Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1917-09-18

the thought of the perfection of God
and all that God has made in place
Of this wrong thought; and with no
| wrong thought there can be no
wrong manifestation. The Bible
makes this identical statement when
it says "Put off concerning the for
mer conversation the, old man,
| which is corrupt according to the
| deceitful lusts; and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind; and 1888
put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and
true holiness"
To those who are just beginning
the study of Christian Science the
nothingness of the material man is
the most difficult proposition to &C
cept. The logic of the argument of
the infinite perfection of Mind, God,
and the spiritual creation, seems
clear to most of us, but the equally
logical and correlated argument OF
the nothingness and unreality Of the
material creation causes us more
trouble. This point will become
clearer as our spiritual perception
enlarges, for in the proportion that
! the spiritual creation becomes real
to us, the material loses its reality,
/ have often been asked the ques-.
ton, If this mortal material body is
| not Of God--if it isn't so-What am
going to do about it? what am |
going to think about it? I
Well, don't try to get rid of it all
at once. Be content for today to get
rid of the very worst things you
know about it,-those things that
are so obviously unlike God, SO
ccontrary to the thought Of His per-
lection, that you can detect, no mat.
ter how small your understanding.
that they are not His making, and
hence have never been made. AS you
| deny their reality and assert what
you know to be Gods perfection,
these conditions will disappear; and
though you will still have q mater
ial body to deal with, it will be
better body, made better and strong
err through the application of Gods
raw of health.
1t is the putting off of the old
man and the putting on the new,
through the application of the teach
/. ings of Christian Science, that con-
stitutes the healing. The thoughts
of sickness and sin are ruled out OF
human consciousness by the under
standing and declaration Of the per-
lection of that which God has made.
| There are those who feel that it is
almost sacrilege to dispose of ma
terial man IS lust the counterfeit Of
the spiritual, perfect man. This ma
terial man is so wonderfully made,
they say, how can it be possible that
God did not make him? They feel
that it is dishonoring God to disown
the material man as His product.
Material man does seem to be
wonderfully made, but you will re-
member that in the many better
baby" shows that have been pre-
valent about the country, though the
best and most perfect babies are en-
tered, it is sometimes impossible to
find one that is one hundred per
cent perfect. If material man is the
creation of God, it is not honoring
God very much to have to admit
that more than ninety-five per cent
of His creation could be vastly inn
proved upon in the very beginning.
| Others maintain that God made
man perfect. and gave him his own
free will to do good or evil, but man
| chose to do evil, and the evil brought
sickness and other troubles upon
him; or that man unknoWinSly
transgressed Gods laws, but that.
God is in no way responsible. be-
cause had man chosen to- do right
all would have been well.
Suppose an architect put up a
building and it fell down: would that
be the fault of the building? Would
you blame the building? 1t would
only fall because it was SO construct
cd that it could fall. Obviously, ii
God made man SO he could fall and
he fell it would be Gods fault. not
| mans.
1t should be stated also, that those
who hold to the belief that God made
man free to do either good or evil
are holding belief that is directly
contrary to Jesus teaching. He
| said: al came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will
of him that sent me. 81 can of mine
own self do nothing "Whosoev-
err shall do the will of God, the same