by Jules Cern

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No Power but God

Mrs. Eddy gives us the following inspired statement in Science and Health, "The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal."

Accordingly, we do not have to be saved from matter, but only from the false thought that there is matter. We do not have to be saved from atoms, but only from a false thought that there are atoms. We do not have to be saved from disease, but only from a false thought that there is disease. We are never contending with something besides God, but only with a false thought that there is something besides God. We are never contending with mortal mind, but only with a false thought that there is mortal mind. We are never contending with another power, but only with a false thought that there is another power.

Right here one might question, "But how can you say that there is no other power besides God? Who else but the devil causes all the evil and sin in the world?" Perhaps this can be answered by asking another question. Just because there seem to be so many mathematical errors in the world, would you suggest that there is a mathematical devil, operating against the law of mathematics? Of course not! Mathematical errors are the result of ignorance of, or deviation from, mathematical principle. The principle of mathematics only blesses the mathematician. It never punishes him, nor does it forsake him, even though he may seem to be engulfed in mathematical discord. Mathematical discords are never the result of a mathematical devil opposing mathematical law. There is no such thing.

Similarly, what appear to be human discords, evil, sin, disease, and death, are not the result of another power operating against the power of God. Nor are they the will of God. God only blesses. He never punishes man, nor does He ever forsake him, even though our false sense of man may seem to be engulfed with discord. Human sufferings are the result of ignorance of, or deviation from, divine Principle. They are never the result of another power or evil influence. They are only the result of believing that there is another power or evil influence.

This was illustrated in the experience of a Christian Science Sunday School teacher. She had a class of young boys, but one of them seemed to be an unruly troublemaker. He showed no interest in Christian Science, fought with the other boys, and tried to quit Sunday School. The teacher prayed and worked earnestly to help the boy, but all of her loving efforts seemed to be futile. It became evident to her that more consecration on her part was needed. She resolutely devoted every spare moment to more prayerful study of the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy. She declined all social engagements for a while, in order to give herself more time to so fill her thought with the allness and omnipresence of divine Mind, that no suggestion of another mind, juvenile or adult, could possibly deceive her.

Then one Sunday morning she began the Sunday School session by saying, "Boys, today we are going to talk only about God." Instantly, the troublemaker interrupted her with, "Oh! No! I want to talk about the devil!" The teacher replied, "All right, Buster, let's talk about the devil. He has no hands, no legs, no mouth, no body, and no intelligence. But if you believe there is a devil, then your devil uses your hands to hit others. He uses your mouth to speak badly about others. Worst of all, he uses your intelligence to give him existence. But if you are not willing to believe there is a devil, then that is the end of the devil."

The teacher was overjoyed to see Buster's reaction. Not only because, for the first time, he showed interest in what she had to say, but because, for the first time, he had nothing to say. Her unselfish, consecrated study was bearing fruit. Buster remained in the class, but his role as troublemaker ended that day.

So we see that the devil, or evil, is not a bad mortal mind corrupting a good mortal mind. It is the false belief that there is any mortal mind, good or bad. Evil is not good matter degenerating into bad matter. It is the false belief that there is any matter, good or bad, to generate or degenerate.

Evil has no more reality than the physicality it is supposed to victimize. It has no more power than the mortal mind it is supposed to hypnotize. It has no more place than the matter it is supposed to atomize. The Bible states it clearly and beautifully in these words, "Know therefore, this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." In No and Yes Mrs. Eddy writes, "The subjective states of evil, called mortal mind or matter, are negatives destitute of time and space; for there is none beside God or Spirit and the idea of Spirit."

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