Imperial Valley press., 1917-01-15

lage Of man and is available to every
one in proportion to ones apprehen-
sion of spiritual truth. Nothing su-
pernatural is claimed for Christian
Science or for the author Of its text
book.
For Cne whose life was devoted to
the welfare Of mankind, Mrs Eddy
was compelled to bear vastly more
than her portion Of INSTRUMENTATION
and ingratitude. But she demonstrat-
ed the quality of her religion by meet
ing it all with surprising good will.
Throughout the stormy years she an
swered malice with love, slander with
q smile. and persecution with bless
ing. and when she passed away left
behind none who could truthfully say
him a wrong.
NO DEEP MYSTERY ABOUT IT
If there be any here who for the
first time are possessed of a desire
to share in the healing and regener-
ating influences of Christian Science,
may /. for your benefit, offer few
words of advice, which | am sure if
needed will bring you the more quick
ly to the desired goal. In the first
place, avoid permitting yourself to be
overly concerned regarding what
might seem to be the technicalities of
the subject. Christian Science is sim
plicity itself. There is no deep mys-
terry about it, except in the mistaken
opinions of some who do not under
stand it. Consider, for instance, the
teaching as to the unreality of mat
ter. Be assured that to the Christian
Scientist the mountains are rs high,
the skies as blue, and the oceans as
broad as to any one else. Christian
Scientists clothe. feed and house them
selves after the manner of their non
Scientist neighbors. And ali this is
not inconsistent with that which You
will in due time find to be the actual
teaching of this Science as regards
the relative unreality Of matter.
My purpose is not to imply by any
means that Christian Science does not
require a very radical departure from
the old concept of material things. II
does indeed involve a wholly changed
attitude, but this change comes nat
urally and tremendously, and with no
sense of loss, but rather with a real!-
zation of substantial gain. A familiar
illustration may be helpful. A patron
of bank offers in good faith to de-
nosit coin which the expert banker
'detects to be counterfeit. The bogus
thing never was money. but it had all
the power of real money over the un-
supecting patron. He had given an
equivalent of it's supposed money value
in exchange for it, and would have
been quite capable Of doing so again
but for the knowledge that had come
to him through the clearer under
standing of the expert. BY a purely
mental process, the uncovering of .
lie, the innocent patron has been re-
leased from subiection to a false
claim to material power. The metal
in the coin has undergone no chance:
it is the same as before, only the
truth is out about it now. and it can
no longer deceive.
Those who believe man TO he ma
terial, life to be mortal, matter to be
mower, and true health to be deDen-
dent primarily on physical organisms,
are somewhat like the individual who
mistakenly relies on counterfeit mon
ov to maintain his credit at the bank.
r the latter were to say to the OK
Dert, "WhY do You try to tell me this
isn't real, when ] clearly see q coin.
and YOU can't deny that You see it
too?" might not the eXpert reply:
dyes, you see a coin, and see it too.
but YOU do not actually see money
anv more than | do. We both see
the same thing, only see it for whAt
it is while you see it for what it is
not" And so, where the gross rna-
terialst thinks he sees that which is
actual, the Christian Scientist. beinr
better informed as to actnalities. dis
Germs a counterfeit Of the spiritual
reality The correcting process is not
going to involve change in anytime
except mental concepts and their ef-
factS
REMOVING THE DISGUISE FROM
EVIL.
You may be wise also TO put aside
any question as to whether Mrs. Eddy
has undertaken to invent a new kind
Of evil, called animal magnetism. She
has done nothing of the sort. Her
sole endeavor with regard to evil has
been thoroughly to unmask evil, and
she has accomplished this in a man
ner that dawns most practically and
helpfully on the consciousness of the
student of Christian Science. The in
dividual who still believes evil to be
one or more persons or one or more
things, very much needs te know
what Mrs. EDDY teaches regarding
the essentially mental as well as OBJ
vously animal qualities of evil. The
term animal magnetism as a general
definition for all evil is helpful in
emphasizing the important point that
evil is primarily mental, must be
thol qht before it is acted, and is a
product of erroneous material sense
and not of God. Mrs. Eddy gives her
students much valuable instruction
with regard to protecting themselves
from erroneous and injurious mcnta'
influences and tendencies, but she
quite agrees with the Bible teachiclC
that the things that defile are from
within, not from without.
In case your convictions are such
that you would voluntarily forego the
benefits of Christian Science so long