Is there a boy on earth who has not at some time desired to be a soldier? And why this desire? Because to be a soldier names, in one's own consciousness, to fight for the right. A great awakening of ideals has come sweeping over the nations. To remain apathetic is to court death; to fear is to congest or inflame and sicken; but to put on the armor of God and go forth unselfishly is to earn the peace of God, and there is no other real peace. Mrs. Eddy tells us of Jacob's great struggle and its result in these words on page 309 of Science and Health: "He had conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit and of spiritual power. This changed the man. He was no longer called Jacob, but Israel,—a prince of God, or a soldier of God, who had fought a good fight."
The writer remembers one day, after about five months of the world's war, looking from a window in London upon some recruits marching below. The conviction came to him then with startling force that there was no real separation between those recruits and himself. They were soldiers, and so was he, though lacking the uniform, and the meaning of "to be a soldier" became illumined. Humans differ in their propensities to fight. Some are ready to do it, as the phrase goes, at the drop of the hat; others need to be pushed to the front; but metaphysically considered all must sooner or later become willing to fight, and thus discover that there is no fight in reality and in divine Science. How many experiences may be needed to prove to a given human being that the actualities of life are always harmonious and peaceful remains to be proven by demonstration.
It is customary to speak of Jesus as a man of peace, because his weapons were not carnal; yet there never was a greater fighter of evil than Jesus. He knew better than any of his contemporaries what it was to be a soldier. He recognized in the centurion the qualities of a true soldier when the latter said: "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." The account goes on: "When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Then Jesus gave an absent treatment which healed the servant, saying to the centurion, "Go thy way; and thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." The proof followed, for "his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."
