The Divine Purpose

THOMAS JOSEPH ABBOTT

IT is fairly safe to assume that there is hardly a single poet, sage, religionist, philosopher, or in fact any seriously thinking person, who has not spent much time in trying to find a satisfying answer to what has been called "the riddle of the universe," or the divine purpose of existence.

Before the discovery of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, in 1866, it was thought by many that the statement put forth by Christ Jesus, "For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth," had reference to his witnessing only and not to that of his followers as well, and this despite the many earlier Scriptural writings to the contrary, as for instance the words of Isaiah, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen."

The truth to which the Master referred, and to which he bore such loving, faithful, and productive witness, is the absolute, eternal, unchanging spiritual reality of all things, in contradistinction to the material, temporal, changing, erring phenomena of the physical senses; and this supernal witnessing illustrated and demonstrated his childlike trust and enlightened confidence in the power, presence, and reality of good only. He understood the availability of God, good, to offset and reverse every discordant phenomenon as it presented itself in human experience, and to establish in its place the evidence of harmonious being.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews speaks in glowing terms of this faith in good as manifested by the ancient prophets, and of the wonderful, incontrovertible signs that accompanied it. One of the most outstanding of these worthies was Abraham. From the moment he received the divine command to leave his father's house and kindred, and to go into an unfamiliar country, up to the time he showed his willingness to sacrifice, if necessary, that which he held so dear, his beloved Isaac, Abraham was unswervingly consistent in his trust in good. In the Glossary of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 597), our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, gives this interpretation of the word "Abraham": "Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being. This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding." Here, in the compass of a single paragraph, this inspired writer has epitomized a lucid, scientific, and satisfying explanation of the divine purpose, "to create trust in good." The attainment of this trust in good is not the work of a single day, but comes to us as we express those spiritual qualities, "intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality" (ibid., p. 298), which necessarily precede the full realization of the Christ-idea.

Are we who are striving to trust God, to love more, to heal more quickly, perplexed at the seeming reality of error? Then let us do some mental overhauling. Are we trusting in personal ability, superior intellect, human opinions, monopoly? Have we relinquished the belief of self-righteousness for the idea of the one infinite intelligence, in perfect unity with its diverse and individual ideas? Do we realize that every good tree that brings forth good fruit is purged that it may bring forth more fruit? Then let us continue to draw upon our divine Principle, Love, for more grace, purity, mercy, compassion, and trust in good, in order that in our daily lives we may more clearly show forth His divine purpose.

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