Article May 30, 1903 Issue

The Value of Right Thinking

JOHN L. RENDALL.

CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS are learning the great value of right thinking. They appreciate the intrinsic worth and merit of every true statement held in individual consciousness. They recognize the value of the ability to grasp and assimilate the statements of truth which are given to mankind in the Bible, and which are emphasized and explained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy. The recognition and acceptance of truth embodies and includes the rejection of that which is untrue. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Truth enters into every avenue of life, into every occupation or vocation; it permeates all things, and because it is truth it is the only and correct standard of judgment, the ultimate arbiter of every question.

In establishing our standard of judgment let us not stop short of the absolute, and for the establishment of this standard a recognition of what absoulte Truth is, becomes a necessity. Truth in Christian Science is synonymous with God; therefore God and His creation is all that the Christian Scientist considers in his disposition of the problem. Any statement that fails to come up to the right standard is untrue—not of God, therefore unreal, and because unreal must be rejected. God has established the proper standard of all things. In this infinite perfection there is no room for any imperfect condition of whatsoever name or nature; hence when the temptation comes to us to say "I am sick," "I am a sinner," it comes for the specific purpose of deceiving, if it were possible, the elect. It comes to us to be given life, to be accepted as a reality. Our protection consists in knowing Truth, and herein we prove the practical nature of Christian Science.

The prevalent human thought has a tendency to attribute cause and effect to matter exclusively, and to argue that because of material events, whether remote or of recent occurrence, certain effects are produced; consequently, when a disease manifests itself upon the body, human thought at once recurs to some supposed cause in matter as the reason for the manifestation. We read in Science and Health. p. 207, "There is but one primal Cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause; and there can be no reality in aught which proceeds not from this great and only Cause. Sin, sickness, disease, and death belong not to the Science of Being. They are the errors, which presuppose the absence of Truth." Again, p. 392, "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results you may control yourself harmoniously." Saint Paul writes, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the highcalling of God in Christ Jesus." Paul recognized a fundamental truth in thus "forgetting those things which are behind." There is not one thing in the past, not one event or circumstance that can retard, interfere with, or obstruct the progress of the sincere seeker for Truth. The past has gone: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." The "now" improved is all that remains, all that we have upon which to complete our demonstration. There can never be anything but "now."

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Poem
Had I but Wealth
May 30, 1903
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit