Coming hither this afternoon, I looked upon the CommonEditorial Note: Here Eddy is referencing the Boston Common. Dating from 1634, the Common is the oldest city park in the United States., and there came over me a saddening sense of autumn. The glory were was departed, but with a sudden transformation of belief Nature looked her best, clad in green velvet bedecked with jewels having in her train song and sunshine; nymph and naiad Touched by Divine Science, from the soul of things the transfigurations of sense that brings to gives us the outlook of immortality, and amid earth's fading forms, brings again the spell of Spring.
Is it not a joy to know that our great Master could look up to those beside Him, and
say. Ye say there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. I say unto you look up not down and behold the fields are ripe, white already for the harvest.John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;
for they are white already to harvest. Editorial Note: Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good: "Jesus required neither cycles of time nor thought in order to mature fitness for
perfection and its possibilities. He said that the kingdom of heaven is here, and
included in Mind; that while ye say, There are yet four months, and then cometh the
harvest, I say, Look up, not down, for your fields are already white for the harvest;
and gather the harvest by mental, not material processes. The laborers are few in
this vineyeard of Mind-sowing and reaping; but let them apply to the waiting grain
the curving sickle of Mind's eternal circle, and bind it with bands of Soul."Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good11:24process. Jesus required neither cycles of time nor thought
in order to mature fitness for perfection and its possibili‐
ties. He said that the kingdom of heaven is here, and
11:27is included in Mind; that while ye say, There are yet four
months, and then cometh the harvest, I say, Look up,12:1not down, for your fields are already white for the harvest;
and gather the harvest by mental, not material processes.
12:3The laborers are few in this vineyard of Mind-sowing and
reaping; but let them apply to the waiting grain the curv‐
ing sickle of Mind’s eternal circle, and bind it with bands
12:6of Soul. The Deep Things of God We can bring the immortality and imperishability of good and beauty within the grasp
of the mind that comprehends without even language, through the linking of man and
God in Divine Science.
Let us examine the subject, for which we are not prepared to day, having wrought very
laboriously through the week, and coming to you altogether extemporaneously, having
been appoint- to preach to open the prison doors to them that are boundAs Written:aboundIsa 61:1 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound; , saith the prophet. You will find in 1st Peter, 3d chapter, 12th verse this text,
from which we shallspeak: "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their
prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."I Pet 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. What are the eyes of God? Since God is Spirit, they must be spiritual. What are
the senses of man? Since man is the image and likeness of God, his senses must be
spiritual. You may say, Why have you the boldness to thus assert your self, when
we look upon man not spiritually? Because I have learned of God what I have through
the science that reveals Him to me spiritually, understanding in demonstration of
the Spirit and Power What is Science? The Holy Ghost, the ComforterEditorial Note: The Greek word "paraclete" is often translated "comforter." Christians have identified
the Comforter as the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit. In the Gospel of John, Jesus foretells
the coming of the Comforter: "...I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you."John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever; John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ... "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you."John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Mary Baker Eddy teaches that the Holy Spirit (Comforter) and Divine Science/Christian
Science are identical. She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "In the words of St. John: 'He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you forever.' This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science."Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures55:27In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This
Comforter I understand to be Divine Science. Chapter III Marriage that shall lead us into all truth. Is the word Science divine? Yes, because it
is not of human origin, and must be divine since matter has not a law-giver basis,
no mind to form the intelligence that governs science. God is its principle.
Jesus, the most master Builder, the most scientific Man that ever trod the globeEditorial Note: Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged
beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause."Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures313:23Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that
313:24ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material
surface of things, and found the spiritual
cause. To accommodate himself to imma‐, rendered all material law null and void in his demonstrations. He said to the winds
and waves, "Be still"Mark 4:36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship.
