Editorial January 9, 1915 Issue

Spiritual Healing

John B. Willis

The emphasis which Jesus laid upon the healing of the sick begets the inference that he attached a value to this feature of his ministry which many of his professed followers seem indisposed to recognize. While all realize in some degree what such an experience must mean, the gain of physical freedom in the Christ-way measures but meagerly the significance which attaches to such an event, for if sickness is thus proven to be subject to the rule of spiritual apprehension, not only is the verity of Jesus' words, "The truth shall make you free," established, but his teaching about God and man and evil must be accepted as also true. This being the case, the skepticism which has so distinctly characterized modern thought is left without occasion or excuse.

For all who are open-minded, the indisputable healing effected through Christian Science settles forever the question of the possibility of annulling material law, a fact that instantly relates itself to all the deeper inquiries and problems of life. In the teaching of Christian Science, the physical betterment which is experienced by the truly believing figures as an incidental, as the sequence of a far greater salvation; and while many may have asked for treatment only that they might find relief from pain, the goal set before them has always been spiritual, and the logical relation of any immediate physical benefit to the higher, ultimate gain is well worth thinking about.

In world though, and as well in the bulk of Christian thought, the reign of law has stood for the material order; hence the tragedy of world experience has ever assaulted the averred wisdom, justice, and compassion of the Almighty. Today the healing of sickness in Christian Science compels a recast of the prevailing concept of law, and makes clear that in overcoming sin, disease, and death the Master proved that divine law and material law are not one, and not correlatives but opposites.

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