Article April 28, 1906 Issue

The Unmarred Image

RICHARD D. HAMILTON

What a pitiful mistake it was, on the part of mankind, to have ever conceived the notion that God's creation was marred by sin, when at most it was only obscured thereby—hidden to mortal sense by a material concept. To restore a broken image to its original perfection is not possible, and while it may not seem to be an easy task to escape from the error of accumulated years, yet the latter is within the range of possibility, and the fruition of one's hope in this direction awaits industrious endeavor. If the image of God had really been marred by the so-called "fall" of man, —by original sin,—we could not hope to reproduce it; we would only find, in the end, a mockery of this effort to work out our complete salvation. We are not, however, doomed to disappointment and defeat, for we have the promise,—"Christ in you, the hope of glory." Man, the perfect image of God, unmarred and imperishable, awaits discovery through the elimination of false sense. "Beloved, now [at this very time, and from everlasting to everlasting] are we the sons of God," and although "it doth not yet appear [is not yet apparent] what we shall be," still we know, by reason of our joint heirship with Christ Jesus, and through his perfect example of achievement, as made clear to us in Science and Health, that we, too, "shall reap, if we faint not." What an inspiration to nerve endeavor has been this "key" given us by Mrs. Eddy, with which to unlock even this one passage of the Holy Scripture; viz., "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Certainly this age did not know, till Christian Science interpreted the Bible anew, that the understanding of the Christ, the ideal man, is ever with us as our "hope of glory." It is depressing even to think what life would still have been to us had we not learned, through our Leader's marvelous discovery and her sweet ministry to mankind, that a marred image of God is impossible; that "reflection" must ever be an exact and continuing likeness of "substance;" and that at the very worst we have only to remove the erroneous material concept which hides from present view the wonderfully beautiful image of our Father-Mother God,—our own true selfhood.

It is worthy of note that the sculptor must first see in thought the image he expects to produce from the rough marble. Thus also must we first see for ourselves, and for the whole creation, the image and likeness of God—and not something less—if we would realize ideal manhood, the sonship of God, and 'behold a perfect universe.

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