"Blessed are they that mourn." said Jesus in the second beatitude, "for they shall be comforted." He proved this statement in several recorded instances in the Bible, and he left us the promise that we should do even greater works than those he performed. Why do we not fulfill this promise? It must be admitted that we, his followers, are only entering the path of understanding, and that we have much distance to travel in the realization of complete demonstration.
But is this cause for discouragement, for hesitation, for unbelief? Clearly not. Jesus himself exercised the greatest patience with his contemporary followers, counseling them to increase their faith. And the closest follower of the Master in modern times, Mary Baker Eddy, adds to his counsel that we must begin with the simpler demonstrations, and that only through increased understanding can we reach the heights of complete proving. (See Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 254, 429.) She makes it clear that greater works are in store for us, works depending upon our awakening to reality.
Meanwhile, what comfort can Christian Science offer to those who mourn, especially in these times of warfare? No person, it is evident, can ever be conscious of his own death. By definition death involves the absence of consciousness, and it is clear that one cannot be conscious of unconsciousness. This means that the so-called dead have never actually experienced death. If it can be called an experience at all, it is the objective experience only of those who stay behind.
This simple truth will be seen more clearly if the reader will ask himself if he ever remembers the act of falling asleep. Upon awakening one may remember his thoughts just before slumber came, but try his best he cannot recall any experience of falling asleep.
We may therefore have a modicum of comfort in realizing that the departed have had only an awakening. And the Christian with even his limited realization of the ever-presence of God cannot doubt that the departed are cared for and led on to interesting and valuable new experiences. The transition awakens them to the realization, no matter what their previous fear and doubts, that they did not die after all.
"But what about the separation, and what of the pain of passing?" will be asked by the questioner. Here there is no completely satisfactory answer short of the absolute position of Christian Science. If a dear one has been enrolled in war service, and if the sad news of his passing has been received, his one real selfhood is still held in God's love. So is yours. Therefore you are, in Science, not separated as children, or ideas, of God. and God is ever present to both of you. It is true that humanly you can have no communication with him. But you do enjoy the realization of your love for each other, and that can be very satisfying, as many have proved. And since in all logic we cannot really mourn for him who is not dead, we shall early see that we cannot long mourn for ourselves.
Any pain involved in the passing, likewise, since it could not have come from an omnipotent and all-good God, must be recognized as unreal, a presentation to and by the material senses, which in the sight of God did not happen. God sees His children as good and harmonious, and He knows nothing of human birth and death or sickness and pain. Our part is to rise above these beliefs by reflecting the divine consciousness and seeing only the realities of never-ending life. "Never born and never dying," says Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 258), "it were impossible for man, under the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his high estate." And of one of her beloved students who had just passed away she asserted his continued presence, in spite of the testimony of the senses: "If we would awaken to this recognition, we should see him here and realize that he never died; thus demonstrating the fundamental truth of Christian Science" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 297).
Jesus had proved this truth centuries before when he spoke with Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration, even enabling three of his disciples to see them. John, in his book of Revelation, has made very clear the nothingness of the barrier called death. Jesus' attitude toward death is shown in his declaration, "She is not dead, but sleepeth;" and, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." In these and other cases he proved his declarations true. Paul and Peter, Elijah and Elisha, proved in some measure the same omnipresent truth.
"Why do we not more frequently perform these greater works now?" the impatient bystander may ask. Death is "the last enemy that shall be destroyed," Paul remarked. Meanwhile, Christian Scientists are succeeding in alleviating the sorrow and separation attendant upon death, and in destroying the smaller enemies of fears, sicknesses, and sins. The records of these healings through Christian Science are open to all to read and hear: in the pages of the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald, in the Wednesday testimony meetings of Christian Science churches and societies, and in the meetings of Christian Science college organizations. It is common today for experienced physicians to know of healings in Christian Science, and some of them freely acknowledge the cure of cases on which they had exhausted their skill.
If the general public will only inform itself on the obvious facts of today's Christian healing, put aside its skepticism concerning such healing, and be spiritually receptive to the good available to all, it will find itself in the way of sharing the health and happiness God provides for all. Christian Science, whatever the apparent events of war, destitution, wounds, and death, is the Comforter promised by the Master. It is now destroying the sting of death, and will ultimately destroy death itself. In the words of one of our hymns (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 287),
Thus in Thy radiance vanishes
Death's drear and gloomy night;
Thus all creation hears anew
Truth's call, Let there be light.
The only finally satisfying evidence of immortality is to live in the present life a life so rich and radiant that it is worth perpetuating. Washington Gladden insisted that the best way to prove the truth of immortality is to live as if it were a fact.—Selected.
