A. Hervey-Bathurst, C.S.B., of London, England
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in
Boston, Massachusetts
A. Hervey-Bathurst, C.S.B., of London, England, a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, delivered a lecture on Christian Science last evening under the auspices of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., in the church edifice, Falmouth, Norway and St. Paul streets.
The lecturer was introduced by Bliss Knapp, C.S.B., First Reader in The Mother Church, who said:
I once heard Admiral Peary tell of his trip to the North Pole; and, in introducing him to his audience, Gov. John D. Long weighed his title in the balance with his achievements and concluded by introducing him simply as "Peary, Discoverer of the North Pole."
The greatness of Mary Baker Eddy also is measured by her achievements. "The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science" is her greatest title. Nothing could have a larger meaning than the Christian and Scientific understanding of God and man. This understanding deals with infinity and must of itself be infinite.
Anyone can talk about this infinite subject, but if he is to express Christian Science, he must live it. He lives it through the "Word made flesh," through applying the divine power to healing the ills of the flesh. Then he can express what he understands of it. He can articulate the power of God's word in the new tongue.
The greatest title that can be given one who speaks on this subject is to be called a Christian Scientist. We have with us this evening a Christian Scientist from London, England, who has learned the new tongue by which he can speak to you on this infinite subject. He is a member of the Board of Lectureship of this Church, and it gives me great pleasure to present to this audience, Mr. A. Hervey-Bathurst, C.S.B., who will now address you.
The lecturer spoke as follows:
"Eternal Truth is changing the universe," as Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, states in the opening sentence of Chapter IX of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' the Christian Science textbook. There are few things more interesting than to look out over the world — to take that worldwide view which Christian Science gives us — and notice the general reaching out for something new, for improved conditions. In some instances the pendulum has certainly swung too far in the wrong direction, and one might well ask, as do so many: What does it all mean, and where will it all end? Christian Science, or the science or knowledge of the Christ, Truth, alone gives a complete and satisfactory answer, for it reveals and explains that "eternal Truth," through the recognition and demonstration of which the universe is indeed being changed.
Let me state at the outset that, as its name indicates, Christian Science is pre-eminently Christian and scientific, and it is most interesting to note that the best informed thinkers and students of today are admitting that, after all, Christianity must be scientific, and that science and Christianity are not words quite incompatible, as so many have been in the habit of affirming.
That which is scientific must be capable of proof or demonstration, and I feel confident that, in the hour at our disposal, we shall see how we can each commence, without further delay, to avail ourselves of the peace, the health, the freedom, joy, and satisfaction which await every honest student of this great subject; how we can demonstrate the truth regarding man, and, therefore, regarding ourselves.
While referring to the freedom and satisfaction which Christian Science gives, I do not mean to imply that these blessings are confined solely to the individual. It is true that the demonstration or proof of the truth revealed by Christian Science begins with the individual; but, "whatever blesses one blesses all" (Science and Health, p. 206), so that, because within the reach of all, Christian Science is world-wide, universal, in its scope and influence.
Every individual, every nation today is looking for the solution of some problem or other; is looking for salvation from what appears to be the presence, activity, or power of evil. "Salvation" comes from the Latin word meaning "to save" or "preserve from evil." The very earliest records of the history of man show that protection or safety from evil or "salvation" has been sought by appealing to some invisible deity, some invisible power about which little has generally been known. Sacrifices, human and others, were offered with a view to insuring the protection of that power or deity. Idols also were made to represent some god, and they were worshiped with the result that is well known to all students of the Bible. An idol is a false god — an attempt to create a material image or likeness of Spirit, which is impossible. "No man hath seen God at any time." God, Spirit, good, cannot be defined by the physical or material senses. Therefore, all who resort to material methods may be called idolaters or worshippers of false gods. A material image is but the mental concept externalized. An image or idol must be conceived mentally before it can be made of wood, stone, or metal. You can do nothing without first thinking it. You will agree that the stone, wooden, or metal idols of our ancestors indicated a most erroneous concept of God.
Today none of us would agree with a proposal that we should worship or offer prayers to that which could be represented by any material image or idol; but since an idol is the expression of thought, must we not be careful what thoughts we accept, what concepts we form of the Deity or God? — be careful that we do not worship mental instead of material idols? There is no difference at all between believing in or worshiping a false, wrong mental concept of God, and worshiping a material image, for both are emanations of the mortal or carnal mind, or the belief in a mind opposed to God.
