Judge Frederick C. Hill, C.S.B., of Los Angeles,
California
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
A lecture on Christian Science was given under the auspices of Sixteenth Church of Christ, Scientist, of Chicago, in the church edifice, 7201 North Ashland Boulevard, Thursday evening, January 25, by Judge Frederick C. Hill, C.S.B., of Los Angeles, California, member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.
The lecturer was introduced by Mrs. Erma E. White as follows:
Friends, the members of Sixteenth Church cordially welcome you this evening and are happy to share with you the inspiration and healing of a lecture on Christian Science.
When our great Master, Jesus the Christ, was comforting his disciples before leaving them he said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. . . . I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . . He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 14 and 16.) And our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us that our church was "designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." (Historical Sketch, Church Manual.)
That Jesus' prayer has been realized in the revelation of Christian Science has been demonstrated for me. When I turned to Christian Science more than thirty years ago I was an agnostic; I had never experienced a naturally free faculty of speech, and I had suffered from catarrhal deafness for many years. Truly, this Spirit of truth, the promised Comforter, this Advocate — for the word "Comforter" means also "Advocate" — through Christian Science pleaded and defended my cause as the child of God, and I was healed. Then infoldment began to give place to unfoldment, reaction to reflection, a finite sense of corporeal being to at-one-ment with infinite Being, a temporary sense of existence to appreciation of immortality. Demonstration had replaced confutation; and, in the words of our Leader, "Being was beautiful, its substance, cause, and currents were God and His idea." (Ret & Int.)
Christian Science reveals the remedy for every human need; and Christian Scientists, emulating the example of the Way-shower as given in Hebrews, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience," — attentive listening — "by the things which he suffered," join in the testimony of the poet's words:
"I've found a branch of healing
Near every bitter spring,
A whispered promise stealing
O'er every broken string."
Let us this evening give attentive listening. It is a joyous privilege to introduce to you Judge Frederick C. Hill, of Los Angeles, California, a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, who will speak to us on the subject, "Christian Science: The Law of God Demonstrating Substance and Supply."
Judge Hill spoke substantially as follows:
The history of the human race is an unfolding record of mankind's endeavor to grasp the meaning of substance and supply and thereby acquire a sufficient amount of something to meet his needs and demands. The results of this endeavor have been the establishment of laws regulating the acquiring of property; the ownership and the possession thereof; and the universal belief that substance is a material thing needing an owner. The supply is regarded as limited. Some have abundance; and some have nothing. Between these extremes is a vast throng ceaselessly engaged in laborious effort to get something and to hold it in possession, upon the assumption that "life, substance, and intelligence" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 43) reside in matter.
Religion has been an important factor in the affairs of mankind, and from canonical writings the fact is disclosed that substance and supply are to be found in the mental realm, and not in the material world. The Bible's injunction is, "Get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding," "Honour the Lord with thy substance," and in so doing there is sure reward. "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
No doubt the masses were just as confused then as they are now. Instead of knowing and understanding what substance is, mankind has believed and accepted something, — that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter, — and this believing has separated him from God; hence, the need for salvation, the need for a redeemer.
The greatest event in human history occurred nineteen centuries ago, when a child was born in Bethlehem of Judea. About thirty years later, that child, now grown to manhood, appeared as a prophet, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, and laying the basis for the redemption of mankind. As a result, the Christian religion has come down to us to use in the life which we "live in the flesh." The Christ, Truth, is destroying that ancient belief of a big God up in the skies and a little man down on the earth, and is establishing man's at-one-ment with God.
About the middle of the nineteenth century, Mary Baker Eddy, through her clear, spiritual, insight caught the import of Christ Jesus' profound saying, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," and through proof and demonstration there came to her the revelation, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (Science and Health, p. 468). Her revelation constitutes a challenge to the idea of the big God and the little man. It brought about a religious revolution throughout the world, and it furnishes a working basis for the establishment of understanding in place of belief.
Christian Science, as given to humanity, is defined by Mrs. Eddy as, "The law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1). Christian Science thus understood becomes the redeemer of human consciousness and the salvation of mankind.
Because of her love for humanity Mrs. Eddy saw the necessity for a system whereby salvation could be definitely understood and applied. Hence, her gift to humanity of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"; the establishment of her church organization; and the publication of the Christian Science periodicals including The Christian Science Monitor, devoted to the best interests of humanity.
