Walter S. Symonds, C.S.B., of San Antonio, Texas
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
There is a practical spiritual solution to every human problem, and it is found in a spiritual understanding of God, Walter S. Symonds, C.S.B., of San Antonio, Texas, said last night in a Christian Science lecture in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Symonds spoke under the auspices of The Mother Church. His subject was, "Christian Science: A Religion of Confidence in God." He declared that through Christian Science and its healing mission we are able to bring to this inquiring age definite demonstrations of God's Word, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword," thus proving to skeptical human beliefs of today that God heals now as He has done in centuries past.
The lecturer was introduced by James Harry McReynolds, C.S.B., First Reader of The Mother Church, who said that through the healing and regenerating ministry of Christian Science, the spiritual and practical way to peace and assurance . . . is open to everyone.
Mr. Symonds spoke substantially as follows:
One of the many satisfying assurances found in the Bible is voiced in the Book of Proverbs: "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge" (Prov. 14:26). The word "fear" is frequently used in the Scriptures to indicate reverence. Thus this passage means that those who reverence the Lord with spiritual understanding will be unafraid and will always have a shelter from all evil.
Mankind throughout the centuries
has been seeking, in the material world, a place of safety wherein may be found
an abundance of supply and peace from the toils and struggles of daily life. In
ancient times the astrologers studied the stars, trying to predict the fate of
men. The so-called laws of nature, said to govern the rotation of the earth and
the planets, symbolize the order and symmetry of eternity. Yet neither the
astrologer nor the astronomer has found God in his vain search for a creative
cause in matter.
The bold adventurer sailed the seven seas trying to satisfy his restless spirit. The Phoenicians of old went far beyond the Straits of Gibraltar in their frail craft. The Vikings, those hardy Norsemen, not only conquered the Britons, but actually invaded the shores of North America. Yet in all their travels they failed to find the Utopian realm and a first cause.
In our own day the chemist has labored with the various forms of matter and through research and patient effort has broken apart the stubborn rock. He has peered inside the gases and analyzed the minerals. He has succeeded in putting together the elements and forming new and useful synthetic objects. His scientific search for power has enabled the chemist to give us many material goods to brighten our lives. Yet the chemist has never been able to produce one little form of life. He has not found God in matter.
The physicist in his laboratory has tested the stress of great beams and learned the tensile strength of wood and iron. He has exploded the atom into components of power. Yet he has not found the primary cause of these phenomena. He has not found God in matter.
Christian Science teaches us that the First Cause is not to be found in matter, for God is divine Mind or Spirit. Christian Science teaches us to reason logically that there can be but one creator of the infinite, eternal universe, including man, and this creator is Mind, the source of true intelligence and all right ideas. Thus Christian Science shows that existence is not an accident, nor is it the product of mindless matter. This method of study and reasoning, basing all cause upon divine Mind or God, is Christian metaphysics. Jesus was the master Metaphysician, and his words and works are recorded in the Bible. So the Christian Scientist turns to his Bible for his inspiration and to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy for his guidance in this study. He makes his vocation the living of Christian Science. He places his confidence in God.
Deep in the heart of every man is a longing to know about his real self that understanding of himself which tells of the truth of his being. Men of all ages and stages of civilization have sought this truth. Reason informs us that man is not the product of chance. Christian Science enables us to become conscious of a power greater than all investigation in matter can reveal, thus we know that there is a First Cause God who is the source of all truth and is supreme.
Throughout the years men have felt the upsurging spiritual instincts within them, and many of these intuitions are recorded in the Bible. The Bible is not an historical document written by one author. It is a compilation of experiences wherein the then highest sense of God and of man's real entity is related. Translated from some of the oldest known writings of the human race, the Bible over the centuries has accumulated intimate contacts with the spiritual facts of being. In the first chapter of Genesis the spiritual account of creation is set forth, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). There was no mud nor clay to be shaped into a human form. The Word of God was all there was in the beginning. Then in the second chapter of Genesis we learn of a false concept of creation, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6).
