Association Address of 1951

by Herbert E. Rieke

Table of Contents

• Marriage And Divorce
• Rules Of Healing As Learned From The Four Gospels
• Love
• Stubbornness
• The Sermon On The Mount

Marriage And Divorce

Now I would like to take up a subject that you will find comes up often in your practice of Christian Science. It might not trouble you individually but it certainly is of major concern with a number of your patients. This subject is “Marriage and Divorce” and other related problems of human relationships. The number of marriage failures as indicated by the number of divorces shows that we Christian Scientists need to do some good thinking on the subject for the benefit of civilization.

Mr. R., do you believe in divorce?

Mr. H., what did you find that Jesus taught on the subject?

Mrs. C., what does Christian Science teach in regard to divorce?

Up until last year I think I would have said that I did not believe in divorce, but I have changed my mind. I believe in divorce. I don’t think that God intends that a fine decent woman should have to be married to a mean, selfish, tyrannical, unfaithful or drunken old man. And on the other hand I don’t believe that there is any divine purpose to be served in an upright Christian Science gentleman being saddled with a nagging, careless, unkind, wasteful, or self-righteous old woman.

Moses wrote in the 24th chapter of Deuteronomy: “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”

I am going to show you how we do this in Christian Science. Dorothy, will you please distribute a sheet of paper to each member of the Association.

I don’t think that either you or your patients can have a very inspiring sense of marriage unless you have the right sense of divorce. Divorce is really very Scientific; it is a beautiful concept. It is not something to be afraid of or to shy away from, but something to welcome with your whole being. What is the right idea of divorce as taught in Christian Science? Here it is: YOU MUST SEE YOURSELF AS DIVORCED FROM EVERY WRONG CONCEPT OF MAN AND WOMAN. You must see yourself as separated from every unlovely quality of thought in yourself and others. And you must see yourself as wedded to, united with the right idea of both man and woman. All the so-called hell of matrimony comes from the false belief that one is wedded to the wrong concept of companion and separated from the right concept. Remember that neither you nor your patients are ever wedded to human individuals. We are wedded only to our concept of man and of woman. You can have the most beautiful concept in the universe of thought if you want to — that is heaven. If you entertain an unlovely concept of your mate, that is hell.

A woman once came to me for help. She was all broken up because her ex-husband had married a girl friend of hers. Here is her story: Her husband had not been a very good one. He drank excessively, was a poor provider, was very unkind at times, and to top it all off she discovered that he was unfaithful to her. He was opposed to Christian Science and resented her interest. She just could not stand it any longer and so she got a legal divorce thinking that she would then be separated from such unlovely qualities. Subsequently this man began to go with her girl friend. He stopped drinking, got a good job, took up the study of Christian Science, and attended church regularly. Then he married the girl friend, provided a fine home and bought her a new car. Wife number one just could not stand it any longer.

“Why was it,” she cried plaintively, “that he was such a rogue when she had him as a husband, and now he appeared to be such an ideal mate?”

I pointed out to her that she was only married to her concept of husband and by her own admission she had had a rather miserable concept. Her girl friend also was only married to her concept of husband, but hers was a beautiful one. She had almost come to the place where she thought that she was not going to get a husband, and just to have a husband meant a lot to her. She thought that he was about the most wonderful creature that she had ever known, and she let him know how wonderful she thought he was. And of course, he lived up to her ideal of him. We all do that. Others might say, “I don’t know what she sees in him.” But as far as she was concerned he was perfect. And of course, he could not let her down because he was in love with her and respected her every word and opinion — even her opinion about him. And so, he proceeded to live up to her ideal. In turn he thought she was wonderful in every detail and so he expected her to be a good wife and housekeeper and bless her heart she was ready to move heaven and hell to live up to his ideal and be a good wife and cook. We say of people like that, that they are in love, and that love is blind. But I am convinced that love alone has real vision. Love sees through to the ideal. Love beholds the perfect man. Love sees no faults because they are unreal, nonexistent to Love. This man was married only to his concept of his wife, and she was wedded to a mental picture of her husband, and because they both had beautiful views of each other their marriage was a success.

I hope that from what I have said you can see that this subject of marriage and divorce does not just apply to the companion in the home. It applies to your relationship to your children, to your neighbors, to your social acquaintances, to your relatives, to your employer and even to yourself. We must see ourselves as united with the right concept of everyone — every man and woman — and completely separated from the false concept of anyone no matter what our relationship to him might seem to be.

You now have your paper. I am going to show you how we write a bill of divorcement in Christian Science. Please draw a line down the center of the paper. Now on the left-hand side at the top of the paper write my husband, or wife, or brother, or sister, or mother, or father, or employer, or that certain church member. Now under that I want you to write down every erroneous quality of thought that you have associated with this individual. Please don’t be sparing. Write down every bad thought you have entertained about him from time to time. I shall give you a few minutes. Now in the right-hand column I want you to write down the spiritual opposite of those bad characteristics. Reverse every one of them. Now write at the top of the right-hand column “My true husband, wife, employer, etc.”

Now I want you to tear the sheet down the center line and hold one list in each hand. Now which of these lists of qualities are you united to Miss B.?

Which of the lists are you completely separated from, Mrs. F.? I won’t have you read any of the qualities; it might be embarrassing.

Take another good look at both lists. Now I want you to take that bad list and tear it up in little bits. This is the divorce. I want you to literally tear up that old mortal sense of man or woman. I shall ask two men down in front to pass the basket to pick up the remains. We are going to have a real burial or better cremation of the remains. Now I want you to read over again that good list. There is your real and true husband, wife or employer. I want you to take that list home with you and I want you to carry it around for a few days until you get acquainted with this good man. Read over these qualities every day. Add a few more to the list if you like.

I hope that you can see from this illustration that it is not only necessary for us to see ourselves as wedded to the right concept of man but also as separated from the false concept. Some individuals do not want to take a good look at the false and really deny the error. They just want to ignore it. They try to see themselves as united to the good, but they still have that other old man around. You have got to get rid of him utterly; you have got to destroy that false sense by sincere denial. And then you have to be through with it forever.

Now let us have a few practical applications of this idea. Mr. C., tell me, just what do you think of yourself?

If any of you are thinking of yourselves as unhappy or unsuccessful, or imperfect you have got to write yourself a bill of divorcement. If you are seeing yourself as limited or lacking, or discordant or with a bad disposition or discouraged or unloved and unappreciated, you must separate yourself from this false concept right now. You do not have to live with such imperfections. May I paraphrase Moses’ statement about divorcement: “If a man takes a good look at himself and finds that he does not look favorable in his own eyes because he has found some uncleanness in himself, then let him write himself a bill of divorcement and put it in his own hand and send that false concept of himself out of his house, out of his consciousness forever.” I would strongly recommend that tonight before you go to bed you take a piece of paper, write the unfavorable qualities that you thought you were claiming on the left side, find the spiritual opposites for the right side. Destroy that bad list and carry that corrected and good list around with you for a few days until you are sure that you are acquainted with yourself. You will find that that new man is a much better companion for yourself. Remember that all you can deal with is your concept of yourself, and you can have the most glorious Christ-like concept in the universe if you want it. In other words you can see yourself as wedded to the Christ, the spiritual idea of perfect being. Is not this what Jesus was talking about when he said, “And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;” (John 17:22-23)

Is not Paul speaking of the same thing when he wrote to the Romans: “Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God?”

John also wrote about the true marriage when he said: “for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready — blessed are they that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19:7, 9)

Mr. W., tell us about your employer. What is he like?

I wouldn’t work for a crabbed, mean, stingy old man. If you think that you have that kind of a boss, get yourself a new one. You know you can have the finest employer in the world if you want him. And you do not have to change positions to find him either. But you do sometimes have to divorce yourself, separate yourself from the false sense of employer and you need to see yourself as united with the finest sense of business and a perfect employer. Sometimes individuals want to run away from their present job hoping to find something better down the street. But they seldom improve themselves unless it is a matter of divine unfoldment that comes as the result of prayer and demonstration. What we most need is to improve our concept of our present position and employer and then if and when God has something else for us to do it will just seem like a step forward and upward. We shall not have a sense that we are running away from circumstances or people. We see that there is nothing imperfect to run away from. We are only going forward to fuller usefulness.

Now I do not mean that we should tolerate unpleasant business connections and that we should be a martyr to human circumstances. There is something that can be done about it. But that something is mental. It does have an effect on circumstances but the change takes place in consciousness rather than in position. As our mental position changes — as we take a different mental position in regard to our work and our career — wonderful things will always happen and often right where we are rather than someplace else.

Mrs. M., tell us about your brother or sister.

That was a problem that Jacob had to work out as you remember. He had an unpleasant mental picture of Esau as a threatening mortal and of himself as a fearful and deceitful mortal. Well, he did something about it. He wrestled until he prevailed. He tore up those unlovely mental pictures of himself and of his brother until he was able to see God face to face and knew that his life was preserved. He saw himself as divorced from that false fearful deceitful concept of man and saw that he was united with the ideal. He also saw Esau as completely separated from hatred and revenge and absolutely at one with Truth and Love. You know then what happened. The next day when he met with Esau all was well and he told him: “I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.” (Gen. 33:10)

Are you all seeing your brothers and sisters as the very face of God, as the very likeness of infinite good? Are you seeing them as so full of love that they are pleased with you? And what is even more important — are you pleased with your brothers and sisters? You might as well wrestle and see things that way for you have to do it to find heaven.

Mrs. J., tell us about your human parents. What are your mother and dad like?

We need to have our thought clear in regard to those whom we have called our parents. You can have the finest and most cooperative parents in the world just for the asking. That is, just for the praying. But you must make certain that you do not carry around with you false unflattering mental pictures. Divorce yourself from the false concept of parents and see yourself as united with the right sense of mother and dad, then you will find, that they do not interfere with the normal unfoldments in your experience.

Do any of your mothers or dads express a sort of smother love, a possessive love that sort of wants to hold on to you personally and enfold you in their arms and sometimes almost smother you so that you cannot breathe properly? Of course not. You do not have such a mental picture. Help your patients to divorce themselves from such a concept of parents and you will heal a lot of disease and discomfort.

Those of you that are parents yourself — are you apprehensive of the welfare of your sons and daughters? Do you watch anxiously as to what time they get in, or do you trust them to the inspiration of divine Truth and intelligence. Is your love one that causes your children to find freedom or is it a sort of binding, restrictive love accompanied with fear and apprehension as to their welfare and future? Help your patients to see that their love and their parents’ love are not binding and restrictive and you will readily heal constipation and inharmonious bowel conditions.

Sometime patients will come to you who have a sense that they are an unwanted child. You need to help them to divorce themselves from such a concept of parents. No individual has to have such parents, not for one second. He can be the most appreciated and welcome child in the universe if he is willing to uplift his concept of his parents.

Mr. H., how about your children? How many mortal children do you have anyway? None, of course not; they are immortal children of divine Love. Are they perfect? Then why do you worry about them sometimes? Remember that none of you have to have sassy, disobedient, impolite, incompetent children. You are completely separated from such a mental concept of children. See yourself as united to the finest thought of children in the world. Almost everything that your child does or says he has learned by imitation, and 99% is an imitation of mother and dad. If you have a southern accent, your children will have the same. Yankee homes do not produce southern accents.

