When Christ Jesus summoned three of his followers to accompany him in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion, he gave them a simple but important command (Matt.26:38): "Watch with me." Certainly Jesus had every right to expect them to obey, for they had but a little while before affirmed their undying allegiance to him.

Yet when he returned to them, after going apart to pray, he found them last asleep. To Peter, who had protested his allegiance most vehemently of all, Jesus said (Matt. 26:40, 41): "Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." That "the flesh is weak" was subsequently evidenced by this disciple's repeated denial that he even knew Jesus.

Why did Peter thus deny his Master? Was it mere fear for his own bodily safety? No, for he had drawn his sword in defense of Jesus when hopelessly outnumbered by the Master's enemies. Perhaps Peter's denial of his Master was not so much the result of cowardice as of a failure to cope with the subtle error that had caused him and his companions to sleep when Jesus had asked them to watch.

Because of this failure, Peter allowed himself to be influenced by the suggestion that it is sometimes expedient to disavow connection with the unpopular right. Had he been actively watching, with the Christ, Truth, uppermost in his thought, he could not have been mesmerized by this specious lie. Had he allowed no consideration but that of absolute fidelity to Truth to weigh in the scales of his judgment, there would have been no retreat from righteousness in the name of temporary expedience. The bitter regret that was his upon realizing that he had been duped into a denial of his Master indicates the sad consequences of a lack of watchfulness.

It is easy to point to the mistakes of Peter and the other disciples. It is not so easy to avoid making similar mistakes ourselves. We cannot hope to do so unless we watch with the Christ, Truth, in an earnest vigilance that will not let us be lulled to sleep by any of the various suggestions of so-called mortal mind.

Through the teachings of Christian Science we are enabled to maintain a steadfast watch and to destroy the errors of mortal sense that would make us unfaithful in our allegiance to God. This Science reveals that such errors have no basis in reality and can therefore be successfully resisted and overcome by our refusal to accept them into our experience. Obviously we are not compelled to agree with or to bow down before that which we know is false and powerless. Acknowledgment of God as the only power dispels all belief in the necessity of yielding to whatever is unlike Him.

It is of significance that a Bible concordance gives these two explanations of the verb watch as it is used in the Scriptures: "To watch, meaning to look for," and, "To watch in order to guard." Both kinds of watching are important to the Christian Scientist. True spiritual watching involves a watching for good and a watching against evil, a firm acceptance of the truth and also a firm rejection of error.

Sometimes we are tempted to say: "As long as I am not suffering from anything, why should I watch against error? Why not just enjoy the good?" We should indeed enjoy the infinite goodness which God is giving us every moment of our existence. But we shall not continue to do so unless we are willing to protect our consciousness of it by vigilantly guarding against error.

To mortal sense we live in a world where error abounds. Can we afford to invite its attacks upon us by our negligence or apathy in admitting it into our experience, first in the form of erroneous thoughts and then in the form of discordant conditions? Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 234), "You must control evil thoughts in the first instance, or they will control you in the second."

True watching is a continuing process. It cannot be taken up and laid aside at the convenience of personal whims. What would be thought of the sentry who stood guard only until he discovered something more interesting to do and then deserted his post? Our watch must be maintained until the full consciousness of triumphant good has put to rout all sense of error that would challenge it. Failure to watch until this end is achieved results only in subjection to error and in the heartache which comes with the realization that just a little more steadfastness might have won the victory.

The watch of spiritual vigilance is a joyous, ennobling experience. It lifts us higher in the demonstration of man's God-given dominion. It assures us of a continuing, stable sense of harmony. Changing mortal conditions have no terror for the consciousness that is well guarded with spiritual realization. Its happiness is based on a permanent, immutable foundation and does not fluctuate with material events.

Are we tempted to feel sorry for someone who has for a long time watched for good that is not yet evident, and watched against error that seems still to beset him? Then we may spare ourselves the discomfort of our sorrow. That faithful watcher is by no means being cheated of his inheritance of good. He is laying up "treasures in heaven," riches of spiritual understanding and consecration that cannot be taken from him. The circumstances that necessitate his rising higher in spiritual consciousness will be replaced by the blessings of fuller freedom and grander vision which await him who overcomes through holy watchfulness. God's discipline does not leave us in tears; it leaves us in joy and in singing.

When our Leader established the weekly periodical of Christian Science, she was led to name it the Christian Science Sentinel in signification of its mission to hold spiritual guard. Just under the title of the magazine, as though to enlist every reader in active participation in this mission, she caused these words of Christ Jesus' to appear (Mark 13:37): "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." May the spiritual fruitage of our lives prove that we are heeding this admonition.