Signs of the Times
["The Unit of Measure"—The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, U.S.A., April 5, 1921]
Eternity is the unit of measure of man's age. Nothing less will avail to determine the range of his existence, and since Mind unfolds eternity, unlimited Mind is the measure of man. A year, a decade, threescore and ten, and all the rest of earth's chosen rods for judging man's being must eventually be laid aside forever. These rods, which have a beginning in birth and an end in death, are impositions whose claims must dissolve before reality.
There is a simple Bible passage which is an inspiration to mankind, a passage in which Caleb tells Joshua: "Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land.... I wholly followed the Lord my God.... and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in." Men who follow the "Lord our God" in this time have Mind and its idea as all, and they have nothing else. The reward of having this ideal ever before them is instant and eternal: the life that knows no end, the strength that never ebbs, and the wholeness that is everything real.
The world revels in statistics. It complies mortality tables, age tables, and all the rest of the paraphernalia of the untrue mortal mind. It requires to know the age of men and women for even the most trivial purposes, and it sometimes requires an act of a legislature or even a change in the constitution to abolish the rule. Having learned what it calls a man's age it immediately sets in operation the full force of the carnal mind's laws and conclusions arising in consequence of the figures it has learned. That is, it adjudges a man of this age must be and must accomplish so and so, and of that age so and so. There are many individuals who engage in this more than useless occupation who ought to know better. Mrs. Eddy has not minced matters in discussing this subject. She says, "Never record ages" (Science and Health, p. 246). Every person who discerns and profits by the spiritual understanding with which that and similar injunctions in Science and Health were written will reap its benefits. Those benefits are much greater than the average individual would reckon, for to the "natural man" it is often a matter of absurdity that any one should care whether or not ages are stated and discussed. In fact it seems to him the most natural thing in the world that they should be stated. This attitude reveals the deep ignorance of such an individual as to the hidden man-made laws that are set going in the human discussion of so-called time and age. It is important that man's real status should be recognized: that he has everlasting life and cannot retrograde from perfection, because he reflects eternal Mind. The world has need of the release that comes from such knowledge and is, in fact, enjoying some of the fruits of that release even now, though this is a matter not widely recognized as yet. Mary Baker Eddy writes (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 185): "The spiritualization of our sense of man opens the gates of paradise that the so-called material senses would close, and reveals man infinitely blessed, upright, pure, and free; having no need of statistics by which to learn his origin and age, or to measure his manhood, or to know how much of a man he ever has been: for, 'as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' "
True man is hoary with wisdom and fresh with youth. He is at once young and old, in the sense of being all things good, and he is continuously active in the use of faculties and capacities seasoned with the experience of eternity and fresh with unblighted newness. The woeful workings of human laws and customs which require men and women to cease work at a certain age, and to retire from positions in business, in government, and other departments of life, have never touched the real man. He is a truly glorious idea before whom every human law has forever been unknown because there has in reality never been anything save Mind and the idea of Mind. "The measurement of life by solar years," says Mrs. Eddy, "robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun" (Science and Health, p. 246). So it is that man has no dawns and sunsets to measure the years of his life, for he lives on, intact, and his life is the "same yesterday, and to day and for ever"—wise, full of vigor, and holy. His is the manhood that God has given, a manhood that no one and no circumstance can take away. As men come to the comprehension of this, each one will be able to say with Caleb, "I am as strong this day as I was," and, "As my strength was then, even so is my strength now." Principle and Principle alone is the power that upholds and sustains being.
The helplessness of unreal mortal mind is almost ludicrous when it is attempting to judge without the aid of statistics as to age, education, personal appearance, and so forth. It is most amusing when faced with anonymity in authorship. When a man or woman has produced a composition, a book, or an essay, unsigned or under an assumed name, speculation is let loose as to what, who, and how it is, and all about it. Instances of this are many and the behavior of the world in such a case betrays how useless even in human affairs are personal statistics, for the flights of misjudgment and guesswork indulged in in these instances of anonymity disclose the inborn unsoundness of the mortal mind. Anonymity fools mortal mind thoroughly. Its treasured methods of judgment are balked. Any one can recall discussions as to the identify of unavowed writers.
All this, of course, simply uncovers the pretension of mortal mind in asserting itself able really to exercise any judgment at all. It emphasizes the fact that this mind bases its judgment on the evidence of the five physical senses. These senses are mythical counterfeits of the true discernment possessed by Mind and enjoyed by man who reflects that Mind. Mind and its expression is All-in-all. A hint of this, useful to mortals, is found in the fact that what really mattered in the writings of the anonymous authors was the quality of thought expressed and not the poor mortal who seemed to bring it forth. It hints that, basically, thought or activity is neither masculine, feminine, young, nor old, exclusively, but is all of these and more, and has nothing whatever to do with years, education, or mortal traits of any kind. It is the thought that is important and not the mortal whose name is attached to it. And in truth all there really is, is Mind and its expression, or thought.
