Among the matchless lessons of our Master we find these words in Matthew, "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse." And Luke adds "the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old." This has been so manifestly proven true in my experience that I am constantly unlearning some mortal mind lesson. From the time of my conversion at the age of fourteen. I was most happy in my religious life, and when through physical healing I was led to Christian Science, I hailed it as a higher step, an added spiritual privilege. Faithfully the new clothing of thought was added to the old conceptions, but alas! the rent was evident. One after another the shreds of the "old garment" witnessed that "the new agreeth not with the old." Oft the false love for the old cost a heart pang, and yet the chastening ever yielded "the peaceable fruit of righteousness [right thinking];" for the ever-present Love brought a joy and rest beyond the power of words to express.
Some recent rents have proven astonishing to the human mind. Of the virtues, I truly believed I possessed unselfishness, honesty, and justice, and I find the mesmerism of a false belief in virtue, yields reluctantly to the understanding that good is no part or property of any person.
An awakening came when I first discovered that my selfishness had made others selfish and thus added to their burdens. Why should a good motive result in that which is so far from good? Close analysis showed that I had unconsciously loved the secret approval of my self-sacrifice, and that I had often yielded rather than meet opposition and displeasure. Could there be greater self-love? How long shall we be in learning to discern between the clamor of personal sense for ease in Zion, and the conviction of place in Principle that must be demonstrated?
