Editorial May 2, 1908 Issue

"THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT BEAR WITNESS"*

Archibald McLellan

Occasionally we hear of Christian Scientists who believe that they have discovered some simpler and better method for the practice of Christian Science than has been perceived by other students of Science and Health; but conservative students of Mrs. Eddy's writings, especially those who have had the benefit of her personal teaching, have had no difficulty in seeing that these methods amount to nothing more than an unconscious effort to read into the text-book of Christian Science some preconceived theological or medical theory which is no part of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, has no place in the consciousness of a genuine Christian Scientist, and instead of being simpler is in fact more complex than that for which it is offered as a substitute.

Christian Science is the most profound subject with which humanity has to do, yet it is so simple that children have mastered its modus operandi, and many cases are reported in which these little ones have been able to demonstrate the divine Principle in which "we live, and move, and have our being." This should prove to us that there is nothing mysterious, complicated, or secret about the practice of this healing and regenerating truth, and that our efforts should be directed toward the acquirement of a simple, direct, and reasonable understanding of what Christian Science is, rather than to the refinement of some theoretical abstraction which wastes time and effort and must ultimately obscure our sense of the Principle which we are endeavoring to demonstrate.

To the person who has been brought up in the atmosphere of so-called orthodox theology, which regards Jesus works as supernatural and possible only through him, or to the person who until brought face to face with Christian Science has not even thought of the possibility of healing the sick without material remedies, Christian Science no doubt appears mysterious, and its simplicity is incomprehensible; but to one who has even in part comprehended the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), there is no mystery.

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May 2, 1908
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