Editorial July 16, 1927 Issue

Divine Acquaintance

Ella W. Hoag

In the book of Job we read, "Acquaint now thyself with him [God], and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Although this wise counsel was given so many thousand years ago, how many have felt in the past, or how many feel to-day that their acquaintance with God has been or is sufficient always to insure them peace? How many in the world at large have proved that their attainment of such divine acquaintanceship has been great enough to bring them much of good? Even with Christian Scientists, whose religion emphasizes the importance of closest companionship with our heavenly Father-Mother—even among them it might still be asked, Who is satisfied with his present spiritual understanding of and consequent fellowship with God?

Now everything worthy of the name of true acquaintanceship begins with a desire for unity with certain qualities which are deemed valuable. Men generally seek association with that which they believe will be of advantage to them. All men want good. Indeed, even among the most benighted, all are reaching out for what they call good, for that which they believe will in some way bring them satisfaction. Although multitudes have been educated to believe in God, they have not always been taught that God and good are necessarily synonymous, but because of their lack of understanding of either they have sought good in strange, mistaken ways, while God has seemed far removed both from them and from their desires.

Actual acquaintance with God is therefore something that to the human consciousness seems with each individual to have a beginning and must go steadily forward until Jesus' definition of eternal life as a knowledge of God and His Christ is realized in all its fullness. Every Christian Scientist knows that he will never be completely satisfied until through that knowledge he shall have awakened in God's likeness. The footsteps to this goal must all be taken, and each day should see some advancement in the prosperous progress towards the realization of perfect acquaintance with God, the all-good.

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Among the Churches
July 16, 1927
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