It would be difficult to find a more concise, and at the same time comprehensive, statement of the teachings of Christian Science, and the aspirations of Christian Scientists, than is found in these four concluding words of Isaiah, 60:19.
What does it mean that our God should be our Glory? Jesus tells us to glorify God, or to do all to the Glory of God, and the Bible is full of allusions to God's glory. Can we imagine either sin, sickness, or death as in any way contributing to God's glory, or as in any sense a part of it? One of Webster's difinitions of Glory is, "The presence of the Divine Being," and when we think of glory even in our little conception of it, we think of something incomparably beautiful and bright, something to attract and make glad. Can the man who is racked with pain be said to be glorifying God, that God of whom the Bible tells us?
What is our God but that to which we "yield ourselves servants to obey" as Paul says? We cannot glorify the "One God" if we are admitting that there is something else more powerful to which we must, or desire to, yield obedience. Neither the man who is suffering from pain or remorse, nor the conscious sinner can be bright or happy. Joy and evil can no more mingle than can fire and water.
The God of whom Isaiah speaks is so gloriously bright that even the brightness of the sun is as nothing in comparison, for in the same verse we read, "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light;" and in Revelation, 21:23, we read, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it." Is it likely that the God spoken of here could be the author of sin or disease,—of all the myriad discords to which mortals seem to be subject?
There is one point in regard to Christian Scientists on which practically all their opponents are agreed, and that is, that they have the brightest faces of any class of people. Why is this? Is it not because in an especial sense their
God is their glory, that they have but one desire and that is to express in their lives the brightness of perfect harmony?
There is no night to the Christian Scientist, because his God is his light, a never-failing light, not dependent on any physical conditions or surroundings, and of which no physical conditions or surroundings can deprive him. What if darkness does seem to cover the face of the earth, the Scientist knows that his God is with him, "keeping watch over his flocks by night," even as by day, for the darkness and the light are alike to God. No matter how dense the clouds may seem, the light is always shining, and whether he sees it or not, he knows it is ever there. The light is real and therefore must endure forever, but the clouds are unreal and so are fleeting. Is not all this simply another way of saying that "God is all"?
Christian Scientists are constantly seeking for light on the problems of life, well knowing that in proportion as they receive light,—understanding,—in just that ratio will uncertainty and doubt disappear. Doubt and fear are products of darkness, but with "light" comes the understanding of what to do, and comes also the conviction that one can "see his way" as we often hear it expressed.
What can one have that can be compared to understanding, or what is there that can take its place? Solomon said, "With all thy getting get understanding," and when all is glory or brightness before us what can be lacking? Can we admit for an instant that sickness, sin, suffering, poverty, or any discordant condition can possibly be a part of the life of a man who really has a practical understanding of the true Principle of Being or Life? Can a man be poor who understands what and where is the source of all Good? Was Peter poor when he could give to the beggar at the "Beautiful" gate of the temple the power to walk, which millions of money could not have given him? He asked for and expected money, but could any material alms have given him the pleasure that the restoration of his power to walk gave?
Do we not all still measure wealth too much according to the old standards, and think that "wealth" means simply money? Wealth is fulness, richness, and who has the most fulness and richness of life, the man who has millions of money and yet is a hopeless cripple, or the one who has few dollars perhaps, but has health, activity, and an understanding of God that enables him, even though in small measure, to do the works which Peter was able to do?
Can the man who is honestly trying to see God, or infinite Good as the reality of existence, do otherwise than live uprightly in all ways? What would the world seem like if each individual in it were conscious that God—Good—was his glory, that his every action and thought must be such as would actually glorify the one infinite God? If a man's whole ambition in life were so to live that God, the all-wise Creator of the universe, should be, in a sense, glorified in him, could envy, jealousy, malice, or sensuality possibly find expression? They could not be expressed because there would be no starting-point for them. Actually to live to the glory of Good would simplify the whole scheme of life, and put evil of every kind entirely out of the consciousness of man.
In the past we have put God far away. All these good things promised in the Bible were for us, a long time hence and in some unknown place vaguely styled "Heaven," but in the light thrown on the Bible through the teachings of our text-book, Science and Health, written by our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, we are learning that we have a right to look for the fulfilment of these promises right here on earth.
In Ezekiel, 43:2, we read that the earth shined with the glory of the God of Israel, and Isaiah tells us,4:5, the glory shall be a defence upon all, or a covering above all,—here we see that God's glory has a real practical value for us,—and again, 40:5, we are told that all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord. Farther on Isaiah tells us, 43:7, that man was created for God's glory. Then are we claiming too much when we say that man should so live as actually to be a glory to God?
In Numbers, 14:21, God is represented as saying through Moses, "but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." David tells us that the Lord of Hosts is the King of glory, that God is our salvation and glory, and that the glory of the Lord shall endure forever. Job says, 40:10, "Array thyself with glory and beauty." Solomon in one of his proverbs tells us that "the wise shall inherit glory," and finally, and in the nearness and directness of its application most strongly of all, Jesus says, John, 17:22, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them." To a Christian Scientist "them" does not mean simply a few who came in personal contact with Jesus, but all who truly and practically obey his commandments.
Then may not each one of us, from the least to the greatest, feel that he is a part of God's glory just in so far as he lives a life which in its fulness and richness and purity will redound to the glory of Good?
