A student of Christian Science who felt weighed down by a physical problem began one morning the study of the Lesson-Sermon, which included the account of Jesus' three temptations. As she read of the second temptation, in which the devil set Jesus on a pinnacle of the temple and said to him (Matt. 4:6), "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee," her attention was arrested by the words "cast thyself down." Strange, she mused, that the devil should suggest that Jesus cast himself down rather than threaten to throw him down. Then the truth instantly became apparent. The devil could not cast Jesus down. Evil was completely powerless, because Jesus did not accept its insidious suggestion.
The student saw at once that error, or the devil, cannot cast anyone down without his consent, for evil has only the power one gives it. She saw also that pure, spiritual selfhood can never be made to fall from its high estate. How comforting, then, to know that although she had for a time accepted erroneous arguments about herself and thus had a false sense of being cast down, in reality her only God-constituted individuality had never left the pinnacle, the standpoint of oneness with God, her perfect Principle! She humanly had entertained a dream of falling such as she had often experienced in sleep, only to awake to find herself resting in complete security.
In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (pp. 470, 471), "The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history." The student knew this to be the truth about her real self and realized that had she been as alert as the Master in detecting the source and nature of the erroneous suggestions, she would have answered as did Jesus (Matt. 4:7), "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
