The right teacher of Christian Science lives the truth he teaches.  Preeminent among men, he virtually stands at the head of all sanitary, civil, moral, and religious reform.  Such a post of duty, unpierced by vanity, exalts a mortal beyond human praise, or monuments which weigh dust, and humbles him with the tax it raises on calamity to open the gates of heaven.  It is not the forager on others’ wisdom that God thus crowns, but he who is obedient to the divine command, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Great temptations beset an ignorant or an unprincipled mind-practice in opposition to the straight and narrow path of Christian Science.  Promiscuous mental treatment, without the consent or knowledge of the individual treated, is an error of much magnitude.  People unaware of the indications of mental treatment, know not what is affecting them, and thus may be robbed of their individual rights,—­freedom of choice and self-government.  Who is willing to be subjected to such an influence?  Ask the unbridled mind-manipulator if he would consent to this; and if not, then he is knowingly transgressing Christ’s command.  He who secretly manipulates mind without the permission of man or God, is not dealing justly and loving mercy, according to pure and undefiled religion.

Sinister and selfish motives entering into mental practice are dangerous incentives; they proceed from false convictions and a fatal ignorance.  These are the tares growing side by side with the wheat, that must be recognized, and uprooted, before the wheat can be garnered and Christian Science demonstrated.

Secret mental efforts to obtain help from one who is unaware of this attempt, demoralizes the person who does this, the same as other forms of stealing, and will end in destroying health and morals.

In the practice of Christian Science one cannot impart a mental influence that hazards another’s happiness, nor interfere with the rights of the individual.  To disregard the welfare of others is contrary to the law of God; therefore it deteriorates one’s ability to do good, to benefit himself and mankind.

The Psalmist vividly portrays the result of secret faults, presumptuous sins, and self-deception, in these words:  “How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!  They are utterly consumed with terrors.”

PERSONALITY

The immortal man being spiritual, individual, and eternal, his mortal opposite must be material, corporeal, and temporal.  Physical personality is finite; but God is infinite.  He is without materiality, without finiteness of form or Mind.

Limitations are put off in proportion as the fleshly nature disappears and man is found in the reflection of Spirit.

This great fact leads into profound depths.  The material human concept grew beautifully less as I floated into more spiritual latitudes and purer realms of thought.