Article April 15, 1911 Issue

WATCH AND PRAY

BEULAH HOOK MAZZA

We read that "the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field;" and today the material cloud or error that hides spiritual realities from mortal sight is often so subtle that we are not only unconscious of its presence, but actually amazed when the error is uncovered. The tiniest cloud of self-righteousness may conceal a heinous sin. Each honest student of Christian Science prays unceasingly that the light of Truth and Love may illumine the deep and hidden recesses of thought, and such prayer is power. The search-light of God's glory and allness reveals and displaces the dark nothingness of material selfishness.

The error uncovered is not necessarily something we have done or are doing. It may be some pet scheme or belief in pleasure, long planned for the future. Christ Jesus, who overcame the world of mortal, material beliefs, was always about his Father's business, and can we today be less faithful? The subtlety of evil consists in its claim to offer good. Note how it was apparently good things which tempted Eve. Thus we read, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." So it is with all sin; in the beginning only good and pleasant aspects appear on the surface. Because sin appears good, it may long remain undetected unless we earnestly watch and pray.

Moreover, error continues to declare that good and evil go hand in hand. When spiritual consciousness, as gained in Christian Science, lifts one above some cherished mortal desire or condition which is food for worldliness, pleasant to the material senses, or which promises the wisdom that is foolishness with God, we not only renounce a treacherous mask, but all the evils hidden under it. The lie of material good and evil being unmasked, evils which would have resulted if the pleasant sin continued, die of starvation. The lie of material good and evil being detected and discarded, the spiritual consciousness of infinite good as supreme exalts and saves.

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