Christian Science does not teach any use of the so-called...

Willard J. Welch—Keokuk, Iowa

The Gate City

Christian Science does not teach any use of the so-called human mind,—suggestion, mesmerism, hypnotism, occultism, spiritualism, or any degree or measure of so-called mental influence. Its statement to the human mind is the still, small voice of Truth, which reveals God as Spirit and His child as spiritual, and hence immune from all beliefs of evil.

It is a mistake to say that Christian Science teaches that "realization and affirmation" are effective "up to a certain point in creating or bringing into manifestation desirable conditions." Let us see. An affirmation may be either true or false. A liar intending to deceive may make an affirmation of falsehood. The ignorant may unwittingly affirm error as truth. Is it not evident that the sole potency of an affirmation lies in the truth of the affirmation?

Few persons will deny the truth of the affirmation, "God is good." This is a basic statement of Christian Science. All Christian admit that, as John says, "all things were made by him [God]; and without him was not any thing made that was made." It follows that God and His creation comprise all that exists. God is Spirit. He made man in His own image and likeness. Man therefore is not "spirit" but spiritual; that is, he possesses through reflection the qualities of Spirit, God, his creator and Father. Further, God must be perfect, and it likewise follows that man in His image is also perfect; that is, expresses perfection. Christian Science teaches the sick man the truth about God and about himself as the son of God. This enables him to see and to affirm the truth, which is potent to lift his thought our of his mistaken sense of life into reality,—into the desirable condition of health and right living, conditions not created by his affirmation but recognized by it.

The work of Christian Science is so to correct human thought as to unfold the understanding of the truth; namely, that God is, that He made all, and that all conditions for man and the universe are already perfect and have only to be seen and recognized as such. That what we call human existence is not the reality of being has for ages been perceived by great thinkers. Wordsworth calls it "a sleep and a forgetting." The truth about God and man is awakening many from the dream of suffering, drunkenness, discouragement, poverty, loneliness, self-depreciation, discontent, homelessness, uselessness, and oppression. This is why men turn to Christian Science.

The nothingness of matter as taught in Christian Science is the simple, direct deduction from the basic truth of Christian Science; namely, that God, Spirit, is all, and there is none beside Him. The writings of Mrs. Eddy clear up this much discussed and greatly misunderstood question. It is manifest that the healings of Jesus were entirely through spiritual methods. Those who came to him he healed through the truth. As the psalmist says, "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." The only mystery in spiritual healing lies in the darkness of doubt and materiality. Faith and spirituality always have recognized that "with God all things are possible." In all ages some lovers of God have healed the sick through the power of God.

It is true that "spiritual truth cannot be successfully trafficked in, bought and sold;" also that those who "commercialize" their healing powers "tend to lose them." To put it more directly, one who thinks he can "commercialize" or put on a money basis the healing of the sick through spiritual means shows that he has already lost to a large degree that love for God and man which made such healing possible. This does not mean that the words of Jesus, "The labourer is worthy of his hire," are not true, nor that the man or woman who devotes time to the study of the truth and its practice for the healing of the sick should not receive a just reward for this labor of love. Money is our modern medium of exchange and it is compatible with dignity and with decency that those who devote time to the practice of Christian healing should receive suitable and just remuneration.

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