Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 18

Eddy was presented to Mr. Cook's audience, and allowed [5]

ten minutes in which to reply to his public letter con- demning her doctrines; which reply was taken in full by a shorthand reporter who was present, and is transcribed below.

Mrs. Eddy responding, said:- [10]

As the time so kindly allotted me is insufficient for even a synopsis of Christian Science, I shall confine my- self to questions and answers.

Am I a spiritualist?

I am not, and never was. I understand the impossi- [15]

bility of intercommunion between the so-called dead and living. There have always attended my life phenomena of an uncommon order, which spiritualists have mis- called mediums.h.i.+p; but I clearly understand that no human agencies were employed,-that the divine Mind [20]

reveals itself to humanity through spiritual law. And to such as are "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body," Christian Science reveals the in-

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finitude of divinity and the way of man's salvation from [1]

sickness and death, as wrought out by Jesus, who robbed the grave of victory and death of its sting. I understand that G.o.d is an ever-present help in all times of trouble,- have found Him so; and would have no other G.o.ds, no [5]

remedies in drugs, no material medicine.

Do I believe in a personal G.o.d?

I believe in G.o.d as the Supreme Being. I know not what the person of omnipotence and omnipresence is, or what the infinite includes; therefore, I wors.h.i.+p that [10]

of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and Mother; then, as thought ascends the scale of being to diviner consciousness, G.o.d becomes to me, as to the apostle who declared it, "G.o.d is Love,"-divine Prin- ciple,-which I wors.h.i.+p; and "after the manner of my [15]

fathers, so wors.h.i.+p I G.o.d."

Do I believe in the atonement of Christ?

I do; and this atonement becomes more to me since it includes man's redemption from sickness as well as from sin. I reverence and adore Christ as never before. [20]

It brings to my sense, and to the sense of all who enter- tain this understanding of the Science of G.o.d, a _whole_ salvation.

How is the healing done in Christian Science?

This answer includes too much to give you any con- [25]

clusive idea in a brief explanation. I can name some means by which it is not done.

It is not one mind acting upon another mind; it is not the transference of human images of thought to other minds; it is not supported by the evidence before [30]

the personal senses,-Science contradicts this evidence; it is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is Christ come

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to destroy the power of the flesh; it is Truth over error; [1]

that understood, gives man ability to rise above the evi- dence of the senses, take hold of the eternal energies of Truth, and destroy mortal discord with immortal har- mony,-the grand verities of being. It is not one mortal [5]

thought transmitted to another's thought from the human mind that holds within itself all evil.

Our Master said of one of his students, "He is a devil,"

and repudiated the idea of casting out devils through Beelzebub. Erring human mind is by no means a de- [10]

sirable or efficacious healer. Such suppositional healing I deprecate. It is in no way allied to divine power. All human control is animal magnetism, more despicable than all other methods of treating disease.

Christian Science is not a remedy of faith alone, but [15]

combines faith with understanding, through which we may touch the hem of His garment; and know that om- nipotence has all power. "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no G.o.d beside me."

Is there a personal man? [20]

The Scriptures inform us that man was made in the image and likeness of G.o.d. I commend the Icelandic translation: "He created man in the image and likeness of Mind, in the image and likeness of Mind created He him." To my sense, we have not seen all of man; [25]

he is more than personal sense can cognize, who is the image and likeness of the infinite. I have not seen a perfect man in mind or body,-and such must be the personality of him who is the true likeness: the lost image is not this personality, and corporeal man is this [30]

lost image; hence, it doth not appear what is the real personality of man. The only cause for making this

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question of personality a point, or of any importance, is [1]

that man's perfect model should be held in mind, whereby to improve his present condition; that his contemplation regarding himself should turn away from inharmony, sick- ness, and sin, to that which is the image of his Maker. [5]

Science And The Senses.

Substance of my Address at the National Convention in Chicago, June 13, 1888

The National Christian Scientist a.s.sociation has brought us together to minister and to be ministered [10]

unto; mutually to aid one another in finding ways and means for helping the whole human family; to quicken and extend the interest already felt in a higher mode of medicine; to watch with eager joy the individual growth of Christian Scientists, and the progress of our common [15]

Cause in Chicago,-the miracle of the Occident. We come to strengthen and perpetuate our organizations and inst.i.tutions; and to find strength in union,-strength to build up, through G.o.d's right hand, that pure and undefiled religion whose Science demonstrates G.o.d and [20]

the perfectibility of man. This purpose is immense, and it must begin with individual growth, a "consum- mation devoutly to be wished." The lives of all re- formers attest the authenticity of their mission, and call the world to acknowledge its divine Principle. Truly [25]

is it written:-

"Thou must be true thyself, if thou the truth would'st teach; Thy heart must overflow, if thou another's heart would'st reach."

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Science is absolute and final. It is revolutionary in [1]

its very nature; for it upsets all that is not upright.

It annuls false evidence, and saith to the five material senses, "Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not; neither can you understand." To weave one thread of [5]

Science through the looms of time, is a miracle in itself.

The risk is stupendous. It cost Galileo, what? This awful price: the temporary loss of his self-respect. His fear overcame his loyalty; the courage of his convictions fell before it. Fear is the weapon in the hands of [10]

tyrants.

Men and women of the nineteenth century, are you called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey this call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaf- fold, but take not back the words of Truth. How many [15]

are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand a long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be in the battle every day?

In no other one thing seemed Jesus of Nazareth more divine than in his faith in the immortality of his words. [20]

He said, "Heaven and earth shall pa.s.s away, but my words shall not pa.s.s away;" and they have not. The winds of time sweep clean the centuries, but they can never bear into oblivion his words. They still live, and to-morrow speak louder than to-day. They are to-day [25]

as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make straight G.o.d's paths; make way for health, holiness, universal harmony, and come up hither." The gran- deur of the word, the power of Truth, is again casting out evils and healing the sick; and it is whispered, "This [30]

is Science."

Jesus taught by the wayside, in humble homes. He

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