About the new cover:

From In Defense of Mary Baker Eddy, and the Remnant of Her Seed, by Paul R. Smillie:

In the Christian Science Sentinel of September 6, 1913 on page ten, Archibald McLellan stated three most important points about the cover of the Sentinel and a minor change made at that time on its cover. Speaking of this change he said, “Beyond this there can be neither desire nor occasion for change in the Sentinel, because,” he said, “Mrs. Eddy’s instructions forbid any change.” He explained this by saying, “Mrs. Eddy likewise gave instructions.” The word “instructions” is most important. Speaking then of the two women, the lamps and the inscriptions beneath them, he said they had been “preserved as expressive of our Leader’s thought. ...” Mrs. Eddy requested that the cover of the Sentinel be light blue in color.”

Stewards of Our Freedom
(Civil War Era)

Whenever there has been a major crisis in our nation, heroes have humbly turned to God and asked for His protection and guidance, and gave thanks to God, giving Him the glory. They have stepped forward and been able to do extraordinary things. These are just some of those who God has been able to work through to accomplish His purpose. They are the “stewards of our freedom.”

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809 in a log cabin in Kentucky. His mother was very religious and taught her children about the Bible, instilling a love of education in them, even though she herself was uneducated.

At nine years old, Lincoln was heartbroken by the death of his mother. A year later, his father married a widow with three children. She was a strong and loving woman, and they quickly formed a mutual bond. She also encouraged his quest for education.

When Abraham Lincoln was a small boy he had very few books. His earliest possessions consisted of less than half a dozen volumes — a pioneer’s library.

First, of course, was the Bible, a whole library in itself, if properly understood, and containing every sort of literature — stories, poems, histories, some simple enough for the youngest child, others taxing the wisdom of the learned. Others were “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Æsop’s Fables,” a history of the United States from which were learned the lessons of patriotism that Lincoln’s manhood put into action. Last came Weems’ “Life of Washington,” a book full of detail that made Washington seem a living example.

From the Bible, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and “Æsop” the boy Lincoln learned the power and beauty of plain English words, and saw that the grandest thoughts and most poetic imaginings needed only the strong little words of every day. When, therefore, in later life he wished to be sure he understood any matter, it became his custom to translate it into words such as a child can understand.

Read again the Gettysburg address and the second inaugural, and learn how Lincoln could make the homespun words of common use move the hearts of his fellow-men.

For President Lincoln the purpose of prayer was not to get God to do man’s bidding but to place man where he might come to see God’s purposes and to experience the strength of relying on the everlasting arms. A graphic picture of this resort to prayer is given by General James Rustling, who stood with the President in a Washington hospital at the bedside of General Sickles.

General Sickles had been wounded at Gettysburg and was recovering from a leg amputation. In reply to a question from General Sickles whether or not the President was anxious about the battle at Gettysburg, Lincoln gravely said, “No, I was not; some of my Cabinet and many others in Washington were, but I had no fears.”

General Sickles seemed curious about it, and inquired how this was. President Lincoln hesitated, but finally replied: “Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there, when everybody seemed panic-stricken, and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day, and I locked the door, and got down on my knees before Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this was His war, and our cause was His cause, but we couldn’t stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And I then and there made a solemn vow to Almighty God, that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And He did stand by your boys, and I will stand by Him. And after that (I don’t know how it was, and I can’t explain it), soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go all right at Gettysburg. And that is why I had no fears about you.”

Prayer became increasingly a resource of strength to President Lincoln, and he once remarked to his newspaper friend Noah Brooks: “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

Abraham Lincoln was elected President on November 6, 1860. On December 2, 1860, South Carolina, a strong supporter of “states rights” as well as slavery, seceded from the Union. Only the first to secede, to be followed within weeks by six more — Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The Civil War ended on June 2, 1865.

In a cabinet session on September 22, 1862, President Lincoln described his decision to emancipate the slaves in territories then in rebellion against the federal government. Toward the end of his address to his cabinet, the President’s voice had become lower and more solemn. Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase wanted to be certain he had understood Lincoln’s words, thus the President repeated: “I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves.”

Lincoln had reached his decision about the timing of the Emancipation Proclamation in an immediate awareness of the presence of God. For Lincoln, God was the final court of appeal when he was uncertain about the moral aspects of a question. God’s guidance was sought when Lincoln wanted to pass through the tides of political expediency to stand on bedrock — the bedrock that the country was founded upon, the belief expressed in the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal. Slavery was a living lie in contradicting that fundamental principle which, for Lincoln, had the force of divine revelation.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, which was observed on April 30, Two days later, the course of the war turned in favor of the Union army.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation;

And whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truths announced in the Holy Scriptures, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

And, inasmuch as we know that, by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God, we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all people to abstain from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

After President Lincoln’s Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, major revivals in religious faith and in turning to God broke out in both the North and South armies. In the Union Army, between 100,000 and 200,000 soldiers were converted; among Confederate forces, approximately 150,000 troops converted to Christ. Perhaps 10 percent of all Civil War soldiers experienced conversions during the conflict.

In the fall of 1863 and winter of 1864, a “Great Revival” took place among Robert E. Lee’s forces, where some 7,000 soldiers were converted. Revivals also swept the Union Army, with preaching and praying sometimes continuing 24 hours a day, so that chapels couldn’t hold the soldiers who wanted to get inside.

Before the Civil War, it was rare to find chaplains in American armies; but during the war, they earned a lasting place. One such Civil War chaplain was Henry McNeal Turner, who was known as “the Negro Spurgeon.” His preaching and lobbying effort convinced President Lincoln to enlist freedmen in the Union Army. In 1863, Lincoln acceded, and Turner became the first black chaplain.

Key Civil War generals, including Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and John Bell Hood, were converted to Christ during the war, and many Civil War generals stood so committed to observing the Sabbath that it influenced their military operations. Stonewall Jackson would fight only “more ordinary battles” on Sunday, and William Rosecrans refused to pursue a fleeing enemy force on a Sabbath day. Other generals attributed defeats to the fact they had violated the Sabbath by fighting on that day.

Not just the armies were turning to God during this troubling time. The nation as a whole was also acknowledging God’s governance. The Confederate States specifically invoked “Almighty God” in their Constitution; and it was Abraham Lincoln, who was the first President to use the phrase, “This nation under God,” that ultimately inspired President Eisenhower in 1954, to add the words “one nation under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

We thank our country’s forefathers for their faith in God, and earnestly pray now for a revival of dependence upon, and acknowledgement of, God’s ever-present care for our nation.

The reason heads of countries fail to call on God to help them, is because they believe themselves to be adequate to take all problems, and to solve them. Such an attitude is the grossest kind of ignorance. People at large have an appreciation of a ruler who leans on God. Abraham Lincoln is the most revered of all of the presidents the United States has had, and he was the one president who felt thoroughly inadequate for the position. He felt that it was a work too great for him, yet he took it because he believed that God would give him the wisdom to do it, which He did. Yet when people are looking for a new president, they seek the one who has been the most successful in his own business based on his own intelligence. They feel that the country would prosper better with such a one at its head. Such an attitude advances the country not one whit, and means footsteps which must finally be retraced.

The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions, from ancient times to the present day.

Slavery became common within much of Europe during the Early Middle Ages, and it continued into the following centuries. The Ottoman wars in Europe (14^th to the early 20^th centuries) resulted in the capture of large numbers of Christian slaves.

The Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, Arabs and a number of West African kingdoms played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600.

In modern times, Denmark-Norway abolished slave trade in 1802. Although slavery is no longer legal anywhere in the world, human trafficking remains an international problem and an estimated 25-40 million people were enslaved as of 2013, the majority in Asia.

In the 15^th century the Portuguese began to explore the coast of Africa. They began to transport African slaves to Portugal and Spain. In the 16^th century, Europeans began to transport African slaves across the Atlantic.

Slavery was nothing new in Africa. For centuries Africans had sold other Africans to the Arabs as slaves. However, the trans-Atlantic slave trade grew until it was huge. Most African slaves were sent to Brazil or to the West Indies. Some were sent to the British colonies in North America, and the first slaves arrived there in 1619.

In the 18^th century ships from Britain took manufactured goods to Africa. They took slaves from there to the West Indies and took sugar back to Britain. This was called the Triangular Trade, and many other European countries were involved in the slave trade.

Some Africans were sold into slavery because they had committed a crime. However many slaves were captured in raids by other Africans. Europeans did not travel inland to find slaves. Instead, Africans brought slaves to the coast. Any slaves who were not sold were either killed or used as slaves by other Africans.

Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free. Paul said “I was free born.” All men should be free. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Massachusetts succored a fugitive slave in 1853. It were well if the sister States had followed her example and sustained as nobly our constitutional Bill of Rights. Discerning the God-given rights of man, Paul said, “I was free born.”

The rights of man were vindicated but in a single instance when African slavery was abolished on this continent, yet that hour was a prophecy of the full liberty of the sons of God as found in Christian Science.

On May 24, 1854, federal marshals in Boston arrested Anthony Burns, a fugitive from slavery. His arrest touched off protests across the City.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 stated that all escaped enslaved people had to be returned to their owners and that all free states had to abide by this law. In Boston, federal authorities tested this new law with the arrest of Anthony Burns.

Anthony Burns was born into slavery in Virginia. In 1853, he escaped to Boston, where he found work first at a pie company, and later at a clothing dealer. Shortly after arriving in Boston, Burns wrote a letter to his brother. The letter was intercepted by his owner, Charles F. Suttle, who then traveled north to lay claim to Burns. After federal marshals captured Burns, his case went to federal court.

