The Project Gutenberg eBook, Pulpit and Press (6th Edition), by Mary Baker Eddy

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Pulpit and Press (6th Edition)

Author: Mary Baker Eddy

Release Date: December 11, 2003 [eBook #10437] [Date last updated: January 8, 2005]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PULPIT AND PRESS (6TH EDITION)***

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Tom Allen, Josephine Paolucci and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Transcriber's Note: The spelling "diapson" occurs in our print copy
                    in the article from the American Art Journal.

PULPIT AND PRESS.

Sixth Edition.

BY

REVEREND MARY BAKER EDDY,

DISCOVERER AND FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.

1897.

CONTENTS

  DEDICATORY SERMON
  CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXT-BOOK
  HYMN—Laying the Corner Stone
    Feed My Sheep
    Christ My Refuge
  NOTE

CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPERS

CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN BOSTON HERALD BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE BOSTON TRANSCRIPT JACKSON PATRIOT OUTLOOK AMERICAN ART JOURNAL BOSTON JOURNAL REPUBLIC, (WASHINGTON, D.C.) NEW YORK TRIBUNE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL MONTREAL HERALD BALTIMORE AMERICAN REPORTER, (LEBANON, IND.) NEW YORK COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER SYRACUSE POST NEW YORK HERALD TORONTO GLOBE CONCORD MONITOR PEOPLE AND PATRIOT UNION SIGNAL NEW CENTURY CHRISTIAN SCIENCE JOURNAL CONCORD MONITOR

PREFACE.

This volume contains scintillations from press and pulpit—utterances which epitomize the story of the birth of Christian Science, in 1866, and its progress during the ensuing thirty years. Three quarters of a century hence, when the children of to-day are the elders of the twentieth century, it will be interesting to have not only a record of the inclination given their own thoughts in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but also a registry of the rise of the mercury in the glass of the world's opinion.

It will then be instructive to turn backward the telescope of that advanced age, with its lenses of more spiritual mentality, indicating the gain of intellectual momentum, on the early footsteps of Christian Science as planted in the pathway of this generation; to note the impetus thereby given to Christianity; to con the facts surrounding the cradle of this grand verity—that the sick are healed and sinners saved, not by matter, but by Mind; and to further scan the features of the vast problem of eternal life, as expressed in the absolute power of Truth, and the actual bliss of man's existence in Science.

MARY BAKER EDDY.

February, 1895.

TO

The dear two thousand and six hundred Children,

WHOSE CONTRIBUTIONS

Of $4,460 were devoted to the Mother's Room in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston,

THIS UNIQUE BOOK IS TENDERLY DEDICATED BY

MARY BAKER EDDY.

DEDICATORY SERMON.

BY REV. MARY BAKER EDDY,

First pastor of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass.,
Delivered Jan. 6, 1895.

TEXT—Psalms xxxvi, 8. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures."

A new year is a nursling, a babe of time, a prophecy and promise clad in white raiment, kissed—and encumbered with greetings—redolent with grief and gratitude.

An old year is time's adult, and 1893 was a distinguished character, notable for good and evil. Time past and time present, both, may pain us, but time IMPROVED is eloquent in God's praise. For due refreshment garner the memory of 1894; for if wiser by reason of its large lessons, and records deeply engraven, great is the value thereof.

  Pass on returnless year!
  The path behind thee is with glory crowned;
  This spot whereon thou troddest was holy ground;
          Pass proudly to thy bier!

To-day being with you in spirit, what need that I should be present in propria persona? Were I present, methinks I should be much like the Queen of Sheba, when she saw the house Solomon had erected. In the expressive language of Holy Writ, "there was no more spirit in her;" and she said: "Behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard." Both without and within, the spirit of beauty dominates the Mother Church, from its mosaic flooring to the soft shimmer of its starlit dome.

Nevertheless, there is a thought higher and deeper than the edifice. Material light and shade are temporal, not eternal. Turning the attention from sublunary views, however enchanting, think for a moment with me of the house wherewith "they shall be abundantly satisfied," "Even the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." With the mind's eye glance at the direful scenes of the war between China and Japan. Imagine yourselves in a poorly barricaded fort, fiercely besieged by the enemy. Would you rush forth single-handed to combat the foe? Nay, would you not rather strengthen your citadel by every means in your power, and remain within the walls for its defense? Likewise should we do as metaphysicians and Christian Scientists. The real house in which "we live, move, and have our being" is Spirit, God, the eternal harmony of infinite Soul. The enemy we confront would overthrow this sublime fortress, and it behooves us to defend our heritage.

How can we do this christianly scientific work? By intrenching ourselves in the knowledge that our true temple is no human fabrication, but the superstructure of Truth, reared on the foundation of Love, and pinnacled in Life. Such being its nature, how can our godly temple possibly be demolished, or even disturbed? Can eternity end? Can Life die? Can Truth be uncertain? Can Love be less than boundless? Referring to this temple our Master said: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." He also said: "The kingdom of God is already within you." Know then that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly,—and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love. If you maintain this position, who or what can cause you to sin or suffer? Our surety is in our confidence that we are indeed dwellers in Truth and Love, man's eternal mansion. Such a heavenly assurance ends all warfare, and bids tumult cease, for the good fight we have waged is over, and divine Love gives us the true sense of victory. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." No longer are we of the church militant, but of the church triumphant; and with Job of old we exclaim: "Yet in my flesh shall I see God." The river of his pleasures is a tributary of divine love, whose living