Article August 28, 1909 Issue

THE TRUE AND THE COUNTERFEIT

CHARLES GRANT MILLER.

It is a common belief of mortal mind that we realize joy only by contrast with sorrow, that we recognize health only through sickness, and that we know good only because of unfortunate experiences in evil. If this theory were true, then sorrow, sickness, and other evils would not be evils at all, but real, necessary, and therefore right—an impossible hypothesis. But the theory is not true. It is not even partially nor relatively true. It is the exact opposite of the truth. Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 337 of Science and Health, "The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real."

The president of a bank, when asked by a young clerk how he could learn to distinguish the bad bills from the good ones, said, "Get familiar with the good bills and you will recognize the bad ones at sight." Here is a volume of wise admonition summed up in a single sentence. This homely, pointed advice applies not only to the detection of counterfeit money, but with equal force to the detection of the counterfeit and false in all departments of life. The man who is accustomed to handling good corn, good wheat, good potatoes, has no difficulty in detecting the faulty. The skilful egg-handler passes the eggs before the light with a rhythmic rapidity that is amazing, and yet an imperfect egg instantly breaks his routine; so also to a trained musician, a false note comes like a stab of pain. In a word, whatever his occupation, he who is fully engaged in doing the right thing will have no difficulty in recognizing the wrong, since right and wrong present an absolute unlikeness or contrast. He who is most accustomed to the light cannot fail to recognize the difference between light and darkness. He also finds that light is needed in order to estimate anything aright.

There is only one way to guard against the bad, the imperfect, the untrue, and that is by knowing the good, the perfect, the true, and keeping it constantly in thought, even as Moses admonished the children of Israel: "When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

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