Children always live up to the ideals we hold in regard to them. Think back how many times you refrained from doing something wrong because you knew that your dad or mother would not like it. Think how you worked hard to get good grades because you knew that it would please your parents. Children get real pleasure out of seeing mother and dad happy and pleased. And so for goodness sake show your children often how happy they make you and how pleased you are with the fine qualities they express. When a child never finds his parents expressing gratitude for his best efforts he often gets weary of putting forth those efforts. Help your patients who are parents or children along these lines. When you help them to make needed corrections here, you will clear up a lot of disease and sickness, and a great deal of sin.

Sometimes parents think of children as troublesome little brats. Oh the discord they bring on themselves by entertaining such an erroneous concept. And they do not do the children any good either. You can have the finest children in the world if you want them, but you have to pay the price; you must give up human opinions about them for God’s idea.

Mrs. B., tell us about your fellow church members. What are they like? What kind of a church membership do you have in Norfolk? Are they all cooperative? Do you have any trouble makers? I am sure that we can all do a lot of right thinking along this line to help our church. Here are some of the things that I have heard during the past year: “I do not know what is wrong with Mr. and Mrs. B. They never come to church anymore.”

Mrs. S., did you ever hear that one? What is the answer to that one? Of course we must correct our thought in regard to them; they are God’s perfect creatures and they love God and the church. We must separate ourselves from such a false concept of our fellow members.

Here is another one: “If everyone came to our services who is interested in Christian Science in our community, we would not have room enough to receive them.” Let us rejoice that every idea of God is impelled by divine Mind to do that which will be most helpful to his salvation; and church attendance is helpful, for in a united way we help each other to know that we are all interested in God and His laws of harmony.

Mr. B., will you write a bill of divorcement for this one: “There is too much criticism in our church organization.”

Mrs. C., you are a member of a church that is dominated by one individual or a clique. What are you going to do about it?

Now remember, the only church you have is your concept of church, and you can have the most beautiful concept in the world if you want it. You can always see church as the very structure of Truth and Love. You can see your church as resting upon and proceeding from divine Principle.

Mrs. C., is your church affording proof of its utility?

Mrs. S., is your church elevating the thought of all the people in your community? Mrs. K., is your church rousing the dormant understanding?

Mr. H., is your church helping everyone to apprehend spiritual ideas? Mr. L., is your church casting out error and healing the sick?

If you are entertaining this ideal concept of church you will be happy in your church organization. If you have been entertaining any other thought in regard to your church, I would suggest that you separate yourself from that false sense of church right now. Resign, take out your letter, erase your name from the membership roll, excommunicate yourself. It is no fun being a member of an unprogressive discordant church organization.

You know, two individuals might be attending the same church. One reports that this church is one of the friendliest and warmest churches he has ever been in. Another individual reports that this same church is unfriendly, cold and distant. Can you see that they are only dealing with their concept of church and not with an actual condition of the church itself? I would therefore recommend that you be a member of the most friendly and cordial church in the world. If you are thinking about it that way, you will help others to see it the same way as the result of your friendliness and cordiality.

Can you see from this discussion how important the subject of marriage and divorce is? There are many ramifications. I hope that you will pray daily on this subject and demonstrate in many phases of your experience that you are wedded to all good and that you are divorced from all that is unlike good. The world needs your inspiration along these lines.

If you are unmarried or if you have a patient that is unmarried and wants a mate, you can see how important it is to know the truth along these lines. We must see man as wedded to every right concept and divorced from every imperfect thought.

A girl came to me for help along this line. She felt as though she were unwanted. She had a mental obsession that she was single and would soon be an old maid. I helped her to see that she was already wedded to the right concept of man and woman. I also helped her to see that she was divorced from the qualities that are usually associated with “the old maid.” I asked her to give daily thought to her marriage to the Christ-man. I asked her to seriously contemplate her oneness with Love, Truth, Life, Soul, Spirit, Principle and Mind. I asked her to demonstrate in daily experience that she was already wedded to the finest concept of man there is. I also suggested that she divorce herself from any and every unlovely or unlovable quality. I encouraged her to write down on a piece of paper all the qualities that she would like to have in her husband. And then — and this is the most important — I encouraged her to see these qualities in everyone that she met, and to express gratitude for these qualities. These qualities became very real to her; she saw them everywhere. In fact, she was wedded to them, united with them. And then — sure, you guessed it — a wonderful man asked her to marry him — a man who had all of these fine qualities.

You see, when she declared that she was an unmarried woman she was declaring a lie about herself. How then could her mate find her. It is just like trying to get well while you are constantly declaring that you are sick. It just won’t work. But when she got the right idea of marriage, the spiritual idea thereof, her unity with the Christ- bridegroom, well of course it manifested itself in her human experience. A beautiful testimony will be read about how one member of the Association built her true home in consciousness and then how beautifully it worked out in her experience. It is just the same way with a companion. You must find the right sense of companionship first in thought, and then it will manifest itself in your experience.

Why is it that widows always seem to be able to find a second husband more readily than a single girl? I think it is for this reason: They do not think of themselves as unmarried and single. They have already been married. They know what it means to be married. Being married is in their thinking. It is a reality, a fact, and therefore it shows up more readily in their experience. But a single girl can do something about it. She can be through with the unwanted unmarried thought now and forever.

I have also found it helpful to talk to young Christian Scientists who are about to get married about divorce — helping them to get the right idea of divorce. If they see their companion and themselves as separated from every unlovely quality and wedded to every right idea, there will never be any need for a legal divorce. Many individuals have a sort of unconscious fear of divorce, a fear that it might come into their experience because it has come into the experience of others. This is like thinking because another has an accident you have to have one too. When they take a good look at divorce and see that it is already in their experience, that they are divorced from all evil, they then lose their fear of it and they make better husbands or wives.

Now I know that none of you will misinterpret what I have said to indicate that I have advocated legal divorces. I would not recommend that as a solution for domestic troubles any more than I would recommend medicine as a solution for physical troubles. These problems must be solved in Mind or consciousness and a so-called material solution is really not the thing that will bring you eternal peace and happiness. On the other hand, I don’t think that we as Christian Scientists should condemn or criticize a fellow Scientist who resorts to legal divorce any more than we would criticize one who under the stress of circumstances turns to materia medica in the solution of a problem. Jesus told us to judge not that we be not judged. You do not know how hot the fire is unless you have been in it yourself. Just make certain that you are divorced from all evil thinking, even the evil of unkind criticism.

In talking to young people also help them to see that they are never going to marry imperfect mortals. I tell our Sunday School children that I would never marry anyone that was not a perfect Christian Scientist, in the highest use of these words. If one marries a Lutheran, a Methodist, or a Catholic, one is in for trouble for there will be conflicts. But if they will see their mates as perfect scientific Christians, there will always be complete and perfect understanding.

You can apply these same facts to your patients. Don’t have sick, sinful, unhappy, poor, miserable, ungrateful insincere people for patients. Separate yourself from such concepts. See yourself as at one with only the highest concept of man. Possibly I have told the story of the experience of Dr. Fluno, one of our early lecturers. Someone once commented about a woman who went into his office with a large goiter and came forth in twenty minutes without it. Commenting about it Dr. Fluno said, “I never saw a woman come into my office with a large goiter.” He was completely divorced from the imperfect concept of man and was wedded to the true and perfect concept. That is all that he could see and know. It was in this way that he helped others to recognize that they too are wedded to the perfect concept of being and entirely separate from all imperfections.

Mrs. L., do you believe in divorce?

Mrs. S., what is the scientific explanation of marriage?

Rules Of Healing As Learned From The Four Gospels

Your papers were very inspiring this year. Each one was so different; there was a great deal of original thinking. Each paper came so much from the heart. I could almost hear each of you talking. I have been able to see how you each are growing and that you are growing. I would enjoy reading many of these papers but there just will not be time. I assure you, however, that many of the good points you wrote about shall be discussed in this address.

We are not going to discuss the four Gospels from the standpoint of the history of Christ Jesus. Neither are we going to try to figure out how he healed centuries ago. Instead, we are going to discover what lessons we can learn that will make us better practitioners today.

There is not a chapter nor a verse from which we cannot learn a needed lesson. Someone said: “But I can’t find any rule for healing in the first chapter of Matthew; all we learn there is about the birth of Jesus.” I learned some very valuable lessons from that chapter.

We read: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on those things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

Mrs. R., what can you learn from that passage that will help to make you a better practitioner?

We must have a right sense in regard to our origin. If you are seeing yourself or your patients as conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, you cannot do effective healing work.

Mr. H., (or Mrs. M.), are you the offspring of physical sense or are you conceived of the Holy Ghost?

Our Leader tells us that to begin rightly is to end rightly. If you see yourself beginning as a material mortal creature, you will not have inspiring results. You will recall that we discussed thoroughly in class the statement on page 479 which reads in part: “If a child is the offspring of physical sense and not of Soul, the child must have a material, not a spiritual origin.”

Miss F., are you the offspring of physical sense or of Soul? You are the one that decides the answer to that question. Your parents do not decide the answer. No one else can answer that question for you. You must declare often, I am the offspring of Soul, I proceed from Spirit, I originate in God.

As Christian Scientists we believe in the virgin birth. We understand that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost. But we do not allow that fact to become a barrier between him and us. We do not permit his virgin birth to become an excuse as to why we cannot do such mighty works as he did. We see clearly that the significance of the immaculate conception is not how Jesus came here, but the fact that here was a man who entertained an immaculate concept of himself and others, a pure concept, faultless, flawless, clean, spiritual. Here was a man who helped others to find and appreciate this same immaculate concept of man. The important question today is not how you came here, but whether you are entertaining this same divine immaculate concept of yourself and others so that you too can heal the sick and raise the dead and reform the wayward.

On page 463 of the textbook our Leader tells us that we too are born of Truth and Love, born of Spirit, born of God. May I repeat, don’t let Jesus’ divine origin be a hindrance to you and a justification for your shortcomings. You too have a divine origin and you must admit it and claim it quietly and prayerfully. Of course, you will be careful in discussing such a sacred and delicate subject. You will not go home and give a testimony saying, “Look at me, behold I am conceived of the Holy Ghost.” Most people just would not understand you. In fact, you will see the wisdom of not discussing this point with others. But in your prayers, you must see that both you and everyone else is conceived of the one divine Spirit for that Spirit is infinite, is all, and there is nothing else beside this Holy Spirit and Its divine creation. Some Scientists are so vigorous in their affirmations of the immaculate conception of Jesus, that by inference they are claiming a material origin for themselves and all others. Such thinking will never heal. When the Roman Catholics recently propounded a new doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had an immaculate conception, I was not disturbed. I blessed them for beginning to awaken. It was a step in the right direction. Mrs. Eddy indicates that Mary had a pure and immaculate concept of man. Someday the world will awaken to the fact that we are all born of

God, that we all have a divine origin and destiny, an immaculate conception. Here I would like to say a word about those whom you have called your parents. They, too, are fine and noble creatures of God. The Bible says that Joseph was a just man. Mrs. W., do you think of the one called your human father as a just man? Was he always fair and just to you?

Mr. S., or Miss C., was your mother a pure, spiritually-minded woman? Of course she was. We will help ourselves immensely by thinking correctly about those whom we have called our human parents.

Mrs. C., do you think that your mother and dad talked to God very much when they knew that you were going to come to visit them in their home? Of course they did. They were not much different from Joseph and Mary. They prayed for your health and security. They too listened to the voice of many angels. I would not be surprised if many times they thought of you by the name of Emmanuel or “God with us” because that is the way it all appeared to them. Don’t try to be a good Christian Science practitioner in spite of your human parents. Be a perfect man because of God and wonderful parents. And may I say here, let those dear people know how wonderful you think they are, and you will then find that they are always a help and never a hindrance in your practice.

