What holds man in safety? He is held perpetually by Truth and Love in the immutable harmony of divine Being, within the perfect laws of unerring Principle, in the infinite power of eternal Life. Christian Science teaches that God is man's only parent, his Father and Mother, his only real relative. How is man held? By the eternal bands of Soul.
In human relationships the child is in the custody of and under the control of his parents, but in truth man is in God's care. This fact was a source of guidance and strength to several of the characters in the Bible. The Psalmist sang (Ps. 2:7), "The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son." Isaiah understood God to declare (43: 1), "Thou art mine." On many occasions Jesus was sustained by the fact that he was God's beloved Son. Conscious that he was held in eternal Life by the strength of Spirit, Jesus could answer Pilate's question (John 19:10), "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" with the words, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above."
Today it is important to know that God sustains one's true being, for this truth can free him from the many claims which material sense attempts to hold over society. Our work is to insist that decency, purity, high purpose, and love govern our young people rather than ambition, intrigue, and immorality—traits which foster delinquency. Alcohol, drugs, lax moral conduct, and crime relinquish their grip before the might of Spirit.
In Christian Science, one way we attain and maintain our dominion over evil is by knowing that "the mind . . . which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5) is the real source of our being. God, divine Mind, cannot become submissive to error, neither can man, Mind's idea. But we must be steadfast in striving to reflect divine Mind. We cannot believe in or obey the laws of sin, disease, and death if we prize divine sonship. This sonship means that we are held and controlled by God, ever-present Love, which knows no hate; by omniscient Mind, which knows no matter; and by omnipotent Life, which knows no death.
Deity embraces every true idea in His all-inclusiveness, and no error can threaten Deity or what Deity includes. The blessings which flow to one as the result of recognizing man's unity with God are referred to in "Miscellaneous Writings" where, after speaking of the indissoluble relationship between divine Principle and its spiritual idea, Mary Baker Eddy says (p. 77): "This is the Father's great Love that He hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless Life and one eternal round of harmonious being. It guides him by Truth that knows no error, and with supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love."
Truth, Life, and Love support man; they preserve his individuality and spiritual well-being, his substance and freedom. As the idea of God, he reflects ability, liberty, holiness, and goodness. Under the control of God, there can be no tearing down of man's spiritual character. Man is God's expression, and he has spiritual strength and incorporeal faculties, derived from and maintained by Spirit.
Proof that man is God's child and that the Father's great love holds His child in Life, guiding him "with supersensual, impartial, and unquenchable Love," was the experience of a Christian Scientist, a young Navy officer in World War II. The men in his unit and their three planes were in combat with enemy planes, supposedly of the same number. Just as victory seemed to be theirs, a much larger number of enemy planes, hidden back in the distance, descended upon them.
One plane of the unit was destroyed immediately, the second veered off and escaped, and the plane piloted by the Christian Scientist received the brunt of the attack. To appearances, his plane was riddled and his landing gear shot away. His navigation instruments were of no use; oil drenched him and the cockpit of his plane, leaving only a tiny hole barely large enough for him to see through.
The carrier sighted him on its radar screen and talked him in by radio for a distance of three hundred and fifty miles. After circling the carrier several times, he finally crash-landed the plane on the deck. The Scientist, having only minor injuries, climbed out, and the wreckage was shoved overboard.
To human sense, it seemed a miracle that the Christian Scientist came through the battle physically whole, but what was also important was that fear, confusion, exhaustion, and false mental surrender did not possess his thinking to interfere with the realization of God's ever-present help. The belief of hopelessness in the situation did not gain control of him.
To be free and safe, happy and strong, successful and well, one must recognize that he is in reality controlled by divine Mind. Principle should be permitted to govern one completely. Men must recognize its power to destroy mortal mind's claim that evil can manipulate their thoughts and actions. Man's real individuality is constituted, regulated, maintained, controlled, and protected by Spirit alone.
Discord, failure, and tragedy, if they threaten the individual, can be prevented or met by realizing that actually God, Mind, keeps His infinite idea secure and directs man's every step. An illuminating question in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy reveals this fact. In referring to Jesus' raising of Lazarus, our Leader asks (pp. 493, 494,) "Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire action?"
In his wilderness experience, Jesus refused to concede control to material forces or influences. To the devil's temptations, he replied (Matt. 4:4), "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Again, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"; and again, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." What wonderful freedom and strength Jesus realized on this occasion!
Similarly our victory and dominion over all wrong can be just as sure and rewarding, for the control of man is always God's responsibility. God does not surrender control to a lesser power. As our Father-Mother maintained Jesus' true selfhood, so does He sustain all His spiritual ideas. In faithfully reflecting the divine qualities available to us because of Love's parenthood, we magnify the Father in daily affairs and show to our fellow men the happiness, satisfaction, health, and fruition of our true being as sons and daughters of God.
