From The Christian Science Journal, Vol. 14, No. 5, August, 1896
PART I
BIBLE HEALING
And Jesus went about in all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people. And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with devils, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them.--Matthew, iv. 23, 24, Rev. Ver.
This is the first biblical account of Jesus’ healing the sick. It is not the first biblical account, however, of the healing of the sick without the aid of drugs or medicine. There are many instances of the healing of disease in the Old Testament without the use of material remedies. The prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the apostles of the New, relied rather upon the Divine power to heal the infirmities of the flesh, than upon drugs or physicians.
It is related of Asa that in his sickness he trusted not to the Lord, but to the physicians, with the result, that “Asa slept with his fathers.” This would seem to be a severe rebuke to those who rely on physicians, on material medicine, or on human rather than Divine strength, for the healing of disease. Elisha cured Naaman of leprosy, not by drugs, or material remedies, but by directing him to wash seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman protested against this simple remedy and “was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper;” and he asked, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and be was clean.”
The water of the river Jordan possessed no supposed healing virtue, while that of the other rivers were believed to be rich in curative properties. There are numerous references to superhuman healing in the Old Testament, but the foregoing will suffice to illustrate our point.
As above stated, the verses selected are the first record we have of the healing of the sick in the New Testament. It is not, and never has been, claimed that Jesus healed by the use of drugs. All admit, who believe in Jesus at all, that he healed by virtue of Divine power. If the statement contained in the two verses quoted were all we had upon which to base a claim of Divine healing by Jesus, we should even then be justified in holding that the Principle of Divine healing would thereby have been established. The language is broad and sweeping: he “went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people...and they brought unto him all that were sick,...and he healed them.”
It is proper to assume that one as busy as was the Master, whose life bore fruit of such vast moment to the world, would waste no time in idle words or deeds. Every word he uttered, and every act he performed, had some profound signification for the human race. Our text, then, would of itself establish the Principle of Divine healing beyond the shadow of a question, if we had no other evidence thereof. But the New Testament teems with demonstrations of the healing Principle.
In the eighth chapter of Matthew, just after Jesus came down from the Mount where he preached the most wonderful sermon known to man, he healed a leper; healed the centurion’s servant; healed the mother of Peter’s wife who was sick of a fever; “And when the even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick.” In this chapter also is related the incident of the casting out of devils from the two possessed, who came out of the tombs. This chapter is composed of thirty-four verses, and twenty-three of them relate to healing the sick through Divine power. In the ninth chapter of Matthew, we are told of the healing of a number of persons of divers diseases, in quick succession. This chapter is composed of thirty-eight verses, twenty-five of which relate to the healing of disease. And so all through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we find numerous instances of Jesus’ healing the sick. Nowhere is there the slightest reference to drugs, or mineral or vegetable poison, as an aid or means of healing. Now why all this space of a book so important to mankind as the Bible, if these repeated recitals were designed merely for the benefit and instruction of the disciples, or for those who were in the world at the time Jesus was? Had these acts no meaning for mankind at large? No reference to coming generations? Were they for the benefit of only a small handful of the human race! Was this divine Principle of healing to be limited in its application? Can we conceive of divine Principle being partial in its operations? The very idea of divine Principle implies universal Principle. Anything short of a Principle as wide and far-reaching as divinity itself, would destroy not only the idea of divinity, but Principle as well. So that if we admit that Jesus did his healing by virtue of divine Principle, it follows that this Principle exists today. If so, it also follows that an understanding of that Principle will produce the same results now that were then produced.
We claim further that it is not a fair interpretation of the Scriptures to accept one part of Jesus’ teachings as applying to all, and another part as applying to a portion only of mankind. To illustrate: The words of the text say Jesus preached, taught, and healed the sick. That part of this statement, we are told, which relates to teaching and preaching, is intended as a lesson for all mankind but that part which relates to healing the sick was a lesson only for the disciples. If this construction were correct, it would follow that the twenty-three verses of the eighth chapter of Matthew, relating to healing the sick, were intended only for the instruction of the disciples, and the remaining eleven for the whole world: and the same as to the twenty-five and thirteen verses of the ninth chapter. We maintain that what was said and done for the disciples, was also said and done for all mankind. We base this claim not only on reason and justice, but on Jesus’ express teachings.
We read in the tenth chapter of Matthew, that he gave the twelve disciples power over unclean spirits, “to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease;” and he thus commands them: “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Here, then, is an express delegation of his power to the twelve. What was this power? The general supposition is that he, in some mysterious and superhuman way, transferred this power to them. Our view is that he simply instructed them in an understanding of spiritual law, or divine Principle, such as enabled them to do the healing.
We read in the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew, that after his resurrection he addressed the eleven disciples as follows: "Go yea therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
And what was the making disciples of all nations? The disciples, as we have seen, were endowed with the same power and understanding to heal the sick that Jesus himself possessed, and their explicit command from him was to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The meaning of the word baptize is “putting into.” Hence the command was not to baptize as a merely formal ceremony. It has a much deeper meaning than this, as the new interpretation plainly shows. The baptizing into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is the receiving them into fellowship with the Father-that is, understanding of His laws,--Truth,--and obedience thereto. All nations, therefore, are to be made disciples, amid the fulness of discipleship includes healing the sick. But this is not all. We read in the fourteenth chapter of John, twelfth verse, as follows: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.” Surely it cannot be claimed that this language is addressed to the disciples alone. It is addressed broadly to all who believe on Him, that is, all who understand Divine law, or spiritual truth, and live and act it; therefore they may have power to do the works he did--nay, even greater works. There is no respect of persons. There are no limitations of time, place, or number; all who believe may do the works.
