Independent Christian Science articles

A Christian’s first duty is to maintain our own peace

From Dominion Within by , pages 108 to 111

Even in the experience of those strongest in the truth, there come times when, to sense, error specially abounds and rages. In such a time a Christian’s first duty is to save his own sense from taking part in the raging of error. With his utmost efforts this may be all he is able to do, and he will do well, at times, if he does this; but, unless he does this first of all, he can neither help himself nor any one else. Such a raging of error is spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel, and he tells us: “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.” If these mighty men of faith under the given unfavorable conditions would have been able to have saved but their own sense from having part in error, able to have done no more than maintain spiritual consciousness, then surely there are times when we, who have not endured the test of the flood, nor the trial by suffering and the loss of all earthly possessions, and who have not survived the lions’ den, — there are times when we shall do well if we do nothing more than maintain our own peace.

In this connection, the story of Noah and the ark is illuminating. Taken figuratively, the flood may represent the raging sea of error; the solid ground the abiding sense of good, which for a time seemed to be completely covered and hidden from sight by the sea; while the ark represents that spiritual’ consciousness which rides safely above the raging waves. Spiritual consciousness was a place of safety to Noah, his sons, and their wives, but there were none others in the world who were able to dwell in this ark of spiritual consciousness, and so no other men were saved from the flood. The ark had but one window, and it was open toward heaven, toward light and truth and good, — the ark had no windows at the sides for looking out on the sea of error. From time to time Noah sent out a thought of peace, the dove; but it found no resting-place, none of the solid ground of good appearing above the flood, and so it returned to Noah. Thus he knew that the waters of error were not yet subsided, and he continued to dwell in the ark of spiritual consciousness until error should destroy itself, and thus abate, at least in some measure. When once more Noah sent out the dove, his thought of peace, it found a resting-place, and did not return. Then he knew that error was sufficiently self-destroyed, and enough of truth and good had appeared in the outward situation so that it was safe for him to begin to make preparations to go forth from the ark; that is, to reach out with aspiring faith for the benefit of mankind.

Many times there are members of our family, or of our church, or people in our neighborhood, who are so satisfied with their present condition that the wisest thing we can do is to protect our own consciousness and allow the error to find its own self-destruction, while we calmly abide in the consciousness that nothing real, nothing good, can be destroyed or lost. When error has sufficiently destroyed itself in the consciousness of others through suffering, the time will come when they will be ready for the help which we can give them. It is well for us occasionally to utter a word of peace, a thought of Science; but if their behavior does not indicate that this thought of Science finds a place in their consciousness where it can rest without stirring up violent manifestations of error, the thing for us to do is to continue to dwell quietly in the ark of our consciousness of Truth. If, in our efforts to help them, we ourselves are dragged forth from the ark into the sea of error, much is lost to us and to them. While the prodigal chose to remain in the far country, “no man ministered unto him.” By these words Jesus seems to intimate quite clearly that to let them alone is the most effective treatment for those who are headstrong in error.

The proper interpretation of certain verses in the first chapter of Genesis gives us added understanding of our privilege and duty. God’s universe was never “created” in the sense of having been developed from a previous state of non-existence. God’s universe is coeternal with Himself. Any well-instructed Christian Scientist will recognize this fact, without argument from the Scripture to support it, though such evidence can readily be given. The record in the first chapter of Genesis is not, therefore, a record of creation, but a record of the inspired writer’s advancing periods of understanding of the universe which eternally existed. Says Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (p. 504), “Was not this a revelation instead of a creation? The successive appearing of God’s ideas is represented as taking place on so many evenings and mornings, — words which indicate, in the absence of solar time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views which are not implied by material darkness and dawn.”

While we are passing through the advancing periods of understanding, the human sense may be subject to more or less of disquietude and unrest. There will be “days” when all will appear bright and clear. Then other problems will arise, which we are not able to solve for a time, and we may pass through a period of “night.” Then we succeed in solving or overcoming these difficulties of understanding or experience, and come into a brighter and fuller “day.” Finally, we arrive at the goal of complete understanding, where we know the truth, and know that we know it, and feel scientifically confident that we can abide in the consciousness of Truth and protect ourselves from coming under the domination of error. While there is much that we have not demonstrated, yet we feel that we understand God, understand His universe, and understand ourselves, and that we have sufficient hold on the truth, so that we can make our way forward gradually to a complete demonstration of that which we know to be true, without let or hindrance from error.

When we have attained this consciousness, we have reached the day of rest, — not a period of idleness, by any means, but rather a period of activity in demonstration of the truth. Like God, we are able to “rest in action” (Science and Health, p. 519). We work vigorously for our own advancement and the advancement of others. While doing so, we are confronted with all sorts of errors, but they do not disturb the harmony of our consciousness while we are overcoming them. We are strong enough in the truth so that they cannot disturb us. So we are in perfect repose, even while we are actively working. This period of repose, this day of rest, is our Sabbath day. We should “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;” that is, our consciousness should rest in God, and we should not allow inharmonious, annoying, unholy thoughts and feelings to enter. We should keep our consciousness pure and clear and our Sabbath day, our spiritual consciousness, having been attained, should endure forever.

Mind And Nature

From the September 1909 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

IN Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy often speaks of the apparent obscuration of Mind, Truth, by mortal belief, under the figure of clouds obscuring the light of the sun. By carrying out this line of illustration, some of the points in the philosophy of Christian Science which are considered difficult by beginners may be cleared up.

Let us suppose that there were an island in the Pacific ocean far removed from all other land, inhabited by a people who had never had communication with people from any other country. Let us assume, further, that the conditions were such that the sky over this island was always overcast with clouds,—not clouds of uniform consistency, but with clouds always drifting, and somewhat broken; never thin enough in any place to permit the outline of the sun’s disk to be visible, but thin enough in places, now and then, to permit the sun’s light to be manifest in golden spots in the clouds, otherwise comparatively dark.

Naturally the people of this island, never having had direct sense perception of the sun, would have no word in their language with which to speak of it; nor would they have any knowledge of the sun, unless they had reasoned out that there must be such an object. They would have a word signifying light, and they would probably think that the clouds were the source of this light. Seeing light spots in the clouds, here and there, they would exclaim, “Oh, how beautiful!” and they would very much desire to keep these light spots from fading or drifting away, but they would be unable to do so.

As a matter of fact, they would be mistaken in almost all their conclusions with regard to light. Instead of light being a property of the clouds, as it would seem to them, the clouds, in their very nature, are opposed to light—the more cloud, the less light. They would see light, not because of the clouds, but in spite of them; and they would see light far more perfectly and enduringly if the clouds could be utterly swept away. They would think that light is in the clouds; but the light would be no more in the clouds than everywhere else,—less so, if anything; and the light would never be in the clouds in the sense of being a property of or inseparable from them. They would think that the fading or drifting away of the spots of light was a change in the light; but there would be no change in the light,—merely a change in the obscuring medium. They would probably think that the different light spots in the clouds were different lights, and so they would speak of many lights; but in fact they saw only one light, the light of the sun. made to appear to them to be many lights by the conditions of the obscuring medium.

Mind, God, manifested in all true intelligence, all genuine love, all real beauty and harmony, changelessly and eternally, is omnipresent, even as the sun’s light is omnipresent in the solar system. But Mind, God, is more or less concealed from the apprehension of human beings by a changing, drifting condition of general false belief, named by Mrs. Eddy “mortal mind,” named by St. Paul “the carnal mind,” and named by Jesus the one evil, or the devil.The apparent obscuration of Mind, God, by mortal sense is so constant in human experience that mankind have questioned the complete and unclouded perception of God realized by Christ Jesus. This obscuration is so continuous and dense that many human beings find it as difficult to believe that there is a God behind all the phenomena of human experience as the islanders might find it difficult to believe that there was a sun behind the clouds, when no one of them had ever had a clear perception of it. Christ Jesus, being born of the Spirit on the one side, and of a human mother on the other, was on the border between the clouds of mortal sense and the clear sky of Spirit above; that is, he was above the clouds, yet near enough to them to be in touch with them and with those below these clouds or those enveloped in them. He was thus able to gain an unclouded vision of Spirit, God. All others know what they know about God by a process of learning, by a process of intellectual and spiritual effort, thus coming into a mental apprehension of God which is valid, certain, and valuable, but which in most cases is not full and unclouded apprehension. The islanders would never know of the sun directly: they might know of it through a process of reasoning, and thus know it only mentally, if at all.

At one point, the illustration cannot be made to apply; to the subject under consideration. The best way for the islanders to apprehend the sun would be by direct and unclouded sense evidence, if possible; but God cannot be known at all by sense evidence, for sense evidence is itself the obscuring cloud which prevents the full apprehension of God. The only way that God can be known is spiritually; so that, in proportion as human beings learn to know God through spiritual perception, in spite of the obscurations of sense evidence, in that proportion they come into direct knowledge of God in the only way that He can be known, and the clouds of sense no longer exist for them.

One phase of the condition of false belief named mortal mind is the belief named matter. As the islanders, speaking in terms of our supposition, would never behold the sun’s light except through the clouds, so human sense has never outwardly beheld the manifestations of Mind, God, except through the obscuring veil named matter. Hence, unless we have learned to know God through the mental and spiritual faculties within, we are never able to perceive the manifestations of Mind as they really are. In fact, those who depend solely on outward evidence are apt to be skeptical about the existence of the all-creating and all-ruling Spirit; while, on the other hand, they are apt to think that such intelligence and harmony and beauty as they see manifest in connection with matter is a property of the matter itself, just as the islanders would be apt to think that the light they saw was a property of the clouds.

The islanders might argue, “No clouds, no light; therefore there can lie no light where there is no cloud.” We can see how foolish such a deduction as this would be, and equally foolish is the deduction of the modern materialist, who reasons in this wise: “In human observation, where there is no brain, there is no mind; hence there can be no mind or intelligence where there is no brain; therefore mind is a property of the brain.” As a matter of fact, the mortal embodiment and experience is but a projection of general mortal belief, through which, here and there, the one omnipresent Mind shines more perfectly, perchance, than it can shine through the more material conditions of mortal belief. The clouds of mortal belief are thinner at these points, yet dense enough and sufficiently opposed to Mind in character to obscure more or less largely and pervert the true characteristics of Mind, when beheld through this veil even in its thinnest parts. The more intellectual, moral, and spiritual a human being is, the thinner the veil of mortal belief at that point. Where little or nothing of intelligence is manifest, as in earth and water, there the cloud of mortal belief is thickest. Intervening conditions of density are manifest in the appearances named plants, trees, animals, manifesting varying degrees of intelligence; and highest of all. as already indicated, are human beings, culminating in Christ Jesus.

Flowers, for instance, are such organizations in general mortal belief that, while they do not permit Mind to shine through and be manifest as sentient life, as in the case of men, yet they permit much of divine beauty and harmony to be manifest for a time. When we see a perfect flower, we exclaim: “Oh, how. beautiful!” and we would like to keep it in its beauty and freshness; but we say that its beauty will wither and fade away. As a matter of fact, the beauty of the flower no more changes or withers than does the sunlight; the fading and withering are incidents of the obscuring medium, named matter. If we could sweep this obscuring medium out of the way, as we shall some time be able to do through the power of Christ, Truth, we should behold beauty and harmony far more perfectly than they are ever manifest in a rose or a lily. We should thus have uninterrupted experience of beauty and harmony, forever.

Mind, God, is all intelligence, all beauty, all harmony, omnipresent and eternal. He is no more in matter than sunlight is in the clouds. The clouds lessen the amount of sunlight received, even as Mind is less manifest in connection with matter than it is anywhere else; and this is perceived to he a fact by those able to apprehend Mind and its manifestations as they are. Such apprehension is possible only through spiritual discernment, and never through sense perception. Said Jesus: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

God, the sole creator, is Mind: and the creations of Mind are necessarily mental; that is to say, ideas. Only those who are able to apprehend ideas, and to think in terms of ideas, wholly apart from any material manifestation, are able to apprehend the things of God as they really are. Mind has created a heaven and an earth, and plants and animals and man. and known as they are, these are all universal ideas of Mind, and are never in or of matter. They are apprehended in a very imperfect and perverted manner through the obscuring veil of false material belief, which is no better a medium for beholding these things as they are than are clouds for beholding the sun’s light as it is.

