62/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
Is not the simple, undisguised principle of Christianity just as applicable today as when first presented? Why should not scholars, teachers, mechanics, business men and laborers, now manifest the spirit of Jesus and fulfil his command to make known the new life “and heal the sick”? Direct contact with men is necessary to successfully demonstrate the spiritual Principle.
No individual can rightfully delegate his personal responsibility to ministers or charitable associations. The early Christians enjoyed practical immunity from disease; for the disciples then possessed the gift of healing. That power may be exercised by anyone who is willing to conform to the spiritual standard of living. Jesus said: “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.” “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 harm them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” ” Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Are these promises fulfilled to any general extent among the professed followers of Jesus at present.’ Evidently not. The church and the “world” suffer in common from the ravages of disease. Both would arbitrarily limit the efficacy of a universal Principle by restricting the application of the spiritual method of healing to the brief period covered by New Testament history.
In many instances both alike are ready, even though unwittingly, to sacrifice the ideal of “a new heaven and a new earth” for temporary material success, either by actively supporting, or tacitly sanctioning, industrial and economic methods based on selfishness, as opposed to love, thereby upholding institutions directly antagonistic in spirit to the fundamental doctrine taught and practised by Jesus and his more immediate disciples.
May we not well pause, in view of the state of affairs which confronts us, and question whether any traditional ecclesiastical body, as constituted today, stands really and vitally for the idea and method of Jesus? Whether it is, indeed, a faithful exponent of the simple spiritual truth for which he lived and died?
Can it hope to successfully realize his ideals and do his works if, at the same time, it remains subservient to wealthy or otherwise influential members and patrons, whose means and power have been acquired by employing or countenancing methods and practices diametrically opposed to his? If the “salt of the earth have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?” “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”