Arizona republican., 1920-03-16
Force" :"

Cromwell, was not OnIy one UT blS greatest writers of English prose, and one of the very foremost of English poets but also a very considerable theoiogian. To this Master John Mil ton English Professionalism owes much of its grimness, much of its doBmaJlc teaching with respect to dlSclpllne anu punishment, obedience and torment Therefore it must always surely come as a surprise to the reader of Paradise Lost to find the man who pictured and peopled the Miltonic hell, antici- pating John Bright in his repudiatlon of force as d remedy. and declaring
 "Who oVercomeS
 Bv force. hath overcome but half his
 foe"
 Milton had seen the doctrine of force at work, in a practical way in England and in Scotland, in the effort to oDtaln religious conformity. He had Wit messed the complete collapse of this eI fort in the hands of men who he fondly believed were made in the image and likeness of God, and he had recorded his conclusions in the lines just quoted. Yet his concept of God was founded on his observation of men, and to an omnipotent superman he was willing to intrust powers for which he had fought a king, just as he was willing to endow this anthropomorphic God with a wisdom he denied to his image and likeness. Milton's mistake was rooted in his anthropomorphism. If he had under stood what Christ Jesus meant when he said, to the woman of Samarla' God is a spirit; and they that wor- ship him must worship him Tn spirit and in truth" he would never nave made the most fundamental of his mis- takes. He would have understood, Tor instance, that force was not physical but spiritual, and that divine compul-
 sion was the action of Love compelllng a recognition of the scientific unity or God and man, Mind and its idea, Prln- ciple and it's reflection. All true
 Science" Mrs. Eddy writes. on page of "Rudimental Divine Science" rep resents a moral and spiritual force, which holds the earth in its orolt. Milton did not then see, and mankind did not see until Science and Health was given to the world, that the only force which keeps even the materlaI counterfeit of the spiritual universe in tact is the existence of spiritual force or energy, the law of Principle or Love. If it were possible, for one moment, for some law of inharmony to over come the law of divine harmony, that moment the physical universe would be shattered into irretrievable destruc- tiOn.
 The natural scientist, without realiz- ing why, has recognized this in max ing energy or force the creator ana ruler of the material universe. In this way he has come nearer the Book or Job on the one hand, whilst diVerg- ing from it, on the other. For though he has described the controlling in fluence as force he has made this force material, whereas Mrs. Eddy, in the paragraph just quoted from, continues This force is Spirit, that can bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades.' and loose the bands of Orion" The phys ical universe. in short, like the human being, is subject to entertain angels unaWares ''The very circumstance,
 Mrs. Eddy writes. on page, 574 of Sci ence and Health, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.'
 Here. then, is at once the eXplana- ton and the application of Milton doctrine of the futility of physical force as an argument. The eccleclas- tics of the dark and of the medieval ages sought to compel acceptance of such dogmas as stationary earth and of transubstantiation. By means of the threat of communication or or the agency of the Inquisition, they obtained a general appearance of conformity with these dogmas. But they never convinced mems reason. Thus only one half of each questioner, and that the totally immaterial half, was won over; the mental half the expression is Milton's, not only remained entirely unconvinced, but continued thinking and protesting until, in due time, it produced a Calico or a Bruno, Wycliffe or a Luther. Bruno might be murdered, Wycliffe done to death put as in the case of John Brown, physical death was unable to prevent the ideas which had inspired them from march ing on. Persecution never has had 1aTFf
 the advertising and popularizing of the ideas it is intended to crush. Dl- vine wisdom permits these ideas to eN- pose and destroy themselves If they are not of Principle. Centuries ago, Gama- liel endeayored to convince the Ian- atical and ignorant Pharisees of the Sanhedrin of this, taking care, at the same time. to point out that if any idea were of Principle it was inde- structible. And now 1 say unto you, Refrain from these men and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men. it will come to nought; but if it be of God ye cannot over throw it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God"
 What, of course, makes an idea of Principle so active and so indestruct- ible is the fact that it is endowed with the force of Spirit, Principle, the Sci ence of Truth. Thus, just as it is fu- tile to deny the fact that twice two Is four, so it is futile to deny the fact that Life is eternal. Now what inter- venes to prevent a man deluding him helf with the belief that twice two is five, is Love. For, surely, 1t is Love which brings a man, uncompromiSlng- ly, face to face with his mistake in- stead of permitting him. unccnsciously. to diverge further and further rom Truth. until he lands himself m nell of his own making. Is not this. in- deed, precisely what Mrs. Eddy means in saying that the most afflictive cir constance may be an angel enter tained unawares.
 ThA cor~sn-in-a af the UI,al~ --~----
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