Editorial April 13, 1935 Issue

Our Impersonal Practitioner

W. Stuart Booth

Christ Jesus is rightly regarded as the premier practitioner of Christian healing. Not only was he uniformly successful in his work, but the healings were accomplished quickly. According to the Gospels, with only one patient was it necessary for the Master to give more than one treatment. A blind man of Bethsaida who was brought for healing said after Christ Jesus had laid his hands upon him that he saw "men as trees, walking." Then the Master again applied divine power with the man, "and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly." This meek and mighty doer of God's will conquered evil in all its forms: he fed the multitudes, healed sickness, reversed the claims of sin, and overcome death.

Recognizing that his followers were looking to and depending upon him, the personal Jesus, instead of the Christ as presented by him, the Master said, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." On the day of Pentecost, after Jesus' ascension, the disciples received such a spiritual influx that they were able to accomplish the great work entrusted to them. From that time forward their success in healing was more marked and consistent, and they were able also to inspire others with faith in God and His Christ and to give them sufficient understanding to do the works; and so the ministry of spiritual healing was carried on during the first three centuries of the Christian era.

In 1866 Mary Baker Eddy discovered the Science of Christianity and restored the element of healing, which had been lost sight of because of the beclouding material beliefs that had worked into the early church. The Discoverer of Christian Science was its first practitioner and also the author of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." That this book contains the exact and complete statement of divine Science is shown in the healing, harmonizing, and regenerative results accomplished by it. The last chapter of the book, entitled "Fruitage," begins with this statement (p. 600): "Thousands of letters could be presented in testimony of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and particularly concerning the vast number of people who have been reformed and healed through the perusal or study of this book." Then follow one hundred pages of authenticated testimonies of the healing of consumption, cancer, asthma, rheumatism, dropsy, and other diseases, as well as the overcoming of enslaving and degrading habits—all through the study of Science and Health.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Item of Interest