Independent Christian Science articles

God Preserves Man

From the October 1922 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

As soon as thought begins to become spiritualized, the individual commences to understand that man lives under divine protection, maintained and preserved by the Supreme Being, whom men call God. The fact is illustrated throughout the Bible. The patriarchs, awakened in some degree from the dream of life in matter, their thoughts turned to the living and true God, felt the divine presence, recognized their relationship to it, and were thereby supported on many an occasion.

In the Psalms, where the spiritual life of the Hebrew people is so vividly depicted in its rise and fall, may be read on many a page utterances testifying to the security some of them felt in the divine presence. Thus, in the sixty-second psalm it is written: “In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.” And does not the ninety-first psalm from the first to the last line simply pour forth a declaration of reliance on “the Lord”? The ninth and tenth verses, which may be taken as an example of the trend of the whole psalm, run: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” The same is seen when one turns to the New Testament. In the gospel narratives Christ Jesus is repeatedly found pleading the loving fatherhood of God, illustrating the Father’s care for His children, in many beautiful and simple similes. Thus, when he was counseling his disciples not to be too careful about earthly things, he said, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” On another occasion he said to them, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Jesus knew more about God and man’s relationship to God than did any other; and his revelation to mankind established the truth that this relationship was so absolute that nothing could possibly interfere with it. Had not God arrayed the lilies in all their simple beauty until they surpassed the splendor of Solomon? And did not His vigilance reach even to the humble sparrow?

Now, the meaning of these illustrations does not lie on the surface. The casual thinker may, indeed, find in them support for a faith which may help him in a measure to weather some of life’s storms; but there are many others who, not content with a blind faith in God, are desirous of knowing what God’s nature is, what the relationship is which exists between God and His creation, and how exactly this established connection results in the divine protection vouchsafed to His creation, including individual man. It is reasonable that men should desire to know these things. It is right that they should know them. And the question arises, Can they know them? Christian Science answers, Yes! All these things have been revealed, the nature of God and His spiritual creation, the exact relationship which exists between them, and how this relationship, established and sustained by spiritual law, preserves man. The revelation of Christian Science is very wonderful, and very simple.

Christian Science declares that God is Mind. Now, how does Mind express itself? Only in one way, in spiritual ideas. The universe, then, consists of spiritual ideas. It is inconceivable to think of these spiritual ideas as existing apart from Mind. They are inseparable; for ideas are the thoughts of Mind. God’s consciousness of His spiritual ideas necessarily implies their preservation. The Scriptures refer to man as the image of God, or as the likeness of God. This is but another way of speaking of man as the spiritual idea of God. And, Mind being inseparable from its idea, man remains governed and sustained and preserved by Mind. In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mrs. Eddy writes on page 151, “Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind.” And continuing, our Leader says: “The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no control over God’s man. The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness.”

In the sentences just quoted Mrs. Eddy draws a clear distinction between divine Mind and the so-called human mind. She explicitly warns against the false belief that this so-called mind can either kill or cure anything real. Christian Science draws the plainest possible line of demarcation between divine Mind, in which the real man lives, moves, and has his being forever, and mortal mind, that counterfeit which simulates real, spiritual consciousness, and which has within its false selfhood all the erroneous beliefs of evil,—sin, disease, fear, and death. The practical issue before mankind must be to obtain a knowledge or spiritual understanding of divine Mind and of the real man, thereby supplanting false belief, and so gaining the victory over human illusion. The issue is a very important one. It is one which Christianity has always held before mankind, and which in certain individual cases has been faced and met in some degree. As Mrs. Eddy has written (Science and Health, p. 387), “The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering.”

Faith in good has often saved men from sin and temptation; and faith in good has also protected them from physical suffering. But what the world needed was divine Science, knowledge of God as the Principle of being, to raise faith from the region of the problematical to the realm of the absolutely certain. When faith is thus established, when it is grounded on absolute knowledge of God, there cannot be set a limit to its power to shield from evil and protect from disease. This is the same as saying that to the extent of one’s knowledge of divine Principle, or in the proportion that one is governed by divine intelligence or divine Mind, one is harmonious and is protected from the false beliefs of mortal mind; and to the same extent one realizes man’s harmonious and eternal being. “Controlled by the divine intelligence,” Mrs. Eddy has written (Science and Health, p. 184), “man is harmonious and eternal.”

Men must learn to know God— not merely to believe in Him—and to love Him; for “the Lord preserveth all them that love him.” God is Love. And the knowledge of God, as Love, shows how intimate and how tender is the relationship between God and man. No words can adequately express this relationship. It is only as human consciousness becomes spiritually illumined, and material sense is overcome, that there is experienced something of the nature of that intimate relationship which preserves man, and which transcends human understanding. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Christian Discipleship

From the January 25, 1930 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

No one, surely, can be in doubt as to the meaning of Christ Jesus’ words recorded in John’s Gospel, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John himself certainly understood their purport, for in his first epistle he writes, in his own wonderfully tender way, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Yes, the gospel of the Master is the gospel of divine Love; and the gospel of the disciples is the gospel of divine Love.

