Charles V. Winn, C.S.B., of Pasadena, California
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
"Christian Science: Humanity's Liberator," was the subject of a lecture given Monday, March 4, by Charles V. Winn, C.S.B., of Pasadena, Cal., at Second Church of Christ Science, 340 67th St. His text, follows substantially as given:
The invitation to a Christian Science lecture could be given in no more appropriate words than in these of Mary Baker Eddy, the Leader and Founder of this great religion: "Divine Love hath opened the gate Beautiful to us, where we may see God and live, see good in good, — God all, one, — one Mind and that divine; where we may love our neighbor as ourselves, and bless our enemies" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 132). To enable us to enter this gate Beautiful and see what divine Love hath prepared for all of His children is the purpose of a Christian Science lecture.
If one were to sum up the needs of mortals today they could be expressed in one word — freedom. As we look about us and see the unrest, the dissatisfaction, the failure, the despair of humanity, surely no one would deny that we all need liberation and deliverance from wrong conditions and intolerable burdens. That the prevailing systems of education, theology and healing have failed to meet humanity's need is self-evident on every hand. That we must have something different than we have known, to attain different results, cannot be gainsaid. The failure of material theories and systems proves conclusively that we must look in another direction for peace and healing. Those who look to the human mind, human will, human ways, and material methods for deliverance will look in vain. Divine Truth alone will solve the problem of being.
That there is a way to attain freedom and harmony is the joyous message of Christian Science. This way is not one of creeds and speculative theories but a way of certainty, a way that is open to all, a way where demonstration replaces mere belief and where unfailing proof displaces doubt and uncertainty. That there is such a way our great Master, Jesus the Christ, proved over nineteen hundred years ago. That it was an eminently successful way is attested by the fact that he had dominion over every adverse condition and was triumphant over every phase of mortality, even death itself. He said that he was that way, and as we follow his way, healing, deliverance, freedom, and dominion are our sure possession and inevitable reward. There is perhaps no more significant sign of the times than the fact that seekers are turning back to the simple but provable teachings of Jesus the Christ for salvation and freedom. At the recent Lambeth religious conference in England a serious discussion of Christian Science healing took place and a committee was appointed to look into it still further. One has only to attend a Wednesday evening testimony meeting in a Christian Science church and hear the testimonies of those who have been redeemed from disease and sin to know of a surety that the Christ-healing is again being demonstrated in our midst and is available to all.
What was the way of the Christ? What was it that instantly released his patients from sin, deformity, suffering, and death? Surely it was nothing material. He never employed any material means, agencies, or methods. It must have been something entirely apart from anything material in its nature, method, or design. His own words answer the question fully and completely: "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." It was Jesus' understanding of God, the Father, the source, cause, and origin of all being, that enabled him to overcome and destroy error and discord of every name and nature, and he promised that if we believed on him, or, in other words, gained the same understanding, we would be able to do the same works. What a priceless opportunity is ours to know God so accurately and definitely that we can follow in our Master's footsteps and win our freedom as he won his from every phase of mortality and evil! As our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" tells us (p. 225); "Love is the liberator."
We all will agree that there is a creator or cause. To conceive of a creation without a creator is impossible. The very fact that there is being, or consciousness, brings with it the irrefutable conclusion that there is a source or cause of being. Our textbook says on page 170, "Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress." Indeed, one's concept of causation will to a very great extent dominate his entire life and enter into the very minutiae of his daily affairs. What a boon Christian Science has brought to us by revealing the true nature of the all-loving Father and cause of all which will enable us to progress out of the belief of evil into the eternal reality of good.
On page 586 of Science and Health Father is defined as follows: "Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine Principle, commonly called God." How beautifully this leads us away from the trammels of a finite, limited, constricted belief about Deity to the true concept of Him as unlimited and infinite! It shows us at once that God cannot be localized, limited in power, or restricted in any way. The Father, eternal Life, could not manifest Himself in that which is material, dying, mortal, or inharmonious. He Himself must express Himself in that which is immortal, eternal, undying, and immutable. This life must be infinite and unchanging. There never could be any lack of life or cessation of it. It is self-sustained and self-supported, for, being eternal, there is nothing in life that could destroy it, and there is nothing outside of it that could overpower it. As we understand this divine verity we have that life more abundant which is the eternal heritage of all the children of God. We come into "the glorious liberty of the children of God."