The Bible says that a great star appeared overhead when Jesus arrived. Mr. I., did you come under a heavenly star. Or were you born under an unlucky star? Of course we do not believe in astrology. We do not believe that the Bethlehem star controlled the destiny of our master, or that any other star determines the nature and quality of our character or disposition, or experience.

On the other hand, Mr. S., do you think the fact of your presence here is a very important event?

Mrs. S. or Mrs. M., do you think that you amount to very much? Is your presence anything to cheer about?

Mrs. G., are you truly appreciated?

Mrs. B., does God send wise men to you with gifts of appreciation — gold, frankincense and myrrh?

Don’t be a lonely, insignificant, unappreciated mortal. Be man, or woman, the appreciated manifestation of divine Love if you want to be a successful practitioner.

Who sent the wise men to Jesus? It was Mind, God. Who sends the wise people to you for help in Christian Science? It is God the infinite intelligence governing the universe. Your light is shining. You are not hiding it. All the world can see the good that you symbolize. This reflected light can bring them from far and near for divine inspiration. Be conscious of this divine fact. Jesus had not put his name in the Christian Science Journal or telephone directory; he did not even have an office, but God was sending those with a receptive thought to him.

Mrs. T., did God ever direct anyone to come to you for help and inspiration?

Mrs. C., the Bible says, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” Can you say that about yourself? Are you strong in Spirit? Are you full of wisdom? Is the grace of God upon you? Of course it is. You must know these things as Jesus did in order to be an anointed one, one with so much of the oil of gladness that he can do mighty works.

Mr. M., are you increasing in wisdom and in favor with God and man? Do you really think that God loves you? Are you loved and appreciated by your fellowmen? Of course you are. To be a successful practitioner you must declare and know these things about yourself. They are just as true about you as they are in regard to Jesus.

Mrs. C., what were you doing at the age of twelve? Of course you were about your Father’s business in your own way. What are your children doing? They are going to the Christian Science Sunday School asking questions and often astonishing the Sunday School teachers with their understanding and answers. This divine Life is not far off in time or space. It is expressing itself right here in our midst, if we will but open our eyes and appreciate it.

Mrs. A., did you ever hear a voice from heaven saying, “Thou are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased”?

Mrs. W., did you ever have a clear realization that you are the spiritual child of God? Mrs. H., did you ever see clearly that man is the image and likeness of God?

Mrs. A., did you ever hear divine Mind talking? What did this Mind tell you about yourself? Did you listen to this Mind? Did you believe this Mind?

Mr. O., do you think that God is well pleased with you? Why? What tells you He is well pleased? Of course it is divine Mind.

We must all listen to this divine Mind which tells us the truth about our identity. We must give heed to the truth about man as uttered by divine consciousness. The divine mind was always declaring Jesus to be the Son of God. After the baptism Jesus was listening and heard the eternal voice, the same Truth as expressed in the first chapter of Genesis in which man is declared to be the image and likeness of God. Whenever you listen to this divine voice, this eternal truth, your windows of heaven will also be open and you too will receive the blessings of the Son of God.

Mrs. B., what is it that tells you that you are perfect, harmonious and free? When does it tell you that? Are you always listening?

Mrs. M., what tempts man to think that he is sick, discouraged or unhappy?

Mrs. W., what tells you that you sometimes get sleepy at church or Associations? Mr. F., what argues that your sense of supply is limited?

Mrs. R., what suggests that you are not a good practitioner? Mrs. D., what is it that is talking to you all the time?

Mr. O., what tells you that two plus two is five? We must answer, “Nothing.” If we say error or mortal mind we are not telling the truth for the fact is we are not being told such nonsense.

Mrs. C., what tells you the earth is flat? Does not material sense tell you that? No, if you use your senses properly you can see the roundness of the earth.

Mrs. H., what tells you that vinegar and sugar make chocolate cake? That is it, nothing. You are not being told.

Mr. H., what tells you this is down? (Pointing up). There is only one answer — nothing. Never deal with error or mortal mind as though it were something but always as nothing.

Now, Mrs. M., what tempts you to think that you are sick, discouraged or unhappy? The answer must be — nothing.

Mrs. R., what suggests that you are not a good practitioner?

Mrs. D., what is talking to you all of the time? The answer must be God, the one divine Mind.

I hope that all of you will remember this point of the Association: When the question comes up as to what is telling you or your patients miserable lies, don’t say it is error or mortal mind; answer the simple Truth, “Nothing.” Then you may go on and elaborate the fact that there is no mortal mind to talk because God, good is the only Mind. Error cannot tell you miserable falsehoods because “In Truth there is no error, all is Truth.” You are just not being told. You remember that our Leader says on page 480 of the textbook: “If sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear.” Likewise, if error, mortal mind, and animal magnetism are understood as nothingness they will not appear in your experience. Call them by their right name, Nothingness.

Mr. L., is there such a thing as error or mortal mind or animal magnetism going around telling little Johnny and Mary that two plus two are five? There certainly is not. Is there something that is constantly telling them that two plus two are four? There is; and that something is intelligence or Truth or Principle.

Mrs. W., is there a mind going around telling people that they are sick, or discouraged or unhappy? There is not. But there is an intelligence called Truth or Principle that is constantly talking to us end telling us that we are free, whole, happy, complete and perfect.

Mrs. S., do you see this ghost up here? What is it saying to you? Why? Mrs. D., do you see this goblin over here? What is it saying? Why?

Mr. H., do you see mortal mind over there in the corner? What is it saying to you? Why?

Mrs. F., do you see error on your neighbor’s shoulder? What is error saying to him?

Why?

Of course, none of these things can talk because they are unreal, non-existent.

Now these are some of the lessons that Jesus was learning during his forty days and nights in the wilderness. Undoubtedly, he had been taught in his youth, just as we were taught, that there are two voices, God and Satan; the voice of divine Mind and mortal mind, the voice of Truth and error. When he came up from the baptism he heard the voice of Truth telling him that he was God’s perfect son in whom God was well pleased; but he was not ready for his ministry until he saw clearly that there was no other voice to talk.

You remember when it was suggested that he turn stones into bread he made the simple statement that he was listening only to every word of God that proceeded forth from the mouth of the Father. Can you see that he was affirming that there were not two sources of information as far as he was concerned? He was resolved to listen to God alone because God is all there really is.

Notice also when he was taken to the top of the temple he refused to experiment with his science of Christianity. He refused to tempt or try out the Lord his God. He was not going to try God or test God or try divine Principle or test the power of Truth. Instead, he was going to listen to divine Mind and follow the directions of this Mind.

Finally, he turned on the concept of another mind beside God and said: “Get thee hence, Satan.” It was as though he said “Get out; there is no mortal mind to talk; there is no error to express itself; I will certainly not bow down to unreal non-existent consciousness.” Jesus affirmed that there was only one Mind or God and that he was resolved to love that mind with all his heart and soul and strength and understanding. He refused to serve any other concept of being. You know what happened; the evil sense of mind disappeared and angels, good thoughts from God came and ministered unto him.

Undoubtedly during his first days in the wilderness Jesus was refuting the arguments of a suppositional mortal mind. Much of the practice of Christian Science today is similar in nature. We call it healing by mental argument. But there is still a mortal mind there to argue or tempt. This afternoon I hope you will get a glimpse of the ultimate way of healing, the better way, the triumphant way, whereby you recognize as Jesus did that there is no mortal mind or error to argue, tempt, talk, suggest, try or influence you or your patient. Mrs. Eddy says on page 405 of the textbook that “The basic error is mortal mind.” That is the basic mistake that people make — believing that there is another Mind beside that of God, another voice beside that of Truth, another influence beside that, of divine Principle. You stop making that mistake and you will find that angels, good thoughts, will come to you constantly to meet your every need.

Here I would like to give you an illustration. It is as though we had a television set up here. Now there is a broadcasting station called divine Mind. From it we get beautiful images of thought and very lovely sounds. Everything is in clear focus and wonderful. Now on the other hand let us suppose that there is another station called mortal mind which puts forth ugly images of thought, and hideous sounds and where everything is out of focus. Now as long as we are tuned in on the mortal mind station we cannot get the beautiful images and voices that come from the divine station. On the other hand, when we are tuned into divine Mind we get only beautiful images of thought and harmonious sounds and we cannot hear or see anything from the station of mortal mind.

Mrs. W., what do you think of that as an illustration of the teachings of Christian Science? How many of you think that might make the basis for a good article on Christian Science?

I do not think it is a good illustration. It is just old orthodoxy dressed up with a few scientific terms. In the illustration, we still have a God and a devil, a mortal mind and a divine Mind. Such thinking will not get you very far in Christian Science.

Mrs. P., why can you only tune in on the station of divine Mind? That is it — because there is no other station. (In Indianapolis you can only get one image and one sound because there is only one station).

Divine Mind is infinite. That means there is no other mind to talk. On page 16 of No and Yes, our Leader has written: “It is not enough to say that matter is the substratum of evil, and that its highest attenuation is mortal mind; for there is, strictly speaking, no mortal mind. Mind is immortal.”

Mr. C., is it enough to say that sickness is just a suggestion of mortal mind?

Mrs. C., would you ever say to a patient, “That is just mortal mind or error tempting you?” Why not?

You may think that I am spending a lot of time on this point, and I am, because if you are not clear on this point you cannot do very good healing. But if you see clearly that there is only one Mind, your healings will be easy and permanent. Jesus spent forty days and nights clearing up this point and then he did many mighty works.

In her sermon The People’s Idea of God, Mrs. Eddy makes it clear that sin, sickness and death are brought about by the peoples’ wrong conceptions of God. She says: “The eternal roasting amidst noxious vapors; the election of the minority to be saved and the majority to be eternally punished; the wrath of God, to be appeased by the sacrifice and torture of His favorite Son, — are some of the false beliefs that have produced sin, sickness, and death.”

Recently while reading this passage, I found myself saying that we do not believe any of these hideous things today. We think of God as perfect, loving, merciful, just, forgiving, etc. I wondered what false concept the people of today might be holding on to that would claim to produce sickness and death. And this is what came to me: I do not believe that we are vigorous enough in our recognition of the infinity of God. We allow ourselves to believe that there is something else beside Him. We call Him divine Mind but we act as though there were another mind. We speak of Him as Truth and then talk about the error that is handling us or others. We think of Him as Love and then are critical of others as though there were something besides that which is loving and lovable. We know that God does not cause disease or diaster, but we believe that He permits it to happen. I am sure that 100 years from now the Christian Scientists of that day will see clearly the error of many Scientists today. We can help to bring about that progress by being enlightened Scientists who appreciate what it means that God is infinite.

You will remember in class that we spoke of treatment by argument and treatment directly through the divine spirit. When you approach your work from the standpoint that there is a mortal mind sending forth suggestions of evil which you must refute, you are healing by mental argument. When you realize that there is no mortal mind or error to send forth erroneous suggestions, when you see clearly that the divine Mind is the only mind and that it is talking to both you and your patients all the time, you are then in condition to heal by the Spirit, without arguments. Is not this what Mrs. Eddy was getting at when on page 411 of the textbook she wrote: “If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific way, and the healing is instantaneous.”

Mr. K., what is it that is bearing witness or testifying in regard to you or your patients? What else is talking to you and your patients? That is it; let us see that there is nothing else to talk.

