Chapter 14 — Contributions to Newspapers and Magazines
From Miscellany by Mary Baker Eddy
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Table of Contents
- A Word in Defence
- Christian Science Thanks
- Mrs. Eddy’s Response
- Insufficient Freedom
- Christian Science and the Times
- Heaven
- Prevention and Cure of Divorce
- Harvest
- Mrs. Eddy Describes Her Human Ideal
- Mrs. Eddy’s Answer
- Youth and Young Manhood
- Mrs. Eddy Sends Thanks
- Universal Fellowship
- Mrs. Eddy’s Own Denial that She Is Ill
- To Whom It May Concern
- Politics
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1 [Boston Herald, May 5, 1900]
A WORD IN DEFENCE3 I EVEN hope that those who are kind enough to
speak well of me may do so honestly and not too
earnestly, and this seldom, until mankind learn more of
6 my meaning and can speak justly of my living.
[Boston Globe, November 29, 1900]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THANKS
9 On the threshold of the twentieth century, will you
please send through the Globe to the people of New
England, which is the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day, a
12 sentiment on what the last Thanksgiving Day of the
nineteenth century should signify to all mankind?
Mrs. Eddy’s Response
15 New England’s last Thanksgiving Day of this century
signifies to the minds of men the Bible better understood
and Truth and Love made more practical; the First
18 Commandment of the Decalogue more imperative, and
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1 “Love thy neighbor as thyself” more possible and
pleasurable.
3 It signifies that love, unselfed, knocks more loudly than
ever before at the heart of humanity and that it finds
admittance; that revelation, spiritual voice and vision,
6 are less subordinate to material sight and sound and more
apparent to reason; that evil flourishes less, invests less
in trusts, loses capital, and is bought at par value; that
9 the Christ-spirit will cleanse the earth of human gore;
that civilization, peace between nations, and the brother-
hood of man should be established, and justice plead not
12 vainly in behalf of the sacred rights of individuals, peoples,
and nations.
It signifies that the Science of Christianity has dawned
15 upon human thought to appear full-orbed in millennial
glory; that scientific religion and scientific therapeutics
are improving the morals and increasing the longevity
18 of mankind, are mitigating and destroying sin, disease,
and death; that religion and materia medica should be
no longer tyrannical and proscriptive; that divine Love,
21 impartial and universal, as understood in divine Sci-
ence, forms the coincidence of the human and divine,
which fulfils the saying of our great Master, “The king-
24 dom of God is within you;” that the atmosphere of the
human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with
divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in
27 clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of
heat and cold; that agriculture, manufacture, commerce,
and wealth should be governed by honesty, indus-
30 try, and justice, reaching out to all classes and peoples.
For these signs of the times we thank our Father-
Mother God.
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[New York World, December, 1900]
INSUFFICIENT FREEDOM
3 To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting
the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and
liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of
6 politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insuf-
ficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed,
and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye
9 would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
[Concord (N. H.) Monitor, July, 1902]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE TIMES
12 Your article on the decrease of students in the semi-
naries and the consequent vacancies occurring in the
pulpits, points unmistakably to the “signs of the times”
15 of which Jesus spoke. This flux and flow in one direc-
tion, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate — the
final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes,
18 hypotheses, of man and the universe. How can it be
otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that
really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the
21 spiritualization of all?
Since 1877, these special “signs of the times” have in-
creased year by year. My book, “Science and Health
24 with Key to the Scriptures,” was published in 1875.
Note, if you please, that many points in theology and
materia medica, at that date undisturbed, are now agitated,
27 modified, and disappearing, and the more spiritual modes
and significations are adopted.
It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined
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1 to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics
on this planet. And why not, since Christianity is fully
3 demonstrated to be divine Science? Nothing can be cor-
rect and continue forever which is not divinely scientific,
for Science is the law of the Mind that is God, who is
6 the originator of all that really is. The Scripture reads:
“All things were made by Him; and without Him was
not any thing made that was made.” Here let us re-
9 member that God is not the Alpha and Omega of man
and the universe; He is supreme, infinite, the great for-
ever, the eternal Mind that hath no beginning and no
12 end, no Alpha and no Omega.
