On this program Emmett J. Hull of Jackson, Mississippi, told of his own experience, as follows:

As the result of continued wrong thinking, I lost my health while still a young man, and for four years life was mainly a battle to regain it. The trouble was diagnosed as an unusual inward goiter, and I tried everything that doctors could suggest, including two major operations, electrical treatment, change of climate, and diet, but my condition grew worse.

I knew of Christian Science, but had little regard for it, although I was quite startled one time when I was at a well-known clinic and asked the chief diagnostician about Christian Science. I still remember his surprising answer, "You could do much worse than to investigate Christian Science." And he proceeded to tell me of several Christian Science healings he knew about.

Later on I began to think seriously of the things a friend had been telling me for a year or more about Christian Science and wondered if they could be true. Finally I decided to ask this friend to bring me some of the Christian Science literature.

He responded at once, bringing several copies of the Christian Science Sentinel and his own copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Noticing the testimonies in the back of Science and Health, I read every one of them and was impressed and encouraged. Then I began with the Preface and read steadily through the book. In the meantime my sister, after reading one copy of the Sentinel through, had gone to the supper table and eaten whatever she desired without any unpleasant aftereffects—a thing she had not done for many years. Before I had read half of Science and Health, I was convinced it contained the truth that I had been unconsciously seeking. I then asked for treatment by a Christian Science practitioner.

That night I slept through the night without waking—the first time such a thing had occurred for nearly a year—and when I awoke I felt like a new creature. The feeling of awed surprise, mingled with hope and joy, was indescribable, and I realized that the practitioner understood a law the existence of which I had not previously suspected. I have since learned that this divine law is ever operative and available to all through the study of the Bible and Science and Health.

I applied myself diligently to the study of these books and made steady progress. Gradually I began to understand more and more of the divine Truth I was reading, and my thinking completely changed. As a result, the goiter condition disappeared and my health was restored in every way.

The commentary was as follows:

That was a wonderful healing, Mr. Hull. And the interesting part about it is that you learned so many lessons along the way—and were healed at the same time. I'm sure anyone who has been in urgent need of healing, as you were, can appreciate your surprise and joy when Christian Science proved to you that there is a law of God that can wipe out disease and suffering.

And, friends, the encouraging thing is that this same divine law is everywhere, all the time. It's available to you and me whatever our needs may be. We only need to understand it in order to see its effects in our affairs. Like the laws of arithmetic, it does have to be understood in order to be useful to us.

You know, I guess we're all inclined to cling to our own opinions. In fact, sometimes a sufferer is even provoked if someone tells him he can be healed through the power of God alone. But the fact is, honest receptivity opens the way to healing. Christian Science shows us that if we are willing to enlarge our concept of God—let go of dependence on matter—we can gain a growing understanding of God's healing and saving law, as our guest did. Healing may not always come overnight, but willingness to take the steps immediately available prepares the way for further progress. And no matter how stubborn or serious a difficulty may appear to be, or how long it has been going on, we can awake to God's healing law and find freedom.

This is illustrated so clearly in the Bible. Take, for example, the account in Luke of the woman healed by the Master, Christ Jesus, after she had been "bowed together" for eighteen years. Remember, when Jesus saw her he called her to him. And she must have been receptive, because she responded immediately and came to him. And then, with such great compassion, while all looked on, he assured her, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." She stood up straight for the first time in many years, completely free.

When questioned about this healing, Jesus' comment was, "Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?"

You see, friends, Jesus didn't accept the woman's affliction as incurable. He knew that under God's law it had no right to exist. He must have realized that actually affliction has no power to support it because it is contrary to God's will, which is always good. It was only a state of erroneous, darkened, mortal thinking that had crippled the woman physically. Jesus called it Satan. And because he knew the all-power of God and His law, he understood the powerlessness of any so-called material condition to hold man in bondage. This enlightened understanding healed the woman.

When you think of it, everything Jesus taught challenged physical laws. He proved there is no real law that can doom God's man to suffering or limitation. The Apostle Paul summed this up very forcefully in these great words: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." This same ever-present law healed our guest.

Now someone may ask why we say God's law is always good. In Christian Science we define God as the Bible declares Him to be— as divine Love, Spirit, Life, Truth. We also refer to God as divine Principle, the unchanging source of all real law. Now this divine Principle, Love, must be infinite good and good only—and from this we conclude that His law can only bless, and never harm or afflict anyone. His law is compassionate, kind, and warm, because God, divine Principle, is Love. In this law there are no mistakes, because God is Truth.

Now man, the image and likeness of God, can no more be cut off from God's perfect law than closing one's eyes could turn off the sun. As we actively realize this, our thinking is uplifted and purified, and the result is healing. Thus we see proof of this statement by Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" where she writes (pp. 380, 381), "Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God." And she adds farther on, "It is man's moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never inflicted by divine authority."

The musical selection on this program was Hymn No. 118 from the Christian Science Hymnal.