IN the drama of Job one of the characters is aroused to express himself vigorously against the platitudes of the elder men. Elihu acknowledges his expectancy that Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar should with age have learned wisdom. Being disappointed, he makes in his own behalf the firm declaration that in man "there is a spirit" which the Almighty inspires with understanding. So, likewise, must Mrs. Eddy have been aroused over the ineptitude of theologians and philosophers who tried to combine, in theory, good and evil, and to maintain contemporaneously heaven and hell as equal realities. We know that she did not approach her task of writing "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" until assured of the truth of her revelation by a multitude of experiences of healing. Hence she wrote with authority the statement (Science and Health, p. 403), "You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being."
The statement in John's first epistle about the whole world lying "in wickedness" is, when understood, in line with the above-quoted statement. Worldly belief is a state of mesmerism wherein illusion is preserved and that which is worthless is valued.
The word translated "wickedness" refers to what is burdensome, grievous, enslaving, harassing. Physically, it would describe a sickly body, corrupt food, a dangerous district, an evil case; likewise, unwholesome counsel, contrary winds, an uncomfortable time. Morally, it defines what is bad as inutile, that is, good for nothing. It is the opposite of what is useful, profitable. Consequently, to be under its influence is to be enslaved in being prevented from enjoying what is good, pleasing, beautiful, profitable.
We have protection from the deadening, enslaving influence of material illusion in a vital and enlivening revelation coming from God through the Son. "We know," says John, "that the Son of God is come," and has given to us an intuition whereby we recognize the true God, and so find our union with Him by our union with His Son, Christ Jesus. Knowing God we know immortal life.
The final word of the epistle, the apostle's advice that his beloved ones should keep themselves from idols, is not to be received with a self-satisfied sense as if we, at least, are secure from having any part with idolaters, concerning whom we say with a superior air,
"The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone."
A good translation of the statement is thus given: My children, guard yourselves against false ideas of God. How clearly throughout history it can be discerned that false concepts concerning Deity have darkened the minds of men and made them in their blindness cruel and unjust to one another! There have been national and religious wars wherein fanatical beliefs have aroused hatred, so carrying into other lands fire and sword. There have been sectional wars where by means of imprisonment, torture, and execution some group or institution has deprived individuals of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We who have been accustomed to think as Christian Scientists, and so to include all mankind in our expectation of success, well-being, and happiness, have to guard against temptation lest sectarian conflict be forced upon us and we contend for our faith when we ought rather to illustrate it and make its value evident by demonstration.
The mesmerism which befogs the thought of multitudes may be likened to a steam arising from the earth. It is generated by material theories which in one way or another are connected with belief in the reality of an evil and an assurance of the continuance of its power. Before beginning to examine such theories, let us remind ourselves of the fundamental in Christian Science, namely, the continuity of good. By proofs of healing and regeneration and renewal of life, the Christian Scientist knows how good acts as Principle through spiritual law. He has, therefore, gained disbelief in the claims of evil. These false claims are asserted in many philosophical, religious, and medical theories which cluster about family life, intrude upon social activities, and senselessly becloud national relationships. In Jesus' time the national belief urged the individual Jew to be scornful of the Gentile. This belief was the occasion later of not a little of the persecution suffered by Paul, who inspiredly perceived that the message of Christianity was for all mankind.
The doctrine of evil heredity has darkened unjustly the lives of many individuals. Considering this belief, it is to be observed that the theory takes many forms. Let some prominent person have distinguished misfortune, and his descendants may believe, and their contemporaries affirm, that bad luck belongs to the house; and so it may turn out according to their faith and expectation until relief comes to the individual thinking himself accursed, through enlightenment regarding God's power and the beneficence of spiritual law. There may be some evidence in support of the theory that each human generation suffers from the mistakes and iniquities of previous generations; but when an individual is ostracized because of the wrongdoing of an ancestor, then a wrong is done against which prophets have protested. Jeremiah, for example, was earnest in protest against the implication of a proverb perhaps too frequently quoted. He voices the promise that the days will come when God will be understood as one watching over His people. "In those days," he affirms, "they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." The book of the prophet Ezekiel is given in part to a discussion of this subject, and the final inference is a call to repentance which may be compared to the message of John the Baptist concerning repentance. This term "repentance" means to change one's mind; that is, to turn from a wrong or inadequate concept over to a right understanding of life.
We must remember that our Master, in his practical teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, broke the bands of such false theories and beliefs, and unfolded the spiritual meaning of life and its activities, for his hearers were to a great extent under the mesmerism of incorrect teaching handed down from generation to generation. At a later time in his teaching, he corrected in the simplest possible way the common belief in adverse influences coming to the individual man as his human inheritance. This theory has many ramifications. Insurance companies develop their expectations concerning the life prospects of the individual by learning about the various diseases which prevailed in the lives of his ancestors. The individual is supposed to inherit not only tendencies to disease, but tendencies to the development of the eccentricities and sins of his ancestors. Behind him is an unknown crowd of persons supposed to be exerting a silent influence confusing and perplexing his life.
