Editorial June 3, 1922 Issue

Inspiration

Ella W. Hoag

Inspiration in the highest sense stands for the holy revelations and intuitions which men receive from God. It is His outpouring of good upon His creation. It is the reflection of the divine Mind manifest in every right thought. Nothing is more precious and nothing is more to be desired than the realization of this outpouring and receiving from Truth and Love. The Christian Scientist prays no prayer more earnestly than to be constantly and consciously receptive to the thoughts of divine Mind. He always remembers with joy the blessed words of our Leader in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 5), "God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and affections, giving us strength according to our day." He knows that only as he becomes aware that every right thought of which he is conscious is God working in him, can he hope to express the power of God in conquering all that is unlike good.

In gaining the ability to understand inspiration, the first step is a desire to know God,—the second is a willingness to learn of Him in the way He appoints. All Christians are supposed to have taken the first step in at least some degree. The humility demanded in the second, all are not so willing to practice. The Christian Scientist knows, however, that the way God appoints is through the study of and obedience to His own word. In the Christian Science textbooks—the Bible, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and her other books—God has revealed the way whereby every one may find that understanding of divine Mind which shall enable each and every one to divide with perfect clarity between the inspiration from God to His children and the false beliefs in a mind and an existence apart from Him.

Jesus undoubtedly studied the Scriptures and encouraged others to do the same, for he said: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." He knew that as he availed himself of God's word which had already been revealed to men, he would be better able to discern God's direct word to himself. It was this humility which made him so receptive to inspiration. Our beloved Leader clung so closely to God's revealed word, as found in the Bible, that she was fitted to receive the inspiration of the Science of Life.

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