The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-02-12

be attained? By viii power? By fore
ing ourselves to think thoughts Of
health, rather than thoughts of sick
ness? By no means. The remedy lies
in the simple rule left by the Master,
''This is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent"
Salvation then is matter of knowing
the truth about God and the son of
God, and as Jesus says In another
place, when you know the truth, the
truth shall make you free.
Let no one think. however, that the
working out of ones salvation through
knowing the truth is always along a
path of flowers. Spiritual embodiment,
like child's material education, in
wolves wrestlings with self-will. bat
things with encouragement, and even
the encounterings of temporary de-
feats until the human is brought into
subsection to the divine. But in our
spiritual education we have the com.
forfing assurance that it is not human
will but God that worketh in US both
To will and to do of His good pleasure.
Let US now consider the basis of
Christian Science; let us find the truth
about God and man which it reveals
that truth which is destined to liber-
ate the race. Science and Health in
few words sums up the remarkable
discovery of the truth of being. We
read: "The Christlike understanding
of scientific being and divine healing
includes a perfect Principle and idea,
perfect God and perfect man,-as
the basis of thought and demonstra-
ton" Up. 259).
This teaching is founded squarely
on the opening chapter of the Bible,
the first chapter of Genesis. 1t will be
remembered that this chapter contains
a record of Gods creation. This
creation is depicted by successive
steps of embodiment, symbolized by
the appearing of light, the heavens,
the earth, the growing things upon
the earth, the heavenly bodies, the
fowls of the air, the fish of the sea,
the creatures that move upon the
earth, and lastly, Gods noblest work,
His highest creation. man. At the
close of each step In the progression
we read, "And God sew that it was
good.v Then to emphasize this mo-
nentous fact, the chapter closes with
this statement: "And God saw every
thing that he had made. and, behold,
it was very good. -. Thus the
heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them"
But, says some one. if you say that
the man of Gods creating is spiritual,
where did this material sense of
things come from? Why is it not cor
rect to say that man is both spiritual
and material? Christian Science rests
on the great fact that
there is one creator and one creation,
one God and one man, and that man
Spiritual, upright and perfect.
And SO through Christian knowing,
not carnal-minded suggestion. the sick
and weary ones of earth are learning
to lift their eyes from the Adam-mist,
from the material view Of creation. to
the harmonious facts of being, that
creation which a loving Father has
pronounced "very good"
Let us now consider a Christian
Scientists treatment of sin. Suppose
a man victimized by drink, or by the
tobacco habit, seeks healing in Chris
tian Science. He is not condemned by
his practitioner, nor told how wicked
he is, nor is he urged to fight evil
with his human will. If child tells
you that Canada is situated south of
the Hawaiian Islands, does he need
punishment, scolding, or does he
need education? Just so it is with the
man who has made mistake In his
problem of being. He needs enlight-
eminent, not censure. andh spiritual
awakening. not material condemna-
ton.
A man sadly victimized by the drug
and liquor habit once sought out a
Christian Science practitioner. He
told the Scientist of his unhappy
plight, of his degradation, and the
loss of money. friends, and self
respect, and then said: Gin fact. there
is only one person in all the world
who thinks that there is any good IN
me. and that is my little two-year-old
child, and she doesn't know any bet
ter" Then said the practitioner IF
that is the case, your little girl Is the
only one who has caught glimpse Of
the real you; for in Gods sight, the
man of His creating, your real spirit
ual selfhood, is just as good, just as
beautiful, just as undefled as that
child saws he is" And / want to re-
port that this revolutionary message
90 startled the material dreamer, and
SO clearly revealed his real spiritual
that from that very day he
found his tormenting desires gone,
never to return; and he realized with
Joy that his little girl was not deceiv-
ed at all, and that in truth Gods man
IS pure and free.
The fearsome task of sustaining be-
ing does not rest upon man. No ray
of light proceeding from the sun can
he said to sustain itsef. The sun sup
plies all the heat, light and power Of
each ray. Just so it is with our Maker.