And there were also with him other little ships. Mark 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it
was now full. Mark 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him,
and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the
wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey him? Matt 8:23 ¶And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. Matt 8:24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered
with the waves: but he was asleep. Matt 8:25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. Matt 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and
rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. Matt 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and
the sea obey him! Luke 8:22 ¶Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples:
and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched
forth. Luke 8:23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake;
and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. Luke 8:24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose,
and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a
calm. Luke 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying
one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water,
and they obey him. , and in the law of currents and tides there was nothing to hinder. He said to the
sick of palsy, "Arise and walk"Mark 2:9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? , and no law of hygiene could hinder or impede movement, strength and power. He
said to the inhabitant of the grave, "Come forthJohn 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. ," and the grave was robbed of its victory by the Divine Administrator of God who
knew no material law or power, but was amenable alone to the spiritual, Divine Good,
the Saxon for God, Divine Truth and Love. He governed by these immutable principles
which were his platform of action, the basis of his Christianity.
This was a religion, not founded upon the senses, upon no ritualism or dogma; it had alone the diviner light of love and truth to shine about it, even as the mid-night sun shines upon the Polish Sea. He comes again, as of old, healing the sick, casting out devils - error - raising the dead - thoughts buried in the cerements of the grave of material sense - these under the touch of God's Spirit, bring out the vitality of life, and the diviner life shall come forth. Most of the evidences of sense contend alone for the facts of spirit, and deny the manifestation before us, termed matter. We will do as Jesus did, so far as we can explain his life, we will offer to you, not things that are new, but are old, and have been from the beginning. Namely, that which we term matter is but the opposite of spirit, of Life, Substance, Intelligence, Soul, Mind, Principle, God: that whatever is the opposite of God, unsustained by the evidences of Deity, is a declaration against God, for which we have nothing in Divine Writ for law or evidence.
You will find in his Concordance, that is accepted by all of our evangelical churches, agreeing with me thus far: God was not the Author of sin or death, for it would not be consistentAs Written:consistant with infinite purity. Now, friends, let us accept that, and place upon this height all Spirit, mind, the senses and soul; opposite to this, let us place the evidences on the side of matter, and find out their opposite results from thus proceeding. The conclusion is that the right is the real; the opposite of right is wrong, and that should be unreal, and in as much as we make it to us real, shall we be walking in the path that is not directed toward God, toward the alleviation of suffering and sin, and the final arrival at the state of our normal being, the image and likeness of Spirit.
Let us see then if matter will bear the test of reality. Whence came it? Not from mind, since there is no constituent part of mind that can evolve matter, and matter is a primitive or derivative, and since God made all that is made, and man cannot make matter because there is not an element wherewith or by which he can create it, let us conclude it is opposite to the real, spirit, and is but a claim, a falsity, an illusion in appearance, and that which Paul says, "For this reason," believing in these claims, "many among you are sickly"I Cor 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. . Matter is the opposite of spirit in quantity and quality, finiteness that is opposed to infinity, mortality opposed to immortality, a consciousness of that which gathers itself into a form of attraction and cohesion. What is attracted and coheres? Is it an atom material? If it is an atom material, what is it? Did it make itself, or did man make matter? Utterly impossible except in belief. Utterly impossible for the same fount to send forth two opposing streams, for darkness to become light.
There is no constancy of matter in amountAs Written:ammount; whence then the direction of even atoms? Direction is a force; force is mind. Now shall we define mind further in its spiritual meanings, or its material? Let us for our better instruction take that which concerns us most, the deliverance from this claim material. The deeper our sense gathers itself into being material, the more positive our decay and death according to the law that asserts its life, growth, maturity, and decay. Christian Science comes boldly to the denial of these claims, asserts itself over and above them. Let us examine and see whether this assurance is valid and can be proven, no longer accepted as a theory, but found that which is undeniable, a self evident proposition and a truth that rests upon the basis of principle.
God's eyes are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayerPs 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. I Pet 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. . If we believe this, when we have upon us the calamities of the flesh, when we mourn under the weight of worldliness and sensuality, for there is no greater grief than hate, no greater pain than remorse, no surer death than sin, how shall we escape from these but by denying these material claims with the efficacy of spiritual sense. Divine Science to us, knowing them in their falsities, is to lose the sense of the material, and look upward, where his Eye is upon us, with all the requirements of our being, a present help, in every time of trouble.
