The  possibility of the attainment of perfection is a vital question which has never been settled and cannot be settled outside of the spiritual understanding of God and man as gained in Christian Science. This is because all other systems of religious thought approach the subject from a more or less material basis. Such an attitude at once precludes any rational solution of the problem, for when man is considered as so much blood, bone, and muscle, it is no wonder that his perfectibility has come to be regarded as a Utopian dream, impossible of attainment; and yet the command of the master Christian, "Be ye therefore perfect," stands unabridged and unabated.

On page 414 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "Remember that man's perfection is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love." The Bible, indeed, plainly indicates that only the perfect can inherit perfection, so there can be no escaping the conclusion that heaven cannot be gained except as the realization of perfection is reached. This, however, is an individual process in which each man makes his own heaven or hell according as he deserves reward or punishment, and because of this the individual finds no satisfaction or justification in waiting for all mankind to make this final demonstration simultaneously.

God never made a law or inspired a command impossible of fulfillment. To believe Him capable of such a thing is to charge Him with being unjust to His own children. It must then be true that, since according to the Scripture "God is no respecter of persons," every command and promise in the Bible was meant for all men in all time, and therefore for us to-day. To be deluded into believing otherwise is to dig a pit for oneself, and is to say that God is omnipotent at one time and impotent at another, as if omnipotence could ever be less than omnipotent. That which is all-power now must always have been all-power and must always be all-power. How, then, can any Christian question that positive statement of Jesus, "With God all things are possible"?

There is no such thing as fleshly perfection. In its very nature all that is subject to decay must be imperfect; therefore mortals cannot attain perfection. It is only as mortality is laid off that immortality can be reached. Perfection can never be marred even in the slightest degree, for it can never be less than perfection. No mortal seeming can alter this spiritual fact, and in spite of the evidence of the material senses, Christians must be guided by that saying of the Master, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." The belief that by any possibility perfection could lapse into imperfection is self-contradictory, for if perfection could degenerate it must first possess an element of imperfection.

If we once concede that perfect man could fall, we must also admit that if this fallen man could once more gain perfection he could fall again and again. If such an unthinkable condition were possible, what incentive could mortal man have to continue to strive for a merely precarious state of so-called perfection from which he might fall the next minute? Surely the web of error is woefully tangled. Human striving for perfection must always go unrewarded until our eyes are turned Spiritward, and until this fact is seen, the command, "Be ye therefore perfect," will appear as an elusive mockery of all human hopes. Some day all men will know that compliance with this command is an imperative essential of salvation, and that the ideal condition to which it points is not to be won by submitting to death, but must be considered as a forever fact.

Death is not the gateway to perfection, and the supposition that this "last enemy," with all its repugnant accompaniments, could be the open portal to eternal joy and beauty, is the contradiction of the ages. If such a belief were true, mankind would court its beneficent visitation instead of fighting to stay its hand. There can be no belief without a believer, and a belief believed, seems to have the same effect and appearance as a reality; consequently, in destroying error our work must be with the believer as well as with the belief. It must, however, be borne in mind that this believer is self-assertive mortal mind and not a person. It is only through consistent striving that we can advance along the line of spiritual progression, and right striving consists only in knowing and demonstrating that remarkable statement of the apostle, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God,"—the "sons of God," not yesterday, or tomorrow, but now. Regardless of the persistent assertions of mortality with all its concomitant imperfections, it is only through tenacious adherence to the ideal set forth in this statement of John's that a realization of the real man's forever perfect nature can be gained.

In that wonderful talk with Nicodemus Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Flesh cannot be spiritualized, and it is only as the material concept is destroyed in human consciousness that man's essential spiritual nature is brought to light. As well attempt to transform evil into good as to try to make Spirit out of flesh. All the inordinate vanity of the counterfeit man can never make true the awful lie that Spirit is merely flesh etherealized. Just as evil ceases to manifest itself only as it is supplanted by good, so is it with Spirit and the flesh, which can never coalesce nor harmonize, for they "are contrary the one to the other." The wonderful eighth chapter of Romans should of itself forever settle this question, and but for the understanding of the blinding nature of scholastic theology, one would wonder how this sublime enunciation of Paul could have stood before men for all these centuries without clearing away all the accumulated rubbish concerning the place and power of matter.

As we study the Bible we see flesh and sin are synonymous. Just as sin cannot be healed except as it is destroyed, so there can be no real healing of the body without a corresponding overcoming of fleshly things. Just as man cannot be perfected in sin, so he cannot be perfected in the flesh. When Jesus passed from human sight in that final spiritual exaltation known as the ascension, he left no fleshly body behind him. It is equally certain that he took none with him, for we are told in the first epistle to the Corinthians that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." This must also have been the experience of Enoch and Elijah. Jesus once said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." It seems peculiarly reasonable to regard the term "rich man" as used in this connection, as meaning one cumbered with material beliefs, and this interpretation gives a vivid hint of what constitutes perfection.

The perfect harmony of music is not immediately made manifest to the beginner, yet he knows that harmonious expression is a fact in human consciousness, and holding in thought this perfect ideal he is rewarded by continuous progress. The goal of perfection is before us, and we may as well know at once that it must ultimately be gained. "Either here or hereafter," Mrs. Eddy says, "suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self" (Science and Health, p. 296). There is no crowding in this race for perfection, and no rivalry. Like the sunshine it is all for everybody, and no one by enjoying all of it can deprive his neighbor of the same privilege. Each receives according to his deserving, and there is no other way to heaven than through the front door.

Man in the image and likeness of God—and we certainly have no warrant for regarding any lower conception of being as man—is, like his Maker, "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Christian perfection can never be won through any lesser conception of man, for the complete realization cannot exceed the model held in thought. This perfect man, being coexistent with God, neither needs to be nor can be created. He simply needs to be revealed. Man in God's likeness never fell. In the words of Mrs. Eddy (Miscellany, p. 242): "Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom."