Page:Christian Science versus Pantheism.djvu/19

Rh them, monotheism is lost and pantheism is foundin scholastic theology. Can a single quality of God, Spirit, be discovered in matter? The Scriptures plainly declare, “The Word was God;” and “all things were made by Him,” — the Word. What, then, can matter create, or how can it exist?

Did God create evil? or is evil self-existent, and so possessed of the nature of God, good? Since evil is not self-made, who or what hath made evil? Our Master gave the proper answer for all time to this hoary query. He said of evil: “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 [God], because there is no truth [reality] in him [evil]. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it [a lie].”

Jesus' definition of devil (evil) explains evil. It shows that evil is both liar and lie, a delusion and illusion. Therefore we should neither believe the lie, nor believe that it hath embodiment or power; in other words, we should not believe that a lie, nothing, can be something, but deny it and prove its falsity. After this manner our Master cast out evil, healed the sick, and saved sinners. Knowing that evil is a lie, and, as the Scripture declares, brought sin, sickness, and death into the world, Jesus treated the lie summarily. He denied it, cast it out of mortal mind, and thus healed sickness and sin. His treatment of evil