"Man's perfection is real and unimpeachable"

Duncan Sinclair

What a gulf there is between the beliefs which mortals entertain of man and the truth about him! It is a gulf so wide as to be unbridgeable; for the beliefs of mortals concerning man are unreal, while the truth about him is real. Although it is written in the plainest of language in the first chapter of Genesis that "God created man in his own image," and since God is perfect, it must follow that man is also perfect, how persistent has been the belief in the imperfection of man! Indeed, it is only through the understanding which Christian Science gives of God and man, as perfect Principle and perfect idea, that the world is awakening in earnest to the absolute truth and its far-reaching consequences. Mrs. Eddy sounds a warning yet triumphant note when she writes (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 414): "Keep in mind the verity of being,—that man is the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent. Remember that man's perfection is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love."

The Christian Scientist is convinced of the truth of the perfection of God and man. God has been revealed to him through Christian Science as perfect, and he has perceived that God's creation, man, must likewise be perfect. To these truths he endeavors steadfastly to adhere, in spite of all that material sense may seem to testify in an opposite direction. The storms of evil may claim to rage around him; sickness, with its attendant suffering, sin in many a guise, want and woe in various aspects—all may appear to be very real, tempting him to believe in imperfection, that God's creation is far other than perfect; but he turns in every trial of his faith to the truth, to the absolute truth that God and His idea, man, are perfect, and with the realization of the truth there comes respite and healing from sickness, sin, want, and woe.

The perception of the truth of the perfection of God and man does not mean that Christian Scientists allow themselves to forget how tenacious seems the belief that man is imperfect. But they consider the belief, only to declare its falsity, its nothingness. If they did not perceive the unreality of the belief that man is imperfect, it would be impossible to destroy the fallacy of imperfection. When Christ Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount entreated his hearers, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," surely he was pleading for a recognition on their part of the perfection of God and His creation, man. Assuredly, it was his wonderful understanding of perfect Being which gave him power to annul the effects of erroneous thinking among his fellow-men, shown in the healing of all manner of sickness and sin.

Mrs. Eddy foresaw, with prophetic vision, the struggle which would take place in the world when the absolute truth about God's allness and perfection reached it. She actually warns her readers in Science and Health of the attempts wicked minds would make "to accomplish more evil." On pages 96 and 97 she writes: "During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but"—and here she makes a great pronouncement—"those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection." No wavering, no doubt in Mrs. Eddy's thought as to "the certainty of ultimate perfection"! True to her great discovery of the allness of God, good, and the unreality of evil, she could look into the future and behold the reign of heavenly harmony on earth, the result of the universal understanding and demonstration of perfect Being.

While the Christian Scientist is sure of the future, certain of the ultimate victory of Truth over error, well he knows that persevering effort is necessary, first, to bring the truth of man's "real and unimpeachable" nature to mankind, and, secondly, to help his fellow-man in gaining a demonstrable understanding of that truth. The task may appear at times to be no easy one; but let him not forget how he is aided in it by the organization which Mrs. Eddy founded for the propagation of Christian Science and the protection of its adherents. The Church of Christ, Scientist, based on our Leader's great work—the Church Manual—will remain a guide and a refuge to all who follow in her footsteps in the demonstration of man's perfection, even until the last trace of supposititious mortal consciousness shall have passed away. In the interval, what gladness there should be at every victory over false belief—sinful tendencies destroyed, diseases healed, sorrow and suffering assuaged and obliterated! The Christian Scientist, firmly established in the understanding of man's perfection as God's idea, can look steadily and fearlessly ahead with unquenchable assurance that the truth, as Christian Science has revealed it, will ultimately bring about the complete salvation of all mankind.

Duncan Sinclair

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