It is well known that many thoughtful people have been far from certain that the truth was even predominantly good. They have feared that the power underlying the universe might be essentially unfavorable to men, that it might defeat and destroy them in spite of their best efforts. Even those who have heeded Christ Jesus' clear teaching of victory for mankind and for every individual have had their phases of doubt. Because of their inadequate grasp and use of his teaching, they have often been prompted to pray in the words of the apostles, "Increase our faith."
The great service of Christian Science, for those who have already been Christians and those who have not, is that it does just this. It increases the student's faith until it ceases to be mere faith, and becomes unqualified, scientific assurance—assurance that the power back of the universe is utterly good, and that, far from being unfavorable, it is actively and adequately favorable to men, all men.
This conviction dawns on students of Christian Science in different ways, according to their different approaches to the subject. To one, for example, it was evident first during his repeated reading of the chapter on Prayer in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. He was aware, as he studied this chapter, of a new sort of peace, a growing quiet conviction that the Principle or cause of all being, named God, is intelligent and kind. He was grasping the scientific truth that the troubles and uncertainties of mankind are not in the nature of things, as he had feared, but are phenomena of insufficient understanding, and therefore can be corrected, all of them, by better understanding.
