Article October 5, 1912 Issue

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BUILDING

WILLARD S. MATTOX.

A critic , not altogether unfriendly, once predicted that Christian Science would survive everything but prosperity. The observation is astute, and if somewhat trite, will nevertheless not be lost upon Christian Scientists. Mrs. Eddy tells us that Christ Jesus was "the most scientific man that ever trod the globe" (Science and Health, p. 313), and he laid down the axiom that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Materialism cannot enter heaven, because heaven is a state of consciousness in which Spirit and spiritual formations are the only realities. Rome fell because the sturdy integrity and moral idealism of her citizenship had been sapped and enfeebled by luxury and wealth.

Every Christian Scientist has been impressed with the truth that one cannot serve two masters. Some time in his heavenward journey every man will learn the futility of reliance upon material modes or methods, and the degree to which he is able to make this practical in his experiences, will equal the amount of real faith in God which he has cultivated and his corresponding recognition of the transient nature of material possessions. In acquiring this understanding, Christian Scientists have had the advantage of the many admonitions and warnings to be found in the textbook; for example, that notable passage on page 261: "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts." And this agrees with Jesus' appeal to seek "first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."

What we commonly call the cause of Christian Science is a thing of consciousness; more than that, it is a thing of individual consciousness. It is veritably the kingdom of God, which Jesus distinctly declared to be "within you." It is not difficult to see, then, that the cause of Christian Science will flourish, will grow and prosper, just as the individual consciousness of those who are called Christian Scientists is exalted to apprehend the Science of being and to realize the allness of God. To work for the cause in the best way, and that means in the scientific way, is to be individually good. The universal law of attraction was declared by Jesus when he said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." When Christian Scientists begin to subdue the petulant, hasty, human will; when love becomes concrete and actual in their lives, then the cause of Christian Science inevitably attracts the world-weary, the sick, the fearful, the sinful. Then, truly, the cause prospers and spreads and succeeds, not because of numbers, but because it has been demonstrated that man is governed by God.

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