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Mary Baker Eddy
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A Messenger

In all ages there have been messengers who have prepared the way for a better understanding of the Christ. As Christian Scientists we believe that Mrs. Eddy was one of these messengers with a wonderful message, a message with healing in its wings.

Mary Ellen Pollock
Christian Science Sentinel,
October 11, 1919

 

"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord..." Isaiah
The Writings of Mary Baker Eddy

 

This area contains selections from the writings of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.

 

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"In the spirit of Christ's charity, — as one who 'hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, — she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth."


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Questions and Answers "Have Christian Scientists any religious creed?"


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The Scientific Statement of Being "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter."


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Questions and Answers "Is there infinite progression with man after the destruction of mortal mind?"


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Questions and Answers "If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed, by death, — if one gets tired of it, why not commit suicide?"


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Questions and Answers "What is organic life?"


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Questions and Answers "What did Jesus mean when he said to the dying thief, 'To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise'?"


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Questions and Answers "If mesmerism has the power attributed to it by the gentleman referred to, it should neither be taught nor practised, but should be conscientiously condemned."


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Questions and Answers "The 'man of sorrows' knew that the man of joys, his spiritual self, or Christ, was the Son of God; and that the mortal mind, not the immortal Mind, suffered. The human manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of man, or Mary's son."


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Christian Science "Hungering and thirsting after a better life, we shall have it, and become Christian Scientists; learn God aright, and know something of the ideal man, the real man, harmonious and eternal."


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Prayer for Country and Church "Pray that the divine presence may still guide and bless our chief magistrate, those associated with his executive trust, and our national judiciary; give to our congress wisdom, and uphold our nation with the right arm of His righteousness."


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Angels "When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts."


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The Way "The present stage of progress in Christian Science presents two opposite aspects, — a full-orbed promise, and a gaunt want."


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Fidelity "Seeking 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."


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Science and the Senses "Jesus' personality in the flesh, so far as material sense could discern it, was like that of other men; but Science exchanges this human concept of Jesus for the divine ideal, his spiritual individuality . . ."


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One Cause and Effect ". . . The mist of materialism will vanish as we approach spirituality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in Christ's righteousness; bathe in the baptism of Spirit, and awake in His likeness."


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"Where Art Thou?" "The 'Alpha and Omega' of Christian Science voices this question: Where do we hold intelligence to be? Is it in both evil and good, in matter as well as Spirit?"


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Reply to McClure's Magazine "The attack on me and my late father and his family in McClure's Magazine, January, 1907, compels me as a dutiful child and the Leader of Christian Science to speak."


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Reminiscences "Quotations have been published, purporting to be Dr. Quimby's own words, which were written while I was his patient in Portland and holding long conversations with him on my views of mental therapeutics. Some words in these quotations certainly read like words that I said to him, and which I, at his request, had added to his copy when I corrected it."


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Power of Prayer "In a certain city the Master 'did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief,' — because of the mental counteracting elements, the startled or the unrighteous contradicting minds of mortals. And if he were personally with us to-day, he would rebuke whatever accords not with a full faith and spiritual knowledge of God."


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Loyal Christian Scientists "I pray that all my students shall have their lamps trimmed and burning at the noon of night, that not one of them be found borrowing oil, and seeking light from matter instead of Spirit, or at work erroneously, thus shutting out spiritual light."


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Things to be Thought Of "If a teacher of Christian Science unwittingly or intentionally offers his own thought, and gives me as authority for it; if he diverges from Science and knows it not, or, knowing it, makes the venture from vanity, in order to be thought original, or wiser than somebody else, — this divergence widens. He grows dark, and cannot regain, at will, an upright understanding."


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The Cry of Christmas-tide "Let the sentinels of Zion's watch-towers shout once again, 'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.'"


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Christmas "The star of Bethlehem is the star of Boston, high in the zenith of Truth's domain, that looketh down on the long night of human beliefs, to pierce the darkness and melt into dawn."


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Pond and Purpose "By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiae of human affairs."


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Mental Practice "May divine Love so permeate the affections of all those who have named the name of Christ in its fullest sense, that no counteracting influence can hinder their growth or taint their examples."


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Politics "Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate the actions of others."


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Dedication of Mrs. Eddy's Gift "The general thought chiefly regards material things, and keeps Mind much out of sight. The Christian, however, strives for the spiritual; he abides in a right purpose, as in laws which it were impious to transgress, and follows Truth fearlessly."


