Article March 8, 1919 Issue

Purity

ANNIE TREACHER HALL

To anyone who is not a student of Christian Science and has therefore no understanding of the unreality of evil, the text, "Unto the pure all things are pure," must be wellnigh incomprehensible. He will look upon it as referring to an after death possibility, but never attainable as a present realization. Is it not, indeed, true that to refined and sensitive natures impurity appears most abhorrent? Others, again, try to ignore it and would fain know nothing of it, but to these last Mrs. Eddy makes this positive statement in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 251): "Ignorance, like intentional wrong, is not Science. Ignorance must be seen and corrected before we can attain harmony."

Only through the revelation of Christian Science can this Bible text from Titus be explained. When Truth knocks at the door of reason and aspiration, the work begins which in time leads to the understanding of this wonderful scientific statement. Never to the carnal mind, that is, to the material sense of things, will all things appear pure; but as the spiritual sense gradually dawns upon us and the clouds of material misconception roll back, the conviction of the absolute purity of God's creation comes over us. This realization comes at first only as a flash of light to our inner consciousness, but what has once been seen, can be seen again, for spiritual light is ever present, and only awaits recognition.

Where light and shadow meet, the light seems to be brighter and the shadow darker; both appear intensified; so, too, a blemish on a lily will show up more distinctly than on a dark background. Many more examples could be found, all testifying to the law of contrasts. If this be so, how is it possible for all things to be pure to the pure? According to this law of contrasts, as the truth begins to stir within us, the impurity of mortal mind will appear as a dark shadow before us. "The world, the flesh, and the devil" will seem even blacker than before, and Paul's cry, "O wretched man that I am!" will echo in our hearts. What a task of purification lies before us! Not the purification of mortal mind, but purification from mortal mind. The constant denial of its reality and power will in time leave the image of the "very good," the "altogether lovely," clear-cut and pure before our mental gaze.

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