Editorial August 15, 1925 Issue

"Thou hast put gladness in my heart"

Duncan Sinclair

Gladness should characterize the Christian Scientist. The truth about God and His creation, man, has been revealed to him through Christian Science, and the revelation has given him great confidence and faith in the goodness and love and power of God. Hence the reason for his gladness. With the Psalmist he can say in all sincerity: "Thou hast put gladness in my heart. ... I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety."

Gladness is one of the greatest assets any one can possess. It lightens every burden; it makes every kind of work easier; it brightens every quarter into which it enters; verily, it is one of the chief happifiers of existence. Surely all Christians should be glad. In the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah it is written, "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."

Now, as has been said, the Christian Scientist is glad because of what Christian Science has revealed to him. And what has this truth revealed to him about God and man to inspire him with joy and gladness? It has shown him the perfection of God and man. That is the secret of his joy and gladness. God, as Christian Science teaches, is perfect, infinitely good; and man, being the creation of God, is likewise perfect and good. Christian Science thus denies—utterly denies—reality to imperfection, maintaining that man is even now in the enjoyment of all good; that man is sinless and altogether lovely; and that it is possible for mankind to realize these truths, and so to become free from the afflictions of so-called mortal existence.

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