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Morning Prayer
Let the Bible and the Christian Science textbook preach the gospel which heals the sick and enlightens the people's sense of Christian Science. This ministry, reaching the physical, moral, and spiritual needs of humanity, will, in the name of Almighty God, speak the truth that to-day, as in olden time, is found able to heal both sin and disease.
from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 147
Daily Watch
105 — WATCH lest in using the word “salvation” you accept the concept of traditional theology, by letting the notion creep in that you are to be saved from something, as if you were a sinner trying to be a saint, instead of a saint striving to know that you are not a sinner!
One who is dreaming that a lion is about to devour him, does not need to be saved from the lion, but awakened from the illusion. Man is already saved with an everlasting salvation; but he must be saved from believing otherwise, and from the effects of this false belief. He needs to be saved from the belief that there is anything from which he needs to be saved, since in reality God is All!
Discussion points
1. 593 : 20 (Salvation)-22
Salvation. Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed.
Salvation by Alfred Marshall Vaughn
from the August 15, 1931 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
There is a story told of a lady who, beginning the study of Christian Science, went to a practitioner. He asked her about her previous religious experience. In answering this question she said that she was saved. He then asked her if she was immune to sickness. The lady replied that she had not been saved from sickness, for she had been ill many times. When asked whether she was immune to sin, unhappiness, lack, she replied that she had not been saved from them. He then asked her from what she had been saved, and she had to admit that she had not been saved from any of these things, the proof of this being that she was compelled to turn to Christian Science for help.
Christ Jesus said, "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost." He pointed out the way of salvation in his words, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." For himself and others he demonstrated salvation as defined by Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 593): "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed." A definition of "save" is to "rescue, as from injury or evil." Rescue from a situation brought about by a lie is to know the truth about it. Sin, sickness—in fact, all discordant conditions—are the result of a lie, a false belief. The material body and material conditions generally are the expression of thought; and sickness and other inharmonious conditions are due to wrong thinking, occasioned by false beliefs about God and man. The truth about God, man, and man's relationship to God, understood, is what will save us from discord of every kind.
The Christ, the spiritual idea—the savior of the world—was fully demonstrated by the Master, for he destroyed all manner of discord, including death. But those of his time were not ready to be taught the truth of being in all its fullness. To his disciples he said: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." Through the consecrated, unselfish thought of Mary Baker Eddy has been revealed "the Spirit of truth," the Comforter promised by the Master. She called this revelation "Christian Science;" and in Christian Science we can learn the spiritual fact with which to deny and cast out every intruding material belief.
In speaking of how Truth saves from sickness, Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 233): "When numbers have been divided according to a fixed rule, the quotient is not more unquestionable than the scientific tests I have made of the effects of truth upon the sick. The counter fact relative to any disease is required to cure it." One who understands mathematics has dominion in the realm of numbers. In like manner, one who understands the truth of being, and can discern and hold to the spiritual fact when a false belief presents itself, demonstrates spiritual dominion here and now. The spiritual fact, the truth of being, reflects God's omnipotence; and when we realize the truth, false beliefs of sin, sickness, and lack disappear, even as darkness retreats before the coming of light. Truth is all-powerful; but false belief, error, has no reality, no power.
On page 519 of Science and Health our Leader writes, "Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God's creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin." As we see the one real creation, namely, divine Love's creation of spiritual ideas, wherein are "beauty, grandeur, order," we bring God's law of perpetual harmony to bear upon our human experience; and the results will be health, joy, abundant supply, and spiritual growth. When a situation arises in which a decision must be reached, instead of believing that there are many minds involved, we need to know the spiritual fact, the truth that there is but one Mind, God. This truth, realized, enables all concerned to reach the right decision.
Should one believe that he lacks the intelligence to carry out a right project, there is at hand to aid him the spiritual fact that the real man, the perfect expression of the all-knowing Mind, reflects unlimited intelligence. The realization of this fact enables one to express the intelligence necessary to go successfully through with the project. If, because of the belief of business depression or any other false belief, our supply seems limited, we may know the spiritual fact that God is the source of all good, and that good is therefore unlimited. Through the realization of this truth our every human need is abundantly met, for the fact of the inexhaustible, ever available nature of good, when understood, rules out all limiting beliefs, and thus enables one confidently and joyously to expect and enjoy good.
We can never be grateful enough for the glorious fact that, over and above each material belief, there is the spiritual truth which, when realized, is made manifest in harmony. Our ability to know the spiritual fact with reference to any situation is unfolded through our earnest study of Christian Science, and our fidelity to its teaching.
