["Expectation"—The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, U.S.A., Jan. 4, 1921]

In one of his lectures on Shakespeare delivered in London, a little over a century ago, Coleridge, under a sectional heading, "Expectation in preference to surprise," has this to say: "It is like the true reading of the passage: 'God said, Let there be light: and there was light;' not there waslight. As the feeling with which we startle at a shooting star, compared with that of watching the sunrise at the preestablished moment, such and so low is surprise compared with expectation."

There is a great truth in this statement. Whether Coleridge's reading of the particular passage in Genesis to which he alludes commends itself or not, the fact remains that expectation must ever be "preferred" to surprise for the reason that expectation is the normal attitude of man, surprise having no place in real consciousness. One dictionary definition of expectation is "awaiting with confident anticipation." This attitude of awaiting with confident anticipation underlay all Jesus' teaching and was characteristic of all his works. The Christian, as Jesus conceived him, took no thought for what he should eat or what he should drink or what he should put on. Why? Because he recognized that the Father knew he had need of these things. The Christian, as Jesus revealed him, never resorted to drugs for the healing of the sick or to any material means for overcoming apparent obstacles, or for defending himself against evil happenings. His appeal was ever to Spirit, and his attitude was one of "confedent anticipation" that this appeal would be and must necessarily be answered. "Father," said Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, "I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always," and to his disciples on another occasion, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

It is, indeed, impossible to imagine Jesus of Nazareth, the man who could instantaneously heal all manner of sickness, who could stop a storm at sea as readily as he could feed a multitude in a desert place or procure tribute money from a fish's mouth, being surprised at anything. To him there were no such things as shooting stars of chance blessings, but just the confident anticipation of blessing to be revealed at the scientific moment when such revelation was requisite. The multitude may have been surprised, may have marveled when the leper was cleansed; to them it was a shooting star indeed. To Jesus of Nazareth it was simply "the sunrise at the preestablished moment."

It is just this reign of expectation which any study of Christian Science at once begins to reestablish in human consciousness. It eliminates the belief in chance, and establishes the understanding of law. Man, as revealed in Christian Science, is seen to be what he is, in the Bible, declared to be, the image and likeness of God. God is seen to be Spirit, ever present and all-powerful. Matter is shown to be what Jesus proved it to be—nothing. God, in Christian Science, is further revealed as Life, as Truth, and Love, as divine Principle. In this reality of all things brought to light, law is revealed as supreme and final.

When, therefore, Jesus bade his disciples ask and they would receive; seek and they would find; knock and it would be opened to them, he added this by way of explanation, "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." In other words, asking involves receiving; seeking involves finding; knocking involves the door being opened.

Jesus was quite emphatic on this point. One of the most notable features in his teaching was his insistence that those who heard him and believed on the Christ could do the works that he did and even greater works. He told his disciples that if they asked anything in his name he would do it, meaning, it is clear, thereby, that any one who appealed to the Christ, or Truth, as he had revealed it, would achieve the object of their appeal in the manifestation of the truth. The Son, he declared to his disciples, could do nothing of himself but what he saw the Father do, but what things soever the Father did, these did the Son likewise. Or as Mrs. Eddy puts it on page 516 of Science and Health: "As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere."

More and more, therefore, as these "facts of Science" are understood, does expectation tend to become the abiding state of consciousness, and more and more is the element of surprise eliminated. For Christian Science teaches that man in the image and likeness of God, Principle, is perfect, even as God, Principle, is perfect, and that in the presence of apparent discord a recognition of this great fact will restore harmony. Man is not sick, he is forever well. Man is not poor, in trouble, in doubt. He is forever abounding in all he needs, forever untroubled, forever clear in his outlook on all-wisdom, omniscience, Truth, God. To the student of Christian Science, who faithfully practices what he learns, the Sun of Righteousness is forever arising. As John Burroughs has expressed it:—

And what is "my own"? Paul answers that question with his usual completeness in his first epistle to the Corinthians. "For all things," he says, "are yours." And so the student of Christian Science has done with shooting stars. When faced with any problem, no matter how seemingly difficult, his attitude is one of expectation, "watching the sunrise at the preestablished moment," awaiting with confident anticipation the fulfillment of law.

