Editorial February 22, 1913 Issue

PERFECTION DEMANDED.

Annie M. Knott

It is not always borne in mind that perfection is a demand of Principle which applies to all we think, say, and do, from the least thing to the greatest, and that lapses from obedience to this demand are sure to cost us dear. Christ Jesus said that the one who knew his master's will and did it not should be "beaten with many stripes;" from which saying some have argued that it would be better not to know the moral and spiritual requirement, because of the greater obligation apparently resting upon such a one. This is, however, merely an evasion of the real issue involved, which is the fact that man is a spiritual being and no rest can be found for any one except as he yields cheerful and ready response to the demand to advance toward perfection at every step of the way. This means, of course, that we should strive each day more earnestly after the spiritual; and so doing, we shall find that it is man's native element as truly as the air is that of the bird, and that man could not if he would live in an atmosphere less pure, since God is Spirit and man His likeness.

In the epistle to the Hebrews we find certain passages which seem to teach that one who has stumbled and fallen after having taken the first steps toward a Christian life, is in a hopeless condition. Here it must be remembered that the apostle was addressing those who presumably believed in the fall of man from a purely spiritual condition to a grossly material one. This mental state held tenaciously to material things even in attempting to approach the infinite, although centuries before that time the prophet Micah said that God only required of men "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly" with God. But the tendency of the carnal mind, then as now, was to multiply doctrines and ordinances, in forgetfulness of the demand that we leave behind us these "rudiments of the world," and "go on unto perfection." Religious history tells us that at one time it was taught that if any fell into sin after they had been baptized they were eternally lost, even though this rite had been performed in their infancy. Happily our Lord never taught any such thing, but even in the case of Peter, when foreseeing his sad defection, the Master saw beyond it his entire rehabilitation, and said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

In Christian Science we learn that mortal man is subject to frequent lapses, and that only as the mortal sense is "put off" by denial and demonstration are we ready to prove what man is, and to realize that the demand for perfection is not "grievous" but "joyous." Christian Science declares for "perfect God and perfect man,—as the basis of thought and demonstration" (Science and Health, p. 259). This includes perfect health and perfect morals, perfect justice and perfect purity, as the ideal which should never be lost sight of. If, however, one should seem to express sickness instead of health, it would not prove that the divine ideal had lapsed, but that the individual had temporarily lost sight of it, for without a clear recognition of this ideal there can be no true health or moral progress.

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