Giving credence to the theory that God, good, is not ever present is the underlying source of the illusion that sin, disease, and death are real. The recognition of the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of immortal Being eliminates this false sense of error and brings joy, peace, health, and harmony into our experience.
As Christian Scientists we accept the fact that God is All and the only creator, but do we actually comprehend the far-reaching implications of this truth? The Psalmist glimpsed its magnitude when he declared (Ps. 139:7-10): "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says (pp. 203, 204), "God is at once the centre and circumference of being." Since God, good, is everywhere, there can be no absence of good —no evil, regardless of what error's manifestation may appear to be.
This truth understood brings about the healing of any discordant condition and destroys error by showing the impossibility of the presence of a power apart from God. Man is subject only to divine Principle, which he reflects. Paul said (Acts 17:28), "In him we live, and move, and have our being." When we accept this fact, together with the realization that there never has been nor ever can be another power besides God, good, the spurious claims of mortal mind fade into nothingness.
Mrs. Eddy relegates error of every sort to its proper place when she tells us (Science and Health, p. 186): "Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth. It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It is unreal, because it presupposes the absence of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent. Every mortal must learn that there is neither power nor reality in evil." To the degree that mankind learn this truth, will materiality disappear. The new heaven and new earth will become increasingly apparent because matter is cognized as illusion only.
Proof of spiritual truth need not come in one glorious climax. Unfoldment from modest beginnings brings progress. Even a slight understanding of the infinite goal we are seeking does much to lighten human experience. Like Jacob, we must all eventually come to the recognition of God's ever-presence. It will be recalled that Jacob, after unlawfully receiving the blessing of his father, Isaac, fled from his brother Esau's wrath. While sleeping, Jacob beheld a vision of angels ascending and descending from heaven and received God's promise of the gift of the land whereon he was lying as well as all the surrounding area. We read (Gen. 28: 16), "Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."
We know that God made all and that everything that He made was very good. Consequently, it is only natural for the creator to care for all of His creation. Our work is to acknowledge that He is "in this place," that is, to know that good is everywhere. We cannot really be beyond God's all-inclusive love and protection. As divine Principle, He is ever-present Truth, maintaining us and supplying us with good only. As Life, He sustains the health and existence of all His creation, and we have only to claim our identity and individuality as children of Soul, Spirit, in order to receive God's blessings. As Mind, He bestows all the wisdom, intelligence, and ability with which to meet every problem coming into our present experience. Identifying ourselves with spiritual qualities, we find it easy to see that there is no place where God and His power are unavailable to meet every situation. Supposititious error can find no place to fill.
A young man who had attended the Christian Science Sunday School was able to claim God's ever-presence, even though he was in a strange city and was separated from those to whom he could turn for help in Christian Science—his family and friends. After suffering for some time from a severe pain in his side, he became quite fearful. Feeling alone and insecure, he was finally led to visit a Christian Science practitioner whose office was located near his work. The need was explained, and prayerful treatment given. It was not until the following evening that the young man realized he was completely free from all pain. He had no recollection of just when the relief came, although he had been in almost constant pain prior to that time. Thus was demonstrated to him that man cannot be separated from Love and Truth, no matter what mortal mind testifies regarding his location.
The actuality of the fullness of God's creation is strikingly set forth in the first chapter of Ephesians. In speaking of the Christ (verses 22, 23), Paul says that God "hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
Christian Science teaches that God is the sole creator of the universe and of all it contains, including man in His image and likeness. Therefore there is nothing but His creation, and there is no place in that creation where He is not present. Since there is no absence of all-inclusive good, there is no place for error of any sort. Sin, disease, and death are seen as untrue because unreal, without foundation in Truth.
This teaching and its beneficial effect are vividly illustrated by Mrs. Eddy when she says (Science and Health, p. 215): "We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality. So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before truth and love."
