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Show A LECTURE on Christian Science Entitled CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: THE SCIENCE OF LOVE by Dr. Hendrik J. de Lange, C.S.B. of New York City Member of the Board of Lectureship Lec-tureship of The Mother Church The Christ Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts. A lecture on Christian Science, Sci-ence, entitled "Christian Science: Sci-ence: The Science of Love," was delivered in Salt Lake City, Thursday evening, March 22, 1951, under the auspices of First Church of Christ, Scientist. Scien-tist. Dr Hendrik J. deLange, C.S.B. , of New York City, was the lecturer, Dr. deLange is a member of the Board of Lectureship Lec-tureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. Massachu-setts. Jesse W. Payne, First Reader, in introducing the lecturer, said: Dear Friends: It is with ;oy and brotherly love that First Church of Christ, Scientist, of this city welcomes you to this lecture, entitled "Christian Science: Sci-ence: The Science of Love." In the Bible, the 91st Psalm, we read: "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: for-tress: my God; in him will I trust." And in our Textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy tells us, on page 14: "Become conscious for a single moment that life and intelligence are purely spiritual, neither in nor of matter, and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, sick-ness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled con-trolled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love." My friends, if you have come to this lecture with an open mind and with an expectancy of all good, you will leave with that mind full and running over, with joy, peace, health, harmony har-mony and an abundance of all good. ployed, has the signification of Life." In this manner our concept con-cept of God as Love is enlarged en-larged and enriched. love the Pattern for Mrs.Eddy's Life Mrs. Eddy's life unfolds the theme of this lecture, the subject sub-ject of which is "The Science Sci-ence of Love." Her experience shows wtiat Love understood as God and God understood as Love can do for the one willing to acknowledge and prove the supremacy of Love. In one of her poems (Miscellaneous Writings, Writ-ings, p. 388) she expresses this tersely, "For Love alone is Life." A simple but cultured Christian Chris-tian New England woman whose early experiences were often difficult was resurrected resurrect-ed from her unsatisfactory state of health and affairs by the understanding, as she puts it in her "Miscellaneous Writings" Writ-ings" (p. 24), of the "Life in and of Spirit: this Life being the sole reality of existence. She received vision, wisdom, strength, and the greatest of all, the abundant love required for the leadership of the Christian Chris-tian Science movement, which was the outcome of her discovery discov-ery made in 1866. Unstlnting-ly Unstlnting-ly this leadership was given during more than forty years of self-sacrificing love. The Mother Church When Mrs Eddy left us, In 1910, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, with Its branches in many parts of the civilized world, had been well established. estab-lished. She had provided the Christian Science movement with the Manual of The Mother Church. The Manual makes provisions for the activities of the Christian Science movement: move-ment: its church services, Reading Read-ing Rooms, periodicals, lec-Continued lec-Continued on Page 6 The lecturer spoke substantially substan-tially as follows: We are going to deal with the most dynamic and, at the same time, the most misunderstood word in the universe, namely, love. Life finds its highest expression ex-pression in the experience of love. The wish to love and to be loved is the primal incentive inducing mankind to prolong its often dark and dismal existence. On the other hand, we observe, the suppositious opposite of love, called fear, ultimating in hatred, as the most disturbing and destructive influence actuating actu-ating mortals. Fear and hatred seem to abound in the present-day present-day world picture, while there does not seem to be enough love for all. God Is Love All of us want more love; more love to love with, more love to be loved with. How are we going to experience this? How will it be- possible to have lives of loneliness, fear, and frustration changed into the glowing and soaring experience of spiritually loving and of being be-ing truly loved? How to experience experi-ence love without the fear of losing it? How to live the perfect per-fect love that "casteth out fear"? (See I John 4:18.) Love! "What a word!" writes Mary Baker Eddy in her "Miscellaneous "Mis-cellaneous Writings" (p. 249). "I m in awe before it. Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the un-derived, un-derived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the ALONE God, is Love." This statement points to the fundamental nature na-ture of the divine cause. It simultaneously si-multaneously reveals the loving genius of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science to show forth man's infinite possibilities to love and be loved. It liberates love from material limitation, contradiction, perversion, per-version, and poverty of personal, person-al, material sense. It defines Love in its original meaning, grandeur, infinity, indivisibility, immutability, divinity. Here Christian Science has given us the key to unlock the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom king-dom of Love; to enter it, and to be so at one with it that all experience ex-perience contrary to the nature of Love fades .out. Indeed, God is Love, and Love is God! God's Infinite Nature God is understood in Christian