Many healings have been brought about by the simple turning of the one who prays to the presence of God. However, everyone who has had such experiences will probably admit that his prayers have not always been so successful. The ideal of Christian Science is instantaneous healing without a method of arguing to gain the realization of spiritual power. But one of the most valuable aids that Mary Baker Eddy has given her followers for attaining this power is the method of logical, accurate reasoning, which she calls the argument.
In her writings Mrs. Eddy illustrates the argument of Science in many instances, showing the need for affirming the truths of being and for denying the lies of so-called mortal mind, which would make evil seem to be present and real. This reasoning is a generally needed aid to help human thought become a transparency for the substance and supremacy of Spirit; but this is not always the case. In "Miscellaneous Writings" our Leader says (p. 352), "Through the divine energies alone one must either get out of himself and into God so far that his consciousness is the reflection of the divine, or he must, through argument and the human consciousness of both evil and good, overcome evil."
One will know that he has reached the spiritual stature which can discard the argument when he is able to heal consistently by divine realization alone. In the volume mentioned in the preceding paragraph, Mrs. Eddy discusses the need in the beginning of her movement of material organization for teaching and preaching. Then she says (p. 359), "On the same principle, you continue the mental argument in the practice of Christian healing until you can cure without it instantaneously, and through Spirit alone."
