How often we hear the lament, "I haven't enough understanding to demonstrate the healing power of Christian Science." While it is true that we all need spiritual understanding, let us bear in thought that mere knowledge of the letter of Christian Science is not in itself sufficient to heal the woes and ills of mankind. Mary Baker Eddy, the beloved Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 495), advises that we "study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit."

The patriarchs of old had very little of the letter compared to what the student of Christian Science today has at his command. Yet these venerable followers of Truth raised the dead and healed all manner of ills by a simple faith in the omnipotence and ever-presence of God. They understood somewhat the truth of being and through simple logic proved it to be practical. There is little doubt that they made every possible effort to gain as much of the letter as their times afforded, but it was their firm trust in God, divine Principle, which gave them spiritual dominion.

It is essential that we know the letter of Christian Science, It is, however, more essential that we imbibe the spirit of its practical usefulness. The amount of letter knowledge we have gained is not so important as the faith and confidence in the truth we declare, however small it may seem to be. Our need is to place full reliance on Truth, knowing that only good will be manifested.

This thought is well illustrated in the experience of a new student of Christian Science. A friend who had been stricken with a heart difficulty was in great need of help. Medical means had afforded no relief, and frequent attacks had rendered him quite helpless. At this point, having been informed that medicine could do nothing for him, he decided to take up the study of Christian Science. It seemed imperative that someone be with him at night to minister to his wants, and the beginner in Christian Science volunteered to fill this need.

The second night the victim suffered another attack. There was no telephone in the house and no practitioner within twenty miles. One of the first things we learn in the study of Christian Science is the ever-presence and all-power of God, and the student, having learned this, had confidence in God. It was evident that something must be done quickly. So he began to tell his friend about the power and presence of God. The truth flowed so freely, and his own thought was so uplifted, that all fear that the attack might prove fatal was completely overcome. In two or three minutes the afflicted one was entirely free, and he never again suffered an attack.

The Apostle Paul assured his Corinthian brethren (I Cor. 10: 13), "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." The great promise of Christian Science is that Love will always be Love, and its presence and power bring harmony into our daily lives. Wholehearted dependence upon unchanging Love destroys human belief in a power apart from God. It destroys the impulse that we must do something materially to help omnipotent God. Health and harmony are eternal facts and need no mortal aid.

In her definition of "creator" Mrs. Eddy includes these arresting words (Science and Health, p. 583): "God, who made all that was made and could not create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself." The realization of this fact frees human consciousness from the belief in another power, which is opposed to God, and establishes confidence in Truth. When we admit that God is All, we begin to see that He fills all space and that His spiritual universe must be filled with His ideas. We see that if God creates all, He must ever control all. The important thing to know is that the "all" which God creates, His universe and man, reflects the unlimited and perfect Mind that creates it.

The Psalmist sang (Ps. 8:4–6): "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ... Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." The natural conclusion must be that man reflects God's infinite nature.

That God has created man and endowed him with spiritual sense— the faculty of knowing spiritual being—is a fact that is fully sustained by the Bible. Science reveals this ability to know the pure nature of Soul to be one of the good and perfect gifts which, the Apostle James assures us (James 1:17). "is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Since man exists in a universe filled with truth and intelligence, it would not be possible for him to be without these qualities at any time. Understanding is a precious talent, which we must improve if we are to express in our human experience more of the dominion that God has given man, the idea of infinite Mind.

To imbibe the spirit of these great truths of Christian Science involves the application of them, for unless we demonstrate what we understand, our knowledge rests in the realm of theory. "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28). Then is it not wise to utilize the opportunity human experience affords to prove the healing efficacy of divine Principle? A childlike confidence in God's all-might and an understanding of man's perfection and of the unreality of material existence are the need. Knowing these truths and acting accordingly is proof that we have imbibed the substance of the letter we have studied.

God withholds not the understanding which enables us to demonstrate Him more fully. "This demonstration," Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 11), "is based on a true understanding of God and divine Science, which takes away every human belief, and, through the illumination of spiritual understanding, reveals the all-power and ever-presence of good, whence emanate health, harmony, and Life eternal."