Christopher Columbus' discovery of America opened the way for the development of a great new continent.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us in the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. viii) that "as early as 1862 she began to write down and give to friends the results of her Scriptural study, for the Bible was her sole teacher; but these compositions were crude,—the first steps of a child in the newly discovered world of Spirit."
We have heard the glad news that, in divine reality, we live in a "world of Spirit." This momentous discovery is the greatest since Jesus walked the earth, teaching and demonstrating the same timeless truth. Are we who have accepted this Science showing forth the fruits of our acceptance and understanding? Are we disseminating this news in the way of God's appointing? Are we conscious that we are living in a "world of Spirit" and demonstrating that fact, or are we allowing ourselves to drift hither and thither unmindful thereof?
This discovery reaffirms the opening chapter of the Bible, to the effect that God, Spirit, made all that was made. The spiritual inference is that God, Spirit, is responsible for His universe, including man; while man's responsibility lies in being ever conscious of his spiritual selfhood as God beholds him, abiding always in the realm of Spirit.
A subtle suggestion of an abiding place other than that which God provides, is found in Genesis 4:9, where Cain, in answer to the Lord's inquiry, "Where is Abel thy brother?" retorted, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" The tenor of his reply gives evidence of his belief in a kingdom of divided interests where man is believed to be estranged from his brother.
If Cain had known his brother as spiritual, thus taking cognizance of his true habitation as in the kingdom of Spirit, a far different page of Biblical history' might have been written. After slaying Abel, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, which is defined as the "land of wandering." In belief he strayed away from the "world of Spirit."
Christ Jesus, with the opening words of that greatest of all prayers, the Lord's Prayer, immediately makes conclusive the fact that man cannot be estranged from his Maker; cannot be separated from the spiritual universe and from his brother. The concluding words of Jesus' prayer declare one kingdom, one power, one glory—Almighty God. To understand and hold fast to the spirit of this prayer protects one from the temptation to wander away from God's infinite presence, the realm of divine Mind.
A little child who attended a Christian Science Sunday School caught the significance of the inseparability of all God's children as dwelling eternally in the everywhereness of the one glorious, spiritual abiding place. He and his mother were many miles from home. Suddenly they met some neighbors who lived only a few doors from them. Amazed to meet his friends so far away from his home, the little fellow excitedly and happily exclaimed, "Mother, there isn't space big enough to separate us from our friends!"
An irresponsible, indifferent attitude toward our brother denotes a belief of separation from him, and therefore from the one all-loving Father.
Every Christian Scientist should sincerely desire and pray for an increasingly sustained awareness that he lives in a "world of Spirit." Such desire is a direct approach to the fulfillment of Jesus' words, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." We cannot be lifted up into the realm of Spirit unless and until we acknowledge a spiritual universe, including man, in our thought.
The Christian Scientist is grateful because Truth dispels for him the illusion that he lives in a world of matter, and gives him a true perspective. He cherishes Mrs. Eddy's words (Message to The Mother Church for 1902,p. 11): "Our heavenly Father never destined mortals who seek for a better country to wander on the shores of time disappointed travellers, tossed to and fro by adverse circumstances, inevitably subject to sin, disease, and death. Divine Love waits and pleads to save mankind—and awaits with warrant and welcome, grace and glory, the earth-weary and heavy-laden who find and point the path to heaven."
As earnest thought was given to the development of the new world discovered by Columbus, mankind was blessed. So, as the student of Christian Science strives to be "lifted up" that he may see more of God and His spiritual universe, he blesses mankind. The "world of Spirit" is already developed, complete, finished. It only awaits our recognition of its perfection and wholeness.
It has been said that one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven alone. The entire foundation upon which Jesus based his teaching was love for God and man. John asked, "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Jesus commanded, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Scriptural teachings carry a direct implication that one cannot enter the spiritual realm, the kingdom of God, and leave his brother outside.
Perhaps if Cain had answered that soul-scorching inquiry, "Where is thy brother?" with an honest, fervent tone, saying, "Lord, I have sinned against Thee and my brother. I know now that I am my brother's keeper," the whole vanguard of that first act of violence recorded in the Bible might have been turned back.
However, be that as it may, divine Love ever leads from glory to glory those who seek to know themselves and their fellow men as abiding in that ever new, wonderful "world of Spirit."
