Francis J. Fluno, M.D., C.S.D.
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
The subject of my lecture is "Christian Science, and the World's Great Need of It." But Christian Science is the Science of Being, and must include all there is of Being. There never was, and never will be a question propounded that has not its answer in Christian Science. And the world's great need is unlimited: therefore only a small part of Christian Science, and only a few of the world's great needs of it, can be expressed in any one lecture.
Looking out over Earth's vast arena, where the farce of human life continues to be played, and finding in that play nothing but a farce, nothing but unreality, finding nothing that satisfies the longing for something substantial, something abiding, something secure, something true; does it not stand to reason, that there is a something wanting; a something that the world has need of; something that although the world of sense knows nothing of it, yet human beings in some way or for some reason, find themselves in need of?
That spirit of investigation in man that can find a flaw in the solution of his being, naturally and necessarily demands a solution that will bear investigation; a solution that has no flaw; a solution that will bear the closest scrutiny, and yet no imperfection be found.
That spirit of investigation in man that can find a rent in a fabric, could not possibly be satisfied until it found a fabric in which there is no rent; could not be contented until it found a fabric that is not subject or liable to rent, to wear or tear, to decomposition or destruction. Such a fabric is Christian Science the Science of Being, that comes today to fill the world's great need. In it there is no error, no wrong, no evil that needs to find an exit. The more it is inspected and the closer it is scrutinized, the more its correctness appears and the less of error or imperfection of any kind, are found.
Who among my hearers this evening would like to think, or for a moment to contemplate the possibility, that in the great scientific fact of his own being and existence, there is or could be a mistake; that in the great ultimate of his own being, there could be and is an error, a flaw, an incorrectness, a something wrong; and therefore the whole fabric of his being is wrong?
Who, I ask, among my hearers would like to contemplate such a condition of things, and look out upon the appalling situation, where the eternal God Himself had made a mistake, and therefore He Himself was a failure? Who would enjoy looking upon the tablet of his being, and finding in it such a condition of things? Do you not admit it would be anything but enjoyable, anything but agreeable? But, in the light of Being, of common sense, reason, and revelation, we are glad to say such a thing could never be; for the simple reason that there could not be failure unless there first were standard; there could not be the failing, the mutable, and false, unless there were first the unfailing, the immutable, and true; and out of the true the false could never come; out of the unfailing the failing could never proceed; the absolute standard of Being could not evolve or produce that which is absolutely without a standard, without foundation, without a basis in fact.
Therefore, by virtue of the fact that the unfailing and true must be, the failing and false cannot be; by virtue of the fact that beingness is, the beingless could never be. Two things diametrically opposed to each other cannot both be true; and nothing that is true of one can be true of the other; hence, whatever is, its opposite is not.
Such, my hearers, is Christian Science the Science of Being that comes today to fill the world's great need; having nothing of its own to uphold, nothing to vindicate, nothing to gain and nothing to lose: simply standing on its own merits; on its own self-evident truth; and it only comes, as it has always come, to disclose to those who are ready to receive it, the simple facts of being, and how, through the knowledge of those facts, to demonstrate over the evils of mortal sense sickness, sin, and death; and to reach through the knowledge of the life that is God, that living which is eternal; that deathless and forever living, which all must reach or e'er perfection is attained; and since perfection is, perfection is attainable; and must therefore be gained, to satisfy the longings and fill the heart's great need. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
Looking out upon the throngs that people the earth, what do we see? Do we find harmony, happiness, brotherly love, peace on earth and good will one toward another? Is this the state and condition of things prevailing everywhere, or anywhere? Or do we not find just the opposite of such a condition? Do we not find prevailing in a large degree, inharmony, unhappiness, a great dearth of brotherly love, and a great want of peace on earth and good will one toward another? Mind you, we are not finding fault with people by way of comparison. It is only the condition of things as they exist in the world today: and we ask, Is this the effect of brotherly love, is this good will one toward another? Is this the application of the Golden Rule, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them"?
And in view of this helpless and almost hopeless condition, for indeed men are helpless in it, they would fain be rid of it if they could, if they knew how, or if they dared to; but once in it, they know not how to get out, and dare not make the effort; hence, if left to themselves, they are in not only a helpless, but a hopeless condition.
And, in view of all this, is there not a need for the advent of a new dispensation, a new era, a something that will work a change, and save men from their own thraldom; the advent of that which will bring and demonstrate to men and to the world that what is for the good of one, is for the good of all? Is there not a growing need for the advent of that in the world which will show men how, and help them to demonstrate the Golden Rule, which all agree to be right, but none know how to practise?
