Editorial December 11, 1915 Issue

"Our refuge and strength"

John B. Willis

On page 366 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy has written: "The Christian Scientist will be calm in the presence of both sin and disease, knowing, as he does, that Life is God and God is All." Just now the world is filled with deeply troubled hearts. No thoughtful man in any land can remain unmoved by the vastness of the issues which the present world catastrophe has precipitated, and that for the entire human race. Moreover, he can but be impressed by the manifest moral and spiritual unpreparedness of organized Christian sentiment to cope with the situation, and he will thus be brought face to face with the tremendously serious question, What is the call of God to me at this juncture?

In the presence of war's threatened extermination of states and peoples, and most serious disaster to all mankind, we do well to turn to the pages of "the Book of books" and read again, in the seventeenth chapter of I Samuel, a story which has ever been regarded as one of the finest epics of literature, and which as spiritually interpreted in Christian Science cannot fail to bring us the wisdom and inspiration, the confidence, courage, and repose we so greatly need. Now as in David's time reliance upon assertive militarism threatens the peace of all, and the sense of human weakness makes men "sore afraid." So too now as then safety hangs upon the apprehension of the truth of being, the active presence and availability of Him who is "our refuge and strength."

Now as then, however, sad to say, preparedness for the assault of evil is thought of by the great majority, even of religious people, "the children of Israel," only in terms of physical force. The inquiry is, How many mighty men have we to meet this Goliath? What of our armor and equipment, our armies and engines of war? Hence now as then we need to remind ourselves hourly of this significant word of Truth: "Not by might, nor by power, but by spirit, saith the Lord of hosts," that we may understand and yield ourselves to divine law, the government of God, so that we may be able calmly and knowingly to declare, with the son of Jesse, "Thoucomest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God . . . whom thou hast defied." Our readiness for the struggle with error is always measured by the clearness of our apprehension that safety lies in our reliance upon spiritual truth, the word of God.

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