Bliss Knapp, C.S.B., of Brookline, Massachusetts
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother
Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
An interesting lecture on Christian Science was delivered by Bliss Knapp, of the class of 1901, to a student audience in Emerson Hall, Monday afternoon. The lecture was given under the auspices of the Christian Science Society of Harvard University, and Mr. Knapp was introduced by C. A. Woodard, 3L., president of the society.
Mr. Woodard said:
On the first page of the preface of the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy says: "The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity." Today multitudes of earnest thinkers are asking themselves whether Christian Science is not, indeed, the truth. The purpose of these lectures is to remove erroneous ideas about Christian Science and about Mrs. Eddy, and to give correct information on the subject, in order that those who attend may be in a better position to investigate further, and to decide that question for themselves. And how are we to know whether Christian Science is true or not? Jesus said: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And again he said: "By their fruits ye shall know them." The same test of truth is expressed in those words of Paul: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." This test we should apply to Christian Science. "The time for thinkers has come." We should think about Christian Science. We should prove it by applying it in our own daily lives. And if we find that it does make us free — free from suffering and sorrow and sin, free from discouragement, from discord and error of every sort — then we shall know that it is the truth.
I have the privilege of introducing to you a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston — a lecturer well qualified, through his long and earnest study of Christian Science, to explain this subject in a way which will be helpful to us. I take pleasure in presenting Mr. Bliss Knapp, C.S.B., of Brookline.
Mr. Knapp said:
During many centuries men have grown accustomed to think of religion as a haven of rest to those in sorrow and temptation. But while religion ministers to the mind, it regards the diseased body in helpless compassion. Such helplessness contrasts strongly with the religion of Jesus Christ, who made no distinction between mind and body. He asked, "whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?" He set the standard of religious achievement by healing sickness and sin by the same prayer. It is the purpose of Christian Science to increase the joy of life by restoring to the infinite compassion of Jesus' teachings the lost element of healing.
The invalid is not frightened at his disease. It is the possible termination of that disease that frightens him. Then his frightened sense finds sweet consolation in the Master's teaching, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." There followed, too, the explanation, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Two things are therefore needful to save one's life. It is to know God, and also His Son Jesus Christ. Some believe that Jesus was God, and that belief excludes the God and Father to whom Jesus himself prayed. The condition of thought that sets aside Christian healing may not be so much a lack of faith, as a complete omission from prayer of any recognition of the God and Father to whom Jesus prayed.
It was the day of the resurrection, early in the morning, that Jesus appeared to Mary and sent her with a message, saying, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Now if Jesus were God, as so many believe, and there is one God, how could God have brethren? But inasmuch as he recognized himself to be, not God, but the Son of God, he could have brethren and could truthfully say, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." When Jesus was before the tomb of Lazarus, it is recorded that he "lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." He certainly was not praying to himself on that occasion. Previously he had said to the woman of Samaria at the well, "God is Spirit." When, therefore, the disciples gathered around to examine the spear wound and the nail prints, he took occasion to remind them that "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." From that the disciples knew that the human form of Jesus was not God. Indeed, to worship a fleshly form would be in conflict with the second commandment of the Decalogue, which forbids the worship of any graven image. Jesus recognized, moreover, that the power he employed was not of himself; for he said, "I can of mine own self do nothing: . . . because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Again he said referring to himself, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do."
In the face of so much popular misconception about what God really is, Jesus found it exceedingly difficult to get the people to accept the truth about Him. It was necessary to avoid, in so far as possible, any statement about God that would be open to doubt or controversy. He endeavored therefore to portray a right apprehension of God by making the people familiar with the effect of divine power on humanity. The popular belief prevailed then as now that God sends sickness to discipline mortals and bring them to God. But when Jesus portrayed the nature of God as He actually is, it had the effect of healing the sick in every case and thereby proved, in a manner that admitted of no doubt or controversy, that sickness is no part of God's nature. Another popular belief adhered to then as now was that God knows, or at least permits, sin. That too was disposed of by showing the effect divine power had in cleansing sinners even as light always dispels darkness. Moreover people believed then as now that God takes away our loved ones for some inscrutable purpose; and this belief has unquestionably thrust more people into infidelity and agnosticism than have ever been rescued therefrom. But when Jesus declared the truth about God as He actually is, it destroyed death and the grave, and thereby proved the nature of God to be Life. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
People could see the physical changes wrought by Jesus readily enough, and in a manner that admitted of no doubt. But a natural question to follow is this — Could it be taught to others? It is said that no one really understands a thing for himself until he can teach it to another. That Jesus made disciples who could repeat his healing ministry was the proof that the healing power could be taught to others, and that he understood it. Indeed the early Christians proved the same thing by continuing those works of healing for 300 years after the time of Jesus. Even so the Christian Scientist is today perpetuating that healing ministry just to the degree that he gains a correct understanding of Him "whom to know aright is Life eternal," — an understanding of the God and Father to whom Jesus prayed.
