Many have been comforted by the reassuring and oft-quoted words from Revelation, "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." Surely there is no more eagerly expected or more joyfully accepted statement than this message, announcing to the tortured sense with the tone of conviction, "Now is come salvation, and strength." Those who have experienced the benediction of healing in Christian Science can never forget the peace that passeth all understanding, which was theirs as the result of consecrated activity of thought, the prayer of the righteous man. So impressive is this experience that when the door is once opened no man can shut it, and in the grateful heart the desire is born for more of light, for the gain of understanding, to reach if possible that height of spiritual apprehension which enables one to become a transparency for the light of Truth, a channel for the streams of Love, so that they may bring to others the blessings of joy and salvation.
Here the question arises, How can this be accomplished,—how can we gain this assurance of salvation, and what are the steps that lead to the establishment of the kingdom of God in the heart, the preparation for ministry of the power of God and His Christ? The revelator answers this when he says: "The accuser of our brethren is cast down." Does this mean, as some have understood it, in conformity with the popularly accepted theory of the historic church, that somewhere there is an accuser, an advocate of evil, some mystical personality called Satan? Is the revelator speaking of events which are actually to transpire in the future? When all mankind have risen from their graves, will this enemy appear to accuse our brethren before God? This thought readily expands into an awful scene of universal judgment, a world judgment where all receive their reward both for evil and for good; and that then, when the accuser has completed his arraignment, the kingdom of God will be installed and the power of His Christ be universally established; but when this picture of a remote and perhaps altogether imaginary day of future justice is more carefully scrutinized, it is found that it in no way agrees with what Jesus said about God and His kingdom. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you," which Mrs. Eddy amplifies as meaning that it is within our reach,— not in the future, but as "a present possibility" (Science and Health, p. 574).
Jesus taught that God is Spirit, and that His law is ever-operative, and Christians in general, together with some other religionists, have practically accepted Mrs. Eddy's statement concerning Deity, namely, "that all is Mind, and that Mind is God, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience,—that is, all power, all presence, all Science" (Science and Health, p. 275). Omniscience has no need for an accuser; if such services were included in the divine economy, this specially appointed activity, instead of being cast down, would receive recognition for its valuable assistance. If the accuser is cast down, his activity must be regarded as baneful, not helpful, a hindrance to the universal establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, "as it is in heaven," and never tending to its furtherance. According to Jesus and his apostles, this accuser, far from being a mythical personage, must be sought in the realm of false mentality. Jesus said, "Judge not;" also, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." To the Romans Paul writes, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." The words of the psalmist also, "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him," become clearer when we understand them to convey the idea that personal judgment is no help to the offender, as it is an admission in our own thought that evil has and can have power to interfere with the decisions of Truth.
