Article November 6, 1920 Issue

Pure Thoughts

FRED C. PUTCAMP

In that wonderful discourse named "The Sermon on the Mount" Jesus presented to his hearers seven distinct qualities of thought, and the corresponding blessings which would be the reward for each particular thought. Hence the thought that "shall see God" is defined as a pure thought. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Now to be pure in heart is equivalent to being pure in thought. One of the definitions of the word pure is "separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free from mixture or combination; clear, unmixed." Thus to have a pure heart, or thought, it will be necessary to confine the thought to one subject or purpose. Jesus made this clear when he said, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light [or thought] that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Thus if the thoughts we entertained were purely spiritual, our lives would reflect that spirituality; but if the thoughts we entertain are both spiritual and material, then our lives will not manifest complete harmony, for we can manifest harmony only in the ratio of our spiritual understanding.

Mrs. Eddy made this plain when she wrote (Science and Health, p. 492), "For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence." Through the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, as revealed in Christian Science, we see that the Master has a broader meaning in all his sayings than that which has been commonly accepted, for to confine the thought of purity only to that which pertains to morality would mean that the great majority of people are exempt from the necessity of thinking and living in accordance with this beatitude, and are mesmerized into the belief that they can, and will, "see God" while still thinking and living both materially and spiritually. This has been the verdict in all scholastic theology, for are we not being taught to believe that God created and knows both good and evil, the spiritual and the material, and that we can go to God for spiritual forgiveness of sin, but in case of bodily sickness we must resort to matter, and that God has endowed matter with the power to heal matter, while the power to heal sin is confined to God. Here Christian Science comes to the rescue and reiterates the declaration of the prophet Habakkuk that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" and that He cannot look on iniquity. To be pure in heart or thought we, too, cannot behold evil or matter as real, and in order to heal or forgive sin we must forsake or stop thinking it, and to heal sickness we must refuse to see it or behold it; for to be pure in heart is equivalent to being "of purer eyes than to behold evil."

On pages 476-477 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."

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