Christian Science: Religion for a Scientific Age
Gordon F. Campbell, C.S.B., of
"Deep in everyone's heart
there is a desire for spiritual things," Gordon F. Campbell, C.S.B., told a public audience at a Christian
Science lecture in
Despite the prevalent fascination
with material things, the world is hungering for the lasting peace and
satisfaction that is gained through spiritual growth and progress, the lecturer
stated.
Mr. Campbell is a teacher and
practitioner of Christian Science from
He spoke in The First Church of
Christ, Scientist, in
Mr. Campbell observed that
"natural science is capable of contributing much to the task of freeing
mankind from ignorance, privation, and apathy.
But its ultimate success," he
declared, "requires the acknowledgment of a higher law than the supposed
laws of physics, biology, and psychology.
The Science of Christianity brings
this harmonizing spiritual law to human experience."
Commenting on the use of the word
Science as applied to Christianity, he said it means that Christianity is
provable and operates as law. "It means that the elements of Christianity
- goodness, love, kindliness, unselfishness, justice, dominion, mercy, wisdom,
health, peace, all of which Jesus preached - are not vague, indefinite,
illusive qualities, but that they are enduring, immutable, powerful, and that
when they are, understood and lived, they lift us above human discords."
A partial text of the lecture
follows:
Are you satisfied?
One of the most commonly heard
statements today is that we live in a scientific age - an age in which natural
science is gaining increasing mastery over our material environment. There is
great abundance available and the promise of much more. Yet it is probably
true that not one of us would be here tonight if he were completely, or even
substantially, satisfied with what he has as a result of this great material
progress.
If I should ask any one of you
whether or not you were completely satisfied with the effects of scientific
progress, you would very likely answer, "Well, I'm here at the lecture, am
I not? Here to gain a better grasp of that which is spiritual. I'm tired of
materiality - scientific or otherwise. I'm here to gain something which I know
materiality can never give me."
This answer would indicate a fact
proved throughout the ages - that material things never satisfy. Material
abundance and pleasures - even a material sense of health - have never
satisfied anyone; and they never will. The reason that they never will is that
deep in everyone's heart there is a desire for spiritual things.
We read in "Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy (Page 265),
"The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what
belongs to wisdom and Love," and a little further on, "The pains of
sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is
spiritual." Nowhere does the Bible say that materiality brings peace, but
it does say, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee" (Isa. 26:3).
Christianity is provable
So, you and I would not be
together here if we were satisfied with the easy living and vast number of
things that modern scientific development has given us.
But there is a present-day
scientific discovery which has brought us together, which holds the promise of
satisfying us fundamentally and completely, and which offers proof of its
ability to do so. This discovery is the Science of Christianity - Christian
Science.
I hope many of you here are new to
Christian Science, perhaps investigating it for the first time. If so, you
might be tempted to feel that the word "Science" makes Christianity
seem cold. May I say that this is not at all so. In reality, and in practical
experience, the two words "Christian" and "Science"
complement each other. The word Science applied to Christianity means that
Christianity is definite, orderly, provable, and operates as law. It means that
the elements of Christianity - goodness, love, kindliness, unselfishness,
justice, dominion, mercy, wisdom, health, peace, all of which Jesus preached - are
not vague, indefinite, illusive qualities, but that they are enduring,
immutable, powerful, and that when they are understood and lived, they lift us
above human discords.
Christ Jesus said (John
Spiritual law evidenced
Were these promises tentative,
wishful, or were they firm, assured statements of fact? Surely the works of
Jesus were consistent and gave evidence of the operation of definite,
spiritual law. Did not the promises just spoken of assure to Jesus' followers
the ability to demonstrate this spiritual law which brought healing and
redemption? Certainly they did, provided his followers thoroughly believed, in
fact understood, this divine power or law. Jesus' promises were founded upon
eternal, basic, unchanging, spiritual law - provable, hence scientific.
What more could we ask than to
find that these and other promises of Christ Jesus are fulfilled by scientific,
assured, definite, orderly means - that is, according to law? How wonderful to
realize that these promises are for all ages, including this one which we call
the scientific age. Is it to be wondered at that this is not only the age of
natural or physical science, but also the scientific age of religion, of
Christianity?