Then I ask you to read the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by the Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy, and see if such a saviour is not already come to the world, and is demonstrating these things, and ye knew it not.
Mortal sense, it is true, has its degrees of evil, and its degrees of what it calls good; it has its degrees of wrong, and its degrees of what it calls right; but even its highest degrees of good are still not good, because it has evil in the premise; and its very highest degrees of right are still wrong, because mortality is wrong to begin with.
Hence we see the necessity of something outside of ourselves to save us from ourselves; to save us from the evils and wrongs, which we find ourselves in seeming possession of; nay, which we find ourselves the seeming embodiment of. And it only stands to reason that whatever that saving power may be, it could have no error in it; whatever that power may be which will save men from their own thraldom, it must be the embodiment of purity and perfection; of absolute correctness and right.
Such a saving power is the religion of Jesus Christ the righteous, that comes today in the name of Christian Science the Science of Being, admitting of no evil, no wrong; admitting only a perfect God, and a perfect creation; perfect God and perfect man, to fill a long-felt need: in it there can be no wrong, else Being itself were a failure, and the great I am a myth.
Christian Science finds God to be divine Spirit, and man and the universe in their true spiritual being, though invisible to finite sense, yet visible to spiritual understanding, is found as perfect now, as when "The morning stars sang together," and God, from His eternal throne of Wisdom and Intelligence, looked on all that He had made, and pronounced it "Very good."
Mortal sense, having no standard anywhere, every attempt to save itself is a failure; and that, for the very good reason, that it has failure in the premise; everything that begins with mortality, begins with failure, because mortality is a failure.
The peace maker cries, Peace, peace; let us have peace! But they know not how to bring it about, because in the world there is no peace.
The orator on the stand is telling his hearers what ought to be done to save our nation's honor; but he cannot tell them how to do it, because he has nothing but a mortal, a material, a changeable basis.
The minister in the pulpit is telling his flock they ought to, and must, do better in order to escape eternal punishment and gain more happiness here and heaven by-and-by! But just how much better they must do, or just how to do better, he cannot tell; because he is judging all things from a human, a mortal, a material standpoint. Even happiness, the hope of heaven and the escape from punishment, he bases upon the effects of mortality, which mortality itself is a failure, and has failure written all over it.
The doctor at the bedside is telling his patient she must be more cheerful; but he cannot tell her how to be more cheerful; because he is looking at cheerfulness in the person, instead of in the Principle. The kind friend soothing that sorrowing one, tells her she must look on the bright side; but just how to look on the bright side, he does not know, neither does she; because they are believing in both a bright side and a dark side, and each side at the sport of circumstances; each side at the mercy of chance and change; they do not know there is but one side, and that is the bright side, as an eternal and unchanging fact of divine Principle. Finite sense has a dark side and a bright side; but even its bright side is still the dark side, because not lighted by the sunshine of Truth. Christian Science has but one side, and that is the Christ side, the side of eternal and unchanging Truth, where darkness never enters, where sunshine always brightens; where clouds never gather, and storms never come.
The reformer proclaims with great eloquence, "We must civilize, or we must perish!" But just how to civilize, or just what true civilization is, he cannot tell, because he bases reformation and civilization upon people and things where there is no standard, rather than upon eternal law, and unchanging Principle that is standard itself; that is always civilized, and never needs to reform. Christian Science brings true civilization to the world, because it is based upon eternal and unchanging Principle, whose laws are always pure and perfect; whose laws never change, never vary, never can and never need to reform; whose laws are right toward all and wrong toward none; whose laws, like their divine Principle, are of the very highest type and hence the very highest and best, and only true, civilization. Therefore the so-called civilized world needs Christian Science in order to become truly civilized; for the world will never be, or become, truly civilized, until it is governed entirely and absolutely by divine Science, the unchanging laws of God.
The civilized world, on account of its education and consequent living in, and bondage to, sickness, disease, and sin, needs Christian Science. It is a lamentable and almost universally conceded fact, that civilization has more sickness, and more diseases, than the barbarous and uncivilized nations and peoples of the earth today; and it is also a lamentable and almost universally conceded fact, that this condition of things is growing worse instead of better. Viewed from the world's standpoint, civilization is growing "weaker and wiser;" wiser, not in true wisdom, but in the wisdom of the world; for true wisdom cannot lead into weakness, but into strength; could not lead into sickness, but into health; true wisdom could not possibly lead into disease, but into soundness, purity, and correctness.
