THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE TRUE

John B. Willis

There is no poetry in that which is not true.—Macdonald.

Christian Science teaches that the reign of Truth in the individual and in all the universe is also the reign of beauty, for "beauty, as well as truth, is eternal;" that the divine ideas are ever presented in "spiritual and immortal forms of beauty," and that we shall be both beautiful and grand "when governed by immortal Mind" (Science and Health, pp. 247, 503, 246). The destructive antagonism to art of the early Christians, the unlovely character and conduct which has characterized much of professed Christianity in all the centuries, and the relative weakness of the hold of modern religious thought upon beauty as a manifestation of Spirit,—all these things indicate that the prayer of the psalmist, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," has not yet found its fulfilment. Nevertheless it is quite impossible to think of the perfection of God and his ideas apart from that ideality which is "the beauty of holiness [wholeness];" and if we are to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect, then this ideality is to be expressed in and through us.

Beauty is often thought of as superficial and decorative, while in truth it is wrought into the very nature of being. It pertains to Life and all Life's reflections, and we are to seek it as we seek the truth; we are to express it, even as we express love, in every word and activity of life. He who worketh in us "to will and to do," "doeth all things well." "He hath made every thing beautiful in its time," says the Wise Man, and we are to be like Him. We thus see that the art of living is the highest and finest art, and that the life which God would have us live is all glorious both within and without.

Looking upon the flaming trees and hedgerows in our northland of late, the appeal of nature's beauty has been felt to be at its full. As the painter who, having added his final touches, blends the pigments upon his pallet into a brilliant souvenir of his completed task, so "Nature's great artist," having finished the summer's masterpieces, has spread upon the forests and hillsides a revelry of color which has dared to compete with the splendors of the sunset. And what has it all signified? Nothing of real gain, surely, but rather loss to him who has simply yielded to the intoxication of an excited material sense. But he to whom

Nothing in the world comes single,
A mere itself—cup, column, or candlestick,
All patterns of what shall be in the mount;

to whom

The whole temporal show, related royally,
[Is] built up to eterne significance,
Through the open arms of God,—

he has seen in these autumnal glories the fitting highway of Him that cometh out of Zion "the perfection of beauty." He has come to know that rightly interpreted nature and true art take of the things of God and show them unto men.

If, as John declares, to know God is eternal life, then the perception, not only of Truth and Love, but of beauty, enters into that life. The perfection of God and his every manifestation, including man, floods the universe, and as this is perceived we have a new and quickening sense both of the divine nature and the divine nearness. Beauty no longer contributes simply to our delight, it becomes an inspiration, a source of nourishment and strength. Those familiar with our Leader's writings will recall the unnumbered passages in which she emphasizes this coincidence of truth and beauty, and points the way to its achievement in our individual experience. Until truth finds its free and perfect expression in us it has not received its due; this is the ideal of life's completeness, its fineness and fidelity of service, to which every student of Christian Science is lovingly called.

It has been said that "the happiest man is he who has learned from nature the lesson of worship," and the secret of this learning is the realization that true beauty is the expression of character. To think of beauty as inhering in materiality is to deny one's self one of the most direct approaches to the divine presence. We may be surrounded by outward beauty, but we shall find no temple, be moved by no impulse of adoration, so long as we are deaf to nature's spiritual appeal. Material sense imparts its own swift perishableness to all that it claims, and the brevity of sensuous beauty renders pain its inseparable companion. True beauty voices the divine, it is a revelation of Truth, a message of Love, and it brings perennial comfort and gladness. He that inquireth in His temple shall behold the beauty of the Lord.

John B. Willis.

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LETTERS TO OUR LEADER

October 27, 1906

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