Article May 24, 1919 Issue

In the first and third verses of the eleventh chapter of...

The Christian Science Monitor

In the first and third verses of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the apostle Paul gives a most comprehensive and luminious definition of Christian Science. He there calls it "faith," but to him faith was far more than mere blind belief, so often described as faith. "Faith," says Paul, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The Greek word translated "substance" means literally, that which stands under, or the foundation for. The faith that is the foundation for things hoped for, that is, good things, and the evidence of things not seen, that is, spiritual things, must be more than blind belief; it must be the understanding of Life, the sure knowledge or Science of God and the universe that Christ Jesus had, in other words, Christian Science.

Clearly substantiating this, the apostle says in the third verse: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God."—that is to say, they are the expression of divine Mind,—"so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear,"—are not material but spiritual. Having given the definition of faith, the apostle goes on to recount the many wonderful things that have been accomplished by those men who have had glimpses of this faith.

This understanding, that there is only one Mind or Spirit, God, and that all that exists or can exist in reality is the creation or expression of this one Mind, is indeed the substance of things hoped for, the foundation for all good, and the evidence of things unseen, the demonstrable understanding of spiritual reality. This is the truth of being, the divine Christ, which has been seen and demonstrated to a certain extent by godly men of all ages; it is this which endowed Jesus of Nazareth with such wisdom and power that he obtained absolute mastery over every material circumstance and condition, and became the Way-shower of Life to all the world. It is this same Christ, Truth, which, after centuries of seeming darkness, was discovered and restated as Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, and is to-day destroying the beliefs of sin, sickness, and death, and bringing health and purity and peace and joy into thousands of human lives in all parts of the world. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 333) Mrs. Eddy says: "Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea,—the reflection of God,—has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth."

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