Christian Science, the Comforter

Duncan Sinclair

In the days when Christ Jesus delivered his message to the multitudes who thronged his steps, numerous were the healings that took place, and great was the consolation he brought to suffering and sorrowful humanity through his understanding of divine law. To reveal that law was the mission of the Master; for it was given to him to know that through the application of it the world would be redeemed. And when Mrs. Eddy wrote in the Preface of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. xii), "In the spirit of Christ's charity,—as one who 'hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick,—she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth," she was plainly telling mankind of the comforting power of Christian Science, which reveals the law of God and its application to all human need.

To the spiritually unenlightened thought, human existence is an inscrutable mystery, a period of longer or shorter duration during which trials are the lot of men and all have the burdens of sorrow and suffering in some degree to bear. But is human existence an enigma after all? Christian Science declares that it need not be; that it only remains enigmatical so long as divine Truth is unknown. And Christian Science proceeds to teach mankind the truths of being, thereby clearing away its doubts, its misgivings, its fears, thus bringing consolation and comfort ofttimes beyond the fondest hopes.

But, some one may skeptically ask, does Christian Science really produce this greatly to be desired result? Does it heal disease, and so reduce suffering? Can it destroy sinful thoughts and put an end to sinful deeds? Is it able to wipe the tears of grief from the eyes of sorrowing humanity? Through Christian Science God does all these things. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Christian Science has actually healed humanity of its woes to an extent it would be difficult to estimate; and its beneficent work continues to-day over the wide area of the civilized world. Every case of the healing of sickness, sin, or sorrow testifies to the fact that Christian Science is the Comforter. Mrs. Eddy refers to it in precisely that way. On page 55 of Science and Health she writes, "In the words of St. John: 'He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.' This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science."

How, then, does Christian Science bring about the consolation and comfort of healing? By revealing the simple truths about reality, about that which really exists. It teaches that God is Love, infinite Love; and from this profound spiritual fact it deduces the truth that the real universe—God's real creation—exists, perfectly and harmoniously governed by the law of Love. Admit these spiritual truths, and it follows that the so-called material creation, with its sorrow and suffering and sin, is not God's creation. And if it be not God's creation, what is it? Christian Science, true to divine logic, declares it to be error of belief of the so-called human mind, a false concept of the real creation, an illusion of physical sense. Thus Christian Science, faithful to God as infinite Love, refuses to admit that disease and sin, with their train of suffering and sorrow, have any trace of reality about them. It maintains that all unlike good is utterly devoid of being.

What value have such declarations? This,—they heal disease and sin in the degree that they are realized. Let a person suffering from some form of sickness perceive the truth of the perfection of God's creation; let him affirm that truth to himself, denying the false belief which is binding him; then, whenever the realization of the truth which he is affirming is made, the healing takes place; he becomes free from that particular error of belief. Surely, when Christian Science brings liberty to the captives of material sense in that way, it is proving itself to be the Comforter.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all," says the Psalmist; "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved;" "The Lord preserveth all them that love him." If the Hebrews could sing the praises of God in far-off days in such words as these, how much more should we be able, with our greatly enlightened understanding of the divine nature, to praise His holy name! "Consolation and peace are based on the enlightened sense of God's government," says our Leader in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 283). The need of the hour is for this spiritually enlightened sense. Christian Science alone can supply it. The man or woman who is carrying the inspired message of Christian Science to the sorrowing and comfortless is a true benefactor of the human race.

Duncan Sinclair.

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