WHAT therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," said Jesus. Like many another text in the Bible, of which we have been accustomed to accept only a literal interpretation, this one, in the light of Christian Science, becomes almost limitless in the scope of its application to human needs. Does health seem to be separated from one's experience; do supply, right occupation, reward, inspiration, seem far away; does "the evil which I would not" seem to hold sway, and to "put asunder" the expression of good which is the real man's only reason for being? What God hath joined together—the real man and the true sense of existence, man and the sense of harmony, man and the sense of completeness—neither mortal man nor so-called mortal mind can put asunder. God has joined the consciousness of each one of His children to the good which He has provided for all, and none can be separated from it. God has also joined to each worthy motive and noble ambition the possibility of its fulfillment; to spiritual longing He has joined the right and satisfying answer. Herein is great comfort for humanity.
This saying of the Master points also to the law of perfect balance, to the indissoluble union of the law and the gospel, of the spirit and the letter, and of those traits of character which complement each other and bring out symmetry. Every high ideal should include a balanced character and a balanced experience, for there can be no genuine satisfaction without them. Take, for example, the individual endowed with exceptional executive ability. If such a one neglects to develop the balancing quality of patience, executive ability may lose its merit, grow into aggression, and encounter shipwreck. Likewise, the Christian Scientist who habitually shuts himself away from his fellows and unduly pores over his books, to the neglect of his legitimate and practical duty toward family and, friends, is not acquiring that balance of the spirit and the letter, of study and application, which makes Christian character so "foursquare" that from whatever angle it is approached by temptation its defense is impregnable.
This thought of unity permeates the teachings of Christian Science, and is illustrated by the inseparability of divine Principle and its idea, man—Principle which expresses its perfection through its idea, or reflection, man. Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 477), "Separated from man, who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man, divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity." And she further assures us of the law of inseparability by adding, "There is, there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with God."
And what of entity? Man's entity is in God, good, alone. Why, then, do mortals expend so much effort in endeavoring to identify themselves with anything other than God? Was not this what the prodigal did when he joined himself to a citizen of a "far country," and what Ephraim did when he joined himself to idols? And with what dire results! Yet countless are the blessings promised in the Scriptures to those who join themselves to the Lord.
Until the advent of Christian Science, mankind believed its identity to be, if not entirely at least primarily, material. In this Science, however, there cannot be found the slightest vestige of authority for believing man to be less than wholly spiritual. Not one single need of the real man can be met by or through matter. Only in Spirit, God, is Life to be found, divine Life with its wisdom, intelligence, substance, and satisfaction. This is the source with which we must identify ourselves, this the unity we must declare daily and hourly to be ours without interruption.
What is the doctrine of atonement, as Mrs. Eddy has illumined it in Christian Science, but the revelation of spiritual at-one-ment, whereby, through Christ, Truth, each one realizes his oneness with God, good, and becomes conscious of his reflected ability to overcome sin, disease, and death—all, in short, which would separate one from perfection and true satisfaction?
In his exhortations to the children of Israel, Moses was continually reminding them of their inseparability from God's care and provision. Likewise did the prophets encourage those of their day. St. Augustine spoke for mankind when he wrote, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in Thee." In our own time we have Mrs. Eddy's statement in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 358), "All men shall be satisfied when they 'awake in His likeness,' and they never should be until then."