In this second account of creation, the mist of material beliefs obscured spiritual vision, and man became confused. This confused man was not the spiritual man, but the mortal man represented by Adam, upon whom a deep sleep had fallen. He was the Adam-dream about man; he was not the real man created in God's image and likeness.
The pages in the Bible following these stories in Genesis point out the solution to this dilemma of mortal man, supposedly created from the dust of the earth. They suggest that the men blinded by their misconceptions must come out of the mist, and the prophet Isaiah voices his hope in these words: "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together" (Isa. 40:5). Then as the spiritual insight of the prophet became clearer, he outlined a greater expectation in the prophecy of the coming of the Christ, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). Here is foretold the advent of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, who would point the way of salvation from all evil, from sin, sickness, and death, through confidence in God, and thus fulfill the promise of complete freedom.
In the New Testament we are told the story of Jesus and the apostles, who showed and explained the way of life. Here the import of the Word of God is made plain. Is it any wonder, then, that Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in writing of her great spiritual discovery, should write in Science and Health (p. 110): "In following these leadings of scientific revelation, the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were illumined; reason and revelation were reconciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated"? She studied the King James Version of the Bible and this version is the one authorized for use in Christian Science churches.
The Bible tells us that God, who created all, is the only Creator. "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isa. 45:5,6). Since there is only one God, it follows that God must be infinite, without boundaries or limitations, supreme; omnipotent, all power; omnipresent, everywhere present: omniscient, constituting all knowledge or wisdom. Mrs. Eddy sums up the true concept of God in this definition: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love" (Science and Health, p. 465). There can be nothing more than all, and this simple statement embraces God's creation, including man. The mist of material beliefs would blind us to man's perfect heritage as the son of God. But the belief of mortal man is only a false belief or confused conception of man's true being, causing men to think they have been made from the dust of the ground. Now since God is the only creator and man is His creation, Mind did the creating, and Mind must be God. All other beliefs about mind are mortal opinions, and they are false. Hence true thinking originates in the one Mind. When Christian Science corrects our false beliefs about God and man, we begin to find our experiences subject to the laws of divine Mind, God. Then our confidence in God becomes supreme. One who thinks correctly is not conscious of error or false beliefs, because they are not included in the Mind which is God and so are unreal. If this be true, you may ask, how does one go about correcting his thinking?
This is an important question. One rainy day an airplane was poised for a distant flight. The pilot started his engines and taxied across the field. On the runway he stopped, tested his motors, and then skimmed down the concrete and off into the air. The ground soon disappeared, and nothing was visible but feathery clouds floating by. Confidently and smoothly the pilot continued upwards. Then came this thought to a passenger. "What if this man does not know where to go?" But immediately there was the assurance that his instruments told him his direction and that his experience of many trips would guide him. For some time the dark clouds shut off the view; but suddenly the sun burst out above, and then there came a vast expanse of interminable beauty. Beyond the clouds the sun was shining, but one had to rise above the mist and rain and to lose sight of the ground beneath before he could be rewarded with this grand scene.
In correcting his thinking, one must rise above the clouds of earthly cares and false material beliefs in order to emerge from the mist and to come into the sunlight of God's truth. God is always present. We rise mentally and understand Him through prayer that earnest longing to be good and true, that humble acknowledgment of "Our Father which art in heaven." When we shut out the material testimony and turn wholeheartedly to God in our thoughts, we are praying. Mrs. Eddy tells us: "Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer: and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (Science and Health, p. 1). In I Thessalonians Paul says (5:16-18): "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In James we read (5:15,16): "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
As an illustration of the power of prayer, let me relate the experience of a dear lady of my acquaintance who was stricken with a severe malady. She was confined to her bed, and the doctor who was in attendance stated that her case was hopeless. Her son, a student of Christian Science, prevailed upon his mother to have Christian Science treatment. She gave her consent and then lapsed into a coma. The son called a Christian Science practitioner, who gave the assurance that Love is the liberator and that God preserves His children. The practitioner agreed to pray for the mother as we are taught in Christian Science. The next day the son called again, very fearful for his mothers recovery, but in the conversation with the practitioner it was pointed out that he could do greater good for his mother by conquering his own fear and by placing his confidence radically in God. That night the practitioner prayed earnestly for a clear realization of God's protective care and for a strong understanding of God's relationship to man. Then came the answer, from Isaiah (60:1,2): '"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness, the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." The next morning there was decided improvement, and the following day the patient was out of bed. Her son's radical confidence in God helped to clear away the mist of fear and other false beliefs, and within another day, or so the healing was complete.
