The manifestation of God's power is continuous. The correct application of the truths of being to any discordant condition brings immediate right results. No mortal beliefs can possibly interfere with the unlabored activity of this demonstrable truth. God knows nothing of the belief which mortal mind names time, with its myriad delusive and lying pretensions.

Christ Jesus, more than any other, saw the unreality of time. His healing ministry was marked by the instant manifestation of God's power, bringing harmony to every discordant situation. Jesus knew that God's perfect work is already done; and he gave proof of his understanding of that fact in immediate healing. In speaking of him, Mrs. Eddy says in "Unity of Good" (p. 11), "Jesus required neither cycles of time nor thought in order to mature fitness for perfection and its possibilities." Instantaneous healing, then, must be our goal, if we would follow Jesus in his work. He always expected and almost invariably got instant results from his work.

One of the many impressive examples of instantaneous healing performed by our Master was that of an epileptic boy. As we read in the record, it was the day after the transfiguration. The boy's father came to Jesus and in sincere humility begged him to heal his son. A close study of the narrative shows that the case seemed to present several factors of a most discouraging nature. The father was filled with fear for his only child; the disciples had failed to cure the child, although they had earnestly tried. The malady was one of long standing and the material manifestation was fearful and revolting. With what compassion Jesus spoke to the troubled father! How completely he saw the unreality of the whole condition! How effectively the healing was completed in that one brief moment while the crowd looked on! And how wisely Jesus protected the healing! His words, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him," proved that the master Metaphysician saw clearly the necessity of establishing in thought the permanency of instantaneous healing. Such protection was particularly needful on this occasion. The general belief of those who stood about in the crowd was that of incredulity. These people were perhaps saying to themselves that, although the relief might seem to be accomplished for the moment, the "dumb spirit" would return to torment the child as it had so often done before. Apparently, however, in the thought of the father there was no doubt that the instantaneous healing was permanent.

If, in making a demonstration in Christian Science, one does not at once experience the rightful harmony, this does not mean that a requisite number of days must pass to complete the demonstration. A so-called slow healing in Christian Science is not due to any need for the passing of time, but rather to the limited assimilation and application, on the part of those concerned, of the truth about God and man, God's perfect child. Not mere passivity in waiting for a demonstration to be completed, but constant activity in filling thought with more and more of good, of Life, Truth, and Love, is requisite. This process of filling our consciousness with a clear view of the "very good" creation that is God's has no dependence on time. It may be accomplished in an instant, or it may seem to take longer, according to our mental status. Exchanging the belief that we are afflicted or suffering for the everlasting fact that "now are we the sons of God" does not require time.

Christian Scientists must meet and master the subtle suggestion that the passing of time is a necessary agent in Christian Science healing. Until the nothingness of this lie of mortal mind is detected and cast out, instantaneous healing, as Jesus demonstrated it, cannot become our uniform present experience. This belief in the time factor in healing will seem to master us if we are not alert to the fact that when we are ruled by it in our healing work we are ruled by something unlike God. On pages 598 and 599 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says that "time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which is the solar year."

When we begin to understand that we live in a mental universe and that God is infinite Mind, then we wake to see that all is perfect now. We do not need to change anything in reality; therefore we do not need time. Mortals think of time because they think in terms of materiality. In Christian Science healing a mental, not primarily a material, change is involved. The action of true thought is immediate and continuous. Since discord is overcome in Christian Science through spiritually mental means, it can last no longer than it takes to change a thought from false belief to spiritual knowing.

As we grow in spiritual understanding, our consciousness becomes more and more Godlike, and therefore assimilates the healing truth more readily. The result is more instantaneous healing. If we follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus and of our loved Leader, we have no choice but that of making constant effort to attain the Mind which was in him, and which glorified God in instantaneous healing.