"You command the situation," writes Mrs. Eddy, "if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 403). An arresting sentence, that; one which causes us to pause and think! What is the situation to which she refers? The word "situation," as it is here employed, pertains to every untoward condition which may present itself to human consciousness—sickness, sin, accident, lack, human will power, or any other form of inharmony.

Do Mrs. Eddy's words quoted above then mean that every inharmonious condition is capable of correction by the understanding that it is "not the truth of being," or, in other words, that it is unreal? They do. If we believe that inharmony is real; if we believe that a material or mortal sense of existence is real, we are deceived—we are believing that to be true which is false, utterly opposed to reality or Truth. But if we understand inharmony or a material or mortal sense of existence to be false, we can reject the suggestion, and thus command the situation.

But someone who does not understand the teaching of Christian Science may say: That is unbelievable. Do not I sometimes experience sickness? Do not I often see evil active in human lives? Am I not aware of the fact that accidents sometimes befall people? Are there not many who suffer from poverty or lack? Are not sorrow and unhappiness the lot of many? To all of which Christian Science replies: Sickness, sin, accident, poverty, sorrow may seem actual, real, or true to material sense, but they do not belong to real being, they are not of God; therefore they are unreal.

God, Christian Science reveals, is infinite Mind or Spirit, infinite good. Can there be more than the infinite? Can there be anything real other than God—infinite Mind, or Spirit? No one who admits that God is infinite can truly say that there is anything real outside of God Himself. Christian Science declares that only that which is good, only that which is spiritual, is real; that matter or evil, with all that pertains thereto—inharmony of every kind—is unreal. And it logically argues that as this is known by us, we "command the situation"; we gain the victory over erroneous beliefs.

Christian Scientists are convinced of the correctness of the teaching of Christian Science, that the material senses testify falsely regarding matter and all its phenomena; and they are constantly proving what they know of Truth by overcoming inharmonious conditions in themselves, and in others also when called upon for Christian Science treatment. In this they are following the great Way-shower, Christ Jesus, who more than any other who has lived on earth, mastered the erroneous conditions associated with a mortal sense of existence.

We know comparatively little about the earthly life of Jesus until he began his three years' ministry; but of that ministry the Gospels of the New Testament tell us a great deal. And there is one thing which stands out prominently in his wonderful life—his power to "command the situation." Consider but a few of the many instances of his overcoming. There was the occasion on which he stilled the tempest on the sea. "He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm" (Mark 4:39). He commanded the situation by his understanding of the perpetually harmonious activity of spiritual law. Again, he fed a multitude of people when only five loaves and two fishes were apparently available. "They did all eat, and were filled" (Matthew 14:20). Jesus realized the infinite or unlimited nature of spiritual substance, and commanded the situation.

Then there was the occasion when the crowd, enraged by the truths he taught, sought to "cast him down headlong" from "the brow of the hill." "But he passing through the midst of them went his way" (Luke 4:29, 30). Harted was powerless before the Master's understanding of Love. He commanded the situation. And numerous were the healings of disease he brought about—of blindness, deafness, dumbness, leprosy, epilepsy, lunacy, and palsy. Mark records (2:11) these words of Jesus when he healed the palsied man: "I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." He healed the case by knowing that in real being there is no disease. He commanded the situation. Christ Jesus raised the dead—Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, the son of the widow of Nain; he raised himself, also. Then came the final overcoming at his ascension. "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51). How masterfully he commanded every situation that was not of God, good!

Students of Christian Science view the works of Jesus with great gratitude, for they understand in a measure the Science which he understood, and which enabled him to do his healing works. Their desire is that they may follow him in the doing of similar works by gaining, through Christian Science, the understanding he had of real being. They therefore study the Bible and Science and Health perseveringly, in order to know more of spiritual truth and so be better able to deny the false sense of mortal existence, thus commanding every erroneous material condition.

Duncan Sinclair