Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-05-30
Christian Science.

VI Al4duIdi b@'i ePPe"lSN Al "
issue of The Constitution.
Even the casual observer of the
trend of the times cannot fail to see
that there is vigilant, concerted de-
termined action on the part Of the
medical fraternity to legislate against
Christianity as a healing power. Why
does the medical fraternity need this
legislative support that is not asked
for nor given to other professions ?
Is not this very strenuous and persist
ent effort that is being made in every
state of this union the very highest
possible compliment to the healing
work that is being done by Christian
Scientists?
Christian Scientists have no quar-
rel with medical practice nor with any
other means of alleviating human ills.
They believe in and ask for indlvid-
ual freedom, both in religion and heal
ing. l myself have had a lifelong
habit of being most friendly to the
physicians, for l was, until healed in
Christian Science, almost constantly
under the care of some one Of them.
AS a class they are scholarly, cultured
and refined, and I like those qualities,
but also like liberality and justic.
Is it just that for nearly twenty
years l should have given yearly
handsome sums for medical attention,
as much several times as FIVE and six
hundred dollars for surgical opera
tions-seventeen hundred at one time
for the rest cure-and when all these
had failed and gentle, Christian wo-
man did what all these had failed to
do-restored me to health and
strength by making me a better wo-
man through the understanding ofmy
relation to God, at a cost of twenty
dollars for four weeks treatment; Is
it just, l say, that she should be count
ed criminal for taking this meagre
compensation for an inestimable bless
ing-a blessing that irradistes my life
and being through all these twelve
years ? During this time l have taken
no medicine and have been better IN
health, holier in life, more useful to
myself, to humanity, and to the cause
Of Christ.
A close and unbiased study Of Jesus
words and works will show clearly
that he taught that Sin was the cause
of sickness and death that if you cast
out one you cast out the other. They
60 hand in hand. He said to the
palsied man: Thy sins are forgiven
thee, rise up and walk. Whether it
is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven
thee, or to say, Rise up and walk?
This certainly unites the theology and
the healing-they are inseparable. 1t
is the theology that heals. When he
said, Go into all the world and preach
the gospel, he also said, Heal the sick.
He revealed the healingpower Of Spir-
it which had always, from Moses,
Elijah, and David, to Jesus, been some
what part of Jewish theology. The
healing work was not confined to the
twelve, for the seventy also healed,
aud Paul, who never saw the personal
Jesus, boasted that he had given
proofs of his discipleship by signs and
wonders.
Jesus proved that there was Splr-
itual law which annulled the material.
When he said of his disciples, "They
shall handle serpents, and if they drink
any deadly thing it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the
sick and they shall recover" he said
pointe1ly and positively that these
should be the signs that would follow
those that believe in or understood
him. Paul said: "The law Of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law Of sin and death.
tits this understanding ofthe suprem-
acy of spiritual law that heals the sick
the understanding OF the natural
ness of good, Of health, harmony and
Immortality, and the consequent un-
naturalness of evil and disease, if God
is omnipresent Good.
Not until the fourth century did
this unity of theology and healing
cease, and not entirely then, although
at that time the world and materialism
seemed to take possession Ofths church
instead of the church dominating them.
Christian Science is restoring this