Article June 21, 1900 Issue

"Might Have Been."

In a new book entitled, "Might Have Been" by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker of the City Temple, London, England, the author with prophetic vision and lofty hope, makes the following utterances which will be of marked significance to Christian Scientists.

"If we believe the New Testament we believe that men were once made whole without medicine or doctor. If this was a fact in New Testament times, why may it not become a fact in the present day? If it is a fact it is the most beneficent fact in history, and being such it ought, if possible, to be recalled and re-established. To grasp the question wisely and thoroughly we must go back to Christ's own day and think with him. We have no concern with knaveries, quackeries, empiricisms, or frauds and pretence of any kind. All these must be banished from the mind or they will create prejudices which Truth itself cannot penetrate. First of all, let us strive after simplicity of mind that is essential to progress. Did Christ heal men? Yes, he did. Did Christ's Apostles heal men? Yes, they did. Was the healing mechanical, surgical, medicinal? No, it was not. Was the healing spiritual, sympathetic, mental? Yes, it was. Is Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever? Yes, he is. Does Christ still live and work and reign? Yes, he does. That settles the case. Suffering is the same, Christ is the same, love is the same. Then what is wanting? Just what was wanting in Christ's own day. Dost thou believe? Believest thou that I am able to do this thing? All things are possible to him that believeth. He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. We must simply and heartily adopt the belief—a most rational belief it is—that the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. That is all. The belief must not be mere assent; it must be the ruling and ever-active principle of the life. ... The curing of disease is a very paltry matter. To cure the disease of distrust of God is a supreme miracle. That is health. ... What is faith but the superiority of the spiritual over the material? I have not the shadow of a doubt that the material will decrease and the spiritual will increase. The ponderous locomotive will be superseded. We shall have telegraphy without the wire. ... We are moving towards the God-power—God is a Spirit. Mind created all things; why should not Mind rule them? With barrow and spade a day-laborer can carry the mountain into the sea. Why cannot a faith-inspired man order it out of the way and scatter it on the waves? In the end it would be so, but not until universal mind is in universal harmony, for otherwise faith would be the creator of disorder and the enemy of peace. We shall then see not the faith of one man, but the consolidated faith of all men."

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