Page EigKf
THE BANNER-COURIER, OREGON CITY, OREGON. THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1922.
A LECTURE on
Christian Science
by
Judge Samuel
OF LOUISVILLE,
Member of The Board of Lectureshi
Church of Christ,
Massac
A familiar hymn has been para
phrased as follows:
"I love to tell the story of Life and
Truth and Love.
It stills the voice of error and
turns my thoughts above.
I love to tell the story and prove
that it is true.
By healing sin and sickness as
nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story., 'twill be
my theme in glory,
To tell the new-old story of Life
and Truth and Love."
Christian Science is indeed the new
old story of Life and Truth and Love.
It is the simple, sweet story as it was
taught and proved and practised by
Jesus of Nazareth nineteen hundred
years ago. It embraces just the same
thought, that through the understand
ing of the ever-present love and power
of God, humanity is healed not only
of sin, but of all the results of sin
sickness, sorrow,, unhappiness, death.
THE DISCOVERER AND FOUNDER.
Mary Baker Eddy, the . Discoverer
and Founder of Christian Science,
like many of us, suffered, and found
no relief from material means; so she
turned to God's word with the hope
and desire to be healed of sickness,
sorrow, lack and loneliness. As she
contemplated this wonderful unfold
ment of divine Love and power as
they were taught by Jesus of Naza
reth, as she read of the healings of
sick men and women, there came to
her peace, freedom, healing, just as
Jesus had promised: "Ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make
you free." She realized that what
had come to her was not supernatural,
not an unnatural development or re
sult, but a perfectly natural result of
the operation of God's law. Her
great desire after that was to lay hold
upon the understanding of this spirit
ual law that she might be able to help
others to gain this freedom which had
come to her.
Devoting herself for several years
almost exclusively to the study of
God's word, there came to her a more
perfect vision of the ever-present, om
nipotent power of God dwelling
among men and available for human
, need. She discerned, and points out
to us in her writings, that always
when men have understood God. they
called impossible or unusual things.
To verify this, we have only to study
the history of Moses. Therein we
see that through the right understand
ing of God, Moses was able not only
to heal people through spiritual means
but he was able to accomplish other
wonderful things. He negotiated the
freedom of a nation unlawfully en
slaved, without the expenditure of
money and without an exhibition of
the power of arms. He equipped and
maintained this people when newly
freed, governed, and led them
wisely for a long period of years, find-
ing their every supply in the knowl
edge that from God is all good.
In the lives of Elijah and Elisha
we see not only that ability to heal
all manner of sickness, to even raise
the dead, but that those prophets were
consulted frequently by the kings and
rulers of their time upon questions
of state and government because of
their better understanding of God. In
the lives of Daniel and his three As
sociates we see through their right
understanding of God not only the
power to withstand the lions' den and
the fiery furnace, but that which at
tracted the attention of a heathen
king, causing him to recognize in these
men, who were virtually slaves in his
kingdom, a power that none of his
wise men or advisers possessed.
JESUS THE CHRIST.
. In Jesus' life Mrs. Eddy saw, as we
can see. a fuller and more complete
understanding of God and God's pow
er than any other one had possessed.
It seemed a perfectly natural thing
to the Master that he should speak
and disease be healed, devils cast out,
and the dead raised. He did not
claim, however, that it was through
any great power of his own. He did
not claim that he lived and moved in
a so-called miraculous period of the
world's history, as some 30 called or
thodox thinkers would have use be
lieve. He said, very simply and mo
destly: "The Son can Jo nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father
do; for what things soever lie doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise."
Also he said: "I seek not mine own
will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me," giving us a rulo of con
duct which if followed will work won
ders in our development. If we think,
see, and do always the thin? that is in
accord with the will of the heavenly
Father, how splendid will be our work.
It will then be a perfectly natural
development in our lives to see all
these things coming to pa-si of which
Jesus spoke when he said: "He that
believe'h on me, the worfcs that I do
shall he do also."
Christian Science is bringing to the
world the right understanding of God
which will enable men and women to
see that they have power througn this
understanding to overcome lack, sor
row, disease, sin and death.
