On page 23 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us that "in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness." She goes on to say: "One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's 'own salvation, with fear and trembling.' 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!' expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, 'Believe ... and thou shalt be saved!' demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God."

When Christian Science, with its message of healing and joy, first comes to our attention, our thought is perhaps imbued with the faith that is trustfulness. Gladly we turn from material remedies and confide our problems to a practitioner, relying upon his or her understanding of Truth to solve them. This is a good beginning, but it is only the first upward step in the straight and narrow way of Science. As we progress in our study of this practical religion, we find that we ourselves must prove what we know. We must not be content to linger in the comfortable faith which "trusts one's welfare to others," but must press on until we attain that faith which "understands divine Love and how to work out one's 'own salvation, with fear and trembling'"—with reverence and humility. It is apparently much easier to depend upon someone else's understanding of divine Love than to develop our own, and from the former we may gain comfort and encouragement. But when we undertake to solve our own problems, what a rich reward is ours! The joy of actually proving that the power of God is available, here and now, to destroy any seeming inharmony, is a sweeter satisfaction than any other we have experienced. For the first time, we really know that God's love for His children is changeless and ever present. We lean upon His rod and staff for comfort and support, confiding all to Him.

Paul, who uttered the command, "Believe ... and thou shalt be saved," had gained in large measure the strong faith which is self-reliant trustworthiness. When he was beaten and cast into prison, he prayed and sang praises to God, confident in the power of divine Love to sustain and deliver him. Undoubtedly his thought was filled with joy when the earthquake came at midnight, shaking the prison to its foundations, opening all the locked doors, and freeing all the captives from their fetters. This liberation was regarded by Paul as an opportunity, not to escape, but to preach the Word to the keeper of the prison and his family, to baptize them, and to rejoice with them in their newborn faith in the one God.

When error casts us into the prison of discord, pain, illness, or sorrow, we need to remember Paul's sublime faith and to make it our own. Let us also sing praises to our ever-loving Father, whose beneficent kindness never falters, and whose power is always available to break down the false beliefs that seem to hamper our freedom and our harmony. And, when our liberation comes, let us not be too hasty to escape from our present surroundings, but let us rather make sure we have learned a lesson from this experience, and that we clearly see our seeming imprisonment as an illusion of material sense, without a vestige of reality or power. At that moment there may not be anyone present to whom we can declare the allness of God, citing our deliverance from error as powerful evidence, but sooner or later there will be someone to whom we can speak with authority of our wonderful experience, someone who will be heartened and uplifted by our message, who will indeed believe and be saved.

Today, as in Paul's time, there is no power but the power of God, no law but His law, no mind but the divine Mind, and we all can and must prove this truth for ourselves and others in overcoming sin, disease, lack, grief, and even death, "the last enemy" to be destroyed. As we study the Bible and our Leader's writings with earnest consecration and ardent zeal, as we strive to live in accord with what we know of God and of man as His image and likeness, we shall progress from small proofs to greater ones, from minor triumphs to mighty conquests. Should our progress seem to be slow or uncertain, let us never admit discouragement or fear into our consciousness, but take fresh courage from our Leader's statement on page 410 of Science and Health: "Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love."

There is, in actual fact, no limit to what God can do, and therefore no limit to what His beloved children can achieve. God's love toward us is unchanging, His truth infinite, His power omnipotent. "Believe ... and thou shalt be saved"! As we truly believe, and as our faith deepens into the spiritual understanding that confides all to God, we shall find our true salvation from every ill, and the peace that passes all human understanding. Then, and only then, can we feel that we have proved, finally and convincingly, that our faith is not blind trustfulness, but that it is "self-reliant trustworthiness." Then, and only then, have we shown our faith by our works and proved ourselves truly worthy of the great and sacred trust of Christian Science, God's precious gift to all mankind.