Under a slightly different figure Mrs. Eddy has brought to us this same line of illustration. She says: “The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the window-pane. The light and the glass never mingle, but as matter the glass is less opaque than the walls. The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality —much error—in order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun.” “There is neither growth, maturity, nor decay in Soul. These changes are the mutations of material sense, the varying clouds of mortal belief, which hide the truth of being.” “How little light or heat reach our earth when clouds cover the sun’s face! So Christian Science can be seen only as the clouds of corporeal sense roll away” (Science and Health, pp. 295, 31O, 548).

As already indicated, the islanders, in terms of our supposition, would be apt to think of the light manifest in several spots in the sky as many lights; but they would see only one light, the light of the sun, which would be manifest equally everywhere, if the clouds were swept aside. So human beings, owing to the varying conditions of the obscuring medium, perceive Mind manifest in spots, as it were, through the veil of matter, and they speak of men as being, or as having, many minds. But in truth there is only one Mind manifest, which would be manifest in all individualities, and far more perfectly, if the beliefs named matter and mortal mind could be swept away, as they are being swept away more and more through the application of the teachings of the Bible as they are interpreted in Science and Health, and as they will be swept away completely by the continued application of these teachings.

Likewise in flowers, and in trees and in the other forms of so-called nature, we do not really behold many beauties and many harmonies, but we behold more or less imperfectly, more or less transiently, the one imperishable and perfect harmony and beauty,—the harmony and beauty of Mind. Tennyson wrote,—

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies; —
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand.
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

In these beautiful words he expressed a great truth, for he who can correctly discern the Life, beauty, and harmony manifest in a little flower, is sure to find God, and man in His image and likeness.

By maintaining the understanding which has come to us through the teachings of our Leader, and by exercising a rightly discriminating sense, we may know that God is in a degree manifest through what men call nature; that He is never manifest because of matter, but always in spite of it. Then we may read with both profit and pleasure, and at the same time, without perversion of understanding, the many beautiful passages in the Bible where God is represented as being manifest in nature, such as the following, from the Psalms:—

“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. . . . Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: them greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. . . Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.”

The greatest human need is more Spirit

From Dominion Within by

Perceiving that the real and true supply for our needs is spiritual, we can at once understand that God all the time meets every man’s need with His Spirit, which is substance, strength, harmony, life, and an everlasting dwelling place. “In Him, we live and move and have our being.” Whoever appropriates this spiritual supply gains the kingdom of heaven.

But what about men’s need for material food, drink, and raiment? Are not these human needs? Has God always met these needs? Yes, He has always met even these needs, although He has not forced the appropriation of the supply upon those who would not seek to gain it in the proper manner. These needs are not real, but only apparent; still, they are very imperative from humanity’s present standpoint; and Christ Jesus has pointed out in clear and unmistakable language the right method of appropriating the supply. “Be not anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In other words, whoever sufficiently appropriates the real, spiritual food, drink, raiment, shelter, strength, health, and life, will infallibly have a sufficient supply of the material counterparts of these spiritual realities “added unto” him, as long as he has need of any material supply.

The greatest human need, even here and now, is more Spirit, rather than more matter. The trouble with most men is, that, relatively, they have too much matter in proportion to their present vital possession of Spirit. If any man lacks material supply, it is a sure sign that he has not sufficient hold on Spirit, though the converse proposition is not true, that an abundant material supply is necessarily a sign that the owner is “rich toward God.” But if any man lacks material supply, his first effort should be, not to gain more matter, but more of Spirit. If he does so, his need will not only be “met,” as it always was and always will be, far more than half way, but his need will be filled. “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness (right-wise-ness); for they shall be filled,” not only with the kingdom of God, but even with the supply of their material needs.

So it is true that, “divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need;” and men will always find their need, not only “met,” but abundantly satisfied, if they will “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

Mortals versus Immortals

From Revelation Interpreted by

All that is true in human sense constitutes the appearing of immortal man, who is forever safe.

Revelation 20 : 14, 15 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Verses 14 and 15 refer to the complete destruction of evil…

In verse 15 we are taught that the mortal or false factor of every man’s consciousness “was not found written in the book of life” and so “was cast into the lake of fire”, along with general evil, to be destroyed. “Mortals” are constituted of the false factors in the mentalities of human beings, while “immortals” are the true factor, the knowledge of truth, in the mentalities of men. All “immortals” are eternally safe, because they have part in the reflection of the one Mind, which is forever. All “mortals”, all false mentalities or beliefs of falsehood, are predestined to be destroyed. This is the true doctrine of predestination. …

Revelation 2 : 7 “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” The one who heeds this message, and overcomes the difficulty of giving his attention to spiritual things only, or very largely so, …can have part in the millennium. Over such, “the second death”, the final destruction of evil, has no power, St. John tells us; for there is nothing evil in them to be hurt or destroyed. He who conquers his attention, who brings it into the undivided service of God, is promised immortality, “the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Hindrances To Healing

By , from the July 1909 Christian Science Journal

Usually it is not difficult for a patient to see that unbelief, lack of understanding, sin, doubt, discouragement, fear, and lack of application tend to retard or prevent healing in Christian Science. But there are hindrances of another class which stand in the way of the desired end, and which are usually more difficult for the patient to discern. These appear in the way solely because the patient has not learned the lesson of self-surrender. He does not know what self-surrender is or means, hence he does not know how to go about it; and this not having been accomplished, the unconscious assertion of self leads him to put many stumbling-blocks in his own way.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The self which must be denied or renounced is the carnal mind which Paul declared is “enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Many people have not carefully thought out these matters, or carefully searched the Scriptures with regard to them, but it is the implicit belief of the average person that we get into the understanding of the truth and the kingdom of God by commencing where we are, and by correcting, developing, and enlarging that which we already have, until finally ye shall reach perfection. Those, however, who act upon this theory make as radical a mistake as did those of ancient times who thought to start upon the earth as a foundation and build a tower which would reach to heaven. God brought their work to utter confusion and destruction, as He does with the work of those who try to build spiritual life, or to gain spiritual health, on the basis of the carnal mind.

