Article March 2, 1918 Issue

Limitation

MINNIE T. JAQUITH

There is a species of ant that thinks it cannot cross a chalk line, and if one of these finds itself encircled by such a line, it will perish for need of food and water. It is evident that ignorance, not the chalk line, causes the ant's confinement. It could travel, if necessary, across a chalk line, did it but realize this ability.

Ants and human beings are not so unlike in this respect. Mortal man believes that he is confined within the limits of the mortal body, and that he has no possible chance of escape from it except by means of death. It is through this belief that all trouble comes. Sin, sickness, poverty, death, are all the result of believing that man is material and mortal. In the first chapter of Genesis we are told that God created man in His image and likeness, and that He gave him "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." The belief of life in matter has robbed us of this dominion. Instead of realizing dominion, we are inclined to be afraid of everything,—sin, sickness, accidents, death, the lower animals,—even the household pets which love and trust us.

To material sense much of the vegetable kingdom is to be feared. Beautiful flowers are called weeds and are assigned the office of pests; many are believed to be poisonous and are feared. Every way the human consciousness turns it finds enemies,—something to fear, something it believes will cause suffering that may lead to death. "But," St. Paul says, "thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

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