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.
Because Christian Science brings about the destruction and removal of the cause of inharmony, it is the most efficacious remedy for every ill which besets mankind. If the axe be truly laid at the root of the tree of evil, every vestige of its seeming power and reality must disappear. This, then, brings us to the question, What is the fundamental error or evil which seems to cause the sins, the woes, and the tribulations to which mortals are so generally subject? Is there a taproot, as it were, at which the axe of truth may be laid and mankind thereby released?
An illuminating light is thrown upon this query by the words of our Leader found on page 285 of "Miscellaneous Writings." In speaking of the warfare which Christian Science wages against all sensuality, she says. "Science and Health, the book that cast the first stone, is still at work, deep down in human consciousness, laying the axe at the root of error." Then is it not perfectly clear that in human consciousness is to be found the root of evil? In the false beliefs, myriad in number, which make up the supposititious conditions called human consciousness is found the root from which spring the trunk, stem, and leaves of error which so encompass human experience.
Here, then, so far as evil seems to have existence, is the battle ground; and our success in the warfare with evil will be in exact proportion to our consciousness of the reality of Spirit and its manifestations, and the unreality of the opposite claims, belief in the entity and power of evil. How clearly are the lines drawn! How definite the struggle! There need be no fighting of windmills, no vain beating of the air. So direct and complete are our instructions, so plain is the work to be done, that there need be no hesitation, no halting or fearful entry upon the contest. With perfect assurance may the blows be struck, in full confidence in and knowledge of the outcome. The so-called mortal mind would indeed strive to becloud the issue, again to send up a mist from the ground to conceal the miserable character of its cloud of false witnesses.
Our beloved Leader has expressed herself regarding this with definiteness; good has but one source, God, who is infinite good; evil has but one seeming source, human belief. Then our work is to determine the origin of any mental state which may present itself and lay the axe to the root of the evil, that is, the false belief. If we be tempted to search mortal thought for specific cause of outward manifestation of inharmony, let us be assured that as God is One, so supposititious evil claims to be one, and that one false belief, the belief in life and intelligence apart from God.
In other words, all inharmony springs from belief in evil. When this false consciousness is changed for the true, the axe is laid at the very root of the source of evil, and the true idea, perfect and harmonious, becomes manifest. This method of destruction of error is fundamental, because it strikes at its very root. "Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" of utter destruction because it has no seeming existence apart from human belief. When false belief is educated out of itself, evil loses all semblance to reality.
