The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-24
deduction from the Bible. Christian
Science.


concept of Christian Science is thai il
is sheer impiety for any man or wo-
man to assert that he or she is clothed
with the power of God to heal the sick.
The striking weakness of this objec-
ton is that Christian Scientists do not
profess, in any degree, any such power.
Christian Scientists simply assert, as it
was declared in the time of Jesus, thai
the power that heals the sick is the
power of God. Now IL it is true tina
the health-giving power is of God, and
it is also true that Gods power and
love are as great now a. they were in
the morning Of the Christian era, then,
tell me, is there anything strange in
the fact that the lame do walk and the
blind do see, today, as they did walk
and see nineteen hundred years ago.
On the contrary, would il not strike
your human ems Of justice as passing
strange, with Gods power and love for
men unchanged, that He should not
manifest that power and love to His
children as He did in the time OF
Jesus? But, really, about the only
difference between III thought re-
specting the power and willingness of
God to heal the sick, so far as l can
discern it, is about this: You say you
believe 1t, and we believe it; you say
you believe it, and do not trust it; we
believe it, and do trust it; you say
you believe with Paul that in God
you live and move and have your being
and go to the doctor or the drug store
for your life n health; we believe
with Paul that in God We have life,
health and Immortality, and go to God,
and God only, for life n health.
L assert that there is not a Christian
religious organization in the world to-
day, and never has been one, whether
Protestant, Catholic or Jewish, that
does not hold and teach the doctrine
OF Gods power n willingness to heal
the sick. You must believe, as a mere
matter of might, that God has the pow
er to heal the sick; for you say that
by the word of His power He created
all the worlds and all that is in them:
you say that He fashioned the eye, and
the ear, and if this is true, then you
must believe that God can emOve a
little film from the eye He created: that
the power that fashioned therear can
remove a little thickness from it's
drum. 1t is very apparent that you
believe that God has the physical and
mental welfare of His hldren in His
keeping and is willing to make them
well, because every Sabbath in your
churches, you openly and sometimes
deliberately, pray to God for the sick
and the afflicted" 1.-The poor n the
distressed" the widow and the or
phan;" and you would not, 1 am sure.
go to God with a petition for relief,
where you doubted either His power
or willingness to grant your petition.
Really, do you not think that your
professed belief and your practice
should keep company with ZACH other?
And may o not wisely learn tonight,
\ if you have never realized it before,
that a declared moral belief that is not
supplemented by what you do, is sim
ply an assault upon your intellectual
integrity? / submit to you this SIM
pie propositions: If you really believe
that o live and in God" then
| should you not, as a mere act of keep
ing faith with yourselves, trust your
life and your health to their Infinite
| Keeper?
ANCESTRAL OPINION.
To my mind your lack of trust in
, Gods healing power and love is not
very strange. 1t is the natural result
of ancestral opinion. Your fathers be-
| lieved, and therefore taught you to be-
| lieve. that God makes you sick that
God makes you blind, and deaf and
lame; n so it is not hard to under
stand that one who regards God as
the fruitful our of every sorrow,
heart-ache and heart-break, would re-
~luctantly go to Him with a petition for
relief from the very woes His w
hand had wrought. And right here is
the marked distinction between the
old churches thought of God, and our
thought of Him. Christian Scientists
utterly repudiate the idea that God is
the author of disease and disaster; they
hail Him rather as the open fountain
of peace and health, of song and glad
ness.
You remember that Jesus went into
the on one occasion and read
| from the prophecy of Esaias, respect
ing the office of Christ where it is writ
ten: THE spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor He hath
sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised"
and, closing the book, Jesus said to the
congregation that His presence on
earth was a fulfillment of hat proph-
ecy. Christian Scientists assert that
these words of Jesus are His procla-
nation to all the world, of His God
sealed ambassadorship not only to
preach the gospel, but to heal the sick;
and He demonstrated by constant min
istrations to weary, suffering men His
fidelity to His high commission. What
did Jesus mean when, neal the close
of His ministry, He told His disciples
tina the works which He did they
should do also? His healing was with
out the aid of any drug, manipulation,
diet, change of climate, mechanical
| dllCS, IlcSIIicI Sill Vi hy pllOlISii,
and in the same way, Jesus way of
healing, the disciples were clearly told
they should do similar works. Certain
ly no one in the old churches will as
sert that Jesus did not make the dec
laration to His disciples that they
should do the works He did, and no
one, 1 am sure, in the old churches,
will say that Jesus did not mean the
words He spoke. Now, these words of
Jesus were spoken to you and to me as
certainly as they were to His disciples
of olden time. 1t was to you and to me
as truly as to the eleven that Jesus
said: IF you believe in my name you
shall cast out devils; in my name you
shall lay hands on the sick, n they
shall recover. Christian Scientists
accept this call to duty as addressed to
them, and by the most crucial tests;
by thousands upon thousands Of abso-
lutte cures, covering the whole range
Of mortal Affections, they have demon
strated the efficacy Of metaphysical
healing, and therefore the absolute
truth of Christian Science.