In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.—Proverbs.
THE highest exponent and demonstrator of right thinking the world has ever seen was Christ Jesus, He lived in the realm of spiritual thought, was governed and controlled by it, and claimed no power or existence apart from it. The great secret of his life was his understanding of the fact that there is but one Mind, and that one infinite and good. This Mind he called "my Father, and your Father." He acknowledged no other mind, causation, or intelligence. He said that he came forth from the Father to do His will. Because of his implicit obedience to this Father he was hated, maligned, and crucified.
In the realm of metaphysics this signifies that he was thinking and expressing the thoughts of the one Mind, the thoughts of God, and because these thoughts were not in harmony with those of mortals, the latter cried out, "Away with him, crucify him." It also means this, that the only true thinker is the only true Christian; so that whoever would think right must seek to emulate the example of the Master Metaphysician, who thought only as God would have him think. Right thinking is synonymous with righteousness, and the wise man has said, "In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." The explanation of this Scriptural passage in the light of Christian Science is one of vital import to all Christians. To think right is to live; hence the conclusion that unless we know something of the Principle of correct thinking, we are not really alive or living, but are yet "dead in trespasses and sins." The Master's understanding that Mind is good only, gave him power to demonstrate God's omnipotence in the healing of sin and disease. Had he believed that sin and evil are endowed with intelligence and power to think and to act, in opposition to the will of God, he could not have performed the mighty works which he did. He looked upon evil as purely phenomenal, and not as an entity or power, and this fortified him to meet and destroy all of its false pretensions. Right thinking about God and man was the activity that did the work. The sentiment expressed by Thomas Carlyle found its perfect exemplification in the daily life of our Master, "A thinking man is the worst enemy the prince of darkness can have." The man who is indulging evil thoughts, or who believes that evil has power, is no real foe to the prince of darkness; he is little else than the unconscious agent of error in one form or another. This is one of the strongest and most practical points urged by Christian Science, that evil is no component part of the true thought-activity; that the one who accepts the evidence of the physical senses concerning evil is not thinking scientifically, is not the exponent of righteousness, and that he cannot accept Christ as Truth understandingly until his mistaken sense of evil as being endowed with intelligence and power is corrected. The honest acknowledgment that good is all-powerful, opens the door for the thoughts of God to find expression in individual consciousness, and in no other way can humanity approach the standard of right thinking and "draw nigh unto God."
