ENDURING qualities are found only in the divine Mind, the Mind of Christ; and in Christian Science we learn about the spiritual understanding of divine Mind and the constructive power that goes with it. Our Leader tells us that "this divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His creation, and the immortality of man and the universe" (Science and Health, p. 507). In the art which endures there are four primary factors, — simplicity, restraint, sincerity, consistency. All the classic forms possess these attributes, and it is reasonable to expect that these same features shall characterize true Science and true religion.
We are admonished in the second epistle to the Corinthians not to be corrupted from "the simplicity that is in Christ." The word simplicity means more than plainness or unaffectedness Scholars tell us that in the Old Testament it was translated from the Hebrew word pethe, meaning "openness to good." In his translation, Moffat renders the apostle's phrase as "single devotion to Christ." Another translator, taking his text from the original Greek, translates simplicity as "free from any foreign admixture," and these terms are often used to describe a character of uprightness and purity. The sense of the phrase "simplicity that is in Christ" may therefore be rendered as the pure truth that is in Christ. Undoubtedly this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Before Abraham was, I am."
Pure truth has always existed in the divine Mind, and its best human exponent was Christ Jesus, who by his thoughts, words, and works of healing proved that he understood its full meaning and the power that accompanies this spiritual understanding. No one characteristic was ever more accentuated by the Master than that of simplicity. In his sermons and in his acts excesses found no place. The impeccable style of his speech, the dignity of his conduct, the grandeur of his purpose, and the might of his deeds were all marked by the enduring quality of simplicity. He was truly unselfish, and herein is the secret of his ability to embody the fulness of the divine idea. Jesus denied the mortal sense; he declared Christ, the spiritual sense of being. By denying material sense he was able to express God, or good, and through his perpetual communion with the one divine Mind lie was able to manifest the fundamentals of spirituality and of true greatness.