This age of scientific
Christianity had its beginning nearly 100 years ago, through the healing of a
From Thursday evening, the day of
the accident, until Sunday, Mrs. Eddy lay critically injured. On Sunday she
sent from the room those friends who watched by her bedside. She turned in
prayer to God, as she had done all her life when in trouble. She took up her
dearest possession, the Bible, and opened it. Her glance fell upon the account
of Jesus' healing of the palsied man.
As she read, there flooded into
her thought the answer to her many years of searching for an understanding of
the true cause and nature of existence. This came as a divine revelation, or
discovery, of the underlying truth of being. She experienced an immediate
healing of the injuries. Later, she wrote in her book "Retrospection and
Introspection" (Page 24): "During twenty years prior to my discovery
I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and in the
latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty that all causation was
Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon."
Revelation follows obedience
Mrs. Eddy's readiness and her
fitness to receive this revelation were the result of a lifetime of obedience
to God, love for God, and an indefatigable search for Truth. The revelation
came as a natural event in the life of one whose earliest lessons were of God's
goodness and great love for His children - lessons learned from devout
parents. She was spiritually prepared to receive this revelation of the deep
truths of the Bible. Moreover, she was prepared by her great love for mankind,
for the labor of establishing and preserving her discovery for all men. Her
love for God, and her willingness to give up all faith in matter, prepared her
to be the Discoverer of Christian Science. Her obedience to God and her love
for her fellowmen prepared her to be the Founder of Christian Science. Through
her published writings, she is the Leader of the Christian Science movement.
These three phases of Mrs. Eddy's relation to Christian Science are important
to understand, and they are inseparable. She is the Discoverer, Founder, and
Leader. She was spiritually prepared to be all three.
After intensive study and proof
following her discovery, she wrote "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
This book and the King James Version of the Bible are the textbooks of
Christian Science. Science and Health contains the full statement and
explanation of Christian Science just as it was revealed to her. The many healings,
which have resulted from reading and practicing the truths contained in this
book, confirm a fact which it is most important to understand. This book is
divine revelation written down, a scientific discovery, and not personal
opinion.
God's nature
The fundamental point in her
discovery concerned the nature of God. In the textbook (Page 587) she describes
God as: "The great I am; the
all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal;
Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance;
intelligence."
These seven terms for God - Principle,
Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, Love - are found in the Bible, either directly
or by inference. A careful study of these will give a glimpse of the vast, the
spiritual, incorporeal, eternal nature of God. There is not time in this short
hour to explain the import of all these terms to any degree. However, could you
possibly visualize God as a great, glorified person away off somewhere after
giving close heed to these synonyms for God? Listen again to what God is: Mind,
Soul, Spirit, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
Let us consider also another fact
that was revealed to Mrs. Eddy - the true concept of man. It appeared clearly
to her that a limited discordant mortal could not be the man created in the
image and likeness of God, as the Bible says man is. Man in God's image and likeness
must be Godlike. His existence must be the imaging forth, the reflection, or
representation of God.
Here is the definition of man from
the textbook (Page 591): "MAN. The compound idea of infinite Spirit;
the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind."
Here is incorporeal man - not
material, but spiritual. Here is the man of God's creating, created for His
glory - that is, to represent God. Here is man created by the one infinite
Mind, hence an idea. Here is our true being.
Understanding brings healing
These truths of God and man were
accompanied in Mrs. Eddy's discovery by the fact that the understanding of
them brought healing. She saw that as one understood God's goodness and
allness, and man's perfection as His image and likeness, the result was healing
- both of sin and sickness. She saw that this was Christ Jesus' way of healing,
the Christianly scientific way.
To understand and to practice
effectively this divine healing, it is important to comprehend what was revealed
to Mrs. Eddy about the nature of Christ Jesus. She saw the Christ as not
identical with the material Jesus but as the manifestation of divine power and
law which the human Jesus embodied. She wrote in the textbook (Page 26),
"This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the
godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority
over sin, sickness, and death." Jesus referred to the Christ, his divine,
eternal selfhood, when he said (Matt. 28:20), ". . . lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world," and (John
Mrs. Eddy defines the Christ in
the textbook (Page 583) as, "The divine manifestation of God, which
comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error."
