,,the ,,people',s ,,idea ,,of ,,god ,,its ,,effect ,,on ,,health ,,and ,,christianity ,,by ,,mary ,,baker ,,eddy ,,author ,,of ,,science ,,and ,,health ,,with ,,key ,,to ,,the ,,scriptures ,a ,,sermon ,,delivered ,,at ,,boston ,published by ,the ,christian ,science ,publishing ,society ,,for ,,the ,,trustees ,,under ,,the ,,will ,,of ,,mary ,,baker ,g4 ,,eddy ,,boston1 ,u4,s4,a4 ,authorized ,literature of ,,the ,,first ,,church ,,of ,,christ1 ,,scientist in ,boston1 ,massachusetts ,copyright1 #ahhf1 #aijh ,,by ,,mary ,,baker ,g4 ,,eddy ,copyright renewed1 #aiad ,all rights reserved ,,sermon ,,subject ,,the ,,people',s ,,idea ,,of ,,god ,,text3 ,one ,lord1 one faith1 one baptism4--,,ephesians iv4 #e4 ,every step of progress is a step more spiritual4 ,the great element of reform is not born of human wisdom2 it draws not its life from human organizations2 rather is it the crumbling away of material elements from reason1 the translation of law back to its original language1--,mind1 and the final unity between man and ,god4 ,the footsteps of thought1 as they pass from the sensual side of existence to the reality and ,soul of all things1 are slow1 portending a long night to the traveller2 but the guardians of the gloom are the angels of ,his presence1 that impart grandeur to the intellectual wrestling and collisions with old-time faiths1 as we drift into more spiritual latitudes4 ,the beatings of our heart can be heard2 but the ceaseless throbbings and throes of thought are unheard1 as it changes from material to spiritual standpoints4 ,even the pangs of death disappear1 accordingly as the understanding that we are spiritual beings here reappears1 and we learn our capabilities for good1 which insures man's continuance and is the true glory of immortality4 ,the improved theory and practice of religion and of medicine are mainly due to the people's improved views of the ,supreme ,being4 ,as the finite sense of ,deity1 based on material conceptions of spiritual being1 yields its grosser elements1 we shall learn what ,god is1 and what ,god does4 ,the ,hebrew term that gives another letter to the word ,god and makes it good1 unites ,science and ,christianity1 whereby we learn that ,god1 good1 is universal1 and the divine ,principle1--,life1 ,truth1 ,love2 and this ,principle is learned through goodness1 and of ,mind instead of matter1 of ,soul instead of the senses1 and by revelation supporting reason4 ,it is the false conceptions of ,spirit1 based on the evidences gained from the material senses1 that make a ,christian only in theory1 shockingly material in practice1 and form its ,deity out of the worst human qualities1 else of wood or stone4 ,such a theory has overturned empires in demoniacal contests over religion4 ,proportionately as the people's belief of ,god1 in every age1 has been dematerialized and unfinited has their ,deity become good2 no longer a personal tyrant or a molten image1 but the divine ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love1--,life without beginning or ending1 ,truth without a lapse or error1 and ,love universal1 infinite1 eternal4 ,this more perfect idea1 held constantly before the people's mind1 must have a benign and elevating influence upon the character of nations as well as individuals1 and will lift man ultimately to the understanding that our ideals form our characters1 that as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he4 ,the crudest ideals of speculative theology have made monsters of men2 and the ideals of materia medica have made helpless invalids and cripples4 ,the eternal roasting amidst noxious vapors2 the election of the minority to be saved and the majority to be eternally punished2 the wrath of ,god1 to be appeased by the sacrifice and torture of ,his favorite ,son1--are some of the false beliefs that have produced sin1 sickness1 and death2 and then would affirm that these are natural1 and that ,christianity and ,christ-healing are preternatural2 yea1 that make a mysterious ,god and a natural devil4 ,let us rejoice that the bow of omnipotence already spans the moral heavens with light1 and that the more spiritual idea of good and ,truth meets the old material thought like a promise upon the cloud1 while it inscribes on the thoughts of men at this period a more metaphysical religion founded