The Unity of God and Man

ELLA W. HOAG

How earnestly men have desired unity with good! Always they have been seeking for it, although in many a mistaken way. Because they have neither known nor understood perfectly the nature of good, it has not been strange that their efforts have been more or less mistaken and fruitless in right results. Nevertheless, there has always been in the human consciousness an appeal for that close association with divine good which should render all men blessed. It was largely because of this deep desire in the human heart that the song of the angels at Jesus' birth struck such a responsive chord and has gone on reverberating down through the ages in the heart of everyone who has been awake to the desirability of unity with good.

When Jesus said, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven," he opened the way for every mortal to turn from the belief of a false creation to the understanding of God as the only Father of man. He thereby proclaimed the necessity of the awakening to the understanding of man's eternal spiritual unity with God. Although Jesus' life-work proved that this unity with God, good, has always been an established fact, and although he also showed men that they too may prove this divine unity, it was not until Christian Science was revealed that this possibility was made completely and demonstrably to mankind.

In the light of Christian Science it is really a simple matter to begin to base all one's thinking on the fact of the universal divine sonship, and then to press steadily on in obedience to the demands of Truth in refusing to accept or admit as real everything which is ungodlike. It may seem as though no one would hesitate for a moment to accept this wonderful truth of man's perfect unity with divine good; but because of the mistaken beliefs in the human consciousness in regard to what constitutes good, one often finds himself struggling to maintain a unity which in the last analysis has no real good in it. Because of this, to the human consciousness there must ever seem a necessity of dividing between the true and the false sense of good and of so learning to understand the divine nature that nothing else shall seem desirable.

When we look, then, at Jesus' life from the standpoint of Christian Science, we see that his entire purpose was to prove in every thought, word, and deed that man is the son of God. In carrying out this purpose he always refused to accept, entertain, or manifest anything less than the perfection which God was continually unfolding to and through him. Jesus thus became the Way-shower, and it is possible to-day for everyone to follow in his footsteps perfectly, claiming only that sonship which is of the Father. Although it may take us some time to-day to grasp that humility which Jesus always maintained,—that humility which was always willing to renounce instantly all claim to a selfhood in matter, that humility which not only believed but dared to accept the sublime truth of spiritual sonship,—nevertheless it is not only our duty but our privilege continually to work from this same exalted standpoint.

Human belief may endeavor to hinder this operation of Truth by claiming to obtrude insistently into our thinking the mistaken concepts of a false selfhood; but we can and must—through refusing all unity therewith—ever assure ourselves of what it means to be the child of God. We must therefore continually claim our unity with God, good; indeed, our loyalty to God demands that we shall not only dwell in thought upon His marvelous qualities, that we shall not only look to Him for the perpetual unfolding of His glorious attributes, but that we must also know that our loyalty to Him is not complete unless we awaken to the truth of being, which shows forth these qualities and attributes in our own reflection of them.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 18) Mrs. Eddy says, "Atonement is the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love." Then it is the privilege of every individual so to dwell in constant relationship with God and His ideas that nothing else shall appear as real. This perpetual contemplation of God, this ability ever to live and love the divine qualities, is available to everyone here and now. As Christian Scientists we should awaken to the possibility of this complete demonstration, in order that we may thereby hasten that perfect unfolding of the unity of God and man which was so lovingly prophesied in the song of the angels at the birth of the Bethlehem babe!

ELLA W. HOAG

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The Power of Divine Love

December 24, 1927

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