“Prayer And Healing”

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1      The article of Professor T ——, having the above cap-
         tion, published in Zion’s Herald, December third, came
         not to my notice until January ninth. In it the Professor
         offered me, as President of the Metaphysical College in
5      Boston, or one of my students, the liberal sum of one
         thousand dollars if either would reset certain dislocations
         without the use of hands, and two thousand dollars if
         either would give sight to one born blind.

10    Will the gentleman accept my thanks due to his gener-
         osity; for, if I should accept his bid on Christianity, he
         would lose his money.

         Why?

         Because I performed more difficult tasks fifteen years
15    ago. At present, I am in another department of Christian
         work, “where there shall no signs be given them,” for
         they shall be instructed in the Principle of Christian
         Science that furnishes its own proof.

         But, to reward his liberality, I offer him three thou-
20    sand dollars if he will heal one single case of opium-eating
         where the patient is very low and taking morphine powder
         in its most concentrated form, at the rate of one ounce in
         two weeks, — having taken it twenty years; and he is to
         cure that habit in three days, leaving the patient well. I
25    cured precisely such a case in 1869.

         Also, Mr. C. M. H ——, of Boston, formerly partner
         of George T. Brown, pharmacist, No. 5 Beacon St., will
         tell you that he was my student in December, 1884; and
         that before leaving the class he took a patient thoroughly
30    addicted to the use of opium — if she went without it

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1      twenty-four hours she would have delirium — and in
         forty-eight hours cured her perfectly of this habit,
         with no bad results, but with decided improvement in
         health.

5      I have not yet made surgery one of the mental branches
         taught in my college; although students treat sprains,
         contusions, etc., successfully. In the case of sprain of the
         wrist-joint, where the regular doctor had put on splints
         and bandages to remain six weeks, a student of mine
10    removed these appliances the same day and effected the
         cure in less than one week. Reference, Mrs. M. A. F ——,
107 Eutaw Street, East Boston.

         I agree with the Professor, that every system of medi-
         cine claims more than it practises. If the system is Science,
15    it includes of necessity the Principle, which the learner
         can demonstrate only in proportion as he understands it.
         Boasting is unbecoming a mortal’s poor performances.
         My Christian students are proverbially modest: their
         works alone should declare them, since my system of medi-
20    cine is not generally understood. There are charlatans
         in “mind-cure,” who practise on the basis of matter, or
         human will, not Mind.

         The Professor alludes to Paul’s advice to Timothy.
         Did he refer to that questionable counsel, “Take a little
25    wine for thy stomach’s sake”? Even doctors disagree
         on that prescription: some of the medical faculty will
         tell you that alcoholic drinks cause the coats of the stomach
         to thicken and the organ to contract; will prevent the
         secretions of the gastric juice, and induce ulceration,
30    bleeding, vomiting, death.

         Again, the Professor quotes, in justification of material
         methods, and as veritable: “He took a bone from the

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1      side of Adam, closed up the wound thereof, and builded
         up the woman.” (Gen. ii. 21.)

         Here we have the Professor on the platform of Christian
         Science! even a “surgical operation” that he says was
5      performed by divine power, — Mind alone constructing
         the human system, before surgical instruments were
         invented, and closing the incisions of the flesh.

         He further states that God cannot save the soul without
         compliance to ordained conditions. But, we ask, have
10    those conditions named in Genesis been perpetuated in
         the multiplication of mankind? And, are the conditions
         of salvation mental, or physical; are they bodily penance
         and torture, or repentance and reform, which are the
         action of mind?

15    He asks, “Has the law been abrogated that demands
         the employment of visible agencies for specific ends?”

         Will he accept my reply as derived from the life and
         teachings of Jesus? — who annulled the so-called laws of
         matter by the higher law of Spirit, causing him to walk
20    the wave, turn the water into wine, make the blind to see,
         the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to be
         raised without matter-agencies. And he did this for man’s
         example; not to teach himself, but others, the way of
         healing and salvation. He said, “And other sheep I have,
25    which are not of this fold.”

         The teachings and demonstration of Jesus were for
         all peoples and for all time; not for a privileged class or
         a restricted period, but for as many as should believe in
         him.

30    Are the discoverers of quinine, cocaine, etc., espe-
         cially the children of our Lord because of their medical
         discoveries?

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1      We have no record showing that our Master ever used,
         or recommended others to use, drugs; but we have his
         words, and the prophet’s, as follows: “Take no thought,
         saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?”
5      “And Asa … sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.
         And Asa slept with his fathers.”