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Show Christian Science Lecture is Given PROFESSOR HE RING SPEAKS IN MILFORD At the beginning of his lecture on 'Stepping-Stones in Christian Science,' given under the auspices of First Church of Christ Scientist of Milford, Utah, Professor Hermann S. Hering of Boston, made the statement that all are interested in the attainment of health and harmony, and that when we wish to accomplish something, to attain an end or a desired goal, we first find the way, and if we wish to be successful, we follow that way. During the progress of his lecture he explained in a logical and understandable under-standable manner just how the way to a life of health, happiness and genuine satisfaction can be found through Christian Science, the way, he said, which Jesus laid out, which leads to spiritual emancipation and which is paved with stepping-stones that all must tread. "An important guide-post at the outset," he said, "is that which tells us whether we are seeking the aid ! of genuine Christian Science or some one of its many counterfeits or imitations; imi-tations; for he who wants true Chris- tian Science must be careful not to ; accept what is offered until quite sure that it is the Science presented by Mary Baker Eddy in her writings and practised by her loyal followers." "Having determined that we are partaking of Christian Science in its purity," he went on to say, "we need to see that honesty is one of the first stepping-stones along this path J not only an honest recognition of Christian Chris-tian Science, but also honesty of purpose pur-pose in one's appeal to it." And here the lecturer made clear that a person with selfish motives, one who wishes to be healed of the effect of sin but not of sin itself, who looks for gratification grati-fication of ambition or desire, or who, in Scripture language is seeking the loaves and fishes instead of the Master's word is not likely to receive healing nor to remain healed unless this dishonest attitude is corrected; A stepping-stone which Professor Hering considers of enduring value is praise to God; praise which is the utterance of a sincere and genuine adoration and affection, which, he said, establishes a right and necessary attitude toward God. And he associates associ-ates with praise; rejoicing, that is, being filled with joy, manifesting gladness, triumph and cheer, not a state of lamentation, complaint or grieving. The Psalms, he reminded the audience, repeatedly mention the paramount need of rejoicing. In this connection he spoke also of the importance im-portance of gratitude, and recalled that Jesus, when he multiplied the loaves and fisbes, first gave thanks; that at the tomb of Lazarus, he gave thanks to God before raising him; that at the last supper, when he took the cup and brake the bread, he gave thanks; that in all these experiences he knew that his God and Father had already answered before he asked Him. Praise, rejoicing and gratitude, the speaker Wrought out, are important stepping-stones lying close together in spiritual progress because these qualities recognize and acknowledge a superior and supreme Being as the one cause and source of all good, and they evidence an uplifted, hopeful and expectant thought which in consequence conse-quence is more receptive of the healing heal-ing Truth and Love. In enumerating and discussing other stepping-stones in spiritual growth, which he regarded as important im-portant and necessary, Professor Hering spoke of humility; then of obedience, which connotes compliance with law and duty, which means reverence, rev-erence, allegiance, loyaltyy fidelity ahd devotion. Here he quoted the Greek poet Aeschylus, who wrote "Obedience is the mother of success," and pointed out that this fact is made evident when we see that success in mathematics can bej attained only through strict obedience to its rules and laws, and that the mathematician who has the greatest freedom in mathematical work and achievement is that one who is most obedient to mathematical truth. He spoke of sacrifice in the sense that Jesus meant when he prayed "Not my will, but Thine be done", and explained sacrifice sacri-fice as meaning , a giving up, a relinquishment re-linquishment or yielding, that is, giving up the false human sense and personal desires in order to attain spiritual understanding. "Self-immolation," Professor Hering said, "is the essential anS ultimate sacrifice that we all must make." He spoke of faith, which he explained to mean confidence trust, expectancy. At this point he made clear that Christian Christi-an Science is not faith healing in the ordinary sense of the word, yet it results re-sults from that fuller faith which is understanding, that absolute confidence confi-dence in the power and presence of God, in the immutable and unfailing nature of divine good, which as we journey on, he said, supplies the assurance as-surance and conviction that divine Truth is ever operative as well as ever present. He spoke of the necessity of overcoming over-coming fear, which he said is a belief be-lief in a power apart from God, indeed greater than God, therefore, to fear is little short of sin. Fear fundamentally, funda-mentally, the lecturer explained, is ignorance of God's presence and power, which ignorance, divine intelligence, in-telligence, Love, enlightens and removes re-moves Human conditions, he said:, T should be regulated by wisdom, nevei by fear. He dwelt at some length on the importance of the teachings of Christian Chris-tian Science with regard to God, and man, quoting