The Bible story of Christ Jesus healing the palsied man is of special interest to Christian Scientists because it became an important link in the chain of events leading Mary Baker Eddy to the discovery of the Principle and rule of spiritual healing. We read in Mrs. Eddy's authorized biographies that while walking with others to a temperance meeting in Lynn, Massachusetts, on February 1, 1866, she fell heavily on an icy street and was carried in an unconscious condition by her companions to a nearby house. Always an earnest student of the Bible, Mrs. Eddy naturally turned to it as soon as she was able. While prayerfully reading in the ninth chapter of Matthew the record of the healing of the paralytic man, she was inspired to rise from her bed and be well. She forthwith rose, dressed, and entered the living room, to the startled astonishment of a pastor and some friends who were waiting there in fear of a possibly fatal outcome.
The record which inspired Mrs. Eddy's recovery, found in three Gospels, has four main features. These four points illustrate essential features of Christian Science healing. Faith is undoubtedly a prime requisite. We read that Jesus recognized the faith of those seeking his help. "Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized," Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 167 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Christian Science teaches that blind faith is not enough. We need faith based on the understanding of God as the only power, as Love and Truth, as the creator of good only. Armed with such faith, we can banish fear and all evil from our thought. Then they disappear completely, since they have no existence except as mortal mind gives them lodgment.
The palsied man was carried by four friends, who showed by their actions that they shared his faith. Happy is the Christian Scientist who is surrounded by like-minded individuals, and so protected from confusing crosscurrents of thought, possibly unsympathetic to the idea of spiritual healing. Even Jesus, we are told, did not do many mighty works in his own country, because of their unbelief. In some cases, as in the raising of Jairus' daughter, he apparently thought it desirable, before undertaking his blessed task, to put out all save a few who believed in him and his healing mission. The bystanders believed firmly that Jairus' daughter was dead. How important it is to protect ourselves from such thoughts! Our Leader makes this clear in the By-Law entitled "Alertness to Duty" in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 6), the first sentence of which runs as follows: "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind."