Said the apostle, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;” and in immediate connection with this declaration we also find these words: “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” The fact is, that before we can learn much of the saving truth, we must be willing and ready to discard, as having no truth, reliability, or permanent value, all of that habit of thought and all of our so-called knowledge which is directly or indirectly based on the body or the testimony of the senses. In the measure that we have emptied our minds of “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,” we are ready to learn and experience the benefits of Truth. Said Jesus: “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said again: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him;” that is, we cannot bring our mortal selves, our carnal minds, to God. We must renounce, or give up, the carnal mind, and let the Spirit be manifested in us; and thus we come to Christ.

Self not having been renounced, it crops out in various ways, to the hindrance of the demonstration of Truth and of the patient’s progress. Some of these ways we do well to consider, not for the purpose of condemning those who have been ignorant that they were transgressing the law of Spirit, but for the purpose of helping all to uncover and recognize the error, so that we may turn away from it and follow in the true way. Most people, when they turn to Truth for help, do so, not because they care about Truth, but because they care about themselves. They want God’s help, if He has any to bestow, but it may not even occur to them that they are to make any sacrifice therefor, except the payment of some money to a practitioner and the giving up of some of their time to reading under the practitioner’s direction. At the start they do not know that Truth requires of them to gain a totally new and different understanding of life and health, and also in some ways to follow after a different manner of life; but after a time they begin to perceive something of what the demands of Truth are, and then comes the test. Will they renounce self as manifested in the former ways of thought and living, and follow after the truth, because it is the truth, irrespective of whether they have already received benefits or not? If so, then they are loyal to the truth, and unless they are placing stumbling-blocks in their own way along some other line, they will be healed in God’s own time; for they have fulfilled the condition: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Many people desire to buy (with as small an expenditure as possible) their health, with the conscious or unconscious purpose to go on living their former lives of worldly pleasure, when health has been attained. The error and disappointment of such people are well described by St. James: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. . . . God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. . . . Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

When an individual has the proper appreciation of the healing truth he will feel toward it as Jesus describes in Matthew’s Gospel: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” The lesson on this point is further enforced by the teachings of Jesus, when he counseled the rich young man to give up all his possessions and become his follower.

If we have firmly determined to sacrifice all, if necessary, for Truth, very often we shall not be called upon to make the sacrifice; and it is an immence help toward healing to have this point settled in the patient’s mind, so that he will not acquire the habit of measuring a benefit received by the money paid out, but will have his mind at rest upon this question, that he may be free to attend to lines of thought which are beneficial instead of detrimental. We are by no means so ready to be healed by Spirit, if we are all the time judging and examining results with the critical disposition of mortal calculation. The thing to do, is to make ready to surrender our all to Spirit, and thus be the better prepared to receive the gifts of Spirit.

A student who is really interested in his studies does not long for his school-days to cease. If he could in any way manage it, he would be glad to spend his time and money to go on in school and college indefinitely, and so in the case of the person who loves music. Likewise, a patient, if he loves the truth for its own sake, will not be in a hurry to get through with his practitioner, if the practitioner is helping him to a higher understanding of Truth. A patient who is not anxious to get out from under his practitioner’s care at the earliest possible moment, for the sake of saving time and money, but who takes such a mental attitude that he is always looking for an opportunity to learn more of Truth, for which he is as glad to make return as is the average person for the theater or the excursion, is certain to have healing and all other needed good added unto him.

There are some who come into a partial understanding of Science, but who say to themselves or others that they are not ready to believe until they have had a sign in demonstration of the truth by being healed, notwithstanding that they know of plenty of signs which have been given in the healing of other people. If a person makes the receiving of a sign the condition of his believing, he seldom gets it. The reason evidently is, that those who would test Truth by outward signs, wish to walk by sight, instead of walking by faith or understanding. They have not surrendered self, or the carnal mind, which wants to test everything by sense testimony. Self, or carnal mind, is prone to set itself up as a judge, and say to Science: “Come now, pass in review before me, and show your works. If they are satisfactory, I will believe you.” But, Science may not be reviewed by mortal mind in this fashion. It demands rather that mortal mind, instead of setting itself up to judge, shall completely humble itself, and say: “I am not fit or worthy to know or judge anything.”

Several times, people came to Jesus asking for signs, in order that they might believe. Jesus gave plenty of signs to those who did not ask for them; but to people who did ask for them he said: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” The sign of the prophet Jonas, as given in the Bible story, was this: Jonas was commanded of the Spirit to go to a certain place and do a certain work. Jonas did not respond to the summons obediently, but rather took ship to go in exactly the opposite direction. He was thrown into the sea, swallowed by a whale, and carried back to where he started from, and was told to do that which Spirit commanded. So it will be with every mortal man. In the end he will be obliged to do that which Truth demands of him; therefore the sooner he does it, the better for him. Jesus did give to doubting Thomas a sign; but, when Thomas expressed his belief because of the sign, Jesus rebuked him, saying: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Many people, when they are taking treatment, make the mistake of saying to themselves or others: “Now I will take treatment so many days, or so many weeks, and then, if I am not healed, I will stop.” This is another attempt of the carnal mind (self) to set limits and make conditions for Truth, while Truth demands that the carnal mind shall completely humble itself. Said Jesus: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” And again he said: “In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” If we did not set ourselves up to dictate times and seasons to Spirit, but in humility were to let Spirit have its own way, our mental attitude would be such that we would be healed in days, instead of the weeks consumed under the conditions which we have prescribed. The true mental attitude is this: “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

Patients whose healing is somewhat delayed, are often tempted to set themselves up to judge the work of Spirit by comparing their own case with that of some they know who have been healed much more quickly. This disposition is thoroughly rebuked by Jesus in the parable given us in the twentieth chapter of Matthew. All that Christ, Truth, can bestow upon any person is understanding, plenty, holiness, healing, and joy in the Spirit. Those are symbolized in the parable by the “penny.” It is not for us to complain whether we are required to work for these one hour or twelve hours, twelve days or twelve months. It is our business simply to follow in the way and be faithful.

