"Remember now thy Creator." ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD          It is not surprising that thought should turn betimes to the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, which begins with an admonition to remember our creator before the evil days draw nigh. Unfortunately, however, the whole of this beautiful chapter is regarded as a sort of memento mori, and many sincere Christians have believed that one of our most important duties is to remember death. It is true that if this chapter be read from the viewpoint of materiality, the thought of death and desolation is given great prominence. If we look through the windows of sense, the light of sun, moon, and stars will be darkened, "the keepers of the house shall tremble," and "the daughters of music shall be brought low." It was against this very thing, however, that the wise man sought to warn us when he wrote: "Remember now thy Creator . . . while the evil days come not;" and one who declared himself "greater than Solomon," said to those who accepted sense testimony, that although they had eyes they did not see, and he went farther than this when he declared, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death."          In studying the chapter further, we find what at first appears to be a dark picture of mourners going about the streets, and we are told about the loosing of "the silver cord." This is usually taken to mean that the tie which binds man to life is severed, but in Christian Science we find a higher meaning; we come to see that the belief which would hold us to a sense of life in matter is gently loosed, and thought then rises toward the deathless realm of Spirit. Let "the dust" return to dust, and let spiritual sense "return unto God who gave it"! As we learn what it means to "die daily" (to quote St. Paul), we cease to fear death, because Life as God is becoming each day more real to us.          In this chapter we are told that "the preacher sought to find out acceptable words, . . . even words of truth," yet he offers us what seems a mournful picture of mortal existence. It is only too true that unless we "remember" our creator, understand spiritual being, the way here outlined is the way of all flesh, but it is not the Christ way. The Master said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." It was always life with him! Our revered Leader says, "His senses drank in the spiritual evidence of health, holiness, and life;" whereas, in the case of his opponents, "their senses testified oppositely, and absorbed the material evidence of sin, sickness, and death" (Science and Health, p. 52).          To heal the sick as Jesus did we must pierce through the veil of belief in matter. At every point we must grasp and hold the spiritual fact of God and His idea, which is clothed with immortality. Then we shall know what is meant by man's going "to his long home." We used to believe that this meant the grave. But does anything which stands for manhood go into the grave? Does love, or life, or hope, or aspiration? Never! The psalmist said, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." How good, then, to have this for our "long home." Mrs. Eddy says, "Our surety is in our confidence that we are indeed dwellers in Truth and Love, man's eternal mansion" (Pulpit and Press, p. 3).          There is no note of uncertainty in any of the sayings of Christ Jesus as we read them in the light of Christian Science, nor, for that matter in any of the Bible statements when they are illumined by Truth. What if to the early writers the Christ-appearing seemed to be in the far future, as to many professed Christians of today it is held to have been in the far past! Christian Science reveals the ever-present Christ, and bids us "remember now" and always that God is not the creator of sin, disease, or death. Thus doing, the "evil days" will never come; nay, they cannot come, to those who "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."   "'Remember now thy Creator.'" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, October 2, 1909

 

| Home | Library |

Copyright © 1996-2012 CSEC