“Read this in open meeting To the First Members
My beloved only in the Lord:
How doth my heart wrestle with the angel of the Lord for you all! You are weighed in the balance and who of you are found with doors guarded when the thief cometh? A man is said to be no stronger than his very weakest point. What then shall be said if there is in one of you a vulnerable spot to malicious mesmerism so exposed as to admit its influence and rob you of free moral agency? Or one of you in the bonds of iniquity. Yet having on the mask that hides your face and the Father’s face from you? I know there are some among you that are not by reason of their sins and lack of truth and love cast out of this vineyard of our God. Oh, let not the senses drown your hearts in the depths of apathy; or sear your consciences with the heat of pride, envy and revenge. God grant that a word to the wise be sufficient.
With love as ever,
Your afflicted Mother
“…When Mrs. Eddy called on the angel of the Lord to wrestle with her heart, in order to cast out of it the fear that she was tempted to feel, when she saw the students off guard, it proves that one does not cast error out of himself by means of the human mind. When he finds unscientific thoughts assailing him, he calls upon the angel of the Lord to wrestle with him, until the seeming strength of the error yields.” Mary Baker Eddy, Her Spiritual Precepts, Vol.3 by Gilbert Carpenter
The excerpt from Precepts was a reminder that I do not, “cast unscientific thoughts out,” by using the human mind. I am to call upon the angles. Angles are often talked about during our classes and we have been encouraged to memorize the definition of “Angels” from the glossary of Science and Health. The angels shut the mouth of the lions in the den with Daniel. I must get myself out of the way so I open my, “heart (to) wrestle with the angel of the Lord.” To silence evil suggestions, strengthen moral purpose, purify, uplift, guide, guard, whatever is needed to align my thought back with God.
“ANGELS. God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.” From the Glossary in Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, page 581