Again in the sixteenth chapter of Mark, fifteenth verse, he thus addresses the eleven disciples: “Go yea into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall he saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Here is an express command to the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole creation. As a matter of physical possibility the eleven could not personally preach to the whole creation. But the command was that they should so preach, and so teach and demonstrate, that their teachings should reach the whole creation. Hence the command was intended for the benefit of the whole creation, the only condition being that it should believe, that is, understand, receive, and live the truth as it should be taught them. And what did this preaching include? Manifestly the healing of the sick, for this was one of the signs that should follow the believing.
Again we read in Luke, ninth chapter, first and second verses as follows: “And he called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”
With strange inconsistency, mankind--including the professional expounders of the Scriptures--has unquestionably accepted one part of this sentence, but rejected the other. That part which tells the disciples to preach the gospel, is accepted as applying to the whole world-as applying to the present day, as well as to the day on which it was uttered. But that part which tells them to heal the sick, is rejected as having application only to the time in which it was uttered. This is playing fast and loose with the Scriptures.
In view of these plain quotations may we not ask, Whence comes the authority for rejecting the teachings relating to the healing of sickness? Why has the attempt been made to cut out from its pages all that part of the sacred Word pertaining to healing the sick, and leaving it, so far as practical effects are concerned, beside the sea of Galilee, away back in the days of Jesus and the apostles?
PART II
HEALING BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, AS GATHERED FROM
THE WRITINGS OF THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS
The writings of the early Christian Fathers, or the Ante-Nicene Fathers, as they are frequently called, constitute of themselves a very valuable and interesting library of religious literature. They are not much known outside theological circles, and are chiefly used within such circles for their doctrinal authority. These writings come down to A. D. 325.
Chief among these writers were Clement, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and Lactantius. Their writings have been translated and preserved, constituting, as published by The Christian Literature Company, eight volumes. They fully corroborate the claim made by the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy in the textbook of Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” that Christian Healing continued down to the third century, and doubtless constitute the most reliable authority upon that subject. Their authenticity is so well established that we doubt if any Christian at all familiar with religious history and literature would have the hardihood to dispute it. Upon the subject of divine healing we make such extracts as our space will admit, because they are interesting and helpful of themselves, but more especially as showing how mistaken is the claim, so often made, that miracles were confined to the time of Jesus and the Apostles.
The first account of divine healing is contained in the Second Apology of Justin (the martyr) or Justin Martyr, as he is sometimes called. Justin was a Gentile, but born in Samaria, near Jacob’s well. His biographer says of him that he must have been well educated; he had traveled extensively, and he seems to have been a person enjoying at least a competence. After trying all other systems, his elevated tastes and refined perceptions made him a disciple of Socrates and Plato. He declares that what Plato was feeling after he (Justin) found in Jesus of Nazareth.
His historian thus speaks of him:
The conversion of such a man marks a new era in Gospel history. The sub-apostolic age begins with the first Christian author, — the founder of theological literature. It introduced to mankind, as the mother of true philosophy, the despised teaching of those Galileans to whom their Master said, 'Ye are the light of the world.' And this is the epoch which forced this great truth upon the attention of contemplative minds. It was more than a hundred years since the angels had sung 'Good will to men'; and that song had been heard for successive generations, breaking forth from the lips of sufferers on the cross among lions, and amid blazing fagots.
Justin was born A. D. 114 and died a martyr to the teachings of Jesus A. D. 165. His biographer further eulogizes him thus:
The manly and heroic pleadings of the man for a despised people with whom he had boldly identified himself; the intrepidity with which he defends them before despots, whose mere caprice might punish him with death; above all, the undaunted spirit with which he exposes the shame and absurdity of their inveterate superstition and reproaches the memory of Hadrian whom Antonius had deified,...these are characteristics which every instinct of the unvitiated soul delights to honor. Justin cannot be refuted by a sneer.
We quote Justin's remarks leading up to the subject of divine healing, as well as what he says upon that subject:
But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, there is no name given, . . . as also the appellation 'God' is not a name but an opinion implanted in the nature of men of a thing that can hardly be explained. But 'Jesus,' His name as man and Saviour, has also significance. For He was made man also, as we before said, having been conceived according to the will of God the Father, for the sake of believing men, and for the destruction of the demons. And now you can learn this from what is under your own observation. For numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in your city, many of our Christian men exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the possessing devils out of the men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists, and those who used incantations and drugs. [Second Apology of Justin, Vol i., chap. vi, p. 190.]
We next quote from the introduction to the writings of Irenaeus who was a pupil of Polycarp, and flourished A. D. 120-202. Of him his biographer says:
When the emissaries of heresy followed him, and began to disseminate their licentious practices and foolish doctrines by the aid of silly women, the great work of his life began. He condescended to study these diseases of the human mind like a wise physician; and, sickening as was the work of classifying and describing them, he made this also his laborious task, that he might enable others to withstand and to overcome them. The works he has left us are monuments of his fidelity to Christ, and to the charges of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Jude, whose solemn warnings now proved to be prophecies. No marvel that the great apostle, ‘night and day with tears,’ had forewarned the churches of ‘the grievous wolves’ which were to make havoc of the fold. If it shocks the young student of the virgin years of Christianity to find such a state of things, let him reflect that it was all foretold by Christ himself and demonstrates the malice and power of the adversary...The task of Irenaeus was two-fold: (1) to render it impossible for any to confound Gnosticism with Christianity, and (2) to make it impossible for such a monstrous system to survive, or ever to rise again.
