CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23648, 4 November 1938, Page 5

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

ITS HEALING MISSION BASED ON LOVE AND TRUTH AMERICAN LECTURER’S ADDRESS Considerable interest was manifested by a large audience last night in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall, when Professor Hermann S. Hering delivered an address on “ The Discovery and Healing Mission of Christian Science.” Professor Hering is a member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, the Frst Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. “ Having great need of something that will more effectively restore health and harmony,” said Professor Hering, introducing his subject, “the world naturally turns to any promising remedy. Owing to the materialism of the times, however, many first seek a cure in material means and methods, but as these and the world’s allurements fail to satisfy, the tired and hungry heart looks beyond and above for light and help. Few thoughtful persons in the civilised world have not heard of Christian Science and do not know of someone who has been healed or benefited by it. Perhaps no other religious subject in modern times has attracted so much attention in so many. quarters of the globe. In consequence, it has, appealed to many who are looking for a better understanding of God, which will answer their questions and solve their problems.” “ Spiritual Development ” The history of spiritual development, be continued, could be traced both in Bible narratives and in subsequent events. ' In Genesis, there were two contradictory accounts of the Creation. The first told of a perfect, spiritual and finished Creation made by the one infinite and perfect God in which creation there was no matter, no evil, and hence no' need of salvation, there being nothing from which to be saved. The second record predicted an entirely different conception of God, man and the' universe.. This record Mary Baker Eddy called the “Adam-dream ” arid it was helpful to think of it as a kind of mist or veil—a mental cloud which obscured the Divine light, and which had to be dispelled or rent in order that the light of spiritual Truth might come to human consciousness. The scriptures narrated how at variour crises in history a saving thought found a .hearing in some advanced mentality through which, as a channel, it appealed to the people of the time and in a measure awakened them out of ignorance and darkness. With the birth of Christ Jesus came a complete rift in the mental <clouds, for He brought to men the understanding of the true nature of spiritual. Divine existence, the supremacy of spiritual power. This right consciousness enabled Jesus to demonstrate this truth of being for all time', and thereby to overcome the Adam and Eve belief which was what Easter Day really commemorated.

The disciples continued the work, and for 300 years Christianity grew in spite of intense opposition. To be a Christian in those times meant to recognise Jesus Christ rightly, to demonstrate spiritual power and to overcome interfering spiritual conditions. During these years spiritual healing was practised quite generally but, following the rise of Christianity as a popular religion and its adoption as a State religion by the Emperor Constantine for its political agency, healing activities lessened until they practically disappeared. It was as though the clouds of material sense had gathered again to obscure the light Periodically, however, it shone forth again through the lives of the great reformers. Towards the close of the seventeenth' century a band of people seeking religious freedom went to America as pioneers and there they established their religion and their political ideals after great difficulties. Discoverer of Christian Science Of a later generation of these, continued Professor Hqring, came the child who grew up to be known as Mary Baker Eddy. As a child she was taught by her mother that God could and would heal the sick. She learned to believe implicitly in the Bible teachings. When troubles came upon her she still clung closely to the Scriptures, hoping for an explanation of the Bible healing. She carefully investigated many curative systems, and looked into everything that promised to explain how the so-called miracles of the Bible were performed, but nothing satisfied her search. Finally she met with an accident which physicians declared would prove fatal. She refused treatment and let her thoughts dwel upon God. As she did so there dawned upon her the healing truth of the everpresent Christ. In that moment she caught a glimpse of the great fact that Life is Spirit, the only real existence, and was lifted above physical conditions to a high spiritual plane. Thus she was instantly healed and rose from her bed, dressed herself and walked into the next room to her friends. To their amazed inquiries she said she could not explain at that time but she hoped to be able to do so some time. She devoted her life to the study of her experience in the light of Bible teachings, and there developed in her mentality such a clarified, spiritual quality that finally the light of Divine Truth shone through her consciousness as a discovery because she was ready, able and willing to accept this Truth, to be receptive of the spiritual idea and to obey its demands. “ The Healing Truth ’’ “The main points of her discovery.” said the lecturer, “are that God is infinite Mind and that there is really no other Mind: that man is God’s spiritual idea, not a corporeal mortal; that real being is wholly spiritual, not material This discovery meant to her the complete disappearance of the clouds of material sense, of the belief in the matter as an entity, and thus made possible the revelation of the full radiance of infinite spiritual reality. There remains only the possibility of increased spiritual understanding of this infinite Truth, and this is the work of eternity.” Its Scientific Practice “All thoughtful Bible students,” concluded Professor Hering, “ recognise the fact that spiritual healing was an essential element of Jesus’s religion and its practice. The accounts of his life and works, as given in the New Testament, tell us that he attributed the healing power to God. and that he did this healing to call attention to Divine power on earth and to awaken the sufferer to a right belief and faith in God, the first step in true healing, salvation, redemption. “ Christian Science is doing this very thing to-day through its teaching and healing. It does this healing through the scientific, that is, accurate application of the ever operative Christprinciple. “ The achievements of Christian Science, during its comparatively brief history, have been so widespread in their effects, so wholesome in their influences. so elevating in their teachings. that these results and their part in the world’s redemption cannot be adequately estimated. “This mission of Christian Science, lifting the thoughts of mortals out of sin and its sequence of suffering, turning the hopes and desires of men toward God and His Christ, is being fulfilled among us. One after another of earth’s weary ones is finding peace and harmony where formerly were fear and discord.”