The trial led many Bostonians to question the Fugitive Slave Act. The City erupted in protests against slavery in general, and Burns’s case in particular. Abolitionists attempted to free him, using a battering ram to try to break into the federal courthouse. After this incident and other protests, the City was put under martial law.

On June 2, 1854, federal authorities escorted Burns to the ship that would return him to Virginia. Thousands of Bostonians who opposed slavery lined the streets, booing, and hissing as the authorities took Burns to the ship.

After Burns’s return to Virginia, the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury raised money to free Anthony Burns. On February 22, 1855, a year after the trial, he returned to Massachusetts as a free man. He went on to study at Oberlin College and later became a Baptist preacher in Canada.

At the celebration of the ninety-second birthday of Abraham Lincoln by the Middlesex Club at the Hotel Brunswick in Boston, Tuesday, February 12, 1901, Senator Joseph V. Quarles of Wisconsin delivered an unusually eloquent address. He paid the great President a fine tribute. In a bit of word painting, he likened him to a great mountain.

Here is the picture: — A mountain is a mystery; such was Abraham Lincoln.

It is tall, rugged, isolated; so was he. It has seams and crevices that would disfigure the beauty of a hill. Among its rugged crags are sheltered spots of rare beauty, where the sunshine loves to linger, where flowers bloom and cooling streams sparkle. Great storms beat up against it with tremendous fury. The lightning with its vivid glow and the quick responses of the deep-toned thunder tell of the awful struggles that are waged about its lofty peak. Yet through storm and tempest it remains unmoved.

The same God that made the mountain made the man. His mysteries defy all human analysis.

Mr. Quarles thus further eulogized Abraham Lincoln: — If obstacles surmounted furnish the true test of greatness, then Abraham Lincoln was by all means the greatest man of his age. Recall the dangers and difficulties that beset him at the time of his inauguration. Personally he suffered great disparagement. No other man in modern times was ever so cordially hated. He was an obscure man, comparatively unknown, content to remain in seclusion until the time was ripe for action. What a theme had he and what inspiration filled his soul!

He spoke as never man spoke before. I doubt if in all political history a discourse ever produced an effect so profound and so magical. His address was in every sense a masterpiece. Its argument was strong and comprehensive.

Its logic was unanswerable. It unmasked the fallacy of secession in vigorous terms. At the same time its temper was so kindly, even affectionate, that it seemed more like a winsome plea. The delicate skill displayed in its adaptation to the several sections he sought to reach was masterly.

It roused the patriotism of the North without alienating the loyalty of the border states. In according to slavery everything that slavery had a right to demand under the constitution, it was as generous as it was just. It brought the fire-eaters face to face with the proposition that the Union cause was unassailable except by open and deliberate rebellion.

At one bound this country lawyer, without education or special training, stood forth the best equipped man of his generation to assume a burden which can only be likened to the task that mythology assigned to Atlas. With his face toward the approaching storm he stood undaunted, self-poised, like a divinely appointed leader. To employ his own language, “Without a name, without a reason why I should have a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his Country.”

He was at once master of the situation. He was startled, at first blush, to realize that he was superior in leadership to the able men who surrounded him, some of whom he had been taught to regard as demi-gods.

Power never excited in his mind a flush of exultation, but rather deepened the shadow on his melancholy face.

He had one element of strength which contributed largely to his success and which was so rare as almost to differentiate him from other men. Many men, perhaps a majority, are honest, yet how few are exactly fair! Personal tastes, interests, and temperament almost necessarily warp the judgment. Abraham Lincoln could be absolutely fair, because when he approached a public question his own personality seemed to sink out of sight, as though he had said with divine sanction, “Get thee behind me, self!” Neither pride of opinion nor personal prejudice seemed to invade the calm serenity of his official judgment. There no storm ever raged, no mist ever gathered.

In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.

The spirit that guided Lincoln was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…. “

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.

The Civil War hung in the balance. A traitor had given General McClellan’s plans for the defense of Washington D.C. to the South. The nation’s Capital could be lost and maybe the war. General McClellan had his faults and was eventually dismissed by Lincoln, but at this moment he had the spiritual receptiveness to be able to receive the Presence of George Washington who was vitally concerned for the future of this great country. Note the continuing theme as shown to Washington in his vision at Valley Forge.

When 1862 dawned, few realized how dire the situation was for the Republic. General George Brinton McClellan went to Washington, D.C., to take over command of the United States Army. At 2:00 a.m. on the third night after his arrival, he was working over his maps and studying the reports of the scouts when a feeling of intense weariness caused him to lean his head on his folded arms on the table where he fell asleep.

About ten minutes later the locked door was suddenly thrown open, someone strode right up to him and in a voice of power and authority said: “General McClellan, do you sleep at your post? Rouse you, or ere it can be prevented, the foe will be in Washington.”

In his published article General McClellan described his strange feelings in some detail. He seemed suspended in infinite space and the voice came from a hollow distance all about him. The furnishings and walls of the room had vanished leaving only the table covered with maps before him. But he found himself gazing upon a living map of America including the entire area from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean.

McClellan was aware of the being that stood beside him, but could only identify it as a vapor having the vague outline of a man.

As he looked at the living map the general was at first amazed and then elated as he saw the troop movements and a complete pattern of the enemy’s lines and distribution of forces. This knowledge would enable him to terminate the war speedily. But this elation dissolved as he saw the enemy occupy positions he had intended occupying within the next few days. He realized his plans were known to the enemy.

At this realization the voice spoke again: “General McClellan, you have been betrayed! And had not God willed otherwise, ere the sun of tomorrow had set, the Confederate flag would have waved above the Capitol and your own grave. But note what you see. Your time is short.”

McClellan did note what he saw on the living map, transferring it to the paper map on his table. When this was done he became aware that the figure near him had increased in light and glory until it shone as the noonday sun. He raised his eyes and looked into the face of George Washington.

With sublime and gentle dignity Washington said, “General McClellan, while yet in the flesh I beheld the birth of the American Republic. It was indeed a hard and bloody one, but God’s blessing was upon the nation, and therefore, through this, her first great struggle for existence, He sustained her and with His mighty hand brought her out triumphantly. A century has not passed since then, and yet the child Republic has taken her position of peer with nations whose pages of history extend for ages into the past. She has, since those dark days, by the favor of God, greatly prospered. And now, by very reason of this prosperity, has she been brought to her second great struggle. This is by far the most perilous ordeal she has to endure; passing as she is from childhood to opening maturity, she is called on to accomplish that vast result, self-conquest; to learn that important lesson, self-control, self rule, that in the future will place her in the van of power and civilization.

“But her mission will not then be finished; for ere another century shall have gone by, the oppressors of the whole earth, hating and envying her exaltation, shall join themselves together and raise up their hands against her. But if she still be found worthy of her high calling they shall surely be discomfited, and then will be ended her third and last great struggle for existence. Thenceforth shall the Republic go on, increasing in power and goodness, until her borders shall end only in the remotest corners of the earth, and the whole earth shall, beneath her shadowing wing, become a Universal Republic. Let her in her prosperity, however, remember the Lord her God, let her trust be always in Him, and she shall never be confounded.”

Washington raised his hand over McClellan’s head in blessing, a peal of thunder rumbled through space; and the general awoke with a start. He was in his room with his maps spread out on the table before him; but as he looked at them, to his astonishment, he saw, the maps were covered with marks and figures he had made during the vision.

McClellan had to walk about the room to be sure he was awake, but when he returned to the maps, the markings were still there. This convinced him that his dream or vision was real and was from above.

He set about immediately making the necessary changes to thwart the enemy’s plan, riding his horse from camp to camp to implement the changes at once. The Confederate Army was so near that President Lincoln could hear the rumble of their artillery while sitting in the study at the White House.

McClellan’s action saved the capitol early in 1862, and saved the Republic from the second peril. The first “peril” had been the Revolutionary War.

Thus the Union was saved and General McClellan concludes his account of his Vision with these words:

“Our beloved, glorious Washington shall again rest quietly, sweetly in his tomb, until perhaps the end of the Prophetic Century approaches that is to bring the Republic to a third and final struggle, when he may once more, laying aside the crements of Mount Vernon, become a Messenger of Succor and Peace from the Great Ruler, who has all Nations of this Earth in His keeping.

“But the future is too vast for our comprehension; we are children of the present. When peace shall have folded her bright wings and settled upon our land, the strange, unearthly map marked while the Spirit eyes of Washington looked down, shall be preserved among American Archives as a precious reminder to the American nation of what in their second great struggle for existence, they owe to God and the Glorified Spirit of Washington. Verily the works of God are above the understanding of man!”

Clara Barton was born Clarissa Harlowe Barton in North Oxford, Mass. on Christmas Day, December 25, 1821.

Not enough praise can be given to Clara Barton, who during her lifetime accomplished so much. Clara was a pioneer teacher, clerk, battlefield nurse and general humanitarian. Her father had advised her before his death that it was her Christian duty to aid the soldiers.

Clara organized supplies from the Ladies Aid societies. She rode to various battlefields in a wagon loaded with these medical supplies as well as equipment such as lanterns (when the doctors ran out of candles) and saved countless lives.

In 1864 Clara was appointed by Union General Benjamin Butler as the “lady in charge” of the Army hospitals.

Included in her more harrowing experiences was the time where a bullet came so close, that it tore through the sleeve of her dress without striking her. Clara Barton became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.”

Ulysses Grant’s family were devoted members of the Methodist church, and Ulysses exhibited strict Methodist morals. It was a strict household, where dancing, card playing, or cursing were never tolerated. He did love swimming, ice skating, and fishing, but he disliked hunting and had an aversion to taking any form of life. Never one to initiate a fight, he never backed down when bullied, and became a defender of smaller children and animals being mistreated. He was a very modest boy who wanted people to discover his strengths, not to have them advertised, and had a particular aversion to egotists and braggarts.

