In Gethsemane, at his hour of greatest need, Jesus asked his disciples to watch with him while he prayed. Three times "he went a little farther" to pray, but each time on returning found the disciples sleeping. How different the events might have been at that time had they observed the Master's injunction (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." In her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 14), "To be delivered from believing in what is unreal, from fearing it, following it, or loving it, one must watch and pray that he enter not into temptation—even as one guards his door against the approach of thieves."

Our Leader not only admonishes us to watch and pray that we be not tempted to believe in evil as real, but makes it a daily duty. A Section of the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy is entitled "Alertness to Duty" (Art. VIII, Sect. 6) and reads: "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 world appears to have many conflicting duties. It worships what it wants to worship, often under the guise of the noble word duty. It would cloak self-will and material interest under a pretense of self-sacrificing duty and self-worshiping martyrdom. These phases of a false sense of duty are many and conflicting in nature. Hatred, resentment, and personal domination are sometimes cloaked under a false sense of duty.

This By-Law covers the entire subject of duty and includes the basic answer to all questions concerning it. Seemingly conflicting duties are found not to conflict when subjected to its test. The pathway of duty is found to lie straight before us. Light is cast upon that path, and divine Love gives right proportion and will always enhance and spiritualize our sense of relationship and duty. The true sense of duty destroys the false sense and sets mankind free to be governed by God.

It is our Leader's demand that we defend ourselves daily "against aggressive mental suggestion." Why is this so necessary? Because evil, or sin, while wholly unreal and illusory, claims to be more than just our thinking about it. It is more than just in our own thinking, because it is both abstract and concrete. It is the false supposition that there is life, intelligence, or substance apart from God. Our experience with error is determined by what we do with it. We should see it as nothing, and God as All. We defend ourselves from aggressive mental suggestion by knowing the allness of God and His government and the utter nothingness of anything opposite to good. Never do we return evil for evil, but we know the truth that makes free both ourselves and others. We are a law unto ourselves to accept as real and to express only good. Faithful to our Leader's demand, we cannot by any aggressive suggestion be made to forget our duty.

Mrs. Eddy considered her duty to God, to the revealed truth as she saw it, and to mankind as a sacred command and obligation. This duty to God, divine Love, was primary and gave the right proportion to all sense of relationship, time, or circumstance. She was able also to impart this sense of duty to others, as we see evidenced in the practice of her students.

What is this duty to God that we must not be made to forget? It is to love Him and to keep His commandments, to reflect Truth, Life, and Love. Only unceasing prayer can bring us into the true essence of our being. Our duty to God is to watch and pray to be delivered from any false beliefs about God or His creation. A false sense of God, man, or Church can go no further than belief permits. Our duty to God is to worship Him as wholly good.

Let us pray lest we be made to forget or neglect our duty to our Leader. But what is our duty to our Leader? It is primary to our success with Christian Science that we give Mrs. Eddy her rightful place as Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and Leader of the Christian Science movement, for only thus can we perceive the right place of this Science in our lives and in the world. It is our duty and privilege to love and support the activities of the Church she established. It is our duty to be prayerfully alert and ready to respond and serve.

In responding, when called upon to serve in our churches, we are observing our duty. These tasks, whether humble or seemingly important, performed lovingly, bring the joy of self-forgetful service. The greatest joy in our work often comes through the prompt and thorough performance of relatively small tasks. Mrs. Eddy often called upon the workers to do what seemed small tasks as well as large ones. Today in responding to the call to participate in the activities of our Cause provided for in the Manual of The Mother Church, we are fulfilling our duty to our beloved Leader. Joy comes as the fruitage of such obedience.

May we pray and watch that we be not made to forget or neglect our duty to mankind. To be rightly guided here demonstrates harmonious relationships in our home, our business, and our church. To love all mankind we must know divine Principle, Love. When we think of our neighbor as in reality the image of Love, we can love him because we know God loves him and we reflect what God knows of His son. Prayer helps us to fulfill this duty to mankind. Our duty to mankind in loving fulfills the Ten Commandments. Watching and praying, we cannot be made to forget to be loving to all mankind.

The last sentence of the By-Law "Alertness to Duty" is, "By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned." Does this sound ominous or doleful? Let us broaden our understanding of this precious statement or correct a misapprehension of it. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" our Leader writes (p. 239), "The objects we pursue and the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show what we are winning." Our works judge us. Those things to which we devote ourselves and toward which we exercise a duty reveal where our affections are placed. Our works do justify or condemn us: they prove us. "Ye shall know them by their fruits," said Jesus (Matt. 7:16). We are grateful that we may thus be proved and corrected.

Our duty is a glorious opportunity to love God with our whole heart and to manifest love towards others. It is the joy of recognizing the authorization and authenticity of the law of Christian Science and abiding in the law. It is the happy experience of living in loving all mankind and serving mankind. Our duty is to watch and pray.