Article September 8, 1945 Issue

Church—Our Safe Habitation

J. MARGARET ANDREAE

When Christ Jesus said of his church (Matt. 16:18), "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it," he indicated the spiritual nature of true Church.

Paul told the men of Athens, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24). Humanity has generally accepted the false belief that a material structure is the house or dwelling place of God and that therein refuge and sanctity may be obtained; and thus the spiritual idea of Church has been obscured.

In her enlightening spiritual definition of Church as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583), our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has revealed the fact that Church is not a material structure made with hands, but that it is to be found in the consciousness of each child of God, the reflection of Truth and Love; and only as Truth and Love are allowed to motivate every thought and action is the spiritual idea of Church being established in human consciousness.

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