UC-NRLF SB 1SD flbl GIFT QT /C - Prayer and Healing Published by The Christian Science Publishing Society WORKS ON CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Written by MARY BAKER EDDY SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES. In one volume, 700 pp. The original, standard, and only text- book on Christian Science Mind-healing. Cloth . . $8 00 Full Leather (same paper as cloth binding) . . . 4 00 Morocco (Oxford India Bible paper) 5 00 Levant (heavy Oxford India Bible paper) . . . . 6 00 Large Type Edition. Leather (Oxford India Bible paper) . 7 50 German Translation. Cloth 8 50 Pocket edition 5 50 MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. 471 pp. Cloth . . . 2 25 Morocco (Oxford India Bible paper) 4 00 Levant (Oxford India Bible paper) 5 00 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST. AND MISCELLANY. 864 pp. Cloth 2 25 Morocco (Oxford India Bible paper) 4 00 CONCORDANCE TO SCIENCE AND HEALTH. Morocco cover 5 00 CONCORDANCE TO MRS. EDDY'S PUBLISHED WRITINGS OTHER THAN SCIENCE AND HEALTH. Morocco 6 00 CHURCH MANUAL. Containing By-laws of The Mother Church 1 00 Pocket edition 2 00 German Translation. Cloth 1 00 CHRIST AND CHRISTMAS. An illustrated poem . . . 3 00 UNITY OF GOOD AND OTHER WRITINGS. Morocco cover 3 50 CHRISTIAN HEALING AND OTHER WRITINGS. Morocco 3 50 RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPECTION. Cloth . . 1 00 UNITY OF GOOD. Library edition, cloth. 64 pp. ... 60 Pocket edition, leather covers 1 00 PULPIT AND PRESS. Library edition, cloth. 90 pp. . . 1 00 EUDIMENTAL DIVINE SCIENCE. Pebbled cloth covers. 17 pp. 82 Library edition 50 Printed in New York point system of type for the blind . . 50 NO AND YES. Pebbled cloth covers. 46 pp 32 Library edition, cloth 55 MESSAGES TO THE MOTHER CHURCH. Cloth . . 1 50 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE vs. PANTHEISM. Pebbled cloth covers 25 MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER CHURCH, 1900. Paper covers 25 MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER CHURCH, 1901. Paper covers 50 MESSAGE TO THE MOTHER CHURCH, 1902. Paper covers 50 CHRISTIAN HEALING AND THE PEOPLE'S IDEA OF GOD 65 CHRISTIAN HEALING. Paper covers. 20 pp 20 THE PEOPLE'S IDEA OF GOD. Paper covers. 14 pp. . 20 POEMS. 70 pp., all of Mrs. Eddy's hymns and her earlier poems 1 50 FEED MY SHEEP. Solo 50 The above prices are for single copies, prepaid. For quantity prices and description see price list furnished upon request. Address orders for above works and make remittances payable to ATT TGIOXI V QTT7WAT2T Falmouth and St. Paul Streets AJ^L/lSUJN V. S 1C W Alt 1, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 8 PRAYER AND HEALING HIS PRESENCE EFFECTUAL PRAYER UNBELIEF AND FAITH NEITHER LAPSE NOR RELAPSE THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST Articles republished from the Christian Science periodicals THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY FALMOUTH AND ST. PAUL STREETS BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS r. s. A. Copyright, 1910, by THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY. PRAYER AND HEALING HIS PRESENCE. IN "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- tures/' by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 512, we read that "Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power." When Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt he asked whom 1 God would send with him. The answer which he received was, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." The psalmist sang, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy." Christian Science is teaching us the nature and character of God's presence and bringing that fulness of joy which comes from a realizing sense of His nearness. , It teaches us that God's pres- ence is always with us; that wherever we are, whatever our burdens may seem to be, God's love sustains us. Love alone is the nature of the presence which never leaves us nor forsakes us. Because the spiritual presence of God is ever with us, here and now, there is nothing material or 363204 4 PRAYER AND HEALING mortal with power to make or to mar our happi- ness. Until we learn this we shall be in cruel bondage, like the Israelites of old, ever struggling against weakness, pain, or fear, looking either backward with regret, or forward with forebod- ings. From the inspired writings of Mrs. Eddy Christian Scientists are learning how to apply in daily life Jesus' command, "Take no thought for the morrow." We are learning that only the present is ours and that our duty is to rightly improve each present moment, to keep ourselves busy striving to realize God's presence now. Do- ing this, our recollections of the past are filled with gratitude and our anticipations of the future with the loving trust which knows no sense of anxiety. If we are God's children His image and like- ness today, then in reality we have always been the object of His tender love, from which nothing can separate us, even though this likeness doth not yet appear. That which we really reflect can never be taken from us ; otherwise we should lose our identity as God's children. This abiding con- sciousness of God's loving presence lifts the bur- den imposed by envy, jealousy and kindred traits resulting from a belief of partiality a belief that God has given to some of His children gifts and blessings which He has withheld from others. As we assimilate the