Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-08

It should be comfort ana an Tn spiration to many struggling heart and to many a Respondent way farer along life's highway to realize that a man is indispensable to God. said William D. McCracken. M. Az c. s. B.. of Boston. in a lecture at the Davis theatre, Sunday evening. before an audience numbering several hundred. The lecture was delivered under the auspices of the Norwich Christian Science union. Prof. Mo- Cracken is a member of the Board of LectureshIp of the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston. He was introduced by Att torney Allyn l.. Brown. His lecture follows:
 There is much evidence to show that the uncertainties of human life large Iy contribute to it's mistakes, to it's sin, sickness, and sorrow. Uncertain ty causes humanity to waver in judgment, to hesitate at critical mo- ments, and to be apprehensive of the future. It eTnbitterS many an other wise noble character 1t sows broad cast the seeds of fear and doubt, and renders human beings vacillating, and distrustful at the very times when they ought to speak to evil with a1l- thority and dominion. Hampered by the shaczles of uncertainty, human beings dare not advance against the mental enemies that spell disaster to their happiness, health, and whole scmeness, but either permit them selves to be overridden by these enc mics or else withdraw into a condt- ton of hopeless inactivity.
 It would seem as though the only certainties that are universally ad- mitted by humanity itself are it's own woes and miseries, it's sufferings and disasters, and its own final collapse. According to the testimoney of the physical senses uncorrected by spirit ual understanding humanity seems justified in this desperate point of view. According to this same test1- mony it has every reason to remain in state of perplexity. It has good excuse for being incapable of deciding which way to turn for safety and what measures to take in the attempt to avert the inevitable doom of mortal ity. According to this testimony the child is no sooner born into this world than it prepares to leave it. It is precipitated into a career of adven- ture among hidden foes, which appear from time to time as bad habits, dis eases, losses, incapacities, and mental, moral, or physical peculiarities, vari- ously ascribed to inheritance, environ ment, accident, and the like.
 At every stage in material growth, material testimony stands ready to predict further dangers, and if by the
 
 cape the grasp of these detaining fears and reach his full powers, this same material testimony provides for a steady decline into helpless and per haps graceless old age All that the physical sciences may appear to do for the alleviation of human misery is nullified by the belief they inculcated tlsat man is a mortal material being, whose inevitable end can only be post poned, never altogether put off. Nor is prevalent theology any less merci- less toward man. because 1t teaches holds out no hope of salvation in the present, but only points to future stete of existence in which man may perhaps find his real nature in the course of etrnity.
 From many a stricken heart and mind goes up the cry for an explana- ton of ultimate certainty. Those hungering and thirsting after right eousneSs ask to be instructed how they may distinguish that which Is true from that which is false, that which is essential from that which is non- essential, that which is real from that which is unreal. They ask for the understanding which will enable them to sort out from their lives that which is genuine and truly worth while, in order to abide by it and make it permanent. In other words humanity cries out for an absolute standard by which it shall be able to recognize the immutable, the unvary- ing, the eternal and indestructibIe facts of existence. It demands the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and Christian Science is in a position to offer this truth which makes free, which saves, heals, re- generates, and redeems.
 The Real and Eternal.
 Mrs. Eddy, the discoverer and found CT of Christian Science, and the author of its textbook, Science and Health following explanation of the real and eternal on page Il of that book: Nothing is real and eternal-nothine is spirit,-but God and His idea" Il follows that the sick and shining need only apply this test to their own cases in order to find out what pertains tc truth, what is necessary, lawful, an6 abiding, and on the other hand wfa1 is false, hence unnecessary, illegiti. mate, and transitory in their expert. ehces.
 In other words, their help and cure will arise from the spiritual under. standing of the fact that nothing is real except that which is of divine origin. That which is mere human belief, supposition, or superstition, i. unreal, untrue, and non essential. By means of this test it is possible to sen. arate the chaff from the wheat sim. ply by asking ones self of any giveI condition, thought, or act, Is it liI, God and His idea" or is it unlik, Him and His creation? The anSwe, will determine whether the particulal condition. thought, or act Is real ol unreal true or untrue, essential ol non- essential.
 Therefore Christian Science pro vides a way of estimating the facts il every human problem and is thus {