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A Purely
Metaphysical
Method
Christian
Science is a purely metaphysical
method of restoring health and
harmony, and for this reason it
finds few followers from those
who believe themselves successful
in material methods. Someone in
trouble is not likely to try a
way which cannot be seen by the
physical senses so long as they
believe the promises of relief in
ways that can be seen by these
senses. When we have tried all
that we can see, without
satisfactory results, we
naturally wonder if there is not
a remedy that we cannot see. It
is at this point that many seek
Christian Science, and they are
not disappointed. Confronted with
the uncertainties of mortal
existence, — its sorrows,
sin, sickness, and death, —
it is comforting to know that in
Christian Science we find a
reliable, unchanging, and eternal
remedy.
We must
be wakened out of the belief that
mere belief is the limit of our
attainment. We need to learn that
there is a Science attainable, by
which we can know God, and use
Him. Most people believe in God,
but we need more than belief. God
is an ever-present help, and our
lack of benefits is due largely
to our lack of understanding as
to how to approach God, and
utilize the divine help, always
ready for us. We need first to
know what God is, His nature and
essence. We then shall understand
how to pray, how to seek and find
divine aid, how God helps us, why
He helps us, why it is possible
for Him to help us, under what
conditions the help is
attainable.
Many
could do more even with their
present degree of goodness if
they could add more understanding
to their goodness. We are assured
that the best humanitarians in
the world who are still without
Christian Science would be better
and accomplish more with
it.
Correct
Diagnosis of Disease
The physician who is able most
accurately to diagnose his case
is considered the most ready and
successful; because he knows at
once the proper remedy to deal
out; otherwise he is obliged to
experiment. The physician who
makes his diagnosis by feeling
the patient's pulse and examining
his physique, and does not take
into consideration his mental
condition, is like a would-be
teacher in mathematics, studying
a mass of figures which are the
result of an erroneous effort to
solve a problem, when he has no
knowledge of the rule, yet hoping
to find the pupil's
error.
We must
first understand the rule of
harmony. We must have a true
sense of what constitutes or
maintains health, then we can
readily know what is wanting in
us to make health. We do not call
darkness an entity. We do not
consider it something, but the
want of something — the want
of light. Light is the real, and
darkness the want of reality,
nothingness. So, discord should
be understood as the want of
harmony, error the want of Truth,
sickness the want of health. If
God, infinite Spirit, Mind, Love
(the Light), is ever-present, and
fills all space, then discord,
error, sickness (the darkness),
must be everywhere absent and
nowhere in space. The best remedy
for disease and the best known
preventive is the divine aid.
In all
ages of the world those who have
trusted God most implicitly have
fared the best. Jesus was never
known to be sick. When the
children of Israel served God,
they found harmony, health, and
success. When they served evil,
they found discord and failed.
All Christians will admit that
all things are possible with God,
and that if we have a sufficient
degree of trust in God, or
realization of the divine
presence, we can be saved from
any difficulty into which we may
have fallen, and that the same
faith will make us absolutely
safe at all times, and under all
conditions. If this be true, then
a lack of faith or trust in God
is the real cause of disease and
trouble, if indeed there be a
real cause for disease. You may
say, “I am sick because I
have overeaten, I have exposed
myself to the weather, I have
overworked myself,” and yet
you know that if you realize
sufficiently the divine presence
you could endure any amount of
legitimate labor or exposure
without harm. You could “run
and not be weary,”
“walk and not
faint.”
Truth
the Real Healer
If we would be healed of disease
and the liability to disease, we
must be healed of our lack of
trust in God. The three Hebrew
boys are said to have been safe
in the burning fiery furnace.
This was not because they were
clothed in asbestos, or some
other noncombustible matter, but
it was because of their
consciousness of the divine
presence and power. It was not
the peculiarity of their physical
condition, but their mental
condition, which preserved them.
We cannot trust a stranger, hence
we must know God, know His very
nature and essence, know His
omnipotence and omnipresence
sufficiently that this knowledge
may rule out our fears. The true
Science of Being teaches us that
God is Spirit, Mind, in
contradistinction from matter or
physical personality. This new
and enlarged sense of God makes
God more, and that which we fear,
less to us. Indeed it makes God
All, and evil, the supposed cause
of trouble, nothing to us. The
things which are mountains to our
material sense, are nothing to
God. God is the only Cause, and
there is nothing made which He
has not made, and all that He has
made is real and good.
Other
Healing Methods
It is not a part of the
duty of a Christian Scientist to
make war upon the differing
schools of religion and medicine.
Indeed we have great regard for
all the institutions of the world
which aid in any degree in the
spiritualization, harmonization,
and advancement of
mankind.
People
who desire to do right will
accomplish something in this
line, however insufficient may be
their methods. We would not
condemn our grandfathers because
they reaped their fields with the
crude reap-hook; but we rather
honor them because they labored
earnestly and cheerfully in spite
of the imperfection of their
implements. So we would not
criticize any effort on the part
of Christians who have not yet
learned the way of Truth as it is
taught in Christian Science.
However, only the perfect method
is satisfactory, and the constant
want of satisfaction with that
which is imperfect is a constant
call for higher and better
methods, and leads on from one
improved step to another till we
finally reach the perfect.
"Necessity is the mother of
invention."
The
results effected by even a
limited degree of understanding
of Christian Science satisfies us
that the way is correct, though
we may feel the need of
understanding it
better.
Onward
and Upward
The Christian Scientist having
outgrown all lesser methods or
ideas cannot go back to his
former position. A ladder which
serves us as we ascend, is only
useful to us until we reach the
top. After that we have no need
of the ladder, unless we expect
to descend to the former
position.
Progress
knows no backward steps. Having
once reached Christian Science,
we have no further use for the
ladder of successive improved
beliefs by means of which we have
climbed to the point of
understanding.
The
follower of Jesus may not at
first bring out results equal to
his, yet by growing in goodness
and spirituality he hopes
constantly to improve his
proficiency. We are commanded to
be perfect, even as our Father
which is in Heaven is perfect,
and "Practice makes perfect." The
pupil in mathematics just
beginning the solution of the
simple problems in addition may
not be able to demonstrate the
propositions or solve the
problems in the higher branches;
yet by practice and progress he
hopes to attain to the
proficiency of his teacher. If
you had said to your teacher in
mathematics, "I do not believe
there is anything in it," and had
refused to demonstrate the rule,
you never would have proved to
yourself that mathematics is a
demonstrable Science.
Christian
Science, like music or
mathematics, must be practiced to
be understood. Each successive
lesson must be taken in its turn
and practiced, that we may
develop sufficient spiritual
strength to understand the next
higher lesson.
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