We regret that Irenaeus’ work in this respect had not been more effectual. When we see a convention of people calling themselves Divine Scientists, and boldly declaring that the only difference between themselves and Christian Scientists is that they do not follow Mrs. Eddy; and further giving out in speech and printed pamphlet such monstrous and blasphemous assertions as these—the direct opposite of the teachings of genuine Christian Science: “I am what I will to be; I will to be what I am; I am God—Infinite Good. I am a sensitive, I have looked upon my Creator, and I can say—I am God. I am immaculate, infallible, incorruptible, omnipresent,” etc., as was recently done in Kansas City, we are compelled to admit that there is in these times, in exaggerated form, a revival of the Gnosticism which Irenaeus sought to destroy.
Irenaeus thus descants upon the Gnostics or pretenders to divine healing:
The more moderate and reasonable among them thou wilt convert and convince, so as to lead them no longer to blaspheme their Creator, and Maker and Sustainer...; but the fierce and terrible, and irrational [among them] thou wilt drive from thee, that thou may no longer have to endure their idle loquaciousness. Moreover, those also will be thus confuted who belong to Simon and Carpocrates, and if there be any others who are said to perform miracles--who do not perform what they do either through the power of God, or in connection with the truth, nor for the well-being of men, but for the sake of destroying and misleading mankind, by means of magical deceptions, and with universal deceit, thus entailing greater harm than good on those who believe them, with respect to the point on which they lend them astray. For they can neither confer sight on the blind, nor hearing on the deaf, nor chase away all sorts of demons--[none indeed], except those that are sent into others by themselves, if they can even do as much as this. Nor can they cure the weak, or the lame, or the paralytic, or those who are distressed in any other part of the body, as has often been done in regard to bodily infirmity. And so far are they from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and as the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood on account of some necessity--the entire church in that particular locality entreating with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been bestowed in answer to the prayers of the saints--that they do not even believe this can possibly be done, [and hold] that the resurrection from the dead is simply an acquaintance with that truth which they proclaim. Since, therefore, there exist among them error and misleading influences, and magical illusions are impiously wrought in the sight of men... these men are in this way undoubtedly proved to be utter aliens from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual excellence. But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind, apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantoms of idolatry, and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon who, by means of a deception of the same kind, will with his tail cause the third part of the stars to fall from their place, and will cast them down to the earth...If any one will consider the prophecy referred to, and the practices of these men, he will find that their manner of acting is one and the same with the demons. [Irenaeus against Heresies, Vol. ii, chap. xxxi, pp. 407-9.]
Again he says:
And the remarks I have made respecting numbers will also apply against all those who misappropriate things belonging to the truth for the support of a system of this kind...If, however, they maintain that the Lord, too, performed such works simply in appearance, we shall refer them to the prophetical writings, and prove from these both that all things were thus predicted regarding him, and did take place undoubtedly, and that He is the only Son of God. Wherefore, also, those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform miracles, so as to promote the welfare of other men. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe in and join themselves to the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come. They see visions and utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years. And what shall I say more? It is not possible to name the number of the gifts which the Church, throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ,...and which she exerts day by day for the benefit of the Gentiles. Nor does she perform anything by means of angelic invocations, or by incantations, or by any other wicked or curious art; but directing her prayers to the Lord, who made all things, in a pure, sincere, and straightforward spirit, and calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has been accustomed to work miracles for the advantage of mankind, and not to lead them into error.
In like spirit, and with the same high purpose, do sincere Christian Scientists practice the healing art to-day. From that same God and that same Jesus Christ from whom the early Christians drew their healing inspiration, did our Leader, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, draw the inspiration which enabled her to give to the world, in systematized form, so that all may understand and practice it who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary thereto, the healing and saving Principle set forth in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This is no mere assumption, no idle boast. Let the mighty works resulting from the application of such teaching during the past quarter of a century in the thousands healed and brought into a higher and grander conception of life and the teachings of the Bible, tell the story of the revival of the healing practiced by the early Christians.
We next refer to Tertullian, who flourished A. D. 145-220, and was one of the greatest men of the early church. He was born a heathen, and seems to have been educated at Rome, where he probably practiced as a jurisconsult. He became a Christian about 185, and a presbyter about 190. He lived to an extreme old age, and some suppose even till A. D. 240.
We quote first from his Apology to the Rulers of the Roman Empire:
Why, all the authority and power we have over them [the unclean spirits] is from our naming the name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the woes with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as Judge, and which they expect one day to overtake them. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they become subject to the servants of God and Christ. So at our touch and breathing, overwhelmed by the thought and realization of those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies they have entered, unwilling and distressed, and before your very eyes put to an open shame. [Apology, Vol. iii, chap. xxiii, p. 107.]
