Editorial October 26, 1918 Issue

Fear Cast Out

Annie M. Knott

With strange inconsistency the human mind sometimes regards fear as an easy virtue, but when it is labeled cowardice metes out to it the severest condemnation. From the Christian Science viewpoint all fear is cowardice in the making, and the sooner this is recognized and dealt with the better will be the result. If any were to question the right to arraign fear in this way we have but to turn to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, where we find the "fearful" classified with the "unbelieving;" indeed they are at the head of an awful list of wrongdoers, and what is more, the sentence upon all evil, as here uncovered, is pronounced by "a great voice out of heaven." We may rejoice, however, in knowing that this is no decree of an earthly tyrant, for we are told at the same time that all tears have been wiped away by divine Love, and sorrow, pain, and death annihilated, for the things of mortal belief "are passed away."

Time was, not so long ago either, when fear held despotic sway over mortals because of the solidified conviction that sin, disease, and death were real; in fact that they actually existed by divine authority. True, there was nothing in the teachings of Christ Jesus to support such a belief, but it was said that these did not apply to our age, at least so far as the healing of sickness was concerned. Many cried out in their anguish for relief, one ray of light to break the spell of unbelief, but no "sure word of prophecy" came since the days of the Master until Mrs. Eddy arose to declare fear an outlaw that dishonors God by denying His supremacy over all things. A little over half a century ago fever patients were denied a drink of cold water, and one such case is recalled where the terrified neighbors left an aged woman alone to care for a daughter who was ill, and when the shadow of death fell upon the home one man only was willing to cross the threshold to do what must be done, while believing that his own life might pay the penalty.

Well might the Master say: "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me." To this he added, "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it." Christian Scientists declare God's name and nature when they think and speak of the infinite All-good as Life, Truth, and Love; and this declaration made from the basis of spiritual understanding destroys fear and blots out its manifestation, whatever diseased form it may assume. It is interesting to trace throughout the gospels the reiteration of the Master's good word, "Fear not." So often did he use it that it seemed to be almost a salutation. It was his greeting to his terrified disciples when he approached them on the stormy sea, and again it was his assurance to Jairus when a message came that his little daughter was dead. Matthew tells us that it was the greeting of the angel on the resurrection morn to the sorrowing women who came to the tomb, and the Master's own word to them on the same occasion was, "Be not afraid."

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