Sensibility

On page 204 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mary Baker Eddy, describing the effect of the baptism of the Holy Ghost upon human consciousness, has written, "It develops individual capacity, increases the intellectual activities, and so quickens moral sensibility that the great demands of spiritual sense are recognized, and they rebuke the material senses, holding sway over human consciousness." When Jesus, after his resurrection, came into the midst of those disciples who, after the swift, unprecedented events of recent days, were still bewildered, frightened, indecisive, it is written in John's Gospel that when he had shown to them his hands and his side, "he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

He knew what their need of quickened moral sensibility would be in the work which lay ahead; how great would be the demands upon them of spiritual sense in their battles with malice and hatred. Without it Christianity could not survive. In that hour, he who had gained complete victory over all enemy forces bestowed upon them the Holy Ghost; in the measure of their receptivity, they were imbued with the Science of Christianity, purifying, enlightening, vivifying them.

How many have recognized and even thrilled to the great demands of spiritual sense; how many, perceiving the letter of the Word, with diligence and fidelity have adopted the role of the Christian! But if there has been no quickening of moral sensibility, if the weaknesses and self-indulgences of mortal character have been either ignored or encouraged, then the Holy Ghost has not been received. Then, as was to happen to Thomas in a later meeting with Jesus, though the outward evidence of Truth's supremacy has been accepted, the inner response to it has not been kindled. Until the material senses are rebuked in true repentance and regeneration, until sensitiveness to mortal demands has been replaced by that sensitiveness which alone seeks the will of God, the baptism of the Holy Ghost has not taken place.

Stern and uncompromising is Mrs. Eddy's condemnation of those who, while they declare the allness of God, either twist or fail to put into practice that which they affirm. On page 293 of "Miscellaneous Writings" she writes, "Truth talked and not lived, rolls on the human heart a stone; consigns sensibility to the charnel-house of sensuality, ease, self-love, self-justification, there to moulder and rot." In these words there is depicted what happens to the priceless possession of sensibility, when instead of being used on behalf of spiritual sense, it falls among thieves. Not in intellectual acuteness, in much knowledge, not in human power and prestige is sensibility found. It comes only, as it came in that upper room to the early Christians, in the gift of Truth, in the apprehension of spiritual being, possessing as its sole authority the consciousness of its oneness with divine Principle. By means of this ownership of inspiration and spiritual power does the individual discern his own immediate needs and those of another, whether mental or physical, with the wisdom which knows neither horror nor despair. By means of it, he discerns how the material senses, authors and victims of suffering and bondage, can be finally overcome.

"Hear, and your soul shall live," declared Isaiah, in a triumphant call to divine affirmation. Insensibility to the presence of Love and man's forever at-one-ment with it, would claim to dominate the human scene. Yet above the clamor and wailing of material sense with its demand for recognition, whether of praise or pity, is to be heard the voice of Truth, saying in gentle benediction, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost"—accept the spiritual understanding, the divine dominion, which is yours because the Christ is in your midst. All the energy, the ability, the devotion which men give in the service of sensibility for their own advantage, their people, and their country, succeed only if obedient to the demands of spiritual sense. Unless they hear the voice of Truth and see the gift which today in all the completeness of its unfoldment is bestowed upon them—the Science of Christianity —then however arduously they build, they build on sand.

In speaking of the disciples, our Leader writes on page 212 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "When they were fit to be blest, they received the blessing. The ultimatum of their human sense of ways and means ought to silence ours." How slowly, how reluctantly, do men give up their merely material methods of attaining that which they desire. Hedged about, pressed on every side to adopt and prosecute policies which worldly wisdom and expediency urge upon them, how slow are they to silence those promptings to human ways and means which would outclamor the senses of Spirit!

In every mortal experience each one must enter into his own inner sanctuary of divine communion, and realize that though the doors may have been tightly closed because of fear, yet the Christ is in the midst. His is the ability to know that sensibility to the things of Spirit is rebuking error, establishing Truth; that he can hear what Soul is saying to him. Thus does he receive in comfort, in purification, and in completion, the gift of the Holy Ghost.