather than before man. The results of such a position, which is open to all at all times, are so infinite and far-reaching that man cannot conceive of them. The footsteps to it require sincere self-immolation, the effort to submerge the human and exalt the divine.

And he who attains this God-crowned office of Mrs. Eddy’s successor does so through gaining and retaining inspiration. Mrs. Eddy has no other successorship.

It is interesting to note that students who came to live with our Leader came face to face with inspiration that was coming directly from the divine Mind. However, coming so close to the Leader meant a shortened focus. It involved a situation which required a mental adjustment that was not an easy one to make, for one beheld in Mrs. Eddy, cause, without the opportunity of seeing effect; a situation which might be represented by the difference between seeing the power house, or the multifold operations of the power in serving a wide area of currentusers. Being actually in the power house is apt to remove the sense of awe that one feels in contemplating the use of the power in a thousand different ways in a hundredthousand homes and factories.

Those students out in the Field, who never had the chance to see Mrs. Eddy at close range, felt a sense of worship toward her because of the magnificent effect of her demonstration, as it covered the world. On the other hand, those who lived with her, who respected and loved her, felt a sense of fear rather than worship toward her. When those on the outside asserted that she was such a wonderful woman, those on the inside were apt to say to themselves, “If they could live with her, they would have no such illusions.” It seemed as if distance lent enchantment to the view. Those on the outside felt that she must lead a life of perfection; whereas the shock of living with her and discovering the facts was almost too much for some. Nevertheless, for those who could understand, Mrs. Eddy’s life provided the greatest kind of spiritual help. The students who were shocked on coming to the home were the ones who formerly visualized human perfection in Mrs. Eddy’s life and found instead a human struggle.

Thus, it can be seen that the attitude of those outside the home differed from that of the students inside. The close focus revealed imperfections in the human, but, at the same time, a sense of the grandeur and magnitude of cause. Many on the outside imagined human perfection and hence, failed to comprehend Mrs. Eddy’s use of the spiritual, because they fancied that her goodness was inherent instead of being reflected.

Therefore, it would have been sound advice to urge those on the inside to look away from cause to effect at times, from the power house to the vast number of factories in action; for then, if the temptation came to criticize the power house, it would be silenced through the evidence of what the power house was accomplishing.

The fact that she recognized and persistently declared that the action of the divine Mind reflected by her, or by those who understand the Truth, was legion, made a great impression on me.

In the fifth chapter of Acts, we read of Ananias and Sapphira who fell down dead when they were caught withholding part of the money that had been pledged to the common fund. Is there not a danger of repeating their error today? When the students learn the depth, spread, allness and completeness of the divine Mind as reflected by man, then if this power is largely applied to the healing of sickness or poverty, it involves placing limits on this reflection of limitless law. The thought of the application of Christian Science as being legion and meeting every phase of the human problem, must be constantly kept before the mind of the student if he does not want his understanding to fail him sooner or later in an emergency. Should the time come, when his very life depends upon his absolute allegiance to God, then a halfway dependence in the past will be exposed as it was with Ananias and Sapphira. If one claims to relinquish everything material, even dependence on the human intellect, wisdom and education, in order that he may be entitled to the divine aid, and he still retains a faith in mortal mind in any direction, this will rob his prayers of that perfect assurance that brings conviction. How much faith does the godless sailor have in his prayers during a storm, when he recalls that his past experience has been a denial of God at every point? Consistent dependence on God brings mental strength, whereas if, after taking the first footsteps in Christian Science, which include healing sickness and lack, the student does not broaden his conception to include every phase of human experience, there is lacking that consistent growth which brings spiritual power and dominion.

It was this breadth of thought and demonstration of our Leader, that was a constant source of inspiration to me.

In the seventh chapter of Hosea we read, “When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them.” This net might be said to represent our spiritual process of handling error, which, when applied, never lets error escape. A net carries with it much more possibility of success in catching fish than does one hook or, perhaps, a gun, the bullet of which might miss the target, whereas a net is allencompassing. Furthermore, a net represents the infinite spread of man’s reflection of divine power, that reaches to the ends of the earth. It typifies, too, the extending of inspiration, exemplified by Mrs. Eddy in her demonstration. Finally, it must symbolize the goal of every student who cherishes the hope of being her spiritual successor.

The net is something woven together. Hence, it represents the complete line of scientific argument which the student has brought together that covers all the ground. It shows that in Truth man never sends out a demonstrating thought that does not reach its object and accomplish that whereunto it is sent. Hence, the net is not something reserved alone for sickness, lack, or even, sin. This texture of scientific and related arguments covers the whole ground, handles error and demonstrates Truth, through the realization of the nothingness of sense testimony and the allness of spiritual cause. These propositions build up our net whereby we stretch out the conception of demonstration ad infinitum. I was impressed with the sense that Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration was a net that went out to cover all, and necessarily such a limitless conception would mark the effort of one who would be her successor. Jesus’ disciples had the net but lacked expectancy.

At the time of the eight o’clock Watch Mrs. Eddy went out on the upper side porch. I always gained the impression that this hour was consecrated to working for the whole world and that she never permitted anything less to come under the searchlight of her scientific consciousness during this time. These universal outpourings nearly always lifted and sweetened her thought.

Self-depreciation is found both in mortal mind and in Christian Science. In the latter, however, it is right only when applied to the mortal sense of man, which must be torn down as we build up the ideal sense of man and our consciousness of his ability to reflect the divine Mind with an infinite range of influence.

Students of Christian Science must take their cue from their Leader and build up confidence in the power they reflect, establishing the glorious fact that their spiritual consciousness has the very powers of the universe back of it; that nothing can stand before it; that it has a speed greater than that of light; that it goes wherever it is directed, acts instantaneously and does accomplish that whereunto it is sent.

Being with Mrs. Eddy was of great assistance to me in my effort to realize the infinite range of spiritual thought as reflected by man. It aided me in my effort to throw off the mortal mind sense of limitation which we are tempted to place about our spiritual capacities. Unless the student recognizes the coverage and range of his spiritual power, he will not use it as he should. He will resemble the farmer who buys an automobile and then drives it within the limits of his old horse and carriage, both as to speed and distance.

Unless the seeker begins to recognize the possibilities connected with reflection, he will exclude from his thought certain phases of human experience that need mental purgation. However, when one does begin to recognize the vastness of spiritual good and its range, when reflected by man, he will begin to work in worlds and worlds upon worlds, and not confine his efforts to specific phases of error. In corroboration of this thought-arresting conception, let us quote Mrs. Eddy’s statement regarding Love in Miscellaneous Writings, page 249, “Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign!”

Without this breadth of thought, a practitioner might be glad to treat a patient in his office and, at the same time, fear to take the case of one who was on the other side of the globe. Science and Health tells us that space is no obstacle to Mind.

Although the student can take Truth into his consciousness, he must never limit it by a human sense and must always include the right conception of its range and power in this assimilatory process. Right thinking is not truly right thinking until it is universal right thinking. When the student takes on this divine consciousness, this heavenly sense which, like the mustard seed, seems small from the human standpoint, he takes on infinite possibilities; there is no extent that it cannot compass; no good that it cannot bring out; no thought that it cannot reach. First, the student makes his spiritual net, and then broadens it day by day.

It is true that much self-depreciation in students is an error, a lack of developing this understanding of the spiritual extent of the divine power they reflect. Therefore, in order to antidote this sense of inferiority, they must build up their faith in the limitless extent of the divine power that they do reflect, and not that which they can reflect. If one spends his whole Science experience in healing the claims of sickness and lack, the error involved in such activity is not that it does not do good and present Christian Science to the world in the right way, but it limits the scope of its greater possibilities. This situation might be aptly illustrated by one using a 500 ton hydraulic press to break eggs; it is enlisting majestic power to perform inconsequential tasks. To be sure, the student begins by modest demonstrations, small beginnings, but the call of progress always comes demanding one to broaden his conceptions.

When you enter upon a true recognition of the power, extent and results of the divine law that you reflect, this knowledge will destroy fear, limitation, self-condemnation and self-depreciation. Realize that every time you think scientifically and remove the sense of human limitation from thinking, you are launching into the world a regenerative power the results of which are legion! Understand that you cannot limit the action and extent of the infinite power of Truth you reflect, since Truth is always limitless! Either you reflect it or you do not. If the Truth you express is narrow in its extent, this fact alone indicates that you are muzzling the Truth you reflect, hence, it cannot rightly be called Truth. Students imagine that Truth comes to them in a small stream. Whereas, in reality, just to catch a glimpse of Truth is to image forth infinite power.

A concise statement of the foregoing argument might be that the demand to become Mrs. Eddy’s successor, which is a mantle all should and can assume, carries with it the necessity, first, to learn the truth of Christian Science; then, to recognize the limitless extent of this divine power thus brought to earth; and gradually, to compass a larger and larger demonstration.

It is an observable fact that the Master claimed nothing for himself beyond what he taught was a possibility for his disciples. When the five thousand were hungry, he said to them, “Give ye them to eat,” inferring in this statement that they possessed the understanding to bring out the demonstration, as he did. He had an unlimited sense of the possibilities of the Truth he reflected, which put him above his disciples, not so much in understanding as in faith in that understanding. A reader of the New Testament is constantly impressed with the Master’s faith in the Truth and in the fact that he put no limits on the divine power which he reflected and manifested.

When Mrs. Eddy wrote Science and Health, the flow of inspiration to her continued from sunrise to sunset, a limitation she mentions on page 114 of Miscellany. At another time, she described this phenomenon to one of the students in the home as follows: “I did not understand Science and Health when I wrote it. I would write just as fast as I could; I would have to do so; could not help it. The desire to write would begin in the morning at about a certain time, and leave in the afternoon. I would not stop for dinner when I was writing, and the people where I was boarding used to wonder at it, and would sometimes bring my dinner to me on a tray and set it beside me; but I would not stop.”

However, as her thought broadened and left behind its nervous apprehension of the night-pictures, which the darkness brings to many who have known years of illhealth, she outgrew this periodic sense of inspiration, which, no doubt, was a curtailment on her output of infinite Truth. As her spiritual understanding matured, she progressed beyond this limiting condition, so that the darkness presented no fear, and Truth would flow day and night. Truth is knocking at man’s door twenty-four hours a day, asking only that man supply it with a spiritualized transformer. This requires that man empty thought of human interests, desires and fears, which claim to fill consciousness so that the normal action of Truth is distorted, and God’s will, which maintains a reign of harmony in heaven, is reversed into a reign of terror on earth.

David’s five smooth stones and sling represented his spiritual understanding and his determination to put that understanding into operation. In accord with this symbolism our Leader was outstanding because she possessed this spiritual understanding plus the determination to drive it home and make it operative and effective. Furthermore, she commanded that valuable quality which kept her thought alive, active, awake. In this alert condition, thought possesses the knowledge of what it is trying to do, and how it can be done; hence, it is invincible before any Goliaths which this world presents.

With a compass in his hand, man is equipped with an infallible guide to the north magnetic pole; but, in order to reach this point, he also requires the qualities of endurance and persistence. What is man’s knowledge of Christian Science worth if he has not the courage and determination to put it into practice? Knowledge plus zeal make the ideal combination.

Mrs. Eddy possessed this dual capacity. She was an intelligent student, and had a spiritually executive and persistent thought. Through these two attributes, she gained spiritual understanding and growth.

The analysis of what happens, when one of these qualities functions without the other, is interesting. The student who has an executive thought without the understanding to direct it is apt to be so handled by error that he becomes a positive menace. On the other hand, the person who has a good spiritual understanding but who lacks a purposeful thought to drive it, is apt to be handled so that he is afraid to call his soul his own. Hence, of what value is his understanding to him? Everything that he has developed has done little good because the claim of animal magnetism in the form of fear and self-depreciation has clothed his thought as in a black garment. Once Mrs. Eddy said, “Self-depreciation is not humility, but the meanest kind of pride, because it admits a sense of self apart from God.”

Thus we may see how animal magnetism claims to work in the two suppositional cases, illustrated in Ezekiel 21:21 where “the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination.” The student who is fortified against this divination, or animal magnetism, is the one who combines these two essential qualities: a correct understanding of the Truth, and a firm and active faith in his ability to demonstrate, that keeps him alert to the suggestions of animal magnetism, so that he never yields to the belief that he can be robbed of God, either through the argument of a lack of understanding, or of a lack of ability to demonstrate that understanding with ever-increasing coverage.




Chapter Sixty-one — Students Trained to Become Able Mental Workers

There were times when Mrs. Eddy called upon a student to work with her as one would call on a practitioner for help. During the night hours such a student would go into her bedroom at her request, and give her an audible treatment. Such experiences were not of frequent occurrence, however. They came when she was suffering under some claim or her thought had seemed to lose its spiritual poise. At such times she expected us to help her; yet, after she had regained her balance of thought, any attempt on our part to help her would have been animal magnetism. In fact, when her thought was clear, she warned the students against any attempt to help her, and labeled such an effort interference. The Master was faced with a similar situation when he said to Mary Magdalen, in John 20:17, “Touch me not.”

For us to help one whose spiritual thought is below ours in demonstration is scientific good; yet the same loving effort becomes interference when applied to one whose thought at that time is higher than ours. The same considerate endeavor, which lifts the thought of the one who is mentally depressed may have the effect of animal magnetism upon the same person, when his thought is mentally exalted. Must we not conclude, then, that spiritual help must be given only when our mental standpoint is above that of the one we would help?

At times, Jesus relied upon his disciples to support him when his thought was depressed. Yet their ignorant, but well-meaning, attempts to help him when he was above them, constituted animal magnetism, where animal magnetism is anything that tends to pull thought down from its spiritual elevation, which is always the object of animal magnetism. It may be that Mrs. Eddy did not really need such help, when she called for it; but that she did so as part of her effort to train the students in her home to become able mental workers.




Chapter Sixty-two — Handling the Weather

A Christian Science lecturer once told of a little kitten that was being chased by a dog. The kitten, sighting an approaching automobile, stopped in her tracks and began to run the other way. At once the dog stopped, turned about, and ran with the kitten after him.

In electricity, the direct current in a circuit always runs from the positive to the negative. To those unacquainted with these technical terms, the best illustration is found in a faucet, which we will call positive, and a drain below, which we will call negative. Obviously, the current of water always flows from the positive faucet to the negative drain.

By this same token, the dog, in the above illustration, can be called positive and the cat negative. The picture shows the running from positive to negative, until suddenly the cat loses her fear of the dog, and becomes positive. At once, the dog becomes negative, and the running reverses its direction.

In Job 3:25 we read, “The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me.” Fear is universally recognized as a negative state of mind. So Job’s statement might be paraphrased in the mouth of the cat as follows: “The dog which my fear, or negative state of mind, had made positive to me, or given power to harm me, ran after me, because positive always runs after negative; but, when I became positive to the dog, the chase was reversed, for he then became negative to me.”

It is evident from this analysis that fear in man makes him a sink, into which the unpleasant things of human experience flow. If man can reverse this standpoint, and take his positive position of divine dominion, because of the infinite power he reflects, he can recognize that he has nothing to fear in all the universe. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, “Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven—himself subordinate alone to his Maker. This is the Science of being.”

It must be thoroughly understood that man, as divine Love created him, is God’s representative, or the channel through which the power of God flows out into the universe, and, without man, God would no more be operative than would be the laws of the nation without representatives to enforce them. The first chapter in Genesis says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion.” Thus, man reflecting God is lord of the objective universe.

Through mortal mesmerism, man has been induced to accept the suggestion that the laws of nature have supremacy over the laws of God, with the consequence that, as Science and Health says, “Man becomes the most absolutely weak and inharmonious creature in the universe.” Thus man is tricked into sitting by and believing that, since the control of all external effects has been taken out of his hands, he is perfectly powerless in his own universe. What must one do to regain his birthright of supremacy? Must he not recognize his dominion over the universe as the son of God, and then establish himself as a channel, so that the normal government of the universe, by the divine power he reflects, will become an evident fact? In this process, there is the danger that mortal man will attempt to resume a place of control, without putting off a human sense and taking on the divine Mind. Mrs. Eddy foresaw such a situation. She unfolds it on page 96 of Science and Health. She writes of conflicting forces, discord and dismay, but adds that those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check.

This discussion leads up to the interesting fact, that one of the tasks Mrs. Eddy directed those students who lived with her to assume, was working on the weather. She would call a student to Pleasant View, provide him with an ample yearly salary, and then assign the major part of his work to handling the weather. Perhaps, to the uninstructed, such a condition might seem inconsistent with the majestic operations of Christian Science, where it is concerned with bettering the race, and freeing it from the bondage of sin, sickness and death.

The following statements by Mrs. Eddy show, in no uncertain way, the insistence and persistence with which she held before our gaze this effort, which concerned handling the thought back of high winds, heavy snow or rain, electrical storms and drought. “Now when there is the claim that the weather is sultry, handle it and you will see a breeze spring up; if it is cold, handle it; it is all in Mind; ever the same, harmonious. God did not make sultry weather, etc.; then, if we through belief have made it, we must unmake it. When it looks like thunder and lightning, handle it; there is no sultry atmosphere to cause thunder and lightning. When Clara was here, I would speak about the thunder storms and she would work alone, and they would all disappear. You can do this, and if you are not at first successful, do not get discouraged; keep on trying. When you have the first indication, forestall it. Handle the thought of reversal. You can do it. The reign of harmony is; you can make it rain; it can water the earth; is there a devil that can reverse God’s government? No. Then have faith as a grain of mustard seed. You can. Do not take up, there is no thunder and lightning; know that God governs the elements and there is nothing destructive or harmful. God sends the rain that watereth the earth. Human will cannot come in and govern. In working for the weather, never say: there is no wind, there is no lightning, no rain, etc., for if you do, it will act like mesmerism; it will break out in some other phase; but know the elements are in God’s hand, His [fists]; they are not destructive, but governed by harmony, and express harmony; God gave us dominion over the earth, but it is His dominion; the loving Father gives us what is for us, and nothing else can; He is Love, and Love controls the elements and all things. Do not treat the weather as though a storm could go around and let our neighbor have it. When I take it up, I face the clouds and see God’s face, Love, shining right through; then the clouds scatter and there is no storm to break upon any one. The weather expresses our concept of it, and can be handled the same as any claim, if you do not hold it as something apart from you, governed by some other power or almanac, etc. God governs all; this is the way Jesus stilled the tempest. You have dominion over all. Elijah made a cloud to come; he made it rain; if he could make it rain, he could make it snow. You can do the same; you can produce a sweat until there is no need for one; you can do the same with the rain or snow. When I have made a storm disappear, I did not argue ‘There are no clouds’; I said, ‘God’s face is there and I see it’; and the storm would break and disappear. Did God give you dominion over the earth? Yes. He gave you dominion over all. Then you can control the weather. Handle the weather just as you do any belief of mortal mind. You are not a Christian Scientist until you do control the weather.”

It is evident, then, that man’s task, in the scheme of salvation, is to reinstate himself as the governor of the universe, through being himself governed by God. No man has the human wisdom to know how the universe should be governed; for it requires divine wisdom. Hence, we perceive the significance of handling the weather; for it is one of the finest problems to bring man face to face with the necessity of relying on God radically.

To the advancing student, the elements become an important phase to subjugate, because they represent the most flagrant manifestation of mortal mind control. The effort on man’s part to reinstate himself as the dominating factor in the universe, begins with healing human sickness and lack. The discords in the weather follow naturally as the next important step in the broadening of thought; because it necessitates taking the control of the universe out of the hands of false belief, and putting it into the hands of scientific knowledge. If man governs the universe, he must govern the weather. But mortal belief has robbed him of this prerogative and destiny, and therefore, the training of students to re-establish themselves in this direction becomes an important step in the correction of the error, whereby man has been made a victim of that which he should dominate. Furthermore, by using the ups and downs of the weather as the point at which to begin to recognize man’s divine control over all created things, one sees the necessity for the control of the divine Mind, instead of the human mind, as more apparent than in any other one human phase. Hence, this was one of the ways by which Mrs. Eddy led students under her personal supervision back to their important and larger place in the great scheme of spiritual existence and living.

In selecting the weather as the training ground for man’s thought to reinstate itself into its position of dominion, Mrs. Eddy showed very great wisdom, because man must necessarily know in such a task, that without divine power and wisdom he could not possibly control the storms and tempests. In healing the sick, it is possible for the student to substitute human will for spiritual understanding, and for a season to deceive the very elect. In the activities of the Christian Science organization, it is possible for one to substitute human wisdom, education and experience for the divine wisdom that is needed and thus, fool himself and others. But in working on the weather, the student knows, before he starts, that he must utilize divine wisdom as well as power. Human power would be inadequate to have any effect, and human wisdom could never control the elements so as to bring out the highest good for all. Hence, controlling the weather through spiritual understanding provides a peculiarly appropriate place for the student to begin to re-establish himself in his natural, primitive, and God-given task of governing the universe.

Mrs. Eddy desired that we form the habit of thinking of ourselves from the standpoint of spiritual dominion, and her wisdom recognized the value of this method in achieving our goal. There is much said in the Bible about the weather and man’s control over it. It indicates that the weather, as man perceives it, is not sent by God; whereas the ideal is pictured as weather under the control of the divine Mind. From this teaching, we can learn that in the enlargement of man’s realization of his obligations when equipped with deific power, he must bring harmony in the elements. Nothing can broaden a student’s thought of the universality of the application of Truth, nor give him the feeling that under the divine Mind he is beginning to function according to the divine plan, more than the recognition that the elements can be brought under the law of harmony, as easily as the mind of an individual can be made to let go of falsity, and take on the infinite Mind as the basis of its thinking.

Mortal man as the plaything of chance, buffeted by wind and storm, is like the kitten, negative in thought, hounded by those dreaded elements in the universe which he has made positive through his own fear. The reverse of this status is man’s true being, the Science of his being. Mrs. Eddy demanded the establishment of a positive sense in her students, based on the divine Mind and its control over all created things.

The task of working on the weather, as outlined by our Leader, was in no way related to the prayers of certain denominations that make a practice of praying for rain or fair weather. It was not beseeching Deity for intervention in human affairs, but utilizing His power, as reflected by man, to establish the primitive harmony that mortal belief has claimed to interrupt by a mode of its own.

To say that I was often successful in handling the weather at Mrs. Eddy’s direction, would require of me a lucid explanation of the method used. It seemed to me, that the extremes of weather in Concord were serious only as they affected Mrs. Eddy’s poise of thought. It was apparent that she traced from effect back to cause, even in the weather, and discovered the aggressive action, which she detected in mortal thought, and which disturbed her, as it was being expressed in abnormal weather conditions. Knowing these facts, the work I did was to protect her thought from the consolidation of mortal fear which was active at the moment. I recognized the power her normal spiritual thought had to produce harmony, and I worked to restore her peace of mind. As soon as her thought was quieted and became harmonious, I saw the phenomenon of the weather conditions returning to normal.

In summing up the points connected with working on the weather, we can see that it is a training in learning to trace from effect back to cause, so that one sees consolidated mortal thought as the direct cause of the human manifestation called the weather, just as the individual’s belief is the direct cause of the diseased manifestations on his body. Another benefit from this work, is the development of a person’s perception of the fact that if one of Christ’s little ones reflects the divine Mind, that gives him dominion over all the earth. This vision offers a larger compass to spiritual thought, enabling man to take a fearless positive stand against the fear-inspiring evidence of his material senses. Furthermore, the subjugation of the elements provides a method of unselfing “the mortal purpose.” Miscellaneous Writings, page 204. It helps to break the narrow conception of applying the divine power to one’s self or to individuals; for how could one’s thought reach out to handle the weather, without including the great mass of humanity in a loving and helpful effort that would embody “remembering good and the human race?” Science and Health, page 261.

It is a self-evident proposition that the student cannot possibly work on the weather selfishly. He cannot pray for a private rainfall or fair weather, any more than he can open a private door in heaven through which God will pour a personal blessing, because the door to God’s blessings is a universal door which opens for all. “Heaven in the heart of one, means heaven in the heart of all,” is the beautiful way Mrs. Eddy once expressed this ideal to me. Handling the weather scientifically is one of the best methods of restoring man to his rightful place, which the thought of weakness, subjection and fear has taken from him; for it gives him a glimpse of his infinite possibilities and his need of using them, so that wisdom and Love may again be present in cause, and be demonstrated by man under the government of God. Then they will express themselves in effect.

This discussion would not be complete, unless we answered the question, Why did Mrs. Eddy say we are not Christian Scientists until we can handle the weather? Perhaps the best answer to this question is embodied in the following queries: Can one claim to understand that every manifestation of mortal mind is unreal, so that one is able to control the manifestation by substituting for the human mind the divine cause, until one has given it the broadest application in demonstration? Can the cat, referred to in the illustration given at the commencement of this chapter, claim to have gained the positive sense of dominion over the dog, until it has faced the dog and seen him run off? If one is limited in his outlook concerning the application of his comprehension of Christian Science, he discloses his misunderstanding of the subject. If he did comprehend, so that he could be called a Christian Scientist, he would challenge every manifestation that has its origin in evil, where evil is defined as the arrogance of the claim of a power opposed to God.

Although the weather appears to the senses to be a mindless manifestation, it must be remembered that nothing happens in the universe that is not the objective expression of mind. Thought sustains as well as causes it. Hence, if you substitute for that human mind, the only real Mind that is divine, then the universe will manifest this Mind, and peace will pervade the earth. When Jesus was called upon to handle the weather, he said, “Peace, be still”; however, he was not addressing the weather but the thought from which that storm proceeded. He brought peace to cause, and it was expressed in effect, as inevitably as an object casts its shadow when the sun shines upon it.




Chapter Sixty-three — Extension of Demonstration

Christian Scientists must watch lest they fail to recognize the breadth of the application of Truth. Our Leader considered nothing too simple to bring under the sheltering wing of demonstration. She considered nothing of any value that was not the manifestation of demonstration. The only thing that made any action right to her was the spiritual activity of the thought back of it. The answer, “Yes,” might be wrong in the mouth of one student and right in the mouth of another; for, being human opinion in one case, and a demonstrated affirmation in the other, one would be founded on the sand and the other, on the rock.

From the beginning to the end of our experience in Science, there is nothing that does not demand a demonstration. Mrs. Eddy required her coachman to make a demonstration of handling the horses. Nothing in her home was neglected. To live with her was a liberal education in itself. The only thing that would render abortive the training of her students in these new fields of endeavor, would be the false impression that it was Mrs. Eddy’s own fear which prompted her call for work, her own personal fastidiousness which brought forth such absolute requirements, that the students were obliged to resort to demonstration in order to fulfill them. Animal magnetism would always suggest this thought, that the breadth of the demonstration at Pleasant View was simply required to meet her personal exacting demands, instead of being the lesson to each student that represented a preparation for the Divinity Course. Careful study and spiritual thought would reveal to every student who ever spent any time at Pleasant View, that God’s reason for their presence with our beloved Leader was to teach them the Divinity Course, which she promised to every student. However, in the higher realm of spiritual education there are certain demands made upon the individual, that must be met before his eyes are opened to see God’s plan, which he must fulfill on faith.

It would have been natural for the disciples to feel, during the Master’s sojourn with them, that they were being brought together to minister to his needs, and to help in preparing for his great experience on the cross. Nevertheless, time has since revealed that an equally important objective of their discipleship was the perpetuating of the Master’s teaching, exhibiting its practical application to the average human thought, and taking advantage of their own individual opportunities for spiritual growth.

Although the first obligation of the students, who were called to go to Pleasant View, was to help our beloved Leader in whatever way she demanded, a by-no-means secondary object was the promulgation of Mrs. Eddy’s teachings in their application to every phase of human experience, and the preparation for the Divinity Course, which is taught alone by God, although the training for it is given by man.

Mrs. Eddy gave her students the preparation which, if understood and acted upon, would enable them to receive through spiritual inspiration, the great honor which all students desired to have: that of being taught of God.

The breadth of the operation of Christian Science covers all things, no matter how insignificant. Such a conception and demonstration must always precede the Divinity Course, since the teachings of this course always concern the process of blessing humanity, of correcting and placing under the government of divinity those affairs which have been appropriated by mortal belief,

On page 22 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, “When the smoke of battle clears away, you will discern the good you have done, and receive according to your deserving.” It is also true that, when the smoke of battle clears away, one can discern the good that has been done to him, and realize somewhat the breadth of the teaching of this Divinity Course and its application. Those students who received Mrs. Eddy’s promise that she would teach them this course, and who feel that she did not, thereby expose the fact that they did not take advantage of her instructions while they were with her. If they had, they would be receiving this Divinity Course now as a constant influx of revelation.




Chapter Sixty-four — The Example of Mrs. Eddy's Demonstration

The first time Mrs. Carpenter and I visited Mrs. Eddy, she arranged that we three sit on the sofa with her in between, holding our hands in hers. Then she told of the time when her husband, Dr. Eddy, was arrested for murder. She said that she remained on her knees in prayer far into the night preceding the trial, and toward morning, fell into a peaceful sleep. She awakened early and felt a leading to go to the public library. She arose, dressed and arrived so early, that she had to wait for the doors to open. She was guided to find a case on record that was parallel to the one of her husband, and her finding proved to be of vital aid in the matter that day.

It is difficult to convey in words the impression Mrs. Eddy made on us during this interview. She exhibited such faith in the divine guidance which she demonstrated, that it amounted to absolute conviction. As we arose to go, she apologized for spending the whole time in telling about such an incident, but told us that we must come again soon. Before she would let us go, she insisted that we see her banner, picturing a shepherd carrying a lamb, with the quotation from the Song of Solomon, “His banner over me was love.” She said, “I have carried the little lambs in my arms just like that.”

I have often pondered why Mrs. Eddy should have talked to us so long on this dark case, during our first interview. The story involved such sinister motives, that it seemed horrible to us in its uncoverings. I realized, however, that Mrs. Eddy had had much experience with young students who idealized her experience as being the Revelator in this age. For that reason, I felt that she wanted to point out that her attainment had been through struggles, suffering and prayer; that she had been subject to persecution and attack; and that her task involved uncovering the most sinister motives resident in mortal thought, so that we might realize the true significance of what it means to any student of Christian Science to enlist on the side of God, to have his part in throwing down the strongholds of mortal mind, which of a certainty do not yield without a struggle, and to rise triumphant.

Mrs. Eddy saw the necessity for setting forth the fact that, although she had been the glorified channel for a new dispensation of Truth in this age, this office did not absolve her from entering the arena with her students in its demonstration. She was the Discoverer of the spiritual rules for the world’s salvation, yet she had to make these rules operate in practice, a task which consists in transferring the belief in power from every other source and giving it back to God. She had to drink with us of the same cup of fear, discouragement, depression, and struggle, which must always attend the destruction of the claim of animal magnetism, that would obstruct progress by endeavoring to make us feel the impossibility of a mere human being upsetting the apparently invincible strongholds of error.

The Master had trials and self-denials. He was not exempt from the necessity of a personal demonstration. The Bible is insistent that he was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin.

Mrs. Eddy recognized that future generations must understand the dual nature of her task as Discoverer and Founder, as Revelator and Demonstrator. Although she wrote her textbook, Science and Health, she studied it and revised it up to the year of her passing, and was constantly perceiving its deeper meanings.

Thus, in demonstration, she was placed on the same basis with her students, which is the disclosure that I believe she desired to convey to us at that memorable first meeting, in order that we might have the courage to go ahead, and also, never to set her on a pedestal as a spiritual prodigy, which, if that were what she was, would make the path she was laying out an impractical one for another to attempt to follow.

In reality, Mrs. Eddy’s experience was duplex. She was both the minister voicing Truth, and a member of her own congregation, striving to demonstrate the truths which she revealed. The spiritual idea developed in Mrs. Eddy to the point where the revelation of Truth dawned upon her enraptured thought. Then, the remainder of her experience, which resulted in building up the great Cause of Christian Science, consisted in demonstration and depicting the human struggle which is requisite to throw off mortal belief. One might say, with no untruth, that Mrs. Eddy did not write Science and Health, but that the spiritual idea in her did. However, since the spiritual idea is man’s only true and real selfhood, she did write it, not as the human person, but the divine idea. Because in her writings our Leader is so careful to draw the correct line of demarcation between Jesus and the Christ, the same must be done today with our Leader and the spiritual idea, lest the two be confused, with the result that that which is not worthy, be exalted, and that which should be exalted, be abased.

In writing the history of Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer of Christian Science, proof must be offered of the spiritual quality of her thought which enabled her to receive such a great unfoldment; but in writing of her life as the Demonstrator, it becomes necessary to portray all the dark places, in order to show how Truth purified the human element and enlightened her dormant spiritual sense. This study of Mrs. Eddy’s struggle in demonstration is the important one for the student, because it unfolds the operation of both Truth and error.

The difference between Mrs. Eddy’s experience and ours, is that she had to discover and supply herself with the spiritual vision, whereas we have not that work to do, since she has supplied us with that vision through her revelation. As she once said, “The Discoverer has to discover the way to meet these things: you will not have that to do; you are learning now how to meet them; I have had to discover it.”

Although Mrs. Eddy was not a spiritual prodigy, in the sense that she possessed by birth innate spiritual endowments which were supernatural, nevertheless, she had a spiritual nature that was more developed than is usual with the average man or woman, and she also had a deeper insight into the unsatisfactory nature of matter and mortal existence. These talents enabled her to bring her spiritual efforts to fruitage more quickly in this short span of human existence, than can most people. Even though in the race Mrs. Eddy had a start in advance of the average person, her experience as pioneer required this advance, and did not remove the necessity for the same demonstration over the flesh that we have to make.

She possessed the prophetic spiritual development that enabled her to bring prophecy into realization, a work which she did, thus relieving us of the necessity of doing it. Yet, it is a great mistake to feel, because she gained the spirituality which enabled her to set forth the vision and the true path leading to its fulfillment, that she was absolved from taking the bleeding footsteps which all must take.

Much of the misunderstanding in regard to Mrs. Eddy has come through people’s expectancy that, because of the supernatural character of her discovery, she should have made a supernatural demonstration of it in her own life. However, what student is there, who would not feel more than satisfied, if he could make a demonstration of Christian Science approximating hers? Therefore, Mrs. Eddy’s personal history does not suffer by comparison with that of her students, but only with her spiritual revelation. The moment specific instances in her experience, which suggest a failure in demonstration because they are not understood, are brought to the attention of certain students, these loving, but blind followers turn away from them at once to the wonder and grandeur of her revelation, and draw a curtain over that which they cannot comprehend. They fail to realize, that her revelation was ahead of her demonstration, just as the city to which we journey, appears in the distance and we must walk the intervening steps.

All men are born with spiritual talents, but most of them bury these talents in the ground of human obligations and pleasures. Alert to this condition, Mrs. Eddy kept her talents where they could be utilized the moment their right application was revealed to her. Therefore, she was spared the additional effort of first digging them out of the dust of materiality.

Mrs. Eddy might be said to have done two things for her followers. She issued general directions that would enable them to assemble at the common square, from whence they are to depart on the journey from sense to Soul. But, realizing that each individual traverses a separate path, she knew that she could not map out the way for each one after he had begun the ascent to heaven, any more than two ships can follow the same paths through the seas. As a consequence, she gave the instruction that would enable each one to determine how to gain the spiritual information and determine the rightness of each step of the way, and hence to reject the enticements that would offer bypaths to error.

Following from this argument is the conclusion that mere belief in her doctrine, mere acceptance of its logic or appreciation of its spiritual worth, will never take anyone the least distance along the road from sense to Soul. Such would merely bring one to the common square, the starting point. Those consecrated students who endeavor to mould every thought to Science and Health, through such an effort proceed no further than this general rendezvous. If our Leader could speak to such students today, she might say, “Because you have reached the limit of the application of my teachings to your present needs, what you should now do, is rely on your own ability to develop that teaching to the point where the additional revelation that you require, will flow in from the same source from which mine came. You must reach the demonstration where you are taught of God, which is the Divinity Course, open for every student, a teaching each one must receive. That, and that alone, will enable you to make progress on your journey from sense to Soul.” Commenting on this condition of mental laziness, Mrs. Eddy once said to a student, “Students who are getting from the book [S & H] and from me, when they are put to the test are wanting; why? Because they have taken it of me instead of God; now what I have given, take in usury; use it, and more will be given; like the one who had a talent given him and did not use it; lost it; but to the one who did make use of it, more was given.”

Mrs. Eddy ascended the Mount of Revelation; then she came down to demonstrate the truths that had been revealed to her. It is this latter phase of her experience that is the most important and valuable to understand. Otherwise, the student might fall by the wayside, not because he questioned in the least the Truth which Mrs. Eddy revealed, but because he might question the possibility of man’s ability, with his present human equipment, to apply it in practice. Unless such a one can be given evidence of one who, taking the rules of Science, has been able to persist successfully under the same fear, discouragement, and struggles that all have to meet, he will not be able to make progress himself. If the rules of Christian Science unfold the process which will free man from the bondage of this world, what merit has this revelation, if man does not believe that, with his present normal equipment, this freedom can be won? When one discovers such spiritual laws, and then proves, by following them in his own life, that they can be applied by all, such a one constitutes a true wayshower. Of what value is a discovery as to the way to heaven, that is automatically demonstrated coincident with its discovery? A freak experience has no universal application.

If, as our textbook states, the Church is “whatever . . . proceeds from divine Principle,” it follows that the Church is a symbol of man himself. Hence, its rules are for his purification and guidance, and its services give him the opportunity each week to take account of himself, first, to determine if he is growing in understanding, and second, in demonstration.

The ideal man is the Church, if he proceeds from divine Principle; but not a material structure. Hence we understand the real man in proportion as we understand the Church, and as we outgrow a material sense of and attitude toward man, we do the same toward the Church.

Mrs. Eddy once wrote to a student: “Let all the members of my Church rest assured that I love them, and work and pray for the good of all of them.” If the Church defined is whatever proceeds from divine Principle, these words of Mrs. Eddy’s apply to the present, as if the Church itself could repeat, “Let all my members rest assured that I love them, and work and pray for the good of all of them.” What a reassuring and comforting thought for a member to have, namely, that he belongs to a Church that loves him, and is working and praying constantly for his good, rather than one that is watching him constantly, and ready to admonish and even discipline him, if he strays one step from the path laid down.




Chapter Sixty-five — Mrs. Eddy's Detection of Animal Magnetism

In connection with my year’s residence at Pleasant View, the subject of animal magnetism has proved a source of never-ending interest and inspiration. Although Mrs. Eddy increased the joys of her students, through bringing them a larger acquaintance with God, yet, at the same time, she apparently multiplied their sorrows through an insistence that they delve into the subject of animal magnetism when, to them, there seemed to be no necessity for such an effort. There seemed to be little reason why she could not let them enjoy this larger acquaintance with God, without spoiling the picture with demands that seemed needless.

If our Leader increased the sorrows of the students, she was divinely led so to do. She saw, as no one else, the need of analyzing every phase of mortal belief and exposing it as erroneous, enmity against God, even though according to the testimony of the senses, it came under the classification of the so-called good phases of mortal existence.

She recognized that the evil and sinful side of mortal existence tended to rouse man to see the true nature of mortal mind, and the error of permitting it to dominate man, which is a blessing in disguise. Then, as if to neutralize this thought-awakening action of sin and suffering, is their tendency to keep consciousness full of error and fear. On the other hand, what is called the good side of this human experience acts like a soporific, lulling man to sleep. Thus we are reminded of the fable of the hare and the tortoise. When the hare was free to race to victory, he went to sleep; whereas the tortoise, although handicapped by his shell, persisted to the end. The man who is carrying a load of human error imagines himself worse off than the one who is not. Yet, in point of fact, this very incubus makes daily progress an absolute necessity. Hence, the conclusion is, that whatever tends to cause man to go to sleep, as does the pleasant side of mortal existence, is a more dangerous phase of animal magnetism than all the vicious effects that can be conceived of.

So, it can never be emphasized enough, that our Leader was not disturbed when the students were sick or had problems, although she would not permit any such claims to grow on the thought. However, it did disquiet her, when she found the household going to sleep in a placid and harmonious sense of human well-being. She saw the rabbit taking his nap, when she knew there was no peace in battle. Yet, admitting a battle did not warrant discouragement in the students, but the recognition of the constant necessity for keeping thought steady, and working to combat whatever presented itself that might rob one of his spiritual thinking. Mrs. Eddy did not feel that it was necessary to frighten the students, nor make them feel anything less than a sense of dominion. But she did recognize that at no time could a Christian Scientist consider going to sleep, and so letting his thought drift with the current of human thinking.

One may row against the tide and not be carried out to sea, as long as he continues to row. If, however, he goes to sleep, the tide will irresistibly sweep him away. Animal magnetism is the tide of human thought which is ever flowing down into the sea of mortal mind. Hence, we are forced to the conclusion, that there is no point at which the worker can afford to lay down his oars. The demand is not to do anything strange or unreasonable, but persistently and continuously to make the effort to progress day after day. If animal magnetism is the argument of effect that would ever distract man from cause, one may realize that his work is to stay up in cause. He will also understand why it disturbed Mrs. Eddy to find the students yielding to apathy.

The main purpose in having students in the home, was for the help they might be to our Leader in maintaining an atmosphere of spiritual harmony, in which her thought might function most scientifically and correctly. No student could do his part in this and, at the same time, permit himself to go to sleep mentally. Mrs. Eddy did not intend to call to Pleasant View students who were incapable of spiritual analysis so that, when an error was presented to them, they would not know how to handle it.

One might think that our Leader would have urged her students to work for the world, rather than the spiritual atmosphere of the home. Yet, to work in this way was to work for humanity, since the effort to maintain the right atmosphere in the home was a help to Mrs. Eddy in her work for humanity. She was like a diver, going into the ocean of Mind after the priceless pearls of Truth, which were to bless humanity. The students in her home represented those whose duty it is, to man the pump and keep the diver supplied with fresh air, in order that the gathering of the pearls may go on uninterrupted.

When the students did their part to maintain this spiritual atmosphere, Mrs. Eddy’ s thought functioned most scientifically in its work of gaining that revelation which was given forth for the healing of the nations. Hence, it can be seen why she was so disturbed when she felt the students relaxing in their efforts, because, like the diver, she noticed the supply of air diminishing, indicating that the men at the pumps were not fulfilling their task.

Mrs. Eddy depended on the efforts of the students to a great degree. Of course, she herself could have done the work, but she called them to do it, in order that she might be left free to fulfill a larger and more important function, which no one else was in a position to fill.

She realized that the students were liable to become lax in their efforts, only when they felt that everything was harmonious and peaceful of its own accord. She knew that, in a storm, they would work hard. She also knew that as they pumped for the one in the diver’s suit, they would not know whether they were supplying enough air, unless they received word from the one below. She desired, therefore, that the students keep in that state of mind where they were so conscious of the claims of error that, even though they recognized no reality in them, they would continue in their efforts, where under ordinary circumstances they would have gone to sleep. It seemed to me that she would create an artificial storm, when there was none, and work definitely to sustain a certain fear of animal magnetism, in order to maintain the work at concert pitch. She reminded me of the head of a group of men working on a levee which is in danger of being inundated by rising water, and who keeps the men straining every nerve, by continually warning them what will happen if they permit the waters to overflow. No doubt it was due to this misunderstood endeavor, that the impression went forth that our Leader was afraid of animal magnetism, when, in reality, she was striving to keep alive in the minds of the students a fear, not of animal magnetism, but of what would happen if they did not handle it with strenuous and positive spiritual thought. She assumed this task to neutralize any sleep-inducing tendencies to which the students might yield.

