When Mary Baker Eddy's Miscellaneous Writings was compiled, the illuminating chapter "Testimonials" was included. Among these letters from many pioneer students of Christian Science is an account of a wife's prayerful work for her husband. The writer of the letter reported: "The wife simply recognized no reality in the belief, and, seeing only perfect being, felt no fear. She did nothing,—no 'treating' in the usual sense. There is nothing to do but to understand that all is harmony, always. He felt the presence that destroys the sense of evil, and next morning—there was nothing left to recover from." Mis., p. 420;
"Nothing to do but to understand"! No personal responsibility, no pleading with God for healing, no maneuvering to bring about results, no need of medical dosing or surgery. A person's human identification, where he lives, what his background is, his race, his income, his business connections, are of no consequence in God's sight. All that matters is how thoroughly one understands that "all is harmony, always"—the ineffable stillness of knowing God.
How keenly the letter writer had grasped the deeper significance of spiritual understanding as Mrs. Eddy taught and demonstrated it! Page after page of her writings urges upon the reader the necessity of understanding the truth of God and man to find one's way out of inharmony. At one point in Science and Health she says simply, "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony." Science and Health, p. 390; Here, indeed, is the basis of all Christian Science healing work —the right understanding of God.
