A Lecture on Christian Science Entitled Christian Science: Mankind’s Great Need

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11492, 20 November 1931, Page 6

A Lecture on Christian Science Entitled Christian Science: Mankind’s Great Need

by ALBERT F. GILMORE, C.S.B. of Boston, Massachusetts

Mam lx; r of tho Hoard of Lectureship of Tho Mother Church, The I' irst Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, .Massachusetts. At a Ixicturc for tho Christian Science Group, Gisborne, New Zealand, tho I.lecturer, Ur. Albert I'. Gilmore was introduced by Air. George It. Southey, who said• Friends, Kvery Christian Science community looks forward, with joy to the privilege of being able.to present to the public a lecture on Christian Science, for its members feel the opportunity which such a lecture affords for holding out to others some of the blessings which this Science is bringing into their own lives. Many people, until they are led to witness or experience the results which Christian Science achieves, are apt to have very wrong impressions of it and tty think that it might bo quite helpful in some cases but quite useless in a real emergency. Personally, though L bud long been associated with the followers of this religion and realised the beauty of their lives I was inclined to- adopt this attitude until ! was led to seo that it offered something better, wider, , and more satisfying than the .materiality of the age. I then began to study it seriously and in direct proportion to m.v understanding and right application of its Principle many proofs of its truth and helpfulness have been vouchasafed to me, and claims of sickness and hurts have been overcome in any own life so that I aiow feed that I no longer merely believe but KNOW that Christian Science is indeed that Truth which makes us free.” Those among you who have had help and healings will tell you that what they value more than physical reief is the changed mental outlook, the better understanding of God and man s relationship to Him, a wider love tor their fellows, and the overconiuig. of that great enemy fear which in one form or another holds mail kind in bondage. Christian Scientist’s are happy and grateful for the enlightened {,id "r- - which is enabling t),- , to prove lor themselves that, n the words of Mrs. Eddy, ‘‘Divine Wo always has met and always will meet every human need.” fc T i o * erc ‘*e my privilege of m t dll Dr Albert F Gib SC Dr t 'cilin Massi'cb.mSs" 81 follows? Spnk ° s,, bstuntinlly as

'kiSvfZSt n ±‘i t 0 ninnwhich* from tlw» vori”? 61 * °- disease tr-igslW^A bmf tf feT , b T’r s mo «*'» liavo J'f «?• to' find"reli6f m from e this'enciimbiunco hu.s occiimm/i +i» ' , ° f . l l\‘ tQ,d ar,l ° Bt i. leknoss both entails great suffer mg upon the a (Flirted .an I iK dL ?WWf2;. , tsffi3%r*' f": | i4.i° V,™ cStT. tr = » of ti,„ wssrte* LS: ment recently stated, as reported in the press that in America lose two hundred and fifty million days from and k that f ye ?l “ S a result M 'llness, and that for the same reason twentvfour null,on school children lose each year seventy million da vs iVo, onlv° to t,,CSO s tatoments relate ??.? to tho comparatively healthy, wL d l+ tS I "' ,lo , wo , rk :i, 'd the children 'vho attend school. What of the inapacitated, those who. from various forms of disability are dependent upon, others for support and carer A prominent health insurance company has stated that the loss of productive energy from diseaso is at least forty per cent .of the prodimmg pow-er of tin, race. Now, this loss °‘ “mo and productive energy <r r ie. vous as it is is but one phase of the calamity. The vast economic problem imposed upon society, the necessity of supporting and caring for the sick and suffering, must for the greater part bo borne by those entirely, innocent of any responsibility tor its occasion. Prom one standpoint, this burden is ,wholly sell'-imposed. It Is the result of the sufferer's ivroni' mental attitude, his belief in man as a material personality, to which or* ror can attach itself; to his own mental mis-deeds, as it were; to an act of will and Consent which perhaps ignorantly, but none the less surely, imposes upon himself a condition of disability and upon society the resultant burden which it has to hear. From au economic standpoint alone, how great is the need effectually, to lay tliis monster, ill health! Of such magnitude is the problem that .we may well ask, Is there no remedy for this appalling condition P Must mankind, jwforee, stumble along under this mighty incubus of diseaso and its penalty of suffering and poverty? If, judging by the history of the past, we were to look wholly to material means of amelioration of these conditions, we might Well despair. Obviously, if we base our .judgment upon the situation as revealed bv flic fact stated, tho uso of material means of healing has proved far, very far, from satisfactory. After four thousand years’ investigation of and experimentation with medical methods of healing disease, the burden still remains.