upon ,christian ,science4 ,a personal ,god is based on finite premises1 where thought begins wrongly to apprehend the infinite1 even the quality or the quantity of eternal good4 ,this limited sense of ,god as good limits human thought and action in their goodness1 and assigns them mortal fetters in the outset4 ,it has implanted in our religions certain unspiritual shifts1 such as dependence on personal pardon for salvation1 rather than obedience to our ,father's demands1 whereby we grow out of sin in the way that our ,lord has appointed2 namely1 by working out our own salvation4 ,it has given to all systems of materia medica nothing but materialism1--more faith in hygiene and drugs than in ,god4 ,idolatry sprang from the belief that ,god is a form1 more than an infinite and divine ,mind2 sin1 sickness1 and death originated in the belief that ,spirit materialized into a body1 infinity became finity1 or man1 and the eternal entered the temporal4 ,mythology1 or the myth of ologies1 said that ,life1 which is infinite and eternal1 could enter finite man through his nostrils1 and matter become intelligent of good and evil1 because a serpent said it4 ,when first good1 ,god1 was named a person1 and evil another person1 the error that a personal ,god and a personal devil entered into partnership and would form a third person1 called material man1 obtained expression4 ,but these unspiritual and mysterious ideas of ,god and man are far from correct4 ,the glorious ,godhead is ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love1 and these three terms for one divine ,principle are the three in one that can be understood1 and that find no reflection in sinning1 sick1 and dying mortals4 ,no miracle of grace can make a spiritual mind out of beliefs that are as material as the heathen deities4 ,the pagan priests appointed ,apollo and ,esculapius the gods of medicine1 and they inquired of these heathen deities what drugs to prescribe4 ,systems of religion and of medicine grown out of such false ideals of the ,supreme ,being cannot heal the sick and cast out devils1 error4 ,eschewing a materialistic and idolatrous theory and practice of medicine and religion1 the apostle devoutly recommends the more spiritual ,christianity1--one ,lord1 one faith1 one baptism4 ,the prophets and apostles1 whose lives are the embodiment of a living faith1 have not taken away our ,lord1 that we know not where they have laid him2 they have resurrected a deathless life of love2 and into the cold materialisms of dogma and doctrine we look in vain for their more spiritual ideal1 the risen ,christ1 whose materia medica and theology were one4 ,the ideals of primitive ,christianity are nigh1 even at our door4 ,truth is not lost in the mists of remoteness or the barbarisms of spiritless codes4 ,the right ideal is not buried1 but has risen higher to our mortal sense1 and having overcome death and the grave1 wrapped in a pure winding-sheet1 it sitteth beside the sepulchre in angel form1 saying unto us1 ,life is ,god2 and our ideal of ,god has risen above the sod to declare ,his omnipotence4 ,this white-robed thought points away from matter and doctrine1 or dogma1 to the diviner sense of ,life and ,love1--yea1 to the ,principle that is ,god1 and to the demonstration thereof in healing the sick4 ,let us then heed this heavenly visitant1 and not entertain the angel unawares4 ,the ego is not self-existent matter animated by mind1 but in itself is mind2 therefore a ,truth-filled mind makes a pure ,christianity and a healthy mind and body4 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes said1 in a lecture before the ,harvard ,medical ,school3 ,i firmly believe that if the whole materia medica could be sunk to the bottom of the sea1 it would be all the better for mankind and all the worse for the fishes4 ,dr4 ,benjamin ,waterhouse writes3 ,i am sick of learned quackery4 ,dr4 ,abercrombie1 ,fellow of the ,royal ,college of ,physicians in ,edinburgh1 writes3 ,medicine is the science of guessing4 ,dr4 ,james ,johnson1 ,surgeon ,extraordinary to the ,king1 says3 ,i declare my conscientious belief1 founded on long observation and reflection1 that if there was not a single physician1 surgeon1 apothecary1 man-midwife1 chemist1 druggist1 or drug on the face of the earth1 there would be less sickness