It is a holy thing to heal the sick and the sinning through prayer as Christ Jesus did. And there are men, women, and children in many parts of the world who are doing this through their understanding of Christian Science. They have also maintained health, many of them all their lives, without having taken medicine, without having had a physical examination or a diagnosis. To many unacquainted with Christian Science, it may seem unwise not to have at least one physical checkup during the year, just to be on the safe side. But those who understand the truth of being in Christian Science know that by not yielding their thoughts and bodies to the world's customary search for cause and life in matter and by relying entirely upon God for the prevention and healing of disease, they are on the safest side of all.
In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, "We speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (2:13). The practice of Christian Science compares "spiritual things with spiritual." It recognizes the real man to be the effect of the one perfect cause, Spirit, or God, and shows him to be the perfect expression of the Mind that is God, good. The truth of this statement, realized and applied, restores harmony to discordant human conditions of every nature.
In the Biblical accounts of the healing works of Christ Jesus, there is no record of his ever having examined his patients physically, and seldom did he ask questions regarding their ailments. He compared "spiritual things with spiritual" by knowing that man is spiritual, individually perfect, and that he remains so eternally, unaffected by the world's belief in heredity or any other supposed law of mortal mind.
Practitioners of Christian Science devote themselves to the study of Spirit. They work with the healing Christ, the spiritual idea of sonship. They are, therefore, not concerned with physical examinations or material diagnoses. They know that it is the Christ, active in the thought of the patient as well as in the thought of the practitioner, which does the healing work.
Christian Science deals with thought only. Its Christianly scientific therapy is patterned after the Way-shower's proof of man's eternal perfection as God's image. Every time a diseased condition is annulled through the understanding of spiritual law, the Master's promise, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also" (John 14:12), is fulfilled.
The prayerful treatment of Christian Science is given in strict obedience to the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3). It is supported by the understanding that God is man's loving Parent and that He does not ordain that men should use material medicine to heal something that He, as Love and Spirit, could not possibly create or know. Christian Science acknowledges Love's complete perfection and enlightens and strengthens the faith of its followers with the understanding of man's present and eternal unity with that perfection.
It is the Christlike thoughts that flood the consciousness of a Christian Science practitioner with the truth of being which cause the shadows of discordant beliefs to disappear from the consciousness, and therefore the body, of his patient. This divine method of healing the sick is the only one which heals truly and permanently. For unless the erroneous beliefs held to in the thinking of mortals and seen and felt as disease are eradicated and replaced with the understanding of man's uninvadable wholeness in God, true healing is never experienced by anyone.
Healing accomplished by means other than the spiritualization of thought is not genuine cure. Under the marginal heading "The true healing," Mrs. Eddy writes on page 230 of Science and Health, "We think that we are healed when a disease disappears, though it is liable to reappear; but we are never thoroughly healed until the liability to be ill is removed."
Students of Christian Science are daily called upon to prove that God's children express completeness, vigor, and health, which are qualities of Life, Mind, and Spirit, rather than conditions of matter. It is not possible for the offspring of Spirit to be identified with specimens of matter under microscopes, in test tubes, or in bottles.
For scientific healing, the one handling the case must understand the unreality of sin, disease, and death instead of believing that his patient is suffering from some ailment over which divine Mind may or may not have curative control. In Christian Science we learn that an individual's thought and body are affected by the beliefs his doctor mentally entertains.
On this subject we find this revealing statement: "A patient's belief is more or less moulded and formed by his doctor's belief in the case, even though the doctor says nothing to support his theory. His thoughts and his patient's commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the weaker" (ibid., p. 198).
Those of us who have experienced physical healing from our own understanding of the redemptive Christ or through the prayerful work of Christian Science practitioners have been lifted out of the general hypnotic belief that sin, disease, and death are real into the atmosphere of Love divine. In this pure and serene atmosphere of Love, sin, disease, and death are unknown, and God's children express His health and peace throughout eternity.
As enlightenment releases thought from penalties that materialism imposes upon mankind, individuals are protected from "the liability to be ill." Then their thinking is liberated and their bodies are free to function harmoniously under the controlling influence of thought molded and formed by God, the great Physician.
Christian Science never ignores the needs of the human body but protects it, just as it blesses every phase of human experience. From Science and Health we learn that "mortal mind is the worst foe of the body, while divine Mind is its best friend" (p. 176). Let us always be alert to the truth of this statement. Then should the need for healing arise in our experience, we shall choose the healing method that glorifies God as omnipotent while at the same time it enlightens human thought and heals the body. We shall be obedient to the First Commandment and be certain that we are on the safest side of all.