Manifestly, if relief is to be brought to suffering-humanity, other means must bo sought. To spite of all the progress which the exponents of material- remedies for disease claim to "have made, the fact remains that society is still weighed down with a burden comparable only to that which fabled -Atlas was supposed to carry Up&n his shoulders. This is still, for many, a world of sickness and sorrow, of misery and poverty, under which poor humanity stumbles on, with shoulders bowed from the mighty weight of its voluntary burden. But the. situation is not hopeless. A way. has been revealed whereby sickness may be healed. An effectual remedy has been discovered whereby mankind may be set free from suffering and society relieved ot the tremendous burden which it has so long and so patiently borne. There again shines in the world the light ot spiritual truth which heals regenerates and comforts mankind destroying every form of error, whatever its name or nature, to which mortals believe themselves to he subject. Mankind is awakening to the monstrous imposition to which it has been subjected, and through this now understand n<». is throwing oil the burden is abandon,ng i s Binfu wavs, and in consequence is b freed from fear and, happier an ever before, is -being . usJmixM into * better and more useful life.

JESUS’ MINISTRY OF HEALING How is this change brought about? Through adoption of, adherence to, and practice; of the teachings of Christ Jesus as set forth in Christian Science. The careful student of the four Gospels can scarcely fail to be impressed, deeply impressed, by the part which healing the sick played in the ministry of Jesus. While lip demonstrated the power and availability of Spirit to destroy material sense testimony in many directions, yet standing out above ail others arq his healing works. Time and again, not tho individual alone, but the, multitude was healed of disease in all the varied forms which si commonly harassed mankind in those distant centuries. Jesus’ mission was to prove the presence of God, the loving Father-Mother, who was and is able and available through His Christ to heal mankind of all its diseases. He revealed the regenerating truth which brings to mortals a state ol health and happiness. He showed the way into heaven, the ever present heaven of health and harmony, tho open gates of which all may enter, Imre and now.

How this golden thread of healing runs through those three marvellous years of the Master's ministry! What wondrous news lie brought to suffering humanity! Beautiful, indeed, on tho mountains were the feet of him who brought the most joyous tidings mankind has ever heard. What was this glad news? That God is Spirit, tho divine All-Father. That evil is not real! That suffering is not necessary! That there is present-day salvation from every phase of sin and sorrow, from all misery, from gaunt want no less than from physical suffering! Do you wonder that the multitudes flocked about this bearer of glad tidings, thronging his pathway wherever lie went? Do you marvel that the. sick were brought to him, were even let down from the roof of the houso into his healing presence? What a priceless boon did the Nazareno bring to suffering humanity! How their hearts must have leaped with the joy of expectancy as the groat truth dawned upon benighted consciousness, that it “was the Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom, the, kingdom wherein sin and suffering never enter. it is little wonder that they awakened from their illusion, their ancient dream, with hearts aglow with love for tile-Master, their Saviour and Messiah! No event in all history is so fraught with glorious consequences to humanity as the advent of the man of Nazareth with his blessed message of God’s perfect love for all His children.

