Article July 12, 1919 Issue

Entertaining Angels Unawares

NELLIE E. MITCHELL

It puzzled me very much as a little girl in an orthodox Sunday school, that the angels never came to us as they did to those in Bible times. It seemed to me that in every Sunday's lesson these words appeared: "An angel came to him and said"—followed by some good promise, as I remembered it. For about ten years after I left Sunday school I gave little thought to the Bible or to attending church. About four years ago, however, when I had been in deep sorrow for several months, experiencing extreme loneliness, Christian Science was presented to me, and I began an earnest study of its teachings.

The searchlight of truth reached the darkest and innermost parts of my human consciousness when I found on page 581 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, her wonderful definition of angels: "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." I read and re-read this definition. When I finally discerned in a small way just what it meant, with that discernment came the wonderful and happy realization that angels had come to me times without number. My thought was that if I did not get another truth from the Christian Science textbook, I had enough in that paragraph to make me happy forever. With that realization it seemed, too, that the prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," had also been illumined; for here were God's angels with me, right here on earth. My heart fills with love and gratitude for Mrs. Eddy whenever the word angels comes to my thought.

On page 299 of Science and Health, speaking of angels as "God's representatives," Mrs. Eddy says, "By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain 'angels unawares.' " While at my work one day in a busy printing office these thoughts came pouring into my consciousness. With each thought came some new revelation, some new understanding, and for each one I am very grateful. The one that has helped me most, however, is the one that prompted this article.

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