Introduction

From the author:
When Mary Baker Eddy was healed through reading the Bible story of the palsied man, she knew she had touched the current of spiritual healing so evident in the life of Jesus. Now was it simply the reading of this healing that healed her? It had been read many times before but without any healing effect. Was it the words which healed? Was it what Jesus said? Or was it that she discerned that there was principle behind the healing? That it was not Jesus who healed the man; that it was not the words he spoke which had any healing in or of themselves; but it was the Christ-understanding present as the identity of the Master which had healed?

Was it simply the reading of this healing that healed her? It had been read many times before but without any healing effect. Was it the words which healed? Was it what Jesus said? Or was it that she discerned that there was principle behind the healing? That it was not Jesus who healed the man; that it was not the words he spoke which had any healing in or of themselves; but it was the Christ-understanding present as the identity of the Master which had healed?