Article April 10, 1920 Issue

"Obedience to Truth"

VIOLET CUMBERLEGE

In the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 183) Mrs. Eddy writes, "Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength," and as we increase in the understanding of the Christ, Truth, as explained in Christian Science, we see more and more clearly that willing obedience to divine Love is the first essential toward the demonstration of harmony in our daily lives. In this connection the account of the healing from leprosy of Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, as told in the fifth chapter of II Kings, seems quite typical of the experience which some of us pass through when beginning the study of Christian Science. This narrative shows how Naaman, after having traveled a great distance to be healed by the prophet Elisha, "was wroth" because he merely received a message bidding him "wash in Jordan seven times." Naaman expected Elisha to come out to him, to "strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." In other words, Naaman expected Elisha to perform on his behalf a miracle, without making any demand upon the one who was seeking to be healed.

Now we may have continued in our old beliefs of sickness, sin, or poverty for many years, and we may have become firmly convinced that there is no way out of these conditions. Then we hear of Christian Science, probably have treatment from a practitioner, and expect complete healing of our ills, without any effort on our part, not understanding that we have much wrong thinking to undo and much truth to learn. Like Naaman we may not understand that "obedience to Truth" is necessary, and we perhaps resent being told to read and study the textbook, because that does not seem a sufficiently important view for the practitioner to take of our individual case. In fact, very often we are expecting something sensational to occur. We read how Naaman's servants pointed out to their master that if Elisha had told him to do some great thing he would have quickly obeyed, but that because of the very simplicity of the requirement, he was not willing to do so. Naaman finally saw this and went and dipped himself in Jordan seven times, and we read that "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

The paragraph quoted from Science and Health at the beginning of this article continues, "Submission to error superinduces loss of power." The words "submission to error" seem to indicate that it is not only in yielding to suggestions of sin or sickness that we are "submitting," but even in thinking or saying unkind things of those around us, for in so doing we forget that they also are the children of God and we thereby allow human modes of thought to obscure our vision, thus losing our power for good. The writer has proved the truth of this many times. Always when the error has been recognized, met, and destroyed by "obedience to Truth," all wrong conditions have been overcome and harmony has been once more established. In each overcoming we know that we are one step nearer our realization of the kingdom of heaven, and our love and gratitude go out to our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for so clearly showing us the way.

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