Christian Science:

The Healing Power of God, Life, Truth, and Love

 

John J. Selover, C.S.B., of Long Beach, California

Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church,

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts

 

The lecturer spoke substantially as follows:

Christian Science Sunday School

A pupil in a Christian Science Sunday School once asked his teacher, "Why is it that young people who regularly attend some Sunday School are happier and friendlier than those who do not?" In the discussion which followed, the conclusion was reached that attendance at any Sunday School shows a reaching out for an understanding of God and man and elevates character. When one is acquiring a better understanding of God and His creation, as he does in a Christian Science Sunday School, he cannot help becoming more God-like in his thoughts and acts. As he learns, for example, that God is Love, and that man is the perfect image of God, he naturally becomes more loving and more lovable. As he comprehends that God is Life, he expresses greater strength and endurance and casts aside the fear of death. As he learns more about the Christ, Truth, he begins to pattern his life in harmony with the true spiritual model, and it is no wonder that he is happier and more friendly. Dr. Daniel A. Poling, the renowned Baptist minister of Philadelphia, was once asked, "What do you know about God?" He replied, "Mighty little, but what I know has changed my entire life."

The Truth Shall Make You Free

Growth in Christian character does not stop with the improvement of human relationships. From the Scriptures we learn that Christianization of thought results also in the healing of disease, redemption from sin, and the elimination of sorrow, want, and woe. The Bible teaches how one may obtain salvation from all inharmony, including sin, disease, and death. To the extent that the message of the Bible is spiritually discerned and practiced, health, harmony, and peace naturally appear. Christ Jesus taught, "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" (John 8:31,32). From what shall Jesus' followers be made free? Jesus did not limit the power of prayer to the elimination of unlovely traits of character. He cast out every type of evil or disorder.

Christian Science maintains that all are entitled to be healed and redeemed from sin, disease, and death. It teaches its Sunday School pupils, as well as its adult adherents, how to live good, happy, active, and healthful lives by utilizing the supreme power of God in freeing and protecting themselves and others from discord.

The Bible and Its Key

The Bible, in English the King James Version, is the fundamental textbook for Christian Scientists. It presents, often in vivid word pictures, evidence which shows that an understanding of God and obedience to His law both saves and heals. In the narration of the events the rule and its method of utilization is seldom openly apparent. It is brought to light only through prayer and spiritual discernment. The Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, unfolds the spiritual truth contained in the Bible, thus giving the reader the key which unlocks the door to healing. It reveals the scientific healing method employed with such success by Christ Jesus and his disciples. "In the year 1866," Mrs. Eddy writes, "I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the absolute divine Principle of scientific mental healing" (Science and Health, p. 107). She further points out that the Bible was her only textbook and adds, "No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, SCIENCE AND HEALTH; and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it" (Science and Health, p. 110).

God and His Beloved Son

From earliest times mortals have recognized the existence of supreme power. Next the discovery was made that there is but one God, who was referred to by the Hebrews as Jehovah, or Lord, or Lord God. Later He was reverently called Father. God was also recognized to be the creator of man and the universe, the Life of all that exists, of all reality.

As the higher concept of God developed, as shown in the Old Testament, forecasts of the coming of the Messiah, Saviour, or Christ, as the Son of God, began to be voiced. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," prophetically cried Isaiah (9:6). The nature of the Son of God or the Christ was however, not fully comprehended by the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was the nature of the Christ fully revealed. "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father," declared Jesus of his divine character (John 16:28). Of the divine power which he manifested he said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The Christ is the divine idea of God, of Life, Truth, and Love, reaching humanity, to heal and save, to protect and uphold those who seek Him with their whole heart. The Christ is never separate from God, the Father, and its healing influence is expressed or manifested in human consciousness through spiritual understanding. Christ is the eternal Truth, the voice and activity of God, constantly operating wherever help is needed.

