Article July 19, 1919 Issue

The Mandate of Mind

JOSEPH E. BADGER

In the second chapter of Genesis we read: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 520) Mrs. Eddy, commenting upon this passage writes, "Here is the emphatic declaration that God creates all through Mind, not through matter,—that the plant grows, not because of seed or soil, but because growth is the eternal mandate of Mind."

Of late years this fact has been finding expression in an ever ascending degree through spiritually awakened thought, and we see evidences of the universal operation of the law of growth—which is the same everywhere when its conditions are complied with—in every branch of human endeavor and activity. In Christian Science, however, we are most deeply concerned with the law of growth as we become conscious of its operation in ourselves or in others who have been awakened to the truth of being. It is quite true that under present human conditions it seems necessary to prepare the soil of human thought, even as the soil into which we drop seed for a material harvest must first be prepared. The work of the Christian Scientist in church organization prepares his thought for the sowing and is a means of growth to him. Work teaches him many things that he cannot otherwise learn, for it lifts him from the selfish consideration of his personal problems to the unselfish support of an impersonal cause.

Within the ample boundaries of the Christian Science organization he finds multiplied opportunities for growth, by sacrificing his own will, his own opinions, and his own selfish comfort for the good of the whole. These opportunities are here afforded in larger measure than in the home or the outside life in the world; and he is cheered by good example and by happy fellowship to higher faith in good as the ends of organization are worked out by those laboring together.

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