EVERY student of Christian Science who would be successful in the healing of disease, must see the very great importance of destroying the mortal belief of fear. He would do well to analyze carefully all that our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has said throughout her writings on this subject, and put into practice her clear teaching concerning the nature of fear and its false claims and the way in which it is to be overcome.

Regarding fear and its overcoming in the practice of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy says briefly in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 410), "Christian scientific practice begins with Christ's keynote of harmony, 'Be not afraid!'"

Obviously, fear is mental. Then to "be not afraid" is to maintain a state of consciousness wherein fear has no place, power, or operation, a state of consciousness wherein are confidence and assurance that the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good, dispose of every claim of a cause for fear, and also of any effect as the result of fear. Since God, immortal Mind, is conscious only of good, He is not, could not be, cognizant of fear; nor could fear originate in or proceed from God, who knows no deviation from perfection. Fear, then, must be the product of so-called mortal mind, and must be admitted to be as unreal as that which claims to give it birth. While it is conceded that fear is mental, it is not so generally known that disease—either functional or organic, acute or chronic—is oftentimes the product of fear; and in showing the mental nature of all trouble, Mrs. Eddy unfolds the fact that the healing method is, and must be fully recognized to be, purely spiritual.

Fear is based upon the belief in a power apart from God. No one has ever been afraid of what he believes will bring him good, but only of that which portends its opposite, namely evil. The Psalmist has aptly enumerated these things as "the snare of the fowler, ... the noisome pestilence ... the terror by night; ... the arrow that flieth by day; ... the pestilence that walketh in darkness; ... the destruction that wasteth at noonday." He saw that dwelling "in the secret place of the most High," in the consciousness of good as the one and only power, renders these errors ineffectual, impotent, and nonafflictive.

Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 321), "When, led by wisdom to cast down his rod, he saw it become a serpent, Moses fled before it; but wisdom bade him come back and handle the serpent, and then Moses' fear departed." It is plain that one fears that alone which he believes can and will hurt, impair, or destroy him, and it is equally plain that his fear is to be overcome by replacing it with the understanding and acceptance of the one and only power, the power of good, the power of God, which definitely destroys belief in any other power. Mrs. Eddy continues, "The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief."

Recognizing that fear has its basis in the belief that evil has power, and that the effects of fear may be manifest physically, the student of Christian Science is enabled to see where to begin and how to proceed in order to correct any belief of disease. A false sense is all that is in need of healing or correction, and Christian Science, the Science of Mind-healing, goes directly to the bottom of the trouble, destroying the false sense and replacing it with the true sense of man as God's perfect child, who cannot know and therefore cannot experience, fear or its effects. The student may be helped in seeing this fact more clearly by Mrs. Eddy's statement on page 298 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "The true consciousness is the true health."

Thus the student sees the necessity of bringing about a change in his consciousness through the destruction of fear or other errors. When the prophet Isaiah voiced God's admonition, "Fear thou not," there was given the reason why one should not be afraid, namely, "For I am with thee." Again the admonition is repeated, "Be not dismayed; for I am thy God." Then is added the threefold assurance which gives increased confidence that one need not fear or be dismayed: "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." With the assurance that God is present to strengthen, help, and uphold, one attains an understanding of the power of good, whereby every fear and every effect of fear is destroyed and the fact of man's perfection and his immunity from evil of any kind is established.

According to the Apostle John, "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." Through his clear spiritual perception he saw that in "perfect love" there could not possibly be any sense of fear, and his reason for his positive declaration is simply stated: "Because fear hath torment." It is not difficult to see that since God, divine Love, fills all space, no possible space remains for fear to fill. Perfect Love is complete, complete in the sense that it includes nothing the opposite of itself; pure in the sense that no evil element could possibly be entertained in it or emanate from it. "He that feareth," John continues, "is not made perfect in love." In other words, he who is afraid has not yet attained to that pure consciousness of love which, by its very presence, banishes every vestige of fear, and, in banishing fear, banishes at the same time the physical effects of fear.