"The beauty of holiness"

GWENDOLYN M. L. THOMAS

Many people aspire to express themselves in poetry. Although possibly they have glimpsed thoughts rare and luminous enough to shine in verse, not having devoted themselves to a study of the art of poetic expression they often fail in their ambition, and after perhaps a little disillusioning determine to resort to the effort to write good prose.

In this they are probably wise. The desire to express something beautiful is a worthy desire, and those who cherish it should be comforted in remembering that though their ability to write lovely poetry may not be realized at present, the living of "the beauty of holiness" certainly is possible. Countless numbers of unselfish, valiant, joyful, and gentle men and women have led lives that have been true and fine as is beautiful poetry.

Suppose that we are bent on expressing "the beauty of holiness," how can we best begin? Poets, when expressing poetic thoughts in patterns of rhythmical language, may correct their work again and again. Thus are great works of art brought into expression. To live beautifully we need to do this also, the pattern we are working at being nothing less than the spiritual ideal of what the son of God must be, and our life-endeavor, the expression of this ideal brought out in practical details. In correcting our thinking and living, then, we must use care to denounce error or evil, and to fill our thoughts and daily doings with right, the good, the true, thus bringing into our experience something of the true beauty which inheres in divine Mind. How is the rhythm of true living to be achieved? There is a technique to learn, a plan to pursue. Instructions for living a life of heavenly harmony are to be found in the Bible, and among the foremost are the Beatitudes given by Christ Jesus.

The qualities mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount are beautiful and wonderful—meekness, purity, peacefulness, mercy. In the Lord's Prayer we are led to recognize God's relation to us as that of Father. The life of Christ Jesus is our example; and, as a help in understanding how to advance in this direction, we have the teaching of St. Paul, who reminds us earnestly that in God "we live, and move, and have our being." Remembering these things, we are brought onward to the perception of life that radiates beauty and joy. The advent of Christian Science has made this beautiful living possible, for Mrs. Eddy's teachings direct us to think of God as Love, Spirit, Mind, and the only real substance. She has also made it plain that it is only when we look away from our bodies and identify our thoughts with good—that is, with Spirit—that we are truly living.

Here are two lines of an old poem containing a glimmering of this teaching:

"If to be high and noble thy mind is moved,
Consider well thy ground and thy beginning."

So we must keep before us as our model the real man of God's creation, in order to live worthily, letting our gaze rest upon man's heavenly nature, as Jesus did, and growing every day more conscious of the reflection of spiritual power. As Mrs. Eddy puts it with the departure of sin." And goodness is a requisite a life of song and harmony. Goodness is to be achieved only by earnest efforts to express the qualities of God.

Christian Science helps us to do this by clearing away the difficulties that would grieve and hinder us, such as ill health. There is no beauty in sickness, for it not only hinders us from being of service, but also brings in its train supposedly necessary practices which do not admit of beauty, but tend earthward. Poverty claims to hamper us, too, because when submitted to it betokens want of trust in the loving care of our heavenly Father. So, too, sin is no part of beautiful living. Only by endeavoring to depart from all these can we arrive at "the beauty of holiness."

To make our living as a beautiful song or psalm or poem we must work. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 260), "The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal." And since all that is ideal exists in God, we must constantly meditate on His nature and strive to do His will. "Keep your taste and love and faith in heaven," said a divine of old; and surely this is good advice, for heaven is attained through the consciousness of God's presence, and God, divine Mind, is the radiant source of all the love, beauty, goodness, and joy discernible by mankind.

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Individuality and Activity

March 25, 1933

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