But while we see that civilization so-called, is, as it were, the harbinger of sickness, disease, and evil, yet Christian Science does not teach barbarism and uncivilization as a cure for such a state of affairs; but it teaches a higher grade of civilization than the world today knows anything of; a civilization where not only sickness, disease, and sin are ruled out, but roughness and uncouthness, degradation and ignorance are not found. Christian Science does not teach that to be well, healthful, and sound, necessarily means to be low, uncivilized, and animal; it does not teach that being hearty, vigorous, and strong, necessarily means to be voracious, uncouth, and unrefined; neither does it teach that refinement means delicacy, weakness, nervousness, sickliness, and invalidism.
Christian Science does not teach, that because the civilization of the world is not true, we might therefore as well lapse into uncivilization, ignorance, and barbarism; but demands a higher civilization; a more perfect education and refinement; a better code of morals and morality, and a purer idea of right and righteousness, than the civilized world in its highest sense has ever conceived of.
It teaches that "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Christian Science demands a higher grade of civilization, not a lower; it demands and demonstrates a higher grade of health and wholeness than the so-called physical health could ever be; it demands a more perfect degree of right and righteousness than the most honest and upright of the world has ever conceived of.
And Christian Science comes to the world today to help it out of the tangle of so-called civilization, moral culture, and refinement, and consequent sickness, disease, nervousness, weakness, invalidism, and inability, into which it has plunged itself and cannot extricate itself, to a higher and more perfect standard of Being, a clearer sense of right and righteousness, a better and more reliable health and healthfulness, into a brighter light, a purer air, and a closer walk with God. And this, surely, is what the world needs; and because of this need, the supply has come; for with every real need there is a supply, and the supply is always equal to the demand, and as soon as the real need is felt, the supply is forthcoming.
Christian Science comes to the world today, not to teach men the Golden Rule, but to teach men how to demonstrate, how to practise the Golden Rule. Mortal man, in and of himself, cannot live the Golden Rule; he is too selfish; indeed, he is the embodiment of selfishness; everything radiates from himself and everything centers in himself; he is selfishness from the ground up; from the inner core of his heart of hearts to the farthest stretch of his mortal desire, it is "I, I, MYSELF, I." Hence, however much he finds the Golden Rule to be good, and true, and right, and however much he would like to live it, yet, try as he will, he finds he cannot do it. Hence the necessity of something outside of himself to teach him how to live that Rule, that all agree to be the Rule, but which no one has ever been able to practise.
Christian Science comes to the world today to fill this great need; to fill this long-felt want.
Christian Science comes to the world to settle the question of peace among peoples and nations. Peacemakers in all lands are advocating the Peace question; but just how to bring it about no one can quite find out, and no one ever will, so long as finite sense, mortal man and matter, is taken as the basis of being; because nation cannot trust nation, man cannot trust his fellowman, and finally, (mortal) man cannot trust himself, consequently, there is a long-felt and growing need of something outside of ourselves to bring about and establish peace among people and between nations, and nothing will do it but the one universal law of Love, which the Science of Being brings to the world today to fill this special void; for nothing but the recognition and acknowledgment of the one God, the one divine Principle governing all; the recognition and acknowledgment of but one Mind, and that the Mind of God, the Mind that was in Christ Jesus, can ever establish "Peace on Earth," and the brotherhood of man.
And, not far removed from this great need, is another one that has been recognized from time immemorial, and that is, the thing that everybody wishes everybody else would do, but never does it himself; everybody wishes "Folks would mind their own business!" But no one has ever quite been able to accomplish that requirement himself; indeed, it is about as impossible for mortal man, in and of himself, to mind his own business, as for water, of itself, to rise higher than its source.
Mortals are so constituted that, however much they might try to attend to their own affairs, they would find that inexplainable something in themselves that would keep them meddling with other people's affairs.
Christian Science comes to help mortals to do this very thing; for it is the only thing that reveals to mankind that the faults they find in others, they find in themselves as well; hence they find everything to do at home, and nothing to do abroad.
Christian Science helps people to mind their own business; and reminds them very forcibly of their faults, when they get to minding other people's business.
The world needs Christian Science today, not only to heal its sick, but to heal its healers. The physician is as much in need of the healing power of Truth and Life as the sick can possibly be.
The civilized and so-called Christian world of today has gone mad on the physiological, pathological, surgical, and medical education, of which they all need very much to be healed. Every theory or course of reasoning that begins with matter, a material body or material thing, begins wrong; non-intelligent matter cannot be made the basis of any intelligent course of reasoning; non-intelligence cannot be made the basis of Intelligence; matter cannot be made the basis of Mind; consequently, no solution or conclusion arrived at from the basis of body or matter can be correct. And for this reason, the sick are helplessly sick, and the physician helpless to heal. It is a case of the blind leading the blind, and both fall into the ditch.
