Article January 1, 1977 Issue

Loyalty to the Fact of God's Allness

MERLE WITHAM MILLER

One evening Mrs. Eddy assigned a member of her household a specific problem to work out through prayer. The student's mental work was not effective, however, and although she stated her feeling that she had prayed adequately, Mrs. Eddy replied: "No, you didn't, you had a good talk with the devil. Why did you not know God's allness?" We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Fourth Series (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1972), pp. 99-100;

In Christian Science the term "devil" aptly describes the aggressive, negative, evil suggestions that would invade and contaminate human consciousness. Whatever the particular form of evil suggestion, it is always basically the lie that God, universal good, has a living, thriving opposite called evil; and that evil can equal and even outweigh the influence of the Christ, the good and ever-present spiritual idea, in individual consciousness. But as Christ Jesus proved and as Christian Science continues to demonstrate in its adherence to his teachings, it is possible to bring out the allness of God, good, and the consequent nothingness of evil.

The gospel record of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness shows that the Master met each tempting evil suggestion with a clear assertion of loyalty to the fact of God's allness and supremacy. His final dismissal of satanic suggestion "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" proves that evil could make no inroads upon his watchful thought. He saw evil's worthlessness, its nothingness. And so he rejected its suppositions. The Bible reports, "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Matt. 4:10, 11; "Angels" are enlighteningly defined by Mrs. Eddy as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." Science and Health, p. 581;

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