Article March 2, 1929 Issue

"The infinite Unseen"

ISRAEL PICKENS

In his second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul calls attention to the fact that "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." This great exponent of Christ's Christianity, whose works attested his faith and understanding, accepted the things of Spirit, God, as alone manifesting the permanency of true values. From that first ray of divine light, which opened his seemingly blind eyes and turned the course of his life upward and Godward, and on through his great career of healing and teaching, there was ever uppermost in his thought a faith in and an understanding of the perfection and omnipotence of God. No wonder he could brush aside the thrusts and persecutions of evil with the intrepid affirmation, "None of these things move me." Paul not only recognized the temporal, finite, unreal nature of evil, but he also understood with clearness the reality and substance of that which God created, and which is unknown to the physical sense. This attitude is in accordance with the oft-quoted and ever beautiful declaration in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It is noteworthy that the original Greek word eyeyXos, translated in this verse as "evidence," is synonymous with the word "conviction." To have faith, in other words, is to be convinced of divine reality, even though it may be unseen to the physical sense of sight.

In "Unity of Good" (p. 7) Mary Baker Eddy writes, "An acknowledgment of the perfection of the infinite Unseen confers a power nothing else can." The word "Unseen" here refers to God, and it is the only place in Mrs. Eddy's writings where she employs this appellation for Deity. This is of deep interest to the Christian Scientist, who has been taught to hold to the reality of this infinite and perfect God, however "unseen" He may be to the material senses. Our Leader's choice of words is invariably purposeful. The synonyms she employs in defining God are always used to bring out an exact or scientific meaning. It is of no small moment, therefore, that she uses the word "Unseen" in this paragraph.

In demonstrating the power of Truth over the claims of evil one meets the challenge of mortal mind that would argue for the reality of evil, the temptation being to believe in evil as a power to harm. It seems so visible, so real! Sometimes an argument may try to have us believe that if this or that so-called material condition were eliminated, we could then be happy and harmonious. But this, to use an old adage, is like putting the cart before the horse, because happiness must first be found in our own thought. In the unseen realm of divine reality, we are privileged to know the true situation or condition. Then, if we have done our mental work aright, we may confidently expect the erroneous condition or environment to disappear. To grasp clearly this fact is to hold the key to the right solution of every problem.

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