The Washington herald., 1916-11-19
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
DOCTRINES UNFOLDED
Frank H. Sprasue Discusses "Impor-
tance Of Right Standpoint"


in Christian Science. Is Snoved to exclaim
like Nicodemus, How can these things
be-"
So writes Frank H. sprague In begin
ming an article, entitled Importance of a |
Right Standpoint" in the Christian Sci
enee Sentinel. Continuing. he says:
Recognizing in the mighty works of |
Jesus the credentials Of a phophet. Nico- i
demus no doubt thought to supplement |
his store of raboinical knowledge by in
quirtng into the Masters teaching. How
great was his establishment, therefore. |
when our Lord. instead Of proceeding to !
lexpound some new doctrine. advanced a |
point Of view which upset the basis not |
alone of Judaic Interpretation, but of all |
material rationallty-That which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is |
born Of the Spirit is spirit In other
words, the carnal type OF thought and
material rationale of existence have moth !
ing IN common with things spiritual.
IF. as Jesus declared on another occa-
sion, God is Spirit 1t follows thai His
kingdom, that which emanates from Him
and Is embraced within the divine con-
sciousness. must be like Himself in quail
ity; that is, It MIST be spiritual Whence.
then, comes the iesh'-matter mortality.
Ievil, error? or what is 1t 'bornr 1t
would almost seem that the very sim
plicity and directness of the Masters an
swer to the question in this coiloquy had
led men to overlook the point which he
brought home with such force to the man
of the Pharisees-'Except a man be born
again. he cannot see the kingdom OF God
| The Real Existences
ITO acknowledge God as the only cause
and creator is to concede that that alone
(which is comprised in His kingdom, in
other words that which Is spiritual really
70 IF1n
the universe as God constitutes and
knows 1t, we must regard 1t from the d.
vine standpoint; We must apprehend 1t
spiritually. Clearly. then, there can be
no right and legitimate standpoint but
the spiritual; any other must be purely
suppositional and erroneous, and any ef-
fects arising therefrom would be cores
pondingly unreal On page sl of Science
and Health we read. 'Delusion, sin, dis
ease, and death arise from the false tes-
tlmony OF material sense, which. from a
| supposed standpoint outside the focal dis
tance Of infinite spirit. presents an in
| verted image Of mind and substance with
everything turned upside down.
That which from a mortal. material
standpoint seems to exist. is flesh NOR
tality, matter; and as the standpoint Is
untrue, so likewise must be the effects for
which 1t is responsible. II this is the
case, how can the carnal. mortal ma
|
nothing more than an erroneous effect de-
rived from an illegitimate standpoint. tes-
| tify to the truth of Gods creation or de-
tect its own falsity? Jesus said to Philip,
He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father. implying that God Is seen
| through spiritual sense in His reflection
in the Son. Spiritually to grasp his
standpoint was. therefore, to gain
knowledge of God.
Now II a standpoint coipcident with
| that of divine mind is the only true and
normal one, and IL 1t embraces only that
which Il godlike, perfect. harmonious, !
and imperishable. then whatever else may
seem to be, Is In the nature Of illusion; !
and an Illusion can be dissipated only |
by losing the false point Of view which |
perpetuates 1t. That Nicodemus appre- |
hended this for the time being, is evident |
from the tenor Of his exclamation, How |
can a man be born when he Is old?' How
can one break away from a standpoint, |
suppositional and false though It be,
sanctioned and confirmed from time i'm
memorial?
What Is 1t that Argues.
who or what is it. then, that argues
| from a material standpoint and demands
to know how error originated, where
matter came from, why God permits evil,
| what makes man mortal? Is 1t anything
else than a self-deceived sense developed,
in belief, from a point OF view which is
the suppositional antIthesis OF that divine
/ Mind. and which must therefore, become
obsolete in order that the truth may ap-
pear?
ITO seek for the origin of matter or
evil is to seek for the origin Of a stand
point which does not exist in truth Such
| a quest Is as useless as II would be to
study the inverted images on a camera
glass and then wonder why trees grow
downward. The difficulty, in the one case
as in the other. lies in the way of looking
at the question. The illusion disappears
only as the standpoint which fathers 1t is
lost. Rebuking the deluded thought OF
| the Pharisees, Jesus said: 'Ye are of
your father the DEVIL who he added
abode not In the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh Of his own; for he is a
liar, and the father Of it.
'Divested Of Oriental symbolism the
declaration amounts to this: That error
mortality, evil, matter-is lie, a falsi-
fication, an imposition, because there is
no truth in the standpoint from which 1t
is conceived. II a material standpoint is
wrong. whatever seems to be from that
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. sin, suffering,
woe, disease. death, all erroneous mani
festation-must collapse and disappear
evil is but an effect from an ungodly
Il standpoint, It Is clear that God could not
know evil. since the divine Mind does not
include a standpoint from which evil
could appear.
II A Pertinent Question.
Suppose It were to come about sud-
denly that every one should cease to en-
tertain or even recognize any other stand
point than that exhibited in the reflection
of divine Mind-where would matter and
evil be found? Can 1t be claimed truth
fully. then. that such mortal phenomena
are real under existing conditions? And
If not, why rate them in the category of
truth or fact? Christian Science shows
why Jesus the Christ laid such stress on
healing works as the test Of genuine dis
! cipleship. 1t proves that such occur
rences are natural effects Of a point Of
view which is In agreement with that of
divine Mind; just as perfect image reg
istered on the finder shows that the cam
| era Is In focus.
why, then. 1t may be asked. do not
all phases Of erroneous manifestation
| vanish when once the true peranact,ya a.