Article September 7, 1912 Issue

THE PERMANENCE OF TRUTH

IRVING C. TOMLINSON, M.A.

We should be unceasingly grateful that Christian Science fixes our thought upon the permanence of all that is good and real. In its insistence upon the abiding presence of the good, this vital religion differs radically from all other systems. Constantly affirming that evil is not power, it quietly holds fast to the things which cannot fail. Viewed from the standpoint of material sense, there seems to be much that is fleeting in the world. There is constantly before our eyes changing seasons, seedtime and harvest, day and night, birth, growth, and decay. The philosophers and theologians of the past have regarded the shifting things of sense as a part of God's creation, but Christian Science shows us that the changeable is not ordained of God, and not in harmony with His law. The Bible says of God, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God," "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;" and the prophet Isaiah sang, "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever."

Our great Master gave scant heed to ephemeral conditions, but dwelt entirely upon the unchanging love of God and the abiding presence of Truth. He said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." He placed before us the necessity of fixing our thought upon that which is permanent and abiding, if we would enjoy health and peace, saying, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." We are helped to see that all which is of God is eternal, by remembering the facts about the science of numbers. The multiplication table is the same now as it always has been and always will be; two times two never make five. So Truth understood erases wrong beliefs and methods. In the science of mathematics all is permanent, and this is also true in the science of music, for the harmonies which there prevail are abiding. In Science and Health we read: "Erase the figures which express number, silence the tones of music, ... and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on" (p. 81). In nature the permanence of beauty, which is but another expression of Truth, is ever manifested. The rainbow is unchanging in its beautiful curve and radiant color. The song of birds is perpetually joy-begetting and heart-inspiring.

Thus Christian Science enables us to understand that in the Science of man's being God is the eternal Principle. It declares that Life, Truth, and Love have no beginning, no ending, and are more permanent than the hills or the stars of heaven. This revelation, given to us through Mrs. Eddy, affirms that health is not a changing condition, but a permanent fact of being, sustained by the law of God. So, too, peace and joy are not to be thought of as fleeting, but as something that endureth, and as a part of the very constitution of things. Because Truth is permanent, our text-book teaches the way to acquire and utilize this fact. It is to know that Life is not fleeting, but is God, without beginning and without end, and this Life is our heritage, our possession, the only source of our being. It is to understand that peace belongs to us every day and every hour, and that we cannot be separated from this peace of which Christ Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

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