In the Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, Article XIV, Section 1, is this unique provision, which definitely distinguishes this Church from all others: "I, Mary Baker Eddy, ordain the Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Pastor over The Mother Church, — The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., — and they will continue to preach for this Church and the world." At every Sunday service throughout the world the First Reader of branch churches and societies announces, "Friends: The Bible and the Christian Science textbook are our only preachers."
The word "pastor" is defined by Webster as: "A spiritual overseer." Hence, by ordaining the Bible and Science and Health as the Pastor over the Christian Science church, Mrs. Eddy established her church and its activities on a spiritual basis, as definitely distinguished from material forms and ceremonies.
In her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says (p. 268): "In the material world, thought has brought to light with great rapidity many useful wonders. With like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual cause of those lower things which give impulse to inquiry."
The objection is sometimes raised that Christian Science is difficult and hard to understand. You are not asked to believe anything that you do not understand. You are asked to accept the fact that, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation." The knowing of that divine fact destroys belief and places you well on the way toward its demonstration.
For many centuries the earth was believed to be a flat surface. The material senses confirmed that belief. It was almost universally accepted. How many thinking individuals now accept that belief? Demonstration has presented the proof of its falsity, and the belief has almost disappeared. No one ever knew that the earth was flat. No one can ever know that which is untrue. Hence, in Mrs. Eddy's revelation of the allness of Mind and its manifestation we have the basis of perfect God and perfect man from which to demonstrate the all-inclusiveness of that which is good and the nothingness of everything that is unlike and opposed to good.
The divine fact is: that which is good is real; and that which is not good is unreal. Then in this life which we "live in the flesh," we are continually making decisions; striving to separate the good from the evil; holding to the good and casting out evil. This is a perpetual unfoldment. Is it difficult? It is natural and normal. It is Christian Science — "the law of God, the law of good," operating in your human experience. As the law of God operates in human consciousness, the nature and character of God unfolds. This unfoldment is going on and will continue to redeem human consciousness. "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded" (Science and Health, p. 584).
As human consciousness is redeemed, clearer and more correct views of God are obtained. It follows as a necessary result that the right understanding of man is gained through the knowledge of God.
Mrs. Eddy makes it very plain that God is Mind, Soul, Spirit, substance, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. There is nothing difficult about this to understand. God is Mind — not God with a mind. God is Spirit — not God with a spirit. God is Life — not God with a life. A religious revolution was impending the moment Mrs. Eddy gave to the world the revelation that God is Mind. God has never changed, but man's belief about Him has been undergoing continual changes until at this moment your understanding of God, to some extent, has set aside some false belief about Him.
There is nothing wrong with man; and there is nothing wrong with the life of man. That which causes all the trouble is our belief about man, and this is due to a false claim of a mind opposed to the one and only Mind. This so-called mind is termed mortal mind. It is the sum total of all evil.
In the Christian Science textbook,
pages 115-116 are four paragraphs embracing an outline on a very important
subject entitled, "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind." Read and
study that outline, and let it unfold in your consciousness: it will do you
good. As you read and study it you will see that in this translation of mortal
mind there are three stages or steps called "degrees."
The "First Degree" is named, "Depravity." Now this degree expresses the animal nature and character of the person. It is represented by evil beliefs, passions, and appetites — envy, malice, hatred, deceit, fear, sin, sickness, and death. That person has a well-defined sense of self-will, self-importance, and self-justification. He lacks a proper understanding of human sympathy, loving-kindness, and compassion. In his business engagements he is deceitful and dishonest. This erroneous thinking is very definitely expressed as sin and its effects; as sickness and disease; and if that person continues in this degree of depravity without reformation or transformation, the result is death and decay. So much for the first degree of "Depravity."
It matters not how low that person may sink into the depths of depravity, he always has the power and the capacity to govern and control his thinking.
Now let us assume that in the very lowest depths of depravity there is one right desire born in his consciousness. That right desire is to be above depravity and to express something higher and better. The very moment that right desire is born within the individual consciousness it begins to unfold and to develop; and this unfoldment is plainly evident. His nature and character changes, passions and appetites abate — envy, malice, hatred, revenge, and fear begin to disappear. He no longer expresses self-will, self-importance, and self-justification. He has a better sense of human compassion, loving-kindness, and he expresses it toward those around him. He is no longer deceitful and dishonest in his business, but is open, free, and frank in his dealings. This line of improved thinking is plainly manifest; as you look at him, you observe that sin and its effects are no longer manifest on his body. Sickness and disease have vanished; he has been healed. He has the same body, but it is in a better condition, expressing his improved beliefs. Hence, this person has now arrived at the "Second Degree: Evil beliefs disappearing." He is now in that transitional stage expressing the good or moral person. But his transformation is not complete.
