Article July 8, 1916 Issue

God's Presence

ERASMUS W. BRINKER

Knowing the trend of the false beliefs of materiality, Jesus cautioned his disciples not to be troubled when they heard of "wars and rumors of wars," for "these things must come to pass" until God's presence is everywhere recognized. War has come to be generally understood to mean a conflict between nations, wherein armies are pitted against armies until the downfall of one or more of the nations involved is accomplished. Now a nation is but an aggregation of individuals, and the national thought which is manifested in a desire to overthrow and destroy another is but the collective thought of the individuals composing the nation. Whether the strife is waged between organized bodies or between individuals, the moving cause exists only in the false consciousness of mortal man, and the remedy lies in changing the individual thought.

Abraham recognized this great truth, and when strife broke out between his herdmen and those of his kinsman, he said to Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren." Abraham realized that if one would express harmony he must begin with himself and change his own thought before undertaking to bring to another a correct view of men as brethren and of the harmonious relation of man to God; he also knew that the herdmen in their strife but reflected the thoughts of all mankind.

All who read Mrs. Eddy's writings gain a clear apprehension of the warfare to which St. Paul so often stimulated his readers, wherein false beliefs set themselves against spiritual facts; and this must result in the destruction of the former, because spiritual facts alone are real and eternal. The assuring words of the Master, "Let not your heart be troubled," come to us again and again, and we see that evil, so called, is a negation, no matter what may be the form in which it would have us accept it as a reality. Continued study of these writings enables the reader to apply the truths taught in the Bible to the problems of his individual consciousness and to discover the falsities which are lurking there, unobserved as it were, seeking to destroy every pure and holy purpose and to establish themselves as facts of being. Had Abraham listened to the pride, selfishness, and covetousness of mortal sense, he might not have spoken to Lot as he did. Abraham was, however, conscious of God's presence, and by his example has shown us that we must examine into each motive and know whether it is real, whether it proceeds from the "throne of God" or whether it should be instantly banished from consciousness.

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