Margaret Murney
Glenn, C.S.B., of Boston, Massachusetts
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
Miss Margaret Murney Glenn, C.S.B., of Boston, Mass., gave a lecture on "Christian Science: Humanity's Liberator," at Cadle Tabernacle Monday night under auspices of Second Church of Christ, Scientist. W. T. McCullough introduced Miss Glenn, who is a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass.
The lecturer spoke substantially as follows:
The message of Christian Science is essentially one of freedom, for it not only frees from sin, fear, lack, and disease, but it also reveals man's freedom to express his God-bestowed harmony, joy, intelligence, health, and love; freedom to express his individual ability and talents, as the likeness, image, or idea of God.
In human history, wars have been fought to attain and to maintain freedom, and in Christian Science this is also true; however, in Christian Science, the battles are not against our fellow man but against the common enemy of men; namely, the carnal or mortal mind, which includes all the limitations that would enslave and fetter man.
The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, states (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 225) "Oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth. Love is the liberator." One of the reasons why Love liberates is that it sees all things as lovely, pure, lovable, spiritual, good; and it sees each individual as expressing these God-given qualities individually. When we behold man as the image of Love and therefore as spiritual, our thought is freed from anything that would harm, limit, or enslave ourselves or another; and if we realize that this love-view of man is actually the truth, maintained by God as an ever-present fact, this realization will destroy any limited beliefs or thoughts we may be entertaining about man. Love is the liberator, and it liberates us from all false, enslaving, unkind, sinful beliefs.
All that God is, man expresses, for man was created to image forth, reflect, or express God, to be His likeness; in other words, to be exactly like Him. Certainly God is free to express His infinite nature, and man, being His likeness, is free to express Spirit's infinitude. Nothing less than infinitude could express perfect freedom, for infinitude alone is unlimited.
The Bible states, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." To know where the Spirit of the Lord is, in other words, to find the whereabouts of liberty, we must be able to recognize Spirit when we meet it. Mrs. Eddy defines it in the following manner in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," on page 594: "Spirit. Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle; all that is good; God; that only which is perfect, everlasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite;" and in the same book (p. 93) she also states: "In Christian Science, Spirit, as a proper noun, is the name of the Supreme Being. It means quantity and quality, and applies exclusively to God." From these statements it is clear that infinitude is the quantity of Spirit, that good is the quality of Spirit, and that immutability is the substance of Spirit. It is also clear that because Spirit is Mind it is expressed by spiritual thoughts or ideas only. Then if you found yourself thinking thoughts which were good, loving, unlimited in their scope, harmonious, and indestructible, you would know that you were conscious of the thoughts which express Spirit, that you were actually conscious of Spirit's presence. We become aware of these thoughts many times, but we are so accustomed to attributing these intelligently good thoughts to the wrong origin, namely, to ourselves or others as mortals, that we have a limited sense of their universal character, of their quantity as infinite, and of their immutable, ever-present, substantial nature. If you will admit the nature of such thoughts to be spiritual, in other words, if you will admit that God is their author, you will find that their possession is not limited to certain persons but that they belong to every individual as the reflection of Spirit.
Christian Science shows that only intelligently good thoughts belong to man, and these are the only thoughts we should claim as ours, but it insists on the fact that the origin of these thoughts is God, the divine Mind. The origin of mortal thoughts is not in mortals but in the carnal or mortal mind. The mortal who believes in the power and reality of such thoughts and obeys them is either the innocent victim or the willing tool of a limited, carnal, so-called mortal mind, which, because of its very mortal, material nature, is opposed to or is the supposititious opposite of the divine Mind, whose every thought is infinite, therefore boundless in its freedom.
Mortals are responsible for their thinking, or for the choice of their thoughts, and this choice alone determines the freedom or bondage, the joy or sorrow, the health or discord, the supply or lack in their human lives. Isaiah, in foretelling the coming of the Messiah, said that he would "know to refuse the evil, and choose the good." Christian Science shows us that each one has this same ability, this same intelligence, wherewith to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, and it enables us to discern the good as the glorious reality of being, and evil its so-called opposite, as necessarily unreal. From this standpoint Christian Science rejects or refuses evil by denying its reality. Evil, rejected from the standpoint of its reality, is not really rejected but merely suppressed, ignored, or forgotten, and none of these states of thought actually destroy evil.