Christian Science gives assurance of salvation from any and all erroneous concepts of God, man, and the universe. In other words, Christian Science has given us again the true idea of God, has revealed God again, the same God of whom Jesus spake when he said: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit" (or God is Spirit). What, then, is our concept of God, of this "Spirit," of this "Truth?"
I was once talking to a good woman who had been an earnest student of the Scriptures for a great many years, — she had a pile of five Bibles on her table and she would insist upon the fact that God, or good, knew and consequently included evil, permitting it when He considered it necessary — and this in spite of the Scriptural statement: "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" Impossible!
Christian Science teaches that "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love" (Science and Health, p. 465). As we recognize that God is only expressed in goodness, health, harmony, we witness the healing of any and all erroneous conditions or beliefs. A man or woman is the expression of what he or she believes or perhaps knows. A man or woman who understands and accepts the reality of love, honesty, true sympathy, and human affection, expresses these qualities. The reverse is equally true, and he or she who, through Christian Science, has a scientific understanding of the nature of God, can heal the sick and reform the sinner.
Thinking, it will be admitted, is of primary importance. We cannot undertake to do a thing without first thinking it, whether it is a trivial action or an important undertaking. Since all action or anything we undertake, do, or say, is the outcome of thought, it can readily be seen how important it is to watch carefully what we think — what thought we accept as real or true.
What thinks? Does matter or any part of the physical body think? Emphatically no! Can intelligence be in matter? If intelligence is in the physical body, where is it exactly? For some time it has been believed that what is termed the brain or gray matter is intelligent or that part of the body where thinking commences. It is said that there are people today who are beginning to believe that the brain is not to be regarded as the seat of intelligence, but that this seat is in quite another part of the body.
Intelligent matter is unthinkable. Intelligence cannot be considered apart from Mind. No part of the material body thinks, because Mind or intelligence cannot be in matter. Christian Science teaches that Mind is God, and, as the Bible declares, that man is the image and likeness or expression of God, good. Therefore man is the reflection or expression of God, or divine Mind. Consequently the real man cannot have or express thoughts which are unlike God.
At this point one might ask: What, then, is man, if his body does not think and has therefore no intelligence, and so does not represent man? As a matter of fact, the material body in a large measure manifests what a man thinks or believes.
To illustrate what I mean: It is well known that if a man or woman continually gives way to a bad temper, to anger, it produces a bad physical effect. Now, it is generally agreed that anger, fear, and so forth, are mental, or conditions of mind. Christian Science goes further than that and proves that all discordant conditions, all disease, are purely mental. In other words, Christian Science teaches that a man expresses just what he believes in, just what he accepts as true. By true, I mean, as emanating from or created by the one and only cause or creator, God.
How important, then, that we should watch our thinking most carefully!
Here let me state that the thinking I refer to is not merely intellectual. It is the thinking or knowing which is the result of letting that "mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." That Mind does not know or include evil. It is wholly good. As a matter of fact you can never know error or evil: you can only believe in it, and thus it is only a false belief, without any truth in it, therefore untrue, useless, powerless.
Mankind, individually and collectively, can only find salvation from the thralldom of error, or evil, as they learn the truth about God and the truth about God's expression, man: that is, as they are able to "awake to righteousness, and sin not" — awake to right thinking, and cease believing in evil.
What, then, is the remedy for the difficulties with which mankind is struggling today? The remedy is to put into practice the teaching of Christ Jesus; to make Christianity practical, or, rather, to recognize and demonstrate its practical nature which Christian Science has revealed. In other words, to understand and worship God "in spirit and in truth."
Have you ever pictured to yourself what the world would be like if the two great commandments referred to by Jesus were being really obeyed: "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength"; and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"? If we are willing to have but one infinite God, and that one good, we cannot admit any but His power, and that is surely good, and manifested only in what is good, constructive, harmonious. Thus we recognize God's government, and fear or believe less in the reality or power of evil, until we arrive at that point of understanding where evil ceases to operate or to be able to produce any effect, even in belief or as a false belief. There is no place outside of infinity.
