Jules Cern, C.S., of New York, New York
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
Progress is the natural result of understanding spiritually that God is infinite, all, Jules Cern, C.S., of New York City, told a large audience in Boston Monday night.
Proof of God's infinitude lies in the healing and harmonizing through true prayer of what appear to be the ills and discords of mankind, Mr. Cern stated.
A member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship, he spoke in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on the subject "Christian Science: Its Divine Revelation and Human Application." He was introduced by Arthur P. Wuth, First Reader of The Mother Church.
Mr. Cern spoke substantially as follows:
Anyone who drives an automobile knows that when a car is in neutral gear, the only thing it can do is stand still, or roll downhill. One might have a very fine automobile, with the fuel tank brimful of the best gasoline, and he might race the motor at full speed. But he would not make any substantial progress unless he shifted the gear out of neutral.
It seems that throughout human history mankind has been trying to progress in the understanding of existence, with a neutral attitude toward God and matter. Human thought may reverently affirm that God is infinite, and that God is all. Nevertheless, if it continues to believe that there is something besides God, called matter or mortality, then it is still mentally "in neutral," either standing still or rolling downhill.
Christian Science enables us to shift thought out of this neutral, mental miasma, into the spiritual understanding of God's allness and matter's nothingness, and the unlimited progress which accompanies it. Christian Science is not the first religion to declare that God is infinite, all. But it is the only religion to explain the full meaning of God's infinitude, how to practice it understandingly, and how to prove it conclusively. This proof lies in the healing and harmonizing of what appear to be the ills and discords of mankind.
In order to glimpse the true meaning of the infinitude of God, it may be helpful to consider the definition which is given in Webster's New International Dictionary of the word "infinite." It is defined substantially as follows: "Without limits of any kind; boundless, immeasurable, uncircumscribed; without end." Accordingly, Christian Science shows that the true meaning of the word "infinite" refers only to God and His manifestation. The divine revelation of Christian Science reveals God as infinite Spirit, infinite Mind, infinite Life, infinite Love, infinite Soul, infinite Truth, infinite Principle. These are all synonyms for the one, infinite, perfect God. If there were anything finite, mortal, corporeal, or material in the infinite, then the infinite would not be "without limits of any kind; boundless, immeasurable, uncircumscribed; without end."
The divine revelation of Christian Science cannot be excluded from its implications. To illustrate: the mathematical revelation that one plus one equals two carries the implication that no other total of one plus one can possibly exist. Any belief that one plus one is something besides two is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the science of mathematics. In like manner, the divine revelation that God is infinite Spirit, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides the allness of Spirit can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Spirit, called matter, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Spirit. The divine revelation that God is infinite Mind, ALL, carries the implication that no mind besides infinite Mind can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Mind, called mortal mind, or minds many, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Mind. The divine revelation that God is infinite Life, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides infinite Life can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Life, called mortal life, limited life, diseased life, or dead life, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Life. The divine revelation that God is infinite Love, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides infinite Love can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Love, called hatred, jealousy, rivalry, or idolatry, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Love.
The divine revelation that God is infinite Soul, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides infinite Soul can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Soul, called a human soul, a sinful soul, or a lost soul, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Soul. The divine revelation that God is infinite Truth, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides the allness of Truth can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides the allness of Truth, called finite truth, or erroneous reality, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Truth. The divine revelation that God is infinite Principle, ALL, carries the implication that nothing besides infinite Principle can possibly exist. Any belief that there is something besides infinite Principle, called finite principle, physical law, physical power, physical cause, or lack of principle, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in the allness of Principle.
God's exclusively spiritual allness does not leave man and the universe out of existence. It leaves matter, physicality, and mortal mind out of existence. It leaves man where he always has been and is now, in the omnipresence of divine Life and Love. It leaves man as he always has been and is now, completely spiritual, the perfect idea of infinite Mind, the all-harmonious reflection of perfect Life. And man means you, it means everyone, but it does not mean physicality, which is not you, nor anyone.
