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AGNES CHALMERS In marking the rapidity with which these satisfactory readjustments have taken place in the world during the past few months, every Christian Scientist turns with loving gratitude to the pioneer group of ten workers who were the first ones commissioned by The Mother Church for overseas war relief work in France. During those crucial days and weeks in the early summer, when even nations were fearful, these workers did not falter in their allegiance to Principle. When hundreds of thousands had fled or were preparing to flee from war-threatened areas they made wise and loving provision to remain. During weeks of air raids and long range bombardment they turned to their books in order to gain a higher understanding of God and man's relationship to Him as an indestructible idea. They recognized that health, harmony, and protection are normal and natural states of being; and that in the benign government of infinite Truth and Love there is adequate health, peace, and protection for all. During the last air raid which took place in one locality, several war workers stationed there rejoiced because of the healing messages which always reach man through God's direct means of communication, angels. They knew that these divine intuitions are commissioned to impart only messages of Truth to man, such as goodness, health, safety, wholeness, and purity. The rejoicing over this spiritual fact on that particular night healed or relieved the city, wherein these war workers were stationed, from fear of future bombardment and destruction. This experience reminds one of the songs that Paul and Silas sang effectively in prison during the watches of the night when the damp, pestilential cells of the Philippian dungeon were opened up and the prisoners set free. Among the many interesting branches of activity which the war relief work in France affords, none has given greater inspiration than the distribution of The Christian Science Monitor in the hospitals. There is truly a new order of things in these army hospitals, which is, again, another form of relief for the world. One commanding officer told a war worker that the soldier was the most satisfactory patient on earth, because he was always satisfied. "It will be difficult," he said, "to return to civil practice and have as patients influential, wealthy, and complaining people." The war workers have learned to appreciate the work of the honest army physician and surgeon. Commanding officers have been consulted regarding the distribution of Monitors in the hospitals and, in each case, consent has been gladly given. One officer said: "We are here for one purpose,— to win the war. Come as often as you like, when you please, bring as many papers as you can, and always make yourself at home." Still another commandant said, "Everyone knows that splendid paper." In this connection, one is reminded that Mrs. Eddy has written on page 4 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" this helpful description of a genuine Christian Scientist: "It will be found that, instead of opposing, such an individual subserves the interests of both medical faculty and Christianity, and they thrive together, learning that Mind-power is good will towards men." In two cases the close study of this reference removed what appeared to be a prejudiced feeling against Christian Science. In still another case, this assurance of our Leader that "both medical faculty and Christianity . . . thrive together" opened the way for an officer seeking light to begin the study of Science and Health. The Christian Science Monitor, the world's daily newspaper, has been distributed, it should be remembered, by our war relief workers to the soldiers in the army hospitals without any comment relative to religion. Questions regarding Christian Science have been asked by nurses and patients and, in such cases, they have been answered. It cannot be said that an army hospital is a gloomy place. "I'm feeling fine today," is the soldier's invariable comment regarding his health. A leg, an arm, or an eye may be missing, but the cheer, which is true relief, is always present, reminding one that regardless of what might appear to be the heavy odds of sense testimony, the revelations of Christian Science have made it possible for the soldier to acknowledge health as a great spiritual fact. Though many of the soldiers involved in the present struggle for liberty have not known the letter of Christian Science, they have, nevertheless, manifested that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus." Two soldiers, each of whom had a lung wound, insisted that breathing with one lung was "soft" compared with what they had been through at the front. Though struggling at the time with what appeared to be "the last enemy," they were gratefully enjoying their present blessings, such as pillows, sheets, and a warm room. Their recovery was rapid. In a few days one was sitting up, looking forward to returning to his company by Christmas, and the other was out walking in the garden. Yielding obedience to the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," the soldier refuses to be dominated by the false testimony of what appear to be inharmonious conditions for organic and functional health. A war worker was told by the commanding officer of a hospital that soldier patients, in general, have established a world record for speedy restoration to health. The appreciation expressed by the soldiers in the hospitals for the Monitor has been most gratifying. A soldier of gigantic stature, in a tone of marked reverence, read aloud to the boys in his ward the name, "The Christian Science Monitor." "I love that word Christian," tenderly commented this statuesque athlete just from the front. "I love the word God, too, now," he added. "Everyone does after using it so much at the front," explained another soldier in a most natural way. "I wonder what people will think after we get home," said another, "because we really don't care to talk about anything else but God." One