Article December 1, 1923 Issue

Our Rich Legacy

ALICE I. COLLINGWOOD

FREQUENTLY joy and gratitude are expressed by some one who has been left a rich material legacy. Do we realize that we all have been left a far richer legacy, one which is greater than all the material wealth in the world? What could be more satisfying than the beauty of holiness, the possession of God's spiritual attributes, such as goodness, kindness, humility, wisdom, intelligence, health, and happiness? Mrs. Eddy says in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 303), in speaking of Jesus' life-work, "He left his legacy of truth to mankind." This "legacy of truth," which Jesus left us, belongs equally to all; for "God is no respecter of persons." We can never receive the benefits of this divine inheritance, however, even in the slightest degree, until we claim it and make it our own by demonstration. Of what possible use would a legacy be were it never used in any way?

Many times, when one has experienced a healing in Christian Science, he rejoices that he has found the God who is Love, who frees him from care and worry; and he often feels as if his troubles were over forever. This exalted state of consciousness goes on for a time, until he finds himself again confronted by obstacles and problems that seem almost insurmountable; and he wonders what he has done to bring about such conditions. He temporarily loses his sense of joy and freedom, because he allows himself to become discouraged, failing to realize that his mental state is exactly what so-called mortal mind claims to produce in its endeavor to turn him aside from the good he has gained. After suffering a sufficient length of time, he begins to see that he has been handled by wrong thinking; in other words, he has consented to the false belief in a mind apart from God, good. Then, if he is wise, he immediately reverses his thoughts of discouragement and fear, turns to God for renewed courage and strength, and works patiently and earnestly to the best of his understanding, until he gains a higher realization of freedom and joy than ever before.

How much suffering the student would have been spared, had he seen, when the error presented itself, that it was simply the operation of Truth in his consciousness which had brought this error to the surface to be destroyed! How easily it could have been overcome; for does not our dear Leader tell us in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 210), "Error, when found out, is two-thirds destroyed"? She also plainly states the value of these experiences in promoting our growth. On page 165 she writes, "The truth uttered and lived by Jesus, who passed on and left to mortals the rich legacy of what he said and did, makes his followers the heirs to his example; but they can neither appreciate nor appropriate his treasures of Truth and Love, until lifted to these by their own growth and experience." Then should we not rejoice over every opportunity that comes to us to prove God's presence and power, since these experiences always give us a better and fuller understanding of the Giver of all good?

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