This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
278
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS

of the Revelator is before me. The wines of fornication, envy, and hatred are the distilled spirits of evil, and are the signs of these times; but I am not dismayed. and my peace returns unto me.

Error will hate more as it realizes more the presence of its tormentor. I shall fulfil my mission, fight the good fight, and keep the faith.

There is great joy in this consciousness, that throughout my labors, and in my history as connected with the Cause of Christian Science, it can be proven that I have never given occasion for a single censure, when my motives and acts are understood and seen as my Father seeth them. I once wondered at the Scriptural declaration that Job sinned not in all he said, even when he cursed the hour of his birth; but I have learned that a curse on sin is always a blessing to the human race.

Those only who are tried in the furnace reflect the image of their Father. You, my beloved students, who are absent from me, and have shared less of my labors than many others, seem stronger to resist temptation than some of those who have had line upon line and precept upon precept. This may be a serviceable hint, since necessities and God's providence are foreshadowed. I have felt for some time that perpetual instruction of my students might substitute my own for their growth, and so dwarf their experience. If they must learn by the things they suffer, the sooner this lesson is gained the better.

For two years I have been gradually withdrawing from active membership in the Christian Scientist Association, This has developed higher energies on the part of true followers, and led to some startling departures on the