Sunday, August 16th, 2026 Roundtable

31 — WATCH lest you feel that man is the master of divine power rather than its servant. False theology declares that Jesus was equipped with deific power, that he wielded to perform miracles as he chose. On page 119 of Science and Health (link) Mrs. Eddy writes that man is but the humble servant of the restful Mind. When she went forth on the lecture platform she prayed: “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.” You must feel that divine power is using you. You must kneel in humility at the throne of God asking and seeking to be imbued with deific power. Then you can go forth and exercise that power with authority. But, you ask, is not this using divine power? Yes, but only as a servant who goes forth to do his master’s bidding. Jesus might have been called Master, because above all others he permitted divine power to master him.

500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter

Soul is the substance of all beauty, the principle, the activity, the law of all that is beautiful. It is the impulsion of all true expression. Man is a state of revelation, spontaneously showing forth Soul… There is just one Spirit, one Soul, and that is God. Soul is the divine Mind, and it is that particular quality of Infinity that expresses itself in infinite beauty and grandeur throughout creation. Everything that is beautiful, noble, and grand, has its origin in Soul, in divine Mind… Soul is the spontaneous nature of man, the epitome of natural knowing. Soul is true inspiration. As you advance in the Science of Soul, you will see beauty where you never saw it before…

A Christian Scientist attains his dominion in the proportion that he seeks not the image and likeness, but the original. In that original, which is in Principle, Spirit, Soul, resides and shines in full effulgence, all comeliness, originality, receptivity, beauty, and joy… These characteristics are not mere qualities, but they belong to Being; they belong to man; they are Soul.

Excerpts from 1937 College by Bicknell Young

“The recipe for beauty” by Florence Davis Keller

from the June 16, 1917 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

“The recipe for beauty,” Mrs. Eddy writes on page 247 of Science and Health, “is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony.”

The question What is beauty? like Pilate’s question of olden time, has aroused much comment and controversy among those who in reasoning from the basis of the carnal mind, or mind in matter, think of beauty as a material quality. From the artist’s point of view a descriptive definition of beauty that has any approach to completeness would not only give the conditions which an object would have to satisfy in order to express beauty, but would have to make clear how, why, and whence came beauty into being. In other words, an answer to the question must give an explanation of the qualities of beauty as well as its reason for being.

It is generally understood that the appreciation of beauty is a perception of certain qualities, and one writer has said that we may search the whole world over to find the beautiful, but except we carry it with us we shall not find it. It is seen, then, that the definition of beauty as well as the definition of truth, must be sought in the realm of metaphysics; for to regard the quality of beauty as belonging to a material object is a survival of the primitive tendency to look for the quality of intelligence in non-intelligent matter.

By consulting different authorities it is found that beauty—that is to say, the human sense of beauty—consists in symmetry, in order, in proportion, in harmony, in unified variety, in the relation of the whole to the parts, in fitness for a purpose, in perfection, in truth. Then it is evident that beauty must express an idea or be a manifestation of thought; it must give out a message, and must therefore depend for its being upon the idea which it expresses. Our Leader in defining beauty in all its reality says, “It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness” (Science and Health, p. 247).

To be serviceable in the work of redeeming mankind from sin and suffering, beauty must be an expression or message of infinite good, a symbol of purity and harmony, ever indicating the all governing Principle, Love. It should typify holiness, or wholeness, oneness with God, the source of all spiritual harmony.

As a manifestation of good, beauty is radiant with life, positive with truth, redolent with love, and such must be the beauty sung by the psalmist, who said, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” What is the “beauty of holiness” but life replete with a satisfying knowledge of divine Love, overcoming evil with good and finding manifestation in the graces of Spirit? With the unfolding understanding of truth comes the apprehension and appreciation of beauty and the ability to express it.

Even as the artist seeks the model which will best aid him in delineating his ideals, then works perseveringly to express his inspiration in a form suitable to convey his message, so must the student of Christian Science discern his spiritual model, the Christ-idea, and study it continually until it shall find expression in God’s own way. Thoughts of love, faith, hope, meekness, goodness, gentleness, childlike trust in the Father, honesty, uprightness,—all these reflect health and beauty on the body, while their opposites, which are always negative and self-destructive, delineate discord and sickness.