Salvation consists, then, of seeing as divine Mind sees: it is for all, and each one is saved from inharmony as he realizes the truth of being. Purity, gentleness, unselfishness, gratitude, humility, love, are the qualities that enable us to understand the truth of being, and thus to see as Mind, divine Love, sees.
Sin is forgiven only as it is destroyed by Christ, — Truth and Life.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 5
John 14:10
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Mark 10:18
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Christ. The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 583
John 5:30
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
If somehow God does not speak to me, I have nothing worth saying. If somehow God does not move in our ministry, I have nothing worth doing.
Bishop Harry Jackson
Humility and revelation are what is important in any ministry.
Karl Faase
Disease Unreal, from No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy, page 4
Responsive Reading: Psalm 103 : 1-4, 6, 19-22
1. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
20. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
22. Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.
Healing by Hannah M. Franken
from the February 1928 issue of the Christian Science Journal
THE book of Revelation was given to us by John, the faithful disciple of Jesus. Its truths were revealed to him through his understanding of God and man, gained by his unswerving devotion to the Master and his accompanying love and implicit obedience. In this book John describes the "tree of life," whose leaves, he says, "were for the healing of the nations." Christian Science, the law of God, may perhaps be said to be this tree, the leaves of which bear fruit in the healing of all manner of sickness, sin, inharmony.
A dictionary defines "heal" as "to make hale, sound, or whole; restore to health." Prior to the discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy, healing of disease by prayer had not been practiced in the Christian church since about three hundred years after the ministry of Jesus. Until the leaven of Truth was again accepted by the human consciousness through the revelation and teachings of Christian Science, the healing of conditions of physical disorder was given over to means other than spiritual. To heal in Christian Science is to bring to light man's original and perfect state of wholeness, thus blotting out any condition of discord or inharmony. In order that this may be accomplished there must be a basic law, governed by intelligence, applicable to the condition; and strict adherence to this law of God will demonstrate its efficacy.
On page 406 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the textbook of Christian Science, its author, Mrs. Eddy, says: "The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. 'The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' Sin and sickness are both healed by the same Principle. The tree is typical of man's divine Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. 'Perfect Love casteth out fear.'" Healing is salvation. To be healed is to be saved —to know man's inseparability from God, good, as opposed to a belief in evil. The result of this spiritual understanding will be the expression of omniactive perfection, a restoration or visible manifestation of wholeness.
Scholastic theology makes salvation a future possibility, takes the art of healing out of its spiritual province and relegates it to a separate branch called medical science. Truly, this separation is the antipode of the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," since it would claim to take away from the omnipotence of God, thus dividing Mind into minds, producing friction and opposing factions. The Science of Christianity makes no such division. Christian Science gives any earnest seeker of the truth a demonstrable knowledge of how to heal, how to correct any discordant condition, be it ignorance of God, lack, fear, limitation, or any other circumstance arising from a false sense of God, His Christ, and the omniactivity of spiritual law. It enables one to bring to light—to understanding—that state of perfection always present because of God's omnipresence, though hidden by man-made laws, false beliefs, education in material systems, erroneously accepted theories.
In Genesis we read that "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is to be avoided, since it bears fruit indulgence in which would make one believe in the reality of sin. This tree comes upon the scene only after the mist or mystification of error or ignorance of God is spoken of, in the second chapter of Genesis. As one begins to understand the law of God and learns that His children are eternally at-one with Him, one finds that he can never really know sin. One may believe in evil; but one can know only good.
Christian Science, being based solely on the teachings of Jesus, proves that religion and Science are indissoluble. "Science" is defined as "knowledge gained and verified by exact observation and correct thinking, especially as methodically formulated and arranged in a rational system." Since Christian Science is based on the law of God, it demonstrates scientifically and religiously the perfection, continuity, and eternality of His law, and proves its practicability and power in the healing— the restoration to wholeness—of all untoward conditions. Thus true religion is scientific. And the only real Science there is is the Science of God, divine Mind, and of spiritual law, the demonstration of which reveals, brings to consciousness, the fundamental indestructible law expounded by Moses, lived and taught by the humble Nazarene and his faithful disciples, and rediscovered by God's messenger to this age, Mrs. Eddy.
Since God is Mind: and man, the spiritual child of God, is His image and likeness, we can be healed, can be saved here and now, in proportion as we reflect this Mind. For by doing this we are claiming our divine heritage of spiritual sonship and denying, refusing to accept, any relation with a supposititious mind or mortal creation. Truly, redemption is acknowledgment of our divine sonship.
