An inescapable fact is that the Christianity taught and exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth was a healing religion. If that is the case, it is a healing religion today. One might as well try to divorce perfume from a flower as to conceive of the Master's redemptive message as bereft of a healing effect on the sick and sinning. To use the words of a well-loved hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 388),
Where'er he went affliction fled,
The sick were healed, the hungry fed.
The dominant theme of Jesus' teachings is the spiritualization, the Christianization, of consciousness; and for nineteen centuries his followers have believed in and endeavored to practice the healing of sin. But the Saviour of mankind made no distinction between the healing of sin and of sickness. This is evidenced unmistakably in his instructions to the disciples, recorded in the tenth chapter of Matthew (verses 6-8): "Go... to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."
