Hints on Healing

by Rev. Frank E. Mason, CSB

No Christian Scientist is insensible to the value of the demonstrations of Truth in healing, or to the fact that these demonstrations have been, and must be, among the most important agents for the conversion of the world to Christian Science. Doubtless, to many as yet ignorant of the full meaning of Science, these demonstrations seem to be its principal and distinguishing characteristic. Yet it cannot be too strongly insisted that bodily healing is but an incident in Christian Science, and the most insignificant part of its work. “It is not alone our lost sense of health that is to be regained, but our lost sense of Christianity” (Mary Baker Eddy) is the teaching of Science and Health and experience proves that healing, in order to be genuine and permanent, must come from within.

The thought must be made right ere true health can be made manifest. Since the body is but an effect, of which the mind is the cause, all bodily conditions can be changed only by the transformation of the thought which produced them. Hence the work of Christian Science is wholly mental, while it strives to fulfill Jesus’ command, “Take no thought for the body.” This withdrawal of attention from the body, united with cultivation of the things of Spirit, and understanding of the Christ-Truth, produces outward harmony or health, as a token of the inward peace.

Healing is like sculpturing. The true model is in the thought, before it becomes phenomenally expressed. Just as the artist’s ideal is in his mind, and not in the huge block of granite, so should the Scientist’s ideal be in his mind. There is no form of beauty in the block of granite itself, yet the stone is brought into shape of the artist’s ideal and the perfect model is outwardly embodied. Thus in spiritual healing are we to realize that the true ideal is in mind, and that there is nothing in the physical, in and of itself. The outward manifestation is but the visible expression of the thought; it is only the effect, and the effect follows the cause and harmonizes with it. By making the cause right, all will be right. Therefore, the mental, not the physical, is the seat of development.

Healing is but changing the consciousness. As we begin to apprehend the perfect man, the imperfect man disappears, and it seems to the senses as if healing had been wrought. The change is not physical, but it is a dissipation of the erroneous senses, leaving in place thereof the true conception of man. Jesus is a type of ourselves, and the healing accredited to him, which is purported to have been done in the remote past, is really coming to the apprehension of man, and will yet be accomplished.

We are approaching the manifestations of the Christ, rather than departing from them, and the more quickly comes the understanding of the true man, the sooner will sickness be dissipated and harmony appear. Jesus manifested no power that cannot be appropriated by all on earth, and to realize that “God is no respecter of persons” will fit us for a demonstration of a true spiritual healing and its external expression. This understanding of healing as the apprehension of the perfect man, created by God in His image and likeness, makes evident the fact there can be no formulas or prescriptions in Christian Science for healing different diseases. In Science, all diseases are healed with the same medicine — Mind. All inharmony is destroyed by the same antidote — the realization of man as wholly forever spiritual. It is the consciousness which heals, and not the augmented thought. Therefore, do not ask another how he “took up” certain cases — the phraseology of thought is not the healer; think out for yourself the unreality of physical phenomenon, and in proportion as you apprehend the allness of the spiritual, will spiritual perfection be revealed to you.

Repetition of what we have heard others express will not heal ourselves or the world. The mere letter of Christian Science availeth nothing; what we want is the spirit. It is said of Jesus, “He spake as one having authority” and not as the Scribes, showing that his words were not the formulated ideas of others, but he thought for himself and expressed himself understandingly. He had a divine consciousness of man’s perfection and, therefore, his words were not statements merely. Man’s thought centres in the sun of Infinite Goodness, just as each ray of sunlight centres in the Sun. The rays, though having a common source, never become tangled nor cross each other. Thus man is individual, and one with the Father, and his thought should be independent of others, yet ever coming from God, the Thinker. Far too much of the healing today, is with the letter, as is evidenced by the return of old beliefs. The spirit of Christian Science must be reached, ere true and permanent healing is accomplished.

In all our work we should never forget that “power belongeth unto God,” not unto us. Man reflects the divine perfection, but in and of himself he is nothing. Only as he becomes a transparency through which God’s glory may shine, will the Truth be manifested to him.

Man is not the healer. There is but one healer, and that is the Christ Principle; and, in proportion as we approximate this divine consciousness, will harmony be felt and expressed. Sickness is the phenomenal expression of the erroneous conclusions of mortal thought, and an harmonious realization will dispel it. Understanding that Immortal Mind has the supreme and only potency, we must know and demonstrate that the mortal mind cannot concentrate or focalize itself.

