Our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes: "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." Science and Health, p. 495; According to Christian Science, sickness is an illusion, not a physical disorder, not a condition of matter, but a mistaken sense in human thought.
All through her writings Mrs. Eddy makes it clear that sickness is contrary to wholesome well-being, that whatever form it claims to assume it is error of thought, not physical fact. Sickness is therefore to be dealt with as mental error—false belief —not as a physical condition, and she tells us how to meet this false belief. We are to "cling steadfastly to God and His idea," and to "allow nothing but His likeness"— the likeness of Life, Truth, and Love—to dwell in our thought. Sickness cannot find credence in thought that is filled with spiritual truths.
Mrs. Eddy follows the above counsel with the words, "Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not." She does not say that we should try to cling to God and His idea. She tells us to cling—to cling steadfastly. To hold unswervingly to God and His idea under whatever the human circumstances may be, is our protection from sickness and our freedom and exemption from the distresses it would impose.