The Christ then is ever-present in
daily experience. The human mind is the seeming meeting ground where the
divine Christ, Truth, or law of God, meets and destroys mortal, lying beliefs.
There is actually no mixture or mingling of good and evil or of the real and
unreal. These opposites never combine, though to human sense they appear side
by side. The Christ reveals to human consciousness the true view of God and His
reflection, man. This true view destroys, in human consciousness, the belief of
mortal existence, evil, and disease, by uncovering their falsity. Christian
Science presents to everyone the scientific, divine understanding of the Christ
as the law of God, which dispels the lies of mortal existence with its evil,
discord, and death.
Prayer is not pleading
But here it might well be asked,
"How can I prove the operation of this divine law in my daily experience?
By what means can I accomplish this, and be healed?" The answer is prayer.
If we were to attempt to state very briefly what constitutes Christian,
scientific prayer, we might say that it is the practical acknowledgment of the
Christ, the goodness, ever-presence, and all-power of God. I say practical
because to be effective this acknowledgment must go beyond mere words, beyond
even thoughts, and into action. We can't just say "Almighty God,
good," and expect results. God is good and we are God's reflection, but to
really prove this fact, we must be good. We must desire and strive to be
Godlike. Scientific prayer is not pleading with God. It is not informing God
of what is wrong. We don't say, "God, this is what should be done and this
is how it should be done."
Prayer in Christian Science is humble
obedience to God's law; it is a practical acknowledgment of the spiritual,
scientific fact of God and His reflection, man - of divine Principle governing
its idea through spiritual laws. The proof that it is scientific is that it
brings results, even as it did in Jesus' time.
The Bible speaks of God as "a
very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1). My friends, take advantage of
this fact. Be instant in obedience to divine Principle, no matter what appears
to need healing, your body, your career; your business, your disposition - whatever
it is. And don't be any less eager to have your character and disposition
healed than you are to have the other things healed.
Intelligence in action
It is indeed often the expression
of better qualities of character and disposition that bears most directly upon
the healing of business and career problems. It can be readily seen that our
relations with others apply directly to matters of business. The invaluable
God-derived qualities of honesty, courage, self-reliance, reliability, spontaneity,
capacity, kindness, patience, are all expressed as the practical evidence and
result of prayer.
It is important to remember that
business is not just the comings and goings of people, nor the interplay of
mortal opinions, prejudices, or materially conceived notions. Business is the
intelligent association and activity of constructive thoughts. It is the operation
and evidence of intelligence. May I ask those of you who operate or are
employed in a business, how great a part of that business is simply the
evidence of intelligence in action?
You might say, "I guess all
of it is except the buildings and equipment." But let's see. What would
the building be without the quality of intelligence? The answer might be,
"It would just be an accumulation of bricks, mortar, lumber, steel, and
other materials scattered about in a number of different warehouses."
Well, let's take one of these
materials, say the lumber. What would that be without the evidence of
intelligence? You might say, "Well, it would be just a tree
somewhere." Now at this point you can see that there is still plenty of room
for further delving, for the germination and growth of a tree presents an
amazing fulfillment of intelligent purpose and usefulness.
Man has spiritual business
Can we not say that a building, in
its useful sense, is a mental phenomenon, characterized by the indication and
operation of intelligence? Then what of all the other physical equipment of a
business? The same thing. Now few would contend that the actual activity of
the business in its true, constructive sense is anything but the intelligent
association and activity of thoughts. We can also see that what may appear as
discordant, hampering, or destructive is really extraneous to business - is
not business at all, does not belong to it.
The way to have prosperity and
harmony expressed in the human sense of business is to behold the true concept
of what constitutes man's real, spiritual business. The real business or
purpose of man is to be the manifestation of God, of divine Life. Man really
has no other business, and the understanding of this, together with unselfed
obedience to divine Principle and law, will give to any endeavor the qualities
which bring success. The textbook says this (Page 128): "The term Science,
properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of
the universe, inclusive of man. From this it follows that business men and
cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance
and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them
acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary
capacity." The Bible says (Prov. 3:6), "In all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he shall direct thy paths." What a wonderful prospect for anyone
engaged in a business, a profession, or in scientific research!
