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| CHAPTER III MARRIAGE |
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PAGE 56
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1 | WHEN our great Teacher came to him for baptism, John was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus |
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| 3 | added: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus' concessions (in certain cases) to material methods were for the advancement of | ||
| 6 | spiritual good. Marriage temporal | ||
| 9 | is discerned intact, is apprehended and under- stood, and His kingdom is come as in the vision of the Apocalypse, - where the corporeal sense of crea- | ||
| 12 | tion was cast out, and its spiritual sense was revealed from Fidelity required | ||
| 15 | Infidelity to the marriage covenant is the social scourge of all races, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, . . . the destruction that wasteth at noonday." | ||
| 18 | The commandment, "Thou shalt not com- PAGE 57 | ||
| 1 | Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it | ||
| 3 | one cannot attain the Science of Life. Mental elements | ||
| 6 | higher tone through certain elements of the feminine, while the feminine mind gains cour- age and strength through masculine qualities. These | ||
| 9 | different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness. Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attrac- | ||
| 12 | tion between native qualities will be perpetual only as it Affection's demands | ||
| 15 | Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, good- | ||
| 18 | ness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to | ||
| 21 | share it. Help and discipline | ||
| 24 | larging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affec- tion, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance | ||
| 27 | of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for | ||
| 30 | heaven. Marriage is unblest or blest, according to the disap- PAGE 58 | ||
| 1 | existence by constant intercourse with those adapted to elevate it, should be the motive of society. Unity of | ||
| 3 | spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy's drooping Chord and discord | ||
| 6 | human mind may be different, but they should be con- cordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, - | ||
| 9 | these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute in- Mutual freedom | ||
| 12 | There is moral freedom in Soul. Never contract the horizon of a worthy outlook by the selfish exaction of all another's time and thoughts. With ad- | ||
| 15 | ditional joys, benevolence should grow more diffusive. The narrowness and jealousy, which would confine a wife or a husband forever within four walls, will | ||
| 18 | not promote the sweet interchange of confidence and love; but on the other hand, a wandering desire for incessant amusement outside the home circle is a poor augury for | ||
| 21 | the happiness of wedlock. Home is the dearest spot on A useful suggestion | ||
| 24 | Said the peasant bride to her lover: "Two eat no more together than they eat separately." This is a hint that a wife ought not to court vulgar extravagance | ||
| 27 | or stupid ease, because another supplies her wants. Wealth may obviate the necessity for toil or the chance for ill-nature in the marriage relation, but noth- | ||
| 30 | ing can abolish the cares of marriage. Differing duties PAGE 59 | ||
| 1 | thing to do. Matrimony should never be entered into without a full recognition of its enduring obligations on | ||
| 3 | both sides. There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mu- tual attention and approbation should wait on all the years | ||
| 6 | of married life. Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact | ||
| 9 | not be required to participate in all the annoyances and cares of domestic economy, nor should woman be ex- pected to understand political economy. Fulfilling the | ||
| 12 | different demands of their united spheres, their sympa- thies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each partner sustaining the other, - thus hallowing the union | ||
| 15 | of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace Trysting renewed | ||
| 18 | welfare and happiness of your wife will prove more salutary in prolonging her health and smiles than stolid indifference or jealousy. Husbands, hear this | ||
| 21 | and remember how slight a word or deed may renew the After marriage, it is too late to grumble over incompati- | ||
| 24 | bility of disposition. A mutual understanding should Permanent obligation | ||
| 27 | The nuptial vow should never be annulled, so long as its moral obligations are kept intact; but the frequency of divorce shows that the sacredness of this re- | ||
| 30 | lationship is losing its influence, and that fatal PAGE 60 | ||
| 1 | husband and wife were genuine Christian Scientists. Science inevitably lifts one's being higher in the scale of | ||
| 3 | harmony and happiness. Permanent affection | ||
| 6 | ship. The beautiful in character is also the good, welding indissolubly the links of affec- tion. A mother's affection cannot be weaned from her | ||
| 9 | child, because the mother-love includes purity and con- stancy, both of which are immortal. Therefore maternal affection lives on under whatever difficulties. | ||
| 12 | From the logic of events we learn that selfishness and impurity alone are fleeting, and that wisdom will ultimately put asunder what she hath not joined | ||
| 15 | together. Centre for affections | ||
| 18 | man, and a centre for the affections. This, however, in a majority of cases, is not its present tendency, and why? Because the education of | ||
| 21 | the higher nature is neglected, and other considerations, Spiritual concord | ||
| 24 | An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not appreciat- ing concord. So physical sense, not discerning the true happiness of being, places it on a false basis. | ||