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A Timely Issue "It is often said, 'You must have a very strong will-power to heal,' or, 'It must require a great deal of faith to make your demonstrations.' When it is answered that there is no will-power required, and that something more than faith is necessary, we meet with an expression of incredulity."


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Christian Theism "What appears to mortals from their standpoint to be the necessity for evil, is proven by the law of opposites to be without necessity. Good is the primitive Principle of man; and evil, good's opposite, has no Principle, and is not, and cannot be, the derivative of good."


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Fallibility of Human Concepts "If one asks me, Is my concept of you right? I reply, The human concept is always imperfect; relinquish your human concept of me, or of any one, and find the divine, and you have gained the right one — and never until then."


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Address to the Concord Church, February, 1899 "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance."


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What is man? "A mortal sinner is not God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals. They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil, which declares that man begins in dust or as a material embryo. In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea."


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Questions and Answers "Must I have faith in Christian Science in order to be healed by it?"


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Prospectus "Meekness heightens immortal attributes only by removing the dust that dims them. Goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of Truth and Love to heal the sick."


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Spirit and Law "The law of God is the law of Spirit, a moral and spiritual force of immortal and divine Mind. The so-called law of matter is an immoral force of erring mortal mind, alias the minds of mortals."


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An Allegory "Picture to yourself 'a city set upon a hill,' a celestial city above all clouds, in serene azure and unfathomable glory: having no temple therein, for God is the temple thereof; nor need of the sun, neither of the moon, for God doth lighten it."


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An Important Distinction "In your letter to me you spoke of your 'divine self.' Where do you find such a selfhood outside of God? Nowhere; it is an unscientific statement."


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Questions and Answers "Did the salvation of the eunuch depend merely on his believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? It did . . ."


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The New Birth "With the spiritual birth, man's primitive, sinless, spiritual existence dawns on human thought, — through the travail of mortal mind, hope deferred, the perishing pleasure and accumulating pains of sense, — by which one loses himself as matter, and gains a truer sense of Spirit and spiritual man."


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Future Punishment of Sin "The present self-inflicted sufferings of mortals from sin, disease, and death should suffice so to awaken the sufferer from the mortal sense of sin and mind in matter as to cause him to return to the Father's house penitent and saved . . ."


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What are body and Soul? "Even according to the teachings of natural science, man has never beheld Spirit or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except the claim of mortal belief?"


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What is substance? "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'"


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Questions and Answers "Is spiritualism or mesmerism included in Christian Science?"


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Questions and Answers "Why do you insist that there is but one Soul, and that Soul is not in the body?"


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Questions and Answers "What is the distinction between mortal mind and immortal Mind?"


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Questions and Answers "After the change called death takes place, do we meet those gone before? — or does life continue in thought only as in a dream?"


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Questions and Answers "Are material things real when they are harmonious, and do they disappear only to the natural sense? Does this Scripture, 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,' imply that Spirit takes note of matter?"


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Questions and Answers "What are the advantages of your system of healing, over the ordinary methods of healing disease?"


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Questions and Answers "What do you consider to be mental malpractice?"


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Questions and Answers "It is often asked, 'If Christian Science is the same method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used, why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures as did those in the first century of the Christian era?'"


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Questions and Answers "If all that is mortal is a dream or error, is not our capacity for formulating a dream, real; is it not God-made; and if God-made, can it be wrong, sinful, or an error?"


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Extract from an Address "Beware of those who misrepresent facts; or tacitly assent where they should dissent; or who take me as authority for what I disapprove, or mayhap never have thought of, and try to reverse, invert, or controvert, Truth; for this is a sure pretext of moral defilement."


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Scientific Theism "It is erroneous to accept the evidence of the material senses whence to reason out God, when it is conceded that the five personal senses can take no cognizance of Spirit or of its phenomena."


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Instruction by Mrs. Eddy "Last evening I was catechized by a Christian Science practitioner because I referred to myself as an immortal idea of the one divine Mind."


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Seven Hymns "Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing; / In that sweet secret of the narrow way, / Seeking and finding, with the angels sing: / 'Lo, I am with you alway,' — watch and pray."


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Message for 1900 "In Revelation St. John refers to what 'the Spirit saith unto the churches.' His allegories are the highest criticism on all human action, type, and system. His symbolic ethics bravely rebuke lawlessness. His types of purity pierce corruption beyond the power of the pen."


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Well Doinge is the Fruite of Doinge Well "The Scriptural metaphors, — of the woman in travail, the great red dragon that stood ready to devour the child as soon as it was born, and the husbandmen that said, 'This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours,' — are type and shadow of this hour."


