Article October 4, 1913 Issue

Material Thought Silenced

MARY HICKS VAN DER BURGH

Early in his career, Jacob by deceit won the coveted birthright, but fear of the brother whom he had thus defrauded made him an exile from the land of his fathers. In the beginning of his travels in the strange country, as he rested for the night in a lonely place, an angel appeared to him, and God talked with him, saying, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest." Awaking from his sleep Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." It is not probable that after this experience he could ever have repeated the disreputable transaction of the stolen blessing, for the good thought which had come to him had shown him a better way and he was awaking to the demands of the higher ideal.

Thus awaking to a better understanding of God and our relations to Him, we have sometimes expressed a wish that we might have known of Christian Science earlier in order to apply it to some former condition. However, the remembrance that God was even then with us though we knew it not, and in spite of our wrong beliefs was leading us through those very experiences to our Father's house, is so comforting that we can afford to forego the speculation as to what would have been the effect of the better understanding on the past environment, devoutly thankful that we are now awake and alert to our privileges.

From our own experiences with angels, "God's thoughts passing to man" (Science and Health, p. 581), we can judge what a help this visitation was to Jacob and with what courage it inspired him to meet the difficulties which he encountered as a member of Laban's household. Here he was himself treacherously dealt with, and, according to the record, obliged to work overtime, his wages changed ten times by his father-in-law. We read that after many years of injustice, Jacob made an ineffectual effort to leave Laban, but continuous treachery at last drove him to the final attempt, which seemed to have been successfully accomplished when he was overtaken by Laban, who with alluring words tried to induce him to return. But God, who had been Jacob's counselor and adviser, would not let the mortal thought prevail, and Laban admitted that he had been told by the God of Jacob, "Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad."

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