Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-05-07


 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.
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN HEALING l It was a 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 Scien- ce and caused me to see that in heal 1 ing the sick, the Christian Science church was not only obeyng the com mands of Jesus to so into all the world and preach the gospel and heal i the sick, but was in fact reestablish-
 ing the healing work of the primitive church.
 1 History records that the healing of 1 the sick was a part of the regular church ministry for three hundred years after the crucifixion, 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 Emperor Constantine became con- vert to Christianity in the third centu- ry Tradition records that he was heal ed 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 re- ligion of his empire with the result that the chlrch became very popular. Multitudes of people united with it. not because of their spiritual growth or be cause they understood it's 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 semi political institution and the spiritual lity departed from it.
 down until it seemingly reached the bottom at the time of Martin Luther. It had then fallen into such disorder that an upheaval occurred within it's 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 pri- mitive church.
 What further things shall be brought to light in the future will depend upon the standardization of thought and individual growth in tn } true understanding of God, but it can be safely predicted that the healing power of Christ, Truth, will never again be lost to mankind.
 Why should any one not wish to be- lieve that God reals the sick? Is it not thing to be desired? and is 1t not something for which humanity hoc hGnn i,1,avinr thrn11Oh ho turies? Now that it is here why should any one not wish to accept it? Let each one ask himself that ques- tion.
 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 Chris tian Science is that it teaches the truth about God and man, and about mans relationship to God. By realiZ- ing and understanding this truth the sign that the truth is understood When the knowledge of the truth comes to the human consciousness it destroys and corrects the false beliefs that have been entertained and the effects of the false beliefs disappear. just as the erasing of 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 1 spiritual means as either mysterious or miraculous. A miracle is assumed l to be something supernatural, done l in opposition to law, whereas Chris tian Science shows that healing is the result of the operation of spiritual