MARY BAKER EDDY, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (pp. 149, 150), "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee." What joy is experienced when first the truth of this healing statement is made manifest to the earnest seeker and student of Christian Science! Perhaps one has been healed of a physical disability; or perhaps some inharmonious condition in home affairs has yielded to the gentle ministration of Love, which blesses all concerned with the truer sense of home gained; or it may be that one has been rescued from a condition of persecution and injustice. Whatever the demonstration, there is no doubt that a step forward has been taken.
In the midst of rejoicing and gratitude, it is well to pause and consider what really has occurred in this healing experience. Has something real been healed, or has the unreality of something that seemed real been exposed and the error consequently destroyed? We know from our study of the Bible that God created all that was made and that He pronounced it "very good." There cannot be more than all; and, all being good, it follows as a necessary sequence that whatever claims to be other than good has no real existence, because it is not of God. We may readily see, then, that the one healed in Christian Science has been dispossessed of a false sense of things, of a false belief that discord had real existence and therefore was of God.
When one has grasped the fact that false belief is the culprit, and the corresponding fact that evil conditions are not and never have been real, because they never emanated from God, good, it should not be difficult to see that there should be no period of convalescence or slow recovery from disease or sickness, since the error of sickness has no place in Truth. A subtle form of error would lull one into a false sense by suggesting that someone has suffered from real sickness or disease, but is now getting well or is entirely recovered. While the regeneration manifested as a result of a right application of the truth is cause for great joy, the fact must not be lost sight of that the improvement shown is an evidence of man's unchanged perfection, which is being expressed in a manner understandable to human consciousness. The patient has recovered from the effects of false belief, which had claimed that a disordered condition actually existed and had power to attach itself to him; whereas, in reality, no such evil condition ever existed. This truth is not confined to the healing of bodily ailments alone, but is applicable to every circumstance in which one may find himself.
