Article August 24, 1946 Issue

Protecting Our Demonstrations

FRANCES WARD SMITH

If one sets out to accomplish something, he usually acquaints himself with the rules pertinent to the matter and follows the correct procedure in applying them. This includes the carrying out of certain steps and the avoidance of others. So it is with the practice of Christian Science.

In the Bible, which has sometimes been likened to a chart to guide one on the sea of life, is found not only correct procedure, but wise counsel of avoidance as well. The admonition to shun loquaciousness is so often repeated that we can only conclude it to be an important one in the conduct of our affairs.

In Proverbs appear these two passages: "He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction" (13:3); and, "A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards" (29:11). In the sixteenth chapter of Judges is the story of Samson, who let Delilah beguile him into telling him the secret of his strength, with disastrous results to himself and others. Then in Isaiah (chapter 39) we read that Hezekiah, through an unwise sense of gratitude, showed the messengers of the king of Babylon all that he had in his house. Isaiah prophesied that all would be carried away and nothing of his treasures left. When the Virgin Mary received announcement that she was to be the mother of Jesus, we are told (Luke 2:19), "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."