Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-09-14

nor In the water OF JhS pOOd VI 81
! ioan. for If there had been, these uni
yersally available means would be
in use today for the cure OF this dis
/ ease. 49, ~.
skepticism as to Spiritual Healing.
To be consistent, all professed be-
levers in the Bible must therefore ad-
nit the fact of spiritual healing,
which. according TO contemporaneous
secular writer's and historians, con-
tinued among the early Christians for
about three hundred years; and yet
today the vast majority do net be-
Iieve in it. and many do not even ad'
NIT 1t to be historically true, while
not a few deny its possibility. Some
saw that these events may have hap
pened in Jesus time, but are impos-
/ stble now. This is neither logical nor
reasonable. The power Of God is the
same yesterday, and today, and for
ever" and il this healing took place
in the first century. it can take place
now, since every divine law and order
must be immutable and we have the
same conditions to deal with which
they had then.
Jesus said, 10, am with you al.
way" and, "He that believeth on me,
the works that / do shall he do also;
because go unto my Father"
/ The Master thus taught that all OF
| truth is always with us. and he came
TO show us how to make ii available.
This is the way Of salvation. and II
this way cannot be found and followed
today, then his mission was surely a
failure. Think you that Christ Jesus,
the great Exemplar, the worlds Way
shower, would have taught, demon
strated, and enjoined uDon mankind q
healing and saving method which was
efficient and sufficient in the first cen.
fury, but impractical or impossible In
the twentieth?
It is not possible to separate Jesus
word from his work The one Is the
proof of the other; hence the healing
work must be recognized as an essen
tiaI element Of primitive Christianity.
! The healing recorded in the Bible was
no more readily believed when it &C.
Cured than 1t is now, save by. the
relatively few who were impressed
by the evidence presented or who ex-
perieneed spiritual transformation.
TIL Scriptures record the intense hat
red and persecution which the early
Christians endured because of their
belief in the efficacy Of spiritual pow
er. This is corroborated in secular
history, and it is noteworthy that the
hatred was most intense when spirit
ual power was most in evidence, es-
pecially SO at the moment the healing
was done.
judging by its fruits, and by the
fact that 1t certainly stimulates a
higher order of thought and living, all
must admit that this spiritual healing
/ is far better method than the use OF
material means. This being true. we
can but ask. Why is it not in general
use among Christian. people? Evil
IDENTIFY because 1t is not understood.
for there exists today a very general
disbelief in its possibility, stubborn
tendency to doubt 1t. in spite of the
MANY authentic records Of such heal
4 ing in the past and through Christian
i Science now.
Causes Of unbeIief.
Let us then. IL we may, examine
Il iutO 6OOt6 vi I1Gs CdQSt6 III ILLS ulSDC-
lief In Scriptural or Christian healing.
What are they? First: 1t is difficult
for most of us to see how physical re-
suits can be realized through spiritual
means. The teaching of the schools
regarding the nature OF matter and
material existence. produces such a
materially biased consciousness that IL
is very difficult to apprehend spiritual
existence and spiritual power Sec.
kcnds The popular teaching regarding
4 the nature of God and His relation to
all being. together with the belief in
the reality of material existence and
its asserted laws, is at variance with
the Scripture teaching. Third: The
1 inertia of the human mind resists be.
i lief in anything which differs from
what 1t has been accustomed to; it Is
| innately opposed to all things spirit.
ual or divine, and it Is to this mental
attitude that st. Paul referred when
he said, "The carnal mind is enmity
4 against God" We thus see that it Is
material sense which hinders the at
tainment of an understanding of the
spiritual healing of the Bible; this
is the fertile soil from which springs
the doubt, agnosticism, and inf1delity
Of our times.
Mental csusstion.
One of the most puzzling questions
! to the lay thinker respecting spirit.
ual healing is this: How can a mere
mental effort bring about a physical
change; bow can it restore health
and HARMONY? This difficulty is large
4 lv due to the failure to understand
the nature of Mind and the relation
I, ship between the inner world OF
thought and the outer world of phe-
j nomena. Let us consider this ques-
ton briefly. first from human or ma
terial standpoint. then from the Chris
/! ticn Science standpoint
: All are familiar with the effect of
/ fear. grief, and anger upon bodily con-
ditions. Tears flow; the circulation Of
blood is altered. as shown by pallor;
the secretions are. affected, as shown
by cold PRESENTATION. etc. These eff
fects prove that physical changes fol-
/ low mental disturbances An emineNt
! physician has made a series of expe-
1 rimeRts showing the effect of the emo