The first man in Bible history to know God well enough to heal sickness and sin was Moses, and it came about by his recognition that the divine power operates through law. Before that he knew God only as the great "I AM," but that was not sufficient to win confidence in himself as the messenger of God. The necessity for him to speak the truth about God so convincingly that the people would actually believe what he said was the occasion for God to reveal His healing nature by two distinct signs. The first was with the rod by which was proved the divine supremacy over personified evil. The second was the healing of leprosy. Perhaps those two were selected because none but the power of God has ever been known to destroy leprosy and sin. But that exhibition of divine power over sickness and sin revealed to Moses the existence of a well defined law of healing which enabled him, thereafter, to employ the divine power, guided by the intelligence of a well defined law, in healing leprosy and serpent bites. It revealed to him the existence of certain facts concerning the healing nature of God in which no variation has ever been perceived. It marked the existence of an unchanging law of healing with which human beings had been hitherto unacquainted. It revealed something so definite and tangible about the nature of God that the people believed him just as God said they would.
Now that which Moses saw in the healing power of God was the Truth; whereupon he declared, "Thou art a God of truth." David later declared in the psalms, "Thy law is the truth." And Jesus indicated the intimate relation that exists between Truth and the healing law, when he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." That is, a knowledge of God, not as a human form, but as Truth has a healing effect. Mrs. Eddy has therefore accepted that scriptural definition that God is Truth, and also its intimate relation to law; for she has written in Science and Health, "Not personal intercommunion but divine law is the communicator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and humanity."
It is true that every system of religion known to men claims to be the promulgation of revealed truth; but that which differentiates the demonstrable revelation of Jesus Christ from all others is its power to give life and to restore health. It is the life-giving power in Christian truth which makes it demonstrable in healing sickness and sin. One school of philosophers has propounded the theory that truth is two-fold; that there is one truth called reason, and another truth called revelation, but that revelation has no law and is lacking in a reasonable explanation. The result is agnosticism. Christianity, on the other hand, teaches there is but one Truth and this Truth is God. It teaches moreover that divine Truth is expressed through law which may be understood and demonstrated in Christian healing. This teaching reconciles reason and revelation in the oneness of Truth.
Some may feel they have lost their God in thinking of Him as Truth; but Jesus declared in all earnestness that "The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." That may be clarified by another of Jesus' sayings: "None is good, save one, that is, God." Now the spirit or law of infinite good is goodness, and the true worshippers can worship infinite good only through goodness. For example: No one goes directly to the basic meaning of mathematics. He must go by way of its rules or laws. The simple law that two and two are four mediates between the basic meaning of mathematics and the prospective student. Even so no one can go directly to infinite good. He must go by way of goodness, which is the law or attribute of infinite good. That is, he must worship infinite good in the understanding of goodness. Mrs. Eddy has said in Science and Health, "A pure affection takes form in goodness." Then as one entertains an affection for others that is pure and constant, it takes form in goodness, which is an attribute of God. In this simple process he comprehends the law of goodness, and in the understanding of it he reaches to the actual recognition of infinite good. In the same spiritual understanding of divine law shall one worship the God and Father who is Spirit and Truth.