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Mary Baker Eddy - The Window Mrs. Eddy's view on her place as the Revelator of Christ to this age.


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Science and Philosophy "When mortal mind is silenced by the 'still, small voice' of Truth that regenerates philosophy and logic; and Jesus, as the true idea of Him, is heard as of yore saying to sensitive ears and dark disciples, 'I came from the Father,' 'Before Abraham was, I am,' coexistent and coeternal with God, — and this idea is understood, — then will the earth be filled with the true knowledge of Christ."


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The United States to Great Britain "Brave Britain, blest America! / Unite your battle-plan; / Victorious, all who live it, — / The love for God and man."


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Bible Lessons (Number 1) "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. — JOHN i. 12, 13. Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to become the son of God."


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Bible Lessons (Number 2) "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. — 1 COR. xv. 45. When reasoning on this subject of man with the Corinthian brethren, the apostle first spake from their standpoint of thought; namely, that creation is material: he was not at this point giving the history of the spiritual man who originates in God, Love, who created man in His own image and likeness."


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Bible Lessons (Number 3) "And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake. — LUKE xi. 14. The meaning of the term 'devil' needs yet to be learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited and contradictory."


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Bible Lessons (Number 4) "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. — JOHN xiv. 12. Such are the words of him who spake divinely, well knowing the omnipotence of Truth."


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Bible Lessons (Number 5) "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. — ACTS xvi. 31. The Scriptures require more than a simple admission and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons into our lives that these truths become the motive-power of every act."


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Bible Lessons (Number 6) "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. — 2 COR. xii. 10. The miracles recorded in the Scriptures illustrate the life of Jesus as nothing else can; but they cost him the hatred of the rabbis."


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Retrospection and Introspection "Many peculiar circumstances and events connected with my childhood throng the chambers of memory. For some twelve months, when I was about eight years old, I repeatedly heard a voice, calling me distinctly by name, three times, in an ascending scale."


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Christ and Christmas "As in blest Palestina's hour, / So in our age, / Tis the same hand unfolds His power, / And writes the page."


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Unity of Good "The more I understand true humanhood, the more I see it to be sinless, — as ignorant of sin as is the perfect Maker."


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No and Yes "Disease and sin appear to-day in subtler forms than they did yesterday. They progress and will multiply into worse forms, until it is understood that disease and sin are unreal, unknown to Truth, and never actual persons or real facts."


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Christian Healing "Metaphysical healing includes infinitely more than merely to know that mind governs the body and the method of a mental practice. The preparation for a metaphysical practitioner is the most arduous task I ever performed."


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The People's Idea of God "Proportionately as the people's belief of God, in every age, has been dematerialized and unfinited has their Deity become good; no longer a personal tyrant or a molten image, but the divine Life, Truth, and Love, — Life without beginning or ending, Truth without a lapse or error, and Love universal, infinite, eternal."


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To the Christian World "In the midst of the imperfect, perfection is reluctantly seen and acknowledged. Because Science is unimpeachable, it summons the severest conflicts of the ages and waits on God."


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Wedlock "When asked by a wife or a husband important questions concerning their happiness, the substance of my reply is: God will guide you."


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Capitalization "Christian Science is not understood by the writer or the reader who does not comprehend where capital letters should be used in writing about Christian Science."


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Questions and Answers "How shall we demean ourselves towards the students of disloyal students? And what about that clergyman's remarks on 'Christ and Christmas'?"


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Extract from a Sermon "If God is Mind and fills all space, is everywhere, matter is nowhere and sin is obsolete."


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A Correction "The introduction of pure abstractions into Christian Science, without their correlatives, leaves the divine Principle of Christian Science unexplained, tends to confuse the mind of the reader, and ultimates in what Jesus denounced, namely, straining at gnats and swallowing camels."


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What Our Leader Says "Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited."


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Love Your Enemies "Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us; brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, throughout time and beyond the grave."


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Personal Contagion "Declaring the truth regarding an individual or leader, rendering praise to whom praise is due, is not a symptom of this contagious malady, but persistent pursuit of his or her person is."


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The Laborer and His Hire "Till Christian Scientists give all their time to spiritual things, live without eating, and obtain their money from a fish's mouth, they must earn it in order to help mankind with it. All systems of religion stand on this basis."


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Admonition "The rules of Mind-healing are wholly Christlike and spiritual. Therefore the adoption of a worldly policy or a resort to subterfuge in the statement of the Science of Mind-healing, or any name given to it other than Christian Science, or an attempt to demonstrate the facts of this Science other than is stated in Science and Health — is a departure from the Science of Mind-healing."


