Part 8 (1/2)
_Is it necessary to study your Science in order to be healed_ [25]
_by it and keep well?_
It is not necessary to make each patient a student in order to cure his present disease, if this is what you mean. Were it so, the Science would be of less
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practical value. Many who apply for help are not [1]
prepared to take a course of instruction in Christian Science.
To avoid being _subject_ to disease, would require the understanding of how you are healed. In 1885, this [5]
knowledge can be obtained in its genuineness at the Ma.s.sachusetts Metaphysical College. There are abroad at this early date some grossly incorrect and false teachers of what they term Christian Science; of such beware. They have risen up in a day to make this claim; [10]
whereas the Founder of genuine Christian Science has been all her years in giving it birth.
_Can you take care of yourself?_
G.o.d giveth to every one this _puissance_; and I have faith in His promise, ”Lo, I am with you alway”- [15]
_all the way_. Unlike the M. D.'s, Christian Scientists are not afraid to take their own medicine, for this medicine is divine Mind; and from this saving, ex- haustless source they intend to fill the human mind with enough of the leaven of Truth to leaven the whole lump. [20]
There may be exceptional cases, where one Christian Scientist who has more to meet than others needs support at times; then, it is right to bear ”one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
_In what way is a Christian Scientist an instrument by_ [25]
_which G.o.d reaches others to heal them, and what most_ _obstructs the way?_
A Christian, or a Christian Scientist, a.s.sumes no more when claiming to work with G.o.d in healing the sick, than in converting the sinner. Divine help is as neces-
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sary in the one case as in the other. The scientific Prin- [1]
ciple of healing demands such cooperation; but this unison and its power would be arrested if one were to mix material methods with the spiritual,-were to min- gle hygienic rules, drugs, and prayers in the same pro- [5]
cess,-and thus serve ”other G.o.ds.” Truth is as effectual in destroying sickness as in the destruction of sin.
It is often asked, ”If Christian Science is the same method of healing that Jesus and the apostles used, [10]
why do not its students perform as instantaneous cures as did those in the first century of the Christian era?”
In some instances the students of Christian Science equal the ancient prophets as healers. All true healing is governed by, and demonstrated on, the same Princi- [15]
ple as theirs; namely, the action of the divine Spirit, through the power of Truth to destroy error, discord of whatever sort. The reason that the same results fol- low not in every ease, is that the student does not in every case possess sufficiently the Christ-spirit and its [20]
power to cast out the disease. The Founder of Chris- tian Science teaches her students that they must possess the spirit of Truth and Love, must gain the power over sin in themselves, or they cannot be instantaneous healers. [25]
In this Christian warfare the student or pract.i.tioner has to master those elements of evil too common to other minds. If it is hate that is holding the purpose to kill his patient by mental means, it requires more divine understanding to conquer this sin than to nullify either [30]
the disease itself or the ignorance by which one unin- tentionally harms himself or another. An element of
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brute-force that only the cruel and evil can send forth, is [1]
given vent in the diabolical practice of one who, having learned the power of liberated thought to do good, per- verts it, and uses it to accomplish an evil purpose. This mental malpractice would disgrace Mind-healing, were it [5]
not that G.o.d overrules it, and causes ”the wrath of man”
to praise Him. It deprives those who practise it of the power to heal, and destroys their own possibility of progressing.
The honest student of Christian Science is purged [10]
through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in the enn.o.bling strife. The good fight must be fought by those who keep the faith and finish their course. Mental purgation must go on: it promotes spiritual growth, scales the mountain of human endeavor, and gains the [15]