Article December 19, 1914 Issue

"The good fight"

IRVING C. TOMLINSON, M.A.

LIFE is often characterized as a battle. We are placed here to win a victory in behalf of the Spirit over the flesh. This mental struggle is the real contest of life. The great apostle said, "Fight the good fight of faith," and Mrs. Eddy speaks of Jacob, when he had successfully wrestled with the angel, as "a soldier of God, who had fought a good fight" (Science and Health, p. 309).

The foe that opposes us is neither person nor persons. The enemy with which we battle is the false claim of evil. We become surer of victory as we learn that "there is no power but of God," and are sufficiently imbued with this truth to apply it instantly to every manifestation of discord. We are given dominion over all conditions and circumstances as we conquer fear, ignorance, and sin in ourselves. It is a glorious fact that every battle with wrong conditions reveals, through overcoming, more of good, which takes the place of the seeming evil in one's experience. There is no story in the Old Testament of deeper interest to the general reader than the account of David's victory over Goliath. Our Goliath is the mistaken belief that there is power in evil, the lie that there is life, truth, and intelligence in matter; that there is something other than God, eternal good. No material weapon is of any avail. The "sword of the Spirit," wielded with the strength of omnipotence, is our sufficient equipment and protection.

This "sword of the Spirit" is the word of Truth, wielded with the understanding that every form of warfare is due to false suggestions of mortal mind, and that abiding peace is the eternal reality of being. Knowing this, we have nothing to fear, for evil is without presence or power; hence the knowledge that "one on God's side is a majority." Thus mentally equipped we can go forth conscious of absolute dominion, sure that nothing can hinder the desire and effort to do right. Jesus tendered "the sword of the Spirit" when he said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent;" and the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," enforces his words, and is making plain to thousands that the right understanding of God and His spiritual creation arms one to achieve certain victory when he fights "the good fight of faith."

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