and less mortality than now obtains4 ,voltaire says3 ,the art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease4 ,believing that man is the victim of his ,maker1 we naturally fear ,god more than we love ,him2 whereas perfect ,love casteth out fear2 but when we learn ,god aright1 we love ,him1 because ,he is found altogether lovely4 ,thus it is that a more spiritual and true ideal of ,deity improves the race physically and spiritually4 ,god is no longer a mystery to the ,christian ,scientist1 but a divine ,principle1 understood in part1 because the grand realities of ,life and ,truth are found destroying sin1 sickness1 and death2 and it should no longer be deemed treason to understand ,god1 when the ,scriptures enjoin us to acquaint now thyself with ,him ,god1 and be at peace2 we should understand something of that great good for which we are to leave all else4 ,periods and peoples are characterized by their highest or their lowest ideals1 by their ,god and their devil4 ,we are all sculptors1 working out our own ideals1 and leaving the impress of mind on the body as well as on history and marble1 chiselling to higher excellence1 or leaving to rot and ruin the mind's ideals4 ,recognizing this as we ought1 we shall turn often from marble to model1 from matter to ,mind1 to beautify and exalt our lives4 ,chisel in hand stood a sculptor-boy1 ,with his marble block before him2 ,and his face lit up with a smile of joy ,as an angel dream passed o'er him4 ,he carved the dream on that shapeless stone ,with many a sharp incision4 ,with heaven's own light the sculptor shone1-- ,he had caught the angel-vision4 ,sculptors of life are we as we stand ,with our lives uncarved before us1 ,waiting the hour when at ,god's command ,our life dream passes o'er us4 ,if we carve it then on the yielding stone ,with many a sharp incision1 ,its heavenly beauty shall be our own1-- ,our lives that angel-vision4 ,to remove those objects of sense called sickness and disease1 we must appeal to mind to improve its subjects and objects of thought1 and give to the body those better delineations4 ,scientific discovery and the inspiration of ,truth have taught me that the health and character of man become more or less perfect as his mind-models are more or less spiritual4 ,because ,god is ,spirit1 our thoughts must spiritualize to approach ,him1 and our methods grow more spiritual to accord with our thoughts4 ,religion and medicine must be dematerialized to present the right idea of ,truth2 then will this idea cast out error and heal the sick4 ,if changeableness that repenteth itself2 partiality that elects some to be saved and others to be lost1 or that answers the prayer of one and not of another2 if incompetency that cannot heal the sick1 or lack of love that will not2 if unmercifulness1 that for the sins of a few tired years punishes man eternally1--are our conceptions of ,deity1 we shall bring out these qualities of character in our own lives and extend their influence to others4 ,judaism1 enjoining the limited and definite form of a national religion1 was not more the antithesis of ,christianity than are our finite and material conceptions of ,deity4 ,life is ,god2 but we say that ,life is carried on through principal processes1 and speculate concerning material forces4 ,mind is supreme2 and yet we make more of matter1 and lean upon it for health and life4 ,mind1 that governs the universe1 governs every action of the body as directly as it moves a planet and controls the muscles of the arm4 ,god grant that the trembling chords of human hope shall again be swept by the divine ,talitha cumi1 ,damsel1 ,i say unto thee1 arise4 ,then shall ,christian ,science again appear1 to light our sepulchres with immortality4 ,we thank our ,father that to-day the uncremated fossils of material systems1 already charred1 are fast fading into ashes2 and that man will ere long stop trusting where there is no trust1 and gorging his faith with skill proved a million times unskilful4 ,christian ,science has one faith1 one ,lord1 one baptism2 and this faith builds on ,spirit1 not matter2 and this baptism is the purification of mind1--not an ablution of the body1 but tears of repentance1 an overflowing love1 washing away the motives for sin2 yea1 it is love leaving self for ,god4 ,the cool bath