The exhortation which Paul addressed to the churches of Galatia, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not," must indeed have been hope-inspiring to the sincere among the Christians who received it. It is hope-inspiring still to all who are endeavoring to follow in the footsteps of the great Master, and particularly so to those who, through the teachings of Christian Science, have learned something of the unlimited power of good. Human existence may be likened to a great battle-field upon which the forces of supposititious evil are ranged, in belief, against the power of righteousness or reflected good. The Christian Scientist is in the forefront of the battle— in the thick of it, too—armed with spiritual understanding, which enables him to know the omnipotence and omnipresence of good; and he is aware that the victory is on the side of good in the degree that he realizes its allness and the unreality of evil.
How is it that sometimes there is a tendency to become weary in welldoing? How is it that sometimes an heroic warrior will seem to grow faint? The reasons are not far to seek. Evil claims great power; and its claim to power is very generally accepted by the world. Hence he to whom it has been revealed, through Christian Science, that God, good, is omnipotent and that evil, in consequence, is impotent and powerless, holds to the truth in the face of doubt, skepticism, and often strenuous opposition. And even if the truth that good is all and evil unreal be not openly derided and denied, still, how deep is the tendency to deny the power of good ingrained in the so-called human mind! Does not one experience the struggle time and again in one's own thinking? And, after all is said, is it not there where the victories over the false beliefs of evil have primarily to be won? If the belief in the reality and power of evil were entirely vanquished within one's own consciousness, would one find it anywhere else?
Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, more than any other Christian Scientist, was called upon to wage a continuous battle with the obvious and occult forces of evil—both hypothetical. Every one who studies her life must acknowledge the depth of her sincerity and devotion to Truth. And over and over again she demonstrated in her experience the power of good to destroy the beliefs of evil, receiving in due season the reward of well-doing. It is she who has written in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 22): "When the smoke of battle clears away, you will discern the good you have done, and receive according to your deserving. Love is not hasty to deliver us from temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified." Our Leader always looked beneath the surface when dealing with human problems. What a depth of meaning there is in these sentences of hers just quoted! Divine Love is behind every righteous effort, every effort to demonstrate good. As we are purified,—that is, as we overcome the temptation to believe that matter or evil is real and has power, —we are being delivered from evil's temptations.
