The Monticellonian. [volume] (Monticello, Ark.) 1870-1920, 1916-09-28

duced to nothlngnesS.
Christian Science offers release
from the dominant and malignant con.
troll of man by mortal mind and this
release it effects by teaching men tc
know God. Jesus was the greatest
teacher the world has ever known ano
he was continually teaching men te
know God as He is. and not as they
had mistakenly believed Him to be.
Today q IN Jesus time q riaht I'm.
Outstanding Of God is the supreme
need of every man who would fen
himself work out his own salvation
and would for himself master sin. dis.
ease, pain, want, harmful habit or any
OF the things that mortal mind Is col.
tlnuaIly trying to fasten upon humani-
ty. The average Christian man OF to.
day thinks less of God and knows less
about God than he does about his bust
ness, his work or his automobile. Yet
there is nothing in the whole range OF
human experience that is more essen
tai to mans welfare here and hereaf.
ter than this same knowledge of God
All people who would be regarded as
Christians believe in God, yet how
few understand Him. The textbook
OF Christian Science page 203) de-
clares truly that IF God were under
stood instead of being merely believed
tins understanding would establish
health" Does this seem like an ex-
travagant statement? Compare it then
with the words of Jesus on the same
subject where in John 17:3, we are
told that to know God "is life eternal
Can you conceive of vital fact put in
stronger words?
When the respondent invalid recoe-
nizes that God never made a man sick
nor sick man; that on the contrary
He has given to man unbroken health
that sickness is an imposition of NOR
tai mind and is illegitimate, abnormal
unrighteous, without divine law, rec
ognitlon. or sanction he is then ready
to turn to divine Mind God Himself
"Who forgiveth all thine ini0uities
who healeth all thy disease" Cps.
103:9).
Jesus by precept and example was
continually lifting mems thoughts
above their inherited and imped-
incentive beliefs about God as a
man-like being with form and body
subject to wrath, favoritism change
ablencss and other human character
istics. Instead he revealed God to be
infinite good, the same Yesterday, to-
day and forever and in no way re-
sembllng erring, finite man.
Right Understanding of God
Jesus the Christ, by virture of his
divine sonship, taught that God is not
only loving, but that He is Love;
that He is not only spiritual. but that
He is Spirit, in whora we live and
move and have our being. Can you
conceive of infinite Spirit or infinite
Love. having a form or body or sub
iect to the personal limitations OF
time and place and circumstance
Christian science ever following the
teachings of Jesus, shows that God is
Love; that God is Spirit: that He is
Mind; that He is Truth that He is
Life; that God is the infinite Princi-
pie of being, operating through I'm.
changing laws that are always com
prehensibe and always beneficient
that He is omniscience, omnipotence
omniprcsence.
To these definitions of God quickly
appeal to the individual who has al.
ways thought of God as finite per
sonage. a magnitied man? Perhaps
not. But let us propose as an aid to.
wards fuller comprehension, that he
choose from among these definitions
the one which most nearly approaches
his highest conception of good, ant
let his thought dwell upon that. A
mans highest ideac Ct God can be ne
higher than his highest conception Of
good, but they should always be thai
high. for God is infinite, unchangine
good.
1t might appear pfesumptuous II
me here to attempt an adequate eX
position of the full teachings of Chris
tian Science about God as Scriptural
ly defined | would. instead, refel
you to our next book where you will
find them all fully set forth and lucid
ly expounded But | feel may will
propriety briefly refer to that concep
of God. which so universally meet:
mans direst need in his darkest hours
of trial and tribulation, the concep
! of God as infinite Love, which thu
Scriptures impart and which Chris
tian Science emphasizes.
If the thought of God as Love. evel
blessing, never condemnine; evel
, healing, never affecting; ever protect
ing, end never neglecting; including
all mankind in His fathcrlv care anC
infinite affection: If this thought Of
God comes to you with tender appeal
hold fast tc it and cherish it. 1t will
unfold and enlarge and develop, anC
gradually lead yeu TO a vet broader
fuller knowledge of Him as Love di
vine.
And can yeu conceive of anytime
that is so sorely needed today, in ON
churches and out of them, than more
of that same Love? Anything that
will so Quickly check mans inhumani.
ty to man, that today ic making count
less thousands mou1n!"
And with that concept of God as
Love divine, which Christian Science
imparts, comes also the eeneebt OF
Him IS Father, our Father, your
Father ard mine. Have you ever con-
Sidcrcd the debt Of gratitude we owe
to Jesus fer disclosing to us our
true relationship g God, Us be did on
a number of occasions. one of which
was when he began his prayer with
the words Our Fatker?"
Have you ever fought what Jesus
intended US to gtcher from those
words "Om Father" Summon to
your thought if you will an instance
of perfect human relationship be-
tween an ideal cald ard an ideal
father. and Whit do you find How
does that child regard his father!
What does he gain from having such a
father? WHIT does father" stand
for to him? Does It mean merely big
man? No. "f; ther'' to him stands for
things that cannot b. measured by
matericl or physical standards.