CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 159, 31 March 1939, Page 13

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

“What It ,1s And How It

Works”

LECTURE IN TOWN HALL

A. lecture on Christian Science entitled, “What It Is And How It Works,” was given by Mr. Peter V. Ross, C. 5.8., San Francisco, to a large audience in the Wellington Town Hall last night. Mr. Boss Is a member of- the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was introduced by Mr. Noel Swain.

“The human body is what the human mind makes it,” said Mr. Ross. “When the human mind is depressed or confused with fear, it can scarcely be expected to construct a normal body. But when this mind is clear, buoyant and confident it constructs a better, a healthier, a stronger body. “When you gain the true concept that God is Mind and Life, you see how it is that you are always in His presence. You are always in the presence of intelligence, are you not? So near is it that it is your life. You cannot get anything between you and your Intelligence? So far as it. is sound and true it is the divine Mind asserting itself through you. God is nearer, if could be, than your thoughts. Your true self is at one with Him; His intelligence is your intelligence and His life is your life, for there is only one Life.” Relief From Worries. Mr. Ross said Christian Science not only healed sickness but it brought relief from other difficulties that interrupted the harmony of human existence. If men and women would take the time each day to realize that the divine Mind was in fact the only Mind, they would go forth with the ability to meet their problems and difficulties, and make their businesses and professions successful and useful enterprises in the community. “God must express Himself, must express divine intelligence, life, and substance,” continued Mr. Ross. ‘‘These His qualities, he expresses through spiritual man. You can therefore say of the real man, indeed you cannot say less if you would state the full truth, that he is the invisible God’s opportunity for making manifest every good thing. To use Paul’s language, ‘He giveth to all life and breath and all things.’ “Christian Science has come into the world, as you all know, through Mary Baker Eddy. This great woman was a profound student of the Bible. While studying the Scriptures, specially the New Testament, it was revealed to her that Jesus in healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead, was employing Science. He was not working wonders and miracles; he was putting into operation a Science which he understood.

“Naming her discovery Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy set forth its teachings in her great book, ‘Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.’ She makes perfect God and perfect man the inspiring starting point in Christian Science practice. While we may concede that man is spiritual and perfect, we are inclined to think of him as a vapoury creature somewhat away in the clouds, instead of recognizing that he is herfe and now the everpresent expression of the everpresent God. Indeed this perfect man, this man of divine intelligence and imperishable Life, this man with a world of opportunity and usefulness stretching out before him. is none other than yourself, your true self. Individual Consciousness. “Keep in mind when reading about spiritual man or immortal man or the image and likeness of God that you are reading about yourself, your genuine self. Remember that when a Christian Scientist, in his attempt to break some dream of suffering, is talking to you of the perfect man, he is speaking of you. Not your supposed physical body or self, of course not. That is not you. It is the human mind’s mistaken sense of you, and the erroneous sense of self as material and suffering melts away as the true sense of self dawns in consciousness. “Our concept of the physical body has necessarily undergone radical changes as our belief that matter is real has yielded to our understanding that Mind is all. We used to speak of the body having a soul or consciousness. Then, as matter receded and became secondary to Mind, we spoke of consciousness having a body. But now that the allness of Mind is dawning, we speak of man as consciousness, or, more specifically, we say that man is an individual consciousness, ‘the conscious identity of being,’ to use Mrs. Eddy’s words. God’s man is mental and spiritual throughout without a vestige of corporeality. “You have in yourself an example of perpetual motion, and that is your thinking. Try as you may you cannot stop thinking, because your thoughts and your Intelligence, so far as they are true and sound, are the thoughts and the intelligence of the all-knowing Mind we call God, and God cannot be suppressed. Therefore you cannot stop thinking and you cannot stop living. Mortal consciousness may lapse temporarily. and eventually fade out entirely, ' but spiritual consciousness, your genuine self, can never for an instant be silenced or interrupted.”