"LET NOT FEAR ENTHRALL"

Students of Christian Science can eliminate fears and forebodings from their thinking and their experience when they understand that God, omnipotent good, governs the universe, including man. Christian Science teaches that God creates and knows only good, as the Bible indicates in the first chapter of Genesis. Therefore His reflection, man, knows only good. When we understand that the man of God's creating can experience nothing but good, we can have no reason to fear the future, and we can have no misgivings, no forebodings regarding any of our activities. God's abundant, never-ending good is always at hand, ready to bless, purify, protect, and guide. Nothing can overpower, limit, restrict, or reverse the good that God bestows.

Mankind has from the beginning of recorded history sought peace of mind, serenity of spirit, and healing of physical ills. Many evils appear to be rampant in the world today, and one may well ask how he can justify the statement that evil is unreal when the evidence of evil, war, disease, and tragedy confront him on every side.

Mrs. Eddy indicates an answer to this question in Science and Health when she says (p. 289), "The spiritual fact and the material belief of things are contradictions; but the spiritual is true, and therefore the material must be untrue." And on page 300 we find this statement: "Human logic is awry when it attempts to draw correct spiritual conclusions regarding life from matter. Finite sense has no true appreciation of infinite Principle, God, or of His infinite image or reflection, man. The mirage, which makes trees and cities seem to be where they are not, illustrates the illusion of material man, who cannot be the image of God."

Throughout Mrs. Eddy's writings we find denunciations of evil's claims to existence, and we find authority for denying and casting out foreboding fears of every name and nature. By studying and applying the rules of Christian Science, we are progressively enabled to utilize this authority for ourselves. We also find help in Christ Jesus' words of encouragement and promise (Luke 12:32): "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

The temptation to succumb to fear, to the belief in impending evil, or to the intangible dread which defies definition comes at times to almost every one of us and is of long or short duration depending on one's ability to discipline one's thinking and firmly refuse to entertain such erroneous suggestions. Basically, fear is the belief that one lives in a material world, is limited or restricted by matter, and is the victim of circumstances beyond his control. This, however, is not true, because God is omnipotent good, and evil does not and cannot exist in a universe of good.

"But," someone may say, "the forebodings descend like a flood and seem overwhelming." Such suggestions frequently can be recognized as warped emotion, self-pity, frustration, disappointment, anger, or the changing, aging beliefs which mortal mind decrees shall be experienced by all individuals.

If these sordid temptations seem to prey upon us, we can at once reject them and know immediately that these are not foes before which we are helpless. Rather, let us consider them as demands that we cease believing in the suppositional opposite of God and proceed with our real lifework: demonstrating freedom from all materiality. A hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal puts it this way (No. 5):

Why do we feel sorry for ourselves? If we believe that a mortal exists, whether ourselves or another, we are not practicing Christian Science. In the practice of this Science we learn to annul degrading, debilitating material beliefs and to recognize that because God is All, there is no opposing power. Thus the moment we find ourselves succumbing to any foreboding fear, we can see it for what it is and respond to the call to rise from the belief that we live in a material world, with all its restricting, limiting, deteriorating beliefs.

Instead of allowing fear to overwhelm us and rob us of our God-given ability to think and act correctly, we can reject fear and look upon such an experience as an opportunity, as a clarion call to awaken, just as we would welcome the alarm clock if it wakened us some morning from a nightmare. Whenever we are assailed by self-pity, we can learn to reverse this erroneous suggestion. Declaring that God is ever present and must be manifested in a way we can humanly comprehend, we can listen for the call to rise from the belief in evil's reality.

Through our steadfast declarations of Truth and our adherence to the rules of Christian Science, we shall ultimately conquer the selfishness which distresses those with whom we are associated and which robs us of joy and happiness. No one ever said that this was an easy warfare; but like the soldier enlisted "for the duration," we cannot escape it, and if we try, we shall face dishonor, defeat, and eventual destruction.

If error whispers, "It makes no difference how much you struggle, no one cares about you, and you are all alone without help," this is the moment of subtlest danger. Our decision at such a point determines our destiny. Either we continue to wallow in the mire of self, or we take a bold stand, marshal our forces, and put the enemy to rout.

A student of Christian Science was served with a subpoena to appear as the defendant in a suit in a small-claims court. She knew the unwarranted action to be based on a fallacy, but she was so startled by the attack of evil that momentarily she succumbed to fear and dread. Having had no experience in courtroom procedures, she found herself believing that there was a stigma attached to the summons, even when she knew herself to be innocent of the charge.

She turned to Christian Science for help and during the next several hours worked diligently to eradicate the fear and dread which had invaded her thinking. She recalled the promise in Psalms (119:165), "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." She discovered the reassuring promise in Job (4:7), "Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?"

She realized that she was being called upon to demonstrate that man is not the victim of injustice, greed, or intolerance. Her study led her to Mrs. Eddy's statement in Miscellany (p. 191): "Persecution is the weakness of tyrants engendered by their fear, and love will cast it out. Continue steadfast in love and good works. Children of light, you are not children of darkness. Let your light shine. Keep in mind the foundations of Christian Science—one God and one Christ. Keep personality out of sight, and Christ's 'Blessed are ye' will seal your apostleship."

In the weeks before the hearing, the student resolutely annulled fear each time it confronted her, recognizing it as the attempt of animal magnetism to belittle her understanding of Christian Science. She knew that although this Science needed no defense from her, she must take her stand on the side of Science and prove her years of training and study to have been fruitful, progressive years of unfoldment and demonstration.

At the time appointed the student and her brother, who had upheld and supported her work in Christian Science, entered the courtroom. The plaintiff failed to appear when the case was called; whereupon the judge put the case off calendar, ruling that if the plaintiff wished to pursue the matter, it would be necessary to refile. Nothing further ever developed from the case.

Problems come to us as examinations come to the child in school. Much as we may want to avoid them, the way of progress does not lie in an apathetic acceptance of evil as inevitable but rather in a healthy, active, continuous effort to keep thinking allied with God. In proportion as we do this, we shall hear the "voice from heaven," rise from the earthbound claims of evil, sin, and death, "and only know the real" (Hymn No. 5).