Article August 26, 1911 Issue

Jesus' disciples, also the apostle Paul and the early Christians...

John L. Rendall

Manchester (Ia.) Press

Jesus' disciples, also the apostle Paul and the early Christians for three hundred years after Jesus' time, healed the sick as an essential and fundamental part of the Christian religion. It is not recorded that they built hospitals for that purpose, neither did they employ the service of physicians and drugs, but depended absolutely upon the power of God. This is the interpretation which Christian Scientists place upon Christian healing, and it is logically sustained in the Scriptures. In the words of our beloved Master: "For which of those works do ye stone me?"

Discussions of doctrinal points and elaborations of manmade theology are of very little avail. All the theology that was ever evolved by human intellect never had one iota of the potency of divine Love as manifested in true Christian healing. Christian Science, as a religion, has brought healing to the sick, peace and blessings to those burdened with sorrow. It has reformed the drunkard, it has elevated human character, and brought forth the possibilities of infinite good which God has bestowed upon man, in hundreds of thousands of cases. It is reasonable, logical, practical, and satisfactory to those who understand it, no one of whom could be induced for one moment to decry or belittle its beneficent influence upon their individual lives and characters.

By what right, then, does one whose claim to knowledge of it is superficial and based upon misinformation and misconception, presume to belittle the religion of these people, which to them has meant so much? There is just one criterion by which a teaching can be properly judged—viz., results. Our critic will remember that Jesus said: "By their fruits ye shall know them," and Christian Scientists are more than willing to stand upon this basis of judgment. They have proved the certitude of God's promises. They have become absolutely certain, through demonstration, that what Mrs. Eddy has taught concerning the "Word of God" is true, they have learned the verity of Jesus' teachings concerning the healing of the sick and the overcoming of sin, and in this they stand conscious of the integrity of their motives and the purity of their endeavors; therefore, in the words of the Scriptures, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

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