Article July 26, 1913 Issue

KNOWLEDGE VERSUS BELIEF

GEORGE C. FRANKLIN.

All who give the matter thoughtful consideration will recognize that perfect intelligence signifies the absolute annihilation of fear. Ignorance begets fear. An individual who expressed perfect intelligence would know the exact course to pursue at all times, and would therefore have no doubt or questioning as to the right or wrong of any action. If this is true, then it is perfectly reasonable to assume that man's harmony is in exact proportion to his scientific knowledge. On page 366 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "The Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is God and God is All." A moment's thought will show us that it is knowledge of the spiritual fact which enables one to be calm, and this calmness will be in exact proportion to his knowledge based, not upon an empiric ipse dixit, but upon demonstrable truth.

Most of us can remember instances where we have suffered intense anxiety, fear, either because of our not knowing the right course to pursue, or else because we were uncertain of the outcome of some action. This, it is easy to see, was the result of the sense of limitation, ignorance, which has always been a quality of the suppositional intelligence separate from God, the one perfect intelligence. A thoughtful consideration of these things will show us that, no matter how we have strayed into the vagaries and illusions of mortal belief, there is but one way to regain our harmony, and we should be grateful that through Christian Science we have gained a clearer knowledge of divine Truth, the intelligent application of which will deliver us from all the limitations of ignorance and superstition.

The calmness of the one who knows, compared with the anxiety of the many who merely believe, was illustrated to the writer several years ago in a court-room. The case was one in which a man had been arrested for stealing ore, "high-grading," as it is called, and it was thought by the officers of the law that the ringleader of a gang of criminals had been caught. So sure were they of this man's guilt, that the Mine Operators' Association had employed special counsel to assist the district attorney in the prosecution of the case. The accused stoutly maintained his innocence, and employed the best counsel he could afford, but very few people believed it possible for him to be acquitted, so clear seemed the evidence against him. A few days before court convened, his friends raised a large sum of money, and employed the best lawyer the place afforded, a man whose very presence in the court-room commanded the respect of all, because of his reputation for legal knowledge and the well-known fact that he would not defend a person whom he believed to be guilty.

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