The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-04-26

SAN oAoOapo oh0 uOothy AhvOAVCb OotaU
fishing in consciousness the God-idea
or spiritual reality. In place of this
counterfeit concept. For to be car
nally (mortally) minded is death" says
Paul, "but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace" And he goes on tc
say, Because the carnal Tor mortal)
mind is enmity against God: for II IL
not subject to the law of God neither
indeed can be. So then they that are
In the flesh cannot please God. But
he concludes, I'VE are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, II so be that the
Spirit Of God dwell in you" That is, II
so be that the spiritual fact of being
dwell In consciousness to the complete
exclusion of all else."
Footsteps
This journey out OF a sense of ma
teriality, is, to be sure, not an easy
one to travel. To thwart the spiritual
ultimate at bound Is an impossible
ty. Christian Science Is a stern, though
loving, taskmaster and its demands are
as distinct and as clearly defined as
are the rules and laws of mathematics
There must be beginning along most
elemental lines. Each step In progress
must be in proof of an advanced un
Outstanding of God and his law. Be
fore the higher demonstrations of spir
itual law can come there must be the
putting into practice OF what we un
derstand in small way. Before we
walk we must creep. Before we raise
the dead we must heal the sick. One
step follows another.
II, then, the material universe Is
merely concept of the mortal mind
an decentralization, to human con
seriousness, of mortal thought, and the
true or spiritual creation is the embodi
ment of ideas of the divine Mind, OF
which mortal thoughts are the counter
felt, must not our task of putting of
the false and putting on the true, con
sist In plucking out and removing, one
by one, those erroneous concepts thai
go to make up a so-called material uni
verse, and In place thereof plant the
true spiritual ideas? And is 1t no,
clear that in undertaking this worl
we must begin with the more simple
problems? That was the way Jesus
started, and when he had cast out the
last element of mortal belief he found
himself at the Mount of Ascension
where all materially fades into its
native nothingness and the true, the
spiritual and eternal, were his forever
To replace hate and malice with love
to replace dishonesty with honesty
impurity with purify, jealousy and re
venge with forgiveness, greed and self
ishness with charity, Impotence with
patience, self-righteousness, self-lovs
and self-pity with self-forgetfulnes
and self-abnegation may not seem Of
vast Importance, but to follow the foot
steps OF the Master and to demon
strate the law of God by healing the
sick and casting out the myriad OF
mortal inharmonies, these changes il
our thought process are an absolute
necessity.
The Physical Senses
But, II may be objected, how can one
help believing in the reality OF matte,
when matter may be seen with the
eye, when it may be touched and han
died, when we taste and smell it, wher
we hear it's myriad of sounds ant
noises? Let us here refer to a very
pertinent and explicit statement made
by ST. Paul bearing on this very point
In his epistle to the Romans. st. Pau
says, "If we live after the flesh. yt
shall die; but IL We through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live" "Mortify"-what does thai
mean? 1t means ito silence" "tt
deaden." Through the spirit"-whal
does that mean? That means, through
the understanding that all things are
spiritual and that nothing Is material
Now, what are the deeds of the body
that Paul here admonishes us to Isl
lence" or "deaden" through an under
standing of all things as spiritual
Why, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling
hearing,-the testimony of the five
physical senses. These are the deeds
Of the body. These, in fact, constitute
all the known faculties of the heshly
or mortal man, and all that we know
of the material universe or ever will
know is cognized through these senses
And we are told plainly enough by st
Paul that we are to "mortify" or Isl
lence" their testimony.
We have been living all these years
reading and hearing read this passage
OF Scripture just quoted, the while we
have been nursing the delusion that
the five physical senses furnish us the
only evidence Of existence and conse
quently must be God-endowed. YET
this passage Of Scripture Is plain and
is in strict accord with all of the
teachings of the Master. IF We through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, we shall live" That is. that not
until, through the perception and un
Outstanding Of God, man and the uni
verse as spiritual. we recognize the
five physical senses as creations of err
ring, mortal thought, shall we begin tc
experience that life vouchsafed us by
st. Paul in this passage OF Scripture
Mortal Mind
Now what is our authority for be
lieving, or through what medium do we
believe, that the material senses OF
seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling and
hearing are real and God-given quail
ties? What Is II that makes these
faculties seem real and essential to us
What is il that bears to us evidence OF
their reality? Why, nothing but this
mortal or carnal mind which is back
of all material phenomena and which