Article May 30, 1914 Issue

Renewal

ELINOR F. EDWARDS

"I am living only one day at a time, and throwing off the old man of error each day with the word of Truth," writes a fellow traveler in Christian Science. From this statement one catches an inspiring echo of the fact that whatever is old and erroneous may be cast off, discarded like a worthless garment, by right thinking and acting. Error, that ancient belief in the reality and power of evil, is seen in the light of Christian Science to be the only thing that is old, and it is indeed broken, helpless, and decrepit. Error is old and dying. Its days are numbered, but Truth is forever new and regenerative.

It is a misuse of words to say that man is old, after it is learned in Science that he is the reflection of Mind, "neither young nor old" (Science and Health, p. 244). This law of renewal is always operative. It is the law of Life, whose continuous activity is indicated in the returning spring, and it is no less applicable to man than to the earth upon which he lives. "Thou renewest the face of the earth," is the psalmist's statement of this law; and Isaiah significantly says, "Let the people renew their strength;" also, "They that wait upon the Lord [this unfailing law of regeneration] shall renew their strength." David wisely prayed, "Renew a right spirit within me," and St. Paul more than once refers to the transformation of the body by the renewal of the mind, showing that the operation of this law is carried out through a mental process.

Regeneration or renewal follows the acceptance and activity of Truth in human consciousness. Weakness gives place to strength, sickness to health, and sin to righteousness, as false beliefs, traditions, and superstitions are replaced by the truth, and we spring up from their hold like a young tree that has unbound. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Science and Health says (p. 222), "Truth regenerates this fleshly mind and feeds thought with the bread of Life."

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