teachings of Christian Science we find that our sense of a limited supply HIS PRESENCE 5 in any direction is the result of a lack of under- standing. It results from ignorance of the fact that supply is really spiritual, even when mani- fested materially to the human senses, as was the case when Jesus fed the multitude with the few loaves and fishes, thus proving God's presence then and there. Through a careful study of the Psalms in the light thrown upon the Scriptures by our text-book, we see what it meant to the sweet singer of Israel to dwell in the sacred presence of the most High. He knew that God can furnish a table in the wilderness, and every Christian Scientist is learn- ing, perhaps slowly, but always surely, that divine Love through its ever-presence is meeting "every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494). EFFECTUAL PRAYER. '""T^HE effectual fervent prayer of a righteous A man," wrote St. James, "availeth much;" and James was a follower of him who said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." It is to be noted that this apostle saw not only the power of true prayer, but that he discerned as well the reasons for unanswered prayer : "Ye lust, and have not," he declares. "Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." This is an arraignment which brings the mortal face to face with himself upon this whole question; a charge which exposes self- interest, dishonesty, greed; an analysis which lays bare the whole human deflection from God- likeness. The inspiration of righteous com- munion and the vanity- of perverted petition were alike evident to this clear-eyed disciple; and they 6 EFFECTUAL PRAYER 7 can be equally plain to the men and women who attain today a like measure of spiritual under- standing. "Ye worship ye know not what," said Jesus to the woman of Samaria; "we know what we worship." And then he defined God as Spirit, an'd declared, "They that worship him must wor- ship him in spirit and in truth." The worldly- minded have long prayed to they "know not what." The revelation, however, of all that is true about God, unfolded by Christ Jesus and again set forth in Mrs. Eddy's teaching of Christian Science, shows the Christian Scientist more of what he worships and helps him to pray with growing sincerity and grace. Christian Science elevates prayer, and will continue to uplift and enlarge it until it becomes that fervent and effectual thought-process of "a righteous man" which does avail. Christian Science holds for the world a crystal-clear perception of prayer, and makes possible such prayer by revealing spiritual man, the likeness and image of God, as thinking no thoughts of his own but as always reflecting the divine Mind. To reflect divine Mind is perfect prayer. Concerning this question of prayer, Mrs. Eddy has written on page 20 of her book "No and Yes" : "Ever-Present Love must seem ever absent to ever-present selfishness or material sense. Hence this asking amiss and receiving not, and 8 PRAYER AND HEALING the common idolatry of man-worship." And again, in the same book (p. 39), "Prayer can neither change God, nor bring His designs into mortal modes; but it can and does change our modes and our false sense of Life, Love, and Truth, uplifting us to Him." Prayer, then, is not for God, but for us. Prayer is not to persuade nor to placate God, but to make room for more of God manifest in us. Prayer benefits essentially him who prays, for if it be true prayer it transforms his consciousness, purifies his desire, enlarges his outlook, increases his expectation of good. Prayer, like Jacob's ladder, is the celestial stair- way upon which the angels of thought ascend and descend; lifting honest hope to God; bring- ing heaven's will to earth. Prayer raises thought to the higher uses of good ; to oneness with God and with all that is Godlike. Prayer explores the kingdom of heaven; it goes about the right- eous business of acquainting thought with God. It stirs the moth and rust of earth ; bares our human mildew to heavenly sunshine ; renews life. Under the influences of true prayer goodness thrives; evil passes, and the law of God prevails. What mortal is ready to admit that the presence of God is absent to him, as Mrs. Eddy has declared, because of ever-present selfishness? And who is honest enough to see, as James points out, that his requests, if granted, would EFFECTUAL PRAYER 9 strengthen him in his own wilful way? He who is, is ready to utter his first availing prayer; he is no longer thankful with the Pharisee that he is not as other men, but rather sees with the publican his own distance from Godlikeness. Thought must distinguish between spiritual man in God's likeness and the rnortal which counter- feits spiritual man; must see the error of the latter, and rise from it into the reality of being, if the right basis for prayer is to appear. The perception of man's spiritual perfection and the uncovering of the material imperfection which hides God's man, go hand in hand in Christian Science. Solomon approached God when he knew himself to be "a little child," in need of guidance ; Peter saw, at the first touch of the Christ, his own sinfulness ; even the sinless Master declared, "None is good, save one, that is, God." When one sees the unworthiness of all that is mortal, he enters upon a humility which is the first requisite of effectual prayer. Intellectual perception, logical reasoning, even unflagging devotion to