Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-17
WRITER MAKES PLAIN POINTS
IN DOUBT
DECLARES SOME cHuRcHMEN
ONLY HALF BELIEVE
Christian Science Followers Clear Up
Some Mooted Questlons-Defends
Practitioners Who Obey
Lava of Bible

= religion, excluding from con5idera-
ton its work of healing. But a view OF
this religion, apart from the work OF
healing. would be a very imperfect one.
It would not be the religion of Jesus, as
healed the sick. He said to his disciples:
"As ye go, preach. saying the kingdom of
heaven is at hand, heal the sick. cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead. cast out devils;
freely we have received, freely give" He
did not confine his work to the preaching
of the gospel, but did all these things
that he commanded his disciples to do.
It was part of his religion and his re-
ligious work. That he looked upon sick
ness and disease as the result of sin, or
a sinful mind, cannot be doubted. More
than once when he had healed the SICK
he said: Go and sin no more" When he
healed the paralytic he said: "Thy sins
be forgiven thee" And when the scribes
charged him with blasphemy, in claiming
to forgive sin, he replied: Wherefore
think We evil in your hearts. For whether
IS easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee
or to say arise and walk"
Said Others Should Act
But other Christian people have made
this same charge of blasphemy and sacri-
iege against Christian Scientists for claim
ing to heal the sick They assume, with
out the slightest evidence. that these
works done by Jesus were supernatural,
miraculous, and that he alone could do
them. Jesus made no such claim. He an
nounced. time and again, that it was not
his work. He said: II can of mine own
self do nothing" He did not claim at
any time that others might not do this
healing. AS we have shown above, he
commanded his disciples to do all these
beneficent works. Not only so, but he
said: He that believeth on me the works
that I do shall he do also, and greater
works than these shall he do because
go unto my Father" And, after the
resurrection. when he sat with the eleven,
he said to them: go We into all the
world and preach the gospel to every
creature. And these signs shall
fellow them that believe. In my name
shall they cast out devils. They
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall
recover" And after he had thus spoken
unto them he was received into heaven
and sat on the right hand of God" And
after this they went forth and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them
and confirming the word with signs fol-
lowing" that is to say. they proved the
truth of his saying to them by doing the
works he had done
Under the Law of Harmony
Christian Scientists do not believe that
the works done by Jesus were super
natural, but that they were supremely
natural and in accordance with divine
law the law of harmony that governs the
universe. including man. They believe
fully in the statements of Jesus that they
who believe on him can do the works of
healing he did. 'the Lord working with
Them They believe that his command
to heal the sick was just as imperative
as his command to preach the gospel and
that it should be obeyed by all Christian
people. 1t was followed for 300 years after
Jesus crucifixion, and can and should be
done today as it was then by those ''who
believe on him."
The trouble is that professed Christians
of the present day are only so in part. |
They believe in his gospel teachings, but
not in his unequivocal declaration that
they, if they believe on him. may do this |
work of healing. They believe, or profess
TO believe, that God can and will heal the
sick, but that he will do so only as a
favor Therefore their work done in the
effort to heal is to beseech God to heal, |
and If he does not they content themselves
by saying 'it was the will of God and We
must be resigned" Christian Scientists do
not believe that it was ever the will Of
God that man should suffer or die, but
that suffering and physical death result
from sin or the violation of Gods I'M
mutable and ulalterable laws. Therefore
the work of Christian Scientist in heal
ing the sick is to regenerate the life and
thought of the sufferer and bring him
into harmony with Gods law, and thus
restore him to the harmony of righteous
ness and health. They do not pray to
have God do something, as a favor to the
individual sick, but to help him to know
that Gods work is done; that his law or
health and harmony, peace and happiness
Las existed always and that it is onlv |
necessary for man to conform to that law
to be good and healthy and happy. There |
fore it is a process of regeneration, a |
restoration to right thinking and right
living, an absolute faith in and dependence
upon God in all things and without
reservation. So it was with Jesus. Wheu
he had raised Lazarus from the dead he |
said: Father, 1 thank thee that thou |
hast heard me. And l know that thou |
nearest me always, but because of the |
people which stand by I said 1t that they
may believe that thou hast sent me-" It |
Ly the same divine principle, by regenera-
tion into newness of life and into the
kowledge and understanding of the all |
ress of God and the nothingness of evil, |
sickness sin and death, as opposed to his |
laws. AS to the efficacy of Christian
Science healing its people are willing TO
be judged by their works. They do not
profess to be perfect They meet with !
failures in some cases, not because the
principle of healing is not perfect. but be- |
cause of their lack of understanding, or, |
it may be, the unwillingness of the suf- |
ferer to accept the work attempted in
that spirit that entities him to the bless
ing that must come from God by sub
mitting to his divine laws.
But here in Los Angeles such diseases
as consumption, locomotor ataxia, cancer.
paralysis. hernia, pneumonia and many
others have been healed: such habits as
drunkenness, use of cocaine morphine, |
tobacco and others have been destroyed
and the taste for such drugs overcome,
and accidents of many kinds and Of the
most serious nature have been healed,
end many of them where materia medica /
remedies and the services of the most
skillful physicians and surgeons have
failed to give relief. Besides this hun
dreds of people, nervous, depressed. un-
harnv the victims of vicious tennera |