Editorial September 7, 1912 Issue

"HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND."

John B. Willis

Literature presents no finer appeal to schooled manliness than that found in the sixth chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, which not only reveals the apostle's sense of the seriousness of the struggle for which his fellow Christians had enlisted, but of the seeming subtlety and strength of the error arrayed against them, and the completeness of their divinely provided equipment for the fight. Elsewhere in his writings he enumerates many of the distinctive features of an effective "stand" for Truth, but here he lays his emphasis upon the imperative need of courageous faith. He also takes pains to make it clear that the effectiveness of the "stand" taken is determined by the completeness of the spiritual preparation which we have made for it. It is as though he had said that every impregnable defense is one which has been carefully and expertly entrenched, and that this is equally true of the staying qualities of those who defend it; which is no less scientific than sensible.

St. Paul's figure connotes the fact that "to stand" for Truth is to be active, it is a continuous doing; and since, as understood in Science, every real doing is a knowing, the apostle's teaching is immediately related to that of the Master when he declared that a knowledge of God, of Truth, constitutes life eternal. This thought that to know is to do is constantly illustrated in human achievements. In the last analysis the solution of every problem is found to result from the rule of a right idea, it is the conquest of ignorance by intelligence, so that every real triumph is but a higher truth-knowing.

"To stand," after "having done all," calls not only for the possession and expert use of spiritual equipment, but for the giving up of every thought and habit which handicaps proficiency, that alert watchfulness which perceives and utilizes favoring conditions, and which is always prepared for inspection and for assault. All this is epitomized for an army in the two great requirements placed upon the men, namely, discipline and obedience to orders, and this status and attitude of expert soldierliness has been commended by our Leader in her counsel on page 495 of Science and Health, where she says: "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought."

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