Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-26

concept of God to those VINO nave
Il not come in touch with it through
experience, one must clear the ground
of some ideas falsely associated with
Deity before he can point the way to
that scientific and practical under
standing of His nature which Christian
Science unfolds.
All Christendom unites in ascribing
TO God the attributes of omnipotence'
onnipresence and omniscience. If all
men accepted these terms at their race
value. there would be no need Tor the
Christian Scientist to insist on the ao-
solute impossibility of any reality in
matter or in evil as part of the dlVlhe
nature, manifestation, or purpose. Al
together too we'll have men learned TO
take the universe as they find it, and
then to adapt their thought of COO TO
their own chaotic sense of things The
Christian Scientist accepts God as He
n,anifests Himself in Christian reVela-
tion and then corrects his concept OF
the universe accordingly; afterwards
verifying his conclusions in a richly
modified experience with this human
environment. In short, the Christian
Scientist affirms of God nearly II not
sll the attributes enumerated in the
through thick and through thin he
sticks to his thesis. A large part OF
Christendom likewise declares for the
infinite goodness and power of God
and then vacates its premise IN order
that it may make room for an evil
presence and power, an intelligent ma
Ievolent and scheming devil.
Accept Reproach
I CHristian Scientists are even re-
rroi .ched because they have no devil,
and they accept the reproach. Yet they
hava to contend with and overcome
the sa me apparent evil as do others
And the unquestioned evil in human
passion and fear, in sin, disease ana
death m ay seem at times, to those VINO
have not yet learned not to fear 1t, as
,orrid an d hydra-headed, and certainly
a far more familiar monster than the
traditional devil of lroof and horn The
advantage of the Christian Scientists
attitude of thought fnheres in the fact
that he recognizes evil as no part of
the divine order and therefore as haV-
ing no more entity, consistency reason
for being n or continuance than do the
dreadful monsters of a nightmare. He,
therefore, insists that to understand
cod's allnesss one must first abandon
all thought of evil as an Independent
power, as a degenerate part of Gods
creation, or as "good in the making,
and relegate it all-"the devil and his
Works'-to the realm of Elusive phe-
romena, self-evolved and self-destruc-
tive Not otherwise, be ones logic
ever so agile, can the o1nnipotent, om-
nipresent goodness of God be estab-
lished in fact or in faith.
The description of God given by Mrs.
Eddy, the Leader of Christian Science,
TO whom every Christian Science owes
all that he knows of this truth, is as
follows:
Gives Description
God. The great Am; the all
knowing, all-seeing, aLl-acting, all
WISE all-loving and eternal; Principle;
Mind Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love;
all substance; intelligence" (Science
and Health, p. 587) Elsewhere she
speaks of Him as the infinite Father
Mother" "the universal cause, the only
creator" (Idem) By each of these
terms she illustrates some phase of the
divine nature. Thinking of God as
Principle one may learn of Him as
the source of all true being, may under
stand in a degree the invincible integ-
rity and changeleSSneSS OF His nature,
the infinite scope of His power and also
His nearnesS in the very minutiae of
human life Thinking of Him as Mind,
one divorces thought from corporeality
and anthropomorphiSm, and recognizes
infinite personality as inspiration and
origin of all wisdom. of all science and
of that spiritual thought energy which
creates and sustains man and the uni
verse. Thinking of God as Spirit and
as substance, one eliminates matter and
all its supposed law and phenomena
from His being and His expression and
denies pantheism. AS Father-M Mother,
one apprehends, in a measure, His in
finite tenderness and kindly protection.
But the Christian Scientists supreme
effort and aspiration, Mrs. Eddy eX-
presses in her message to the Mother
Church, June, 1901: "As Christian Sci
entsts you seek to define God to your
own consciousness, by feeling and ap-
plying the nature and practical possi-
bilties of divine Love; to gain the alb
solute and supreme certainty that
Christianity is now what Christ Jesus
taught and demonstrated-health holi-
ness, immortality"
Many Seek knowledge
Humanity is profoundly concerned to
understand God, and sincere men well
come any and every ray Of light shed
on His nature and His ways. 1t is a
self-important and caviling critic that
will reject such illumination because
he conceiVes it to be unconventional or
without precedent, because it is scien
tific, that is, Well-Ordered and demon
strable and not merely intuitive or
emotional as religious light has been
declared to be- The critic who asserts
that our God is mo God" but merely
a substitute for Deity, is simply Jug
Cling with words and calls for no
answer, except fOr the fact that
thoughtless readers may accept sound
for sense and harden their hearts in
shrinking fear of something new in
Christian faith. Words are but poor
vessels for spiritual truth though they
serve as honest enough Instruments for
an honest thought. To a quibbler they
furnish abundant material for binding
moth ones self and others.
The one thing men most desire to
know about God is in regard to His at
titude toward humanity. And Christian
Science has much to offer here, for it is
practical in all it's teachings and meets
an honest searcher always on the
ground of his greatest need. The early
Hebrew corporealized God as his king
and aVenger. Jesus endeaVored to
transform this crude thought by exalt-
ing God as q loving Father and friend,
as a guardian presence and protector.
But early Christendom early lost the
love out of it's thought of God by again
personifying Him as magistrate and
Judge, and bringing the race to His
throne not as wayward children craV-
ing His protection, but as suppliant
criminals cursed for the sin of a COM
mon ancestor.
Cruel in Its Hopelessness