The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-06-08

EVIL is not power" wherever God
Is understood. Evil is nothing but
ignorance of God. 1t is only the sup
posed absence of Gods presence,
which Is an impossibility. We must
remember, nevertheless, that a belief
of goodness has little relation to in
finite good. This belief must unfold
into a real faith In the power of
good, and then this faith must rise
to spiritual understanding The sick
man may believe In the ever-presence
of God; but when that presence heals
him, he no longer believes he knows
that God Is everywhere present. Thus
Christian Science furnishes under
standing and proof instead of what
was formerly but a belief
SIN NOT OF GOD.
Jesus employed the word sin in the
four Gospels over a hundred times.
In each case the term employed, in
the Greek manuscript. is the word
'hamartia. 1t may be helpful to
know therefore that the first mean
ing imputed to this word 'hamartia"
is "a failure to hit the mark" as in
the throwing OF a spear. The an
cient Greeks were especially fond of
athletic games, and whenever man
hurled his spear ard missed the
mark, this failure was called "ha-
martha" the same word which Jesus
employed for sin. So it Is with ar
cherry. When a man pulls his bow
and shoots his arrow, If he fails to
hit the mark, he has transgressed the
laws of archery or committed hamar-
tia. In like manner sin is the trans
gression of the divine law.
What is it that would make a man
transgress the laws of archery? Is it
not his ignorance or wilfulness?
Those who really understand that
two and two are four can never
transgress its law The error of the
mathematician is not in the mathe-
matical law; it is not of the law; the
law knows nothing about his trans
gression of it. So it is that sin is
not in the law, nor of the law, but
results from mortal mans transgres-
sion of law through ignorance, will
fulness or fear God lis too pure to
behold evil and never made it; but
mortals give power to their own be
lief in sin. until they are freed from
this ignorant belief by acquanting
lHtuiotlNeS WIFI lue ulNlHp nature.
This spiritual understanding sets
one free from the liability of max
ing mistakes. Epictetus once wrote,
AS mark is not set up for the pur-
pose of being missed so the nature
of evil has no existence in the uni
verse God did not create His law
for the purpose of making sinners.
but that it should be obeyed, and
thereby liberate all mankind from
fear and sin of every kind.
AS sin or the carnal mind is in
contrayention of law, its chief char
acteristic is lawlessness. 1t never
can do anything right. 1t begets the
most revolving and loathsome condi-
tons, and these are all corrected by
conforming to law When the divine
government is established in the in
dividual consciousness where form
erly there was discord and sin, some
might say a miracle had been
wrought. But Christian Science
teaches that the destruction of dis
cord and sin is not in contrayention
of law but in direct obedience there
to. In reality there can be no pleas
ure in sin, for one is continually pun
ished for doing wrong and wrong
doing never leaves one with an abid-
ing sense of pleasure When a man
misses the mark in archery. he loses
the prize; he loses something and
has nothing. That is the nature of
sin-nothing. There is nothing po-
sitiye, real or pleasurable in it Rec
ognizing this fact. the Christian Sci
enlist begins like an obedient child
at the feet of Jesus and strives to
become honest, loving, and pure, I'M
til he becomes sensible of the divine
government and guidance in his own
consciousness, and this heals him of
sin and disease of every kind Mrs.
Eddy has said truly that Love is
the liberator"
Christian Science presents the eX-
PLANTATION of this law with such sim
plicity and practical value, that even
the children can readily grasp its
meaning and actually experience its
benefit in their play or at school The
child is so free from wilful wrong
that he is naturally open to instruc-
ton in that which is right. How
ever little he may know of the
right, he can apply il from the start
and experience its practical benefits.
1t becomes tremendous preventive
from fear, sin and disease whereby