WHAT therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," said Jesus. Like many another text in the Bible, of which we have been accustomed to accept only a literal interpretation, this one, in the light of Christian Science, becomes almost limitless in the scope of its application to human needs. Does health seem to be separated from one's experience; do supply, right occupation, reward, inspiration, seem far away; does "the evil which I would not" seem to hold sway, and to "put asunder" the expression of good which is the real man's only reason for being? What God hath joined together—the real man and the true sense of existence, man and the sense of harmony, man and the sense of completeness—neither mortal man nor so-called mortal mind can put asunder. God has joined the consciousness of each one of His children to the good which He has provided for all, and none can be separated from it. God has also joined to each worthy motive and noble ambition the possibility of its fulfillment; to spiritual longing He has joined the right and satisfying answer. Herein is great comfort for humanity.
This saying of the Master points also to the law of perfect balance, to the indissoluble union of the law and the gospel, of the spirit and the letter, and of those traits of character which complement each other and bring out symmetry. Every high ideal should include a balanced character and a balanced experience, for there can be no genuine satisfaction without them. Take, for example, the individual endowed with exceptional executive ability. If such a one neglects to develop the balancing quality of patience, executive ability may lose its merit, grow into aggression, and encounter shipwreck. Likewise, the Christian Scientist who habitually shuts himself away from his fellows and unduly pores over his books, to the neglect of his legitimate and practical duty toward family and, friends, is not acquiring that balance of the spirit and the letter, of study and application, which makes Christian character so "foursquare" that from whatever angle it is approached by temptation its defense is impregnable.
This thought of unity permeates the teachings of Christian Science, and is illustrated by the inseparability of divine Principle and its idea, man—Principle which expresses its perfection through its idea, or reflection, man. Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 477), "Separated from man, who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man, divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity." And she further assures us of the law of inseparability by adding, "There is, there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with God."