["A Decline in Disease"—From The Times, London, England]
Recently published figures show that a steady decline is taking place in many of the diseases which we have been accustomed to regard as dangerous enemies. The decline is apparent not only in the case incidence, but in the case mortality. The afflictions are less deadly than they were even a decade ago, and almost every year there is a further declension of virulence. One of the most striking instances is afforted by typhoid fever, an infection with an evil reputation. Another is tuberculosis, the apparent diminution of which in all civilized countries is engaging close attention, because diminution is accompanied by a lowered power of destruction. Many explanations and theories have been formulated to explain the facts; unfortunately none of them seem to be quite satisfactory, for this natural weakening of tuberculosis is taking place at a moment when considerable misgiving is being experienced over the efficacy of the campaigns waged against it. Some degree of mystery, too, surrounds the dramatic fall during the last few years in infant mortality, which is almost less by one half than it was in the eighties. We may, if we like, attribute our good fortune to sanitation, food inspection, and educational measures; and these agencies have no doubt played an important part; but, after due credit has been allowed to each, there remains some further factor, the nature of which is not yet clearly apprehended. Can it be a natural immunity, the product of an evolutionary struggle with infection? Attractive as such an idea may be, it leaves unexplained the central fact that the change for the better is—comparatively speaking—quite recent. The diseases, on the other hand, have vexed the human race for many centuries.
[From The New York Herald]
There might be nothing more unusual in a doctor advocating prayer than in any man of any calling. There is something unusual, however, in putting prayer on a scientific basis as a therapeutic agent. The proposition is that prayer has, or at any rate may have, a physiological effect upon the body as well as an influence upon the mind.... It is therefore a means at the disposal of the hygienist for preserving and restoring health.
In a book newly issued from the press, a doctor takes the ground that "the unquestionable trend of modern thought is monistic."... Without venturing into the controversial field of direct response to prayer, it is neither unscientific nor irreligious to accept at least as a basis for consideration the proposition of the present writer, "that prayer is helpful not so much as to the granting of specific personal requests; not so much in that the inherently benignant laws of nature could be disturbed in their working in behalf of any individual suppliant; but that prayer is helpful in bringing him who prays into comfortable, salutary, and restful relation with the First Cause." On this theory, training in the habit of prayer in childhood and its pursuit through life are urged as a duty ... upon the pulpit and the clinic alike.
[From an Editorial in San Jose (California) Mercury Herald]
The truths of the New Testament—all the eternal truths of God—must remain the same "yesterday, and to day, and for ever," but man's understanding and interpretation of them must constantly change with his education and development and the onward march of human research and achievement. Any religious organization of this day, Christian or otherwise, which persistently shuts its eyes to new truth and insists upon the acceptance by its members of hoary superstitions, creeds, and dogmas not in harmony with the new truth will as certainly be swept away by the onward sweep of human progress as were the sun worshipers of Egypt. All such must ultimately yield to other religious organizations that will recognize that the creator is constantly revealing Himself and His truth more and more clearly and perfectly just as surely as He has revealed Himself in Holy Writ, though in a different way. The Bible, of course, must not be changed, but new and more enlightened interpretations of it must be sought in order that the revelations of the Scriptures shall be understood in the light of to-day.
[From The Boston Herald]
The Rev. Dr. Howard N. Brown, pastor of King's Chapel, in his sermon yesterday morning declared that it is not enough for churches to be handsome in architecture and decoration, but they must also be places where the truth is spoken. "There has been a time-honored alliance of religion with art," he said, "which has too much persuaded a large part of the Christian world that it is quite enough to have our aesthetic sense gratified and cultivated in our houses of worship. It is high time now for a closer alliance of religion with the scientific spirit whose supreme passion is for a knowledge of truth. It must fare ill with the church in coming time unless it can feel its way to this alliance."
[From the Akhbur, a Native Paper, as Quoted by The Egyptian Gazette]
We were greatly pleased formerly when we saw the government directing its attention to fighting bad practices and disgraceful deeds which are against the commandments of the faith. People were beginning to follow its orders in many directions, and we began to entertain the hope that the army of evil would be defeated, and the bright light of the Sheri law would spread over Egypt. Then we read that the government itself will remove the restrictions already imposed upon wines. Every Egyptian who loves his country regrets this curious decision which tends to encourage many people of inferior classes to indulge in vanity and vice, and do all that disturbs the happiness of the public. Viewed from the social standpoint, wine is a thing that demolishes the structure of the progress of mankind, for it encourages men to commit adultery, murder, and theft, and these are the principal diseases of society.... In brief, we ask the government to impose the strictest restrictions upon the use of drinks.