Herbert E. Rieke, C.S.B., of Indianapolis, Indiana
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
We hear a great deal these days about atomic power, guided missiles, and the possibility of interplanetary travel. Mankind welcomes outstanding discoveries and inventions. However, many physical scientists and world leaders are concerned lest our spiritual and moral progress may not be keeping pace with these discoveries and lest we blow up our civilization.
Christian Science deals with this important subject of spiritual and moral progress. The power it employs is neither atomic nor material, but spiritual — the power of prayer. This greatest of all forces brings true peace and liberty to mankind. Moses freed his people through the power of prayer. Christ Jesus employed this spiritual force to heal the sick, reform the sinner, and raise the dead. His disciples extended the blessings of Christianity throughout the world by the might of their prayers. Tonight we shall consider how prayer can bring us true peace and freedom.
A few years ago when suffering from tension and pain, I turned to the Lord's Prayer and decided to study it very carefully, for I knew the spiritual inspiration from this prayer had brought health to countless individuals throughout the centuries. Christ Jesus began his prayer by hallowing the nature of God, saying, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matt. 6:9). In sincere devotion I considered all the names and attributes that are associated with Deity. I knew Him as a loving Father who protects and provides for all His children. I acknowledged Him as the one and only creator. I realized there could never be anything wrong with God and therefore He must be perfect.
Then I asked myself the simple question, "What kind of a universe would a perfect God create?" It must be perfect, for every created thing expresses the qualities of its maker. I was led naturally into the second line of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come." I spent some time truly appreciating the heavenly kingdom, the perfect universe, where God's will is always done.
When I came to the next step, "Give us this day our daily bread," and was ready to consider the individual spiritual nature of man, I made a wonderful discovery — I was well! For certainly, if God's creation, or complete manifestation, is perfect, it follows that each individual manifestation must be perfect.
This experience taught me a valuable lesson. I saw that I had been trying to be well and happy in spite of the wicked world in which I thought I lived. I now realized this was like trying to preserve a good apple in a barrel of rotten apples — really an impossible task. But, of course, it is not difficult to maintain a good apple in a barrel of good apples. God's man is never perfect and harmonious in spite of evil and imperfections around him, but because of the omnipresence of God, good, with him and with the entire spiritual creation.
In Christian Science we learn that prayer is not a process of begging God for material blessings. Prayer is communion with God and His great fundamental facts of being. Let us follow the simple pattern of the Lord's Prayer in order to gain a fuller comprehension of how to pray effectively, we begin reverently with God, our heavenly Father. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes (p. 275), "To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is."
At the university I had a professor who was known as an agnostic. In a seminar class he ridiculed me because of my interest in religion. One day I went to his office and inquired, "Professor, do you believe there is Love manifested in the universe?"
He looked at me for a moment and then replied, "Yes and I will tell you something — love is the most powerful force, for it is the presence of love that makes civilization run as well as it does."
I interjected, "Well, when I use the term 'God,' I mean divine Love."
He smiled and said, "If you really mean Love when you speak of God, I am not an agnostic."
I then asked his opinion of Truth. He replied that he worshiped at the altar of Truth. That is why he was in the teaching profession. He wanted to help young people find freedom from human errors and illusions, which bring bondage to them and society. I told him I regarded God as Truth, not, of course, just basic facts in regard to history and economics, but ultimate, absolute reality. He replied that he was searching for such fundamental Truth.
Next we talked about life; and he literally preached a sermon on the subject, extolling life as the magnificent basis of all existence, we discussed an address we had recently heard by a well-known zoologist, who stated that the preponderance of evidence would indicate that life is not to be found in matter, that it is a spiritual force outside of matter. I informed him that Christian Science reveals that God is the divine spiritual force called Life.
We went on to discuss the other synonymous names for God as found on page 465 of the Christian Science textbook, where we read, "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." We agreed that there must be fundamental cause, or divine Principle, operating throughout the universe, or else everything would be reduced to chaos. We saw that existence would be inconceivable if there were no mind to recognize it or be conscious of it. And we agreed that there must be a divine positive Mind that was the source of all true intelligence. We acknowledged Soul and Spirit as the source of consciousness and true sensibility. Before we finished our discussion, we agreed that these seven synonymous terms given in the definition indicated the nature of the supreme good, or God.
I was grateful for this conversation, for it showed me that thinking individuals appreciate and revere these seven aspects of God's being, even though they may not have thought of them as God. I realized also that when the terms for God are understood as defined in Christian Science, there are not nearly as many atheists in the world as we might think.
These names for God are not new. In the Holy Bible, to which Christian Scientists turn daily for inspiration, we read, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:16). Moses spoke of Deity as "a God of truth and without iniquity" (Deut. 32:4). He also said that God "is thy life, and the length of thy days" (Deut. 30:20). Jesus declared, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). The terms Soul, meaning immortal being, and Principle, meaning cause, origin, or creator, are implied in Bible passages.
Christian Science explains that we must truly understand, worship, and love God in order to have that dynamic sense of prayer that brings positive results. It is not enough just to accept intellectually these names for Deity. We must revere Him in order to see and appreciate the heavenly kingdom which He creates.
Not long ago a little girl burned her hand severely on the red-hot muffler of a lawn mower and appeared in great pain. The mother encouraged her to pray as she had been taught in the Christian Science Sunday School, while the mother read silently from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook. Through the sobs, the mother heard her little girl say "God, I love you very much. You are a very good God. You make all things right." She continued saying many wonderful things about our heavenly Father. The sobs subsided, and she fell asleep. The next morning there was not a trace of the burn to be found.
What brought about this healing? The child really adored God. She loved Him with all her heart and soul and mind as she had been taught in Sunday School. She knew that God does all things right. There was no doubt in her thought as to the goodness and power of God. And according to her simple, childlike faith, or spiritual understanding, so was it done unto her. In the degree that we understand the perfection of the Creator as Spirit, we cannot help but recognize the perfection of His creation as spiritual, for every effect expresses the characteristics of its cause.
Now let us consider the kingdom of heaven, or perfect universe, that God creates. Some years ago a man came to a Christian Science practitioner and complained that he had experienced five serious automobile accidents in one year. Each time the accident was not his fault, and he was able to collect damages; but he had been greatly inconvenienced. He added that there were so many careless drivers it was hardly safe to venture forth.
Realizing it was necessary for this man to uplift his concept of the universe, the practitioner asked him: "Did you ever think how many accidents don't happen? How many cars are passing one another this second and not colliding? Now multiply this by every second of the day. How many accidents did not happen today?" The man admitted it would be almost an infinite number.
"Why did not all these accidents happen?" continued the practitioner. They realized it was because of the presence of divine Mind expressed in alert, intelligent, and accurate thinking by the multitude of drivers. For, if a motorist loses his thinking capacity by falling asleep or by any other means, before long there might be an accident.
They agreed that accidents don't happen because of the presence of God, divine Love, manifested in people's courtesy and consideration of one another. When motorists become angry or inconsiderate, there is liable to be an accident.
They realized that accidents are prevented because of the presence of divine Principle which causes men to be obedient to divine law. When drivers are disobedient to law there may be an accident.
It was then pointed out that God is divine Mind manifested through intelligence. He is divine Love expressed through courtesy. He is divine Principle made evident by lawfulness. Because of the qualities of God active in the consciousness of motorists accidents are prevented. The evidence of God's presence is truly overwhelming; and the condition called an accident only proves the rule, that our safety is found in acknowledging the presence of God in all His aspects not only with us but with every driver we meet.
The gentleman now saw his error. Instead of rejoicing in the presence of divine Mind, Love, and Principle, he had been thinking fearfully of the possibility of the absence of God and His divine protection; and what he feared had come upon him. Henceforth, he rejoiced that God was always with him and with every motorist he met. Seven years later he told the practitioner that although he had driven thousands upon thousands of miles, he had never so much as clicked a fender.
From this illustration you can see that the universe which the perfect God creates is not a discordant material affair. Christian Science shows that God's universe, or the kingdom of heaven, is constituted of perfect spiritual ideas, not of material objects; and the elements constituting these ideas are the qualities of God, Spirit. God creates or reveals the kingdom of heaven. In Christian Science we learn that heaven is a state of supreme harmony where the manifestations of divine Mind express understanding, love, righteousness, and helpfulness toward each other. This heaven is present wherever one may be perpetually. The motorist I was telling you about found evidence of heaven right there on the road, when he stopped entertaining a critical material view of the world and his fellow men and began to acknowledge the spiritual qualities of God expressed by all.
Let us give up our material concept of the universe for the spiritual and perfect — God’s concept revealed in Christian Science. We find this true view spoken of in the first chapter of Genesis, where we read, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). For instance, instead of thinking of flowers as material, Christian Science inspires us to regard them in their true aspect, constituted of spiritual qualities including beauty and fragrance. Mrs. Eddy once wrote, "The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity" (Science and Health, p. 240). In the same paragraph she says, "Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — al1 point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect." Instead of considering our neighbors as imperfect mortals, let us behold them as they really are, God's ideas expressing all the divine characteristics.
If you and I try to find peace and security in spite of the chaotic material world in which the material senses testify that we live, we are mapping out a difficult path for ourselves. But if we face reality and acknowledge the perfect universe of God's creating, we shall find our peace because of our spiritual understanding of the omnipresence of God and His divine ideas and qualities with us at home and with all those across the seas. In this way we are praying effectively for world peace, we are living the spirit of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
This kingdom of heaven is not far off in time or space. The Master said, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt 3:2). "At hand" means here and now. Everyone can find heaven here and now by giving up the limited sense of a material creation for the true spiritual universe that God reveals.
Now we come to the third step of the Master's prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread." In Christian Science the word "bread" symbolizes the thought of true spiritual substance. Since God creates His whole universe as substantial and perfect, it follows that He gives to each individual manifestation the same substantial quality of perfection. Therefore, your true spiritual and only selfhood must be perfect, harmonious, and free. Christian Science emphasizes that man consists of spiritual ideas and not physique. His substance is composed of spiritual qualities and not of matter. May I illustrate the very practical value of this teaching?
A salesman came to a Christian Science practitioner and stated that he needed to demonstrate a thousand dollars within thirty days or he would lose his car, his home, and almost everything he owned. The Scientist told him that in our religion we do not demonstrate money or material things. Instead we learn to let the divine qualities of perfection be manifested in our thinking and living. As we through prayer respond to His inspiration and guidance, we find that all the needed human things are added unto us.
As we acknowledge the presence and power of the divine Mind and let its government be established in our thought, we find a great inflow of productive, helpful, and inspiring ideas whereby we may be of greater service to our neighbor.
By letting divine Love use us in the expression of courtesy, consideration, kindness, and sincere interest in the welfare of others, we win true friends who desire to be helpful to us.
As we let God, divine Principle, reign in our consciousness, we express orderliness, harmony, accuracy, and divine guidance.
By allowing divine Life to take possession of us, we find ourselves expressing true energy, strength, coordinated activity, joy, and a sense of well-being. There can be no apathy or laziness where divine Life reigns supreme.
The individual who allows himself to be controlled by divine Truth will be honest, and upright in all his dealings. He will see things as they really are and not be influenced by superstitions, delusions, and misunderstandings. He will not make mistakes.
God, divine Soul, causes us to be aware of the beauty, harmony, and inspiration in His spiritual universe. Thus, our daily experience cannot be drab, colorless, or uninteresting.
By acknowledging God as Spirit, the only substance, one finds the true sense of substantial being. Paul once wrote to Timothy, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (II Tim. 1:7).
Now let us return to the man who asked the practitioner to help him obtain a thousand dollars. He went forth resolving to live sincerely the spirit of the Christian Scientists' Daily Prayer from our Church Manual, which reads as follows: "'Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" (Church Manual, p. 41.) He studied carefully the meaning and significance of each of the synonyms for God.
A month later when he returned to the practitioner, he testified that he had the most inspiring month of his whole life. Wonderful things had taken place. Finally he told the practitioner, "Incidentally, you might be interested to know my commissions during the month were not a thousand, but eighteen hundred dollars." But this man did not demonstrate money. He demonstrated divine spiritual qualities and thus he found true security.
Your true substance does not consist of a physical body. Your true worth is found in the spiritual qualities that you reflect. Christian Science shows that most of humanity's troubles come from worrying about the testimony of the physical senses, which present man as material instead of appreciating the spiritually minded individual which man truly is. How wonderful it is to be a spiritual somebody in the kingdom of heaven. We find this ideal by expressing the qualities of God in our daily thinking and living.
In the next line of the Lord's Prayer, the Master said, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." It is not enough for you to see yourself as God's perfect child living in the heavenly kingdom. True forgiveness requires that you see the perfect neighbor there also. Christian Science inspires us to surrender the false concept of our neighbor as material and evil for the true concept of man as spiritual and perfect.
Did you ever notice how much unselfishness is indicated in the Lord's Prayer? Jesus did not pray in terms of "me" and "mine," but "ours" and "us," saying: "Our Father which art in heaven. . . . Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Prayer takes on new beauty and power as we pray in these universal, unselfish terms, recognizing that the universe, including every individual manifestation of Spirit, consists not of matter but of substantial spiritual ideas.
We have now discussed the positive pattern of the Master's prayer — perfect God, perfect spiritual universe, the kingdom of heaven, true substance, true forgiveness, and perfect spiritual man including all ideas. But, of course, this is not the way most individuals think of themselves, their neighbors, and the universe. They regard man as sinful, sick, unhappy, limited, physical, and mortal. They also think of him as dwelling almost any place but in the heavenly kingdom. And most people are always looking for someone or something to deliver them from their troubles.
The people of the Old Testament looked for such a Saviour or Messiah who would deliver them from their material woes and enslavement. Jesus of Nazareth discerned clearly what would bring about true salvation. He knew that it was the spiritual understanding of God, the universe, and man. In parable, sermon, and example he showed mankind the heavenly Father, divine Love. He preached the gospel of the kingdom and taught the perfectibility of man, saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48).
It was not the physical presence of Jesus that brought about healing and regeneration. It was his spiritual understanding of the truth regarding God and His creation that enabled him to do the mighty works. Jesus was a human man, born of the Virgin Mary. But his mentality was endowed with the Christ, the pure nature of God, Spirit. He was spiritually minded, without sin. It was his spiritual understanding of the Christ, and his demonstration of godliness which enabled him to heal the sick and the sinning and to perform mighty works. It is the everpresent Christ, the nature and power of God, Spirit, expressed, which brings salvation from sin, discord, and death to all who respond to its enlightening and healing influence.
Jesus discerned clearly that the human concept which the disciples entertained of him as a physical personality often beclouded their thoughts and interfered with their true vision of the eternal Christ or Saviour which he presented. On one occasion he said, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you" (John 16:7). He also said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16, 17).
When Jesus promised to send the spirit of Truth, he was referring to the Science of the Christ, for the word "science" means fundamental truth or exact knowledge.
About ninety years ago this Comforter, or spiritual Science, was discovered by Mary Baker Eddy. She saw that the Christ is never far off in time or space, for Christ is Immanuel, God with us. She realized that the Christ, or spiritual idea of God expressed, can bring health and salvation to us just as much today as it did two thousand years ago. Through her consecration to Truth, she lived a life of prayer and demonstrated the Science of Christianity by healing all manner of sickness. She helped hundreds to put off the old material concept of man and put on the new man as Paul says, "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24).
After she had thoroughly demonstrated the effectiveness of this spiritual Science, she gave it to the world in her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." The spirit of Truth contained in this book has been saving individuals effectively from sin, disease, and death for over eighty years.
Christian Scientists love Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer of this holy Comforter, Christian Science. They honor her as the one and only Leader of the Christian Science movement, but they do not worship her. They adore God alone. In true humility Mrs. Eddy once told her students, "Obey strictly the laws that be, and follow your Leader only so far as she follows Christ" (Message for 1901, p. 34). She constantly turned the thought of her students away from human personality to the eternal Christ, just as Jesus did. In a letter to a clergyman she once wrote, "Those who look for me in person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 120).
It is therefore to these writings that the students of Christian Science turn in order to learn more of the spirit of Truth, which brings salvation in the form of righteousness, health, happiness, prosperity, and peace.
Here someone may ask: "If God made everything good, where does evil come from? How do you explain sin, disease, and death?" This is a question that troubled me for a long time. Then one day while I was studying Christian Science, the answer came. I realized that no true science explains error, but rather detects error, denies it, and proves its nothingness with the truth.
