Editorial November 7, 1914 Issue

True Thanksgiving

Archibald McLellan

"Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love." Thus, on page 45 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy sounds a note of thanksgiving and triumph which finds echo in the heart of every Christian Scientist who has successfully tested the power of God, through Christian Science, in overcoming the sickness, impatience, and trials of mortal existence.

Mrs. Eddy has again and again pointed out in her writings the need for faithful endeavor on the part of her followers, that they may attain to the freedom from all evil which is man's birthright. She holds out no hope that those who seek ease and comfort for ease and comfort's sake, shall progress very far toward that goal to which Christ Jesus referred when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;" on the contrary, she keeps before them the paramount requirement of salvation, as laid down by the Master, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Neither does the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science hold out a hope that this goal, the attainment of salvation, may be reached vicariously. We cannot buy our way into the kingdom of God, nor will another's sacrifice, no matter how willingly offered, atone for our own shortcomings. Mankind must diligently work out their own salvation, even as this salvation is promised to all who faithfully seek it. "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart," is the Father's loving assurance; and the unnumbered hosts who have proved its surety, know that abiding peace and joy await those who gain their heritage as the sons of God by patient, persistent seeking to know and to do the will of the Father.

Christian Scientists regard the promises of the Scriptures as possible of fulfilment, and they also realize that the first step toward this attainment must be the recognition of the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God, and the consequent unreality of all that is unlike Him. With this recognition of the allness of God and of man in His likeness, the fear which so largely enters into every human problem is eliminated; and in its stead is the consciousness that to one so guarded belongs the assurance of the psalmist: "There shall no evil befall thee."

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