she was G.o.d-driven back to the inspired pages. Early training, through the misinterpretation of the Word, had been the underlying cause of the long years of in- validism she endured before Truth dawned upon her understanding, through right interpretation. With the [10]
understanding of Scripture-meanings, had come physical rejuvenation. The uplifting of spirit was the upbuild- ing of the body.
She affirmed that the Scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must [15]
be spiritually discerned, before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts. That there is a dual meaning to every Biblical pa.s.sage, the most eminent divines of the world have concluded; and to get at the highest, or metaphysical, it is necessary rightly to read [20]
what the inspired writers left for our spiritual instruction.
The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them noth- ing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all. The literal or material reading is [25]
the reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward G.o.d, Spirit.
Taking several Bible pa.s.sages, Mrs. Eddy showed how beautiful and inspiring are the thoughts when rightly understood. "Let the dead bury their dead; follow [30]
thou me," was one of the pa.s.sages explained metaphysi- cally. In their fullest meaning, those words are salvation
[Page 170.]
from the belief of death, the last enemy to be overthrown; [1]
for by following Christ truly, resurrection and life im- mortal are brought to us. If we follow him, to us there can be no dead. Those who know not this, may still believe in death and weep over the graves of their beloved; [5]
but with him is Life eternal, which never changes to death. The eating of bread and drinking of wine at the Lord"s supper, merely symbolize the spiritual refresh- ment of G.o.d"s children having rightly read His Word, whose entrance into their understanding is healthful life. [10]
This is the reality behind the symbol.
So, also, she spoke of the hades, or h.e.l.l of Scripture, saying, that we make our own heavens and our own h.e.l.ls, by right and wise, or wrong and foolish, conceptions of G.o.d and our fellow-men. Jesus interpreted all spirit- [15]
ually: "I have bread to eat that ye know not of," he said. The bread he ate, which was refreshment of divine strength, we also may all partake of.
The material record of the Bible, she said, is no more important to our well-being than the history of Europe [20]
and America; but the spiritual application bears upon our eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely meta- physical; and no other method is Christian Science. In the pa.s.sage recording Jesus" proceedings with the blind man (Mark viii.) he is said to have spat upon the dust. [25]
Spitting was the Hebrew method of expressing the utmost contempt. So Jesus is recorded as having expressed contempt for the belief of material eyes as having any power to see. Having eyes, ye see not; and ears, ye hear not, he had just told them. The putting on of hands [30]
mentioned, she explained as the putting forth of power.
"Hand," in Bible usage, often means spiritual power.
[Page 171.]
"His hand is not shortened that it cannot save," can [1]
never be wrested from its true meaning to signify human hands. Jesus" first effort to realize Truth was not wholly successful; but he rose to the occasion with the second attempt, and the blind saw clearly. To suppose that [5]
Jesus did actually anoint the blind man"s eyes with his spittle, is as absurd as to think, according to the report of some, that Christian Scientists sit in back-to-back seances with their patients, for the divine power to filter from vertebrae to vertebrae. When one comes to the age [10]
with spiritual translations of G.o.d"s messages, expressed in literal or physical terms, our right action is not to con- demn and deny, but to "try the spirits" and see what manner they are of. This does not mean communing with spirits supposed to have departed from the earth, [15]
but the seeking out of the basis upon which are accom- plished the works by which the new teacher would prove his right to be heard. By these signs are the true disciples of the Master known: the sick are healed; to the poor the gospel is preached. [20]
Extract From A Sermon Delivered In Boston, January 18, 1885
TEXT: _The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman_ _took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened._-MATT.
xiii. 33.
Few people at present know aught of the Science of mental healing; and so many are obtruding upon the public attention their ignorance or false knowledge in the name of Science, that it behooves all clad in the shin- ing mail to keep bright their invincible armor; to keep [30]
[Page 172.]
their demonstrations modest, and their claims and lives [1]
steadfast in Truth.
Dispensing the Word charitably, but separating the tares from the wheat, let us declare the positive and the negative of metaphysical Science; what it is, and [5]
what it is not. Intrepid, self-oblivious Protestants in a higher sense than ever before, let us meet and defeat the claims of sense and sin, regardless of the bans or clans pouring in their fire upon us; and white-winged charity, brooding over all, shall cover with her feathers [10]
the veriest sinner.
Divine and unerring Mind measures man, until the three measures be accomplished, and he arrives at fulness of stature; for "the Lord G.o.d omnipotent reigneth." [15]
Science is divine: it is neither of human origin nor of human direction. That which is termed "natural science,"
the evidences whereof are taken in by the five personal senses, presents but a finite, feeble sense of the infinite law of G.o.d; which law is written on the heart, received [20]
through the affections, spiritually understood, and dem- onstrated in our lives.
This law of G.o.d is the Science of mental healing, spiritually discerned, understood, and obeyed.
Mental Science, and the five personal senses, are at [25]
war; and peace can only be declared on the side of im- mutable right,-the health, holiness, and immortality of man. To gain this scientific result, the first and funda- mental rule of Science must be understood and adhered to; namely, the oft-repeated declaration in Scripture [30]
that G.o.d is good; hence, good is omnipotent and omnipresent.
[Page 173.]
Ancient and modern philosophy, human reason, or [1]
man"s theorems, misstate mental Science, its Principle and practice. The most enlightened sense herein sees nothing but a law of matter.
Who has ever learned of the schools that there is but [5]
one Mind, and that this is G.o.d, who healeth all our sick- ness and sins?
Who has ever learned from the schools, pagan phi- losophy, or scholastic theology, that Science is the law of Mind and not of matter, and that this law has no relation [10]
to, or recognition of, matter?
Mind is its own great cause and effect. Mind is G.o.d, omnipotent and omnipresent. What, then, of an oppo- site so-called science, which says that man is both matter and mind, that Mind is in matter? Can the infinite [15]
be within the finite? And must not man have preexisted in the All and Only? Does an evil mind exist without s.p.a.ce to occupy, power to act, or vanity to pretend that it is man?
If G.o.d is Mind and fills all s.p.a.ce, is everywhere, matter [20]
is nowhere and sin is obsolete. If Mind, G.o.d, is all-power and all-presence, man is not met by another power and presence, that-obstructing his intelligence- pains, fetters, and befools him. The perfection of man is intact; whence, then, is something besides Him that [25]
is not the counterpart but the counterfeit of man"s creator?
Surely not from G.o.d, for He made man in His own likeness. Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it?
But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of [30]
Mind?
For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created.
[Page 174.]
Mind has no more power to evolve or to create matter [1]
than has good to produce evil. Matter is a misstatement of Mind; it is a lie, claiming to talk and disclaim against Truth; idolatry, having other G.o.ds; evil, having presence and power over omnipotence! [5]
Let us have a clearing up of abstractions. Let us come into the presence of Him who removeth all iniqui- ties, and healeth all our diseases. Let us attach our sense of Science to what touches the religious sentiment within man. Let us open our affections to the Principle that [10]
moves all in harmony,-from the falling of a sparrow to the rolling of a world. Above Arcturus and his sons, broader than the solar system and higher than the at- mosphere of our planet, is the Science of mental healing. [15]
What is the kingdom of heaven? The abode of Spirit, the realm of the real. No matter is there, no night is there-nothing that maketh or worketh a lie. Is this kingdom afar off? No: it is ever-present here. The first to declare against this kingdom is matter. Shall [20]