It is sad commentary upon the instability of mortals, that Jesus’ message so soon lost its signilic ancc; that in so short a time the Christ healing was buried in its gravecloths of formalism and dogma. In loss than three centuries the Wondrous light waned, flickered, and went out, to be rediscovered and made available again to meet poor humanity’s needs only when sixteen centuries had passed. How appropriately have tho centuries between been termed the dark ages—dark, indeed, when tho glorious light of Love, reflected through the words and work of Christ. Jesus, ceased to illumine human consciousness 1

But the prophecies and expectations of the Founder of Christianity have been fulfilled in the revelation of Mary Baker Eddy 1 Hid not Jesus declare in unequivocal terms: “And these signs shall follow' them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils : they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Did he not command his followers, not for their time alone, but for all time, to “heal the sick” to “cleanse the leper,” and to “raise tho dead” ? Did ho not also utter blie precious prophecy: “Greater works than these shall lie do; because ! go unto m.y Father” V In Christian Science these predictions, these promises of the Master, are. .to-duv being fulfilled, wonderfully fulfilled, in the demonstration of spiritual power over the claims of evil. Again, throughout the civilised portions of earth, tho sick are being healed without material (medicine ; the sorrowing are comforted with tho halm of perfect Love; the blind made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and to the poor the gospel of God's abundance is being effectually preached. Again tho Christ, Truth, the .most potent and tho most practical of all healing agencies, is being demonstrated as the one su.ro remedy for all human ills.

CHRISTIAN' SCIENCE THE PERFECT REMEDY With the discovery of Christian Science, sixty-five years ago, the method of spiritual healing practised so successfully by Christ Jesus was restored, later was elucidated by Mrs Eddy and is to-day demonstrating the presence of Coil and the power of His Christ to destroy every typo of discord, every form of error, every phuse of disease, misery, want, un-, Happiness, which restricts and harasses human experience. Through its healing ministry, Christ, Truth, is against meeting mankind's every need. Do you doubt ibis? Then what of the testimonies, thousands in number, given ill the approximately twenty-five hundred Christian Science churches every 'Wednesday evening, and the other thousands publishd m the Christian Science periodicals? Do you doubt their authenticity? nho •knows hotter than the healed themselves of the freedom from the bondage of sickness, which follows when tho light of Truth illumines consciousness? If proof of this healing be required from medical authority, it maybe asserted that many physicians have acknowledged the successful healing ministry of Christian Science, and have given public utterance l hereto. To eito a single case: A well-known member of the stall of tno i'leui’Ml College at Harvard Umversty stated publicly that he was convinced that Christian Science heals both organic and functional diseases. Others, equally prominent, have made similar statements. It may be asserted without the slightest fear of contradiction, that beyond possibility of refutation, the case is proved that through spmtual power alone. Christian Science heals disease ill its every form. Tho fact of spirited healing established, let us inquire as to its method. It is often mistakenly Held that Cliristian Science healing is a mysterious process; that the tocliinquo of Christian Science practice is not easy to understand. And yet a little child will grasp its Principle and rule so completely as to heal the sick, sometimes, as it were, out of hand. , , , • • Three factors are fundamental 111 spiritual healing: namely, faith understanding, anil righteous piajer, faith in God, that He is the ever present and omnipotent Father-Mother, infinite Love; understanding of the divine nature; knowledge ot tnc method through prayer ot invoking His aid, ahvavs available to meet otn needs. These are made so pam in tho Cliristian Science text-book, that through prayerful study all may acquire tho method. Mrs. Edd\ s cogent injunction, “Attempt nothing without God's Help’’ (Ibc hy.st Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany. p. 197), would bo quite illnocuous, nad she not shown the waj. the perfect way, whereby God s aid mav be invoked. Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit(Science and Health, p. 490) is her instruction as to the best means,to insure progress in Christian Science. The letter of Christian Science is knowledge, of divine Principle ot its , law, and of the practice ot that uni '

derstanding; it is knowledge of the truth and how to declare it; how to affirm God’s allness and man’s perfection; how to deny selfhood to error, to every false material belief; how to know its nothingness. 'The spirit of Christian Science is tho love for humanity which love* one’s neighbor as one’s self; the love which reflects the divine Love; the love which knows only man’s present and eternal perfection; the love which enabled Jesus to endure the cross and to rise above the perscutions of Jiis enemies; the love wherewith he loved us; loves all who name the the name of Christ.