That the Christian Science “recipe for beauty” is practical and available, unnumbered thousands give grateful testimony, while loving hearts, wholesome activity, and happy faces attest to a glimpse of that “unchanging calm and glorious freedom.” What painting, what wondrous tapestry, what sculptured story can compare with the beauty of a life redeemed from suffering or sin! As the truth is lovingly presented, fear and anxiety give place to confidence and trust. A revelation of the joys of Soul changes sorrow into rejoicing; dull despair disappears in the light of hope; and morbid stagnation is vanquished by the health giving activity of right thinking. Under divine influence slavery to false appetites is overcome by conscious dominion, and a belief in decrepitude is changed to expectation of progressive growth in spiritual understanding.

Thus every wrong condition finds the right thought or savior in the truth of Christian Science, interpreting and portraying the saying of Job, “Yet in my flesh shall I see God.” This retreat from the beliefs of the flesh to the facts of Spirit, healing all discord, proclaims God’s ways in the “beauty of holiness,” as humanity discerns through unfoldment the wondrous beauty of God’s spiritual and harmonious creation.

16. 248 : 26-32
We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.

If a man is so tense as the result of the pressures of modern living, he needs a tranquilizer. But it is not to be found in tobacco, liquor, or pills and drugs. It is in silent communion with that inner-spiritual force in his being, which reveals a man who has dominion over every situation. His peace is to be found in the depths of true Soul.

Depth of feeling — that’s where you find God. When you devote your energies to appreciating the beauty and harmony round about you, when you can truthfully say, “I feel God’s presence with me here,” there is no opportunity for you to feel pain. Pain is just surface feeling. Its remedy is to be found in the depths of Soul.

from the DEPTHS OF SOUL in 1963 Association Address by Herbert Rieke

The Treasure Chest and Its Key by Jean S. Freedlander

from the August 3, 1929 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

If one were to have a treasure chest full of the most costly jewels, but so securely locked that it could not possibly be pried open, the gems in the chest would be of no practical worth to its owner until he could secure a key which would fit the lock, so that he could open the chest and thus gain access to the wealth within.

So it is with the care-worn and world-weary who, lacking spiritual understanding, seek solace in the perusal of the Bible, that great treasure chest which contains jewels more precious than all the material wealth in the world. One may know that the King James Version is a masterpiece of English literature, but something more than mere literary perfection is required to quiet and brighten the tempest-tossed heart. One needs a key with which to unlock the treasure chest, so that he may profit by the use of the great spiritual gems within. Then, perhaps a dear friend brings “good tidings of great joy,” for he has found the key with which to unlock the valuable chest—a key which is another masterpiece of literature, yet far more than that: a key that fits the Bible so perfectly that it unlocks its treasures, enabling one to make practical use of all the glorious gems within. Here one finds jewels of wisdom, joy, purity, righteousness, comfort, spiritual inspiration, which afford much comfort, happiness, and health.

Such an indispensable “Key” is “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” written by Mary Baker Eddy, that pure, unselfed, spiritually-minded New England woman who discovered the truth that God is the only Life, and proved this great fact in her own instantaneous healing after a physician had told her that death was inevitable. All her life Mrs. Eddy had been a devout student of the Bible, but had not discerned the Science of the healings recorded therein. When, however, it seemed as though “the last enemy” was about to gain the victory, she turned to God so unreservedly that, finding light in the Bible, she was instantly healed. Thus was begun the most far-reaching, uplifting, and health bestowing ministry since the time of Jesus, the master Christian. After her wonderful healing Mrs. Eddy devoted all her time, energy, and substance to elucidating her great discovery, writing the Christian Science textbook, that invaluable “key” to the Scriptures already referred to, and proving the scientific accuracy of her teaching by healing many of so-called incurable diseases and by teaching others how to heal. She continued healing, lecturing, teaching, preaching and writing. She organized The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, whose branches now extend throughout the civilized world; and she established all of the Christian Science periodicals, including that great international daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.