good purpose, without "a contrite spirit" avail little. The true Christian feels safest when possessed by humbleness of spirit. To be able to say honestly and spontaneously, "I was wrong," or "I am sorry," and then to do better, means spiritual protection, for it puts to flight whole troops of damaging thoughts, thoughts self-righteous, self-opinionated, and self -inflating. io PRAYER AND HEALING It should be noted, however, that this spirit of true humility differs from self-depreciation or self-condemnation. The latter traits are the human recoil from disappointed self-confidence and self-love. Actual humility is the desire to know God because even the best of self fails to satisfy, and it exalts God and knows His presence to the exact degree that the whole human point of view is surrendered. Humility, then, comes first in preparation for true prayer. It is that quality which confesses, "I need thee every hour/' Not until the prodigal of Jesus' parable saw his food to be husks, saw his own distance from his father's house, saw how unsatisfying, in fact, was everything outside his father's house, did he cast it all from him and go to his father. In like manner, it is only when the spiritual analysis of Christian Science strikes a proud spirit contrite that the heart can say truly and wholly, "I will arise." The Chris- tian Scientist maintains that Christian Science brings about a thought-adjustment which com- pels humility, and that its teaching, obeyed, leads logically to availing prayer. Not that Christians in all ages have not prayed, and frequently with "signs following." But no philosophy or religion save that wrought out by Christ Jesus and elucidated today by Mrs. Eddy's teaching has ever revealed the spiritual man's inseparability from God; has ever set forth the EFFECTUAL PRAYER 11 entire unreality of evil; has ever even attempted to annul sickness and death in conjunction with the destruction of sin; has ever claimed that answer to prayer comes logically, by reason of spiritual law, as such law is understood and obeyed. So, the student of Christian Science knows he has found that which puts mortal self- hood where it belongs, and that which exalts God's power and presence as absolute. He prays, consequently, if he prays rightly, with no sense of human righteousness, and his confidence that right prayer and its answer are inseparable fol- lows increasingly his larger sense of God and of man's relation to God. With this much under- stood, he must acknowledge honestly that nothing less than Christian Science could give him this infinite basis for praying aright and for gladly expecting the answer he earns. With meekness and with confidence of answer, then, the student of Christian Science prays; and from this righteous beginning he may steadily improve the nature of his prayer. Much has been said about the insufficiency of petition; the value of affirmation. Christian Science says that we may pray in any way that makes God nearer, dearer, more available to us; the desire to ap- proach Him needs only to be based upon the admission of His ever-presence and ever-benefi- cence. If prayer begins with petition, it must, to be availing, end with affirmation. "For thine 12 PRAYER AND HEALING is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," prayed Jesus, after he had told his disciples to ask for daily bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance from evil. A cry for help may be the first reaching out for God. If thought is at-one with God, it is serene and knows the safety of all created things. But if human will and desire are wandering, an appeal for help is often the mental pivot upon which thought swings back to God, and so has its uses to the straying mortal. To beg God for help and still remain in doubt, is, however, to let doubt and fear govern the situation and work out their evil purposes. Christian Science alters the character of prayer by leading it beyond this point of insecurity to a living certainty of the goodness of God. It enlarges the prayer which asks for help until it is a prayer which finds joy in knowing how God helps. And it adds to the Christian's prayer just what the Christian desires to have, the unshaken expectation that the will of God shall prevail. The prayers of scholasticism have for their basis a belief that God knows both good and evil, and that He frequently withholds good, or for in- scrutable purposes sends evil; therefore those who so pray waver and suffer disappointment. The prayer of Christian Science stands squarely upon the understanding of God as creating and knowing and sending only good ; hence the Chris- EFFECTUAL PRAYER 13 tian Scientist knows God's plan for him to be all good, and his prayer is steadfast in trust and rejoicing. He enters into prayer in order to rid his own thinking of fear and doubt and con- fusion; to find what is really God's purpose for him. And he does this by knowing that God, divine Mind, is the only original thinker; that man in His likeness is mentally reflecting God, and so is thinking God's thoughts by reflection; and that all unlike divine Mind, or supposedly outside it, is not Mind at all, but a passing erroneous belief to be neither honored nor feared. He puts away so-called material thinking and cherishes spiritual thinking, until the one departs from him and the other possesses him. Then appears that wonder called answered prayer. Sin lessens, temptation departs; sickness is