The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1912-07-11
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and to regenerate the sinner. This, then,
gives us a starting point from which to be-
gin to measure Christian Science with the
Scriptures.
1t must be admitted that Jesus healed
the sick by metaphysical and not by phys
ical means He did not administer drugs
nor recommend their use, and yet he heal
ed the sick in some manner and by some
process that was infallible. Organic
diseases yielded to his treatment as readily
as those that were purely functional. Peo-
pie who were born blind and with crooked
and mishapen bodies found themselves re-
stored to normal conditions under his path
illogical treatment, as readily as those who
were suffering from fevers or insanity.
The question is, How did he do it, and
is it possible for human beings now walk
! ing the earth to learn his method so as to be
able to produce cures in the same way?
Many believe that Jesus was able to do
his wonderful works because he was divine,
and therefore that it is impossible to do the
works he did and even blasphemous for any
person to claim to do them. This, how
ever, will not explain the exercise of the
same power by his disciples, and by the
early Christians. Jesus himself never said
anything to justify such belief. On the
contrary, he apparently took every precau-
ton to prevent such theory from becom-
ing prevalent.
In a conversation with his disciples con-
corning this very matter, recorded In the
14th chapter of the Gospel of John, he
said in the 10th verse: "Believest thou
not that am in the Father, and the Father
in me9 the words that l speak unto you L
speak not of myself; but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
This was equivalent to saying that God is
Mind and that he dwelt in Mind and Mind
in him so that he of himself did not do
anything, but it was God operating through
him that did the works.
Giving all honor and power to the Father
he said, "the Son can do nothing of HIM
SELF
On all occasions Jesus denied that he had
any power in or of himself, and declared
always that it was God operating through
him that enabled him to do the works. He
likewise declared that the divine power,
operating through him, was available to
every one and could be possessed and exer-
cised by every one who accepted his teach
ings and fulfilled their requirements.
In this connection it is significant that
Jesus never at any time sent out his dlsclp-
les to preach without telling them also to
heal the sick. There is no Scriptural auth
ority for preaching that does not have
coupled with it the command to heal. Go
we into all the world, and preach the Cos
pel'' and ''heal the sick were his COM
mands. Lest there should be any doubt
about it he said: "Verily, Verify, l say
unto you, He that beieveth on me, the
works that | do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; be-
cause 60 unto my Father Almost the
last words that he uttered before his ascen-
sion, were: "These signs shall follow
them that believe and among other things
he enumerated that they should heal the
sick.
Not once in all the record did he ever say
to use drugs. 1t is reasonable to suppose
that he would have commanded his follow
ers to heal the sick by spiritual means and
without drugs unless he had known that it
was possible to do so? Christian Scientists
are striving to obey Jesus in his two-fold
command to "preach the gospel and
''heal the sick, and in doing SO they have
met with such success that Christian Science
is now recognized as an efficient curative
system.
1t was surprise to me, as it doubtless
will be to some of you, to learn that the
primitive church healed the sick and raised
the dead. This fact was one of the things
that first opened my thought to Christian
Science and caused me to see that in heal
ing the sick, the Christian Science church
was not only obeying the commands of
Jesus to go into all the world and preach
the gospel and heal the sick, but was in
fact reestabishing the healing work of the
primitive church.
History records that the healing of the
sick was part or the regular church minis
try for three hundred years after the cruel
fxion, and that the dead were raised during
the first and second centuries. Afterwards
the healing power was lost and history
shows why. You will recall that the EN-
peror Constantine became a convert to
Christianity in the third century. Ira
dition records that he was healed of an in
durable disease by some member of the
Christian church, and that out of gratitude
for his healing he became an ardent Christ
ian. He made the Christian religion the
official religion of his empire with the re-
suit that the church became very popular
Multtudes of people united with it, not
because of their spiritual growth or because
they understood its teachings, but merely
because it was the proper thing to do. The
officials and courtiers made haste to unite
with the church and in time it became
semi-political institution and the spiritual
ty departed from it.
From that period the church went down
until it seemingly reached the bottom at
the time of Martin Luther. 1t had then
fallen into such disorder that an upheavel
occurred within its ranks, and from then
till now the trend of human thought has
been upward towards better understand
ing of God. The Christian Science move
ment means that we have gotten back once
more into the zone of primitive Christian