It was Christ Jesus who first taught men that all evil must and can be overcome by good; and after that teaching little by little had been seemingly lost as the ages passed, it was restored to mankind through the revelation to Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science. Jesus knew God as all-powerful, ever present, ever active good, and therefore as unchanging Life and Love. He knew that he could of himself do nothing, but by devoted obedience to God could understand His laws and apply them unfailingly, using his understanding to comfort the sorrowing, feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead. So Christian Science, bringing back to the world Jesus' understanding of God, declares that God is divine Principle, the only Ego, the only self-existence, who always has been and always will be, and that we in this age may, as Jesus did, use the law of Principle which overcomes by good the seeming power of evil which has so long held the world in bondage. On page 111 of the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says, "The Principle of divine metaphysics is God; the practice of divine metaphysics is the utilization of the power of Truth over error; its rules demonstrate its Science."
Surely, we could not have a clearer statement than the above concerning the overcoming of evil by good; but the declaration that God is Principle sometimes calls out questions like these: If God is divine Principle, why do not sin and sickness vanish at once? Why should people of beautiful character ever suffer? Why should cruelty and harshness, discord and inharmony, endure for a moment in a world where Love is omnipotent? These may seem to be hard questions to answer until we learn that there are rules which may be applied in practice and proof.
A Christian Scientist sat one night listening to a great musician at the piano, and as she marveled at the depth and beauty of the harmony expressed, she asked herself what hindered her from the same expression. She knew, as he did, that there is an available science of music; she had a piano; she had hands and eyes and ears; and still, if she were in his place, instead of expressing harmony, she would either be silent or express discord; and the reason was easy to see. She had never loved music well enough to study its fundamentals, learn its rules, and practice them diligently, as the musician had done.
