Article April 16, 1932 Issue

The Allness of God, Good

CONSTANCE HEWARD

Humanity is always on the defensive. Considering the matter carefully, one may well be surprised at the vast amount of thought, time, and energy spent by individuals in defending themselves against evil. The gardener, for example, spends much of his time preparing for evil's onslaughts. He must defend his plants from the disastrous effects of frost and flood, from insect pests, from the birds of the air; while evil in the form of weeds would eventually take complete possession of his garden, were it not protected against their encroachments. Many more examples could be cited, among them the universal practice of keeping our so-called valuables under lock and key, insuring persons and property, and nightly locking doors and windows to defend our homes against thieves.

This care and anxiety is always about matter. The fear of evil and belief in its power, which keeps us on the defensive, has its root in the false belief that matter is real and substantial. We believe that we may not have enough matter; that we may be deprived of what we already possess; that matter may be sick, hurt, worn out, or destroyed; and yet Christ Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing."

One may argue that we cannot ignore evil if we would not be overwhelmed by its attacks. We cannot; but we can change our methods of defense. Taking Christ Jesus as the perfect example, let us see what attitude he adopted to defend himself from evil. As light keeps darkness away by reason of its own effulgence, so Jesus,—though alive and alert to every claim of the so-called carnal mind to destroy good,—far from going about expecting to be robbed, cheated, disabled, or limited, rebuked evil and destroyed it by the purity and goodness he embodied. He did not accept as true some seeming reality called evil, for he saw through its deceptions. He recognized God, His Father, as the only Mind, supreme and absolute, and his own spiritual selfhood as the expression of that Mind; and then he put these truths into practice by being good, wise, intelligent, and pure. There was nothing in the mentality of Christ Jesus to accept and hold the suggestions of evil in any form.

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