Article October 13, 1951 Issue

"THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR"

WILLIAM MILFORD CORRELL

Humanity is always hoping for something. It hopes for peace, it hopes for prosperity, it hopes for health and companionship. If this hope is directed toward Deity, we label this desire prayer. Yet many prayers are unanswered and hopes frustrated because of the lack of understanding of how to pray and what to pray for. Therefore it was quite natural for Mary Baker Eddy to open the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," with a chapter on prayer, for that subject is one of universal appeal to mankind. The first statement in this chapter reads (p. 1), "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love."

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews states (11:1), "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." One might define faith as the acknowledgment or inward acceptance of something as true. If this acceptance is based on the realities of God, it is termed spiritual understanding, and in Christian Science this is known to be "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

A child's confident attitude toward his parents approximates the idea of absolute faith, and yet this only hints the faith we should feel in the unfailing love of God for man. Mrs. Eddy makes this statement in Science and Health (p. 494): "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." Many have experienced the comfort and assurance that this truth conveys. Even the acceptance of the fact with something less than complete understanding has solved many problems. But Mrs. Eddy fully substantiates it by revealing the nature of God as divine, infinite Love and the status of man as God's child, the image of His love. God, divine Love, is infinite, ever present, All. His presence, fills all space, silences all discord, meets every need. These facts have Scriptural authority and are implicit in Jesus' healing ministry. Some understanding of God's all-power and of His willingness to meet every human need is the essential basis of an absolute faith.

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