Neither should we be envious or attempt to judge the situation by the case of those who are healed more quickly than are we. Not infrequently those who are speedily healed do not acquire so clear an understanding of the truth of Science, and if our fuller understanding must come in advance of the healing, we need not complain, but rather rejoice that by any expenditure of time and effort it may be attained. Impatience and haste are great detriments to healing. Many times it is not realized until after the patient has consciously acquired and assimilated an entirely new understanding of life and health. It was so in the writer’s case. During many weary weeks he got no apparent benefit from treatment, until he came unto the understanding and acceptance of Christian Science as Jesus taught and practised it. After he gained this understanding, his healing was rapid and thorough.

St. Paul tells us: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” It is only because we are in a false sense of ourselves that we seem to be sick, and we have to be transformed out of this false mind, which conforms “to this world’s way of thinking, into the Mind of Spirit, which is the Mind of health, joy, strength, peace, and life eternal. To accomplish this transformation is the greatest, most important, and most beneficent task that any human being ever did or ever can undertake; and to attain this transformation in understanding and realization often requires weeks, sometimes months. Suppose it does. Should we not be as willing to spend all the time necessary to gain the understanding of the Science of eternal life, and to gain permanently our health in the process, as to spend much money and months of time to learn the science of algebra, or astronomy, or chemistry?

The Bible contains many exhortations to be patient and persistent while we are being healed by Spirit, God. Let us read and heed the following as a single example: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Patients often unconsciously maintain a spirit of self-righteousness, which acts very much to their own detriment. They may say, “I have done, as nearly as I could, what the practitioner told me, I have paid for my treatment, and I have tried earnestly to avoid committing sin. I do not see why I am not healed.” If the patient can truthfully make such an assertion, then perchance but one thing is lacking, namely, self-surrender through love. Without love, we do all these things in a calculating spirit, in a spirit of bargaining, saying to ourselves that because we have done such and such things, therefore we have a right to expect such and such things in return. But love never calculates, never bargains. A lover bestows time and gifts freely upon his friend, looking for nothing in return except her love, and is continually seeking other ways in which he may serve and please. He does not calculate and bargain with her, even in his own thought. Because he approaches her in this way, his friend, though reserved and hesitant at first, at length comes to the point where she is ready to bestow upon him her unreserved affection.

So if we seek the truth, not because we are looking for what it will bestow, but because we really love it for its own sake and are anxious to spend time and money in acquiring it and serving it, then its riches speedily become our possession. The proper way to seek the truth may be expressed in the following paraphrase: I take thee for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; in prosperity and adversity; to love and to cherish, to have and to hold forever; and upon thee I bestow all my worldly goods. Truth, thus sought, will not long withhold her blessings.

Revelation Interpreted

From Revelation Interpreted by , pages 85-87

REBUKE

Verse 15 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”

The human consciousness is disposed to recognize both Spirit and matter as substance, and thus tries to serve two masters. It makes the ridiculous and self-defeating blunder of trying to render mental allegiance to two contradictory senses of substance at the same time,—in other words, tries to call both of two diametric opposites “real.” Lukewarm water is nauseating, while hot water and cold water are not. The mental attitude of the thorough-going materialist, who affirms that matter is the only substance, is more respectable and tolerable from a logical standpoint than is the attitude of those who affirm that both Spirit and matter are real.

WARNING

Verse 16 “So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”

Such vacillating, divided, illogical mental allegiance or service is automatically rejected from the Christ-mind, and so is remanded to the realm of discord.

EXHORTATION

Verses 17-20 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

The human consciousness thinks it is rich in its sense of matter under various pleasing forms, and is inclined to think that it has no other need than matter, if it can have enough of it, of the right kind. It does not appreciate that true riches are desirable states of consciousness,—namely, love, joy, and peace, that these can be obtained only from Spirit, God, and that, lacking these, it is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”, no matter how many material “goods”, so-called, it may have. The Christ-mind counsels the human consciousness to obtain from it, as Spirit, that sense of sub- stance and good which neither fire nor any other agency can destroy, that it may indeed be rich; and it counsels the human consciousness to robe itself in righteousness, which is to be obtained from Spirit, not from matter, that it may be truly clothed. Otherwise, to a discerning sense, the shame of its nakedness will appear, no matter how fine the material rai- ment. Often one sees a woman whose body is carefully clothed with fine raiment; but the nakedness of her irritability, fretfulness, fearfulness, frivolity, impurity, uncharitableness, and the like, lays perfectly open to any beholder. She needs “white raiment, that she may be clothed, and that the shame of her nakedness do not appear.” The white robe of the truth will not merely cover up such mental poverty and wick- edness, but will destroy them. The understanding of Spirit as substance is the “eye-salve” with which we should anoint our mental vision, in order that we may be able to see truly. The true perception of substance, including the perception of all good, is constantly knocking at the door of every man’s consciousness. It is always at hand, ready to be learned, just as is the multiplication-table. If any man will open the door of his consciousness, by divesting his mind of preconceived false opinions, and by becoming teachable as a little child, all truth and good will come into his consciousness and experi- ence, and make itself at home with him.

PROMISE

Verse 21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

The Christ manifests the authority of God, and he who conquers through the Christ-mind shares the authority of the Christ.

“God the Rewarder”

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In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we read: “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” This verse, rightly understood and applied, furnishes us with directions for overcoming our physical ills, as well as all other forms of evil and limitation. To make this evident, let us spend a moment in analyzing certain of the claims of error.

Contrary to the usually accepted belief, the body, as such, is incapable of experiencing either pain or pleasure. If it were, a corpse would experience pain or pleasure. It is only when consciousness is connected with the body that pain or pleasure can be experienced. This shows that, in reality, it is consciousness that aches, or burns, or smarts, or feels weak. The word “disease” means dis-ease; and it is consciousness that is dis-easy, if there is any disease, and not the body. When there is dis-ease, the body is often correspondingly abnormal, through swellings, false growths, sores, or wastings; and the discomfort seems to be located in or at these abnormal portions of the body. Consequently, it has usually been inferred that the abnormal condition of the body causes the discomfort of the mind; but exactly the reverse is true, as can be proven in two ways.

