THE foundation for true courage is a right understanding of God, which eliminates fear. In the history of all peoples we may discern the striving to worship some superior power, but mortals seem always to be attempting to deify something as near like themselves as possible, something that can be understood humanly, and so when Jesus gave his Christ-teaching with its wonderful proofs of the supremacy of Spirit, the people were disappointed in not finding him a material ruler. To them, as to most of the human race, the material world seemed to be the real, and the spiritual world appeared distant, vague, and shadowy. Human beings are in constant dread of something. Foremost is the fear of death, the belief that life is in matter and can be destroyed. And this great fear leads to many lesser fears,—of poverty, sin, disease, and accidents. Even the food eaten and the air breathed seem laden with dangers.

One of the first results of the study of Christian Science is the lessening of these fears in the thought of the student. When it is learned that instead of being a far-off deity seated upon an imaginary throne in the heavens, "God is incorporal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love," as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 465), and that this God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present with His expression, man and the universe, the foundation for true courage is established. Since God, good, is supreme, infinite, and omnipotent, there can be no other power; therefore evil has no place in reality, so there is nothing to fear. The study of the Christian Science textbook reveals also the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), which to so many students is a veritable rock of salvation when they are tempted by fear: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." This statement is a direct deduction from the definition of God.

The most wonderful fact about the Christian Science definition of God and the "scientific statement of being" is that they can be proved true by any one sincerely seeking Truth. Little children often show their understanding and consequent courage more readily than their elders, and we remember that Jesus said we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. The simplest proof of the healing power of right thinking brings the assurance of the ever presence of divine Mind, as in mathematics the successful solving of one problem encourages the student to have confidence in his ability to reason out another by the same rule. Again as in mathematics, one can advance in Christian Science only by working out problems. gradually the many fears that hold mankind in bondage begin to yield to this better understanding of the divine Principle of the universe. The enlightened mother gives the necessary care to her children, but ceases to worry and be anxious about them, because she has learned that as she realizes that God's idea, spiritual, not material, guided and governed and protected by the loving Father-Mother God, is the reality of child, she is placing them in the kingdom of heaven. What wonderful encouragement is brought to the sufferer by the assurance that disease is unknown to God and comes not by His will, that the so-called disease is an unreality. For when we remember that God, good, creates and governs all, we know that the only reality there is, the idea of Truth, must be spiritual and good, incapable of producing inharmony and discord, and with this understanding there is nothing to fear. Dreaded poverty is the excuse for much discouragement. In Christian Science one learns that since God is the one creator He must be the one source of all supply, and, since God is infinite and ever present, supply must be like Him, infinite and ever present. By persistent application of this understanding to problems of seeming lack, many grateful students can testify that an abundant supply for all rightful needs is assured. To the man in large business enterprises come moments for great decisions. The human mind with its doubts and fears, thinking one way to-day and another to-morrow, often hesitates to take great responsibility, but as a man learns to submit all problems to that Mind which governs the whole universe, timidity and fear give place to courage equal to any right action.

Only the realization of perfect protection could have upheld Mary Baker Eddy, the author of the Christian Science textbook, in her efforts to give to the world the benefits of her discovery, for the teaching founded upon the truth as taught and lived by Jesus was so contrary to human beliefs that it aroused great opposition and resentment. She writes in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 30), "As the pioneer of Christian Science I stood alone in this conflict, endeavoring to smite error with the falchion of Truth." The remarkable courage and brave persistence of this noble woman have blessed all mankind. Many of the soldiers and others in the service during the recent war can bear witness to the protecting power of divine Love and have given grateful thanks for the courage born of their right understanding of God which enabled them, often under the most trying circumstances, to work out the many difficult problems which confronted them.

Just as in any other study we progress by earnest effort, so in the study of Christian Science, by persistent application and the proving of its rules, the foundation for true courage is established in our individual experience, for, no matter what the seeming difficulty may be, one has only to hold fast to his understanding of God and of man as His image and likeness to find the solution for every problem that may confront him, and to realize the truth of what our Leader has written on page 99 of Science and Health, "The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect man."