Article October 31, 1901 Issue

Consecration

BY F. B. HOMANS.

In our school days we were taught that the degrees of comparison of good, were good, better, best. But in Christian Science we learn that Good is God, and there is no better or best; that God is All, and nothing can be added; that Good is perfect, and therefore there is no room for comparison.

Consecration means consecration to Good, and there is no room for comparison, there can be no half way work about it. Jesus said we must "come out from the world." That we must love God with our whole mind, soul, and strength. We cannot serve God and mammon. If we try to serve God one day and the pleasures of the world the next, we shall find that we have lost our power to enjoy worldly things, and that we do not find peace in heavenly things. We must give up all and follow Christ or we shall find our days are wasted. Have we consecrated ourselves to Christian Science, or do we still hold on with one hand to worldly affairs? Of course we must progress. To-morrow we shall know more than we do to-day, but that does not prevent us from giving the whole of our efforts to-day. When I first heard of Christian Science I thought there was a physical class, and a spiritual class, and that some belonged to one and some to the other, and some to both. I said, "I'II look into the physical end of it, but I have no use for the spiritual end and I won't have it." But being here I realize that I must give up all for Christ. What a great big word all is, only three letters yet it covers and includes the whole universe. First we must be willing to give up all, and then we must grow to the understanding that enables us to give up all.

We ask God for some blessing, but materiality clouds our vision and we do not perceive that we have it, and so think our prayer is not answered. We can receive answers to our prayers just as fast as we grow pure enough to receive them, and no faster. Error could never deceive Jesus because he was consecrated to God. He never asked amiss and never received aught at the hands of error; his perception was too keen to be deceived. He knew error in all its different garbs and simply said, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

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