Look for a moment where we should be at the mercy of these senses, without a spiritual sense, in that hour. Behold the mother, as she gazes, with earnest eye upon the fading form of her child. She has tried the measures the material sense of the question demand for recovery; they have failed. Still she looks forward and backward, and cannot perceive Him, although He has said, "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous; his ears are open to their prayer"I Pet 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. . Still she turns to the material side, still labors on in that direction without result, until the moment of parting comes. Dust to dust is the verdict of Divine love of this material sense of life, and she yields to the hour. From that hour of woe springs what? A sense less stubbornAs Written:stuborn of the earthly that hath pierced it to the heart, a sense more yielding, more willing to turn to the unseen, to the great substance of that which is spiritual.
She is now gathering herself in Divine Science upward to the very Mount of Revelation: there the lessons of the Divine Master are explained in healing the wounds of heart and flesh, since they are but one instead of two. Now she turns again hither toward the sign, matter. She has one more that is her idol; the senses material take hold of the beautiful, manly form, with all that clusters round the manhood of her son. She looks upon his strength and stalwart form as the promise of life, and the future is big with hope and happiness. The mother sense again is pained; her eye peering into the darkness at mid-night, her ear catches the footstep that comes homeward. She waits, her senses in the agony of suspense to hear a tone that is tender, to see a form erectAs Written:errect. Instead he reels homeward; he shocks her sense with a brutal oath; he comes within her arms, and she holds him up, an object of loathsomeness, until as her heart bleeds over it, her spiritual sense says, O my child must be more than this, and she pleads again from the evidences of these senses to the evidences of soul, to the spiritual testimony of the fact of the primitive truth that God made man in his Image and Likeness, that God is Spirit, and man is spiritual, therefore this is a delusion of the senses that would name malady. My child has that which cannot be killed, and only as it lives, it becomes higher.
Again there is a degree taken toward the spiritual, the fact of something more than we can commit to the keeping of matter. She has her lesson, and again tried and purified, leans upon the Form, and hears the Divine Voice, "Mine ears are open to their prayer". O, these Senses of God are his very presence they are his omnipotence; they are all powerful to help; they are ever present to uphold our hands. Even Nature gives us a certain sense of suffering, belonging to the material sense, without God's care we would be the falling sparrow; we would be like our own homely, loving hen, when she turns her sideway glance upward to behold the hawk, ready to drop upon her little ones as a prey, had she not an intuition of safety, and did she not give the cry of distress, that they may gather themselves under her wings. Jesus likened his own sense to this. We cry unto God and find that shelter, and these senses give the alarm. Then let us heed it; when they say, I am pained, let us fear less that cry of danger than when I am at ease in my possessions, secure in our my pleasure, without a sense of danger.
Sin is declared by as being without safety on which can base our Christian sense of life. Is it not a danger that we can live in sin, the opposite of God, an easy, calm life, and in full possession of the positive of Deity, namely truth of being. I am a fact, an intelligence, that stands here without a sense of God in the world. Not with one of these fine senses can we touch, approach, nor recognize God. We can neither see Him with the eye, hear Him with the ear, taste, smell nor touch Deity. Yet shall we be safe out of the reach of God? Shall we not feel that within these tenements of clay, we are his children, that we cannot reach Him except as we leave our sense material, and apply to the spiritual sense of God, of Truth, of Life, of Love, of Substance, and of Intelligence, since all is God and God in all.