Christian Scientists are inexpressibly grateful to God for the prophets, and for Christ Jesus and his faithful disciples, for without them there would be no Bible; and they are equally grateful to God for Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, for without her discovery and work there would be no “key” with which to unlock that precious treasure chest. This gratitude is made practical by daily studying these two wonderful textbooks, and applying in daily experience the truths thus gained. Such study and application is followed by the healing of sickness, the satisfying of spiritual yearnings, and a fuller understanding of and love for God, man, and the universe.

On page 9 of Science and Health we find this rousing call to scientific Christianity: “Dost thou ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind’? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, and material sense and human will have no place.”

When, as is related in Luke’s Gospel, a rich young man asked Jesus how he might inherit eternal life, the Master commanded, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” And, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, Christ Jesus declared, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Thus did the Way-shower reveal life as incorporeal and indestructible.

Should one feel that his heart is far from God, and that he is far from the “El Dorado of Christianity,” he need not become discouraged, for a deep and persistent delving into the truths of the Bible, with the aid of the “key,” will surely result in attaining the desired treasure, a closer unity with God and a greater appreciation of spiritual riches. Then will he be glad to “sell” all that he had formerly clung to as real; in other words, he will gladly discard the false material sense of life, substance, health, happiness, and intelligence, and so find “life eternal.”

Unlike the material gems which the world prizes so highly, and which frequently depreciate in material value, the real gems of Spirit constantly increase in value to the one who learns to realize and utilize them more fully. Nor need one be afraid of their being stolen for they are enshrined in spiritual consciousness. God, divine Life, Truth, and Love, bestows them upon all impartially, for, as our Leader declares (ibid., p. 13), “Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals.” So innumerable, so infinite, are these spiritual riches that not one of God’s ideas can in any way lack or lose or be deprived of them, for the Father and His treasures are eternal and ever present.

Within the Sanctuary by William P. McKenzie

from the November 2, 1918 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

Those who love birds have sorrowed over the wanton destruction of them which has caused some varieties practically to disappear. They rejoice, therefore, that in order to give them respite from harassment on their migrations, bird sanctuaries have been established where the winged travelers may find safety and freedom and legal protection. The word sanctuary is broadly used now to mean a place of refuge and protection, though at first applied to the consecrated place devoted to the keeping of sacred things.

In Biblical use the word means “a place set apart.” In the ninety-sixth psalm it is said: “All the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” God’s sanctuary, however, does not necessarily mean an edifice, because we find the promise in Ezekiel: “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.” It is true, then, that we may expect to find a sanctuary in a building dedicated to the worship of God; and yet without this, we may find a sanctuary in the consciousness of God’s goodness though in heathen surroundings. Churches in a Christian land should manifestly offer both refuge and consolation. Mrs. Eddy clearly recognized that this need could be supplied when she placed Article XVII, entitled “Services Uninterrupted,” in the Manual and began its first section with the direction: “The services of The Mother Church shall be continued twelve months each year.”

One walking to church in a New England town on a recent Sunday found things somewhat as they were in Puritan days—quiet streets and quiet people on foot proceeding churchward. It was something unusual, however, to see some church edifices with closed doors, the announcements being, No services because of the prevailing epidemic; Church closed in deference to the request of the board of health; or the simple affixing of a transcript of the request from this board.

Now, the subject for this Sunday dealt with by the Lesson-Sermon in our churches throughout the world was the answer of Christian Science to the question, “Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real?” The closed churches seemed to answer in the affirmative, but the listener in a Christian Science church anywhere had the opportunity to hear a firm negative and to learn that God’s goodness extends to man to heal and save him now; hence true life and health, and heaven here, may be understood and enjoyed. Therefore everywhere such a service was a sanctuary, and those who were present were reminded of the words of David, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” They were reminded also of the prophecy of Isaiah, a prophecy repeated by Micah, of the many people who shall say, “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”

