Article June 17, 1911 Issue

PRACTICAL RELIGION

HENRY JAMES DERBYSHIRE.

Not long ago, as time is measured in mortal years, two American missionaries were sitting on a wayside rest in Japan. As they tarried they were approached by a woman bearing a very heavy burden. The woman was one of the class of people known to sociologists as the submerged tenth. Laying down her burden and addressing one of the missionaries she said, "Are you the woman that talks about the foreign God?" "I am the woman that talks about the foreign God," the missionary replied. The woman the asked, "Will your God make my burden lighter?" Had the missionary been a Christian Scientist she could have answered emphatically. "Yes! my God will make your burden lighter;" for divine Truth does make lighter our burdens. It matters not whether it be a burden of firewood such as this woman bore, a burden of sorrow, a burden of sin, or a burden of disease.

There is an old proverb which says: "The only road that leads to the house of forgiveness is the road of understanding." Christian Science is the highway to God, Truth—to "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." In proportion as we understand God are our sins forgiven, destroyed. In proportion as we become conscious of God, good, do we become unconscious of matter and evil; but he who sets out in search of Truth must leave the valleys of human superstition forever; there is no turning back. We can no more return to a belief in God as a tyrant, and heaven and hell as localities, than we can return to a belief in a disease which we have outgrown.

It is frequently a long and toilsome journey from sense to Soul. The mountains of sensuality, suffering, and what seem to be material facts are high and hard to climb. When we have passed over them by the path of self-abnegation and self-denial, we may in a manner and for a time feel lonely, but Mrs. Eddy tells us that "this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love;" and again she says that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health, pp. 266, 494).

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
"THE CARNAL MIND"
June 17, 1911
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit