Article August 11, 1923 Issue

According to the Scriptures, God, the creator of all, is...

Charles E. Heitman, Committee on Publication for the State of New York,—Patchogue

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According to the Scriptures, God, the creator of all, is Spirit. This being true, it logically follows that His creation, including man, must be spiritual. It is, in fact, just this point which establishes an impassable gulf between the purely spiritual system of healing practiced by Christ Jesus, and accepted in its entirety by Christian Science, and the various suggestive and material methods, all of which acknowledge the reality of matter with its various phases of disease. In the statement, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing," Jesus not only indicated this difference between the two systems, but likewise emphasized the effectiveness of the spiritual, as opposed to the material. This statement of the Master also completely disposes of our critic's argument that water, or matter in any form, is to be regarded as a divine agency. Indeed, speaking specifically on this subject and using water as a symbol to make plain his spiritual teaching, he said to the woman of Samaria who was drawing water from Jacob's well, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;" and then added, "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Thus did he clearly point out to her that as we come into an understanding of Spirit as substance, things material will cease to appear real and essential to us.

It is seen from the foregoing that Christian Science takes the position that since the flesh, with all the diseases to which it seems heir, is unlike good, it is unlike God, and is therefore without reality as a part of His spiritual universe. Christian Science further holds that inasmuch as diseased conditions are primarily due to a false, material belief entertained by the human mind, of which the so-called material body is but a subjective state, it logically follows that freedom from such effects must come through the operation of spiritual truth on human consciousness. Paul, knowing this, was able to say, in substance, that we renew our bodies through the renewing of our mind. It will also be recalled that Jesus left no room for doubt as to the power of Truth to free us from all untoward conditions when he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The Master's use of the word "know" in connection with truth is particularly significant. He says nothing about the mesmeric repetition of formulas, but stresses our need to think, to know, to understand. It was by means of this spiritual understanding that Jesus was enabled to cast out devils and heal the sick. Moreover, we have it on his definite authority that just in the measure that we attain to his understanding shall we be able to do likewise. Therefore, when Mrs. Eddy instructs her students to make their own terms with sickness and to protest against disease, hereditary or otherwise, she distinctly means that they should make terms with sickness on the basis of their understanding as to what constitutes the real selfhood of man in the image and likeness of God. In a word, they are expected to know and to affirm the truth about man's true nature and character.

Manifestly it would not be suggestion to affirm the truth about a mathematical statement in correction of a false belief regarding it. In so doing one would simply be protesting against the error and making terms with it, if you please, on the basis of his mathematical understanding. May I ask, Was Jesus using mental suggestion or speaking from the standpoint of his profound understanding of divine Truth when he said to the centurion, "Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee;" and when the servant in whose behalf the centurion had appealed for help, though many miles removed from the sound of Jesus' voice, was instantly healed; and again, when he said to Lazarus, who was dead, "Come forth," and immediately he was restored to life? Surely our critic must see that it takes something more than an unthinking repetition of words to accomplish such healing works. Indeed, all must come to see some day that Christian healing results now, as in the time of Jesus, through the activity of divine ideas by means of spiritual understanding and not, as our critic seems to think, from planting such ideas in the human mind by means of autosuggestion. In this connection thought turns to the experience of Peter and Philip with that well-known hypnotist of another day, Simon by name, which is described at some length in the eighth chapter of the book of Acts. It will be recalled that Peter sharply rebuked this well-meaning but nevertheless misguided believer in the power of human will, and said plainly to him that he had neither part nor lot in the purely spiritual method of healing being practiced by the apostles.

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