Editorial May 1, 1926 Issue

"Let your light so shine"

Albert F. Gilmore

Works, not words, are the sure proof of one's spiritual standing. Christ Jesus set forth this fact at different times by varying parables and examples, but always with emphasis. He held before his followers, constantly, that to do the will of God was the unvarying obligation of all who would reap the reward of the righteous; and their deeds were to be the proof of their motives and aims. Others, beholding the rewards of righteous living in terms of peace, happiness, and plenty, being duly impressed, would go and do likewise. "Let your light so shine before men," he admonished his disciples, "that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Always to glorify God was uppermost in the Master's thought, for thus only was one's obedience to the divine commands made manifest.

What was this light which the Master commanded his disciples to let shine, but the example of right doing, the only proof of spiritualized thought? He had made very plain that the saying of one's prayers in public, or the doing of alms to be seen of men, was not a proof of sanctified living. Now he called upon his followers so to live as to exemplify the Christ, Truth, in the daily round of life, that all who witnessed would be impressed and, beholding, would wish likewise to glorify God.

Religionists have long recognized that deeds are the strongest, the best proof—in fact, the only proof—of sanctified thought. Mrs. Eddy, fully awake to the efforts of mortal mind to deceive, speaks emphatically on this subject. "The best sermon ever preached," she says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 201), "is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death." Our Leader places no premium upon mere eloquence in utterance or protestation of Christian fidelity; but rather does she make clear the paramount necessity of living the life exemplified by the Master as the only means of proving our obedience to God's commands. "By their fruits ye shall know them"—not by promises, however beautiful they may be, or however eloquent of good intentions. By their works, their deeds, are they to be judged and rewarded.

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