[From a Letter in The Commercial, Pine Bluff, Arkansas]

Christian Scientists are threatened with dire penalties if doctors of the regular sort are not called in to attend the sick, according to a recent news letter quoted in The Commercial. Much to the satisfaction of the political doctor to whom it was addressed, it was specially directed against Christian Science parents, but it was calculated to strike terror and consternation into the hearts of all parents if they should use Christian Science for the healing of their children. The threats are groundless, for neither the law of God nor the state the attorney is in will permit such misuse of authority.

The fact that it is written to a political doctor calls strongly to mind the intolerance of a few doctors in politics. There is only a very small minority in politics; most doctors are too busy honestly ministering to sick folks to have time or desire for politics; but these few want "general supervision and control of all matters pertaining to the health of the citizens of the state." It is these few who constantly bombard legislatures for more law and more money with which to compel citizens to submit to state medicine. Medico-politicians do not seem to know that the very foundation of

American law is laid deep. "In God we trust." For that reason the Constitution allows no law to interfere with a man's conscience and say what he shall or shall not do for the healing of his body. The Constitution of the United States recognizes that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," law, order, and health. It affirms that man has a free, unmolested, and fundamental right to go to his Maker, "who healeth all thy diseases." The Declaration of Independence affirms the fundamental law, that the very life of a man is derived from God, his divine Principle, in these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The constitution of Arkansas recognizes the same divine Principle to be the source of fundamental law for man, since all men have certain inherent and inalienable rights from their creator; and for that reason "no human authority can in any case or manner whatsoever. control or interfere with the right of conscience."

Thus the law maintains that the citizen has a prior right of conscience derived from his creator, with which no human law may interfere. The laws of Arkansas, recognizing the fallibility of material methods and beliefs, assure the citizen he has an inherent right to choose any method of healing he desires. For that just conclusion, and to keep the conscience of the individual free from human trammels, the law says, "The state board of health shall not regulate the practice of medicine or healing, nor interfere with the right of the citizen to employ the practitioner of his choice."

But aside from his inherent right to choose a mode of healing, the Christian Scientist has proof that Christian Science is the law of God made plain to human apprehension in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. We read in this book (p. 1), "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love." Now if there be one who does not know that Christian Science heals every disease with which humanity is afflicted, all he has to do is honestly to attend a Wednesday evening meeting in a Christian Science church, and all the testimony desired will be forthcoming from those who are living evidence of its healing powers. Or if he wants statistics, the board of health of the state from which the letter issued informs that during the influenza epidemic there were 68 fatalities per 1000 cases reported; under Christian Science treatment (not in the above report, but just as reliable nevertheless) there were less than 4, or to be exact, 3.36 fatalities per 1000 cases reported. That is, fatalities were 20 times greater under all schools of healing (Christian Science excepted) than under Christian Science treatment. No Christian Scientist is going to allow his child to suffer and languish with disease without spending every effort to heal his loved one. It is not the law of God, and it is foreign to the spirit of Americanism, to compel a parent to do violence to right and reason in the treatment of his child. Parents have an inherent right to employ Christian Science if they so desire.

["Fear or Faith?"—From The Evening World, New York City, N. Y.]

Commenting on the joint resolution for disarmament recommended by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the chairman of the committee expressed the opinion that the United States "should take the initiative, not in a spirit of fear, because we have nothing to fear, but in that spirit that has always animated America in her effort for betterment of humanity."

