“Mind’s Supremacy” by A.L. Scott

From the January 1912 issue of The Christian Science Journal

In that wonderful poem, the book of Job, the writer tells us of the Mind that upholds the universe, “which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades;” then he adds, “Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not.” How truly these words describe the condition of mortals, who are indeed surrounded with all the harmony, peace, and love of infinite Mind, God, yet who “see him not” because the material senses cannot know Him whom to know aright is life eternal. Through sorrow, sickness, and much turmoil, this patriarch of old patiently struggled with the seeming difficulties that are often overwhelming to mortals, yet in all his struggle we read that “Job sinned not.” Though advised by his companion to curse God and die, he never yielded up his integrity or his confidence in God. As mortals, all of us come to know something of toil and struggle, many of us through bitter experiences have found the vanity of things material, and happy are we if these trials “turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love” (Science and Health, p. 322).

What a relief it would be to millions of the human race if they only knew that it is not their heavenly Father who is afflicting them, but that their affliction is only the penalty of their false beliefs concerning God and man; that these bring seemingly real aches and pains, and so becloud the understanding that it is only through a blind faith they apprehend God at all. “He goeth by,” yet they “see him not,” and for the simple reason that the material senses cannot know God or come into His presence. As well might we attempt to bring darkness into light as to bring the false evidence of material sense into the presence of Truth, for as light destroys darkness, even so the sense of God, good, when understood and reflected, destroys the false sense of evil. Many wonderful lessons are found in the Bible when it is studied in the light of the teachings of Christian Science.

Paul says that “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh [and hoping for rest or pleasure in it] cannot please God.” If one did not understand the unreality of sickness and sin, he might indeed do as Job did, curse the day that he was born, not knowing that sickness, sin, and death are born of the false and not the true sense of being. If, however, we examine in the light of Christian Science experiences such as those that Job passed through, these lessons take on an entirely different meaning, for we soon learn that mortals can never see Spirit, God, though at all times God’s children are surrounded by His presence, His love, His eternal goodness: but in the truth we begin to apprehend that man is the child of God here, now, and forever, and thus we begin to “put off the old man with his deeds,” and to put on the new man which is Christ.

The problem, then, which confronts each mortal is how to “see him,”—to see God,—and it is in contemplation of the truth of being that Christian Scientists find reliable testimony which not only brings them surcease from suffering and sin, but enables them to be the channels through which this truth may be brought to the consciousness of others. The Scriptures say, “There shall no man see me, and live,” which is but another way of expressing the fact that a mortal or material sense cannot come into the divine presence, for Life, Truth, and Love destroy the false sense of God and man. Yet Jesus gave his blessing to the pure in heart, and declared that they should see God, and by a careful study of our text, book and other writings of our Leader, we begin to discern, though faintly at first, that the way to heaven, harmony, is a mental way; and this was the teaching of Jesus the Wayshower. To come into the divine presence means that we must come in the way of Spirit, for Jesus declared that God is Spirit, and “they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,” and it is plain that we can never arrive at correct results until we abandon erroneous methods. If, then, we seek the Mind of the Spirit in each and every moment of our existence, great will be the results of such seeking, and we shall see Him as “he goeth by,” for we are assured by Christ Jesus that those who seek shall find, and to them that knock it shall be opened.

In the daily routine of affairs mortals are very apt to take narrow, material views of God’s spiritual and glorious creation, thereby limiting their own freedom and their capacity to reflect health, harmony, abundance; in fine, man’s divine right to express the pure and holy relation of spiritual sonship. The prophet Isaiah declared that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;” that is, above the storm of material existence. Does it not then behoove us to ascend the mount of eternal Love, where no sin, sickness, or sorrow can ever come, in order to find what is really ours, viz., freedom and boundless blessings? Only by spiritual means can we take our journey and ascend the hill of God. In knowing that as children of the one Father we reflect infinite intelligence, we realize the truth, for, as Mrs. Eddy tells us, “Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses” (Science and Health, p. 288).

In Mrs. Eddy’s, writings we have abundant evidence that she looked from the spiritual view-point and with spiritual discernment saw what the material senses never see or believe, for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God . . . neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” On page 272 of Science and Health we are instructed that “the divine Principle of the universe must interpret the universe.” What, then, is this silent, unseen force which is the source of alt activity? Is it any other than Mind, Life, infinite Love, supreme over all? Cannot, then, this Mind which governs all and controls all throughout the infinite universe of God —cannot this same eternal, infinite force of Love clothe us with the habiliments of Mind, of Love, and keep us in perfect harmony? Cannot this same Mind which was in Christ Jesus be trusted to heal us, save us, redeem us, when it is proven that this eternal force was powerful enough to create and sustain the universe? In the language of the Master, we might well say. “O ye of little faith,” for we are told that if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we could say to the mountain, “Remove hence to yonder place,” and that it would remove.

What a vision of God’s spiritual universe came to our Leader, who penned these lines: “The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind” (Science and Health, p. 379). Already in every civilized nation there are to be found grateful men and women who have in some degree proven the truth of Mind’s supremacy. It matters little what men say as to what truth is; the only genuine proof is in good works which prove the supremacy of truth over error. It should not be supposed, however, that any Christian Scientist pretends or claims that he has entirely proven all of truth, although it is clearly within our province as “the sons of God” to know what truth is, to realize our ideal, and to prove the truth of being step by step; which is but another way of expressing the Scriptural statement, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

If once we admit that matter is real, or that God created a material universe and material man, we have in belief lost our high position in truth and have separated ourselves from spiritual truth and have entered the plane of the world’s thought: hence we will not be able to apprehend the Mind which is in Christ, so long as this error is admitted. Christian Scientists are often asked if they do not believe that God made the material universe. To this question the answer must forever be “No.” For to put the question logically it should be asked, “Do you not believe that God created an imperfect material universe and material man, and subjected them to all of its plagues, disasters, and woes?” Had a Christian Scientist been on this plane of existence five hundred years ago, the question would probably have been put in this form, “Do you not believe that God made the earth flat, and that if you should go far enough you would come to a jumping-off place?” The answer to this question is plain today, but the answer is no more true than is the former question when answered in the negative.

Christian Scientists believe that God created man and the universe, but they do not admit that an all-wise and loving God created aught that is imperfect, mortal, or material. They prefer to hold to the Bible declaration that God created all, and that all He made was pronounced by His wisdom good. When mankind are willing to be governed by the Mind that was in Christ Jesus, which is eternal Love, they will love God, and as a necessary corollary must love each other. They will then be willing to let divine Principle interpret the universe, and man can look out upon the seven stars and Orion, beholding Mind’s supremacy and seeing God, good, in His every manifestation,—in earth and heaven and man.