Article October 4, 1913 Issue

True Reform

BRIGMAN C. ODOM

A strong tendency of the human mind is to justify its own acts. When the average schoolboy under the fire of discipline is asked why he did a given thing, he is quite sure to answer, "Others do it." Adam said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Mortal mind is the sinner; it believes in other gods and is more or less under the control of them. Left alone, unaided by a better influence, it is tyrannical, selfish, uncharitable. It will cheat and lie and steal. It will violate all the commandments and then undertake to find excuses for so doing.

Such is the conduct of men in the world without God. With God, or with a spiritual understanding of Him, they can improve. With the practical knowledge of God's grace which is attainable through the teaching of Christian Science, some have already made considerable progress, and all who make the effort will find the way out of evil and suffering becoming easier and growing brighter as they advance. Error may seem here and there to score a point, but if the situation be correctly analyzed and the lesson learned from it, a triumph for good is the outcome. The fearless reformer oftentimes shocks and offends the self-satisfied sense of the conformist, but the result of his work means greater freedom and happiness, not only to his contemporaries, but to future generations as well.

It seems easier to condemn one in his weakness and fall than to lend a helping hand or to give a kindly word of encouragement. Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone," or bring an accusation. In this connection these words from our Hymnal (No. 53) are pertinent:—

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