[New York American, February, 1905]
HEAVEN
15 Is heaven spiritual?
Heaven is spiritual. Heaven is harmony, — infinite,
boundless bliss. The dying or the departed enter heaven
18 in proportion to their progress, in proportion to their fit-
ness to partake of the quality and the quantity of heaven.
One individual may first awaken from his dream of life
21 in matter with a sense of music; another with that of
relief from fear or suffering, and still another with a bit-
ter sense of lost opportunities and remorse. Heaven is
24 the reign of divine Science. Material thought tends to
obscure spiritual understanding, to darken the true con-
ception of man’s divine Principle, Love, wherein and
27 whereby soul is emancipate and environed with ever-
lasting Life. Our great Teacher hath said: “Behold, the
kingdom of God is within you” — within man’s spiritual
30 understanding of all the divine modes, means, forms, ex-
pression, and manifestation of goodness and happiness.
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[Boston Herald, March 5, 1905]
PREVENTION AND CURE OF DIVORCE
3 The nuptial vow should never be annulled so long as
the morale of marriage is preserved. The frequency of
divorce shows that the imperative nature of the mar-
6 riage relation is losing ground, — hence that some funda-
mental error is engrafted on it. What is this error?
If the motives of human affection are right, the affec-
9 tions are enduring and achieving. What God hath joined
together, man cannot sunder.
Divorce and war should be exterminated according to
12 the Principle of law and gospel, — the maintenance of
individual rights, the justice of civil codes, and the power
of Truth uplifting the motives of men. Two command-
15 ments of the Hebrew Decalogue, “Thou shalt not commit
adultery” and “Thou shalt not kill,” obeyed, will elimi-
nate divorce and war. On what hath not a “Thus saith
18 the Lord,” I am as silent as the dumb centuries without
a living Divina.
This time-world flutters in my thought as an unreal
21 shadow, and I can only solace the sore ills of mankind by
a lively battle with “the world, the flesh and the devil,”
in which Love is the liberator and gives man the victory
24 over himself. Truth, canonized by life and love, lays
the axe at the root of all evil, lifts the curtain on the
Science of being, the Science of wedlock, of living and of
27 loving, and harmoniously ascends the scale of life. Look
high enough, and you see the heart of humanity warming
and winning. Look long enough, and you see male and
30 female one — sex or gender eliminated; you see the des-
ignation man meaning woman as well, and you see the
Page 269
1 whole universe included in one infinite Mind and reflected
in the intelligent compound idea, image or likeness, called
3 man, showing forth the infinite divine Principle, Love,
called God, — man wedded to the Lamb, pledged to inno-
cence, purity, perfection. Then shall humanity have
6 learned that “they which shall be accounted worthy to
obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can
9 they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels;
and are the children of God.” (Luke 20: 35, 36.) This,
therefore, is Christ’s plan of salvation from divorce.
12 All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the Soul.
— POPE
15 [The Independent, November, 1906]
HARVEST
God hath thrust in the sickle, and He is separating the
18 tares from the wheat. This hour is molten in the furnace
of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known,
world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the
21 beams of right have healing in their light. The windows
of heaven are sending forth their rays of reality — even
Christian Science, pouring out blessing for cursing, and
24 rehearsing: “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.”
“Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I
27 will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it.”
30 The lie and the liar are self-destroyed. Truth is im-
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1 mortal. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: . . . for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
3 The cycle of good obliterates the epicycle of evil.
Because of the magnitude of their spiritual import, we
repeat the signs of these times. In 1905, the First Con-
6 gregational Church, my first religious home in this capital
city of Concord, N. H., kindly invited me to its one hun-
dred and seventy-fifth anniversary; the leading editors
9 and newspapers of my native State congratulate me; the
records of my ancestry attest honesty and valor. Divine
Love, nearer my consciousness than before, saith: I am
12 rewarding your waiting, and “thy people shall be my
people.”
