Article February 16, 1952 Issue

THE CUP AND THE CROSS

ELISABETH CARROLL SCOTT

When Paul said to the chief captain of the Romans (Acts 22:28), "I was free born," it can be said that he was bearing witness to the divine status of man; whereas, the chief captain's statement, "With a great sum obtained I this freedom," may be said to typify salvation through redemption— the need of everyone. The divine truth of every individual is that he is free from all taint of error; but to human sense this freedom must be won through the redemptive power of Christian Science.

There is a propensity on the part of mortals to seek ease in matter. Christian Science does not offer this case. It offers a knowledge of God that satisfies and heals. It offers the joy which comes of demonstration and the peace which appears when problems have been solved through the application of God's laws as revealed in Christian Science; but mere assent to and belief in Christian Science do not afford effortless existence, free of problems. As in the time of the Roman captain, freedom Comes high. Freedom from sin, disease, and death, the promise of Christian Science, can be obtained only by "a great sum"—the price of obliterating and overcoming in human consciousness all that denies man's unity with God. Mary Baker Eddy tells us in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 9), "There is a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith."

There are two symbols used by Jesus and Mrs. Eddy to express the effort required of those who would transcend mortal belief and human capacity in order to express and demonstrate at-one-ment with the infinite. These two symbols are the cross and the cup. Christ Jesus said (John 18:11), "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" He also said that any man who would come after him must deny himself and take up his cross, and follow him (Matt. 16: 24). Does not this mean that one should deny everything that would impede his progress Spiritward or delay his experience of the freedom which Christian Science brings? In other words, it is incumbent upon those who would follow the Way-shower to deny false disturbing beliefs, the limitations born of false education or of the belief that we are finite creatures limited in every direction.

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