Article August 14, 1915 Issue

Love's Ministry

OLIVER M. CUNNINGHAM

One who has received without question the belief of the majority of Christian people,—that the healing works of Jesus of Nazareth were for his time only, and for those alone who came under his immediate ministry,—and who believes unquestioningly that the days of so-called miracles are past, cannot understand the expressions made by Christian Scientists of faith in the continuity of God's loving and active relation with man, though these declarations are made with the clearness and fearlessness of demonstrable truth. Even when fortified with proof as clear as that which he would accept as conclusive in his daily affairs, one does not receive with patience these statements that the laws of God are as operative and available for good now, and in every phase of human experience, as when utilized by the Master and his immediate disciples.

To one who is satisfied with a fragment of the Christly garment, the promise "My presence shall go with thee" has not now a part in the experience of every-day life, where the so-called laws of nature hold cruel and merciless sway; nor to one who is content with a limited perspective of a far-off God, has the blessed assurance "I will heal thee" the significance of a promise kept. And yet he who has received even the faintest gleam from the light of Christian Science, knows that this light is the dawn of that knowledge of God which reveals spiritual law, the law of health, holiness, and immortality, and which brings freedom and dominion. He knows that this message of Love's saving power is continuous for all time and for all peoples; that Truth is as surely corrective of error as in Jesus' day, as capable of demonstration and realization by humanity as when the Master was about the "Father's business" in Palestine.

That this is true was made plain in an experience shared by the writer last summer while accompanying a party of friends on an excursion off the California coast. There were in all about sixty people aboard,—the boat's capacity. The day proved a rough one, with the sea running high and breaking now and then over the deck. When we had been out half an hour, the engine suddenly stopped and we were apparently at the mercy of a pitiless power which knows no distinction between good and evil and which respects neither saint nor sinner. The captain hurriedly left the wheel and ran down the ladder into the engine-room, but Truth was already in command. It was learned afterward that the engineer told the captain to get back on deck and assure the passengers that there was nothing the matter with the engine, save some water in the carbureter, and this would soon dry out. He added, however, that if the passengers should get excited there was no telling what would happen.

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