There is nothing like acquaintance with the original to enable one to detect the imitative or spurious. The United States Secret Service issues instructions for recognizing counterfeit bills and coins, of which the first requirements are: "Know your money. Compare the suspected bill with a genuine of the same type and denomination."

Connoisseurs of antiques are not deceived by reproductions; jewelers accustomed to handling precious stones can distinguish between them and the imitations. In every phase of human endeavor, familiarity with the authorized and authentic uncovers shams and defects.

To measure human character aright one must be acquainted not with the counterfeit, material man, but with the genuine spiritual man who bears the stamp of God's own workmanship. The incongruities and futilities of material existence become visible to those who understand something of the eternal beauty and harmony of God's creation.

In the sixth chapter of Isaiah the prophet describes his vision of the divine glory and its consequent effect upon his life: "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." Seraphim cried one to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." The prophet's instant reaction was a keen realization of His own deficiency and that of his fellow men: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King." A similar experience is related in the fifth chapter of Luke, when Simon and his friends caught such a great multitude of fishes that their net broke and the two boats were so overloaded that they began to sink. They had "toiled all the night," and "taken nothing," yet in obedience to Jesus' command to let down their nets had come this astonishing catch of fish. Upon beholding such a manifestation of divine power, Simon Peter fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." A vision of divine greatness is like a searchlight thrown upon inadequate human attainment.

When we enter upon the study of Christian Science we soon find that we have discovered a new set of values, an invariable standard by which to test former habits and activities. We notice that we are not reading the books we used to read with such complacency; that our conversation is tinged with a reticence and consideration not known before; that our pleasures have taken on a new simplicity and freshness. Christian Science has become to us a criterion by which we appraise our own conduct and that of humanity in general. "The glory that excelleth" has revealed to us the flimsiness and paltriness of any lesser supposed glory.

At first we may shrink from the discipline involved in this purifying process. We may chafe against the loss of some cherished form of activity which seemed to befit our environment and training. But when we discern something of the light and variety and beauty of God's eternal nature, then we welcome the cultivation of our mental gardens.

It is imperative for us to learn that nothing should be allowed to hinder the spiritual growth which follows from an understanding of God, Spirit. Wrong desires, material indulgences, false pleasures—all the ramifications of a personal sense of self—must be overcome. There is one insidious suggestion of mortal mind which tends especially to thwart individual spiritual development. It is the belief that we must conform to group standards and do as other members of the group do. Many useless fashions, customs, activities, even modes of thinking, are fastened upon us by this spurious sense of compulsion. To dare to be our individual spiritual selves, allowing ourselves to be influenced solely by Truth and Love, is to escape what someone once called "the tyranny of the average."

As we look more and more steadfastly towards the perfection of the divine being and of man, His reflection, we detect more quickly the little faults and careless habits which must be pruned away from our gardens of thought and conduct. A very small twig will blur the view for someone looking our way. It may be something we deem trivial, such as petty conversation, tardiness in keeping appointments, forgetfulness, inattentiveness, inaccuracy of statement, procrastination, a sense of hurry, disorderliness, extravagance, one thing or another which in itself is no great moral offense, but which causes inconvenience to others and may mar the vision of divine Principle which we seek for ourselves, or which someone else may be seeking through our lives. We all need a better technique of daily living, a more gracious and orderly pattern for the day's activity. On page 166 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "This spiritual idea, or Christ, entered into the minutie of the life of the personal Jesus. It made him an honest man, a good carpenter, and a good man, before it could make him the glorified."

Some years ago a young woman, recently graduated from college, went with her husband to India as a Christian missionary. The life she lived there in her home and among the native people was so beautiful, so serene and tactful and loving, that a Hindu was heard to remark: "If her God is like her, I should like to know about Him." As loyal students of Christian Science, do our everyday lives help to direct thought towards the one adorable, demonstrable God? In the fourteenth chapter of John, Christ Jesus, our flawless example, voiced the aspiration of our hearts when he said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." On page 160 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," our beloved Leader tells us how we may progress towards this supremely desired goal. She writes, "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science."