Article April 18, 1903 Issue

Our Father

ANNIE H. WILSON.

In the first word of the Lord's Prayer lies the key-note of Jesus' teaching: "Our Father." No longer is there any division, any separation, but all are in holy unity. Jesus is its first exponent. In the understanding of that word lies the claim of each on the other, and in it the joy of giving. Where there is no division, who could wish to have any possession while another is in need? And may not the most timid come without fear and accept his portion as a human brother for whom the one and only Father has made provision as for the rest? Here the strong learn to help the weak, whose weakness is theirs; and the weak no longer fear the strong, whose strength is theirs; no longer is there mine and thine, but all belongs to our Father. "One family we dwell in Him."

If the fulfilment of the prayer still seems lacking, "hidden in the mist of remoteness" (Science and Health, p. 576), and a sense of disappointment tells us that its achievement is not yet, even among those who have become known as Christian Scientists, still we rejoice in the hope it gives us in the assurance that each individual victory over sin, self-love, self-will, self-justification, selfishness of any kind, is a positive step to a sure goal, and an attainable one.

George Eliot said, "Justice does not exist without us, as a fact, but within us as a great longing."

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