Mrs. Eddy saw in fiese statements
of the Master: "Bafo-e Abraham was,
I am," and "Lo, I am with you alway
even unto the end of the world," a
vision of the eternal Christ or Truth,
as she speaks of him. Jesus express
ed, manifested, reflected more of the
W. Greene, C.S.
KENTUCKY
p of The Mother Church, The .First
Scientist, in Boston
husetts
Christ than any other one who has
ever lived. He was therefore called
Jesus the Christ, or Christ Jesus, and
it was through the understanding of
this Truth, this God-idea ever-present
among men. that ha was able to do
his wonderful works. Likewise it is in
this understanding, through a knowl
edge "of this Truth, that wo shall be
able to overcome, as Jesus said: "all
the power of the enemy," so that noth
ing shall by any means hurt us.
As this great vision cama to Mrs.
Eddy she was eager to give It to the
world, but she wisely saw that the
world would not be ready to listen
to such a message so different from
its accustomed religious teaching until
if had proof of its power. Conse
quently she first taught by healing,
inviting those who were afflicted to
come and be healed, and her first pa
tients and students were largely the
so-called incurables for whom mater
ial remedies offered no hope. They
were healed by her teaching and prac
tice not only physically but spiritual
ly and mentally, they heard this mes
sage gladly, went out and told their
friends and brought them to hear the
good news. Gradually Mrs. Eddy saw
by the results of her own work that
the application of this divine Prin
ciple was unfailing; that always when
it was rightly applied and rightly re
ceived there was healing. Then she
divined that the world's consciousness
was ready generally to hear and to re
ceive this message of Truth, this de
monstrable unfoldment of God as om
nipresent, omniscient and omniponent,
as she expresses it in the text-book.
TEXT-BOOK
Accordingly she wrote what had
been revealed to her and called it
"Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures," commonly known as the
Christian Science Text-book, and gave
this volume to all mankind. She
gave the message generously and free
ly to all who were willing to accept,
that every man might be able with
this book, this Key to the Scriptures
to sit down in the quiet of his own
time and read and study and find out
the truth about God.
One of the wonderful things about
the text-book is that you do not have
to accept anybody's word for the
.f vi ui me JJiUic dUU Lilt: LOi-
rect unfolding of the truth about God.
You can read and study and then put
it into practice in your own life and
see whether or not it meets the de
mand which Jesus made when he said:
"A tree is known by its fruits."
This text-book, founded absolutely
upon the Bible, has served to tear
down for men and women the curtain
or veil of mystery, misunderstanding,
superstition, and fear that has shut
them out from the right concept of
God, and has revealed God to be God
who is understandable and lovable.
This is why men and women are grate
ful to Mrs. Eddy.
THE MOTHER CHURCH AND ITS
GOVERNMENT.
When Mrs. Eddy saw the great task
facing her of furnishing some avenue
through which would flow with author
ity during the unfolding centuries this
revelation of Truth that had come to
her inspired vision, that it might go
forth to the waiting world with all of
its virility and strength unadulterated
and uncontaminated. she founded The
Mother Church, The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass. This
as she says, was "designed to com
memorate the word and works of our
Master, which should reinstate primi
tive Christianity and its lost element
ofhealing" (Manual, p. 17). To a
sincere thinker however - orthodox
there is nothing in these foundation
stones of the Christian Science move
ment which can offend.
Mrs. Eddy saw that the early Chris
tian Church had been split into con
flicting sects through following after
mere human opinions, and she desir
ed that this movement should go forth
undivided. Accordingly as there ap
peared the need, she wrote rules of
government or by-laws, now compiled
in a volume known as the Manual
of the Mother Church, to serve as
lights along the way, to lead and guide
impersonally this movement through
the centuries.
She understood that these by-laws
were appliacble to all men under all
conditions, and wrote: "Of this I am
sure, that each Rule and By-law in
this Manual will increase the spiritual
ity of him who obeys it, invigorate
his capacity to heal the sick, to com
fort such as mourn, and to awaken
the sinner" (Miscellany p. 230).