In reality, mortal thought has no influence, since God, Supreme Goodness, is all, and recognizes no antagonistic power to Himself. That sickness, sin and death seem to bind us is because of our belief in them as real. This belief is to be destroyed by perceiving the grand truth of Spirit’s omnipotency.

“God is all, and there is none beside Him.” Not so much by the denial of error, as by the affirmation of Truth is the spiritual man revealed. We never rid ourselves of a thing which we are perpetually denying. The time must come when error will cease to exist to us, but that time will never come until we see its nothingness. Holding error in thought perpetuates it. It is the realization of absolute nonexistence which destroys its manifestation.

The divine understanding lays the axe at the root of the tree — the belief in a physical origin and in the influence of hereditary claims. Man, being co-existent and co-eternal with God, inherits only from Him, the Father and Mother of us all. “Call no man your father on earth, for one is your Father, even God” was the teaching of Jesus. Therefore, know that you have no material ties whatever, that you and all men are the image and likeness of God, and that there is no communion between Spirit and matter. The Divine and the human never meet and are entirely separate. Hold the whole brotherhood of man wholly in Mind, knowing that nothing physical can touch them; that they express only the attributes of God, or Good, and that apart from this, there is nothing.

Put all mankind in the “Ark,” into which God commanded Noah and his family to enter; that is, hold all in thought as conditions of Divine Mind, reflecting the attributes of the Infinite. Realize that they exist in Mind, and that the mortal thought cannot find them, being unable to transcend itself. Having done this, “pitch the ark within and without” — seal up every crevice by which erroneous thought of worldliness can enter. Realize that God is the only Thinker and that man reflects His thought, and can transmit only what he received from God. This realization lifts the receptive ones above the floods of worldliness, and, like the ark, they will always be on top of the waves, above the destructive waters of material beliefs and fears.

One of the best incidents of the Old Testament from which a lesson on healing may be deduced is given in Gideon’s attack and defeat of the Midianites, found in the seventh chapter of the book of Judges. The story is full of suggestive thought for the mental healer, and most vividly illustrates the fundamental principle of Christian Science, that “error destroys itself.” This tendency of error is inherent in its very nature, because being the antithesis of goodness, which is eternal, it must ever seek its own life.

The children of Israel, under careless and indifferent leadership, had reached the ebb of their apostasy. They had been “scattered as sheep having no shepherd,” and were hiding in the rocks and caves of the earth from their enemies, the Midianites, who had already completely demoralized them, yet were about to open hostilities anew. The doom of the Israelites seemed inevitable, until an angel suddenly appeared to Gideon, who was threshing wheat in a cave, and urged him to collect the scattered forces of Israel and to make war with their dreaded foe. Gideon at first shrunk back, terrified at the suggestion and loudly proclaimed the weakness of Israel and the supremacy of the enemy, declaring it utterly impossible to free his people from the servile bonds of the Midianites. Yet the angel again urged Gideon to the trial and promised assistance, proving by various signs that God was with him.

The Midianites had prepared for battle, and, one hundred and forty-two thousand strong, lay encamped in the valley about the Israelites, when Gideon collected a band of thirty-two thousand men to proceed against them. Witnessing the discouraged looks of his warriors, and being now afire with zeal and hope of freedom, Gideon challenged his men, saying, “Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart,” and thus his army was reduced to ten thousand by the return of the twenty-two thousand timid ones. Again, they were tested, and again the number was decreased, for of the ten thousand only three hundred remained, comprising the famous “Gideon Band.” Mustering the little band of dauntless, valiant men, Gideon provided each with a trumpet, a pitcher and a lamp, and they proceeded towards the valley where the foe was encamped.

It was night, and the brave three hundred lit their lamps and put them in their pitchers. Then, surrounding the Midianites, at a given signal from Gideon, they all broke their pitchers, allowing the light of the lamps to flash forth, and all blew a simultaneous blast upon their trumpets. The Midianites awoke from their slumbers, and, seeing the circle of light and hearing the blast of the trumpets, believed they were surrounded by a great army. In their fright and consternation each one took his brother for an enemy, and so they began to slay one another, thus vanquishing themselves.