And Christian Science comes today to rescue the world from that dreadful ditch of physiology, pathology, surgery and materia medica, sickness and medical healing, into which it has fallen, wherein it is wallowing, and from which it cannot extricate itself.
Enter our extensive hospitals where the sick are cared for in a wholesale way, where mortal sense is doing its level best to help the sick and suffering; and peep behind the lattice at the blindness, groping, guessing, and experimenting, that of necessity is being practised there: bodies are mutilated, operations performed, medicines administered, applications and appliances used, and no one can tell what the prognosis is, or what the results will be. Hundreds and thousands of cases every year, not only in our hospitals, but in private practice, where one man's judgment settles the question of favorable or fatal, and if the latter, then narcotics are administered, until he die; and this out of what is called kindness, because the physician, nor any one else, knows any better thing to do, and they cannot see the afflicted suffer.
And, in view of such a helpless and hopeless condition, for indeed it is a hopeless state, looking into matter, mortals become buried in it, until they know nothing else, and can hardly be shown a ray of light to lead them out of the gloom; is it not, therefore, high time for that to come to the world to lift us from our own destruction, put us on a better basis, a better footing; to take our feet from the mire and clay of our own making, of our own failings, and put us on a sure foundation, even the Divine Principle of Life, Truth, and Love?
So long as mortals continue to look to the body for health, they will continue to be deceived; for health cannot be found in matter, neither can matter be made the basis of health; for matter has no intelligence to say I am sick, or I am well. Matter cannot tell of sickness or of health; of harmony or of discord; of pain or of pleasure. The inertia, and consequent non-intelligence, of matter, has been taught, even in physics, through many years; and yet the whole world is looking into matter for health, happiness, and life; and the whole world is thereby being deceived; and hence led deeper and deeper into the vortex of the very maelstrom they are trying to extricate themselves from, and will not be able, because they stand on sinking sand.
Under the medical regime of four thousand years, not only sickness and mortality have increased, but diseases themselves have multiplied; and it is a question today which was first, the physician, the medicine, or the disease. When a physician comes into a country town where no doctor has been, and the people were in the habit of being well, then the inhabitants begin to get sick; a doctor has come to town; and the thing to do is to be sick enough to call in the physician.
When a doctor gets a new medicine or instrument, or a new kind of treatment, like a boy with a new knife he immediately begins to look about for a chance to try it; and if none presents itself, he has to improvise one; he has something new to treat the sick withal, and some one ought to be kind enough to furnish him a case.
To this end let me quote from Dr. James Johnson, Surgeon-extraordinary to the King. He says, "I declare my conscientious opinion, founded on long observation and reflection, that if there were not a single physician, surgeon, apothecary, man-midwife, chemist, druggist, or drug on the face of the earth, there would be less sickness and less mortality."
But how to get out of it is the question; and we at once see that there is no possible and final way but for that to come to the world which will eliminate both the cause and the effect, both the sickness and the treatment, both the remedy and the disease; and nothing can possibly accomplish this thing but that which will lift us from ourselves; and Christian Science comes to the world today to fill this very need.
Christian Science, the Science of Being, comes to the world today to prove and demonstrate beyond all cavil, beyond all controversy, that sickness and disease is an illusion, and does not belong to the great fact of being; and therefore no medicine is needed, but the knowledge of the Truth that shows the nothingness of disease. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John, 8:32).
The best remedy for any disease is not to have the disease; and Divine Science proves that disease does not belong to Being, that error or discord of any kind does not belong to the Science of Being, any more than the errors and incorrectnesses of mathematics belong to the Science of Numbers; that out in the great scientific fact of Being, harmony and happiness is an established fact, and nothing can possibly come to mar the serenity there; and this we do not need to die to attain to, neither will dying help us to attain to it; but in the light of Science as it comes to the world today, these glorious facts may be demonstrated here and now. And this is the world's great need; not deliverance by-and-by, which by-and-by never comes; not deliverance after death, but deliverance now, from sickness, sin, and death.
The sick need Christian Science because they are believing in the reality of sickness, and hence they are helplessly at the mercy of sickness and disease, from which they know not how to, and have no possible means by which they can, free themselves from the terrible incubus that is weighing them down to despair; for although they do, by this or by that, find temporary relief, yet they are still believing in sickness, and therefore are holding themselves in the bondage of their own beliefs, victims of their own false conception, captives of their own capturing. So that not only those who are physically sick and suffering, i.e., those whom the world of finite sense calls sick, are the sick who need Christian Science, but all those who are believing in the reality of sickness need Christian Science, because Christian Science comes to teach and to demonstrate the unreality of sickness and disease, and hence to free the world and all mankind from their own most hopeless and most terrible disaster.
