Ammunition is defined as "any material that may be used in attack or defense." And a good soldier is one who stocks his kit with sufficient ammunition and supplies, who is obedient and does not delay getting his post in readiness or neglect to search for and obtain a high elevation in order to get a clearer view.

As followers of Christ Jesus, it is necessary to have our ammunition ready, to have our spiritual armament—the knowledge of God and of man in His image and likeness—at our immediate command, and to be able to use it calmly and quickly, with good results, just as Christ Jesus did in all his encounters with the devil, alias mortal mind.

Jesus admonished the Christian soldier (Matt. 5:25), "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." How wise it is to be always quick and ready to defend our position, our knowledge and conviction of the perfection of God and of man, with the Word of Truth, is illustrated by the following experience of the writer. One afternoon, on his way home from the office, he decided to visit the local Christian Science Reading Room. In recent months he had been making a practice of using these rooms which our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, so wisely provided for in the Manual of The Mother Church, and which furnish a quiet place where through prayerful contemplation of the verities of being we may strengthen our spiritual armor. Here he had the opportunity to dispel some of the cloudiness of mortal thinking that the spiritual reality might become more vivid to his consciousness.

In the Reading Room he studied Mrs. Eddy's writings, and the more he pondered them, the more he saw that real armament is a conscious awareness of the ever-presence and ever-availability of God's allness and goodness; that all there is or ever will be is the concord of God's harmonious universe, the divine consciousness, which is man's real dwelling place. It became quite clear to him that the material body has no intelligence to act, and that the only thing which can cause it to act is thought. Therefore, it was up to him to allow only the law of harmony and perfection to govern his thought.

Feeling better equipped with scientific facts, he proceeded homeward, little realizing how soon he was to have an opportunity to use this fresh supply of spiritual ammunition. That evening he had an important engagement with a group of businessmen. There seemed to be a dissenting faction in the group, and harmony was very much needed to keep the group together. Arriving home with the intention of doing some preparatory work for the meeting, he was met with a picture of bewilderment. One of his children seemed to be suffering from some malady, and their mother was expressing great fear.

Mortal mind tempted the writer to become fearful too. But quickly he began to use his newly acquired stock of spiritual ammunition, not excitedly, but confidently and consistently. The more error demanded attention, the more firmly he held to the truth about God and His idea. The knowledge that divine Love could not cause its idea to suffer, because the nature of divine Love is to bless, comforted him greatly. Understanding that health, happiness, and harmony are God's gifts to all His children, that anything discordant was merely mesmeric suggestion, without any power or existence, brought a sense of peace to the parent which was felt by the child.

Something the writer had learned during class instruction in Christian Science came to his thought. There it had been pointed out that Mrs. Eddy uses the word let five times in two short paragraphs at the top of page 249 of "Scienceand Health with Key to the Scriptures." The first paragraph reads, "Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence." And she continues in the second paragraph: "Let the 'male and female' of God's creating appear. Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine 'powers that be.'"

In less than two hours all was well. The mother and the rest of the family felt "the divine energy of Spirit." The family wanted the writer to leave for his engagement, and he did so, knowing that the victory over error had been decisively won. The child rested comfortably all night, and thereafter expressed health and happiness.

The writer was grateful that he was on time for the function. A few minutes after the opening of the meeting, error seemed to be flaunting itself. He realized that evil can only defeat itself. It was not long before the member who had been causing all the trouble resigned, and his colleagues apologized for their actions. Everyone was amazed at the swiftness of events, and the rest of the evening was devoted to the solving of other problems. The president of the association sent the writer a letter of appreciation for his efforts in helping to bring about a harmonious and fruitful meeting.

This experience shows how necessary it is to be spiritually prepared to dispute the seeming presence, power, and reality of error and plead God's allness. The realization and demonstration of the presence and power of God, good, turned what might have been an unhappy experience into a happy one. When we know that not one of mortal mind's aggressive suggestions can deceive us, we gain confidence, and a confident Christian soldier is a victorious soldier.

A Christian Scientist equipped with spiritual ammunition is without doubt the greatest of all warriors. He is alert, wise, courageous, and victorious. Mrs. Eddy says on page 450 of Science and Health, "The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good."

It is plain that we must acquire more and more spiritual understanding. We must fortify our consciousness with the needed spiritual armament, or true, scientific knowledge, just as a good soldier equips himself thoroughly. Apathy, indifference, an erroneous sense of security, would tempt us into believing that we have all the knowledge needed; that therefore we need not concern ourselves about gaining more spiritual understanding. A wise soldier will not be fooled. He will make sure that his ammunition is more than enough; that his supply of weapons, such as faith, hope, understanding, moral courage, gratitude, and joy, is plentiful and ready.

In Ephesians (6:11) we read "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The wiles of the devil cannot deceive the alert student of Christian Science, who knows that evil has neither intelligence, place, nor power. He destroys error by denying it and recognizing as real only God and His creation.

The Bible and Mrs. Eddy's works are our arsenals. When they are read and pondered, they supply us with the wisdom and understanding that protect us from and thwart any attacks of a would-be enemy. In these books is found the truth of our real status, spiritual, perfect, indestructible. The practical understanding of this truth is our ready ammunition, our spiritual armament. With it our defenses are impenetrable.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.—Hebrews 4:12.