Chris-tian Science from exactly the same standpoint from which Christ Jesus discerned the nature na-ture of Deity, that is, from the standpoint of the primal cause itselfi. The Old Testament, at least in general, attempts to approach ap-proach Deity from a humanly exalted point of view. That this was incorrect was shown by the Master to the woman of Samaria Sa-maria when he said (John 4:21), ''Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, Je-rusalem, worship the Father." And he followed it up by assuring assur-ing her (verse 23), "But the hour cometh, and now is. when the true worshippers shall worship wor-ship the Father in spirit and in truth." Mrs. Eddy has further amplified ampli-fied and clarified throughout her works the concept of God to which the Master had referred re-ferred as Spirit, Truth, Life. Love. For instance, she defines God in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as (p. 587). "The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Princi-ple; Mind; Soul; Spirit, Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." in-telligence." These terms are synonymous and point to the infinite, absolute nature of Deity, They are interchangeable, interchange-able, as Mrs. Eddy declares in her autobiography, "Retrospection "Retrospec-tion and Introspection," where she states (p. 59), "LIFE is a term used to indicate Deity; and every other name for the Supreme Su-preme Being, if properly em- Christian Science Lecture... thoughts of existence -with the spiritual and works only as God works, he will no longer grope in the dark and cling to earth because he has not tasted heaven." heav-en." Christ Jesus worked only as God works. This means that you and I as followers of the Master are to work only as God works. Jesus did not make the mistake of identifying himself with the belief in a personal mind and a material body. In the all-encompassing scope of his compassionate compas-sionate love he knew himself one with everything that had its origin in divine reality. This brought forth his great declaration declara-tion about the indivisibility of spiritual existence (Matt. 25:40): "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." After citing, as the first and greatest, the commandment (Mark 12:30), "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with aD thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength," the same Christlike understanding prompted him to give as the second greatest of all the commandments com-mandments (Mark 12:31), "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Why? Because divine Love being all-inclusive, it does not leave out anyone. This is the reason we feel so safe and lute Christian Science." While all that was good, love-. love-. ly, tender, noble, beautiful was beheld by Jesus as inherent in the Christ, everything in the way of sin, disease, and death was classified as objective, or outside spiritual reality, therefore there-fore unreal Hence his emphatic statement (John 14:30), "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." It is Love which is totally Ignorant of error that makes it possible to destroy error. Science and Health refers to this (p. 411): "If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific sci-entific wayi and the healing is instantaneous." How Insanity Was Healed On the same page of the textbook text-book attention is drawn to Christ Jesus' healing of the man suffering from dementia. (See Mark 5:1-15.) This account illustrates il-lustrates well the Master's healing heal-ing method, which is also the method of Christian Science, called prayer or treatment. Insanity, as well as many other difficulties, may be due to false identification. The first assumption may be that there is something apart from the divinely di-vinely real, something imperfect imper-fect and destructible. Then the suggestion of fear may be accepted ac-cepted which is inevitably in- fore not bestowed by divine Love. Existence Approached Scientifically Let us now return to a brief discussion of the scientific approach ap-proach to existence, already referred re-ferred to. It made the Master's life a shining light of healing and redeeming love. The scientific scien-tific approach to a subject is well known to every one of us. One starts out with a correct premise and from this premise draws logical conclusions. It is followed up by classifying as real everything conforming tc its nature, while rejecting as false whatever diverges from the original cause. This was Jesus' method in connection with the greatest of all subjects, existence itself. He knew enough not to identify himself in the old way, the unscientific un-scientific way of the human mind. Paul refers to the new way, the scientific way, when speaking of the "new man" (Col. 3:10), being "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." The misconception mis-conception concerning man, or the "old man," is the belief that man is the offspring of material, mate-rial, mortal parentage. The scientific approach to existence ex-istence ushers in the understanding under-standing of the true or spiritual nature of man. God being the Christianity. She recognized that (Science and Health, p. 313) "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe." In the seclusion of her New England home, her yearning for growth in grace, combined with a truly spiritual intuition, enabled her to see that Jesus' capacity to heal was the direct result of a spiritual and scientific approach to existence. Love's Impartiality Before we go further in the explanation of this scientific approach, ap-proach, it may be well to remove re-move a misconception concerning concern-ing the nature of Jesus of Nazareth Naz-areth that has played havoc with the healing activity of