Now, let us be assured that healing in Christian Science is not accomplished through holding to disease as something, as an entitv to bo destroyed. Disease is healed through knowing its nothingness, that it has no reality, no presence and no power apart from false belief. Diseaso is a false belief and nothing else. If you say, But what of the patient, the sufferer? Is there not a sick man to lxi healed ? Christian Science answers unequivocally and emphatically, No! There is in'reality none other than the man God created, who never is sick and is never need of healing. This understanding gained and firmlv held to, inevitably and invariably destroys the false belief that man suffers from any type of disease. THE METHOD OF .SPIRITUAL HEALING. A Christian Science practitioner does net attempt primarily to heal a sick body. Sick thoughts alone are to be healed by changing belief in sickness to a sense of health ; belief in error to a better belief, falsity for truth. Belief in sickness is changed to a sense of health when it is learned that man, the real man, God’s likeness, is both spiritual and perfect, now and forever. Is this so difficult? AViiy should this be more difficult of accomplish moil t than the supplanting of any falsity with truth? You may say, “Because sickness is so personal, seems so real.” Yes! It seems real because no hold to a false sense, of man. Is mail flesh and blood, a mortal ? Or is man the son of God, His perfect likeness, wholly spiritual? Our necessity is to lay bold of the fundamental fact of man’s present and eternal perfection, never yielding to the temptation to believe in man as matter. “Lead us not into temptation,” is a very important petition in the Lord’s Prayer. Temptation is too often our undoing. 'The humorist recognised this when he declared that he could resist everything lint temptation. Now let us fortify ourselves against the tempter, our archenemy, .personal sense, which declares man to be mortal. In tliis false belief about man. this personal sense of man, lies the enswer to the plaint so often voiced by the sick, “Why, oh why, have I not been healed?” Always and invariably the answer is, ‘'Because of your belief, your terribly mistaken belief, that man is a mortal.”

Is healing, then, so difficult? Hear Mrs. Eddy’s words, “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, • —neither in nor of matter, —and the body will then utter iio complaints.” And she adds, “If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well” (Science and Health, p. 1-1). Become conscious for an instant, a single moment, that God, Life, is spiritual and ever present, omnipresent, and there will of a necessity bo excluded from your thought all suggestions that the likeness of God, Spirit’s reflection, man could be sick! Error, called disease, can never attach itself to God’s likeness. Your reflection in a mirror could not become diseased. No more call your true selfhood iis the son of God, Mis perfect reflection. Could a sick mortal be tho likeness of God, infinite perfection? Never! This sounds simple, seems easy. What sometimes makes it so difficult of accomplishment? The. testimony of the material senses, nothing more! Is this testimony reliable? Can wo depend upon a false witness to disclose the truth about iinaii? L’t us remember that the so-called physical senses have no existence apart from tile lie of life and intelligence in matter. They are false; in every particular, have no foundation in fact. It was this false sense of man with all its accumulated wickedness that Jesus denounced so vehemently. When heckled bv the Pharisees, be told them: “Ye arc of your father tho devil, and the lusts of your fattier vc will do. He was a murderer From the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When lie speaketh a. lie, lie speaketh of bis own ; lor lie is a liar, and the father of it.” Strong language! But not stronger than was neeessary to dony and denounce the ialse sense of man which lies at die cottom, at the very foundation,- of ate our trouble. Like father, like son! There can be nothing of good in tlje .son ol the devil—tho evil one. It is tins false, this lying sense, the belief in man as material, which must be met in its very stronghold, met and overcome bv Christ, Truth, by the truth about God and man. A\ hen so met, through the realization that lite and intelligence are neither in nor of matter, the seeming strength ot error is destroved; its claims are nullified. and it ceases to harass and destroy. ’ , ... ’ This is the method of healing in Christian Science. Not difficult, if we set ourselves to follow tho precepts of its Discoverer and Founder, in both the letter and the spirit. Me 11 lav need to array the truth . about Goil and man against the claims ot error; we‘may need, in fact we usually do need, to deny the specific claims which seem to attach themselves to a given ease. But when, armed in the strength ol Spirit, we do tliis boldly, we shall, in the words of tfie redoubtable Paul, be more than conquerors.” . . If wo are sufficiently conscious ot the presence of God and His perfection, of God and lbs un - verso of good as the only presence we can heal without tne use ot argument. But. it seems that m most cases healing is facilitated both knowing the truth about God and man, and by denying the. claims which mortal nnnd is presenting as real; that is. by the n formations ot truth arrayed against tho arguments of error. This is because materiality with all its discordant conditions still seems to possess some degree ot.reality. It still holds some place in oui consciousness. • What is this healing agency which so effectually destroys every type ot error? The'Christ, Truth, the truth about God and man ; the truth about ■dl things. The Christian Scientist prays not to the Christ, but through his 'understanding ol Christ Truth, lie pravs effectually. He utilises ms understanding of. God and of GoJ s i>ert‘ecb hinverse ot' spiritual ideas, £?- .establishing truth ml- e ig, 'error of every type, everv material behet, disappears, and is no longer manifested m physical iuliarmony. CAUSATION MENTAL.