Earlier, I spoke of the importance
of being healed of wrong traits of character. This points to the basic purpose
of Christian Science - to redeem humanity. While there is always joy in being
healed physically, there is a greater joy in the spiritual progress or
regeneration which must accompany healing. The joy of redemption is greater
than the joy of being physically healed. Freedom from sin is a greater liberation
than freedom from bodily ills. We are more in need of the healing of wrong
thinking than of what appears as disease. Sometimes healing may be delayed
because we are not aware of what really needs healing. It is always mortal
mind that needs healing, because it is mortal mind or false thinking which
constitutes disease.
Jesus said, "Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt.
Our real being is here right now.
Why then should not the spiritual progress which lays aside mortal trappings
begin right now? What do we need to wait for, in order to be better? Waiting
will never make us better. Waiting will never bring us into accord with the law
of harmony. Did Jesus say to the man who had lain impotent at the pool for
thirty-eight years, "You will have to stay like this a few years more
before anything can be done"? No, he said, "take up thy bed, and
walk" (John 5:8), and the man arose and walked.
Willingness required
You remember Jesus, when he first
saw the man, asked, "Wilt thou be made whole?" Later, after the
healing, Jesus said to him, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more,
lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John
The law of Christ-healing makes
the healing of sin and the healing of sickness inseparable. If you or I admit
that either the evil called sin or the evil called sickness has power over us,
we are recognizing a law other than God, or good. To be healed, we must stop
breaking the First Commandment which says, "Thou shalt have no other gods
before me" (Ex. 20:3). Obedience to this demand is spiritual progress,
regeneration, redemption, salvation, being born again. It is putting off the
old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, as the Apostle Paul says we
must do.
To some, the meaning of the term
"spiritual progress," which implies the same thing as the Christian
term "salvation," may seem a little elusive. Spiritual progress
sounds like something agreeable and worthy. No one could possibly deny that it
would be a good thing to experience. But what does it involve?
Let me refer again to the textbook
(Page 311), "Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense and of
mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a sense of temporary loss or
absence of soul, spiritual truth. This state of error is the mortal dream of
life and substance as existent in matter, and is directly opposite to the immortal
reality of being." How do we escape from, or progress out of, a dream? By
awakening. Does the awakening change anything? No, awakening changes nothing.
It just reveals what was there all the time. That is what spiritual progress or
salvation means. It is the awakening from the dream of life in matter. It
discloses reality, spiritual reality.
Progress is awakening
The word progress in Science
refers not to the idea of going anywhere, but to progressive, step by step
awakening. To human sense we awaken by degrees or steps. These steps are
clearer glimpses of God and of ourselves as we really are. For instance, if we
love more, we are awakening to the reality of divine Love, God. If we see ourselves
and others more clearly as the reflection of God, we are awakening to the fact
that God is the Soul of man. If we see more clearly that being is incorporeal,
then we are awakening to the understanding of God as Spirit. These are steps of
spiritual progress and they bring salvation, for they free us progressively
from the dream of limiting, suffering mortality, through the law of God, or
Christian Science. More and more we sing with the Psalmist (Ps. 119: 97),
"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day."
Now I want to say something about
the application of Christian Science amid present world conditions.
Present-day thinking is largely characterized by a fascination with material
things and great material accomplishments. Physical scientists confine their
observation to apparent physical phenomena. They seek to discover and employ
physical laws. They do not venture beyond this into the question of first cause
or ultimate truth. Yet all true law proceeds from divine Principle, God, the
great First Cause.
Inventions serve mankind
In Mrs. Eddy's spiritual
interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, the verse "Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven" is interpreted thus: "Enable us to know, - as
in heaven, so on earth, - God is omnipotent, supreme" (ibid. Page 17).
As the practical import of these words is more widely understood, it will be
proved that the achievements of natural science may serve but not subjugate
mankind.
