Article July 29, 1922 ISSUE

Careful Obedience

GEORGE L. HODGSON

Frequently a practitioner of Christian Science is asked by a patient, "Why cannot I get my healing; why does it seem to take so long?" Then, perhaps, he goes on to say, "I have just read a testimony in the Journal (or Sentinel) of some one who seemed much worse off than I, his trouble being one of long standing. He knew little or nothing of Christian Science, but he called in a practitioner and was healed in, practically, one treatment. What is the matter; why cannot I get the same prompt result?"

An honest answer to these questions is that the unhealed condition may possibly be due to one or both of two causes: first, a lack of sufficient understanding or consecration on the part of the practitioner; second, something in the thought of the patient held to and not dismissed, some secret sin, some form of selfishness or self-indulgence mentally entertained. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392): "To cure a bodily aliment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked." Many times, although a person may sincerely and earnestly desire healing, and will read and study diligently, yet he will persist in holding on to some form of error, to some little pet sin, which he says does not amount to much, or affects no one but himself; and this attempt to serve two masters effectually militates against his healing. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, was most clear on the point. There can be no divided allegiance; it is either all or nothing.

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