Editorial February 19, 1910 Issue

"DESPISE NOT PROPHESYINGS."

Annie M. Knott

In the seventeenth chapter of Acts we read of Paul's visit to Thessalonica, and of the awakening to truth of many "devout Greeks," among them prominent women; as also at Berea. Paul's ministry has been characterized as "entreating, exhorting, rebuking," and while his success in this work was wonderful, we read that he also met with the bitterest opposition from those of his own nation, who claimed that he had "turned the world upside down," as indeed every one must do who declares for the spiritual in the face of deep-seated belief in materiality. Paul himself says of his work in Thessalonica: "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,"—a splendid model for the Christian worker of today. It was to this church that he wrote, "Despise not prophesyings;" "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit."

At the present time most Christian people claim to accept, not despise, the prophecies found in the Scriptures, but in most cases they place the fulfilment of these prophecies in a more or less remote future, and thus lessen their value with an element of uncertainty. In Science and Health, prophet is thus defined: "A spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth" (p. 593). It is, then, the spiritual fact which we must not despise; and yet, according to Christ Jesus, we shall do this very thing if we choose materiality as our master. He said plainly that no man could serve two masters, for he would surely "hold to the one, and despise the other." Which shall it be with ourselves?

Christ Jesus assuredly declared (prophesied) that the Comforter would come, and with the "signs" which followed the acceptance of Truth in the earlier days; yet we have all witnessed the joyless mirth with which a declaration of the Christ-healing as a present fact is sometimes received. The Master and his work were "despised and rejected" when he was on earth, while the "works" which he demanded of all his followers are today despised by some who profess to adore his name—a strange inconsistency, whose only explanation lies in the fact that material things are so generally regarded as realities, while spiritual things are accorded second place where they are thought upon at all. Yet, who would dare to despise truth and honor and justice? Who would not rather despise the character from which these were lacking, and who can deny that these—yes, and all high and noble qualities—are spiritual, and not material!

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