"Be of good courage"

Duncan Sinclair

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord," is how the last verse of the thirty-first psalm runs. And many a one, weary and heavyladen, has read the words and felt the burden lighten even as he read them. For in Christian communities God is revered and trusted, often with a great reverence and a great trust, although by many He may be very imperfectly understood. And as the inspired word of the Bible is studied, courage is generated wherewith to meet life's trials; and the heart is strengthened, enabling the student to pursue with patience the way which his highest sense of right reveals.

Courage, moral courage, is greatly needed in the world to-day. Not that it has not always been a requisite in righteous living, but to-day it is especially necessary because of the fact that never before has there been a greater understanding of the Principle of good whereby to challenge the machinations of evil and to destroy them. This is due to Christian Science. In her writings Mrs. Eddy states this Principle so plainly that all who desire may understand it. Therein she shows divine Principle to be God, infinite good; and with this truth before her she completely exposes the fallacy of evil, reducing it to nothing.

In revealing God as infinite good and evil as unreal, Mrs. Eddy has given to mankind the secret of moral courage. This must be so. What else could follow from the knowledge that good is infinite, and that good alone has power? To the one who is convinced of these truths through demonstration,—to the one, that is, who is convinced of these truths because he has proved them to be true by destroying the belief of evil in some form or other, perhaps of sickness or sin,—there comes an abiding courage, a courage which grows more confident, more stable, with every added proof of the power of good over the illusion of evil. There is not a single Christian Scientist—and a Christian Scientist is one with some understanding of Principle's allness and of the unreality of evil— who will say that his moral courage has not grown proportionably with his spiritual understanding.

How requisite is moral courage! Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 327), "Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to proclaim the right." Not only so, but how necessary also is the possession of it to give the poise, the balance, which enables one to act at the right time in meeting the wrong and in pro claiming the right! Precipitous action needs to be guarded against; and moral courage is an excellent brake on all activity which is untimely or ill-considered. With courage begotten of the knowledge of the absolute stability and reliability of Principle, the allness of good and the unreality of evil, one can wait until divine wisdom dictates the best course of action and the best time for action.

And how valuable is moral courage to the Christian Science practitioner! Perhaps he has a case which is giving him a great deal of thought. Many a time his prayers have ascended to God on its behalf; many a time the truths of Being have been summoned to consciousness; many a time, in the quiet sanctuary, earnest desires have gone forth for enlightenment, in order to put to flight the false beliefs which are seemingly causing the trouble. And always, as thought has gone out to God, hope has been kindled anew and courage strengthened. Then he has been able to impart faith and courage and spiritual power to the patient, often with the desired result—healing. "The metaphysician," writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 423), "making Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to error and discord, has rendered himself strong, instead of weak, to cope with the case; and he proportionately strengthens his patient with the stimulus of courage and conscious power."

How often, too, has the student of Christian Science to listen to the world's jeers—not, however, perhaps so much so as formerly, but still to some degree on occasion! But how calm he remains! Nothing can destroy his faith in God; nothing can upset his trust in good; nothing can blight his moral courage, because he understands what Christian Science is seeking to tell the whole world, namely, that since God, good, is infinite, evil (so called) is unreal. It is this faith, this trust, this courage, which is behind the Christian Science movement to-day, stimulating its every activity, imparting zeal to its every member in the performance of his or her duty. What shall we do to increase this tremendous power for good? Pray oftener; meditate more deeply on Truth; cultivate more assiduously every divine quality; strive with the whole heart to love God, good, as the only reality, and our neighbor as ourselves; and endeavor to live the Golden Rule better than we have ever done before.

Duncan Sinclair

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