The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-01-12

Win It's most OF OlSCOTuS dIu Ills Is
but another name for the Adam
dream, and that it is possible for suf-
fering mortals to awaken therefrom?
We may awaken from a dream, but
we can never waken from a fact! The
night of materialism has been long.
and the sleep has been deep and
troubled; but thanks be to God, we
are slowly awakeningl At least the
dream is losing for us its terror, and,
hearing the voice of Truth cheerily
bidding us to be not afraid, and to
judge not according to the appear
ance, we are enabled more and more
to look past the shadows, past the
seeming, to the kingdom of Mind,
where all is harmony and all is law.
You are not asked to take the word
of Christian Scientists for all of this.
You are urged rather to take the
textbook, and study it with open
heart and teachable thought, and
prove for yourself the truth of these
statements.
Disease More than Imagination
In teaching mortals to look be-
yond the material appearance and
anchor their thought in the great
truth that Gods creation is good
Christian Science by no means lightly
proclaims to one in the clutch of adj
versity that he only imagines that he
is in trouble. At this point it might
be interesting to hear what Science
and Health has to say on this sub
ject. We read: sickness is neither
imaginary nor unreal,-that is, to the
frightened, false sense of the patient
Sickness is more than fancy; it il
solid conviction. 1t is therefore to bt
dealt with through right apprehen
sion of the truth of being" (pagC
1901.
The use of the word imagination il
connection with the ills of the aver
age mortal is as open to question as i
was in the case of a small boy whose
mother discovered him at the top 0.
a step-ladder, suspiciously near thu
shelf wherein reposed his favorit'
conserve. "Well mother" said h,
pleasantly, in an heroic effort to MAKE
the best of the situation, 81 imagine
you want me to come down." Tn,
mother, however, didn't imagine any
thing about it; she knew. And witt
equal fervor the sick man will as
sure you that he knows that he il
sick. And therein lies his trouble
When through the understanding o.
Christian Science he learns to know
that man in Gods image is whole anC
harmonious, he will find to his de
light that the sense of disease ant
discord which has seemed so real ant
SO true has lessened, and will ulti
mately disappear.
Evil Unreal.
The following illustration may hell
TO throw more light on the Christian
Scientists attitude toward sin and di
sease. Before studying Christian
Science, and while a member of al
orthodox church, / was asked by {
friend to fuse my religion" as he ex
pressed it, in the effort to reclaim ;
| brother seemingly enslaved by drink.
accepted the commission, and proceed
ed to fuse my religion. / found m!
subject in most repentant mood, anC
he agreed almost tearfully with m.
ringing condemnation of his evi
ways. asked him il he did not real
ize the depths to which he had fal
len, how wicked he was, and how ter
rible was that evil power to which h
had submitted. Yes, he realized it all
but evil had been made so real, anC
so powerful to him that even the hopt
of divine deliverance, with which
finally endeavored to inspire him, wa!
of no avail, and he sank even deeper
in the mire of sin.
Let us now consider another pic
ture: A slave to false appetite il
brought to one endeavoring to be &
scientific Christian, or a Christian
Scientist. The Scientist sees before
him no bad man, no perpetrator Of
sin, but victim of sin. He sees be
hind the fieshly appearance the mar
of Gods creating, who is not sin
ner, and who has no pleasure in sill
and no sinful desires, but who j!
eternally pure and free. He there
fore bids the sufferer to awaken from
this mesmerisn. He shows him that
the bondage which to him has seemed
real and powerful, is lie; for as Je'
sus said, there is no truth in the devil
or evil; and he is assured that Goo
has given man dominion over all err
ror. And in thousands upon thou
sands of cases where these good It'd
ings have been preached, have the
victims of wrong desire risen in the
glory of a ncw-found manhood. AnC
through the same process, in number.
less instances, has the sick man beer
awakened from this nightmare of in
vaIidism and pain. Thus we see that
a Christian Scientist does not ignore
sin and disease, but by understanding
their unreality and the spiritua
truth Of being, he heals them.
Gods Word Never Fails.
But say you, Christian Scienc,
treatment is not always effectual.
All, but it is, it isl A Christian
Science treatment consists of think
ing Gods thoughts, seeing creation a!
God sees it; and God-investeC
thought never fails! Suppose you are
confronted with the task of breaking
a great rock. You seize a hammer
and vigorously start your work
Blow after blow descends, and yor
note with some Encouragement that
even the surface Of the rock has moi
been cracked. A friend comes to your