may refresh the body1 or as compliance with a religious rite may declare one's belief2 but it cannot purify his mind1 or meet the demands of ,love4 ,it is the baptism of ,spirit that washes our robes and makes them white in the blood of the ,lamb2 that bathes us in the life of ,truth and the truth of ,life4 ,having one ,lord1 we shall not be idolaters1 dividing our homage and obedience between matter and ,spirit2 but shall work out our own salvation1 after the model of our ,father1 who never pardons the sin that deserves to be punished and can be destroyed only through suffering4 ,we ask and receive not1 because we ask amiss2 even dare to invoke the divine aid of ,spirit to heal the sick1 and then administer drugs with full confidence in their efficacy1 showing our greater faith in matter1 despite the authority of ,jesus that ye cannot serve two masters4 ,silent prayer is a desire1 fervent1 importunate3 here metaphysics is seen to rise above physics1 and rest all faith in ,spirit1 and remove all evidence of any other power than ,mind2 whereby we learn the great fact that there is no omnipotence1 unless omnipotence is the ,all-power4 ,this truth of ,deity1 understood1 destroys discord with the higher and more potent evidences in ,christian ,science of man's harmony and immortality4 ,thought is the essence of an act1 and the stronger element of action2 even as steam is more powerful than water1 simply because it is more ethereal4 ,essences are refinements that lose some materiality2 and as we struggle through the cold night of physics1 matter will become vague1 and melt into nothing under the microscope of ,mind4 ,massachusetts succored a fugitive slave in #ahec1 and put her humane foot on a tyrannical prohibitory law regulating the practice of medicine in #ahhj4 ,it were well if the sister ,states had followed her example and sustained as nobly our constitutional ,bill of ,rights4 ,discerning the ,god-given rights of man1 ,paul said1 ,i was free born4 ,justice and truth make man free1 injustice and error enslave him4 ,mental ,science alone grasps the standard of liberty1 and battles for man's whole rights1 divine as well as human4 ,it assures us1 of a verity1 that mortal beliefs1 and not a law of nature1 have made men sinning and sick1--that they alone have fettered free limbs1 and marred in mind the model of man4 ,we possess our own body1 and make it harmonious or discordant according to the images that thought reflects upon it4 ,the emancipation of our bodies from sickness will follow the mind's freedom from sin2 and1 as ,st4 ,paul admonishes1 we should be waiting for the adoption1 to wit1 the redemption of our body4 ,the rights of man were vindicated but in a single instance when ,african slavery was abolished on this continent1 yet that hour was a prophecy of the full liberty of the sons of ,god as found in ,christian ,science4 ,the defenders of the rights of the colored man were scarcely done with their battles before a new abolitionist struck the keynote of higher claims1 in which it was found that the feeblest mind1 enlightened and spiritualized1 can free its body from disease as well as sin2 and this victory is achieved1 not with bayonet and blood1 not by inhuman warfare1 but in divine peace4 ,above the platform of human rights let us build another staging for diviner claims1--even the supremacy of ,soul over sense1 wherein man cooperates with and is made subject to his ,maker4 ,the lame1 the blind1 the sick1 the sensual1 are slaves1 and their fetters are gnawing away life and hope2 their chains are clasped by the false teachings1 false theories1 false fears1 that enforce new forms of oppression1 and are the modern ,pharaohs that hold the children of ,israel still in bondage4 ,mortals1 alias mortal minds1 make the laws that govern their bodies1 as directly as men pass legislative acts and enact penal codes2 while the body1 obedient to the legislation of mind1 but ignorant of the law of belief1 calls its own enactments laws of matter4 ,the legislators who are greatly responsible for all the woes of mankind are those leaders of public thought who are mistaken in their methods of humanity4 ,the learned quacks of this period bind heavy burdens1 that they themselves will not touch with one of their fingers4 ,scientific guessing conspires