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

in saying that it is impossible to
prove that there is such thing as
matter. They say that matter is a
function of something outside it
self, the expression of energy; and
this is just another way of saying
that matter is an expression of
thought. Christian Science agrees
with them in saying that matter is
an expression Of thought, but points
out that matter is an expression not
Of right thought but of wrong
thought; that all right thought,
Gods thought, real thought, must
partake of Gods nature, and is
therefore spiritual, not material, and
is expressed in spiritual things, not
material things. The whole mater
ial universe, with all its sin, sick
ness, and death, is just the sense of
the opposite,-the sense of the abb
sence of that which God made.
Suppose a man had never had his
sight, and sight came to him while
he was in dark room. He would
not know that he had his sight, nor
would he know that he was in the
ldark, for it is impossible for one, to
gain sense of darkness without first
being conscious of light. But let
him be taken into the light and he
would see. Then when he was re-
turned to the darkness he would
sense it as darkness absence
of light. So it is impossible for
| there to be a sense of darkness ex-
cept as there is first consciousness
of light. This is equally true oil
lstrength and weakness. 1t is just
as impossible for there to come a
| sense of weakness, except as there
is first consciousness of strength
as part of what God created, there
would never have been a sense OF
weakness.
So the moment when God said
"Let there be light" which is equiv
alent to saying, let there be
strength, and let there be health,
and let there be holiness, was the
first moment wherein there could
have come a sense of darkness, and
weakness, and sickness, and sin. For
every good and perfect thing which
God has made, there has in like
| manner come sense of its absence
an opposite, lie. without reality
or substance.
When God said, ''Let us make
man in our image, after our like.
ness" so that man was made in His
likeness, spiritual and perfect and
immortal, there came sense of the
absence Of that spiritual a. * perfect
and immortal man !. a I'D tie tiirr, Sense O
the absence of a spiritual and per.
feet and immortal man would be 8
material and imperfect and morta
man: that is, a mortal mind and 8
mortal material body. called man.
The New Testament calls this ma.
terial or mortal mind the "carnal
mind" or mind of the flesh. We are
distinctly told that this carnal min6
and it's manifestation, carnal body
lis enmity against Cod; that "fest
and blood cannot inherit the king,
DOM; that "they that are in the
flesh cannot please Cod" So it is
plain that God did not make the
mortal body. for His own thoughts
His own ideas, cannot be at enmity
with Him.
Now this material body cannot dc
anything of itself, but is simply the
expression of the conscious or uncon.
scious thought of the mortal human
mind. Investigation proves that all
sickness is mental, that is, it is sick
thought made manifest on the body
and when we are well it is well
thought which is made manifest on
the body. Every function, every ac-
ton, every condition of the body, is
the expression of what we are con-
sciously or unconsciously thinking
from one moment to The next.
If man were hungry and food
which was placed before him had
something about it that was exceed
ingly unappetizing, it would appar-
emily be his stomach which protest
ed, because the thought which he
entertained about the food would be
made manifest on his body; but what
would his stomach know about the
! food? Absolutely nothing! If he
believed that the food was all right
| this thought would be made mani
fest in proper activity of the stom-
| ach: and If he had eaten food be-
lieving it to be all right and had
then discovered that ii was all
wrong his changed thought would