In China, before the infiltration of Western culture and habits, it was customary to engage doctors for a given period of time in an effort to secure protection from sickness and death. In "History of Chinese Medicine" by Wong and Wu, it is related that it was not uncommon for the wealthier Chinese families to hire six or even more medical practitioners on this periodic basis. The belief behind this practice was that the more doctors the family engaged the greater would be its protection.
But when we seek protection through material means, no matter how well our reasoning may seem to fit a certain situation, we are always subject to the inherent inability of mortal mind to protect us against itself. Only as we become more spiritually-minded and prayerfully seek God's direction in all that we think and do are we building a strong defense against the various ills and sins that beset mortals.
Christian Science reveals to us the only scientific basis for true protection, that is, the prayer of knowing and understanding more about God and man as His reflection. Just as the science of mathematics teaches us how to detect an error in calculation and replace it with the correct solution, so this Christ Science teaches us how to detect false, mistaken concepts of life and man and how to replace them with the correct concept of being.
The protective power of spiritual right-mindedness carries with it a sure defense against sin, sickness, accidents, fear, lack, envy, hate, discouragement, or any of the multitudinous other beliefs that would hold men in bondage. Christian Science teaches that not one of these evil beliefs has any reality or power, because not one is of God's creating. This positive reasoning is based upon the inspired Word of the Bible, for we read in Genesis (1:27), "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them;" and farther on in the same chapter (verse 31), "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Here Scriptural authority testifies that anything not good was not made by Him, and therefore it has no entity and cannot be a part of man made in the image and likeness of his creator.
The scientific fact is that man is wholly spiritual and does not possess one element that is unlike Spirit, God. The understanding of this eternal, spiritual status of man gives one continual protection from mortal mind beliefs which result from the misconception that the universe and man are material.
Mary Baker Eddy makes this statement in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 115): "Your means of protection and defense from sin are, constant watchfulness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and are delivered from every claim of evil, till you intelligently know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has neither prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All-in-all."
In obedience to the above and similar admonitions, alert students of Christian Science do what they sometimes term protective work daily; that is, they pray to know and understand the spiritual truth which will reverse and prove unreal every erroneous concept of themselves, of their loved ones, their church, and the world. This protective work consists of so purifying their thought that in some degree man is seen in his true spiritual nature—not as a mortal, but as the perfect reflection of a perfect God.
In this revelation of the true spiritual nature of man and the universe is found the only sure protection from the malicious errors that would attempt by arguments both bold and subtle to rob us of our God-bestowed heritage of perfection. Thus any belief in the reality of sickness and sin which may be harbored in consciousness is replaced with the truth that man as an idea of God, Spirit, can express only those qualities which are spiritual, such as wisdom, purity, health, love, and holiness.
That God is the only power was very evident to David, who sang, "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God" (Ps. 62:11); and, "God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect" (II Sam. 22:33). This all-power, which the ancient prophets so clearly perceived and drew upon to protect themselves as well as their people from the evils of their day, is just as available to enlightened spiritual sense now as it was then. In the measure that we clear our thinking of delusive human concepts and replace them with the spiritual truths learned in Christian Science shall we be able to perceive and benefit from the omnipresence of divine Love, which encompasses our very being.
Daily protective work, or the continual awareness of perfect God and perfect man, keeps us in unity with the one Mind; thus we are directed by divine intelligence in all that we think and do. That one striving to think and live in concord with a harmonious spiritual universe can receive the benefits of this all-power through lesser ideas of God's creating was made manifest to the writer in the following experience.
For many years the writer has enjoyed the companionship of a large dog, whose loving and obedient nature endears her to all with whom she comes in contact. Her receptivity to the truth has been proved many times through the years in the healing of physical difficulties that have arisen. The most outstanding of these healings was that of paralysis. Each healing has been accomplished through the affirmation and realization that as a lesser spiritual idea her real being is a perfect concept, or a spiritual idea of divine Mind, and that as the reflection of her perfect cause, she can manifest only that which is harmonious.
While taking his customary walk with the dog one evening through the local business section, the writer was deeply engrossed in thought when a loud, sharp bark sounded a sudden and startling warning—startling because never before had he heard the dog bark in the street. Turning quickly he saw her standing, looking very alert, about twenty-five feet in back of him. A command to come along was not only ignored, but answered with another loud, sharp bark. This was extremely unusual, because never before had she refused to obey a command; in fact, her obedience had been the cause of much praise from professional judges. Somewhat puzzled, he started toward her to learn the reason for her disobedience. Almost instantly there was a loud noise, followed by a shower of glass. About fifty feet from where he stood, or just about where he would have been had he not turned back, a large sheet of plate glass which had become loosened from the second floor of a building had crashed to the street.
Of course, we know that the dog had no foreknowledge of the so-called accident. Her actions were the evidence of the ever-present, unerring guidance and protection of divine law; at that moment she became the instrument for the operation of God's law of protection in the writer's experience. As he stood there gratefully marveling at the efficacy of Christian Science protective work, he saw more clearly than ever before the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, whose wisdom, power, and protection encompass every idea of His spiritual creation.
Our Leader's awareness of the need for daily prayer as a defense against the erroneous suggestions and mesmerism of mortal mind is seen in her provision "Alertness to Duty" (Art. VIII, Sect. 6) in the Church Manual. Students of Christian Science prayerfully study this section of the Manual, which reads: "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." One of the last additions Mrs. Eddy made to the textbook further substantiates her desire that students of Christian Science be ever alert to the necessity of closing their mental doors and keeping them closed to the voice of the serpent by clothing their thoughts in spiritual vestment. Hear this stirring admonition (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 442): "Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake."
We pray to realize protection not because of fear of evil but to demonstrate more of the allness and omnipotence of God. In the degree that we allow the healing Christ, Truth, to enter our consciousness and reveal to us the spiritual truth of God's allness we shall find our true protection.
