When Naaman, captain of the Syrian host, received instruction from Elisha to dip himself seven times in the river Jordan, he became indignant, and had not his attendants prevailed upon him to do what the prophet required, Naaman would have returned to his home still a leper. He had expected Elisha to do some great thing, for in Naaman's eyes his condition was extremely serious and he thought it necessary for the prophet to do something remarkable in order to overcome such a disease. His amazement can well be imagined when he was completely healed by simply dipping himself seven times in the river.

The disease of which Naaman was healed may have been due to pride, self-righteousness, and disobedience. His treatment by Elisha was a direct rebuke to these errors. The prophet sent word to him by a messenger, deeply offending Naaman's personal sense by an apparent refusal to give proper credence to the seriousness of his condition and the importance of his position as a Syrian captain. The immediate healing of Naaman followed his obedience, and was doubtless accompanied by the destruction of false pride and self-righteousness.

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 404, 405), Mrs. Eddy has written: "Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth, make a man sick, and neither material medicine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body, unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him from his destroyers. The basic error is mortal mind." And she continues: "Christian Science commands man to master the propensities,—to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success."

It is noteworthy that Jesus never offered any complicated or technical rules or advice when asked how the kingdom of heaven might be attained. The very simplicity of his answers startled his opponents. These statements were already known to them, and were, therefore, scorned because they expected some deep and mysterious explanation. For instance, as recorded by Mark, one of the scribes asked Jesus which was the first commandment of all; and Jesus answered by citing that profound but simple statement, "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Few are willing truly to follow the path of thinking and living required by these commandments.

Jesus refused to take his gaze for a moment from the basic fact of one God, the only cause and creator, and the real man's oneness with God. He realized the supreme necessity of keeping this oneness paramount in thought, of seeing man always as God's own likeness. He plainly said that our eye must be single, that is, that the perfection of God and man must never be lost sight of. This simple basic truth underlies all the teachings of Jesus and of Christian Science.

"The fruit of the Spirit," writes St. Paul in his epistle to the Galatians, "is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Many persons interested in Christian Science and earnestly working out various problems may find themselves in the position of Naaman. They may be working on what is to them a difficult and important problem. They may feel that it takes profound understanding to meet their need, while entirely overlooking some fault of character which affects them constantly. Perhaps it is impatience, envy, disobedience, lack of gentleness, temper, criticism, condemnation, selfishness, untruthfulness, dishonesty, or some other error of thinking. These are some of the evils within our own mental household which we must destroy. They are the "strong man" which must be bound by each of us individually, in order to free our consciousness and to gain the Mind of Christ. Human ills and problems of every sort are bound up in human consciousness, with such errors, as was the case with Naaman, and the eviction of such errors, purifying human consciousness, heals mind and body, and brings the sunlight of Truth with its joy, freedom, and harmony.

The first step in the correction of these evils, which cause so much unhappiness in the world, is clearly to see the need for their overcoming, and to watch out thinking so constantly and firmly that they will not be permitted to make their reappearance. This effort will become easier as control over our thinking becomes more pronounced, and our vigilance more effective. Our lives will become sweeter to ourselves and to those with whom we come in contact, and many false beliefs will be dropped by the wayside, as we progress along the highway of Christian Science. It is surprising to observe that in correcting the simple things we rid ourselves of many things we considered big—those we thought would perhaps be the most difficult to work out. We discover that nothing can harm those who constantly express God's law in their thinking and living.

There is nothing strange about this. What St. Paul terms "the fruit of the Spirit" is but another way of indicating those qualities which are necessary to overcome the errors of human sense. To permit any erroneous thinking to govern us is to leave the straight and narrow way and delay our progress heavenward. It may require courage and effort to overcome faults of character, but the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," is the result of such effort; and the happiness we bring to others is reflected in the joy of our own lives.

On page 326 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy has written: "The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should. You have begun at the numberation-table of Christian Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement. Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way."

The prophet Micah declares, with beautiful simplicity, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" The Psalmist perceived this truth when he wrote, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."

Our need is to do God's will, to have only God's law operate in our thoughts and life, thus excluding and destroying the errors of sense and their manifestations.