The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-16

the so-called cause of his trouble, but 1t is evident that Jesus discerned it at once. After rebuking the eccle- siastical bigotry of those standing by, who would willingly have trapped and condemned him on doctrinal technicality, he said to the poor suf- ferer, Stretch forth thy hand" He obeyed, and the law of God imme- diately took possession. It became whole as the other." There IS enough of this same healing Truth, of God, right here in this room, notD, at this moment, to heal any difficulty which anyone present may feel that he possesses. But he must do his part.
 The first essential is to get a right understanding of God. This is im- portant, because everyone has either a limited or mistaken concept of Deity. There is no such thing as a really goddess person. One may say that he is 80, and fully believe that he is, but in the last analysis-is he? While it is true that he may refuse to believe in the generally accepted concept of God, as taught by the yet is it not equally true that he does believe in the existence of some superhuman power greater than himself, over which he has no control? Perhaps he calls 1t the great First Cause" and if so we agree with him, for Christian Sci- ence declares God to be the one and only cause, the first, the last, the If questioned further. he will probably admit that he did not create himself. and in this we also concur, since God is the creator of all that really exists. He may also acknowledge that no human being is able to change the planets in their courses, interrupt the ceaseless ebb and flow of the oceans tide, nor prevent the perpetual recurrence ot springtime. Before such proofs of an intelligence which does govern and control all this, the so-called eodless man must bow in silent ac- ouiescence. He may call it nature" 1" and law" but we call it God.
 The Christian Science textbook (p. 587) defines God as "the great I AM; the al-knowing, all-seeing. all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all sub stance; intelligence" To this God we turn rejoicingly, knowing that He is not far oil, in some vague, dis tant heaven, shrouded in mystery and dogma, but here and near. ten- der, loving, merciful, compassionate, bestowing beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment ot praise for the spirit of heaviness."
 That which is called Christian Science treatment is the law of Goo applied to any particular case. Il releases. or saves" us from all that is unlike God, thereby establishing our salvation, not deferred to some future time and to some So-called future world, but immediately, here and now. It includes 6 grateful ac- knowledgment of the good already received, a denial of whatever erro- neous belief may be presenting itself for correction, and the establishing in consciousness of the great spirit ual fact that since God and man are inseparable as Principle and idea, man can see only what God sees, and can know only what God knows, and that Gods knowledge does not include such dark dream-shadows as sin. sickness, and death. It declares that there is but one conscious ness. the Gcd-consciousness, the Truth consciousness, the Christ consciousness,-and that, in reality, is your consciousness, and mine; for there is no other. Into this puri- fled consciousness nothing can enter "that defileth, or maketh a he,' and a Christian Science treatment proves, or demonstrates" this, by casting out any claim of error to presence and power. It is the com ing of the Christ.
 But" someone may be thinking "that does not sound very reason able to me. We all know that we are living in the midst of trouble. We see 1t on every side. Do you just close your eyes to everything that is wrong, and deny that it exists"
 We deny that 1t exists as a real ity, but we do not deny that 1t seems very real to frightened human sense and so our work, our prayer, or process of salvation, our treatment is to correct that frightened human sense through . better understand ing of God, and of mans relation ship to Him, to that Love which knows no evil. Nov, right therel' says our friend. the previous speaker
 you seem to be contradicting your self. You say that God does mol know evil?" No. 'Nor sickness?" No "Nor sin?" No, indeed. Then how can He heal what He does not know? How can He heal my rheumatism for instance, if He does not know that have any? I should not think that even God could do that!"
 I shall answer that question by a metaphor. Suppose the sun could speak. It might say. What is dark ness? I never saw any. What k night? never saw night. do no, know anything about it." That i, true. The sun never saw night, does not know anything about night. anc vet it destroys 1t every twenty -foul hours. Light never knows darkness can never know darkness, for where light is, there Is no darkness. The sun does not have to know about darkness in order to destroy it. Il has only to shine. The instant ths sun comes, darkness vanishes. Dark ness is not . real entity. It Is just the absence of light. It has no power of resistance. It cannot fight back because 1t is nothing at any time but the absence of something else. The only thing 1t can ever do Is just tS disappear. So it is with sickness sin, sorrow, poverty, fear. suffering that rheumatism, for instance When the sunlight of Truth i. b.,.os.eSak tA hnavs ssr.nva k9aav~a sFss...kA