"No good thing will he withhold"

Duncan Sinclair

MEN are influenced more by what they believe God to be than by anything else. Take, for instance, the belief that God knows both good and evil. Who can compute the effect of it on the human race? For what does the belief imply? That evil is as real and as powerful as good. The fallacy that God knows both good and evil, and that they are therefore equally real, is still held by the vast majority of people, and it is no exaggeration to say that more than all the other errors entertained concerning Deity, it adversely influences human conduct, human health, and human happiness.

For one thing, the erroneous belief that evil is real acts on human consciousness to dull its sensitiveness to wrongdoing. For it may be argued that if God knows evil He may also use evil for His purposes; and if He makes use of evil, why should not men use it? And so this utterly false belief has far-reaching effects on human life and conduct. Unfortunately, too, it persists in quarters where one might expect to find clearer spiritual vision; for, alas, many who name themselves Christian still cling to the fallacy. And because of this—and one must face the inevitable fact—they are laying themselves open to the machinations of all manner of evil, and at the same time separating themselves from the enjoyment of ever present good.

Christian Science is emphatic in its declaration of the truth that since God is infinite good He has no cognizance of evil, and that evil is therefore unreal. This is Mrs. Eddy's great discovery. Christian Scientists, who know it and who have been applying it in the solution of their everyday problems, perhaps during many years, may still feel as if they were only beginning to grasp the significance of the discovery. Good infinite; evil unreal! How often in their experience has the realization of this lifted fear from their thoughts, given them hope, and endowed them with courage to handle the problems which belief in evil as real had set them! No one can ever be the same after gaining an understanding of the allness of God, good, and the unreality of evil. It alters one's entire outlook on life, lifting one above material sordidness and planting one's feet firmly on the rock of spiritual assurance.

When we know that God is good, infinite good, and that there is no real opposite to good—no evil—we understand that the entire universe, the universe which is the expression of God, is good; that all the ideas which constitute the real universe are good or perfect. Man, the idea of God, is thus perfect, reflecting all the qualities of God. Here is a wonderful truth, that the real spiritual selfhood of each of us reflects the perfect qualities of perfect Mind, including purity, patience, love, harmony, beauty, immortality, ability, strength—all of them enduring, without a trace of anything destructive about them!

Such, then, is the truth about the real or spiritual man. A mortal, however, is but a false concept of man. Christian Science sets mankind the task of knowing these things and proving them. It exposes the errors of material sense concerning man, states the truth about him, and so opens the way for men to come into their own—the good which is infinitely bestowed by God on His creation. All the treasures of God already belong to man by reflection. We must see this scientifically; we must claim it understandingly. As we do so, the errors of material sense fall away, and we find ourselves purer, healthier, and happier.

All mankind must come to understand and acknowledge the truth of God's—good's—allness and evil's nothingness, in order to be freed from suffering and sin. In her matchless chapter on Prayer (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 2) Mrs. Eddy writes, "God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchanging wisdom and Love." God has bestowed all good on His creation: it is for us to realize and demonstrate the fact.

"No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." A wonderfully scientific statement that of the Psalmist's! But notice the condition attached to the receiving of the good things of God: men must walk uprightly; that is, they must think and act righteously. This is what Christian Science demands of all its followers. They must learn the truth about good's ever-presence; they must acknowledge evil's nothingness—and live accordingly. Then will good flow into their experience as a river. Duncan Sinclair

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Nothing Merely Happens

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