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.
On the other hand, the earnest student, burdened by too personal a sense, sometimes allows self-condemnation to enshroud him and, so, hamper the buoyance of his upward footsteps. This one needs first to separate and then to burn the tares of false belief, by realizing that he can and should bring forth only the harvest of Mind's sowing. The high standard of Christian Science brings' error out from under cover; and there is immense comfort in the assurance that Truth destroys whatever phase of unreality it exposes. This teaching shows us that the belief in sin must neither remain covered nor be feared, since our efforts should always be directed towards conquest, towards the demonstration of man's God-given dominion. The zealous Christian Scientist will not allow himself to be duped by recurrent suggestions of self-condemnation. Because he has not yet conquered in all directions, he should not forget that he already is the victor in some ways. He will not allow himself to be deceived by a false signpost which would turn him backward just because he is actually going forward. If beset by this suggestion, the student must awaken and handle the suggestion, in order that he may continue to proceed, undismayed and undelayed. If a mist would attempt for a time to obscure his pathway, let him dispel it by reflecting the sunshine of joy within his own thinking. The prophet Isaiah points out that joy and praise are the qualities which open the gates, in order that water may be drawn from the wells of salvation.
The First Commandment, when obeyed, will annihilate sinful indulgence, enabling an individual to condemn the sins which have sought to condemn him to a false sense of existence. In this divine warfare against the common enemy, delay is inadmissible. If we are at present indulging any bad habit in either thought or action, we must resolve to check it to-day, and every day, until not a trace of it remains. There is but one perfect way of escape from self-condemnation, and it is through ceasing to sin. Who has not drawn deep breaths of thankfulness when experiencing release from some form of bondage through the grace of God! "By grace are ye saved through faith," the apostle assures us; "and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." If we are casting down error, it can no longer argue that we are the downcast. The continuance of a belief in self-condemnation may point to the need of greater obedience and alertness to divine Principle. Error or evil being unreal, nonintelligent, unrelated to God and man, its nothingness is just as demonstrable as a mistake in arithmetic. Let it be remembered that in Christian Science the denying of sin's reality through the understanding of the reality and allness of good must lead to honest demonstration. Neither ignorance nor laziness can prevent the sincere student from correcting mistaken beliefs; and when overcome by Truth, not a trace of them will remain either in thought or in expression. Let us open our thoughts to Truth, and close them to all erroneous suggestion. Let us be vigorous in banishing error from our actions as well as from our thoughts, and let us remember that morbid introspection has no place in Christian Science, whose positive teaching shows that the world must be redeemed through the spiritual understanding and demonstration of perfect God and perfect man.
One of error's lying arguments, and perhaps the one most reluctantly relinquished by mortal belief, is self-condemnation in connection with the past. On the plea of bygone faults and mistakes, error would try still to bind us in the present, both physically and morally; hence the advice of Paul that the things of the past be denied and forgotten. Neither his great achievements nor those of Peter would have been possible had they not faced the light, and left the black shadows of sin behind,—had they not courageously looked forward, and ceased to think backward. Since God is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, there is no accusing past in infinite Love; and, provided that an individual has ceased voicing, believing, and indulging the errors of yesterday, his opportunity for good is boundless, his to-day is free.
Paul aroused the Romans to the joys of demonstration when he wrote, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This glad promise carries with it a condition, and those only unfailingly inherit the promise who comply with the condition. What does it mean, to be "in Christ Jesus"? It signifies that we shall neither fear matter, nor be in sympathy with material sense. It means that we shall seek to trace the footsteps of our Master in his demonstration of love and selfless devotion to the right. It means that, as we awaken daily to the insistent demands of Truth, we shall be less and less lenient with error; that we shall confide our every motive, purpose, desire, to divine Love, truly eager to respond to God's demands, whatever surrender or whatever achievement they may entail. Mrs. Eddy says (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 86), "There is but one way of being good, and that is to be good!"