In his address “To Scapula” he says:--
The clerk of one of them who was liable to be thrown upon the ground by an evil spirit was set free from his affliction; as was also the relative of another, and the little boy of a third. How many men of rank (to say nothing of common people) have been delivered from devils, and healed of diseases! Even Severus himself, the father of Antonine, was graciously mindful of the Christians; for he sought out the Christian Proculus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of Euhodias, and in gratitude for his having once cured him by anointing, he kept him in his palace till the day of his death. Antonine, too, brought up as he was on Christian milk, was intimately acquainted with this man. Both women and men of highest rank, whom Severus knew well to be Christians, were not merely permitted by him to remain uninjured; but he even bore distinguished testimony in their favor, and gave them publicly back to us from the hands of a raging populace. Marcus Aurelius also, in his expedition to Germany, by the prayers his Christian soldiers offered to God, got rain in that well-known thirst. When indeed have not droughts been put away by our kneelings and our fastings? At times like these, moreover, the people crying to ‘the God of gods, the alone omnipotent,’ under the name of Jupiter, have borne witness to our God. Then we never deny the deposit placed in our hands; we never pollute the marriage bed; we deal faithfully with our wards; we give aid to the needy; we render to none evil for evil. As for those who falsely pretend to belong to us, and whom we, too, repudiate, let them answer for themselves. In a word, who has complaint to make against us on other grounds? To what else does the Christian devote himself, save the affairs of his own community, which during all the long period of its existence no one has ever proved guilty of the incest or the cruelty charged against it? It is for freedom from crime so singular, for a probity so great, for righteousness, for purity, for faithfulness, for Truth, for the living God, that we are consigned to the flames; for this is a punishment you are not wont to inflict either on the sacrilegious, or on undoubted public enemies, or on the treason-tainted, of whom you have so many. [Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. iii., p. 107.]
Is it not because Christian Scientists of to-day are endeavoring to live purer and higher lives, to rise above the dross of the flesh, and heal the sick and destroy sin by putting their reliance directly and solely upon God, that they are persecuted, maligned, slandered, ridiculed, mocked and scorned?
Tertullian in his work entitled “The Octavius of Minucius Felix,” chap. xxvii, page 190, has this to say of demons and their casting out:--
Since they themselves are the witnesses that they are demons, believe them when they confess the truth of themselves; for when adjured by the only true God, unwillingly the wretched beings shudder in their bodies, and either at once leap forth, or vanish by degrees, as the faith of the sufferer assists or the grace of the healer inspires. Thus they fly from Christians when near at hand, whom at a distance they harassed by your means at their assemblies. And thus, introduced into the minds of the ignorant, they secretly sow there a hatred of us by means of fear. For it is natural to hate one whom you fear, and to injure one whom you have feared, if you can. Thus they take possession of the minds and obstruct the hearts, that men may begin to hate us before they know us; lest, if known, they should either imitate us, or not be able to condemn us.
Origen, who flourished A. D. 185-254, and was a student of the illustrious Clement of Alexandria (one of the most eminent of the early Christian Fathers) and occupied a prominent position in the literary world of his time, in his treatise entitled, “Origen against Celsus,” speaking of the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, says:
Of ‘the Spirit,’ on account of the prophecies, which are sufficient to produce faith in any one who reads them, especially in those things which relate to Christ; and of power, because of the signs and wonders which we must believe to have been performed, both on many other grounds, and on this, that traces of them are still preserved among those who regulate their lives by the precepts of the Gospel." [Origen against Celsus, book i, chap. ii.]
Again:
And there are still preserved among Christians traces of that Holy Spirit which appeared in the form of a dove. They expel evil spirits, and perform many cures, and foresee certain events, according to the will of the Logos.” [Ibid., chap. xlvi.]
Again:
And the name of Jesus can still remove distractions from the minds of men, and expel demons, and also take away diseases; and produce a marvelous meekness of spirit and complete change of character, and a humanity, and goodness, and gentleness in those individuals who do not feign themselves to be Christians for the sake of subsistence or the supply of any mortal wants, but who have honestly accepted the doctrine concerning God and Christ, and the judgment to come...But after this, Celsus, having a suspicion that the great works performed by Jesus, of which we have named a few out of a great number, would be brought forward to view, affects to grant that those statements may be true which are made regarding His cures, or His resurrection, etc., and adds: ‘Well, let us believe that they were actually wrought by you.’ But then he immediately compares them to the tricks of jugglers, who profess to do more wonderful things, and to the feats performed by those who have been taught by Egyptians, who in the middle of the market place, in return for a few obols, will impart knowledge of their most venerated arts, and will expel demons from men, and dispel diseases, and invoke the souls of heroes, and exhibit expensive banquets, and tables, and dishes, and dainties, having no real existence, and who will put in notion, as if alive, what are not really living animals, but which have only the appearance of life. And he asks: ‘Since, then, these persons can perform such feats, shall we of necessity conclude that they are sons of God, or must we admit that they are the proceedings of wicked men under the influence of an evil spirit?’ You see that by these expressions he allows, as it were, the existence of magic...But, as it helped his purpose, he compares the miracles related of Jesus to the results produced by magic. There would indeed be a resemblance between them, if Jesus, like the dealers in magical arts, had performed his works only for show; but now there is not a single juggler who, by means of his proceedings, invites his spectators to reform their manners, or trains those to the fear of God who are amazed at what they see, nor who tries to persuade them so to live as men who are justified by God. And jugglers do none of these things, because they have neither the power nor the will, nor any desire to busy themselves about the reformation of men, inasmuch as their own lives are full of the grossest and most notorious sins. But how should not He who, by the miracles which He did, induced those who beheld the excellent results to understand the reformation of their characters, manifest Himself not only to his genuine disciples, but also to others, after being more fully instructed in His word and character than by His miracles, as to how they were to direct their lives, might in all their conduct have a constant reference to the good pleasure of the universal God? . . . [Origen against Celsus, book i., chaps. lxvii, lxviii.]