As the nature of God continued to unfold before the vision of St. John, it was revealed to him that "God is love." Paul described the intimate relation that exists between Love and Truth when he said, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Other scriptural names used to define the nature of God are Soul and Mind. Christian Science accepts all those descriptive definitions of deity and adds one more. Since there is a divine law to express the healing, it is reasonable to suppose it must have a Principle. That is, the nature of God must include Principle as a descriptive definition. But far from expressing any of the coldness of an inanimate law, the divine Principle comprehends all intelligence, gentleness, peace and power to heal and save mankind through law.
If one were to stand at the base of the great pyramid and gaze in wonder at its vast dimensions, he could not see its whole structure from that single viewpoint. He must see it from the north and the south, the east and the west. He must explore its passages and chambers within. Not until he had seen it from every angle, and learned the meaning of its structure and design, could it be said that he had actually seen the pyramid. In like manner the various scriptural names which are employed to define the nature of God are all essential to a complete understanding of Him.
The Christian Scientist becomes familiar with God's ways in a most practical manner. Jesus referred to God as "my God, and your God." He is therefore my Mind and your Mind. The practical operation of that was proved to me when I was a student in the elementary schools. For a month I was troubled with a difficulty that may be described in the words of Paul, "The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." With me it was a difficulty in answering my school problems correctly. Though I might know the correct answer, I would invariably say the wrong thing. Instead of excusing that on the basis of stupidity, Paul saw in such conditions the warring of the fleshy mind, and so did my parents who were Christian Scientists. My mother proceeded to heal me of that difficulty according to the teachings of Christian Science. With wonderful patience she explained to me, in language I could easily understand, the reason why children go to school. It is not so much to assimilate a large mass of facts as it is to develop certain faculties; such for example as perception, reason, memory and application. Then she explained to me that they are faculties of the divine Mind, and as such must be reflected through all alike. It concedes the right to every one to achieve the mental might of a genius. Inasmuch as God is my Mind and my intelligence, it was my right and duty to claim and exercise that intelligence which knows all that is necessary to know. So clear was my relation to divine intelligence established, that I ceased to limit my mental capacity by the size of a brain. Its scope was broadened to that larger view of divine intelligence which transcends brain. The explanation was continued until I could realize to a degree my true relation to God who is the only Mind and intelligence. When I could realize this, it became a reality to me, with the result that I was completely healed of the difficulty. The truth about God, and my relation to Him had set me free. Therein is the proof that no human intelligence has any validity if contrary to the divine faculties; and such of the human faculties as are valid must derive their validity from the divine.
We have no record in the four gospels that Jesus ever permitted himself to be deceived or taken advantage of in any way. Had he been victimized, it would have been by reason of a lack of intelligence. But he claimed and exercised the divine intelligence that knows all that is necessary to know, and thereby set the standard for all mankind. It was the Mind which was in Christ Jesus that enabled him to heal the sick, even when they were absent from him, as in the cases of the centurion's servant and the Syrophoenician's daughter. It was the Mind which was in Christ Jesus that enabled him to heal leprosy and raise the dead, even to the raising of himself from the tomb. It was this Mind which constituted his divinity, and enabled him to say, "I and my Father are one," and also the correlative statement, "My Father is greater than I." It was the divine Mind which was in Christ Jesus that enabled him to say, "Before Abraham was, I am," and, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." We are moreover enjoined by the scriptures to "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." And "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Before Jesus went away he promised us another Comforter. That no misconception might arise, he took the precaution to explain the nature of this promised Comforter. It should not be a man, nor a person, but rather the impersonal "Spirit of truth." He explained further that the "Spirit of truth" would lead mankind into all truth, even to the very source of truth which is God, and it would testify of him. Now the spirit of Truth is its law, — the law which communicates God's healing power to humanity. That law, moreover, requires a science which can interpret it and be reasonably understood. Since the law is divine, its Science must be a divine or Christian Science. That is what Christian Science is, — the spiritual understanding of divine law as applied to the needs of humanity. It is not an invention. It is the discovery of what has always been true, and what always must be the real Comforter to suffering humanity.