In Christian Science alone will be found the solution of the social troubles to which I have referred. It might be said that Christ Jesus was a true socialist, although not a teacher of what is often advocated as Socialism today. So also Christian Science, revealing again the practical nature of primitive Christianity, teaches true Socialism. A definition of Socialism given in the Oxford Dictionary is: "The principle that individual freedom should be completely subordinated to the interests of the community." This surely implies that one's neighbors' interests should be one's own interests. In a world where "self" and "personal interests" — sometimes even at the expense of one's neighbor — loom so largely in business, politics, and the majority of human activities, such a doctrine seems hard to practice. But, as Christian Science becomes more widely and better understood, true Socialism will become established, for it will be seen that a man cannot lose, but must gain immeasurably by doing unto others as he would have them do unto him. Socialism will then have been proved to be constructive, and will bring peace and satisfaction. It will prove that man need not fear, be jealous or suspicious of his neighbor, of his success or prosperity. On the contrary, he can rejoice in it.
What is the cry of a section of the people today? "Equality, for one man is as good as another." A declaration metaphysically correct; but the methods advocated to bring about this "equality" are so frequently entirely destructive. Christian Science teaches that man is the image and likeness of God — as set forth in the Bible — and that, therefore, man expresses only what is like God. God, Christian Science teaches, is Mind, and man lives, moves, and has being in that divine Mind. Mind obviously consists of ideas, and an idea cannot differ from the Mind of which it is the expression. In the one infinite, divine Mind also there is no conflict, for each of the infinite ideas of which Mind consists, reflects that Mind in quality but not in quantity. Thus Christian Science teaches that man is not God, but is the image or reflection of God, or "the expression of God's being" (Science and Health, p. 470). Consequently, as divine Mind or God is understood, and as the fact is understood that the real man is idea — is spiritual or like God — then it will be seen how impossible it is for man to be anything but Godlike.
Under such circumstances can one man be in a privileged position? Can one man have greater advantages than another? Suppose one man has more money, more of this world's goods than his neighbor. Is he necessarily a better, a happier man? Thousands today are proving, through Christian Science, that true happiness is not found in matter — in material possessions; but it is found in a better, scientific understanding of God and His government.
Are we not all God's children? The prophet Malachi wrote: "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" Is not Malachi here referring to what is generally described as a Utopian condition, that is, the day when the Universal brotherhood of man will be a recognized fact? Christian Science teaches that it is now a divine fact, and needs only to be recognized.
The day when this recognition will be general is approaching, and those who can read the signs of the times, discern in the present world-situation the fulfillment of that wonderful prophecy in Ezekiel: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is."
The understanding that the universal brotherhood of man is a divine fact will do away with one of the greatest difficulties with which some countries are faced today, namely, "unemployment." Can an idea of God, divine Mind, ever be inoperative, inactive? Can man, the idea or expression of divine Mind, be or manifest what is wholly foreign to that Mind? Man is ever the expression of God, the ever-active good; but this divine fact can never be discerned through the physical senses. It can only be spiritually discerned, and as it is discerned spiritually, it is demonstrated or proved to be true. That is to say, the man (or woman) who today believes he cannot find work or is one of the "unemployed," and will carefully consider and endeavor to understand what Christian Science teaches about God and man, will be able to prove the truth that will free him from the bondage of the false belief that he is controlled by or is subject to evil or discord. He will find that his rightful activity or occupation is there at hand for him. For him the claim or belief of unemployment will have been healed.
The overturning referred to by the prophet is now in progress. During the process certain systems are trying to win the day — trying to control by sheer will-power and by force. Within the last few years thousands have been murdered because of their unwillingness to bow to autocracy under a new guise. Can progress and enlightenment be brought about directly by force, fear, compulsion? Can methods of destruction be the seed of progress, of constructive statecraft? As Love begets love; so terror begets terror. The doom of evil and its methods is approaching, and instead of chaos will appear peace. The final efforts of gross materiality or materialism assume new and fearful proportions as the death-knell of the anti-Christ is sounded, and it becomes more and more clear that he shall "come whose right it is."
In order to be able to practice or demonstrate the truth revealed by Christian Science, and so prove or awaken to our true heritage, an effort, a persistent effort, is necessary. Any one desirous of studying mathematics would not grudge the effort demanded, but would obtain the best available textbook and study seriously, willingly, and without questioning the rules set forth. Exactly the same applies to the study of Christian Science. But the study of mathematics requires a mental or intellectual effort. It is an intellectual process. Jesus said, referring to the requirements necessary to enable one to accept Christianity or Christian Science: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
As Christians, we acknowledge Jesus as the Wayshower. If, however, we take note of the vast variety of interpretations placed upon his teachings by the many different sects and churches, all claiming to be his followers, we find that few of them are in complete accord, and still fewer maintain the all-important part of his teaching, namely, the healing of the sick as well as the reformation of the sinner.
