An answer to the often heard question What is Christian Science? might begin with an explanation of what Science is not. It decidedly is not merely a human method of healing without drugs. In fact, it is not a human method at all, although it operates for the benefit of humanity. Christian Science is the compassionate law of God, the living force of His will, which Christ Jesus came to reveal to limited, struggling humanity, blind to the possibilities of manhood. This conscious, intelligent force is both Christian and Science. It rouses people out of the mesmeric, mortal dream of material existence to the reality of deathless life in Spirit.
When this awakening comes, sin, poverty, and disease fade out of thought and we have a Christian Science healing. This explanation shows why the healings brought about by the spiritual means of Science are deeply important to the world. These means place healing on a regenerative basis and prove that health is a state of manhood in true theology that cannot be denied.
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, explains: "This Science is a law of divine Mind, a persuasive animus, an unerring impetus, an ever-present help. Its presence is felt, for it acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of hope, faith, understanding."The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 3; The student of Christian Science does not start the action of divine law but comes into harmony with that action, in this way yielding to its presence and control.
The purpose of law is to govern. Then the purpose of Christian Science is to govern. And the law that is Science can be demonstrated as the divine will, which destroys every opposing evil force called law that claims the power to govern mankind.
We can ask ourselves, "What is God's will for my health, my relations with others, my peace of mind, my supply, my life?" The answer is implied in the astounding works of Jesus, the Way-shower, who said, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."John 6:38; The Saviour restored health, peace, and life to those who were victims of mortal ailments, thus vividly proving that God's will for all is soundness of health and morals and of life that cannot die. The same law, or Science, that fed the hungry, stilled the storm, overcame the limitations of time and space, and finally lifted the Master entirely above the dream of mortality is here today for all men to know and prove.
Such was the authority and finality Jesus exercised to rule out the supposition that God's will can be disobeyed that the human mind gave up its claim to a law contrary to God's will and submitted to the truth that His law of good is supreme.
Another explanation of Christian Science is that it is the truth of being. Jesus was referring to this spiritual truth when he likened the kingdom of God to "leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."Luke 13:21; The truth is always acting, always energizing and expanding the loaf of human thought, always bringing righteousness to bear upon and eliminate ignorance and disobedience, always causing materialism to disappear. We recognize this leaven in the growing sense of justice, order, integrity, love, and wisdom that dominates society, regardless of the moral upheaval that threatens to obstruct the progress of Christian civilization. Mrs. Eddy speaks of the action of the spiritual leaven that is today named Christian Science, and she says, "This action of the divine energy, even if not acknowledged, has come to be seen as diffusing richest blessings."Miscellaneous Writings, p. 166;
A characteristic of the truth is its spontaneous power to uncover what is untrue. Unless this power is utilized, misapprehensions of existence will continue to deceive people and make them resist the coming of the healing Christ to the human scene. Materialism, the belief that matter is fundamental reality, and the evil results of such belief, will continue to press the claims of matter until everything foreign to Spirit is thoroughly disclosed as a sham and good is seen to be the only reality and substance.
The uncovering of error by Science shows the false nature of matter; and thus through Christian Science matter becomes a great theological concern, for there is no falsity in Truth. When we note that everything material is fading, disintegrating, or dying, we begin to understand the illusiveness of matter and see that it is not the creation of indestructible Spirit.
The intricacies of the physical body may deceive people into believing in its validity. But Christian Science points out the frailty of flesh and shows that the material body is not man but a mindless veil that would conceal him. God's man is incorporeal, spiritual, the embodiment of love and intelligence and all enduring, Godlike qualities. And in the measure that such energies of Spirit fill consciousness, the healing of the body is attained.
In its highest meaning Christian Science is the universal Christ, Truth, the incorporeal Saviour of mankind, which the corporeal Jesus demonstrated as an individual. Speaking of the Master's ministry, Mrs. Eddy says, "After his brief brave struggle, and the crucifixion of the corporeal man, the incorporeal Saviour—the Christ or spiritual idea which leadeth into all Truth— must needs come in Christian Science, demonstrating the spiritual healing of body and mind."p. 163.
Christian Science is the full, the all-inclusive, idea of Love. It is the truth that enfolds every concept of real creation—of revealed heaven. Through the right reasoning Science inspires and the letter it states one is helped to enter the atmosphere of the light and harmony of Spirit. Then one realizes that Christian Science is a divine emanation, not a human doctrine. Those who have discerned the spiritual light of Science and felt the healing warmth of its influence will never forget that their purpose in life is to bring that light and love into human consciousness with such Christly power as to help break the mesmeric spell of material existence and waken the world to know reality. They will prove by their healing works that the Comforter promised by the master Christian has appeared in our times and that its development to human thought is irresistible.
