There is a beautiful story of a holy man of the Middle Ages who so fully recognized his relation to his heavenly Father, and became so imbued with the sense of His immanence and power, that he declared it to be his chief aim as well as his constant obligation to practice the presence of God. Christian Scientists early learn that the demand upon them is insistent to live in the certainty of the ever-presence of divine Love to the degree which enables them to exemplify before the world the real man, the image and likeness of God. To be apart from the world, while yet being in it; to be separate, that is, to abandon the familiar and ofttimes supposed pleasurable ways of the flesh for the more truly satisfying path of Spirit which alone leads to unfoldment of the true selfhood; to be instant and faithful in recognizing the nothingness of evil's claims to reality, while knowing the allness and goodness of divine Love,—this is the "practice of the presence of God."
Mrs. Eddy has expressed one phase of this necessity and obligation in definite language in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she says(p. 451), "Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate." Christ Jesus emphatically expressed the other phase to his followers in the well-known words, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Surely, nothing less than the understanding and faithful demonstration of divine Principle could follow this high example.
Christian Science teaches us that the attributes of God, His perfect qualities, are made manifest as they find expression in human lives, reflecting the attributes of His being; and, accordingly, that we know no more of the real man than we know of his Maker. The earnest seeker after Truth who strives constantly for that spiritual illumination which signalizes the presence of God is approaching the state of perfection comprising man's real selfhood, the true state of his being, to be realized in its completeness only upon awaking in His likeness.
With the revelation of Truth in human consciousness, in proportion as the facts of true selfhood appear, mortal man loses his character as a material creature, "whose breath is in his nostrils," and there begins to appear, through gaining the Mind of Christ, the true sovereignty and dominion to which man is entitled. He fulfills his obligation to practice the presence of God by keeping his thought so filled with divine Truth and Love, with the assurance of the presence of good, that error finds no lodgment therein. This is the sure means both of spiritual growth and of never-failing protection. Of the necessity for constant realization of the truth of being, Christ Jesus declared, "I must work...while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." To him work was the realization and demonstration of the all-power of God, proving by actual deeds the immanence and availability of God to break the claims of matter, as expressed in terms of material laws. Thus he overcame "the world, the flesh and the devil."
The story of the foolish virgins in the gospel of Matthew illustrates the necessity of constant realization of God's presence, and also of the results of disobedience. At ease in the flesh and yielding to its demands, they slothfully delayed in their first and highest duty to Principle,—to prepare themselves for the coming of the bridegroom by having their lamps filled and trimmed. The story takes on a new significance when viewed in the light of the definition of "oil" as found in the Glossary of the Christian Science textbook (Science and Health, p. 592),—"Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration;" for this definition emphasizes the gravity of the situation in which the unprepared virgins found themselves. Without consecration, charity, and heavenly inspiration, of necessity they lost their right to enter into the presence of the Christ, whose fellowship may be had only by the exercise of just those qualities. From this standpoint, the penalty, which without this understanding may appear hard and unwarranted, is seen as an inevitable consequence of their own mental condition; for the door is shut to those who have not prepared themselves to enter into the sure understanding that God, divine Principle, creates man as His spiritual idea; and that God is the only creative power.
How perfectly do the wise virgins, on the other hand, typify the alert Christian Scientists, with lamps filled with the oil of consecration! Conscious of the presence of God, good, they are awake to the demands of divine Mind, so that no mesmerism of the senses, no love of ease in the flesh, is able to put them to sleep; but, ready and instant for the coming of the Christ-idea, they are about the Father's business, practicing the presence of God with a perfect purpose. So clearly has our Leader pointed out the necessity for constant realization of the facts of spiritual being that he who delays, and fails to follow, is deliberately yielding to evil influences.
Always seemingly at work to counteract the activity of good, evil, with its claim of potency and of its right to the same consideration as good, is all too often overlooked; for evil claims to simulate God, both as omnipresence and as omnipotence. No Christian Scientist can find the excuse of not having been warned of the danger of the subtle and seemingly potent arguments of evil, for our Leader has made the way so plain that "he who runs may read." Of the Christian Scientist who, having laid aside this or that group of false beliefs, yet still clings to another because of some lingering sense of pleasure to be derived from its indulgence, and is not yet willing to lay all on the altar of Christ, it may be said that his preparation is not complete, his consecration not entire, his armor not whole.
This situation can scarcely fail to invite the attention of some form of malevolence, ever ready to occupy the consciousness receptive to error. But we are not left without remedy, for the application of compelling Truth is not alone equal to the keeping out of all falsity, refusing it admission to thought, but also equally capable of the more difficult task of expelling it when once admission claims to have been gained, the chief requisite being that its true character be recognized. Our Leader tells us that the mere uncovering of error goes a long way toward destroying it and the residuum disappears into its native nothingness before the ministration of divine Love.
To practice the presence of God, then, is both a preventive and a healing measure. On page 426 of the textbook, Mrs. Eddy says: "The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it. When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress."
