The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-31

us must approach God from the standpoint of his own individual ex- perience, yet, each one to whom this unfoldment comes realizes with Isaiah that Unto us child is born, unto us a son is given: an.. the gov- ernment shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Won derful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"
 The Principle of Christian Science is God, and God is divine Mind. He is Life, Truth, and Love. Principle is first cause. It is that from which all proceeds; that which produces and governs. In order to practice this Science, 1t is necessary to understand its Principle-to realize in some de- gree what 1t means when we say that God is Mind, or that He is Life, Truth, and Love. What is the dif- ference between the Principle and rule of Christian Science? Accord ing to Webster, Principle empha- sizes the idea of fundamental truth, or general application; Rule, that of more specific direction or regula- tion." A study of all the synonyms for God widens our understanding of the divine Principle of Christian Science and brings us under the beneflcent direction and regulation of Its rule.
 Reliance on God
 The first requirement. in the prac- tice of Christian Science is complete reliance on God. This means the &C., ceptance of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, and it there fore excludes any thought of medi- cine, or any other material remedy. This rule was advanced by Moses, in the First Commandment, and re- iterated by Jesus when he asked which is the greatest commandment of all, declaring at the same time the second to be like unto it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as myself" !" This rule is again repeated by Mary Baker Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, page 467, where she says, "The first demand of this Science is, Thou shalt have no other gods be- fore me- This me is Spirit. There fore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself" So the command really means that we are to undertake to realize our per- lection as the children of God, and realizing 1t, we are to manifest it in all our ways.
 Let us, then, expectantly declare 1t. We are Gods children. And be- cause we are Gods children, we are perfect in form and function, and in every essential of our spiritual being and individuality. Divine Love pro- vides us with an abundance of all good. The spiritual food which we need for our rightful nourishment is received by us through spiritual channels, which are as perfect as the Principle which provides them. We are spiritually clothed and fed, and we live, and move, and have our be- ing in the atmosphere of divine Love. We express the health, strength, vigor, and agelessness of infinite Life; the beauty, comeliness, grace, and goodness of infinite Love. We manifest the perfect and useful activity of infinite Mind, and we radiate peace, joy, harmony, and love to all the sons and daughters of God. Jesus said, ''The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise"
 Unreality of Matter
 The great impeachment to the suc- cessful realization of our at-one- ment with God, our real existence in divine Mind, is our belief that we are the offspring of matter, living in a world of matter, and that we are subject to the laws of matter. Chris tian Science, after declaring that Spirit Is all. logically teaches that there is no matter. It declares all we see about us to be forms of thought, and false thought at that. At the time Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science and wrote of it, the smallest subdivision of matter was thought to be an atom. In one of her books, Unity of Good" page an outlined falsity of consciousness. !" 35, she says, '"The material atom is an outlined falsity of consciousness. Thus she insists that an atom is a lie, and a lie is always mental. Of course 1t follows that what is true of an atom is equally true of an ag- gregation of atoms, mass of mat ter. Today, material belief has in theory divided the atom into vari- ous and much smaller and less ma- terial forms. Yet humanly scientific thought is still unsatisfied and un- convinced that it has analysed its belief in matter to its ultimate end. And well 1t may be. for when 1t does, 1t will find matter to be exactly what Mrs. Eddy declares 1t to be (Science and Health. p. li6), nothing beyond an image in mortal mind"
 We would find it very helpful in healing sickness and destroying error if we would stop viewing the things which we see around us as matter. and would view them as beliefs, mem tai commercials of spiritual realities. It Is generally admitted that the va rious so-called material laws which we see in operation are mental, the law of gravity, the laws of cohesion and attraction, capillary attraction and chemical afiinites. As an exam | pie. we recognize in the growth and development of . tree that there are c host of mental laws in operation, and that the tree is ] the end result Of the focusing to-