Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/238

196 over sense, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, having solved being on its Principle."

The atonement received a new interpretation. Atonement means "at-one-ment" with God, Mrs. Glover said. "Jesus of Nazareth explained and demonstrated his oneness with the Father, for which we owe Him endless love and homage." But that is all. There was no sacrifice on Calvary. Christ's mission was to show us how to forsake the belief of life in matter, "but not to do it for us, or to relieve us of a single responsibility in the case." " 'Work out your own salvation,' is the demand of Life and Love," said Mrs. Glover, "and to this end God worketh with you."

Prayer, as commonly practised, had no place in Mrs. Glover's religion, in which God is Principle and not Person. "To address Deity as a Person," she said, "impedes spiritual progress and hides Truth." "Prayer is sometimes employed, like a Catholic confession, to cancel sin, and this impedes Christianity. Sin is not forgiven; we cannot escape its penalty. . . . Suffering for sin is all that destroys it." "When we pray aright, we shall . . . shut the door of the lips, and in the silent sanctuary of earnest longings, deny sin and sense, and take up the cross, while we go forth with honest hearts, labouring to reach Wisdom, Love, and Truth."

Mrs. Glover gave a spiritual interpretation of the Lord's prayer, converting it from a supplication to an affirmation of the properties of the Deity as she conceived them: