The utility of oil is either to prevent or overcome difficulties. Oil is a decidedly needful element in human endeavor, in manufacture, in motive power, in lighting and heating, in nearly every activity that human invention has devised. Its distinctive characteristic may be classified as service. With this attributive quality is it aligned in sacred use. In Hebrew history we find it classified in religious rites and law, to be employed distinctively in the ceremony of consecration for kingly and priestly office in God's service. Many instances of such dedication are recorded in the Scriptures. The word itself is associated with joy, gladness, abundance, and spiritual value, all through Holy Writ. It is a metaphor that abounds in the Bible. The psalmist in his description of the majesty and grace of the Messiah sings, ''Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows;" and the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews makes use of the same remarkable expression, quoting the exact passage, from the forty-fifth psalm. Psalmist, prophet, disciple, and apostle, all sang the same glorious theme, urging the fact that consecration of thought to the one divine Principle of existence, God, awakened the individual. So equipped, men and women devote their energies to manifest Principle, steadfast in faith, striving for freedom from the bondage of materiality, to perceive and know themselves as living witnesses to "the glorious liberty of the children of God."
The metaphysical interpretation of this word "oil" is clearly stated by Mrs. Eddy on page 592 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Oil. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." The sequence in which the above terms are stated is significant. In simple succession they are set forth in their scientific relationship to each other. Again, on page 428 Mrs. Eddy indicates in no uncertain language what "Intelligent consecration" is, this being the marginal heading of the paragraph in which she states: "We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown God' whom we ignorantly worship,' but to the eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material." Here is the true presentation of consecrating existence, the ability possessed by all to offset the wrong concept and replace the belief of material existence with that which is the reflection of the One "altogether lovely." We have divine authority to express charity, the charity which "never faileth."
When a man sincerely seeks to understand God aright, his first procedure is to ascertain honestly what he knows about himself. The familiar statement, "Charity begins at home," rather points to the need of understanding that the first step on the way is to discover what one knows, rather than how much one believes. So a man begins to search for the true cause of existence, of which he is the real effect. The fact that charity, like faith and hope, is enduring, turns his thought to a source above matter. Thus consecrating his thought, the ability to reason rightly is revealed to him and his home is found to be in Principle. Continuing his line of reasoning, the unfoldment follows, that, as one consecrates thought to the expression of that one and only Principle, the common Parent of all, the individual becomes conscious of his dedication to good. The sacred nature of the trust is evidenced by the love which is positive in its gentleness. If one has been, or is, apt to quarrel with a situation, the admonition of Paul is always a corrective: "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." Timothy learned from Paul the soldierly quality of enduring hardship by applying the oil of gentleness in his daily endeavor. He found in this meekness, which is power itself, the dominion characterized by true selfknowledge, as based on and found in Principle, the governor of all. To each individual seeking aright, this experience reveals the prayer which is always the desire to trust God. The consistent endeavor to gauge every thought by the right standard is the equivalent of the prayer of positive affirmation, preceding the heavenly inspiration of the life which is spiritual, the life which Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed as the more abundant life, coming through Christ, the manifestation of God, yea, Immanuel, or "God with us." The clear, resonant message of Christian Science is pointing out to the human race the need for expressing an undivided affection for the superstructure that is real, founded on divine Principle. It states that the night of materiality is far spent, and the day of right action is at hand. The light, which is the life of men, is illuminating human thought, and there is no excuse for neglecting spiritual light. Per contra, by applying the oil of consecration with devotion thereto, the lamp of life is lighted. The joy of demonstrating the divine Principle of existence is open to all who are wise enough to seek illumination from Spirit instead of matter. The fidelity with which we meet and improve the great opportunities for service which present themselves is the same preparation which the wise virgins made, with lamps ready, for the call of Principle.
