Articles

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy defines "Church" as follows ( p. 583 ): "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.

Time is the error of age and the ages. Eternity is the forever newness of spiritual man's existence and individuality.

The meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus, the Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, carries with it a deep meaning for all time, for it establishes the scientific fact that man is born of Spirit and not of matter. Nicodemus caught a glimpse of the divine nature of Jesus' teachings, and he recognized to a degree that the miracles which Jesus performed were not done by human power.

" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" cried the writer of the twenty-second Psalm in words which have gained great significance to many Christians because of their utterance by the Saviour when on the cross of Calvary. The poignant prayer of the singer of Israel emerges later in the same Psalm with accents of spiritual triumph and praise.

In our times a spiritually-minded woman, Mary Baker Eddy, was guided by God to present to the world Christian Science, the promised Comforter. She gave it in a form which can be readily understood and utilized.

We hear a great deal today about civil defense and the careful thought that is being given to ways and means by which men may protect themselves and others from the destructive forces of materialism which have been unleashed by human knowledge and invention. While it is undoubtedly right that governments should seek means to safeguard their peoples from such dangers, there is only one way by which the individual can be guaranteed absolute protection and safety, and that is by his seeking refuge in the sanctuary of Spirit, God.

To become increasingly conscious of the harmony and dominion of true being is the rightful aim of every earnest student of Christian Science, and probably no Biblical statement more fitly gives the key to such spiritual experience than that of the Psalmist ( Ps. 46: 10 ), "Be still, and know that I am God.

One Christmas morning some years ago, when I was pondering the significance of Christmas, I was struck by the following passage in an article entitled "The New Birth," to be found in "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mary Baker Eddy ( p. 18 ): "Thou shalt recognize thyself as God's spiritual child only, and the true man and true woman, the all-harmonious 'male and female,' as of spiritual origin, God's reflection,—thus as children of one common Parent,—wherein and whereby Father, Mother, and child are the divine Principle and divine idea, even the divine 'Us'—one in good, and good in One.

What a joy it is to cease the self-torture of hating our seeming enemies! Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 210, 211 ), "Love your enemies, or you will not lose them; and if you love them, you will help to reform them.

Obedience is a spiritual quality of man. It is the divine response of God's idea to the demands of Life and Love.