Sometimes one hears it said that Christian Science is a loveless religion; that its adherents are lukewarm in their sympathies and affections; that they have substituted for the understanding of God as the tender Father of all, a concept of Him as Principle, cold and inscrutable. Nothing could be farther from the truth. To the Christian Scientist, God is indeed unalterable Principle, but He is also Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Truth, Life—even the one perfect Father-Mother of the universe, including individual man. It is this perfect God, divine Love, that the Christian Scientist acknowledges as supreme over all, and seeks to obey. And he knows that in so far as he fails to measure up to the test set by the words of Jesus quoted above, he undoubtedly falls short of the standard of Christian discipleship established by the Master.

In the consideration of every question dealing with the Christian life, Christian Science always brings one back to fundamentals. Thus, in considering true Christian discipleship one is greatly helped by reflecting upon the true relationship existing between God and the real man. What is this relationship? It is, as Christian Science shows and as the Bible declares, that man is the image, likeness, or reflection of God. And since God is Love, man is the reflection of Love. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 8): “Is it necessary to say that the likeness of God, Spirit, is spiritual, and the likeness of Love is loving? When loving, we learn that ‘God is Love.’ ” Then she goes on to say that “mortals hating, or unloving, are neither Christians nor Scientists.”

Mrs. Eddy’s writings teem with allusions to God as Love, to the real spiritual man as the reflection of Love, and to the necessity of Christian Scientists’ demonstrating this truth in their lives. No one can lay legitimate claim to the name “Christian Scientist” who is vindictive, spiteful, unkind, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, unloving. The rule of Christian discipleship is love one to another; and this, in the highest sense of the word “love.” History has many tragic tales to tell of the lovelessness of men, even of the inhumanity of men, to one another. What can one think, for instance, of the hatreds of so-called Christian nations that led them to bitter mental strivings and ended in relentless wars? Can it be said that Christian discipleship was in evidence then? Those who believe in the reality of evil and who practice evil are denying in the sublime truth that God is Love and His likeness loving.

While the Christian Scientist is sometimes acutely aware of his shortcomings, he never doubts the standard his religion has established for him. Christian Science tells him that perfection should be his goal, and that only a life of loving thoughtfulness and service is compatible therewith. And it is because so many Christian Scientists have understood this, and have striven to live according to their understanding, that Christian Science as a religion occupies the high place it does throughout the world to-day. How splendidly our beloved Leader refers to that system of religion which alone can meet with the approval of righteous men, in “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany” (p. 258), when she writes: “What is it that lifts a system of religion to deserved fame? Nothing is worthy the name of religion save one lowly offering—love”!

What is it that always accompanies love—love, that is, which is the reflection of divine Love, and is free from the taint of earth? Healing! Let love be demonstrated, and all petty jealousies and misunderstandings and fears will disappear. Let love be demonstrated in one’s daily life of human contacts, and these will lose their harshness and become kindly and helpful—yea, healing. Let love be demonstrated in the sick room and the sick will experience the healing influence of divine Love. But without an understanding of the love of Love and of its power to destroy sin in all its supposititious forms, one is woefully helpless. To quote again from our Leader’s Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 8): “No person can heal or reform mankind unless he is actuated by love and good will towards men.”

Christian Science is to-day proving to the world that sickness as well as sin can be healed by spiritual means—by spiritual understanding; but it should be remembered that this is possible only as its students are “actuated by love and good will towards men.” With the way so clearly defined, is there more than one course for us to pursue?

“My presence shall go with thee”

From the June 20, 1925 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

One of the most interesting and remarkable things to be noted about the seers of the Old Testament is their consciousness of the presence of God. It is undoubtedly true that the national concept of God was a limited one; but it is equally certain that some of the Hebrew prophets had at times an extraordinarily vivid realization of the presence and power of God, and were able accordingly to do wondrous things,—wondrous in the eyes of those whose consciousness was less spiritual. And what peace must have accompanied that realization! One thinks of the occasion, for example, when Moses in difficulty prayed to God for His presence, and when, as it is written in the thirty-third chapter of Exodus, God assured him, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”

The Psalms contain many a reference to the presence, yea, to the omnipresence of God. How graphically is this omnipresence depicted in the words of the psalm: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there,”—meaning, surely, that God is everywhere. And the following are David’s words in his psalm of thanksgiving, recorded in I Chronicles: “Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.” The comfort which the Old Testament has brought to so many of the children of men has been the direct result of the truth contained therein, that God is not a God afar off but the Holy One, whose presence is in their very midst.

As in the Old, so in the New Testament, God is acknowledged as being among His people. Christ Jesus lived and acted as always in the presence of the Father. He completely identified himself with God, stating that he could do nothing of himself, and that it was God who did the works; thereby testifying to the ever-presence of God. It was similar with the disciples, those who had been his students. They thought and acted as men who were convinced that God’s presence with them was demonstrably true, healing the sick and sinning through their understanding.