At no time did I ever see the slightest indication that Mrs. Eddy was afraid of animal magnetism. Many students assumed this to be a fact, because she insisted on discussing it. I am convinced that when Mrs. Eddy talked about malicious animal magnetism to the students, she was not talking from any fear she had for it, but merely from the recognition that it might produce in them such a sense of lethargy and feeling of well-being, that they would stop that spiritual effort to hold up her hands, which meant the greatest help that could be rendered her in her work for the Cause and for the world.

There have been those who, after living with our Leader, described the continuous malicious attacks made on her, which were intended to interrupt her work and, if possible, assail her very life. I should like to go on record as saying, that the phases of mortal mind’s attacks and malpractice against which Mrs. Eddy directed us to wage our warfare, were those same elements of the human mind which are present in every home, but of which the materially-minded are more or less unconscious. If one did not understand this, he might think of her as having been subject to a constant bombardment of mental bullets, fired from the minds of malpractitioners who hated her and her work.

What were the facts in the case? Animal magnetism is like the dust that settles on everything in a house, and must be cleaned off each day. Then, why this “much ado about nothing?”

Mrs. Eddy, through many years of tribulation and prayer, had so cleansed the windowpane of her thought, that it reflected much spiritual light, a light that had become her very life and the life of her Cause. Hence, keeping this windowpane of thought spotlessly clean took on a significance that it is difficult for the layman to appreciate. The ordinary dust, with which we are familiar in our every day human experience, that human mental miasma that would constantly emphasize the unreal and keep the real out of sight, became to her the one great enemy, whether it darkened her windowpane in the natural course of things, or was induced consciously.

How was Mrs. Eddy to make the students conscious of this danger, and cause them faithfully to do the work required? How, but by giving this dust a new name that would sound fierce and frightening, designating it as that enemy which was attacking her with malicious intent and which must be handled? Was this contention true of the common dust or not? Yes; it is always true from the standpoint of the one who is embodying the Christ-idea. Mortal mind, just plain everyday mortal mind, is always the murderer of the Christ, and daily, yea, hourly, aims at it with malicious intent. Hence, to the spiritual pioneer, and to those following in that one’s spiritual footsteps, the common dust becomes the enemy which, to be sure, is easy to handle, if opposed promptly and persistently, although it is quite a different matter if neglected

No one should ever feel that Mrs. Eddy was subject to malicious attacks more than anyone who attempts to span the gap that separates sense and Soul. Far above the clouds, there are great winds blowing at high velocity. Letting these winds symbolize the last attempt of error to keep man out of the divine heights, we perceive that only the one who ventures into these upper reaches in his airplane, comes in conflict with these winds, which are always there, although the man on the earth is never conscious of them.

Mrs. Eddy knew that the students must be roused to do their mental dusting methodically and with consecration. They must be brought to the realization, that the dust of mortal belief was as serious to the health and brightness of Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual thought as would-be assassins armed with daggers, lurking in every dark corner at Pleasant View. They must be made conscious that this dust was as much a weapon of the destroyer, as the poison gas used in warfare. Therefore, Mrs. Eddy took the action of that which is most common to mankind, human thinking, and dignified it with the awe-inspiring name, malicious animal magnetism. Many have mocked her for so doing; many have misunderstood her; only those could really appreciate her, who had in some measure endeavored to develop their spiritual nature and protect it from the smothering dust of mortality. Only those who have acquired this precious possession, can appreciate the malicious motive and persistence back of the attempt to rob them of it, through the apparently petty phases of every day human experience.

Such, and such alone, can understand why Mrs. Eddy rechristened the human deterrents, so that the would-be metaphysician might learn that the greatest enemy to the life of the soul, is the dust of material belief, that is constantly settling on thought. Once, in a private letter, Mrs. Eddy called it, “The constant dropping of mental assassins on the mind.”

Anyone who has ever lived in a college dormitory knows that there is a constant confusion going on all the time, cleaning, radios, telephone bells, talking and laughing. This hubbub is distracting to the one engaged in serious study, or rather, to the one who takes studying seriously. If, suddenly, such study became a matter of life and death to a student, could one be blamed for rechristening all that confusion with the designation, the devil in disguise? Similarly, no one can criticize our Leader, when he or she has the least comprehension, for denominating the confusion of human thinking and the friction of human wills, animal magnetism, and instructing her students that they must handle it, when, to her, it was a matter of life and death, not so much the so-called life of the physical body as of her spiritual thought.

Mrs. Eddy, in emphasizing animal magnetism and malpractice, was not awakening her students to any new deviltry, but uncovering to them, from the spiritual standpoint, the actual nature of the mental atmosphere which they inhale all their lives, much as the professor of biology reveals to his students, by means of his powerful microscope, the living organisms in the very water they have been drinking and relishing all their days. If the world permits itself to be frightened at the supposed power resident in invisible germs to disrupt human health and destroy human life, why should it be thought strange that Mrs. Eddy should awaken thought to the danger latent in those mental germs which attack the life of the spiritual idea or Christ? She perceived this ignorance of the adversary, and knew that it must be recognized by Christendom, if man ever was to discover the secret of what holds mortals in bondage to mortality.

The bright side of this discovery, however, lies in the fact that man is faced with an enemy which he is fully equipped by God to meet and master, provided he keeps awake and alert; does not fear the foe; gives it no reality; nor loses sight of cause in the multiplicity of effect.

In building a house of playing cards for a child, you do not object if the child hits the table, while you are building the first one or two layers. However, as you go higher, the child must keep more and more quiet, and when you reach the last one or two rows, if the child merely walks across the floor, the whole structure is liable to collapse. The rule is, therefore, that the higher you build, the more susceptible to jar your masterpiece becomes.

This illustration serves to show that, to the metaphysician who is working to attain a spiritual balance of thought, the devil would be that which would tend to disturb this delicately adjusted consciousness. Once having gained this spiritual equilibrium which, although intangible to the world, is nevertheless real and vital to him, it takes very little to rob him of it, until it has been permanently established.

If a man with malicious intent should take a sledge hammer into a museum and destroy priceless works of art, the brutal and disruptive nature of such wanton destruction is self-evident. Yet, the constant bickerings and human undercurrents which rob the Christian Scientist of God, and send his thought tottering back to matter, are just as devilish in intent and result, although their evil purpose and malicious nature are not apparent on the surface.

Mrs. Eddy found it necessary to educate her students to appreciate that the enemy of the metaphysician was not the blow on the face, the foot that inadvertently or purposely trips him so he falls, but the so-called innocent amusements and petty irritations which send his thought back to a mortal level, and make him relinquish his connection with divine Mind, that is so essential to his spiritual progress.

When a deep canyon is being spanned by a bridge, first, a string is stretched across. This, in turn, is followed by materials of increasing strength, until the cables that form the permanent bridge are strung.

Let us compare the relative criminal intent and purpose in the minds of two men, the first of whom, the moment the initial string is stretched across the canyon, secretly takes out a knife and cuts it; the second of whom places a charge of dynamite under the bridge, after it has been completed, and thus makes an attempt to blow it up.

This latter act of sabotage might merely damage the bridge temporarily, leaving the possibility of its being repaired, but the former act, unless the work was done over, would prevent the bridge from ever being constructed. What an exposure of the shortsightedness of human justice such an episode contains! For, if we stop to ponder, we will see that dynamiting the bridge would demand a prison sentence, whereas the law might find it difficult to pass sentence on the mischief-maker who cut the string. Yet this simple act, which would prevent the bridge from ever being built, would be the more farreaching criminal act of the two.

If he ever hopes to win his salvation, the Christian Scientist must fulfill the task of holding his thought steadfastly to God long enough for it to crystallize into a bridge, over which he may pass at will to God. If, each time he attempts to bridge the gap which seems to separate him from God, some small phase of animal magnetism distracts his thought or swerves it from its purpose, such a detrimental annoyance would rank as the most malicious form of human evil, when weighed by Christian Science in the scale of deviltry.

In a measure, this analogy helps to explain Mrs. Eddy’s task in pointing out the relative evil embodied in different phases of human deterrents, and unfolds why there was a danger of misunderstanding, when Mrs. Eddy described as the most malicious form of egregious evil, something that seemed on the surface to be almost too simple to merit consideration.

Students who believe that animal magnetism knows where the central point of good is at work, and from whence the Truth that is destroying it is coming, so that a great army of malpractitioners are at work on the exponents of Truth, have a misconception of animal magnetism. All human thinking is malpractice, and all human thinking is directed against Truth. Therefore, Mrs. Eddy, as an individual, had no more error to meet than would any powerful exponent of Truth. The error to be handled at Pleasant View differed in no way from the error that should be handled in every home. The distinction lay in the spiritual ability on Mrs. Eddy’s part to detect the presence of an atmosphere alien to Truth, and also in the fact that the nature of her work required a spiritual atmosphere far greater than would be needed for any lesser work, just as the standards of measurement at the Bureau of Standards in Washington are accurate far beyond any requirements of what might be called average demands. The so-called normal atmosphere in the average home, which nobody would question, would need the greatest kind of spiritual effort to clear it up, if Mrs. Eddy was present. Had it been Pleasant View, she would have demanded that every worker in the home be at his or her post, until the balance of thought was restored to the side of spiritual reality.

Hence, the true diagnosis is, that the animal magnetism at Pleasant View was no different, no greater, than what would be found anywhere, but the need for meeting it was greater, yea, imperative. As any student of Christian Science grows spiritually, the obligation and necessity to handle animal magnetism, become more and more compulsory, for it claims to touch the sensitive spiritual thought and to darken it. The present-day radio receivers illustrate this conception. The more tubes added to a set, the more sensitive it becomes to receiving distant signals, and, as if to neutralize this advantage, the more sensitive to static and interference, which do not bother the mediocre radio receiver. The light thrown by this analogy illumines the difficulty that Mrs. Eddy had in explaining these vital points which, as St. Paul noted, seemed foolishness to the natural man.

When our Leader was disturbed by animal magnetism, and called upon the students to handle the mental atmosphere of the home, I could not detect any extraordinary need, other than the strain put upon us by Mrs. Eddy’s insistence that her spiritual sense required such an effort. From this fact, I deduce that, as students of Christian Science, we were at that point of growth where we could have carried on, and been content under an atmosphere that would have disturbed her, and darkened her spiritual thought. Being residents in Mrs. Eddy’s home did not subject us to a pressure of extraordinary animal magnetism, a bombardment of malicious malpractice which struck at our very lives. In all my human experience, I never felt such a continuous sense of harmony, as I did during twelve months in her home. It is true that she would break in upon a false sense of human peace in no uncertain way; if it had not been for such rude awakenings, I doubt whether any of us would have felt any more pressure of error than we would have in our own homes. With a developing spiritual sense, there comes an increasing consciousness of the claims and activities of animal magnetism, until the time arrives when an error that would not touch the gross thought, would cause the spiritually sensitive thought to be thrown off its balance, were it not for the fact that, with this increase of sensitiveness, comes the increased ability to nullify and neutralize the claims of illusion.

Thus, the advancing Scientist is dealing with impersonal error aimed at the Truth, and the importance of handling it, as well as the ability to handle it, is in direct proportion to one’s spiritual growth. What was it that brought our Leader to a successful termination of her lifework, which was giving to humanity the truth about God? Was it not her increasing ability to detect and meet the claims of animal magnetism, as they presented themselves each day? Then, why should there be any suggestions that Mrs. Eddy was afraid of animal magnetism, or that she was unable to neutralize the influence of evil minds? The more such a statement is emphasized, the greater shines the glory of her achievement in being able to carry on, in spite of all attempted interference.

The present mode of recording talking motion pictures offers an excellent illustration to explain to the seeker the mental situation at Pleasant View. The microphones used are so sensitive, that even slight extraneous noises interfere disastrously in this work. Therefore, while the film is being taken, a moderate noise would ruin the recording.

The more delicate one’s work in any direction, the more important become the methods of measurement and the circumstances surrounding the work. Hence, the more vital it becomes to maintain that standard in such a way, that it will be the least affected by outward conditions. For instance, many delicate operations in watchmaking have to be performed under glass.

Animal magnetism pervades the general atmosphere in which all mortals live. However, unless one’s effort lies in spiritual directions, he is not conscious of it as something that will throw him off, if he does not throw it off. The one who does not detect a mental falling-away under the influence of animal magnetism, is the one whose mental basis is not on a plane high enough to detect it. Only the effort that involves the necessity for tuning into the divine Mind, calls for such a clearing of the mental atmosphere.

The impression gained by students at Pleasant View was that they had a great deal of error to meet. However, this impression was due to the fact, that Mrs. Eddy was continually calling upon them to sweep out a room that was already clean, according to every known human standard of cleanliness. She demanded of us, that we go to work with zest to clear up a mental atmosphere, when we could not detect that there was anything wrong with it. Yet, if we had been on Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual level, it would have been apparent to us that the mental atmosphere needed attention.

When Mrs. Eddy felt her thought being thrown off its right balance, she knew that it was animal magnetism. Quite naturally, she hoped that we, too, were on a mental level high enough to feel it. Yet, because we did not detect it, we were tempted to conclude that she was making a great ado about nothing.

Students have gone out into the Field, and told about the pressure they were under at Pleasant View from animal magnetism, and how they had to stand with our Leader against the central line of focused evil, of which Pleasant View was the greatest recipient. These views have needlessly frightened many young students; for a greater frankness on the part of those students, who voiced these half-truths, would have revealed that they found as much, if not more, harmony at Pleasant View than they ever found elsewhere. They did not live in constant dread of animal magnetism. They found Mrs. Eddy so often concerned about it, however, that they thought that what disturbed her, should have disturbed them. Either they had to condemn themselves for a lack of spiritual sensitivity, or else criticize Mrs. Eddy for imagining vain things.

Keeping in mind the Master’s parable about the wheat and tares, let us imagine a man whose garden is all tares. If there is no wheat, what will open his eyes to the fact that he has nothing but tares? Mrs. Eddy asks this same question in Science and Health, page 254, “If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters?” But when a student begins to develop a spiritual consciousness and endeavors to retain it, the very mental atmosphere in which mortals live, becomes his enemy, and offers him little else than misery, unless he is able to live above it.

When one’s standard of thinking becomes the reflection of divine Mind, he has to wage a warfare against mortal mind. When he seems to lose his reflection temporarily, his light is dimmed. And the more he learns to depend on Spirit, the more disturbance it brings, when that spiritual sense becomes darkened.

It is said that the first words Mrs. Eddy uttered, when she entered her new home in Chestnut Hill in 1908, were: “What splendid misery!” In these words she rebuked the effort to make the letter of the home so decorative that the spirit was neglected. All beauty was misery for Mrs. Eddy, when God was left out.

Was Mrs. Eddy obsessed on the subject of animal magnetism, as some critics have averred? She used the term habitually, to cover all that did not emanate from God, operating in a subtle way to shut out God. On Sept. 26, 1888, she wrote to Hannah Larminie: “Teach your students what animal magnetism is, how it works in themselves and from outside sources on them. These are the points in which my students fail most in teaching, and are the most difficult to teach rightly, so as not to frighten but strengthen the student.”




Chapter Sixty-six — Mrs. Eddy and Music

There is a point in connection with Mrs. Eddy’s love for music that deserves its place in this discourse. In her Message for 1900, page 11, she wrote, “Once I was passionately fond of material music, but jarring elements among musicians weaned me from this love and wedded me to spiritual music, the music of Soul.”

She told me with her own lips, that she had reached the point where she could not enjoy man-made music, because there was so much discord, so much mortal mind back of it. She was sensitive to discord that others, who were too gross, could not detect; they could not feel the spiritual lack, or inharmony, back of the outward human harmony.

Mrs. Eddy told me that there were times in the night, as well as in the early morning, when she was awakened by strains of beautiful music, which the human ear could not catch. She offered no comment on the above fact, but I realized that what she intended to convey, was the great realization that the worth or valuelessness of music, in fact, of anything, is determined by its origin. Whatever proceeds from spiritual thought is enduring substance, whereas whatever comes from mortal mind, no matter how cleverly clothed in beauty, is a substitute for the real, hence, in the last analysis, like its parent, mortal mind, it is a murderer and a destroyer of Truth.

Mrs. Eddy predicted to me that the time would come, when man would not listen to or enjoy music performed by one whose underlying thought was sensual, sinful, hateful or jealous, because it would so offend the spiritual sense, that it would destroy the possibility of those who were advanced spiritually from taking any pleasure in it. Then, the universal demand, that the thought back of the music be right before it will give pleasure, will enforce a reform that will compel right thinking to be a right and necessary accompaniment of artistic efforts in every direction.




Chapter Sixty-seven — Honest Admission of Facts

One morning, when a member of the household appeared before her with the symptoms of a severe cold, Mrs. Eddy asked her how she felt, and the student replied, “I am all right.” Immediately, this pseudo-scientific affirmation was met with the rebuke from Mrs. Eddy, “Tell the truth about the lie.”

To which did Pilate refer when he asked that momentous question, “What is truth?”—the truth about the Truth or the truth about the lie? Today, Christian Science reveals unequivocably that he wanted to know the truth about the Truth. However, such a desire can never be fulfilled, for no one can understand the truth about the Truth, until he understands the truth about the lie. To substantiate this reasoning, we have Mrs. Eddy’s words in Science and Health, “A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error.” Page 252.

Truth is the spiritual understanding that automatically comes to man when the illusion, produced by mesmerism, has lifted from him. On the other hand, mesmerism would change man’s conception of all things from a spiritual to a material standpoint, a standpoint from which not one iota of reality or truth can be perceived, free from distortion. The deduction is, therefore, that the truth is not only spiritual understanding, but also the knowledge of the correct method of releasing man from this human mesmerism; that is, it is not only the truth about Truth, but the truth about the lie. Once having grasped and demonstrated the truth about the lie, man automatically emerges into the understanding of the absolute Truth.

Learning the truth about the lie, is the method of unfolding error, so that man can be released from its influence. Mrs. Eddy recognized that this student wanted to skip this not-to-be-omitted step, and go right into the absolute Truth before she was ready to do so.

Pilate wanted to know the truth about Truth. Yet, there is no answer to his question for the world because, although the world will listen to what you have to say concerning the truth about the Truth, it cannot comprehend it. Then, when you attempt to tell the truth about the lie, which would open the way for the world to gain the truth about Truth, it will not listen. The world is ready to listen to what you have to say about God. However, chemicalization comes, when you attempt to expose what it worships, which is such a misconception of God as to make it a truism, that the God of mortals is the devil. In other words, mortal mind worships its own objectivation.

Ignorance of animal magnetism spells bondage to animal magnetism; and under such bondage, no one can ever understand Truth. Hence, Pilate’s questioning cry will ring down the ages, unanswered, until man is ready to listen to the truth that will enable him to release himself from the mesmerism that, at present, makes him incapable of understanding the least particle of Truth. In Christian Science, the understanding of the truth about the lie must precede the understanding of the truth about Truth.

This statement, “Tell the truth about the lie,” which I heard from the lips of our Leader, illustrates how she could set forth in a few words metaphysical truths of infinite moment. This one admonition, alone, if understood by all students of Christian Science today, would be a light shining in darkness.

In the first chapter of Proverbs we read, “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets.”The streets are those places where people congregate and converse with each other; whereas houses are where people dwell and are hidden from sight. In like manner, the mental streets of humanity represent the clearinghouse where the thoughts of individuals come to light, are recognized and known by others.

The significance of a clearinghouse in metaphysics is deduced from the fact, that so much of mortality is perpetuated through the deception whereby people hide their burdens and secret sorrows in their mental homes, and appear on the streets smiling and apparently happy, just as if human life were one grand sweet song. If it was not for living this lie, the world would discover much more quickly the unsatisfactory nature of existence on a material plane. An example of this deception is the newspapers, which depict the daily movements of the rich, characterizing them as a privileged class, and assuming that money and social position bring the happiness to which everyone aspires.

When students endeavor to hide their undestroyed errors under the cloak of scientific statements, it creates an unfortunate deception which would tend to rob the honest inquirer of a right perspective. If the young students think the path is always smooth for the more advanced ones, they will become discouraged when they are not able to achieve the same demonstration. But if the older students would swallow their pride, come out into the mental streets and be willing that the facts be known; namely, that the path of Science is one continuous struggle, but, with the right solution always at hand, then, wisdom would be found in the streets. In other words, the students would be telling the truth about the lie, and this right exposure would be a right basis which would be the beginning of wisdom.

Mrs. Eddy would stand for no nonsense when unhandled errors were lurking in the mental home of the student. She demanded that we tell the truth about the lie, but, when we did, to realize that it was a lie. At that point, wisdom uncovers the error in order that it may be destroyed. On April 17, 1890, she made the following statement: “When we understand the truth of a lie, then we shall understand God, and not until then.” She also said, “Calling or thinking error a lie, relieves it of any personality whatever.”

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.” This is a Biblical admonition that error must be unmasked before it can be destroyed. In Miscellaneous Writings we read, “Error found out is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself.”

A man buys a vacuum cleaner because there is dirt in his home. Yet, in Science, the truth about Truth means that there is no dirt. Hence the truth about the lie was a remarkable discovery on Mrs. Eddy’s part, since it gives the student a target to shoot at. Yet he must finally realize, that what he is shooting at is nothing, and that it is eliminated only when it is recognized as nothing.




Chapter Sixty-eight — Motive of Love Above Reproach

The Bible states, “Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” Children are tempted to copy the answers to their mathematics from the back of the book, rather than to struggle for the solution through their own honest efforts, and be willing to face a rebuke if they fail. This same tendency is felt in Christian Science, where students would prefer to remain in the stagnation of timid conservatism that would take no radical steps, lest a mistake should be made that would necessitate a rebuke. Yet motive is the all-important thing; the motive of love that is determined to reach the goal of Christian Science, even though it be with bleeding footsteps. Mistakes will accompany such effort, but with a noble motive, they become constructive mistakes, constantly tending toward a broader spirituality. The vital matter is growth, spiritual growth; and the determination to gain it will always be subject to animal magnetism in its varied deceptions. Hence, as Paul says, a loving and scientific motive covers or neutralizes the mistakes made in spiritual progress.

Where the objective is desirable and right, the attaining of it wipes out any unfortunate experiments necessary to reach it. Mrs. Eddy gained her objective, the discovery and founding of Christian Science, an achievement which silences any criticism of her footsteps. The end justifies the means; right attainment wipes the slate clean.

Furthermore, in taking forward spiritual footsteps, sometimes those episodes most criticized and considered most derogatory, as indicating the most obvious failure, may be the very steps most necessary to attain that which is universally recognized as commendable.

The only thing that could ever be criticized in the life of one who is struggling toward a worthy end, would be if that one should permit the temptations along the way to prevent him from carrying on to success, and kill out the right motive which would ultimately show itself in attainment. This motive is called charity, because it represents a love that is so strong and persevering that, with it, one cannot fail to reach the objective. A true sense of love keeps man persistently on the road of accomplishment. The temptations along the way are successful only when they quench out this love. Hence, it can be seen that these temptations are directly aimed at the elimination of the loving motive. If endeavor continues in spite of all obstacles, then every forward step is crowned with success, and attainment wipes out any criticisms of anything that happened while one was reaching the goal. Thus does charity cover the multitude of sins, if honest endeavors misunderstood may be called sins, by lifting above reproach the struggles of His saints.

In the Christian Science Sentinel for March 12, 1910, we find the following by Mrs. Eddy: “I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my life’s experience which, if correctly narrated and understood, could injure me.” Surely these words are a challenge to take up a study of her life, and for students to record their findings, if they wish to do so, so that others may accept them or reject them. An accurate and truthful picture of our Leader should not be withheld from those who are ready to have it, who are ready to see her spiritually, rather than materially. The findings in this volume represent the authors’ acceptance of Mrs. Eddy’s challenge and the partial fruit of their efforts.




Chapter Sixty-nine — Recognizing and Analyzing Malpractice

The Bible indicates that the Master was the Wayshower. Mrs. Eddy’s mission was to show and prove that Jesus’ way was not only practical and scientific, but the only way. In so doing, she had to experiment and to test every step. Consider the injustice of calling any of such tests, mistakes, when they were all part of the necessary development of her spiritual discernment!

There are those who have claimed that she made a mistake, when she wrote the chapter, Demonology, in the third edition of her textbook, Science and Health, in which she depicted animal magnetism as a “lurking demonology in our very midst.” Yet she was but recording error as it confronted her, as she walked the path God laid out for her, and doing so faithfully.

We learn from Mrs. Eddy’s history, that the claim of animal magnetism first appeared to her as a blinding flash, as a power wielded by the enemy that, no matter how modest or set-apart one might be, always stood ready to swallow the offspring of the woman, the spiritual development of her thought. Then, as her faith in God and the allness of His power became more and more real to her, she lost enough of her fear of this blinding flash to face it and dissect it, to learn of what it was composed. Hearing a mighty roar of evil, she began to trace it back to its origin, and instead of finding a mighty lion, she discovered a diminutive mouse squeaking through a megaphone. Thus she commenced to learn something of the illusion, called animal magnetism. In her later experiences, she never lost sight of the claim that is never recognized by the easygoing, placid human thought. When she analyzed the claim, however, by picking it to pieces, she discovered it to be an illusion, nothing claiming to be something, a bluff that is all front and no back. On the other hand, if it is unrecognized, it is the one great deterrent to man’s spiritual growth.

First, the student must deal with malpractice, and overcome any fear of it through analyzing it. Then it can be dealt with scientifically.




Chapter Seventy — Mrs. Eddy’s Unconquerable Determination

Mrs. Eddy was able to detect spiritually the mental atmosphere that was given out by any student. Yet, because it is possible for this atmosphere to becloud another’s spiritual sense, while the student himself feels contented amidst a false peace, this circumstance makes it difficult to unfold to such a one that his or her mental atmosphere is not scientific. It is inevitable, however, that such a thought, handled by animal magnetism, will give some outward indication of its inward mental lack. Hence, Mrs. Eddy watched for such indications, and used them as object lessons to prove to the student that his or her thought was not where it belonged, even though he or she seemed to feel a sense of peace at the time. This teaching was often misunderstood, because it is difficult, at such times, to convince one that the outward act is an error, when it is prompted by love, especially if it be the most unselfish human love.

To be specific, misplacing a chair so that another tripped over it, would be recognized as an error. If no one fell over it, however, the error might go undetected. Yet, to Mrs. Eddy, the misplaced chair was an error, regardless of what happened, because it was the outward expression of human thinking. Much of her important teaching embodied as a text the little events in the home, things done from the standpoint of a thought that was humanly balanced; for they offered an occasion to give a deserved rebuke, and to point to the necessity of broadening one’s demonstration to cover the minutiae that, of a truth, represent error’s strongest hold upon man, because of his unconsciousness of their binding power.

It need not be supposed, that Mrs. Eddy’s attitude toward mortal existence can be gleaned from a casual reading of these pages. It was revealed to her, that the domination of man by mortal belief, or animal magnetism, always spelled disintegration, disease, lack, suffering, death. She also knew that, through the claim of reversal, mortal man was brought under a mesmerism that made him believe himself to be healthy, wealthy, happy, and free. This reasoning leads to the conclusion that a man who is spiritually sick and poor, and who imagines himself to be in just the opposite condition, must have his eyes opened, before he will take the first step out of such a miserable condition. That is, he must advance from the counterfeit to the opposite, before it is possible for him to gain the genuine. This statement is based on the fact, that if Truth is the real or genuine, then error is Truth’s opposite. But, in order to pass as genuine, error, the opposite, dresses up to mimic or counterfeit Truth. Error must be stripped of this counterfeit dress and exposed as the opposite of the real, before man will turn away from the unreal and seek the real.

Mrs. Eddy saw Truth coming to mortal man and saying in the words of Revelation 3:17, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.” She perceived that, when Job thought he was rich and healthy, with many friends and a large family, in reality, he was sick and poor, and friendless, because he was under the domination of mortal belief. Therefore, when the accusation comes that God sent him sickness and lack and loneliness, the answer comes back, “Lay not this charge at the door of God.” Job was already in that condition, but, through mesmerism, his eyes were holden, so he did not realize it. Truth came only to open his eyes to his real condition. The torment resulted from his discovery of how he had been fooled.

This chain of logic gives a clearer understanding of sickness, when Mrs. Eddy describes it as being “the schoolmaster, leading you to Christ.” Rudimental Divine Science, page 11. It shows that before man will progress spiritually, he must see that animal magnetism is not part good and part bad, but all bad. Then, he must have some indication of the iron hand of mortal belief, encased in the velvet glove of human harmony. Like a slave to some foreign monarch, who does not realize he is a slave because of the luxury and ease of the court, he must have some indication of his servitude and bondage, before he is awakened to the need of making his escape. Similarly, in this human experience, sickness is often the first step in removing from the domination of animal magnetism, the mesmerism that causes man to believe that there is anything of harmony, or good, ever to be found in existence on a material basis. No government by animal magnetism, no matter how harmonious its present effects may seem to be, is aught but dangerous to man’s peace of mind, his sense of life and his spiritual attainments.

Mrs. Eddy knew that this knowledge was the beginning of wisdom for man. Unless the reader comprehends this logic, he will fail to perceive why it was that, when her students were experiencing discord, she was not troubled. When they relaxed into a sense of human peace, however, she knew it to be a “peace, peace, where there is no peace.” She recognized it as the one danger in their path, as one gathers from her statement in Miscellaneous Writings, page 9, “A false sense of what constitutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements wherewith to obstruct life’s joys and enhance its sorrows.”

She knew animal magnetism to be the avowed enemy of God and of all of His children. Hence, a state of peaceful and quiescent resignation to its domination is far more deleterious than the discomfort that rouses man to protest and rise in rebellion. If the purpose of animal magnetism is to attempt to rule God out of man, and to prevent man from returning to the Father’s house, then it has no phase that does not call for a scientific protest from the student of Christian Science. The very day mortal man is born, he begins to die. His whole mortal existence is like a charge of dynamite with a slow-burning fuse, timed to twenty, fifty, or eighty years. From this unfoldment, it is seen how all mortal existence is, in reality, a state of sickness. However, this slow disintegration is more or less hidden from man’s eyes, until, suddenly, man finds himself at the end of life and health.

Can we not see the priceless wonder of Mrs. Eddy’s revelation, through which man’s eyes are opened to these vital facts, even though, in the beginning, this awakening be to show man that he is sick, although no sicker than he has always been, and under the control of mortal mind! Thus man, when he recognizes the uncovering that sickness brings, is able to take advantage of it, to seek and find the only true sense of life and health, which alone can be found under the government of the divine Mind.

Man will never lay up treasure in heaven, so long as he believes that he has ample treasure on earth. He will never seek the true sense of health, so long as he believes that he has it in matter. Therefore, we must conclude that the greatest enemy of man’s spiritual growth is that human harmony and peace, which causes man to believe that he does not need recourse to the divine, because he already has all that he needs. Under this mesmerism, man is preyed upon by a human destiny that marks him for death and extinction, which is covered up under an illusion of physical health and prosperity, an illusion that is really a condition of sickness and lack. The opposite is camouflaged to appear genuine. Job had no spiritual growth under this delusion of health and prosperity, until Truth unfolded to him how poor and sick he really was. Thus was he driven to seek his true sense of family, money, friends, and health in God.

The argument thus far contends that the mesmerism of human harmony keeps man unconscious of his bondage, and that the uncovering of this mesmerism through Christian Science makes him conscious of it. He then sees the counterfeit to be what it really is, the opposite of the real. At that point, he should not desire to go back and let that mesmerism once more possess him, but to look things squarely in the face, and develop that spiritual understanding which will lead him to his freedom.

Let the one who would criticise one single thought or experience in our Leader’s life, ask himself, have I gained the mental and spiritual height that enables me to judge of such matters? Then, if he has not, let him refrain from criticism. Animal magnetism does not want to be uncovered. The knowledge of this fact alone should give some insight into the life of the one who does it successfully. “Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you,” is our Leader’s prophecy, born of her own sad experience, concerning those whose good would be evil spoken of. Science and Health, page 92.

A young trotting horse with high spirits is apt to break into a run because it chafes at the slower pace. Once it is disciplined, however, it makes a better trotter than a slower horse that never breaks.

When Mrs. Eddy once put her hand to the plough, she never looked back. She became animated by a potent, unconquerable determination to accomplish whatever God directed her to. How fortunate, that a pure and unselfish motive actuated her! She sought neither riches nor worldly emoluments. She discovered the way to heaven, and ever after that her one desire was to present her discovery to the world. Before this determination was wholly tempered by experience and divine wisdom, she never lost sight of her objective. Her entire history proves that she felt no sacrifice was too great to make in her resolve to let no obstacle detain her. She had a quality of forward marching, which sprang from an unusually active mind, and which, when put under the control of divine Love, made her the great spiritual Leader of this age. Experience taught her, however, that she could not, by running, win the race and bequeath the prize to the world. It took many heartbreaking experiences to awaken her to the realization, that the goal can never be compassed by determination alone, but by a determination that is under the guidance of divine wisdom, and hence is willing and able to detect the hidden foe.

Mrs. Eddy undeniably found other individuals with some truth, but the question was, what were they doing with it? Was it not dying on their hands? If she appropriated any of it, might not God have directed her to take what they had, and glorify it into a working principle for humanity by infusing it with inspiration?

She found others bent on strewing her path with thorns in an endeavor to block her. No doubt she was greatly tempted to use any means to render abortive such attempts to stop her from giving to the world her great blessing.

At this stage, her demonstration brought the divine Mind into the picture, thereby making possible the attainment of her desire. With the entrance of Spirit, began the refinement of her human will, its eventual elimination, and its replacement with the divine will, that needs no questionable aggressive human methods in order to accomplish its purposes. Now dawned the realization, that those things which appeared to be obstacles, could be transformed into divine aids. Thus her position resembled that of the man in the pit, who, instead of throwing back the rocks which were hurled at him, constructed them into steps leading out of the pit. No doubt she was tempted to use any means to silence those who misrepresented and persecuted her, until wisdom instructed her how to make them serve the ends of Truth.

Mrs. Eddy had an unconquerable determination to bend her human will toward giving to humanity that which would save it from the domination of animal magnetism, and bring it the peace of God. Further spiritual growth brought an influx of divine power that tempered this purpose with divine Love, and changed the human will into the will of God. At that point, wisdom taught her how to love her enemies, and not imagine that they constituted an irresistible opposition to the establishment of what she felt she must give to the world, but to prove them to be aids to spiritual attainment.

Thus she found that, instead of destroying the obstacles, she could render them harmless and then cause them to become stepping-stones in the attaining of her objective. With the Master, the crucifixion was the stepping-stone which elevated him sufficiently to make his great and final demonstration over death. He did not fight his enemies, but used them by translating them into steps to heaven.

Mrs. Eddy learned this greatest of lessons for the pioneer, without which the value of opposition and persecution is never appreciated. She found her highest spiritual progress, when she discovered that the process of blessing her enemies was the divine method of changing the hatred of her foes into a ladder, up which she could climb, thereby fulfilling the Biblical saying, “I make thine enemies thy foot-stool.”

From the preceding discourse, we learn that the problem of how to handle animal magnetism is of the utmost importance to the Christian Scientist. The situation is similar to that of cattle seeking pasture in a desert, whose only vegetation is cactus plants, which, if eaten, cause death. Then a process is discovered which makes the cactus plant edible to cattle. Hence, instead of being an enemy that destroys life, this plant is transformed into that which makes life possible on the desert. Thus the desert is rendered harmless.

Mrs. Eddy learned how to handle the cactus of hatred, so that the desert of mortal mind was turned into that which sustained her, and furnished her with that which enabled her to traverse the desert and enter the kingdom.




Chapter Seventy-one — Divine Inspiration a Universal Heritage

Research has brought to light evidence, that has been used to try to show that Mrs. Eddy appropriated certain writings of others, and used them as her own. It has been claimed that she gained the germ of her doctrine from Mr. Phineas Quimby, without giving him credit. Critics have pointed to a book of selections from Ruskin, Carlyle, Amiel and Kingsley, as the source of many of the ideas which flowed from Mrs. Eddy’s pen in the opening year of the twentieth century.

In order to sift this matter to the bottom, let us for the moment assume that these critical contentions are provable and, at the same time, show that, instead of detracting from the greatness of Christian Science and its Discoverer, they add to it.

In Christian Science, the divine Mind is described as the Mind that knows all things. Therefore, when two disciples approach this Mind, they must reflect utterances and phrases that are similar, if not identical. Such statements and ideas belong to revelation; and the one who reflects them is entitled to them, providing proper credit is given to God. Otherwise, one could be criticised for plagiarizing from God.

Mrs. Eddy always gave God credit for what came to her, and she proclaimed through divine inspiration. She intended the name Mary Baker Eddy being signed to any published work to signify, this came from God. However, she found many things in the writings of men and women which she recognized as having come from God, without credit being given to Him. Could we not think of her as appropriating some of those ideas, and restoring them to their rightful place, as revelation, or as having God as their Author? The world might accuse her of plagiarism, when, in reality, the error lies at the door of the one who issued such ideas as his or her own, without giving God the glory.

The revelation of inspiration from God to man is so definitely fixed and unique, that the phraseology of allied conceptions is bound to be similar, as they come flooding into the consciousness of those who have reached the source of wisdom. Under those circumstances, the charge of plagiarism is only brought by those who deny the existence of a divine central source of intelligence, and assert that whatever man conceives of, no matter how lofty, is his own invention.

If a group of students should approximate the same state of spiritual growth, their revelations from God would almost coincide. Anyone who writes through inspiration is a plagiarist, unless he reputes his endeavors to God. In giving all credit to the divine Mind, Mrs. Eddy acknowledged that everything she recorded came from God, even though others, in isolated moments of inspiration, might have perceived the same thoughts both before and after her revelation. Therefore, we must brand those persons plagiarists, who do not attribute to God the credit of being the divine source from which they draw.

The evidence of plagiarism in Mrs. Eddy’s experience is plausible only to those who do not understand the Science that governed her. The writing of Science and Health has placed all Christian Scientists on earth today in the dilemma that, whatever they write that is spiritual and inspirational, is plagiarized from Science and Health, since this book is a complete exegesis of the processes of Spirit. Unique as this situation may be, it is so generally acknowledged by students of this textbook, that it is given no more attention than would be the contention that a writer plagiarizes the dictionary, because that volume contains all the words that he could employ.

Every spiritual thought included in the Science of Mind-healing, is to be found in Mrs. Eddy’s writings. Hence, everything that is written today, that is spiritual, borrows from these writings.

Mrs. Eddy’s thought was teeming with spiritual ideas. Her mastery of the mode of expression was evident to me, when she would dictate articles for me to transcribe on the typewriter. She required no help, made no preparation other than opening her thought to God, and found therein an infinite source for ideas. What need, therefore, for plagiarism? We know that, whatever she took from others must have contained flashes of inspiration which had been held to be the invention of man, and she restored such to its rightful place, as belonging wholly to God. Furthermore, it must be recognized that veritable revelation from Truth is always definitely marked with the seal of God, although unillumined thought might honestly believe that plagiarism had taken place, when two individuals advance ideas that are similar and inspirational.

Mrs. Eddy’s designation is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. This dual title embodies two functions of equal importance; to wit, gaining the influx of revelation and resolving it into such a form, that it becomes applicable and understandable to the whole world. Nobody else, even though he might have gained a measure of inspiration, has ever approximated this achievement.

Undoubtedly, the first influx of inspiration to Mrs.Eddy resembled that received by other spiritually-minded individuals. However, she was more like Thomas A. Edison than Benjamin Franklin; for that famous kite-flyer, Franklin, merely proved the existence of that which everyone suspected did exist, whereas Edison adapted electricity in numberless ways that blessed the whole world.

Mrs. Eddy did not discover divine inspiration as an isolated fact, but revealed that it is a universal heritage which is continuous and absolute, and without which man is lost to everything that is real and eternal. Then she disclosed the simple process whereby man may gain a modicum of inspiration, through which he receives the unfoldment of all his further steps. Contrary to the belief of many, she has not provided steps from mortal belief to heaven. She has furnished steps from mortal belief to a place, where divine wisdom may enter man’s consciousness and becomes his future and unerring guide. Science and Health takes the student by the hand, and leads him to the place where God takes him by the hand. Then, He will guide him to the pastures of peace, and teach him the Divinity Course.




Chapter Seventy-two — The Scientifically Poised Student Is Safe

As I have mentioned in a previous chapter, many have wondered why Mrs. Eddy attributed the death of Mr. Eddy to animal magnetism. The first uncovering of animal magnetism in her thought showed her that, when one enters the service of God, he gains enough Truth to protect himself from the belief of death. Hence, if one passes on at that point, that death does not result from a natural claim.

If a man swims out beyond his depth and his strength fails, he will drown if nobody rescues him. That would be called a natural occurrence. If, on the other hand, that man should wear a properly inflated life preserver, he would not drown, no matter how tired he might become. Drowning under such circumstances proves that someone has punctured the rubber with a pin, so that the air gradually escapes.

When a man gains enough of the spirit of God to enter the service of God, he has a spiritual understanding that, fully demonstrated, would overcome death. At that point, his task is to maintain this spiritual understanding since, in so doing, he is protected from the claim of death. The error that would attempt to rob him of his spiritual understanding, because it knows that his life is dependent upon it, is called induced death, or mental murder.

In recording the nature of evil for posterity, Mrs. Eddy showed that no matter how deadly its effect might appear to be, if it is handled as cause, it dissolves into something simple to handle. Yet, before she was able to trace back to cause, she reported much data about effect, that seem dreadful to the readers of today. Each unfoldment, however, has its rightful place. If anything were left out, it might be the very thing that somebody needed, the very rung of the ladder which, if omitted, would effectually arrest the upward progress of some weary pilgrim. Mrs. Eddy was faithful in recording everything, although we may venture to say that, at times, it hurt her to have to chronicle certain experiences which she had outgrown.

There were many steps for her to take, before she reached the goal of seeing the nothingness of animal magnetism, which applies to all who follow in her footsteps. The Master said that he beheld Satan “as lightning fall from heaven.” This is the experience of many a student, when he catches his first glimpse of the claim of animal magnetism, and it is often a frightening experience. Yet it is soon outgrown; and no student would dream of retaining this initial attitude toward the claim of evil, any more than did our Leader.

Asa Eddy died as the result of induced animal magnetism. But it was not animal magnetism overpowering a scientifically-poised student, for that is something that animal magnetism can never do. There must be a falling away first. The student who ofttimes examines himself, as Mrs. Eddy writes on page 129 of Miscellany, to “see if there be found anywhere a deterrent of Truth and Love,” will always be enabled to detect the pin that might, if not discovered, puncture his life preserver.




Chapter Seventy-three — Mrs. Eddy’s Insistence on Mental Alertness

Everything that nature gives man by way of food, is composed of two parts: that which is edible and nourishing, and that which is worthless and must be discarded. It is man’s task to learn by experiment and experience to separate between the two.

The student never needs to travel the bypaths Mrs. Eddy investigated. There were many human incidents in her life which must be expounded. She instructed us to follow her only as she followed Christ. Yet, there are some things which students feel it is the part of loyalty to overlook, and which they do not delve into lest, through misunderstanding, they might find themselves criticising their Leader. This tendency might cause the student to reject the very things in Mrs. Eddy’s experience which exemplified a signal following of Christ.

Orthodox religion esteems one loyal to God for overlooking the evidences of God’s wrath, jealousness and fickleness, because they cannot be explained. This inclination has built up such a false sense of God, that it is the task of a lifetime to resurrect any conception of God on a truly scientific basis.

When an individual attains greatness, some maintain that everything in the life of such a one must be great. Others argue that, because there are spots on the curtain, the whole should be thrown away. Certainly, there must be a middle ground. Is it not possible to differentiate and determine just what should be retained, and what should be discarded?

