Editorial February 29, 1908 Issue

LONGEVITY

Annie M. Knott

It is no means an unusual thing to hear people questioning the correctness of the Biblical statements relative to the great age of those who lived before the deluge and of some who lived after it, and by general consent, the age limit mentioned in one of the Psalms,—"three score years and ten,"—has come to be regarded as the utmost extent of human existence except in rare cases. Few have stopped to consider that "long life" is one of the blessings attached to spirituality and obedience to God's law. Some men were once discussing the question of individual existence, several of them being agreed that the precise time of each one's departure was set by divine decree. One of the little group was silent, and his opinion was asked. He simply said, "What about the saying of the psalmist, that wicked men 'shall not live out half their days'?"

In the preface of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy calls attention to what she terms "two connate facts,—the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians, and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of diseases since the flood," and on page 173 she says, "The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health and longevity than are the idols of barbarism." On page 492 she declares that "Being is holiness, harmony, immortality," and she adds that even a slight understanding of this fundamental truth "will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character ... and bring immortality to light." The last statement gives the key-note to this entire subject. Long ago the great Teacher said, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death;" and Paul said, "This mortal [sense] must put on immortality." It may be asked when immortality is to be realized if not here and now, for Paul also said. "Christ hath abolished death." Alas, that in spite of these thrilling words of the Master and of St. Paul, millions of professing Christians have held to the mistaken belief that death is the one certainty, the goal of all mankind!

Wisely has our revered Leader shown us that because of the dense materiality of the age our emergence from the belief in mortality may be slow; but to those whose gaze is steadily fixed Spiritward it will be sure. We should never forget that in St. John's great vision of spiritual reality men did not die and go to heaven. No! heaven came down to them—and in it there were no tears, no death, no sorrow, and no more pain. Because of the pain and the sorrow there are many who, like King Arthur, "not greatly care to lose" their lives, but to such Christian Science brings healings and the true meaning of Life, and as they bathe in the pure river that flows from the throne of divine Love they know that Life is good and good only, and often do they recall the promise in the 91st Psalam, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."

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