Mortal man is faced constantly with the claim that sin, disease, and death are real. To the frightened mortal senses they seem very real; they are solid convictions. But does this make them so? We have seen that the one all-wise God called His creation good. Although mortal man does not term sickness and death good, he gives them place and power by admitting their reality and fearing them. This is little less than sacrilege. If God has created all, then where do these evil things come from? Christian Science teaches that they are not of God not real or true but are illusions which appear to be true to mortal sense.
On a hot summer afternoon a Christian Scientist was driving across a western plain when a town loomed up in the distance. There were the tall spires of the churches, the angular outlines of the skyscrapers, and a number of small buildings clustered about. It was surprising, because no such city was in the area. When the driver was asked what city it could be, he replied, "That is no city; it is a mirage." A few minutes later the car rolled up in front of a large ranch with its windmills, barns, and sheds. The mirage had distorted the scenery into an imperfect picture and made things appear to be what they were not. All these distorted sights became normal when the mirage was dispelled.
So sin, sickness, and death are mirages of the mortal vision. They are the products of fear and material beliefs, and Mrs. Eddy tells us that "the procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin" (Science and Health, p. 411). In God's eyes harmony prevails universally and continually, and one is healed in Christian Science when the mirage of fear is removed. Man is no longer thought of as sick and sinful but as the son of God, perfect, whole, and free, governed by the law of a pure, undefiled, merciful God.
How is fear overcome? Simply by knowing that evil is the opposite of good and that God created only good. Fear is destroyed by confidence in God based upon spiritual understanding, and this understanding restores our sense of sonship with the Father. Thus evil is seen to be an illusion, and one need not be afraid of an illusion.
Christian Science shows us how each of us may emulate the example of Christ Jesus, who healed all manner of disease by spiritual means alone. To most of us there is a sweetness about our childhood memories of the stories of Jesus and his work. How many times have we gathered around our mother's knee and heard her tell of the babe in the manger, the Wisemen from the East, the star of Bethlehem, the shepherds on the hillside, the boy in the temple answering and asking questions of learned doctors, and "the Stranger of Galilee." All of these bring back sacred recollections of the Master, who was destined to change the whole course of mankind, whose teaching was to affect the lives of men for centuries afterwards: of whom Peter was to say, "Thou art the Christ" (Mark 8:29); of whom Mrs. Eddy said nearly two thousand years later: "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause" (Science and Health, p. 313).
Christian Science makes a clear distinction between the man Jesus and the Christ, the Son of God. The name Jesus is synonymous with Joshua and was a common name for boys of that time. It was the name given to the corporeal boy born in Galilee, but the Christ is "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." So Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 583). Jesus revealed the truth of being and unveiled God's perfect man, thus demonstrating the Christ in his healing and saving aspects. The sick were made well and the sinning reformed through his understanding of and reliance on God. About three hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion spiritual healing was lost sight of, and it was not until past the middle of the nineteenth century that a positive rule for healing sickness and sin was discovered. This was given to the world in such a form that primitive Christian healing could again be practiced by people generally.
