In one of her beautiful messages to branch churches our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, points to the necessity of expressing the attribute of courage if we would gain the crown of life. "Immortal courage," she says, "fills the human breast and lights the living way of Life" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 191). True courage, being immortal, is derived from God. It represents steadfastness and fearlessness, qualities which appear in God's creation, including man in His likeness. In human experience we may have but a limited sense of this divine attribute, but when the mortal is entirely replaced by one's spiritual selfhood, the limits are removed, and immortal courage is expressed without measure.
Phillips Brooks, the noted clergyman, portrays in these words the manifestation of genuine courage in human experience: "When you are so devoted to doing what is right that you press straight on to that and disregard what men are saying about you, there is the triumph of moral courage." Courage is thus seen in an unswerving devotion to every duty and a faithful performance of it. It is a concomitant of honesty, which impels us to live in obedience to what we see to be true without regard to what others may say or think. Truly courageous men and women do not count the cost to themselves of doing whatever it is their duty to do: rather do they count the cost of not doing it.
More particularly, courage comes from obedience to God's law. He who lives in obedience to the law of Love in the midst of lawlessness is truly courageous. The Christly qualities of affection and faith, honesty and compassion, meekness and mercy, are spiritual forces which impel this obedience and constitute a sure defense against error in all its forms. They equip us with the courage that resists evil and overcomes it with good, and with the love that blesses even our enemies.
