Editorial March 15, 1919 Issue

In the Path of Righteousness

William D. McCrackan

There are deeds of kindness strewn along the path of right living; there is the joy of seeing God's laws fulfilled and of partaking in the beneficent effect of God's healing. A spiritual uplift always follows the experience of being grateful. The path of righteousness is protected by the wings of the morning and the light of spiritual understanding never leaves it. This path is spacious enough to take in all mankind, and spiritual attraction keeps the vision onward for those who enter upon it. Tender mercies are spiritual dewdrops of the morning, sparkling in the glory of divine Love's healing rays. Old garments of fear or doubt and the disposition to hate are laid aside as the traveler proceeds on this spiritual journey. Old-time opinions are dropped for the winged pinions of the Christ, Truth. Right thinking becomes established by the habit of understanding spiritual facts, and thus the mental path of divine Science is disclosed, so that each one can feel assured that God is the light and health of his countenance. Truly the psalmist understood this glorious experience when he wrote: "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." This verse Mrs. Eddy interprets on page 578 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as, "[Love] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [Love] leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

The feast time and the harvest time are ever at hand in the path of righteousness. Sacrificial offerings are gradually laid aside for thanksgiving offerings, blessings become constant in the mental atmosphere of those who know they dwell in God. A sweet communion pervades their onward march and the song of the Lamb resounds to the encouragement of others, both near and far. It is needless to say that this path of righteousness is a holy path, acting as a spiritual attraction, which makes a contact for those seekers after the truth who want God. This establishes the real brotherhood of man resulting from unity in God.

It is a very simple way, this path of purity. Children naturally enjoy its pleasures, for it offers to them the real quality of joy, which is pacifying and satisfying. Spiritual beginners seeking the way are made courageous and strong by the loving example of helpfulness and steadfastness on the part of those who know the way and understand that which is beyond. To know life is to understand that death has no place in true consciousness, nor any power in the path of righteousness. Right ideas of God become the high ideals of man. The correcting and eliminating process is the primary schooling in the path of righteousness, and this carries one to the stage of progress where healing becomes established and the adjustment is made sure by an absolute surrender of human will to the acceptance of the divine will as the only Mind to have, to use, or to follow as a guide. On page 161 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" we read: "Trust in God, and 'He shall direct thy paths.' When evil was avenging itself on its destroyer, his preeminent goodness, the Godlike man said, 'My burden is light.' Only he who learns through meekness and love the falsity of supposititious life and intelligence in matter, can triumph over their ultimatum, sin, suffering, and death."

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