"THE MINISTRY OR HEALING"

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 144, 21 June 1922, Page 3

"THE MINISTRY OR HEALING"

■vr" ■ I 0 THB EDITOR. ..'..• Sir,—"Ehe article under the a%Ov© title, written by your London correspondent, and published in this evening's edition of your paper, will bo read with widespread interest. During the/past two years, frequent references have been made by members of the olergy as tr the need for healing in fcho Church, and Mr. Hickson's statement, as reported by your correspondent, is but another illustration of the trend of thought among Church workers. The one 'regrettable feature of Mr. Hickson's address, is his reference to Christian Science and other advanced forms of thought as being "blind alleys and fool's paradises." Here Mr. Hickson displays a little of that uncharitable attitude towards Christian Science' which at one. time was shared by many clergymen, but which is now .happily • passing away. And, .singularly, following upon this condemnation, Mr. Hickson makes some 6tatements-7-his own ideas I presume— which are really pure .Christian Science. He says, for example, that "Ho (our Lord) can heal to-day, as of old, the/ organic diseasee. If He cannot Ho is not almighty. Ifc.ia as easy for Him to heal the organic as it is for Him to heal the functional: ... It must be as easy for God to heal. cancer as » headache, but why is it that we do not ccc such things healed?" •

Sixty years ago, when Mrs. Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, voiced precisely the same opinion, she was treated with ridicule by the self-same Church to which Mr. Hickson belongs to-day. Mrs. Eddy stood forth fearlessly, and "declared that God is all power, and that all things are possible with Him. She denied the power of evil; she denied that God ever, sent sickness, and in demonstration of; these facts the sick were healed. And we find that in the sixty yea-ife whioh have elapsed countless cases of cancer have been healed by Spiritual means. This is true also .of every other form of disease. If God: can ' cure a headache, why should He not cure cancer, tumours, and the like? To admit (as many do) that God can cure the functional disorders, but that He must leave organio disease to the surgeon's knife, is making the Burgeon more powerful than God, and is denying- God the omnipotence Tr hich is 'His.

And here let me state that members of the medical fraternity have always been-regarded by Christian Scientists as men of high ideals and worthy purpose, ever striving to free humanity from Buffering. Christian Science has no quarrel with medicv! men. It must be admitted, however, that materia medica is unequal to the enormous task of ridding the world of suffering—this is acknowledged by Mr. Hickson himself, when he is reported to have |: said that "there were hundreds of thousands of people who were beyond the help of science." Arid numbered among the doctors' patients, mark you, are many ardent members of the Church—the very clergymen themBelves, when faced with sickness, turn not to God, but to their doctors.,'

Christian Science is one of the few religions (if not the only one) which endeavour to carry out the command! of Jesus the Christ to "heal the Bick." As Mr. Hiokson says, there is nothing new in spiritual healing. 'It was demonstrated ' most fully by Jesus Christ and by His disciples. The Christian era had not advanced far, however, before healing ceased. Sixty years ago, Mrs. Eddy sought to restore Divine healing to a suffering worM, and every country bears testimony to the power of God to "heal the sick, cleanse out lepers, cast out devils." .'..■■' I fear, Sir, that I have encroached upon your valued space to a greater extent than I had originally intended, and, by way of conclusion, would here quote the first sentence from the first chapter of the Christian , Science Text-book:—"The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick •is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God—a spiritual understanding of Him;, an unselfed love." —I am, etc., " ' , A.C.S. 19th June. ■