The Holy Ghost or Comforter

While Jesus was in the world, God, as Life, Truth, and Love, had been individualized to his followers through him, and they were satisfied. When the opponents of spiritual truth crucified Jesus, those who were holding to his human personality were badly shaken with dismay. Even Peter went back to his fish nets until he was rearoused by a clearer understanding of the eternal Christ after Jesus' resurrection. A few days earlier at the last supper, they now recalled, Jesus had assured them that he would pray the Father, who, he said, would send them "another Comforter." In John's Gospel it is recorded that Jesus promised that "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). Today humanity is awakening to the fact that the Comforter is here, bringing the full Christ message to remembrance and teaching mankind the spiritual meaning of "all things" Jesus had taught and practiced. The sign of the Christ-presence is shown in the healing of the sick and the reforming of the sinner by reliance upon God alone.

Christian Science gives to the world an enlarged understanding of God as the Father and Mother of all; of Christ, His Son, as the divine image, idea, or manifestation of God; and of the Comforter, or "Holy Ghost," which Mrs. Eddy has revealed as "Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love" (Science and Health, p. 588).

God's Infinite Oneness

God is one. He is Life, Truth, and Love. Each of these words is a synonymous term for the one God. Each includes all that is contained in the others. However each presents a view of God which shows the dominant aspects or qualities of the synonym. As each facet of a diamond presents the one diamond from a different angle or viewpoint so does Life, Truth, and Love present the fullness of the Godhead in different perspectives. Mrs. Eddy says in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany": "Truth, Life, and Love are formidable, wherever thought, felt, spoken, or written, — in the pulpit, in the court-room, by the wayside, or in our homes. They are the victors never to be vanquished" (p. 185).

Some have asserted that Christian Science is not Christian because it denies the personality of God. Christian Science accepts the premise that God is Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love, as the Bible declares, but denies that He is a material personality. Christian Science holds to the premise that God is Supreme Being. As such He is One and complete and universally present. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, urged the acknowledgment of "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:6). Man is the image and likeness of God, who is the one and only infinite Person. Of this infinite Person Mrs. Eddy writes on pages 331 and 332 of Science and Health: "Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person called God, — that is, the triply divine Principle, Love. They represent a trinity in unity, three in one, — the same in essence, though multiform in office: God the Father-Mother; Christ the spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter. These three express in divine Science the threefold, essential nature of the infinite."

The Threefold Nature of God

It is important to understand this "threefold, essential nature of the infinite," for, as Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health, "the forever fact remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from sin, disease, and death" (p. 164). The beneficent trinity, Life, Truth, and Love, destroys the malevolent triad, sin, disease, and death. Life abolishes death, Love destroys hate, Truth redeems from sin and disease. In "The People's Idea of God" (p. 4) Mrs. Eddy speaks of "Life, Truth, and Love" as "the glorious Godhead." Since Life, Truth, and Love constitute "the glorious Godhead" that heals and saves, an ever-enlarging understanding of their special qualities and activity is necessary to full salvation.

In addition to these three terms, which are frequently linked together in Mrs. Eddy's writings, she points to four other synonymous words for God. They are Principle, Mind, Soul, and Spirit. Principle and Love are often used together. Principle is therefore not to be considered as cold and abstract. Principle is not only absolute, but loving; not only just, but kind. Principle is the only creator, Ruler, Judge, Lawgiver. Mind is the fundamental intelligence of the universe, including man. Paul admonishes in his letter to the Philippians (2:5), "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." This Mind is one, eternal and universal. To the extent that one knows the invariability and supremacy of Mind, his entire environment becomes more orderly. Soul, God, is reflected in the grace, beauty, harmony, and grandeur of man and the universe. Spirit is not material or mortal. Spirituality, eternality, and substantiality find their source in Spirit, God.