Christianity, Chris-tianity, so conspicuous in the first three hundred years of its history. Mrs Eddy's great love made her see that God, being divine Principle, could not have endowed Jesus with an extraordinary extraor-dinary power or capacity of which you and I cannot avail ourselves. In the first chapter of the textbook, entitled "Prayer," "Pray-er," it is stated (p. 13), "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals." All the good the Master could Continued from Page 5 tures, Committees on Publication, Publica-tion, and so forth. The forty years that have passed since Mrs. Eddy left the earthly scene have substantiated substantiat-ed her right as the divinely qualified Leader of this great movement. She had discerned and practiced the true leadership leader-ship that gives precedence to Love in thought and deed. Thus the Christ is brought into one s experience and becomes the pattern pat-tern of daily living. Accordingly, Mrs. Eddy coun-EPled coun-EPled all Christian Scientists message to The Mother Church foT 1901, P. 34), "Follow your Leader only so far as she follows fol-lows Christ." In Christian Science the concent con-cent of the Christ is freed from any personal and temporal tense, whereby it becomes available to all everywhere all ?he time. For instance, on page 332 of Science and Health it is stated that "the Christ is incorporeal, in-corporeal, spiritual yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling dis-pelling the illusions of the slnsesl the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sm diseasi, and death." Thus the true nature of the Master stands out Again quoting Science and ' Health (p. 589: "JESUS, The highest human corporeal concept con-cept of the divine idea, rebuking rebuk-ing and destroying error and bringing to light man's immortality" immor-tality" Nothing could have more endeared Mrs. Eddy to those who feel privileged to work in the Christian Science movement than her humble, selfless recognition of the Christ. Owing to the impersonal imper-sonal nature of her leadership, I love for the Christ is perpetuated perpet-uated in the hearts of her faithful faith-ful followers. Spiritual Causation In "Retrospection and Introspection" Intro-spection" Mrs. Eddy relates that to February, 1866 she discovered discov-ered (p. 24) "the Science of di-v di-v in e metaphysical healing," afterwards named Christian Science. She continues on the same page, "During twenty years prior to my discovery I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty cer-tainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental men-tal phenomenon." Furthermore Further-more she recounts (see lines 12 to 16 on the page already mentioned) how her "immediate "immedi-ate recovery from the effects of an injury, caused by an accident, acci-dent, an injury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach." led her to the discovery do and did, must be equally possible for you and me. Principle Prin-ciple expresses itself in strict accordance with its own nature, which is love and nothing but love. Jesus availed himself of the power of divine Love, which is the Christ, in an hitherto unsurpassed degree. The Science Sci-ence of Christianity, the Science Sci-ence of Love, reveals that you and I can avail ourselves to the fullest extent of the same Christ-power. This makes the life and the words, and the works of the Nazarene of such outstanding interest for the Christian Scientist. Love Extends Equal Opportunity to All The devil, or carnal mind, tries to curtail the utilization of the Christ-power. It suggests sug-gests that we are in a different differ-ent position from that of the Master and his immediate followers; fol-lowers; that God must have given giv-en them something special; and that is why they could heal through spiritual means alone, while the modern Christian has to resort to matter for medicine. medi-cine. Christian Science replies that there never was a personal God bestowing something special upon a personal Jesus or anyone any-one else. We reverence Christ Jesus for so dearly and consistently con-sistently fulfilling his mission by compelling a mortal, personal person-al sense of self to yield to the divine. To use Mrs. Eddy's words: "To carry out his holy purpose, he must be oblivious only and exclusive source of reality, all that is real concerning concern-ing man is to be found in the knowledge or understanding of God Jesus referred to this as "the Son of God" (John 10:36). In this Christ-understanding, one receives the power of divine di-vine Love to reject misconceptions misconcep-tions about oneself and the universe. uni-verse. One thus experiences the healing and redeeming enlightenment en-lightenment of the Love that is God. Everything Unlike Love Unreal By living the loving, radiant reality of existence, where Life, Truth, and Love are found omnipotent, om-nipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, om-niscient, Christ Jesus saw and proved the utter unreality of sin, sickness, and death. He recognized that his real or Christ nature never had been touched by any belief of materiality. ma-teriality. He did not permit himself to go down mentally into a human, personal concept of self. His followers those of the present day just as much as those of his time receive re-ceive the assurance (John 6:51), "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." Illumined Il-lumined by his great love that made him perceive that all had equal opportunity in gaining the kingdom of Love, he furthermore further-more said (same verse), "If any man eat of this bread (identifies (identi-fies himself with this understanding), under-standing), he shall live for ever." secure, why we feel so happy and at home in love that has its