Happy and grateful we are for the enlightened understanding of certain words and phrases which comes to us through our study of Christian Science. The word "atonement" is defined in a modern dictionary (Macmillan's) as "satisfaction; amends; reparation; redeeming work of Christ accomplished by his obedience, passion and death." It may be noted that the second part of the definition gives a more spiritual interpretation than the first part. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.18), "Atonement is the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love." In this statement our beloved Leader lifts thought from the human to the divine, to at-one-ment with God who is Life, Truth, Love.

This understanding of "atonement" is very different from that which prevailed in Old Testament times. Then, the sacrifices made for expiation of sin or for the appeasement of the Supreme Being by the Jewish people involved no change of heart and had of themselves no redemptive value. Through the study of the teachings and works of Christ Jesus and of Christian Science, we obtain a very different understanding of atonement, or "at-one-ment," as Mrs. Eddy calls it. The exemplification of mankind's unity with God, while demanding the sacrifice of material sense, is the greatest blessing humanity can know.

Plainly, then, it is our privilege and duty, as followers of the Master and of our dear Leader, to demonstrate and prove our at-one-ment with God. As we patiently and persistently strive to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, endeavoring to learn more of God and to express more of the God qualities, we partake of the atonement.

Constant effort and vigilance are required to eradicate all evil from our thinking, to give up the belief of a material selfhood, to eliminate self-love, self-pity, beliefs of pain or pleasure in matter, of sin or sickness. But, step by step, we shall regenerate our human thinking, as we express more of the God-consciousness, and thus prove our at-one-ment with God, divine Love.

Christ Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." Through his understanding of man's oneness with God, he healed the sick and sinning and raised the dead. He knew that God is the Life of man, perfect and indestructible, and thereby he restored health to the leper, strength to the palsied, sight to the blind. With the same understanding he commanded Lazarus to come forth from the tomb.

We, too, must heal the sick and prove that Life can never be destroyed. We can, through our understanding of man's oneness with God divine Life, help all men everywhere. This truth is with power and prevails even in the midst of what seems to be great destruction.

The understanding of the ever presence of infinite Life also proves the falsity of age. Instead of the decrepitude, helplessness, and death which mortal mind decrees for itself, one who knows that man is the reflection of divine Mind can be conscious only of a constantly increasing understanding of God, of a fuller demonstration of the beauty and completeness of Life. And our knowing of this truth must benefit thousands.

Man's unity with infinite Life was proved in the experience of a young girl who was suffering severely from asthma. She had not been able to lie down for many hours. The practitioner reasoned that man is one with the fullness of Life; that man is the very evidence of Life itself. Very soon the girl put her pillows aside and, lying down, fell asleep and rested comfortably. The quiet assurance of man's at-one-ment with Life, Truth, and Love quickly brought peace and health.

In helping others toward this high goal of at-one-ment, we ourselves are blessed, even as those whom we would help are blessed. Because God is Love, we are bringing into our experience and into that of others the loveliness of Love. We find our every need fully and abundantly met by the divine Love which we express. Man, God's image, sees as God sees; he sees only the perfection of being. In Habakkuk we read, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil." And since man is at one with Love, he too is "of purer eyes than to behold evil."

In recognizing only good we find joy undreamed of. Because God is Love and God is Mind, and man is at one with Love, Mind, all sense of hate must disappear. When this evil sense is destroyed, we shall see the brotherhood of man established throughout the world, and there will be no more war. Our part is to destroy utterly all sense of hate in our own consciousness and to realize the allness of Love.

The understanding that God is Spirit, and that man is one with Him, dispels physical weakness or inability. Such knowledge gives us dominion over human conditions and circumstances. Man, being one with the purity of Soul, forever manifests the beauty of holiness. The consciousness of man's oneness with God gives the ability to express Him. Mrs. Eddy says on page 258 of Science and Health, "The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and God."

The benefits derived through this spiritual growth can hardly be estimated. To eliminate all sense of pain and sin; to lift human thought to conscious at-one-ment with God, good, brings a sense of dominion and peace which surpasses all other achievement.

Through earnest study of the textbook, constant application of its teachings, and growing understanding of God as All-in-all, we are putting off the old man and putting on the new; we are partaking of the atonement. We are replacing mortality with immortality, redeeming the human with the divine. May we grow in grace and understanding "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."