Healing and Joyousness

Duncan Sinclair

A Beautiful verse, the tenth, in the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah reads, "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." "The ransomed of the Lord"—what gladness awaits them as they lose the false sense of affliction! Isaiah's words were prophetic. Students of Christian Science know that the fulfillment of his promise is made possible through the revelation of the truth contained in the teachings of Christ Jesus and Christian Science.

In conformity with the teaching of Jesus, Christian Science is showing mankind how scientifically to lose its sickness and sin; to forsake its loneliness, its sorrow, and its weariness, by making known to them the truths of spiritual being. These truths, long hid "from the wise and prudent," are displacing the erroneous beliefs entertained in human consciousness, which are responsible for all human woe, and are bringing about freedom from every inharmonious condition. Jesus had a profound understanding of God, a profound knowledge of His unlimited love and goodness; and it was this understanding which gave him power over error in all its forms.

It is certain that the Master was not deceived by the sugestions of evil, for he knew evil to be unreal. He declared the devil—evil—to be a liar. His words to the Jews were (John 8:44): "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. ... When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." And he demonstrated what he taught. He was tempted as we are by the suggestions of evil, but he yielded not to them. Through Christ, or Truth, he mastered animality; and this overcoming, attained through spirituality, was the secret of his marvelous healing power.

Christian Science teaches its students how to follow the Master. It reveals to them the nature of God—His infinite goodness, His perfection, His boundless love, His changeless truth. It makes known to them that evil is unreal; that it is an illusion—a lie—even as the Way-shower declared. And as the student learns these things, learns that God is good and that His love and truth are boundless and unchangeable; learns that evil is without reality, he is being prepared to heal all manner of inharmony. Some are incredulous of the thought that evil is unreal; and they believe they are justified in this, as they point to the fact that evil seemingly is being constantly evidenced to the material senses. But Christian Science does not deviate in the slightest degree from the truth that God is infinite good, and that naught but good has real being. Only material sense, it affirms, can appear to inform us of evil; and that which denies the truth must itself be false. Thus Christian Science denies reality to evil and to material sense, which argues for evil's reality.

But to be efficient in healing sickness and sin, more is needed than theoretically to know of God's allness and perfection and of evil's nothingness; there must likewise be overcoming on the student's part. He must put his spiritual understanding into practice. He must prove in his own experience the healing power of Truth and Love. He must demonstrate for himself that evil is unreal; and this will show itself in greater purity of thought, in growth in compassion and love, in freedom from fear. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 569), "He that touches the hem of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,—in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love." And when, through one's understanding of Truth and Love, one has experienced healing for himself, he must needs perceive the direction in which he is being led, namely, to the healing of others.

There is great satisfaction in healing through spiritual understanding; and great joy, too. But the Christian Scientist never fails to remember that the spiritual truth which enables him to heal is of God—that he only reflects it. This serves to keep him humble, even while he rejoices. After Christ Jesus had sent out the seventy and they had "returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name" (Luke 10:17), what was his admonition to them? "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

We rejoice that Truth and Love stand revealed through Christian Science, and that all who will may avail themselves of the revelation. We rejoice in the healing power of Truth and Love; but even more do we rejoice because our "names are written in heaven," because we understand that in reality we are God's children, endowed with power to reflect all the healing qualities of perfect Mind.

Duncan Sinclair

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