Healing and the Emmanuel Movement

Healing and the Emmanuel Movement By Joseph A. West

In the August number of the Era, I dwelt on the power of mental influence in healing, as practiced by the various healing fraternities. In this short chapter I deal mostly with the Em- manuel Movement, a prominent sect using mental influence in healing. I trust that in the closing paragraphs I have made thoroughly plain my purpose in these writings, in that I have shown the vital difference between mental influence, as de- pended largely upon by various healing organizations, and the healing of the sick through the ministrations of the priesthood of the living God. The Emmanuel Movement is of comparative recent date and had its origin with Dr. Ellwood Worcester, D. D., Ph. D., from whose excellent work entitled The Christian Church as a Healing Power, I shall quote, for I have long since learned that no one can better represent a movement than the person from whom, or through whom, it had its origin or inception. How different would be the opinion of the world today regarding "Mormonism," if this course had been pursued with regard to it! In some respects the Emmanuel Movement is quite differ- ent from some of the other healing fraternities of the day, al- though the underlying principle, as stated above, is the same with them all. Of the difference between it and Christian Science, Dr. Worcester says:

"The two movements, so far from having any common motive, stand opposite at almost every point. In the first place, Christian Science, in common with other irrational healing cults of our time, has openly and v

clearly broken with academic medicine, whereas the Emmanuel Movement is the first effort to stem the tide of disfavor and distrust with which a large section of American society regard the science of medicine. The Emmanuel Movement could not maintain itself a single day without the cooperation of the medical profession. In the second place, Christian •Science is a distinct cult or system, with a revelation, a sacred book, a theology, a form of worship, a therapeutic procedure all its own: the Emmanuel Movement claims no new revelation, no sacred books, no thera- neutic procedure excpt such as is common to all scintific workers, no wor- ship peculiar to itself, no theology except the theology of the New Testa- ment as modern critical scholarship has disclosed it. In the third place Christian Science makes no distinction between the cases which it under- takes to cure. The Emmanuel Movement, on the other hand, makes a very rigid distinction between functional and organic cases, and sets aside the

latter for medical physiological, surgical treatment, though even in these least help- it recognizes the influence of mental and spiritual processes as at

1066 IMPROVEMENT ERA ful in character. * * * They have only one thing in common both — attempt to apply an idealistic belief to the problems of life. One idealism is crude and vague, the other is critical and coherent; the one wilfully shuts its eyes to convenient facts, the other seeks to explain all the facts."

No person is received for treatment by the Emmanuelists, either in this country or England, without the approval of some physician of recognized standing. In fact there is a Medical Advisory Board which gives counsel and direction regarding the manner in which the work is to be done. Of the medical frater- nity the doctor has this to say "In our view, the discoveries of medical science are as much a revela- tion of the divine order as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, and these discoveries must be utilized for God's Kingdom." The aims of the Emmanuel Movement are thus set forth: "It is to bring into effective cooperation the physician, the psychologi- cally trained clergyman, and the trained social worker in the alleviation and arrest of certain disorders of the nervous system which are now gen- erally regarded as involving some weakness or defect of character of more or less complete mental disassociation. * * * We confine our efforts to the so-called "functional" disorders, because we believe this is the legit- imate sphere of our work. * * * We also confine ourselves strictly to the religious and psychological side of the problem, and while our treat- ment on the ethical and religious side is fe,oing on, the physician in charge of the case administers contemporaneously whatever medical remedies he may see fit. If nervous sufferers, victims of alcohol and other drugs, the unhappy, the sorrowful, would-be suicide, and other children of melancholy felt that religion meant nothing to them there would be no place for work like ours, and the motive for undertaking it would be wanting."

Answering the theological critic who "objects to the thera- peutic use of Christianity, on the ground that such use is a de- gradation of the lofty purposes which religion was designed to subserve," the doctor says: "The Christian religion was never more in its element, never shines with a greater glory, than when it is seen entering the dark places of our expe- rience to cast out the demons of fear, worry, passion, despair, remorse, overstrained grief, and disgust of life, and to make the soul and body a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. * * * Our emotions play a very impor- tant role in life. They quicken the pulse, affect the circulation of blood, retard or promote the secretion of the glands, cause serious disturbances of the process of digestion and elimination, and, finally and most wonderfully of all, even work changes in the electrical resistance of the body. In the psychical region, it is the emotions that make or mar our world. The emotion of fear disintegrates, disharmonizes the inner life, while its op- — — posite faith unifies, literally makes whole. The joyful mood is the mood of health. Freedom from undue anxiety, a confident attitude towards God and the universe, a peaceful, cheerful temper, enable mind and body to function right. Whatever produces these mental states may be said to be curative in character."

