THE FIRST REQUISITE

MARY WHEELER.

It is sometimes said, "How is it possible that Christian Science should do the marvelous things which are claimed for it? I could more easily believe in it if I could see how such things can take place." We do not need to know how they take place. What we need to know is that they can and do take place. God takes care of the process. True, we have a part in the process; but that part is only to know,—to know what to know and how to know it. "Ye shall know the truth." All else belongs to Truth, for it is Truth that performs the work. "The truth shall make you free."

An electrician does not need to know, and does not know, just how those wonderful manifestations come about with which we are all familiar in the electrical world to-day. He does not even know, or claim to know, what electricity itself really is, or why certain results follow certain prearranged conditions; but he does know, from his own experience and that of others, that those results do follow those conditions, and that is enough for him. His part is to arrange the conditions, and the electricity will take care of the rest. Provided he obeys faithfully those laws that have been discovered to govern the action of electricity, he has no doubt as to the outcome, and meets with no failures in his work.

So it is with the supreme Science of Christianity. We need only to ascertain something of the possibilities proved for it by those who have already worked in it, and then to acquaint ourselves with the Principle of this Science,—to master and apply those few simple rules which we are prepared to comprehend,—in order to reap the harvest of its miracles. In other words, we have only to arrange the conditions of our mortal consciousness, and God Himself, divine Principle, will do the work for us. We do not know, and do not need to know, what God in His absolute nature is, but we can know Him in part and we can know how to come into right relations with Him; that is, we can know that all good, which is only another name for God, forever is, and that, since God is all, nothing else can really be; therefore, we can know that His work is in reality already done, that that particular form of good of which we seem to stand in need is already ours; then, abiding in the quiet assurance which is born of that knowledge, the result will be the demonstration in our own experience of that particular aspect of good.

After all, is not this what is meant by becoming "as a little child"? Is it not the teachableness of little children,—their freedom from doubt as to the possibility of things to which they have not yet attained,—which constitutes the very first condition to be established in our consciousness? Is it not that humility which is at the same time true self-confidence,—the humility which confesses, "I can of mine own self do nothing," the confidence which appropriates the promise, "All things are yours,"—the humility which asks to be taught, the confidence which knows it can learn? Science is essentially simple, and just as the laws of electricity are so clear and exact that a boy can understand them, and obtain results that astonish his elders, so the Principle and rules of the Christ-Science may be apprehended and demonstrated, in wondrous measure, by all who approach it in childlike simplicity. Maintaining this attitude, and with hearts made receptive to yet fuller light by gratitude towards her whose unwavering faith and selfless humility have at such unspeakable cost unlocked its treasures for a needy world, we can put no limit to those "greater works" that we shall yet do, no limit to the unimagined good which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit