Address Before The Alumni Of The Massachusetts Metaphysical College, 1895
My Beloved Students:—Weeks have passed into [15]
months, and months into years, since last we met; but
time and space, when encompassed by divine presence,
do not separate us. Our hearts have kept time together,
and our hands have wrought steadfastly at the same
object-lesson, while leagues have lain between us. [20]
We may well unite in thanksgiving for the continued
progress and unprecedented prosperity of our Cause. It
is already obvious that the world's acceptance and the
momentum of Christian Science, increase rapidly as
years glide on. [25]
As Christian Scientists, you have dared the perilous de-
fense of Truth, and have succeeded. You have learned
how fleeting is that which men call great; and how per-
manent that which God calls good.
You have proven that the greatest piety is scarcely [1]
sufficient to demonstrate what you have adopted and
taught; that your work, well done, would dignify angels.
Faithfully, as meekly, you have toiled all night; and
at break of day caught much. At times, your net has [5]
been so full that it broke: human pride, creeping into
its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then,
losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and pos-
sibly blamed others more than yourself. But those whom
God makes “fishers of men” will not pull for the shore; [10]
like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets
on the right side, compensate loss, and gain a higher sense
of the true idea. Nothing is lost that God gives: had He
filled the net, it would not have broken.
Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propa- [15]
gates: the tares cannot hinder it. Our Master said,
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away;” and Jesus' faith in Truth must not ex-
ceed that of Christian Scientists who prove its power to
be immortal. [20]
The Christianity that is merely of sects, the pulpit, and
fashionable society, is brief; but the Word of God abideth.
Plato was a pagan; but no greater difference existed be-
tween his doctrines and those of Jesus, than to-day exists
between the Catholic and Protestant sects. I love the [25]
orthodox church; and, in time, that church will love
Christian Science. Let me specially call the attention of
this Association to the following false beliefs inclining
mortal mind more deviously:—
The belief in anti-Christ: that somebody in the flesh [30]
is the son of God, or is another Christ, or is a spiritually
adopted child, or is an incarnated babe, is the evil one—
in other words, the one evil—disporting itself with the [1]
subtleties of sin!
Even honest thinkers, not knowing whence they come,
may deem these delusions verities, before they know it,
or really look the illusions in the face. The ages are bur- [5]
dened with material modes. Hypnotism, microbes, X-rays,
and ex-common sense, occupy time and thought; and
error, given new opportunities, will improve them. The
most just man can neither defend the innocent nor detect
the guilty, unless he knows how to be just; and this knowl- [10]
edge demands our time and attention.
The mental stages of crime, which seem to belong to
the latter days, are strictly classified in metaphysics as
some of the many features and forms of what is properly
denominated, in extreme cases, moral idiocy. I visited [15]
in his cell the assassin of President Garfield, and found
him in the mental state called moral idiocy. He had no
sense of his crime; but regarded his act as one of simple
justice, and himself as the victim. My few words touched
him; he sank back in his chair, limp and pale; his flip- [20]
pancy had fled. The jailer thanked me, and said, “Other
visitors have brought to him bouquets, but you have
brought what will do him good.”
This mental disease at first shows itself in extreme
sensitiveness; then, in a loss of self-knowledge and of [25]
self-condemnation,—a shocking inability to see one's
own faults, but an exaggerating sense of other people's.
Unless this mental condition be overcome, it ends in a
total loss of moral, intellectual, and spiritual discernment,
and is characterized in this Scripture: “The fool hath [30]
said in his heart, There is no God.” This state of mind
is the exemplification of total depravity, and the result
of sensuous mind in matter. Mind that is God is not in [1]
matter; and God's presence gives spiritual light, wherein
is no darkness.
