Recently , through military usage, a familiar term has acquired new meaning. "Expendable" is the precise word. Men and materiel are said to be "expendable," that is, liable to be used up in attaining certain military objectives. Some branches of the armed forces are said to be more expendable than others. Christian Science resolutely refuses to accept such rumors and the philosophy of life which underlies them; it boldly asserts, with a conviction born of spiritual understanding, that divine Principle, equal to every situation, however dire the emergency may seem to be, meets human need of every kind and description, wherever or whatever it may be. In short, according to Christian Science, because God is dependable, God's man is not expendable.

Mary Baker Eddy, the author of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," is positive on this point; for she makes it clear with irresistible logic that God could not create man with two lives. Writing of the Master's understanding of this fact, she says in Science and Health (p. 369), "He understood man, whose Life is God, to be immortal, and knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible." Her remarkable synonym for God—Principle —reveals a universe of order, law, regularity, organization, coherence, dependability. It declares a unifying, ever-acting, sustaining, beneficent power—omnipotence— the only power which holds this universe together, which links all creation to its creator.

Because spiritual man, the real man, is part of this grand spiritual creation, he is bound inseparably to his creator, is every instant in His presence. He cannot fall out of this creation, since it is infinite and there is nothing beyond it; he cannot be injured or destroyed by it, since it is not hostile to man's life or righteous activity, because it, like man, is the manifestation of infinite divine Love. God's man, His image and likeness, lives and moves and has his being in God, as Paul told the Athenians. That is why he could write to his Roman friends with such noble confidence that neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation is able to part us from God's love.

Far back in Hebrew history, seers like Moses could uphold the morale of their people with that same clear vision of man and the universe, sustained, supported, and protected by infinite, unfailing Mind. How vastly significant and comforting in these troublous times are those oft-quoted words with which Moses blessed his people: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee." This world cannot collapse, because there is a mighty arm which "holds creation up." When we sing from the Christian Science Hymnal, "Thy strong hand doth uphold," we know that we are asserting our confidence in infinite Mind, limitless intelligence, which is equal to every emergency; Love which is infinitely tender, comprehending, and considerate; Principle which never relapses, varies, or fails to act.

Yes we can trust man's life to this all-loving, all-knowing, all-acting Being. Wherever they may be in whatever line of service for their country, we can trust our loved ones to Mind, Principle, Love, which surrounds, envelops, guards, guides, and protects us all. Thus we can assert with full confidence on our own and their behalf that there are and can be no accidents or disasters in a universe governed by perfect law and immutable goodness. How could God surrender one of His beloved ideas to the play of hostile forces bent on destruction? The ancient prophet stung the false priests of the idol Baal with the taunt that perhaps their god was asleep and unable to hear or answer their appeals. But the God whom Christian Scientists obey, love, and trust never slumbers or sleeps, never forsakes or neglects His universe. God, infinite Love, maintains and sustains His children and will guide and bring them through flame and flood and the most terrifying inventions and perpetrations of mortal mind.

The Bible resounds with stories of such deliverance. Recall Elijah fleeing from his would-be assassins; Daniel in the den of lions; the three young Hebrews in the fiery furnace; Peter in a dungeon; Paul in the shipwreck off Malta; Christ Jesus in the wilderness temptations, in the storm on Galilee, in the presence of sickness, hunger, torture, crucifixion, and in his triumph over death. But deliverance was not all. These great witnesses to the truth of being, the truth about God and man, came through their testing times, their human crises, not only unscathed but stronger for that testing. They had proved the truth which turns seeming calamity and disaster into victory. They proved that this truth that God is All-in-all and ever available, which is the very essence of Christian Science, is larger than any human problem, whether calling itself sickness, accident, injustice, physical danger, or moral obliquity.

It would not be straining the meaning of the original words to translate that remarkable couplet of the thirty-seventh Psalm freely as follows: "The steps of a good man are guided by divine Love; though he fall he shall not crash, for divine Love upholds him with His own strong hand." For that precisely expresses the facts of being as understood in Christian Science. The same truth is revealed in that priceless gem of spiritual understanding which Isaiah sang: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee."

To the young bombardier or submarine officer or artilleryman or tank driver let this clarion call come clear: The "chances" are not against you. Think not of "chances," but of opportunities. Read the ninety-first Psalm, one of the greatest guarantees of security ever issued to mankind. God, the infinite Mind, has countless ways of turning aside the aggressor covering you with His protecting wings, delivering you from the jaws of death. You have the authority of the Master that the very hairs of your head are numbered, and that not a sparrow falls unconsidered by our heavenly Father. The very first chapter in the Bible assures you that as God's image and likeness you have dominion. That dominion is over time and place, circumstance and thing. The Bible likewise assures you again and again that you are God's beloved son, here, now, everywhere, forever. Claim that inestimable right; utilize that divine privilege; walk, march, fly, sail with that understanding, and you will prove that God is indeed an ever-present help.