One of the features which characterize those who have taken up the study of Christian Science understandingly is that they are absolutely certain of the presence of God with them. And this conviction is based on teaching which is contained in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. From the beginning to the end of the textbook of Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” the allness of God may be said to be the theme. Throughout, God is declared to be All-in-all, and His presence affirmed to be the only real presence. The effort of Christian Science is to bring home to human consciousness the truth of God’s allness, to inspire men with love to the perfect spiritual Being who is their Father, and thereby to enable them to identify their true selves with God. And exactly in the proportion that the truth of God’s—Spirit’s—omnipresence is realized, matter is seen to be an illusion of material sense, without real presence and without real power. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 223 of Science and Health: “Matter does not express Spirit. God is infinite omnipresent Spirit. If Spirit is all and is everywhere, what and where is matter?”

Nothing is of greater value than to know of God’s omnipresence; for to know that God is omnipresent is to be conscious that Life and Love and Truth and good are ever with us, and, consequently, that the supposititious opposites of Life, Love, Truth, and good are not in reality present anywhere. It is this consciousness of the omnipresence of God, good, which destroys the beliefs of sickness and sin, those false beliefs which so grievously torment the human race. Whosoever would be healed of these enemies to happiness and peace must strive to realize the allness of God’s presence, by affirming and reaffirming the truth with persistency and with assurance, keeping before the thought Mrs. Eddy’s words in Science and Health (p. 473): “The God-principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power.”

If we are concerned with problems of a more general nature, our attitude should be the same. Evil may be trying hard to convince us, through suggestion, that it is real. Its tumult may seem to be heard on every side. But what of that; is not God in the midst of us? Is not God, good, omnipresent; and has not Christian Science revealed to us the utter unreality of evil? Then let us affirm and realize the truth, thereby destroying the false evidence of material sense which would convince us that evil is real. How heartening are our Leader’s words (Science and Health, p. 331): “God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else.”

“He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee”

From the September 1923 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

The ninety-first psalm from beginning to end expresses the trust of the writer of it in God. It is a pouring forth in song of faith steadfastly established in the Almighty as refuge, protector, deliverer. And what untold consolation it has brought to unnumbered thousands, both before and since the Christian era began! The weary, heavy-laden heart, unable to find rest and peace in the material theories of men, has turned time and again to the inspired verses of this psalm, listened to their glad spiritual cadences, and been revived, strengthened, delivered, healed. Many, very many, have experienced such results throughout the generations since the psalm was written, and long before the scientific method of deliverance and healing had been revealed to the world by Christian Science. These three verses alone, in their exquisite phrasing, as well as in the spiritual truth they embody, could hardly be surpassed: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

His angels! How can God’s angels take care of us? Are there such things as angels at all? have not we all asked, perhaps many times? The Bible certainly contains many references to angels, and recounts several of their missions to men. Those who saw them or heard them had no doubt as to whence they came; and although they may have seemed to present themselves in human form, they were inspired thoughts coming to consciousness,—as probably those to whom they came knew. To refer to a single reference to angels in the Bible: after Christ Jesus had been betrayed by the kiss of Judas and “one of them which were with Jesus” had “struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear,”—a condition which the Master had to heal,—he said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” The Master had, however, to fulfill the Scriptures; but had it been otherwise, the warrior legions of Rome would have been rendered absolutely impotent before the angels of God.

The angels of God are available still; more so, indeed, than ever they were before; for we know more about them now, since Christian Science has revealed their nature to us. What, again, are angels? Mrs. Eddy, in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 581), tells us exactly what they are. She writes: “Angels. God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.” Truly, a wonderful revelation! Now, when we consider that God is all-inclusive, and that man is therefore never separate from Him, we can understand how God’s thoughts pass to man, or, in other words, how man reflects divine Mind, since God is Mind. Suppose, then, a case to arise where one is in difficulty or danger. What is the so-called danger? Is not God, good, all-inclusive Being? He is. Then what we may call a difficult or dangerous situation—and it may appear to take the form of sickness or accident—is, as Christian Science explains, nothing but an error of belief, an illusion, an unreal condition of mortal thought. Whenever this is clearly seen and we realize the allness of God, an “angel” has come to us; and as surely as it has come, it will dispel the false belief, destroying contagion, banishing plague, averting disaster. That is the manner of spiritual protection, which is farther removed from the poor material methods of mankind than the stars are above the earth.

In a short article on angels in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 307) Mrs. Eddy identifies them with God’s spiritual ideas. “God gives you His spiritual ideas,” she writes, “and in turn, they give you daily supplies.” Here, angels are actually referred to as giving us our “daily supplies.” And the language is not merely that of poetic imagery. It is a true statement of what takes place in human experience when one “in the secret place of the most High” becomes conscious of truth, of God’s spiritual ideas. Not only is protection to be found there from sickness and sin,—from evil beliefs of every kind,—but also the “daily supplies.” That is the way spiritual understanding blesses even the human sense of existence.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,” saith the prophet. And Paul, after exhorting the Corinthians to avoid idolatry, continues, “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Paul was telling them about an angel, about God’s love, which comes to those who do His will,—the love of the Father to His sons and daughters. It is no difficult thing for the spiritualized consciousness to summon the angels of God. They are ever present, because God is ever present. But for us to recognize them, we need to conform to God’s law, which inculcates purity, humility, and love; otherwise, we are not ready to receive and welcome them. The “angels of His presence—the spiritual intuitions that tell us when ‘the night is far spent, the day is at hand’—are our guardians in the gloom” (Science and Health, p. 174). We can always depend upon these angels. Divine Principle has endowed them with omnipotent power; and they are with us the moment we realize man’s indissoluble unity with God, good.

