The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-10-06

no expression. Evil Is nc O cause
in God, nor an effect In man. Evil
Is not a person, an object, thing.
Evil Is counterfeit. Now the
counterfeit falsely resembles the
original. The Christian Scientist
needs to be alert not to be de-
ceived by error, by that which Ia
not true. Here the Christian Scien-
list is unconventional. He breaks
with false beliefs; he IL nom
conformist. His thoughts run count
er to the majority Of human opin-
ions. He adheres to the real and
rejects the counterfeit as spurious.
He Is unafraid OF evil, that Is, he
does not believe in It. To fear any
evil Is to accept 1t for what It
claims to be. II fear Of evil enters
the Christian Scientists thought,
what does he do? He denies its
reality. How? BY the simple al
tentative of fearing God instead,
that is, by believing In good In
stead Of evil. The fear. OF the Lord
Is belief in, faith In, respect for
God as All-in-All. Until one has
made nothing of error one has not
mastered 1t. Rather he has let
It master him. just as sin makes
the sinner, so the belief OF disease
makes the sick man, the belief OF
poverty makes the poor man. the
belief Of limitation makes the linn
tied man. Sin, disease. poverty,
death, all belong to the world Of
make-believe. Just 80 the belief In
sickness is punished by the exper-
fence OF 1t. The beliefs Of poverty,
lack, limitation, death, are pun
ished by the experience OF them.
The punishment lasts 80 long 40
the beliefs last, and no longer.
A mirage is deceitful, mesmeric.
and confusing because 1t misrepre.
sents the real. Drug and other ma
terial systems Of treating disease
invariably confuse men, and create
and foster false trusts. Health can
not be built on medical theories, for
they are invariably negative. On
the other hand, no evil can control
heart, mind or body when con-
fronted with the corrective truth.
We embrace our bodies In our
thought; and we must embrace
health, wealth, and wisdom In our
thought IL we are to be healthy,
wealthy and wise. Science and
Health tells us that Consciousness
constructs better body when faith
in matter has been conquered" p.
425.
One literally feels ones way in
Science, through spiritual sense.
This is the only true sensation.
Material sense argues falsely for 1t
denies spiritual sense. Material
sense might be called negative rea-
soning, which is not true logic but
Just another term for error and
evil, and is never correct In prem.
ise or conclusion. Negative reason
ing would have 1t, for instance,
that depression, whether mental,
bodily, or economic, Is the result OF
untoward physical, mental, finan-
cial, or social conditions. But posi-
tive reasoning, which alone Is spir-
itual and scientific, denies that
there is causation either in matter,
or in wrong thinking Rather, posi-
tive reasoning declares that the
qualities OF health and harmony.
etc, are as permanent in man as in
God. Hence one Ii well and har-.
monious now and always. So under
correct, that Is positive reasoning,
demonstration Is possible, for 1t
allows spiritual sense, or under
standing of the eternal facts OF be-
ing to be exclusive in thought, and
hence normality and harmony to
be inclusive in body and life. Posi-
tive reasoning alone adheres strict
ly to divine Truth and Love, and
cures the bad effects on body and
mind of negative thought. Chris
tian Science calls for living above
error and correcting 1t, by strict
adherence to divine Truth and
Love. Have faith in God" MARK
11:22) said Jesus. Loyalty to
good, to the real, to the normal, Is
liberation from the abnormal. FL
deity to Spirit and spiritual reali-
ii :, fidelity to the right idea, is
divorce from matter and discord
and disease. There is no concord
between Christ and Belial.
In the textbook, Mrs. Eddy enjoins
upon all to defend themselves
against sin" Sin Is wrong thought,
hence 1t is in mortal mind always.
Sin, all evil comes to human con-
seriousness as selfs own thought.
It comes In the first personal pro.
noun singular. Therefore agrees
siye suggestion is the sin and the
sinner. Yet 1t is not person, and
one is not responsible for 1t be.
yond his necessity to guard against
1t and disown it and reject 1t. And,
by the same token, evil, since 1t
is not a person, but false BELIEF,
is not the other fellow. To guard
against all forms and presentments
of evil Is to realize--that is. to-
make real-the nothingness of evil.
There is no other way to guard
against 1t than to impersonalize
evil, that is to abstract It from self
and from all other selves. To leave
1t as personal at all Is to concede
/ it existence and power, and to ex-
pose one to It's mesmeric machina-
lions. One could never be safe II
error were person or thing. Ag-
gressive suggestion, mental NAL
practice, Is not your mind, nor Is
it the other fellows mind. The be-
lief that 1t is either is falsity, to
be rejected, not allowed.
One of Mrs. Eddy's chief char
acteristics was tolerance, but her