MRS. EDDY does not minimize the necessity of overcoming error. Throughout her entire writings she is persistently pointing out the heinousness of sin and its blighting effects on the lives of men, and is incessantly calling upon them to master the passions. Consider, for example, these words of hers on page 407 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters—passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge—is conquered only by a mighty struggle. Every hour of delay makes the struggle more severe. If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush out happiness, health, and manhood." No feeble trifling with sin encouraged there! Christian Science is as adamant to evil under whatever guise it may seem to masquerade. Its call to men everywhere is, Have done with it if you value your "happiness, health, and manhood."
The effort to overcome error should be made now. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," says Paul. We cannot think of the apostle as procrastinating where sin was concerned, for to him the "carnal mind" was "enmity against God." His call to his brethren was that they should put the Mind of Christ in the place of the carnal mind, and that they should make the effort to do this without delay. There was wisdom in this, since it is generally believed that sin is more difficult to overcome the longer it is indulged. Jesus himself pointed out the disastrous effect of inaction and delay in the parable of "the ten virgins," recorded by Matthew in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel, the thirteenth verse of which contains the warning words of the Master, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Now the way in which mankind usually regards evil is not how it is regarded in Christian Science. Mankind, uninstructed in Christian Science, looks upon evil as if it were as real as good, and also as powerful. But that is not how Christian Science regards it. In this Science, God is declared to be infinite good; and from this premise the conclusion is drawn that evil is unreal, that evil has only a supposititious existence. This means that mankind is deceived in believing that evil is actual and has power; led astray when it indulges any form of sin; fooled when it allows itself to be the plaything of the passions; deluded when it fails to see that the result of giving way to the passions is unhappiness, ill health, and the destruction of true manhood.
But since evil is unreal it should not be feared; neither should it be regarded as difficult to overcome. When it is seen, not as something real, but as erroneous mental suggestion, its seeming power is no longer dreaded. Every Christian Scientist is called upon to regard evil in this way, and so to master it. Our Leader writes on page 29 of Science and Health: "Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the crown of rejoicing." So the time to begin to overcome erroneous or sinful beliefs of every kind is now.
And as with sin so it is with sickness: the effort to get rid of it should be made now. As our Leader says (Science and Health, p. 461), "Both sin and sickness are error, and Truth is their remedy." Disease is thus as unreal as sin; and it can be met and mastered in the same way as sin by seeing its unreality and denying it. Wonderful it is to see disease healed by the understanding that it is but the seeming effect of erroneous mental suggestion! Let one laboring under a belief of sickness regard it in this way and he will no longer feel that he is bound by a material law too strong for him to master; rather will he understand that the erroneous mental suggestion which is causing him to suffer can be met by the truth of man's inseparability from good, and the certainty of evil's unreality. There is no mystery in spiritual healing as practiced in Christian Science. It is entirely scientific; and everyone, therefore, may learn its method for himself.
A great effort is being made in the world today to overcome the differences existing between men, to bring about friendlier relations, to establish peace on a permanent basis, to enlarge the boundaries of human freedom; and many are the ways in which this is being attempted. We cannot but have respect for every conscientious effort that is made for the betterment of mankind; but the Christian Scientist is certain that far more rapid progress would be made towards the goal of universal brotherhood and freedom if all men understood and acknowledged the omnipotence, the allness, of God, good, and the unreality of evil, even as Christian Science teaches. Indeed, it is imperative that they should come to this understanding. Until they awaken to the omnipotence of God and the unreality of evil, and mentally take their stand on the side of good, giving no power to evil, their efforts on behalf of their fellow men will largely be in vain; for they themselves will still be walking in partial spiritual darkness.
Equipped with the knowledge of God's omnipotence and evil's impotence, the Christian Scientist is uncompromising in his denial of the claims of evil, uncompromising in his denial that evil has reality, presence, or power. He may not find it possible openly to declare what he knows, but he can always affirm the truth in his own consciousness. And as he does so he is confident as to the effect of his understanding and affirmation of the truth upon the thought of the world. Nothing is more certain than that the consecrated thinking of Christian Scientists, their clear perception that good is infinite and evil unreal, their prayerful desire that the truth shall be known by all men, is the most potent agency for righteousness in the world today.
Christian Scientists do not entertain the thought that evil will continue indefinitely; they understand its unreality, and that "now is the day of salvation."
