Editorial October 7, 1911 Issue

"HASTE TOWARD HARMONY"

Annie M. Knott

In the Glossary of Science and Health (p. 586) we find in the definition of "Gad" (Jacob's son), the statement, "haste toward harmony," which is not easily comprehended apart from the words which precede it, namely, "spiritual being understood." As every one who comes into Christian Science certainly desires to realize harmony speedily, it is surely well worth while to study the subject in the light of this teaching. In Genesis we read that when Jacob blessed his sons, he said concerning Gad, "A troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last." Here it would seem as if the realization of harmony was not hastened, but delayed. This prophecy is however made clearer when we add to it the statement given in Deuteronomy, where Moses blesses the tribes and says of Gad, "He executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments with Israel." This relates itself very readily to Mrs. Eddy's definition, and points to the fact that haste toward harmony can be attained, by either state or individual, only as each strives to execute divine justice.

In Isaiah (chapter 16) is found a most interesting passage which reads, "The spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he [the Christ-idea] shall sit upon it in truth ... judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness." In the Psalms we find many times the prayer, "Make haste, O God, to deliver me," or, "to help me," but Christian Science teaches that Divinity is always ready to heal and to save (see Science and Health, p.458). It therefore rests with ourselves to do that which will hasten the realization of harmony, mental and physical. It may be that the sufferer is questioning divine justice, that he is blaming God or man, or both, for his prolonged sense of discord, and thus denying the omnipotence of good, which would be a most serious mistake. If God were not all powerful as well as absolutely just, our condition would be indeed hopeless ; but He is both, and there is no delay on the divine side. If one desires to realize harmony speedily, he must hasten to affirm the immanence of divine justice and judgment, and thus shall he be delivered from the accuser, the false belief which would hold him under sentence, perhaps sentence of death, for some supposed violation of material law.

The law of God was stated for all time by Paul when he said, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Does the suffering mortal believe this? He surely ought to do so, for it is a decree of the Supreme Ruler whose decisions can never be set aside. It should be remembered in this connection that "the word of God is quick" as well as "powerful." The action of Truth is never slow, although the human apprehension of it may be. A fact is never less than a fact, although it may take a thousand years for mortals to recognize and utilize it; but "with God" the thousand years of seeming delay vanish in the "one day" of spiritual realization.

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