Sometimes it occurs that one is so completely overwhelmed by sorrow and grief that all the comfort and consolation of human affection seems helpless to brighten the thought. Then we need to remember that there is a sorrow that purifies, and another sorrow that works evil. It will sweeten or sour the disposition according to the direction it takes. But in the apparent helplessness of insurmountable grief, there is the consolation that the power of one's right desire can steer its course unerringly into repentance and purification. In the momentum of that directed experience no harm can overtake us. Only good can come out of it. Such an assurance removes the fear and heals the grief. This is the real Comforter at work in the human consciousness, purifying one's thoughts and motives. There is therefore a grief that is salutary; for it sweetens the disposition, chastens the affections and enables one to be charitable toward the faults of others.
The preparation of Mrs. Eddy's great discovery seemed to include much of the sorrow and suffering that purifies one's thought and purpose. Mrs. Eddy was a gentle woman of deep religious experience, trained from her youth to seek in divine guidance actual relief from sickness and distress. Added to that was an unusual intellectual ability which received careful training and development, so that she had great personal charm by reason of her refined manners and well-balanced mind. Then, in the flower of her youth, she was overwhelmed with grief at the loss of all that seemed near and dear to her. There followed a long period of invalidism and the search for a remedy, which culminated in the conviction that disease responds most readily to a mental remedy. Still abiding in that conviction, she met with an accident which was so serious that it was expected to result fatally. Knowing that only spiritual things could save her, she turned to her Bible for help, and as she read those spiritual truths, she was wonderfully healed. That was in 1866. There was her proof of mental healing, and that the divine Mind is the healer to comfort in sorrow and in sickness. The next step was to learn the Science of that healing and, as she states in Science and Health, page 109, "I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration." Again she writes, "Reason and revelation were reconciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated," page 110. She stated that Science in the Christian Science text-book so simply and logically that the simple reading of that book has brought the healing Comforter to multitudes of those in sickness and distress, and made them every whit whole.
Mrs. Eddy had thus become the discoverer of Christian Science, and the founding of its institutional work was to follow. In her joy to share such a great blessing she appealed to the spiritual thought of learned men, only to suffer the rebuff of dignified silence. Her first ray of hope came when that silence was turned into ridicule and abuse; for it meant that she had gained at least a hearing. Deserted by friends and relatives, and opposed by subtle and powerful influences whichever way she turned, this woman patiently kept her course in the founding of the various institutions of Christian Science, until the movement has spread itself over this world, and all within her own lifetime. By her clear statement of scientific Christianity, Mrs. Eddy has enormously increased the number of followers of Christ's teachings. The sick are healed of bodily ailments by reading its literature; the sinner may know how to liberate himself from his sin; and greatest of all, the pure-minded is given the power to save himself from the general belief in sin, so that the good he desires to do, that he can do. Mrs. Eddy has therefore proved, in accordance with the vision in the apocalypse, that a pure-minded woman, armed with Science, can unlock the secrets of "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and reveal the promised Comforter.
Try as hard as one may, it is impossible to separate Moses from the commandments, or Jesus from the beatitudes. When Jesus had that exalted vision of law and prophecy on the Mount of Transfiguration, the human representative of law and prophecy became apparent to those near enough to get the lesson. It is equally certain that the human representative of scientific Christianity can never be separated from the spiritual treasures which she has opened to our use.
A perplexing feature about Christian Science is that some very astute thinkers are readily baffled by its teachings, while others like the fishermen of Galilee listen gladly and understand. The difficulty is largely in the viewpoint. The logic of Christian Science always starts with God and ascribes to Him all intelligence. It ascribes mental life to Him who transcends brain. Most schoolmen, on the other hand, are trained to regard brain as the seat of the intellect, and matter as the fundamental basis of thought. These two opposing systems of philosophy, strange as it may seem, have their authority in the first two chapters of Genesis in the Bible. The first chapter, sometimes called the Elohistic record of creation, presents an absolutely good God, the source of all intelligence and being, who knows no evil. The second chapter and thereafter, called the Jehovistic record of Creation, presents a mixture of good and evil which results in a third power called mankind, and this third power is supposed to derive from the basis of matter the intelligence to interpret both good and evil. Now a talking serpent was the author of that second record, and he is supposed to lie in all that he said. In fact there is no such thing in the animal kingdom as a talking serpent. When contrasted, the two systems of creation are absolute opposites, so that if one is true the other must be false. Every system of religion and philosophy known to men, with but one exception, is founded on the supposed mixture of good and evil. That single exception, which is founded on an absolutely good God who knows no evil, is the teaching of Christ Jesus and of Christian Science. Furthermore that system alone can destroy both sickness and sin.
