I COR. iii. 21.

Paul asks the Romans, “how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” In Genesis it is stated that God gave unto man “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” To us, as to the Corinthians, the apostle says “all things are yours,” yet we seem restricted: there seems so little really possessed even by those apparently gifted in every respect, according to the world’s estimate. Though one have much Spirituality; though he be ever so intellectual, and have much of the goods of this world—even he, we can plainly see, is far from having “all things,” and far, indeed, from having “dominion over all the earth.” When even the most gifted seem to lack so much, how can we believe the statement of the apostle in our caption!

As we read the Bible, we must learn to read with discernment; we must go further, and, in our daily life learn to separate the holy from the unholy, the clean from the unclean, in order that we may live the one and reject the other. Within the consciousness of every mortal, there are apparently two antagonistic influences or powers whose declarations are ever asserting themselves. We must learn to discern the voice of Truth that is ever speaking to us, from error that is ever at the heel of Truth, and insinuating itself into our consciousness. How are we to discriminate between the two? There is only one way, and Jesus marked out that way. It is to go to the Word of God, and see what is there written; that is, find out what really is the Word of God. The three times that error, suggested itself to the consciousness of Jesus, he met it by the declaration, “It is written,” and then affirmed the truth or spiritual fact already asserted by holy men and Prophets of old. Then the devil left him for a season, and angels ministered unto him; that is, ideas of Truth, of the great fact of his real, spiritual existence, came into his consciousness, feeding and sustaining him. We, likewise, should see what “is written;”' should learn what the Word of God is, in order to meet the temptations of error with a declaration of Truth. When in Scripture we find it written that God is the only Creator, and that He gave man dominion over the works of His hand, we have found a declaration of Truth that will stand forever; one written by holy men of old; one on which Jesus founded his great demonstrations, and upon which we also should plant ourselves. Both reason and common sense tell us that this is still the great spiritual fact; that if it seems altered, vitiated or annulled, the seeming is only due to our finite sense of things—to the ignorance within our consciousness. Paul expressed the same thought when he said, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is within them, because of the blindness of their heart.” So, it is the ignorance within us, the blindness of the heart, that denies us the liberty of the children of God, our rightful dominion over all things, and peaceful living in harmony and love.

When St. Paul said that “all things are yours”, he made a clear affirmation of Truth. He may not then have reached the high spiritual condition where he realized all things subject to man; yet, that was his goal—the high ideal he kept before him. So, while we also seem hampered on all sides; while evils ofttimes seem to have dominion over us, rather than the reverse, and the good we would do we seem not always able to do; we know the lack of ability is but a suggestion of error, simple ignorance: then, instead of weakly acquiescing, we should take the opposite, strong position, and stand on the Word of God, the everlasting Truth. We should continually have, as a goal before us, the thought that all things are ours; because this is God’s Word. He knows, if we do not. Abiding by the statements of Truth, rather than siding with error against our own interests and welfare, we will, to a greater extent, bring out their high model in our daily lives. Abide in the word of God, in the consciousness of our real Being, and angels will come in and minister unto us; that is, pure and uplifting thoughts will nourish us.

It is the ideas of Truth that come into our consciousness that makes up our real individuality—the Christ-man. So if the devil (error of thought) suggests that we cannot heal the sick, let us not give heed to that insinuation; because we “have dominion over all things,” and God’s Word is our authority for it. If Satan suggests that we cannot cast out evil from ourselves and from others, that is only another falsehood. If he asserts that we cannot speak these great truths privately or otherwise, that also is false; because there is no power in fear. The poor, ignorant fishermen of the sea of Galilee proved that. If our thought seems barren, and we seem to grasp little of the things of Spirit, let us remember that the ideas of Truth, the creation of the One Mind are here, and for us; that we have only to turn our thought in the right direction, away from the material sense of things to the spiritual fact, and God will feed us. Thoughts that have not taken proper and definite shape, that are unsettled or chaotic, He will command to be still; and there will be a calm. If error suggests that we cannot gain an understanding of Christian Science, that also is a falsity; for God is more willing to give us the Holy Ghost—the understanding of our real Being—than we are to receive it.

We have no more authority for listening to the temptations of evil, than had Eve in the garden of Eden, and if we continue to listen to the claims of sense, the subtle serpent, we also, will be driven out of conscious harmony into a sense of discord. Let us look away from the material unto the spiritual: let us realize that Spirit feeds us with the bread of Life which imparts understanding of the Life that is eternal; and that Spirit clothes us with the seamless robe of Righteousness—perfect rightness.