As this true understanding of God as eternal Life unfolds to us, we can readily grant the great truth that God is the one infinite Mind. Infinite Life and infinite Mind must be one, for we could not think of Mind without Life or Life without Mind. Mind can express itself only in one way, and that is through its ideas. Since God is Mind and Life, its ideas must be Life-expressing and Mind must impart to its creation or ideas that only which would bless or perpetuate its ideas. We ordinarily think of mind as intelligence, and to express intelligence means to know. We can only know that which is true. We may believe many things, but we can only know true facts. Mind can only know true and eternal ideas. It knows nothing temporal, false or wrong. Mrs. Eddy says, on page 415 of Science and Health, "Mind in every case is the eternal God, good."
But some one may say, I do not see of what practical value this is to me. Let us see. Everything starts as a thought or concept. We cannot do anything without thinking. Every one will readily concede that every act is induced by a thought. Then, if we always started with the right thought, or true concept, we would always do right and be right. If we plant a beet seed we get a beet; if we plant a carrot seed we get a carrot; if we plant flower seeds we get flowers. As we realize that the only true thoughts are the thoughts of the divine Mind, good and perfect, then spurious and false thoughts are promptly rejected as untrue and erroneous.
Because God is the only Mind, He possesses all the power there is; for there is no other mind to dispute His sovereignty. The divine Mind, then, is supreme and omnipotent, and the only thoughts that can have any influence or power are good thoughts, or true thoughts. Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 252), "Right thoughts are reality and power; wrong thoughts are unreality and powerless, possessing the nature of dreams." Right ideas are powerful, because they reflect or manifest the infinite power originating them. When one is expressing true thoughts he is manifesting his at-one-ment with the Father, and this is the sign of "Immanuel, or God with us" (Science and Health, p. 34). This realization brings true freedom.
The understanding of God as divine
Principle is without doubt one of the highest concepts of Deity which has ever
come to humanity. Then when we learn that Love is divine Principle our cup
indeed runneth over.
Principle is that which creates,
constitutes, contains, sustains, and governs all true being. One could hardly
conceive of a more comprehensive definition of our heavenly Father than the one
of Principle which Christian Science has brought to the world. It shows us
clearly that the only creative power there is, is divine Love. Divine Love is
the only source, or origin, of all that is real and true. One has only to think
of the so-called opposites of love to see plainly that divine Love is the only
creative energy. Hate, envy, jealousy, or fear, never create anything. Their
whole tendency is to destroy, engender friction, and cause disintegration. They
are opposed to true, harmonious being. They are destructive and tearing down,
never constructive or upbuilding. Hence, we see that
divine Love alone is the only creative Mind, power, or presence in the
universe.
From this fundamental fact as to the only true creator we can grasp the further fact that all creation must be lovely and good. God's love being infinite, boundless, and unlimited, it must have an expression or manifestation. We could not conceive of an unmanifested or unexpressed love. The very nature of love is to express or manifest itself. Then God's creation could only manifest the qualities of the creative Principle, Love. It must be lovely, spiritual, harmonious, and good. "The word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth." It could not help being eternal, for infinite Principle would never withdraw its loving support from its offspring or creation. It could never depart from its purity and wholeness, for "Love never loses sight of loveliness" (Science and Health, p. 248).
The effect of these great facts upon our daily lives and thinking is almost incalculable. As has been previously pointed out, everything in our human experience starts as a thought. Then by basing our every thought upon the eternal fact of the allness of Love and the perfection of its creations, or manifestation, we would see only that which is lovely and good, we would think only of that which is lovely and good, and we would experience only that which is lovely and good. Indeed, Christian Science teaches and proves to us that we really think only as we think that which is lovely and good. There is absolutely no intelligence in hate, envy, jealousy, or in anything that is contrary to love. We know that if we do anything unprincipled we get into trouble, but if we do that which is right, and in accordance with Principle, we avoid trouble. So we can readily see that right, true thinking, or good thinking, is the only real thinking there is, and that any other seeming thinking is utterly devoid of reality or substance.
Divine Principle, Love, not only
creates all true being, but it also constitutes all true being. This divine
fact gives us a sense of God's immanence, or nearness, which is indeed a
priceless boon. It shows us that God not only gives life to His creation, but
is the very Life of His creation: He not only gives substance to His creation,
but is the very substance of His creation. The Bible tells us that man is made
in the image or likeness of God. All that man is, is the reflection or
expression of what God is. As God is Principle, and man is His image and
likeness, then man has no mind or existence apart from God, for all that he
has, is his, by reflection. Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do
nothing." The real man being the likeness of God, he must reflect or
express, God, and as God expresses Himself by thoughts or ideas which are
always perfect and good, man must and can reflect, or express, only that which
is good.
The practical application of the knowledge of the foregoing facts in human affairs, as in Jesus' time brings unbounded blessings. Can we now not see why Jesus the Christ was the most successful man that the world has ever known? Why was he never baffled in the presence of disease, deformity, or even death itself? It was because he knew that he had no mind apart from God, and that his Father, divine Principle, would never cease to manifest Himself in him and through him. And so, as we realize that we have no mind apart from God, but that we possess all by reflection, that divine Principle constitutes all true being, then we can say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Such an understanding gives one so great a realization of power and dominion that he gains a mastery, a freedom, and a self-control which can be obtained in no other way.
The question of power is one that has for many centuries engaged the thoughts of men. Wars have been fought to gain it, countless efforts and untold sacrifices have been made to retain it. The Christian Scientist, through his understanding of divine Principle has the golden opportunity to succeed in the quest of the ages. Almost all efforts to gain power have had as their basic motive some selfish purpose, the desire for place, rule, fame, or wealth. God never blesses such selfish purposes or aims. Our textbook tells us, on page 224, "No power can withstand divine Love." Divine Love possesses and manifests all the power, activity and mind there is, and as we realize that our only true business is to reflect and glorify God, His infinite power is available to us and for us. All the power there is, all the activity there is, all the law there is, is working with us and for us to help us in our righteous endeavors to "glorify (our) Father which is in heaven."
It is almost needless to say that with such an exalted concept of true power we never could or would use it to control or dominate anyone. As we see that God constitutes all true being we realize that all His children are under the benign control of the one infinite Love and that "He doeth all things well." We can safely and joyously leave our loved ones to the Father's infinite care and rest serene in the divine certainty that Love is bringing out that which is for the highest good of all. Personal influence, selfish domination, human will, and jealous fear will then vanish as a dream.
God, divine Love, not only creates and constitutes all true being, but He also contains all true being. An idea is always embraced in its Principle[. God is not located somewhere] in His creation, but creation is in God. God is not in man, but man lives and has his being in God. All true being exists in the Mind and Love that is God. An idea can never be separated from its Principle and Principle will never forsake its idea. In the Bible we read, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." God will never fail to support, protect and uphold all His ideas or creation.
This truth destroys completely one of the greatest fears of the human mind, the possibility of loss. Did you ever stop to think that a very large percentage of all human effort is spent in trying to prevent loss of some kind, a loss of money, health, friends, home, or happiness? Our textbook tells us, on page 302, "It is impossible that man should lose aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his." God gives all good to man, and God's purpose in blessing His reflection, man, can never be thwarted or annulled. It is God's nature to give, and what God gives is divinely safeguarded and protected. What serenity and joy it brings to us as we study the life of our great Master and see his poise and sublime faith in the presence of any seeming loss! What supreme confidence Jesus displayed at the tomb of Lazarus! He knew that life was inseparable from God; that it was the expression of Love divine; and that it could no more be lost than God could withdraw Himself from the universe. As our Leader has so beautifully expressed it in one of her poems (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 388):
"Fed by Thy love divine we live,
For Love alone is Life;"
and infinite Love will never fail to feed, uphold, and maintain His creation. Life is the spontaneous expression of love and can never be repressed or suppressed for one moment. What a joyous day it must have been in Decapolis when Jesus healed the deaf and dumb boy! What a perfect illustration of true Christian healing! We read that Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Be opened." "And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain." Jesus knew that speech and hearing were faculties of Mind; that speech was given to man to declare and express good; that the only true hearing there is, is hearing the voice of God; and that as God is continually imparting His thoughts or ideas to His creation. His children can never lose the power to hear the voice of God. At another time, in Bethsaida, he completely destroyed the belief that sight could be lost. What a beautiful lesson is here for us all!
You remember that Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes and asked him if he saw anything, and he said that he saw men as trees walking. Jesus then asked him to look up, after he had put his hands on his eyes again, and he saw every man clearly.
