Editorial July 8, 1911 Issue

THE HEALING WORK

Archibald McLellan

THE apostle Peter counseled his followers: "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you;" but there are many who, no matter how clearly a doctrine may be presented, refuse to be convinced thereby, and still demand, "Give me the ocular proof." Jesus apparently recognized this unwillingness to accept a merely verbal affirmation, for when he was questioned by John's messengers as to the validity of his Messiahship, he does not seem to have attached much value to words alone as a means to prove his claims. Instead, he showed the messengers, even as they waited for his answer, that through his ministry the sick were healed, the lame were made to walk, the deaf to hear and the blind to see; and then he bade them go tell John what they had seen and heard. Christian Scientists, therefore, as professed followers of the Master, should be able to make the same response to the question so frequently asked in regard to the truth of Christian Science; that is, they too should be able to heal the sick and the sinning who appeal to them for release from bondage. It should likewise be said of every Christian Science service that during its progress healing work has been done; and the full mission and usefulness of these services has not been attained unless this can be said.

Jesus declared, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," and the truth should be presented at every Christian Science service with such understanding and conviction as to reach all who are in distress and who are honestly seeking for the benefits our Master has promised to "them that believe." It is in fact the right of those who attend a Christian Science service to expect to be healed, and to have this expectation realized; therefore it is the duty of the readers so to know the truth that they also will expect this result to follow the reading of the Lesson-Sermon. While it is true that the reading should be correct and scholarly, when judged by the world's standards, this is not the sum total of good reading. There should be such a clear understanding of the spirit of the Lesson,—the product of daily living "unspotted from the world,"—as will make the readers' repetition of the words not merely a formality, but rather an impartation of the truth which heals; or, as Mrs. Eddy has so forcefully expressed it, "that the mental atmosphere they exhale shall promote health and holiness, even that spiritual animus so universally needed" (Manual, Art. III, Sect. I).

A careful study of the Lesson-Sermons shows that they consist of statements of truth topically arranged to elucidate some phase of man's relation to God, and that their mission is to clear away the erroneous impressions which have grown up through lack of understanding of His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Every Christian Science practitioner expects that the realization of the truth of being, of the allness of good and the unreality of evil, which constitutes a Christian Science treatment, will have the effect of destroying the false beliefs which hold his patients in bondage, and there is equal reason for those who conduct a church service to except that the reading of the Lesson-Sermon with the same realization of its truth will destroy the false beliefs of those who hear it.

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