| 27 | Science will correct the discord, and teach us Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, | ||
| 30 | and happiness would be more readily attained and would PAGE 61 | ||
| 1 | man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real | ||
| 3 | enjoyment. Ascendency of good | ||
| 6 | ness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi- | ||
| 9 | tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science. The offspring | ||
| 12 | of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better Propensities inherited | ||
| 15 | dren in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful children early droop and die, like tropical flowers born amid Alpine snows. If perchance | ||
| 18 | they live to become parents in their turn, they may re- produce in their own helpless little ones the grosser traits of their ancestors. What hope of happiness, what noble | ||
| 21 | ambition, can inspire the child who inherits propensities that must either be overcome or reduce him to a loath- some wreck? | ||
| 24 | Is not the propagation of the human species a greater responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks | ||
| 27 | and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be The formation of mortals must greatly improve to | ||
| 30 | advance mankind. The scientific morale of marriage is PAGE 62 | ||
| 1 | ditions can only be permitted for the purpose of gener- ating. The foetus must be kept mentally pure and the | ||
| 3 | period of gestation have the sanctity of virginity. The entire education of children should be such as to | ||
| 6 | with which the child can meet and master the belief in so- Inheritance heeded | ||
| 9 | amusement, to be always fed, rocked, tossed, or talked to, those parents should not, in after years, complain of their children's fretfulness or fri- | ||
| 12 | volity, which the parents themselves have occasioned. Taking less "thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink"; less thought "for your body what | ||
| 15 | ye shall put on," will do much more for the health of the rising generation than you dream. Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should | ||
| 18 | become men and women only through growth in the The Mind creative | ||
| 21 | to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and healthy. The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human | ||
| 24 | body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal inter- Superior law of Soul | ||
| 27 | The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower; if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed. Our false views of life hide eternal harmony, | ||
| 30 | and produce the ills of which we complain. PAGE 63 | ||
| 1 | the superior law of Soul last. You would never think that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease | ||
| 3 | than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science Spiritual origin | ||
| 6 | ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior | ||
| 9 | to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti- The rights of woman | ||
| 12 | Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no precedent for such injustice, and civilization | ||
| 15 | mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a Unfair discrimination | ||
| 18 | Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their discrimination as to the person, property, and parental claims of the two sexes. If the elective fran- | ||
| 21 | chise for women will remedy the evil with- out encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us hope it will be granted. A feasible as well as rational | ||
| 24 | means of improvement at present is the elevation of society in general and the achievement of a nobler race for legislation, - a race having higher aims and | ||
| 27 | motives. If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the | ||
| 30 | allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business PAGE 64 | ||
| 1 | Want of uniform justice is a crying evil caused by the selfishness and inhumanity of man. Our forefathers | ||
| 3 | exercised their faith in the direction taught by the Apostle James, when he said: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and | ||
| 6 | widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted Benevolence hindered | ||
| 9 | be the master of ceremonies, ruling out primitive Chris- tianity. When a man lends a helping hand to some noble woman, struggling alone with | ||
| 12 | adversity, his wife should not say, "It is never well to interfere with your neighbor's business." A wife is sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from | ||
| 15 | giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would Progressive development | ||
| 18 | more, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, | ||
| 21 | but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul re- joice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wis- | ||
| 24 | dom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and per- Until it is learned that God is the Father of all, mar- | ||
| 27 | riage will continue. Let not mortals permit a disregard of law which might lead to a worse state of society than now exists. Honesty and virtue ensure the stability of | ||
| 30 | the marriage covenant. Spirit will ultimately claim its PAGE 65 Blessing of Christ | ||
| 1 | Experience should be the school of virtue, and human happiness should proceed from man's highest nature. | ||
| 3 | May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and | ||
| 6 | eternal existence may be discerned. Righteous foundations | ||
| 9 | should warn the age of some fundamental error in the marriage state. The union of the sexes suffers fearful discord. To gain Christian Science and its | ||
| 12 | harmony, life should be more metaphysically regarded. Powerless promises | ||
