Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-09-11
Christian Science Lecture
CONTINUED from opposite page. J

live, ana move, anu nave our DelHE,
be true, and logic and reason coincide
with revelation in declaring that it is,
how, it may we'll be asked can human
ity expect to go through life, day after
day and year after year, with hardly
a thought as to that divine, all-inclus-
i've presence in whom we actually
exist? Is God to be left out OF His
own creation? Is man a separate and
separated entity revolving in an or
bit of his own? The Psalmist said,
.sWhither shall | go from. thy spirit +?
or whittier shall / flee from thy pre-
sence? !. Ii I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea: even there shall thy
hand lead me, and thy right hand shall
hold me. AS has been said before,
Jesus declared, II and my Father are
one" This is no separation but dis
tinct and eternal unity and he demon
strated its value to the race by his
works. Christian Science teaches
lndL jill IllGA Will 0OOtLC1 Vi AAICl UC
awakened out Of this false sense Of
separation and realize that to know
and love God, Mind, and demonstrate
our unity with that Mind must be the
dominating motive of our lives. Cod
less living with it's inevitable results,
sin, sickness, and death, forces men
eventually to turn to Spirit for solu
ton Of their problems, but why wait
to be forced? Thousands of people to-
DAY are turning from the fleshpots o.
materialism and are coming to God
through the understanding of Chris
tian Science, instead of the way of
suffering.
AS a first step in this direction let
us assure ourselves of our love for
Cod, good. Do we really love the Lord
orr God with all our heart, with all
our might, and with all our mind :?
With the materiality of modern life SO
Declouding spiritual sense, how often
through the day do most people think
III ATOu, CVCI 5lOl5 wv 1L1lOnC
question almost all will say that they
very much need and desire the love
Of God but to what extent are they
loving Him? At this first step in
growth young student may frequent
" remind himself, Il do love Thee,
God, with all my heart and what
nc; Sc, n u 1yr1C dcrn Of Thn0
and of Thy law This child-like turn
ing to the Father Mother God, this
sincere desire for righteousness, is
the beginning of true prayer in Chris
tian Science.
PRAYER
Many people have abandoned the
concept of God as a glorified kind of
man, but there are still those who
think of Him as great distance
away and address their prayers to
place called heaven, somewhere as
an old religious song puts it, "beauti-
full isle of somewhere" But God, the
all-inclusive Mind, is not somewhere
but everywhere, right here. For
what nation is there so great, who
hath God so nigh unto them, as the
Lord our God is in all things that we
call upon him for?" Unfolding as it
does the fact that God is omnipresent
Christian Science changes our mental
attitude in prayer. Petitions to far
away God may naturally cause doubt
as to their being heard, but there is
nothing standing between man and
God, not even the sense of distance.
In Christian Science all things are be
come new and this is true of prayer
both in form and. expression.
Those attending our services for a
first time may have remarked that
the only public prayer we have is
few moments of silent communion
with God followed by the audible rep
etition of the Lords Prayer alone, or
of that prayer with it's spiritual inter-
probation as given in the Christian
Science textbook, and perhaps you
may have wondered why these pray
ers are silent Christian Scientists
pray silently both publicly and in pri
vate. In James we read, ssThe effect
ual fervent prayer Of a righteous man
availeth much" For centuries people
have repeated audibly, day after day,
and year after year, the same prayers
many of them written ages ago, until
they have begun to realize that fer
vency is no longer there, that often
they are not said in a true spirit of
righteousness, and most Of all, that
they are neither effectual nor avail
able Silent prayer leads us away
from formula and ritual and the dan
ger of vain repetition. True commun-
ion with God obviously cannot be a
set form of speech but the inspired
thought of the moment as it comes to
each one of us, the very realization of
Gods ever-presence and operative
Love Inasmuch as human conscious
ness is constantly changing from day
to day so must the thought that gov
ems prayer also change. The need of
today will not necessarily be the
need Of tomorrow The spiritual de-
mand of one man may not be the de.
r