Article February 16, 1952 Issue

"FEAR THOU NOT"

LOUISE M. BRATT

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness," we read in Isaiah (41:10). This promise gives men much confidence and courage when they are assailed by mesmeric fears. The assurance of the heavenly Father's ever-presence and tender care of His child precludes all possibility of the presence of even a claim of fear.

Just exactly what is fear? The study of Christian Science reveals fear as ignorance; error; a belief of existence apart from God, the only Life; a supposition that life and intelligence are in and of matter; a belief that man can suffer, sin, be sick, and die. These statements prove fear to be unreal, that is, to have no actuality. Mary Baker Eddy writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 377): "The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. Without this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of itself powerless to produce suffering."

Complete annihilation of fear follows the demonstration of unfaltering confidence and trust in our Father's loving-kindness. Cause and effect are of and in God and forever remain perfect. Therefore the need is for an absolute willingness to exclude from thought all belief in the reality of any other cause or effect and for the recognition of the perfection of man in the image and likeness of his creator, perfect effect following perfect cause. God does not cause His image to sin, to be sick, or to suffer. Could He do so, He would not be God, good— supreme, eternal, omnipotent. Because God is Spirit, man is spiritual. Man's true identity or individuality is forever immune from every claim of aggressive evil, including that which is designated as fear. The seeming effects of any so-called cause are nonexistent, since the great First Cause is infinite and all-inclusive.

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