In am- explanation of the method of Christian Science healing, .Di ction plays «■ prominent part, ''here medical 'methods of healing genera y deal with effects. Christian Science deals wliollv with cause Instead of treating the body and its seeming conditions, spiritual healing is ion corned wholly with the ‘alsc .chefs which have seemed to cause the d.s corclant physical condition. » ™ held that medical usage to-day jet ognises the mental cause of dueas in so-called psvcliotherapy and its ai ed inethod], ‘it should bo recalled that Mrs. Eddy makes ,t very clea that the mortal or carnal mind JUU

material body are one and that, accordingly the mental treatment which is based upon this so-called mind is only less material than the manipulation and treatment of the subjective state of that false sense of mind the human body. There is a world of difference between the methods of Christian Science and medical methods. 'Die former deals wholly with cause, the latter with effects. Now. we learn in Christian Science that since there is but- one cause, God, there is no effect apart from His creation. God and His perfect universe, including man, constitute all reality. There is therefore in reality no other cause than God. and no other effect than His universe ol spiritual ideas. including perfect man.

But in the realm of belief there seems to bo a universe of materiality. including a mortal, called man. albeit this universe and this - man liavo no existence in reality. That is, God never caused or made either. God is the only real cause, but as there seems to be another universe than if is, so there appears to be another cause, the so-called mortal mind, claiming, falsely, all the prerogatives of divine Mind, even to that of creator. Both this so-called mind and its objectification*, termed a mortal, are without entity or being. However, as mortals, it is necessary for us to deal with these false beliefs, to know their unreality, their nothingness. “Error.” that is. mortal mind.

“made its man mortal,” Mrs. Eddy assures us, “and this mortal was the image and likeness of evil, not of good’’ ( lletrospeetiun and Introspection, p. 07). Therefore, in healing sickness wo are dealing with u false concept of man, a counterfeit, which has no existence apart from illusion, tho imaginary', the delusive. This concept, termed a mortal, is false in both its cause and seeming effect. Wliat, then, could be more logical, more reasonable, than to supplant the falsehood regarding cause and effect with the truth about it? In all our relationships wo cease to accept a falsehood when the truth appears. Haw, then does causation relate to the healing of the sick ? By knowing that sickness, whatever its form or claim, is without a cause; is, in fact, tbe erroneous effect of a. false sense, to lx; destroyed by replacing falsity with truth : that is, by changing belief in a mortal mind able to cause disease, through the understanding that God, infinite good, is tho only cause. There, is no effect from another cause. Not difficult, is it? It should not be difficult to replace’ error with the truth about anything, oven th<> false concept of cause with the truth that God is the oulv cause and man the perfect effect. Healing iu Christian Science, then, is wholly a mental process. It is the correction of. a falsehood bv application ol the truth.

