CHRISTIAN UNITY

"The lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the sick, the sensual, the sinner, I wished to save from the slavery of their own beliefs and from the educational systems of the Pharaohs, who to-day, as of yore, hold the children of Israel in bondage. I saw before me the awful conflict, the Red Sea and the wilderness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of man are fully known and acknowledged" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 226, 227). In these words Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, expresses the God-inspired purpose that impelled her to labor unremittingly through many years to bless and help mankind.

Mrs. Eddy loved humanity with the compassionate love of the Christ —an impersonal love that took into tender consideration the people of every race and religious sect. She recognized the mental and spiritual darkness by which incorrect concepts of God and man have through the ages held the human race in bondage, and her revelation and discovery broke the fetters of false theology and established the understanding of man's forever inseparability from God.

In spite of devotion to the noblest of ideals, Mrs. Eddy's motives and character have been the object of continued misrepresentation and opprobrium. Many books have been written and sermons delivered completely distorting her life and teaching. Nevertheless the Church which she founded stands, and the healing, which is the irrefutable proof of the truth of her revelation of the Christ Science, goes on.

The Sermon on the Mount had a deep significance to the revelator of Christian Science. One can well understand how the words of the Master comforted her and enabled her to stand undisturbed and without reproach in the face of calumny and slander. It can do the same for Christian Science and Christian Scientists today. Christ Jesus said (Matt. 5:11, 12): "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Christian Science teaches that God is Love; that Love is not an abstraction, but the substance of all being; and that this Love must be lived. It declares that regardless of sense testimony to the contrary, Love is the only presence and law. Love is the Mind and consciousness of man. This divine fact completely nullifies and negatives the imposed belief in many hating minds, malicious and discordant. Christian Science enables us to see that those who seem to hate are the victims of imposition, from which Truth will awaken them to the realization of their true being as the image and reflection of Love.

Through spiritual vision Mrs. Eddy saw that hate, malice, and all evil are the imposed false beliefs of mortal mind, the basic error. This enabled her to impersonalize evil, to disassociate it from man, and in the face of persecution and defamation to love her enemies because in truth she knew she had no enemies. On several occasions in her public addresses and messages Mrs. Eddy exhorted Christian Scientists to love the people of all religious faiths. In her message to The Mother Church in June, 1906, she wrote (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 4): "A genuine Christian Scientist loves Protestant and Catholic, D. D. and M. D.,— loves all who love God, good; and he loves his enemies. It will be found that, instead of opposing, such an individual subserves the interests of both medical faculty and Christianity, and they thrive together, learning that Mind-power is good will towards men. Thus unfolding the true metal in character, the iron in human nature rusts away; honesty and justice characterize the seeker and finder of Christian Science."

Christian Scientists recognize that this applies equally to our brothers the world over. Indeed, the brotherhood of man is based on the unity and oneness of Mind's ideas in universal being. The Christian Scientist knows that in the oneness and allness of Love there is no place for sectarian divisions and doctrinal disputes. One Mind, one divine consciousness, will, when demonstrated, end the confusion of religious Babel, as it will in all things. "Behold," sang the Psalmist (Ps. 133:1–3), "how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, ... as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

Conscientious and receptive study of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, inevitably results in the continuous abandonment of false theological concepts. Reason coincides with revelation, and a new standpoint is won. Much that Mrs. Eddy taught and declared seventy years ago is now preached in many Christian pulpits. Devout ministers of varied faiths are forsaking dogma and ritual. They are hungering for the simplicity that is in Christ. They are less concerned about the letter, and are sincere seekers for Spirit. Christian Science views with loving interest the readiness of many Protestant denominations to give up the emphasis on personal religious views and unite in the brotherhood of Christ.

Mrs. Eddy foresaw that as Christian Scientists faithfully show forth in their lives the fruitage of healing, other Christian churches will gradually adopt her teaching and will commence its demonstration by healing the sick and sinning as did the Master. Today, as we witness a steady growth in unity among our brethren, we look forward to the consummation of our Leader's prophecy, for in "Pulpit and Press" Mrs. Eddy writes (pp. 21, 22): "Our unity with churches of other denominations must rest on the spirit of Christ calling us together. It cannot come from any other source. Popularity, self-aggrandizement, aught that can darken in any degree our spirituality, must be set aside. Only what feeds and fills the sentiment with unworldliness, can give peace and good will towards men." And she continues, "When the doctrinal barriers between the churches are broken, and the bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love, there will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of Christ will prevail. Then shall Zion have put on her most beautiful garments, and her waste plates budded and blossomed as the rose."

Richard J. Davis

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Editorial
THE CONSISTENCY OF THE CHRIST
January 6, 1951
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