The healing lesson is as follows: Error at first seems difficult to handle, to annihilate, and we are prone to flee from it; but when we are strengthened with angelic thoughts and promises of cooperation, we proceed against it, after having divested ourselves of all fear and dissipated all sense of possible defeat. Every suggestion is excluded from thought, that is adverse, until we have placed ourselves in position to meet the enemy. Quality of thought and not quantity is what heals, and all retarding errors must be left behind, while we retain only the conquering thought of perfection. Error is always in the valley and always enveloped in night, for depression and darkness are its chief characteristics. We must choose the ever-burning lamp of Spirit for our guide, and our sense of materiality must be so brittle — so fully conscious of its fragility — that, like the pitchers, it is easily broken, allowing the light of the true man to shine forth. We must surround our foe with this light of Truth, and, when the harmonious thought is reached (the full consciousness of man’s spirituality — the trumpet blast), error will disappear.

Three essential features of divine healing are herein described: First, the light of Truth, which must illumine our pathway, and dissipate the nightly gloom of the senses. Second, the positive understanding of the nothingness of matter, typified by the broken pitchers. Third, the realization of harmony, which brings consternation to our enemies, and victory to us. These threefold characteristics are further suggested by three hundred men, who produced, through renewal of thought, a spiritual sense of life where physical and discordant beliefs dominated.

This lesson — that error in the presence of Truth will annihilate itself — is a needed one, for ofttimes our apprehension of Science is too combative, and we, therefore, always have a foe to encounter, and master.

The chorus that introduced Jesus to the world was, “Peace on earth,” and if we have the Christ Principle within, it will bring peace and comfort, and content. Peace does not come because of our belligerence. Jesus said, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.” We fight imaginary foes and they multiply as we sound the battle cry. From all quarters the enemy rallies to the fray, and thus we keep ourselves in discord the greater part of the time. We challenge the foe to combat, and then we are obliged to meet him. “Let the dead bury the dead.”

Error will destroy itself if we will hold to the supremacy of the eternal good, just as the sun dissipates the gloom of night by simply shining. The higher it rises, the less become the shadows, until at last they are gone. If we constantly look up for the higher lights, the shadows of evil must vanish. We cannot look too high, for “God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.” If man ever was spiritual, he is spiritual now, and the full realization of this sublime fact would instantly destroy every vestige of error.

We must hold steadfastly to the fact that “all causation is God,” and that there is no other cause. Every physical thing returns to the dust from which it came, and its result is nothing. “Dust to dust” is the inevitable law of Spirit — nothingness to nothingness. Our treatment will be invalid and inefficient if we start from a physical basis for “all causation is Mind” (Science and Health). The senses declare that there is a physical cause for sickness, but sense testifies falsely, even about its own phenomena, and cannot be relied upon. If a physical cause of disease is sought out, the only basis from which to work is a lie, and an attempt to cast out devils, with the prince of devils will result in defeat, or in a return of the old beliefs, when the mesmeric influence is gone. The only way by which to heal in Divine Science is to know that man is perfect; and, as this fact becomes clear in the thought, a perfect reflection will be seen. All supposed material causes are false witnesses, and the Truth is not in them. Liars from the beginning were they, self-constituted, and not of God. Therefore, do not trust them, but turn to the spiritual facts of being, and let the “dead bury the dead.”

Fear is the foundation of sickness. Alleviate the fear, and the patient is healed. (S. & H.) The body is but the garment of the thought and portrays the condition of the mind. “Some image of disease is frightening the sick,” (S. & H.) to dissipate which, is to restore the body to its normal functions.

For habits of whatever nature, destroy the supposed sense of pleasure therein, and you will win. Pain is but a continuation of supposed pleasure. If the hand itches, it is a pleasure to scratch it, but if the same pleasure is continued, it becomes a pain. This is true of all pleasure from the physical standpoint. Destroy the belief of physical pleasure, and pain will cease to exist.

To be a successful healer, one must be conscious of the fact that evil possesses no power over man; that it cannot cause a consciousness of malice, anger, revenge, selfishness, hate, lust, anxiety, neglect, or pride. Do not ascribe any potency to evil, and it will manifest none. Error, or matter, cannot speak; if it attempts to, meet it as Jesus met it, “Hold thy peace.” Truth is supreme, and should silence all utterances of evil. The supreme thought must cast out the inferior one which is impressing the patient.

Evil has neither power, place or presence, and exists only through sufferance or tolerance. Paul said the second coming of Christ should be without sin “unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. Christian Science is the second coming, and it declares there is, in reality, no sin. To be conscious of this great fact is man’s only salvation, for while sin exists in the thought, harmony (heaven) is unperceived.

Evil has no action or manifestation; all action is in Mind, and it is harmonious and voluntary. Rest with the assurance that Mind is the only actor, and that it actuates harmoniously all things. This realization is proof against relapse, accidents, abolition of functions, paralysis, etc. Realize that error cannot cause domestic discord, or separate you from your friends, that it has no avenues of communication and no mode of expression. Know also, that it possesses no power to make either you or your patient conscious of fear. Know that it cannot embody itself in any form; that it cannot name itself; that it cannot personalize itself; that it has no consciousness of existence; and is, therefore, illusory; not temporal, but absolutely illusory.

If a person is willfully sinning, never tell him that he is the “Image of God,” but arouse him to the enormity of his error, and make him see the suffering his course will impose upon him. To tell a sinner that he is a child of God, that he is good and never sinned, is to impress him with the belief that he is doing right, which will plunge him deeper into the mire. Tell him he finds no pleasure in sin, that it brings only pain and sorrow, while virtue engenders joy and peace. Make him see the “swine and husks” and he will come to himself. A sinner is not the image and likeness of God. Do not let your patients decide your cases for you; decide them yourself, by knowing that the higher consciousness of Truth must dissipate the lower. To successfully treat children, cut off the parent thought. Man is the offspring of God, not of man. The material birth is but a false conception. Realize that matter cannot transmit either good or evil. It is inert, unintelligent, and cannot be a medium for intelligence. Seedless oranges are produced by turning the top of the parent plant back into the earth, and when rooted, disconnecting it. The offspring produces seedless oranges. Detach thought of the child from the parent and the germs of erroneous seed of the parent will cease to impress the child.

If your case does not yield readily after a general realization of man’s perfection, examine yourself and ascertain what “Lot” you have taken along with you, from which you must part. If it is argued that you cannot dissipate sickness, or the illusion of the senses, the suggestion is from the devil, and you must meet it. God never said you cannot do this or that, but He declared that “Man had dominion over all the works of His hands.” Talk to these negative arguments, as “one having authority.” Hold fast to the omnipotency of God which you reflect, and you will win. Error will contest every inch of your advance, and arguments of all sorts will be advanced, but try the spirits and see whether they be of God or not, and when you are satisfied they are of evil, drive out the demons, and you will find yourself in your right mind.

The natural tendency of man is harmonious, because he is the image and likeness of God, and must, therefore, express His attributes. Man, if disconnected from the influence of mortal thought, would be perfect. “Consider the lilies of the field,” said Jesus, “They toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” Here was beauty, symmetry and fragrance. The flower grew naturally, and did not come under the control of mortal man; but Solomon with all his glory of mortal acquirements, did not express the simple beauty of this lily of the field. In order to reflect perfection, we must “take no thought for the body,” but we must get the thought right, and the body will take care of itself.

Deny and denounce the impersonal claims of evil as they present themselves. Let the Christ nature within destroy the works of the devil (d-evil). That is the purpose for which Christ came, and when he appears in your thought, let him repeat the glorious works of old that are attributed to him. The works of the d-evil are the manifestations of evil; divest man of these, and he will naturally be good; that is, he will manifest his normal condition. The flesh is the clay, the thought, the potter, and the inclination of the mind will compel the flesh to conform itself to the higher dictation. The flesh is the effect; the thought is the cause; and the effect must be in conformity to the cause whether it be a Judas, or a Jesus.

The union of the inclinations of each respective thought constitutes the embodiment. Jesus was “without spot or blemish,” simply because he rubbed off the spots, and eradicated the blemishes, and merely became natural, or spiritual, which is the natural trend of man. Compel the body to sit down to the feast; and the heavenly manna upon which you feed it, and the nutriment of “the meat which the world knows not of” will finally produce a body like that of Jesus.

We make too hard work of healing. The true healing is the spiritual; invigorate the thought and the body will respond. This is the “new birth,” the being born “of the Spirit.” If the sun were dark, the world would lie in darkness, but because it is light, the world is bathed in sunshine. Pour the Spirit’s light into the darkened thoughts; then the whole body will be full of light, and all the darkness of sense will disappear.

