Among the blessings given to her followers and to all mankind by Mrs. Eddy in her writings is her precise use of words to convey the wonderful message of Christian Science. Often the shades of meaning of a passage are illumined by the words she uses in accuracy and timeliness to guide the searching thought of the student.

In one instance Mrs. Eddy uses the very expressive word "phantasmagoria" to depict the sweeping thought of the changing human scene. This scene stands out in contrast to the real universe of God's creating, spiritual, substantial, and eternal. A dictionary definition of this unusual word includes the meaning of an optical effect produced by a magic lantern when the mechanism is adjusted so as to make the picture seem to recede into the distance or rush toward the observer. After an impression of surprise or fear the viewer would recognize that the presentation is only a picture and no part of his actual experience. The word also has the meaning of a shifting assemblage of illusive images.

In the passage referred to in Unity of Good, Mrs. Eddy brings into bold relief the difference between the real, unchanging creation of God and the unreal, changing, and illusory false beliefs of mortal mind. The suggestion of evil that God is the source and authority for error is handled by this wonderful statement: "You mistake, O evil! God is not your authority and law. Neither is He the author of the material changes, the phantasma, a belief in which leads to such teaching as we find in the hymn-verse so often sung in church:—

"Now if it be true that God's power never waneth, how can it be also true that chance and change are universal factors,—that man decays?" ^{Un., p. 26;} With the clarity born of her inspired perception of the real universe, in contrast to the illusions of material sense, Mrs. Eddy concludes the passage, "The phantasmagoria is a product of human dreams."

The human scene seems to be one of universal change, of varying degrees of error and shades of goodness. Yet, as wide in scope as it seems to be, the individual's concept of the human scene is made up of his beliefs about it, mingled with what he knows of reality, or God. No two individuals have the same world. Each individual's concept is peculiarly his own because the state of his thinking is his alone. It is colored by the proportions of good and evil, spiritual substance and material dream, that he entertains. His concept improves as his belief becomes more spiritual.

The responsibility for shaping, in thought and in human experience, the world in which he lives is in the hands of each individual. If he believes in chance and change, he can take the steadying hand of Christian Science to lead him to a new understanding of the universe of God's creating, spiritual, infinitely good, unchanging, and eternal. This is one's real dwelling place—the Father's house in which there are many mansions of spiritual shelter, in which one's true consciousness dwells.

The Master, Christ Jesus, pointed the way to eternal, harmonious, changeless being, and he left us this rich heritage to claim for ourselves as we follow his words and works: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." ^{John 14:27;} His clear understanding of man as the image and likeness of God and of his own oneness with the Father was the basis for his marvelous healing works. The world in which Jesus lived was one of turmoil. The gross materiality of his day, as today, rejected the Christ and sought to destroy it, but the cross and the tomb never held the immaculate idea. Error persecuted only its own beliefs. The Son of God, the Christ-idea, never left the presence of the Father. It reflected always God's power to heal and save.

Divine Science, the Comforter, is the friend of mankind. In a world of struggle it holds the answer to peace by bringing once again the understanding of reality—man's sonship with God—and explaining the unreality of all that is unlike God's infinite goodness. In the midst of confusion it shows us how to hold our thought steadfastly to the permanent and real.

Because God is Mind, Science declares the oneness and allness of the divine Mind and denies the belief in many antagonistic, competitive minds. Every idea necessary for man's harmony and completeness is safely enfolded in this infinite Mind, and the seeker for Truth joys in the unfoldment of divine reality as he studies the Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, as one searching for a treasure of spiritual ideas. These ideas dawn upon the receptive thought as the false, material sense of self gives way to man's forever expression of God through Christ, Truth.

Home and happiness may seem to be influenced by the outward show of material pressures. However, the student of Christian Science knows that joy is his by divine right because of his divine sonship. As he turns to the Father for his home and supply, he finds that he already includes in his real being the perfect concept of home and harmony, waiting only to be revealed as his thought grows pure enough to receive it.

Piercing the phantasmagoria of human dreams there is today, as there has always been, the beacon of Truth that beckons us to follow it and leave behind the darkness of belief in evil as real. No one is left out of God's plan. As the power of the Christ uncovers the nothingness and powerlessness of evil, those hungering and thirsting for righteousness will find their completeness and satisfaction in divine Love's allness.

Let us who have been so blessed by the divine ministry of Christian Science be watchful that we include all mankind in our prayers and exclude no one. The illusions of the senses would cloak our brother men in sin, sickness, and others forms of evil. Let our understanding of God's man clothe him in purity, health, and wholeness. Thus will our own universe be peopled with spiritual ideas, and we shall find our completeness in our brother's good.

Shall we choose the scene of phantasmagoria—the changing and fleeting—or the scene of eternal Life, God, of reality? Mrs. Eddy plants our thought firmly in Truth when she writes: "Nowhere in Scripture is evil connected with good, the being of God, and with every passing hour it is losing its false claim to existence or consciousness. All that can exist is God and His idea." ^{Un., p. 47.}