Editorial May 8, 1915 Issue

"The Lord is my rock"

John B. Willis

Perhaps no symbolism of the Scripture writings is more forceful than that attached to the word rock, which stands first of all for demonstrable Truth, the Christ-idea. It is also frequently used with the personal possessive to express the individual realization of this idea, and the distinction between the two measures the contrast between preaching and practice, between conviction and conversion, between the perception of truth and the acceptance and utilization of truth, between seeing and doing.

The writer was much impressed recently, in talking with a doctor of divinity, a man of noble nature, to find how promptly and fully he endorsed the great fundamental truths of the Master's teaching as apprehended in Christian Science, and how insistently he maintained propositions which are entirely at variance with these truths. He unhesitatingly averred that God is infinite Spirit and wholly good, the only source and support of being, and that man is His image. Nevertheless he declared for the reality of matter, and that man is constituted of both flesh and spirit. The infinite Truth and Love was recognized as the rock basis of Christianity, and yet in the realization of the healing power of this verity he frankly expressed regret that he had no part. He could say unhesitatingly that God "is the Rock, his work is perfect;" but he could not say, "The Lord is my rock, and . . . my salvation," in the logical and saving sense which floods St. John's great declaration: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

The perception of divine Truth is great, but the realization of Truth is effectively greater, for this alone solves the life-problem. This is the heart of the gospel, the good news which Jesus preached and practised, and this is the distinctive teaching of Christian Science, that "the substance of all devotion is the reflection and demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and destroying sin" (Science and Health, p. 241). Any faith that does not measure up to this ideal certainly falls short of that of St. Paul when he shook off the viper into the fire "and felt no harm." It falls short, too pitifully short, of the pressing human need. All truth is ours potentially, but it becomes ours kinetically and effectively only as it is embraced in consciousness. God is "my God," only in so far as the divine life and law are manifest in and through me. Only as we "know" God do we "lay hold on eternal life." Moreover, this alone establishes the Science of Christianity, and saves men from professionalism and prejudice.

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