She foresaw that the time would
never come in human experience when
the Church and its adherents would
not need his inspired guidance, so she
wrote of the Manual: "Notwithstand
ing the sacriligious moth of time,
eternity awaits our Church Manual,
which will maintain its rank as in the
past, amid ministries aggressive and
active, and will stand when those have
passed to rest" (Miscellany, p. 230.)
Loyal Christian Scientists every
where are grateful for this further
revelation of their Leader, and are
conscious that they are finding In the
study of these Rules of government,
these By-laws, together with the Bible,
the Christian Science text-book and
the other writings of the': leader.
that God is indeed revealed to be Life,
Love, Truth, Soul, Mind, Spirit, Prin-
ctple.
GOD.
Perhaps he term Principle as used
for God in Christian Science has .more
than any other word aroused unusual
inquiry in the average orthodox thoug
ht, for men have thought of God gen
erally as just a great superman, a
power to be feared rather than under
stood and loved, sitting upon a throne,
waiting to judge men, and sending both
good and evil. The world needs to get
away from this view of God. It needs
a larger concept of God, which is em
braced in the use of the term Prin
ciple. In an eastern city after a lecture a
woman came to me in seeming dis
tress and said: "I want to know how
your God can be everywhere at the
same time." I was grateful then for
the thought of Goi being Principle,-as
it afforded a ready answer to her. in
quiry. In considering the principle
of mathematics manifest in addition,
subtraction, mult'plication, it is easy
to see that th'u principle can be every
where at the some time. The millions
of Europe, Asia, Africa, or America,
can all have the multiplication table
at the same time with all of its pow
er and facility, without interfering in
the slightest particular with its use
anywhere else in the universe, always
with one proviso, that they do under
stand the multiplication table and ap
ply it.
In a far larger sense God being
divine Principle, infinite, unfailing, is
everywhere present, able to solve
man's every problem provided man
understands Him and the availability
and application of His power.
Was not this the thought of the
Psalmist when he sang: "If I ascend
up into heaven, thou are there; if I
make my bed in hell, behold, thou art
there. If I take the wings of the. morn
ing, and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea; Even there shall thy hand
lead me, and thy right hand shall hold
me" (Psalms 139).
There is no problem, no condition,
that can come to us but God's power
is ever available for its satisfactory
solution.
Continuing this same thought of the
multiplication' table, ask a schoolboy
how long he thinks eight times eight
have bean sixty-four and ten times
ten one hundred. Doubtless his ans
wer will be "always." How long he
thinks it will rmain so? Answer
"always." And that is correct. As
idea of Principle does not change, so
the multiplication table, as idea of the
principle of mathematics can never
change. Principle does not change
nor does its idea or image. Likewise
divine Principle "s eternal, inviolable,
unchanging, always operating. Prin
ciple is not moved by. the breath of
praise or flattery, or by eatreaty or
threat In the thought of God being
Principle, Christian Scientists have
gotten away from the old belief that
God interferes in the affairs of men
because they are asking Him to do
this, that, or some other thing, or
that God causes the unnatural or su-
i.
lives and affairs of men. It teaches
that God's work is already perfect
and complete. Indeed the Bible says
that "God saw everything that he had
made, and, behold, it was very good."
The mission of scientific Christian
ity is to reveal the perfectness and
completeness of God's work, to enable
us to overcome in our own lives and
experiences everything and . every
thought that is unlike God and His
creation. Does not this thought
bring us back to that rule of conduct
which Jesus gave, that we should
do always the thing that is in accord
with the Father's will?
HEALING.
Someone asks : What has this to do
with the healing of my sick body, or
sick business, or sick home, or sick
city? These are the practical prob
lems that concern us toaay. Chris
tian Science does furnish the solu
tion for everyone of them. However,
serious your particular problem may
seem to you, howeevr significant and
burdensome, or however long you may
Lhave had it, it is not necessary thac
God should do any specific or individ
ual thing in your life to solve your
problem. Too long we have been
seeking God in a purely material way,
much as we have sought a friend for
a favor or a banker for a loan, cry
ing out in our.imi irance, our distress,
with tha hope that God would mani
fest himself in some supernatural or
miraculous way. Then we begin to
think there is no power in prayer be
cause we do not see thi3 unusual or
unnatural manifestation. Jesus con
demned this style of prayer when he
said: ' The heathen think that they
shall be heard for their much speak
ing. Be not ye therefore like unto
them; for your Father knoweth what
ibings ',e have need of before ye ask
Him."
