Christian Science is revolutionizing the cure of the sick, for it is proving that all disease is a mortally mental state rather than a condition of matter and that an opposite, or spiritual, state of consciousness heals it. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science and Founder of its Christianly scientific system of healing, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 377): "The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. Without this ignorant human belief, any circumstance is of itself powerless to produce suffering."

These words are fraught with comfort for the sufferer, for while flesh and its conditions may appear baffling, he can be confident that he is master of his own convictions concerning them. Furthermore, Christian Science provides him with new convictions—convictions based upon the revelation of God, Spirit, as All, and of man as His spiritual idea which He holds in a state of perpetual health and perfection.

These higher convictions, when held vividly in thought, transform and heal the so-called human self, for they advance one out of the mortal conviction that matter has actual existence, that man is a fleshly personality, and that Life and intelligence are material. They correct the belief that health is subject to physical laws over which God has no control, that man's nature is partly animal, and that life proceeds from flesh and is hedged within its limits.

Remembering the forceful words of Christ Jesus (John 8:46), "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" the student of Christian Science learns to challenge any evidence of mortal frailty or suffering with deep assurance of the unreality of error and to ask with the Master: Which of you convinceth me of matter, or of disease, or of discord? for I am confident that Spirit is All and that harmony is natural to man, Spirit's expression.

Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (pp. 217, 218), "To the material sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense takes in new views, in which nature becomes Spirit; and Spirit is God, and God is good."

From this statement it is evident that the change of convictions that heals the sick and destroys other discordant conditions involves more than a mere change of human belief from matter to Mind. It rests upon the actual perception of spiritual views of creation and demands the awakening and utilization of spiritual sense to discern these views, or true concepts. It requires purification of self and demands that actions do not belie spiritual convictions but harmonize with them. Cheerfulness, courage, and expectancy of good accompany scientific convictions, and questioning, whining, doubtful states of mind disappear.

By her discovery of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy became so thoroughly convinced of God's allness and of man's perfect existence in divine Mind that she was empowered to express the dominion which Truth bestows upon its own reflection. The reality of good and the nothingness of matter and discord were not abstract theories, but powerful, living truths with which she could confront the illusions of evil mind and force them to vanish as darkness before light. Her spiritual convictions and consequent dominion over error made it possible for her to write in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 2): "Absolute certainty in the practice of divine metaphysics constitutes its utility, since it has a divine and demonstrable Principle and rule—if some fall short of Truth, others will attain it, and these are they who will adhere to it."

If the student of Christian Science finds his courage weakening, his certainty of spiritual truth wavering, or his joy in the struggle for spiritual ascendancy lessening, let him examine his scientific convictions thoroughly and purify his thinking accordingly. Let him ask himself frequently: Of what am I convinced? Am I convinced there is but one creator and that creator is good? Am I convinced that matter is nothing and that God, Spirit, is All? Am I convinced that God's will is the law of the universe and that His will is done? Am I convinced that man is spiritual and that my true identity is that spiritual man, and that flesh and its ills are mortal illusions, which have no reality or existence?

Deeply, conscientiously, thoroughly, should the Scientist review the fact that he is responsible for the convictions which he entertains and that his troubles—no matter what their threat may seem to be— are nothing but mortal convictions. Let him be assured of the rule of Christianly scientific practice that his certainty and understanding of spiritual truth will determine the outcome of his case. As his assurance of God's universal control of creation increases, he will find the corporeal senses yielding up their false convictions, and will become conscious of the presence of eternal Spirit ever declaring, with complete conviction, its own allness and the consequent perfection of all being.

Helen Wood Bauman