The Traveler and the Road
When one starts on a journey, he usually has in thought a definite point which he desires to reach. And if he is wise, he procures guidebooks or seeks other right sources for information as to how best to attain his objective.
One beginning the study of Christian Science may be said to be starting on a journey; and there are certain guidebooks provided for his use and benefit. And if wise, he is careful to select these and no others. As he intelligently follows the instructions given therein, he finds himself on the right road and proceeding in an orderly manner towards his desired goal. These guidebooks are the Bible, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and the other writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and the authorized literature of The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
The beginner necessarily starts at the point where Christian Science found him physically, mentally, spiritually. He may know but little of the steps to be taken and the road to follow in his search for betterment in conditions which have seemed to exist; but with an earnest, honest desire for guidance, he starts out in confident expectancy of good, and in his experiences finds verified the Psalmist's statement, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
That which usually starts the average student of Christian Science on his journey from sense to Soul is the fact that he has been healed through it of some phase of discord or disease. His attention has been arrested, and he begins to think; and this is really the first step on the journey. The second step is the desire to understand by what means the healing was accomplished. He knows, to begin with, that it was not a material process, but a mental and spiritual one which healed him, and that it therefore was entirely in the realm of God, divine Mind.
In Science and Health (p. 326) we read: "The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should. You have begun at the numeration-table of Christian Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement."
The successful student of mathematics finds it imperative to observe carefully its laws and rules. There can be no departure therefrom if the correct solution of mathematical problems is to be attained. This applies to all teaching that is scientific; and it is fundamental in Christian Science, which is the exact Science of Christianity. In mathematics one does not begin with the most complex problems first, but gradually attains the ability to solve more and more difficult ones by taking the necessary steps in his advancing understanding of its laws and rules. Neither does one undertake at once to prove Christian Science in its completeness in the solution of the problems confronting mankind. In this connection, Mrs. Eddy states (ibid., p. 296), "An improved belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the next step and in understanding the situation in Christian Science."
The healing of so-called physical disease establishes in the thought of the beginner in Christian Science the verity of the Bible teachings. He begins to see that Christian Science is in exact accord with these teachings, and also that it teaches how to apply the truths of Scripture to the needs of humanity. With this clearly fixed in thought he begins to submit everything that presents itself to his thought to the test of divine Principle, and learns to repudiate as unreal all that is unlike God. Primarily, every phase of discord, sin, or disease presents itself as suggestion, claiming intelligence, reality, and power; and happy is that one who has learned that all "power belongeth unto God," and that because God is infinitely good there can in reality be no evil power or intelligence.
The teaching of Christian Science that God is All-power is as revolutionary as it is basic, for it repudiates the theory of original sin, of hereditary transmission of evil or disease, or of the perpetuation of evil in any form. As the student grasps these basic points, he becomes mentally and spiritually equipped, not only to advance towards heaven himself, but also to help others so to do. His incresing consciousness of his exact spiritual and divine relation to God finds its externalization in better health, higher morality, and purer love for God and man; and in this spiritual process the sickly, the distorted, the imperfect, the material, the unreal, are relegated to their native nothingness.
The roadway of Christian Science is direct and straight: it has no points of deviation from God, divine Principle. Human theories and personal opinions are not its guide-posts. The traveler thereon, sustained and strengthened by his confidence in the directing presence and all-power of divine Love, hesitates not, but proceeds steadily forward in the righteous endeavor to understand more of God and man. The Bible states, "In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death."
This understanding of Christian Science has indeed proved to be the way of Life to man. In the words of John Keble:
If on our daily course, our mind
Be set, to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.
The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish much we ought to ask;—
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.
