ON page 182 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes: "We cannot obey both physiology and Spirit, for one absolutely destroys the other, and one or the other must be supreme in the affections. It is impossible to work from two standpoints." Spirit is the only standpoint from which the true perspective of creation can be gained and the true basis of health understood.
Material methods regarding health center thought, hope, and expectation on the physical body, leading one to observe physical symptoms either fearfully or hopefully. In contrast with this fitful outlook, Christian Science stands by the declaration of Jesus, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
In Christian Science both practitioner and patient trust to the healing power of God, Spirit. To a sick person this trust, diverted from visible matter to invisible Mind, may seem new and hazardous. Friends and relatives may assert that nothing is being done for the cure or alleviation of sickness. Therefore, believing the ailment to be purely physical, their desire and that of the patient may sometimes be to compromise by employing Christian Science as a mere accessory to medical or surgical treatment. But neither initially nor as an exception can material remedies be consistently or profitably combined with Christian Science treatment. Christian Science excludes the belief in matter, supposedly sick or well, as having anything to do with true health. Hence it is wise to give Christian Science treatment only to those whose sincere desire is for healing by spiritual means.
Constantly witnessing the sad fruits of hypocrisy, dogma, idolatry, a wrong sense of values, and the blindness of materialism, Jesus thus expressed his deep longing to help humanity: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
What does an individual lose, and what does he gain, through turning his thoughts from matter and materialistic belief to Spirit and divine Mind? He loses fear and gains confidence. He loses faith in evil and gains intelligent faith in good. He loses fretfulness and gains peace. Above all, he gains a new sense of safety and of tender care, for God is Love. No child could feel safer in its mother's care than does the Christian Scientist as he confides himself, together with all his needs, to the power, harmony, and law of infinite Spirit, divine Love.
Mankind's primal need is to learn that man in God's likeness is spiritual, not material. Whether, therefore, an individual be sick, sinful, unhappy, poor, or, apparently, the victim of all these beliefs, his need is primarily spiritual, and Spirit alone can meet it. Hence students of Christian Science employ spiritual understanding whereby to meet their mental, moral, and physical problems.
The action of Christ, Truth, bringing light to human thought, gradually destroys the darkness of materialism and so heals the individual according to his need. Thus is Christ, Truth, found to be the one adequate Saviour of all mankind in all ages. As this one and only absolutely true standpoint is mentally maintained by both practitioner and patient, the tender hues of Spirit and of spiritual qualities awaken in the erstwhile sufferer a new hope, buoyancy, purity, strength, and these naturally neutralize their opposites, even as the glory of dawn disperses the darkness of night. This contact with God, supreme Mind, can do all things in earth as in heaven.
Mrs. Eddy writes (ibid., pp. 143, 144): "Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will not mingle scientifically. Why should we wish to make them do so, since no good can come of it?"
As scientific thinkers, Christian Scientists are equipped to resist and rise above sin, disease, strife, poverty, and death, which are the adjuncts of materialism. The revelation of Christian Science, therefore, is a blessing to all mankind. Healing in the wider sense of this term extends to the destruction of whatever is discordant in human experience and faulty in character; though, as a rule, Christian Science is first sought for the healing of disease. Through this teaching, thought is lifted to behold the all-presence of spiritual harmony, the healing action of spiritual law, and the irresistible might of divine Principle, which is Love, and Love "never faileth." So in exchanging drugs for Deity one loses nothing and gains all.
Jesus said, "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." This plea for singleness of heart is a rebuke to the dualism which brings such checkered experiences to mankind and ends in so-called death. But God, Life, made only "the tree of life," and its leaves, we read, are "for the healing of the nations." What are these "leaves"? Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 406), "The tree is typical of man's divine Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering full salvation from sin, sickness, and death." Within the pages of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook may be found the way of health, heaven, and true consciousness.
Christian Science applies the omnipotence of divine Mind to the destruction of error in human thought, and the results of this healing are then manifested physically. No verdict of incurability, therefore, can be pronounced upon anyone who is willing to open the door of his thought unreservedly to the healing light of Christ, Truth. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