No doubt, Mrs. Eddy was pushed by animal magnetism at times, so that she made missteps. Yet, did these apparent failures prevent her persistent growth and achievement? Today, do they not remain to comfort the weary pilgrim weeping over his own shortcomings?

In the eighth chapter of Romans Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” In other words, the one who is fired with a determination to gain a spiritual consciousness, can never be condemned for any of the footsteps that may be necessary to gain that goal. Mrs. Eddy’s underlying purpose was to eliminate the fleshly sense and gain a spiritual sense. The fact that she arrived at this destination, proves that her intervening footsteps were ordered by the Lord and hence, cannot be condemned. No matter what may be brought up, in regard to our Leader’s life experience, in an effort to overthrow Christian Science by discrediting its Discoverer, the fact remains that she grappled with the claim of animal magnetism in the effort to destroy it, and the very points that one might criticise, were necessary parts of this sublime struggle.

The man who goes to battle cannot avoid wearing the scars of the wounds received. But they are honorable scars, which distinguish the seasoned veteran from the scarless one, who has never challenged Goliath in deadly combat. Any student who assumes the struggle with evil will have honorable wounds. If such a one yields, only to awaken to recognize the yoke and throw it off, that is a praiseworthy endeavor.

That one has crossed swords with the enemy of mankind and God, and has come forth a victor.

A wrong attitude toward Mrs. Eddy would be to accept everything she did as right, simply because she did it. A right attitude is to know, that whatever she did had a right motive back of it, and that if she went the way of mortal mind momentarily, only the part of her history should be retained which teaches a spiritual lesson. As she writes in Retrospection and Introspection, page 22, “The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged.”

No Christian warrior should ever be ashamed of honorable scars. Was the Master ashamed of the nail-prints? Did they not prove that, when the spiritual idea is sufficiently developed, it is above the reach of earth? Have we not that same proof in our Leader’s experience today? Did she not exemplify in her human struggles that, no matter what the human experience may be, it has no part in the real man? All sin is bound up in man’s yielding to the domination of animal magnetism, even though that yielding may be largely unconscious. Thus, the crux of man’s salvation is to be found in one’s learning how to arouse himself and overcome the tendency to sluggishness, with a mental activity that rises above the temptation to remain in a condition of mental drunkenness. The student must learn the necessity of stimulating himself mentally, by giving his thought a thorough beating, in order to elevate himself to that state of mental alertness, which makes of him a moving target that error cannot hit.

From human hypnotism, we learn this interesting lesson that, when the operator desires to gain control of his subject, he begins by making him feel drowsy, usually by persuading him to focus his eyes on some bright object. Then, when the subject’s mind through this process becomes sufficiently sluggish, the mesmerist can substitute his thinking for that of his victim’s, an interference which is not possible to induce in an active thought.

Mortal existence is a dream. A dream means sleep, or inactivity of thought. Conversely, spiritually active thinking is the death of any dream sense, and hence, must characterize the state of man’s mind in heaven. For this reason, Mrs. Eddy knew that mental activity, and whatever induces such activity, were vital to man’s salvation. Her persistent call for mental activity, at every point and in every direction, therefore, was her effort to stimulate and perpetuate in her students the habit of active right thinking.

This discussion explains why Mrs. Eddy was so insistent upon mental alertness. Such activity of thought, free from any erroneous influence, is necessary in order that one may recognize in her mental history the finger of God moving on the waters of mortal mind. In order to grasp its significance, one must be mentally and spiritually awake, endeavoring to resurrect within himself a consciousness of God’s image which has been beclouded in mortal man’s idea of himself.

An active spiritual sense is necessary to enable one to behold the signposts hidden in the material history of the Bible, that mark the way to the spiritual man. This same spiritual alertness, developed into understanding, is needed to enable one to perceive the importance of every one of Mrs. Eddy’s footsteps, taken to reach the high goal, even though such steps be censured by materialistic thought, and to understand how the fire of affliction welded the links in that spiritual chain which bound her more and more absolutely to God.

There is a fairy story to the effect that a certain man was given a cloak that would make him invisible to his enemies. Every time they came near, he put on this cloak and thus outwitted them. Finally, they plotted to approach him in the guise of friendship, so he would not recognize them. Feeling no fear in their company, he did not put on his cloak, and thus was robbed of it, and then captured.

Failing through directly aggressive methods to deprive man of his spiritually-protective thought, animal magnetism resorts to subtle ways, putting him off guard by giving him purified human thinking.

One might imagine a situation that would involve the effort of a thief to steal a valuable paper. Being aware of the thief’s purpose, the owner secretes the paper in his pocket. However, through magic, the thief causes the wind to blow, just at a time when the owner is holding the paper in his hand. In this way, it is whisked away and lost.

When once it is understood, it becomes plain that mental inactivity disturbed Mrs. Eddy more than anything else, because she knew that it was error’s sly way of putting man off his guard. She could feel that wind starting to blow which, if not detected, might sweep the spiritual good right out of the thoughts of her students. She knew that, under discord and malice, under sickness and opposition, they would begin to function spiritually; they would stand up and shake off lethargy, they would fight as they knew how to fight, and win! They had been trained from their earliest days in Christian Science for such work. Thought had not been awakened to perceive the lethargic and devastating effects of human confidence and satisfaction; a confidence and satisfaction induced by animal magnetism, and not based on demonstration; a confidence and satisfaction similar to that experienced by a man who, because he has lived peacefully for ten years on the side of a volcano, relaxes in an assurance that he is safe, and that nothing is going to happen to endanger his security.

So it can readily be understood that, without that spiritual perception which causes Mrs. Eddy’s life to stand out in all its spiritual consistency, the way of heaven will always remain an enigma to the would-be pilgrim. It is one of the great works of the student of Christian Science to develop the ability to analyze all the steps of Mrs. Eddy’s life, and understand that they disclose the path which mortals must tread in reaching the goal she reached, where the voice of God became to her as clear as the voice of man. This same voice which called Mary three times when she was a young girl, is the only infallible guide that could have brought the great Cause of Christian Science into being, established it, and enabled it to function with power and spirituality. It must be heard by those who are today attempting to guide the steps of our Movement to a higher and higher attainment in the metaphysics of living and service.

The spiritual significance of the fact that this voice called to Mrs. Eddy when she was a girl, lies in its being the first proof, or evidence, that revealed that she possessed a spiritual sense, through which she could hear the voice of God and be divinely guided. It was through the further development of this spiritual sense, that the revelation of Christian Science was brought to the world. Today, the successful perpetuation of our Cause hinges on the recognition by individual students that this same spiritual sense lies dormant in each one, and that they must develop it as our Leader did, in order that the voice of God may still be heard and obeyed.

According to the Bible, Jesus’ footsteps provoked the greatest criticism from those who did not understand him. In fact, the honest conviction was voiced that his death would mean the greatest blessing to their religious faith. Hence, today, we should not expect that Mrs. Eddy’s life could be understood by those who are ready to criticise her, exactly as the Master was criticised of old, because, not perceiving the driving force necessary to lift her to a higher and more practical faith in God, they judge her from a purely human standpoint.




Chapter Seventy-four — Mrs. Eddy Accomplished Her Earthly Mission

The Christian Scientist does not wait until death appears, to do the work necessary to overcome it. Neither does he wait until he can make a complete demonstration over matter before he attacks it. Once he has gained some recognition of the Principle of being, as everlasting Life, he may suffer, he may be frightened, he may be sick or feel weak; but he will be sustained and be enabled to finish his tasks. When he does finally have the claim of death to face, he will discover that, every time he persisted in withdrawing thought from matter and then, giving it back to God with the mortal limits removed, he was handling death, just as when someone peeling the different layers of an onion, reaches the center and finds that there is nothing there, nothing left to do, it has all been done. He has endured unto the end, as the Master said, and hence, is saved the necessity of doing more.

Mrs. Eddy endured to the end, thus gaining her salvation. She endured, until she had accomplished her earthly mission, until she had finished that part of her destiny, until she had promulgated and perpetuated that which, as a messenger from God, she had received to give out to mankind.

There were times when I beheld our Leader in the throes of a struggle with the claim of death. Yet I watched her return to a full sense of vigor, without undergoing a period of convalescence. In fact, I can truthfully say that I never saw our Leader in a period of so-called convalescence. On such occasions, she reminded me of a rubber ball which is squeezed out of shape, but which returns to its normal condition the moment the pressure is released. If, during the night, she had a struggle with some phase of error, the morning would find her at her desk, serene and busy, with full command of the situation. The reason for these instantaneous healings may be found in the fact, that within herself she had established the Principle of Life, the true sense of it, which is all the conviction man needs to carry him safely through any struggles with the claims of evil.

If a man was on a staging which he knew was firmly attached to a building, he would know that no wind could blow it away nor cause it to fall. Armed with this knowledge, he has confidence to remain on it, no matter how much it might be blown about, because this confidence would sustain him until the completion of the work.

This human sense of life, properly understood, is a staging which sustains man, as he attempts to build up in his consciousness a new idea of man. In the case of the Master, when he had completed his work on the right idea of man, he calmly permitted his enemies to work their will on the staging. He no longer needed it to continue with his work, his final proof that they could not harm him. The temporary staging is not needed after a building is completed.

While man continues in the belief of a mortal sense of life, the process whereby he gains the true understanding of Life is identical with the process whereby he is permanently attached to his real self, the self which is eternal with God. During the process of enduring to the end, it is as important to be attached to our real selfhood, as it is to be attached to God; in fact, the two processes are one, for man’s real self is never separated from God. It was Mrs. Eddy’s recognition of her oneness, not only with the Father, but with her real self, that enabled her to endure to the end, the point at which the human staging was no longer a necessity. She once said, “'He that endureth unto the end shall be saved.’ Jesus endured; after he disappeared from their view, he endured. The Lord delayed his coming, so the disciples went back to their nets. He endured; he showed the same nail-prints and the same body after as before, showing it was the same Jesus. So we shall be saved, if we endure.”




Chapter Seventy-five — Mrs. Eddy’s Three-fold Demonstration

One morning during the year 1907, Mrs. Eddy opened the Bible to Isaiah 16:14: “But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.”

At this time she said, “From the beginning and all the way along, I got my leading from God, through the Bible. Right in the beginning I got, ‘Write it in a book and it shall be for all time.’ Today He is speaking to me again, Isaiah 16:14. I am sure this will be fulfilled, but don’t tell anyone about it.”

Did Mrs. Eddy recognize this verse as a prophecy of her death, which came about three years later?

I think that Mrs. Eddy foretold, through this prophecy, that within three years she would have endured to the end, where her work of building the great Cause of Christian Science would be finished and complete. Then her servitude as an hireling would terminate.

All Christian Scientists are under the necessity of being servants of the Cause of Christian Science, of supporting it, and of demonstrating that physical strength and well-being, that will enable them to do the necessary work. Yet, in a measure, are not such activities servitude, since they are to a great extent, a compromise with mortal mind, and require a necessary building up of the human?

Mrs. Eddy had no morbid sense that this passage predicted her death; of that I am sure. She was more like the butterfly in the cocoon, realizing that, within a certain length of time, her demonstration would loose the bonds of limitation and she would be free.

However, the three years did not represent solar years, any more than did Jesus’ three days in the tomb mean seventy-two hours. Rather did they typify the threefold demonstration which Mrs. Eddy points out on page 508 of Science and Health, “The third stage in the order of Christian Science is an important one to the human thought, letting in the light of spiritual understanding. This period corresponds to the resurrection, when Spirit is discerned to be the Life of all, and the deathless Life, or Mind, dependent upon no material organization.”

These three steps are represented by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the recognition of God as the source, man as reflecting this infinite power, and finally, the divine expectancy that puts the power into operation with certainty. It is the understanding of Principle, the realization of the rights of man, as a son of God, to apply this power to the needs of mankind, and finally, that inspirational consciousness that makes demonstration effective.

This conception is illustrated by the three Hebrew captives in the fiery furnace, whose consolidated demonstration brought forth the evidence of the Christ, or spiritual “I,”in the midst of them, and exemplified the Master’s statement, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20.

In order to bring the Christ to view, and gain the protection that means freedom from the flesh, or the true resurrection, three salient qualities must unite in one: the spiritual courage that recognizes the presence of God, the understanding of man reflecting the divine ability to replace fear with the consciousness of God, and finally, that holy and inspirational thought which lifts man above the human, so that he can walk over the angry waters of mortal belief.

Therefore, to Mrs. Eddy, these three years typified her final proof of embodying within herself this three-fold demonstration; the recognition of God as the source, of man as reflecting this infinite power, and of man’s inspirational consciousness, which puts into successful operation the demonstration that brings the Christ-idea to light. At this point, she would be lifted above the necessity for organization, either as a material body within, or the Christian Science organization without. It was Mrs. Eddy’s point of freedom.




Chapter Seventy-six — Demonstrating the Meals at Pleasant View

On another page of this volume is a reference to Mrs. Eddy’s use of the word opium, that deserves comment. In the chapter on arsenic, the fact is presented that matter in itself contains not the slightest inherent power. Hence, when our Leader used such terms, she referred to the action of mortal mind, as it claimed to produce the effect on the individual, that is usually supposed to come through the drug or the poison.

It is a well-known fact that man is induced to take opium because it promises a sleepy sense, in which he imagines himself to be rich and powerful, secure and healthy. Hence, it is plain that by the term opium, Mrs. Eddy referred to the action of animal magnetism, in its tendency to produce a sleepy sense of contentment and well-being, in those who should be spiritually alert and watchful. Jesus might well have called it opium, when he found his disciples put to sleep at a time when he needed their support. Therefore, when Mrs. Eddy found her students going to sleep mentally, when they should have been awake, she found it more effectual in rousing thought to call it opium, or ether, than merely to call it sleepiness. This same point may be found in her use of the word immorality, where she referred, not to man’s actions, but to the innate depravity of the human mind.

Another point that needs explication is Mrs. Eddy’s reference, on page 48 of this book, to a struggle with indigestion. Let me say, that Mrs. Eddy’s struggle with indigestion was as far removed from the struggle an average person might have with that claim, as is the common warfare against evil from the animal magnetism Mrs. Eddy had to overcome in writing Science and Health.

The common belief of indigestion is connected with the condition of the food one eats. Divine metaphysics reveals another phase of this same claim, that might result from food that had been impregnated with the poison of mortal thought. This latter phase, however, can touch only those who have grown so spiritually sensitive, that they can detect and be affected by the unscientific state of mind of the one who prepares or serves the food.

It was not to be expected that Mrs. Eddy’s cook could assume the entire burden of preparing her food, and at the same time make the complete spiritual demonstration. Therefore, the other workers in the home were expected to take part in this most vital work; vital because our Leader could feel a lack of demonstration connected with her food more keenly than in any other direction, because of the magnitude of her demonstration of being nourished spiritually.

It follows, therefore, that if, three times a day, Mrs. Eddy could feel the sustaining quality of her students’ demonstration as expressed in the food prepared for her, that would greatly aid her in keeping her thought spiritually uplifted. It must be understood, that when Mrs. Eddy was able to maintain her thought where it belonged, a lack of demonstration in the home in any direction was no problem to her. She could rise above it easily. When the students were rebuked for a lack of demonstration, therefore, it was always proof that error was reaching out in an effort to rob her of her spiritual thought. It was then that she depended on the spiritual readiness of her students in coming to her defence.

I can recall being given the privilege of bringing our Leader’s dinner to her each noon in her room. I am convinced that it was her hope, that in performing this service, I would make the demonstration which would make the food acceptable to her, not bringing it in to her until it had been purged of mortal mind, and made a channel for a spiritually uplifting thought. She hoped that I might have the spiritual perception to see the Spirit of God operating through the food to bless her, because it had been taken out of the realm of matter and put into the realm of Mind. Yet, because, when the food was not acceptable, she did not rebuke me, I failed in this priceless privilege and was replaced. Not until I began the inspirational study of our Leader’s life, did I perceive how she hoped to be left free to establish the Cause, by having the students run the home on a metaphysical basis; but alas, our sense of Christian Science was too limited, and we failed her.

We read of kings in olden times who employed food tasters, who were expected to partake of each dish prepared for the master, in order to ascertain whether poison had been mixed with the food. In this way, the life of a king was often saved.

One might say, that from the metaphysical standpoint, the students at Pleasant View were food tasters for our Leader. Theirs was the task of detecting, through spiritual perception, whether the food served to Mrs. Eddy was mixed with the poison of the human mind, even though manifested in a sense of human love and loyalty. To fulfill this task successfully was to lighten Mrs. Eddy’s labors, and to give her more freedom to do the larger work for the Field and the world. The motto of their work was, “O taste and see that the Lord is good;” see that the food was impregnated with the goodness of God, and not the poison of human thinking, before it was taken to our Leader.

When one has reached the spiritual point of depending on God for Life, it is fatuous to serve that one with material food, believing that apart from its spiritual significance, it has the power to give strength and satisfaction. It was a possibility for the student who cooked our Leader’s meals, or served them, to give them, in that simple act, the spiritual quality necessary to sustain her. Since this work was a vital necessity only when she herself was not up to the mark spiritually, it becomes plain why the possibility existed of this work being neglected.

One might ask why many of the points in this volume were not recorded or explained by Mrs. Eddy. The answer is plain. She was continually struggling with the mighty problems of the world, which gave her little time to think about herself. If she had taken time to withdraw from her larger work, she could have made many things plain, but would this not thereby have robbed the students? Why? Because there is no finer process to help one to develop his spiritual thought, than to take problems for which there is no human solution, and to work them out spiritually. Hence, students can feel grateful, that the life of their Leader presents many phases which seem dark and inexplicable from a human standpoint, since, thereby, they are provided with opportunities for spiritual growth that are precious beyond words, as they lift thought to the place where the spiritual answer will flood in.




Chapter Seventy-seven — Mrs. Eddy Guided by Spiritual Perception

One of the interesting parts of Adam H. Dickey’s Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy is found on page 114, as follows: “A story is told of Charles M. Schwab, the steel magnate, who was reared under the tutelage of Andrew Carnegie. One day, the story goes, when Mr. Schwab was Carnegie’s chief lieutenant, he described to his superior some action he had taken and then started to explain why he had taken it. ‘Oh, never mind the reason, Charlie,’ Carnegie broke in, ‘what you do is always right, but your reasons for it are always wrong.’”

Mr. Dickey states as follows: “Often the reasons for which our Leader took action in certain directions were not clear to the workers about her. It would seem as if the reason advanced by her was a poor one, and not worthy of the action she was taking. It always turned out, however, that her action was right, regardless of the reason assigned, which convinced those who were familiar with her work, that her judgment was unerring in every direction, and that in following the direction of divine Wisdom, she never made a mistake.”

In Miscellany, on page 205, there is a letter to Third Church of Christ, Scientist, in London. Mrs. Eddy dictated the first draft of this letter to me. As I transcribed it on the typewriter, I thought how strange were some of the statements that it contained. For instance, she wrote, “Seeing a man in the moon, or seeing a person in the picture of Jesus, or believing that you see an individual who has passed through the shadow called death, is not eeing the spiritual idea of God; but it is seeing a human belief, which is far from the fact that portrays Life, Truth, Love.” When she cabled to the clerk of the church to return her letter unopened, I was convinced that she had done it in order to remove some of the statements which seemed unusual to me. On the contrary, she merely made a few minor changes and remailed the letter.

Then the wisdom back of her action was unfolded to me. As I have stated before, I was instructed by Mrs. Eddy to give her those letters which could not be answered without her help. The remainder were attended to by the secretaries. Thus I knew, that for some time letters had been coming to Mrs. Eddy which she had not seen, and which contained questions raised by students of Christian Science. To be specific, several called attention to a distinguishable portrait of Mrs. Eddy in the shadows on the full moon, and requested to know whether this fact had spiritual significance. Another case came from my own home, Providence, where a portrait of the boy, Jesus, hung in the Christian Science Reading Room. When viewed in a certain light, his face resembled Mrs. Eddy’s. One practitioner had actually piloted a group of students to the rooms just to see this phenomenon.

Strangely enough, just at the time of the writing of this letter to London, there was an epidemic of these questions regarding natural phenomena, of which Mrs. Eddy was not cognizant. Yet wisdom guided her to correct this error, and to associate with spiritualism all such notions, namely, the belief that in any way mortal mind or matter can express Spirit. She established for all time the fact that such phenomena have no scientific significance.

This incident illustrates what Mr. Dickey mentioned. The only reason I failed to understand Mrs. Eddy’s wisdom in including these statements in her letter, was my own forgetfulness of the need at that time, a need which inspiration met through her, although humanly she was quite unaware of it.

Another illustrative point concerns the formation of the By-law relative to a three-year term for Readers. It was generally understood, that it was instituted to cover the case of a student who was using the position of First Reader to dominate the members of her church. This reason might seem like an insufficient excuse to introduce a new By-law into the Manual. However, it was one of the wisest moves Mrs. Eddy ever made.

She acted to meet what might seem to be a small error. Yet later, it was discovered that she had met a universal need of the whole Cause for all time. She was like the little boy who saved the country, by holding his finger all night in a small hole in the dike. When he saw such a small stream, he might have been tempted to ignore it; whereas, if he had, the whole countryside would have been inundated. So, the only proper deduction to accept about Mrs. Eddy’s reasons for doing certain things, is that her higher wisdom led her to be punctilious in matters which seemed so insignificant and personal to the students, that they were not worth the effort she exerted to meet them. Yet, in stopping the small gap, she met the greater need connected with a world-wide error.

Some of the most significant achievements in Christian Science, the most far-reaching effects, originated in Mrs. Eddy’s endeavor to meet what would seem to be a personal and specific abuse, as this example of the threeyear term for Readers in all Christian Science churches. Mrs. Eddy saw the need of destroying the possibility of the student in question holding a position in the church that carried too much temptation for personal leadership. Yet, in order to do it impersonally, she made the whole Field, who were loyal and obedient, acquiesce to this demand. What a forward step this proved to be for the whole Cause of Christian Science! Our Leader perceived that the position of Reader constituted a training ground for students, an educational experience, which would be made more far-reaching by rotation in office. Hence, her readiness to meet the demands of a little outcropping of error, resulted in a universal rule being established.

Another important lesson hinted at by this episode, relates to all inspirational interpretation of Scripture. On the surface, the Bible seems to be personal and to refer merely to the incidents, significant and insignificant, in the lives of those who lived many hundreds of years ago. Yet, because the histories of these patriarchs, prophets and saints can be shown to have embodied universal spiritual rules, the first step in understanding the Bible must be to begin discovering these universal laws, buried beneath what seem to be experiences of individuals. The Bible is like the light from some distant star which seems small. Astronomers, however, are able, through that light, to calculate the distance, and also the composition, of that star. Similarly, it is possible to discover exemplified, through every incident in the Bible, some universal spiritual law that is infinite in its implication and application.

Mrs. Eddy was so spiritually attuned, that even a slight need in her Cause would start her thought functioning spiritually, in order to proclaim a truth that was universal in its adaptation. In this characteristic of our Leader, we are reminded of a sprinkler system, designed to extinguish the smallest fire before it can gain any headway. One seemingly small need would start Mrs. Eddy’s whole spiritual system operating.

The deduction from the foregoing reasoning is that the story about Andrew Carnegie does not strictly apply to Mrs. Eddy, for she did not do right things with a wrong conception of what made her do it.

The students were tempted to criticise Mrs. Eddy for making too much of little things, things which appeared on the surface to be merely natural manifestations. These, Mrs. Eddy would so often attribute to malicious animal magnetism. The students did not realize, as she did, that animal magnetism often works through the natural and insignificant, concealing itself in this subtle way. Mrs. Eddy said to the students at one time, “We must overcome all little things as well as large. We must not feel too much encouraged over a victory, for everything in mortal mind must be overcome. If you fail in one iota, like an example in mathematics, every figure right but one, the example is incorrect; so it is with our problem. All little things must be overcome. Then we rise above substance matter; and that includes sin, sickness, death. I pray and watch in the little details; someone must, as good is expressed in the minutiae of things.”

There are always three ways to account for a so-called natural effect: it may be the manifestation of a purely natural condition of mortal thought; it may be the result of animal magnetism, maliciously directed; it may be the action of Truth causing chemicalization. It requires an awakened spiritual thought to determine, through probing beneath the surface, what the specific error back of any manifestation is.

When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, it demanded spiritual perception to determine that back of Abel’s offering was spiritual thought, and back of Cain’s was mortal mind. The correctness of the analysis which accepted one, and had not respect to the other, was proved later, when Cain’s underlying error of thought was exposed through the murder of his brother. Nevertheless, to the senses, there seemed little difference between the firstling of the flock and the fruit of the ground. The secret motive and thought back of them were what made the distinction.

Cain’s offering represented a seemingly innocent manifestation, the fruit of the ground; yet it was not acceptable, because the motive back of it was to perpetuate, rather than to eliminate, a finite sense. Cain sought God’s blessing on human harmony. The error of such a motive was exposed, when it proved to be no protection against the suggestion of murder.

No one is surprised when a girl, detecting a dishonorable intent, refuses flowers that are sent to her. Her intuition detects a wrong motive back of them, which makes them unacceptable to her.

Animal magnetism represents dirt in the mental realm. Unless it is detected and cast out, it despoils the purity and integrity of our mental home. Mrs. Eddy taught that it is powerless, but she also roused students to fear it to the point, where they would be awakened to detect it and cast it out.

Material dirt takes many forms. Right methods are requisite to eliminate it successfully. Similarly, Mrs. Eddy’s exhaustive teaching, concerning the nature of animal magnetism, is intended to equip the student with effective means of disposing of it.

Mrs. Eddy’s reasons for what she did, were always spiritual. Her decisions were based on spiritual perception. A student who could not discern mental cause and effect, might feel at times that Mrs. Eddy had insufficient reason for acting as she did, especially in the details of running her home. She once said, that in forty years she had not made a single mistake in being guided in matters pertaining to her Cause. In like manner, she could have said, that never once did she make a move, or give an order or rebuke, that concerned anyone in her household, that was not for his spiritual good, no matter how much it may have seemed to the contrary. Her offerings were always acceptable to God, because the motive back of them was right.




Chapter Seventy-eight — Holy Water of Inspiration

The fifth chapter of Numbers contains the account of what was called the trial of jealousy. In it, the suspected woman is made to drink of the holy water. If she has committed adultery, the water is bitter and causeth a curse, whereas, if she has not committed adultery, she shall be free.

What concerns us is the spiritual interpretation of this ancient Mosaic custom, wherein the holy water typifies the spiritual inspiration which comes from the divine source.

From the standpoint of Christian Science, animal magnetism acts upon spiritual thought as that which would confuse, depress and render fearful, the consciousness that should be strong, positive and courageous. But, in this passage, the tables are turned; for it indicates that the effect of inspiration on a thought adulterated with error, mortal mind theories and beliefs, is to produce a chemicalization.

If one’s thought is on a mortal level, even if it be purified to the highest possible degree, Truth will cause such to chemicalize.

This statement is made without reservation, because it is a metaphysical fact. It embodies the only explanation of why many splendid men and women fight spiritual inspiration, persecute it and revile it. That is, it indicates that their basis of thought is the human mind, even though it may be refined. To such, the coming of Truth acts like something from the devil; it makes them uncomfortable and produces a stir.

It is necessary to know this, in order that one may understand the true reason for much of the persecution Mrs. Eddy endured at the hands of cultured and refined men and women.

In Christian Science, adultery, spiritually considered, is the state of human thought where mortal mind is the underlying basis, no matter how refined and educated such a thought may be. To correspond with this trial of jealousy, the holy water of inspiration which Mrs. Eddy poured forth, really constituted a trial for mental adultery. If Mrs. Eddy’s draught of inspiration reacted like a curse and produced a mental chemicalization, that was sufficient evidence to prove that the basis of one’s thought was mortal and material.

Hence, when Mrs. Eddy voiced inspiration and gave humanity a cup of water in Christ’s name, although, in agreement with Science and Health, page 570, she did not fear the consequences, yet they often seemed serious, due to the fact that those on a human level of thought and action chemicalized so over her outpouring, that they turned on her, as if she had committed an evil thing. However, such antagonism merely exposed the adultery of their thought. How different was the action of this inspiration on those whose foundation of thought was changing from the human to the divine. They drank in her sweet revelations, as would a thirsty man on the desert welcome a drink of cool water on a hot day. She gladly shared her revelations with such, and trusted God to protect her from those who turned on her, because their own thought was fundamentally unsound.

So this ancient Mosaic custom, spiritually interpreted, helps the present-day student to understand the strange phenomenon of fine men and women turning on Mrs. Eddy, as if she had given them a bitter dose, when, in reality, she simply voiced, with the highest and most loving motive, the messages of good which she received from God. She expressed this in her own words as follows: “When I went where the people were not good it produced a chemical. While I was writing S. & H. I moved to eight places. I would no sooner settle down and begin to write, than it would produce such a chemical I would have to go to some other place.”




Chapter Seventy-Nine — Mr. Carpenter’s Experience at Pleasant View

The entire effort made at Pleasant View under the direction of our Leader, was to introduce into human thought the divine power. It was the first consideration, and under her instruction, direction and example, we all labored unceasingly for this end. For two years, before I received the call to serve our Leader in her home, whenever I turned my thought toward Pleasant View, with a desire to aid her in the unselfish work of leavening the thought of the world with Truth, it was always uplifted and received inspiration. I speak of this matter, because, when I was notified by the Board of Directors in March, 1905, to go to Pleasant View, it seemed but another step in a demonstration that had led me, each evening, to walk up to a high terrace near my home, and attempt to mingle my thought in love and helpfulness with her effort to call down from on high those spiritual blessings, which were for the feeding of humanity.

Before Christian Science healed me in 1894, I was almost a chronic sufferer with a claim of nervous indigestion, which would keep me at home on the slightest provocation. Therefore, it is natural that the first thought that came to me after I had arrived at Pleasant View, was in connection with my health. Involuntarily, the thought awakened in me that, no matter what the physical manifestation might be, I should never take the time to treat myself. I realized that if I did, error might use that means to keep me perpetually at work to maintain my physical harmony, with the result that my work for our Leader and the Cause would suffer. I then realized that I must meet this suggestion by refusing to acknowledge its necessity.

After I had been in the home for about ten days, the thought struck me, what shall I do if I fall ill? The rest of the household have their work to do, and I am sure I cannot ask Mrs. Eddy for help. Furthermore, no-one is called to this home, until he has proved his ability to demonstrate his health through his understanding of Christian Science.

I opened my thought to God for guidance on this point, with the question in my mind, “What causes disease? What causes the human manifestation that is commonly called sickness?” The answer came right back to me, “Truth causes disease.” I mention this matter, because this answer was entirely contrary to everything I had ever learned in Christian Science. Hence, I knew that the reply had not been evolved from my own thinking. Therefore, it came either through divine Mind or animal magnetism.

When the true spiritual inwardness of this answer was made plain to me, I perceived that I had received a revelation from God. The experience was fraught with blessing, and through it, I tasted for the first time what it meant to live in a demonstrated atmosphere maintained by our Leader, and also, the ease with which divine unfoldments would flow into man, when the obstructions of animal magnetism were rightly handled.

From that day to this, I have never doubted the scientific correctness of this revelation, that Truth was the cause of disease. My first step in understanding such a cryptic and apparently unscientific statement, was to visualize a small brook running down a mountain, gathering impurities on its way. Yet, the stream remains sweet and pure until it becomes dammed, with the impurities collected in a stagnated place to form a plague spot. The dam must be broken, therefore, in order that this unhealthy condition may be eliminated, and the primitive purity restored to the little brook.

Next, I saw an electric current harmoniously and uninterruptedly flowing over a wire, carrying to countless homes the benefits of light, heat and power. But the wire breaks, and at the break appears burning, flashing and destruction. When, however, the break in the wire is repaired, this discord disappears.

Now the lesson was clear to me. As man attains a knowledge of Truth, he becomes a channel through which the unbroken power of infinite good flows out to the universe. This idea is clearly elucidated in Zechariah 4, where God’s anointed ones are pictured as emptying the golden oil out of themselves through the golden pipes. Mrs. Eddy employs the illustration of mortals as windowpanes, being the channels through which the light passes. This divine essence not only blesses humanity, but it sustains the channel through which it flows.

When, however, in the temptations of this mortal dream, man turns his thought in to himself, he produces thereby a belief of interruption of this divine power; then stagnation, inflammation, congestion and destruction result. Furthermore, the greater man’s demonstration has been to open his thought to reflect and transmit the divine power, the greater the belief of discord, when that power is misused by being turned into man.

Thus, it is plain that the only remedy would be to be “absent from the body and present with the Lord,” or, as Mrs. Eddy expresses it in Science and Health, page 261, “We should forget our bodies in remembering good and the human race.” This reasoning throws light on Job 42:10, where we can deduce that Job’s troubles were due to an inturned thought, since it reads, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”

If one asks, how this discussion unfolds the fact that Truth causes the physical manifestation called disease, I would respond by requesting him to answer this question: Would he deny, that the electric power produced the burning and flashing at the ends of the broken wire? It is self-evident that, without the electricity, the broken wire would have been nothing of any serious nature. The electric power did not produce the break in the wire, to be sure, but it caused the attendant manifestation. It is obvious, that Christian Science does not teach that Truth causes the belief of a sickly condition of in-turned thought in mortal man, but, because such a selfish mental condition represents an interruption in man’s reflection of the divine power, that divine power is distorted into inharmony and discord, just as the smooth-flowing electricity is transformed into a destructive condition. This view corresponds with Mrs. Eddy’s statement in Science and Health, page 404, “The healthy sinner is the hardened sinner,” where sin is gauged by the degree to which man has shut his thought to the reflection of Truth. The more Truth a man reflects, the more he suffers when he turns his thought in. But, when thought is once more turned out, the restoration of harmony is immediate.

So, to state the revelation in a more understandable way, I would say that God never makes man sick, or produces sickness, since sickness is an error of mortal belief, or sickly thinking. But the action of Truth results in sickness, in the sense that it brings error to the surface. Human thinking is sickly thinking. The next point is, that animal magnetism covers over this sickly thinking with a deception of human harmony. Next Truth comes, removes the deception, and brings out the phenomenon of Truth apparently causing sickness, where before there was seeming harmony. Yet the sickly cause was there, and Truth merely brought it to the surface, much as the developing fluid in photography brings out some hideous picture on a plate, that before was invisible. The picture was there, but not visible.

As further proof of the divine nature of this revelation, I will relate the circumstances connected with the first time I fell ill, while at Pleasant View. Remembering the above revelation, I resolved to test it out. I sat down by the window, and let my thought go out in prayer to all the sufferers in the world in hospitals; in sick rooms; those condemned under the classification, incurable; those without knowledge of the presence of God to care for them; to bring them the truth, that there is no incurable disease and that, even though they did not know it, they do have a heavenly Father who is the great Physician, who “healeth all thy diseases.” I let my thought issue forth to all who needed God, with the true realization of the God that is all-presence, all-power and Love. When I returned from this mental journey, I found myself well. Through this process, I restored my thought to being a channel for good, and thereby eliminated the ill effects, which were the outward proof of an in-turned thought. During the year I was at Pleasant View, this divine mode of effort, which I believe was God-inspired, never failed me.

I include this unfoldment in these pages, because it reveals that Mrs. Eddy maintained such a spiritually ascending thought in her home, that it aided her students in receiving spiritual revelation and inspiration through unfoldment.




Chapter Eighty — Daily Powerful Protective Thought

My first interview with Mrs. Eddy took place when I went to Concord to arrange for a new carriage for her. Afterwards, I wrote down this interview and I found that, in the course of a half-hour’s talk, she had answered every question on Christian Science that had been troubling me over a period of two years, yet I had not voiced one of them.

It was finally arranged, that I should supervise the building of a new carriage, according to Mrs. Eddy’s suggestions. I felt led to choose a firm in Taunton, by the name of Brownell and Burt, to do the work. For several weeks, Mrs. Carpenter and I took the journey from Providence to Taunton early each morning, and supervised every detail of the work. When the carriage was finally delivered to Mrs. Eddy, she exclaimed, “Isn’t it a dandy!”

Later, I had an interesting experience in connection with this carriage, which illustrated the protective sense at Pleasant View, and which was evidence of the completeness of our Leader’s application of Christian Science. She weighed so little, that she was uncomfortable riding over rough roads in the carriage. Therefore, it was decided to make some lead weights to place in the bottom of the carriage. A member of her household went to Concord and purchased a quantity of old lead pipe. It was planned to melt these scraps in a crucible over a hot fire. Although I did not realize it, some of the segments of pipe, which were sealed at both ends, were full of water.

I had just leaned my head over the crucible full of hot lead when, due to the steam generated by the water, the contents exploded. The boiling-hot lead shot past my face, burying itself in the ceiling twelve feet above; I picked it out of my hair and off my clothes, and yet my eyes and face, which were but two feet from the hot crucible, were not touched.

How I escaped injury would be a mystery to anyone but a Christian Scientist; one who knew the powerful protective thought that daily hovered over that sacred place.




Chapter Eighty-one — Students to Be Spiritually Attuned

One thing which disturbed some of the students in the home was the fact that, in a case of illness which required attention, Mrs. Eddy never allowed the one to whom she delegated the case, more than fifteen or twenty minutes to complete the healing. If the demonstration was not finished in that length of time, she would dismiss the student from the case and summon another. She would repeat this procedure, until she found one who was up to the mark spiritually. I can never forget this high standard which she set for the students.

In this connection, Jesus’ statement in John 20:17 becomes significant to the student of Christian Science, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” When patients go to a Christian Science practitioner for help, they are reaching out for something they believe the practitioner can supply. What, then, has the practitioner to give them? What heals the sick? Is it not the divine Mind, brought down to earth through the practitioner? So it can be stated, that a practitioner has nothing to give his patient, except the divine Mind that he reflects. Hence, before he can give this to the patient, he must get it, and the scientific rule is, that the practitioner should not permit the patient’s thought to touch his in the attempt to gain help, nor should the practitioner try to apply what he has to give the patient, until, in his ascending thought, he has reached the source of spiritual power, and brought it down to meet the need of the patient.

Thus, the Master really advanced a universal rule, because he then directed Mary to say to his brethren, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” In other words, he indicated that his ascending thought was to reach the source of divine power, his Father, but that this source was not his alone, but belonged to all, a universal Principle. This teaching disclosed the fact, that the ability to reach the divine source of power was a universal possibility; that it is our privilege, yea, our duty, to make the demonstration to arrive at the point, where we can utilize the divine Mind instead of the human mind, for this is the only place where we should permit patients to touch our thought in their search for divine help.

Therefore, one lesson I draw from Mrs. Eddy’s custom of taking a case away from one who did not meet it in fifteen or twenty minutes, was that she considered that sufficient time in which to prove whether his thought was properly balanced. The very next day she might call on the same student, that she had turned down the day before, and get good results. She wanted no mind-cure demonstrations in her home, such as necromancers of Egypt were able to exhibit, employing the human mind so cleverly, that their miracles seemed identical with those of Moses, except to the one who could detect that the wrong mind was back of them. To her, mind-cure was a weak concoction, in comparison to the majesty and might of divine Mind. If a Christian Science practitioner does not spiritualize his thought, before he begins to help his patient, his human recognition of cause and effect might enable him to fabricate a thought that would cure some ill, but such a healing would be on a mortal mind basis, and would amount to no more than does the rearrangement of the furniture in a home.

If a practitioner attempts to heal, before he is mentally and spiritually ready, and lets the patient’s need touch his thought, before it has ascended to the Father, then his work is on a human plane. The danger connected with such an effort is that, when a practitioner brings about a physical result in this way, there is no means by which the error can be detected, except as one watches the thought of the patient, since the effect in the flesh is the same, whether the work is done from a scientific basis, or merely by the erring human will. However, the real difference lies in the fact, that the emphatic result of work that is done from a spiritual standpoint, is the touching of the patient’s thought to spiritual issues, an increased interest in Christian Science, and a mental regeneration.

Therefore, when our Leader permitted each student only a short time in which to accomplish the work, she thereby safeguarded the situation, so that no lazy-minded, or human method of doing the work might enter in and deceive the students. If the student was not spiritually attuned, he or she could not hide it from Mrs. Eddy. It was exposed, and the work undone was a sufficient rebuke.




Chapter Eighty-two — Sybil Wilbur’s Meeting with Mrs. Eddy

Sybil Wilbur’s first meeting with our Leader occurred soon after I arrived at Pleasant View. The word came from Boston, that the Herald would like to give a page of the Sunday edition to Christian Science and its Founder. Miss Wilbur arrived and, to me, she seemed to be the usual type of reporter, keen, intelligent, and aggressive. She appeared determined to see everything in the home, and even turned pictures on the wall, to see if there might be some inscription on the back. At first Mrs. Eddy had refused to see her; but, before I was half through showing her the various gifts in the home, that had been sent to Mrs. Eddy by those who had been blessed by her discovery, I received instructions that our Leader would grant the reporter an interview.

I conducted her to Mrs. Eddy, introduced her, and took my departure. In a little while, she came down the stairs, immediately seated herself, closed her eyes and clasped her hands over her heart. I asked her, if she desired to see the rooms that she had not yet inspected. She said, “No, I want to go. Why didn’t somebody prepare me? I didn’t suppose there was any living being like that on earth. It affects me right here,” pointing to her heart. Catching a glimpse of the Christ, the ideal man, was almost more than human sense could bear. It made her heart burn within her. When the Master, as a victor over material sense, showed himself, it caused the disciples’ hearts to burn within them. Dating from this interview, Miss Wilbur became Mrs. Eddy’s devoted admirer and follower.

From my own experience, I could understand Miss Wilbur’s. Mrs. Eddy was not tall, yet I was constantly impressed with her height, as she used to walk down the hall. She seemed to be at least seven feet tall. I knew, however, that this impression came from the spiritual height of her thought, not of her person.




Chapter Eighty-three — Students Woken Up from Mental Lethargy

During the past decade, there have been students of Christian Science, who have openly declared that the first edition of Science and Health was the great and absolute revelation; that in subsequent editions Mrs. Eddy permitted her thought to be influenced in such a way, that she veiled the clear meaning of the Truth in order to suit mortal mind. From my own experience, I can say that if Mrs. Eddy was influenced, it was God who influenced her. She had no students in her home, or outside, whose opinions weighed for one moment against her demonstration of wisdom. She told me several times, that she was making Science and Health clearer and more incisive in statement, as time went on. In fact, one of the great reasons she gave as wanting to stay with us, was the feeling that she could make the teaching of the book more lucid through revision. The same spiritual demonstration that enabled her to write it, enabled her to revise it up to its final form, which we may be sure is her highest demonstration.

I refer again and again to the fact, that that which most disturbed Mrs. Eddy was mental lethargy among the students, because it made the greatest impression upon me and was a challenge to my thought, calling for the acknowledgment that she was spiritually correct in her diagnosis, and that my part was to analyze it metaphysically and detect the true reason for her conclusion.

If she found us manifesting a sense of care-free optimism based on human harmony, she would call each one of us to her and proceed to wake us up. She would call me in and say to me, “Haven’t you a heavenly Father?” I would answer, “Yes, Mother.” The reply came, “Then, why don’t you trust in Him?” She never dismissed us, until individually we were mentally alert and thoroughly awake. This lesson, that mental alertness constitutes protectiveness, has been of infinite value to me. It exemplifies Proverbs 1:17, “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.”




