The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-10-23

mcthod IN Jesus TEACHING
Recognizing how essential it IL, at som
time for all to claim their God given RICH
! to be free, Il may be interesting 10 obser'
the method which Jesus adopted in ieachin.
| this healing power io hts disciples, No
gifted in learning these disciples manifesto,
an average intelligence, and certain famil
iariiy with the Mosaic law Doubtless ihel
| We're a. familiar with the Old TeStamrn
writings a. the average individual Of today
| However We may read In Lake Gospel hos
that jesus reproyed them for their unbellef
| Then opened he their understanding. thai
/ they might understand the scriptures. Then
| one might be thoroughly familiar with th,
/ Scripture lessons. and In his unbelief fail "a
understand them. For example: When Jesus
| healed the man with the wiihercd hand all
! that he said was, Stretch forth thine hand
And il was restored whole like as the other
| We all are familiar with those words but
suppose any one today repeated those same
words TO one suffering from a wiihered hand,
could the mere repetition of those words heal
| him IL must be evident TO you that not
the words, but the spiritual understanding
OF the Master healed the sick. Why one
might commit TO memory the whole Bible,
| from Genesis 10 Revelation, and be unable
10 heal a single disease, for il is the spiritual
understanding that needs 10 be opened. The
letter killeih, says the Scripture, but the
spirit giveth life. +"
To present this spiritual understanding, II
was necessary for Jesus to begin their
plane of thought. where they could grasp the
meaning of his teachings. lie began with
not unto them 4 little later he said, Il
shall no more speak unto you in proverbs
but shall show you plainly Of the Father
In this he did precisely what the mother
does when she teaches her child that two
and two are four. The child does not under
stand IL at first for the reason that IL is
mental lie sees nothing but physical forms,
Therefore the =, Their begins with something
as tangible as re- apples They mean some.
aud he pIars and has
two red apples In one hand placed with two
red apples in the other make four red apples.
The mental character OF the problem, how.
ever, has thus far escaped the child's notice.
For his second lesson, the apples are re.
moved. and he must learn by thinking red
apples that two and two are four Then
for his third lesson, he is ready TO grasp
the mental problem without the physical
forms. In like manner Jesus taught the
disciples first in parallels, using the things
OF common experience which they could read,
lily understand. Gradually in this way he
turned their thought away from the physical
began to apprehend degree of reality in
spiritual things. Indeed their faith was
strengthened by visible proofs of healing
performed by their Master. To watch others
solve these problems, however was insult. |
cient. For their second lesson, they were
sent out in pairs to heal the sick, and thus
prove their slight understanding and be.
hold they returned saying, Even the devils |
great mental Principle which underles all |
being and action was unfolding to them, and |
they grasped the spirit of it all by the actual |
demonstration of healing so that Jesus could |
say as an opening to his third lesson, II
shall no more speak unto you in proverbs
but shall show you plainly of the Father
That is he could then teach them spiritual |
things in spiritual terms and they could un.
ierstand spiritually. From that time their
healing was even more remarkable than be-
fore in proof of their positive understa nding
Of spiritual law.
Some there are who believe that the heal
ng works of Jesus are not in obedience to
! teachable law, averring that the disciples
gained their understanding through the per.
'onal inspiration of the great Master If
his were true, what shall we say of Paul
md the early Christiansl Paul was not a
PERSONAL disciple of Jesus, but he understood
low to heal the sick and raise the dead He
vas at first prosecutor of the Christians,
ctively engaged in opposing their teachings;
'ut the moment he gained a spiritual sense
f this divine Principle, he gave to the
World the proof of his understanding by the
ealing works. 1t was no longer unreason.
BILE to him. He had learned that the carnal
,ind is no fit standard by which to judge
he spiritual facts of being For three hun. I
red years this same Christian healing con
nued to be exercised by the church.
Disease Mental.
When one turns to God for comfort or
l.,
hristians are taught to pray for deliver :
nee from sickness and from sin They :
,ntinue their preaching against sin, but the u
hristian healing of sickness is apparently :
pathetic from unbelief. The reason may
e in the physical appearance of sickness, !,
II if sickness were known to be as mental =
sin, then it could be seen how mental r
rayer could control both. If disease were !
irely physical and could be reached only y
drugs or material means, there could he | "
} such thing as Christian healing One of a a
e leading points in the theology of Chris. a
an Science, and one which physicians are :,
w admitting to be true is the mental y
Iture of disease. a
We should look beyond the physical effects !"
their mental cause just as Moses did, for \
hen he withdrew his hand from his bosom u
lite with leprosy he awoke to the mental y
Inds Of leprosy Again, when he re- h
r rd;on his =, hand to his bosom, in V,
free from that dread disease he learned Il, Ut
its mental cure, and that the divine Mind W W
the healer. 1t follows therefore that Chris. | ~
m prayer should be just as effcacious in VI
aling disease which is mental as in casting 8.
{ the belief in mental sin.
Now when a dentist administers ane.. "a
etics to suspend or divert the thought dur. ~, ~
the process of an operation, he is pro- ",
ading on the assumption that if man ~
n not think he can not be hurt for during ai
, time when the patients thought is sus gu g.,
nded or diverted, his flesh and bones can s os
: nor intelligence. Consequently, pain is =. &c
In the thinking. 1t is in the mortal mind ~
1 not the physical form. 1t follows there. ~
e that even surgery may prove indirectly 81
mental nature of disease s
Human Mind Not Regenerative. sh
The observation that disease is mental has ia,
a - I