Arizona republican., 1920-03-10
THE PAST
CWritten for The Christian Science
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CWritten for The Christian Science
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 In EcclesiaS SteS we read That which hath been is spew; and that which Is to be hath already been; and God re- duireth that which is past" This verse, which contains more than one important metaphysical lesson, has been seized upon by a dogmatic sense of theology to picture God of wrath waiting in spirit of vengeance to re- quite the children of men for all past iniQuities. Now is this a Justifiable interpretation? The first part of the sentence is quite clear. God is neces- sarily absolute Truth, and SO change less; therefore He is the author of changeless creation, and so, That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been." The difficulty is in the latter part of the sentence.
 The Scriptures are generally accept ed as the truth of God revealed to, or perceived by, men of spiritual under standing. The expression of the truth, therefore, coming from such men, must always teach the same thing. for Truth is changeless. Con trariwise, if two verses of Scripture seemingly contradict each other, then, in order to reach the truth, a meaning for each must be found which will abolish the seeming contradiction. Now III J<ZthltI we ItdU. w Itsn bDc W1Chtd man turneth away from his wicked ness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive This puts the idea of a God of vengeance out of the question and shows that Gods requirement. for the wicked is that he turn away from his wicked ness and do that which is lawful and right. Now the question is how can man turn away from his past? That which he hath committed and which God requireth of him? Christian Sci ence alone shows how this can be done. In Christian Science the wicked turns from his wickednesS because he has learned that wickedness is unreal and no part of man in Gods image and likeness. So long. however, as wicked ness is accepted as real it will con- tinue to find expression in experience, for human experience is the expression of what is admitted to be true or real and so varies from reality according io the human beings ignorance of abso- lute Truth. When. however, n man ceases to believe in the reality of wickedness, because of his dawning perception that God is the only cause and that obedience to the First Com mandment is the path of righteous ness. then, and in proportion to his success in this endeavor, wickedness ceases to find expression in his ex- perience.
 It is clear that if wickedness is un- real there is no more reality in what mortals claim to be past wickedness. than there is in present wickedness. The child who knows that two times two IS four does not suffer because he used to believe that they were five neither does he go back in memory and say two times two used to be five. he says, l used to believe they were In the same way, time being part of nor tai experience, the student of Chris tian Science may say I used to be- lieve evil was real, but he is fully aware that when he did believe it, he was in error just as much as he would be if he were to believe it now.
 Never. probably, in human history, has mortal mind, the opposite of God. more consistently claimed that