He had a great love for horses and was an excellent rider. At the age of five, Ulysses would stand on one leg on the back of a horse, while holding the reins, riding at top speed. He became known for breaking wild horses for local farmers through a fine sensitivity to their nature, rather than by his physical prowess. He said, “If people knew how much more they could get out of a horse by gentleness than by harshness, they would save a great deal of trouble both to the horse and the man.”

Unlike many great historical figures, Grant had no vast dreams, harbored no grand vision for his future, and would have settled for a contented, small-town life. Something about farming pleased him, and he was happiest when riding, plowing crops, sawing wood, or milking cows.

His father, Jesse, was self-taught and a very ambitious man, who became quite prosperous. He sent Ulysses to a private academy run by Rev. John Rankin, a famous antislavery cleric and early conductor on the Underground Railroad, and minister of a nearby Presbyterian church where Ulysses heard him preach many times. Rankin was a legend among abolitionists and was an exceptional influence in stamping out slavery.

Due to a stalled economy, Jesse was no longer able to send his son to private school, and, without his son’s knowledge, the domineering father applied to West Point on his son’s behalf. Ulysses refused to go, but was not able to stand up to his father and consented. He had studied algebra, Latin, and math, but was not an outstanding scholar and felt he would not qualify for West Point. To his surprise, he breezed through the entrance exams, proved modestly successful there, and graduated.

He had a very successful military career, winning many battles in the Mexican American war and earning much respect and fame. During the Civil War he joined the Union Army and led the Vicksburg campaign. After his victory at Chattanooga, President Lincoln promoted Grant to Lieutenant General. He fought Robert E. Lee during the Overland Campaign and at Petersburg. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, ending the War.

It says much about Grant’s character that at this time of success and fame, he paid tribute to his colleagues. One colleague, Gen. Sherman, wrote to Grant, “You are now Washington’s legitimate successor and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation, but if you can continue as heretofore to be yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, and the homage of millions of human beings that will award to you a large share in securing to them and their descendants a Government of Law and Stability . . . I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just, as the great . . . Washington — as unselfish, kindhearted and honest, as a man should be, but the chief characteristic in your nature is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in a Savior. This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and Vicksburg.”

What Lee thought of Grant as a general was somewhat contradictory. He later said that McClellan was the foremost Union general. But a chaplain in Sherman’s army said Lee named Grant as the premier Union general, “Both as a gentleman and as an organizer of victorious war, General Grant has excelled all your most noted soldiers.” What has never been doubted is Lee’s gratitude to Grant for his behavior at Appomattox, which he commented as “without a parallel in the history of the civilized world.”

Grant’s steadfastness and resolve during the battle to capture Fort Donelson, Tennessee, including his refusal to accept anything less than complete and total Confederate surrender, catapulted him to fame. But Grant also had a compassionate and magnanimous side to his character. When he and Confederate General Buckner finally met to decide terms, Grant’s dictate of “unconditional surrender” softened considerably. While Buckner and his men became prisoners of war, Confederate soldiers were allowed to keep their personal belongings, and commissioned officers kept their guns and swords (an unusual allowance). Grant also provided rations for Buckner’s desperately hungry troops and allowed wounded Confederates to be treated in Union hospitals in Kentucky. He even reportedly tried to repay Buckner for a long-ago loan, although Buckner brusquely refused him.

Despite pressure from his own staff and officers, Grant did not insist on a formal surrender ceremony, not wanting to embarrass Buckner and his men, stating “We have the fort, the men, the guns. Why should we go through vain forms and mortify and injure the spirit of brave men, who, after all, are our own countrymen?”

After the Fort Donelson surrender, President Abraham Lincoln quickly promoted Grant to major general of volunteers. When Grant faltered on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Lincoln was pressured to remove him from command. However, he refused, stating, “I can’t spare this man. He fights.” Grant proved his steadfastness and resolve in battle the next day, with a pattern of victory that would repeat itself throughout the rest of the war.

Finally, and most famously, after becoming head of the Union Army, Grant accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army at Appomattox. Again, Grant proved a magnanimous victor, allowing Lee and his men to retain their weapons, horses, and mules, and return home to their families, while providing food for starving Southern troops. When Grant’s soldiers began an impromptu celebration as Lee rode away, Grant immediately stopped it, later recalling, “The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.”

Frederick Douglass was one of the most revered Americans of the 19^th Century. He never became a politician, but spoke to Presidents as an equal. He was born a slave in 1818. He never knew the date of his birth, and never knew who his father was — although it was suspected it was his mother’s white slave owner. He only saw his mother a few times, as they lived on different plantations, and she died when he was just seven years old.

As a young teenager, he taught himself to read, which gave him an understanding of the power of words, and created a desire for freedom. When his owner learned about this, he sent him to live with a local farmer, Edward Covy, who made extra money breaking the will of unruly slaves. He beat the teenage Douglass every week for six months. Frederick finally fought back and they had a terrific struggle until Covy stumbled away, exhausted. He stood up for himself, and Covy never laid a hand on him again. Years later, Douglass said he considered it the most important lesson of his life.

Frustrated, his slave owner sent him to Baltimore, where he met a free black woman named Anna Murray, who agreed to help him escape. He disguised himself as a sailor and took the train, bluffing his way past suspicious conductors and slave hunters, to New York City, where he declared himself a free man. Anna joined him, but they realized New York City was not safe, so they moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He and Anna married, and eventually had five children.

He became a licensed preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He joined the radical abolitionist movement and was quickly recognized as a powerful speaker and writer. Its leader, William Lloyd Garrison, believed the Constitution legally protected slavery and was, therefore, irredeemable. But Douglass rejected that theory. He said the Constitution opposed slavery, “Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.”

He was a supporter of the Republican Party — the anti-slavery party — and was a strong supporter of the Union in the Civil War. Douglass urged young black men — including his own two sons — to enlist in the Union Army, saying, “You owe it to yourself. You will be defending your own liberty, honor, manhood, and self-respect.”

The Union victory ended slavery, but as the Democrat Party reestablished itself in the South in the 1870s and ’80s, a new kind of racial oppression arose in the form of Jim Crow laws and, even worse, widespread lynching. This was a bitter pill for Douglas to swallow, but he never gave up and spent the last three decades of his life agitating for civil rights.

It was self-evident to Douglass that black Americans as citizens were entitled to full freedom and full legal protection. At a speech in 1893 when some whites heckled him, Douglass set his speech aside and spoke extemporaneously. “There is no Negro problem,” he roared. “The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their own Constitution.”

He also believed true freedom would come for black people, as it comes for everyone, when they took full responsibility for their own fate. Ultimately, hard work and education would secure the rights they deserve. In his most popular lecture called “Self-made Men,” Douglass declared, “There can be no independence without a large share of self-dependence. This virtue cannot be bestowed, but must be developed from within.” He well understood the prejudice that existed, but he never accepted it as an inherent part of American culture. “My cause was and is that of the black man, not because he is black, but because he is a man.”

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta “Minty” Ross to enslaved parents, Harriet “Rit” Green and Ben Ross, in Dorchester County, Maryland. As a child, she was often beaten by the slaveholders, and bore the scars throughout her life.

As an adolescent, Tubman suffered a severe head injury when an overseer threw a two-pound metal weight at another slave who was attempting to flee. The weight struck Tubman instead, which she said “broke my skull.”

After her injury, Tubman began experiencing visions and vivid dreams, which she interpreted as revelations from God. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious. She found guidance in the Old Testament tales of deliverance. This religious perspective guided her actions throughout her life.

She married a free black man named John Tubman, and soon changed her name to Harriet, possibly in honor of her mother. She yearned for freedom, and made plans to escape. She made use of the Underground Railroad, which was composed of free and enslaved blacks, white abolitionists, and other activists. Most prominent among the latter in Maryland at the time were members of the Religious Society of Friends, often called Quakers. She probably took a common route for fleeing slaves — northeast along the Choptank River, through Delaware, and then north into Pennsylvania, a journey of nearly 90 miles, mostly by foot. She would have traveled by night to avoid slave catchers, and was guided by the North Star. It would have taken between five days and three weeks.

At an early stop, the lady of the house instructed Tubman to sweep the yard so as to seem to be working for the family. When night fell, the family hid her in a cart and took her to the next friendly house. Particulars of her first journey remain shrouded in secrecy, because other fugitive slaves used the routes. Finally she crossed into Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe, and recalled the experience years later: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”

Harriet courageously made many trips to the South and brought her family members, and other slaves they brought with them, to freedom — each one, a dangerous journey. She went back for her husband, but, thinking she had been killed, he remarried and chose to remain there. She suppressed her anger and forged onward, bringing even more slaves back to the North with her, to freedom. She became well-known and was given the nickname Moses, because she led so many to freedom.

Over 11 years, Tubman returned repeatedly to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, rescuing some 70 slaves in about 13 expeditions. She also provided specific instructions to 50 to 60 additional fugitives who escaped to the north.

Tubman’s religious faith was an important resource as she ventured repeatedly into Maryland. The visions from her childhood head injury continued, and she saw them as divine premonitions. She spoke of “consulting with God,” and trusted that He would keep her safe. As she led fugitives across the border, she would call out, “Glory to God and Jesus, too. One more soul is safe!”

Despite the best efforts of the slaveholders, Tubman was never captured, and neither were the fugitives she guided.

I, the Lord of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will save.

I, who made the stars of night

I will make their darkness bright

Who will bear my light to them?

