Article May 4, 1957 Issue

ERADICATION

FREDERICK J. SAVAGE

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy tells us (p. 400), "Eradicate the image of disease from the perturbed thought before it has taken tangible shape in conscious thought, alias the body, and you prevent the development of disease." It is doubtful if any word in the English language expresses so clearly and completely the required action as the word "eradicate." A dictionary defines the word thus: "To pull up by the roots; root out; hence, to destroy thoroughly; extirpate."

At first sight one may wonder why such an emphatic, far-reaching term is necessary for the removal of a mere thought or imagination. Surely, if one has entertained a thought or imagined something, this is entirely disposed of when discarded and replaced by another thought or image.

When we run the mower over our lawns and cut down both grass and weeds, the weeds seem so unobtrusive as to merit no special attention. Yet as growth resumes, the intruders become aggressive; they stand out above the desired growth; they crowd the legitimate occupant of the land and again disfigure the lawn. We are forced to the necessity of giving specific attention to individual weeds, taking them out by drastic means, going down to their deepest roots; in a word, we have to root out, to eradicate, the aggressors.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

ERADICATION

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access