GRATITUDE

Annie M. Knott

At the present time, when so much is being said respecting our great indebtedness for the truth made known to us as Christian Science, some profound lessons may be learned by tracing in the Gospels the record of what was done—not said—by those who partook of the blessings of truth through Jesus' ministry. Luke tells us in this connection that at the last supper Jesus asked his disciples. who had abandoned their material vocations and went from place to place, preaching the gospel and healing the sick, "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing."

From this we have a hint of the gratitude and generosity of those who were healed at that time. We read of a band of noble women who had been healed and who left their homes and went about with the great Teacher, ministering to him of their substance. John tells us of a woman who poured "a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly," upon the feet of the beloved Master, and he also says that after the crucifixion Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus not only braved the rage of the priests and rulers in seeking to give the body of Jesus an honored burial, but they brought for this purpose costly spices, "about an hundred pound weight. "

According to contemporary writers this offering of love and gratitude was of incalculable value, and marks a sharp contrast with the miserable bribe of Judas, who for the sake of "thirty pieces" (sixteen dollars and ninety cents) betrayed his Master and went to a dishonored grave. While it is true that the princely offering of Joseph and Nicodemus came very late, yet it bespeaks a whole-hearted consecration to the cause of Truth, and that, too, at an hour when it seemed as if it were forever lost. It should therefore speak loudly to us when material sense with its narrowing tendencies would bid us withhold our gifts when they are needed to advance the cause of Truth to-day, in order to bring the Christ-healing within the reach of all who are in bondage to the belief in sin, sickness, and death.

We do not advance very far in the understanding of Christian Science until we see clearly that it teaches the same truth which Christ Jesus said should make men free,—the truth which for long centuries was lost to human need so far as healing was concerned, but which is again made known through Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, and is healing the sick and the sinful, thus proving Immanuel, God with us! The one who is a recipient of this healing does not question whether Jesus ever did the mighty works attributed to him in the Gospels; he knows it, because he himself is proving daily the healing power of divine Principle as discovered by Mrs. Eddy in her search for the truth. The question for every Christian Scientist is rather how he may prove his gratitude by bringing the knowledge of this healing truth to all mankind, how he may best employ the ten talents which have been given him for the spiritual, moral, and mental enrichment of the whole world.

A student of Christian Science was once pondering deeply this question, when personal sense was shrinking from the continuous demands of Truth. The Bible was opened for guidance, and the eye met at once the Master's words, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. " Personal sense is apt to rebel at the "daily," but it is soon found that when self is denied the cross is not only taken up, but is taken away, while gratitude expressed in obedience enlarges our sense of man's possibilities and recalls the benediction, "Well done, good and faithful servant : ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Annie M. Knott.

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LETTERS TO OUR LEADER

November 30, 1907

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