So far, the closing of churches has not become a matter of rigid enforcement. The state has not generally asserted its authority by placing policeman or sentry at the doors and forbidding the worship of God. Boards of health have been unquestionably doing the best they know how to do in obedience to their beliefs, and have tried to exercise the authority of their will. Mrs. Eddy says, however, “Will-power is but a product of belief, and this belief commits depredations on harmony” (Science and Health, p. 490), and the question before the God-serving people of the country is the same one which faced Peter and John when they were commanded “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” It is worth while to read again the record given in Acts: “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

When fear of the epidemic had caused those in authority to wish for the closing of the churches, they felt somewhat reluctantly that they must request the closing of saloons, and the newspapers have talked much about these two institutions together as if there were any possible connection between them. Saloons represent a great profit taking institution practically controlled by brewers and distillers and compounders of drugs. Therein citizens are drugged and deteriorated so as to be less useful as citizens and more amenable to the mesmerism of politicians. Paul, in writing to the Philippians, gave an unsurpassed description of the congregations that assemble in these places of resort. They are those “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Their conversation concerns the senses and their gratification, and with all that is sensual goes ever a great fear of death and of its preliminaries. In such surroundings the ferment of fear might well have prolific soil, especially since from the material side nothing is offered to abate the fear industriously propagated by some newspapers. Indeed, so active have these agents been in the propaganda of dread that one might have expected the actual closing of the offices of the sensation mongering newspapers long before one would think of a board of health even proposing that churches should intermit public services.

While, then, so many agencies are propagating the mesmerism of dread, despondency, discouragement, and all the downcast feelings which favor the invasion of disease and give power to the enemy, it should be self-evident how very much need there is at this time of the sacred hour of divine service when one may enter into a sanctuary, when thought can rest in God and be uncontaminated by microbes of fear, when the heart may receive God’s comfort and peace and be reassured as to the safety of man. If there be churches which have no message to meet the human need of the hour, whose officials believe the materialistic arguments regarding contagion and have no spiritual insight as to God’s healing power, let them close at request. The Churches of Christ, Scientist, have a message of truth and health and joy and peace which is supported by thousands upon thousands of demonstrations of healing. They are keepers of the law, and will of course “render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s;” but so long as it is a matter of “request,” which means that freedom to exercise judgment remains, they do that which they are sure is “right in the sight of God.”

Golden Text: Psalm 27 : 4
“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”

GOD’S GUESTS

from MacLaren’s Expositions

I. Let us, then, note the true meaning of this aspiration of the Psalmist.

Its fulfilment depends not on where we are, but on what we think and feel; for every place is God’s house, and what the Psalmist desires is that he should be able to keep up unbroken consciousness of being in God’s presence and should be always in touch with Him.

That seems hard, and people say, ‘Impossible! how can I get above my daily work, and be perpetually thinking of God and His will, and consciously realising communion with Him?’ But there is such a thing as having an undercurrent of consciousness running all through a man’s life and mind; such a thing as having a melody sounding in our ears perpetually, ‘so sweet we know not we are listening to it’ until it stops, and then, by the poverty of the naked and silent atmosphere, we know how musical were the sounds that we scarcely knew that we heard, and yet did hear so well high above all the din of earth’s noises.

Every man that has ever cherished such an aspiration as this knows the difficulties all too well. And yet, without entering upon thorny and unprofitable questions as to whether the absolute, unbroken continuity of consciousness of being in God’s presence is possible for men here below, let us look at the question, which has a great deal more bearing upon our present condition-viz. whether a greater continuity of that consciousness is not possible than we attain to to-day. It does seem to me to be a foolish and miserable waste of time and temper and energy for good people to be quarrelling about whether they can come to the absolute realisation of this desire in this world, when there is not one of them who is not leagues below the possible realisation of it, and knows that he is. At all events, whether or not the line can be drawn without a break at all, the breaks might be a great deal shorter and a great deal less frequent than they are. An unbroken line of conscious communion with God is the ideal; and that is what this singer desired and worked for. How many of my feelings and thoughts to-day, or of the things that I have said or done since I woke this morning, would have been done and said and felt exactly the same, if there were not a God at all, or if it did not matter in the least whether I ever came into touch with Him or not? Oh, dear friends! it is no vain effort to bring our lives a little nearer that unbroken continuity of communion with Him of which this text speaks. And God knows, and we each for ourselves know, how much and how sore our need is of such a union. ‘One thing have I desired, that will I seek after; that I, in my study; I, in my shop; I, in my parlour, kitchen, or nursery; I, in my studio; I, in my lecture-hall-’may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.’ In our ‘Father’s house are many mansions.’ The room that we spend most of our lives in, each of us, at our tasks or our work-tables may be in our Father’s house, too; and it is only we that can secure that it shall be.

