Upon the joyous return of the seventy disciples whom Jesus had appointed to preach the gospel and heal the sick, they said to him, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Jesus' reply was, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." And straightway he bestowed further gifts: "power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy," with the blessed assurance, "nothing shall by any means hurt you." Centuries have passed since Jesus uttered that word, conferring upon mankind power to tread unharmed on "serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy;" but it was not until Christian Science revealed the full meaning of all his words and works that humanity gained a correct idea of the import of the promise, and its fulfillment. Mrs. Eddy, among her many marvelous interpretations of the Bible text, defined the term "serpent" in the Glossary of the textbook, on page 594, the last sentence of which definition reads, "The first audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that there was another power, named evil, which was as real and eternal as God, good." It is evident, then, that the Christian Scientist's ability to tread unharmed on serpents is his power to destroy the claim which denies God's omnipotence and suggests the existence of an opposite veritable and eternal power, evil.

With Mrs. Eddy's definition of serpent comprehended, additional weight is placed upon Jesus' figurative language concerning Satan's descent from heaven, harmony. His words recall Isaiah's exclamation, "How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer, son of the morning!" Now whether it be to Satan that Isaiah is referring, or to his emissary, King Nebuchadnezzar,—for Biblical authorities differ on the subject,—the spirit of proud, personal ambition is the same, and its effect likewise identical. The prophet, commenting further upon this cataclysmic event in human history, attributes Lucifer's descent from his high estate to an overweening ambition, purposing to exalt his throne "above the stars of God." It was this spirit of personal emulation which would simulate a material creation, and it was this creation that Jesus indicated when he said, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." This malcreator of the mist, following his own distorted concepts, would attempt the very impossible task of combining opposites, causing mankind to appear as a mixture of good and evil, Principle and person, Spirit and matter, life and death. Thus material man and likewise the serpent continue to express the mind of their source, and it is this parallel between mortal man and the serpent that is observable "until Shiloh come." In Christ Jesus there is no trace of the creator of things that are below, for as he says, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world." Christ Jesus manifested none of the serpentine qualities of mortal mind; per contra, he referred to himself as the type of salvation, and declared, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up."

In the Biblical records, from Genesis to Revelation, Satan, alias Apollyon, alias Beelzebub, the suppositional author of "the first audible claim that God was not omnipotent," assumes the form of a serpent, or dragon, and so this creature, "more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made," winds its way through the story of mortal existence from beginning to end. Its genesis is signalized by a seeming victory for itself, the influence of which appears to gather such momentum, with the onward rolling of the centuries, that the Bible becomes an almost continuous record of the serpent's, or Satan's, domination of mortal man, until in fulfillment of prophecy the Christ appears. With the advent of the Savior of mankind from its arch enemy, a new day dawns for the human race. Wielding the sword of Spirit with masterly stroke, the Messiah dismembers the roots of the serpentine suggestion questioning the omnipotence of God, good. His repeated declarations give evidence of full, undivided allegiance to the one power, good, the one Father, or author of being, verifying all he said by scientific demonstration, so that wherever he went the sick were healed, the sinners cleansed, and the dead were raised to life.

Among the many vivid pictures of Jesus, presented in the gospels, none is more significant than that of his temptation in the wilderness. As to Adam came the serpentine suggestions of evil in the Garden of Eden, so now to the seed of Adam is offered the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Christ Jesus, however, turns the temptation into a means whereby, for the time being, the tempter is put utterly to rout, and in token of the Savior's unfaltering loyalty to God it is written, "Behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Not to Christ Jesus were the gates of paradise closed, but with his final demonstration of power over the weapons of Satan's warfare these gates were flung wide for the Master's entrance and eternal abode in the kingdom of God, good. Following the ascension, the evil one engages in desperate battle with Jesus' followers, for "he knoweth that he hath but a short time." And then at last it is given to John to see, in his Revelation, the great dragon, "that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan," finally and everlastingly destroyed. This is the story in brief of personified evil, or false belief,—the allegorical description of its removal from heaven, its temporary domination of earth, and the final scientific overthrow of its claims to power. Jesus too often referred to evil as a mental quality to make one give credence for a moment to the belief that he referred, in mentioning Satan's lightning-like fall, to a fallen angel or corporeal being, any more than to a materially located heaven, which he implied is a state of consciousness "within you." In parabolic language he described the instant elimination of the carnal mind, or false belief, from the abode of harmony, heaven. His followers witnessed the disappearance of every form of evil from among men.

In giving his disciples the ability to tread on serpents unharmed, Jesus not only conferred the demonstration of immunity from the physical attack of poisonous creatures of the earth, but he bestowed the gift of treading upon or destroying the subtle suggestions of mortal mind, "the first audible claim that God was not omnipotent," that would make for building its throne "above the stars of God." Christian Science is the revelation of God to man. Treading on serpents, then, is casting out all manner of false beliefs, both the lie and the father of the lie, and by this means removing every resultant of suppositional evil. On page 529 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," its author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: "Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the metaphor only as evil." And further on in the same paragraph she continues, "Seeing this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, because we know that they are worthless and unreal." As the Christian Scientist treads on these serpents of evil's creating, the demonstrable understanding of Truth gained from this grand warfare becomes a sure support, even as did Moses' rod, when through God-bestowed wisdom it was changed from a serpent and became a staff in his hand. Mrs. Eddy saw this clearly when she pictured the harmonious creation of true being, omnipotent God, good, on page 515 of Science and Health, "The serpent of God's creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its adroitness, for Love's ideas are subject to the Mind which forms them,—the power which changeth the serpent into a staff."

Copyright, 1922, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, Falmouth and St. Paul Streets, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11. 1918.