Many centuries ago the Psalmist said, implying that God is ever present, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Spiritually-minded men in all ages have believed in the omnipresence of God. Moses and the prophets did many wonderful works through their understanding of God's omnipresence. Our beloved Master, with his greater understanding of God's allness and of the spiritual man's unity with God, healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed the multitude. During the dark ages this spiritual power was temporarily lost, but it reappeared with the advent of Christian Science, which is based on an understanding of the allness of God, and which shows what His omnipresence really means.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 466): "Omni is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying all. Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science or true knowledge, all-presence." Mrs. Eddy grasped the significant fact that God's omnipresence must mean the absence of, the utter nothingness of, everything that is unlike God. She saw that if anything unlike God, good, seems to be present, this is but an illusion or false belief of the carnal mind, which the right understanding of God's allness destroys. Christian Science teaches the necessity for an understanding of God and of man in His likeness. We must understand God's omnipresence and the unreality of sin, disease, and death, in order to obey the Master's command to preach the gospel and heal the sick.

Since God, good, is ever present, filling all space, there is no place for evil to occupy. Our beloved Leader writes (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 102, 103): "Science defines omnipresence as universality, that which precludes the presence of evil. This verity annuls the testimony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil power, and substance is perishable." Evil is illusion or false belief. It may seem to be present, but it has no actuality. For example, a sleeper dreams that he sees terrible animals in dreadful surroundings. These objects are present only as dream-images. They take up no space. They are not present materially. So all evil is illusion, having no presence or reality.

All good is ever present. The omnipresence of God includes the ever-presence of His qualities. So, goodness, purity, perfection, peace, health, and harmony have never been absent at any time. How grateful we should be for the revelation of this truth!

Life is ever present, for God is Life. Jesus understood the ever-presence of Life. When the nobleman whose son was at the point of death came to him for help, Jesus said, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." It was as if he had said that God, who is man's Life, is ever present, and man reflects Life. Jesus' understanding of the truth of real being brought healing, for it is recorded that as the nobleman returned homeward he met his servants, who told him that his son was well again. Questioning further, he learned that his son had been healed in the same hour that Jesus said, "Thy son liveth." This is Scriptural proof that the recognition of ever-present Life destroys the belief of death.

God being Love, Love is ever present. Love is infinitely tender, gentle, patient, compassionate, and pure. When our great Master was crucified, hatred, malice, and treachery seemed to have dominion, but the resurrection proved Love and Life to be ever present and all-powerful.

Christian Science reveals that, because God, Spirit, is omnipresent, matter is unreal. In order to heal, we must know that God and His spiritual creation are ever present, and that matter, with its discord, sin, sickness, and death, is nowhere. The allness of Spirit and the consequent unreality of matter are indicated in these words from Hebrews: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

Understanding of the omnipresence of God and the perfection of man in His likeness is the basis of Christian Science treatment. In the Christian Science textbook are numerous reminders of the ever-presence of good, and the faithful student meditates upon this truth. Sometimes our failure to heal quickly may be due to negative thinking. We may spend more time denying evil conditions than in realizing the ever-presence of good, of health, harmony, holiness, and perfection.

To our beloved Leader the presence of Love was the great reality of being. She needed this realization, for she had to face the material resistance of the world in her pioneer work of founding the Christian Science movement. How real God's presence must have been to her! Through her teachings, thousands, faced with sorrow, suffering, and death, have been able to realize the presence of God and the perfection of man, and find refuge in "the secret place of the most High." In the words from her poem "Mother's Evening Prayer" (Poems, p. 4):

"His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all."