A Double Deliverance

Archibald McLellan

There is scarcely a Wednesday evening meeting held in a Christian Science church but that one or more persons who have been healed of diseases which to mortal sense are considered extremely dangerous, make the statement that, great as is their gratitude for the physical healing which they experienced, they are still more grateful for the spiritual uplift which accompanied their healing from sickness. To the person who believes that Christian Science is merely a variant of the old style family doctor, and that its only purpose is the curing of aches and pains, this is doubtless an incomprehensible statement. If he has come to the meeting solely through a desire to know whether Christian Science can heal him of his physical sufferings, he may even think that he is being trifled with when something quite apart from ordinary experience is put above freedom from pain.

To such a one sickness seems very real and very burdensome, and he has probably been taught that to regain his health is the one important thing; that almost any sacrifice he might make would not be too great a price to pay for the boon of surcease from pain and anguish. Even if this sacrifice should involve selfishness and possibly sin,—though of course he would be loath to admit this latter statement,—in the desperation which accompanies great physical distress even the outwardly and intentionally good are sometimes unconsciously influenced to cut a sharp corner. "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life," was evil's claim when it sought the overthrow of "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil;" and many a good man and woman today might succumb under the stress to which Job was subjected, though it is to be remembered that despite his manifold afflictions "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."

Later on, if this person is healed in Christian Science, he too finds that the healing of sin and sickness is a coordinate process, and that "man's genuine selfhood is recognizable only in what is good and true" (Science and Health, p. 294). He then realizes that to secure and maintain good health he must also maintain good morals, and that only through the understanding of God which he has acquired in Christian Science, and the practice of its rules, can he be sure of maintaining the sound morals and righteousness which will keep him in health and holiness. In other words, it is necessary for a man to be guided by divine Principle in all his affairs, if he would be "every whit whole,"—if he would reach the perfection of living.

Were Christian Scientists to express gratitude only for the healing of sickness, they would leave much of the good work of this religion without acknowledgment, because they would fail to impress upon their hearers the all important fact that "Jesus healed sickness and sin by one and the same metaphysical process" (Science and Health, p. 210), and that Christian Science is doing the same work in the same way. The distinguishing feature of Christian Science is that it heals both sickness and sin, not by material means,—not by drugs, surgery, or suggestion,—but by the understanding of God which posits Him as the creator of that only which is good and pure and holy. To have learned that both sickness and sin are real because not consistent with God and His creation is to have learned a great fundamental truth,—the secret of perfect and sinless being; and to the extent that Christian Scientists have learned this they are justified in bearing testimony to the spiritual and uplifting effects of Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy writes on page 46 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "The leading self-evident proposition of Christian Science is: good being real, evil, good's opposite, is unreal. This truism needs only to be tested scientifically to be found true, and adapted to destroy the appearance of evil to an extent beyond the power of any doctrine previously entertained." Because Christian Scientists have tested scientifically the spiritually regenerating power of Christian Science, they can truthfully say that their chief gratitude is for this phase of its work.

Archibald McLellan.

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