with finger grim and cold it points to every mortal mistake; or smiling saith, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things."
Art thou a child, and hast added one furrow to the brow of care? Art thou a husband, and hast pierced [20]
the heart venturing its all of happiness to thy keeping?
Art thou a wife, and hast bowed the o"erburdened head of thy husband? Hast thou a friend, and forgettest to be grateful? Remember, that for all this thou alone canst and must atone. Carelessly or remorselessly thou mayest [25]
have sent along the ocean of events a wave that will some time flood thy memory, surge dolefully at the door of con- science, and pour forth the unavailing tear.
Change and the grave may part us; the wisdom that might have blessed the past may come too late. One [30]
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backward step, one relinquishment of right in an evil [1]
hour, one faithless tarrying, has torn the laurel from many a brow and repose from many a heart. Good is never the reward of evil, and _vice versa_.
There is no excellence without labor; and the time to [5]
work, is _now_. Only by persistent, unremitting, straight- forward toil; by turning neither to the right nor to the left, seeking no other pursuit or pleasure than that which cometh from G.o.d, can you win and wear the crown of the faithful. [10]
That law-school is not at fault which sends forth a barrister who never brings out a brief. Why? Because he followed agriculture instead of litigation, forsook Blackstone for gray stone, dug into soils instead of delv- ing into suits, raised potatoes instead of pleas, and drew [15]
up logs instead of leases. He has not been faithful over a few things.
Is a musician made by his teacher? He makes him- self a musician by practising what he was taught. The conscientious are successful. They follow faithfully; [20]
through evil or through good report, they work on to the achievement of good; by patience, they inherit the prom- ise. Be active, and, however slow, thy success is sure: toil is triumph; and-thou hast been faithful over a few things. [25]
The lives of great men and women are miracles of pa- tience and perseverance. Every luminary in the constel- lation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in the darkness to shine with the reflected light of G.o.d.
Material philosophy, human ethics, scholastic theology, [30]
and physics have not sufficiently enlightened mankind.
Human wrong, sickness, sin, and death still appear in
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mortal belief, and they never bring out the right action [1]
of mind or body. When will the whole human race have one G.o.d,-an undivided affection that leaves the unreal material basis of things, for the spiritual foundation and superstructure that is real, right, and eternal? [5]
First purify thought, then put thought into words, and words into deeds; and after much slipping and clambering, you will go up the scale of Science to the second rule, and be made ruler over many things. Fidelity finds its reward and its strength in exalted purpose. Seek- [10]
ing is not sufficient whereby to arrive at the results of Science: you must strive; and the glory of the strife comes of honesty and humility.
Do human hopes deceive? is joy a trembler? Then, weary pilgrim, unloose the latchet of thy sandals; for the [15]
place whereon thou standest is sacred. By that, you may know you are parting with a material sense of life and happiness to win the spiritual sense of good. O learn to lose with G.o.d! and you find Life eternal: you gain all.
To doubt this is implicit treason to divine decree. [20]
The parable of "the ten virgins" serves to ill.u.s.trate the evil of inaction and delay. This parable is drawn from the sad history of Vesta,-a little girl of eight years, who takes the most solemn vow of celibacy for thirty years, and is subject to terrible torture if the lamp she [25]
tends is not replenished with oil day and night, so that the flame never expires. The moral of the parable is pointed, and the diction purely Oriental.
We learn from this parable that neither the cares of this world nor the so-called pleasures or pains of mate- [30]
rial sense are adequate to plead for the neglect of spiritual light, that must be tended to keep aglow the flame of
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devotion whereby to enter into the joy of divine Science [1]
demonstrated.
The foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps: their way was material; thus they were in doubt and dark- ness. They heeded not their sloth, their fading warmth [5]
of action; hence the steady decline of spiritual light, until, the midnight gloom upon them, they must borrow the better-tended lamps of the faithful. By entering the guest-chamber of Truth, and beholding the bridal of Life and Love, they would be wedded to a higher [10]
understanding of G.o.d. Each moment"s fair expect- ancy was to behold the bridegroom, the One "altogether lovely."
It was midnight: darkness profound brooded over earth"s lazy sleepers. With no oil in their lamps, no [15]
spiritual illumination to look upon him whom they had pierced, they heard the shout, "The bridegroom cometh!"
But how could they behold him? Hear that human cry: "Oh, lend us your oil! our lamps have gone out,- no light! earth"s fables flee, and heaven is afar [20]
off."
The door is shut. The wise virgins had no oil to spare, and they said to the foolish, "Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." Seek Truth, and pursue it. It should cost you something: you are willing to pay for error [25]
and receive nothing in return; but if you pay the price of Truth, you shall receive _all_.
"The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light;" they watch the market, acquaint themselves with the etiquette of the exchange, [30]
and are ready for the next move. How much more should we be faithful over the few things of Spirit, that are able
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to make us wise unto salvation! Let us watch and pray [1]
that we enter not into the temptation of ease in sin; and let us not forget that others before us have laid upon the altar all that we have to sacrifice, and have pa.s.sed to their reward. Too soon we cannot turn from disease [5]
in the body to find disease in the mortal mind, and its cure, in working for G.o.d. Thought must be made better, and human life more fruitful, for the divine energy to move it onward and upward.
Warmed by the sunshine of Truth, watered by the [10]
heavenly dews of Love, the fruits of Christian Science spring upward, and away from the sordid soil of self and matter. Are we clearing the gardens of thought by up- rooting the noxious weeds of pa.s.sion, malice, envy, and strife? Are we picking away the cold, hard pebbles of [15]
selfishness, uncovering the secrets of sin and burnishing anew the hidden gems of Love, that their pure perfection shall appear? Are we feeling the vernal freshness and sunshine of enlightened faith?
The weeds of mortal mind are not always destroyed [20]
by the first uprooting; they reappear, like devastating witch-gra.s.s, to choke the coming clover. O stupid gar- dener! watch their reappearing, and tear them away from their native soil, until no seedling be left to propagate- and rot.
Among the manifold soft chimes that will fill the haunted [25]
chambers of memory, this is the sweetest: "Thou hast been faithful!"
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True Philosophy And Communion
It is related of Justin Martyr that, hearing of a Pythag- [2]
orean professor of ethics, he expressed the wish to be- come one of his disciples. "Very well," the teacher replied; "but have you studied music, astronomy, and [5]
geometry, and do you think it possible for you to under- stand aught of that which leads to bliss, without hav- ing mastered the sciences that disengage the soul from objects of sense, so rendering it a fit habitation for the intelligences?" On Justin"s confessing that he had [10]
not studied those branches, he was dismissed by the professor.
Alas for such a material science of life! Of what avail would geometry be to a poor sinner struggling with temptation, or to a man with the smallpox? [15]
Ancient and modern philosophies are spoiled by lack of Science. They would place Soul wholly inside of body, intelligence in matter; and from error of premise would seek a correct conclusion. Such philosophy can never demonstrate the Science of Life,-the Science which [20]
Paul understood when he spoke of willingness "to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord." Such philosophy is far from the rules of the mighty Nazarene Prophet. His words, living in our hearts, were these: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of G.o.d as [25]