Article February 18, 1922 Issue

The Demonstration of Obedience

ELIZABETH A. M. COWAN

Paul uses the words, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." To the Christian Scientist every real attainment is a demonstration of divine power. When, therefore, Christian Scientists speak of an occurrence being a demonstration, they mean that it was brought about by the subordination of human thinking to the divine.

To obey rightly is as much a case for demonstration as to govern rightly, for obedience as understood in Christian Science is not mere compliance with whatever is expected of one person by some person or persons in authority; it is realizing the presence of divine Mind so clearly that the opportunity to obey that Mind's requirement is always consciously present in one's life. As there is only one Mind, this Mind includes all orders and compliance. As one sees this fact more clearly, one has less fear of tyranny. The two functions of governing and being governed have similar interest and similar responsibility, that is, the demonstration of good government,—for, "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." We owe obedience first, last, and only to divine Principle; but rebellious human sense, before it actually reaches this perception, may have to go through many humbling experiences, and these experiences may to the outward sense of things appear to be submission to persons, although they should be the victory in the individual consciousness of meekness and might over a material sense of self.

In Christian Science, government is carried on by the subordination, not the exaltation of self. The only real governor being divine Principle, the only real reflection of that government is seen in the one who has subordinated self-will, self-assertion, self-indulgence, to God's will, God's supremacy, God's allness. This is the obedience "unto death," unto the destruction of a material sense of self.

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