For instance, if I should ask you why two plus two is five, you would not explain this error. You would declare the statement to be a mistake and explain it away with the truth that the answer is four. If I should inquire what makes the earth seem flat, you would explain that it is an optical illusion. Explorers have sailed around it, and others have proved it to be round. If I should ask you ladies why vinegar, sugar, and oil make a chocolate cake, as scientific cooks, you would not attempt to explain this masculine mistake; you would inform me that these ingredients make a salad dressing instead. No true science explains error: every true science proves the unreality of error with the truth.
Now I could see that it is the same with Christian Science, the all-inclusive Science of Life. This spiritual Science does not explain the mortal errors of sin, sickness, and death as though they were actualities. Neither does it ignore these errors. Rather, it shows these errors to be mortal illusions, denies them, and utterly nullifies their reality with the great spiritual truth that there is one perfect God who creates everything after His pattern of perfection.
Christian Science shows that it is the same with all moral error, called sin. When we honestly do not believe in doing some evil thing, we don't do it; and thus we demonstrate by our actions our dominion over this specific sin.
When you do not believe in becoming angry, when you wholeheartedly acknowledge that anger is completely foreign to your true nature as the image of divine Love, from that time forward you will have the basis for demonstrating dominion over bad temper. If you try to explain or justify a bad disposition, you will not be free, for you are making something of temper rather than proving its non-existence.
The one who does not believe in drinking intoxicating beverages because it is inconsistent with his concept of perfect manhood and stands firm in the truth that he is governed by God, such a one will not drink. The individual who does not believe in smoking tobacco because he knows it never did anyone any good and resists the temptation to use it — this one will be free from this enslaving habit. You see, it is always the belief in error's reality that must be exposed and repudiated; and then the sin is demonstrated as unreal.
Discussing the very heart of prayer, Mrs. Eddy wrote: "In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love" (Science and Health, p. 15). In Christian Science we never ignore sin; we repudiate it and mentally annihilate every erroneous concept that does not fit into the reality of perfect God, Spirit, and His perfect spiritua1 manifestation.
At one point in the Lord's Prayer, the Master prayed, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." What is the basic temptation from which we all must protect ourselves? Is it not the belief in a life, mind, and existence separate from God and His righteousness? Deity does not lead us into such a temptation, but the sincere acknowledgment of perfect God and His perfect creation does deliver us from all erroneous beliefs and their effects.
Isaiah emphasized the fact of Deity's allness nine times in the forty-fifth chapter of his Scripture in these words: "I am the Lord, and there is none else." What is there beside God and His perfect universe? There is only one answer, "none else" — nothing else. It is upon this Scriptural basis that Christian Science teaches that evil is unreal. If you and I accept the reality of evil, believe that it truly exists, we are denying the allness of God, good. On the other hand, if we reverently acknowledge the allness of God, we are forced to deny the existence of evil.
As with sin, so with sickness. Christian Science does not explain sickness as something real. Neither does it ignore disease. It analyzes sickness as a human error, then denies this error, acknowledges the truth of man's perfection, and so annihilates disease. In the Christian Science textbook we read (p. 411), "The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin." These three errors, as well as sickness, must be denied and explained away with the truth in order to bring forth a manifestation of health.
If you are trying to be well in spite of some sin you are holding onto, you will not make much progress. Repudiate sin; demonstrate its nonexistence by refusing to believe in it; and, because of the righteousness of God in your heart, it will be easier to find health.
The only way to be completely free from fear is to acknowledge without reservation that you live in the heavenly kingdom where there is no evil and therefore absolutely nothing to fear.
Christian Science shows that disease is never an actual, discordant material condition. It is just ignorance, a false belief that there is something wrong with man. When this ignorance is dispelled with spiritual enlightenment that man is perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect, then disease disappears.
May I use a simple illustration? When Columbus first crossed the Atlantic, many of his sailors were frightened because of their ignorance. They thought the earth was flat and there was a dropping-off place. It would have been impossible to destroy the flat earth for those sailors because there was no flat earth to destroy. All that could be done was to destroy the ignorant belief that the earth was flat, and then they would venture forth with courage and confidence.
