Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 62

A Card

My answer to manifold letters relative to the return of members that have gone out of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, is this: While my affec- tions plead for all and every one, and my desire is that all shall be redeemed, I am not unmindful that the Scrip- [15]

tures enjoin, "Let all things be done decently and in order."

To continue one's connection with this church, or to regain it, one must comply with the church rules. All who desire its fellows.h.i.+p, and to become members of it, [20]

must send in their pet.i.tions to this effect to the Clerk of the church; and upon a meeting being called, the First Members will determine the action of the church on this subject.

Overflowing Thoughts

In this receding year of religious jubilee, 1894, I as [26]

an individual would cordially invite all persons who have left our fold, together with those who never have

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been in it,-all who love G.o.d and keep His command- [1]

ments,-to come and unite with The Mother Church in Boston. The true Christian Scientists will be welcomed, greeted as brethren endeavoring to walk with us hand in hand, as we journey to the celestial city. [5]

Also, I would extend a tender invitation to Christian Scientists' students, those who are ready for the table of our Lord: so, should we follow Christ's teachings; so, bury the dead past; so, loving one another, go forth to the full vintage-time, exemplifying what we profess. But [10]

some of the older members are not quite ready to take this advanced step in the full spirit of that charity which thinketh no evil; and if it be not taken thus, it is impracti- cal, unfruitful, Soul-less.

My deepest desires and daily labors go to prove that [15]

I love my enemies and would help all to gain the abiding consciousness of health, happiness, and heaven.

I hate no one; and love others more than they can love me. As I now understand Christian Science, I would as soon harm myself as another; since by breaking [20]

Christ's command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," I should lose my hope of heaven.

The works I have written on Christian Science con- tain absolute Truth, and my necessity was to tell it; therefore I did this even as a surgeon who wounds [25]

to heal. I was a scribe under orders; and who can refrain from transcribing what G.o.d indites, and ought not that one to take the cup, drink all of it, and give thanks?

Being often reported as saying what never escaped [30]

from my lips, when rehearsing facts concerning others who were reporting false charges, I have been sorry that

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I spoke at all, and wished I were wise enough to guard [1]

against that temptation. Oh, may the love that is talked, be _felt_! and so _lived_, that when weighed in the scale of G.o.d we be not found wanting. Love is consistent, uni- form, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, unutterably kind; even [5]

that which lays all upon the altar, and, speechless and alone, bears all burdens, suffers all inflictions, endures all piercing for the sake of others, and for the kingdom of heaven's sake.

A Great Man And His Saying

Hon. Charles Carrol Bonney, President of the World's [11]

Congress Auxiliary, in his remarks before that body, said, "No more striking manifestation of the interposi- tion of divine Providence in human affairs has come in recent years, than that shown in the raising up of the [15]

body of people known as Christian Scientists, who are called to declare the real harmony between religion and Science, and to restore the waning faith of many in the verities of the sacred Scriptures."

In honest utterance of veritable history, and his own [20]

spiritual discernment, this man must have risen above worldly schemes, human theorems or hypotheses, to conclusions which reason too supine or misemployed cannot fasten upon. He spake inspired; he touched a tone of Truth that will continue to reverberate and renew [25]

its emphasis throughout the entire centuries, into the vast forever.

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Words Of Commendation

_Editor of The Christian Science Journal_:-Permit me to say that your editorial in the August number is _par_ _excellence_.

It is a digest of good manners, morals, methods, and [5]

means. It points to the scientific spiritual molecule, pearl, and pinnacle, that everybody needs. May the Christlikeness it reflects rest on the dear readers, and throw the light of penetration on the page; even as the dawn, kindling its glories in the east, lightens earth's [10]

landscape.

I thank the contributors to _The Christian Science_ _Journal_ for their jewels of thought, so adapted to the hour, and without ill-humor or hyperbolic tumor. I was impressed by the articles ent.i.tled "The New Pas- [15]

tor," by Rev. Lanson P. Norcross, "The Lamp," by Walter Church, "The Temptation," a poem by J. J.

Rome, etc.

The field waves its white ensign, the reapers are strong, the rich sheaves are ripe, the storehouse is ready: pray [20]

ye therefore the G.o.d of harvest to send forth more laborers of the excellent sort, and garner the supplies for a world.

Church And School

Humbly, and, as I believe, divinely directed, I hereby [25]

ordain the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," to be hereafter the only pastor of

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The Church of Christ, Scientist, throughout our land [1]

and in other lands.

From this date the Sunday services of our denomina- tion shall be conducted by Readers in lieu of pastors.

Each church, or society formed for Sunday wors.h.i.+p, [5]

shall elect two Readers: a male, and a female. One of these individuals shall open the meeting by reading the hymns, and chapter (or portion of the chapter) in the Bible, lead in silent prayer, and repeat in concert with the congregation the Lord's Prayer. Also, this First [10]

Reader shall give out any notices from the pulpit, shall read the Scriptures indicated in the Sunday School Les- son of the _Christian Science Quarterly_, and shall pro- nounce the benediction.

The First Reader shall read from my book, "Science [15]

and Health with Key to the Scriptures," alternately in response to the congregation, the spiritual interpreta- tion of the Lord's Prayer; also, shall read all the selec- tions from Science and Health referred to in the Sunday Lessons. [20]