Christian Science is the same as primitive Christianity, and is different from every other metaphysical system. People of the most diverse opinions, religionists differing widely in their beliefs, Christians formerly irreconcilable on points of doctrine, Jew and Gentile who once thought there was no possibility of their ever coming together on a common platform,—all these have accepted Christian Science, finding that differences vanish completely in their unity of spiritual understanding. All have had revealed to them the same absolute or fundamental truths of being; all have been taught to distinguish between the real and the unreal; and thus have learned how to overcome sin, to destroy sickness, and to gain a greater measure of peace and harmony than they had ever experienced before. Those who have become Christian Scientists, in the true sense of the words, stand on common ground, differing not at all from each other on what pertains to God and His creation.
When any one approaches Christian Science for the first time he must, of necessity, do so from some particular angle. That is to say, he will inquire as to what it teaches, and as to how it differs from or approximates the beliefs he holds. He probably desires to know, especially, whether it is in conformity with the teaching of Christ Jesus, the Founder of Christianity, and if the healings which are done through a knowledge of Christian Science result from the same spiritual understanding as was possessed by the Galilean Prophet.
It will be remembered that the Master pointed to the miracles, to the signs or wonders which he wrought, as proof of his Messiah-ship, as proof of the activity of the Christ. It was to these miracles he drew the attention of the two disciples of John the Baptist who had been sent to him by John to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" For "Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." The healings which Christ Jesus performed testified to the truth he revealed about God and God's creation, and also with regard to the belief of evil which he characterized as unreal, when he called it "a liar, and the father of it," thus exposing its altogether fraudulent nature.
Christian Science replies to those who inquire as to the basis of its practice in the same way as did Jesus to the Baptist's followers. It says, Consider the results, the "signs following," declaring that all the healings of disease and sin, of sorrow and suffering, which so many testify have come about through Christian Science, have resulted from the understanding of divine Principle, its omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, and from the consequent knowledge of the unreality of all unlike good. These are fundamental teachings. There is no deviating from them in Christian Science. Without an understanding of them in some degree, there would be no healings. They remove one completely from the region of the speculative, the hypothetical, the theoretical. They are simple statements of spiritual fact, provable by all who will test them for themselves, in humility and in purity. They demonstrate Immanuel,—"God with us."
There never can be any doubt as to what Mrs. Eddy thought on the distinctiveness of Christian Science. On pages 9 and 10 of "Unity of Good" she asks, "What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system?" And immediately thereafter she answers her own question in the words: "This: that by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God. This difference wholly separates my system from all others. The reality of these so-called existences I deny, because they are not to be found in God, and this system is built on Him as the sole cause." By italicizing the phrase "by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death," the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science draws attention, very definitely and without any ambiguity, to her great discovery that evil is unreal. And where is there to be found another metaphysical system which teaches the unreality of evil? Where is there another system of thought which, affirming the allness of God, good, adheres to the logical conclusion that disease, sin, death,—evil in all and every form,—is unreal? No system exists but Christian Science which acknowledges, as did the Psalmist, the God "who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies," and can teach the method whereby the healing is done.
Christian Science is being imitated, but very ignorantly imitated, in many quarters to-day. So much so, that the methods of the imitations bear no resemblance to Christian Science practice. Thus, for example, there are some who claim to heal by prayer, without any understanding of spiritual reality and the knowledge of the unreality of evil. Mere appeals to Deity for His special intervention, mere entreaties for the intermittent bestowal of His love, lack the great essential,—knowledge of God as divine Principle, divine Principle which never varies, which always is Love, Life, and Truth, which exists as eternal good, without an opposite,—evil. Such prayers, in so far as they tend to destroy selfishness, induce humility and, to the extent that they do so, are productive of good results; but they lack the great essential, the spiritual understanding which alone can insure the certain answering of prayer. Mrs. Eddy very pertinently refers to the point in "Christian Healing" (p. 3) when she says, "Because God is the Principle of Christian healing, we must understand in part this divine Principle, or we cannot demonstrate it in part."
Since Christian Science was discovered, over half a century ago, many systems of thought, which do not call themselves religions, have sprung up claiming to heal through mental means. Thus, there are practiced so-called mental science and occultism in many forms, such as suggestion, autosuggestion, mesmerism or hypnotism. But not one of these has the slightest in common with Christian Science. One and all of them are based on hypotheses entirely at variance with the truths of Christian Science. They are all supposititious activities of the so-called human mind; and as such, whatever results they may seem to produce are entirely due to the credulity reposed in them by those who are deceived by their claims. Christian Science declares there is but one Mind possessing all activity and all power, and that the so-called human mind, which believes in evil, is incapable of accomplishing any real healing, in the sense that true healing is spiritual regeneration. On page 104 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" our Leader says: "Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action, and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of all divine action, as the emanation of divine Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the opposite so-called action,—evil, occultism, necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism."
Christian Science is entirely distinct from every system of thought evolved by the so-called human mind. Christian Science never speculates; it knows. It knows the truth about God, divine Mind, and about God's creation,—spiritual ideas; hence, its students are never in doubt as to the false nature of every belief and every activity of so-called mortal mind. It is this unique spiritual understanding of God which enables them in some degree to do as the Master did,—heal disease and destroy sin.
