The following was contributed by the Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy to a symposium on Thanksgiving which appeared in the Boston Globe, November 29, 1900. There were twenty-three articles written by prelates of various denominations, and Mrs. Eddy's was the only one contributed by a woman.
The communications were sent in answer to the following telegraphic inquiry from The Globe:—
On the threshold of the twentieth century, will you please send through The Globe to the people of New England, which is the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day, a sentiment on what the last Thanksgiving Day of the nineteenth century should signify to all mankind?
New England's last Thanksgiving Day of this century signifies, to the minds of men, the Bible better understood and Truth and Love made more practical; the first commandment of the decalogue more imperative, and, "loving thy neighbor as thyself," more possible and pleasurable. That Love, unselfed, knocks more loudly than ever before at the heart of humanity and finds admittance. That revelation, spiritual voice and vision are less subordinate to material sight and sound and more apparent to reason. That evil flourishes less, invests less in trusts, loses capital, and is bought at par value. That the Christ spirit will cleanse the earth of human gore. That civilization, peace between nations, and the brotherhood of man should be established and justice plead not vainly in behalf of the sacred rights of individuals, peoples, and nations. That the Science of Christianity has dawned upon human thought to appear full-orbed in millennial glory. That Scientific religion and Scientific therapeutics are improving the morals and increasing the longevity of mankind—mitigating and destroying sin, disease, and death. That religion and materia medica be no longer tyrannical and proscriptive. That divine Love, understood in Divine Science, impartial and universal, forms the coincidence of the human and divine, which fulfils the saying of our great Master, "The kingdom of heaven is already within you." That the atmosphere of the human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with divine Love, will reflect its subjective state in clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of heat and cold. That agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and wealth should be governed by honesty, industry, and justice, reaching out to all classes and peoples. For these signs of the times we thank our Father-Mother God.