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord, if you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain

I have borne my people’s pain

I have wept for love of them

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone

Give them hearts for love alone

Who will speak my word to them

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord, if you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame

I will tend the poor and lame

I will set a feast for them

My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide

’Til their hearts be satisfied

I will give my life to them

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord, if you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

From Mrs. Eddy

Christian Science Journal 1886

My Dear Readers:

Do we comprehend these beautiful words of our Master, that ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free?

“He came unto his own, and his own received Him not.” The Jews considered themselves the chosen of God; but when Jesus came declaring the Truth, and that he came not to do his own will but the will of his Father, he was rejected, reviled, spit upon, and finally crucified. If his teachings had been in the line of their own beliefs, he would have escaped persecution; and if they were in the Truth, there would have been no need of the teachings and demonstrations of a Jesus to show them the way.

He says, “I am the way; and whosoever tries to climb up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” And there is no other way under heaven by which man can be saved. And these signs shall follow them, — not you, but them, all that believe: they shall heal the sick, cast out devils, drink deadly things and it shall not harm them.

And he says to his followers, the works that I do, ye shall do, and greater. Now, my dear reader, do not enter into the mistake of thinking that the healing was only for that age and people. His teachings and demonstrations were for the whole world, for all time and all people, and for you and me as much as for the disciples of eighteen hundred years ago.

If we will but improve our opportunities of coming into the understanding of the Truth as taught by our Master, we will find to-day it will set us free, and we will learn that that which destroys sin, also destroys sickness. Jesus understood and proved this. He says: “Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee? or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?”

Truth is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, for it is God, unchangeable; and what can be done by those who understand Truth in one age, can be in another and in all ages. The lack is in the understanding and the Christian life. When we are not following Christ, we cannot do the works.

But there are to-day, as then, many false Christs and false prophets, — those who come in the name of Christ but are none of His; and they would, if possible, deceive the very elect, by the miracles they perform. Under this head are spiritualists, mind-curers, mesmerists, clairvoyants, etc. Truth must always have its imitators; but do not judge of the Truth by its counterfeit. If there be a counterfeit, we must know there is also the true coin somewhere; and let us search for it, and not allow our prejudices to shut us out from that which will prove to be the greatest blessing to us, both spiritually and physically, in lifting the thought above the errors of sense, and giving one dominion over the body.

Nearly seven years ago this beautiful Truth came to me for the first time, after many years of suffering and confinement, and helpless feebleness and prostration. I never shall forget the hope that came with it of something better, and the hope was fulfilled in the rapid restoration to health. And not only this, but I have been searching for years, because the Truth need not be followed blindly through mere belief, but it can be understood and demonstrated with the accuracy and certainty of a mathematical problem. As its Principle is none other than God, Christ overruling all, it is rightly termed Christian Science.

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Interesting Squibs

All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before a single word: faith.

The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.

To character and success, two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together — humble dependence and manly independence: humble dependence on God, and manly reliance on self.

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.

At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.

At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us.

At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future.

What most counts is not to live, but to live aright.

No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience of the law is demanded, not asked as a favor.

No, I don’t understand my husband’s theory of relativity, but I know my husband, and I know he can be trusted.

We must hear Jesus speak if we expect him to hear us speak.

If you want to kill time, try working it to death.

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

Lost time is like a run in a stocking. It always gets worse.

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

No man can be called friendless when he has God and the companionship of good books.

I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.

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Watches to Work with Often

May 2, 2020

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” — Psalm 51: 10

“Beloved, that which purifies the affections also strengthens them, removes fear, subdues sin, and endues with divine power; that which refines character at the same time humbles, exalts, and commands a man, and obedience gives him courage, devotion, and attainment. For this hour, for this period, for spiritual sacrament, sacrifice and ascension, we unite in giving thanks.”

Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 131

Let us know that the leaven of Christian Science is permeating and purifying the world right now, reducing this self-inflicted punishment by showing us the way to cast off every false belief because “sin’s necessity [is] to destroy itself.” (S&H) Our Roundtable, Church service, and Sunday School — along with our individual daily work for the Cause — is meeting mankind’s needs now and bringing every man, woman, and child what they need most: Christ’s Christianity! No human pride, arrogance, the lazy human mind, nor any other error can prevent anyone from humbling himself and finding the joy, blessing, and spiritual ascension of a repentant heart.

“Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit.”

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,
by Mary Baker Eddy, page 96

April 30, 2020

“The Constitution of the Unites States does not provide that materia medica shall make laws to regulate man’s religion; rather does it imply that religion shall permeate our laws. Mankind will be God-governed in proportion as God’s government becomes apparent, the Golden Rule utilized, and the rights of man and the liberty of conscience held sacred. Meanwhile, they who name the name of Christian Science will assist in the holding of crime in check, will aid in the ejection of error, will maintain law and order, and will cheerfully await the end — justice and judgment.”

Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 222

The only government that exists is the government of the Lord God Almighty! That supreme Government can never be infiltrated or manipulated by evil of any sort, including greedy and deceitful pharmaceutical companies that seek to influence wrongly. Our Constitution guarantees the right of self-government to all people, and mandatory inoculation — including the implanting of micro-chips, as has been suggested — is a gross violation of the God-given freedom and rights of all mankind! God’s government is pure and impenetrable, and it exposes the false theories of materia medica, revealing their utter foolishness and irrationality. God is the only authority, and His Word rules. Evil is doomed, and falls silent and utterly destroyed before the almighty Power of God!

Long years I searched, looking far off

For what I believed life’s richest prize,

Until a voice said: Look, where you are;

Take of the good that near you lies.

Not Truth’s reward, but Truth itself

Is the greater substance. Do not plead

With Love for a field of larger gain,

When Love itself is our only need.

You turn to God as the source of good;

Then let Him be not part but the whole.

God is the inevitable starting point;

God is the full and final goal.

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From the Early Workers

Christian Science Journal 1892

Christian Scientists, to whom Truth has revealed the quickest and best way to relieve human suffering, are often unjustly accused of being cold, heartless, and indifferent to the claims of suffering. This charge would never have been made, had humanity learned that talking continually of sin, sickness, and sorrow, is no way to lessen them, but only adds to their seeming intensity and duration. In line with this thought, can be learned a most practical lesson by would-be Christians, from the devoted, calm and self-possessed Shunammite mother, who acted upon the firm resolve to speak of her almost overwhelming grief, to the only one, — Elisha, — who was able to help her.

Even to her husband, she is silent regarding their mutual great loss. Ordering the servant to saddle the ass, she said, “Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me except I bid thee.”

No hesitancy, no doctrinal cowardice there. Elisha sees her coming, and sends his servant to meet her; but, not even to one so near the prophet as Gehazi, does she reveal her heart’s burden and desire. To him she bravely, almost stoically replied, “It is well.” The sequel proved her wisdom in not unburdening her sorrow to any less than the prophet, for Gehazi, though sent at once, in Elisha’s stead, to the Shunammite’s house, was helpless to restore the child. What a tumult of conflicting emotions must have filled her breast, as she fell at Elisha’s feet. Not once did the mother say, “My boy is dead,” for emotions of anguish and doubt were hushed in the presence of confidence and trust in the divine arm. While the prophet’s strong words, “Take up thy son,” uttered as he came from the chamber (to him) of delusion, must have thrilled the mother with joy, yet, we have no record of any words spoken by her in reply. Does not her very silence, at so eventful a time, beautifully illustrate the life and character of this brave, sweet woman; so trustful and still, in the hour of happiness, as well as disaster; so full of deep, intense feeling that all about her felt her blessed influence? Because the Shunammite woman did not recount her sorrows to all she met, was not boisterous in her grief, can we say that she was, in any respect, lacking in true motherly love and feeling? The prophet’s wisdom had taught her that true sympathy is expressed more in deeds than words, and to be helpful must ever be practical and in season. Hence, her wise determination not to even whisper her deep grief to the multitude, or to those who could not relieve it; and, above all, to those who could not comprehend the great fact of Being, that death is only a mortal dream which, “comes in darkness, and disappears with the light.” (S&H)

The Shunammite woman’s calm, unfaltering trust, and self-possession expresses such a high degree of harmony, in thought and action, during seasons of intense trial, as to commend itself to the emulation of all true Christians. Even Christian Scientists, who recognize the Principle which impelled or guided the Shunammite are called upon to heed the lesson, and falter not, but “Go forward; slack not thy riding for me except I (the Truth), bid thee.”

Christian Science Journal 1884

I had been thinking long and deeply on the nature and office of the “Stone which the builders rejected.” I felt as never before His promise, “I am with you always,” to be true; for He was present with me indeed — the Paraclete, the blessed Comforter. Then I felt armed to go forth to do His work, and started on my daily errands of mercy.

The home of one of my patients was in a town located on the banks of the Androscoggin. While there, I received a message from a mother to come and help prepare her babe for burial.

The child had been struck with death since midnight, the nurse told me, and when I arrived was lying in its mother’s arms, pale and gasping.

“Not to lay out the dead, but to prevent death, is my mission,” I told the parents, and at my request they laid the baby in its cradle. Before long it opened its eyes and looked around. By twelve o’clock it slept a natural sleep, and after the third treatment it was laughing and playing about the house, gaining in flesh, and growing as if no rude belief had ever tried to shock its sweet life from the earth. Then I bowed my head, and blessed “the Stone which the builders rejected,” for in the power of His might had I done this thing.

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Current Articles

I have been finding it challenging to hold a good thought for the world when there have been constant updates in the news of what is going on. “Fear” (False Evidence Appearing Real) is appearing to run rampant. I have been holding a thought for the world that “we are all innocent of this lie!”

