Article October 7, 1922 Issue

The Wedding Garment

EMMA HALSEY SAYLES

We read in Matthew that Jesus spoke a parable likening the kingdom of heaven "unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son;" and when the king came in to see the guests which had been bidden to the wedding, he saw "a man which had not on a wedding garment." The man, when questioned as to why he came in without a wedding garment, was speechless. Farther on we read that the king commanded that the man be bound hand and foot and cast into "outer darkness;" and the statement follows, "Many are called, but few are chosen." It is not difficult to see that the wedding garment stands for spiritual understanding, without which no man can enter into the presence of the King.

We are told that the robe of Christ is seamless, and that there is no toleration for any flaw, or rent, or tear, or patch, or covering up, but it must be as the "pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount." There are many human steps needed in the preparation and perfecting of this garment: much patience and perseverance are requisite in the overcoming of temperament, environment, and all the myriad beliefs of the flesh which would discourage and retard our efforts to attain this goal. When tempted to be discouraged, we may think of Peter,—how splendid he was in his final demonstration in the overcoming of fear and weakness, and how at last he lovingly followed his Master's command to feed his sheep.

There is the necessary step of earnest striving to be taken. Are we satisfied with having overcome a few of the little things, and to sit idly by enjoying the good which divine Love has brought to our lives through, perhaps, a healing from some physical suffering and through improved home and business conditions? Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 322): "It is easier to desire Truth than to rid one's self of error. Mortals may seek the understanding of Christian Science, but they will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts of being without striving for them. This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to possess no other consciousness but good." "The endeavor to forsake error,"—is not this the first step towards the preparation of the wedding garment? So long as greed and malice, jealousy and hate, envy and rivalry, fear and resentment, apathy and procrastination, and like qualities of thought are cherished, there is no room for the first lesson to be learned towards the making of the wedding garment.

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