Someone may say, I have never chosen to be sick, poor, or limited, but I am that way. Perhaps you have not chosen to be thus, but have you actively rejected or refused to entertain the discouragement, fear, envy, resentment, hatred, and morbidity which have claimed to produce these conditions in your experience, and have you chosen the thoughts of love, joy, gratitude, hope, as your own and only real thoughts, thus acknowledging that good alone is your God, your Mind? If you have done this, then you know the result is freedom; freedom from sickness, limitation, poverty; freedom to express the infinite qualities of God.
One of the most hampering and limiting beliefs with which mortals have to contend is the theory that they have material bodies in which they live, and to which they are confined, so that they can only be where their bodies are. Paul once asked, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" — or as we might ask today, Who shall deliver me from this mortal body? He answered his query in substance by stating that the Christ, Truth, would deliver him. Mrs. Eddy gives a succinct definition of Truth in the Christian Science textbook when she states (Science and Health, p. 282), "Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind". Intelligence, of course, knows facts, that which is; in other words, all that intelligence knows must be truth, for it would not be intelligent to be conscious of a mistake, an error, a superstition, a theory, an illusion, delusion, falsity, or dream, as though these were realities or had actual existence. To know things as they are is the intelligence of immortal Mind, and this is truth. This intelligence, or truth, sets us free from the delusions and errors of the material senses that would claim to fetter us in the material body.
The material senses are not truthful witnesses to, nor do they receive correct impressions of, things as they are, so these senses cannot be said to perceive or be conscious of intelligence. The material eye is often deceived, the material ear does not hear perfectly, but intelligence both discerns and understands things as they are. That which is true is intelligent, and that which is intelligent is true; and vice versa, namely, that which is untrue is unintelligent, and that which is unintelligent is untrue. The material senses judge things from the basis of matter as an intelligent reality, whereas it is a logical deduction that matter of itself is wholly unintelligent, and requires the belief of material thought or a mortal mind to move it, to make it talk, act, eat, sleep, or seem to be awake. Being thus unintelligent, matter must also be untrue, and therefore unreal. Intelligence, not the material senses, discerns man's unfettered, free, spiritual being as the infinite idea of infinite Mind. Intelligence beholds man's lovely, pure nature as the likeness of divine Love, even when the material senses may be claiming to see him as sensual and besotted. This intelligence or truth, through what it knows, delivers us from "the body of this death".
You may have heard the remark, "Oh, if I could only get rid of this body, I would be all right". In a way such a statement is correct, that is, if it is understood that to rid oneself of the material body means to rid oneself, by constant spiritualization of thought, of the material thinking which is embodied in, or expressed by, the material body. In this sense, riddance of the material body does not imply self-destruction, which is the culmination of materialistic thinking, of loveless, lifeless, mindless, suggestions, but it means loving man's true, harmonious, Godlike selfhood until the sense of a selfhood in matter has been transformed or has disappeared. Such spiritualization of thought is constructive, not destructive, and requires absolute consecration to God, a full understanding and demonstration of the facts of divine Life. Our great need at present is not to rid ourselves of the material body, but to rid ourselves of the material thoughts that would claim to deform, deface, defile, and enslave the body. As thought is dematerialized by a realization of man's spiritual nat ure, this spiritualization redeems the body first from bondage to the grosser material beliefs of sin, disease, hatred, fear, lust, and finally from the limitations of matter. Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, saved and redeemed his body. He proved that it was as free as his thought. Mrs. Eddy states (Science and Health, p. 90), "Divest yourself of the thought that there can be substance in matter, and the movements and transitions now possible for mortal mind will be found to be equally possible for the body".
Think of the freedom of your thought. It can be at the North Pole, the South Pole, and encircle the globe in a few seconds, but the belief that you have a matter body cannot keep up such a pace; so it probably sits comfortably at home in a chair. Your thought is not fatigued by this trip; it is under no strain, unless it has been thinking thoughts of fear, of hatred, of selfishness, of separation or grief.
I am sure you can see that your thought is much greater than the material body, for your thinking can include mountains, hemispheres, skyscrapers; in fact, everything that is cognizable; whereas the material body includes only its organs and whatever food you may put into it. As it is impossible for the greater to be in the lesser, or to be governed by the lesser, how could your thought or consciousness possibly be in your body? Why, of course it cannot, and it is pure delusion which would suggest or believe thought or consciousness to be in the body. All true thought or consciousness is a reflection of infinite Mind; it is not in a material body. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 208): "A material body only expresses a material and mortal mind. A mortal man possesses this body, and he makes it harmonious or discordant according to the images of thought impressed upon it. You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness." Those statements reverse what is generally believed about the material body, namely, that it possesses us, that it tells us whether we are sick or well, whether we are fit to walk, or talk, or attend a lecture, or to do anything. These material theories inform us that the material body embraces our thinking, our being, or ego; that it is in fact our ego, whereas it is clear that Mind, not the material body, supplies man with the thoughts and ideas that constitute his individuality or being.
