In the illumination following his first healing after coming into Christian Science, many a student eagerly sets out to advance himself and help others to advance in the love of good. With joy, and in deep gratitude for this wonderful truth, he feels the glow of heavenly warmth and pure vision, and in this exalted mental state he enters enthusiastically into the work of spreading the gospel of good. Later, when faced with the hypnotic beliefs of pleasure and pain in matter, and all the alluring or alarming beliefs of worldliness, he may seem to experience a lessening of this joy and enthusiasm, a waning of his spontaneity. He may appear to be falling from grace and to be apathetic toward good. In this testing time the student needs to remember and to ponder the words of the Master, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
It is significant that Jesus' promise, "Ye shall know the truth," is conditional upon one's continuing in his word. None knew better than did Christ Jesus the manifold temptations that would beset his students, and the need for persistent purity in daily life in order to meet each problem as it comes. The Master's great compassion for mankind included a knowledge of their frailty. He led them gently and showed them tenderly by example and precept that true strength to resist temptation and to persist in its overcoming comes from God, the one divine source of man's being. He did not condemn; and when they stumbled, he helped them to arise. Peter, especially, was wont to stumble, but it was he who was first to recognize the Christ; and that he continued in the Word is evident, for he devoted his life to the practice of Jesus' teachings. Continuance in the Word made Peter free. He received the reward of the promise, knowledge of Truth, and this Truth freed him mentally and enabled him to free others from sin, sickness, bondage, and death.
A lukewarm attitude toward his own growth and toward the Cause of Christian Science is engendered in the student by acceptance of the aggressive suggestions of mortal mind. A belief of lack of joy in the work, which at first seemed redolent with love and inspiration, is but the subtle working of error, and the student must be alert to its false arguments. In the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 6), our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has written these words for our enlightenment and guidance: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned." Should a sense of apathy, then, seem to tempt the student, his remedy lies in the strict observance of this By-Law in our Church Manual. Our Leader, alert to detect the claims of error, and understanding the operation of divine law, knew that this temptation would arise, and she knew the method of its handling. To defend oneself against the aggressive suggestions of mortal mind, one must work daily to know the allness of the one divine Mind and the nothingness of mortal mind's claim to power and presence. Because there is only one Mind, the suggestive belief of its opposite is an illusion of material sense, and can neither alarm nor allure the one who has made God his choice. Equally important is our Leader's admonition not ''to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." The student's duty to God is obviously to understand and demonstrate man's unity with Him, admitting no other than the divine law as real or attractive. His duty to his Leader must include and embody obedience to her teachings and loyalty to her wise provisions; and his duty to mankind is to keep his own life so pure and untainted by the false beliefs of the carnal mind that his reflection of ever-present good shall be to all a beacon light of power and love exemplified. Obedient to this By-Law, the earnest student will find no time for apathetic meanderings in the twisted paths of mortal thinking, for his thought will be continuously spiritually alert, eager, and receptive.
