HOW radical are the truths which Christian Science has revealed! They are absolute, unalterable; they cannot be compromised with in the slightest degree. Thus, when Christian Science declares that God is All-in-all, it means what it says, and nothing else. When it asserts that God is infinite good, it will not allow that so-called evil has any reality whatsoever. When it maintains that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, it denies the existence of any other real power anywhere. When it teaches that God is the one and only cause, it admits Him to be the only creator and governor of the universe; or, in other words, and as Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 295), that "God creates and governs the universe, including man."
Now Christian Scientists are especially thankful for the radicalism of Christian Science; for without this radicalism they would have no sure foundation for their religious faith, and would be no better off than when they were leaning on the broken reeds of speculative human theories, theories based on the evidence of the material senses. But with it they are empowered to deal uncompromisingly and, in proportion to their understanding, successfully, with every erroneous belief which besets mortal existence. Those who are ignorant of the fundamentals of Christian Science may voice their skepticism of what they may consider its extreme views, or hurl their poorly informed criticisms at them; but the Christian Scientist remains uninfluenced by either, because he has proved that the radicalism of Christian Science is justified, since, through demonstration of the truths which Christian Science reveals, he has probably been healed from sickness or freed from some form of sin which was undermining his freedom and happiness.
The positive declaration of Christian Science that God governs man is of the utmost importance; but it must first of all be acknowledged to be true, and then it must be adhered to, in order that its value may be proved. The physical senses are continually suggesting that the reins of government are in the hands of matter,—not Spirit,—and that man is to a great extent at their mercy. This belief has to be reversed; and it can be reversed only as one understands the scientific relation between God and His creation, and how God governs that creation.
