Dr. Woodburn's interesting address on "Spiritual Healing,"...

Miss Evelyn L. Webb, Committee on Publication for County Antrim, Ireland,—Belfast

Northern Whig

Dr. Woodburn's interesting address on "Spiritual Healing," reported in your issue of recent date, is surely a call to the churches to take seriously the command of the Master to heal the sick as well as the sinning, and to trust wholly to God, whom the Psalmist discovered centuries ago to be the One who "forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."

It seems unfortunate that at a meeting such as this a note of discord should have been sounded by the chairman, who made an attack upon a Christian church which has been fulfilling these commands of the Master, quietly and unostentatiously, for half a century. He spoke of Christian Science as a very active force in the world to-day, and considered that "its very name, in the fact that it combines science with Christianity, was offensive to the church." Also, he spoke of Christian Science as providing a partial cure for the body, "but for the diseases of the mind and of the body it offered no panacea."

Just why Christian Science should be such an active force in the world to-day and yet do no more for its adherents than give a partial healing to the body and none to the mind may strike thoughtful readers as anomalous. Some little time ago we were assured by our critics that Christian Science might give some comfort to the mind and even heal diseases which were purely mental, but its treatment could not affect the body. Now we are told just the reverse! As a matter of fact, Christian Science heals both mind and body; which fact can be ascertained by any earnest seeker. It is a question whether the churches would be advocating Christian healing to-day if they had not been aroused to this duty by the evidence on all sides of the power of Christian healing as demonstrated through Christian Science.

If coupling the word "Science" with Christianity is "offensive to the church," we must conclude that the speaker believes that it is not possible for the churches to have exact, demonstrable knowledge of Christianity; or that the beliefs of the churches are unscientific, and will not stand in the light of logic or science. As a matter of fact, it was through exact knowledge of the will of his Father which is in heaven that Christ Jesus healed the sick and the sinful, quelled the storm, and raised the dead. If it is not possible for us to gain this knowledge to demonstrate the power of Christianity as he did and taught his disciples to do, then we may as well give up attempting to follow him. It was Christ Jesus who said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." To know means to have knowledge, and "science" is defined as "exact knowledge." Therefore the name "Christian Science" may be said to mean "exact knowledge of Christianity." Surely this is most important knowledge to gain; and the title is scarcely one to be deemed offensive.

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