One of the outstanding characteristics of our Leader was the grandeur of her unwavering faith. When the subtle machinations of mortal mind attempted to obstruct her pathway and hinder her work, she understood so clearly that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and that evil, consequently, is unreal, that her pure, glistening spiritual faith was never dimmed.

In spiritualized thinking, doubt cannot find a lurking place. Mary Baker Eddy's love for God, her faith in His divine power, and her understanding of His law, which she so fully possessed, were exemplified in her daily activity. In the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," we have her statement (p. 368), "When we come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man, then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error."

Something of the same faith and love and understanding exemplified by our Leader is manifested by the earnest workers in the Christian Science movement. However stupendous the undertakings, however great the resistance of mortal mind, however persistently animal magnetism may attempt to frustrate the advancement of good, their serene, positive faith in God's infinite love is actively present. Inspired by the spiritual understanding of the supremacy of good and the ultimate outcome of righteous endeavor, they are alert, watching, working, and praying for the Cause of Christ, which moves majestically forward.

A dictionary defines "faith" as, "The assent of the mind to what is given forth as a revelation of man's relation to God and the infinite." To what are we giving mental assent—to the impostor's voluminous lies or to the spiritual assurance that good alone is real and is supreme? The full realization of the fact that good alone is real and is supreme eliminates evil from our thinking and experience. Our proportionate assent to the affirmations of Truth or to the suggestions of error is evidenced in our human experience.

A prayerful study of our textbooks, the Bible and Science and Health, unfolds to the earnest seeker the understanding of God's love and protection, and makes us know that we are safe and secure, even though the winds of mortal mind may blow harshly, and the storms of error beat wildly about us. Above error's roar we can hear, as did the disciples long ago on the stormy Galilean Sea, the comforting command, "Peace, be still."

Love and Truth alone have power. Evil, the opposite of good, having no power, no intelligence with which to act, no place in which to act, cannot possibly resist good, even as darkness cannot resist light. Through the understanding of Truth, as taught in Christian Science, we are definitely enabled to prove that erring mortal mind must by its own consent give up its claim to power. God's gift to man is the ability to reflect uninterruptedly the power of good.

We may well ask ourselves hourly to what extent we have made the truth practical in our human experience. Faith in good and the understanding of the law of God as ever operating for good, bring us the joy, freedom, gratitude, and love which characterize the faithful Christian Scientist. This understanding unfailingly nullifies the fear and dread that lack, sickness, unemployment, old age, loneliness, or despair can overtake one. Should one find himself entertaining these or other negative suggestions, he has but to bring to bear upon them the counterfact of man's spiritual oneness with his creator, and the error will be destroyed. The gloom will vanish before the brightness of Truth, as the fog before the sun.

Faith which is merely a blind trust in God, in oneself, or in one's so-called human ability, or even in another's understanding of divine metaphysics, does not bring the healing. But God-inspired faith and the understanding of God's all-encompassing law of Love bring obedience to this law, which frees one from the law of sin and death.

In his letter to the church in Rome, referring to "the gospel of Christ" Paul said, "It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; ... for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

An experience, which at the time seemed to be a bitter ordeal, taught the writer a needed lesson in establishing faith in God. There were four small children to be provided for. A teaching position was open. A promise of the position had been wholeheartedly given to her by the superintendent and the members of the board of education. But, for some unexplainable reason, her name was omitted from the list of teachers to be voted upon. Consequently, the position was not secured. The disappointment and discouragement which followed seemed almost overwhelming. Self-pity ran high. Constantly the arguments came that the position, which could have been efficiently filled, and which would have supplied the needed income for the dependent babes, was cut off just because someone had blundered. But that sort of thinking was soon seen to be erroneous, and it was gradually replaced with constructive thinking.

A ray of hope came as it was seen that good is unlimited, that God's love remains unchanged, and that God's purpose for good cannot be interfered with. Later a broader field of activity opened up. Subsequent happenings showed clearly that she had been protected by divine Love, and the illusion that there was an evil power which could separate man from good was dissipated. The experience brought such a sweet lesson in faith in God's goodness that it has served as a beacon light through many years.

Shall we not, with childlike confidence, accept God's wonderful love for all? Let us rest in His tender care, knowing that in His glorified presence man continually abides. Here the doubts, fears, and troubles of earthly thinking cannot enter. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1901, referring to the belief in evil, our Leader says (p. 14), "Our faith takes hold of the fact that evil cannot be made so real as to frighten us and so master us, or to make us love it and so hinder our way to holiness." Faith, then, is definitely active. There is nothing passice, colorless, inert in living faith. With it are coupled courage, patience, strength, love, constancy, understanding, steadfastness. The Scriptures contain many references to the blessings resulting from faith. In Hebrews it is written, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, ... faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, ... stopped the mouths of lions, ... turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Peace, prosperity, and progress have come into the experience of those whose steadfast faith has grown into spiritual understanding.

The structure of our human affairs is founded on faith. It is their faith which prompts merchants to extend credit to customers. We have faith in the bank where we deposit our money. Thus we see the large place which faith occupies in our human relationships. If, then, we are glad and willing to trust our fellow men, can we not trust the Giver of all good? As we put into practice whatever understanding of Christian Science has come to us, we shall have the joy of proving the power of Truth. As we continue to make practical the law of God as it unfolds to us, we shall be rewarded in the dominion that we thus gain over disease, evil, adverse circumstances, and ultimately over death itself. We must strive for a fuller faith, which comes through the understanding of God's infinite love.

Copyright, 1939, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.