What Is a Demonstration?

SOPHIE ARGELANDER

Many who have turned to Christian Science and secured the assistance of some one who, as they think, has gained a better understanding of its teachings, are confronted sometimes, when the visible sign of physical betterment seems long delayed, by the question whether Christian Science really offers the means for deliverance from all the evils to which mortals are subject. In order to arrive at right conclusions premises must be right, and it is important, therefore, in every case of Christian Science treatment, that both the helper and the one seeking help gain a clear view with regard to what constitutes a demonstration in the sense which Mrs. Eddy has attached to this word.

In Science and Health (p.262) Mrs. Eddy says: "We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings—our efforts to find life and truth in matter—and rise above the testimony of the material senses." A superficial knowledge of what is termed "demonstration" in Christian Science is likely to prove an occasion of stumbling, in that the student may either speak of demonstrations in cases where that term cannot be applied with propriety, or else may become discouraged when that which he believes to be the chief demonstration, namely, material improvement, the sign visible to the senses, is not manifest within a short time. A correct sense of the word "demonstration," such as is conveyed in Mrs. Eddy's definition of it as "Immanuel, or God with us" (Science and Health, p. 34), would prevent such mistakes and keep us from being self-deceived and discouraged.

When through Christ, Truth, the true knowledge of God and of His perfect spiritual creation is revealed to consciousness, when we realize the fact of God's omnipresence, the false claims of mortal mind must disappear, no matter under what form they may have asserted themselves in thought. When we realize that God is with us, that is, that man reflects the divine presence, we can but express health, holiness, and purity; and mental states such as disease, sin, and impurity cannot continue. Any one who has observed the activities of divine Principle in their effect in the healing of disease and sin, has had abundant proof of the fact that honest, spiritual endeavor to lift one's self above sin and sickness must needs be followed by physical freedom. In the record of all cases in which healing was wrought by our Master, faith is spoken of as a condition which must precede the answer to prayer, the "signs following." The Master said to Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed;" and this makes it apparent that demonstration is largely dependent on a condition of faith in the individual's thought. Spiritual discernment of omnipresent good is something of which dense material sense is incapable, and Mrs. Eddy speaks of having been able to discern the mental sign of improvement in the patient before the patient realized the change (see Science and Health, p. 169).

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