THERE are no barriers to the spiritual ideas or thoughts which proceed from divine Mind, for they are fetterless; nor can walls of mortal belief, however dense and thick they may appear, shut out God's power and presence or obstruct the operation of His law. In the very midst of seeming imprisonment within false belief, the door to right thinking will always be found open to individual receptive human consciousness. Truth may be mentally entertained and intelligently utilized at all times, and it always comes with power to dissolve false mental concepts, and to confer the ability to rise above material sense testimony on wings of aspiration. This was practically illustrated in Peter's experience, when the angel delivered him from prison, leading him past the guards, on through the gate, which opened at his approach and ushered him into freedom, thus proving that angels, God's thoughts, enter the receptive heart with power of deliverance as freely through prison bars as in free, open spaces.
The Psalmist sang, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." Now it is plain that the call to God uttered in the truth, or the consciousness of His power, cannot be shut out either by visible walls or the walls of material sense. And Christian Science maintains that such a call also goes forth with power to pierce the seeming imprisonment of sickness and the seeming density of sin, whose false walls of separation between mankind and God are but the product of human ignorance of divine power, ignorance that lies at the root of all bondage.
Therefore, when seemingly confronted by materiality appearing as sickness, Babel towers of sin, or even the seemingly impregnable barrier of death, the student of Christian Science learns immediately to enlarge his mental horizon by lifting his thought above sense-testimony to the eager contemplation of such spiritual qualities as hope, joy, courage, and faith, which is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." He knows that such thoughts, individualized and utilized, ally him with divine power and confer on him a freedom impossible of attainment from the standpoint of a mere physical sense of liberty accompanied by material thinking which precludes the recognition of God's omnipotence.
Truth is a friend, very nigh to those who seek it trustingly. It comes gently to the receptive human consciousness, that it may refresh it with spiritual thoughts, which, like the swift rain, wash away the dust of materiality and bring into view the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. The things prepared of God cannot be found by centering thought on the material condition to be overcome, but rather by the intelligent utilization of man's God-given dominion. This should be done in the full faith that Truth declared is power in action, and operates as the law of God, independent of and untouched by all external conditions and circumstances.
Mental obscuration caused by wrong thinking tends to separate one from all that is essential to the welfare of mankind; but it is blotted out as we learn through Christian Science how to admit Truth into our consciousness and obediently call faith into action. When we are passing through the furnace of affliction it is well to remember that we cannot be deprived of our ability to use our trials as opportunities through which to watch and guard our fidelity to Truth. So doing, we shall not waste time on the vain conjectures, doubts, and fears that inevitably arise when we confer with flesh and blood, or, in other words, allow thought to become entangled with sense-testimony.
Precious gifts sometimes arrive in unattractive packages; yet we do not, as a rule, linger in contemplation of the outward appearance, but, rather, strip off the encumbering wrappings with eager expectancy, that we may bring to light the precious object they conceal. Trials often bring out the spiritual effort which leads to the answer to some importunate prayer; and when we cease to fix our gaze on the seemingly difficult circumstance confronting us, and through the exercise of spiritual thinking proceed to strip off the disguising density of mortal arguments, we find ourselves in a better position to "take forth the precious from the vile."
God gives us His thoughts to work with, and they are equal to every emergency. Our greatest need, therefore, when confronted with temptation, is to learn to admit the angels of His presence, which enable us to draw nigh to God, and to remember that His love comes to consciousness with power tenderly to melt away the bitterness of self-condemnation and the rigidity of intolerance, and that Love is ever ready to lead us into paths of righteousness and peace.
The Bible recounts innumerable results following conscious utilization of the Word of God. Moses, through his living faith in God, learned to work expectantly with the thoughts God gave him, and he saw the tyranny of the Pharaohs dissolve into powerlessness, and the might of the sea draw back at his approach with the Israelites. Throughout the display of aggressive enmity by those of his father's household, Joseph cherished the pure idea of affection; and the happy solution of his trials still serves to illustrate the triumphant operation of divine law. The Shunammite woman courageously refuted the human verdict of death for her child, and with Elisha's prompt help her son was restored to her alive. Christ Jesus' life was replete with proofs of the practical value of disputing error's claim to reality and power. His example continues to shine through the darkness of materiality, and, when understood, brings power to open doors long closed by material beliefs.
With persistent fidelity Mrs. Eddy consciously listened for God's message throughout the trials which beset her. The vital quality of her pure spiritual thinking enabled her to look straight through the mist of error's seeming, and to make the happy discovery that there are in reality no walls of sin, disease, and death, for this triad is but an illusion of the senses, without reality or power. By reducing her discovery to human apprehension through her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she has given back to the world the lost sense of dominion so long enshrouded in the mist of centuries of erroneous thinking. Those who read this book with the true desire to gain its spiritual import find it as an open window to heaven. They gain from it a fresh viewpoint, an enlarged mental horizon, before which the illusive barriers of sin, disease, and death melt away. On page 3 of "Pulpit and Press" our Leader writes, "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love."
