The mission of Christian Science is to silence material belief and will-power, and to prove thereby "the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick" (Science and Health, p. 445). When its divine purpose has been fulfilled, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." How this idealistic condition shall ever be realized, is a question of vital moment to every human being. A prayerful study of the Christian Science text-book in connection with the Bible will reveal the answer. In a word, it is the silencing of everything which "worketh abomination, or maketh a lie," the overcoming of all that is unlike God, good. The prophet Habakkuk says, "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him;" and the very first step in this great work which confronts the sons of men is to cease thinking evil.

The would-be follower of Christ who imagines that he can overcome evil while thinking that it has God-sanctioned power, presence, and reality, will sooner or later see the folly of trying to extirpate something whose existence and reality he does not question. In Christian Science he learns that wisdom does not warn him against evil, as if it were something, but against thinking or believing in evil. If he is truly sincere and honest in his desire to "know the truth," he gladly makes use of this all-important fact and begins to acknowledge, with at least some degree of enlightenment, the Biblical teaching that God, good, is All-in-all. While believing in evil he had utterly failed to comprehend the significance of such teaching; now it appears to him in a new light, and much to his surprise he finds that he can make practical application of his newly acquired understanding of God in the healing of disease, and he very naturally exclaims, "How simple it is; why did I not see it before?" Why do not thousands of professed Christians understand Christian Science instead of ignoring it? Because they insist upon believing that there is a real opposite to God, endowed with power to defeat the divine purpose, and because they do not go far enough to silence their unbelief by applying the truth of God's allness to the treatment of moral and physical disease,—a test which Jesus referred to as his sole proof that he was preaching the gospel, or "godspell," to the world.

We are told in Revelation that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." The Christian Scientist believes this statement, and true to his highest sense of truth, he knows that this declaration of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good, gives him absolute authority to silence or deny the belief in any ruling evil power or influence. Since good reigns supreme, he knows that it is the will of God that he cease ot admit the temptation of weakness, weariness, pain, disease, and sin; and by resisting these evil suggestions, their effects upon the body are canceled, a sense of strength, peace, and joy takes possession of human consciousness, and thereby he proves that good is all and evil a negation. There is nothing miraculous about this work, nothing to shock the most orthodox Christian, if he would only be honest enough to put the rule to practical test. He will invariably tell you that it is desirable to be pure in thought, and that he of course believes in the omnipotence of God; but instead of admitting that he does not understand the application of truth to the cure of disease, he is more liable to remark that he does not believe it can be done. What hinders this individual from believing and knowing that it can be done? Simply his belief in evil, which means unbelief in the truth.

One of the simplest and yet most profound statements of Holy Writ is this, "I am ... the Almighty," and Christian Science begins a practical and comprehensive explanation of this statement by applying it to the overcoming of sickness, so that mankind may witness the practical operation of divine law in individual consciousness, and thus be enabled to judge for themselves between "the fruit of the Spirit" and the fruit of holding to unlawful belief in evil. Those who are wise enough to see in this demonstration the hand of God, and to give Him all glory, begin at once to silence the evidence of sense testimony and to deny, renounce, all belief and faith in evil. Until the omnipotence of good is recognized in demonstration, evil suggestions hold sway. The healing which is daily and hourly taking place in Christian Science, and which is attracting such world-wide attention, is but the natural outcome of keeping silence before God,—not an outward silence from words, but the inward silence of Soul, into which no thought of evil, sin, discord, or death is allowed to enter.

Why should it not appear reasonable and practical to our orthodox friends that, if they would avoid the experience of evil, they must cease believing in an evil power; that in thinking of evil, or admitting its power, they are serving it. There can be no argument on this point. And just so long as they admit that an evil power really exists, they of course have no moral or spiritual right or authority to renounce or overcome it; since, in order that evil should have any real existence, God would have to be responsible for it. If we declare, as did the prophet, that "the Lord is in his holy temple," is it consistent to turn about and admit, fear, and obey a usurping tyrant named evil, and then imagine that we are keeping silence before God? Does God demand that we put to silence any expression or manifestation of good? Impossible! But it is possible to silence any seeming expression of evil, and this is done only by ceasing to think, believe, and talk about that which has no God-created existence. God, good, cannot become All-in-all, the Almighty, to any one in whose consciousness the belief in evil claims power, place, or reality. This belief in evil is the mist that went up "from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground," and nothing but an honest, intelligent discernment of the absolute supremacy of God, good, will ever dissipate this mist of error and reveal the kingdom of heaven at hand. To realize man's Godlikeness one must of necessity become "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and surely no Christian would argue that this can be done by thinking that something really exists which God did not make.

To cease talking error is one step out of "the bondage of corruption," and a very important one; but to cease thinking evil is the most important of all, for it alone can bring about the silence that is acceptable to God. One can commune with God. good, only when he ceases to think evil,—only when he silences all belief in a suppositional existence opposed to God. By those not understanding Christian Science great surprise is often expressed at the speedy convalescence of certain invalids where a Christian Science attendant has been called into the sick-room. The Scientist knows that there is a duty to fulfil aside from caring for the material wants of the patient,—he realizes the greater need of watching his own thinking. Being a firm believer in the teachings of the Bible, he refuses to entertain any other thought of man than that he is now spiritual and perfect, the image and likeness of Spirit; he also knows that "perfect love casteth out fear," and that it is the will of God that the patient recover. He thus puts to silence every so-called law of matter supposed to govern man, and acknowledges only the harmonious government of God. The patient necessarily experiences immediate relief, even before being told anything about Christian Science. Such experiences are simply the result of obeying the Golden Rule, thinking of others as you would have them think of you; they are the divinely natural result of keeping silence before God.

The silent laborer in Christ's vineyard can well appreciate the following sentiment from the pen of Thomas Carlyle: "Looking around on the noisy inanity of the world, words with little meaning, actions with little worth, one loves to reflect on the great empire of silence. The noble, silent men, scattered here and there each in his department; silently thinking, silently working; whom no morning newspaper makes mention of!"