Not Governed by Chance

HERBERT S. FULLER.

As the individual student advances in Christian Science, and the deep things of life begin to be understood in part, and take on even deeper significance because of the budding and unfolding of truth in his consciousness, one of the lessons which is sure to be learned in time, and generally in a short time, is that Christian Science reveals a Principle from which can be logically explained all things that come up in daily life, and therefore one is no longer obliged to dismiss as unexplainable, or charge to chance the things that come into his experience. Christian Science, therefore, eliminates from human consciousness all belief in chance as a factor in being, denies that there is any power in "good luck" or in "bad luck," that anything "just happens" or "would have been so anyway," and the student soon learns to seek for reasons, and in seeking he is rewarded by becoming satisfied and in knowing that there is a cause for everything that comes into his daily experience, however trifling the circumstance may seem to be at the time.

The Christian Scientist knows as a result of his study that God is the only Cause; he argues from this premise alone, rejects the fleeting hypotheses of human reasoning which had previously been his standard, and thus he arrives at the conclusion that certain effects which have challenged his thought and attention come from mental causes, and that any good thing which comes into his life does not "just happen," simply because it seems unexplainable from the old viewpoint.

Error often tries to rob truth of the credit which is rightfully its due, by whispering into the ear of the student that some good thing which has come to a faithful follower of Truth is merely the result of chance. Such is not the case. All good that comes to us springs from a cause, and comes in natural order from God, good; and any argument that would try to make a Scientist believe differently is only a voice trying to lead him into the wilderness of human hopes and opinions.

There is nothing uncanny or unnatural when things which we have desired come to us through most unlooked for and unexpected channels. We may, unwittingly perhaps, defraud ourselves because we do not understand how the good we wished for and which has come to us, was attained. We may echo the words of that familiar hymn, "God moves in mysterious way, His wonders to perform," and thus find ourselves thinking that what has come to us, has come in a "mysterious way." But has it? Do we not know, deep down in our hearts, as a result of our faithful study of Science and Health, that God does not move in a mysterious way; that His ways only seem mysterious when we do not understand them, and sometimes perhaps think it easier to continue in our ignorance than to go to work in order to obtain this understanding.

In Science and Health, page 319, we are told, "Mystery, miracle, and error will disappear when it becomes fairly understood that the divine Mind controls man and man has no mind but God." On page 452, we read, "Incorrect reasoning leads to practical error," and it is incorrect reasoning which leads mortals to believe that they are ever governed by chance. Christian Science teaches us that we are governed by God alone, and the manifestations of good that come to us daily and hourly are not miraculous to good, and should not be considered so by us. When we cease seeking reasons for the coming of good outside of God, more good will come to us.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

The Motherhood of God

November 5, 1904

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit