IN Job we read, "And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them." This verse has a wonderful significance when read in connection with the definition of "wind" on page 597 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where Mary Baker Eddy has written, in part, "That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things."
Christian Science brings to human consciousness the light of Christ, Truth, in which is shown forth the omnipotence of the governing, infinite, spiritual Being, God, of whom, and through whom, and to whom "are all things;" and it is mortal sense which alone forms the clouds that would hide the radiance of this glorious truth.
God's nature and government are always spiritual, never material. Often the difficulty of seeing through the enveloping atmosphere, the density of physical sense, is due to trying to make the material fit in with the spiritual. This beclouds the understanding with belief in another power than God, a life separate from God, with laws and government quite apart from the spiritual, eternal laws of divine Mind.
For all who accept and practice its teachings, Christian Science pierces the veil of the human horizon with the glad assurance of infinite progression beyond this limited vision; and in going forward we find that the seeming barrier is but a deception of physical sense which the light of Truth destroys. Error may continue to attack and claim to darken the way with false accusations of discord and dismay, but the student of Christian Science has his God-given equipment, and rejoices in carrying out our Leader's words on page 450 of Science and Health, "The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good."
Experience deepens as the student advances, and at each overcoming of fear or discouragement a fresh opportunity is found. Like David of old he can face his Goliath with perfect trust in the power of God to give him the victory; and not until the final destruction of sin, disease, and death can the Christian warrior lay down his arms.
Where do we find "the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things"? The movements of God's government can be seen only mentally, for God is Mind; and that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus" is conscious only of the perfect, spiritual creation which from the beginning God saw as "very good." If anything appears to have a different nature, claiming to terrify and overwhelm, surely this is a Goliath shouting out threats and boastings of destruction and hate. Like David, we can go forth knowing that "the battle is the Lord's," and that our strength is in the recognition of the might of His omnipotence.
On page 288 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes of "the chief stones in the temple of Christian Science," and gives as the first of these postulates, "Life is God, good, and not evil." This "stone," taken up in thought, must vanquish the giant of fear and false pretensions. Again and again that living truth, held firmly in consciousness through the darkest hours by those who practice Christian Science, has been proved omnipotent in destroying false belief, in whatever illusive phase it may present itself.
One whose thought is God-governed realizes joy, and shares it with all with whom he comes in contact. How confidently he steps forth when danger is imminent, finding safety in listening only to the "still small voice" of Truth; how joyously he goes to the bedside of pain with the assurance and grateful acknowledgment in his heart that God is Love; how tenderly he brings back the wandering sheep to the fold, knowing that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" !
Belief in personal, material ability, place, and power must be sacrificed before the light of God's presence can be seen. No one need feel too insignificant or incompetent to do this work of reflecting divine Love. God uses His spiritual ideas as He knows best; and the true servant of God is ready and waiting to be used at all times, whether it is for a small or a great work in His vineyard. The time when we are feeling put aside or hindered may be our most valuable experience; for then we learn to express more patience, more strength, more loyalty, love, and self-forgetfulness. We are never in a place where inspiration and revelation cannot reach us. Truth is always "God with us," and our difficulties arise only when we accept the aggressive mental suggestion that evil is real. In God's sight no worker is more important than another. Each one has his allotted task to accomplish, however small it may appear to human eyes; and it may be that quite a small amount of understanding may be sufficient to pierce through a large cloud of sadness, and so bring to a sorrowing heart the light of God's ever present love.
The Psalmist says: "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourished!. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." The man referred to here is surely the material sense of man, which the Apostle Paul bade us put off, that we might put on the "new man," God's image and likeness, His spiritual idea. The wind, "that which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government," passes over it, and it is gone. The "old man" with his sense of sorrow and sickness and sin, has gone out of our consciousness, "and the place thereof shall know it no more."
Realization of the oneness of God and His creation is the solvent for human woes; and it is this universal salvation for which the seekers of the light are looking.
Our beloved Leader was ready and willing to meet the world's unbelief in her priceless discovery of the Christ Science practiced by Jesus in his healing work, because she knew that the message divinely given to her was in God's hands, and that the protecting power of God's government would sustain the great movement organized to carry on the healing work. She listened and obeyed God's commands every step of the way, and her followers rise up and call her blessed when they see the far-reaching effects of all she was led to give them—her writings, The Mother Church, the Manual, the branch churches, the Lesson-Sermons, the periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor, the Reading Rooms, the lectures, and the other activities of the vast organization of Christian Science.
Mankind is crying out for the light. May we, as faithful followers of Christ, do our part in this great work of regeneration, so that sin, disease, and death shall have no place in our thought of our fellow men; and thus rejoice in "the day which the Lord hath made," the day in which there is no night.
The "signs following" indicate "the movements of God's spiritual government;" and "the might of omnipotence" is being declared in the regenerated lives of those who have come out of the clouds of corporeal sense into the light of infinite Love, encompassing and illumining the universe.