The inmost meaning of this Psalmist’s desire is that the consciousness of God shall be diffused throughout the whole of a man’s days, instead of being coagulated here and there at points.

The Psalmist longed to break down the distinction between sacred and secular; to consecrate work, of whatsoever sort it was. He had learned what so many of us need to learn far more thoroughly, that if our religion does not drive the wheels of our daily business, it is of little use; and that if the field in which our religion has power to control and impel is not that of the trivialities and secularities of our ordinary life, there is no field for it at all.

‘All the days of my life.’ Not only on Wednesday nights, while Tuesday and Thursday are given to the world and self; not only on Sundays; not for five minutes in the morning, when I am eager to get to my daily work, and less than five minutes at night, when I am half asleep, but through the long day, doing this, that, and the other thing for God and by God and with God, and making Him the motive and the power of my course, and my Companion to heaven…

Things to handle daily, from Watches, Prayers, and Arguments given by Mary Baker Eddy

II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

DEDICATION AT LOGANSPORT, IND.

excerpt from the June 1901 issue of the Christian Science Journal

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Verily the spiritual child of divine Love aspires to the house of the Lord, a sanctuary not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Oft and again in the material world around us comes up the doubtful question: Is life worth the living, is the game worth the powder, is the battle worth the fighting, is the problem worth the solving? David thought that it was. He would dwell all his life in the House of God— and does not this fact breathe the Spirit of content? God the Infinite Mind, is leading humanity as a shepherd. Wait a while, we shall find out that we are still in God’s house and not in a world of darkness.

It is this consciousness of the omnipresence of God which gives to all His offspring beauty, charm, symmetry, and tenderness. Purged from the sense of flesh, like David we shall behold the beauty of the Lord in holiness. The other purpose of the Psalmist is “to inquire in His temple” —that is to say, to learn fundamentals, to become informed about the real man, the real universe, the real spiritual evolution, the real abiding Principle, and rise above the delusive mist of the carnal mind. Thus only can we advance from the A B C of Christianity to the everlasting Gospel of glory and triumph. Indeed, “upwards leads the path of life,” and this is the real ascension.

2. 587 : 25-27
Heaven. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul.

True Inquiry by Violet Ker Seymer

from the May 25, 1929 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

Mankind’s thirst for knowledge is to be commended, for it bespeaks a reaching out for better conditions than the prevailing ones. Materialistic inquiries, however, lead away from Spirit, which is the only source of harmony, health, and the desired enlightenment. On page 268 of “Miscellaneous Writings” our Leader writes: “The Christian Scientist keeps straight to the course. His whole inquiry and demonstration lie in the line of Truth.” This line of inquiry is a divinely inspired and a perpetually blessed line of inquiry.

When a problem of sickness presents itself for solution, so indicating the need of correction, the Christian Scientist asks himself, What quality of God must I reflect in order to heal it? When undesirable traits of character are manifested in a child or in an adult, the Christian Scientist turns to divine Mind and to the contemplation of man’s divine nature, for inspiration and regeneration. He is not tolerant of the error, but he does not condemn himself or another by dwelling upon what, spiritually speaking, is not; he turns to inquire of God, good, what he truly is as God’s own reflection. As he thus seeks and finds the truth, the mental darkness is lost in spiritual light.

The Christian Scientist knows that he must avoid, not only the extreme of brooding over evil, but also of ignoring it, or evading the demands of divine Principle in his thought and his daily life. Hence this admonition from Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 447): “To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove its unreality.”

