Sunday, June 2nd, 2024 Roundtable

Every pure thought falling silently and gently into human consciousness does its part in cleansing the whole world, just as every falling snowflake does its silent share in transforming the noisomeness of the grimy earth into a soft white blanket of purity. We must remember that the smallest truth is mightier than the greatest lie the world has ever known. The one is as enduring as eternity; the other is as transient as a shadow. Take from a lie its power to deceive and it becomes nothing, for its very being depends upon its ability to mislead. A lie must have two willing accessories – one who is willing to be deceived: one who is willing to deceive – the victimized and the victim; if either is wanting, the lie can do nothing.

Abide in Love. Nothing can touch or harm you in Love. Know that you live in Love. Love is God as Life itself. Take this understanding with you and bless others with Love.

— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 65

240 — WATCH that you read all Science literature through the lens of Science and Health, and always go back to it as the final authority. Once Mrs. Eddy wrote, “And if you are sometimes perplexed as to points in it (referring to any article on Christian Science), go to Science and Health. It is all there in its genuineness.” Also a student once said to her, “It is not difficult to destroy mesmerism when we see it has not any power.” She answered, “If God is All, there is nothing to destroy. There is nothing but God and what God creates. I have to go back to the book and so must you.”

One who is building a house of brick places his spirit level often on the bricks; otherwise his foundation and walls may not be level. Science and Health is our spirit level, which we must use to check every brick we put into our spiritual foundation.

In the above experience the student was placing a brick in her foundation which was not exactly scientific, or level with the book. Mrs. Eddy was quick to detect this. The book teaches that the reason we can destroy mesmerism, is not because we see that it has no power, but because it has no existence; it does not exist at all. Mrs. Eddy saw the need of advising this student to use the spirit level of the book to check each thought, since she did not want any of her students to lay bricks in their foundation which were not absolutely scientific.

— from 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter

---

GOLDEN TEXT: ROMANS 13 : 1

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

---

In Proverbs we read, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” If a man sows shrewdness and “cunning craftiness” and “seditions” and “lying” and “sharp practices,” what will be the end of this sort of sowing? Failure, and destruction of the errors. If he sows according to the Sermon on the Mount, what then? He will reap enduring riches. What will happen if he gains material substance, so called, simply that he may spend it upon those he loves? He ofttimes injures those whom he would bless. What is the result of seeking to follow in the footsteps of the Master? “He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Whoso turns from the material thought of earning luxuries for relatives and himself, and devotes himself to the thought of work for God, shall receive in this life “an hundred fold, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

Into what insignificance sinks the transaction that is to be consummated tomorrow, in comparison with the steady, calm, exalted thought that one is working for God; that one is doing each day what God has for him to do; that God’s will is now being done; that the manna falls day by day for daily needs, and there needs not to be anything more than this, for this is sufficient; that “God gives [us] His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give [us] daily supplies” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 307). Furthermore, our beloved Leader here gives us the specific command: “Never ask for tomorrow; it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.”

“The Business Man And Prayer”(excerpt) — The Christian Science Sentinel November 18, 1911, by Carl Horton Pierce

---

“The Sermon on the Mount”, The Book of Matthew in the King James Bible, chapters 5 through 7

---

Article “Three Rules for Treatment” Collected Writings by Bicknell Young

Mrs. Eddy left Science and Health for us to amplify. Take and amplify one statement of the Textbook daily, and study it in a big progressive way, ponder it. You cannot study it today as you did yesterday because more has been revealed.

— from Three Rules for Treatment, by Bicknell Young

---

For us to do the unceasing prayer that the Christ may be born in every heart is going out from this place daily.

— (Mrs. Eddy’s, cook’s prayer, from Pleasant View)

---

Mary Baker Eddy made a rather bold statement to Martha Bogue, one of her early workers. She stated, “The truth that God is All-in-all and that there is no evil, held faithfully by Christian Scientists, will save the world and it is all that will save it.” (Miscellaneous Documents).

— Article “How to Save the World” by Nancy Beauchamp

---

The Merriam-Webster dictionary, which defines education this way: “The action or process of educating or of being educated; the knowledge and development resulting from the process of being educated.”

From this, we gather education is simply a matter of “knowledge” and “development.” What constitutes either is unclear. There’s nothing particularly objective in the definition. What isn’t defined is capable of being defined, and thus “education” in this sense is something always malleable, never fixed.

The second example from this “modern dictionary” comes from Dictionary.com, and is perhaps a bit more enlightening when it defines education as “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.”

This definition gives a bit of heft. We see that this “development” occurs in the powers of “reasoning” and “judgment,” with a “mature life” being the intended outcome.

Again, good so far as it goes. But what counts for “mature” these days? In short, this definition of education has only to do with this world, this life, and partakes of no relation to anything beyond it.

An Older Definition

In particular, I’ll be citing Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary definition of “education”:

“The bringing up, as of a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts, and science is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.”

— “A Modern Definition” Epoch Times

---

Final Readings