Our Ideals
Sermon by the Pastor of the Church of Christ Scientist
Boston, MassachusettsAs Written:Mas. July 15 1888.
Text Luke 12.32. Fear not little flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The progenitorsAs Written:proginitors of the Jews in Patriarchal days were nomads the occupation tending their flocks was
lucrative and every man was more or less a shepherdAs Written:shepard, from the Sheik down to the slave. The Eastern shepherdsAs Written:shepards life was attend with hardship and danger. His food was at the mercy of nature's
precarious supplies . To shield from the attacks of savage beasts and predatory hoardsAs Written:hords the shepherdsAs Written:shepards built towers
whence to spy danger at a distance
and to protect their flocks from the inclemency of the seasons. The ShepherdAs Written:Sheperd carried a rod which could be used as a weapon & a crook for handling his sheep
He numbered his sheep by passing them under this rod as
they entered the door of the fold. Three words common to our language are scripture emphatically descriptiveAs Written:discriptive
in scripture of the nature and character of God. These words are ShepherdAs Written:Shepard, Father, Mother. The Hebrew bard sang
"The Lord is my shepard I shall not want."Ps 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Editorial Note: This psalm has been traditionally ascribed to King David. In this oriental phraseologyAs Written:praziology
his
faith seems implicit and to rise into rest. The simile is complete but the difference noteworthy between
intelligent human faith
and blind instinct or
the great moral distance between the
animal and
spiritual
This also revives that trite truism from the lips of our Lord of how
much more value is a man than a sheepMatt 12:12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the
sabbath days. . The Great ShepherdAs Written:Shepard
[?] rearsUnclear or illegiblerears God crownedAs Written:crownd
tower for His flock. It is not a miracle in stone like the renowned
pyramidAs Written:pirimidEditorial Note: The Great Pyramid of Giza, located near El Giza in Egypt, is considered to be one
of the seven wonders of the ancient
world, and was completed in 2560 BCE as a tomb for Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (in Greek,
Cheops).
it is a miracle of Mind
. Its foundation is Love, its apex is Love and every golden stair that leads to its top is Love increasing in degree as it winds
upward. From this refugeAs Written:reffuge
and and strong tower the foe is seen at a distance and
in advance of danger
. If a watch is kept
he never gets nearer
The Great shepherd
leadeth forth His flocks
in the morning in the bright hours when the light of faith bursts upon the understanding and affections. Divine Truth leads forth the
human thought from the lower to the higher ideals in pain and physical anguish when
the o'er burdened mind clings to the suffering induced by its own false
concept of sickness and feels its own subjective state of thought and clings to matter
instead of Spirit and is suffering because of this clinging into
freedom and relief. At night the Great ShepherdAs Written:Shepard takes back His flock into the fold. When the heartAs Written:hart has grown weary and oppressed and hope deferred toil unrewarded ingratitude and betrayal
shadows as with a paul life and its environments. The
Great ShepherdAs Written:Shepard gives rest and safety in the Divine -- so full so free it unfolds the aching heartAs Written:hart and lays it upon the heartAs Written:hart of God. All that I know of His heartAs Written:hart I have learned from my own when it was pierced and looked up to Him whom it had pierced
remembering his patience and love and reviving my own
through this great shadow of the Almighty and finding rest under His wings in the secret place of the Most HighPs 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of
the Almighty. .
If one of His flock strayeth the Great ShepherdAs Written:Shepard is not unmindful of His wanderer. His love searcheth after him and leadeth him back
forcibly or gently if he is unwilling to return to the
fold.Matt 18:12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth
he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which
is gone astray? Matt 18:13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Matt 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little
ones should perish. Luke 15:3 ¶And he spake this parable unto them, saying, Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the
ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find
it? Luke 15:5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Luke 15:6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep
which was lost. Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Editorial Note: Eddy is here alluding to Jesus' parable of the lost sheep (Matt:18:12-14 and Luke:15:3-7).
The parable is also found in
saying 107 of the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. He numbereth His sheep whom He loveth He chastenethHeb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
The law of Good that demands the punishment
of evil is not enough to chasten and subdue and and destroy the mortal sense of sin.
