Sunday May 9th, 2021 Roundtable

Do we not all understand cowardice never conquers? To get rid of temptation of any sort or to get out of a difficulty, we are not passive and let the wrong rule the right, but we struggle and thus conquer. We should not avoid the things that hurt us, but repeat them and meet them as their superior. Disease is a coward that leaves you when you are not afraid of it.

— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 139

158 — WATCH lest, in endeavoring to realize that you are a channel for good to all mankind, you neglect to establish the fact that all men are channels for good to you.

Jesus said that those that did the will of his Father were his mother, sister, and brother, implying that his demonstration of God’s presence and power included the realization that others could minister to him spiritually, since that is the spiritual significance of mother.

— from 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter

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GOLDEN TEXT: James 1 : 18

“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

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Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.

— from Science and Health, 1910, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 393

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Dominion: Supreme authority; the power of governing and controlling. Power to direct or control.

— from 1828 Webster’s Dictionary

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Vitiate: To injure the substance or properties of a thing so as to impair its value, and lessen or destroy its use; to make less pure, or wholly impure; to deprave, in a physical or moral sense; to render defective.

— from 1828 Webster’s Dictionary

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“Handling the Weather” — from Chapter 62 in Mary Baker Eddy, Her Spiritual Footsteps by Gilbert Carpenter

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Reading in Genesis the story of the fall of Adam and Eve and their subsequent expulsion from the garden of Eden, one is apt to think how foolish they were, and to say, “I am sure I should have known better than to partake of that fruit;” and yet, are we not one and all partaking of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil continually? Man’s true consciousness may be likened to a perfect garden, and it is our duty as obedient children to see that no weeds spring up and that no disharmony lurks in unexpected places.

The serpent mentioned in the allegory which begins in the second chapter of Genesis, is defined by Mrs. Eddy as “a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error; … the belief in more than one God; … the first lie of limitation; … The first audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that there was another power, named evil, which was as real and eternal as God, good” (Science and Health, p. 594). How often do we listen to this lie, acknowledge its power, yield to its insinuations, eat of the fruit it offers us, and then suffer the direful consequences of our folly, in just the same way that Adam and Eve did!

We are also told that Adam was to name all the animals, and this may furnish a most useful lesson in that it teaches us to be most careful that we name everything correctly, not calling disease “reality,” death a “necessity,” or perfection “the unattainable. Both the Bible and Science and Health show us how to keep our gardens free from serpents, also free from weeds. We are told in the Biblical allegory that God “placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Now we must “stand porter at the door of thought” (Science and Health, p. 392) and admit only such thoughts as acknowledge the omnipotence of God. Should we want to know by what means this is to be accomplished, we find on page 538 of our text-book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” that the cherub who guards the entrance is “wisdom,” and the gate through which all must pass in order to enter the spiritual realm is “understanding,” while the sword is “Truth.”

It is interesting to notice that the cherubims were placed at the east; that is to say, on the side where the sun rose, showing us clearly that our work should commence with the rising of the sun, and that if we only begin to stand porter at midday, a goodly number of serpents may by that time have entered at the gate. It is our work to see that nothing enters our consciousness which defileth or maketh a lie, but that it be kept a veritable paradise, bright and beautiful and serene.

There is no further mention in the Bible of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we too shall find that, the stricter the watch we keep over our gardens, the more this tree, which Mrs. Eddy tells us typines “unreality,” will disappear, and in its stead we shall discern the “tree of life,” whose leaves are for “the healing of the nations.”

— “Our Garden” from Christian Science Sentinel, April 5, 1913, by Dorothy Countess Von Moltke

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First thing in the morning, “before your feet hit the floor”:

God is Mind. God is my mind. God is the only pure Mind.

God is Life. God is my life. God is the only Life.

— Plainfield Roundtable

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Forum post — “At Home” by Parthens

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Too soon we cannot turn from disease in the body to find disease in the mortal mind, and its cure, in working for God.

— from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 343: 5

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Book — Teaching and Addresses on Christian Science by Edward A. Kimball, C.S.D.

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Chapter 5 — Animal Magnetism Unmasked — Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

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Book — Christian Science, Its Clear, Correct Teaching by Herbert Eustace

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Rise if the past detains you,
Her sunshine and storms forget;
No claims so unworthy will hold you As those of vain regret.
Sad or bright she is lifeless ever; Cast her phantom arms away,
Nor look back but to learn the lesson Of a nobler strife today.

— from Collectanea by Mary Baker Eddy

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We steal, if we touch tomorrow. It is God’s. Every day has enough in it to keep us occupied, without concerning ourselves with the things beyond.

— from Collectanea by Mary Baker Eddy

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Final Readings