"Not in a spirit of fear!" That is the proper note. "We have nothing to fear!" Nothing could be truer. We need more of such expressions, and from responsible Republican spokesmen. This nation and all the nations of the earth need more than any other one thing to rid themselves of fear and put faith in its place. For all the ages, fear has been the drag on progress; faith has been the motive power. Only as faith has triumphed over fear has the world grown better.... After a year of intensive cultivation by politicians, fear is strongly intrenched. It will be a huge task to tear down and destroy the mass of misrepresentation and deceit in which fear has flourished. But it can be done. Faith wins in the long run, always. The world progresses, even though haltingly. Let us go forward in faith, and "not in a spirit of fear, because we have nothing to fear."

[From "How Did Mrs. Eddy Discover Christian Science?" by Dr. James L. Gordon, Pastor First Congregational Church, San Francisco, California]

I should say that the individual who affirmed that "Christian Science is not a religion," had not made a very thorough study of the subject of "comparative religions."... Mrs. Eddy had an experience which was unique, original, and full of God. Her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," was founded on that experience. Her church was founded on her book. Her life may be divided into two parts. First, forty years in searching for a particular truth, and second, forty years in building up a Christian church. I say "Christian church," for Christian Science is merely passing through the same sort of opposition which stood in the way of the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Quakers in the early days of their existence.... Mrs. Eddy was fortunate in the selection of a name. The oldest thing in the world is religion. The newest thing in the world is science. The two greatest names in the world, to-day, are Christianity and Science.

["The Sign of the Times," by Oskar Seitz, Translated from the German]

When the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign he said to them, "Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" This answer contained a rebuke to the Pharisees as well as an admonition to us. We, too, should be able to discern correctly "the signs of the times." The words, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment," show clearly that we should not judge according to the material evidence but recognize the things as they are according to their mental cause. In metaphysics we learn that every movement a man makes and every action is based on thought.

As the course of the celestial bodies reveals a law, known to comparatively few, so the events of the world's history reveal thoughts, and thought tendencies, which can be recognized and discerned correctly only by those who have learned to think metaphysically through Christian Science. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read (p.462): "Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to discover their quality, quantity, and origin. Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question. This branch of study is indispensable to the excision of error." And in the same paragraph she continues, "The Christian Scientist, through understanding mental anatomy, discerns and deals with the real cause of disease," not alone of every physical disease, but of every moral and political disease as well.

The main events of recent times, which have fallen upon so many unprepared minds with such great force every one knows: a war such as there has never been before, shaking the whole world; the bankruptcy of government systems; the failure of old established forms of religion; strikes all over the world; need, misery, hunger, epidemics. Only those who before the catastrophe observed the "signs of the times," and valued correctly the expressions of error,—error abusing and seeking human means and organizations,—were not astonished when it came to pass. Countless theories regarding existence are supposedly taking the place of faith in the one and only God. Health, strength, intelligence, and life are being made subject to food, air, exercises, chemicals, powders, and pills. The happiness of a man is being measured by the luxuries and pleasures he can afford. Sensuality is made into an idol and folly the purpose of living. Again and again we read in the Bible of the discord the Jews experienced whenever they turned from divine Principle to material gods. Strvation, pestilence, and slavery followed, and were healed only when they turned back to the one God. The example of great, God-inspired men showed them the way out of this misery. And from them we, too, can learn and raise ourselves and our fellow men out of this wreckage.

Harmony is a divine law, the effect of Truth, Spirit, God. Every inharmony, regardless of surroundings, vanishes as one gets nearer God through the understanding of the truth. Elias and the family of the widow to whom God had directed him had enough to eat during the famine in Israel. Daniel and his three friends were honored during the captivity in Babylon, and Daniel was made ruler even over the chief of the governors. The Christian Scientist is not afraid of the "signs of the times" nor does he fear the coming events. Christian Science shows him how to overcome every discord through right thinking. And he who does his work faithfully helps not only himself but all his fellow men. He lessens their burdens and through his example shows them the way to freedom. It is therefore the sacred duty of every Christian Scientist to protect his mental independence and to realize that he is not the defenseless victim of his surroundings, and that external conditions have no power over him. Christ has given to all power over every discordant condition.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of the gospel of Matthew we read this significant and very interesting record of an answer Jesus gave to his disciples when they asked him what would be the sign of his coming. The Master said: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." The sign of the Son of man, the sign of eternity, is Christian Science.