source and substance in the Love that is God and the God that is Love. Here the divisions and discriminations of personal person-al sense have dwindled away. All has become one, the kingdom king-dom or consciousness of Love. Here one rejoices in another's good as in one's own, because be-cause divine good is not personal, per-sonal, not divided; it is one. Spiritual Individuality versus Personal Sense Perihaps at thig point the question arises, "Do I not lose my individuality in this way?" You may lose your personal sense of self, that sense which makes you believe that you are one among millions of other persons, competing in a merciless merci-less world, with not enough good to go around. However, when you recognize, as Christian Chri-stian Science teaches, that God is your individuality and your life (see Unity of Good, p. 48:8 -9), then you will more and more perceive that you are gaining your true, your only, your spiritual individuality. Accordingly, the textbook declares de-clares (p. 70), "The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal." Mrs. Eddy assures us (Science and Health, p. 317),- "The individuality indi-viduality of man is no less tangible because it is spiritual and because his life is not at the mercy of matter. The understanding un-derstanding of his spiritual in herent in a false sense of self and of existence at large. Finally, Final-ly, the fear might objectify itself it-self as something threatening the harmony of one's existence. In the case under consideration, considera-tion, this wrong identification had a very deplorable effect. Lacking the discernment to distinguish di-stinguish between his real "I" and the spurious carnal mind, the poor deluded one was literally liter-ally "out of his Mind." He became be-came a victim of self-affliction, even to "cutting himself with stones." The Devil Told to Come Oat The record shows that Christ Jesus realized clearly the nature of the real man, God's man, or the son of God, as being entirely free from error. He addressed the devil of material, personal sense: "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." In other words, the Master refuted the suggestion that evil could have any identity as man. When evil is stripped of its disguise of parading as a person possessed pos-sessed by an evil spirit, the error er-ror has nothing with which to identify itself. Under the irresistible irre-sistible authority of the Christ, it is compelled to disappear. On page 411 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy sums it up in this way: "Thereupon Jesus cast out the evil, and the insane man was changed and straightway became whole. The Scripture seems to import that Jesus caused the evil to be selfseen and so destroyed." Textbook's Enlightening Ministry how to be well herself, and how to make others so. Love Is Divine Principle In entirely confiding herself to God's care, after the physician physi-cian had believed her case to be fatal, she must have received an inkling of the fact, stated m the Christian Science textbook, that "God is Love, and therefore there-fore He is divine Principle." (See Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures pp. 275 and 302.) The understanding of the primal cause as Love made it possible for her tender mother-sense of love to become conscious of the all-goodness of God. Thus she was enabled to grasp the unreality of every form of evil, in the sense that it is totally to-tally foreign to God. Love being be-ing God, and God being the one great source of all reality, the mortal states termed sin, disease, dis-ease, and death are seen to be wholly unreal, because unlike Love. They are the fantasy of human ignorance, having no part in divine intelligence, Life, Truth, Love. Jubilantly could it be proclaimed that God was not only the mighty fatherhood, father-hood, but also the all-loving motherhood, of man and the universe From the standpoint of Love, evil loses all pretense to presence, prestige, power. In the subsequent three years of Bible study, Mrs. Eddy discerned dis-cerned the scientific nature of of human self" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 162). In this way he could avail himself of the impersonal Christ, constituting his inalienable, immortal selfhood. self-hood. Christian Science the Loving Comforter However, we also recognize that this same Christ, foretold by the prophets and named by the Master himself the Comforter, Com-forter, the Spirit of truth, has appeared in and as Christian Science. The Science of Christianity Chris-tianity is guiding us (John 16:13) "into all truth." Humbly Jesus said of it (verse 14). "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive re-ceive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." To have increasingly increas-ingly this experience is a source of enduring joy for the Christian Chris-tian Scientist. Here is one of the many reasons for abiding gratitude" to Mrs. Eddy. One can readily see how the Bible, and particularly the four Gospels, gain in practical value when we discern the impersonal, imperson-al, ever-available nature of the Christ. The power to overcome over-come every form of evil, so masterly demonstrated by the Nazarene, becomes ours in Christian Science. Moreover, Christian Science teaches ' us how to prevent problems from arising, or anything else that is not entirely good and there- Resurrection and Ascension By ref asing to accept the suggestion sug-gestion that his real ego or "I" as referred to in the words (John 10:30), "I and my Father are one," was ever buried in a mortal, personal sense of self, Christ Jesus made it possible for those who were receptive to his teaching to witness his resurrection res-urrection from the cross of material, ma-terial, personal