Article April 9, 1904 Issue

A Complete Defence

WILLARD S. MATTOX.

The story of Achilles is interesting from the standpoint of Christian Science. As every one knows, Achilles was a Greek hero, whose exploits in the Trojan war are celebrated by Homer. It is related that when he was born, his mother desired for him a special favor from the gods on Mount Olympus. She asked nothing less than that he should be invulnerable to all attack, which was a particularly shrewd request. In response to supposed instructions, the mother of the prospective warrior dipped him in the river Styx, holding him by the heel. This, it was alleged, made him invulnerable except in the heel, which was not touched by the water. In later years, he performed prodigies of valor and always escaped injury, until one day he was shot in the heel by a poisoned arrow, and died.

I take it we may receive some instruction from ancient mythology, when we understand that mortal mind was the same then as it is to-day, and that the mythical accounts of ancient heroes were efforts to depict this human mind and its frailties. It is very apparent that every mortal has his "Achilles heel," some faulty condition of thought. It is evident that any attack to be successful would have to be directed against the weakest spot. It also seems to be the especial business of evil to deliver its attack there. We need not be surprised at this. Evil would cease to exist if it did not claim to act intelligently. If we are fully satisfied that the situation is fairly presented in the foregoing propositions, the wise man will set about doing two things. He will first ask himself, "Where is my most vulnerable place?" and finding it, he will proceed carefully to protect himself at this point.

This is another way of stating what we know so well, in theory, to be the daily work of the Christian Scientist. Our Leader, whose wisdom has explored all these devious ways, gives us the benefit of her discoveries. She says, "Learn what in thine own mentality is unlike the Anointed and cast it out" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 355). We are vulnerable wherever we are unlike the Christ nature. When we have brought every thought into subjection to Christ, there is no more temptation. The suggestions of evil assail us on every side, but we most frequently suffer defeat at the point of our least resistance.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

The New Understanding