Chapter Eighty-four — Mrs. Eddy’s Calls On Students For Help

My object for including my own personal experiences in this treatise, is for the purpose of showing the personal instruction which we received from Mrs. Eddy, and also, the spiritual consciousness which she maintained in the home.

My object for including my own personal experiences in this treatise, is for the purpose of showing the personal instruction which we received from Mrs. Eddy, and also, the spiritual consciousness which she maintained in the home.

The following incident is one that is difficult to make plain to another, although it was most helpful to my own growth and understanding. One night I was called upon to work with our Leader, to help her meet the argument that she could not rest. In the morning, I was informed that I had failed in my demonstration. This information disturbed me greatly, because I had been faithful to my highest understanding, laboring to the best of my ability to accomplish the desired result, and pouring into the effort a deep sense of love.

Retiring to my bedroom, as was my custom, I opened my thought for divine wisdom; and the following answer came to me: I visualized a young man who became a very proficient archer in his home town, being able to hit the bull’s-eye nearly every time. He was invited to attend a world-wide contest, and to his dismay, in this greater field of competition, he was unable to make a bull’s-eye at all. Then he was tempted to believe that, because he was trained in a small town, he was not fitted to compete in a contest so world-wide. But his suspicions were finally aroused, because he could not hit the bull’s-eye even once. Upon investigation, he discovered that a fine wire had been stretched over the bull’s-eye, and, because he was such a skillful archer, the arrow had sped true to the mark, hit the wire and glanced off. So he removed this wire, and was able to give an exhibition that was a true index of his skill.

The next night Mrs. Eddy called upon me to do the same work with her. In the morning, she told me that I had successfully met the need. By breaking the mesmerism that claimed to keep her from a demonstrable consciousness of God’s power, I had automatically restored to her weary and heavy-laden spirit the true rest, that is the mainspring of scientific work. Then I related to her the illustration, that had unfolded to me the error which had to be handled, and she was so pleased, that she called the other students and told them.

One thing I learned through this experience, was that Mrs. Eddy did not need help such as a practitioner would give a patient, to protect him or her from the claim of animal magnetism. I perceived the second night, that Mrs. Eddy needed assistance in maintaining her consciousness of dominion, her realization of her ability to demonstrate all good. I recognized that she was not suffering because animal magnetism had gained entrance into her consciousness, but because it had succeeded momentarily in driving from her thought her consciousness of Truth. What she needed, therefore, was a restoration of her confidence in the realization, that she had not lost Truth, that she could never lose it, and that she possessed dominion over falsity at all times.

What then, you will ask, did the wire over the bull’s-eye represent to me in this demonstration? It meant that animal magnetism had tried to make a law, that Mrs. Eddy’s students could not rehabilitate her spiritual consciousness for her, when she was tempted to feel bereft. So, realizing that the work I did the first night was scientifically correct, I did not alter it the second night, except to handle the claim that would say, that her students could not work scientifically to help resuscitate her spiritual thought and re-equip her with her scientific weapons. The moment she had her weapons, she could handle her own case without help from anyone.

I realized, after I had been given the above illustration, that Mrs. Eddy’s thought had been darkened, so that she felt unable to meet the inflow of animal magnetism. When her consciousness of power had been restored to her, I had done all that I needed to do, and the surge of spiritual power and uplift that she experienced, was the proof to her that I had touched the right chord. If I had treated her like an ordinary patient, I never would have aimed for the bull’s-eye with enough accuracy to have had the claim of the wire to meet. The fact that I hit the wire, was proof that the work done was accurate and scientific, but the claim of reversal had to be met, before the work became effective.

herefore, my realization that all that Mrs. Eddy lacked was conscious confidence in her own understanding, caused me to aim directly at the bull’s-eye, which was the effort to restore to her this lost sense. It brought me right up against the claim which tried to say that one of her students, being on a lower plane of thought, could do nothing to resuscitate the thought of one so far above in the spiritual scale. At another time, after one of the students was able to give such help to our Leader, she asked, “How did I heal, the other day, when I felt so helpless to do for someone who saw so far above me?” Mrs. Eddy replied, “Through that helplessness you let Truth in, and it was Christian Science which healed the case, not your own exertion.”

Mrs. Eddy had taught us that we could not lose health, immortality, wisdom nor spiritual power. In belief, all that we could lose would be the consciousness of their presence. Hence, my effort to aid the Leader simply restored her consciousness of the latent spiritual power which she possessed, which she could never lose, and which was always at her command. I have never ceased to be grateful, that I did not yield to discouragement and hearken to the temptation of animal magnetism, which tried to say that I could not work helpfully with one who was so far above me in the spiritual scale. The revelation of the archer and the bull’s-eye disclosed to me, that only subtlety stood between me and the accomplishment of what Mrs. Eddy required, and that the opening of my thought would reveal to me what the subtlety was, and how to meet it.

From this experience, I learned that the finest spiritual effort a student could put forth, though it may be scientific and loving, was ineffectual unless that student handled the claim of animal magnetism. The situation is akin to that of a man in jail, who writes to the governor for a pardon, because he is being unjustly punished. The letter may be beautifully written, it may tell the truth with conviction, but if the man in jail is not smart enough to outwit the warden, so that the letter reaches the governor, of what value is it?

At this point, I am led to comment on the difference between the mental and audible assertions which Mrs. Eddy requested of her students. There is a differentiation which must be noted, since the mental argument relates more to cause, and the audible to effect. This classification is noted in healing the sick. The very statement, “You are well and you know it,” which heals the patient when made mentally, may chemicalize him when made audibly.

It is a fact that, in working specifically with Mrs. Eddy, the audible effort differed much from the mental. She would stop a student in a moment, if he mixed the two. She, better than any, knew the truth of the mental arguments of Christian Science. What was it, then, that she required though audible assistance?

An audible treatment, given to a patient, stimulates thought, lifts it up and encourages it, for the purpose of restoring it to a normal consciousness of God. It was this that our Leader required. She did not need, at that point, the mental declarations, since she knew them thoroughly. But she had, for the moment, lost her ability to make them function, or take hold.

When one’s mental declarations do not take hold, what is the trouble? Why does one build up a consciousness of Truth? In John 9:4 the Master said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Man cultivates vegetables in the summer time, because the winter time comes, when he cannot grow them. So he must rely on the ones he has raised and stored away.

Similarly, man builds up a consciousness of Truth to sustain him through the dark hours. When his thought is poised spiritually, he establishes a consciousness of God; then, when the night comes, that consciousness sustains him through the dark hours. It is then that man is called upon to trust in past spiritual effort.

The human tendency in Christian Science, is to feel that you are sustained by your own effort, instead of being sustained by what your own effort brings to sustain you.

The true help that our Leader demanded, was reassurance in a dark hour (times of mental disturbance which beset her occasionally) that, because she had faithfully established for herself a true sense of God, and because she had always leaned on Him, now, her God would sustain her, support her in an hour of trial. The surplus of spiritual good would now return and keep her lamp lit, because she had been a “wise virgin” and gathered oil while it was day. Thus, during such periods of trial, I would reassure her that she was appointed of God, that it was her divine destiny to finish her work, and that no power on earth could, by any possibility, prevent the onward march of her spiritual destiny. Because she had been faithful in appointing herself to perform this sacred work, it would now sustain her in a brief period of darkness.

In a mental treatment, there must be no acknowledgment that the patient has ever been less than a perfect child of God, or has ever lost the consciousness of his relationship as an heir of divine Truth and Love. Such statements were not what Mrs. Eddy needed audibly; for her demand was to have her spiritual confidence in her understanding and destiny strengthened.

I have sometimes wondered if, when Mrs. Eddy called on a student to work with her, especially if that help was to be given audibly, knowing that the members of one’s own household are usually the most open channel for animal magnetism to work through, she asked for this assistance, merely to determine what the mental attitude of that student was toward her, or else to help to let God furnish him with the attitude of mind everyone should hold towards our Leader, towards himself and towards mankind. In like manner, Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” a question that God alone, through man, could correctly answer.

In Christian Science, it is not our work that protects us, but the spiritual consciousness that our work brings to us. Mrs. Eddy needed to rest in the consciousness, that the work she had accomplished faithfully all through her life, gave her the privilege of calling herself a child of God, fulfilling a divine destiny which God had prepared for her, just as did the Master fulfill God’s plan. She required that sublime conviction, that nothing could stop or prevent the accomplishment of her work of bringing to the world its greatest blessing since the time of Jesus.

Mrs. Eddy desired someone to bring her the prophetic vision, that she was just as much an ordained messenger of Truth to this age, as was the Master to his age, and that all the forces of evil could not possibly stir her out of the predestined path God had prepared for her. She wanted to know that the hidden oil was there to sustain her, when error suggested that her lamp was empty. She needed to know that the oil was in her lamp, and that nothing could put out that light, that all the suggestions of error could never touch her. She had seen so many of her students fall away, that she might have uttered the lament of Elijah, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

In a mental treatment, there is no sense of destiny, everything is fixed and permanent. It is only in the audible treatment, that one voices the assurance of a divine destiny that will be fulfilled. Whereas the audible treatment provides spiritual footsteps, the mental treatment maintains that the goal is reached, because it always was established. In the latter, therefore, there is no error; but in the former, there is the claim of evil which must be seen as unreal. Audibly you tell the truth about the lie, and mentally you declare the truth about the Truth.




Chapter Eighty-five — Mrs. Eddy Kept Mental Atmosphere Clear Spiritually

Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration of Truth kept the mental atmosphere at Pleasant View so clear spiritually, that it became easy to unfold divine wisdom. The students found themselves capable of accomplishments in this direction that astonished them.

I recall examining myself at one time, to see how error might attempt to use me to bring something into the home that might darken the thought, and prove a deterrent to our Leader. I realized that it would not be some new claim, because the thought was too well guarded for that. It would, therefore, have to be some belief of the past that might recur, through being held in thought unconsciously. Then my years of illness produced by nervousness came to my mind, and I asked God how to meet and destroy the thought of old beliefs.

I opened the Bible at random seeking my answer, and turned to the story of Paul’s defence in Jerusalem in Acts 22. Here it describes, how he made the unscientific admission that he had once been in bondage to sin. When he finished, the people cried out against him and bound him with thongs. When the chief captain arrived, however, Paul corrected his mistake and declared that he was free born. Then they removed his bonds.

In accordance with this passage, it was unfolded to me that if a man had ever been sick or sinful, he could be sick or sinful again; but the realization that man had never sinned and was never sick, not only destroys the claim, but the possibility of any recurrence. Thus, I perceived the solution of my problem, by realizing that in every case of healing, the fact must be established that no delusion of sickness or sin ever did exist in the patient, and does not now. This argument concurs with a statement given by Mrs. Eddy, to one of the household, in connection with this point. It was as follows: “Your old beliefs are destroyed, rooted up, there is nothing of them to come back, is how I should meet it.”




Chapter Eighty-six — Demonstration of Horses for Mrs. Eddy

In the spring of 1904, the demand came to me to aid in furnishing our Leader with a pair of horses for her personal use. The following events chronicle my effort to fulfill this sacred mission from the standpoint of my best demonstrating knowledge.

At least two committees had been appointed in the country to search for horses, but neither was able to locate what was needed. Later, a Christian Scientist in the south sent a pair from Paris, Kentucky, but they, too, were unsuitable.

The Boston Journal reported the horses from Kentucky as follows: “Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy would not have the finest pair of carriage horses in America. She said when she looked such a pair over, ‘They are a pair of devils sent to kill me.’ The team had been selected by J. M. Osborne of Paris, Ky., who had instructions to buy the best team of carriage horses in the United States. Mrs. Eddy made the expression, quoted in a letter to T. L. L. Temple of Texarkana, Ark., who had sent her the team as a gift. The team consisted of the blue ribbon winners Tattersal and Eckersall. They cost Mr. Temple $10,000, and Mr. Osborne accompanied the horses to the home of Mrs. Eddy, and tried to persuade her to ride behind them. They remained in her stables but a few days, when he had them shipped back to the donor, and Mr. Temple is using them on his carriage.”

Naturally, the question arises, why Mrs. Eddy wrote to Mr. Temple and told him that these valuable horses had een sent as a pair of devils to kill her. Certainly, such a fiery message sounds ungrateful as a reply to a donor of such an expensive gift. Therefore, some explanation is necessary.

Mrs. Eddy knew, that whatever was not the expression of scientific demonstration was the expression of mortal mind, and that whatever proceeded from mortal mind had, for its purpose, the destruction of everything that was of a spiritual nature. But why did she say that the horses had been sent to kill her? As she grew in spiritual understanding, the balance on the side of God constantly increased, until she was so dependent on her spiritual nature for support, that to have lost it, would have meant her passing on. One must never believe, that she thought that animal magnetism was attempting to take away her human sense of life. The disturbance and fear which tempted her, resulted from her knowledge that the only sense of life that maintained her being in this world, was what she demonstrated spiritually. Hence, to rob her of God would be as effectual in destroying her life, as would be a knife plunged into her heart. At this point, it is well to remember that she desired to remain on earth for no other purpose than to establish the Cause of Christian Science on a firm basis, and to keep revising the textbook, Science and Health.

When one’s material sense of life constitutes the majority of one’s consciousness of existence, and the spiritual sense, the minority, that spiritual sense could be temporarily smothered without the individual losing his consciousness of existence. A materially-minded individual, with only a small degree of spirituality, hardly realizes when that spirituality is submerged by his human sense, whereas, when, through a life of devotion to the service of God, one reaches a place where the spiritual consciousness of existence constitutes the majority of being, then the human sense of life becomes so attenuated, that it would never sustain that one if the spiritual consciousness were darkened. Therefore, all that would be needed to kill such a one, would be to draw a shade over this spiritual sense; because this modus operandi would be as disastrous as would be a dose of poison, if that spiritually-minded one did not have an adequate and sure protection from such wiles of the devil.

No doubt a lack of demonstration was back of the gift of these thoroughbreds, and a lack of demonstration means a gift from which the poison of mortal belief has not been extracted. Mrs. Eddy was, therefore, sufficiently awake spiritually, to detect in this incident the wolf in sheep’s clothing. She recognized mortal belief and pride as the greatest enemies of spirituality, because their underlying effect, when accepted, is always to take away the life-preserver of the spiritually-minded, without which such a one would sink.

After becoming acquainted with the efforts to get horses for Mrs. Eddy, and with the fruitless search of the several committees, I spent thirty days interviewing owners of sales-stables and also, the gypsies, who were apt to have the finest horses for sale in those days. This quest availed me nothing.

Then, one morning, I realized that I had spent thirty days fruitlessly, and that, at any time, the need might appear, since Mr. August Mann, who had charge of her horses, had predicted that the day would soon arrive when Mrs. Eddy would say to him, “We cannot take our drive behind these horses any longer.” The daily drive, which meant so much to Mrs. Eddy’s peace of mind, because it furnished an antidote for the lie that she was dead, which was then being so persistently circulated, might have to be abandoned, if he was not prepared with a fresh team.

I proceeded, therefore, to wake myself up mentally, by realizing that God has a pair of horses for this dear one who loves and trusts Him, and who has sacrificed her human all in the effort to establish His kingdom on earth. I then declared that it was time my dull eyes were opened to see this fact manifested. It was not my thought that God had two material horses to send to Mrs. Eddy, but that the divine Mind, not interfered with, would be manifested through man in meeting man’s every need, when the darkness of human limitation was successfully lifted.

On the way to my office, I saw a pair of horses harnessed to a carriage. I recognized those horses as the manifestation of my demonstration for our Leader, as plainly as if I had raised them from colts.

Approaching the driver, I found that they belonged to a wealthy business man. I made an appointment to see this man, although he assured me by telephone that there was no possibility of his selling them. In my talk with him, however, I told him that there was a lady in New Hampshire who needed a pair of gentle horses and that, if he would let her have them, he could replace them, within the day, with a pair that would suit his need. When I left his house, I was the owner of this team, the names of which were Princess and Dolly. The bill of sale was dated April 5, 1904.

At once, I notified Mr. Mann that I had purchased the horses, and he took the 5:45 train from Concord the next morning. He drove the horses, passed on them as acceptable and returned at once, in order that he might take Mrs. Eddy, as usual, on her drive that afternoon. Soon I arranged for a freight car, and loaded the horses into it, with a colored boy to look after them all the way on their journey.

The very day after the horses reached Pleasant View, one of the old span again misbehaved. Mrs. Eddy said to Mr. Mann, “I cannot drive with these horses any longer; do you know where I can get another pair?” He replied, “Yes, Mother; they are in the stable.” Mrs. Eddy, however, would not drive behind these horses, nor even look at them, until I had been sent for, in order to tell her the whole story of how I procured them for her. When I had finished, she said, “Then you demonstrated them?” I said, “Yes, Mother.” She replied, “Then I can keep them.” She recognized that in the transaction I had fulfilled the teaching of Christian Science. When man is in need, the human method is to search, until one has found what it is that he needs, but divine metaphysics demands, that man establish in thought the realization that now man’s every need is met, since man is the offspring of the divine Principle, Love. This mental conviction then serves to make manifest that which is already permanent in Mind.

I was greatly impressed by this demand on her part to watch that everything in her experience was the result of demonstration. In this particular instance, when she detected in it the presence of God’s loving hand, she accepted the horses without even having seen them or tried them. This incident furnished me with the keynote of the whole spiritual mode of her thought. I consider this one of the most educational experiences I ever had in Christian Science; for I realized that Mrs. Eddy would accept anything that was done by her students, provided it was the result of demonstration. That always satisfied her. I saw her rebukes were never personal, but were always aimed at a lack of demonstration. There was nothing too drastic for her to say in condemnation of the use of the human mind, human opinion, and human will when substituted for the divine Mind and the divine wisdom. On the other hand, when she found a student willing to strip himself of all human aid, in order to let the Spirit of God animate and work through him, she commended that, because she recognized in it the extension of the very revelation that she was establishing.



Mrs. Eddy wrote the following letter in thanks for the pair of horses:



May 10, 1904.

Mr. Gilbert C. Carpenter

Christian Scientist,

Beloved Student:

I am told by Mr. Mann and Mr. Frye that you have made the gift to me of one of the finest spans of horses I ever owned. I did not look for such largess! It seemed enough that you should search and find them for me. I feel bankrupt in thanks. Words cannot express my gratitude to you. It is the dearest, the best, the most needed gift I ever received. What shall I do to repay you? I can only say, call on me in an hour of need and I will try to help thee. Give my love to Mrs. Carpenter. I deeply enjoyed my few minutes with you both.

Ever gratefully, lovingly, your leader
Mary Baker Eddy



In reply I wrote as follows:



Beloved Leader:

Your letter of May 10th reached me today. Its tender sentiments with the offer of a sheltering harbor if my faith should fail, more than compensates for the little the foresight of your household has put in my way to do for you. Should I devote my life and all my substance to help make your life more comfortable during its earthly sojourn, I should still be your debtor. My week’s stay at Pleasant View taught me more practical Christian Science than is accorded to most of humanity and for this I desire to return thanks. That you should have taken your priceless time to have seen us personally has touched me deeply and will never be forgotten, but only makes the demands more imperative to demonstrate more of Christian Science.

Yours in Truth,

Gilbert C. Carpenter



During the summer, I purchased from Mrs. Eddy the old pair of horses and an automobile which she desired to dispose of. I now hold Mrs. Eddy’s receipt for these which was sent to me with the following letter:



August 16, 1904

Mr. Gilbert C. Carpenter,

Providence, R. I.

Dear Brother:

Mrs. Eddy, our beloved Leader, desires to thank you most heartily for finding a sale for her horses and automobile. She sends herewith her receipt for the check you so kindly sent to her. And, after making the sale, she desires to pay you for your trouble in doing so. She says that she considers you one of the watchmen on the walls of Christian Science. She sends much love to you and Mrs. C.

Yours fraternally,

C.A. Frye



I sold the automobile, a Yale by name, to a gentleman in Providence. There appeared in the Providence Journal of October 22, 1904, a picture of this machine, as figuring in an incident that caused the loss of the election as Governor of the Democratic nominee. I speak of this matter because, under the automobile, was the amusing title, The Democratic Spellbinding Automobile.

After returning home from Pleasant View, I had the opportunity to recommend as a coachman for Mrs. Eddy, one of my patients, who had been a minister of the gospel. I speak of this, because of the two following letters which she wrote to him in regard to the two horses I had given her. These were written during the year 1908 while our Leader lived at Chestnut Hill.



March 19th



My dear Mr. Stevenson:

If you treat either of our horses for the fear of an automobile it will help them just as it heals the sick, by destroying their fear. Horses are nearly as receptive of the effects from C. S. treatment as human beings are. In haste.

Affectionately,

M.B.G. Eddy



April 26th

Mr. Stevenson

My dear Student:

You do all that you do so well I need not request anything further. But I noticed today that the spirit of Dolly so increased that it may give me some anxiety, for I rest on her to guard against Princess’ spirits. So please keep Dolly calm and all will go on as it has done — well.

Affectionately,
Eddy



What can we deduce from these two letters to Mr. Stevenson? I have already pointed out Mrs. Eddy’s insistence that everything in her experience be demonstrated.

This was the high standard that she set both for herself and others. The mental state in which her students saw her in the home, which might be construed by some to be evidence of fussiness or over-punctiliousness about little things, was really prompted by her perception of a lack of demonstration in her students. I have reiterated that what most disturbed her was the evidence, on the part of the students, that they had relaxed into a state of human ease, which was to her as dangerous as resting on one’s oars, while the tide was carrying one out to sea. In these two letters, we find further evidence that Mrs. Eddy considered everything in her experience, if it was the expression of the human mind, as a possible channel for animal magnetism, unless the demonstration was made to see God back of it. Hence, she was never satisfied, until the demonstration had been made to replace the human cause with the divine. Her mental sense of security, which left her free to employ her thought to the bringing of divine revelation to mankind, came only as she considered all the channels in her home as having been placed under the domination and control of infinite good. She included even her horses in this regime.

A needful lesson is the foregoing for those students who might fancy that healing the sick, or meeting a sense of lack or sin, constitutes the majority of their effort in Christian Science, when before them lies the magnificent opportunity of placing everything under the dominion of good.

The old saying, that you can catch more flies with molasses than you can with vinegar, suggests itself quite appropriately at this point. Yet the flies drown in one as quickly as in the other. All of mortal experience classifies itself under the head of what seems evil from the human standpoint and what seems good. Both will smother man’s spiritual aspirations if permitted to do so, but the good side is more dangerous because it seems attractive. Hence, the student must outgrow that narrow conception which reserves the power of God for destroying the unpleasant side of mortal experience. Pre-eminent for the guidance of the students is the example of our Leader, who once said in the home, “Error cannot get into the kingdom, so we must divest ourselves of it. We must hold with God alone. What I am teaching is the spiritual; the material fights it and I fight the material; it will do it to you; the more spiritual the thought, the more you will be fought. That which takes the place of God, and creates men and women, and sees everything material, will fight the spiritual. We must see everything spiritual.”




Chapter Eighty-seven — Mrs. Eddy’s Spiritually Poised Thought

When one of the students failed to perform his or her human task from the spiritual standpoint, Mrs. Eddy’s personal inclinations might be not to be severe with that student. Yet, from her standpoint of spiritual perception, the outward evidence was all she needed to prove that that student was lending himself or herself to be a channel for animal magnetism, which was a condition she could not permit, either for the student’s sake, for her own sake, or that of the Cause. Surely, if she had tolerated any of the students being used by animal magnetism, would that not have provided the adversary with a means whereby error might find lodgment in the home?

When Mrs. Eddy’s students were in a state of materialmindedness, they could do nothing for her that would satisfy her. Often they knew that she rebuked their efforts when they were humanly correct. If, however, a man should permit a belt, studded with long spikes, to be placed around his waist, and if by some possibility he was ignorant of this fact, he might wonder why his friends did not want him to come near them, and why they accused him of causing them suffering, even when he approached them from the standpoint of love and service. His loving attempts to serve would cause misery. This illustration uncovers the seeming mystery of our Leader’s experiences in her home, where she felt, through the thought of those who ministered to her, a pang of suffering. She said to one student, “Your tender thought reaches me and costs me much.” Had that tender thought been free from all human sense, no suffering would have ensued.

Why was our Leader so positive on this one point, even to the degree that she ran the danger of being misunderstood by those nearest and dearest to her? It was because her very life was so dependent upon the spiritual poise of her thought that, to let into the atmosphere of the home what might result in the lowering of her spiritual sense, would be equivalent to allowing an insane man to roam around the home with a gun in his hand. I can never repeat too often, that Mrs. Eddy’s sense of life and existence had so come to be the outward manifestation of her spiritual thought, rather than the expression of a belief in matter, that whatever threatened her spiritual thought, even to submerge it temporarily, was a blow aimed at her very life; and she recognized the need of making the demonstration to stay with the Cause, because of the infinite significance of Christian Science to a waiting and needy world.

It is difficult even for the advanced students, who have a belief of physical strength and well-being to sustain them, when their spiritual thought becomes dimmed, to appreciate what a frail sense of physical health Mrs. Eddy had to rely on, apart from demonstration. Her cry was, “Lord, save or I perish,” whereas another might cry, “Lord, save, or I will be uncomfortable or unhappy.”

One should not construe the above to mean that Mrs. Eddy was an invalid. How could a woman be an invalid in any sense of the word, and sit at her desk every day, turning out the work that would exhaust five strong, healthy persons? Mrs. Eddy possessed a sense of endurance and a capacity for labor that was astounding. The impression I am attempting to convey is that, when the daily inflow of spiritual Life diminished even a bit, Mrs. Eddy was in danger, because she had so little apart from that to lean on. Hence, it is no wonder that she definitely affirmed, that any attempt to introduce into her experience that which proceeded from mortal belief, or animal magnetism, was attempted mental murder.

An interesting commentary connected with this subject of mental murder is that Mrs. Eddy permitted no telephone at Pleasant View. All calls had to be made over public phones located in the heart of the city. When a spiritual leader reaches the point, where he or she recognizes that the outpouring of spiritual thought is of the utmost importance to the world, higher than any demand the world might claim to have, then anything that might interrupt that continuity of spiritual thought, is something to be avoided, if possible. Mrs. Eddy knew that a telephone could easily become the medium through which a connection might be established with many, whose thought would be barred from the home through all other channels.

I can recall one hot August night going down into the city to telephone a newspaper article to Alfred Farlow, in order that it might appear in the Boston Globe the next day. The article was written by Mrs. Eddy, in answer to a request for her to issue some pronouncement on the establishment of peace in the war between Russia and Japan. However, no-one complained at the extra work necessitated by the lack of a telephone, for we appreciated how much it meant to Mrs. Eddy’s peace of mind.

The matter has been raised by students of Mrs. Eddy’s life, why those in the home should have questioned, as they sometimes did, her moves when she was guided by God. My answer is, that if they could have been present in the home, they would have perceived that her being led by God was far from what one might imagine. She was guided by God to move in ways which often appeared to have no bearing on an important question, a circumstance that would arouse doubt in the minds of the students. But later, the wisdom of what she had done would be made manifest. Therefore, the deduction is that she was led by God indirectly. Paul writes, “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” Who can perceive the divine plan while being guided to fulfill it? The test of man’s faith is to be directed on a path, the objective of which seems either unreasonable or non-existent to the human mind and yet, to continue on it, because the conviction is present that it is the divine leading. Then the discovery comes that it was wise beyond the possibility of any human planning. To be willing to move without knowing the divine reason, is the great test. It is one that exalts Mrs. Eddy’s experience above that of anyone since Jesus.




Chapter Eighty-eight — Mrs. Eddy's Thought Expressed in Poetry

At one time, I had a practical illustration of the expression of inspiration in poetical form from Mrs. Eddy’s thought. On September 11, 1905, she visited the new edifice of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord for the first time. This church was her gift. The next evening, as she sat in her swing on the upper porch, she dictated to me the following verse which she said came into her mind without effort, and which she spoke of as illustrating her unlabored spiritual thought expressed in poetical form:

“Guide us gently, God,
Through the cloud
Or on the sod;
Be our everlasting stay,
Night or day.”

At another time, the following lines surged into her mind from her overflowing heart:

“Oh, thou sweet child of reality,
Born of our Father, Divinity;
Holy in one—
Peace now begun;
Gracious and kind is infinity.”

This poem just quoted is reminiscent of one she wrote on Christmas eve, over twenty years previous:

“Truth—Thou immortal one,
Since first the sweet stars sung
Creation’s glorious morn,
As when thy babe was born,
The painted heraldry of Soul, not sense;
Give God’s idea sway,
Bless her in every way
With Thine own recompense.”




Chapter Eighty-nine — Driven to Higher Spiritual Demonstration

It is safe to conjecture, that Jesus’ disciples considered that the crucifixion of their beloved Master indicated a lack of demonstration on his part. Had he not exhibited on many occasions his power to save himself from his enemies? Then, why did this power fail him at the end?

With the spiritual enlightenment accompanying the resurrection, has come the realization that his experience on the cross was the most valuable of all his exemplificative teaching, not only as it drove him to a higher demonstration, but as it illustrated the possibility of man’s meeting the claim of death.

Cannot this unfoldment be applied to Mrs. Eddy’s experience, to teach that the very uncertainties which, on the surface, seemed to be temporary triumphs of animal magnetism, represented the most sacred and important incidents in her life, driving her to a higher spiritual demonstration, which included man’s innate ability to meet error in all its phases? Those who thought that the Master’s crucifixion was a triumph of animal magnetism, later recognized it as a triumph of good. In like manner, those experiences which, at the time, might have resembled triumphs of error in Mrs. Eddy’s life, in reality, marked error’s destruction and the failure of its effort to impede the onward march of Truth.

In mythology, we read of the giant Antaeus who, when assailed by Hercules, rose up with renewed strength each time he was thrown to earth. What accounted for this phenomenon was the fact that he was the child of Motherearth, who provided him with this renewal of strength each time he fell on her bosom.

This tale typifies Mrs. Eddy’s experience, as it does that of all spiritual giants, who, each time some encounter with error throws them down, rise up with renewed courage and strength, more spiritually equipped than ever before to win the victor’s crown. Because these trials and sufferings throw the Christian Scientist back on a greater reliance and trust in his Father-Mother God, they tend to restore his soul. It is interesting to note how this matter is corroborated by these words, which Mrs. Eddy addressed to a member of her household, after coming home from a drive, during which something had happened to distress her: “Know that a shock only makes us go higher. Now let us know, when mortal mind shocks us, we can use it to go up higher, and so know it cannot catch us there.”




Chapter Ninety — Mrs. Eddy's Thought Embraced Everything in Her Experience

At one time, I felt led to send our Leader a beautiful otter robe to use during her daily drive. She was pleased with it and characterized it to me as “warmth without weight.” I speak of it, because her letter of thanks which follows, shows how her spiritual thought embraced everything in her experience, and gave it a divine significance as symbolic of God. Thus does she set the standard for every one of her followers, in fulfilling the statement in Science and Health, page 269, “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.”


Pleasant View,
Concord, N. H., Dec. 6, 1903



Mr. Carpenter, C.S.B.
Beloved Student:

Each day when sitting under the warmth of the fine fur robe you gave me I say, what a nice thing it is, would that the good giver of it knew how comfortable it makes me and I will write it to him. This is my thanks to such a soul as thine who loves to do good. God bless you with the heavenly robe of righteousness and its sweet rewards.

Sincerely yours,
Mary Baker Eddy






Chapter Ninety-one — Spiritual Meaning of Mrs. Eddy’s Name

Early in my Science experience, I was led to unfold the spiritual meaning of Mrs. Eddy’s last name. My findings, and Mrs. Eddy’s reply thereto, are so significant that they deserve a place here.

In the first edition of his dictionary, Webster thus defines the noun eddy; “I find this word in no other language. It is usually considered as a compound of the Saxon, ed, backward, and ea, water. It means a current of water running back, or in a direction contrary, to the main stream.”

According to the Anglo-Saxon dictionary, ed as a prefix denotes anew, again. As a noun it means safety, security, happiness, restoration, regeneration. The word occurs once in the Bible, in Joshua 22:34, as the name given to the altar erected by the children of Reuben and the children of Gad. According to Pott’s Dictionary of Bible Proper Names, its translation is, witness, testimony, recorder. In Science and Health, Reuben is defined as: “Corporeality; sensuality; delusion; mortality; error.” Gad is defined as “Science; spiritual being understood; haste towards harmony.” When the children of Israel heard of the erection of this altar, they came to punish the children of Reuben and the children of Gad for this evidence of having turned away from following the Lord. The answer came back, that the altar was not being erected for burnt offering and sacrifice, but as a witness for future generations “that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

The Anglo-Saxon dictionary translates ea as running water, a stream, a river, water. This definition conveys the thought of purity. Ea found in the Bible is notably translated river. See Genesis 2:10, John 7:38, and Revelation 22:1, 2. In this connection, the definitions of the four rivers in Genesis as given in Science and Health seem significant. Ea is also given as the name of the deity in the religious system of Babylonia, who is the healer of the sick.

In reply to my letter containing these findings, Mrs. Eddy wrote:


May 22, ‘98



My dear Mrs. Carpenter:

Your kind letter at hand. The interpretation is quite noticeable in some directions. God grant that I be found not wanting in the direction that runs Heavenward. The streams of our lives meet with much resistance, but there is a hope beyond earth’s ebb and flow. May you and all find the shoreless sea where Life is infinite, and all that seems to be and is not, is swallowed up in the reality of Life and Love.

With thanks and love,
Mary Baker Eddy

For several days, the thought had been coming to me, there should be something that could be discovered in the realm of mind, prophetic in nature, relative to Mrs. Eddy, which would correspond with the Master’s experience, since she represented in this age the same universal benefaction Jesus did, two thousand years ago. While pondering on this question, I was led to the verse in Joshua 22. Then, Mrs. Carpenter suggested, that I look up the word, eddy, in the dictionary. I speak of this matter because it was interesting that, although we sent the letter jointly, Mrs. Eddy replied to Mrs. Carpenter.




Chapter Ninety-two — New Bells for Sleigh

At one time, the opportunity arose, through Mr. Mann, to supply Mrs. Eddy with new bells that were needed for her sleigh. I was able to obtain a satisfactory set from the stock of The Congdon & Carpenter Co., my field of labor prior to entering the Christian Science practice. Mr. Mann gave me the old set which had a sentimental value far beyond the new set. Mrs. Eddy thanked me in the following letter:


December 21, 1902



Mr. Gilbert C. Carpenter, Christian Scientist
Beloved Student:

You will please accept my warm thanks for the pretty sleigh bells you sent to me. I love to hear their silver tones over the snow, and think of your kindness to contribute to mother’s one hour cheery vacation from the desk. May the coming Christmas bring you additional joy and advancing footsteps outward, onward, upward, is the prayer of mother.

Ever yours, M. B. G. Eddy.

P. S. I had the pleasure of learning of your acceptance of the place on our Church Bil. Comm. and was greatly pleased therefore. Again M. B. E.




Chapter Ninety-three — Mrs. Eddy Applauded Correct Method

The following letter was sent to Mrs. Eddy during the year 1900, as the result of what we felt was prayerful demonstration.


1 Congdon St., Providence, R. I.



Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy
Beloved Mother:

It has been in the thought of some of your loyal little ones in this city to send to you some permanent expression of their love and appreciation. Now that the world is getting more and more to realize the freedom that you have brought to it, would it be to your liking to have us erect a flag pole at Pleasant View, one hundred feet high, with a flag that could be seen by the dwellers at Concord, the pole surmounted by a woman’s head and shoulders supported by two eagles’ wings?

If this our pleasure should be yours, would Concord Day, “Old Home Week,” be too soon to expect to unfurl the flag to the breeze?

Our courage to write this letter came from opening the Bible to Jeremiah 51:27, “Set ye up a standard in the land.” If you should feel that this plan or any of its details are not just what you would like to see brought out at “Pleasant View,” it would be our pleasure to express our thought some other way, for, dear Mother, our hearts are full and it is our prayer to be found worthy to touch the hem of your garment.


Lovingly your children,
Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert C. Carpenter



July 20th, 1900

In reply to this proposal Mrs. Eddy wrote:


July 25th, 1900



Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter
Beloved Student:

Your dear letter would have been answered sooner but for innumerable duties to be done.

Your conception in design is very fine, your proposed gift is a rare one, grand, and illustrative. But my dear friends, so little is the world up to, or near, your thought, it would be a pearl cast before swine. And you know, Jesus saith, that such is trampled upon. I think that now is not the time for the erection of such a storied flag pole. If I should at any future time sell P.V. to a student, he could have that erected properly; but I have not the sense that it is best to be done while I occupy the place. With grateful appreciation of your high thought, and dear desire to do this for me, I close. May our God give you joy for contemplating it. Give the dear grand students who thought of it with you, my love and thanks. May the wings of the eagle be thine to mount upwards in Christian Science, and divine Love be and abide with you.


With love, mother
Mary Baker Eddy

Why did Mrs. Eddy give such loving attention to a suggestion which was manifestly so impractical and extravagant? In the midst of pressing duties, she took the time to answer carefully a letter, of which a more advanced Christian Scientist might feel ashamed to think that he bothered the Leader in this way.

Mrs. Eddy recognized in this letter an immature spiritual sense based on right methods, struggling for expression. It was her invariable rule to commend scientific processes, whenever and wherever she found them. She applauded correct method, even when the outward manifestation of that method was faulty in the extreme. Under the searchlight of her spiritual perception, the value of results faded into insignificance, in comparison with the importance of obtaining those results through a scientific method. The fact that a student was on the right path, weighed in her estimation more than did the exact point of progress which the student might have attained. She realized that, no matter what the effect might be, an honest desire to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit was always commendable.

There are two spiritual conditions set forth in the Bible as being necessary to merit wisdom’s approbation, “Well done, good and faithful.” One requirement is to hear the voice of wisdom, and the other is to obey it. Scripture records instances of those who received inspiration and then did not follow it. It states that the word of the Lord came to them, but they refused to follow its guidance. Their thought was receptive enough to hear the voice of God, but after they heard it, their hearts were hardened. Pride or fear snatched away the good seed, before it could take root.

Mrs. Eddy recognized from this letter that each of these two conditions was fulfilled, both ideals were present, the gaining of a glimmer of inspiration and the following out of it. No doubt she appreciated the fact, that there must have been present a temptation to feel ashamed to suggest such a manifestly impractical thing to her. Yet, this disinclination was not sufficient to dissuade us from following out what we believed to be the voice of God. We opened the Bible at random for guidance and inspiration, as Mrs. Eddy always did, and acted without fear on what we had received as our leading. To her, this was the infant Christ-idea, and it elicited her attention and encouragement.




Chapter Ninety-four — Mrs. Eddy’s Early History

At one time, Mrs. Eddy carefully dictated to me a considerable amount of her history which I recorded word for word. She never indicated what I should do with it; but I have carefully preserved it, and shall include here such parts as illustrate the guidance of God in her experience.

The following she spoke of under the heading, “Wisdom from God: ”

Three of the brightest lawyers, Walker, Streeter and Elder, were engaged when she applied for a charter for her Church and it was refused. The only way to get it, was by curtailing her religious liberty and come under prescribed religious methods; this she refused to do. Walker and the others said, “No more can be done.” Mother said, “I will trust God. He will show me the way.” She set Walker to work looking up authorities. Finally, she sent Mrs. Sargent to see him. He was fairly buried in his books, but he said, “Hurrah! I have found where a Methodist Church got a charter for business purposes.” So the charter was obtained. After the church was built, it was decided that it would be best to get a regular charter; but the lawyers advised that the old charter must be given up first. Mother said: “If you give it up, you lose the charter; you will get no other and lose the Church.” The lawyers fought her, the Board of Directors fought also, but she stuck to it, and later, after the new charter was obtained, both Elder and Streeter wrote a letter, which was in her possession at the time I was with her, which said that she was right. They had found out, that if they had given up the old charter first, they would have been lost.

To gain her charter, it was necessary for Mrs. Eddy to appear before the faculty of Harvard College. With one exception, she was the only woman present. When it was time for her to arise, one of her students, an M.D. said, “Do not be frightened.” She turned and said, “I am not frightened.” He himself was so frightened that he almost fainted. The question, “For what purpose do you wish a charter?” was put to her. She replied, “Gentlemen, I do not know. God has not unfolded that to me yet; but He has led me thus far, and I can trust Him. He will unfold it to you, gentlemen.” They all bowed their heads. The sincerity of our Leader was such, that it convinced the most skeptical.

Prior to the hearing, President Elliott had read Science and Health and had thrown it aside, saying, “Only a woman or a fool could have written that.” At the hearing, she referred to that comment, saying, “Yes, only a woman or a fool could have, for only a woman would have laid herself on the altar, and only a fool, knowing what she would have to meet, would have done it.”

No mesmerism had any power over Mrs. Eddy. Arens, a renegade student, hired a noted European mesmerist, who was, in fact, the head of a certain school, to come to Boston to mesmerize Mrs. Eddy. He attended one of her Sunday services for that purpose. In the middle of the sermon, God said to Mrs. Eddy, “That man needs your help.” So she preached right at him, thinking that he was a sinner. His head dropped and he did not lift it again. After the service, when going out, he was overheard to say, “No man can mesmerize that woman.”

Mrs. Eddy said that God made her write everything in Science and Health over five times, and the Lord’s Prayer, as spiritually interpreted, forty times. I have often pondered this statement. If Christian Science was a revelation from God, why was a revision or repetition of this kind a necessity? It was a revelation from God, but, through the development of Mrs. Eddy’s thought, it reached, in its human expression, a higher and higher state of perfection in phraseology and adaptability to the human need. One might have the principle of radio broadcasting and reception revealed to him, and yet, in setting forth this principle to be read, understood, and demonstrated by others, in as clear and usable form as possible, in order that no misunderstanding might occur, there must be a period of developing skill which culminates in that textbook best adapted for the general need.




Chapter Ninety-five — Students Forced to Higher Demonstration

One of the important steps in Christian Science is to free thought from its belief in a fleshly embodiment, in order that it may be preparing itself for a skyward flight. It is the effort to put wings on thought. But the belief that mind is in matter would effectually limit thought’s freedom, as would frozen water in a fish-bowl limit the attempt of the goldfish to swim.

From Genesis has come the metaphysical picture of the serpent, or evil, perpetually at the heel of the woman. In Science and Health, page 564, Mrs. Eddy writes, “The serpent is perpetually close upon the heel of harmony.” From this statement, we can deduce the profound fact that error never impedes our spiritual progress; it only challenges our endurance.

For this reason, our Leader was impatient with apathy in the students. She feared lest they slow up and error overtake them. There was no reason why the advanced students in Mrs. Eddy’s home should not have been able to maintain the spiritual pace which she set for them. Any failure on their part was not because she expected the impossible of them, but because they had failed to handle and overcome the human tendency to apathy, which is a part of man’s human inheritance.

All work accomplished at Pleasant View was done under a forced draft. Already referred to, is an illustration of this method of procedure; namely, the fact that Mrs. Eddy never allowed a student more than fifteen or twenty minutes to resurrect another from some difficulty, when she considered that the latter was not in a mental condition which would enable him to meet the problem for himself.

Although Mrs. Eddy’s career abounds in such examples of this forced draft, which is a term borrowed from railroad terminology, where the effort is made to keep enough pressure in the boiler to drive the train at top speed, the building of the Mother Church is one of the most outstanding. Those who have read Joseph Armstrong’s book, The Mother Church, have sometimes asked why Mrs. Eddy was in such a hurry to build the church. When this first edifice of the Christian Science denomination was contemplated, Mrs. Eddy told the Board of Directors that it must be finished on a date which she set, a date which would require a supreme demonstration on their part. Then, although certain contracts had to be awarded at once in order to fulfill this demand, Mrs. Eddy stipulated that the Directors could not assign any contracts unless the money was at hand. But the treasury was lean! Finally, to cap the climax, Mrs. Eddy stated that if these seemingly arbitrary requirements were not met, it would be a triumph of animal magnetism.

