THE command of Jesus was to preach the gospel and heal the sick, one part being just as direct and positive as the other. Jesus himself did very little preaching of the kind we hear in these times, and the second of the commands given by him has been, from a time soon after his ascension until within the last half century, almost entirely forgotten and disregarded.
The failure to perform this important and essential Christian duty was based on the belief, or excuse, that this branch of the command was addressed only to his disciples. Some religionists go even farther, and maintain that Jesus alone had power to heal in the way practised by him, and that to claim this power for any one else is unwarranted and sacrilegious. But, besides the fact that the command itself and others to the same effect, as set forth in the Bible, are in no way limited, it is indisputable that others did heal the sick, not only in the first three centuries of the Christian era, but that this work has been successfully done in thousands of cases, by hundreds of different persons, under the teachings of Mrs. Eddy. We may very well ask, also, by what right or authority the gospel has been preached by any one other than Jesus' disciples. The double command was addressed to the same people and is found in a single sentence. Yet the very people who profess and doubtless believe themselves to be ordained of God to preach the gospel, deny that there is either power or authority on the part of any one to heal the sick.
It is evident that Jesus regarded the performance of these commands as a Christian duty; that they were equally important, and to be done simultaneously, the one in conjunction with the other. This may be said with certainty, because it was his own practise. He never failed to respond to a cry for help made in good faith. While he was going about preaching the gospel, he was, at the same time, as a part of his work for humanity, healing multitudes of people from all manner of diseases. His work was done for the highest and lowest, the rich and the poor alike. Great as he was, much as he was looked up to as king, Lord, or Saviour, he was never above the duty of ministering to the poor and lowly. This should be a lesson to us all. If there are those who now understand and believe in the power of healing, and who might be doing the work of the Master in this way and in this age, but who feel that because of their exalted station in life and their respectable position in society it is beneath them to do the work of healing except for people of their own class or station, they need to remember that there is no more exalted work than that of healing the sick in God's way.
