CHRIST JESUS' loyalty to God was unswerving in times of persecution. Fully conscious of his at-one-ment with God, the great First Cause and only creator, he knew that his mission was to prove God's great love to man.
His loyalty was put to the supreme test when it seemed to mortal sense that his mission had failed in spite of the healing and blessing he had brought to mankind. He, however, never lost sight of his real being in God, and when faced with the cross, lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed (John 17:1), "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." His one thought was to glorify God, and so he was glorified; that is, after his resurrection from the tomb he continued to rise above materiality until he attained the glorified experience of the ascension, the full and perfect consciousness that Life is Spirit, God.
This wonderful friend of mankind promised that the Comforter would come and lead into all truth. This Comforter is Christian Science, the final and complete revelation of Truth, which by its healing and regenerating power is giving practical proof for all time that Jesus' teachings are true, that his mission succeeded, and that God is All-in-all; hence evil is impotent.
This great revelation came to Mary Baker Eddy, whose thought was so deeply spiritual, so filled with the desire to glorify God and help mankind, that she was able to discern the divine import of Jesus' teaching and demonstrate God's all-power in healing all kinds of disease and discord. She too was maligned and persecuted, but through God's great love she was supported and inspired so that she was able to give this glorious teaching to the world in a form that all seekers for Truth can understand and practice.
What a wonderful example the lives of these faithful sentinels of God are to us today, when the world seems to be swayed by the same hatred of Truth and Love. It is the privilege of every student of Christian Science to show his gratitude to God by proving the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement in her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 1): "Evil, though combined in formidable conspiracy, is made to glorify God. The Scripture declares, 'The wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.' "
Through the study and faithful demonstration of Christian Science we too can become so conscious of our unity with God as His reflection that we glorify Him by expressing His qualities and by selflessly proving His ever-presence and power as able to heal and redeem mankind. Thus do we awaken to the truth of the Bible statement, read every Sunday in all Christian Science churches, "Now are we the sons of God."
To one Scientist came a wonderful opportunity to glorify God when she was suddenly faced with what seemed to be a devastating experience. She prayed to Him for guidance and was led to read page 574 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, which shows the joy of overcoming evil with good. Her attention was especially arrested by the lines, "The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares." She saw this experience was an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of God's love through "the very circumstance" which "suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive," but which "Love can make an angel entertained unawares." She asked herself, "Am I going to let suffering sense make this experience wrathful and afflictive or am I going to let divine Love enable me to entertain an angel of God?" Jesus' statement then came to her, "Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things." She turned to the spiritual interpretation of "Elias" in the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 585), given in part as "spiritual evidence opposed to material sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold." Here was her answer: the evidence of material sense, which had claimed to be present, was false; the spiritual fact, discerned through Christian Science, alone is real. She saw that this experience could only be to the glory of God. As she prayed earnestly that she might realize the significance of Elias, which must first come to her understanding, she did discern the spiritual fact of what the material senses seemed to behold. All sense of fear, anxiety, and loss completely disappeared, and she felt the ineffable love of God enfolding her and caring for every need. Her confidence in the certainty of good was completely restored. The final outcome of the work brought about, in the most unexpected way, the means whereby she was able to attend the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church in Boston, from which she derived so much inspiration that it continues to unfold great spiritual blessing in her work.
If at times difficulties seem to come up in waves, if there seems to be betrayal, loss, or any form of persecution, we have the comforting and healing Christ right at hand. When our first desire is to let the wrath of man praise God, then we shall want, above all else, to prove His allness, to glorify Him in our loyal demonstration of His truth, and to acknowledge man as God made him, in His spiritual, perfect image. Then we shall have the joy of knowing that man can only see us as God made us and be able to silence the suggestions of false, material sense. Turning constantly and humbly for help to God, our Father-Mother, studying the Bible and Science and Health, we shall find our thinking so spiritualized that we shall become more and more conscious of the allness of good, for God relegates falsities to oblivion, thus bringing the healing Christ into our lives.
Trials will bring spiritual growth if our aim is to stay with "Elias" and glorify God. We shall then entertain His angels and find a deeper security in the certainty of the loving, healing presence of our heavenly Father-Mother God, thus reflecting the glory which is His own.