The discovery of this great truth came from a humble source. It was a cold winter evening in February, 1866, when a frail little New England woman was crossing the corner of Market and Oxford Streets in Lynn, Massachusetts. She fell on the icy pavement and was picked up insensible and carried to a nearby home, where a physician who was called pronounced her injuries serious, with probable internal complications. The next day she was moved to her home in Swampscott, only a short distance away, where for two more days her condition remained serious. On the third day friends and relatives were gathered in her living room, waiting to hear the last word about this little woman. While in this extremity she called for her Bible, and turning to the second verse of the ninth chapter of Matthew she read of the healing of the palsied man by Jesus. Catching the spiritual import of this healing, she herself was instantly healed. She arose from her bed, dressed, and, much to the consternation of those gathered in the outer room, walked into their midst a well person. This little woman was none other than Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
The healing following the fall at the corner of Market and Oxford Streets in Lynn led to the founding of the Christian Science church, which has encompassed the globe. This reminds us of another fall in history which was likewise to influence the lives of all posterity. There was a man on his way to Damascus one day when a light shone about him and he fell to the earth stricken with blindness. After Paul had been led into Damascus, Ananias healed him of blindness by spiritual means: At first Paul did not fully understand his healing and so he went into the wilderness to study and to pray and later became one of the Master's most ardent followers and one of the world's greatest preachers.
Mrs. Eddy's experience was in some respects similar to Paul's. She did not fully understand the Principle of her healing, and so she retired from society for three years to study and pray for spiritual inspiration and enlightenment. At first Mrs. Eddy thought the whole world would accept her revelation of divine healing with open arms, but this was not to be so. She was persecuted and found it necessary to move from place to place. Yet she persisted. It was not until nine years after her experience in Lynn that her first published book on Christian Science, the first edition of Science and Health, appeared in 1875. Even at this time she had no church organization through which to work. It was thirteen years after her healing before her church, known as the Church of Christ, Scientist, was organized in 1879. In 1892 The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, was established.
Thus the great Christian Science movement which has brought untold blessings to uncounted thousands of people throughout the world had its beginning in the healing of a humble little woman. Her persistent efforts have restored primitive Christian healing to mankind through spiritual understanding of and radical reliance upon God.
Now that the church has been established to carry the healing and saving message to the world, it is our privilege to apply this message in our everyday affairs. Christian Science teaches us to heal diseases of every name and nature, and likewise to demonstrate the efficacy of Christian Science in correcting discordant human relationships and in placing business on a higher plane. Science and Health says (p. 345), "When the omnipotence of God is preached and His absoluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the sick." And Paul says in II Timothy (4:1,2), "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."
Many say that God is omnipotent, all-powerful, but they also believe in another power called evil or devil which operates in an opposite direction to good or God. In other words, they give place and power to something else besides God, thereby being inconsistent with their statements. If there could be a space in the entire universe, although it be no larger than a pin point, where God does not maintain power; then God would not be omnipotent.
Hence Mrs. Eddy admonishes us to preach the omnipotence of God and to set forth His absoluteness. When we do this, we erase the possibility of any place inaccessible to Him. This destroys limitations and illuminates our vision of the infinite. Matter is always finite always expressing a beginning and an end. When we conceive of the man of God's creating, the false or material concept of man is seen to be false. Absoluteness admits of no variation. The science or truth of mathematics never varies. Likewise the Science of spiritual reality about man never varies. It is spiritual and without shadow of turning.
Once a student of Christian Science accepted a position with a large firm as a manager of one of its branch offices in a big city. The salary was much below the normal amount customary for such work, but it was agreed that a proper adjustment would be given at the end of one year in case the Christian Scientist was successful. Great progress was made, but the officials of the company were reluctant to grant the promised increase. Thereupon the Christian Scientist, contrary to his knowledge and the teachings of Christian Science, became resentful and downcast. While in this state of mind he and his wife attended a Christian Science lecture. The lecturer brought out the thought that man is the son of God, and in this connection he dwelt upon the explanation of the Trinity. The subject had always been an illogical enigma to the student and so it was with absorbing interest that he listened. It was pointed out that the Trinity consisted of God, the Father; Christ, the Son; and the Holy Spirit, or Comforter which is divine Science. Without the Father there could be no son; God would be unproductive. Without the son there could be no Father; there could be no evidence of the divine creation. Without the Spirit, or Comforter, which is divine Science, there could be no relationship between the Father and the son. All would be chaos and confusion. This explanation satisfied the Christian Scientist, and he saw that the only power is God. His realization of his sonship with the Father gave him perfect government over his human relationship when he acknowledged the omnipotence and absoluteness of God.