lad was happy to find a particular shoe advertisement in The Christian Science Monitor. He had worn those shoes at home, he explained, without any special thought of gratitude, but now even the advertisement pleased him. One soldier declared to a dozen or more comrades grouped about his cot that he knew nothing of Christian Science but he did know that those Monitor editorials are "the smartest dope on earth." One lad called out cheerfully over his leg "rack," so that everyone in a ward of one hundred or more might hear: "Good! Here comes the sporting page lady." The human belief of disabled limbs did not deter him from an interest in good, clean sport. The Monitor distributor left a message of love one day for a soldier who was unconscious and appeared to be passing on. On the next visit the lad was quite well. He had heard that one word "love," he said, and he was sure he must be home again, so he decided it was best to wake up and see what was going on. On another day the supervising nurse asked the Monitor distributor to say a few words to another lad who was expected to live but a few hours. This wounded soldier had lost his Bible at Chateau-Thierry, and then, he explained, "he knew he would not live." He was reminded that he had not lost the Lord's Prayer and that he might still avail himself of these living words. He promised to say the Lord's Prayer all day — to substitute its words for what appeared to be a shortness of breath. This obedient soldier did exactly as he promised, and his healing came that day. Two weeks later a small consignment of Bibles came from Boston, and one was taken to the lad. He was found walking about the tent. His Irish nurse called out to the boy: "Now, just look; there's that lady with those same papers, and haven't I been often thinkin' since, that you got well the very day I first laid me eyes on that Christian Science Monitor?" When the Bible was given to the lad, he quickly removed the outer box and threw it under his cot. The Book itself he held for some time caressingly against his face, and then slipped it securely under his pillow. "There is nothing," said the nurse, "which the boys so thoroughly love as the Bible; and they read it too," she added. A new form of healing and charging has developed through the war relief work abroad. The soldier, accustomed to obey implicitly, is easily healed. To the soldier, in fact to everyone who has been directly engaged in winning this war or later in rebuilding devastated regions or occupying posts of vigilance, The Mother Church's gift is the Christian Science treatment which may be required while about these important duties. Gratitude is invariably expressed for this help, and oftentimes a contribution from one who has been healed is made to the War Relief fund. This policy is in conformity with our Leader's provision that Christian Science practitioners should make their charges for treatment the same as those of "reputable physicians in their respective localities" (Miscellany, p. 237). The charges of the army physician and surgeon are nothing. The Government pays the army doctor. The Christian Science practitioner's charge to the soldier and war worker is likewise nothing. In this case the practitioner's daily expenses have been lovingly paid by contributions from Christian Science churches and societies throughout the world. The soldier is shirking no responsibility in accepting this gift from these grateful contributors. He has already given all, and more than this one cannot pay. Soldiers who come for help are grateful for the chairs upon which they sit, for the fire prepared especially for their comfort — they are, in fact, grateful for everything. One is reminded how easily healing was accomplished when the early Christians voiced the truth about God and man. A war relief worker remarked that a practitioner who could not heal these soldiers could scarcely expect to help anyone. One lad wrote that a luncheon and a talk had saved his life, "And now I must be healed of the tobacco habit," he added. An officer came many miles, waited all day for treatment, and asked to be healed of the cigarette habit before returning to the front. "For the sake of my men," he explained, "I must be clear, not drugged, when I lead them again into battle." Where physical difficulties have been healed, in most cases, speedy follow-up requests have come, asking for immediate healing of some form of sin, — the tobacco habit, oftentimes, sometimes the belief of pleasure in matter and frequently freedom is sought from the habit of criticizing the "boys in the outfit." The question of "outfit" is, in most cases, dear to the soldier. He is always looking forward to returning to his own company. One lad declared that he loved his "outfit" because no one at the front ever stole anything from anyone. The soldier recognizes that he has been through dark days with these men of his own company, and he is grateful to each one. It is helpful to remember in this connection the vast "outfit" of Christian Science workers who have stood together through the dark days of a world's regeneration. A Christian Science lad of twenty, who won a Croix de Guerre and forgot for some time to write to his parents regarding this signal honor, remembered to send the following expression of gratitude in a letter: "During the second battle of the Marne I lost everything I had except my equipment, rifle, Science and Health, and Bible, and if I had been forced to discard anything else, I am sure that my rifle would have gone before my Science and Health and Bible. For four days we were without a meal, but what little reading I could do seemed to take the place of food and sleep and it kept me contented under all conditions." What better Croix de Guerre, could any soldier hope to gain than to be kept contented under all conditions through the reading of the Bible and Science and Health? A wounded soldier, to whom a Monitor was given, repaid the war worker by showing her a worn copy of Science and Health, vest pocket edition, a small-sized Bible, and two pamphlets. He spread