Article May 10, 1919 Issue

On page 139 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy points...

The Christian Science Monitor

On page 139 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy points out that "from beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter. Moses proved the power of Mind by what men called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha." The fall of Jericho, for instance, shows how any belief that the material sense of things is actual has to give way before complete turning to the one divine Mind. In the presence of God manifested even the stoutest of human walls have no strength whatever. The account of Joshua's experience with Achan after the taking of the city illustrates, moreover, how any clinging to matter as real and desirable, in the face of the proof of Spirit's supremacy, is an element of discord which sooner or later has to vanish, because it never has been anything. Right to-day nations and peoples certainly need to avoid committing the trespass of Achan, who held to material gain though it had just been demonstrated that action in accord with the divine Mind alone is worth while. The only satisfying gain which has come through these last few years of struggle is the larger glimpse that humanity has of the sure operation of Principle.

Let us now and always look wholly to the spiritual idea, of which any physical sense of things at the best is but a counterfeit. To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness is to win all war. Only this absolute standing for good can ever truly succeed. The consciousness of right activity is tangible, substantial, real. Existing entirely as the effect of this divine consciousness, the creation of God is spiritual. The genuine expression of immortal Mind is altogether apart from any mortal concepts, whether of trouble or of any subtlety of material interests. What infinite intelligence knows is harmoniously unfolding, even where the so-called carnal mind thinks otherwise. At the burning bush Moses saw that the true idea continued unconsumed by the fire. Just so, God maintains always the infinite, spiritual idea, no matter what the illusions of discord may seem to be.

In considering the valley of Achor of the Bible, it is interesting to see this very thought brought out, that the true idea is good regardless of how it may be mortally considered. The valley was named, of course, after Achan, whose hiding of material loot from Jericho was the occasion of trouble for the children of Israel. Achan or Achor meant trouble to the Hebrews. The trouble lay in the belief that matter was real instead of the understanding that the spiritual experience was all-sufficient. Necessarily this belief came to destruction. And so for years the valley of Achor stood as a symbol or reminder of trouble, though obviously there was never anything wrong with the valley. The fact is that right where there seems to be trouble of any sort, right there is the spiritual inspiration of God.

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