With the idea of “innocent” staying on my thought, I turned to Strong’s Concordance to see what I could find. I looked at a few of the variations, but it was “innocency” that caught my eye. The second citation directs the student to Psalm 26:6, which reads, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.”

This stood out to me because for weeks, the news, co-workers, and social media have been telling all of us to constantly wash our hands. What an incredible connection, to “wash our hands in innocency,” rather than washing our hands in fear. Disease is not of, nor from, God, therefore it is not part of the identity of any of God’s ideas. We are never, for one second, separated from our Father-Mother God — our source of health, happiness, love, intelligence, strength, supply, and perfection.

I am a newer member to Plainfield, but I am beyond thankful to have been directed to explore this independent church. I am especially thankful for every article that is available on the website and YouTube that we have access to, free of charge. There is so much amazing work being done here, which is evident through the healings, teachings, and services that are provided and broadcast to the world. And thank God this pure, strong thought is reaching around the globe!

The word “evidence” is derived from the Latin evidentia, from video, “to see.” The word “idolatry” is derived from the Greek word meaning “thing seen.”

Mrs. Eddy’s allegory, “The Trial” (S&H 430-442), deals with attorneys battling over two kinds of evidence, both sides vehemently contradicting each other: mind versus Mind, the former presenting evidence of things seen, and the latter presenting evidence of things not seen, also identified in Hebrews 11:1 as “the substance of things hoped for” or “faith.”

At the beginning of the trial, in the lower court of the senses, the accused (a critically sick patient) allows the prosecuting attorneys and a flood of witnesses to dominate the court — without a single “I object!”

During Hitler’s reign of terror, the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda successfully employed the technique of “the Big Lie” — the mesmeric repeating of a self-evident falsehood via party, press, and pulpit: radio broadcasts, newspapers, motion pictures, billboards, public notices, speeches, sermons, tracts and handouts, educational materials for children and young adults, with great urgency and emotional force — along with government censorship of any opposing viewpoints — all for the purposes of mass “enlightenment,” — which was nothing more than mind-control.

In the court of lower consciousness, the show-trial ends with a conviction — the death penalty! — without a peep of protest from the attorney-deprived convict, paralyzed, speechless with mind-monopolizing fear.

But on appeal, as he finally comes to his spiritual senses, the convict allows his attorney, Christian Science, to hold court and present evidence in the Supreme Court of Spirit, ultimately proving that all the lower court’s “evidence” gathered by the physical senses amounted to nothing but a Big Lie.

At this point, the evil accusers of the lower court of mind cry out, declaring that “Christian Science was overthrowing the judicial proceedings of a regularly constituted court” (S&H 437:25), but the higher court of Mind quickly dismisses this contempt-of-court claim.

At last, the lower court of sense and all its occupants are silenced, vanquished, dispersed like a wisp of smoke in a windstorm. And one Mind prevails.

More than ever before, Christian Scientists must refuse to allow thoughts from the lower court to kick Science out of their thought-life! “Thought passes from God to man” and only from God to man, not vice versa, “that man may have audience with Spirit” alone, not with fear, but with that which casts out fear, “the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error.” (S&H 284:30, 15:12)

Therefore, with the flaming sword of the Word of God protecting the Tree of Life in every direction, it’s time, as never before, to strike at the head of the phantom paper dragon of the Apocalypse that “deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9); time to turn whatever consciousness remains of its “reality” into dust and ashes!

I met my husband in my midlife, at a time when I was fearful for my future and uncertain of how I was going to get by in the immediate. I was lonely and afraid. He had been recently widowed and he prayed to be put into a situation where he would be needed.

He introduced me to Christian Science, although he did not encourage or discourage me. He answered my questions when I asked and left me to dig around and explore Science and Health.

Some ten years later, I often look at this man, now my husband, but I don’t see the human. I see and feel God’s wonderful presence. I see him as provided to me by God, as giving me comfort, as God saying I am with you always. I see God looking out for me. He is an embodiment of God-given security, harmony, peace, unfoldment, intelligence, abundance and love.

As I study Christian Science, these quotes often have special significance as a result: From Science and Health: “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.” And in Eustace’s book, Clear Correct Teaching, page 164, “In your communion with God, the language of God appears always as a person, place and thing, — as that which makes Him known.”

God has blessed me in so many ways — with my husband and family, with the Plainfield Church, its wonderful practitioners and the members who add such beauty to our study of Christian Science. I have come to realize God provides for all of His children in ways that will meet their need, just as He did for me. No one is ever left out of God’s Love.

The Bible says, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” (Psalm 46:4) That statement gives a picture of our dear God, who is the infinite divine Mind, pouring forth right thoughts and ideas like a stream, or river.

In this time, where the media is pouring forth all that it is saying, and doing so aggressively, even then there is this river, this rushing stream of right thoughts from God, counteracting the negativity and filling the mental atmosphere with God’s Truth! Hymn No. 80 says, “There is a river pure and bright, Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains; Where, in eternity of light, The city of our God remains.” What a comfort that is — no matter what error tries to suggest, “the city of our God remains,” steadfast and unmoved!

A few years ago I had an experience where the idea about this river helped me immensely. A group of us were working on a project at church, but we did not know what steps to take, or just what we needed to do. I remembered this statement about the river of right thinking from God, and I found myself saying, there is an answer, even though I didn’t know what the answer was. There was a moment of silence, and after that someone else had an idea to try, which led to finding a way to complete this project, step by step.

This was proof that, no matter what situation we are in, God is sending forth His guiding light, His right ideas that will always be there if we look for them and ask Him for them. There is always this river, pouring forth good thoughts — and in practical form — that are always there to help us, when we turn to Him in sincerity.

Years ago when my husband I were newly married, money was tight. There was a recession, and this caused my husband to close his business. Even though I had a job, we were struggling financially. I prayed about this and my husband was able to find temporary jobs, and even a few interviews. But there was no permanent position and no response from his few interviews. I continued praying, knowing that God does meet our needs and never leaves us wanting, for Love knows what we need.

One day my husband suggested we leave Florida and go to his hometown in Georgia. He said we could live with his family while he looked for a job there.

I didn’t know what God’s plan was for us, but I felt that moving in with family in another state was not the plan. But I also felt it was right to go along with my husband’s request, so I gave two weeks’ notice to my employer. All this time I was trusting completely in God. As Mary Baker Eddy states on page 167 of Science and Health, “Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.”

Two days later, my husband received an offer from a national company for a position in the city where we lived. He accepted, and we did not have to move! I told my employer what happened and asked if I could stay on, and they said, “of course.”

While this experience was stressful at times and lasted for months, it was a good lesson in trusting that God’s will would be done, and to never waver, but to keep relying only on God. As Mrs. Eddy says, “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.” (Mis. 307:2)

In a book called 100 Years of Christian Science Healing, a farmer in South Africa wrote the shortest testimony in the whole book about the healing of a plague that was running rampant on farms, killing all their livestock. When he understood that his animals could never be separate from Divine Love, not one fell ill or died — and the plague left the region as quickly as it had come. He wrote something I’ve never forgotten: Animals respond to Truth much more quickly than humans.

Many years ago, one morning one of my dogs was lying in his bed instead of greeting me as he usually did. I quickly realized that he couldn’t get up. Initially I panicked. I thought: What do I do? I don’t want him to suffer. Should I take him to the vet? I felt burdened by an oppressive sense of false responsibility for this dog I loved.

Then the thought came: What does he want? I looked down and saw him looking up at me with his big, beautiful brown eyes. He wants me to care for him. He wants to feel love not fear. He’s not wanting me to take him to the vet. (No animal ever said, “Let’s go to the vet!”)

The next thought that came was, the greatest care I could give to him or anyone would be to know that he never has been, and never will be, separate from God. In Sunday School, as a little girl, I had learned that the lions didn’t eat Daniel because they were “God’s perfect lions.” This dog was God’s perfect dog. Perfect God. Perfect dog. Perfect creation.

So I sat down next to him and I sang his favorite hymn. He was an Australian Shepherd and I loved to sing “Shepherd Show Me How to Go” to him. I closed my eyes and felt the sun shining through the window on us both. I felt so full of Love and so grateful to know that neither he nor I could ever be separate from that Love. I sang the hymn all the way through. When I finished, I opened my eyes to look down at him. But he wasn’t there. I went out into the kitchen, where he now stood with the other two dogs — all wagging their tails wondering why the heck breakfast was taking so long!

Animals do not have mortal minds. So when we are clear transparencies for Truth and Love, they immediately respond to the Truth of their being.

Right now our dogs are wagging their tails, our cats our purring, the birds are singing and building nests because it is spring, squirrels are rejoicing to be outside again. They are not listening to the media. In fact, they’re enjoying some peace and quiet for a change. They don’t need to tune into the news to get important updates, because they already know all that there is to know. They know that All Life is Love.

I’m so grateful to learn the lessons that Love is always teaching us through its beautiful animal creations, who know there is no mortal mind. There is only One Mind — and all of us are pure reflections of Love, Truth, and Life.

I do a lot of hiking, usually alone, often in rather rugged terrain, not necessarily on any trail. I still don’t have a cell phone. I know several others who love this type of solitude adventure, and it always seems to work out just fine. But some people say to me, “Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you worried? What if you get lost? What if something happens and you’re alone?” What if? What if? What if? But then what if I always have a great adventure and only good and amazing things happen? What if those people are missing some fantastic experiences?

So, recently, I thought perhaps it was time to reveal the Christian Science secret we all know and love. So, I wrote this little story about the foolproof, God-based hiking style.

“Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” I don’t really live alone. I live with God. We are inseparable. Every day, I take a walk with God. He has great hiking suggestions and they always seem to be exactly the kind of adventure to fit the day, and more perfect than if I had planned it without Him along. I guess that makes sense, since God actually is my mind, so of course He knows just what is right for the day, plus, talk about feeling safe! There is never, ever a need to worry. Everything is always ok. He has an excellent sense of direction. Even when we go off-trail, He shows me things I could never find on my own, plus He answers my questions and often teaches me something wonderful about life itself. Wow! He loves to share His spirit and His ideas, and I return home from the walks feeling so blessed. I am falling in love with Him more and more, so that His presence is becoming all I see. Whatever it is, if it’s not of God, it has no real power and no real presence, so I can cast it out. He said so. I think it is true that God is all there is, so, thank God! And like they used to say on tv: “Father Knows Best.”

The Bible is full of references to the covenant between God and many of the people in the Bible, like Abraham and others. That covenant goes something like this: if you will be faithful in your work for Me, that is God, I will take care of you. I’m grateful to learn in Christian Science that the covenant, that promise of God, is in fact a law. Throughout the entire universe that law is true for everyone in every time.

I was reminded recently of an experience I had a couple of years ago. I had to schedule a business trip in early February, in the middle of the winter, and this was a trip where it was appropriate for my wife to accompany me. In scheduling the trip and the meetings, I took into consideration the fact that my wife is also a Christian Science practitioner and needs the mornings to be able to take her calls. We also did not want to miss any church services on Wednesday or Sunday. So, when I took all of this into consideration for flight schedules, there was only one flight in each direction that would enable us to meet all of our obligations for the church. I scheduled those flights, and I scheduled meetings around them.

As we were approaching the time of the trip, there were forecasts of severe storms threatening our ability to take the trip. However, our flight out of New Jersey took place, and it was perfect. It left just before a big snowstorm arrived in New Jersey. All of the other flights were canceled that day.

On our return flight the same kind of thing happened. As we prepared to board our flight home to New Jersey, there was a forecast of a severe snowstorm in New Jersey. There was a question whether our flight would be able to leave, but it did leave, and landed in New Jersey minutes before another big snowstorm hit. All the other flights back to New Jersey that day were canceled.

This was a wonderful proof of God’s covenant, and an example that when we put God’s work first in our lives, He does take care of everything. I’m very grateful to God for taking care of this whole situation, and making sure we were where we needed to be to take care of His business. I’m grateful to Mary Baker Eddy for giving us God’s Science of Christianity, where the promises of God are shown to be divine law that we can count on when we fulfill our part of that covenant.

I’ve been reading an article by Rosalie Stamp, called “Spiritual Consultations.” It mentions consultation with the great Physician. It says that, at times, we may wish that Jesus was here to help and heal. But it states that we should rather ask, what did Jesus call upon for his healing work? There are three things: he called on the same eternal Mind, the same invincible Truth, the same great liberating Love that is with us all right now.

We can always remember that our true great Physician always has a good diagnosis or verdict for us. His diagnosis is the perfection, the loveliness that strengthens spiritual selfhood, which we reflect.

I’m so grateful for this. It’s a reminder that God’s verdict is the reality, it is the truth, and it is what we all must always keep in our hearts, even though mortal mind insists on its lies and deceptions. I love Mrs. Eddy’s article “A Treatment for Every Day,” which can be found on our website under “articles.” I love where she says we must declare times without number, “I am perfect in God,” and to say often, “I am perfect, joyful, triumphant and complete.” This should be our only diagnosis and Verdict, because it is the Truth!

There is an article entitled “Radiation and Absorption” attributed to Mary Baker Eddy which can be found on our website (plainfieldcs.com). It has always been a great source of comfort to me, and I think of it often, especially now with the belief of pandemic causing so much fear and disturbance.

The article states that as you go about your day, you are either radiating thoughts of Life, Truth and Love, or you are absorbing all the negativity and upset that the world parades before your eyes.

The article goes on to state, “As a man cannot, at the same time, radiate and absorb, by constantly sending forth thoughts of Love, Life, and Truth, whenever a delusion of their opposites present itself, he may have a veritable armor against fears of weakness of every description, and so keep prepared for, and guard against, attacks from all directions.”

Think about it – what would you rather be doing? – would you like to be a light that radiates forth goodness and love to help bless and heal all mankind, or would you prefer to be like a sponge that soaks up every fear and dire prediction that the human mind spews forth?! Should be an obvious answer! Remember, radiating God’s truth and love is a total and complete armor. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (page 243), “Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.”

So, as we go about our day, as we hear negative talk or dire predictions from the news media, a good question to ask ourselves is, “Am I radiating God’s love to all mankind, or am I absorbing evil suggestions?” If we are busy radiating the love of God, we are also deflecting any negative element that would try to approach us. We will become a carrier of good alone and will help bring healing and comfort to all we come in contact with.

What a lovely benediction on us all to remember as, Henry Drummond says, “the greatest thing in the world is love.” Love heals anything and everything. When there is love, there is light; and where there is light the darkness cannot come. That is what we are all about! And if anyone has any doubt about this truth, just try it. You will find it really works!

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Letters of Gratitude

Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I have been studying Christian Science since 1983. I took instruction in class in 1985, with a teacher, I worked as a reader, vice president, Sunday school teacher and other church positions. After a few years I walked away, but constantly following my daily readings.

Three years ago I found independent Christian Science and began to follow its lessons and writings. What most impacted me are the Watching Points, Mary Baker Eddy’s writings and many other readings. For all that, and mainly because I feel inside, I want to be a member.

Thank you very much and I send you an affectionate greeting.

Argentina (submitted in Spanish)

I am very grateful to be a member of the Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent. To me, this church has always been a beacon sending out God’s love to the world and drawing us to Him.

I love the website and the conference calls allowing everyone to participate in the church activities, making it truly a church without walls.

Enclosed is my monthly contribution.

The chorus sang at a Sunday service, “God is Good All the Time.” When I opened the website, this was standing at the door when I opened it. It was love at first sight. Thank you.

Each day I look forward to what Plainfield offers in the way of Bible Studies, Roundtable discussions, and Wednesday night meetings. This continues to make a tremendous difference in my life and I’m so grateful to God for providing this.

I’m very grateful for the good coming out of this difficult time. In this country over 750,000 people have volunteered to help officially, with more people in every community helping neighbors with shopping, and everyone being kind to each other. Pollution levels are down, and we can hear the birdsong instead of traffic noise once more. Innovative people in the racing car industry have swiftly designed and started to produce a helpful breathing aid which avoids costly ventilators for some patients. So, everyone is contributing and expressing qualities of God. We have much to be grateful for.

Let me add my thanks for all the wonderful support and inspiration which comes from this church. I was so helped by the Wednesday, March 11, meeting. The readings were so timely, based on Mary Baker Eddy’s statement, “Error has no power but to destroy itself. It cannot harm you; it cannot stop the eternal currents of Truth.” (Mis. p. 157) The Bible Study on Saturday gave so much and encouraged us to love, be joyful, and bless others. Then Sunday’s Roundtable, including the mention of the spectacular article, “Wonderful Things Are Happening” and the idea for each of us to read Daniel chapter 9 and put God at the head of our procession, for in acknowledging God we find our freedom! The Sunday, March 15, service was the culmination of all this turning to God; hymn number 342, which begins, “This is the day the Lord hath made; Be glad, give thanks, rejoice,” seemed to say it all, and then we were blessed with the most beautiful singing of “Fountain of Life.” What a week! Thanks to all.

I’m so grateful to Christian Science and the Plainfield church for giving the tools to stand strong, especially in this current time. I was introduced to Christian Science less than two years ago and I learned a great amount of information which I’m applying now. All is well with me and my family and I thank God for that. My son asked me a few weeks ago about where I was standing regarding the mass mesmerism that is happening now. He told me, “Mom, if you’re standing strong in your faith in God, Good, I am with you.”

I had been working with Mrs. Eddy’s article, “All Love Does,” for quite some time now and I find it so helpful. I’d been working with the article “Supply” by Martha Wilcox as well and it’s also so helpful. I’m so grateful that the Plainfield church is still providing the teachings of Mrs. Eddy’s Christian Science for everyone’s benefit.

What a gift you have made to us with the March 2020 edition of Love is the Liberator! The theme, “Christianity and our Founding Fathers,” could not be more timely. I was never one to be much interested in history during my school years, as it seemed to focus too much on the history of wars and conquests. Now I feel that I have just received the most beautiful education about our nation’s founding fathers, one that I would have loved had it been taught in the schools. I was practically in tears reading about Jefferson’s Bible, the depth of character of George Washington and his protection by “the Great Spirit,” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Call to Prayer,” to cite just a few of the many thought-provoking articles. What a prayerful treatment these writings are for our nation at this moment in time.

Thank you everyone who put together this wonderful volume, filled with so many inspiring articles, quotes, letters, and testimonies. It is clear that a lot of thought and preparation went into it. I will cherish it and can’t wait to read it again and again. It will be a reference to teach others about how our nation was truly founded on Christian principles.

Enclosed please find a donation to the church as an expression of gratitude for not only this publication, but for all that this church offers: healing church services filled with beautiful music, profound teachings on pure Christian Science, and an amazing outreach published through the many foreign language websites to reach around the globe. Most of all, thank you to the practitioners for their dedication and constant prayers.

Thank God for all that is offered in the Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent, which encourages us to remain in constant prayer so that when we are faced with common challenges, we can aid in calming the fears of others through our unwavering confidence in God. This is what is helping us to best help each other!

Yesterday, while reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the following text stood out to me: “Christians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative commands: ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!’”