Christian Science teaches that the healing of sickness and the destruction of sin are both brought about in the same way, and are as necessarily proof of the understanding of the teaching of the Master today as they were admitted to be during the early part of the first century A.D., at the dawn of the Christian era. "Whether is easier," the Master said, "to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?"
The Christian Science movement is what it is today because Christian Science heals and heals permanently, and because it also destroys the desire or ability to sin.
How does Christian Science heal, or in other words, What is a Christian Science treatment? Christian Science treatment is the realization of the truth regarding the erroneous situation that may be presenting itself. You will recall that wonderful prayer of Jesus on the occasion of the raising of Lazarus: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." Christian Science treatment is not the projection of a thought or suggestion from one person to another. Suppose your eyes or ears tell you something that you know is not true. That frequently occurs. Yon refuse to accept that thought or suggestion because you know the truth about it. Again, suppose someone comes in and makes a statement which he believes to be true, but which is false. That also frequently happens. If you know the truth regarding that statement, you refuse to accept or believe it. You refute it because you know the truth about it.
In the first instance, you refuse to allow your physical senses to deceive you; and in the second instance, you refuse to be deceived by what someone tells you. You refuse to accept his belief about it. In other words, you heal him of his false belief, by reason of the fact that you know the truth and are able to reveal it to him.
A Christian Scientist knows the truth, in some measure at least, regarding man in his relation to God; knows that man is spiritual, like God, and that God did not create sickness or discord, and that, therefore, man cannot and in reality does not suffer. Someone comes to that Christian Scientist and asks for Christian Science treatment, he begins to pour out his woes — those untrue statements regarding man, regarding himself. The Christian Scientist knows the truth about man; knows that what is being said has no truth in it, and, therefore, cannot and does not affect man. The lies or untruthful statements have no foundation. They are refuted. The patient, is willing to know and accept the truth; he wants to be healed, and so is receptive and is surely healed.
Jesus knew, declared, and demonstrated the positive, the true, when he healed. He said to the woman who touched him in the crowd. "Thy faith hath made thee whole." To the blind men also who followed him, he said: "According to your faith be it unto yon." Did not Jesus mean by this: according as their desire was honest they would be healed or their sins would be forgiven them? A merely blind faith would not take us far. But that faith which may be said to be synonymous with an honest desire for Truth is prayer which is surely answered.
Would Jesus have healed the sick, reformed the sinner, or raised the dead if sickness, sin, or death were of God, or part of God's creation? That is, if God knew or permitted them, they would be of God or they would be good and real. The Master not only healed the sick, and did so many other works, but said to his disciples: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. . . . And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." These instructions are clear and concise, and Christian Science shows that they can and, indeed, must be understood and practiced by all real Christians today.
The healing of sickness, which was synonymous with Christianity nineteen hundred years ago, is today the keystone of Christian Science. The Christian Science Church, we read in Science and Health, page 35, "is built on the divine Principle, Love." Mrs. Eddy further states that "we can unite with this church only as we are new-born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love, — casting out error and healing the sick."
The healing of disease, as well as of all discordant labor, business, or political conditions, is, then, brought about through spiritual understanding or the knowledge of the truth — the truth about God or good — His omnipresence and omnipotence. The recognition of the presence of God must certainly remove or destroy all belief in error or evil. So, through the recognition of God's power, presence, and government, the healing, that essential part of Christianity, is again being practiced with signs following. Did not James write: "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him"?
It is being recognized by not a few churches, in both hemispheres, that the healing upon which the Christian Science Church, or the Church of Christ, Scientist, is based, must be practiced by all Christians, and Christian Scientists rejoice in this significant fact, which is the commencement of the fulfillment of the statement made by Mrs. Eddy to the effect that the example of Christian Scientists should be such that in the twentieth century the Christian churches will understand the truth revealed by Christian Science sufficiently to be able to heal the sick in the name of Christ. (See Pulpit and Press, p. 22.)
"Why," it is sometimes asked, "was Christian Science discovered by a woman?" The answer is surely obvious — because Mrs. Eddy was more spiritually minded than anyone else on earth. It is said sometimes, "Why did not someone else, some man, discover Christian Science?" One might as well ask: "Why did not someone other than Newton learn the lesson from the falling apple? Why did not some other discoverer recognize electricity?" Many apples had fallen before Newton was ready to learn the lesson he reaped from observing that specific apple rush to the earth. Electricity, or the force called electricity, had always been there. Electricity could not be utilized, and the lesson from the falling apple could not be learned until someone was in a position to recognize the one and perceive the wonderful lesson to be reaped from the other.