Let error rage and imagine a vain thing. Mary Baker
15 Eddy is not dead, and the words of those who say that she
is are the father of their wish. Her life is proven under
trial, and evidences “as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
18 Those words of our dear, departing Saviour, breathing
love for his enemies, fill my heart: “Father, forgive them;
for they know not what they do.” My writings heal the
21 sick, and I thank God that for the past forty years I
have returned good for evil, and that I can appeal to
Him as my witness to the truth of this statement.
24 What we love determines what we are. I love the
prosperity of Zion, be it promoted by Catholic, by Prot-
estant, or by Christian Science, which anoints with
27 Truth, opening the eyes of the blind and healing the sick.
I would no more quarrel with a man because of his religion
than I would because of his art. The divine Principle of
30 Christian Science will ultimately be seen to control both
religion and art in unity and harmony. God is Spirit,
and “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
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1 and in truth.” If, as the Scriptures declare, God, Spirit,
is infinite, matter and material sense are null, and there
3 are no vertebrata, mollusca, or radiata.
When I wrote “Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures,” I little understood all that I indited; but
6 when I practised its precepts, healing the sick and reform-
ing the sinner, then I learned the truth of what I had
written. It is of comparatively little importance what a
9 man thinks or believes he knows; the good that a man does
is the one thing needful and the sole proof of rightness.
[The Evening Press, Grand Rapids, Mich., August, 1907]
MRS. EDDY DESCRIBES HER HUMAN IDEAL
In a modest, pleasantly situated home in the city of
Concord, N. H., lives at eighty-six years of age the most
15 discussed woman in all the world. This lady with sweet
smile and snowy hair is Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder
and Leader of Christian Science, beloved of thousands
18 of believers and followers of the thought that has made
her famous. It was to this aged woman of world-wide
renown that the editor of The Evening Press addressed
21 this question, requesting the courtesy of a reply: —
“What is nearest and dearest to your heart to-day?”
Mrs. Eddy’s reply will be read with deep interest by all
24 Americans, who, whatever their religious beliefs, cannot
fail to be impressed by the personality of this remarkable
woman.
Mrs. Eddy’s Answer
Editor of The Evening Press: — To your courtesy and
to your question permit me to say that, insomuch as I
30 know myself, what is “nearest and dearest” to my heart
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1 is an honest man or woman — one who steadfastly and
actively strives for perfection, one who leavens the loaf
3 of life with justice, mercy, truth, and love.
Goodness is greatness, and the logic of events pushes
onward the centuries; hence the Scripture, “The law of
6 the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me [man] free
from the law of sin and death.”
This predicate and ultimate of scientific being presents,
9 however, no claim that man is equal to God, for the finite
is not the altitude of the infinite.
The real man was, is, and ever shall be the divine ideal,
12 that is, God’s image and likeness; and Christian Science
reveals the divine Principle, the example, the rule, and
the demonstration of this idealism.
15 Sincerely yours,
MARY BAKER EDDY
PLEASANT VIEW, CONCORD, N. H.
[Cosmopolitan, November, 1907]
YOUTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD
EDITOR’S NOTE. — The Cosmopolitan presents this month to its
21 readers a facsimile of an article sent to us by Mrs. Eddy, with the
corrections on the manuscript reproduced in her own handwriting.
Not only Mrs. Eddy’s own devoted followers, but the public gen-
24 erally, will be interested in this communication from the extraordi-
nary woman who, nearly eighty-seven years of age, plays so great
a part in the world and leads with such conspicuous success her very
27 great following.
Mrs. Eddy writes very rarely for any publications outside of the
Christian Science periodicals, and our readers will be interested in
30 this presentation of the thought of a mind that has had so much
influence on this generation.
The Cosmopolitan gives no editorial indorsement to the teachings
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1 of Christian Science, it has no religious opinions or predilections to
put before its readers. This manuscript is presented simply as an
3 interesting and remarkable proof of Mrs. Eddy’s ability in old age
to vindicate in her own person the value of her teachings.
Certainly, Christian Scientists, enthusiastic in their belief, are
6 fortunate in being able to point to a Leader far beyond the allotted
years of man, emerging triumphantly from all attacks upon her, and
guiding with remarkable skill, determination, and energy a very
9 great organization that covers practically the civilized world.
