Article February 15, 1913 Issue

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

HELEN FRIEND-ROBINSON.

When the call "to arms" sounds in a militant human struggle, what enthusiasm it arouses in the hearts of the soldiery, and how quickly they shoulder arms and march to defend the honor of the cause they have espoused! In this age the bugle-call in the battle between Truth and error has been sounded through the revelation of Christian Science, and it may well be asked how many of us have equipped ourselves with Truth's armor and weapons and stand ready to obey the inspiring summons. The vital issues in this warfare are contended for in the arena of individual consciousness. In this struggle the might and majesty of divine Mind are placed at our disposal to destroy the foe entrenched in human belief. The Bible as spiritually interpreted in Christian Science instructs us as to the Master's method of attack, and because ever-present Truth, as revealed by Christ Jesus, is the great commander-in-chief of the army, victory over error is assured.

St. Paul admonished the Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God, that they might be able to "stand against the wiles of the devil." While the apostle evidently recognized the utter powerlessness of evil when directed against those who are clad in the armor of God, he must first have detected the enemy as impersonal evil and then realized the importance of taking action to combat and destroy its assumed power, for he further explains that they were not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, "against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." There is no authority in the teaching of the prophets, of the apostles, or of Christ Jesus, for ignoring this enemy. Instead, all through the Scriptures, we find both by precept and example that everything, be it mental, moral, or physical, which is not in the true likeness of God, is to be known for what it is and to be overcome.

Christian Science does not deviate from the spiritual import of the Bible. Science and Health, its text-book, is just what the title declares it to be, a "Key to the Scriptures." This key unlocks the treasures of Truth and reveals what the material senses have not seen or heard. This Science teaches that sin, disease, and death are but different phases of the one evil, or devil, referred to in St. Paul's epistle, and that mankind need not submit to this enemy to righteousness, but that they may and should wage a successful warfare against its seeming power, against its encroachments upon the "saving health" which is man's heritage from the beginning. It teaches, again to quote St. Paul, that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds:" that it is not through material, but through spiritual and Christlike methods that we gain the victory. Hence, in the language of Gamaliel, if this teaching be of God, it cannot be overthrown, and if we are fighting on the side of Truth "who can be against us?"

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