Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-03-27


commands OF Jesus TO go into all
| the world and preach the gospel and
| heal the sick, but was in fact rees-
| tablishing the healing work of the
! primitive church,
| History records that the healing
Of the sick was a part of the regular
church ministry fer three hundred
years after the crucifxion, and that
the dead were raised during the first
| and second centuries. Afterwards
| the healing power was lost and his
tory shows why. You viii recall that
/ the Emperor Constantine became
convert to Christianity in the third
century. Tradition records that he
was healed of an incurable disease
| by some member of the Christian
church, and that out OF gratitude for
his healing he became an ardent
| Christian He made the Christian
religion the official religion Of his
empire with the result that the
church became very popular. Multi
tudes of people united with it not
because OF their spiritual growth or
because they understood its teach
ings, 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
a semi political institution and the
spirituality 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 up
ward towards a better understanding
Of God The Christian Science move
ment means that We have gotten back
once more into the zone of primitive
Christianity, and We are again wit
Messing, to some extent at least, the
same results from the teachings of
Jesus that were produced by the prim
litiye church.
|
to light in the future will depend up
ON the standardization Of thought and
; individual growth of the true under
standing of God, but it can be safe
ly predicted that the healing power
of Christ, Truth, will never again
be lost to mankind.
!, Why should any one not wish to
believe that God heals the sick? Is
| it not thing to be- desired? and is
it not something for which humanity
has been praying through the cen
turtles? Now that it is here why
should any one not wish to accept
lit? Let each one ask himself that
question
HEALING is THE SIGN.
Although the public regards the
healing as the most important part
of Christian Science work, such is
not the fact. The vital thing about
Christian Science is that it teaches
the truth about God and man, and a
= bout mans relationship to God. By
realizing and understanding this truth
healing comes naturally, and is mere
" the sign that the truth is under
, stood When the knowledge of the
truth comes to the human conscious
ness it destroys and correctsi the false
beliefs that have been entertained
and the effects of the false beliefs
disappear, just as the erasing of a.
4 wrong figure in the problem at the
; blackboard and the substitution Of
| the right figure brings the correct
result
HEALING is NATURAL NOT
MIRACULOUS.
Christian Scientists, therefore, do
not regard the healing of the sick by
spiritual means as either mysterious
or miraculous. A miracle is assumed
J. to be something supernatural, done
in opposition to Law, whereas Chris
tan Science shows that healing is
the result of the operation of spirit
uaI Law, and that it is the natural
and necessary result of the opera
ton of spiritual law IN the human
consciousness.
The general opinion concerning the
works of Jesus is that he had some
mysterious power which enabled him
to suspend the operation of the law,
and that what he did was in defiance
of the law, hence as miraculous,
oe1,, hryn n hn 1ran nor Of
human understanding.
Christian Science denies this, and
insists that everything he did was in
accordance with the laws of God,
and that the same results must nee
essarily follow whenever and where
ever man comes under the operation
of those laws, since Gods Laws are
unchanging, If God established
verse, it is inconceivable that Jesus
should trample upon these laws, or
suspend them or set them aside. The
Bible says that Jesus was the Way
shower. Will it be claimed that he
came to show man how to break
Gods laws or to teach that man
must find health and harmony by vi
olating instead of obeying them?
Many people believe that God Ell
Their sends sickness or at least per-
mits some other power to send it,
so that in some way it is an agency
for good to work out our spiritual
growth. Now if that is true why did
Jesus come to make war on it? If
God created sickness and either send
it or permits it to be sent for any
purpose, and Jesus destroyed it and
taught his followers to destroy it,
was he not working against God?
And if sickness is a good thing why