Article June 22, 1912 Issue

OVERCOMING

CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.

Christian Scientists who formerly belonged to some one of the other religious denominations, or to the unorganized body of unbelievers, speak and think of the time when they "came into Science" as the great turning-point in their lives. At that time their view of life underwent a change so radical that it cannot be understood by outsiders. In many instances the latter thought that their friends on becoming Christian Scientists became to some extent queer. Perhpas this "queerness" manifested itself in the abandonment of the drink habit or of some other more or less obnoxious trait.

Could the outsider but know what this change really means he would hasten to become as "queer" as his Christian Science friends. What really takes place to cause this change is that the awaking though discerns, sometimes slowly and sometimes suddenly, that religion is a science to be studied and demonstrated; a science in comparison with which all other sciences and all other knowledge are as nothing. The transformation which then begins to take place constitutes a complete change of mental base but fintly reflected in the outward change of habits above noted. The command of our Master, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," is seen to be not a vague request for improvement, but a thing that can and must be done. The statement that man is created in the image and likeness of God is seen to be true, and this likeness is not to be manifested some time in the future in some other existence, but now.

Christian Scientists do not flatter themselves that to human sense perfection is gained at one bound, but they begin to see that evil can be overcome on the basis of its unreality, and at once begin to divest themselves of everything that is unlike God. As they discern one thing after another which is unideal, they at once set about to overcome them. They are like one who is ascending a mountain; each little elevation of ground as it is approached appears as if it might be the summit; when this is reached it is found to be merely one of the many rises in the road leading to the summit. But no discouragement follows the discovery that one is merely passing successive elevations; each one is higher than the one just passed; as one ascends, the horizon widens. The Christian Scientist who has commenced the ascent in earnest does not have to pass the same portion of the road twice. After he has once overcome some particular phase of that which is unlike God, he does not usually have it to do over again. Perfection beckons him onward, and as he learns that overcoming evil is indeed a science he settles down to the steady work which counts. He is like the student who gradually masters the propositions of mathematics one after another. If he has been thorough in his work and reached say as far as logarithms, he does not have to go back to the multiplication table; on the contrary, he is eager to go on to the higher branches of the study, using what he has already learned to speed his progress.

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OVERCOMING

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