Article November 21, 1908 Issue

THE FULFILMENT OF JOY

ADIN E. BALLOU

Early in the Christian centuries what has sometimes been referred to as "the worship of sorrow" began to be given prominence, and the trend was toward teachings concerning death, —the cross and the sufferings of Jesus, — notwithstanding the words of Christ Jesus himself concerning life and joy, his wonderful promises regarding death, and his own overcoming of the grave. This tendency might be attributed to the persecutions which attended the early Christians, but the fact remains that the wonderful way of Life and Truth which Jesus saw and taught, is even to-day generally relegated to another world, for which the present one is considered but as a grievous and oftentimes bitter school of experience. But there was indeed no doubt nor fear, no trace of sorrow or death in the message Jesus gave to the crowds who heard him eagerly in Capernaum and Jerusalem, and he well knew and proved that all sin and sickness could be destroyed and replaced by the health and peace that come with the true understanding of the allness and love of the everpresent Father.

Christianity as Jesus taught, and as Christian Science teaches to-day, was a doctrine of overcoming—of joy because of overcoming, and of knowledge that enables one to overcome. It was the perpetual living with and by divine Love which left no place or power to sin or discord of any kind. It took no account of death, for the only God it knew was "a God of the living" —a God to whom all things were possible, a perfect Father to a perfect Son. It looked to God for all things, and, according to the perfection of the seeking, received from God "every good gift and every perfect gift." Its first warfare was against fear, which Jesus showed plainly to his disciples could have no power when the perfect faith and understanding of the effectual rule of Love had place.

The simplicity of all these teachings, in which lay the secret of their healing and joy, was too simple for those who thought to strengthen them by amalgamation with the philosophical systems of the early centuries; and thus, from the time of Constantine, with the exception of fitful and obscure outbursts in minor persecuted sects, the great and simple truth of the all-power and presence of a perfect God, reflected in a perfect creation, has been lost to the world. To-day, thanks to the discovery by Mrs. Eddy of the great truth she called Christian Science, the teaching of Love, and Life, and Truth can be again heard as no one who has deeply studied the New Testament can doubt that Jesus meant it should be. The impetus of joy which should have place in all worship of a God who is Love, is again present. The "water of life," so freely offered by Jesus, is again offered to the world, and thousands are rising up to call her blessed who by her great discovery has shown them how to escape from the evil of their own creation into the recognition of a creation which knows no evil.

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