Article January 24, 1948 Issue

WOULD YOU KNOW GOD'S GRACE?

FLORENCE VERA WALLER

In the second chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul wrote (verse 8), "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." And he added, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." A student of Christian Science pondering the words "good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" felt that this was indeed the promise of perfection, the underlying reality of existence which we all need to understand and accept.

Jesus understood the glory and perfection of God and of man, His reflection, for he said (John 17:5), "O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual discernment enabled her to grasp this inspired viewpoint and reveal it again in Christian Science.

We need to know as clearly as Jesus and Paul did that "the gift of God" to mankind is grace. This gift helps struggling mortals to see beyond the material horizon with its incompleteness, sorrow, and suffering, and to understand that no quality of Mind can be depleted, lost, injured, or destroyed. Paul realized this, for the Lord said to him (II Cor. 12:9), "My grace is sufficient for thee." Paul's great works proved that he understood in large measure the completeness of spiritual creation, intact, unassailable, perfect, and his good works were the outcome of his realizing or knowing the perfection of man and the universe. On page 509 of "Science and Health with key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy we read: "Mind made the 'Plant of the field before it was in the earth' The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness—yea, the divine nature—appear in man and the universe never to disappear." The beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness which invariably accompany grace have always belonged to every child of God. These qualities belong to your true selfhood and mine; they are the gift of God and were perfectly expressed by Christ Jesus. His humility, courtesy, and power to heal and save, his loving actions and words, and his demonstration of the perfect man made him earth's great Exemplar. He was endowed with and used his Father's gift of grace, and this enabled him to heal the sick and perform his good works.

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