Editorial July 29, 1922 ISSUE

Christian Duty

Albert F. Gilmore

The human mind, itself a simulation, a counterfeit of divine Mind, appears very loath to be instructed out of its fallacies, since by its very nature it partakes of evil and falsity, having no relation to or traffic with Truth, for Truth and falsity never mingle. Among many fallacies to which it clings, at times with a tenacity apparently born of desperation, is the assumption that, by some possibility of transmutation or transformation good can result from evil,—that some enterprise can, perchance, bring good and lasting results even though it springs from evil motives rather than the desire to do good and to promote it. Mankind's duty to seek good through the knowledge of and love for the one God and the necessity of establishing His reign was comprised in the Hebrew Decalogue not less than the stern prohibitions, Thou shalt not kill, nor steal, nor bear false witness.

The student of Christian Science learns that the evil acts of mankind originate in the dark caverns of mortal thought, whence emanate all that "defileth or maketh a lie;" and he becomes assured that reform and healing begin in mortal belief. Under the marginal caption, "Motives considered," Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 104): "Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as well as the commission of a crime. Is it not clear that the human mind must move the body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the murderer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them, could not commit a murder." In these words, our Leader traces the cause of all wrong to its lair, mortal mind. Resolving acts into thoughts, she affirms that the motive plays the chief part as the procuring cause of all evil and crime; hence with one examining the problem metaphysically, the search for motive becomes a necessity. A testing of motives consists in the main in squaring them with divine Principle, through comparing them with the right ideas of Principle. If they reflect Him who is supreme and all good, then will the results be worthy, for the tree of Spirit can bear none but good fruits.

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