The world will never be freed from sickness and disease so long as the world continues to believe in sickness and disease; and so long as the world continues to believe in sickness and disease as a part of the great fact of being, just so long will it be at the mercy of sickness and disease, and a victim of its own beliefs; and that the world is believing in sickness and disease, goes without saying; and that therefore the world is helplessly and hopelessly sick, is also a foregone conclusion; and that it is in need of a saviour, a redeemer, a deliverer, is evident on the face of it. And the Science of Being is come to the world to fill this very need by teaching the world the unreality of sickness and disease, that sickness and disease do not belong to the Science of Being. And that nothing but the Science of Being can teach conclusively what does and does not belong to being, is very evident; and that it can and must, teach it conclusively, is also evident.
Therefore, whatever Christian Science, the Science of Being, does teach, is conclusive and final; hence, whoever contradicts or presumes to dispute Christian Science, must find at length that he is fighting against eternal Truth, Almighty God and will find with Paul, it is hard for him "to kick against the pricks."
And now that Science has come to the world, and must and does teach what does and does not belong to Being, and all who investigate it far enough to understand it see that it does teach the unreality of sickness and disease, and see at the same time why it teaches what it does, they find it is demonstrable, and therefore what is needed in their own particular case; and since the whole world and all mankind are in the same stranded condition, therefore Christian Science has come to fill the world's great need.
The world needs Christian Science to settle its temperance question. The advocates of temperance cry "Total abstinence," as a cure for intemperance; but the poor inebriate cannot abstain, he has lost control of himself; his appetite has gotten the better of him; so that, while he knows that to "Taste not, touch not, handle not, the unclean thing," is his salvation, and his only salvation, yet he cannot avail himself of it.
Fancy, if you please, a poor fellow sinking in deep water, where, ignorantly or injudiciously, he has ventured, and a friend on the shore calls to him, and says, "Come here, and you'll be safe!" But he cannot get there; he does not need to be told that if he would come to the shore he would not drown; but he is now in deep water, and cannot get to land.
Likewise, the poor victim of strong drink does not need to be told that if he will become temperate he will not be intemperate, that if he will not drink any more he will not get drunk; but he is already sinking in the deep waters of intoxication and intemperance, and cannot become temperate, cannot become an abstainer, he cannot get to that point where he can stop drinking; he has not the power over it; it has the power over him! Of what use to taunt and mock him with total abstinence as a cure for intemperance? He needs to be healed of his appetite for strong drink; he needs to be rescued from the deep waters of intemperance and intoxication. He, to himself, is a helpless and hopeless victim to the very false but universal belief that matter has power over mind; that non-intelligent matter has power to excite, exhilarate, and intoxicate mind; that non-intelligence can make a fool of intelligence.
And from this terrible deception,
that matter can intoxicate mind, who, more than his would-be deliverer,
needs himself to be delivered?
Who, more than the temperance advocate himself, needs to be healed of intemperance? For who, more than he, is believing in the power of matter over mind? is believing that matter can intoxicate mind? And since the whole world is under this terrible deception, the whole world is in the seething maelstrom of intemperance, a helpless victim of its own beliefs, from which it cannot save itself without the intervention of a power outside of itself, to save it from itself.
And the temperance question will never be settled, and intemperance driven from our land and from the world, until that power is seen, acknowledged, universally adopted and demonstrated. Such a power is the knowledge of the truth that Mind has power over matter; that Mind controls matter; that Mind has power to correct matter.
Christian Science not only teaches that all is Mind, but that there is but one Mind, and that the Mind of God: the Mind that was in (i.e., that controlled) Christ Jesus. In that Mind, there is no evil and no evil doer; no inebriety, and no inebriate; no intoxication and nothing that can intoxicate. That Mind is the author of all that was made; and all it made was good.
Just so long as the world continues to believe in the power of matter over Mind, that matter has power to dethrone Mind, or that matter is equally potent with Mind, will intoxication prevail in the world, and men continue to be intoxicated. And that the world is believing in the power of matter over Mind, is evident on the face of it; and that it is in a helpless and hopeless state of inebriety, needs nothing to vindicate it. And that it needs Christian Science to extricate it from its thraldom, is also plain; and that Christian Science has come, and is filling that very need, is what the world is slowly, but surely, waking up to comprehend and acknowledge.
And we are glad today, and do rejoice, that there is a power that can save the world from this terrible scourge. And we are also glad that that power is the power of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, the power of God, the only Good, and that there is no other power.
