Heroism

John B. Willis

All those who are well acquainted with themselves, have come to know that there are quite enough discouraging factors in the average man's make-up to provoke the feeling that his redemption is a rather hopeless undertaking. It is possible, however, to grow enthusiastic over the latent nobility even of the seemingly debased, when one witnesses or recalls the superb heroism with which in the event of a mine-catastrophe men hazard their lives in the effort to reach their entombed fellows, or calmly accept death, as in the instance of the Titanic, in their devotion to what is largely but a sentimental ideal, namely, consideration for womanhood. The story of Scott and his four comrades, suffering unspeakably without groan or complaint and going on cheerily to the last in fidelity to the traditional thought of what becomes an Englishman, makes it easy to ignore mortal weakness. They have given us another glimpse of what it means to be an immortal, a man. Their heroism speaks for that divinity within which is able, when honored, so to subdue the fear and unworth of mortal sense as to make it possible for one to attain to Jude's ideal of human faultlessness "before the presence" of the divine glory.

Christian Science both evokes and calls into requisition the spirit of manhocd described by Browning in his reference to

One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake,—

and no one can fail to appreciate the exhibition of this spirit which is found in the life of Mrs. Eddy. Something of the strenuousness of the demands upon her, and of the fine abandon with which she met them, is revealed when she says, "I saw before me the awful conflict, the Red sea and the wilderness; but I pressed on through faith in God, trusting Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land of Christian Science" (Science and Health, p. 226).

When one remembers the tremendous proportions of the tide of material sense, and the height of the waves, he can form some estimate of the crushing weight of their repeated blows, and of the deep anchorage of the rock which is unmoved thereby. Error aroused is a seeming fury, and he who takes his stand against its assaults and thus challenges the world's enthroned beliefs in sin and sickness, if he makes good, will surely inherit the promise of Love's greatest reward, "I will give thee a crown of life."

More than once St. Paul presents in dramatic form the call of Truth for that capacity to endure with rejoicing which marked his own ministry and which must characterize the conduct of every true Christian Scientist. Pride or the love of distinction is constantly prompting men to the exhibition of a so-called bravery which often is little more than bravado. The genuinely brave take no unnecessary risks, and are never considerate for applause. They instinctively reverence truth and goodness and beauty. They are cool and confident when the many are nervous and fearful. They are loyal to the Christ-ideal when the many yield to the seductions of fleshly appetite. They are honest when the many equivocate and take advantage. They are reserved in judgment when the many smite with condemnation, and they preserve their integrity when the many would say, "No one seeth me." For such to live "is Christ."

Generous impulse and human affection often prompt to noble deeds, but the real test of one's bravery is his trueness to Truth, and this also determines one's competence to rebuke error and heal the sick. The spirit of conquering heroism cannot be gained apart from spiritual understanding. Faith must have gone on to demonstrable perfection before we can know no fear. Splendid deeds are of perennial value as prophecies of an attainable human greatness, and the practitioner who calmly confronts the frightening claims of sickness and the threats of outraged prejudice, is not only solving a present problem in his victory, but is supplying a ground of hope and assurance which means the world's redemption. With the Master, he is again defining heroism as the rule of Christ, Truth, in human consciousness.

John B. Willis.

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