Article May 17, 1913 Issue

RESPONSIVENESS TO TRUTH

Annie M. Knott

Throughout the Scriptures we find repeated statements as to the calls of God to humanity, and it is somewhat startling to read in the fiftieth psalm these words respecting those who are called to listen to the divine voice: "Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God." Then follows the rebuke of Truth to those who are called saints, and the declaration that God does not ask them for material sacrifices, that the gold and the silver are already His, and "the cattle upon a thousand hills." This raises the question as to what is the offense concerning which God testifies against His people, what the sins of commission or omission which would separate them from God. The answer, clear and definite, is given in the command, "Offer unto God thanksgiving; ... and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." But this is not all, there follows the grave charge of being in league with thieves and adulterers, and then this: "Thou givest thy mouth to evil ... Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother ... These things hast thou done."

From the Christian Science standpoint it is a very serious thing not to call upon God, divine Truth and Love, in every time of trouble, and what is more, to seek His omnipotent aid "first," as Christ Jesus said we should. Any failure to do this shows that we have forgotten the first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me;" and when we either heedlessly or wilfully disobey this divine ordinance, we are very likely to violate the moral obligations which relate to our fellow beings, and thus we are led to think ill of them, speak ill, and perhaps do ill, when our covenant with God binds us to love God and our neighbor, and to sacrifice upon the consuming fire of divine Love all the evil beliefs which would make man mortal and material.

To a large extent mankind have regarded the Almighty somewhat as an earthly ruler who should not be troubled with the personal affairs of his subjects, and so they were wont to approach Deity in a sort of apologetic attitude, when they ventured to come to Him at all. Why should God be approached in the case of some bodily ailment, unless it became so serious that the last enemy were feared? and yet Jesus taught that not even a sparrow could fall to the ground without God's infinitely loving care, and he added, "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." Our revered Leader speaks of God as "the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied" (Science and Health, p. 7). We can never come to God too often, if we are really willing to draw nigh with clean hands and a pure heart, and an earnest desire for spiritual blessings, for if we gain these, all our needs will be supplied, and this of course includes the healing of mind and body.

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RESPONSIVENESS TO TRUTH

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