The admonition contained in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus contains a valuable lesson for the student of Christian Science seeking to gain and retain a clear concept of his true selfhood, that is, of the real man. The words are these: "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Thus did Paul set forth in striking contrast the great gulf between the man of flesh, the counterfeit, and the real man, God's likeness, the man "created in righteousness and true holiness."

Mrs. Eddy makes it very clear that the old man—old, that is, because of the age-old acceptance of the material counterfeit as the real man—is but an illusion, the offspring of material, sinful sense, which has no existence apart from false belief. Who can doubt the wisdom or desirability of getting rid of this false sense of man in order that the true concept may appear? Manifestly, we cannot hold to the false and the true at the same time; we cannot gain the truth about anything while holding to a lie about it.

Paul accurately described the real man as created "after God." This God-created man, the full manifestation of Mind, God's representative, is the real selfhood which the Christian Scientist is striving to establish in his consciousness. This is the perfect man, whom Jesus scientifically beheld; and this concept when gained today, as of old heals the material sense of man of the beliefs of sickness and sin. This is the work in which we, as Christian Scientists, are engaged. We, too, in the spirit of Christian ministry, through the understanding revealed in Christian Science of the nature and attributes of God and of the character of man, God's expression, are striving to gain that spiritual concept of the perfect man which destroys all falsity attaching to the fleshly concept of man. This process, it seems, entails a struggle, sometimes prolonged because of the tenacity of false beliefs regarding the old man. Mankind has so long believed in materiality as constituting man that the spiritual transformation of human consciousness seems to require patience and persistence. The seeking, often prolonged, is, however, accompanied by priceless rewards to the struggling student as each step Spiritward is taken. The way grows constantly brighter as we advance, so that the reward is exactly in proportion to the persistence, fidelity, and intelligence of the effort. Furthermore, every glimpse of spiritual truth gained and applied lessens in some degree the burden of material existence for all mankind.

Whether we are striving to destroy some false belief manifested either as sin or as sickness for ourselves or another, the process is the same. If we are conscious of the divine presence as the only reality, of divine Love and its manifestation as the all of being, the result is quick and assured, for the real man in his spiritual perfection becomes apparent to us.

Our Leader states on page 412 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" precisely the method to be used. "To heal by argument," she says, "find the type of the ailment, get its name, and array your mental plea against the physical." Thus do we oppose the facts about the new, this real man, against the false claims about the old, the material sense of man who is claimed to be sick and suffering. It is precisely an exchange of false beliefs for spiritual truth, of unreality for reality. This should not be a difficult task, viewed merely from the standpoint of logic. But so deep-seated, so settled in the human mentality, appear to have become certain types of belief that they may seem to assume the character and strength of law. The alert student is not deceived or dismayed by such claims. There is but one Lawmaker, even God, and in consequence no law but His law.

It is interesting to note that "Insistence requisite" is the marginal heading to the paragraph quoted above. Sometimes it seems, where error does not quickly yield, that if we be not on guard it assumes a degree of reality to which it has no title. Argument should not imply an opponent, an antagonist, something opposed to good, to be combated as possessed of reality. Argument at the most has the sole purpose of establishing the fact that evil, error of every type of form, is wholly unreal; that it has no personality, no habitat, no entity. The unreality of evil's specific phase once established, it disappears even as a claim, and harmony supplants the seeming discord.

Sometimes, also, it is found in course of the uncovering that the specific type of belief back of the outward manifestation is deeply hid within the recesses of the patient's mentality. Then it is, if we are using argument, that a process of mental probing becomes necessary, not a hunt for something real, but a search for the type of false belief that claims to be a reality. Here it is that the disposition or nature of the person may come in for consideration. On page 119 of "Miscellaneous Writings" our Leader makes this arresting statement: "The nature of the individual, more stubborn than the circumstance, will always be found arguing for itself,—its habits, tastes, and indulgences." The so-called mortal mind, made up of personal and inherited beliefs, deep-seated and stubborn, resists the oncoming uncovering and destruction which ensues when Christ, Truth, lays bare the falsity of its claims. Their falsity, however, becomes apparent only as the truth about man is gained and persistently held. Then, however persistently the nature of the individual, that is, his disposition, may argue for the reality of "its habits, tastes, and indulgences," it must and will give way before irresistible Truth.

This process of finding the error and destroying it corresponds to the binding of the strong man in the parable which the Master used so effectively. The settled beliefs of the human mentality, racial as well as personal, thought to be inherited, and held as true, make to material sense a formidable barrier against the entrance of the destroyer, the healing Christ. But error, however firmly held by a false mentality, however long persisted in, however threatening in its outward appearance, must of necessity yield to the representative of omnipotence. "No power can withstand divine Love," we read on page 224 of our textbook. The disciple of Christ, Truth, armed with the clear understanding of God's presence, allness, and availability, is fully equipped to defeat the foe—the enemy of mankind, animal magnetism, the old man—however strongly entrenched in the claim of evil it may seem to be.

In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul refers to the new man as "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Man in the likeness of God, present here and everywhere, now and always, continually reflects the qualities and attributes of God. The teachings and demonstration of Christian Science are awakening the world to the practical utility of this fact; the burdens of the old man are somewhat lightened, and the real man is appearing.

Copyright, 1935, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.