You are conscious of the effects produced: you observe the change in his nature and character and the healing effects on his body. Now he is also conscious of these changes. It has challenged his attention, and he asks himself the question, "What is the cause?" He is accustomed to material thinking, and he firmly believes the cause to be in or of his body. He may make a careful and searching examination of his body. He finds no cause in or of the body. This failure to find the cause of his transformation is quite perplexing until he remembers that his transformation began with the birth of that right desire to be above depravity. He recognizes that this was a condition of "mind." He does not fully understand it, but he has made an important discovery, that cause is in Mind and never in matter. Now he begins to perceive and understand. Up to this time he has merely believed; but as perception and understanding come into his consciousness, belief goes out. He now begins to understand that this human body is not what he thought it was; that right where he is, is a man that he has never known nor perceived before. Just as perception and understanding unfold he sees that cause is Mind.
In due time he asks the question, "Have I a separate and distinct mind of my own?" "Is the cause of my transformation in that mind?" or, "Am I reflecting the nature and character of one infinite and divine Mind?" As understanding further unfolds he answers his own question: "The cause of my transformation is not in my mind. I do not have a separate and distinct mind of my own, for I reflect the nature of one infinite divine Mind." He has discovered God. He has been searching for Him all the time. He now perceives that God, Mind, is expressed as "idea"; that man is mental — spiritual in his nature and character. He no longer believes that creation is the gathering together of great masses of matter, as worlds, universe, sun, moon, and heavenly bodies. He now understands that creation is the unfolding of divine ideas; that they exist here and now and forever in a state of harmony, perfection, and completeness; and that they are never in a state of discord or inharmony; but they are held together in perfection and completeness by divine law and order.
He has discovered divine Principle as the law of creation throughout the universe. He sees and understands that God is infinite Spirit and that Spirit is omnipresent; that as a divine idea, he is the expression of infinite Spirit. He has perceived the basic truth of man as expressed by Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 468), "Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."
He has believed that he had a distinct identity or individuality; that his identity or individuality was in his body. Now he understands that his life, substance, and intelligence are not in his body, but are preserved in Spirit; that life, substance, and intelligence are individualized as Soul, and that Soul never reflects anything inferior to Spirit (Science and Health, p. 477). He understands that death and decay never touch his identity or individuality.
He becomes conscious that God is Life; that God's life is his Life now. He claims it as such. It becomes the law of Life to him, and is the law of annihilation to the belief of death and everything opposed to Life.
He perceives that God is infinite Truth; that this Truth is his to claim and to express. It becomes the law of Truth to him; the law to everything opposed to Truth, and frees him from beliefs opposed to that which is true.
He understands that God is infinite Love; he has believed that human attachment and affection constituted love. He has observed that this sense of love is often expressed as misguidance, misdirection; that pain, suffering, and injustice often are the apparent results. Now he understands that God is divine Love. He understands origin, source, creation. He understands infinite Love as guidance and direction; as government, justice, harmony. He understands that he reflects this sense of divine Love, and it eliminates envy, malice, fear, and jealousy from his human experience.
This person is now in the "Third Degree: Understanding." In this degree, through spiritual perception and understanding he has gained wisdom, purity, spiritual power, love, health, holiness. He has discovered that in this stage these evil beliefs, one by one, disappear, until eventually his belief in an individual mortal mind disappears; and he becomes conscious of himself as God's own image. What has been going on? We refer you to the concluding sentence of Science and Health (p. 162): "The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind." That human mind has been stirred to a change of base; it has perceived the harmony of the divine Mind and is now conscious of that which is real, eternal, harmonious, and immortal.
We have discussed briefly the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind." We ask you to read, study, and allow that translation to unfold in your thought. In so doing, ask yourself: "Where am I? Am I in the first degree of 'Depravity'? Have I arrived at that transitional stage, the second degree, expressing the nature and character of a good, moral person? Or have I arrived at the third degree in which I am gaining the consciousness of God's nature and character; and in which I have spiritual perception and understanding, expressed as wisdom, purity, power, love, health, holiness? Am I conscious of the disappearance of mortal mind? Have I some understanding that man is God's image and likeness?" Christian Science is the redeemer of consciousness. Hence, the sooner we make a careful examination and an application of the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind," the sooner we will work out our salvation here and now. Somewhere between "Depravity" and "Spiritual Understanding" we exist at this moment.