Jesus healed physical disease on the basis that the Truth makes free. Four thousand years of medicine has endeavored to force the conclusion that disease is purely physical, and that it requires a physical remedy. The result is that diseases have actually multiplied. Jesus proved that sickness, disease and fear are the errors and not the truths of being, and they can be healed by a mental process. Their basis being wholly material, and matter being mortal error, the truth of God dispels those errors just as light dispels darkness, — just as the understanding that two and two are four dispels any denial of that fact. And when one understands that truth, he does not have to sit up nights to be certain of it in the morning. Jesus so understood the nature of God as Truth, that he could make it just as consciously apparent to the man with the withered hand, and that diseased condition was wiped out by that process just as effectually as one could take a sponge and wipe out the wrong figures on the blackboard.
It is generally recognized that certain nervous disorders are mental; for though the person may be sick almost to distraction, examination may disclose no diseased organ, tissue or nerve. He may have apparent physical ailments, such as that trinity of disorders known as dyspepsia, heart palpitation, and insomnia; but an examination discloses no organic disease. The patient's troubles are actually unreal, in the sense that they have no physical cause. But to the patient they are decidedly real, in the sense that he feels them constantly, and can not free himself from them.
Though a patient may be perfectly sane while suffering from some nervous ailment, his belief must be changed before he can experience his healing. That is never brought about by imagining himself well. Such primitive emotions as fear and anger, which are common to men and beasts, are said to produce depressing and poisonous conditions. The thought of guilt is said to be even more deleterious. Anger may cause a person to become flushed or pallid in the face, indicating the mental control of the circulation. Indeed it may stop one's digestion altogether, showing how one's thought has equal control over the digestive system. A severe examination may affect students with retarded digestion due to their fear. With the proof that functional disorders are mental in their cause, due to erroneous thinking, investigation has continued until medical experiments have proved that diabetes is entirely the result of fear or emotion. In fact it is more generally conceded today that consumption may be just a consuming fear. That may be the reason why no drug or medicine ever healed them. The Christian Science text-book says: "The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin." It teaches, in other words, that all sickness is unreal in the sense that it has no physical cause.
So long as one believes his malady is physical, he naturally feels helpless. But when he knows it is the result of erroneous thought, then he is encouraged in the conscious ability to change that thinking by the presence and power of God's truth. Some fears seem more real than others. They seem more real when tissue disorganization is apparent. But when examination discloses no diseased organ or nerve, those fears are regarded as intangible and superstitious. The fear from superstition is called a delusion, and is said to be unreal. The patient is said to be deceived by an unreality. In either case we must know how to prove to the patient the unreality of his fear, just as Jesus did when he said, "Peace, be still," and the storm abated.
Physicians have observed that the depressing and poisonous effects of fear, anger, hatred, jealousy and so forth are relieved by the wholesome effects of faith, hope, cheerfulness and loving kindness which promote health. How then shall they be administered to the patient? The method taught by the schools is by suggestion, human will, and human reason, which are as material as the disease. They may be employed just as well by a wicked man, by an infidel or a pagan, — one who knows nothing about the truth of God. The Christian Scientist, on the other hand, employs only the spiritual Mind which transcends brain or matter. That Mind is never transmitted through suggestion, because it is everywhere present, and its government prevails wherever it is most needed by the patient. We simply have to understand the ever-presence and activity of that truth for the patient, and the truth makes free. The scripture says that "Fear hath torment," but "perfect love casteth out fear." There is no remedy known to the human consciousness for fear of any sort, save alone divine Love. It is that understanding of the divine Mind, whose nature is Love, that gives to the Christian Scientist the spiritual power to wipe out the fear of consumption and to remove its physical effects. It is on that basis that Christian Science heals all manner of disease.
