"Now is the day of salvation"

OLIVER BOWLES

How inspiring and encouraging to mankind is the message of Christian Science that harmony and health are spiritual realities at this moment! Christian Science brings to us the assurance that a loving Father has created all, that His creation was and is perfect, and that therefore all inharmony is false.

Beginners in the study of Christian Science sometimes find it difficult to accept unreservedly the fact of the nothingness, the unreality, of all discord. They cognize with the physical senses the workings of seemingly overwhelming powers of evil, which at times appear to submerge and defeat that which is right and good. They may have advanced far enough to be confident of a future victory for righteousness. They may say, "Right will win in the end," but such a stand is far from the goal of present perfection. The fear that the realization of health and harmony can be deferred by evil, admits that evil is an entity, a real force, a power opposed to and temporarily overcoming good. The admission that evil has transient power undermines the ability to destroy the beliefs of disease, sin, and other human ills. To meet successfully the claim of evil we must know that good only is real, and that evil is unreal. We must stand firm, supported by the conviction that, irrespective of what physical sense may testify, the man of God's creation, made in His image and likeness, is perfect, and that he forever abides under the protection of the Most High.

During a student's early study of Christian Science he was beset with a physical disorder for the healing of which he sought help in studying the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Although little progress was being made, a hopeful attitude was maintained, and to himself he expressed the conviction, "Some day I shall be healed of this inharmony." One day, as he read Science and Health, he came upon our Leader's statement (p. 428), "The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man is, not shall be, perfect and immortal." He grasped the importance of the fact that man's perfection is a present reality. Immediately a new view of his problem was gained. No longer did he look upon his disability as a real condition, which had to be experienced until such time as good might overcome it; for from this new point of view he realized that the erroneous condition was unreal, and that his problem was to attain in his own consciousness a clear realization of man's perfection and the powerlessness of any mortal claim of inharmony. Healing came as a result of this higher understanding.

When the ten lepers sought healing, as related in the seventeenth chapter of Luke, Jesus said to them, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests." He doubtless was directing them to conform to the Levitical law, which required lepers who were healed to perform in the presence of the priests certain rites of purification before they were free to mingle with their fellows. It is noteworthy that the command to take these steps was given while the physical evidences of the disease were still present. They were obedient and departed to do that which was required, and it is related that "as they went, they were cleansed." What a wonderful illustration is presented herein of trust and confidence and its immediate reward! Had they hesitated, had they looked at themselves and said, "We cannot go and show ourselves to the priests, because we are still lepers," it is obvious that the healing might not have taken place.

Jesus saw through the veil of materiality with its seeming evidence of disease, and his vision rested upon the spiritual reality. On pages 476 and 477 of Science and Health our beloved Leader says: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." When the lepers who had sought Jesus were obedient to his injunction, healing was immediately manifested.

To attain a realization of present spiritual harmony we must strive confidently and continuously for an exalted vision of the Christ, Truth, and this can be accomplished only through a genuine love for God and man. Mrs. Eddy stresses the importance of recognizing the present perfection of God's creation where she states (Science and Health, p. 550), "The true sense of being and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it will hereafter." Through sublime confidence in our God-given ability, we can attain an understanding of this fundamental truth; and we can foster a spiritual perception capable of seeing through and beyond the seeming diseases and inharmonies that beset us, thus discerning and bringing into our experience in some measure the grandeur of the perfect creation. Then we can say in the inspired words of Paul, "Behold, now is the day of salvation."

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