In the one hundred and third psalm it is written, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." Here we have clearly expressed the illimitable capacity of God to heal, whether it be in the forgiveness—the destruction—of iniquities, the healing of disease, the restoration to harmony of bodily functions, the redemption of life from destruction, which last is the healing of the belief of a finite sense of Life with its accompanying burdens, the satisfying of the mouth with good things, which is the demonstration of the abundance and supply of good from God, eternally flowing, so that youth with its accompanying strength, joyousness, freedom, and buoyancy is renewed; in other words, the erroneous suggestion of growing old, of declining, is proved powerless. Then, too, there is the crowning, the protection, the dominion of the child of God, shown in the inexhaustible, never ceasing fountain of mercy and loving-kindness, God's boundless gifts to His ideas.
Christian Science logically proves that healing is entirely mental, and that it can be accomplished by a mental process only. "Man is the expression of God's being," Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 470). Then, in proportion as we manifest the real man, the perfect, spiritual, loving idea, man, always at-one with God, we can heal the seeming discordant conditions which come to us in our daily experiences.
The consciousness which Christ Jesus had of his relationship to God gave him the power to heal, to break down all supposed physical law and its so-called resistance to Truth. This eternal consciousness is available to us all, here and now. It is the healing Christ, yours and mine. We can accept it and claim it in its fullness, its wisdom, its gentleness and calm, its divine influence; and with it as our own we can dispel the clouds which may loom before us through the errors of sense-testimony.
What is true healing, then? It is the appearance in individual consciousness of the truth about God, man, and the universe, the establishment of which naturally and necessarily destroys the seeming existence of any supposititious consciousness. It is as we claim that the Mind which was in Christ Jesus was, is, and always will be the only Mind—and because it is the only one, is ours by reflection—that we can lift up the Christ and see its glory, and heal.
The truth that two times two equal four naturally and with no effort establishes the fact that any statement that two times two are other than four is incorrect. If we have believed that two times two are five, and the truth is made known to us, we are healed of this ignorance. If we have unwisely nurtured a sense of hatred or resentment toward our fellow-men, then the recognition of the omnipresence of Love, with the coexistent desire to bless, will destroy the seeming hatred. Divine Love truly is infinite, and no discordant quality of thought can withstand its omnipotent power.
The simplicity of Christian Science, the loyalty and obedience to God of its teachings, when practiced and demonstrated in better living, truer friendship, more uplifted faith, greater Christian fellowship, and universal brotherhood, will prove that the power to heal is here always.
Signs of the Times
Rev. Dr. M. G. Morris, as quoted in the Post-Dispatch, Houston, Texas, from the June 28, 1930 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
The Old Testament abounds with authentic illustrations of God's power to heal. ... When the children of Isreal were on their journey out of Egyptian bondage God proclaimed to them, "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Abimelech, Naaman, Hezekiah, and job are concrete examples of divine healing in the Old Testament.
The outstanding illustrations in the New Testament of God's power to heal the sick are given to us by the divine healer himself. He "went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, ... and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." Blind men were healed, palsied men, lame men, fevered women were all healed by Christ [Jesus]. ...
Listen to the words in the fifth chapter of the Acts, twelfth, fifteenth, and sixteenth verses: "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. ... Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one." ...
Though the exercise of the gift of healing gradually ceased centuries ago through the loss of early faith and spirituality, there seems to lie upon the modern church the duty of reaffirming the reality and permanence of the primitive gift of divine healing.
The Religion Of The Bible A Religion Of Healing by Irving C. Tomlinson.
Exceerpt from the June 1897 issue of the Christian Science Journal
The first Bible record to be found of healing is in Genesis 20:17. Abimelech had sinned, and disease came upon him. Then we are told that "Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech and his wife." Abimelech was the king of the Philistines, who lived 1897 years before Christ… In the Wilderness, through mind, Moses healed the Children of Israel. Elisha restored the widow's son to life. Isaiah, by prayer, restored King Hezekiah to health.
… In the Psalms, speaks David of God as one "Who healeth all thy diseases," Psalm 103: 3; and again, "He sent his word, and healed them," Psalm 107: 20. Declares Isaiah, "He shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them," Isaiah 19: 22. And through Jeremiah God proclaims: "I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds." Jeremiah 30: 17.
The last promise in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament is this: "Unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Malachi 4: 2.
