Article January 1, 1916 ISSUE

Treasures of Truth

HELEN ANDREWS NIXON

Today surely demands that we think and act from a higher mental plane than we did yesterday; that we recoginize and destroy the false claim of lethargy, free ourselves from stereotyped opinions, and come forth stripped of mortal vestures, and thus better fitted for the ennobling race that is set before us. It is a steady, patient ascent we have to make in the demonstration of Christian Science, and the lighter the baggage the easier the climb. There are always the extremes to be avoided and the middle of the road to be found and kept. This task alone requires much thought. It demands demonstration, not speculation, and much painstaking effort.

On page 236 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "A special privilege is vested in the ministry. How shall it be used? Sacredly, in the interests of humanity, not of sect." When made luminous by spiritual understanding, the by-laws contained in the Manual of The Mother Church are seen to be of the highest significance, and that they confer "a special privilege" upon every Christian Scientist is made quite plain. Take for instance Section 5 of Article VIII, which reads, "The prayers in Christian Science churches shall be offered for the congregations collectively and exclusively." "Collectively,"—here we stop to think. Metaphysical self-denial is the immediate demand. The so-called material senses are to be given no hearing. They are forbidden to outline and number the people. They are forbidden to report an assemblage of many minds and bodies, with varied aims, interests, and antagonisms. Shutting out personal sense, the way is opened to spiritual consciousness.

To pray for the congregation collectively is to withdraw from sense-testimony, and to abide and rejoice trustingly in the spiritual consciousness that all true believers are "the people of his [God's] pasture, and the sheep of his hand." Spiritually understood, divine Love is our shepherd, and there is but one shepherd and one fold, even as Jesus declared. In the light of scientific prayer mortal differences melt away, the oneness of need, purpose, and achievement appears, and nothing seems so worth while as the sweet and certain sense that good alone is real, and that conscious at-one-ment with God is the divine birthright of each and every man.

The second specification of the by-law under consideration is that prayers shall be offered for the congregations "exclusively." Among many other spiritual treasures to be realized in these moments of prayer, are we not to ponder on the sufficiency of God's ever-presence to quench earthly yearnings, and so silence suggestions of loved ones absent or without the fold? Thought is not to wander in the byways of personality but to acknowledge humbly, gratefully, the allness of good and the nothingness of evil. Our Sunday and mid-week services supply oft-repeated opportunities for the revelation of spiritual truth, and in our lives they serve as intimate mentors along the way. The cause of Christian Science can but be greatly strengthened in the hearts of all Christian Scientists through this scientific prayer, which in its unfailing regularity reflects the Love which "never faileth."

Our Manual is a storehouse of wisdom, of tried treasures which bring to mind Jesus' saying, "Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." God's care for Israel in all the centuries is expressed through these rules and by-laws, and it was through our Leader's spirituality that they were formulated and made effective. Our debt to her can be paid only in one way, namely, that expressed in her own words in Pond and Purpose (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206 ): "As you journey, and betimes sigh for rest 'beside the still waters,' ponder this lesson of love. Learn its purpose; and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the spirit of my life-purpose,—to impress humanity with the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian Science."

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