On page 410 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes: "The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. ... He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."
This "definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science" is a declaration of freedom for those enslaved by fear, for it points the way of sure release from that which has held mankind in bondage and suffering since Adam, the so-called mortal man made from the dust of the ground, uttered the first statement of fear when he heard the voice of God in the garden, and said, "I was afraid." Although Christ Jesus came to teach and to prove that God is Spirit, and that in love for His children He created nothing for them to fear, mankind has always been afraid of something.
One subtle phase of wrong thinking is the belief in personal enemies, accompanied by fear of what persons might do. Do we believe another is hating us? Perhaps it is we who are hating; so let us love more. Spiritual love is our sure remedy and protection, for we learn in Christian Science that God's children cannot hate, injure, destroy, or deprive one another of health, justice, opportunity, position, supply, or any good. Christ Jesus said, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." The thoughts we mistakenly entertain of fear, doubt, hatred, sin, sickness, lack, are foes to peace. As we replace such thought with right concepts of God and man, there will be no place in our consciousness for enmity or fear of a personal enemy.
Paul admonished the Ephesians, "Put on the whole armour of God;" and so must we use all our understanding of Christian Science, and overcome every phase of error that may present itself for acceptance. We should allow no weak joint in our armor of right thinking through which doubt or fear may enter; and we should know that we have not only "the whole armour of God," but, through Christian Science, the power to use it. Divine Mind is the only intelligence, its activity the only activity; and this Mind, the source of all true ideas, gives us the ability to utilize those ideas. Therefore let us never fear that through age, through a limited understanding of Christian Science, lack of material education, or otherwise, we can be deprived of Mind's ideas and activities, or the power to utilize them, which God, infinite Love, freely bestows upon all.
David did not fear Goliath because of his size; and we too need not fear any seeming manifestation of error because of its claim to power. Error is nothing. It is neither large nor small, neither strong nor weak; and, having no power, one form of evil is no more to be feared than another. By whatever name or form it may appear, error is only a lie, which, being the opposite of the real, necessarily disappears in the light of Truth.
Today, through the suggestion and seeming manifestation of war, error is loudly screaming and trying to instill fear of its so-called power to wreak destruction, unhappiness, sorrow, and death upon mankind. Do we fear it as a Goliath-like phase of mechanized material force, fear its boasted claim to destroy the ideals of freedom which are our divine heritage, and which we hold so dear? On page 228 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy makes this statement: "There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God." Evil can never destroy good; its claim to destructive power can be applied only against itself. We can aid in bringing about error's self-destruction by declaring and realizing the great truth, as taught in Christian Science, that wrong cannot prevail over right, evil cannot prevail over good, and war cannot prevail over peace, or hatred over love. War, aggression, and paganism can be overcome and destroyed by the right understanding and application of Christian Science; and let us never fear or doubt that, through thought and action that express it, right must win and will win the victory over wrong, for "there is no power apart from God."
War lacks a divine or real cause; therefore it does not come from God. Evil, which claims to manifest itself through human hatred, malice, envy, resentment, revenge, nationalism, lust for territorial or trade aggrandizement, or the exalting of human personality, prestige, or power is wholly unreal. Loudly though it may scream its claim to reality, evil is illusion, and we must know its unreality and never fear it. Thus we are led rightly in destroying its false claims. Do these thoughts appear transcendental in view of what is going on in the world today? Christian Science transcends material sense, yet it is healingly practical. Sin, sickness, lack, discord are healed in Christian Science by the understanding that they are unreal, and that their opposites, health, holiness, supply, harmony, are real because God-given. And it is thus, and only thus, that we can heal the Goliath-like evil of war. We can never heal by fearing evil.
On page 495 of the textbook Mrs. Eddy writes, "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea;" and then she gives these further definite and positive instructions: "Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not." As we cling steadfastly to the truth about God and man, doubt and fear cease even seemingly to dim the reflection of divine goodness, or deprive one of the freedom and dominion, the health and happiness, which are the heritage of the sons and daughters of God.
