The Word of God is powerful to heal. It is so powerful that those who have felt its influence and recognize its importance in the world know that no effort is too great for them to put forth to guard its purity in their own consciousness.

These people shun profanity, vulgarity, gossip, and other modes of evil speaking. They turn away, too, from descriptions of disease and discord. They detect that any impure thoughts and words put in question the power of God to maintain His creation in perfect harmony, and voicing them is therefore to be avoided.

When we understand the importance of keeping our thought and conversation at the highest level, we may sometimes wonder how we can defend ourselves against hearing and speaking evil while still mixing with people in general daily life. Some have found the answer in the Bible promise: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." Then the psalm continues, "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." ^{Ps. 91:1-3;}

Everyone can be delivered from "the noisome pestilence" of objectionable conversation among friends and business colleagues by retiring into "the secret place of the most High." At the same time one can be assured of having increasingly delightful and inspiring companionship. The secret place is not a secluded hermit's cave where one dwells apart from society, insulated against the world's offensiveness. Christian Science shows it is a spiritual state of the consciousness of God's, divine Love's, allness and the goodness of His creation. It accompanies those who treasure it everywhere they go, in the street, the supermarket, and the social meeting place as well as in the home. And it ensures for them a pure and spiritually helpful relationship with congenial people.

More than a personal protection against the onslaught of verbal offensiveness on the part of others, this spiritual consciousness can transform the entire mental atmosphere surrounding the individual who expresses it and bring the others a blessing. Just one person in a group, recognizing and living the truth that the divine Mind, God, is all-power, can do much to elevate the collective thought and purify it of materialistic traits. General conversation will then improve dramatically in tone and content—especially where the natural tendency of the others is also to gravitate toward higher, more moral and spiritual spheres. Such individuals easily respond to the Christ, the true idea of God, and the understanding of man as God's perfect, spiritual offspring, reflecting the pure, healthful qualities of Spirit. They gladly drop vulgarity and material-mindedness and express themselves more graciously.

But when response to the Christly consciousness of spiritual being is lacking—when the thought of others is too firmly anchored to earth to give up voicing evil—our deliverance from "the noisome pestilence" may take a different form. The understanding of divine Love's presence may lift us mercifully out of the materialistic atmosphere into a setting that will much more nearly represent our emerging state of thought and promote our further growth Spiritward. Alternatively, it may move the others to a different place.

A warning anciently said to have been written by Paul to the young and vigorous Timothy remains as a guide to us today: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker." ^{II Tim. 2:15— 17;}

The modern follower of Christ Jesus should know that it is highly important to avoid getting involved with "vain babblings"—both for his own welfare and for the welfare of the world's troubled, spiritually hungry people. Only so can he help them through the expression of the same Word of God that has so greatly blessed him. If his understanding of God's presence does not quickly transform the offensive scene, he knows he must make a conscious effort to escape from it to a healthier mental climate. Mrs. Eddy says, "Never breathe an immoral atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it." And she adds, "Better is the frugal intellectual repast with contentment and virtue, than the luxury of learning with egotism and vice." ^{Science and Health, p. 452;} The logic of events will always eventually unfold needed lessons to render unreceptive thought responsive to the healing touch of Christ. Until that moment of development arrives, however, the Christian's responsibility must be to nurture in his own thought the precious Word of God in its purest terms.

Christ Jesus healed desperate cases of discord through the divine Word, and so may we. But the power to heal through this Word belongs consistently only to one who is habitually faithful to it, allowing his mouth to speak only in a manner that shows the spirit of God is active in him. If even occasionally his tongue lapses into "profane and vain babblings"—into the utterance of words that lead to the spread of cankerous thinking—how can he expect to speak the healing Word of God in such a manner as to heal bodily disease?

Surely, then, the prayer of the aspiring Christian healer must constantly be, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." ^{Ps. 19:14.}

Naomi Price