The sense must come into the Gospel suffering, the sharp grief that
Love awakens over sin, and this suffering atones for evil by uniting the affections
to Good and the freedom of Love untempted unrepentantAs Written:unrepentent and triumphant. God as our Father is the next sweetest concept of the babe in Christ.
The child knows his father will provide for him. He needs
to take no thought for the morrowMatt 6:24 ¶No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon. He says in simple glee father will bring me food and clothes
and all beautiful things and useful. The father cares for the education of his child,
his culture and refinement of mind and manners. His wisdom supplies
the lack of years in experience in his offspringAs Written:ofspring It is at once a prophesy and a proverb to the young life for which he careth and
provideth. His love hath made it light to him that it leads
forth in the morning of light while the dewsAs Written:dues of youth are uponAs Written:uppon him. Our Master said all things are prepared of me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but
the Father"Luke 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but
the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. How blestAs Written:blist to know that His judgmentAs Written:judgement is righteous. That if others misjudge and condemn unjustly the Father knoweth the
son. He remembers the simple trust purity and Truth
uncontaminated and speaks for his child the truth of his affection, motives, words
and works and sayeth judge notMatt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. .
He that searcheth the heartAs Written:hart is not displeased with the true seeker who followeth whithersoever He leads. Another
degree in the line of ascent and Deity is characterized by
the word Mother. Here thought walks boundless and conception unconfined finds wings
to reach His glory. O! The mysteryAs Written:mistery of the Divine Motherhood. Who is not thrilledAs Written:thrilld by a sense of this infinite self within a self, all heart, the unity of love and
bonds of God, without gender number or person. All in one One in
All. The wise manEditorial Note: The author of the Song of Solomon. This book in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
is traditionally ascribed to King
Solomon, who as known for his wisdom. Some scholars today believe that it is unlikely
that the author of this book was actually Solomon. saith of this higher concept of the nature and character of God: "My Dove my
undefiled is but one. She is the only one of her Mother"Song 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Another degree in the scale of being and we name it the highest ideal of the God-head.
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Spiritually interpreted by the tongue of Science is
this: Father and Mother, Son and Daughter, in the essence of the Divine
unity of Divine Science, no human concept here. One God one man one mind to declare
them but this is not the absorption of mans and womans individuality
into the individual God, it is the radiation of individuality in its distinctive forms
and qualitiesAs Written:quallities up to the infinite calculus of being. The ideals of different individuals are not
the same hence they must to some extent live and thrive apart.
This is no heavy burden when we considerAs Written:concider vastness of the realm of mortal mind. There is room enough there to float into spiritual
latitudes without collision Larger than the broad domain
of the earths surface and the lands of Abraham and LotGen 13:5 ¶And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. Gen 13:6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their
substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. Gen 13:7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s
cattle: and the Canaanite and the
Perizzite dwelled then in the land. Gen 13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Gen 13:11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated
themselves the one from the other. Gen 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Gen 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. is the boundaryAs Written:boundery of benevolenceAs Written:benevolance justice and truth. These are the domains of the thoughts of Christian Scientists.
Outside of this realm of the real there are no scientific
states of mind. Divest Christian Science of its Divinity and there is nothing left
of it. Christian Science so permeates thought and life with goodness
that they distillAs Written:distil joy, health, and holiness on the lives of others as silently and gently as the due
refreseth the flower, and the morning light melteth the
shadow. Christian Science is suffering violence. It is profanedAs Written:profamed and prostrated by all who take it by forceMatt 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. of intellect alone. The affections, the immortal cravings
of the chastened human heartAs Written:hart only yearn for, and are able to touch the hem of its garment and be madeAs Written:mad whole The fatal folly and last resort of inability and envy, the vainAs Written:vane attempt to separateAs Written:sepperate a man or woman from his or her ideal. This can no more be rent asunder than God and
heaven, soul and body alias life and its manifestation,
Principle and its idea, cause and effect. Take if you can Paul apart from his doctrines.