Life and Work of Mary Baker Eddy

When Mrs. Eddy was a small child her spiritually endowed mother taught her, in accordance with the Bible, that God is Love. This understanding of God as Love enabled Mary, as a child of twelve years, to heal herself of a fever. At another time, she fearlessly led an escaped lunatic, armed with a club, away from the school grounds as all of the other children fled in terror from him. Mrs. Eddy's developing understanding of God and of His tender and loving care for His children enabled her to restore sight to a blind child. This example of the healing power of Love took place several years before the full import of the Scriptural method of healing by prayer dawned upon her. Her early religious training, which she acquired from her parents and her pastor in the Congregational church, and by individual research, helped her as she drew closer to the final revelation which led to the discovery of Christian Science, the publication of Science and Health, and the establishment of the Christian Science movement.

Mrs. Eddy's educational preparation was enriched by instruction in the classics, which she received between the ages of nine and thirteen from her much loved brother, Albert Baker, who was then in law school at Dartmouth College. On one occasion, when she was but nine years old, she confided seriously to her brother, "When I grow up I shall write a book" (The Life of Mary Baker Eddy by Sibyl Wilbur, p. 26). Not only did Mary write the Christian Science textbook, but she also formulated and wrote the Manual of The Mother Church, for the guidance of its members, and many other volumes, to aid in the spiritual growth of each student of this religion. In addition, she established all of the periodicals of the Church of Christ, Scientist, which go into the world to heal and bless. These publications are the Christian Science Quarterly, which contains a Bible Lesson for each week; The Christian Science Journal, the official monthly periodical, which includes a list of Christian Science Churches, Societies, College Organizations, Practitioners, Teachers, and Nurses; the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly periodical; The Herald of Christian Science in various languages; and The Christian Science Monitor, an international daily newspaper. The Monitor was established by Mrs. Eddy when she was in her eighty-seventh year. These books and periodicals may be read or obtained at Christian Science Reading Rooms, which are maintained by each Christian Science church.

The establishment of the Christian Science church and its manifold activities stems directly from Mrs. Eddy's healing of a supposedly fatal injury when she turned to the Bible for help. The story of Jesus healing the palsied man, as given in Matthew 9, was the specific passage that awakened her to God's constant love for those who turn to Him for help. Of this experience she says in Science and Health (p. 108), "When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit." Her love for humanity held her steadfastly to the task of organizing and leading the Christian Science movement, which today remains as a rich gift entrusted to all for healing, redemption, and a happier and more useful way of life.

God Is Love

Love as one of the essential names for God, particularly expresses itself as the tender Father-Mother of all creation. Love's place in the infinite Godhead, or in God's complete nature, is neither subordinate nor superior to Life and Truth, for it is Life and Truth. These three terms define one another, but they express the nature of God from different viewpoints. Love shows Life as having a tender, loving, compassionate quality. When Love is understood spiritually it comforts, heals, and saves. Love expresses its own perfect nature in love. Love is omnipresent, universal, infinite, eternal, and embraces all humanity, regardless of seeming differences in race, color, creed, education, or station in life. As the warm glow of the sun falls on all, except those who hide in the shadows, even more so does Love reveal its everlasting warmth in all creation.

In Love, and in man, Love's perfect expression or idea, there is no matter, fear, pain, sorrow, sin, disease, or death. To be free from such negative impositions one must persistently strive to think and act in harmony with the law of divine Love. One is not obeying the law of Love if he is hateful, resentful, jealous, impatient, self-righteous, or self-willed. Love of a true spiritual nature pondered, lived, and expressed by us affects directly the health and appearance not only of people, but also of plants and animals around us. Divine Love, operating in human consciousness causes an enriched sense of gentleness, tenderness, compassion, kindness, unselfishness, patience, which naturally manifest themselves in the objects of our love.

A Japanese gardener in southern California observed a particularly beautiful potted plant which a Christian Scientist had on her porch. As he examined it with deep appreciation, he said to her, "You love it." Yes, she did love it.

