The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, states, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Throughout the centuries of Christian history, as through the greater part of the history of the early Jews, the Scriptures have ever been of wonderful import and of vital significance to every devout truth seeker. To him they contain the Word of God to man, and his earnest effort has always been to gain a clearer, better, and more comprehensive understanding of their real, practical teachings. During all these ages, prayers unnumbered have been offered to God, by multitudes of men and women, for the unfoldment of the Scriptures to their understanding, and in a measure these prayers have always been answered.
The great Teacher of mankind, Christ Jesus, said to his followers, "Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me," and on another occasion, in speaking of this "me," he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." It is evident, then, that the Scriptures teach what all are seeking, "the way, the truth, and the life," and we are bidden to search and find, with the promise, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; ...For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth."
Our own revered Leader of this day, in her work "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," on page 109 refers to her discovery of the Science of Mind-healing and its application to human affairs, and in this statement she bears unequivocal testimony to the supreme value of the Bible. To-day the song of gratitude which springs from the lips of the joyful thousands healed of every manner of disease, through the loving ministration of Christian Science, is sincere, selfless, and triumphant, and in ever-repeated strains it tells of the new revelation of the spiritual teachings of the Scriptures as gained through the careful and systematic study of its text-book. Of old, Christ Jesus "opened ... the scriptures" to those, "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken," and in this day the impersonal Comforter—Christian Science—is revealing again to the receptive, though still "slow," heart the marvelous glory and power of the Word of God.
It sometimes happens that people who are healed through Christian Science, forget in a few months or years that they were ever ill. Like the nine lepers who were healed over eighteen centuries ago, some go on their way rejoicing, and neglect to give thanks to the divine Principle which healed them, but not so with the one to whom a new spiritual apprehension of the Scriptures has come, for this experience lives and unfolds daily, ever urging the seeker on to clearer and brighter views. It is the unanimous verdict of Christian Scientists that the more constantly and carefully Science and Health is studied with the Bible, the more beautiful and practical become the Scriptural teachings. This study must be of the heart, as well as the head, and when it is, new blossoms of divine loveliness and goodness are ever appearing, and who that beholds one of these blossoms has not rejoiced with a joy that angels alone can comprehend. He who drinks of this new wine, does indeed drink with Christ in the Father's kingdom. It is not the wine of intoxication, for self has become silent; it is the inspiration of divinely enkindled zeal and gratitude, expressed pressed in a holier and purer life.
History records that along all lines of human progress, with every effort to get nearer to Truth, the human mind has at first rebelled at the advancing step demanded, and its attitude is not different in any degree toward the higher interpretation of the Scriptures. The fact that this interpretation is to help mankind to a better sense of harmony does not at once change its attitude, for the light that is in it is darkness, a darkness which is incomprehensible, and until this darkness is felt as such, little change is possible. The human mind has strayed so far from the truth through false education, false premises, and illogical deductions that when a new statement of truth is presented it ignorantly declares it not true, only later to finally accept it, and rise to a higher level.
One simple illustration of this opposition to truth is the familiar story of Galileo, who, in accordance with the Copernican doctrine, advanced the theory of the earth's revolution rather than that of the sun, and was compelled to recant his statements or forfeit his life. Such a theory was antagonistic to the authority of the Scriptures, which at that period, we are told, were supposed to teach the sun's revolution around the earth. The simple truth voiced by him and virtually rejected three hundred years ago, is to-day an accepted fact, and the human mind is, to that extent, leavened by a clearer sense of the truth. Thus through the ages truth has always been at work in every avenue of thought, bringing out better conditions, and that individual or nation which welcomes the truth, and has the most of it active in thought, is the one nearest to God, and is therefore the one most harmonious and prosperous. From this it follows that when divine Truth is recognized by the human mind, as the one power, universal salvation will be an established fact.
When we accept the Word of Truth, results prove that the Scriptures are true. It is not, however, to be supposed that this Word is at peace with the world's sense of it, for Isaiah says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Christian Science teaches that an impassable gulf always exists between truth and falsity, and that it can never be bridged over, but is to be done away by the overcoming of mortality (falsity) with immortality (truth), by the substitution of the true, or Christ-like concept for the erroneous concept. The modus operandi of this immense undertaking is clearly defined in Science and Health, wherein the human mind is taught that God cannot be like mortal man, because God is divine Principle, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," therefore unchanging, infinite, and altogether perfect, but that the human mind must learn to think only as Truth thinks,—to think truly, and thereby become God-like.
As right thinking begins to replace wrong thinking, many Biblical passages which hitherto seemed inexplicable, become as beacon-lights to the wayfarer, and this accounts for the fact that large numbers, who, prior to gaining an understanding of Christian Science, had laid aside the Bible as contradictory, unintelligible, and hence useless, have now wiped the dust from its covers, and made it a daily companion which instructs them in the "way of life."
