Article November 1, 1922 Issue

Be Not Troubled

WILLIAM W. PORTER

On page 380 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes: "Many years ago the author made a spiritual discovery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to prove that the divine Mind produces in man health, harmony, and immortality." Since these words were written, it has come about that many no longer believe sin and sickness to be natural and unavoidable. On the contrary, as the result of the practice and teaching of Christian Science, to-day thought is rightly informed as to the divine Mind, or God, and His perfect spiritual creation, and men look with confidence and expectancy for the manifestation forthwith of health and harmony. The era of better thinking introduced by Jesus in the first century, which corrected the wrong thinking exemplified in the religious hatred expressed by Saul of Tarsus in his persecutions of the early Christians, finds a counterpart in the era of right mental activity wrought by Christian Science in the twentieth century, which corrects the wrong thinking implicated in the indulgence of the senses.

Saul, afterwards called Paul, with all mankind then as now, possessed the capacity to think; and, because of this, the teachings of Jesus were a rebuke to him. They demanded attention and thought; they would not be brushed aside by mere ecclesiastical assertion. Despite these assertions the works, which confirmed the teachings, remained stubbornly in evidence to arouse and quicken thought. The theology and medicine of the day were unable either to equal or to refute the works of the Master. Having lived for years in the atmosphere of ecclesiastical dogma, and having been taught to reverence form and ceremony as an essential of religion,—to accept the symbol in the place of the substance,—and possessing at the same time the capacity to think, it was in the nature of things that the time should come when Paul exercise this capacity in the right direction. The time came to him, specifically, with the Damascus experience.

The analogy between the day of Paul and the present time is clear. Christian Science marks the beginning of an era of right mental activity which is identical with the true mental processes presented in the teachings of Jesus. On the roadways of the world to-day are to be found those who, like Saul, are traveling in the direction of painful experience. Sauls drunk with hatred are to be found in the twentieth century as readily as in the first. The capacity for right thinking, however, exists always. It is imperative, therefore, that the time should again come for thought to be exercised in obedience to Truth. On this point, and speaking specifically to indicate the exactness of Christian Science, one finds Mrs. Eddy's words sounding clear (Science and Health, p. 404), "The temperance reform, felt all over our land, results from metaphysical healing, which cuts down every tree that brings not forth good fruit." The passing of the evil called intemperance may seem to some to be an economical advance which affects material welfare only. It is that and more. It is the certain result of the exercise of that capacity to think correctly which transformed Saul of Tarsus, drunk with hatred, into the sober Christian, Paul; in other words, it is specific evidence of the truth of Paul's own late teaching, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

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