One day in a crowded waiting room a little boy was plying his mother with questions. In half an hour he managed to cover many subjects. To the admiration of all, his mother answered every question carefully and patiently. Then he began his "hows" and "whys" about God, and the listeners wondered, "How does she stand it?" But when she answered the little boy's next question she answered that of the listeners too. "Why," he asked, "doesn't God ever get tired and just stop?" "Because," she replied after a moment's hesitation, "God is Love; and Love never gets tired." No, Love never tires or stops being Love.

Divine Love should not be confused with the false, material sense of human love. Human love should always pattern the divine, but it is not doing so if it interferes with the proper unfoldment of one's individuality. Sometimes an over-loving or selfish parent may, for example, desire unduly to shelter a child, yes, even an adult child, from worldly cares. In the misguided pursuit of that desire he may interfere seriously with the development of individual initiative. In like manner, when the government seeks unduly to extend material security to its citizens it must beware that it does not interfere with the self-respect and initiative of its people and with the progress of the nation itself. What we need is more and still more reliance on God and not more ease in matter. As we truly seek the kingdom of God, our human needs are proportionately met.

Love, when rightly understood, destroys lack, fear, anxiety, pain, inflammation, sin — all mental slavery; and the result is often seen in the healing of the body, or the environment which had been held in bondage to those false beliefs.

God Is Life

The Scriptures recognize that God is Life, the Father of all-right ideas. How much more tender God becomes to us when we consider that He is One and that oneness includes not only the life giving element of fatherhood, but the tender aspect of motherhood, and the beloved Sonship of Christ. Neither Life nor its offspring, product, or included idea, is material or mortal.

Life, God, is eternal, and all of His ideas are of necessity coeternal with Him, for they coexist with Him. Life, God, does not create anything that decays, becomes lost, or dies. Were it possible for the real man, God's image and likeness, to lose his existence, one of God's essential ideas would be lost to Him. This is a self-evident absurdity. Life expresses all of its manifold ideas throughout eternity. Each idea is alive and expresses its individual spiritual beauty and nature according to God's purpose for that idea. Each one's individuality and purpose are God's responsibility, and there is no power which can interfere with their full expression.

Life never had a beginning, and it can never have an ending. It follows that our true spiritual being, or selfhood, never began and will never end. It is time that we doubted the material, false picture of life and awakened to the recognition that we are genuinely spiritual, the expression of divine Life, Truth, and Love. "It is high time to awake out of sleep," said Paul (Rom. 13:11). It is high time that we accept the premise that, regardless of mortal appearances, our only true being is spiritual. Each one can clearly recognize spiritual attributes and qualities in his thought which are unrelated to matter or mortal mind. These qualities, individually unfolded or expressed, are evidence of his eternal identity. Among these qualities we find justice, mercy, wisdom, goodness, health, strength, love, substance, immortality. Man is the perfect expression, manifestation, or reflection, of omnipotent, everlasting divine Life.

There is no beginning to Life, no change of Life, no terminable Life. The same Life which we express today is the Life of Moses, Elias, and Jesus. All ideas of God live, move, and have their eternal being in divine Life, never outside of it. A recognition of that fact awakens the slumbering thought from the dream that he must eventually die, to the realization that he can never exhaust the infinite and eternal Source of true spiritual being. Life, God, will forever continue to be expressed or reflected by His ideas. Life cannot be depleted or destroyed, because God is Life, and God can never die.

Life the Source of Real Being

In Revelation we read, "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1). The Revelator saw God's changeless purity, untouched by evil, as the source of man and the universe. The river of Life[, God, is the essence or substance of all true spiritual activity and being. In the river of Life] there is no matter or mortality, no evil, disease, or death. The river of the water of life cannot be stopped, slowed down, diverted, or destroyed. In that river there is no contamination or poison. It is "pure" "clear as crystal." It cannot overflow its banks or dry up. It does not ebb and flow, rise and fall, but goes eternally on its way at full flow. Man, the outpouring of God, is not material or mortal. He lives perfection. Man's health, which is spiritual, does not ebb and flow, and it can never fail. Man, God's perfect image, is incapable of disease, sin, or destruction. Individual spiritual life is changeless, but ever unfolding. Man is supplied from his eternal source, and with infinite vitality and activity. This fact understood, brings into daily human experience, strength, vigor, and well being. Any effort to find life, substance, and intelligence in matter or mortal mind leads only to confusion. Matter and mortal mind are illogical, lacking in intelligence, for they do not originate from God, who is the only Life, or Mind.