I made a note of this text, and I continued to mentally repeat, “Be ye therefore perfect.” This morning I realized there is more to this command, so I went back to my note. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!” While it was good to state my perfection, I was omitting that my perfection comes from my Father. The definition of “Father” found in Science and Health is “Father. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine Principle, commonly called God.”

I was reminded that I must know there is only one power, God, that I and my Father are one, that all I have comes from God and it is good, that God gives me all in abundance, that I am God’s image and likeness and I cannot be separated from God. This recognition is more powerful, and this Divine power cannot be stopped or interrupted. So grateful for God’s constant care and angel messages.

Enclosed please find my donation for 2020. If there were three more zeros attached it would be closer to what our church means to me.

With great appreciation for all the work all of you do to enlighten us.

I am a life-long Christian Scientist. For the last few months I have been listening to the Plainfield Christian Science Church Independent Bible Studies, Roundtables, Wednesday evening services, studying the weekly watches, and reading the Weekly Lessons. What an inspired source of instruction and sustenance. I want to express my gratitude to the Church, and those, who so lovingly ‘prepare a table before me’ each week. I have always prayed (in passing) to receive inspiration from what I read and pass that onto the Sunday School students I teach and that inspiration comes, sometimes at the last minute, when class is in session, to completely change the course of the teaching. However, since finding the Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent I have been learning that I can consciously ask for and expect that inspiration now. Reading an article from Mrs. Evans, entitled, “Choices,” put me back on track in getting my lesson each morning, before the days starts (instead of at the end of the day) so that my day starts with God and I can more easily affirm His presence throughout the day, as it unfolds.

My heart is filled with gratitude for having this church home; for all the faithful like-minded members, who work diligently to study, practice and promote Mary Baker Eddy’s pure Revelation of Christian Science. It is a joy to participate in this work, and to share the living of it with others. And why? Just one statement from the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, may shed some light:

“If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the study of Christian Science and to the spiritualization of thought, this alone would usher in the millennium.” (page 382:5-8).

Enclosed is my monthly contribution.

I felt I must express my gratitude for the wonderful Bible Studies and Roundtable discussions that Plainfield has had recently. Of course they are always wonderful, however it seems that the ones recently provided everyone listening such discussions (food for thought) to combat the situation we find the world in at this time. It has provided the armor of truth for us to go forth into battle to combat the aggressive lies that have presented themselves to each of us for destruction.

Every single day I am so grateful I discovered this incredible church — its pure teachings of Christian Science and all that it provides to each one of us to enable us to each become our own practitioner. It is truly a gift from God.

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Testimonies of Healing

from J. M. in Georgia

Recent weather reports predicted severe storms with hurricane force winds, severe lightning and tornadoes. The storms were predicted to hit our area at 1:00 a.m. While I was lying in bed, praying, I started to hear thunder, and then wind and rain with flashes of lightning. I continued praying using statements from Mrs. Eddy’s article, “A Treatment for Everyday,” found on the Plainfield web site. I prayed, “This is God’s spiritual household.” I included my neighborhood, city, state, and world. I continued with, “God is the only power, the wind is in His fists,” and many other statements that came to me. I didn’t stop praying until I felt at peace.

Then, I heard the wind become less, the rain was falling gently, and the thunder and lightning was diminishing. I thanked God and then fell asleep. The next day my husband was talking with a friend who lives three miles from us. He told my husband that he awoke at 2:00 a.m. and was watching the storm on radar. He said it was the strangest thing he had ever seen. When the storm approached our area, it separated. Some of it went north of us, and some to the south. He said he couldn’t figure it out. My husband told me that he wanted to tell our friend that it happened through prayer. I was so grateful to hear this. I also knew that I was not the only one praying.

I am so grateful for God’s love and protection. I’m grateful for my loving and dedicated practitioner, who is an ever present help to me. I’m very grateful for this Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent, and for all who attend its healing service.

from E. S. in Georgia

Lately I have been taking long walks with my dogs in our local park. Yesterday after walking with them, I got in the car and noticed that one of my hands had become very itchy. I realized I had dropped the leash in some plants along the path. I hadn’t paid much attention at the time to know what it fell into, but everything is blooming where I live.

At first I thought, “Great, I don’t need this now.” Then I thought, “No! I don’t have to accept this and I won’t! I exist in the atmosphere of Love Divine, where I live and move and breathe.” The next thought that came is from Science and Health, “A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this Truth removes properly whatever is offensive.”

I dropped off the dogs at home and drove to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Before I entered the store I sat in the car for a few minutes to acknowledge these truths. By the time I was done shopping — about 25 minutes later — the itchiness or redness on my hand was completely gone.

I am very thankful to God and Mary Baker Eddy for Christian Science, and to be learning how to live its teachings in Plainfield Church.

from L. S. in Ohio

A few weeks ago, my college-aged daughter (who is not a Christian Scientist) arrived home early from a date, reporting that her stomach hurt badly. Throughout the evening she couldn’t find any comfortable position, and the pain and symptoms seemed to intensify. I prayed throughout the night, but by morning she decided she needed medical attention, which I respected. After arriving at the ER, I requested support from a Plainfield practitioner to help with my fear — fear for my daughter’s condition, as well as the fear of the current virus and its association with hospitals.

Not long after arriving, the ER doctor said that she was being admitted for two days. They made dire predictions that the catscan suggested she had Crohn’s disease. Practitioner suggested that I focus on radiating God’s Love, not absorbing the errors being presented. She suggested I reread the article, “Radiation and Absorption” by A. Learner, available on the Plainfield website. The article asks, “Am I radiating good or am I absorbing evil?” This was not an easy task for me to concentrate on, as medical personnel kept coming in and out with various interruptions and disquieting thoughts. So I kept it simple and worked to radiate God’s qualities.

The article also says, “As man cannot at the same time radiate and absorb, by constantly sending forth thoughts of Love, Life, and Truth whenever a delusion of their opposites presents itself, he may have a veritable armor against fears of weakness of every description, and so keep prepared for, and guard against, attacks from all directions.”

Not long after, Kayla’s pain was eliminated. She took no more pain medication after about 6:00 in the evening, and remained pain free. By morning she was itching to leave, yet the doctors were not on board. We insisted that we needed to be at home. They finally agreed if we would follow up with a colonoscopy within the next two weeks. Kayla remained pain free after we arrived home. I am happy to say, she went for the doctor-driven colonoscopy and there was nothing negative to be seen. The doctor said he no longer suspected any disease, and although he didn’t know what caused it, there was nothing there now.

I realize that the healing came within those first few hours under practitioner support. Kayla’s origin was never in matter. Her “being” is derived directly from God as His image and likeness. The dramatic and quick changes were evidence of God’s care for us. When it came time for her to return to her student teaching position the next day, error took one more stab at our peace. She was tired and overwhelmed by the changes happening with her position due to the threat of school closings. Practitioner was there to support us through that day, and I can happily report that the feelings of being overwhelmed quickly resolved.

I am so grateful for the support of our loving Plainfield practitioners. These past weeks it has been so nice to share supportive articles and the website with my friends from Principia. One said that he shared the article “Wonderful Things are Happening,” by Dorothy B. Rieke with his family, and they all agreed that it was such a great article, and marveled how they had never read articles like that before in their mainstream CS church. What a positive affirmation to Plainfield Church for their access to articles from early workers of Christian Science. Thank you all!

from J. P. in New Jersey

I love all the work that God has given me to do here in Plainfield, but occasionally I allow the enormity of it to start weighing on me. I am very grateful to be learning that pressure is animal magnetism, but sometimes I haven’t seen how to apply that statement practically so that I could put the feeling behind me.

For this, my practitioner has given me something that has helped immensely. She said, in effect, when you feel pressured or the need to rush, slow right down. It actually made me laugh the first time she said it to me, but in the months since, I have been applying this as a rule of thumb in every case.

As an example, this past week I woke one morning thinking of all that I had on my task list, and had this feeling I couldn’t get it done all in one day. I entertained this feeling for about 15 minutes, and then remembered her saying “slow right down.” I got up from my computer and grabbed a coffee and looked outside, thanking God for the day, and the sun, and all the beauty of the world. Then when it felt right, I started my work, just concentrating on one item at a time. Within four hours I finished the entire list of my tasks for the day, and then had time for even more work. It was awesome!

Not only has it been a helpful guideline, it has also shown me even more concretely how God gives us our work, and He knows exactly how much we can do each day. Only believing in a power apart from God would fool me to think otherwise. Slowing down, working to understand His allness, and my oneness with Him, has helped me to be both calmer and more productive.

I am so grateful for all this church offers, for practitioner support, and for the joy and purpose that comes from this work. Thank you!

from D. G. in Illinois

I was helping a friend by placing an online grocery order to be delivered to her. Even though I had checked to make sure delivery was offered, after spending 45 minutes placing the order, I was informed that delivery was not possible. I declared, “This is God directed and, therefore, cannot be stopped!” The name of another company came to my thought, I called them, and the order was delivered in just a few hours.

What a joy and an absolute proof that God does meet our every need when we turn to Him, know the Truth, and listen for His voice, no matter how big or small our situation may be.

from P. J. in Virginia

A couple of weeks ago, I had brought a bird feeder into our kitchen and was filling it with bird seed when I felt a sharp pain on my finger. I thought it might be an insect bite and in examining the feeder, I found a bee crawling around on it. I carefully took the feeder outside and asked my husband, who was in the driveway, if he would kill the bee as it had just stung me. He said, “I don’t think we need to do that as I believe once it has stung you, it will die rather quickly after that.”

I immediately realized that my thinking was all wrong, so I asked God what did He know of this situation. The thought came very quickly that nowhere in God’s creation could one of His ideas harm another, and I realized that it was not the intention of that little bee to harm me — he was just trying to protect himself.

