Article July 14, 1928 Issue

Life Eternal

BERNICE M. WELLS

God , Spirit, is Life, without beginning and without end; and man, the image and likeness of God, God's reflection, is spiritual, coexistent and coeternal with God, his creator; therefore man reflects eternal Life. This is the truth which impresses the individual turning to Christian Science for enlightenment and understanding regarding God and man's relationship to Him. Life, then, is eternal, never beginning and never ending. What a joyous outlook this presents to the one who has believed that he has never yet done anything worth while, to the one who may have been depressed by the belief of sickness, or sin, or ignorance, or poverty, or personal domination, and through Christian Science has glimpsed something of the truth that God is good and All-in-all! According to divine Science, God never made the miseries to which human life seems subject—the heartaches, the weariness, the afflictions. God's man reflects the health, happiness, and freedom of God's being, which is manifested in life everlasting. Fears and tears and doubts and resignations to erroneous beliefs are swept away by this knowledge, and one begins to take his place in the Life which is God, good—the only Life, ever unfolding and unceasing.

Formerly one may have suppressed all upward soaring desires with the thought that it was too late to change, because he was too old! But now a new impetus surges in his thought. Too old for what? For nothing, surely, that is worth the doing. God knows naught of age or time; and He is infinite Mind. Man, the spiritual idea of God, expresses the celestial perfection of God, since He "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." And time is but one of the supposititious beliefs of life in matter, which mortal mind declares is circumscribed within the limits of material sense. On pages 468 and 469 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy differentiates between eternity and time. She writes: "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal." How comforting this message! What a beauteous light it throws upon our journey heavenward! We have ample opportunity in which to work out life's problems, to fulfill repressed or deferred hope or right ambition. And since "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," is not "now" the time to demonstrate man's oneness with the Father and to enjoy His wondrous gifts, regardless of the ignorant taunts of mortal mind about its false beliefs of age and time? Mortal mind has no real existence, and consequently knows nothing of the reality of Life. Divine Mind, unchanging Life and Love, creates and governs immortal man; and this divine Mind and its ideas will continue to exist harmoniously and inseparably throughout all eternity.

"Never record ages," Mrs. Eddy entreats on page 246 of Science and Health; and, continuing, she gives the reason for making this recommendation. "Chronological data are no part of the vast forever," she avers, and adds: "Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness."

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