Our wise Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, makes this arresting and important statement in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 15): "The Passover, spiritually discerned, is a wonderful passage over a tear-filled sea of repentance—which of all human experience is the most divine; and after this Passover cometh victory, faith, and good works." No seeker after spiritual enlightenment may sensibly disregard an experience which Mrs. Eddy states is the most divine of all human experience. He who would overlook it or turn from it as something for another day has robbed himself of an indispensable aid in his progress heavenward.

It is noteworthy that one of the three cardinal points about which Mrs. Eddy preached in her first address in The Mother Church, May 26, 1895, was repentance. This address is one of the most important and most essential for Christian Scientists to understand. In it she says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 107): "Three cardinal points must be gained before poor humanity is regenerated and Christian Science is demonstrated: (1) A proper sense of sin; (2) repentance; (3) the understanding of good." There is no doubt as to how vital Mrs. Eddy felt repentance to be when she spoke also these words that eventful day (ibid.): "The lack of seeing one's deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep, never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain morbid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists. Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian Scientist."

True repentance comes when the individual, tired of mortal mind's concepts and eager to renounce its leading and government and to put off its pride, jealousy, and fear, sees his mistakes and views them with sorrow and regret. When this state of development is reached and the human consciousness is willing for divine Mind to take over and rule, then the individual yields to the divine influence and begins to work out his own salvation.

At this moment, there may be fear and trembling, but it is not long before faith, hope, and an improved sense of how to live above and beyond the falsities of mortal existence permeate consciousness. This is the moment when the human being glimpses perfection and, having learned from his mistakes that matter's pleasures and pains are unreal, is willing to purchase the pearl of great price, to discard the unreal for the real, to put off the old man and put on the new.

Repentance brings with it the sunlight of Truth, the glorious perception of the longed-for things of Spirit. He then begins to learn what Mrs. Eddy meant when she further said in her address, "Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian Scientist." He begins to see and know what it means to live in accord with divine harmony and the absolute perfection of being, and to be one of the "fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19).

John the Baptist, the precursor to Jesus, preached (Matt. 3:2), "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It is essential to note that from the beginning of his ministry Jesus also preached (Matt. 4:17), "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It seems clear from these directions that repentance brings immediate and great spiritual uplift.

At the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the other disciples were so spiritually uplifted that they spoke in other tongues and appeared to those standing by like men who were drunk with new wine. When accused of this, Peter answered for himself and his brethren, and explained that they were imbued with the Holy Ghost. When the onlookers asked Peter what they should do to receive it, he simply replied (Acts 2:38), "Repent, and be baptized ... in the name of Jesus Christ." Peter promised them that then they, too, would receive the Holy Ghost. In "Pond and Purpose" (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 203–205) Mrs. Eddy points out the same order.

And in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy begins her chapter on "Christian Science Practice" with the story of the Magdalen. The inference is that repentance is an essential step in the practice of Christian Science. In the first address in the Original Mother Church, mentioned at the beginning of this article, our Leader refers to the incident of Mary Magdalene bathing Jesus' feet and says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 110): "Repentance is better than sacrifice. The costly balm of Araby, poured on our Master's feet, had not the value of a single tear."

Repentance silences stubborn will. It humbles pride and self-love; it breaks the dream of self-indulgence. It opens wide the door to humility and says to self-will (Matt. 16:23), "Get thee behind me, Satan." Repentance is the key that unlocks God's treasure-trove of Love. It is small wonder, therefore, that John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and in our day Mrs. Eddy not only saw the importance of repentance, but pointed to it as the first step in the passover from sense to Soul.