If, as is indisputably true, “God is Spirit,” and Spirit
is our Father and Mother, and that which it includes is [5]
all that is real and eternal, when evil seems to predomi-
nate and divine light to be obscured, free moral agency
is lost; and the Revelator's vision, that “no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name,” is imminent. [10]
Whoever is mentally manipulating human mind, and
is not gaining a higher sense of Truth by it, is losing in
the scale of moral and spiritual being, and may be car-
ried to the depths of perdition by his own consent. He
who refuses to be influenced by any but the divine Mind, [15]
commits his way to God, and rises superior to sugges-
tions from an evil source. Christian Science shows that
there is a way of escape from the latter-day ultimatum
of evil, through scientific truth; so that all are without
excuse. [20]
Already I clearly recognize that mental malpractice,
if persisted in, will end in insanity, dementia, or moral
idiocy. Thank God! this evil can be resisted by true
Christianity. Divine Love is our hope, strength, and
shield. We have nothing to fear when Love is at the [25]
helm of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and
in heaven.
The systematized centres of Christian Science are life-
giving fountains of truth. Our churches, The Christian
Science Journal, and the Christian Science Quarterly, [30]
are prolific sources of spiritual power whose intellectual,
moral, and spiritual animus is felt throughout the land.
Our Publishing Society, and our Sunday Lessons, are [1]
of inestimable value to all seekers after Truth. The Com-
mittee on Sunday School Lessons cannot give too much
time and attention to their task, and should spare no
research in the preparation of the Quarterly as an educa- [5]
tional branch.
The teachers of Christian Science need to watch inces-
santly the trend of their own thoughts; watch that these
be not secretly robbed, and themselves misguided, and
so made to misteach others. Teachers must conform [10]
strictly to the rules of divine Science announced in the
Bible and their textbook, “Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures.” They must themselves practise, and
teach others to practise, the Hebrew Decalogue, the Ser-
mon on the Mount, and the understanding and enuncia- [15]
tion of these according to Christ.
They must always have on armor, and resist the foe
within and without. They cannot arm too thoroughly
against original sin, appearing in its myriad forms: pass-
sion, appetites, hatred, revenge, and all the et cetera of [20]
evil. Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously,
or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fer-
vently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus
doing, Scientists will silence evil suggestions, uncover
their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon the [25]
lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom
will test all mankind on all questions; and then, if found
faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us
the powerlessness of evil,—even its utter nothingness.
The teacher in Christian Science who does not spe- [30]
cially instruct his pupils how to guard against evil and
its silent modes, and to be able, through Christ, the liv-
ing Truth, to protect themselves therefrom, is commit- [1]
ting an offense against God and humanity. With Science
and Health for their textbook, I am astounded at the
apathy of some students on the subject of sin and mental
malpractice, and their culpable ignorance of the work- [5]
ing of these—and even the teacher's own deficiency in
this department. I can account for this state of mind in
the teacher only as the result of sin; otherwise, his own
guilt as a mental malpractitioner, and fear of being found
out. [10]
The helpless ignorance of the community on this sub-
ject is pitiable, and plain to be seen. May God enable
my students to take up the cross as I have done, and meet
the pressing need of a proper preparation of heart to prac-
tise, teach, and live Christian Science! Your means of [15]
protection and defense from sin are, constant watchful-
ness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and
are delivered from every claim of evil, till you intelligently
know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has neither
prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All- [20]
in-all.
The increasing necessity for relying on God to de-
fend us against the subtler forms of evil, turns us more
unreservedly to Him for help, and thus becomes a means
of grace. If one lives rightly, every effort to hurt one [25]
will only help that one; for God will give the ability to
overcome whatever tends to impede progress. Know
this: that you cannot overcome the baneful effects of
sin on yourself, if you in any way indulge in sin; for,
sooner or later, you will fall the victim of your own as [30]
well as of others' sins. Using mental power in the right
direction only, doing to others as you would have them
do to you, will overcome evil with good, and destroy [1]
your own sensitiveness to the power of evil.
The God of all grace be with you, and save you from
“spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., [5]
June 3, 1895