Sylvia N. Poling, C.S.B., of Phoenix, Arizona
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
Man is not a "prisoner in a material body," said a member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship in Boston last night.
"The door to freedom is open," said Sylvia N. Poling. "We enter it through prayerful thought," and "by our willingness to learn more of God." It is "the open door of the Christ."
Miss Poling spoke before a large audience in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. The title of her lecture was, "Christian Science Reveals the Door to Life More Abundant."
Miss Poling is an authorized teacher and practitioner of Christian Science, with residence in Phoenix, Ariz. She was introduced in The Mother Church by Gordon F. Campbell, the present First Reader.
The lecturer spoke substantially as follows:
The subject of this lecture, "Christian Science Reveals the Door to Life More Abundant," was chosen with the purpose of considering two statements made by Christ Jesus: first (John 10:10), "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," second (John 10:7), "I am the door." I'd like to show you how Christian Science interprets these statements and makes them practical and provable.
What did Jesus mean by life more abundant? Well, isn't it reasonable to consider life more abundant as the kingdom of heaven? The Master said (Matt. 10:7), "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," and (Luke 17:21), "The kingdom of God is within you." Surely then, heaven can't be a place afar off to be reached through death.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has written something very helpful on the subject of heaven in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Here Mrs. Eddy uses the term "Mind" to mean God, the divine Mind. She writes (p. 291): "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of 'the mind of the Lord,' as the Scripture says."
Christian Science makes it possible for us to experience the kingdom of heaven in some degree right now through the spiritual understanding of God and man and through putting this understanding into practice in our daily living. So you see, we enter the kingdom of heaven not by going to a place, but by our willingness to learn more of God. The door to the kingdom of heaven is spiritual. We enter it through prayerful thought.
When Jesus said, "I am the door," he didn't mean that his material personality named Jesus was that door. At another time he said (John 14:6), "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Christian Science explains that Jesus was referring to the Christ, the nature of God, or the truth of spiritual being which he taught and proved by his healing works.
This Science reveals that the Christ has always been present. But it must be discerned and demonstrated in order that its power be felt and seen. Many hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, the prophets discerned something of the Christ. Whenever this spirit of Truth was sufficiently understood, divine power was found to be greater than material situations. The presence of harmony was often proved by the setting aside of what was falsely considered to be unchangeable material causes and conditions. The evidences of the Christ, Truth, were referred to as miracles. But when these occurrences are spiritually understood they're seen to be natural expressions of God's power and presence to maintain harmony, the kingdom of heaven.
A statement from Science and Health helps to clarify the distinction Christian Science makes between Jesus and Christ (p. 332): "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses: the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death." And further on the same page, "Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God — the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth."
Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was the offspring of Mary's uplifted recognition of God as the Father of all. When Mary discerned man's spiritual sonship with God, this discernment brought forth the human babe which she named Jesus, meaning Joshua, or Saviour. His spiritual origin enabled him to be more spiritual than other earthly personalities. He expressed more of the Christ, showing us how the Christ, Truth, heals mentally and restores harmony in human affairs. That's why he could say, "I am the door."
Another important thing we learn as we go through the open door of the Christ is more of God's true nature. In the words of John in the Bible (I John 4:8), "God is Love." Since God is Love, He loves us unceasingly throughout eternity. Can we have anything to fear from Love? Love doesn't cause us to sin, to be sick, or to die. And Love fills all space; there's nothing but divine Love and its expression. Moses, hearing the voice of Truth, said to the people (Deut. 4:35), "Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him." Since God is Love and All, His kingdom is the only kingdom. It's present here and now though unseen to mortal eyes believing in the reality of matter and evil. Since the kingdom of heaven isn't a place but is spiritual consciousness present everywhere, there's no room for a place called hell. Hell is the fear and evil entertained in human thinking.
When we're practicing Christian Science in our daily living, we're learning the meaning of salvation. We're being saved from all that is unlike God, from the wrong thoughts sometimes called hell. We are learning the meaning of Christ as our Saviour.
To show you how the Christ serves as an open door, I'd like to tell you of the experience of a friend. It's a very simple experience about a bird, but it illustrates the profound truths of Christian Science. This friend was chairman of the House Committee of a Christian Science church. She was called to the church one Wednesday by the clerk who said that something must be done before the service that evening. There was a bird inside the church. It had been imprisoned for about two days. Doors and windows had been left open with the hope that the bird would find its way to freedom, but it had only flown around helplessly. The humane officer was called. He said the only solution was to shoot the bird — that a trapped bird never leaves by an open door or window.