| 15 | the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era. Beholding the world's lack of Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home | ||
| 18 | happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher Transition and reform | ||
| 21 | other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left among the lees. The fermentation even of fluids is | ||
| 24 | not pleasant. An unsettled, transitional stage is never desirable on its own account. Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery foot- | ||
| 27 | ing, and man must find permanence and peace in a more The mental chemicalization, which has brought con- | ||
| 30 | jugal infidelity to the surface, will assuredly throw off PAGE 66 Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of | ||
| 3 | Sweet are the uses of adversity; Salutary sorrow | ||
| 6 | Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, - a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy | ||
| 9 | and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God's care. Spiritual development germi- | ||
| 12 | nates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each suc- | ||
| 15 | cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine Amidst gratitude for conjugal felicity, it is well to re- | ||
| 18 | member how fleeting are human joys. Amidst conjugal Patience is wisdom | ||
| 21 | Husbands and wives should never separate if there is no Christian demand for it. It is better to await the logic of events than for a wife precipitately | ||
| 24 | to leave her husband or for a husband to leave his wife. If one is better than the other, as must always be the case, the other pre-eminently needs good | ||
| 27 | company. Socrates considered patience salutary under The gold and dross | ||
| 30 | Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us PAGE 67 | ||
| 1 | be graven with the image of God. The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons | ||
| 3 | He teaches? Weathering the storm | ||
| 6 | and the waves lift themselves into mountains. We ask the helmsman: "Do you know your course? Can you steer safely amid the storm?" He | ||
| 9 | answers bravely, but even the dauntless seaman is not sure of his safety; nautical science is not equal to the Science of Mind. Yet, acting up to his highest under- | ||
| 12 | standing, firm at the post of duty, the mariner works on and awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourselves on the seething ocean of sorrow. Hoping and work- | ||
| 15 | ing, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible Spiritual power | ||
| 18 | The notion that animal natures can possibly give force to character is too absurd for consideration, when we remember that through spiritual ascendency | ||
| 21 | our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other | ||
| 24 | means and methods. The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration | ||
| 27 | of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is Basis of true religion | ||
| 30 | Systems of religion and medicine treat of physical pains PAGE 68 | ||
| 1 | understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for | ||
| 3 | fear of being thought ridiculous. They are slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some- time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has | ||
| 6 | created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood. | ||
| 9 | Jealousy is the grave of affection. The presence of mistrust, where confidence is due, withers the flowers of Eden and scatters love's petals to decay. Be not | ||
| 12 | in haste to take the vow "until death do us part." Consider its obligations, its responsibilities, its rela- tions to your growth and to your influence on other | ||
| 15 | lives. Insanity and agamogenesis | ||
| 18 | ter, was suffering from incipient insanity, and a Christian Scientist cured her. I have named her case to individuals, when casting my bread upon | ||
| 21 | the waters, and it may have caused the good to ponder and the evil to hatch their silly innuendoes and lies, since salutary causes sometimes incur these effects. The per- | ||
| 24 | petuation of the floral species by bud or cell-division is God's creation intact | ||
| 27 | Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion; it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind, but an impartation of the divine Mind to man | ||
| 30 | and the universe. Proportionately as human PAGE 69 | ||
| 1 | not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe | ||
| 3 | are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease. | ||
| 6 | Mortals can never understand God's creation while believ- ing that man is a creator. God's children already created will be cognized only as man finds the truth of being. | ||
| 9 | Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion as the false and material disappears. No longer to marry or to be "given in marriage" neither closes man's con- | ||
| 12 | tinuity nor his sense of increasing number in God's in- finite plan. Spiritually to understand that there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scrip- | ||
| 15 | tures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain, If Christian Scientists educate their own offspring | ||
| 18 | spiritually, they can educate others spiritually and not conflict with the scientific sense of God's creation. Some day the child will ask his parent: "Do you keep the First | ||
| 21 | Commandment? Do you have one God and creator, or is man a creator?" If the father replies, "God creates man through man," the child may ask, "Do you teach | ||
| 24 | that Spirit creates materially, or do you declare that Spirit is infinite, therefore matter is out of the ques- tion?" Jesus said, "The children of this world marry, | ||
| 27 | and are given in marriage: But they which shall be ac- counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resur- rection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in | ||
| 30 | marriage." | ||
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