As you begin to practice Christian Science you may find it helpful and necessary to use arguments to refute the lies of a so-called mortal mind. But keep in mind always that in fact there is no consciousness apart from God, infinite good. Refute the argument that there is a mortal mind with such finality that you find yourself just listening to the voice of God, Truth, in every treatment. Let divine Truth bear witness to itself, to its allness.

Now let us examine a simple healing as recorded in Matthew. There was a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years and had spent all her money on doctors and was no better. She said within herself, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” Jesus turned around and when he saw her he told her to be of good comfort for her faith had made her whole. She was immediately free.

Jesus said it was her faith that healed her. Many of you observed in your papers that faith is one of the first rules of healing. But just what is faith? Is it a conviction that some divine force outside ourselves will correct some discordant condition? The woman said within herself, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” Yes, it is an inner conviction, a voice from within. This woman was wholeheartedly listening to the voice of God, listening to the divine Mind as the only mind. She was not arguing with herself, with anyone else or even with mortal mind. She was listening, listening to the Truth exclusively. Jesus was not arguing; he too was listening to the voice of God, to God’s testimony. As you will recall he was on his way to raise the daughter of Jairus from the dead and he must have been maintaining a perfect sense of things. Spirit or the power of divine Love was bearing witness to the Truth; and they were both listening. They were seeing that there was only one Mind radiating beautiful images of thought. They were seeing that “all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation.” The woman said, “I shall be made whole.” Now the word whole means not only well but complete, entire, not divided, not broken up. The word whole means all. She saw in a measure her oneness with God. She saw that there was no other being. She saw God as the only presence, the only power, the only intelligence. She saw that there was no mortal mind to tell her that she was imperfect, discouraged or torn apart. She saw as Mrs. Eddy says on page 25 of NO and Yes that God was the all and the only of her being. That is the kind of faith that reveals mighty works.

Let us take another case in which there was much discussion on the subject of faith. A father brought his epileptic child to the disciples for healing, but they were not able to effect a cure. Jesus told them it was because of their lack of faith.

Mrs. M., what was it that told this lad to jump In the fire? Mrs. F., what told him to jump into deep water?

Mrs. G., what told him to tear himself, to foam, to gnash his teeth and to pine away?

Why could not the disciples heal that case? Was it not because they were believing that there was something called an evil spirit, or mortal mind, or error that was talking to this boy and misdirecting him? For the time at least, they were believing that there were two voices, the voice of God and the voice of evil. They were trying to invoke the power of God to do something to the forces of evil. There is no true faith in such a procedure.

With compassion Jesus told the father that if he could believe, all things were possible to those that believe.

Mrs. B., what did he want him to believe in, two powers?

Mrs. W., did he want the man to believe in the presence of good and of evil?

Mrs. S., did he want the man to believe in two voices, the voice of evil spirits and the voice of the divine Spirit, the voice of mortal mind and divine Mind, the voice of Truth and the voice of error?

Jesus helped the man to see that there is only one power, one presence and one intelligence. The man said virtually, “Help me to believe in the allness of God and to disbelieve in everything unlike God or good.”

The Bible says that Jesus rebuked the foul spirit. Now the original meaning of the word rebuke means to check or repress. In other words Jesus checked or repressed the belief that there was an evil spirit or mortal mind that could operate in the experience of this boy.

Mr. A., what had been talking to this lad? Nothing, that is right. And so now he appeared as one dead, as one to whom nothing was talking. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. Jesus showed him that there was something talking to him and this something was the divine Mind, the voice of God that told him to be whole and free.

You will remember that the disciples later asked him why they could not cast out the evil spirit. Jesus brought out that such healing takes place as the result of prayer and fasting.

Mr. M., what do you think he meant by prayer and fasting?

Prayer, of course, is communion with God or the recognition of our oneness with God. Fasting, however, is more than abstaining from material sense. True fasting is the recognition that there is no material sense to abstain from. Fasting is not an attitude of not listening to mortal mind; it is the clear recognition that there is no mortal mind to listen to. I hope that you can all see the difference. The incomplete sense says that mortal mind and material sense are there but we will not listen or indulge. The true sense of fasting is the humble acknowledgement that there is nothing but God eternal good.

At another time they brought to Jesus a man that was born blind and inquired who had sinned to bring about such a result.

Mrs. I., will you answer that question? Who had sinned, this man or his parents?

You can see that it was just a false assumption that someone had sinned. It was reasoning backward from material phenomena. They were saying, now here is an imperfect material effect; let us reason back and find out what the material cause is. That is not the way we work in Christian Science, and it is not the way that Jesus worked.

Miss L., what did Jesus say in answer to the question as to who had sinned?

Mr. F., what said this man was blind? Didn’t mortal mind say he was blind? Didn’t error say so? Didn’t material sense say he was blind? What said he was blind?

Isn’t this what Jesus must have been thinking when he said that the works of God must be made manifest in him. Jesus was only interested in what God had to say about this man.

Mr. W., and what did divine Mind have to say about him?

You see, this case and every case has to be met entirely in Mind. It was not a question of the past experience of the man orof his parents. The trouble was not in the eyes. Jesus saw that the divine Mind affirmed the man to be perfect and whole; and he also saw that there was no other mind to declare otherwise. He showed his contempt for the whole material approach toward the solution of such a problem by spitting on the ground and then anointing the man’s eyes with the clay. He then sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash away the material sense of things, to see it as nothing. And as you remember, the man was healed.

Mr. R., what tells people that they cannot see without glasses?

Mr. W., what does divine Mind tell you about your ability to see? Why do you only listen to this divine Mind?

Remember that all such problems must be met in Mind. It will not do you any good digging around in your past or the past of your parents to discover why you cannot see clearly at all times. Divine Mind says that you see perfectly at all times because you are the reflection of the all-seeing Mind, and there is no other mind or consciousness to tell you otherwise. Please repeat this last statement with me: “Divine Mind tells me that I see good at all times and there is no other mind or consciousness to tell me otherwise.” There you have the true sense of prayer and fasting.

Later Jesus met this man who was healed of blindness and asked him whether he believed on the Son of God. The man asked, “Who is he Lord that I might believe on him?” And Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.”

Mrs. E., what was it that was eternally talking to this man? Why did not anything else talk to the man and suggest a reversal of the healing?

What I am saying this afternoon is not something new. Mrs. Eddy brings this out many places in her writings.

On page 216: “The understanding that the Ego is Mind, and that there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to destroy the errors of mortal sense and to supply the truth of immortal sense.”

On page 276: “Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick. . . If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life, there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.”

On page 314: “Our Master gained the solution of being, demonstrating the existence of but one Mind without a second or equal.”

On page 482: “Christian Science is the law of Truth, which heals the sick on the basis of the one Mind or God.”

Love

Many of you observed that another very important rule in healing the sick is Love. We read that after Jesus had compassion on the multitude many wonderful healings took place. But this love was not a shallow sentimental emotion; it was the divine

Principle of his being; and it was closely associated with his recognition of only one Mind. In interpretation of his two commandments our Leader has written: “It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love.”

Mr. I., are you in complete agreement with everyone and is everyone in complete agreement with you? Why?

If you will observe carefully you will find that every sense of hatred and its associated evil thoughts are founded on the belief of conflicting human opinions or minds many. You cannot love when you are thinking in terms of many minds or opinions. And if you do not love you cannot heal. It is therefore very important that we declare for and appreciate the oneness of Mind that brings unity to all mankind.

Let us here observe several healings in which love played a very important part. Probably the best example is that of the woman who was taken in adultery and brought to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees. They said unto him: “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou. This they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him.” Here certainly is a picture of minds many. Moses gave a certain human opinion. They all had their ideas as to what should be done. They wanted Jesus’ human opinion. They wanted him to join in the manifestation of minds many. But he did not answer them.

Mrs. B., what did he do instead? That is it. He wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.

Mrs. S., why did he not hear all this chatter of mortal mind? What was he listening to?

Mrs. P., what do you suppose that he was writing on the ground? Some people think that he was writing down the sins of the Pharisees, but I don’t think so. I think he was affirming the oneness and unity of Mind. If we would all only do this when a lot of human opinions are being thrown at us. If we would only learn to keep quiet and listen for God’s voice rather than to join in the manifestations of minds many.

You remember how they continued pressing him. Did he argue? Not one bit. He was seeking to unify thought rather than to separate it. Finally he looked up and virtually said, “We’ll be obedient to the law of Moses and stone her. But let us do it in order. Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.” Then quickly he turned back to his affirmations of only one mind.

You remember what happened. Mr. A was about to throw a stone and all the rest looked at him and said: Oh yeah? You never did anything wrong? And of course, he dropped his stone and slipped out of the crowd. One by one they departed beginning at the eldest even unto the last. There was no argument. Jesus did not rebuke a so- called mortal mind. It says that they all were convicted of their own conscience. He did not have to argue or fight with anyone.

It says that Jesus was left alone with the woman. You know what the word “alone” means — “all one.” The phenomena of minds many had disappeared. Jesus asked the woman where the minds many were. Had no man condemned her? She answered, “No man, Lord.” In that experience she must have glimpsed the fact that there is one Mind and none other. Jesus told her that he did not condemn her either for he knew that she was the reflection of this perfect Mind and therefore not to be condemned. He also knew that he was the reflection of this same Mind that never condemns but appreciates the allness of good. It was this same divine Mind that directed her to go and sin no more.

We can learn some wonderful lessons from this experience. When an argument comes up at home, don’t be so quick to get in your two-bits worth. Keep your mouth shut until you begin to see at least a little of the basic fact that there is only one Mind. Don’t add fuel to the fire that there is lack of unity of thought. If someone criticizes your daughter’s singing don’t think you have to take up your pen and write a letter. Write in the sand before you the basic fact that there is only one Mind. You will do both yourself and your daughter and others a lot more good.

When in your business activity things are not going just the way you think they should go, be quiet until you have prayed the first line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Mind which art in heaven; hallowed by the name of this adorable one Mind.” Then when you express yourself good things will happen. Your work will be more enjoyable and others will more readily show their appreciation for your services in proper promotions.

In your practice of Christian Science, don’t argue with your patients. Find some basic thought of agreement and then work forward from there. If you will declare for the oneness of Mind, you will always find some common ground from which to proceed. Mentally go to where they are. This is always the compassionate and loving thing to do.

Hatreds and animosities are so uncalled for. Fully 95% of all human quarrels are the result of human opinions hastily expressed, and then human pride in being unwilling to rectify the mistake. Keep your mouth shut until you are sure you know what you are talking about; and then make sure your remarks are contributing to the realization of one Mind.

In your church work don’t be the first one up on your feet. Think things through and think in terms of our Mind. Don’t always be sure that a scrap is brewing. And don’t stay away from business meetings because you are afraid that there is going to be an argument. Declare often for the unity of Mind and your silent knowing will contribute more to the Cause of Christian Science than many thousand words. Then when you do speak, your words will not antagonize but bring a unity of thought to the whole congregation. Be awake always to unify rather than separate thought in church work. We have a common good purpose and Mind provides a unified democratic way in which to accomplish that purpose.

You may see how Jesus applied these simple rules of Love when he was before Pilate and during the trial and crucifixion. Jesus did not argue back. For the most part he was silent. When the Jews asked him whether he was the Son of God, he replied simply “You are accusing me of that.” He did not antagonize Pilate; he almost converted him. The most important thing was to unify thought in regard to his ministry and life work. He knew that to keep right ideas alive in the consciousness of mankind, was much more important than his own physical comfort. This was divine Love expressing itself. There were many human opinions expressed in regard to him. He put forth all his effort to live so that eventually all the world would recognize him as the Son of God.