This didn't seem to be the right answer. My friend turned completely to her spiritual understanding of God and His creation to reveal the way to solve this problem. She loved music so she sat down at the organ, and after playing a few chords listened quietly for God's answer. Then as the words came to her she said aloud, "Love is the liberator. The door is open for your freedom. God is your Mind, even as He is mine. Accept your freedom." Then the bird, first alighting for an instant on a seat, came and perched on the organ for possibly half a minute — then flew through the open door.
The bird had had the same opportunity for many hours. The door was there, and it was open. Why hadn't it found its way to freedom?
Christian Science has a satisfactory answer to this question. It turns the radiant light of spiritual being on the situation. To the evidence before the physical senses the bird seemed to be imprisoned by a sense of fear and limitation. The material senses pictured it as a small physical being without enough intelligence to see and make use of the door to freedom.
That's exactly what the physical senses are saying about you and me and all mankind. They're saying that we're prisoners in a material body in a material universe. They're saying that we're too blinded by the belief that life exists in matter to discern the Christ, the open door to the reality of spiritual existence and freedom.
In this state of mental confusion and bondage we may seem to experience disease, deformity, poverty. We seem to see sin, fear, inability, discordant relationships, and slavery to evil habits.
But think. Why was my friend able to help that little bird? She'd learned how to pray from the standpoint of spiritually understanding God and man. She'd attended a Christian Science Sunday School while she was growing up. She'd had the opportunity to study Christian Science for many years and to have class instruction. She'd been gaining an understanding of God as infinite Mind, the loving Father-Mother of His creation.
Now divine Mind can only be expressed in ideas. When we discern God as Mind we understand creation to be Mind's ideas expressed. This means that in our real selfhood you and I and all creation, instead of being material, physical, destructible, are spiritual ideas in divine Mind. We're not made of flesh, blood, and bones, but of the substance of intelligence or Mind. Knowing this we're always safe. We can't be in danger or destroyed.
We are in reality spiritual ideas instead of material beings. Now a spiritual idea can't be diseased, deformed, injured. It can't be sinful, sick, poor, aging, or dying. God's ideas are forever embraced in infinite Mind and preserved intact as the perfect expressions of divine Mind. By maintaining these truths consistently in our daily living we improve human existence.
My friend had proved this fact before in her experience. Now this Christlike understanding put into practice liberated a small bird from what seemed to be an imprisoning material situation. She prayed, knowing the spiritual facts of being to be true right there at that moment. She knew that the bird's identity was spiritual, an idea in the Mind that is God. She knew that God, Mind, Spirit, was controlling it harmoniously. In reality, it was living in the realm of Mind. It must express the joy and freedom of Mind.
As the result of her spiritual knowing she spoke reassuringly to the bird and said what Christian Science is saying to you, to me, and to everyone now: "'Love is the liberator' (Science and Health, p. 225). The door, the Christ, is here for your freedom. God is your Mind. Accept your freedom."
Now I've used some terms for God which may need explanation — Spirit, Mind, Love. How do we understand Spirit? The substance of Spirit is the opposite of what seems to be the substance of matter. According to material education we think that we see, feel, taste, and smell matter. Matter is that which is tangible to the physical senses. Now the opposite of matter is Spirit. It's that which the physical senses can neither see, feel, taste, smell, nor hear. How do we perceive Spirit then? We know Spirit through understanding. We know its ideas through spiritual understanding. We mentally and spiritually see them. The substance of a spiritual idea isn't the substance of non-intelligent matter.
Christian Science teaches us that, only that which is intelligent, that which exists spiritually, that which can be spiritually discerned has life. We soon learn in this teaching that matter has neither substance, life, nor intelligence. We learn it isn't Godlike: consequently there's no truth in matter. God alone is Truth. We learn also that Spirit, is always present, filling all space. God, or good, is present right where we are.
Since the creator is Spirit, creation, which must necessarily be Godlike is spiritual. The entire spiritual universe is expressing God's harmony and perfection always.
Christian Science proves that God is Life. Since He is All, He is Truth. Being good, all-harmonious, and ever-present, He is necessarily Love. As God or Spirit is the substance of all, He is Soul. Then there can be but one Soul which is reflected by God's creation.