In this uplifted state of mind the Christian Scientist went joyously about his way, and the sense of resentment disappeared. The very next day he was directed to call on a business friend. This led to a better position in another city which paid him forty per cent more in salary than he had been receiving. It led to greater prosperity than was possible with his former employer. Likewise, there unfolded new opportunities in the field of Christian Science. When the mortal sense of resentment was destroyed, the operation of the law of Love was realized.
A fractious animal is conquered when he is taught that he must submit to the will of his master. His resistance to being tamed is best broken by kindness and careful education. In the same manner we learn that good is real and evil is unreal and that we are created in the image and likeness of God. The tenacity of mortal sense must always be subdued and mortal mind "must by its own consent yield to Truth" (Science and Health, p. 152). Little by little the infinite spiritual reality becomes clearer, and the unlikeness of God is seen to be a counterfeit of the real man.
Through Christian Science and its healing mission we are able to bring to this inquiring age definite demonstrations of God's Word, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword," thus proving to skeptical human beliefs of today that God heals now as He has done in centuries past. This healing power, this demonstration of divine Love, is most essential. This exact spiritual knowledge will be more readily attained when we place absolute and radical reliance upon God. The power of God and His Christ, as understood in Christian Science, destroys the Adam-dream of mortality and restores man to his rightful home in the kingdom of heaven.
To enter the kingdom of heaven one needs to be cleansed spiritually, and this cleansing is illustrated by banishing from one's thought the impurities of the flesh. Sensual desires and practices common to mortal man, such as drunkenness, lasciviousness, hatred, immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, killing, unkindness, corrupt thinking, and a host of other errors, separate mortals from God. There must be a change of base in one's thinking from matter to Spirit before such thoughts can be rooted out. Thought always precedes action. Scrubbing with soap and water will make the outside of the body clean, but it is only through the baptism of Spirit that the human consciousness is purified. One must first desire holiness, the intimate acquaintance with God and His creation which is one of the precious heritages of man. In proportion as one masters evil, mortal mind is brought into subjection to divine Mind. When through spiritual understanding one overcomes the appetites of the flesh, such as smoking, drinking liquor, sensuality, and when one stops despising his neighbors, criticizing others, and contemplating malice, spirituality becomes clearer with each victory. The pure in heart see God.
Christian Science enables its adherents to heal the sick, cast out evils, and do all things well. Christian Science shows us how to think constantly in the realm of Spirit and thus prove man's God-given power over all. Christ Jesus, our Exemplar, pointed the way for all who would learn the truth of God and man.
A businessman whose young daughter had developed a willful disposition was very much embarrassed by her action one Sunday afternoon. They were driving down a well-traveled highway when the girl became displeased over some trivial thing and jumped from the car and ran into a nearby field.
With all the coaxing and pleading the father could do, she would not return to the car. He ran after her and brought her back. While putting her into the car, passers-by gathered and threatened to have him arrested, not knowing the circumstances, or that the girl was his daughter.
After reaching home, the father was so disturbed that he could think of nothing to do. It then occurred to him that one of his friends living in the neighborhood was a Christian Science practitioner. He himself was not a Christian Scientist and knew very little about its teachings, but he went this Sunday afternoon and found the practitioner calmly reading a book in a pleasant, happy home with peaceful surroundings. The interview lasted about an hour. The practitioner explained to the businessman that Love has all power, and that all he needed to do was humbly to place full reliance upon God. It was impressed upon him that he must know that the error handling his daughter was no part of her, but that in reality she was the image and likeness of God, expressing sweetness, love, kindness, and obedience: and he was assured that God in His infinite wisdom could and would heal all discordant conditions. The man went away uplifted and free of his emotions. His daughter was healed. Years later the practitioner met this man in company with a group of friends, and the man related the healing. He ended by saying: "This practitioner will never know what he meant to me that day. When I entered his home, he was reading a book. We talked for about an hour, and when I left, my burden was gone."
