Article November 30, 1918 Issue

We are supposed to be a Christian people, supposed to...

John Ashcroft

The St. Louis (Mo.) Republic

We are supposed to be a Christian people, supposed to have inherited and to be maintaining that faith in God which inspired the Pilgrim Fathers to brave the dangers of the uncharted ocean and the uncertainties of a country unsettled and occupied with hostile peoples. If we were asked individually whether we have faith in God, whether we believe the Scriptural teaching of His omnipresence and loving care, we would almost unanimously answer, Yes. If we were asked whether we believed anything could overpower that omnipotent omnipresence and nullify that care, we would with equal assurance answer, No. Yet the majority of us are going around in dire apprehension of being overtaken by something we cannot see, the terror of which is largely in its name. We are not manifesting one one-hundredth part of the courage of the boys we have sent overseas to make the world safe for that democracy through which the spiritual ideals of humanity find readiest expression.

Let us get back to our "first works." If we cannot attend our respective churches on Sunday,—and it is somewhat of an anomaly that a Christian people are afraid to assemble in the building they have erected for the worship of God lest they become contaminated with disease therein,—at least let us take our Bibles and strengthen ourselves with some of the promises of God. Let us take home to ourselves David's assurance: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Let us renew our acquaintance with the teachings of him who trod the soil which even now is being wrested from the hands of the Turk. Let us realize that he never would have uttered his oft repeated admonition, "Be not afraid," if it had not been possible to keep from being afraid. There is just one antidote for fear, and that is courage; courage based on confidence in the presence and power of God.

The great Leader of the Christian Science movement, writing of contagion in her "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 229), wisely said: "A calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventive of contagion than a drug, or than any other possible sanative method; and the 'perfect Love' that 'casteth out fear' is a sure defense."

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