Medicine and the Church: Being a series of studies on the relationship between the practice of medicine and the church's ministry to the sick — John Shaqi
Medicine and the Church: Being a series of studies on the relationship between the practice of medicine and the church's ministry to the sick
Religion
Medicine and the Church: Being a series of studies on the relationship between the practice of medicine and the church's ministry to the sick
Medicine -- Religious aspects; Pastoral medicine
‘On the morning of the dedication of the Chicago Church, November 14,
1898, I was in my bedroom in the third story of our house (the house is
three stories and basement). I was getting ready to go to the morning
service, and my little daughter, five years old, was playing about,
when suddenly I felt a silence. I instantly noticed that the child was
no longer there and that the window was open.’
‘I looked out and saw her unconscious form on the ground below, her
head on the cement sidewalk. Instantly I thought, “All is Love.”
‘As I went downstairs the entire paragraph in “No and Yes,” page 19,
beginning, “Eternal harmony, perpetuity, and perfection constitute
the phenomena of Being,” came to me and took up its abode with me,
and with it the clear sense of the great gulf fixed between the child
and the lie that claimed to destroy. The child was brought in, and
as she was carried upstairs she cried. As she was laid down, the
blood was spurting from her mouth, and had already covered her neck
and shoulders. I instantly said, “There is one law--God’s law--under
which man remains perfect,” and the bleeding immediately stopped. The
child seemed to relapse into unconsciousness, but I declared, “Mind
is ever present and controls its idea,” and in a few moments she
slept naturally. During the morning she seemed to suffer greatly if
she was moved at all, and her legs seemed paralysed, lifeless. In the
afternoon, all sense of pain left, she slept quietly, and I went to the
afternoon service rejoicing greatly in my freedom from the sense of
personal responsibility.’
‘When I returned she sat in my lap to eat some supper, with no sense
of pain, but still unable to control her limbs, which presented the
appearance of entire inaction. At eight o’clock she was undressed
without inconvenience, and there was no mark on her body but a bruised
eye. During the day she had not spoken of herself. At eleven o’clock
when I went upstairs, I found her wide awake and she said: “Mamma,
error is trying to say that I fell out of the window, but that cannot
be. The child of God can’t fall; but why do I lie here? Why can’t I
move my legs?”
‘The answer was, “You can move them. Mind governs, and you are always
perfect.” In a moment she said, “I will get up and walk.” It seemed to
require one or two trials to get her legs to obey, but she rose, walked
across the room and back and climbed into bed.... She then sat up, ate
a lunch, fell into a natural slumber, and woke bright and happy in the
morning.’
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a solemn warning in connexion with
this question at a recent conference at Lambeth Palace, and the
following statement from the medical side is important.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account