Article July 10, 1915 Issue

Taking Up Arms

ELIZABETH C. WICKERSHAM

IN reading the Bible, the writer has often been impressed with the statement that the prophets and others, looking to their heavenly Father for guidance in their extremity, in many instances "heard the voice of the Lord." The constant longing to have this same experience, and the knowledge that God is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever ;" that He is "no respecter of persons," blossomed into fruition one day as she read the following words from our text-book (p. 456): "Science and Health ... is the voice of Truth to this age." Then there came pouring into the awakened thought the innumerable times when, on turning to God for light and help, some familiar passage from this "Key to the Scriptures" had come with such force as to cause her to turn involuntarily to see who had spoken it.

Hearing the voice of God in this way brought great comfort in a recent experience. After listening for a while to discussions of the great war in Europe, and of the hosts of men who were taking up arms against one another, the writer found that a sense of the reality and awfulness of the situation was defining her thought, so she retired to her room to gain a more scientific sense and thereby keep her peace of mind and do her duty as a Christian Scientist. While in this attitude of expectancy, there came to her consciousness this passage from page 29 of the text-book: "Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad."

To one unfamiliar with the teachings of Christian Science, these words would seem to imply the necessity of taking up arms as they are now being taken up in the conflict across the sea ; but not so, as understood in Christian Science. St. Paul says, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds," and this gives us instruction as to what the weapons must be with which we are to overcome "error at home and abroad." Further light is thrown on the subject by the apostle Paul's counsel to "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." This word of God, which is our true weapon, he declares to be "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," while he adds that this sword of Spirit is "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

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