healed; dominion over evil enters into human affairs. This is the prayer of affirmation; this the basis for Christian Science treatment. The Scriptures as interpreted by the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, reveal the truth about God and His creation; the ma- terial senses testify untruthfully about the creator and about all created things. Prayer read- justs thought, that Truth may appear and all untruth disappear; hence its necessity and value. True prayer is the declaration of spiritual law coupled with living trust in the availability of this i 4 PRAYER AND HEALING law to meet all human need. It is the meditation of the heart which lays hold of spiritual law and enlists its activity to undo specific evils. It is the transitional, transforming state wherein thought reverently and piously yearns for good. It is the open mental doorway through which Christlikeness enters to handle the serpent of sin. Prayer that is right makes over the mind of him who prays; it is evil giving up its boast; its logical result is increased selflessness. And thought thus purified cannot fail to receive answer to prayer with its prayer. It is ignorance and sin and doubt and fear which separate prayer from its answer. Really, the possibility of prayer presupposes the existence of its answer ; if prayer dwells with men, answer must exist in God. And so, when thought becomes one with God, it be- comes one with answered prayer. Concerning what is generally called the prayer of affirmation, the human heart must be care- fully watched. It is true that the understanding of the all-power and ever-presence of God, affirmed and realized as Christian Science reveals it, heals the sick, annuls sin, and otherwise de- stroys evil. But to affirm God's care and protec- tion for any specific personal purpose is to be in danger of praying amiss. The righteous prayer does not concern itself with human wishes; does not ask God to enter upon the scene of human affairs and rearrange them to suit the EFFECTUAL PRAYER 15 petitioner. To affirm the success of human plans and policies, even though they seem at the time to be altogether good, is to pervert in most un- holy fashion the offices of true prayer. The human will, until unselfed by divine Love, is by nature a lawbreaker, and its prayer, whether of petition or affirmation, is for self, and in con- sequence untrue and deservedly unavailing. The genuine Christian Scientist, therefore, does with his own desires as Abraham did with Isaac, and nothing short of such complete surrender can make his prayer prove true. He must renounce all that constitutes a material sense of existence, and lay down his personal outlining of plans, if he is wholly to trust his welfare to the law of God. He must, in short, mean "thy will be done" when he prays it. Let him who prays cast out of himself the will to shape the answer to his prayer, and he prays truly. He who prays, then, should gladly lay aside his human will and seek safety in acquaintance with the divine Mind and with all that this Mind holds for him, else his prayer is a mockery. If he desires only comfort in the flesh, and has no longing to be more Godlike, he should not, to be consistent, be praying at all; nor should he be expecting help from God. The only genuine prayer asks for redemption from matter, not for peace in it; for deliverance from the things in ourselves that make us sick, not just for relief 16 PRAYER AND HEALING from sickness. Such prayer is righteous, for it defeats everything that would obstruct spiritual progress. It is effectual because it casts out of thought the causes for trouble and there is con- sequently less trouble. "The effectual fervent prayer," said St. James; and the fervency of prayer is determined by our interest in the things of the Spirit. That which concerns us most we are most fervent about. He who prays in lukewarm fashion will very likely find, upon analysis, that he loves God least, world- liness most. When prayer is a living and refresh- ing mental oneness with God and Godlikeness, and thought is happier in this than in any human point of view, prayer is fervent. When, with this, thought is sufficiently enlightened to under- stand somewhat the ever-presence of God and the nothingness of evil, prayer becomes irresistible; no evil can withstand it. Christ Jesus said, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." And Mrs. Eddy, whose life is a prayer that has uplifted her gener- ation, defines clearly the conditions which make possible answered prayer, when she writes (Science and Health, p. 495), "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God." UNBELIEF AND FAITH. THE unbelief which stands in the way of spiritual progress is not so much disbelief of the truth which has been presented, as it is the occupation of the mind with beliefs which are contrary to the truth. Since the mind is thus preoccupied, it has no hospitality for the truth. "Why do ye not understand my speech ?" asked Jesus; and in reply he went on to say, "even because ye cannot hear my word." He was speaking to those who claimed to be the children of Abraham without discerning the spirit which had animated Abraham ; they were proud of their lineal descent, but unable to discern the qualities of mind which exalted their great ancestor. Their formality and pride prevented them from accept- ing the teaching which was in accord with the vision and faith of Abraham. Later, Jesus made