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Chapter 3 - The Christ and Christian Science.
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'To preach deliverance to the captives (of sense),
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised.'"*(Science and Health xi:9)
Still, she adds a word of caution: "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing."*(Science and Health 449:3)
She presents in Science and Health a most comprehensive summary of what she understood had caused her own healing. She writes: "When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truth in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, - called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, - is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit."*(Science and Health 108:19) And she adds: "For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule.... The revelation of Truth in the understanding came to me gradually and apparently through divine power.... Jesus once said of his lessons: 'My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."*(Science and Health 109:11)
She has given her discovery the name, Christian Science, the Science that underlies the fundamentals of Christianity. She also says about Christian Science, that it is divine Science reduced to human understanding. As stated earlier, she writes about her own healing work: "...I healed consumption in its last stages, a case which the M.D.'s, by verdict of the stethoscope and the schools, declared incurable because the lungs were mostly consumed. I healed malignant diphtheria and carious bones that could be dented by the finger, saving the limbs when the surgeon's instruments were lying on the table ready for their amputation. I have healed at one visit a cancer that had eaten the flesh of the neck and exposed the jugular vein so that it stood out like a chord. I have physically restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and have made the lame walk."*(Miscellany 105:7)
The argument may be presented that Mary Baker Eddy was a uniquely endowed individual. But nothing could be further from the truth. If her healing ability exceeded that of others, which may have been the case, this must be attributed to her advanced understanding in divine Science, which she said had been reduced to common apprehension and presented under the name of Christian Science.*(Science and Health 471:29) The structure for the Key of David, is evidently designed to enable humanity to attain that same advanced understanding of divine Science that she had attained. The foundation on which this structure rests, must therefore be that which she said is reduced to human understanding, which she named Christian Science.
This observation sets up the background against which the nature of Christian Science, should be judged. While many reports of Christian Science healing indicate that other individuals have had experienced a similar effectiveness in their healing work, one must recognize that more than the letter of Christian Science was involved in any one these cases. The Christian Science textbook contains a wide range of statements of truth. The healing effect, however, does not come from these statements. It comes from the spiritual perception of God and man, that the statements inspire. The unfolding perceptions may be bright gleams of Truth, arising from a plateau of divine Science that no tongue can voice nor pen can convey. On the other hand, the resulting perceptions may also be mythological in nature, or emotional, or be intertwined with material concepts. They may still result in healing, to some degree, but their effectiveness will reflect the essential difference between the systems of pure metaphysics, and semimetaphysical systems of thought.
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