Wherever one is, there is the healing, saving presence of God, of Life, Truth, Love. The Psalmist sang (Ps. 139:8), "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there."

Mary Baker Eddy was so aware of the allness and goodness of the divine presence that by her understanding of it she healed both herself and others. In her writings she elucidates the ever-present divine Principle, God. On page 287 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy asks these arresting and illuminating questions: "God being everywhere and all-inclusive, how can He be absent or suggest the absence of omnipresence and omnipotence? How can there be more than all?"

Through his study of Christian Science the writer has gained a much more satisfying sense of this divine omnipresence. On one occasion he was attending a church committee meeting which did not conclude until quite late at night. All that day he had been burdened with a feeling of heaviness and weariness.

The meeting was adjourned with the audible repetition of the "Daily Prayer" from the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy (Art. VIII, Sect. 4). As the words, "Let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin," were being recited, the writer suddenly realized that divine Life and Love were right there; they were all that could be established in him; their holy presence filled the room and was everywhere; God was the loving Life of all, and in Him was no inharmony or heaviness, for He included nothing unlike Himself. The student was grateful to know these truths.

The room seemed flooded with a soft light, and a great sense of peace was felt by the writer. To reach his home he had to go up a steep incline, and as he was walking up it he realized that he was stepping lightly and buoyantly. All feeling of weariness had left him, and he felt strong and fresh.

When Moses cited as the First Commandment (Ex. 20:3), "Thou shall have no other gods before me," he proclaimed a God who is primal and supreme, the one omniscient Mind and substance. This Mind is not a mind which may be influenced by other minds; it is the only Mind, knowing exclusively its own presence and comprehending its own perfect universe of spiritual ideas, ideas which are eternally and obediently responsive to their source, God.

The study of Christian Science brings the revelation of the unity of God and man, omnipresent Principle and idea, and a more intelligent knowledge of God as the source of all wisdom, law, and power. It brings the consciousness of the immediate availability in every human circumstance of God, Love. The effects of such study are seen and felt in a priceless sense of security, in better health, happier living conditions, more effortless accomplishment, and in the elimination of fear—the seeming cause of disability and discord. Our first and simple need is to know God better as infinite, ever-present Life and Love.

The understanding of God's omnipresence and goodness annihilates everything unlike good and inevitably implies the exposure of all mortal, carnal belief as being spurious—a mirage which never had a real entity. This understanding nullifies all evil claims, for God could have no competitor or rival. He remains the forever incomparable.

Perfect cause must of necessity include perfect effect. Mind's own spiritual manifestation, man and the universe, must be beautiful and harmonious. Even though humanly one may not clearly see his sonship with the Father, yet he should know that daily he actually is evidencing that relationship. For is not one's ability to think and to act rightly the expression of Mind, Life? Do not one's integrity and honesty bear witness to the presence of Truth? In one's indwelling kindness, affection, and dependability are seen reflected the attributes of Soul, Love.

Can we expect to find more of God, or good, in some place other than where we are? The satisfying presence and glory of God, blessing, protecting, providing, are universal and ever available. Indeed man, as a spiritual idea, is the living witness to that presence. In order to grasp the larger understanding of the forever nowness of God's presence and to reflect more of that healing presence, it is not necessary to change one's material location.

Although Jacob made his pillows of hard stones, yet because of his receptivity to the angel message, he heard and heeded the heavenly voice, which said (Gen. 28:15). "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest." This sweet assurance of the nearness of God brought from Jacob the acknowledgment, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."

In this presence, or kingdom of God, Jacob also discovered the true selfhood of his brother Esau. At their meeting twenty years later he could say (Gen. 33:10), "Therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God. and thou wast pleased with me." Truly to perceive and love one's own self as God's pure child, one must also perceive and be grateful for the actual spiritual identity of others.

It was Christ Jesus' innate and constant awareness of the immediacy and all-power of divine Love and of man's life as the expression of Love and Truth that enabled him to heal all manner of discord. The Master spent many hours in prayerful communion with the Father. The purity of Jesus' spiritual perception and his transcendent faith were factors that showed forth the inherent beauty, health, and holiness which are the forever heritage of man.

How rewarding it is to ponder these words of our great Leader, Mrs. Eddy, as found in her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 16): "To attain peace and holiness is to recognize the divine presence and allness."