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.

From the February 1913 issue of The Christian Science Journal

In his work of arousing humanity to the all-presence of God and the closeness of our relation to Him, Jesus chose the name of Father as typifying most clearly our utter dependence upon Him, His loving interest in our every-day needs, and His infinite power to supply them. Christians have accepted this term for God in theory, but in practise they have to a large extent set aside all that it implies of protection and maintenance in human conditions, and continued to scramble for one material thing after another to supply their various needs, experiencing as a result all sorts of discord and privation. Yet Jesus reveals to us, in the parable of the prodigal, the Father who declares, “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” Could there be a clearer “Peace, be still,” to the strife and fear of mortal existence?

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Christian Science shows us that it is our failure to recognize God as our Father, and as the real source of supply, consequently our failure to see what the real supply is, which causes all sense of limitation and want; so that lack is overcome not by material acquiring, but by mental readjustment. Of course this is in direct contradiction of the testimony of the physical senses, nevertheless it can be shown on the plane of ordinary human reasoning that any supply of what we call material need is mental in its origin and not material. If, for example, the choice could be made between owning a painting of a popular and successful artist or of possessing the ability of the painter himself with all the qualities of mind and heart that made for his success, one would see that as a matter of profit the skill of the artist, wholly supersensible in its nature, would be a far greater source of gain than the possession of any of his pictures.

In the same way, if we were given the choice of owning a business, its material organization and system, or the intelligence which produced and directs it, we would realize that any business establishment without wise management would soon fail, while the man who has the kind of intelligence, industry, and wisdom which produce business success, is capable of building up a successful organization wherever he is placed. In this way any apparent material possession can be traced to a mental power behind it which is the real source of supply.

The thought then presents itself that if the source is mental, that which is supplied cannot be material. Just as it is merely superficial thinking that makes the source of supply seem material, so it is this same carelessness which would call food or money or clothes supply instead of simply a means to an end. A story which one of the Christian Science lecturers told is a good illustration of this point. He said that during a period of business depression a man was approached by a laborer with the request for work. “Do you see that boulder over there on the hillside?” asked the man. “Roll that down the hill, and up again; there’s work for you.” “You don’t understand,” said the laborer; “I want money.” “Well, here is a five-dollar bill for you, if you will promise me not to spend it.” “But my family is in want; I need it for food and clothes and fuel.” “Very well, then, spend it for these, if you will promise not to eat the food, burn the fuel, or wear the clothes.” “Oh, no,” said the laborer wearily, “it isn’t food I want and it isn’t clothes; it’s comfort and happiness and peace.”

This is what we all want; and no matter what the material thing may be for which we are striving at the moment, or how misguided our efforts, this is the real supply which we are all seeking. So, even according to human reasoning, what we have been accustomed to consider material causes, and corresponding material effects, are simply mental conditions expressed in terms of matter. Then it is plain that the remedy for discord and limitation must come through mental readjustment and not through material acquiring.

Mere human reasoning is incapable of carrying us any farther, and stops with the declaration that mind is the source of supply; still we have not found the Father who is ever with us and who supplies us from His abundance. Indeed, no! the mortal mind, or what Paul named the carnal mind, is “enmity against God,” and this fact is the sole cause of the discord we are seeking to escape. The great need is that the human sense, the belief in both good and evil, be informed by Christian Science, which declares and proves that “Mind is not both good and bad, for God is Mind; therefore there is in reality one Mind only, because there is one God” (Science and Health, p. 330).

When we comprehend that divine Mind is the source of supply, and that God, our Father, is infinite Mind, the failures and restrictions which a false sense would put upon us begin to disappear, for we have reached the real basis of supply, the ever-present divine Mind whose ability is available for all alike under all circumstances, since “God is no respecter of persons.” When we once catch a glimpse of the purity of this eternal Mind, unmixed with a single evil element, and realize that He is indeed our Father, abundantly able to supply every need, we begin to give up the notion that selfishness, dishonesty, or any other evil passions of the human so-called mind can possibly be sources of supply to us or to any one else, and so we begin to give up fearing or harboring them.

Here human sense would declare that dishonesty, avarice, and greed are sometimes more successful than honesty and unselfishness. But we have only to remember what the real supply is,—not money or food or clothes, but peace and joy and love, —then we see that no evil passion can be successful in supplying these. We are then prepared to understand Mrs. Eddy’s declaration that “the imaginary victories of rivalry and hypocrisy are defeats” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 268). We can also see that it is acquiescence in or cooperation with evil which has hindered us from receiving the divine supplies, and that it is natural for honesty, intelligence, and industry to be successful, for these qualities reflect the divine Mind, and so lead up to the very fountainhead of all good.

The incongruity between divine causation, with the sublimity of its effect, and the means employed by human beings, is sometimes felt most keenly by the individual who is just becoming interested in Christian Science. When his attention is called to a financial demonstration, or the supplying of merely human needs through scientifically applying the spiritual law of cause and effect, he is inclined to see only the material conditions involved and to feel that there is no spiritual law in operation at all. He is quite apt to say, “I do not see any demonstration in that. You got the money and bought what you needed, just as any one might do.” He feels that an all-powerful spiritual cause must directly produce a spiritual result, independent of matter; which is of course ultimately true. Meanwhile, however, what is to become of this same individual who feels with his present understanding and environment that food and clothes and other material means are positive necessities? Surely it was to this condition of consciousness that Jesus spoke when he said: “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

In seeking to understand the relation of the spiritual law to our human environment, the following illustration helped the writer and perhaps will be of benefit to others. The child who is first learning the law of addition may be incapable of grasping the abstract fact that one and one are two; so the teacher, understanding his need, supplies two apples and shows him how one apple and one apple make two apples. When he has learned this, very often he has to be taught all over again how one pencil and one pencil make two pencils, and he goes on learning the same law, with the help of various other objects, until at last he sees that pencils and apples have really nothing to do with the law, and that one and one would be two if there were no apples or pencils in the world. As a result of the conformity of the material symbols to the mathematical law, he has learned to dispense with the symbols and to see the law as a mental fact wholly independent of matter.

We are very little children yet in our power to perceive the spiritual operation of the laws of Mind, and need to have the material symbols conformed to this law until at last we, too, will be able to dispense with them and perceive this law quite apart from material symbols. The apparent response, through material objects, to the operation of the spiritual law is really an eliminating process, set to work by our increasing reliance upon divine Mind. The final attainment is the complete overcoming of all belief in matter and its discords. Mrs. Eddy says: “Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually” (Science and Health, p. 442).

The account of Christ Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes is a perfect illustration of how the material sense of acquiring falls back upon itself defeated, and of the efficacy of mental adjustment to the divine Mind. When the disciples looked into the basket for their supply, they immediately felt a sense of lack and saw only five loaves and two fishes; but Jesus, “looking up to heaven, … blessed, and brake,” and the disciples gathered twelve basketfuls of the fragments that were left after the five thousand had been fed. We may be sure that if a sense of want in any direction steals over us, we are looking into the basket and counting the loaves and fishes; but if, with Christlike understanding and pure purpose, we lift our eyes to heaven and then act immediately with full confidence in the divine assurance of supply, as did Jesus when he blessed and brake, we too will be able to give out of the riches of infinite Mind abundantly, above all that we can ask or think.