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Confidence
Beginners in Christian Science, and some indeed who have been students for a longer period, are sometimes beset with doubts and fears as to their ability to make the necessary demonstration when the occasion arises. They acknowledge the truth of Christian Science, recognize its unanswerable logic, and believe that "with God all things are possible." But nevertheless they are occasionally disturbed by a sense of inability to prove or demonstrate that which they have accepted as the truth. They, in fact, lack spiritual confidence, and confidence is a condition or state of mind which each must gain if he is to advance in understanding and attain the full fruitage of his study of Christian Science. The writer of Hebrews recognized the need for confidence when he said, "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" and again, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward."
What is the reason for lack of confidence? May it not be due in some instances to a mere academic acceptance of the Principle of Christian Science, a condition of mind which our Leader designates on page 23 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," as "the helplessness of a blind faith"? True confidence is born of spiritual understanding; it is not built on a foundation of mortal belief. It comes from a deeprooted conviction of God's allness, His omnipotence and omnipresence. A clear recognition of the spiritual nature of creation and of the unreality of all things material and temporal is essential to the cultivation of confidence. Mrs. Eddy has made this clear on page 368 of Science and Health, where she states, "The confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal."

December 14, 1935 issue
View Issue-
Keep Rowing!
LOUISE KNIGHT WHEATLEY COOK
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Security on "the Rock of Christ"
RALPH W. CROSMAN
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Safety in Right Thinking
GRACE BANKS SAMMONS
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Seeking Higher Ground
ELIZABETH G. MC KINSTRY
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Confidence
OLIVER BOWLES
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Angels Bring Release
JEANNE LA TOUR
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Ushering
EDWARD H. PORTER
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Telling the Story
ELEANOR BRADLEY
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Unwinding the Snarls
EDITH SHAW BROWN
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Under the heading "Medical Notes" in Saturday's Star...
Arthur E. F. Court, Committee on Publication for the North Island of New Zealand,
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In your last issue a correspondent quotes a number of...
B. Tatham Woodhead, former Committee on Publication for Lancashire, England,
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Stavangeren of November 27 contains a report of a lecture...
Nils Lerche, Committee on Publication for Norway,
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A cartoon in your November issue, which does an injustice...
Albert E. Lombard, Committee on Publication for Southern California,
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Exposing a "bald imposition"
Duncan Sinclair
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Authorized Literature
George Shaw Cook
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The Lectures
with contributions from Emma E. Wiesner, Violet Chapman, Arthur Maitland Crosthwaite, Alice M. Minskey, Grace G. Pierce, William M. White, Andrew J. Graham
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For seventeen years I have relied solely on Christian Science...
Olive May Harrison
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Several years ago I suffered from many forms of discord...
Bess Patterson
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Many years ago I heard a preacher say, "The kingdom...
Albert Whitelock with contributions from Stuart G. Gilmour
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I am especially grateful for the healing of a severe burn,...
Glenore D. Caton
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As a youth I was deeply interested in religion and tried...
John J. Mogridge
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I wish to express something of the gratitude I feel that...
Harvey J. Darroch
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In 1918 I became interested in Christian Science through...
Maggie Long Stingley
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Since 1928 Christian Science has been my only physician
Bessie M. E. Cox with contributions from John F. Cox
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What Do Ye More Than These?
ELSIE HILL AINSWORTH
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Signs of the Times
with contributions from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Wilson Dickert, L. Sylvester Lewis, Winfred Rhoades, Speight