them all out on his cot and, kneeling beside them, he regarded each book with indescribable tenderness. "I have had them with me everywhere," he explained. "I always knew I was fighting a holy war and that these books would show me how to win." It is quite true that this soldier's love for his books exemplified the very same quality of affection the Master was seeking to find on earth when he repeatedly asked of Simon the burning question, "Lovest thou me?" No one could witness such sincere appreciation and not have thereafter a deeper regard for the Bible, for our Leader's writings, and for our periodicals. It is generally granted that the soldiers in France have needed the war relief workers, but it should be likewise admitted that the war relief workers and every Christian Scientist on earth have needed the consecrated example of the soldiers. One soldier declared when the Monitor was given him "The news in this paper is good medicine." A French officer who came to our committee rooms in search of a French-English Science and Health stated that one heard a great deal at the front about Christian Science. The Mother Church's war relief work has properly begun with the relief of the reliever. The soldier is the reliever of war. It is admitted that without him there would have been no countries left to relieve. There are ten Christian Science reading rooms and War Relief depots located in France alone, and in each of these places good healing work is being daily accomplished. One lad who knew nothing of Christian Science had been told by the doctors that it would be more than two years before he could safely leave the hospital and return home. One day he received a letter announcing the welcome extended to soldiers in these Christian Science reading rooms. This soldier informed his hospital associates, upon receipt of this letter, that he expected to go to this reading room and be healed. Instead of ridiculing him his friends in the hospital were all deeply interested and wished him Godspeed. Some few weeks later this soldier, who had in the meantime been perfectly healed and had been returned to active service, wrote as follows: "I was sick in the hospital with a disease that the doctors said would take two years to cure and then they would not guarantee it. I worried continually over my condition and fully made up my mind that I would keep away from my loved ones as much as possible, as the thought of going home to them in this condition I couldn't bear. Finally I thought of Christian Science and made up my mind that I would try it. So the following Sunday I went to the reading room, and I had no more than entered the room than the feeling of remorse left me, and from that day to this I have not worried an instant. . . . I feel that before I went to the reading room I was a sheep that had strayed from the fold, and that all the time I was away I was working my way back, encountering many pitfalls and hardships; but the finding of the fold was worth all that I had gone through. How thankful I am to our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy! I thank God that He led me to a place where I would at last learn the truth and the way. I wish that you would give me absent treatment for smoking. I am feeling very well, indeed. Words cannot express how thankful I am." This letter has been quoted almost in full because it tells between the lines the "wondrous story" of a certain branch of the Christian Science war relief work among the soldiers. Many of these lads have come to France to learn, after having passed through great tribulation, the healing definition of woman which Mrs. Eddy gives on page 51 of "Unity of Good," where the question, "What say you of woman?" is answered: "Man is the generic term for all humanity. Woman is the highest species of man, and this word is the generic term for all women; but not one of all these individualities is an Eve or an Adam." One clings less, perhaps, over here to the traditional methods of dealing with physical symptoms and even with sin. The soldier rarely magnifies his physical symptoms, so called, and the practitioner, working in war relief, learns not to magnify the soldier's so-called sin. The soldier recognizes, perhaps more quickly than any other patient on earth, that sin and sickness are correlated. Relieve him of sickness and he insists upon being relieved at once of sin. In many cases, though apparently suffering at the time with physical ills, he has asked solely for help in overcoming some phase of false appetite. During the past months we have seen nations liberated in a day from the bondage of war and autocratic monarchs. The next step is to impart to these nations an understanding of Principle. This task may be permanently accomplished through a right knowledge of God and His idea. This understanding may be gained in one way, — through a careful study of the Bible and our Leader's writings in connection with the Christian Science periodicals. The activities carried on by the Christian Science War Relief committee have effectively aided in making the study of Christian Science universal. Now that actual physical hostilities have ceased, these righteous spiritual activities may well be perpetuated in every land and among every race. Every Christian Scientist who has so faithfully put his hand to the plow of contributing funds and services to this universal relief work will do well not to turn back until every nation on earth has been relieved or lifted up from all evil, pain, discomfort, uneasiness, burden of duty. We shall, then, each have part in the desire our Leader expressed to aid in the relief of every human woe, when she wrote in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 31), "From my very childhood I was impelled, by a hunger and thirst after divine things, — a desire for something higher and better than matter, and apart from it, — to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and ever-present relief from human woe."
Christian Science Sentinel, December 21, 1918 |
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