Article October 25, 1969 Issue

"Whence comest thou?"

BEULAH HELEN BEERS

In the Old Testament, we read: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."^{Job 1:6, 7;}

In the New Testament, we read the account of the Master, Christ Jesus, asking of the personification of error, the unclean spirit he had commanded to come out of the man possessed of many devils, "What is thy name?"^{Mark 5:9;} And his question was answered, "My name is Legion: for we are many."

Do we always ask of personified error, "Whence comest thou?" or "What is thy name?" We should, for Truth, questioning the right of error to be present, must be answered. "Whence comest thou?" or "What is thy name?" is the challenge of Truth to error in whatever form or guise it may appear. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy directs: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." In the same paragraph she continues, "The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance."^{Science and Health, pp. 392, 393;}