Article March 14, 1908 Issue

Christian Scientists do not believe that the works done by...

Judge John D. Works

Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald

Christian Scientists do not believe that the works done by Jesus were supernatural, but that they were supremely natural and in accordance with divine law, the law of harmony which governs the universe, including man. They believe fully in the statement of Jesus that they who believe on him may do the works of healing he did, "the Lord working with them." They believe that his command to heal the sick was just as imperative as his command to preach the gospel, and that it should be obeyed by all Christian people. This command was followed for three hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion, and the healing of the sick can and should be done to-day as it was then, by those "who believe on him."

The trouble is that many professed Christians of the present day are only so in part. They believe in the Master's teachings, but not in his unequivocal declaration that they, if they believe on him, may do this work of healing. They believe, or profess to believe, that God can and will heal the sick, but that He will do so only as a favor. Therefore their work done in the effort to heal consists in beseeching God to heal; and if He does not, they content themselves by saying, "It was the will of God and we must be resigned." Christian Scientists do not believe that it was ever the will of God that man should suffer or die. The work of a Christian Scientist in healing the sick is to transform the thought of the sufferer and bring him into harmony with God's law, and thus awaken him to the harmony of righteousness and health. Christian Scientists do not pray to have God do something as a favor to the individual sick, but to help him to know that God's work is done; that His law of health and harmony, peace and happiness has existed always, and that it is necessary for mankind to conform to that law to be good and healthy and happy. Therefore Christian Science is right living, an absolute faith in and dependence upon God in all things and without reservation. So was it with Jesus. When he had raised Lazarus from the dead he said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." It follows that sin and disease are healed by the same divine Principle, by regeneration into newness of life and into the knowledge and understanding of the allness of God and the nothingness of evil, sickness, sin, and death. As to the efficacy of Christian Science healing, its people are willing to be judged by their works. They do not profess to be perfect. They meet with failure in some cases because of their lack of understanding, or it may be the unwillingness of the sufferer to accept the work attempted in the spirit that entitles him to the blessing that must come from God by submitting to His divine laws.

But here in Los Angeles such diseases as consumption, locomotor ataxia, cancer, and many others have been healed: such habits as drunkenness, and the use of tobacco, cocaine, morphine, and other drugs, have been overcome, and these false appetites have been destroyed; injuries from accidents of many kinds and of the most serious nature have been healed, and many of them where materia medica and the services of the most skilful physicians and surgeons had failed to give relief. Besides this, hundreds of people, nervous, depressed, unhappy, the victims of vicious tempers, sinful habits, and manifold other distressing and discordant conditions, have been restored to harmonious and happy lives, and untold good has come to many families. The work of Christian Science is open to all. It is done in a spirit of charity and for the good of humanity.

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