Unceasing Prayer

From the October 1923 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

Prayer is the means whereby men commune with God and receive His answer. It is instinctive with men to pray. Feeling their own insufficiency and weakness in the face of life’s difficulties, and the need of divine guidance, they turn to Him whom they acknowledge to be their creator, desiring Him to help them and to bless them. Everywhere men pray. They have at all times prayed, even when their gods were idols, because prayer is the cry of human helplessness. Inadequate, immature, weak as it is when God is unknown or but feebly defined, still its effect is always salutary on him who prays; and it always tends to reduce the sum total of materiality.

If one studies the Bible, it becomes clear that men have prayed more consistently and most efficaciously as their understanding of and faith in God have increased. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and “Noah walked with God,” and he and his household were saved when “every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground.” Throughout his life faithful Abraham communed with God, ultimately receiving the promise, “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” Jacob’s experience at Peniel, when “there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day,” was the result of his desire, his prayer for God’s help to enable him to meet Esau, whom he feared. The outcome of the mental struggle was Jacob’s victory over fear. Thereafter, he was called Israel, “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Purified and exalted, he met Esau in love. Similarly, “the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy,” finally making him ruler of Egypt. It was Moses’ constant communion with God, likewise, that enabled him to deliver the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, and to give to the world the Ten Commandments, without obedience to which in some degree mankind would cease to exist. Without prayer there would have been neither prophet nor prophecy, neither miracle of healing nor the saving of nation or individual, during the long period preceding the appearing of the Messiah.

Prayer was the very breath of life to Christ Jesus. It revealed divine Truth to him; it sustained him in his duties; it enabled him to heal sickness and sin of all kinds; it gave him power over every form of matter and over every material phenomenon. It was through unceasing prayer that he was enabled to raise the dead, and ultimately to destroy the belief in “the last enemy” in his own case. Jesus’ power was all derived from prayer. He acknowledged the fact, and instructed others how to pray, teaching them what is known as the Lord’s Prayer,— the prayer which, spiritually interpreted, covers every human need. It will be remembered that after the disciples had failed to heal a lunatic boy, brought to them by his father, they, the disciples, asked the Master the reason for their failure. He replied, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Greater self-abnegation was required; thought must become more spiritual, less material,— then their prayer would meet the case.

The lessons of Jesus remained with the apostles. Everyone of them knew the value of prayer. Without it they would have been helpless in following in the footsteps of their great Teacher, James in his epistle writes with assurance that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;” and, also, that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” And Paul, writing from Athens to the church of the Thessalonians, advises them to “pray without ceasing.” “Pray is the Christian’s vital breath.” He who does not pray is Christian only in name.

The Christian Scientist is endeavoring to pray without ceasing. In “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 12) Mrs. Eddy writes, “In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as ‘a very present help in trouble.'” Then she gives the reason for God’s helpfulness: “Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, ‘Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'” Thus, everyone may pray. And everyone should pray. To begin with, prayer may be but humble desire, humbly expressed. It will have its reward, none the less. Let the supplicant continue to study divine Science, obtaining an ever increasing knowledge of God as Love, and Life, and Truth, as the divine Principle, good, and his prayers will gradually become more and more the affirmations of truth. He will soon come to understand the meaning of Mrs. Eddy’s words (Science and Health, p. 2): “Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness attains the demonstration of Truth.”

One of the most wonderful truths Christian Science reveals is the unchangeable nature of God, as Love. God is Love; and His entire creation is the reflection of Love; therefore, it is lovable and lovely. If mankind realized these spiritual truths with sufficient clearness, it would cease from sorrow, from sin, from all suffering. What can hasten the bringing of this about? Prayer, and prayer alone. Listen to our revered Leader’s words in “No and Yes” (p. 39): “True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us.” Think of it! Prayer is actually “the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us”! Hence, prayer can never harm another: reflected Love always blesses, always heals. Should not the very foundation of our prayers, then, be the understanding of God as Love? Whether they be those of humble desire or of more advanced spiritual understanding, they will then be a vitalizing agency; for Love is Life. To understand divine Truth is prayer. To live in accordance with the Life that is divine is prayer. To love by reflecting divine Love is prayer. The Christian Scientist whose prayer is the fervent desire to reflect God cannot possibly fail to receive God’s blessing upon himself and upon his work, humbly and scientifically done, for others.

Eternal Life

From the September 1, 1923 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel by

Christ Jesus was the great exponent and demonstrator of Life. It is true that his earthly career was brief; but throughout the whole of it he was unquestionably proving that Life is God and therefore indestructible. During the last three years, especially, he was continually demonstrating the powerlessness and unreality of those seeming forces which ultimate in the belief of death, thereby destroying sickness in all its forms and replacing sinful thoughts by his understanding of the perfection of the divine Principle, Life. Even the belief of death itself he was able to counteract, actually raising the dead, as in the cases of the daughter of Jairus, the widow of Nain’s son, and Lazarus. It was Jesus of Nazareth, the greatest demonstrator of Life of all time, who said, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. . . . For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” And the Son, the real or spiritual man, is the image and likeness of God.