The truth which Mrs. Eddy discovered in 1866 had always existed, and had been here always. Any man or woman could have made the same discovery, had he or she been sufficiently spiritually minded. Is not the highest peak in the mountain range the first to catch the glorious rays of the rising sun? Mary Baker Eddy made the discovery because she was more ready than anyone else to listen for and hear the voice of God, the God whom she had learned to know and to love through the Bible from her childhood.
Not only is Mrs. Eddy the Discoverer; she is also the Founder of Christian Science or the Christian Science movement. Mrs. Eddy established The Mother Church, and, through spiritual discernment, instituted the form of government — a wonderful illustration of true church government — through obedience to which the movement has thrived and prospered. The rules which constitute this form of government are all set forth in the Church Manual. Christian Scientists recognize not only the duty but the privilege which is theirs, to obey the rules thus set forth, rules which have been proved and are still being proved to be adequate to meet any and every contingency that may arise.
What does Christian Science mean by "Church?" Mrs. Eddy gives us a wonderful definition on page 583 of Science and Health: "Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick." Christian Scientists attach little importance to the material structure; but they certainly do their best to make their church buildings attractive, pleasant, harmonious, and inviting to the visitor who comes to hear the healing message which Christian Science has to offer. To a Christian Scientist "Church" is not merely a material building: it is "the structure of Truth and Love" — a structure which can only be discerned mentally or spiritually. That concept or understanding of Church is demonstrated by its fruits, "casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."
With this new spiritual concept of Church, the expression "going to church" has an entirely new meaning. Actually, a Christian Scientist, while attending the church services regularly, does not "go to church." He has the true concept of Church with him always, to the extent that he is careful as to what he believes or accepts as true and is striving to realize and demonstrate the omnipresence of God. A genuine Christian Scientist is, therefore, always "in Church."
Is it surprising that Christian Scientists are grateful and feel compelled to express their gratitude to the one who has shown them the way out of darkness into light; out of sickness into health; who has given them a God who is good, ever-present, sustaining and protecting His children? The discovery cannot be separated from the Discoverer, and, in spite of subtle suggestions that it is not necessary that Mrs. Eddy's place in history as the Leader of the Christian Science movement should be affirmed and made clear to the world, loyal students are so grateful for the indescribable benefits they have received through Christian Science, but they cannot be prevented from expressing, in a fit and proper manner, the gratitude they feel to her through whom Christianity has again been revealed in its purity and simplicity.
There is, perhaps, no more impressive feature of Christian Science than its vastness. Christian Science is all-inclusive. It is not a religion that engages the attention of its adherents mainly on Sundays. Christian Science is universal, revealing the truth about all things at all times and under all circumstances. The best illustration of the universal scope of Christian Science is found in the fact that the movement publishes, in addition to what might be termed the more strictly religious literature, a great international daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor. The mission of that paper Mrs. Eddy defined in these words: "The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind" (Miscellany, p. 353). Its purpose is to declare and expose the truth regarding everything — politics, commerce, finance, art, sport, literature, in short, all in which mankind is interested. In other words, the purpose of The Christian Science Monitor is to light up the dark places, to present to mankind what is genuine, true, attractive, constructive, educational, inspiring. That is Christian Science.
Thousands upon thousands of people are today expressing their gratitude for Christian Science, if only because it has given them a clean daily newspaper which every member of the family can read with advantage. Christian Scientists recognize the privilege they have in being able to subscribe for and read their daily newspaper, as well as the duty which is theirs to support and circulate it, in order that mankind may share in the blessings which they themselves are deriving from it, as well as from the other literature.
Strange as it may sound to some of you, in this enlightened age there are people who still declare that Christian Science is what they define as "will-power" or "just mind over matter." Now, will-power, so-called, is near akin to mesmerism, or the exercise of some hypnotic influence which, together with any and every similar system, is the very opposite of Christian Science. The belief in one mind controlling another is entirely foreign to Christian Science. It is just the belief in minds many that has brought so much trouble and disaster to mankind. In the words of Moses: "The Lord our God is one Lord." There is one infinite divine Mind or God, of which man is the expression. The knowledge and demonstration of this divine fact through Christian Science heals both sin and sickness — sets the captive free. This is the very opposite of the exercise of any mental control. Between any system of mental manipulation or control and Christian Science, there is a great gulf fixed.
