IN the first epistle of St. John we read: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." Jesus himself called sinning mortals the children of the devil. It is interesting to note that in these sayings evil is not considered as originating in man, but as coming from the devil, as being a false claim, something which comes to mankind from an outside source. Mortals have of old believed in the power of evil, a power which seeks to possess man and which would condemn him to suffering. Are we justified in believing that in referring frequently to the devil the Master himself believed in the actual power of evil, and that he was sent from God to destroy this power? Certainly not! The whole teaching of Jesus is based upon an omnipotent God, besides whom there is no power.
Jesus frequently alluded to the devil, and on one occasion he said that the devil "abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him." It is self-evident that if there is no truth in the power of evil, there is no reality in it, for truth and reality are identical. He also said of the devil that "he is a liar, and the father of it;" that is, the father of nothingness. He thus tore the mask from the devil and showed that lies originate in lies, illusion in illusion. Nevertheless, Jesus did not ignore the seeming activity of evil, for he knew that an illusion seems real to us so long as we believe in it, and that the truth must be recognized before we can rid ourselves of any illusion. He did not bid us fight against evil, but he pointed out that the truth will free us from the illusive power of evil.
Christ Jesus proved his doctrines by his works. He showed that his very recognition of the truth was sufficient to paralyze the asserted activity of evil, and insisted that we as well as he can annul the effects of error's activity, if only we will accept the truth he was revealing by word and deed and use it as he was doing. Christian Science deals with evil just as Jesus did; that is to say, it teaches that evil is a lie, an illusion, and that we may learn to free ourselves from it. That evil has no reality is the doctrine of Christ Jesus which Mrs. Eddy has understood and taught, bringing thus to mankind again the wonderful message of Jesus, the message that we can be free and are to be free, and that the truth is going to make us free.
