Editorial December 14, 1907 Issue

THE "HAND IN HAND" IDEA

John B. Willis

In expressing his conviction that drug medication and spiritual healing should go "hand in hand," a prominent minister has recently fathered a suggestion which may commend itself to some, and especially to those who from the asserted "common sense" point of view would say. "It's a good thing to profit by every possible benefit that is available. Let's combine the two—why not?"

In considering the proposed blend of drugs and prayer thoughtful Christians will find a ground of hesitation, however, in the fact that for hundreds of years mankind have been experimentin with this idea, and to no avail since there is no appriciable difference to-day between the chances of the man who depends on drugs alone and the man who attempts to combine them with prayer. The world regards the Christian man as no less likely to be made sick by given conditions than is the blatant sinner. That the prayer element is of small import in general thought is evidenced by the further fact that to-day, when many ministers are laying emphasis upon the mental factor and commending patients to their closets (providing the attendant physician has previously pronounced it safe), the procedure is looked upon as a novelty, and it is heralded by the press with heavy headlines.

Another ground of hesitation in accepting the proposed union of faith and medicine is the fact that this idea is so entirely at variance with the method of the great Wayshower and his disciples. The endeavor by some to make it appear that the anointing of the blind man's eyes by Christ Jesus, and the anointing of the sick as commended by James, authorizes and supports drug medication as a Divine provision, is an utter failure. Both the spittle and the oil are unrecognized to-day as therapeutic agents; but wherefore, if of Divine provision as specifics, and so honored by Jesus and his followers? Jesus' method is revealed not in a single instance of concession to human belief, but in his years of continous healing through the spoken Word, and by his oft-reiterated teaching that faith, the spiritual apprehension of divine Truth, is the one efficient remedy for sickness and sin. Moreover, the entire removal of materia medica from the Christ-healing is seen in this, that it is not and never has been regarded as a religious profession, despite the unquestioned fact that Jesus committed his healing work to his spiritual followers and to none others.

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