Things to be Thought

16    The need of their teacher’s counsel, felt by students,
         especially by those at a distance, working assiduously for
         our common Cause,—and their constant petitions for
         the same, should be met in the most effectual way.

20    To be responsible for supplying this want, and poise
         the wavering balance on the right side, is impracticable
         without a full knowledge of the environments. The
         educational system of Christian Science lacks the aid
         and protection of State laws. The Science is hampered
25    by immature demonstrations, by the infancy of its dis-
         covery, by incorrect teaching; and especially by unprin-
         cipled claimants, whose mad ambition drives them to
         appropriate my ideas and discovery, without credit, ap-
         preciation, or a single original conception, while they

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1      quote from other authors and give them credit for every
         random thought in line with mine.

         My noble students, who are loyal to Christ, Truth, and
         human obligations, will not be disheartened in the midst
5      of this seething sea of sin. They build for time and eter-
         nity. The others stumble over misdeeds, and their own
         unsubstantiality, without the groundwork of right, till,
         like camera shadows thrown upon the mists of time, they
         melt into darkness.

10    Unity is the essential nature of Christian Science. Its
         Principle is One, and to demonstrate the divine One,
         demands oneness of thought and action.

         Many students enter the Normal class of my College
         whom I have not fitted for it by the Primary course.
15    They are taught their first lessons by my students; hence
         the aptness to assimilate pure and abstract Science is
         somewhat untested.

         “As the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.” As mortal
         mind is directed, it acts for a season. Some students
20    leave my instructions before they are quite free from
         the bias of their first impressions, whether those be cor-
         rect or incorrect. Such students are more or less subject
         to the future mental influence of their former teacher.
         Their knowledge of Mind-healing may be right theo-
25    retically, but the moral and spiritual status of thought
         must be right also. The tone of the teacher’s mind must
         be pure, grand, true, to aid the mental development of
         the student; for the tint of the instructor’s mind must
         take its hue from the divine Mind. A single mistake in
30    metaphysics, or in ethics, is more fatal than a mistake in
         physics.

         If a teacher of Christian Science unwittingly or inten-

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1      tionally 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
5      divergence widens. He grows dark, and cannot regain,
         at will, an upright understanding. This error in the
         teacher also predisposes his students to make mistakes
         and lose their way. Diverse opinions in Science are
         stultifying. All must have one Principle and the same
10    rule; and all who follow the Principle and rule have but
         one opinion of it.

         Whosoever understands a single rule in Science, and
         demonstrates its Principle according to rule, is master
         of the situation. Nobody can gainsay this. The ego-
15    tistical theorist or shallow moralist may presume to
         make innovations upon simple proof; but his mistake
         is visited upon himself and his students, whose minds
         are, must be, disturbed by this discord, which extends
         along the whole line of reciprocal thought. An error
20    in premise can never bring forth the real fruits of Truth.
         After thoroughly explaining spiritual Truth and its ethics
         to a student, I am not morally responsible for the mis-
         statements or misconduct of this student. My teachings
         are uniform. Those who abide by them do well. If
25    others, who receive the same instruction, do ill, the fault
         is not in the culture but the soil.

         I am constantly called to settle questions and disaf-
         fections toward Christian Science growing out of the
         departures from Science of self-satisfied, unprincipled
30    students. If impatient of the loving rebuke, the stu-
         dent must stop at the foot of the grand ascent, and there
         remain until suffering compels the downfall of his self-

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1      conceit. Then that student must struggle up, with bleed-
         ing footprints, to the God-crowned summit of unselfish
         and pure aims and affections.

         To be two-sided, when these sides are moral oppo-
5      sites, is neither politic nor scientific; and to abridge a
         single human right or privilege is an error. Whoever
         does this may represent me as doing it; but he mistakes
         me, and the subjective state of his own mind for mine.

         The true leader of a true cause is the unacknowledged
10    servant of mankind. Stationary in the background, this
         individual is doing the work that nobody else can or will
         do. An erratic career is like the comet’s course, dash-
         ing through space, headlong and alone. A clear-headed
         and honest Christian Scientist will demonstrate the Prin-
15    ciple of Christian Science, and hold justice and mercy as
         inseparable from the unity of God.