Article April 1, 1939 Issue

"Trustfulness and trustworthiness"

JACQUELYN GREEN

On page 23 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us that "in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness." She goes on to say: "One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's 'own salvation, with fear and trembling.' 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!' expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, 'Believe ... and thou shalt be saved!' demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God."

When Christian Science, with its message of healing and joy, first comes to our attention, our thought is perhaps imbued with the faith that is trustfulness. Gladly we turn from material remedies and confide our problems to a practitioner, relying upon his or her understanding of Truth to solve them. This is a good beginning, but it is only the first upward step in the straight and narrow way of Science. As we progress in our study of this practical religion, we find that we ourselves must prove what we know. We must not be content to linger in the comfortable faith which "trusts one's welfare to others," but must press on until we attain that faith which "understands divine Love and how to work out one's 'own salvation, with fear and trembling'"—with reverence and humility. It is apparently much easier to depend upon someone else's understanding of divine Love than to develop our own, and from the former we may gain comfort and encouragement. But when we undertake to solve our own problems, what a rich reward is ours! The joy of actually proving that the power of God is available, here and now, to destroy any seeming inharmony, is a sweeter satisfaction than any other we have experienced. For the first time, we really know that God's love for His children is changeless and ever present. We lean upon His rod and staff for comfort and support, confiding all to Him.

Paul, who uttered the command, "Believe ... and thou shalt be saved," had gained in large measure the strong faith which is self-reliant trustworthiness. When he was beaten and cast into prison, he prayed and sang praises to God, confident in the power of divine Love to sustain and deliver him. Undoubtedly his thought was filled with joy when the earthquake came at midnight, shaking the prison to its foundations, opening all the locked doors, and freeing all the captives from their fetters. This liberation was regarded by Paul as an opportunity, not to escape, but to preach the Word to the keeper of the prison and his family, to baptize them, and to rejoice with them in their newborn faith in the one God.

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