Article October 17, 1903 Issue

"If Ye Abide in Me"

M. A. GAYLORD

What is it to "abide in me" in Spirit? It is never to waver, never to doubt, but to know beyond all question and all doubt that God—Spirit—is the only Life, the only Truth, the only Love, the only good,—to realize that as Tennyson expressed it, "closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet." It is to know that because He is conscious of His own ideas, conscious of all good and only of good, we as His reflection, are also conscious of all good, therefore conscious of His presence encompassing us, "as the mountains are round about Jerusalem,"—the one Presence, "underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being" (Science and Health, p. 496). It is never to have a sense of loneliness, because Love knows no separation, and in His "presence is fulness of joy." He giveth us "the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." It is to lose our sense of fear, for the perfect love that casteth out fear enfolds us, and as we daily declare that its work is made manifest in our consciousness, we do begin to see that fear cannot forever shadow our lives. It is never to have an anxious foreboding thought as to our loved ones who may be absent from us, lest they be exposed to unknown dangers, for we are learning that "Under divine Providence there can be no accident" (Science and Health, p. 424), and if we do our work aright, if we deny the mesmerism of fear that suggests dangers, and cling to the ever-present Love, declaring their safety in His care and protection, the assurance will be fulfilled. It is never to enter the shadow and the dread of poverty, or of limited or insufficient supply, because we know it is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and that this kingdom includes dominion over any and every sense of want,—mental, moral, or physical. Mentally we reflect His intelligence, wisdom, and understanding, morally we reflect His purity, physically we reflect His perfection,—His wholeness,—which is to us health and soundness. It is never to doubt of success in our work, if done in the spirit of Truth, for "There is but one real attraction, namely, that of Spirit" (Science and Health, p. 102), and if our work is based on Mind it must attract to itself only good, for in Mind there can be no failure; all true work is God's work, unfolding to our consciousness, and His work is "finished and good." If sudden sickness assail us, we have but to steady ourselves with this thought: that we abide in Him who is the one perfect health.

To abide in Him is not a mesmeric supineness, waiting for that presence to do our work for us and resting indolently in the thought that having claimed that presence and power, our work is done. "Mind is perpetual motion" (Science and Health, p. 240), and it is expressed in ceaseless activity, unfailing energy in being about our Father's business, overcoming false beliefs of idleness, of indifference to order and harmony, of the countless little as well as large besetments of mortal mind which draw us to a life of lethargy. While we are still on this human plane it means that energetic mental activity must be accompanied by energetic well-doing on all the seemingly material lines of daily occupation. It means thought manifested.

To abide in Him is to accept the work He gives us to do, even though to sense it may seem difficult, with a feeling of readiness and fearlessness; serene and confident because we know His work is done, that His word has power to break the mesmeric spell which obscures our sense of the Truth of being, whether the claim be sickness, sin, loss, difficulty in business, or any other falsity. It is to dwell in a serene atmosphere into which enters no shadow of anxious thought to weaken or hinder our work. It is to know that though temptations may arise we need not yield to them, for He "is light, and in him is no darkness at all," and in that light temptations fade as forms of darkness, and disappear.

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