[From Report of the Sessions of the Church Congress at Rochester, New York, in The Living Church]

The ministry of healing was described by one speaker as one phase of effort of our Savior Jesus Christ to achieve a great objective, in which his disciples shared. Early Christians formed an estimate of Jesus Christ on the basis of his ministry. From the close of the apostolic age it appears and disappears from time to time. It may be that the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal more and more.

To-day, is the gospel only for those who are sound in health? The sick have been neglected. Failure to notify the clergy is a poor excuse for this neglect. The deacon is commissioned at ordination to search for the sick.... So the priest and the bishop have the deacon's obligation. The bishop is commissioned to heal the sick, as part of his pastoral office.

Another speaker said that we have a new knowledge of the life of Jesus Christ. He lifted the burden of disease. The weapon in the warfare against diseases of mind, body, and spirit is boundless faith in God. In the cure of mental and physical maladies and cases of demon possession, faith effects cures where all other methods fail.

[From Manufacturers Record, Baltimore, Maryland]

The economic value to the United States of prohibition has strongly impressed itself upon Colonel F. Vernon Willey of England, who recently made a study of this subject while in our country. The Pall Mall Gazette quotes Colonel Willey as having reached the following conclusions: "I have come away with two clear generally held opinions: (1) That, on the experience to date, if the measure were put to the vote it would be retained. (2) That its effect has undoubtedly been to increase general industrial efficiency.

"There is no doubt that the nation as a whole benefits enormously: (a) From the increased industrial efficiency, (b) From the general elevation of the community following the abolition of the saloon, (c) Increased material prosperity by the direction of expenditure into various commodities, better food, clothing, and housing, and so forth, instead of into liquor. On the grounds of the advantage which America will get from its increased industrial efficiency, and from the savings, or redirected spending into manufactured articles which give greater employment, and so intensify industrial development, it would seem that the advantage which the United States would appear to have over other countries which have not adopted prohibition justifies very close scrutiny of its economic aspects."

[Oliver M. Fisher, President of the Boston Boot and Shoe Club, as Quoted in The Boston Herald]

In this crisis I turn to religion as our only hope. A liberal religious faith must be the heart of a covenant of all business life to make it ring true. In this critical readjustment period, it is most essential to preserve the highest standard of business ethics in foreign trade, as in domestic commerce. Our whole commercial structure rests upon the sanctity of contracts, and they, in turn, upon solemn, moral, and religious obligations.

[Laymen Appeal for Prayer]

A group of representative Protestant laymen from all parts of the United States have issued through the press recently an appeal for prayer which reads in part as follows:

"The laymen who sign and issue this paper so do because of a deep conviction that only by spiritual forces may our civilization be saved from the unprecedented perils that beset it. The only way out is the way up. Our world will never get right with itself until it gets right with God. Only spiritual remedies can cure the present ills of mankind. We crave for ourselves and for our time a revival of the sense of the reality of God, and of our dependence upon Him, and of a spirit of loyalty to Him. So we entreat all spiritually minded persons, in whatever ways and at whatever times individual judgment may suggest, to engage, privately or publicly, in daily prayer, that the very gravity of present world conditions may drive us all to the eternal God who is our refuge, and who is the only Light in our darkness. In Him we shall find peace and good will, and power for the task of remaking the world. 'All things, whatsover ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.'"

