The works of scientific healing and regeneration which demonstrate that Christian Science does "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (Church Manual, p. 17), are frequently disallowed by professed Christians, with the assertion that "the day of miracles is past." This assertion voices the belief that the healings recounted in both the Old and the New Testaments, as effected through the power of God, Spirit, belong wholly to the past and cannot be reproduced today, and thus denies that Christian Science healing is spiritual.

One such critic of Christian recently recently declared in a public discourse that he believed in a "Christian science, but not in that of Mrs. Eddy," and he argued that the modern practice of medicine is a Christian science of healing. His conclusion was that the day of the miracles of Jesus has given way to the day of healing by drugs and surgery. The fact may properly be noted here, that medical authority and medical practice not only do not support the claim of a Christianly scientific basis for drug healing, but also have specifically disclaimed that such healing has any necessary relation to the works and teachings of Jesus. It is important to note also that the great Physician and the healing Principle described in the Scriptures are not recognizable in such a system; for, in the place of Jesus of Nazareth, the messiah of this theory is material law; and instead of the wisdom of the Father, who, as Jesus said, sent him and accomplished the works, the prevailing medical theories would have to be accepted as the basis of healing.

If this critic and his mistaken assertions were an isolated case, it would not be entitled to consideration, but it is typical of a wrong estimate of Christian healing that is occasionally expressed in both the pulpit and the pew of Christian churches; and this view involves errors that must be corrected if the power of Spirit is to be generally demonstrated today as it was by the Galilean Prophet. Throughout the Scriptures the teaching is consistent that we should rely upon Spirit, God, for healing, and not upon material means, so that any serious attempt to support medical theories with Christian teaching is illogical, and is subject to the Socratic reductio ad absurdum.

Healing through reliance upon God's power is not limited in its manifestation to the period of Jesus' work, since it was practised by Jewish patriarchs and prophets for two thousand years before the birth of the Messiah, as well as by the early Christians for centuries after the crucifixion. The periods or conditions of thought in which spiritual healing does not appear are those in which the Christ-spirit is supposed to be absent, a thing of the past. Christlike healing is impossible today only to those who do not realize that the Saviour, the eternal manifestation of God, is ever present and all powerful. Chronology speaks of a period "before Christ," whereas Jesus declared of his spiritual self, the Christ, "before Abraham was, I am." Professed disciples of the Nazarene speak of a period in the past as "the time of Christ," although he affirmed, "I am with you alway." Christian Science teaches that the Christ-spirit is just as available and powerful for good now as it was when Jesus taught and healed; and it requires, among other things, that its adherents show "these signs" of healing which the Master said "shall follow them that believe."

The gospel of John represents Jesus as saying that he came to do his Father's will. Unless we assume that Jesus was not faithful to that mission, we must believe that the metaphysical healing done by him was a manifestation of the will of God. If it is not in accordance with God's will to heal in the same way today, then God's will must be variable and must have changed; but such assumptions contradict the weight of Bible authority. The Preacher of the Old Testament declared, "Whatsover God doeth, it shall be forever," and this statement is in harmony with the highest Scriptural concept of God. The Teacher of the New Testament asserted many times and in different ways that the healing and saving work was not of himself, but was the work of God. Consequently, when the preacher or teacher of the present affirms that the day for the manifestation of God's work is past, he is taking it upon himself to contradict the generally accepted theological authority.

The contention that drugs and surgery are the modern healing expression of God's power is only a subterfuge, Neither in methods nor in results have they anything in common with the works of the Master. That these methods have no necessary relation to Christianity, or knowledge of God, is shown in the fact that they are adopted and applied alike by the atheist, the idolater, the follower of any non-Christian belief, or by the professed Christian. The results of these purely material methods do not support the claim that they are of divine origin, since these methods are admittedly powerless in many cases, and are at best but temporary and partial helps toward postponing the triumph of the "last enemy." The history of thousands of years of medical practice shows a constant increase in the amount and variety of sin and sickness, yet that practice is upheld as the intelligent application of the teaching that God decrees health, goodness, and life, which consequently must be forever; thus it is found wanting when weighed in the Master's scales,—"By their fruits ye shall know them."

In dogmatic religion, the use of the word "miracle" involves the thought of a suspension or contravention of law, and as being therefore incomprehensible. The general scientific use of the word describes a wonder which, even if not understood, is presumed to be in accordance with law: merely an advanced problem, the solution of which requires a clearer understanding than has yet been attained. Today there is a decided tendency away from the dogmatic toward the scientific view, and this may be described as in a sense the passing of the day when Jesus' wonderful works are considered to be incomprehensible.

This change was forcefully forecast by Mrs. Eddy, the reason for it being briefly stated on page 474 of Science and Health: "Christian marvels (and marvel is the simple meaning of the Greek word rendered miracle in the New Testament) will be misunderstood and misued by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is gained." Further, concerning the "Principle of these marvels," she says (p. 138), "Divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not human personality, was the healer of the sick;" and, "On this spiritually scientific basis Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to outsiders." Thus Christian Science disposes of the assertion that "the day of miracles is past," with the proof that the miracles referred to never were mysterious or inexplicable, but were the direct result of divine law as scientifically understood and applied.