The Bible tells us (Gen. 1:27), "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Since God is infinite Spirit, the image of Spirit must be completely spiritual, immortal, nonphysical. There is nothing physical about infinite Spirit, so there can be nothing physical about man, the image of Spirit. The divine revelation that man's identity is God's, Spirit's, image, carries the implication that no identity besides spiritual identity can possibly exist. Any belief that man's identity can be anything but spiritual, called physicality, is a false belief, a mental misconception, having no place in Spirit's allness. The Apostle Paul states it thusly, (Rom. 8:9,16), "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit . . ." and he adds, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." In other words, infinite Spirit bears witness with our spiritual identity, our only identity, that we are the children of God. Man's spiritual identity is not patterned after physicality, it is patterned after God. It can neither be confined in physicality, nor defined by physicality. Man, the image of infinite Spirit, can no more be physically described than he can be physically circumscribed.
The divine revelation of Christian Science shows that man is not a synonym for a physical body. Man is a synonym for God's spiritual idea, image, or expression. This wholly spiritual man is you, everyone's true and only identity. This true identity is not what we will be, but what we really are, at this very moment. Spiritual identity is not being held in reserve for man until he extricates himself from physicality. Spiritual identity is man, instead of physicality.
The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, states it very clearly in these words in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (page 428), "The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man is, not shall be, perfect and immortal."
At this point, someone might like to ask, "But isn't the physical just as true and just as much a part of creation as the spiritual?" Let us find out.
Many years ago, that same question confronted Mary Baker Eddy before she discovered Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy had been raised by God-loving parents, and Bible reading was a daily activity in her home. However, like everyone else with a conventional faith in God, Mrs. Eddy believed, at that time, that creation was a mixture of good and evil, life and death, the spiritual and material. While this neutral point of view did not dim her faith in God, nevertheless, as with everyone else, it dimmed her understanding of God.
During many years of adversities and chronic illness, Mrs. Eddy tried various medical treatments, under the ministrations of the best doctors available. Also, she prayed to God many times daily. But nothing seemed to give her liberation from her ordeals. Then one day she was so critically injured by a fall that physicians declared she would not survive. After enduring almost three days of extreme suffering, Mrs. Eddy opened her Bible to the ninth chapter of Matthew. This chapter contains the account of Jesus healing a man of palsy. Mrs. Eddy was very well acquainted with the details of the healing. But this time she turned to it so very humbly, seeking an understanding of divine cause, rather than human effect. No longer was she concerned so much with what Jesus did, but with how he did it.
The mental shackles of medical theories and fruitless theology were cast aside. Her thought was wide open for whatever God wanted her to know. Suddenly, her thought was illumined with an awareness of God as infinite, omnipresent Spirit, the one and only Life, incorporeal, immortal, eternally perfect Life. This completely spiritual allness of Life was seen to be uncluttered, unencumbered, and unrivalled by matter or physicality. This uncomplicated, unlimited, spiritual truth of being literally flooded her thought.
This illumination of divine light meant the elimination of human darkness. Mrs. Eddy was instantaneously healed. When the harmony of God's allness prevailed in her thought, harmony prevailed in her experience.
This sacred occurrence set the course for her great mission. Following her healing, Mrs. Eddy withdrew from all social activities, and for three years devoted her entire time to daily study and prayerful contemplation of the Bible. She relates in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 25), "The Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions as to how I was healed; but the Scriptures had to me a new meaning, a new tongue. Their spiritual signification appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstration, and the Principle and rule of spiritual Science and metaphysical healing, — in a word, Christian Science. I named it Christian, because it is compassionate, helpful, and spiritual. God I called immortal Mind. . . . Spirit I called the reality; and matter, the unreality."
Thus, through the circumstances of her healing, Mrs. Eddy discovered the reality, or truth of being, to be wholly spiritual, including spiritual man and spiritual universe. This wholly spiritual creation of God was seen as the only creation there is, — not including nor encompassing matter and physicality, but as being All, right now, right here, everywhere, instead of matter and physicality. Accordingly Mrs. Eddy was inspired to write in Science and Health (p. 167), "It is not wise to take a halting and half-way position or to expect to work equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error. There is but one way — namely, God and His idea — which leads to spiritual being." Certainly, there is nothing neutral about this clear-cut admonition.
Conceivably, one might ask, "Well, if Christian Science reveals that, in the allness of God, there is no matter or physicality, I don't see how the healing of matter and physicality enters into the practice of Christian Science." The answer is very simple.
