"We find the mortal 'tangled up,' as you express it, because he
has set himself up as an independent entity and claims this entity
can be governed by evil instead of good--with lies instead of
truth, with sickness instead of health."
"You emphasize the word 'mortal'; so you make a distinction
between a man and a mortal?"
"Yes; the mortal is the counterfeit of the real man, like a bogus
dollar bill, with no gold or principal to back it. He arrogantly
assumes that he has a will of his own, and this will is
subordinate to no other unless he chooses to make it so. But we
find that he reasons falsely when we see how he becomes the slave
of all sorts of evil that ultimates in sickness and death,"
explained Dr. Stanley.
"Humph! Then, according to your logic, the Ned Willard whom you
know is simply a mortal, physical manifestation of will power,
catering to his own appetites and desires, and so becoming their
bond servant, and there is no true image and likeness of God, or
real man about him," was the young man's half-quizzical rejoinder.
"Granted," he went on, more seriously, "I think I am beginning to
see him as he is and has appeared to others. But now comes the
question, 'How is this same Ned Willard going to get rid of the
undesirable mortal and find the man?' It looks a hopeless task to
me."
"You are using the scalpel very freely upon yourself, my boy,"
said Phillip Stanley, in his friendliest tone. "But let us see if
there isn't a different kind of blade that will serve us better.
If you were cruelly bound with thongs, and some friend should pass
you a keen-edged knife, you would not sit hopelessly looking at
your bonds and still continue to bemoan your bondage; you would
instantly begin to sever the thongs and so regain your liberty. In
Christian Science we find the 'sword of Truth' with which we begin
to cut away, one by one, the bonds of mortal falsities, habits,
appetites and belief in evil until, eventually, we shall find our
freedom and true manhood."
"That sounds very promising, as you put it, though the how of it
seems rather vague. But, by all that's honest, I would like to get
at the secret of it," and the young man turned a frank, earnest
face to his companion as he concluded.
"This will reveal it. Will you read it if I leave it with you?"
and Dr. Stanley drew forth a pocket edition of "Science and
Health" and laid it upon his knee.
Willard opened it and glanced at the title-page.
"Thank you; I shall be glad to look it through," he replied.
"You will need a Bible to go with it," said his companion, lifting
his eyes to a bookcase near him.
"You'll not find one there," his patient observed, with a short
laugh. "Bibles and I have had nothing in common this many a year.
However, there are plenty about the house."
Dr. Stanley shortly after took his leave and went away to visit
other hungry ones, a reverent joy in his heart and on his lips the
paean of David, "Who is so great a God as our God?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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