-c HEALING THROTJ0H ' CHRISTIAN SCIENCES DISCOURSES AND EDITORIALS. BY SEPTIMUS J. HANNA. [Reprinted from Tfte Christian Science Journal.] THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 95 Falmouth Stbeet, Boston, Mass. 1898. S STbEDTDD WIN 3N1D1Q3W JO *8V«ap 1VNOUVN NLM001029185 a -^Jrr~ > m NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY I vt«C' I : INDIOiW JO AIVBBM IVNOUVN 1NI3IQ1W JO A IV It ■ II IVNOUVN 1NI3I03W JO A a V » I NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY iNOIQJW JO AaVaBIl IVNOUVN iNOIOlW JO A a V III I 1 IVNOUVN iNIJIOJW JO AIVII NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY C a -~ * U I lMf\ :-, HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. DISCOURSES AND EDITORIALS. BY SEPTIMUS J. HANNA. [Reprinted from The Christian Science Journal.'] THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 95 Falmouth Street, Boston, Mass. .''■* ISO*. J .}"-"■■" "-' H.343 U im t.\ Copijriijht, 1898, by The Christian Science Publishing Society. NATIONAL UBRARY OF MEDICINE WASHINGTON, D. C, ^ HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. BY SEPTIMUS J. HANNA. 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 Testa- ment without the use of material remedies. The prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the apostles of the New, re- lied 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 re- buke 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 4 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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 say- ing of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." The water of the river Jordan possessed no supposed heal- ing virtue, while that of the other rivers were believed to be rich in curative properties. There are numerous refer- ences 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 con- tained 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 lan- guage 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 Mas- ter, whose life bore fruit of such vast moment to the world, HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 5 would waste no time in idle words or deeds. Every word he uttered, and every act he performed, had some pro- found signification for the human race. Our text, then, would of itself establish the Principle of Divine healing be- yond the shadow of a question, if we had no other evidence thereof. But the New Testament teems with demonstra- tions of the healing Principle. In the eighth chapter of Matthew, just after Jesus came down from the Mount where he preached the most wonder- ful 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 dis- eases, in quick succession. This chapter is composed of thirty-eight verses, twenty-five of which relate to the heal- ing 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 heal- ing. 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 bene- fit of only a small handful of the human race? Was this 6 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. divine Principle of healing to be limited in its applica- tion? 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 Prin- ciple, it follows that this Principle exists to-day. 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 preach- ing, is intended as a lesson to 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 Mat- thew, 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 com- mands 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, HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 7 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: "(to ye therefore, and make disciple* 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 discipl<>fi of a/7 )iations, 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, there- fore, are to be made disciples, and the fulness of disciple- ship 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 / 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 8 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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; (/// who believe may do the works. Again in the sixteenth chapter of Mark, fifteenth verse, he thus addresses the eleven disciples: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbe- lieveth 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 ser- pents, 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 condi- tion being that it should helicve, 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 pro- fessional expounders of the Scriptures—has unquestionably HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 9 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 re- lating 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? PAKT 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 doctri- nal authority. These writings come down to A.D. 325. Chief among these writers were Clement, Justin Mar- tyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, Origen, and Lactantius. Their writings as translated and preserved, constitute, as published by The Christian Literature Company, eight volumes. They fully corroborate the claim made by the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy in the text-book of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," that Christian Healing continued down to the third century, and doubtless consti- tute the most reliable authority upon that subject. Their authenticity is fully recognized by Gibbon in his history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," as well as other standard historians. It 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 ex- tracts as seem to be in point, 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, born in HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 11 Samaria, near Jacob's Well. His biographer says of liim that he must have been well educated; he had travelled 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 dis- ciple 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 teach- ings of Jesus A.D. 165. His biographer thus further eulogizes him:— The manly and heroic pleadings of the man for a despised peo- ple 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 Antoninus 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 opin- ion 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 12 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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 observa- tion. 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.