One of the great revelations that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, has given to the world is that Life is God; that it is spiritual not material, and is neither in nor of the body. This requires a radical change in our sense of existence. Some illustrations of the benefits of this change have come to my attention.
In a little periodical that was handed me was an article by a physician on "Mental Hygiene," in which the influence of the mind on the body was spoken of; that there should be an even development of the mind and the body; a well balanced mind and body, in order to have the best condition. But it was all argued and enforced on a material basis. The body is just as real as the mind, and must have just as much attention. But then the query came, When the material basis is gone what have they to work with? According to the medical profession there are diseases which will impair the physical basis of life; when that is seriously done there is nothing to build on, and where are they?
An old time friend and college mate, was recently assisting to take the household goods from a burning residence and inhaled so much smoke and flame that his lungs were injured. The doctors said that the cells of the lungs were burned out and there was nothing to support life, and of course he could not live, and he did not, to their sense of life. The physical basis of life was impaired and there was nothing to depend upon and so he passed from them.
A young lawyer, a very critical man and sceptical on religious subjects, told me that he would not have given Christian Science one thought had it not been for a case of healing that he was thoroughly conversant with. It was the case of a young lady who was judged by the best physicians to have tuberculosis of the lungs. She had been under the best of care and medicine, but had grown steadily worse until the doctors told her father that her lungs were gone, and there was nothing to build on. This seemed to be a perfect justification for their saying that they could do nothing more for her.
The father, knowing of Christian Science, reasoned that, this being the case, he would be running no risk in trying it; it would be no worse to die under that treatment than under medical. So she was placed in a Scientist's care. For three months she was at home and showed some signs of improvement. Then she was sent away, but was still under the same treatment. He told me that in six months she came home, to all appearances a well woman. She did her work and took her place just as any one would. They did not know exactly the condition of her lungs, of course, but for all that any one could see they were performing their usual functions just as well as anybody's.
The remark was made that this could not have been done had it not been that Christian Science revealed the true lines of Scientific Being and the real powers of Life. He admitted the truth of this statement and repeated his first that assertion; and that this case interested him because he knew that there could not be any doubt about it nor ignorant mistake.
These two cases can be put over against each other. In the first case the lungs were impaired by the smoke and flame; the doctors and all the friends and the man himself believed that the lungs supported life and, of course, when they were destroyed there was nothing to support life. They had no power by which they could hold him until the tissues could be replaced with new.
In the other case the lungs were impaired by a disease, and the tissue destroyed. When the Christian Scientist took the case he knew that the absolute basis of Life is spiritual, in God, and is beyond the reach of disease, and so he had confidence in treating her.
Old Archimedes is said to have claimed that he could lift the earth with his new-found lever could he have a place to set his fulcrum outside the earth. We have just that place—in divine Mind, infinite Principle, the omnipotent God. There is nothing that cannot be lifted in mortal belief when our lever is placed on this fulcrum!
In another case a young lady manifested disease on the body. It had so changed the action of certain organs that their secretions were unnatural, and the needs of the body were not met and she had become emaciated and was liable to a fatal termination any time. The doctors said that nothing could cure her, and so, in their kindness they did all that they could to make her comfortable. There are no means by which they can reach the power underlying the action of the organs. But she was placed under Christian Science treatment, and the practitioner understanding that God is the Life of man, and that "Principle is above what it governs' (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker G. Eddy, p. 136), the action of the organs was changed, the desires of the appetites became normal, her strength returned, and hope and health are shining in her face.
The electric trolley car furnishes a good illustration of this truth. The cars glide along the street swiftly with the trolly in contact with the wire over them. But the power that moves them is not in them, it is not in the rails, it is in the power-house which may be miles from them. The men at the house, the head machinist, and the dynamos are self-contained and keep the power at its regulation force just the same whether the cars are far or near, going swiftly or slowly, loaded or empty,—entirely independent of the condition of the cars.
The great necessity for the cars is to keep the connection with the power-house. A part of the duty of the conductor is to see that the trolley is against the wire. When it gets off the lights go out, and if it stays off long enough the car stops. So the power of Life is God, divine Principle, infinite Mind, omnipotent Spirit, the everlasting Truth and Love of "illimitable divinity!"
When we understand this and keep the connection through the true consciousness with the absolute Life, then no material condition, so-called, can hold us, neither can it prevent us from healing the sick and casting out sin.
Let thy gold be cast in the furnace,
Thy red gold, precious and bright;
Do not fear the hungry fire,
With its caverns of burning light;
And thy gold shall return more precious,
Free from every spot and stain;
For gold must be tried by fire,
As the heart must be tried by pain.