When we remember the impossible endeavor to reconcile the two Scriptural statements,—that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and, "Whom the Lord loveth he chastened,"—the simple explanation that Christian Science brings to this theological difficulty causes the weary thought to cease its sighing, and with refreshed energy to seek further unfoldings. It is natural to question: Since God is too pure to behold iniquity, how can He punish man for doing that which He is too perfect to behold When a child first begins the study of music, his mind is usually a complete blank regarding the rules of harmony, and discord seems as natural as concord, if not as pleasing. The teacher begins by instructing him in the various notes, their sound, and their relationship to one another, until little by little his lack of appreciation of harmony is displaced by a more correct sense, and there follows, as a consequence of this change, a dislike of discord and a greater and keener desire for concord. Gradually the law governing notes becomes the law governing his thought, and this process continues until harmony is the one governing thought, and in proportion recognized discord becomes repellant.
The average individual, when he first learns of Christian Science, understands God as little as the child, beginning the study of music, understands the laws of harmony. "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." It is plain, then, that an educational work must needs be undertaken, for God's kingdom cannot come on "earth, as it is in heaven," until God is understood and obeyed as the one infinite, intelligent Principle, governing and guiding His entire universe. God's law must be known as earth's law, and God's will must be earth's will.
The leavening of this earthly thought differs from other educational processes only in being wholly spiritual. As truth dawns in human consciousness, the mortal recognizes, in a degree, his distance from it. At first his sense of truth is limited, but however limited, however infinitesimally small this sense may be, it is still the only sense of Truth he has, and therefore it is to this sense of God that he rightfully looks for guidance, and God does guide him, uncovering and rebuking the sins of human belief, until they are utterly destroyed. Just as the law governing the formation and sequence of chords must be learned and assimilated by the pupil in music in order to become a proficient performer, so the law of God, divine Principle, must become the basis of thought in order that harmony may be ever present. As this law becomes operative in the human mind, the individual sense of God, good, grows consciously, and unrighteousness, wrong thinking and acting, gives place to righteousness, right thinking and acting. Day by day unrighteousness becomes more odious, and unless replaced with righteousness, the chastening increases, for we are assured that, since God is omnipresent, no one can escape the demands of His law.
We thus perceive that it is the individual sense of good which chastens every thought not in accord with good, even as the pupil's sense of harmony chastens the discordant tone till it is corrected hence the impossibility of escaping the consequences of error, and the utter uselessness of appealing for forgiveness until true reformation is an established fact. When true reformation displaces error there is nothing further to forgive, for mortality is then swallowed up in immortality, and our God is too pure to behold iniquity.
This knowledge brings to the Christian Science student the broadest charity. Who would judge or condemn another when that one cannot escape the "uttermost farthing"? Rather should pity, and an intelligent desire to help, supplant any condemnation, for does not each individual know from actual experience that there is no escape from wrong but in right? This also teaches the wisdom of allowing each one to seek God in his own way. since the awakening will finally come to all, and the Bible and Science and Health will bring about that awakening in God's own way, with the least possible disturbance, and consistent individual growth will be the result.
In the journey to be taken, the traveler may find the road at times long and wearisome, and if not careful he is liable to listen to an insidious suggestion lurking by the pathway, which would have him believe that, before it is possible to advance, a perfect understanding of the spiritual sense of the Scriptures must be gained. This is apt to produce an abnormal sense of discouragement and depression, and that fear and inactivity which is inimical to steady progress. The absurdity of such an error is at once apparent, for the Scriptures themselves affirm through the prophet Isaiah that, "precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little and is it not axiomatic, that every branch of learning requires constant, earnest effort on the part of the student? It cannot be different along the lines of spiritual learning. It is well for us to remember the old saying. that "Rome was not built in a day." It is equally true that a musician is not made in an hour, and neither can the complete spiritual understanding of the Scriptures be obtained in a year, or even in many years. When we accept the guidance of the Bible on our way to "eternal life," we should exercise the utmost patience and application in searching for and gaining the desired inspiration, which is "eternal life." Men are patient in seeking for knowledge along material lines, and how much greater patience should be expressed in striving for even a degree of the understanding of the Science of being which the Scriptures clearly contain.
To reach perfection, we are told that every thought must be brought "to the obedience of Christ," of Truth; but because we recognize this as the goal, and are earnestly striving therefor, surely it is no excuse for condemning either ourselves or others, because of present lack of attainment. Christ Jesus did attain perfection; it is therefore attainable, as he emphatically announced, by all who follow in his footsteps. This problem is individual, and cannot be accomplished by one for another, any more than can music or mathematics be learned by a substitute. Its attainment requires the same consecration and indefatigability that must obtain to insure success in any undertaking of value, never can it be accomplished through discouragement or indolence. The effort, then, of the individual must be to bury the past, with all its failures, sicknesses, sorrows, and mistakes, and, beginning anew, with the Bible and its Key, the Christian Science text-book, for his guides, to govern his life accordingly, for thus, and thus only, can the spiritual understanding of the Scriptures be gained and their power be practically demonstrated.
Thus shall we see that our spiritual understanding of the Scriptures is certainly in proportion to the battle fought and the victory won,—the carnal mind displaced with the Christ-mind.
Leave God to order all thy ways,
And trust in Him whate'er betide;
Thou'lt find Him in the evil days
An all-sufficient strength and guide.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love,
Builds on the rock that naught can move.