Our prayers are answered in the re
alization that Lovo is always meeting
our needs. The truth of ilii-s comes
to me in :i homily illustration from
my boyu'ioJ. Ia childhood r lived on
a farm in Kentucky and I remember
that in the springtime we always want
ed tomato plants to set out in the
garden about the middle or latter part
of April. Accordingly in February
father would sow tomato seeds in a
box in the house, and when the sun
came out he took the box out of the
house and put it on the porch in the
sunshine, with a glass over it, and as
the sun's rays beat upon the glass
they warmed the ground, the seeds
broke open, and the tender plants
stuck their heads through the ground,
and as they were carried into the sun
day after day they grew, until pre
sently they were large enough to put
out in the garden.
Now the sun was not shining for our
box alone; it came down to warm the
whole earth and to bring again the
miracle of springtime and growth, and
whem we took our bos out into the
sunshine we saw growth and life man
ifested. Likewise with every human problem.
Because of evil, Tiatred, jealousy, in
justice, envy or secret sin, our con
sciousness is darkened and we have
a problem, which we call disease, lack,
sorrow, or death. We need to bring
the darkened consciousness into the
sunlight of God's truth and love, then
the darkness is dispelled and the
trouble disappears as mist before the
morning sun.
But you iuay say: "1 nave tried but
I cannot bring my problem out of
the dark." .There is a way provid
ed. The Bible and the Christian Sci
ence text-book help you to understand
divine Principle whereby you can
bring this problem out of the dark. If
you will read the last chapter in the
text-book you will find many testimon
ials from men and women from wide
ly separated sections of the country,
testifying to how through the study
of this truth they have been able to
bring problems to the light and find
their solution.
If it should seem to be beyond your
present ability to demonstrate, there
are Christian Science practitioners,
consecrating all their time and
thought to this work, and they are
ever ready when the problem is too
heavy to be borne, to help us to bring
it to the light, to that right under
standing of God, to that realization,
as Mrs. Eddy expresses it, of man's
at-one-ment with God.
PRAYER.
It is often asked how do Christian
Scientists pray? In the opening chap
ter of the text-book entitled "Prayer,"
Mrs. Eddy says: "The prayer that re
forms the sinner and heals the sick
is an absolute faith that all things
are possible to God, a spiritual un
derstanding of Him, an unselfed love"
(Science and Health, p. 1: 1-4). Is
not this understanding of prayer re
concilable with Paul's injunction that
we pray without ceasing? - Cannot
we always under all circumstances
have this absolute faith that all things
are possible to God, and the further
assurance that in the spiritual un
derstanding of His ever-presence man
is safe? Then the thought of un
selfed love, do we not find this in ac
cord with the Master's prayer "Thy
will Oh God, not mine, be. done?" and
in his saying: "It is more blessed to
give than to receive?" As we think
of our prayers are they not generally
petitions for self, failing to realize
that the larger part of prayer is giv
ing? I was interested in this practical
point in a testimony of which I heard
recently. A man went to a Christian
Science practitioner and said: "I need
help this morning; I cannot get my
breath;" and the practitioner said:
"In your own statement is the key
to your difficulty. Your are always
trying to get something. This morn
ing it is breath. If you had your
breath you doubtless would be wonder
ing where you could get orders in
your business, and if you had them
your desire would probably be to get
more. If you had all you wanted
you would then" be .wondering where
you could get some material pleasure-
or recreation. But I have never heard
you asking for help to know how to
Siveaythingv if yea-will learn- to
give you will not have so much diffi
culty in getting."
Realizing his selfishness, the man
began to see what he could give to
help the world and the men and wo
men around him. As he learned to
give, he found that he did get his
breath, and his business also increas
ed, proving the truth of Jesu3' state
ment: "Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His right eousuesa, and all
these things shall be added unto you."
The world needs much giving. You
ask: What can I give: You can give
more consideration, patience, love
I lioughl fulness, justice, unselfishness,
jjy, tenderness and when we bring
these treasures to God's storehouse we
shall find thac we have already re
ceived abundantly more than we have
brought.
