Editorial February 16, 1924 Issue

Be Not Afraid

Albert F. Gilmore

The Bible is replete with admonitions against the indulgence of fear. Thou "shalt not fear" is a common charge to the faithful, to those who fain would keep the Commandments and thereby merit the rewards of the righteous. Isaiah, in describing the blessings of the obedient, exhorts the children of Israel in these words: "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you." And the vengeance here assured is unmistakably the destruction of wickedness and the obliteration of sin,—contributive if not direct causes of fear. Likewise, Christ Jesus instructed his disciples repeatedly against fear. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And with the kingdom, that is spiritual understanding, they could banish fear.

Notwithstanding all the assurances of priest and prophet, mortals are so beset with fear that Mrs. Eddy calls it in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 391) the "fountain of sickness," the most potent cause of the ills which inflict mankind. Under the marginal heading "Fear comes of error," on page 532 of our textbook, she says: "Fear was the first manifestation of the error of material sense. Thus error began and will end the dream of matter." Does it not appear that fear, mankind's greatest foe, as it was the earliest, is indissolubly joined with the belief of existence as material?

But mortals are not left in despair, for Christian Science furnishes a perfect remedy for this most active of false beliefs. Since, as Mrs. Eddy declares, fear arises from error,—that is, from belief in an unreality which presents itself as reality,—the remedy, manifestly, is to correct one's erroneous thinking with truth. This involves the understanding of the fundamentals of Being, a knowledge of what really exists and what is but seeming. Reality is gained only through a knowledge of true Being, which includes denial of the testimony of the material senses, an attainment in itself apparently not easy of accomplishment. Only as we grasp spiritual truth does this denial become possible: as the realities are gained, as we become capable of demonstrating spirituality, the nothingness of all materiality becomes apparent and the claims of evil are destroyed.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Be Not Afraid

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access