Editorial October 26, 1929 Issue

Our Refuge

Duncan Sinclair

Christian Science is doing great service to-day by lifting the burden of fear from all who gain an understanding of its teachings. The fear which besets the human race is begotten of the belief that evil is real, evil in its many forms; and this belief in the reality of evil is giving way in the exact proportion that students of Christian Science admit and realize the spiritual truth that God, good, is infinite. As they perceive this truth, God in very surety becomes their protection; and with the Psalmist they can say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

But although Christian Scientists have had the revelation of the allness of God, good, and are firmly convinced that evil is unreal, they have not by any means demonstrated to the full man's immunity from the false belief of evil. They may at times be taken in by sickness in some form or other; they may at times be tempted by material sense, a yielding to which is sin. The position simply is that so-called matter appears at present to bulk very large in the lives of mortals, seems to appeal to them so strongly that they are liable to forget what Christian Science makes so clear, namely, that spiritual being alone is real; and with the forgetting arises the trouble—the fear, the sickness, the pain, the sorrow.

In her writings, while affirming with the greatest possible clearness the allness of God, good, and leaving no doubt in the thought of students that evil is unreal, Mrs. Eddy does not cease to warn them of the subtlety of the claim of evil and to tell them how, practically, to defend themselves against it. She repeatedly deals in her writings with what is called "mental malpractice," pointing out its apparent effects on those who believe in it and who fail to protect themselves through right thinking. Our Leader taught that Christian Scientists could rise above the belief of mental malpractice. Can aught else be inferred from these words of hers, to be found on page 442 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake"?

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The New Director
October 26, 1929
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