* We next quote from the introduction to the writings of Irenaeus, who was a pupil of Poly carp, and flourished A.D. 120-202. Of him his biographer says:— When the emissaries of heresy followed him, and began to dis- seminate their licentious practices and foolish doctrines by the aid of "silly women," the great work of his life began. He conde- scended to study these diseases of the human mind like a wise phy- sician; 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 Irena>us was two-fold: (1) to render it impossible for any to confound Gnosticism with Christianity, and (2i 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 Scien- tists is that they do not follow Mrs. Eddy; and further giving out in speech and printed pamphlet such monstrous * Second Apology <>f Justin, Vol. i., chap, vi., p. 190. HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 13 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, incor- ruptible, omnipresent,'' etc., as was recently done in Kansas City, we are compelled to admit that there is in those 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 Car- pocrates, and if there be any others who are said to perform mir- acles—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 en- tailing greater harm than good on those who believe them, with respect to the point on which they lead 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 [the boon] 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 Avhich they proclaim. Since, therefore, there exist among 11 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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, de- moniacal working, and the phantasms 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 daily practices of these men, he will find that their manner of acting is one and the same with the demons.* 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 appear- ance, 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 pro- mote 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 Christ] 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 more say? It is not possible to name the number of the gifts which the Church [scattered] 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 per- form 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 straight- forward spirit, and calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus.Christ, * Irenaeus against Heresies, Vol. i., chap, xxxi., pp. 407. 408. HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 15 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 sin- cere Christian Scientists practise the healing art to-day. Erom 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 in- spiration which enabled her to give to the world, in sys- tematized form, so that all may understand and practise it who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary thereto, the healing and saving Principle set forth in her text- book, "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 dur- ing the past quarter of a century in the thousands healed and brought into a higher and grander concejption of life and the teachings of the Bible, tell the story of the revival of the healing practised 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 practised 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 sub- ject to the servants of God and Christ. So at our touch and breath- ing, overwhelmed by the thought and realization of those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies they have entered, 16 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. unwilling and distressed, and before your very eyes put to an open shame.* 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 him- self, the father of Antonine, was graciously mindful of the Chris- tians; for he sought out the Christian Froculus, surnamed Tor- pacion, 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.t * Apology, Vol. iii., chap, xxiii., p. 38. t Ante-Nlcene Fathers, Vol. Hi., p. 107. HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 17 Is it not because Christian Scientists of to-day are en- deavoring 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, 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 and 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 assem- blies. 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. 18 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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, accord- ing to the wTill of Logos.* 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; . . . and he adds: "Well, let us believe that these 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 motion, 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 rnagic. 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 * Origen against Celsus, book i., chap. xlvi. HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 19 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 to be justified by God. And jugglers do none of these things, be- cause 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 refer- ence to the good pleasure of the universal God? . . . .* 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, f 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 expres- sion, 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 worshipped 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; * Origen against Celsus, book i., chaps, lxvii., lxviii. t Ibid., book Hi., chap. xxiv. --—.....""ARY OF MEDICINE ...........::iton. D. C - 20 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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, there- fore, of every one 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 in- flammation 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.* These writings are of unusual interest to Christian Sci- entists, showing as they do, that the early Christians un- derstood disease to be wholly mental, and its cure effected by means above the human—that is the divine. * Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. vlii., p. 277. PART III. We append the last two discourses delivered in Copley Hall by the then pastor of the Mother Church. These dis- courses 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 ye: 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 through- out all ages men have been seeking the kingdom of heaven. The ancients sought it. They had their concep- tion of it. It was their Elysium, but it was simply an en- largement 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 lias 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 22 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. to be attained only by dying—a far away, inconceivable place? And when we look into the true Scriptural inter- pretation 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 far-away heaven of golden streets and pearly gates and great white thrones, and harps, and various other material conditions and accom- paniments. 