Now let us recognize for a moment, the admissions we make of Deity, that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Omnipotence, defined in English, infinite power, and this is applicable only to the Deity, from the Latin, omnes all, potens, power. And again ever present. Now we have an all power and an all Presence, that is Spirit, God. If you adhere to this statement, then when God is everywhere, where is matter? Since God is Perfection, Life Eternal, where is imperfection and death? Since God is universal Harmony, where are the discords we see, hear, and feel. Where are they, since God is ever present? Where is the fault? Do these senses material take recognition of the ever present harmony? I am sick; I am sinning; I am dying. That is no recognition of the very opposite, Christian Science, and action of Spirit. With this denial of God, are we not under the curse of the original Word that went forth to all that He did not create, and Spirit never created matter, since good cannot result in evil, life in death, and intelligence in unintelligence. Are we not under that curse in our admissions today, of which we may be sure the result is dust to dust, annihilation. Error is not eternal; Truth is; Mind is. The idea of Truth is sustained in God's creations; and man is his creation. We have never yet beheld man any more than we have beheld God. That which is the very opposite in every essential of God is not his Image and Likeness. Did God create the opposite of Himself? Impossible. Light never created darkness: darkness is the absenceAs Written:absense of light. There is nowhere, where God is not; this claim is all we admit, and when we say any other claim is valid, we say that black is a color, and does not absorb all rays of light. And yet we speak of it as black, and we speak of material existence, but only as absorbing all the rays of Spirit, of Light, of Love, in its statements; then let us call it black and not white.
O, what is there here to sustain our trust in God and our love for man, since the one has no valid claim without the other. O, my friends, God is here; there is nothing else, and because of it let me assure you that if you should fall from this seat, and should say of yourself, and others should say of you, he is dead, I should know better; since He lives, you live. If they should tell me you were not utterly extinct, but had gathered yourself up in some mysterious way as a partnership of soul and body again, nobody knows how, I should enquire into the matter, and say, I want to know a little more about that. Even as I did when I thought I was dying, when there was no hope for me, I was not willing not to know Jesus a little better. He said, "I am the Way"John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. . I knew He robbed the grave, and took away the sting of death, and said, He that believeth in me shall never dieJohn 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Editorial Note: Eddy references this quote from Jesus several times in Science and Health: . I wanted to know the way, and I knew it when I rose thenEditorial Note: Here Eddy is likely refering to a healing of severe injuries she had in February 1866, a healing she later identified with her discovery of Christian Science.. I knew there was something besides this material sense of life, that that was not all I was, and I sustained that testimony with proof. And what was that proof It was this: if we would turn our gaze from the false to the true, in every statement, we should be gaining a knowledge of the truth, but if we wish to keep one in one hand, and the other in the other, and let the false be in the right-hand, and the true in the left, we shall soon choose our master, and shall obey that master, and that has been the material sinning sense of existence, instead of the love of the Good, of God.
It seems to me there is before us a call for Truth, and let us have the Truth. A lady came to me, last week, and said, "I am blind; I have come hither only to say it, for I am told you take no patients, you have so much else to do, you cannot do good to the sick."
Well, I said, I am doing good to all through my address to the well; and I understand health is more contagious than disease, goodness more natural than badness, and the good and the health shall be the contagion in my church. We all shall catch it, as soon as we get in, and if you chemicalizeEditorial Note: Eddy defines chemicalization in Science and Health: under the attack of truth and error, you must not cry out, "Why art thou come hither to torment me before the time?"Matt 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Editorial Note: Eddy referenced this line in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900: "The secret of Christian Science in right thinking and acting is open to mankind, but few, comparatively, see it; or, seeing it, shut their eyes and wait for a more convenient season; or as of old cry out: 'Why art thou come hither to torment me before the time?'"Mary Baker Eddy, Message to The Mother Church Boston, Massachusetts June, 19009:8The secret of Christian Science in right thinking and For the time now is to choose whom we shall serve, and to praise God, when we see his rule coming upon the earthEditorial Note: A position taken by contemporary New Testament scholars is that the historical Jesus and his followers likely saw his healing works as evidence that the reign or rule of God - His Kingdom, was beginning to break into human experience, destroying the "works of Satan" - sin, disease, and death., if we will leave the evidences material for the evidences spiritual, for man's happiness and eternity.
