Article June 23, 1923 Issue

First Lessons

HELEN E. BOSDAN

Jesus said, "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me." To provide a way for little children to understand the Christ, Mrs. Eddy organized the Christian Science Sunday School for those up to twenty years of age; and in the Manual she designated as "the first lessons of the children" (Art. XX, Sect. 3), "the Ten Commandments (Exodus, 20:3–17), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9–13), and its Spiritual Interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy, Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–12)." These first lessons of the Sunday school should be the first lessons of life, the first steps toward the understanding and demonstration of God and of man as His reflection; and they must, indeed, be the first lessons of all who would enter the kingdom of heaven, harmony, the understanding of divine Love.

The first and great commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 340), Mrs. Eddy says in regard to it: "It inculcates the triunity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and lifeeternal." The problems of the world, whether they appear to be mental, moral, or physical, are solved by strict adherence to the First Commandment. The Commandments should always govern our daily life, all our relations and duty to God and to mankind.

The Beatitudes are full of reassuring promises pointing to the rewards of those poor in Spirit, of those who mourn, of the meek, of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, of the merciful, of the pure in heart, of the peacemakers, and of those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. The Lord's Prayer and its spiritual interpretation, as given on pages 16 and 17 of Science and Health, declares that the kingdom of heaven is here and now; it affirms the supremacy of God,—the omnipotence of Truth; and it gives the sweet assurance of God's unlimited protecting power and love. We need to learn these sacred lessons in order to work out our salvation. All the works of demonstration recorded in the Bible were but the outcome of the first lessons. It is, indeed, wise to teach the children these blessed truths, that their thoughts may be molded in accord with the one Mind; that they may, in joy or in sorrow, seek Him and find Him who is "a very present help in trouble."

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