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 disserta- tions most widely circulated undertake to describe this heaven of golden streets and pearly gates. These symbols are in- tended 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. jSTow 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 through- out his preaching, and emphasized it by expresslv de- claring 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 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 23 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 text-book 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. Xotice that both Jesus and John the Baptist called upon the world to repent, not because the kingdom of hell is be- fore them: not because it is staring them in the face, and they must repent in order to escape it, but they declare that they must repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and yet the prevalent preaching has called sinners to repent- ance, not because the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but that they might escape the tortures and punishments of hell, thus inverting the clear and emphatic meaning of the Scrip- tures. Heaven represents the highest; Hell, the Anglo-Saxon word, represents the lower or sinful conditions. The Greek Hades and the Hebrew Sheol signify the underworld, or the 2-i HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. invisible world, the abode of spirits. This was their con- ception, regardless of whether they were good spirits or bad spirits, and not at all the orthodox conception of a place of future punishment and torture. There is no such meaning attached to the Anglo-Saxon word. Investigation discloses the fact that the preaching of a place of future punishment, or the hell of orthodoxy, had its origin in Romanism. During the Middle Ages the doctrine of forgiveness of sins by the priesthood was preached- The power to for- give sins was alleged to be in the hands of the priests, and hence a penance was imposed in proportion to the sin, and if one paid a large enough fine he might commit any crime, no matter what, and he was insured immunity from the fear- ful tortures of a literal hell of fire and brimstone. It be- come a great financial scheme. These conceptions of a place of future punishment have been borrowed from the medieval ages by our Orthodox friends and handed down. They were largely borrowed from Paganism; one condition was that of unalloyed happi- ness, and the other torture unquenchable. This is the con- ception of heaven and hell upon which these magnificent churches, these great edifices, which assume to be evangelical churches, are based, and it is to some extent preached in these churches to-day, but how many of the adherents of these churches yet believe it I am not prepared to say. I know that many of them do not accept this dogma, and is it not time that men were honest and courageous enough openly to renounce these misleading interpretations of the Scriptures? 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 text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" \ There are serious difficulties in the way of locating the HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 2.5 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. Xo 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 to-day at high-noontime would be down at midnight, and rice versa. Hence if heaven were actually above us we could see it cnly 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 be 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 con- gratulate 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? 26 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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 Xazareth that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, a fact in our existence. Xow let us trust that the true conception of heaven shall become universally established in human consciousness. Let us know and trust that the Church of Christ, Scientist, which is founded upon God as infinite Love, which is founded upon the reality of Life, Truth, and Love, and the unreality of sin, sickness, and death, must and shall become the church tri- umphant, the church universal, the church whose corner- stone has been laid, and whose edifice is reared to heaven, the true heaven, the heaven not afar off in the skies, but that heaven upon earth for which Jesus prayed, and to bring which he wrought and taught. In his great prayer, which we so often and so gladly repeat, he prays for the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. He 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 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 27 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 ulti- mately lead into the kingdom of heaven. All other con- ceptions 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 Scriptures 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 and 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 ye 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 Sab- bath'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 nine- teen 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 Sab- 2S HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. bath 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 ye, 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 nine- teen 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, con- stitutes the kingdom of heaven which is "at hand." He makes it very plain; and what are the evidences of the king- dom? "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 legiti- mate evidences of the nearness of that kingdom in these days, and only to the extent that the fruits here men- tioned are being brought forth and exhibited to the under- standing 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 con- sciousness 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 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. !>!) tell us that the days of miracles have gone by, that there is no longer a necessity for them, and that therefore these com- mandments w7ere 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 to-day who are dead to the voice of the Son of God,—dead in trespasses and sin, 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 as 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? Xot 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 neigh- bor 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 hu- manitv'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 ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, preach by healing the sick, cleansing 30 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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 unim- portant part, but it is not healing the sick in the full sense of the term. To heal the sick is to bring wholeness to hu- manity, 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 con- sciousness 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 sick- ness shall have been finally and forever destroyed. Sick- ness 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 fulfilment 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 substi- tuted, the sooner will come the kingdom of heaven. A broad statement, a startling statement, in view of the pre- vailing 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? HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 31 The leprosy of sin must be cleansed, destroyed, utterly anni- hilated. 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? Re- member 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 con- dition 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 hu- manity 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. 32 HEALING THROUGH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 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 hand; 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 sermon- izing, writing essays, or meeting together to hold services of any form or character, and not until humanity lives the Gospel of Jesus, will the Kingdom of Heaven be consciously "at hand." 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