That which is cause, that which is fundamental Truth, that which is unchanging perfection, that which governs all can best be described by the words "divine Principle." In addition to the words found in the Bible referring to God Christian Science has added the word "Principle."
When we understand the full meaning of Principle it brings to us a sense of absolute security in the unfailing love and sustaining presence of God.
The seven synonyms for God — Mind, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, and Principle — show us the nature and wholeness of God. They help us to understand Him and our relationship to Him. In proportion as you and I accept and maintain these great spiritual truths we experience healing of sickness, fear, lack and discordant relationships.
A clearer understanding of God is always an open door to harmony and healing. It's the basis of all prayer. So let's review briefly some things about prayer as taught in this Science, the prayer which is called Christian Science treatment.
We don't pray from the standpoint of being mortal, living in a physical body in a material universe involved in a discordant situation of some kind. If we pray from this standpoint, we fall into the error of praying for material things. Then we wonder why our prayers aren't answered. Why don't we pray for material things? Christian Science reveals that what we think of as material existence is only a mortal dream of life in matter. Now in our night dreams how do we get rid of a monster that seems to be chasing us? We awaken from the dream to realize its nothingness and feel safe. It's the same in our human experience. We must awaken from the material dream to realize our freedom from the various fears and monsters that seem to confront us each day.
In the Bible, after the first record of man created in God's likeness, we're told in an allegory that a material man was created and called Adam. Then he fell into a deep sleep. In the light of the spiritual and scientific interpretation of the Scriptures, material existence is a dream — a deep sleep from which we need to be awakened. In the New Testament, we're told of the coming of Jesus, the true representative of the Christ. It's the Christ that enables us to awaken from the dream of material living and from bondage to the physical senses. This awakening to spiritual existence — the only existence there really is — brings health, holiness, love. It brings intelligence, peace, life and harmony. It reveals the kingdom of heaven within us.
Awakening comes through prayer, through knowing or understanding divine facts. Prayer is realizing what God is and what man is. It's knowing God's goodness, love, presence, power, and allness. Then it's realizing our oneness with God as His perfect likeness or idea. It's seeing that we don't live in a corporeal body any more than God does. In spiritual prayer we deny the power or presence of anything unlike God — of matter, evil, sickness, death, and discord. We realize that we express God's intelligence and His perfect spiritual government and harmony.
Prayer is knowing that we're subject only to our Maker. It's desiring to do His will, and doing it. It's thanking God for what we know to be true.
All of us can pray after this manner now and can continue to do so frequently during each day. Such praying does wonderful things for us. It's the open door to joy and goodness in all of our experience. Through the unceasing prayer of spiritual understanding we begin to experience the kingdom of heaven.
Now let's look at the origin of the prayer of spiritual understanding taught by Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy discovered this Christ Science in 1866. It's sometimes asked, Why did this spiritual discovery come to Mrs. Eddy? Christian Science declares that the Christ now revealed in its fullness in Christian Science has always been present, though unseen to the mortal senses. Just as the door, which offered escape, was open for the bird, this discernment of the Christ came to the one spiritually prepared, as it came to some in varying degrees in Bible times. Mrs. Eddy was ready and waiting to receive and proclaim the gospel of the Christ to this age. A correct and demonstrable understanding of Christian Science rests on an appreciation of Mrs. Eddy's place as its Discoverer and Founder and the author of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
Her early environment and education all contributed to a strong attraction toward spiritual things and a deep search for the true understanding of God and of divine healing. Later disappointments, grief, and illness quickened her desire to know God, to find the way out of material bondage in the manner demonstrated by Jesus. After nearly half a century of devotion to her ideal, Mrs. Eddy reached the point of spiritual readiness to discern and receive the Christ, Truth.
The light of this new-old Truth began to dawn on her thought. At a time of great need as a result of a critical injury, she read the account of the healing of the palsied man from the Gospel of Matthew (9:2-7). She noted that Jesus said it was no different to say to the man, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," than it was to say, "Arise, and walk." At that moment Mrs. Eddy saw that physical conditions are only outward phenomena of unseen mental states. She experienced an instantaneous healing. What brought about this change — a change which seemed so miraculous but proved to be divinely natural?
Mrs. Eddy answers this question in the textbook. She says (Science and Health, p. 108): "When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit."