You will recall that when Deter and John went up to the temple, at the Gate Beautiful they encountered a man lame from birth. 'They did not give him the alms he asked, hut something lietter, vastly lietter. What was the precious something which Deter gave him? Not silver and gold, lor lie. declared he had none. That which lie had, and gave so effectually, was his clear understanding, purified and healing. ot God’s presence and of man’s perfection ; ho reflected the Love that heals. And so potent was this grasp of Christ, Truth, that when Deter lifted up the lame mail his infirmity disappeared so completely and so quickly that lie entered the temple “walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Wbat, precisely, happened to this mail? His belief of congenital (Weakness in tho ankle bones, a belie! which laid made of him a cripple and a beggar, was so completely transformed through Peter's dear apprehension of the truth about man, that the lie could no longer hold him in bondage. He was liberated through Peter's knowledge of God and man, that man is the son of God. not the offspring of matter. All healing iu Christian Science is performed in precisely this manner. Consciousness: is transformed by changing a belie! in siclviies.s. i.ll i ill patency. mfiarinony, to n belief of strength, of potency, of harmony.

THE HEALING OF SIN. But Christian Science does more than heal disease; through the light of Love, the light of Truth, it transforms consciousness. This is, in fact, the only true healing, since it improves one both mentally and spiritually. It is the gaining of the Mind of Christ. This.transformation of human consciousness, of the mental state, destroys sin. the false beliefs which transgress the moral and spiritual law. No more appealing illustration of the forgiveness of sin is found in the four Gos|>els than the story of the woman who, freed from a sinful life, came to the house where Simon was entertaining Jesus at dinner. AYhat had caused this great change in her mentality? Jesus’ pure consciousness of spiritual being. Sinful thoughts could not stand in the presence of his spiritual sense, purified and sanctified through his unprecedented realisation of God's allness and of man’s perfection. And lie, recognising the woman’s healed state, assured her, “Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved’ thee; go in peace.”. This woman, it is generally believed, was Mary Magdalene, who, healed of her sinful wavs, became so devout a disciple of the Master that she even followed him to Calvary and the cross.

Sinful beliefs cannot persist in the presence of Truth, uml when tliouglit is sufficiently spiritualised so that the nothingness of all ffeshness is seen, sin, the concomitant of carnality, disappears. Spiritual healing to completely destroys sinful beliefs and desires that Mrs. Eddy could write as a tenet of Christian Science these words (Science and Health, p. 497) : ‘‘We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that easts out evil as unreal. But the l»elief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.” Jo destroy all belief of pleasure in sinful indulgence is the one method of healing sin. It is belief, false belief, that causes suffering from sin as -well as from disease, in fact, the two are often allied; and the remedy is the same, Christ, Truth, the truth about God and man. There is, however, this difference in the healing process: the sufferer from sickness is anxious to be relieved of his suffering; he desires above all else to be free. The sinner, believing perhaps that sin confers pleasure, is less jwilling to change his erroneous beliefs. Ho would like to continue his sinful ways w itliout penalty. But when he learns of the utter unreality of material sense, even though it seems pleasurable, li e is more than willing to be freed from its thraldom. False appetites, such as desire for tobacco and strong drink, are among the false beliefs thought to be pleasurable, until consciousness, in the process of purification, wakens to the recognition of their utter nothingness. The cigarette habit, so generally prevalent today, will ceasq to bold men and women in bondage when its true nature is seen. Its seeming pleasure is but the gratification of an appetite wholly unnatural. It is as transitory as a passing cloud. Social drinking is of the same nature. Indulgence of these appetites only sinks one deeper into the miasma of materiality. And every false appetite cherished and indulged is a wrong step to be retraced, perhaps through travail and suffering. AVlieu freedom from these enslaving

beliefs i- onto gained, when mice their utter nothingness is seen, their former victims rejoice exceedingly iu a new-found liberty We little enjoy the thought that have Ixvn held in bondage to falsity,—that ail illusion has held us in its toils. Once the nature of a false appetite is recognised, healing is at hand. Tho uncovering of the unreality of the illusion leads to quick release. THE FUTURE-STATE.