Paul in writing to the Philippians said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." The divine Mind, or Spirit, is not expressed by forms of matter but by forms of Mind, which are spiritual ideas, so to be "in the form of God" must mean to be the idea of Mind, and this is what Christian Science declares man to be. The form or idea of Mind, God, is equal with Mind in the sense that it is exactly like Mind, or is the reflection of Mind. The reflection of God is, in its degree, as perfect, lovely, pure, intelligent, and free as the Mind it reflects.
Mind lives forever, so do you, its reflection, man. Mind cannot know, feel, or see lack, accidents, sorrow, or disease. Neither can you, the idea, or reflection of Mind. Mind expresses perfection, so do you, its reflection, man. It is not robbery but restoration to claim this equality or likeness to, this oneness with God.
You will be delivered from the "body of this death," from the belief that you are subject to discordant, painful, limiting conditions expressed by matter, when you understand and claim as yours the beauty, loveliness, harmony, strength, and intelligence of the ideas or forms of Mind which constitute man's being.
Obedience to the law of God is freedom, but without an understanding of this law, as expressed by man, and of its source, the divine Principle, we are unable to be obedient. The Psalmist prayed, "Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law." Understanding shall precede obedience; so, as Solomon advised, "With all thy getting get understanding".
When I was learning to drive an automobile, I had an experience which illustrated that understanding must precede obedience. My teacher told me to do a very simple thing, but I had a false mental concept of the mechanism of the car, and I could not understand how to do as he told me, so I could not obey him. The minute I understood, I obeyed. My desire to obey was not sufficient. It was necessary that I understand before obedience was possible. Until I did obey, however, I was not free to drive the car, and my position in the street prevented many other motorists from pursuing a free course. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, Pref., p. vii), "The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal." Christian Science unfolds to us that understanding of God and man which enables us to be obedient. It unfolds the fact that man, being the creation of God, Spirit, not the creation of matter, is obedient to God, and actually has no other Mind, no other Life, no other Principle, no other good than God.
Therefore, the "Thou shalt nots" of the commandments to mortals are seen to be the "Thou canst nots" for man in God's image. In other words, man as God's image cannot have any other than the one infinite God, or Mind; he cannot steal, murder, commit adultery, covet, because he is the likeness of divine Truth, Love, Principle; he cannot make a graven image of himself or another in matter by believing man to be corporeal, for he sees man as the spiritual idea of Spirit; he cannot dishonor his Father, Mother, God, by believing in a material creator and creation because he knows man to be the beloved child of the one Parent, divine Mind; he cannot make unholy the Sabbath rest of Mind's unlabored, harmonious action by believing in the restlessness of material action, for he expresses or reflects, through restful activity, all that God imparts. Christian Science goes even farther and lifts this negative right of the "Thou shalt nots" and the "Thou canst nots" into the positive truth that man's spiritual, perfect being, or nature, is the fulfillment of the commandments, and thus shows us that whatever does not fulfill these commandments is not man, but a limited, false material concept of man, which is in bondage to fear, matter, sin, disease, etc. Christian Science makes plain to us why God is a jealous God by revealing to us that omnipotent Spirit could not and would not share its good government of man with any belief of an evil power, or of a material creator, with the opposer of Life, called death, or with the opposite of Love, called hate. As you understand this fact you will obey it, and you will thereby be liberated from bondage to the illusion that power and reality belong to hatred, with its destructiveness; to malice, with its unhappiness; or to malignant disease, with its deadliness.
