"Unto the pure all things are pure" (Titus 1:15). These words written by Paul have more than surface meaning to the Christian Scientist. He can well apply them to the real man, who is the sinless expression of God. All things are pure to spiritual man, because man is conscious of Spirit and its creation and of nothing else.

Man's purity is not ignorance of evil, nor is it merely untried virtue; it is the reflected essence of the Mind whose image man is. And Mind possesses purity which knows no matter, no evil, not taint of mortality, because it dwells eternally in the light of its own divine infinitude. Christ Jesus pointed to the truth of man's inherent purity when he said (Matt. 5:8), "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

Mary Baker Eddy discovered the Science of man's purity, and she sets forth the demands which Christian Science makes for proofs of that purity. She says in "Unity of Good" (p. 49): "Through the eternal reality of existence I reach, in thought, a glorified consciousness of the only living God and the genuine man. So long as I hold evil in consciousness, I cannot be wholly good." By reaching out for and finding the consciousness of God, which is one's true state, one rules evil out of thought as an entity or as a power. Moral uprightness, freedom from sin, appears in the measure that the consciousness of error and matter cease to claim importance in one's interests and God is known as All.

The deep desire for purity so often voiced by individuals, the struggle to escape the dread pressure of materiality and sensualism, and the broken hearts which often mark those who have yielded to evil influence—all point to the innate purity of man. These signs of spiritual awakening are encouraging, because the innate desire for purity is in a measure purity itself—Christliness at work in human character, destroying the carnal mind and its aggressive impositions. To say, "It is natural to be pure," is infinitely more accurate than to say, "It is natural to be human." The rebellion of countless human beings against the impositions of lust and other arguments of mortal mind is evidence that man's natural state is one of dignity and innocence. And whatever is true is demonstrable through Science.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 448), "Evil which obtains in the bodily senses, but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured." There is always assurance of full freedom from carnality when thought honestly condemns sin.

But that condemnation needs to be made on the basis of evil's nothingness and man's inherent purity. The victim of the aggressive temptations of mortal mind needs to identify himself as now and forever the individual consciousness of Spirit, the sinless son of God, whose senses, being spiritual, take in only the qualities and ideas of Spirit.

To demonstrate man's inherent purity one needs to understand the unreality of the five senses, which take in nothing but material impressions and which demand physical sensations to gratify their false ego. Extremes of animality are nothing more than extreme demands of material mentality to excite and increase the counterfeit sense of self and thus to obscure the real man. But human beings have spiritual sense, and this true sense needs to be fully demonstrated as the only consciousness of man.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 37), "In proportion as we oppose the belief in material sense, in sickness, sin, and death, and recognize ourselves under the control of God, spiritual and immortal Mind, shall we go on to leave the animal for the spiritual, and learn the meaning of those words of Jesus, 'Go ye into all the world ... heal the sick.'"

Without spirituality, or scientific purity, there is no ability to express the power which destroys human ills. In fact, such purity and power are co-ordinate. Lack of ability to heal always indicates that more spirituality is needed. The consciousness of matter is basically sensual; it needs to be put off for the consciousness of the spiritually real. Even the cherishment of matter is a subtle degree of sensualism, which shuts out spiritual power; and the avid desire for material possessions hinders one's progress in reflecting God's power.

The dominion which Christ Jesus displayed over the impurities of the flesh was the result of his clear perception of the kingdom of Spirit. The Master's singleness of mind made him mighty. Matter was never real to him, was never anything that could usurp his loyalty to the truth of Spirit's allness. His understanding of true substance so broke down the limitations of mortal mind that he could prove God's law of abundance as ever present, supplying all that is needed.

Our concessions to human requirements should never deteriorate into a sensuous desire to match the worldly standards of mankind. When Spirit is understood as the only true substance and the goal of human existence is the ability to perceive Spirit's allness, scientific purity is demonstrated. Characters become Godlike, and individuals cease their struggling with carnal instincts. They know themselves as God makes them—inherently sinless—and they are at peace.

Helen Wood Bauman