How impressively has Mrs. Eddy used the word "tempt" in connection with "the illusion of sickness or sin," for evil can only tempt us to believe in its reality and power. We need not succumb to the temptation, for we have the God-given power to reject it and refuse to fear it or admit it to our consciousness. Evil, or fear of evil, cannot enter one's consciousness against one's desire; it may knock loudly for admission, but it cannot force an entrance. It must be admitted by wrong thinking; and in the degree that we "cling steadfastly to God and His idea," we close and keep closed the door against the temptation to believe in evil or to fear evil.
We need not fear that "the illusion of sickness or sin" can tempt us or approach us through any man-made laws as to age, contagion, inherited weakness, or other falsity; nor should we for a moment doubt the omnipotence of divine Love to shield us from the illusion and destroy its every seeming manifestation. An illusion is that which seems to be but is not, and Christian Science teaches that sickness and sin, all the ills that would beset mankind, are illusory, unreal, because God never made them and does not know them; therefore they have no presence or power in His creation. John says, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." The infinite good which is God, could not create anything which is not infinitely good, infinitely loving; and this realization of God as Love and as good is our sure refuge and protection from fear of anything apart from Him.
On each Wednesday, in all Christian Science churches throughout the world, are held meetings which afford opportunity for the expression of gratitude for healings and other blessings received in Christian Science. Though realizing the great importance of giving these testimonies, some whose hearts are filled with gratitude for Christian Science and its healing ministrations may be hindered from voicing their gratitude because of fear. Fear may suggest that one is not capable of expressing oneself in public, and would be subjected to criticism. None of us would hesitate to tell a small group of friends of healings received. Then why hesitate to tell a larger group of them? God is ever with us to support us in every right undertaking, and obedience to the Manual and the desire to help others are right motives that will always give one the God-bestowed strength to carry through. One never knows how far-reaching a testimony may be—how many hungry ones may be fed, how great a need may be met, how eager seekers or faint-hearted doubters may be led to Christian Science by a simple testimony of gratitude. We should never let fear keep us from offering this cup of cold water to another or take from us this joy of giving.
One student of Christian Science had for a long time desired to voice his gratitude, for he had been greatly blessed by Christian Science, yet fear kept him from speaking. One Wednesday, the First Reader read from the Bible Jesus' words, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." To the student this "Suffer it to be so now" was a direct command, and he gave a testimony, haltingly, perhaps, but with sincerity and heartfelt gratitude, and this effort broke the mesmerism of fear, and the joy of giving was realized. So will gratitude expressed in similar testimonies mean true overcoming, a healing demonstration.
Christian Science teaches how to make practical in daily living the truths that free us from fear, from belief in evil, by making plain what God is and what man is. God is perfect Love, the only Life, Mind, Truth, the Principle of all reality, and what He creates must therefore of necessity be ever living, loving, true, and intelligent. Unless this were so, man would not be the image and likeness of God, as the Bible declares. In infinite Love, Life, Mind, Truth, and Principle, and in the spiritual universe in which God's spiritual man forever exists, there can be no fear, for God made nothing to fear. One does not fear good, and that which is not good is not true, and does not really exist. God's man, the only real man, is fearless and free, having dominion and power. Let us then claim our spiritual selfhood, and that which is rightly ours—freedom and dominion; for what God gives nothing can take away. And visioning in even a small degree the infinity of this divine revelation, we realize there is no phase of human perplexity or fear from which Christian Science cannot free us, and we are comforted.
What is it, then, that we would fear? Is it sickness, sin, lack, unhappiness? Do we fear the claimed power of so-called age to take away health or employment, or even life itself? The "definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science," that God is Love, and that perfect Love casts out fear, is our defense when understanding applied. Where Love is, fear cannot be; and when we even faintly glimpse and make our own the immutable fact of God's all-embracing, all-supplying, all-protecting love, know Him as our infinitely loving Father-Mother, we know of a certainty that there is nothing to fear, and that fear itself is nothing.
