Article April 21, 1923 Issue

The Street Called Straight

MABEL REED HYZER

Many years ago, a business woman was accustomed each day to cross a large city by way of the long main street. One day, while looking from her office window at the top of a tall building, she discovered that she could distinguish the hotel where she lived; and the thought came to her, "Why need I go all the way through the city when there is my hotel, apparently only a few blocks away if I go straight across?" Accordingly, that evening she descended to the street and took a new way in the direction in which she had seen her hotel. The way was persisted in for some time, until it was perceived that she had reached a portion of the city which was strange and inhabited by foreigners, and that even the children in the street were speaking a strange language, and they was no one who understood her, or could direct her. Bewildered and confused she turned back, but in the growing dusk was unable to find her way either to the place from which she started or to her own hotel. After a long time she came upon one of her own countrymen who directed her to the main street; and thereafter she hastened home by the usual route, to attempt no more such excursions into unknown parts.

The destination which we all hope to reach in Christian Science is that perfect understanding of God and man which will enable us effectively to assert dominion over every evil belief, and secure to us the power to heal ourselves and those who come to us for help. Sometimes we see from our mental windows new and apparently more direct streets to our destinations. These streets appear, not only to beginners in the study of Christian Science, but sometimes also to those who have worked longer,—who have toiled all night and yet feel that they have but an empty or half-filled net. The Bible is replete with accounts of honest, conscientious men who were sometimes tempted to turn aside. But when Saul of Tarsus was ready to receive the heavenly vision, in other words, when he was ready to acknowledge the Christ, he was found in the "street ... called Straight;" and that is where we shall be found, when we are ready to acknowledge the Christ and receive complete healing. To seek it in any by-street, or in what claims to be a more direct avenue, is waste of time and but adds trouble.

There are many streets that appear to be straight and to lead directly to a greater understanding of Truth; just as there are many streets in a large city that appear to lead to a desired destination, but end abruptly, perhaps, a short distance from their starting place. If a traveler takes one of these streets, he must either soon turn back or get into the right street again by a more or less circuitous route. One of the temptations to turn aside which sometimes comes to the beginner in Christian Science is reluctance to acknowledge Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer, Founder, and Leader—all three—of Christian Science. As we read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" daily, do we sometimes pause to give thought to the courage and achievement of its author in producing such a book? Do we realize what it must have cost her? Do we understand what she meant when she said, in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 249): "Millions may know that I am the Founder of Christian Science. I alone know what that means"?

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