Mrs. Eddy's discovery makes plain that if we'd find the Christ, the door to eternal Life, we must understand God as infinite Spirit, or Mind — as the only substance, cause, presence, and power. Next, we must understand matter to be nothing but a false mental phenomenon without a cause, without a creator, without a place, without existence. Then little by little we must demonstrate this spiritual understanding in a life freed from sin, as Jesus did. By pure affection for all mankind, by ability to heal the sick, and by continuous progress out of materiality into spiritual reality.
One of the most encouraging things today is the way Christian Science opens the door of spiritual healing through prayer — even healing those diseases spoken of as incurable. This scientific religion explains that all disease is false belief, mental, not physical, that God's power can destroy diseases. It also destroys the wrong or ignorant thoughts sometimes found to be the cause of disease — sin, selfishness, fear, resentment, hatred, dishonesty, envy. Also, misconceptions of God.
The receptive, simple thought of a child sometimes grasps the spirit of Christian Science healing more readily than does the adult. Let me tell you an interesting example of this.
A young mother was having difficulty with varicose veins. A physician diagnosed the trouble as serious and said that she would have to stay in bed for six months until the birth of her next child. Then he said the condition would become a great deal worse. However, this woman had caught a glimpse of the wonderful promise of Christian Science. She didn't accept the verdict and, although the condition did seem to grow worse, her faith grew stronger.
When her husband returned from a business trip, he asked her to walk with him to the home of a relative some blocks away. Since her husband hadn't accepted Christian Science, she didn't want to tell him that she couldn't walk that far. While seeking an answer to the situation, she went into the next room. Her young daughter, almost three years old, was sitting in her little chair looking at a picture book. She said to the child: "Daddy wants me to walk with him to see Aunt Grace. Won't you help Mother to know that she can?"
The little girl looked up and replied with simple assurance, "Why, God goes with you all the way." The mother thought: "Why, of course, it's God's strength, God's activity, God's intelligence that moves. God's qualities are always active." The mother walked both ways without any difficulty. That evening upon reaching home she found the swelling had greatly decreased. By morning it was gone. Soon there was complete healing of the condition. The door to healing and freedom was open all the time for this young mother. The clear thought of a child only three years of age showed her the way.
The door to an abundant life is also present for young people. It leads to spiritual purity, happiness, success, health, and holiness. Christian Science shows them this door.
First, what do young people need today? Most of all, they need to know God. They need to know they can love, trust, and obey Him with joy and assurance that this trust and obedience brings a just reward. They need to know the truth about themselves and others as the spiritual image and likeness of God. They need to understand that God is tender, wise, kind, and always present to lead and to guide. They need to realize that good is the natural state of man, that they reach their true being and happiness through obedience to the law of God, of divine Mind.
Young people should be taught how to recognize and avoid the pitfalls of human desire for license in evil and disobedience to the laws of God. They need to have respect for the rights of others, respect for freedom, and love for God and man. Then they will love and experience the good that is divinely natural.
Young people need to understand that happiness and success can be had only by using all of their talents in service for God and their fellowmen. Children who are brought up in a home where parents are practicing the teachings of Christian Science in their daily lives learn by example. They find that their religion broadens, not hampers, the scope of their activities. Christian Science gives them the spiritual armor with which to reject the world's insistence that material indulgences are normal and necessary in order to be liked, successful, or happy — indulgences such as smoking, drinking, and immorality. Many who have been privileged to attend the Christian Science Sunday School see through these lies about man. They have gained a working understanding of Christian Science. They bear witness to the teachings of Christian Science in useful, happy daily living. Young people often find they can solve their problems themselves when they know their relationship to God.
One young man I know found this to be true in overcoming both fear and a painful injury. He was on a high ladder while painting a house and lost his balance several times. Each time he jumped onto a cement driveway and this seemed to result in quite a sense of injury. And a fear of falling from heights began to take over. However, this young man knew his relationship to God was intact and claimed his true status and dominion as man — that he was unafraid, and capable of carrying out his work. He continued painting the house without any fear of falling but evidence of a rupture was very apparent. The third day he took additional time out beside his regular study of the daily lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly. He quietly read in Science and Health praying to realize that his true manhood expressed completeness — that the ever-presence of God was with him everywhere. His one desire was to bear witness to God's rule of perfection. He wanted very much to prove man's oneness with God. To let God's will be done — His perfect plan for man.
In relating the experience this young man wrote, "After my quiet time with God, there was no evidence of the condition. About a year after this experience, it was necessary for me to take a rigid physical examination for final discharge from the United States Coast Guard Reserves. I was pronounced physically perfect. All at once I realized what a wonderful healing had taken place, and I felt a great gratitude to Christian Science for the truths I had been taught at home and in the Christian Science Sunday School."