Now, the question of the eternality of Life is one of the greatest importance to mankind; for mortals are to an extraordinary extent mesmerized by the belief that Life is limited and destructible. Many, as yet, are unaware of the Science of being, still unenlightened on the nature of God or Life; with the result that they live in constant dread of annihilation, or at any rate, in a perpetual state of uncertainty as to the future. This fear is one of the most prolific causes of disease and suffering; and it ultimates in the belief of death. What mankind is in need of is the truth about Life, the Science of Life; and this Christian Science gives in the fullest possible measure.

Christian Science declares that God is Spirit or Life, and that He is infinite. Hence man, God’s creation or offspring, must be spiritual and eternal; for the word “infinite” implies eternality. Mrs. Eddy states the truth very clearly on pages 289 and 290 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” when she writes: “Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit,—of Life, not of matter. Because Life is God, Life must be eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I am, the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.” The fundamental fact is that God is Life. Consequently, the entire spiritual universe, including man, reflects eternal Life. Man cannot possibly be separated from God, divine Life. Man is at-one with Life; has always been at-one with Life; and ever shall be.

It is an utter mistake, then, to think that something real has been lost when the material phenomenon of death seems to occur. The belief of death is but the outcome of materiality; the climax of material thinking and acting. The human race as a whole believes in nothing more strongly than that all must die. And the necessity of overcoming that racial belief gives Christian Scientists a great deal of the work they are called upon to do to-day. In many instances they are doing it with splendid courage; and it can safely be said that every declaration of the eternal nature of Life, and every denial, based on spiritual understanding, of the reality of death is bringing nearer the day when Paul’s words will be fulfilled: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

When a nation loses a distinguished son or daughter, it laments the loss; for it knows the value of virtue and moral courage; knows well world’s need of these. But it should not be without hope. Its vision should stretch beyond the “valley of the shadow of death” and rest in the eternal verities of Being. God is Love; and not a trace of that Love, which has been and continues to be reflected by man, can possibly be lost. After President McKinley had passed beyond human ken, Mrs. Eddy wrote to Mrs. McKinley: “He awaits to welcome you where no arrow wounds the eagle soaring, where no partings are for love, where the high and holy call you again to meet. ‘I knew that Thou hearest me always,’ are the words of him who suffered and subdued sorrow. Hold this attitude of mind, and it will remove the sackcloth from thy home” (Miscellany, p. 290). There is no reality in death; all that can be destroyed is a false sense of reality.

Sometimes one wonders what those may be doing whom we have “loved . . . and lost awhile.” Most assuredly, all the good they have known remains with them. After lamenting the demise of a Christian Scientist, the servant of God and man, he still lives, loves, labors” (Miscellany, p. 295). If, as a nation or as individuals, we lament the loss of some one we have respected and loved, it is well to remember that Life is eternal, and that man, as the manifestation of Life, can never cease to reflect Life’s activities.

Divine Help

From the May 20, 1922 Christian Science Sentinel by

What makes the Bible the beloved book it is to so many? Some there be, it is true, who read it for its literary beauty or historical lore; but the great majority are drawn to its sacred pages because they tell of God’s love and of God’s care for His children. After being driven before tempestuous winds over the rough sea of human life, how sweet to anchor in those calm havens of truth to which the Scripture-beacons guide, there to abide a while until we are inspired anew with courage to resume the voyage.

As soon as the truth began to dawn upon mankind that there is but one God, there sprang up in the hearts of men a faith which could be relied upon in times of trial. Faintly perceived at first, this truth gradually developed until God came to be known, not only as supreme over all, but as the One “altogether lovely,” altogether good. Isaiah, speaking with the authority of marvelous insight into the goodness of Truth, could say, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear,” thus declaring that God hears His children’s cry, be it ever so feeble, and can save at all times, because His hand is unlimited in power. The prophet in his own way was bringing home to the thought of mankind the facts of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. And did not Jesus, likewise, emphasize the ever protecting care of our Father-Mother, God, when he said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father”? God cares for His creation with infinite love, which is never for a moment relaxed. Too often, however, men either forget the fact or remain ignorant of it; and, in consequence, they fail to realize divine protection.

As Christ Jesus brought home to the receptive thought in his day the truth about the Father’s love and care, so Christian Science has reaffirmed his teaching to this age, and, in addition, has given the Science which underlay it. The nature of God is no longer subject to doubt. The divine nature has been revealed by Christian Science with perfect clarity. Throughout the whole of Mrs. Eddy’s writings the truth is told about God’s being, about His creation, man, and concerning the relation existing between God and man. The truth about this relationship shows it to have been established from all eternity; and that it remains fixed and perfectly upheld. What the weary and heavy-laden need is knowledge of this truth; because, whenever they gain something of an understanding of it, they begin to perceive how God is man’s helper, and how the beneficent relationship between man and the creator is sustained.