The tendency to indulge in merely negative, unprogressive thinking finds this rebuke in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” The obedient thinker turns in his hour of need to divine Love for inspiration, confident that the divine Mind contains the very quality which can immediately replace the delusive concept which seeks to deprive him of the rights of true manhood. One who delves into a rubbish heap can find only rubbish; but one who diligently seeks the treasures of Truth is blessed in his search. Mortals need to know more about man in order to rise above materiality; more about spiritual perfection in order to rise above sickness and sin.

In his long watches of prayer, Christ Jesus doubtless dwelt on and reflected divine Mind in its purity and power, and this faithful line of inquiry equipped him for each day’s tests and enabled him to glorify God and liberate mankind. On page 20 of “Unity of Good” our Leader, after describing the true reasoning from cause to effect, states: “Try this process, dear inquirer, and so reach that perfect Love which ‘casteth out fear,’ and then see if this Love does not destroy in you all hate and the sense of evil. You will awake to the perception of God as All-in-all.” With this wonderful pasture land of divine Mind in which to roam at will, who would deign to inquire of the physical senses, Why am I sick, why need I be lonely, why cannot I love more, why am I so tempted? Joyously the Christ assures the true inquirer, the inquirer for Truth, that there is no place, time, space, or opportunity for evil to operate in the infinite consciousness of God and His reflection, man. There is no obscuration of thought in the one Mind. All is Light, and Light begets light, and ever more light; and Love begets love, and ever more love. So-called evil with its dire consequences is but ignorance of the infinite manifestation of God, good. Therefore any attempt of evil to get itself accounted for, its origin explained, or its purpose justified, is obviously self-assertive error and should be dismissed as such. Truth never makes any inquiry about its supposed unlikeness. The more one learns about good, the more surely he unlearns all false knowledge and gathers only the fruit of the tree of Life.

Fervently, like the Psalmist, one prays with undivided allegiance to his God, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.” This “one thing” whereby one may dwell in the consciousness of divine Love, is the only thing that heals, redeems, and satisfies. Hence, every day and all day, the Christian Scientist inquires of divine Love what is the truth about any situation. He seeks to destroy everything unbeautiful in his thinking by reflecting the beauty of God, good. Divine Mind it is which guides, guards, and rewards the true inquirer and inquiry.

“To be spiritually minded” by Blanche Hersey Hogue

from the November 21, 1914 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul tells us that “to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Nothing could be clearer than this. To dwell in material, selfish, or, in Paul’s words, carnal thought-habits, leads to death, is death; but we may, if we will, exchange this carnal, destructive thought for life-preserving knowledge. Spiritual-mindedness preserves life, is itself life and peace. Thus the cleavage between spiritual goodness and materiality becomes the cleavage between living and dying; between the quality of thought which sustains life and the mistaken beliefs which tend to destroy it. Truly, according to Paul, in righteousness we are indestructible; in error we are not safe.

On page 360 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: “Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you, —the material or the spiritual? Both you cannot have.” Again on page 534 we read, “The Son of the Virgin-mother unfolded the remedy for Adam, or error.” Here we have set before us the necessity for continuous choice, every day and hour, of Spirit or matter for our mental contemplation; and we are told that the remedy for the Adam-dream in which “all die,” is found in that Mind of Christ in which all shall “be made alive.” Now what man in trouble would refuse an obvious remedy for his trouble, a remedy which, according to Paul, lies in that spiritually true right-thinking which literally is “life and peace”? What can lift thought from depressing material belief, save the activity of spiritual thinking?

The one sure remedy for human woe is the activity of the right idea of God, man, and the universe operating in individual consciousness, and divine Mind feeds human thought with these right ideas, with the true understanding of being. Who, if he knew the full goodness of God and his own receptivity to this goodness, could cherish sin or fear sickness? To adopt into our thinking the right idea of life, as Christianity in its wholeness reveals it, is to enter upon a process of spiritualizing our thought, and this at once introduces spiritual experiences into our daily affairs. “Life and peace” become present facts with us, because “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Recognizing, then, that the remedy for human trouble lies in spiritualizing human thought, we see at once the demand that each individual must needs work at the root of what he calls his own character; that the Christianization of individual thought is the one and only way out of trouble. Christianization of thought means obedience to divine law, living as the exponent or manifestation of divine law, being like Christ in thought and deed, expressing infinite loving consideration toward one another and toward all living things. Christianization means the expulsion of animality, the de-animalizing, if we may put it that way, of human thought. And our chiefest concern should not be to de-animalize our neighbor’s thinking but our own. This mental process meets evil at the point of our own belief in evil; and it is just at this point that evil can be challenged and laid low.

