THE tendency of fear is always to enslave mankind. It is the source of most of our woes and discords. Job said, "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." And human history has illustrated the truth of Job's words. But we also read in the Bible, "Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." To be "quiet from fear of evil" is indeed a blessing; but until the advent of Christian Science this ideal was not thought possible of achievement. Yet the Scriptures say, "Be not afraid."

A study of the Bible makes us acquainted with many noble characters who proved their dominion over fear in the face of what seemed hopeless danger. Perhaps no more terrifying experience ever confronted anyone than that of the three Hebrews who were cast into the fiery furnace because of their loyalty to the one true God. Through their sublime faith in God they reversed the evidence of the physical senses which testified of danger and death, and gained a clear consciousness of true being, for they manifested no fear. To King Nebuchadnezzar and his men such courage and faith in the face of apparently hopeless danger must have seemed foolhardy; but their deliverance proved that, whatever evidence the physical senses present, they who depend upon God have nothing to fear.

When the children of Israel, fleeing from Egypt, came to the Red Sea with the soldiers of Pharaoh in close pursuit, their capture seemed certain. There seemed to be no escape. But Moses said to them, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day." Then followed their wonderful deliverance in the face of overwhelming difficulties. Truly, those who understandingly rely on God need have no fear.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 61), "Science saith to fear, 'You are the cause of all sickness; but you are a self-constituted falsity,—you are darkness, nothingness.'" This is the teaching of Christian Science. It shows us how to be "quiet from fear of evil" through the understanding of God as All-in-all. The false nature of fear becomes evident when we understand that we live, move, and have our being in God, ever-present Life, Truth, and Love.

Most of us remember how, as children, we used to be afraid in the dark. He who is afraid is in the dark, for he is ignorant of the true facts of existence. Does not the Bible say, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms"? If a man is afraid of any circumstance of condition, it is because he is believing in something that is not true, for in God's creation there is nothing to fear; there is no disease, no danger, no death. Man, the idea of God, is always sheltered within the everlasting arms. He cannot be in any other place, for there is no separation between God and His ideas.

It should be remembered that dominion over fear cannot be gained by material means; neither can fear be overcome through will power. The only way out of this unhappy condition of mortal mind is to understand more about God and His laws. If we are to realize the dominion which, according to the first chapter of Genesis, was bestowed upon man, then we must know what man is.

In this true record man is described as the image and likeness of God. Because God is Spirit, man is spiritual; and because God is Mind, man is God's spiritual idea. Hence the real man never was and never could be in any danger, from accident, contagion, disease, death, or any other phase of evil. If we seem to be faced with any of these evils, our refuge is ever with us. We enter this refuge of spiritual consciousness through understanding the reality of being. Thus the truth of being delivers us, just as it delivered the three Hebrews from the furnace.

Fear is a "self-constituted falsity," for God never made it. It always represents a false sense of life, and all its claims are illusions. Fear has its foundation in the belief that matter is real, that it is the basis of life and existence. Hence our greatest weapon against fear is our understanding of the allness of Mind and the nothingness of matter. Infinite Spirit being all, there is no matter. All that really exists is God and His ideas. Now, if we can realize that man reflects Spirit, as a ray of sunshine reflects the sun, we shall see that man can no more be separated from Spirit than a sunbeam can be separated from the sun. The real man is incorporeal, and is, therefore, untouched by limiting material beliefs.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 129) Mrs. Eddy writes, "If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can discover it by reversing the material fable, be the fable pro or con,—be it in accord with your preconceptions or utterly contrary to them." This, then, is our remedy if ever we are afraid: Reverse the material fable which testifies of evil, disease, or danger in any form, by realizing the ever-presence of Life and Love. Contradict the lie which says that man is weak or frail, sick or dying, and realize man's glorious heritage as the child of God. Thus we may know the mythical nature of material sense testimony, rise above fear, and handle the condition with an abiding conviction of its nothingness and powerlessness.

How grateful we should be that Christian Science shows us how to overcome fear! As we listen to the conversation of some of those around us, we are thankful that we are being freed from many of the fears that seem to beset the average human being. And as we progress still farther with this demonstration we shall eventually rejoice in the conquest over all fear. On page 79 of her Poems our Leader writes,