The world needs Christian Science to settle its financial question. Men of all classes of caliber, from the lowest to the highest and greatest statesmanship, have made it their life study; and it is no nearer a solution now than it was a thousand years ago; and it never can be solved, so long as gold, or any other material commodity, is made the basis of value. Gold, or silver, or precious stones, or houses, or lands, or property of any kind, or in any country, cannot be made the basis of value; indeed, there is no real intrinsic value there.
Robinson Crusoe, whether the story itself be fact or fable matters not, the principle remains the same, and one instance cited there, serves our purpose here, when he found himself alone on the island, had, among other things, saved from the wreck, a number of English sovereigns, all of which, after a few months, he would have given for a pair of English hose. Another, the old threadbare story of the man who found a nugget of gold so heavy that he could hardly lift it, who tugged it along until, tired out and almost starved to death, he finally traded it to some travelers for a plate of beans. Under one train of circumstances, we are loathe to give a dollar for a sack of flour, and under another train of circumstances, we are eager and anxious to give five.
Where is the value that men would place in gold which a train of circumstances or conditions will change without limit, or destroy altogether?
And where shall value be found, but in the "Kingdom of Heaven," the pearl of great price. When men learn through Christian Science, "In God we trust," learn it really, and truly, and scientifically, as taught in the Science of Being, then, every dollar and every thing will be transformed; then gold, or silver, or any other thing, will be found having no value of its own, but will still be found of value, and invaluable; whose value cannot change or be lost, because it is based upon divine Principle, the basis of all things, "That is yesterday, today, and forever the same."
Looking down through the vista of six thousand years, since the alleged beginning of time, the eye grows dim and the cheek grows pale at the rivers of blood that man has drained from his fellowman on account of some religious differences that neither one knew anything about, but each one believed in, and, judging from a finite standpoint, each thought he had sufficient proof to sustain him in his belief.
And from this finite and limited conception, or rather misconception, and consequent misjudgment, religious controversies, quarrels, feuds, and wars have arisen that have separated kindreds and friends; alienated peoples and nations; man going forth with fire and fury, his merciless sword reeking with the blood of his fellowman, and all in the name of a changing belief, that was builded upon the sands.
The peoples of the world have, from time immemorial, been founding their religion upon the shifting sands of belief, and the evidence of the senses. And to this end the world has been preached to death. Yes, preached to death! Yes, "talk is cheap!" If we all had to pay a good square price for every word we uttered, there would be less talk and more practice.
The pulpits today are storming the citadel of man's greatest capacities; trying to get him to believe something that they themselves only half believe and do not at all understand. Each separate church, and almost each separate preacher, having his own peculiar belief or doctrine that he is trying to impose upon his fellowman, until no one knows what to believe, or whether to believe anything. And if he does finally contrive to believe something, he still is in doubt as to the truth of it; for belief implies a doubt; for, no matter what the belief may be, whether it be good or bad, true or false, so long as it remains a belief, it has not reached the understanding, and consequently remains to be proven, and is, therefore, an open question. And because of so many doubts, and so little proof, and so much hawking of beliefs, the religious world is in a dreadfully scattered, torn up, and unsettled state, and needs something to rescue it from its own unsettled, dissatisfied, and doubtful condition. No questions are answered, no problems solved, and no controversies settled.
The honest inquirer is met everywhere with beliefs, opinions, and dogmas, until, discouraged and disgusted, he concludes, and rightly, that one belief is about as good as another, and that to have no belief is about as good as any. But Christian Science comes to settle this religious controversy. It does not come adding another belief to the already countless numbers, for it has no beliefs to offer to any one; it has nothing but facts to present to the world, and every fact is proof positive and conclusive; every fact is irrefutable and undeniable; every fact is practical and demonstrable.
Christian Science comes, based upon the eternal Principle of Intelligence itself, the eternal God, and answers every question, solves all problems, and settles all controversies. But, it is neither Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, nor Baptist. It is neither this way, nor that way; neither my way, nor thy way. It is His own way. ''God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain."
The world needs Christian Science to settle the question of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is as much an unsettled question of today as it was fifty or a hundred years ago. The so-called Christian churches, like so many quarrelsome children, are bickering over this point, and that point, and the other point, but arrive at no settled conclusion. And the reason why the points that were once up for discussion are not now being discussed is, not because they have been settled, but because they have not been settled, and could not be, and have therefore, ceased in a measure to be agitated.
But Christian Science settles the question of the Eucharist; settles it in every way, and from every standpoint; settles it perfectly, finally, and forever. And if you would know just what that settlement is, I would advise you to read the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Read it from cover to cover, and then read it again, and continue to read it, until you find the bread of Life, and the water turned to wine.