We know what healing this "sun of righteousness" did bring unto those that feared his name. There are witnessed in the Gospels more than thirty separate instances in which the rays from this "sun" healed from one to a multitude. When Christ Jesus sent his disciples upon their missionary tours, he charged them "to preach" and "to heal," See Luke 9: 2 and Luke 10: 9. …
… Jesus himself said (Mark 16: 17 and 18), "These signs shall follow them that believe; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The sign of a believer, then, according to Jesus, is, that he can heal; likewise an unbeliever is one who cannot demonstrate his Principle.
This understanding of discipleship abode with the apostles. Their shadow was sufficient to heal. Acts 5: 15. When Peter would describe his Leader, he said, not that he was an eloquent sermonizer, a deep thinker, or a profound scholar. He simply spoke of him as one "Who went about doing good, and healing all." Acts 10: 38.
So charged was Paul with the healing power of Truth, that when the viper "fastened on his hand," he "shook off the beast and felt no harm." Acts 28: 3-6. Plainly speaks James: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church: and let them pray over him . . . And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." James 5: 14 and 15.
If held to the light, our old bank bills disclosed a red and blue thread running through them. The red and blue threads running through the Bible are the healing of the sick, and the healing of the sinful. A banknote without those two threads was a counterfeit, and whoever holds up a Bible and does not see, running through it, those two threads of healing, has a counterfeit Bible, or rather he has a counterfeit sense of the Bible.
Through the reading of Science and Health my sense of the Bible makes it no longer a counterfeit, devoid of potency, but a book so real and genuine, and so bearing the stamp of the royal mint, that it pays every human debt of sin and discharges every spurious claim of sickness. Where once the Bible served only as a fortification to attack and to defend man-made creeds, or as a catalogue of texts and pretexts for sermonizing, it is now a fountain of Divine Love, whose living waters have healing power. So to all, if rightly read, will Science and Health make the Bible that which God intended and ordained, the text-book of health and holiness.
Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Though they may teach from my books, and use my words, still if it is done with the wrong thought back of it, the truth of God becomes a lie in their mouth.”
from Fragments, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 169
[Mrs. Eddy] "usually asked an incoming student: 'How much Christian Science do you know?' They soon learned the answer, which was: “Only what I can demonstrate.' 'Never off guard, always ready to demonstrate' should be the desire of every Christian Scientist; and these Watches will enable you to do just this."
from Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, as given by Mary Baker Eddy
The Third Day by Louis J. Lewis
from the August 1921 issue of the Christian Science Journal
"And the evening and the morning were the third day." On page 508 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "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 stage is not to be measured by material time, or seventy-two hours, but rather is the third day symbolic. She further adds, "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. Our Master reappeared to his students,—to their apprehension he rose from the grave,—on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life." It is a mental state wherein man is found to enjoy harmonious eternal life, and is to be gained now, according to Christ Jesus, through constructive thinking and consistent living. What is more important to-day than letting in the light of spiritual understanding?
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" asks the psalmist, and answers, "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Enoch proved that through right thinking and living he was enabled to ascend into the hill of the Lord, or far enough above the belief in matter to see it disappear. We read that he was a just man and that he walked with God, or we might say, he was spiritually minded and understood God to be Spirit, and man in His likeness to be wholly spiritual and not material. And so we read that Enoch was translated, or ascended above the evidence of the material senses. The helpful experience of Elijah and Elisha, who proved to be great prophets or spiritual seers, is a valuable lesson to the pilgrims of this century ascending the ladder of life. Elijah saw the light and knew that he was about to make his demonstration in making the ascension. The sons of the prophets must have been perplexed when they came to inform Elisha of the great event at hand, but Elisha, the spiritually minded man simply answered, "Yea I know it: hold ye your peace." While the others, because of their material-mindedness, stood afar off, we find Elisha quiet and confident, refusing to leave his master's side. But Elisha's greatest lesson was yet to be learned. At the supreme moment, as Elijah was about to disappear, he said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee," and Elisha answered, "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." Elijah's reply was, "Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." In other words, he learned that the prophetic mantle or power to heal could not be transferred from one individual to another but must be gained individually through the third stage in Christian Science, of letting in the light that exposes the unreality, the nothingness of matter, and reveals the reality, the allness of Spirit. And so when the demonstration took place he beheld the ascension and through that spiritual vision he was enabled to take up the work where Elijah had left off. "He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither." He rose high enough mentally to understand man's dominion over the waters of mortal mind. Spiritual sense had kept him above error, and so "Elisha went over." The fifty men who stood a far off, through their blindness to spiritual truth did not appreciate the wonderful demonstration, for we find them afterwards eagerly seeking the material body in another place, and after three days' searching they received enough light to give up their quest of matter.
