Imperial Valley press., 1917-01-29


course, but progress at a rate that
is not particularly complimentary to
the human mind, for it is now nearly
nineteen hundred years since one
whose statement ought to have set
tied the question Immediately and for
all time, so far at any rate as Chris
tians are concerned, declared the
devil to be "a liar, and the father
of it," and to have "nO truth in him."
Now that which has in it no truth
must be an utter falsity or deception,
existing by, through, and in mistak-
en- belief only.
Of course those who have aban-
doned the hoofed and horned concept
Of devil, only to substitute a belief
in an incorporeal or bodiless power or
influence opposed to God, have not
really advanced very far, though
they may be said to shine as YER
table fountains of light in compari-
son with those who still hold evil to
be a part of the divine plan and es-
sential to its proper consummation.
Some of the advocates of this latter
theory do not seem to catch the sig
nificance of the fact that an inherent
sense of right often prompts them to
try to stem the tide of the very evil
which, if their belief be correct, is to
serve the ultimate purposes of good.
In Christian Science it is shown that
the term devil is properly synony-
nous with the term evil, and that
evils source, origin and field of op-
GRAFTON is in the human mind. To at
tempt to personify evil is to lose sight
of what it is, and consequently of how
to combat it. By presenting an ex-
planation of evil that is consistent
with the Scriptural assurance that
God who "made all things" is Love,
Christian Science has made it pos
sible for many thinking persons to
come out of unbelief.
Surely evil must be accounted for
in a manner entirely in accord with
mans natural and rightful desire to
acquit infinite intelligence of having
committed blunder that would be
ineXcusable even on the part of the So
called human mind, namely, of hav-
ing established universe and then
deliberately put into that universe
the elements of self-destruction. What
would you think of an inventor who
in working out an elaborate device
for the accomplishment of a cherished
purpose should knowingly insert in
the delicate mechanism something that
would be certain to disturb the har-
mony Of it's action and eventually re
duce it to wreck and ruin Would
anyone regard that as an act of in
telligence or even of sanity? Let
US not attempt to deny to infinite
wisdom the attributes of at least or
dinary common sense.
DISPOSING OF A NEGATION.
Since it is obvious that an intelli-
gent and good God could not have
made evil and that to attribute to
evil any other positive sourc is
equivalent to contending for the i'm
possible theory Of there being more
than one primal cause or creator. the
conclusion necessarily is this: That
cation. This may be illustrated in
simple way. Ignorance is one of the
most pronounced types Of evil. A
very considerable proportion of hu-
man endeavor is directed to the over
coming of ignorance. Thousands of
schools and colleges, hundreds of
thousands of teachers, the tremen-
dous facilities of modern printing,
publishing and distribution, are de-
voted largely to this service. The
profession of the educator is honored
among men, and the business of edu-
cation is supported by untold wealth
of public and private funds. And all
this vast expenditure Of talent and
time and treasure is directed against
what? Against ignorance, nothing
ness.
Would the educator succeed if he
were to regard that against which he
contends as a positive thing, with
and power? Is there a school any,
where whose curriculum includes
course of instruction in the origin
and elements of ignorance? What
would be the opinion of a college or
conducted on the theory that
the best way to make a pupil wise
is to keep his attention fixed on the
opposite of wisdom? Though all edu-
cational effort is eXerted to the over
coming of ignorance, such effort is
based on full recognition of the fact
that ignorance is not of itself any
thing, but merely the lack of some
thing, and that the one practical way
to dispose of lack is by the positive
process of supplying the needful
thing.
We are all familiar with the effects
of ignorance on it's victims, the ham,
pering and demoralizing influences at
tributed to it in the conduct and af
fairs of those about us. Therefore
can we truly say we are unable to
the idea of merely neg
ative evil, and yet needs to be posi-
lively and vigorously handled and
overcome?
In considering how divine Science
is reduced to human apprehension we
find ourselves now, therefore, in the
presence of two facts of the utmost
practical value to each and all of us,
namely, that every quality of every
element of good is positive, and that
every quality of every phase of evil
is negative. Good only is the pres
ance of something: evil always, in its
final analysis, is the absence of some
hing. No one need accent this as
a mere theory. If you will take this
simple rule and apply it as best you
m, +o ,,o,,,. d,il1, rroh1anoS you will |