Seward daily gateway., 1924-08-08

selfishness and so on. They had been boasting that God was their father, but Jesus contradicted them with the statement, I'll God were your father, ye would love me" (John VIII, 42). In other words, if you were expressing the Mind that is God you would see and love the good which I express. The word Father, so often used by Jesus, is another name for God, the parent Mind. His opponents were accept ing evil as the source of their think ing. so accepting the devil as their father, or starting point, for there is no devil, but evil mentality-the carnal mind. Then Jesus went on to explain to them that the devil or evil does not abide in the truth for-to use his own words-"he IS liar, and the fathe rof it." (John Is. 44). Here is an uncovering of the nature of evil, a false state of mind with no more substance than a lie, for it is nothing but a lie or liar.
 Jesus, however, never said that they could not be rid of this worng- mindedness. Just the opposite, for he said, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John Is, 31-32). This word was his cor rect teaching and thinking, thinking not merely about God, but accepting Gods thoughts. To continue in this word would be to follow in the same mental processes that Jesus used, accepting no Father, but divine Mind and ever entertained the thoughts which manifest this Mind. As all men come to think only the thoughts which are good we shall all be wit nesses and ambassadors of God, to use the words of Paul, and evil will be cast into its utter nothingness. There is but one way to destroy a l lie, be it small or great, and that | is to become conscious of the truth. Jesus affirmed this when he designat- ed evil a lie and said the way to be free from it is to understand the truth of being.
 MORTAL SELF NOT THE TRUE
 We all need to let go of the mis- taken sense that man is but a few pounds of flesh, blood, and bones with mental motor inside He is some thing far more subtantial and Godlike than that When we look into a mir TOT we believe we see ourself but we do not, and how fortunate it is that the picture we see is not our true self. Said Bishop Foster, No man liv- inghath yet seen man." What we see in the looking glass is but the mortal or wrong sense of selfhood, a bur- llesque of our eternal self. This per ishable sense of self is gradually abandoned, as Jesus showed us, thru the realization of the actuality of spiritual life and spiritual manhood
 the expression of God.
 GOD IS VERY NEAR
 Where do we find God? Right
 where Elijah did, in the still small
 voice deep down in our hearts. It is
 here that right desire speaks, it is
 here that we feel the promptings ot
 Truth and Love, the guiding hand ot
 God, that would turn us from evil
 and hate, from sin and disease, would
 we but listen and obey. It is right here, unseen and unheard by the
 world, that mortal selfishness, pride | be placed on the altar of sacrifice
 Our relations to God is discerned
 when we see with Paul that it God who worketh in us, that governs our thinking, ito will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2, 13). Surely the activity of the Mind that is God l is more apparent than ever before | in the consciousness of men and na
 tions. What but this Mind could league together nor ethan two-score
 nations in cooperative endeavor for
 the worlds good and establish an
 international court of justice where
 the disputes of nations may be set
 tied and international law be brought
 more fully into accord with the uni
 versal law of God.
 The owner of radio receiving ap paratus. may by slight movement 1 of a knob, adjust his receiver so as
 to receive messages from the sending station whose messages he considers 1 the most beneficial to him. So in the realm of thought the individual may quickly adjust his thinking (his receiving apparatus, if you wilD to receive the good thoughts which God is always sending to man. When all listen only to the thought messages of God and never listen-in to the messages of evil, sin, sickness, and fear will be without place, and the kindom of heaven will be found within our own thinking.
 WHERE TO BEGIN
 Someone may ask, Just how am I to begin to think the thoughts of God?" This is the same question that was asked by those who heard the words of John the Baptist They asked, What shall we do fhen?
 (Luke 8, 10). And let us learn from Johns answer. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise" In other words llet those who wish to begin thinking alright begin right where they are to ''Gw spirit of love and consider2- t!Gn for their brother and share with 1 him whatever good has coE:e t0 | hem. Then as the Bible story con- tinues, some publicans, the officials who collected the taxes, came to John and wsked what they should do, and the wise answer was, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. .'' In other words be just and honest with your brother in all your deal | ings with him. Then some soldiers came with the same question and they were told to do no violence, to accuse none falsely and be. content with what they had. Thus they were to begin by being servants of peace, not fomentors of strife and were to be grateful for the good that had come to them. So each one of us, mo matter what our place of occu-