HOW often humanity, in its perplexity and its pain, has questioned thus: Is there a God? and where and what is He? Atheists have replied that there is none; while scholastic theology sometimes teaches that there is a God in heaven who permits evil for a wise purpose. Thus the human heart has cherished within itself atheistic and rebellious thoughts, or else it has cultivated a spirit of resignation to suffering that might legitimately have been avoided. Those who hold mistaken views of Deity alienate themselves from God's blessings in various ways and for differing periods of time, but human delusions have never altered the eternal facts concerning God, and when a ray of spiritual understanding penetrates the darkness of mortal belief, it is found that His idea, man, can never experience or express anything but good. What, then, it may be asked, is a mortal? Christian Science teaches that he is nothing more than the product of mortal belief, the temporal embodiment of false views concerning God and man, and when the understanding of Truth has caused these false views to disappear, the mortal must cease to be.
As God is not cognizable by the five physical senses, the question is asked, How is it possible to get into touch with the invisible and the intangible? Our text-book says, "God is seen in His reflection" (Science and Health, p. 300), and as neither time nor space nor false belief can wholly obscure the divine qualities, even mortals reflect these in a degree. To see God is to express good; to manifest order, love, harmony, health, and to exclude fear, vice, illness, worry. Christian Science teaches the control of thought, and gives us many a glimpse of "the glorious liberty of the children of God." It will be remembered that Jesus defined evil as a liar and father of lies, and it is as such that Christian Scientists are taught to combat the foe. The scientific elimination of evil, on the ground of its falsity, makes reform easier. Even the veriest criminal has daily proofs of God's presence, had he but the understanding needed to recognize and acknowledge them. In the first place, he may know that man does not live "by bread alone," but owes his existence to something higher than a material organism. Further, though the criminal has drifted into dishonest, mendacious ways, he yet possesses the metaphysical faculty of distinguishing between truth and falsehood; and whence comes this faculty, if not from God, who is the only source of truth and truthfulness? Finally,' even this low type of humanity may possess a spark of affection, which occasionally and somewhat to his own surprise glows unselfishly on behalf of some child, relative, or friend. Whence this spark? Is it not a glimpse of divine Love, gleaming even in the most darkened human consciousness and thereby leading it up to God?
Granted, then, the existence of a Being who is Life, Truth, and Love, we repeat, Where is He? David says, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Life, Truth, and Love are omnipresent and they are entirely harmonious in their operations. May we not, then, study the nature of spiritual dominion, and reflect its power on behalf of the sick and sinful, as Jesus did? Not the least subtle of the "liar's" suggestions is the oft-quoted one that "it is not meant we should understand;" yet surely the Scriptural promise, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," urges the quest of spiritual knowledge and promises freedom as the result of it. To gain a sense of Spirit's omnipresence is at once to add to it a conviction of Spirit's omnipotence. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and many others gained superhuman victories over evil, and the secret of such victories lay in their faith in good. During the centuries preceding the Christian era, the delusion of evil continued to hold general sway, because "Jehovah" was depicted as being of a revengeful and even cruel nature; but the prophets foretold the advent of one who should be called "Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
