Text: "Ye do greatly err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God." Matt. xxii. 29. The announcement that the Rev. M. B. G. Eddy would speak before the Scientist denomination on the afternoon of Oct. 26, drew a large audience. Hawthorne Hall was densely packed, and many had to go away unable to obtain seats.
The distinguished speaker began by saying that within Bible pages she had found all the divine science she preaches, noticing all along the way of her researches therein that whenever her thoughts had wandered into the by-paths of ancient philosophies or pagan literatures, her spiritual insight had been darkened thereby, till she was God-driven back to the inspired pages. Early training, through the misinterpretation of the Word, had been the underlying cause of the long years of invalidism she endured before Truth dawned upon her understanding through right interpretation. With the understanding of Scripture meanings had come physical rejuvenation. The uplifting of spirit was the upbuilding of the body. She affirmed that the scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must be spiritually discerned before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts. That there is a dual meaning to every Bible passage the most eminent divines of the world have concluded, and to get at the highest or metaphysical meaning is necessary to rightly read what the inspired writers left for our spiritual instruction. The literal rendering of scriptures makes them nothing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all. The literal, or material reading, is the reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward God—Spirit. Taking several Bible passages, Mrs. Eddy illustrated how beautiful and inspiring are the thoughts when rightly understood. "Let the dead bury their dead; follow thou me" was one of the passages explained metaphysically. In their fullest meaning those words are salvation from the belief of death, the last enemy to be overthrown. For by following Christ truly, resurrection and life immortal are brought to us. If we follow Him, there can be no dead to us. They who know not this may still believe in death and weep over the graves of their beloved. But with Him is life eternal, which never changes to death. The eating of bread and the drinking of wine at the Lord's supper but symbolize the spiritual refreshment of God's children who rightly read His word, whose entrance into the understanding is healthful life. That is the reality behind the symbol. So also of the hades, or hell of scripture. We make our own heavens and our own hells, by right and wise, or wrong and foolish conceptions of God and our fellow men. Jesus interpreted all spiritually; "I have bread to eat that ye know not of," he said. The bread he ate of, which was refreshment unto divine strength, we also may all partake of. The material record of the Bible, she said, is no more important to our well being than the history of Europe and America; but the spiritual application bears upon our eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely metaphysical; and no other method is Christian Science. In the passage recording Jesus' proceedings with the blind man (Mark viii) he is said to have spit upon the man's eyes. This was the Hebrew method of expressing the utmost contempt. So Jesus is recorded as having expressed contempt for the belief of material eyes as having any power to see. "Having eyes ye see not, and ears ye hear not," he had just told them. The putting on of hands mentioned, she explained as the putting forth of power. "Hand" in Bible usage often means spiritual power. "His hand is not shortened that it cannot save," can never be wrested from its true meaning to signify human hands. Jesus' first effort to realize Truth was not wholly successful, but he rose to the occasion with the second attempt, and the blind saw clearly. To suppose that Jesus did actually spit upon the blind man's eyes is as absurd as to think that the report of some is true, that the "Christian Scientists sit in back-to-back seances with their patients, for the divine power to filter from vertebrae to vertebrae." When one comes to the age with spiritual translations of God's messages as expressed in literal or physical terms, not to condemn and deny is our right action, but to "try the spirits and see what manner they are of." This does not mean communing with spirits supposed to have departed from earth, but the seeking out of the basis upon which the works are accomplished by which the new teacher would prove his right to be heard. By these signs are the true disciples of the Master known: the sick are healed; to the poor the gospel is preached.
At one point in the sermon the pastor quoted a beautiful passage from Creation, a chapter in her book, Science and Health: "The evermore of Truth is changing the universe. Thought expands beyond expression. We are losing our swaddling clothes, asking for more light. 'Let there be light' is the demand of Life and Truth, changing chaos to order, and discord to the music of the spheres. Progress is taking off shackles, and the finite yielding to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material to the spiritual, from the mortal to the immortal, and from the personal to the impersonal idea of God."