Christian Science adds to the Christianity of the Scriptures the understanding of the Principle and rule for demonstrating all that Christ Jesus taught, and makes plain the life and peace which come hand in hand with true Christianization of purpose and motive. It refutes the human way of thinking which dooms the good to suffer “in this present world,” and helps mankind to prove that spiritually based goodness, intelligent, divinely enlightened goodness, is truly life preserving and health preserving. Christian Science unfolds God to human thought as divine Mind, everywhere present, all powerful, maintaining His creation without lapse or flaw. It shows the whole experience of matter and evil to be a false sense of existence, having no divine origin, and furnishes the rule by which the false belief may be laid aside, thought by thought, and the divine Mind enter and govern and enrich experience with its own divine presence and power.

As individual thinking beings we cannot at the same moment cherish animality and the Christ. The two cannot at any instant dwell together. Christ, Truth, entering, through the activity of the spiritual idea, expels animality; and then practically, provably, we have evidence in the departure of the one that we abide with the other. “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Spiritual-mindedness strikes out of our experience here and now, in the measure of its attainment, much of disease and death. We are urged to have that Mind “which was also in Christ Jesus;” and to the degree that we have it, we lose, little by little, the capacity to sicken and die. Having it, even in modest measure, the glory of God permeates our present sense of being with holiness, tranquillity, spiritual blessedness, and peace. The activity of spiritual thinking is irresistible, invincible, incorruptible, indestructible. It must by the law of its own righteous vigor, its God-bestowed vitality and power, offset and expel error from every individual mind and heart which it enters.

The God who delivered men from the fiery furnace and from the lions, can bring us through unscathed; and He will, when we think as spiritually as did those men of God. He who fed by ravens and increased the supply of oil, will never desert us; and we will cease to fear He can, when we trust as did Elijah and the widow of olden time. Spiritual-mindedness and life and peace cannot be separated. Striving for one, we earn and receive the other. In permitting God to enter, we have let in redemption.

“Passing through the midst of them” by Kate W. Buck

from the May 23, 1914 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

When, after the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Nazareth, and, upon going into the synagogue to read, claimed that the words of the prophet Esaias were that day fulfilled in him, it aroused the wrath of those who heard, that he should claim with so great confidence such mighty things for himself. Was not this the carpenter’s son? Had he not grown up among the other boys of Nazareth? Was he not one of them, and quite as humble in origin, education, and environment? Without “honor in his own country,” and despite the evident resentment of his auditors, Jesus continued to affirm that he was, in truth, the one sent to “heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Marveling at his gracious words, even though incensed by them, the record tells us that they, with human emotions of jealousy, envy, suspicion, and malice seething in their thoughts because he claimed superiority to them, his own townspeople, “thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.” But we further read that he passed through the midst of them and went his way.

The very simplicity of the latter statement brings with it a sense of power and confidence that gave to the writer, when she read it in connection with one of the Lesson-Sermons, an illuminated perception of the quiet grandeur and dignity of the Nazarene as, saying nothing, fearing nothing, he quietly, steadily, safely went his way, knowing who it was that went before him. Undisturbed by the attempt to destroy him, or the treachery of those who, humanly speaking, should have been his most devoted supporters and friends, he went about his Father’s business, serene in the consciousness that His will would in any case be done, and that there was no other will. Alone with God was this true child of His, absolutely at-one with the power that produced him; hence, he feared neither scorn nor misunderstanding. How often the human cry goes out: “If people only understood me! How can I endure to be so misjudged and misunderstood!” Yet Emerson writes in language clear as crystal: “Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton . . . To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Jesus came to Capernaum, and wholly unshaken by what would have been a severe ordeal to most men, spoke to the people there with such power that “they were astonished at his doctrine.” Beginning his healing ministry even in the synagogue, in fulfilment of the prophecies which had been made concerning “he that should come,” he went his way without question, and it was the way of gentleness, peace, love, and rightness. Continuing to heal those that were “sick with divers diseases,” what a sense of assurance and courage comes to us as we read the simple unembellished words, “He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.” It mattered not to him what the form might be in which evil vaunted itself, or in what manner of man expressed,—it was just a lie, because not of God, without whom nothing was made that was made. The narrative states too that the “devils” as they departed from many, cried out, saying, “Thou art Christ, the Son of God.” They knew (to continue the personification of evil) that he was the Christ, the truth, before whose power they must needs go down. Knowing, therefore, that their time was short, the evils, one by one, left those that they had seemed to hold in such fearful bondage and, sometimes throwing down the one tormented, and sometimes crying “with a loud voice,” they none the less disappeared and “hurt him not.”