Let us remember, all that appears to be mortal or physical is nothing but a false belief, a mental misconception, that God, Spirit, is not infinite, ALL. This false belief is no part of spiritual reality, it is mental unreality. Then what appears to be the healing of mortality or physicality, through the divine revelation that all is Spirit and spiritual, is simply false belief yielding to divine reality. Mrs. Eddy states it clearly in these words in Science and Health (p. 370), "The body improves under the same regimen which spiritualizes the thought." This is only natural. What appears to be a physical body is but a physical thought, a thought that there is anything physical, a false thought that man's identity is unlike God, Spirit. Consequently, when thought is spiritualized, that is, when thought is imbued with the allness and perfection of Spirit, and the spiritual identity and perfection of man, then thought is harmonized. Because, when thought is no longer concordant with the belief that there is matter, it is no longer discordant over the belief that there is matter. Therefore, when thought is spiritually harmonized, then what is thought to be physical is humanly harmonized. It may be called the healing of physicality, but actually, it is the healing of the thought believing in physicality.
Thus we see that healing and harmony accompany the practice of Christian Science as naturally as ripples and waves accompany the wake of a ship that is moving forward. However, it may be well to realize that the captain of a ship does not watch the wake of the ship in order to steer a true course, or to determine his progress. If he has plenty of the right fuel, avoids all leakage, and adheres to the science of navigation, his course will be true and his progress certain. The natural consequence of the ship that moves forward is to leave a wake of ripples and waves. Nevertheless, the ripples and waves are not the goal of the ship that moves forward. They are but the inseparable effect. Only the ship that stands still leaves no wake.
Similarly, the alert Christian Scientist does not watch the conditions of matter and physicality in order to steer his thought on a true course, or to determine his progress. When his thought is fueled with the right concept of God and man, he avoids all leakage of thoughts unlike God. He adheres to the divine navigation of spiritual understanding, then his course is true and his progress is certain. The natural consequence of the thought that goes forward with the allness and perfection of infinite Spirit, and the spiritual, perfect identity of man, is to leave a wake of healing and harmony. However, the thought that constantly seeks the healing, instead of the spiritual understanding which effects the healing, may find that it is like the ship that stands still. The thought that stands still, that remains neutral towards the allness of Spirit and the belief of matter, delays the wake of harmony and healing. Indeed, the healing and harmonizing of what appear to be matter and physicality are not the goal of Christian Science, they are but the inseparable effects.
Even though the Principle of Christian Science is radical, its practice is very normal. Christian Scientists participate in all the wholesome and progressive activities that other people do. They are alert, faithful citizens, diligent employees, considerate employers, good neighbors. They enjoy outdoor sports and the things of nature. The only difference you might find in them is that they may be exceptionally happy, loving, fearless, strictly honest, and rarely absent because of illness. Their homes are equipped with the same things other people's are, except the medicine cabinet is not called a medicine cabinet, since it contains no medicine. Just think of it. There are grown people in this audience who have never even tasted medicine, and have never had any professional service from medical doctors. There are probably just as many present who were formerly convinced that they could not get along without doctors and medicines, until they found Christian Science.
There is nothing mysterious or complicated about the practice of Christian Science. A child can demonstrate it. In fact, the more childlike one is in his practice of Christian Science, the more Christlike are his demonstrations of it. But let us see how a child proved the healing efficacy of Christian Science.
A young girl about ten years of age had an ugly looking facial blemish that seemed to get worse each day. Her parents, who were Christian Scientists, endeavored to help her, but their efforts seemed to bring no results. The child had been relying on the parents to do the healing work, and had been apathetic about reaching out to refresh her own thought with the truth of being. Then one morning at breakfast, she began to whimper about the condition on her face. Her father had been very sympathetic up to this moment, but suddenly he was impelled to arouse the child to turn her thought to God, instead of to her problem. He said, "You go to your room, and you study your Bible and Christian Science books. And don't you come out until you know that you are God's perfect spiritual idea.'' The child obediently went to her room. She knew that, far from being unkind, her father was insisting that she open her thought to that which would help her the most. Human pity and human love had been soothing, but they had not succeeded in awakening her thought from its false belief about identity. Human love had magnified the false belief that identity is physical. But only divine Love could liberate thought from its mental misconception.
