Miscellaneous Writings

1883-1896

by

Mary Baker Eddy

Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science

and Author of Science and Health with

Key to the Scriptures

Published by the

Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy

Boston, U. S. A.

Copyright, 1896

By Mary Baker G. Eddy

Copyright renewed, 1924

Contents

[pg v]

Dedication.

To

Loyal Christian Scientists

In This And Every Land

I Lovingly Dedicate These Practical Teachings

Indispensable To The Culture And Achievements Which

Constitute The Success Of A Student

And Demonstrate The Ethics

Of Christian Science

Mary Baker Eddy

Epigrams.

Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand,

To read it well; that is, to understand.

Ben Jonson: Epigram 1

When I would know thee ... my thought looks

Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;

Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends

In making thy friends books, and thy books friends.

Ben Jonson: Epigram 86

If worlds were formed by matter,

And mankind from the dust;

Till time shall end more timely,

There's nothing here to trust.

Thenceforth to evolution's

Geology, we say,—

Nothing have we gained therefrom,

And nothing have to pray:

My world has sprung from Spirit,

In everlasting day;

Whereof, I've more to glory,

Wherefor, have much to pay.

Mary Baker Eddy

Preface.

[Transcriber's Note: The original book includes line numbers throughout the text, for easy reference to the text by page number and line number. This transcription retains those page and line numbers; the numbers in [square brackets] at the right ends of lines are the original book's line numbers. The paragraphs are not adjusted as is customary for text in e-books, nor are words split by hyphens rejoined, so that the lines shown below have the same words as the lines in the original book.]

A certain apothegm of a Talmudical philosopher [1]

suits my sense of doing good. It reads thus: “The

noblest charity is to prevent a man from accepting

charity; and the best alms are to show and to enable a

man to dispense with alms.” [5]

In the early history of Christian Science, among my

thousands of students few were wealthy. Now, Christian

Scientists are not indigent; and their comfortable fortunes

are acquired by healing mankind morally, physically,

spiritually. The easel of time presents pictures—once [10]

fragmentary and faint—now rejuvenated by the touch

of God's right hand. Where joy, sorrow, hope, disap-

pointment, sigh, and smile commingled, now hope sits

dove-like.

To preserve a long course of years still and uniform, [15]

amid the uniform darkness of storm and cloud and

tempest, requires strength from above,—deep draughts

from the fount of divine Love. Truly may it be said:

There is an old age of the heart, and a youth that never

grows old; a Love that is a boy, and a Psyche who is [20]

ever a girl. The fleeting freshness of youth, however,

is not the evergreen of Soul; the coloring glory of

perpetual bloom; the spiritual glow and grandeur of [1]

a consecrated life wherein dwelleth peace, sacred and

sincere in trial or in triumph.

The opportunity has at length offered itself for me to

comply with an oft-repeated request; namely, to collect [5]

my miscellaneous writings published in The Christian

Science Journal, since April, 1883, and republish them

in book form,—accessible as reference, and reliable as

old landmarks. Owing to the manifold demands on my

time in the early pioneer days, most of these articles [10]

were originally written in haste, without due preparation.

To those heretofore in print, a few articles are herein

appended. To some articles are affixed data, where these

are most requisite, to serve as mile-stones measuring the

distance,—or the difference between then and now,— [15]

in the opinions of men and the progress of our Cause.

My signature has been slightly changed from my

Christian name, Mary Morse Baker. Timidity in early

years caused me, as an author, to assume various noms

de plume. After my first marriage, to Colonel Glover [20]

of Charleston, South Carolina, I dropped the name of

Morse to retain my maiden name,—thinking that other-

wise the name would be too long.

In 1894, I received from the Daughters of the American

Revolution a certificate of membership made out to Mary [25]

Baker Eddy, and thereafter adopted that form of signature,

except in connection with my published works.

The first edition of Science and Health having been [1]

copyrighted at the date of its issue, 1875, in my name

of Glover, caused me to retain the initial “G” on my

subsequent books.

These pages, although a reproduction of what has [5]

been written, are still in advance of their time; and are

richly rewarded by what they have hitherto achieved for

the race. While no offering can liquidate one's debt of

gratitude to God, the fervent heart and willing hand are

not unknown to nor unrewarded by Him. [10]

May this volume be to the reader a graphic guide-

book, pointing the path, dating the unseen, and enabling

him to walk the untrodden in the hitherto unexplored

fields of Science. At each recurring holiday the Christian

Scientist will find herein a “canny” crumb; and thus [15]

may time's pastimes become footsteps to joys eternal.

Realism will at length be found to surpass imagination,

and to suit and savor all literature. The shuttlecock of

religious intolerance will fall to the ground, if there be

no battledores to fling it back and forth. It is reason for [20]

rejoicing that the vox populi is inclined to grant us peace,

together with pardon for the preliminary battles that

purchased it.

With tender tread, thought sometimes walks in memory,

through the dim corridors of years, on to old battle- [25]

grounds, there sadly to survey the fields of the slain and

the enemy's losses. In compiling this work, I have tried

to remove the pioneer signs and ensigns of war, and to [1]

retain at this date the privileged armaments of peace.

With armor on, I continue the march, command and

countermand; meantime interluding with loving thought

this afterpiece of battle. Supported, cheered, I take my [5]

pen and pruning-hook, to “learn war no more,” and with

strong wing to lift my readers above the smoke of conflict

into light and liberty.

Mary Baker Eddy

Concord, N.H.
January, 1897

Chapter I. Introductory.

Prospectus.

The ancient Greek looked longingly for the Olym- [1]

piad. The Chaldee watched the appearing of a

star; to him, no higher destiny dawned on the dome

of being than that foreshadowed by signs in the heav- [5]

ens. The meek Nazarene, the scoffed of all scoffers,

said, “Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye

not discern the signs of the times?”—for he forefelt

and foresaw the ordeal of a perfect Christianity, hated

by sinners. [10]

To kindle all minds with a gleam of gratitude, the

new idea that comes welling up from infinite Truth needs

to be understood. The seer of this age should be a

sage.

Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition [15]

of Deity. The mounting sense gathers fresh forms and

strange fire from the ashes of dissolving self, and drops

the world. Meekness heightens immortal attributes

only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness

reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled [20]

up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of

advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of [1]

Truth and Love to heal the sick.

Pride is ignorance; those assume most who have the

least wisdom or experience; and they steal from their

neighbor, because they have so little of their own. [5]

The signs of these times portend a long and strong

determination of mankind to cleave to the world, the

flesh, and evil, causing great obscuration of Spirit.

When we remember that God is just, and admit the

total depravity of mortals, alias mortal mind,—and that [10]

this Adam legacy must first be seen, and then must be

subdued and recompensed by justice, the eternal attri-

bute of Truth,—the outlook demands labor, and the

laborers seem few. To-day we behold but the first

faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces [15]

a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and

divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life,

Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin,

sickness, and death; when God, man's saving Principle,

and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed. [20]

Man's probation after death is the necessity of his

immortality; for good dies not and evil is self-destruc-

tive, therefore evil must be mortal and self-destroyed.

If man should not progress after death, but should re-

main in error, he would be inevitably self-annihilated. [25]

Those upon whom “the second death hath no power”

are those who progress here and hereafter out of evil,

their mortal element, and into good that is immortal;

thus laying off the material beliefs that war against

Spirit, and putting on the spiritual elements in divine [30]

Science.

While we entertain decided views as to the best method

for elevating the race physically, morally, and spiritually, [1]

and shall express these views as duty demands, we

shall claim no especial gift from our divine origin, no

supernatural power. If we regard good as more natural

than evil, and spiritual understanding—the true knowl- [5]

edge of God—as imparting the only power to heal the

sick and the sinner, we shall demonstrate in our lives the

power of Truth and Love.

