Of all the wolves parading in sheep's clothing, perhaps the most subtle and seemingly successful is human sympathy. Even among students of Christian Science who have demonstrated the allness of good and the consequent nothingness of evil in instance after instance, the suggestion may intrude and find lodgment that human sympathy is a virtue and not a quality of the "old man" which the Scriptures warn us must be "put off." When any situation in which this wolf has figured is analyzed, however, and the results compared with those accomplished through the divine compassion which Jesus expressed, it is easily seen that human sympathy is only one of a whole pack of wolves bent on destruction. "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals," Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," beginning on page 476. "In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." As Christian Science healing is modeled after that of Christ Jesus, it is clear that in its practice and in the ordinary relationships of daily living there is no occasion where mere human sympathy is demanded. The sufferer must be un-seen and his suffering proved causeless through the understanding of man as the reflection of the allness and perfection of divine Mind. Human sympathy, on the contrary, makes a reality of the sufferer and his suffering, the beggar and his poverty, and clouds the vision of the sympathizer so that he cannot truly help to lift the burden which he agrees is so heavy a load.
In reading the story of Jacob and Esau in the Bible it may sometimes seem hard to refrain from sympathizing with Esau. The craftiness of Jacob in bargaining with his famished brother, compelling him to swear away his dearest and most sacred rights for a mere dish of lentils, seems heartless, contemptible; and the climax of duplicity with which he deceived his father and secured for himself the blessing with which Isaac would have blessed his first-born, seems nothing short of criminal. The strongest plea for sympathy, however, is in Esau's wail, "Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father." But the promise of dominion had already been given to Jacob and could not be withdrawn. In the light of subsequent history it is not difficult to understand why the type of thought represented by Jacob gained the blessing notwithstanding craftiness and duplicity. He valued the birthright. In those days, upon the head of the family or tribe devolved the duty of preserving not only family traditions, prestige, and honor among the neighboring tribes but of handing down, unadulterated, to posterity the religion of the tribe. To Abraham had come the revelation of the one God, and to Isaac had been given the promise of the Almighty, "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept uncharge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws." Is it not natural to suppose that one who valued a trust so little that he could disregard it entirely for the sake of satisfying uncontrolled appetite could not be depended upon to guard monotheism in the midst of pagan idolatry?
Nevertheless, Isaac foresaw that even such weaknesses would be eventually overcome and that his beloved Esau would finally rise to real manhood, for although he said, "By thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother," he also added, "And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." Following the story further we may gain a very clear perception of what is meant by dominion and how it must be gained. Immediately after receiving his father's blessing we find Esau filled with murderous hatred of his brother, and Jacob full of fear fleeing to Padan-aram. Neither of them has as yet gained any kind of dominion. But on the way to Padan-aram Jacob became more fully aware of what was involved in the birthright of the descendants of Abraham and in the blessing which he had intrigued to obtain. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac ... and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And we read that "he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
