The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-08

SLOOO Tn Cnr1SIlan science lHe OilHi-
 presence of God as infinite Mind, he will not again, at least in the same de- gree as he may have done in the past, suffer through discouragement, depres- sion or fear that he may possibly be separated from God
 CRAVEN AND MENTAL IMAGES In considering the nature or charac- CT of God, one may view with commits eration the worshiper of idols who bows down to graven stone image, and say to such worshiper: My friend, do you not know that it is wrong for you to bow down to a stone image in the name of God? Do you not know that such conduct Is blasphemous and , unworthy? Suppose the worshiper of idols should say in reply: My brother, what you tell me causes me to fear that
 I may not be worshiping alright. 1 will no longer worship this graven stone image. but will worship your God. Tell me what your God is, and where He is to be found, in order that I may wor- ship your God Suppose he is told in reply that God is in heaven; that heaven is a place afar-off, and that after period of transition called death ! he may be permitted to enter heaven and there see and know Spirit, God. 1 Might not the worshiper of idols be | Justified. or at least, might he not be pardoned if he then says My brother, ] 1t seems to me that your God is only | the same as my god, except that yours | is afar-off, where He cannot be seen; 1 that while I am worshiping my graven | stone image here you are holding in 1 thought and worshiping a mental inn age of your God who is in a far-off
 heaven. And beside all this, you have
 shown me in your good Book the place 1 where it is written: Thou shalt not ! make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in | heaven above. or that is in the earth 1 beneath. or that is in the water under
 the earth" From this. does it not seem.
 my brother that the mental image or l likeness of God which you hold in con {, sciousness and to which you pray must 1 be just as erroneous as the graven 1 stone image which I worship. and to
 which I pray? This man has not re-
 ceived anything that will unfold to him
 the nature or character of true Causa- 1 tion or God. He is still worshiper
 of idols.
 GOD, GOOD
 /, Now suppose, as indicating the na- | ture or character of God. you were to l say to this worshiper of idols, My l friend, do you remember the day you | were roaming among the mills and | to end it's existence merely to gratify an impulse to destroy, when something | in the circumstance caused you to with | hold your hand, and instead you bound | up it's wounds in such manner that | it was able to go away into the hills. l You proceed to tell him that that which 1 caused him to withhold his hand and to l bind up the wounds of the deer was mercy. tenderness compassion. These, ayn VI tn m Love. And you tell him that God is 1 Love, and that Love is God.
 | Again, you recall to his memory the | day he lay i'll in the jungle when he was found by his enemy who, instead
 of destroying him, carried him into his
 own hut and nursed him until he was | we'll; and then, instead of holding him | in slavery, gave him his freedom. You
 explain to him that that which withheld
 his enemy's hand and later gave him l his freedom was mercy, compassion
 liberty, equality, fraternity. These, you ! make clear to him, are qualities of
 Love. And you tell him that God is
 Love. and that Love is God
 | You further cite to him an instance 1 where two men owning jointly a piece
 of ground much desided by both were about to engage in warfare in order
 that one might possess, when one said
 to the other Why should we fight and kill? Your family has need of you. Let us see if we cannot find some right way out that will be satisfactory to us both. Pondering thus they turned aside from thoughts of killing. You show him that that which prevented warfare be- tween the two men was compassion,
 humanity. equity justice. These, you explain to him again. are qualities of Love, and qualities of intelligence or Mind And you again tell him that God is Love. and that God is Mind.
 The worshiper of idols. worshper of idols no longer his face "aflame with divine Love" (Science and Health,
 p. 367), may say to you, My brother, this your God is a wonderful, a beauti- full God. I now have no need of a | graven stone image or of mental im- age of God. I see now that God is with the wounded deer on the mountainside. with the sick man in the jungle. with
 the men who were about to destroy,
 with the mariner at sea outriding the storm. I see that He is here now as in fraternal interest and pure desire we consider together His nature. name, or character. I now see that God is all ways present wherever the qualities of health, unselfishness, compassion
 honesty. and peace are reflected to
 mankind The man who worshiped
 idols has now an intelligent idea of | the presence and power of God, good He has an intelligent understanding of
 Causation or God. He has ceased to
 worship idols.
 ORTHODOXY
 The objection is sometimes made that lChristian Science is not orthodox This lbriugS m the uueSton of what and