Montana labor news., 1946-12-19

consequence, she could not really
know she was sick-she was merely
believing it-and therefore disease
could be properly classified as merely
a belief. a false belief about herself.
that she could reject as She would
any other falsity. She WAS reminded of
the statement of the prophet lIabak-
kuk, Thou art of purer eyes than TO
behold evil. and canst not look on i'm.
ouity tHah 1:13). She bessn 10 reason
from the standpoint of that which was
true. though obviously apparent.
The embodiment of Truth in her con.
seriousness brought the assurance that.
regardless of the evidence of material
sense to the contrary. God is wholly
good both in knowledge and in power
that because man is Godlike he must
be wholly good. without a trace of
evil. that disease is EVIL. and so is no
more a part of man than ol God From
this il was not difficult 10 conclude
that the disease was deception rather
than reality.
Previously. prayer had meant To
lnr merely supplicatioi Now. for the
first time. she learned something of
prayer from another standpoint. the
standpoint of affirmation and denial
She learned also that the primary
purpose of prayer OF treatment in
Christian Science is to 'elorifv and
honor the presence and power OF God
This prayer affirms that to be real
which is of God, whether or no il
is humanity apparent 1t denies the
reality Of that which is not of God.
regardless of how humanity apparent
it seems to be. AT first. II seemed
rather illogical and Difficult; to affirm
the presence of that which did not
seem to be present. and to DENY the
presence of that which seemed very
evident. But she agreed that it was
important to glorify and honor God
rather than material sense
At the time Jesus raised Lazarus
from the dead. he said. Father. |
thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And ! knew that thou nearest me al.
ways" tJOhn 11:41, 42l. In this case.
Jesus gave thanks for the healing
before the healing was apparent. So.
in the ease of this woman. the divine
facts of mans spiritual identity were
affairmed-the fact that m,n made
in the image and likeness Of God is
perfect. harmonious. immortal. The
generally accepted belief that man is
imperfect, inharmOnious. and mortal
was de~nied-utterly rejected-regard.
less of how real this BELIEF appeared
to be. She was enabled to see. through
this scientific prayer. that it was pos
sible to become spir'tuall, aware of
The true facts about herself even be-
fore they were evidenced humanity in
an improved condition Of mind and
body. Likewise. it was possible 10 We
come awara of the %notniEaaess of
disease even before il disappeared.
Relief in her cas- cane almost i'm
mediately. ard within 4 aJriad Of two
weeks she was ENJOYING normal
health.
Prophecy Defined
This leads to a consideration of the
subject of this lecture: christian
Science: A prophetical Religion
Prophecy has to do with spiritual see
ing. with seeing spiritually. or from
g spiritual. rather than from a
material, standpoint. The substance of
this spiritual perception is divine in
telligence- In the Christian Science
textbook, prophecy has these defini-
tons: spiritual evidence opposed to
material sense" disappearance of ma
terial sense before the conscious facts
Of spiritual Truth, and "Christian
Science. with which can be discerned
the spiritual fact Of whatever the ma.
terial senses behold (Science and
Health 5S5.9-1o. 1914; 585: 10-1l.
We perceive the things of Spirit
only through the spiritual senses.
Spirit and all things spiritual can be
understood spiritually. but not ma
terially. Matter is the unlikeness, the
opposite of Spirit in every respect
Spirit and matter no more mingle than
light and darkness. Where Spirit is
matter is not. just as where light is
darkness is not.
Spirit being infinite, il matter exists
at all il must exist outside infinity
But there Is no outside to infinity be
cause infiniiy is all-inclusive, all
embracing. To admit that there i.
something part from. outside of. Oh
opposed to infinity, is to deny infinit,
itself. And this Is exactly what mat
ter does and what it is. II is merely
the denial or negation of Spirit. ant
that which denies Spirit cannot under
stand Spirit. and therefore canno
deny it. The belief that Spirit ant
matter unite in creation is pantheism
Now. such truths as these hay,
been limited al in human PHILOSOPHERS
but they have been considered mer'
distractions by most people. Wha
philosophy hints al, Christian Scienc,
explains aud demonstrates as bein.
most practical in redeeming human
consciousncss from materialistic doc
%trines. which merely perpetuate an,
multiply enslaving errors of belief.
Spiritual seeing. or seeing tn
spiritual facr, involves unseeing. 0
seeing through the material falsity
1t also involves forseeing. or seeing
spiritual fact before 1t becomes hu
manly apparent Whatever is ~reveale,
to human cons i~ousness as a spiritua
fact must appear iangibly in presen
human experience because Of tn
. Christianly scientific relationshij
" srA.-.I la., ';.ssc ,tco etce rs y. ,.t,-