Cut off the avenues of discord from your patients, and realize that evil cannot make you see a distorted image of a man — that all the manifestations of Spirit are perfect and harmonious. Never handle error as personal; this method is unscientific, and discord can never be destroyed in this manner. Error is absolutely impersonal, and unless so handled, will continue to manifest itself. It is not Mr., or Mrs., or Miss so and so, who is at fault; it is the impersonal evil working for the annihilation of Truth, and thus it must be met. Realize that evil has no personification or medium of expression, that all is Love, and that hate cannot express itself through the channels of Love. The testimony of Spirit is never wrong, hence, the evidence of matter is never right. Therefore, do not trust one of its manifestations. Totally and vehemently deny its expressions, and know it has no method of externalization. Do not take the evidence of the senses in any case; they are false witnesses, and testify only of and to themselves. Matter cannot testify truthfully, for its foundation is erroneous. Hold mankind as the image and the likeness of perfection, exempt from the influence of the world, and according to thy faithfulness in so doing, will it be unto thee.

Having once realized the perfection of your patients, deny all the evidence which attempts to contradict your higher consciousness, regardless whence it comes. Silence the testimony of evil, and the patient will reflect harmony. Talk to evil as one having authority, and not as the Scribes; a recapitulation of others’ conclusions or formulas of thought, will not heal. Allow nothing to come between you and God. Jesus recognized nothing between himself and the Father and he is your model. Think deeply for yourself. Muse on the allness of Spirit, until it becomes a consciousness of perfection and harmony, which will be manifested openly to the world. Know that you have the supremacy of thought, and that error cannot defy Truth, and you will win.

A mental quack is the worst physician on earth, for he acts as an incubator for disease, instead of a healer. Realize the nothingness of the physical manifestations; do not believe for a moment they are something out of which man must progress. It is the realization of their absolute non-existence which destroys them.

When a man can master in himself anger, malice, hate, lust, etc., he will become master over the elements. Lightning, volcanoes, whirlwinds, and earthquakes, are but intensified expressions of the individual evils enumerated. “He that is faithful over few things, I will make ruler over many.” A man is at the mercy of the material furies, so long as he has miniature ones in his thought.

Never tell a patient he is likely to “chemicalize.” “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Chemicalization is the focalization of the disease prior to its extermination. Beliefs of bodily suffering which must extend itself over weeks or months, is, under Christian Science treatment, diminished in time to a minimum, and, in the process of this rapid diminishment, seems to intensify itself. Chemicalization is not the rule in Christian Science, but rather, is the evidence of imperfect reception of thought. Christian Science healing should be, and the ultimate of its hope is, instantaneous healing. We realize that Truth does not need error in order to manifest itself.

Instantaneous healing will never be attained so long as we continue to accept the testimony of a lie, which seeks to contradict the fact that man is perfect now. Every case of sickness, regardless of its evidence, is a present lie, having no past, nor future. The statement of Jesus and Paul clearly proves this fact; “Take no thought for tomorrow,” and “Forget the things that are behind.” Therefore if a claim of sickness presents itself, claiming a past history, or a future development, it should be met as a present falsity, assuming these manifestations. In other words, if a patient declares that he has been an invalid for ten years, and rehearses the servitude of that long dreary time, the Scientist should understand this as a present lie that has just presented itself claiming this past experience. The victim of this thought, apparently sees the claim of the past, as a part of his physical self, but, in reality, all that he feels is his belief in the lie. If this fact were understood, the false claims of a long continued illness could be handled instantly. We must refuse to accept any of the testimony that seeks to make us believe that we are not perfect. If sickness itself is a falsity, its whole manifestation and testimony are erroneous, including the belief that it has a past history. The suffering of the past is perpetuated by the belief in it, and our present is therefore tainted by the recollection of that which we should forget. Hence, progress is impossible, for we never get out of the past by holding it in thought, since every thought must embody its own condition.

In the light of Christian Science, the past is nothing, and we must realize this, ere its experience will be reduced to nothing. Christian Science does not heal sickness, strictly speaking; it declares the Truth, and one of the strongest statements of Truth is that there is nothing to heal. In proportion as we understand this, the opposite claims are reduced to nothing, thus disappearing from our consciousness. We can never destroy sickness by acknowledging that it has its origin in the past for we cannot go backward to annihilate it. Our work lies in the present. Jesus said, “Now is the day of salvation,” and true it is that every lie must be met in the now, for now is the false concept conceived. If eternity is the reality of life, time has no existence, and should not be attached to thought or to sickness, which is perverted thought.

