Article June 17, 1916 Issue

In reply to a letter in a recent issue, permit me to point...

Robert S. Ross—Amsterdam, N. Y.

The Recorder

In reply to a letter in a recent issue, permit me to point out that if healing as Jesus taught and practised it had depended upon his personal presence and influence, it would necessarily have ceased in the year thirty-three; but we have abundant proof that it did not cease then. History records that Christian healing continued for at least two hundred years after the crucifixion. That this healing was based on a divine Principle understand, is indicated by Jesus' own words. On one occasion he said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." On another occasion he said, "These signs shall follow them that believe," and then he enumerated what these signs would be, included among which was the healing of the sick.

In addressing himself to his disciples in the words just quoted, Jesus did not say "you," but "he" and "them," meaning, of course, that those in the ages to come who should understand divine Principle, would be able to do the healing work. "It is not well to imagine," Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 494), "that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of times, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good." Furthermore, let us not forget that Saul was not a student of Jesus, but a persecutor of Jesus' followers until the divine Principle of Christian Science was revealed to him, after which Saul, then known as Paul, not only healed the sick but raised the dead. Gibbon records that Christian healing was common up to the third century in Rome, which indicates that Paul, during his imprisonment in the imperial city, must have taught others to practise this Science.

The most conclusive proof, however, that the power of Christian healing did not originate or end in a human personality is presented by the numberless cases of moral and physical healing that have taken place since the discovery of Christian Science. Through the study of the Bible in the light of the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, it is now possible for all who will to understand and to practise Christian healing. The critic may be interested to learn that the Christian Science textbook is not a "substitute" for the Bible, but a commentary on it. Furthermore, a religious system that is the offspring of the Bible and that cannot be practised without consecrated Bible study must of necessity be in accord with the Scriptures.

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