WRITING in the last century, Horace Bushnell commented on human courage in these words: "There is a great and lofty virtue that we call courage, taking our name from the heart. It is the greatness of a great heart, the repose and confidence of a man whose soul is rested in truth and principle." The author was evidently writing of the heart of one whose thought rests in righteousness, and who acts from this basis. The moral conditions of the world have been constantly improved by men of heart, of courage, men who were actuated by high ideals; and we may be grateful that this is one of the central facts in the history of civilization.
Christian Science reveals clearly that Truth is God, and that Principle, as the divine cause of all that really exists, is another name for Him. This Science of Christianity also reveals the fact that, in its primal sense, courage is an immortal attribute, being allied to the spiritual strength which man derives from his divine Principle, God. It was this courage that enabled Jesus to exemplify the highest morality which has ever appeared among mortals.
Courage is derived from the Latin word cor,meaning heart. The two words in their purely mental sense are, therefore, related in meaning; and, indeed, the word "heart" is sometimes used to signify courage, that is, moral courage. In Christian Science, moral courage is regarded as an effect of spiritual understanding; and this moral courage leads to wonderful achievements. It must be seen, then, that the strength of humanity lies in moral courage, and that this courage is never merely personal; for immortal courage, from which it is derived, is divine, and always available. Courage is an eternal quality, giving strength to all who will accept and use it. In connection with comments on the revelation of the Christ, Truth, as immortal, and its effect in uplifting human thought, Mary Baker Eddy, our revered Leader, makes this simple yet profound statement in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 191): "Immortal courage fills the human breast and lights the living way of Life."
One might ask, Where in the Bible may we find authority for the statement that moral courage is immortal, and is the gift of God? We may find a statement bearing on the subject in Ezekiel, in the thirty sixth chapter, wherein is a wonderful promise to those who are drawn into the way of Truth. The prophet of vision and redemption there voices the intention of Deity in these words: "A new heart . . . will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh"—the heart of courageous humanity. The mortal sense of heart, with its weakness and wavering sense of courage, is taken away by Christ, Truth, the impersonal Saviour, and through the processes of mental reformation the "new heart," the heart sustained by immortal courage, the gift of God, is received. The qualities of this "new heart" are well described by Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 115) under the marginal heading, "Transitional qualities," as "humanity, honesty, affection, compassion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance." These qualities, under the control of divine wisdom, confer a courage which is unfailing; and this constantly aids the sincere seeker after Truth to go forward on "the living way of Life."
Anyone who honestly desires to progress in a demonstrable understanding of God and His law in Christian Science, the understanding which confers peace and happiness, can achieve success through the realization of the perfection of God and of man in His likeness, and of the consequent unreality of a material sense of selfhood with its false concept of God, man, and the universe. One must be willing to let go of the "stony heart" of material sense and accept the "new heart" governed by immortal courage, which divine Principle is ever giving without stint or limit. Those who sincerely, lovingly, and persistently do this in Christian Science never fail to find spiritual influences to aid them on their way.
In her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 30), "No emperor is obeyed like the man 'clouting his own cloak' —working alone with God, yea, like the clear, far-seeing vision, the calm courage, and the great heart of the unselfed Christian hero." It must, then, be the immortal courage derived from God which evolves the "great heart," mentioned in the first and last quotations herein; and this Godlike courage, so much needed to perfect manhood, is now available to all who seek it in Christ, Truth.