And again,
. . . we, if we deem this a matter of importance, can clearly show a countless multitude of Greeks and Barbarians who acknowledge the existence of Jesus. And some give evidence of their having received through this faith a marvelous power by the cures which they perform, invoking no other name over those who need their help than that of the God of all things, and of Jesus, along with a mention of his history. For by these means we too have seen many persons freed from grievous calamities, and from distractions of mind, and madness, and countless other ills, which could be cured neither by men nor devils. [Ibid., book iii, chap. xxiv.]
Lactantius,--A. D. 260-330,--who, it is said, occupied a very high place among the Christian Fathers, not only on account of the subject matter of his writings, but also on account of the varied erudition, the sweetness of expression, and the grace and elegance of style, by which they were characterized, thus refers to the persecutions of the Christians by the Gentiles:
They do not therefore rage against us on this account, because their gods are not worshiped by us, but because the truth is on our side, which (as it has been said most truly) produces hatred. What, then, shall we think, but that they are ignorant of what they suffer? For they act with a blind and unreasonable fury, which we see, but of which they are ignorant. For it is not the men themselves who persecute, for they have no cause of anger against the innocent; but those contaminated and abandoned spirits by whom the truth is both known and hated, insinuate themselves into their minds, and goad them in their ignorance to fury. For these, as long as there is peace among the people of God, flee from the righteous, and fear them; and when they seize upon the bodies of men, and harass their souls, they are adjured by them, and at the name of the true God are put to flight...On account of these blows and threats, they always hate holy and just men; and because they are unable of themselves to injure them, they pursue with public hatred those whom they perceive to be grievous to them, and they exercise cruelty with all the violence that they can employ, that they may either weaken their faith by pain, or, if they are unable to effect that, they may take them away altogether from the earth, that there may be none to restrain their wickedness.
From “The Clementine Homilies” written by Clement of Alexandria, who died A. D. 220, we make this extract:--
For the soul being turned by faith, as it were, into the nature of water, quenches the demon as a spark of fire. The labor, therefore, of everyone is to be solicitous about the putting to flight of his own demon. . . . Whence many, not knowing how they are influenced, consent to the evil thoughts suggested by the demons, as if they were the reasoning of their own souls. . . . Therefore the demons who lurk in their souls induce them to think that it is not a demon that is distressing them, but a bodily disease, such as some acrid matter, or bile, or phlegm, or excess of blood, or inflammation of a membrane, or something else. But even if this were so, the case would not be altered of its being some kind of a demon." [Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. viii, p. 277.]
These writings are of unusual interest to Christian Scientists, showing, as they do, that the early Christians understood disease to be wholly mental, and its cure effected by means above the human--that is the divine.
HISTORICAL REFERENCE TO EARLY CHRISTIAN HEALING
In connection with the foregoing from the early Christian Fathers we herewith publish the following by way of reprint from the Christian Science Sentinel of May 29, 1902:--
The writings of these early Fathers are as well authenticated, historically speaking, as are other standard historical works, and indeed, in the theological world, their authenticity is unquestioned. The title page of each volume is as follows:
The Antonine Fathers. Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 825. The Rev. Alexander Roherts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D., Editors. American reprint of the Edinburgh Edition. Revised and chronologically arranged, with brief prefaces and occasional notes, by A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D.
These writings are accepted as an essential part of the history of early Christianity by such well known historians as Gibbon, the author of “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” and Rawlinson, author of “The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scriptures,” as well as other historians. From Gibbon we quote the following:--
The supernatural gifts, which even in this life were ascribed to the Christians above the rest of mankind, must have conduced to their own comfort, and very frequently to the conviction of infidels...The divine inspiration is described as a favor very liberally bestowed on an ranks of the faithful, on women as on elders, on boys as well as upon bishops...The expulsion of the daemons from the bodies of those unhappy persons whom they were permitted to torment, was considered as a signal though ordinary triumph of religion, and is repeatedly alleged by the ancient apologists as the most convincing evidence of the truth of Christianity...But the miraculous cure of diseases of the most inveterate or even preternatural kind, can no longer occasion any surprise, when we recollect that in the days of Irenwus, about the end of the second century, the resurrection of the dead was very far from being esteemed an uncommon event; that the miracle was frequently performed on necessary occasions, by great fasting and the joint supplication of the church of the place, and that the persons thus restored had lived afterwards among them many years. At such a period, when faith could boast of so many wonderful victories over death, it seems difficult to account for the scepticism of those philosophers, who still rejected and derided the doctrine of the resurrection (pp. 401, 402, Vol. I.).
Gibbon’s remarks upon this subject are interesting from the Christian Science standpoint. Of course he could speak only from the best understanding he had of the subject. He brings out many striking analogies between the history of the early Christians and the experiences of Christian Scientists of today.