Again Jesus said: “Agree (deal) with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him; lest thou be cast into prison, where thou shalt remain till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” “Thoughts are things,” and if we entertain thoughts of discord, they will become things to us and we shall be cast into prison (sickness), where we shall remain until the verdict of materia medica has been fulfilled through us. We can deal with these negative thoughts and master them by knowing that whatever their testimony, it is but a present lie. Some Scientists (?) aver that in treating a case it is necessary for the patient to be in rapport with the practitioner. This is utterly false, and is mesmerism. A Christian Scientist knows there is nothing to heal, and that matter or mortal mind cannot manifest itself. Absent or present treatment are equally effective, since the mode of treatment is the same, viz: dissipating the belief that error can manifest itself. Christian Science does not heal sickness; it produces harmony where discord was dominant. What the world terms sickness is a manifestation of discord, an expression of mortal mind. It is an abnormal state, and is destroyed by the realization of the harmony of the One Mind.

Jesus was the exemplified manifestation of harmony. His healing was the destruction of inharmony and the subsequent tribute of harmony. He knew that harmony was the divine attribute and supreme, and that man was one with the Father. With this realization, he drove out the inferior thought of discord, resulting from the belief that man has a mind apart from God. This is the only “secret” of Christian Science healing. It is the casting out of an imperfect thought, of which sickness is the visible expression, with a perfect consciousness of the all-goodness of God — the One Mind — which man reflects. It is the supremacy of truth and purity over evil and distortion. A perfect realization of harmony is the mental medicine which heals the maladies of mortality, and manifests the Sabbath day of the Lord, the eternal reign of peace.

We keep ourselves out of harmony by declaring that we are not in it, and that we are progressing towards it. We say: “I know that I shall be well some time,” and this realization of future harmony makes our present condition inharmonious. We place our goal off in the future, and so fail to understand that now is the day of salvation. Future expectation is the scourge of life. We should know that we are perfect now; that God made us perfect, and that mortal sense cannot transpose or invert this sublime Truth. We should realize our divine relation; then will David’s prayer: “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness,” be answered in us, and we shall reflect harmony. We are never in the condition we are approaching. We push health, harmony and heaven away from us, by declaring them in the future. “Stand still and know that I am God,” speaks the Omnipotent to us. Man is perfect now. To know this, realizing that today we are one with the Father, is the acme of salvation.

Never yield to the claims of the senses. “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house” (Matt. 24:17). That is, do not lose your position. Do not take the evidence of the lower thought. Do not resort to works on Materia Medica in order to investigate symptoms and to call a belief by name. Hold to the fact that man is perfect, and your perfection will destroy the imperfect manifestation.

If we follow the higher thought, the Master thought, which comes without “spot or blemish” — having no taint of mortality or physical body — we will find that discord will disappear, and harmony will be made manifest. The highest thought within the scope of man is none too high to follow, for it must be the crowning thought which governs and controls that which is beneath, bringing it into subjection. The herald of the Christ-Truth — the healing ideas, must, like John the Baptist, fill up the low places and cut down the high and bring everything to a uniform thought, ere the perfect idea can be made manifest. Ambition must be cut down, and the imperfections of man raised up to the realization that he is a child of God. It is what we realize that heals, and not what we say, or what we intellectually apprehend. A perfect conception of man as the image of God, not as person, will manifest itself upon the body. An imperfect conception will produce discord and distortion. Therefore, we should look upon man always as pure, spotless, grand, noble, perfect, the paramount ideal of a perfect being, reflecting all the characteristics and attributes of his Creator.

“Physician heal thyself” is the law of Spirit, and demands obedience. Healing is individual, and every person must sometime heal himself. Not only this, but he must also understand the science of harmony, which alone makes possible its permanent demonstration. Each one must know how he overcame the beliefs of and claims of mortality, before he can realize the fact that he has overcome them. Our work in healing is not to improve on what God created, but to realize the perfection of His creation. Healing does not consist in making man more spiritual, for he is spiritual already, and spirituality has no degrees of comparison, but rather does it strive to make man less physical in thought, thereby revealing what he really is. Scientifically speaking, each individual is the only one in the Universe who is conscious of a physical embodiment, and each one sees others as he knows himself. Each perverts the whole Universe, because he views everything through the lens of imperfection. Therefore, by seeing himself aright, the true nature of others is manifest.

