OUR ENLISTMENT

Robert Ellis Key

Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 450), "The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good."

The student of Christian Science does not balk at this demand or wish to claim exemption from this enlistment. He desires to help humanity out of the bondage of suffering, and this unselfed love assists him in his own redemption. Christian Scientists are soldiers of the cross. They can march with Truth, in tune with Love, because the music of their march is the harmony of Spirit. They are grateful for the opportunity to serve mankind, conscious that they are clad in the whole armor of God and can use the weapon of spiritual understanding with precision.

A Christian Scientist should be in the vanguard of progress because he has learned something of the allness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil. He deals with evil by conceding to it no power, presence, or prestige. He can march on regardless of error's threat of strength or its imposing appearance. He can be of good courage because he knows the way. He has a faultless Way-shower, a trusted Leader, a highway on which to travel, and a spiritual objective which he can reach safely.

Joshua, the great Hebrew leader, received orders from God in seven short words, "Be strong and of a good courage." Christian Science reiterates this command to be strong and courageous. We are learning that there is nothing to fear from error, whatever name or nature it assumes. We are becoming more and more aware of the fact that God is good and good is all—all presence, power, and reality.

If there is a seeming delay in our realization, if opposing forces claim to confront us in a problem which does not seem to yield, then let us know with conviction that Truth is all-powerful and that our understanding of it is all-sufficient to scatter the enemies of sickness and sin. "God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind" (Isa. 17:13).

There is a healing impetus in Truth that is irresistible. Christian Science teaches that we reflect power from on high, and that this power is of God. We have every reason, therefore, to be strong and of a good courage. We can keep our ranks and reach our objective, but in order to do so we must be obedient to God and recognize His allness and the nothingness of evil.

The great Leader of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, impelled by divine power, indited the textbook, Science and Health. In this book she makes strong and emphatic statements that encourage us to go forward when enemies such as sin and sickness seem to be opposing our march. She says (Science and Health, p. 393), "Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good."

To those struggling with sickness or sin this heartening statement comes like a command, and indeed it is a command from our Father, for Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science was working under the orders of God when she wrote the inspired pages of our textbook. She studied the book herself, humbly and gratefully. She recognized God to be the origin of the truth which was revealed to her.

Christian Scientists accept the Christian Science textbook as a revelation. They do not question its truth any more than a soldier would question the orders given by his commander in the field. A Christian Scientist obeys the instructions given by his Leader because he is confident that she, in the first place, received them from God. From her childhood she longingly desired to understand God. She pursued her quest through early womanhood; suffering and persecution did not deter her. She went forward with good courage, strong in the confidence that God would lead and guide. Her faith was justified. She was raised from a bed of suffering and through an instantaneous spiritual healing discovered Christian Science. As this Science became clear to her she healed others. Later she taught students, established the Church of Christ, Scientist, and left to posterity the gift of gifts, namely, a scientific, demonstrable understanding of the words and works of Christ Jesus.

Robert Ellis Key

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