February is lambing season in the British Isles. I have a friend who is a Welsh shepherdess. She and her husband have a sheep farm in the central highlands of Wales, and February is the busiest month on their farm. One spring my friend told me happily that they had had "a bumper crop of lambs!" Most of their ewes had given birth to twins and many to triplets!

The following year the news was not so good. Radioactive fallout from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl had drifted across the ocean and polluted the green highlands of Cumbria, North Wales, and some areas of Northern Ireland and Scotland. My friend's lambs were just inside the "safety zone," but there was little to celebrate in the highlands that year.

Governments certainly have a responsibility to prevent such large-scale catastrophes from occurring, and every citizen can help to clean up the mental pollution—the sin—that threatens humanity's well-being. And as I was thinking about my friend's lambs, I began to realize how much real power there is in spiritual purity.

In the Old Testament a lamb is often portrayed as a symbol of innocence and purity, and the firstborn lambs were sometimes offered as a ritual sacrifice. In the New Testament it is recorded that John the Baptist recognized Christ Jesus as the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world. ^{See John 1:29 .}

The Saviour rebuked sin wherever he encountered it, but he forgave sinners and admonished them to relinquish their sinful ways. He understood evil to be a lie without intelligence, and with no mandate in God's kingdom. Even at the time of his trial and imminent crucifixion, Jesus' life remained an island of innocence in a raging sea of hatred, intrigue, and barbarity.

To help today in overcoming this evil in the world, we can start by finding within ourselves our own island of innocence —our innate spiritual purity and freedom that are the heritage of the sons and daughters of God. Innocence is a gift of God. We need to cherish and defend it, for it keeps us safe from harm.

In the allegory played out in the garden of Eden, the serpent is the villain. With the subtlety of evil, it tries to call God's Word into question to suit its own purpose of undermining Adam's and Eve's trust in good.

Today, Christian Science calls this deceiver animal magnetism because it claims the power to draw mankind's thought away from the purity and goodness that have their source in God, Spirit. It would entice people into a blind alley of sensuality where evil's fake pleasures end in pain.

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, explains the Biblical authority for denouncing evil. Whether sin appears symbolically in a serpentine form, as it does in Genesis, or as a great dragon in Revelation, its unreality is exposed, and its remedy is shown to be Christ, Truth. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy writes, "That false claim—that ancient belief, that old serpent whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there is intelligence in matter either to benefit or to injure men—is pure delusion, the red dragon; and it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual idea, and so proved to be powerless." ^{Science and Health, p. 567.}

We can defend ourselves from the pollutants of the carnal mind through prayer. An island can be successfully invaded by an enemy only if its inhabitants let down their watch and allow the foe to get a foothold on their land. Our island of innocence will remain invincible if we courageously build a strong spiritual defense against sin and continue to be vigilant.

Innocence doesn't exist in isolation; it is always linked to the Lamb of God, to the spiritual idea of Love. As Jesus proved, innocence and purity are not weak and helpless. When they are exercised daily in thought and action, they stand strong against such predators as lust and hatred and outshine them. There may be severe mental battles at times as we resist the blandishments of the so-called carnal mind, yet every victory we gain on the side of good helps to break the spell of sensualism and to show the utter powerlessness of evil.

Innocence is a quality often associated with children. Our prayers can help to defend the children of the world from pollutants such as drugs, violence, and pornography, which would poison minds and rob people of their innate right to express good. Educators and parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, have a special opportunity to create an atmosphere that is conducive to wholesome activity.

Mrs. Eddy once spoke of children as "the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race!" ^{Pulpit and Press, p. 9.} We can vigorously safeguard this heritage. We need to nurture childlike qualities in ourselves, too. When found in God, the power of simplicity, purity, unselfish affection, and joy can't be contaminated by evil; these qualities create their own ambience of good.

Ann Kenrick