Editorial October 16, 1915 Issue

The Healing Word

Archibald McLellan

It is a stock criticism of Christian Science that too much attention is given by the adherents of this religion to the exploitation of the healing of the sick. That there is an unimpeachable precedent for this so-called exploitation is ignored. Indeed, the fact that a very considerable portion of the New Testament is given over to the record of such marvelous healing work as was performed by Christ Jesus and his immediate followers, would seem to invalidate criticism of such of his present-day followers as are putting into practice his command to heal the sick.

When one has experienced for himself the results of this ministry of healing, he begins to wonder how it is that such a prominent and essential doctrine as was the Master's command to heal the sick should have been neglected for centuries and allowed to become an academic rather than a practical or demonstrable part of the Christian's experience. Take, for instance, Mrs. Eddy's own experience. In dire need of the physical healing which material means had denied her, she turned to God in her extremity, and was healed. A lifelong seeker for the truth, she realized that the healing thus vouchsafed was no mere exhibition of divine caprice, but rather the operation of a divine law, and at once set herself to the task of discovering not only this law and its complete scope, but also the divine Principle from which it proceeded. For three years she labored, the Bible her only text-book, a divinely appointed task which resulted in the reinstatement of Christian healing as an understandable and inevitable part of Christian doctrine and Christian ministry. Of this healing work and its place in Christianity Mrs. Eddy writes on page xi of the Preface to Science and Health : —

"The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us,' — a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

"The Lamb of God"