Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-09-26
WEBSTER CITY FREEMAN.

That evil is not an entity at all, but
a negation. This may be illustrated
in simple way. Ignorance is one
of the most pronounced types of evil.
A very considerable proportion of
human endeavor is directed to the
overcoming of ignorance. Thousands
of schools and colleges, hundreds of
thousands of teachers, the tremen-
dous facilities Of modern printing.
publishing and distribution, are de-
voted largely to this service. The
profession of the educator is hon
ored among men, and the business
of education is supported by untold
wealth of public and private funds.
And all this vast expenditure of tai
ent and time and treasure is direct
ed against what? Against ignor-
ance, nothingness.
Would the educator succeed if he
were to regard that against which
he contends as a positive thing, with
a real source and an actual presence
and power? Is there a school any
where whose curriculum includes
q course of instruction in the origin
and elements of ignorance? What
would be the opinion of college or
university conducted on the theory
that the best way to make a pupil
Sc IN tic offnrtinr fiva1
on the opposite Of wisdom? Though
all educational effort is exerted to
the overcoming of ignorance, such
effort is based on full recognition of
the fact that ignorance is not of it
self anything, but merely the lack
of something, and that the one prac-
teal way to dispose of lack is by the
positive process of supplying the
necdful thing.
We are all familiar with the ef-
fects Of ignorance on it's victims, the
lampering and demoralizing influ-
ences attributed to it in the conduct
and affairs of those about us. There
fore can we truly say we are unable
to comprehend the idea of a merely
negative evil, that yet needs to be
positively and vigorously handled
and overcome?
In considering how divine Science
is reduced to human apprehension
we find ourselves now, therefore, in
the presence Of two facts of the ut
most practical Value to each and all
of us, namely, that every quality
of every element of good is positive,
and that every quality of every phase
Of evil is negative. Good only is the
presence of something; evil, always.
m'lm final analysis is the absence
81 sometimes No one need accept
Ills R3 Z mere theory. II you will
take this simple rule and apply it as
best you ran to your daily problems
Sou will find how true it is and you
ElI be hgreeably surprised, I an
sure, at the change that will come
over you and your affairs.
Sickness not to be Ignored.
Sickness is a phase Of evil, and it
therefore needs to be considered
from the standpoint of evils essen
tial negativeness, if it is to be hand
led intelligently. This Of course
does not mean that the practice OF
Christian Science consists of reiter-
ating in sick persons ear that
there is nothing the matter and he
should just forget it-as we yet
occasionally hear, even in this en-
lightened period. What it means
is that if the sick man has been re-
garding disease as being something
that it in fact is not, and govern
ing his conduct, and especially his
thinking, accordingly, his difficulty
doubtless lies very much in that d.
rection, and he certainly win be
helped, not harmed, by learning to
see disease for what it is. He needs
not to shut his eyes but to open
them. For instance, it would be Diff
ficult to conceive of anything more
depressing than for the victim of
suffering to believe that in some I'M
accountable way divine purpose is
being accomplished by means Of his
painful experience. Therefore one
of the things the sick man needs to
know is that his Maker is not a
party to his undoing, not in the re-
hottest degree. With that thought
clearly implanted in consciousness
the journey healthward has been
well begun and the succeeding stages
should follow in natural conse-
quence. He needs to know that
since infinite intelligence in it's very
nature could not be the author of
such a discordant condition as sick
ness, and since, if God be omnipo-
tent, there is no other power that
could be it's author, the basis then
of sickness, like ignorance, and
other forms of evil, must be nonen-