"He that hath" ALBERT F. GILMORE, CSB          The ethical doctrines set forth in the Sermon on the Mount cover the needs of humanity to an extraordinary degree. They touch upon the multitudinous ways of life, illuminating human experience with a light almost blinding in its intensity. One of those flashlights of spiritual truth which Christ Jesus utilized with telling effect is the statement recorded in the gospel of Mark, "He that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." Students of the Bible have long pondered this seemingly cryptic statement, often in doubt as to its significance, and sometimes reaching the conclusion that it promulgates a doctrine far below the high standard of the Nazarene's teachings. As with many obscure and apparently contradictory passages in the Holy Scriptures, Christian Science clarifies this statement with directness, and conclusively.          The Christian Scientist knows that progress Spiritward is made only by gaining the Mind of Christ; that is to say, in proportion as his thought is spiritualized. He knows that salvation from sinful beliefs and material restrictions — eternal life, heaven — is to be gained on no other basis than that of spiritual understanding. Then, is it not clear that as one applies even the grain of truth which he has, he will gain more of truth, since spiritual perception grows as it is made use of? Spiritual growth is through unfoldment, and that one who is spiritually active, who yearns and strives for righteousness, progresses most rapidly. Verily, then, to him that hath shall be given: he who has gained and applied some degree of wisdom will gain more understanding through the use of that which he has. The converse is equally practical of illustration. From him who has a darkened vision, heavy with the clouds of materiality, may eventually seem to disappear the gleam of light which, perhaps, he has had. If such a one does not constantly struggle against the closing in of the shades of mortal belief, the light may fail him. Unless he is awake to the situation, knowing the perverseness of evil and all its claims, he will indeed lose that which he has; that is to say, his vision will become more material. Thus will he seem to lose his spiritual pilot, the gentle Christ, patiently waiting to guide him.          Christian Scientists are well aware of the necessity of utilizing the truth as it unfolds to them, that it may grow into the perfect day. Not infrequently is the excuse given for seeming failure to progress that one knows so little of Truth that it would be useless to attempt to apply it. To such, the parable of the mustard seed should convey a valuable lesson. This, the least of all seeds, we read, when grown is the greatest among herbs, so large that even the birds lodge in its branches. Possibilities of boundless growth lie open before all who will gain and apply the truth, item by item, precept by precept. Mrs. Eddy says in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 449), "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing." To gain more of the Christ, Truth, is the aim and desire of every worthy student of our beloved Leader's teachings. Surely, the honest disciple has unlimited opportunities for demonstration and development.          It sometimes occurs with Christian Scientists that after a period of growth, accompanied with a large return in blessedness, there seems to follow a period of partial arrestment of development, of stagnation as it were. It seems that unfoldment ceases and barriers lie across the way. Sometimes this seeming condition results from a failure to change one's viewpoint from matter to Spirit, from belief in the universe as material to the understanding that Spirit and the spiritual creation constitute all that is real. They still look up to God, not out from Him. They seem to forget that as the emanation or reflection of divine Mind, man never rests on a material basis, and is never apart from the source of his being, God. The spiritual man's viewpoint, then, is always from the spiritual reality, for he is conscious of no other existence. Belief in matter is wholly without his ken. He looks out from Spirit, never from a point outside God's spiritual universe; for God and His creation are all-inclusive. The recognition of man's true viewpoint as that of spirituality, as that of the child of God, helps to lay aside the tatters of materiality for the truly substantial garments of Spirit.          How wonderfully has Mrs. Eddy set forth all this in the Christian Science textbook! In forecasting the transformation which human thought is sure to undergo in its progress from the belief in matter to the understanding of Mind, she depicts the great changes that will take place in the seeming material universe: '"As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed.' . . . The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, — he will look out from them upon the universe; and the florist will find his flower before its seed" (Science and Health, p. 125). What marvelous experiences are foretold in these promises! How blessed is man as God's beloved son!   "He that hath" by Albert F. Gilmore, CSB Christian Science Sentinel, December 1, 1923

 

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