You will remember when Jesus was on the cross, he said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He did not accuse them of being handled by an actual wicked mind. Their acts were the result of thoughtlessness. There were not two types of mind at war with each other. He once said “Thou couldst have no power over me except it were given thee from above.” He knew that this heavenly Mind alone was in operation. Nothing else could express itself or operate. Because he entertained no hatred, resentment or bad feelings toward others, he could feel no pain. He knew that he was safe in the divine Mind which loves and is loved. He knew that all of us find our security in that same consciousness. Hear his words: “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. . .”

If in your daily life you are doing something through your prayers and your living to bring more unity of thought in your home, your business, your social life, your church, then you will be contributing effectively toward world peace. This is positive love in action.

Mr. A., why do you think it is that Love heals?

When you are loving someone, you are listening to what divine Mind has to say about them and as far as you are concerned there is no other opinion. To illustrate: An individual falls in love; he thinks that the object of his affection is the finest thing in the world. He will not listen to anyone else on the subject. The ideal alone is real to him because we say he is in love.

Only the ideal, the perfect was real to Jesus because he loved so much. He was interested only in what God had to say about his patient. As far as he was concerned there was no other mind to testify anything else. He had compassion on the multitude, but it not human pity. He saw his fellow man as he existed in the divine Mind, perfect whole and free.

Mrs. F, how do you find out the facts about your patients? Do you ask them about their human affairs and feelings? Do you try to get a physical diagnosis? Why not? The only place where you can find trustworthy facts is in divine Mind. Human opinions are worthless. They only claim to get in the way of healing. God’s idea about your patient is the truth and it will heal and harmonize. Love this idea, this ideal; it is the only man there is. You remember our Leader’s statement on page 62 of Miscellaneous Writings: “Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people’s individuality, health, and morals. . .”

Individuals always have a tendency to live up to the ideals that others hold in regard to them. That is why loving others or knowing the truth heals. If you do not really love your patient, he senses it and you cannot do him very much good. If you are critical of your patients, finding fault with thjem, you are not loving, you are not seeing the ideal, and you will not get very far. Especially when you are required to speak rather plainly to patients, make sure that you have much love in your heart. Then follow our Leader’s admonition on page 421 of the textbook: “Should you thus startle mortal mind in order to remove its beliefs, afterwards make known to the patient your motive for this shock, showing him that it was to facilitate recovery.”

Let us now observe another case in which Love played a very significant part. “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus.” You remember the story how Lazarus got sick, how they called for Jesus but how Lazarus died before Jesus arrived. I was impressed by the fact that Jesus did not rush to the side of his friend. Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus arrived.

Mrs. O., why do you suppose that Jesus did not rush? He would virtually have been saying, “Something is wrong and I must go and make it right.” Such thinking would not have helped. Instead of rushing, he said: “If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there is no light in him.”

Mr. S., what do you suppose he meant by that statement? If we are turning to divine Mind to find out the facts about ourselves and others, we are safe and will not stumble; but if we do not turn to the light of divine Mind to find out the truth we certainly do not have light or understanding in our consciousness and we cannot see things as they are.

Jesus refused to see Lazarus as dead. He loved him so much he could only see him as he actually and eternally was in his ideal state of being — alive and whole. He was not interested in human opinions about the situation. When Martha expressed the opinion that had Jesus been there, Lazarus would not have died, Jesus turned her thoughts to eternal facts stating that anyone who really believed in the spiritual idea would never die. A little later he said, “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.” As far as Jesus was concerned, God, divine Life, was eternally glorifying itself in the presence of them all. Jesus was not thinking of a human being as either dead or alive. He was rejoicing in the allness and oneness of divine Life, the glory of God.

You remember how they rolled away the stone and how Jesus looked up to heaven and gave thanks. The Scriptures say: “Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always.” I think if this passage were more accurately translated we would find that he really said: “Father I thank Thee that I have heard you, and I know that I am hearing you always.” God does not hear man. That is the old and pagan concept of prayer. Man hears God; man listens to the declarations of Truth; man is influenced by divine Love. Jesus was not one to tell God what to do; he was one who listened to God and obeyed His voice and direction. Here is the key to successful practice. Thank God that you hear Him always.

Then you will remember he cried with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come forth.”

Mr. B., whose voice was that? Of course it was the utterance of divine Mind that perpetually calls us forth from sickness, sin, and death. If it had just been the voice of a human being, nothing would have happened. But it was the voice of God of divine Mind and there was nothing that could prevent it from accomplishing a manifestation of the glory of God. Notice also how Jesus was seeking to unify the thought of the whole crowd. He declared, “I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” He would not tolerate any mortal mind in the whole environment. He told them to loose Lazarus and let him go. No one even had the privilege of seeing Lazarus as a dead mortal. They had to see him alive and whole; they could only think of him the way the eternal Mind gave them to think. Don’t ever find excuses for a failure saying, “Well, I see my patient as well and free and whole but everyone else is seeing him as dying, sick, imperfect; and there just isn’t very much that I can do about it.” You can do something about it. You can unify the thought of the “everyone” and bring it into accord with Truth. This is real love.

Let us now examine the Parable of the Prodigal Son. By this story Jesus certainly illustrated the importance of Love.

Mrs. H., is there any indication that the father entertained a critical thought in regard to his son while the lad was in the far-off country wasting his money with riotous living? The father continued to see him in his ideal state of being because he loved him so much. This divine Love was such an attractive force that of course it brought the young man home.

Mrs. G., did the father criticize the boy when he came home telling him he hoped he had learned his lesson? Did he put him through a probationary period? Of course not. There was nothing wrong and nothing had been wrong with the perfect child of God. The only important fact was that the Son was home in the father’s house enjoying all the good that is ever to be found therein. By this parable Jesus certainly illustrated that God always sees His creation as perfect.

Mr. H., by contrast, what kind of a mental picture was the older brother entertaining? You can see that he was not turning to the one and only divine Mind to get the true picture of his brother. He was angry, jealous, and very unhappy. We say that he did not have love in his heart. He was not willing to come into the Father’s house and see his brother as he actually was in the ideal state of being. The evil sense of things seemed real to him and he was going to hold on to it. We can all learn a very helpful lesson from this parable. We are not a Judge. We reflect the love of a Father Mother God.

Some of you spoke of the importance of gratitude in healing the sick. Gratitude is the acknowledgment of good as present and tangible and there cannot be any true healing without a measure of this acknowledgment. You are all acquainted with the notable healing of the ten lepers. These men stood afar off and cried unto him that he would have mercy on them. They were calling for compassion and love. Note how they stood afar off. Good was not nigh unto them because they stood afar off from good. They thought they had to; they thought there was a law that kept them separated from the good of the community. How like many people today who think the good of the universe is not for them, people who stand afar off crying for mercy and love. Jesus called them unto him and told them to go to the priests and get their legal permission to live among normal people. Up until that point they believed they had to be separated from good. Now they saw that this law did not apply to them. They were obedient to the higher law; and they obeyed Jesus’ command and went to the priest and were healed on the way. Jesus told them to take an offering of thanks to the temple as Moses had commanded them. He must have seen their need to express gratitude. They all went to the temple and expressed their gratitude. There was one man, however, who expressed gratitude beyond that which was required. He gave his offering to the priest but also turned back and glorified God and gave thanks to the Master. Jesus had a favorable comment for this man who expressed gratitude beyond that which was required of him.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from this experience. Many of us express gratitude for the blessings that have come to us through the study of Christian Science by making regular contributions to the church and by paying our practitioner bills promptly according to the rules and customs of our day. But do we come back and really glorify God for all the wonderful things He has done for us? Do we give testimonies on Wednesday night? Have we sent to the Periodicals that testimony that we promised to send a year ago? How many of us really take out time to thank God and glorify His name? How many of us really express gratitude beyond what is expected of us as our duty?

Here I would like to say something important about gratitude. Gratitude is not acknowledgement of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God in the abstract. It is the acknowledgement of tangible evidence of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence. Now I do not mean just so-called material evidence. When you say I am grateful for God, that is rather abstract; but when you say I am grateful for the tangible evidence of God’s presence as expressed in a good disposition, good character, good friends, good health good supply, etc., then you are being concrete in your expression of gratitude and it is much more powerful. Mrs. Eddy asks: “Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have and thus be fitted to receive more.” See how Mrs. Eddy encouraged us to express gratitude for the tangible evidence of God’s power.

Sometimes Christian Scientists get the impression that they should only express gratitude for spiritual things, and yet somehow, they would like to have more evidence of His Love as manifested in good health, abundant supply, appreciative companions, etc. I would encourage you to express gratitude for spiritual qualities and tangible evidence of God’s love. Then you will not be shutting out the wonderful added things.

But, wait, I’m doing all the talking. I will soon sound like a preacher rather than a teacher.

Mrs. A., are you a professional getter or an unselfish giver? Do you have all your work and activity geared to the effort to get more than you had yesterday? Are you trying to get more than others have?

It would sometimes seem as though the whole pattern of modern life is to get, get, get. If we are not careful we might find ourselves falling right into that pattern.

Mrs. B., was Jesus a professional getter? To me the key of his life work was to be found in the fact that giving was his occupation. He was in competition with himself to see whether he could give more than he gave the day before. He was in competition with the scribes to see whether he could give more to the people than they did. Never once do we find him asking, what am I going to get out of this?

If that had been his motive of life — to get — he certainly would not have allowed himself to be crucified. He was only thinking about what he could give to civilization, to the progress of world thought, to humanity.

If you want to succeed as a Christian Science practitioner, as a business man or woman, if you want to succeed as a husband or wife — if you just plain want to succeed, resist the mesmerism that would make you a professional getter. Orient your every thought, motive, word and deed to the end of giving. That is the way to complete satisfaction and enduring success.

Stubbornness

Mr. L., are you stubborn?

Mrs. E., are you stubborn?

How many in this Association are stubborn? I would like to see hands.

Major B., do you know, I think you are one of the most stubborn men in the world, thank goodness, Let us try you out.

Two and two are five. They are seven.

They make ten, 4½, three.

Can you all see how stubborn he is? I just cannot move him.

Miss S., the earth is flat. Oh yes it is. Heaven is up there and hell is down there and the earth is right in the center. Why everyone can see that it is flat. Common sense tells us it is flat. The Bible indicates that it is flat. If it wasn’t flat we would all fall off.

Do you see how stubborn she is?

Mrs. S., man is sick. Well he seems to be. There is at least a suggestion that he is sick. Well, he thinks he is sick. He was sick. He might be sick In the future. Did you ever see such a stubborn individual? I just cannot budge her.

Mrs. S., you are living in a very wicked world. Error is running rampant everywhere. Evil is universal. There is something wrong with your neighbor, with your husband, with your children. You are trying to be perfect in spite of all the evil round about you, are you not?

Observe how stubborn she is.

What is that answer if it is not stubborn resistance to a lie?

Mr. B., the Russians are mean people. Joe Stalin is a living devil. Communism is going to destroy civilization. A Third World War is inevitable.

Do you see what happens when I present error to you? You are very stubborn, and you ought to be. The word stubborn is defined in Webster as “Sturdy, fixed, resolute or unyielding, obstinate.” As far as evil or any error is concerned you are unyielding, obstinate, stubborn. Thank God for that fact.