We quote also briefly from “The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scriptures,” by George Rawlinson, A.M., long a fellow and tutor of Exeter College, England, and a writer of ability and distinction. He says:--
Further, we must not forget that the early converts had a second ground of belief, besides and beyond their conviction of the honesty and trustworthiness of those who came forward to preach the Gospel, declaring themselves witnesses of the mighty works which Christ had wrought, and preeminently of the resurrection. The preachers persuaded, not merely by their evident truthfulness and sincerity, but by the miraculous power which they wielded. There is good evidence that the ability to work miracles was not confined to the apostolic age. The bishops and others who pressed to see Ignatius on his way to martyrdom, expected that he would communicate to them some spiritual gift. Papias related various miracles as having happened in his own lifetime--among others that a dead man had been restored to life. Justin Martyr declares very simply that in his day both men and women were found who possessed miraculous powers. Quadratus, the apologist, is mentioned by a writer of the second century as exercising them. Irenaeus speaks of miracles as still common in Gaul when he wrote, which was nearly at the close of the second century. Tertullian, Theophilus and Minucius Felix, authors of about the same period, are witnesses to the continuance to their day of at least one class of miracles...But the possession of miraculous powers by those who spread the Gospel abroad in the first ages, would alone and by itself prove the divinity of the Christian religion. God would not have given supernatural aid to persons engaged in propagating a lie, nor have assisted them to palm a deceit upon the world in His name. If there be then good evidence of this fact--if it be plain from the ecclesiastical writers that miracles were common in the Christian Church for above two centuries--we have herein an argument of an historical character, which is of no small weight and importance, additional to that arising from the mere confirmation by early uninspired writers of the Sacred Narrative.
The following remarks by Mr. Rawlinson have also much significance to Christian Scientists:--
When faith is a matter of life and death, men do not lightly take up with the first creed which happens to hit their fancy; nor do they place themselves openly in the ranks of a persecuted sect, unless they have well weighed the claims of the religion which it professes, and convinced themselves of its being the truth.
This authentic historical evidence is a sufficient refutation of the oft-repeated assertion that “miracles” ceased with the Apostles. Every argument and suggestion so ably made by Mr. Rawlinson, has as much weight in its relation to the possibility of a “miracles” now as in the connection in which they were made. Only the unreasonable conception that God gives and withholds His gifts at certain times and for certain reasons, would defeat his argument as applied to the present. We have only to consider that divine Truth is ever present and ever active to refute any suggestion that God is partial in His methods or extends special favors to a particular people or age. In the light of Divine Science, we know that He is unchanging in His methods.
PART III
We append the last two discourses delivered in Copley Hall by the then pastor of the Mother Church. These discourses were taken down in shorthand, and some months after their delivery were published in the Christian Science Journal. Following is the first of them.
HEAVEN
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent yea: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.--Matthew, iii. 1,2.
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.--Matthew, iv. 17.
What is heaven? Where is heaven? These have been the questions of the ages. They are the great questions of to-day. Men have ever been searching for God because they believed that where God is heaven is. Hence throughout all ages men have been seeking the kingdom of heaven. The ancients sought it. They had their conception of it. It was their Elysium, but it was simply an enlargement upon the pleasures of the material senses. All along the ages men have been endeavoring to build up a heaven which should but emphasize the supposed pleasures and enjoyments of material conditions.
The aborigines of this country had their conception of heaven as a happy hunting-ground, where bear and deer and all kinds of game were in abundance, furnished by the Great Spirit. This was their conception of heaven. And may we not earnestly and sincerely inquire this morning what has been the Christian conception of heaven? Has it been a heaven on earth, a sinless heaven, the possibility of which exists now and here, or has it been a heaven of the future to be attained only by dying--a faraway, inconceivable place? And when we look into the true Scriptural interpretation of heaven as delineated by John the Baptist and Jesus, in the words which we have chosen this morning, it becomes a matter of amazement that so many expounders and interpreters of the Bible should yet, all over this land and all over Christendom, be preaching a faraway heaven of golden streets and pearly gates and great white thrones, and harps, and various other material conditions and accompaniments. It is strange that these beautiful symbols of a sinless spiritual state or condition of thought, should have been so distorted that only material gold and material pearls can be wrought out of them.
Some of the attempted descriptions of heaven from this standpoint are grotesque enough. We have all perhaps read them, and not long ago. Some of the sermons and dissertations most widely circulated undertake to describe this heaven of golden streets and pearly gates. These symbols are intended only to typify purity and freedom from dross, the dross of sense, hence pure gold and pearls are descriptive of the spiritual state, typifying purity or freedom from sin. These, I say, have been inverted from their true symbolical and allegorical sense and literalized into a material meaning.
Now what did John say about heaven? Where did he say it was nineteen hundred years ago? He said it was at hand, not afar off; and Jesus reiterated that statement when he “began to preach” and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” now and here is the kingdom of God, and he repeated this sentiment over and over again throughout his preaching, and emphasized it by expressly declaring that the kingdom of God, to wit, the kingdom of heaven, is within you, not afar off. If the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it is here. It is a present existing fact. It is a present possible experience, and it is true that heaven is everywhere, “if we but lift our eyes and see;” if we but brush away these mists of human blindness, these dark clouds of materialism. If we but rend the veil we may look within on the golden streets and see the pearly gates typifying purity or spiritual existence.
What a strange conception that men must die in order to live that people must pass through death in order to find the road to heaven, harmony! How can an instantaneous change wipe away the sin of years, the false conception of ages, the false teachings and false doctrines which have been instilled into human thought? This is the work of time, and as our textbook says, if it be not accomplished before the change called death, it must and will be accomplished after that change. These sinful, false conceptions must be overcome and destroyed, and in the degree that they are being destroyed are we coming into the kingdom which is at hand. Always at hand, now and here. It is pushed off into the far future only by false human conceptions. The word heaven means that which is upheaved, or heaved up; that is its literal signification; hence it means the higher or highest attainment along spiritual lines...
