In one of his stirring and illuminating letters to the church at Corinth, St. Paul speaks of "casting down imaginations" with spiritual weapons. In The Twentieth Century New Testament we are given another translation of the same verse, which reads, "We are engaged in confuting arguments." Today in the realm of mortal mind arguments a great effort is being made to destroy Christianity, to darken and extinguish the light of the Christ, Truth, as revealed in the Science of Christianity, or Christian Science. The rousing messages of Paul, then, may well be heeded by the churches today, for many are the "imaginations," the arguments of the carnal mind that seek to confuse, to deplete, and to disintegrate. They would especially sow seeds of discord among those who stand in the front rank of pure Christianity, seeking to let the light and power of its Science shine in full brightness and vigor. These arguments frequently present themselves in the way of waning joy, lost enthusiasm, apathy, ingratitude, or indifference. The light of the candle seems to be hid under the bushel of personal sense and the salt to have lost its savor through material interests, ways, and activities. The first fresh joy which comes with the dawning of Truth, the unselfed service, seem to diminish rather than increase, and a sense of staleness to take their place.
The question naturally arises, Why this falling away from grace, this seeming staleness? May it be because there is a mistaken concept that the Comforter has come to bring comfort and ease in what is called matter, rather than to lead out of matter into the restful, zestful, and ever-inspiring activity of Spirit? Is there sometimes an effort, it may be unconscious, to use Christian Science to get something material rather than consciously to live Christian Science and be all that is desirable, thus bringing into experience that for which the heart longs? Is the vision, perhaps, not yet clear that God is one God, pure Spirit, and that all life, substance, satisfaction, and activity are to be found only in Spirit, divine Mind? Is there a readiness to lift thought from the suppositional area of arguing beliefs to the realm of reality, of positive divine ideas? Do we identify all existence with the one perfect Mind, which is expressing itself in ever fresh, immortal ideas? It is necessary closely to watch motives and methods to see whether an effort is being made to do something that God has not already done or to bring something to pass that is not already going on as the activity of divine Love. In other words, to see whether work is being done with a single eye, or whether it is being done with one eye on Spirit and one on matter, watching to see just how much matter is responding to Spirit. The single eye is much needed that there may be steadfast dwelling in the realm of reality and a conscious, vivid awareness of the truth of being—of God perfectly expressed in man and the universe.
The Psalmist sang, "I shall be anointed with fresh oil." Let us continually be "anointed with fresh oil," keeping in mind the definition of "oil" given by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." On page 592 we read: "Oil. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." This anointing "with fresh oil," with divine qualities and "heavenly inspiration," comes continually as we learn to be what, in Truth, we are, the expression of Mind, including its perfect ideas; as the Science and art of living are put first, and doing is allowed to be the outcome of being. There must be a continual identification with those divine ideas which outshine the illusions of material sense. It is to be remembered that divine, spiritual ideas never engage in nor yield to mortal arguments. They, indeed, are never conscious of those arguments because they are constantly conscious only of their own perfection and asserted supremacy. Mortal mind alone yields to its own arguments. It alone is concerned with its own illusions.
