Divine Companionship

NO man can sever his individual interests from the common lot of humanity, nor dwell so apart from humankind as to remain wholly unaffected by the universal experience. For this reason, no life can be entirely isolated. That which Henry Drummond calls the “Alchemy of Influence” enters so largely into human affairs that its silent action tends to determine both individual and general development. Man’s relationship to his fellow-man affords such unmeasured opportunity to mould and modify thought, that it has ever been the means of promoting alike the wellbeing and misfortune, the joy and sorrow, of mankind. Noble purposes are fostered by an uplifting comradeship, while debasing and ignoble influences are suggested through an unworthy association.

Manhood owes its moral uprightness largely to the influences of youth, and can often trace its present integrity to the loving care and counsel which guided its early experiences into the way of righteousness. Unlimited opportunities for pure and wholesome association are likewise found in the companionship of good books. The perception of the ideal, as the world has received it through its great writers, fosters the pursuit of that ideal. The influences for good which spring from pure aspirations and actual living, have been sent far and wide by those men and women who possess the power to clothe uplifting thought with fitting expression. Such writings have ever been ennobling companions, and hours spent with them have borne fruit in exalted purposes and great deeds. Recognizing the value of companionship with all that is wholesome and true in human life, the conclusion follows that close association with the divine Mind must bestow to the degree it is sought and cherished, the supreme blessing. Because God has been conceived as dwelling in a distant heaven, He has seemed removed, as does a friend in a remote street or in a far city. This sense of distance prevents the possibility of a close companionship, and man, in his hour of need, often feels friendless and alone, because he knows not where to locate, nor how to find the “great Friend to all the sons of men.”

Christian Science has brought to the world the universal panacea for this sense of estrangement, in its revelation that every experience is a condition of thought. The association with a friend rests not in outward contact with the person, but rather in the mental recognition of the individual life and character. Daily contact with the personal Jesus gave to the prejudiced Pharisee no hint of the Christly nature so near at hand, yet to the discerning Christian in later centuries, that Christ has been an abiding Presence.

The real companionship with books extends beyond the study hour to the permanent mental association with the ideas set forth. One who has pursued such acquaintanceship, possesses its living reality in great and good thoughts, though he be separated from the volumes. In like manner, constant association with church and creed, ritual and ceremony, if it be only formal, yields no living companionship with the divine Presence, while the heart which quietly tries to obey the highest good it knows, is fed—perhaps unconsciously to itself—with “the bread of heaven.”

The Old and New Testaments ring with encouragement and glad promise, urging mental fidelity to God. In the book of Job it is said, “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” The book of Isaiah promises, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” Paul commands, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” and, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things,” and the Master crowns these admonitions with the benediction, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

A student of Christian Science has recently said, in speaking of the 91st Psalm, that dwelling in the secret place of the Most High means much more than visiting it in an occasional hour of need. The Psalm reads, “He that dwelleth… shall abide.” This demands a constant effort, rather than spasmodic attempts, toward companionship with God. Those who are learning the first lessons in Christian Science sometimes wonder why they are asked to keep continually in thought Bible texts and the statements of Science and Health. The value of persistent study is often questioned. “How,” they ask, “can reading a book, or repeating to one’s self its statements, destroy pain, or fear, or discouragement?” Because they do not understand they sometimes do not try, and so are left to wonder, for a time, why they have not been more quickly helped by Christian Science.

When the student perceives with sufficient clearness his own mental processes, he discovers that he is associating mentally, at each moment of the day, with something. Thought chooses, at each instant, the mental picture with which it shall associate, and in no waking hour is the action of thought discontinued. The tendency of the human mind to drift with every suggestion arising from condition or environment, can be checked only by the determined and active purpose to choose the companionship of good thoughts. Sir Philip Sidney has said, “They are never alone that are accompanied by noble thoughts.” Can nobler thoughts be found, than those which ring through the statements of the Bible and the Christian Science text-book, —thoughts which attest the absolute power and presence of God? If a loved friend can speak a word which will soothe and comfort, cannot the Word of God declare itself to the utter destruction of all things discordant? Spiritual thoughts, if chosen as living companions, must crown righteous effort with victory, and assert their beneficent influence in peace and healing.

No assurance of protecting companionship is more beautiful than that found in the 34th Psalm: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Science and Health defines “Angels” as, “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality” (p. 581). Unquestionably, such thoughts, encamping “round about them that fear him,” must loosen the bonds of fear, erase the stain of sin, unclasp the fetters of pain and discouragement, and “wipe away all tears.”

When he who calls himself a Christian Scientist stands faithfully at the gateway of consciousness; refusing to associate mentally with the myriad suggestions of evil entertaining no thoughts save those which are guests from God; cherishing only such memories and purposes as are laden with blessing; choosing no other companion than the Christ-Mind which he finds reflected in his fellow-man and in himself, then, and only then, is he worthy the name he bears. Then is he “entertaining angels.” Then can he know the joy of that divine companionship defined by Jesus. “If a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”