Article September 10, 1921 Issue

The Universality of Truth

HENRY C. N. ELLIS

Whenever an individual expresses good in preference to evil, at that moment he is proving that man possesses his rightful inheritance and is showing how much of God he knows. This fact is not rendered untrue because this individual is not definitely conscious of a desire to know God, neither would the approval of others be withheld from such a person because he chooses the better course instinctively rather than by conscious effort or after deep study and consideration of the merits of the right and wrong courses. In the active expression of God, or good, there are no divisions between individuals and there have been conspicuous cases in history where even the divisions of nationality have been overborne by the community of feeling engendered by the joint pursuit of a good aim. Those who study Christian Science and those who do not are therefore not really divided, for good cannot be exhausted any more than it can be monopolized, and the pursuit of the spiritual as opposed to the material is a common platform roomy enough for all the world.

Just as good is universal in one dimension, that of space, it is also universal in another, that of time. "Before Abraham was, I am," said Jesus, meaning as Mary Baker Eddy explains in Science and Health (p. 333), "The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea,—the reflection of God,—has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God."

Through the pages of history can be found many examples of outstanding figures who have looked far enough beyond the evidences of the conditions around them to see the advantages of founding their actions upon the basis of Principle rather than expediency or the dictates of fear. Men have left a sphere of work in which they have been occupied for a lifetime for the sake of what they called conscience, and on the other hand have refused to leave their work under other circumstances for the same reason. Others have been distinguished for their courage in facing the intolerance and cruelty of mortal mind acting under the influence of mass suggestion and mob psychology. Nor has the recognition of the claims of Principle been confined to those who have adhered to Principle. Even those who oppose it and are accustomed to be ruled by other considerations, acknowledge the power of Truth by the tacit recognition of the threat it contains as regards their own position. If one's own position in any matter is founded on the highest considerations there is no need to fear, but conscience makes cowards, and Truth and right have ever contained a rebuke to those opposed to them.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The Universality of Truth

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access