Editorial October 27, 1928 Issue

Divine Support

Albert F. Gilmore

Perhaps no phase of Jesus' incomparable message to the world has a deeper significance than his revelation of God as Spirit, infinite, ever present, and all-powerful. That he was constantly aware of the Father's presence there is abundant proof. In fact, so conscious was the Master of being continuously in the presence of God that he communed with Him in most intimate terms. His words, "Father, I thank thee," uttered so often, represented a mental state which recognized God's presence and power as assuredly as the physical senses, so called, revealed the presence of his beloved disciples. Furthermore, this conscious sense of the divine presence gave him strength and the ability to endure the most trying of human experiences; it supported him under all circumstances, even sustaining him in his journey through what seemed the valley of death, and brought him triumphantly through the climax of his career.

This experience conveys a lesson of the greatest import to mankind. How, indeed, is Christ Jesus to become our Way-shower unless we follow in the way he leads, in his steps? His sublime precepts and example benefit us only as we make them our own, incorporating their priceless meanings into our own lives. Only as we, too, look to the Father for divine support, in the fullest faith and in complete assurance of His presence and readiness to sustain us and meet our needs, are we following the footsteps of the Nazarene. What earthly honor, what material possession, what human experience, could compare in importance with the gaining of that sublime sense of God's presence and availability which characterized the words of the Nazarene? Surely such an attainment is incomparably precious!

As Christian Scientists we are thoroughly convinced of its paramount importance. One of the first truths we accept is the allness and omnipotence of God. And yet it seems that our acceptance of this transcendental fact is somewhat less than complete, else our proofs would be greater. Mrs. Eddy in the first sentence of the Preface to the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," states the possibilities of full faith in convincing simplicity: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." Only by those who lean on the infinite is divine support truly recognized. It is available to all, but only a comparatively few accept it. To be sure, man as the reflection of God is eternally supported by God; for the entire creation is sustained by Him. The same divine will which creates, sustains. And it is because of this unchanging fact that God's support may be invoked in our experience. Man is sustained and supported by God. Our Leader sets this forth in unmistakable terms on page 511 of Science and Health. "The divine Mind," she declares, "supports the sublimity, magnitude, and infintitude of spiritual creation." What more could divine Mind do? Surely no one would desire that God should support a false sense of creation, for thereby would the seeming, the unreal, become real, and God would appear to be the creator, supporter, of all evil, of all that attaches to the false sense of creation, and become responsible for it. Surely such a state would sink mortals forever into the depths of despair. But God's support is exercised only in relation to the real, to His own creation, the universe of reality.

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