About an hour later, the young girl came out, radiant and happy. The physical discord on her face had not changed, but no longer was her thought belabored or deceived by the false belief. Later that day the blemish began to fade, and within a very short time her face was clear and free of any trace of the condition. When questioned by her parents as to what specific unfoldment had enlightened her thought, she pointed out this citation from the Bible (Job 11:14,15), "If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot." The child had glimpsed the underlying message in this Bible passage: the admonition to empty one's thought of all beliefs in anything unlike God, perfect Life. How beautifully she had demonstrated these words of Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (p. 463), "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.''
It may be well to observe two other important things that happened. Firstly, the child was obedient when bidden to turn only to God to meet her need. Secondly, she got her happiness before the healing took place, not because of the healing. She had shifted her thought from a neutral standstill, believing in two powers, one finite and the other infinite, into "full-speed-ahead" acceptance of only one power, one omnipotent, perfect Life. When one's thought has no blemishes, then what is thought to be physicality has no blemishes.
Physicality always reflects the quality of the mentality believing it. That is why it is so imperative, in the demonstration of harmony, to obliterate all mental discords, all thoughts of hatred, envy, lust, malice, dishonesty, resentment, revenge, selfishness, unkindness, gossip, and so on. Now one might exclaim, "But I think nothing but good thoughts. I am loving and unselfish and as kind as I can be, but I still experience physical suffering." The reason is quite evident. Having a loving concept of matter and physicality does not give one dominion over the belief that there is matter or physicality. Christian Science enables one to be loving, kind, and generous because of the allness of Love, regardless of matter or physicality, not because of it.
One cannot successfully eliminate discordant thoughts about mortals or persons unless he eliminates the thought that there are mortals or persons. In Job (13:10), we read, "He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons." All mental distortions are based upon the false belief that identity is mortal, good or bad. If one did not believe that he or anyone else was a good mortal, he would not believe that he or anyone else was a bad mortal. If one did not believe that he or anyone else was a loving mortal, he would not believe that he, or anyone else was an unloving mortal. One can truly love his neighbor as he loves himself, when he truly sees his neighbor as he sees himself, as God's immortal, nonphysical, completely spiritual idea, instead of a mortal. If we refuse to be impressed with matter or physicality, we will never be depressed by matter or physicality.
Here we may see the great gulf between Christian Science and psychiatry or psychosomatics. Christian Science does not work from the premise that man is a mortal body with a mortal mind, good or bad, past or present. It works unequivocally from the standpoint that God is the only Mind there is, right now, right here, yesterday, and today, and forever. In Ecclesiastes (3:14,15) it states: "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: . . . That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."
On this divine basis, we see that man is not a separate human mind with a human history, but that he is, every moment, the inseparable spiritual idea of the one, infinite Mind, without human origin, history, or heredity. Christian Science can no more work from the standpoint that man has two minds, one conscious and one subconscious, or one spiritual and one material, than it can work from the standpoint that there are two Gods, one finite and one infinite, or one material and one spiritual. The oneness and allness of God, Spirit, means the oneness of man's identity as being all-spiritual. Man is the spiritual idea of the one, divine Mind, not a separate mortal mind with mortal ideas. Christian Science does not start from the basis that man is a mortal, a "miserable sinner," in a material universe, who needs to work his way out of it into heaven. It is the divine revelation that man is immortal, sinless, in the universe of Spirit, already in the kingdom of heaven, God's allness.
Indeed, Christian Science believes in and provides salvation, but salvation as it is, not as it is falsely believed to be. It does not work toward future human improvement, but from present spiritual perfection. To be sure, its natural effect is what is called human improvement, but its Principle is the forever perfection of God and man. When one is aware of the reality of man's identity as being spiritual, he is no longer handled by the unreality of man's identity as seeming to be physical. Consequently, true salvation is not the saving of a mortal from something unlike God. It is the saving of thought from believing that identity is mortal, or that there is anything unlike God.
One student of Christian Science who was facing a challenge of illness and weakness, emphatically declared aloud, "My identity is not mortal, sick or well. I am immortal. I am a perfect spiritual idea. I am a RUGGED spiritual idea!" You may be sure that the illness and weakness disappeared very quickly.
When one mentally relinquishes a mortal concept of identity, he does not relinquish identity, he only relinquishes a false, limited, mental misconception of identity. This does not deprive him, nor anyone else, of life, or love or existence. It liberates thought from a finite, variable, limited concept of life, love, and existence.
