[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
But if Jesus was only an idea how could He say to His disci-
ples after the resurrection you will find it in Luke 24:39 Behold
79
His Healing Power
my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have?
Oh, don t let that trouble you at all. Mrs. Eddy explains it
away beautifully. Just listen to these marvelous words of wisdom;
you will find them on page 313, lines 26-29, of Science and Health:
To accommodate Himself to immature ideas of spiritual
power& Jesus called the body, which by spiritual power He raised
from the grave, flesh and bones.
Well, if you don t mind, I think I will keep out of that room
for there is a verse that says, Every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit
of anti-christ& . Receive him not into your house, neither bid him
God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his
evil deeds (1 John 4:3; 2 John 10,11). Take me to the room where
Jesus Christ is evidently set forth crucified, His own self bearing
our sins in His own body on the tree, by whose stripes we were
healed, where the Blood, which cleanses from all sin, and brings us
nigh to God, by which we have boldness to enter into the holiest,
is extolled.
I cannot, for that room is closed forever to all believers in
Christian Science.
Closed? What do you mean? The Bible says in Hebrews 9:22,
& without shedding of blood is no remission.
Yes, but Mrs. Eddy has made the glorious discovery, which has
much to do with the wonderfully rapid increase in our membership;
that there is no need for remission of sin because there is none to be
remitted. She has taught us the nothingness of sickness and sin
(page 347, line 28), that sin, sickness and death are a dream (page
188, line 12). Isn t that a blessed release? Just believe it and see how
comfortable you will feel!
I don t seem to get much comfort out of it for a scripture that
Mother taught me, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
80
The Bible or Christian Science
and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8), will keep floating through my
consciousness, try as I may to drown it. Perhaps I had better pray
for light. The Bible says, Ask and ye shall receive. (Matt. 7:7.)
To what purpose? We are taught in Science and Health that
prayer to a personal God is a hindrance. On page 3 (lines 7-9), we
find this question: Shall we ask the divine Principle& to do His
own work?
So you are taught to think of God as a principle merely. Well,
it seems to me that there isn t much left of the Book after the lady
that found the key gets through with it.
And that was the way I felt as I studied the textbook, but I was
so determined to be healed that I tried to shut my eyes to its blas-
phemous heresies and to swallow it holus-bolus.
My practitioner was a lady with exquisitely beautiful hair, which
was always so artistically puffed that it seemed there was not so
much as a single hair out of place. She was placid as a summer sea
and assured me in the sweetest, calmest way possible that my sin and
sickness were only bad dreams from which I should shortly awaken
to find everything all right. And at last I really began to half believe
it. Like Jonah, I was sinking, down, down, down, down; and like
Jonah, I was saved by the direct intervention of God.
I made up my mind to go on with the thing and see what it could
do for me. But God had other plans for me, and He sent a whale
it was a big one to swallow me.
One morning I awakened to find that complete paralysis of the
right arm had come on me during the night; and as I am not in the
least ambidextrous, it would be hard to find anyone in a worse
predicament than mine.
Of course, I rushed to my practitioner to find her wholly undis-
turbed by the catastrophe. How could she be disturbed when she
knew that not only had I no paralysis of the arm but no arm to be
paralyzed? She never turned so much as a silver hair but assured me
81
His Healing Power
that There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All
is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is ALL in ALL.
Spirit is immortal truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is real and
eternal; matter is unreal and temporal. Spirit is God and man is His
image and likeness. Therefore, man is not material; He is spiritual.
This clearly proved, as you will no doubt perceive, that I had no arm
and, therefore, could not have paralysis in it.
Whether or not I had an arm, there was one thing that I didn t
have: money. And I was so sure of it that I didn t need to resort to
Christian Science to tell me that I didn t have it. I couldn t stay in
New York in my helpless condition without money. There was
room rent in a very expensive house just off Central Park. There
was the high fee charged for treatments. Living in the area was
extremely high, so I had no alternative but to return to my home in
Winnipeg, Canada.
Indeed, I thought it advisable to leave immediately before any of
my other limbs went out of business. So I said a farewell to my prac-
titioner, who was still floating on a summer sea up to the last
glimpse I had of her; and having fortified myself with Christian
Science literature to enable me to continue my treatment after I
reached home, I left.
And there God provided just what I needed. An old friend, an
aged minister of the gospel whom I deeply reverenced, was sent from
a far land to minister to me. His heart went out in Christ-like
sympathy when he beheld the havoc Satan had made in me, the utter
destruction of everything that could make life worth living. He did
not chide me when he saw me clinging to Science and Health; but he
did say, and most solemnly, Sister, that book is straight from hell,
and the first step you must take to get deliverance is to burn it.
He did not argue, but he prayed prayed, I believe, without
ceasing; I know of one whole night he spent in prayer for me. And
at last one day I staggered down to the kitchen; I was almost too
82
The Bible or Christian Science
weak to stand upright, but I deposited my copy of Science and
Health on the glowing coals. It is the only proper place in the
universe for it.
Not very long afterwards the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
for soul and body shone into my heart. And the drugs with the
resultant diseased conditions vanished like snow wreaths, not because
they had not been real but because Jesus Christ who died and rose
again to deliver me from them is real. They were real sin and sickness,
but in Him I found a real Saviour able to save to the uttermost.
To recapitulate, the Word of God, which endureth forever,
and Science and Health, produced by Mrs. Mary Baker Glover
Eddy, are diametrically opposed on all essential points; so we have
to choose between them. Which shall it be then, the Bible or
Christian Science?
83
Chapter 10
Forever Settled
For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven (Ps. 119:89).
My word& that goeth forth out of my mouth& shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish& . (Isa. 55:11.)
F
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, No accent of the Holy Ghost this
heedless world hath ever lost, which is true; not that the heedless
world has safeguarded the priceless treasure, but that the Word of
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]