Article March 30, 1907 Issue

MAKING EVIL UNREAL

WILLIS F. GROSS.

That humanity is progressing spiritually and gaining a higher standard of moral attainment and efficiency, few will deny. More subtle and hitherto unknown manifestations of evil are constantly appearing, but there is also a more spiritual discernment of good wherewith to master the evil propensities. Even though spiritual progress may seem to be retarded by the efforts of evil, it is not defeated and hope does not give place to despair. Humanity's faith in good, and the abiding conviction that good will finally triumph over evil, was never stronger than it is to-day. There are few who can discern aright the signs of the times and comprehend the invisible agencies at work for the salvation of the world, but the signs are portrayed and the spiritual, energizing forces of the unseen are uplifting and elevating the race.

Wherever there is a sincere desire to be better, or an earnest longing to help another, there is felt the influence of that something which is not of the "earth, earthy." A man may not have the true concept of good, and he may entertain a false sense of evil, but it is evident that whenever he has followed the leading of good he has departed from evil. In proportion as good has come into his life, evil has ceased to be a part of it. All the progress he has made is the result of separating himself from evil and identifying himself with good. That he has not progressed more rapidly is due either to his unwillingness to part with evil or his sense of inability to do so. If it be true that his progress has been hampered in his way, then that teaching which increases his desire for good and enables him to overcome the evil from which he longs to be free, bestows a blessing upon him, the value of which can hardly be estimated. That Christian Science is doing this two-fold work is proven by the testimony of thousands who have experienced its refining and elevating influence. Christian Science has presented to these persons such a concept of good and of evil as has enabled them to succeed in a much greater degree in attaining the one and overcoming the other.

One of the things most difficult to understand by those unfamiliar with Christian Science, and especially by those who have not in some degree proved its teachings by demonstration, is the attitude of Christian Science toward evil. If Christian Science is to enable a man to accomplish that which he has hitherto been unable to perform, it must of necessity present a somewhat different view of things. A new method of doing anything must in some way differ from the method previously employed. If it does not, it is identical with the old and can therefore be no more successful.

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