The great scientific developments
we are seeing do not have to be accompanied by an increasing belief in and fear
of material things, nor an increasing reliance upon or trust in material
things. Mankind can enjoy the fruits of modern development, and still progress
spiritually, it they put divine law first - if they acknowledge that "as
in heaven, so on earth, - God is omnipotent, supreme." No matter how
impressive are so-called material wonders, remember that the origin of all
real law and intelligence is Spirit, never matter.
In her book, "The First
Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy says of the pursuit
of modern inventions (Page 345), "Oh, we cannot oppose them. They all tend
to newer, finer, more etherealized ways of living. They seek the finer
essences. They light the way to the
Law is spiritual
To the natural scientist, striving
honestly and unselfishly to discover that which will benefit mankind, Christian
Science opens the way to fulfillment. It opens the way to the spiritual
progress which will ensure the right use of inventions. The natural scientist
will discover, through Christian Science, that basic law is spiritual, not to
be found in physical or psychological phenomena. He will find that an
understanding of God as ever operative divine Principle opens the door to
unlimited achievement. He will find that the fulfillment of his highest hopes
is not to be found in materiality or intellectualism, but in obedience to
spiritual law. The Science of Christianity presents the law of Christ which
destroys lying, mortal belief and its perversion of mankind's noble efforts.
This healing law of the Christ
operates in individual thought. All of us here have an opportunity and duty to
bring our lives into obedience to the law of Christ. We must "pray without
ceasing" (I Thess.
Matter and its accompaniments are
illusions of mortal mindedness. Don't be fooled into thinking that matter is
intelligent. Don't be fooled by constant propaganda that there is any remedial
agent other than the power of divine law. Don't be fooled into believing that
government is anywhere but upon His shoulder. Employ today's wonders, but don't
let them employ you.
Identity sought
Each one must be ever alert to the
Christian duty of praying for mankind - of expressing universal Love. We must
understand that divine Love and intelligence govern us and all mankind. We
must first prove that we can rule hate, envy, fear, pride out of our own
thinking, and then rule them out of our thought of the universe. Man and the universe
are evolved by divine Principle and they never leave Principle and its government.
This fact, understood, acts as a scientific law of government and peace to the
world. The fact of a perfect God and a perfect universe must be seen as the law
of being, and the seeming world of material things and discordant, suffering
mortals as a contradiction of law.
Millions of people all over the
world are hungering for freedom from bondage to lack and limitation. They long
to establish their own identity and place in world affairs and progress. Those
who would use this desire for freedom only to bring heavier burdens to the
oppressed are teaching the falsehood that freedom can be won only through violence.
The textbook uncovers this lie and gives the true answer to those who long for
freedom. We read (page 225), "The history of our country, like all
history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be
proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking. A few immortal sentences,
breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic
fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market; but oppression neither
went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth.
Love is the liberator."
Love destroys hate
This omnipresent divine Love, God,
is evidenced in human experience by the qualities of affection, kindness,
peace of mind, courage, dominion, joy, and freedom from fear and limitation.
Divine Love expressed in daily living destroys fear, hate, and tyranny. The
lying mortal sense of love can be envious, jealous, enslaving, hateful, full
of weakness. The Science of Christianity on the other hand, shows Love to be
God, all-powerful good, and the basic law of being to be the law of divine
Love. The effect of divine Love in human experience causes each one to be
rightly self-governed. So we see that obedience to the law of Love governs
mankind by governing individual thinking. In the textbook, Mrs. Eddy says
(Page 467), "It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one
Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect
in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true
brotherhood of man will be established." Let us love enough to do this.
The love we express daily in thought and deed will meet our need, whatever it
be, and will help to lead all mankind into the joyful acknowledgment of God's
universal law of good.
To a world hungering for peace and
spiritual enlightenment, Christian Science, the Science of Christianity,
offers this concept of scientific, effective prayer. It is from Mrs. Eddy's
book "No and Yes" (Page 39), "True prayer is not asking God for
love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one
affection."
The Christian Science Monitor
Under the headline "Christianity Plays Vital Role in
Scientific Age"