Article April 2, 1927 Issue

Steadfast Allegiance

MARION C. JONES

Among the many promises in the book of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, and the many beautiful descriptions of his nature and character, is found the prediction that he would "know to refuse the evil, and choose the good." And the New Testament is a continuous record of Christ Jesus' loyalty to good, his mission being to show forth or exemplify the nature of God. That he was true to this "steadfast high intent," the four Gospels attest; while the writings of Paul and of John frequently refer to the glory of the Christ, the Son of God, as reflected in the inspired career of Jesus.

In no instance did Jesus fail to refuse prestige or power to evil. Under all circumstances he annihilated evil or error, whether its guise was subtle or obvious. It was indeed a straight and narrow path he trod, subordinating the desire to please men to the desire to please God; yet how soon he reached the goal! The straighter the path, the sooner the destination is reached: a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. The mountaineer blazes a narrow trail to the peak in order that the footsteps of future travelers may be led as directly as possible to their goal. Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in speaking of the way the followers of Truth must take, says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 347), "It may be smooth, or it may be rugged; but it is always straight and narrow; and if it be uphill all the way, the ascent is easy and the summit can be gained."

Through her loyal adherence to the path pointed out and followed by the Master, our Leader has enabled all who so desire to be true to their highest light, their clearest sense of honesty and justice, and to obey the divine Principle of all good. She pointed out repeatedly in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," and in her shorter writings, that man is a free moral agent. "Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else," she states in the textbook (p. 481); adding in a later sentence, "Like the archpriests of yore, man is free 'to enter into the holiest,'—the realm of God." Whatever the nature of the shafts of error that seem to be directed at us, we are always free to choose whom we shall serve—to accept or to reject the evil suggestions of error, with their arguments of sickness or of sin.

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