Article May 23, 1925 Issue

"Proofs of God's care"

E. OLIVE DAVIS

In spite of the fact that the very name of our religion, Christian Science, includes the word "Science," and that we often refer to ourselves as Scientists, it would sometimes seem that we forget what the name implies. After the first glimpse of Truth, which may lift us out of sickness, sin, poverty, or sorrow, we are naturally deeply grateful for the proof afforded us of God's goodness and presence. We rejoice that we have found a practical religion, one capable of meeting all our human needs. Then, as the months and the years slip by, and the exaltation which attended our first healing fades away, do we not sometimes murmur when problems arise to be solved, and wonder why we have so much to meet? Through the blessed understanding of God which has come to us in Christian Science, we have learned to expect to see His love and goodness manifested in our lives, and we perhaps feel self-condemned when error makes its appearance and wonder anxiously why this problem should have come to us; and we may even allow ourselves to be discouraged and disheartened if it is not solved at once.

On page 66 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, our textbook,—note the word "textbook,"—students of Christian Science are reminded by their Leader that "trials are proofs of God's care." If we are to consider ourselves Scientists, working for an exact and accurate understanding of divine Principle, should we not expect to attain this understanding through experiment, trial, demonstration, and proof? Who would lay claim to the title of chemist after making only a few experiments himself, watching others work our problems, or devoting himself to a purely theoretical study of a textbook on chemistry? Yet we who are students of the Science of Christianity wonder why problems are set before us, even complain about them, when we should rejoice that there is given to us the opportunity to "go up higher" in the understanding and demonstration of divine Principle.

Now one of the most blessed things about working out our problems in accordance with this Science of Life is the knowledge that divine Principle, God, whom we are learning to know better, is at the same time divine Love; indeed, is our loving Father-Mother. Surely, then, having turned to the all-loving divine Principle to direct our lives, we may confidently expect that we shall not be asked to solve problems too difficult for our understanding, or be placed in situations where we are left without the requisite wisdom and divine help. We have the blessed assurance of our Leader's words in Science and Health (p. 233) that "progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil."

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