Do we stop to consider the attitude
of mind that is ordinarily brought to
God in prayer? In our limited thought
of prayer have we not prayed much
like the little girl of whom I read, who
knelt at mother's knee and prayed for
father, mother, brother and little sis
ter, and finally wound up by saying:
"And, Oh Lord, please make Rome
the Capital of Turkey." Her mother
had never heard a prayer like that.
She said: "Why, daughter, what in the
world do you mean by praying like
that?" The child answeved: "Moth
er, He must answer that prayer or
I am ruined, because that is the way
I wrote it down today on my examin
ation paper." The little girl was
not thinain- tht ut all the inconveni
ence it niK have brought la Mply
and Turkey by changing their capitals,
but only of her examination murks.
We have cried out to God to do this
or that, Hithou'c ever stopping Lo cjn-
Muer wuetr.er it would- help anyonei
else or not. and so we can undestand
why our prayers have not been ans
wered. We can see why men have
been driven from the church because
they have thought there is no answer
to prayer. They have not known
how to pray. If you go to a black
board to work out a problem in math
ematics you will not stand facing the
board and cry out to the principle of
mathematics: "Tell me how to solve
this problem.' If you do, it will nev
er be solved. You study to under
stand the principle involved and then
to obey the rule, and with this under
standing and obedience you are able
solve your problem correctly.
All of us are called to stand be
fore the great Principle of all being to
solve our human problems, and we
shall only solve them correctly and
happily and finally as we get the right
understanding of God to be divine
Principle, and apply that understand
ing in their solution.
After all, it resolves itself into one
great problem, and that is to know
the nothingness of matter or material
existence which is summed up in
what is known in Christian Science to
be the scientific statement of being:
"There is no life, truth, intelligence,
nor substance In matter. All is in
finite Mind and its Infinite manifes
tation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit
is immortal Truth; matter is mortal
error. Spirit is the real and eternal,
matter " is the unreal and temporal.
Spirit is God, and man is His image
and likeness. TBerefore man is not
material; he is spiritual" (S. & H., p.
468.)
Did not Jesus enunciate this basic
truth when he said to the woman at
the well in Samaria: "God is a spirit,
and they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and intruth;"
bringing home to the world's consci
ousness the absolute opposite of the
belief in material existence. To know
God to be Spirit and man to be spirit
ual is the need of the ages, and this is
the thought that Christian Science
brings to the world today. If a man
would understand God aright, he must
understand God to be Spirit; if he
would understand man aright and
know man's power and possibility in
his right relation to God, it must be
through knowing spiritual man. This
is the message of Christian Science.
John, the beloved, writes: "By Him
were all things made, and without
Him -was not anything made that was
made." If this be true, the things
we call pain, lack, sorrow and death
are untrue, because God never made
them. He could not have been' the
author of anything so unlike good
ness as the pains, aches and imper
fections of our human beliefs.
Someone said: "Well, where do
these beliefs originate?" They are.
illusions, delusions, false beliefs; they
are the result of our wrong thinking,
our ignorance of God, our belief in the
false testimony of what we call the
physical senses. We have laid great
store by the testimony of the senses,
sight, hearing, touch, taste, and
smell, yet we have only to test a few
results to see how unreliable and how
untrue this sense testimony really is.
Take the sense of sight, for instance.
You can probably find every day a
number of instances if you look for
them, where it is proven unreliable. I
read only recently the story of a
man who was shown a locomotive for
the first time. As he looked carefully
at the great machine, its movement up
on the tracks, his final question was:
"But what will happen to the locomo
tive when it goes so. far down the
tracks and the rails come closer and
closer together?" He had failed to
take into account that delusion which
seems in the distance to draw the rails
to a point. The delusion of the sun
seeming to move from East to West
is always with us. So we :an go on
multiplying these instances. Not on
ly are you and I deceived, but the so
called physical scientists, the medical
men, are deceived by this false testi
mony of the 'senses. Whenever a doc
tor makes a diagnosis and very wise
ly and solemnly pronounces that you
have an incurable disease, he is found
ing that diagnosis largely upon the tes
timony of the physical senses, which
testimony is untrue.
