TRUTH ALL-SUFFICIENT

Annie M. Knott

The blindness of mortals to their own best interests is nowhere more apparent than in the attempt to make the truth conform to their misconceptions of being and its laws. This is sometimes manifested in a demand that a Christian Science practitioner shall heal a patient who does not even desire the help of Truth and is not ready to give up material remedies, this demand being made on the ground that Jesus healed all who came to him, and that he did this on their own terms,—an assumption which is wide of the facts. From the standpoint of Christian Science the subject of Christian healing is the most sacred that can engage thought; and when we come to consider the work of the Master,—the mighty work for the doing of which he was finally brought to the cross,—we may well take off our shoes, for the place whereon we stand is holy. Mere speculation as to his motives or methods is of no value; the one all-important question is, How can we best achieve the glorious results which characterized his ministry, and thus "reinstate primitive Christianity"? to use our Leader's words. (Church Manual, p. 17.)

Of one thing we may always be sure, namely, that Jesus' constant effort was to do the Father's will, at any cost to human sense. At the outset of his public work he announced, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Again, at the close of that glorious career which was ever marked by self-abnegation, when within the very shadow of the cross, he prayed, "Not my will, but thine, be done." This was the one vital consideration, before which every other paled into insignificance,—to do the Father's will himself, and to aid others to do it as did he—by the submission of the human to the Divine.

In the long centuries which have intervened since his day, mortals have been doing their own wills, and agonizing over their painful efforts to bend to God's will in some one particular, when the understanding of Truth and obedience to it leads into wisdom's ways "of pleasantness" and "paths of peace." Of what avail is it to contend for material remedies in conjunction with Christian Science treatment, when we know that all through the centuries there have been prayers and potions, but no sure and certain means of approaching the Father "in spirit and in truth" to find His ever-ready aid? If prayer without a knowledge of spiritual law had been found sufficient for the healing of sickness, even when material remedies were relied upon, the thousands would not have turned away from time-honored material systems to find healing in Christian Science.

No one can justly claim that the effort to be healed by Christian Science is an uncertain venture, for all may acquaint themselves intelligently with its basic teaching by the study of its text-book, and by this means alone many are healed. As this book is studied, it becomes very clear to the reader that material means are not needed to assist the operation of the spiritual law which heals; that, on the contrary, a belief in them hinders the needed recognition of Truth's presence and power. Jesus once said, "The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have, believed that I came out from God." Those who are healed in Christian Science love this truth because they know that it comes from God, and thus they draw near to the life-giving touch of divine Love. They learn that the service of Truth admits of no divided allegiance, and as of old the tender, compassionate Christ answers the prayer, "Help thou mine unbelief;" then thought rises above all false evidence to say, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;" or, in our Leader's words, "God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All" (Science and Health, p. 17).

Annie M. Knott.

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