The symbolization of good and evil by a tree is a common figure in Biblical literature. Of the fruit of all trees which grew in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were allowed to eat with the exception of that which grew upon the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Notwithstanding that to partake of its fruit was strictly forbidden, these primitive mortals disobeyed the injunction of the Lord God and thenceforward the fruit of this tree became a constant temptation to mankind; a temptation to which we are told all mortals have since yielded.
Christ Jesus used the same symbolism, although with a somewhat different application. "And now," he told his disciples, "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." The spiritual truth which he revealed and utilized struck at and destroyed the very root of the tree of evil, the source from which it seemed to spring. Mrs. Eddy has used the same metaphor repeatedly and with great effectiveness."Christian Science," she states on page 13 of her Message to The Mother Church for 1901, "lays the axe at the root of sin, and destroys it on the very basis of nothingness."
The most effective destruction of a tree, of any growing plant or shrub, is through the severance of its root, the very center in belief of its existence; thus severed, trunk, stalk, branches, and leaves cease to express life. Christian Scientists need to ponder this lesson set forth so succinctly by both Christ Jesus and our Leader, and to recognize the necessity for laying the axe of truth at the very root of evil, expressed as sin and disease. Too often, it seems, we try to remove inharmony by merely removing the leaves, the outward manifestation. But such efforts are only in part successful. A specific phase of evil, whether manifest as sin, sickness, or any other outward form of inharmony, may be removed; but the healing which is regeneration, the true healing, is not effected except by destroying the procuring cause, by laying the axe of truth at the very root of the trouble.