What could such demands mean from the standpoint of Christian Science? They were Mrs. Eddy’s method of driving the Directors to make a scientific demonstration of what, on the surface, seemed a purely routine job of erecting an edifice of stone, something that the architect and contractors could do successfully, provided the funds were adequate.

From the standpoint of the metaphysician, to build a church as the world would build it, could not be considered a Christian Science activity, since only manifestations of demonstration have a place in Christian Science, which establishes a definite line of demarcation between material methods and spiritual. Thus, it should be perceived that our Leader used this divinely-wise means to induce or compel demonstration, where the human tendency would be to leave all such mundane matters to persons who were humanly qualified to perform such work.

It was one of Mrs. Eddy’s customs to assign tasks to persons and then expect them finished in a certain length of time, usually a period that the human mind would judge so inadequate, that it would seem impossible to complete the task in the given period. In this way, she forced students to rely on God in order to fulfill the demand. Thus, step by step, through demonstration, was the Cause built up, and human processes became merely servants of God. Appearances indicated that Mrs. Eddy considered the serpent of Genesis to be human processes tempting the Christian Scientist, when he becomes weary in applying metaphysics, to leave the business of the Cause to those persons who are humanly adequate, rather than to those who are forced to rely wholly upon demonstration.

For the above reasons, Mrs. Eddy had little patience with those in her home who attempted to meet her needs from a human standpoint. The speed and exactness which she required, forced the students to use demonstration, where otherwise they might have relied on human ability. Mrs. Eddy’s entire career was based on demonstration. She attempted to surround herself with demonstration, and she functioned and existed because of demonstration. There were students who misunderstood her spiritual requirements and believed that she was overparticular, and that her requirements were unnecessarily arduous.

One might imagine our Leader saying, “In the care of my room, in the various services which I require in my home, in the preparation of my daily food, in the matter of promptness, I demand demonstration. Whatever proceeds from demonstration satisfies me, because back of it is the thought that destroys error and brings Life. I have set myself the task of being dissatisfied with anything less than demonstration, even though the act may be prompted by a loving thought. It hurts me to refuse the work of those who, although they are eagerly trying, have failed to measure up to the standard I have set for this home; but, for the sake of the growth of my students, and for the sake of perpetuating for the Cause, the importance of demonstration in every department, not only in our metaphysical healing, but in all the minutiae of human experience, I force myself to uphold this high standard. If, lest I hurt the feelings of my precious students, I fail to hold them up to this standard, I may be robbing future generations of their perception of the important foundation upon which Christian Science is established; namely, divine wisdom and Love as the basis of every activity.”

In Christian Science, the important effort is to keep ahead of the serpent, and Mrs. Eddy was led to whip the students for this purpose. She established a standard that a human task, performed from the standpoint of demonstration, was acceptable while, without demonstration, it was not. She was able to detect, in the service rendered, whether it was the expression of demonstration or completed from the basis of human accuracy, without that thought which made of every human task an opportunity to approach nearer the spiritual ideal. There were no insignificant tasks, no belittling positions, in Mrs. Eddy’s home. The ones who did the cooking or cared for the horses, ennobled their offices by relying on God to fulfill them. In other words, the opportunity to broaden the application of one’s understanding of Christian Science was even greater in connection with menial tasks, than it was in connection with those functions which, in Christian Science, are commonly understood as requiring the support of Mind in order to fulfill them.

Through the life at Pleasant View, a student was enabled to attain some understanding of Jesus’ statement as recorded in Luke, “he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” This was a call on the disciples to see the importance of making a demonstration of every task, no matter how simple, as a means of broadening their appreciation of the scope of demonstration. To heal the sick through Christian Science year after year, does not necessarily broaden one’s concept to recognize the thousand and one ways in which demonstration must be applied.

It seemed as if part of every demonstration, made at Pleasant View, had in it the necessity to demonstrate over the claim of time. The students never were allowed to feel that they might sit down and take their time over a task. The human sense would say that, after struggling all day with an error, you could go to bed for rest and sleep, and renew your work the next day. However, if an error presented itself at Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy would never let us stop working until that error was overcome, no matter how long it took. I can remember one period, when we worked three days and three nights continuously, without taking off our clothes. When the condition was met, we took our rest, realizing that the necessity for keeping awake was then over. This experience is reminiscent of Matthew 26, where, after the need for work was over, the Master said to his disciples, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.” Jesus had hoped that his disciples would help him protect his demonstration so that, in that exalted state of consciousness, he would not be touched by an alien thought. Then, when he came down, the need for help was over.

Mrs. Eddy was not a hard taskmaster. She only required us to work when there was something to do; but, when there was, she kept us at it until it was completed. The difficulty lay in the fact, that often we were able to see neither the importance of the task nor what the error was that had to be met. If we could only have seen the claim, and had some means outside of Mrs. Eddy’s own perception of knowing when it was handled, then the importance of the work we were doing would have been better understood.

It seemed to me, as if most of the effort to overcome apathy at Pleasant View was the necessity to keep going, in order not to lose the precious things that came flowing in from God. It was as if Mrs. Eddy was watching, lest anything prevent these precious things from finding expression when they appeared in thought. It was definitely part of the demonstration to keep so mentally alive, that nothing could be lost. Mrs. Eddy also recognized, that these precious things would flood in only through the development of the students’ spiritual sense. How was she to develop this power of reflection in her students, unless she gave them problems which were unsolvable from any human standpoint? It is through the humanly unsolvable that man is forced to turn to demonstration, to the development of spiritual sense. Then how valuable becomes anything that forwards this development!




Chapter Ninety-six — Divinity Course the Highest Instruction

Mrs. Eddy agreed to teach the Divinity Course to students who came to live with her, if they would remain long enough. I have often pondered this offer, which she incorporated into the Manual, because it is my firm conviction that she never taught this Course to anyone. Then, if she did not, how can one reconcile this with the fact that she made such a promise?

My answer to this question is, that divinity must be taught by divinity, in accordance with John 6:45, “And they shall be all taught of God.” How then, could Mrs. Eddy teach the Divinity Course? Only as she could unfold to the student the process of clearing the connection with God, over which this divine instruction flows. The teacher leads his student to the spiritual fount, from which he gains his draughts of inspiration, in order that the student may drink for himself.

Mrs. Eddy made it plain that the Divinity Course is the highest course of instruction in Christian Science; therefore, it must be taught of God. Hence, Mrs. Eddy was correct in promising the students that if they stayed with her long enough, they would be taught the Divinity Course, since Mrs. Eddy would instruct them how to go to God. The Divinity Course is the teaching from divine wisdom direct to the individual student. So Mrs. Eddy really promised the students, that she would give them that higher instruction that would enable them to enter into that oneness with God, the Holiest of Holies, where the divine revelations of Christian Science would come to the individual students from the same infinite source, from which Mrs. Eddy gained them.

Hence, if one criticised Mrs. Eddy for deception, because she promised to teach the Divinity Course to those who would remain with her long enough, in order to persuade some to stay who otherwise might not do so, and then did not teach this Course, even to Calvin Frye, her faithful secretary, the answer would be that this highest course is self-taught, or rather, God-taught. Hence, Mrs. Eddy could not have taught it, had she desired to. Through precept and practice, our Leader taught every member of her household the great lesson, that he or she might turn to the great Teacher, God, and be taught of Him. If any student failed to take advantage of this teaching of how to go to the divine source for this Divinity Course, then, and only then, would Mrs. Eddy’s agreement seem to be unfulfilled, yet the fault lay not with her, but with the student.

Those students who have correctly analyzed and assimilated her teachings, endeavoring to put them into practice, have discovered, through the higher inspiration and wisdom that have flowed to them from God, and through the greater spiritual light that is thrown on the Bible as a consequence, that this spiritual influx constitutes the Divinity Course. Thus, it is a course taught through inspiration. Hence, when any student who lived with Mrs. Eddy, begins to gain this inspiration directly from God, he then knows that he is receiving the Divinity Course which Mrs. Eddy promised.

Any worker in Mrs. Eddy’s home, who prayerfully and watchfully observed and understood her higher teachings, was thereby prepared for entrance into the Mind of God, the Holiest of Holies. In this manner, she might promise this Course; but, whether the student received it, depended on his taking advantage of what she so freely offered.

There are notes extant, purported to have been given by Mrs. Eddy to her students on the Divinity Course. Yet, no matter how long students remained with her, none ever received the degree of this Course. We must conclude, therefore, that the determination to understand these statements of our Leader would constitute the development of spiritual sense, which is the true preparation for this God-taught Course. The student is taught the Divinity Course, in proportion as the things of God flow into his consciousness. No individual, no matter how spiritually endowed, can impart this Course to another, since it is a spiritually-received Course.

Jesus as the Christ said, “Lo, I am with you alway.” So the Christ is still the Teacher, and the receiving of His teaching is through inspiration. Can the spiritually eager student in any age be deprived of any spiritual good, as he progresses heavenward?




Chapter Ninety-seven — Mrs. Eddy’s Reflection of Divine Power

I have written of the fact that when our Leader was in need, she would permit one of her students to work with her. When I was called to her room for this exalted task, instead of listening with criticism to my infant lispings of her doctrine, and measuring the great gulf that lay between my understanding and hers, she would use everything that I said, as something to help her to get her thought back to its accustomed spiritual ascendancy. She would climb back to her normal heights of spiritual power and clarity, on the ladder provided by my meagre spiritual consciousness.

What evidence this was of humility in our Leader! How like the Master she was, when he said to the woman of Samaria, “Give me to drink! ” Mrs. Eddy did not think, “This young student knows so little, that he cannot possibly help me. ” She would gladly accept any spark of spiritual thought that I might be able to furnish her at such time, and use it as a light to illumine her footsteps back to her normal place of divine dominion. When such disturbing periods assailed our Leader, all she expected of a student was what he might be able to do to resurrect her thinking. No matter what the physical manifestation might be, she knew that it was her thinking that had been tampered with. Hence, the re-establishment of her spiritual thought, and nothing else, was what concerned her.

It was not a simple matter to be summoned by our Leader, and be instructed to give an audible Christian Science treatment. Usually, at such times, the arguments I voiced, embodied the declaration that service for God always provides its own protection. I would declare that she was the way-shower for this age, that nothing could prevent her from fulfilling her divine destiny, and that she knew it. I asserted vehemently, that puny interference could never stop her from reflecting the infinite power that was putting divine destiny into action and expression, nor prevent God from establishing His Truth on earth through her.

I reiterated that she was the servant of God, establishing His Cause in the world, and that He would protect her. I told her that if we were faithful, we were accumulating oil in our lamps, that would sustain us through the dark hours. Noah was faithful in building his ark, and it preserved him when the terror of animal magnetism swept over the earth.

The Bible states that bread cast upon the waters returns to us after many days. This verse affirms the metaphysical application and fulfilment of the spiritual consciousness which every Christian Scientist endeavors to build up each day. As a result, this faithful storing of spiritual oil in the lamp of consciousness, will keep his light burning, during the hours of darkness.

The consciousness of God’s love and care must be accumulated by every student of Christian Science during those times, when there seems to be no great need. Then, when the waters of mortal mind seem to rage, he will be sustained.

Thus, the conviction for which Mrs. Eddy hungered at such times, was that it was her divine destiny to bring good to humanity, that the power of God was impelling her to fulfill it, and that she was entitled to do it because of her consistent faithfulness. Therefore, how could the futile suggestions of envy, jealousy, hatred, revenge, for one moment stop the onward march of God through her into the world? Such arguments would provide the foothold her thought needed in time of stress. Once her mental equilibrium was restored, however, she required no further help from anyone, since she was once more God’s spiritual representative in command.

There are three stages in which man finds himself, in going from the human mind to the divine Mind; and it is important that they be understood. The first stage is where man discovers himself equipped with a positive attitude of mind, utilizing the power of the human will to make his way in the world. If, in this stage, man’s faith in himself does not weaken for any reason, he may proceed a great distance in whatever branch of human endeavor he selects to follow. After a while, however, no matter how skilfully, intelligently or fearlessly he may employ this instrument called the human mind, yet, because it is faulty and limited, what he is able to attain through its means does not satisfy, nor bring that happiness and contentment which he was tricked into believing it would.

The next stage of experience might be called a negative one; for in it, man has abandoned any desire for, or belief in, attainment through the human mind. Even if he gets into physical or financial difficulties, he refuses to rehabilitate himself through human means and methods. The slogan on his banner reads, “I will perish rather than utilize any other help than that which comes from the divine source.” In this receptive state of mind, man, in deep humility, prays that the divine power may flow into him, and that he may be thoroughly imbued with this spiritual inspiration.

This second stage is a valuable and necessary one in Christian Science. Yet, through it, man fails to achieve any constructive good, unless he takes the next step, which is to gain the recognition that, having attained this influx of divine Mind, he is elevated from the status of a pleader, or a recipient, to that of a representative of God, where he once more finds himself in a state of mind that might be called positive and authoritative. The difference between the first and third states of growth, however, is that he is now utilizing the divine Mind, instead of its human counterfeit. In it, he recognizes and exercises the divine authority that God has given him.

In this third stage, man no longer kneels in submission and begs God to point out the way, because he knows that he has within himself, by reflection, that divine Mind which equips him with power and understanding, so that evil cannot block his progress. With the access of divine Mind, also comes the impossibility of exercising this Mind erroneously or selfishly. It has only one possible employment, the spiritual enrichment of one’s self and all mankind.

It was remarkable to see how dominant our Leader was. In fact, were it not that Mrs. Eddy utilized this dominant sense solely for spiritual purposes, to bless and to bring out the highest ultimate good, one might have judged her a strong-minded person, armed with an inflexible human will. The error of a so-called strong-minded character, wielding the human will, is the fact that he is employing the wrong tool. The human mind can never give anyone true authority. With it, no-one can ever attain the desirable and permanent things of life. In order to achieve this end, man must discard the human mind and put himself in a receptive attitude, the attitude of prayer, which is a mental aspect of receptivity, whereby man yields up mortal mind and refuses to resort to it, willing rather to suffer than to use it, because he knows that as long as he relies on it, he will never avail himself of the divine Mind. Prayer is the method by which man abandons a faulty tool and lays hold of a correct one. Having fulfilled these requirements, man regains that authority and sovereignty, the consciousness of power that formerly attended his selfish reflection of the human mind, but on a new basis, with a new motive, where it is all used for the glory of God. Under this enlightened regime, man is no longer on his knees to God, but governing the universe as His representative.

The Master ascended to the mountain top when he lost his spiritual power and authority. There, in humility, he prayed all night. With spiritual power wanting, he did not resort to the human will as a substitute, but he went up and yielded, became a suppliant on his knees to God, until the divine Mind surged once more through his spiritual consciousness. The moment he reflected the divine power, his whole thought and life took on the hue of that infinite power, and he employed it to deprive all other assumptions of power of any reality, origin or purpose.

Those who lived with Mrs. Eddy, recognized in her this consciousness of spiritual power. It was only when she temporarily lost this spiritual dominion, that she went up into the mountain and again became a petitioner. At such times, she seemed to be just an elderly lady. Often this would cause her to seek help from a student. She would turn as a suppliant to any channel God offered, in order to reawaken that spiritual inflow. The moment it started, everything was reversed; for, instead of being a receiver from, she became a giver to, her students. To see Mrs. Eddy, as she was normally, was to understand why the efforts of any student to help her seemed infantile. More than anything else, she impressed me as a spiritual force. There was nothing of the suppliant in her thought; but, when she temporarily lost that dominion, everything was changed. She was like a great airplane when the propellers stop. You cannot imagine such frail blades having the power to maintain the great ship miles in the air. But, when they are revolving once again, then you respect their potentialities. When Mrs. Eddy lost sight of her consciousness of spiritual authority, it would seem unbelievable that the mighty driving force of spiritual wisdom and activity, which she reflected, could ever have emanated from her. Yet, when she retrieved it, you forgot the woman, in the greatness of what she reflected. This consciousness of dominion is not a receiving attitude of mind, to be sure, although it is one which acts upon what it has received. It is only through seeing her in this spiritual altitude, that one should feel that he has a true conception of our beloved Leader.




Chapter Ninety-eight — Dealing with Effect Not Cause

I often ponder the valuable lesson connected with Mrs. Eddy’s rebuke, “Tell the truth about the lie,” to the student who, when she manifested a cold, said that she was all right. Our Leader recognized that in one’s metaphysical footsteps, thought can never proceed directly from the manifestation of disease to the consciousness of its unreality, for such a practice would be jumping from the lie about the lie to the truth about Truth, thereby omitting one step, namely, the truth about the lie. In other words, the manifestation is only effect, and one must trace back to its human cause, by first admitting that he is manifesting disease because, under the law of mortal belief, he is entertaining human thinking.

This point is illustrated by a leaking water pipe, which a housewife endeavors to remedy by mopping up the water, as it pours out on the floor. Obviously, such a procedure is futile, for her first step should be to turn off the water in the cellar, so that it will cease flowing into the pipe. The moment this is done, she can commence repairing the damage done to the house.

Even if one knows how to turn off the water in the cellar, there is always the temptation to become so disturbed over the disaster to the house, that one considers it more important to deal with the leak, than it is to shut off the water, more important to deal with effect than with cause. These principles are equally true, when applied to the problem of disease. It is necessary to withdraw thought from its devastating effect upon the body, and ignore manifestation sufficiently, to deal wholly with thought. If the human mind is the source of all human ills, then all correction must be made at that point, through eliminating the false cause and retaining the true.

Hence, Mrs. Eddy was expounding the fact that one cannot go from the manifestation of disease directly to making nothing of it. First, one must tell the truth about the lie. That traces from effect back to cause, and provides the right understanding, so that the error can be corrected scientifically. Not until the student has told the truth about the lie, has he corrected his primary thinking, and placed himself in the position where he knows what the error is. If one starts right in with the declaration of the unreality of disease as expression, then the vital point of mental causation is left untouched. It is never scientifically correct to work with manifestation. One must deal wholly with mind as causation and, if harboring the wrong mind as causation, eliminate it and bring in the right Mind, which is the only Mind.




Chapter Ninety-nine — Wisdom Versus the Human Mind

Now let us probe into the experiences of some of Mrs. Eddy’s students who were highly educated, who were recognized in the literary world as men and women of marked attainment, and who had been recruited from the pulpit, from journalism, from educational activities, and from other professions equally cultural and praiseworthy. I do it, not by way of criticism, but in order to unfold the spiritual lesson embodied.

Some of these individuals were writers, who were humanly gifted in this direction beyond our Leader, they having been clergymen, journalists, publishers and reviewers of books for many years.

These students might have continued to be of great value to Mrs. Eddy and to the Cause of Christian Science, if they had not finally turned aside from the organization and repudiated it, to pursue paths devious.

In order to understand these deflections, and to gain the spiritual lesson involved, it is necessary to consider the following illustration: If I had a rich father who did not like my present residence, he might send me the materials with which to build myself a new one. Yet, if I had too much pride in the present one, because of the many things I had been able to do to beautify it, even though I know it is not constructed of material that is permanent, while the new one will be, I might be unwilling to tear it down. Instead, I might use the new material, intended for the construction of my new home, to repair and to strengthen the old.

In this illustration, the old house typifies the human mind, which Christian Science bids us tear down, in order that we may build in its place a new one, constructed with the spiritual materials furnished by God. In the case of these students, they had developed the human mind to a remarkable degree. They were gifted intellectually, with a fund of scholarship and a wide acquaintance with books and authors. But when they became students of Christian Science and went to study with our Leader, they were not entirely willing to fulfill the demand of spiritual progress, to put off the human mind. Their continued application of Christian Science tended to enhance the human mind, and give it greater endurance and acuteness, a fact which may be deduced from their later history.

Yet, Christian Science unfolds that no matter what one does with the human mind, it is still human, and in humility and with a conviction of its utter worthlessness, one must finally put it off, before the divine Mind can be reflected. Mrs. Eddy once said, “The human mind does not increase in wisdom, but wisdom decreases the human mind.”

These students become an object lesson for all Christian Scientists who feel the temptation to be proud of their human attainments and accomplishments, unfolding, as it does, that the remedy for such a condition lies in going back to the simple teachings of the Master who said, “I can of mine own self do nothing.”

One of the vital requirements for the gaining of true spirituality, is willingness on the part of man to strip himself of all that mortal belief has put upon him, human education, inheritance, human opinions and intelligence, in order that he may be clothed with the robes of Christ. As Paul writes in the fifth chapter of II Corinthians, “. . . not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

Again and again, the Bible uses the symbol of a lamb to represent the spiritualized man. Apart from typifying purity, the lamb has another metaphysical significance, in that it represents complete dependence. The lamb seems stripped by nature of all ability to protect and support itself, and hence, it must turn unreservedly to the shepherd for everything. He must ward off the wild beasts, must find new pasture, and must even taste the water to be certain that it is fit to drink.

It is little wonder that the Master was called the Lamb of God, since he was absolutely dependent on the divine Mind for everything. His attitude of thought, that brought divine reflection, came through his willingness to give up every human dependence.

He said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In other words, man must strip himself of all belief in human intelligence, selfconfidence, time and maturity, which carries with it pride, age and decay, and return to the helplessness that the babe typifies, in order to earn and win the guidance of God, whereby man is led into the Promised Land.

In the allegory of Adam and Eve, one might say that the wisdom that opened their eyes to their nakedness was an error, only because this exposure was premature. If, at that point, they had had a true knowledge of God with which to clothe their thoughts, they would not have been deceived by the false sense of God, which furnished them skins. These coats of skins might be said to typify the false sense of man, that has hidden the true sense from that day to this. Logically, we deduce that the recognition of his nakedness, when it comes to man, is the action of Truth, if man is ready at that point to take on a true sense of himself as the perfect child of God, reflecting all from the divine source.

From the standpoint of Christian Science, nothing that man gains with the human mind is real or permanent. Furthermore, if man is unwilling to put aside the old garment, he thereby precludes the possibility of his getting the new one. It is a claim of pride that causes man to cling to a belief in self-derived and self-developed qualities. On page 201 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, “Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us.”

One symptom of this error in these students was their attitude of mind in meeting with Mrs. Eddy as her equal, whereas the more humble students sat at her feet as disciples, glad to be fed with bread from heaven. This sense of equality with our Leader was based on the extensive education which such students had enjoyed, in contrast to her limited scholastic opportunities. Not that Mrs. Eddy was an uneducated woman in any sense of the word; but, judging by the world’s literary standards, a skilled writer might feel that what she wrote lacked finish. Hence, to feel superior to her, would be a temptation confronting a humanly well-educated person, who did not fully appreciate the spiritual part of her demonstration.

Such students would feel tempted to believe, that Mrs. Eddy’s reputation for greatness resulted from something which they themselves possessed in even greater degree than did she. Their pride of attainment would blind them to the full significance of the inspiration contained in Mrs. Eddy’s writings, as being the only feature furnishing them with their great value, and elevating them as far above the writings of others, as is the sun above the earth.

These students were writers and authors before they became Christian Scientists. Failing to relinquish their dependence on the human mind after their tutelage with Mrs. Eddy, they could pen only human literature. Contrariwise, what Mrs. Eddy wrote was not human literature; it was spiritual food, divine precepts for humanity’s guidance, inspiration from God; the spiritual thought back of it was paramount, and the symbol in which the spirit was enshrined, assumed a divine hue that transcended grammar or syntax. Mrs. Eddy could have created a new language; in fact, to a great degree she did. She submitted to human rules, but only in order that what she published might conform to the highest standards of human education. Her lack of human technique manifested itself in directions no more serious than punctuation or phraseology, which has been true of numberless authors whose minds teemed with so much material, that they could not write fast enough to record it. This fact, however, at no point hindered Mrs. Eddy’s expression of Truth. This human limitation only served to turn her more unreservedly to the divine Mind. She exemplified what was said of the Master, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” But the Master reflected all he needed to know from the divine Mind; he confounded the wise men who depended on human ways and means. Similarly, Mrs. Eddy, with her growth in spirituality, measured up more and more to the standards of human education.

The mental attitude of the students, as described here, would render the good one might gain from Christian Science of little permanent value, as long as one continued to use it merely to improve his or her own developed human capacities and possibilities, although this may be a necessity in the beginning. From these students’ experiences I deduce this most valuable conclusion: that the only effect of Christian Science on a student, that does not definitely carry with it a temptation to self-aggrandizement, and to cling to that which has a human origin, is to open his thought to reflect the divine Mind alone. One cannot accept and retain that which comes from the divine Mind and the human mind at the same time. One cannot serve God and mammon, for mammon represents the source from which emanates all that mortal mind values. Either one must repudiate God and cling to mammon, or vice versa. When the student applies his advancing spiritual knowledge to the opening of thought to receive, in larger measure, the refinement and culture of mortal existence, then one can be sure that his spiritual understanding is being applied from the standpoint of the beginner in the study of Mind-science.

Mrs. Eddy’s own concept of her experience in reflecting the divine law, is clearly summed up by her as follows: “God has worked through one in this age because He could. The light will come through the window because it will let it, while the wall will not; it would shine through the wall if it could; God is no respecter of persons. Then would you say, the wall can let in the light the same as the window? No. Then does one person let in as much light as another?

No. Can the one who lets in the light, see what is best for the others, better than the one who does not? Yes. How do you know I am a window-pane for the light to shine through? By the works.”

On Feb. 19, 1903, in a private letter Mrs. Eddy wrote: “The sick are healed to all appearance and the gospel is taught by mortal mind; but the fact remains, that only the immortal Mind can heal the sick or save the sinner. Divine Love knows that love is light, even that light which is the Life of man. Divine Love knows His window, and knows that it gives light, not darkness, and is the means of love’s entrance into the hearts of men. The wonder is, that aught can make God’s window seem to be what it is not. It was the doubt and ignorance of what Jesus was and did for all mankind, that shut out and still shuts out the light of Love. What if the window does offend the senses with the objects it reveals and the path it points out! It is Love’s window and Love’s revelation to mankind. The good gaze at last with gratitude and joy on what they had not seen, but now see through the window that disturbed the senses, but pointed the way in Science.”




Chapter One Hundred — Only Great As I Am Good

A scientifically correct conception of our Leader compels the realization that her claim to being a Christian Scientist was not accretion, but depended entirely on what she reflected from God. This statement substantiates what the Master said,“I do nothing of myself.” What man reflects from God, can never be attached to his personality, and it is only misguided hero worship on the part of those who attempt it. What Mrs. Eddy reflected, came from God; hence, it was never personal.

If a man could invent a pair of invisible wings that would enable him to jump higher than anybody ever jumped before, nobody would attach any great acclaim to him, as having greatly developed bodily muscles, after it was discovered what it was that enabled him to perform such a feat. The credit would go to the invention and not to the actual feat. So credit is due Mary Baker Eddy, not so much for her great attainment, as for the fact that she gained the ability to reflect the divine Mind and to teach others how to do likewise. For this, we owe her endless homage. But the world is apt to acclaim what a man does, rather than the way he does it, since the world judges by results. In her work, Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy refers to the poem which contains the line, “. . . only great as I am good.” Although, in this instance, goodness would refer to the scientific process for gaining reflection, it must be remembered that the power and majesty of what man reflects, belong to God.

In his book, Mary Baker Eddy, Lyman P. Powell writes of our Leader, on page 246, “Once, after making a remark which she wished at once to recall, she placed her finger on her lips and said, 'That was Mary talking; now let God talk.’”

What glorious proof is this simple declaration that even after years of spiritual growth, when Mrs. Eddy voiced mortal mind, it was just as incorrect then, as it was at the beginning of her career. When her opinion was not based on demonstration, it was no more valuable than that of the least of her students, and she knew it. If there was any doubt about it being a demonstration, she would continue to work until the truth was disclosed to her. Then she would change her course, and reverse her decision, no matter what it cost, if the divine Mind led her so to do. She never hesitated to condemn the Mary in her, even at the latter part of her human experience. She denounced the Mary and exalted the Christ; for the Truth had no effect on the Mary, except to improve it in preparation for its elimination. All the years of demonstration could not make the Mary spiritual. Truth is not a development, but a reflection. If one should reflect Truth for twenty years and then stop, what he would voice at that point would be animal magnetism, just as much as though he had never reflected Truth before.




Chapter One Hundred One — Mrs. Eddy Recognized the Needs of Mankind

One reason why I have felt led to write this exposition of our Leader, is so that those who read it may gain a recognition of the importance and necessity of understanding Mrs. Eddy and her teaching, together with some of the footsteps which she took in improving its expression to a point of clarity, where no misunderstanding would be possible.

As an example, there are those who, having made a research into the earliest writings of our Leader, her manuscripts and the first edition of Science and Health, have discovered certain statements which they have taken as authority for instructing young students to say, “I am God.” The fallacy of this interpretation lies in the fact, that Mrs. Eddy herself recognized that some of her declarations made in the early days were susceptible of misunderstanding and misuse. So, she was divinely guided to change these statements, that they might be better adapted for study and application.

This discussion is intended in no way to imply that what Mrs. Eddy stated in her early writings was untrue. It is not a question of the truth of the statements, but of their use. A correct statement may become wrong, if used wrongly. Christian Scientists are very apt to state that all is Mind; whereas a more correct statement is, that all is Mind and its infinite manifestation. When they declare that all is Mind, that is not correct, since, strictly speaking, the manifestation of God is never God. It is God and His expression. The expression of Mind is Mind in quality, but not in quantity. It is a difference of degree. Hence the affirmation, “I am God,” might be true spiritually from the standpoint of quality, since the only “I” is God; but it is not true from the standpoint of quantity. Therefore, when employed in scientific practice, it becomes dangerous. In the first edition of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, on page 156, “. . . but the shocking audacity that calls itself God, and yet demonstrates only erring mortality, surprises us!”

Mrs. Eddy was spiritually wise enough to recognize the needs of mankind and her students. Let us quote her words in proof of this assertion on page 237 of Miscellany, “What I wrote on Christian Science some twenty-five years ago I do not consider a precedent for a present student of this Science.” This does not state that her earlier writings were unscientific, but that they were not expressed in words which were universally adaptable or understandable. In the solemn footsteps that man must take in claiming his divine selfhood, not one jot nor tittle of the spiritual law can be set aside. What advancing revelation may unfold to the individual cannot be determined, but from the standpoint of present practice, what Mrs. Eddy set forth in the last edition of her textbook, that man is God’s perfect reflection, is the correct statement for all students and will cover every need.

On April 22, 1903, when Mrs. Eddy was planning a Concordance, she wrote as follows to the compiler: “My ‘last changes of Science and Health’ may continue so long as I read the book! But I will stop now and you may finish the Concordance immediately. Owing to the fact that this book should unfold in proportion as my thought grasps the spiritual idea more clearly, so as to voice it more simply and thus settle many queries, I have wished I had not commenced a Concordance, but had had an index attached to Science and Health.“




Chapter One Hundred Two — Need to Demonstrate in Every Detail

In the eighth chapter of Zechariah, there is a beautiful picture drawn of the restoration of the holy city, where old men and old women, as well as boys and girls, shall dwell in the streets. This Scripture prophesies that we will not all be ushered into heaven at a specific time, but that on the heavenly road there are students in various stages of growth and yet, all are in the Promised Land, or walking the path that promises to bring them continual growth.

Another unfoldment to be gleaned from the above, is that an individual Christian Scientist may be very advanced in his spiritual understanding in one direction and yet, a mere child when dealing with other phases of thought. Thus, we might encounter a practitioner very far advanced in his understanding of treating the sick, and yet a mere child in the demonstration of the one Mind in the business meetings of his or her branch church.

I can assert with conviction, that Mrs. Eddy’s home was the only place where I ever saw a perfectly consistent application of scientific demonstration to all matters. She made it a requirement that we must demonstrate all the material experiences of ordinary daily life, and strive to see God back of everything, no matter how insignificant an incident might seem. The result of this was that with the students in the home, there was less contrast on the streets of Jerusalem, less boys and girls, and more men and women of experience. This condition resulted from Mrs. Eddy’s vigilant care that they extend the process of demonstration to every department of human experience: food, sleep, daily tasks, caring for the horses, etc.

What lesson has this for the student today? It is a call for him to broaden his demonstration of Christian Science. Everything that was done for the Leader had to be demonstrated; for whatever was not demonstration, was not acceptable to her, or to God.

Sensitive people can feel the difference in the service rendered by a servant who loves the family, and one who regards the household duties in terms of dollars and cents. This illustration will help the reader to understand that, when one is sensitive to spiritual things, service without demonstration has little power to satisfy or bless.

Jesus said that man cannot serve two masters. So, in serving Mrs. Eddy, we could not have a mortal sense and a demonstrated consciousness of God back of our service at the same time. If we did not rely on the divine Mind, then mortal mind was behind it, and we know that mortal mind is always a murderer at heart.

From the above can be deduced an answer to that hungry cry, “Why is there not more spiritual growth among Christian Scientists today?” The reason is, that individual Scientists do not comprehend, as they should, that true growth, true progress on the streets of Jerusalem, results from extending one’s application of Truth and Love; and that the student who is punctilious about demonstrating every minute detail of existence, will develop more in a given period, than the one who limits Christian Science to healing the sick, even though he produces spectacular cures, and who confines demonstration to the few recognized inharmonies that interfere with the joy of human living.

Mrs. Eddy demanded that demonstration be applied to every experience, to the minutiae of human living. Her conception of consistent progress was comparable more to the tortoise than to the hare. Although the latter was able to make spasmodic efforts which were spectacular and outclassed the tortoise, he went to sleep; whereas the tortoise kept consistently and everlastingly at his work, until he reached the journey’s end. This is encouragement for those students who find that circumstances prevent them from having the opportunity to fill important positions in the Cause, and to become prominent practitioners and so, accept the suggestion that they cannot expect to progress much. If such will only persist in demonstrating everything confronting them, whether it be housework or business, they will perceive that they possess a process of consistent spiritual development, through employing Christian Science even in mundane affairs, and will discover themselves, even though infants in Christ, on the streets of Jerusalem, walking in the Promised Land, on a road that will take them to the Father, into the realm of God.

Mortal man judges a thing as either great or small through his senses. Hence, it seems more important to move a large rock out of his field than a small one, until investigation reveals that the large one is a surface stone, whereas the small one is the outcropping of an underground ledge. This analogy discloses how many of the spectacular demonstrations in Christian Science which are over-estimated, represent those phases of mortal belief that are on the surface; whereas the minutiae of life, which one is almost tempted to neglect, the questions of eating, sleeping, the commonplace daily necessities, are of the utmost importance from the spiritual standpoint, because they are the deep-rooted beliefs which bind man to dependence on matter. Thus, we perceive the deep spiritual insight of our Leader in her insistence on demonstration in the non-essentials. She saw that, although they appeared trifling to material sense, they represented the most important mile-stones of the students, the short but persistent footsteps of the tortoise, that will eventually win man that goal of freedom, freedom to depend wholly upon God.

Another application to Mrs. Eddy of the Biblical picture of the old men and women together with the children in the streets of Jerusalem, which must symbolize the path from sense to Soul, can be gleaned from interpreting the spiritual significance of youth and age. Youth symbolizes that bright optimism that follows the pathway of life with a light heart. Age represents the acquiring of experience and wisdom, that tends to serious and sober thought. Therefore, youth might represent spiritual inspiration and age, spiritual wisdom. In demonstration, these two might typify the powder and the bullet, neither of which has any efficacy without the other. In Truth, one’s scientific statements require the quality of inspiration and joyous expectancy, in order to be effective and to fulfill their objective. The temptation of age in gaining understanding and wisdom, is to lose scientific optimism, whereas youth has this fresh and active sense without the steadying influence of wisdom.

This point is further clarified by the fact that David, as a representative of spiritual understanding, could not build the temple. It required the addition of Solomon, his son, who represented spiritual expectancy and inspiration, in order to complete the demonstration.

Mrs. Eddy had handled the claim of animal magnetism, which would attempt to prevent youth and age from uniting in spiritual purpose. If the streets of Jerusalem represent spiritual activity and progress, then it is plain that both youth and age, both the children and old people, were present in Mrs. Eddy’s consciousness. She combined a deep spiritual wisdom, based on years of experience, with a youthful and joyous expectancy and inspiration, so that she could resist the temptation to grind out her demonstrations, instead of having them run along on light feet. She continually drank of the wine of inspiration to renew her joy, lest the arduous work she was called upon to do should lose in effectiveness, through being done with a human sense of duty.




Chapter One Hundred Three — Discarding Human Knowledge for the Divine Mind

It is a fact that, at times, Mrs. Eddy filled important positions in the Cause with persons whose human training, opportunities, and education seemed not to fit them for such high positions. Why was this? Mrs. Eddy recognized that, in accordance with her own teachings, only that which comes from God is helpful, real and valuable; hence, the student who has developed the greatest reliance upon God, and is endeavoring to surrender his own human opinion, in order that he may at all times express the one Mind, is the one who is most capable of rising to a demonstrated ability to fill any position. It was to such that she entrusted the important places in the Cause. She recognized that human education, favorable environment, and opportunity often fit a person so well for a position, that he or she fails to recognize the additional need for demonstration. If such individuals should occupy the positions in the organization, they would gradually reestablish it on a material basis.

There is a certain value in human education as a method of mental discipline, training man to master the subject that interests him. Hence, when one’s interest centers on Christian Science, that early training is of value in assisting him to enter a knowledge of the rules of this doctrine. It is what one learns through human education that is valueless in Christian Science.

The human knowledge acquired in schooling and experience is so far removed from the knowledge gained through Christian Science, that one is compelled to discard that which seems of value, in order to start afresh to attain a knowledge that is not developed or absorbed, but reflected. Our Leader perfectly exemplified this, stating that after she came into Christian Science, what she had learned through education vanished as a dream. Retrospection and Introspection, page 10. Yet, the methods she learned, and the training she gained, did not leave her. She was able to apply them to the effort to reach out and find God, and, when this is done, God becomes man’s Teacher. Thus, the information that man acquires in this manner comes not from sense testimony, but from the divine Mind.




Chapter One Hundred Four — Well-Rounded Demonstration Needed

To Mrs. Eddy, the action of thought was paramount. It was so vital and important, that she endeavored to surround herself with Christian Scientists who thought right about her, by beholding her as God’s perfect child. She knew that such scientific right thinking would increase her spiritual power, and aid her in circulating a greater volume of Truth to the world, and in measuring up to the standard God had set for her. The support of such scientific right thinking is a definite factor in Christian Science, a fact which is proved by the persistence requisite in students to protect themselves from a wrong estimate of themselves, held in conscious thought. It necessitates a spiritual consciousness to meet such malpractice.

In determining the value of such scientific thought in the workers, one should never try to classify them according to human standards. One might believe that Mrs. Eddy’s secretary was called upon to make a demonstration that was more valuable than that of the cook or coachman. But in Mrs. Eddy’s eyes, the need of demonstration was equal, no matter what the position was. Perhaps the demonstration of the cook or the maid was more intimate, but all were of equal value in the home. The demonstration of each member of that spiritual stronghold involved definite growth, because it involved taking those phases of daily experience which mortal mind has relegated to a common-place sense, and awakening to see the spirit of God back of them.

In Matthew 23:11, Jesus remarked, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” He also declared in Luke 13:29, “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”

Mrs. Eddy recognized the great need of a consistent and four-square demonstration on the part of her students; a complete coverage that is not confined to healing the sick, but that includes every phase of this human experience. One might imagine, that the mental workers in Mrs. Eddy’s home were in the position to grow faster in spiritual understanding, than those who served in menial positions. However, a right application of Christian Science to those menial tasks would have demonstrated the truth of Jesus’ statement, “And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” In other words, the menial tasks offered an opportunity to broaden demonstration equal to, if not beyond, what was offered by the mental work for our Leader. This is because there is more growth in a spiritual demonstration that covers the north, south, east and west, than one that is confined, for instance, to the south. Mrs. Eddy surely emphasized the importance of the tasks she set for her mental workers; yet she also recognized the urgency of applying Christian Science to one’s daily affairs and petty obligations. The great cry is for a well-rounded development in Christian Science, where Christian Science is applied to all the common-place routine of life. It is the effort to obliterate the claim of domination in all the simple daily experiences, the bodily habits that everyone yields to, to see God back of everything one does, and to make a demonstration of it.

Many students of Christian Science, who are underdeveloped in certain aspects and overdeveloped in others, need instruction that will bring out a four-square basis of demonstration. We see this error in Judas, whose overcoming of the human did not keep pace with his understanding of God. It was his failure to subject the human that caused him to betray the Master. It was his failure to make a consistent demonstration of his power over evil, through gaining a clear understanding of animal magnetism.

The vital spiritual significance of the position of a servant in Mrs. Eddy’s home lay not only in the tasks to be done but in the symbolism, since outward service is but a sign of inward service. To the advancing Christian Scientist, outward service is a continual reminder of inward service, that application of prayer and demonstration that helps to release the whole world from the domination of mortal belief. He uses all human servitude as a symbol to impress him with the fact that his human bondage is mental, and that he can never be free until he liberates himself mentally.

The greatest bondage that there is, originates in the illusion that man is free. The recognition of servitude must precede man’s escape from bondage. Hence, a condition of human bondage keeps constantly before man’s gaze the desire and necessity for demonstrating his liberty. When such a man discovers the right way to freedom, nothing can prevent him from gaining that freedom.

The man who thinks he is free, is the one who does not recognize his mental slavery. He thinks that his bodily freedom is an indication of mental freedom, when such is not the case. On the other hand, servitude is a finger that continually reminds man of the fact that he has a task before him. This is seen with the Israelites, for their servitude to the Romans caused them to desire and work for freedom. In turn, this longing and struggle made them receptive of the Christ, ready to welcome whatever promised them release from their badge of servitude, although it was a shock when they learned that the Christ came to release them, not from outward, but inward bondage.

Hence, according to Mrs. Eddy’s revelation, being a servant symbolized a recognition that man is in bondage to mortal belief, and must free himself from it. It also represented the necessity for a four-square demonstration that neglected no phase of human experience. Finally, it exemplified the teaching contained in a letter, in which she wrote concerning a position in her home “it is to be a menial for the whole world.” It reveals that man is under the solemn obligation to employ his spiritual power to the work of helping all mankind to free itself from the domination of mortal belief. Would not such a noble endeavor entitle one to be considered a true servant of all?

Mrs. Eddy wrote in 1908: “I left house, home and friends, and I gave up a large salary as a writer, in order to serve the Cause of Christian Science. I have endured all shame and blame in its behalf, and I have lived these down. This is the experience of your Leader. Are her followers willing to take up their crosses, as she has taken up hers, in order to follow Christ, or do they demand all that they humanly want? Let all Christian Scientists who come to help their Leader, answer this question to their God; otherwise let them refuse to come, and give their reply accordingly. Sad, sad thought, that money regulates the actions of so many students. Had your Leader been governed thus, Christian Science would be minus today, instead of overcoming all opposition, ruling and reigning. I have worked for all without money or price, till God paid me in His own way. It is safe to go and do likewise.”




Chapter One Hundred Five — Mrs. Eddy Worked for God, Not for Rewards

In the third chapter of Hebrews, we read of Moses as being a faithful servant in the house, whereas Christ was as a son. The difference between these offices, when interpreted spiritually, discloses an interesting application to our Leader.

It is generally understood, that in the world you can always buy service, whereas loyalty is a voluntary offering, born of sacrifice and affection. The difference between the two involves motive.