Recently I met a man who had been set free by Christian Science. For eight and a half years he had been in bondage to intense suffering and fear of death. He seemed to be afflicted with cancer. His profession brought him in contact with many people, and their well-meant sympathy and concern filled him with self-pity and hopelessness. Finally, two of his clients, who were not Christian Scientists, told him of this Science and recommended that he give it a trial. He attended a Wednesday evening testimony meeting and was much impressed with the healings which were related there. He then decided to go to a Christian Science practitioner. He was with the practitioner about a half hour and was given a Christian Science treatment. When he left the practitioner's office this malignant malady had disappeared. As no process of convalescence took place, may we not assume that the condition which seemed to enslave him was a mental state? It was a lie about God and man which had deceived and held him in bondage. When a lie is refuted and proved untrue, nothing actually happens to the lie, for it has never existed as a fact. Through beholding the Truth which has always existed, the mentality which is held in bondage by a belief in the lie is set free. That which is hateful, malicious, or malignant cannot be ascribed to God, who is Love; and the only way to be loyally obedient to divine Love is to deny power, presence, place, and substance to that which would oppose Love and fetter Love's creation, man. This man beheld himself as he was, the perfect creation of God, and his thought was thus changed from a state of fear and suffering, to the consciousness of man's harmonious, spiritual nature, as a present fact. The perfection of man's being as God's image appeared in his thought and experience. The physicians who had lovingly cared for him rejoiced with him in his freedom, and he later sent this testimony of healing to the Christian Science periodicals, which every week and every month publish authenticated testimonies of God's liberating and healing love, as proved by Christian Science.
The denial of the reality of evil, or error, of materiality, or matter, which Christian Science enjoins, is always in support and demonstration of the fact that God, good, alone is power and that He alone has the right and might to govern man and the universe. In working out a mathematical problem you are free to obtain the right result only as you understand and obey the rules of mathematics, and this may require denials and rejections of errors and mistakes in order to support the mathematical facts involved.
The denial of the reality of a material mentality and its expression, matter, is a scientific necessity in proving Christian Science and its revelation of the allness of Spirit. This denial of matter separates Christian Science from any other form of mental or religious healing and teaching. But, you may ask, how can we deny the reality and substantiality of matter, when we see with material eyes, and the beauty we see is material, for we would not be able to recognize our friends, relatives, our home, were these not outlined in and by matter? Christian Science does not require that you deny your sense of sight, of beauty, of harmony, of home, of friendship and relationship, but it does require that you deny the materiality of these things, and that you see them as perfect, spiritual, enduring — more beautiful, because not fettered by matter, age, and decay. The most important thing you know about a friend is his thoughts. These cannot be discerned in matter nor by the material eyes, but with the light of love, understanding, and intelligence.
The primal condition of sight is light, for without it the material eyes cannot see. This is true of spiritual sight also, which requires the light of intelligence and love. The amount of spiritual light or enlightenment which we claim and utilize in beholding man and the universe determines the keenness, accuracy, and scope of our vision. An artist must have the right light on his model to be able to see it correctly and form the right concept of it. That which enables us to see God, man, and the universe as they are is the light or intelligence of Truth, Mind, Life and Love. This light which gives us the true concept or true idea of all things is the Christ. John said of this light, or Christ, that it is "the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Then this light of Truth, or the Christ, which lighteth every man, did not belong to Jesus exclusively. Jesus walked in this light, and gave proof better than has any other human being, that the darkness of ignorance, fear, hatred, and death could not extinguish this light of Truth, the Christ.
The material senses have never cognized the light of intelligence, so they cannot perceive this Christ, Truth. They are the darkness, that comprehends not the light which reveals God's allness, presence, and power. If we look at man through the lens of the material senses we shall see him limited to a short span of years, in captivity to disease and death, groping in the darkness of fear, ignorance, imperfection. This material view of man, however, does not actually influence him, or change the fact that he is the son of God, any more than looking at a majestic mountain through the wrong end of a telescope can change its majesty and greatness. If one believes such a limited view of man or a mountain to be true, and adjusts his life and thinking to this false viewpoint, he is in bondage to it, and only the true viewpoint, the right lens, and the right use of this lens can show him things as they are. Christian Science serves as a lens through which we can see God, man, and the universe as they are, and thus be freed from the belittling, limiting lens of the material senses. Mrs. Eddy says, "The lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight; and we then see the allness of Spirit, therefore the nothingness of matter." (Message for 1901, p. 12.) "And how is man, seen through the lens of Spirit, enlarged, and how counterpoised his origin from dust, and how he presses to his original, never severed from Spirit!" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 129.)
It is the true idea of, or the fact about, an individual, a situation, or a condition that frees us from falsity of every sort. Christian Science brings us this true idea. Mrs. Eddy says "Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold" (Science and Health. p. 585). Let us use this lens of Christian Science for a moment to look on the things of the universe from the viewpoint of Spirit, God, who sees all things as they are, as He created them.