In this connection, it is helpful to remember that God is Mind. When God is known as Mind, one perceives that God’s creation must consist of spiritual ideas; for that is the manner in which Mind expresses itself. Thus, creation consists of spiritual ideas, infinite in number. These ideas, being the expression of perfect intelligence, are never in any danger. It is impossible to injure them in the slightest degree, because Mind is also the protecting Principle, Love. Man is the highest idea of Mind; and man comprehends all the lesser ideas. In virtue of this spiritual fact, man has dominion over all. When this relationship is understood,—and precisely as it is understood,—human beings obtain the mastery over so-called human conditions, and God is demonstrated as their helper. In Christian Science, one does not pray for material things; one seeks first “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;” and the need, whatever it may be, is met in accordance with the law of God. Mrs. Eddy, in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 307), has written: “God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.”

The words of Mrs. Eddy, just quoted, are brimful of truth. God, divine Mind, supplies man with His ideas, and these ideas meet man’s needs. But one must hold fast to the great spiritual facts of existence with unwavering faith, if one would prove their immediate availability. The world is crying out for relief, for healing from all manner of disease and sin. Every Christian Scientist should be a missionary proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation to mankind; and all should long to tell suffering humanity what the Christ, Truth, “which taketh away the sin of the world,” has done for them. After referring in “Unity of Good” (p. 3) to God as All-in-all, Mrs. Eddy writes: “Now this self-same God is our helper. He pities us. He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers. He is near to them who adore Him. To understand Him, without a single taint of our mortal, finite sense of sin, sickness, or death, is to approach Him and become like Him.” God, indeed, is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” That is what Christian Science is proclaiming to the world.

Devotion

From the Christian Science Sentinel, March 29, 1924, by

Every one who in a measure understands the teachings of Christian Science and is able to put them into practice, is deeply grateful. He can look back, possibly over many years, to the time when he was ignorant of the truth which divine Science reveals; and holding in memory his condition of thought at that time, contrast it with his present state of spiritual enlightenment. And what a contrast! It is as darkness to light. Even at the very beginning of his study, did not a great joy come to him? It seemed as if he had passed into a new life. It felt as if the old, harsh, material world, with its burdens of sorrow and suffering and care, were passing quickly away, and in its place there was as rapidly appearing the kingdom of heaven; and with the coming he was experiencing healing, healing of body and mind. The coming into Christian Science has been a truly wonderful experience for many. Should we be surprised that joy remains with them, and that their gratitude continues to well forth as from a perennial spring?

Many, very many, have had the experience just recited. But many also have found—indeed the majority have found—that after the first more or less prolonged period of exultation, there has followed a time of adjustment. Hardly anything can surpass the joy of knowing that the healing Christ, Truth, is as available now as it was in the far-off days when the Master demonstrated it. To be healed, perhaps of a so-called incurable disease, by the understanding of the Christ, to be relieved, perhaps of the crushing incubus of some sinful belief which had been gnawing at the vitals of one’s happiness, through the understanding and application of spiritual law,—these indeed are unparalleled experiences; but they are almost invariably succeeded by a period of adjustment. The healing of some specific disease or sin by no means indicates that the individual has worked out his entire salvation. That can only be said when the last material belief shall have been destroyed, when one knows the entirely spiritual nature of man and has demonstrated the fact.

To human sense it seems that a considerable way has to be traversed from the point where one first begins to apprehend the truth of being and the final ascension over all material belief. And it is during the transition period that devotion is most necessary. Every working Christian Scientist is living in that period now; and well he knows it. Mrs. Eddy defines the substance of devotion splendidly on page 241 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” when she says, “The substance of all devotion is the reflection and demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and destroying sin.” Day after day the Christian Scientist’s work is defined to him. It is to keep ever before his thought the truth about the divine Principle, Love, and to demonstrate its power in healing himself and his fellow-men. This is a great task, an heroic duty. No sincere Christian Scientist underrates it. The words of Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, to the woman of Samaria stand out ever before him: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Devotion is always necessary to accomplishment in any line of endeavor. It is especially requisite in the spiritual life. Great and high resolve must accompany it, for devotion is simply another name for consecration; and consecration is inseparable from prayerfulness,—the worship of the living God. Referring to the parable of the “ten virgins,” our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes in “Miscellaneous Writings” (pp. 341, 342), “We learn from this parable that neither the cares of this world nor the so-called pleasures or pains of material sense are adequate to plead for the neglect of spiritual light, that must be tended to keep aglow the flame of devotion whereby to enter into the joy of divine Science demonstrated.”

The question, then, of devotion is a most important one for every Christian Scientist, as Mrs. Eddy’s words, just quoted, make perfectly plain. And does she not lay her finger exactly on the temptations which all have to be on guard against,—those “cares of this world,” and “the so-called pleasures or pains of material sense”? Indeed, devotion resolves itself into a question of fidelity to God,—obedience to the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” And nothing is more certain than that the path of devotion cannot be pursued otherwise than through enlightened spiritual understanding. Courage, steadfastness, fortitude, patience, longsuffering,—all the graces of spiritual understanding are necessary. Paul’s words to the Galatians, written out of a greatly devoted heart, are surely worthy of remembrance: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

From the Christian Science Sentinel, February 1923, by

The One Primal Cause

From the Christian Science Journal, May 1922, by

There are few topics of greater importance than that pertaining to primal cause; and certainly an understanding of none of them can exceed in value for humanity a knowledge of the source or origin of all reality. The so-called human mind is constantly dealing with what are known as secondary causes and their effects. Thus, for example, it is said that an apple falls to the ground from the tree on which it grew because of the pull of gravity upon it toward the center of the earth, thereby making gravity the cause of the phenomenon. But as to’ the why and the wherefore of gravity there is only theorizing. Assuming that gravity has acted as in the case cited, gravity itself must be presumed to be the effect of an antecedent cause. Examples innumerable of a similar nature could be given to show that mortal thought is continually associating effects with what are certainly not primary causes, but phenomena which are themselves dependent upon some precedent condition.

