Editorial February 12, 1910 Issue

"EVERY WHIT WHOLE"

Archibald McLellan

A Peculiarity that has long been noticed by Christian Scientists is that those who have criticized their faith from a theological standpoint, frequently have been willing to grant the possibility or even certainty of its value as a healing agency, while many of those who have criticized it from the view-point of a physician have been equally ready to admit that its theology is productive of good results. They have also noticed that the present-day layman critic is distinctly inclined to admit that Christian Science both heals and saves, although he undertakes to attribute this healing and regenerating power to the use of suggestion, rather than as resulting from the operation of divine Mind.

These criticisms represent a house divided against itself; therefore, according to Scriptural authority, a house which cannot stand. Criticism such as this is representative of that which would explain rather than understand, forgetting that understanding must precede lucid and convincing explanation. The one class of persons who can explain Christian Science is composed of those who can demonstrate it, and fortunately for mankind the number of those who can and do demonstrate this revivification of the Christ-healing is constantly increasing. Most person become acquainted with Christian Science through healing experienced by themselves or by members of their family, after which there is usually an effort to understand how the healing is done. Gratitude, too, plays an important part in the spread of this healing, saving gospel, for those who have been rescued from the depths of despair, whether of sickness or sin, are eager to stretch out a helping hand to their brothers who are still struggling with evil. The healing of other persons through the knowledge thus gained follows; and so the good news spreads, in ever-widening circles.

The thousands of testimonies which have been published in our periodicals show that along with the healing of disease a spiritual regeneration of wasted lives is brought about by Christian Science, and though gratitude for relief from physical stress may at first predominate, there is sooner or later a recognition of the profound truth that the physical healing is only a concomitant of the greater work of spiritual transformation. They also show that suggestion has nothing whatever to do with this work, and that the divine Mind alone is depended upon for the healing, as well as for the moral regeneration. As a matter of fact, the results obtained through Christian Science prove that mortals must be healed of both moral and physical defects, in order to be made "every whit whole."

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