Jesus' declaration, "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick," is often cited as proof that he believed in the efficacy of material means, yet in the light of his own practise and the rule laid down for his followers in all ages, this is but a figure of speech, explained in the sentence which immediately follows: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." It was through the power of Spirit, "the finger of God," that he healed those who, believing, came or were brought to him, it mattered not by what name the physicians of that day had diagnosed the disease. His trust in the Father who knoweth the needs of His children before they ask Him, and heareth and answereth the prayer of them that seek Him aright, was unchanging; therefore he could say to the leper "Be thou whole," to the blind man "Receive thy sight," to the man whose hand was withered "Stretch forth thine hand," and to him who had been in the tomb four days "Come forth," with that supreme confidence born of the understanding of Truth, because in every instance he saw, as Mrs. Eddy has explained, not the sinful, imperfect mortal as he appeared to human sense, but "the perfect man, . . . God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick" (Science and Health, p. 476).
"No man can serve two masters," declared the great Teacher, and this is the line of cleavage between spiritual and material healing, between Christian Science, the fixed absolute knowledge of God which is eternal life to them that gain it, and materia medica with its ever-varying standards and remedies, heralded today and decried on the morrow. The majority of those who come to Christian Science for healing are not without experience in the fallibility of both diagnosis and prescription from the medical standpoint; they have cherished that hope which, alternating with despair, "maketh the heart sick;" and when through the prayer of faith the ills which beset them have vanished, and they know the joy of sins forgiven, of habits of wrong thinking and doing rooted out—when they have come out of the house of bondage into the glorious freedom which is the heritage of the children of God,—then they have no further use for the pills, powders, and potions on which they had so long relied only to find their worthlessness in the time of need.
It sometimes happens, however, either that the healing is delayed, or, having once experienced the power of Truth to heal instantaneously, another ill presents itself which seemingly is not met, and the patient is so beset by doubt and discouragement that he would again seek his false gods, if perchance they might save him. Mrs. Eddy has wisely provided for just such instances. On page 443 of Science and Health she counsels that if the patient believes he would be benefited by medical treatment, the practitioner should leave him free to do so by giving up the case, until, when these remedies fail him, he is brought through suffering to absolute reliance on Truth. Again, on pages 444 and 464, she explains that even under certain contingencies Christian Scientists may rely upon God to "guide them into the right use of temporary and eternal means. Step by step will those who trust Him find that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.'" She also counsels (p. 401) that in the present stage of mortal belief it is better to call a surgeon to adjust broken or dislocated bones, leaving to the practitioner the work of healing the injured parts. In Sect. 23, Art. VIII, of the Manual it is also provided that the practitioner may consult with a physician "on the anatomy involved," when he is unable fully to diagnose a case and the healing is protracted.
