If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right: he shall surely live.— Ezekiel, 33:15,16.
WE are told in the Christian Science text-book (p. 497) that we are to take the inspired and inspiring Word as our guide, and it may be said also, that in so far as we do take this Word of God, the spiritual significance of the Bible, as our guide, in so far as we do trust and rely on the promises of God as personal messages to us, in that degree are we loyal to Truth,— Christian Scientists. The Bible teems with statements such as that quoted above, from Ezekiel, but for the most part they have been but a dead letter, and for the reason that they have not been regarded as expressing the operative laws of God, divine Mind, which are quite as accessible to humanity now as they were centuries ago. These clear statements of divine law would still remain a dead letter, but for the spiritual understanding awakened in humanity through the ministry of Christian Science, which teaches that the true interpretation of Scripture is verified to human consciousness by practical demonstration; that God means exactly what He says, and that He is what He declares Himself to be,—a very present help in trouble.
Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." "All these things" include health, harmony, joy. and peace, and if we have these what other desirable thing can we lack? Nothing could be added that could possibly augment our harmony and tranquillity; nothing could possibly increase the joyfulness of joy, or magnify the calm composure and blessed satisfaction of peace. Seeking God's righteousness consists in striving to do right ourselves, and the understanding of God gained through the teachings of Christian Science proves to us in a demonstrable way that sin and sickness are overcome by honest efforts to think and act righteously or rightly. These words of Jesus voice a divine law. unchangeable and immutable, and the promise is to those only who first seek the kingdom of God. Material sense will argue that evil may sometimes result from doing right, but this is declared to be false in many of the statements of Jesus, notably those declaring that a fountain cannot send forth at the same time sweet waters and bitter, and that a house divided against itself must fall; and Christian Science is also proving this claim of error to be untrue.
