On this program Harry S. Smith of Atlanta, Georgia, told of his own experience. The program was as follows:

Speaker: Sometimes those who have been suffering from a chronic ailment accept it as something they just have to live with. But our guest today proved that this is not necessary. He's going to tell us how a better understanding of God brought him lasting freedom from a chronic illness. We'd like you to meet Harry S. Smith of Atlanta, Georgia. Won't you tell us of your experience, Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith: Well, as a child, and later as a young man, I was a chronic sufferer from attacks of what was then called tonsillitis. When this condition became more severe, the physician diagnosed it as quinsy. I can recall that these attacks occurred regularly every fall and would frequently last for several weeks. During this time I suffered considerable discomfort and could eat no solid foods, only liquids.

I was not at that time a student of Christian Science; in fact, I had never even heard of it. So during these attacks I was attended by our family physician. After every attack he would tell my parents that I should undergo an operation for the removal of my tonsils. Otherwise, he said, I would suffer increasingly severe attacks, and as I grew older, other serious ailments would also result. However, I constantly put off the operation, even though the doctor continued to urge it.

After I married, my wife and I became interested in Christian Science as the result of a very remarkable healing of our baby daughter, after other means had seemed unable either to diagnose the illness or to cure it. Now, you might think that after such an experience as that we would both take up the study of Christian Science seriously. My wife did; but I must confess that I was so busy with my daily affairs that it was not until several years later that I realized how much I too needed this practical religion and began its earnest study. Then I suffered a return of the old ailment, tonsillitis. This time I decided to rely completely on Christian Science treatment. A Christian Science practitioner was called for treatment through scientific prayer, and the case was met quickly.

Then, in about a year, the condition showed up again, I called the practitioner for help once more. This time the practitioner made so clear to me the perfection of man as the child of God, untouched by sickness or disease, that the healing was immediate and has been permanent.

Then, a few years later, I had an interesting experience in connection with this healing. I had accepted a new position which required a physical checkup. The examining physician learned of my former trouble and was particularly careful in his examination of my throat and tonsils, checking them twice very thoroughly. He finally pronounced me in perfect condition and closed the interview by stating that if he had not known of these attacks, he never would have suspected it.

Today, after twenty-five years, I am grateful to be able to say that there never has been a return of this condition, nor have I ever suffered from any of the other ailments which had been predicted.

Speaker: Mr. Smith, your experience certainly offers hope to all who find themselves in bondage to recurring illness. You proved beyond question that sickness need not be chronic, that it can be permanently healed when it is understood that disease is not created by God, and that it is therefore nothing but a dream.

There certainly are times when sickness or inharmony seem very much more real than just a dream. So the question naturally arises, On what basis is it logical to say that sickness is just a dream? And if this is so, how does one awaken from such an unpleasant dream?

There are many illustrations of such awakenings in the healings recounted in the Bible. Take for example the chronic sufferer at the gate of the temple who was immediately healed by Peter and John. You will remember that Peter said to this man, who had been lame from birth, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." And the account in Acts continues: "And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

And so we can turn to the Bible for our inspiration and instruction. There we are told that man is the child of God, made in God's own image and likeness. Now in order to be the image and likeness of God, Spirit, man must be spiritual and perfect—always. Such perfection certainly could never include a single element of sickness or recurring discord. The healing works of Christ Jesus and his disciples clearly point to this fact.

It is on this basis, then, that Christian Science teaches that disease. whether it seems to be recurring illness or any other trouble, is merely a dream or an illusion. And sickness disappears permanently when we awaken to the fact that man, as God really made him, can never be less than perfect. No matter what the condition or circumstance, each one of us can begin awakening right now to the fact that discord, which seems so real, is actually not connected with the real life of man, as a child of God.

Mary Baker Eddy gives us definite instruction on this subject in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" where she declares (pp. 380, 381): "Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the illusion that you are sick or that some disease is developing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temptation on the ground that sin has its necessities."

Like the mother who awakens her child from a nightmare, the Christian Science practitioner understands that any inharmonious condition is a dream from which his patient needs to be awakened. The discord is no part of God or of His creation. Practitioner and patient work together, prayerfully realizing and affirming the reality and all-power of good and the complete unreality of evil.

In gaining his healing, our guest was helped in just this way, and the healing came immediately and permanently after it was clearly understood that man is the perfect child of God, untouched by sickness or disease.

We find that an enlightened understanding of the real man's constant and unchanging perfection frees us from suffering and trouble. It gives a higher meaning to this great command of the prophet Isaiah: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

The musical selection on this program was "Softly and Tenderly" by Will L. Thompson.