Article October 11, 1930 Issue

Knowing the Truth

Wilson M. Southam

One of the declarations of Jesus frequently quoted by students of Christian Science is, "If ye continue in my word, . . . ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The teachings of Christian Science have made it abundantly clear to them that if men really know, understand, or are conscious of the truth of being, the truth of what constitutes the real man, the man of God's, Mind's, creating, they cannot then be conscious of any lie or false belief about man. Continuing in His word, that is, holding to the truth, the human so-called mind responds to the spiritual vision, and the belief of discord or lack fades away.

It is evident that those whom Jesus healed did not know the truth of being. Several, however, of the earlier prophets or holy men, such as Abram, Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, healed by the same spiritual power. So clear was Jesus' spiritual vision of the truth about God and man that the discordant condition claiming to be present in the thought of the patient yielded to the divine law of perfection and disappeared, leaving the sufferer healed and joyful. His method Mrs. Eddy describes as follows in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 476, 477): "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." Jesus' spiritualized thought effectively healed the sick, whether present or absent.

In healing the lame man, Peter and John must also have seen through the false material evidence apparently visible to mortals, and have held in thought only the perfect spiritual concept of man. This successfully uplifted the patient's consciousness and healed him of his belief of lameness. The Apostle Paul, in healing the cripple, must have "beheld in Science the perfect man." He described his method of attaining to harmonious consciousness as follows: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Spiritual Thought, the Essence of Right Activity