The psalmist's words, "That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations," are deeply significant as understood in Christian Science. It is sometimes very easy for a mortal to believe that he has a genuine coin in his pocket, only to ascertain later on that it was a counterfeit. And so it is with what the world calls health. This same mortal may present the appearance of harmonious mental and bodily conditions, only to awaken later to the fact that his outward appearance of health was only a changeable human belief, founded upon the supposition of life and good in matter. Today he may boast of physical health and strength, and tomorrow he will declare that opposite conditions are in evidence.
Mrs. Eddy presents the subject of healing from the spiritual side, and always relates health to the divine Principle of being. She also sounds a clear note of warning against the approach of disease beliefs when she says (Science and Health, p. 402): "We say that one human mind can influence another and in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that we govern our own bodies." This is illustrated in the case of a man who starts out for work early in the morning feeling perfectly well, but after walking a few blocks he meets a friend who comments upon his appearance, remarking that he is looking pale. He is quick to assure his friend that he never felt better in his life. They part, and a few blocks farther on he meets another friend, who likewise comments upon his appearance. He still asserts his freedom from illness of any kind, but before meeting a third friend a sense of fear begins to assert itself, and the suggestion obtains that possibly there is something the matter after all. By the time the third friend tells him substantially what the first two did, the sense of fear is intensified, and he begins to admit, silently if not audibly, that he does not feel right. He reaches his office, feels miserable, tries to get interested in his work, but finds his thoughts dwelling upon himself. Within an hour or two he tells his associates that he is not feeling well and is going home. He leaves his office and goes to see his doctor, who makes a careful examination and assures him that there is nothing serious the matter with him, but recommends that he go home and rest for a day or two at least, and hands him a prescription to have filled. He pays his bill and goes home, the victim of an illusion, quite forgetful of the psalmist's assurance that God "healeth all thy diseases."
Thousands of people know of similar experiences. They are happening every day to people who are ignorant of Christian metaphysics. Right here some one may remind us that such a case is purely one of hypnotic influence. Very true; but wherein does it differ from the ordinary case of sickness in which hypnotism is supposed to play no part? In reality all such experiences are the result of hypnotic or mesmeric thought or belief. The instance cited was the result of voluntary mesmerism. In the first case the error of sickness was voluntarily suggested through different personalities, while in the second it was an involuntary suggestion of universal mesmerism.
