Editorial September 27, 1919 Issue

Overcoming

Ella W. Hoag

In John's revelation we find him frequently calling upon men with no uncertain voice, as when he says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Many times he proclaims the necessity for "overcoming," always coupling therewith some marvelous promise of the good which shall result to those who are thus triumphant. From the first suppositional acceptance of the lie of material sense to the present time, humanity has gained a larger realization of good only through overcoming that opposite lie which it had accepted perhaps all unwittingly. Mankind has always recognized in a general way the necessity for triumphing over evil, and it has struggled long, and often in vain, because of its misunderstanding of fundamentals. Considering evil as real and equal if not superior to good, it has started out to perform what it almost invariably prejudged as a hopeless task. Nevertheless there has constantly been the endeavor to win freedom from the supposititious control of error. All religious history is the portrayal of the struggles and triumphs of the people who have succeeded in overcoming evil by serving God and Him alone.

When Christian Science was given to the world with its illuminating revelation of the allness of God, good, and the consequent nothingness—unreality—of evil, the door of salvation was flung wide open, and can never again be closed. In the first flush of health restored or of sin forgiven (destroyed), the beginner in Christian Science has often felt that all of error had been vanquished so far as he was concerned, and that he would never again have any battles to wage for himself, but would only have the glorious privilege of helping others to find this liberating truth. Frequently it takes some time for him to become willing to face the actual situation. He has seen a great light. He no doubt has had vouchsafed to him a wonderful blessing; but he must take this light and go forward with it from the point where it found him. One sickness destroyed, one claim of sin overcome, is not the destruction of all evil to anyone's consciousness. It prophesies a full deliverance, however, and this must be seen in order that the student of Christian Science may continue to advance in the path from earth to heaven,—from human beliefs to spiritual understanding.

Each one must take up the work very patiently, very humbly, and always keep working at each problem until the overcoming is completed. He must remember that "he that endureth to the end shall be saved,"—he that continueth to the destruction of error shall be saved from each specific and every geneal claim of evil. It is important that the student of larger experience also should discern clearly that there is no place to stop in the process of overcoming until the last belief of evil has been proved unreal. To see, as Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Retrospection and Introspection," beginning on page 56, that "divine Science demands mighty wrestlings with mortal beliefs, as we sail into the eternal haven over the unfathomable sea of possibilities," is no cause for discouragement. On the contrary, to recognize this necessity is to do away with discouragement; for from this viewpoint the moment an error stands uncovered, there is the grand opportunity to rebuke and destroy evil by demonstrating the power of Truth.

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