The Mortal Counterfeit

How then do we account for this mortal, who seems to come into the world, seems to express life and mind for a season, and then dies? Is a mortal real and God-made? Are you a mortal? Isaiah cautions, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isa. 2:22). God could not make imperfect, mortal man, for God is Spirit, and there is nothing in Spirit out of which matter could possibly be made.

A mortal is a false human counterfeit of the immortal or real man. In proportion as the true nature of God and the real man is recognized, the mortal lie about him fades from thought. This is being "born again," or awakening to one's true identity. It is not possible logically to explain a lie or error. A mistake is true only to deluded thought. In fact, its only claim to reality is in that uninformed or misinformed thought. The mistake, or lie, is the old man, the false mortal dream, which is put off as the new man is recognized.

Material scientists are approaching the point where they see the insubstantiality and nothingness of matter. In the breaking up of the atom they are concluding that matter consists only of energy. Diagrams and descriptions of the atom picture it as constituted mainly of empty space. One scientist, Dr. Donald H. Andrews, of Johns Hopkins University, has reached the conclusion that if there existed a press which was powerful enough to squeeze all of the empty space out of the atoms of one man, the residue would be smaller in size than the smallest speck of dust, and that if a similar press were used on all humanity, the resultant mass could be placed in a container which would easily fit into your pocket or purse. He has pointed out that "through the new point of view of science we realize that we are not material beings." The reduction of matter to its common denominator, nothingness, does not destroy the spiritual, real man, his identity, or individuality, his happiness and eternal usefulness. Man's true identity, yes, our true individuality, can never be lost. It is known by the distinguishing manner in which we express the eternal qualities of Life, Truth, and Love. Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63).

God Is Truth

Truth, which is represented by the idea of sonship, is an essential term used by Mrs. Eddy in defining "the glorious Godhead." God is omniscient Truth, and the Christ is Truth's divine manifestation or activity in human consciousness. The Christ is thus working constantly for the salvation of humanity. It wipes out the errors in human thought and reveals the nature of perfection. This renovation of thought restores health and harmony. We are reminded in Deuteronomy that God is "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4). Truth is omnipotent, omnipresent, universally and eternally operative, affirmative, exact, absolute, and irresistible. Truth destroys its opposite, error. Truth heals, saves, makes free, establishes and maintains harmony. In Truth there is no error or lapse from perfection. In the application of the truth to human problems we witness the results of divine rightness or righteousness.

The influence of Truth is the Christ, which is the ever-present redemptive power in human consciousness. Christ is the light of Truth which reaches everywhere. As long as one walks in this light his pathway is clear and distinct. If you were to walk along a street in a sparsely settled area at night, you would look forward to the next street light to brighten your way. As you traveled beyond the light the shadows would again deepen. Your own shadow would grow all out of proportion to your size. As you again approached the light the darkness would disappear, and your shadow would reduce itself in size until it vanished as you stood under the light. As one, in belief, strays away from the everlasting light of Truth, Life, and Love, he opens the door for fear, doubt, matter, lack, sin, disease, and death to enter. The further he strays from the light, the less security he feels. But there is an ever-present call from God, Truth, which, when heeded, will immediately replace this mortal sense of insecurity with divine security. "Come unto me," urges the Christ, Truth, to humanity. Christ Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). One who accepts this true light is greatly blessed. One who mentally chooses darkness or error thereby separates himself, in belief, from the protection which Truth affords. He can escape from this unhappy sense of things whenever he sincerely chooses to know and obey Truth.

