Omnipotence of Good

Editor

"The physical healing of Christian Science," Mrs. Eddy writes in the Preface to Science and Health (p. xi), "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. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural." The all too prevalent belief that whatever comes about in human experience by other than material means is of necessity supernatural, has through the ages done more than all else to keep mankind in bondage, and in destroying this belief through its apprehension of the truth of being, Christian Science has done much good. It has altered the old saying, "It is too good to be true," so often voiced in fear and trembling, into the understanding that nothing is too good to be true and only that which is good is true.

It must be apparent to every one who studies the Scriptures in the light of Christian Science, that in the ministry of Christ Jesus the healing of the sick and the redemption of those in bondage to sin, which are there recorded, were coincident. Indeed the mighty works which the Master wrought and which he declared would be possible to all who should follow him, included the destruction of both these phases of evil. Were it otherwise, if "the healing of the seamless dress" had passed with the close of Jesus' ministry, then necessarily the gospel which he left to his followers would be less effective now than it was during his earthly career.

How immeasurable should be our gratitude that in 1866 Mrs. Eddy discovered and demonstrated in her own experience that no change had come over this gospel, and that in this age even as in the time of the prophets "the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." Faithful in its obedience to the divine command to "preach the gospel to every creature," the church was nevertheless strangely unmindful that the truth of its preaching could be demonstrated in a practical wat, Yet when Mrs. Eddy made public her discovery, desirous only to share with mankind the priceless boon of the revival of the longed for Christ-healing, one can imagine the keenness of her regret to find it was at first pooh-poohed and later bitterly denounced by the very people she could reasonably have expected to champion it. She was forced to realize that single-handed and alone with God she must "fight the good fight" and establish forever in human consciousness the truth which Christ Jesus said would make men free. This, through her writings, through the church she founded, the periodicals and the various other channels for the dissemination of the unadulterated truth which she authorized, she has accomplished to so large an extent that Christian Science is no longer looked upon askance as something weird or amusing. In less than a half century it has logically acquired its rightful place as the one practical form of Christianity, and its healing work is known and appreciated in every quarter of the globe.

Previous to Mrs. Eddy's discovery of Christian Science, it was not thought possible to heal the sick as a logical and inevitable effect of Christian ministry, and if perchance it seemed that some one had been healed in answer to prayer, this was regarded as a miracle, a special intervention of divine Providence; that God, contrary to Scriptural authority, had become a "respecter of persons" and had set aside His own law. Is it any wonder that many a sufferer stretched on a bed of pain, hopeless of relief in materia medica and wearied of seemingly fruitless prayer in his behalf, has echoed Job's despairing cry, "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" The prayer that "availeth much" is vividly set forth in the opening sentence of Science and Health, "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," and unnumbered thousands testify to the deliverance from the depths which whole-hearted acceptance of this inspiring declaration has brought them.

Christian Scientists are assured that God is omnipotent, and it is because of this they rest so firmly upon the basis that good alone is real. To them sickness and sin are equally illusive in character and are destroyed by one and the same method. When all men know that God is not the creator of evil, they will realize that there is no reality in evil, that when thought has been emptied of "the false stimulus and reaction of will-power," and filled with "the divine energies of Truth" (Science and Health, p. 186), they will be free from the fallacy that evil is or can be more natural and more powerful than good.

Archibald McLellan.

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