sense. Forty days later the disciples clearly recognized what Mrs. Eddy in our age so lucidly sets forth in her book "No and Yes" that (p. 36) ."Jesus' true and conscious being never left heaven heav-en for earth." In this recognition recogni-tion the ascension is understood. Through their experience they were freed from a personal, finite fi-nite sense of the healing Christ as being exclusively identified with Jesus. Thus they received the inspiration, couched in the message embodied in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel, to go into the world and to do the healing and redeeming work themselves. (See verses 15-20.) Working as God Works In beholding existence as based upon divine Principle, the darkness, division, destructibil-ity, destructibil-ity, incongruity of a mortal, personal per-sonal approach disappear. Ponder Pon-der the impressive assurance in Science and Health (p. 263): "When mortal man blends his dividuality makes man more real, more formidable in truth, and enables him to conquer sin, disease, and death.' Then, the more you know that you are one with God, as God's image and likeness, the more you will experience ex-perience your true, spiritual individuality, in-dividuality, in the kingdom of Love, wherein there is no strife, no lack, no competition. And there is plenty of room for your neighbor, provided he no longer thinks from the standpoint of a personal neighbor, but from that of the Christ, even as Jesus did. Love Refutes Material Standards The Nazarene was loving enough not to judge himself according to material standards. Did he not say (John 15:13), "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"? As the only Life, the Life divine, can never be laid down, this declaration decla-ration must mean that one's willingness to lay down a material, ma-terial, personal sense of life was the greatest love one could show one's friends. In no longer loving lov-ing others merely as friends, but as one's own Christ-self, the essence of Love is both expressed and felt. Accordingly Mrs. Eddy states (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 318), "Mine and thine are obsolete terms in abso- Together with our beloved Bible, the Christian Science textbook is bringing enlightenment, enlighten-ment, help, and healing to an increasing number of people. Many of , these people are religious, reli-gious, some agnostics, and some atheists. Those religiously inclined in-clined receive a higher concept con-cept of God as infinite, omnipotent omni-potent Love, always at hand through the impersonal, eternal healing Christ. The agnostics! are freed from ' believing that they cannot understand God. They learn in Christian Science to let go of their human sense of mind and to avail themselves of the Mind that was also in Christ Jesus. The atheists find out that they have been denying what they thought God was because be-cause they did not understand Him. As they come to the understanding under-standing of Christian Science, they now gladly acquiesce in the acceptance of the God who is divine Principle, Love; the God who does not know anything but love in its sublimest sense; whose loving power, as expression, expres-sion, constitutes man's real, complete, indestructible nature, available to all without any exception. ex-ception. All these clarifying conclusions are gained through Christian Science and the study it necessitates. Continued on page 7 Christian Science Lecture... Love's shoulder. The divine activity ac-tivity of the treatment is Love's self-assertion and lawful self-fulfillment self-fulfillment The treatment does not create health, happiness, or wealth; neither does it destroy evil' in the sense that evil is an entity; rather does it reveal God's all-ness all-ness and evil's consequent nothingness. noth-ingness. The recognition that God is Love, the source of one's true being, unfolds that wonderfully won-derfully satisfying fact of man's present completeness and satisfaction. satis-faction. As Love's full expression, expres-sion, man is eternally, inalienably inalien-ably in possession of everything essential for enduring well-being, wholeness, happiness. Whatever good appears as the result of the treatment is due to the falling away of misconceptions misconcep-tions which have been hiding the perfect expression of well-being, well-being, wholeness, happiness. The realization that one's true spiritual spir-itual nature never was in a healing heal-ing process will resolve all forms of evil into their nothingness. This recognition makes the Christian Science treatment the happy, lucid, refreshing activity which it should be and which it really is. Continued from Page 6 Right Approach to Textbook A book should be read from the standpoint from which the author has written it. To remind oneself of this is of importance when studying the Christian Science textbook and Mrs. Eddy's other writings. The lecturer was once told of two men who suffered from the same complaint. They both started to read Science and Health. The first one, while reading the book but thinking all the time of his physical trouble, constantly pondered the question, "How can this passage pas-sage heal me;" The other man discerned quickly that the main purpose of the book was to bring about a change of attitude, in accordance ac-cordance with the author's statement on page 162, "The effect ef-fect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind." He began to see the universal uni-versal aspects of Christian Science, Sci-ence, and how by refusing to identify himself with the mortal mort-al and material he could be instrumental in-strumental in helping the whole world He lost sight of a mortal, material personal sense of self and enjoyed his real, boundless, perfect, spiritual being. You will not be surprised to hear that the latter man was far more quickly healed than the former. Spiritualizatlon of thought had meant more to him than merely physical restoration. restora-tion. In her masterly epitome of Christian Science, entitled "Ru-dimental "Ru-dimental Divine Science," Mrs. Eddy puts it in this way (p.2): "Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Christian Science. Sci-ence. It is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in the higher range of infinite good- ues are in the spiritual ideas which constitute the real nature na-ture of man as the full manifestation mani-festation of Love. Reality Spiritually Subjectiye We have to know that our rights, safety, security, happiness, happi-ness, and well-being are not in outward circumstances dependent depend-ent upon a fickle fate, an irresponsible ir-responsible Jehovah, or shifting shift-ing personal relationships. On the contrary, now we know that they rest impregnably in the kingdom of Love within us. Here we find the inner poise, harmony, loveliness, beauty, satisfaction, and fullness full-ness that we really already include. The evangelization of the human self is the task incumbent in-cumbent upon each of us and cannot be delegated to another. "This task," the textbook declares de-clares (p. 254), "God demands us to accept lovingly to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical prac-tical the material, and to work out the spiritual which determines deter-mines the outward and actual." The way of the Science of Love is not to try to use Christian Chris-tian Science in order to obtain the material things and to achieve the personal relationships relation-ships deemed necessary for harmonious human living. We must live this Science within the consciousness which constitutes con-stitutes the kingdom of Love itself. As stated before, the fact that we can recognize that God is Love means that our real self includes every essential element for everlasting well-being. well-being. The Master must have thought this when he said (Matt. 10:30), "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." The strenuous human way of trying try-ing to get something is thus replaced by the joyous, calm, and Christlike acknowledgement that we include the right idea of that which we so ardently have been trying to get, be it peace in our world or happy relationships. It is in our Christ-liness Christ-liness of being that we find our peace, security, satisfaction. We have said this before, but it cannot be too often repeated. Science enjoins us to do this persistently and impartially. We can rejoice in the fact that we know the truth concerning persons, nations, races. In their true nature they are divine ideas, forever included in the kingdom of Love. Thus we do not interfere with their individual indivi-dual freedom. In this kingdom they have their true spiritual individuality. In the oneness of divine reality all is concord and harmony. The understanding of this fact operates as the law of Love annulling misconceptions and is evidenced as (Luke 2:14) "on earth peace, good will toward to-ward men." In this manner we fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Salvation In the fulfillment of the second sec-ond commandment, which is like the first commandment, salvation, as understood in Christian Science, is taking place. Do not imagine that salvation sal-vation is transference into another an-other sphere or locality where suddenly everything becomes heavenly through a mysterious phenomenon called death. One cannot die into salvation! Salvation, Sal-vation, according to the Glossary of the textbook, is (p. 593), "Life, Truth, and Love understood under-stood and demonstrated as supreme su-preme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed." Death is defined, de-fined, in part, as (p. 584), "An illusion, the lie of life in matter." An illusion, a lie, cannot hasten or promote ultimate harmony of Life eternal. Living and loving the radiant reality of true being, and thereby understanding and demonstrating that Life, Truth, and Love are supreme over all, this is the only way whereby salvation is experienced and sin and death are destroyed. The suggestion, on the part of the carnal mind, that death will bring if not harmony, at least oblivion, is erroneous. There is no unconsciousness anywhere in the universe. No, all there is to death is the belief of life in matter and the error of identifying oneself with this lie. Of those buried in materiality, materi-ality, the Master said (Matt. 8:22), "Let the dead bury their dead." way, a victim of the human mind makes it easier to overcome sin. Sin is based upon the suggestion that the mind can be human. The understanding that God is divine Mind, and that this Mind is the Mind of man, is fundamental funda-mental for the obliteration of sin and its indulgence. In fact, it may be said that a personal, human concept of mind is the basic sin. Equally, a material concept of body constitutes the basic belief in disease. By continuing con-tinuing in the Word of God, true atonement, at-one-ment with everything good, the good one already is, is experienced, and healing in every direction ensues. Christian Science Treatment Never Absent Whether the patient is in the presence of the practitioner or is elsewhere should not affect the good and immediate results of the Christian Science treatment. Naturally, the opportunity to point out mistakes in the thinking think-ing and conduct of the one who seeks healing is often but not always easier by word of mouth. In both cases the practitionerhas to put aside the suggestion of a personal discord and recognize recog-nize it as impersonal. "A false belief is both the tempter and the tempted, the