CHRISTIAN SCIENCE by Cyrus Simmons

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Nov 22, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 47.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.

By Cyrus Simmons

SCIENCE is another word for knowledge. It is knowledge reduced to law and embodied in system. By its laws one can reason from cause to effect, and from effect to cause. True Christian science is a knowledge of Christ according to a definite and unchangeable law. This is the science God desires us to master, for He wants us to know Him. "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings." Hosea 6:6.

By this knowledge we get eternal life. "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3. To know God is to have eternal life; to have life we must have the Son. "He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:12. Therefore true Christian science is the Gospel; for it is the knowledge of God, by God dwelling in man, whereby he has eternal life.

The Will or the Desire.

"The flesh profiteth nothing." The mind is the only medium by which God is able to communicate and reveal Himself to man. As our bodies are composed of what we eat, so our minds are made of what we think. Thought grows by what it feeds on. The incentive of thought is the will or the desire. It is the genesis of spiritual growth. All have an equal chance to acquire this knowledge, the science of salvation. The sin-darkened chambers of every mind are illuminated with light from heaven,—"the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9. It is God that works in us the will to do good. Phil. 2:13. Rotherham literally renders the word, "the desiring." This desiring is universally implanted in every human heart. All want to be better; all hope to be good.

The Thought.

The thought is the desire put in exercise. We are told that the wish is father to the thought. The mind naturally dwells upon what it loves. If we cultivate this God-given desire to do good, our wills become stronger, and we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. If we quench the Spirit, our wills become enfeebled, our powers of choice weakened, until we lose all control of ourselves. If we fail to heed these things, God's Spirit runs out of us "as leaking vessels." Heb. 2:1, margin. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Phil. 4:8.

The Act.

If the wish is father to the thought, the thought is father to the act. "Of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Luke 6:45. God gives us power both to will and to do. Phil. 2:13. Without divine assistance we are helpless. "For without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5.

God works in us by faith,—"that faith which worketh by love." The divine energy dwelling and working in us is not a theory, but to the Christian it is a fact. The science of religion teaches that salvation is not merely a mental operation; we are justified by faith; we are judged according to our works. The overcoming Christian must act; he can not be passive. To be colaborers with Christ we must work,—work out of us what God works in us. Then we can say with Paul, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16.

Conclusion.

The good we wish to do and the good we do are the effect of the divine energy working in us. The Lord is our righteousness. Notwithstanding this divine co-operation, the sovereignty of the will belongs to the individual. He may choose to do good or to do evil. Faith is God's to give; it is man's to accept. Both the desire and the energizing are given. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." If God is working in us, then the righteousness we desire and the righteousness we do are revelations of God to the individual. It is by this miraculous transformation of character that we are able to know Him. Salvation from sin acquaints us with Divinity. Christ in us the hope of glory is no longer a mystery, but is made manifest to His saints. This is true Christian science, the knowledge of Christ, the science of salvation.

CYRUS SIMMONS.