Article September 19, 1953 Issue

POSTING AND INSPECTING OUR GUARD

RICHARD H. CHASE

Changing the guard in military establishments is more than a colorful and impressive ceremony, for each detachment of troops assumes the responsibility for protecting a prescribed area with its buildings, fortifications, and installations. Every moment of the day and night, men are alertly watching.

Early in his study of Christian Science one learns the importance of posting his guard the first thing each day. That Mary Baker Eddy considered this mental process indispensable to the protection of each student is seen in the fact that she provided in the Manual of The Mother Church a By-Law, entitled "Alertness to Duty," which reads (Art. VIII, Sect. 6): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned."

The Christian Scientist begins his guard duty by acknowledging perfect God and perfect man. He realizes that because God, divine Spirit, made man in His image and likeness, man is spiritual and harmonious. He is Godlike, hence healthy, happy, intelligent, and amply provisioned. Any contradiction of these scientific facts is a lie, or a false belief, about God's man that needs to be denied and cast out as unreal. The Christian Scientist's defense against the errors of material sense is mental. He guards his thinking against the aggressive mental suggestions that he can become ill, impoverished, discordant, or cast down.

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