Article October 27, 1923 Issue

It is now generally known that Christian Science healing...

Mrs. Katherine English, Committee on Publication for British Columbia, Canada,—Vancouver

Daily World

It is now generally known that Christian Science healing of sin and disease, as well as all discordant conditions of mind, body, or estate, is brought about by prayer. "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love," says Mrs. Eddy, on the first page of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This absolute faith is not blind belief or mere credulity; it is a demonstrable understanding of God, who is Spirit, and of His law, which is spiritual, not material. The question is often asked, What is the difference between the metaphysics of Christian Science and other methods of religious healing? Christian Science declares that God is Spirit, all Life, Truth, and Love, filling all space and comprising all true consciousness. It then departs from popular theology by holding logically and entirely to the correlative truth that evil and matter, the supposed opposites of God, with their seeming results of sin, disease, and death, have but a fabulous existence—are but the supposed negation of the truth, which a proper knowledge of Truth dispels. Neither evil nor matter is to be found in God; and Christian Science is built upon God as the sole cause and origin of all that really and eternally exists in truth. All other systems are based upon the belief of life and intelligence in matter and of good and evil commingling in creation.

Thus Christian Science is entirely different from any system except that employed by Jesus and the early church. It is not what is called "faith cure," working upon human belief. Mere belief in the power of God to heal may remove bodily ailments for a season, but it does not necessarily advance the patient spiritually and morally; nor does it give him a demonstrable understanding of the nature of God and of the real man, wherewith to defend himself from sickness and sin, as does Christian Science. It is easier to believe in truth than to learn to understand it; far easier to have faith in another's vicarious sacrifice than to obey the Scriptural injunction, "Work out your own salvation."

Autosuggestion or suggestion in any form is foreign to Christian Science. One cannot gain or impart a knowledge of Truth by suggestion. Of what avail would it be for a teacher to suggest to his pupil the correct answer to a sum? The boy might accept the suggestion, write it down and even obtain good marks for having the right figures on his paper, but even if he were made to believe that he was improving every day, would he have gained any proper knowledge of arithmetic by the process of suggestion? On the contrary, he must acquaint himself intelligently with the rule, and apply it correctly to the given example, if he is to avail himself of the science of numbers. Otherwise he will be apt, owing to his ignorance, to accept an erroneous suggestion with the same readiness, when occasion offers. Just so, it is as impossible to learn or to demonstrate Christian Science through suggestion as it is to teach arithmetic by such a method. Pretense and self-deception will never destroy sin; human will-power can never heal sickness; nor is mere optimism, without a spiritual basis for its hope, a sure foundation whereon to build a character or a business; but the recognition of God as infinite, ever present Love works wonders wherever it is found. As the natural musician may render a simple melody with no knowledge of the science of music, so in all ages men holy and humble of heart have healed the sick through an intuitive understanding of divine Love. Without a knowledge of its science, the full grandeur of music cannot be expressed; nor can we hope to bring out the glorious harmony of existence unless we gain some comprehension of the Science of Life.

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