unwittingly against the liberty and lives of men4 ,should we but hearken to the higher law of ,god1 we should think for one moment of these divine statutes of ,god3 ,let them have dominion over all the earth4 ,and if they drink any deadly thing1 it shall not hurt them2 they shall lay hands on the sick1 and they shall recover4 ,the only law of sickness or death is a law of mortal belief1 and infringement on the merciful and just government of ,god4 ,when this great fact is understood1 the spurious1 imaginary laws of matter--when matter is not a lawgiver--will be disputed and trampled under the feet of ,truth4 ,deal1 then1 with this fabulous law as with an inhuman ,state law2 repeal it in mind1 and acknowledge only ,god in all thy ways1--who forgiveth all thine iniquities2 who healeth all thy diseases4 ,few there be who know what a power mind is to heal when imbued with the spiritual truth that lifts man above the demands of matter4 ,as our ideas of ,deity advance to truer conceptions1 we shall take in the remaining two thirds of ,god's plan of redemption1--namely1 man's salvation from sickness and death4 ,our blessed ,master demonstrated this great truth of healing the sick and raising the dead as ,god's whole plan1 and proved the application of its ,principle to human wants4 ,having faith in drugs and hygienic drills1 we lose faith in omnipotence1 and give the healing power to matter instead of ,spirit4 ,as if ,deity would not if ,he could1 or could not if ,he would1 give health to man2 when our ,father bestows heaven not more willingly than health2 for without health there could be no heaven4 ,the worshippers of wood and stone have a more material deity1 hence a lower order of humanity1 than those who believe that ,god is a personal ,spirit4 ,but the worshippers of a person have a lower order of ,christianity than he who understands that the ,divine ,being is more than a person1 and can demonstrate in part this great impersonal ,life1 ,truth1 and ,love1 casting out error and healing the sick4 ,this all-important understanding is gained in ,christian ,science1 revealing the one ,god and ,his all-power and ever-presence1 and the brotherhood of man in unity of ,mind and oneness of ,principle4 ,on the startled ear of humanity rings out the iron tread of merciless invaders1 putting man to the rack for his conscience1 or forcing from the lips of manhood shameful confessions1--,galileo kneeling at the feet of priestcraft1 and giving the lie to science4 ,but the lofty faith of the pious ,polycarp proved the triumph of mind over the body1 when they threatened to let loose the wild beasts upon him1 and he replied3 ,let them come2 ,i cannot change at once from good to bad4 ,then they bound him to the stake1 set fire to the fagots1 and his pure faith went up through the baptism of fire to a higher sense of ,life4 ,the infidel was blind who said1 ,christianity is fit only for women and weak-minded men4 ,but infidels disagree2 for ,bonaparte said3 ,since ever the history of ,christianity was written1 the loftiest intellects have had a practical faith in ,god2 and ,daniel ,webster said3 ,my heart has assured and reassured me that ,christianity must be a divine reality4 ,as our ideas of ,deity become more spiritual1 we express them by objects more beautiful4 ,to-day we clothe our thoughts of death with flowers laid upon the bier1 and in our cemeteries with amaranth blossoms1 evergreen leaves1 fragrant recesses1 cool grottos1 smiling fountains1 and white monuments4 ,the dismal gray stones of church-yards have crumbled into decay1 as our ideas of ,life have grown more spiritual2 and in place of bat and owl on the bending stones1 are wreaths of immortelles1 and white fingers pointing upward4 ,thus it is that our ideas of divinity form our models of humanity4 ,o ,christian ,scientist1 thou of the church of the new-born2 awake to a higher and holier love for ,god and man2 put on the whole armor of ,truth2 rejoice in hope2 be patient in tribulation1--that ye may go to the bed of anguish1 and look upon this dream of life in matter1 girt with a higher sense of omnipotence2 and behold once again the power of divine ,life and ,love to heal and reinstate man in ,god's own image and likeness1 having one ,lord1 one faith1 one baptism4 ,the ,university ,press1 ,cambridge1 ,u4,s4,a4