Editorial May 1, 1920 Issue

Wednesday

Frederick Dixon

When Mrs. Eddy instituted the Wednesday evening meeting she, at once, offered a great opportunity to the Christian Science movement, and laid a great responsibility upon it. This Wednesday evening testimony was, in her own words, on page 47 of the Manual, to be "more than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it scales the pinnacle of praise and illustrates the demonstration of Christ, 'who healeth all thy diseases' (Psalm 103:3)."

Now Mrs. Eddy never used words loosely. If her readers wish to discover her real meaning they must remember what she herself wrote, on page 320 of Science and Health, concerning the Bible, "The one important interpretation of Scripture is the spiritual." And from that Mrs. Eddy goes on to explain a most important passage to any person taking part in a Wednesday evening meeting, and that is the saying of Job, "In my flesh shall I see God." Here, indeed, is the very accent of praise, if praise is metaphysically understood; for praise is no mere singing of psalms, it is psalm singing translated into action. The sick man does not see God in flesh. Job, sitting on the refuse heaps before the city gate, stricken with boils, was very far from realizing the truth of being. Job, healed and in his right mind, had come to understand the unreality of the flesh to the extent that he could at least say, in contrast of Spirit with the flesh: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Here was his first step toward that understanding of spiritual harmony which, in the mouth of Paul, burst into praise, as he wrote to the Corinthians, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."

Every man, then, who would understand the Manual must come back to its spiritual meaning. If on a Wednesday evening he would scale "the pinnacle of praise," he must learn that praise is not emotional speaking, that it is no mere eloquence of words, but knowledge which has been translated into action through an understanding of Principle; then the tongue may falter, and the words may halt, but, none the less, as Mrs. Eddy writes on page 354 of Science and Health: "Consistency is seen in example more than in precept. Inconsistency is shown by words without deeds, which are like clouds without rain. If our words fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that weakness, and out of the mouth of babes He will perfect praise. The night of materiality is far spent, and with the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and to speak the new tongue."

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