WE have met here this evening as Christian Scientists to become better acquainted with the vital purpose underlying the world-wide activities of The Mother Church and its branches. We have met also as co-workers in a common cause to dedicate ourselves anew to the promotion of that Cause and to the extension of its healing and redemptive work. With the night of paganism again threatening to cast its shadow across the path of civilization, it becomes evident that mankind was never more sorely in need of the sustaining and healing influence of demonstrable Christianity than it is today. As students of Christian Science and beneficiaries of its practical ministry, the responsibility of supplying this pressing need especially devolves upon us. We will not shrink from our task. As soldiers of God we have enlisted to "lessen evil, disease, and death" (Science and Health 450:20), and from this service there is no exemption and no turning back until the forces of evil have been vanquished and the brotherhood of man, as exemplified by the Master, firmly established in human experience.
In contemplating our responsibility at this crucial hour, we may well ponder Mrs. Eddy's statement on page 213 of "Miscellaneous Writings," where she says, "No risk is so stupendous as to neglect opportunities which God giveth, and not to forewarn and forearm our fellowmortals against the evil which, if een, can be destroyed." Thus are we clearly reminded that evil to be destroyed must be seen, not ignored; and to cope with it successfully it must be seen not as a thing of substance, possessing intelligence, presence, and power, but as nothing aggressively claiming to be something. In a word, evil must be recognized as an erroneous condition of thought possessing no power and no presence, and with no person or nation through which to act. Knowing this as we do, it becomes our duty not only to forewarn our fellows of the impotent nature of evil and the subtleties of its claims, but also to forearm them with an understanding of the ever-presence and omnipotence of good. They likewise need to be armed with the understanding that man is not a physical creature subject to destruction but an indestructible idea in Mind, serving continuously and victoriously under the direction of infinite intelligence and under the protection of divine Love. This understanding constitutes "the sword of the Spirit," against which no weapon of the carnal mind, however cunningly designed and employed, can prevail.
While we should carefully avoid neglecting our spiritual defense, we must be keenly alert to allow neither a false sense of security nor a complacent neutrality to prevent the taking of such immediate steps as may be humanly necessary for the effective defense and preservation of Christian culture and civilization. The evil forces and dictators of today may threaten to destroy this culture and civilization, but they must not, like the tyrants of old, be allowed to march triumphantly over the face of the earth and trample beneath their feet the rights of men. These rights are a divine heritage. They constitute the very foundation of that liberty for which humankind has struggled throughout the centuries and upon which it has built its social structure and its system of free government. This freedom must be preserved, and that nation which ignores its duty and fails promptly and properly to defend its rights invites defeat and disaster, and opens the way for its own destruction. "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety," said Benjamin Franklin, "deserve neither liberty nor safety."