Perhaps you have been looking with the material senses at supply, and you have seen it as money which fluctuates, is elusive, delusive, limited, unjustly distributed, and you have seen it as having power to give or deprive you of happiness, education, enlightenment, home, and all the other good things. If this is the case, give Christian Science a trial, and behold with it the spiritual fact of supply. You will see that supply is Mind instead of matter, and that it is infinite in quantity, so that there is enough for all; that supply expresses the fact that God sustains and maintains man in harmony and happiness, and that He enlightens man with the true idea of all things. This fact of what the material senses have beheld as money, when understood, determines and governs the outward expression of supply. A person who has been limited by the material senses' view of money as supply will find through Christian Science that he is beholding supply as sufficient, unchanging, at hand, and within his own consciousness and experience.
If you have been made unhappy by seeing unjust distribution, or made envious by looking at your own lack and another's affluence, you will find this lack, unhappiness, envy, and belief in injustice, disappearing from your vision, your consciousness or experience, as you see that supply is from God, who is infinite, impartial Principle. You will then know that this view of supply is free to all who will look at it through the lens of Science. In fact, your view of this supply and your proof of it will enrich all others, as they, too, will behold that which is theirs; for this supply comes from the one source, their God, or Mind, and yours.
Wealth, or well-being, like health, belongs to every man, for this wealth and this health are spiritual states of Mind, not material conditions. We would never think that because one person is healthy he has taken health away from others and that he must therefore be penalized and made to give up some of his health in order to distribute it to those with less health. Rather do we rejoice in the health expressed by others, for we realize that they are expressing that which is normal to each individual.
Wealth is a state of well-being belonging to all, because God-bestowed. Such wealth cannot be obtained by dishonesty, greed, monopolies, or by accumulation, for these qualities cling to the limitation of matter, or the opposite of true wealth. True wealth, or well-being, which expresses good, health, joy, substance, intelligence, love, beauty, opportunity, is obtained by overcoming the false qualities of greed, dishonesty, miserliness. Wealth can only be measured in terms of that which it brings of good to the individual, and thereby to the community. If we seem to be suffering from poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of friends, lack of health, let us claim our God-bestowed wealth of love, joy, strength, harmony. These are the things money can never buy, but which the wealth of God's love brings to each one of us.
You will remember that the Psalmist was once very disturbed by what the lens of the material senses conveyed to him, and he wrote: "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. . . . They have more than heart could wish. , . . They increase in riches. . . . When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." Envy of the health, wealth, or happiness expressed by others never solves the problem for anyone, but going into the sanctuary, or the mental place where we can know God, man as His likeness, and the "spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold" enables us to see the end or nothingness of materiality in all its forms. This does not mean that you will be without money, but that you will have supply of every kind expressed in the way that will meet your human need. This supply, however, will be demonstration, evidence, or proof that wealth is a state of Mind, not of matter, and that it is not governed by fear, limitation, dishonesty, or greed. This true idea of wealth brings freedom from fear, lack, poverty. Mrs. Eddy says to "level wealth with honesty" (Science and Health, p. 239). When this is done, each individual will be expressing the wealth of well-being bestowed on him by God or good, for this is honestly his, and no one will be trying to deprive another in order to enrich himself, for no one can want to have more than the allness of God's love, presence, and power.
With Christian Science you can also discern the true idea of your position, namely, that man already has his position in Mind. Whenever we know the facts of any situation we must utilize them and act on the basis of their truth. Of course, if position is in Mind, it must be mental. Is it not in fact a mental attitude? For example, we all have a mental attitude or position with regard to government, supply, health, love, friendship. The mental attitude or position God bestows is one of love, intelligence, harmony, good. There is nothing changeable or transitory about this mental attitude or position, and man always has it with him. The very fact that you exist means that you have a position. Even physically, no one else can occupy the position you occupy. It will always be yours. Your position could no more be occupied by another than your individuality could be assumed by another.
Christian Science enables you to discern that you already have a position and that it is good. Utilize this fact. It is already true and you can prove its truth by mentally holding to it until the untrue beliefs with regard to a lack of position disappear. David said, "Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." The position provided for each one of us expresses the wealth of Love's ideas, and reveals to you that you, man, dwell in the beauty, bounty, light, purity, intelligence of God's presence. Man does not get out of or into a position, for the fact that he exists means that he has place or position. This position is free from friction, chance, politics, personal influence, or dissatisfaction. It is your holy place in Mind and it is forever established.
