Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 48
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side of Adam, closed up the wound thereof, and builded [1]
up the woman." (Gen. ii. 21.)
Here we have the Professor on the platform of Christian Science! even a "surgical operation" that he says was performed by divine power,-Mind alone constructing [5]
the human system, before surgical instruments were invented, and closing the incisions of the flesh.
He further states that G.o.d cannot save the soul without compliance to ordained conditions. But, we ask, have those conditions named in Genesis been perpetuated in [10]
the multiplication of mankind? And, are the conditions of salvation mental, or physical; are they bodily penance and torture, or repentance and reform, which are the action of mind?
He asks, "Has the law been abrogated that demands [15]
the employment of visible agencies for specific ends?"
Will he accept my reply as derived from the life and teachings of Jesus?-who annulled the so-called laws of matter by the higher law of Spirit, causing him to walk the wave, turn the water into wine, make the blind to see, [20]
the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to be raised without matter-agencies. And he did this for man's example; not to teach himself, but others, the way of healing and salvation. He said, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold." [25]
The teachings and demonstration of Jesus were for all peoples and for all time; not for a privileged cla.s.s or a restricted period, but for as many as should believe in him.
Are the discoverers of quinine, cocaine, etc., espe- [30]
cially the children of our Lord because of their medical discoveries?
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We have no record showing that our Master ever used, [1]
or recommended others to use, drugs; but we have his words, and the prophet's, as follows: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?"
"And Asa ... sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. [5]
And Asa slept with his fathers."
Veritas Odium Parit
The combined efforts of the materialistic portion of the pulpit and press in 1885, to r.e.t.a.r.d by misrepresen- tation the stately goings of Christian Science, are giving [10]
it new impetus and energy; calling forth the _vox populi_ and directing more critical observation to its uplifting influence upon the health, morals, and spirituality of mankind.
Their movements indicate fear and weakness, a physi- [15]
cal and spiritual need that Christian Science should re- move with glorious results. The conclusion cannot now be pushed, that women have no rights that man is bound to respect. This is woman's hour, in all the good tend- encies, charities, and reforms of to-day. It is difficult [20]
to say which may be most mischievous to the human heart, the praise or the dispraise of men.
I have loved the Church and followed it, thinking that it was following Christ; but, if the pulpit allows the people to go no further in the direction of Christlikeness, and [25]
rejects apostolic Christianity, seeking to stereotype infinite Truth, it is a thing to be thankful for that one can walk alone the straight and narrow way; that, in the words of Wendell Phillips, "one with G.o.d is a majority."
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It is the pulpit and press, clerical robes and the pro- [1]
hibiting of free speech, that cradles and covers the sins of the world,-all unmitigated systems of crime; and it requires the enlightenment of these worthies, through civil and religious reform, to blot out all inhuman codes. [5]
It was the Southern pulpit and press that influenced the people to wrench from man both human and divine rights, in order to subserve the interests of wealth, religious caste, civil and political power. And the pulpit had to be purged of that sin by human gore,-when the love of [10]
Christ would have washed it divinely away in Christian Science!
The cry of the colored slave has scarcely been heard and hushed, when from another direction there comes another sharp cry of oppression. Another form of inhumanity [15]
lifts its hydra head to forge anew the old fetters; to shackle conscience, stop free speech, slander, vilify; to invite its prey, then turn and refuse the victim a solitary vindication in this most unprecedented warfare.
A conflict more terrible than the battle of Gettysburg [20]
awaits the crouching wrong that refused to yield its prey the peace of a desert, when a voice was heard crying in the wilderness,-the spiritual famine of 1866, -"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." [25]
Shall religious intolerance, arrayed against the rights of man, again deluge the earth in blood? The question at issue with mankind is: Shall we have a spiritual Chris- tianity and a spiritual healing, or a materialistic religion and a _materia medica_? [30]
The advancing faith and hope of Christianity, the earnest seeking after practical truth that shall cast out
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error and heal the sick, wisely demand for man his G.o.d- [1]
given heritage, both human and divine rights; namely, that his honest convictions and _proofs_ of advancing truth be allowed due consideration, and treated not as pearls trampled upon. [5]
Those familiar with my history are more tolerant; those who know me, know that I found health in just what I teach. I have professed Christianity a half-century; and now I calmly challenge the world, upon fair investigation, to furnish a single instance of departure in one of my [10]
works from the highest possible ethics.
The charges against my views are false, but natural, since those bringing them do not understand my state- ment of the Science I introduce, and are unwilling to be taught it, even gratuitously. If they did understand it, they [15]
could demonstrate this Science by healing the sick; hence the injustice of their interpretations.
To many, the healing force developed by Christian Science seems a mystery, because they do not understand that Spirit controls body. They acknowledge the exist- [20]
ence of mortal mind, but believe it to reside in matter of the brain; but that man is the idea of infinite Mind, is not so easily accepted. That which is temporary seems, to the common estimate, solid and substantial.
It is much easier for people to believe that the body [25]
affects mind, than that the body is an expression of mind, and reflects harmony or discord according to thought.
Everything that G.o.d created, He p.r.o.nounced good.
He never made sickness. Hence _that_ is only an evil belief [30]
of mortal mind, which must be met, in every instance, with a denial by Truth.
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This is the "new tongue," the language of them that [1]
"lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover," whose spiritual interpretation they refuse to hear. For instance: the literal meaning of the pa.s.sage "lay hands on the sick"
would be manipulation; its moral meaning, found in the [5]
"new tongue," is spiritual power,-as, in another Scripture, "I will triumph in the works of Thy hands."
Falsehood
The Greeks showed a just estimate of the person they called slanderer, when they made the word synonymous [10]
with devil. If the simple falsehoods uttered about me were compounded, the mixture would be labelled thus: "Religionists' mistaken views of Mrs. Eddy's book, 'Sci- ence and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and the malice aforethought of sinners." [15]
That I take opium; that I am an infidel, a mesmerist, a medium, a "pantheist;" or that my hourly life is prayerless, or not in strict obedience to the Mosaic Decalogue,- is not more true than that I am dead, as is oft reported.