WE are told in Matthew's account of the cleansing of the temple, that after Jesus had cast out "them that sold and bought," "the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them." The healing is described as following immediately upon the cleansing, and thus a lesson is conveyed to every practical Christian. Mortal mind would try to make "a den of thieves" out of "the house of prayer," but spiritual Science expels this nefarious traffic, this bartering in holy things, and this perverting of innocence. Then it is that the needy ones, the blind and the lame, instinctively come to the temple to be healed by the Christ-power.
In Science and Health ( p. 142) Mrs. Eddy says, "The strong cords of scientific demonstration, as twisted and wielded by Jesus, are still needed to purge the temples of their vain traffic in worldly worship and to make them meet dwelling-places for the Most High." How then prepare for the healing work, except by this temple cleansing? How maintain the requisite readiness to be about the Father's business, except by the daily and hourly process of purifying thought ?
Now this temple which mortal mind seeks to soil with the sordid trappings of greed and false desire, what is it, metaphysically considered? Here again Mrs. Eddy gives the needful explanation which enables the practical Christian Scientist to carry out this all-important work of temple cleansing. In the Glossary of the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," we find the following spiritual interpretation of temple: "Body; the idea of Life, substance, and intelligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of Love" (p. 595). How busy is the carnal mind in its endeavor to falsify the true idea of body and thus turn it into "a den of thieves"! It argues that body is wholly material, that it has its origin in dust and must return to dust ; that it is controlled by material laws, so called, which would rob it of health and harmony and constantly expose it to the attacks of disease or accident. Prevalent theories would render body helpless in the face of the elements, or at best involve it in a losing battle against them.
Again, the carnal mind scouts as visionary the metaphysical concept of temple, as "the idea of Life, substance, and intelligence," trying to pretend that life is in matter and partakes of matter's vicissitudes and fluctuations; that substance is not Spirit or Mind, but is matter itself; that intelligence is located in brain and dependent on the size, position, or contour of that physical organ. Moreover, the carnal mind repeats incredulously the question "What is truth?" Is there any absolute truth at all, and if there is, has it any superstructure; that is, can anything stable be based upon it? Christian Science proves that truth is substantial, ever present; that God is infinite Truth. The superstructure of truth is therefore that which is reared upon a divine basis, upon God as the Principle of all real being.
Not long ago, some one said to the writer that Christian Scientists seem so sure of what they believe, "whereas I," he continued, "seem to be more uncertain about everything the older I grow." The Christian Scientist who diligently cleanses his concept of the temple, finds all that is based upon truth growing clearer and surer, attaining more majestic proportions, becoming more beautiful, more precious, more genuinely cherished day by day. For such a one experiences of sorrow, betrayals by false beliefs, losses of material possessions, so called, serve only to emphasize the indestructible nature of truth and to prove its superstructure to be firmly fixed.
Further, to the carnal mind, "the shrine of Love" is a mystery. The false mortal mind that knows no truth cannot understand Love which is divine. It desecrates this shrine by picturing love either as merely sentimental or as wholly animal. Christian Science, by its teaching that Love is Spirit and not matter, leads mankind through purified affections and human footsteps by way of the renunciation of a perverted and enslaving sense of love to that purely spiritual sense of love which characterized the healing and saving ministry of Christ Jesus, and which finds expression today in the redemptive work of Christian Science. This Science keeps clean our concept of the temple defined as "the shrine of Love," and opens the gates to "the blind and the lame," the sorrowing and the desperate, the repentant and the weak,—in a word, to suffering and weary, sin-haunted humanity.
Was not this the Science practised by Peter and John, the Science which enabled them to heal the lame man who lay stricken "at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful"? Is not this the Science which is today repeating the healing works of Bible times among modern men and women? Is not the cleansing of the temple as necessary today as it was then? And will it not prepare the human consciousness as efficaciously now as then for the saving and healing functions of true Christianity?
Christian Science, as its name denotes, is a definite and demonstrable understanding of Truth, and not merely a belief about Truth. It does not stop at a desire for wisdom, but is wisdom itself. Hence both the acquisition of Christian Science and its practice repose upon and proceed from Principle. The work of cleansing human consciousness is scientific and exact, not fortuitous or haphazard. It involves the knowing of the truth,—the truth about God, man, and the universe.