A well-known naturalist once described an interesting experience that illustrates the operation of human will. He described two men on the western plains, intent on observing on the distant horizon two rapidly moving objects. In their rapid movements these objects drew nearer and nearer, until it could be observed that they were two elk, — the larger one in hot pursuit of the smaller. The smaller one was fleeing for his life and relying on his strength of animal will for safety. But even the animal had the instinct to know that his animal will was getting wearied and exhausted, indeed that it had an end, and with its end would come his own destruction. Whereupon even that animal began to look beyond, outside himself, for some higher, greater power on which to rely. Recognizing as by instinct a greater power in humanity, he rushed to the feet of those two men and stopped in their protection. The larger one, observing the situation, checked his pace, circled about twice and then loped away.
Thus it is with suffering humanity. Relying on the strength of human will for healing, it finally discovers that the human will gets wearied, run down and exhausted; that it has an end, and with its end, hope is swallowed up in despair. In that extreme situation, when the physician makes that solemn pronouncement, "There is no more hope, because there is no more strength of will to sustain life or existence," then poor, suffering humanity begins to look beyond, outside itself for some higher, greater power on which to rely. Then "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Turning to the one source of intelligence for guidance, humanity feels the touch of Truth, or reality, and is made well again. He finds himself sustained by the gentle presence and peace of divine Love. In that sweet sense of heaven here and now, he feels a strength and power that is never wearied, never exhausted; but is eternal in heaven — the heaven that Jesus said is within you, right within one's own consciousness.
Most Christians believe in immortality: but, whereas many believe that immortality is a condition to be gained only beyond the grave, the Christian Scientist believes that the divine intelligence that makes man immortal is a present possibility. No one has to die before he can understand goodness through a pure affection and exercise the power of it, and goodness is an attribute to the law of God. No one has to die before he can understand honesty from Principle and exercise the power of it, and honesty is a law of God. Indeed as one understands those attributes his thinking is expressed in them. That thinking must be spiritual thinking; it is of God. And having its source in God, it can no more be lost, disintegrated or destroyed than can God, from whom it proceeds. Such thinking, therefore, can never cease to be conscious thinking. If one were to meet with an accident which would render him unconscious for a week, he would learn upon recovery that the accident never impaired his honesty; never impaired his goodness. That mental life that transcends brain could never cease to be like itself, and could never cease to express the consciousness of life. An accident could never change the character of that spiritual thinking to unconsciousness. Jesus proved this fact while he was yet in the tomb. His spiritual thinking that transcends matter or brain was consciously at work, proving the facts of immortal life, which destroyed death and removed the stone from the mouth of the tomb. And we are enjoined to "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
Some hesitate to accept the teaching that there is one Mind through fear of losing their individuality. But only as man is governed by God is he properly self-governed. If he is not self-governed, he loses his individuality. He saves his individuality only to the degree that he is governed by his true selfhood in the one Mind. No one ever lost his individuality simply because there is one honesty, or one goodness, or one two times two are four. Job said, "Thou art in one Mind," and Paul said, quoting from a Greek poet, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Jesus gives us the right to refer to God as "My God." Then, since He is one Mind, the Christian has an equal right to say, "God is my Mind, my intelligence, my honesty, my life." Individuals in dire distress have been known to cling so devotedly to the one fact that God is their life, and to the exclusion of all else, as actually to realize the truth of it, and to be wonderfully healed thereby. Then, since God is our Mind, and "in him we live, and move, and have our being," we do not look up to Him in the distant heavens: "for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." We should therefore look out from Him, from His viewpoint, with His intelligence, and see things as He sees them, pure, perfect, harmonious and well. Indeed, from what other viewpoint should we see them? Clothed with that Mind which was also in Christ Jesus, and viewing all things from the viewpoint of the one Mind, Christians are endowed with the power of sons and daughters of God to cast out all that is unlike God, including sorrow, sickness and sin. Christian Science portrays that truth about God, and of man's relation to Him, in so simple and practical a manner that it has established the return of primitive Christian healing.
[Delivered Dec. 20, 1915, at Emerson Hall, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the auspices of the Christian Science Society of Harvard University, and published in The Cambridge Tribune, Dec. 25, 1915. This account of the lecture takes the place of a shorter transcript that was on this site for many years; the shorter account differed in some words here and there, but was fundamentally unchanged with respect to this text.]