Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1917-04-10

studied everything could nnd.
from mental therapeutics TO Christ.
ian Science, and ~ I studied saw
afiat all were alike except one, ana
that one was Christian Science.
Christian Science was the only one
that had 10 large a grasp Of the all
ness OF God a. 10 refuse TO dish0nor
Him by admitting that anything that
He had made was imperfect or could
become imperfect; was sick when He
created II. or had within II any God.
given quality that could allow u 10
become sick. II wss the only one In
which there was no compromise with
matter, and which dared TO deny tho
material morid. the flesh, and the
devil. because they were contrary to
His creative perfection; the only ono
that dared 10 deny the actual exist
ence OF anything unlike God, and
therefore the only one that offered
assurance OF healing after human
hope and human will and human
reason had failed.
Do you suppose that when I saw
all this ] accepted Christian Science?
No! Instead, for two years | read
everything could hnd against II
land II was at time when there was
much critlcism), In the hope OF con-
vlnciny myself that II was not true.
for ! saw that the splritulity Of Chris
tlan Science would not mix with my
profession. and did not want to give
UP the practice OF medicine. But the
more | read against II. the more
became convinced OF It's truth, and
here am. II does heal, and II does
save. just an II did In Jesus time.
We need TO know something about
God. however. In order to appropri-
ate the healing, and throughout the
entire teaching OF Christian Science
the necessity for spiritual under
standing In order that we may know
Gods law is constantly insisted upon.
A study OF the HIVES OF the most
prominent characters In the Bible re-
yeals the fact that their closeness to
God was the fact that their deep and
constant meditation OF Him, and that
a knowledge Of God has always been
essential 10 ,he demonst ration OF His
power over material conditions. We
are prone to think that Abraham and
Noses. Elijah and Elisha, John the
Baptist and Jesus, were arbitrarily
chosen OF God to fulfll q particular
mission with no refence to their ac-
Quired spiritual understanding, and
that their ability to demonstrate
Gods power was special gift be
slowed upon them for the occasion.
II Is true that they were chosen OF
God for the work which they did.
but In exactly the same way that
great and good men In our own time
have been chosen. OF God, through
the consciousness and manifesto lion
Of those qualities which enabled them
to do that which needed TO be done.
On page 488 OF "Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Ed
dy has pointed out that the verb be-
lieye AZ used In the Bible has the sig
nificance OF understanding, and she
further explains that ''the Scriptures
often appear in our common version
to approve and ind0rse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity OF
understanding"
Throughout the entire teaching 81
the gospels both Jesus and his dis
ciples constantly asserted that saliva.
ti0n was to come AZ q result OF believ-
ing.--as result OF having faith In
God. Paul says. without faith Il IA
impossible TO please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he
Is. and that he Is q rewarder OF them
that diligently seek him." We are
constantly enjoined In the Scriptures
to believe and to have faith. but we
have accepted these words In the
sense OF their most shallow meaning,
and have thought that all that was
require Of us was to tacitly believe
and we should receive all that Chris.
tlanity has to offer.
The Greek words for believe and
faith are from the same Greek root
a word which means conviction oi
truth" And 10 be convinced OF the
truth means to know, to understand
truth. Our dictionaries give this
deeper meaning as the one to he used
In n religious sense. but our every.
day use Of the word believe In the
sense OF giving credence to, and oi
the word faith In something Of the
same sense as the word hope. tends
to obscure the larger meaning Of the
words.
Paul In the eleventh chapter OF his
epistle to the Hebrews, after defining
faith as "the evidence OF things MOI
seen," gives an example OF how tn,
word IL 10 be used when he says
Through faith we understand thai
the worlds were framed by the wort
Of God" Now Il would manifestl,
be impossible for us to perceive "tha
the worlds were framed by the wore
Of God" through anything less thar
spiritual understanding.
| In the third chapter OF Acts, Peter
In his sermon on the healing OF tn,
lame man. describes his method b!
saying. And his Christ Jesus) nam,
through faith In his name hath mad,
this man WHOLE" Here the state
ment is made that healing came abou
through faith. spiritual understa and
Ing OF the name OF Jesus, the Christ
and the word name as used In tn,
Scriptures had a deeper significanc,
than Il has In our modern times, Tn,
Idea OF o name In the Hebrew Ian
, guage and the Hebrew mind was no
merelv that az n aOiind NV which N]