I read recently of a report publish
ed in the "Journal of the American
Medical Association" and written by
Dr. Richard C. Cabot of Boston, As
sistant Professor of Medicine at Har
vard 'University, in which he stated
that in a study of three thousand au
topsies it developed that only fifty
three per cent of the diagnosises were
correct. ' In other words, nearly one
half of the time the doctors had mare
an incorrect diagnosis.
This shows that we need never be
unhappy about these grave diagno
ses, for they are unreliable and mis
leading. When you analyze sense
testimony it is easy to see how it is
unreal. You cannot see God with the
sense of sight; you cannot hear God
with the sense of hearing; you cannot
apprehend Spirit with any of these
physical senses. None of the reali
ties come through the physical senses.
As Paul says: "The things which are
seen are temporal; but the things
which are not seen are eternal."
We must turn from this material or
physical sense testimony to the ap
prehension of spiritual things. We
must begin to know and understand
that there is a spiritual law, the su
preme law of the universe. We must
bring our thinking into harmony, into
consonance with this spiritual law.
Someone asks: - "But what do you
mean? How do you apprehend spir
itually?" One of the simplest thoughts
that came to me of God being Spirit
and God being all-good in the beginn
ing of my study of Christian Science
was when I looked upon the suffer
ing of a babe. I thought, if God is
good surely He would not send suf
fering into the life of a child. The
child has done nothing for which he
should suffer; he knows nothing of
the so-called laws of health that we
have been taught to observe, and I
deny that there can be any evil come
to this child from God, who is good.
If we take some simple thought like
this and at every opportunity deny
the possibility of anything so unlov
ing as God's sending evil into the life
of a child, then affirm that which is
true, we shall find our thought im
proving through right thinking and
knowing, until with this spiritualiz
ed consciousness, we can see that the
child is not the recipient of evil from
the hand of God. but that it is reflect
ing only good, that it is the manifes
tation of Spirit, not matter. Like
wise in .this larger view we can see
that man is spiritual, not material,
and that God is the great governor
of the universe, sending good, and only
good into man's life, and that abun
dantly and unceasingly; then we be
gin to know that all good is ours
and we prepare ourselves to re
ceive that good and ainderstand
that there is no truth . in
the belief or evil or devil, of which
chapter of John, 44th verse, we read
that Jesus whea speaking of this dev
il or Satan, said "He was a murderer
from the beginning and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth
in him. When he SDeaketh Ho
he speaketh of his own, for he is a
liar and the father of it."
That great bug-bear, that bogy of
the ages we must get away from, by
realizing that God is all. Did you
ever stop to realize that when you
make a reality of this devil or Sa
tan you are violating the First Com
mandment: "Thou shalt have no oth
er gods before me?" In our "so-called
prthodox beliefs we have sometimes
paid more attention to scaring men
through a belief in this so-called de
vil that we have to helping them
through loving and understanding
God. : .
SALVATION.
To progress in our spiritual under
standing we need to be more child
like and simple. With 'nore confi
dence in God. We are too material,
too intellectual, or too formal in our
seeking. When the question was ask
ed of Jesus who would be the great
est in the Kingdom of Heaven, he did
not take any of the great lawyers, or
merchants, or physicians, or business
men of the time, and point to one of
them as the great one in the king
dom, but he took the simplest, purest
example that he could find, a little
child, and set him in the midst and
said:, "He that humbleth himself at
this little child shall be greatest in
the Kingdom of Heaven."
We need more of this child-like un
derstanding of God. I love to think
of some of the instances of child-like
faith and understanding that have
come to my attention. In a western
city recently, I heard of a little girl
six years old, who had attended the
Christian Science Sunday-school for
a year and was much interested. Pre
sently'"she had a spell of sickness,
and the parents, not being Christian
Scientists, called in a doctor. It
was a severe illness and no cure was
effected by the doctors. They finally
said she eouid never be well as she
had curvature of the spine. After
the doctors had given her up she ask
ed her mother if she might see hei
Christian Science Sunday-school teach
er. Upon the occasion of the teach
er's visit, when she saw the little bent
figure sitting in the -bed, the first
thought that came to her was, "God
makes crooked things straight," and
involuntarily she repeated this. The
child looked up with great wonder
ment and asked, "Where does it say
that?" The teacher pointed out to
her the 16th verse of the 42nd chap-1
ter of Isaiah, where it is found. The
mother states that the little girl kept
the Bible by her in the bed and stud
ied the verse until it seemed to be
come a part of her own thought, and
she would say to her mother day af
ter day, "Don't feel too sorry for me,
you know God makes the crooked
things straight, and He will heal me."