If consciousness becomes disassociated from the body through death, the swellings, false growths, sores, or wastings, may remain on the body, but they no longer occasion discomfort in any way, either to the body or to the mind, showing that flesh, as such, is incapable of sensation. Neither will abnormal conditions (except the general condition of decay) develop in the body, when consciousness is not associated with it. This shows that discord is not first in the body, and afterwards in consciousness, but is first in consciousness, and then is manifest on the body as a result.

To be sure, it must be admitted that a swelling, or sore, often develops to quite an extent on the body before the active mind discovers its appearance there or notices pain from it, and this fact has caused the vast majority of mankind to believe that disease originates in the body, and afterwards begins to disturb the mind; but the fact is, that the human mind (which is the mind that we must deal with when we are analyzing the claim of error) has a sub-conscious phase, through which the body is mostly governed, unless God’s government is being scientifically demonstrated. Disease usually begins in this subconscious phase of the human mind, and then begins to be manifest on or in the body, and then, last of all, begins to disturb the conscious mind. In the analysis of error, falsehood, or unreality, it is the so-called sub-conscious mind, of whose operations little has been known until lately, that is the chief channel and seat of disease and sin, so far as the mortal individual is concerned. In the absence of control by divine Mind, the conscious and sub-conscious mortal mind act and react upon each other, and educate each other in sin and disease, using the body as a go-between, — a mere football, as it were, to be kicked back and forth between conscious and sub-conscious arguments of evil: but the sub-conscious mind is the original sinner, and, unless prevented from doing so by the Christ-mind, it recurrently, and often continually, throws up into the conscious mind all manner of sinful and painful feelings, and the conscious mind thinks that the body is the source or cause of these sinful or painful feelings, instead of discerning the deeper source of evil in the mortal sub-consciousness. It is this mortal sub-consciousness that must be cleansed by the application of divine Mind, in order to rid both the conscious mind and the body of evil and discord. The method of doing this will be spoken of a bit later.

The second proof that abnormalities in the body are not the cause of discomfort in consciousness, is the fact that the pain or other discomfort in the mind is often completely removed hours, and sometimes weeks, before the swellings or false growths, which at one time seemed painful, have disappeared from the body. If these abnormalities of the body were the cause of mental distress, mental distress could not disappear until the physical abnormalities had been overcome. Almost invariably, the removal of discomfort from the mind through Christian Science treatment is followed, sooner or later, by normal conditions of the body.

It has now been clearly shown, that all disease originates mentally, and is located in consciousness, and that abnormalities of the body are not, strictly speaking, disease, because they are not dis-ease, but are mere manifestations or effects of disease, — never its cause. Hence, it is very evident that the proper effort to cure disease must center its activity on removing evil from the consciousness; and if it be removed from the consciousness, it will disappear from the body automatically. That which is to be treated is the mind and not the body.

It must be entirely evident, on statement, that a diseased or dis-easy mind is an evil mind; and that the way to overcome an evil mind is to attack it with that which is opposed to it, namely, good Mind. Now there is only one good Mind. Christ Jesus declared: “There is none good, save one; that is God.” If we intelligently and persistently turn to this good Mind, God, that Mind will remove evil from our consciousness as naturally as the sun removes darkness from our eyes, when we turn from darkness toward the sun.

Whoever beholds the light of the sun, beholds coincidently rays of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and every intermediary shade and tint of color, all beautifully blended together in what we call light. Likewise, whoever diligently turns to God, and mentally beholds Him, cannot fail to increasingly behold, and to gradually receive into his own consciousness, love, joy, peace, strength, harmony, health, substance, plenty, entertainment, intelligence, and life, all beautifully blended together in that “true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” for God is omnipresent, not beyond the reach of any man’s mental gaze; yea, he is in every man’s very heart, when that man will diligently open his heart to God.

So if we turn to God, knowing that He is here, and if we diligently seek Him, He will reward us by shining in our hearts and minds with every conceivable form of good; and in proportion as this comes to pass, in that proportion the darkness of sin and disease are driven from every phase of the human consciousness, and we are healed, or made whole, in consciousness, — just where we need to be healed, and then the body soon automatically reflects the divine harmony, which, through the power of God, has been established in the mind. Accordingly, in the treatment of disease, the advice of St. Paul is most excellent: “Be willing (be choosing) to be absent from the body (in thought), and present with the Lord.” For God is the healer; and He will reward us with healing, if we come to Him with diligence.

Suppose darkness should say to itself, “I am going to rise up and attack light.” What would become of the darkness when it got within reaching distance of the light? How much would it accomplish aside from its own destruction?

Moral: If there be no error (darkness) in a man’s own consciousness, the errors of his ancestors, and all adverse thought-influences, will be as powerless to harm him as darkness is powerless to harm light. And this is true by gradation as well as true as a matter of complete attainment. The elimination of any portion or kind of error from a man’s own consciousness, through turning to God, renders him more immune from the attacks of any form of error originating from without.

Dominion Within

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He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city. — Adapted from Prov. 16:32.

Christian Science teaches that God is infinite Person, infinite individuality; that He is the unbounded consciousness. (See Science and Health, p. 330.) It is well for us to spend a portion of our time in trying to rise into some sense of that unbounded consciousness, that sense of freedom from limitation whereby we may endeavor to know God in His wholeness; but the endeavor to become conscious of God in His infinity is usually not the best means of realizing those present and particular manifestations of Him which we need to realize in order to meet certain problems that confront us.

God is ever-present good; and He is manifested in the specific good as well as in general good. Often what we need to realize are those specific manifestations of good which in our limited state of belief we are more readily able to comprehend. For example, if we seem to be threatened with a lack of money to meet our needs, or with lack of supply of any kind, or with disaster in business, and the thought of this is troubling us, we should stand still where we are, or retire to our closet, and “have it out” with the one evil then and there, or just as soon as possible, by knowing and declaring that the ever-present law of God, good, the ever-present fact for the children of God, is plentiful supply.

