Article April 2, 1910 Issue

OUR WATCHWORD

JULIAN KUNE.

"What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." These words in which Jesus of Nazareth admonished his disciples, have been wisely selected by our Leader and places as a motto on the title-page of the Sentinel. According to Webster, to watch, is "to be awake, to be attentive, or vigilant, to give heed: to be on the lookout, to keep guard, to act as sentinel." In Christian Science, it is not sufficient that we should at times sacredly guard the precious treasures of Truth obtained through the study and understanding of divine Science, but we must keep continued watch, lest lurking error should intrude and make damaging inroads into our consciousness.

While taking part as a private soldier in the Hungarian Revolutionary War of 1848, under Louis Kossuth, I remember that when I was for the first time placed on the picket line, the officer in charge cautioned me to be wide awake and to watch. This being my first experience in that line, and not seeing an enemy before me, I wondered why I should be so vigilant. Thirteen years later, while commanding a battalion in the American Civil War, I' had occasion to superintend the placing of pickets around our camp, and having profited by former experiences as a picket, I was able to impress upon my men the importance of their watchfulness and vigilance, lest, failing, in this respect, the enemy, during the dark of night, should stealthily approach and by a dashing assault break through the line and throw the camp into chaotic confusion.

It is the same in Christian Science. Unless our spiritual picket are constantly encompassing our consciousness and on the watch, lurking error, in the form of various evil thoughts, emanating from the material senses, may at any time attack us, notwithstanding that we may consider ourselves immune from such attacks. Although I have enjoyed the blessings of Christian Science for over six years, I have never realized as much the necessity of watching and praying as I have during a recent experience. Considering myself fairly fortified by diligent study of our text-book, and my earnest endeavor to lead a good Christian life, I had omitted to watch, when all of a sudden, during the midnight hour, I was awakened from a sound sleep by a sense of severe physical discord; but Truth, always ready to help those who earnestly desire to be helped, came to my rescue through my reading of a few pages in Science and Health, when the intruding enemy was driven back into its native nothingness. This led me to appreciate more than ever before the force of the Master's words: "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is."

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