Article November 12, 1910 Issue

DESTROYING EVIL

WALTER SHAW

The healing of sickness is but one feature of the regenerative work of Christian Science. It is perhaps the easiest to grasp, because of mankind's willingness to receive relief from this phase of evil. As the student progresses, he is confronted with deeper problems, for Christian Science means (ultimately) the utter destruction of all evil, and this begins when we faintly perceive the impersonal nature of evil. As we get firmer hold upon this, we begin to see that our chief work lies in clearing our own consciousness. The presentations of evil are so numerous that we are sometimes appalled and possibly inclined to abandon the struggle, but we learn later that every difficulty has to be faced, not run away from, and that there can be no evasion of the absolute demands of this great and vital truth.

On page 249 of Science and Health we read: "Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power." Merely to assent to this is one thing, but constantly to strive to act upon it demands persistent consecration to the cause of Truth. It is always helpful to turn to the Gospels and see how our great Master, both by precept and example, emphasized this fundamental fact, viz., the omnipotence of good. One form of phase of evil was no more real to Jesus than another. The poor demoniac living among the tombs, whom no man could tame, disturbed the Master's thought no more than the blind, sick, and halt by the way-side. While to ourselves an individual in a frenzy of passion, the callous selfishness of a fellow-traveler bent upon annoying his companions, the vulgar rudeness of those considered inferior in culture, or the pressing demands of a financial problem,—all these things, and many others, claim to disturb our grasp of truth by the seeming reality of the evil presented. Only when we are alert and able to recognize every untoward condition that arises as merely another temptation to think evil real, can we realize some-what of St. Paul's meaning when he wrote, "None of these things move me."

We are taught in Christian Science that the way to conquer error is to deny it reality, and the "sin that doth so easily beset" most of us is the belief that evil in some of its presentations has reality and power. The greatest blow evil has ever had is from Mrs. Eddy's insistence upon its utter unreality and impersonality. Our success depends greatly upon our effort to grasp this fact, and daily apply it in demonstration. The worries of mortal life will gradually disappear, if we but faithfully cling to the truth of being. Not ease in matter, but a clearer knowledge of Christ, Truth, must be our aim, and when this is really our desire, whatever nature our obstacles may assume we shall ultimately rise above them, for the battle is not ours, but God's, and "if God be for us, who can be against us?"

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