In the third chapter of The Acts of the Apostles is related the healing of an impotent man, who was brought daily to the temple "to ask alms of them that entered into the temple." The desire to worship God would naturally awaken the sentiments which incite almsgiving, such as charity, compassion, and a sincere desire to help one whose condition seemed to call for pity. But how little real help could all human sympathy and kind sentiments bestow on the man. Were they not, on the contrary, fastening the claim of dependency and impotency all the more in his thought, through their belief in the reality of disease? How different was the gift of Peter and John! Through the teachings of their dear Master they had learned to understand the omnipotence of God, and the power that is given to man when he knows God aright. Their spirituality enabled them to perceive and supply the man's greatest need. "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," Peter said.
How wonderful those words must have sounded to him who until then had been bound by material belief, and how great and pure were the love and faith of those two disciples of Jesus! Fear, doubt, and stubborn conviction of the reality of disease, the general belief in error's claim to power, all had to fall before their clear understanding and calm trust in the inherent potency of that law of Truth which was demonstrated by Christ Jesus. Through the teachings of Christian Science are explained to us the healings accomplished by Jesus and his apostles, which to the people who saw them and to those who have since read of them in the Bible seemed as miracles, and what is best of all, the assurance and proof are given us that the ability to heal the woes of sense and the diseases of mankind is not a special privilege of those early apostles, but is a demonstrable fact to-day, as every earnest and conscientious student of Christian Science can prove.
On page 476 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." Here is a clear, definite explanation which takes away all mystery about those early miracles and shows the naturalness of the healings performed then and now through faith in and scientific understanding of the true nature of God.
