THE twenty-eighth chapter of Acts gives an account of Paul's experience when he was shipwrecked on the island of Melita. In telling of the viper which came out of the fire and fastened on his hand, the Bible says that "he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm." Evidently the people of the island knew what was supposed to result from the bite of a viper, for it is recorded that they expected Paul to fall "down dead suddenly." Yet he simply shook off the viper "and felt no harm." This shaking off implies more than a mere physical act. Some sense of what was supposed to result from the bite may have suggested itself to Paul's thought, but his understanding of divine Love's allness, of God's perfect creation and of His unfailing care for His children, enabled him to shake off the false suggestion. Then, no longer did this belief exist so far as Paul himself was concerned. The false sense still held by the people of the island could not touch Paul because the belief had been eliminated from his thought.

Do not the false beliefs of disease, sin, and lack present themselves to us in just the same way? Many times we have instantly shaken them off and felt no harm. At other times we may have allowed them to cling to us instead of quickly dismissing them. In order quickly and thoroughly to destroy error we must heed the rousing admonition given by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, on page 390 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin."

Sometimes we attribute our inability quickly to overcome a difficulty to the erroneous thinking of those who know of our problem, or else to general mortal belief regarding it. But in the case of Paul, neither the thinking of the people around him, nor the general belief about snake bites, could hinder or reverse his demonstration. Paul was so convinced of the allness of divine Love, and of His constant care, that nothing could prevent or delay his demonstration of God's government. This absolute conviction of the allness of the one Mind and Mind's perfect law is necessary in order that we may shake off the belief that anything can hinder or reverse the healing activity of right thinking. Since divine Love is the only Mind, the thoughts which come from God are omnipotent. Wrong thoughts are therefore powerless; and this right understanding of God proves them so.

Instead of quickly dismissing a false belief, we are sometimes deceived into arguing for it on the basis that it has its origin and support in heredity, wrong environment, and so forth. We need quickly and persistently to shake off these false arguments with the true understanding of the one Father-Mother God, and of the one perfect, harmonious universe, wherein immortal man, our true selfhood, eternally dwells.

When the problem is a financial one, and mortal mind would give error power because there may seem to be a general business depression, we should cast out this false argument with the realization of what constitutes true business, true activity. We should immediately turn to the truth about God and man. On page 393 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man."

The less we stop to parley with a belief of sickness the easier it is for us to shake it off quickly and finally. We need to handle the arguments of error in accordance with the advice of our beloved Leader when she says (ibid., p. 218): "Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as intelligent, as having sensation or power."

In the temptations in the wilderness the Master peremptorily dismissed the false suggestions that came to him, the angels ministering unto him as he met the arguments of mortal mind. Holy thoughts, which lift one above mortal sense and tell one of God's presence and unceasing care, will also come to us as we quickly dismiss every argument which would oppose the truth of being.

Paul's experience with the viper must have raised his thought to the realization of God's love and care, and to this uplifted thought there came also the opportunity to heal others upon the island who were sick. We too shall have many opportunities of helping our fellow man as, through the understanding of divine Love's ever-presence, we learn to dismiss quickly every argument of discord.