Article July 7, 1923 Issue

Home

FRANCES MACK MANN

That home is the most perfect which is built on the sure foundation of divine Love. The inmate of this home lives and has his being in the reality of divine Love. In spiritual harmony, the real man lies down in green pastures, and rests beside still waters. He suffers from no fear of loss, chance, or change. He dwells securely in the consciousness of health and happiness. In this age, the teaching of God as divine Love and of the real man's relationship to God, as given to the world in Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy, forms a perfect concept, spiritualizes thought, and establishes a true understanding of home. This understanding becomes, in the words of the prophet, "a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."

The limited housing accommodations in many countries during the past few years have emphasized the desirability of having a permanent sense of home, as a resting-place by the wayside on the journey upward and onward from matter to Spirit. One's present sense of home should be a type of man's spiritual abode; and as one's concept grows more perfect, one comes into a clearer realization of the condition of spiritual thought called heaven. It matters not whether what one calls one's home to-day is in one room, or in a palace of many rooms; whether it is inhabited by one person or by many persons. Its value rests upon the quality and quantity of the true love which is manifested by its inmates, toward one another and to all mankind. Mrs. Eddy pointed to the spiritual truth of home, when she said in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 254), "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God."

Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, was a great lover of home. It was precious to her, for it stood for stability of thought. In "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 93) she writes: "The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action." The New England home in which Mrs. Eddy was reared was the native home of her godly ancestors. From her own writings we learn something of its nature. There was reverence in that home for all that was good. Each morning, God was looked to for the day's guidance. After the homely hymns and the family prayers, the children were started for school, undoubtedly with the admonition to do right and be obedient to the teacher. Husband and wife had confidence in each other. There was tender thoughtfulness and loving solicitude for all. Around the evening lamp, through the long winter evenings, standard books were read aloud. In this household there was regular living; nor was the sick neighbor forgotten in its ministrations. Thus, a broad community of interests fitted each member to do his part, as he passed out of the home into the world's work. The parents' and the children's thoughts were united in unselfishness and kindly deeds. The material duties, wisely distributed among the different members of the family, had to be attended to; but the noble practice of Christlike living was the goal of each member of the family. God was first; and in after life the children, trained in this atmosphere, as naturally turned to God for help in time of need as the sunflower follows the sun, keeping its face always toward the light.

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