Editorial July 26, 1913 Issue

"LAID UNTO THE ROOT."

John B. Willis

Of all the pests with which the farmer has to struggle nowadays, none are more sure to be on hand than the old-fashioned weeds. These perennial intruders may be either cut down or pulled up, and so far as immediate appearances are concerned the one course seems quite as effective as the other. A sharp hoe and vigorous work will do wonders in removing all the surface showing, but in most instances cutting off does not kill; the roots remain in all their lustiness, and a few days suffice to disclose the fact that in a new, many-branched, and much less manageable form, every weed has reappeared to witness to the unwisdom of undertaking to do a right thing the wrong way. When pulled or plowed up, so that every least hold upon the soil is severed, then and only then are they finally done for.

In all this, the farmer's experience is aptly illustrative of more serious situations, for the significance of the "remaining roots" appears in a wide range of human effort to get rid of undesirables,—the habits, impulses, and thoughts which would check and ultimately stunt the growth of divine implantings. When Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect," he was commending a genuine and not a pretentious product, a state which has involved the removal from consciousness and conduct of every unseemly thing, and the alert Christian Scientist enters upon this task with a new sense, not only of the need but of the nature of the doing.

John the Baptist reminded the self-satisfied Pharisees that their pride and patronage as the lineal descendants of Abraham, and their scrupulous devotion to surface cleansings and ceremonials, counted for less than nothing, and that the truth was as an axe "laid unto the root" of all their falsities. Jesus re-enforced John's teaching both as to its necessity and as to the method of eliminating the evil, when he said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up," and our past records perchance have shown that ignorance of this right way he suggested, or indifference to it, has brought defeat even when both a good purpose and an honest effort to put it into effect were present. Christian Science teaches not only that the weeds of evil desire and doing, the thorns which spring up to choke the seed of the Word, must be removed, root and branch, but it shows how this may be accomplished. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but wipes it out in the most effectual manner;" "Christian Science destroys material belief ... and the thoroughness of this work determines health" (Science and Health, pp. II, 186).

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