Is it not time that there should come a broader, a higher definition and conception of heaven, of God as divine Love and mercy and justice, such as has been given to the world through the teachings of our textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”?
There are serious difficulties in the way of locating the old heaven. We talk about heaven being above us; we were taught when children to look upward to see heaven. Heaven is the highest spiritual attainment, but not a high material place. We used to think that when we looked up at what is called the blue vault of heaven we were looking up to where God was. No doubt many thousands of children are still so looking, but the earth is constantly revolving; it is not stationary. We are not always gazing into the same point of heaven; what is up today at high noontime would be down at midnight, and vice versa. Hence if heaven were actually above us we could see it only at certain hours during the twenty-four, and if the other place were below us in any material sense, there would be times when we would be much nearer it than heaven. It is because men have endeavored to gauge the infinite and the spiritual from the blinding standpoint of physical sense that all this mountain of false conceptions has grown up.
Take just these two statements which constitute our text this morning. How many sermons have been preached to elucidate them! If all the sermons which have ever been preached, all the essays which have ever been written for the purpose of telling people where God is and what He is, what heaven is, and where it is, were brought together and piled up, I doubt if Boston Common would hold them, and if it were physically and mentally possible to read them, how much would one know concerning God and Heaven after he had read them? One would have but a mass of confused and erroneous conceptions. There would not be a good, clear definition or explanation to he wrought out of them. And yet, they are all intended to explain the Scriptures. Hence I say, in view of this mass of confusion,--this mountain upon mountain of wrong teaching,--have we not reason to congratulate ourselves that at last there has come a definition which we can understand, and which we can in some measure demonstrate and prove to our satisfaction?
We know that God is Love; we know that He is infinite; we know that where infinite Love is there is no place for the old conception of eternal punishment. We know that heaven is all around and about us, and we know that in order to reach heaven it is necessary that we overcome the sins of the flesh. We understand, somewhat, the road to heaven, and we know it means crucifixion. We know that we must nail our human selfishness to the cross; that we must nail our malice to the cross; that we must nail our lust to the cross; that we must nail our envy and our jealousy, and all these false conditions, these sinful qualities, to the cross on our way to heaven, and just in the degree in which we do this we are traveling the road to the kingdom, and are making the statements of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, a fact in our existence. Now let us trust that the true conception of heaven shall become universally established in human consciousness... [Jesus] prayed for those true conditions, those higher spiritual things, which make a heaven on earth everywhere and at all times. Just in the measure in which good is believed to be evil are we living in a false heaven, and just in the degree in which we are confused and unable to draw the line sharply between Truth and error, we are in that measure living in a false heaven, hence there are degrees of heaven; we read about the seventh heaven. Only as we become absolutely clear, so that we are able to distinguish between Truth and error, are we getting those correct conceptions which will ultimately lead into the kingdom of heaven. All other conceptions than these are the false kingdoms, the kingdoms of human conceptions, and they constitute the Hades of the Greeks, the Sheol of the Hebrews, and the Hell of the Anglo-Saxons. It seems to me there ought to be no difficulty in understanding and interpreting the Scripture from this standpoint. It becomes plain and simple. It is not too much to say that the mission of Christian Scientists, those who have studied “Science arid Health with Key to the Scriptures,” and have studied the Scriptures in the light of this book, is to open out the true kingdom and drive away from human consciousness these false conceptions.
The second of these discourses was as follows.
HEAL THE SICK, CLEANSE THE LEPERS, ETC.
And as yea go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.--Matthew, x. 7, 8.
These words constituted the golden text of our last Sabbath's Bible Lesson, and they are indeed a golden text. Were they written in letters of flaming gold across the sky they would not have too high a place, nor would they have any deeper or vaster significance for the human race than as here recorded as the utterance of the great Teacher nineteen hundred years ago. Golden words are these, and they become pure gold in human consciousness in the degree that they are received into that consciousness and assimilated and lived and brought forth in fruits and in actions. Last Sabbath we spoke from the words uttered by Jesus when he “began” to do his first preaching, according to the record, and when he said, “Repent yea, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and we endeavored to show how widely the current views and preaching on this subject differ from the conception of the kingdom of heaven uttered by Jesus nineteen hundred years ago. We endeavored to show that the kingdom of heaven was not afar off, an incomprehensible and inconceivable place of the future, but that it was a living, vital, present fact.
This morning we shall endeavor to show in some measure what it is that, according to the words of the Teacher, constitutes the kingdom of heaven which is “at hand.” He makes it very plain; and what are the evidences of the kingdom? “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.” These were the evidences of the nearness of the kingdom in his days, and these are the only legitimate evidences of the nearness of that kingdom in these days, and only to the extent that the fruits here mentioned are being brought forth and exhibited to the understanding of mankind, is the kingdom of heaven “at hand.” Now, we notice the command to these disciples to go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is “at hand.” He did not tell them to say it was afar off; and what was good preaching in his time and during the apostolic days, ought to have been good preaching ever since that time, and ought to be good preaching to-day.
Is there not as great need now as there ever was that the kingdom of heaven should be “at hand,” that the sick should be healed, that the dead should be raised, that human consciousness should be cleansed of leprosy, and that devils should be cast out? Has the time gone by when these things are necessary? Did these things exist only during the days of the apostles, and is this the reason why our good friends tell us that the days of miracles have gone by, that there is no longer a necessity for them, and that therefore these commandments were addressed only to the apostles? Are there no devils in human consciousness now? Is there no sickness in the world now? Is there no leprosy in human thought now? Are there none in the world today who are dead to the voice of the Son of God,--dead in trespasses and sins, so that there is no longer need of raising the dead? Yet we are told it is a misinterpretation of the Scripture to insist that the commandments of Jesus mean as much now as when uttered. These commandments will remain in force so long as there is need of healing the sick, of cleansing the leper, of casting out devils, and raising the dead, They will cease when this shall have been accomplished, and not until then. Therefore, what is it to preach the gospel, or to preach that the kingdom of heaven “is at hand”? Does it consist alone of sermonizing or delivering essays at stated times and at stated places? Not at all. To preach the gospel is to preach such a gospel by our acts, our lives, our motives and purposes, that every day and every hour we are healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils; and there are earnest disciples of Truth to-day, out in the remote places, away almost from civilization, laboring single-handed, spreading this gospel from door to door, from neighbor to neighbor, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils, and they are acting and preaching a more effective gospel and bringing the kingdom of heaven nearer to humanity’s door than all the mere dissertations and discourses that ever have been delivered. This is preaching the Gospel. We must preach it by spreading it as a practical, helpful, energizing, spiritualizing fact.
“Heal the sick.”
We might legitimately paraphrase this saying thus: “And as yea go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, preach by healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils." This is the meaning of the Master's words. Then what is it to heal the sick? Is it simply to remove physical beliefs or difficulties, or claims or troubles? This is a part of it, and no unimportant part, but it is not healing the sick in the full sense of the term. To heal the sick is to bring wholeness to humanity, to bring a perfect condition of spiritual life and understanding, to bring into human consciousness that influx and measure of the divine Life which is its Life, and when this is done there shall be no room left in human consciousness for sickness. To heal is to make whole; this is the meaning of the word health,--wholeness,--and we are not whole until every vestige of those elements which bring sickness shall have been finally and forever destroyed. Sickness is the consequence of the law of sin. Sickness is only removed by bringing wholeness--health, and is it possible that it is true preaching or true practice or true fulfillment of the Scripture to declare that inert drugs and poisonous compounds can enter the human system and search out sin and kill it?
Every system of so-called healing which is based on other than the teachings of the great Physician, whose command was to heal the sick from the true standpoint, is a false system, and the sooner it is wiped away and the true system substituted, the sooner will come the kingdom of heaven. A broad statement, a startling statement, in view of the prevailing systems, and in view of the fact that all over the world there are great institutions to teach men and women how to heal the sick, which are turning out from year to year thousands of disciples, sending them forth with the idea that sickness (sin) can be destroyed by poisonous inert drugs and other material remedies,--but, nevertheless, a true statement.
“Cleanse the lepers.”
What is it to cleanse the lepers? The leprosy of sin must be cleansed, destroyed, utterly annihilated. The removal of the manifestation of the disease of leprosy, of course, was a part of the work of the disciples, and came within the commandment, but there is as much need to-day that lepers shall be cleansed as there was in Jesus’ days, and not until the leprosy of sin is removed from human conditions will lepers be cleansed, will the kingdom of heaven “be preached” or be “at hand.”
“Cast out devils.”
What is it to cast out devils? Remember it is a part of this commandment. It is coupled with the command to heal the sick. It means the same thing, they are one and inseparable. Hence healing the sick is casting out devils wrong thoughts and purposes, unwholesome conditions, every thought, purpose, and motive which tends to hold humanity down in animalism. Only as these devils are cast out is humanity attaining to that condition of purity or that understanding of God as Life, Truth, and Love, which brings the kingdom of heaven into human understanding.
“Raise the dead.”
How are the dead to be raised? What is it to raise the dead? Just in the degree that sin is being destroyed in human consciousness is humanity coming to life; is humanity getting out of dead conditions; is humanity resurrected from its grave of false conceptions and false living. Hence, to raise the dead means vastly more than to bring that which appears to be a lifeless person to life again. It has a broader significance than that, and the dead are only truly raised as they hear the voice of the Son of God and live. Therefore the dead must be raised in this true, broad sense before the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly preached. All these false conditions which have been clinging to humanity down through the ages must be eliminated, and the true knowledge of God substituted for them.
As we stated last Sabbath, here is the kingdom of Truth, Life, and Love on the one hand; and in appearance and in claim, the false kingdom of sin, sickness, and death on the other. The great fact of existence, the great and only law of God’s universe, is that there is but one kingdom, and that kingdom is omnipresent Love, omnipotent good, everlasting Truth, in which there are and can be no changing conditions. This is the kingdom which is ever “at hand,” to arouse people to the understanding of whose coming, Jesus “began to preach,” saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at band; preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers.” It was to awaken and arouse dead, sleeping humanity to the fact that these were the things which pertain to the kingdom of heaven, and that as they were thus aroused they were growing into that consciousness which leads into the kingdom of God.
Thus, true preaching includes vastly more than sermonizing, writing essays, or meeting together to bold services of any form or character, and not until humanity lives the Gospel of Jesus, will the kingdom of heaven be consciously “at hand.”
May we go forth with a stronger and higher purpose of preaching the gospel, by healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, and raising the dead.
footer
Dedicated to the advancement of Christian
Science as taught by Mary Baker Eddy,
Christian Science Today is an independent, nonprofit
organization and is not affiliated
with the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, MA.