“
King David, the Hebrew bard, sang, “I have been
young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the right-
12 eous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
I for one accept his wise deduction, his ultimate or
spiritual sense of thinking, feeling, and acting, and its
15 reward. This sense of rightness acquired by experience
and wisdom, should be early presented to youth and to
manhood in order to forewarn and forearm humanity.
18 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
21 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.
24 You will agree with me that the material body is mortal,
but Soul is immortal; also that the five personal senses
are perishable: they lapse and relapse, come and go, until
27 at length they are consigned to dust. But say you,
“Man awakes from the dream of death in possession of
the five personal senses, does he not?” Yes, because
30 death alone does not awaken man in God’s image
and likeness. The divine Science of Life alone gives
“
Copyright, 1907, by Mary Baker G. Eddy. Renewed, 1935.
Page 274
1 the true sense of life and of righteousness, and demon-
strates the Principle of life eternal; even the Life that
3 is Soul apart from the so-called life of matter or the
material senses.
Death alone does not absolve man from a false material
6 sense of life, but goodness, holiness, and love do this, and
so consummate man’s being with the harmony of heaven;
the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of Life,
9 even its all-power, all-presence, all-Science.
Dear reader, right thinking, right feeling, and right
acting — honesty, purity, unselfishness — in youth tend
12 to success, intellectuality, and happiness in manhood.
To begin rightly enables one to end rightly, and thus it is
that one achieves the Science of Life, demonstrates health,
15 holiness, and immortality.
[Boston Herald, April, 1908]
MRS. EDDY SENDS THANKS
18 Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has sent the following to the
Herald: —
Will the dear Christian Scientists accept my thanks
21 for their magnificent gifts, and allow me to say that I am
not fond of an abundance of material presents; but I
am cheered and blessed when beholding Christian healing,
24 unity among brethren, and love to God and man; this
is my crown of rejoicing, for it demonstrates Christian
Science.
27 The Psalmist sang, “That thy way may be known
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.”
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1 [Minneapolis (Minn.) News]
UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP
3 Christian Science can and does produce universal
fellowship. As the sequence of divine Love it explains
love, it lives love, it demonstrates love. The human,
6 material, so-called senses do not perceive this fact until
they are controlled by divine Love; hence the Scripture,
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
9 BROOKLINE, MASS.,
May 1, 1908
[New York Herald]
MRS. EDDY’S OWN DENIAL THAT SHE IS ILL
Permit me to say, the report that I am sick (and I
trust the desire thereof) is dead, and should be buried.
15 Whereas the fact that I am well and keenly alive to the
truth of being — the Love that is Life — is sure and stead-
fast. I go out in my carriage daily, and have omitted
18 my drive but twice since I came to Massachusetts.
Either my work, the demands upon my time at home, or
the weather, is all that prevents my daily drive.
21 Working and praying for my dear friends’ and my dear
enemies’ health, happiness, and holiness, the true sense
of being goes on.
24 Doing unto others as we would that they do by us, is
immortality’s self. Intrepid, self-oblivious love fulfils the
law and is self-sustaining and eternal. With white-winged
27 charity brooding over all, spiritually understood and de-
monstrated, let us unite in one Te Deum of praise.
BOX G, BROOKLINE, MASS.,
30 May 15, 1908
Page 276
[Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1908]
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
3 Since Mrs. Eddy is watched, as one watches a criminal
or a sick person, she begs to say, in her own behalf, that
she is neither; therefore to be criticized or judged by
6 either a daily drive or a dignified stay at home, is super-
fluous. When accumulating work requires it, or because
of a preference to remain within doors she omits her
9 drive, do not strain at gnats or swallow camels over
it, but try to be composed and resigned to the shock-
ing fact that she is minding her own business, and rec-
12 ommends this surprising privilege to all her dear friends
and enemies.
MARY BAKER EDDY
15 [Boston Post, November, 1908]
POLITICS
Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those
18 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.
21 In reply to a number of requests for an expression of
her political views, she has given out this statement: —
I am asked, “What are your politics?” I have none, in
24 reality, other than to help support a righteous government;
to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself.