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THE JOY OF WITNESS-BEARING

From the September 1943 issue of The Christian Science Journal


In the forty-third chapter of Isaiah occurs a statement of deep significance to the student of Christian Science: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." What an arresting, inspiring thought! Man is as necessary to his Maker as the ray is necessary to the sun, because man, Christian Science teaches, is God's expression. Man is not the helpless, hopeless, hapless conception which doleful theology would present; his is the joyful prerogative of bearing witness to the fact that God is, that Love is, that Mind is. To bear witness is to furnish or constitute proof of the existence of a thing or a circumstance; therefore if man is not manifesting intelligence, or love, or righteousness, what evidence is there that there is a great First Cause which is Mind and Love and good?

Would we prove to our brother man that God is Principle? Let him see in our thought and conduct the manifestation of probity, of uprightness, honor, and square dealing. Would we convince a friend or neighbor that God is Love? How else than by being loving, unselfish, considerate, just? Would we ask one to believe that God is Mind? Let us demonstrate this fact by turning to the infinite intelligence for ideas and showing forth wisdom and acumen by manifesting good judgment and percipience. When these qualities are recognized by our fellows, and one is referred to as a loving, wise, or just person, let the Christian Scientist be quick to realize that the manifestation of love, of good, of intelligence in human consciousness is not one's personal possession, not the result of one's human goodness, but bears witness to the existence, the actuality, of that Father who is Love, Mind, Principle, itself. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God."

In absolute truth the real man, God's perfect expression, can never for the fraction of a second be separated from his heavenly Parent, and therefore throughout all eternity is coexisting with Him, and expressing Him—witnessing to the glorious fact of the correlation of Mind and idea. On page 411 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our marvelously intuitive Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, illustrating mental treatment in Christian Science, writes, "If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific way, and the healing is instantaneous." Now the attainment of this holy realization is preceded by what the Bible calls "the preparations of the heart in man."

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