the sweeping statement, "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." The converse of this would be that they who were of error did not hear, because they were listening for some- thing else than the voice of Truth. "They are 17 i8 PRAYER AND HEALING of the world : therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them/' is the explanation given by John, regarding those who affiliate with the "spirit of error." Unbelief, then, is that condition of mind which is so receptive of erroneous views that the word of Truth seems to be a strange language, and there is no hospitality for its messenger. Dis- belief may express itself in argument and con- troversy, and finally be changed to a new con- viction as it yields to facts; but unbelief is of the nature of apathy and deafness, and it is necessary that there should first be an arousing, an awakening, then a clearing of thought, where- by the beliefs in error sheltered in the house of unbelief are dispersed. In speaking of the kind of grieving which effects repentance, Paul said, "For behold this self-same thing, that ye sor- rowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your- selves." The abolishment of unbelief is accomplished by such a clearing of thought that wrong beliefs are seen to be without basis, and as they are dispersed there comes a vision of that which has basis and enduring cause. The false sense of man as a composite of sensations, errors, sick- nesses, sins, and unsatisfied desires, yields to a vision of the truth of being. As discernment of that on which being depends, the creative power UNBELIEF AND FAITH 19 which we name God, becomes clearer, eventually it can be said that by faith we understand what man is; we are able to see the causal connection between the Father and the son who is the ex- pression of the Father's being and character. When we consider this matter practically we recognize that every argument we use to favor the prepossession that evil is power, whether we give to the argument the name of any one of the thousand diseases which men believe to be hurtful, or the name of any one of the innumer- able sins which men believe to be delightful, is really a statement of unbelief in God. Any belief in sickness is really an expression of unbelief in omnipotent goodness; if there were faith, there would be healing. Every sin is an expression of unbelief in omnipotent goodness; if there were faith, there would be righteousness. If men fear evil so as to be sick, and love evil so that they are sinful, what is this but unbelief in the real power which manifests itself in healing and hap- piness among men? How shall we help this un- belief, or rather help men out of it and bring them into the salvation which comes by faith ? The expression of unbelief may be in a variety of beliefs. In this usage of the word a "belief" is a conviction as to the reality of something not caused by God, and a consequent experience of conditions which correspond to the conviction. James Whitcomb Riley tells a pathetic story of 20 PRAYER AND HEALING a man who came to believe that he could not speak, and met the love and persuasion of his family with apparent stubbornness in the con- viction that it was of no avail to try to use his voice. At last the tenderness of his daughter so touched his own love, that he broke through the barrier of his fear and false belief with answer- ing speech to hers. In the case of the epileptic boy brought by his father to Jesus after he came down from the mount of transfiguration, the measure of the father's conviction as to his son's affliction was the measure of his unbelief in any healing power. His doubts were confirmed by the failure of the disciples to help him, but his strong belief in the reality and incurable nature of the disease had practically brought the disciples to his way of thinking; hence they were for the time in a state of unbelief. To meet the need of them all, and of the world, Jesus analyzed the error, and sharply rebuked the father of the boy when his recital of the symptoms and manifestation of the disease ended with the doubt, "If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us." Jesus replied to him in words that awakened a new sense of the case, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." The man was trying to put the responsibility upon the healer; now he was shown that faith leads to the power which heals, and his heart melted with UNBELIEF AND FAITH 21 new love and hope. How graphic is the record : "Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Then followed the healing of the boy, and it was a permanent cure ; "the child was cured from that very hour," as one of the evangelists affirms. The disciples were still puzzled over their failure, and not discerning their Master's method, asked him why they were not able to cast out the demon. Jesus showed them that they were in the same case as the father of the boy, who had a prepossession as to the reality of the disease, and had affected them with the same belief, and thus had brought them into a state of unbelief. "Why could not we cast him out?" asked they. "Because of your unbelief," replied Jesus, with the indisputable authority of the completed demonstration. Furthermore he said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Further instruction still he gave them, when he said, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." As ceremonially observed, fasting