Editorial January 8, 1910 Issue

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Archibald McLellan

With the beginning of each year there comes to many persons an impulse to "turn over a new leaf," and they go through the form of making resolutions which they believe will aid them in reaching a higher standard of living. In and of itself this impulse toward and desire for better things is good, and if the resolutions thus made are lived up to, there is reason to rejoice; but in too many instances, unfortunately, performance has fallen so far short of promise that New Year resolutions have become a byword to most people, and a standing joke with the newspaper paragrapher. Just why the element of failure should so frequently enter in, when there is an honest desire to better one's morals, is a problem which to many may seem difficult of solution, and the explanation most often advanced by those who are not Christian Scientists, is that to do right requires constant effort, while to do wrong is the easiest thing in the world.

Is not this a strange commentary upon the centuries of preaching to which men have listened,—a preaching which has declared that God is good, and that man is made in His image and likeness? What has been the matter with this preaching that, while men are hopeful of their ability to do right, they have so often and miserably failed in the realization of their hope? To the thoughtful Christian Scientist the explanation of this failure is very simple, and it should be equally plain to all who accept the doctrine of divine omnipotence, unless their acceptance of this doctrine includes a belief that God is the author and creator of sin and all evil, a belief which Christian Scientists realize is self-contradictory and illogical.

The reason why men so often fail to stick to their purpose to do better is because human will-power has been the basis on which most of these resolutions have been formed, the broken reed upon which mortals have depended in their efforts to put them into effect; whereas the true basis for every effort toward good must be the absolute knowledge that divine Mind alone reigns. Wise King Solomon had found this out when he wrote, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."

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Editorial
THE NEW YEAR
January 8, 1910
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