Article October 28, 1922 Issue

It is incredible that the wonderful works of Elisha could...

Elmer McBurney, Committee on Publication for Northern California,

Santa Cruz Sentinel

It is incredible that the wonderful works of Elisha could have been accomplished on any other than a spiritual basis, God's law. The ax head lay at the bottom of the river, subject to the so-called law of gravitation, until Elisha through his understanding of spiritual law demonstrated man's God-given dominion over matter. Mrs. Eddy writes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 23), "The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, demonstrated a divine intelligence that subordinates so-called material laws; and disease, death, winds, and waves, obey this intelligence." The question is asked, Why is it that no one has reached the necessary spiritual understanding or attained to the right mental condition to enable him to walk on the water as Jesus did? The answer to this question is found in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew: "And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." Peter was afraid; and fear is always the fruit of a belief in evil, or in a power apart from God. It is our unbelief in the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, and our reliance on the testimony of the physical senses, which seem to testify to another power, in disobedience to the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," which prevents mankind from making this demonstration.

The question is asked, Was the condition of the impotent man at Lystra, who had been a cripple from his birth, due to an illusion of his physical senses or to a false concept of his mortal mind? Jesus answered a similar question in these words: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." The terms "physical sense" and "mortal mind" are synonymous. Mrs. Eddy defines mortal mind on page 103 of Science and Health as "the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good." Paul destroyed or corrected this false belief through his understanding and demonstration of God's law, the law of health and harmony.

All honest seekers will find their questions answered within the pages of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, when the divine Principle taught therein is understood. The answers will be found correct because based on divine Principle and not on the erring senses. Matter and error yield to reason and revelation. As stated in Science and Health (p. 124), "The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma."

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