"Truth is always the victor," Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 380 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." To one who may be frightened or discouraged with what has seemed to be a long and unrelenting siege of suffering, these words bring immeasurable comfort. God is Truth, and "Truth is always the victor." Victory over evil, therefore, is inevitable. Victory over pain, poverty, limitation—evil of every kind—is inevitable. This we can accept as an indisputable fact.
But when, we may ask ourselves, when may we expect the inevitable victory over evil? Again words from Science and Health come to our aid (p. 39): "'Now ' cried the apostle, 'is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,'—meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life." Now, of course!
If evil has even a possibility of power or of presence, a moment of reality, then there must be a time when Truth, God, is not power and is not present. But there is no such time. There is no time when Truth is not Truth, when God is not God—omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Like a fresh, invigorating breeze which blows away the fog or mist on an autumn day, God's power and presence can completely blow away the cloud which may have seemed for so long to have overlaid and enveloped us.
Victory over evil is inevitable! The world is searching for such victory. It also asks when, where, and how. Christian Science answers the whens, the wheres, and the hows of mortal questioning, and, through countless inerrant proofs, confirms the correctness of its answer. God is infinite good and the source of good, this Science teaches. Good is, therefore, inevitable, ever available. Good is not to be found in matter or in materialistic theories. "Woe to them that... trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!" the prophet Isaiah tells us (31:1). Great, however, is the reward of them who look unto the Lord, who trust in His goodness, His love, and His law, and who obey His commandments.
In the forty-first Psalm, David speaks of the enemies which would seem to deprive us of good. The world is prone to think of enemies as people, nations, circumstances, environment, or heredity. Christian Science teaches that the only enemies which can seem to us to exist are wrong thoughts which we accept as our own; false beliefs concerning God and man; mortal mind and its temptations to accept a power apart from God, good; indifference to, or apathy toward, Truth.
A student of Christian Science found it helpful when studying this Psalm to use the word "mortal mind" for the word "enemies" and to cast out from her thinking any "enemy" which might seem to be entrenched there, such as fear, worry, jealousy, resentment, stubbornness, limitation.
The ninth verse of the Psalm was a challenge to her. It reads: "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Who is this "familiar friend" which has "lifted up his heel against me"? she asked herself. Who, or what, is the closest associate any one of us can have? And quickly the answer came: Thought habits!
Thought habits are a repetition of thoughts with which through the years we have identified ourselves. "I've always been shy" or, "I've always had a quick temper" or, "I've always been afraid of this or that" are statements we may have thought or said over and over again until we have actually accepted such characteristics as our very own nature. Thought habits of this kind most certainly do lift up their heels against us, even as the Psalmist said. Therefore we must carefully guard our thoughts and refuse false thought habits entrance.
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly," the philosopher-emperor of ancient Rome, Marcus Aurelius, wrote centuries ago. Thackeray put it a little differently: "The world is a looking-glass," he said, "and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion." In other words, our thoughts make for us an unfriendly, unhappy world or a friendly, happy one; a series of stumbling blocks, or a series of steppingstones.
In the twelfth verse of the Psalm referred to above is a most beautiful expression of God's love for us. It reads, "As for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever." A dictionary defines "integrity," in part, as "state or quality of being complete, undivided, or unbroken." Of course! God made us, and He knows His workmanship is good, very good, unbroken, complete. He sets us before His face forever. What a beautiful and tender way of saying that we are always in God's presence, always known and loved of Him. There could not possibly be a moment in God's presence when evil could be real. When we know this, victory over evil is inevitable.
What is true concerning ourselves? What does God say of us? For what He says of us is the truth concerning us. God says that we are His workmanship, His image and likeness, that He has created us to be His witnesses, that we are His dear children who, in the words of the eighth Psalm, are crowned "with glory and honour."
God is Mind. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 469), "There can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other, sin would be unknown." What about mortal mind, the enemy of which we have spoken? In reality, there is no mortal mind. It is only our belief in error that makes it seem to be real, seem to be our mind, seem to be the basis of our thoughts and acts. Acknowledging God as our Mind, accepting the oneness and allness of divine Mind, we find that we have no "enemies," no pain or fear, no mental deficiency, no frustration, no limitation or lack. Thus we prove that God, divine Mind, Truth, is the inevitable victor over evil.
Since time began, men have believed evil to be a power. They have worshiped their highest concept of Deity or deities both in reverence and in fear. The whole fabric of society has been woven and interwoven with the twisted threads of divided power, the acceptance of good and evil as coexistent and coequal. Christian Science is revolutionary in its challenge to such thinking. It teaches that good alone is power, because God is good. There is no other God, no other power. Evil with its boastful, illegal claims to power is a futile usurper, destitute of power to influence or govern one's thoughts or acts. Good is sovereign, supreme. Good necessarily destroys evil.
Let us, then, like little children, trust our Father-Mother God, trust good, expect good, accept good. Let us pray, not in fear, but in loving reverence to God. In deepest gratitude to God let us realize that He upholds us in our purity and integrity, that He has set us before His face forever. Let us not be unbelieving of His promises. Let us not be weary in our adherence to Principle. Let us not despair of our ability to bear witness to His glory.
Prayer is more powerful than an atom bomb, for it is communion, at-one-ment with God, the All-power. Prayer is humanity's invincible weapon against aggression, oppression, sin, disease, poverty, war. Prayer is love for God, expressed in love for man. Each one of us can pray. Thus each one of us has his part in the universal victory over evil. Let us not belittle the power of prayer. Let us not underestimate the immediacy and omnipotence of good and of our forever oneness with good.
Victory over evil is inevitable.
