I HAVE been more and more impressed recently, in my study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's works, particularly Science and Health, with the thought of how very necessary it is for all Christian Scientists to gain some comprehension of the humanity of the man Jesus, in order to understand how to heal the sick, reform the sinning, and uplift and encourage the sorrowing. We are shown constantly that the divine must act upon the human to relieve the pressure of mortal mind; that present conditions along all lines of human experience must he bettered, and that God must be recognized as an ever-present help in time of need, no matter what that need may be. We learn that it is the present with which we are dealing, and the human need is health, goodness, and prosperity, now. The Revelator says, "Now is come salvation, and strength. and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ."
We are told that man reflects God, and if this is so,—and it is,—then man, God's idea, is expressed and is spiritual now. Even in the so-called physical realm God is All; and sin, sickness, and death—evil in its seemingly different expressions—are not real. The only thing which makes it appear that man is material or physical, even now, is the educated belief in the various forms of sin, sickness, and death, caused by the general sense that life is in matter and that evil is real. According to the teaching of Christian Science, man is neither structural nor organic—man reflects Mind and is mental. He has dominion—"he is lord of the belief in earth and heaven,—himself subordinate alone to his Maker." "The divine demand, 'Be ye therefore perfect,' is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable. . . . But the human self must be evangelized" (Science and Health, pp. 518, 253).
We are gaining some little conception of the divine Mind called God. We need to make this practical, and as we strive to express our concept of God, the divine must act upon the human. We do know, and we apprehend to some degree, that we are united to God, universal good, and can to some extent realize God's allness and nearness; and to our human sense of things it is necessary to prove this by reflecting here and now the qualities of the divine Mind that act upon the human and destroy the expression of discord seen in hate, jealousy, backbiting, and all uncharitableness; and to reflect good, earnest, human love that can "love thy neighbor as thyself."