The Christian world needs Christian Science to settle the problem of Baptism. Many a battle has been waged over this bone of contention, and it is no nearer a solution today than it ever was, and it never will be solved until it is settled by the "Holy Ghost," "The Comforter," that leads in the ways of all Truth; that comes today in the name of Christian Science, the Science of Being, to answer every question, and fill the world's great need. Christian Science settles the question, and settles it once for all; but it is found to be neither immersion, sprinkling, nor pouring; neither kneeling, standing, nor sitting; neither this way nor that way, but Christ's way, who baptized "With the Holy Ghost and with fire." Christian Science teaches that baptism is spiritual, and not material; that the true baptism is to be baptized into the Spirit of Truth that cleanses of all sickness and sin, of mortality and matter, and finally, of death itself; for the true baptism is the washing away and purifying of all that is averse to Spirit; of all that is opposed to God, the only Good.
The Christian world needs Christian Science to lead it out of spiritualism. Everybody outside the Christian Science ranks believes in spirits many; believes in a spirit inside this material body which, in some mysterious way, at the point of so-called death, escapes from this body and becomes a disembodied spirit. Many believe, and profess with great firmness, that these departed spirits "return, to revisit mortal eyes;" many think it may be possible, but the Christian Scientists have positive proof that it is not so.
Christian Science comes, settling the question of spiritualism for good and forever. Go where you will among Christian Scientists, i.e., honest and loyal students of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," who understand its teachings, and you will not find one who believes in spiritualism; who believes in departed spirits, or in spirits' return; and they not only do not believe in these things, but they know these things are not true, and they know why they know. Christian Science teaches that God is Spirit; and since there is but one God, therefore there is but one Spirit; hence, there is no such thing as departed spirits, or spirits many; for God is One, and ever-present; and man, being the image and likeness of God, and yet not God, is therefore not Spirit, nor matter; but spiritual, the image and likeness of Spirit.
Christian Scientists are students of the Science of Being, that does not speculate or hypothecate, but answers all questions scientifically, understandingly, and demonstrably. Yet Christian Scientists are not bigoted in their knowledge of Truth and true Being; it is not their Truth; it is the universal Truth, the eternal Truth, the eternal fact. They have no jurisdiction over it; they have nothing to say in the matter; they merely voice what Science reveals to them.
If Christian Science seems to take away from the world some of its pet theories and beliefs, Christian Scientists are not to blame for it; they are helpless in the matter; and, on the other hand, if the world's pet theories and beliefs are not true, then surely the world needs the revelation of Truth and true Being to lead it out of its own darkness "into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
The religious world needs Christian Science to lead it out of pantheism! The majority of people outside the Christian Science ranks, believe that in some unknown and unaccountable way God puts His own life in this mortal body, which in some equally unknown and unaccountable way, at the point of dissolution, is withdrawn and returned to God who gave it. This, therefore, is a belief of God in mortal man; and furthermore, a belief of God in a material universe; and finally, and virtually, that the whole material universe is God; (For what were the universe without life?) and this is pantheism, pure and simple; and is just the opposite of the Science of Being; and is the source of all evil in the world, the parent of all discord, and the embodiment of all that is false, unreal, and untrue.
This belief, or false doctrine is what Jesus of Nazareth denounced when he said, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." And Christian Science comes to the world in this, its hour of greatest need, to liberate it from the quagmire of pantheism and the dire effects of it; to take its feet from the mire and clay of its own deception of life in matter, and plant them on the rock of eternal Life, Truth, and Love, where all Being is found to be spiritual, pure, and perfect, and matter is unknown.
The world needs Christian Science to lead it out of mesmerism, hypnotism, and animal magnetism. The world of sense is believing in many minds; is believing that each individual person has a mind of his own, which is being influenced by, and is influencing, every other mind; hence the world of sense is a seething sea of mesmerism, hypnotism, and animal magnetism. Each one mesmerizing the other, until no one knows himself, where he stands, what he believes, or whither he is tending.
But Christian Science comes, teaching one Mind, the Mind of God the Mind that was in Christ Jesus. And the so-called individual mind is but the "carnal mind," the false mind, "the mortal mind," the belief of mind in matter, wherein dwelleth sickness, sin, and death, which must be overcome by the understanding that God is Mind, and therefore the only Mind; in whom no sickness is, no sorrow, pain, or death; "nothing that defileth or maketh a lie."
The world needs Christian Science to answer the question, What is man? Pope said (and truly), "The proper study of mankind, is man." The question, What is man, his mission here, his future, and his ultimate? has ever been an open question; has ever been a theme for speculation; and ever will be so long as judgment is taken from the evidence of the senses. Jesus said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John, 7:24).
