Editorial October 21, 1933 Issue

Silencing Evil Suggestions

Duncan Sinclair

Mrs. Eddy gives a very necessary admonition when she says on page 128 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," "Watch, and pray daily that evil suggestions, in whatever guise, take no root in your thought nor bear fruit." What are evil suggestions? Every kind of evil belief, including malice, envy, jealousy, hatred, revenge, fear, lust. We must guard against all evil, praying that it may find no lodgment in our consciousness; for in this way we are protected against the effects of evil.

The Christian Scientist is equipped to protect himself against the false claims of evil in proportion to the spiritual understanding he has gained. Christian Science instructs him in the great truth of God's infinite goodness; and in the light of this truth he sees the unreality of evil—the nothingness of evil. But while he is convinced that evil is utterly unreal, he knows he has to be continually on the alert to detect its suggestions. In his first epistle John writes, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." The disciple's words describe the mental attitude of the alert Christian Scientist: he tests every thought that comes to him to see whether it is of God, good. If it be not of God, he rejects it as unworthy of a place in his consciousness.

Undoubtedly, the best protection against evil suggestions of whatever kind is a consciousness filled with good, a consciousness that is loving, truthful, pure, compassionate. No evil suggestion can find a lodgment there. And, further, the one in possession of it will be quick to detect erroneous suggestions of whatever kind, and to silence them by denying reality to them. We should pray, then, that purity, goodness, truthfulness, love, shall ever companion us. He whose heart is pure, whose thoughts are loving and kind, whose consciousness is filled with good, is clad in impregnable armor, protected thereby against every form of evil suggestion.

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