Heaven ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD          The word heaven appears in the Bible nearly five hundred times. It is indeed in the opening statement of Genesis, where we read, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Many have eagerly asked where heaven is, but those who think more deeply ask what heaven is. In Mrs. Heman's beautiful poem, "The Better Land," a child is supposed to say: — Mother, O where is that radiant shore? Shall we not seek it and weep no more? The poem goes on to describe the scenes of earthly beauty which make strong appeal to child and adult alike, but it closes with these lines: — Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy, Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy, Dreams cannot picture a world so fair, Sorrow and death may not enter there. Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, For beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb, It is there, it is there, my child. Are we not assured in Holy Writ that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things prepared for us by divine Love?          In Mrs. Eddy's writings the word heaven and its derivatives appear almost as many times as in the Bible, and every reference to heaven lifts thought above the old localized concepts up to the spiritual realization which finds heaven wherever God is, and that might even be in hell, according to the psalmist. On page 587 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" heaven is defined thus: "Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." To many, heaven implies its opposite, namely, hell; but in Christian Science it excludes hell in the same way that light causes darkness to vanish.          We must not forget that to the advancing human thought there are different states and stages of consciousness. Jesus spoke of himself as "the Son of man which is in heaven," and yet he was to the human sense dwelling on earth at the time. According to the Scriptures there are different planes of spiritual existence which are called heaven. Paul speaks of someone who was "caught up to the third heaven," and he says, "Of such an one will I glory." Just here it may be well to lift thought above the mortal concept of heaven, which has been too generally held by religious thinkers. The human mind is essentially indolent, and seldom works without the desire that the work might be ended, and so it was customary at one time to think of heaven as a place where all work ceased and where there was perpetual psalm singing and waving of palms. Now it is true that Christ Jesus did promise rest to his followers, but it certainly was not the rest of inactivity, much less stagnation, for his requirement is, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." Then comes heaven and rest, but it is something wholly different from that which is outlined by mortal belief.          Every faithful student of Christian Science knows that as we take upon us the Christ-yoke of understanding, our efforts are no longer painful or even toilsome, whatever may be the line of our daily endeavor. The Master did not hesitate to say, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," and nowhere did he intimate that in the Father's house of many mansions there was any place for idleness. It is quite true that even on the material plane of activity the work of those who are truly progressive becomes more and more mental, but so long as it is believed that the brain does the work the effort will continue to be toilsome and results sadly disappointing.          The Christian Science practitioner may often find his work far below the perfect ideal of Christian Science in that at times it seems to be very arduous, but he takes fresh courage in knowing that the Master's work was sometimes so, humanly speaking, and St. Paul tells that his was so; but this is only because of the tremendous pressure of mortal belief, which insists upon the reality of sin, sickness, and death. The belief in an epidemic which has recently swept the country from shore to shore goes to show the readiness with which mortal mind accepts the very thing it fears, and forges new chains for itself, despite the terrible results of so doing. Now no one has ever argued that disease prevails in heaven, much less sin and death, and yet the Christian Scientist knows that heaven is here even now because God is omnipresent and omnipotent, and that the conditions which deny His omnipresence and omnipotence have neither authority nor power.          In that marvelous twenty-first chapter of Revelation we are told of a new heaven and also a new earth, for the mortal concepts based upon the belief of life in matter had, to the inspired apostle, passed away. It is deeply significant to read that this divine ideal is progressively "coming down from God," and we have the full assurance of Holy Writ that when we can see it there will no longer be for us pain, sorrow, or death. We may, therefore, dwell in heaven all the time, and the activity to which we are called is the overcoming of all that is unlike God, the destruction of fear, unbelief, lust, hatred, sorcery, and idolatry. As our steps are taken in obedience to divine law we rise and still rise until our spiritual activity will correspond to that presented by our Master when he said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." On page 12 of "The People's Idea of God" Mrs. Eddy says, "Our Father bestows heaven not more willingly than health; for without health there could be no heaven."   "Heaven" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, March 1, 1919

 

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