Editorial February 13, 1915 Issue

"Many mansions"

Annie M. Knott

As human thought peers into futurity with a vague, undefined longing to know what it holds for us individually, those who have followed closely the teachings of Christ Jesus ponder his words, "In my Father's house are many mansions," and the related promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." It goes without saying that the old concepts of heaven are disappearing, as Christ Jesus declared they would, and the reason for this is undoubtedly that they not only failed to satisfy the immortal cravings, but that they did little to promote spiritual growth. If these concepts had been taken at their face value, if people had really believed that their dear ones had gone to eternal bliss, there would have been no reasonable ground for sorrow; but they have failed to stand the test of a spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, hence they do not satisfy, and there is always a depressing sense of uncertainty which is most keenly felt when assurance is most needed.

Deeply thoughtful people, whether avowed religionists or not, have usually agreed that Jesus' recorded utterances offer little or nothing which would sustain a material sense of man's place of abode when he has passed from this sphere of existence, and the same may be said of Mrs. Eddy's teachings. This is explained by the fact that all profound thinkers deal with eternal verities, with spiritual realities, and not with the passing things of sense. Of old, Moses said, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations," and yet how few have grasped the deep significance of these words. In Christian Science, however, all such declarations become intensely practical. If our dwelling-place is in God, can any one ever be homeless, or have a poor home?

Christian Science comes to explain that one's place in the Father's house of many mansions is determined by his understanding of Truth and Love and his reflection of the divine nature in the Christ-way; but the true home is wholly independent of material things. It is, however, vitally dependent upon Truth, intelligence, divine law and order, for its manifestation, and without these there is no real place of shelter from the discords of mortal sense. Here some one may say that in Revelation we read of splendors which surpass aught that earth has known,—the gates of pearl, the streets of gold, the foundations of "all manner of precious stones." It is, however, well to note that the first manifestation of this city of our God is the passing away of pain, sin, sorrow, and death.

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