From “Mary Baker Eddy: Her Spiritual Footsteps” by Gilbert Carpenter

It requires a well-developed spiritual thought to be able to trace the mental cause from its human manifestation. No one without it could have detected any difference between the offerings brought by Cain and Abel. Yet, the Lord, or spiritual perception, had no respect unto Cain’s offering because it was discerned that back of it was the human, and not the divine Mind. This fact was exposed to be true because of the murder of Abel by Cain which followed…

What use would it be to try to unfold spiritual facts to one who insisted that the offerings of Cain and Abel were alike in value because of their outward appearance? The greater works which the Master promises, and which follow when man’s thought goes to the Father, can alone convince one’s beclouded sense of the true divinity of the thought back of the works, since beclouded sense sees no further than the surface from which to judge. If mind is causation, then every effect must follow a mental cause. Only as this is understood can the importance be recognized of replacing the human mind with the divine. Otherwise, one will judge effects at their face value, regardless of the cause back of them. The standard Mrs. Eddy presented is, that no matter how wonderful effect may appear to be, it is to be cast aside as worthless unless the cause is spiritual and therefore right.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by Espaid.