RARE metals and gems buried deep in the earth must be brought forth and put through a process of refining before their beauty can be fully recognized. The arduous search for these treasures and the labor of separating them from worthless matter makes them of such value that they are called precious.
Lovelier far than earth's most beautiful jewels or precious metals are the gems of wisdom and understanding which glow through the Scriptures and radiate the spiritual import of the Word of God. Through the teaching of Christian Science we are learning that knowledge gained from material sense cannot help one to find the precious things of Spirit. Only through the most sacred at-one-ment with God can we catch clear glimpses of the radiance of things as they really are, and follow God's directing.
As metals must be separated from their worthless surroundings, so must our thoughts be lifted above the illusions and misconceptions of material sense-perception, so that nothing may dim their clear reflection of Spirit or intercept their power for good. The prophet Jeremiah very strongly emphasized this need when he expressed God's promise, "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." Nothing is more precious than the word of God. To be able to discern the spiritual meaning of God's word, and to separate it from the false beliefs about God and man, is to see Truth in its purity and to reflect it in right thinking and right living; in other words, to be Godlike.
This Godlikeness was best demonstrated in the life and character of Christ Jesus. Like him, we should accept the pure substance of Spirit and refuse to admit into our thinking the dross of erroneous arguments masquerading under the name of fear, doubt, discouragement, hate, disease. To choose our thinking from the divine source alone is to "be as" His "mouth," and thus to separate the gold from the worthless ore, to "take forth the precious from the vile," to hold thought to the divine, the eternal, the good, the true. Sometimes the battle with personal sense seems hard to fight; but with faithful effort, and loving, conscientious adherence to Principle, as revealed through Christian Science, we find "the grandeur and bliss of a spiritual sense, which silences the material or corporeal" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 328).
Through the study of Christian Science one begins to discover the precious gifts of God, Mind, to man, and to understand man's oneness with the Father. So, one gains a more tolerant thought of his neighbor and is willing to cast aside all that is worthless and unreal in his thought of his fellow men. Thus awakened to a higher concept of sonship, and with a kindly affection for humanity, one learns to see his brother as God sees him, as reflecting the pure gold of Spirit, "the beauty of holiness."
Saintsbury, the English critic, speaks of the "elaborate embroidery of precious language." The word "precious" conveys a thought delicate and beautiful, like the finest tracery of golden threads, enriching and embellishing. It implies a state of thinking which expresses loveliness, beauty, purity; one which contrasts noticeably with thoughts uttering themselves in "corrupt communication," against which we are warned in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Into some thought-patterns strange threads are woven, threads of gossip and evil speaking. Many seem prone to fall into these easy vices, even though they may sincerely delight in the golden threads which are the very warp and woof of a right interchange of ideas, and give an elevated tone that is a step toward the purity designated by Paul as the conversation which is in heaven.
In view of such an excellent standard, our trust cannot be placed in the falsities of so-called mortal mind, but must stand in the strength of the one Mind, if we would claim the precious reward of thoughts reflecting God. In one stanza of her poem entitled "Christ and Christmas" Mrs. Eddy writes,
"The Christ-idea, God anoints—
Of Truth and Life;
The Way in Science He appoints.
That stills all strife."
Obedience to the admonition, "Take forth the precious from the vile," requires a state of consciousness in harmony with the Christ-idea and its divine Principle, one that rejects the alloy of strife, deceit, dishonesty, and all that is untrue. It requires a consciousness which is humble and submissive to Truth, and it begins at once to purify human thinking so that the bright gold of spiritual understanding and its expression in good works may appear.
The purity of thinking is measured by "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," by the excellence of daily thoughts and conversation. On pages 66 and 67 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us that "the furnace separates the gold from the dross that the precious metal may be graven with the image of God." Thus we learn to reflect the precious things of Spirit.
