Article October 21, 1922 Issue

I think everybody agrees that God is Spirit, and that if...

John W. Harwood, Committee on Publication for Lancashire, England,

Rochdale Observer

I think everybody agrees that God is Spirit, and that if He is the only cause and creator, as the Scriptures teach, the effect, or creation, must be spiritual. So, Christian Science reveals the fact that man, being the image and likeness of God, Spirit, or Mind, must be, and is, spiritual, and is supported, governed, controlled, and sustained by Mind or Spirit, not by matter. It is not every one who, in the beginning of his study of Christian Science, recognizes that when this man of God's creating is mentioned, it is not meant to indicate a sinning, suffering, and dying mortal, who cannot be the image and likeness of the one perfect, immortal, divine Mind. A mortal is exactly the opposite of God's man; and Jesus defined his nature perfectly when he said: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

It is this mortal who believes that life depends on matter, and ends in death. A mortal represents the carnal or mortal mind, which Paul says is "enmity against God." He writes, "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace;" and he shows that mortality, "the old man," must be put off, and immortality, "the new man," must be put on. Until this is accomplished, mortals will continue to take the food which is believed to be necessary. The master Christian provided food for thousands when there was little food available; and this demonstrates the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 442) that "Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually."

The critic asks if the sufferings of animals and of infants are due to mental states. It must be plain to all that without a consciousness or mind, there could be no sensation of any kind. Christian Science, in analyzing so-called mortal existence, shows that disease, discord, and evil of every kind have their supposititious origin in the carnal or mortal mind, which must be false, for it is the contradiction of divine Mind, in which originates all that is beautiful, good, and true, all health and happiness, and eternal life. Therefore, the remedy for all the ills that the belief in the flesh, or matter, is heir to will be found only in Truth or divine Mind. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In answer to another question, I may say that a little understanding of the truth has, first of all, made many people free from so-called mortal, material laws regarding food; that they have been enabled to enter the dining-room, and not only thoroughly enjoy their meals (whatever the food consisted of) but digest them, which before they could not do. Is not this the result of a change in the mental state? It proves that the question of food, as well as everything else, is mental, not physical; and when the false beliefs which constitute the carnal mind, and which are responsible for all the suffering on earth, are cast out by "the finger," or power, of God, then the kingdom of God will have come upon us, and harmony will reign.

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