In the coming of the Saviour, Christ Jesus, we have an example of the resistance of mortal mind to the Christ as it appears in its healing mission. Upon hearing of the divine event Herod plotted to kill the infant Jesus so that nothing could challenge his sovereignty. These historical records portray for us the enmity between sensual, material thinking and the Christ-idea and give us a helpful disclosure of the nature of evil and how we must handle it in our current day to protect the unfolding divine idea in our consciousness.
Sometimes it is a matter of comment or criticism that Christian Scientists keep their intentions private when they are contemplating a forward step in their experience as, for instance, class instruction. We do not want to have any superstitious thought about this, but there is a reason for privacy. Mortal mind, as its name indicates, is negative in all its responses. The fact that Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus into Egypt until the reign of Herod was ended and a more sympathetic atmosphere was evident would indicate our actions when we are entertaining new and unfolding ideas of spiritual progress. We do well to protect the child and to let it grow and wax "strong in spirit."Luke 1:80;
"Be ye therefore wise as serpents"Matt. 10:16; is the counsel of the Master to his disciples. And this calls for us to know something of the nature of animal magnetism in order to counteract its intent and its claim to obstructionism. Through the teachings of Christian Science we can do this. Material sense, or the belief of life and intelligence in matter, would, like Herod, resist and seek to destroy anything that would interfere with its sovereignty. Mortal mind would claim its prerogative to govern mortals according to the so-called laws of matter and would resist the spiritual idea that lifts human consciousness to a higher law, the law of Christ.
