Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-06-07
A LECTURE ON CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE
Entitled Christian Science: its Re-
storative Ministry, by Dr.. John
M. Tut, C. S. B.
Member of the Board OF Lectureship
Of The Mother Church, The First
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Bos-
ton, Mass.

If each individual in this audience
were asked to give a reason for his
presence here, no doubt 1t would be
| possible to classify the replies unosr
| cine These. may be said to be the
| paramount human interests, for sec
! ond only to a future salvation, man
Of his body Christian Science has
amalgamated these interests so that
rightly viewed, religion and medicine
| become one; and since Christian
grace, is applicable to all manner of
| discords, physical. mental and moral
| it may be termed the universal pam
| acea.
It is significant that the earliest
systems of religious philosophy made
no separation between religion and
medicine. The pagan gods of medi-
cine were called led upon I"ds to TO- hea, SICK
appealed to for victory. and the. gods
of peace for plenty. Medicine began
to separate from religion as me,iic,pe
became more material and religion
grew less so. Material medicine had
so developed into a system apart
from religion. that when Jesus began
his restorative ministry. and healed
the sick by purely spiritual power, he
was termed both by the theoiogians
and the matter physicians miracle
worker, so unheard of had il lecome
| to invoke the healing power of God
The only reason mankind has not
turned to God. the great physician. in
the time of physical distress is be-
! cause of the material bias OF its edu-
! cation. Mankind has been taught to
look to God for salvation from sin,
but to rely upon matter for the cure
of matter and it's dire beliefs. Be
| cause of the seeming increasing power
of false material education, mankind
has been unable to grasp the simpici-
ty and adequacy of the spiritual laws
Of God applied to the discords of the
flesh.
Jesus knew these laws. employed
works. 1t may be argued that Jesus
| conferred the power to heal upon his
contemporary disciples only. Yet he
shall follow them that believe" But
if the contention be true, how did
Paul, who was not Jesus immemdiate
disciple. acquire the art of Christian
healing? 1t must be admitted that
Paul used none but spiritual power in
his restorative ministry. The Master.
alluding to his divine Principle, the
heaiIng ian. and hay having Christ said; 10:
was available to Paul and he rose in
spiritual consciousness to the realiza-
ton of it. The power of God to heal
with Jesus, and with the early Chris
tians for three hundred years, is
available to all today, and when UNI
derstood and employed, in Jesus way,
becomes the witness of "Chist in you,
the hope of glory"
4 Prayer
The modus operandi by which Chris
tian Science fulfillS it's restorative
ministry is prayer. BY prayer the
| sickness is healed, sin is destroyed and
harmony restored. BY prayer ignor-
ance is replaced with understanding.
vNrh Il Il
enter into the heritage Of his son.
Prayer is that process by which false
beliefs are destroyed and right con-
cepts restored. To know the Truth is
| true prayer Therefore the Christian
Scientist when he prays. does not ask
| God for any material thing. He seeks
to apprehend what is already existent
and bestowed, He asks only for guild
So Solomon prayed for an under
standing heart. So Hagar athirst in
the, desert, fearing for the life of her
child, prayed the prayer which opened
of water at hand. Such prayer has
never failed. for it is the prayer of
spiritual sense. that conscious. con-
slant, capacity to understand God"
and the spiritual. real man.
Christ Jesus, in teaching how to
pray. said Whatsoever things We de-
sire when We pray, believe that We re-
Gelve them. and We shall have them"
and realization-desire to know the
will! of God, desire to express that
| will in daily life. desire TO overcome
all that is contrary to good; realiza-
ton of the unreality of error and the
presence of God and his manifesto
ton: Prayer in Christian Science in
cludes the answer. and if this were
not So the loving Father would stand
convicted of capriciousness and ia
voritism. The riches of His kingdom
are available to all who claim their
A little girl I know furnished an
adequate illustration of the restora-
tive prayer of Christian Science when
she freed herself from the bondage of
sickness thus; IF God did not make
1t. how could I be it?" Very little
process entered into her argument
against the false sense that seemed to
neous concept and realized the allness
! or good. She sought refuge directly in
the Truth of being and knew that she
and God are inseparable. She did not
the sickness, and did not offer the
! false defense that she was still, mortal,
she did not think of herself as in the
flesh, she wasted no time in self
nation. Her thought turned naturally
| to God, divine Love, her only source of
relief. naturally as the flower turns to
| the sun, and she was free! Do you
wonder that Jesus declared the king
| dom of God open only to the child-like
| thought?
The highest object OF prayer and it's
ultimate answer is the attainment Of
| the consciousness of mans lnsepar-
ableness from his Maker-God. Cease
less prayer is the demand Of Scripture,
| and this is possible only as constant
right desire and effort to ne III His
| image and likeness, to be present with
God. or this supreme concept Of an
swered prayer. Mrs. Eddy has written
''Oh! Thou hast heard my prayer;
And / am bleSt!
This is thy high behest:-
Thou fUnre and AvervwhereO