There are no vacuums in the allness and ever-presence of divine Life. No one can be conscious of the boundless ever-presence of perfect Life, and experience discordant life, or a lack of Life. No one can be conscious of the boundless ever-presence of Love, and experience a lack of Love. No one can be conscious of the boundless ever-presence of good, and experience a lack of good. Mrs. Eddy states it so clearly in this passage in Science and Health (p. 336), "Allness is the measure of the infinite, and nothing less can express God." There can be no smallness in allness.
The joy of Christian Science is not only in its divine revelation, but in its practical, human application. Let us see how it may be applied in everyday affairs.
One autumn afternoon, a student of Christian Science took a young woman to a football game in Texas. Sitting behind them was a group of men and women who were imbibing excessive quantities of intoxicating drinks. The man sitting immediately behind the young woman splashed some of his drink on her coat. The Christian Scientist turned around and gave the drinker a frigid look. The drinker gave him one in return. In a few minutes, he splashed some more on her coat. This time the Christian Scientist wheeled around and told the man, in no uncertain terms, that that would be enough of that! The man answered him something, and he answered the man something, and the man answered him something — when suddenly the Christian Scientist got hold of his own thinking. He was magnifying the belief that man is a mortal instead of denying it; he was fighting it instead of seeing its unreality. From the outset, he had mentally bristled at the appearance of the drinking. It had loomed big and repulsive in his thinking, and here it was — big and repulsive in his experience. False thinking had brought it into his experience, and only right thinking could eliminate it. He opened his thought to the truth about man's identity, and the illumination came at once. He reasoned: Divine Mind is the only Mind there is, right here, right now. And divine Mind's perfect spiritual idea is the only man there is, right here, right now. Man is not a mortal, drunk or sober. Man is immortal, all-spiritual. He is free and clear of any influence but the influence of divine Love. He is subject only to good, exposed only to good, attracted by nothing but good. It is impossible for identity to slip from perfection and harmony.
These thoughts had hardly permeated his thinking, before he saw the man get up and leave. About an hour later the man returned, completely sober. His friends asked him where he had been, and he replied, "I've been at the top of the stadium, where I could get away from all your drinking." The Christian Scientist, with a heart full of gratitude and love, turned around. He was greeted with a friendly smile, a warm handshake, and a genuine Texas inquiry, "Is everything all right, pardner?" He was assured that everything was all right.
The Bible tell us (Proverbs l6:7), "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." This is Biblical assurance that when thought is enlightened with the allness of divine Mind, it is no longer frightened into believing that there is a mortal mind, or minds many, good or bad, for or against. This applies to the belief that there are international minds many as well as local minds many.
Perhaps at this point it has become evident that prayer in Christian Science is vastly different from the popular concept of prayer. True prayer is not an attempt to remind God to take care of us. It is a reminder to ourselves that God, the one, all-loving Mind, never ceases to maintain and sustain the perfection of His beloved idea, spiritual man and spiritual universe. Prayer may seem to bring us closer to divine Love, but actually, it awakens us to our eternal oneness with divine Love. It is not a doleful plea for better matter or well physicality. It is joyous, free of the belief that there is any matter, or physicality, sick or well. True prayer is not human petition, it is spiritual recognition. It is humble, self-effacing, whole-hearted acceptance of the truth of being, the allness of God and the perfection of man as God's likeness.
What better examples of true prayer are there than those given by Christ Jesus? He never deviated from absolute Truth in his practice of true prayer. He said to the woman who had put up with an infirmity for eighteen years (Luke 13:12), "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." He did not say that she would be loosed, or that he would pray for her liberation. Jesus was always at prayer, always at the standpoint of spiritual recognition. His recognition of the woman's true selfhood as God's spiritual, perfect idea, enabled him to affirm with divine authority that she was already loosed, always free of disease. And he said it before the healing appeared to take place. He knew that she was always free of mortal infirmity, because he saw her as wholly spiritual, always free of mortal identity. Jesus did not pray for her to change from a sick mortal to a well mortal. His prayer was the awareness that right where a mortal seemed to be, sick or well, that very place and all place, was and is already filled with Life's perfect omnipresence.
Here we may consider the distinction between Jesus and Christ. Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health (p. 482), "Jesus was the highest human concept of the perfect man." The Christ is God's concept of perfection. The Christ is unfettered and unencumbered by anything human, mortal, or physical. The Christ is the truth of being. It is the perfect, spiritual manifestation of all that is true about God's allness. The Christ neither comes nor goes. It is ever-present. It is not competing with evil for man's consciousness. The Christ is man's consciousness that there is no evil. A physical body, named Jesus, was not the Christ. But Jesus used what appeared to be a physical body to serve the Christ, to illustrate the truth concerning man's true identity. The Christ never exists as physicality, it exists instead of what is thought to be physicality. The Christ is the harmonious reality of man's being, the pure quality of man's being, and the perfect condition of man's being. Jesus was aware of the wholly spiritual Christlike-ness of his true selfhood, but he never limited Christlike-ness to his own selfhood. He was aware of the Christlike-ness of all true selfhood. He never descended to the belief that God's idea, man, ever slipped from his perfect, spiritual, Christlike being.
Mrs. Eddy defines the basis of his healing work, and the pattern for all healing in Christian Science, in these words in Science and Health (p. 259), "The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration." The effect of this perfect Principle is to harmonize and heal. Let us see how it worked in the case of a woman who seemed to be near death.
Late one night, a Christian Science practitioner received a call from a woman, who tearfully informed him that her sister had been suffering from critical organic complications, and now it seemed that she was passing on. In fact, the nurse in attendance said that, unless something was done for her quickly, it appeared that she would not last through the next hour. The practitioner assured the sister that there was nothing to fear, because nothing could corrupt nor interrupt the oneness of perfect Life and its perfect idea, man.
Fear is nothing but a magnified, intensified belief that somewhere God, perfect Life, is not infinite, ALL. Fear is always based upon the false belief that life is material and that identity is physical. Matter has no place in Life's infinity, and, physicality has no place in man's identity. Since matter and physicality have no place, fear has no base. Since perfect Life fills all space, diseased life has no space.
Accordingly, the alert Christian Scientist does not yield to the suggestion that he must try to change sick physicality into well physicality. That would throw his thought into neutral, divided between the allness of perfect Life and the false belief that there is imperfect life. Thus, the practitioner who had been called to help what appeared to be a dying woman was reminded of these words in Science and Health (p. 418), where Mrs. Eddy encouragingly writes, "Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter. Plead with an honest conviction of truth and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will heal the sick." This encouraged the practitioner, in his treatment, to begin with and stick with the allness of divine Mind, in which there can be no mortal mind to foment a belief of matter, or to ferment because of it. It impelled him to begin with and stick with the allness of Spirit, and the all-spiritual identity of man, wherein there can be no physicality.
Continuing to "stick to the truth of being," in order to dispel what was untrue, the practitioner affirmed the truth concerning God and man, substantially in these words: "Thank You, dear God, for being ALL, right now. Thank You for being the ONE and ONLY Mind there is, right here, everywhere; not one with minds many, but ONE and ALL instead of minds many. Your allness leaves no space for a mortal mind to accept the truth of being, or reject it. Thank You for being infinite Spirit, right here, everywhere; not everywhere that matter is not, but everywhere, ALL, instead of matter. Thank You, dear God, that man is Your spiritual idea, Your spiritual likeness, not a physical unlikeness. Man's identity never emerged from a physical body, and cannot be submerged by a physical body. Life is eternally ALL. Therefore, there can be no such thing as dwindling life, nor approaching death. Your beloved idea never lapsed from spiritual perfection, hence he cannot collapse from physical imperfection. Your beloved idea is not a mortal, alone on his own. He is immortal, inseparable from you, always perfect, always harmonious, right now, right here, everywhere, and forever."
The next morning, the practitioner received a call from the woman herself, who had appeared to be passing on the night before. She was exuberant with gratitude. She joyfully informed him that she was completely healed, she had dismissed the nurse, and was about to go out and meet her husband for lunch.
How grateful we may be for the divine revelation of Christian Science and its human application. And how grateful we may be to that blessed woman, Mary Baker Eddy, who was humble enough to perceive the truth of being, and whose inspired words in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 22) may serve as our benediction: "God is over all. He alone is our origin, aim, and being. The real man is not of the dust, nor is he ever created through the flesh; for his father and mother are the one Spirit, and his brethren are all the children of one parent, the eternal good."
[Delivered May 14, 1962, in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and published in The Christian Science Monitor, May 15, 1962, under the headline “Understanding of God's Allness Replaces Human Need”.]