Article March 18, 1911 Issue

FRIENDS AND FOES

CLAYTON W. MOGG.

These words of Jesus, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household," as recorded in the tenth chapter of Matthew and quoted from the seventh chapter of Micah, literally interpreted, show the utter uselessness of any attempt to trust in or depend upon persons, even though they be one's closest and best friends. Moreover, these words most emphatically point by inference to Him in whom we may trust with perfect confidence. However important the lesson of this text when taken literally, it has a much deeper meaning when considered in the light which the study of Christian Science casts upon the sacred page. When studied metaphysically, two questions naturally arise: What constitutes our household? and What are our foes?

In arriving at an answer to the first question, we may dismiss matter from our calculations entirely, for even the most material mortal is simply embodied thought, and matter itself must be conceived, if at all, by means of thought. The business man who is supremely engrossed in the affairs of commerce is so because his business is constantly in his thought. The sensualist is what he is because he allows his thought to dwell upon the things of the senses, his belief that there is pleasure in and of matter. The truly religious man is what he is because his thought dwells more or less constantly upon high ideals and lofty aspirations. In every instant a mortal lives and moves and has his being, as it were, in the realm of his own thought; in fact, thought constitutes his whole being—is the man. This being so, our households are mental, and the inmates are our thoughts.

Respecting the next question, What are our foes? we may note what Mrs. Eddy says on page 8 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect." Manifestly the one evil which tends to dethrone the Christ-image is the belief in a power opposed to God, good. When this belief is accepted by the individual, in whatever form it may present itself, fear arises; and the belief of fear is one of the most active agencies which tend to deprive the individual of man's God-given dominion. The fear of lack of material necessities impels its victim to give full freedom to greed, selfishness, malice, and envy. Thus fear, when indulged, drives men to commit acts which they know are wrong, while fear of detection impels them to resort to further hypocrisy and self-justification. So, too, the fear of breaking so-called health laws renders one the more susceptible to the ills he would avoid.

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