Article May 21, 1910 Issue

SALVATION HATH GOD ORDAINED

ELIZABETH EARL JONES.

From beginning to end the Bible and our own spiritual intuition bear unmistakable testimony to the fact that God has a definite plan for man and the universe; a plan which includes man's dominion over all the earth, and which also includes a fulfilment of the promises to each and every one who presses forward conscientiously and actively in the footsteps of the Wayshower. This glorious, good plan is written upon the hearts and in the minds of God's children, and in it we see all things working together "for good to them that love God." We also begin to understand these much-wrested words of St. Paul, "Whom he did foreknow [the spiritual idea], he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." We therefore feel assured of our high destiny, and we know that nothing can hinder its complete unfoldment.

But what is this other plan which seems to be at work, distressing and destroying the legitimate peace and harmony and the righteous reward of those who seek good? In aping God, evil (the lie) claims also to have a plan for man and the universe—a plan of sin, sickness, failure, sorrow, death. To the unenlightened this seeming contradiction in the logic of creation is disheartening and discouraging beyond words, and it seems altogether at variance with the wisdom and love of the creator. Because of this, human life seems to be a continual warfare between good and evil, between salvation and damnation, and confused mortals never seem to know which one will prevail.

Christian Science comes in fulfilment of the long-promised Comforter, to lift this weary burden of doubt and fear, and to instruct mankind as to the true nature of good and evil. It reiterates the Scriptural teaching of one God, good, without an equal or rival: Behold, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, and there is none else. Christian Science defines evil (devil) as Jesus did when he said, "He is a liar, and the father of it;" thus declaring evil to be untrue, unreal, and without cause or origin apart from falsehood; therefore, as utterly void of effect. Moreover, it declares that whatsoever effect evil may seem to have, must be untrue and subject to reversal by truth. In Christian Science we learn that this strange counter-plan of evil which writes itself upon the imagination and upon the surface of material things; which seems to act with the forethought of intelligence; which seems to foresee its doom and to take steps ahead to checkmate and prevent the inevitable supremacy of Spirit; which appears to be able to multiply and care for its own, up to a certain point, is only the counterfeit of Truth and Love,—a perverted view of the eternal facts of being.

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