RECEPTIVITY

J. ALLEN BARRIS.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.—Psalms.

And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.—Gospel.

"God does not speak to men to-day," was an expression I heard from a gentleman some time ago. Is this so, or does God speak to man now as He did of old, and if He does, how are we to know it? Before we knew anything of Christian Science we could not understand how God could speak to men, as the Bible tells us He did in the past. except as a miracle or as a special sign, and we believed that the time of signs and miracles was past. Since knowing of Christian Science, and studying the definition of "angels" found in our text-book; namely, "God's thoughts passing to man" (Science and Health, p. 581), we can clearly see how angels come to men now as they did of old, and that God can speak to us as He did to the prophets. The degree of our receptivity to these angels, or good thoughts, is in direct proportion to our turning from material to spiritual things, and the purer our thought the more receptive to Truth it is. It was after Jesus had successfully resisted the devil,—cleared his mental atmosphere of all evil,—that the angels came and ministered unto him.

Why do not angels come to all men alike, and why does not one hear the voice of God as readily as another? The answer may be illustrated by considering the method of sending messages by wireless telegraphy. In sending these messages two instruments are used, a transmitter and a receiver, and these two instruments are what is called "tuned" to each other. When a message is sent by a transmitter it can be received only by those receivers which are in tune with it, and the degree of accuracy with which the message is received depends upon the accuracy of the "tuning." So it is with human thought; the nearer our consciousness is in accord with the infinite Mind, the more clearly we hear the still, small voice of Truth which is ever speaking to us. The more we heed this voice the better able we are to recognize it.

At the present time there seems to be much need of "tuning." Our Leader refers to our slowness in responding to Truth, and says, "The student is not perfectly attuned to divine Science" (Science and Health, p. 411). Perfect harmony—heaven—is, however, the goal of every one, and our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," teaches us how to reach this goal. Do we sufficiently appreciate the fact that we live in a time when one was found whose thought was ready to hear and to receive the sacred message contained in our text-book? Surely our gratitude to Mrs. Eddy will increase more and more as the realization of the magnitude of her ministry to mankind dawns upon our consciousness and we awake to a full realization of what it means to the human race.

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