Arizona republican., 1917-05-02
Conceymimg Encouragement
(The Christian Science Moni.or)

(The Christian Science Monitor)
 Every mortal who has any standard of righteousness has frequent eXperi- ence with Encouragement because of his lapses from righteousness. Every mortal, again, who is striving to ac- cOmplish this or that given task, to win his way against the odds of everyday failures, to keep his health and cour- age in the face of all that would impair it. labors likewise against discourage ment And all this because the human mind, unaided by divine Mind is not equal to it's own ambitions and plans, and has no savior within itself, from it's own inadequacy and incomplete ness. The human mind cannot do bat tie to the finish with the myriad forms of sin and mental suffering and dis ease and death, for it is itself basical- ly, the origin and supporter of these evil beliefs, and acts and reacts with hope and fear, buoyancy and collapse, through all the changes of success and failure. And so, recokning logically, the saving element for Encouragement must come from divine Mind. above and outside of the mortal or carnal mind winch gets discouraged; and must act, by exchanging the mortal
 
 legitimate chances to get discouraged for the spiritual understanding which knows, expects and accepts. only good. When the mechanism of the human mind gives place to the divine Mind, SelfishneSS and sin, disease and death. will lose their foothold." Mrs Eddy. the Discoverer Of Christian Science, writes upon page 176 of the Christian Science textbook. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Undoubt- adly, selfisnness and sin must always react with Encouragement. They have no peace nor success abiding in them. And manifestly, when the "mechan- lsm' of them yields to the ways of Christlikeness, Encouragement will fall away too.
 For discourage cement is purely mental 1t is simply-hoW we look at some thing. The same circumstance can discourage us one day, but not the lext; can entirely undo one person. but not another. No outward thing decides this question. 1t is just d matter of how we take that outward thing. And so the unaided human mind loaded with fears of evil, goes town in alarm before some threat of evil, while he who has opened his thought to spiritual understanding and is aided by what he knows of the presence and power of divine Mind, stands steadfast in the face of it and, not afraid, is not discouraged. Spiritual understanding cannot be diScourag ged and to the extent we have laid ho}d of spiritual understanding, we cannot )e.
 Now this by no means says that the students of Christian Science are never discouraged. They may be more sore ly and severely tempted than ever be lore, for they have now perfect model in their recognition that man, real man, the spiritual image and likeness of God. the immortal being who was never born into matter and can never die out of il. is the original of every counterfeiting mortal And they have set out to bring this real man to light in day by day experience. Doing sO they must compare every motive, i'm pulse, desire ill themselves with this perfect model; and sharp discourage ment may at moments beset them as they face in their own thoughts the unveiled error which. once seen. they must be rid of. The resistance by evil and its assaults, as well, press at times upon the most consistent Chris tian. Daniel as he entered his den Of ionsy the three Hebrew men who walked into the fiery furnace. may, for all we can knew, have heard the mo- mentary whisper of fear of failure. Whether or not they did, the evidence shows that they did not listen For they walked not only into, but through and out of. these would-be overWhelm ing forms of destruction. And this, truly. IS the thing required of us that, fortified by spiritual understand ing. we shall not listen to the threats of evil. A lions den and a fiery fur mace were no places for discourage ment. Neither are our trials today. Because the men of God stood each moment steadfast there was no mo- ment in which they could be consumed, and their magnificent spiritual eX- perience has come down the ages like a shaft of light to us today. So there will be no moment in which we can be wholly overwhelmed if we have no moment of surrender to discourage ment, and we, like the men of old, may be encouraging, more than we know. those who are following the same path. They were men. like us. And, more over, they had not the aid of the teaching of Christ Jesus. And we who have a full Christianity can at least be such men as they, to our highest light, and stand faithfully trusting God for the outcome.
 It is really, after we come to some spiritual understanding, just a ques- tion of what we are listening to- Christian Science sets before us the revelation of perfect God, divine Mind, divine Principle, sending only good to His creation; and of man. spiritual, immortal likeness and image of divine Mind, never born and never dying enjoying and expressing now the spiritual facts of creation. holiness and harmony and health. This revelation of Truth, understood, accepted and cherished. is then brought to bear upon all the material evidence of the ma terial senses, to detect, deny, and eventually demolish whatever would court. He has large private prac-