It is written in the sixteenth chapter of John that not long before Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Master said that when the "Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: . . . and he will shew you things to come." Christian Science is that Spirit of truth. When Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science, it was the recognition or knowledge of the Christ, Truth, that came to her, the same truth that Jesus revealed and practiced.
This appearing or coming of the Christ must be and is experienced by every one of us as we are willing to accept the all-power of good — the omnipresence of God. Did not Jesus say: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away"? The words of the Master stand, as they will ever stand, in fulfillment of prophecy, and Christian Science has shown us once more, not only that his teaching is practical, but how to practice or demonstrate it.
Christian Science teaches us how to heal the sick, or how to get rid of sick beliefs — whether they are what we might call our own, or the sick beliefs of someone else. Christian Science explains how the whole of the teaching of the Master is demonstrable in every detail to all who are willing really to be his followers. You will agree that with the belief of sickness is associated the belief of death, in a greater or leaser degree. It, therefore, follows logically that when a belief of sickness is healed or prevented from developing, to that extent has the fear of or belief in death been removed or healed.
Christian Science teaches that the healing of sickness is brought about through the knowledge of God — of the truth about God. Christian Science is logical, and since, as Christian Science teaches and the Bible declares, God is Life, then a correct knowledge of God must bring with it, or include the demonstration of eternal life. And does not this mean the destruction or overcoming of the belief in the very opposite of Life, God? Paul declared plainly that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Once again, is that, which God never created — which God or Life does not include — can that be true? If not true, then the belief in it is a false belief, without any truth in it. Did not Jesus say, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent"? That is: a correct understanding of God and of Christ Jesus, or through Christ Jesus, the Wayshower, is life eternal and destroys not only the fear of or the belief in death, but does away with death itself. As all students of Christian Science realize, it is only the belief in evil, sin, disease, or death that ever needs to be destroyed.
Christ Jesus came to be about his Father's business, to do God's will, to reveal the presence, activity, and power of God's law. In so doing, he proved that sickness, sin and death are not true — are not of God. Christian Science, or the knowledge of that Christ, Truth, revealed by Jesus, is doing the same.
Do you know a single normal man or woman who wants to be sick or die? Would not everybody be only too glad if he could, once and for all, be free from all fear, worry, sickness, and if he could be sure that he did not have to die? The habit of believing that everybody must die is a habit that must be broken. It is being broken.
You have only to read the
testimonies published in the Christian Science Sentinel, and
The Christian Science Journal, or hear those given at the Wednesday evening meetings, to learn of cases said to be incurable from the standpoint of materia medica, being healed by Christian Science treatment. The prophecies must be fulfilled. The enemy "death" must be eventually, and is being, overcome. Is it not strange that some people should still resent hearing what is, after all, what Jesus taught and demonstrated? Yet Christians profess to follow him. Let us, from this moment, be willing at least to let go those false beliefs, those relics of erroneous teaching which would bolster up sin and sickness as real and probably inevitable. Let us be glad and grateful for the recognition of God's love, of His omnipresence — the omnipresence of Life, which has come to the world through Christian Science. You may say it is a bold statement to make, but I will repeat. Man has not got to die. We have — or should have — as children of God, the right, the understanding, and sufficient love to be able to say with conviction, with healing: "O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?"
Mankind has surely waited long enough, struggled long enough, with the burdens of sin, sickness, and death, and Christian Science reveals to us the way out of darkness, shows us how we can, without delay, get rid of our sorrow, our sickness, and all our fear.
While Christian Science was discovered by Mrs. Eddy in 1886, and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Christian Science textbook, was published in 1875, and a charter for The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was obtained in June, 1879, Christian Science is nothing new. Rather is it the rediscovery of pure Christianity which Mrs. Eddy has given back to mankind in so clear, simple, and scientific a manner that, all are enabled to practice it, and again to see the "signs" which Jesus said "shall follow them that believe."
Christian Science is today widely recognized as a great remedial agent, and the world is beginning to see that Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, stands foremost in the front rank of the great men and women since Jesus taught and practiced in Palestine. Today, multitudes who have been healed through Christian Science treatment, rise up and call her blessed, for, as Mrs. Eddy wrote in 1896: "It goes without saying, preeminent over ignorance or envy, that Christian Science is founded by its discoverer, and built upon the rock of Christ. The elements of earth beat in vain against the immortal parapets of this Science. Erect and eternal, it will go on with the ages, go down the dim posterns of time unharmed, and on every battle-field rise higher in the estimation of thinkers and in the hearts of Christians" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 383).