The truth is, that as plenty is man’s birthright, plenty is the present fact for those who accept the truth; and error, false sense, cannot make us believe to the contrary. If we realize this fact long enough and clearly enough, so that it becomes vital to us, we shall have entered into peace and joy, and error will no longer argue fear to us. If, even by a single moment’s realization of the truth, we have permanently healed our consciousness, — cast out fear, and brought in the abiding sense of security and joy, — our outward affairs will take care of themselves in due season. We do not need, beyond ordinary prudence and common sense, to trouble ourselves about the external arrangement or disposition of material things, or to be anxious about negotiations with our fellow-men. Our one problem is to maintain a whole consciousness, devoid of fear, resting in God as the abundant and infallible source of supply; then the outward things will be added unto us.

Christian Science also teaches us to know that health, strength, sight, and hearing, or any other special manifestation of God, good, from which we may seem to be cut off, are present and unchangeable facts of our true selfhood, and that error cannot make us believe to the contrary or make us fear the further seeming loss of any of these manifestations of good. If we heal our own consciousness, so that we have no further sense of fear, but are able to rest with a sense of security and joy in the fact that the special manifestation of good which we desire is a present and indestructible fact, that is all we need to be concerned about. The physical manifestation will duly take care of itself, and harmony will be realized where before discord was apparent. It was never more than an appearance; for God, the sole creator, never made any discord, but rather established harmony as the eternal law and the eternal fact; and so it is. At the creation “God said, Let there be light; and there was light;” and the light (the good) remains to this day, while its opposite, darkness, in reality does not exist.

We should not be anxious for the morrow or about any outward things, either supplies for daily need or health of the body; but we should seek first the kingdom of God, which is “at hand” and “within you,” and His righteousness (right thinking and feeling, knowledge of the truth, and love devoid of fear), and all these outward things will be added unto us. We should be willing to be “absent from the body” in thought; we should not worry about it, nor try to cure it by taking thought about it. We should not try to control the body by our thought; we should try only to control our consciousness by meditating on God and His law. Thus we shall be “present with the Lord,” and the body will soon manifest harmony.

Whatever of health or wealth we gain apart from conscious reliance upon God while we are gaining them is worthless.

The Consciousness That Heals

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In Christian Science great emphasis is laid upon the Scriptural statements that God is Spirit; God is eternal; God is perfect, and God is the only cause and creator. The creations of God would naturally and inevitably bear His characteristics, and not characteristics opposite to Him. Therefore, the real universe and man were created like to God, — spiritual, eternal, and perfect, and they so remain, because God’s all-power preserves them as He made them. And God, Spirit, knows or discerns His universe and His children as they are; that is, spiritual, eternal, and perfect. If we could discern the universe in the same way that Spirit discerns it, then that would be spiritual discernment on our part; but we are not able to exercise spiritual discernment through the physical senses, nor ever shall be, “for the carnal mind is enmity against God.” We may, however, exercise spiritual discernment in spite of the physical senses by reasoning, as above indicated, from God as premise, thus determining what the character of man and the universe must be, and obeying the Scriptural rule of “comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

If we have spiritual discernment, we have faith; for the two are identical. And if we know or discern the universe and man as God knows them, then in our thinking or consciousness we reflect the divine thinking, just as Jesus did. When we do this, we know the power of Mind as did the Master; and the Mind or consciousness which Jesus had was that consciousness which healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out devils (evils). Having freely received this consciousness from God, he freely gave it to as many as would receive it; and it is our duty to reflect this same consciousness. St. Paul exhorts, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

To have and to exercise this healing consciousness, and obtain results therefrom, several things are requisite. First of all we must understand that all God’s ideas and their expression are spiritual, eternal, and perfect; but it is far from sufficient to accept this intellectually, as a creed to be recited in church and on other formal occasions. On the other hand, this view of all that is must become a part of our habitual thinking. The tendency with us, as mortals, is to let our thoughts, moment by moment, dwell upon the subjects presented by the physical or bodily senses, and to be thus directed by what seems to transpire in our bodies and in the so-called physical world. In other words, it is considered “natural” for us to let our thoughts drift with the current of sense testimony. The duty set before us is to make head against this current and never to drift with it a moment, when we can avoid it.

Our problem is to gain gradually, and as rapidly as possible, the ability to keep habitually our thoughts on the plane of spiritual discernment. This we shall accomplish by distinctly and purposely lifting our thoughts, moment by moment, away from the presentations of the bodily senses and by fixing them on God and on the nature of His spiritual creation; or, if sense testimony obtrudes itself upon us so much that we cannot ignore it, we may then deny and reverse it in favor of the spiritual truth, until it’s claims are so much silenced that they retire into the background. If we thus persistently take control of and direct our thoughts, in a few weeks or months the spiritual attitude of mind will become habitual, and most of the time there will abide in consciousness a realization of the perfection of man and all real things; that all are expressions of the spiritual, eternal, and perfect, — and this quite independently of the fact that at the given time we may be “treating” ourselves or another for sickness, sin, or any other trouble. To have such a consciousness is to “pray without ceasing.”

This consciousness must be not merely intellectual; it must be transfused with love, — the love of God and the love of His whole creation, as being spiritual and good, and therefore lovable. By conscious, persistent effort we can acquire the habit of having our thoughts and feelings turn to God and to the right perception and active knowing and loving of His creation; and the time soon comes when this no longer calls for effort, but our thoughts and feelings run naturally in such channels.

Finally, the spiritual consciousness, to the degree that it is attained, must find exemplification in our lives, so far as it is possible to make the demonstration. If loyal to the spiritual program of life, we shall not seek material things as an end in themselves, or under the belief that they are real, but we shall know that substance is Spirit and matter is only shadow. Then we will seek “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” and let the material take a secondary place until such time as the appearance of it is destroyed by the fuller realization of Truth. We shall not recognize intelligence or power in matter by taking drugs, and we shall not, when we can harmoniously avoid it, seek the pleasures of the flesh.

Such a spiritual consciousness exemplified in daily life will be, in large degree, Godlike, and will be transparent to the divine Mind, even as a pane of glass is transparent to sunlight. Mrs. Eddy says, “The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the windowpane” (Science and Health, p. 295). In like manner, the light of Truth passes through a spiritualized consciousness and destroys all belief in sin and disease, and ultimately will destroy the belief in death and matter. Such a consciousness is a window open toward heaven. It lets in the light for ourselves, and whoever turns toward us for help may experience enough of the light of Truth and Love shining through to heal him partially or wholly of his diseases. To change the figure, if we have such a consciousness, it is as a mirror reflecting the divine Mind, and by consciously directing our spiritual thoughts, we may reflect the healing rays of Truth and Love upon whom we will.

