Article August 27, 1949 Issue

"I WILL NOT LET THEE GO"

MARY POWELL HOWE

Many are familiar with the Biblical account in Genesis (32:24-30) of Jacob's wrestling with error. We are told that during the struggle an angel brought him a sense of evil's nothingness. He, however, detained the angel "until the breaking of the day," until there was a positive conviction, not just a momentary glimpse, of man's reflection of God. The record states that he said to the angel, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." Jacob was indeed blessed, for he became a different man from that time forward and life had a different outlook for him.

Jacob's persistence in holding fast, not letting the angel go, stands out as a beacon light when error tempts us to relax our efforts before the work is accomplished. Failing to detain the angel of God's presence until it has blessed us, giving its holy presence and its promised blessing only fleeting recognition because we think we are too busy to do otherwise, we deprive ourselves of great good. Should we not, rather, gratefully and persistently retain our hold upon the angel messenger, or message from God, realizing that no other call upon our time or thought is comparable in importance?

In Revelation, John the beloved reports the counsel of "the Spirit ... unto the churches," which includes the admonition (3:11), "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Holding fast to the truth which we have made our own through demonstration is indeed wisdom; and we should take care that we do not lose our consciousness of man's God given dominion through neglect and careless indifference to the demands of Truth, as made known to us in Christian Science.

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