Editorial August 24, 1912 Issue

HEARERS AND DOERS

Archibald McLellan

When Jesus assembled his disciples before the feast of the passover, when he "knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father," and after he had symbolized to them the humility of that love "which passeth all understanding" and had eaten his last supper with them, he preached a sermon second only in importance to the sermon on the mount. This one, however, was out of his practical experience in ministering to the sick and sinning, after he had spent three years in a sublime ministry which was the exemplification of his great commission to the twelve and to the seventy.

Jesus' ministry had been one of works, and he had offered these works as his answer to John's inquiry if he were indeed the promised Messiah. That similar works were to be the test of discipleship for all time, he now made clear in this sermon, delivered in the solemnity of an approaching experience, the tragedy and meaning of which he knew full well. He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;" that is, those who should believe in the power of Truth and Love, that "with God all things are possible," would heal the sick even as he had healed them. It was not until after the third century that the healing of the sick was lost sight of as an important and necessary part of Christianity, and from that time until the discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy in 1866, whatever healing was accomplished through prayer or faith was looked upon as supernatural.

Mrs. Eddy discovered that this healing which had accompanied the preaching of the gospel in the early days was divinely natural, and that it was not only possible but necessary that this lost element of Christianity should be restored. She also found that the mere preaching of the gospel—the letter without the spirit—was not sufficient for the salvation of mankind, and that the lives of Christians must not be confined to a perfunctory keeping of the commandments, but should abound with good works. This point she emphasized in a message to The Mother Church which was received and read at the afternoon service of June 14, 1908, as follows:

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