"I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Thus did God reveal His supremacy and self-existence to Isaiah (42:8). Concerning man's relationship to Himself, God declared, "Ye are my witnesses . . . that I am God" (43:12).
Mrs. Eddy emphasizes these profound Scriptural truths in these words in "Miscellaneous Writings": "The origin, substance, and life of man are one, and that one is God,—Life, Truth, Love. The self-existent, perfect, and eternal are God; and man is their reflection and glory" (p. 187).
God, as eternal Life, or Father, remains in constant harmonious relation with His ideas, the offspring of His infinite selfhood. This spiritual truth establishes also their concordant, intelligent coexistence with each other. Reasoning from a metaphysical basis, we see that any miscreation, misdirection, collision, or conflict is scientifically impossible. Such a seeming occurrence in human experience cannot therefore be factual.
Our Master, Christ Jesus, understood and demonstrated to his followers God's allness in the healing of sickness and sin. Insisting upon man's at-one-ment with God as idea, he disproved the age-old fatalistic belief upon which all error, or evil, is built, namely that man is an isolated material entity, defenselessly subject to the attacks of material forces, circumstances, impulses, and attractions, which would lead him to eventual dissolution.
Jesus also showed his followers how they in their obedience to his teachings might utilize the same spiritual power bestowed on him. In the Lord's Prayer, he left the basic pattern for all true, selfless realization and demonstration. It begins with this devout acknowledgment of God's all-creative ever-presence and supremacy: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matt. 6:9). It continues in earnest petition for the manifestation of His divine nature in the human consciousness and culminates in this final, deeply reverent and joyous affirmation of His allness: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."
God, as the one all-intelligent Mind, the originator of all ideas, maintains His universe forever in a divine and perfect wholeness, of which each individual idea is an integer. It follows, then, that each of us in his true identity has a definite and unique purpose to fulfill. No one can do it for him, and actually nothing can prevent him from fulfilling it to the utmost. The Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy insist that now is the time for all to discover this purpose. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy makes these rousing statements: "Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight" (p. 246).
The increasing understanding of God's ever-available love makes human thought more receptive to His divine influence, support, and guidance. There follows a fuller comprehension of the truth that there can be in reality no evil mind or power to void or divert the ceaseless flow of God's goodness to His beloved offspring. Nor can the divine fact of brotherhood, which binds all of His ideas together in unity and harmony, be perverted into hatred and discord. To realize these truths enhances our capacity to be charitable and compassionate in our dealings with others and provides a panoply of protection against the subtle attempts of error to misinterpret or misuse brotherly love.
Man's selfhood is in God, the only Ego; hence true self-consciousness is the consciousness of God's presence. In the degree that this spiritual fact becomes apparent to us, we exchange self-will and false ambition for divine unfoldment, and our response to the impelling force of good becomes more spontaneous, making for keener originality in human accomplishments and more effective and expansive usefulness in the utilizing of the power of divine Love.
The earnest student of Christian Science, having glimpsed in a measure its spiritual accuracy, does not question the wisdom of trusting his entire welfare, both spiritual and physical, to its ministrations. He knows that the only proof he can give of understanding this Science is improved health, happiness, and security. He may, however, because of a false sense of humility or self-limitation, find himself fearing his own failure to measure up to the spiritual demand of the moment.
This was the experience of a young student of Christian Science. Although he had had many proofs of the availability of God in time of need, he still harbored a hidden fear that at some time he might be faced with an erroneous condition beyond his understanding to meet. One specific stumbling block was his faulty interpretation of the fourth verse of the twenty-third Psalm, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Whenever he came to this verse he mentally bypassed it, unwilling to investigate its deeper meaning. He knew, however, that sooner or later this unnatural resistance would have to be cleared away.
Sometime later he found himself in an extremely serious physical condition. The error did not yield to treatment, and his family feared for his life. The Scientist never wavered in his conviction that God is the only physician, but in his weakened state it seemed difficult to resist the persistent suggestion that perhaps this was the time for him to pass through the valley of death, in order to prove its nothingness, for this was his mistaken interpretation of the above-quoted verse from the Psalm.
Fear and confusion seemed to take hold of his thought. But as he reached out more fervently than ever for divine aid, the healing Christ, always ready to supply our insufficiencies, furnished the needed spiritual light. He found himself declaring repeatedly, at first weakly but then with increasing firmness, this scientific statement: "God is my Life." In a short time he became aware of an inpouring joy, well-being, and vitality, routing every sense of physical weakness and depletion.
With this awakened reasoning power, there came clearly a more scientific interpretation of the verse in question, namely that the belief in or fear of death was but the shadow belief of ignorance, which the enlightened understanding of the ever-presence of Life, God, dissolves. The physical healing took place immediately. It was complete and required no period of recuperation. His greatest joy and gratitude, however, derived from his fuller understanding that God is, here and now, the source of our being and that we are never tested beyond our conscious, active understanding of this scientific truth.
The great Exemplar, Christ Jesus, demonstrated in the fullest measure the allness of God. He proved step by step the shadow nature of all error and mortality. At the point of his final identification with omnipotent good, known to us as his ascension, he sealed his complete earth mission with this superlative declaration: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18).
As to mankind's eventual attaining to this perfect state of being, Mrs. Eddy writes in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 4): "Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and therefore whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle, God? You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this. Then you will find that one is as important a factor as duodecillions in being and doing right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle."
