Editorial March 15, 1913 Issue

REMEMBRANCE

Annie M. Knott

In the gospels we find many statements by Christ Jesus which show that he greatly desired his teachings to be remembered. In John's gospel we have his requirement that his followers should do the works which he had been doing, and he did not hesitate to tell them that this would bring upon them the persecutions which he had endured. He also gave the reason for these when he said, "Because ye are not of the world, ... therefore the world hateth you;" and he added, "These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." Again he said that when the Comforter, "the Spirit of truth," should come from the Father, he would bring to their remembrance all that he had taught, and so enable his followers to do the works which prove the ever-presence of God and His Christ.

In the Old Testament we find many warnings against forgetting God, the psalmist saying in one place that those who do so "shall be turned into hell," and this certainly expresses the condition of those who fail to remember that God is no less the source of health than of life. No Christian can deny that where God is harmony must prevail, even "fulness of joy;" and if the opposite seems to be true, God has been at least temporarily forgotten, and the condition of suffering described as "hell" is the result. In sharp contrast with the thought thus expressed is the psalmist's joyful outburst of praise: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy disease; who redeemeth thy life from destruction." Glorious words are these, and to think that they should have been forgotten for long centuries, their intent practically lost sight of, even after the truth they express had been fully demonstrated by Christ Jesus! But the awakening had to come in the very nature of things. for humanity at its best had been hungering and thirsting for God, and though the dream of mortal belief had many times been disturbed, it needed the full-orbed revelation of divine Truth, known as Christian Science, to shatter all its illusions and bring to remembrance the words and works of Christ Jesus.

It is true that the interest of the student of Christian Science centers around the healing ministry of the Master, as he obeys the command to "search the scriptures," but our wise Leader expected and encouraged us to ponder deeply the whole manifestation of the Christ-idea expressed through Jesus of Nazareth. In "Miscellaneous Writings" she says: "It is most fitting that Christian Scientists memorize the nativity of Jesus. To him who brought a great light to all ages, and named his burdens light, homage is indeed due,—but is bankrupt" (p. 374). We should therefore remember, as we read the wonderful story of the nativity, how God cared for His own when the malice of mortal mind sought to destroy "the young child," and how "the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." As we think upon this we read, almost with awe, the words of the beloved disciple in his first epistle: "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

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REMEMBRANCE

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