MAN'S INHERITANCE

LAWRENCE EDWIN WOOD

A traveler from a very young nation visited an ancient land. Its lovely old country houses with their beautiful gardens and parks made a deep impression on him, and he rather envied those who were the owners and heirs of so much good. It seemed almost unjust that some by the right of inheritance should be so fortunate, while others lacked even a modest cottage.

Some time later, when he was in need of physical healing, a friend gave him some Christian Science literature. He read it with great joy and soon perceived that here was an inheritance which gave far more satisfaction than the richest material heritage of money, lands, or rank could promise. He learned that God, who is the creator of all, is infinite divine Love; that He has created His sons and daughters as equal heirs of all His love and goodness. He learned, too, that his inheritance from God was perfect health and well-being, because man, created in His image and likeness, images forth the nature of his Maker.

He read in Proverbs (8:19-21): "My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures." And he studied the definition of God as given on page 587 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy; "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence."

As he pondered the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, he learned that God, Principle, is the foundation on which all law, integrity, morality, and justice rests. He saw that obedience to the First Commandment (Ex. 20:3), "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," was necessary for one to demonstrate harmonious being. He discovered that God as Mind is the source of all true intelligence, wisdom, and comprehension; that joy, peace, harmony, confidence, and true substance characterize all that He is or does; that goodness, inspiration. diligence, and promptness are typical of Spirit; that because all life is spiritual, not material, it is indestructible, for it is the expression of divine Life, without beginning or end.

He recognized that truth is demonstrable and that it declares that man, by his reflection of the nature and character of God, has dominion. This dominion is man's birthright, his inheritance. Acknowledging God as Love, he discerned man as His beloved child, forever sustained, maintained, watched over, and altogether blessed, separated forever from the penalties that are associated with the belief of material heredity. In this divine heritage evil is unknown, for it is nonexistent.

The healing works of the great Way-shower, Christ Jesus, became illumined and were seen not as miracles, but rather as the natural manifestations of God, "the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal." Jesus clearly understood that the demonstration of Love's omnipotence lay in the recognition of man's inheritance of the goodness, health, and well-being of his Father-Mother God, the only power and presence. The former traveler read Mrs. Eddy's statement in Science and Health (p.228): "The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God-given dominion over the material senses. Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science."

He no longer envied the heir to a material estate, however desirable it appeared, for he had come into an inheritance which could never be taken away. He found traits and habits that were burdensome and hindering, because unlike the nature and character of God, dropping away. For instance, he became more patient and better tempered; tobacco became distasteful, and the habit was overcome; alcohol became repellent; and the understanding of the allness of God and of man's relationship to Him cast out fear, as it must always do, and healed him. Because he had believed that supply was material, he had felt limited, but as the years passed and he understood supply to consist of illimitable spiritual ideas, he was healed of a sense of lack. Knowing God as All-in-all, the only employer, he found that the only employment lay in learning to understand the nature and character of God.

The promise of the Revelator was measurably fulfilled in his experience (21:7): "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."

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