"AND he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Thus John records one of the most precious of Bible promises; for there is nothing which mortals reach out for more hopefully than newness in everything. A present proof of the truth of this is the sense of refreshed hopefulness which seems generally to pervade the human consciousness whenever the calendar registers the beginning of a New Year. Such a time is always supposed to present fresh and joyous opportunities to drop the outgrown or outworn and to lay hold of wider, better possibilities in all directions.
Inasmuch, however, as this sense of newness includes materiality, it also contains those elements which will, as the days go by, inevitably cause the new to lapse into the old; for it will gradually reach the point of dilapidation and uselessness which is the end of materiality. Consequently, material newness is at best but fleeting, temporary. Even when newness embraces changed purposes and desires, if they too are based on the sand of human belief in both good and evil, they too will become old and worn-out, and disappointment instead of stability and right progress will attend their added hours.
To the Christian Scientist the love of the new takes on a larger and more important aspect, since to him there is ever the reaching after that perfection which continually maintains its eternal freshness. The newness which is made by the One who sits "upon the throne" must be quite different from that ephemeral quality which mortals frequently reach out for with such great desire. Mrs. Eddy throws a blessed light on the subject when, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 409), she speaks of "the new man or real man."
