Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-08
LECTURES ON CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Indispensable to God-A History of the Christian Sci ence Movement

means of escape from every untoward situation. Is the sufferer one who feels aggrievd because he has been obliged to stand aside and see the worlds ac- tivities pass him by, perhaps by reason of invaiidisrn or through lack of what are called natural opportunities? Then let him take the line of demarcation offered by Christian Science, and measure off that in his thought which is godlike from thhat which is unlike God. Let him harvest the first and discard the second, and he will rise out of his loneliness and isolation and be- come a useful member of society.
 Is the seeker for help one who has spent his all in the futile pursuit of pleasure only to find that pain is his reward? Let him too measure out the immutable and true from the change able and false by means of this Spir- itual understanding offered by Chris tian Science, and he will find genu- inc happiness, real bliss and joy, to be spiritual and not material. This same help is available for the sick and shining, the down trodden, the fear full, the ignorant, the seeming victims and martyrs of evil belief. or of InaI- icous mental suggestions It is the way of salvation for those lying on, beds of suffering as we'll as for those in bondage to bad habits.
 Now it is evident that in order to follow out this process of classified tion between that which is like God and that which is unlike Him, there must be practical understanding of God Himself, His nature and quail ties. It therefore becomes the duty and privilege of those seeking help in Christian Science to become acquaint- ed first and last with God Himself.
 God and His Idea
 When Moses was being commission ed by God to bring the children of Is- rael out of Egypt, he asked by what name he should refer to God in reply to their question. We read in the Moses, I am that I am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the chill dren of Israel am hath sent me un- to you" This divfnely chosen desig- nation, Am reveals the essential nature of God. It stands for being, self existence, tnfinity, perfection. The great l Am is the everlasting Ann, that was, and is, and ever shall be-
 He is life eternal, without beginning and without end, and His kingdom ruleth over all. The great I Am is one God, infinite and indivisible He Is omnipotent, omniscient. omnipre- sent. He is the creator of all that has existence, truth, reality, or essential being. He acts as principle governing through law and divine decree. He 1S substance, and lie l gives unto man immortality, bliss, and l the beauty of holiness" Moreover. | God is mind.
 Among Mrs. Eddys many contribu- tions to the right understanding of God, none stands out more clearly than her definition of God as mind. Ii | Is obvious that if God be considered as | Infinite and is one and indivisible, and | this is the general theological teach ing concerning Him, the word mind fully meets the requirements of the l definition. This God who is mind is absolutely and wholly good, and He | operates through the law of good only; and this law means to every one of | His creatures health, happiness, har- mony, and heaven. Then if God is wholly good mind, is behooves the man or woman who desires to know true, or essential to bring 1t to the i test of the divine miEd and compare it | herewith.
 Evil Mind Unreal.
 Under this test it is obvious that an | evil mind cannot be a real mind. Ii car only be a pretense of a mind in capable of originating truth or of giv- 1 ing forth true impressions. Thus all envy, jealousy, fear, evil intent or de ! sire, malice, revenge, all passions and appetites of the carnal mind, such as pride, deceit, hatred, sin sickness, and death. being outgivings of that evi | mind, when measured by the standard of likeness or unlikeness to God. are
 recognized as unlike Him, hence as un- l real, untrue, and essential, as 1 false and erroneous. Then it would follow that any train of events start l ing from such erroneous thinking i< equally unreal and untrue, and there.
 fore need not be admitted as having basis in fact. This enable any one tC
 reshape his whole life, to set aside
 from his experience as unreal that
 which is unlike God, and to place him.
 self wholly under the law of God. Material Life.
 Thus, again judged by this same tes
 of godlikeness, what shall we say O.
 material life, being law. or belief? II
 mind there can be no matter. Tht
 concepts of mind and matter mentally
 exclude each other. If God is mind
 and this is the teaching which, pro
 ceeding from Christian Science, is con.
 stantly finding more general accep
 tance, then there is no matter in God
 and that which is not in the divint
 mind cannot issue from it hence mat ) ter is unlike God, and in the last anal
 ysis is unreal. untrue, and nonessen ] tial as far as the absolute truth O , being is concerned. Mrs. Eddy hal therefore followed out this reasonin; ) to its logical conclusion by declarin; that matter is an error of statement (Science and Health, p. 277).
 This method of detecting truth iron error is the modus operandi by whicl , humanity can disengage itself from tn. graps of evil One by one 1t can talk Fl off the fingers of false belief that hay seized it, and hold it in subjection. | ? any one haunted by sin? Then mak ? the test. Ask the question. Is sin god
 like, like God? Far be 1t from us t. : admit any such supposition. What l ever sin may pretend to be, it canno ! for an instant be admitted as of di