The Bible and Healing

Those who are healed in Christian Science begin to read the Scriptures in the light of spiritual understanding, and as they do so they find statements of healing on well-nigh every page. In the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, after the marvelous experience of the children of Israel in passing through the Red Sea and their recognition of the all-power of God, we find this declaration: "I am the Lord that healeth thee." In the one hundred and third psalm we find this same truth declared anew and amplified, so far as its application to all human need is concerned, but we are also reminded that throughout the ages, whenever and wherever material sense predominates, the divine purpose is overlooked; so it is well for us to recall many times the psalmist's words, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." While we have in the Bible marvelous instances of healing, in the centuries between the time of Moses and the coming of Christ Jesus, yet the spiritual law underlying these cases of healing was apparently unrecognized, and so the instances themselves were isolated and, sad to say, were largely looked upon even since the days of Christ Jesus as being outside the realm of law.

At this point it is well to consider that those who strive up to the full extent of their understanding to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God, are under the protection of divine law, but it becomes very clear to us in Christian Science that if the belief in material law, expressed in sickness and death, is allowed to hold sway in the consciousness of an individual, that one may suffer more—that is, up to a certain point—from sickness than the one who has less fear of disobeying the divine law. The one who is seeking to know God's will and to obey it will sooner or later see clearly what the divine purpose is, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, who, no doubt, thought that the healing work of Christ Jesus and his disciples was merely a disturbing influence in the land and that it should be put down, even if the doing of this called for the death of those who were engaged in it. This is illustrated in the martyrdom of Stephen, when Saul (afterwards called Paul) consented to the death of this Godlike man. It is very clear, however, that there was a deep desire for truth in Saul's consciousness, and he was doubtless every day seeing proofs of its power to heal men of sickness and sin. At length his awakening came and his entrance upon the glorious ministry which means more for the welfare of the race than anything that can ever engage the attention of mankind.

As we read in the book of Acts and in Paul's epistles we find rest in the sweet naturalness of his entire experience; and even when we read of the trials and tribulations which he encountered along the way, we also find the assurance that he counted these things as nothing so that he might "win Christ, and be found in him." Those who have for many years been beneficiaries of Christian Science do not need to be told that had Mrs. Eddy simply been satisfied with the healing which came to her when she was, according to medical opinion and material evidence, drawing near to death, the blessings which have come to unnumbered thousands from Christian Science would never have been realized by them. The revered Leader of Christian Scientists could not at first explain to anyone, perhaps not even to herself, the law under which she had been healed, but during her three years' quest, in the days spent alone with God and the Bible, she came to understand that all the healing recorded in the Scriptures was based upon spiritual law, and that this law is available to meet human need at all times and under all circumstances. Through her great discovery and her elucidation of it in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," also her other writings, we now know that there is no limit to the application of the truth declared by Paul in the eighth chapter of Romans, namely, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

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Among the Churches
April 26, 1919
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