The Prophet Micah, who probably discerned the Science of Being more clearly than most of the prophets, sums up the duty of man as follows: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" It seems a simple summary to consider, and should be simple enough to follow. But each individual's shortcomings are potent witnesses to the seeming difficulties involved in living a godly life. Why should it be so? Why does it seem so difficult to be good and do good, and so easy to do wrong, when all who are religionists believe, theoretically at least, in the supremacy of good over evil, and in the ultimate triumph of the right?
A Christian Scientist could answer this by saying that the great mass of devout worshipers, whether Christian, Jew, or heathen, believe in the reality of evil, and hold it to be an entity, a something which shares God's kingdom and in some mysterious way asserts itself as having power throughout the whole of human life; that because of this belief, man is hindered in his growth Godward, and is creating false conditions which must finally be overcome, and the one and only way to do it is to deny, at once and forever, the reality or existence of evil in any form or fashion, and to recognize Good alone as the real. This indeed would be a correct answer, and really the principal one, since it comes very near to covering the ground. The added explanation of the so-called origin of evil would render it conclusive and complete. But the seeker might, and very justly, propound another query; namely, If Christian Science is the truth which it claims to be, and its followers explain and assert their supreme faith in Good, denying the existence of evil, why does the sense of evil seem to be manifest also in them? in other words, why, then, do not Christian Scientists live perfect lives?
This also is a pertinent question, and yet one that could likewise be answered in a way by saying, the best of Christian Scientists claim to be, comparatively speaking, but beginners in this new-old Science, just learning the alphabet, so to speak, of the new tongue. While they freely admit the necessity of living perfect lives in every way, and deplore to the utmost any sin which exercises dominion over them or any of God's children, their faith in the ultimate victory of Soul over sense, even here upon earth, never wavers, and all are honestly endeavoring to bring about such a happy condition.