was merely abstinence from food, or from certain proscribed kinds of food. Of course it cannot be within the power of either fasting or feasting, in a material sense, to deliver one 22 PRAYER AND HEALING from unbelief; but when we consider how with greediness the mortal mind assimilates the various beliefs in error which human imagination has originated, one can see that & fast from such indiscriminate gorging would be a blessing. Like the "crop-full bird," men become heavy and sordid with their beliefs, and their eyes become too dull to have any vision of divine-'realities. To fast, in the sense of giving up such sense-grati- fication, and to pray aright, which is to commune with God, to turn one's thought to the contempla- tion of that real cause of happiness and well-being for man, that source of life which to every return- ing prodigal is Father, cannot mil to establish faith in good. The process is well stated by Isaiah : "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord." If we recall the word spoken by Jesus in connection with salvation, "With God all things are possible," it must be evident that when through fasting and prayer we both forsake the false belief, and also realize the new vision of divine goodness, we shall be equipped for the work of casting out demons, as the disciples desired to be. Casting out false beliefs, we assail unbelief; but the mind must not be left empty, lest they return with added torment. The truth of being which expelled them must also exclude them. The false beliefs which are the expression of the UNBELIEF AND FAITH 23 attitude of unbelief are eradicated by the action of the spirit of Truth. They are from no heavenly origin of good seed; where they seem to grow, it is from such sowing as the perverted imagination of men has been doing for ages. There is comfort in knowing of the impermanence of all these conditions. Our Master declared, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." As one compre- hends this, faith becomes his attitude to God ; and the good which he expects from God is done unto him, and proved to others. NEITHER LAPSE NOR RELAPSE. A CURE in Christian Science is based upon the scientific fact that since true health is spiritual and eternal, there has never been a lapse from this genuine health, never any cessation of harmony nor any interference with God's govern- ment; so that man is amply justified in looking upon God as the health of his countenance. From this it logically follows that disease and discord have never been created, that they have no law to support them and that they have never come into real being for an instant. It further follows, that since there has never been any lapse from harmony, so there can be no relapse, for a lapse necessarily precedes a relapse. Mrs. Eddy tells us that "Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony" (Science and Health, p. 471). "But," says the average reader, "what about all the sick people one sees, do you ignore them?" Christian Scientists are very far from ignoring suffering, and the lives of practitioners are de- voted to the relief of the sick. Their plea that God did not create disease nor ordain suffering, 24 NEITHER LAPSE NOR RELAPSE 25 has the authority of Truth, and consequently the patient's fears and symptoms commence to abate as he takes in right ideas and gains quietness of mind and reassurance. When spirituality, tran- scending the evidence of the five physical senses, gives us a glimpse of creation as it really is, spirit- ual and perfect, we are faced with the fact that it is not so much a disease that has to be healed as a false belief to be obliterated and a dark fear to be dispelled. Truth and Love are the only healing agents the world can ever need or ever have. Some may argue that suffering is experienced, whether the sufferer is made sick from a physical or a mental cause. True, and to say that a person is merely suffering from the effects of fear and to leave the matter there would not go far toward healing him ; but truth drives the lie from its hiding-place in declaring that neither fear nor false belief was ever created by God for the torment of His crea- tion, and that if He is in no way discordant, neither can His creation or reflection be so. In the words of our Leader, "Science saith to fear, ' . . . You do not exist, and have no right to exist, for "perfect Love casteth out fear" ' " (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 61). Thus, speaking from the spiritual standpoint, which is the only absolutely true one, sickness has no true cause, whether moral or physical. That disease will continue in human experience so long as sin 26 PRAYER AND HEALING remains, is indicated by the utterances of Jesus, but sin has no origin in God, since He is of too pure eyes to behold evil ; and His omniscience includes no consciousness of this human invention. Thus Science leads us again and again to the primal fact of harmony, which fact has been hidden by a maze of mistaken beliefs and theories, though all the while creation has lain intact and unsullied as the snow-capped mountain at which mortals gaze from distant valleys. Infinite good, however, is not distant from any one, nor is Truth remote; and mistaken fears have only the density which we ourselves accord to them. It is well to remember always that evil is a nonentity which never had any action of its own, nor ever suspended or accelerated the action of the