Arizona republican., 1917-10-08
The Christian seiens. Monitor

! 1 From the speeches and writings of I statesmen and others in all parts of 1 the world it is becoming more and more evident that the conflict through | which humanity is passing is being generally recognized to be the Arma ] geddon Of ideas. This statement has, | in fact. already become trite. That, ! however, which is not so generally per- { ceived is that this is not an entirely novel state of things, for some time to-
 ward the end of the first century of
 the Christian era Paul of Tarsus wrote ! 10 the Christians in Ephesus that I've
 wrestle not against flesh and blood. but
 against principalities. against powers.
 against the rulers of the darkness of
 this world. against spiritual wickedness
 in high places,H and to the Corinthians
 he said that "the weapons of our war ! fare are not. carnal.
 | In Miscellaneous Writings" CD. 12) Mrs Eddy writes Mortal mind T; this period mutely works in the interest 'of 4 both good and evil in manner least
 understood; hence the need of watch !, ,ng, and the tianser of yielding to temp -'
 tation from .:lIses tha: at former psi
 iods in human history were not exist ent. The action and effects of this so called human mind in it's silent argu 1 ments are yet to be uncovered and Lsummarily dealt with by divine justice. ! Taking these two statements together : and cnn;I airing them W..n the article i c.il.ed ..Ways that are Vain in Thc ! FirSt Church of Christ. scientist. and l Miscellany" (p 210). it is impossible to
 avoid the conclusion that We are faced
 today with conditions similar in de-
 gree to those which confronted the
 Apostle and that we must use his weap- ons if We are to emerge victorious from
 the battle.
 Paul was nothng if not practical. and
 to have some little knowledge of the state of the world in which he lived is
 also, proba bly, to have some idea of how to deal with present day problems 1 which do not seem to be so very diff
 ferent, for though human experience
 changes greatly on the surface, funda-
 mentally it remains much the same. Paul wrote his great series of letters
 at a time when the Roman civilization had spread the meshes of it's net all
 over Greece and the greater part of
 Asia Minor, and by it's contact with
 tie ideas it found there, had lost much
 of it's old uprightness and purity, thus declining to the level of the older -civi- ! i ans had become extraordinarily ra- pacious and their immense accumula-
 tion of wealth had brought with them !, the usual accompaniments of luxury,
 idleness, and superstition. The Greeks,
 again, with their vivid love of beauty
 and their philosophic turn of mind. had
 developed a materialism more refined
 in it's sensuality than any the world has 1, ever seen, and blended with these two
 main streams of thought. Greek and . Roman, was a cult of demonology and
 magic, common no doubt to all primi-
 tive races, but in this case accentuated ! not only by the physical perfection of
 the cultivation. but also by the asso- citation, through trade and commerce,
 with the East
 To compare on very broad scale, those conditions with some prevailing today we find many points of similar ity,-the immense wealth. the material ity engendered by a philosophy and science based on the evidence Of the physical senses, and a religion consist
 ing largely of rites and ceremonies Ire ceived by tradition from your fathers. It is not an exaggeration to say that the trinity of modern worship consists of money. the human intellect, and the ,, material body.
 The pa ssage in the letter to the Ephe- sians referred to above throws q light upon modern conditions which makes i, peculiarly applicab ble to our present needs. For we wrestle not against
 flesh and blood, but against principali-
 ties, against powers. against the rulers
 of the darkness Of this world Com pare also with this the third and fourth verses of the second chapter of II Thes- salonians where Paul is referring to
 the day of Christ saying, Let nc , man deceive you by any means: foI 1 that day shall not come. except there come falling away first and that mar of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
 who opposeth and eXalteth himself
 above all that is called God. or that is worshipped: so that ne as God sittetf , in the temple of God, showing himself !. that he is God"
 Do not these passage taken in con , junction with Mrs. Eddys writings |, make it abundantly clear that the rul- . CTS of the darkness are not and nevel . have been mere flesh and blood, but . that they are hidden mental forces. ex- ercising what is now known as hyp
 notic influence through the jealeusies hatreds the lusts of men and of na
 tions?"
 : Not long ago famous surgeon stated , in conversation with student O Christian Science that in featuring / , his pupils he always instructed them tt
 impart hopeful suggestion to their pa e | tients. When it was pointed out to hin . | that if he once admitted the power c i suggestion he could not limit it's opera . tions to good. but must allow that i . would be just as easy to suggest evil t ' the patient, his attention was arreste' and he acknowledged that this must b. : side of banks, was 2.1 billion dollars Il it's velocity, 24 times year; deposi ;: currency, 11.S billion dollars; it's ve . locity, 50 times d year; the price leve V 12S per cent of the price level of 190 nj as the base; the volume of trade, 59
 billion units leach unit being wha : d dollar would buy in 1909.)
 NE