Christ, Truth, Heals and Saves

How does Truth operate to change bodily maladies or impairments? Certainly divine healing does not result if one accepts the supposition that mortal and material conditions are genuine or can act as the cause of disease, or if he employs material methods for healing. The material discord is the evidence of thought which is out of harmony with God. Discord is the result of fear, ignorance, or sin. The sin, or error, which claims to act as the cause of inharmony includes such traits as hatred, envy, jealousy, resentment, anger, impatience, criticism, self-will, self-pity, and self-condemnation. In Proverbs we read, "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged" (Prov. 16:6).

The second book of Kings (Chapter 5) reports the healing of Naaman of leprosy. Naaman was regarded as an important man, and he knew it. He was "captain of the host of the king of Syria." A captive maid of Israel, who attended Naaman's wife, spoke to her about Elisha, the prophet, who, by prayer, had recently raised the child of the Shunammite woman. The maid assured her that her husband could be healed if he went to Elisha. The Bible states that "Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha." Elisha, without coming to the door, "sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."

Why did Elisha thus treat Naaman? Was he being disrespectful of this noted warrior? No doubt Naaman believed so, for we are told that he went away from the door in a rage. But shortly his servants, wise and loving advisors, came to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" At this point Naaman began to awaken to his need for humble obedience, for it is recorded that he "dipped himself seven times in Jordon, . . . and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." What did Elisha discern in this case that needed to be cast out? Had pride, arrogance, hardness of heart, stubbornness, self-will, self-importance, egotism taken fast hold of Naaman? Is it not clear that his faults of character needed to be eliminated? Elisha knew that the waters of Jordan had no special healing value. He recognized that the understanding of God, Life, Truth, and Love, was the only real remedy. He beheld the perfect man and refused to see a self-willed, egotistical mortal. He literally turned his back on that false type or counterfeit. He recognized that man is really responsive only to God's commands for perfection. Elisha's demand on Naaman for his obedience opened the way for the Christ, Truth, to operate in Naaman's consciousness, and to purge it of the iniquitous, enslaving evil beliefs. The elimination of these evil beliefs brought release to his body from the leprosy.

God's Power Heals Today

Is God's power to heal any different today from what it was in the time of Elisha or of Jesus? The same Truth, Life, and Love which constitutes God's being is just as much at hand today as it was centuries ago. Abundant evidence comparable to the healings accomplished in Jesus' time is reaching public thought today through the testimonies published in the Christian Science periodicals and those related at the Wednesday testimony meetings. Jesus promised that greater works than he did would be done by those who followed his example in the understanding of God. There is nothing to hinder us in taking full advantage of his promise.

How does one obtain an understanding of God which will enable him to heal himself and others? Is there a short cut which will take away the necessity for study and thought? Study is essential to a clear understanding of the prayer that heals. In John's Gospel we read, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life" (John 5:39). And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). Mrs. Eddy points out that to understand the Bible and this Science based thereon one must "study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit" (Science and Health, p. 495). Scientific prayer heals. Mrs. Eddy says on page 1 of Science and Health, "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love." In prayer one must, as Mrs. Eddy counsels, enter into "the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love" (Science and Health, p. 15).

Through this active study and interest one learns more of "the glorious Godhead," Life, Truth, and Love. The genuine happiness and harmony which follow the earnest effort to understand God are comparable to that which the Sunday School boy noticed in his companions who, as a result of Sunday School attendance, were happier and friendlier than others. The Psalmist had a fitting answer to the boy's query, showing the relationship between Godlike thinking and human well-being which we might well ponder:

"I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.  . . . Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16:8,9,11).

 

[Published in The Milwaukee County News of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 28, 1955. A paragraph break was added to the original paragraph on Naaman's healing, which was very long. In the section "Life the Source of Real Being," words were inadvertently omitted from this transcript; they have been restored, in brackets, from the text of another report of the lecture, the consultation of which also permitted a couple of other corrections to be made.]

 

 

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