Editorial June 21, 1913 Issue

ONE GOD, ONE POWER

Archibald McLellan

In the chapter, "Animal Magnetism Unmasked," in Science and Health, on page 102, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Mankind must learn that evil is not power;" and while this learning may at times seem to be a slow and almost interminable process, it is essential not only to a thorough mastery of Christian Science, but also to that freedom from sin and sickness which Jesus preached and demonstrated and to which all mankind is entitled. Mortals have gone along for centuries believing and declaring that evil is power, that it acts with more certainty than does good, and, at least inferentially, that God is its author and uses it ultimately to make men good.

This latter belief, which has been conspicuous in the unthinking routine of daily affairs, is one of the most subtle and enslaving illusions to which mortals have given allegiance. If Mrs. Eddy had not taken issue with this concept of God, her teachings would not have met with such determined opposition as has marked the past thirty-eight years, and the efforts to misrepresent and overthrow Christian Science during that time would not have been so persistent. To have followed popular beliefs would have been a much easier course and would have made her a popular preacher though ephemeralizing her work; but fortunately for humanity Mrs. Eddy had the courage to withstand temptations of this kind. As she says on page x of the Preface of Science and Health, in speaking of her work, "The author has not compromised conscience to suit the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and honestly given the text of Truth."

In boldly departing from the theological beliefs of the centuries, and going back to the teachings and example of Christ Jesus, Mrs. Eddy took as her foundation the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God, and upon this foundation she has logically built up a system which enthrones good and places evil where it belongs, namely, in the category of false human beliefs which are destroyed by Truth. Those who contend for the reality and power of evil do so largely without realizing that they thus dishonor God; for if evil were real and had power, it would either be because God had created it or because there is another creator. Christian Science sustains and demonstrates the primal commandment, that mankind shall have and acknowledge no other than the one true God, as the basis of all harmonious existence, and every claim it makes in behalf of the allness of good and the consequent nothingness and powerlessness of evil, is consistent with this first, greatest, and most comprehensive of all the commandments.

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