Editorial March 26, 1955 Issue

"TO FULFIL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS"

Robert Ellis Key

One who becomes interested in Christian Science is confronted by two ways of life, the material and the spiritual. Perhaps for the first time the distinction between matter and Spirit is made perfectly clear, and the decision to choose one or the other is imperative. We cannot have both, for if this were our desire, we should fall between two stools and fail in our quest for liberation.

When confronted with the two ways of life, no wise man would turn from the spiritual and deny its presence by attempting to submerge his thinking in materialism. In her writings Mary Baker Eddy constantly draws attention to the danger of attempting to mix matter and Spirit. In a passage such as the following from the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she writes (p. 167): "It is not wise to take a halting and half-way position or to expect to work equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error." When the impossibility of mixing the material and the spiritual is seen, the student of Christian Science pursues his course with entire confidence and trust in the spiritual way of life. But he does not endeavor to force the issue. He recognizes the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement (ibid., p. 485): "Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth."

The student realizes that the word "gently" need not mean "slowly," but it may mean without disturbance or upheaval. If a student makes absolute statements of truth which both he and the listener can clearly understand, he will win those who come to him for healing in Christian Science.

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