Many who have tried it know the soothing as well as the powerful influence of prayer. Psychologists and medical men are agreed that prayers for the sick, especially if the sick

HEALING AND THE EMMANUEL MOVEMENT 106?

know that they are being prayed for, very often have a curative power. They explain it as the principle of suggestion, which "works inhibitory changes in the central nervous system." We have the testimony of men in different ages and of dif- ferent religious faiths that through prayer has come to them a real increase of strength and grace evidencing to them and to us that God is no respecter of persons. That prayer brings us in close touch, so to speak, with God, and that the mind, and through the mind the body, are actually and really affected thereby, so that the individual often becomes conscious of being in actual communication with a higher, mightier, and holier Power, especially is this the case when prayer is inspired by true faith. For true faith is a shield against all the moral mal- adies of the soul, and also makes men inaccessible to those cow- ardly emotions of nervous people, which are the source of so many of the physical ailments of the race. Medical science has not stopped to fully estimate the inti- mate connection between moral sin and physical disease. In many cases what is called illness is due to moral obliquity, and the compunctions of conscience racking the nervous fabric of the soul. To remedy this the gospel plays a most conspicuous part, whether it be taught in its perfection, or in part, its re- sults are proportionately the same. Its tendency is to reconcile the erring one to his Maker, and thus bring peace to the troubled heart; which peace means happiness, and happiness is a pro- moter of health. We find, therefore, that what is being done by the Emman- uel Movement, and the many other healing movements within the Christian church, is done upon natural principles, and main- ly attributable to the influence that they are able to bring to bear upon the patient through the curative operations of the mind. It is upon this principle, too, that so many cases of heal- ing are performed outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints, and among those who are agnostic to every prin- ciple of Christianity. In striking contrast to the methods pursued by the many healing fraternities of the world in our time, the healing power of the priesthood of our Redeemer and his disciples of the Chri - tian Era and of the Church of Jesus Christ of today stands out most conspicuously. With them there was and is no distinction made between the physical ailments of mankind. All who come for the healing power of the priesthood, and can exercise the requisite faith, or have it exercised for them, obtain a bless- ing proportionate to the measure of faith exercised. Not only nervous disease have been cured but all kind? of organic and functional diseases as well. The deaf, the dumb,

1068 IMPROVEMENT ERA

the blind and those maimed and mutilated almost beyond recog- nition, have been restored to the full, free use of all their fac- ulties and powers, and even the dead have been restored to life both in this dispensation and in that of Christ and his apostles. All these things have been fully attested in the lives and experi- ences of the disciples of Christ both then and now. These things are not spoken of boastfully but humbly and with thanksgiving and praise to God who thus recognizes and honors the acts of his holy priesthood to whom he gives the commandment to anoint the sick with oil, and promises that "the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." Not that every one thus administered to shall recover, for it is an unalterable decree that all shall die, but only those unto

whom God shall see fit to extend his healing mercies. Healing is not made to depend upon the curative processes of the mind, after long and skilful training; nor upon the strong personality of those who administer; but entirely upon the cura- tive and regenerating power of God,given to his servants through obedience to the unchangeable laws and ordinances of the gos- pel. Fundamentally these are: faith in God and in Jesus Christ his Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in all their teachings; re- pentance from sin by the complete abandonment thereof; bap- tism by immersion for the remission of sins by one having divine authority to act in the sacred name of the Father and his Son and the Holy Ghost, and the laying on of the hands of those similarly commissioned for the gift of the Holy Ghost As this spirit will not dwell in unholy tabernacles as de- clared by Paul, and its powers cannot be exercised only upon the principles of righteousness, as set forth by the prophet Joseph Smith, men thus initiated into the Church and receiving the holy priesthood, must live righteous lives to be so divinely favored, as either to be healed or to be made instrumentalities through whom the sick are healed, and all manner of physical ailments are removed. When this is done, then will be verily fulfilled the promise that Jesus made to his disciples, when he said: "The works that I do, ye shall do aleo; and greater works than these shall ye do, because I go unto my Father." While, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, we enjoy these inestimable blessings, let us not fail to recognize and give due credit for all the good we see in the world; always hoping and praying that our Christian friends may be led to see the greater light as God has given us to see it, and thereby enter upon the more perfect way of temporal and eternal life to the glory of God, our common, all wise, eternal, and omnipotent Father. Brigham City, Utah.