In the Christian Science textbook
Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 116), "In the third degree mortal
mind disappears, and man as God's image appears." In this stage of
progress, spiritual understanding supplants mortal, human beliefs. Spirit is
discerned to be God, and spiritual man to be His image — the real, the only
man, expressing power, love, health, and holiness.
When you begin to grasp the idea that there is one infinite Mind, God, and that His mind is your mind, you begin to understand that there is one infinite Life, God, and that His life is your life now.
The human mind is accustomed to attaching life to something, because it sees and believes in things. Hence, it sees a human body; it believes that this human body is the only body; and it takes possession of that which it sees and believes as body, and governs it by rules of conduct, among which are air, food, and exercise.
We have a human body existing in a normal way as matter. What does this indicate? It points to the fact that this human body is merely a human concept of body, sometimes perceived as a good body and at other times regarded as an imperfect body.
The human concept is the counterfeit of the divine fact. The divine fact is that our real identity or body is spiritual and not material. It is plainly apparent, then, that the divine fact of body is unfolding in human consciousness, and this unfoldment becomes the law of correction and adjustment to the human manifestation called "human body."
As you go to your work or about your business, become conscious of and declare the fact that your real identity is the embodiment of good, and it therefore is healthy, perfect, and complete in every particular. The fact is, there is nothing wrong with your real body or identity. All that is wrong is the mortal mind concept or belief about it. There is no reason why you should not be declaring the truth about yourself. There is no reason why you should not be claiming your heritage, for you must claim it if you would have and retain it. It is important that we should understand that this body that we now have is a mortal mind belief of body, and this "life which we live in the flesh" is only a mortal mind belief of life, substance, and intelligence in matter. "Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear" (Science and Health, p. 248). As we hold steadfastly to the spiritual reality, the material, mortal mind belief of body will be transformed, and the perfect spiritual body of God's creating will appear.
Jesus was born and lived in the flesh as other mortals. He grew from childhood to manhood and engaged in the affairs of men. He understood that God is Life; and that man is the reflection of that indestructible Life. He proved his at-one-ment with God, for after his enemies had crucified him he appeared with the same body which he had before the crucifixion. He established the divine fact, by this experience, that his life could not be destroyed, because he was the individual manifestation of that eternal life which is God.
But what about the body of Jesus? Was it really tangible? There is no ground for believing that his human body was less tangible than yours, or that it was changed in the least by his experience with death. His high spiritual thinking and action should be a source of great encouragement to us, for that high spiritual attainment enabled him to walk on the waters; to escape from the menacing crowd, unheard and unseen by them; to appear in the room with his disciples after the doors were closed and barred.
Is there any ground for believing that Jesus' true selfhood today is any less individual, any less tangible than it was when he appeared as a prophet and preached his gospel of salvation and healing in Judea? Jesus knew that substance is not matter. He knew that life, substance, intelligence, individuality, and identity are purely and entirely spiritual, and through that knowledge he demonstrated the divine fact of body. That divine fact was not changed by his crucifixion, resurrection, or ascension. It remains this moment, unchanged. And when you reach that same high spiritual understanding of substance you will demonstrate the fact that your body is harmonious and eternal, and is never touched by death and decay. Mrs. Eddy makes this very plain. She says (Science and Health, p. 76): "The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain, — constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence is scientific and intact, — a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears."
Jesus was not the Christ. He manifested Christ in an unlimited degree; and when you arrive at that same high spiritual attainment, as demonstrated by Jesus, the beliefs about your body will have vanished. You will control and govern your body as he did his. You will then know as you are known.
Is this too much to expect or to set as our goal? Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do."
Christian Science does not destroy your body. It does not take your body away from you. It does not dismember your body. Christian Science destroys the false claim that your body is material. It destroys the false beliefs about your body, and establishes in human consciousness the divine fact that it is spiritual, indestructible, and immortal. Christian Science is the truth — "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (Science and Health, p. 583).
It must be remembered that what Jesus did is within the reach of anyone who attains the same degree of spiritual understanding. In feeding the multitude, walking on the water, healing the sick, and raising the dead he was proving the allness of Spirit. That spiritual law is the law of annihilation to the false beliefs opposed to Spirit, as manifested through human consciousness. He established the fact of one consciousness, the consciousness of Spirit. In this consciousness there is no scarcity, no object or thing through which it can operate, and no law to support or sustain a claim of scarcity. He established the fact that the belief about gravitation could not operate as a law to prevent him from being where he ought to be. He proved the omnipresence of infinite Life. He proved that individual life could not be destroyed, because it is the manifestation of everlasting Life, God.