Everywhere and in all generations, the question has been asked by inquiring men whether it will ever be possible to know anything at all absolutely certain about primal cause. Is it possible, they have asked, to know something of the Being who has originated or caused the universe with all its activities? The question has been solved neither by natural science nor by human philosophy. Natural science leads thought to the atom or the molecule or the electron, hypothesizing all the while; and leaves the inquirer there, wondering whither the next step will lead him. It is true that each step in the reasoning of the natural scientist appears to be less material than the preceding one, in that his latest theory renders matter apparently less tangible to the corporeal senses. But that is about the utmost that can be said for his position. Human philosophy, likewise, has never been able, definitely, to establish primal cause as self-existent, self-creative, understandable, demonstrable being. It has failed to distinguish between primordial divine Mind’s creation of spiritual ideas and the phenomena of the so-called human mind. That is to say, human philosophy has failed to distinguish between secondary cause (so called) and its phenomena and primal cause with its spiritual effects.

As soon as one commences the study of Christian Science he is carried straight to the beginning of things. He is not asked to contemplate the latest electronic theory of matter or to speculate on its possible relationship to the material senses; neither is he asked to follow the speculations of the various philosophical schools from or before Plato to the revolutionary teaching of Einstein as applied to modern philosophy today; rather is he brought at once face to face with the facts of real being, face to face with the primal cause of all reality, presented with statements of absolute Truth relating thereto. In other words, those who enter upon the study of Christian Science begin to learn the truth about divine Principle, which is at once the circumference and the center of being.

On page 275 of the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mrs. Eddy writes: “To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is;” adding thereafter, “All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God.” In these words the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science proclaims God to be the divine Principle of all real being, and that divine Principle includes in itself all cause and effect. Thus, Christian Science presents God in a different way to that in which He has been generally contemplated. It shows Him to be an undivided and complete unit, the Being who is in Himself all substance and all intelligence, who is eternal in that He never had a beginning and can never have an ending, the divine Principle who is everlastingly united with His own perfect creation of spiritual ideas, which are the only real effects in actual existence.

As the truth about divine Principle comes to be understood, the perfection of creation is discerned. Primal cause is perfect; the effect of perfect primal cause must likewise be perfect. And then there begins to dawn upon the student something of the nature of the marvelous beauty of creation, those perfect spiritual ideas which reflect the Mind from which they emanate. The earth-clouds of material sense begin to dissolve, and he looks forth upon “a new heaven and a new earth” over which is dawning the radiant light of spiritual understanding. As he continues to study, it is borne in upon him that much that had passed as truth to him before was nothing but the illusion of material sense, nothing but temporal, fleeting, false beliefs which were the inevitable result of reasoning from false premises about God. Mrs. Eddy sums up the position on page 286 of Science and Health in the words: “God’s thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human, involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the only cause, they lack a divine cause. The temporal and material are not then creations of Spirit. They are but counterfeits of the spiritual and eternal.” Or, as John states it in the third verse of his gospel: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John, like the great Master who taught him, had penetrated the mist of material sense to primal cause.

To know the truth about God as cause, and as the only real cause, is of inestimable value to suffering humanity, because it is only by knowing the truth about primal cause that one can distinguish between true effect and the counterfeit of true effect. The world is suffering grievously today from the false beliefs of disease and sin. Sufferers from these often put themselves under some one of the many and varied systems which are endeavoring to overcome these maladies. And each and all of the systems of healing in the world, with the exception of Christian Science, are acting upon the assumption that disease is a real effect of a real material cause, and that material cause is linked up to material effect by what is called material law. So long as such remains the mode of reasoning, just so long will the claims of disease persist in seizing and holding their victims. It cannot be otherwise; for, as Christian Science shows, every disease is the result of erroneous thinking, is indeed inseparable from that false thinking.

How, then, is the vicious spell to be broken? By turning to Truth. By the obtaining of an understanding of divine Principle as revealed by Christian Science. As this knowledge grows, men become better able to perceive the total difference between God’s perfect spiritual ideas and those false beliefs of the human mind which are called disease and sin. Our Leader writes: “There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause” (Science and Health, p. 207). Does evil or disease proceed from the one perfect, primal cause? Impossible! Then evil or disease can have no reality. It is, as Christian Science terms it, a false belief, an illusion, an unreal sense. The very fact that evil or disease can be healed or destroyed is proof of its unreality; for, surely, that only can be real, in the absolute sense, which is indestructible.