Another way that helps us to find life more abundant lies in giving — giving of ourselves, our talents, and our resources. Material thought is mostly concerned with getting — getting a job, getting more money, getting more health, getting more love and friendship. A significant statement written by the Discoverer of Christian Science is helpful here (Science and Health, p. 79), "Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us." Now, the withholding tendency of human nature, like all evil, is based on the belief that matter is substance. This belief leads to poverty and limitation. It gives power to the opposite of God, Spirit.
According to spiritual law we have and reflect God's goodness. Giving doesn't deplete this inexhaustible source of supply. Giving is the outward proof that we're realizing our oneness with God. If we desire love, then we must realize that in reality all the love of God is ours. We express it. We don't have to have objects for our affection, such as persons and things. Expressing God's love we shall include all men in one affection.
Our work or service becomes more valuable in proportion to our expression of such right ideas. Can you think of anyone running a business, engaging in a profession, or holding a position without the expression of intelligence and ideas? Then what is our real work? Surely it isn't the material acts that we perform or the material services which we render for others. It's our individual expression of intelligence, wisdom, love, and kindness.
As we see our work to be the expression of God, many ideas unfold to our listening thought to be put into practice. The quality of our work is improved and the work becomes more meaningful as we recognize that man reflects such attributes as alertness, promptness, orderliness, truthfulness. Also trust-worthiness, ability, humility, cooperation, understanding, and helpfulness are important. When we are inspired with giving we're never bored. Looking to divine Mind for right ideas we find greater strength and ability with which to perform our tasks.
When the purpose of our work is to bless we can be assured that our right activity in expressing spiritual good will put us in the position in which we're most needed. There's always a place for us and for the highest sense of good which we're capable of expressing.
The businessman who looks to Mind for ideas and ways to express his service to God and to his fellowmen will find that God's law of harmony destroys fear and the false beliefs of depression, failure, and lack. This law is practical and provable now.
Christian Science teaches us that divine Mind gives man intelligence and right ideas, and that these right ideas supply the human need. So the Christian Scientist finds that his real supply and income are right ideas and are derived from God. The money or goods he receives for his services are only the effect.
Real happiness comes not from the material thing we're doing, but from God. We should learn to express happiness in our work instead of expecting it to bring us happiness. Spiritual joy lends buoyancy to our daily tasks and saves us from a sense of fatiguing depression.
For many years, as a teacher in the public schools, I found myself fatigued at the end of the day. This is a problem common to those in this profession. When my thinking changed through Christian Science, I looked on my work as the expression of God. It naturally became a more joyous experience. I began to turn to divine Mind for intelligence and ideas to guide me in planning my work and in eliminating discipline problems. I found myself at the end of day refreshed and free from fatigue. This was vividly brought to my attention when some students entered my room for the last class of the day, and asked how I could look so rested. You can prove the same thing in the home — or in business.
If we watch our thinking we're apt to find that frequently during the day thought is turning toward self to see how happy we feel. We're apt to look to the place in which we find ourselves, to the weather, to the people with whom we associate, to the work we have to do, or to the material things we possess, to see how much happiness they're permitting us that day.
Looking to person, place, or thing for happiness makes for problems of depression and fruitless activity. Soon after my introduction to Christian Science I discovered with great gratitude that the door to happiness is always open. Happiness is a state of divine Mind, a spiritual quality of God. It's always present. We can have just as much of it as we're willing to express.
What does unselfish giving do for human relationships? When we're looking away from persons to God as the Giver of all good, we see that good belongs equally to all mankind. Then we won't be tempted to be jealous of our brother's success. We know that the good that's come to him is only further proof that the same good is present for us.
When we learn to express the Love that is God, we won't be looking at man as material and mortal, searching out faults, and accusing and condemning. Our love for God and the real man will lead us to reject everything that would picture our brother man to us as material, sinful, and imperfect. We see through spiritual understanding the perfect man instead of the sinning, mortal man which we are falsely tempted to accept as real.
In the degree that we realize that man is the conscious expression of divine Love, we find ourselves lifted above the temptation to express irritability, impatience, hatred, and malice. We find ourselves and everyone else to be the image of Love, as Mrs. Eddy describes man. Love helps us to work out all human discords and personality problems through the law of spiritual being understood and practiced.
