Article May 6, 1950 Issue

INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL DEMONSTRATION

MYRTLE A. CASH

From the lips of the gentlest and mightiest man of all time we have these words (John 13:34): "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;" and in John's first epistle we read (3:18), "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." Correlative to these words of Jesus and John, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has written in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 518), "The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good."

Jesus' reflection and demonstration of Love were never more beautifully shown than in his compassionate consideration of the Magdalen's need to express her love of the Christ when, as related in the seventh chapter of Luke, she entered the house of Simon unbidden and anointed the feet of Jesus, Simon's guest. Through spiritual perception Jesus recognized the woman's sincerity. Rebuking the arrogance and pride of the carnal mind, which caused Simon and his friends to classify and condemn her as a sinner, Jesus assured her that her faith had saved her. His courage in rebuking his host and his loving forgiveness of the woman were both the result of his pure understanding of the unreality of the claims of evil and of the spirituality and inherent goodness of the real man as the likeness of His all-loving, perfect Father-Mother God. This understanding lifted thought above the false belief in a mortal selfhood separate from the divine to a realization of the Christ, God's immortal idea, as ever present and eternal. On this same basis of man's reflection of the infinite changelessness of divine Love and the perfect holiness of Soul, Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Such work presages universal blessing, because in the regeneration of the individual lies the salvation of the world.

Following Jesus' teachings and example by holding thought persistently to the truths of being, any one of us may see concord and peace replace discord and dissension in trying human circumstances. A Christian Science Sunday School pupil was able to prove this in her office position, where she had been very happy until an older girl was added to the staff as her helper. The new girl expressed dissatisfaction with her co-worker in many disagreeable ways and was vehement in her denunciation of Christian Science and Christian Scientists. Because she understood that the error was not personal, as it appeared to be, but was simply the impersonal, supposititious claim of mortal mind that evil can overrule divine Love's ever-present control of its own creation, the young student felt no temptation to retaliate. Reversing the claims of error with the truth, she was able to meet each attack with patience and love.

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