If you misunderstand or hate Paul if you accuse him falsely, you
never can understand his teachings and must in fact dislike them and misconceiveAs Written:misconcieve their real import. If Christian Science is demonstrably true, not one statement can
be added or diminished to its principle and rule that is
true. Christian Science demonstrated healing the sick casting out evils and raising
the dead understanding is the ideal of its discoverer at this period.
Is this a true ideal. Yes replies the verbose mental healer but Mrs Eddy is false
and I have got the true ideal. There is not on the earth today a true
ideal of mind healing that has not been borrowed or plagiarizedAs Written:plagerized from Science and Health. Room for the lepersAs Written:leapors. Give everyone his place and space. Render to CaesarAs Written:Ceaser the things that are Caesar'sAs Written:CeasersMatt 22:21 They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto C
æsar the things which are C
æsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. but think not to mingle the human and Divine in Science. Whatever is absolute Science is absolutely unsusceptibleAs Written:unsusceptable of unchangeableAs Written:unchangable and there remains Science. My sense of justice largeness and goodness is just what
was Abrahams when he said to Lot Let there be no strife between thee and me, between thy As Written:heardsmen and my As Written:heardsmen for we be brethren &c SeparateAs Written:Sepperate from me I pray thee.Gen 13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
separationAs Written:Sepperation is inevitable where the ideal of one individual is going up and the other goingAs Written:gowing down. They must part company but it should be as brethren loathAs Written:loth to part, but seeing its necessity, to part with a benediction. The diametrical line
of Christian Science is love for God and man. Take away one
iota of love for man and you have taken so much out of the scale for God. God is the
Principle of Christian Science and if you loseAs Written:loose a part of the Principle by an improper conception of it you will fail in demonstrating
it as in the parable of the Stewards to whom the Lord
delayed His coming. The perception of this Science was obscure, and this
Steward began to beat his man servants and maidAs Written:made servantsLuke 12:45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin
to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; Matt 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Matt 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; . The mind belabored its helpful thoughts, chided its ideas of healing on one principle
only. Wanted two opposite principles
and rules for the same demonstration. And then droppedAs Written:droped into eating and drinking, appealed to the sensesAs Written:sences instead of Science. And thence followed the fall. The wine of their fornicationRev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of
the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. made
them drunken. Intoxicate with the animal sense, urged on by its magnetismAs Written:magnitism of envy and the malice of the silent operatorAs Written:opperator to falsehood, evil speaking, backbiting, injustice, oblivious of the golden ruleMatt 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so
to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. , and infuriated by other minds it tramples upon the principle involved in the practice
of Christian Science, and saith
unblushingly: "I am a Christian Scientist When the unity of the Principle of Christian
Science is understood and demonstrated through the rule of Love then
learn a parable of the fig treeMatt 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: Matt 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Matt 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Mark 13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is near: Mark 13:29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is
nigh, even at the doors. Mark 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things
be done. Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. That when it puteth forth its buds
the summer is nigh learn that the fruits of Love are the only buds upon this vine of which our Father is
husbandmanJohn 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. , and the promise of their maturity is at hand. But when you behold the fruits of
hatred clandestine movements, betrayal, fear to face
the truth, that would uncover and destroy the falsehoodAs Written:falshood then know that the abomination of desolationMatt 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: Matt 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Matt 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the
week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate. Dan 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength,
and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Editorial Note: The "abomination of desolation" has been given various interpretations by Jewish
and Christian writers, as well as by
modern scholars. Some, for example, believe it refers to the setting up of a statue
of Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c.
215BCE-164BCE) during his persecution of the Jews. spoken of by Daniel the prophet standeth in holy places. O! Loyal Christian Scientists
having done all standEph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. . Your ideals are rising to the unity of Good and every step of this assent is one
as much higher
than the last as the risen spirit is above the cloud. Keep the faith, finish your course there is laid
up for you a crown of righteousnessII Tim 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: II Tim 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that
love his appearing. that eye hath not seen nor ear heardI Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. . The unlimited love, the
universal justice irresistibleAs Written:irresistable strength and more than regal majesty of well done good and faithfulMatt 25:23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy
of thy lord.