Then she would say to her playmates
as they would come in to see her:
"You need not feel badly about me,
because I am not going to be this
way long; God makes the crooked
things straight and He will make me
well." With her simple faith and
trust in God, this baby girl was back
in the Sunday school in a few weeks,
perfeatly healed and straight, for God
does make the crooked things straight.
Was not this the faith of which Je-
sus thought when he said: "What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye
shall have them?" We need more of
this prayer of confidence, of under
standing, of victory, of achievement
We need less whining and moaning
and wailing. .We need to do as Mrs.
Eddy says in the text-book: "Rise in
the strength of Spirit to resist all
that is unlike Good. God has made
man capable of this, and nothing can
vitiate the ability and power divinely
bestowed on man" (S. & H., p. 393.)
There is no condition of lack, dis
cord, imperfection, that can come to
your life or business but that you
can rise above it. It is not true.
God sends good, not evil, and there
is no other power that can send evil
into our lives, and we need to rise in
this child-like strength and confidence
in God and know that victory is ours.
Was not this the example that Jesus
gave us as he stood before the tomb
of his well-beloved friend? He did
not pray asking God that this man be
healed, but his words are: "Father,
I thank Thee that Thou hast heard
me. And I knew that Thou nearest
me always:" and thene he called, "La
zarus, come forth."
This is the faith we need, this is
the prayer we need today. No mat
ter if you . are out of a job, or your
business seems to be on the verge
of bankruptcy; if you will purge your
consciousness of every evil, unjust,
envious, un-God-like thought, look to
the" Father and say. as the Master
said, "I thank Thee that Thou hast
heard me, and that Thou dost always
hear me," you can know that even in
this hour your problem is solved.
The power of God is omnipresent,
omnipotent. Let us quit irusiing in
a material power. Let us stop fear
ing the physical sense-testimony, let
us look to God, approach Him with
the right thought, tho right under
standing, and know that in Him is
healing, is victory, is salvation, is
life; for the Master said: "And this
is life eternal, that they might know
Thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent."
Someone asks: "Well, what shall I
do?" "Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you."
That is what you need to do. "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind," and "thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
That is what you need to do. "How
shall I love God?" you say. Love
your fellow-man. It is said in the
Bible that the man who says he loves
God and does not love his fellow
man is a liar. How can he love God
whom he hath not seen if he does not
liove his fellow-man,?
Let us change our thought towards
the world. Let us understand that
man is spiritual. Let us begin, as the
text-book says, to rise above the phy
sical sense, to replace the objects of
material sense, with spiritual ideas.
Christian Science teaches that true
creation'is not moulding forms out of
matter, but it is the unfoldment of-f
spiritual ideas. It teaches that men
and women are thoughts of God, are
spiritual ideas. Suppose you and 1
should think of our fellow beings not
as so many selfish, unhappy, diseas-
ed, miserable people, but see rhem
as God's ideas, how wonderful it
would be.
Suppose parents and teachers
should begin to see the childrea not
as diseased, impatient, or unhappy,
but should see them as spiritual
thoughts, the expression of God's good
ness, God's love, the reflection of di
vine intelligence. The children would
quickly respond to this thought Jesus,
you will remember, said: "Thou hypo
crite, cast out first the beam out of
thine own eye, and then shalt thou
aee clearly U. i-ull out Hie nioio that
is in thy brother's eye." Let us begin
to see the right light. I heard
this beautiful story of a boy four years
old who had never walked or talked.
At birth the doctors had said he was
an idiot The parents had tried all
manner bf remedies without avail,
and finally Christian Science was rec
ommended to them. It was pointed
out that the child should be seen as
the reflection of divine intelligence.
