Article July 6, 1907 Issue

SUBMISSION TO DIVINE PRINCIPLE

SAMUEL GREENWOOD

As mortals realize that the tendency of a belief in material selfhood, with its desires, affections, and ambitions, is ever towards evil; that of themselves they have nothing upon which to build a perfect character or a pure consciousness, nothing pertaining to immortality and goodness, and that all in them which opposes the reign of Spirit must be denied and cast out before the Christ-idea can appear, they begin to see that salvation depends upon their complete submission to the all-inclusive Truth of being, explained in Christian Science as divine Principle and its idea. Applied to our daily work this means that "nothing that defileth," or that would make us false to the divine ideal of man, should be allowed to enter or remain in thought. Although to a material sense this may be the way of the cross, to spiritual sense it is the way of the resurrection.

Self-abnegation is a virtue whose culture and development is productive of the highest good, and this is indispensable to our success as Christian Scientist, but we are apt at times to lose sight of its importance or apathetically to neglect it. Self-assertiveness is one of the strongest characteristics of human personality. It manifests itself in self-will, stubbornness, intolerance, pride, hypercriticism, etc.; and the hardest struggles of the pilgrim Christward are for self-surrender, for the putting down of the false human ego and the enthronement of the divine. The willingness to put one's self and one's opinions and preferences aside, and to be guided wholly by the leadings of divine Principle, is one of the truest tests of discipleship in Christian Science.

The influence of Christian Science upon the individual is to make him more charitable and more considerate of others. If he is not growing kindlier in judgment, if he is not thinking less evil of his brother, and loving everyone better as time passes, he may be sure that it is not Christian Science which is influencing him. We are taught that without Love, the letter of Christian Science is but "its dead body" (Science and Health, p. 113). It is possible to gain considerable knowledge of the letter of this Science without experiencing either moral or physical reformation, or without gaining the ability to demonstrate its teaching. Indeed, the high standard of Christian Science tends to bring out sharply opposing thoughts which may be latent in the student's mentality, and if he does not imbibe enough of the spirit to bring these into subjection to the Christ, he is apt to present the abnormal habit spoken of by our Leader, that of talking the right and living the wrong. (Ibid., p. 448.) As students of Christian Science we need always to remember that the Principle of this Science is Love, and that its rule is love; and that it cannot be understood from any other standpoint, nor demonstrated in any other way.

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