sin and the sinner, the disease and its cause," is a particularly enlightening en-lightening pronouncement in Science and Health(p.393). One sees now that one is dealing with something utterly unlike the nature of God, therefore entirely entire-ly spurious and unreal, without mentality and identity. The misconception may claim to be a person in trouble ten thousand miles away or someone some-one in one's immediate vicinity. But the misconception itself is always where the practitioner can deal with it. Total unreality cannot assume entity and existence exist-ence in any form, even by claiming claim-ing to be far away! The expression ex-pression "absent treatment," sometimes used among Christian Chris-tian Scientists, does not occur in any of Mrs. Eddy's published writings. It is a misnomer. The patient may be absent, but the treatment, being the operation of God's ever-present, eternal power, is never absent; it has no bounds or boundaries at all! Special consideration of this point is requested. Many world problems claim to be shaping themselves somewhere else. By believing for this reason that we cannot adequately deal with them, they stay around, 'so to speak. And the next thing they do is to suggest to be not elsewhere else-where but right where we are. Whether a suggestion says it is small and insignificant because be-cause it is a problem of a person per-son (to him it may not seem so small, anyhow!), or whether it appears as an unhappy world threatened by war, in the light of Love we can see that we are dealing in both cases with a misconception mis-conception which is neither small nor great. In Christian Science it is reduced to nothing. Such a dissolution of error can be readily explained. Error can persist only under the guise of self-deception. When error is confronted with the truth, the self-deception becomes impossible. impos-sible. Thus error is dissolved into the nothingness it always was. Evil's Arrogant Self-Assertion It is clear that personal troubles as well as world problems prob-lems may be traced to fear, which is the root of all evil. The material, personal sense of existence ex-istence is feeling more and more its own inadequacy, insecurity, destructibility. It does not know enough to get rid of itself, because be-cause it does not know anything at all! Consequently, material, personal sense makes frantic efforts to believe in its self-styled self-styled reality. Please note Science Sci-ence and Health (p. 186): "Mortal "Mort-al mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be self -deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it would be better. Since it must believe in something some-thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity." Recently this was forcefully brought to the world's attention! A certain Academy of Scienses proclaimed that it had now been sufficiently proved that inorganic inorgan-ic matter could produce life. All theories to the contrary had to be rejected as of no use. Textbooks in that particular country are now being expurgated. expur-gated. In the assertion of being the source of life, material, personal sense has reached its culmination culmina-tion of arrogance. It is presuming presum-ing upon the possession of divine di-vine prerogatives. It is ready for its inevitable fall, like the tower of Babel and those who built it. nees." Those who have not been entirely en-tirely satisfied with Christian Science because it has not as yet brought all the healing and fruitage they so ardently have desired should take note of this. They must approach this great subject scientifically. Christ Jesus Je-sus wisely attached a condition to be first fulfilled by his followers fol-lowers if they wished to experience exper-ience the liberating power of Truth. He said (John 8:31, 32), "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Truth can only be known from the standpoint of Truth itself! Continuing in God's Word We continue in the Word of God by giving up a personal, material sense of self. It taxes place by knowing that only the good that is God, the Love that is God, the Life that is God, constitutes con-stitutes the good, the Love and the Life of man. The textbook defines man in part as (p. .45) "the compound idea of God, including in-cluding all right ideas;" that which has not a single quality underived from Deity." Christian Science demands identification with the Divine from the one desiring to be a real Christian Scientist. No mental men-tal reservation or hesitation is iustified when claiming ones spiritual Identity. Why? Because it is not a personal, human mind -which is claiming deific being. Rather is it a proper acknowledgement acknowl-edgement of the fact that whatever what-ever rightly claims identity with the Divine is primarily the divine di-vine idea, already one with its Principle, Love. Mrs. Eddy tells us in the Preface Pref-ace of Science and Health p. x) that the human mind is not a factor in the Principle of Christian Chris-tian Science. This so-called human hu-man misconception of man as mortal and material is "the old man." which Paul declares (Col. 3-9) must be put off. One must not attempt to improve jt. However How-ever the effect of our willingness willing-ness to put it off, by gaining the spiritual understanding of man, results in what humanly apjiears to be an all-around improvement. im-provement. Those who are lovingly lov-ingly prepared to do this find themselves greatly released from the tyranny of a personal, human hu-man sense of mind. The denial Unit one is. in any The Church of Christ, Scientist In the illumination of Christian Chris-tian Science, church is (Science and Health, p. 583) "the structure struc-ture of Truth and Love; whatever what-ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." Joining ' the church and bringing forth the fruitage as so nobly described de-scribed by Mrs. Eddy on the same page (see lines 14-19) has a deeper meaning than becoming becom-ing merey members of a human organization aiming to promote good. How could the church rouse "the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension ap-prehension of spiritual ideaa and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick,' by outward acts alone? Identifying ourselves with the Church of Christ, Scientist, is an act of inward grace. We must be newborn of Love. In this way we are embodying the vision of the church "that cometh down from heaven, whose altar is a loving heart, whose communion is fellowship fellow-ship with saints and angels" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 149). The Kingdom of Love Now at the conclusion of this lecture, we are all more familiar with the kingdom of Love. We , can more clearly discern that our true and only self never left it. The male and female of God's creating never left the Father-Mother consciousness. conscious-ness. In the darkness-dissolving, liberating light of Love we understand un-derstand more lucidly and feel more innately what the beloved Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science has expressed on page 266 of Science and Health: "Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light. Man is deathless, spiritual. He is above sin or frailty. He does not cross the harriers of time into the vast forever of Life, but he coexists with God and the universe." In-j In-j deed, as is stated on the same I page, "Universal Ixve is the j divine way in Christian Science." Western Civilization Endangered Christianity is the essence of Christian Science and the hope of humanity. It extends to all, without exception, the grace, beauty, lovliness of the Christ, the power of Love omnipotent, which is the only Redeemer. Let us not forget that the freedom free-dom of democratic civilization, its respect for the individual and his convictions, its amenities, ameni-ties, its art, beauty, and achievements achieve-ments in the many fields of human sciences and crafts, have sprung from the soil of Christianity; Chris-tianity; that is, from the recognition recog-nition that the material concept con-cept of existence is not the ultimate reality; but, on the contrary, con-trary, that God is the source of all true values. The belief that matter is the origin of all life attempts to hold the race in the iron shackles of restriction, strife, and despotism, with its concomitants of merciless regimentation regi-mentation and endless war. Wrong Approach Basic Trouble We arrive at the conclusion that what is wrong with us and our world, the pains and frustrations we experience in ourselves and see around us, is not in outside things and circumstances, but comes from approaching existence from a wrong standpoint. Mrs. Eddy states this in the textbook over and over ' again in unmistakable unmistak-able language. For instance, on page 301, "Delusion, sin, disease, and death arise ifrom the false testimony of material sense, which, from a supposed standpoint stand-point outside the focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down." It is we, not our world, who have to change! We have to alter our point of view. We have to rcfocus our thinking. We have to re-educate ourselves. We have to know as Mind knows. We have to discern th;il our true essential values are never in material objeetivations outside of ourselves. These val- Love Imparts Spiritual Quietude For Christian Scientists ' to share the fear, anxiety, and despair de-spair of that material, erroneous sense of existence is not only foolish, but futile. It tends to postpone the final breaking up of fearful and destructive forces. Mrs. Eddy refers to this in Science and Health on pages 96 and 97. With great foresight she points out that a mental fermentation will go on until belief be-lief yields to spiritual understanding. under-standing. Remember, belief has to yield to spiritual understanding! understand-ing! And then she continues: "During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish accom-plish more evil; but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, or-der, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection." The understanding that God as divine Love is omnipotent makes it possible to do this work cheerfully. cheer-fully. And to abide in that spiritual stillness that does not fight error as a reality, but confidently con-fidently allows Love to dissolve it in doing so we live Christian Chris-tian Science. The Christ in Action If evil were accepted as an actuality, ac-tuality, the realization of God's allness would not amount to much. We discern in Christian Science that in dealing with evil we are. not dealing with realities but with a misconception. We can and must refrain from entertaining en-tertaining a misconception about our neighbor. Christian Treatment WhoHy Impersonal When giving or receiving Christian Science treatment, one should invariably reject personal person-al sense. If we believe that in treatment it is one's personal understanding of Truth which operates, this would tend to restrict re-strict its healing efficacy. A lack of understanding might make one doubtful. On the other hand, realizing that in spite of the human picture the treatment treat-ment is Truth, Love, the Christ assorting itself with infinite power, ensures success, even in cases when one may be only a beginner in the study of Christian Chris-tian Science. A personal sense of responsibility responsi-bility should be watched against. The main responsibility of the one giving treatment is in knowing know-ing thnt the government is upon |