one infinite and all-inclusive divine Mind. Some may suggest that even although the falsity of one's view-point has been recognized, this recognition carries with it no remedy for the existing state of things. It should not, however, be forgotten, by students of this Science, that a false claim is no claim at all; indeed, Mrs. Eddy strongly emphasizes the fact that "to say there is a false claim, called sickness, is to admit all there is of sickness ; for it is nothing but a false claim. To be healed, one must lose sight of a false claim. ... As it is with sickness, so is it with sin" (Unity of Good, p. 54). The honest student of Christian Science is NEITHER LAPSE NOR RELAPSE 27 endeavoring to gain dominion over the belief that there is any evil power, or any power in evil, or even any claim to such power. In this way Truth drives out error and all its false claims. Jesus maintained scientific facts so faithfully and dwelt upon them so constantly that he performed miracles such as the world had not witnessed before. Christ Jesus has given to humanity evidences of the true, sinless, deathless, spiritual creation, free from all that is material and perish- able; he has shown us glimpses of a mountain- peak lying serene above the clouds of mortal belief, accessible to all, and each glimpse of which should heal some traveler in the valley, besides giving joy and buoyancy to the mental footsteps of the explorer in this spiritual realm. Our gaze should remain fixed upon the summit, so that the eternal light may stream through a conscious- ness that refuses longer to harbor darkness. The reflection of light alone includes no shadows. When the one creation stretches before us, more and more clearly outlined in peace and harmony, our health and happiness will cease even to appear liable to lapse or relapse. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST. IT is very desirable that all who join the Church of Christ, Scientist, whether it be The Mother Church or one of its branches, should be thoroughly familiar with the object for which this church was founded, as set forth in the "Historical Sketch" in the Manual ; namely, "To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (p. 17). The precise purpose for which the Christian Science Church was formed, and which is here so definitely stated, should be ever uppermost in the thought of the members of The Mother Church and of the branch churches. The nature of the church, as it is understood in Christian Science, is further defined by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health, (p. 583), as "that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rous- ing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby 28 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 29 casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick." The foregoing brief quotations from our Church Manual and our text-book should be enough to remind us that we, as members of the Christian Science church, are identified with the most important religious movement since the early Christian era, and are engaged in the most splendid undertaking in which it can possibly be our privilege to participate. Having once fully realized this fact, we should not lack inspiration for faithful, persistent, consecrated activity. We should be able to see that in the work of Christian Science there can be no idleness, apathy, self- ease, self-complacency, or any other form of selfishness which might creep in and delay if pos- sible the coming of Christ's kingdom to individual and universal humanity. We should understand that in the institution which "is found elevating the race" there can be no place for personal ambi- tion, self-seeking, love of leadership, or desire to control, dominate, and manage the affairs of others. "Whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all," said Jesus; and we, as pro- fessed followers of the Master, should make certain that his "Father's business" is not obstructed, hindered, or confounded by wrang- ling, friction, hatred, envy, jealousy, criticism, and misjudgment of the motives of others. We should 30 PRAYER AND HEALING be ever on guard against the subtle suggestions of evil which seek to find their way into the "house of prayer" and which would turn it into "a den of thieves." We should be faithful and vigilant in protecting ourselves from the serpent- like sins which, if unnoticed, would crawl into consciousness and defile our moral nature with their stupefying poison. We should avoid even the "appearance of evil." By our alertness we shall be better fitted to "rouse the dormant under- standing" of others "to the apprehension of spir- itual ideas" and shall thereby prove ourselves to be in deed as well as in name, Christian Scientists. The organization of the Christian Science churches is simple in form, and their government is democratic in the extreme. Inasmuch as the Readers who conduct the services, and the trustees or directors who are entrusted with the spiritual and temporal affairs of these churches, are elected at stated intervals by vote of the members, it is of the highest importance to the welfare of the churches that the members thereof take an active and intelligent interest in the business meetings at which these officers are elected, as well as in other regular and special meetings. When officers are to be elected, the members should be prepared to vote wisely for those of their number who are best qualified metaphysically, morally, spiritually, educationally, and by experience, to fill acceptably the respective offices. The members should not THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 31 be prejudiced or biased in their choice by personal considerations. They should not be unduly in- fluenced by human opinion. They should not be limited in their selection of officers to the students of one teacher, but should be free to vote for those best adapted to serve the Cause, even if they are not class students at all. They should go to these elections with the utmost freedom of thought, willing to be guided by divine Love and knowing that they cannot be influenced errone- ously nor swayed by animosity or "mere personal attachment" (Church Manual, p. 40). One who has freed his thought by demonstra- tion will not be likely to listen to idle rumor, slander, or gossip. Because he is conscious of being governed by the Mind which is God, he will have the wisdom to know what to do and the intelligence to know when and how to do it. It is obvious that if every member is thus gov- erned, the action of the church as a whole will be right and the result harmonious. Having made their choice of officers, it becomes the duty of the members to support them in every right way, and officers thus supported will give the church better service than they could possibly, give if hampered by criticism and opposition. When officers have been elected, they should as- sume the administration of the affairs of the church as a sacred trust from the members. If they prove faithful to the trust reposed in them, 32 PRAYER AND HEALING they are entitled to cordial support. If not, they should be removed. If they make mistakes, they should be treated charitably, for they do not claim to be perfect and in most instances have not sought election. Church officers who have been wisely chosen will always be found seeking divine guidance and serving humbly and considerately those who have chosen them. They will not as- sume proprietorship or superiority, although they will strive to carry on the work of the church with dignity and decorum. Thus between members and officers there should prevail mutual sympathy, cordial coopera- tion, and an unselfish desire for the welfare of the church and for the prosperity of the Cause. In this way will the Christ-idea be lifted up in our churches and draw all men unto it. The lives of all Christian Scientists, each word and deed, should point to the fulfilment of that desire so finely expressed by Samuel Longfellow: O living Church, thine errand speed, Fulfil thy task sublime; With bread of life earth's hunger feed, Redeem the evil time. Periodicals Published by The Christian Science Publishing Society Falmouth and St. Paul Sts.. Boston. Maes.. U. S. A. The Ghristian Science Journal Founded April, 1883, by Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and author of the Christian Science Text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This monthly magazine is the official organ of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass. Subscription price: Domestic territory (including: Mexico and Cuba), one year, $2.00; six months, $1.00; single copy, 20 cents. For Canada add 25 cents and for all other countries 65 cents annually for postage; single copy, for Canada, 20 cents; other countries. 25 cents. Christian Science Sentinel A weekly newspaper for the home, published every Saturday, con- taining news items of general interest, and contributed and selected articles, testimonies of healing, and timely editorials in connection with the Christian Science movement. Subscription price: Domestic, one year, $2.00; six months, $1.00; single copy, 5 cents. For Canada add 45 cents and for all other countries 95 cents annually for postage; single copy, for Canada. 6 cents; other countries. 7 cents. Der Herold der Christian Science A monthly magazine printed in German. It contains original and translated articles bearing upon Christian Science, testimonies of healing, also, as a supplement, the Lesson-Sermons for the following: month which are read at the Sunday services in all Christian Science churches. Subscription price: Domestic and Canada, one year, $1.00; six months, 50 cents; single copy, 10 cents. For all other countries add 25 cents annually for postage; single copy. 12 cents. The Christian Science Monitor A daily newspaper published every afternoon, except Sunday, of world-wide scope, containing current news, and particularly designed for those desiring a high-class publication in the home. Subscription price: Domestic and Canada, one year, $5.00; six months, $2.50. For all other countries add $3.00 annually for postage. For Greater Boston postal district. $6.00 a year by carrier. The Christian Science Quarterly Published January. April. July, and October. Contains the Lesson-Sermons which are read at the Sunday services throughout the year in all the Christian Science churches. Subscription price: In the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba, one year, 50 cents; single copy, 15 cents. For all other countries add 10 cents annually for postage; single copy, 18 cents. 3 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $I.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. 13193 !2Dec'55GB LD 21-50wi-8,'32 Caylord Bros. Makers Syracuse. N. Y. PAT. JAN. 21. 1908 4125 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY