Article November 18, 1933 Issue

"The earth is the Lord's"

MABEL CONE BUSHNELL

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." So sang the Psalmist of old, and the echo of his rejoicing comes down through the centuries to uphold all who walk through the wilderness of mortal sense testimony.

Over and over again, during a night of work and watchfulness, a student of Christian Science found this refrain singing in her thought, bringing comfort and fearlessness. Spiritual sense alone knows of the earth that is the Lord's—safe, serene, and held in the consciousness of good forever secure. And oh, the joy of this knowledge! In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 585) our Leader writes, "To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense, it is a compound idea." Could this compound idea exist anywhere but in Mind? And there, regardless of the attempt of the physical senses to say otherwise, man is safe, protected from the claims of material reasoning. Does not the loving Father of all keep His own offspring in His protecting arms? Could one question it even for an instant? We have the assurance given to Elijah: "And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." The voice of comfort, of assurance, of love! There is no power but God. There is no aggressive sense of evil that is unavoidable.

As men learn more of the ever-presence of God, good, they will begin to realize more fully that all things unlike God are avoidable because they are unreal. The loveliness of God will be seen as expressed in harmony and loveliness, and it will be seen that in reality there is no hate aggressively attempting to argue that there is a destructive power. Today Christian Scientists are learning the nearness and dearness of God, and the joyous, satisfying freedom which this knowledge brings to mankind!

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