No Failure in Mind

TO many of us the Bible was a sealed book before it was read in conjunction with the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, but to-day thousands are able to share in the treasure which has been waiting to be given to the world for generations. It is true that many men and women have toiled long to recapture the spirit of Christianity which was evident in the world for three hundred years after the crucifixion, but not until Mrs. Eddy found the truth which was to rend asunder the veil covering the teachings of our Master was humanity able to appreciate to the full the vast storehouse made available to every individual through the teachings of Christ Jesus.

One of the things which an earnest study of the Bible teaches us, however, is that we are not to keep this treasure to ourselves. The gospels are full of the commands and promises given by Jesus to his disciples and to as many as believe on his word. Could anything be more imperative or emphatic than that uttered to the eleven on the occasion of his appearance after the three days spent in the tomb, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"? This can be done by each one of us in so far as we are faithful to Jesus' teachings and strive to overcome the "old man" in ourselves. To many of us, perhaps, this may seem at first to be a hard task, especially when error tries to have us believe that we are not progressing toward the goal of Spirit, when we have to take, sometimes, many halting footsteps, but here again we can turn to the Bible for guidance and read what Jesus says on the subject of apparent failure. It is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew's gospel that a certain man brought his son to Jesus for healing, with the words, "And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him." When the boy had received his health the disciples questioned their Master as to their failure: "Why could not we cast him out?" to which Jesus made this memorable reply, a reply which was to indicate for all ages how to combat the erroneous claim of lack of understanding: "Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Let us consider that last clause, "And nothing shall be impossible unto you." What is it, then, that tries to convince us sometimes that we are not progressing so rapidly as we would like, or that we are unable to put into practice Jesus' command and take the good tidings to others? Jesus told his disciples that it was their unbelief—and is not this the reason with all of us? It is our inaptitude to know that the truth is available here and now in the same degree for all. Because the problems which we have to confront are seemingly a little bigger as we progress toward Truth, we may begin to listen to the voice of error which says, "You have not enough understanding to deal with this problem," or, "It is more difficult than others and will therefore take longer to heal," not discerning that this temptation must be grappled with as definitely as the problem. It is on these occasions that we shall derive great help from the study of our Leader's words on page 183 of "Miscellaneous Writings," where she states: "Man is God's image and likeness; whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God's reflection. Through the transparency of Science we learn this, and receive it: learn that man can fulfil the Scriptures in every instance; that if he open his mouth it shall be filled—not by reason of the schools, or learning, but by the natural ability, that reflection already has bestowed on him, to give utterance to Truth." There can be no failure in Mind, and when error would fain have us believe that we have suffered defeat, then is the time to obey the injunction on page 393 of Science and Health: "Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good." For us to admit that we are unable to overcome any discordant condition is the greatest error of all, for we are then submitting to the claim that man lacks understanding, we are forgetting that God gave man dominion over all things.