Article May 2, 1914 Issue

"The last shall be first"

IRVING C. TOMLINSON, M.A.

Speaking to his disciples of the laws which govern the true man, the Master said, "The last shall be first, and the first last;" and reasoning along similar lines, St. Paul writes, "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Mrs. Eddy has comprehended these statements of truth in her declaration that "by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind, in which all error disappears in celestial Truth" (Science and Health, p. 267). The neglect of these fundamental facts of being is responsible for the continued reign of discord among mortals. Adherence to their divine behests is proving to loyal students of the Scriptures that health, wholeness, manifests the law of God, and that peace is man's heritage.

These considerations have recently been brought to notice by the inquires of some who were seeking help in Christian Science. They asked: "Is it honest to seem joyous when one feels discouraged?" "Is it right for one to claim to be well when he feels sick?" These and kindred questions indicate that the words of the Master, "The last shall be first," have been forgotten; that the inquirers have failed to heed the teaching of Christian Science, that we are to reverse the false evidence of material sense, and rely wholly upon the testimony of spiritual sense for a knowledge of the facts of being. One who faithfully does this, soon learns that divine resources are ever close at hand, increasing in abundance as we use them and so make them our own.

Those who desire to experience the Christ-healing should remember that in dealing with the physical conditions of the human body, it is needful to test the evidence of the five senses with divine Science, even as in viewing the celestial bodies we correct the testimony of the eye through the science of astronomy. The eye declares that the earth is at rest, and that the sun and the stars revolve about it. The science of astronomy reverses this false testimony of material sight, and thus the facts as to the solar system are revealed. In like manner mortals must look to the Science of the Christ for the facts of being, and if disobedient to this demand, they are sure to remain in serfdom to error. Obeying the law of God, they throw off the false shackles of sense and rise to "the glorious liberty of the children of God;" and to this liberty, our possible freedom from false concepts, no limit can be set.

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