Editorial December 30, 1939 Issue

"Remember now thy Creator"

George Shaw Cook

The writer of Ecclesiastes says, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." Then follows a poetical, figurative description of the supposed effect of advancing years, which is quite in harmony with the thought expressed in the ninetieth Psalm, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." But this doleful theory, which has been quite generally believed throughout the centuries, is not at all in harmony with the teaching of Christ Jesus, who said, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." Neither is it in agreement with the teaching of Christian Science, for its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy, says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 246): "Timetables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise."

Many persons, especially those who are not students of Christian Science, are inclined to acquiesce in the "threescore years and ten" fallacy and, consequently, to manifest the decrepitude and incapacity which are supposed, according to mortal belief, to be the unavoidable accompaniment of advancing years. However, Christian Science is showing many that such belief is not law, and that, on the contrary, it is possible, through understanding the changeless, immortal nature of man created in God's image, to bring into human experience a continuing sense of activity and usefulness.

More than sixty years ago Mrs. Eddy was able to write (ibid., pp. 223,224), "Longevity is increasing and the power of sin diminishing, for the world feels the alterative effect of truth through every pore." It is a well-known fact, substantiated by statistics, that the average span of human existence has increased during the last half century. Furthermore, there are frequently recorded by the press, accounts of men and women who remain vigorous and active beyond the time when they are generally supposed to lapse into inactivity, and this in spite of prevailing rules in business organizations based upon the belief that there is an age limit. Most people are familiar with instances of this sort, and it is a cause for rejoicing that so-called mortal laws which claim to produce failing faculties are being proved null and void through the demonstration of the eternal facts of being as they are revealed in Christian Science.

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