To me this is one of the most important and beautiful things about our religion. Before Christian Science was discovered, people yielded to all sorts of error such as sickness, sin, and death. They thought they had to. They thought there was a material law that compelled them to do so. Christian Science has shown us how to resist the devil (evil) so that it will flee from us.

Let us here observe a few statements from our textbook that gives us the right sense of stubbornness.

“When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science.” (390:12-13)

“Meet the incipient stages of disease with as powerful mental opposition as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of an inhuman law.” (390:29-32) Observe the stubborn unyielding attitude that we are to take toward all evil beliefs. Mr. F., let’s go out and get intoxicated tonight.

Let’s smoke a cigarette. Let’s cheat someone.

Do you see how we resist evil, how stubborn we are?

Mrs. Eddy goes on to say: “Instead of blind and calm submission to the incipient or advanced stages of disease, rise in rebellion against them.” (391:7-9) There is the right sense of stubbornness for you, even the right sense of rebellion. We need to rebel against any and every thought that is unlike God. But we rebel not as though these thoughts were something; but we rebel against accepting worthless unreality for the facts of being.

“The only course is to take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God’s image.” (392:8-10)

“The physical affirmation of disease should always be met with the mental negation.” (492:11-12)

Mrs. G., what does that message mean to you? Do you see how stubborn you must be in regard to the physical affirmation of disease?

“The sick unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it. They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it. They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the deceitful senses and maintain man’s immortality and eternal likeness to God.” (394:32-5)

I could go on reading passage after passage showing how Christian Science teaches us to be stubborn — that is in regard to error. It teaches you never to yield to error, never to take it in as real, and never to be taken in by it. This is one place where Christian Science differs from all other religions, from all false theology. Other religions teach people to resign to certain evil and erroneous forces. Christian Science teaches us to mentally resist everything unlike God or good.

Mrs. V., are you stubborn? To what? Mrs. O., are you stubborn? To what?

Association, how many of you are stubborn?

My, how you change your mind in just a few minutes. Mrs. B., two plus two is four.

Just look how readily she yielded. Why did you so quickly yield to that proposition?

Mr. C., geographically speaking, the earth is a round sphere. You see there is no argument there because this is a fact.

Mrs. P., man is perfect, whole and free. Man appears to be just what he actually is, perfect whole and free. Man sees himself perfect. Everyone else sees man perfect.

Don’t you all like that humble receptivity to truth?

Mrs. M., we are living in a perfect spiritual universe created by divine Love.

Just see how everything within us yields to the Truth when we know what the Truth is.

Mrs. C., you have one of the finest husbands in the world. How about it? See how beautifully she yielded to that simple truth.

Mrs. P., you are a wonderful Christian Science practitioner. Make certain that you yield to that important fact about yourself.

Mrs. M., everyone loves Christian Science. Mrs. H., everyone loves you. Do you think so?

We all need to know that when it comes to Truth we are very receptive; but as far as error is concerned we are as stubborn as an old mule. You remember how in the article last December I encouraged you to harness your doubts, rather than fight against them. Today I encourage you to harness your stubbornness as it can do wonderful things for both you and your patients.

The healing power of this idea has many applications. A mother came to me complaining about her ten-year-old son. He was very stubborn. He did what he was supposed not to do, and he failed to do what was required of him. I asked the mother whether she had ever told him that he was stubborn. She replied that she had told him many times and that he went on getting more and more stubborn.

I finally explained the situation to her as I have to you. I showed her that her son would be very stubborn if she tried to convince him that two plus two was five and that the earth was flat. On the other hand, he would be receptive to the statement that two plus two was four because he knew that was the truth. I asked her to express gratitude for his stubbornness and to quietly explain to him that he was rightly stubborn in regard to all error and receptive to all truth. I showed her that, what was really needed was a clear discernment of what was truth and what was error. I helped her to see that she needed to be stubborn in not mentally accepting the lie about him, and she needed to be receptive to the truth that he was a perfect son of God. She could soon see that when her son saw what was truth and what was error he would automatically be receptive to the truth and stubborn in regard to error. Immediately a great change came over the lad. He took pride in a right sense of stubbornness about all error and he was very responsive to right ideas. To help him be a man, that mother had to help him to know how to harness his stubbornness.

Mrs. S., did you ever have a stubborn patient?

Mrs. C., how would you like to have twenty stubborn patients a day?

You see all you have to do is to help them see what Truth is, and what error is and then their stubbornness and receptivity will cooperate with you. When a patient argues that he is sick, unhappy and discouraged, and resists the inspiring statements that man is perfect harmonious and free, this is only because he has been thinking of evil as the fact about himself and these wonderful things as not true. He only needs to be reoriented a bit so that he will not have such a turned around sense of things and then both his stubbornness and receptivity will work in the right direction.

I hope that you all read the very good article by Mr. Carey in the Sentinel several months ago. He brought out a similar idea in one of his lectures. He described how sometimes when we are in a strange place we have a turned around sense of things. East seems to be West, etc. We look on the map and intellectually we get ourselves straightened out, and then we proceed according to the map even though it seems as though we were going in the wrong direction. Then all at once something snaps; the turned around sense of things is all gone. We are going in the right direction, and it seems and appears as though we were going in the right direction.

Mr. C., did you ever have that experience?

That is just what goes on in a Christian Science treatment.

The patient has been thinking that the false is true and the true is false. By silent arguments and audible explanations, we explain what is true and what is false. Soon the patient gets straightened around intellectually and he begins to declare the truth for himself even though it seems the other way. But as he persists in the Truth before long something snaps and he sees the true as true and the false as false. He is now straightened around both intellectually and emotionally. He sees the truth and feels it with his whole being. So, all we have to do is help our patient to see what the true and the erroneous is and then his receptivity to truth and his stubbornness in regard to error will do the rest.

In your daily treatments for yourself make some such statement that you know what truth is, and what error is and that you are eternally receptive to Truth and stubborn in regard to all error. This will help your spiritual progress.

Mr. H., did you ever hear anyone speak of a stubborn belief? What did they mean? Miss S., did you ever have one of those stubborn beliefs?

You know most people claim a stubborn belief of some kind. Even so-called good Scientists think it is rather fashionable to have at least one stubborn belief they are working on. Maybe it is lack, or falling hair, or no hair, or a wart or mole, or no companion, or the wrong companion, or fear or imperfection of some kind.

This morning I would like to have you get your own pet stubborn belief out before you to have a good look at it. You know what I mean — that problem that has been wanting to hang on and on and does not seem to yield to your best treatments.

Do you have it out there now? and have you taken a good look at it? I’m not going to ask you what your individual stubborn beliefs are; but I am going to ask you this: “What is there stubborn about that belief?” The belief that two plus two is five — is that belief stubborn? Of course not. There is nothing in it to be stubborn. All it can do is yield to the truth.

Mr. G., is the belief that you are Napoleon a stubborn belief? Certainly not, for there is nothing to cause it or to perpetuate it.

Now take another good look at your own little pet stubborn belief. What causes it? Where did it come from? Why of course it has no origin for God alone is Principle. Now what perpetuates it in your consciousness? What gives it continuance? What causes it to hang on? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The error that two plus two is five cannot hang on in Mind for it has nothing to hang on with and nothing to hang on to. Neither can your so-called pet stubborn belief hang on in your divine consciousness nor in your experience.

If there is any stubbornness about the belief it is only the manner in which you, through ignorance, have been arguing for some phase of error instead of recognizing your receptivity to Truth. Then you take a real honest look at what is true and what is the error about the situation, and then when you harness your receptivity to truth and your stubbornness in regard to error, you will awaken to the fact that you do not have a little pet stubborn belief.

Possibly the only stubborn belief is the belief that you have a stubborn belief. Isn’t it all ridiculous?

Mrs. S., do you have a stubborn belief? Are you sure you don’t? Real sure? That is the way to do it. There is no such thing as a stubborn belief. Be stubborn in refusing to claim a stubborn belief.

When I came to Indianapolis a very good worker said that at first I would undoubtedly get all the patients with stubborn beliefs — patients who were drifters from one practitioner to another, patients who did not yield readily to Truth. I guess that I got my share of them and in some cases, we were able to help them see the difference between Truth and error so that they were made free.

If you would like to have a fine Christian Science practice in a hurry, welcome those dear people who have been struggling for a long time with some claim — those who think they have a stubborn belief — and you will soon have all the patients you want and can take care of. And the nice thing about it is that the other practitioners in your community will never be jealous. They will not be unhappy to lose some of these patients to you. And then if you will use the facts we have discussed this morning you can help these dear people to be really free.

Mrs. Eddy has some interesting things to say in her little book No and Yes about not thinking of sickness or any problem as a stubborn reality. I would like to quote several such passages. “To aver that sickness is normal, a God-bestowed and stubborn reality, but that you can heal it, leaves you to work against that which is natural and a law of being.” (2:5-8) “Disease is more than imagination; it is a human error, a constituent part of what comprise the whole of mortal existence, — namely, material sensation and mental delusion. But an erring sense of existence, or the error of belief, named disease, never made sickness a stubborn reality.” (4:6-11)

Can you see that our Leader would not permit herself or her patients to think in terms of stubborn and tenacious beliefs or problems.

Declare for every patient that he knows the difference between Truth and error. Mrs. Eddy says on page 505 of the textbook: “Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and the unreal.” That is the key to all successful healing. When you know the difference between what is and what is not you will be receptive to that which is and stubborn in regard to that which is not. And you will be able to help your patients to be properly oriented.

Mrs. B., did you ever think of Truth as stubborn? Can you not see that in fact it is Truth alone that is unyielding, resolute, sturdy, persistent? Truth never yields, it is stubborn because it is Truth.

Mrs. H., is two plus two equals four a stubborn fact or truth? Of course it is; it never yields to error but persists forever.

On the other hand, the error that two plus two is five is not stubborn. It yields every day and every time the Principle of arithmetic is applied. It has to yield because it has no law to support it. Two plus two equals five has nothing to hang on to but ignorance and when you demonstrate that you are not ignorant, two plus two equals five is finished.

Sin, disease and death are not stubborn realities or stubborn beliefs. All they can do is yield, yield to absolute Principle. On the other hand, the truth that man is perfect whole and free, the very image and likeness of God, persists forever, it never yields to anything. It expresses itself to your consciousness and mine perpetually. It never gives up. You will find this idea very helpful in your treatments.

Mrs. W., in your practice of Christian Science what does error always have to do? And when does it yield to the Truth?

Mrs. K., what alone can error do? Association, what does error do? When?

If you will keep these simple facts before your thought you will win every case; you will never be troubled by unyielding errors; there will be no place ever for discouragement or failure. And you will maintain that perpetual unyielding joy in the practice that is so essential for all good work.

The Sermon On The Mount

Everyone desires happiness, success, abundance, health, security and satisfaction. They want to feel as though they were blessed with every good thing. You are seeking to find this in your daily life and in your practice. Every patient comes to you for help along these lines. Here I am going to give you eight simple rules to follow.

First. Don’t start out as though you know it all. There is a lot that you can learn every day. Be humble, be teachable, be receptive to the infinite spiritual unfoldment of Truth.

Secondly. If you have been wrong, admit it quickly and vigorously. Don’t justify or excuse your short-comings. Don’t hold on to mistakes and errors. Drop them just as you would red hot coals. Then you will find it easy to solve your problems and to help others to solve theirs.

In the third place, don’t think you can do anything of yourself. Always turn to the one divine Mind for guidance and inspiration. Then follow the direction of this Mind quietly and meekly. You are an instrument of righteousness, a spiritual tool in the hand of divine Love. Let God use you.