Human resistance to the ascending thought was manifested in the actions of the Pharisees when they set a watch at the sepulcher to prevent the body of Jesus from being stolen. They remembered that the Master said he would rise the third day and they feared trickery. But it was soon discovered that stones and watchmen could not prevent the resurrection and ascension, which was a spiritual process, and on the third day Jesus arose as he promised them he would do. In his ascending thought he gave his disciples and the two women their opportunity to behold the risen Savior or the Christ, Truth, but all of them were not ready to appreciate fully this supreme demonstration. We find some of them looking for the material man instead of the incorporeal Christ, Truth. Mrs. Eddy tells us (Science and Health, p. 34): "His resurrection was also their resurrection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dullness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above their apprehension. As the reward for his faithfulness, he would disappear to material sense in that change which has since been called the ascension." The contrast between the disciples Thomas and John is remarkable. While the materially minded Thomas insisted upon seeing and even feeling the fleshly Jesus, we find the beloved John ascending in thought with his Master. He rose far enough above the evidence of the corporeal senses to see the human conception of heaven and earth pass away and to behold the new heaven and the new earth, the new Jerusalem.
Years after the resurrection and ascension of our Master, we come to Paul, a persecutor of Christians. He also gained a vision of the risen Christ three days after he was struck blind, and the scales fell from his eyes. He then received the Holy Ghost, which enabled him to become one of the greatest metaphysicians and healers ever known. Speaking for himself and others he declared that they were witnesses of the risen Savior. Surely Paul did not mean to imply at that late date that they saw the material body of Jesus rise. They, too, beheld the light, the incorporeal Christ. Truth. They understood Spirit to be substance, and matter to be only a false, human belief as Christ Jesus taught, about the Spirit and the flesh.
We hear of many people in these latter days looking for the second appearing of the material Jesus on earth, while in Christian Science we find multitudes letting in the light that reveals the risen Christ. They are learning to make the ascension for themselves. In Christian Science they are beginning to experience "the third day." the awakening from the mesmeric illusion of life in matter to the apprehension of the life that is independent of matter. They have received enough light to lift them above the mesmerism of material personality. These Bible students are coming into possession of their birthright as the offspring of Spirit.
That the third day is symbolic of the Christ, replacing human consciousness with the truth, can be appreciated by studying the experiences of many ancient characters. It was on the third day when Abraham proved his faith. Moses was commanded to "be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai;" and it was this day that he went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Hezekiah was healed of sickness on the third day. Hosea recognized the third day when he said, "In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight."
The prophets in Christian Science are proving that they ascend as the human concept of things is exchanged for the spiritual idea. It was the third day when the light of spiritual understanding dawned for Mrs. Eddy. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 24) she says. "'For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.' This knowledge came to me in an hour of great need; and I give it to you as death-bed testimony to the daystar that dawned on the night of material sense. This knowledge is practical, for it wrought my immediate recovery from an injury caused by an accident, and pronounced fatal by the physicians. On the third day thereafter, I called for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew ix. 2. As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I rose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed." As the prophet of this age she let in enough light to gain a clear vision of the risen Christ as Truth so that the prophetic mantle of Christ Jesus may now be worn by her followers who turn not to person but to Principle for their light and guide.
Every thought of selfishness, fear, discouragement, envy, revenge, hatred, anger, and resentment that seems to act as a link in the chain of mortal belief, holding mortal man in bondage, can be immediately dissolved. All sinful thoughts producing disease, suffering, and sorrow that seem to weigh mortal man downward will vanish when the individual looks away from matter, or the human concept of life, and through spiritual sense looks up and beholds the risen Christ, or Truth. An influx of light is ever ready to break in upon a darkened sense as a rising sun in the dawn of a new day. Through this illumination the links of false beliefs vanish and their nothingness is exposed, for this light is found to be the light of Love—irresistible Love, which is a law of extermination to everything not lovely. Thus the discovery is made that wrong thoughts or error cannot enslave man, who is spiritual and under the government of Spirit. The real man is found to be exempt from all evil.
Any one weary of discord may turn to Christian Science this day and hear the still, small voice calling in the words of Paul, "Awake thou that sleepest"! It is the "third day" for those who have ears to hear, which is of course, only symbolic of God's day, which is ever at hand. Pilgrims on earth who have seen the light or heard the "voice" are journeying from material sense testimony to spiritual understanding. They are following the dove of peace leading the way up the mount of revelation to the throne of glory ablaze with the light of day.
True Gratitude by Fletcher L. Williams
from the August 28, 1902 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
In reading the story of the cleansing of the ten lepers, in the Gospel of Luke, it seemed to me that this miracle is pregnant with Truth for all Christian Scientists.
"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off." Then Jesus instructed them "go shew yourselves unto the priests."
This command of our Lord distinctly shows that he read in their minds the wonderful faith they had in him, because with no signs of restoration as yet upon them, they were told to do that which implied they were restored, to undertake a journey which would have proved vain unless Jesus' word and promise proved true.
In their prompt obedience, there was a belief in the power of Jesus which enabled them immediately to commence their journey to the temple where the priests were, for they must have realized that they were not sent to the priests to be healed by them, as this was no part of the priests' office; they did not cleanse, but simply recognized when a person was made clean.
As this journey involved a severe trial of faith, so also it embraced a strong temptation to ingratitude, because when these ten men found that they were clean, it was very unlikely that they were still in the immediate presence of our Lord. Of course, we do not know how far they had gone, but Luke says, "As they went, they were cleansed." Now, it would require a real sense of gratitude to return and give thanks to our Lord; and the ingratitude shown by the nine is very aptly expressed by the writer who said, "We open our mouths wide, till God opens His hand; but after, we are speechless and heartless." How significant is this to us in our work. We must feel that unless our patients evidence their gratitude to God, they have not received the highest blessing of their healing. At first, the temptation of the practitioner is to feel that the physical healing is the only proof of the demonstration. But this is not so. The proof appears when the patient's mentality is raised to a higher consciousness of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.
Again referring to our story, we find that our Lord dismissed the one man with a second blessing, and an infinitely greater blessing than that received by the nine. Nine were relieved physically, one was healed spiritually.
It is well for us to remember further that this thankful one was a Samaritan, and therefore by birth unfamiliar with the promises of God; the nine who were ungrateful were the children of Israel.
It has come to my notice that often those who have not as yet had a deep insight into Christian Science, are very grateful for benefits received. We cannot be too grateful to God, to the great Way-shower, and to our beloved Leader.
John 9:3
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Final Readings
No Favorites by Mabel Gehring
from the February 24, 1923 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
A CERTAIN boy was very eager to become a baseball player. He practiced systematically, but the moment he tried to play before spectators an excited self-consciousness seemed to seize him, and failure would be the result. Disheartened, but not accepting defeat, he stood, day after day, at the sidelines, watching with wistful eyes while the other boys took their turns. One day he spoke to his mother of what troubled him. Whereupon she said: "But there is no self-consciousness. There is really only the consciousness of good; for God is good, and we know that God is ever present." A day or so later, as he waited, hoping for an opportunity to play, his mother's words came to him. As he thought of them there also came an understanding of God as the "all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving Father-Mother" (Message for 1901, p. 7), which he had been taught in the Christian Science Sunday School. Then a sudden revelation unfolded to him. If God is all-loving, then He has no favorites, he argued; and since all power comes from Him, then I can play as well as other boys. With this comforting truth flooding his thought he heard himself called to fill a vacancy on the diamond; and a very short time later the field was ringing with cheers for a play which he had made in a manner pronounced by onlookers as highly remarkable.
Spectators and players crowded around the hero of the moment as he came in from the field; but, filled with gratitude, he took none of the credit to himself. Instead, he was wondering how he could say "Thank you!" to God. With this desire, he slipped away as soon as he could from the congratulations and shoulder slappings to a far corner of the grounds, where, hidden by a fence, he could be alone. There, in joyous acknowledgment, he thanked God by repeating to himself the Lord's Prayer. That was the beginning of his success. Within a few weeks he was recognized as the best shortstop in his school; and when the team made a visit to a neighboring town, he was one of those chosen to go.
It was some time after this that his mother, having occasion to enter his room one evening, found the boy sitting up in bed. When asked what he was doing, his reply gave the secret of his continued progress: "I'm just thanking God that I learned to play ball." To the mother there was much of profound significance in this simple statement. She wondered how many grown-ups had always remembered to thank God fervently, from the very heart, for a demonstration that had been made. And with the resolve to profit by this little incident there came to remembrance, with new and forceful meaning, the advice of the psalmist, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."