Article June 12, 1920 Issue

The Unity of the Faith

E. CAROLINE DUTTON

"THE Lord our God is one Lord," we read in Deuteronomy. Because God is one, therefore cause is one, and that one is Spirit, infinite, All, the Alpha and the Omega. In God there are no degrees of comparison. God is not more to-day than yesterday, nor will there be more of God in time to come. This one only God is Mind, and right here and now is the one infinite intelligence, called God, operative uniformly and without limitation.

Despite any seeming confusion, the reaching out of today is for democracy, for the oneness of Mind, Principle, and the oneness of its idea, with its sequence—direct and inevitable government of the oneness of infinite idea by the oneness of Principle, which alone constitutes true democracy. This reaching out is seen on all sides, in what are called the religious, social, political, or other walks of life. It is obvious that there can be no right conclusion without a correct premise. For example, we cannot begin with matter and end with Spirit, or vice versa, nor can effect differ from its cause. On page 126 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read: "The point at issue between Christian Science on the one hand and popular theology on the other is this: Shall Science explain cause and effect as being both natural and spiritual? Or shall all that is beyond the cognizance of the material senses be called supernatural, and be left to the mercy of speculative hypotheses?" That which truly is, must ever have been, and ever will be. So if the "I" of man is mortal to-day it will be mortal to-morrow and forever. To human sense only does mortality even appear to be evolving toward spirituality.

Genuine spirituality understands, and is proved by present demonstration. On page 242 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," Mrs. Eddy says: "You can never demonstrate spirituality until you declare yourself to be immortal and understand that you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration." Unless one understands and maintains this absolute fact, one is, at best, only a believer in Christian Science. Now a believer in mathematics would never constitute a mathematician. If one desires to be a mathematician, one must cease merely believing in mathematics and become one with the rule of mathematics; for it is this oneness of actual understanding which constitutes a mathematician. So it is in Christian Science; the single point at issue in any problem is the true unity of Mind. the oneness of God and His idea, man. This is the unity of true faith, which must mean, in the last analysis, true spiritual understanding and not mere human belief.

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