Lucia C. Coulson, C.S., of
London, England
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother
Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
An appreciative audience enjoyed the lecture on Christian Science, last Tuesday evening, by Miss Lucia C. Coulson, C.S.
The lecturer was introduced by Mr. Alfred H. Morton, Jr., First Reader of the Christian Science Church of Winchester, who spoke as follows:
Friends:
For centuries man has been seeking ways and means of betterment. His struggle for all that he believes life has to offer, wealth, health and happiness, has been waged unceasingly. Men cast aside friendships, sacrifice personal honor to gain material wealth; they travel to all parts of the world seeking health. The search for happiness goes on continually. The results of these endeavors end in disappointment. And yet the road which leads to the way of true wealth, health and happiness is right at hand. The guide posts which enable us to follow this road can be read by you and me at any time, for the guide posts are the Bible, and the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.
In the 15th Chapter of John, the 7th verse, Jesus says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you," and in Science and Health page 329, Mrs. Eddy writes, "A little understanding of Christian Science proves the truth of all that I say of it." A faithful study of the Bible and of the principles of Christian Science as found in Mrs. Eddy's book, is bringing to man the treasures he has searched for so long.
The First Church of Christ Scientist of Winchester welcomes you here this evening. The subject of our lecture is, "Christian Science: The Liberator." The one who is to speak to us is a member of the Board of Lectureship of the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ Scientist, of Boston. It gives me pleasure to introduce our lecturer, Miss Lucia C. Coulson, C.S. of London, England.
The world is full of philosophies, theories, and religions, and it may well be asked what excuse Christian Science has to offer in adding to the number. The answer is that Christian Science differs in one respect from all of them. It promises much and guarantees the fulfilment of these promises now and here, but it also maintains that its every statement can be proved and must be proved by demonstration. This is the foundation on which Christian Science stands, this is the hope it holds out to the race, this is its contribution to the ages. It has shown religion to be scientific. Its appeal is not to those who are satisfied, but to those who feel they are in need of comfort, encouragement, and healing. It has come in the language of Isaiah the Prophet "to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
What is it to be in prison? It is, according to the dictionary, to be confined, and confinement in its turn is described as being placed within limits. Most of us, then, are in bondage to some form of limitation. We are in a prison of sickness, maybe, or of fear, or of lack — lack of opportunity, lack of harmony, lack of happiness and all prisoners, generally speaking, have one thing in common, the longing to find a way out. Well, there is a way out, and I am here to present it to you.
Now, it is quite certain that every prison is mental. Sir Richard Lovelace, the Cavalier poet, saw this centuries ago when he wrote: —
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage."
John the Divine was confined on the Isle of Patmos, and it was solitary confinement at that, but few men have attained such a state of exaltation and dominion as he did when he received the vision of the Apocalypse and saw the new heaven and the new earth and reached the profound conviction that God would indeed dwell with men, and wipe all tears from their eyes. Paul and Silas were confined in the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks, but in that midnight hour of persecution they sang praises to God, and that joyful triumphant state of thought was instantly externalized in outward freedom. For there is one thing that cannot be imprisoned, which no tyrant can confine, and that is a man's thoughts. You many place him in the lowest dungeon, but you cannot chain or confine his thinking. Only he himself can do that. And this brings us to the discovery that we imprison ourselves, for we alone have the control of our own thinking, to limit or enlarge it. If then the prison is mental, the way of escape must be mental also. It is plain that the only thing we have to change is our thought. And this is where Christian Science comes in. It comes with the most comforting message in all the world, for it tells us how to control our thinking, how to enlarge our borders, how to set free our thoughts and break down every limitation that besets and confines us. Here some one may object, "But my problem is one of circumstances. The change I need is a change of circumstances rather than of thinking." My friend, it may sound a hard saying, but it is nevertheless true (and in reality it is supremely comforting), that the circumstances we deplore are the result, in every instance, of wrong thinking, not our thinking necessarily, but the thinking possibly of our parents or instructors which we have accepted as our own. And this is true because in reality it is our thinking that affects our environment and not our environment our thinking. Now these circumstances — and this is where the encouragement comes in — these circumstances can therefore be corrected and improved through improved thinking. There is a science of numbers, we are all agreed on that, and this science teaches the exact arrangement of numbers. Each figure must be in a certain order to work out the simplest problem correctly. We cannot scatter figures at random, and then expect a right result. Should there not be a science of thinking, to be worked out with the same exactness in order to reach a right solution? Christian Science teaches that this Science of Being or thinking is here and has a perfect Principle and rule by which thoughts can be tested and ordered and arranged, and by which every problem can be solved.
