Editorial August 16, 1941 Issue

Gaining the Conviction That Heals

Alfred Pittman

A STATEMENT of spiritual truth may in itself be helpful in overcoming difficulties, as Christian Scientists continually prove. It may assist in clearing one's own thought or that of others, and thus forward the healing of physical disease and other discordant conditions. But, as the beloved Leader of Christian Scientists, Mary Baker Eddy, clearly shows, it is not the statement of truth but acceptance of it that actually does the work. It is conviction of truth that brings healing.

Thus Mrs. Eddy writes on page 412 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "You may vary the arguments to meet the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat, but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concerning the truth which you think or speak, and you will be the victor." Again, on page 418 of the same work, she says: "Plead with an honest conviction of truth and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will heal the sick."

If the student of Science recognizes the importance of such conviction, and yet doubts his ability to have it, he may be helped by considering that with respect to many things in human experience he has long had much of the kind of assurance that is needful in the work of Christian Science. Take, for example, such a thing as the number five in arithmetic—not the figure as it is written or printed, but the actual number, the mathematical concept. Is the student in any doubt as to its character—as to what "five" means? Has he any anxiety about its relationship with other numbers, or any question as to its secure and adequate place in mathematics? Has he a thought that time or any human circumstance could change it: that it might not still be five, or as good a five, tomorrow, or a year hence, or any number of years hence?

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