The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1917-01-25

We are prone to think that Abraham
and Moses, Elijah and Elisha, job
the Baptist and Jesus, were arbitrar
lily chosen of God TO fulfil particu
lar mission with no reference to thei
acquired spiritual understanding, an,
that their ability to demonstrate
Gods power was a special gift be
slowed upon them for the occasion
II is true that they were chosen o
God for the work which they did, bu
in exactly the same way that grea
and good men in our own time have
been chosen of God, through the con
seriousness and manifestation of those
qualities which enabled them to dc
that which needed to be done.
On page 1873 of "Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Ed
dy has pointed out that the verb be-
lieve as used in the Bible has the
significance of understanding, and she
further explains that "the Scriptures
often appear in our common version
to approve and indorse belief, when
they mean to enforce the necessity
of understanding"
Throughout the entire teaching of
the gospels both Jesus and his dis
ciples constantly asserted that saliva
ton was to come as a result of be-
lieving-as a result of having faith in
God. Paul says, "Without faith it is
impossible to please him; for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a 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
required of us was to tacitly believe
and we should receive all that Chris
tianity has to offer
The Greek words for believe and
faith are from the same Greek root,
a word which means convictions of
truth" And to be convinced of truth
means to know, to understand truth
Our dictionaries give this deeper
as the one to be used in a
religious sense, but our everyday use
of the word believe in the sense of
giving credence to, and of 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 not
SEEM" gives an example of how the
word is to be used when he says,
Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word
If God" Now it would manifestly be
impossible for us to perceive "that
he worlds were framed by the word
If God through anything less than
spiritual understanding.
In the third chapter of Acts, Peter.
n his sermon on the healing of the |
anne man, describes his method by |
laying, "And his Christ Jesus name |
through faith in his name hath made |
his man whole" Here the statement |
$ made that healing came about thro |
aith, spiritual understanding of the |
lame of Jesus, the Christ, and the |
word name as used in the Scriptures |
lad a deeper significance than it has
n our modern times. The idea of a
lame in the Hebrew language and the
Hebrew mind was not merely that of |
sound by which an object might be
but that of signifi-
ant term which could really indicate
is quality or nature; so that Peters
tatement meant that the manifesto
ion of Jesus nature, the Christ, or
iod's perfect man, which he had re-
called to them, and which they under
TODD, had made this man whole. The
laster said in his prayer to his Father
| have manifested thy name unto
ne men which thou gavest me out of
ne world; and what did the Master
o but to manifest Gods nature to the
len that God had given him out of
he world Again and again it is point
1 out in the New Testament that
nth in his name, that is understand
lg of his nature, is what heals and
ayes in every instance.
Christian Science is giving us this
llarged understanding of the nature
God, which is essential if we are to
)propriate in greater and greater
easure the infinite blessings which
finite Love has in store for us.
In undertaking to know some
ing of the nature of God, we are all
freed in admitting that God is omni-
'tent, omnipresent, and omniscient;
at is, all-powerful, ever present, and
knowing. We are all agreed in
His infinite perfection and
essence and power; yet after max
g these statements the religious
ough of the world quite generally
them by admitting that
,kness and other forms of imper-
ction are either sent of God or per-
ltted of by Him, as though divine
ind had any imperfection to send
could permit it without becoming
sponsible for it.
The Bible speaks of God as Spirit,
Life, as Truth, and as Love. 1t also
eaks of Him as the creator, that
om which all proceeds. This thought
expressed in Christian Science by
E use of the word Principle for God,
ice Principle is that from which all
oceeds and by which it exists.
Mrs. Eddy has also given us the
nm Father Mother, by which there
brought to consciousness the com
steness of the creator, the mother
cd as well as the fatherhood of God.
d also larger thought of God as
we. When we think of God the
Ither, our thought of Him is limited
our earthly sense of fatherhood.
lich, no matter how complete, is
II lacking in the fullness of those
alities of love and tenderness which
2 mother thought expreSSeS The u