Does Christian Science really heal?  Yes!

Julie Swannell

A visitor to our Reading Room today has inspired me to write this evening.  I love the way this can happen.  Our book, Christian Science in Germany, gives ample proof that Christian Science heals.  Almost every page contains evidence of it.  Of course, the world is awash with healing methods.  It is of vital interest to everyone to be healthy. 

And so it is worth noting certain points brought out by the author in relation to the healing work, as it may encourage and inspire the student of Christian Science today.

The year is 1896. 

Page seven tells us that “the lady* studied Science and Health earnestly.  She was deeply interested, and talked with those whom she met socially of this wonderful book and the truth it contained.”  (*We have since discovered that this lady was Mrs. Longyear.  See a previous post.)

 

Page eight informs us that Christian Science teacher Mrs. Lathrop “said that she felt that this was a call from God”.

 

On page eleven Mrs. Seal reveals an “irresistible” longing to find God because she was “without hope and with no knowledge of God”.  At a testimony meeting she attended in New York City, new concepts were revealed to her and she “saw at once that this was true, that ignorance [of God] is the only cause of suffering”.  Now “joyous with hope”, she realised that “if it was science it could be learned” and she was “determined [she] would learn it.” (p. 12)

 

Her own healing of stomach disease and failing eyesight was not even sought, as she believed she was incurable.  Her desire was only to “know about God”.  And yet, with the reading of Mrs. Eddy’s No and Yes (three times in one evening) she not only found her questions answered as she learned that “neither good nor evil is personal, and that man is inseparable from God, his origin”, but also found herself completely healed.  She writes (p. 15) “I loved this Truth and hoped to grow in understanding and to be useful to the Cause of Christian Science”.

 

There followed two cases of healing – of rheumatism and cancer.  Of the first case, Mrs. Seal tells us that she “simply saw the nothingness of the disease” and the patient’s belief in it.  The other was healed “entirely through seeing and voicing the truth of being”.  These cases gave her courage.

 

Her voyage to Germany was particularly rough, yet so firm was her conviction of her calling to this work, that she was fearless and undisturbed.  This created quite an impression on the other passengers and crew. 

 

And so the beautiful story unfolds.  It was strenuous, demanding, lonely work.  She tells us on page 27 that “many times I walked the floor with a candle in one hand and Science and Health in the other, reading aloud though my voice was choked with sobs.”  Her greatest desire was “to find Christ, for as yet my concept of Christ was very dim”.  She studied twelve or fourteen hours a day and “after three months’ earnest seeking” she “found Christ, as revealed by Mrs. Eddy”.

By 1899, Mrs. Seal had moved from Dresden to Berlin.   Within six months, more than one hundred and twenty-five people were attending meetings.  She writes: “It is impossible to keep people away when the sick are healed by spiritual means” (page 45).  Interestingly, she notes that “one significant feature was that they never said they came to take treatment; they always said they had come to be healed by the Christ healing” (page 49).  I loved to read of the preparations made to ensure the church services were held in a beautiful space – see page 46.  And later that “every department of the work was active and joyous” (page 70).

 

Amidst all this work, Mrs. Seal tells us of her need for refreshment due to a sense of barrenness and spiritual hunger.  After arranging for a period of quiet, she was able to spend an entire afternoon and evening with the Bible, Science and Health, and Miscellaneous Writings, reading and pondering.  “In thought I walked with Jesus and received his teaching” (page 54).  When a blind woman and her daughter appeared in the waiting room next day, “not for one instant did the suggestion enter [her] thought”.  In fact, “immediately came the thought, “No, no, no – not in God’s whole universe!”  She was simply not aware of the blindness, which was completely healed (page 55).

 

I love this book and am so grateful for the opportunity to read it once again and share its blessings.

 

—