Editorial August 22, 1942 Issue

"Thou art the man"

Peter V. Ross

The perfection of the universe is constantly borne in upon every individual who chooses to turn aside from appearances and judge righteous judgment. Not an iota can be subtracted from creation; not an iota can be added. Such changes, were they possible, would throw the existing order out of balance. Evil can have no reality or permanence; nor can sickness or mortality. There is no place for imperfection. Blemishes or defects, here or there, would bring about hopeless confusion. "The perfect Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind," avers Mary Baker Eddy on page 239 of her celebrated book, Science and Health.

How unexplainable it is that the average individual hesitates to acknowledge perfection as his right. Lacking the courage to insist upon his status as man he is prone to appraise himself as a mortal. He will concede, without much persuasion, that the "real man" is perfect, spiritual, immortal, as though there could be an unreal man. He may even concede that his "true selfhood," as he puts it, is without fault or frailty, as though another or different self were present. But when immortal man, in whom are assembled the intelligence and vitality and glory of reality, is portrayed, and the still small voice within whispers, "Thou art the man," he shrinks from the responsibilities involved, taking refuge in self-depreciation.

Even Jesus, when he awakened at his baptism in the Jordan to the fact that he was the son of God, withdrew from the throng and retired in the hills back from the river to measure his strength to carry out the program prescribed by the Eternal. Long did he struggle over the issue, raised by the argument of ambition, Shall I rule the earth or shall I bear witness to the truth? He chose the latter. In so doing he set the pattern for all men, and for himself broke the dream of mortal existence, finally to ascend above the distresses and restrictions which materiality would impose. The way is open to everyone who will accept the rank of divine sonship to accomplish what Jesus accomplished.

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