The lessons we learn in divine Science are applica-

ble to all the needs of man. Jesus taught them for this [10]

very purpose; and his demonstration hath taught us

that “through his stripes”—his life-experience—and

divine Science, brought to the understanding through

Christ, the Spirit-revelator, is man healed and saved.

No opinions of mortals nor human hypotheses enter this [15]

line of thought or action. Drugs, inert matter, never are

needed to aid spiritual power. Hygiene, manipulation,

and mesmerism are not Mind's medicine. The Principle

of all cure is God, unerring and immortal Mind.

We have learned that the erring or mortal thought holds [20]

in itself all sin, sickness, and death, and imparts these

states to the body; while the supreme and perfect Mind,

as seen in the truth of being, antidotes and destroys these

material elements of sin and death.

Because God is supreme and omnipotent, materia [25]

medica, hygiene, and animal magnetism are impotent;

and their only supposed efficacy is in apparently delud-

ing reason, denying revelation, and dethroning Deity.

The tendency of mental healing is to uplift mankind; but

this method perverted, is “Satan let loose.” Hence the [30]

deep demand for the Science of psychology to meet sin,

and uncover it; thus to annihilate hallucination.

Thought imbued with purity, Truth, and Love, in- [1]

structed in the Science of metaphysical healing, is the

most potent and desirable remedial agent on the earth.

At this period there is a marked tendency of mortal

mind to plant mental healing on the basis of hypnotism, [5]

calling this method “mental science.” All Science is

Christian Science; the Science of the Mind that is God,

and of the universe as His idea, and their relation to each

other. Its only power to heal is its power to do good,

not evil.

A Timely Issue.

At this date, 1883, a newspaper edited and published

by the Christian Scientists has become a necessity. Many

questions important to be disposed of come to the Col-

lege and to the practising students, yet but little time [15]

has been devoted to their answer. Further enlight-

enment is necessary for the age, and a periodical de-

voted to this work seems alone adequate to meet the

requirement. Much interest is awakened and expressed

on the subject of metaphysical healing, but in many [20]

minds it is confounded with isms, and even infidelity, so

that its religious specialty and the vastness of its worth

are not understood.

It is often said, “You must have a very strong will-

power to heal,” or, “It must require a great deal of faith [25]

to make your demonstrations.” When it is answered

that there is no will-power required, and that something

more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression

of incredulity. It is not alone the mission of Christian

Science to heal the sick, but to destroy sin in mortal [30]

thought. This work well done will elevate and purify [1]

the race. It cannot fail to do this if we devote our best

energies to the work.

Science reveals man as spiritual, harmonious, and eter-

nal. This should be understood. Our College should [5]

be crowded with students who are willing to consecrate

themselves to this Christian work. Mothers should be

able to produce perfect health and perfect morals in their

children—and ministers, to heal the sick—by study-

ing this scientific method of practising Christianity. [10]

Many say, “I should like to study, but have not suffi-

cient faith that I have the power to heal.” The healing

power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the

greatest emergencies.

Materia medica says, “I can do no more. I have [15]

done all that can be done. There is nothing to build

upon. There is no longer any reason for hope.” Then

metaphysics comes in, armed with the power of Spirit,

not matter, takes up the case hopefully and builds on

the stone that the builders have rejected, and is suc- [20]

cessful.

Metaphysical therapeutics can seem a miracle and a

mystery to those only who do not understand the grand

reality that Mind controls the body. They acknowledge

an erring or mortal mind, but believe it to be brain mat- [25]

ter. That man is the idea of infinite Mind, always perfect

in God, in Truth, Life, and Love, is something not easily

accepted, weighed down as is mortal thought with mate-

rial beliefs. That which never existed, can seem solid

substance to this thought. It is much easier for people [30]

to believe that the body affects the mind, than that the

mind affects the body.

We hear from the pulpits that sickness is sent as a [1]

discipline to bring man nearer to God,—even though

sickness often leaves mortals but little time free from

complaints and fretfulness, and Jesus cast out disease as