404
CURES
CURSE
tures and hypotheses. He ascribed His healing to the Divine iiower with which He was able to bring men into living communication. That Divine all- l)ervading Life which informed His humanity was not at a distance from any human life. Space and Time are to the Inlinite Power non-existent, and only our bondage to the limited human ideas can present any ditticulty.
8. In the three above cases and in the case of the demoniac boy (Mt 17"-=', Mk g^-^s, Lk 9^"*=) our Lord sig'uifieantly seeks the co-ojjeration of parent and friend in the work of liealing ; and the fact is most significant of the closeness of human sym- pathy, and most of all of that most vital and mysterious sympathy lying in the life-bond be- tween parent and child, and the intimate depend- ence of these ties upon the life-giving power of the Almighty. Tliese deep-lying sympathies that bind parents to their own ofl'spring are essentially allied to the Divine power. They 'consist' by its indwelling, and Jesus desires this power to be informed by a living faith, and so be at once at its highest point of energy and also in living union with God.
9. In some of the cures effected by Jesus a process is observable in tlie recovery. The noble- man's son was first set free from the fever, and from tliat decisive time began ' to amend.' The crisis was safely passed, and the rest was left to nature's gentle action. The Syro - Pha;nician's daughter was delivered from her besetment and left ' thrown upon the bed,' physically prostrate, and requiring rest and care. The daughter of Jairus was ordered rest and food, and the blind man at Bethsaida was only by degrees restored to perfect sight. These indications, casually given, and probably not understood by the narrators, lead us to think that a similar process would be manifest in the other cures were they fully and adequately reported, and it is always a salutary reminder that our Gospels are only most frag- mentary. It was a principle of Jesus not to do anything by extraordmary which could be accom- plished by ordinary means.
10. The healing power of Jesus went out freehi
anion " '" ' ' "" "" " •■■"■>■'
15' _ . _
tagious influence of a multitude, in producing an atmosphere in which remarkable psychical plieno- mena are manifest and the result is seen in heal- ing of the sick, is not uncommonly recognized in modern times. In tliis way are explained the miracles of which some genuine cases undoubtedly happened around the tomb of Becket, tlie healings that are associated with Lourdes, and many of the similar results that we may believe were gathered round famous saints like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Theresa. A contagion of expectation is initi- ated and spreads rapidly through a whole country- side, and this condition of expectation and hope is one which the most prosaic science recognizes as favourable to the pioouctiun of real cures, especi- ally of ailments a large cliMnent of whicli is nervous. We have seen that the workini' of Jesus did not disdain to utilize tliese and all otlier forces in human nature which make for healing ; and by reason of His unique and perfect alliance with the Divine Source of all life and healtli, He was able to bring instantaneous and permanent relief and restoration to whole companies of sufferers.
11. Our Lord's method has coiunderable affinity with modern medical scieiu:e. The power of the mind over bodily ailments, in the maintenance and restoration of liealth, is being increasingly ac- knowledged. D'-. Schofield says truly that most remedies, if not all, are partly psychical in their
Not only such prescriptions as changt
ag the suffering multitude (Mt S'^^-^'U' SI, Mk 1'"-^ 6»-'«, Lk 4^"- « 9"). The con-
operation of occupat
a, environment, and climate, physical
and mental shocks and emotional incentives, eth- ical and religious influences, travel, study, ambi- tion and social influences, but also drugs, changes of diet, baths and waters, minor operations, depend much for their efficacy on their psychical action ; while the personality of the doctor— in some cases the unintelligibility of his prescription and the magnitude of his fee — are valuable therapeutic agents. In this way full recognition is given to tlie influence of any power which can set free the mind from its hopeless condition, its lethargy and depression, as a most potent force in the work of healing. Schmiedel (art. ' Gospels ' in Encyc. Bibl.) says of our Lord's miracles: 'It is only permissible to regard as historical that class of healings which present-day phy.sicians are able to ett'ect Dy psychical methods.' But he overlooks the influence of mental action in the cure of all kinds of disease, and not only of mental diseases to which the above observations point.
Psychical methods, intelligently and of set pur- pose applied to the cure of bodily ailments, are as yet in their preliminary stages. On the same line, if on no otlier, much greater possibilities remain for human knowledge and power to achieve. No limit can be laid down beyond which the occult forces of human life may not be taken advantage of for the healing not of nervous diseases only, but of purely physical. Dr. Osgood Mason gives abun- dant evidence,from his own knowledge and practice, of the influence of suggestion, with or without hypnosis, in the healing of many physical ailments. And the Christian faith, based upon the sugges- tions found in the Gospels as they describe, ^vithout at all understanding them, our Lord's methods, is that Jesus Christ, by His commanding action upon the human mind and spirit, and by the Divine power dwelling in Himself, was able to control physical and physiological processes in the human body so as to produce curative effects of a per- manent character.