Article August 24, 1918 Issue

Practical Aid

JESSIE I. UPHAM

Doubtless the dearest wish of all Christian Scientists is that every one in the world may understand Christian Science well enough to desire to live by it. To consider what it will mean when such a state of things shall prevail, is to long to do everything possible to hasten the day; and yet, in picturing this happy state, it is usually thought of as coming only in a remote future. This, of course, would tend to neutralize the daily prayer of members of The Mother Church, "May Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!" (Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 4.) It being both a human necessity and a divine requirement that mankind shall be so governed, this prayer is not a vague abstraction, but a very practical procedure; and the importance of it is evident in the present hour, when the widespread tumult among nations is making it clearer how little our individual interests can, in reality, be separated from those of the community, the nation, or even of the entire world.

All right-minded people to-day are aroused to a spirit of helpfulness, and are asking themselves what they can do to help, and to help in the most direct way. Many questions not immediately connected with the war are forcing themselves upon public attention and are threatening to become serious,—the issue between capital and labor, for instance. There are many plans constantly coming forward for the betterment of all untoward conditions, but Christian Scientists know that these problems can never be fully and finally settled except through the spiritual understanding and scientific application of divine law, as taught in the Scriptures, as perfectly demonstrated by Christ Jesus, and as elucidated in this age by Christian Science. There is a solution for every problem, whether of state, factory, or battle field; but in the end it must be reached through the demonstrable understanding of God's word. Since the right road is always the shortest, what work can there be which will give more direct aid to gorping humanity than that which will increase this needed knowledge?

From cover to cover the Bible rings with the recognition and honor given to "the word of the Lord," "the word of God," by patriarch, prophet, apostle, and saint. Moses declared, "The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it," and this was repeated in substance by Paul, in his epistle to the Romans. In Science and Health (p. 503) Mrs. Eddy has written, "Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, 'God is All-in-all,' and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe." This is not the record of an event in ancient history, but the statement of a present and eternal fact. The Word of God is always and everywhere speaking, and despite the obscurity of material sense it can be heard. There is no power that can interfere with this Christly influence, no law that can delay its enthronement in the hearts of men, or that can precipitate direful happenings in defiance of it; nor does the world have to go through long, slow stages of development, for in Psalms we read that "his word runneth very swiftly."

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