Editorial January 20, 1940 Issue

A Sure Defense

George Shaw Cook

The twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy contains a promise to those who "observe and do" the commandments of the Lord, which reads as follows: "The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways."

Christian Science shows us that, strictly speaking, our only enemies are wrong or evil thoughts, or to put it a little differently, our only enemy is enmity. The scene of our contest with the enemy, then, is in what is called our human consciousness. In other words, the enemy with which we seem obliged to contend exists, or seems to exist, within our own so-called mortal mentality, and that is where it has to be resisted and overcome.

However, it should not be supposed that any individual originates the evil thoughts that appear to assail him. Such thoughts originate in what is termed the carnal mind, which Paul has described as "enmity against God." Evil thoughts and false concepts are, in belief, imposed from without, but if we entertain them we have to deal with them. The responsibility of the individual, then, lies in being on guard not to admit to his mental home suggestions of evil which would defile and deface his thinking, and which might enslave him, mentally and physically. Therefore, Christian Scientists should heed the admonition of Mrs. Eddy, found on page 392 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Stand porter at the door of thought."

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