No one is defenseless. The Scriptures record many instances wherein a sure defense was found in righteousness. They plainly teach that purity is power and that innocence is invulnerable. John the Baptist hailed Christ Jesus as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And it is the Lamb, symbol of innocence, or self-sacrifice, that typifies the power of purity throughout the Scriptures.

It is said that the lamb is an animal which has no means of self-protection. Christ Jesus had no worldly means of defense, but he proved his security in the face of evil's aggressions because he was "without sin." Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 567, 568): "Divine Science shows how the Lamb slays the wolf. Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error."

Goodness is its own defense against every form of evil; but goodness must be understood in its Science as originating in God, Spirit, and as manifested through man, God's spiritual idea, if it is to be utilized fully in that defense. Mrs. Eddy says in "Unity of Good" (p. 21): "Individual consciousness in man is inseparable from good. There is no sensible matter, no sense in matter; but there is a spiritual sense, a sense of Spirit, and this is the only consciousness belonging to true individuality, or a divine sense of being." It is through one's demonstration of spiritual sense that God's defense of righteousness is assured, for God preserves intact the concepts of His own creating.

Spiritual sense is fully exercised in the real man, but it appears as a faculty to human beings only in the degree that God is understood as All and the unreality of matter and evil is demonstrated. Spiritual sense becomes evident in the constancy of one's serenity, good will, and innocence, which Christian Science brings to light, and in the spiritual discernment which bestows the power to heal the suffering and sinfull. Christ Jesus was commending constancy in the demonstration of spiritual sense when he said (Luke 11:28), "Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

In the light of Christian Science it should be a simple thing to maintain a sense of good and thus be equipped to defend ourselves and others from the aggressions of evil. It is our emotional response to error that betrays our undestroyed materialism; and it is our admission of error's reality that makes us subject to its conditions. The spiritually serene thought acknowledges no consciousness but Spirit, no self but Spirit's reflection of consciousness, and no experience but that which is enfolded in man's identity.

Spiritual sense is conscious of its own purity, and it is conscious of a universe under the control of omnipotent Love. Pure consciousness evidences real selfhood, and real selfhood abides in heaven. The individual who demonstrates the purity of real selfhood becomes so keenly aware of his existence in God as Mind's idea that the corporeal senses, which evolve all mortal experience, give way before this vision of good, and their mesmeric forces disappear. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 311), "Evil is destroyed by the sense of good."

Christ Jesus was empowered to destroy every phase of mortality that confronted him because he demonstrated the constant serenity and joy of spiritual sense. He could defend himself from aggressive errors without because he harbored no evil within. Through spiritual sense he cognized his true self as God's Son, and this enabled him to meet error with divine authority. In the wilderness, this recognition made it possible for him to detect and dismiss temptations that might otherwise have appeared to be his own desires. Near the end of his ministry, when the frantic personal forces of evil were still, their wicked intent seemingly accomplished, he destroyed within the tomb the supposed laws, or forces, of mortal belief that would make life subject to the conditions of flesh. He proved the everlasting defense of purity and innocence. He retained the spiritual consciousness of reality and in the ascension was lifted into the divine state of existence where evil is unknown.

The spiritual selfhood of everyone is embraced in Deity and is there intact, immutable, and unconscious of a material sense of life. In this age when indestructible, scientific being is beginning to appear, it is not astonishing that the world seems to be faced with the persistent threat of destructive materialism, for it is the law of error to rise in angry contradiction of Truth and its revealed idea. The Christian Scientist realizes that no matter what measures humanity may resort to in its defense against aggression, his unfailing security must lie in his ability to demonstrate spiritual sense, the pure consciousness of reality. No security is inviolable but that which Science demonstrates as spiritually real. No weapon is sure but the Christlike understanding of God's presence and man's perfection in Him.

Mrs. Eddy defended herself and her movement against the unreal, blind treachery of the carnal mind. Her method of warfare was divine. She fought in company with the angels, the pure thoughts which appear simultaneously with awakened spiritual sense. She maintained the consciousness of God's spiritual ideas and proved the power of purity to dispel the illusions that contradict good. She sacrificed self in her great reflection of divine Love and brought to light the absolute Science of Spirit which makes salvation from mortality universal. Spiritual sense, innocent and constant, is destined, through Christian Science, to destroy all sin and to prevail over all that would threaten the unfoldment of God's infinite idea.

Helen Wood Bauman