Finding Refuge in Truth
IN the fourth chapter of Luke is recorded an incident of extraordinary interest. Christ Jesus, addressing the Jews in the synagogue at Nazareth, rebuked their lack of spiritual perception and receptiveness. Their anger was roused. They "thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong."
The record shows that they apparently had Jesus at their mercy. Yet, what happened? Even this: his conscious spiritual unity with God, divine Mind, was manifested; in the words of Luke, "He passing through the midst of them went his way." Thus evil was unable to perpetrate an intended act of violence against him. The Master's submission to the divine will had removed him from the influence of human will and revealed a way of escape.
Many in the world today are seeking refuge from the elements of mortal mind, and thus are in need of the same spiritual understanding which would ensure security and freedom from aggression.
Fortunately for this era, through the purity of her thought, Mary Baker Eddy discovered the divine Principle which Jesus perfectly understood and demonstrated, proving man's unity with God. And today Christian Science makes possible for humanity the demonstration of harmony, protection, and exemption from disaster.
On page 292 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," under the marginal heading "Immortal man," Mrs. Eddy writes, "Man would be annihilated, were it not for the spiritual real man's indissoluble connection with his God, which Jesus brought to light." None knew better than Christ Jesus the real nature of God as Love, the all-governing divine Mind. Christian Science reveals the infinitude of Love, the allness of Spirit, the oneness of God, who neither knows nor allows evil. Further, Christian Science shows God to be divine Principle, preserving His own ideas and ensuring the harmony and peace of man, made in His own image and likeness, and governed by spiritual law. Through reflection, the unchallengeable qualities of divine Mind find expression in spiritual man. Knowing this exempts us from all influences that would seem to oppose good. It was Jesus' understanding of "the spiritual real man's indissoluble connection with his God" that enabled him to do his mighty works of healing, to overcome death for others in three recorded instances, and finally to overcome it for himself.
Man, reflecting and expressing the purity, perfection, and omnipotence of divine intelligence and Life, is not subject to disease or death. Neither can catastrophe, tragedy, nor calamity be known to him, for he constantly abides in Truth, Life, and Love. Frustration, deprivation, reversal are also unknown to the spiritual real man, governed by divine law.
Mrs. Eddy, in a letter to a branch church, said (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 152), "May meekness, mercy, and love dwell forever in the hearts of those who worship in this tabernacle." And in the next paragraph she adds, "Thus founded upon the rock of Christ, when storm and tempest beat against this sure foundation, you, safely sheltered in the strong tower of hope, faith, and Love, are God's nestlings; and He will hide you in His feathers till the storm has passed."
The writer of the book of Proverbs voices the same calm trust and hope in God, and assurance of protection, when he says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." What comfort there is in this thought! How we should aim to gain easier and quicker access into "the strong tower of hope, faith, and Love," which affords such welcome refuge from the devastating storms of earthly beliefs!
Our Leader, in her statement quoted above, does not ignore the world's belief in evil, which assails by "storm and tempest," but affirms the great fact of the surety of perfect refuge. Throughout her writings, she shows the temporal and unreal nature of evil in all its forms, and teaches that the stability and substantiality of peace, harmony, happiness, and well-being, constituting the true heritage of man, are demonstrable. Through the understanding of God as the only power, evil is seen as powerless to affect the status of the real man, or to sever his "indissoluble connection with his God." There is nothing to deprive spiritual man of aught that as God's reflection is his. God, maintaining His creation intact, supplies every needed quality and condition. Thus Truth sustains, blesses, and governs all that really exists.
True refuge and security are to be found in knowing these facts of real being and in demonstration of the ever-availability and universality of the divine law, the demonstration of the ever-presence of God's goodness and love. Thus refuge is primarily a spiritually mental condition. When men reach this exalted state of thought, no aggressive intent will find expression in their human affairs, no self-will obtrude itself, no lie assert itself, no accuser find a hearing. Those who love good, and avail themselves of the understanding of God as the only power and presence, thus find refuge in Truth and ever-present opportunity to prove His goodness and love for themselves and others.
As the evil elements of mortal belief come more and more rapidly to the surface, they do not thus become real; nor should they seem real to the right thinker. Before an understanding of immutable Truth, before the unchangeable nature of the divine law governing the universe, including man, evil must cease its clamor for place and power and disappear from the experience of mankind. In her poem "Mother's Evening Prayer" Mrs. Eddy writes
(Poems, p. 4):"Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all."
