The title of this article is perhaps misleading. Ideally the intellectual and the spiritual, the letter and the spirit, should complement each other. Both have a place in the full understanding of Christian Science. But the spiritual is paramount.
We may be word-perfect and able confidently to quote what Mrs. Eddy writes on page so-and-so of, say, Science and Health; we may argue that because God is perfect and man is His likeness, man cannot possibly suffer from such-and-such a discordant condition. But we may still lack, beyond and above mere study, the gentle, compassionate understanding of Truth requisite in uplifting and healing the race—and ourselves—by spiritual means. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity today, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science,—pulseless, cold, inanimate."Science and Health, p. 113;
Indeed an unrepentant murderer, if he thinks to benefit himself materially thereby, can learn the letter of Science. But neither he nor the earnest student of Science will be able to heal through expounding undigested theory or through mental gymnastics.
Mrs. Eddy was among the first in this age to discern the control of the human mind over the physical body; she went further and showed that in order for us to turn this knowledge to beneficial account, our thought must rest in God, Spirit, Love, which negatives all that argues for imperfection, incompleteness, discordancy. "The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them," she writes, "are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love."ibid., p. 367;
An understanding and utilization of the control of mind over matter nevertheless seems capable of effecting healing up to a point, as it appears to have sometimes done in Christ Jesus' day. This pseudo healing may be what he was referring to when he declared on one occasion: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you."Matt. 7:22, 23; As in Mrs. Eddy's day, so in this, misconceptions in the name of Science are not uncommon.
It is on record in the Bible (see Matt. 3) that Jesus, at his baptism by John the Baptist, received a message from heaven to the effect that he was God's beloved child. He may at that point, however, have recognized, as we all must, that an untried acceptance of this truth is not enough. He allowed himself to be led into the wilderness—typifying the wilderness of human beliefs—where he uncovered and decisively repudiated the false suggestions of the carnal mind in its whole field of error and evil. He persisted in this until he saw the futility of material beliefs, achievements, and honors. He showed that merely denying evil does not necessarily destroy its supposed power; before error can be proved powerless, we have to know something of what it claims to be, and this is needful for our spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth is not generally a matter of sudden conversion, as it was, for instance, in the case of Paul on the Damascus road (see Acts 9). More often a gradual process and not to be forced through human will, self-righteousness, or otherwise, spiritual growth calls for persistence, determination, humility, and patience. It must be allowed to unfold in its own way. Peter urged, "Grow in grace."II Pet. 3:18;
Are we growing in spiritual stature, in gentleness, in unselfed universal love and dignity? It may be said that all that is true is true now at this very moment and for all time. But we can only make it our own through patiently repudiating beliefs in materiality, whether apparently pleasant or the opposite. Our lives must be proved to be spiritual and Spirit to be wholly good and satisfying.
Only thus will religion and life itself be found to be worthwhile, and Love seen to be blessing its whole spiritual creation, though this blessing may not necessarily be apparent to humanity as such. Love, indeed, neither sends nor countenances evil, even in the way of punishing it, though that by no means precludes evil and evil thinking from inevitably punishing themselves, just as any other misconception of being must bring discord. The Mosaic law and commandments provided for the punishment of the evildoer and afforded rules for social conduct at various stages of spiritual progress. From a higher viewpoint John declared, "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."John 1:17;
We may sometimes seem to be the victim of circumstances beyond our control, and in the degree of our belief and trust in materiality we may react to the wrong thoughts of others and to material thinking in general. But instead of trying to convert the world at large from materiality, we must first cast the beams of materiality, sensuality, and so on, out of our own eye, as the Gospel teaches. Only as we succeed in doing this will we be able to align ourselves with God, who is Love and is "of purer eyes than to behold evil."Hab. 1:13; Mrs. Eddy sums up in this way the standpoint of a student of Christian Science: "Hold perpetually this thought,—that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being."Science and Health, p. 496.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.
John 14:26