When his disciples would send the multitude away because of their belief in the scarcity of food he took what they had; fed the five thousand to the extent of their needs, and gathered up the remnants, even more than the original supply at hand.
You must understand, just as Jesus did, that this material world and the material body are beliefs. Mind, Spirit, which is God, is the only substance and the only supply; and that this supply is infinite and omnipresent.
The idea of God as infinite, omnipresent supply appeals to you because it is your instinctive desire, as His idea, to have and to possess it. You seek God and you find man: because man is idea, reflecting Mind. You would not find man by seeking man; and so while your instinctive desire for supply is natural, you cannot find supply by seeking it in matter. You must get supply by seeking God — Spirit; as you find God — Spirit — you have substance — supply. It has no relationship to materiality and cannot be associated with it in any way, because supply is idea. As used in Christian Science, idea is not the idea of or about something. It is the fact. God, Mind, expresses His infinite Being in ideas. Ideas are imperishable, tangible, present, real. Even from a human standpoint, ideas are everywhere, all of the time. To illustrate: two times two is four where you are now. You make a long journey to China. You do not have to send two times two is four there for your use upon arrival. It is there now before you start, and it will be there upon your return.
The divine fact is that supply is
idea in divine Mind; it is infinite, imperishable, tangible, real, present. It
is where you, God's child, are all the time. You have it now, but you must
claim it. Your understanding and application of that divine fact operates as an
immutable law upon the human sense of mind and body, and fear, doubt, anxiety
lest your supply become limited and exhausted will abate. You are demonstrating
supply. You are proving that "Science reverses the false testimony of the
physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the fundamental facts
of being" (Science and Health, p. 120).
The question may come to you, "If my supply is a spiritual fact, then have I a business or an occupation?" The normal things which we perceive in daily life indicate or bear evidence that divine facts, divine ideas, exist as the only realities.
You are engaged in that which mortal mind says is your business, or occupation. That should indicate something to you. It should indicate that as mortal mind sees a business as something, located at some place, so your real business is a divine fact, existing as idea in Mind, fully established as a good business promoted by divine intelligence and operating according to immutable law. This is the fact about your business. In the morning as you go to that place which you call your business, know the fact regarding business. Recognize continually that you reflect the intelligence of infinite Mind, and by reflection you possess the necessary ability to manage and direct that business successfully. That course of action will establish in your consciousness the operation of divine law governing and controlling business; and the so-called human belief of supply and demand will yield to the divine fact of infinite supply meeting every human need.
If you are out of a job, and need to be employed, hold to the fact that as the reflection of divine Mind you have something to give. Declare the fact that what you have to give is necessary, useful, and good; that you are here to serve some useful purpose. As you go out to look for a position become conscious of the fact that what you have to give is just as much a part of the demonstration as that which you expect to receive. Look for employment and expect to find it. Don't outline what it shall be, where it shall be, or what you shall receive. That may be the reason you have failed to have it. You may find employment for two hours pushing a lawn mower, and may receive a small sum in return. You are demonstrating employment. You may find engagement with a construction force, and be employed for two weeks as a laborer. The work is hard; the pay is small; but you have advanced beyond pushing the lawn mower. You may be asked to make up the time-sheet, which you do intelligently. You are giving useful service. In due time you find yourself in the office as bookkeeper or auditor. You are a "white collar" man again, with steady employment. The pushing of the lawn mower, the hard labor on the construction force with the street gang, is part of the demonstration.
Business, occupation, employment, whatever it may be called, is the demonstration of the basic fact of Mrs. Eddy's wonderful discovery upon which she established the Christian Science movement, namely, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (Science and Health, p. 468).
Your business, your employment, is a fact now, fully established in Mind as idea. That idea has to unfold in human consciousness. The demonstration of your employment is the activity of the divine Mind meeting your present needs.
Thus far we have presented the fact that material existence to you is merely your state of consciousness, and that your world is the externalization of thoughts which come to you as the unfolding idea. You see them as material universe and material body. There also comes to you thoughts which are held in consciousness and manifest as disease, unhappiness, sorrow, and inharmony. You are consciousness. Then you and your world are just what you are in consciousness.
