Through countless ages mortal man has been praying in some sort of way to God to provide his daily supplies, to meet his daily needs. All through the centuries he has said, O Father, send me food, clothes, the four walls of a house, heat, light, a bank account upon which to draw. And has God answered? Yes; sometimes the clouds of selfishness, pride, doubt, false ambition, and so on, have been cleared away for a moment through an instinctive though blind turning to the light, and the spiritual ideas of humility, unselfishness, trust, gratitude, love, have appeared in sufficient degree to meet the need. But because this has been only a blind application of a basic law, a momentary stumbling upon the energizing Principle of being and the universe, it has not brought the constant, positive, joy-giving solution to all our problems. Now if some one would make known to such people the Principle of all that is good, the law which only needs to be understood and applied in order to bring accurate, scientific results, would they not call this discovery even greater than the discovery of the law of gravitation which Newton saw in the falling apple? And yet at every new discovery the seat of the scornful has been crowded and the cry of "Away with him" has sought to stifle the message of Truth.
In the year 1866 Mrs. Eddy discovered this basic spiritual law, the very Principle of all being, which was applied so scientifically and intelligently by the Nazarene two thousand years ago, and the world is gradually awakening to the joyous fact that the loud cries of the persecutors did not succeed in drowning the still, small voice of Truth which was so positively and patiently uttering itself. On page 307 of "Miscellaneous Writings" she states the spiritual law, which when understood and correctly applied cannot fail to meet our daily needs. She writes, "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." She does not say, we notice, that if we pray long enough and loud enough God will send us food for our table, money to meet some pressing demand, or a house in which to live; for Christian Science teaches that God, being Spirit, does not work materially but spiritually. And right here is where mortal man rebels, for mortal sense would have God, infinite Spirit, know all about matter, and give out a few dollar bills, as it were. But surely, says mortal mind, we should trust our heavenly Father to give us all that we need. Yes; but even the schoolboy, learning the multiplication table, does not beg the principle of mathematics to give him the result of two times two hundred. He knows that if he carefully follows the rule of multiplication the correct result must appear.
If then God, Spirit, Mind, does not know about material conditions, how can we expect Him to help us? If God does not give us these daily supplies, what does He give His beloved child? That is just what Mrs. Eddy so plainly tells us in the sentence quoted,—"God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." Why, of course, God being Spirit, Mind, infinite intelligence, His gifts must be ideas, and those ideas necessarily spiritual. And then what happens? What can a man do with an idea, a spiritual idea? What does the inventor do when an idea comes to his thought? He expresses it humanly in the only manner he knows. In other words, that idea, or thought, becomes externalized and he sees before him what he calls a material object expressing his original concept. These "daily supplies" are, then, nothing more or less than the outward manifestation of a man's thought of supply, and in so far as these thoughts are spiritualized. perfection will be manifested. As material beliefs are replaced by spiritual ideas, a purer, holier expression of these ideas must appear as a witness to the goodness of God.
Mortal man does not readily admit that the experiences of his daily life are all the externalizalion of his own thought. A woman does not relish, at first, the statement that her home is a moving picture of her thought; for it does not seem overcomplimentary to view disorder, confusion, inharmony, lack, and so forth, in that light. Nor does the man whose business expresses delay, loss, lack, turmoil, inefficiency, at first enjoy the sound of that law of metaphysics, but the law holds good,—"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Mortal mind has so many excuses for it all,—so many other people to blame, so many unavoidable obstacles in the way; and yet, there it stands,—a law,—and what are we going to do with it? Shunning it will not solve the problem; laughing it to scorn will not heal the disordered business; disbelieving it will not bring about the joy of demonstration; nor will ignorance of the basic truth bring us the bliss belonging to that mental quality.
Now that humanity has awakened to a desire for higher things and is willing to reach out for spiritual ideas, which are said to be guides to our much needed daily supplies, how is one to find them and entertain them? How, for instance, can a man who must have money enough in the bank to pay the interest on a mortgage by the first of the coming month, find the God-sent spiritual idea which "in turn" (only "in turn," remember!) will pay the interest, prevent the mortgage from being foreclosed and the home lost? How he does fear this prospect (and fear is ever the result of ignorance), for the man is only beginning to find that understanding of metaphysical law which must automatically destroy the fears of ignorance.
Let us, therefore, find out just what interest is. One dictionary defines it as "payment for the use of money," as "something added in making a return." Oh, yes, mortal man knows all about this, for is it not necessary for him to make a payment in return for the money lent him on his house? But does he really know what interest is? Has he sought the spiritual idea of which this is only the counterfeit, the simulation? What is interest as seen through the eyes of the All-Father? Is it dollars and cents? Let us see!
God, Spirit, gives His children the warmth and shelter, protection and comfort, of infinite, unceasing, abiding Love. And what does He ask in payment, in return for this abundant outpouring of His rich all-supply? The interest He demands is gratitude, obedience, trust; a conscious, constant abiding in the house, the shelter, which He has given us. He asks us to acknowledge joyfully the gift of His love, to give Him the glory; for, surely, to give the credit for warmth and shelter and comfort to stone and mortar is worshiping the matter gods of the Amorites. Mind demands our instant, alert attention; demands the loving service of our thought surrendered to the divine will. This, then, is the interest we have to pay, this the bank account from which we draw. This, too, is the "check," which when indorsed by the loving hand of Truth, checks each wrong thought and word, and cancels all our debts to the Father.
Here we may ask ourselves if we cannot pay this interest, for, remember, it is the only interest with which we need to be concerned. If we still seem a little bit hazy or doubtful as to how these spiritual ideas (and many more which come to the individual, receptive consciousness) can bring our daily supplies, the only test is to try. The only way to find out is to begin. We must look away from the counterfeit, think not of the time or day on which this is due, but instead read our Leader's words on page 584 of Science and Health, namely, "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded." Let us replace those mortal concepts with spiritual, energizing ideas. Let us abide by this in spite of the scorn of mortal mind, and cling to those ideas until they, not ourselves, give us daily supplies. And then shall we also say with Mrs. Eddy (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 307): "What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the 'Peace, be still' to all human fears, to suffering of every sort."
