Article November 15, 1924 Issue

A recent issue contained a report of a sermon entitled,...

S. Britton R. Foster, Committee on Publication for the Province of Ontario, Canada,—London

Free Press

A recent issue contained a report of a sermon entitled, "Is the Healing of Disease Included in the Gospel Teaching?" The fact is that throughout the Christian world, as shown in the attitude of the Church of England and the interdenominational healing campaigns taking place, especially in the United States and Canada, the question is being answered in the affirmative. The exact method of Jesus, or the invariable Science of God's spiritual law, which he demonstrated, is being sought as the outcome of the varied results thus far obtained. This Science of Christianity, or Christian Science, has been a matter of demonstration for over half a century, and is being regarded with increasing respect by thinkers seeking consistency of statement with proof. The statement, "Those who teach that all diseases may be cured through faith do so to their own damnation," loses weight when the Bible teaches of a God "who healeth all thy diseases," and of Christ Jesus, who, doing the will of his Father, healed "all manner of sickness ... among the people." Lack of faith that "with God all things are possible" alone stands in the way of a full and complete salvation. The attitude of Christian Science is shown in the first sentence of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (Pref., p. vii): "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings."

The contention that God does not heal because disease and death persist, overlooks the Scriptural statement that to know God is eternal life, and that it is sin, or ignorance of God, which produces death. To be spiritually, not carnally, minded is the Scripturally scientific way to overcome sin and its effects,—sickness, disease, and death. Christ Jesus demonstrated this for our example, which, if followed, results in our salvation.

Christian Scientists respect the character and philanthropy of doctors, and rejoice with the critic when they encourage their patients to pray and to have more faith in God, the great Physician, who is able to redeem "thy life from destruction." In concluding, may I point out that the reverend speaker, summing up that "healing was taught in the gospel as something that God might do on occasion, not what He would always do," fails to distinguish between the unchangeable, eternal, inexhaustible Love which is God, without "shadow of turning," and the lack of understanding, faith, and trust on man's part, which prevents the experience that "all things are possible." The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, writes in Science and Health (p. 134), "Denial of the possibility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century."

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