And so, as we see and know that God's creation is wholly good and lovely, we lose our erroneous, perverted sense of things and see clearly. We lose the false and gain the true, which in reality has never been lost. That this understanding is practical and bears fruit is borne out by countless cases in Christian Science where sight and hearing have been fully restored after they had apparently been lost for many years.
We find a notable example of how Jesus healed in the case of the restoration of the withered hand. Jesus' way was contrary to the usual way. He did not heal the man and then ask him to stretch forth his hand. The healing was simultaneous with the obedience. Jesus knew that true substance had never been lost; that perfection had never been changed; that true being had never been altered, but is, was, and ever shall be perfect and good. And as we see this eternal fact, we reach forth and lay hold upon those perfect gifts of God which can never be lost or absent.
We forsake the false and the unworthy when we learn this great fact: that all true being is in God and is reflected in man. God gives, but never withholds anything that is right and good. God expresses Himself in completeness, and will never fail to bestow that which is requisite for completeness, and harmony. When Jesus asked the rich young ruler to sell all that he had, it was not for the purpose of depriving him of anything; for he distinctly promised him that he should have treasure in heaven. The young man was only to exchange the false for the true. When we conform our thinking to the purposes of divine Love we can never even seem to lose anything unless we get something better in its place. How easy it is to abandon selfish human will and planning, when this great truth is understood! As we understand that God is an infinite, loving Principle, whose sole purpose is to bless His creation, we may readily abandon our way for His way. We do not attempt to conform the law of mathematics to our way to gain mathematical results. We conform our way to its way. When we do this, it brings us mathematical results. When our supreme desire is to let divine Principle, Love, govern and control our lives, then Love's plan brings us all that is lovely and good. Our Leader tells us that "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way" (Science and Health, p. 454), and this illumination of truth shines on our path. As we travel through the country we see signs that read, "Stop, look, and listen." Christian Science teaches us to stop selfish human outlining, look away from self, and listen for the voice of God.
A Christian Scientist once found himself in a large city without funds and without employment. Many attempts to secure employment had been made, but without success. Every avenue seemed to be closed. All human efforts seemed unavailing. Previously he had been employed in a certain business which he had determined never to enter again. One day when the problem seemed unsolvable, a verse from an old hymn came to him:
"I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain, or plain or sea;
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
I'll be what you want me to be."
Then and there it was firmly
resolved to surrender all human will and to joyously obey the will and purposes
of divine Love. The result was indeed a happy one, for by nine o'clock the next
morning the Scientist had a position which was only the beginning of a
succession of blessings. God is infinite good and infinite Love, and an
infinite Principle has infinite ways and means to promote the purposes of good.
God not only creates, constitutes, contains, but also sustains all true being. We learn in Christian Science that God is the only real activity. His activity is ceaseless and continuous. On page 587 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy refers to God as omni-action. In a universe where God is omni-action there cannot be any suspended action, delayed action, or imperfect action. Mrs. Eddy says, "Mind is perpetual motion" (Science and Health, p. 240). Mind, Love, takes an interest in its ideas, sustaining and maintaining them; hence, there could be no stagnation or lack of interest. What a feeling of security we have when we know that our Father, infinite good, is all-acting, and that the activity of good is the only activity there is or can be. The only thing that is going on is the unfoldment of good. The world has for so long believed in a sort of absentee God who, after He finished His creation, has sort of watched it go on, that the understanding of God as all-acting is like a refreshing warm breeze blowing into the icy haunts of mortal belief. While we know that creation is finished, yet it is being unfolded continuously; and while it is now complete, yet it will continue to unfold through all eternity.
This understanding of God as omni-action opens up ways and means of accomplishing good that are almost limitless. What joy it is to know Love is the only activity, that Love alone has influence, power, and control; that Love alone guards, guides, and governs; and that hate cannot influence, control, mislead, or dominate. Good alone has activity. It is the only power that is doing anything or that is operating to bring anything to pass. Life alone is acting to promote vigor, health, achievement, and to annul any belief of stagnation, impairment, suspended action, or failure. Mind alone is acting, and is forever expressing itself in intelligence, understanding, perspicacity, ability, and capacity; and so-called inability, failure, or ignorance have no activity, but are wholly negative. They can do nothing, hinder nothing, delay nothing, and can never resist the all-acting Mind, for "none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
As we understand that God is omni-action, how clearly we see and experience the divine
fact that health is the normal, natural, and usual condition of man's being;
that disease and discord are no part of man or real consciousness. Discord can
never proceed from a true Principle. It is only a misapplication or failure to
apply a principle that ever causes any discord. When we understand that disease
and wrong are unprincipled or utterly lacking in principle, then we see that
they are baseless frauds, imposed upon humanity through ignorance and false
belief. They have no foundation in Principle or good. They have no law or power
through which they can operate, but are spurious and baseless. I have a friend
whose entire family had passed on through tuberculosis. He was finally attacked
with same disease and was healed in Christian Science. He had learned that
health and harmony, alone, proceed from divine Principle, and that disease and
death are devoid of principle or truth.
