Article November 23, 1912 Issue

"SAVED BY HOPE"

LOUISA E. BELL.

Today, as of old, mankind seek salvation from the ills which oppress them. All wish to be saved, be it from want, wo, sickness, sin, or death; and though the way is shown throughout the Scriptures, there are still very many who are vainly longing, yet bravely striving to be on the right road. In his epistle to the Romans, St. Paul tells us that "we are saved by hope;" so it would seem the difficulty has been that we have not known what to hope in, what to hope for, or have possibly not realized the meaning of the word "hope." In the same epistle we are told that "now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

"Hope," in Webster, is defined as "desire accompanied with expectation of obtaining what is desired." Here we may ask ourselves, Have we hoped, and continued to hope for good, always expecting to receive it? or have we merely wished for a cessation of pain, trouble, and worry, without doing our part and clearing our consciousness of wrong thinking, thus preparing thought for the inflow of good? Then, not experiencing the unearned good, have we become impatient and discouraged, forgetting how frequently we may find hope and patience working side by side and mentioned together in the Bible? Again, have we waited "rejoicing in hope"? The prophet Isaiah gives an example of this, and of his confidence in God, in the words, "It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

We have needed the help to see our way,—to awake out of sleep; and that need is already met by divine Love through the teaching of Christian Science, as set forth in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. A faithful study of this book, bringing the power of Truth and Love within human comprehension and practise, so illuminates the Bible that we are now able to understand what formerly had little meaning for many of us. On page 40 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy tells us that "in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us. ... Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being."

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