Article February 1, 1919 Issue

Exact Expression of Truth

ROBERT NALL

The close relation between accurate, that is, scientific thought and demonstration of the truth calls for continual recognition. Inexact, imperfect, and confused thought is incapable of enlightening and edifying expression, and moreover it indicates blurred vision, and blurred vision is mental and spiritual darkness, wherein it is impossible to see clearly or to reason logically. The clarity of spiritual thought, evidenced as it is in felicitous expression in all our Leader's writings, not only is one of their most charming features, but attests her remarkable grasp of spiritual truth. Were it otherwise she would have failed to reach those mental heights where she perceived the infinitude of Mind and its manifestation, and would never have proved in her own experience the validity of those fundamental postulates and scientific deductions that are the very alpha and omega of Christian Science.

It is quite evident that in an early stage of her search for a scientific basis of divine healing, Mrs. Eddy was animated by a profound conviction that God is always bearing witness of Himself to His children, and that His appeal to them is the unchanging and constant outgoing of His love and grace. What that meant to our Leader is precisely what it means to us when rightly understood. It is that the gracious influence of divine Truth and Love, operating in a consciousness which is hungering to be released from the bondage of sinful sense, cleanses and purifies the mentality, sweeping away the cobwebs of traditional and inherited sense illusions and false theology, thus leading to that path of true progress where each one is engaged continuously in the fruitful service of "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

This great fact of the never ceasing stream of good flowing toward us should be a perpetual incentive to the highest order of thinking. Now this is not gained by a miraculous interposition of divine power. It is concurrent with a life of devotion and scientific healing prayer, prayer in its highest and most comprehensive sense. It is a growth from the seed of Truth, a growth accelerated just in the ratio that we can recognize the nexus between man and God. Obviously, if we have caught but a glimpse of the sacred objective of Christian Science we shall see that all religious achievement must be the destruction of evil thought and desire, simply because it is only good thought which can be translated into harmonious activity. A life work, some one may say! What else should it be? Heaven is not gained by a step. Error is not destroyed with one blow. The human consciousness is not transformed in a day. The life which reflects Life is constant, heroic service for God and humanity, beginning first of all in ourselves and then becoming a beacon light to others. It is by thus welcoming the inspiration of divine Truth that we perceive the substance of Spirit, which is undiscerned by material sense and is the true foundation of spiritual building.

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