Fourth. Really let God use you. Be active. You cannot find and experience all good things by just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Go into all the world and tell of the good news. Good is ever present, but you must mentally look for it to find and experience it.

Fifth. Be charitable toward others. If you were in their shoes, with the same educational and cultural background, if you had their same disappointments and frustrations, their fears and anxieties, you would probably do just as they do. If you are self-righteous you drive people away. If you are charitable and kind you will be able to help them overcome their mistakes.

Sixth. Magnify the good in everyone. Think about it, talk about it, dream about it. Look through to the ideal in every situation, in every contact with every individual. Claim that Mind which knows no evil about anyone or anything. In this way you will be able to bring peace and harmony to everyone. Your work as a practitioner is to harmonize every situation. Help every patient to see that man is never a trouble-

maker. Man reflects divine Love which brings peace and satisfaction to all. This is the seventh rule.

Lastly, if you are thinking and living rightly and things do not seem to be running as smoothly as you would like, don’t drain out your oil of gladness and become discouraged, blue and unhappy. That will not help. Just pour in more and more of the divine oil of gladness until things do run smoothly and you find unlimited harmony.

If you will follow these eight simple rules nothing will be impossible to you in the practice of Christian Science.

Here I would like to tell each and every one of you that you are very important in God’s plan of salvation for the whole world. Do not depreciate yourself nor your possibilities of accomplishment. Accept your responsibility. Be a harmonizer; heal the sick; tell your neighbors and friends about the everywhere presence of good. Don’t let timidity cause you to hide your love for others. Admit that you are a Christian Scientist. Of course you will not brag about it; but on the other hand don’t act as though you were ashamed of it. Lift up your heads as you go about your work and smile at everyone. Lift up your heart of affection until you find yourself including everyone in one universal Love. There is no other way to succeed in the Christian Science practice. You are not, of course, trying to draw the attention of people to yourself. Instead, you are so busy radiating Truth twenty-four hours a day that God is glorified in the experience of everyone with whom you come in contact. Attitudes are changed and uplifted, and bodies are found harmonious as the result.

Don’t work so much on the negative side. You are not in the business of destroying material laws. You are not fighting against the laws or rules of false theology or materia medica. You are obeying and fulfilling the one and only law of divine Mind. You are awakening everyone to appreciate what real law is. The laws of God never change, they never pass away. They continue to operate until everyone finds complete harmony. Help your patients to love these laws of God, the commandments of infinite Love. This is the way to help them find harmony, peace and abundance.

On all sides of you, you will find doctors, psychiatrists, and ministers of orthodox churches ministering unto the needs of the people. Many of these individuals are wonderful men and women with a great sense of love for their fellowmen. Because of this love they are helping others in their own way. Don’t be critical of them. Mind your own business. Through your study of Christian Science you are privileged to go much deeper into the Science of Being. You regard love not as a changeable human emotion but as the divine motivating power of all existence. You are therefore equipped to surpass all their works. But you must make daily and hourly use of this divine Principle Love to accomplish the glorious things that are possible in Science.

Here I would like to have you consider with me several of the Ten Commandments. For instance, “Thou shalt not kill.” Most of us have thought of this law as a command that we should not destroy the physical body of someone. But it has a much deeper meaning. When you are angry with others or even angry with yourself you are attempting to kill love in your own consciousness. Don’t do it. It will not help you or others to find the desired harmony. Don’t get mad at people. Don’t get angry with your patients no matter how disobedient they seem to be. Love will heal every situation. But you must keep Love alive in your consciousness.

Sometimes you may find that you are not angry with others; you are just disgusted with them. Don’t do it. It is your divine right to have a keen relish for the spiritual facts about everyone. When you are disgusted you are attempting to kill this normal appreciation of all things. That is what brings on ulcers and much stomach trouble. Help everyone to appreciate the beautiful, good, and true and they will find only peace and harmony.

Sometimes you may find that you are not angry or disgusted with others, you just think that they are being very foolish. That will not help you or them. You have the divine privilege of seeing everyone as the intelligent manifestation of the one divine Mind. When you think of others as foolish you are attempting to kill that wonderful concept of man in your own consciousness. You are then the one who is being foolish. Love everyone so wholeheartedly that you are never angry, disgusted or even critical; then you can heal anything.

Here I would like to put in a word of caution. Don’t let your love for others cause you to assume a self-righteous sense whereby you acknowledge your love for others but fail to acknowledge their love for you and all. If you should discover that someone does not seem to think well of you, do something about it. Clear your own thinking. Know that since there is only one Mind, your brother cannot think of you except as this one perfect Mind gives him to think. Be ready to go out of your way to express kindness to him. Show him that you truly love and appreciate him and he will find it easy to love you. Don’t try to be happy and free in spite of the imperfect thoughts of others. Be happy and free because of the universality of divine Love. If you will be obedient to this simple rule you will find your prayers much more effective.

Here is another important point: Don’t argue. Be agreeable. Don’t argue with your patients. Find some common ground of agreement and then proceed from there. You might start out with such a statement: “I am sure that we agree that God is all powerful or omnipresent.” If they agree with that then go on to show the nothingness of the opposite of God called evil. Go to where your patient is and bind up the wounds, pouring in the oil of gladness and the wine of inspiration. Don’t argue with your friends, neighbors or business associates. If you win the argument, you often lose in the other’s estimation of you. Be agreeable. Find your points of common interest and proceed from there.

Don’t even argue with yourself because as soon as you do you are entertaining a sense of duality. Be agreeable with yourself. Say something like this: “Now let’s see, let’s reason this out quietly and carefully.” There is no sense in arguing, struggling and fighting with yourself. You cannot win that way. As soon as you argue you have an adversary, an opponent, and enemy. When you refuse to argue with yourself and rather look for points of agreement, you lose all sense of opposition.

Don’t even argue with mortal mind or error. Who would argue with the mortal mind suggestion that two plus two was five? Quietly agree that there is no mortal mind to send forth such a suggestion; that is all. When you seem to be troubled with the suggestion that man is sick or unhappy or tense or poor or ready to die, quietly agree that there is no such mind to talk such nonsense. Don’t fight mortal mind. Don’t be a Don Quixote attacking windmills. Don’t fight error as though it were something, for then you will have an adversary, and opponent, and enemy, and you will have trouble recognizing your oneness with God and His divine perfection. Sweet agreeableness — what a wonderful quality. Sweet agreeableness which recognizes that there is nothing to resist, nothing with which to fight or argue. Pray for this quality.

Now let us consider another simple commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” People have often thought of this commandment as just applying to fidelity to the marriage agreement. Of course it means this, but also a lot more. It means that we should not seek to adulterate our Mind, the one perfect Mind, with impure and imperfect thoughts. The deed is always the result of the thought. The wrong thought must be eliminated by the recognition that there is only one divine Mind. You may think that your so-called material eyes are the culprits in seeing evil in people and things. But really, they are innocent. They see only what you direct them to see. Therefore, eliminate the evil thought, the sense of evil, and you will see good everywhere. You may think that your hands or some other portion of your body are misbehaving, possibly an organ, or glands, or muscles, or nerves or brain; and you may be tempted to have an operation to cut out the offending portion of the human system. But intelligence tells us that the body and every portion of it do exactly what we tell it to do. The eyes see what you tell them to see. The ears hear what you direct them to hear. The nerves feel what you tell them to feel. The organs and glands function the way you direct them to function. The muscles move the way you tell them to. And so, if there is any eliminating to do, eliminate the wrong thought and then the whole human system will behave in a normal, healthy, decent manner.

This morning I talked at length about marriage and divorce. I am not going to have much to say on the subject this afternoon except this; that the one who resorts to legal divorce to solve his problem is really committing adultery. He is adulterating his sense of love with hatred or disgust or disinterest. That is no way to solve the problem. He is also causing the other party of the agreement to adulterate his sense of love with resentment, bitterness, and revenge. How much better if you will divorce yourself from the wrong concept of man and woman. Then you will find plenty to love and cherish right in your own home.

Or consider another commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.” People often think of this as an admonition to refrain from swearing and profanity. Of course it means this, but also a lot more. It means that we should never think of Life in any way except as God, good. It means that we should realize that there only one perfect Mind; that there is only one motivating force or law in eternal operation; that Love is universal, the all-in-all of being. All the By Jupiters, By Joves, By gollies, or By gods do not do any good. They only show our insincerity. All the noisy pleading to God that He might hear us is time and effort wasted. Rather let us learn the lesson to say “yes” to every right idea that proceeds from the divine Mind, and “no” to the belief that there is another mind to talk. In other words, let us affirm the Truth and deny all error. That is the one and only way to practice Christian Science successfully.

In our church and business activity we sometimes hear it said: “We’ll give that man just what he deserves — a frown for a frown, no business for the no business that he gives us. We’ll give him some of his own medicine; we’ll treat him just as he treats us.” That is not being a harmonizer. Such an attitude pays no dividends to you or anyone. Try the opposite rules once and you will find it a lot of fun. When someone frowns at you smile back with all the kindness that you can find within your being. And then watch what happens. There will be no frown. Go to the one who gives you no business and give him some, and you will find sooner or later that he will give you good business. Don’t give people some of their own medicine. That will never heal anything. Give them some of the medicine of Truth and Love. That will bring harmony. Don’t treat people the way they treat you; treat them the way divine Love treats all His children. You will see how such an attitude harmonizes every situation.

Earlier this afternoon I spoke of the importance of being an unselfish giver rather than a professional getter. Here I would like to reemphasize the fact, if you want to be a successful practitioner learn how to give and give and give unselfishly. Give all the love and truth you have in every case and you will win. When people want to borrow of your inspiration, do not turn them away; give them everything you have. When they ask for a few minutes of your time, don’t be stingy; give them plenty of time to tell you what is wrong and give them time to ask questions. Train yourself to always think in terms of giving. That is the only way to demonstrate the multiplication of good.

Sometimes you hear it said that we should Love the friends of democracy and hate the Communists. But I tell you that is not the way to do it. That only brings on wars and more enemies. Mentally love your so-called enemies and you will lose them as enemies and find them as your friends. Everyone loves his friends. When your so- called enemy finds that you are his friend he will love you. Do everything you can to bring happiness and success to everyone and then there will not be anything for anyone to be unhappy about.

You must do this if you want to feel your sonship with God, your unity with divine Love. For I tell you truthfully, that God does not know anything about your enemies or anyone’s enemies. Divine Mind loves all of His ideas for He sees them as perfect. If you hate your so-called enemies you are separating yourself from divine Love and you are the one who will suffer. There is no particular challenge for you to love your friends. Everyone does that. The real challenge is whether you can start the ball of love rolling by loving someone where at first there seemed to be no love. That is really being a harmonizer. God is forever perfect. He has created a perfect universe, just like Himself in quality, perfect in every aspect. You and everyone else are a part of this perfect universe. Therefore everyone and everything is perfect. It is from this basis that you must pray and work.

May I here suggest that you do not brag about the good you have accomplished or are accomplishing. This cheapens it. Go ahead, heal the sick and raise the dead, but let others testify as to the good you are accomplishing. It is God and not man that rewards the good worker. You can trust Him; He knows what you have done. And His reward to you knows no bounds. With your metaphysical work, I suggest that you be rather quiet about it. It is very sacred you know. Don’t tell people how many patients you have. Don’t talk a lot about how you work or pray. Have a reputation of being tight-mouthed in regard to your Christian Science practice.

