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Protection in Divine Originality
THE growth of the Christian Science movement has been so wonderful in so many ways that it has sometimes occurred to the onlooker to ask himself what this movement will be like, say, in another of a century. No uninspired mortal can draw the exact outline which the future holds in store for our cause. Apart from its inevitable growth and the conditions prescribed by the Manual of The Mother Church, as well as those necessarily resulting from the teaching and practice of Christian Science itself, nothing can be definitely predicted of our cause itself except its continued originality. Herein lies safety, for if uninspired mortals could foresee the exact outline of this movement, mortal mind might be tempted to plan its destruction, might even now initiate an attempt to efface that outline. Since, however, no uninspired mortal can foreknow God's ways, which are always original, mortal mind itself is powerless to forestall or frustrate His plans. Divine unfoldment is meaningless to that state of mind which desires to overthrow Christian Science.
A study of Mrs. Eddy's career reveals the fact that she did not endeavor to fulfil the expectations of mortal mind, or to follow its methods, but on the other hand constantly surprised and frequently antagonized it. Herein lay her eventual security from the various efforts made to destroy her work both in discovering and founding Christian Science. It may be added, without thereby expressing any criticism of her followers, that Mrs. Eddy rarely acted in a manner which was understood at the time by Christian Scientists themselves. The stamp of divine originality marks every phase of the work which she founded. The Metaphysical College, the Church of Christ, Scientist, and the various provisions for reading-rooms, periodicals, committees on publication, lecturers, teachers, practitioners, etc., all reveal the touch of inimitable uniqueness. Not mortal ingenuity but divine inspiration worked out these plans through a consciousness willing and obedient to take necessary human footsteps under divine impulsion.
The rules and by-laws in the Manual of The Mother Church are thus described in a letter to be found on page 148 of "Miscellaneous Writings" : "They were not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial demands, such as one person might impose on another. They were impelled by a power not one's own, were written at different dates, and as the occasion required." Evidently they were far removed from any theoretical or doctrinaire influence, and we may add, they reveal the touch of woman as well as of man. The Mother Church nourishes and cherishes, and its Manual is therefore designed in the first instance to protect, not to penalize. It is clear, then, that scientific protection does not lie merely in following the line of least resistance, or in a perpetual attempt to smooth things over. In Isaiah we find a rebuke uttered against "a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say . . . to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things." Protection follows the line of obedience, and may sometimes lead temporarily into places humanly conceived of as rough.
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November 25, 1916 issue
View Issue-
The Eternal Now
LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY
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Destroying the Evidence
J. THOMAS MUMFORD
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Spiritual Awakening
BRIGMAN C. ODOM
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Why Study the Manual?
GIZELLA VON WALTHERR
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"Our only preachers"
HELEN FRIEND-ROBINSON
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"Streams in the south"
PETER B. BIGGINS
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In two different departments of the Boston Transcript...
Judge Clifford P. Smith
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According to report our critic tries to make it appear...
John W. Watkins
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The editor says, "Many people of today are embracing...
James D. Sherwood
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Our critic admits that healing is accomplished through...
William C. Kaufman
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The quotation in a recent issue shows that at the present...
H. R. Colborne
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Seekers of the Light
ETHEL M. GOSS
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Healing by Prayer Not a Criminal Act
Archibald McLellan
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Protection in Divine Originality
William D. McCrackan
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"Everlasting punishment"
Annie M. Knott
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War Relief Fund
Editor
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The Lectures
with contributions from E. F. Medley, George P. Munsey, Milton B. Marks
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It is with a heart filled with gratitude and an earnest wish...
Hazel Lyon with contributions from Robert E. Lyon
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In August, 1909, my family physician, after two years of...
Elizabeth F. Coleman
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Most testimonies enumerate the blessings derived from...
J. Osborn Brink
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I wish to express my gratitude for what Christian Science...
Anna M. Edmonds
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Following an experience which was the source of unspeakable...
Merle Scott Reder
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It is with a heart full of gratitude that I give this testimony...
Manie Dona Scoffern with contributions from R. C. Scoffern
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For many weary years I was a sufferer from nervous...
Gotthardt B. Oertel
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From Our Exchanges
with contributions from T. Rhondda Williams, John Wright Buckham, E. S. Woods, H. Maldwyn Hughes, Carl G. Doney