Every sincere student of Christian Science is striving for victory over some phase of error, for he is working out his own salvation, and this involves overcoming every argument of evil—"the world, the flesh, and the devil." The Apostle Paul declares, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." In other words, now is the day of victory, now is the time to be healed. But sometimes it seems that today is not a day of victory. Since Paul stated a spiritual fact, what is it that seems to delay or postpone one's realization of present victory, of present salvation from evil, sin, disease, and death?

On page 204 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy says, "My faith in God and in His followers rests in the fact that He is infinite good, and that He gives His followers opportunity to use their hidden virtues, to put into practice the power which lies concealed in the calm and which storms awaken to vigor and to victory." A challenging phrase, "awaken to vigor and to victory"! And might not this indicate the pressing need in a delayed demonstration? Even humanly, vigor and victory go hand in hand. Vigor conveys the thought of active power or powerful action, which is certainly essential to victory. Vigor is positive, the very antithesis of apathy, inertia, indifference, and procrastination. And does not Mrs. Eddy's statement further imply that where there is sufficient spiritual vigor there is victory?

So let us, individually and collectively, "awaken to vigor and to victory," for great is the need of the present hour. Let us be alert to handle effectively the arguments of error that would claim to produce apathy and inertia, or that would claim to dim our expectancy of present victory, of immediate healing. These arguments, whatever their nature, are but phases of animal magnetism, of the claim of active evil. Since God, good, is the infinite and only Mind, the source of all action, there is no evil action, no evil argument. These false beliefs have no mind in which they can originate or exist and no man to express them or to listen to them, for individual man in reality expresses or reflects the divine Mind and hears only its voice. The student who is alert to handle thus the claims of error is in no danger of being handled by them, of being rendered apathetic or inert. Rather, he deals with the adversary promptly, vigorously, and effectually.

The adversary is always some phase of the belief that evil is real, that it is something, somewhere, or somebody. The moment one ceases to believe in the reality of evil and becomes vividly conscious of present good, of the spiritual fact in the case, the discord vanishes and he awakens to victory. The great need then is to gain a deeper conviction of the allness of good, of Spirit, Truth, Life, and Love, and the consequent nothingness of evil, of matter and its supposititious effects, sin, disease, and death. Since the adversary claims to be the opposite of Truth, let us obey the Scriptural command, "Agree with thine adversary quickly"—agree that it is the opposite of Truth, hence untrue, unreal, neither person, mind, nor power. Consequently, all its arguments are baseless lies, which vanish before the light of Truth.

However, these arguments of error must be handled, the light of Truth must be focused on them, and the more promptly and vigorously they are dealt with the quicker their falsity and powerlessness will be demonstrated. Therefore, in order to attain the victory, we must discern the error and promptly apply the spiritual fact that destroys it. The more thoroughly we are convinced of the presence and reality of the spiritual idea, the more effective will be our denial of the false evidence or argument. In dealing thus with error, be it manifested as sin, disease, lack, or tyranny and aggression, there is no place for negative or passive thinking. Rather, the need is for positive, vigorous knowing. When one is thoroughly convinced of something, he is positive in his assertion of it and vigorous in maintaining it. The result is that he speaks with authority. This should be our attitude and altitude of thought in dealing with the claims of error. As Mrs. Eddy puts it (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 395), "Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease."

The importance and effectiveness of awakening "to vigor and to victory"—of speaking as one having authority—is illustrated by the following incident. A student of Christian Science had been suffering from a severe cold for several days. Although he studied and prayed diligently, the trouble got worse, so he called on a Christian Science practitioner for help. Still there was no improvement. Finally one night the condition was aggravated to such an extent that the student recognized that unless it was met, and met promptly, it would seriously interfere with his work. While he was pondering what more he could do, the angelic message, "awaken to vigor and to victory," came to his thought. Although he felt that he had been handling the claim vigorously, he now found himself dealing with it with a real sense of authority. The result was that in less than an hour every vestige and symptom of the cold had completely disappeared.

Today there is need to awaken to the fact that the vigorous handling of the claims of error can be just as effective in dealing with world affairs as in handling an individual case. The argument is often presented, What effect will my thinking have on such a vast problem as the present war? The answer may be given in a single word, Immeasurable. There is no limit to the power of right thinking when it is one's individual reflection of God's knowing—and let us not limit it. Nothing is more certain than that the day of victory in the present conflict will be greatly hastened as the individual student awakens "to vigor and to victory."

Copyright, 1944, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston 15, 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. Published every Saturday.