Article March 25, 1922 Issue

"Whiter than snow"

GEORGE SILAS HADDOCK

With its teaching that the real man never fell, never strayed from the harmony, peace, and purity of his original estate, never was corrupted by evil or sin, nor ever identified with any of the doleful experiences of the mortal dream, Christian Science comes to inspire the heart with confidence, courage, and a true sense of inherent and native worthiness. As a flood of pure water clears away refuse and unsavory things, so this revelation of Truth washed away the belief that any relationship ever existed between the real man of God's creating and a sinning, earthly mortal. It shows that the mortal is a counterfeit of the spiritual and perfect, to be put off.

As a bank note, fresh from the Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing, has no correspondence to a spurious imitation, so the true man, comprehended and formed by Mind, is always above and distinct from the illusion of a finite, fleshly form. As this fact is discerned, and earnest efforts are made to put off the untrue and unreal, harmony is manifested in the so-called physical realm, thus exemplifying the practical nature of Christian Science teaching. Every system of therapeutics that the world has known, with the exception of Christian Science, from the incantations of savages in a remote period down to the present-day methods, whether mental or otherwise, claims to heal by the building up of matter or materiality. Christian Science, standing alone, in perfect accord with the teaching and practice of Christ Jesus, heals by putting off matter and materiality and thus bringing out the indestructible, perfect qualities of Spirit.

In the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John an account is given of an event in the life of Jesus which is full of light. The story tells of the Master, after supper with his disciples, laying aside his garments, girding himself with a towel, and washing their feet from a basin of pure water; and after this simple and humble proceeding, saying with deep meaning, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Taken literally, this action of Jesus may be difficult to understand, but in its spiritual signification it is uplifting and inspiring. Did not the Master, in this practical object lesson, endeavor to bring home to all the need of overcoming the belief that man is material, sinful, dying? Did he not wish to show that the way to heal and save is to look away from the counterfeit or fleshly concept to the perfect spiritual man—the creation of divine Mind? He said to Simon Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." Has not Christian Science come to the world to gird and enlighten with the great fact that man is spiritual and indestructible, not mortal or subject to dissolution or decay? And has it not also come to show mankind how to wash away materiality, and so establish, here and now, the harmony and order of things divine? This, no doubt, was the lesson Jesus knew would unfold when one good and pure enough, able to look away from the sepulcher of matter, and with a heart hungering to help the world, would arise and bring to earth the message of Christian Science. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has fulfilled this condition.

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"Whiter than snow"

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