The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-01-12
A LECTURE
Christian Science
lContinued from Isl page

things of life? Christian Science DluS
us awake from this lethargy and ac-
cept the divine invitation chronicled in
Isaiah. "Come now, and let us rea-
son together, saith the Lord"
How to Read Science and Health.
On the first page of the Preface of
Science and Health we are told that
"the time for thinkers has come" And
as only those can understand this
mighty revelation who think rightly
or are willing to be taught so to do,
it not infrequently follows that one
hears this remark: 81 have read
Science and Health; in fact, | have
read it many times, but can get no.
thing from it." Yes, one might go to
the sage-brush deserts of our west
ern country and sow seed and then
sow more seed, and never have
flower. If one is wise he will not SOW
until in some measure he has prepared
the soil. There is irrigating to be
done and the obstructive sage-bushes
must me rooted out. Is it not pos
sible, you who may have read and
can find nothing, that your mental
areas are numbered with the stubborn
growths of bias and criticism and
self satisfaction, or parched with the
unlovely alkali of purely material
viewpoint?
Ruskin gives the following useful
hints as to the proper way to arrive
at the full meaning of a book. He
says that we should study books:
"First, with desire to be taught by
them, and to enter into their thoughts.
To enter into theirs, observe; not to
find your own expressed by them. If
the person who wrote the book is not
wiser than you, you need not read it;
if he be, he will think differently from
you in many respects. Very ready we
are to say of book: How good this
is! that's exactly what ! think But
the right feeling is: How strange that
is. | never thought of that before,
and yet | see it is true: or if do not
now, hope / shall some day. But
whether thus submssively or not, at
least be sure that you go to the author
to get at his meaning, not to find
yours. Judge it afterwards, if you
think yourself qualified to do so, but
ascertain it first"
So let us approach this unique vol
ume with an open heart and sim
cere desire to be taught. And if we
persist in its study, nothing can with
hold from US the joy of its message.
To analyze or attempt even a re-
sumo of the seventeen chapters of
Science and eHalth would require. a
period of time far greater than that
allotted for this lecture. 1t is our
purpose therefore to consider briefly
but few phases of Mrs. Eddy's dis
covery, especially those relating to
to the mission and teachings of Jesus
and the possibility of repeating his
healing work.
Prayer.
The chapter on Prayer, with which
the textbook opens, is, to the human
mind surcharged with the murkiness
of materiality, as cooling breeze
waiting gently away the oppression
of midsummer's day. Through its
pages thought is quietly led from the
finite material conception of God to
the apprehension of Him as ever
present Love, as infinite unchanging
good, who needs no reminders from
frail mortality as to the proper con-
duct of His universe. The prayer is
seen, therefore, not as petition, nor
the effort to change the all-knowing
Mind, but as that hungering after
righteousness, that "habitual struggle
to be always good (Science and
Health, page ~, which brings human
consciousness into relation with the
divine and lifts thought to the reali-
cation that a loving Father has al
ready done all things well.
AtOnement and Eucharist.
The second chapter of the text
book is entitled Atonement and Eu-
charist, and in clear, forceful state
ments deals with the great life-pur-
pose of the Master. 1t has been said
that this chapter may be ranked with
the choicest of English prose class
les. 1t breathes a spirit of deepest
reverence, and only he who clings to
a material viewpoint and avoids the
authors uplifted spiritual sense will
quarrel with its statements.
The chapter opens with a trumpet
call to thinkers; to those who may be
willing, temporarily at least, to put
behind them preconceived theological
opinions, and to reason. The life and
mission of Jesus the Christ are in
stantly taken from the realm of the
mystical, the supernatural, and are
shown to be intensely practical ard d.
vinely natural. Hear these clear, in
telligible utterances: "Jesus of MAJ
areth taught and demonstrated mans
oneness with the Father, and for this
we owe him endless homage. His
mission was both individual and col
lective. He did life's work Alright not
only in justice to himself, but in mer-
cy to mortals,--to show them how to
do theirs, but not to do it for them
nor to relieve them of a single re-
sponsibility." ellis mission was to
reveal the Science Of celestian being,
to prove what God is and what He
does for man. "The divinity Of the
Christ was made manifest in the hu-
mainly of Jesus" (Science and Eealth,
pages 1926, 25).
Ignorance Of Jesus Mission.
Without doubt, the great error Of
Christian history lies in mankind's ig-
norance Of Jesus mission. Mrs. Ed
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