Editorial July 24, 1920 Issue

The Pilgrims

Gustavus S. Paine

Resolving to have full freedom in which to worship God, one must be a true pilgrim, a seeker who is turning away from a material sense of things to the breadth of real spirituality. Instead of thinking of himself as dwelling in any earthly place, or even in any mortal body, he rejoices that his unbounded habitation is Mind, where there is infinite action. This does not mean that any one should be encouraged merely to wander aimlessly over the face of the earth, for mortal wandering is a delusive counterfeit of the glad spiritual activity which is the truth of pilgrimage, in its broadest sense. It does mean that each one is entitled to reduce to nothingness every sort of supposed limitation. In order to do so, he must have real breadth of vision. The very knowing that the divine Mind is present to direct in every way enables such a one to have exactly what he needs. To him, the promised land is here and now in proportion as he understands and accepts the real consciousness as his eternal abiding place. Breadth of comprehension and happy earnestness of purpose come wholly from the one divine Mind, which alone can be truly conscious of anything.

Freedom to worship God is, of course, what every one desires. Even the man who is busy with what he calls research in the laboratory is trying to learn something about cause and effect. In the end, however, that one has to cease his attempts to learn from matter, and find the truth that cause is always Mind. The divine Mind, or God, is the only cause for real living. Acceptance of this Mind as the only cause is the genuine worship of God. Once a man recognizes and is satisfied with this fact, he is eager to demonstrate it day by day in all that he does. Infinite intelligence causing infinite order is the truth about law. Freedom to understand and act in accord with this fact is all that true pilgrims have ever been seeking. In the words of the psalmist, "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." The joyous comprehension and utilization of the divine law, one perfect cause producing right action, must be the aim of every pilgrim.

With this aim, it did not merely happen that those whom we call the Pilgrims came to America. What they were looking for was not just a material land in which to be materially active. They were seeking an ideal, putting forth their efforts that they might really see divine intelligence expressed in just the way that they could understand freely. The turning of attention in any measure to Principle and away from a material sense of things means success and permanence. Every glimpse of the truth is sure to unfold until noting even seems to oppose the allness of that divine Love which is Principle. As Mrs. Eddy says on page 10 of "Pulpit and Press": "Rome's fallen fanes and silent Aventine is glory's tomb; her pomp and power lie low in dust. Our land, more favored, had its Pilgrim Fathers. On shores of solitude, at Plymouth Rock, they planted a nation's heart,—the rights of conscience, imperishable glory. No dream of avarice or ambition broke their exalted purpose, theirs was the wish to reign in hope's reality—the realm of Love."

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