Editorial March 10, 1928 Issue

Faith versus Fear

Ella W. Hoag

Paul tells us that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Now deliverance from fear is one of the deepest longings of the human race; for all men will agree with John that "fear hath torment." Christian therefore hail with joy the statement of Paul, and long to understand how so to utilize its possibilities that fear shall be banished from their experiences.

And still men seem to be afraid! Still they find fear's hampering, limiting influence controlling many of their thoughts and acts; for where fear claims to be there is always the belief that good is absent; there is always an apparent lack of the divine qualities which Paul says God has given us.

Fear is always uncertain. It is never sure of itself or of anything else. In many instances, if one is asked to define his fear he finds it quite impossible to say why he is afraid, or of what, although in a general way fear is always concerned with evil, some undefined foreboding, some nameless dread. Fear is therefore negative in its nature, and can only be overcome through the positive truth which exposes and rejects and proves unreal all fear's follies and weaknesses, all its elusive nothings. The human tendency of analyzing and defining fear too deeply, of attempting to find its cause or its specific form, often leads men into yet more confusing mental labyrinths.

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