Throughout the whole range of human existence no experience approximates the conviction, power, and joy which accompany conclusive Christian Science healing. Nothing else so instantly and decisively reveals to human thought the divine nature and beneficent character of the Supreme Being as the quick and permanent healing of some severe malady through the prayer of Christian Science. In fact, many persons have received their first satisfactory proof of God through Christian Science healing.

One who had been an atheist from boyhood, becoming affilicted with incurable ills, finally turned to Christian Science. He entered a practitioner's office an atheist. He came out an atheist. However, when he awoke the next morning, healed, instantly he became aware that he had touched something tremendous; that this something lay entirely beyond the ken of the physical senses; that it was wholly beneficent. Then, like a flash came the conviction, "Why, this is God!"

The nature and significance of physical healing through spiritual means have been defined with admirable insight by Mrs. Eddy in her statement (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Pref., p. xi), "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation." In the same paragraph, further emphasizing the supreme import of "these mighty works," she states, "They are the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us'."

Even the self-willed Naaman, pagan though he was, finding himself healed of his leprosy, declared, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." Centuries have passed since Naaman's striking testimony, but now as then healing the sick through divine means remains the most impressive proof of God's power and presence.

Though differing wholly in training and outlook from the simple and direct Naaman, Nicodemus, the thinker and seasoned theologian, reached the identical conclusion of the Syrian general. Both instinctively perceived that the demonstration of spiritual power could emanate from no lesser source than God. Hence, in the first moment of his visit to Jesus, Nicodemus, in a single brief sentence, disclosed for all time the thing that endowed the teaching of the Master with supreme authority and made it tower imperiously above the voice of creed and dogma: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

There is no substitute for healing. One's ability to demonstrate Christian Science in some degree is the only reliable proof of one's understanding. Nothing save the continued demonstration of God's power and love can keep one's faith aglow, and engender the spiritual courage that enables one to meet and master the problems of daily experience.

Mrs. Eddy, throughout all of her writings and by her example, has made it clear that the letter of her religion must not be permitted to transcend or outfoot its demonstration of spiritual power, In founding her church she announced no lesser purpose than to "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (Church Manual, p. 17). Jesus always balanced his teaching with convincing demonstrations of God's power and availability.

Intelligent faith, capable of relying wholly upon God in every hour, can be founded on nothing less than the spiritual ability in some degree to prove the power of God for oneself. Whether the demonstration be large or small, it endues thought with spiritual courage and perception and prepares the individual for the further overcoming of erroneous beliefs and the taking of advanced footsteps in the realm of spiritual reality. Every Christian Scientist must keep adding to his background of spiritual demonstration. He has no alibi for continued failure to prove in some degree God's love and supremacy. It should be remembered that there is a very definite ratio between one's ability to demonstrate Christian Science and the purification of one's thought from sin, superstition, and illusion. The Christian Scientist must earnestly pray to be delivered from all evil and must keep himself "unspotted from the world" (Manual, Art. III, Sect. 1).

Christian Scientists are deeply grateful for the present unparalleled facilities for the statement and promulgation of the letter of Christian Science. Constant opportunity is afforded to hear and learn, almost without effort or sacrifice, more and more of the letter of Christian Science. While exceedingly grateful for the many avenues for presenting the letter, and the loving and gracious means by which it is made available to all, nevertheless the inexorable rule of Principle requires each one, from the least to the greatest, to prove his faith—his understanding of his religion—by his works. That is to say, the Christian Science church precludes the existence of a laity ministered to by special church workers.

Our continued demonstrations in proving the unreality of evil mark our ascent heavenward and indicate our growth in spirituality, grace, and goodness. The ability to perceive and destroy the various phases of destructive illusions is gained only through spiritualization and purification of thought. There should never be a truce with evil. There must be no compromise with sin. There must be no mental yielding to disease. In his three years' ministry, culminating in the resurrection, Jesus accepted every challenge of evil and, through its destruction, proved its unreality. His was a living gospel of performance.

Frequently the intelligent, prayerful effort to destroy a distressing discord reveals some submerged mental condition which no other means could detect. This was exemplified by the experience of a Christian Scientist who strove earnestly for several years to dissipate a physical discord. He finally grew discouraged, almost to the point of despair. During his mental work one morning he paused to review his first healing and subsequent experiences in Christian Science. This retrospection disclosed the startling fact that Christian Science had already wrought a change in his thought and outlook far more desirable than any merely physical healing could ever be. His thought became suffused with joy and gratitude, and he found himself healed. Clearly his need was an awakened gratitude for blessings already received. However, it was the persistent, faithful effort to demonstrate Christian Science that finally drew out of hiding the negative error that had been aiding and abetting the disease. "Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God" (Science and Health, p. 95).

Christian Science has proclaimed the powerlessness and decreed the destruction of every belief of the carnal mind, of all things that oppose the supremacy of God. Christ Jesus proved for humanity that every phase of evil must crumble before spiritual reality. Great growth and reward accrue to the persistent, holy effort to destroy, through the demonstration of spiritual power, every phase of evil that confronts us. The more tenacious the error, the more consecrated and unflagging should be our effort to prove its nothingness.

As "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," so the might of Principle is arrayed on the side of him who stands valiantly opposed to evil. Across the centuries come the ringing words of James, "Resist the devil [evil], and he will flee from you."

Copyright, 1935, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918.