From the standpoint of Christian Science, there are two motives which impel effort in its study and practice. One is prompted by the desire to gain the harmony which it promises, health, prosperity, freedom from fear and sin; since mortal man does not enjoy discord, suffering, lack or estrangement from his fellow-man. Thus, in order to produce harmony, man struggles to destroy these conditions through Christian Science. This effort in Christian Science is something for which the student is paid, where the payment is in terms of the human harmony that he gains. Man is rewarded, by having his body manifest a healthy sense and his environment improved. So one might declare that this endeavor in Christian Science is performed as a servant, where the mind is urged to work spiritually, for the sake of the body and the environment. Of course, in the beginning, it is legitimate to employ the natural desire of mortal man for harmony, to teach him the early lessons of Christian Science, but the time comes when this human harmony is found to be insufficient. At this point, the student is ready for the second step.

In the second step, man’s motive begins to become unselfed, and he works for love of God and man, rather than for his own human harmony and comfort. In this higher stage of growth, man does not strive for rewards; for the consciousness of work well done, and of the good established for humanity, becomes his sufficient reward.

Hence, it can be asserted that the work performed as a faithful servant, and as a son, is the difference between working selfishly and unselfishly. The danger connected with the first necessary step, is that the labor of the servant being done wholly for reward, the moment the path becomes wearisome, and the rewards do not follow as quickly as one thinks they should, then self-pity knocks at the door and says, “I am not getting anything out of this, so I am going to try another method.” What, save an unselfed motive, could have ever impelled the Master to continue his endeavor in behalf of God and man right up to the cross? Is it any wonder, that Paul referred to his position as being that of a son, rather than a servant?

One who is working as a son can undergo a crucifixion and still persist in faithful effort. Such a one has the courage and determination to continue to labor and pray, even though he witnesses few results, and receives no personal recompense for his labor. The rewards of such a struggle may be delayed, but they always come. The point is, however, that when one is seeking the welfare of the whole, rewards do not constitute the object of his travail, but an unsought increment. Jesus referred to this attitude of sonship when he said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Mrs. Eddy stood head and shoulders above her students, because she worked as the son, ready to lay her all on the altar, with no thought of rewards. Only one impelled by such an unselfed motive, could feel the suffering of the flesh, and, instead of directing spiritual power to dispel it, employ it to drive one’s thought higher in the scale of spiritual being, waiting in patience for the arrival of the new birth. This coincides with what Mrs. Eddy writes on page 200 of Miscellaneous Writings, “I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and all suffering of the flesh, because it compels me to seek the remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the personal senses.”




Chapter One Hundred Six — Watchfulness Needed to Keep Spiritual Poise

Our Master said, that of himself he could do nothing; yet, with God all things were possible. This statement, revealing the great obligation laid on every man to embody the Christ-idea within himself, was illustrated in the moving pictures by a young man who entered a swimming contest, without even knowing how to keep afloat. But, equipped with a non-sinkable bathing suit which he had invented, he was able to swim for many miles, and felt confident that he could win the race. However, just before he reached the buoy that marked the end of the race, he was told that he had accidentally put on a bathing suit that possessed no such remarkable powers of buoyancy. The moment he accepted this notion, fear stopped his progress, and he began to sink.

This comedy unfolds one of the profound concepts in metaphysics. When man embodies the Christ-idea, he thereby acquires infinite power by reflection. But whatever of good works are accomplished by this means, result from the enthronement of the spiritual idea within, and not from one’s own resources. This indicates that if one suddenly loses all awareness of the spiritual idea, he begins to sink, even though he has embodied that spiritual idea for ten years, and, through demonstrating it, has performed many wonderful works.

Furthermore, from these propositions we deduce that man should not place his confidence in the wonderful works that are done through him, or in himself, but in the spiritual idea which he embodies. Thus, we conclude that every bit of man’s spiritual success hinges on the embodiment of the Christ-idea.

The above humorous illustration may aid some who find it difficult to picture our beloved Leader losing her spiritual thought at times, being subject to disturbance, and having to request help of her students. Her ability to progress spiritually through the waters of mortal mind, did not result from any innate gift she possessed, but from her embodiment of the Christ-idea, of which she said, “Follow me only as I follow Christ.” Thus, at times, when she was tempted to believe that she had lost this spiritual guide, she would feel her thought sinking, and, accordingly, would recognize the necessity of rallying to the point of resurrecting her consciousness of the Christ.

Animal magnetism would always present the temptation to the metaphysician who had established, over a long period of time, the Christ as the “head,” in accordance with I Corinthians, to abandon this demonstration and carry on through the momentum of the past.

The fallacy of such a vain hope can be deduced from the experience of a man who owns a sailboat, but, because he does not know how to sail it, hires a skipper. What a mistake he would make, should he believe that, because he had watched the skipper sail day after day, he could discharge him and manage the boat himself! The smooth sailing was the result of the skipper’s skill, a thing which cannot be attained by observation, but requires years of experience.

Hence, those times when Mrs. Eddy was tricked out of her Christ-consciousness divulge, as nothing else could, the fact that, like the Master, she could do nothing without the Christ, but with Him all things were possible. Were it not for the recognition that even Jesus seemed to sink at times, mankind might gain the erroneous impression that he was capable of sailing his own ship without the Christ, instead of being but the humble servant of the Christ-idea, which was enthroned in his consciousness. These glorious facts are equally true when applied to our Leader.

No student can ever afford to grow careless on this point of reflecting God. Inspiration is similar to a flock of birds. Treat them with kindness and gentleness, and they remain. Frighten them, and they fly away. Mrs. Eddy respected and leaned upon the spiritual thought in her students, only when they respected and leaned upon God. A student, whose spiritual thought was of value to our Leader one day, might find himself or herself rebuked the next day for a lack of spiritual reflection.

Thus, continual watchfulness is required of the student, lest the spiritual poise of his thought be lost, and inspiration cease to flow. This statement does not mean that the spiritual equilibrium of the real man ever wavers, but it takes persistence and singleness of purpose to lift the veil that hides this fact, from the one who is functioning under the suggestion that inspiration, like the tide, ebbs and flows.




Chapter One Hundred Seven — Mrs. Eddy Discarded Quimbyism

The effort to discredit our Leader, by declaring that she appropriated her ideas from Mr. P. P. Quimby, is a despicable attempt to nullify her great life-work. It only requires a little clarifying of the mental atmosphere to recognize the truth about the situation, and often the best method of accomplishing this, is fearlessly to admit the claim of error long enough to analyze it and give it the lie.

Let us suppose for a moment that Phineas Quimby, the magnetic healer of Portland, Maine, did provide Mary Baker Eddy with the foundation upon which she built up the great structure of Christian Science, since this is the charge made against our Leader. What would be the situation today, if it were true?

As far as can be determined, Quimby was impelled by no universal motive that was carrying him on to the establishment of a great Cause, which would benefit all humanity. His limited vision could not compass such a desire. On the other hand, Mrs. Eddy was animated by a conception that had for its purpose a world-wide redemption of the race. Hence, even if she had appropriated Quimby’s doctrines, she would deserve the credit for constructing them into a form which made them universally available.

Alexander Graham Bell was not, strictly speaking, the inventor of the telephone. The ideas, which he perfected, were discovered before he made them practical. Yet the credit for the invention of the telephone belongs to him, because he was the first to perfect it, to make it available for all mankind, and to make it feasible. This is what entitles him to his place in the hall of fame.

Hence, even if historians should convince themselves that the evidence proves, that Quimby first set forth the doctrines upon which Mrs. Eddy built, what great difference would it make, since she was the one who adapted them, so that they became practical and universal?

Mrs. Eddy’s experience with Quimby might thus be described in allegory: A man travels west as a pioneer, intending to create a community that would form the nucleus of a new state. In the very place he has proposed to settle, he finds another who has preceded him; one who is merely a wanderer, and has happened there by accident. Circumstances make it convenient for these two to associate together for a time, sharing supplies and water. But, inevitably, the time arrives when the wanderer, who is one with no plans and no objective, journeys on. The pioneer, however, remains behind, upheld by a vision that is leading him to certain definite purposes and results.

Similarly, Mrs. Eddy was exploring a new and uncharted country, the realm of mind-healing, and, in her journeyings, encountered Quimby and several others, who had wandered there before her. Although they could not describe how they arrived there, and hence, could not guide others there, yet, for a time, there existed a sympathy and an interchange of ideas between them. However, of them all, Mrs. Eddy was the only one with a true vision, with a broad outlook, and the only one to carry her discovery above the human mind into the divine. Quimby never ceased to heal with the human mind. His doctrine and Mrs. Eddy’s seem alike only to those who cannot differentiate between the Mind of God and mortal mind. Quimby’s mental flights never carried him above what Christian Science shows to have been mesmerism, nor did Mrs. Eddy’s, while she was associated with him. To be sure, Quimby’s utilization of mind over matter in healing was a step in advance of matter healing, but it is a far cry from this manipulation of the human mind, to the understanding of the divine Mind as the sole remedy for the woes of man. Yet, the step of translating matter into mortal mind is one that must be taken, before this mortal mind can be exchanged for the divine Mind.

The terminology employed in describing the power and effect of mind, where the human mind is referred to, must necessarily resemble the unfoldment of mind where the divine Mind is involved. The expressions and statements may be similar, but their utilization is as far apart as the poles. This reasoning may account for the contention, that some of Mr. Quimby’s propositions entered into the revelation of Christian Science.

Let us suppose that, in the early 1870’s, Mrs. Eddy was teaching some of Quimby’s ideas. There is no doubt that Quimby had an influence upon her, as she did on him. On the other hand, it is equally patent to students of Christian Science, that whatever of such doctrines were disseminated by Mrs. Eddy, had to be eliminated, before Christian Science could be proclaimed in all its purity. Mr. Quimby’s only effect upon Mrs. Eddy was an adulteration of her discovery, and these false concepts, of necessity, had to be entirely expunged. If Mr. Quimby started Mrs. Eddy on the road to mental healing, he started her wrong, with mixed and jumbled ideas. She had to cast out all this confusion, this setting forth of mind on a material basis, before the purity of spiritual revelation could flood in.

Mrs. Eddy’s own words best explain her experience: “Homeopathy was my last step in medicine, and Quimbyism was next in healing; but here I found not Christianity; yet I lauded his courage in believing that mind made disease, that mind healed disease. Here my loosened pinions took upward flight, and I lauded Phineas P. Quimby as an advanced thinker, and healer, with my native superfluity of praise, when praise was due. Yet I lacked something, the one thing needed, and my health again declined. Then came the accident and injury called fatal, and the Bible healed me, and from Quimbyism to the Bible was like turning from Leviticus to St. John in the Scripture, and I forever dropped the thought that he had given; even that the mind, and human, made disease and healed it, and gained the great rediscovery that God is the only Healer, and healing Principle, and this Principle is divine, not human. The remnants of Quimbyism took flight forever, and I struggled to wipe out all remaining faith in the power of human will to enslave me, or to deceive me into a false freedom. Turning from Quimby to the Bible for help in time of trouble, was more marked than turning from matter to Spirit, from Leviticus to St. John in the Scriptures for the way of salvation.”




Chapter One Hundred Eight — Infinite Exactness of Demonstration

The inability to trace from effect back to cause, subjects mortal man to continual bondage. When man does gain this ability, he will commence the great task of seeing God back of all outward effects, and thereby attain true spiritual progress.

As long as there are any sheep separated from a flock, the herders must seek them and drive them back into the flock. This is a necessary task, but it involves no general progress for the whole flock. Not until the flock is intact, can the herders undertake the task of moving the whole ahead to better pasture.

As long as man is manifesting claims of sin, disease, or lack, he is not ready for spiritual progress. First, his thought must be reinstated to normalcy, and then progress can begin. The spiritual work that a man does in sickness, is preparatory work. But, when it is completed, progress commences. If, then, healing the sick in Christian Science is not spiritual progress, but mental preparation, of what does mental preparation consist? Is it not the effort to establish the presence of the divine Mind in the universe, the effort to establish God as the cause of every outward effect? It is replacing the human mind with the divine. Following this preparatory step, comes the commencement of the process which not only harmonizes matter, but begins its elimination from the individual’s experience.

This discussion serves further to prove the great wisdom that Mrs. Eddy displayed in her insistence, that the students handle everything from the standpoint of demonstration. Assiduously, she endeavored to wean them from the notion, that the effort to restore mortal mind to what would be called its normal or natural condition constitutes spiritual growth. It is not spiritual progress, but preparation for spiritual progress. It is the effort to bring the lost sheep back into the fold, which, when accomplished, indicates that the whole flock is ready to proceed to a more desirable destination. Similarly, to Mrs. Eddy, spiritual growth in its true signification, was a consistent struggle to subject every part of this human experience to demonstration, or to the effort to trace from human effect back to human cause, and correct that human cause by replacing it with the divine.

In Ezekiel 40 and 41, there is a vision recorded that describes in detail the measuring of the temple, according to cubits, by a man whose appearance was like that of brass. The minuteness of the description hints at Jesus’ statement, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered,” and explains Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual demonstration in her home, which was based on the recognition, that every created thing has its orderly place as a manifestation of some individual phase of spiritual thought. The Bible depicts the exactness of that which was devoted to the service of God. It shows that, under revelation, all creation becomes the exact manifestation of demonstration, measured according to a scientific plan, and governed by that plan. Similarly, Mrs. Eddy realized that only as everything in her home measured up to the scientific standard of demonstration, which had been revealed to her through Christian Science, would it deserve the designation, a house of God. If the minuteness of the detail, its infinite exactness, seems tiresome and unnecessary to the human mind, that is only because it is ignorant of the spiritual law that “moves all in harmony,— from the falling of a sparrow to the rolling of a world.” Miscellaneous Writings, page 174.

This same mighty spiritual order is referred to in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, where it says that there is a time to break down, a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh, etc. It is necessary to comprehend the spiritual meaning of this passage, in order to gain any true insight into the life of our Leader.

No one can ever measure the spiritual importance, value, or necessity of any outward experience or effect, unless he has the insight to determine the quality of the mental cause. Under the government of divine wisdom, it is impossible for a man or woman to exhibit any such phenomena as those included in the above contrasts, that are not important in the eventual spiritualization of that God-directed one. Every human experience, planting and plucking up, keeping silence or speaking, making war or creating peace, constitute the ingredients of life which, when they are the result of a spiritual guidance, become necessary in molding the final spiritual ideal.

This discloses the folly of attempting to lay down an arbitrary rule for analyzing our Leader’s life, asserting that it is right to plant and wrong to pluck up, right to sew and wrong to rend, etc. It is impossible to judge character or motive in this way, by outward effect.

The spiritual motive and consciousness never departed from our Leader. At some times it was more evident than at others, but it never deserted her. Hence, every one of her experiences, even those which many loving students have wished had never happened, because they appeared, according to the human standards of good, as evidence of weakness, were necessary and took place irresistibly, by reason of the spiritual thought that dominated her. Each one had its orderly place in her purification and spiritualization. There was a time for everything that happened, which was God’s time. If you had asked Mrs. Eddy, which of her experiences was the most valuable to her in her spiritual development, without doubt she would have named some, which many Christian Scientists have wished had been omitted from her life altogether. Yet, they provided the grit that brought her spiritual window-pane to its highest polish.

Therefore, if one desires to avoid the opprobrium of unjust criticism of our Leader, he must learn causation. Then, and only then, will he avoid the danger of calling objectionable, certain things in her life which were divine necessities, because they were the footsteps resulting from her determination, under the guidance of Spirit, to follow implicitly the demands of God.

If one considers that Mrs. Eddy deserved criticism, because she often rebuked the students for service which was irreproachable from the human standpoint, he must remember, that Mrs. Eddy’s sensitive thought could detect the mortal mind basis of action in her students, that it was this which she rebuked unflinchingly, although the rebuke concerned the outward.

From the experience of the Children of Israel in the wilderness, we can deduce that human existence, which is divided into day and night, the harmonious and the discordant, carries two definite temptations. The effect of the night-time of discord is to produce a fiery or disturbed condition of thought, whereas the effect of the daytime of harmony is to produce a clouded thought. The pillar of cloud constitutes a more dangerous temptation than the pillar of fire. Mrs. Eddy recognized, that a sense of mental cloudiness in human harmony was more serious than the fear and disturbance accompanying discord, since the latter was accompanied by its own urge to spiritual effort; whereas, under the cloudy sense of ease, a sharp rebuke was imperative to awaken thought.

This point is illustrated by a beautiful scarf pin which was given to me by our Leader. It was a large lustrous pearl, surrounded by diamonds.

It seemed a fiery blow to me when I lost this pin. Yet, through that loss, I was driven to make the demonstration to realize that, although I might lose the human symbol, the symbol could be duplicated; whereas the loving spiritual thought of which the gift was merely the human expression, could never be lost. And truly, the divine sense of inspiration which our Leader gave me, has remained a perpetual source of joy and guidance down through the years.

I discovered, therefore, that the fiery sense of loss drove me to a higher spiritual demonstration than the placid sense of possession ever would have, and hence, was the greater friend to my spiritual growth.



The following letter accompanied the gift of this pin:



Beloved Gilbert C.S.

Please accept this little gift as a symbol of the priceless divine Love, and my gratitude to you.

Mary Baker Eddy

Nov. 9,1905



In reply I wrote:

Precious Mother:

Mr. Frye has just handed me the beautiful pin and its message of love. It has overwhelmed me to think of your giving to me more, after so freely inviting me and all to share with you the Pearl of great price, that sacred acquirement of self-sacrifice. I can only say, thank you. But I can see in this type, your pure selfhood set in a crown of stars, and by wearing this on my heart, keep a watch over the spiritual idea, through which nothing that worketh evil or that maketh a lie, can enter.

Your child, Gilbert




Chapter One Hundred Nine — Mrs. Eddy’s Reflection of the Christ

If the student, reading these lines, feels tempted to believe that I have overstressed the fact, that Mrs. Eddy occasionally lost her spiritual thought, and descended into the valley, he must acquaint himself with the great lesson this teaches of the impersonal nature of the Christ-idea, and of the possibility of anyone embodying it, then, at times, seeming to lose sight of it, in order to prove that it is an impersonal and universal idea.

If copper and silver are mixed, one cannot be detected separate from the other. If, on the other hand, the copper merely has a coating of silver, the difference between the two can be easily demonstrated.

When, in the course of history, one appears who embodies the Christ, there arises the temptation to believe, that that one’s goodness and nearness to God is a development, instead of a reflection. If it is a development, one’s success is problematical. If it is reflection, then all who make the necessary preparation, may reflect the same goodness and power. Thus the teachings of such a one are universally applicable, practical, and available.

Hence, a pen-picture of the Master, or of Mrs. Eddy, which discloses an uninterrupted embodiment of the Christ, creates the impression, that it is a development which could not possibly be separated from either. On the other hand, when one knows that at times Mrs. Eddy seemed to lose the Christ, and afterward recovered it, he has proof that the spiritual idea was the consciousness she reflected, and not a possession she developed. This discovery could be made only through her being temporarily separated from this spiritual idea and, under such circumstances, having her differ from other mortals in no other respect, than in her ability to regain that Christ-idea and maintain it. Jesus went down from the mountain, and then reclimbed it.

No one can reach the point of being a perfect channel for the divine Mind, without rejecting any sense of selfreliance. It is through the loss of human strength that one is forced to seek a reflected strength. The conception of a student of Christian Science who can lose the Christ, or his reflection of God, and still maintain his mental poise, is not a scientific one.

What would the Master have been, stripped of his reflection of God? We are forced to the conclusion that he would have been a man, fearful and nervous, timid and lacking in self-confidence. From this we deduce, that the fearful and nervous patient, who comes to Christian Science seeking a self-reliance, is asking for that which would be a deterrent to the attainment of true spirituality, since true spirituality demands one to be so unselfed, that he depends on God alone, and without Him, he is lost.

The highest attainment in scientific demonstration which was exemplified by our Leader, is a refusal to lean on one’s self, or to attempt to solve the many problems of life from any human standpoint. The true preparation for spiritual reflection, is to relinquish all reliance based on the human. When I affirm that Mrs. Eddy had no physical strength or health, and was forced to depend entirely upon God, I am simply saying, that the students at Pleasant View had the opportunity to see what happens to one functioning under God, when that one loses, for the moment, that reflection of God. Mrs. Eddy furnished a perfect picture of what a perfect channel for God is, without God. She showed what the channel is, without what flows through it. For her to show this, was as much a necessity for the growth of her students, as any other part of her experience. When she reflected God, she was strong, dominant, vigorous and serene. When she did not, she had nothing. Nobody can ever know how our Leader felt when she momentarily lost hold of God, until they have become the perfect channel, that she was, for the things of God. Who will doubt the divine wisdom, guiding our Leader, which brought to the students not only the picture of our Leader reflecting God, but as this perfect channel temporarily without God?

Mrs. Eddy’s mission was to discard materiality as the expression of mortal mind, and possess herself of the divine Mind that had always been in existence, of which the Master said in substance, “It existed before Abraham, ” or “Before Abraham was, I am. ” The Mind which Jesus reflected, and which represented his real selfhood, was as old as God, because it was God. In order to be clothed in this Mind, he resorted to the process of rejecting his material selfhood in thought and action, repudiating the Jesus and exalting the thought of the Christ within himself. He permitted himself to be maligned and persecuted up to the crucifixion, rather than relinquish the continuity of his thought, which was based on his recognition of the Christ as his real self, the self which he always had possessed, and always would possess, and of which nothing could deprive him. Even though worms destroyed his body, he could still perceive the spiritual idea or Christ, embodied within himself.

The Christ in the Master might be likened to an asbestos suit which would render one safe in a fire. The enemies of the one wearing such a suit, being informed of its protective characteristics, would bend all their energies to persuade or force him to remove it. Similarly, the object of all animal magnetism, operative at that time, was to separate Jesus from the Christ, and to cause him to release his consciousness of the unity between him and the Christ. This he refused to do.

If this life to which he referred when he said, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again, ” is the true Life from heaven, then his statement unfolds the impersonal nature of the Christ, which, because it was something he reflected, would cease to be his when his thought dropped.

How valuable to the student is the knowledge that, at times, Mrs. Eddy’s reflection of the Christ became clouded! Such times must be recorded and emphasized, because from them may be deduced the necessity for, and method of, neutralizing the animal magnetism that attempted, and still attempts, to render her teachings null and void, by characterizing the reflection of Christ as a special and personal dispensation.

The protection, or asbestos suit, that carried Jesus safely through the crucifixion, was his demonstration of divine Mind. Thus, it was not Jesus that was tested, but the Christ. From this we learn that if, in hours of trial, we cling to that Mind, it will do for us what it did for the Master, carry us through safely and without harm.




Chapter One Hundred Ten — Mrs. Eddy’s Spiritual Sensitivity

These very natural questions suggest themselves in connection with these spiritual interpretations of Mrs. Eddy’s experience: Was she aware of them? If she was, then why did she not divulge them to the world? Did she consider the world was not yet ready for them? If such be the case, then would it not be an act of disloyalty for her students to disclose them? On the other hand, it is possible that, in the midst of her busy experience of proclaiming her spiritual revelation to the world, she left crumbs for us to gather up, just as did the Master after feeding the five thousand. Therefore, if this be a correct analysis of the situation, then it becomes a breach of trust to withhold such valuable teachings from a waiting world.

There is little doubt, that it would have been impossible for Mrs. Eddy or her students to have perceived all of the spiritual disclosures unfolded in this volume, since it has taken perspective and growth to conceive of many of them. Some who lived with our Leader argued that, because she did so much good and devoted her life to the Cause so unselfishly, they could forgive her for some of her eccentricities, and the querulousness which so often accompanies age. A thoughtless consideration might lead to the deduction, that the more inharmonious Mrs. Eddy became, the more she rebuked her students, as if she desired them to share in her disturbed thought; and the more disturbed her thought was, the greater was her rebuke, until it seemed as if, like the Master, her “rebuke was fearful.” Science and Health, page 6. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Eddy’s disturbance did not originate from anything within herself, but resulted from the error that was assailing the home. To find her students harmonious under such circumstances, was proof that they did not feel the error, and hence, needed a sharp awakening to perceive the need.

A misunderstanding of the above, however, might cause the students to conclude, that if they were given the opportunity to mold Mrs. Eddy anew, they would have molded her differently. Out of loyalty, however, they might screen from public gaze this dark side, wherein she failed to exhibit that gentleness and patience which, if she had expressed, they would have considered that she exemplified more the life of the Master. Because of this love for, and devotion to her, they might attempt to conceal much that, to their minds, was not scientific, incidents where they distrusted whether or not she manifested the spirit of the Christ.

However, as a matter of experience, wisdom reveals that Mrs. Eddy was never more scientific, than when her spiritually-intuitive thought was sandpapered by the materiality and grossness of her students’ minds, when they were attempting to minister unto her physically and materially, rather than spiritually, offering her the products of human will, in lieu of demonstration. Her subsequent distress of mind, and her sharp rebukes, were absolute proof of her genuine spirituality.

One test, to prove whether students who had a personal acquaintanceship with Mrs. Eddy, viewed her from a humanly loving, or from a spiritually perceptive standpoint, would have been to have asked them, if they would have remolded her, had they been given the power to do so; or did they feel, that she was patterning herself after the only ideal that could successfully cope with evil; and were they convinced that in sickness and in health, in depression and in spiritual uplift, she was conscientiously struggling to reach God and to abandon mortality? Only an affirmative answer to the latter question would evince a correct conception.

When mortal mind touched Mrs. Eddy through some human channel, it jarred her. This was a proof that her thought was spiritually attuned, and gave her authority like the Master of old, to say to the materially-minded, “Touch me not.”

Today, we pride ourselves, that we can come in contact with mortal mind and not be disturbed by it. Would to God, that an alien thought would always jar upon our sensibilities! Would to God, that we had grown sufficiently into a spiritual consciousness that falsity would always chafe us, until continued growth had brought such a protective sense that we could say, .“None of these things move me!.”

Remember, that there are two ways to handle error. One is to attempt to destroy it or limit its effect. The other is to grow so spiritually-minded, that we can make the above statement that none of these things touch us. Both of these ways are important, but the latter is the process that brings individual growth. However, in the second effort, one needs the touch of discord continually, to drive one up to the spiritual housetop, thus proving that the wrath of man shall praise Him.

If a teacher of Christian Science has a number of students, whom he desires to instruct how to observe the quality of their own thought, can that teacher ever accomplish this task, unless, when the thought of the students falls to a mortal level, it is known to the teacher in some way? How can the teacher ascertain if the students’ thought has dropped, unless that dropping perturbs his thought? When that happens, then the teacher can apply the instruction and remedy, and force the thought of both into a higher status, so that peace once more returns to the teacher. Mrs. Eddy’s sensitiveness was not a sin; it was spirituality needing protection. If she had entrenched herself in a position where she had so protected her thought, that she had no means of detecting the quality of the thinking of those in her home, how could she have been of any value in guiding them, and in awakening them to the importance of never undertaking a task, except from the basis of demonstration, lifting their thought to the point of knowing, that divine Mind alone is causation and that they can do only what they see the Father do. The Master’s standard of demonstration was that, apart from God, he could do nothing; that the divine Mind was the foundation of all his thought and action.

Mrs. Eddy fed the world spiritually; and then, as our task, follows the gathering of the crumbs, the analyzing of her demonstration, the dissecting of it, and the determining of its spiritual significance, in order to ascertain the infinite lessons contained therein. Every demonstration that Jesus made, includes spiritual instructions for those who are picking up the crumbs, instructions that are vastly more important than the mere description of his miracles. Furthermore, they possess the additional feature of being capable of feeding universal humanity, instead of being limited to the five thousand individuals who were momentarily blessed at that time. These lessons must be unfolded for the world, so that the crumbs will feed millions of hungry ones. Jesus said that we would do greater works, because “I go unto my Father.” He fed five thousand. We can take the crumbs and feed millions, because, when thought goes to the Father, inspiration returns and multiplies the good, so that it will nourish the world.

Mrs. Eddy’s sensitiveness to alien thought may be exemplified in a humble allegory, using the crab as an illustration. When the crab is moulting and his shell is soft, he relies on another crab, which has a hard shell, to protect him during his period of vulnerability. Mrs. Eddy called upon her students to work with her and establish a protective atmosphere, while she bestowed on the world that divine revelation, which flooded her consciousness during these spiritually-sensitive states. She depended upon the students to be an artificial shell, under which she might temporarily abide. Had her life work involved only herself, this condition would not have existed, because she could have soon reached a place of demonstration, where she needed no help of this kind. In order to bless the world, Mrs. Eddy had to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, and she instructed her students, so that they might protect the situation, while this demonstration was being made. At such times, were revealed to her the mysteries of Godliness and that divine wisdom so necessary to mankind. During her spiritual flights, she charged her students to guard the home, lest thieves break through and steal. She could have proceeded with her own demonstration and avoided such a necessity, but the world would have been the loser. Let us be grateful, that she loved enough to make the sacrifice that our Master made, that he might “liberally pour his dear-bought treasures” into the hearts of humanity.

As a pioneer, Mrs. Eddy’s progress was too rapid to enable her to grasp all the beauties along the way. Today, as her followers, it is our privilege to profit by much along the way, that she was too busy to contemplate. For that reason, a book of this kind becomes possible and profitable, in which some of the fragments are gathered.




Chapter One Hundred Eleven — Infinite Abundance of Good

The question has been asked, why the Master had almost no worldly possessions, and why Mrs. Eddy was a rich woman. Of course, during the early portion of Mrs. Eddy’s experience, while she was healing the sick and furnishing definite evidence of her spiritual understanding, she remained in very moderate circumstances. As she developed her Cause, however, she gradually began to acquire the funds necessary to operate it. So it can be definitely asserted, that Mrs. Eddy’s increasing abundance was largely the outward manifestation of her recognition of the increasing needs of her church. Jesus’ experience differed, in that he established no organization, since the time for that step had not yet arrived.

Jesus’ material needs were very simple, and his demonstration of Truth met those needs in the simplest way. Mrs. Eddy’s material needs were also simple; and she always considered them secondary to her spiritual demands. But, when the time was ripe for her to establish a world-wide organization, the funds for this program were forthcoming through her demonstration.

Mortal man tends to form habits of demanding luxury and ease, when opportunity presents itself. For instance, a man will train during his youth to become a successful prize-fighter; and then, when his efforts bring him an abundance of money, he reverses his course, indulges in luxury and permits himself to soften. Thus, his earlier abstemiousness is followed by indulgence. Mortal man, on the road to achievement, guards himself against sloth and laziness, but once the goal is reached, he relaxes and begins to decline.

Christian Scientists recognize the counter-part of this temptation in the situation confronting the student, who, after he has grown sufficiently, finds himself assailed by an appreciation of the comfort and ease that matter provides. Hence, one of the outstanding features of Mrs. Eddy’s experience was the fact that, after enduring years of hardship, as a result of a lack of money and of what money provides, when she finally acquired affluence, in no way did she relax or seize upon that wealth as an opportunity for the indulgence of ease or luxury, so that she might grow soft, and lose some of that keenness of desire to demonstrate the kingdom of heaven. It is noteworthy that she never lived extravagantly, but in the simplest mode consistent with her high position. Her abundant supply was the result of her realization of the infinite abundance of the substance of good, available to the one who reflects God, and of her recognition of the needs of her Church. It was not the manifestation of any desire on her part for luxury or ease.

It is said on good authority, that a minister once gently chided her for her apparent affluence, as if, from his point of view, such evidence of worldly wealth was incompatible with a high attainment of spirituality. Mrs. Eddy replied, “Didn’t you know that my father was very rich?” When he seemed surprised at this information, she indicated by pointing upward, that she referred to her heavenly Father.

On October 24, 1906, she wrote to her cousin, F. N. Ladd, who had just reported to her the large degree to which her stock had accumulated. “It is all the income from my books. I am not interested to be a rich woman.”




Chapter One Hundred Twelve — The True Temple

There have been students of Christian Science who have mistakenly asserted, that either the church militant has fulfilled its usefulness, or will do so in time. In order to answer this erroneous contention, let us analyze the concept of church. Just as an airplane will always need a cleared field in which to taxi, before acquiring enough speed to fly, so the individual requires a training ground, in which he can prepare for his flight into the upper reaches of Mind, where one is sustained on the wings of demonstrated inspiration. When the plane has left the earth, it no longer needs a field on which to taxi. Similarly, when man no longer requires the training offered by a church, in order to enable him to soar into the atmosphere of Spirit, he leaves it behind as a substitute for God. But this statement should not be misconstrued, for there will always be a need of the church, for there will always be those who require the training it offers.

The church represents the opportunity for acquiring correct spiritual understanding, and offers all manner of opportunities to demonstrate that understanding. In fact, when a branch church of Christ, Scientist functions so harmoniously, that it presents no problems through which to develop the members’ demonstrating ability, its purpose will be fulfilled, for there will be nothing left to force progress, which is a scientific necessity in our present status of growth.

Mrs. Eddy taught the members of her household that there was a work for them to perform for the world. When one had grown to the point where he could fulfill it, that work became more important to the Cause, than the solution of the problems of the organization. She also declared, that it would be a backward step to relinquish this spiritually important demonstration, for which one’s thought should be kept free from the errors, which association with those in church groups often brings, for a demonstration outgrown.

When Mrs. Eddy discovered in us an inclination to attend the church services, she unfolded the greatness and importance of the work she was teaching us to perform, namely, that when we had climbed into the upper reaches, not to return to earth.

In the sixth chapter of Zechariah, there is a prophecy concerning the Christ, that “. . . he shall build the temple of the Lord.” Although Jesus built no material temple, he fulfilled this prophecy. How? The true temple of the living God is the spiritual consciousness of reality, the recognition of the universe filled with the things of God, already created. Hence, the true temple is built, in proportion as this realization of reality is awakened in man, and a deathblow is thereby aimed at the objects of sense which the world calls reality.

The true temple is that which contains God. Therefore, a Christian Science church becomes a temple, when the demonstration of the students therein brings into that edifice a true consciousness of the presence of God, where the stranger and pilgrim may find Him.

The Master built up in consciousness reality to replace the belief in that which is not real. This was the true temple.

It is necessary to have such centralized houses of worship, as may draw the stranger to come and partake of the demonstration of the presence of God; for they become Christian Science dispensaries of good. No one recognized this more fully, than did our Leader.

It limits the conception of the temple, or true church, however, to believe that God, or religion, is always to be found in one kind of a building, when it is the true task of the student to build up the consciousness of good in every department of life.

More than any other place on earth, Mrs. Eddy’s home at Pleasant View represented the building of the true temple, and Mrs. Eddy believed that students who came to her were far enough advanced to recognize this fact.

But why was this true of Pleasant View? Because Mrs. Eddy’s objective was to extend spiritual demonstration to cover every phase of human existence. Such an endeavor will build up the true temple of God, thus exemplifying I Kings 8:27, “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded.”

Mrs. Eddy realized that when the student, who prepared her meals, could cook them with the realization that they were symbols of divine feeding, accompanied with divine inspiration for the one who partook of them, that process was building the temple of God, even though established through the most mundane of human tasks. Hence, when one makes a demonstration of cooking meals, cleaning rooms, applying one’s self to business, that is building the temple of the living God, because it is recognizing God as supreme in His universe.

When the Master saw the necessity of giving his disciples a spiritually-uplifted consciousness, that would remain until after his resurrection, he made use of the human phenomenon known as the association of ideas. He applied this to the humble supper. When they met together to eat, he provided them with a spiritual feast. This served to link the human symbol to the spiritual fact so that, when they gathered for their repast without him, their thoughts were maintained on that same lofty level, with no diminution of spiritual vision because of his absence. Thus, he bridged over the interval of three days, and was assured of his disciples being in a frame of mind, sufficiently exalted to apprehend the wonder of the resurrection. A further result, coming from this experience, was a teaching for future generations that demonstration, to be progressive, must broaden to cover all human symbols, which animal magnetism has claimed to appropriate, in its effort to convince man that matter is necessary to his life and happiness.

When Mrs. Eddy turned the thought of her household away from church attendance as a duty, her purpose was to broaden their viewpoint, and to free thought from the primary experience of finding God in the church, to the realization of His presence everywhere.

Mrs. Eddy knew how difficult it is, to maintain one’s spiritual thought in the company of others. Time and time again, her best students failed her, when she called upon them to work in conjunction; and she had to stop them, on the basis that their prayers were resulting in discord, rather than harmony. Yet, to win the ability to work together in unity, is a necessity laid upon all advancing workers. Thus, the experience of branch church activity is important. Mrs. Eddy never advocated any neglect of church attendance, when she indicated that a desire to go to church was out of place in her home. She was merely teaching her household, that the work she gave them to do was on a higher plane than even church activity. Hence to desire to go to church, was like putting one’s hand to the plow and looking back.




Chapter One Hundred thirteen — Mrs. Eddy’s Revelation Complete

In Zechariah 6:13 we read, “He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

In what way can this verse be applied to our Leader? How can we prove, this counsel of peace results from the fact that she sat upon the spiritual or mental throne both as a king and a priest, thus exemplifying Revelation 1:6, which indicates that the Christ teaching “. . . hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father?”

A king is one who rules or dominates; whereas a priest is one who has knowledge of, and communion with, God. Therefore, spiritual kingship applies to the uncovering and destruction of evil, and the priesthood represents bringing to earth the true understanding of God. Only through such a dual mission can peace come. This exemplifies why Mrs. Eddy represents the completion of revelation, through her teaching and unfoldment of animal magnetism, and the destruction of it by its reduction to nothingness.

Jesus was pre-eminently the High Priest of God. His doctrine did not extend, however, to a specific unfoldment of the subtleties of error, because mankind was not yet ready for this. It remained for Mrs. Eddy to disclose that part of revelation that would make it complete, thus marking the coming of that peace, where man is able to progress through Science instead of suffering.

The Master really provided humanity with a life-preserver, whereas Mrs. Eddy instructed it how to swim. Had Jesus inaugurated this latter revelation, the world could not have accepted it, because it is impossible to teach a drowning man to swim, his mind being so fearful that he cannot understand any of your instructions. First, he must be thrown a life-preserver and pulled to safety, before his fear disappears sufficiently for him to have confidence in what you tell him.

Hence, it can be seen that the only possible peace that man can have, results from the linking of Mrs. Eddy’s revelation with the Master’s teaching, uniting the spiritual dominion over error, which must accompany man’s reflection of the divine Mind, with the right understanding of God, which includes the knowledge of man’s oneness with, and relationship to, Spirit.

When a common soldier is given the banner to carry, he is exalted to the rank of standard-bearer, a position of definite honor. What his previous education and social position have been, make no difference. He is now a distinguished personage. Similarly, when man reflects the spirit of God, he is always elevated to a position of importance. The Christ is the Ruler and the Priest. Therefore, when man embodies and reflects the Christ, he discloses the understanding and demonstration which unfolds the claims of animal magnetism, destroying them by perceiving their nothingness, and presents the process by which every man may enter into the heart of God, and receive the demonstration of wisdom and inspiration for himself.

Thus, when Mrs. Eddy told us to follow her only as she followed Christ, she intended us to follow and exalt her, only because and when she carried this banner of wisdom and love. Furthermore, she desired us to realize that, if found worthy through right preparation, we could also carry it.

In Zechariah 6:11 it speaks of the silver and gold to be made into crowns. No doubt the silver was a counter-part of the lesser light of the first chapter of Genesis which is to be thrown on error, and the gold a counter-part of the greater light which would unfold God, one being a temporary necessity, and the other an eternal dispensation.

From this we conclude, that the gold alone is everlasting, since whatever man has learned of the operation of evil, in order to understand its claims and destroy them, must finally be eliminated, and the knowledge of good alone remain. This is the gold, since gold is a symbol of that which is most precious and permanent to man.




Chapter One Hundred Fourteen — Spiritual Meaning of Symbols

Since this treatise stresses Mrs. Eddy’s insistence on demonstration, indicating how she demanded that all outward tasks or effects in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, or matters connected with her business affairs, be the result of spiritual thought instead of mortal mind, it should include a definite statement of what Mrs. Eddy meant by the term.

In the world, all outward effects result from human thinking, which is always destructive thinking, since it emanates from an enemy of God, or animal magnetism, which is perpetually striving to keep man from reinstating himself in the kingdom of God. The expressions of mortal mind, manifested as substitutes for the expressions of the divine Mind, tend to produce in man a mental laziness, because they satisfy him as an easy method of producing results without demonstration.

This reasoning leads to the deduction that, in Christian Science, demonstration is that process whereby all outward effects are recognized as being symbols of the divine Mind. It was this conception of that word which I gained from our Leader. Hence, the work necessary to produce a demonstration, as thus defined, is the effort to eliminate faith and belief in the human mind, and the determination not to permit it to enter consciousness under any circumstances, in order that man may be entirely governed and controlled by the divine Mind. Then, every effort that we make, every task that we perform, which emanates from the divine Mind, carries with it a healing and constructive atmosphere.

In a previous chapter is given the illustration of a man hiding an impure thought in a gift to some girl. Thus, how needful it would be for that girl to use her intuition to reject the gift, no matter how beautiful it might be, in order to protect her thought against the encroachment of error! In like manner, animal magnetism hides behind the evidence of man’s material senses in its effort to keep man in bondage. Therefore, Mrs. Eddy’s conception of demonstration, as she conveyed it to us, was bringing error out from its hiding place, silencing it, and restoring the channel error had claimed to use back to the uses of the divine Mind. How could Mrs. Eddy be a metaphysician and tolerate a student, an object, or a service rendered, that had animal magnetism, the enemy of God, hidden within? Surely the lie had to be uncovered, in order that it might be self-destroyed, and the reign of harmony, with God in control, be the result. This was demonstration.

So, every time a student in the home performed any duty, by making it a symbol of the activity of God, he released in the home a spiritual power that carried life, healing and protection in its train. This was the demonstration Mrs. Eddy required, the endeavor through prayer and consecration to change one’s conception of all causation from the human to the divine.

Why did our Master permit himself to be baptized? Why did Mrs. Eddy permit her Cause to copy scholastic theology, by building churches of beauty in which to conduct services? The answer to both questions is the same. They represent concessions to mortal thought. The Christian Science edifices in every quarter of the globe, besides facilitating the recognition by the world of Christian Science as a religion and form of worship, help to destroy prejudice. After people have studied Mrs. Eddy’s works, they are then ready to learn that Christian Science is not a religion in the sense of worshiping God, since Christian Science teaches man how to reflect God, which is certainly not the old conception of worship, where worship consists in adoring that which somebody else has. It is undeniable, that such a notion is not the scientific process, whereby man avails himself of the divine power in a practical way.

In order to break down whatever prejudice it may have, the world must learn that Christian Science is a religion in its general definition. Therefore, the building of churches, and the holding of services, is a concession that must be made in order to arouse interest. During the Christian Science services, however, an instruction is offered, and a mental atmosphere established by the workers, which extends to the congregation, and which has for its purpose the disintegration of the fallacy of old theology in the minds of receptive ones, as well as the healing of the sick. Thus, because spiritual understanding replaces the false doctrines through these processes, we find justification for Christian Science edifices.

Similarly, in the time of the Master, religion was looked upon as the spiritual regeneration which follows man’s submission to the rite of baptism. Hence, in order to break down prejudice among religious people against his doctrine, he made this concession, and he accepted baptism without harm to himself. Although the Master rejected the notion, that a few drops of water on his head possessed any power to make him a better Christian, he submitted to baptism as a symbol of the fact, that the spirit of God had descended upon him from heaven, and that he was animated by the divine Mind.

