The Monte Vista journal., 1915-09-25
Christian Scientists Reply to
Attack of Pastor Russell
tence of God.

tence Oh GOu.
This clergyman is compelled by in
disputable facts to admit that Christ
ian Science heals the sick but he
gives out the impression that the
healing Is due to thu human will.
The human will has nothing to do
with healing the sick in Christian
Science treatment. The Apostle
John speaking of those regenerated
through the teachings and demon
strations of Jesus, said they were
born not of the will OF the flesh.
nor of the will of man but of Cod
AS thus stated by the beloved dis
ciple, Jesus used no will power, no
hypnotism or mesmerism, in healing
the sick. He understood the Father
and healed through the power given
him of God. Christian Scientists rely
only on the power of God for healing
the sick and sinful. They have no
need of any other agency because
the power of God is sufficient Tce
human will is not a healer and cases
apparently healed by this means al
most invariably have relapses. The
reason for this is not hard to find. The
uol pure tHOuSn w
purify other minds; in fact, in at
tempting to do so it may impose its
own evil thoughts upon the patient,
with the result that the last state of
the patient would be worse than the
first.
The failure of the church to fol-
low the commands of Christ Jesus to
heal the sick by spiritual means has
caused theologians, in order to es-
cape from an uncomfortable dilema,
to evolve the theory that healing the
sick by Jesus and his apostles was
to quote this critic-"done in ex-
ceptional cases for the purpose of
convincing the people respecting the
church" Unfortunately for this
theory it has no scriptural support
anywhere in the Bible. Jesus healed
the sick; he commanded his follow.
ers of every age to follow his example
and taught that healing would fol-
low spiritual understanding of di-
vine law, which destroys all human
beliefs opposed to the nature of God.
The fact is, spiritual healing contin-
ued in the early church until the
fourth century, when the Christian
church materialized and degraded
by clinging to carnality and temporal
po"ei, ilsteiu VI TelylHS upon OplTlI,
lost its divine healing power. This
healing power lost for so many CEN
turies to the Christian world, EXCEPT
in sporadic instances, has been re-
stored through Christian Science.
which proves irrefutably that the
sick are healed and the sinner saved
through the operation of the same
divine law of Love which Jesus gave
to the world
Critics should carefully consider
the basis of and the results of the
teachings of Christian Science before
attacking it. A system of religion
which teaches implicit reliance on
God and has healed hundreds of
thousands of every disease known to
materia medica, that has freed null
titudes from the bondage of vice, evil
habits and sin, is entitled to receive
the favorable consideration of all
sincere Christians. On the other
hand, eXponents of other systems of
religion which can point to no such
results fiowing from their teachings
should be chary OF condemning
Christian Science, lest they incur the
condemnation of the Master when
he warned his followers not to give
a stone when the hungry asked for
bread
Sincerely,
EZRA w. PALMER.
Denver, Colo, Sept. 81, 1915.