In striving to conquer sin, one should pray with courage and inspiration drawn from our Master's great command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." The mistaken habit of believing one's self to be identified with evil rather than with good may appear not to be broken either easily or quickly, but every temptation overcome is Truth's victory over error for that individual who persists in
"Still treading each temptation down,
And battling for a brighter crown."
Christian Science enables one to distinguish between the self-knowledge which is needed to arouse a heretofore callous and complacent sinner to repentance and reform, and that wrongful accusation or self-condemnation which, in the guise of suggestion, at times tries to deceive the honest student into surrendering his well-earned sheaves. Reference is made by our Leader to "moral idiocy," which, in its early stages she describes as a "loss of self-knowledge and of self-condemnation,—a shocking inability to see one's own faults, but an exaggerating sense of other people's" (Miscellaneous Writings, p.112). To such a state of thought as this, the improved belief of self-condemnation would bring the first ray of Truth, the first opening of the door towards freedom and regeneration. To such a one, Christian Science holds out both the vision of perfection and the method of demonstration. It shows the need of keeping one's gaze on the goal, while at the same time watching to see that, through integrity of purpose and perseverance, the human footsteps are kept in the straight line of progress. All alike need to follow the white road heavenward, and to rest assured of Love's rod and staff to guide and guard them all along the way. When one's footsteps have faltered or deviated, one can always return to the pathway with renewed faith, courage, and consecration. We may even wander from the pathway; but that pathway ever awaits our return. Both the opportunity and the divine means of reform remain within reach of every individual.