Ever passing through trials, persecutions, desertions, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” yet rejoicing because of the faith that was in him, the glorious, steadfast Master of us all went his way,—”the best man that ever trod this planet” (Science and Health, p. 364),—though that way led him to the cross on Calvary. Even there he trusted the one power by which he had been guided through every troublous situation, to win his victory. Surely a knowledge of the glory to be revealed sustained him in this supreme test of his career, to be revealed not only to him but to all those that believe on him and listen to his earnest bidding,—”I am the way,” “Follow thou me.” No complaints, no regrets, no looking back with a sense of self-pity that he had endured so much, but just “Thy will be done;” and later, free from all thought of the ingratitude, treachery, and jealousy that had brought him where he was, he prayed with sublime self-forgetfulness for those who most needed that for which he prayed, a realization of the infinite, universal fatherhood of God,—”Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Was there ever such forgiveness, ever such complete setting aside of the human self?

All those who believe on the Master are commanded to follow and obey. Then indeed are absolute consecration and watchfulness demanded, as Mrs. Eddy so well knew, if we are even so much as to touch “the hem of his garment.” Yet listen to the wondrous promises: “Greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” “I have overcome the world.” “Lo, I am with you alway.” Awed by the sublimity of such self-effacement and unchanging love; realizing, even humanly, the recompense and reward so indisputably belonging to such complete renunciation, one likes to look beyond the scene on Calvary to the resurrection morning, when the stone was rolled away and the risen Christ was revealed to those who sought. Also to the glory of the ascension when, every remembrance of materiality left behind, Jesus disappeared from the wistful gaze of those who still saw with imperfect vision; and what a solace it is to read that he said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”! All men, he said, and he never spoke vainly; so that universal salvation, accomplished by the setting aside in each individual consciousness of all false material beliefs, is to be achieved.

It is something even to have started toward our Father’s house, to know that He comes to meet us when we are a great way off; and that the forgiving love of God is always at hand when we really seek it. Truly we none of us know what we do when, blinded by human opinions, we entertain, if only for a second, a thought of suspicion or condemnation toward a brother man. “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” Jesus once said to his disciples, and it is to awaken mankind to a realization of what they actually are, here and now, as “sons of God” that Christian Science stands. Acting as a leaven, it is steadily working to turn humanity back from the long search for happiness and health in material things, to the deep things of the Spirit. Here alone salvation lies from all the evil doubts and fears that spring from a belief in a power apart from God.

There is, then, a sure rule for him who would follow the Master (forgetting those things that are behind, and turning away from the perishable things of matter to the imperishable things of Spirit), and it is this: Pass through the midst of them and go thy way. Though jealousy, malice, hatred, envy, suspicion, and their kind, raise their heads to hiss and sting and overthrow, still go thy way unscathed. They have no power except as you fear them. In the book of Isaiah these words are found to strengthen us: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”

“My presence shall go with thee.” Clearly conscious of that omnipotent presence, one can be cognizant of nothing else; and it goes without saying that what one is not conscious of does not and cannot exist for him. Through the very midst of error, recognizing only spiritual being, for others as well as for himself, one can see false consciousness at the coming of the true, even though it cries out at recognizing its master, vanish utterly, as all lies must when they are no longer believed in.