No Good Thing Will Be Withheld

GERTRUDE SHAW KLAGGE

As one advances in spiritual understanding, as reason is spiritually directed, thought unfolds in a knowledge of God as ever present Love, "who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." All seekers after Truth may be likened unto Saul of Tarsus, who, Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 326), "beheld the way—the Christ, or Truth—only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a spiritual sense, which is always right."

In mathematics we have given rules; and we do not expect to receive the right answer to any problem unless we proceed in accordance with the right rule. Then we look for and have the right to a correct answer. Now that Mrs. Eddy has given to the world Science and Health, we have the rules which render applicable the laws of divine Life, contained in the Bible and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. And these divine laws are available to us in the degree of our apprehension and utilization of them.

The writer remembers in her early experience in Christian Science that she continually quoted to others the words of the Bible and Science and Health, but at that time was unable to prove the smallest problem in demonstration of their efficacy, although she had read many times that she must "serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." She searched her thought diligently to see from what standpoint she was reasoning, how much of Spirit she was reflecting; and she soon found why the answers to her seeming problems were wrong.

As her standpoint of reasoning changed, and she stood more firmly each day acknowledging God as the governing divine Principle, and refused to indulge in evil thinking,—to see evil as a power or attraction,—the blessings she so much desired began to unfold, and her confidence in God as All was more firmly established. Mrs. Eddy says (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 28): "Thought must be spiritualized, in order to apprehend Spirit. It must become honest, unselfish, and pure, in order to have the least understanding of God in divine Science;" and she adds, "For Spirit to be supreme in demonstration, it must be supreme in our affections."

As long as we believe that matter is real, matter will continue to have for us the semblance of substance; and spirituality will not be demonstrated until we awaken to see ourselves as spiritual, not material, and realize the truth. Not only must we acknowledge that a sick and discordant body is not real, but we must confidently acknowledge that Truth, Life, and Love are not to be found in a material body.

Christian Scientists are learning that to sin is to transgress or to disregard divine law, thus establishing the fact that good can be conceived of only as the manifestation of perfect Mind. All overcoming of the mistaken sense of life is a question of individual demonstration. No one is exempt from the need of correcting mistakes in his thinking; and in so doing he prevents them in his deeds. The belief that mankind is not susceptible of improvement must be vehemently denied. The absence of repentance, and delayed reformation, is stagnation.

No wrong will seem real to us if we understand how to impersonalize error; and spiritual growth is the result of constantly correcting our thinking through the right application of the truth, as revealed in Christian Science. In place of a thought of fear, let us put the thought of absolute confidence in Love's presence and power; in the place of hate, let us establish love; in the place of criticism, forbearance; in the place of sickness, health; in the place of matter, Mind; and let us be patient and long-suffering. Let us demonstrate Love. Is to love only to feel and act kindly to all with whom we are associated? To love is vastly more than that. To love means to heal the sick, reform the sinner, displace want with plenty and discord with harmony.

No one can conceal the unused talent of Truth when a barren life is the outward manifestation. No good thing will be withheld from those who apply the truth correctly. Christian Scientists should be a law unto themselves. Each individual experience is an outward manifestation of thought, good or bad. We must refuse the errors of mortal sense—the clinging earth-bound concepts; and every hour must be an hour of prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much;" but let us remember that to be merely moral is not, necessarily, to be truly righteous. Let us pray that our vision may be broadened so that we can see what divine Love has already brought to pass. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

To know God as He is, and to acknowledge no power or presence apart from Him, is a scientific rule of procedure. All is Mind; there is no matter. There is no material consciousness that can attract, create, oppose, obstruct, deny, delay, deceive, or destroy the Christ-idea. May the love we talk be more fully expressed in our daily lives; then, weighed in the balance, our weight will be on the side of unselfed love, wholly acceptable to God. Until men learn that divine law is infinitely greater than human will, discord will find a channel of expression in unhappy hearts and homes; but as spiritual understanding lifts consciousness to radical reliance upon God, reason is directed Spiritward and harmony is bound to prevail.

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March 17, 1928

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