Most people, if they examine their habits of thinking, will find that their thoughts come and go in an entirely haphazard fashion. They are governed by no principle and are at the mercy of such interlopers as fear, depression, uncertainly, and the like. Now, unless we want to experience such conditions, we must eliminate such thinking and must replace it with exact, positive, and progressive thinking.
Right here comes the question, What is the Principle we employ? And the answer is that the Principle of right thinking is Mind, unlimited and infinite Mind, the divine Mind, which Mrs. Eddy tells us is "equal to every emergency" (Science and Health, p. 406).
This divine Mind we understand to be God, and it is natural that Mind or intelligence should be an appropriate name for God, since the greatest power we ourselves possess is the power to think. It is the one faculty which, as we saw, no man can confine, it is the only real element of progress. So Christian Science teaches that Mind is the creator of the spiritual universe including man, and this also is self-evident, for whatever was made, God must have thought in the first place. You cannot even make a chair without thinking it first. So God thought man, and he was manifest (for with God thought and manifestation are simultaneous), and His thoughts could only express His own nature and character. He made man in His, Mind's, image, and consequently man is Mind's idea, and reflects the creative Mind. If you think for a moment, you will see that Mind must always be the creator; it is always Mind that creates, because everything must be thought before it takes form. The crudest material object must be imaged forth in thought before it is externalized. Everything is the expression of some thought, for, as the Christian Science textbook says (p. 255), "thought expands into expression."
Do we not see then, that even human thoughts create their own environment: that our prisons, our circumstances, are of our own making, and that we can unmake them and remake them by changing and improving our mental concepts? No one need remain the victim of circumstances or conditions; he can mentally free himself from them.
Now you may say: "How can I do this? It is hard to change a habit of thinking." Well, the first step towards this is an easy step, for the first step in Christian Science towards freedom is desire. We can all of us desire good easily enough. No child is too young and no adult too old to desire. On the first page of Science and Health, regarding desire, is one of the simplest and at the same time, to my thinking, one of the profoundest statements that has ever been made. It is this: "Desire is prayer." Now what do we desire? It is certain that we all desire health, supply, intelligence, and love. In fact, we all desire good in some form or another, and all the good there is to have. And we are right so to desire. We cannot make our demands too great, we cannot desire too much of good or too large a share of happiness. There is nothing too good and nothing too wonderful for the child of God. Every one of us is entitled to all the good there is, for that is our birthright, bestowed on us in the day when God said, "Let us make man in our image," and for answer "the sons of God shouted for joy." Dominion was bestowed upon that man and blessing; but it does not seem that there is much resemblance between him and the rest of mankind today. Some thing has changed the aspect of creation for us since the day when God pronounced everything "very good." How did this change come about? Let us turn to the Bible for an answer. Now, the Bible abounds in metaphor. It was, as we all know, written and compiled by an Eastern people, and so was written in the language of the Orient. It tells us that "there went up a mist from the earth," and it is the province of a mist to veil and distort. I remember an experience I had on the Scotch moors one summer when climbing in a thick mist. Everything seemed distorted as the shroud deepened. What looked like a goblin's face peering out at me became on closer inspection the gnarled branch of a tree. Then suddenly I seemed to be on the very edge of a pit filled with inky water; but at that instant, in almost as short a time as it takes me to tell you, the sun burst through, the mist scattered, and the inky waters were turned into a blue lake sparkling in the sunshine. I was called upon to change my thinking very quickly on that occasion and to correct my concept of that lake almost before it was formed. Now, Christian Science teaches that the mist of fear, ignorance, and error has veiled and distorted the man of God's creating until we think of him as being made of matter, as sick, sad, and discordant, so that our concept of him is almost the reverse of God's concept of him. This brings us back to the question of how we can change our thinking and improve our concepts, and shows us why we have the right to desire and claim all the good that exists.
