CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THE SCRIPTURAL HEALING

MYRA EMMONS.

In the seventeenth chapter of the first book of Kings is related the healing, by the prophet Elijah, of the son of the widow of Zarephath. Studying this story in the light of Christian Science, its spiritual signification is found to be much greater than the mere words at first seem to indicate, for the spiritual understanding of the text confirms fully the fact that the healing which is today being wrought through Christian Science is identical with that which was performed by Jesus and occasionally by the prophets, when they, as Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 333), "caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love."

The account says that Elijah said to the widow, "Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed." The words, "And he took him out of her bosom," clearly indicate that Elijah perceived, through spiritual consciousness, the separation between the spiritual concept of man, in the image and likeness of God, perfect and immortal, and the false belief of a mortal origin; and that he in thought separated the child's spiritual identity from the material sense of the mother. He recognized the divine fatherhood and motherhood of God, instead of a material sense of parentage. Mrs. Eddy says, "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine" (Ibid., p. 14), and this separation Elijah made in understanding.

Elijah then took the child up; that is, realized the exalted identity of the spiritual idea; and the loft where Elijah abode, to which he carried the child, was synonymous with that upper chamber where Jesus took his disciples when he broke for them the bread of life. We next read that "The Lord heard the voice of Elijah," and that the child was awakened from the dream of death. When Elijah delivered the child to his mother, as the Bible expresses the action, the healing was made manifest in the flesh. The fact of the indestructibility of Life and of man as the idea of Life, was made fully apparent, even to the so-called material senses. Job says, "Though ... worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Well might this mother say to Elijah, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth."

The healing of so-called physical disease and the raising of the dead was then, as now, indisputable proof of the action of Truth. The chapter of which this specific account is a part is full of spiritual beauty and instruction for Christian Scientists, who have received through "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" the understanding to interpret it. When Elijah said, "Give me thy son," he asked the widow to surrender her material sense of motherhood to the higher spiritual sense of the infinite, divine motherhood, and when she had done this her son was restored to her, not dead, but alive through the power of Truth. We also see in this chapter that before this healing and awakening from the dead took place, many footsteps in scientific unfoldment had been taken both by Elijah and the widow.

Elijah had warned King Ahab of the drought that should come upon him and his people because of their disobedience, and in this punishment of material sense Elijah himself had to share, as the Christian Science practitioner must sometimes share the experiences of others in putting off the beliefs of material sense, for the brook Cherith, which was for a time his supply, "dried up, because there had been no rain in the land;" but Elijah's implicit obedience to the commands of God preceded each of his demonstrations. When told that the brook Cherith should supply him with drink and that the ravens should feed him, he went unquestioningly to the place to which God sent him; he allowed no mortal sense to lead him to reject the perception of the fact that Love was able to sustain him, even in the wilderness. He was, therefore, supplied with the water of life, and the birds of the air—representing messages of Truth and Love—brought him spiritual sustenance, which also was made manifest in the flesh.

When the brook failed, it was a call to higher demonstration. Every material source of supply was gone. It is not recorded that Elijah made complaint or expressed doubt or fear. He was not left to do so. We read that "the word of the Lord came unto him," and Elijah heard and obeyed the dictate of divine guidance, even though it led him into Zidon, the country of his enemies, where one of his greatest works was to be done. It led him to a woman whose need was greater than his own, for she was not only without sufficient supply herself, but was unable to meet the need of her son, who was dependent, as far as she knew, on her. Elijah was compelled to prove for her and her son, as well as for himself, that Spirit alone is the full and abundant and unfailing source of supply for all.

It is noticeable, also, that the woman's thought was receptive and obedient. She did not condemn God. She asked but one question—if it was for her sin that her son had been taken from her. She did not insist on an explanation, when Elijah said, "Give me thy son;" she surrendered, without complaint, her maternal grief to faith in God. Elijah has been called "the gospel prophet," and this great work which he performed shows how thoroughly he understood the nature of the Messiah, Christ, Truth, as the eternal Saviour of mankind. Christian Science is the again appearing of Truth, connecting all ages, past, present, and future, and proving the present immortality of man.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

THE LENS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

March 12, 1910

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit