WE hear many testimonies at the Wednesday evening meetings which tell of the hopelessness of the speakers before coming into Christian Science. It is one of the greatest of the works of Christian Science to restore this lost hope by bringing to the sinful and suffering the understanding that all help is in God, and the knowledge that with such omnipotent help, always and everywhere present, none need be without hope. The realization of omnipresent divine Love has cheered and comforted many a suffering soul and replaced despair with everlasting hope. It is only those who are "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise," that are or can be without hope, and who are "without God in the world."
The Bible is full of expressions of hope based upon reliance on God as man's help, his refuge and his fortress. Of old the psalmist said, "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. whose hope is in the Lord his God." Paul says, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why cloth he yet hope for?" The worker in Christian Science sees with joy the dawn of this new hope in the sufferer who has been looking not to the God of Jacob but to material means for his help. This sense of hope and trust in God lifts and purifies the thought, and brings to the hearts of men such good cheer and happiness that it shines forth in their countenances like sunshine breaking through the clouds. It is the light of Truth and Love dispelling the darkness of error, doubt, and distrust. It brings joy and gladness not only to the beginner in Science whose eyes are thus opened, but to the one who is instrumental in helping him to this understanding.
In no one thing does the Christian Science method of healing differ more from that of materia medica than in this elevation and purification of thought and the uplifting inspiration of hope in the patient; and in no one instance is it more conspicuously noticeable than in the case of so-called incurable diseases. In such cases the patient is hopeless because he is made to understand that the influence of medicine and the skill of the physician are powerless to save him. How different when he is brought to understand that God is his help, and that to Him nothing is impossible; therefore that there is no incurable disease. With this assurance hope springs into life; fear, the great enemy of man, is dispelled, and healing follows. Thus is Christian Science the harbinger of peace.
The one to whom this message of hope comes may well cry out in the language of the psalmist, "Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word." "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope." And he does not hope in vain! The knowledge and understanding of the healing presence of God brings its blessings of hope, peace, and harmony. Our revered Leader says, "A germ of infinite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven, is the higher hope on earth" (Science and Health, p. 361). To those who are keeping watch over the trend of the times and the changed thoughts of men, the increase and spread of this feeling of hope is most wonderful. It is reviving the spirits and renewing the health of thousands of people who were, before its coming to them, as those ''having no hope, and without God in the world," in their own consciousness. Truth has dawned upon their benighted understanding, bringing the sweet consciousness of hope and trust in God as an ever-present help in time of need.
No one can estimate the harm that has been done by medical practitioners in the spread of hopeless despondency resulting from their belief, too often communicated to their patients, in incurable disease; a belief which has become, largely through their influence and opinions, a very common one. It is a part of the work of Christian Science to overcome and destroy in human consciousness this false belief that disease can ever be incurable. The example and works of Jesus should teach us this lesson so full of hope to mankind. Unfortunately mankind have failed to understand and believe in this lesson so fraught with hope, comfort, and consolation. They have not taken it as a lesson of universal application, but have treated his works of healing as miraculous; partly, no doubt, because he did heal so-called incurable diseases.
The churches are in a measure awakening to the great truth that universal harmony must mean the destruction of all disease as well as all sin. Jesus never hesitated to deal with organic as well as functional disease. The Bible tells us that he healed "all manner of disease," and those specifically mentioned were generally not only organic, but of the kind understood to be incurable. We must not, however, expect too much of our brethren in the old churches. They have looked at this matter of divine healing from a material point of view for so long a time that it is doubtless difficult for them to break away from means of healing so long believed in and relied upon; but the leaven of this sublime faith, so full of hope, is working.
As some evidence of this, one of the judges of California, noted for his Christian character, a member of one of the orthodox churches and not a believer in Christian Science, in what he terms a "lesson story" to a Sunday School class, on the subject "Jesus Heals the Nobleman's Son," has this to say, "Our Christian Science friends are teaching us that there must be something in this which we have not yet realized. We have assumed and declared that the age of miracles has passed, but I think I have heard of as many miracles since the time of Christ as while he was on earth. The only real question to raise is whether or not these instances are authentic. Our doubt says they are not; our faith should stimulate us to believe. We should seek more to find God in the daily affairs of our life and the things that pertain to those affairs. We should have a more vital faith in God, and in Christ as a living Saviour, and in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit."
To do this is a long step towards the Christian Science view of things. One of the errors of this statement is the assumption that the healing of disease without medicine or other material means is a miracle. The understanding that it is "not supernatural, but supremely natural" (Science and Health, Pref., p. xi.), and that it is not a matter of divine favor, but a divinely bestowed right, to be freed from the claim of disease, will stimulate faith in God, good, and renew and increase the hope of deliverance.
The question whether the asserted healing by Christian Science is authentic is one which all inquirers into Christian Science have a right to ask. Satisfying proofs of the healing of all kinds of diseases are not far to seek at this time. Witnesses, of unimpeachable character and of the highest intelligence, are to be found in every community where Christian Science has been established, and no one seeking information as to these healings need go uninformed or without the hope which the experience of those who have been healed must afford him if he is seeking for help. Willing and grateful testimonies of hopes realized may be heard at any Wednesday evening meeting, and thousands go away from these meetings inspired with new hope, soon to be realized by them also in the restoration of health through Christian Science. This hope of relief from sin and disease through the truth has brought happiness and contentment to thousands of people and harmony and peace into many desolate and discordant homes.
