Article September 14, 1899 Issue

Signs of Progress

with contributions from J. M.

It is the generally accepted doctrine of the great mass of Christians to-day, that the healing and other wonderful works of Jesus were miracles wrought among men to attest the verity of his words and to give credence to them as of divine origin; but that these works were only for that period and are not to be repeated, at least until his second coming.

Whatever the many differing opinions may be as to the time and manner of this second coming, the orthodox churches insist that the time has not yet arrived for the repetition of the healing works of the first century, nor for any system that does not follow along the line of material remedies in vogue when Jesus appeared. Here Christian Science takes its wide departure from the other churches. It maintains that Jesus came to teach and practise among men the things that should be taught and practised among them.

He urged, from the beginning to the end of his ministry, the importance of his works, and asked that they might be accepted as proof of their divine origin. He declared that the works he did and even greater should be done. He said he was doing the works of God and in accordance with His command. He told the Jews they did not receive him because they understood neither him nor his Father, whose will he came to do among men. It is conceded by all Christians that Jesus understood God, did His will, and demonstrated His law better than any other known in the history of time. His definition of God should and does date a new era. He said, "God is Spirit," also that God is good and the only Good. (See Luke, 18 : 19.) He therefore virtually declared that Spirit was Good and the only Good. There is but one Spirit because he declared but one God. He came to do the will and execute the law of Spirit. Now the law of Spirit must be spiritual. Then all his works must have been done through his understanding of spiritual law. On no plane and in no department can law be demonstrated without the understanding of it in some degree. Then in the works of Jesus were seen the operation and effect of spiritual law only. And it was seen that it healed the sick, raised the dead, quelled the storm, destroyed hate, fed the multitude, and blessed all who would receive it. It annulled the so-called law of sin, disease, and discord of every name and nature. Sickness and health, good and evil, Truth and error, are terms we employ to express our sense of opposites. Opposites have opposite natures and laws, and must produce opposite effects. By the term "Spirit" Jesus evidently intended to give his idea of God as not being corporeal or material, but as the opposite of matter; and Webster so understood, for he defines the meaning of the term as "Life or living substance considered independently of corporeal existence; an intelligence conceived apart from any physical organization or embodiment." If Spirit and matter, to human apprehension, are opposites, then they must have opposite natures, laws, and effects. Jesus many times declared this truism. He said: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh [matter] profiteth nothing." In the fifth chapter of Galatians it is stated that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other."

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