An understanding of God as an infinite, omni-active Principle gives us an understanding of His omnipresence that is of the most practical value. We see that we do not have to go anywhere to find God but that He is ever at hand, and that He and His ideas are inseparable. In some of the South Sea Islands the natives communicate with each other over hundreds of miles of open sea by means of a wooden instrument. They strike the instrument until it reaches a certain pitch, which, in turn, sets up a certain pitch in the receiving instrument, and then their signals become readily intelligible. It is much upon the same basis as our radio. So, as our thought is conformed to Principle, we find God not afar off, but in our thinking, in a purified and exalted consciousness. We think as He would have us think, we live as He would have us live, and do as He would have us do. His omnipresence is no longer a mere hope, but a living, vital ever-operative fact in our lives.
A Christian Scientist was once
called to help a woman who had been seriously poisoned. There was some delay in
the receipt of the message, and so the woman asked her little boy to help her.
He was only six years old, but he was equal to the occasion, and when the
Scientist finally arrived, the mother was well on the road to recovery. The
reason for the quick recovery was easily accounted for when the little fellow
said, "You know God is Love, and He is in every house."
As we begin to understand God and realize His ever-presence, then we see that good is the normal, natural, usual status of being and not the unusual. How often when we hear of a beautiful proof of God's power we hear it said, "How wonderful! How remarkable!" Mrs. Eddy tells us on page xi of Science and Health, "Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural." There is nothing unnatural or extraordinary about good, righteousness, and health. They are the normal, expected, and God intended conditions of man. We should expect them, plan on them, and accept them as inevitable and the normal provision of divine Love for His children. "It was the consummate naturalness of Truth in the mind of Jesus, that made his healing easy and instantaneous," writes Mrs. Eddy in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 200). God has ordained for us peace, health, and unlimited good, and we should lay hold upon them joyously, freely, fully, and expectantly. No matter how adverse the conditions may be about us, as our thought rests serenely in the omnipresence and omni-action of good, surrounding conditions are powerless. If we are out in a boat in a storm, the higher the waves go, the higher our boat goes. The waves can affect us adversely only if we let the water into the boat. And so the waves of error may dash furiously against us, but if our consciousness is full of the knowledge of God's presence and power, yea, His divine allness, they can only force us into a greater realization of Truth's supremacy and good's omnipotence.
Divine Love not only creates, constitutes, contains, and sustains all true being, but He also governs all true being. God is All-in-all, and governs all. Creation is His reflection, and the reflection is always governed by the Principle it reflects. All that is real, true, and good is known to God; and what He knows He must govern. There is no other intelligence but God; hence, there is no other government. Non-intelligence cannot govern anything. God must control His own thoughts; and as man is God's idea, man is always God-governed and God-controlled. Principle, God, not only establishes that which is good and true but He also governs it, so that it remains forever so. Good is invincible, irresistible, and irreversible. God's law is a law of progress. Once we have gained a victory over error in Science, that victory is won forever. "The Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." As we realize the supreme government of God we can go in one direction only, and that is in the direction of good. Infinite good never becomes unlike good and ever-present good never eventuates in the absence of good. Good is continuous and ever operative; it is the only thing that can repeat itself. It is constantly self-renewed and self-expressed and says, "Go forward."
One of the greatest fears of the human mind is the belief that untoward conditions can return. Christian Science declares and proves that good is primal, basic and foundational; that any belief that is contrary to good is baseless and fraudulent. Good is the "seed within itself," renewed and expressed. It is manifested, for it has an eternal, unchanging Principle which governs and unfolds all right ideas. In many sections of our country large tracts of land have been reclaimed through irrigation. These reclaimed acres have brought forth abundantly to bless and provide for human needs. How has this been done? Dams have been built to impound the waters and to devote them to a useful, constructive purpose. Once the land is reclaimed, the dams properly taken care of, and the water spread upon the land, abundant crops are assured. So, as our thought is filled with right ideas and the streams of love flow freely through our consciousness, an abundant fruitage of health, harmony, and joy is our abiding and continuous experience.
The Bible says that "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." How practical and clear Mrs. Eddy has made this passage in her definition of angels as "God's thoughts passing to man" (Science and Health, p. 581)! What a sense of complete protection this gives us at all times! Nothing untoward ever happened as a result of obedience to Principle. Anything wrong and discordant only seems to come as a result of disobedience to Principle. The ideas that emanate from Principle have only one purpose, and that is to bring about a right result. When we know that God, divine Principle, Love, is all-governing and all-controlling, that He is always imparting the right, true idea, or angel, to bring about a righteous outcome to any problem, then we are protected and saved from any wrong belief that would bring an undesirable result.
The understanding of the eternal fact that divine Love's government is the only government solves one of the greatest problems of human experience, and that is the problem of our rightful place. When we understand and realize that, as Mrs. Eddy says, "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way" (Science and Health, p. 454), then our rightful place will soon be made manifest. Every wrong thought, as a rule, starts with some form of self; every right thought, with the desire to glorify God. When our motive is to do what God would have us do, indecision and doubt quickly disappear. God's angels and guidance are ever near those whose desire is to carry out God's plan of infinite good. God places and governs, and under God's government man can never be out of place, or misplaced. When our desire is for the good of all, then the All-good will surely bring it to pass. Man is the active expression of Mind, and all of Mind's ideas are available to him who is obedient to Mind. We may not have the place to which we think we are entitled, but to make ourselves worthy of that place will bring a sure reward.
The understanding of Love's universality and all-creativeness brings to us another great blessing, and this is the consciousness of God's motherhood as well as God's fatherhood. We see that not only is God the only power, strength, and cause, but He is an infinitely tender, loving Mother. Not only does He govern all, but His government is infinitely benign, tender, and loving. We see that an infinite, loving Father-Mother could never fail to provide everything that is requisite and needful for His children. Our healing cannot be very long delayed when this great fact dawns on our consciousness.
A realization of God's unfailing guidance is ours when thought is governed by this great truth. Christian Science reveals to us that God, good, guards, guides, and governs all of His children. As we learn more of our Father-Mother God, what an exalted and ennobled concept of man we gain! We see that the real man not only expresses the qualities of the Father, but also those of the Mother. The world has for so long believed that tenderness sometimes is weakness that this great fact is not easily grasped. But we have only to study the life of our great Master, Jesus the Christ, to see that the meekest man who ever lived was also the strongest man that ever lived. He commanded the waves, rolled the stone away from the tomb, raised the dead, and gave the world the greatest exhibition of true power that has ever been known. Truly, he proved that meekness and might always go hand in hand.
And what a noble example of meekness and might we have in the life of our revered Leader! She who had the tenderness of the mother, in fullest measure, also had the strength to withstand and overcome the malice of the world. She who had the gentleness and sweetness of the mother also had the courage of a Daniel to press on against seemingly overwhelming odds. She who was naturally retiring and self-effacing would stand like a rock against all efforts to dissuade her from a righteous purpose. She could yield like the waving grain when necessary, but she could also stand as immovable as a mountain oak when a vital truth was involved. When she was personally with us she strove to have us attain those qualities of tenderness, purity, love, and meekness which alone characterize the true Christian Scientist. Surely, we can follow and express our gratitude to her in no better way than to follow her noble example of true Christian living and humility. Our way will be one of peace and ever nobler achievement as we keep before us her golden words, "Remember that the first and last lesson of Christian Science is love, perfect love, and love made perfect through the cross" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 138).
[Delivered March 4, 1935, at Second Church of Christ Science, 340 67th St., Brooklyn, New York, and published in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Brooklyn, May 8, 1937, reprinted by request from the March 9, 1935 issue. In the first paragraph of the section entitled "All True Being Exists in God," part of the second sentence appears to have been lost in a typographical mix-up. The correct text has been restored here, in brackets, from the 1935 printing. A break was added to this transcript to one very long paragraph.]