"Establishes the claims of God"

ANNIE MAY EVANS

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes (p. 23), "Faith, advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and establishes the claims of God."

What are "the claims of God," and how are they to be established? Christian Science has come to this age through our inspired Leader. Her elucidation of her discovery, in Science and Health and her other writings, sheds clear light on the Bible, making plain the way for all to understand and demonstrate the truth and practicality of its teachings.

Before one has learned something of God as divine Principle, his thoughts may have been chaotic. He may have thought of God as dwelling in unapproachable remoteness. Mrs. Eddy has said (The People's Idea of God, p. 4), "No miracle of grace can make a spiritual mind out of beliefs that are as material as the heathen deities."

Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, met and overcame the resistance of the world. His steadfast adherence to God as the only Life enabled him to say at the grave of Lazarus, "I knew that thou hearest me always;" and Lazarus was restored. Error vanished before the truth reflected in the Master's pure and serene consciousness.

Step by step, Jesus illustrated the power of Mind to destroy all false claims of a power opposed to God, thereby showing us how to overcome error and demonstrate our real self in the image and likeness of the Father. This was the goal towards which David was approaching when he exclaimed, "I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."

The Bible enjoins us, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Mrs. Eddy had been doing this very thing, seeking "first the kingdom of God." From her youth she had been a student of the Bible, but while deriving much comfort from her study, she was not able to help herself or others physically as she felt should be possible to such students. But as she worked on through years of patient research, she finally proved that God is indeed a present help, for through spiritual illumination she was herself restored from the effects of an accident; and as a result she discovered the Science of Mind-healing, which she named Christian Science. She learned how to pray understandingly with "signs following," as required by the Master of those who truly had found the Comforter.

A little child starting in school steps out into a new world. Hitherto, he has been happy in listening to stories read or told to him. Now he eagerly looks forward to being able to read for himself. He has been a receptive listener, but now he finds that something is required of him in addition to right listening. Through harmonious unfoldment, gradually and happily he learns to read. He makes use of what he is told, and practices what he is learning, day by day, in order to advance. As he works he grows stronger, and soon finds that the gaining of knowledge destroys his former ignorance.

The student of Christian Science finds himself in a mental attitude similar to that of the little child. He may have been relying on an erroneous concept of God, until he became unsettled and longed for some satisfying definition of the creator of the universe and man. Or perhaps he has been groping blindly for some respite from illness which has burdened his experience. Now he procures a copy of the Christian Science textbook and begins to read and to think for himself. Soon a marvelous thing happens; like the Revelator of old he sees "a new heaven and a new earth," with old things surely passing away. A happy, courageous consciousness takes the place of doubt, and he exclaims with the Psalmist, "Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting."

How often health has been restored and maintained through one's holding steadfastly to some precept of the Bible, or to some statement in Science and Health! In this connection we read (ibid., p. 373), "Establish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the oppressed organ."

A student of Science seemed to be experiencing a painful malady, especially troublesome at night. After working long to overcome a sense of irritation and discouragement, she decided to repeat the Lord's Prayer each time this condition presented itself. As she persisted in this, resistance to Truth grew less, until finally all symptoms vanished, and "the claims of God" were established.

Gratefully she recalled the words of a loved hymn:

"Established in His righteousness,
He holds thee free from fear;
No weapon formed against His own
Shall prosper nor come near.

"All tongues that rise condemning thee
Are silenced by His word;
This is thy precious heritage,
Thou servant of the Lord."

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