ALTHOUGH the power of the word of God is many times declared in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, Christian people outside of Christian Science have not been accustomed to rely upon it in a practical way, as the early followers of Christ Jesus evidently did, either for the healing of sickness or the overcoming of sin. This is indeed strange, because the psalmist plainly taught that when men cried unto the Lord in their trouble, even though they were drawing nigh "unto the gates of death," "He sent his word, and healed them."
There were, however, very few even of the chosen race who sought and found deliverance in this way, until the coming of Christ Jesus, and then the word had "free course," and was glorified, to use St. Paul's phrasing; so much so, indeed, that a Roman centurion sent to the Master and begged him to heal his servant. "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed," said this clear-sighted man, who recognized in the word of God an authority far above that of Caesar. We are told that Jesus marveled at the Roman's faith, which was truly in strange contrast with the spiritual blindness of so many of his own nation, who were filled with madness when he sought to prove to them the power of the word as prophetically described by Isaiah.
From these experiences, as recorded in the gospels, we go on, then pause for a moment before the splendor of St. John's vision as given in the Apocalypse, where the divine Word is seen righting all wrongs, ruling over men and nations, and revealing the ever-presence of God's kingdom, in which there is neither sin nor sorcery, sickness nor death.