Christian Scientists accept this religion because it offers the facts of being which can be proved in their human experience. For example, it's being proved that the power of God is present to heal mankind from the effects of accidents. Many have found that this power can be relied upon to set broken bones and to heal wounds more effectively, quickly, and painlessly than ordinary methods of surgery.
A friend of mine had a wonderful experience when he proved that divine power is effective in every emergency, even in time of serious accident.
This man was driving a tractor in the clearing of ground for a building project. The tractor hit a soft shoulder, went over a fifteen-foot embankment and turned over on the operator. His wife saw the accident, and turned instantly to the fact that Life is eternal. Telephone calls brought her son and a friend who was a consecrated student of Christian Science. And treatment by a Christian Science practitioner was lovingly given.
These were the only persons called upon to help in this emergency. The man was carried into the house. His injuries, which were severe, included broken ribs and dislocated vertebrae accompanied by a condition of paralysis.
It was the understanding of the true nature of God and man, and that Life is Spirit, that enabled these people to remain calm and trustful in the face of the alarming picture presented by the material senses.
No medical means, medicine, or drugs of any kind were used. The healing power of God as understandingly applied through Christian Science was evident from the first. Wounds on the face and the back of the head drew together, giving the appearance that stitches had been taken. This appearance lasted for about five days, and then completely clear skin appeared. For the first few days about thirty spikes from the yucca, a desert plant, came to the surface of the skin so that they could be picked off with tweezers. After the third or fourth day, ribs assumed their normal position. Then eight or more vertebrae moved into perfect order clearing up a condition of paralysis.
This man didn't experience any pain and never complained. On the tenth day he was able to use his arms and to sit up with his feet on the floor. At the end of the third week he rode with freedom in a car eighty miles to a large city to take care of some business.
What brought about this healing? It was the understanding that the real selfhood of man is spiritual, not material; that the real man lives forever in the realm of Spirit, untouched by accident. It was further understood that the accident had only seemed to happen in the mortal dream of life in matter and could be proved to be the unreal, untrue to spiritual sense, no part of the harmonious kingdom of a perfect God. These consecrated students of Christian Science proved that the simple statements of Truth, when understood and accepted, are a power unequaled to save and to heal.
Some of you may wish to know how you can acquaint yourself further with this Science. You may borrow or purchase the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, at any Christian Science Reading Room. This book should be studied in conjunction with the King James Version of the Bible. The first tenet of Christian Science is (Science and Health, p. 497), "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life."
To aid you in this study you will find the Christian Science Quarterly helpful. It contains the weekly Lesson-Sermons which cover the leading subjects in the theology of this religion and, also, scientifically handle the errors of collective mortal thought. References from the Bible and Science and Health provide an orderly method for the daily study of this Science. The Lesson-Sermon is also the cornerstone of the Sunday service in Christian Science churches all over the world. Everyone is welcome at these services and at the Wednesday testimony meetings too. At these, testimonies of healing are given by members of the congregation. You'll also find the periodicals helpful. They illustrate the application of Christian Science in our daily lives.
Now, friends, it's evident that the world has very serious problems facing it. These are problems connected with race, government, war, and crime. Before these can be solved, the basic causes of these problems must be corrected. Some of these are fear, ignorance, sin, hatred, jealousy, greed, and envy.
Christian Science brings healing and peace to many in a troubled world because it corrects the basic errors in individual human consciousness. It reveals the Christ that regenerates by giving us the understanding that all men have one Mind, that this Mind is the Father of all, and is infinite good alone. It shows us how to become loving, compassionate, generous, respectful of the rights of others, and law-abiding.
Christian Science offers full salvation to all the world by revealing the Christ, the door to the kingdom of heaven — right at hand. In her "Communion Hymn" (Poems, p. 75) Mary Baker Eddy says this of the Christ,
"Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound?
Felt ye the power of the Word?
'Twas the Truth that made us free,
And was found by you and me
In the life and the love of our Lord."
It is in the way of the Christ then that we experience life more abundant.
Friends, we all have one Father-Mother God who loves us tenderly. We're all in truth Godlike, not mortal, not material; therefore, wholly spiritual. Our real selves exist perfect in Him now, under His harmonious control. Then every function of our being is, not shall be, perfect in God. We are in reality sinless, intelligent, whole. We are joyous, free, and active, for we are conscious only of good, of God.
[Delivered Dec. 3, 1962, in The Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and published in The Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 4, 1962, under the headline "Christian Science Swings Door Open to Freedom".]