AT times everyone finds himself confronted with evil and realizes that he must overcome it. Christian Science provides a healing approach in every situation, great or small, universal or individual. Because this Science is strictly Christian, its approach is tenderly compassionate. Because it is strictly scientific, its approach is exact and orderly. The concern of the Christian Scientist, like that of the Master, Christ Jesus, is to heal what needs to be healed. This calls for the awakening of the individual to the presence of the kingdom of God. Jesus defined his purpose and the means of accomplishing it when he said (Matt. 12:28), "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."
Anyone who has caught a glimpse of God's kingdom, when Science has parted the obscuring mist of the material sense of life, knows that heaven is as tangible to spiritual sense as matter is to the physical senses. It is this tangible evidence of the real universe, a realm of light and peace and joy, so near at hand, that convinces the Scientist of the existence of eternal harmony.
Before this evidence, sin and sickness— the "devils" of Jesus' remark—lose their claim to existence and fade from thought. Then the victim of evil is mercifully healed.
There is no advantage in falling into a state of personal scorn, of revenge, or of biting criticism when there is a heavenly, sin-destroying truth at hand with which to heal a situation. The mental attitude that causes an individual to remain resentful and unforgiving toward another only betrays the scientific immaturity of the resenter. People must be healed, not burdened by the contempt and disapproval of those calling themselves Christians. The real Scientist is marked by his ability to forgive every offense on the basis of man's perfection in Science.
Mary Baker Eddy says of her great discovery (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 38): "It is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics needful, indispensable."
When one considers the healing possibilities of "the animus of Truth," which directs the scientific approach to a problem, he realizes what a terrible and sad thing it is that malice is often the animus of action, that errors are remembered while absolute healing truths are forgotten.
Sometimes a simple explanation corrects a human tension. Sometimes a quiet appeal to Science does this. When the error using an individual is stubborn and pushes him to states of self-justification and dishonor, a strong rebuke is sometimes needed. But if the goal is to heal, the rebuke is the design of Love, not of exasperation.
Probably the money changers and those who bought and sold in the temple did not see as love the healing intent of the Master when he used a scourge of cords to drive them out of the place. Perhaps the scribes and Pharisees did not appreciate the healing going on in their behalf when Jesus called them hypocrites, blind guides, serpents, a generation of vipers. But he was taking a necessary step in the obliteration of evil, which was claiming to obstruct the appearing of the Christ-idea to mankind. Healing always motivated his approach.
In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy says (p. 214): "While Jesus' life was full of Love, and a demonstration of Love, it appeared hate to the carnal mind, or mortal thought, of his time. He said, 'Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.'" The sword of Truth is the destruction of error.
The healing of moral deformities may require strong words of correction in order that Science may eradicate evils. But back of sternness and uncompromising action there must be the undeviating "animus of Truth," which disturbs as it regenerates, filling the heart with a rush of forgiving affection even while the unpleasant task of correction is going on.
In times of international tensions, there are people who see no measures as usable except those of violence or physical force. These people can grasp no other approach to problems. They are unwilling to wait patiently while steps in honest diplomacy bring about advantages or decrease danger without rousing hostility. Good diplomacy shows the maturity of a nation in dealing with others; whereas the demand for harsh action at any cost shows woeful immaturity.
In answer to a question regarding the settlement of international troubles by means of peaceful statesmanship and diplomacy, Mrs. Eddy says (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 277), "I will say I can see no other way of settling difficulties between individuals and nations than by means of their wholesome tribunals, equitable laws, and sound, well-kept treaties."
It is hoped that the time has passed for disagreements among nations to be settled by means other than those of peaceful statesmanship and diplomacy. Great leaders and soldiers of past eras will no doubt be succeeded by statesmen and diplomats whose every effort will be to heal rather than to punish or to conquer.
The appearing of Christian Science, the final revelation of Truth to mankind, hails the era when healing through prayer becomes possible for every human difficulty from the least to the greatest. The advanced approach is the Christly approach. Not to pacify, not to condone, not to fight, but to heal is the only animus of this approach. And it is more powerful in its effect than all the might of matter developed by human invention.
It is significant that in the final chapter of Revelation the leaves of the tree of life "were for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). Thus the message of the Bible is summed up: the healing approach to all problems finds its full accomplishment in the Christ Science, prophesied by the master Christian as the spirit of Truth.
