Article October 9, 1948 Issue

"MAKE HIM THY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE"

ROBERT WILLIAM BAYLES

"Brother, sister, beloved in the Lord, knowest thou thyself, and art thou acquainted with. God? If not, I pray thee as a Christian Scientist, delay not to make Him thy first acquaintance." In these words from "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 151) Mary Baker Eddy, the Leader of the Christian Science movement, sets forth the urgent entreaty that Christian Scientists make God their primary, immediate, and most preferred acquaintance.

Acquaintance with God does not mean a mere intellectual or theoretical concept of a Being with whom one is to become acquainted only in a vague hereafter. Acquaintance with a friend implies cognizance and appreciation of that friend right now. It requires recognition. So Christian Scientists make their acquaintance with God through study of the accurate definition of Him given in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

In this volume, on page 465, Mrs. Eddy gives seven synonyms of God, namely, Love, Truth, Life, Principle, Soul, Spirit, and Mind, each one of which is either specifically given or directly implied as descriptive of Deity in the Bible. Modifying these synonyms, she uses four adjectives, namely, infinite, supreme, incorporeal, and divine. As we contemplate the seven synonyms, numerous attributes of God spontaneously come to consciousness, making Him better known to us. Such acquaintance with God, with His nature, essence, and wholeness, is evidenced in our experience in peace and joy as surely today as when Eliphaz said to Job (Job 22: 21), "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."

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