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Contagion "If only the people would believe that good is more contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how much more certain would be the doctor's success, and the clergyman's conversion of sinners."


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Improve Your Time "All successful individuals have become such by hard work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit of pleasure."


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Vainglory "The predisposing and exciting cause of all defeat and victory under the sun, rests on this scientific basis: that action, in obedience to God, spiritualizes man's motives and methods, and crowns them with success; while disobedience to this divine Principle materializes human modes and consciousness, and defeats them."


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Principle and Practice "The inclination of mortal mind is to receive Christian Science through a belief instead of the understanding, . . . "


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Heaven "Heaven is spiritual. Heaven is harmony, — infinite, boundless bliss. The dying or the departed enter heaven in proportion to their progress, in proportion to their fitness to partake of the quality and the quantity of heaven."


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Watching versus Watching Out "Ignorance of self is the most stubborn belief to overcome, for apathy, dishonesty, sin, follow in its train. One should watch to know what his errors are; and if this watching destroys his peace in error, should one watch against such a result? He should not."


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Letter to James Neal "Society, flattery, popularity are temptations in your pursuit of growth spiritual. Avoid them as much as in you lies."


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Youth and Young Manhood "The ultimatum of life here and hereafter is utterly apart from a material or personal sense of pleasure, pain, joy, sorrow, life, and death. The truth of life, or life in truth, is a scientific knowledge that is portentous; and is won only by the spiritual understanding of Life as God, good, ever-present good, and therefore life eternal."


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"Put up thy sword" "My students are at the beginning of their demonstration; they have a long warfare with error in themselves and in others to finish, and they must at this stage use the sword of Spirit. They cannot in the beginning take the attitude, nor adopt the words, that Jesus used at the end of his demonstration."


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Take Notice "What I wrote on Christian Science some twenty-five years ago I do not consider a precedent for a present student of this Science."


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The General Association of Teachers, 1903 "Adhere to the teachings of the Bible, Science and Health, and our Manual, and you will obey the law and gospel. Have one God and you will have no devil. Keep yourselves busy with divine Love."


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Reply to Mark Twain "What I am remains to be proved by the good I do. We need much humility, wisdom, and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and foretasting heaven within us. This glory is molten in the furnace of affliction."


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The Second Advent "Noticing the mistakes in the sermons published in the Christian Science Journal on the subject of Jesus and the Christ, I herewith state once again [ca 1896] and for all time the pith of the meaning in your textbook that has settled this question on its scientific basis."


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Nota Bene "Rest assured that your Leader is living, loving, acting, enjoying. She is neither dead nor plucked up by the roots, but she is keenly alive to the reality of living, and safely, soulfully founded upon the rock, Christ Jesus, even the spiritual idea of Life, with its abounding, increasing, advancing footsteps of progress, primeval faith, hope, love."


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A Christmas Sermon "The truth uttered and lived by Jesus, who passed on and left to mortals the rich legacy of what he said and did, makes his followers the heirs to his example; but they can neither appreciate nor appropriate his treasures of Truth and Love, until lifted to these by their own growth and experiences."


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Extract from a Christmas Letter "My heart has many rooms: one of these is sacred to the memory of my students. Into this upper chamber, where all things are pure and of good report, into this sanctuary of love, I often retreat, sit silently, and ponder."


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What Christmas Means to Me "To me Christmas involves an open secret, understood by few — or by none — and unutterable except in Christian Science."


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Christmas for the Children ". . . The children should not be taught to believe that Santa Claus has aught to do with this pastime. A deceit or falsehood is never wise."


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Christmas "Are we still searching diligently to find where the young child lies, and are we satisfied to know that our sense of Truth is not demoralized, finitized, cribbed, or cradled, but has risen to grasp the spiritual idea unenvironed by materiality?"


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Easter Message, 1902 "May this glad Easter morn find the members of this dear church having a pure peace, a fresh joy, a clear vision of heaven here, — heaven within us, — and an awakened sense of the risen Christ."


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Sunday Services on July Fourth "The day we celebrate reminds us of the heroes and heroines who counted not their own lives dear to them, when they sought the New England shores, not as the flying nor as conquerors, but, steadfast in faith and love, to build upon the rock of Christ, the true idea of God — the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter."


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Address on the Fourth of July "To-day we commemorate not only our nation's civil and religious freedom, but a greater even, the liberty of the sons of God, the inalienable rights and radiant reality of Christianity . . ."



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