Every healing which takes place in Christian Science comes about through some understanding of the truth that primal cause is perfect Mind, that Mind’s creation, the spiritual universe of ideas, is as perfect as Mind itself, and that nothing imperfect, nothing inharmonious, nothing sinful, has any real being. Jeremiah apostrophized God in the words: “Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” Nothing too hard for Truth! Let the sufferer from the belief of sickness or sin turn to Truth, letting go his hold on the illusions of material sense, and he can prove for himself that nothing is too hard for Truth to heal.

The Power of God

From the May 1924 issue of the Christian Science Journal by

It can be said without much fear of contradiction that the great majority of mankind are oblivious to the power of God. They believe tremendously in the power of matter, in what they call the forces of nature, manifested, for example, in the electric current, gravity, and so forth; and those among them who are versed in so-called physical science are firmly persuaded that what mortals call matter has stored up in it incalculable power, which some day may be liberated and harnessed in the service of men. Many believe so strongly in the reality of matter and material power that they will hardly admit the existence of any power outside of matter. When one thinks of it, does it not seem extraordinary that such should be the case? Where does God come in; where does the power of God come in, with the majority of mankind?

It has to be said at once that the reason why the power of God is obscured to mankind arises from the fact that the so-called material senses take cognizance of nothing outside of their own finite range. Indeed, these same senses, with the so-called mind which mortals believe is informed by them, constitute what goes by the name of matter. Assume their destruction, or the destruction of the so-called human mind, and what becomes of matter? It vanishes. And so, viewed even from the standpoint of the human mind itself, matter is exactly what Christian Science declares it to be,—namely, that which the physical senses supposititiously evidence. Everybody knows how matter varies according to the conditions under which these senses survey it. It is one thing to the unaided eye; another to the eye which sees it through the microscope; quite another when viewed through the latest theories of the natural scientist, which declare it to be entirely electrical in its nature, something altogether unrecognizable by superficial sense-perception. But even then, all the deductions of the natural scientist upon which his theories are reared are based upon the data collected by the aid of the so-called physical senses. The point for the student of Christian Science is that matter is a subjective state of supposititious consciousness determined by variable sense-perception.

Now, there is a substantial universe altogether independent of the seeming universe of material sense. It is the spiritual universe, the universe of God,—the real universe. This real spiritual universe, which is cognized or known through spiritual sense, has been glimpsed by men, possibly from the beginning of human existence. The first touch of tenderness in the relationship of mother and father to child, of brother to sister, of neighbor to neighbor, betokened it. The first recognition of beauty in the dawn or the sunset, in the floweret or the running stream, bespoke its presence. Joy, happiness, courage, loving-kindness, mercifulness, gentleness, all told of the presence of the universe of Spirit; all alike tell of the universe of Spirit still. The feeling after the spiritual universe, the effort to discover it and its eternal laws have occupied the lives of the spiritually-minded in all ages; and in the Bible, more than anywhere else in literature, these discoveries are set forth. They are open for all to make their own. And pulsing through that wonderful Book with a throb that will not be stilled is the message of the creative power of God. “God hath spoken once,” says the Psalmist; “twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God;” and John has written, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Christian Science is the heir of the religious ages, in the direct line of the Christianity established by Christ Jesus. All that has ever been revealed of God and is recorded in the Old and New Testaments, Christian Science accepts as the truth. But it does more, far more, than that: it clarifies these records, showing the Science underlying the truth they reveal; and more than that still, it shows to mankind as never before what the real nature of God and His creation is. And because it does this, it also makes clear how the power of God can be utilized or made immediately available to men. Mrs. Eddy writes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 473): “The God-principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power.” Christian Science maintains that God is infinite, the one perfect Mind or Spirit; and that being so, He is everywhere present and has all power. Because Spirit is infinite, nothing really exists but Spirit. Therefore so-called matter is unreal; and there is in reality no material power,—no power in so-called matter.

The materialist may remark, What has been said may seem to be logical, but what about its practical value? What effect has the teaching of Christian Science on the lives of men? Is it helping them with the difficulties they encounter with the forces of nature,—hurricane, earthquake, pestilence, and such like? Is it enabling mankind to become better? Christian Science can truthfully return an affirmative answer to all such questions. Whenever one sees and acknowledges that God is All-in-all and that matter is unreal, he begins to have dominion over the hypothetical forces of matter, by whatever name they may be called; because, as he gains an understanding of God and keeps his thought in line with Truth, he is utilizing the power of God. As it is stated on page 102 of Science and Health: “Man, reflecting God’s power, has dominion over all the earth and its hosts.”

In no direction does Christian Science utilize the power of God more at present than in the healing of disease. How does it do this? In the same way as it annuls any other erroneous phenomenon of material sense, —by enabling its students to declare and realize the allness of Spirit and spiritual power. Since God, Mind, is All-in-all, and since there is no reality in matter, it follows that disease, which is of seemingly material origin, is likewise unreal. Thus the truth, which has behind it the power of God, is used to destroy the false belief of disease. Every one can prove the healing efficacy of Truth for himself. And what healing for humanity is contained in the definition of God to be found on page 587 of Science and Health: “God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence”! And why? Because it declares the truth about God.

Love is the liberator.