Article August 1, 1925 Issue

"He gave them power"

FLORENCE E. B. DONALDSON

Christian Science emanates from divine Mind, and a knowledge of it can be grasped only in the proportion that its students learn to understand God as the one infinite Mind, All-in-all, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. When this great truth dawned upon the awakened thought of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, she realized that it was, as Paul said, "the gift of the grace of God given ... by the effectual working of his power." Inspired as she was by her love for humanity, the revelation was studied with growing ardor; and as the spiritual unity of God and man was unfolded to her perception, the worth and the permanence of this good gift of God were made known to the world, that those ready to receive the blessing might share with her that which was freely given of God to all prepared to receive it.

"Power belongeth unto God," sang the Psalmist; and we have learned through Christian Science that this unassailable fact excludes the possibility of anything unlike good having any inherent power of its own; that evil in every shape and form must yield up its false claims to power when confronted by the spiritual understanding of omnipresent good. The subtle poison instilled by the serpent's argument, in the allegory of the garden of Eden, promising the knowledge of good and evil, has permeated all human beliefs, in spite of the great spiritual truths voiced by seer and prophet and the clear statements of Christ Jesus and the apostles. Its hold on mankind seems incomprehensible to those of us who have begun to look into the realities of being, as taught in Christian Science; but we find that the bondage in which we were before we knew of this teaching entails a long journey across the wilderness to understand our freedom, and to prove that the giants in our path to the promised land are overcome, not in our own strength, but in that which is of God.

From the beginning to the end of his ministry, Christ Jesus taught that his words and works were given to him of the Father. He disclaimed either intelligence or power apart from God. He did his Father's business, and worked solely for the glory of God. It would seem from the gospel narratives that the twelve chosen disciples were not at first called upon to follow the Master's example in preaching and healing. Doubtless they had, as we have, much to learn and to unlearn before they were ready rightly to voice and demonstrate the gospel of good news brought by the Messiah. But the time came when Christ Jesus called them to him, "and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Man, the Image of God