Jesus healed himself and thus healed all the world. At the Ascension he transcended the physical plane, and entered the realm of perfect vision. This experience in ourselves will bring transfiguration to all. To ascend such a mountain of thought, Moses (the past) and Elias (the future) must be seen in their perfect aspect, and the glorified Christ recognized as the ever-present reality.

Our healing is made arduous and dilatory because it is specific instead of general. The time is coming when it will be seen that to heal all mankind is as easy as to heal one, for all are but a multiplication of the one. All are alike in that no temptation has come to one that all have not been compelled to meet some time in their career. It is said of Jesus that he was tempted in all points, like as we are. Therefore, to annihilate the conception of sin in ourselves will prevent its expansion in others. As “God be merciful to me a sinner,” was the true prayer of the Publican, so the true Scientist says, “I am the only one on earth who needs healing.” “The little leaven, leavens the whole lump.” Work out your own salvation, and in so doing you are healing the world.

Through the teachings of Christian Science, we are enabled to influence every child of God on the face of the earth with the higher thought, and the higher or superior thought must annihilate its inferior opponent. Hence, we must unceasingly declare to man, his divine relation, or else our brother’s blood shall cry aloud from the ground. We take our brother’s sense of life from him, if we, knowing the Truth, do not tell him of his relation to God. And as, in Science, we find our brother in every man, our healing work should be universal, and not specific. We must drop the individual work of healing as an end in itself, and must lift the world as a unit, if we would see sickness and sin disappear. And though the healing power of Truth will always be received individually, yet we must apply it impersonally, and not personally. We must strike at the evil itself, and not at the person expressing it, thus diffusing the spiritual thought among all nations. This universal preaching of the gospel would leave no footing for evil. In view of this inspiring reward, let us, whatever we do in the name of Truth, do it for all the world. Jesus’ work was for all, and ours should be. Jesus’ love had a height, but no top; a depth, but no bottom, a length, but without end; a breadth, but it was limitless. Let us be like him. We can never do our work perfectly until it is done impersonally. True healing is realized for all men in knowing their spiritual wholeness, by which the Christ is manifested in each, and drawn upward to the Father.

Let us cry aloud, and lift up our voice like a trumpet; let us loose the bands of wickedness and undo the heavy burdens; let us break every yoke and let the oppressed go free. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee.” Let us realize for all, what we have been realizing for individuals; then will true healing be established, and we shall lay the axe at the upas tree of sickness, sin and death. Our present apprehension of healing is far too limited; it should fill God’s universe. Like the sun, the Truth should shine through us all for all alike, dissipating the gloom from every heart.

The most effective healing is accomplished when we are consciously aware that there is nothing beside Him, and therefore, that all is good. Physical healing as an end in itself, is too low an aim for Christian Science, and practitioners should endeavor to attain a higher goal. This taking “no thought for the body” will result in effacing the desire for mere bodily comfort, and will bring the “Comforter” which Jesus promised — mental Comforter — even the understanding of our true self, which shall lead to perfect harmony. We should heal spiritually only; then the body will respond to the transformed thought, and externally manifest the changed mentality.

All that we have to meet in the demonstration of health is the belief that there is something to overcome; that man is not perfect, and that we can make him so. We should ever cling firmly to the idea that man is the perfect reflection of Life, Love, and Truth, and should eradicate every suggestion which tends to contradict this sublime fact. “Hold fast to that which is good” for the good only is that which is eternal, and only can produce harmony. If it is wrong to believe, and declare that man is perfect now, it must also be wrong to declare that there is a God now, for the last statement is the highest possible statement. If man believes that God is perfect, to be consistent, he must believe that His creations are perfect, since His creations are His thoughts made manifest. If man is not spiritual now, neither is God, for man is God’s expression and must be like the object expressed.

This pinnacle of thought once reached, let us not cast ourselves down. By steadfastly holding man as spiritual now and always, will this realization be imparted to others and outwardly manifested. The angels will not bear us up in their hands if we come down from the pinnacle, for there are no angels, spiritual thoughts, beneath; they are all above and are discerned only by raising the thought. “Seek those things which are above,” said Paul, and by this attitude of thought, brought out in daily life, will the whole world be lifted upward to the Father, until, crowned with the supreme realization of their oneness with Him, they are presented faultless before His throne.