For many people, the first healing which they experienced in Christian Science came with a flood of light. They were carried from a dark valley to the mountaintop, where all things had become new. The celestial joy which is a sure sign of the divine presence, outshone all their previous dreams of happiness.
That such bliss was not visionary, the following facts give proof: first, the restoration to health was found lasting; secondly, there occurred at the same time a change in character, a disappearance of some faults against which there had perhaps been a long and unsuccessful struggle. Even if inclined to skepticism, people cannot deny that something has taken place when a member of the family, long an invalid, is suddenly healed without recourse to material means, and shows at the same time a remarkable improvement in character—when some ugly trait gives place to patience and Christian charity.
One who has been thus healed knows without a shadow of doubt that the blessing is not due to his own personal merits. He knows that God alone could bring about what would be humanly called a miracle; and if his gratitude is sincere, his daily life will show a decided change. Instead of himself first, it will be God first; instead of "I must have this," it will be,"Thy will be done," with the conviction that the divine will is far better than so-called human wisdom.
Does this mean that the way is at all times easy? Neither the Bible nor the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, promise the disciple a velvet path. Jesus says the way of Life is narrow; he tells us to be watchful. Mrs. Eddy in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,"says (p.324): "The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter,—certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God." Like the Master, and like St. Paul, who was a valiant soldier of Christ, our Leader spoke from experience. After her healing from an accident which friends and doctor thought would be fatal, she left all to follow Christ; and such consecration enabled her to give Christian Science to the world. Of course, the joy she found in working for others, under God's direction, was far superior to the rewards which men confer. But divine support alone could have enabled her to overcome obstacles, to master open and hidden attacks, and to labor through many years at a task that seemed too much for human strength. What was the secret of the victories won by Mrs. Eddy? The same secret that Christ Jesus knew: absolute trust in God, good, coupled with an understanding of infinite divine Love which made powerless all the assaults of hatred.
God's ways have not changed. Good alone can vanquish the belief in evil; but for complete victory, a personal sense of goodness does not suffice: an understanding of Christ, the spiritual idea of God, is needed.
Even before Christian Science healed her physically, a certain young girl had proof of the fact that the reflection of Love destroys sin. She had long been trying to overcome a fault of character, which reappeared again and again and baffled her efforts. One day, she lapsed into the same fault in connection with a member of the family who was very dear to her. This relative, however, did not remonstrate at all;perfectly calm, without yielding to error, he enfolded the child in a silent affection which pierced the claim of sin. To mortal sense, reproofs would have been easy to bear; but this reflection of divine Love was more than could be endured without deep remorse. In the furnace of an unspeakable mental agony, the error melted away, and disappeared permanently.
Any rule which is really scientific must be applicable in the solution of big as well as of little problems. If a seemingly tenacious error is annihilated by a thought permeated with love, will not the same effects follow in things of greater import—when national and even international storms arise? The loving, fearless, God-inspired thought, which does not bow to error but sees its utter nothingness and beholds through the mist the divine idea, lovable and beloved —this is the weapon against which evil is powerless. Shall we not then watch and pray to avoid the mistake of personalizing evil and thus giving it the appearance of power? Trying to overcome evil with evil is a method which has been practiced for centuries, and its failure should lead us to seek elsewhere for a solution. In chemistry, in logic, in mathematics, men do not attempt to obviate a mistake by committing another mistake. The physicist, the astronomer, the savant who notice an error in some calculations or deductions do not waste their time in getting angry about it or in trying to justify it by finding a cause for it. As soon as they have discovered the mistake, they seek to correct it, and they pursue their reasoning until the right conclusion is reached.
Illustrations drawn from daily life may be helpful; but for the perfect example we must turn to Christ Jesus, who in this respect, as in all others, is our Way-shower. What was Jesus' attitude when during his ministry he was faced with all sorts of errors, big and little? Without a trace of weakness or fear, he manifested patience, untiring love, a compassion that could heal even one who came armed with a sword to arrest him. Before the discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy, such an attitude may have often seemed above human reach, supernatural, in fact; and one is not surprised that many learned commentators on the Master's career should have fallen into either of these extremes: a blind faith—adoration without understanding—or else a disappointing rationalism, bordering on skepticism.
Christian Science brings out in marvelous relief the career of the Master; it illuminates it, so to speak, from the inside. If thought is receptive, studying the chapter entitled "Atonement and Eucharist" (Science and Health, pp.18-55) will convince one that the author grasped in its very essence "the mind of Christ." It is no exaggeration to say that in numberless cases reading and pondering this chapter have reconciled men to God. The earnest seeker glimpses the true sense of pardon, namely, the destruction of sin; realizing in a measure the allness of God, he is freed from belief in the reality of the faults which harassed him—either his own or other people's; and he is redeemed "through the merits of Christ,— through the perception and acceptance of Truth" (ibid.,p.202).
A Christian Scientist who, through reading Science and Health, had been healed in a few days of protracted illness and of some ugly traits of character was faced a few years later with a violent form of opposition, which claimed to act through those he dearly loved. Thanks to the continued study of Christian Science, he was not overthrown by what the Bible calls "a storm against the wall;" and on the day following an incident which personal sense would have considered distressing, he was studying the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly when this thought came to him, like a message from heaven: "How great is their need of Love! Otherwise they would never have acted in this way." Immediately he felt a deep sense of peace and happiness; and the next mail brought a very loving letter written by one of the persons who had apparently been handled by error. Thus a nightmare which had lasted several years was broken in an instant; no painful discussions were needed, and the remembrance of it was practically wiped out.
How true are these words of the Master: "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you"! As long as we make a reality of what seem to be other people's faults, we cannot understand the unreality of our own errors, and either consciously or unconsciously we suffer from them. But when we begin to see that the traits which so greatly distress us in others are unknown to God, therefore unreal, our own burden becomes lighter, for we gain a clearer sense of the Father's perfection and mercy. One ray of divine Love is more powerful than all human arguments, however eloquently phrased.
The Christian Scientist knows that the Science which Mrs. Eddy discovered is logical, that all its parts are indissolubly bound together, and that the proof of a single rule shows that all the other statements in the textbook are equally capable of demonstration. Therefore he is not discouraged by the modest results obtained so far in his own experience; rather does he follow wholeheartedly the example of Paul, who said, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