In like manner, Christian Scientists do not reject the old church ceremony and its functions, but transform them into symbols, to remind them that all is Mind. They do not object to eating food, but to them it has an entirely different significance than it does to mortal man, since, to Scientists, it becomes a symbol of the fact that Mind alone feeds and blesses man, that man looks to divine Mind alone for his support, wisdom and inspiration.

In Bible times, baptism was considered a necessity for the soul, and food, a necessity for the body. The Master transformed baptism and food into symbols, instructing man that Mind alone is the basis of all religion and sustenance. This was demonstration, as Mrs. Eddy unfolded and demanded it in her home. She disclosed that the materiality or spirituality of an act is entirely dependent on the standpoint of the actor. The service which the students offered Mrs. Eddy, had no value of itself, but when it was reckoned as an opportunity for the divine Mind to govern, and express itself through every act of every individual, that was demonstration.

For Jesus to have accepted the baptismal ritual as having any value per se, would have been a lack of demonstration. For him to suffer it as a symbol of infinite Love, governing man and being the mainspring of his thinking, was to make of it a demonstration.

Further light on the correct conception of demonstration can be gleaned from Exodus 30:34-38. Here Moses was commanded to make a sweet perfume, which he must use as being holy for the Lord. If he disobeyed, and used it to smell, however, or for the purpose of the pleasure of indulgence, he would be cut off from his people.

The whole religion of the Israelites, as revealed in the Old Testament, offered the greatest opportunity to broaden one’s sense of demonstration. The Bible constantly emphasizes that all the minutiae of their acts were to be holy unto the Lord, which means putting demonstration back of them. Here was the simple matter of a sweet perfume compounded from stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense, which, if utilized from an inspirational standpoint as a symbol of God, would be holy unto the Lord; but, if considered as an opportunity for pleasure, and permitted to be a product of mortal thought, a symbol without divine significance, or matter conceived as possessing life, truth, intelligence and substance, then it must be cast out.

Every symbol, if given spiritual significance, directs man’s thought to God, and spiritualizes him. Every symbol that is used without spiritual significance, constitutes a deterrent which distracts man from the contemplation of God, and from the healing, protection and love that accompanies it. Therefore, we can see why Mrs. Eddy recognized the spiritual possibilities and opportunities offered by the simple things in her home, when reckoned as symbols having divine implications. In fact, the minutiae of Mrs. Eddy’s home might be described just as are such things in the Bible, as, for instance, in the Old Testament, where the measurements were taken with such exactness, and the use of the holy vessels was treated with reverence. In truth, one could contend that Mrs. Eddy’s chairs and carpets were holy unto the Lord. Why? Because she demanded that spiritual demonstration which made them holy, and because they became thereby the expression of a spiritual thought, with an exactness which can only result from mind in tune with God. To Mrs. Eddy, such exactness became the means of detecting whether Spirit or matter, divine Mind or mortal mind, was dominating the individual.

Hence, as a present-day counterpart of the old Jewish customs, Mrs. Eddy provided a simple and effective means, by which a great number of purely human things could be transformed into symbols of Deity, symbols of the love of God, and with those as a start, the student might soon achieve that vision wherein all creation becomes a symbol of divine Mind, a channel for the infinite blessings of Spirit.

When we declare that God created all, we are voicing a statement that is true only in the absolute. Hence, God must be seen to be back of everything through demonstration, since mortal mind has so adulterated this universe of God through human opinion and falsity, that it does not now appear, as God created it. Christian Science unfolds that it is possible, through human misconceptions, to mingle with God’s creation such a finite sense, that it becomes almost self-evident that God could not have created it. It is apparent, therefore, that the spiritualizing of the universe must commence in man’s consciousness, which is just what Mrs. Eddy was demanding of the students. Through this demonstration, man begins to perceive the perfection, immortality, and good that must be resident in the universe, if God created it. All of this process of rendering creation to God transpires, of course, within man’s own consciousness. It becomes necessary to realize, that all that the five material senses perceive, is an image of mortal thought. So man must undertake to conceive of a perfect God and a perfect manifestation of God, as his idea of creation. Then, as he constructs this ideal in consciousness, he must reject the evidence of the senses as being so unreliable, that it cannot be depended upon.

There is a story of a boy who climbed up to the top of a steeple, whence he could not get down. His grandmother, who had knitted his stockings, called to him to unravel them, beginning with the toe. This he did, letting down the yarn and, finally, pulling up the rope that saved him.

What a lesson the Old Testament teaches; that one should begin with a mundane thing like a perfume and then, by recognizing it as a symbol of the sweetness of God’s presence and the consciousness of good, utilize it as a starting point for a demonstration which will eventuate in his freedom from universal mesmerism. Thus, by commencing with the insignificant things and extending one’s endeavor to all creation, one forms the habit of demonstration. After all, is that not the true religion which results in man’s salvation, creating the habit, through specific ways and means, of extending that process by which he translates every daily experience, that claims to be a manifestation of mortal thinking, into a symbol of infinite Love, thus replacing mortal mind with divine Mind, and putting God in control?

Among all homes on the whole earth, Pleasant View was unique, because the entire trend of Mrs. Eddy’s teaching was to extend the importance of demonstration, beginning with the simple opportunities that the home offered, and then learning to translate everything into expressions of the divine Mind.

Life became a joy or a burden at Pleasant View, depending on the students’ attitude. It became a burden, if the students did not comprehend why Mrs. Eddy seemed so exacting and difficult to please, and why, no matter how conscientious and faithful they were in performing their duties, our Leader was just as liable to reprove them as applaud them. To understand, meant to realize that the very spirit in Mrs. Eddy that plagued them, represented the angels of Revelation which would show them the new heaven and the new earth. Those who comprehended, knew that there was only one method by which they could, with certainty, satisfy Mrs. Eddy, and that was by demonstration. That method she always commended. Therefore, by accepting those rebukes which annoyed them, they could transform them into the ladder, up which they might climb to the conception of heaven as a present reality, since they thereby acquired that mental process of translating everything into its real and spiritual significance as the new heaven and earth, new only because they represent a new conception of the old.

One might object that, in instructing Christian Scientists to see everything in the universe as under the control of God, Mrs. Eddy was thereby advocating the inclusion of that which is evil in the divine plan. This objection, however, can be answered by appealing to Scripture. Peter beheld in a vision a great sheet let down to earth, wherein were all manner of beasts and fowl. When, by declaring that he had never partaken of anything unclean, he remonstrated with the voice that bade him eat, Peter was told that he should not call common that which God had cleansed, or that had been included in the sanctification of demonstration.

Again, in Matthew 13, the Master likens the kingdom of heaven to a net, indicating thereby that demonstration means to throw an all-inclusive spiritual thought around everything, great or small. Then must come the separation which casts away the bad, or that which has a human origin. This instruction prophesies the end of the world, when the angels, or spiritual intuitions, shall separate the wicked from the just, the human from the divine, so that only the spiritual remains.

When the student obeys the teachings of Christian Science and declares, “I am spiritual,” he is endeavoring to throw the net of demonstration around himself. Later, he learns to extend that effort to patients, to the other members of the Christian Science organization, to his daily life and environment, and finally, to the whole world.

Yet this process includes much that is not spiritual or worthy to be brought into the kingdom of heaven. Notwithstanding, Jesus’ admonition indicates that it is legitimate to take the net and throw it around everything, endeavoring to see man and the universe from a spiritual standpoint. Then must follow the demonstration of gathering the good into vessels, or embodying the spiritual idea, and casting the false away as unreal. As man elevates his ideals to the standard of immortality, only that which is divine will be retained and embodied. This marks the end of the world, the juncture at which man perceives the unreality of all material creation, the termination of his belief in the reality of that which is false. At that point, all that is unlike God is discarded.

Mortal man takes pleasure in believing that when he is conscientious, and when love prompts his efforts to please, his human motive and endeavor should be commended. Such is not the case in Christian Science, the standard of which is apt to chemicalize many. Nevertheless, the world must be brought up to the recognition, that only as man applies demonstration, should his work merit consideration. Should we applaud the treasurer of a branch church who brings out a prosperous sense, through working with the congregation outwardly, apart from demonstration? Under such conditions, there is no development nor growth in the field for which the church was founded, namely, spirituality. Furthermore, the one who labors long and faithfully to accomplish something, and does it more or less successfully, yet without demonstration, would feel injured if another attempted to belittle the value of his endeavors.

A quotation from Isaiah reads, “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. ” These words might well have been put in Mrs. Eddy’s mouth, because she never withheld a rebuke when it was merited, and because she was untiring in her watch, lest the students fail to reflect the glory of the Christ-idea in all their undertakings. Her tendency to reprove any effort which lacked demonstration, no matter how faithfully it had been performed, caused her to be misunderstood. Nevertheless, one who is striving to emerge from mortal mind into the divine Mind, appreciates this reproach, and does not want to be applauded when human ability produces apparently harmonious results, no matter how similar these results are to those which the divine Mind would have produced. One of the greatest dangers besetting the Christian Scientist, is the possibility of achieving effects, as did the necromancers of old, through the action of mortal mind, which are similar in outward appearance to those which emanate from demonstration, as did the miracles of Moses. As Christian Scientists, we should be rebuked for accomplishments which are not scientific, since, in the last analysis, we are not working for effects, for healthy bodies, financial relief, etc., but we are striving to substitute the activities of the divine Mind for the illusion of mortal belief, the process which alone will bring constructive, scientific and permanent results.

After one has planted vegetables, he must extend the circle of his hoeing sufficiently, or weeds will come in and choke the plants. This illustrates the failure of those students who do not broaden their demonstration of Christian Science to cover the little, insignificant human claims, by which they are just as much held in the illusion of mortal belief, as by the so-called big ones. These students persistently dwell upon God, they study and labor, and cannot understand why Christian Science does not do more for them. They have planted the seed of the Christ in their consciousness, but they fail to clear out all the weeds in the field of their experience.

One might study an airplane thoroughly, yet all one really knows about flying is acquired through taking the machine out of its hangar, and attempting to fly it. The stock question that Mrs. Eddy asked every student who came to Pleasant View was, “How much Christian Science do you know? ” The correct answer, as we were taught later, was, “Only what you can demonstrate. ”

Mrs. Eddy foresaw the danger arising from the notion that the way to progress in Christian Science, is to spend hours and hours of one’s time in study, since the divine Mind is of no value to man, until he assimilates and utilizes it. It does not necessitate much study nor understanding to follow the simple teachings of Mrs. Eddy’s revelation, but it requires persistency and consistency, where the endeavor is made to apply this divine power to everything in one’s experience, whether small or great.

There are many text-books devoted to the study of the electricity which fills the atmosphere. Yet, of what value are these text-books, or the presence of this power itself, until one who has read them sufficiently to comprehend the subject, stops theorizing, begins to harness this force and apply it as an active and helpful agent to man?

Thus, Mrs. Eddy’s answer referred, not only to what our faithful and consistent study had brought to us of understanding, but also the use to which we devoted it. She knew that one’s knowledge of God was not theory but practice, entirely dependent upon the application one had made of that knowledge. Once the student perceives the great opportunity for demonstration, contained in the effort to translate every human object and experience back into a spiritual symbol, which rules out belief in any cause other than the divine, he has provided himself with plenty of occupation. This unfolds the underlying significance of the ancient forms and ceremonies of the Jewish faith, that appear so material on the surface. If these rites represent the symbols as having any spiritual value in and of themselves, that would be idolatry. When they typify the attempt to put God back of the universe in every way, then they become footsteps to heaven.




Chapter One Hundred Fifteen — Spiritually Understanding Mrs. Eddy’s Life

It is recorded in the Gospel of John, that at a certain point in his spiritual pathway, the Master said to Mary, “Touch me not.” A spiritual interpretation of this statement brings to a sharper focus our understanding of our Leader. We can deduce, that Jesus had reached a place where he was so sensitive spiritually, that the best help another might try to give him along spiritual lines would only tend to pull his thought down from its exalted level. This characteristic of spiritual sensitivity was one of the outstanding proofs of the scientific quality of Jesus’ thought.

The student of Christian Science daily strives to reach the point, where he will instantly recognize a thought that is the enemy of Truth. Only in this way can he know what his work is, and when it should be done. It is a sign of increasing spirituality, when the advancing student is touched by alien thought to the point where he is compelled to make the effort to lift his consciousness to God. The student should not desire to reach a point where he is not touched by alien thought, as long as his obligation to the world is unfulfilled, but to win the ability to lift thought above it, so that he can say, “None of these things move me.”

This increasing sensitivity to error is essential in the effort to broaden the demonstration of Christian Science, beyond the attempt to meet merely the obvious forms of aggressive evil. In the beginning of one’s study, he is disturbed by the suggestions of fear, suffering, lack and sin. Hence, he applies his understanding of Christian Science whenever such suggestions assail him. Yet, this right application of Christian Science to apparent evil will not carry the student very far on the road of spiritual progress, unless he becomes increasingly sensitive to the claim of animal magnetism, so that he is urged to apply the Truth to an ever-increasing category of false beliefs. Mrs. Eddy was so spiritually sensitive, that a lack of scientific demonstration in any direction would disturb her spiritual balance of thought, as definitely as the fear of disease or lack would upset her students.

A student might be tempted to wish that he could enter an alien atmosphere without demonstration, and yet feel perfectly at ease. Nevertheless, a student of Christian Science has no value as an alert sentinel, protector and guardian of Truth, unless he is sensitive enough to detect and correct erroneous thought, whenever and wherever it presents itself. The student must achieve the ability to recognize when the atmosphere is not good, and to work until it is. No student should ever expect to enter a materialistic atmosphere of thought, and be at peace, unless he makes a demonstration of that peace.

A warning should be given to everyone who assumes the study of Christian Science earnestly and seriously, that he should not undertake to develop spirituality, if he is not willing to find himself in the position where he is under the constant necessity to watch and pray, to be ready and willing to work, whenever such work is requisite. One who develops spirituality cannot avoid feeling within himself the errors that come to him to be destroyed. If such a prospect does not appeal to him, a labor that involves an infinite blessing to the race, let him remain on a selfish, material level, where his thinking is so at one with mortal belief, that he will feel no friction when it comes gliding in.

Students of Christian Science are roused to action by those things that bring disturbance and fear. But only the grosser phases of error disturb a gross thought. As thought becomes more sensitive, however, it becomes more and more awake to the subtler phases of error.

In a family where the father and children are sound sleepers, oftentimes the mother will be so sensitive, that the slight sound of a clock ticking or a mouse gnawing will disturb her slumbers. The others in the family may be inclined to scoff at her for this sensitiveness, because it is beyond their comprehension.

To a degree, this illustrates Mrs. Eddy’s experience. Her spiritual sensitivity was beyond the comprehension of those less spiritually attuned. There was hardly a phase of her experience but what distressed her, when it became a channel for the action of animal magnetism. If the students did not make the demonstration to take out the animal magnetism, and to put in God, the divine Mind, anything they did for the Leader caused her to say in substance, “Touch me not.”

In a measure, the reiteration of the above points in these pages serves to illustrate the difficulty embodied in the effort to interpret Mrs. Eddy’s life. The experience of anyone who functions under spiritual law, must always be an enigma to the one who is ignorant of spiritual law, or of its existence. The results in the life of one under the law of God, cannot be comprehended by the one who operates under material law. This fact accounts for the numerous critical biographies written about Mary Baker Eddy, which go to all lengths to explain the many incidents by which the enlightened one knows, that God was preparing her for the great revelation of Truth which she gave to the world.

The one who functions under spiritual law seems either a fraud or a miracle to one ignorant of such law. The Master is held up as a special son of God, with a life that was a miracle from beginning to end, by those who know not God as Principle. They do not realize that spiritual law exists and forever operates. Then there comes one who understands this law enough to lay hold of it, and to begin to function under it. This is what the Master did in his age, and Mrs. Eddy in ours. Furthermore, her writings proclaim that this same law is open for all to utilize.

In the first epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul states that the preaching of the crucifixion was a stumbling block to the Jews. He implies that the operation of spiritual law in the experience of the Master, as it carried him triumphantly through the experience of the cross, was incomprehensible to unenlightened thought.

From Paul’s statement, we can perceive why spiritual perception is needed, before anyone can comprehend the life of Mrs. Eddy, since the fruitage of her life-work proves that she functioned under spiritual law. No wonder the books dealing with her life, written from a human standpoint, present such inconsistencies and contradictions, that one turns away from any contemplation of her life, except from a spiritual standpoint! Only in this way, can Mrs. Eddy’s own life and experience be brought into perfect harmony with her teachings.




Chapter One Hundred Sixteen — Mrs. Eddy’s Later Experiences

One point that has troubled young students of Christian Science in regard to our Leader, and in regard to Christian Scientists in our present time, is the fact that there seem to be claims of error to meet, which one might think should have been overcome long ago. Young students have been known to wonder, why advanced metaphysicians should find themselves assailed by lack, by suffering, and by persecution.

This point may be clarified by a homely illustration of an ancient brass mirror that is covered with corrosion and dirt. The process of cleaning it is twofold. First the dirt and dust are removed. Then, a specially prepared dirt of gritty texture is applied. Finally, before it is removed, this powder is rubbed briskly to create a friction, which brings the brass to a high polish. Although there might be those who believed, that the work of cleaning was accomplished when the first process had been completed, a little examination would reveal that the second step was needed, before the task was finished.

The later experiences in Mrs. Eddy’s life represented the grit that was needed to produce a polish and purity, that brought her understanding to a still higher degree of brightness, thus enabling her to reflect the divine Mind with more clarity.

In the early experiences of the student, before this final polishing process has begun, he finds that it involves much less of a spiritual demonstration to effect results, than will be required in the later process. Knowledge of this condition prevents the advanced metaphysician from becoming discouraged, when a much greater spiritual effort apparently produces less visible fruitage, than in the days of his earlier effort. In the beginning, the polish is more superficial; satisfactory at the time, to be sure, but not to be mistaken for the final result.

Hence, any criticism is foolish, which might imply that the advanced student was not making a successful demonstration, because it impugns the critic for not appreciating that the higher tasks which infinite wisdom imposes on the advanced student, can be accomplished only by that intense consecration of spiritual thought, which our Leader so wonderfully exemplified. The line of demarcation, covering the above illustration of the brass mirror, is that the dirt, hiding the true nature of the mirror, is not the same as the abrasive that is added to produce the final polishing, that once more restores to the mirror its reflecting quality. One must be removed, while the other must be used, until the mirror once more reflects perfectly.

One of Mrs. Eddy’s personal maids reported that in 1909 she declared, “Whatever spiritualizes our thought is for our spiritual growth.” Then, in referring to her physical condition, she said, “The world need not jest because I am thus, for I am being disciplined. If I call it sickness, it will be that; but when I understand what it means, it becomes to me what the Scripture saith, ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’”




Chapter One Hundred Seventeen — Studying Mrs. Eddy’s Life Helps the Student

The objective of all effort in Christian Science is the development of spiritual sense. Material sense is the mode whereby man takes cognizance of a dream world called mortal existence, which has no reality. Spiritual sense is the medium through which man apprehends reality, gains the evidence of spiritual existence, and reflects God.

The question might well be asked, “Of what value is the teaching of Christian Science, that man is now in the kingdom of heaven, despite all evidence to the contrary, unless it provides a practical and scientific teaching, whereby man may recover his spiritual senses, which will testify to this grand fact of existence?”

In stating some of the ways provided by Christian Science for the development of spiritual sense, we can include healing sickness and sin, demonstrating the one Mind in the church business meetings, and unfolding the hidden meaning of the Bible. In this latter point, the student takes passages from Scripture that seem inexplicable from the standpoint of human reason, and by shutting out all deductions based on human intelligence and reason, permits the true meaning to flood in through spiritual sense. This mode unfolds the fallacy of scholastic theology in its effort called higher criticism, where it would delete from the Bible passages that seem dark and obscure, since these dark passages become of the utmost importance in Christian Science, as providing the student with the finest means whereby he may develop spiritual sense. It can be stated as an axiom in Christian Science, that the moment students discard, or attempt to change, the meaning of what they cannot comprehend, they thereby rob themselves of the God-appointed means of developing spiritual sense.

In the business meetings of the church, the demand is contained in the plea, “What wilt Thou have me to do?” This prayer aids in the development of spiritual sense, because it renders human wisdom and opinion valueless, and thus requires a recourse to Spirit.

When the student understands the above line of reasoning, he is prepared to approach the life of Mary Baker Eddy with a right attitude. It provides a rebuke for anyone who might attempt to glorify those parts of her experience that are self-evidently glorious, and to overlook or cover up those parts, which do not accord with what one thinks her life experience should have been. Students of Christian Science must be convinced, that every part of her life is subject to being interpreted and understood spiritually, and that inspiration can unfold it as one continuous and consistent spiritual journey from sense to Soul.

There is nothing in the life of his Leader, of which any student of Christian Science need ever be ashamed. He need never fear any exposure through unfriendly criticism of any hidden facts of her life, which might be uncovered in the future. There is a spiritual explanation for every incident that would satisfy any unprejudiced person, and this explanation can be gained by any student, who is willing to work on the problem in the right way. Moreover, the effort to understand our Leader’s life is a further method of developing one’s spiritual sense, equal in importance and efficacy to the processes enumerated above. The deduction is obvious, therefore, that a failure to understand spiritually the life of Mrs. Eddy in its entirety, would indicate a failure on the student’s part to develop his spiritual sense. If the student neglects the effort to interpret her life, especially those phases where it would seem as if she did not conform to the Christian ideal, he thereby neglects that most important work in Christian Science, namely, the development of his own spirituality.

Nothing does more to sharpen the teeth of a puppy than hard bones. A puppy will persistently gnaw on a hard bone until he has eaten it. This is a needful part of his development. Who will say but what it was part of wisdom’s plan that Mrs. Eddy’s life provide the student of Christian Science with points difficult to understand, thereby furnishing that needful spiritual effort, where a thing seems so hopeless of explanation from any human standpoint, that one is forced to turn to the divine Mind for the answer?

In her Message for 1902, Mrs. Eddy gives a statement concerning the Bible, that we may well apply to her own life. “Alternately transported and alarmed by abstruse problems of Scripture, we are liable to turn from them as impractical, or beyond the ken of mortals,—and past finding out. Our thoughts of the Bible utter our lives . . . Christian Science stills all distress over doubtful interpretations of the Bible.” From this affirmation, we can readily perceive that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity to develop in him the only accurate medium that he has for knowing truth, namely, spiritual hearing.

Once a farmer, in willing his land to his sons, stated that there was gold to be found in it. The boys dug everywhere and found none; but rather than have their efforts wasted, they planted the fields. Later, they sold the crop for much gold.

Mrs. Eddy has left us things hard to understand, especially certain By-laws in the Manual, which seem out of date, since they refer only to her, or call for her consent. Yet these By-laws came from God, and it is a rule, that that which comes from God needs spiritual sense in order to be understood aright. And the entire object of everything in Christian Science, including the Manual, is to turn man to God.

The deduction is, that our very inability to understand these parts of the Manual, turns us to God for understanding. Thus their object is fulfilled, and at the same time their golden meaning is made plain.




Chapter One Hundred eighteen — Mrs. Eddy’s Handling of Malpractice

There have been efforts made on the part of some, who have had access to early records, to prove that Mrs. Eddy used mental suggestion, in an attempt to prevent certain of her students from using animal magnetism against her. The claim is, that she issued arguments designed to make these students suffer, finding her authority for such activities in the Biblical statement, “. . . what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,” and maintaining that her action was reformatory, designed to do good and not evil.

If there are those who believe this evidence, the following can be said in defence of such a procedure on the part of our Leader, demonstrating that it was an orderly and spiritual step in her purification and progress:

The action of the law of God is always reformatory and designed to do good, acting to direct against himself man’s efforts to harm others, in order that he may cease from such a destructive course of action. Christian Science discloses, however, that the only way the law of God can be enforced and expressed in this human sense of existence, is through man, through the one who has attained a spiritual understanding that enables him to manifest the divine Mind. It is considered legitimate, when two nations are at war, for the one which is on the defensive, to resort to the same weapons employed by the invading foe. Was it not natural for Mrs. Eddy to consider that, being a representative of God to this age, and being obligated to reflect the will of God on earth, even as it is in heaven, she should mete to those who were malpracticing on her, a practice that might cause them suffering and so awaken reformation? Whatever she did, was done through a love for God, and an effort to establish His kingdom. She recognized that she must protect, at any cost and with all her power, the slender plant of Truth which she was striving to strengthen.

Certainly, the man equipped with deific power is obligated to represent Truth on earth, and fulfill the above-quoted Biblical statement. However, before wisdom unfolds the spiritual significance of this demand, he might feel obligated to render to the avowed enemies of Truth the same dose which they were using, without restraint, against the Truth, hoping that they will learn that they cannot malpractice against the Truth, without starting a reaction against themselves, and opening a hell which effectually restrains them in their evil course.

No critic could ever aver that Mrs. Eddy sought selfaggrandizement or personal benefits. If she did, why did she not make the most of them when they finally came to her? The underlying spiritual motive that animated everything our Leader did, was a sacred flame of unselfish determination to preserve and shelter that which would show the way of Life to all mankind.

As Mrs. Eddy rose higher in spiritual understanding, this was manifested in the more loving and scientific means she employed in rendering harmless the hostility of her enemies. Furthermore, through this higher process, sin was made to react upon the sinner, as definitely as though malpractice were directed against him. No doubt such results prompted these accusations against Mrs. Eddy, although her only purpose was to save the innocent victim. An evidence of Mrs. Eddy’s great spiritual growth was the revelation to her, that the higher mode of destroying hatred and protecting one’s self from evil is love, love for one’s enemies, love for all mankind. That which shields the Cause of Christian Science, and renders harmless the efforts of its enemies, is a scientific ability to love one’s enemies, and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. Thus Mrs. Eddy proved that the sacred flame which will continually take one higher in the spiritual scale, through mistakes, through misunderstanding, and even through an honest ignorance, is the unselfed purpose to devote one’s life to the task of setting forth and demonstrating the way of Life. This, Mrs. Eddy accomplished.

One should not entertain the fatuous notion that Science and Health will lead one to the gates of heaven. The fact is, that through Science and Health, the student is enabled to attain that divine wisdom, the impersonal spiritual guide, which will conduct him or her on the right path. In other words, it requires an individual demonstration of wisdom to guide one to a final demonstration of divine sonship.

The further spiritual growth, which carried Mrs. Eddy above her primitive method of fighting fire with fire, to the exalted standpoint of loving her enemies and attempting to do them good, is illustrated in the Master’s experience, when he touched the man full of leprosy and the devil came out of him. He put forth his hand; touched the malpractice of animal magnetism, which was manifesting itself in the form of leprosy; said, “Be thou clean;” and wiped it out. Similarly, when Mrs. Eddy stretched forth her hand, or aimed her thought full of love and healing, at a malpractitioner, she produced a salutary effect on him, far more inexorable than the effort to meet malpractice with malpractice.

This latter effort, which at first must have suggested itself to our Leader as a solution for this criminal interference, was exemplified by David when he was tempted to go out against Goliath with a spear, a sword and armor, as his predecessors had done. They fought as Goliath fought, but they failed to vanquish him. He had back of him the full belief in the power of animal magnetism, as did those who assaulted Mrs. Eddy mentally. The fact is apparent, that one can never destroy animal magnetism, aimed at Truth, by killing the one who is expressing that animal magnetism, for one must always deal with the source and never the channel. David, wielding his sling and stone, unerringly reached causation, the simplicity of which was concealed beneath the great mass of effect. The simple nature of his weapon proved his knowledge of the simple nature of the problem, which alone made him master of it. He touched the vulnerable place in animal magnetism with Truth, and the manifestation of misconception was made clean, the error destroyed.

Impersonal Goliath can never be seen. Goliath, or animal magnetism, can be known only as it operates through some willing channel. Centuries later, the Master, as the descendant of David, was still going out after Goliath; he was engaged in the same age-old fight. Jesus perceived Goliath back of this sick man, expressing itself through him as leprosy, recognized its vulnerable point, and met it with love. Touching the man, was symbolic of sending out the white stone of spiritual purity and immortality, and the result proved that this spirituallyeffective method, practiced by David of old, had lost none of its effectiveness, since the man rose up free. Animal magnetism yielded to the superiority of spiritual power, acknowledged the Christ, and departed from the man. The unclean spirit was old Goliath appearing in a new form, hiding behind the sick man. Jesus called him forth into the open, where he fell on his knees and recognized the supremacy of spiritual power over the human. Thus, the patient was healed.

Nineteen hundred years later, Mrs. Eddy wrote in Science and Health, page 268, “In this revolutionary period, like the shepherd-boy with his sling, woman goes forth to battle with Goliath.” Mrs. Eddy was enabled finally to perceive Goliath, hiding behind the malpractitioners who continually dogged her footsteps. Thus was she equipped to meet Goliath by loving man, and thereby freeing him from the unclean spirit.

When the elders wished to stone Mary Magdalene, Jesus said in substance, “Let the one who is without sin among you, or whose vision is freed from mesmerism sufficiently to see Goliath hiding behind the woman, cast the first stone of spiritual purity and power. Throw the stone at the Goliath of sensuality, but let the woman go free.” This method of handling animal magnetism was Mrs. Eddy’s crowning gift to humanity in this age. It is embodied in the instruction, “Strike at the error, reduce it to nothingness, but let man go free. Call forth the unclean spirit and impersonalize it. Hate the sin and thereby destroy it; but love the sinner and thereby redeem him.”




Chapter One Hundred Nineteen — Seeking Spiritual Causation Back of Everything

Mrs. Eddy’s mission was really to bring the Christ down from an isolated sense, and make it available for all mankind. Above all others, she understood and demonstrated Paul’s statement, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” She knew that our spiritual treasure is contained in every manifestation of mortal thought, and she appointed us the task of proving this, and making the effort to see spiritual causation back of all material things, so that they will cease to be material.

Where is God to be found? Shall we seek Him in the sunset, in the clouds, in nature? Yes, but only as we are able to see these as symbols of Him. If one uses the very food that he eats, as a symbol of the infinite love of God, and of the fact that He cares for man even as He doth the lilies, then that food will enable man to search out God. If one takes the tree as the manifestation of God, reckoning it a symbol of God’s all-encompassing love, then, in the tree one finds God, thereby proving that we have our treasure in earthen vessels.

Properly understood, all the things that seem to separate man from God, will serve to bring their unity to light. Mrs. Eddy realized that cleaning a room, or replacing furniture, was a function demanding demonstration, demanding the power, wisdom and presence of God. In fact, her direction of the demonstration of her students in the home exemplified Hymn 140 from the new Christian Science Hymnal (Number five in the old):

““If on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish much ww ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.”

Truly, Mrs. Eddy’s understanding of demonstration epitomized the phrase, “Beneath our feet life’s pearl is cast.”

As she said in her home, “I am learning more and more everyday, to take God with me into every little thing I do.”

This corresponds with page 65 of Science and Health, “To gain Christian Science and its harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded.” It also fulfills Paul’s enjoiner in Colossians 3:17, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

All through the Scriptures, are records of those who traced God in the common phases of human experience. When Elijah properly handled the wind, fire and earthquake, by denying the error which suggested that the Lord was not in them, he found God. Where the disciples found only fear, in the storm on the sea of Galilee, the Master found God. He parted the draperies of God, which were the storm, and there was God in the midst of them. The three Hebrew captives found God in the fiery furnace, as did Daniel in the lions’ den. Surely, these found their treasure in earthen vessels. By the same token, one suffers from a storm of indigestion. Yet, through demonstration, can he not throw aside the error and discover a consciousness of God in humble food, thus having his thought turned to the great Giver? The Master exemplified this ideal in the last supper; and the only reason why scholastic theology is not conscious of God in the Eucharist, which should be solemnized “in remembrance of me,” is because the ceremony has come to have a significance of itself, instead of remaining merely a symbol, something to be relinquished, the moment one is able to reach out and touch the garment without its aid.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty — Mrs. Eddy Shared Her Discovery with All

Mary Baker Eddy fulfilled Biblical prophecy as definitely in this age, as did the Master in his. As a proof of this, we have in Luke 15:8 the Master’s parable of the woman who had ten pieces of silver and lost one. She lit a candle and searched diligently till she found it; then she called in her friends and her neighbors to rejoice with her.

Instead of being satisfied with her nine pieces, this woman searched, until she found the one that was missing. For our generation, what does this missing piece represent, but man’s ability to manifest the spirit of God in demonstration? When Mrs. Eddy recognized this loss, she lit her candle, which typified her effort to throw light on the Scriptures, to learn how man could be influenced to believe that he had lost this inheritance, which she knew must be natural to man’s thought. She recognized that when she discovered how man lost it, she would know how to regain it. This silver represented that connection with God, over which man might be nourished spiritually, and receive protection, wisdom and love.

Mrs. Eddy was successful in her diligent search for this lost silver. Then she called in her friends and neighbors; those who were receptive to the appreciation of the discovery that she had made. Thus, the doctrine of Christian Science began to spread.

The Master finally said, that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Does this imply, then, that Mrs. Eddy was a sinner? The loss of the silver, which symbolized the loss of man’s realization of his relation to God, is what constitutes sin in Christian Science. This makes anyone a sinner who is not conscious of his unity with God. Therefore, when Mrs. Eddy reestablished that relationship, there was joy in the presence of the angels of God, because she had established herself again in her proper and scientific relationship with her Father, and disclosed the process, so that it might be available for all.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-one — Spiritually Understanding ‘Christ and Christmas’

Recently, books have appeared, in which Mrs. Eddy’s book, Christ and Christmas, has been held up to ridicule, criticizing her for incorporating in it crude pictures in the name of art, and extolling them as approximating the masterpieces of such men as Botticelli and Fra Angelico. The very year this book appeared, there were those who called the pictures, caricatures. Nevertheless, Mrs. Eddy declared, “I am delighted to find Christ and Christmas in accord with the ancient and most distinguished artists.” Miscellaneous Writings, page 372.

It must be remembered, that the teaching of Christian Science is, that mind is cause, whether one is dealing with the realm of the divine or human. Hence, everything in the visible universe is the expression of thought, and every painting expresses the thought of the painter, whether it be spiritual or material.

Mrs. Eddy’s entire teachings are to enable one to trace from human effect back to human cause, substitute for that human cause the divine cause, and continue this work, until the whole universe is transformed into the expression of the divine Mind.

Mrs. Eddy’s poem, Christ and Christmas, was an endeavor on her part to offer the world a practical illustration of this spiritual process, and to prove man’s ability, when instructed spiritually, to produce art and poetry that would express spiritual thought. She was the first one who ever attempted to depict this ideal, according to an understandable and teachable process; and the fact that he succeeded, marks her first effort with the same significance in the metaphysical realm, as does the first flight of the Wright brothers in the physical realm.

There is a vast difference between the effort to have a painting embody some fine human thought or a spiritual idea. There have been painters who have permeated their work with inspiration, without knowing the scientific process, but Mrs. Eddy was the first one to do it through understanding. Therefore, her triumph will remain for all time, no matter how crude it may seem to the human mind. She overcame all obstacles, rose above all temptation to failure, thus causing her victory to stand unique and alone. There is little to compare it to. In the material realm, it most resembles the Wrights’ first airplane, which was a crude creation. Yet it flew, and flew successfully; and anyone wanting to fly today, must conform to the primitive principles which the Wright brothers demonstrated successfully.

Mrs. Eddy did not actually paint the pictures, but she found an artist with whom she could work; one who was a Christian Scientist, and who was able to capture some of her inspiration in his brushmarks. She established a spiritual standard that started a new era for the world.

When the Wright brothers developed the principles of flying, to the point where they made them practical, they had no intention of keeping the airplane in the primitive form with which they started. It was simply the skeleton, that contained the germ of the idea which they gave to the world. Today, that same idea is embodied in every airplane that is constructed and flown successfully.

Mrs. Eddy did not intend that her endeavor to illustrate the teachings of Christian Science, by putting forth illustrations that were the outcome of spiritualized thought, was to be the only effort ever attempted in that field. She proved a truth; namely, that it is possible to express spiritual thought through the delineations of human forms and figures. She confidently expected students of Christian Science to adopt this discovery, broaden and enlarge it, until it became a universal ideal, which would continue to embrace the same spiritual healing thought that was present at its inception. Ultimately, when man had replaced a mortal source with a divine origin, she expected everything to carry this healing atmosphere. She revealed this as the task of the Christian Scientist, by offering Christ and Christmas as a practical illustration. This instruction corresponded with what she demanded of the students in her home; namely, that they put inspiration, instead of mortal thought, back of everything. For example, she expected that her followers would not stop eating, but see a divine origin back of food, and let it represent God, thus transforming into manna from heaven the food of which man partakes three times a day, which error claims to use as a means to greater bondage.

Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration in Christ and Christmas was similar to Moses’ demonstration of the manna. Whereas his was the first successful attempt to see God back of food, Mrs. Eddy’s was the first successful attempt to see God back of art. If manna typifies for mortals the divine feeding, the illustrations in Christ and Christmas become human symbols of the divine healing.

With certainty it can be stated, that only individuals long on art and short on spirituality, those who were instilled with a human conception of artistic standards, with but slight appreciation of inspiration, would criticize Christ and Christmas. It is a fact, that Mrs. Eddy’s home contained many objets d’art which did not approximate the accepted standards of art. On the other hand, they were imbued with love and appreciation for Mrs. Eddy and her great discovery; and it was for that reason Mrs. Eddy treasured them. They might be short on art, but they were long on gratitude unspeakable.

Mrs. Eddy inaugurated a new standard for music and art, unfolding that if there is any lack in a composition or picture, it would be preferable to have that lack a material rather than a spiritual one. This is a rebuke to those who demand human perfection, even if the quality of the thought back of it, does not approach the spiritual standard.

This point can be illustrated by the Wednesday evening testimonial meetings in the Christian Science churches. How far reaching is the good done by a humble testimony, which perhaps betrays a lack of human education and poise and yet, overflows with love and appreciation for the great gift of Christian Science! Its very sincerity carries conviction to the stranger, which one couched in perfect English, but without that candor and consciousness of heart-felt gratitude, does not. Such a testimony is short on that which is unimportant, and long on that which is vital. As Shakespeare says in A Midsummer Night’s Dream “Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity, in least speak most . . .”

This idea is further illustrated by the parable of the widow’s mite, which is narrated in the Gospel of Mark. The widow’s offering was long on faith in God and true appreciation, although short on the human expression. Yet, the Master said, “That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury.”

As far as its artistic expression is concerned, Christ and Christmas might be reckoned as being no more than a mite. Yet, there is present within it, to an unusual degree, that rare quality of inspiration, which is so seldom found and which, when it is present, elevates all art to a standard that makes it priceless.

On page 448 of volume II of History of the Christian Science Movement, by William Lyman Johnson, there is the following which Mrs. Eddy wrote to Carol Norton: “Christ and Christmas was an inspiration from beginning to end. The power of God and the wisdom of God was even more manifest in it and guided me more perceptibly, as those of my household can attest, than when I wrote Science and Health. If ever God sends you to me again, I will name some of the marvelous guidance that He gave me. He taught me that the art of Christian Science has come through inspiration, the same as its Science has. Hence the great error of human opinions passing judgment on it.”

There can be no understanding of Christ and Christmas from a human standpoint. Those to whom the true inward value is not discernible, may say what they like. The fact remains, however, that in this poem with its illustrations, Mrs. Eddy exemplified the very process which, if adopted by man, and applied to every phase of his human existence, will bring him his salvation. The students who understand and, to some degree, are taking advantage of the practical Christian Science disclosed in this work, rejoice in Mrs. Eddy’s grand pioneering. They are not troubled at critics who label the pictures in this book crude, for they recognize in it an illustration of a law which means the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness and death. Thus, they are placed above the criticism of mortal man. In corroboration Mrs. Eddy writes in Miscellaneous Writings, page 374, “Above the fogs of sense and storms of passion, Christian Science and its art will rise triumphant; ignorance, envy, and hatred, earth’s harmless thunder, pluck not their heaven-born wings. Angels, with overtures, hold charge over both, and announce their Principle and idea.”




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-two — Understanding the Purpose of Pleasant View

At one time, Mrs. Eddy was called upon to write an article for the Christian Register. The member of the household responsible for forwarding the manuscript, reckoned that it would be more certain to reach the editor, if the letter was registered. Evidently the demonstration, which Mrs. Eddy always insisted should accompany all articles sent through the mail, was lacking, for the editor happened to be out of town, and the letter was held for his signature. When he returned, it was too late. Thus the world was deprived of the blessing contained in our Leader’s inspiring message. I mention this incident, because it illustrates, how insistent she was, that every point in her experience be the result of demonstration, and because it also shows the futility of that sense of human trust that moves without demonstration, and hence, interferes with God’s plans, unless handled and obliterated at its inception.

Only a human sense would maintain that our Leader was critical and unduly fussy. If I never accomplished more by living at Pleasant View, I would consider it worth while to be able to testify to posterity, through my own personal acquaintance with Mrs. Eddy, that, no matter what her mental state might be at any time, she never criticized, or found fault with a student for any reason, other than a failure to measure up to the standard that she established for herself and for her household, which was that the basis of all action must be scientific right thinking. She had gained the pearl of great price, and her demonstration in her home represented her effort to provide the proper setting for this jewel, in order to protect it and guard it against loss.

When I make the statement, that at times the students failed to comprehend certain things connected with our Leader in her home, it must not be supposed that I intend to criticize the students, or even to imply that such a comprehension was a possibility at that period, from their point of spiritual development. To gain this understanding would require the perspective of time and distance, as well as a realization of the mental influences at work, and of the necessity and importance of giving up all preconceived conceptions. Without this further vision, no student would awaken to see that there was an unperceived problem at Pleasant View, in connection with the Leader; one that needed prayer and study, until spiritual logic and perception should unfold it as a vital and necessary corroboration of Mrs. Eddy’s teachings, as given in her published writings.

Mrs. Eddy’s own insight into mortal mind, and her consequent distress, if her students failed to comprehend, was expressed by her as follows: The Babylonish woman in the Apocalypse has thrown wormwood into the waters to turn trusting thoughts to hatred against me, the idea.”

There exist jewels, that because of being stolen from some sacred spot centuries ago, carry a curse to this day to anyone who owns them. Such a curse operates through superstitious belief. The Babylonish woman represents the primitive curse of evil, aimed against spirituality, established in mortal thought thousands of years ago. The spiritual flow from God was cursed. Therefore, when Mrs. Eddy began to gain a spiritual influx from God, she felt this unconscious hatred of malice, and she called upon her students to help her to meet it.

Mrs. Eddy discovered, that every mortal has as his heritage an unconscious hatred of Truth. No healing can ever be done, unless this underlying hatred is handled and destroyed.

Christian Scientists rejoice when they feel this hatred and persecution, because it is positive proof that they are attaining true spirituality. To feel this opposition, is a sign of spiritual greatness, but it is a hatred that must be overthrown.

The deduction from this unfoldment is, that if Christian Science ever seems to be at peace with the world, either it is because the genuine spirituality has gone out of the movement as a whole, or else because Christian Scientists have faithfully made the metaphysical demonstration to overcome this human opposition.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-three — Mrs. Eddy a Soldier of God

Lest certain statements and incidents in the Bible be discarded by the materially-minded, because of a lack of understanding, records which, when spiritually interpreted, are seen to contain the meat of the word, the following warning is given in the last chapter of Revelation: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” So-called higher criticism has deleted, as incomprehensible and harmful, portions of Scripture which today are clearly understood by the veriest neophyte in the study of Mind-healing. Christian Scientists recognize, that such omissions would remove some of the most important foundation stones from the spiritual structure of the Bible.

More than all others, Mrs. Eddy, through her life’s experience, has portrayed the hidden workings of evil, as well as the correct solution of its claim to existence and power. Yet the materially-minded, not perceiving the importance of many of the outward evidences in her life, as bearing testimony to the inward spiritual strife, and the vital lessons taught, would desire to expurgate from the record of her life those things which, from a human standard of good, do not accord with the world’s ideal of a patient, loving Christian, meek and long-suffering, traits which we are trained to associate with the life and character of the one approaching perfection. But such traits were not characteristic of Mrs. Eddy’s warfare against evil. In actual demonstration, Mrs. Eddy’s attitude was similar to that of St. Paul, as portrayed in Acts 16, where his sense of superiority to his enemies was so dominant, that it made them afraid.

The effectiveness of one’s spiritual arguments depends upon the mental ground one occupies, when making such declarations. One must feel a conscious sense of dominion over error, in order to have the Truth effective in demonstration. In such an offensive warfare against the claims of evil, meekness and gentleness would be fatal. Mrs. Eddy was a soldier of God, and the record of her warfare is more important for the instruction of the student, than is that of her meekness, love and patience, which were qualities which she exhibited as the fruit of her warfare against evil, but not during such warfare. It is plain, therefore, that to expunge from her life’s record the positive methods necessary, when she was battling with Goliath, would be to rob the student, and the world, of the footsteps vital to the completion of the knowledge by which, and only by which, man may work out successfully the problem he is required to solve.

Mrs. Eddy’s own conception of the importance of a complete understanding of her life, is evinced in a statement that she made in a letter to Edward A. Kimball: “For the world to understand me in my true light, and life, would do more for our Cause than aught else could. This I learn from the fact that the enemy tries harder to hide these two things from the world, than to win any other points.”

Therefore, the warning in Revelation becomes a necessity at the end of Mrs. Eddy’s life, that nothing shall be added to it or taken from it. Sometime, all spirituallyminded students will awaken to perceive that her life, with nothing expurgated, provides the perfect pathway for her followers. In it, there is lacking not one experience needed as the outward proof of that spiritual animus which, even under the greatest kind of affliction, never departed from her, as the underlying motive-power and dominating influence in her life.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-four — Mrs. Eddy Fearless Determination to be Led by God

If the student of Christian Science should feel disturbed at the repeated statement in this book that our Leader, at times, made mistakes, and hence, at the implication that the onward-marching pilgrim must do likewise, let him remember certain scientific facts. Mortal man is trained to trust in human wisdom, in his own intelligence, developed through experience and education. The demand of Christian Science is that the student relinquish all faith in the human mind, in human wisdom and intelligence, in order that he may be guided by the unerring wisdom of God. In fulfilling this demand of Christian Science, however, the student must have an intermediate experience, where he is cut off from human help and has not yet grasped the divine help. He refuses further to be guided by human means and yet, has not grasped the divine guidance. This necessary vestibule of experience might be called 'The Bridge of Progressive Mistakes.’

This unfolds my meaning, when I refer to Mrs. Eddy as having made mistakes. Think of the humility of this great woman, who was willing to turn away from using any of the remedies which mortal mind offers for a lack of spirituality, and to make mistakes, rather than to utilize any human acumen or mortal methods in carrying on the Cause of Christian Science! She was willing to be a “fool for Christ’s sake” (I Cor. 4:10), or endure the criticism of being foolish, rather than to utilize the human mind, when, at times, the divine Mind seemed to be absent. If one should wonder why Mrs. Eddy seemed to sink to the bottom, when temporarily she lost her consciousness of God, let him remember that she had reached the place where she had no other life-preserver than her reflection of God, but it was enough!

It is human pride that would tempt a student of Christian Science to withdraw from this bridge of progressive mistakes, and again resort to human methods, lest he be criticized for making mistakes. Our Leader forged ahead without this fear of criticism. When some of her decisions proved to be faulty, because she had gained further spiritual light, she was just as ready to repudiate such decisions, as were others to criticize them. But never was she ashamed to have advanced erroneous decisions, because she knew that it is far better to make a mistake, in an honest attempt to be guided by God, than to turn back to human judgment, since only through the repudiation of human opinion and judgment, can one obtain the guidance of the divine Mind. Therefore, it is an axiom in Christian Science, that it is through progressive mistakes, resulting from a fearless determination to be led by God, that man finds God.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-five — Mrs. Eddy’ s Use of Temporary Means

Fear lest the world might misunderstand certain things in Mrs. Eddy’s experience, has caused many rooms in her life to be kept locked. My effort in this book has been to show that this fear is groundless. I have taken the key furnished by God and unlocked many of these rooms, in order to reveal that their contents are valuable and important, and that their exposure is nothing to fear, since they redound to Mrs. Eddy’s credit. Thus, anyone who will use this same key, may unlock all of the rooms of her experience, with the assurance that there is nothing that cannot be explained satisfactorily.

In the Christian Science Sentinel for January 26, 1929, there is a statement from the Christian Science Board of Directors to the effect that Mrs. Eddy, after she discovered Christian Science, used no drug of any kind, “except as she employed, in a few instances, an anesthetic for the purpose of temporary relief from extreme pain.”

The life of a great general, because of its peculiar value to the country, must be protected. Similarly, Mrs. Eddy’s life belonged to the Cause she had established. Unlike the individual demonstration of the student, she was obliged to protect her life at all costs. This is something the disciple must never forget in his or her study of her history.

To criticize our Leader for resorting, at rare intervals, to the use of an anesthetic would be as unjust as to criticize the three Hebrew captives, for permitting themselves to be put into the fiery furnace, or Daniel because he did not avoid being forced into the lions’ den. Our Leader found herself, at an advanced age, assailed by a belief of pain, which was accompanied by the suggestion that she might pass on, if she did not get relief. The whole Cause of Christian Science depended on her demonstration of divine wisdom, and therein rested the necessity for her remaining on earth to complete her work. She turned to an anesthetic as the lesser of two evils. When the belief was lulled, she was again enabled to get hold of her spiritual thought, and handle her case scientifically.

If one should question my declaration that it was the lesser of two evils for Mrs. Eddy to resort to an anesthetic, I would defend it by asking: If one is actively progressing on the road from sense to Soul, which would be the lesser of two evils, to make a concession to mortal mind, that would be permanent, or one that was temporary; to bow down to mortal mind and so receive its help, or to permit one’s self to be put into the fiery furnace and make it bless one? The average mortal walks with two crutches, one representing a strong belief in weak mortal mind, and the other a weak belief in the strong divine power. But our Leader had a strong trust in God and a weak faith in the human mind. Hence, a temporary loss of spiritual light left her with little to turn to, little human fortitude to sustain her. She did not have that developed sense of human will that is able to endure extreme pain. Had she returned to this human quality, which the world considers so commendable, it would have been a concession to mortal mind from the standpoint of cause, which would have seriously impaired her spiritual consciousness; whereas the temporary use of mortal mind, as effect, had little power to touch her spiritual thought.

It is a sign of spiritual growth for the young student of Christian Science to stand up under suffering and pain with fortitude, and not to resort to material remedies, during a possible interval of building up a sense of spiritual demonstration sufficient to bring healing. Yet, that endurance is largely a phase of the human mind. Hence, when one has advanced to a point, where he has sufficient understanding to relinquish all faith in the human mind, it would be a backward step to turn to it for strength and fortitude to endure under suffering, where healing seems to be delayed. All students of Christian Science must come to the realization of how serious it would be for them to put themselves back under the domination of mortal belief, after they have made the demonstration to throw it off. When they do, they will appreciate the grandeur of their Leader’s demonstration, which enabled her to resist the temptation to return to the human mind’s support, even to the extent of being misunderstood by those who loved her and had faith in her revelation.

Let us rejoice that Mrs. Eddy’s entire experience measures up to the spiritual yardstick, namely, that nothing that took place in her life ever interfered with her consistent spiritual growth! How can anything be termed an error in the life of a spiritual pilgrim, that does not interfere with his high purpose, or his efforts in attaining that purpose? There is no criticism to the motorist who turns his automobile off the road, in order to avoid an obstruction, provided he does not permit it to stall at that point. If you see a beautiful tree with wide spreading branches, in which birds make their nests, it is unjust to criticize the tree, because at the base there is a place where the tree bent out and in, in order to accommodate itself to a rock that was endeavoring to prevent its upward and sturdy growth. Instead of condemning the tree, one should recognize that scar as proof that, no matter how weak the tree might have felt at times, it permitted nothing to interfere with its upward growth. No temporary concession can ever weigh one atom against ultimate accomplishment.

The scientific rule in Christian Science, that must be applied for scientific judgment, is what was the effect of the experience on the student? If it tends to separate him from God, it is evil; if it tends to draw him nearer to God, it is a blessing, and hence, good.

If Mrs. Eddy did resort to an anesthetic, she thereby proved a wonderful truth for her followers, namely, that no matter what the student might find himself yielding to, that he thought he had overcome or outgrown, he can still keep his thought on the high spiritual level where it belongs, until the error is met. Even under such an affliction, or human demand, he can still build his thought up spiritually to the point where the claim is handled; and a point in progress is won. Going into the fiery furnace or the lions’ den, and coming out victorious and unharmed, required a greater demonstration than would have been needed, to have avoided the necessity for a conflict with error.

Mrs. Eddy’s experience might be described in metaphor as follows: Consider a man carrying a priceless vase that is invisible. No matter what is done to him, he refuses to bring his hands down to defend himself. Thus, he is considered a coward and a weakling. The true explanation is, however, that the vase is so valuable to him, that he is willing to endure any kind of misrepresentation in order to guard it. Jesus said, “but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” He knew that if one was reflecting the infinite power of God, and should indulge in a human desire to retaliate a blow on the cheek, that reflection of God would at once fly away. Mrs. Eddy, above all else, was guarding her reflection of divine Love and wisdom. If she felt guided to fulfill her statement on page 464 of Science and Health, to the effect that one may be given a hypodermic injection in case of a pain so violent that one could not treat himself mentally, that was her wise effort to preserve this precious reflection, her hold upon God, which would have been lost, had she resorted to the human will for help.

At this point, it would be wise for the reader to realize that this subject of morphine is a difficult one to deal with. One who reads the following pages without an understanding heart, might believe that I am calling evil good and, good, evil, in an effort to vindicate Mary Baker Eddy. Yet, it is with the deepest conviction that God has entrusted me with this message, that I include it in this book, before it goes to press.

Mrs. Eddy discarded the human mind as worthless. Hence, let those who still depend on the false courage of the human will, feel no superiority over one who, for the sake of a radical reliance on God, had forsworn the human will forever. Mrs. Eddy could only say, “Lord, save or I perish.” Then, what was she to do, when her faith failed temporarily? Her very life depended upon her choice at that exalted point of progress; and she chose the materially-dependent way of relief, rather than to return to the human will. Thus she was able to return directly to her radical reliance on God.

The Bible states, “For my strength is made perfect in weakness.” A sense of power and dominion accompanies the reflection of the divine Mind. But when one who has reached the point of reflecting God, ceases for the moment to reflect that infinite power, if he still retains a dominant sense of being a channel for mind, that would mean a return to mortal mind, or human will. Pride would always tempt the Christian Scientist to continue in the role of a giver, when he has nothing to give that is spiritual. Thus he would be giving out human thinking, or animal magnetism. At that point, the wise metaphysician returns to a sense of weakness, or being merely a receiver of God’s help, in order to avoid a return to the bondage of animal magnetism. The safety of man, when he has nothing of God to give, is to fall back into the sense of a little child, sustained in its mother’s arms. In doing this, our Leader prevented a use of the human mind which might have been fatal. If pride had caused her to send forth a volume of human will, because she had no divine Mind to give, that would have produced a reaction against her own spiritual growth of a very serious nature. But error could not catch our Leader in this way. Through this experience, Mrs. Eddy unfolded the trick of mesmerism which would keep man functioning as a giver, when he has nothing but mortal mind to give. At that point, when she did not have anything spiritual to thunder forth, she withdrew into a state of helplessness which so disturbed the students. When they could not help her, she chose to give temporary power to one of mortal mind’s products, rather than to return to the standpoint of seeking help through mortal mind itself, which would involve giving mortal mind continuous power, and bringing to nought years of patient endeavor to overcome all belief in its power. The sense of pain seemed to draw a curtain over her thought, and leave a gap between her and God. She handled the claim in the wisest way, until she could reinstate herself as a representative of infinite power.

What more notable example have we in the Scriptures of this mode of circumventing the effort of animal magnetism to draw the advancing pilgrim once more back into its toils, than David, who at such times of a seeming withdrawal of God’s presence and power, assumed the attitude that he set forth in so many of the Psalms, as for example, “Have mercy upon me O, Lord; for I am weak”? No greater privilege was ever accorded the students at Pleasant View, than to see their Leader return to a sense of utter helplessness and weakness, the moment the divine power ceased to flow through her. In that way, could they best learn what is the attitude of mind on the part of the metaphysician that fits him to reflect God, such an absolute relinquishment of any help, other than what comes from God, that without God’s help man is nothing. I can state that it is my conviction, that this picture of our Leader reflecting God, and then seeming to lose that reflection for a brief interval, is a necessity for every advancing student, in order for him to guard against the temptation to personalize the great spiritual good that flows through anyone, who has made the right preparation to reflect God.

If a farmer should be progressive enough to electrify his whole farm, what should he do if temporarily the power fails? Change over the whole organization to the obsolete apparatus, simply because of a loss of power for a day, or borrow enough horses and men to tide him over the brief interval? The answer is plain. This illustrates that the use of morphine, as a temporary help, was far less of an error, than to have returned to the human will which Mrs. Eddy had discarded.

A man who is bowling, always aims at the king pin. When that falls, the others are apt to fall. Mrs. Eddy knew that she was the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. She recognized that the whole Cause of Christian Science might be undermined, if she were taken away prematurely. She perceived that the errors she had to combat, resulted from her position in the Cause. Hence, there were times when drastic methods were necessary to meet certain conditions.

Mrs. Eddy’s only weapon was the divine Mind. She repudiated the human mind, refused to employ it, and rebuked her students when she saw them functioning under it. If, inadvertently, it crept in to her deliberations, she labelled it worthless, and reversed her decisions, in order that she might function wholly under the divine Mind. As long as she had her weapon, she could cope with any error. But to be robbed of it temporarily, meant helplessness at that point. It was through a sense of pain that she seemed to lose her only weapon of warfare, the only one she was willing to use, which was the divine Mind. Therefore, to regain her weapon was a vital necessity.

On page 19 of Miscellaneous Writings, Mrs. Eddy states that she should have more faith in an honest druggingdoctor, than she could or would have in a mental malpractitioner. This gives us a cue to her own experience, where she preferred to take an anesthetic, rather than to resort to the human will.

When Mrs. Eddy passed through an experience where she seemed to lose her grasp on her demonstrating thought, perhaps her students would liked to have seen her get hold of the human mind, and use it with vigor to overthrow her enemy, or at least face it with human courage. David had this temptation presented to him, when he was faced with Goliath. He was offered armor, a sword and a spear. The human mind offered its self-confidence, courage and determination as a substitute for the divine Mind, which operates through spiritual exaltation and illumination. Both courage and determination are human qualities, unless reflected from the divine Mind. In the latter case, they spring from spiritual exaltation, and hence, are scientific and effective. Our Leader, more than anyone else, manifested a courage and a determination, following her reflection of God. But it is an interesting fact, that she had neither of these qualities apart from her reflection of divine Mind, which is proof that she was not using human will. So when her thought dropped, she might ask for help from her students to restore her spiritual consciousness, because that was the sword of the Spirit, with which she was invulnerable. She would not have asked for such help, if she had been willing to return to the use of the human mind at these times.

Mrs. Eddy went out to fight Goliath every day. Yet, under the pressure brought to bear to rob her of her weapon, it was not to be expected that she could always be equipped with the sword of the Spirit. Nevertheless, she refused to have the armor and weapons of the human mind to fall back on, in case she lost her spiritual weapon. Having nothing but Spirit to depend on, in her warfare against Goliath, what chance had she when she lost God? She used the means to which her highest wisdom led her, that she might regain her spiritual weapon.

The whole consolidation of animal magnetism was aimed at our Leader with deadly purpose. Yet she outwitted it and rendered it abortive, in that she did not permit it to accomplish its purpose. She knew that, had she returned to the use of the human mind, she would coincide exactly with what error wanted her to do, since that would have effectually shut off her reflection of God. This backward step would have been an admission that, in the event of losing God, she needed human courage and independence of thought, as much as she needed the divine Mind, hence, whereas the divine Mind was an occasional help, yet, when she did not have it, she must return to that thing which she had reviled and declared against, the human mind. To resort to an anesthetic, rather than to do that, was a triumph over error. Robbed of her spiritual weapon, Mrs. Eddy felt helpless for the time being. Error knew that it could not rob her of God, but it could claim to prevent her from availing herself of His power. God had not forsaken her, but her arms had been tied, so that she could not wield the sword of the Spirit. So she took an element utilized by animal magnetism and put God back of it, so that the wrath of man praised Him. The conclusion is inevitable, that she made this demonstration because, through taking morphine, she was led to the place where she might regain her use of the sword of the Spirit.

The question comes up whether, in using morphine, Mrs. Eddy was not returning to the use of the human mind, as much as if she had employed the human will. The answer is, that she made the demonstration to see God back of that morphine, and hence, it was no longer a channel for the action of the human mind in a harmful way. Thus, she defeated the operation of evil and fulfilled the Scriptures, “the earth helped the woman.” That form of matter, or earth, which, when used under animal magnetism, puts man in bondage, with God back of it, released her from bondage; and she defeated animal magnetism, thereby being crowned with the brightness of His glory, again functioning effectively against the powers of darkness.

The statement that Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration put God back of morphine, deserves careful explanation, since a logical deduction would be the contention, that it would be possible to put God back of all medicine, and hence, make it an effectual healing agent. Such a conclusion, however, would contradict the fundamental teaching of Christian Science. First, it must be recognized that everything mortal is a lifeless symbol, neither good nor bad, except as thinking makes it so, according to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Therefore, to put God back of a symbol, makes it a channel for freedom, whereas, when animal magnetism is back of it, it tends to bondage. This simply means, that either the qualities of the divine Mind or the human mind are expressed through the symbol. Even in the material realm, certain substances and forces work either for good or ill, according to the thought back of them, electricity, poison gas, nitroglycerine, etc. The whole basis of metaphysics affirms that cause is above effect, and so the channel takes on the nature of whatever is back of it. When Mrs. Eddy is criticized for resorting to morphine, her critics mean morphine under the control of animal magnetism. But Mrs. Eddy proved by its effects upon her that she had put good back of it.

On the other hand, the demonstration of putting God back of medicine, would rob it of all power to heal sickness, since it would destroy the lie that animal magnetism has put forth, that the inanimate drug has the power to heal. To see God back of anything, makes it a channel for a blessing. To see God back of food, takes away its power to harm, while it continues to nourish, until further spiritual progress eliminates the symbol. But would drugs be a blessing to man, if they were a channel for healing sickness? No, because the blessing brought to man through a symbol with God back of it, is that it brings, not a greater and greater reliance on the symbol, but a mounting independence of it. Increasing dependence on the symbol always indicates the action of animal magnetism. With animal magnetism back of a symbol, it becomes a substitute for Mind. With God back of it, man is gradually weaned from any lesser dependence, until he relies on Mind alone.

One might argue, of course, that the action of food to nourish is conferred upon it by mortal belief. Yet, puttingGod back of it, does not rob it of its action in sustaining man, but takes away its power to harm. That leaves food a symbol of God’s sustaining love, until progress eliminates the symbol, and man is sustained by Mind alone.

If one doubts the possibility of a demonstration that would make morphine a channel for God, it may be because he does not realize that the awful association he feels in connection with such a channel, is never the channel, but what is back of it. Those who feel shocked at this question of morphine, thereby expose the fact that they have never robbed morphine of its belief in power. What an unscientific attitude of mind, to invest matter with strange, mystic powers it could never possess of itself, and then to criticize one who had robbed it of those powers, and turned its effect from evil to good! Not only did no harm come to the three captives in the fiery furnace, through a channel ordinarily invested by mortal mind with powers of destruction, but it brought such a spiritual illumination, that man’s true divine selfhood was revealed and expressed! Mortals feel a dreadfulness, associated with prisons. This makes it difficult for them to appreciate the magnitude of Paul’s demonstration, when he put God back of the jail, and the doors flew open, leaving him free. The very thing that was a channel for bondage with mortal mind back of it, thus became a channel for freedom with God back of it. The very ones who had been instrumental in holding him, came and acknowledged the God he worshipped. Could the jail be called bad, once it was freed from the animal magnetism of mortal belief? The rule is, therefore, never to condemn the channel, but what is back of it, if it merits condemnation.

In Isaiah 54:17 we read, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” We upset the plans of animal magnetism, by taking its weapons and turning them against it. When you put God back of morphine, it ceases to be a weapon that animal magnetism can use to rob man of God. It becomes a weapon that man can use against animal magnetism.

There is Biblical authority for this conception of putting God back of those human forms which animal magnetism has claimed to use as its agents. An example is found in Isaiah 2:4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” Certainly, in the hands of animal magnetism, the sword and spear would be weapons of destruction and evil; for under its direction, a soldier would employ them for slaughter. Then comes the demonstration, whereby God is put back of them, and, after this change, they become agents for constructive good. This would be illustrated by a farmer, using these very weapons for purposes of cultivation. Thus this Biblical assurance of the possibility of making all things, even the sword and spear, channels for the expression of God’s goodness, aids in clarifying this discussion of morphine.

Animal magnetism had used the lion as a channel for destructiveness. Yet, Daniel was called upon to put God back of the lion, and thus he rendered it harmless. Spiritually considered, fire is a symbol of good. But utilized by animal magnetism, it has become an element of destruction. The three Hebrew captives, however, handled the animal magnetism and put God back of it. Thus, it lost its power to harm, and brought the consciousness of the presence of God. Moses put God back of the Red Sea, and it became a means of escape from his enemies. If God could be put back of fire, of lions and of the Red Sea, He can be put back of morphine. Can the advancing Christian Scientist afford to omit anything, in his endeavor to see everything spiritual, and thus permit animal magnetism to claim certain channels, so that he affirms that they are forever doomed, because of what they express? But the claim of animal magnetism can never be isolated, and brought to the place where it is ripe for destruction, until it has been separated from every visible channel through which its belief of reality has been established. Then it is seen as an impersonal claim in thought; and, from that standpoint, it is easily destroyed.

A student of Christian Science might never be called upon to utilize morphine backed up by God, but still he must make the demonstration of taking it out of the grasp of animal magnetism, since animal magnetism is destroyable, only when it has been cut off from every expression, and made to fit with the description of the Master in Matthew 12, “the unclean spirit walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.” The inevitable conclusion is, that animal magnetism must be separated from morphine or arsenic, in order to be destroyed. When the demonstration is made to take the poison out of arsenic, the Scripture is fulfilled, “if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.” How can this transformation be accomplished, unless arsenic be taken from the grasp of animal magnetism and put under the control of Spirit? Is it any wonder, that our Leader called upon her students to handle arsenic at times, or to remove the effects of animal magnetism from every claim of substance, from every channel, thus rendering arsenic harmless? She knew that this was the right method of destroying animal magnetism, robbing it of every channel; appropriating error’s tools. This ‘modus operandi’ coincides with the understanding that all the power that evil has, is through the belief that it has channels, through which it can operate. Taking the animal magnetism from the channel, renders the error ripe for destruction. What power has baseless gossip, when no one is found who will believe it and voice it? Christian Science teaches that we see God through the ideas which express Him, and recognize animal magnetism through the objects which express it. So we must separate animal magnetism from its misuse of objects. Science does not say that the lion must be destroyed, but that the qualities and characteristics, which animal magnetism has placed upon him, must be removed. Mrs. Eddy never taught the destruction of morphine, arsenic, or alcohol. She did not tell us to say that we had no heart, that we did not breathe, etc. She was careful not to say that there was no storm, but that she saw God’s face shining through. She did not destroy things, but she endeavored to perceive them spiritually. If we will remove the animal magnetism from every channel, and see it utilized by God, will we not find ourselves living in a new heaven and a new earth?

Controlled by animal magnetism, life ends in death, but seen as the reflection of God, it is eternal. So we do not say there is no life; we declare that it is not material, but spiritual. Students are apt to think that Christian Science teaches, that everything human must be destroyed. Consequently, morphine must be thrown out, because animal magnetism has made it bad. This is not Science. The material sense in man, is what must be destroyed, for then creation will be seen perfect and eternal.

Students of Christian Science should avoid morphine, as they would the plague, except under the circumstances recorded in Science and Health. Why? Because they have certainly not progressed to the point of knowing how to use it, with God back of it. Furthermore, the effort to see God back of all human symbols, is not a demand to make use of such symbols. The correction takes place in thought. Nothing should be employed by the Christian Scientist, that has animal magnetism back of it. All students who understood this statement, would acknowledge it to be in accord with Mrs. Eddy’s teaching. Of course, one might wonder why Mrs. Eddy could not have resorted to the use of the qualities of courage and fortitude, by taking animal magnetism out of them, and establishing them as the expression of divine Mind? This was a possibility, but at that point, Mrs. Eddy found her thought bound by pain. The demonstration to free mortal mind from its animal magnetism, is one that requires the ability to think scientifically, a thing which Mrs. Eddy could not do at the point under discussion.

These questions, in connection with our Leader, should be answered by the student, only as his understanding develops to the point where his judgment is scientific, and so, just. One might wonder why Mrs. Eddy did not handle the belief of pain, as she had taught her students to do. She did make wonderful demonstrations over pain, but there were intervals, where the suffering was so severe, that she came under the claim, that she could not get hold of her thought. It is true, that our Leader would not have found it necessary to resort to an anesthetic, if her students had been successful in helping her at such times. Hence, the real responsibility for this necessity, lay with the student’s failure to measure up to that spiritual point that would have relieved her.

The question persists: in turning to morphine, is not one turning to the human mind for aid, as definitely as though one turned to the human will, since we know that whatever effect seems to come through matter, is wholly the effect of mortal belief? This might be a just question, were it not for the fact that Mrs. Eddy’s demonstration robbed morphine of its error. In Miscellaneous Writings, on page 248, Mrs. Eddy records her earlier experience, where she rendered morphine powerless to have the slightest effect upon her whatsoever. She said, “. . . with tearful thanks, ‘The drug had no effect upon me whatever.’” This previous demonstration paved the way for her later experience, where, under the belief of extreme pain, the momentary illusion of the withdrawal of spiritual power, caused the pain-lulling effect of morphine to conjoin with the belief of suffering, to bring about a relief that enabled her once more to get hold of her spiritual weapon. It is safe to say, that her later use of an anesthetic was made possible through this earlier demonstration.

One cardinal point of Christian Science is the nothingness of matter. Therefore, the use of the phrase, putting God back of this or that, is open to objection. Obviously, morphine, arsenic, etc., are matter. Therefore, how can God be put back of that which is unreal? Yet, before the nothingness of matter is demonstrated, there is an intermediate step to be taken, where one sees the qualities of good, rather than evil, operating through the symbol called matter, in line with the Scripture, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” This mental effort to realize that everything in one’s experience, is operating according to the law of God, good, gradually robs matter of all sense of life, truth, intelligence and substance, until it finally disappears, to give place to the reality of God’s creation.

Because Mrs. Eddy loved God, and knew that she was called to fulfill His purpose, that caused everything in her experience to work together for her good. Hence, the experience that seemed to require her to resort to an anesthetic, helped her to a higher spiritual growth. Of course, I am not implying that morphine becomes spiritual through demonstration, but I am asserting that it is possible for the spiritual pilgrim to accentuate the above dictum of Scripture to the point, where even morphine may become one of the servants of God to aid man. The whole question revolves around the attitude of mind of the student. Anyone who does not believe that our Leader had progressed spiritually to the point, where her demonstration compelled everything in her experience to work together for her good, and the good of all concerned, has little understanding of metaphysics.

Judging righteous judgment means discerning both motive and result. If one is seeking good, whatever one does to gain that good successfully, is legitimate and praiseworthy. I make this statement without reservation. On the surface, it might seem possible for one to use this higher understanding of Truth to cover a multitude of sins, claiming immunity from blame, because he or she had made the demonstration to put God back of whatever it might be. But the very rectitude of motive, which is requisite to fulfill the above spiritual precept, makes any abuse impossible. No one who truly loves God, and feels the call, will take advantage of the higher freedom that comes from an advanced understanding of spiritual law, in order to commit sin.

There is a final point in connection with morphine which must be stressed, lest at some future time the accusation be brought against our Leader, after all those who knew her have passed from our sight, that she contracted the morphine habit. The most serious evil in connection with this drug, lies in the fact that belief causes it to coincide with a humanly natural yearning of the human mind for sleep and forgetfulness, for an effortless escape from suffering. Thereby it sets a trap for the unwary, whereby a vicious habit becomes fastened on his thought. But the demonstration of our Leader precluded this possibility, since her motive contained no element of desiring the easy way out. She sought relief, only that she might resurrect her thought. If I did not know that our Leader’s occasional need of morphine never became a habit, the fact that her spiritually progressive thought never faltered, but forged on constantly to higher realms of spiritual understanding, would be enough to prove that no such evil effect darkened the last days of her triumphant mission on earth.

It is evident, that in the limited space given to the record of our Master’s life, whatever was included must be of vital importance in its import and teaching. Therefore, why was it reported, that before the crucifixion the Master said, “. . . not my will, but thine, be done,” and then that, while on the cross in his agony, he accepted the drug that was offered to him? He absolutely eschewed all dependence upon the human will, and then drank of the vinegar and hyssop, which he had refused when it was offered to him, before he was put on the cross. Was this incident not recorded, to assist the advancing pilgrim in realizing that, of two evils, the drug was far less than would have been a return to the human will? The drug had no effect upon the demonstration of our Master, whereas a return to the human will would have effectually removed him from the action of the divine will.

When man attains the true reflection of God, his whole life, under that divine inspiration, accords with a standard that can be recognized by all, as belonging to sonship with God. This fact, however, is not true of the human preparation for reflection, which is mainly contrary to mortal man’s ideals and his conception of good. The world stands in awe of the Master’s life, as it was illuminated by what he reflected from God, and the same thing is true of Mrs. Eddy’s experience. But both of these spiritual searchlights, separated from what they reflected of the divine light, would have presented mental states almost incomprehensible, except to a spiritually-trained analyst. The Master’s life, considered apart from his reflection of the power of God, was not humanly desirable. The Bible states that he was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Similarly, Mrs. Eddy’s life, when examined at those rare intervals, when she was apparently separated from divine inspiration, presented a phase which the loyal student would prefer to excuse or overlook. Nevertheless, the advanced metaphysician attaches great importance to those times when Mrs. Eddy was shorn of spiritual power, since they offer, as nothing else could, the opportunity to understand something of the mental attitude, or preparation, that best reflects the divine Mind, by showing a mental state which, divorced from the false support of mortal mind, was humanly weak and dependent. Thus, through weakness, was she made strong. This comprehension uncovers the vital necessity of rightly unfolding that portion of Mrs. Eddy’s life, that unthinking students might prefer to keep hidden. It proves, that an understanding of these phases of Mrs. Eddy’s experience is more important to the spiritual growth of the student, than would be a description of her fruition, which of itself has no practical value, unless it is accompanied by an unfoldment of the steps necessary to attain it.

Those persons, who feel that it would have been a greater demonstration for our Leader to have had no dark places in her life, no indication of mighty struggles with the powers of darkness, will do well to recall the story of the farmer who went to Ireland. The first thing he did, was to remove every stone from his field. Then the first cloudburst washed every bit of top soil away. So, before he could raise any crops, he found it necessary to put the boulders back, since they served as a definite binder.

The conclusion is, therefore, that our Leader functioned under spiritual law, and under spiritual law, trials and tribulations become important adjuncts and accessories to higher spiritual growth. So it becomes selfevident, that the motivation and guidance of her whole experience transcended the comprehension of the human mind. This reveals the impossibility of anyone gaining a true comprehension of her life, from any but a spiritual standpoint. From a human aspect, her life will always seem an enigma, and as deserving criticism at certain points. From the standpoint of spiritual perception, however, it unfolds into one consistent whole, a triumphant victory over the powers of darkness, in bringing to humanity the sacred message of Christian Science.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-six — Mrs. Eddy’s Spiritual Call to the Field

In two issues of the Sentinel for 1899 we find the following:

A CARD

Beloved: I ask this favor of all Christian Scientists: Do not send me on, before, or after the forthcoming holidays aught material, except three tea jackets—all may contribute to these. One learns to value material things only as one needs them; and the costliest things are those that one needs least. Among my present needs material, are these jackets. Two, of darkish, heavy silk, the shade appropriate to white hair. The third, of thick satin, lighter shade, but sufficiently sombre. Nos. 1 and 2 to be common-sense jackets for mother to work in, and not overtrimmed by any means. No. 3 for best, such as she can afford for her drawing-room.

A CARD

Beloved: I accept most gratefully your purpose to clothe me, and when God has clothed you sufficiently, He will make it easy for you to clothe one of His “little ones.” Give yourselves no more trouble to get the three garments called for by me through last week’s Sentinel.

—Mary Baker Eddy

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., December 25, 1899

Why should our Leader have included the above cards in the Sentinel; cards which were sure to stir thought and produce criticism, especially when she had those in her home, who might have made these garments for her? Why did she not ask one of her intelligent assistants to locate a Christian Science dressmaker, who was suitable, and commission her to do the task, instead of making the need public, and devoting space in her religious organ for such a material item?

Our Leader was guided by divine wisdom and Love, beyond our present capacity to conceive of that fact. It requires spiritual growth for a student to win the ability to penetrate beneath the surface, and detect the underlying purpose, actuated by inspiration.

The basis of all spiritual perception is the utilization of spiritual sense to dissect that which, when interpreted materially, gives only a surface indication of the need. One might use the illustration of the cry of a babe, which gives no definite indication of the need of the child, until the love and care of the mother trace back from the cry to the actual need. Our Leader would put forth a cry, such as this call for tea jackets, with the sublime hope and faith that there would be students of Christian Science, with enough spiritual love and perception, to trace back and see what her real need was, a need that was unseen and unknown to the mortal sense.

It was never possible to minister to our Leader’s needs materially, and thereby satisfy them. A metaphysician can only be ministered to through metaphysics. If Mrs. Eddy could have been ministered to materially, she could easily have had a thousand tea jackets sent to her, whereas she did not receive even one. The human sense says, “How could she, when she gave no dimensions of any kind?”

I repeat again and again, that nothing could be done for her, that was scientifically right, except through demonstration. Human affection, a personal desire to serve, to be loyal, and to be recognized for faithfulness, would not supply our Leader with anything but the recognition that the human mind, which is the enemy of spirituality, was putting forth activity in the name of Truth, a thing which acted on her spiritual thought like a blight. In order to bestow upon Mrs. Eddy welcome service, one had to lift his thought to God, and spiritualize it, until it approximated her spiritual level.

Can we not appreciate how Mrs. Eddy longed to put her finger on a demonstrating thought in the Field, that could be called to Pleasant View to render the service that she required, that she might be aided in functioning most efficiently for God and the race? The call for the three tea jackets was really a spiritual call, that went forth to test out the Field of Christian Science for spiritual workers. Unquestionably, a demonstration of those jackets by any student would have been followed by a call to Pleasant View. Mrs. Eddy longed to find a quality of thought, that would send those jackets, with enough spiritual thought accompanying them, to have them worthy to be called a demonstration, to be labelled, not with the name of some fashionable dressmaker, but with the humble insignia, This Came From God.

Therefore, Mrs. Eddy’s request for tea jackets might be called the voice of one crying in the wilderness, with the hope that one would be found spiritually-minded enough to interpret that voice, trace back, and detect what prompted it, and meet the cry with the spirit of God, service through guidance.

Any student who reflected the spirit, the wisdom and judgment of God sufficiently to be the humble instrument for answering such a call, would find in that demonstration the way to provide the perfect human expression of her spiritual desire. Thus would Mrs. Eddy’s need for the jackets be met, as well as her longing to find another student who might minister to her spiritual needs.

Beloved Christian Scientists! Our Leader’s need of these three jackets is not over. Symbolically, they still remain as a demonstration that must be made by the advancing student. Her cry still rings in our ears, a yearning to be understood spiritually, to have Christian Scientists gain the spiritual insight to understand, that her rebukes and demands were not the result of age, not the result of a bad disposition that had not been overcome, but the bidding of God in her, her cry and need for demonstration, that which scientific growth in a student would enable him to give her, after her cry had been rightly interpreted.

The advancing sense of Mary Baker Eddy in every student of Christian Science needs three garments. The first represents a scientific sense of love, that feeds and clothes its object spiritually. The second symbolizes a correct spiritual sense of service, that is free from selfaggrandizement or desire for reward. The third illustrates the spiritual understanding, that is applied to the needs of all mankind, the drawing room of Christian Science, where one puts on the garments of praise, and extends spiritual thought to the world.




Chapter One Hundred Twenty-seven — Proper Estimate of Mrs. Eddy’s Life

There can be no conclusion to a work of this kind, since Mrs. Eddy’s life is like a stone which, when dropped in the water, creates waves that expand in ever-widening circles. Who could follow them to their termination in infinity? It is hoped, however, that these pages set forth the spiritual method of approach to her life, which will start the inquirer on the right path, and cause him to lose faith in human ways and means, in human opinion, sense testimony, and in all paraphernalia of the endeavor to analyze her experience from the standpoint of human intellect and human reason, in order that it may be grasped inspirationally, in all its grandeur and significance.

Nothing could better epitomize this spiritual method, than the following saying of Jesus, which was unearthed in 1903 by Dr. Grenfell and Dr. Hunt, and which is generally accepted as authentic: “Raise the stone and there thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I.” In other words, whoever embodies the spiritual idea or Christ, will live a human history, where proof of this reflected divinity can be perceived in the simple, insignificant things of that one’s daily experience. It requires spiritual perception to recognize in all the unimportant things, as well as the important, the proof, that such a one has succeeded in numbering the hairs of his head, or gathering everything together into the spiritual fold, omitting nothing that mortal mind has claimed as its expression, and reckoning it as the expression of God. This coincides with what Mrs. Eddy quotes in Science and Health from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

Because the changed attitude of the spiritually-minded student must neglect nothing, no matter how inconsequential, it is fitting that he begin with the lesser forms of material creation, and work until every object has been raised to determine what motivates it, cleaved to learn of what it consists, and analyzed to trace it back to thought, or source. Then, through recognizing the nothingness of matter, or mortal mind, thought must be brought into tune with the divine Mind, which will produce a manifestation that properly expresses divinity.

In this effort, there is no manifested thing, as Jesus indicated in his statements regarding the hairs of the head and the sparrow falling, that is not significant, because all creation is the manifestation of thought, and salvation depends upon bringing all things into subjection to Christ. As the Bible says, “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.” Every stick and stone manifests thought, and through these effects, one can learn cause. Matter is not what you see, but the way you see it. Hence, one’s thinking must be transferred from a finite to an infinite basis, and one has not completed his mission, until all things represent to him spiritual, instead of material, thought. This constitutes salvation, for any individual to spiritualize his thought toward everything and everybody.

Therefore, it is fitting that the effort to estimate properly Mrs. Eddy’s life, be to pause over the little outward occurrences, and trace back to discover in her the spiritual thought, of which they were the outward expression. This method would not condemn, because any outward manifestation seemed to be deserving of criticism, for the only criticism that is made of Mrs. Eddy is based on a standpoint of human good. She accomplished her spiritual purpose, without any unnecessary steps. Hence, from the standpoint of divine good, her life is above reproach. Her spiritual fruitage proved that she had an inspirational thought, which was being expressed in the path she trod. First, one must “raise the stone,” which, because illustrative of the sharp and stern rebukes from our Leader, seemed a heavy cross to bear, and then “cleave the wood,” ascertaining thereby the divine action of her thought, through which would be found the true “I,” the embodiment of the Christ-idea, which was expressed in ways incomprehensible to human sense, but divinely natural to spiritual sense.

In Ezekiel 43:12 we read: “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.”

In this verse, Mrs. Eddy might have found Biblical authority for what was the law of her house, namely, that every object in the house, every task, every phase of activity, be lifted to the top of the mountain, and made holy, or put into the sacred category of demonstration. Thus, Mrs. Eddy’s demands upon her students trace back to Holy Writ; thus did she find corroboration for insisting that every human problem in her home, no matter how insignificant, because it appertained to the law of the house, be placed on a purely spiritual and scientific basis.

This law of the house is an ordinance, requiring a limitless demonstration, where nothing is omitted in the effort to manifest and express spiritual law, as supreme in the home. The mountain is a symbol of demonstration, or lofty spiritual thought. In Retrospection and Introspection, page 91, where Mrs. Eddy refers to the Sermon on the Mount, which Jesus taught after he went up into a mountain, she says, “Indeed, this title really indicates more the Master’s mood, than the material locality.”

If the mountain represents that lofty inspirational standpoint, where everything is perceived spiritually, with God as supreme over all, then it can easily be discerned that this was the law of Mrs. Eddy’s house, that her students attempt nothing, except from this exalted spiritual perspective. Furthermore, she reserved her sternest rebukes for every act that broke “the law of the house.”

It is a general fact, that many women who find their husbands uncongenial, permit their thought to dwell on the possibility of an enduring happiness to be obtained with some other man. Such a thought does not understand, that the problem of wedlock is not a personal but a universal one, the problem of the race. Hence, the deduction in Christian Science is, that if a wife impersonalizes her husband, and considers him as representing MAN, then if she solves the problem in connection with her husband, she will thereby solve the whole problem of man.

This same line of reasoning applies to one’s home, which, when rightly viewed, becomes a miniature of the whole kingdom of heaven. Man’s demonstration of it, is his preparation for the realization of the kingdom of heaven as absolute and supreme for all mankind. In truth, man’s house is a miniature spiritual power plant, where his work of salvation must begin. Hence, his demonstration of Truth in his home is as important as it is in relation to himself, since his environment is part of his own problem. He must impersonalize the problems of his home, and thereby solve the whole problem of evil.

Such an effort will reveal, that Mrs. Eddy’s appreciation of the members of her household was based entirely on their use of demonstration in their relation to her. In fact, she reserved a special name for those who made the more menial tasks in her home a matter of demonstration. She called them eminent Christian Scientists. Today, we can merit this exalted title, only as we endeavor to apply demonstration to the business meetings of our branch churches, to the tasks of everyday life, and to the attempt to radiate to all mankind such an atmosphere of healing, that even our enemies will be impressed thereby. In Zechariah 4 we read: “For who hath despised the day of small things?”

This illustrates Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual insight into man’s salvation, that caused her to exemplify a demonstration in her daily life, both for herself and for her students, that was so far in advance of the world’s appreciation, that she was made the butt of ridicule as a result. Yet, no greater spiritual growth can accrue to the student of Christian Science, than that which will result from the effort to trace Mrs. Eddy’s mental and spiritual footsteps, through the outward manifestation. Mrs. Eddy’s own appreciation of her life, as outwardly exemplifying spiritual footsteps, which any sincere student may discover and follow through a correct appreciation of the outward, is expounded in her own words, which were voiced to one of her students on March 12, 1907, when the Next Friends’ suit was filed against her: “In writing my history they can say nothing against me, so they begin to tell lies. The papers are writing my history; the history of my ancestry; writing lies. MY HISTORY IS A HOLY ONE.”