Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 Part 75

of persons is not productive of the better sort, although he who has self-interest in this mixing is apt to pro- pose it.

Whoever desires to say, "good right, and good wrong,"

has no truth to defend. It is a wise saying that "men [20]

are known by their enemies." To sympathize in any degree with error, is not to rectify it; but error always strives to unite, in a definition of purpose, with Truth, to give it buoyancy. What is under the mask, but error in borrowed plumes? [25]

"Christ And Christmas"

An Ill.u.s.trated Poem

This poem and its ill.u.s.trations are as hopelessly origi- nal as is "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-

[Page 372.]

tures." When the latter was first issued, critics declared [1]

that it was incorrect, contradictory, unscientific, unchris- tian; but those human opinions had not one feather's weight in the scales of G.o.d. The fact remains, that the textbook of Christian Science is transforming the [5]

universe.

"Christ and Christmas" voices Christian Science through song and object-lesson. In two weeks from the date of its publication in December, 1893, letters extoll- ing it were pouring in from artists and poets. A mother [10]

wrote, "Looking at the pictures in your wonderful book has healed my child."

Knowing that this book would produce a stir, I sought the judgment of sound critics familiar with the works of masters in France and Italy. From them came such [15]

replies as the following: "The ill.u.s.trations of your poem are truly a work of art, and the artist seems quite familiar with delineations from the old masters." I am delighted to find "Christ and Christmas" in accord with the ancient and most distinguished artists. [20]

_The Christian Science Journal_ gives no uncertain dec- laration concerning the spirit and mission of "Christ and Christmas."

I aimed to reproduce, with reverent touch, the modest glory of divine Science. Not by aid of foreign device [25]

or environment could I copy art,-never having seen the painter's masterpieces; but the _art_ of Christian Science, with true hue and character of the living G.o.d, is akin to its _Science_: and Science and Health gives scopes and shades to the shadows of divinity, thus im- [30]

parting to humanity the true sense of meekness and might.

[Page 373.]

One incident serves to ill.u.s.trate the simple nature of [1]

art.

I insisted upon placing the serpent behind the woman in the picture "Seeking and Finding." My artist at the easel objected, as he often did, to my sense of Soul's [5]

expression through the brush; but, as usual, he finally yielded. A few days afterward, the following from Roth- erham's translation of the New Testament was handed to me,-I had never before seen it: "And the serpent cast out of his mouth, _behind_ the woman, water as a [10]

river, that he might cause her to be river-borne." Neither material finesse, standpoint, nor perspective guides the infinite Mind and spiritual vision that should, does, guide His children.

One great master clearly delineates Christ's appear- [15]

ing in the flesh, and his healing power, as clad not in soft raiment or gorgeous apparel; and when forced out of its proper channel, as living feebly, in kings' courts.

This master's thought presents a sketch of Christian- ity's state, in the early part of the Christian era, as [20]

homelessness in a wilderness. But in due time Chris- tianity entered into synagogues, and, as St. Mark writes, it has rich possession here, with houses and lands. In Genesis we read that G.o.d gave man do- minion over all things; and this a.s.surance is followed [25]

by Jesus' declaration, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," and by his promise that the Christlike shall finally sit down at the right hand of the Father.

Christian Science is more than a prophet or a proph- [30]

ecy: it presents not words alone, but works,-the daily demonstration of Truth and Love. Its healing and sav-

[Page 374.]

ing power was so great a proof of Immanuel and the [1]

realism of Christianity, that it caused even the publi- cans to justify G.o.d. Although clad in panoply of power, the Pharisees scorned the spirit of Christ in most of its varied manifestations. To them it was cant and carica- [5]

ture,-always the opposite of what it was. Keen and alert was their indignation at whatever rebuked hypocrisy and demanded Christianity in life and religion. In view of this, Jesus said, "Wisdom is justified of all her children." [10]

Above the fogs of sense and storms of pa.s.sion, Chris- tian Science and its art will rise triumphant; ignorance, envy, and hatred-earth's harmless thunder-pluck not their heaven-born wings. Angels, with overtures, hold charge over both, and announce their Principle and [15]

idea.

It is most fitting that Christian Scientists memorize the nativity of Jesus. To him who brought a great light to all ages, and named his burdens light, homage is in- deed due,-but is bankrupt. I never looked on my [20]

ideal of the face of the Nazarite Prophet; but the one ill.u.s.trating my poem approximates it.

Extremists in every age either doggedly deny or fran- tically affirm what is what: one renders not unto Caesar "the things that are Caesar's;" the other sees "Helen's [25]

beauty in a brow of Egypt."

Pictures are portions of one's ideal, but this ideal is not one's personality. Looking behind the veil, he that perceives a semblance between the thinker and his thought on canvas, blames him not. [30]

Because my ideal of an angel is a woman without _feathers_ on her wings,-is it less artistic or less natu-

[Page 375.]

ral? Pictures which present disordered phases of ma- [1]

terial conceptions and personality blind with animality, are not my concepts of angels. What is the material ego, but the counterfeit of the spiritual?

The truest art of Christian Science is to be a Chris- [5]

tian Scientist; and it demands more than a Raphael to delineate _this_ art.

The following is an extract from a letter reverting to the ill.u.s.trations of "Christ and Christmas":-

"In my last letter, I did not utter all I felt about the [10]

wonderful new book you have given us. Years ago, while in Italy, I studied the old masters and their great works of art thoroughly, and so got quite an idea of what const.i.tutes true art. Then I spent two years in Paris, devoting every moment to the study of music and [15]

art.

"The first thing that impressed me in your ill.u.s.tra- tions was the conscientious application to detail, which is is the foundation of true art. From that, I went on to study each ill.u.s.tration thoroughly, and to my amazement [20]

and delight I find an almost identical resemblance, in many things, to the old masters! In other words, the art is perfect.

"The hands and feet of the figures-how many times have I seen these hands and feet in Angelico's "Jesus," [25]

or Botticelli's "Madonna"!

"It gave me such a thrill of joy as no words can ex- press, to see produced to-day that art-the only true art-that we have identified with the old masters, and mourned as belonging to them exclusively,-a thing of [30]

the past, impossible of reproduction.

"All that I can say to you, as one who gives no mean

[Page 376.]

attention to such matters, is that the art is perfect. It [1]

is the true art of the oldest, most revered, most authen- tic Italian school, revived. I use the words _most au-_ _thentic_ in the following sense: the face, figure, and drapery of Jesus, very closely resemble in detail the [5]