The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-05-07
Science and Religion
LECTTRE ON christian SCIENCE
WILLIAM DUNCAN KLPATRICK. g. S. b.
Member of the board of Iectureship Of the Mother Church
The First Church of Christ, Scientist;

0gAGAAGG kA&A 1920 "& - @4@
jet of a lecture on Christian Science
delivered at the Emerson auditorium
last Friday evening by William Dun
can Fitzpatrick, G. B. S., of Detroit,
Michigan There was a good attend
ance. Mr.. Fitzpatrick was introduced
by Mrs. H. o. Malsbury. He said:
Christian Science
Revolutionary.
Christian Science is revolutionary.
It is revolutionary to just the extent,
and for the same purpose, that the
teachings of Jesus were revolution
airy. Christian Science, in line with
the purpose of the teachings of Jesus,
it turning the thought of mankind
away from a material basis and di-
recting it to a spiritual. AS Jesus
lifted the human concept Of God from
the material to the spiritual so does
Christian Science. AS Jesus lifted
the human concept of man and the
universe from the material to the
spiritual so does Christian Science.
Hence, the first step in gaining a
pure understanding of Jesus works
and teachings and in gaining a de-
monstrable understanding of God,
man, and the universe in the light Of
Jesus teachings is to dematerialize
our sense of God and His law in u
thinking.
st. Paul, in his first epistle to the
church at Corinth, draws a clear line
Of demarcation between the teachings
of Jesus and those of physical sci
erce when he said: "The ~fOOlishness
Of God is wiser than men. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the
world (the material world) to con
found the wise; that no flesh (nO
matter) should glCry in his presence"
And farther along in this same epistle
Paul writes: "And my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing
words of mans wisdom (material
wisdom), but in demonstration Of the
Spirit and of power: that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom Of
men, but in the power of God" And
then he proceeds: "NOw We have re-
ceived, not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely
given to US of God. Which things
also we speak, not in the words which
mans wisdom teacheth (material wis
dom t~eacheth), but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth spiritual understand
ing teacheth). But (nCte this)
the natural man (the man whose con-
cept of creation rests in the materially
receiveth not the things Of the Spirit
of God; for they are fOOlishness unto
him: neither can he know them, be-
cause they are spiritually discerned.'
To d-ematerialize our sense of Goo
means to spiritualize it and to dc
this u understanding of God must
rest wholly in the spiritual and not
In the material. To illustrate, in
way, what 1 mean. Some years ago
I dropped into a church where a min.
lister was preaching a sermon agains-
Christian Science. In the course o.
his remarks he said that when he dieC
he fully expected to walk straight in
to heaven and to go right up anC
shake hands with God. Now tina
may somewhat exaggerate pOpula
opinion about God, but I do not be
lieve it is very far removed from thu
thought of God commonly held b,
most men of the Christian faith. Il
any event, it will furnish a foundation
from which to explain what Christian
Science teaches about God and ma
and their relationship to each Othe,
To Christian Scientists the Bible
spiritually interpreted, contains n
foundation fer the concept of a ma
terial God or of a God humanity Gil
cumscribed or in any way similar +
this fleshly, sick, sinful concept O
man.. 1t may be that because in tn
first chapter of Genesis it is recite
that God made man in His image an
likeness, it has been concluded tha
God must be like this mortal cor
cept Of man, but that would complete
~ reverse the statement. It is nc
there recorded that God is made
the image and likeness Of mort;
man. 1t is stated, rather, that ma
is made in the image and likeness
God. Consequently, before we can a!
certain what man is it is necessaI
to ascertain what God is, and we ca
never gain this understanding b
reasoning from the basis Of a mort
man back to a God who is Spirit.
It is possible a material concept
God finds its inception in the Bible
statement, "The Lords hand is NJ
shortened, that it cannot save; Meth,
his ear heavy, that it cannot hear
or the statement from Deuteronon
wherein its is affirmed that "unde
meath are the everlasting arms
any Of a number Of such helpful sim
lies which we find in the Bible. B.
if one is to make a literal applicati'
Of such illusions to the divine Beil
what are we to do when we come
that passage in Psalms where Il
declaration is made, "He shall GOV
thee with his feathers, and und
his wings shalt thou trust?"
Oe o~rrwro ~~4Ao1a nov hofayn an