Many a man is involved in the terrible evil of intoxication because of the tradition that father, and perhaps grandfather, were under the same curse, and therefore there is no hope for him. There are innumerable cases of healing through Christian Science of the appetite for strong drink, whether believed to be an appetite inherited or one acquired. To achieve simplicity Jesus cleared up this entire complex mesmerism by saying, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." When, therefore, he taught his disciples to pray, he gave them in the first sentence of what has now been for ages loved as the Lord's Prayer a cure for all misunderstandings in regard to heredity. The individual who prays with right motive and understanding, when he begins the very first sentence, is by his prayer and realization placing himself in line for the reception of all the blessings of the kingdom of heaven. He is expectantly claiming what the Apostle Peter speaks of as an incorruptible inheritance. Clarified by right vision concerning life, the individual Christian Scientist becomes able to give aid to those who are confused and darkened by the mesmerism of customary beliefs. When a man comes into a sense of the presence of God as the Principle of active goodness, evil prepossessions simply fade away.
There is also a complex of theories regarding what is called prenatal influence. The unhappiness, or discontent, or impatience of a mother, or some experience of horror or distress, is supposed to lay a burden of defect or fear upon the little child. So long as these things are held in thought and accepted as inevitable, human belief may seem to carry out its plan and limit the life and happiness of the individual so affected. But again, in such cases, the power of divine Love to dissipate fear and enlighten the darkened mind with assurance of a divine plan for man's welfare, sets the enslaved person free to rise up out of bondage into a perception of what man is as the child of God.
Then there is the recrudescence of astrology. An almost unbelievable number of people are accepting decisions sold to them for a price, as to the influence of the planets on their lives. Once the stars were consulted regarding the affairs of empire, and the Magian might rival the ruler in importance. Now there are too many individuals who let their lives be governed by the cheaply purchased horoscope, and become inert regarding divine Providence, which they should seek to understand. Christian Science calls for thinking, not supine submission to supposed fate, and would have all people understand the word spoken in the book of Job about becoming acquainted with God and so finding peace and discerning good.
In the year 1875 the Christian Science textbook was published. In that year a society was formed to Propagate in the United States theosophical views which might be described as non-Christian. Among the thousands of mistaken human concepts or traditions providing for the continuance of evil as power, one such view explains evil conditions on the ground that whatsoever a man reaps that must he also have sown. Sickness, sorrow, misfortune, are explained and philosophically justified in each life as being a punishment for ill deeds in former lives. The sufferer must bear his ill fate and the kind observer must consent to it as evidence of cosmic justice. As against this, in Christian Science teaching, we have the reaffirmation of the ringing words of Paul, that evil must be overcome with good. The apostle also affirms the duty of helpfulness in saying that in fulfilling the law of Christ we must bear the burdens of others. The apostle shows how each man must prove himself in his own work, and declares that eventually labor for all shall be lightened, since each one shall carry the weight of his own burden. Let us allow ourselves a moment to anticipate the peace of that period when men shall know God, and when everyone shall be active in the performance of his own duty. In such a case what we now speak of as burdened life will disappear in the joyous manifestation of true being.
One of the unbenign influences at the present time proceeds from a venal press seeking, first, circulation, and exploiting the unsocial activities of mesmerized men who engage in graft, blackmail, kidnaping, murder for hire, and are in every way disorderly. How pitiless it is for sensational effect to prolong human agony by exposing it to the unsympathy of curious multitudes! How senseless it is to torture the innocent by accusations imagined, and how wrong to stir sentimental admiration for the criminal who succeeds when his temporary success must arouse cupidity in others! But we have the inspiring words of Isaiah, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." By the attitude of prayer the individual may clear from his life such occult and mysterious influences, and discover his real self as man. Then he is able to ascribe to God, whom he recognizes as Father, all power, and to obey this power with all his love.
The remedy for human disorder is the appearing of the new man, who in righteousness reveals his origin. We should welcome this appearing; we should support manhood by stalwart and right-minded public opinion. It is necessary that right-thinking men and women should become united in purpose and effort. It is easy to see the value in business operations of men agreeing as to the science of numbers. But how potent must goodness eventually be in the world when men agree in practical Christianity and understand its power to redeem.
Individuals are set free from the claims of mesmerism and brought into a sense of liberation very generally by healing. The experience of healing is as an awakening out of dream-troubled sleep. Through healing comes true liberty, an entry into life. Such a one is truly born from above, after the manner spoken of by Jesus when conversing with Nicodemus. So it is by purification and regeneration, by our acceptance of divine creation, that mesmerism fades as an influence and we enter into the liberty of righteousness.
Copyright, 1932, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.