I went back into the kitchen to apply a baking soda paste on my finger, but then washed it off in a very short time. Instead I continued to work for this situation with the truths about God and man and the universe, which included that little bee. I also refused to examine my finger at any point during this time.

The next morning when I got up I noticed that my finger had no swelling, no pain, or any mark whatsoever — it was completely gone!

from L. S. in New Jersey

I am grateful for the lessons I have been learning here about how to use Christian Science in my daily life. When I arrived at this church several years ago, I had lost a great deal of my physical strength and was not able to be as active as I needed or wanted to be.

With regular support of a Plainfield practitioner, taking time to make God a priority, participating in classes and practicing daily what I was learning, I found my strength returning. Not long ago I had a task that would take several weeks to complete. It required physical endurance. My practitioner told me to do all for the glory of God with love and joy. She also told me to affirm that this task could only bless me. Each week I had the strength needed to complete the work, and found each week I was stronger than the one before.

I am very grateful for the better understanding of Christian Science that I am gaining through working with a Plainfield practitioner. It has greatly blessed my life.

from A. B. in England

A few days ago, while I was out for a walk, I badly twisted my ankle by stepping in a pothole at the edge of a lane, and fell over into the road. My first thought was to give thanks that there was no traffic, closely followed by the thought that man is not fallen. I was able to get up, dust myself off and, although some passing walkers kindly offered help, I was able to tell them I was okay, and to walk the half mile or so home, where I sat and worked to know that, as a spiritual child of God, I could not experience any accident.

I came across the following in Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Healer in a letter from Mrs. Eddy to Minnie Hall Perry: “Take up your accidents as impossible in truth — there is no falling in Truth and accidents do not occur. Nothing is accidental, but all is law and order in God, and you live and move in Mind, in Spirit, not matter.” My ankle, which had ballooned initially, has not prevented me from doing anything necessary, and is now normal again. I am very grateful for the truths that we are taught in Christian Science and for Mrs. Eddy’s example and instruction.

from Hawaii

Living in a beautiful if somewhat intense rural locale has often provided opportunities to grow spiritually. In this newest, now worldwide, opportunity, I have begun holding to the truth that there is nothing but divine Love to meet every time I leave the house, and nothing but divine Love to meet it with.

This recently came in extra handy after having made the journey to town only to find that the grocery store was no longer allowing people to enter without a facemask, which I did not have, nor was there anywhere nearby to get one. Feeling the adamant of error in the form of exasperation trying to take hold of my consciousness, I went back to my car in prayer, holding to the above Truth. I knew it wasn’t the fault of the salesgirl standing guard at the door; people are just being fed a steady diet of fear. But what was true for me was also true for everyone. There is no harm in God’s kingdom, so none of us could be a harm to each other, facemask or not.

Happily, there was a scarf in my vehicle that could satisfy the new store requirement, and in God’s loving care, I was able to obtain necessary provisions before heading home, for which I was most grateful.

I am continuing to hold firmly to the fact that the entire current crisis, and its associated fears, are all illusion without one germ of truth or reality to them whatsoever. I am finding participation in Plainfield’s Unity Watches very helpful in this regard.

“So sometimes comes to soul and sense

The feeling which is evidence

That very near about us lies

The realm of spiritual mysteries.

The sphere of the supernal powers

Impinges on this world of ours.

The low and dark horizon lifts,

To light the scenic terror shifts;

The breath of a diviner air

Blows down the answer of a prayer: —

That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt

A great compassion clasps about,

And law and goodness, love and force,

Are wedded fast beyond divorce.

Then duty leaves to love its task,

The beggar Self forgets to ask;

With smile of trust and folded hands,

The passive soul in waiting stands

To feel, as flowers the sun and dew,

The One true Life its own renew.

“So, to the calmly gathered thought

The innermost of truth is taught,

The mystery dimly understood,

That love of God is love of good,

And, chiefly, its divinest trace

In Him of Nazareth’s holy face;

That to be saved is only this, —

Salvation from our selfishness,

From more than elemental fire,

The soul’s unsanctified desire,

From sin itself, and not the pain

That warns us of its chafing chain;

That worship’s deeper meaning lies

In mercy, and not sacrifice,

Not proud humilities of sense

And posturing of penitence,

But love’s unforced obedience;

That Book and Church and Day are given

For man, not God, — for earth, not heaven, —

The blessed means to holiest ends,

Not masters, but benignant friends;

That the dear Christ dwells not afar,

The king of some remoter star,

Listening, at times, with flattered ear,

To homage wrung from selfish fear,

But here, amidst the poor and blind,

The bound and suffering of our kind,

In works we do, in prayers we pray,

Life of our life, He lives to-day.”

Announcements

When Plainfield Church first became independent, we were asked, “How will you survive? What will you read?” As you can see below, through the grace of God, we have survived very well, thank you — and flourished!

We began by writing our own Bible Lessons, and then Independent Christian Scientists from all over the world began sending us writings by early Christian Science workers that were not available anywhere else. And we grew from there — and continue to grow.

Lectures on Christian Science,
by Peter V. Ross

And, our church book store is growing! We have just published a book of Lectures on Christian Science given by Peter V. Ross. This version is accurate and true to the original, just as Mr. Ross first published it. These lectures are wonderfully inspiring, and cover a variety of subjects. His wonderful “plain talking” reaches people at every level, encouraging and healing. This book is available in paperback version from Plainfield Church for $18.00, postage included.

Our Website

Our church website, plainfieldcs.com, has a wealth of inspiring and healing items to read and listen to, including recordings of past services, Bible Studies, and Roundtable discussions.

You will also find a treasure trove of articles and other literature by early workers in Christian Science, including Bicknell Young, Martha Wilcox, Herbert W. Eustace, and many others. There are also audio recordings of many of these articles and books. Audio recordings of the current week’s Bible Lesson, and a Forum to post comments relating to the Lesson are available, and also a Bulletin Board where you can post comments of a more general nature.

YouTube Channel

Our YouTube channel has over 3,000 videos of church services, classes, readings of books and articles, hymns, and music from our services, which are visited regularly by people from all over the world.

Check out all that we have to offer by going to:

YouTube.com/PlainfieldCS

Our Church Publications

Our church publications are available free on our church website, but sometimes it’s nice to have a copy in your hand to refer back to at your leisure, or during the night when there might be a need for comfort. Descriptions and subscription prices are included below.

Newsletter

In alternate months, our church publishes our church Newsletter, “Plainfield Independent.” This publication contains news about church activities, miscellaneous writings, and other fun things that will make you smile, laugh — and think.

Books by Early Workers in Christian Science

Plainfield Church is the source for many books and writings by early workers in the Christian Science movement, many of whom worked in Mrs. Eddy’s home and were taught by Mrs. Eddy herself. These priceless writings are available for purchase at very reasonable prices, and are listed, along with ordering information, on our church website, plainfieldcs.com. Many articles on our church website are excerpts taken from these books, so to have the complete works is a real privilege!

You can find a list of books we have available for purchase by clicking “Store” on the top menu of our website.

Church Membership

“When one sees that Christian Science is the only way, he is ready for church membership, and there is no other requirement.” — Mary Baker Eddy

This is the only requirement for membership in Plainfield Church. We welcome everyone who wishes to become a member and work for God to send in an application, which you can find under the “Members” tab on our website. Or send an email to our clerk at: clerk@plainfieldcs.com.

Websites in Other Languages

Our missionary work is expanding. We have recently launched websites in the languages of Hungarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Marathi, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Sindhi, and Tamil, which join with our existing Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu — that makes seventeen languages other than English!

Much gratitude to all of our translators for their individual demonstrations which are working to bless every corner of the world!

We recently received the following email from someone new in Pakistan:

Accept my greetings and salute for the lovely way to produce your unchallenged true teachings about God, as our Mind, we as His ideal creation and making it clear what the Christian Science Church is giving to the spiritual-thirsty like me. The great work you and your Church is dealing regarding foreign languages is amazing and fruitful. I am having great blessings since I have started learning the Word of God through your website and YouTube channels. Especially Pashto, Sindhi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil and Marathi languages are doing great things spiritually in my life when I read and listen to the YouTube lessons.

I greatly appreciate it and ask my Lord for the unstoppable blessings for the whole church worldwide. May you always please my heart and soul by producing these lessons and other great material in all the languages of the world especially for my Pakistani and Indian people. Amen.

I thank you and the whole church again for all of this.

Our goal was, and still is, to get the Word of God out to people all over the world who need this pure, unadulterated Science, as we did, and still do. So you will see that much of what we provide on our website, plainfieldcs.com, is free. Please feel free to browse through all that we have there. You don’t even have to tell us who you are — we warmly welcome everyone!

But there are expenses involved in maintaining a website, and in maintaining our church home and our church services. So if you are helped by what you find here, and you wish to show your gratitude, please use the “donate” button on the website. It would be greatly appreciated!

Tenets of Christian Science

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,
by Mary Baker Eddy, pages 496-497

The following is a brief exposition of the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian Science:—

1.     As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2.     We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God’s image and likeness.

3.     We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

4.     We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.

5.     We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.

6.     And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.

A note about the lighthouse sketch by Luanne:

Boston Light — little Brewster Island (outer Boston Harbor), Massachusetts

Boston Light was the first light station in North America and is the country’s oldest continuously used lighthouse site. The original structure, built in 1716, was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Rebuilt in 1783, it has been called “the ideal American lighthouse.” Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1964, it is the only manned lighthouse in the United States.

“Publish the Word”

Broadcast the Truth

“Freely ye have received, freely give”