Editorial February 11, 1905 Issue

"One thing is needful"

Archibald Mclellan

The prominent place which the healing work of Jesus and his immediate followers occupies in the New Testament record of our Master's earthly career, justifies the emphasis given by Christian Science to the need of similar work today, and those persons who have criticised the amount of space which our periodicals devote to testimonies of healing should bear this in mind. The fact that Jesus gave so much attention to this work, and commanded his followers to do the works that he was doing, leaves no room for doubt as to his estimate of the importance of spiritual healing as an integral part of his gospel, an essential of the Christian life. His answer to John's messenger certainly showed that by his "mighty works" he hoped to establish the truth of his claim to be the Messiah.

That Christian Science is Apostolic Christianity must be established by practical results obtained in healing the sick and reforming the sinful, and it is our duty to make known these fruits of its teachings. No matter how pious Christian Scientists may be, or how regularly they attend the services in our churches, they differ but little from other good people unless they are able to show forth in their lives some measure of the healing gospel commended and commanded by our Master.

Rev. William J. Dawson, the well—known English evangelist, who is now in the United States, recently said in a sermon, "If Christ had remained only the poet of the Galilean Lake, there would have been no redemption for you and me. He would have added something to the world's wisdom, but he never would have broken up the depth of the world's heart. . . . We are at the end of a great many things. We are at the end of materialism as a philosophy, if not as a practice, for thinking men have given up materialism as a theory of the universe. We are at the end, also, of the theory that human salvation can be obtained by purely social means. We have tried it. Some good has been done, but it has not gone very deep. We have come to the end pretty near of our faith in culture as being able in itself to do all that is necessary for the redemption of mankind. It can do a great deal, no doubt, to help us, but culture can prove just as hostile to virtue as is ignorance."

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