Editorial September 13, 1930 Issue

"Radical reliance"

Violet Ker Seymer

THE fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the second book of Chronicles portray the opposite results of reliance on Truth and on materiality. There we find that during a certain period of his reign Asa relied on God, Spirit, and that he "renewed the altar of the Lord." Later, his worship of materiality caused his return to idolatry and his consequent downfall. Hanani, the seer, endeavoring to help him, pointed out to Asa his former triumphs over "a huge host," when, as he said, "Thou didst rely on the Lord." But the seer did not find the king teachable, for it is written that "then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing."

As in our day there are those whose undivided trust in Christian Science is rewarded, so there are others who resist the vision of Truth and continue their matter worship. To some it seems puzzling to know why they should not obtain the healing of sickness by mixing material methods with Christian Science. One reason is that, in the practice of medicine, which is consistent with its material basis, sickness is usually regarded as having a physical cause and therefore requiring a physical cure. With equal consistency Christian Science diagnoses sickness as primarily mental, and therefore as needing the power of divine Mind to restore health to the sufferer.

Whereas medical systems center thought on the body, Christian Science turns the patient's thought away from corporeality to God, infinite Mind, the unfailing source of life and harmony. While all normal care is taken of the body in the practice of Christian Science, no attempt is made to heal matter through matter. Christian Science is not an accessory to physical healing; it is the Science of Christ-healing. Hence Mrs. Eddy's statement (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 167), "Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized." When it is seen that both life and health are spiritual, not organic, there will be no fear entertained in connection with either life or health.

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