The freedom which mortals commonly’seek is ail harmonious sense of physical existence, comfort in the flesh. It is to this end that human lives are ordered. But the thoughtful, sooner or later, turn their attention to the great question. What next? Becoming convinced that at best the material sense of life -s but transient, that as it had a beginning, so it also must have an end. they seek a solution to the prohem. Whi. tlier do mortals proceed from this plane of thought ? As we have. seen, the healing of human consciousness which results from the application of Christ. Truth, is a process of transformation, the changing of false material beliefs foi spiritual truth, the truth about God and man. This transforming Christ changes consciousness from a material to u spiritual basis. Belief is changed to a bolter belief Avhen thought rises higher through spiritualisation. Mrs. Eddy perfectly elucidates the problem on page 07. Tof the Christian Science text hook. “T he testimony of Holy Writ,” she declares, “sustains tins fact in Science, that the heavens ami earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another. the iiriilliiiniiied human mind, the vision is material.” And there follows the assurance that what wc term matter and spirit represent “states and stages of consciousness.” Which state of consciousness are we claiming? Are we holding to matter or spirit as reality? Is our concent of man spiritual or material? The answers to these questions determine whether we are in the heaven of Spirit, or the hell of materiality. Both are states of consciousness.

“The unilltimitied human mind” entertains, manifestly, a false sense of creation; it conceives the universe, including mail, to be wholly material ; it Ix'lievcs that existence is material. that life enters matter, is sustained by it, and passes out of a material body through what is termed death. Now, this false concept is supplanted by the fact that Life is God, eternal, infinite, unchanging: that mail, as the expression and reflection of that Life, lives forever: that God's man knows no material birth, maturity, or decay, but exists forever at the standpoint of perfection. at manhood’s eternal noon Here are different states of consciousness, the one wholly material, the other wholly spiritual. Our work as mortals is to exchange the former foi the latter, the so-called material consciousness for the spiritual, the false for tho true. Thus do we gain the kingdom of heaven and eternal life. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

Now the kingdom of heaven is not a place. Did not Christ Jesus settle that for aM time? Interrogated by the Pharisees as to tho lime when the kingdom of God should conic, lie told these persistent inquirers that this state of consciousness comes not from observation, “neither shall they say, ‘laj here! or. lo there! tor, behold. the kingdom of God is within you.’ ” Within you! That is. in consciousness—in tho spiritual consciousness, mail’s true consciousness, which is cognizant only of spiritual truth, of the tilings of God. We, too, may inquire, as did the Pharisees, “Where is this state of consciousness, termed the kingdom of heaven, to he found?” The answei still must he “Within you. ' In You the real mail, as the reflection qnd expression of divine Mind; nut in place, neither here nor there, nor in time, but in consciousness. When thought is divested of false material beiiets, consciousness is cognizant only of spiritual truth, of the divine, ly good. Tliis is the. kingdom of heaven. not to be taken by violence, but by the transforming of thought from a material to a. spiritual basis. Can tin's end. think you. be accomplished by death ? Can a false experience, an erroneous belief, usher us into the di vine state? Never! .As the tree falls, su .must it lie Material Ixoliof must lx; relinquished, cast off’, ill .order to gain the kingdom. If death wrought this change, death would bo a fi-iend. not an enj emy, and the Scriptures inform us that death is an enemy, the last enemy to be overcome. But, to be overcome, not submitted to! How is this to he accomplished? How is death, the last enemy, to he overcome? By knowing that God is eternal Life, and that man has no other life than God.: lias no material life to be yielded up. How, think you. were those ancient worthies, Elijali and Enoch, translated? Through gaining this truth; laying hold of this supreme, fact; through conquering belief in death, both as a reality and as the gateway to heaven and eternal life. It was Jesus’ clear understanding of God as Life, that resurrected him. Through death alone .wo do not awaken in God’s image and likeness. But false, material beliefs must be destroyed, transformed, put off. until the last vestige of error disappears; then shall we awake in God’s likeness, in the kingdom of heaven, not in a given time or at a definite place. Both time and place are unknown in the divine consciousness, where man, the real man, eternally abides. Death is swallowed ui> of Life, and man's perfect state as the son of God becomes manifest. Death, then, like every erroneous belief, is a falsehood to .lie overcome, destroyed by the demonstration of Lite as mail’s divine Principle. This is a problem to which Christian Science offers complete solution.

MRS. EDDY AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. Tlie attitude of deep respect which Christian Scientists maintain toward Mrs. Eddy is sometimes a stumblingblock to the uninitiated. They mis take this attitude for personal worship. The. regard which students of Christian Science generally hold for its Discoverer and Founder may be illustrated' bv a personal incident Several years ago there came to the office of the Committee on P-ihoca-tion for the State of New York i iiree persons, two gentlemen-and a indy, to call upon me, the .then incumbent of that office. After a brief visit, as they , rose to go,-, the eyes of one of the party fell upon an unusual portrait of. ill's. Eddy, done by a wellknown artist, hanging on the wall. Its beauty immediately centered their attention, and a few moments’ intensive study of the portrait called out a statement of what Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy’s gift to the world, had done for each. One stated that Christian Science.had found him -n a state morally so low that he was convinced it would have quickly ended in serious crime and lasting degradation. The other declared that when Christian Science came to him, he was in' a state of dissipation that would soon havq carried him over tho brink into disgrace,and death. The lady averred that she had been healed of a mental. turbulence, the next stage of which would have been insanity and an asylum. These three have long been faithful and successful workers in Christian Science. For myself, 1 bore witness • that Christian Science alone had enabled me to remain on this plane of existence, fur-it rescued me when material means had failed

and tlic end seemed very near. Now is it strange or illogical that there welled up in the heart ol oaih, as he recalled what Christian Science had done for him, a profound sense of gratitude lo her whose punlied consciousness became the clear transparency through which the Christ, Truth, was ’revealed to this age; and through whose rare devotion and consecration to her vision, the Christian Science movement was founded? Anything less than a profound sense of thanksgiving J.»r her great gift to mankind would spell ingratitude and indifference. i:< 1 let us not overlook the fact that with every person healed through the ministry of Christian Science, it is the knowledge of God and of His Christ leading to complete salvation and heavenly harmony, which calls forth this deep-toned gratitude—gratitude to its Discoverer and Founder —which finds practical expression in the ministry of healing the sick and the sinful. Such experiences’ could scarcely fail to inspire a sense of' heartfelt love and veneration for her who made them possible. To be sure, the Christ. Truth, has always existed, ready and at hand, to heal humanity of all its woes, but a revela tor was necessary to make it again available to meet the needs of mankind. And Cod prepared Alary Baker Eddy for this blessed ministry. Why was she thus blessed? Because through much travail and tribulation she had been mentally and spiritually litted tor the holy purpose. How property could she have uttered the. words which Kipling puts into the mouth of the explorer, who. after much hardship had discovered a virgin empire: “Anybody might have heard it, But God's message came to me." And so the heart of every true Christian Scientist goes out to Airs. Eddy in Jove and gratitude, in joy and thanksgiving, lor her revelation of the Christ, which is pointing the way, tho only way, to complete salvation. The u.tmiate of this transforming experience is the goal of all mortals, heavenly harmony, and eternal Life. If there are those ill this audience who are holding to the thought of mail as sick and sinful, as in sorrow or in want, or who arc unhappy through indulging the luxury of selfpity, let them know that healing is at hand, full and complete. Christ, Truth, Love’s perfect remedy, is available here and now to destroy every discordant belief.. As we rise in the strength of Spirit to deny evil’s every claim, we are set free. Cod’s man was never in bondage. As we cease to cut-wtam sick thoughts, as we cease to hate, to envy, to resent, to covet, the light of Love shines in consciousness and we find ourselves healed, harmonious and lmppv. Let us never doubt that God has already endowed His beloved with all blessings, that the real’man, God’s likeness, is eternally perfect. This conviction held to will bring man’s perfection and blessedness into our present experience. Let us cease to limit God's beneficence. Rather let us accustom ourselves to the expectation that all good will enter our experience immediately. In these ways our concept of man is both purified and glorified; and we abide in the certain sense of God’s loving presence.