Through Christian Science health can be discerned as a spiritual fact, a reality. It is but natural that each one should desire health and even more natural that each one should have it. Health is a mental and spiritual state of harmony, not an evanescent physical state which comes and goes. Cling to the spiritual fact of health as you would cling to your innocence if you were being unjustly or dishonestly accused. The material senses are constantly accusing us of being sick, sinful, or dying, and the way to prove man's freedom from these accusations is to hold fast to that which we know to be true, to be a spiritual fact.
Health, when recognized as a spiritual fact, is seen to be as immune from discord and disease as truth is free from error. Health is a God-bestowed state of consciousness. It is maintained eternally by God and expressed eternally by man. Health is no more dependent on material food, environment, or exercise than is truth, for health is maintained by divine Principle. The medicine which maintains health in eternal harmony is the divine Mind — not mind over matter — but that infinite Mind which excludes the possibility of matter. Because health is a state of divine Mind it is a mental state of purity, joy, gratitude, love, intelligence, and good. This health is yours now, and Christian Science will enable you to discern the spiritual fact of health as a reality from which man can never be separated.
The wonderful way in which Love is able to reach and liberate us, no matter where we are, was experienced by a man who, at the beginning of the World War, was living in a country in which, due to the war, he was suddenly considered an enemy. With many other civilians he found himself imprisoned under most terrible conditions. However, just before the war, his daughter had returned to a city in his home country, where she had heard of Christian Science. She felt sure it would help to liberate both her father and her family; so she wrote them letters about it, quoting passages from the Christian Science textbook. As was usual during that period, all of her letters were censored, but part of a letter finally reached her father in his dungeon, and it contained the following sentences from what is known as "the scientific statement of bring" by Mary Baker Eddy: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. . . . Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468). He read and reread these statements. He did not know who had written them nor had he ever heard of Christian Science. But as he grasped their meaning he knew that he was free. He told me that whenever he was returned to the cell with the others after having been taken out for a few hours he would think as he heard the keys turn in each gate and door, "I am free, for God is free, and I am His image and likeness." I am sure you will not be surprised when I tell you that this man was soon set free from the prison cell in which the materialism of hatred and fear and the resultant effect, war, claimed to have imprisoned him. He returned to his own country, and there he heard for the first time of Christian Science and that it was a woman, Mary Baker Eddy, who had brought this freedom to him. He realized that the great love which prompted her to share her discovery with mankind had made it possible for this truth to reach him in a dungeon in a distant country and to liberate him mentally, spiritually, and finally physically. Love was indeed his liberator.
Mrs. Eddy not only discovered this Science, with its gospel of freedom, but she experienced in her own career this freedom. After discovering Christian Science she had to prove that true womanhood is free from the pettiness, the physical weakness, the lack of logic, and the lack of business ability, as well as other hampering limitations that, particularly at that time, beset womankind. This Mrs. Eddy did most wonderfully and exemplified in her life that true womanhood is as much the likeness of God as true manhood. She proved in her individual experience that womanhood is free to express strength, courage, infinite love, and wisdom. With Christian Science she discerned and with Christian Science she proved that which she wrote in a poem called "Woman's Rights," namely, that woman is free to "point to heaven and lead the way" (Poems, p. 21).
In no way has her proof of the nature of true womanhood detracted from true manhood; rather has it heightened, complemented, and completed the manhood of the Christ, as revealed and demonstrated by Jesus, and carried on in varying degrees by noble men and women since Jesus' time. Of course, true spiritual womanhood is the expression of God's motherhood, and this motherhood of God was part of the revelation of Christian Science.
Love was the motivating impulse of Mrs. Eddy's career. It enabled her not only to discern, prove, and patiently wait for others to prove Christian Science to be the liberator of mankind from all evil, but it also enabled her to found her discovery in such a way that it would be available to all mankind through the activities of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston.
While depending wholly on the love of God, our Father, which sustains, supplies, supports, and provides all good, Mrs. Eddy demonstrated the love of God, our Mother, which embraces all humanity in one family, and thus holds them together in the united activities of a church which is indeed a Mother Church. It was the demonstration of divine Love in her human experience as the Founder and Leader of Christian Science which made every step in the founding of this church a successful one. The world looks on and sees, what to its sense seems to be a splendid organization, a good business, remarkable, centralized form of government, but to Christian Scientists who use Christian Science to discern "the spiritual fact of whatever the material sense behold" these things are expressions of the government of divine Principle, of the unity of the ideas or children of God, of the leadership of divine Love, of the fruits of Spirit, as revealed by one who understood and practiced Christian Science and who has given to all mankind its gospel of freedom.