In the same way disease is never an actual, discordant material condition of the body. It is just an ignorant belief that there is something wrong with the life, substance, and identity of man. Now you cannot destroy a discordant material condition any more than you can destroy the flat earth, because in the light of Science there is no such condition to destroy. But you can prove a false belief to be a lie, the ignorant belief that the body is sick and imperfect. When this ignorant belief is replaced with the great spiritual truth that man's only real being is perfect because God is perfect and He is All, then you, too, can go forth with courage and confidence to find that all is well. The very moment you cease to believe in sickness, the moment you understand that discord is completely foreign to your nature as God's perfect child, right then you are delivered from sickness; and you discover you are well.
In Christian Science it does not take time to heal; it takes an understanding of the truth. If you had been believing that seven times seven is fifty-nine, there would be nothing to prevent you from giving up this erroneous concept immediately for the truth — forty-nine. You would find immediate good results in your computations. Likewise, through the study of Christian Science we learn that since God is all-powerful, there is no negative force to prevent us from giving up false beliefs in evil for the truth that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that man is God's perfect child. If you are willing to accept the truth in all its implications, you can be healed instantaneously. Of course, if you compromise and procrastinate, if you state that, you will have to think about it, or that you will try to know the truth, or you will work on it, then it might take a little longer. But there is nothing to prevent healing this very minute, if you are willing to give up false human opinions about yourself for the truth of God's spiritual idea.
This was the experience of my wife's aunt. The doctors told her she had cancer and there was nothing they could do for her. One day she said, "I wish there were someone that knew how to pray for me." She was told that Christian Scientists pray for the sick. A Christian Science practitioner was called, and he explained a few of the simple teachings of this religion such as we have discussed in this lecture. She wholeheartedly accepted the truth, became very peaceful, and fell asleep while the practitioner continued to pray for her.
In the middle of the night she awakened, sat up in bed, and cried out that she was healed. Her husband thought she had lost her mind and called the doctor who had attended her. After very careful examination with X-ray the physician informed her that every trace of malignancy was gone. Immediately, she regained strength and lived an active, normal life.
You see, in her extremity she was willing to give up human opinions about herself as a material, sickly, mortal creature for the truth of man as the spiritual image and likeness of God. She was willing to accept the power of Christ into her consciousness without reservation, and for this reason she found her health almost immediately.
This is not an isolated case. Many such healings take place every day. In many communities you can tune into radio or television stations weekly for the programs, "How Christian Science Heals." Here are presented authenticated healings of all sorts of problems. You are also invited to the Wednesday meetings of Christian Science churches, where you will hear how people in your own community have successfully applied Christian Science. I hope you will take advantage of this kind invitation.
How can we be confident that prayer will solve every problem, whether it be individual, national, or international? In the last line of the Lord's Prayer we have the answer, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." The kingdom and government of creation belong to God. He reigns supreme in heaven and on earth. All the power belongs to God, and, therefore, there is no power that can interfere with the government of God, good. All the glory belongs to God, even the glory for all the healings that take place through the power of prayer.
When is all this true? Our prayer tells us — "for ever" (throughout eternity). "Amen." "Amen" does not mean "the end"; it means "so be it," that is the way it is, and nothing can change it. We need to complete our prayers with the absolute conviction that since we have prayed aright, when we have intelligently applied God's law, perfect results are inevitable.
The world has great need for Christian Science, the Holy Comforter or spiritual Science. To protect our civilization we all need to pray daily as Christian Science teaches us to do, whether we are natural scientists, educators, statesmen, businessmen, housewives, or students in school. Our present and eternal happiness depends upon our prayers.
I encourage you to meditate daily upon the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation as given in Science and Health. Do not just repeat the words; think through the implications. Hallow God as our heavenly Father, divine Mind. Revere Him as Spirit, Soul. Respect Him as our heavenly Principle and Truth. Adore Him as divine Love and Life. Then it will be easy for you to see and experience the heavenly kingdom that He reveals. Rejoice that since His universal manifestation is perfect, all that it includes is perfect.
As you welcome the power of the Christ into your heart, even the everlasting Comforter which protects you from believing in evil as real, you will be delivered from inharmony through the revelation that God is All-in-all.
This is true because the kingdom belongs to God, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
May we close this lecture by repeating the Lord's Prayer with its inspiring spiritual interpretation as given to the world by Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, pp. 16, 17).
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
And forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
For Thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is
infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
[Delivered circa
1958-1960. The words in Matthew 3:2 are those of John the Baptist and not
Christ Jesus.]