from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the following definition of God: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite in-finite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." "Since man, according ac-cording to the Scriptures," he explained, ex-plained, is the image and likeness of God, we can know this real man only as we know God aright." The Scriptural Scrip-tural definition of man, he went on to explain, has been misunderstood by the human mind, which knows only the material man as conceived of through the physical senses and which declares this man to be the divine image, a divine product, and then this human mind tries to visualize visual-ize a God of such character as would resemble this human man; in other words, he said, to make God manlike, instead of to make man Godlike. "Mrs. Eddy has made it possible to discern the Godlike man," he continued, continu-ed, "because it was revealed to her that God is infinite Spirit and that man is His expression." We take a great step onward, Professor Hering declared, when we begin to -see the spiritual, incorporeal nature of man. The lecturer made clear to his audience how Christian Scientists regard re-gard Christ Jesus, explaining that the teachings of Christian Science have removed from the old theological teachings about Christ Jesus the errors er-rors which prevented mortals from seeing him as their practical exemplar exemp-lar and every day Wayshower. This change, he said, has made it possible to understand the dual nature of Jesus the Christ, and to apprehend both his divinity and humanity. "Although "Al-though his wonderous birth set him apart from other mortals in a degree," he explained, "yet his life in the flesh showed us the way to overcome, the flesh and all evil. His divinity was his spiritual consciousness, the acutal reflection re-flection and manifestation of God." Jesus did his healing work, Professor Hering said, in order to call attention atten-tion to divine power as evidence of the supremacy of Spirit, and thus to awaken a right belief and faith in God, and to show that the God of Truth and Love is always "a very present help in trouble," evidence, he said, sorely needed in this materialistic materi-alistic and distracted age. "Christian Science reveals Jesus as a true and practical Wayshower," he continued, "who marked out the way along which we can and must travel in our passage pas-sage heavenward, and shows that the healing work is a divinely natural result of a right understanding of his teaching regarding God and the divine mode of living." Stepping-stones along the way in Christian Science which Professor Hering regards as of preeminen,' value are the recognition that Christi-and Christi-and Science is a discovery, a revelation, revela-tion, and not a human theory; .the question of Leadership, and the position posi-tion of The Mother Church in the Christian Science movement. He explained ex-plained that it was revealed to Mrs. Eddy's uplifted thought that God is infinite Spirit, Mind, and that all existence is spiritual, not material; that man in God's image and likeness is wholly spiritual ; that divine Mind, unfolding to the human consciousness restores health and harmony, and that thereby Christian healing .could - be again restored to the world. She tested test-ed and proved the truth of her discovery, dis-covery, he said, by doing much marvelous mar-velous healing work; thus she not only made the discovery and received the revelation ; she also demonstrated it. Mrs. Eddy became the natural and lno.ii.ol T.ooclT ni-in'ctirin Scientists. -Jl-"k"-1 " he pointed out, because as the Discoverer Dis-coverer and Founder of Christian Science and as its first demonstrator and teacher, she possessed authoritative authorita-tive understanding, was inspired and led by God, and was thus the one to whom her followers normally looked look-ed for guidance. Christian Scientists, he said, will always regard Mrs. Eddy as their Leader, who through her writings is teaching them the revealed re-vealed Truth and guiding them along the safe pathway heavenward. This attitude, he said, is similar in its degree de-gree to that held toward Christ Jesus, who, though no longer on earth nor in the flesh, remains forever a distinct dis-tinct individuality as the Master, the Savior, the Wayshower. It is important to understand the position of The Mother Church in the Christian Science movement, Professor Profes-sor Hering stated, to understand its Messianic meaning and purpose, the divine part that it plays in the redemptive re-demptive mission of Christian Science. The Mother Church, he said, is still governed by the by-laws in the Manual, Man-ual, written by Mrs. Eddy, and for this reason is the Church in - which the Christian Science movement is safely and permanently anchored. Touching upon the healing of disease dis-ease or the amelioration of inharmonious inharmoni-ous business or social conditions through Christian Science, Professor Hering explained that as in the work- ing out of human problems in any line I of experience it is necessary to start from a basis which includes the truth of the subject, its underlying rules and scientific relations, so in Christian Christi-an Science one naturally starts from the basis of the true God and the true man to know the divine reality and the operation of divine Principle. In Christian Science, he pointed out, one never starts from the basis of matter, physical science, human will, mental suggestion or any from of hypnotism, and he declared that this definitely differentiates Christian Science