While I talked to her, she said,"I can see a little better." She went away without any further remark, and I have heard from her since then, saying her sight is perfectly restored. Now how is this done? Not by a material method, no hygieneAs Written:hygeine, no oculistAs Written:occulist in the case, no humbug back to back seances, but the Divine utterance of this stated fact which you all reject, which is universallyAs Written:universaly rejected upon the face of the earth, namely, that you are not material, and never had a material pain nor a mind under the skull, nor an optic nerve that connected itself with the brain, and thus constituted something in the image of God's Likeness, called man; not a word of truth in it. I do not wonder that you call me an abolitionist, but if I come with a higher law that brings light, truth, and love, through the application of which is found the remedy of all your ills, why do you cast me out? Why won'tAs Written:wont you look into the question, and find what will free you from sin, sickness, and death. If that rebuke is given in Divine Science, and reaches one small instance of pain to destroy it, it covers the whole ground, and comes to the triumph of the last enemy, death. You are the opposite of what you dream you are, and you have only to realize this opposite, as gained through the spiritual sense.
Cannot you see in your dream, you can leave your body on the couch, and take with you an individuality, and be an identification of mind, of person, with all the materialityAs Written:materialty, if you desire it, that ever you possessed? If you can, cannot you look with me through spiritual sense, and look into the Diviner harmonies, as Jesus did, since He knew there was no matter, but all was mind, tending to the upward and Divine Image of God, that is Eternal Being, not dying, sinning, sickness.
I had an interview, this last week with a gentleman, who had escaped from a mad-house, in 1868. He was a raving maniac, and they were in pursuit of him. He stopped at the place where I boarded, and the lady ran for me, and said: "I am well nigh frightened to death; won'tAs Written:wont you come? Here is a maniac threatening our lives. My daughter has fled, and I am come for you."
I went with her. He took a chair, and poised it, but I looked upward, and he dropped the chair, and asked if I had something to say to him. I said I had, all from the spiritual side. The first thing is you have no disease of the brain; you need never have been in the insane hospital. Then came the comfort and relief, and the poor maniac fell on his knees before me; he was cured. I saw him, last week, married, the father of children, a well man. He never was insane after that.
Now I feel like asking your forgiveness for what I am saying, you must think it so perfectly incomprehensible. He said to me, last week, "Do you remember, Mrs. Eddy, when I sat at your feet, and you toyed with my curls? I said what are you doing and you said, "I am anointingAs Written:annointing your hair with oil, and," he continued, "my hair was covered with oil; for months I could feel it like dew upon my head."
I remembered it; I remembered that when he fell before me, I reached out my hand in benediction. It touched his head, and he said, "What are you doing?" anointingAs Written:Annointing your head with oil. I meant what David said, "He anointedAs Written:annointed my head with oil, so that my cup runneth over"Ps 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. . I meant the anointingAs Written:annointing of Truth like the dew or the gentle rain, coming upon that poor, agonized brain, and he thought it was hair-oil and that I was toying with his hair! But if they have not seen Him who was the Householder of the past, how shall they see them of his household ?
But this is the joy of it all: Good has in itself a glory that is indestructible; it has a joy that is invisible; it has in itself an immortality. It matters not how the ages see Truth. "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." If what I am telling you is not true, then we are annihilated, and there is no God. Why? Because since God is our Entity, and man is the expression of Deity, we stand in Divine Science as we stand before a mirror, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.. The object before the mirror we will say is Deity, the All, the mirror reflecting this All, the object reflected, the image and likeness of the Perfect, Divine, and Eternal. Separate them then, if you can, this Divine Triad, God, Man, and Divine Science.
Then turn from this back again, and find the mixing of our measures of error and truth, this conglomeration of health and disease, matter and spirit, good and evil, with all of its claims and avowals that in the image reflected there are certainly two. What are these two? There is but one, and that One is God. Enter the veilEditorial Note: There are numerous references to "veil" in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. In the Bible, the temple is described as containing a "holy of holies" which was thought to be the literal dwelling place of God. It was separated from the rest of the temple by a veil. The High Priest was permitted to go through the veil into the presence of God only once a year on the Day of Atonement.. There is no grief like hate, no pain like passion, no deceit like sense. Enter the path; there spring the healing streams, quenching all thirst. Therein bloom immortal, swiftest, sweetest flowers, filling all the way with joy.