As soon as the question "What is God?" presents itself, various false notions clamor for recognition. They come from the remote recesses of false theology, conventional ecclesiasticism, or uncorrected philosophy. They bear the mark of ignorance, fear. If their validity were admitted, they would effectually bar man from entering in at the gates and prevent him from ever cleansing the temple. Such prevalent notions depict a god who creates both evil and good, who distributes his punishments and favors according to some inscrutable plan or according to no plan at all, and who is always a god "afar off," mysterious and threatening.
For this materialistic and mistaken conception Christian Science substitutes the comforting and logical recognition of God as wholly good, hence as the author of good only, never of evil. It explains God as Principle, operating through law, never through favoritism. The truth about God proves Him to be perpetually reliable, ever active in good, never weary in well-doing, and never producing or permitting evil in any form. This right understanding of God naturally attracts all who desire good,—and who does not?
From this basic realization of a good God, Christian Science derives its definition of man as good. Public opinion classifies man as a mixture compounded of good and evil. It admits the evidence of physical sense concerning man as conclusive, and does not prick the bubble of this misrepresentation with the needle of spiritual discernment. The general belief about man would make his prospect of harmony hopeless indeed, would project him into a cataclysm of contending forces, and subject him to the interplay of conscienceless influences whose final effort must inevitably cast him off into the void of annihilation.
Christian Science, like the good Samaritan, comes to the human consciousness bruised and terrified by the robbers of misrepresentation, binds up its wounds, and restores the stricken sense by the understanding of man's wholly spiritual nature and safety. In Science and Health (p. 162), Mrs. Eddy writes: "Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth."
In the same way, Christian Science neutralizes the false supposition that the universe of God's creation is material and subject to decay and dissolution. The truth concerning God's universe is that it partakes of His character, follows His nature and not that of a supposed opposite ; that it is spiritual and not material. On this basis only, can we gain an understanding of Jesus' perfect dominion over the forces of nature and his control over the seemingly irresistible laws of material disintegration. If the true universe is spiritual and its laws are spiritual, emanating from God, Spirit, then mankind can approach the comprehension of Christ Jesus' acts in stilling the storm and walking on the waves, but not otherwise.
The cleansing of the temple brings strange misconceptions out from the corners where they have been lurking. Much rubbish is swept into the light, to be rejected as valueless or positively unclean. False or meretricious ornament, skimped work, hidden pretensions of every kind are laid bare by this searching and cleansing from which no evil thing can escape. Thus it is sometimes possible for a conscientious man or woman, working under the rules of Christian Science, to sweep away in one day's experience the evil accumulations of many years. Indeed, the lives of Christian Scientists attest the power of right thinking to turn and overturn, as Ezekiel declares, "until he come whose right it is." The Christian Science organization manifests this purifying activity. Its churches are not formed by self-satisfied people who feel that their work is over. Persons cannot take refuge in Christian Science in order to avoid the necessity for further self-immolation or self-sacrifice, but rather in order to learn how to put away self more effectually and to enter into the joys of true self-abnegation. Only through persistent devotion to right ideals can that temple be realized and kept clean "whose builder and maker is God."
The method of temple cleansing calls for careful analysis. There must be sufficient spiritual understanding to enable one to distinguish evil from good, to draw the line of demarcation between the genuine and the spurious, and Christian Science supplies this understanding. It should therefore be understood that no mere prying into the sweepings of the temple will bring about the much needed results. No mere knowledge of evil, however minute and elaborate, can in and of itself arm the Christian with the courage and wisdom to transform "a den of thieves" into "the house of prayer." Speaking of mental temple building, Paul says that "every man's work shall be made manifest: . . . because it shall be revealed by fire;" and he goes on, "for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
When the apparently intricate processes of evil are first exposed to the student of Christian Science, the temptation sometimes comes to believe that the knowledge of evil will destroy evil, but he duly learns that it is the understanding of good which is the active, positive power. This supplies the strands out of which the strong cords are woven which overthrow and cast out evil. While, therefore, we watch lest any good should be swept out of the temple under the false impression that it is evil, or any evil be retained under a mistaken sense that it is good, yet under all circumstances it must be remembered that a knowledge of error can at most only act as a preparation for the destruction of error through the power of good. It is always the presence of infinite good that destroys evil and purifies the temple of consciousness.
