Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-09-21
A LECTURE On
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
BY CLIFFORD P. SMITH, c. S. 3.
Member of the Board of Lectureship
of The First Church of Christ,

VI III II CAA0A III VI SlII III,
Scientist, in Boston, Mass.
1t is my purpose to speak to you
this evening on The Real Man and
His Relation to God -
1t may be assumed, l suppose, that
no one in this audience disbelieves
in a power or cause higher than him
self. One who denies the existence
of a supreme intelligent Being is
said to be an atheist. But such per-
sons are rare; in most cases the
supposed atheist has simply not been
satisfied with any particular concept
of God and man that has been brot
to his attention. A better concept,
or the true one, may find him en-
tirely willing to accept it.
A man does not need to be very
scientific or very religious to feel
that he is intermediate in the scale
of existence-superior to some effects
but subordinate to the primordial sub
stance or cause, higher than some
creatures but lower than the crea-
tor This is a fact made evident by
reason as we'll as revelation. Mere
observation discovers the existence
of laws which manifestly proceed
from a power an intelligent source,
higher than man. The turning OF
the earth upon it's axis, the coming
of good thought into consciousness,
these diverse facts both illustrate the
operation of law; they instance the
action of a Mind which is superior to
man The most fundamental fact IN
human experience is consciousness;
Principle. Since man possesses
consciousness, he must be related to
the Principle of consciousness; and
Christian Science declares this Prin-
ciple to be God, the divine Mind of
which man is the mental and spirit
ual expression.
Not only do men intuitively believe
in a Being or Mind higher than
themselves, they also expect to live
upon higher plane of existence thar
is visible to the physical senses. We
have no reason to be satisfied with
the life which seems to begin from
mortal birth, which appears to includ
all evil-fear, failure, sin, sickness
deformity, disability, suffering, sor-
rowland to end in death. In fact,
we no longer accept all the testimony
about man that we get through the
five senses. For example, life seems
to end in death, but who believes
that it does? We see a change; we
lose sight of friend or loved one;
we consign a body to grave or its
ashes to an urn; but we have faith,
we k.ow, that the life of the individ
ual continues.
So, also, the assurance of things
hoped for. the evidence of things
not seen, tells us of an existence for
man which in every respect lar
transcends the life of mortals. 1t is
unthinkabIe that man should always
and forever continue to be bundle OF
contradictions, a mixture of opposite
qualities, a meeting of conflicting
forces, as he appears to be. Every
man, whether he looks for salvation
or for evolution, expects something
better than this.
Christian Science declares that
mans brightest hope for better life
in the hereafter cannot exceed what
is in fact the present reality of life;
lhat mortal existence is state of
ignorance and false belief based on
material sense Of things; that the
actuality is O. condition of purity,
completeness, JOY, harmony, and good
Mesa perfect state of mental and
spiritual activity, consciousness
free from error or evil; an eternal
identity determined by Mind or Spir-
it, not by matter And Christian Sci
ence declares that this true selfhood
must be attained, and can be attained
by gaining a demonstrable under
standing of reality; by obtaining a
provable knowledge of Truth; by com
pretending in their true import the
words and works of him whose mis-
sion was to ''bear witness unto the
truth
Taking human life from birth, Jes-
US the Christ assembled progressively
to the Life which is divine. With the
understanding of Truth, Life, and
Love he grappled with and over
came, one after another, the errors,
which narrow, limit, and belittle the
life seen in this world, until he
rose above it and passed beyond the
range of mortal vision. Nor did he
do this as though it were possible
for him alone. On the contrary, his
declared purpose was to be the
way" or way-shower for all men He
is 1.-The light of the world because
he taught and demonstrated the truth
OF D61nS, I0uS uldhIHS II SNlutHI anu
available to us.
Although Immediate and lasting
benefits resulted from the. gospel or
good news brought TO the world by
Christ Jesus, it can still be said even
of Christians, as st. Paul said of
the GentiIes, that they are "aliena.
ted from the life of God through the
ignorance that is In them After
nearly twenty centuries Christendom
still suffers every evil thing and
puts its faith in a life to be gained
after death. In the last quarter of
the nineteenth century, when Mrs
Eddy published her textbook, Sci
enoe and Health with Key to the
Scriptures" the knowledge called
science was entirely separate from
the knowledge called Christianity,
and their only tendency to unite was