healing from all forms of so-called so-called mental healing. On this metaphysical meta-physical basis of the true God and the true man, the lecturer said that we should and can recognize all disease dis-ease as inharmony, as claims or false demands upon us for belief, and consequently con-sequently find that we can separate these discordant beliefs from ourselves. our-selves. When we lose our belief in them, the life or existence of an error is the human lie lief in it; when the belief ceases, its seeming existence ceases. Christian Science healing is I accomplished, he explained, when divine Truth corrects human error; human misery is healed scientifically by knowing divine Truth, becoming conscious of its presence and then recognizing human discord as illusion i or error, thereby displacing it in consciousness con-sciousness with Truth. Just as the ap-l plication of mathematical truth cor- rec.s an error in computation, he j pointed out, so divine Truth corrects I specific human error when brought! grani i mmm m wriwiiniM m mmm mmesm umtm to bear upon it; for Truth has the inherent power to assert and establish ' itM'i' it is already and al ways omnipotent and omnipresent. : T J"WMy successfully along the I pathway to health and harmony, Pro-' Pro-' lessor Hcr:r.K he'd that it is necessary , to understand the distinction made j between the healing ' of ' disease and j the healing of sin. "Sin involves de-I de-I sire and gratification," he said, ! "while disease -dues not,' In other words, sinners want to hold on to sin, while the sick want to let go of dis-j dis-j ease. "Therefore, to heal sin or the indulgence of any error, the lecturer explained ,it is necessary first to see the sin as sin, to admit and ack-i ack-i nowledge it to be evil, and then to I forsake and destroy it as a claim; I whereas in' the case of sickness, unless un-less caused by sin, he pointed out, it is necessary only to see the unreality of disease in order to destroy it. To admit that we- are sick makes the sickness harder to heal, he said, while to 'admit the we have done I wrong aids in rectifying the error and in bringing about a right healing. heal-ing. And he said that the pathway out of sin seems narrow to those who are unwilling to tread it, that it seems impossibly narrow and steep, but to those who are in earnest its narrowness is seen to be a guiding protection. Professor Hering brought his lecture lec-ture to a beautiful close by saying that while walking and climbing the rugged pathway upon the stepping-stones stepping-stones of Truth, passing the milestone mile-stone of Spirit, - gaining clearer glimpses of the heavenly horizon, experiencing ex-periencing higher joys and entertaining entertain-ing more exalted motives, we are encouraged en-couraged by the wonderful goal always al-ways before us and are strengthened in all times of weariness. , This divine pathway to heaven, to God's kingdom is' not a royal Toad, Professor Hering explained, and can be successfully traversed only with footsteps of devotion to Truth and of sacrifice and overcoming of material ma-terial things. It is constant uphill climbing,, he declared, for we are endeavoring en-deavoring to rise above the mists of earth, striving to rend the veil of materiality, in order to reach the brightness and joy of real being. We may weary during the climbing of these "steps unto heaven," he said, and we may occasionally rest by the wayside; but here he brought out the comforting fact that if we are faithful faith-ful and in earnest we shall soon push on again and gradually become used to the climbing, being refreshed by the ever-available wells of living "water, encouraged by the broader horizon and the enlarged outlook which spreads before our eyes with each advancing step, always alert to divine finger-posts and mile-stones until we joyously reach the goal. And in this connection he quoted and explained ex-plained parts of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, showing how we are protected pro-tected and strengthened all along the way, when we "put on the whole armour arm-our of God"; that is when we know that God is in His infinite fullness and allness, when we know what real Mind is, what Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love really are in their infinite presence and perfection. perfec-tion. "This jurney 'unto heaven,' " Professor Pro-fessor Hering said at the close of his lecture, "requires unceasing communion commun-ion with God, through prayer." And he defined prayer as the recognition of the presence, power and forever willingness of infinite Love to meet all honest needs; as the desire for spiritual light and strength, for wisdom wis-dom and understanding that enables us to affirm confidently what is real and to deny scientifically what is unreal, un-real, and thereby to see our true relation re-lation to God. He emphasized the importance and necessity of acknowledging acknow-ledging a higher power, of looking upward and of depending upon something some-thing beyond the material, for guidance, guid-ance, support and healing; and he assured as-sured his audience that a right faith in God, an absolute trust in His loving care ' and guidance, inspires fearless confidence, and is always a strong defense, a safe rock to which to cling. Professor Hering, who is a member of the Board of Lectureship of the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston,, spoke in a convincing and assuring manner, and was listened to with marked interest in-terest by a large audience. L . a . .. .... - ... ... v .... .a.. -.ruu-,.J....t.. Lit |