CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1937, Page 6

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

"A RELIGION OF SERVICE"

A lecture on "Christian Science:,A Religion of Service" was given last night by Mr. Gavin W. Allan, of Toronto, Ontario. Mr. Allan, who is a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist^ in Boston, Massachusetts, said that true service, as understood in Christian Science, the lecturer explained, has two sides—its Godward side and its manward side; response to God and responsibility to men. Religion, he held, has two sides —getting and giving; receiving and reflecting; hearing and doing. Mr. Allan referred to Some tendencies which hinder usefulness, such as overzealousness, meddlesomeness, entering uninvited into the. affairs of Others, a desire for prominence, a willingness to serve only in higher offices, inthe more prominent positions. This latter phase of selfishness, he declared, frequently keeps its victim in uselessness. Mr. Allan explained that Christian Science teaches that God is Love; God is Mind; the divine Principle of the universe including man, and that man is made in His likeness and expresses him; that man, God's likeness, always reflects Love, intelligence, and .the government of God. Domination, which is the opposite of- true service, he pointed out, nas its root in an exaltation of self; self-im-portance and self-righteousness, which is the opposite of humility, and is not a characteristic of man as he really

is. Mr. Allan spoke of the love of money as an obstacle to true service, and quoted the sayings of Jesus and of Paul in support of his statements. He held that business organisations .which have an enduring foundation are those whose primary intention is service; those which are based on the Golden Rule. , . ~„ ' . He pointed out that scientific Christianity demands more then rendering service to our friends, that simply restraining ourselves from doing an enemy harm is not conforming to the Golden Rule. He maintained that this rule cannot be kept negatively, that justice is positive. It demands that our enemy receive at our hands a painstaking bestowal of kindness, affection, and love. In speaking of co-operative service, the lecturer held that the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians is a plain statement of what good co-operation means, of 1 the only way to live helpfully and smoothly with our fellowmen. The primary law of living, he said, is not selfishness, but selflessness, love. ■''-.. Just as discords of various* natures have been overcome for individuals through Christian Science, Mr. Allan affirmed, so can they be for nations, since the cause of discord is the same in either case—^the carnal mind, and the remedy is the same—the utilisation of God's law. < ■ Touching upon the subject of healing, Mr. Allan made clear that Jesus did not in some mysterious way bestow upon his disciples magic powers, but taught them what was necessary for them to know in order to render service to their fellow-men, to rejoice in the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, which is -the basis of healing. One begins the practice of Christian Science the moment he begins to think rightly, or from a purely Christian standpoint. Christian Science practice is the practice of righteousness m one's own thought and life. Nothing short of right thinking and right acting, from a purely spiritual viewpoint is Christian Science practice, and to the extent that this is done, effects or healing will naturally follow. The Christian Scientist, the lecturer said, is constantly and conscientiously endeavouring to fit himself to heal, and to do this, he knows he needs more humiUty, more love, more wisdom, a better understanding ofyGod and His laws, and a clearer vision of man as God's expression. To this end he studies the Bible and the Christian Science textbook. In concluding, Mr. Allan declared that the influence of Christian Science teaching is aWakening humanity to see that distresses, which were formerly regarded as acts of God, and therefore, to be endured with becoming resignation, are not of God, but are evils which should be overcome and destroyed, and that because of this awakening, there is a growing demand for freedom from discord, and an insistence that such a freedom is humanity's right. This- demand, he affirmed, can be met by Christian Science. '