Scientific Demonstration

Albert F. Gilmore

The student of the four gospels can scarcely fail to be impressed with the conclusiveness of Christ Jesus' proof of God's ever-presence, of His availability and power to meet the needs of mortals. Jesus' demonstrations met a great variety of human wants, ranging all the way from the lack of sufficient wine at a marriage feast to the raising of the so-called dead, and even to the resurrection of his own body after his enemies thought they had destroyed his life. He healed all the woes common to mankind, supplied every lack, thereby proving that God is supreme, infinite, All. If we examine, step by step and item by item, the details of the Master's teaching, we shall find no place where he advised the acceptance of materiality as reality, or of so-called physical law in place of divine law. He literally gave no power to the claims of the material universe, that is, to error; and he disregarded its laws whenever they lay across the way which he wished to traverse in the fulfillment of his mission. He was, indeed, the great Exemplar of scientific demonstration, proving the power of Spirit to be supreme under all conditions.

The student of Mrs. Eddy's teachings learns that by demonstration alone does he gain the proofs of spiritual power which entitle him to the name Christian Scientist. Our Leader is definite in her statements regarding this. On page 345 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says, "One who understands Christian Science can heal the sick on the divine Principle of Christian Science, and this practical proof is the only feasible evidence that one does understand this Science." How conclusive are her words! By demonstration alone does one prove his position spiritually. The author of the book "Abraham Lincoln: A Man of God" states that the great Emancipator became fully convinced in his youth that demonstrable knowledge was necessary to enable him to succeed. For this reason, it is said, he studied Euclid until he could state and prove every proposition contained in that book. Thus he came to know what it meant to prove his way.

Christian Scientists are sometimes tempted to confine their applications of spiritual law to the healing of physical infirmities or of some other acute form of lack; they do not apply spiritual truth to all the experiences of life in the degree that Christ Jesus and our revered Leader did. Satisfied, apparently, to limit their demonstrations to what they deem the more serious problems of life, they pursue the accustomed ways of humanity in many of their minor affairs. It were as though they forgot the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, thereby limiting "the Holy One of Israel" in His capacity to meet all the needs of mankind.

The reasons were many why all who were invited did not come to the feast prepared by "a certain man," as related in the gospel of Luke. In this parable, which Christ Jesus used so effectually, all who were invited had, apparently, good excuses. The first told the servant bearing the invitation, "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it." Another insisted, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them." Another, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." All, it seems, for reasons sufficient to themselves, refused the invitation. Can one doubt that the Master drew this pertinent lesson to illustrate the unwillingness of so-called mortal mind to exchange its cherished objects, which are the outward manifestation of its own beliefs, for its unlikeness, spiritual Truth, its sure destroyer? The fact that when the Christ, Truth, enters human consciousness, evil beliefs disappear, fully explains this ancient antagonism between Spirit and matter.

The wise Christian Scientist, knowing the claims of error to intelligence and power, utilizes spiritual understanding not alone in what seem to be the larger problems of life, but in its details as well. In speaking of the baptism of the Holy Ghost as "the spirit of Truth" which cleanses from sin, Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 204): "By purifying human thought, this state of mind permeates with increased harmony all the minutiæ of human affairs. It brings with it wonderful foresight, wisdom, and power; it unselfs the mortal purpose, gives steadiness to resolve, and success to endeavor. Through the accession of spirituality, God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, literally governs the aims, ambition, and acts of the Scientist." If we follow the wise admonitions of our inspired Leader, surely we shall strive to place all our efforts under the guidance of divine wisdom.

Sometimes in important affairs, under the mesmerism of custom, wisdom is abandoned. Examples of this have been seen in several instances where those who, wishing to bestow upon The Mother Church property of considerable value, have so carelessly drawn the legal instruments conveying their wishes that their gifts have miscarried and their wishes have thus been frustrated. Wisdom would have led them to right demonstration in the application of divine Principle, thus rendering impossible such a defeat of their desires.

The application of Truth to all our problems obviates many difficulties, smooths many a path. Moreover, there is a deep significance behind our acts. Let us ask ourselves what occupies our thought—truth or error? If the former, then our acts are the result of right reasoning and may be classed as demonstration; if the latter, then are we doing the will of God in obedience to our Leader? Can we do better than to make certain that divine Mind does govern under all conditions, at all times, our thought and deeds? Thus, and thus only, do we accept the loving invitation of the gentle Christ to the feast of spiritual blessedness and peace, "the Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love."

Albert F. Gilmore

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