Article November 5, 1927 Issue

Learn, Keep, and Do

FLORENCE E. B. DONALDSON

WHEN Moses called all Israel and charged them to learn, keep, and do the statutes and judgments of God, he was emphasizing the practical nature of true religion. This same practical teaching runs all through the pages of the Bible, but becomes more definite in the illumined parables of Christ Jesus, with their inspired portrayal of the loving nature of the heavenly Father, and culminates in the promise in the Apocalypse, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

If we examine the threefold injunction of Moses in its separate demands, we shall see that to learn is not merely to hear or to read, but to imbibe and to assimilate. We must know the commandments of God so thoroughly in our heart that the knowledge they bring cannot be taken from us. To keep the commandments implies the rejection of all that is not included in the divine law, and absolute obedience to each and every demand of God as it is unfolded to us. To do them is to act in harmony with the will of God, recognizing no self apart from Him; to grow in wisdom and in stature; to serve with humility and selfless love; to be one with God, and to acknowledge no other power or presence.

For centuries Christians had sought to know God's will and had desired to obey His commands, but the materialism of creeds and ceremonies so veiled the spiritual teaching of the Messiah that its true meaning was hidden. Although there have always been some with purer hearts and clearer vision than others, who have glimpsed and followed the fuller understanding of the Christ-teaching, yet they never seemed able to do more than call to those willing to hear them to look up to God for light and guidance. They could not show their hearers the way—they did not know enough. But the time came when a greater reaching out toward spiritual things showed the craving of humanity for more light, and the call of God to man came through Mrs. Eddy, who, practically from childhood, had been seeking to know the hidden truths of Christianity. After years of earnest seeking,—during which the trial and suffering she passed through was as a refiner's fire,—in a time of great human need a flash of spiritual insight into a gospel narrative brought her back instantaneously from the brink of the grave to health and strength.

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