Article June 12, 1948 Issue

DEITY'S CLAIM ON MAN

WOODRUFF SMITH

"The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human; and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being His likeness and image, man must reflect the full dominion of Spirit—even its supremacy over sin, sickness, and death." So says Mary Baker Eddy in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 16). Perhaps someone thinks, "Yes, these things are true of my selfhood." Are there two selfhoods? Mrs. Eddy gives a negative reply (Unity of Good, p. 49): "There are not two realities of being, two opposite states of existence." Christian Science teaches that error is not real, but is a false claim, and shows us how to destroy it. If a student finds a difficulty continuing, it may be that while he recognizes it as a false claim, he is not going on to prove that it is no claim at all.

Our Leader writes (ibid., p. 54): "To say there is a false claim, called sickness, is to admit all there is of sickness; for it is nothing but a false claim. To be healed, one must lose sight of a false claim. If the claim be present to the thought, then disease becomes as tangible as any reality. To regard sickness as a false claim, is to abate the fear of it; but this does not destroy the so-called fact of the claim. In order to be whole, we must be insensible to every claim of error."

In Science we understand that error is neither material person nor thing, but only erroneous belief—the product of ignorance. This shows the mental nature of error. Thus we correct it with true thoughts, not with things. While error is to human thought a false belief, actually it is nonexistent. To say, "I know error is not real, but it certainly seems real," is to give it the recognition it seeks. Let us be less ignorant and more spiritually innocent. Ignorance is a claim of mortal mind, which knows nothing of immortal Truth. Innocence is a pure attribute of immortal Spirit, which knows nothing of false belief.

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