So long as mankind continues to study man from the standpoint of appearances, just so long will he continue to be deceived in man; and the question, What is man? be unsettled and unsolved. Mankind will never know man, his origin, or his ultimate; his past, present, or future; his whence, his where, or his whither; his how, his what, or his why, until he knows him according to Divine Science, the Science of Being. When mankind begins to study man scientifically, from the standpoint of perfect Principle, unchanging Truth, unselfish Love, and undying Life, then, and not till then, will he begin to know man, the great end for which he was created, his relation to his Maker, the position he must occupy, and the station he must fill.
And it is self-evidently true, that whenever the question of man is settled satisfactorily, it must be done scientifically; and it is also evident that the science that does it, must be the Science of Being. And now that the Science of Being is come to the world, the question of man and the universe is being settled, the problem is being solved, the mysteries of being are clearing away, and the sunshine of Truth and true Being is coming now to light. And man is found, not what the senses declare him to be, but spiritual, pure, and perfect, the image of his Maker.
The religious world needs Christian Science to settle the question of a literal place of punishment, called hell. This question is still an open question, and will forever remain unanswered until it is answered by Divine Science, the Science of Being; and now that Christian Science is come to the world, that question is answered; and Christian Scientists no more believe in a literal place of punishment than they believe in the mythology of ancient Rome.
The religious world needs Christian Science to settle the question of a literal place of rest and reward, called heaven, where the so-called righteous dwell when they go from hence away. This question is fully and finally settled in Christian Science, and Christian Scientists know what and where is Heaven; know that it is, know that it is not a locality or place, but a state and condition; and that this state and condition is all that really is; and therefore on this point they are at rest; for they know, and are sure, that when they have attained to it, it will be theirs; and that it will not be theirs until they have attained to it, any more than an education is theirs until they have gained the knowledge, or a goal is theirs, until they have reached it.
The religious world needs Christian Science to reveal and make known to it the risen Christ, the divine, ever-living Son of God; of which Jesus of Nazareth was the only true representative; who, or e'er he went from earth away, in speaking to his disciples, said, "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also," showing his ever-living and ever-presence to those of his students, who had learned to know him in Spirit and in Truth. And to John the Revelator he said, "Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen."
And Christian Scientists find the living Christ: sitting today at the right hand of the Father! Find him "the one altogether lovely;" risen to the majesty of life eternal: having "The keys of death and of hell," and all power given unto him, both in heaven and in earth. And the world will find in Christian Science, not a dead Christ, but an ever-living, pulsating Christ, "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." The same today as when he walked by the shores of Galilee, and through the power of God the Father, cast out sins, and healed all manner of sickness, and all manner of diseases among the people.
The religious world needs Christian Science to answer the problem, What and where is God? and Whether there be a God. Few, if any, believe in no God at all. Most believe in some kind of a God; and some, eager to be thought substantiated in their belief, emphatically declare they know there is a God! But when questioned closely as to how they know, they have no positive proof to offer; and, in fact, there is no positive proof (judging from a finite standpoint; and that is the direction in which all are looking, outside the Christian Science ranks), I say, judging from a finite standpoint, there is no positive proof to the question, What, or where is God? or if there be a God. And it will forever remain a question of doubt and dogma, and never can be answered, until it is answered according to Divine Science, the Revelator.
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns, is dark and silent on this question, and answers even the most earnest and ardent inquirer, not a word.
And the question, What and where is God, and if there be a God, is left to human conjecture, speculation, and dogma; and is merely something to be believed in, like the old superstitious notion of the giant under Mount Vesuvius, "rather than divine Principle, to be understood and demonstrated."
And God, being a mere belief, is almost as worthless to the world as though there were no God: for a mere belief of a God, with no certain knowledge of Him, can never be that "refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," of which the Psalmist sang. And this is the reason professed Christians go to a physician in time of sickness and suffering, instead of to their God.
But Christian Science comes to the world with positive and undeniable proof for every statement, and demonstration for every step; and finds God what the Master declared Him to be, the One, the only, Good. Not a merely good person, as finite sense would have Him be; but that universal Good, the substance of which is Good; in Whom no evil is.
When will the world wake up to know that only God is Good, and God is only Good? When will the world be glad to know a God so good that He Himself knows only Good, and yet knows all there is to know, but knows no ill at all.
When will the world be glad to know a God of Love, whose loving Love fills all immensity, and leaves no room for aught but Love, whose love is "All in all."
When will the world be glad to know a God of Life, who knows no death; a God of Life, who only knows the Life that lives throughout eternity; a God of Life, in whom we live, forever and forever.
When will the world be glad to know His Kingdom's come, His will's done, on earth, as 'tis in heaven?
[Published in The Christian Science Journal, September, 1899.]