The gratitude expressed by this man was Love's recompense of love. So in our lives the compensation for good deeds comes through the years, for "Love is reflected in love" (Science and Health, p. 17). "We need much humility, wisdom, and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and foretasting heaven within us." So we read on page 303 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" by Mrs. Eddy.
Mankind has great need of humility and wisdom today. Over two thousand years ago a wise preacher said, as recorded in Ecclesiastes (9:14,15), "There was a little city, and few men within it: and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man." And later the preacher writes, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war."
What a lesson can be learned today from this message! The "weapons of war" are carnal devices for destruction, conceived by mortal mind, and include chicanery, deceit, fifth column, iron curtain, and all evil. Yet "wisdom is better than weapons of war."
Wisdom is the understanding of man's oneness with God. Man is created by God and God has created all; therefore man is under God's government, and a knowledge of this fact is wisdom. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "God is not separate from the wisdom He bestows" (Science and Health, p. 6). To know God and to understand divine Principle, Love, is to possess true intelligence. The poor wise man seeing the need of his people, few in number though they were, did not surrender to the powerful and seemingly superior forces of evil, but with spiritual understanding and quiet confidence in God he destroyed the enemy. The truth that he perceived delivered the little city. So impersonal were his efforts that no one remembered his name.
When we grapple with the errors of this world, insurmountable though they may seem, whether appearing as incurable disease, a sense of extreme lack, or the inharmonious relations of one nation with another, we can remember the poor wise man and know that wisdom spiritual understanding is better than physical strength.
Christian Science enables us to learn and apply divine Principle in our lives. As we are guided by the inspired Word of the Bible, as illumined by Christian Science and made plain in Science and Health, we learn to apply God's law to every problem. Who doubts that God's law provides a solution for our international and domestic difficulties, as well as our individual problems? Harmony in the universe is a reality, and Christian Science enables us to understand the divine Principle of harmony and so to have full confidence in God. Thus we are saved from belief in evil and discord.
Mrs. Eddy says, "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way" (Science and Health, p. 454). Today divine Love directs us to solve our problems, simple and complicated, by loving our neighbor as ourselves. Christian Science offers this as the only panacea for healing the woes of mankind.
With the weapons of Spirit we boldly declare warfare upon the inharmony of material civilization. The rationale of Spirit cannot be denied. Sickness and discord are outlaws which fall before the power of God, and healing even at the last hour is possible to all who have confidence in God based upon spiritual understanding. Remember, Peter's chains fell off the night before he was to be executed. The voice of God whispers in our ears and directs our paths when we pray constantly for His direction.
Is it any wonder that Christian Scientists are a happy people? They are taught to trust resolutely and radically in God. Their hope rests secure in the spiritual understanding that one infinite God created the universe and called it good and that man created in His image and likeness is spiritual. Because they believe implicitly in Him, Christian Scientists hold steadfastly to the promises found in the words of Christ Jesus, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).
They pray for that Mind to be in them which was exemplified by the Master. This infinite Mind never deviates from the truth. It is always at the standpoint of perfection, revealing the ageless, changeless, and diseaseless man the man of God's creating. Hence, the diligent student of Christian Science is daily watching and praying, knowing that, as Mrs. Eddy says: "There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality to have no other consciousness of life than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses" (Science and Health, p. 242).
Christian Scientists know that Life cannot be found in matter, but that the First Cause is Spirit, God. Sin, disease, and death are unreal to them. The Master healed these woes of mankind by spiritual means and told his followers, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). Christian Scientists walk in his footsteps and point with satisfaction to the spiritual healings performed by this great religion. They have "absolute faith that all things are possible to God" (Science and Health, p. 1).
So you see my friends, the works of healing are the sufficient proof of Christian Science. Christian Scientists have the utmost confidence in the power of God. In our day we have seen this power make the lame to walk, the sick to be whole, the disconsolate to sing with joy, and the wicked man to forsake his ways. Surely, "By their fruits ye shall know them."
[Delivered Dec. 12, 1952, in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and published in The Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 13, 1952.]