Article October 14, 1916 Issue

Whose Servants Are We?

STOKES ANTHONY BENNETT

WHEN the apostle Paul says, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" he directs attention to a most important fact. Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, lays stress upon the same fact when on page 325 of Science and Health she writes, "He, who is begotten of the beliefs of the flesh and serves them, can never reach in this world the divine heights of our Lord." On page 496 she says, "In Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself."

Therefore when the world in general shall have come to realize the truth of the above statements and is governed accordingly, there will be greater happiness, peace, and security. When the world understands that one is servant to whatever he either or indirectly obeys, much more care will be exercised in the choice of masters. Mortals always have been and are today inclined to yield obedience in certain lines without first analyzing this obedience and considering the results involved. Looking upon the mere surface of their affairs, mortals would seem often to forget that there is something lying underneath, and that this something is designed to exert a strong influence upon both their thoughts and their deeds. It was probably to check this wrong tendency, and to substitute for it a right one, that Paul made his emphatic declaration and that Mrs. Eddy repeated the substance of this declaration.

It is plain that the basis of all action is thought, and that without thought there could be no action whatsoever. It is also plain that the author of the book of Proverbs spoke to the point when he said concerning a man, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Therefore it is with thought that we must deal in order to analyze and regulate action. And just here Christian Science stands ready to play its helpful part. This Science teaches and demonstrates that God is divine Mind, and that the real or true man is at-one with or tributary to God,—is His image and likeness, as the first chapter of Genesis portrays. It teaches and demonstrates too that the real or spiritual man thinks no thoughts that are unlike God's thoughts.

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