You know the simple rules for metaphysical work. You are dealing entirely with consciousness. You shut out of thought all false, material, discordant concepts and you refuse to think evil or discord. Then you open your thought to the allness of good. You feel your oneness with divine Mind and Love. As you do this you will be reflecting divine Truth on the case before you. It is not so important what you say or how you say it. It is your sincerity and love that counts. You must see both yourself and your patient (man) as separated from all evil and as united with all good. This is what heals.

Avoid shopworn, empty and hollow phrases and statements such as you have heard in other churches. Recall that it isn’t what you say that counts, but what you know. God knows what is needed and He is right there to furnish the right idea about everything. You do not have to inform Him about anything. All you have to do is to get the false concept of man out of the way, out of thought so that the true spiritual man can receive the abundance that God is perpetually pouring out to him.

In order to pray correctly, we must first establish in thought the perfect nature of God. We see Him as our heavenly Mind, our heavenly Soul, our heavenly Being. We appreciate Him as our perfect Principle or Truth, as our divine Life and Love, as our happy Spirit. It then follows logically that, if He is your Being and my Being, the Being of everyone and everything in the whole universe then must be perfect, the marvelous expression of divine Being. We see then that there is only one government and will operating in us and all. As we realize these divine facts, it makes it easy for us to see that God is showering His blessings on all of us. We see that these blessings are the substantial reality of being. Here we should pause to remember the simple fact that we cannot find perfection in ourselves unless we are willing to see and find perfection in all of God’s creation. As we see these facts clearly, we awaken from the dream of sin, sickness and death; we see that all evil is non-existent, nothing. This is the way we glorify God as infinite and good, as the only government, the only power forever. It is along this line that we must pray.

May I here emphasize a very important point in prayer. If you do not see the universality of good, if you do not see good in others, in everyone, in everybody, in everything, you have missed the vital point of prayer and you cannot find complete harmony within your own experience. You can’t, simply can’t, be perfect in spite of the evil manifestations round about you. You can only be perfect because of the universality of good.

I would like to say a word about your attitude when you pray. Don’t put your hand over your eyes and get all squinted up. That will not do any good. It will only put a strain on your sense of vision if you keep it up. Don’t try to see how serious and consecrated you can appear. That is just hypocrisy. Don’t think that you have to be sitting in a certain chair to get your treatment across.

Remember when you fast you are not abstaining from evil thoughts or shutting out the evidence of the material senses; instead you are realizing that since there is no mortal mind, there are no evil thoughts, and since Soul is all-in-all, there is no material sense to shut out. Go wash that strained serious look off your face. Get rid of that sanctimonious expression and smile as one of the happiest individuals in the world. You are in communion with your heavenly Father; look happy about it. Many practitioners interfere with their effectiveness by assuming old orthodox attitudes and expressions. Be done with such hypocrisy. Be a true Winnipesaukee, a smile of the Great Spirit when you pray. You will see how much better it works.

Help your patients to break the mesmerism which would cause them to put forth all their efforts to accumulate material things. By such actions people show that they think matter is substance. Your value, your substance, your worth is not measured by how much you have or are getting, but by what you are and how much you are giving. Let Christian Science awaken you and your patients to be the biggest unselfish givers in the universe. Take a look at your motives daily. Are you trying to lay up material treasures or are you devoting all your energies toward being of service to others? If you can answer that question as it ought to be answered, you know what it is to be the Son of God. Worship the substance of Spirit and you will never lose anything for spiritual qualities cannot be taken away.

Everything comes into your experience through consciousness or Mind. If you are constantly recognizing that there is only one perfect consciousness or Mind called God, your whole experience will be filled with harmony, freedom and beauty. On the other hand, if you think in terms of two minds, the mortal and the divine, spending most of your time thinking and talking about mortal mind, you are in for trouble. This error is the source of all sickness, sin and death.

You dare not see yourself as subject to two forces — matter and Spirit, mortal mind and divine Mind, Truth and error, good and evil. Decide today which is going to be real to you and which is going to be unreal and nonexistent. You will reflect what you stand in awe of. If you stand in awe of or worship error, evil, mortal mind or matter, you are a servant to them, you are a slave. If you stand in praiseful prayerful awe of God, you will reflect God and be His servant. You cannot face the light of Truth and the darkness of error at the same time.

It is for this reason I know that you are not going to be spending a lot of your time thinking about what kind of food you are going to eat, what kind of clothes you are going to wear, or what kind of a house you are going to build. Just think for a minute about the Robins, Cardinals and Wrens in your back yard. They don’t sit around and fret and stew about such things. They have no bank accounts, social security numbers, or insurance policies and yet they seem to be well taken care of. Don’t you think that God loves you as much as He loves them?

Help people not to think so much about their clothes. You don’t have to spend hours or days to find that new hat, coat or dress that is most becoming to you. Think of the beautiful flowers in your garden; they do not have to shop at Block’s or Wasson’s or Ayres’, nor go to New York or Chicago to find something most attractive. Mind supplies them with natural beauties surpassing the most gorgeous garment that a Paris designer could bring forth. Now, if Mind takes care of these lesser ideas, don’t you think that without a lot of thought worrying and fretting, you will be brought into contact with clothes that will make you most attractive. Have more faith in God and you will save many precious minutes that might otherwise be wasted in fruitless search. Love knows what you need and will often supply it in ways about which you have never even dreamed. You and your patients need to spend more time rejoicing that everything is perfect because God is perfect and He is all; then you will find that everything works out perfectly. You will have the right things to eat, beautiful clothes to wear, a fine house in which to live, a good place to work, and wonderful friends as companions.

May I say a word about tomorrow. Don’t fret and stew about it. Use divine Principle to solve the problems that come to you today and then you will be ready to solve the problems of tomorrow because of your increased faith and experience in solving today’s problems.

Here is a very important point in your practice of Christian Science. Sometimes you will be tempted to think that there is something to be cleared up in your patient’s thought. Don’t deceive yourself. It is your thinking that needs to be cleared and purified. It is your opinion about the condition of the other man’s thinking and living that has to be changed. If his faults, shortcomings, imperfections and sickness are real to you, there is not much that you can do to make them unreal to him. Begin with yourself, your own opinions, your own concepts, your own spiritual vision. If you bring your own thought into accord with God it will be very easy to help the other man. But if you think of your patient or your fellowmen as unreceptive or unworthy, or unspiritual, or impure, or imperfect, then it will be as though you were casting your pearls before swine. If you think imperfectly about another, don’t be surprised if he turns around and misrepresents everything you have said to him and done for him. You are to blame. You are at fault. You have entertained the false concept that you are dealing with an imperfect mortal rather than the son of God.

If you turn to the one divine Mind for inspiration, you will get it. If you turn to divine Love with a great desire to be more loving and kind to others, you will find yourself just that way. If you look for good in everyone and everything, you will find it. It certainly is there awaiting your recognition. If you knock at the door of divine consciousness, it will open to you. You know if you want to dwell in the secret place of the most high, there is nothing in the world to prevent you from doing so. If you want to live, move, and have your being in Spirit rather than matter, the way is entirely open and clear for you. But you have to want it. You have to knock.

Here I would like to ask you some very straight forward questions that have to do with prayer. If your children asked for some bread to eat, would you give them a piece of wood? If your children asked for an ice cream soda, would you give them a glass of whiskey instead? If they asked for candy, you would not give them a cigarette. Of course not. You would give them those things that are good for them that will make them fine men and women.

If your human parents know how to give good and right things to their children, rest assured that your heavenly Father is showering His spiritual gifts upon all His children even before they ask Him. Infinite good is the most normal and natural thing in the world and will glide easily and perpetually into your experience if you will only see God as He is and love His divine nature.

Sometimes you may be tempted to think that Christian Science is complicated and difficult to understand, and you may wonder whether there might not be an easier rule to follow. Yes there is, and I am going to give it to you. If you follow this rule you will never go wrong and you will be successful in everything that you do. Just ask yourself this simple question: “How would I like to have other people treat me?” Get a positive mental picture of just how you would like to have them act toward you, and especially what kind of an attitude you would like to have them assume in regard to you. Then you go forth and think, say and do those things to everyone you meet. If that is your philosophy of Life, you will never be in error. You will always find the specific right thing to say and to do. Everything will be according to the divine Principle, Love. You will not find that you get off on the wrong track and make a lot of mistakes. Instead, you will experience that divine Life that knows no discord.

Now I would like to say a word about your daily protective work. Do not neglect it. Be alert. But make sure that you are doing it in an affirmative manner. Recognize daily that since there is only one Mind, no one can direct any thoughts your way except as this one perfect Mind inspires him. No one can prophesy evil for you. No one can predict disaster or inharmony. No one can curse you. We are all God’s children and we are all in the blessing business. Now that is the absolute truth and we must daily demonstrate to ourselves that there are no false systems of medicine, theology, or psychology that, under the guise of good, can deceive us. We must keep alert when reading newspapers, or magazines, when listening to the radio or watching the television. If the information that comes to us does not present a picture of perfect God, perfect universe, and perfect man, we must reject it vigorously and then forget it.

If you stand in awe of evil you will reflect it. But if you stand in awe of God and His goodness, you will reflect God. If you acknowledge only one good Cause or Principle of Being, you will find only good effects. If you think there is some other cause or force working in you or in your patients, you will have bad effects. Take a look at the effects and you can see what that person is thinking about Cause. Completely eliminate from your thinking and the thought of your patient that there is an evil cause and you will find that harmony reigns.

May I say here quite frankly that many individuals who call themselves Christian Scientists have gotten off the track by standing in awe of different phases of evil. They go to church, they read their lesson, subscribe for the periodicals and attend lectures. They have had healing in Christian Science and have even helped others, but they are not happy, satisfied contented, fearless and free. They have not found heaven or eternal harmony. Why? There is only one answer. They are too negative in their work. They still have a devil. They call it mortal mind or error or animal magnetism. They are fighting it as something instead of understanding its nothingness. They are still clinging on to some of their old theology and are leading others astray with some of these false concepts.

Such individuals have not built their philosophy of life on the divine Principle that God, good, is all-in-all. They have constructed their concept of existence on the changing evidence of the material senses. They talk and think more about mortal mind than they do of God. The presence of evil is a very big thing that they must be fighting all of the time. And because they make so much of it, when, in belief, trouble comes, they cannot weather it, but go down under and exclaim, “Here is another bit of evidence of the power of animal magnetism.”

Others do not work that way. They accept the simple proposition that “The Lord He is God and there is none else beside Him.” They rejoice 24 hours a day that there is no evil to attach, harm, influence or destroy. They handle error on the basis of its nothingness. They know it is nothing because God is all. They help their patients to fill their thoughts with Truth and Love so that there is no room for superstition, fear, worry, disease, sin, and death. They are not talking all the time about the claims of error, but of the infinite claims of God, of the wonderful things God has done and is doing for all mankind. They know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that everyone is in it. The city four square is not a future fantastic dream; it is their city and they dwell therein. The millennium is not a thousand years away; it has come today for all of us. They are truly thinking of God as perfect and as all.

When problems come to such individuals they are not disturbed. They quickly apply the divine Principle of Being. They are not upset, irritated, afraid, overwhelmed, confused or frustrated. All evil is unreal, nonexistent to them. They have built their house, their philosophy of Life, on the eternal fact that “Divine Understanding reigns, is all and there is no other consciousness.” (S&H 536)

Be ye like them. Ye are like them, wise builders who have built your house upon the rock.