I said that desire was the first step towards freedom, because "desire is prayer;" but it is possible that some one of you may object that you have desired many things for years which have not come to pass, that indeed, the very reverse of your desire has come about. There is a reason for this which needs to be understood. Human desire is almost invariably accompanied by fear, — fear that it will not be accomplished, — and this fear acts as a check, neutralizing and annulling the effect of desire. In a majority of instances the stronger the desire the stronger the fear, and so it will continue until we learn that we can, in the words of the Christian Science textbook, "trust God with our desires" (see Science and Health, p. 1), that the infinite, producing intelligence which begets man is Love as well as Mind, the Father and Mother of us all. Just as the human mother satisfies the needs of her babe, so the divine Motherhood fulfils every need and desire of its children. We can speak to this divine Parent as a little child speaks to its human parent, confident that it will be heard and understood. We can lift our thoughts to contemplate the Love that is power and the power that is Love, and this uplifted desire constitutes true prayer. Such prayer is heard and is answered, as Christian Scientists can testify. This thought of the Motherhood of God gives us a sense of comfort and assurance which enables us to take the second step towards freedom and add expectation to our desires. To be effective, desire or prayer must always be accompanied by expectation. It is easier to expect when we realize that all good has already been given by God to man and that we have only to clear away the mist of mistaken thinking in order to receive it. Jesus said: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." It is never too late to expect and receive a full deliverance, because it is never too late to change our thinking. There is no such thing as lack of opportunity. It has been well said that "man exists at the standpoint of opportunity" (Edward Kimball).
Opportunity is ever present, always at hand, because God, the Mind of man, the creative Mind, is ever present, and is continually presenting man with every opportunity. No matter how lowly your station, no matter how limited your intellect may seem to be, no matter how desperate the physical or financial situation may appear, Christian Science presents you with an invaluable and ever-present opportunity to apply the Science of right thinking, to gain the understanding of the divine Mind, and to watch your confident, expectant desires take tangible form in the way that you can understand. "Conception unconfined" (Science and Health, p. 323), that is the great need, to enlarge our desires, to increase our expectations, to lift our thinking out of the realm of the finite, into the realm of the infinite. Mortal thinking is thinking in terms of limitation, immortal thinking is thinking in terms of infinity. You may not have an ounce of chance as the world counts chances — you may not seem to have a loophole of escape, but the fervent expectant desire, which is prayer, will open the door of deliverance for you. No condition is too hopeless, no obstacle too great for Mind to overcome.
There is an old legend which tells of a widow and her crippled son who lived on the edge of the Syrian desert, nineteen centuries ago. The woman was very poor and prematurely old and bent with toil, and she could hardly scrape together enough to keep herself and her child alive. They lived in a tiny hut, and on the few rags that served them as a bed her little boy lay day and night, always in pain and often tossed with fever. One day there came a man in travel-stained clothing and with eager burning eyes and knocked at their door and asked for water. As the widow poured for him a draught from a pitcher of cool water and asked him the object of his journey, he began to tell them of a prophet who had arisen in Galilee and who was working miracles more wonderful than had ever been known in the healing of disease and even of death itself. "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk," he said, "the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear!" Then from the heap of rags in the corner came a cry, "Who is this prophet? Ask him to come and heal me!"
The stranger smiled. "He is hard to find and he has no time for such as thee" he said. "The rich merchant from Tyre has a daughter who is sick and he sent servants with camel loads of pearls and dyed stuffs to fetch the Master; but they could not find him, and indeed Herod himself has desired to speak with him, but he would not come."
"What is his name?" persisted the boy.
"They call him Jesus of Nazareth, and some have named him Christ," said the stranger. "But I can tarry no longer, I must spread the good news."
No sooner had he gone than the child turned to his mother, "Go and find Jesus!" he cried. "Bring him to me, for he is kind and gentle the stranger said, and if he knew my need he would come and heal me."
But the mother laughed a bitter, mirthless laugh.
"Cease thy chatter!" she said. "Didst not hear that kings and merchants cannot hire him and would he come for the likes of us? Poor and bent and ignorant I am, and this hut is dark and dingy and thou art no more than a bag of bones. How should I find the Galilean and how could I ask him here?"
But all the day the child continued to beg his mother to leave him and look for Jesus. As night came on the fever seized him and he flung his little wasted arms above his head and cried, "I want Jesus! I want Jesus!"
Then opening the door very slowly and smiling, Jesus said, "I am here!"
My friends, the Christ, Truth, the Saviour of right thinking is ever present, not as a person, but as divine Principle, and will come at our call and will deliver us. It says to each one of us, "I am here!"
Jesus the Christ gave us the most perfect model of right thinking in the Sermon on the Mount. He taught and exemplified in his life the truth that makes free. He showed us how to think rightly about supply when he spoke of the way in which God clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the fowls of the air, and told us to trust and fear not. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow," or as another translation has it, "Be not anxious for the morrow."
He showed us how to think rightly about life when he said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." "The only true God"! All through the ages men have been praying to their concept of God and sometimes this concept has risen no higher than that of a destructive power to be appeased by human suffering. As our concept of God rises our experience rises also and as we reach the concept of the only true God, that concept will be experienced in eternal life here.
Perhaps the summit of his teaching, and that which runs most contrary to human nature, is to be found at the close of this mountain sermon, where he says: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." And why does he thus exhort us? That we may be the children of our Father which is in heaven: for He "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
How far have Christians followed his example?
This Christ, Truth, is reiterated by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, in all her writings, and a fresh impetus is given to this specific admonition by her presentation of God as Mother. We all know that, as a rule the black sheep of the family has a special share in the love and compassion of the mother. She is his advocate when every one else deserts him. As Kipling puts it:
"If I should be hanged on the highest hill,
· · · · · · · ·
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o'mine, mother o'mine."
So the complete and rounded understanding of God as Mother brings into prominence the tender long-suffering, the untiring forgiveness, which we as Christian Scientists must practice if we would reflect — image forth — the Father-Mother God.
Now, I have already said that Principle is used in Christian Science as a name for God, and that the Principle of right thinking is the divine Mind, the Father and Mother of the universe. You will agree with me that to solve the simplest problem in mathematics, we need some understanding of the principle of mathematics, and so an understanding of the Principle of Christian Science is necessary to demonstrate its rules and solve our problems. What do we understand by the word "Principle"'? Webster's dictionary defines it as "source, origin, fundamental substance, law". The principle of mathematics is present with us here to use if we desire. We have it with us in our homes, in the office, in the desert, because we understand it and know how to apply it. Therefore the understanding of God as divine Principle gives us some realization of His omnipresence and omnipotence so that we can actually apply this divine Principle to our daily needs.
Do you remember the philosopher's stone which the alchemists of the Middle Ages sought for so untiringly? It was supposed to turn all at its touch to gold. It could transmute all baser metals. For us the gold of understanding has this transmuting power. It touches the dull metal of our daily lives and makes them glow with untold possibilities; with a hope which will not deceive, because it is founded upon fact — the fact that God has His plan and purpose for each one of us, and that as we begin to understand Him in divine Science, this purpose begins to unfold in our lives. Indeed, man is God's purpose in operation, and that purpose is always successful.
How can we gain more of this understanding? It is certain that to understand mathematics we must study its textbooks, and it is equally certain that we must study the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, in order to understand its Principle. This book was written as the result of revelation, followed by years of patient investigation of the subject of healing. Its theory was tested again and again by its author in the sudden and remarkable cures of hopeless diseases. She says of it herself on page 111, "I submitted my metaphysical system of treating disease to the broadest practical tests.'' And on the previous page, when speaking of her discovery, she says: "In following these leadings of scientific revelation, the Bible was my only textbook." Therefore Christian Science is founded on the Scriptures. The Bible is named as one of our textbooks and the object of our other textbook is to act as a key to the Scriptures. Here it may be objected that if the understanding of metaphysical or spiritual healing can be and has been gained from the Bible, why should we need another book on the subject, and what has Mrs. Eddy discovered? The reply to this lies in the fact that the Bible has been with us all through the centuries, and yet healing on a scientific basis has been practically unknown since the days of primitive Christianity, for the reason that the spiritual understanding of the Scriptures alone confers this healing.
All revelation is from above and comes only to the pure in heart.
What Mrs. Eddy discovered was the spiritual interpretation of the Word, which revealed to her the truth about God, man, and the universe, and also the Principle and rule which are ever operative to heal the sick.
It has sometimes been objected to Christian Science that its Discoverer was a woman, and yet if we consider what this discovery entailed, we shall find that it was supremely natural. It needed the mother-qualities of self-sacrifice and devotion, the patient cherishing of this new idea, in the face of pitiless scorn and merciless attack. Christian Science is so contrary to the established beliefs of mankind, so upsetting to conservatism and tradition that it naturally encountered ridicule and opposition in every direction. There is one type of human affection which gives without seeking a return, that is constant under all provocation, and that will lay down its life for its young. It needed this mother-love to protect and preserve Christian Science in its infancy, and to stand by it in the face of ridicule. Mrs. Eddy met every taunt with gentle forbearance, every attack with love. She writes of herself (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 11), "When smitten on one cheek, I have turned the other: I have but two to present." Yet when occasion demanded, she defended her discovery with a moral courage that was unsurpassed. Her genius for organization has been acknowledged even by those who differed most from her. Like a great general she ordered and countermanded, she advanced and retreated only to advance again along more certain roads, until finally the plan of The Mother Church with its branches spreading into all lands was perfected. And all this was achieved by a woman who had reached the age when many lessen their activities; by a woman who had been a frail invalid for many years, one who had no worldly influence, no money at her command, no man in those early days to stand beside her to support and protect her, who was surrounded by simple people whom the world passed by. In other words, the cause of Christian Science started in a manger, yet its Discoverer lived to see it established in all civilized countries. What was it that prospered and advanced this cause in the face of such tremendous obstacles? It could only have been the hand of God, or as its Founder puts it, "the outstretched arm of infinite Love" (Message, for 1902, p. 14).
Now, I have touched upon the absolute necessity of gaining an understanding of Christian Science if we want to avail ourselves of its benefits, and to reach this understanding perseverance is most essential. If desire is the first step to be taken, and expectation the second step, then I think perseverance is the third. The art student gladly spends seven or eight hours a day in his studio, nor does he feel it any sacrifice to do this because of the end he has in view. The same is true of the musician and of the student of natural science. Those of us who have ever studied music or painting even in a small decree will remember the joy of the work, and the application that was required, but which was never irksome on account of the interest of the study and the great return it brought. The artist gives years of patient effort to produce his masterpiece, and he considers it worth while. Surely it is worth while to give some time and effort to attain the masterpiece of a perfected life, the fruits of which are health and happiness. In Science and Health it is written (p. 450), "The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death." This is a task that is well worth while.
At the very outset of our study of Christian Science we are faced with the necessity of denying sense testimony, and this is a point which many have resisted. As it was once put to me by an objector, "Oh, I know what Christian Science is; you just say you haven't got a cold when you have got one, and you say your purse is full of money when it isn't."
This, of course, is hardly a fair presentation of the case. I began this lecture by saying we are required to prove our statements and that we do prove them. If we begin by denying the presence and reality of the cold, on the basis that this evidence is not from God, we end by proving that it is not there. We deny the sense testimony to obtain higher evidence. We change the evidence. Remembering the mist I spoke of which so changed the aspect of the tree and lake, we can see that I should have been justified in that case in denying the sense testimony. If I had been that way before, if I had known enough, I would have said that the truth about that black pit was a beautiful blue lake. There were not two objects, a black pit and a blue lake. There was just one — changed and distorted by the mist. From the standpoint of Christian Science there are not two men, one sick and the other whole, one material and the other spiritual, but just one God-created man made to appear changed and distorted by the mist of wrong thinking.
In listening to some critics of Christian Science, one would almost think that no other science had ever taught the unreliability and the rejection of the testimony of the physical senses, yet the science of astronomy, the discoveries of natural science, the basic fact that the earth is in motion, et cetera, all contradict sense testimony flatly and wholly.
To take a very simple and everyday instance. Most people can remember sitting in a train which was at a standstill opposite to a train in motion with the conviction that theirs is the moving train. As long as they continue to look at the train in motion the illusion lasts. The only way to break the spell is to look away from it, to turn in the opposite direction. If, when the sense of pain and disease attacks us, we will look steadily away from it and turn in the opposite direction of health and harmony, because they are the God-made realities of being which the illusion of the senses is hiding, we shall certainly obtain relief. Concerning sense testimony, the poet Blake has said, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Christian Science does not use mental suggestion. It does not ask us to use some health formula. It turns us from the distorted perception to the true. It clears away the mist of mistaken concepts that the facts of existence may come through. It asserts the truth about God and man and takes its stand on the Scriptural fact that God made everything very good, that the good creator is reflected in a good creation; that man, being His image, must image forth the Love and intelligence that made him whole.
To the inquirer who is in doubt, as to the practical nature of these statements of Christian Science I would say, "Try, then, and see." Take its promises and claim them for yourself, follow the rule laid down in its textbook, remembering that, its Principle is Love "unutterably kind," and you will find that this Science is as practical as the science of mathematics; that it can deliver you from the depths, that it can bring you out of the mist of error, out of the darkness of failure and disappointment, into the sunlight of God's affluence.
"Oh, Thou hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest:
Thou, here and everywhere."
(Mary Baker Eddy, Poems p. 37.)