There is one royal highway to health and happiness, and that way is to recognize that all there is to disease and inharmony is a mesmeric belief, and a mistaken supposition that you are a material creature surrounded by disaster and subject to it.
You are not a mortal creature. You are the "Son of God"; and you have the intelligence to be perpetually conscious of the fact that Spirit is substance, incapable of sickness, inharmony, death, and decay. If you have been mesmerized into believing that you are something which you are not, your remedy is to know that divine Mind was never sick; that Spirit never entered matter; that Soul never decays or dies. The divine fact that you are image, idea, is unfolding in your consciousness; and your human thought about yourself will become adjusted to conform to the divine fact. When you realize that the only consciousness that there is, is divine Mind, you will be healed.
I have before me a letter reporting a healing at a Christian Science lecture. The writer says: "For more than two months previous to the lecture, I was crippled with arthritis. I was unable to get up if I sat down. I lost my appetite and lost weight. I had a dread of sitting so long. I walked out of that lecture room free and have had no return of the complaint. I have put on fifteen pounds, and am better and younger than before."
The letter is dated many months after the lecture. How was that person healed? The lecturer did not know the person and had no knowledge of the presence of such a person with arthritis.
The disease was a belief of life, sensation, and intelligence in matter: all untrue — all unreal. The patient had been saying: "I have arthritis. I cannot walk. I cannot sit." The patient ignorantly had been pleading guilty to the false claim.
All that occurred was the reversal of that plea of guilty — a change in consciousness. And that change in consciousness met every claim and circumstance of arthritis as its master, and the body responded. The healing, which is the divine idea unfolding, illustrates the fact that disease has no intelligence of its own; and no law whereby to support or enforce its claims.
When you know and claim your heritage, "I am the Son of God" now you are approaching a fuller understanding of your manhood, and every time you voice the divine fact of your sonship you are approaching in some degree the demonstration made by Jesus. You are breaking the mesmeric beliefs of mortal mind which are imposed upon you; you will enjoy better health; you will have a better body; you will live in a better world.
As you think out and apply the truth presented in Christian Science you will lift up your head and with dignity you will run the race toward the goal perpetually before you — the perfect man.
As you advance step by step in the process of unfoldment, the perfect man and his possibilities become more apparent. God is immortal and eternal. God's man, then, to be His likeness, must be just as immortal and eternal as God. You are God's man. Hold to that fact, and know that the law of intelligent action never lapses into inaction. Know that it is an utter impossibility for divine consciousness to become unconscious. Know that the law of divine consciousness and divine action is the only law governing man. It is the law that controls your body. It is the law of regeneration, redemption, salvation from all the mesmeric beliefs incident to human life.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," on page 256, Mrs. Eddy says, "Progress takes off human shackles." Your being is infinite progression, and the law of infinite progress is the law of annihilation to every human shackle that binds you.
It is recorded in the Gospels that on a certain occasion Jesus took three of his most promising disciples Peter, James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. The record is, that as he prayed "his countenance was altered," and his garments became "white and glistering." Also there appeared with him two men talking with him. These men were Moses and Elias. His disciples were asleep. It was related, however, that when they were awakened, "they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him."
Mrs. Eddy defines Elias as: "Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to material sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold; the basis of immortality" (Science and Health, p. 585). In the light of Christian Science we may conclude that the "sleep" referred to was not the repose or slumber of the night, but was the stupefying, materialistic influence of the age in which they lived. Jesus' high spiritual perception and understanding on this occasion awakened these disciples from their materialistic dream; and for the time they stood on the same plane of understanding with him, and likewise "discerned the spiritual fact," of Moses and Elias. They perceived them as "men" with definite individuality and identity.
Jesus and his three disciples were here on this earthly plane; and in the flesh as we are. Have we not the right to conclude that when we awaken from the sleep, the stupefying influence of the materialistic age in which we live, we may attain to that high spiritual perception and understanding, thereby discerning "the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold"?
Let me assure you, God never created two of you. He never made a good man to be happy and an evil man to be destroyed. He made you perfect, pure, spiritual, and immortal. This is the divine fact about you. Thus you are now, and so you will ever be.
The Revelator, John, declares, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea."
After calling attention to the fact that John had not passed the transitional stage called death, but he already saw a new heaven and a new earth, Mrs. Eddy says: "This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way" (Science and Health, p. 573).
[Delivered Jan. 25, 1940, in Sixteenth Church of Christ, Scientist, 7201 North Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, and published in The Chicago Leader, Jan. 26, 1940.]