Article March 17, 1951 Issue

"BE NOT DECEIVED"

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

DOROTHY HUEY HULL

One of Jesus' parables likens the kingdom of heaven "unto a man which sowed good seed in his field" (Matt. 13:24). Then, as though to point out the need of alertness, we are told that "while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." Later the man's servants, who wished to pull out the tares, were admonished to "let both grow together until the harvest," for then they would be able to distinguish the tares, gather them, and bind them for burning. The tare, before it comes into ear, has the appearance of wheat.

Today we find that in our field of right endeavor, where we sow good seeds, mortal mind in belief plants tares to deceive us; hence our need to be alert to the Apostle Paul's admonition (Gal. 6:7), "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Mary Baker Eddy writes in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 72), "Mortal belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which are not united by progress, but separated." But in our work of reaping the harvest, if we are patient and persistent in our desire to reflect only Godlike qualities, we soon detect the tares.

When a young student of Christian Science went away to college, she became confused and deceived by the material way of life. She did not know any other Christian Scientists at the school. She noted that other girls appeared well and happy, although they seemed to know nothing about God and man's relationship to Him. Soon doubt as to whether she really needed to devote time and study daily to the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly crept into her thought. Failing to recognize this subtle suggestion and feeling embarrassed to study the Bible and Science and Health before her sophisticated friends, she packed her books in her trunk, which she then sent to the basement to be stored.

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