In the thirty-fourth Psalm we find these words: "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him."

Thousands who have eventually been healed through the power of prayer, as it is understood in Christian Science, have doubtless been asked at some time, "Why not try Christian Science; it has healed others, why not you?" Often this question is asked only after all material methods have proved futile, when to the affrighted and suffering one the way looks very dark and almost without hope. Over and over, "man's extremity" proves to be "God's opportunity," and men learn to taste and use His divine power, which satisfies their every need. When we answer this question wholeheartedly, "I will," we are inviting the ever-present Christ, the healing Truth, into our consciousness; we are heeding the Master's words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Truly there is a way out of our bondage to material existence with its so-called laws of sickness and health, birth and death, joy and sorrow, good and evil. It is the truth about God and man that makes us free, and this truth is always positive and admits no negations whatsoever.

Once, when the writer was dining with friends, a child was asked if she liked a certain vegetable that was being served, "I do not think I like them; I have never learned to taste them," she replied. This answer reminded the writer of the many ways in which he was denying himself the fullness and freedom of God's infinite provision for His children simply by not being willing to learn more about Him and accept the invitation to "taste and see."

Sometimes the sufferer accepts Christian Science treatment as just another experiment, and this halfhearted acceptance often delays the good hoped for. It is always best to follow the advice of the Psalmist when he said: "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."

We should not think of refusing food if we were hungry; neither should we think of it as an experiment, for we have full faith in its nutritive value. Christian Scientists all over the world are proving daily that to put their full trust in Truth is no experiment. They are satisfying their every need from the amplitude of God's loving care and protection for His children; they are drinking from the fount which is pouring forth freely, and without stint or diminution, the healing power which is resident in a knowledge of Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and author of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," makes this statement on page 286; "The understanding of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual understanding is better than all burnt offerings."

We should not be surprised that our faith in material means and methods diminishes as we gain an understanding of Truth, for such understanding gives us an insight into, and increased confidence in, our relationship and coexistence with our Maker. It is better than burnt offerings, material forms, and superstitions, for it gives us a foundation for our being. It is healing and regenerating, for it changes sickness to health, sorrow to joy, and disturbances to peaceful experiences. Such tasting of divine provision changes our viewpoint from material imperfection and want to a feast of harmony and satisfaction, and we gain the assurance that our needs are not for material and temporal things but for spiritual ideas, which are our daily bread.

A Christian Science practitioner was called to the bedside of a man who was unable to swallow nourishment. The patient's fear of evil effects from this condition was extreme, and caused him much pain. He was asked to think about the Lord's Prayer and its spiritual interpretation, as given in the Christian Science textbook (pp. 16, 17) and to give special thought to the line, "Give us this day our daily bread," and its spiritual interpretation, "Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections." When the practitioner had concluded his treatment, he asked the patient to arise and attend church services, for it was Sunday morning. The confidence gained by seeing that the real need was not for material food, but for grace and Truth, caused the patient to be obedient, and he was able to enjoy the services and partake of solid food in the evening without discomfort or recurrence of the physical disorder.

Childlike acceptance of good makes us obedient to its demands, and these demands are that we put into practice what we understand of Truth. In proportion to our forsaking of erroneous beliefs for true concepts, abandoning sickness and distress for the healing Christ, we are tasting and seeing, we are trusting God for the unfoldment of good, and we are sharing the promise given in Malachi: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Can we truthfully say that divine Love cannot or will not meet our every need until we have given its ever-present power a trial, until we have brought "all the tithes into the storehouse"?

It is our duty to prove our divine heirship and inherit the blessings that are always ours for the using. When cares and discord would choke our activities and cloud our outlook, it is good to ask ourselves the question, "Why not try Christian Science, why not turn to Truth?" The writer is often reminded of the words of an old familiar hymn when cares try to claim undue attention:

Leaving ignorant, superstitious belief for the truth, we know God as the Master knew Him. Instead of believing God to be a far-away potentate, subject to anger, partiality, and possible cajolery, sending plagues of sickness and accident upon His children, we know infinite, ever-present intelligence as God, Spirit, Mind, Love. And we begin to know man, not of the earth, earthy, but in the image of his Maker, a spiritual being, not subject to matter or material laws, but having dominion over them.

This is the truth which the Master bade us know and be free. This is the truth he used in healing all manner of sin, sickness, and death, and this truth is operative today. It is the basis of all Christian Science healing. Knowing this truth, we obey the First Commandment, we ascribe all power and honor and glory to God, and we see that "there is no want to them that fear him."