Article February 20, 1909 Issue

THE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING US

WILLIS F. GROSS.

THROUGHOUT the ages mortals have been divided in their thought as to what constitutes the will of God concerning humanity. Many have inclined to the opinion that, either directly or indirectly, God must be responsible for things as they are. It is argued that, since God is omnipotent, He could have ordered things differently if He had wished them otherwise, and since He did not do so it must have been His will for them to be as they are. There are others who do not feel able to answer this line of argument, but they are nevertheless unwilling, or unable, to accept the thought of God as presented in this view of His government of man and the universe. To such as these the message of Christian Science is most acceptable. It answers all questions and satisfies the human yearning to know God, whom to know aright is life eternal.

Science and Health (p. 466) says: "The Science of Christianity comes with fan in hand to separate the chaff from the wheat. Science will declare God aright, and Christianity will demonstrate this declaration and its divine Principle, making mankind better physically, morally, and spiritually." Many have asked why it is that Christian healing is not taught and practised in the churches of today as it was in the days of Jesus and his disciples. They have been told that such works are no longer necessary. It is argued that the power to heal sickness and to cast out devils was bestowed upon the disciples to prove that Jesus was the long-looked-for Messiah, and since that fact was established beyond all doubt there is no longer any necessity for the exercise of this power. Assuming, then, that God's will is expressed in things as they are, it is asserted that inasmuch as the power to heal the sick disappeared from the church in a comparatively short time after Jesus and his disciples had finished their life-work, it could not have been God's will that Christian healing should remain as a permanent dispensation.

Christian Science shows the error of this position, and it also shows how this belief has robbed humanity of the blessing of health and a greater degree of moral and spiritual freedom. The disciples had power to heal the sick and reform the sinning, and these works proved that Jesus pointed out the way of salvation from sin and sickness, and that others as well as the Master could do these mighty works. But this power was not a personal gift, bestowed by Jesus upon his disciples regardless of any effort on their part other than a willingness to receive it. The power was divinely bestowed through Jesus' teachings and it was proportionate to the disciples' understanding of or realization of the truth of being. The exercise of the power demonstrated the truth of what they had been taught.

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