Article October 11, 1919 Issue

White Robes

JULIA S. KINNEY

The Scriptures make many allusions to dress. The full significance of these allusions cannot, however, be grasped without an understanding of the allness of Mind, which is the fundamental basis upon which the Scriptures were written. The subject of dress takes on a new aspect when considered from the viewpoint that "all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (Science and Health, p. 468). Moreover, it is from this viewpoint alone that one can "consider the lilies" in the way in which the Master intended they should be considered when he pointed to the ease of its attainment as well as to the beauty of their array. Regarded from a material basis, however, the subject of dress is frequently associated with worry and fear. All through its pages the Scriptures teach the lesson of humanity's great need for changing its mode of thinking on this subject.

The word dress is derived from the Latin word dirigere, which means to direct. Humanity's need, then, is seen to be a need for directing aright, or correcting, its thoughts about God and also its concept of man's relation to God and to his fellow man. On page 452 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy states: "We soil our garments with conservatism, and afterwards we must wash them clean. When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds its harmonies, you take no risks in the policy of error. Expect to heal simply by repeating the author's words, by right talking and wrong acting, and you will be disappointed. Such a practice does not demonstrate the Science by which divine Mind heals the sick." Suitable robes are needed for the healing of the sick, and these robes are right thoughts,—thoughts fashioned after the model shown by Christ Jesus, to touch the hem of whose garment brought health.

The question, What are these healing garments and how are they to be won and worn, is uppermost in the thought of many to-day. One of the first things to be recognized is the fact that mortal mind is always clothed in "filthy rags," to use a term employed by Isaiah. Greed, avarice, vanity, selfishness, sensuality, comprise part of its wearing apparel. Then it is important to understand the clear distinction made by the teachings of Christian Science between the real man and mortal mind. These teachings show that man is never mortal or material, and that man and mortality have no more in common than have light and darkness. Man is forever clothed in the qualities of the divine Mind, just as the sun's rays forever express the light of the sun. Just as it is impossible to separate the sun's rays from the sun so is it impossible to separate man from the Mind which is the source of his being.

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