They were willing to try anything,
accordingly called a Christian Science
practitioner and began with this as
sistance to see the child aright as
God's gift to them. I read a letter from
the mother written at that time in
which she said that every day she
thanked God for the perfect gift of
Love, although to sense testimony her
child was but a sickly babe. In a
few months that child was perfectly
healed, was in a kindergarten, run
ning, jumping, laughing, talking,
learning. I read recently a letter
from the father and mother written
three years later, in which they say:
"Owe boy at seven is the hardiest,
sturdiest, strongest Iboy in all his
class."
If the truth revealed in Christian.
Science will heal one, it will heal mil
lions. It is the understanding of
divine Principle, the eternal law of
God. It has always been in the
world. It will always be among men
to be understood and applied. Shall
we hesitate longer to understand that
God is Spirit and man is spiritual,
and to apply that understanding in
our lives?
Instead of seeing so much cheating.
lying, stealing, disease, we need to see
that men and women are God's ideas.
expressions of God's goodness and
God's love, reflecting good, existing to
bless one another and all the world.
In so seeing, how much more happi
ness we would get out of our lives
and be able to give to the world.
Truth, God understood and applied
in our lives, heals sin, sickness, lack,
sorrow, every unhappy condition.
Someone asks: "How did all this evil
begin? You say God did not send sin
to us?" "No." "You say there is
no devil?" "No." "How did I ever
begin to think wrong?" For centur
ies the world has been steeped in ma
terial thinking, learning, living. It
has gotten away from God, from Spir
it, until rarely have we thought on
Him. Suppose a book were written
in the Chinese language, that we had
never studied, and we should open it
to read. We would not know a letter,
word, or a line on the written page.
Can we blame anybody for our ignor
ance? Can we blame God? Did he
make us ignorant of the Chinese lan
guage? No. Did the devil? No.
Did man? No. We have studied
other languages, perhaps Latin,
French, English, to the exclusion of
the Chinese, therefore we are not able
to read it; we are ignorant of it.
Likewise are we ignorant of spiritual
things because we have not studied
spiritual things. We have violated
and disobeyed the command of God:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and ' His righteousness." We have
been seeking first the other things
wealth, power, position. How can
we expect to do well, to be well, to
be happy, to be saved, when we Wil
fully, knowingly, day after day and
year after year violate God's com
mand? Let us begin as children to
think more and to learn more of the
things of God and His kingdom. Let
us not fear to begin simply, to learn
and to put into practice in childlike
simplicity the commands of God. There
is a rich reward in the fulfillment of
God's promises as we learn to obey.
The value of childlike thinking and
living is voiced in this quotation from .
Mrs. Eddy's "Miscellaneous Writings," "
(p. 110: 4-12):
"Beloved children: The world has
need of you, and more as children
than as men and women; it needs
your innocence, unselfishness, faith
ful affection, uncontaminated lives.
You need also to watch and pray that
you preserve these virtues unstained,
and lose them not through contact
with the world. What grander ambi
tion is there than to maintain your
selves what Jesus loved, and to know
that your example, more than words,
makes morals for mankind!"
NOT1CE TO STOCKHOLDERS
Tne regular annuad meeting of
the stockholders of the Clear Creek
Creamsiy Co. will be held Monday,
March 20- 1922. at Carver Hal!. The
purpose of this meeting is the elec
tion of a board of five Directors, a
Secretary and Treasurer fo- the en
iuing yi-ar, together with enj other
business that may properly coino bn
fore tne meeting. -Meecitx? caiu-d
let r,:cer at 1:30 P. M.
V-iitJ this 1st day of Mivtn, 1UU.
THOS. E. ANDERSON
Secretary.
3-2-3t
Legion Men Sought
PORTLAND. Or., March 2. The
American Legion of Oregon is endeav
oring to locate Earl Norman Franklin
and Roy Bishop, both veterans of the
World war. Bishop enlisted in Port
land and was wounded in France on
Armistice day and discharged at Camp
Lewis in June, 1919. The families of
tnese men are anxious to learn, their
whereabouts.