"Obey this call"!

JANE PLECHNER

"Men and women of the nineteenth century, are you called to voice a higher order of Science? Then obey this call. Go, if you must, to the dungeon or the scaffold, but take not back the words of Truth." With these challenging and inspiring words (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 99), Mary Baker Eddy has shown her followers that each one is "called to voice a higher order of Science," which will fulfill its world-mission proportionally as Christian Scientists obey the call.

The truth about God and His perfect creation, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, is unmistakably given by Mrs. Eddy in her elucidation of Christian Science; and our part is to grasp, through obedient study and application, the truth which makes free. Our Leader knew that to be a genuine Christian Scientist is possible for all, through persistent and devoted effort. She follows her words quoted above with the stirring question, "How many are there ready to suffer for a righteous cause, to stand a long siege, take the front rank, face the foe, and be in the battle every day?"

Thousands, gladly accepting the blessings which Christian Science brings, find it necessary to avoid the danger of seeking the loaves and fishes of prosperity and prestige, and be willing to put away the false sense of self when the hour demands their standing "a long siege" and being "in the battle every day." Because the blessings of Christian Science are never actually attained without righteous desire on our part, the student finds that his former selfish desires—wanting to do something merely for his own betterment or pleasure—are being replaced by higher concepts. Fear, lack of certainty and vision are giving place to the larger views of sharing, thus putting into practice the invaluable lesson contained in the lines of a hymn:

"For we must share, if we would keep
That blessing from above;
They cease to have who cease to give:
Such is the law of Love."

Moreover, the desire to serve, which means to use our God-given talents for the good of the world, never fails to receive its opportunity for expression, and speedily, when the desire is sufficiently great.

Should anyone be tempted to feel that too much is being expected of him, he will find self instantly rebuked by recalling what the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science was called upon to do. Hers was the task of calmly challenging the whole world, and what an antagonistic, scornful world to challenge! Aside from the discovery and presentation of Christian Science, she was faced with the problem of founding her church in such a way as to make it inviolable from attacks both within and without. How unreservedly she must have turned to God for the strength and courage and patient compassion needed to protect herself and her discovery. Her own words remind us of her selflessness (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 249): "Millions may know that I am the Founder of Christian Science. I alone know what that means." We can never begin to know what trials she faced; but as we think of the millions of lives that have been saved and enlightened and blessed because this noble woman, the revelator of Christ, Truth, in this age, was supremely faithful to God and man, we find ourselves ennobled by pondering her example.

Clear, calm thinking is the demand of every age. He is serving humanity best who is doing the most consistently active and helpful thinking, whether that thinking is being done in the office of a Christian Science practitioner or of a business man, in the home, or elsewhere. All worthy human talents are at best eventually fused into one aim and purpose, that of being a true Christian Scientist. To the beginner who has felt the first inspirational effects of Christian Science healing and to the experienced student comes the same fundamental purpose of the genuine Christian Scientist: to serve God and mankind by thinking and acting up to the very best of his ability, thereby constantly enhancing that ability.

The world's need of Christian Science is so great that no one seeking to supply that need can pray too sincerely and earnestly to God to reveal to him those Christlike qualities of charity and courage which go hand-in-hand to comfort a world desperately in need of both. Phillips Brooks wrote, "He [God] has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch."

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