THE COMFORTER

ETHEL L. SINEATH

In no other one thing is the Bible more specific than in its teachings of the love of God for His children. In Isaiah we read (66:13), "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." And Christ Jesus, who faithfully pro-pounded the Word of God and demonstrated its healing power, said to his disciples (John 14:16), "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."

Today this Comforter has come. It is available to all in a form easy to understand and utilize. Through the teachings of Christian Science the Comforter is revealed as the impersonal Christ, Truth. Mary Baker Eddy writes in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.332), "Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God—the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth." And in referring to the Master's words quoted earlier, she states (ibid., p.55), "This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science."

Students of this Science accept their Leader's statement that Christian Science is the Comforter, the Christ-thought which Jesus demonstrated and which he promised would be made available to all. They are proving that it is accomplishing that which Jesus said the Comforter would do. Christian Science is based on the words and works of Christ Jesus and has established their verity through demonstration and fulfillment of that which was promised, namely (John 16:13), "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth."

The revelation of the allness of God, the perfection of man, and the nothingness and unreality of matter, sin, or evil is the truth into which the Comforter is guiding mankind. The consciousness that evil is but an illusion of the material senses leads to the understanding of the all-power of God, good. The Comforter has brought to each one who has accepted it a firm conviction of what the truth is and of what it is doing for mankind today. If we are miserable or sick, we may be sure it is because our thinking has not become spiritualized enough to perceive the presence of the Comforter. We have only to increase our understanding of God as Spirit in order to recognize His promised presence.

To comfort means to give help to a person in sorrow or pain; to relieve of mental distress; to impart strength and hope. Christian Science shows its students how to follow Christ Jesus, the Way-shower. Through this Comforter we find comfort and are able to impart hope and strength to others. Spiritual healing is no longer the hope of a few. Through the revealed Christ, Truth, the Comforter is available to all who will accept it.

The writer was healed of a deep sense of sorrow. Her father, after an active day with the family, suddenly passed on. Other members of the family were able to find a measure of peace and consolation. Yet for two years it was a physical heartache to the writer, and she could find no comforting assurance from any source. Despite her willingness to study Christian Science and to apply what she learned, the burden persisted.

One day while she was driving in the country with her children, her little daughter, losing sight of a car around a bend in the road ahead, remarked, "If I were above the trees, I could still see it." Like a light the truth penetrated the writer's thinking. "If I were above the density of material belief, I could see my father," she thought. This comprehension of the truth aroused her from apathetic thinking. The truth of man's indestructible being as actually the image of God became clearer to her, and a comforting sense of the ever-presence of God as Father-Mother filled her consciousness.

The writer never again grieved for her human parent. She understood better Mrs. Eddy's words to a student as recorded in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p.157): "Yes, my student, my Father is your Father; and He helps us most when help is most needed, for He is the ever-present help."

The Comforter, the eternal Christ, Truth, has indeed come. We have only to avail ourselves of it in order to experience its beneficent effect.

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