Article January 1, 1938 Issue

Purpose and Perseverance

LINA PLUMER CLINGEN

It is almost inevitable that somewhere along the journey from sense to Soul the student of Christian Science will ask himself, as the rich young man asked Jesus, "What lack I yet?" It may be that he has failed in some instance to prove what he has accepted as true in the teachings of Christian Science. Or it may be that through reading Scriptural accounts of the glorious healing works done by Jesus, he has been quickened with the desire to follow more closely in the Master's footsteps. In either case such self-questioning marks a moment of unfoldment. Whatever it may disclose, one who has glimpsed the grand truths of Christian Science will not, like the young man, turn sorrowfully away, bound by false material belief. Rather will he lift his thought with joy to the contemplation of God's perfect spiritual nature, and so perceive that man, the son of God, lacks nothing.

Perception of the omnipresence of spiritual good brings to light the falsities of material belief, hidden in the darkness of mortal thought. This mental activity is sometimes referred to as an "uncovering." While such uncovering is a step in demonstration, it does not constitute demonstration. Error must be seen as error to be destroyed, but merely uncovering its claim does not destroy it. In the last analysis the only claim error can make is that God good is absent. Since it is impossible for omnipresence and absence to coexist, one need only be conscious of the presence of God, and one's own reflection of God, to obliterate any claim of His absence, or the absence of His attributes.

In the history of the children of Israel the character of Moses stands out in bold relief because, in the words of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, he "illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind;" and his achievement was this, that he "advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 200). In our day Mrs. Eddy was healed through her receptivity to what immortal Mind bestows. Like Moses at the burning bush, she turned away from materiality, determined to see this great thing, and she heard and obeyed the divine command to lead humanity out of bondage.

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