Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-09-21


subject but they include it as you
will observe. They are as follows:
4 As adherents of Truth, We
take the inspired Word of the Bible
as our sufficient guide to esarnal
life.
- We acknowledge and adore
one supreme and infinite God. We
acknowledge His Son, one Christ; tn,
Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and
man in Gods image and likeness.
80. We acknowledge Gods forgive
ness of sin in the destruction of si.
and the spiritual understanding that
casts out evil as unreal. But the be-
lief in sin is punished SO long as
the belief lasts.
a. We acknowledge Jesus atone
ment as the evidence of divine, eff
cacious Love, unfolding mans unity
with God through Christ Jesus the
Way-shower; and We acknowledge
that man is saved through Christ,
thru Truth, Life, and Love as dem
onstrated by the Galilean Prophet in.
healing the sick and overcoming sin
and death.
80. We acknowledge that the cru
cifixion of Jesus and his resurrec-
ton served to uplift faith to under
stand eternal Life, even the allness
of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness
of matter.
sc. And We solemnly promise to
watch, and pray for that Mind to be
in us which was also in Christ Je-
sus; to do unto others as we would
have them do unto US; and to be mel
ciful, just. and pure
In order to determine what Christ
Jesus sought to accomplish it is GER
tainly wise to consider what he him
self said about his mission. Pro
badly the most deliberate statement o
his life-purpose is to be found in
the account of his final meeting with
PLATE: ''To this end was | born, anC
for this cause came l into the world
that l should bear witness unto tn,
truth"
Now witness is one no furnishes
evidence or proof. 1t was therefore
the great Teachers purpose to fur
nish evidence of the truth; to prove
the true nature of God and man; to
attest the reality of being To do
this he used both words and works.
He bore witness unto the truth not
only by what he said but by what he
did. When he destroyed sin, sick
ness and death he did it to demon
strate their unreality; to prove that
man is not really subject to evil;
to show forth the actual qualities
and power of man as the son of God.
The most convincing proof of all-tht
crucifixion and resurrection-was an
object lesson in the science of being
1t was intended to give us an I'M
derstanding, that we might know life
as the reality and death as the I'M
reality 1t was designed to destroy
death, that is to say, the belief in
death, and to give us the know
ledge of life.
From these premises, the conclu-
sion follows that what was possible
for Jesus of Nazareth is possible for
every man in the degree of his I'M
derstanding The failure to grasp
this fact has kept Christians from
taking the necessary steps. By con
fuinsg man with God tey hhave known
neither the true God nor the ideal
man, and thus they have failed to
gain the life which this man exem-
plified Instead of clarifying him
the people have defied him, and thus
they have lost the effect of his ex-
ample To those who worship Jesus
as God, he cannot be the way He
that hath told you the truth" John
'8:40). And Follow thou me, was
his oft-repeated command. The be-
lief that Jesus was not a man would
prevent us from following him; and
this belief has had that effect thru
out the Christion era. Christian Sci
ence pleads with humanity to recog-
nize the scientific nature of the know
ledge manifested by Christ Jesus
and the lawful nature of that which
he accomplished; to accept him as
the Way-shower, ''the faithful wit
ness and to accept his example as
one that may be lawfully and scien-
tifically followed.
THE DIVINITY OF MAN.
1t has been mistakenly said that
Christion Science denies the divini-
ty of Christ. 1t would be more exact
to say that Christian Science affirms
the divinity of man. Christ Jesus was
crucified because he declared that
God was his Father. They who put
him to death said, "by our law he
ought to die, because he made him
self the Son of God" John 1919
The belief that man is not the son
of God is still putting people to
death, and Christian Science has
come to destroy that belief.
According to the dictionaries, that
is divine which proceeds from God; ;,
also that which is Godlike. 1t is
therefore quite correct to say that
man is the divine offspring, the
divine reflection or likeness. Paul
spoke of God as "The mind of the
Spirit and he said, I'm him we
live, and move, and have our be-
ing" Hence we may rightly say
that as God is the divine Mind, man
is the divine image or idea. Christ
Jesus taught that man is not separ-
ate from God, but that he possess
es and reflects the Life which is
divine.
1t has been said that Christian
Science rejects the divine unity