Article June 11, 1910 Issue

Christ Jesus commanded his disciples: "And as ye go,...

Alfred Farlow

Fort Worth (Tex.) Record

Christ Jesus commanded his disciples: "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." Our clerical critic says that he prays daily for the sick. As a matter of course, he expects his prayers to be answered; otherwise he would not pray. In any event, he declares his belief in "healing according to New Testament teaching." It would be interesting to have him furnish a list giving "names and addresses" of those he has healed of the diseases which he has named. To be altogether courteous he should furnish testimonies before asking for them. If he does not believe that healing the sick is a part of the Christian ministry, our testimonies will be of no value to him as a means of proving that Christian Science is Christian—the question under discussion. On the other hand, if he does believe in Christian healing, he should practise accordingly, and thus he will prove the power of God for himself and so have no need of our testimonies.

Persons who do not accept the premises of Christian Science, but on the contrary are religiously, medically, or otherwise opposed to them, are not well prepared to accept the testimonies of Christian Scientists. A man who does not believe that disease is mental at bottom cannot bear competent testimony on this subject. He would be competent to insist either that the cured person was not sick to begin with, or that he had been cured in some other way. Each individual is inclined to insist that a given cure is effected by the particular means which he believes to be necessary to a cure. For example, one who believes in medicine would insist that the medicine which he formerly took is just having effect. A man who does not believe in medicine will say it is because he has quit taking medicine. "I have always thought," be declares, "that he took too much medicine." A man who believes in hypnotic suggestion will insist that the patient has not been healed by divine power, by a Christian process, but by the "suggestion" of the human will.

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