Article August 17, 1918 Issue

Practical Repentance

MARY G. MALIN

The message of John the Baptist when preaching in the wilderness of Judea was, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and every student of the Bible knows that all its teachings lay emphasis on the fact of repentance being necessary to salvation. In a dictionary definition of the word repentance we find, the "act of repenting, or state of being penitent; sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do;" and it is perfectly true that when the average human being has expressed any one of these sentiments, he usually considers he has done all that is required of him, and that there the matter ends.

But to the student of Christian Science, repentance should and, if he is in earnest, does mean much more than a mere expression of regret. On page 5 of "Science and Health with key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step required by wisdom is the test of our sincerity,—namely, reformation." Now it is well known that though some characters may find it by no means easy to express regret for a hasty deed or word, yet all will be ready to acknowledge that it requires a much greater effort—greater because continuous—really to set one's self to overcome those faults of character which in the past have been the immediate cause of all our difficulties, of our wrong sayings and doings, and consequent unhappiness and discontent.

On page 469 of Science and Health we find the following passage: "The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind—called devil or evil—is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality." From this it is perfectly clear that we can hope to overcome our faults only to the exact degree in which we realize the true meaning of being sons and daughters of God, the children of the one perfect Mind; for it necessarily follows that since the Mind which created us is perfect, we, the ideas of that Mind, must be perfect also, and can, therefore, have no desire to think, speak, or act in any way that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Mind that is God, good.

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