The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-01-23

HdAiAs HadftA bpDH HsoAAANaA4A
side. disintegrates. reduces. anf
removes If in somewhat the sam.
fashion. A three-day period Of
actual physical blindness followed
this experience Of Saul of Tarsui
on the Damascus road.
In that interval Of introspectior
and retrospection now carried or
In the white light Of Spirit. hatred
resentment. self-will. intolerance
human pride of intellect. race, anc
tradition-all faded away. With
them went also a false sense OF
loyalty 10 old associates still salts.
fled with the darkness. What q
glorious vision the shining. snow
capped SUBMITS of the Lebanon
Range must have appeared to this
one. spiritually reborn and later &c
be renamed Paul, on the glac
morning when. leaving Damascus
behind him, he turned his face tc
the rising sun and the epace and
quiet of the Arabian Desert, there
to seek for three years the inner
meaning of the revelation which
had come to him in such a mar
velous way but few days before
Divine Ideas Supply Human Needs
In each one of these instances OF
the coming of spiritual light tc
men there is a lesson of compelling
Importance. II is this: that God
supplies His children unfailingly
with ideas, and that these ideas. IN
turn, furnish mortals with all their
human needs. Stated differently
Christian Science teaches that this
revealing light of divine intelli-
gence. which illuminated Mrs. Ed
dys consciousness as it did that OF
Paul, comes alike to all whose
consciousness is open to perceive
IL. In this revealing light, the idea
or ideas which will meet the
human need of the moment must
appear.
This point in Christian Science
Is of deepest Importance. ideas,
Mrs. Eddy says at page IS of Sci
ence and Health. ARE emanations
from the divine Mind" to which
she adds, Thoughts, proceeding
from the brain or from matter, are
offshoots of mortal mind; they are
mortal material beliefs" Remem-
Der this distinction between spir-
itual ideas and thoughts emanat-
ing from the brain as we go on.
Ideas can never be lost. destroyed,
misplaced, or stolen. Furthermore,
they are always productive-pro-
ductive of good. Mere thoughts,
az all know only too well, are fire.
quently. if not always, as valueless
az the thistledown that floats aim
lessly in the autumn haze.
Remember, also. now and al
ways, this vital fact: Il quote from
the Christian Science textbook.
page ~ that 1T is the all-hearing
and all-knowing Mind, to whom
each need of man is always known
and by whom 1t will be supplied. "
When the full significance of this
statement breaks in upon human
consciousness cropping in the dark,
IL may for a moment seem like a
binding glare of light; yet it is
in exactly such revealing, regen-
Grating light that all true spiritual
growth must be made. Without
material, physical light no So
called natural growth can take
place. So il is with mortals; with
out the light of Spirit they must
ever grope in darkness.
Early Backgrounds
The background Of Mrs. Eddy's
early life, as well as that of Jesus.
is extremely important to an un-
Outstanding of why they succeeded
so signally where many others be-
fore them had failed. Our Chris
ton Science textbook explains the
remarkable ability of Jesus when
II tells us at page 500 that The
divine origin of Jesus gave him
more than human power 10 ex-
pound the facts of creation. and
demonstrate the one Mind which
makes and governs man and the
universe" But there were. in the
early childhood OF both these un-
usual characters, certain facts of
interesting similarity. Both were
born in deeply religious homes.
Both were surrounded with an at
mosphere of love and devotion to
the things of Spirit. Mrs. Eddy
was reared in a home in which
there was abundance. Her father
was an educated man. and accord
ing TO the economic standards of
his day, a well-to-do landed pro-
prietor. His five hundred fertile
acres which he had inherited from
his father were ample to care for
and educate his family of six chill
dren. There is nothing to indicate
that Jesus was not adequately pro-
vided for, both as child and man.
There was another point Of sim
ilarity in the childhood experience
of these two spiritual leaders. The
scenes which met the gaze of the
boy Jesus as he watched from a
commanding hilltop at the edge Of
Nazareth We're unusual. What he
saw there rivaled for magnificence
and variety anything 10 be seen
in the world Of his time There
were imposing mountains and
green valleys. to be sure. but the
thing which held the rapt atten-
ton of the boys of Nazareth was
the great highway which swept up
from the sea across the plain OF
Esdraelon. one Of the greatest
commercial and military roads II
the world of Jesus time. II bore
a constant stream Of commerce
There were great caravans coming
and going from the Far East &c