The Christian Science Board of Lectureship
Beloved Students: — I am more than satisfied with your work: its grandeur almost surprises me. Let your watchword always be:
| “Great, not like Caesar, stained with blood, |
| But only great as I am good.” |
You are not setting up to be great; you are here for the purpose of grasping and defining the demonstrable, the eternal. Spiritual heroes and prophets are they whose new-old birthright is to put an end to falsities in a wise way and to proclaim Truth so winningly that an honest, fervid affection for the race is found adequate for the emancipation of the race.
You are the needed and the inevitable sponsors for the twentieth century, reaching deep down into the universal and rising above theorems into the transcendental, the infinite — yea, to the reality of God, man, nature, the universe. No fatal circumstance of idolatry can fold or falter your wings. No fetishism with a symbol can fetter your flight. You soar only as uplifted by God's power, or you fall for lack of the divine impetus. You know that to conceive God aright you must be good.
The Christ mode of understanding Life — of exterminating sin and suffering and their penalty, death — I have largely committed to you, my faithful witnesses. You go forth to face the foe with loving look and with the religion and philosophy of labor, duty, liberty, and love, to challenge universal indifference, chance, and creeds. Your highest inspiration is found nearest the divine Principle and nearest the scientific expression of Truth.
