Chapter VIII - Footsteps Of Truth
235:1
malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
Better suffer a doctor infected with smallpox to attend
you than to be treated mentally by one who does not obey
the requirements of divine Science.
Teachers' functions
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The teachers of schools and the readers in churches
The teachers of schools and the readers in churches
should be selected with as direct reference to their
morals as to their learning or their correct
reading. Nurseries of character should be
strongly garrisoned with virtue. School-examinations are
one-sided; it is not so much academic education, as a
moral and spiritual culture, which lifts one higher. The
pure and uplifting thoughts of the teacher, constantly
imparted to pupils, will reach higher than the heavens of
astronomy; while the debased and unscrupulous mind,
though adorned with gems of scholarly attainment, will
degrade the characters it should inform and elevate.
Physicians' privilege
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Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,
Physicians, whom the sick employ in their helplessness,
should be models of virtue. They should be wise spir-
itual guides to health and hope. To the trem-
blers on the brink of death, who understand
not the divine Truth which is Life and perpetuates being,
physicians should be able to teach it. Then when the soul
is willing and the flesh weak, the patient's feet may be
planted on the rock Christ Jesus, the true idea of spiritual
power.
Clergymen's duty
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Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,
Clergymen, occupying the watchtowers of the world,
should uplift the standard of Truth. They should so raise
their hearers spiritually, that their listeners
will love to grapple with a new, right idea
and broaden their concepts. Love of Christianity, rather
236:1
than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor
than love of popularity, should stimulate clerical labor
and progress. Truth should emanate from the pulpit,
but never be strangled there. A special privilege is vested
in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the
interests of humanity, not of sect.
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Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather
Is it not professional reputation and emolument rather
than the dignity of God's laws, which many leaders seek?
Do not inferior motives induce the infuriated attacks on
individuals, who reiterate Christ's teachings in support
of his proof by example that the divine Mind heals sick-
ness as well as sin?
A mother's responsibility
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A mother is the strongest educator, either for or
A mother is the strongest educator, either for or
against crime. Her thoughts form the embryo of an-
other mortal mind, and unconsciously mould
it, either after a model odious to herself or
through divine influence, "according to the pattern
showed to thee in the mount." Hence the importance
of Christian Science, from which we learn of the one
Mind and of the availability of good as the remedy for
every woe.
Children's tractability
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Children should obey their parents; insubordination
Children should obey their parents; insubordination
is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government.
Parents should teach their children at the
earliest possible period the truths of health
and holiness. Children are more tractable than adults,
and learn more readily to love the simple verities that will
make them happy and good.
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Jesus loved little children because of their freedom
Jesus loved little children because of their freedom
from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While
age is halting between two opinions or battling with
false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards
Truth.