[From The Christian Science Monitor]

Mr. B. C. Spoor, Labor member of the British Parliament for a mining constituency near Durham, has blamed the universities for not teaching their students properly, and in particular for not teaching them to think. Hard on the heels of his speech comes a gift from a reformer to establish in London University a professorial chair, the occupant of which shall teach that very thing. "The purpose of this foundation is that students may be taught, not what Aristotle or any one else thought about reasoning, but how to think clearly and reason correctly." The professor is to be chosen for his ability to think, reason, and teach, and not for his acquaintance with the opinions of logicians or philosophers. He is to proceed on the idea that the only way to acquire an art is to practice it under a competent instructor. Are there not some who have most naturally imagined that thinking was what people at the universities were chiefly doing, and to whom all this will come as a surprise?

[From an Introduction to a Christian Science Lecture in Valparaiso, Indiana, by the President of Valparaiso University]

The substitution of understanding for belief makes a rich life and helps us to be closer to our Maker. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding."

The day for beliefs is past. We are entering upon an era, the greatest era of human experience, that of understanding. In all the great scientific theories that have been advanced. more and more we are beginning to realize that matter is only an expression of the human mind and that it exists only as an objectified belief of this mind....

To understand our Maker and His laws is to throw away belief and to know. Belief is an expression carrying an element of doubt. Understanding is an element carrying certainty. When we understand, we know how to do the right thing and to follow in the paths that the great Leader, Teacher, and Healer has shown us. A man becomes more in the image of his Maker when he realizes and understands the divine Principle as taught the world by the Savior.

[From the Second of a Series of Lectures on "The Church and Labor," by Rev. Norman Maclean, as Reported in the Glasgow (Scotland) Herald]

The church has to emphasize a message for each generation. The message to-day is that law must be supreme. The great law is that of truth. The workman who demands the maximum of pay for the minimum of work, who adopts a "ca' canny" policy, is contravening the law of truth, just as the financier who by cunning manipulations tries to get more than his share, is contravening the law of truth. The church must insist that men cease thinking of classes and begin thinking of humanity as a whole. Only when men sink their interests for the welfare of the whole can they rise to the Christian ideal. Above all, the church has to preach the absolute need of a new spirit. The only way to get rid of envy, jealousy, hatred, is through love. The law of love, the truth of brotherhood, is the remedy for all men's woes. The goal of a reconstructed civilization will be reached when we are guided not by self-interest but by cooperation.

Speaking of the last remaining yoke, the lecturer said that there is one grievous slavery still affecting the nation [Scotland], rich and poor alike, and that is slavery to alco hol. The fact that one hundred and fifty thousand citizens of Glasgow voted for the elimination or the reform of the trade was the brightest augury for the future. Deliverance has always come in the past not from the ranks of the victims, but from among those whose hearts were kindled with indignation at beholding human misery. The heart of the church has to be kindled into the flame of a new crusade. That the massed population of the great cities of the land should be left the prey of thirty public houses to the half-mile would be a scandal crying to heaven. The church would confer on the people the greatest of all boons, the lecturer averred, if it would lead the way in this. In this, as in all else, deliverance may seem to come slowly, the chariot wheels may seem to tarry, but the chariot is on the move and nothing under heaven can stop it.

[From Evansville (Indiana) Journal]

The monthly bulletin of the Indiana state board of health for September which has just been distributed, is a very interesting magazine. Besides vital statistics for the period, it publishes very interesting data and brings one to the conclusion that the officials of the state board are united in the opinion that the medical profession is helpless unless the people themselves keep their bodies in good condition. One of its paragraphs in reference to medicines is especially interesting and follows:—

"If medicines would cure the ills of mankind, it is plain that long ago disease itself would have been banished from the earth. The earth has been ransacked for drugs to cure. Everywhere we see emblazoned advertisements of medicines which the advertisement says will cure every disease, from corns and ingrowing toenails to the worst diseases; and yet sickness and disease grow apace with our civilization. The world has been fine combed from the equator to the poles for a something with which to bring health and prolong life; and lo and behold, like the bluebird, these blessings are in every household patiently waiting to be called."