Article May 12, 1928 Issue

Alertness

MARGUERITE CALDWELL SWANTEES

The great truism, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," carved deeply into the hearts of men more than a century ago, should be heeded to-day. As a nation must ever be on guard, so the Christian must ever be alert to protect himself from the invasion of evil suggestions, the destroyers of health and harmony.

We learn in Christian Science that God is Mind; that Mind and its expression is all that really exists; that God is good; and that all thoughts emanating from God must necessarily be good also. Then man, being the image of God, receives all good, including intelligence, through reflection. It follows that evil thoughts, or beliefs, do not proceed from divine Mind and, consequently, that they cannot be real, since they have no true origin: they cannot be the reflection of Mind. A wrong thought seems to have power only because it appears to be real. The Christian's duty and privilege is to be ever awake to detect all wrong thoughts and to allow them no place in his consciousness. Belief in evil thinking is so common, however, that it does not at times seem easy to destroy it in individual experience. The persistency with which evil claims recognition must, therefore, be met with great persistency in the acknowledgment of good as the only real presence and power.

The following experience illustrates the point. On the first night of a four-day journey, the writer found herself suffering from some kind of trouble of the eye. For several days the truth was declared, but the sharp pain persisted. When she awoke one morning, although she had had a clear realization of the truth the night before, a sharp pain darted through the eye. The first suggestion that came to the half-awakened consciousness was one of disappointment and discouragement. Was all the work of the night before, which had brought such peace and satisfaction, in vain, and would it have to be done all over again? No, the work was not in vain; for with it had come the alertness to detect the falsity of the suggestion—knowing that the angels of God were there to lead the way to complete victory. Instantly the error was refuted with the truth that God's Word had power, and could not be reversed; that evil had no intelligence to express or to prolong itself. There was no more sharp pain: the work on the problem was finished.

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