From this description it will be seen that in Christian Science it is the divine Mind and the reflected consciousness thereof which heals the sick. It will also be seen how radically different is this process from faith-cure, based on blind belief, and from processes of hypnotism or suggestive therapeutics, wherein a human consciousness which accepts matter, sin, and disease as real is the supposed curative agent. It must be very evident that Christian Science healing is based on the divine Mind, God, while all other forms of mental treatment are based more or less on the human, “carnal mind,” which, as Paul says, “is enmity against God.”

The state of consciousness above described exemplifies the 1st Psalm: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, … his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Some people speak of being repellant to others, or of being repelled by others. It is only a sense of self that is repelled. Imagine light being repelled by darkness! Imagine any sinner, however great his sin, repelling the all-potent, the all-embracing love of Christ, manifested through Jesus! Is there any case on record of Jesus being repelled? Did he come to turn away from sinners, or to save sinners from their sins? Let us become so unselfed that there is nothing in us to be repelled. Then, too, we shall not repel others.

Trusting God

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Except in so far as it prevents fear and worry, — which is much, if actually accomplished, — it does not do very much good to blindly trust our mortal affairs to God, on the supposition that He orders them and will take care of them. God does not order mortal affairs; for mortal affairs are only a mistaken sense of things. God and His work, and all affairs that He orders, are immortal. God, being immortal, does not make or order anything mortal.

Suppose one had problems in mathematics to work, and should say: “Well, I will trust the principle of mathematics to work out these problems.” It is true, that such problems can only be worked out by the principle of mathematics; yet the person desiring the solution of a problem has something to do in the matter. He must understand mathematics, and apply that understanding, in order to solve his problem; or he must have his problems solved by someone else who understands mathematics, and will apply that understanding for him.

Likewise, in order to overcome ills, a man must understand God and consciously apply his understanding in order to overcome these ills; or he must have them overcome for him by someone else who understands God, and will apply that understanding in his behalf, else the ills will not be overcome. No amount of blind trust will remove them; neither will they be removed by prayers or petitions to a supposed God, who is supposed to have established these ills, waiting for someone to pray to Him before He will remove them. There is no such God.

Christian Science teaches us how to understand God; and how to apply our understanding to the present overcoming of sin, disease, discord, and poverty; and, sometime, either in this or some future stage of growth, our increased understanding of God will enable us to permanently overcome our sense of materiality and death.

The fact that men use the laws of mathematics for the solution of many problems shows that they are entirely sure that the correct application of these laws will bring correct and useful results, and they evidence their trust in these laws by learning them and using them intelligently; not by relying on them while yet remaining in ignorance of them.

The trust in God which is effectual in results, requires not only a thorough comprehension and detailed knowledge of the laws of God, but a practically available knowledge of them. To illustrate: Before a boy can learn the multiplication table to any purpose, such expressions as: “Three times four equals twelve,” “Five times six equals thirty,” and so on, must be illustrated to him, so that he clearly understands their meaning. Then he must commit to memory these expressions arranged in tables. This requires much close application, much concentration of thought, and much repetition and drill on his part; but even after he has mastered the tables so that he can recite them glibly, he still lacks a knowledge of them that can be put to much practical use. For instance, suppose the boy is given a problem, to multiply 465 by 23. When he is confronted by the demand that he multiply five by three, he may not know the result, except as he has learned it by rote in the table; so he must go through a process, as follows: “Three times one are three, three times two are six, etc.,” until he reaches “three times five are fifteen.” By this process, he is able to reach the truth he seeks; but he has not yet acquired independent knowledge of it.

Suppose that, at the point where the boy knows his addition, subtraction and multiplication tables by rote, he is sent to the market to buy six oranges at three cents each, and with a quarter of a dollar to pay for them; and suppose the clerk who makes the change is inclined to be dishonest, and gives the boy four cents in change, instead of seven. The boy, not being familiar with the mathematical reasoning involved, is likely to be confused by the situation. He indistinctly perceives that he has not been given enough change, and yet his knowledge of the facts is not instant and ready–on-demand. He timidly suggests to the clerk that he has not been given the right change, and the clerk, assuming a bold air, replies: “Yes, your change is all right.” “But, but — ”, ventures the boy. “Run along, I tell you; your change is all right,” blusters the clerk, and, not being sufficiently sure of his ground to make a stand, the boy goes away defrauded. If the boy had acquired an independent and instantaneous command of the problem, then, when the clerk undertook to cheat him, a look of surprise would instantly and automatically have come into his face, and that, in all probability, would have shown the clerk that his purpose to defraud was useless, and he would have said: “Oh, excuse me, I did not give you the right change.” But if the clerk had tried to hold his ground, with what absolute and positive assurance would the boy have claimed his right! He would have stood for his due until he got it. An instantly available knowledge of the truth would have protected him against the imposition.

So, too, when we have learned what the laws of God are, and then have so thoroughly drilled them into our consciousness by meditation, declaration, and application, that, when any suggestion from within or without contrary to those laws rises in our experience, we are instantly and automatically surprised that there should be even a presumption that any thought or circumstance could successfully assert or carry through anything in thought or experience contrary to the laws of God, then we are protected against suffering and loss, as we never can be by any degree of knowledge less thoroughly assimilated in consciousness.

It is therefore often useful for a person to declare and endeavor to realize, many times per day, that love, joy, peace, and confidence in good are laws of God, and therefore of our being; that whenever we tolerate fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, or grief, we are breaking the law, and living a lie: that harmony, health, strength, action, life, express the laws of God, and that whenever we tolerate, without protest, thoughts or feelings of sickness, pain, weakness, inaction, or death, we are breaking the law, and living a lie. He who thus drills right thoughts into his consciousness, until they are brought into the very forefront of thought, and so cannot be forgotten when they are needed, and who orders his course in accordance with divine law, will be subject to very little suffering, either mental or physical, and to very little loss in any way.

Love is the liberator.