"THY GOLD TO REFINE"

Gold and dross, wheat and tares, are contrasting pairs of terms used by Christian Scientists to illustrate the distinction between good and evil and particularly to show the necessity of separating them, that the gold and wheat may remain and the dross and tares be destroyed. On page 535 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" its author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, "The seed of Truth and the seed of error, of belief and of understanding,—yea, the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter,— are the wheat and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned, the other to be garnered into heavenly places."

In Christian Science we learn that all that is ever destroyed is the unreal, that which has existence only in belief; the good, or real, is permanent, incapable of destruction. Christian Scientists pray daily for the spiritual understanding that enables them to overcome all evil, and they pray for the establishment of the government of good in the affairs of all men.

The separating of good from evil is one of the functions of Christian Science and is indispensable to the progress of the student. He properly recognizes that in the measure that he daily, hourly, separates good from evil and destroys the latter, his witnessing to Truth becomes clearer. Christian Science teaches him that the scientific way of separating good from evil is to affirm the positive and rule out the negative of that which is under consideration, to utilize his knowledge of the allness of God, good, and to see the unreality of evil. The process is mental.

Our Leader says on page 296 of Science and Health, "Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self." It is no more necessary to work out the problem of being through suffering than it is to solve mathematical problems through mistakes. It is, however, necessary to work it out one way or another. We know that for our own good, purification and spiritualization of thought must go on until all evil has been overcome.

Reformation and redemption is the divine plan. Each experience holds a benefit, and after each victory we become increasingly certain that the lessons awaiting us do not include submission to pain and suffering, but are only occasions for us to prove our God-given dominion over them. In Science and Health we read (pp. 66, 67), "The furnace separates the gold from the dross that the precious metal may be graven with the image of God." Mrs. Eddy knew the salutary effect of trials, for she continues, "The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it and learn the lessons He teaches?"

The fire cannot refine the dross and give us gold; it is the gold which must be refined. So Spirit does not refine matter. It is not matter which becomes purer; it is the spiritual sense of good which appears brighter and clearer as the consuming fire of God, Truth, burns the dross—error—in human consciousness. The dross is separated from the gold that the gold may shine in its natural purity and brilliance. Similarly, man in God's own image and likeness is already in possession of the pure consciousness of Life, Truth, and Love, and it is only as we work to replace the false sense of man as a sick, sinning mortal with the understanding of the man of God's creating that the natural brilliance and purity of man appear.

Do we murmur w hen we encounter seeming tribulations, without which we should not have the opportunity to assay the quality of the gold nuggets we have been gathering while declaring the truths of Christian Science? Does it seem difficult to eliminate from consciousness the human dross which lingers there? Then let us pause to consider that in every refining process known to mankind an upheaval occurs; even so, an upheaval occurs in the refining of mortal thought. The activity of God, of Mind, Life, Truth, and Love, may seem to cause evil to assert itself more aggressively and to press its claims with greater insistence. But evil is not a power and has no reality. God, Love, is the only power, and we may be sure that since Love destroys only its opposites hate, fear, animality, all evil— Love's activity is and can be only beneficial.

Knowing this, we must turn from the seemingly overwhelming testimony of the material senses and become conscious of the glorious unity which exists between God and His idea, man. This unity has never been revoked; neither have the prayers of spiritual enlightenment prayed by the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness remained unanswered. Daniel in a vision was assured of this fact in these words (Dan. 10:12): "From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard."' If our prayers seem to be unheard, it is because we have not fully complied with every demand made upon us by Science The human consciousness often insists upon carrying an earth load even while turning to the Father. This earth load, this belief of human experience, of life in matter, is the dross which must be separated from the gold, God's reflection.

In the writer's experience seemingly severe trials have been occasions to carry him forward to greater realization and higher understanding of his true identity and his unsevered unity with divine Love. For a long time he had been working on a problem which seemed unyielding. Because of the apparent seriousness of it, he at times gave in to an almost hopeless despair, until one evening he turned to God and cried, "What more can I do?" After this outburst he tried to be still and to silence the clamor within himself. In the stillness of his thought he heard these words clearly: "What more can I say?" He retired believing they had no bearing on his case; but as he lay thinking about them he asked his wife to read aloud the hymn in which these words appear (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 1215): "What more can He say than to you He hath said." She began to read, and when she came to the lines.

No words could have more satisfyingly and completely answered his troubled thought than these. He now understood that Christian Science is the Comforter which Christ Jesus promised. As the three Hebrews passed unharmed through the Babylonian furnace, so one informed by Christian Science may be saved from threatening disaster or disease by demonstrating the sufficiency of God's grace, which is always at hand. The writer felt the joyous presence of omnipotent Love. The weight was lifted from his consciousness, and a corresponding physical relief was experienced. The fulfillment of the promise expressed in the hymn mentioned above began at the time the Christian Scientist saw that human consciousness must give up its agelong reliance on matter, its crude creeds, its false gods, for the spiritual recognition of life in God.

What applies to individuals also applies to nations. When a nation passes through fiery trials, it is only that its gold may shine more brilliantly. Suppose the refining fires burn all around. Suppose evil arrogantly and defiantly hurls its threats. What should our position be: despair that the dross is being consumed, or gladness in the joyous expectancy of soon seeing the refined gold appear? Undoubtedly, every discomfort or temporary upheaval attendant upon the destruction of mortal beliefs is not worthy to be compared to consciousness regenerated and purified through triumphant Love.

In God's creation neither time nor space is provided for evil of any kind. Error must surrender its assumed existence. Let us be grateful that the kindling fires of divine Love both disclose and destroy the errors of sense, for as Paul writes of the second coming of the Christ, God's pure ideal (II Thess. 2:8), "Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."